Red Thorn
by moguera
Summary: As a child, Ruby Rose ran away from home to escape her father's controlling and overprotective attitude. Years later, Ruby returns to Vale, only to find herself invited into Beacon Academy, where she'll have to make friends, reunite with family, help train a deadbeat teammate, and maybe even find love...Oh...And maybe help save the world...If she can find time for it.
1. Chapter 1

**Red Thorn**

**Chapter 1:**

The light gleamed off the old man's balding head as he looked up from the magazine he'd been reading, the sound of the door chime going off drawing his attention to the entrance of his shop. His body tensed reflexively. It was true that, by virtue of being the only Dust-shop in this district of Vale that was open at such a late hour, he shouldn't have been surprised by any customers coming in. However, it was rare for legitimate customers to enter this late at night.

Besides, word had been spreading about a rash of Dust thefts. Stores across Vale were being hit, and their stock stolen. The merchant didn't want his establishment to join the list of those that had already been pilfered. From Dust 'Til Dawn was a specialty Dust-shop that catered to clients who needed to obtain Dust at unusual hours, often Huntsmen and Huntresses needing to quickly arm up before heading out on a mission, after responding to a late-night emergency call. Rather than being open during the day, his store ran during the night and closed in the morning. It was a niche market, one that had worked well for the shopkeeper, but not one that gave him a lot of financial leeway, when it came to replenishing stolen stock.

Fortunately, he relaxed at the sight of the girl who entered. He judged her to be fourteen or fifteen by her appearance. She wasn't very tall, and certainly didn't cut an imposing figure. Her black hair washed to red towards the tips, framing a youthful face, with rounded cheeks, giving the girl a cute, endearing appearance that, at the same time, walked the edge of maturity enough to make her cute without coming off as babyish. Her maturity was further enhanced by the captivating pair of silver eyes she possessed, gazing out with an awareness that spoke of a level of experience that belied her age.

She was clad in a rather simple-looking ensemble, a black top that was closed like a robe, with a vivid, rose-red sash tied around her waist, a flowing, slightly ruffled black skirt extending down to end just above her knees. The girl's legs were covered by black tights, which ended in tabi-socks, with a pair of simple sandals adorning her feet. The most interesting aspects of her garb were the segmented plates of lacquered armor, a pair at her waist extending down almost as far as her skirt, while a similar, albeit smaller, pair adorned her shoulders. Both sets of armor were the same red color as her sash. That same red was also found in the hooded cloak that the girl wore over it all.

"E-excuse me," stammered the girl, "are you still open?"

"Mmm-hmm." The shopkeeper nodded. Being a man of few words, he rarely needed to speak all that much.

"O-okay," said the girl, giving the man a nod and a shy smile before making her way to the back of the store, where the magazine stands were. There, she picked one of the magazines, a weapons catalogue, and began to page through it, browsing quietly.

The shopkeeper was content to let her. Some store owners were sensitive about allowing people to browse their books without paying for them, but the books were a small supplementary for the man, whose business was Dust. In all likelihood, the girl wouldn't be buying any of that either, but it felt nice to have another soul in the shop on a lonely night.

After a few more minutes of quiet, the shopkeeper found himself regretting that sentiment as the door opened again, with several more people coming into a shop. The man immediately tensed, realizing that he was in trouble.

It was hard not to recognize the finely-dressed man with reddish-orange hair underneath a black bowler hat. He was clad in an immaculate white suit that made him seem more like a high-society dandy than Vale's most-wanted criminal. Roman Torchwick strode up to the counter with a smug smirk decorating his face as he surveyed the nearly-empty shop with his green eyes. His black-gloved hands tightened their hold around the crook of his cane, which he rested calmly in front of him as his gaze returned to the shopkeeper, who was already beginning to tremble.

The men who filed in behind Torchwick looked no less intimidating; dressed in black suits and red ties, with black bowler hats. Their eyes were hidden behind opaque sunglasses, which would have seemed rather odd, given that it was late at night and the sun had long set. However, they gave the men a certain intimidating quality.

Roman took a few quick puffs of the cigar hovering between his lips, before pulling it out and tapping it, not seeing any issue with letting the ashes scatter across the shop floor. At the same time, he blew out puffs of smoke into the face of the shopkeeper, who squinted against the acrid fumes.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" asked Torchwick rhetorically.

One of his henchmen raised a gun, pointing it at the shopkeeper's face. Immediately, the shopkeeper's hands went up. "Please take my Lien! Just don't hurt me."

"Hey, hey," said Roman in a mockingly placating tone. "Don't worry. We don't want your money." He glanced at the men flanking him. "Grab the Dust."

The shopkeeper's heart sank. Taking his money would have been less of a blow. The amount of cash in his register or, indeed, the safe in the back was a pittance compared to the value of the Dust he currently had in stock. The walls were lined with canisters of ground Dust, while the display case right in front of him held a small fortune in the finest of Dust crystals. The poor man knew that his business was unlikely to survive the blow of losing so much stock all at once.

As Roman's henchmen went about the process of collecting the Dust, one of them spotted the young girl in the back, her red hood up over her head, perusing a magazine, completely oblivious to what was going on behind her. The shopkeeper heard one of the men go to accost her, shouting for her to put her hands up. He expected to hear the girl shriek in fear or pain any second now.

...

...

...

Instead, the henchman that had gone to secure her went flying past the front desk to slam into a row of shelves..._hard_, making the entire thing rattle as the man slumped to the ground, stunned by the impact, if not knocked completely unconscious.

The unexpected resistance got Torchwick's attention, and he quickly grunted and signaled another man to go check the situation out. As he passed, the shopkeeper heard the click of a gun being drawn. A second later, he heard a shrill battlecry as the unfortunate goon, propelled by the girl, went flying through the shop's window with a crash, both of them landing in the street. The girl bounced off the man's chest and executed a cartwheeling flip through the air to land daintily on her feet.

Torchwick and his remaining men quickly moved to take in the situation as the girl reached behind her back, her left hand closing around the dark-red, rectangular handle of her weapon. Drawing it forth revealed a slender sword with a straight, double-edged blade. The steel of the blade was the same vivid-red as her sash and cloak, leaving crimson streaks behind it as she whirled it through a few circular passes, before settling into an unusual combat stance, having raised the blade over her hooded head, so that it was pointed ahead of her, the edges angled vertically, the middle and ring fingers of her right hand gently pinching the blade out near its angled tip.

"Oookaaaay..." drawled Torchwick, before flashing an irritated glance at the men with him. "Get her."

* * *

_I wasn't expecting this,_ thought Ruby as she faced down the criminals that had suddenly intruded on her peaceful evening. She'd entered the shop with the intention of catching up on some of the things she'd missed while she was away. Her sword was wonderful and beautiful, and she had absolutely _no_ intention of trading her for anything, but that didn't change the fact that Ruby had wanted to learn what the latest in Huntsman-tech was working up to these days.

Granted, she supposed she shouldn't have been surprised that the shop she'd been in was suddenly being robbed. Criminals, by their very nature, wouldn't accomplish much if they were expected. Still, Ruby had been trained to deal with the unexpected.

A single glance, supplemented by the rest of her senses, had given her a good idea of what she was dealing with. The black-suited henchmen were hardly anything to write home about, handling guns and blades as though they only had the barest idea where the business ends of their weapons were. The white-suited leader...was a different matter. Ruby could sense it in his balance, his understated reaction to the unexpected resistance, and the way his eyes watched and measured her, even as he maintained his condescending facade.

Still, he was a concern for later, as his henchmen closed in. The first man charged at her, wielding a sword with a broad, single-edged blade, looking almost like a falchion, save for the fact that it ended with a squared-off tip that gave the whole thing a rather cheap-looking appearance. Ruby ducked under his wide, telegraphed swing, angling her sword so that the flat was braced against the palm of her hand, allowing her to slide the force of his blow off to the side.

The man overextended, stumbling past her. Whirling in a swift motion, Ruby immediately spun about, bringing her sword down and around and slashing it across the man's stomach, the force of her attack blowing him across the street to slam into a nearby lamppost and slump to the ground, motionless.

There was no time to spare a thought for him, as a second man leveled a bulky-looking assault rifle at her and unloaded its clip in her direction. Ruby rushed forward, her footsteps leaving scattering petals of red drifting in her wake as she leaned forward to lower herself out of the line of fire, and close the distance before the goon could adjust his aim. Up came her sword, slicing his weapon in two, before Ruby brought it back around and stepped forward, throwing her weight into the blow as she slammed the pommel of her weapon into the man's stomach, doubling him over and sending him flying back, before he landed on the road, skidding to a stop.

The last remaining henchman attempted to attack her from behind. He wielded the same kind of blade that the first one that had come at her had. Ruby immediately went into a spin, bringing her own sword up to meet his. There was a ring, then the sound of metal shearing as Ruby's sword cleaved cleanly through the his weapon. Before the man could even consciously realize what had just happened, Ruby continued her spin, accelerating and producing a cloud of petals around her like a miniature cyclone as she went through another complete circle, jumping up to bring her left foot to slam into the side of the henchman's head in a spinning back-kick that carried all the force her acceleration had produced. The man's head snapped to the side, and he was sent spinning to the ground.

Landing daintily, Ruby turned to face the leader, who glanced contemptuously at the fallen goons. "Well, you were worth every cent, truly you were," he muttered. Stepping forward, he adopted a teasing smile as he raised his cane. "Well, Red, it's been a lovely evening. But I'm afraid that it's past your bedtime."

Ruby's eyes widened as she saw the end of his cane, flip open, revealing a barrel as the end rose up above it to act as a sight. She didn't need to see the man's finger tighten around the trigger. The sharpening of his intent was warning enough as he fired. The fact that he'd taken the time to banter at her had allowed her to realize what was coming.

So when, with a shrill shriek, a fiery bolt left the barrel of the gun concealed in his cane, Ruby was already moving. Just as she had with the machine gun-wielding goon before, Ruby immediately dashed forward, leaning down and ducking beneath the line of fire, feeling the heat and breeze of the shot sail over her head, rustling her hood. Now it was the man's eyes that widened as Ruby closed the distance between them, closing in before he had a hope of lining up a second shot. By the time his finger had relaxed under the trigger in preparation to squeeze it again, Ruby was already below the shaft of his cane, her sword whipping up towards the side of his chest.

With a surprised yelp, the criminal backpedaled, quickly whipping his cane around to counter Ruby's slash. The shaft met the blade of Ruby's sword with a loud clang. The moment their weapons made contact, Ruby realized that this man's weapon had nothing in common with the cheap, mass-produced ones wielded by his henchmen. It was solid, and withstood her sword easily, despite the structural weakness a barrel running down its length should have imparted. Whoever had made this weapon knew what they were doing.

So did the criminal, Ruby realized, as the man responded with impressive speed, following up his block with a swift counterattack, whipping the cane back around with a deft movement of his wrist to swing it at the side of her head. Ruby quickly raised her own blade to counter in turn, their weapons bouncing off one another again. Taking advantage of the sudden disengagement, Ruby went into motion, flickering in rapid steps that left flurries of red petals where her feet had been, as she sidestepped around the man with such speed that she was little more than a red blur to his eyes.

To her surprise, while the man was clearly shocked by the speed of her maneuver, he responded swiftly and competently, spinning counter to the direction of her own movement, meeting sword with cane again. For a few seconds, the two fenced furiously as they exchanged a series of rapid blows, while guarding against one another's counters. Ruby kept the fight close, not wanting to give the man the distance he needed to use the gun built into his cane. If he fired that off wildly in their fight, there was no telling where those, obviously explosive, bolts might go, or what they might end up hitting.

They danced rapidly back and forth, jockeying for position, moving to try and flank one another, even as they continued to exchange blows at a furious pace. Ruby frowned, and her eyes narrowed. It was time to start pushing herself harder.

Before she could do so, however, the man abruptly danced back two steps. At first, Ruby thought he was planning to try and open up the distance between them to use his gun. However, as she quickly closed in again, he instead flipped his grip on the cane, angling the curved crook upwards, even as he used the shaft to catch another slash from her sword. There was a clicking sound as the man's thumb pressed some kind of button, and the cane's crook, tethered to the shaft by a gray cable, abruptly shot upwards. It hooked over the rung of the ladder of a fire-escape running up the side of the nearest building. The man pressed another button and the cable retracted, hauling him upwards and out of the way as Ruby's sword passed through the space where he'd been standing, hauling him up the side of the building to reach the ladder near the top, just a few rungs down from the roof.

Ruby paused, turning to take stock of the situation at ground-level. Going after the crook was important, but not if she left his henchmen to threaten the shopkeeper again. Fortunately, a quick survey was all she needed to know that the henchmen were down for the count. A glance at the shopkeeper allowed her to lock eyes with him, and confirm that he was all right with her continuing the pursuit.

Turning, Ruby went into full speed, rushing straight for the wall. Not breaking stride, she stepped against the wall and channeled her Aura through her feet in swift bursts, rushing straight up the side of the building in a blur of red, leaving small flurries of petals in her wake, bypassing the crook, even as he climbed over the edge of the roof. By the time he'd managed to stand, Ruby was waiting for him, standing in the center of the roof and cutting him off from wherever it was he was hoping to get to.

The man came up short, his eyes widening at her sudden appearance. Then those eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth in an angry growl. "Persistent," he muttered under his breath, even as his fingers tightened around the shaft of his cane.

But that became marginally less important when Ruby suddenly found herself buffeted by a powerful downdraft from behind and above her, accompanied by the roaring whine of a pair of hoverjets. She didn't need to look behind her to realize what was happening. An aircraft, most likely one of the new-model bullheads she'd been reading about, was now hovering behind her. Given its position, this had been what the man had been aiming to reach, when he'd climbed the building.

Ruby felt the flow of air buffeting her from behind shift, indicating that the aircraft was pivoting in place. It had descended sidelong towards the side of the building, most likely with the intent of allowing the crook to make a quick jump into its passenger bay before it got clear. But now it was pivoting around to bring its nose to bear on her, the shifting angles of the airflow and the slight change in the engines' pitch telling Ruby its new orientation clearly.

She felt the downdraft lessen slightly, the engines angling away from her as the bullhead's nose pitched down slightly. Behind its canopy, Ruby could feel the pilot's intent, that same sensation that came right before the crook in front of her had pulled the trigger on his cane and fired that first shot at her.

Not hesitating, Ruby dodged, the sound of bullets biting into the concrete of the roof behind her indicating that her instincts had been right. She dodged in the only direction that would give her the advantage under these circumstances, straight towards the crook as he shouted in surprise and brought his cane up to parry another slash of her sword, glancing it off the shaft, before the two of them began clashing furiously once again.

Even as she whipped her blade through rapid crescents in an effort to break through her opponent's defenses, Ruby could sense the shifting of the bullhead behind her as it began to move, in its hovering configuration, circling around the rooftop, looking for an angle. Her boldness had paid off. This close to the criminal the airship had been trying to extract, there was no way the pilot could shoot her without shooting the thief as well.

The man was fully aware of this, clearly trying to find a way to break away from the exchange so that his air support could pick her off effectively, alternately trying to retreat out of range or force her back with a sudden application of brute strength...or even both at once. Unfortunately for him, Ruby wasn't planning to allow him to gain any distance anytime soon, always quickly closing with him again, often flanking around to put him directly between her and the guns of the circling airship.

The man blocked another slash at the side of his chest, then took her by surprise. He abruptly flipped his grip on his weapon again, bringing the crook of his cane around to hook over Ruby's left wrist after bouncing her blade away with his block. Pulling it down and back, he trapped her, then stepped in, thrusting his left elbow towards her midsection. Ruby interposed her right hand, catching the criminal's elbow with her palm, stopping his elbow-strike from landing. They stepped away from each other, but the man's crook around Ruby's wrist kept her from retreating out of his reach, when he followed up his elbow-strike by unfolding his arm so that he brought his fist whipping across at the side of her head.

Folding her knees, Ruby dropped beneath the arc of the criminal's swing. Leaning forward, she dashed in, the sudden closing allowing her to move her wrist so that it wasn't caught by the torque applied by the man's cane, allowing her to pull her wrist and hand clear. Then she turned the man's trick against him by pressing her blade against the inside of the crook of the cane, rather than pulling it all the way clear, allowing her to pull on it and draw the man closer as she returned the favor by driving her armored shoulder right into the criminal's sternum.

The man's breath deserted him in a rush as he was bounced back by the force of her attack. Now Ruby disengaged her sword, dropping down into a crouch and spinning around to sweep her leg through the man's ankles, taking his feet out from under him and dropping him with a pained yelp. He landed on his shoulder, then rolled onto his back, his hat bouncing away in the wind kicked up by the hovering bullhead's jets.

Seizing the moment, Ruby rushed forward, rising up so that she could put her weight onto her foot as she brought it down on the criminal's right wrist, causing him to yell in pain as his hand relinquished its grip on his cane. A sweep of her sword sent the other weapon skittering across the roof and out of the man's reach as she practically fell forward onto him, straddling his chest in order to bring her knees down onto his forearms, trapping them beneath her weight, which was more considerable than it appeared. In the same movement, she drove her sword down into the roof, before pulling it down, the blade slicing cleanly through the concrete, allowing her to angle it so that the edge rested just against the man's throat. The tiniest shift in her weight, and his head would roll.

The man gasped and coughed, his eyes wide as the twitches of his throat pressed the skin of his neck up against the blade's edge, that tiny bit of pressure being enough to break it and send a trickle of blood running down the side of his neck. The man froze, realizing that Ruby was capable of cutting right through his Aura, with her current position. Her blade was far more dangerous than it initially appeared to be.

The man chuckled feebly and gave Ruby a nervous grin, a sweat that had nothing to do with his previous exertions adding a slight shine to his brow. "You're a lot tougher than you look, Red," he conceded. "But I hope you realize you just signed _both_ our death warrants."

Ruby's eyes narrowed as she once again felt that sharpening intent behind her. The bullhead was shifting its position again, and she realized it was about to start firing. Apparently, with their intended passenger now subdued and restrained, the pilot had decided to eliminate both him _and_ Ruby, if the criminal couldn't be safely extracted.

Ruby tensed, readying to deal with the threat. She wasn't a Huntress, nor was she one of the police, but she felt an obligation not to let this man die, just because she'd stopped him from getting away, for a number of reasons. She didn't want anybody to die tonight. There was also the fact that, if the pilot had settled on eliminating the criminal, rather than let him be captured, it likely meant that the criminal had information that the pilot didn't want him divulging.

But then Ruby relaxed, realizing she didn't need to worry as she sensed a new, non-hostile, figure drop down on to the roof behind her. She felt the sensation of Aura mingling with the energy propellant known as Dust, binding it together and activating its energy to form a glowing array between the newly-arrived woman and the hostile bullhead. The aircraft's barrage impacted harmlessly against the shining shield the woman had erected, producing a sound like hailstones clicking against a metal roof.

The bullhead stopped firing, and the woman took advantage of the opening, condensing a charge of ice-Dust, she whipped her weapon, which Ruby sensed was something akin to a flexible baton of some sort, sending the bolt flying upwards past the bullhead. It burst in the sky overhead, producing a sudden swirling mass of dark clouds. The woman then decisively flicked her weapon downwards, and the clouds unleashed a storm of sharp, icy shards that bombarded the bullhead with such force that Ruby could hear the ice tearing through the metal chassis of the airship.

That was apparently enough for the pilot, who had decided that there was no helping the situation. The bullhead rocked backwards, the buffeting of its engines intensifying as it hovered back away from the rooftop. The woman was clearly loathe to let the ship go as she leveled her weapon at it again, her Aura condensing at the tip as she infused it with another charge of Dust. However, the bullhead quickly drifted into a turn as its wings rotated, the jets moving into the forward flight-configuration, allowing the aircraft to swiftly escape.

The woman kept her eyes on it until the airship was lost in the distance, just in case this withdrawal was a prelude to it executing a fast attack-run on the roof when she lowered her guard. Ruby could sense the woman's frustration, even as she returned to regard Ruby and the restrained criminal. The woman took the situation in at a glance, then moved over to retrieve the man's weapon, picking it up before returning to stand over Ruby and her prisoner.

"You can get up off him now," she said curtly.

Ruby frowned, but did as she was bid, able to hear the clear authority in the woman's voice. This was not a woman to disobey lightly. She stood up and stepped clear of the captured criminal, careful not to obstruct the woman's view of him as she moved to the side.

Now that she no longer had to keep her eyes solely on the criminal, Ruby was able to lay eyes on her rescuer for the first time. She was a severe-looking woman with a head of blonde hair that ran down to her neck. Her white, button-down shirt and tight, black skirt, combined with the black leggings hugging her legs and the spectacles in front of her eyes, gave the image of an office-worker, rather than a skilled Huntress, which she clearly was, if her brilliant handling of Dust before was any indication. The only visual indicators of her profession were the black cape with purple lining she wore over her shoulders, and the weapon she held in her hand.

What Ruby had assumed to be a flexible baton of some kind instead appeared to be a leather riding crop. As weapons went, it was an unusual choice, but the woman seemed to wield it more like the magic wand of a wizard, like the kind in fairy tales that had been read to her as a child...before the incident.

Ruby swallowed as the woman's eyes came to rest on her, and Ruby got the distinct impression that she was in trouble.

* * *

_Now_ Ruby had an idea of why the Huntress, Glynda Goodwitch apparently, favored a riding crop, despite, presumably, being miles away from the nearest horse. It certainly produced an authoritative "Crack!" when slapped against the metal surface of the interrogation room's table, the sound making Ruby twitch slightly, despite the absence of any sense of actual threat from the woman. Glynda was apparently an experienced disciplinarian.

"Do you have _any_ idea just how dangerous your situation was?" she snapped harshly.

"Yes," answered Ruby, a slight quaver in her tone, thanks to Glynda's intimidating presence.

From the way Glynda stiffened, that was _not_ the answer she'd been expecting to hear...or, at least, not how she'd expected Ruby to give it. "Explain," she said.

"I'd caught the crook...uh..." began Ruby. "From what he said and what I felt, the ship was about to fire on both of us."

"Yet you made no effort to evade," noted Glynda.

"Well...if I'd dodged...then the thief-"

"Roman Torchwick," Glynda supplied helpfully.

"Uh...Torchwick-s...right...then he would have been shot, and I couldn't just let him die." Ruby fidgeted, pressing the tips of her index fingers together as she stared at the surface of the table. The weeks of solitary travel through the wilderness, between the isolated pools of civilization that dotted Remnant, always left her with an adjustment period when it came to dealing with people again. Glynda's intense personality was not helping matters.

However, Glynda's frown was now smoothing out, her expression of stern disapproval being replaced with one of (admittedly still stern) bemusement. "You _do_ realize who it was you took down, don't you?" she asked.

"N-not really," said Ruby. "I only just got to Vale this morning. I...I'm not caught up on recent events yet."

That statement appeared to confuse Glynda even more, her frown returning, albeit taking on a contemplative quality. "You came from outside the Kingdom?" she asked.

Ruby nodded nervously.

"So you had no idea that the man you brought down was Roman Torchwick, the most infamous criminal in the Kingdom of Vale, wanted for several-dozen counts of theft, assault, battery, and even _murder_?" the stern woman prodded.

Ruby shook her head. "I didn't," she said. "He and his goons came into the Dust sho,p and one of them threatened me. I-I reacted reflexively and took him down, and things sort of...uh...snowballed from there."

"And you were prepared to allow yourself to be shot for this man?" asked Glynda.

"W-well, I sensed you coming, so I decided I would be safe not dodging," said Ruby. "While you were fighting the bullhead...I thought I'd just get in the way if I moved, s-so I made sure he couldn't get away."

Glynda's eyes narrowed, and she was silent for a moment, tilting her head slightly as she studied Ruby intently. Ruby got the distinct impression that Glynda didn't really know what to make of the red-cloaked girl sitting in front of her, still shifting nervously, her eyes continuing to glide over the surface of the table, rather than meet Glynda's gaze directly. Ruby's demeanor was more akin to a guilty toddler, caught with her hand in the cookie jar, than a girl who'd just brought down one of the most dangerous men in the Kingdom.

"And what would you have done if you _hadn't_ known I was coming?" asked Glynda.

"I-I would have used my cloak," said Ruby, now fiddling with the edge of the garment in question. "I can run my Aura through it, and use it to block attacks."

Glynda's eyes widened in surprise. From a young age, Huntsmen and Huntresses were trained to use their weapons as conduits for their Aura. What was implicit in that lesson, if they were willing to open their minds, was that that concept could be applied to virtually anything they came in contact with, including parts of their surroundings...or even the very clothes on their backs. It was an advanced application of Aura, and one that very few, even among veteran Huntsmen, were proficient in.

"Even so, you were prepared to put yourself at risk to protect a man who threatened you and innocent people?" Glynda prodded again.

"W-well...I'm not a Huntress...yet..." said Ruby, the last word exiting her mouth in a barely audible whisper. "I didn't feel right, deciding to let someone die, just to save myself." She finally brought herself to look up at Glynda, the gleam in Ruby's silver eyes surprising the woman. "Also...I thought that...uh...if the pilot was prepared to kill T-Torchwick-san-Ah!" The girl's mouth abruptly shut and she apparently had to regather her thoughts. "Er...Torchwick, then...it was probably because he knew things they...they didn't want him to talk about...I think."

Glynda was taken aback for multiple reasons. She was amazed at the blend of idealism and pragmatism Ruby's behavior and statements indicated. Despite the nervous edge to her voice, Glynda could also sense the firm conviction in Ruby's tone, indicating that, even if she _hadn't_ thought Torchwick might be important in some manner, she still wouldn't have abandoned him to his death.

But Glynda was also slightly troubled by Ruby's slip of the tongue, the use of an archaic honorific, belonging to a language all but forgotten to the world of Remnant, save for one secluded corner of it, suggesting a potentially troublesome association.

But it wasn't Glynda's right to be suspicious of her for that. For all that Ruby's actions, what she had done and what she was clearly capable of, had roused considerable curiosity, Glynda currently didn't have the legal authority to satisfy said curiosity. Instead, she sighed.

"If it were up to me, I would send you home-" For some reason, the mention of the word, "home," caused Ruby to flinch. "-with a pat on the back..." Glynda paused, then brought her crop smacking down against the table again, making Ruby yelp in surprise and reel back. "...and a slap on the wrist. However, it is not up to me. There is someone else who would like to talk to you."

A new person entered the room and Ruby immediately felt her throat tighten with nerves at the sight of him. He was light-skinned, with silvery hair, a pair of brown eyes that peaked over a set of spectacles resting on the bridge of his nose, which seemed to be more for decoration than actual use. He was tall, dressed in a black suit, its front unbuttoned slightly at the top and bottom so that she could see the dark-green turtleneck he wore beneath the jacket, its collar rising up to encompass his neck.

In his right hand, he carried a cane. Ruby noted that, with his balance and poise, the man clearly didn't require it for assistance walking. In his other hand, he held a plate of-

_Cookies!_ Ruby's mind nearly went blank at the sight of the lovely, brown treats, studded with chocolate chips, her favorite kind no less. Just the sight of them was enough to almost make her start drooling. She'd rarely had cookies since she'd left home on her training excursion, a few months ago. At best, she could occasionally exchange services for them in the small bakeries that she sometimes found in the settlements she visited, either that or work to earn lien to buy some for herself, but most of that lien went to other things more important than the, admittedly delicious and addicting, sugary treats.

But then she had the presence of mind to recall where she was, and who she was with. Ruby pried her eyes away from the cookies and up to the man carrying them, her throat tightening uncomfortably. He wasn't particularly intimidating. Indeed, there was something about the way he carried himself and the slight smile on his face that gave him a gentle, almost grandfatherly, demeanor. Ruby didn't suddenly find herself at a loss for words because she was intimidated…but because she recognized this man. When she was younger, she'd daydreamed of someday meeting with him, of getting to talk to him…but she'd never imagined that it would happen like this.

The man's own eyes fixed with hers and Ruby felt…strange. She wasn't sure what she felt. It wasn't normal, but it wasn't exactly uncomfortable either. There was something that suggested that the man's eyes had looked right through her, like some kind of X-Ray machine.

"You…have silver eyes," said the man after a prolonged moment of silence.

"Uh…" said Ruby, not sure how to react to an opening line like that.

The man appeared to catch himself doing something unusual and amended his behavior. "My apologies. It's nice to meet you, Miss…?"

"Ruby…Ruby Rose," said Ruby nervously.

The man smiled, lowering the plate of cookies onto the table, and sliding it into her reach. Ruby's heart quivered at the thought that these were for her. Looking up, she saw the man watching expectantly and saw that he was perfectly happy to wait while she indulged herself. Ruby tentatively picked up a cookie and bit down on it.

The sweet flavors of sugar and chocolate mingled on her tongue and, before Ruby knew it, the cookie had disappeared, followed by another…and another…and another…and so on…until the entire plate had been cleared, in what she realized, now that she was done, a somewhat indecently short time, given the kindness of the man's gesture.

The man didn't seem offended in the slightest. If anything, his smile had widened, reminding Ruby of her adoptive mother in how understated his expressions were. He had that same look of quiet approval that Sora had whenever she saw Ruby enjoying herself or just generally being happy.

"Th-thank you," Ruby managed to squeak out, her mouth feeling a little dry after all the sugar and starch she'd just shoveled into it. A glass of milk would have gone over nicely, but she figured that the man in front of her had indulged her enough for one meeting.

"My pleasure," said the man with a slight quaver that suggested a suppressed chuckle in his voice…again, very much like Ruby's mother. "Now then, I'm very curious to know where you learned to do…this…" He withdrew a scroll from his jacket and opened it up into its tablet-mode, allowing Ruby to view a replay of her fight against Torchwick and his henchmen…the part of it that had taken place at street-level anyway.

"Uh..." Ruby wasn't sure it was wise to answer that question.

"As far as I know, that style of swordsmanship is not taught in any currently existing Combat School that I am aware of," pressed the man, his tone remaining gentle, yet with the slightest hint of firmness to it that indicated he would get to the bottom of this, and find the answers he sought...and Ruby didn't think she had the wherewithal to dissuade him.

"I...I didn't go to Combat School," said Ruby hesitantly.

Behind the man, she saw Glynda stiffen slightly, an unreadable look passing over her face. Ruby wasn't quite sure if the stern woman approved of that fact.

The man, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by that particular gem of information. If anything it seemed that that had been, at least in part, the kind of answer he'd been expecting. He nodded slowly. "I am also not aware of anyone who teaches such a unique style of swordsmanship."

"W-well...I didn't have just one teacher," Ruby demurred. "I had a few. I sorta took a little of this and some of that, and just sorta...put it all together."

"I see…" said the man cryptically. "Interesting."

Ruby swallowed, wondering what the man was getting at.

"And, from what I gathered, you have been traveling outside the Kingdom," noted the man.

"Um…Y-yeah," said Ruby.

"In other words, you have been plying the wilds between settlements and Kingdoms…on foot…by yourself…to what end?" asked the man.

"F-for training," said Ruby.

"Training?" The man's eyebrow went up.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "My teachers said that I needed to spend time getting real experience-and I agree-so I was going across Sanus on my own to get some experience in fighting, traveling, wilderness survival...all that stuff."

"Again…to what end?" asked the man.

"W-well…in two years, I was gonna apply to Beacon Academy," said Ruby. "I want to become a Huntress."

Behind the man, Glynda's eyes narrowed fractionally.

"You wish to slay monsters?" asked the man.

Ruby nodded eagerly. "W-well…I've always wanted to be one, b-because I've always wanted to help people, to fight for others and…well…I uh…I kinda figured I might as well make a career out of it."

"You want to be a hero?"

"I-I guess," said Ruby. "I…I don't want to become famous or anything, but…I've always known how scary the Grimm are…how bad they can be. I want to stand up to them, to protect the people they'd hurt otherwise."

"Hmmm…" The man was silent for a moment. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Ozpin…Headmaster of Beacon," said Ruby.

Ozpin's smile widened. "Still…I must say, you are one of the more…unique…aspirants to become a Huntress that I have seen in many years."

"I-is that so?" asked Ruby nervously.

"Yes," said Ozpin. "Your skill with Aura is exceptional."

"W-well…it's nothing compared to my teachers," said Ruby, beginning to fidget again.

"I suppose maybe not," said Ozpin, "not yet, in any case. Of course, I imagine that it will only be a matter of time for you. And then, of course, there is the matter of your weapon."

"Wha-what about it?" asked Ruby.

"Running an Academy, as I have, you can imagine that I have seen a remarkable variety of weapons in my time," explained Ozpin. "But I have seen very few like yours."

Behind him, Glynda frowned. "It's a sword," she pointed out. "I will concede that the basic nature of its design is rare in this day and age, but that hardly qualifies it as unique."

"You think so?" mused Ozpin. His eyes went to Ruby. "May I have your permission to allow Glynda to examine your blade?"

"Sure," said Ruby, fidgeting uncomfortably again. This being the interrogation room of a police station, Ruby had been forced to surrender her weapon before even walking past the front desk. She hadn't exactly been happy to hand over her precious blade, the single most important birthday present she'd ever been given. What was more, considering who made it, and how it was made, it was _beyond_ priceless in her eyes, even if some people didn't realize that.

However, Ozpin clearly understood this to an extent, asking if she was comfortable with having Glynda look at her sword. Retreating to the door, Ozpin opened it and retrieved the sheathed blade, which he'd apparently had leaning against the wall just outside. Coming back in, he carefully handed the blade over to Glynda.

Glynda took it by its sheath and gave it a cursory visual examination. She had to admit, just going by the looks of it, it was a piece of masterful craftsmanship. The handle alone was a beautiful, dark-red color, engraved with the motif of roses and thorny vines spiraling around it. In shape, it was a straight rectangle, slightly blocky in appearance, but with the edges rounded just enough that it would fit comfortably into the hand. The black, lacquered sheath was simple and unadorned by anything. From its shape, Glynda could see the sword's own profile, the blade being straight, with two edges, slender, its width being exactly the same as the handle all the way along its length, until it reached the tip, where the sides abruptly tapered together. Unlike most swords, this one lacked a guard of any kind.

Closing the fingers of her right hand around the handle, Glynda grasped the sheath in the other hand and pulled. But the sword didn't budge. There was no shifting or rattling, nothing to suggest that the blade was caught on something in the sheath. Instead, it felt almost as though it had been glued in place, or that the blade did not exist, and the sheath and handle were a single, solid object. "What…?" she gasped.

"As I thought," said Ozpin, gently taking the weapon back from her, before passing it across the table to Ruby. "Ms. Rose…"

Recognizing the prompt for what it was, Ruby closed her left hand around the handle and pulled. The blade slid free as smoothly as though the inside of the sheath had been coated in oil.

"What…?" Glynda repeated, her mouth opening and closing, the rest of her vocabulary seeming to have deserted to her.

Ozpin's eyes traced the length of the crimson blade, taking note of the flowing ripples running parallel to each of the sword's two edges, forming a pattern that almost looked like flower petals. "Exquisite craftsmanship," he said with a smile. "I'd expect no less. Do you feel it, Glynda?"

Glynda's eyes narrowed. She had felt it. The feeling had been muted at first, when the sword was still sheathed. But now that the blade was in the open, the air within the room had changed. "It…it has its own Aura. It feels…_alive!_"

"Exactly," agreed Ozpin. "That is not such a singular thing, in and of itself. It is said that craftsmen who are passionate about the work that they do put their heart and soul into something. That can actually be _literally_ true, and many such artisans, sometimes unknowingly, imbed a fragment of their own Aura into what they create.

"However, it is far rarer for someone to do so deliberately, and to such an extent that the creation in question has its own apparent soul, one that will not even permit the blade to be drawn, unless by the one it acknowledges as its wielder. There is only one place in the world…where this kind of craftsmanship is practiced."

Ruby suddenly felt very lightheaded.

But Ozpin's expression remained congenial. "So…you have spent time with the Mibu Clan."

Glynda gasped in shock.

"How is Kyo, by the way?" asked Ozpin.

"D-doing fine," said Ruby. "You kn-know him…?"

"By reputation," said Ozpin. "We've never met. There are only one or two members of the Mibu who regularly travel the world outside Leng for any length of time. Kyo is one of those people."

"So then this girl…" Glynda stared at Ruby as though she were some kind of exotic object.

"Has been trained by the Mibu," said Ozpin. "What is more, she has been granted a blade that, if my eye for quality has not degraded any, was forged for her by none other than the Mibu Blademaster, their master swordsmith."

Ruby's throat tightened further, and suddenly, it was very hard for her to breathe.

Ozpin's fingers closed around the sheath of her weapon, and guided it so that it aligned with the tip of her sword, prompting her to slide it back in. Then he let go of it and pulled back. "Thank you for your demonstration, Ms. Rose."

"Y-you're welcome," said Ruby, still having trouble breathing.

"You needn't worry," said Ozpin. "You are in no trouble. Your association with the Mibu Clan is not a cause for suspicion. I was merely satisfying my curiosity. I know that the state of affairs between Vale, or any of the other Kingdoms for that matter, and the Mibu is…less than satisfactory…but that does not reflect poorly on you, seeing as they were willing to take an outsider in and train her in their techniques."

"It was just a few of them," said Ruby.

Ozpin nodded. "Indeed. But I can see that your training has served you well and…the results speak for themselves." His smile widened. "You said you wished to become a Huntress, Ms. Rose?"

"Yes," said Ruby, nodding. "It's always been my dream."

"And you wish to come to my school?" said Ozpin.

Ruby nodded.

"Well then…all right," said Ozpin.

A stunned silence settled over the room as the two other people there processed what Ozpin had just said.

"Wha-wha-what?" gasped Ruby, not sure she'd understood what he'd been saying by that.

"I am extending to you a personal invitation to attend Beacon…this year," said Ozpin.

"B-but-but…"

"Are you mad!?" Glynda hissed furiously. "She's still too young."

"I believe her age is not too much of an issue," said Ozpin. "She already shows skill potentially surpassing that of most of our entrants in this year's class. I believe she will do well." He turned back to Ruby. "So then, Ms. Rose…What do you say?"

Ruby blinked, unable to find the words. This hadn't been at all what she'd expected this conversation to lead to. She hadn't expected to be interrogated by a Huntress. She hadn't expected to meet the Headmaster of Beacon. She hadn't expected to be here at all. She hadn't expected to need to thwart a robbery. And yet, here she was, feeling as though she'd landed at the bottom of a hill after a rough tumble, where she hadn't been able to tell up from down.

"I…I…I…uh…I" Ruby stared down at the table, fighting to bring her emotions back under her control. "I don't know…This is so sudden. I…" She gasped, grabbing the edge of the table, feeling on the verge of having a panic attack. "I need to think about this."

"You have a week," said Ozpin, giving Ruby an indulgent smile. "If you choose to accept my offer, be at Vale's air-docks no later than one-o-clock PM, Sunday. If not, then you are free to do as you wish, and I will take your formal application, two years from now."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"Do you have any lodgings, Ms. Rose?" asked Ozpin.

"N-not yet," said Ruby. "I have some lien for a room." _But not enough for a week,_ she thought glumly.

"I see," said Ozpin. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a small card. It looked like a lien card, but Ruby could see the stamp of Beacon Academy on one side. "Three blocks down this street, you'll find the _Emerald Tree_. Show them this card, and Beacon shall cover your expenses for the duration of your stay."

"E-even if I don't...?" Ruby posed nervously.

"Even if you don't," said Ozpin.

"A-all right," said Ruby, looking down at the card in her hand. "I need to make a call."

"There is a CCT center next door to the hotel," said Ozpin with a smile. "I wish you luck, Ms. Rose. I hope to see you on Sunday. However, if you choose not to come, I will understand."

"Thank you," said Ruby, clutching the card and her sword to her chest.

* * *

**And so, welcome to _Red Thorn_. My apologies for taking so long to finally start posting this story. Once again, I was confronted by the fact that my story continued to swell beyond my original intentions, becoming a sort of bloated monstrosity. As a result, I'm finally starting to post it, even though my writing of it isn't quite in the home stretch yet, because I didn't want to keep everyone waiting until the beginning of next year.**

**On a side note, this is why I don't use that...um...partonage website. I don't have any perks to promise my patrons, and I suck at deadlines, so it feels disingenuous to ask people for money to essentially support a hobby I indulge in for my personal gratification, first and foremost.**

**Those of you who read my notes about this story, at the end of _Lost Rose_, will be aware that this is, like _Crimson Eyes_, a pseudo-crossover between _RWBY_ and _Samurai Deeper Kyo_. I say pseudo crossover because, once again, the majority of characters related to SDK are OCs, who are tangentially related to the characters of that series. Because I can be pretty damn lazy, when push comes to shove, I recycled a ton of my OCs in that story, when writing this one. So, if you read _Crimson Eyes_, you're gonna see quite a few familiar faces, albeit in a different context, as there's no connection between them otherwise. The plots of these stories have no relation to one another.**

**The other important aspect of this story is that it was inspired, and heavily influenced by, a certain _RWBY_ story called _Matters of the Heart_, by Vengfulfate. It's a pretty great story, and one that I recommend you check out. It also has the Ladybug ship, if that's your cup of tea.**

**The basic premise of said story is that Ruby was injured during that little childhood "outing" with Yang, and winds up with a heart condition as a result. Taiyang gets ridiculously overprotective, which prompts Ruby to run away. Years later, she comes back to Vale, gets into Beacon, and has to deal with meeting her family again, and all that jazz. Like I said, it's a good read.**

**Ultimately, upon getting into that story, the hyperactive five-year-old who occupies a significant chunk of my headspace started jumping up and down, shouting, "I wanna do that! Let's write that kinda story next!" That's how a lot of my stories come into being, honestly. And so, I started writing this story.**

**Naturally, I made quite a few changes to the premise (which include introducing the the pseudo-crossover aspect of it), part out of working with my personal interests, and also to avoid just plain ripping off Vengfulfate's work. Of course, that's not such a big risk now, considering that, compared to _Matters of the Heart_, which is a relatively short, more intimate piece, with a greater focus on character drama than anything else, _my_ story wound up turning into another 100+ chapter behemoth, mainly because, unlike Vengfulfate, I chose to incorporate the overall meta-plot of _RWBY_ into my story. As a consequence, it's likely going to wind up being even _longer_ than _Lost Rose_ was.**

**Part of that is because I don't want to pull the same stunt I did with _Lost Rose_, where I wrote a monstrously long story, only the realize I was barely part way through my whole plan, and decided to cut my losses, post what I had, and write the rest as a sequel. In this case, I'm planning to wrap up the entire plot of my story in one go, so there won't be any sequels this time.**

**To whit, I'm going to be talking a fair bit about _Matters of the Heart_, and how it influenced my creative decisions in the author notes of my chapters, particularly in the early ones, before my story _really_ started to take on a life of its own. Some of my decisions arose as a direct response to the ones Vengfulfate made in their own story, less out of any thought that my choices are better, and more out of an idea of "that's cool, but I'd do it this way..." sort of thought process, while others were meant to sufficiently make the story my own.**

**Apologies for the lengthy intro. Hope you enjoy.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Six years ago:_

Ruby glowered at the ground, kicking a loose stone in her anger, sending the small rock skipping along. Her eyes tracked its progress as it bounced further along the path before coming to a stop. Her eyes narrowed and she felt another surge of anger. Walking up to where it landed , she kicked it even harder, sending it bouncing along. This time, one of the stone's surfaces hit the ground at an odd angle, causing it to suddenly change direction and bounce off the edge of the path and into the surrounding foliage.

Ruby stared at where it had been for a moment, irritated at being deprived the only outlet for her frustrations she had now.

_"__Sorry, Ruby. Mom doesn't want me to invite you. She says you're sweet, but she just can't deal with your dad."_

_That jerk,_ Ruby thought furiously. It was bad enough that her father refused to allow Uncle Qrow to teach her. It was bad enough that he denied her any chance to enlist in any combat classes, not even something as tame as a self-defense course. It was bad enough that he had categorically denied her any chance to become a Huntress, so that she could have a "normal life." Now his damn micromanaging was even taking away her so-called "normal life."

Sleepovers, a staple of children the world over, had once been her main solace, a night she could spend without her father looking over her shoulder, checking to make sure she wasn't trying to research how to make a weapon, or looking up combat teachers that might take her on the sly. It was a time she could spend with her friends, some of whom were lucky enough to have parents that would allow them to get combat training. Some of them were even already making plans to enroll at Signal Academy, where her father _taught_, for crying out loud. She could spend time with her friends, talk about what she wanted to talk about, read exciting stories, watch action movies, talk about the coolest Huntsmen and Huntresses currently working, all those things.

But her father had to muck that up too. At first it had been innocent enough, calling a couple times a night to make sure she was doing all right, that she didn't need anything. Then, a week later, at the next one, the calls became more frequent. Then Taiyang started showing up at the door directly, wanting to check on her.

The poor parents of whatever friend Ruby was staying over with put up with it, at first. They'd tutted sympathetically, reminding each other, as well as the visiting children, that Taiyang was going through a hard time, having just lost his second wife. He was just dealing with her death by being a bit overprotective of his daughter by her. But, as his actions became ever _more_ intrusive, they'd begun to get frustrated. At one point, her father had nearly started a fight with the father over one of her friends, when the unfortunate man objected to Taiyang almost forcing his way into the house in his desire to check up on her.

Ruby had wound up going home early that time.

She'd complained and Taiyang had brushed her complaints away. "I'm just worried about you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

He treated her like she was something delicate, like she was made of glass. But there was nothing wrong with her. She was physically fine. Nothing had happened to her, that day in the woods. Uncle Qrow had shown up and saved the day like he was supposed to. They'd gone home. Yang was grounded, and life moved on.

At first, it had even been a blessing. Before the incident, Taiyang had barely acknowledged her existence. Instead, it had fallen to Yang to do everything. She'd made meals for them, given Ruby baths, read stories to her, and tucked her into bed every night. All the while, Taiyang spent almost every evening slumped on the couch, a bottle in one hand, staring into space, acting to all the world as though he was the only one in the house, as though no one _else_ had lost Summer Rose, as though he was the _only_ one in pain.

But, after the incident, it was like someone had flipped a switch. Suddenly their father was attentive again. He gave up drink, and worked to take care of them. At first, Ruby had been happy to have her daddy back.

And then Taiyang had said she couldn't be a Huntress, that she wouldn't be allowed to attend Signal or go to Beacon, like she'd dreamed. At first he'd made excuses. She just wasn't suited to it. She didn't have the talent or the requisite strength. The fact that Ruby could obtain strength or make up for lack of talent was brushed off, Taiyang pretending she hadn't said anything.

Uncle Qrow, her cool uncle, the coolest person in the whole world to her, the one who'd promised to show her how to handle a scythe someday, came less and less. When he did show up at the house, he and Taiyang spent a lot of their time arguing. Ruby didn't need to eavesdrop to know that most, if not all, of those arguments were about her. The last time Qrow had come over, she'd stumbled on him and her dad yelling at each other, to the point she was afraid they'd come to blows. Qrow had stormed out after that, barely managing to slip on a pleasant mask to hide his anger and talk to her, not wanting to vent at her, before he was gone.

That had been three months ago.

Looking up, Ruby saw the house. It was a pleasant looking place, its wooden construction evoking a rustic, log cabin feel. It was more than large enough for the family of three. At one point in Ruby's life, the sight of her home, after a long day of school, would have filled her with elation. But now...she found herself wondering if she could put off her return a little longer.

With a sigh and a glower at the door, Ruby decided to just get it over with. She was done with this. She opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, stomping across the wooden floor.

"H-hey, Ruby." Yang Xiao Long stuck her head out the door of the living room.

"Hi, Yang," grumbled Ruby, stomping past her sister with barely any further acknowledgement.

Yang Xiao Long's lilac eyes narrowed slightly and she frowned at Ruby's dismissive greeting. "Are you gonna come to dinner tonight?" she asked.

"No," snarled Ruby. "I'm going to my room."

"What's the matter?" asked a way-too-cheerful voice from behind her as her father emerged from the kitchen, a little down and across the hall from the living room.

Anyone who looked at Ruby and Taiyang would have been hard pressed to peg them as father and daughter. Taiyang's close-cropped blonde hair was nothing like his youngest daughter's black locks. He was a tall, muscular man, with a tanned complexion from years of work out in the elements...as a Huntsman. He had a cheerful smile on his face, either not having a clue about how much he was ruining Ruby's life...or not caring. Ruby wasn't sure which.

His question prompted her to whirl around and glare at him. "_You're_ what's the matter!" she shouted. "My friends don't want me to come over anymore because you won't stop bugging their parents!"

"Listen, Honey, I'm just worried," said Taiyang, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "Anything could happen to you over there."

"What could happen!" snapped Ruby. "I'm in a house, with my friends, and their parents! It's not like we're out in the woods with Grimm."

"I know, but...there's just no telling with people," said Taiyang.

"You seriously think someone would do something to me?" asked Ruby, completely flummoxed by her father's train of thought.

"Look, it's just fine," said Taiyang. "You're better off anyway. I'm not comfortable about you being over with those kids, having them fill your head with ideas."

"What ideas?" growled Ruby, the ferocity in her voice making her father backpedal. "_What_ ideas?"

"This Huntress thing," her father blurted out. "I know you're still sore about that Ruby. But you need to give it up. It just isn't for you."

"_Why_ isn't it for me?" snapped Ruby.

"You're just not suited for it, Sweetheart," said Taiyang.

"But it's just fine for Yang," noted Ruby, throwing a glare at her sister, who quailed beneath Ruby's frustration.

"Yang's different," said Taiyang. "She's tough. I know she has what it takes. But you're not like her, Ruby. You're..."

"I'm what?" snarled Ruby, her eyes narrowing. "I'm delicate. Is that it? Is that what you think, that I'm made of glass?"

"N-no! Not at all," protested Taiyang.

"Then why the hell not?"

"Ruby! Language!" admonished Taiyang.

"I DON'T CARE!" Ruby screamed, her cheeks flaming with rage as she glared at her father, tears running down them. "You're trying to trap me in some kind of box, lock me up like a princess in a tower...you think I care about language?"

"I am not about to let you go out and die like your mother did!" Taiyang shouted back, his temper fraying as well.

"Oh! But it's perfectly okay if _Yang_ goes out and dies!" Ruby snapped back. "I guess you don't care about her as much!"

"Ruby!" gasped Yang, visibly hurt by her remark.

"That's enough, young lady!" snapped Taiyang, his eyes blazing with fury. "Go to your room right now! You're grounded."

"So what?" Ruby snapped back. "I was going up there anyway. And I've been grounded for the past four years. What's another weekend?"

She stomped to the stairs and stomped up them and stomped into her room, slamming the door shut behind her, ignoring the pained look on Yang's face. Well, it served her right. Not only did Yang get to go out and become a Huntress, while Ruby was locked away like some kind of china figurine, but she always took Dad's side.

The worst part was that Ruby had admired and envied Yang. Not only was Yang beautiful, strong, and popular, everything Ruby wished she could be, but she was also kind and nurturing, as evinced by the fact that she'd taken care of Ruby, when their father had been lost in his depression after their mom's death.

But now, all Ruby felt was resentment. She unslung her backpack and hurled it against the wall, not caring if the textbooks within were damaged. She threw herself onto her bed and cried.

* * *

A couple hours later, Ruby figured it was time to go down and get herself something to eat. If she was quiet, she could sneak past the living room and make it to the kitchen while Yang and their father were watching the network. She'd taken off her shoes, so she was able to make her way down the stairs without a sound. Careful, trying to not make so much as a creak on the floorboards, Ruby made her way along the hall, aiming for the kitchen.

"-what?" Yang's voice, coming from the living room, drew Ruby's attention.

"I'm thinking of taking her out of school," said Taiyang. "I'm not sure she's doing well in that sort of environment."

_What?_ thought Ruby, her hands going to her mouth to muffle her gasp.

"I don't understand," Yang protested.

"She's only becoming more obstinate," said Taiyang. "Her attitude's getting worse by the day. I think those so-called friends of hers are a bad influence."

_It's not _their_ fault,_ Ruby thought furiously, grinding her teeth in silence.

"I'd feel better if I could keep her here, and keep an eye on her," said Taiyang.

And there it was, what her father really wanted. He really did want to lock her up, away from the world, isolate her from all contact, denying her even her friends, just so he could spend the rest of their lives looking over her shoulder.

"She won't like it," Yang protested. "Ruby loves her friends."

"It's for her own good," said Taiyang. "I need to keep her here, where I'm sure she can be _safe_." His voice suddenly became harsh. "You know what 'safe' means, right Yang? It's not like I'm loading her in a wagon and dragging her off on some kind of suicide quest."

"Y-yeah..." said Yang, her tone falling.

"Good, then you know that this is what _has_ to happen," said Taiyang firmly.

Ruby swallowed back her fury, mercilessly quashing the impulse to rush in there, and cuss like a sailor at her father. Exposure to Uncle Qrow, before he'd started keeping his distance, had led to her inadvertently led her to learning some impressive four-letter words, words her uncle probably hadn't meant for her to learn. Still, Ruby stopped herself.

_That does it!_ She was done with this. It was everything she feared and more. She wasn't going to put up with this any longer. She was gone. She'd get out and find some other way to become a Huntress. She'd find a way, even if it killed her. And if it did kill her...well...it served her father right in the first place.

With that, Ruby forgot about her hunger and returned to her room.

* * *

She had to plan carefully. Ruby continued to play the angry, stubborn girl all Saturday. She remained locked up in her room, only opening the door to collect the food Yang left in front of it. She ate and then returned to her work. She had to work quickly. As invasive as her father was, she wouldn't put it past him to look through her room and her stuff when she was gone at school during the day, which only gave her two days to work with.

First, she made a list of things she needed. Back when she and Yang had still been able to go on camping trips with Uncle Qrow, he had lectured them about the need to pack light and carry only the essentials. There were a lot of things Ruby wanted to bring, her favorite stuffed Beowolf for example, but she had to leave them behind to make space for the things she _needed_ to bring.

Ruby had no intention of running off into the wilderness, so she wouldn't pack like she was going camping. What she needed was money. She had some cash saved up from back when she'd gotten a weekly allowance, before her father had taken that away, making her ask him whenever she needed money for something (which often led to an extended and bizarrely intrusive inquiry into _why_ she needed whatever thing she needed money for).

She also knew that her father kept a sizable stash of money in a safe beneath his own bed, an emergency cache of cash. Well, _this_ qualified as an emergency for Ruby. She needed to get out of this house before her father decided she needed to be chained to the living room couch or something. Getting to said safe hadn't been easy. Ruby had needed to bide her time, acting when Taiyang was out of the house, and Yang was playing video games downstairs. Fortunately, the safe wasn't locked, Taiyang having not been overly concerned about thieves, so getting the money out of it was easy.

Sunday night, having packed everything she could think of, that she actually had access to, Ruby made the decision to slip out the door. With Taiyang and Yang asleep, she was able to unlock the door and slip away. She didn't care that she was leaving the door unlocked. If thieves wanted anything in the house, they were welcome to it now. As far as Ruby was concerned, it wasn't _her_ home anymore.

* * *

_This was a mistake,_ Ruby reflected as her stomach growled for the umpteenth time.

The cash she'd stolen from home hadn't lasted very long. Worse still, it wasn't as though Ruby was able to book a hotel room, even if she'd been able to afford it. That meant cold nights out in the streets, practically sleeping with one eye open, lest someone try to take advantage of her. Ruby wasn't sure what her plan had been, once she'd taken the ferry from Patch to Vale. She'd only been to the Kingdom a couple of times.

Her plans had originally been so ambitious too. First she had to find some form of combat school. But everywhere she looked, someone her age needed a parent or guardian consent form. No one was about to simply allow a nine-year-old to walk in off the street and learn to fight. And, of course, even if they were, her money wasn't enough to earn continuous lessons, and Ruby had no idea how to get more money. No one wanted to hire a nine-year-old either.

Now Ruby was feeling the pangs of hunger as she stared longingly at the loaf of bread sitting on a counter, just within arms' reach. The open front of the bakery was designed so that the owner could basically market and advertise her products to the passersby, without them needing to actually enter the store. It also, however, made her products a tempting target for someone who hadn't eaten in two days.

Ruby chewed the inside of her lip as she eyed the bread hungrily. If she did this, if she took it…she'd be committing a crime. Sure, she was starving, and she needed something, anything, to keep her going. But this was possibly the beginning of a slippery slope. Furthermore, if she was caught and wound up with a criminal record…her dreams of becoming a Huntress might become dashed before she even had a chance to begin. Ruby wasn't sure if the Academies took people with past criminal histories.

But she was _so_ hungry. Ruby smacked her lips, just looking at the bread. It was just one. That was all she needed, something to take the edge off the pangs in her stomach that were beginning to grow outright painful. She watched, looking carefully, waiting for the moment the owner turned her attention away from the front, a chance to dash in and take what she needed.

Finally, the owner turned to inspect some of her other products, and Ruby took the first step towards her prize...only to be brought up short as something soft, yet strong, wrapped around her left wrist and held her fast. Ruby fought down the urge to shriek, and whirled around to stare at what had caught her.

Another girl stood behind her, only a few inches taller than the nine-year-old. Despite that, Ruby could tell, somehow, that this girl was considerably older than her. Her build was slight and quite dainty. Long tresses of auburn hair framed soft, rounded cheeks and a pair of big, chocolate-brown eyes. She was dressed in a pale-pink kimono, its edges tucked into a skirt-like garment that wrapped around her legs. However, her most distinctive feature was the one that currently held Ruby fast, a brownish-red tail, with a white tip.

"Are you hungry, Little One?" asked the older girl, eying Ruby carefully, her eyes full of compassion and concern.

Ruby swallowed and said nothing.

"It isn't wise to try and steal," the older girl continued, "not in the least because the owner of that shop noticed you some time ago. You were staring a little _too_ intently for anyone not to notice."

Ruby swallowed, a shaky feeling that had nothing to do with hunger running through her body.

"She presented you with an opening in the hope of luring you in, and catching you in the act," added the older girl. "Had I not stopped you, the police would likely be on their way already."

That thought made Ruby feel faint. Being turned in to the police would mean the police learning where she had come from. That would lead to her being taken back to her father. And Taiyang likely wouldn't let her escape again. This was her only chance to get away from him, and she'd almost blown it.

"If you're hungry, please allow me to take care of it," continued the girl. "A growing girl like you needs a more balanced diet than bread anyway."

"Wha-what do you want?" asked Ruby.

"Well...in exchange for treating you to a meal, I want to hear your story, Miss..."

Recognizing the prompt, Ruby swallowed. "Ruby...Rose." Her mother's surname rolled off the tongue more comfortably than she thought it would. It helped that she'd given up all interest in bearing her father's surname. If Ruby Xiao Long couldn't be a Huntress, then Ruby _Rose_ would.

The girl's eyelids twitched, narrowing by the tiniest of fractions, indicating something about what Ruby had said had caught her attention. But then the change passed, like a fleeting mirage. "It's nice to meet you, Ruby-chan. My name is Mitarai Sasame." She paused, her fingers pinching her chin. "Oh, right, in the Kingdoms, the given name comes first. So I suppose my name is Sasame Mitarai."

"Sa-Sasame," said Ruby, testing the name on her tongue. It sounded nice. "Why did you call me that?"

"Oh! Sorry," said Sasame with a giggle, her fox-tail releasing its hold on Ruby's wrist and curling around to her front, where she took it in her hands and began to run her fingers through its fur. "Where I come from, that's an honorific."

"What's an hon-honor…uh…that thing?" asked Ruby.

Sasame giggled again. "Sorry, it's a form of address, like 'miss' or 'mister.' Though ours are a little more nuanced than most. Hence, '-chan' is used for children, particularly cute little girls, like yourself."

"I…I see," said Ruby, not sure how she felt about that. However, there was something endearing about it, and there was no trace of condescension in Sasame's voice when she'd used it.

"Now then, let's see about food, and you can tell me your story," said Sasame, releasing her tail, and extending a hand to Ruby.

Ruby eyed the hand warily, but hesitantly reached out and took it. Sasame's hand held hers in a grip that was gentle, yet firm. Ruby got the feeling that, if she tried to force herself out of it, she wouldn't be able to get Sasame's fingers to budge. For all that Sasame was a girl almost as small as her, Ruby couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about this girl, something...different.

Sasame led her down the streets and to a small cafe. Ruby looked around nervously, seeing a number of other faunus sitting at the tables, but no humans.

"Well, this is a place that caters to faunus," said Sasame, noting Ruby's discomfort. "I've heard it's getting better, but not everyone seems to like having faunus eat at their establishments. This is just a nice place I found recently."

The staff, when they saw them, appeared to be more concerned about Ruby's clear destitution, her clothing and skin being dirty from living on the streets, rather than her race. Ironically, that made Ruby feel a little more comfortable. They certainly seemed willing to take Sasame's lien.

A few minutes later, a plate of pancakes, accompanied by a fruit salad, was set in front of her.

"It's a good start," said Sasame, pouring some syrup over her own pancakes. "You need something to fill you up, but you also need vitamins and micronutrients. We'll get you some protein later."

"Later...?" Ruby blinked.

Sasame giggled. "Sorry. I got ahead of myself there. Let's start with what a sweet girl like you is doing out on the streets. Where is your family?"

"They-they're..." Ruby swallowed. "They're dead," she said.

Immediately, the air changed, and Ruby felt a strange sense of pressure coming from the older girl in front of her. It wasn't threatening...but it was rather authoritative. "Ruby-chan...it's not polite to _lie_ to someone who's buying you lunch." Sasame was still smiling, but there was a sternness to her expression.

"Wha-what?" gasped Ruby.

"Perhaps I should be more specific in my questioning," said Sasame. "Why did you run away from home?"

Ruby gasped. "H-how did you know?" she asked.

"When you gave me your name, you hesitated a fraction, before giving me your surname," said Sasame. "That strikes me as being because you are used to giving a _different_ surname, the one you were originally recognized as having. However, you spoke your new surname with a surprising degree of confidence and conviction, suggesting that you associate yourself with it quite strongly, too strongly for it to be a mere alias…so...I suppose at least one of your parents is dead, but not the other."

Ruby's stomach churned. Sasame had taken a tiny cue, a minuscule pause in Ruby's speech, and discerned _that_ much of her situation from that tiny hint alone. It was uncanny.

"How did you know I ran away?" asked Ruby, looking down.

"There's the state of your clothing first," said Sasame. "It's fairly new, but not overly worn. Its current condition is merely unclean because you've been living on the streets, but you haven't been living out here long. You're hungry, but malnutrition hasn't yet begun to set in. Juxtaposing the state of your health with that of your clothes tells me that you had funds, until not too long ago, enough to buy food for yourself, at least, meaning you stole the money from when you ran, but spent it all. Your behavior at the bakery showed that thievery is a line of work you were only _just_ considering going into, when I found you, so it's unlikely you stole what money you had before through average larceny, but rather obtained it from a source you knew of beforehand, from someone who at least let their guard down around you enough for you to be able to take it and leave, before they realized what you'd done."

Ruby's throat tightened, the uncomfortable feeling increasing as Sasame continued to deduce these hidden details about her from the smallest of clues. Sasame had used a lot of big words that Ruby only had a vague idea of the meaning of, apparently talking to herself as much as the girl in front of her. But Ruby got the gist of things well enough...well enough to make her nervous.

"So...my guess is this," said Sasame. "One of your parents, presumably the one whose surname was 'Rose,' died recently. Because of that, relations between you and your remaining parent have become...strained. Was it abusive...?" Sasame's eyes narrowed as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand, her elbow sitting on the table. "No...not quite. You're not running away in fear. You're asserting your independence, aren't you?"

Ruby knew the way she flinched gave away that Sasame had hit the nail on the head, without even needing her to say so.

"I see," said Sasame. "So your remaining parent has become overbearing and controlling, and you felt the desperate need to escape in order to walk the path in life you wanted to." Her expression softened. "Who died?"

"My mom...Summer Rose," said Ruby. "She was a Huntress. She died on a mission, a few years back."

"And your father?"

"Taiyang Xiao Long," said Ruby.

"All right," said Sasame. "I have the basic gist of things now. Please fill in the blanks for me and explain, as best you can, why you felt the need to put yourself through this."

"A-all right," said Ruby, sighing resignation. Lying was out of the question now. Sasame had seen right through her effortlessly. She explained what had happened: her mother's death, Yang's ill-advised stunt to try and find her mysterious biological mother, the abrupt change in her father's attitude afterwards, the controlling, the slow isolation from her friends...Finally, Ruby got to the part where she overheard her father's decision to pull her out of school to keep her at home.

"I see," said Sasame, once Ruby had finished. "I don't blame you for running away then. It's clear this wasn't a spur of the moment thing. Your father's behavior was definitely swaying towards the unhealthy. He could undoubtedly benefit from some distance…and so could you." Her gaze focused on Ruby and she tapped her chin. "But that leaves me with the question of what to _do_ with you."

Ruby's jaw clenched, feeling as though she was standing before a judge, about to announce the verdict of the trial that was her life.

"Obviously, leaving you where you currently are is out of the question," said Sasame, making Ruby tense even more. "I couldn't live with myself if I left a child to fend for herself in the streets. However, it appears that taking you to the authorities is not a good idea either. That would just end up with you back where you were...and in even worse straits than before."

Ruby relaxed a little. Sasame wasn't going to turn her in. But what then? _What am I going to do?_

Then Sasame smiled again. There was something...different about this smile. It was still warm and caring, but there was a hint of eagerness, excitement even, to it. "You wish to become a Huntress, do you?"

"Y-yes," said Ruby. "It's all I've ever wanted to be."

"For what reason?" asked Sasame. "Huntresses seem to be famous and prestigious."

"To protect people," said Ruby firmly.

Sasame's smile widened. "A good answer."

"A-are you a Huntress?" Ruby ventured nervously.

"I'm not," said Sasame frankly. "In a sense, I'm nothing more than a traveler. I've been traveling Remnant with my friend for a while now. We do not have Huntsmen or Huntresses where we come from. Unfortunately, we _cannot_ help you become a Huntress."

"Oh..." said Ruby, her stomach sinking. For just the briefest of moments, she'd been buoyed by the hope that, maybe, by the slimmest of chances, she'd found her way. But now those hopes were about to be crushed again.

"But..." said Sasame, her tone lightly teasing, a slight giggle in her voice, "...we can help you become _strong_."

"Strong?" asked Ruby.

"We can teach you how to fight," explained Sasame. "You could obtain the kind of strength that is virtually unknown in this part of the world, strength equal to or greater than that of any Huntress or Huntsman."

Ruby's eyes widened, and she let out the smallest of hopeful gasp.

"So...while we can't help you become a Huntress, we _can_ help you become strong," said Sasame, "and what you _do_ with that strength will be your decision. Perhaps you might catch the attention of someone from this Academy you fancy. Without any formal transcripts to recommend you, we'll have to ensure you can catch their eyes in a more practical manner."

"Really?" gasped Ruby.

"I believe so," said Sasame. "My friend and I do know a thing or two about becoming strong. It's the entire reason we've been wandering about in the first place." Her eyes narrowed. "I should warn you, however, that it won't be easy. If you want to become stronger, you'll need to work hard. It will be harsh, difficult, painful even. There will be times when your life will be in danger. Knowing that...are you really certain this is the path you want to follow?"

Ruby closed her eyes, thinking it over for a moment. Finally, she opened them and met Sasame's gaze levelly. "Yes," she said firmly.

"Well then," said Sasame, relaxing, "we've reached an agreement. Wonderful! Let's finish eating, and I'll take you to meet my friend."

Ruby looked down at her food, then up at Sasame, a sense of unease welling up again. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked. It was definitely generous of Sasame to treat her to lunch. But Ruby had to admit, even if she was only nine, she knew better than to just blindly trust someone, particularly if that someone was conveniently dangling the very thing she wanted right in front of her face, all for the sake of enticing Ruby to come with her.

"Hmm...that is a good question," noted Sasame. "Though you're a little late in asking it. That should have come _before_ you agreed. Granted, we haven't signed some kind of contract or anything, so there's no obligation for you, but you definitely should have settled that question before agreeing to anything."

Ruby nodded, feeling a shiver pass through her.

"I suppose you have no reason to trust me," said Sasame. "I'm glad you're wise enough to understand that me treating you to a meal doesn't automatically make me trustworthy. You're also clever enough, despite your age, to realize that my offer has the marks of something 'too good to be true.'" She scratched her head. "It's definitely difficult for me to offer a genuine assurance, save for this..."

Suddenly Ruby felt a tremendous pressure on her, pressing her down into her seat, making her chest seize up. She was completely unable to draw breath. Sasame had done nothing, but the air around her had changed completely. Her presence was suffocating, overwhelming.

"You certainly feel that, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, an edge to her voice that was genuinely intimidating, frightening, and threatening. "This is my power. Faced with this, I have the capacity to drive you to your knees with nothing but the force of my will. If I truly had ill intentions for you, I have the means to act upon them, and you have _no_ way of stopping me. I have absolute power over you. I can _make_ you do anything I want."

Ruby shivered, on the verge of passing out. But then the pressure was gone.

"But I won't," said Sasame, her normal demeanor returning. "If you truly decide you don't trust me, Ruby-chan, then I will allow you to walk away. It troubles me to leave a sweet girl like you to your fate on the streets, but I won't force you into doing something you don't feel right about."

"R-really?" asked Ruby.

"Yes," said Sasame. "As badly as I want to help you, I need your trust first to do that. Forcing you into something, even if it is for your own good, would be detrimental in the long run, particularly because the reason you're out here in the first place is because you ran away from being forced into something 'for your own good.'"

She reached across the table and took Ruby's hand. "For what it's worth, I will never try to force you into anything, Ruby-chan. I will offer you choices. It will be up to you to accept them. But I will never _make_ you do something you truly don't want you to do. If you agree to train under us, I will instruct you to do things. If you don't want to do them, that will come with the consequence of you not realizing the gains you seek. But that is the whole of the matter."

There was a powerful earnestness in Sasame's voice. Looking into the girl's eyes, all Ruby could see was a warm, caring, nurturing person, who truly wanted to help her. Sasame wanted what was best for her, but she didn't want it the way Ruby's father wanted it. She would allow Ruby to make her own choices, even if it _wasn't_ 'best' for her.

"All right," said Ruby.

Sasame sighed, her posture relaxing and Ruby realized that the older girl had been scared after all, scared that Ruby would distrust her and turn her down, forcing Sasame to let Ruby return to the streets, and whatever uncertain fate awaited her there.

"Good," said Sasame. "Now, let's eat."

Ruby's stomach answered for her, and she blushed as her new friend giggled in front of her. Giving in to her hunger, Ruby tucked in with a gusto.

* * *

After lunch, Sasame led Ruby through the streets of Vale, until they reached the Kingdom's perimeter wall. There, she was surprised when Sasame led them out through one of the gates, the guard barely even glancing at them as they passed. It seemed that the military were more concerned about people coming in than going out. Ruby gripped Sasame's hand nervously as they entered into the wilderness. Even without her father trying to dissuade her, Ruby knew enough from her basic schooling to know what dwelt out here...the Grimm.

Patch was supposed to be safe, as places went. But even there, she and Yang had nearly died at the fangs and claws of a Beowolf pack, before their Uncle Qrow had saved them. Outside the Kingdom proper, this was dangerous territory, where the Grimm reigned supreme, preying upon anyone foolish enough to stumble into their domain.

"Don't worry," said Sasame, giving Ruby's hand a reassuring squeeze, "the Grimm won't bother us, so long as my friend is around."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked in surprise, wondering what Sasame meant by that.

They wandered through the forest for what seemed like hours to Ruby, until they reached a small clearing. There, seated on a log by a small campfire, was an unusual boy.

For the most part, he seemed normal. He wore a simple, black kimono that hid most of the lines of his body, but did display a little bit of the muscular features of his chest. His head was covered by a scruffy mop of tangled, black hair. There was little to remark on about him, save for his eyes. The boy's eyes were a brilliant, vivid crimson, seeming to shimmer in the light of the fire, almost as though they had a luminescent quality of their own. As his eyes drifted to Sasame, then to her, Ruby shuddered. They were strange, unusual...but also singularly beautiful.

"Hello, Kyo," said Sasame cheerfully, pulling Ruby closer to the fire. "I made a friend."

Kyo's eyes took Ruby in at a glance and his lips curled up in a gentle smile. "I can see that," he said, his voice surprisingly soft and gentle. "Care to introduce her to me?"

"H-hi," said Ruby, pulling away from Sasame to stand on her own, clasping her hands in front of herself. "I'm Ruby Rose."

"I see," said Kyo, shifting on the log that served as his seat. His hand reached out to clasp the sheath of a long, curved sword that had been resting beside him. Its design was similar to katanas that Ruby had seen illustrations of in weapon-reference books, save for the fact it was almost five feet in length. Kyo shifted the sword, transitioning it so that the base of the sheath was resting on the ground, while its length settled over his left shoulder, the handle extending up by his head. "I didn't expect you to bring back company, Sasame. What brought this about?"

"It's complicated," said Sasame plainly enough, a cheeky edge to her voice. "But the short version is that I figured Ruby-chan should travel with us. She wants to become strong, and I thought we could help her with that."

"Really now?" Kyo's eyes drifted to Ruby, who, for all that she tensed under that strange, luminous gaze, felt nothing threatening.

Ruby nodded slowly.

"I see," said Kyo, his smile widening. "Well, _I_ certainly think we can help with that."

"I agree," said Sasame. "I figured now was a good time to turn back towards home. We can bring Ruby-chan with us. We'll work on the basics on the way there. By the time we get home, she'll be ready for more specialized instruction."

Kyo laughed. "You can't have met her more than a few hours ago, and you already have everything mapped out. That's so like you, Sasame."

"Well, of course," said Sasame with no small amount of pride, resting her fists on her hips and throwing back her shoulders, thrusting her modest chest out.

"Well then..." Kyo's attention returned to Ruby. "I certainly don't have any problem with it. We don't have a set schedule, so it's not as though we need to be worried about you slowing us down. I'm fine with a little extra company. I know Sasame well enough to know that she made it clear that this won't be an easy thing for you, yet you're still here, all the same."

"S-so...I can come?" said Ruby hopefully.

"You can," said Kyo. "My name is Mibu Kyo...er...Kyo Mibu in this portion of the world. Sasame is my friend and traveling companion."

Ruby looked between the pair of them. "A-are you together?"

Kyo and Sasame shared a glance between them, before turning back to Ruby. "No," they said simultaneously.

"I'm here to look after this fool," said Sasame, poking Kyo playfully in the side. "When all's said and done, he's an idiot who doesn't know anything beyond how to swing a sword competently. I keep an eye on him so his mother doesn't worry."

"So harsh," said Kyo, laughing sheepishly. "I can look after myself, you know."

"Sure you can," said Sasame with a cheeky giggle that Ruby found infectious.

Ruby could see a sibling-like dynamic between these two. It actually reminded her of how she and Yang used to be, filling Ruby with a sense of nostalgic longing. Sasame noticed and smiled warmly. "Come here, Ruby-chan," she said, extending a hand out to her.

Ruby took Sasame's hand, and found herself pulled into a tight, yet gentle hug. She felt something warm wrap around her and realized that Sasame's tail had also joined in the embrace. Ruby found herself leaning in, resting her face against Sasame's shoulder, the warm feeling making tears leak from her eyes.

"You're going to be okay," said Sasame softly. "Kyo and I will look after you, and we'll help you become stronger. You have my word."

Ruby sniffled and nodded. Sasame pulled away and leaned back in to kiss Ruby on the forehead. "Now then, we have some time until dinner. Would you like to get started?"

Her sadness disappearing altogether, Ruby nodded eagerly.

"Then let's start by unlocking your Aura," said Sasame cheerfully.

* * *

**So yeah, going back for the primary inspiration of this story, _Matters of the Heart_, my first big divergence was just _why_ Taiyang got so overprotective of Ruby. In _Matters of the Heart_, it was because the little "adventure" Yang pulled Ruby on wound up with Ruby getting struck by a Nevermore feather, which severely injured her heart (hence the story's title), requiring her to take regular injections to keep from dying. Working from that premise, the condition I decided to saddle Ruby with, the reason Taiyang wouldn't permit her to train to become a Huntress was...nothing.**

**Yep, that's right. In this story, Qrow saved the day, just like in canon, and Taiyang's resulting decisions are born of pure overcompensation for his previous neglect, at least when it comes to Ruby. As a consequence, Taiyang is obviously gonna be OOC as hell, compared to his canon characterization, I'll readily admit, and irrational as all get out. I had some idea of giving Ruby a similar condition to what she has in _Matters of the Heart_, but mostly felt that that would be hewing too close to rip-off territory. So, I decided to not give Ruby any particular kind of debilitating condition. It makes Taiyang all the stupider and crazier for getting so overprotective of her, but he has reasons, which some people might have figured out already.**

**Also, say hello to Sasame and Kyo. Those who've read _Crimson Eyes_ will recognize them pretty easily, given that they're pretty much unchanged, in terms of appearance and personality, from that story. The role they play in this one is a good bit different though, and they will fade into the background, and even be absent for long stretches of the story. They primarily serve as Ruby's first major mentors, when it comes to her training.**

**That aside, Sasame's deductive skills were inspired by Joseph Bell, a surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, best known as one of the real life figures who served as the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Bell was well known for being someone who could use minute details to make broad observations, a sort of advanced form of diagnosis. So Sasame has developed a similar skill.**

**I feel a little bit obligated to explain the format for this story too. For the first few chapters, I've gone with alternating between the present and past story arcs. Once I get out of the initial phase of the story, that changes, and I ended up writing long sequences of the present story arc, with multi-chapter flashback story arcs interspersed between them. But that's getting ahead of myself.**

**On a separate tangent, some of you have been asking about my _Lost Rose_ sequel. I regret to inform you that I will _not_ be posting that yet, as I've barely begun writing it even. In fact, I'm still plugging away at the final arc of this story as I post this. Hopefully, there won't be too big a buffer between when this fic finishes up, and when I can start posting the next story. But I need to finish this one first. I have a few chapters of the sequel to _Lost Rose_ written, but they were mainly written to get me through slumps in the writing of this story. Now that I myself closing in on a conclusion to this story, I'm trying to keep my nose to the grindstone, and get that done as quickly as a reasonably can, without compromising the quality of my writing.**

**I pray that you remain patient with me.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

_Present day:_

_I can't believe I'm doing this,_ thought Ruby, her stomach roiling with nervous butterflies as she glanced around her, taking in the people crowding the passenger bay of the airship. Part of her was still stunned that she'd decided to accept Ozpin's offer. She was only fifteen years old, yet she was already going to the Beacon Academy, the place she'd dreamt of going for years, since she was little more than a toddler. Even when she had decided to defy her father and run away from home, it seemed almost like an impossibility. In fact, running away from home made it seem even _more_ impossible as she'd learned about the obstacles that stood in her way, obstacles that mere determination wouldn't do anything about.

But now, here she was, about to go to the school of her dreams, two years early, and at the personal invitation of the school's Headmaster, no less. It was enough to make her head spin.

The fingers of Ruby's left hand slipped back to stroke the handle of her sword, feeling the engravings etched into it, the sensation calming her nerves. There was no question that Ruby felt out of place amidst all these people who were all two years older than her, at least. But touching her sword, her partner, her most-trusted companion, helped her feel more confident. At the end of the day, Beacon was a school for warriors. When all was said and done, what truly mattered was what Ruby could do when her sword cleared its sheath. As long as _that_ was what mattered, Ruby knew she could succeed.

_It's a good thing I got to talk to Sasame-nee before today,_ thought Ruby, relieved that her long-shot call had allowed her to reach the girl who'd become an older sister to her. Before they had gone their separate ways, the two of them had made arrangements to keep in touch as best they could. They'd leave messages for each other at the CCT centers in the settlements they passed through, informing each other of where they were going next, and the time-frame they expected to spend getting there.

Ruby's knowledge from the last message she'd gotten placed Sasame as making her way towards Curunir by the time Ruby had arrived in Vale. There was no guarantee that Sasame would get there in time to get Ruby's message, and set up a call between them, but it had fortunately worked out, and Ruby had found herself sitting in front of a CCT terminal, staring at Sasame's face with a sense of relief, Friday evening...

* * *

_"_I certainly wasn't expecting _this_, Ruby-chan,_" Sasame said with a cheerful laugh. "_I knew you were heading towards Vale. But to think you'd wind up catching the attention of Beacon's Headmaster, and get invited in, just like that._"_

_"__Don't laugh!" protested Ruby, her cheeks flushing. "I don't know what to do about it."_

_"_You don't?_" asked Sasame, her eyebrow going up. "_I thought this was your lifelong dream, Ruby-chan. You don't want to be a Huntress anymore?_"_

_"__I do!" exclaimed Ruby. "It's just...it's just so sudden. I wanted to see Vale again, that's all. I didn't expect to get wrapped up in a robbery and then...and then..."_

_"_Ruby-chan,_" said Sasame, the firm tone of her voice getting Ruby's attention the way it always had, whenever she slipped into "instructor mode." "_Breathe. I'm about a month away. If you start to hyperventilate, there's nothing I can do for you, right now._"_

_"__Okay," said Ruby, slowing her breathing down and trying to relax._

_"_Now then...what are you so worried about?_" asked Sasame._

_"__It's just...I don't know if I'm ready," said Ruby. "I wasn't expecting to go to Beacon for two more years."_

_Sasame giggled. "_Well now, if the Headmaster invited you personally, I would certainly say so. He's perhaps the person best equipped to judge someone's suitability after all._"_

_"__I...I guess," said Ruby nervously. "B-but what about our plans?"_

_"_What about them?_" Sasame repeated back. "_Life rarely goes according to plan, Ruby-chan. If anything, this is a rare occasion of life going _better_-than-planned. You're getting to start on the path to fulfilling your dream a full two years earlier. You'll become a Huntress two years sooner._"_

_"__Yes, but...what about my training?"_

_Sasame tilted her head. "_We both know you're past the point where you need technical instruction, Ruby-chan. The entire point of this little excursion of ours was for you to gain experience, and apply your skills in the real world. You have the pieces, the individual components of your style: Kyo's wind, Shinrei's dance, your speed, your sword, and your own special spark. Because your style is being born from the unification of disparate components, gaining experience for yourself, and learning what works and what doesn't, is especially important for you. So...there's no reason going to Beacon can't be part of that training for you._"_

_"__I guess..." said Ruby._

_"_I know that this is sudden and scary,_" continued Sasame. "_But what did we teach you about fear?_"_

_"__I need to let my fear _inform_ me," said Ruby, "but I shouldn't let it _control_ me."_

_Sasame nodded decisively. "_Ruby-chan...there's only one thing that matters here,_" she said, her voice still stern, but also filled with love and caring. "_What do _you_ want? Do you want to go to Beacon?_"_

_"__Yes," said Ruby._

_"_Are you okay with going now...or would you to prefer to wait a little longer?_"_

_"__I...I..." Ruby lowered her eyes, trying to figure out her answer. Why was she so hesitant? Ozpin himself expressed belief she had what it took to succeed. What was more, he'd discerned that she had been trained by the Mibu, using that same kind of insight that Sasame herself had once used on her six years ago. That knowledge only seemed to make him _more_ sure of his decision. Ozpin understood that Ruby was strong. But, what was more, he understood _how_ she was strong. And that made him certain she could succeed at Beacon._

_"__I think I'm okay with going now," said Ruby, looking up at Sasame with a smile._

_"_Well then, that's that,_" said Sasame, breaking out in a cheerful grin. "_Oh! I'm so proud of you, Ruby-chan!_"_

_"__Thank you," said Ruby, sniffling and wiping tears from below her eyes._

_"_I know it's going to be difficult,_" said Sasame. "_You're nervous about going to school with a bunch of people older than you. But I know you can do it. You're probably going to be the strongest person there._"_

_"__You think?" asked Ruby._

_Sasame nodded. "_My Ruby-chan is as strong as some actual Huntsmen, stronger even. What your peers have been learning in stale, safe classrooms you've been living for yourself for the past six months. And that's just this little excursion. There's no way you'll be shown up by a bunch of first-year students, even if they're all seventeen._"_

_"__A-all right," said Ruby. "I don't really care about that."_

_"_So long as it doesn't make you worry too much,_" said Sasame. She sighed. "_I suppose I'm going to have to amend my travel plans._"_

_"__Huh?" grunted Ruby, thrown off by the sudden swerve in the conversation._

_"_I'll send Kyo back to Onmyo to let Sora-sama and the others know what happened,_" said Sasame. "_I, on the other hand, will head straight for Vale. Let's see...given the distances involved, I should be there in about...a month, give or take a week or two._"_

_"__You don't have to," said Ruby urgently._

_"_But I _want_ to,_" said Sasame. "_By then, you'll have settled in somewhat. I'll just check up on how you're doing...and I'll be able to give you that hug you clearly want._"_

_Ruby couldn't quite keep herself from smiling. She really did want one of Sasame's hugs right now, the warm, fuzzy kind, with Sasame's tails wrapped around her like a fluffy cocoon._

_"_I won't hover,_" promised Sasame. "_I'll be there to see how you're doing, give you a little encouragement, then I'll pop back to Onmyo, and let Sora-sama and the rest know how you're doing. Does that sound good?_"_

_"__Yeah," said Ruby, feeling a wistful sensation at the prospect of seeing her sister in person again. Training on her own had been good for her, but Ruby genuinely missed Sasame and Kyo, especially Sasame._

_"_Then I'll see you soon,_" promised Sasame. "_Remember, I love you, Ruby-chan. So do Kyo, Sora-sama, Murasame-sama, Shinrei, Natsu-chan…we're all cheering you on, even if we're not there._"_

_"__Thank you," said Ruby, wiping her nose._

_"_Ready?_" asked Sasame._

_"__Yeah," said Ruby. "Bye, Sasame-nee."_

_"_Bye, Ruby-chan._" Sasame's image on the screen winked out._

_Ruby took a deep breath, then pushed herself back from the terminal to make her way back to the hotel. Her path was clear now._

* * *

Even with Sasame's encouragement, Ruby still couldn't quite control the nervous quaver of her stomach. She marked the location of the nearest restroom, just in case. She cast her glance about uneasily, looking for something to take her mind off her nerves. She settled for looking out the window, which was filled with the spectacular view of the Kingdom, and the bay they had to cross to reach Beacon. A nearby vid-screen was playing a news broadcast and, to Ruby's shock, the news of Roman Torchwick's arrest was playing on it.

Ruby was glad to see that there was no mention of her, not wanting to make herself stand out more than she probably already would, given her age. As it was, the only image on the screen was that of Torchwick's frustrated face on his mugshot. Afterwards, the news transitioned to a story about the faunus organization, the White Fang, disrupting a peaceful protest.

Having spent the last five years amongst the Mibu, Ruby had not given much thought to the faunus-rights organization. The faunus population of the Mibu Clan was perfectly integrated with their human counterparts. While the Mibu certainly had their faults, it could genuinely said that prejudice against faunus wasn't one of them. It helped that half of the Taishiro, the Clan's equivalent to the Council, were faunus as well.

However, the report was abruptly cut off by an image of Glynda, introducing herself to the prospective students and welcoming them to Beacon. Ruby largely tuned it out, finding more interest in the view out the window, especially as the Academy itself came into view.

It was a spectacular sight, classical architecture, featuring numerous buttresses and arches, and even a few spires; and, at the center of it all, Beacon Tower, a large clocktower that also hosted Vale's CCT, one of the lynchpins that kept the four Kingdoms in communication with each other, one of the lynchpins of the current world order. It was beautiful, looking more like a fancy boarding school than a school for training warriors…or maybe it was a fancy boarding school _for_ training warriors.

Ruby's idle musings were interrupted by a low groan, and she looked over in time to see a blonde boy stagger away from the window. From the way his hands were covering his mouth, Ruby figured that she wasn't the only one with stomach issues, but the poor boy's were definitely getting the better of him. Worried, she stepped towards him. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

The boy gave her a look that plainly told her he was in no fit state to answer, and that opening his mouth would lead to something _other_ than words coming out. He turned towards the same restroom that Ruby had marked earlier, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Here," she said, steering him to a seat and forcing him down. "Hold on."

Reaching up, Ruby pressed the palm of her hand to the blonde boy's forehead, sliding it beneath his bangs. Taking a deep breath, she gently sent her Aura flowing out and into him, finding the source of his problem, a minor issue of disrupted equilibrium caused by differing sensory inputs, which was triggering an impending vomit reflex, a condition otherwise known as "motion sickness." Ruby sent her Aura into the boy's inner ears, stabilizing his sensory feedback and easing the discrepancy that had been about to impel him to lose his lunch.

The boy sighed and relaxed, his hands falling from his mouth to rest at his sides. His eyes slowly opened, revealing orbs of deep-blue that gazed at her gratefully. "Thanks," he said. "I don't know what you did, but it sure did the trick."

Ruby giggled and took a seat next to him. As she did, she looked at the hand she'd held to the boy's forehead. The contact had told her about his problem, but it had told her about something else as well.

The boy's Aura wasn't unlocked.

In and of itself, that wasn't odd. In the outside world, it was rare for people who weren't Huntsmen and Huntresses, or affiliated with the profession in some way, to have their Auras unlocked. Unlocking was a basic procedure in every Combat School, one of the first things done to newly-admitted students. As far as Ruby knew, the Mibu were the only ones who routinely unlocked their citizens' Auras, whether they used it for combat or not.

She looked at the boy again, taking in his appearance more carefully. His blonde hair was shaggy and unkempt, a spiky mess that reminded her a bit of Kyo. He had a pleasant face and nice eyes, managing to look boyish, but not outright childish. His state of dress told her something else, though.

The boy's ensemble was a mismatched mess. Ragged bluejeans and a black hoodie were the basic form of it, over which he wore a diamond-shaped white chestplate, along with white spaulders and rebracers. His hands were covered by brown, fingerless gloves; and his feet were covered by ordinary sneakers. It looked as though the boy had woken up in the morning, and just thrown some armor on over his casual clothes.

Her eyes drifted to his weapon, which was resting at his left hip. It looked like a plain sword in a white sheath. With a blue handle and gold crossguard, it looked nice, but plain and basic. The sheath was decorated with two curved lines of gold, and gold trim where it met the handle of the sword. Granted, it was a given that Huntsmen and Huntress weapons often had transformational capabilities, thanks to the creative application of mechashift technology. However, aside from some creases in the metal that made up the sheath, Ruby got the impression that the sword within it was…just a sword…rather like hers.

Ruby chewed the inside of her lip. Whoever this boy was, Ruby's instincts were telling her that he barely knew the first thing about combat…if even that. She thought back and remembered a slightly lopsided posture that indicated he hadn't adjusted to the weight of the weapon on his hip, which suggested he wasn't used to carrying its weight. It also probably hadn't done his sense of balance any favors, which would have only exacerbated his motion sickness.

All told, these things made her nervous. She was fifteen, two years younger than this boy most likely was, yet she could easily tell that, even if she wasn't one-hundred-percent certain that she was ready for Beacon yet, this boy clearly _wasn't_…at all.

But, if he was here, then that meant he had gotten in somehow. He'd applied…and Professor Ozpin had accepted him. What that meant, she didn't know. What she _did_ know induced her to keep an eye on the boy, and make sure he would be all right.

Perhaps getting to know him was the first step.

"Feel better?" she asked.

"A lot," said the boy, giving her a relieved smile. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"A friend taught me," said Ruby, glad that the basic Aura-healing technique Sasame had taught her was already coming in handy.

While Ruby wasn't interested in becoming a dedicated healer, like her adoptive sister, she had been inspired by the relief Sasame could bring to people, even if she wasn't always on the front lines, fighting the Grimm. Even before Sasame had lectured her to that end, Ruby was fully aware that she couldn't become a master swordswoman _and_ a healer at the same time. But Sasame had been willing to teach Ruby basic first-aid techniques to tend minor injuries, or even stabilize severely-wounded people, ensuring that Ruby could help people both on and off the battlefield.

Of course, Sasame probably hadn't envisioned it being used to treat a boy's motion sickness, but whatever worked.

"I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose," said Ruby, giving the boy a cheerful smile, trying to look more confident than she felt. After a week in the Kingdom, she was getting back into the swing of talking with people again, but she still felt nervous, especially when everyone here was older than her.

"Nice to meet you, Ruby," said the boy. "The name's Jaune Arc; short, sweet, rolls off the tongue; the ladies love it."

Ruby found herself giggling helplessly, not noticing the slightly affronted look on the boy's face that indicated he'd been deliberately trying to be suave. "Well…it's certainly a nice name," she said as she recovered, before giving him a cheeky smile. "But I think you should probably cut the ladies' man part out of your intro. It doesn't suit you."

"It doesn't?" asked Jaune forlornly.

"Nope," said Ruby plainly, trying not to giggle at his crestfallen look. "You come off better if you don't try too hard."

"Thanks," said Jaune with a sigh. "And here my dad told me that all girls were looking for is confidence."

"That's not quite confidence," said Ruby. "A little pretentious really."

"Wow…way to lance the boil of my ego," said Jaune dramatically, making Ruby giggle again.

"Hey, better with me than some other girl," said Ruby. "I still think you're nice."

"Thanks," said Jaune. "I would have preferred dashing, with a hint of roguish charm, though."

"Trust me, 'nice' suits you better," said Ruby.

"All right," said Jaune. Then he smiled at her again. "Again, thanks for the save. I wasn't sure I was gonna make it to the restroom. I'd probably have ended up upchucking over some poor girl's shoes. Now that _really_ would have been a bad first impression."

"If nothing else, I'm glad we avoided that," said Ruby.

The two of them were so wrapped up in their talk that they were startled to their feet when the airship docked with a slight bump.

"Well…ready to go to orientation?" asked Ruby.

"Yep," said Jaune. "Let's do this thing."

Standing up, they followed the flow of people out of the airship, merging with the other students as they made their way up a broad plaza, flanked by arches and columns towards the school. As they walked, Ruby fished for another topic of conversation, and decided to settle her curiosity about Jaune's weapon. "So…what kind of sword is that?" she asked, glancing at the handle.

"Oh, this…" said Jaune, drawing his blade. "It's nothing special, just an ordinary sword. And the sheath…" Pulling it off his belt revealed a pair of straps that he slipped his arm through and the sheath expanded out to become a rather plain-looking heater-shield. The two stripes of gold were revealed to be a pair of gold crescents, presumably a family crest of some kind.

"Wow," said Ruby, genuinely impressed. Sure, it wasn't some kind of fancy, transforming, melee/gun combination, but both the shield and the sword, while looking worn, were clearly forged from high-quality materials, and sported excellent craftsmanship, for all that they were simple.

"You don't have to pretend to be impressed," said Jaune. "They're just…kinda hand-me-downs. It belonged to my dad. Before that, it belonged to my great-great-grandfather…and so on. It was even used during the Great War. Their name is Crocea Mors."

"For something _that_ old, it's in great condition," noted Ruby. "Were your dad and grandfather Huntsmen?"

"Yep," said Jaune, sounding depressed for some reason.

Ruby raised her fingers to the shield, brushing them over the surface. "If they've been in use that long, and they're still in such good condition…they're actually _really_ well-made." As she made contact, she was struck with a faint tingling sensation, almost like static. Ruby barely managed to stop herself from gasping as she realized she felt the faintest sense of Aura from the pair of weapons.

That appeared to raise his spirits. "Thanks," he said earnestly. He closed down his shield and sheathed his sword. "So what about yours?"

"Mine's…actually not all that different." Ruby drew her own blade, careful to not call on it as she held it up, resting the flat against the first two fingers of her right hand. "This is Akaibara."

"Whoa!" gasped Jaune, his eyes going wide. "Does it do anything?"

"It's a sword," said Ruby, giving him a sly smile. "Just like yours. It does have a few tricks."

Jaune reached out to touch it and Ruby felt a faint surge of panic. She hurriedly shifted her blade to keep him from making contact. Ozpin and Glynda had been one matter, but letting someone whose Aura wasn't even unlocked try and make contact with her blade, which could be temperamental at the best of times, was just asking for trouble.

"Sorry," she said, seeing the hurt look on Jaune's face. "I'm the only one who really should be touching it. It's a…security feature." _That's an easier way to put it than trying to describe what it might actually do,_ she thought.

"Okay," said Jaune, the look on his face showing he didn't quite buy it, but at least he didn't openly question it either.

Ruby quickly slid her sword away and relaxed, once it was back in its sheath. It wouldn't do anything, save not let itself be drawn, if anyone but her tried to touch it like that, as Glynda had found out the other night.

"So we both have swords, huh?" mused Jaune idly. "I guess that makes us sword-buddies."

"Buddies?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, buddies. You know…friends," said Jaune.

"Oh!" Ruby felt her heart skip in her chest. _He's my friend? I have a friend!_ It was all she could do to keep herself from squealing out loud. Her time at Beacon hadn't really started, and she already had a friend. Granted, he was a friend who was making her a little worried, what with his situation and all, but Jaune was still a friend. _I made a friend…Yay!_

By this point, they, and the other students, had reached the auditorium, where their orientation would be taking place. Already, she saw all the other students standing around, chatting with one another as they waited for whatever speech would be made to welcome them to Beacon. Ruby took a moment to turn her attention from her new friend-_Squee!_-and take in the other students that were there with them.

They were a mixed bag, dressed in all manner of outlandish outfits. Over, almost directly in front of the stage, she saw a girl in white, who possessed an almost ethereal beauty to her, with pale skin and long, white hair, done up in a bun that was capped by a snowflake-shaped tiara, before extending in a long tail off to the right side of her head. As the girl in question turned to take in the room herself, Ruby noticed her ice-blue eyes, her gaze being drawn to the vertical scar over the girl's left one, which only seemed to enhance her beauty further.

The girl was dressed quite elegantly, looking more like a high-society socialite than an aspiring Huntress. She wore a white dress, with a skirt that ended just above her knees, not unlike Ruby's own. Over her top, she wore a white bolero jacket with red lining. Her feet were covered by long, high-heeled boots that Ruby couldn't imagine were in any way comfortable, when it came to fighting, or even walking over uneven ground.

There was something about the girl's bearing, from her poise and straight, almost rigid, posture, to the slightly upturned cant of her face, so that she gazed at everything with the slightest of downward looks, that struck Ruby as haughty and condescending. Whereas Ruby had been taking in her surroundings with wonder and fascination, this girl appeared to be taking them in with a sense of disapproval. Ruby decided to turn her eyes away from the girl, before she noticed she was being looked at, getting the sense that being caught staring would not end well for her.

Sweeping her gaze along the wall, Ruby spotted another girl, this one dressed in blacks, whites, and purples. Her light skin contrasted sharply with the ebony locks of hair cascading down past the level of her shoulders. She wore a black vest, under which was a white, sleeveless undershirt. There was an opening in her vest where it split towards her waist, showing off a tantalizing portion of her midriff, before the rest was covered by her white shorts, the rest of her legs being covered by black stockings that faded to purple where they met her boots. Finally, the girl's head was topped by a black bow.

She was leaning against the wall, apparently disinterested with her surroundings, her amber eyes glued to the book she held in front of her face. All told, the girl exuded a sense of mystique, which made her only more beautiful and alluring. At the same time, Ruby got the distinct sense that she was the kind of person who preferred peace and quiet over socialization. And so, Ruby's gaze drifted on.

There were so many unique people in the room. There was the long-haired redhead with the bronze armor. There was the perky, orange-haired girl talking animatedly with the black-haired young man dressed in green, who appeared to possess a calm serenity that would have impressed any of Ruby's teachers.

Perhaps it was chance that dictated that Ozpin entered and begin his speech when he did. Perhaps one might call it luck, though good or bad could not be determined. Perhaps there were other, higher, powers in play. Whatever the reason, Ruby's attention was drawn back to the front, before her gaze had the chance to brush over one person in particular, with a head of flowing, blonde hair…

* * *

_I wouldn't exactly call that a "welcome" speech,_ thought Ruby, somewhat morosely, as she she and Jaune filed out of the auditorium with the other students. Ozpin's speech had been...critical, talking about wasted energy and whatnot. She supposed it was to induce them to work hard and take their studies seriously. _I guess, if we're supposed to fight man-eating monsters for a living, it's not the kind of thing we can treat like a game._

After Ozpin's speech, Glynda had made her own entrance up on the stage, and informed them that they would be spending the night in the ballroom, and that their initiation would be taking place tomorrow morning. After that, they were allowed to move on their own and explore the campus. The dining hall would be open for dinner, and they had a curfew. But, other than that, they were free to do as they wished with their time.

They were also assigned lockers, where they could stow their weapons between now and the initiation. Ruby, uncomfortable with the idea of leaving her sword behind, kept it with her for the time being. She politely excused herself from Jaune, promising to meet him again at dinner, and decided to take some time for herself to explore the school and see what it had to offer.

Once again, Ruby was struck by how fancy and formal everything looked, for all that this was a school for warriors. She caught glances of second and third-year students as she went around, seeing them dressed in blazers with ties or bows. Apparently, they had a uniform they wore to class.

Eventually, her wanderings took her into a courtyard, an evenly trimmed, green lawn, dotted with trees. It had a quiet, relaxed ambience that Ruby thought suited her just fine. Reaching a large oak tree, she stared up at the swaying branches, watching as the leaves danced through the sunlight, throwing dappled shadows across the ground. It reminded her of being in the forest again, prompting her to close her eyes and breathe deeply, inhaling the fresh scent in the air.

Letting out her breath, Ruby allowed herself to flop down onto the soft grass, laying on her back and staring up at the sky through the gaps in the leaves. She grunted, then shifted, tugging her sheathed sword from its place at the small of her back, so that she could rest it against her shoulder. _This is nice. After the initiation, I'll have to come back here._

She let her eyes drift closed, and enjoyed the ambience of her surroundings.

"Excuse me!"

Ruby's eyes snapped open at the sound of the shout. Even before the person had spoken, Ruby had felt her approach. Now Ruby sat up to look towards the source of the voice. _Oh no..._

Sure enough, there was the girl in white that she'd spotted at the orientation. Ruby had thought she might be prissy and superior-acting, and the haughty tone in the girl's voice appeared to confirm it. "Yes?" she asked, trying to keep her voice level. This was _not_ someone she wanted to show fear or nervousness in front of.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" asked the girl in white.

"...Relaxing," said Ruby, not sure how else to respond.

"By laying about on the grass, like some child?" pressed the haughty girl.

Ruby canted her head, confused by the slight. "How is it childish?" she asked.

"It's..." The girl clearly didn't have an answer and, from the irritation she demonstrated, also wasn't accustomed to having what she said questioned. "It's beneath us."

"It's grass," said Ruby. "Of course it's beneath us."

"That's not what I meant!" snapped the pale girl. "We're training to be Huntresses. We can't be laying around on grass."

"Uh..." Ruby blinked. A sense of irritation was worming up within her. Ruby plain didn't like this girl. She was minding her own business, and this prissy, haughty..._princess_ had gone out of her way to accost Ruby as though she'd done something indecent...and for what? Ruby's adjustment period for being back in civilization had passed, and she was _not_ in the mood for some bratty rich girl's nitpicking.

The girl squinted as she came closer, scrutinizing Ruby with those ice-blue eyes. "Aren't you be a little young to be coming to Beacon?"

"Maybe," said Ruby, not feeling any obligation to give the other girl a definite answer.

"How old are you?" pressed the girl.

"None of your business," said Ruby, an angry harshness leaking into her tone.

The girl in white reeled back, clearly not used to being so directly defied. "I beg your pardon," she hissed.

"Good, I forgive you," said Ruby, laying back, unable to keep her lips from quirking a smile at the girl's indignant "Hey!"

"Do you have any idea who I am?" demanded the girl.

Ruby lifted her head and looked the girl over again, taking in the details of her appearance. "No."

From the way her jaw dropped, that was clearly not the answer she'd been expecting. She sputtered indignantly. "Does the name, Weiss Schnee, mean anything to you?"

Ruby paused. There was a familiar ring to it, however, she couldn't place it. "Nope."

"So you don't know about the Schnee Dust Company?" pressed Weiss.

"Oh...them?" Ruby blinked. "I've heard of them."

"I'm one of them!" yelled Weiss.

"One of the company?" asked Ruby, canting her head again.

"I'm Weiss Schnee!" snapped the girl.

"You said that already," replied Ruby.

"I'm-" the girl began.

"The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," said a quiet voice from behind the tree.

Ruby blinked and turned to see the black-haired girl from the auditorium. She'd apparently been behind the tree, whether or not it had been the whole time, Ruby couldn't say. The girl was good, whoever she was, if Ruby hadn't sensed her presence before she got so close. _Or maybe I let my guard down a little too much._ Strangely enough, her book was still in front of her and she'd raised the level of her eyes just enough to take in the two of them.

"Oh..." she said in response to the bookworm's statement. She turned back to Weiss. "Why didn't you just say so?"

"I...you...why...I...UGH!" Weiss threw up her hands in frustration and stalked off.

"What's her problem?" mused Ruby, her eyebrows going up.

"She must be used to being recognized," said the black-haired girl. Her tone was level and bland, but the slight crinkling at the corners of her eyes indicated she was hiding a smile.

"It sounds like it's important. The Schnee Dust Company is big, right?" asked Ruby.

The girl nodded, still not looking up from her book, though she did seat herself down a short distance from Ruby, leaning against the trunk of the tree. "The SDC is the main purveyor of Dust to all four Kingdoms," said Blake. "But they're also widely known for their controversial labor policies and shady business tactics."

"Oh...okay," said Ruby, looking after Weiss again. The heiress had already disappeared inside one of the school buildings.

"You really didn't know?" asked Blake.

"Well, I've heard about the Schnee Dust company once or twice," said Ruby. "But I don't use Dust, so it never really stuck."

"You don't use Dust!" said the black-haired girl in surprise, lowering her book to stare at Ruby.

"Nope," said Ruby. "This is my sword." She hefted the blade in question. "It's just a sword."

Given the nature of its make and _who_ had made it, describing Akaibara like that was doing it something of a disservice. However, experience had taught her that trying to explain just what made her precious blade so special tended to be met with responses ranging from incomprehension to skeptical mirth. So nowadays, Ruby chose to call her sword "just a sword," and let her sweetheart do the talking for her, when it was necessary.

"That's...unusual," was all that the black-haired could say in response to Ruby's assertion.

"I guess," said Ruby with a shrug, before smiling at the girl. "I'm Ruby Rose, by the way," she said.

"Blake Belladonna," the black-haired girl introduced herself.

Ruby's eyes drifted up to Blake's bow and, to her surprise, she saw it twitch. "Blake...are you a faunus?"

Blake gasped in shock, her hand going to the bow, her eyes narrowing at Ruby. "H-how did you-?"

"Sorry," said Ruby. "I noticed 'cause I've spent a lot of time around other faunus. My adoptive sister is one. She has a fox-tail though."

"Your sister is a faunus?" repeated Blake, her eyes wide.

"Uh huh," said Ruby. "Sasame-n-... She cut herself off, remembering that honorifics like that didn't see use outside the Mibu Clan. "...Sasame is the one who unlocked my Aura, and taught me how to use it."

"Oh," said Blake.

"Why are you hiding them?" asked Ruby.

"It's just..." Blake looked down. "I want people to see me for _who_ I am...not _what_ I am."

Ruby canted her head to the side. "I don't get it."

"You don't...?" Blake asked. "I know Beacon is progressive in how it welcomes faunus. But that won't change the attitudes of students right away."

"Oh!" said Ruby, her eyes going wide. "You don't want to get bullied."

"Well...uh...yes," said Blake. That sounded rather childish when Ruby put it like that.

"But I still don't get it," said Ruby.

"You don't get not wanting to get picked on for being different?" deadpanned Blake.

"No! I get that," protested Ruby. "I just don't get that whole 'who you are' versus 'what you are' thing."

"You...don't..." Blake blinked furiously at that.

"Yeah, I mean, who you are and what you are are kinda tied together," said Ruby. "Being a faunus is something you shouldn't feel you have to hide. It's something you should be proud of."

"I _am_ proud to be a faunus," said Blake.

"Then why are you afraid to show it?" asked Ruby. "If people bully you for that, then they're just jerks."

"It's...just..." Blake looked down. Ruby got the distinct impression that it wasn't really bullies Blake was afraid of. "I just want to keep a low profile."

"Oh...okay," said Ruby.

Her words petered off into silence and the atmosphere took an awkward turn. "A-anyway, sorry to disturb your reading time," said Ruby quickly.

Blake smiled again. "It's not your fault," she said.

"I'm just gonna lay here, if you want to keep reading," added Ruby, flopping onto her back again.

"That's fine with me," said Blake, leaning back and raising her book up again.

As she stared up through the foliage again, Ruby found herself reflecting that she might have made another friend. The thought cheered her immensely, soothing the sour feeling of knowing that she'd apparently earned the ire of Weiss, through no fault of her own that she could tell. Still, whatever Weiss' problem was, Ruby figured it would be up to Weiss to get over it. All Ruby had to do was what she did best.

* * *

Ruby and Blake passed the time quietly until dinner arrived. Ruby invited Blake to sit with her and Jaune, but Blake declined, instead choosing to settle into a more isolated position, presumably where she could eat and read at the same time. Ruby understood that.

Ruby took her plate and settled next to Jaune, trading pleasantries with him and talking about what they had done that day. Ruby had to admit that she didn't have a whole lot to share, save for her altercation with Weiss. Revealing Blake's secret to Jaune was out of the question, of course.

It turned out that Jaune hadn't done all that much either, mostly wandering the grounds and seeing all the different buildings and classrooms. He'd also asked around about what the initiation entailed, but it seemed that none of the others that had arrived with them knew anything about it. If anyone did, they were keeping mum.

"Is that her?" asked Jaune as Weiss crossed their field of vision during their conversation.

"That's her," said Ruby.

Weiss noticed them, and her eyes met Ruby's briefly. Then Weiss turned away sharply with a twitch of her chest and shoulders that suggested an angry "Hmph!" even if Ruby couldn't hear it over the general din of the dining hall.

"She's beautiful," said Jaune, longing in his voice.

"Yeah...she is that," Ruby conceded. _God help me...he's one of those romantic types._ "It's too bad she's such a priss though."

"Maybe she's just on edge because of nerves," suggested Jaune.

"Maybe," Ruby conceded again, admitting to herself that it was indeed possible. However, if that was the case, it _wasn't_ to Weiss' credit that accosting random people for invented slights or innocuous things (like laying on the grass) was her idea of blowing off steam. "Still, if that's the case, I'd suggest not trying to woo her, Lover Boy," she said, grinning and teasingly elbowing Jaune in the side. "On edge or not, she'd chew you up and spit you out in a heartbeat."

"Yeah, but a guy can dream," said Jaune.

Ruby sighed and resigned herself to her friend mooning over one of the most annoying people she'd met in her life. And, considering some of the people she'd dealt with in the Mibu Clan, that was saying something.

For all that it annoyed her, Ruby couldn't exactly fault Jaune for falling for Weiss' beauty. The girl in white was practically the image of a storybook princess brought to life. She was fair and elegant. Even her scar enhanced her beauty, rather than detracted from it, giving a tiny bit of asymmetry to her face that lent her a quality of uniqueness, which was further helped by her decision to wear her hair in a tail that was offset, rather than straight out behind her.

In fact, she reminded Ruby of the stories of faerie queens that Sora and Sasame had read to her, when she was younger. Just like those storybook queens, Weiss was hauntingly beautiful, but also capricious and quick to anger. Ruby just hoped that Weiss didn't have any faerie magic to go with that attitude of hers. Ruby didn't fancy the idea of spending her life with the head of a donkey.

Ruby also pointed out Blake to Jaune, though she advised him that Blake apparently liked her peace and quiet, so they wouldn't disturb her. Jaune had agreed.

Aside from that, they chatted about other topics to pass the time until they'd finished their meal. Afterwards, they took their trays to the dish-washers and made their way to the ballroom, where they would spend their first night at Beacon.

* * *

Upon entering the ballroom, they were given bedrolls by the staff and left to find space for themselves. Ruby and Jaune chose to set up near the wall, where they would be out of the way, for the most part. After staking out their space, they had retired to the bathrooms to change into their pajamas.

Ruby didn't wear pajamas when she was on the road. Even if it meant her clothes getting a little ripe, it was always good to be prepared, lest Grimm come on her during the night. However, when she had the luxury, Ruby had the present Sasame had gotten her for her fifteenth birthday. It was a set of jinbei, the equivalent of pajamas favored by the Mibu. Cotton or linen were the favored fabric, but Ruby's were made from silk, dyed a dark-red color, with a black rose-print pattern climbing up the left side so that the rose's bloom rested over the left side of her chest. The leggings were short and loose, extending about halfway down her thighs.

Settling onto her bedroll, Ruby sat back against the wall, resting her sword against her shoulder as she took in the scene of other students wandering in and getting ready for sleep. Then Jaune walked in, and Ruby had to cover her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter.

Jaune's pajamas consisted of a blue onesie. However, the most hilarious part was the adorable bunny face plastered across his chest, and the cute little bunny slippers that covered his feet. The way Jaune wore it, with complete assurance and confidence, only made him seem all the funnier to Ruby, who felt like she was about to explode as her mirth built up within her.

"What?" was all that Jaune said when he reached her and sat down next to her.

"Y-you just look..." Ruby couldn't hide it anymore and she burst out laughing. "God! You look _adorable_!"

"W-well, yeah," said Jaune, finally appearing to have developed enough awareness to at least look sheepish. "My big sister made this for me. The whole rabbit motif was a joke on her part. But it's super comfortable, so I use it."

"W-well, comfort is what, c-counts," said Ruby, trying to rein in her laughter again.

Jaune sighed and gave Ruby an indulgent smile. "Oh, go ahead."

Ruby surrendered to whoops of laughter, falling over onto her side, while Jaune looked on with a twitching eyelid. His twitching only got worse as Ruby's laughter drew the attention of others in the room, which soon had them chuckling or giggling as well. Jaune slumped and sighed with resignation.

"So much for keeping my dignity," he lamented.

"Your dignity died an early death when you decided to wear that onesie," said Ruby as she righted herself.

"Glad to know I have such a supportive and caring friend," Jaune groused with all the sarcasm he could muster.

"Aw, come on, it's cute," said Ruby, poking him in the shoulder. "And I think it's pretty daring that you're willing to be seen in public like this. That takes guts."

"I guess so," said Jaune. He glanced over at Ruby and his eyebrow went up. "By the way...you're keeping your sword?"

"Y-yeah," said Ruby, glancing at the blade that rested against her shoulder. "I'm used to sleeping with her on the road. You don't want your weapon out of reach...ever...when you're in the wilderness."

"Wow," said Jaune, before frowning to himself. "I guess that's a good habit to cultivate."

"You don't need to," said Ruby quickly. "I just do it because it's what I'm used to. At home, I have a rack I hang her from when I go to bed. But, when I'm not there, it feels more right to sleep like this. I can't even sleep in an inn or hotel room without her close by."

"I understand," said Jaune. Then he yawned hugely, stretching his arms over his head. "I guess we should get to sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a big day."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, her heart thudding alarmingly, and not simply in anticipation.

As she watched Jaune climb into his bedroll, Ruby couldn't help but recall the fact that his Aura wasn't unlocked, and she wondered what that might mean for the initiation. Still, if he was here, that must mean he'd been accepted. Given what she'd experienced from Professor Ozpin herself, Ruby figured the man knew what he was doing. So she climbed into her own bedroll and closed her eyes, figuring that she would just take tomorrow as it came.

* * *

The laughter had drawn the attention of nearly everyone in the room. Of course, once they saw what had the girl in red pajamas rolling around and kicking, nearly everyone else began to chuckle or giggle. However, there was one person whose laughter stopped dead before it even left her mouth. In fact, any sense of mirth had died in its infancy at the mere sound of the laughter that had drawn her attention in the first place.

_No way!_ Lilac eyes blinked, before opening wide, staring across the room at the girl in red pajamas as she recovered and sat back up.

Yang Xiao Long's mouth hung slack as she stared. She couldn't believe it. It shouldn't have been possible. But there was no mistaking that laughter, a sound that had practically vanished from their home after four years spent under Taiyang's thumb. There was no mistaking that radiant smile, a smile that Yang could barely remember seeing as resentment had replaced it within their home. Nor did she mistake that black hair, shading to red towards the tips, still worn in that slightly asymmetric style that her little sister had always favored. And, finally, there were those silver eyes...her mother's eyes.

There was no question. She was older and more mature-looking, but it was definitely Ruby, Yang's little sister, who had disappeared from her life one night, six years ago. Uncle Qrow and Taiyang had both searched frantically for her, but had never found her. After six years, with no word, they had all but given her up for dead. Only Yang had held on, stubbornly, to the faint hope that Ruby was alive somewhere. But for her to wind up here and now...at Beacon.

_How? She's fifteen. That's two years too young! Did she lie about her age?_ Yang frowned at the idea. _Does she even know how to fight?_ One might assume so, from the sword that Ruby rested against her shoulder as she sat. But Yang couldn't fathom how or when Ruby had learned how to use it. Knowing Ruby's ambition and drive, Qrow and Taiyang had checked for her with every combat instructor and class in Vale, only to come up empty-handed.

Other questions flooded Yang's head, questions that were only natural after not seeing Ruby for six years, only to find her coming to Beacon as part of the same class Yang was in. It didn't make sense. Yang shifted, preparing to get to her feet.

Then she saw Ruby and her friend, the silly, blonde boy in the rabbit onesie both climbing into their bedrolls. Yang frowned, uncertain of what to do. She was desperate to know where Ruby had been, what she had been doing. But Yang couldn't bring herself to disturb her, now that Ruby was going to sleep. She swallowed. _Okay...I can talk to her in the morning. She's not going anywhere now._

Resolved, Yang slipped between the covers of her own bedroll and pulled them up. However, sleep would prove elusive for her that night.

* * *

**So, when it comes to _Matters of the Heart_ plot points/concepts borrowed for the purpose of my own story, Ruby's first meeting with Weiss comes to mind, namely, the idea of them meeting by Weiss accosting Ruby for doing...nothing particularly wrong, actually...Weiss merely being her prickly, judgmental self that she is early on in _RWBY_. Ruby's first meeting with Blake goes a good bit differently than it does in canon, mainly because Ruby is accustomed to being around faunus, and can spot them a lot more easily.**

**And then, of course, there's the fact that Yang spots Ruby in the ballroom, the night before Initiation.**

**When it comes to points where I decided to take my story in a different direction from _Matters of the Heart_, Ruby's overall characterization is probably the biggest initial divergence. In Vengefulfate's story, Ruby is a good bit more cynical and jaded, due to the nature of her training and the hardships she experienced. In the case of my story, I opted to have Ruby get a more supportive and affectionate upbringing, one that leaves her closer in character to her canon self, personality-wise, yet having her ideals tempered by more comprehensive experience.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

* * *

**Hello all, I hope your holidays are going better than mine. Not that anything particularly bad has happened. It's just that working retail during the Christmas Season, especially when your store is _seriously_ understaffed, is like getting repeatedly run over by a bus...with spiked wheels...and the bus is on fire...and it keeps backing up over you and running over you again, about five times a minute...all while blaring out Christmas tunes at full-volume.**

**I used to like Christmas music.**

**Then I was forced to listen to every rendition of _Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer_ ever written, over and over again...and about the same dozen or so other mainstay Christmas songs aside.**

**And, above all else, it's especially aggravating how a season that's supposed to be about celebrating the best in people is so good at bringing out the worst in them. Seriously, Christmas really brings out the asshole in people.**

**It's funny though. I get aggravated by people who wait until the last minute to shop for their Christmas presents and whatnot, but I always wind up waiting until the last minute to figure out what _I_ want for Christmas, as well as what the people I buy Christmas presents _for_ want, because I'm forced to spend so much time and energy thinking about Christmas on the job that I do as much as I can to _avoid_ thinking about it outside of work...Funny that.**

**Just four more days to go...God give me strength...**

**Apologies, just needed to vent a little.**

* * *

_Six years ago:_

Sasame and Ruby walked a short distance away from the fire and faced each other.

"All right," said Sasame, popping her knuckles, "time to unlock your Aura, Ruby-chan."

"O-okay," said Ruby, feeling a bit nervous at the prospect.

Children from Huntsmen families often had their Aura unlocked when they began their training. However, for those that weren't, it was generally unlocked upon their entry into combat school. It was a rite of passage, the first major step along the road to becoming a Huntsman or Huntress. She still remembered the day Taiyang had unlocked Yang's Aura in front of her, resting one hand on Yang's shoulder and the other on the top of her forehead, as well as the chant her father had used.

_"__For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."_

"Just relax," said Sasame. "It only takes a few seconds."

Ruby swallowed and nodded.

"Close your eyes," instructed Sasame.

Ruby's lids drifted closed, and she tried her best to stand at ease.

Sasame smiled, a glint of mischief in her eyes. She raised her right hand and extended her index finger, which began to glow with a faint, pinkish sheen. Then she gently pressed it to the tip of Ruby's nose just enough to press it in slightly. "Boop."

Ruby felt a popping sensation, almost like a static discharge, between Sasame's finger and her nose. The sensation resonated through her body, and she suddenly felt a surge of warmth from within. It bordered on feverish, but fell just shy. Finally, the feeling subsided or, rather, felt so normal and natural that Ruby barely noticed any difference.

"All done," said Sasame with the air of a nurse who'd just finished giving a nervous toddler her flu-shot.

Ruby opened her eyes and blinked in confusion. "Wait! That's it?"

"That's it," confirmed Sasame, smiling widely, and with no small amount of humor.

"B-but..." Ruby stared down at her hands, unsure of how to respond.

"I almost forgot how big a deal you outsiders make about unlocking your Auras," said Sasame with a giggle. "In the Mibu Clan, where Kyo and I come from, it's standard procedure. Everyone has their Aura unlocked, regardless of what their profession might be in the future."

"Really?" said Ruby.

Sasame nodded. "Yep."

"But what about the words?" Ruby wanted to know.

"The words..." Sasame's eyes rolled up thoughtfully. "Oh! That's right, _those_ words." She returned her gaze to Ruby. "You could say that those words...or chant rather...are a form of self-hypnosis. It aligns the mind and soul towards the task of unlocking another person's Aura. However, with a little understanding, they aren't necessary in the slightest."

"How come?" asked Ruby.

"Unlocking someone's Aura is actually a simple process," said Sasame, holding up her finger again, pinkish light shining from its tip. "At its most basic level, it is the act of sending your Aura into the other person, and hitting it against their own Aura to stimulate it into an active state. To put it simply, I poked your Aura with my own in order to wake it up."

"That's it?"

"That's it." Sasame's expression sobered slightly. "That said, for all that it is a very simple act, there's a certain degree of skill in doing it right. Aura converts the essence of the soul into a force capable of interacting with the physical world. Because of that, what you feel and how you feel it affects how your soul interacts with objects and people.

"If you aren't careful and in control of your feelings, when you send your Aura into another person, you could wind up affecting them physically, or even do them harm. It would still unlock their Aura, but depending on what feelings or emotions color your own Aura, you could wind up injuring them, possibly even fatally.

"Oh!" said Ruby, paling at the thought.

"You needn't worry, though," said Sasame, her good cheer returning. "I've unlocked countless Auras. I'm a healer by trade. Learning to send your Aura into another person without harming them is the most basic technique of our art."

"Oh..." said Ruby, relaxing a little, not knowing why she was so worried in the first place, seeing as it was already over and done with.

"For people in the Kingdoms, I imagine that the chant is a way of purging their mind and heart of anything that might harm the person whose Aura they're trying to unlock," explained Sasame. "But, in truth, it's actually very easy, once you realize what's needed."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"You're still a ways off from doing it, though," said Sasame firmly. "So no trying to unlock other people's Auras. All right?"

"All right," said Ruby, nodding.

"Good. Then let's begin." Sasame's expression became serious again, but she was still smiling. "We will begin with the three exercises for harnessing your Aura."

"Three exercises?" Ruby blinked. She didn't remember her father covering any of this with Yang when she'd spied on their training.

"There are three exercises that will eventually enable you to control your Aura," explained Sasame. "In the process, they will also serve to cultivate its strength, so that you will have more of it at your disposal."

Sasame held up her index finger. "The first exercise is known as Temper."

"Temper?"

Sasame nodded. Suddenly, a pink outline appeared around her body, making her look as though she was wrapped in mostly-transparent, pink-tinted film. She held out her hand and Ruby raised her own to touch it, and gasped, finding what almost felt like an invisible barrier between her and Sasame's skin.

"The art of Tempering your Aura congeals it around your body and maintains it in that state," said Sasame. "For Aura-users, this is our first line of defense. With your Aura unlocked, it passively protects you from damage, but it can be overwhelmed, and each blow you take will scatter it. Also, sufficient force can break through it at a given point. Tempering your Aura essentially forms it into a more substantial barrier that makes a more effective defense and keeps it from scattering as much, when you _do_ take a hit, which gives you more staying power on the battlefield."

"Cool!" gasped Ruby.

Sasame beamed. "On top of that, Tempering is the first step in strengthening your Aura. In its passive state, your Aura is always streaming away into the surrounding ether. Tempering your Aura keeps it around your body, maintaining its vigor, and allowing it to naturally increase over time."

Ruby nodded eagerly.

Sasame held up her hand again, this time holding up two fingers. "The second exercise is Suppression."

Abruptly, the pink light lining Sasame's body vanished. Furthermore, Ruby found herself blinking in confusion, seeing Sasame, but also getting the disconcerting feeling of absence, even though Sasame hadn't moved a step and was standing right in front of her.

"Suppression completely shuts off the outward flow of your Aura and contains it within your body," said Sasame. "As you can see, or feel rather, it also eliminates what you might call a person's 'presence.' Aside from perceiving the world through their physical senses, even a person without their Aura unlocked passively perceives the Aura of other people around them. For alert individuals, that perception, that hint, is often the first indicator that someone is around, striking them even before the physical indicators of a person's presence do. However, Suppression hides the user from that sense. It's not quite invisibility, but it makes you harder to notice, though truly skilled and experienced individuals will still be able to recognize you are about from your physical indicators. But it _is_ useful if you are trying to hide.

"More importantly, for our purposes, Suppression also serves to contain your Aura within yourself, which enhances your recovery after you've expended it. Thus, Suppression is a good way to recover, if you are in a hurry.

"However, using this skill comes with its own risks. In this state, the user's condition is no different from someone whose Aura is not unlocked. Because of that, if you take an attack in this state, it will injure you as though you had _no_ protective Aura in the first place."

Ruby swallowed.

"Don't worry about it," said Sasame. "While you're practicing, Kyo and I will be monitoring your environment, so that you won't be at risk when you're practicing Suppression, at least during the beginning. Later, when you begin to use its more practical aspects, there will be some risk, but that won't come until much later."

"All right," said Ruby, nodding.

Sasame's smile widened and she held up three fingers. "The third exercise is Projection." She paused for a second. "Please step back."

Ruby backed up nervously.

"A little farther," prodded Sasame.

Ruby took another couple steps back.

"A little bit more," urged Sasame.

Ruby took another two steps.

"Good enough," said Sasame. "I'll go slowly to give you an idea. Brace yourself."

Ruby frowned and tensed. She saw the pink outline appear on Sasame's body. It began to glow brighter. The, without warning, it suddenly exploded outwards from her rushing away from her body like a burst of warm wind, sweeping forest detritus ahead of it, and buffeting Ruby with shocking force, actually driving her back. If it hadn't been for Sasame's warning, Ruby would have been blown off her feet.

Then the force was gone and Ruby relaxed.

"That's Projection," said Sasame, "sometimes called Production, generating more Aura than what you already have. Of all the exercises, it's the one that will do the most to increase your capacity over time."

"Okay," said Ruby with wide eyes.

"For now, we'll start with Tempering," said Sasame. "We can only move on to Suppression when you've become proficient in that. Then, once you are competent in Suppression, we move on to Projection."

"All right," said Ruby. "What's the point of all this, though…besides giving me more Aura to work with?"

Sasame's smile widened. "The purpose of these exercises is to refine and cultivate your Aura in order to prepare you for the fourth level of your training, Manifestation."

"What's that?" asked Ruby.

"Transforming your Aura into a definitive form or force," said Sasame. "Through the three exercises, you can use your Aura to affect the world in rather basic and simple ways. Manifestation transforms your Aura into something capable of having a more dramatic effect on the world around you. For all intents and purposes, it is what you people in the Kingdoms refer to as…a Semblance."

"Semblance?" Ruby's eyes went wide. "But…that's not how Semblances work, is it? I thought people discovered their Semblances."

"That's how people in the Kingdoms do it," said Sasame. "However, that's actually quite crude. A Semblance is a basic form of Manifestation, one that is decided entirely by your nature and inclinations. Yes, while it is generally suited to you as a person, it's not what a person could accomplish with their full potential. A Manifestation is shaped and refined. It is informed by your nature, but you have the final say in what its end form will be."

"What does it look like?" asked Ruby.

"It can be any number of things," said Sasame. She glanced over her shoulder. "Kyo!" she called. "A demonstration, please!"

Kyo stood up, stepping away from the fire. He drew his sword, and left the sheath resting against the log where he'd been standing. Then he vanished.

An instant later, Kyo appeared directly behind Sasame, sword raised high overhead. Ruby's mouth opened to scream a warning, but she couldn't even begin to make the sound before Kyo's blade descended, cleaving through Sasame's head, and cutting straight down to divide her in two with a single stroke. Then Kyo stood up and stepped back.

Time seemed to stand still for a second. Ruby waited for the spray of blood, for Sasame to fall in two pieces. But that didn't happen. Instead, the line that Kyo's sword had drawn through Sasame's body vanished, and Sasame stood there, whole and healthy, as though Kyo's blade hadn't even touched her.

"Thank you, Kyo," said Sasame.

"You're welcome," said Kyo, before glancing past Sasame at Ruby. "But…perhaps you should have picked a less traumatizing way of making your point."

"The dramatic way is the best for impressing the importance of what we're teaching," said Sasame. "Besides, we work with what we have."

"True enough," said Kyo, before looking apologetically at Ruby. "I'm sorry about scaring you, Ruby-chan."

"I-it's…it's okay," said Ruby, feeling her entire body quake from the nerves.

Sasame came in close and took Ruby's hand in hers and guided it to her forehead, where the cut from Kyo's sword had been. "Here," said Sasame. "Feel for yourself."

Ruby did so, with no small amount of reluctance. To her amazement, there was no evidence, none whatsoever, of the attack that had divided Sasame's body in two.

"I am a student of what is known as the _Mumyo Kodama Ryu_, often referred to as the Wood School." said Sasame. "A master of the Wood School is a master of the regenerative arts, with complete control of their physiology. I have the capacity to heal a lethal wound in a matter of seconds, if even that long. I can modify my shape and form to a certain extent. For example…"

Sasame's fox-tail rose up behind her, and Ruby gasped as it unraveled, splitting into nine identical tails, looking as though the nine of them had been braided together into a single tail, before being untied to extend separately. Furthermore, Sasame's tails extended, their length increasing as they wove around each other in a fashion that was almost hypnotic. Abruptly, Ruby was reminded of how Sasame had stopped her earlier, wrapping her tail around Ruby's wrist. As far as Ruby knew, fox-tails couldn't move like that.

Sasame's tails merged back together, until they once again composed a single, undivided limb. "This is but one example of what forms Manifestation can take. Kyo's is expressed through his style of swordsmanship, the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_, which is based upon the mastery of wind and atmosphere. When we reach our destination, you'll get to see other, even more diverse, forms of Manifestation. There are wielders who can conjure water, spark flames, or command the force of gravity…all through the application of their Auras. I daresay, some would look upon what we're capable of, and even call it _magic_."

Ruby's eyes were wide, her imagination running wild at the prospect. But then, a question occurred to her. _Fire…water…gravity…_ "You mean…you don't use Dust?"

"Nope," said Sasame. "To my knowledge, no one in the Mibu does. We haven't felt the need to use Dust because, when properly cultivated, one's Aura is infinitely more capable. It's not easy, compared to learning to use Dust. It takes hard work and years of dedication to achieve that level of skill. Compared to that, you can use the appropriate Dust crystal and learn to use your Aura to shape its effect in a comparative fraction of the time…or equip yourself with a weapon that uses Dust-rounds and simply learn how to hit what you aim for."

"Is it better?" asked Ruby.

"Well…I would say so," said Sasame. "When, after those years of training, you achieve the Manifestation you seek, I've always considered that end result to be superior to Dust. Because it is a product of your Aura, your soul, it will be something you will be able to use much more effectively than Dust. Furthermore, you are only limited by how much Aura you have, which you can always increase through continuing to train. In contrast, a Dust-user, regardless of the method they use, will always be limited by however much Dust they have on their person.

"When you think about it, Manifestation is ideal for an aspiring Huntress, like yourself. Many Huntsmen and Huntresses encounter difficulties, or even perish, because they find themselves in a situation where they cannot rearm themselves with Dust. Perhaps they are too far away from the nearest supply. Perhaps they have been cut off from civilization for too long. Maybe the Grimm attacks are too constant for them to get a chance to restock. Someone who uses Manifestation, however, will be able to 'rearm,' essentially, simply by getting some decent rest."

"What if you can't rest?" asked Ruby.

"Then you're sunk, whether you use Dust or not," said Sasame plainly. "Ultimately, both approaches have their advantages and drawbacks. But I believe that Manifestation allows you to operate more independently. Besides…" She grinned cheekily. "…think of how much extra space you'll have for other supplies, and how much money you'll save, if you never have to carry or buy Dust."

Ruby blinked and thought that over. _She's not wrong._

And, truth be told, what Sasame had suggested _did_ sound exciting. It went beyond anything she had ever heard Huntsmen and Huntresses, even her own mother, were capable of.

"Of course," said Sasame, "that's a ways off in the future. You have a lot of hard, tedious work to do before you should even be considering Manifestation. Before we get to that, we need to cultivate your Aura, which means practicing the three exercises, which means starting with the first one."

"So now, Ruby-chan, it's time for you to learn how to Temper. Close your eyes and stand at ease…Good…Now, listen and try to do as I tell you…"

* * *

As Sasame had warned, the lessons were tedious. Learning Tempering meant Ruby standing or sitting for hours, and focusing on the feeling of maintaining her Aura around her, without letting it escape. Sasame assured her that, with continuous practice, the feeling would become more natural, until Ruby could maintain her Tempering without even thinking about it. But that would be many months of training in the future.

In the meantime, they also began training Ruby in other ways, in order to prepare her to learn how to fight. Sasame oversaw Ruby's Aura-training, while Kyo took over for her physical training. At the moment, it was basic conditioning, strengthening her body. For starters, they walked…for miles…every day. Sasame and Kyo set a moderate pace, with a few brief breaks. At the end of a day's travels, Ruby's legs felt like they were on fire. But she wasn't done yet. After walking, Kyo had her do push-ups, sit-ups, and a variety of other exercises to help build up her arms and core muscles. Perhaps the worst was when he had Ruby hang from her, already aching, legs from a tree branch and curl one way, then the other. Sometimes, if he felt she needed more motivation, Kyo lit a small fire beneath Ruby, forcing her to keep moving her body, in order to keep any single part of her from being exposed to the heat for too long.

After the first week, Kyo began to instruct Ruby in the basics of combat, teaching her the most basic stances, punches, and kicks; and making her practice them relentlessly, alternating between those and her strength-building exercises.

It was tedious. It was brutal. It was tiring...and Ruby _loved_ every minute of it. Every night, she wrapped herself in the blanket Kyo and Sasame had given her, bundled up her red cloak for use as a pillow, and fell asleep almost instantly. But it was truly satisfying to feel that she'd earned her rest. Her new teachers never held back with her, never treated her as though she was delicate or would break under the slightest strain, and Ruby was grateful to them for that.

For over a month, though Ruby began to lose track of the days, they wandered through the wilderness. Even as they trained her, Kyo and Sasame also instructed Ruby in ways to live off the land, how to find food in the wilds, what things were safe to eat and what she needed to avoid. Seeing how this could only help her as a Huntress, Ruby listened raptly to their lessons, soaking in everything like a sponge. At every stage, her evident enthusiasm and determination seemed to encourage her teachers all the more, inciting them to up the difficulty as much as possible to help her grow as quickly as she could.

* * *

After somewhere around a month and a half, they arrived at a small village, a settlement nestled up against rolling hills. As positions went, it wasn't hugely defensible. But the landscape was open, and one could see for miles without difficulty, meaning that, so long as a vigilant watch was maintained, Grimm wouldn't come upon the village unaware, which was good, because the land was also well-situated for farms, of which there were around a dozen, most of them growing grain or potatoes.

Kyo and Sasame led the way into town, where they were greeted with an enthusiasm that startled their charge, enthusiasm for Kyo in particular. Ruby watched as the village headman gladly shook Kyo's hands, while the other villagers whispered excitedly.

"What's going on?" asked Ruby.

"As I've told you, the Grimm have an aversion to Kyo," said Sasame. "His presence will drive away even the youngest, most reckless Grimm for miles. Whenever we reach a settlement of any kind, the residents are always happy to have him. A period where they are guaranteed complete freedom from the threat of the Grimm is always a boon."

"_That's_ what has everyone excited?" asked Ruby, looking around in confusion.

"Indeed," said Sasame. "When Kyo comes, the people tend to celebrate, because it's the perfect opportunity for them to let down their guards. They enjoy themselves and lift their spirits, which, in turn, makes it less likely that the Grimm will be actively drawn their way for a while yet."

"Wow..." gasped Ruby, looking around.

Sasame giggled. "It wasn't always this way. At first, Kyo was just as likely to be attacked by the Grimm as anyone. But, as his strength grew, it reached a transcendent level where he could drive them away, simply by being there. At that point, as people learned what he did, his arrival in any place became a happy occasion."

Ruby's gaze rested on Kyo as the villagers swarmed around him. _I want to do that someday,_ she thought, imagining what it would be like to be able to lift people's spirits, simply by being there.

Sasame saw the longing in Ruby's gaze and fondly trailed her fingers through Ruby's hair. "I imagine that, someday, you will obtain that strength, Ruby-chan. Kyo is...a bit different...from most people. But his level of power is not beyond your reach."

Ruby wondered what Sasame meant by "a little different," but decided not to press the issue, not in the least because Kyo was working free of the villagers crowding around him. "The headman has promised us room and board at the inn for our stay."

"And how long are we here for?" asked Sasame, planting her fists against her hips.

"Five days," said Kyo.

"Plenty for a festival, hmm?" mused Sasame.

"Festival?" asked Ruby, her eyes going wide. She'd attended modest fairs and festivals throughout the year on Patch, but those times had been marred by her father sticking to her like glue, making her feel like she was tethered to him by a leash.

"I told you, people celebrate Kyo's arrival," said Sasame proudly. "The advantage is that the residents are then willing to provide us with a place to stay, and food for the duration."

"So then, we'll get to see it?" asked Ruby.

"The entire reason they're holding it is because we're here, so yes, silly," said Sasame with a laugh, ruffling Ruby's hair.

Ruby wondered how much time she'd have in between training sessions to see what the festival had to offer.

"You're about due for a vacation," added Kyo, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Vacation?" Ruby looked up at him in confusion.

"Of course," said Kyo. "You've been working hard, so this is the perfect opportunity for some time off."

"But-"

"Rest is an important part of your training too," said Sasame, lightly stroking Ruby's cheek. "Having your Aura unlocked means you can push yourself harder, because you rebound faster. But it still won't allow you to work forever. Your heart and mind need rest too. You'll still practice your Temper, but you don't have any physical exercise scheduled for this period."

"Which means you'll have plenty of time to see the festival," added Kyo.

"So awesome!" squealed Ruby, making both her teachers laugh.

* * *

That evening, Ruby climbed into bed, relishing the feeling of her new pajamas, which Sasame had just gotten her. She had also taken charge of Ruby's clothes to see that they were laundered and mended, after she'd worn them through the wilderness for so long. Ruby had also gotten the chance to take a nice, warm bath, relaxing completely for the first time in a long time. As she leaned back onto the mattress, relishing in the feel of actual sheets and a pillow, Ruby was amazed by how far she had come.

Granted, it was hard for her to really quantify the progress that she'd made. All she knew was that she had been pushing herself to the fullest, every single day. Her father had insisted that she was weak, delicate, but she was proving him wrong. She felt free, truly in control of her destiny, for the first time ever.

"Comfortable?" asked Sasame as she entered the room that the three of them were sharing. Given what Kyo's presence promised for the settlement, the innkeeper would have happily given them all their own rooms, and his best ones at that. However, Kyo and Sasame insisted that not needing to pay was more than enough, and one room was plenty, so long as it had space for the three of them.

"Yeah," said Ruby, staring up at the ceiling.

"Trouble sleeping?" asked Sasame, settling into a seat by Ruby's bed.

Ruby was silent for a minute. "A little…I guess."

"Well, you walked a good ways, but we didn't make you do your physical exercises for the evening. I suppose that's why you don't feel so burned out," mused Sasaeme.

"I…I guess," said Ruby.

"Perhaps you'd like a story?" posed Sasame.

"A story?" Ruby blinked and looked over at the fox-faunus. Sasame's manner was always sweet and caring, like an older sister, the kind of older sister Ruby would have _preferred_ Yang be. But, after accepting Sasame's offer, Ruby had thought that she needed to think of Sasame as a teacher. Teachers didn't tell their students bedtime stories.

"I know some pretty good ones," said Sasame, "ones you probably haven't heard before."

"Oh!" Ruby's doubts were swept away by the promise of new stories. Yang hadn't read or told her any new ones in a long time and, before Ruby had started turning her down, had insisted on reading only the most boring and uninteresting ones, like _The Story of the Seasons_.

Saisei proceeded to tell Ruby the story of _The Little Peach Boy_, who was found in a peach by a childless couple, and who grew up to become a strong young man, who went off to fight a band of monstrous bandits, then returning with their captured treasure. Sasame's storytelling was engaging, and she had Ruby hanging onto her every word within a minute. By the end of the story, Ruby's eyes were drooping and she settled down into the covers.

"Did you like that?" asked Sasame.

"Yeah, it was fun," said Ruby. "Can we do it again…" A yawn interrupted her. "…tomorrow?" she finished.

"I'd love to," said Sasame, tucking the covers around Ruby's shoulders. "Good night, Ruby-chan."

"'Night," Ruby mumbled back before slipping off.

* * *

"She's amazing, isn't she?"

Ruby stirred slightly and rolled onto her side to get more comfortable. She figured that Sasame's earlier observation about her not being as tired because she hadn't worked so hard that day was true, seeing as she'd found herself waking up again, just a little bit after falling asleep. She wasn't truly roused, but she was able to hear Sasame and Kyo, over near the other end of the room, speaking in hushed voices. She decided to act as though she was still asleep, mostly because she wanted to hear what Kyo was talking about.

"She definitely has remarkable talent," Sasame observed. "And it is further enhanced by her enthusiasm. When we get home, all the masters will probably be fighting each other over who gets to teach her."

"I'm not certain how anyone could look at her and think she's weak," mused Kyo.

"You say that now, after she's already come all this way with us, despite being only nine," said Sasame. "Even if she isn't weak, I can understand the desire to protect her. She's a beautiful child, so full of life and light. I can understand wanting to protect someone like that from hardship and conflict."

Ruby's fingers clenched, bunching the sheets.

"But it's also that very nature to calls her to the life she seeks now," continued Sasame. "She has a heart far larger than just herself. That loving soul of hers calls her to seek to alleviate the pain and fear of others. Even as it might make those who care for her want to shelter her from hardship, her soul also draws her to it."

Ruby couldn't stop herself from sniffling. _She understands._ She'd wondered what impulse had driven Sasame to take Ruby to join her and Kyo on their travels. There were probably plenty of other ways Sasame probably could have helped Ruby off the streets that didn't involve spending so much time and attention. Yet she had instead decided that she and Kyo would teach Ruby directly, and prepare her for _exactly_ the kind of life Ruby wanted to lead.

That sniffle was enough for the two in the room and Sasame came to the bed. "You heard us?" she asked.

Ruby shifted and looked at her, then nodded.

Sasame smiled. "I meant every word of it, Ruby-chan."

"I know," Ruby said. "It just feels so…so…"

"Good?" asked Sasame.

Ruby nodded.

Sasame smiled and kissed Ruby on the forehead. "Rest for now, Ruby-chan. We'll have plenty to occupy ourselves with tomorrow."

* * *

Sasame's words proved to be quite true. Granted, a festival couldn't exactly start out of nowhere. As a result, their first day in the village was spent helping the locals prepare for it: setting up decorations and stalls, gathering food, planning activities. Despite being the guests of honor, the three of them were in the thick of things, helping with the dirty, and sometimes difficult work that went into making such an event happen. Ruby, as young as she was, did her best to do what she could, following the example of some of the settlement's other children.

In the evening, she had her Aura lessons with Sasame, still practicing her Temper. However, Sasame introduced a new wrinkle, as she began to instruct Ruby in the art of Flow.

"Flow is a sub-skill of Temper," Sasame explained. "Temper's defensive capacity protects the body by maintaining your Aura around it. However, Flow is adjusting the concentration of your Aura in certain parts of your body."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"Well, with Temper, your Aura, your protection, is diffused across your entire body. It's a level above the passive protection offered by an unlocked, but unTempered Aura. But it's still basic. Furthermore, it's still a passive skill." Sasame held up her hand, which began to glow with the pale-pink light of her Aura. "But Flow has defensive and offensive applications. Your Aura can be broken, if your opponent concentrates their attack power in a sufficiently small space to overwhelm your guard at a single point. However, you can counter that by, likewise, concentrating your own Aura. Of course, the most effective way to use it is, if you're blocking an attack, to concentrate more of your Aura into the blocking limb."

"And, if you're attacking, you channel your Aura into the limb you're attacking with?" said Ruby speculatively.

Sasame beamed and nodded. "That's right. Very good, Ruby-chan. Of course, it has its drawbacks."

"What?" asked Ruby. It seemed like a perfectly logical thing.

"The effectiveness of your offense and defense is only as good as your Flow," said Sasame. "There's an art to the timing of how it's used to maximize your effectiveness. After you learn Projection, that is integrated into it as well. But that's for later. The basic principle is, if you're attacking, say, by throwing a punch…"

Sasame moved her arm in an exaggerated punching motion. As she did, Ruby saw the light from her Aura flowing down her arm and collecting in her fist, reaching its peak, right as her fist was fully extended. "For the greatest effectiveness, your Flow should gather the Aura in your fist at the moment of contact, which produces greater force than if you simply channeled your Aura into your fist, and _then_ hit with it."

"Okay," said Ruby, not quite getting how that worked.

"It's okay if you don't understand the 'why' just yet," said Sasame. "It's actually an extension of the principle of putting the physical strength of your entire body behind a blow in order to maximize your power. However, the other purpose it serves is to smooth out your Flow, so that it isn't so easy to read."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"Well, if I was coming to attack you, and you saw my Aura gather in my fist, what would you think I was trying to do?" posed Sasame.

"I'd think you were trying to punch me," said Ruby.

Sasame nodded. "That's right. The idea is to make your Aura Flow as naturally in conjunction with your movements as possible. There are already ways to read a person's moves by observing their posture and movements. If an opponent is able to read the flow of your Aura, that only makes anticipating your moves all the easier."

"Oh," said Ruby, nodding. Then she frowned. "But…I want to use a weapon. Why are you teaching me all this punching and kicking stuff?"

Sasame giggled. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Ruby-chan. Your weapon-training will begin in time. Part of it is that we're still in the physical conditioning phase of your development. In order to use a weapon effectively, you need to develop the requisite physical strength and control to wield it. You need to master your body so that, when you use your weapon, it becomes an _extension_ of your body."

"Okay," said Ruby, nodding more eagerly.

"It also helps to at least be proficient in unarmed combat, in case you're ever in a situation where you can't reach your weapon, for whatever reason," added Sasame.

"That makes sense," said Ruby. "I'm sorry for asking so many questions."

"It's fine," said Sasame. "You're asking questions for the right reasons, because you want to understand the 'why' of what we do. That's very important, if you wish to truly master anything."

Ruby smiled at the praise.

"Now then, let's begin," said Sasame. "Take your stance, and we'll go through the techniques you've been practicing on the road. But, this time, you'll work on channeling your Aura in conjunction with your movements."

Ruby took her stance.

"You'll start in slow motion," explained Sasame. "For now, fluidity of execution trumps speed. Focus on making your Aura Flow as smoothly and naturally as possible. Understand?"

Ruby nodded hesitantly. She thought she understood what Sasame was talking about. She just hoped she understood correctly.

"Start with a right, straight-punch," said Sasame, watching as Ruby obeyed.

* * *

It was slow going. Ruby sometimes had to move so slowly, she was practically stopped, her fist inching forward, a bit at a time. The worst part was the kicks. Trying to slow a kick, so that she could properly match the Flow of her Aura down her leg and into her foot, was an awkward balancing act, made all the harder by whichever leg Ruby was standing on growing tired from the prolonged action.

Still, Sasame was happy with Ruby's progress, and it was only her first session after all. Regular practice would, just as with everything else she'd been taught so far, allow Flow to become a natural action she could execute without needing to think about it.

The next day, the festival began in earnest, and Ruby found herself swept up into it, along with her companions. They wandered amidst the crowds, enjoying attractions, playing games, snacking on treats. Ruby found herself enjoying every minute of it. One of her favorite parts was, when the crowd had been getting a little bit thick and claustrophobic for her, a pair of hands clamped onto her waist and hefted her upwards. A second later, Ruby found herself set on Kyo's shoulders, allowing her to see above the crowd, an act that delighted her.

The festival lasted three days, and was one of the most exciting experiences of Ruby's young life. It was such a natural high that it was difficult for her to calm herself back down after dinner, so that she could focus on her lessons. Sasame was understanding, but stern in her insistence on getting Ruby to calm down. It was the most fun Ruby had had in a long time, since her mother had still been alive.

Then, far too soon for her tastes, the festival was over. The trio stayed another day in the village to help with the cleanup, then it was time to hit the road again.

After a week out in the wilderness, Sasame declared that Ruby was ready to move onto the second of the three exercises, Suppression. At first, it seemed easy. But Ruby actually found it was hard to completely contain even the faintest leak of her Aura that might give her away. Fortunately, Sasame and Kyo had a very effective, and fun, way of helping Ruby master the skill.

They played a game of Hide and Seek. Ruby would use Suppression and hide. Sasame and Kyo would then try to track her down through their sense of her Aura alone. If they found Ruby, she faced punishment in the form of an extended tickling session. Ruby enjoyed these lessons even more than the previous ones, mainly because it reminded her of the games she and Yang used to play.

While they tracked Ruby through the faint leaks of her Aura, they also used it as an opportunity to teach her about tracking in general, showing Ruby all of the physical signs of her passage, whenever she tried to hide, expanding the scope of her education even further. Ruby found herself amazed at how many lessons her two teachers could fit into a single day.

* * *

Another month passed in the wilderness and, one evening, Ruby returned from her latest round of Aura-training with Sasame, feeling flush in her success at Suppressing her Aura perfectly, ensuring that Sasame hadn't been able to find her within the time limit. When she and Sasame reached their camp, Ruby was surprised to see that dinner wasn't the only thing Kyo was working on.

Kyo had taken a sturdy branch. Having produced a small utility knife from his sash, he was gradually whittling it down.

"What are you doing?" asked Ruby as she and Sasame settled onto the logs they'd set around the campfire.

"I'm making your practice weapon," said Kyo. "It's relatively basic, but it will be a wooden sword for you to use."

"A sword!" gasped Ruby, her eyes wide. A thrill of excitement rushed through her.

"That's right," said Kyo. "You've been working hard. Now we can begin working on your weapon techniques." He paused, hesitating for a second. "I hope you're all right with learning the sword."

"Um...Why wouldn't I?" asked Ruby.

"Well...if you wanted to learn some other weapon…" Kyo scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Kyo can only teach you swordsmanship," said Sasame. "So, if you had a different preference, like say a spear or halberd, we'd have to wait until we got home to find you a teacher."

"Not to mention that the only sword-styles I could teach your are based around katana-type blades," said Kyo. "Scimitars and similar swords wouldn't be too much different to learn, but something like a rapier or the like..." He shrugged.

"Well, a while back, I wanted to learn how to use the scythe," said Ruby.

"_Scythe?_" said Kyo and Sasame simultaneously.

"Y-yeah," said Ruby. "My Uncle Qrow is a scythe-wielder. He's super cool." She blinked. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Well...not wrong, per-say," said Kyo, scratching the top of his head. "I don't know if we have any scythe users in the Mibu."

"Not to my knowledge," said Sasame. "As weapons go...it's unusual."

"Why?" asked Ruby. "I mean, I know a lot of people don't use it. But why is it so strange?"

"Well, to put it bluntly, the scythe isn't normally suited for use as a weapon," said Kyo. "The angle of the blade, the position of the cutting edge, its overall size...all those things make it awkward to swing. If you shrink it down to hand-size, you have the sickle, which is not such a rare weapon. But a full-sized scythe would be much harder to use effectively."

"Okay..." said Ruby. "My uncle's really good with it though."

"I imagine he is," said Sasame. "If he's a master of such an unusual weapon, then he most likely is _quite_ skilled."

"To put it bluntly, the scythe is the original lawn mower," said Kyo, making Ruby gasp.

"If you'd really wish to learn the scythe...we'll see what we can do," said Sasame. "But that would mean waiting until we can get back home and find a teacher for you."

Ruby looked at the sword taking shape in Kyo's hands. Part of it was that she didn't want his work and consideration to go to waste. The other part was excited to get her hands on a weapon, on _any_ weapon. It was true that she'd fixated on learning the scythe, because of her uncle. But much of that was because Qrow was one of the coolest people she knew, and she desired to emulate him.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to try the sword," said Ruby.

"It certainly won't hurt," said Sasame. "It's not wrong to try and get a feel for it. We can try out some other things when we get home, so you're not set onto a single path."

Kyo shaved off a few more flakes of wood from his sword. "Well, this is as done as I can make it. Sasame, would you finish, please?"

"Of course," said Sasame, her tail extending out.

To Ruby's surprise, Kyo set the sword on Sasame's tail, and the furry appendage curled around it, until the wooden blade was completely wrapped within it.

"What are you doing?" asked Ruby.

"This is one of the benefits of being a student of the _Mumyo Kodama Ryu_," explained Sasame. "My primary speciality is the healing arts. However, I am also able to manipulate the form and structure of living things. Kyo provided the basic shape, so I'm making sure the grain is consistent, and the balance matches that of a real sword. I'm also polishing it, so that it doesn't rub your hands raw within the first few minutes of using it."

"Oh," said Ruby, staring at Sasame's tail in fascination. There was no movement from it, so it was hard for Ruby to envision her doing all that at once.

Finally, Sasame's tail uncurled, revealing a wooden blade of light-colored wood, looking perfectly carved and sanded to a fine sheen. "Wow!" she gasped.

Sasame balanced the sword across her tail and lifted it to Ruby, before pausing. As Ruby reached out for it, Sasame suddenly curled her tail around it again.

"Wait!" she said, bringing the sword to her hands. "It's Ruby-chan's first weapon, so it should be something that suits her."

Gripping the sword in the middle with both her hands, so that they were pressed together, Sasame pulled her hands apart, moving them up and down the length of the wood. As they did, the light color of the wood was replaced by a darker, red color.

"There we go," said Sasame proudly, now handing the blade to Ruby. "That looks much more suitable for you, Ruby-chan."

Ruby took the blade almost reverently, staring at it as it rested on her hands. Pressure began to build behind her eyes and her throat hitched, as she realized that she had a weapon. After years of being forbidden to so much as touch, much less hold one, she now had a weapon of her own, and she was even going to be taught how to use it. It might have been just a wooden practice blade. But it was _hers_.

The warm fur of Sasame's fox-tail brushed against Ruby's cheeks as Sasame used the appendage to gently wipe away the tears gathering under her eyes. "Congratulations, Ruby-chan. You've earned this."

"Thank you," said Ruby.

Warm, calloused hands closed over her own, which were still closed around the sword. "I do need to warn you," said Kyo, "this is a practice blade, but we expect you to treat it with all the respect and care you would give a real sword. You will treat the blade as though it was steel, with a real edge. If you wear it out through the course of practice, which you will, we will replace it. But if you lose or break it because you were careless, then we will not, and you will have to carve your next sword yourself. Do you understand?"

Ruby nodded.

"There is a reason for this beyond simply teaching you to be responsible, said Kyo, drawing Ruby's eyes to his gleaming crimson ones. "To master a weapon, it is not enough to view it as nothing more than a simple object. Your weapon is your partner, someone in whom you invest your trust, practically a person in their own right. If you ever want to fully master how to fight with a blade, you must come to see that blade as something alive...and make it _come_ alive in your hands."

"I don't understand," said Ruby, looking down.

"You will," said Kyo. "But, for now, the warning is enough. Tomorrow, we'll begin your instruction in the Way of the sword."

Despite Kyo's warning, Ruby couldn't help but embrace the warm fluttering in her heart as she stared down at the sword in her hands.

* * *

**I've wanted to do a super-casual Aura-unlocking scene for the longest time, a moment that's built up as super-important in the mind of the character whose Aura is being unlocked, only for it to take place with almost zero fanfare, leaving them going, "Wait! That's it?" The idea tickles me, for some reason.**

**Readers of _Crimson Eyes_ will remember the Aura exercises I came up with for that story, based rather heavily upon the Nen of the _Hunter X Hunter_ series. I couldn't help but notice the parallels, intentional or otherwise, between _RWBY_ and _Hunter X Hunter_, given that both are series that revolve around superpowered individuals, wielding a broad set of abilities based on a self-generated force called "Aura." I was especially struck by how Pyrrha unlocks Jaune's Aura in Volume 1, with the way she explained it (fancy mumbo jumbo aside) being rather like the explanation for how Nen can be awakened in the world of _Hunter X Hunter_. Ergo, the four exercises for Aura are pretty much renamed variants of the ones used in that series: Temper/Ten, Suppression/Zetsu, Projection/Ren, and Manifestation/Hatsu.**

**My conception of Aura is, at the same time, both more restrained and more relaxed, when it comes to the rules that govern what Aura can and can't do. So, while you won't see some of the more ridiculously outlandish abilities characters in _Hunter X Hunter_ can perform (Giant cat that resurrects you by feeding you the life essence of the person who just killed you, anyone?), there's a lot less restriction on a basic level, regarding what characters can or can't do, nothing really like the Nen types and compatibility restrictions that dominate the HXH setting. Of course, this is mainly because these concepts are a bridge for developing how the mechanics of _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ abilities work in the setting of _RWBY_.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

_Present day:_

_The young woman's blonde hair, which streamed down past her waist, swayed back and forth as she made her way into the club. Her tan jacket was open just enough at the top to show off a generous portion of her cleavage, which was barely hidden by the yellow tube-top she wore beneath it. Said jacket also displayed a her toned stomach, emphasizing the lines of her body. The swaying of her hips with each step she took drew eyes to the tight black shorts she wore, and the knee-high boots that she displayed prominently with each strutting step she took. Her outfit was further accentuated by the orange scarf wrapped around her neck._

_As such, with so much attention drawn to her body, very few would have noticed anything in particular about her arms. Bared by the short, puffed sleeves of her jacket, they were definitely muscular. Her hands were covered with fingerless gloves, while just above them were a pair of thick, gold bracelets on her wrists._

_As she entered the main room of the club, she cast her eyes around, taking in her surroundings: the flashing strobes of light, the shifting colors of the backlit panels that made up the dance floor, the haze of artificial fog in the air. The club's layout and design were modern and hip. For most people, this was a place to cut loose with a few drinks and have some fun, dancing and swaying to the beat that pulsed through the air. But Yang Xiao Long was _not_ most people._

_Yang's posture and manner exuded confidence. Yang smiled as she took in her surroundings. For all that this was a good place for entertainment, it had other, more important, uses. Yang Xiao Long had a purpose. She was on the prowl, but not for a man, as most who saw her might have assumed, not in the way they would have thought, at least._

_Instead, Yang's eyes zeroed in on the club's owner. She found him soon enough. Hei Xiong was not a hard man to spot, even in a place like this. He was a huge bear of a man, standing well over six feet tall. His close-cropped hair and neatly-trimmed beard definitely marked him as a man of business, as did the black vest over the white dress-shirt and red tie. Hei, better known as Junior, was the ideal person to run a place like this, looking clean and professional, yet also intimidating enough that people realized he was the sort who could, and did, deal harshly with anyone who caused trouble._

_What many didn't know was that Junior was far more than a club-owner. He was also one of the most well-connected informants in Vale, with contacts throughout the Kingdom's underworld. If anyone in the Kingdom knew about the person Yang was looking for, it would be him._

_When she spotted him, Junior was speaking with an orange-haired man in a white suit. He looked vaguely familiar to Yang, who thought she might have seen him somewhere before. Whatever their conversation was about, Junior didn't look happy with the outcome, slumping tiredly as the other man walked away. Junior made his way to his bar, dismissing the two gaudily-dressed girls who were checking on him. Seeing her chance, Yang made her move, taking a seat on the stool next to his._

_She caught the eyes of the man behind the bar. "Strawberry Sunrise...no ice...Oh! And one of those little umbrellas,"_

_"__Aren't you a little young to be in this club, Blondie?" asked Junior, turning to look at her._

_"__And aren't you a little old to have a name like Junior?" Yang asked back in a teasing tone._

_Junior huffed. "So you know who I am. You got a name, Sweetheart?"_

_Yang giggled coyly. "Yes, I have name. But, instead of Sweetheart, you can call me _Sir!_"_

_As she'd been speaking, Yang's hand had reached out and down. At the final word, it closed around the poor man's groin, Yang squeezing tightly as Junior's voice abruptly rose multiple octaves in pitch._

_"__Everyone knows that you've got the best information in Vale, so I want to know if you've seen this person?" said Yang, her voice now a fierce growl as she pulled out her scroll and brought up a picture of the person she was looking for._

_Despite the pain of having his balls, quite literally, in a vice, Junior managed to take in the details of the girl in the picture. "Never seen her," he croaked._

_"__Pardon!" snapped Yang, squeezing tighter._

_"__Never seen her...Sir!" Junior wheezed out, before gasping in relief as Yang finally relinquished her grip on his crown jewels._

_"__Come on! Nothing?" asked Yang as Junior got up and walked away from the bar. "You're the best-informed person in the Kingdom. You must have something!"_

_"__Well, there's nothing here," said Junior. "We don't deal in kids."_

_"__What?" gasped Yang._

_"__What, was she kidnapped or something?" Junior asked._

_"__No!" exclaimed Yang. "She ran away."_

_"__That so?" Junior raised an eyebrow. "If you handle her the way you handled me, can't say I blame her."_

_"__Hey!" snapped Yang. "I'd never treat her like that. She ran away five years ago." Within her chest, the heat began to build along with her frustration. For the first time in five years, after spending every year at home, waiting for word from Qrow or her father about Ruby's fate, she was finally able to go out and start searching for herself. She'd even gone through the trouble of talking to an authentic underworld informant, and _this_ was all it got her?_

_Junior stopped and turned to stare incredulously at Yang. Then he groaned, looking upward and massaging his temple. "Seriously, Blondie? She's been gone _that_ long? And you think you can just look her up like she's in a scrollbook somewhere? If she's been gone that long, you'll probably be disappointed, 'cause the odds are she's as good as dead."_

_Yang gasped at the harsh tone of Junior's voice._

_"__Sweet little thing like that, out on the streets?" Junior mused darkly. "She wouldn't have lasted long. If she didn't starve or die of exposure, then she probably got picked up by some unsavory individuals. Considering the kind of people who pick up kids like her, I hope, for her sake, it's the former."_

_Junior didn't even see Yang's fist until right before it crashed into his face, the force of her blow launching him into the air and sending him flying right through one of the fancy glass pillars that decorated his establishment._

_Yang's eyes blazed with rage, their color having changed, from a pale shade of lilac to a deep red. She barely even reacted to the cadre of black-suited men in bowler hats gathering around her, producing guns, axes, and swords from within their clothes as they prepared to meet this threat to their place of employment._

_But, with a snap of her arms, what had, at first, seemed like innocuous, if gaudy, bracelets expanded, unfolding out into gauntlets that covered nearly the entirety of her forearms. Raising her fists, Yang prepared to meet the bouncers head-on as they rushed her._

_"__Bring it on!" she exclaimed, before taking to the air._

* * *

Yang's eyes opened slowly, and she found herself staring blearily at the ceiling of the ballroom as the memory faded. It had been a good way to burn off her frustration and anger. Junior's henchmen had scattered like ninepins before her fists. The twin girls, his enforcers, had been more dangerous. Junior himself had proved to be an impressive powerhouse, forcing Yang to unleash the full power of her Semblance in order to beat him. Pounding them all flat had burned off some of her stress. But the hurt of what Junior had said remained.

Yang hadn't been able to bring herself to believe that Ruby was dead, that there was no hope for her. She _definitely_ refused to believe that she'd fallen prey to the kind of people that Junior thought she might have. Yang's beloved little sister was still out there...somewhere. And Yang was going to use every opportunity she had to find her.

However, Yang had never thought that the mystery of Ruby's whereabouts would be solved like _this_, with the answer being practically dropped in her lap.

Sitting up, Yang took stock of her situation. Due to her worries, she hadn't slept very well that night. Her eyelids still felt heavy, and she was feeling pretty sluggish overall. Depending on what it entailed, Yang figured she probably was not in the best shape for the Initiation. Hopefully, with a generous application of coffee, she'd be able to wake herself up enough that her performance didn't suffer too much. However, that was a secondary concern. Instead, Yang's main focus was on Ruby, and where she was sleeping, across the room.

Or where she _had_ been sleeping, rather. Looking over, Yang saw no sign of her sister. Her heart thudded alarmingly, and Yang suddenly felt a panic-attack coming on. If Ruby wasn't there...what if she'd never been there? _Did I just hallucinate seeing her? Please! I can't go through something stupid like that!_

Then, someone over on that side of the room stirred. Yang's eyes widened as she saw the blonde-haired boy, still wearing that goofy-looking onesie, sit up with a wide yawn, his arms raised above his head. Yang recognized him instantly, and not just because of his ridiculous getup. This was the boy who'd had Ruby rolling with laughter last night. If he was there, then maybe Ruby hadn't been a hallucination.

The boy finished stretching and began to look around, then paused, confusion washing over his face as he looked over at his side, where Ruby and her bedding should have been, only to find a clear space of floor. Suddenly it struck Yang. Ruby must have gotten up early. However, that didn't clarify where she was now.

_Well, if she really is at Beacon, I'll run into her sometime,_ thought Yang. Her eyes focused on the goofball as he shrugged and gathered up his things for his morning routine. _He and Ruby were chatting like they were best buds, last night. Just who is this dork, and how does he know my sister?_

Well, if Ruby wasn't around, Yang figured she could press Ruby's friend for information, discreetly. It would be easy. She knew how to make a guy like that putty in her hands.

* * *

Ruby inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the morning air. At this point, she was an early riser by habit. Months of training under Kyo and Sasame had quickly gotten her used to early mornings. It was a necessity, one that only grew more apparent as the scope of her training broadened. Because of that, Ruby had awoken on her own, just as the first rays of sunlight were beginning to peek over the horizon. She'd washed and dressed, taking the opportunity to enjoy having the bathroom to herself, before the other students woke up and rushed the place en-mass. After that, she'd headed out to the courtyard for the next part of her routine.

First, she started with her Aura. Taking another deep breath, Ruby closed her eyes and checked her Temper. Her Aura remained the way it was supposed to, encapsulated around her body, almost like a weightless suit made of some kind of lukewarm liquid. She could feel its swirls and eddies, languid and slow, but bursting with power, her years of continuous practice having built up its strength. At this point, Ruby was able to maintain her Temper constantly, even during the most mundane of tasks, even when she was asleep.

Taking another breath, Ruby initiated Suppression, pulling her Aura within and locking it down inside of her, completely silencing her presence. She smiled, feeling for herself that there was no leak of Aura from her body. In the past, she'd needed Kyo and Sasame to confirm that her Suppression was executed properly. But now she could tell for herself. It was perfect.

Now came the next step. Ruby would only do it once, in order to preserve her Aura for whatever was to come. Snapping her eyes open, Ruby Projected, her Aura building within her and surging outwards like a wave, bending the grass away from her body, and sending a few fallen leaves from the nearby trees spiraling into the air. Just as with the other exercises, Ruby's Projection was perfect, the surge of Aura exploding out from her completely at her will, with no time needed to actually build it up. The flow felt smooth and natural.

Next came the more physical aspects. Ruby's hand went to the sword, sheathed at the small of her back. The blade slid out smoothly, with only the barest whisper of the steel grating against the opening and interior of the sheath. Spinning the blade through a few, circular passes, Ruby settled into her starting stance, holding her blade overhead with her left so that it was angled in front of her, the edges oriented vertically, pinched between the middle and ring fingers of her right hand.

Then she swept into motion, her blade flowing smoothly through the opening moves of one of the katas she'd been taught. As she moved, Ruby focused on maintaining her Flow, making sure that her Aura moved smoothly up along the length of the blade in conjunction with her own movements. Gradually, she began to pick up her pace, spinning and slashing the air around her, until her sword parted the air with a faint whistling noise. Then she slowed down, then sped up again, all the while making sure the all-important Flow of her Aura was maintained in perfect synch with her actions.

As a faint sheen of sweat gathered on her forehead, Ruby slowed down one last time, letting her body relax and cool down after the exercise she'd put it through. Finally, she came to a stop, holding her blade horizontally, up in front of her chest, the first two fingers of her right hand resting against the flat of the blade, up near the tip. She exhaled slowly and smiled. Everything felt perfect.

Whatever the Initiation entailed, she was ready for it. Feeling quite satisfied with herself, Ruby sheathed her sword. Nothing brightened up her morning like a perfect routine.

"Oh my...that was marvelous!"

Ruby squeaked in surprise and jumped almost half her height in the air at the unexpected voice. As she spun around to face the source, Ruby reflected, somewhat bitterly, that she'd let down her guard _again_, letting whoever had just spoken get so close without noticing in the slightest. She'd been so wrapped up in her exercises that an Ursa could have stomped right up behind her and she wouldn't have noticed.

"I'm sorry!" exclaimed the girl, her hands going to her mouth as her bright-green eyes met Ruby's. "I just thought that your form looked so beautiful, I couldn't stop watching. I apologize if I intruded."

"I-it's okay," said Ruby as she took the girl's appearance in. "It's my fault for not paying attention to my surroundings."

It was the redheaded girl she'd spotted in the auditorium yesterday. Her red hair was tied up into a long tail that hung behind her head, her hair held back out of her eyes by a gold-colored circlet. Her throat was covered by a bronze gorget, before transitioning to bare shoulders of creamy skin. Her chest and stomach were covered by a brown, overbust corset that showed off a little of her bust at the top, while leaving a thin line of skin bare just above her waist. Progressing down, she wore a black miniskirt, with a long, red sash wrapped around her waist, with the ends running down to her ankles.

Aside from that, the girl was also one of the few Ruby had seen, besides herself, who wore actual armor. Her left forearm was covered by a bronze bracer. Bronze pieces covered thighs and shins, the latter meeting her brown high-heeled boots. Taken altogether, with her magnificent figure, this girl looked like someone's artistic ideal of a warrior goddess brought to life.

_What the heck is it with girls around here fighting in high-heeled boots?_ Ruby exclaimed mentally. _How can they stand to fight in those things?_

The redhead beamed cheerfully. "I hope you aren't offended. I just wanted to say that I admired how much work you've obviously put in."

"Thanks," said Ruby, blushing at the praise.

They stood in awkward silence for a moment, and Ruby wondered if the redhead had actually intended to start a conversation. Perhaps she'd meant to offer her compliment and quietly withdraw, only for the two of them to now find themselves trapped in an empty silence, with no way to disengage gracefully. Ruby supposed this girl might be almost as awkward as she was...in her own way.

"A-anyway, it's nice to meet you," said Ruby, deciding that introductions might be a safe way to go. "I'm Ruby Rose. What's your name?"

Of all the reactions Ruby expected to her query, the way the redhead looked taken aback by the question was pretty low on the list. The taller girl flinched and blinked several times before opening her mouth, then closing it again. Finally, she answered. "I'm Pyrrha...Pyrrha...Nikos...?" The rising intonation applied to her pronouncement of her surname seemed to imply a question to Ruby's ears.

"Oh...uh...Nice to meet you," Ruby ventured tentatively.

"You-you haven't heard of me?" asked Pyrrha carefully.

Ruby was suddenly reminded of Weiss, and how Blake had suggested that Weiss was used to being recognized. From the way she acted, Ruby figured that, maybe, Pyrrha was also somebody used to being recognized, if not on sight, then at least by name. However, how she showed that expectation differed greatly from how Weiss had.

"Uh...No...I don't think so," said Ruby. "Should I have?"

Pyrrha paused for a moment, surprise flickering over her face for a fraction of a second before it was replaced with...elation? "Oh no! It's fine! I'm sorry."

Ruby blinked, wondering if Pyrrha was actually _happy_ that Ruby hadn't recognized her on the spot.

Pyrrha gamely pressed on. "A-anyway, it's very nice to meet you, Ruby. I'm impressed by your skill."

Once again, Ruby found herself blushing as the conversation shifted her way. "I-it's nothing special. It's just a basic kata I practice."

"But you clearly practice it every day," said Pyrrha. "I can see it from how smooth your movements are, even when you were varying your rhythm."

Ruby smiled, both impressed and excited that Pyrrha had picked up on that. It showed that Pyrrha was observant and, more importantly, that she was enthusiastic about training to such a degree that she was able to observe the subtle nuances of Ruby's own. "Thanks."

"Do you practice like that every morning?" Pyrrha wanted to know as the two of them began to walk back towards the school buildings.

"Every morning I can," said Ruby.

"That makes sense," said Pyrrha. "I usually practice and train in the mornings too. I just didn't today because I left my weapons in my locker. You kept yours with you?"

"Yeah," said Ruby, her fingers going to stroke the handle of her sword. "She's important to me, so I try to keep her close as much as I can."

"Did you make it yourself?" asked Pyrrha.

Ruby shook her head. "She was a gift. One of my teachers, who's a really good swordsmith, forged her for me."

Calling Murasame merely a "really good" smith was underselling his prowess to an almost criminal degree, but Ruby didn't want to seem like she was bragging. On top of that, Ruby figured that, while Ozpin seemed fine with the fact she'd trained with the Mibu Clan, it wasn't the best of ideas to talk too openly about the Mibu with people who'd probably never heard of or met them. The Mibu liked their privacy after all...and Sora, Kyo, and Sasame had all warned Ruby that many of those in the Kingdom who _did_ know about the Mibu, particularly those in power, took a very dim view of those who willingly associated with them.

"For all that it is a beautiful blade, it doesn't look like anything else," Pyrrha noted.

"Nope," said Ruby. "It's just a sword. The people I trained with don't really use all that fancy mechashift stuff."

"Interesting," said Pyrrha, her eyebrows going up.

Deciding to derail her conversation partner's train of thought before she could start asking questions about who she trained with, Ruby decided to turn the focus around. "What about your weapon? What kind do you use?"

"Oh! It's nothing too impressive, for all that it's well-made," Pyrrha demurred. "I have two. I have a shield. The other can shift from a rifle to a xiphos to a javelin."

"Oooh!" cooed Ruby excitedly, feeling her heart speed up. "A three-form transformational capability. That's so awesome!"

Pyrrha leaned back slightly, apparently surprised by Ruby's enthusiasm.

"Sorry," squeaked Ruby, shrinking back into herself. "I love my sword, and she's the best blade in the world, but...I'm a bit of a weapons nut. I love learning about other people's weapons."

"It's all right," said Pyrrha, beaming happily again. She looked down awkwardly. "I'm just curious though..."

"What about?" asked Ruby, her nervousness returning, figuring that Pyrrha was about to start pressing again on the topic of who had trained her.

"Well...if I'm wrong, I don't want to come off as insulting, but...you seem a little younger than the rest of us," explained Pyrrha. "I just wanted to ask how old you are?"

"Oh," said Ruby. It was the same question Weiss had asked her the previous day. But Pyrrha's attitude was clearly different. Unlike with Weiss, who behaved as though Ruby had an official obligation to answer the heiress' question, most likely looking for another thing to condescend to her about, Pyrrha just seemed genuinely curious. Because of that, Ruby had no issue with answering truthfully. "Fifteen."

"You mean you were accepted two years early?" gasped Pyrrha, apparently both surprised and gratifyingly impressed with the revelation, though Ruby was a bit embarrassed by the apparent admiration.

"Y-yeah," said Ruby. "I sorta busted up a robbery in a Dust shop, and I got invited in because of that."

"Dust robbery?" Pyrrha's eyes widened and she gasped. "Torchwick? You're the one who caught him?"

"Y-yeah," said Ruby, shifting nervously. "I brought him down. He still might've gotten away, if Professor Goodwitch hadn't shown up."

"Still, that's really impressive," said Pyrrha.

"Thank you," said Ruby.

Next thing she knew, Pyrrha was asking, politely, about the details of what happened. Ruby gave her a general rundown of the incident. By the time they'd reached the end of the story, they'd made their way into the dining hall.

"So the pilot got away?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "It's probably for the best. I don't know how Professor Goodwitch would have brought it down, but making it crash would have caused a lot of damage."

"Very true," agreed Pyrrha levelly.

Entering the dining hall, Ruby suddenly felt several pairs of eyes turning towards them, people staring at the pair from every corner of the room. After her brief shock, thanks to Pyrrha, she'd been determined not to let her guard fall again, remembering her teachers' lectures about the importance of keeping full awareness at all times. She shifted uncomfortably, wondering if something about her, maybe her age, had gotten out amidst the rest of the aspiring first-year students. She wondered how. It couldn't have been Jaune. He hadn't asked her age, hadn't even tried to venture a guess. In fact, Ruby wasn't sure he'd even noticed that she was younger than the rest of them. Perhaps it was Weiss...

Distracted by her musings, it took a second longer for Ruby to realize that it wasn't actually _her_ they were staring at. All these eyes were actually focused on _Pyrrha_. Glancing discreetly around, Ruby saw a variety of attitudes, from open admiration, bordering on worship with some people, to childlike excitement, to naked jealousy.

_I guess she really _is_ famous,_ thought Ruby, glancing sidelong at Pyrrha. Ruby could tell that Pyrrha noticed the eyes on her too. It would be hard not to, even if a person weren't as thoroughly trained as Ruby was. From the way Pyrrha's eyes nervously darted about; even as she kept her face rigidly forward, along with the tightening of the muscles around her throat, and the sudden tenseness of her posture, all while her face never lost that polite smile; Ruby realized that Pyrrha wasn't comfortable with all these eyes on her. Pyrrha was famous, but she didn't seem to like it, which might have explained why her reaction to Ruby not recognizing her had been so elated.

"Ruby!" The shout came in conjunction with another pair of eyes coming to rest on them, this time Ruby in particular. Looking over, Ruby saw Jaune, grinning like a loon, even as he waved excitedly to get her attention. Grinning as well, Ruby waved back.

"Do you know him?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah, that's Jaune," explained Ruby. "We met yesterday, and we kinda hit it off." An idea occurred to her. "Do you want to sit with us?"

From the way Pyrrha's smile became less brittle, and how her face lit up, it almost seemed as though she'd just been told her birthday had come early. "I'd love to," she said earnestly.

"Come on then," said Ruby, quickly taking Pyrrha's hand and pulling her towards the line for food.

As she did, many of the eyes that had been previously focused on Pyrrha now shifted to Ruby. The feelings around her varied, ranging from indifferent, to confused, to jealous resentment. Ruby felt a particularly intense glare leveled her way, accompanied by a familiar presence. She didn't even need to look to know that Weiss was glaring at her with a look that was just shy of utter loathing. Ruby decided to ignore her.

Because of the storm of emotions, and the numerous eyes practically glued to the pair, Ruby failed to notice one gaze in particular, mainly because said gaze was devoid of any defining emotion. She remained utterly clueless that Yang's eyes were practically glued to her, Yang's gaze lost to Ruby's senses because Yang was unable to settle on any emotion in particular.

Because of that, Ruby remained clueless to her sister's presence and attention, even as she slid into her seat, across from Jaune, Pyrrha settling onto the bench next to her.

"Pyrrha, this is Jaune," said Ruby. "Jaune, this is Pyrrha. We just met this morning."

"Cool," said Jaune. "It's nice to meet you."

It took a second for Ruby to realize that Jaune also, apparently, had no idea who Pyrrha was. Pyrrha apparently realized that too, and it seemed to make her all the happier. They chatted animatedly as they ate, forgetting about all the people still watching them, enjoying each other's company. As she settled back and enjoyed herself, Ruby reflected that it hadn't been a bad idea to accept Ozpin's invitation after all. It was only her second day, and she'd already made _three_ friends. _I can't wait to tell Sasame-nee!_

* * *

Jaune Arc was practically on Cloud 9 right now. To think that he'd not only managed to get accepted into Beacon, but had also managed to hit it off with two cute girls, just two days in. His time here had just barely started, and it was already a rousing success. Granted, these two girls, as nice as they were, were just friends now. But there was no telling where things would go.

After breakfast had ended, he and Pyrrha had headed to the lockers, with the rest of the students, to pick up their weapons in preparation for the initiation. Ruby had separated from them, having her own sword already. In the locker room, Jaune and Pyrrha had split up as well, in order to find their lockers.

Unfortunately for Jaune, he soon ran into a little obstacle. _I'm pretty sure my locker wasn't over this way. I don't think the numbers even go that high._

Finally, after getting lost a couple of times, Jaune managed to find his locker. Taking out his weapon and strapping it onto his waist, Jaune straightened up and got ready to go. A glance around showed Pyrrha nearby. To Jaune's surprise, she was being chatted up by the white-haired princess Ruby had said was named Weiss. Jaune's eyes narrowed. While Weiss was smiling; and looking _nothing_ like the angry, dismissive girl he'd seen last night at dinner; Pyrrha's smile had taken on a distinctively brittle quality, and she looked quite uncomfortable.

Figuring he'd probably best do something, Jaune began to head their way.

"You know, you've got some pretty good taste, Lover Boy."

Jaune froze at the sound of the voice behind him. It was lower in pitch than Pyrrha's and Ruby's, but slightly more resonant, with a slight purring growl to the tone that made goosebumps appear on his skin. Turning around, he was greeted with the sight of a spectacular, blonde bombshell behind him, leaning casually against his locker, giving him a half-lidded smile.

"Uh…what?" asked Jaune, momentarily tongue-tied.

"Chatting up Pyrrha like that," said the blonde girl in a teasing tone. "She's not the kind of girl just anyone can talk to, you know."

"Huh? Why?" Now Jaune was simply confused. "She's really nice. I'd figure she's the sort of person who can get along with people easily."

It took all of Yang's self control to keep from gaping at Jaune's cluelessness. _He has no idea who she is!_

Pyrrha Nikos, the four-time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament, featuring in a round dozen sponsorships and endorsements, the girl whose face beamed out from boxes of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes on breakfast tables across all four Kingdoms, the girl who was probably Mistral's biggest celebrity right now; yet, somehow, Jaune had no idea about all of that.

The revelation knocked Yang for such a loop that she almost forgot her _real_ goal for this conversation. She wasn't here to chat with this blonde lunkhead about Pyrrha, for all that it was amazing that he had no idea about how out of his league she was. She was here to find out about Ruby: where she'd been, what she'd been doing, why she was at Beacon…and what she was doing, hanging around with this scruffy doofus.

"I'm sure," said Yang. "You sure seem popular with the ladies, though."

"Just a little lucky," said Jaune, blushing slightly. "I mean…I don't know if it's right to put it that way. I'm just glad to make some friends. The fact that they're cute girls just makes it better."

_Aww, he's so cute. He thinks Pyrrha is his friend. He thinks Ruby is his friend too. That's just adorable._ Yang paused to consider her feelings on the matter. _Well, he seems mostly harmless, so I suppose it doesn't hurt_.

"And what about the other one?" Yang asked. "You seem to know Pyrrha pretty well," she blatantly lied. "What's the deal with the short one?"

"Hey, Ruby's not that short," protested Jaune. "And what are you talking about? We're just friends after all." For all that this girl was damn attractive, something about her was beginning to put Jaune's nerves on edge. He'd go so far as to call it a man's intuition, for when a man realizes that he's treading on very dangerous ground while dealing with a member of the opposite gender, otherwise known as the "Does this make me look fat?" instinct. Jaune's male intuition didn't always work all that well, and it was more a mythical concept to begin with, but he could definitely say that there was something that worried him about why this girl was suddenly so interested in Ruby.

"I just want to know how you became friends. That's all," said Yang, trying to keep herself calm. It was taking all her self-restraint to keep from going for the jugular (or the jewels, rather), subject Jaune to the same treatment she'd given Junior, and demand that he tell her everything he knew about Ruby. They were in Beacon's locker room, moments before the Initiation. She couldn't cause a scene after all.

"We met on the airship over," said Jaune, figuring that it was harmless to answer the question, since it didn't delve into anything too personal, not that he knew anything all that personal about Ruby, aside from the fact that she deeply cherished her weapon…but anyone with working eyes could see that. "She helped me with something-"

"Oh!" interjected Yang, her gaze intensifying to a dangerous degree. "And what did she 'help' you with, Lover Boy."

Not even Jaune, as dense as he could be at times, could miss the hidden intent behind Yang's question. _Dear God, does she think I'm talking in euphemisms? Why would she think I would do that with Ruby? We've just met and we're just friends. I hadn't even thought of that._

"Nothing you seem to be thinking about," said Jaune nervously.

"And just _what_ do you think I'm thinking about, huh?" pressed Yang, stepping forward, narrowing the distance between them, which Jaune opened by taking a step back again.

Yang's restraint was hanging by a thread. All her big-sisterly instincts were firing at full throttle. After years of not seeing Ruby, worrying about where she was, what she was doing, whether she was safe or not, whether or not she was even alive; to the point that even Yang, as much as she'd held out hope, was beginning to think she was delusional for believing that Ruby was still out there somewhere; her desperation to assume her natural role as Ruby's big sister, now that Yang had found her again, was beginning to completely swamp her reason.

And Jaune was beginning to feel that he was a lot safer _not_ being in Yang's vicinity. Fortunately, he seemed to have some form of providence when, at that moment, Glynda's voice came on over the PA system, announcing that they had ten minutes to get to the cliffs for the Initiation. "Well, I guess that's all we've got time for. I'm just gonna…go…yeah. See ya. Good luck with the initiation and all that." It wasn't the most graceful withdrawal, but Jaune would take what he could get.

Yang, who herself had been distracted by Glynda's announcement, jolted and found Jaune already more than halfway to the door, moving with surprising speed. She took off after him at her fastest walk, not wanting to break into a run unless he did so first. Jaune left the locker room with Yang in hot pursuit.

* * *

Ruby sighed and tapped her foot as she waited out in the hall for her friends to finish retrieving their weapons. She wondered what could be taking them so long. Maybe it was hard to find their lockers amongst all the ones the school probably had. Perhaps they were having trouble with the combinations. Those possibilities made Ruby all the more grateful that she'd just kept her sword with her the whole time.

Her ears picked up the sound of rapid footsteps approaching and Ruby looked up to see a harried-looking Jaune coming her way at a rapid clip. "Hey, Jaune."

"Hey, Ruby," said Jaune, pausing to catch his breath, which didn't exactly do much to abate Ruby's worries about his suitability for Beacon, if a quick power-walk could wear him out. "We might wanna get going."

"Huh? I thought we were waiting for Pyrrha," said Ruby.

"Yeah, well...there's someone-" began Jaune before a familiar voice cut him off.

"Hey! I'm not done with you yet!"

"Crap," muttered Jaune.

Ruby's entire body went rigid, and a sickening shudder rushed from the top of her head and down the length of her spine. _No! Not her!_ Her skin paled by several shades and her hands trembled.

There she was, marching down the hall at a clip that was a match for Jaune's, her face set in a scowl. She'd grown taller and filled out more, especially in the chest and hips, but there was no mistaking her, not those lavender eyes, nor that mane of blonde hair streaming down her back. _Yang!_

Yang had been focused on pursuing Jaune, so she hadn't even noticed Ruby until she'd almost completely caught up. Their eyes met and Yang came to such an abrupt halt she seemed to have run face-first into a wall. Both girls froze, time seeming to stand still, the only indicator that the clock hadn't stopped altogether was the fact that Jaune, standing between them, was looking back and forth in confusion.

Finally, Yang spoke. "Ruby..." Her voice was a breathless whisper, conveying so many emotions that Ruby couldn't even begin to tell what they were.

For herself, Ruby was mostly struck with two emotions in particular, anger and fear. "Yang," she said, her tone flat and uninflected, making her sister wince back as though she'd just been struck.

"R-Ruby...you're here," said Yang, rallying. Excitement was beginning to leak into her voice.

Unable to think of what to say, what to even do, Ruby did the only thing that came to mind. She turned on her heel and marched away.

"Ruby!" Yang shouted behind her, shoving past Jaune in order to pursue.

Ruby ignored her sister, walking a little faster. It was for nothing, as she heard Yang's pace increase to match hers, then exceed it so that she could close the distance between them.

"Ruby, stop!" Yang shouted, grabbing Ruby's shoulder roughly, stopping the younger girl cold. "Where have you been? You've been gone for six years! What are you even doing here?"

Ruby refused to look back. "I'm at Beacon, Yang. What do you _think_ I'm here to do?"

"Ruby, you can't-" Yang began.

Ruby shrugged hard, dislodging Yang's hand and began to walk forward. "You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do anymore," she snarled.

"Ruby! Don't you have any idea how worried we all were about you?" demanded Yang.

"No, and I don't care," Ruby snapped back.

"RUBY!" Yang grabbed her shoulder again, much harder this time, pulling Ruby to a stop.

"Let go," growled Ruby.

"No," said Yang. "We've been searching for six years. I'm not letting you get away now. You shouldn't even _be_ here. Even if you could be a Huntress, you're too young. I don't know how you managed to fool Ozpin and Goodwitch, but we can talk to them and-"

Ruby spun about. Yang had grabbed her right shoulder, so Ruby spun to her right. Yang was forced to let go, before she would have been pulled off-balance. Ruby continued her turn, bringing her left side around to face Yang and stepped in towards her sister, her fingers closing around the handle of her sword and using her step to accelerate her draw, allowing her to slam the pommel into the pit of Yang's stomach.

Yang folded over, her breath exploding from her lungs as the force of Ruby's unexpected blow knocked her clean off her feet and sent her sprawling onto her back. Yang bounced once, then lay still. With a slight groan, she looked up to see Ruby glaring at her.

Ruby's cloak flared in an invisible wind, and Yang was abruptly struck with the feeling that she was lying in the path of a powerful current. As Ruby loomed over her, her cloak seemed to spread to cover more space than it should have, almost seeming to reach out to envelop Yang. An angry buzz began to build in the air around them.

"Don't touch me," snarled Ruby. "You aren't my sister anymore, so don't talk like you can just tell me what to do." She slid her sword back into its scabbard with a sharp "clink." The sensation of the current disappeared and Ruby's cloak seemed to shrink back down, hanging behind her back once again.

Yang's eyes widened and she gasped, tears leaking down her cheeks. Ruby glared at her for a few seconds longer before turning and walking away again, moving even faster this time. Yang lay there, watching Ruby go, barely noticing as Jaune carefully stepped around her and went after Ruby. _Why? Why would she say that?_

* * *

Ruby turned a corner in the hall, and found a small alcove out of the way of things. Shuddering and shaking, she leaned against it, pressing her arm up against the wall and resting her forehead against it, taking long, shuddering breaths.

_Yang's here! Why is she here?_ Ruby sniffled. _No, I'm such an idiot. Yang's two years older than me. Of course she'd be here now. I can't believe I forgot that._

It had been a given that Yang would go to Beacon, when she graduated from Signal. For both of them, the desire to go to Vale's prestigious Huntsman Academy had been all-consuming and, unlike Ruby, their father had been perfectly happy letting Yang pursue that goal with all her might, even helping her by training her in his fighting style. It was a monumental oversight on Ruby's part.

_I can go to Ozpin. I'll tell him I can't do it this year. I'll come back in two years and..._ Ruby's mind trailed off. That was no good. Yang would still be at Beacon, two years from now. Besides, even if she did leave, Yang knew she was around Vale. She'd tell Taiyang, and he would pursue her even more doggedly than before.

_What do I do?_

"Ruby! Are you okay?"

Ruby stirred at the sound of Jaune's voice, but couldn't bring herself to look at him. "I don't want to talk about it," she said.

"Ruby..."

"It's personal!"

"_Ruby!_" said Jaune, a stern tone to his voice that she hadn't thought he was capable of. "I didn't ask what that was about. I asked if you're okay."

Ruby blinked and pushed away from the wall, turning to face her friend. Jaune's expression was worried.

"Look, I get that, whatever that was about, it's personal, complicated, and whatever else. Besides, we're kinda short on time, so I haven't got time to get your life's story out of you anyway." Jaune smiled. "I just want to know that you're okay. We don't have long before we need to be at the cliffs."

Ruby shuddered, looking down. She suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around her shoulders and pull her into a gentle hug. Jaune's embrace was warm and comforting. It wasn't as nice as one of Sasame's hugs, but it was a close second, particularly when she rested her face against Jaune's shoulder and he gently brushed his fingers through the hair behind her head.

"Listen, I don't know what that was about," said Jaune. "But it's clear to me that you have a choice to make, Ruby."

"Huh?" She pulled back and looked up at him.

He met her eyes with a warm smile. "I have no doubt that you belong at Beacon, no matter what that girl said. The important thing is what you _want_ to do. If you don't want to deal with her, then maybe you should back down. We don't know a thing about how these teams or partners are gonna shake out, but I bet you can keep from winding up with her. It's up to you though." His smile faltered. "And...uh...we're kinda at the point where you're gonna have to make up your mind, 'cause I think we've got about four minutes to get our butts to the cliffs."

Ruby giggled at that, and leaned into his embrace once more. She had to admit, whatever doubts she had about Jaune, he was definitely a good friend. But, right now, she had to focus on what she needed to do. _Can I go to Beacon, if it means spending time with Yang?_

Sasame, Sora, and, to a lesser extent, Kyo had all told Ruby at different times, and in different ways, that she should seek to reconcile with her original family, her father and sister. Ruby had tried to reject their arguments, but found herself unable to completely abandon the notion. But seeing Yang so suddenly, having Yang talk down to her again, like she was some kind of helpless child playing make-believe; it had strained Ruby's willingness to deal with her to the breaking point.

And Yang, sooner or later, would tell their father that Ruby was at Beacon and Ruby would have to deal with him too. Just the very thought was making her weak in the knees. Ruby had left that behind six years ago. But the idea of dealing with her father again made her feel like a little child all over again. She was afraid.

_I need to let my fear inform me, but not control me._ It was the mantra that Sasame, Kyo, Sora, and all Ruby's other teachers had drilled into her head over and over again. Fear was an asset, but only if she didn't allow it to govern her. If she fled, rather than face her family again, she was letting that fear control her.

Ruby took a deep, shuddering breath and pulled out of Jaune's arms. "Let's go," she said.

"All right," said Jaune. He swallowed nervously. "We're gonna have to run though, or we won't make it."

* * *

Jaune and Ruby barely made it to the cliffs in time. The students were lined up on a series of what looked like metal platforms that were set into the ground at the edge of the cliff, with one to each student. Ruby and Jaune, being the last arrivals, took the final platforms in line, which put them right next to Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch, the latter of the two fixing the pair of (almost) late arrivals with a stern look.

Yang wasn't far down the line from Ruby. Having Ruby knock her on her butt like that had been a shock for her, as had been the harsh dismissal from her little sister. It left Yang with a hollow feeling. She was so shocked that the idea of reporting her underage sister to the professors had completely slipped her mind, and she'd instead meekly taken her place on one of the platforms. Seeing Ruby and Jaune arrive drew Yang's attention again, and she stared at her little sister, wondering just how Ruby had managed this. Ozpin seemed to pay her no mind, not seeming to notice the girl two years younger than the other students taking her place in line.

_Did Ruby actually get accepted legitimately?_ wondered Yang.

Glynda adjusted her spectacles and looked up from her scroll as the time arrived. "All right, quiet," she said, silencing the slight chatter from the waiting students. "I'm sure you've heard all sorts of rumors about how partners and teams are selected. Well, allow us to put those rumors to rest. Each of you will be given teammates...today." She stepped aside to allow Ozpin to say his piece.

Ozpin cleared his throat and looked out across the lined up students. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon, so it is important to find someone with whom you can work well."

Ruby pondered who she might like as a partner. Jaune was nice. Pyrrha was also nice. Either of them would be her top choice. Blake wouldn't be a bad choice either, for all that she'd probably be a little tricky to deal with, given how distant she appeared to be. The thought of being teamed up with Weiss made her feel as though she'd just bit down on something sour. And then there was Yang..._Yeah, better to not think about that._

"That said...the first person you make eye contact with, upon landing, will be your partner."

_Well, that simplifies things,_ thought Ruby. _Wait! Landing?_

All around her, she could tell people were eying up prospective partners, no doubt hoping to locate one another upon reaching ground-level. She wasn't surprised that quite a few eyes went Pyrrha's way. Whatever Pyrrha was famous for, it seemed that a lot of people were hoping for the chance to get closer to her because of it. However, that faded to the background as Ruby felt Yang's eyes on her specifically, making her tense and bristle internally. She pointedly avoided meeting her sister's gaze.

"Once you have partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest," continued Ozpin. "You will meet opposition along the way. We instructors will be monitoring and grading your performance, but we will not intervene. You must be prepared to crush every obstacle in your path...or you _will_ die. At the northern end of the forest, you'll find an abandoned temple, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return the cliffs. We will regard your relic and your standing, and grade you accordingly. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand and began to speak, but Ozpin appeared to ignore him. "Good, then take your positions."

Ruby wondered what Ozpin was talking about and then saw that students up and down the line were sinking into crouches, some pulling out their weapons, others keeping them holstered. She frowned, then saw the student on the far end of the line get launched into the air as the platform he was standing on revealed itself to be a powerful mechanical catapult. _Oh..._ Given how the students had reacted automatically to Ozpin's instructions, Ruby figured this must have been something they did fairly regularly at Combat School. She was just lucky that they were being launched at intervals of a few seconds, rather than all at once, and that she wasn't the one being sent first.

But Ruby had the nagging sense that she'd forgotten something...something important. Watching the sequence of catapults work its way down the line of students, Ruby crouched herself, getting ready to be sent flying. Then she heard Jaune asking about parachutes.

_Wait! Jaune doesn't have his Aura unlocked. If he gets launched like this, then..._ Ruby whirled around, casting a worried gaze at her friend. Jaune appeared to be completely clueless about what he was standing on, and what was happening further down the line. Ruby opened her mouth to warn him...but it was too late. The catapult under her own feet fired and she was launched into the open air over the forest. A second later, she heard Jaune's surprised wail behind her, and realized that he had been launched too. _Jaune!_ If she didn't do something...he would die.

* * *

**That moment where you remember that you forgot something, but can't seem to remember _what_ you forgot...Whoops.**

**Thanks to the difference in context, I figured that it would also change Yang's goals. So, instead of being fixated on finding her mother, Yang's intention was to find information on Ruby, when she went to The Club. Of course, when you're talking about a person who disappeared at the age of nine, some six years ago, most people are gonna see the outlook as pretty bleak. Talk about your cold case. Aside from that, the events of the Yellow Trailer go pretty much as they did in canon, so I didn't see any reason to do a retread of that fight.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

* * *

**Merry Christmas, everyone...We made it.**

* * *

_Six years ago:_

Despite her initial reservations, Ruby took to training with the sword with a gusto. As always, Kyo started her off with the basic stances and techniques, making her repeat each over and over again. After that, he walked Ruby through katas, pattern dances that taught her to string different movements together into a sequence. He also assigned her striking practice, picking a tree and having her hit it with her sword, with the full strength of her technique, in order to condition Ruby to handle the strain of impact.

He could be quite inventive, when the situation afforded him an opportunity. If they came across a lake or a deep stream in their travels, Kyo would have Ruby execute her strikes while standing waist-deep in water. The strain made her feel like her legs would completely give out upon emerging.

Sasame was equally merciless, particularly as Ruby's physical conditioning began to pick up its pace. While they still walked most of the way, periodically, Sasame would insist they start running, and the three of them would break into a light jog. Ruby had to keep up or risk falling behind. Sasame had an uncanny sense, and appeared to know exactly when Ruby was at her limit, knowing just how hard to push her before Ruby might break. As the days progressed, the distance they ran began to grow longer...until they were running more than walking. Furthermore, even though Ruby was practicing sword-swings, Sasame still continued to insist on regular strengthening exercises, even though Ruby had to do fewer repetitions now. And then there was also her Aura-training.

Ruby's days were a haze of pain and strain, each day spent forcing her body to its limits, and then just slightly past them. Her feet burned from the running and walking over broken terrain. Her arms ached from the endless repetitions of sword swings. Her hands chafed and began to develop callouses from the recoil of constantly striking hard objects. Her legs burned. Sweat drenched her body from sunrise to sunset. As it was, she barely had the wherewithal to eat dinner at the end of the day, before waking up the next morning, ready to subject herself to abuse all over again.

Yet, she flourished, tackling every challenge with all her might. For all that they were affectionate and supporting, her teachers continued to insist on pushing Ruby to the edge of exhaustion. They never held back, never took it easy on her. And Ruby never complained. For all that it was tedious and painful, she could feel the gains her body was gradually making as she put on muscle, her endurance improving. She was getting a better sense of her Aura too. Her nightly training with Sasame was allowing her to improve both her Temper, and her Flow. Her Suppression had soon reached the point where both Sasame and Kyo pronounced it perfect. As a result, they moved on to Projection.

Projection was the hardest exercise to learn yet. The basis was using the principle of Suppression to build up Aura within her, then force it outwards. When executed correctly, it actually generated more Aura within her body, which then washed outwards with explosive force. There was a trick of timing between the sensation of building and release. It took over a week of practice for Ruby to get a feel for it. It didn't help that Projection was the most exhausting of all her Aura-exercises. The first time she tried it, just three repetitions had completely wiped her out.

Out in the wilderness, Ruby began to lose all sense of time. How long had they been out here...one month...two months...more? Each day bled seamlessly into the next, and Ruby had no sense of what day of the week or month it was. Kyo and Sasame appeared to know, but Ruby figured it wasn't important. Focusing on her training was.

Things changed one morning when, as they made their way through the woodlands, Kyo abruptly called a halt.

* * *

"What is it?" asked Ruby as Kyo stooped over a section of ground.

"Someone passed this way, recently," said Kyo, pointing to a nearby tree. A thin twig, roughly four feet off the ground, was broken off. Lowering his hand, he brushed away some of the forest detritus to reveal a shallow impression in the soft loam of the forest floor.

"A footprint?" asked Ruby, squinting at the impression.

"Human or faunus," said Kyo, "an adult, going by the size. And..." He moved and cleared some more of the ground to reveal similar prints. "...they weren't alone."

Sasame frowned and took a wider view of their surroundings. She found more subtle signs of passage, leaves knocked off branches, branches bent and broken. "A fair-sized group," she said.

"What does that mean?" asked Ruby, feeling a bit nervous by the intensity of their inspection.

"They're off the beaten path," said Sasame. "It works for us, because we don't have much luggage, and there are only three of us. But even a moderately-sized group of people would travel more efficiently along roads or paths."

"They've also covered their tracks," noted Kyo. "It was other signs that made us notice their passage at first, but they hid what they could. The Grimm hunt by sensing emotions, so they don't notice signs of human passage. Whoever did this wanted to hide their signs from other people."

"Why would they do that?" asked Ruby.

"Because, four out of five times, that means they're bandits," said Sasame. "Bandits raid settlements for loot and supplies, then retreat quickly, before the authorities can arrive. They hide the signs of their passage so that any pursuers have to take time to follow their trail, which tends to lead to them being harassed by Grimm in the process."

"Which way are they going?" asked Ruby.

"They're moving at a slight angle to our course," said Kyo. "We intersected theirs by chance." He moved to inspect the broken branch he'd pointed out. "This is fairly fresh...less than a day ago."

Ruby swallowed, imagining the woods crawling with brigands. It was like something out of the adventure stories Yang used to tell her...except, this time, the danger was _very_ real.

Kyo reached into his sleeve and withdrew their map. He and Sasame usually waited until Ruby was asleep to consult it, not wanting to bother her with the logistics of their trip when they were focusing on physical and technique training. But, right now, he needed to figure out where the bandits were heading.

"Let's see..." He unfolded the map across the ground and pointed to a spot out into the woodland wilderness. "We're approximately here, by my estimation. We came from this way..." His finger drew an invisible line across the terrain towards the settlement they'd left behind what seemed a lifetime ago. "Assuming they're trying to move in a roughly straight line, the bandits would be heading this way..." His finger traced a different line across their position.

"Nothing in their immediate path," noted Sasame.

"No, but Barrowdown is close," said Kyo, pointing out the settlement just a little ways off the line of the bandits' movement. "We were planning on heading there next. It's only three days away, at our current pace. The bandits will likely have scouts moving out to look for potential targets, if they don't already know where the settlement is."

"If they did, wouldn't they head straight for it?" wondered Ruby.

"Sometimes," said Kyo. "Other times, they'll divert their approach in order to find a more strategically suitable point to attack from. Settlements succeed because, more often than not, they're placed in defensible locations. Dunedain, the one we were in before, is an exception, because they use the visibility of the terrain to see threats coming in advance and summon help before they're overrun. However, most settlements are set in places that limit possible avenues of attack, which makes it harder for Grimm."

"But people are more dangerous, mainly because they can be more creative," said Sasame. "Savvy bandits can turn the terrain to their advantage and use it to get an edge over the defenders of a settlement."

"What do we do?" asked Ruby.

"I'm afraid we have to put your training on hold, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, looking up at her apologetically. "The bandits are a short distance ahead, but they _do_ have a lead on us."

"Depending on how they carry out their attack, they could strike as early as tomorrow afternoon," said Sasame.

"So we'll have to run, and pray that we aren't too far behind them," said Kyo.

Ruby swallowed nervously. Her legs were already burning from the running she'd done before, which would only be further intensified by this unexpected stop. Furthermore, this wouldn't be a cross country jog to build up her wind and endurance. It would be a race against time, where they'd need all the speed they could get. She wasn't sure she could manage that yet. But, right now, people needed help, and they had to get there as soon as they could.

Kyo put the map away and then, to Ruby's surprise, turned around and knelt in front of her. "Climb on, Ruby-chan."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, staring at Kyo's back in confusion.

"We know you're not ready for the kind running we need to do," said Sasame. "So Kyo will carry you. We'll manage just fine. For all the muscle you've been putting on, you don't weigh too much."

"All right," said Ruby. Part of her wanted to protest, but the rest of her silenced that part. She couldn't afford to argue logistics right now. People needed them. Ruby wrapped her arms around Kyo's collar and held on as he hooked his arms under her legs. Sasame took Kyo's sword for the time being, making it easier for Kyo to carry her.

Then they burst into motion. Kyo and Sasame broke into a run that made their previous jogs look like a crawl. The forest became a blur to Ruby's eyes, trees rushing past in a blend of brown and green. Kyo's body lurched and shifted with every step he took as they practically flew over the broken ground as though they were sprinting along a flat track. The rush of air in Ruby's face was a constant strain, the overall momentum forcing her to exert herself to keep her hold on Kyo, lest she be pulled off.

They didn't stop, continuing their run, even as the sun began to set. Even as night came on and the stars dusted the sky, Kyo and Sasame didn't slow, which amazed Ruby. Sasame was a faunus and, consequently, had excellent night-vision. But Kyo was human and should have been virtually blind, with nothing more than the light of the moon and stars sporadically breaking the forest canopy. Yet he continued to run over the uneven ground that had the potential to twist ankles or break legs, at full speed, not missing a single step.

Even if she wasn't really doing anything but holding onto Kyo, Ruby was still getting tired. Her eyes were feeling dry from the constant pressure of the wind. The late hour was making her sleepy. Her arms burned from the constant strain of maintaining their hold. She was hungry and thirsty too. Yet she clung gamely on, refusing to be the person who slowed them down.

Finally, as the eastern horizon began to lighten, Kyo and Sasame slowed to a stop. Kyo sank into a crouch, and Ruby pried her stiff arms from around his collar and wobbled on legs that weren't accustomed to standing at the moment.

"Take a seat, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, patting a stump.

Ruby sat down, grateful for the respite. Sasame passed her some of the trail rations they ate for breakfast and lunch, along with a canteen. Ruby ate her portion quickly, washing it down with swift swallows of water.

In the meantime, Sasame laid out Ruby's blanket. "Get some rest," she said softly.

"But..." protested Ruby.

"We won't be able to do much good if we're too worn out to fight before we even get there," said Kyo. "We've closed the distance. Hopefully we'll get there before things get bad."

"Just a few hours," said Sasame softly. "Not too long. We'll wake you when it's time to set out again."

Ruby nodded and slipped into her makeshift bed, bundling her cloak beneath her head as a pillow. Her eyes closed and she was lost to the world.

* * *

The next thing Ruby knew, Sasame was gently shaking her awake. "Come on, Ruby-chan. We need to get ready."

Ruby yawned, her body urging her to go back to sleep. However, she quickly remembered the direness of the situation and she forced herself up. She took some more trail rations and water from Sasame, along with a quick bathroom break behind a tree. After she'd cleaned herself up, she joined Sasame and Kyo, who once again crouched down to offer her his back. Ruby climbed up and they were off again.

The air rushing against her face helped to wake Ruby up considerably. As they ran, she began to hear other noises over the rushing of air. It was distant, but rapidly growing louder, the sounds becoming more and more audible over the sound of wind rushing past her ears. There was a distinctive crack, like an explosive discharge. It took Ruby a second to process what that sound meant. _Gunfire!_ They were close, but the battle had already begun. The bandits were attacking.

Finally, they emerged from the cover of trees and onto a space of cleared land with an elevated view of their destination. The town of Barrowdown was nestled up against a set of steep mountain slopes. Formidable walls with mounted turrets blocked access from the lower approaches of the forest, the ground cleared to offer them a clear shot at any approaching Grimm. Buildings of various sizes and styles rose up within that safe perimeter, ringing another space of cleared ground, open dirt, occupied by heavy equipment, set around an opening at the foot of the mountains. Barrowdown was a mining town.

As Sasame had predicted, the bandits had been creative, and turned the settlement's positioning to their advantage. While the Grimm wouldn't have risked the tumble down the steep mountain slopes, the bandits had apparently moved close, using the trees and boulders as cover, before attacking from the blind spot in the settlement's defenses. They'd hit hard and fast and, already, a sizable portion of the small town was covered by a pall of rising smoke, with flames licking upwards from several buildings.

"Let's go," said Kyo, he and Sasame bursting into an even faster run now. Ruby clung to Kyo's back with all her might as the trio hurtled down from their overlook, leaping from one precarious foothold to another with skill that mountain goats would have envied. From there, it was a straight dash out of the woods and across the cleared ground to the wall.

Kyo and Sasame didn't even slow down as the wall loomed up ahead of them. Without breaking stride, they transitioned to the vertical surface, and used their momentum and propulsion from their Aura to run straight up the side of the wall and leap over the top. They landed on the other side and continued their run without breaking stride, taking the most direct route they could find through the unfamiliar streets towards the chaos that was threatening to engulf the whole town.

They saw people, the vast majority of them fleeing in the opposite direction the trio were going. Every now and then, they spotted some of the town's defenders. At this distance, they were trying to direct people or setting up defenses to fall back on as the bandits advanced. The attack, coming from an unexpected direction, must have caught them completely by surprise. Trying to manage the chaos of the fleeing civilians was almost overwhelming enough in its own right, and the few of them that were managing to make contact with the enemy were quickly on the verge of being overwhelmed.

Kyo and Sasame came to a stop, Kyo letting Ruby slide off his back and taking his sword back from Sasame. As Ruby worked her arms and legs to regain some sense of movement, she saw why. Nearby, one of the town guards, dressed in rather unimpressive armor, with a basic Dust-rifle slung over his back, was dragging a wounded comrade down the street.

"Stay with Sasame," instructed Kyo, meeting Ruby's eyes to confirm her acknowledgement of the instruction.

"Okay," said Ruby.

Kyo smiled and gently ruffled Ruby's hair before continuing along the street towards the raging battle. Sasame, in the meantime, headed right for the wounded soldier. The man looked up at her and Ruby's approach, tensing at the sight of these two unfamiliar people coming towards them.

"You two need to get out of here now," said the soldier. "We're not gonna be able to hold them back for much longer."

"That won't be an issue," said Sasame. "My friend will take care of your little bandit problem. As for _your_ friend…"

She knelt by at the side of the wounded man, who groaned as he kept his hands pressed against the side of his abdomen. From the blackening of the armor around his hands, it appeared he was covering up where he'd been hit by a fire-Dust round. Sasame reached down and pried the man's hands off the wound, causing him to groan in pain, while his partner shouted in confusion.

Ruby fought back the urge to retch at the sight of the wound. Blood was oozing around burned tissue, blackened in some places. The stench of scorched flesh was horrendous.

Sasame rested a hand gently over the section of ruined flesh and her hand began to glow with the pale-pink light of her Aura, which washed over the man's body. The wounded soldier relaxed with a sigh, his arms going limp as his head leaned back into his comrade's chest as the unwounded man kept him steady.

"H-how…?" he asked.

"I'm a healer," said Sasame. "Now isn't really the time for a lecture I'm afraid. I need your help."

"You just saved my buddy from an agonizing death," said the man. "What do you need?"

"I can save those who are wounded," said Sasame. "So long as they aren't dead yet, I still have the capacity to help them…but only if I can reach them. We need a place close by, where we can gather the injured for treatment."

"But the bandits-" protested the soldier.

"Will cease to be a problem soon," said Sasame with a wan smile. "My friend will see to them quickly enough. I need you to get word out, and start organizing the people to get the injured to some place where I can see to them, preferably somewhere where a fair number of people can be gathered at once. While you're at it, see to getting cots and basic medical supplies from your hospital."

"Town Hall works," said the man. "It's just two streets down from here. It's even a little fortified, in case the Grimm overrun the outer defenses." The notion caused him to pale. "Oh God! The Grimm! They'll be on us like flies on a rotting carcass."

"One problem at a time, dear," said Sasame in a consoling voice. "Though that's one you needn't trouble yourself over. The Grimm won't be here anytime soon. Focus on what _can_ be done. Get the wounded to the town hall, and we'll set up there."

"Yes, Ma'am," said the soldier, standing up and rushing off.

Despite her small size, Sasame had no difficulty hefting the healed soldier, who had fallen into unconsciousness, and slinging him over her shoulder. "Well then, Ruby-chan, let's go. I imagine their Town Hall will be a fairly prominent building."

"Is that why you helped that man?" asked Ruby, looking over at the unconscious man over Sasame's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" asked Sasame.

"You stopped because you saw the injured soldier," said Ruby. "I couldn't tell, 'cause we were moving so fast, but we probably passed a bunch of hurt people on the way over. Why stop for this one?"

"Why do you think?" asked Sasame with a twinkle in her eye. It was a look Ruby had grown familiar with, the look of a teacher guiding her student through her own questions to reach answers and understanding.

"To heal people, you need to be able to get to them," said Ruby, running things over in her head. "If you tried to just stop and fix every hurt person we came across…"

"Then I'd be running hither and yon across the town," said Sasame with a smile, seeing that Ruby was already connecting the dots.

"So, instead, you see an injured soldier and heal him in front of his friend, so that he'll get the other soldiers, because people will listen to them and then…they'll bring everyone who's hurt to you."

"Exactly," said Sasame approvingly. "It's much more efficient, and I'll be able to help everyone quickly and save the largest number of people I can."

Ruby winced as she heard an explosion in the distance. "Will Kyo be okay?" she asked.

"He'll be fine," said Sasame with a giggle. "If anything, I feel sorry for the bandits."

* * *

The settlement's defenders were hard-pressed. With the attack coming from an unexpected direction, their response had been sluggish. By the time they'd managed to respond, the bandits had already done considerable damage. The only silver lining so far was that the marauders hadn't yet begun to scatter throughout the town.

The defenders did have a few advantages. Their equipment, while basic, was well-maintained. Their rifles were fairly new and in good order, thanks to regular access to spare parts for maintenance. Their armor was also superior. Compared to them, the bandits, with weapons that were often cobbled together from unrelated parts and hodgepodge armor, sometimes crafted with nothing more than what spare metal was lying around, seemed under-armed and armored. If it had been a fair fight, the defenders would have won easily.

Unfortunately, the bandits were seasoned experts at _not_ fighting fair. Furthermore, due to the fact that this wasn't their settlement, they were more than happy to plunge it into flames in order to drive the defenders into the open, where they could be set upon by those with melee weapons or cut down by mass-firepower. In contrast, the town guards were reluctant to open fire on the homes of people they knew or, sometimes, their own homes.

At the moment, the situation was in a tenuous stalemate. The two sides mixed together in the midst of a plaza created by intersecting streets in a furious melee, while others tried to set up positions at range to cover their comrades. Bullets crisscrossed the air overhead as both sides fired at targets of opportunity, neither being willing to send massed firepower into the melee fight, where their own allies were mixed with enemies. Unfortunately for the defenders, the melee was not working to their advantages. What they lacked in access to superior equipment, the bandits more than made up for with experience. They were seasoned fighters, possessing unusual, if roughshod, weapons that they could employ in inventive ways. Bodies were falling to the ground with each passing second, but very few of them belonged to the bandits. In a moment, the balance would tip...

Then, what looked like a comet plummeted out of the sky and slammed into the ground in the midst of the melee. It landed with explosive force, flashing with intense light, throwing up a cloud of dust, which completely obscured the interrupting object from view. The shockwave drove all the fighters back. Instinctively, they all retreated in the direction of their allies, trying to find some form of organization after the sudden disruption of the chaotic fight.

A silence fell over the battlefield, almost deafening for the absence of the previous noise and chaos that had nearly overrun it. The dust began to clear, revealing just what had hit the ground.

It was a sword, its shape that of a basic katana, but nearly five feet in length. The blade seemed to shine from within, highlighting the beautiful, woodgrain-like patterns that ran up the length of the blade's edge. It was a thing of beauty. For all that it was a simple sword, it was the finest piece of craftsmanship that anyone on either side had ever seen.

In the silence that followed the sword's unprecedented arrival, the scuff of sandaled feet against the ground became audible, the sound coming from behind the ranks of the guards, accompanied by an ominous presence. They turned and parted as a young man approached, dressed in a black kimono. His luminous, crimson eyes seemed to shimmer, the air around him rippling as though he was the source of some kind of intense heat.

"Who-?" gasped one the guards.

"A friend," said the young man with a smile, addressing the guards. "My name is Kyo. I'm here to help. If you wouldn't mind, pull back your forces and focus on containment. We don't want these men scattering throughout the town."

"You're going to take them on...by yourself?" asked the highest-ranked guard present. The oddity of this person showing up and offering his assistance was strange enough. The assurance that he could take them on alone seemed ludicrous. Even a seasoned Huntsman would have trouble against the number of bandits.

"It's a simple matter," said Kyo. "Numbers don't mean a thing to me. Ah, by the way, my friend should be setting up a space nearby to treat the wounded. Bring any injured to her and she'll be able to help them." The shine in Kyo's eyes seemed to intensify as he turned his gaze on the bandits, though he continued to speak to the guards. "Don't worry. This will be over shortly."

Kyo strode forward and pulled his sword out from the ground, raising it to rest casually over his shoulder as he faced the bandits. Their leader stepped out from amidst their numbers. He was a towering, musclebound man, one who could easily be seen leading a dangerous bunch like this.

"Eh, who's this runt?" he snarled. "Think you've got what it takes to take on all of us, huh?"

Another man came up to the leader's side. "Wait a second, boss," he said in a nasal voice, "there's something about this guy. Glowing red eyes...long sword...black kimono. This guy's Demon Eyes Kyo. I've heard he's famous throughout the settlements. They say that even the Grimm run from him."

"Oh...you heard of me? I'm flattered." Kyo laughed softly. "In any case, I'd like to resolve this matter quickly. That said, there's no need for unnecessary bloodshed. I'm not inured with wanton killing. I'll be happy to spare any who relinquish their weapons and surrender. I'll give you ten seconds..."

The towering leader snorted. "Ha! As if we'd believe a joke like that. All I see is a fool who's come to die!"

He raised his weapon, a crude-looking battle-axe that he hefted over his shoulder in one hand. The curving blade at the front tapered down back towards the handle. On the other side, there was a rounded, almost conical projection facing the opposite way, with a hollow on its end. As the leader swung downwards, a jet of flames erupted from the opposite end, driving the axe down even faster at Kyo's head. Both the bandit leader and Kyo vanished in an explosion of dust.

Silence fell again. Then the dust cleared to reveal the leader and Kyo, both still standing. But the leader's axe had been stopped cold by Kyo's blade, which Kyo continued to heft with one hand, not even seeming to make an effort, despite the larger man bearing down with all his weight, the jet on the back end of the axe continuing to fire until the flame slowly sputtered out.

"I-impossible!" gasped the bandit leader, pulling back.

"My turn," said Kyo cheerfully.

Then he was suddenly behind the leader, facing away, as though he'd just walked past the larger man. To everyone watching, it was as though they were watching a video that had suddenly skipped a frame. Kyo's sword was once again resting over his shoulder as he began to walk away from the bandit leader. The hulking man began to turn around. However, red lines appeared across his body. Then he seemed to burst apart, his form cut into countless pieces, blood scattering everywhere.

Both the bandits and guards looked on in awe. They hadn't seen Kyo move, much less his individual sword strikes. Everything seemed to have happened out of nowhere, as if by some kind of magic.

"Now then," said Kyo, lifting his sword off his shoulder and holding it out to his side in preparation to strike. "This is the last warning. Those who remain holding their weapons should be prepared to die."

The bandits hesitated for a moment. Then, from within their ranks, a strangled voice barked out. "G...Get him!"

Driven by their habitual inclination to aggression, the bandits surged forward, their numbers threatening to break over Kyo like a wave. But Kyo merely smiled, raised his sword...and plunged into their ranks without hesitation. The next few moments were followed by a chorus of screams and showers of blood.

* * *

Word spread about Sasame and her work quickly enough. After reaching town hall, they'd made the unconscious soldier as comfortable as possible. The building had a large entry hall, which could be used to shelter most of the town, with additional doors and stairways leading into basements, which could hold more people. The doors were reinforced with steel bars to help keep the Grimm at bay, should the town's wall ever be breached.

At Sasame's direction, Ruby helped clear the floor in the entryway, moving benches and decorative plants to the walls. They were glad for the space, as a gaggle of people soon arrived; parents cradling battered and lacerated children, children doing their best to support wounded parents, guards escorting and carrying wounded comrades. They began to flow in, converging on Sasame in a rush. There must have been dozens of them.

Ruby thought her teacher would have been overwhelmed, but Sasame moved efficiently, directing people to lay the wounded down in basic rows, with enough space for her to move between them. Even as she talked, Sasame went to work. To the amazement of both Ruby and the townsfolk, Sasame's tail lengthened and divided, one becoming three, then nine, all of them weaving around Sasame.

As her tails brushed over wounded people, Sasame's pale-pink Aura would bloom across their bodies. Color would return to pale skin. Faces, contorted in pain, would relax. Bleeding would stop. All the while, Sasame moved to the most severe cases and worked with them directly. It was the first time Ruby had seen Sasame fully active in her role as a healer. She knelt by the worst-injured, her fingers and hands seeming to phase through skin and flesh, allowing her to reach the insides of their bodies directly.

The townsfolk grew wary when Sasame's tails divided. There were faunus living in this settlement and, by and large, relations were peaceful. But Sasame's actions defied the logic of what even _faunus_ knew themselves to be capable of. Yet, no one could argue with the results of her work, as each person she walked away from was fully healed, if unconscious and resting.

Finally, the hospital staff arrived, pulling along carts stacked with cots, along with bedding and other essentials. Ruby did her best to help them unload, carrying what she could. She was glad for the months of strength training she'd done leading up to this point, as it enabled her to almost match adults for the loads she could carry, limited only by the small size of her body and hands, and the limited reach of her arms.

As the cots were set up, the treated were transferred to them, while Sasame continued to attend to the wounded. Yet again, Ruby did as best she could, trying to help make everyone as comfortable as possible. Adults watched in amazement as the nine-year-old moved amongst them, not seeming to care when a patient's blood ended up on her skin or clothes, moving with calm and assurance that rivaled the most experienced and mature among them.

The the flow of wounded trickled to a stop, and the sound of gunfire and explosions in the distance tapered off abruptly. Soon, quiet returned, only broken by the crackling of flames from the burning sections of the town and the groans from those few injured still waiting to be treated.

"Did Kyo do it?" asked Ruby, looking at Sasame.

"That he did," said Sasame, not looking up from her current patient. "We shouldn't let our guard down though."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"As powerful as he is, Kyo is one person," said Sasame. "In pitched battle, that means little. However, if the bandits tried to scatter, there may have been a few that slipped past, if they decided to skirt the fight in its entirety. I get the feeling that setting up an airtight cordon was not the first thing on the guards' minds when this happened."

As if summoned by Sasame's statement, a guard by the door screamed, clutching at his shoulder as blood fountained out from between his fingers. The shot that had hit him spun him, even as he fell and skidded across the floor. Townsfolk milling near the entrance to the Town Hall screamed and scattered as a ragged man and woman made their entrance.

Ruby was almost disappointed by her first look at the bandits. In the absence of meeting the real thing, her imagination had built them up into living incarnations of evil, malevolent creatures that lived by spreading misery and death and taking what other people had made for themselves...Grimm in human guise. But that was a far cry from the truth. That was a far cry from the dirty, ragged pair that stormed through the entrance, desperation in their gaze as they took in the hall full of helpless civilians and wounded guards. The few unwounded guards scrambled for their weapons.

"Keep those pieces down!" snapped the taller of the two, glaring at the guards, before leveling his gun, a pistol with a broad, curved blade hanging below the barrel, at the guard that he'd just wounded. "Anyone tries anything and this fool'll be eating Dust through the top of his head!"

The guards faltered. In the meantime, the woman, whose hair hung in greasy, black strips, hefted a rifle, one that looked like she'd looted off someone she'd injured or killed, and swept it back and forth across the room.

"Now then," continued the man, "we've run into a bit of a hiccup. The rest got wiped out by some kind of demon-eyed monster. But, if we have you folks, I think we can come to an arrangement."

"Oh honestly," sighed Sasame, rising to her feet, her tails having merged back together before anyone had noticed. "I really don't have time for this nonsense. Not only that, but you've gone and created _more_ work for me."

"Shut it, brat!" snapped the man, transferring his aim from the wounded guardsman to Sasame instead. Everyone in the hall tensed. Now it was the person who'd saved countless lives being threatened.

Sasame merely rolled her eyes in annoyance. "If you two would be so kind as to put your weapons down, I might see to your own injuries, before turning you over to the authorities. It's a much better option than what you just left behind, and compared to what awaits you if you keep pressing your luck here."

"You're talking awfully high and mighty, brat," hissed the man. "I ain't playing around."

Then he pulled the trigger. The crack of a Dust-propelled discharge echoed through the hall and people screamed. Sasame's head snapped back as the bullet struck her right between the eyes.

Ruby had screamed too, before cutting herself off as she remembered what Sasame had shown her the day they met.

Sasame stood there, her head tilted back. For a moment, everything froze. Then, slowly, Sasame tilted her head upright, the mark of the bullet's passage already disappearing from her forehead. "That was uncalled for," she said.

The bandit's hand and arm began to shake. His companion didn't fare much better. In fact, nearly everyone in the hall was rattled by the sight of the diminutive fox-faunus shrugging off a gunshot to the head as though it were nothing more than a weak poke. Even the guards had forgotten their situation, becoming so absorbed in the fantastical occurrence before them.

The man tried his best to level his shaking gun at Sasame, but his trembling caused his aim to jitter wildly all over the place. Still, every subsequent shot he fired managed to hit her, striking her in the chest, the stomach, the leg, the shoulder, the neck, then in the chest again, before the clip of his weapon clicked empty, though he still squeezed the trigger several times afterwards.

Each time, Sasame's body jerked as the shot struck her, but the wounds vanished as quickly as they occurred, even the holes in the cloth that covered Sasame closing up, making it seem as though time was reversing itself for her.

The terrified man stumbled backwards as Sasame began to advance. He expelled the spent bullet clip and loaded up another. This time, he took aim at the guard he'd wounded earlier. There was a reddish-brown blur and Sasame's tail split, one darting across to interpose itself between the gun and the wounded man. The bandit gasped and shifted his aim to a random civilian. But his shot was stopped again as another of Sasame's tails split off to intercept. The man fired off several more shots, but, each time, Sasame intercepted each bullet with a new tail, until all nine tails waved behind her.

"Wha-what the hell are you?" gasped the bandit.

"Mitarai Sasame," said Sasame smoothly, a sly smile on her face. "Some refer to me as Sasame: the Nine-Tailed."

The bandit screamed and turned to run. But one of Sasame's tails lashed out like a whip, striking him with such force that she slammed his body _through_ the Town Hall's floor with a loud crash. When her tail lifted up, the bandit's form did not move.

Then a scream reached Sasame's ears and she turned to see the bandit woman holding a child by her blonde hair, hoisting upward so that the poor girl was almost practically suspended by her scalp, leveling the gun at the child's head.

"Stay away from me, you demon!" snarled the woman. "I'll kill this brat and splatter the inside of this place with as much blood as I can."

Sasame exhaled slowly, appearing more annoyed than worried by this development. Then she frowned.

Ruby had seen the bandit woman moving to take the hostage. A surge of fear welled up within her. She didn't see any way Sasame could reach the woman before she pulled the trigger. However, Ruby realized something.

The woman was utterly focused on Sasame. The guards and civilians had forgotten their position. The guards could have shot the woman a dozen times over before she'd even managed to grab the girl, but had been so enthralled by the spectacle of Sasame's actions that they hadn't even thought to. Everyone's attention was rooted on Sasame...which meant that no one, the bandit in particular, was paying attention to Ruby.

Ruby's eyes sighted on the woman's gun, her position. If she hit it right, she could knock the barrel clear and give the girl a chance to escape. But, if she did it wrong, she could set off the gun herself, and kill the girl on accident. The bandit's finger was resting on the trigger, so that the slightest muscle twitch would pull it. If Ruby wanted to make this work, she needed to be fast.

But she wasn't fast. The running she'd done with Kyo and Sasame during her training had been about endurance so far, not speed.

Then something occurred to her. _Can I use my Aura to go faster?_ It had been something she'd been taught, and even experienced for herself during her training. Channeling her Aura into her strikes made them more powerful. By using Flow to enhance the force of her fist, Ruby could strike hard enough to crack the trunk of a tree, even break a smaller one. During her training so far, all her consideration had been on power...not speed. _But if I use Flow to shift my Aura into my feet and charge..._

Did she dare try it? If she failed, she would be making a mistake she couldn't take back. Not even Sasame, by her own admission, could bring back someone who died. Ruby would have exactly _one_ chance at that. Did she dare risk it?

Her eyes settled on the girl, who couldn't have been more than five, the same age Ruby had been when she'd watched helplessly from inside a little red wagon as a pack of Beowolves had swarmed her and her sister. Ruby and Yang had been lucky back then. But luck had had a name, Qrow Branwen, her uncle. Right now, Ruby _had_ to be the stroke of luck in this child's life. She couldn't make any mistakes.

Carefully, Ruby began to edge closer. She had practiced rapid-advance techniques, moving or lunging in to strike, rather than just swinging the sword from up close. It was all very rudimentary, only the most basic way of closing the distance. Ruby's success would be defined by reaching the point from which she could reach her target with a single, lunging step. Her hand went to the handle of her wooden sword, and she slid it out from where it was tucked in her belt, holding it low, not wanting to give herself away. The woman was completely focused on Sasame, but if she caught sight of Ruby in her peripheral vision, she might react.

Ruby edged just a little closer, taking her time. Sasame was watching the woman calmly, her face set in a pensive frown, as though she too was considering how to deal the situation without allowing the child to come to harm. Compared to the blithe manner with which Sasame had treated the woman's comrade, Ruby expected her to behave similarly. Then Ruby could almost feel the weight of Sasame's gaze, flickering her way for the tiniest fraction of a second. _Is she...waiting for me?_

Keeping her sword low, Ruby edged a little closer, her eyes fixed on the bandit's face. Another step and she was just outside the range of her lunge. Another step still and, now, the woman was in reach. Ruby moved a little bit closer for good measure. Then she took a deep breath and bent her legs.

Her continuous training allowed her body and Aura to respond fluidly, in almost perfect synch. Ruby kicked off the ground as she went into the lunge, the force of her step actually shattering the floor where she'd been standing. She became a blur, crossing the space that remained between her and the woman in a fraction of a second. The blade of her wooden sword slammed into the barrel of the rifle, just above the muzzle, the impact knocking it clear of the child's head. The jerk caused the woman's finger to tighten on the trigger and the rifle discharged, sending a Dust-bullet lancing down to shatter the floor at the little girl's feet. The girl screamed in terror, a scream that was echoed by a dozen people around the building.

Reflexively, the woman released her grip on the child's hair as she jumped away from her attacker. The impact of Ruby's strike, combined with the recoil of the the unintended shot, jerked the weapon out of her grip entirely, the stolen weapon skidding across the floor. The woman leapt back, her hand going behind her, drawing out a broad, curved sword, with a gun-barrel protruding from the hilt, so that the muzzle aimed up the length of the blade, a classic gunsword.

"You little brat!" snarled the woman, fixating on Ruby with bloodshot eyes as Ruby positioned herself between the woman and the former-hostage.

Ruby's heart thudded a rapid tempo in her chest as she faced down her larger opponent. For all that it was crude, the woman was wielding a real sword. She was a grown woman too, an experienced fighter. Ruby, with her scant few months of training and a wooden sword, couldn't hope to compare to that. Ruby's entire body was quietly quaking with fear. She found herself desperately hoping that Sasame would save her.

Except that Sasame hadn't moved. She remained where she was, watching with a dispassion that was almost strange, the majority of her attention fixated on Ruby. Ruby suddenly realized that Sasame expected her to finish this...or at least try. Ruby swallowed, only to find that her mouth had gone completely dry.

_I can't do this! I can't fight a grown-up with a wooden sword!_ Ruby choked back a whimper, even as she kept her blade as level as she could manage. The woman was blinded by her own rage...rage and fear. They had expected a shelter full of cowering civilians and easily-cowed guards, only to find themselves confronted by a monster in the guise of an innocuous faunus. Now her only leverage had been torn away by a child.

_What do I do?_ wondered Ruby. _If she hits me with that..._ Then it occurred to her. Ruby had her Aura. Furthermore, her Temper was still intact. The woman wouldn't be able to cut her with that battered sword so easily, even if Ruby failed to block..._Wait! Block...Temper...?_

It hadn't even occurred to her before, even though it had been mentioned by Sasame and Kyo numerous times throughout their lessons. Weapons were a conduit for their wielder's Aura. Why should Ruby's sword be any different, even if it was just made of wood? What if she channeled her Aura through her weapon? _But how do I do that?_

Then she remembered something else. _"Your weapon should be an extension of yourself. Make it come alive in your hand."_

Ruby took a deep breath, then closed her eyes. She relaxed herself, though she didn't let her stance slack, instead focusing on the feeling of the handle of the sword in her hands. She let her awareness encompass it, and was startled to realize how easy it was. All those days and nights spent swinging it endlessly had embedded the feel of the weapon, not just into her body, but her mind and soul. Ruby began to feel as though she could feel everything up the sword, all the way to its tip, as though it was just another part of her arm. Embracing that feeling, Ruby allowed her Aura to flow up so that her Temper now encompassed the sword as well. It was just another part of her body.

Behind her, Sasame's lips quirked in the tiniest of smiles as she watched the rose-red light of Ruby's Aura slide up to envelop her weapon.

Ruby opened her eyes and looked at the bandit again. Now she felt much more calm...and confident. She began to smile.

That smile enraged the woman. "How dare you look at me like that, you little bitch!" she shouted. "I'll kill you!"

The woman raised her sword, and Ruby felt a flash of panic as a terrified whimper reached her ears. The child she'd saved was still behind her. If she dodged, the little girl might get hit instead. So Ruby would just have to block and hope that her Temper was strong enough to protect her weapon form the woman's sword. As the woman's blade descended, Ruby snapped her own weapon up in a high-block, one of the many moves Kyo had drilled into her head over and over again. The two blades met. There was a crimson flash, and the woman's blade bounced away.

Ruby was elated that it had worked, that she'd managed to stop the attack. But that alone wasn't good enough. She had to fight back. Ruby's body went into motion automatically as she shifted forward, taking advantage of the hole her block had made in her opponent's guard. Once again, her endless training did the work for her, her body and Aura moving practically on their own. More to the point, Ruby's Aura Flowed up the length of her sword, even though she hadn't yet practiced Flow with a weapon. Despite that, it was a natural extension of what she had already learned, just as Sasame had assured her it would be.

The woman had been completely knocked off-guard by the fact her blow had been blocked by a simple wooden sword, wielded by a child no less. Stumbling back, she was in no position to defend as Ruby surged forward, swinging her sword across her body in a sideways slash, putting all her strength and Aura into the blow. Ruby's attack hit home, striking the woman across the piece of crude metal molded over her chest that served as rudimentary armor.

The metal screeched and buckled under the impact. At the same time, the blade of Ruby's sword shattered into splinters. All of that was underscored by a deeper, heavier sound, a low, wet, crunch, that echoed throughout the Town Hall with terrible finality.

The woman was thrown onto her back, the sword flying from her limp hand to tumble across the ground, before sliding to a stop at the feet of some of the huddling civilians, who recoiled back from it as though the weapon was diseased. The woman herself coughed wetly once...then lay still. Her ribcage had been completely crushed.

Silence descended on the hall, and Ruby was frozen in place. Only the handle of her sword remained in her hands, a few rough splinters marking where the blade had once been. But that was the least of her concerns. Instead, her eyes were fixed on her opponent, the woman she'd struck...the woman she'd...

At nine years of age, Ruby Rose had made her first kill.

* * *

**One of the reasons my stories get so long is that it's really hard for me to go broad-strokes sometimes. While I do gloss over a lot of the nitty gritty, when it comes to Ruby's training, I did want to convey a sense of the kind of experiences she accumulated in the past.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

_Present day:_

Ruby descended towards the forest, her eyes ahead of her, but the rest of her senses locked on Jaune, tracking his movement behind her. Jaune certainly made it easy, his continuous scream broadcasting exactly where he was to her senses. Ruby focused downward, then kicked out behind her, expelling her Aura from her feet, practically stepping off the air itself as she used her technique, not to slow her descent, but accelerate it.

The forest canopy rose up to embrace her and Ruby shifted her balance, going into a roll that reversed her position so that she was now falling backwards. Now she had a view of Jaune. Compared to everyone else, who were all descending towards the forest with perfect balance and coordination, Jaune was tumbling through the air, his limbs flailing. Ruby felt the trunk of a tree looming up behind her and shifted her position a little.

She hit the tree in the side, her legs flexing to absorb the impact as her momentum braced her against the vertical trunk. She felt the entire tree bend slightly under her impact, the wood creaking, followed by a faint crack running up the trunk. Then Ruby channeled her Aura through her feet again as she kicked off, launching herself almost in the same direction she'd come from, only shifting the direction of her launch so that she was flying on a course to intercept Jaune.

Leaving a trail of red petals in her wake, Ruby flew towards Jaune like a red comet. As her course crossed with his, she flared her arms and legs out, her Aura flushing out through her cloak, causing it to spread and stiffen, maximizing her air resistance and abruptly slowing her speed, so that she was in the perfect position when Jaune slammed into her.

Ruby's arms went around his shoulders. "HOLD ON!" she shouted over the rush of wind as the impact sent the both of them on an uncontrolled plunge into the forest below.

Jaune responded reflexively, his arms wrapping around her waist. Now Ruby let her momentum sweep her cloak around both of them so that it completely enfolded their bodies. Using her Aura again, she reinforced the cloak as much as she could, transforming it into a sheet of armor around both their bodies as they crashed through the canopy at full speed.

Ruby moved a hand up to the back of Jaune's head, bracing his head and neck as they slammed into the trunk of a tree...and smashed right through it. They hit another, but, this time, their momentum had been slowed, so that they bounced off it after crushing a portion of the trunk, which also set them spinning. From there, the world became a complete blur as they careened down, bouncing off one tree after another. Finally, they slammed into the ground with crushing force, before bouncing off and hitting again, the impact of their landing ripping a shallow trench through the earth before they finally slowed to a stop.

When the noise and movement faded, Ruby slumped back, gasping for breath. Her cloak had taken the brunt of the impact and protected the two of them from damage. But it didn't change the fact that she was rattled and dizzy from their wild descent.

"R-Ruby..." began Jaune.

"Please...just...don't...throw up," begged Ruby, remembering Jaune's motion sickness on the airship ride over. If _that_ was enough to make him lose his lunch, she didn't want to think what their dizzying descent had done to his equilibrium.

"I make no such promises,"Jaune jested weakly, before lifting his head up from Ruby's shoulder. "Thanks for the save, though." He smiled down at her, an expression she returned. Jaune's blue eyes met Ruby's silver ones and, for a moment, they simply stared.

"You're welcome," said Ruby. Whatever else, she was relieved that Jaune was all right.

They rested there, panting, for another long moment.

Finally, after catching his breath, which wasn't hard, as Jaune was more winded from all his screaming than anything else, he began to realize what their current situation looked like. "Uh...Ruby...You wanna let go?"

Ruby gasped as she realized the situation they were in. They were lying on the ground, in the middle of a Grimm-infested forest, wrapped in each other's arms, staring into each other's eyes. Almost simultaneously, their faces flushed red and they rapidly disengaged, sitting up on their knees as they took another moment to recover, from embarrassment this time.

Finally, both their feelings and their physiology were back under their control and they looked at each other again. Jaune flashed Ruby a goofy smile. "So...considering what Professor Ozpin said...I guess this makes us partners now."

Ruby couldn't help it, she giggled, then broke out laughing, almost doubling over. "I...I guess...I guess you're right," she said, forcing herself to recover, even as she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. "I gotta say...as landing strategies go...that kinda sucked."

"Heh!" snorted Jaune. "Yeah."

They got to their feet. Ruby shuddered, her legs a bit shaky after their rough ride down. More to the point, the initiation had already begun, but she'd burned through a considerable portion of her Aura already. She'd have to be careful with what she had left. She still had a little over half, by her reckoning, but it wasn't good that she'd already used so much up in just the first few seconds.

"Sorry about your cloak," added Jaune, looking at the garment, which was definitely looking a good bit more ragged around the edges after their tumultuous descent.

"Don't worry, it's an easy fix," Ruby said with a wry smile, even as she continued to evaluate the state of her Aura.

Thinking about her Aura drew her thoughts back to the reason she'd needed to save Jaune in the first place. She looked at him, her expression much more sober than before. "Jaune..."

"Yeah," said Jaune, feeling a trifle nervous at the sudden change in Ruby's tone.

"We need to talk," she said.

"About what?" asked Jaune.

"Why isn't your Aura unlocked?"

* * *

"Well...it seems we have our first pair," noted Glynda dubiously, watching an image of Ruby and Jaune as they got back up after their rough landing.

"Indeed," agreed Ozpin with a soft chuckle. "Though it's rare for students to be so...proactive...about choosing their partners."

Glynda hummed pensively, her eyes focused on the pair on the screen. "Ms. Rose burned a considerable portion of her Aura on that landing," she said. "I admire her desire to help her peer, but she needs to be more concerned about her own condition." Secretly, Glynda had to admit that she was impressed. It appeared that Ruby's assertion in the interrogation room hadn't been an exaggeration. If she could use her Aura to reinforce her cloak to such a degree, then she could have easily used it to shield herself from a barrage of fire from a bullhead.

Then her attention fixed itself on Jaune and her frown deepened. "What truly worries me is Mr. Arc. I don't care what his transcripts say. That boy is clearly not ready for this level of combat."

Ozpin said nothing, instead quietly raising his mug to his lips and taking a slow sip.

* * *

"My what?" asked Jaune, blinking cluelessly.

"Your Aura," said Ruby. "Why isn't your Aura unlocked?"

"What's Aura?" asked Jaune.

A tremor of horror ran through Ruby's body. _He doesn't even know what Aura is. How?_ Why? "Jaune...you mean...you can't seriously not know what Aura is."

"Nope," said Jaune frankly.

Ruby looked down. Then her face hardened and she looked up, anger and worry clouding her expression, making Jaune falter and step back. "R-Ruby! What's wrong?"

"Jaune..." said Ruby in a stern tone, "...as my partner, I want you to be completely honest with me. Did you go to Combat School?"

"Huh?" Jaune blinked. "O-of course I went to Combat School. My transcripts were approved in a heartbeat."

"You're lying," said Ruby frankly.

"N-no I'm not," said Jaune, growing more nervous and stepping back from Ruby.

"Yes you are," said Ruby, her eyes narrowing. "Your Aura isn't unlocked. You don't even know what Aura _is_. It's the single most important thing you need to know if you want to be a Huntsman, but you don't have a clue about it! That's one of the first things they teach you about in Combat School, if your family doesn't teach you first. But you don't know a thing about it. What's going on?"

Jaune retreated until he found his back up against a tree. His gaze was frightened, worried, almost like that of a cornered animal. Ruby's eyes were angry, but her expression was also worried. Jaune's own gaze faltered and he looked away...only for his eyes to fix on the trench he and Ruby had plowed upon their arrival. _She saved my life...I...I can't lie to her._

"I...I lied about my transcripts," said Jaune, slumping with a sigh, his eyes drifting to the ground. "Almost everything on the application form I sent in, except my name, is a lie. I was never trained...I never got to train. I've always wanted to be a Huntsman, to be a hero. But...I..." He sighed. "I got my hands on some fake transcripts and lied my way into Beacon."

Ruby's expression softened slightly. But Jaune could still see disapproval in her gaze. "Jaune...do you have any idea...do you have any clue about what you did?"

"I uh..."

"Aura is the power of our _souls_," said Ruby. "Learning to utilize it is what allows Huntsmen and Huntresses to do things ordinary people can't. It's why the people here are perfectly fine with tests like _this_."

"Yeah, but...everything worked out all right," Jaune pointed out.

"_Ozpin just chucked us off the side of a cliff!_" exclaimed Ruby. "If I hadn't been there, if I hadn't realized the trouble you were in, you'd have broken your back on the first tree you hit, maybe your neck, or your skull...you'd probably have been dead before you hit the ground!"

Jaune shivered, his skin going pale and his legs suddenly feeling weak.

"And the worst thing is...that's just the beginning," said Ruby. "Things are only going to get _more_ dangerous from here. We haven't even had to fight any Grimm yet. At this rate, you won't even survive the day, forget your first semester. What the _hell_ were you thinking?"

"I..."

"We need to go back," said Ruby. "I don't want to leave the Initiation, but I can't just stand by and let you get yourself killed like this."

"You can't-!" exclaimed Jaune.

"Why can't I?" asked Ruby. "Are you that desperate to get yourself killed?"

"N-no!" protested Jaune. "I want to be a Huntsman!"

"How?" demanded Ruby. "How can you be a Huntsman when you don't understand the most basic things about what it takes to be one? How can you fight without any training? This isn't a game, Jaune."

Jaune shuddered. "L-look. We can just split up," he said. "We don't have to be partners. I can go ahead on my own, if you want to find someone better."

"This has nothing to do with partners!" snapped Ruby, glaring at Jaune. "I can't stand by and watch you kill yourself. If we're going anywhere, we're going back!"

"I'm not going back!" shouted Jaune, glaring at Ruby.

"Why?" asked Ruby. "Why are you so determined?"

Jaune sighed and turned away, resting his forehead against his arm as he braced it against the side of the tree he'd been backed up against, ironically mirroring the same posture Ruby had used when she'd fled from her sister.

"I...I told you about my father," said Jaune.

"He was a Huntsman," said Ruby.

"I have seven sisters," said Jaune.

Ruby's mental processes ground to a halt, her anger and worry momentarily forgotten as she struggled to comprehend the idea of sharing a home with that many siblings.

Jaune pressed on. "My older sisters are all brilliant. Each of them is talented in her own way. But me...I don't have anything. I'm basically worthless."

"Jaune..." whispered Ruby.

"Don't get me wrong, they love me," continued Jaune. "Oriana taught me how to play the guitar. Xanthe taught me how to dance. But I..." He sighed and let himself slump down to sit at the base of the tree, his arms draped over his knees. "From the moment I knew what it was Dad did for a living, all I wanted was to be a Huntsman like him."

"Didn't he train you?" asked Ruby.

"For about a month," said Jaune with a frown, his gaze distant. "A single, solitary month, then he decided that I just didn't have it...drive...talent...whatever. He told me that I wasn't cut out to be a Huntsman, told me to give it up, said it was for my own good."

Ruby choked, the pressure of tears starting to build behind her eyes.

Jaune was hardly paying any attention to her now. "Mom...my sisters...they all agreed with him. They told me that I'd do much better if I found a safer line of work. I tried training on my own, but Dad did everything he could to keep me from managing that. He'd find random chores for me to do, or he'd ask my big sisters to keep me occupied. I tried to find out what I needed to do to become a Huntsman, but they wouldn't let me find anything. They even locked down my scroll. Only Saphron, my oldest sister, ever seemed to support me, but she moved out a few years back, and couldn't help me."

Ruby's arms rose up to wrap around her shoulders.

"I...I got desperate," continued Jaune. "I avoided going home for as long as I could, fell in with some unsavory people. One of those people even managed to get me fake transcripts." Jaune looked up at her. "I jumped at the chance. I filled out my application and sent it in without letting my family know. I sent it in. I half expected to get rejected right away. But then my acceptance letter came in the mail. I felt so proud of myself when I showed it to my family...even though I didn't actually do anything to earn it.

"But my family: Dad, Mom, my sisters...they just _laughed_. Dad slapped me on the back and told me that, if I'd gone through the trouble, I might as well go. They all told me that it was okay if I had to move back in with them. Then they all saw me off on the airship, waving and shouting, telling me that they'd see me soon..." Now Jaune was sniffling, wiping at his eyes. "So here I am, a stupid faker, probably about to die stupidly for trying something I had no chance of achieving. But I'm still going to do it, because it's what I want to do."

Tears ran freely down Ruby's cheeks. Even though the specifics of Jaune's circumstances were different from her own, so much of his story was familiar to Ruby. It was all there; the controlling family, who stifled their child's hopes "for his own good;" the casual dismissal of his hopes and ambitions before he even got a chance to try and fulfill them; the desperation to seek any way out of that hopeless situation, before the path to his dream was closed off to him entirely. So many pieces of Jaune's story Ruby saw in her own.

Ruby reflected that she'd been lucky, _unbelievably_ lucky, if she was being honest. Sure, her own family had tried to clamp down on her life, to the point that her father was about to pull her out of school so that he could keep her at home and monitor her behavior all the time. Sure, she'd been forced to run away and risk dying on the streets to have even the slightest chance of realizing her dream. But, because of that, she'd met Sasame and Kyo. She'd gotten to train in the Mibu Clan, under amazing teachers, learning things that most people in the outside world, even actual Huntsmen and Huntresses, hadn't even heard of. It had given her skills that Ozpin himself had recognized, and had invited her into Beacon two years early for. Meeting Sasame, that day on the streets, had been a stroke of luck like no other. It was almost enough to make Ruby believe in divine providence.

Now, here was Jaune, in much the same situation she had been, yet he'd never gotten that chance. The closest he'd gotten was a folder of fake transcripts that had let him get accepted into Beacon. His family had watched him set off, even though his father presumably knew what training to be a Huntsman entailed, which meant they expected Jaune to be rejected and sent back home almost immediately.

Ruby wondered if they'd be near as happy with their decision, if they'd learned that Jaune had gotten as far as being chucked off a cliff before anyone realized that he'd had practically no prior training. But that was neither here nor there.

The real issue was what to do now. She could just drag Jaune back to the cliffs. For all that he was older and taller than her, he had no training and no Aura. Knocking him out and lugging him back would be the simplest of things. It would certainly be a better choice than his idea of just going their separate ways, so that he could be mauled to death by the first Beowolf that crossed his path.

However, looking down at him, Ruby could see something, true determination in his eyes. For Jaune, this was something worth risking his life for. He might not have wanted to become a Huntsman for the same reasons she wanted to become a Huntress, but Ruby could tell he wanted it badly enough that he'd be willing to keep marching ahead, straight to his imminent death. _Were my eyes like that when I left my home behind?_ she wondered.

But what then? What did she do? She couldn't let Jaune get himself killed, yet she couldn't bring herself to force him back to safety either.

_What if I helped him?_ It seemed ludicrous initially. If she had to escort and protect Jaune throughout the Initiation, then it defied the reason he was here in the first place. But there wasn't anything else she could do, short of clocking him in the head and hauling him back..._Or is there?_

Ruby's mind went back to that fateful day, six years ago, Sasame cheerfully tapping her on the nose and unlocking her Aura. Ruby was not the same girl she'd been back then, with no clue of how to use Aura. She knew how to send her Aura into another person without harming them. She was even proficient in rudimentary healing techniques. _I could unlock his Aura,_ thought Ruby. _At least then he won't be completely helpless. He still wouldn't know the first thing about using it, or fighting really, but if we can just manage to muddle through the Initiation, maybe I can help him fix that._

It was a very big "maybe," but it was something, something other than ripping Jaune's dream away from him or just leaving him to die. Indeed, the more she thought about it, the more it appealed to her. Just as meeting Sasame and Kyo had been the stroke of luck that opened up a world of opportunity to her, _she_ could now be that same stroke of luck for Jaune.

And, to her thoughts at least, she owed him the willingness to try. After seeing Yang for the first time in years, Ruby had been on the verge of running away again. She'd been almost ready to throw away this unprecedented opportunity, because she couldn't stand the thought of having to face Yang and her father again. Jaune's embrace, his earnest encouragement, they'd given her the resolve to continue on. She and Jaune were partners now. It was up to her to be the best partner she could for him.

"All right," said Ruby.

"Huh?" Jaune looked up, confusion swirling in his gaze.

"I'll help you," said Ruby.

"Help me?" Jaune blinked in confusion. Ruby extended a hand down to him and he, somewhat hesitantly took it, allowing her to pull him to his feet.

"You want to be a Huntsman, I'll do what I can to help you," promised Ruby.

"Y-you shouldn't..." Jaune looked down. "I'll just hold you back. I need to do this on my own."

"But you can't," said Ruby firmly, making Jaune's eyes snap back to her again. "No one can. That's why we have things like partners and teams."

"But you..." began Jaune.

"I never got anywhere on my own," said Ruby with a sigh, beginning to walk. Jaune fell into step with her automatically. "The blonde girl that was going after me earlier, that's my older sister."

"I figured that," said Jaune.

"When I was nine years old, I ran away from home," said Ruby.

"Wha-why?" asked Jaune, flabbergasted by the idea.

"There was an...incident...when I was younger," said Ruby. "My Mom died when I was little. Then me and my sister were attacked by a group of Grimm. The story's a little complicated."

"Okay," said Jaune.

"Dad and Yang...they got super-overprotective," said Ruby. "They told me that I couldn't be a Huntress. They wouldn't let me train. Every time I wanted to try something that they thought was remotely dangerous, or that might let me work on becoming a Huntress, they stopped me. They started trying to control things like the books I read, what I watched. Dad basically started chasing all my friends away."

"Ohh..." Jaune swallowed, beginning to see the similarity.

"The last straw was when I overheard Dad saying that he was gonna pull me out of school," said Ruby, sniffling. "He was going to lock me away from all my friends and keep me at home, basically turn me into some kind of doll that he could keep with him all the time."

"That's...sick," said Jaune.

Ruby nodded. "I knew I had to leave, so I left. I got together what money I could and got out. By the next day I was in Vale."

"Wow!" said Jaune. "That's really gutsy of you. I'd have never been able to do that."

"It wasn't gutsy," said Ruby, looking up at him again. "It was stupid. I nearly died out there. I ran out of money in a few days, and I was about to start stealing food to survive." She sighed. "But I got lucky. I was found by someone."

"Who?" asked Jaune.

"An older girl, named Sasame," said Ruby. "She found me and she helped me. She and her friend, Kyo, took me on the road with them. They taught me how to use Aura, how to fight, how to survive. They took me back to their homeland, and the people I met there taught me even more. More than that, my teachers were powerful, influential people. I got the privilege to learn from them, things that a lot of their citizens would kill to have, but would never get the chance to. I was lucky, I was privileged. Thanks to their teaching, I got strong enough that I could travel across Sanus by foot, and walk straight into Vale with almost nothing more than the clothes on my back and my sword."

"That really is lucky..." said Jaune with a sigh. "I wish I had that kind of luck."

"Look, that's not really my point," said Ruby. "The point is, I didn't get where I am alone. You're not going to magically make yourself stronger by going out here and doing something stupid, Jaune. You need help."

"So...you're going to help me?" Jaune stopped and turned to look at Ruby. "How?"

"For starters, if you're going to be a Huntsman, you need Aura," said Ruby with a grin.

"Right...what's Aura again?" asked Jaune.

Ruby sighed. "We'd better make this quick, or the day is going to be over before we get halfway there..."

* * *

Pyrrha sighed as she carefully stepped through the undergrowth. With Ozpin's announcement about how partners would be chosen, she had immediately hoped that she might get the chance to partner with Ruby or Jaune. Breakfast had been such a refreshing experience with them. It had been so wonderful to sit and chat with other people, like a normal girl, talking about normal things, well...as normal as subjects got for students aiming to become Huntsmen and Huntresses.

She supposed it was more dumb luck than anything else that she would happen upon _two_ people who didn't recognize her on sight. But she would take what she could get. Everyone else was swept up in the glamor of Pyrrha Nikos: the Invincible Girl, the four-time tournament champion, who had become a celebrity icon. Some wanted to get close to her to see if they could get famous themselves, if only by association. Others wanted to rely on her skill…in lieu of their own. Others might have had intentions she didn't want to think about.

That was what had been so nice about hanging out with Ruby and Jaune. The conversation had actually been about something other than _herself_ for a change. She knew it wasn't meant to last. Even if they didn't know now, Ruby and Jaune would learn who she was sooner or later. Even if they didn't do it on their own, there was practically an entire dining hall full of people all too happy to fill them in, and explain why they weren't even worthy to walk in her shadow, or some such stupidity.

That being the case, they were definitely Pyrrha's first choice for partners. Hearing Jaune's scream after her launch, she'd made getting to stable footing a priority, using her shield to crash through several trees to slow her speed, before landing on a solid branch. Drawing Milo, her main offensive weapon, she'd transformed it into rifle-mode, sweeping it up to catch Jaune in her sights as he tumbled through the sky, clearly out of control.

Knowing what she had to do, Pyrrha had readied herself to save him, only to stop when she saw a red comet launch itself up from the canopy to intercept Jaune. She'd watched as Jaune and Ruby collided, then fell back down into the trees. Pyrrha hoped that they were okay. As landings went, that had to have been a painful one. But, at the very least, she figured that they would be partners now. There was no way they could go through something like that and not meet eyes at least once.

With both her prime candidates out of the running, Pyrrha decided to resign herself to doing the best she could with whoever she did find. Descending to ground-level, she'd decided to make her way north. Even if she landed apart, she figured that the other students would be heading in roughly the same direction. So she was bound to meet up with someone sooner or later.

As fate would have it, it was sooner. Pyrrha hadn't been walking long, when she heard the sound of crashing undergrowth, accompanied by low growls and barks. _Beowolves!_ Pyrrha snapped her arms out, her weapons sliding into place. She rushed in the direction of the noise. If these Grimm were making so much noise, it was because they'd found prey.

Pyrrha emerged from a bush in a space that was relatively clear of undergrowth, the trees slightly more spaced-out. There the Beowolves were, rearing up on their hind legs as they loomed threateningly over their intended victim. Pyrrha's eyes widened as she recognized the girl in white, who faced the beasts with elegant composure, her slender rapier leveled at the monster directly in front of her. _Weiss Schnee._

The heiress' weapon was as elegant as she was. The slender blade, gradually tapering down before reaching a fine point, was a gleaming silver, clearly made from the most advanced alloys available on the market. The weapon's ricasso was encased by an unusual mechanism, an arrangement of colored cylinders, which indicated it was armed with Dust.

As Pyrrha watched, the chambers rotated, spinning like the chambers of a revolver. The cylinder of red fire-Dust lined up with the top and Weiss shot forward, gliding across the ground in a graceful, sliding lunge. Thrusting forward with her weapon Weiss launched her attack, a jet of flame shooting out from her rapier and surging forward to immolate the Beowolf in front of her. The monster burned away with a pained yelp.

Of course, the rest of the pack weren't about to sit idly by and let the heiress take them down, one by one. Two of the beasts that had been flanking her lunged at her from either side, their clawed forelimbs raised, their fanged maws wide open. Still another came at Weiss from behind.

Pyrrha's body burst into motion automatically, her finely-honed reflexes triggered by the sight of someone in need. She ran forward, then jumped. With a rapid series of clicks, Milo shifted, the handle elongating and the blade shortening and narrowing, becoming a gold and red javelin that Pyrrha raised over her head. Taking aim at the Beowolf on the other side of Weiss from where Pyrrha herself was, Pyrrha hurled her weapon. At the same time, she triggered the rifle built into Milo's body. In its current form, the rifle's muzzle opened at the javelin's butt-end so that, when it fired, the recoil added a burst of acceleration to Milo's flight as it left her hand.

The javelin streaked past Weiss, just barely missing clipping her ponytail as Weiss turned to her right to deal with the Beowolf on the other side. Milo took Pyrrha's target right in the chest, the Beowolf's charge abruptly terminating as the beast was instead thrown back. At the same time, Pyrrha' pulled back her right arm so that she would swing her left in an arcing motion, allowing her to throw Akouo, her shield, like a discus. The circular shield flew at the Beowolf lunging for Weiss' back like a frisbee. Its sharpened edge cut clean through the Beowolf's neck, neatly decapitating it.

Even then, the shield's momentum allowed it to carry on to strike another Beowolf right in the skull. While it had lost enough force that it couldn't cut through the hardened bone-plate of the Grimm's mask, it still snapped the Beowolf's head back and sent it reeling as the shield ricocheted of its head to strike a third Beowolf. By this time, Pyrrha's charge had carried her past Weiss to where the Beowolf she'd impaled had fallen. Pyrrha retrieved Milo from its dissolving corpse, and raised her left arm just in time to catch the shield as its second rebound sent it hurtling right back at her.

Pyrrha took a step back, putting herself back-to-back with Weiss as the rest of the Beowolf pack closed in. It was a few minutes of furious fighting as the pair danced around each other, doing their best to take down the Grimm. Pyrrha noted that Weiss' form was incredibly refined, but that her movements were rather linear, and she was still obviously somewhat new to adjusting to the dynamic nature of actual battle against multiple opponents. Fortunately, Pyrrha's experience competing in multiple tournaments stood her in good stead, allowing her to read Weiss' actions and then shift to cover her blind spots and exposed weaknesses.

Before long, the pair of them were surrounded by fallen Grimm, their carcasses dissolving into streams of black particles that drifted upwards like smoke.

"Thank you," said Weiss, her words a little stilted as she recovered her breath. "I knew we'd do well together, Pyrrha."

"Of…course…" said Pyrrha, keeping her smile in place, but not yet turning to look at Weiss. Throughout the battle, the pair of them had actually yet to make eye-contact with one another. _If I could find a reason to get away…_

But Pyrrha knew it wasn't realistic. Now that they had fought together, Weiss would be stuck on the idea of the pair of them being partners. Pyrrha had no choice. She supposed she'd have to make the most of it she could. Resigning herself to her fate, Pyrrha turned to face Weiss, meeting her eyes and taking in Weiss' eager smile.

"With the two of us together, we're sure to be the best-performing pair in the initiation," said Weiss. "I doubt anything can get in our way."

"That sounds…grand," said Pyrrha, defaulting to her usual polite facade.

"Come on," said Weiss, already turning to march in a direction that Pyrrha knew _wasn't_ north, "let's get to the temple."

"R-right," said Pyrrha, falling into step behind Weiss.

* * *

_Gotta find Ruby! Gotta find Ruby! Gotta find Ruby!_

The mantra had been running through her head from the moment Yang's feet had touched the ground. Ruby was out here in the Emerald Forest, with Grimm lurking behind every tree, just waiting for helpless prey. There was no way Ruby could be prepared for this kind of trial. _I can't let anything happen to her…not this time!_

Yang's mind went back to that fateful day. She remembered the abandoned cabin, the glowing red eyes, the snarls of the Beowolves as they lunged for the pair of helpless children. It had been _her_ fault. _She'd_ been the one who'd put Ruby in danger. If it hadn't been for Qrow, they'd have been dead. There was no way Yang could allow Ruby to put herself in danger ever again.

_I'll find you, Ruby. I'll make sure to get you home, safe._

Abruptly, Yang winced, grimacing in pain as her hand went to gently press against her stomach, where Ruby had struck her with the pommel of her sword. The power behind the blow had been more than Yang had ever thought Ruby would be capable of. But being able to use a sword didn't mean that Ruby was ready to be a Huntress.

In her pained confusion after the incident, Yang had been in too much of a daze to approach Professor Ozpin and let him know that Ruby was two years too young to be at Beacon. She'd numbly taken her position on the platform and, before she knew it, the briefing for their initiation was underway. Yang was sent flying into the air, only able to hope that Ruby would be able to land safely. At the moment, finding her way to the temple was the last thing on Yang's mind.

From her own position, Yang had roughly tracked the path of Ruby's descent before crashing down through the trees. She didn't mind that her landing had been less than graceful, instead turning east and aiming for where she'd seen Ruby coming down.

Pushing through a barrier of shrubbery, Yang found herself in a relatively clear section of the forest floor, the canopy open enough that she could see patches of blue sky and white clouds above. According to her guess, this should have been the general area where Ruby had come down.

"Ruby...?"

The bushes nearby twitched and began to shake. Yang turned to face them, frowning. She wasn't surprised when the large, burly, black form of an Ursa lunged out from the foliage with a roar, its massive paw swinging straight for her head. Yang jumped backwards, avoiding the arc of the beast's swing. Skidding to a stop, she glared angrily at the Ursa as it came out into the open, followed by a second of its kind.

_I don't have time for this,_ she thought irritably. Ruby should have been somewhere nearby. Then a horrifying thought occurred to her. _What if these things found Ruby?_

It was a horrifying possibility to consider. But Ruby was nowhere to be seen, and the Ursa were here. With a roar of her own, Yang launched herself at the nearest Ursa, her eyes turning a blazing red as she slammed her fist into the side of its head, her gauntlet, Ember Celica, discharging and snapping its head to the side. Yang pressed on, launching a barrage of blows to either side of the bear-like Grimm's head before unloading an uppercut into its chin and following it up with a full-power haymaker to the Ursa's stomach. The monster was launched backwards, slamming into the side of a tree with enough force to crack it in two, the tree collapsing with the sound of creaking and groaning wood.

The second Ursa almost looked taken aback by how ferociously Yang had demolished its partner. However, the instinctual aggression of its kind soon took over again and it roared loudly as it reared up to its full, intimidating height.

"Bring it!" snarled Yang, clashing her gauntlets together.

Then the Ursa's body abruptly jerked. The light faded from its eyes and it collapsed forward, a black sickle, attached to a black ribbon, sticking out of its neck, having pierced a vital with such perfect precision that the massive beast had been brought down by that single, tiny wound. Yang's eyes traced the length of that ribbon to meet the amber eyes of the girl that held it. Yang remembered her sitting apart from everyone else during the previous night, her nose buried in a book.

Yang took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Finally, she managed a smile. "I could'a taken him," she said.

Blake Belladonna smiled wryly.

Yang frowned and looked around. "You didn't see anyone else around here, did you?" she asked.

"Are you looking for someone?" asked Blake.

"Black hair with red tips," explained Yang, "black dress...thingy...red armor on her hips and shoulders, red cape, like some kind of silly superhero."

"You mean Ruby?" asked Blake.

"You know her?" gasped Yang, her gaze immediately snapping back to her new partner.

"We talked a little," said Blake. She glanced around. "I haven't seen any signs of anyone around here. I don't think this is where she landed, if that's what you were looking for." She returned her attention to Yang. "Why are you looking for her?"

"She's my sister," said Yang.

"Really?" Blake raised a skeptical eyebrow, noting that they didn't look anything alike.

"Half-sister," admitted Yang with a sigh. "She ran away six years ago. We've been looking for her all that time...and now she just shows up here...now...I don't know how. She's only fifteen. She shouldn't even be allowed in Beacon yet."

"And yet she's here," said Blake, her eyes narrowing slightly. When she'd overheard Weiss' accosting Ruby the previous day, she'd heard Weiss claim that Ruby looked a little too young to be at Beacon. She herself had noted that Ruby looked rather young for an aspiring first-year student. But she had chosen not to press the matter, seeing as they were at that age where a person's age couldn't be so easily determined just by appearances.

Of course, while Yang appeared to be assuming that Ruby had used some illegitimate manner to enter Beacon, Blake figured that it could be just as likely that she was a special exception. But there would be no way to know that for sure now. However, she had her own aspirations, becoming a Huntress herself foremost among them. Right now was not the time to be dealing with some kind of bizarre family drama. What they needed to do was get to the temple, claim a relic, and get back. They could worry about Ruby's age and presence later.

The question was how to convince her new partner of that. Then Blake hit upon an idea. "Well...if she really _is_ trying to become a student, she'll be heading the same way we will," she pointed out.

"Huh?" Yang blinked in surprise and gave Blake a confused look.

Blake rolled her eyes. "She'll be heading north," she explained. "Ruby, and whoever she's partnered with, will be wanting to go to the temple and get a relic for themselves. If we move quickly enough, we can get there when they do, or even before them. But we should go now."

That appeared to be something Yang could handle, and she nodded fervently. The two of them set off.

* * *

"It's like a forcefield!" exclaimed Jaune as Ruby wrapped up her explanation of what Aura was, and the basics of how it worked.

Ruby giggled, reflecting that Jaune's exclamation would have had Kyo and Sasame rolling on the ground, laughing. In the meantime, some of the prouder members of the Mibu would have been gravely affronted by such a statement and insist upon clarifying the nuances of what Aura truly was to Jaune.

"Well, that's oversimplifying it...a lot," she said after she recovered. "But it's good enough for now." She came to a stop and turned to face Jaune. "So...the first thing we need to do is unlock your Aura."

"Right," said Jaune, swallowing. "Uh...how?"

Ruby grinned. "Don't worry, it's not too hard. Hold still and close your eyes."

Jaune did as he was told. Ruby reached up, resting her right hand on Jaune's shoulder, while she rested the palm of her left against his chestplate. She knew what she needed to do, but she was still a ways from being able to unlock a person's Aura by tapping them on the nose, as Sasame had done with her. Instead, she focused a small amount of her Aura into the palm of her left hand and, very gently, yet somewhat forcefully, Projected it into Jaune. Her Aura pulsed into him and impacted against the latent power of Jaune's own soul. There was a popping sensation, and Ruby felt Jaune's Aura open up and flow outwards to suffuse his body. She gasped.

_He has so much!_ Ruby had spent six years of constant training nurturing and cultivating her Aura, increasing her capacity constantly. But Jaune's Aura dwarfed hers by a considerable margin. In the Mibu, Ruby had found that other students her own age had larger Aura reserves, as would be natural, considering they had additional years working on the same exercises Ruby had been practicing. But Jaune's Aura dwarfed theirs as well. In fact, she was fairly certain that only the elites of the clan, amongst the Goyosei and Taishiro, as well as Sasame and Kyo, had more Aura than Jaune did. _And I only _just_ unlocked his...What was his family thinking? This is incredible!_

"Uh...Ruby...?" Jaune looked down at her slightly. He'd felt something pulse through him, and then had felt something within him respond, a warm feeling that bordered on feverish, before quickly fading into normalcy. But Ruby hadn't moved, and remained with her hand gently pressed up against his chest.

Ruby looked up at Jaune. Her cheeks colored slightly and she hurriedly backed away. "Sorry," she squeaked, fidgeting a little. "I was just surprised."

"By what?" asked Jaune.

"I wasn't expecting you to have so much Aura," explained Ruby. "It's incredible!"

"Really?" asked Jaune skeptically, looking down at himself.

Ruby nodded. "If you have this much Aura already, I think you might be cut out for this after all."

"Thanks," said Jaune with a sigh.

"But the important thing is that you'll be a lot safer now," added Ruby. "With your Aura, you'll have some basic protection from attack. With that out of the way, we can keep going."

"Good idea," said Jaune. The two of them set off.

* * *

"A-are you sure this is the right way?" asked Pyrrha as they made their way through the darkness.

"O-of course," replied Weiss, her own voice just as shaky, despite her own efforts to maintain a confident face. "I mean...it looks like a dingy cave, but it has old carvings at the entrance. Besides, Professor Ozpin told us to find a ruined temple. If this doesn't qualify as 'ruined,' I don't know what does."

Pyrrha bit back her response that Ozpin had told them to look for an "abandoned" temple, not a ruined one. Though she imagined that it was one and the same really. Furthermore, this certainly didn't seem to be any kind of temple.

What Weiss had described as "old carvings" had looked more like paintings to Pyrrha, cave paintings left behind by some ancient civilization, showing a crude tableau of stick figures being menaced by a dark, scorpion-like shape. Nothing about those struck Pyrrha as indicators that they'd actually found their destination, but Weiss seemed sure of herself.

In truth, Weiss wasn't all _that_ sure of herself. However, she couldn't back down now. She had succeeded in partnering with the Pyrrha Nikos, without question, the strongest student in their year. Between Pyrrha's brawn and Weiss' brains, Weiss was certain that the two of them would be the best pair of their school year, outclassing all the others (not that Pyrrha was some kind of boneheaded brute, but Weiss had been the recipient of a first-class education from her earliest days). With the two of them partnered together, there was no obstacle they couldn't overcome. More to the point, Weiss couldn't let Pyrrha think they were lost...not that Weiss actually believed that they were.

They pressed on, gentle flames lining the blade of Weiss' rapier, like a slender torch as she swept it ahead of her. Maybe it was a bit wasteful to use her Dust this way, but Weiss figured it was better than stumbling around in pitch-blackness.

Unfortunately, the cave was not the most suitable of environments for maintaining a lit flame. Water dripped from the ceiling constantly, spattering across Weiss' jacket and getting in her hair, making her grimace in disgust. Worse still, it continually splattered with a hiss of steam against her flaming blade, threatening to extinguish it.

Then...somewhere from deeper within the cave, a gust of warm air came rushing up, its occurrence so sudden that Weiss didn't react in time. The sudden wind snuffed out her flames in a second, plunging the two of them into the dark.

"Uh..." said Pyrrha, looking worriedly at the solid black where she knew Weiss was.

"D-don't worry," said Weiss quickly. "I have plenty of Dust. I'll just-" She triggered her weapon, sending another burst of flame washing down Myrtenaster's blade...only for it to go out almost immediately as she realized that she'd finished off the Dust in her weapon's chamber. "Drat!"

"Um..." Pyrrha swallowed, feeling less and less sure about their situation.

"Don't worry," said Weiss quickly. "It'll be fine. I just have to reload. It'll only take a few seconds." She reached into her jacket, feeling for the pouch where she kept her vials of replacement Dust. As her fingers closed around one, she realized she had no way of telling which type of Dust she was currently holding. For all she knew, she was loading up her weapon with a vial of ice or water-Dust. _Dammit! I should have prepared for the possibility of not being able to see what I was doing._

"Weiss..." said Pyrrha, her voice still nervous.

"I-it's all right," said Weiss quickly. "I'll get this taken care of."

"No...Weiss..." Pyrrha reached out, a little uncertainly, for where she thought Weiss' shoulder was. It took a few tries, but her hand finally closed over her target. "Look."

It was kind of pointless, given that Weiss couldn't have seen Pyrrha well enough to know what she was pointing at. However, Pyrrha's hand and voice had gotten Weiss' attention, and she turned her eyes up and in front of her...and gasped.

There was a light in the darkness.

It was like some kind of golden lamp, seeming to hang in the midst of a background of pitch-black, throwing off just enough illumination to be seen, but not enough that they could see the walls and ceiling of the cave around it. It was a rounded, bulb-shape, but inverted so that the broadest portion was facing upwards, before tapering down to a fine point that curved in their direction, somewhat reminiscent of a distorted, upside-down teardrop. There was something about it that was vaguely familiar, but Weiss couldn't figure out what.

"That must be the relic!" Weiss exclaimed, her inability to reload her weapon with the proper kind of Dust winding up forgotten, with the prospect of their success hanging right in front of them. She immediately began to stumble towards it as Pyrrha followed after her.

"Weiss! Hold on..."

"Don't worry, Pyrrha, I can reach it," Weiss called back. _Then we can get out of this damn cave._ Coming within arm's reach, she extended her free hand out to touch the glowing object...only for it to suddenly jerk back out of her reach. _What?_

Weiss frowned and stepped forward, reaching for the object again. Yet again, it jerked out of her reach.

"Weiss...I don't think that's a relic," said Pyrrha, her voice much more nervous.

Weiss was about to turn and ask what Pyrrha meant, when the light pulled back even further, rising upwards as well. Other sounds emerged from the darkness, sinister skittering and clicking noises. Weiss felt a cold sweat break out across her forehead. Suddenly, the golden bulb wasn't the only light in the darkness, a pair of widely-spaced orbs of a familiar red color appearing in front of her. They were joined by another pair, a little smaller and closer together...then another...and another...continuing on until a set of ten eyes, glowing red with ancient malice, glared at the girls out of the darkness.

"Oh..." was all that Weiss could squeak.

The eyes lunged forward with a vengeful shriek, and both girls screamed.

Their screams carried deeper into the cave, echoing through the darkness. Deeper within the cave, another set of glowing red eyes opened...and something even _more_ sinister began to stir.

* * *

**Poor Pyrrha...Poor Blake...**

**Admittedly, half the fun of writing a reworking of the pre-existing _RWBY_ volumes is putting your own spin on canon events. In this case, I decided to shake up the makeup of the partnerships and teams this time around. Weiss and Pyrrha are off to an especially rough start, mainly because one of them got _exactly_ what she wanted, while the other ended up with the _last_ thing she wanted.**

**With Ruby and Jaune, I imagine this is the situation most of us would think would logically occur when Jaune reveals that he's clueless about one of the biggest fundamentals of being a Huntsman. Yes, we all know that Jaune's role in Volume 1 was to be the audience surrogate, so that Pyrrha could explain this basic concept of the setting to him, mainly for the benefit of us viewers. But that's still a pretty big damn red flag. Then again...maybe that's also a way to show just how desperate Pyrrha is for friends.**

**In the case of Jaune's family, this was a sticking point for me, as the question of _why_ Jaune has zero-training, despite apparently coming from a Huntsman family, is one of the big holes yet to be addressed in the canon series, even _after_ we met Saphron in Argus. (Side note: This chapter was written well _before_ that episode came out, and I wound up adding Saphron in later, because I was able to fit her into the storyline without twisting things out of shape.) The question of _why_ Jaune's family wouldn't let him train, in this case, was one I wrestled with for a while, but one that I ultimately feel I came up with a satisfactory answer for, this time, though that won't come up until _much_ later.**

**With the ending scene, the funny thing is that, when you think about it, if you tweak the circumstances enough, it's actually _very_ easy to see Weiss doing, more or less, the same thing Jaune did in canon, waltzing right into a cave, believing it to be the objective, and winding up waking up a really big Grimm. In the canon Initiation, Weiss clearly demonstrates that she has no real idea which way she and Ruby need to go, while still pretending that she knows _exactly_ where to go, even when she's blatantly waffling back and forth, right in front of Ruby. Pair her up someone she's desperate to impress, and she's likely to be even _more_ headstrong, because admitting she doesn't know where she is and where she's going would be the last thing Weiss would want to do in front of Pyrrha. On top of that, Pyrrha is so conditioned to polite and submissive behavior that she can't bring herself to contradict Weiss, even when she _knows_ Weiss is way off-target.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

_Six years ago:_

Ruby stared dumbly at the corpse in front of her, the corpse that she'd created. _I...I killed a person._ Just the thought of it made her sick to the stomach, and Ruby was on the verge of throwing up.

So wrapped up was she in what she'd just done, Ruby didn't notice when Sasame stooped to tend to the wounded soldier's shoulder, healing it in a matter of seconds, before coming up to Ruby herself, gently resting her hands atop Ruby's shoulders.

"Ruby-chan..." said Sasame softly.

"I...I..." Ruby turned and looked at her teacher with tearful eyes.

"Yes," said Sasame softly, her voice still warm, but also stern. "You killed her. There's no denying or changing that."

"I didn't mean to," protested Ruby.

"That doesn't change it," said Sasame softly, but still just as sternly. "It's true that it wasn't your intention. You merely struck as hard as you could, in order to finish this before she could hurt someone else. That's nothing to be ashamed of, Ruby-chan."

"B-but..." began Ruby, only to stop as Sasame gently pressed a finger to her lips.

"I'm not saying that killing her is anything to be proud of either," said Sasame. "In this case, that was merely the outcome of this, whether that was your intention or not. But...that's not to say that you _don't_ have anything you can take pride in. If you just look the other way..."

Gently pressing her finger to Ruby's chin, Sasame turned Ruby's head. A wail of relief filled the air, and Ruby saw the little girl, the one that the bandit had taken hostage, the girl she'd _saved_, throwing herself at the woman who must have been her mother, and being hugged tightly with loving arms.

"_That_ is what you were fighting for," said Sasame. "You were fighting to protect that girl...and you succeeded. If nothing else, you should take pride in that, Ruby-chan." Leaning in, Sasame planted a lingering kiss on Ruby's forehead. She then pulled Ruby into a comforting hug. Her tails divided once again, extending out to encompass Ruby, wrapping her in a warm, fluffy cocoon. Ruby basked in that warmth, the fear and guilt draining out of her.

"We'll talk a little more later, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, finally letting her go. "I have some work to finish. Just try to relax and take it easy for now."

Ruby nodded wordlessly, and Sasame turned away to finish tending to the few remaining wounded, including the guard who'd just been injured by the escaped bandits. As Sasame walked by, people pulled back away from her, regarding the diminutive fox-faunus with wary eyes. Ruby could understand. It was strange enough, the way Sasame's tails divided and moved like furry tentacles. But it was especially unnerving to watch her shrug off lethal injuries without the slightest trace of damage.

Still, Sasame seemed untroubled by their suspicion, and merely returned to her work, which was mostly done anyway. A few more wounded were brought in, and people soon had new reminders that Sasame merely had their best interests at heart as she effortlessly dealt with wounds that would have been potentially fatal, and repaired damage that would have taken days, if not weeks, to heal normally in a matter of seconds.

Ruby found a quiet corner and set herself down, hugging her knees to her chest, the handle of her broken sword still clutched in one hand. Even with Sasame's words of comfort, Ruby still felt numb and detached, thanks to what she'd just done. She'd hardly noticed when the other guards arrived, pronouncing that the bandits had been dealt with, and that the settlement was safe...or would be, once they got the fires under control.

What happened after that was a blur to Ruby's mind. She slipped into a kind of daze, barely noticing what was going on around her. She barely noticed when Kyo arrived. Kyo's eyes immediately took in Ruby's condition, before glancing to Sasame, who met Kyo's gaze, before flicking her own eyes in the direction of the corpse of the bandit woman, who'd been moved next to her equally-dead comrade. Kyo's eyes assessed the woman's condition, then went to the handle of Ruby's broken sword as he pieced together what had happened.

Wordlessly, he went over to Ruby and sat next to her. He then pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her, pressing Ruby's ear against his chest so that she could hear the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat. Finally, Ruby fell asleep to that rhythm.

* * *

When Ruby's eyes opened again, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn't in Town Hall anymore. She was warm and comfortable...and clean. There was no sticky sensation of dried blood clinging to her skin. Her travel clothes, feeling grungy after weeks on the road, were gone, replaced by the soft fabric of her pajamas. She was lying on a mattress, with a warm blanket draped over her.

Blinking slowly, Ruby sat up and took in her surroundings. She was in a fairly small room with a pair of beds, an inn-room of some kind, she supposed. The walls, ceiling, and floor were of dark wood, which gave the whole place a comfortable, restful ambience. The main light in the ceiling was out, but there was a small lamp on a table near the opposite wall that was lit, throwing out low levels of light. Seated at the table, Ruby could see Sasame, reading a book of some kind. When Ruby looked at her, Sasame looked up and smiled, closing the book and coming to the bed.

"How are you feeling, Ruby-chan?" she asked softly, pulling up her chair so that she could sit at the bedside.

"Better," said Ruby a little uncertainly.

"You worked hard and tired yourself out," said Sasame, reaching over and brushing her fingers through Ruby's hair.

"I..." Ruby's mind went back to the dead bandit and her stomach roiled.

Sasame sighed and gently pressed her hand to Ruby's forehead. A warm wave gently flowed through Ruby's body, and her nausea subsided.

"There's no point in dancing around it, Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "You killed a person. It was an actual person, not a soulless monster, like the Grimm. She might have been a bandit, who lived by preying upon those weaker than her, but she was still alive. She probably had hopes, dreams, possibly even aspirations, and you took them from her."

Tears welled up in Ruby's eyes and she sniffed. She wanted to look down, look away, look anywhere else, but Sasame's hand gently cupped her cheek, forcing Ruby to continue looking into her eyes.

"You can't avoid it," continued Sasame. "You can't run away from it. You have to accept that what's done is done. There is nothing that will change the outcome of your actions. But Ruby-chan…it's my fault as well."

"Why?" gasped Ruby.

Sasame frowned. "I noticed you approaching. I saw you readying yourself to strike. I was prepared to deal with the woman before she could hurt that child, but I saw you moving and decided to hold back, to wait. I decided to allow you to take up that fight. After you freed the child, I could have ended it even _more_ easily. But I chose to allow you to _finish_ that fight as well. You may have killed that woman, but I was the one who _let_ you."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"To let you gain experience," said Sasame. "You've been practicing repetitive actions, drills, techniques. But they mean very little if you cannot apply them in the real world. I saw you readying, and I saw a chance to let you try to apply what you learned in the real world. And, to be honest, I don't regret it."

"You...you don't...?" asked Ruby, confused. "But I..."

"Ruby-chan, if you hadn't killed that woman..." Sasame's gaze suddenly became very hard and cold. "...I _would_ have."

Ruby shivered, frightened by the stone-cold conviction in Sasame's eyes. "W-why?"

"Because she threatened my patients," said Sasame matter-of-factly. "When I act as a healer, I protect those in my charge with all of my strength. I do not brook threats to their wellbeing. I have no tolerance for any who would do them harm. I killed that woman's comrade and, had you not intervened, I would have killed her as well."

Ruby swallowed. But then Sasame's gaze softened and Ruby relaxed. "But that doesn't change the fact that murder is murder, whether it is you or me who does it."

"B-but they were bad people, right?" asked Ruby.

Sasame nodded. "That they were," she agreed. "But evil does not come to be in a vacuum, Ruby-chan. We cannot know how those people fell down the path of banditry and bloodshed. We only have the end result of their actions to go by.

"When I met you, you were but a few footsteps away from becoming a petty thief. Had I not intervened, you might have been caught, or you might have gotten away. But that latter outcome might have led you to continue committing more crimes in order to survive. Gradually, that could have led you to…other…actions as your desperation grew. There's no telling where you could have ended up, what you could have become, if I hadn't been there."

Ruby shivered to think that she had almost fallen onto that path. It was all too likely that, maybe, she would have lost her chance to become a Huntress, then and there.

"Many bandits have similar stories," said Sasame. "They find themselves in dire straits, at a loss for what else to do to survive. Small things snowball into larger matters and, before they realize it, they reach a point where they can no longer turn away from that path because, if they are caught by the authorities, they are faced with the threat of imprisonment, or even execution. For many bandits, that way of life is merely the least-bad of a plethora of bad options…with no good ones in sight."

Ruby swallowed.

"Which isn't to say there aren't some truly _vile_ people out there," continued Sasame. "There are tribes, Ruby-chan, practically extended families, who raise their children in that life, and teach them that it is the right way to live; groups of people perversely proud of their willingness to take what others have made, and declaring it their right by strength of violence. At this time, we have no way of knowing if these bandits were those sorts of people or not…and we may not ever know."

Ruby sighed and lowered her eyes. However, Sasame's hand on her cheek forced her to look at Sasame again.

"But none of that matters now," continued Sasame. "For better or for worse, it's over. Killing that woman hadn't been your intention, but it _was_ the outcome. What was your intention, Ruby-chan?"

"To protect that girl, those people," said Ruby.

"That's right," said Sasame. "That's what you need to remember most of all. More importantly, that's what you _succeeded_ in doing."

"I…I just wish I'd found another way," said Ruby.

"The way you found was well enough," said Sasame. "As much as I wish we could put this behind us and call it an unfortunate accident…or whatever…the truth of the matter is that you will have to come to terms with what you have done, and learn to accept it. While this woman was your first kill, it's likely she won't be the last."

"What?" gasped Ruby. "Why?"

Sasame finally lowered her hand from Ruby's cheek. "You're a protector at heart, Ruby-chan. You're one who will always seek to help others, to turn fear and despair into joy and hope. You'll see people crying…and seek to change the meaning of their tears. And that is a wonderful thing to aspire to.

"Unfortunately, as you saw today, not all the things that threaten the innocent are soulless monsters. People have the capacity to be just as, if not _more_, monstrous than the Grimm. Your desire to be a hero will undoubtedly lead you into conflict with those monstrous people. Depending on the outcome, you will likely kill again."

"D-do I have to?" asked Ruby.

"If you really want to get down to it, no, you don't," said Sasame. "You will never _have_ to kill someone. But it does mean that not killing someone could instead lead to them killing you…or those you're protecting. That being the case, your choice not to kill will become a betrayal of what you truly aspire to be."

Ruby shuddered and a tiny whimper escaped her lips.

Sasame moved to sit on the bed next to her and pulled Ruby into a hug. "Shh…It's all right, Ruby-chan."

"W-will it get easier?" asked Ruby.

"Sadly, it will," said Sasame. "The truth is that _anything_ becomes easier with repetition…even taking a life and dealing with the aftermath. But that isn't something to aspire to, Ruby-chan. I hope that taking a life never becomes as easy for you as it is for me and Kyo. What you should seek is to have the capacity to do what you need to, in order to protect those who depend on you, to not look back on situations like this with regret."

"So should I be proud instead?" asked Ruby.

"Not of the killing," said Sasame. "But, like I pointed out before, you should be proud that you protected those people. That little girl is safe with her family now, because you were there for her. That's something to take pride in. I know that you made me so _very_ proud of you today."

"Th-thank you," said Ruby.

Sasame kissed Ruby on the forehead again, then held her. "Whatever else, this just proves that you're still the same Ruby-chan that we love."

She felt Ruby suddenly still in her arms, her muscles seizing up. Then Ruby began to tremble. "Ruby-chan…?"

"Y-you _love_ me?" asked Ruby, looking up at Sasame with tearful eyes.

"Of course I do," said Sasame, her tail curling around to gently brush away Ruby's tears. "So does Kyo. We've both come to love you dearly, Ruby-chan."

"L-like a family?"

Sasame nodded. "Yes."

"S-s-s-s-so...we c-could be like...sisters?" asked Ruby, her eyes full of hope.

"You want me to be your big sister?" asked Sasame.

Ruby nodded eagerly. "I...I miss having a big sister."

"You still have one, you know," said Sasame softly.

"No," said Ruby, a dark frown appearing on her face. "She's not my sister anymore."

"Yes she is," said Sasame, brushing her tail across Ruby's cheeks. "However much you may resent them for what they did to you, the fact remains that they are still your family. Kyo and I can't and won't replace them."

Ruby opened her mouth, a dejected look appearing on her face.

"But..." said Sasame firmly, cutting her off, "...there's nothing saying that you can only have just _one_ sibling. I can still be your sister and, someday, when you reconcile with your other one, you'll have two. Is that all right?"

Ruby didn't think she could ever bring herself to reconcile with Yang and her father. But Sasame's willingness to be her sister filled her with a warm happiness that overrode her trepidation at the idea of having to face Yang again, someday. "Yes."

Sasame squealed and hugged Ruby all the tighter. "Ooh! I've always wanted a little sister!"

Ruby giggled and hugged Sasame back as the older girl kissed the top of her head. "Thank you, Sasame."

"Ah," said Sasame, something appearing occur to her. "If I'm going to be your big sister now, I want you to call me Sasame-nee."

"Sasame...nee?" said Ruby, looking questioningly at her new sibling.

"That's right," said Sasame.

"Sasame-nee," said Ruby with more certainty. She was rewarded with the happiest, most radiant look she'd ever seen on Sasame's face.

Sasame squealed again, making Ruby giggle as the two of them hugged each other tightly.

It was around that moment that Kyo entered the room. "Well, it seems things are going just fine in here," he said.

Sasame let go of Ruby and turned to look at Kyo, her expression sobering a little. "How did it go?"

"The work is done," said Kyo, running a hand tiredly through his hair. "But we'll stay around a few more days, until morale improves."

"What were you doing?" asked Ruby.

"Helping to bury the dead," said Kyo, "both theirs and the bandits'."

Ruby felt her stomach sink again.

Now Kyo sat on the side of her bed and stroked her cheek. "I kept track of which grave your opponent went into. I'll take you to visit her before we leave."

"Should I?" asked Ruby.

"I don't think it's a matter of should or shouldn't," said Kyo. "But it's what you feel you need to do, don't you?"

Ruby nodded. Then she looked up, her silver eyes meeting Kyo's crimson ones. "Kyo...do you remember everyone you've killed?"

Kyo closed his eyes and sighed, before looking down. "I don't," he admitted. "When you kill enough, it's only natural that the number of lives you take begins to outweigh your ability to remember them. I don't even remember all the people I killed in this battle alone." He looked up at Ruby. "But, if it's any consolation, I don't think you'll ever reach that point, Ruby-chan. Though Sasame and I are teaching you to fight, I believe that you will walk a very different path from us."

Ruby nodded slowly.

"You will probably find yourself in a position where you need to kill again," said Kyo, gripping Ruby's shoulder and squeezing it. "What's important is that you remember the reason you fight...and don't hesitate." Pulling Ruby out from under the covers, he seated her on his lap again. "Tell me, Ruby-chan, in any situation, who is the first person you need to protect?"

"Whoever's in the most danger?" asked Ruby.

"Nope." Kyo chuckled and shook his head.

"Whoever I can help the fastest?" ventured Ruby.

"Nope."

"Uh...Whoever's the...easiest...to help?"

"Nope."

"Then who?" asked Ruby, beginning to get a little exasperated.

"In any situation, the first person you need to protect is _yourself_," said Kyo, gently tapping the tip of Ruby's nose.

"Myself...? But isn't that selfish?"

"It is and it isn't," said Kyo. "Suppose there are three people in need and you sacrifice yourself to save two of them."

"Then at least I've saved them," said Ruby, looking down.

"But what about the third person?" asked Kyo. "If you sacrifice yourself saving the first two, then there's no helping the third person."

"What if I sacrifice myself to save all three of them?" Ruby wanted to know.

"Then what about the people who come after them that need saving?" countered Kyo. "Or the people after them...or even further down the road? Will you throw your life away, saying that it's all right, because somebody else is sure to save those people...even though you have no way of knowing that there will be somebody else?"

Ruby looked down, her gaze pensive.

"That's why you need to protect yourself first," said Kyo. "It's not only your life that rides on your sword, but the lives and fates of all those that depend on your protection, now and into the future. That's why you shouldn't forget the importance of a life, especially not your own. For someone like you, if you wind up having to kill, your guilt could make you forget the value of your life. But the dead cannot save the living, Ruby-chan."

"A-all right," said Ruby softly.

"Good," said Kyo, kissing the top of her head. "Now then, what's going on here that has the two of you so happy?"

"Sasame-" Ruby jumped as Sasame coughed insistently. "Sasame-nee..." she amended, to another delighted squeal from Sasame, "...said she'd be my big sister."

"I see," said Kyo with a laugh. "She's certainly the big sister-type."

Ruby looked up at him plaintively. "Kyo...do you love me?"

Kyo chuckled and lightly tapped her nose. "As a matter of fact, I do. Does this mean you want me to be your big brother?"

"Uh huh," said Ruby, nodding eagerly.

Kyo grinned like a fool. "Well, that title would be one that I'm glad to hold."

"All right, Kyo-nee," said Ruby.

The room went abruptly silent, and Kyo went so still that Ruby thought he'd become a statue. Then, a second later, a snort broke the silence...then followed by another. Finally, Sasame keeled over as she was assailed by gales of laughter.

"Uh...did I say something wrong?" asked Ruby, blinking in confusion.

"Ah...it's just that '-nee' is gender-specific," said Kyo. "So you basically called me your big sister."

"Oh," said Ruby as Sasame rolled over onto her back, kicking her feet in the air and continuing to laugh uproariously. "What should I call you then?"

"Keep calling him 'Kyo-nee!' _Please_ keep calling him that," begged Sasame, managing to sit up.

Kyo cleared his throat. "Ignore her," he said pointedly. "If I'm to be your big brother, then you should call me Kyo-nii."

"Kyo-nii..." Ruby sounded the term out on her tongue, and looked up at Kyo to find him smiling approvingly.

"That's right," he said.

"Aww...but I think you'd make a wonderful big sister, 'Kyo-nee,'" teased Sasame, managing to get upright again.

"You're not going to let that go are you?" asked Kyo in a deadpan tone.

"Nope," said Sasame, before snorting and nearly doubling over again. "I can't wait to tell your mother about this."

Kyo sighed, even as Ruby giggled on his lap. Then the moment was interrupted by a low rumbling, a sound emanating from Ruby's stomach. She blushed and both her hands went to her empty belly.

"Well, it _has_ been a while since you last ate...and that meal wasn't very substantial," said Sasame, recovering and helping Ruby off Kyo's lap. "Shall we see if we can find something for you to eat?"

Ruby nodded eagerly.

* * *

The next few days were quiet. There was no festival this time. However, Sasame and Kyo remained, Kyo's Aura keeping the Grimm away, and giving the people a rare chance to mourn those lost in the bandit attack. Even though they were all immensely grateful for the lives that Kyo and Sasame had saved with their intervention, they also regarded the pair with a substantial wariness that came from seeing them in action, Sasame in particular.

Which wasn't to say attitudes were hostile. Once again, they were afforded free food and lodging in exchange for the peace that Kyo's presence brought them. Kyo himself was practically a hero to the men and women of the town guard, having seen him in action. Even though people seemed to, for the most part, keep their distance from Sasame, they still brought her patients from amongst the sick or injured throughout the duration of their stay.

On the other hand, attitudes towards Ruby seemed to be...confused. Many of those in Town Hall that had seen her fight were troubled to see a nine-year-old kill a grown woman in combat, for all that she'd been traumatized by it afterwards. However, others appeared to be extremely impressed by her maturity and determination, including her willingness to put her life at risk for an even younger girl's wellbeing.

Ruby was given a day's time to recover from the experience before her lessons resumed again. With her sword broken, she was left with basic physical conditioning again, as well as the basics of Aura control. It was there that Sasame actually explained the nuances of what Ruby had done during her fight.

"Words can't describe how proud you've made me," said Sasame. "It's not about killing that woman, but how you managed to bring what you learned to the forefront and apply it...and take the next step."

"The next step?" asked Ruby.

"I don't think we've taught you how to use your Aura to enhance movement," said Sasame with a cheeky grin. "That step you used, when you saved the child, was absolutely superb. You took what you already knew, and intuitively applied it to the situation in order to work out what you _needed_ to do. You even realized that your rudimentary version would only work for one step, and took the time and care to make sure you were within that distance, before you committed yourself to the strike."

Ruby blushed furiously.

"And then there's the fact that you applied your Temper to your weapon as well as yourself," said Sasame. "On top of that, when you defended and attacked, you used Flow to channel more of your Aura into your weapon to make your strike more effective. If your control was a bit more refined, you would have been able to strike without breaking your sword."

"I'm sorry," said Ruby, looking down. "After you put so much work into it, and warned me to be careful, I went and..."

"You didn't do anything to be ashamed of, Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "You used your sword well, and for a good purpose. While it's not wrong to say it's your fault that it's broken, it's truly foolish to say that you are _at fault_ for breaking it. I would much rather you shatter your sword in a situation like that, than do nothing, for fear of breaking it."

Ruby nodded slowly.

"We'll make you another one," said Sasame, patting her head. "You've more than earned it. Technically, with proper control of their Aura, a person could do what you did with an ordinary tree branch. However, it will take more work before you can reach that point."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"That was the primary reason I allowed you to fight," said Sasame. "Training is all well and good, and extremely necessary. But battle is a dynamic situation. You have to perceive the situation, and move according to the needs of the moment...and the moment _past_ the moment."

"What's that mean?" asked Ruby.

"In battle, it's never good to simply react," said Sasame. "If you only react, you're a step behind your opponent, and you aren't likely to gain the advantage unless your skill is significantly greater than theirs. You have to learn to look beyond the moment you're in to see the next, anticipating future circumstances, the enemy's next move, and act in anticipation of that. Though your pace was slower during this fight, that was what you were doing with that bandit woman."

"How?" asked Ruby.

"You anticipated her pulling the trigger on her rifle, if you attacked," said Sasame simply. "You anticipated that the slightest jolt could lead to that child's death, so you aimed to knock the barrel clear before that could happen. You anticipated that you would need to close and strike incredibly quickly for that to happen, so you moved to within the distance where you could strike off a single step. You anticipated the need for much greater speed than you normally have, so you used Flow to channel your Aura into your feet in conjunction with your step to accelerate even more. The end result of all those anticipations was that you succeeded, and the child was saved."

Ruby nodded fervently.

Sasame continued. "Even after that, faced with the threat of fighting the woman directly, you anticipated the need to reinforce your weapon in some way, which led you to channel your Aura through it. Likewise, you anticipated the need to not take chances and put all your strength, both physically and Aurally, into the strike. It's true that it resulted in the woman's death, but the important thing was that you brought an end to the threat she presented and, thus, protected those who were depending on you."

Ruby's expression was sober. It still made her uncomfortable that she'd killed a person. But both Sasame and Kyo had told her that that it wasn't wrong for her to feel that way. She'd come to terms with it in time, but it was better if she didn't simply try to "get over it."

Sasame pressed on. "You were fortunate this time, in that your opponent was distracted and, therefore, gave you the time you needed to prepare and close in. However, I probably don't need to tell you that such a leisurely pace of battle is an extremely rare occurrence...and not one you should be depending on."

Ruby nodded again.

"So...what you need to do is compress that sequence of reasoning down," explained Sasame. "More than that, you need to be able to intuit your course of action without resorting to conscious thought, acting with the speed of reflex, but moving as though you've thought a hundred moves ahead. The techniques Kyo and I are teaching you will be like pages in a book. Which one you select, how it is used, how other techniques can be combined with it, all of that will affect how you control the flow of battle. Even as we expand that book, you must learn to become so familiar with it that you can select the appropriate page without even needing to look through it." Sasame blinked and frowned pensively, folding her arms. "Sorry...I think I went a little too far with that metaphor."

"No! It's okay," replied Ruby, her brow furrowing. "I think I get it...sort of."

"Well, 'sort of' is good enough for now," said Sasame with a giggle. "For the time being, we should continue focusing on the basics, though we can now incorporate exercises for the skills you've touched upon in your fight."

"What kind of exercises?" asked Ruby, her eyes sparkling at the thought of learning something new.

Sasame beamed at her little sister's enthusiasm. "Well, for starters, we'll work on that movement technique you used, but eventually work towards consecutive steps..." Seeing Ruby's confusion, Sasame quickly amended her wording. "Multiple steps."

"Oh," said Ruby. "Why?"

"Well, what if that woman had noticed you closing in before you were in reach?" posed Sasame.

Ruby paled at the thought.

"It goes without saying that there will be any number of occasions where your opponent will be outside the ground you can cover in a single step," said Sasame. "But, with training, you can learn to close the distance in multiple steps...with the interval of a single step. The basic form of this is sometimes referred to as _Shukuchi_, in our homeland."

"Shu...Shuku..." Ruby's tongue wrestled with the unfamiliar word, making Sasame giggle.

"The name isn't too important," said Sasame. "In Common, it means Reduced Earth. It's called that because a user can close the distance so quickly that it looks as though some kind of magic has been used to make the distance itself shrink."

"Oooh! That sounds so cool!" said Ruby.

"It certainly is," said Sasame. "The most basic form is to penetrate your opponent's zone, and close to within striking distance before they can react. But with further refinement..." Abruptly, she vanished from where she stood in front of Ruby, reappearing several steps back, seeming to almost teleport. "It's possible to move freely in any direction at that same speed." She vanished again. Ruby barely had time to blink before Sasame's lips were beside her ear and she whispered a playful "Boo!" from directly behind Ruby, making her jump and shriek.

_And the fact that she executed a rudimentary version of it on her first try makes me think she has a particular affinity for this skill,_ thought Sasame as she began to walk Ruby through the steps of carrying out the proper version of it.

* * *

"This is it," said Kyo.

Ruby frowned. There was no marker, not even a simple wooden post, no sign that someone, or several someones, had been buried here, just a mound of upturned earth, a sign that would grow more and more indistinct as the years marched on, until it was just another part of the landscape. She supposed that it made sense. While the victims of the attack had been interred at the settlement's cemetery, the residents being willing to bury the remains of the bandits at all, rather than simply dump what was left of them in a random part of the wilderness, seemed like a substantial concession on their part.

Ruby's own victim was in there, just one of many bodies buried beneath this brown lump.

"I...I don't know what to do," said Ruby.

She'd never visited a grave before.

"You don't have to do anything, if you don't want to," said Kyo. "Like I said, I thought you at least might want to see it."

Ruby supposed he was right. Even though the vast majority of the bodies beneath this mound were _his_ victims, there was no escaping the fact that one of them had been someone _she_ had killed. This grave was a reminder of what she'd done, of her taking a life. She still wasn't sure how she felt about that anymore. It felt wrong, yet right. She hadn't meant to kill, but, like Sasame had said, she'd protected the person she'd wanted to protect by doing so. Did that make it like a trade?

_No,_ she thought, shaking her head. She wasn't quite sure why, but she got the feeling that, if she started thinking of lives in that manner, she would be heading somewhere dark.

"What do _you_ do?" asked Ruby, looking at her new brother.

"I pray," said Kyo.

"Pray for what?"

"For them to find some measure of peace," said Kyo. "I know some people would balk at offering such prayers for the souls of those like this. Many of their victims would rather pray for their suffering for what they've done. But I've never felt particularly enamored with that kind of prayer."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

Kyo rested a hand atop her head. "Because your prayers, even if they are offered to the dead, are actually for the living...for yourself."

"The are?"

Kyo nodded. "For the most part. What lies beyond the veil is beyond our knowledge and beyond our control, something we will only learn, once we cross that boundary for ourselves. Reward...punishment...the means of quantifying who has earned what...whether such things exist in the first place...all of that is unknown. Therefore, rather than concern ourselves with such things, I believe prayers exist to allow those who still live to accept this moment of parting, and continue with the act of living."

"People pray for the suffering of their tormentors to let go of their hatred. People pray for the repose of loved ones to gain peace for themselves. Ultimately, I believe prayers exist to help us, who stay behind, to continue on with the act of living."

He looked back out over the mound again. "I find it...wasteful...to cling to hate for those who are already dead. Whether or not they are punished for their lives is out of your hands. Clinging to hatred with no end...does not offer much in the way of comfort."

He smiled down at her. "So, if you would like to pray, I suggest you offer a prayer that brings _yourself_ peace, and allows you to keep moving forward."

Ruby nodded. That sounded like a good idea. She turned towards the mound again, then brought her hands together, bowing her head over them and closing her eyes, in the manner that she'd seen people do on network dramas. _I...I didn't mean to kill you,_ she thought sadly. _I guess that doesn't mean much to you. I'm sorry that you're dead, and...I hope...you'll be all right, wherever you are. Whatever you're doing, I hope it's better than what you were doing before._

It was an awkward prayer, the words coming to her mind half-formed. She wasn't sure what her reasoning was. All she knew was that she hoped that things were better on the other side for her victim.

Raising her head, Ruby looked up at Kyo. "Did I do all right?"

"Do _you_ feel better now?" asked Kyo.

"I think...I think I do," said Ruby.

"Then you did just fine," said Kyo, smiling and taking her hand. "Let's go back. It's almost time for dinner after all."

"All right," said Ruby, allowing her new brother to lead her away.

As she went, she spared one last glance back at the grave, still feeling a lingering unease at what she'd done, but also feeling that she'd found the strength to keep moving forward. She supposed that was what truly mattered.

* * *

They stayed a little longer in Barrowdown to give people more time to mourn. After a little over a week, it was time for them to leave. Kyo and Sasame said their farewells to a particularly grateful mayor, before leading Ruby towards the gate. Ruby couldn't help but notice the long, narrow bundle Kyo had slung over one shoulder as they walked, which led her to wonder if he'd already begun work on her new wooden sword.

They were about to open the gate and step out of the town's borders, when they were stopped by a sudden shout.

"Wait!"

The three of them turned, and Ruby gasped to see the child she'd protected standing there, her mother standing just behind her, hands on the little girl's shoulders. The girl looked down and scuffed her foot nervously, before her mother, smiling indulgently, gently pushed her from behind. The girl stumbled for two steps, before looking up, hesitating one more second, and making her way to Ruby.

She looked up at Ruby with admiring eyes. "Thank you for saving me," she said, before holding out her hands and presenting a small peach-colored rose. "Mama helped me pick it out," she said proudly.

Ruby sniffed, tears coming to her eyes as she accepted the rose from the little girl. "Thank you," she whispered softly.

"But I'm thanking you," the girl pointed out, innocent eyes blinking earnestly at Ruby.

"I know...thank you for thanking me...I guess," said Ruby.

"Will you come back?" asked the girl hopefully.

Ruby couldn't help but gently pat her on the head. "I'll try," she promised.

"I hope I see you again," said the girl eagerly.

Ruby nodded. "I do too," she said.

The mother came up and took charge of the girl, giving Ruby one last grateful smile, and nodding to Kyo and Sasame as they guided Ruby out the gate.

"It would seem that the girl's mother knows a thing or two," said Sasame, as Ruby examined the rose in her hand.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"A rose in that color symbolizes gratitude and appreciation," said Sasame.

"It does...?" Ruby looked down at the flower in amazement.

"There's a whole language of flowers," said Sasame. "What kinds, what colors, how they're combined and presented, they can all convey a specific meaning. If you're interested, we can teach you about that when we get home."

"I'd like that," said Ruby.

"Our specific language of flowers differs a little from the rest of the world," added Sasame. "But we do have knowledge on the other languages of flowers there are."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"But we'll focus on your training for now," commented Kyo with a chuckle. "On that note...I have something for you as well, Ruby-chan."

They stopped, and Kyo unslung the bundle he'd been carrying. Ruby gasped in shock as Kyo unwrapped it, revealing it to be an actual sword. It was contained within a sheath of black lacquer, with a handle enclosed in rose-red wrappings. The guard was a rather simple, circular piece of metal, but Ruby could see etchings in a flower petal-like pattern on it.

"For me...?" gasped Ruby, taking the weapon in trembling hands. It was considerably heavier than the wooden sword she'd grown accustomed to carrying, but she found she could heft it without much trouble.

"A smith in town forged this for me. This is called a kodachi," explained Kyo. "It's longer than a short-sword, but shorter than a full-length katana. For adults, the kodachi has special nuances and techniques to its use. However, it is also a suitable length for a student your size to learn the basics."

It was a modest piece. The smith in question was not a true swordsmith. However, he had been able to realize the design Kyo had asked for, and the materials he'd used had been of excellent quality, the smith's own gesture of gratitude for what they had done for the settlement. As a true Huntress' weapon, it might not have been quite up to standards. But, for a child's training blade, it was more than enough.

"Okay," said Ruby.

"We'll make another wooden sword for striking practice," continued Kyo. "We'll need to work a little longer on that. But you've earned the right to carry this." He suddenly frowned, his intense, crimson gaze drawing Ruby's full attention. Even when he'd held the weapon out to Ruby, he hadn't actually taken his hand off it, when she'd taken it in her own. "I probably don't need to say this, but I will. Carrying this blade is an even _greater_ responsibility than a wooden one, Ruby-chan. Care must be taken, even for the most simple things, things you wouldn't have to worry about with a wooden sword. That's why we've insisted you treat a wooden sword like a real sword."

Ruby nodded, remembering them reminding her constantly to not hold her wooden sword by its blade, or to strike with anything but the edge.

"This is a heavy responsibility, Ruby-chan," said Kyo. "But it's one I think you're ready to bear. This isn't a reward for killing, but a gesture of trust, the belief that you now understand the weight of a life."

Ruby looked at her new blade gravely and nodded again.

"Then this is yours, from now on," said Kyo, releasing his hold and allowing Ruby to take the weapon in her hands. Sasame helped Ruby tuck it into her belt, so that it wouldn't risk coming loose while she walked or ran. Then Sasame took the rose Ruby had been given, and broke off a portion of the stem. She then carefully braided the flower into Ruby's hair on the left side of her head.

"I've used my Aura to make it last a little longer," said Sasame as she stood back. "But you look lovely now, Ruby-chan. I wish I had a mirror to show you with."

"It's all right," said Ruby. The flower hardly weighed anything, but she felt it all the same. It was fitting; a sword at her hip, reminding her of the weight of _taking_ a life; a flower in her hair, reminding her of the fulfillment of _saving_ a life.

"Let's get going," said Sasame. "We'll start running in a little bit."

"Okay," said Ruby.

The three of them set out. Outwardly, their dynamic seemed not to change at all. For all that Sasame and Kyo were affectionate, encouraging, and patient with her, they were still demanding teachers, expecting nothing less than her full efforts. And Ruby was happy to _give_ her full efforts. However, inwardly, she felt happier and more fulfilled than ever. The three of them were a family. It felt good to be part of a family again. It felt even better to have a family that endorsed and encouraged her aspirations, rather than trying to lock her away from the world. It made Ruby feel so fulfilled that she rarely gave any thought to the family she'd left behind...which she was fine with, seeing as the thought of them put a bitter taste in her mouth.

* * *

The settlement of Dunedain carried on much the way it always had. The festival they'd thrown to celebrate Kyo's arrival had done its job, encouraging the people, their good feelings keeping the town from becoming a magnet for the Grimm. The occasional pack of Beowolves or Ursas sometimes threatened it. But they were enough for the town's regular militia to handle. Since Kyo's visit, nothing had happened worth calling for a Huntsman over.

However, the town now hosted another visitor, one they weren't even aware of. The people of the settlement went about their business, completely unaware that they were being watched.

With a rapid beating of wings, a large, black crow, with red eyes, alit on the roof of the town's pub and looked down on the streets, letting out a "caw," as it twitched its head to take in the sight of everything around it.

The crow called again, then fluttered down the side of the building, and into the alleyway that ran adjacent to it. A few seconds later, a human emerged from the gap between the buildings. He was a tall, almost lanky specimen, with spiky black hair, going slightly gray. His build was wiry, mostly hidden by his gray, long-tailed dress-shirt and black pants. A red cape fluttered behind him, resting over the profile of the large, broad sword holstered at the small of his back. His pale-red eyes took in everything around him with an air that was almost perpetually cynical. He huffed and turned, making his way into the pub.

Dunedain, being a small, agricultural settlement belonging to Vale, the pub wasn't exactly a hive of scum and villainy. It was mostly used by the men and women who worked the fields, and even catered to families. Still, as a place where people all over the town met and chatted as they ate and drank, it was still the best place to go when looking for information. The sword-bearing man weaved between patrons, waiters, and waitresses as he made his way straight to the bar. Thanks to the weapon he wore so openly, people generally tended to give him a wide berth.

Seating himself at the bar, the man immediately got the barkeeper's attention. The barkeeper came over. "What can I get for you, sir," he said. He was more accustomed to using a casual form of address, usually knowing most of his customers by name and face. However, the fact that the new arrival was clearly a Huntsman made him a bit more reserved and formal.

"Whiskey, on the rocks…" said the Huntsman, his voice a little low, with a faint growl to it, "…and some some answers."

"Answers to what?" asked the barkeeper, tensing slightly as he poured the man's drink order.

"I'm lookin' for someone," said the Huntsman. "She's nine, a little ways away from being ten; black hair with red tips, black dress, red cloak, silver eyes…"

The barkeeper's eyes narrowed. "And what makes you think she was here?"

Qrow Branwen's eyes narrowed back. "This is where the trail leads. Make no mistake, pal, the last thing I mean for that little girl is harm. I'm on the trail of my niece…and a couple'a kidnappers. So…seen anything you wanna share?"

* * *

**The Qrow-Man cometh.**

**How Sasame and Kyo helped Ruby come to terms with what she did in the last flashback chapter was a bit of a sticking point. I've never been a big believer in that whole It Never Gets Easier trope that some stories like to play. Of course, the main idea is to get Ruby to accept that she's killed someone, without encouraging her to become a stone-cold killer, which can be a fine line to walk, I'm guessing.**

**It took some work to find the right kind of flower for Ruby. Floriography is an interesting topic, and different flowers have different meanings, depending on which culture's standards you're using. I thought it was lucky that there was a color of rose that expressed those sentiments.**

**The prayer scene was added later, as I thought it bothersome that I'd never put it into my first writing of this chapter (I wouldn't call it a draft, because I don't actually _do_ drafts. I write what I write, then tinker with it later on down the line.) Part of it was because of that weird obsession I sometimes have with arbitrary word-counts for my chapters. But the other was because I had a hard time figuring what someone like Ruby would do or say in that circumstance, or how Kyo would advise her on what to do or say. But I think I worked it out.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

_Present day:_

Weiss and Pyrrha were inundated with a sense of relief as they finally glimpsed daylight again and felt the fresh breeze of the world outside that dank cave on their faces. They stumbled, panting, out into the sunlight, tired, battered, and bruised by their headlong run through the dark cavern, smacking into stalactites, tripping over stalagmites, and generally smacking straight into every conceivable obstacle in their headlong rush to get out.

Sadly, their relief was short-lived, as the walls of the cave behind them exploded outwards. With a ferocious screech and a menacing clattering of its pincers, the Deathstalker surged forth from its lair, having grown so large that it had been unable to fit through the cave mouth it had entered through, untold ages ago. The segmented plates of white armor that covered its back were etched with old scars and scratches, the evidence of past battles. Clumps of moss and lichen clung to its back and pincers, showing that it had been in the cave so long that it had practically become a part of the landscape.

It was enormous, many-times larger than a grown person. The yellow bulb that Weiss had mistaken for a relic was, in fact, the massive stinger, attached to the end of the scorpion-like Grimm's tail, which arced over its head menacingly as it pursued its prey.

Weiss and Pyrrha had no choice but to run. Their weapons had merely glanced off the ancient Grimm's armor, which had only hardened with the passage of time. Weiss hadn't dared employ her Dust in such an enclosed space, not when the dark kept her from seeing which type she was using. And now that the skittering Grimm was out in the open, it pursued the pair with such intensity that Weiss knew that even trying to stop and use Dust against it would be a fatal error.

So they ran, weaving between trees, doing their best to keep ahead as the beast plowed through those same trees, smashing them into matchsticks, not slowing in the slightest.

"What do we do?" asked Weiss, at a total loss for the first time.

"Keep going," Pyrrha shouted back. "We need room to maneuver."

If the Deathstalker were less overwhelmingly powerful, they could have used the close trees to hamper its movements. However, as strong as this one was, the forest would turn to their disadvantage as it smashed through the trees like they weren't even there, turning them into hazards and obstacles for the two desperate humans instead.

Weiss' breath came in ragged gasps. She wasn't used to running so far, not at this pace. The Deathstalker was not a creature that they could hope to keep ahead of at a light jog, Weiss forced to push herself just short of sprint to keep ahead of those snapping pincers.

Finally, they broke through the line of trees and out into the open. Weiss' eyes widened as she got sight of a low, circular stone structure, ruined walls encompassing a section of raised stone, with some kind of objects resting on a series of pedestals within. The temple!

This was hardly the time to think about that though, as the Deathstalker crashed through the trees behind them with an enraged shriek.

* * *

"We made it," said Yang, looking around as she took in the sight of the abandoned temple. Just as Ozpin had said, it resided on the northern end of the forest. Stepping up into what had once been the structure's interior, Yang noted the pedestals and the objects that sat on them.

"Chess pieces?" said Blake, her eyes narrowing as she surveyed them. Indeed, there were a variety of chess pieces, one resting each pedestal, two of each kind and color.

"I guess..." said Yang. She frowned. Some of the pedestals were empty, suggesting that the pieces resting on them had already been selected. Unfortunately, there was no way of knowing who had reached the temple before them. _What if Ruby already got here?_ That was a very real possibility.

"So...your sister..." prodded Blake.

"I don't know," said Yang. "I can't tell if she's been here or not."

Blake nodded slowly, not sure what to add. "We have time," she said, "so I think we can afford to wait awhile. It'll be safer to head back if more of us are together in any case."

"Yeah," agreed Yang, looking over the assembled pieces, wondering which one they could take. Finally..."How about the cute horsey," she said, picking up a gold-colored knight-piece.

"That's fine," said Blake with a sardonic smile and a slight roll of her eyes. Then she frowned, her body tensing. Her hand went over her shoulder to her weapon, what looked like a large, gray cleaver with a black handle, with a black ribbon extending from its end. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Yang.

Blake hid a wince, reminded that her faunus traits were concealed beneath the black bow on top of her head. Having an extra pair of ears certainly seemed to give her a wider range of hearing. So she was the first of the pair to pick up the faint sound of screams and the crash of breaking wood in the distance.

Because of that, she didn't hear the softer sounds of vegetation being moved to the side. The foliage almost directly in front of them parted, and a familiar-looking blonde boy and a girl in a ragged, red cloak emerged.

"We...made it..." said Jaune, bending over and bracing his knees, gasping for breath.

"Are you okay?" asked Ruby, resting a concerned hand on Jaune's shoulders. "That last pack of Beowolves was pretty big."

"Why are you asking...if _I'm_ okay?" gasped Jaune. "I counted for two of them. You took the rest by yourself."

"I just have more practice," said Ruby with a shrug. "You'll get there."

"Ruby!" exclaimed Yang, finally taking notice of her sister. She moved to approach, only to freeze when Ruby fixed her with a withering glare, the edges of her cloak billowing in a non-existent wind.

"So...I guess this is the place," said Ruby, as she and Jaune headed for the temple, Ruby noticeably not acknowledging Yang at all, though she traded a polite nod with Blake.

They moved up to examine the pedestals, along with the relics resting atop them.

"Chess pieces," muttered Jaune. "I wonder what the significance is."

Ruby shrugged. "If I had to guess, I'd say it's teams. We've already found partners. Each pair has to pick one, there are two of each..."

"Oh..." said Jaune.

Ruby's eyes flicked over to take in the golden knight-piece clutched in Yang's hand...then looked away. Then she pointedly snatched the golden rook-piece that rested nearby. Yang visibly winced at the unsubtle rejection.

Ruby stowed their relic away, then looked over to see Blake, her body tense and her gaze wary as she scanned the tree line. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"Something's coming," said Blake. "And I think it's pursuing some of the others."

"I wonder who and what," mused Ruby, standing next to Blake and taking in the forest. She extended her senses, which substantiated what Blake had said, telling her that something large and dangerous was approaching, an old, determined malice. "It's a big Grimm...and really old."

"You can tell?" asked Blake.

"Sort of," said Ruby. "It definitely feels big." She stepped down from the stone floor of the temple and onto the open ground. Kneeling, she pressed her left hand, palm down, against the ground, splaying out her fingers and closing her eyes. "Too many footfalls...it must be a Deathstalker, a big one."

_What the heck does she think she's doing?_ wondered Yang. _Ruby doesn't actually believe that she could be able to tell something like that, just by touching the ground._

"How close?" asked Jaune, coming to stand next to her.

"It'll be here in about thirty seconds," said Ruby. _There's something big coming from the other way...but it's harder to tell. Its movements are a lot smoother. King Taijitu, maybe, a big one...or more than one._

Standing up, Ruby turned to face the direction the Deathstalker's vibrations were coming from. "It's here."

Two familiar figures burst from the tree line in a sprint. Mere seconds behind them, the trees exploded into splinters as the massive figure of a giant Deathstalker charged out after them with a ferocious shriek.

_Ruby was right!_ thought Yang in shock. _It had to be a lucky guess...right?_

Finding themselves on open ground, Weiss saw a chance for her and Pyrrha. She activated her Semblance. A shimmering Glyph, with a stylized, snowflake-design, appeared beneath their feet. Abruptly, the pair of them were launched upwards, the Deathstalker's pincers closing right around where they had been a second earlier.

Pyrrha didn't waste the opportunity presented. Turning in the air, she flipped her body around, switching Milo into its rifle form. She took aim at the Deathstalker's head and fired several shots in quick succession. However, her bullets bounced harmlessly off the Grimm's armor plating.

Weiss swept her rapier around her in a wide circle. Several smaller Glyphs appeared in the air around her, flashing blue, before launching blue-white bolts that arced down at the Deathstalker. Instead of the body, they flew past it to hit the ground, ice bursting up from where the shots impacted, encasing and entrapping the Deathstalker's legs locking it into place. The Grimm shrieked with rage and shook its body, rocking back and forth, trying to break free of its icy prison.

Weiss and Pyrrha touched down. Pyrrha turned to regard the immobilized Deathstalker, but Weiss continued on, not even glancing back at the enemy, instead marching straight up the temple steps.

"Seriously!" exclaimed Ruby, directing an incredulous look. "You immobilized it, but you're not gonna finish it off."

"I'm not wasting anymore time and energy on unnecessary things," said Weiss, giving Ruby an irritated glare. "Our mission is to recover a relic, not to fight."

Ruby frowned and turned, marching towards the Deathstalker.

"Huh? Ruby?" Jaune quickly trotted after her. "Uh...Maybe Weiss has a point." He gave the Deathstalker a nervous glance.

"Once a Deathstalker fixes on a target, it doesn't give up," said Ruby gravely. "This thing will follow us all the way back to the cliffs, if we don't get rid of it now. Something else is coming, and I don't want to have to deal with this at the same time."

Weiss watched them go, then sniffed dismissively. "Dunce," she muttered under her breath. Turning back to the pedestals, she chose to snatch the gold-colored rook piece from its place. "Come on, Pyrrha, let's go." She paused when Pyrrha didn't move to join her. "Pyrrha?"

"I'm going to fight," said Pyrrha, hefting her weapons and starting off after Ruby. "She's right. We need to finish this or it will keep following us. Besides, _we're_ the ones that woke it up in the first place."

Weiss grimaced and held her tongue, biting back her impulse to berate Pyrrha. _Well, Ozpin didn't set a time limit, so I don't think it'll matter if we lose a little time on this._ She looked ahead at Ruby, who had reached behind herself and was now drawing her sword, the blade gleaming a lovely rose-red in the sunlight. _That dunce is going to get herself thrashed. We'll let her distract it and move in for the kill afterwards._

"Stand back, Jaune," said Ruby. "I need room to move."

"Okay," said Jaune, backpedaling.

"Ruby! Wait!" shouted Yang, shaking off her shock and confusion and taking off after her sister. "You can't fight that-mmph!" Her voice was cut off as Blake's hand clamped over her mouth.

"Don't distract her," said Blake gravely, "or you might actually _get_ her killed." Secretly, she wanted to see for herself what Ruby could do.

Ruby approached the Deathstalker at a leisurely walk, her sword extended out to the side. The scorpion-like Grimm shook and, with a crackling noise, the ice restraining it gave way. It shook off the remaining, clinging pieces and surged towards Ruby with a shriek, reaching out with its pincers.

Ruby raised her sword, and abruptly swung it down and across her body, cutting through the first reaching claw, right where it met the arm. The Grimm screeched with pain, and lunged with its other pincer. However, Ruby's sword swept up in a curved arc, before she sliced down in the opposite direction, cutting off the Deathstalker's other claw in the same manner as the first, sweeping her blade upwards and out, leaving a figure-eight-shaped arc of red in the eyes of everyone watching.

The Deathstalker snapped its mandibles and its forward-most legs bent, lowering the front half of its body, even as the rear legs extended. The golden bulb of the stinger rushed straight for Ruby's head and pierced right through it with enough force to punch clean through her body and smash into the ground.

"RUBY!" screamed Yang, fighting free of Blake's grip. Even Weiss and Pyrrha blanched at the sight of the red-cloaked girl being impaled.

Jaune merely sighed and relaxed a little.

The red cloak suddenly dissolved into a flurry of crimson petals, almost as though it had been a decoy. Ruby reappeared just a few steps back from her previous position. At the same time, Ruby transferred her sword to her right hand and unleashed a back-handed slash across her body, slicing off the Deathstalker's stinger. The Grimm reared back with a shriek of pain, flailing its stumps.

"She got it!" gasped Weiss.

"It's not over," said Pyrrha warily.

It was true that a Deathstalker's pincers and stingers were its most prominent and formidable weapons. However, even divested of them, the Grimm didn't cease to be a threat. The clicking mandibles on its head were capable of biting a person in two and, failing that, it could still crush a person beneath its immense bulk.

That was what it aimed to do as it scuttled forward determinedly, seeking to bull Ruby over, then crush her frail body beneath its mass of chitin. Ruby merely smirked though, transferring her sword back to her left hand. In the same movement, she drew the first two fingers of her right hand back along the length of the blade, gently brushing them along the flat of her sword.

A chime, a single, echoing, lingering note filled the air. It was hauntingly beautiful, as though someone were running their finger over the rim of a perfectly-tuned crystal goblet. There was a spark of light, midway up the length of the blade. Then the entire blade of the sword suddenly blazed with crimson light, streaming off the blade in waves, the musical sound it was making increasing in volume.

Ruby went into a jump, turning her body sideways and going into a spin, allowing her to bring her sword up and over in a downwards strike. Her cloak flared out around her with the motion, seeming to merge with the blade of her sword as she swept it downwards in a tight arc. "_Kazebara!_"

A sweeping arc of red flashed out along her blade, passing through the Deathstalker's body. The Grimm suddenly split in two, perfectly bisected by the strike as Ruby completed her spin to land on her feet, her cloak flaring out behind her, landing right between the severed halves of her enemy, which released sprays of red particles in the air, seeming to shower Ruby with red petals from all sides.

"Incredible!" breathed Pyrrha, her eyes wide in amazement.

Blake didn't bother trying to hide the smirk on her face.

"She hasn't shown that one before," said Jaune with a small chuckle.

Yang's run slowed to a stop, and her arms lowered as she stared in awe at the sight. _Ruby's...strong!_ A number of emotions rushed through her. There was the fear that had always been there, the worry that Ruby would get herself hurt. But that seemed paltry in the face of what Yang had just seen. _Where has she been? What was she doing?_ No longer were those questions perfunctory exclamations of worry. Yang genuinely wanted to know where Ruby had gone, who she'd learned from, and how she'd acquired this strength. Finally, Yang felt shame, the realization that, by talking down to Ruby earlier, still trying to treat her like the helpless little sister Yang had known before, she might have scuttled any chance of getting those questions answered, and learning about who her sister had become.

Ruby sighed, breathing out slowly, and turned on her heel, flaring her tattered cloak out behind her again as she walked away from the dissolving remains of the Deathstalker, sheathing her sword as she went. As she walked past Weiss, she couldn't quite shake her smile at the sight of the thunderstruck look on the heiress' face as she unashamedly gaped at the remains of the Grimm that had been menacing them.

"You're gonna catch flies like that," said Ruby with a giggle.

Weiss snapped her mouth closed, then turned to glare at the back of Ruby's head, furious that she had no space to retort. Ruby had made crushing that Grimm look easy. Weiss was certain she could do it. But to disarm a Deathstalker in three moves, then finish it with a fourth...that was something even _she_ had to admit was beyond her capacity, however much such an admission galled her. Furthermore... "What Dust did you use?" she demanded. "There's no way that could have been just wind-Dust."

"There wasn't any Dust," said Ruby, glancing over her shoulder at Weiss. "I don't use Dust."

"Ridiculous!" scoffed Weiss. "You'd have to be an idiot to try and be a Huntress and not use any Dust."

"Or maybe just willing to work, instead of using a crutch," Ruby retorted.

Weiss bared her teeth and hissed, drawing back as though Ruby had actually struck her. "How dare you?"

Ruby ignored her, already turning south and slightly eastward. Weiss, Pyrrha, and the Deathstalker had come from the southwest. However, there was something else coming from the east, maybe several somethings by the feel of it.

A pair of people emerged from the trees at a run. The one in the lead was a girl with orange-hair, which swept down and out at the back of her neck, just above her shoulders. She took in everything around her with a lively pair of turquoise eyes that seemed to convey all the wonder and enthusiasm of an innocent child, her lips curled up in what appeared to be an almost perpetual smile. She wore a black, high-collared vest over a sleeveless, white top, with a cutout just above her breasts, displaying a small portion of her cleavage through the heart-shaped opening. Gray armor started at her neck, crossing over her shoulders, before meeting down below her breasts and ending at her waist. Below that was a bright-pink skirt.

Her companion stood in stark contrast to her appearance. For all that he appeared to be the same age as everyone but Ruby, his magenta eyes seemed considerably older. His long, black hair was tied into a ponytail that ran about midway down his back, with a single streak of magenta on the left side of his head, matching the color of his eyes. He was dressed in a dark-green tailcoat with black and gold trim and pink cuffs on the sleeves. Loose, white pants finished out the ensemble.

Both of them were running at breakneck speed for the temple.

"Hi there!" chirped the girl as she rushed past Ruby.

"What's after you?" asked Ruby as the young man slowed down to stop and bent over, resting his hands on his knees and breathing hard.

"King Taijitu..." said the young man.

"I was afraid of that," muttered Ruby.

"...six of them," continued the young man.

Ruby swallowed. _That's worse than what I was afraid of._

"Look, Ren!" shouted the girl from up in the temple, having picked the remaining knight-piece up off its pedestal and was now waving it proudly. "I got us a horsey."

"Nora..." groaned the boy named Ren, sagging even more.

"Right! Coming," cheered Nora, descending back down the temple steps.

"Uh...At least she remembered the mission," offered Ruby a little bit lamely.

Ren smiled sightly. "There's that," he said with a small chuckle.

"How far behind you are they?" asked Ruby, glancing in the direction the pair had come from.

"A minute or so behind us," said Ren. "They keep tangling each other up and slow their own progress."

"That's good," said Ruby with a frown. Like the Deathstalker, King Taijitu were persistent hunters...though that could be said of almost any Grimm, once they caught wind of their favored prey. Worse still, King Taijitu had heads on both ends of their body, each one behaving independently, so fighting one was like fighting two Grimm at the same time. Six such beasts meant there would be twelve heads to deal with. Ruby didn't like the thought of that.

However, running was also a difficult proposition. With their flexible, serpentine bodies, King Taijitu could weave between trees with ease, allowing them to pursue with speed matching that of the Deathstalker from earlier, but not needing to smash the trees in their path. Worse still, King Taijitu were excellent trackers, able to follow from a distance, unlike the Deathstalker, which mostly mindlessly pursued the prey in immediate sight, unless there was a sufficient force of negative emotions to draw it.

"We should get out of here," said Weiss. "Making it back to the cliffs is our first priority."

"No," said Ruby firmly, drawing an affronted "Excuse me!?" from Weiss. "We need to face them here."

"Uh...is that a good idea?" asked Jaune.

"We have room to maneuver," said Ruby. "If we go into the forest and they catch up to us there, we'll keep losing line of sight with each other. That will make it harder to coordinate." That didn't matter as much to her, but she knew it could be critical for the others. Besides, while she'd grown adept at supplementing her vision with information from her other senses, Ruby still wasn't at the point where she could fight without needing to use her eyes entirely.

"She's right," agreed Ren. "The Taijitu will pursue us all the way back to the cliffs. We don't want to have to flee over that entire distance."

Weiss grimaced, seeing that Ruby and Ren had clearly won over the others. Then she growled, and then sighed under her breath. "Fine then," she said. "But we'd better have a plan. I refuse to just throw myself at them willy-nilly, unlike _some_ barbarian."

Ruby ignored Weiss, her mind already pondering their situation. "Ren said they were tangling each other up. Let's see if we can't tangle them up even _worse_."

* * *

The Grimm slid along the ground, moving between the trees with ease, its movements practically soundless. The light from the foliage glinted off the white dome of a skull, from which three sets of red eyes leered out menacingly. A pair of white horns extended from the top. It slithered along on several black tentacles, their number seeming to change from moment to moment, as some emerged from where none had been before and others retracted in entirely.

When Weiss and Pyrrha had stumbled into the cave, the Deathstalker had not been the only thing they'd roused. This Grimm had been even deeper inside. The noise, the fear, and other negative emotions had awakened it, and it made its way out in the Deathstalker's wake. It was smaller, its progress slower, but there was a quality to it that made it seem all the more sinister.

Between its small size and its smooth, nearly silent motion, this strange Grimm completely escaped Ruby's notice as it crawled ever closer to the site of the battle.

* * *

Snakelike heads emerged from between the trees with menacing hisses as the six King Taijitu emerged, their serpentine bodies undulating as they slithered closer to their intended prey. Twelve heads, six black and six white, oriented on the group of prospective Beacon students, their red eyes glittering with malice. Fanged mouths opened, and the serpents hissed in a collective noise that sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

"You know, running seemed like a really good idea," noted Jaune nervously.

Weiss frowned, not wanting to show that she agreed with Jaune, especially not with how he'd worded what she would have called an expedited retreat.

"Aww...but we can take 'em," said Nora, reaching behind her and pulling out a gray grenade launcher. "Ren killed one of them right after he landed."

"And then you had to go and wake up an entire nest of them," groused her partner, flicking his arms, a pair of emerald-green guns, with curved blades hanging directly down below the barrels, slid out of his sleeves and into his waiting hands.

Yang frowned, glancing worriedly at Ruby, and cocking her fists. Beside her, Blake drew the large, cleaver-shaped weapon off her back. Grasping a handle built into the back, behind the blade, she slid the gray portion off, revealing it to be the sheath for a black katana. Blake took a ready position, gripping the bladed sheath in her left hand and raising the katana in her right. Beside them, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune all readied their own weapons.

Ruby drew her sword. "If we can get them to tangle up again, we can use their numbers to our advantage."

"You'd better hope this works," muttered Weiss dubiously.

The King Taijitu hissed collectively again and slithered forward, winding and sliding over and across each other's bodies, making it difficult to tell one from the other, looking almost like a single mass of collective coils.

Ruby led the charge, shooting forward, her footsteps leaving flurries of red petals in her wake. She leapt up to meet one of the serpent heads as it lunged at her, fangs reaching. The black jaws seemed to close around Ruby, swallowing her whole.

"Ruby!" shouted Yang, immediately whirling to orient on the head that had attacked her sister. However, she caught a flash of red out of the corner of her eye. Ruby had dodged the Grimm's attack and then used the top of its head as a platform to jump upwards, flying straight into the midst of the serpents' coils.

There was no time for a sigh of relief. Yang felt a surge of air come from her side and saw a stark-white head lunging at her, jaws wide open. Something wrapped around her waist and Yang abruptly found herself tugged out of the reach of the White Taijitu's jaws, which snapped shut where she'd been standing a second before.

"Get your head in the game!" admonished Blake as she pulled on the black ribbon connected to her weapon. Seeing Yang about to be attacked, she'd cocked back her right arm, the blade of her katana folding over on itself to transform her weapon into a sickle, also making the pistol built into its hilt more prominent. Throwing the weapon, a tug on the ribbon had triggered the pistol, the recoil causing the weapon to accelerate and wrap around Yang.

Now Blake caught Yang in one arm, loosening the ribbon and allowing her to retrieve her weapon. "You can't keep freaking out every time she takes a risk, or you're going to get _yourself_ killed."

"B-but..." stammered Yang, her eyes following Ruby as she wound and darted through the undulating coils in a streak of red.

"If you can't stop getting distracted, then sit this fight out," said Blake, stepping away from Yang. "Right now, _Ruby_ isn't the one holding us back."

Blake's words struck Yang like a slap to the face and she winced sharply. It wasn't as though Yang believed that Ruby couldn't take care of herself anymore, not after seeing how Ruby had dealt with that Deathstalker, but it had become a reflex to worry about her, one that had only intensified upon seeing her again after six whole years. It didn't help that Ruby kept throwing herself headlong into danger. _If she just wasn't so reckless..._

But there was no helping it right now. Yang realized that, if she really wanted to protect her sister, the best thing to do would be to smash the things threatening her. Yang's resolved hardened. _I can certainly manage that._

She clashed her gauntlets together, then Yang Xiao Long threw herself headlong into the fray with a mighty roar.

Pyrrha charged forward as well, leaping over the lunging head of the first Taijitu to jump onto its neck and then run down its back. As she did, she slashed down with her sword, only for the blade to skip off the scales. _They aren't just tough, they're slippery,_ she noted with a frown.

A King Taijitu's scales were a formidable defense in more ways than one. They acted as armor, but also fitted together to produce a smooth surface with reduced fiction. The consequence being that, unless a blade or bullet hit dead-on, it was likely to to simply skip off, and the power behind it would be completely wasted.

However, she did succeed in getting the serpent's attention and, as Pyrrha continued to run down its back, the Black Taijitu reared back with a hiss, curling over its own body to chase after her. Pyrrha jumped clear of its reaching fangs and vaulted over a coil in front of her, unable to tell if it belonged to this Taijitu in particular, or one of the others in the writhing mass. The Black Taijitu followed her over. Pyrrha reversed directions, then dove under the very same coil she'd just vaulted across, the serpent behind her twisting to continue its pursuit.

There was a flash of pink out of the corner of her eye, accompanied by a low boom. Pyrrha glanced over to see Nora brandishing her weapon, which had unfolded out into a massive warhammer, the head of another Black Taijitu falling away from her to slam into the ground with a pained hiss. A White Taijitu lunged down at Nora from above, but she spun about, swinging her hammer to catch the beast on the chin. There was another pink flash and explosive noise as the grenade within detonated to enhance the force of Nora's impact, sending the Taijitu's head snapping away with another pained hiss.

After that, Pyrrha had little thought to spare for how the others were faring as she ducked and weaved through the tangle of coils that the mass of six Grimm had become, the Taijitu, whose attention she'd caught, continuing to follow her doggedly, snapping at her heels.

Abruptly, Pyrrha saw another flash out of the corner of her eye, red this time. Ruby darted in from the side and Pyrrha suddenly felt Ruby's arm around her shoulders.

"Hold on!" shouted Ruby, already kicking off, channeling a substantial amount of Aura into her feet. Pyrrha managed to grab onto her as Ruby kicked off, launching both of them away, leaving a trail of red petals in their wake, the mouth of the Taijitu pursuing Pyrrha closing on empty air. A fraction of a second later, the head of the Taijitu following Ruby slammed into it, the two Grimm reeling in pain from the impact.

Pyrrha and Ruby shot clear of the writhing mass, giving them a clear view as Ren and Blake also danced through the forest of coils, guiding other Taijitu, both Black and White, into tangling with one another. The shining head of a White Taijitu reared up over the mass and fixed on the pair before striking.

A shimmering glyph appeared to one side of the girls and launched them out of the way. Pyrrha flashed a grateful look at Weiss, whose expression remained neutral as she turned her attention back to the Taijitu and fired a line of ice into the mass of coils with her rapier, freezing already tangled coils together and making the Grimm hiss in pain.

"Time to start getting rid of them," said Ruby. "It'll be tricky."

Pyrrha nodded. Ironically enough, lowering the King Taijitus' numbers brought substantial risks with it. As they were killed, the serpents would begin to dissolve, which would make the jumbled knot their bodies had become less complicated, enabling them to potentially free themselves, which would make them more difficult, even as their numbers became more manageable.

However, they didn't really have much choice at the moment. Ruby and Pyrrha let go of each other. Ruby twisted in the air, her feet pointing towards Pyrrha's body. Realizing Ruby's intention, Pyrrha raised her shield, pressing it against the soles of Ruby's sandals as the girl in red kicked off, launching herself like a rocket back into the mass. The recoil was enough to send Pyrrha flying as well, though she used her momentum to go into a backflip that carried her clear of the King Taijitus and land on the open ground.

A shadow loomed over her and Pyrrha looked up with a gasp to see a Black Taijitu looming over her. It descended with a hiss, its jaws opening wide. Pyrrha, out of position to block, and still recovering from her landing, closed her eyes and braced herself, expecting to feel the Grimm's jaws close around her and its fangs pierce her Aura.

Instead, she heard the scrape of its fangs against something metallic. Opening her eyes, Pyrrha saw Jaune standing in front of her, groaning as he braced himself against the Taijitu, the force of its attack having driven his feet a solid inch into the ground. Its mouth had closed around the rim of his shield, its upper fangs hooked over the top of the shield, while the pointed bottom of the shield was jabbed into the Black Taijitu's lower jaw.

"Not on my watch, pal," growled Jaune, straining to hold back the Grimm and protect Pyrrha.

An angry hiss emerged from the Taijitu's throat. The force pressing Jaune back vanished. At first, Jaune felt relief, but that sense disappeared when his feet abruptly left the ground as the Taijitu reared back and began to swing its head wildly through the air, flinging Jaune about like a rag-doll as he was trapped by his arm, in the straps of the shield wedged in the beast's mouth.

"Whoaaaaaaaaah!" screamed Jaune as the Taijitu snapped its head back and forth, the sharp, powerful movements threatening to dislocate his shoulder, if not rip it clean out of its socket. It wasn't doing his spine any favors either. Grimacing, Jaune grit his teeth and let out a shout, pulling as hard as he could with his left arm to pull himself closer to the the very monster trying to kill him. As he did, he thrust up with his sword, driving it into and through the roof of its mouth, piercing up into its brain...or whatever amounted to a brain in a Creature of Grimm.

The Black Taijitu jerked sharply, then went limp, its jaw going slack and releasing Jaune as its bulk began to fall. Jaune wailed as he fell, and struck the ground with a yelp of pain, bouncing and sprawling out. Then he yelped again and rolled to the side as the limp, lifeless head of the Black Taijitu slammed down where he'd been laying.

"Owwww..." he groaned.

A shadow loomed over him and Jaune felt a momentary rise of panic, only to relax when he realized that it was just Pyrrha. She leaned over and offered him her left hand, which Jaune took with his left, allowing her to pull him back to his feet.

"That was grand," said Pyrrha with a relieved smile. "Thank you for saving me."

"N-no problem," stammered Jaune, relatively unused to being in this position. While he might have wanted to be a knight in shining armor, more often than not, it was the girls (namely his sisters) who were saving him. "That's one down, at least."

Pyrrha nodded and the two of them turned to face down the remaining Taijitu. As they did, they heard a low bursting sound, like a gunshot of some kind. They caught an orange flash and turned just in time to see a White Taijitu's head snap back as Yang caught it with a tremendous uppercut, a burst of orange fire from the barrels of the guns built into her gauntlets searing into it. Then Nora descended from above with a whoop and brought her hammer down on the head of the same Taijitu, triggering a pink explosion. The beast's head deformed from the successive blows, and it fell to the wayside, dead.

"I can't tell if that was part of the same one or not," said Jaune.

"There's no way to tell," said Pyrrha. "But it could work to our advantage."

A King Taijitu didn't fully die until both of its heads were destroyed or severed. Until then, its body wouldn't begin to dissolve. If they only killed one head of each, they could keep the survivors from unravelling the knot.

Another head lunged out from the mass, its jaws opening wide, aiming to catch Yang. However, a green and purple flash appeared between Yang and the oncoming serpent as Ren and Blake both crossed in front of it, slashing their blades against its open mouth, drawing a pained hiss from the beast as it reared back, its attack thwarted.

Then a red streak shot out from amid the coils and Ruby rushed the rearing head from behind, her sword slashing in a swift arc, leaving a trail of red, and cutting through the Taijitu's neck, severing its head cleanly.

Weiss rushed forward, executing a graceful, sliding lunge that allowed her to plunge her rapier into the open mouth of another Black Taijitu. The Dust chambers around the ricasso rotated, bringing Weiss' selection into play as she launched a jet of fire down the Taijitu's throat. She managed to withdraw her weapon and use a glyph to push herself back as the Grimm's mouth snapped shut, smoke issuing out from between its lips. Then it went limp and fell to earth with a thud.

"That's four down," declared Weiss, landing a safe distance away and looking for another head to target. The body of the Taijitu she'd killed began to dissolve, indicating it was linked to one of the other deceased heads.

However, a wet, slithering sound from behind her drew her attention, and Weiss turned. Her eyes widened and she let out a scream as black tentacles rushed at her.

"Weiss!" shouted Jaune and Pyrrha, turning to see the heiress pulled down by several black tentacles slipping around her body, binding her limbs and rendering them immobile. They rushed forward, Pyrrha switching Milo to its rifle mode and firing several shots at the skull-like mask covering the Grimm's central body. The bullets glanced off it, but they got the thing's attention as the tentacles dragging Weiss towards it halted. Then Jaune rushed in, swinging his sword down to cut through the tentacles holding Weiss.

Pyrrha rotated her grip on her weapon, which shifted into its javelin form. Cocking her arm behind her head, she threw it, triggering the rifle and using the recoil to accelerate the weapon as it flew for one of the unfamiliar Grimm's six glowing eyes. The Grimm let out a wet squeal as the blade of Pyrrha's javelin plunged home, completely seizing its attention, which allowed Jaune to pick Weiss up in his arms and carry her clear of the thrashing tentacles.

"Unhand me, you dolt!" snapped Weiss, pushing herself out of Jaune's arms.

"R-right...sorry," said Jaune, blushing a little bit.

Weiss huffed and turned to face the tentacled Grimm. "I would have been fine," she protested. "I was just startled. That's all."

"Right..." said Jaune, not succeeding in keeping his tone from becoming dubious at Weiss' effort to save face.

In front of them, Pyrrha dove between lashing tentacles to grab the handle of her javelin and yank it free, inciting another squeal of pain from the Grimm. Then it did something unexpected. It fled away from Pyrrha, slithering rapidly over the ground, before bracing its undamaged tentacles under itself and pushing off, launching itself into a leap that carried it straight into the writhing mass of King Taijitu.

"What is it doing?" asked Weiss, somewhat rhetorically, since, clearly, neither Jaune nor Pyrrha had any more idea what this new and unusual Grimm was up to than she did.

Then the King Taijitu froze, their bodies going rigid, their ongoing fight with Ruby and the others completely forgotten. Instead, they all suddenly reared upwards in a single, unified hiss, as though in intense pain. Within, the coils, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune could see the flash of the strange Grimm's five remaining eyes as its tentacles stretched out into the bodies of the Taijitu, seeming to sink right into the serpents' skin, then divide in vein-like lines that spread over their bodies.

The Taijitu were now writhing in apparent agony as their twisted, knotted bodies seemed to merge together, centering around the body of the strange, cephalopod-like Grimm. Then they stopped. Slowly, eight snake-like heads, their individual colors fading into a uniform black, reared up. White bone armor sprouted over the tops of their heads, forming jagged peaks above their eyes and ridged spines along their back. What had once been a mass of, approximately, four King Taijitu had now become a single, massive, eight-headed serpent.

The prospective students froze, gazing up at the merged Grimm in shock.

"A possession-type," gasped Weiss.

"You know what that is?" asked Jaune, still aghast by what had just happened.

Weiss shook her head. "I fought a possession type before, but it was a Geist. Those can only possess inanimate objects. I've never heard of a Grimm that could do the same with other Grimm."

From where she stood, directly in front of the beast, Ruby found her jaw dropping as she gazed at it with horrified awe. The creature was familiar to her, in a sense, as it reminded her of one of the stories Sasame used to tell her at night, about an eight-headed snake that an ancient storm-god had fought.

"Orochi..." she whispered.

The eight-headed beast rose up, its eyes now glittering with unified malice. They reared back, then opened their mouths to unleash an echoing, hissing roar. Then they lunged forward to attack.

* * *

**Hope everyone had a good weekend. I took my mother to see the new _Star Wars_ movie. I honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about, in a good way. Sure, the narrative was a mess, especially at the start. But, by the end, I found myself not really caring, and was continuously getting gut-checked by the feels. It's not a "great" film, by any stretch. But I certainly didn't think it was the cinematic disaster that so many people have been screaming that it was. But...then again...I'm one of those happy few who really liked _The Last Jedi_, and all the subversive turns it took, so maybe my sense of quality is skewed. Anyway...**

**So yeah, I borrowed the tentacle Grimm and the merged Taijitu to create the Orochi-type Grimm from the first _RWBY_ manga. I liked the design, and I thought it would be a nice way to change up the battles that would take place during the Initiation.**

**Next chapter will be a direct continuation of this, rather than going back to the flashback arc, as even _I'm_ not so cruel as to make you wait four whole days after a cliffanger like that. Given the response I've gotten to the previous structure, I suspect the response to this will be right up there with eating Sir Robin's Minstrels. "Yaaaay..."**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

Glynda frowned tensely, closing down her scroll and drawing out her riding crop. "I'm going," she said decisively.

"Hold a minute, Glynda," said Ozpin, his tone as calm and unflappable as ever.

"You can't be serious!" exclaimed Glynda, whirling to face Ozpin. "It's bad enough that this is well beyond the level of uninitiated students. That creature is a threat to Vale itself. We can't allow it to roam unchecked."

"I'm not saying that we ignore it," said Ozpin. "Have Peter and Bartholomew get into position, but hold back until we are absolutely certain that the students are completely incapable of winning."

"You're going to actually let them fight it?" scoffed Glynda in disbelief. "This is well beyond the parameters of the Initiation."

"And yet...I believe it will allow us to see the full depth of the students' potential," said Ozpin with a small smile as he continued to watch the screen, his gaze focused on the girl in the red cloak.

* * *

"What the Hell's going on?" shouted Yang as she punched a lunging snake-head in the side, barely managing to knock it off course before it could sink its fangs into her flesh.

"Something merged those King Taijitu together!" Blake shouted back, even as a fanged maw closed about her midsection. However, Blake's body vanished into a black mist as her real body shot up above the head that had almost bitten her in half. Going into a spin, she folded her katana into its sickle form and launched it, firing a shot to speed the swing of her weapon on its ribbon. It slashed down, but glanced off the bony ridges of armor that had formed along the serpent's body, like growths of coral on the hull of a sunken ship.

Nearby, Ren leveled his guns and fired a barrage of magenta shots at it. But the bullets glanced off the beast's scales. "Its armor is even tougher now," he announced.

The unified Grimm's heads lunged out with speed that far outpaced what the individual King Taijitu had been capable of earlier. They lunged and snapped and struck so quickly that their heads became black blurs and it was all the students could do to keep ahead of them.

"Speed up! Power up! Armor up!" Nora whirled her hammer, batting away a snapping head. "This is totally a final boss!"

"This isn't a game!" Weiss shouted irritably as she created several small glyphs around her, using them to launch bolts of ice-Dust at one of the heads. Flowers of ice blossomed across the writhing body, only to shatter instantly with each flex of the monster's length, the ice not slowing it in the slightest.

Ruby jumped up above an attacking head and whirled, swinging her sword down. The blade left a red arc in its wake as it bit through the armored plates and smooth scales below them, the serpent's head leaning forward by its remaining flesh. Then, right before her eyes, black veins seemed to explode from the severed portion that led down to what had become the main body of the beast, extending out to connect the cut portion and pull them back together, completely undoing Ruby's work.

"It's regenerating too!" Ruby added.

"So it can't be killed!" Weiss nearly screamed. "Just great!"

"I think we have to kill that octopus Grimm!" Jaune shouted. "It's the one that brought them all together. I think it's the one that's holding them together."

Ruby frowned, planting her feet on the very tip of the nose of one of the Grimm's heads. Kicking off, she launched herself higher into the air, the vantage point giving her a better look at the Grimm's, which she'd decided to call Orochi, body as a whole. On some level, the Grimm looked as though the eight King Taijitu had merged into one. However, Ruby could still see their individual coils, now bound together by the same black veins that had pulled the one she'd cut back into one piece. And at the center of it...

_There!_ Ruby caught a glimpse of a flash of five red eyes gleaming from within that nest of merged coils. But then the eyes were gone as the Orochi's coils shifted around it, obscuring the Grimm holding the King Taijitu together from view.

Letting herself fall, Ruby landed lightly next to Jaune. "I saw it," she said. "But it's really well hidden in there. We need to draw the heads apart to open it up for an attack." She frowned. "Even then, we're only going to have a second at most to hit it. The bodies keep shifting."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" demanded Weiss tartly.

Ruby's eyes narrowed. Then she took a deep breath. "FALL BACK!" she shouted to be heard above the din of battle. "GET TO THE CLIFFS!"

"Running away?" scoffed Weiss, giving Ruby an affronted look. "That's your answer?"

"Well, it's what you wanted to do in the first place," Ruby retorted with a teasing smirk.

"I never-" sputtered Weiss, before throwing her hands up in a fit of pique.

Everyone did their best to disengage from the Orochi and rushed into the trees. The massive Grimm surged after them, bearing down like a tidal wave of malevolence, its heads striking out, smashing through trees like they weren't even there. Compared to the King Taijitu it had been formed from, this Grimm was much faster. Only the fact that it held back so that its heads could continue to strike at the fleeing students kept it from overtaking them completely and crushing them beneath its enormous bulk.

"Are you trying to lead this thing back to Beacon?" demanded Weiss as she used a glyph to fend of an attacking head.

"We're not going directly back," said Ruby. "There's something I saw when we were launched."

When they'd initially been launched, Ruby had been preoccupied by Jaune's predicament. However, she'd also gotten a chance to take in the lay of the land. While the Emerald Forest came right up to the base of the cliff where they'd been launched, further to the east, Ruby had noticed that the ground dropped away, a split, like a massive scar on the earth itself, forming a chasm. Within it, she had seen rocky spires and, more interestingly, what looked like additional ruins, similar to those of the temple where they had found the relic.

It was a desperate run through the forest. The students were already considerably worn down by their previous battles and pursuits just to reach the temple. Now they were sweating profusely, gasping for breath as they emerged from the forest, finding themselves running past lines of columns that led to a stone bridge, extending out across the chasm to a ruined building, which sat upon an elevated spire of stone.

"Keep going!" shouted Ruby, leading the group onto the bridge as the Orochi plowed through the trees behind them, its heads still lunging after them. However, as it reached the bridge, the Orochi hesitated, its heads weaving indecisively, whatever malign intelligence guiding the beast apparently realizing that the bridge alone wasn't suitable to hold up its weight.

The eight students came to a stop at the base of the building in the center of the chasm, gratefully taking advantage of the lull to take a quick breather.

"I hope...you have...something...better than this," said Weiss, as she panted for breath.

Ruby took a deep breath to calm herself down. "I have a plan," she said, giving Weiss an earnestly plaintive look. "But I need your help."

Weiss' eyes narrowed. Then she closed them and took a deep breath of her own. "Fine," she said. "Let's hear this plan that's probably going to get us all killed."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Orochi's hesitation came to an end as eight sets of eyes registered the presence of several stone spires, both natural and manmade, the remnants of ruined columns, dotting the abyss around the remains of the large building in the center. Moving forward, the heads went along separate paths, winding around the columns, spreading out its weight and allowing it to move forward as it began to close in on the building where its intended targets were sheltering.

"GO!" shouted Ruby from within. Seven blurs exploded out from within the building, leaping into the air around it. Each of the Orochi's heads moved to track a different target.

Only Jaune remained at the base of the building smacking his sword against his shield. "Come and get it, ugly!" he shouted.

One of the eight heads focused on him and Jaune swallowed nervously. He barely managed to raise his shield in time as it struck, its fanged maw closing around the rim, just like the Taijitu he'd slain previously. The force behind its strike slammed him back into the outer wall of the building, then through it, a cry of pain exploding from Jaune's lips, even as the strike drove him back into one of the interior walls, which cracked, Jaune's body embedding in the solid stone.

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby and Pyrrha, turning to look back at their friend.

"Keep...going!" shouted Jaune in a pained voice. He raised his sword and reversed his grip on it. Then he plunged it down through the lower jaw of the head that had attacked him, the blade piercing through to sink into the stone floor beneath it and hold firm, eliciting a pained, hissing screech from the head. With its strength, the Orochi head could probably pull free by breaking the stone of the building itself. However, fully extended as it was, it wasn't in the best position to exert its full strength, so it was held fast for the moment.

Outside, the others split up. Blake fired the revolver built into the handle of her sickle, peppering one of the heads with bullets. Her shots didn't cause any harm, but they did get the head's attention, drawing it after her as she leapt into the air. The head lunged for her and its jaws once again seemed to close around her, only for that Blake to vanish as the real one shot downwards, her body displaced by her shadow. She threw her sickle out to the side of the monster's head, firing a shot to quickly change the sickle's direction so that it swung the other way, looping the ribbon it was tethered to around the closed jaws before Blake reached out and caught it, stretching the ribbon taught and using it to keep the beast's mouth closed. Dangling down, she managed to reach one of the rock spire. She anchored the sickle on one side and wrapped the end of the ribbon around the handle of the bladed sheath, then anchored it on the column's opposite side, the tightening ribbon drawing the monster's head down and holding it in place...for the moment.

Ren also opened fire on one of the heads. It lunged after him with a vengeance, its mouth opening to practically swallow him in midair. Ren abruptly swept his arms out to the side, flinging his bladed guns away. As the Orochi-head's fangs were about to close on him, Ren brought his arms in, then extended them out in front of him, his hand facing palm-out, turned so that the fingers were pointing inwards towards each other, angled slightly downwards. The head was halted by the magenta barrier of Ren's Aura extending out from his hands. Though he'd kept the head from biting down into him, Ren had nothing to brace against, so he was pushed backwards in the air.

Then the guns he'd thrown away came arcing back, spinning rapidly so that they crossed the monster's face, the blades cutting into its eyes, causing the Grimm's neck to spasm. It arced back and Ren was thrown clear, extending his arms to snatch his weapons as they flew past him.

Nora whooped as she flew through the sky, her feet resting on the head of her hammer, riding on it. An explosion from the head propelled her further, sending her zipping right past another of the Orochi's heads. Obeying the instinct that guided Grimm as a whole, the head lunged after her, moving with speed that belied its size, becoming a black and white blur as it whipped after Nora.

Despite that, Nora's grin didn't falter in the slightest, and she triggered yet another explosion from her hammer, this time angling the head so that it sent her around in a rapid spin, twirling her through a full rotation by the time the head reached her. Extending her hammer out, Nora slammed it right into the side of the head and triggered yet another explosion, the pink flash, combined with the momentum of her spin, launching the head into the side of the chasm on the side of the Emerald Forest.

The recoil of the blow also bounced Nora back away. But she rotated the hammer in her grip, so that the head was now facing in the opposite direction. Triggering it again, she launched herself back towards the cliff and arrived just as the beast tried to pull its head free of the rock it was embedded in. That was when Nora slammed her hammer into it again, triggering a final explosion, embedding it even deeper into the stone face of the cliff.

Yang roared as she charged one of the Orochi's heads straight-on. Swinging with all her strength, she slammed her fist into the the side of its snout, snapping the head to the side. Without any footing, Yang was bounced back. But she swiftly punched behind her, firing her gauntlets to launch her back at the giant snake again. However, the Orochi's head rallied and rounded on her just as fast and the two met again, the head's jaws opening wide enough to swallow her whole.

With a yelp, Yang spread her limbs out, reaching up to brace her left hand against the head's upper jaw, while she planted her feet firmly on the bottom jaw, desperately holding out against the pressure of the beast's bite, which threatened to snap her in two. Still, Yang grinned as she saw a way to get under the monster's skin...literally.

"I...HOPE...YOU'RE...HUNRGY!" she shouted, punctuating each word with a blast from her right gauntlet straight down its throat. She unloaded her weapon's entire clip straight down the serpent's gullet.

A spasm ran along the length of its neck and its head jerked upwards, flinging Yang into the air. Not quite done yet, she fired her left gauntlet to spin her body around, allowing her to slam the heel of her boot into the tip of the monster's snout, sending it whipping back down to slam into the tip of a broken column, smashing it. The head lay still, momentarily stunned by the impact.

Not far away, Pyrrha Nikos leapt from one column to the next, barely managing to keep out of the reach of the Orochi head pursuing her. Spinning around, she lined up her rifle to fire several shots, which glanced off the armor plating of the Orochi's head, merely seeming to irritate it. It lunged at her again and Pyrrha kicked off the column immediately behind her, managing to jump out of the way before the head slammed into it, shattering the remains of the carved stone structure. Spinning around again, Pyrrha transformed her weapon into its javelin mode. Taking advantage of the head's confusion, she drew back her arm and hurled the javelin straight into one of the glowing, red eyes.

The head let out a hissing screech and it whipped back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the irritant. However, it was stymied by Pyrrha, who threw her shield, the bronze-colored disk seeming to home in on the end of the javelin like a guided projectile, striking hard and hammering the javelin in further. The serpent's undulations became even more intense as it thrashed about in agony.

Finally, Weiss and Ruby moved, side-by-side, towards the remaining two heads. Ruby skipped across the stone spires, bouncing from one to the other, while Weiss went in jumping glides, propelling herself with the intermittent use of her glyphs. The remaining heads lunged at the pair and they split apart.

Weiss used a glyph to launch herself straight up into the air, the head targeting her snapping at where she had just been. From her position up above, Weiss channeled all her remaining ice-Dust into a single attack, producing a massive spike of ice, several times larger than she was. A larger version of her usual snowflake glyph appeared above it, and the whole construct shot down like an arrow, the tapered tip of the spike slamming straight into the top of the serpent's skull. Unfortunately, the beast's armor held and the ice shattered instead. But, even then, the sheer power and momentum behind it forced the serpent's head down to dangle in the empty air of the chasm.

In the meantime, Ruby darted to the side, then used her Aura to propel herself straight back at the head that was coming her way. She went into a spin, scattering a hurricane of red petals around her body, their swirling forms concealing her. The attacking head lunged through it, assuming Ruby would be at the center. However, its jaws closed around nothing but air and Aura.

"_Hanabi!_" A crackling sound came from the red petals dancing in the air around the serpent's head. Then, a sound like countless firecrackers echoed out, tiny thunderclaps, as the petals exploded into blasts of crimson lightning that arced across the monster's head, making it lurch and spasm in pain.

Weiss narrowed her eyes, glaring at the explosion that Ruby had left in her wake. _I knew she was lying about using Dust. It must be woven into her cloak._

However, there was little time to worry, as Ruby was already zipping towards her. Weiss created a glyph, this one black, to bring the girl in red to a stop. As they did, their comrades attacks all did their work, stretching out the full length of the Orochi's necks and causing the coils that merged together to form the body to pull apart enough that they could catch a glimpse of red eyes lurking in the center of that mass.

"Give me everything you have!" shouted Ruby.

"You are _so_ high-maintenance!" protested Weiss, even as she did as Ruby told her, pointing Myrtenaster ahead of her, creating a sequence of glyphs in the air, practically bridging the gap between them and the Orochi's central mass. Ruby bent her legs and channeled as much Aura as she could spare into her feet, the interaction between her Aura and the glyph that held her fast dying the snowflake sigil red. At the same time, Ruby traced the first two fingers of her right hand along the blade of her sword, which chimed and burst into light.

Weiss reversed her glyph at the same time that Ruby kicked off. The subsequent glyphs accelerated Ruby at an unbelievable rate, turning her into a streak of crimson light, flashing towards the center of the massive, composite Grimm like a living laser. Raising her sword high, Ruby condensed the atmosphere swirling around it as she brought it down in a powerful, two-handed slash. "_Kazegiri!_"

Her sword cleaved through the Orochi's coils, as well as the strange, cephalopod-like Grimm at their center, a bright-red line seeming to divide everything it came in contact with. Then Ruby spun about to slam her feet into the side of the cliff, plunging her sword into the rock to help anchor herself into place.

Turning to look at her handiwork, Ruby was relieved to see that the four King Taijitu, as well as the Grimm that had bound them together, were falling into the chasm, their bodies beginning to dissolve. Ruby let out a low breath. "Phew..." Then she glanced up the side of the cliff where she'd anchored. "This is gonna be a pain to climb."

* * *

Fortunately, they made it up the side of the cliff without further incident. Both Glynda and Ozpin were waiting for them. "Congratulations on completing the Initiation," said Ozpin with a slight smile. "I presume you have your relics."

Ruby nodded and presented her rook chess piece, earning a surprised look from Weiss as she presented the same one. Meanwhile, Yang and Nora presented their knights.

"You are the last teams we were waiting for," said Glynda. "With your initiation complete, we can proceed with the induction ceremony."

"We're _last_?" gasped Weiss, horrified.

"It's all right," Pyrrha tried to assure her partner. "I don't believe this was supposed to be a race."

That appeared to reassure Weiss, and she straightened up. "You're right," she said quickly, appearing to pretend that her previous display had never happened. "I am certain that, after dealing with a Grimm like that, we have earned the highest marks. Am I right, Professor?"

Ozpin's smile, somehow, became even more cryptic. "I'm afraid I cannot answer that question, Ms. Schnee. The specifics of our scoring criteria are classified, as is your official ranking."

"Wha-but-I..." Weiss' inability to even form a coherent sentence was a source of amusement to the others, as they watched the heiress' desperation to know her grades.

"What do you think?" asked Jaune, leaning in to whisper his question to Ruby.

"I kinda think that completing the Initiation is what matters," Ruby whispered back. "I think Professor Ozpin uses the whole 'grading' thing to motivate everyone. Now he's just teasing Weiss."

There was a glimmer in Ozpin's eyes that caught Ruby's attention, and she got the distinct impression that he'd heard her whispered conversation with Jaune. She could have sworn that his smile quirked and widened slightly. Secretly, Ruby was more convinced than ever of her conclusions.

"Well then," said Ozpin, "I'm aware that you must be tired after your ordeal. However, I promise that the induction ceremony will be brief. Then you will be free to rest."

"Looking forward to that," said Ruby, stepping forward, before almost pitching onto her face as her knees wobbled weakly.

"_Ruby!_" exclaimed Jaune and Yang in unison, Jaune immediately moving to support her, while Yang stopped short, arm outstretched.

"Sorry...just a little worn out," said Ruby. Her Aura was close to its limit. Between saving Jaune, unlocking his Aura, and the unexpectedly intense battle against the Orochi, Ruby was running dry. _I really didn't do this as efficiently as I could've,_ she thought ruefully.

"I've got an idea," said Jaune, crouching in front of her and presenting his back. "Climb on."

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby, already leaning forward, in spite of her question. "Weren't you hurt when that Taijitu smashed you into a wall?" She remembered it quite vividly. Unlike the rest of them, Jaune wasn't accustomed to combat and, with no training and nothing but his basic Aura to take the impact, she imagined that it had been an extremely painful experience.

"Yeah," admitted Jaune. "It's kinda weird, but I feel fine already."

_Unlocking Aura enhances a person's recovery ability,_ Ruby noted silently. _Considering how much Jaune has...I can see him actually recovering pretty fast._

"All right," said Ruby, wrapping her arms around his collar and allowing him to hook his arms under her legs and hoist her up.

"Besides," said Jaune with a faint whisper, "I get the feeling most of this is my fault. Am I right?"

It seemed that, despite her efforts not to give him the idea that he was to blame for her condition, it seemed that Jaune had clued in to the fact that Ruby had expended a lot more Aura than she normally would have, had she not needed to help him. _He's sweet,_ she thought with a small smile as she leaned forward and rested her chin on his shoulder. "Thanks," she said softly.

"Ruby," exclaimed Pyrrha from behind her, "your cloak! I'm so sorry!"

"Huh?" Ruby lifted her head back up and looked over her shoulder. _Yeah, that's looking a little ragged._ Ruby's red cloak was tattered and torn, looking more like rags of cloth than a whole garment. There were holes all along its width and breadth and several strips dangled off. Despite that, Ruby gave Pyrrha a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. It's an easy fix."

"A-all right," said Pyrrha, relaxing slightly.

Beside her, Weiss followed the whole exchange with a slightly irritated expression, wondering why everyone was making such a fuss over Ruby.

In front of them, Ozpin merely chuckled. "It's good to see that you are becoming fast friends already. Let's be off." He and Glynda turned and led the way back towards Beacon.

Jaune and Ruby immediately followed after him, with Weiss and Pyrrha slightly behind them, though Weiss sped up her walk to walk alongside Jaune and Ruby, inducing Pyrrha to also speed up and join them. Behind them were Ren and Nora. Blake brought up the rear...before realizing that she wasn't actually bringing up the rear. She turned to look for her partner. "Yang...?"

Blake's stomach lurched when she saw Yang. The blonde girl's eyes had changed, going from their normal lilac color to a stark, glimmering red. She was looking past Blake, glaring straight at Ruby's back with one of the ugliest expressions Blake had ever seen on someone's face before. _No! She's not looking at Ruby. She's looking at Jaune._ Blake frowned pensively. _Well...Yang _is_ Ruby's sister, so...Oh dear. This isn't going to end well._

"Yang?" Blake decided to prod her new partner again, shaking Yang out of her enraged torpor. "Is everything okay." Secretly, Blake already knew that the answer was a definitive "No," but decided to ask anyway.

Yang looked at her then blinked. When her eyes reopened, they had returned to their previous, normal color. "It's…nothing," said Yang, before pasting a smile on her face and walking past Blake and moving after the others. "Let's go. We don't want to miss the ceremony after all."

"If you say so," said Blake.

Up ahead, Ruby found herself having to admit that Jaune's back was very comfortable, and that she would miss it, once she was forced to stand on her own again. As it was, she was on the verge of falling asleep while being carried by him. Instead, she forced herself to remain aware. However, she did initiate Suppression, which would speed the recouping of her Aura.

"Ruby...?" Jaune frowned in confusion. He still felt Ruby's body pressed against his back, her arms around his collar, her legs hooked through his arms. But, all of a sudden, it felt like...like she wasn't actually there...like he was carrying a human-shaped rock.

"Don't worry about it," said Ruby, her voice next to his ear startling him, despite the fact that Jaune knew she was right there. "It's a trick to help me recover faster. I'll explain it later."

In fact, she was determined to do a fair bit more than explain. Her earlier trepidation at the idea of having a partner who'd never been given anything more than the most rudimentary combat training had all but vanished, replaced by excitement at the prospect that she could teach Jaune to use his Aura the way she used hers. It was a rare chance. Unlike their other comrades, Jaune had never gotten a regular Huntsman's education and, as such, didn't have the misconceptions about Aura that the others undoubtedly harbored. Jaune's weapon, as much as he might have disparaged it in comparison to most of their friends', was also helpful in this regard, having no fancy gimmicks beyond the sheath expanding into a shield. It was the perfect weapon to help Jaune learn to utilize his Aura...even better, considering what Ruby had sensed the first time she'd come into contact with Crocea Mors.

Of course, it wouldn't be easy. The biggest advantage Ruby had had when she'd been traveling with Sasame and Kyo was the openness of their schedule. Beyond traveling to the next settlement, they'd never had any real goals, and no actual time-limits, with the exception of that time with the bandits. As such, they had been free to work their schedule around Ruby's training and development, free to devote the entirety of each day to building up her Aura, physique, and technique. By the time they'd arrived in Onmyo, and Ruby had been enrolled in the Mibu equivalent of regular education, she'd already developed her physical strength and Aura to be almost on par with most of the aspiring warriors her age. On top of that, Sasame and Kyo had taken her on other training excursions across Leng, Sanus, and Anima where, once again, their schedule was built entirely around her development.

In contrast, she would have to build Jaune's training schedule around their already busy schedules as Beacon students. Beacon's curriculum would, of course, be built around the expectation that students had already completed training in Combat School or through some equivalent. Because of that, Ruby would have to figure out how to cram as much physical and Aural training for Jaune as she could, in between classes and homework. It would be pretty hard on Jaune, who would undoubtedly suffer from the lack of free time that the others would enjoy. She just hoped he was persistent enough to stick with it.

Her other conundrum was about _what_ to teach Jaune. The basics of Aura control, the three exercises, as well as physical conditioning, were simple enough that she could pass them along to him. But when it came to technique, how to use his sword and shield, as well as developing his Manifestation, Ruby was at a loss. Her form of swordsmanship was, like her weapon, unique to her, and there was no way she could hope to pass it to someone who used such a different set of weapons and probably had very different natural tendencies from her.

_Maybe I can ask Sasame-nee, when she gets here,_ mused Ruby. Sasame would be arriving in around a month, give or take a few days. She'd said that her visit would be brief, but maybe she could extend it a little to help with Jaune's training, and give Ruby some ideas about how to help him.

It helped that Jaune wasn't _completely_ hopeless. For all that his father had only taught Jaune, apparently half-heartedly, for a brief period, it was clear that Jaune had practiced what little he'd been taught as faithfully as he could. From their experiences in the forest, she could tell that Jaune knew the bare basics of swinging a sword, even if the full nuance of its use escaped him for the time being…and he sometimes appeared to forget where the edge was.

"We're here," said Jaune, startling Ruby out of her reverie. She'd been so absorbed in thinking about how to help her partner that she'd all but forgotten about where they were going. She looked up to see that they were at the entrance to another auditorium, this one much larger than where they'd held the orientation.

Ruby got down from Jaune's back and stretched, assessing her condition. She still felt tired, and a little wobbly, but she could walk without fear of falling flat on her face.

Ozpin and Glynda had already gone in ahead of them, heading for the stage, where they would announce the newly-initiated students.

As the eight new students entered, Ruby gasped in amazement. This auditorium wasn't just bigger than the one where the orientation had taken place, but it was much more ornate as well. Decorated in dark browns and greens, the ceiling rose up above them in a large, domed configuration. There was a large screen hanging almost directly over the stage where Ozpin and Glynda were preparing their announcement. Finally, there was a second level of seats, a balcony section that ran the entire circumference of the room.

It was also more crowded. In addition to the eight of them, and the others that had completed the Initiation, Ruby saw that the floor and the seats above were filled by more students, second-years and above, she presumed. Their attention was fixed on the new arrivals.

Questions ran rampant in Ruby's head, even as she blushed and tensed nervously at being under the gaze of so many people, even if their gazes weren't directed at her alone. Was attendance mandatory, or were they here by choice? Were they taking part in a time-honored tradition to earnestly welcome the new arrivals, or were they watching to take the new students' measure? It made Ruby want to duck underneath her hood...but she managed to resist the impulse, knowing it would only draw more attention to her.

In the meantime, Ozpin had begun announcing the newly-formed teams. Ruby wasn't surprised to see that her guess about the chess pieces was correct. The teams were being formed from the pairs that had acquired matching relics.

As she watched, four boys stepped onto the stage. Three of them were decked out in armor, not unlike Jaune's, though theirs was more substantial and was actually integrated into their outfits, compared to Jaune's, which looked like he'd just thrown some pieces on over his casual clothes. The odd one out was the shorter boy, sporting a green mohawk, who was dressed much more lightly, a spaulder on one shoulder being the only piece he sported.

The four of them stood in surprisingly good order, their shoulders back and chests out, their arms folded behind them, almost like they were standing at parade rest. Ozpin stood before them, announcing their names before minting them as Team CRDL (Cardinal). Up above, Ruby saw their portraits on the screen, with their initials forming the abbreviated form of their team name. _That's kinda cool,_ she thought, wondering what her team's name was going to be.

Then it was their turn. Ozpin called them up by name. "Lie Ren...Yang Xiao Long...Nora Valkyrie...Blake Belladonna...The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, the four of you will work together as Team Rainbow..." Up above, their initials appeared below their portraits, showing off their team designation, RYNB. "...led by...Lie Ren."

"Wait! What?" Ren blinked, looking startled and genuinely unsettled for the first time since Ruby had met him. Not even being pursued by a host of King Taijitu or dealing with them merged into an eight-headed super-Grimm seemed to have visibly fazed him as much as being named leader of his team had. Then Nora tackled him with a hug and a happy squeal, while Yang and Blake looked on with mild amusement at his discomfort.

"I am sure you will do well," said Ozpin as the new team made their way off the stage. Then it was time for the next, and last, team to be named. "Ruby Rose...Jaune Arc...Weiss Schnee...Pyrrha Nikos...The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Raspberry, led by...Ruby Rose."

"Huh?" Ruby's stomach lurched and her heart shuddered. _Me? Why?_ Suddenly, she understood quite well why Ren had looked so unsettled. Her cheeks heated up and she lowered her gaze.

She was so shocked that she missed Weiss' indignant "What?"

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking up, Ruby saw Jaune smiling at her. Past him, she saw Pyrrha also looking at her with a warm smile. Weiss was still staring at Ozpin, aghast, but Ruby felt a little better knowing that at least two out of her three teammates appeared to be okay with this...even if she wasn't completely okay with it herself.

Up above, their initials appeared beneath their portraits, marking them as Team RASP.

* * *

"This is shaping up to be a very interesting year," observed Ozpin wryly as he and Glynda watched the students file out of the auditorium, amusingly noting that the newly-minted leaders of RYNB and RASP had to be partly guided, apparently still recovering from the shock of their assigned position.

"You have something of a cruel streak, making those two leaders," observed Glynda with a frown. "Neither of them seems the sort to assert their will over others."

"Yet, Ms. Rose is definitely suited to it, even if she doesn't realize it herself," said Ozpin. "Her coordination and strategy were successful in dealing with that Grimm, and she did an excellent job using her teammate's capabilities, even factoring in Mr. Arc's...limitations."

Glynda's frown grew more prominent at the mention of Jaune. A closer look at his transcripts had revealed them to be fakes, a paper-thin facade that made her want to berate Beacon's admission staff for letting them get as far as Ozpin's desk, to say nothing of Ozpin approving Jaune's admission, despite his obvious unfitness. However, her realization had come too late. She could not interfere during the Initiation and, now that Jaune had completed it, the matter was out of her hands entirely. "I still have my reservations about him."

"Understandable," said Ozpin. "However...I looked into Mr. Arc's circumstances, and I believed he deserved the opportunity that had previously been denied to him."

"He could have been killed!" Glynda exclaimed.

"As could have any of the others," said Ozpin. "It simply would have been easier for that to happen, in his case. However, I don't believe we will need to worry about that anymore, not if Ms. Rose takes him under her wing...so to speak."

Glynda sighed in resignation and shook her head. "The Council would be most unhappy if they learn that you are allowing students to disseminate those skills amongst one another."

"The Council will have to accept it, assuming they learn of it," Ozpin replied. "To officially forbid the Mibu Clan's Aura-techniques, they would have to officially acknowledge the Mibu Clan's existence, which they have no desire to do. Their irritation is a small price to pay for having Ms. Rose with us."

"You value her quite a bit," noted Glynda.

"Indeed," said Ozpin. "She is everything I expected, and more. I look forward to watching her future here."

Glynda sighed again, finding it disturbing how often Ozpin drove her to sigh. "And what about Lie Ren? Are you really certain he is fit to lead his team."

"The fittest option among the four," said Ozpin. "Ms. Belladonna has a level head, but she is too withdrawn, to say nothing of her secret. Ms. Xiao Long is a little too hotheaded…and I imagine I don't have to say anything about Ms. Valkyrie."

"Most certainly not," said Glynda, sounding resigned.

"It will be a difficult task for him," said Ozpin. "However, I am certain he can rise to the occasion."

Glynda frowned, but nodded all the same. "It seems it _will_ be an interesting year." _I just wish I could say that was a good thing._

* * *

"I don't like this one bit," declared Weiss, folding her arms stubbornly as she took in the sight of the dorm room, where'd they spend at least two out of their four years at Beacon.

"You like having your own room?" asked Ruby.

"That's not it!" exclaimed Weiss, flailing her arms. "I knew we were going to be living in dorms. What I don't like is that we have to share a dorm with _him_!" She pointed fiercely at Jaune, who blinked cluelessly.

"Uh…so what?" asked Ruby.

"He's a boy!" protested Weiss.

"Yeah. I can see that."

"A boy shouldn't be sharing the same room as three girls."

Ruby tilted her head. "Why?"

"It's…it's…" Weiss' mouth worked silently for a moment before she could formulate a response. "It's indecent!"

"It's just a fact of life at Beacon," interjected Pyrrha. "Teams share a room, regardless of the gender composition."

Weiss sighed and slumped, clearly not willing to go against Pyrrha...or at least directly contradict her to her face. "Fine." Instead, she leveled a glare at Jaune. "But if I catch you peeping or trying to carry out any perversity, I'll make you regret it."

"Duly noted," said Jaune, slightly unnerved by Weiss' attitude towards him. At first, he'd been excited at the prospect of being on the same team with three lovely girls, particularly as beautiful as Weiss was. But now he could see that living and sharing a room with her was going to be an ordeal among ordeals, one that he could only hope his life with seven sisters had prepared him for.

"Whatever," said Ruby, stretching with a yawn. "I'm exhausted."

"At least we don't have class, tomorrow," Pyrrha pointed out.

Following the initiation, the students were given a day before their classes formally began. While it served as a rest period, it also served as a time for them to collect the various necessities for the upcoming school year. They would be fitted for uniforms, get their textbooks, and acquire notebooks, pencils, pens, and other sundry necessities. It would also give them time to set up their room to their preferences.

Weiss sighed. "Fine, but I call the first shower." Suiting action to word, she grabbed her pajamas and marched into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

"What's her problem?" asked Jaune. He'd already noted that Weiss as irritable by default, but her fuse had seemed especially short the past few hours.

"I think she's upset that she wasn't named team leader," observed Pyrrha.

"That's it?" asked Jaune. "What's the big deal about that?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," admitted Pyrrha. "Frankly, I'm just relieved it wasn't me."

"Gee, thanks," said Ruby wryly.

"I'm sorry!" exclaimed Pyrrha, her sudden apology making Ruby laugh.

"It's all right," said Ruby. "To be honest, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I'm not sure why Ozpin picked me to lead."

"You were the one who came up with the plan to bring down that Grimm," said Jaune. "I'm certainly okay with you being the leader."

"Thanks," said Ruby, sounding much more sincere this time. Then she groaned and stretched. "I just hope Yukihime doesn't take too long in the shower. I wanna sleep."

Jaune blinked as Pyrrha stifled a snort. "Uh...What kinda nickname is that?"

"A good one," said Ruby cheerfully.

She had to resist the urge to flop back on her mattress and spread herself out. But she didn't want to get her sweat and grime all over the crisp, clean sheets of her new bed. Instead she leaned back a little and stared at the ceiling. _I'm in...I did it. I'm a student at Beacon._ She was secretly exultant. The one thing her so-called family had told her she couldn't do and she had done it...and two years early to boot.

Undoubtedly, she had a lot of hard work ahead of her. But Ruby found herself looking forward to it. After all, hard work had never scared her before.

* * *

**Meet our new teams, people. As per my usual habit, when writing team names, said names shall appear in narrative the way they are designated (RASP, RYNB, etc), whereas, in dialogue, they will appear the way they are pronounced (Raspberry, Rainbow, etc). Coming up with a new team name for Ruby's team was more tricky than I would've liked. Raspberry wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was the only one I could come up with that fit my criteria, given the letter combinations I had available. Maybe I just need to find more color or color-adjacent words. Oh well, the die is cast now.**

**Next chapter, we return to the flashback arc, where the chase is on...**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

_Six years ago:_

_What the heck is up with these people?_ wondered Qrow. For whatever reason, asking about Ruby or, rather, the two people she was traveling with, caused anyone he talked to to clam up tighter than an actual clam. All he'd gotten so far was the name of one of the people who had taken Ruby...Kyo. _I should probably look into this guy's history. What is it about him that makes people not want to talk about him?_

Normally, the kidnapping line was a good way to get people to open up. People hated the thought of an innocent child being stolen away against her will. More than that, they certainly didn't want to think of themselves as an accessory to such by not aiding someone searching for the kidnapped. Granted, Qrow didn't think Ruby was _actually_ traveling with these people against her will. However, she was too young to legally consent to something like this, which could be used to argue a charge of kidnapping in court. It had happened before...and worked.

Taiyang had been livid about Ruby's disappearance, accusing Qrow first, which Qrow wasn't exactly happy about. After it had been proven that Ruby wasn't with him, Qrow and Taiyang had searched through Vale, turning the place upside down for any sign of her.

Knowing _why_ Ruby had probably run away, Qrow had run down the owners of fighting schools scattered through Vale, checking with everyone from those who took care of Huntsman pre-training to the teachers of basic self-defense classes. A couple of them did indeed recall a girl in a red hood asking questions about entrance, only for her to disappear when it was revealed that they required parental consent.

Qrow had grown more worried when his inquiries didn't turn up Ruby herself. She had stolen Taiyang's stash of emergency cash, which would have been good for a couple of nights in a low-rent hotel, and a few meals. However, Ruby would have only been able to use it for food at best and, even then, it wouldn't last longer than a couple of weeks. So it wasn't much of a surprise when, after working the streets for a few days, he ran across a baker who had seen a girl of Ruby's description.

_"__Caught the little rat eyeing my stock,"_ the woman had said tartly. _"I was getting ready to call the cops on her if she tried to take anything. But then she went off with one of those filthy faunus."_

Resisting the urge to deck the woman for calling his niece a rat, Qrow instead tracked down the most promising lead he'd gotten thus far, looking into faunus-oriented and friendly establishments in the immediate area. Sure enough, he hit success at a small diner just a few streets down. The waitstaff recalled seeing a girl in a red hood with a diminutive fox-faunus, who had definitely been older than she looked, from her manner, and the fact she'd been able to pay for the meal. The waiter who'd served them even recalled the fox-faunus offering to take the girl out of the Kingdom to meet with a friend.

From there, Qrow had made his way out through the nearest exit, past the walls and into the wilderness beyond. Fortunately, the unique qualities his association with a certain Headmaster had enabled him to search a large area with considerably greater ease than most. It wasn't long before he found the remains of a campsite. It had been broken and cleaned up to reduce impact, but not to the extent where it was apparent that they were trying to hide its presence entirely. Inspecting the area, Qrow found evidence of three people, including signs of a girl about nine years old, by the measure of her footprints.

From there, it was slow going, following their trail through the wilderness. They had apparently covered ground at a surprisingly fast clip, despite having someone as young as Ruby with them. They were making her walk on top of that. _Or maybe she wants to walk,_ thought Qrow.

If there was one thing that he knew, Ruby was a girl of singular ambition. Her desire to be a Huntress trumped pretty much anything. And if she was enticed into following a pair of complete strangers into the wilderness, it could only be for one reason, they'd promised her the training that her father had denied her. That being the case, then walking over long distances would be one way to build up strength and endurance.

What he _couldn't_ condone was taking a nine-year-old girl for an extended jaunt in a wilderness full of Grimm. Qrow encountered plenty of them while following their trail, and had seen all the signs of Grimm traveling along and across the very same trail he was following. Thanks to his...attributes...he was able to avoid unnecessary battles. But a pair of people on foot, with a child in tow, would not have the same advantage.

Which made it so unusual that he found no evidence of them fighting any Grimm. Granted, it was always hard to spot evidence of a battle with the Grimm, unless people took the casualties. Grimm remains dissolved into nothingness, taking away everything any other kind of corpse might have left behind, blood stains, bones, rotting flesh. To find evidence of a battle against the Grimm that didn't leave any human or faunus casualties, one had to look at the environment: the torn up ground where claws scrabbled for grip or scored the earth in the wake of missed blows, the flattened vegetation left behind by a violent charge, the residue of Dust-discharges, holes in trees left by missed shots. All that and more were evidence of a pitched battle taking place. But Qrow never saw any sign that the trio had so much as _met_ a single Grimm in their travels. It was uncanny.

The trail had led him to the unremarkable settlement of Dunedain. It was here that he'd expected to make at least some progress, get some information on where the trio were heading next, what they might be planning to do, where their final destination was expected to be. That knowledge would give him a leg up, and a chance to close the gap, which was a lot harder when he was following their trail through the wilderness, a trail that would be rapidly going cold. This was his chance to make up lost ground...which made it all the more frustrating to be met with a stone wall.

The moment he'd posed the question, the barkeeper had notably avoided the topic. Not even Qrow flashing a little extra cash had gotten the man to open up. Qrow had briefly considered flashing something a bit more dangerous, namely the sword on his back, only to dismiss the notion. Threatening violence was not the best way to get information. Worse than an angry or upset informant refusing to talk or give legitimate information, a frightened informant was just as likely to babble out anything he thought the one threatening him might want to hear, which had every chance of leading Qrow in the wrong direction entirely.

Fortunately, even if the barkeeper hadn't answered Qrow's questions directly, Qrow had learned that people were much more talkative when they didn't realize their interrogator was listening and, introducing a topic was a good way to get them talking about it when they thought the one asking wasn't listening in. It helped that Qrow's unique...attributes...made him much more inconspicuous than the average eavesdropper.

So it was that no one paid any mind to the crow hopping along a window sill, just outside the kitchen, pausing to caw occasionally or peck at the wood. The cook only looked at it occasionally to make sure that it wasn't going to try and fly in to steal the pub's food.

"Rough night?" asked the cook as the bartender ambled in, looking tired.

The bartender took a seat at the table where the pub's staff took their breaks, leaning back with a sigh. "Had a Huntsman come in to ask after Kyo," he said. "The guy just wouldn't stop asking."

Had he lips at the moment, Qrow would have smiled. Qrow had pressed him hard and persistently. If he couldn't get the man to talk directly, then he'd make it _damn_ hard for the poor guy to get his mind off the topic for a few hours afterwards.

"Dangerous guy to ask about," noted the cook, tidying up his workspace, now that the pub was closed.

"No kidding," said the bartender. "Tried a new angle, though. You remember the girl that was with Kyo and his friend?"

"The one with the red hood?" asked the cook rhetorically. "Yeah. She was a sweet little thing, cute as a button."

The bartender nodded. "Well the Huntsman was claiming to be her uncle. Said the girl was kidnapped."

That caused the cook to stiffen for a moment. "You think she actually was?" he asked.

"If she was, then kidnapping was clearly the best thing that ever happened to her," noted the bartender, his remark making Qrow twitch his avian head. "You remember how they were, when they went out, practically a little family. Cutest darn sight was that time Kyo put her on his shoulders."

"Well, if she's really that Huntsman's niece, then there's a story there," noted the cook, wiping down his stove.

"Probably," agreed the bartender. "But I couldn't get it out of him. That guy had a one-track mind for sure."

"What'd you tell him?" asked the cook.

"Just Kyo's name, and that he comes through here every once and a while," said the bartender. "That's the basic story that we're supposed to stick to."

The cook nodded. "I wonder why Kyo would even feel the need to kidnap someone?"

"He wouldn't have to," said the bartender. "Heck, all he'd have to do is ask, and half the families in this town would _give_ him their daughters, although they'd probably stick to the ones of marriageable age. People don't want to risk forfeiting his protection after all."

The cook snorted and nodded again, moving on to a new task. "It's a blessing that the only thing he ever asks for is a few days' room and board, in exchange for sticking around for a while. Now, if _I_ had his kind of power, I'd use it to get all kinds of things."

Now Qrow would have frowned, had he lips. What he was hearing was stranger, disturbing...and confusing. This Kyo person appeared to have a lot of pull in this community, despite being someone who apparently passed through infrequently. What was more, he apparently had some kind of protection racket going on. However, there was a distinct lack of resentment in the way the two men were talking about his presence. Qrow couldn't parse why that was.

"You're not as nice as him," the bartender retorted. "Now if only the Huntsmen, the people who are actually _supposed_ to protect us, could be half as nice. That jerk just wouldn't let up. Kept bugging me through my whole shift."

"Ain't that the truth," muttered the cook, joining the bartender at the table. "You even know where they went?"

Qrow tensed. Now they were at the juicy bit.

Bartender shrugged. "They headed out to the northwest. Kyo travels straight overland, when he wants to get somewhere, doesn't bother with roads. If I had to guess from his direction, they're probably most of the way to Barrowdown by now."

That was enough for Qrow. The talk turned to speculation about where they were heading after that. However, Qrow had what he needed. Assuming they were right, then Qrow could find newer, fresher leads in Barrowdown...assuming he got there quickly enough. Fortunately for him, he could cover ground a lot faster than the average person.

* * *

Barrowdown was a mess, that was for sure. The place had been hit by bandits, and nearly overrun. A portion of the town was still occupied by burned and damaged buildings, most of them midway through the process of repair, at best. Showcasing that selfsame toughness that drove them to brave the dangers of the frontier, and build lives for themselves away from the protection of the Kingdom's walls, the inhabitants were moving on with a brisk acceptance of hardship that Qrow always found himself admiring.

However, once again, though, Qrow was struck by a sense of strangeness about the whole affair. The evidence of the bandit attack was concentrated in a single portion of the town, which indicated that the bandits had been effectively contained. A quick search had turned up a mass grave for the bandits themselves, outside the settlement's walls, in comparison to the town's casualties, who were interred in the actual cemetery. What Qrow _couldn't_ understand was the absence of other...consequences...that usually followed an event like this.

Normally, a bandit attack, whether it was successful or not, brought the Grimm snapping on the attackers' heels. It was always a singular risk, when it came to the settlements. An attack led to a surge of fear and anger, along with plenty of other negative emotions, which drew Grimm like flies to a corpse.

Even if that wasn't the initial result, the aftermath of the bandit attack would have led to a surge of sorrow and grief, which also drew the Grimm, one of the things Qrow hated the most about them. People in places like this couldn't even afford to properly grieve for lost loved ones, without the threat of the Grimm, spurring them to move past their sorrow, like animals driven by a whip. An attack that led to multiple casualties would only compound the problem.

Yet there were no signs that the Grimm had been here at all, in the wake of the attack, aside from the occasional wandering one. In fact, despite what they'd just been through, the residents of Barrowdown seemed remarkably comfortable and secure. There were no signs that the settlement had been pressed.

And, once again, Qrow encountered a brick wall, when it came to his inquiries about his niece and Kyo. The people here apparently were much more wary of him than the ones in Dunedain had been, but they covered for him all the same. It took Qrow a little longer to get the info he was looking for this time, having to start multiple "conversations" like the one in Dunedain that had led him here to begin with. However, he'd gleaned a few interesting tidbits.

Kyo had apparently been singlehandedly responsible for turning the tide against the bandits, showing up and slaughtering them to a man.

The fox-faunus Kyo and Ruby were apparently traveling with was named Sasame, and possessed some kind of healing Semblance that had saved quite a few lives during the attack.

Ruby had apparently been involved in the fighting. More worryingly, Qrow heard mixed accounts indicating that she might have had to kill one of the bandits herself...knowledge that only firmed his resolve to find her...and bring her home. He wanted to help her become a Huntress, truly he did. Coming this far on foot was a sure sign of just how committed Ruby was to becoming stronger. When he got her back, Qrow was prepared to fully commit to making Taiyang see reason. If he couldn't manage that...then Qrow decided to commit to making sure that Taiyang no longer had the ability to decide Ruby's future for her, probably by getting _that guy_ in on the matter. But there was no way Qrow would allow her to travel a path that led her to becoming a killer at the tender age of nine.

Finally, after three days of pressing for information, and getting enough tongues wagging in presumed privacy, Qrow got the info he was looking for. Kyo, Sasame, and Ruby were still heading northwest. In fact, speculation was that they might be heading to the seaside settlement of Anduin, a bustling town built around fishing and shipping...as well as smuggling. Furthermore, Qrow was now a lot closer behind his quarry now, having managed to close the gap by a considerable margin. If he was lucky, he might even manage to catch them while they were still there.

Fortunately, Qrow's own luck was generally pretty stable, in comparison to the people around him. So, spreading his wings, Qrow set off, now heading for Anduin.

* * *

It was a rough trip, over some pretty rough terrain to boot. The weather wasn't in Qrow's favor either. Unfortunately, heavy thunderstorms were not exactly conducive for overland travel, especially not for a bird. The fact that he ran into several successive ones made Qrow wonder if his Semblance had finally started to bare its fangs at him as well. Granted, it had always bared its fangs at him, in a roundabout manner. He just hoped that his quarry were slowed down by the inclement weather as much as he was.

Fortunately, despite nature's best efforts, Qrow made quite a bit of progress, and heaved as much a sigh of relief as his bird-lungs would allow as he crested a final rise and alighted on a tree that gave him a view of the coast, and the town that had grown up around it.

Anduin mixed the look of a rustic, seaside fishing village with a much more modern and industrial aesthetic. Squat buildings, made from roughly-carved wood, clearly harvested from the surrounding forests, shared space with blocky, taller ones made from concrete and steel. There was no overall sense to the mess. However, the town was bordered by thoroughly modern touches; the large docks facing the sea, where almost any ship but the largest of freighters could pull in; and the sturdy wall that encompassed the town's landward flank, lined with powerful Dust-turrets that faced the strip of open ground between the wall and the forest.

Qrow didn't know what he'd expected when he'd reached Anduin. The few things he'd heard about this Kyo person, and the fewer things he'd heard about his companion, made him completely unsure of just what kind of effect he had on the communities he apparently passed through on a seemingly routine basis.

However, Qrow did know that the last thing he'd been expecting was to find the residents throwing a party...much less an earnest festival, complete with fireworks, one of which singed his tail-feathers on the way in.

The entire town was awash in a riot of light and noise. Children were racing down the streets, laughing and playing with toys they bought at stalls that appeared to have opened for the occasion. Performers of all stripes plied their trade, though many of them appeared to be amateur acts put on by the town's own residents, rather than the more professional acts of traveling troupes that normally participated in such events. In fact, much of the festival had a strange ad-hoc, spur of the moment feel to it. However, from what he could see, it seemed that people were earnestly enjoying themselves.

Alighting on a lamppost, Qrow surveyed the crowds below as they wandered about. He cocked his head, twitching and pecking, acting as crow-like as possible while he took in the events of the celebrations surrounding him. As a prosperous settlement, Anduin hosted a large population. Finding three people amidst all this noise would be a difficult task indeed...

Which made it distinctly unnerving when Qrow spotted his target almost immediately.

His gaze had been immediately drawn by the flash of red weaving through the revelers below. Many people wore red, but few went with the red cloak the way his niece did. It certainly made her easy to pick out in a crowd. A closer look confirmed Qrow's suspicions as he saw her black hair, which gradated to red at the tips. Seeing her looking around, he also caught the flash of her unmistakable silver eyes.

Relief and anxiety surged through Qrow in equal measure. Ruby was alive and, from the look of things, was perfectly well. Her clothes were worn, showing signs of having been occasionally torn and mended. The sneakers she'd worn back on Patch had been swapped for a pair of tough-looking boots more suitable for travel over rough terrain at some point. The leggings she typically wore were dotted with holes and tears. The red cloak was looking a bit rough around the edges. Her hair was longer and a bit more unkempt. But she looked healthy. There were no signs that she was undernourished. In fact, she looked healthier than ever. On her arms and legs, Qrow could see signs of considerable muscle development. Ruby had been working out...and working out _hard_.

There were two other things about her appearance that caught his attention in particular. The first was a peach-colored rose that had been worked into her hair on the left side of her head. The other was not one, but _two_ swords strapped to her waist. One was a wooden sword, the kind of training weapon Qrow wouldn't have been surprised to see on her. But the other one was real, an actual katana-type sword, clearly made to suit Ruby's current size, set into a sheath of black lacquer, with red wrapping around the handle that matched her cloak. The sight of his niece carrying a real weapon, and confidently at that, took Qrow aback.

His first impulse was to swoop down, transform, and snatch her up, rush straight to Anduin's airdock, and use his pull as a Huntsman to get an airship straight back to Vale. After months spent searching for her, worrying over her, and dropping everything to follow her trail, he finally had her in sight. Qrow could bring Ruby home and know that she was safe again.

But the sight of the happiness practically radiating from her eyes made him hesitate. Ruby was the happiest Qrow had seen her in years. The smile on her face had certainly become a rare sight, after Taiyang had made tying her down into his life's ambition. Whatever had induced her to accompany two such unusual people out so far away from her home and family and everything that was known and familiar, coercion was apparently not a part of it. Qrow only had the roughest idea of what her companions looked like, but he couldn't see any sign of anyone with her at the moment, which indicated that Ruby enjoyed a degree of freedom that the average kidnapping victim would not normally have.

She looked so happy that Qrow started to question whether or not bringing her home was the right idea. True, she'd be safer at home...but Taiyang's obsession with keeping Ruby safe was what had driven her to run away in the first place. And, after the scare she'd put him through, Qrow was fairly certain that Taiyang would be even _less_ inclined to let Ruby out of his sight after this incident.

But Qrow also knew that he couldn't just allow this to go on. What Ruby had done was reckless and irresponsible. It was true that she'd managed to escape the dark fates that befell so many young people who'd escaped or been driven into the Kingdom's streets, but that didn't change the fact that she was playing with fire. What was more, she was Summer's child, something that Qrow saw more and more of every time he visited and saw how she'd grown.

At the very least though, Qrow figured that it was best to convince her to come back willingly. He was still her favorite uncle. That should have enough pull to get her to come with him.

So Qrow descended.

* * *

Ruby took in everything around her with wide eyes. The people of Anduin certainly knew how to throw a party. Granted, they couldn't exactly plan it, given that the timing of Kyo's arrival in their community was always unplanned and unannounced. But they certainly did well with what time and resources they had on hand. It was much larger, louder, and brighter than the festival at Dunedain had been. There was so much to see and do.

It felt strange not to have Sasame or Kyo with her. Both of them were presently occupied. Sasame had offered her healing skills to the local hospital, and was working her way methodically through their patients. Kyo, however, had headed toward the docks to secure transportation for the next leg of their journey. Ruby was excited by the prospect of getting to travel over the ocean. The closest she'd been to that experience was taking the ferry between Patch and Vale, which she supposed counted. But, this time, they'd be heading to another continent entirely. Ruby wasn't just leaving Vale, but Sanus behind to see a wider world that she only could have dreamed of back home.

The consequence of this was that Ruby had been left to her own devices. Sasame had suggested that she go see what the festival had to offer, warning Ruby that she should stick with the residential section of the settlement, and not venture into the seedier sections of town around the docks. Since the residential section was where the festival was centered anyway, Ruby was happy to abide by Sasame's recommendation.

The only downside to her situation was a lack of lien to spend on anything. Ruby would have loved to try some of the treats and confections on offer. Sasame carried a little cash on her for when she visited the Kingdoms themselves, where Kyo did not actually enter. However, she'd spent what little she had in Vale, the last of it being spent on the meal she'd bought for Ruby. Out in the settlements, where Kyo was welcomed like a living good luck charm, there was a certain irony that the fact that Kyo and Sasame could get practically anything for free meant they had no use for lien themselves.

Unfortunately, Ruby didn't think anyone would believe her or afford her the same privilege, if she told them she was with Sasame and Kyo, unless they were actually present to support her. Besides, she would have felt guilty getting free things simply because she happened to be their companion.

So, for the time being, Ruby contented herself with taking in the sights, watching as a few of the locals set up impromptu street performances to show off their more eccentric talents. There was plenty of fun to be had, even if she didn't have a lien to her name.

Ruby made her way down a street, following the flow of the crowd, gleefully imagining what tomorrow and the days after might bring, wondering what lay on the other side of that endless stretch of blue beyond the docks, where Kyo and Sasame were taking her…

"Ruby."

Ruby froze in place, her entire body going rigid. It was more than just her name…that voice…Hearing it again made Ruby's heart shudder and her stomach turn to jelly. She didn't want to look, to see who had spoken. She knew who it was. She could not see or speak to him for a hundred years, and she still wouldn't forget that voice. Yet, she knew she had to look, she had to accept that he was here…that she'd been found.

Her movements jerky and hesitant, Ruby slowly turned to look, taking in the sight of her beloved Uncle Qrow. He'd emerged from an alley, trying his hardest to look casual. The look on his face was…conflicted. It did a pretty good job of mirroring the way Ruby herself felt.

On some level, she was happy to see her uncle. She was always happy to see her uncle. Qrow was still the coolest Huntsman on earth, to her eyes, for all that he seemed perpetually disheveled, and constantly hovered in the space between sobriety and complete inebriation. She loved him with all her heart and knew that, despite his gruff demeanor, he loved her back just as much. She'd looked up to him, wanted to be just like him. But now she'd been away from home for months, traveled across miles of wilderness, and pushed herself to her limits for weeks on end. After all of that, looking at her uncle again, Ruby almost felt as though she was in the presence of a complete stranger. Yet she also knew it wasn't because Qrow had changed…but because _she_ had changed.

Furthermore, Ruby was terrified by the realization. There was only one reason Qrow would go so far and travel so far to find her. _He's here to bring me back._

Smiling weakly, Qrow raised a hand in greeting. "Hey, kiddo," he said.

"Uncle Qrow," said Ruby cautiously, shifting her weight, not heading towards him, but not edging away either.

"You're a hard girl to track down," commented Qrow, stepping out of the alley to walk towards her.

Now Ruby began to back away. "I'm not going back."

"Look…Ruby…Let's talk about this." Qrow raised his hands. "I know Tai's been…unreasonable. But we can get through to him."

"No," said Ruby firmly. "I tried to get through to him for four years, and he just keeps getting _worse_. I'm done. I'm not going back."

"It's your home, Ruby."

"No," growled Ruby. "It was my prison."

"Come on, Ruby," protested Qrow. "Don't be like that. You know your dad and Yang love you."

"Then why did they treat me like some kind of stupid china-doll?" demanded Ruby. "Why do they keep ignoring my feelings and try to always make me do what _they_ want? Why does Dad keep trying to lock me away?"

"Look, Tai's having a hard time, because your mom-" began Qrow.

"I'm _sick_ of that excuse!" exclaimed Ruby. "He became a dumb drunk, and didn't snap out of it until Yang and I nearly _died_." She grit her teeth. "At least Yang could get over it. At least _she_ was strong enough to take care of me. But Dad's had _years_ to deal with the fact that Mom's gone. Yang's over it. I'm over it. Why does he get a pass for not being over it, and why do _I_ have to be the one who suffers for it?"

Qrow groaned and rubbed his hand through his hair. "Look, I'll be the first to say that Tai may not have all of his marbles right now. But your running away isn't going to help anything."

"It's helped me plenty," said Ruby, her eyes narrowing. "I met people who've helped me, who actually care about me, about what I want. I'm stronger because of them. I'm not leaving them to go back to _him_."

"Listen, Ruby," said Qrow, beginning to lose his patience with the situation. "I know this isn't ideal. But you need to bear with it a little longer. I promise I'll help you get trained. I know a guy…"

"I've got all the help I could need and want," said Ruby, edging a little further away.

"Ruby…" said Qrow. "Don't make this hard."

"Don't make _me_ make this hard," growled Ruby.

Qrow reached out for her…and suddenly Ruby was gone, a cloud of red petals scattering in her wake. _What the-?_ Qrow snapped his head around to see Ruby already a fair distance down the street, ducking and dodging between revelers, her cloak flaring out behind her. "Dammit!" he snapped under his breath. "Ruby! Stop!" He rushed after her.

A leap took him to the rooftops, allowing him to bypass the crowd and quickly close the distance between him and Ruby. Jumping off, he aimed to come down right in front of her and cut her off. In fact, if he got this just right, she'd run smack into his arms.

But, just as he was about to land, Ruby suddenly accelerated, shooting underneath his feet in a streak of red, and leaving more petals in her wake. Qrow spun about to look after her, only to see Ruby dart around a corner and disappear in another burst of petals. _That speed's not normal. The way she accelerates, and those aftereffects…that _has_ to be a Semblance. If she has a Semblance, then that means her Aura's been unlocked. That's not good._

Qrow didn't know how Taiyang would react to learning that his youngest daughter's Aura had been unlocked. One thing he did know for sure was that it wouldn't go over very well. However, that was a problem for later. Catching up with Ruby was a problem for now. Fortunately, her Semblance wasn't all that well-developed yet. It was clear that Ruby could only use it for short bursts of speed. If he factored that into his plans, Qrow figured he could still head her off. Determined, he took to the roofs once again, in hot pursuit of the girl in red.

* * *

Ruby rushed along as fast as her legs could carry her. When she saw that Qrow was about to catch up to her, she channeled her Aura out through her feet to go faster than her legs could carry her.

It was a far cry from perfect. With the practice she'd had thus far, her speed, while remarkable, still didn't hold a candle to what Kyo and Sasame could do, moving so swiftly that they seemed to teleport or, on occasion, appear to be in multiple places at once. On top of that, the most she'd managed so far was a measly three steps. It wasn't as simple as letting her Aura explode from her feet like a rocket's thrust. There was a technique, almost a science really, to using Flow in order to affect the timing of her movement. On top of that, there was a pattern of releasing her Aura, not merely in the one-two sequence of footsteps, but in the sequence of lifting the heel and then stepping off the ball of each foot. Furthermore, the footwork required was a far cry from typical running, bringing down the ball of her foot first, then propelling herself off her heel like a springboard, almost the complete reverse of the typical heel-toe motion of normal running.

On top of that, even though her technique speeded up her body, it couldn't do anything for her mind and senses. When she moved faster, Ruby couldn't perceive things around her any faster. That meant she had to hone her own senses to keep up with her speed. She needed to expand her awareness to track her surroundings with _more_ than just her eyes. Practicing in the forest, she'd once tripped over a tree root and broken her leg. She was fortunate that one of her teachers was such a skilled healer, and that the injury was tended and good as new in a matter of seconds. So many things had to come together in order for this technique to work; it was amazing that Kyo and Sasame managed to make it look as easy as they did.

As such, Ruby limited her use of this new technique to short bursts, when it looked like her uncle was going to catch her otherwise. In the meantime, she ran. Ruby's first thought had been to run for Sasame. She knew exactly where Sasame was, and that Sasame was the closer of the two, between her and Kyo. However, another thought had occurred to Ruby at the same time.

_"__When I act as a healer, I protect those in my charge with all of my strength. I do not brook threats to their wellbeing. I have no tolerance for any who would do them harm."_

Ruby knew that Sasame was plying her trade at the hospital at the moment. If she interpreted Qrow as a threat to her patients, she wouldn't show any mercy. Ruby also didn't want to find out if Sasame's statement would apply to _her_, if Ruby knowingly brought a threat to the doorstep of those she was treating.

So instead, Ruby disobeyed Sasame's advice and headed towards the docks, looking for the person she didn't know she could find. She had to get to Kyo.

Logically, Ruby had nothing to go on, save for the fact that Kyo was somewhere in that section of town, making arrangements for their travel over the sea. However, that was the extent of Ruby's knowledge. For all she knew, Kyo might have finished up already, and was making his way back, in which case, they could potentially miss each other entirely. And Ruby couldn't keep ahead of her Uncle forever. He was a grown man and a veteran Huntsman. Her technique wouldn't keep her out of his reach forever.

But Ruby had an inkling of where to go. Ever since her Aura had been unlocked, her awareness of the world around her had been slowly expanding. Eventually, she'd grown aware that she was beginning to sense the Auras of others, even those of people whose Auras weren't unlocked. A short ways out from Anduin, she'd come to realize the nature of Kyo's Aura.

It was _vast_, swirling around him in a radius so wide she couldn't perceive its limit. It was subtle, like the softest breeze, yet always present, unless he initiated Suppression to hide his Aura. Ruby got the impression that this was what the Grimm avoided so completely. Ruby could understand in a way. Just from what little sense she got from Kyo's Aura, it felt so vast that she was certain his true strength completely surpassed her imagination.

She was following her sense of that Aura now. It was omnipresent, even when he had been completely on the other side of the settlement from her. In a way, it was reassuring, like she was under his protection, even when he wasn't right next to her. But now, now that she needed to seek Kyo out, Ruby realized she could sense a flow, a current to Kyo's Aura. If she followed that flow to its center, she would find Kyo there.

Feeling her cloak flutter from the shifting air behind her, Ruby realized that Qrow was descending from above again. She pivoted, turning down a narrow alley, and shot off like an arrow, barely managing to avoid snagging her foot against a board tilted in the wall. It was strange. Her desperation almost seemed to have lit her senses on fire. She was able to perceive when Qrow was about to come in reach of her, where she could place her feet within the range of her technique, what spots were safe or unsafe to step. It was more than she ever managed in training. It seemed that the sense of crisis engendered by her situation had tuned Ruby's senses, the realization that she couldn't afford to make a mistake sharpening her skills more than any regular training ever could.

The next time Qrow's hand almost closed on her hood, Ruby managed four steps.

* * *

_This is ridiculous!_ thought Qrow as his fingers closed on empty air again, Ruby suddenly shooting ahead and out of his reach by several body-lengths. _I should have caught her by now._

This wasn't his first time being in pursuit of a fleeing person. But it _was_ the first time he'd been thwarted so consistently. It was all the more galling that the one continually slipping out of his grasp was his nine-year-old niece. Even if she was using a Semblance, Qrow should have gotten her by now.

It wasn't simply a matter of age and experience. Qrow's own Semblance was always active. Loose cobbles in the street should have slipped from beneath her feet. A sign blown by the wind should have swung around to smack her in the face. Turning down an alley should have tripped her up with some boards angled against the wall that she couldn't have known were there. Yet, every time it seemed his Bad Luck was about to strike, Ruby shifted, seeming to effortlessly dodge every misfortune, great and small. The problem was, Qrow needed to catch her soon, preferably before his Semblance stopped her. If things kept up this way, the stroke of bad luck Ruby had might very well seriously injure her.

Then it happened. Fortunately, Qrow's Semblance appeared to be on his side for a change, and Ruby's luck ran out in the most passive manner possible.

She'd reached a dead end.

"Sorry, Kiddo," said Qrow, coming to a stop as Ruby backed away to the wall behind her. "This is it."

Ruby growled, tears gathering in her eyes. Her entire body tensing. Her hand reached over, her fingers closing over the dark-red handle of her wooden sword.

"You can't fight me, Kiddo," said Qrow. "You ain't ready for that."

"I'll do whatever it takes," said Ruby, beginning to pull her sword out from her belt.

Qrow frowned and took a step forward. Abruptly, his instincts, honed by years in the field, fighting the enemies of life itself, as well as enemies even worse than them, told him that something was coming. Something _dangerous_. Qrow leapt back as a black-garbed figure landed in front of Ruby, his legs bending in a crouch to absorb the force of his landing before he rose back up to his full height. Qrow took another step back as he looked into a pair of luminous, crimson eyes, not pale-red like his own, but that strange, shining crimson color he'd only ever seen with two other people.

"Kyo-nii!" gasped Ruby, her voice heavy with relief.

Qrow's eyes darted to the young man's sword, nearly five feet in length. It looked like a fairly standard weapon, aside from its size. It didn't seem to have anything fancy, no mechashift capabilities, no Dust-infusion. It was, for all intents and purposes, just a sword. His eyes moved to take in the boy. Beneath the fabric of his worn, loose kimono, Qrow could see well-defined muscles, the evidence of a physique that was no stranger to battle. There was the young man's balance, flawless, looking as though he could stand on one toe and Qrow wouldn't have been able to knock him over with a battering ram.

Taken altogether, Qrow could see why Kyo was someone most people didn't want to cross. It went beyond the obvious signs that Qrow could read with his own eyes. There was something about this guy that had his gut feeling screaming that he was dangerous, that this was a fight Qrow couldn't win. His eyes met Qrow's and Qrow's own eyes narrowed. _I may not be able to beat this guy, but I'm, sure as hell, gonna try._

* * *

**Next chapter: The conclusion to the first big flashback arc.**

**I was interested in the different ways Qrow could track someone down. Being able to transform into a bird would certainly be an asset, in that case. Even it's a bottom-of-the-barrel power, the last thing Ozpin was able to provide with the dregs of the magic he had left, Qrow sure can get some serious mileage out of it.**

**Back to differences from MotH, in this story, it's kind of a given that Qrow's first reaction is to bring Ruby back. She disappeared, and when he found her again, she was in the company of someone he had no knowledge of. From his perspective, you can see that as pretty scary. In MotH, it's eventually revealed (spoilers) that Qrow knew Ruby's teacher, and was even covering for her, so this changes up the recipe quite a bit.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

Ruby had almost given into despair, when she rounded a corner and found herself staring at the wooden wall of a building. A quick glance confirmed that there was nothing for her to climb. Even if there had been, Qrow would have been able to practically pull her off the wall before she got higher than his head. On top of that, he could have easily jumped up to the roof and headed her off. She was trapped.

It wasn't fair. She could sense Kyo, just on the other side of this building. She'd thought she'd managed to find a more direct route to him, but now found herself cut off. She was so close. It was enough to make her want to fall to her knees and cry.

Then Qrow had ambled into the alley, ready to drag her back to her so-called family, so that they could lock her up in that house and make sure she never saw the light of day again. He said he'd help her, but Ruby had waited four years for that kind of help. She was free now, and she wouldn't give that up without a fight. She wouldn't go back to waiting for nothing again.

Her hand had gone to her sword, her wooden one. Ruby desperately hated the idea of going back, but she couldn't bring herself to draw her real sword against her uncle. She'd never allow herself to fall _that_ far.

And then Qrow had jumped back and Kyo had landed in front of her. "Kyo-nii!" Ruby breathed in relief, feeling like a weight had been lifted from her back.

Kyo faced down Qrow for a few seconds, then turned to face her. "I thought you might be looking for me," he said cheerfully, crouching down to her level. Ruby sniffled, then threw herself at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly as she let her tears soak the fabric over his shoulder.

"You did well," said Kyo softly, kissing the top of her head as he hugged her back with his right arm.

Then Kyo lowered his arm and slipped it under Ruby's legs. Standing upright, he hefted her so that she remained resting against his shoulder as he turned to face Qrow again.

Qrow's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Get your mitts off my niece, pal," he said.

Qrow's words and animosity seemed to brush by Kyo like a light breeze, not even fazing him. "You must be Qrow Branwen, Ruby-chan's uncle. She speaks highly of you. I can see her praise is not undeserved."

Qrow's lips curled back, baring his teeth. "I ain't here to play nice, pal," he said. "I'm here for my niece. Let her go."

Ruby's fingers curled, bunching the fabric of Kyo's kimono as she held him tighter. "And I am afraid that she does not wish to go," said Kyo. "Furthermore, from the moment we took her in, Sasame and I promised not to force Ruby-chan to do anything. We can ask, we can suggest, but we will never _make_ her do anything that does not want to." He turned to look at Ruby. "Ruby-chan, will you go back with your uncle?"

"No," growled Ruby.

"And there you have it," said Kyo amiably. "Ruby-chan has made her choice, and I will support her, as will Sasame."

"Look, kid," said Qrow, slumping with a soft sigh, "I had my doubts, but I can see your heart's in the right place. I can see that Ruby likes you too. But this ain't the sort of thing you can just...do. Ruby belongs with her family. That isn't just sentiment, that's the law. What you're doing now, from a legal perspective, can be called kidnapping."

Ruby felt Kyo's shrug through her body. "I'm fine with that," said Kyo with an earnest cheerfulness that clearly shocked her uncle. "Technically speaking, I'm already a wanted criminal. In the course of my travels, I've stepped on the toes of some very powerful people, and I believe I have standing bounties on my head in all four Kingdoms."

"Huh..." Qrow tilted his head. "And you think that makes me inclined to let you have my niece?"

"At this point, your inclination doesn't matter at all," replied Kyo congenially. "Ruby-chan has made her choice. She will remain with us. Should you persist in trying to take her against her will, then I will _enforce_ her choice."

Qrow growled and his hand strayed to the handle of the large sword resting across his back. He leaned forward. Then suddenly, his instincts screamed at him to get back again. He jumped away, covering several meters in a single leap, landing off-balance and nearly falling over as he stared at Kyo, aghast.

Ruby blinked in confusion. She'd felt...something...almost like she'd been standing by herself, and a large object had come rushing right past her. She could even feel her hair being stirred by a nonexistent breeze. "What did you do?" she asked, looking at Kyo.

"It's a form of Projection, in a sense," said Kyo, turning his head to smile at her. "You aren't quite ready to learn this yet. Essentially, instead of Projecting my Aura, I Projected my intent at your uncle. Because his senses are so finely honed, he perceived my intent as an incoming threat and reacted accordingly."

"Wow," said Ruby.

"You aren't ready to do that just yet," said Kyo, tilting his head forward to playfully tap the tip of his nose against hers, making her giggle. "Keep practicing the basics for now."

"Aww..." Ruby groaned.

"I know," said Kyo fondly. "It seems like you'll be practicing them forever, and you will in a sense. Even as you learn more advanced techniques, you mustn't neglect the foundations those techniques are built on. Sasame and I warned you that, at times, it would seem like you would be working obscenely hard for very little gain. But you will only truly fail to make progress if you stop moving forward."

"Okay," said Ruby, smiling and leaning her face into his shoulder again.

"Uh...still here," announced Qrow in an annoyed tone. He was especially irritated by the interplay between Kyo and Ruby, almost like they were family. That wasn't how it should have been. Some random mook with red eyes wasn't Ruby's family..._Qrow_ was. Yet here they were, acting like _he_ was the bad guy.

"Go away," grumbled Ruby, glaring at him.

"Ruby, this has got to stop," said Qrow. "Even if Tai is off his rocker, and I can't get him to see reason, I can get you out of there."

"By putting me back in?" retorted Ruby petulantly. "No thanks."

"Ruby...please..." pleaded Qrow desperately.

"It isn't as though we're taking her away forever," Kyo said cheerfully. "Ruby-chan wished for training, so that she can become a Huntress, training that we have agreed to provide her. In a few years, she wants to return to Vale to attend Beacon. You'll be able to see her again."

"And why should I believe you?" growled Qrow.

"Your niece has been in our care for several months now," said Kyo. "If Sasame and I had intended to take advantage of her, there would be little reason to take so long and invest so much effort in training her. Furthermore, even as she is now, she does not have the strength to resist us, if we choose to force her into doing what we want.

"But we haven't. Perhaps my word is not good enough for you, but Ruby-chan's own development should be enough evidence of our intent, don't you think? It seems to me that you had a difficult time catching her."

Ruby could see that Qrow was wavering. He'd been committed to bringing her back home. Maybe he was committed to helping her get the training she needed to become a Huntress, but Ruby didn't want to risk the chance that he wasn't...or that he might not succeed. She clearly remembered Qrow backing down before, and she didn't think he truly had the means to force her father to let her do what she wanted.

She'd already learned so much from Kyo, and Sasame and she truly believed that there was more for her to learn. "Please, Uncle Qrow. Please let me go."

"Ruby...I..." Qrow looked down. "I can't. You're only nine years old. You haven't been through the kinds of things I have. You can't possibly judge people properly yet."

"I know I can't trust Dad," said Ruby. "That's good enough. And I know what I've been through. I know what they've done for me. I'm still going."

"You don't get to make that choice, Ruby," countered Qrow.

"As a matter of fact, she does," said Kyo blithely. "Since you are clearly important to Ruby-chan, I'd rather not hurt you. But if you force the issue...I will have no choice. At the very least, I can promise that I won't kill you."

"Kyo-nii..." Ruby gave Kyo a worried look.

Kyo smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry. Sasame will catch up with us. She will be able to treat any injuries."

"You've got a lot of confidence, pal," growled Qrow, his fingers closing around the handle of his sword. "Time to see if you can back it up."

"Very well," said Kyo with a sigh. "But not here."

"Huh?" Qrow blinked.

"If we are going to fight, I would rather not do it within the boundaries of the settlement," explained Kyo. "These people have been quite kind to host us for the time being, and I don't want to disrupt the festival either."

"Fine then," said Qrow, releasing his grip on his weapon. "Lead the way."

Kyo walked past Qrow, Ruby tensing as she came within reach of her uncle. But Qrow made no move to try and snatch her away from Kyo. Instead, he followed them down the streets, glaring at the back of Kyo's head. Kyo seemed unconcerned by the animosity Qrow was directing his way.

They'd almost reached the gates when they met up with Sasame, who watched them come up the street with her arms folded, lips quirked in a wry smile. "It seems trouble came calling," she observed.

"Ruby-chan's uncle, actually," replied Kyo, setting Ruby down so that she could immediately run to Sasame, who hugged her tightly.

"Ah, I didn't expect a pursuer to catch up with us so quickly," noted Sasame, even as she trailed her fingers through Ruby's hair. "He must be very skilled."

"So...you're the other one," noted Qrow, looking down at Sasame, not having expected to find her so...short.

"That I am," agreed Sasame, still holding Ruby. "You seem the flexible sort, so it strikes me as odd that you are being so stubborn about this."

"I got things I _don't_ bend on," said Qrow. "My niece's safety is first among them."

"Is that so?" said Sasame. "Yet it seems this overwhelming concern for Ruby-chan's safety has come to override any concern for her happiness. In order for her to attain her happiness, some risks must be taken."

"Maybe so," said Qrow. "But I ain't about to let this be one of 'em."

"So be it," said Sasame, leading them the rest of the way out of the gates and into the space of cleared land outside the settlement walls. "Let's settle this then."

Stepping out into the open space, Sasame pulled Ruby off to the side as Qrow and Kyo faced each other down.

Kyo calmly and slowly drew his blade, before casting the sheath aside. Holding his sword in his right hand, he brandished it with ease.

Qrow grinned widely and reached over his shoulder to pull his weapon out. Flourishing it with an artistic twirl, he smirked as his blade extended, its length easily matching Kyo's, its width considerably greater. "Looks like mine's bigger," he said.

Kyo raised an eyebrow. "Really...and you were distressed about Ruby-chan accompanying _me_?"

Qrow grimaced, even as he heard Ruby giggle behind him. "Fine. Let's get to it!"

Qrow shot forward, swinging his sword with both hands, bringing it down in a powerful slash. Kyo raised his own blade in one hand, catching Qrow's descending strike, and stopping it cold. The ground beneath Kyo's feet cracked and groaned as the force of Qrow's attack pressed Kyo's feet down into the earth. Yet Kyo held firm, not even straining to hold back the force of Qrow's first attack.

Qrow growled and disengaged, letting Kyo push him back. As soon as the Huntsman's feet touched the ground, he was a blur, circling around Kyo and launching a sideways slash. Kyo's own sword seemed to respond with a mind of its own, swinging up to counter Qrow's attack before Kyo even looked his way. Qrow disengaged again and launched a flurry of slashes, which Kyo matched, the two of them dancing back and forth, circling and flanking around each other, even as they traded countless blows, attack and defense blurring together amidst the endless ringing impacts.

Sasame watched them with amusement. _Branwen-san is quite good. It's no wonder that Ruby-chan admires him so much_. She blinked, then looked at Ruby.

All the anxiety and fear over her situation had abated. Instead, Ruby's eyes were fixed on the battle in front of her, giving it her complete attention as she watched every move, the look of focus on her face matching the one she showed during her lessons.

Sasame tittered softly. _Well, aren't you something else, Ruby-chan? All this concern over your circumstances, and why those two are fighting in the first place…yet the minute the battle began, you've been watching them with the intent of absorbing everything you can. This girl might well have been born to fight._

In front of them, the battle's pace increased. Qrow unleashed a slash at Kyo's head, but Kyo stooped beneath it, his blade sweeping upwards in a stroke that threatened to split the Huntsman in two. Qrow grimaced and threw himself back. Now Kyo went on the offensive, closing the distance between them in a flash, forcing Qrow to throw his sword up to block. Though Kyo was only swinging his weapon with one hand, the power behind his stroke was unreal, and Qrow had to brace the back of his sword with his opposite hand.

For a second, they paused, straining against one another. Then Qrow smirked, pulling the handle back on his sword. The handle rotated until it was positioned perpendicular to the blade. At the same time, a pair of gun barrels rotated out so that they were now pointing at Kyo. Kyo leapt back as the shotguns built into Qrow's weapon fired, sending a spray of Dust-infused pellets through the space where Kyo had been.

Now that the distance had opened between them, Qrow aimed his guns at Kyo and fired several shots in succession. Kyo slipped to the side of Qrow's first shot, then accelerated abruptly as he closed in, sidestepping each of Qrow's other shots as well, making Qrow tense. His weapons used a form of scattershot that, within a certain range, actually became harder to dodge the further away one was, the spread of the pellets increasing to make evasion more difficult.

_The kid's good,_ Qrow had to admit. In the face of such an attack, most people would have pulled back to try and get more time to react to his shots or, barring that, try to move out of his range entirely. In either case, it was something that could give him the initiative.

Kyo, on the other hand, hadn't hesitated to close back in, thus countering the ranged effectiveness of Qrow's guns. As Kyo's sword slashed at him, Qrow returned his blade to its original orientation in order to counter Kyo's swing with his own. They clashed, and the ground beneath them abruptly broke and cratered from the mutual force of their blows. Qrow growled, then strained, but was ultimately sent skidding back as Kyo's strength overpowered his own.

Kyo lunged after him with a downwards swing. This time, Qrow pivoted to the side, spinning about on one foot in a move almost like a ballet dancer's pirouette, allowing him to bring his sword at Kyo's neck. Kyo ducked beneath it then stepped forward, into the space Qrow had been occupying before he dodged. In the same movement, Kyo braced the back of his sword with his hand as he brought it back and around in a swift, upwards slash. Qrow reversed his grip on his own weapon and plunged it down, sinking the blade into the earth to brace it as he leaned it into the path of Kyo's sword, their blades connecting with with an echoing clang.

Once again, Qrow levered back his handle and brought the guns to bear. Kyo leapt straight upwards over the shots that issued forth, before descending like a meteor, forcing Qrow to jump out of the way as Kyo landed, his sword striking with enough force to split the earth.

Kyo moved to pursue Qrow, who kept on the move, their battle transitioning into a running one as they rushed along, side by side, their blades flickering, gleaming blurs around their bodies as they exchanged countless blows. Qrow turned his course, leading their battle across the cleared strip of ground in front of the settlement's wall, and back into the forest beyond it. Out here, Qrow figured he'd have the edge. The more broken and varied terrain would mean more variables, more ways his Semblance could kick in.

After all, while Qrow couldn't ever say that luck was on his side, he could definitely say it was _never_ on his opponent's side.

"Shall we follow?" asked Sasame, squeezing Ruby's shoulders.

Ruby nodded wordlessly. Then she squeaked as Sasame's tails wrapped around her and picked her up, depositing her on Sasame's back, a couple continuing to wrap around Ruby to keep her in place. A second later, they were off, following the combatants.

Qrow and Kyo continued to pull their fight into the forest. Qrow dodged a slash from Kyo and ducked around a tree, emerging from the other side to try and catch Kyo from a blind angle. However, he found that Kyo had also stepped forward, keeping the tree between them. Then Kyo's sword came slashing through the trunk, the presence of of the tree not slowing his slash in the slightest. Qrow was unable to brace himself as he caught Kyo's sword with his own and he was blown backwards into the trunk of another tree, the wood crunching and splintering against his back as that trunk also broke.

The two trees fell with an echoing crash, cutting of the fighters' views of one another. However, Qrow smirked when he heard a branch break beneath a footstep and pivoted to catch Kyo, who'd apparently been trying to catch him off-guard after breaking his line of sight. If Kyo was surprised to have been caught in the act, he didn't show it though, instead again meeting Qrow's blade with his own, attack with attack. The two of them blew back away from each other.

The second Qrow's feet touched the ground again, he kicked off, leaping straight up onto a tree branch. From there, he vaulted from branch to branch until he passed over Kyo's head, jumping into another branch, and planting his feet against the side of it, using his momentum to bend the branch back and shifting his balance so that, when the branch snapped back to its original position, it launched Qrow like a bullet from a slingshot.

Kyo jumped away as Qrow's sword struck the earth where he'd been standing. His jump allowed him to alight on the trunk of the tree he'd cut down, before he too launched himself upwards. Qrow immediately followed suit and the two of them took their battle into an arboreal phase as they used the branches of the canopy to add a dizzying new dimension to their combat.

Then it happened. Kyo's feet touched down on a branch. At first glance, it looked strong enough to hold his weight. However, it must have been damaged by one of the other falling trees. As Kyo's weight settled onto the limb, it bent and snapped beneath him. Kyo's body lurched as his footing disappeared. Qrow charged forward, launching himself off another branch to bring his blade down at Kyo's head.

However, Kyo hooked his foot under the broken branch and, with a kick, launched right at Qrow's face. Qrow's eyes widened in surprise and he brought his sword around to counter, knocking the branch aside. However, not only had that aborted his attack, it had also left him vulnerable. Kyo twisted, using the weight of his body and sword to pivot in midair, bringing his blade against Qrow's. Without anything to brace his body or the momentum of a charge or jump behind it, the blow couldn't carry all that much power. However, power hadn't been what Kyo was seeking.

Instead, as his blade met the flat of Qrow's, Kyo shifted its position, hooking it around the back side of Qrow's weapon and pulling sharply down. Given that he was in midair as well, Qrow had nothing to brace himself either. Furthermore, between his large weapon and his slightly greater body-mass, Kyo was able to lever himself upwards, even as Qrow was pulled downwards. Kyo disengaged their blades, spinning in the air and planting his foot between Qrow's shoulders and kicking off, launching Qrow downwards, even as he went flying up.

Qrow yelped as he was sent plummeting down. Lashing out with his weapon, Qrow sank his blade into the trunk of an adjacent tree, using it to slow his descent, as well as splitting the unfortunate oak in two. As the halves of the bisected tree fell away from one another, one of them happened to fall through the area where Kyo landed after kicking off his opponent.

Turning about, Kyo slashed his sword out, the force of his swing seeming to completely obliterate the incoming foliage. Qrow gasped, then grimaced as fragments and splinters of the tree came flying at him with the same kind of speed that projectiles left his gun with. Spinning his sword in his grip, Qrow managed to block the bulk of the debris, but a few small pieces got through to pepper the Aura protecting his body. _That's at least twice now,_ he thought with no small amount of frustration.

It was the same thing that seemed to have happened with Ruby. Even though his Bad Luck was working as it should have been, Kyo didn't seem to be affected by it...or rather, he was countering it.

However, there was no time to worry about why his Semblance wasn't working the way it should. Instead, Qrow was forced to dodge back as Kyo landed in front of him, his body sinking into a crouch, not to absorb the impact of his landing, but to channel the full momentum of his fall into the descending swing of his sword. Qrow was just outside the reach of the blade, but he felt the danger all the same, and he dodged aside as a white flash sent a line cleaving across the land where Qrow had been standing, leaving a clean split in the earth from where it met the tip of Kyo's sword.

_All right! Time for the kid-gloves to come off,_ thought Qrow, holding his weapon back behind him. As he did, a flick of his wrist triggered the mechanisms within. The blade folded over, segmenting and bending into a crescent-shape, with its original edge running along the outside edge, while a second edge of blood red extended along the inside edge. The handle telescoped out, curving slightly, forming a dark-red shaft with a pair of black grips along its length.

The shotgun barrels attached to the base of the blade rotated so that they were pointing back, opposite the direction of the blade of the scythe. As Qrow swung, the guns fired, accelerating the force his swing, his blade becoming a red and grey arc as it swept for Kyo's body. Kyo braced his own sword against the attack, his eyes widening in surprise as the force of the blow drove him back.

"I see," said Kyo, smiling as he recovered from the strike. "This would be the scythe Ruby-chan was interested in imitating. It does seem you can use it effectively."

"Why don't you see for yourself," growled Qrow, charging forward.

They charged at one another again, their weapons meeting with such force that a shockwave exploded out from between them, blasting away the debris at their feet. From there, they began to fight on the move once again, charging through the trees. Neither of them hesitated, despite the fact that the close quarters of the forest should have made wielding their long weapons difficult. However, both sword and scythe cleaved through wood effortlessly and the pair paid little heed to the trees themselves, leaving a trail of fallen wood behind them.

Kyo abruptly stepped in close, much closer than was wise, considering the length of the sword he was wielding. However, it made things even more difficult for Qrow, whose even longer weapon was more awkward in close quarters. He caught the swing of Kyo's sword on the shaft of his weapon and found himself blown backwards again. He was sent crashing through a heavy section of brush, branches tearing at his clothes and Aura before he was thrown clear, slamming, back-first, into the ground, before riding the bounce to flip back to his feet, sliding to a stop.

Qrow blinked as he realized their surroundings. They had come full circle, returning to the section of cleared ground in front of Anduin's wall. Kyo emerged from the foliage at a more sedate pace, stepping out almost gingerly, his sword resting over his right shoulder. The foliage off to the side parted, allowing Ruby and Sasame, the former still riding on the latter's back, to emerge.

Qrow struggled to keep his breathing in check. He'd been fighting hard. It wasn't often he found an opponent who could keep up with his full speed in a battle.

"I think it's about time we brought this to an end, Branwen-san," said Kyo. "I don't suppose any of this has changed your mind."

"Like hell it has," snarled Qrow.

Kyo sighed. "Very well then. I suppose I should up the pace a little."

"Huh?"

The confused exclamation had barely left Qrow's mouth, before Kyo was suddenly right in front of him, his sword a silvery flash of light, slashing right at Qrow's midsection. Qrow braced his feet and barely managed to bring the shaft of his scythe up to meet it. The force behind the blow made his arms scream, but Qrow rode it out, spinning his weapon and bringing it around in a sweeping slash at Kyo's neck.

But Kyo was no longer there. He seemed to have vanished entirely. The only warning Qrow got was when his instincts screamed that there was danger behind him. Acting reflexively, he triggered the guns on his scythe, firing them to accelerate the swing as he spun the weapon around his body to catch Kyo's sword from that angle. Kyo's blade bounced back and Qrow turned to face him. Spinning his weapon like a baton, Qrow fired his guns repeatedly to accelerate the scythe's movements, shifting the axis of his spin to launch a series of rapid attacks from a bewildering variety of angles.

Yet Kyo made dodging look effortless. Hardly even moving his feet, his upper body bent like a blade of grass before the wind, and he shifted aside from each of Qrow's attacks, moving so swiftly that he appeared to be in multiple places at once.

_What the hell is this?_ wondered Qrow, dropping into a crouch and sweeping his scythe low along the ground, skimming and slicing the tips off the grass. Qrow sliced clean through Kyo's ankles, only for him to vanish. _What the-?_ He barely had any time to ponder before he was forced to dive into a forward roll as Kyo's sword scored the ground where he'd been standing. Coming up, Qrow turned at the same time, readying to counterattack, only to see Kyo's image shimmer and vanish. A faint breeze at his back was the only warning he got and he barely managed to brace the shaft of his weapon diagonally from his hip to his opposite shoulder to intercept Kyo's blade. Releasing his grip with one hand Qrow used his shoulder as a fulcrum to pull his weapon up and over, which caused the blade to slash upwards and across. But it only met empty air.

That was the last chance to counterattack he got. From there on, Qrow was forced completely on the defensive, whirling his weapon around him, intercepting a veritable blitzkrieg of slashes from Kyo's sword. Kyo appeared as a flickering whirlwind to his eyes, Qrow unable to track him completely, only catching fleeting glimpses of Kyo, sometime seeming to be in two places at once. _Is this some kind of duplication Semblance? No! These are just afterimages. This is sheer speed!_ Kyo was a whirlwind, swirling around the beleaguered Huntsman, the pace of his attacks only increasing with each passing second.

_No way! All this time, I thought he was keeping up with me. But _I_ was the one keeping up with _him_._ Except that Qrow _couldn't_ keep up with Kyo anymore, not completely.

"What's going on?" asked Ruby, once again standing in front of Sasame, with the older girl's hands on her shoulders.

"Kyo is gradually raising the speed of his attacking pace," said Sasame. "Actually, he's been doing it throughout the entire fight. He started below Branwen-san's top speed, then slowly raised the pace with each exchange."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"You could say it's a form of kumite, sparring if you will," said Sasame. "In sparring between equals, the goal is to perfect technique, by allowing people of even ability to face against one another. When a teacher is sparring against the student, it's all about raising said student's ability."

"So Kyo-nii is treating Qrow like his student?" asked Ruby.

"In a sense, yes," said Sasame. "The fastest way to raise the level of a person's ability is to force them to fight just _above_ their current level. If you gradually raise your speed, the fine degree of increase will escape your opponent's notice, and he will automatically move to match it. If you continue to do that, you can technically force them to perform at a higher level than they normally would, which allows their body to adapt to the new speed that much faster."

"But why is Kyo-nii doing this for Uncle Qrow?" asked Ruby.

"He's actually doing it for _you_," said Sasame, gently ruffling Ruby's hair. "To help you become stronger and faster, these are the methods we will use. Kyo is showing them for your benefit."

"Okay," said Ruby, watching even more intently now.

In front of them, Qrow had had enough. Barely managing to duck another slash, he howled and swept his scythe around him in a complete circle. Kyo leapt back out of range, landing several meters away.

Qrow panted for breath, sweat covering his forehead and torso. "Just...Just what the hell are you?" he gasped.

"I am myself and nothing more," said Kyo. "It seems that you're going to be stubborn to the very end, so I will honor your determination, and end this as decisively as possible."

"Like hell you will," snarled Qrow. "I've got your number, kid. You might be quick and strong, but I know how you fight now."

"Do you?" asked Kyo wryly. "We've only scratched the surface, Branwen-san. What comes next...is the _beginning_."

"Huh?"

Sasame's grip tightened on Ruby's shoulders, but not painfully. Leaning forward, Sasame placed her lips by Ruby's ear. "Don't blink, Ruby-chan. What you are about to see is Kyo's Manifestation, the potential end you are building towards."

Ruby nodded wordlessly, her entire focus falling to Kyo as he raised his sword, holding it horizontally across his chest, with the edge facing upwards. Kyo placed the first two fingers of his left hand against the flat of the blade, at the base where it met the hilt. From there, he traced them along the length of the sword's curve. A strange ringing noise filled the air and, as Kyo's fingers reached the tip, his sword blazed like a miniature star, light washing off of it in waves, a powerful pressure filling the air as Kyo returned his fingers to the middle of the blade.

"It's Aura!" gasped Ruby. "That sword has its own Aura!"

"That is correct," said Sasame. "That is Tenro, the Wolf of Heaven. Generations ago, it was forged by the great swordsmith, Muramasa. It is tens of thousands of years old. It is a sacred treasure of our clan, one that only Kyo and those born into his family line are permitted to wield. Though it is inanimate, in its own manner it is as alive as any person."

"It's...beautiful," said Ruby, her eyes wide with wonder.

Across from Kyo, Qrow was also gaping, unable to tear his eyes away from the spectacle before him. For the first time since the fight began, Qrow truly felt out of his depth, the realization that he was up against an opponent whose strength did not merely exceed his own by a wide margin, but completely escaped all comprehension.

Kyo raised his sword above his head. "Brace yourself, Branwen-san. This is the end."

Qrow swallowed and raised his scythe, tensing. "I ain't about to let you have this win, kid."

Kyo merely smiled in return. "_Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Mizuchi!_" The air around him seemed to condense, swirling tightly around his blade, the atmosphere itself bending to his will and becoming an extension of the sword. Then Kyo dashed forward, his body a blur as he closed the distance between himself and Qrow. His blade descended and Qrow raised the scythe to meet it.

The air itself seemed to explode. Ruby felt a powerful warmth wash over and through her, as though the air was filling her from within, even as it blew by outside. The atmosphere itself seemed to turn white, and she saw Qrow silhouetted within it for a few seconds. Then Kyo was past and the winds dissipated. Everything seemed to turn to normal.

Qrow frowned and turned around. "I've seen better, brat."

"Have you now?" asked Kyo, raising his blade to rest the back over his shoulder. "However, if you spend too much time looking with your eyes, you will forget to use your ears. What you need to do right now is not look...but listen."

"Huh?" Qrow suddenly felt strangely lightheaded. There was an unusual sound, almost like a whistling or keening. At first, he thought it was coming from the air around him. But a few seconds of more listening made him realize the truth. The sound was coming from _within_ him.

"You can hear it now, can't you?" asked Kyo, watching Qrow intently. "_Kaze no Koe..._The voice of the wind."

Blood flew through the air as countless lacerations erupted across Qrow's body. His eyes went wide and his mouth opened. But no sound issued forth. His legs giving out, Qrow fell, face-first, to the ground and lay still amidst a pool of his own spreading blood.

"UNCLE QROW!" screamed Ruby, horrified. She made to run to his side, but was brought up short by Sasame's grip on her shoulders.

"It's all right," said Sasame simply. "I will heal him. He's in no danger."

"A-are you sure?" asked Ruby.

"Yes," replied Sasame. "However, I shall need to begin promptly. Please stay back here, Ruby-chan."

"A-all right," said Ruby uncertainly, but remaining in place as Sasame strode past her to crouch at Qrow's side.

In the meantime, Kyo retrieved the sheath for his sword and slid it back into the scabbard. Approaching Ruby, he gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry I scared you," he said softly.

"Did you really need to do that?" asked Ruby, looking at her uncle, now bathing in the warm light of Sasame's Aura.

"It was not strictly necessary to defeat him," admitted Kyo. "However, I thought that a decisive blow would make it easier to stomach his loss and accept your decision to accompany us. I also wanted it to be a lesson to you."

"To show me Manifestation?" asked Ruby. "Is that what you're going to teach me?"

"Ah...this particular style...no," said Kyo with a sigh. "The _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_, is considered a sacred art within our clan. At any given time, only three people are permitted to learn it."

Seeing Ruby's crestfallen look, Kyo reached out and tousled her hair. "You will create your own Manifestation, Ruby-chan. It will be one perfectly suited to you. While I can't teach you my style of swordsmanship, I am certain you can look to it as a basis for at least some of the techniques you will wish to create for yourself."

"All right," said Ruby

Kyo stooped down and wrapped his right arm around Ruby's waist. Straightening up, he held her as Ruby clung to him. "Don't worry overly much. You will make us proud, I have no doubt." He turned so that they could watch as Sasame finished her treatment of Qrow. "Now then, let's see about making your uncle comfortable."

* * *

Qrow groaned, blinking blearily. Then his eyes slowly slid open. He found himself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling made of light-colored wood. He was in a bed, with a blanket laid over him, tucked in and, otherwise, just made comfortable. He blinked sleepily and resisted the urge to run his hands over his body. Before he'd lost consciousness, he'd been all but certain that he'd been sliced to pieces. But he now felt that he was in one piece. He didn't even feel any tight lines or pinching along his skin that would have indicated the presence of scars.

"Good morning," greeted a familiar voice from his bedside.

Qrow turned his head to see the short, fox-faunus who had seemed so close with Ruby earlier. She was seated in a chair against the wall, watching Qrow with folded arms. Her name was Sasame, if he remembered properly.

"Am I dreaming?" he asked.

"No, you are not," said Sasame with a faint titter. "Neither were the events of last night a dream, though I imagine that this must all seem very surreal to you."

"That's...putting it mildly," said Qrow, twitching. He seemed to be in one piece, but his limbs could scarcely move. He wasn't sure that, even if he marshaled all the strength in his body, he'd even be able to lift the blanket off of him at this point. "What did you do to me?"

"Healed you for one," said Sasame. "It was actually quite a simple job. Kyo's skill with the _Mizuchi_ ensured that none of your lacerations were too deep or hit anything serious. Granted, you still would have died from blood-loss, if you weren't treated promptly, but...I was there, so you were indeed treated promptly. Because the cuts were so clean, it was all the easier to close them."

"That why I feel as weak as a newborn kitten?" asked Qrow, twitching feebly.

"A little," said Sasame. "As much as possible, I use my Aura to stimulate the Auras of my patients to help them heal themselves, so to speak. It allows me to spread my efforts across a larger number of people. Fatigue after an intensive healing is natural. However...I did add a little touch to it."

"What do you mean?" asked Qrow, figuring he wasn't going to like the answer.

"To put it bluntly, I have used my Aura to fetter your own, as well as fetter your physical strength. The seal is designed to release gradually over the next few days, so that your strength will slowly return to you. You should be back at full strength in about two weeks."

"Why?" asked Qrow.

"Just in case you continue to insist on trying to take Ruby-chan back with you," said Sasame plainly. "Brute force alone probably won't be enough to change your mind. In the event you still feel obligated to try and retrieve Ruby-chan, I have ensured that you will not have the means to while she is still within your reach. By the time you've fully recovered, we shall be long-departed."

"You...!" Qrow growled, struggling to sit up. However, he stilled when Sasame held up a finger.

"Ah, please not so loud. You'll wake her."

She shifted her finger to point across the bed and Qrow turned his head to see Ruby, sound asleep, in the next bed over. Kyo was seated in a chair on the other side of that bed, also asleep, though his sword was tucked up against him so that the hilt rested against his shoulder

"In spite of our assurances, Ruby-chan was very worried for you," explained Sasame. "It took some time to get her relaxed enough to fall asleep."

Qrow turned to look back at Sasame again. "Why?" he asked. "Why do you want her so bad?"

"Well, I took a liking to Ruby-chan the moment I saw her," said Sasame. "There's a light in her eyes that no amount of hardship and oppression can extinguish. She's the most adorable little girl I've ever met, but within her is a core of tempered steel. Her mettle truly astounds me, time after time.

"Over the course of our time together, I've come to love Ruby-chan. She is unquestionably precious to me, to both of us. We've come to value her as a part of our family. Teaching her and watching her grow is fulfilling in its own right. What's more, I've seen the boundless potential she possesses. With the proper instruction, she would be capable of things that would surpass your wildest imaginings."

"Huh," said Qrow, blinking.

"I imagine you've seen those things too," said Sasame. "You've known for a long time how strong Ruby-chan is, how powerful her heart is."

"Yeah..." admitted Qrow. "I know well enough for it to scare me."

"Scare you?" Sasame tilted her head adorably.

"Ruby's probably told you about her mother," said Qrow.

"She mentioned that her mother died," said Sasame.

"It happened when she was five," said Qrow. "The scary thing is that she's just like her mother, inside and out. Not only does she look like Summer, she has her eyes, and her spirit. That's what scares me. Summer's spirit was so strong that she refused to back down, when others were in danger. She threw herself into the fight without a thought of her own safety. I don't know what happened on that last mission she was on, but I can imagine that _that_ was what got her killed."

"I see," said Sasame soberly. "Yes...I can see that being an issue. But we are working to rectify that."

"How?" asked Qrow.

"When we realized Ruby-chan's nature as a protector, it was only natural that we teach her the importance of her own life," said Sasame. "As long as Ruby-chan understands that she cannot protect others if she throws her own life away, I doubt that what you suggested will be an issue."

"Thought of everything, have you?" asked Qrow.

"Almost," said Sasame. "There are wounds in Ruby-chan's heart, wounds that I have only so much power to tend. Those she once trusted and believed in have suppressed and oppressed her, trying to force her away from the future she wants for herself. While I don't doubt that she loves you, her father, and her sister dearly, the pain you've all caused her inhibits her willingness to express that love."

"We'd never hurt Ruby," scoffed Qrow.

"Not physically," said Sasame. "But you know full well how painful it can be to be denied the thing you want most, don't you, Branwen-san?"

Thinking back, Qrow remembered a a young woman, a woman who looked just like an older version of Ruby. He thought of how his heart had once longed for her. He'd looked on from a distance, watching as she played with the child she'd had with another man, longingly imagining that it could have been their own. But that dream had never been within his reach. So long as he had his Semblance, he could never allow himself to stay too close to the ones he loved.

"Yeah," he said finally.

"She needs time and distance for her heart to heal," said Sasame. "She needs to gain her own strength, to affirm her convictions, and find the means to fulfill them. That is what Kyo and I aim to provide her."

Qrow frowned. "What are you teaching her?"

"You got a taste of it last night, didn't you?" teased Sasame.

"That trick your friend pulled...I've never seen anything like it. I can't think of what kind of Semblance could produce that."

"It is a Semblance, but it is not," said Sasame. "At least, not in the vein of what you understand a Semblance to be. We call it Manifestation, shaping how our Aura engages with the world. My healing arts are one form it can take. Kyo's _Mizuchi_ is another."

"And you're gonna teach her that?" asked Qrow.

"That is our intention," said Sasame. "Kyo is not able to teach her the exact same style he practices. Learning it is...restricted...within our clan, for reasons I'm not fully informed of. However, he would not object if she purloined the basis of it and used it to create her own techniques."

"Hmm..." Qrow lowered his chin to his blanket.

Sasame made her way to his bedside and rested a hand atop his blanket, just above where his own hand rested. "Branwen-san, I can understand your desire to protect her, to shield her from the evils of the world. Kyo and I have traveled far and wide and seen the best and worst that this world has to offer."

"I doubt you've seen the worst," grumbled Qrow.

"If you're referring to a certain decrepit hag, Kyo and I are familiar with her handiwork, even if we've never met her directly," said Sasame, making Qrow's eyes widen.

"How...?!"

"Kyo mentioned that we've stepped on the toes of some very important and powerful people," said Sasame. "Speaking officially for our clan, if she has no quarrel with us, we have none with her. Still, she is an irksome existence all the same."

"That's not quite the way I'd put it," muttered Qrow.

"In any case, as I said, I can understand the desire to protect Ruby-chan. But her heart is too large to suffer being locked away simply out of fear of hardship. We wish to give her the strength and the will to live by her convictions. Ultimately, regardless of the risk, that is the best way to ensure both her health and happiness."

Qrow sighed.

"Branwen-san, Ruby-chan will be leaving with us," said Sasame firmly. "She will return to you in time. But, for the time being, for both her sake and yours, please do not let this parting become a moment of bitterness. She has enough of that within her already."

Qrow was silent for a long moment. Finally he nodded weakly. "Fine. You win."

Sasame sighed as well. "Thank you, Branwen-san."

Qrow groaned and rolled his eyes upward. "Now what the hell am I gonna tell Tai and Yang?"

"For the time being, I would suggest that you say you found nothing," replied Sasame. "Your search was a dead end."

"Well it certainly wouldn't be unexpected," said Qrow. "I can't say I'll be happy to break Yang's heart like that. But if this is the way it's gotta be..."

"I'm grateful," said Sasame. "We'll be here two more days, for the remainder of the festival. You have that time to spend with her, at least."

"I hope it's enough," said Qrow, glancing over at Ruby again. "I get the feeling this is gonna have to tide me over for a while."

* * *

It was a blissful two days that Ruby spent, hanging out with her uncle. She was glad that Qrow had come to accept her decision, however reluctantly. If anything else, it was nice to know that she had one member of her original family that was willing to believe in her dreams.

The two days passed pleasantly. Qrow got to see some of the training Ruby did under Sasame and Kyo, for all that he didn't quite understand how it was supposed to help her. Finally, the time came for Ruby and her teachers to depart. Qrow saw them off from the gate of Anduin's northern perimeter.

"I thought we were taking a boat," said Ruby as she followed Kyo and Sasame up onto the rocky cliffs that lined the coast north of the settlement.

"We are," said Kyo. "The issue is that the people, whose ship we've obtained passage on, are not exactly legitimate."

"Smugglers, in other words," said Sasame. "They technically operate out of Anduin. However, they do their _actual_ work out of the sea caves just to the north of there, where it's harder for the authorities to spot them bringing their goods in."

"Isn't that...bad?" asked Ruby.

"It varies, depending on the kind of smuggler and what they carry," said Kyo. "Either way, it's a bit necessary, as no legitimate ship, whether carrying passengers or cargo, would ever take us to our destination."

"Why?"

"We are going across to the continent of Leng," said Sasame. "Amongst those who dwell in the Kingdoms, it is known as the Forbidden Continent, because no ships, whether airborne or seagoing, are allowed to travel there."

"I remember hearing something about that," said Ruby, dredging up memories of some of her geography lessons in school. "Why is it that way?"

"There are a variety of reasons given officially," said Sasame. "There are rumors of dangerous Grimm that make settling there unwise, confusion over the provisions over the Vytal Treaty, which technically promised the continent to all four Kingdoms in some form or another, causing disputes that they've never been able to fully resolve."

"But the real reason is that the continent has already been claimed," said Kyo. "It has been settled by another power, one that the Kingdoms don't wish to acknowledge, so they pretend it doesn't exist, and make up excuses to explain why."

"Who?" asked Ruby.

"Our people," said Sasame, squeezing Ruby's shoulder. "Leng is the homeland of Kyo and I, the place where our clan has dwelt since time immemorial. It is the home of the Mibu Clan. Out in the Kingdoms, amongst those who know of the Mibu, they are sometimes referred to as the Silent Kingdom."

* * *

**Since Kyo and Sasame are stepping back to play mentor roles in this fic, and will disappear for large swaths of the plot entirely, I feel that it's merited to place them as someone well above the main, canon, characters' level as, like Yu in _Lost Rose_, they mainly exist to serve as a benchmark for the main characters to aspire _to_.**

**Poor Qrow though...I guess he really _was_ unlucky.**

**And this marks the end of this big flashback arc. We won't be back here until Chapter 21. Until then, we return you to _Life at Beacon Academy_.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

_Present day:_

"Jaune...Jaune...Come on, Jaune. It's time to wake up."

Jaune grumbled and shifted, but the hand that gripped his shoulder shook him a bit more insistently. Finally, Jaune groaned and turned over to face his tormentor, who loomed over the bed like a black-garbed specter. "What time is it?" he asked.

"Five-thirty," replied Ruby softly.

"Why are you waking me up at such a terrible time?" asked Jaune.

"We're gonna start your training," replied Ruby,

"Wha-why now?" asked Jaune.

"You need all the extra time you can get," Ruby replied. "I don't want to start an argument, and wake up Weiss and Pyrrha. If you really don't want to, I won't make you. But you won't get any stronger if you don't work."

Jaune blinked...then sighed and stared upwards. "All right. I'll get up."

"Thanks, Jaune," said Ruby. "Get dressed in something light."

It took Jaune a few minutes to get ready. Having seven siblings, and being the only boy among them, Jaune knew full well how to make efficient use of the bathroom. He didn't bother with a shower at the moment, as Ruby had basically promised him a workout, figuring he'd grab a quick one before breakfast. But he brushed his teeth and washed his face at least. A minute later, having donned a t-shirt and some sweatpants, he joined Ruby in the hallway outside their new dorm room. Ruby was dressed in her usual outfit, sans the armor on her shoulders and hips, as well as her cloak, which Jaune assumed was still waiting to be mended.

Ruby led them down a hallway, across a courtyard, and into the building that housed Beacon's athletic facilities. In here, there was virtually anything one might expect to find in your average gym, from weight sets, to a running track, to agility equipment. Of course, it was all top-of-the-line, including a few things that you _wouldn't_ find in your average gym. For example, the weights were equipped with gravity Dust, enabling the actual weight to be adjusted with a turn of the dial, while other forms of equipment featured high-grade holographic projectors or advanced diagnostic scanners to monitor the progress of the person using them.

A lot of the technologies being used were things that Ruby had never encountered before. Fortunately, for her purposes, everything but the most advanced features of the training center were things she could figure out easily enough. The more complex features she'd take the time to learn about later, determining whether or not they would serve her and Jaune's purposes. For now, sticking to the basics was good enough.

"So we're just working out?" asked Jaune.

"Pretty much," said Ruby. "That's for a start. You need to build up your strength and your stamina. I won't lie, Jaune. You need to work on that..._a lot_."

Jaune grimaced at the frank assessment of his condition, though he couldn't exactly argue. The pace Ruby had set through the Emerald Forest as they made their way to the temple couldn't have been called blistering, but it had worn Jaune out all the same, while Ruby had barely broken a sweat, even while killing several Beowolves along the way. While Jaune hadn't been as worn out at the end of their fight with the Orochi, he knew it was by virtue of the fact that Ruby had done the heavy lifting, when it came to disposing of the beast.

Ruby fixed him with a sober look. "Look, Jaune, I guess I can't sugarcoat it any. The fact of the matter is...you're weak." Seeing Jaune wince, she sighed. "The training you're doing now, everyone else at Beacon has already been doing for years before they came here. I know your family wouldn't let you do any of that, but it doesn't change the fact that you're behind everyone else. You need to accept that and move forward from there. It's gonna be hard..._really_ hard."

"How so?" asked Jaune.

"Because, if you want to catch up, we can't afford to waste a single minute," said Ruby. "Every free period, every extra bit of time before, after, and between classes, you're going to have to work. You're going to go to bed exhausted, feeling like you've been run over by a truck, with the knowledge that you're going to have to get up and do it all over again the next day."

Jaune swallowed, not exactly liking the picture Ruby was painting for him.

"There will be time for rest," Ruby promised. "You'll get Sundays off, but we'll be working extra hard on Saturday. And all of that is on top of homework, projects, and missions."

Jaune groaned. "Doesn't Beacon have, like...I don't know...Phys-Ed classes or something?"

Ruby shook her head. "Most students get all of that in Combat School. The closest we're going to have to that kind of class is Combat Class with Professor Goodwitch. I don't think getting creamed in the sparring ring every few days is going to really count as a proper workout."

"Thanks," grumbled Jaune, for all that he couldn't really argue that he probably really _would_ get his butt handed to him by just about any other member of their class.

"Jaune..." said Ruby, coming closer and resting her hand against his chest. "I know this is hard. It's going to suck, especially at first. You're going to feel like you're doing a lot of work for almost no gain. But that's just how it is. If you really want to be a Huntsman, you have to fight for it. You have to commit to it. Do you want to be a Huntsman, Jaune?"

"Yes," said Jaune firmly.

"Then let's get started," said Ruby, giving him her warmest, most encouraging smile.

* * *

The next two hours were devoted to the most intensive workout Jaune had ever experienced. They started with a run that seemed to last forever. Then they stretched. Then Ruby walked Jaune through several physical exercises to build up his strength. Then came another run. Finally, after a cool-down walk, Jaune all but collapsed on a bench as Ruby stood next to him.

"We're...going...to do that...every...day?" he managed to force out between heaving gasps.

Ruby nodded gravely. "It's going to get more intense too. You'll have to run faster and longer. You'll have to do more of each exercise. You'll have to lift heavier weights. And this is just our morning workout."

"Glory..." groaned Jaune.

"Cheer up," said Ruby. "This is the boring physical fitness stuff. You can only do so much for so long before your body starts to break down, so you'll only really do this once a day."

"What comes after that," said Jaune.

"In the evenings, I'm going to teach you how to use your Aura," said Ruby. "In our free periods, we'll work on your technique training." She hesitated. "I'm...not going to be as much help there."

"Why not?" asked Jaune.

"Your sword is different from mine," said Ruby. "And I've never used a shield before. So I could only really give you advice on the basics of how to swing your sword. I'll try and study up, but..."

"Uh...Maybe I should just ask Pyrrha," suggested Jaune. Seeing Ruby suddenly wilt at the suggestion, he felt the need to explain it. "She uses a sword and shield too, so she probably knows how to help me figure out how to use mine."

The elaboration certainly mollified Ruby, and her manner quickly brightened up. "That's true," she admitted. Then she faltered. "But...Pyrrha will want to know _why_."

Ruby may not have known her other teammates well, yet. But if she understood one thing about Pyrrha, besides the fact she was famous for some reason, it was that Pyrrha was a seasoned fighter. What little Ruby had seen of Pyrrha's skills during the initiation indicated a refined style, built from experience and extensive practice, someone who'd worked hard to learn to wield her weapons as natural extensions of herself. Even if she wasn't as educated in the nuances of Aura as Ruby was, there was no doubt that Pyrrha's situational awareness was a step above most of their other peers. She was a top-tier fighter, without a doubt.

And, of course, such a skilled and experienced fighter wouldn't take long to realize that Jaune had virtually _no_ skill or experience whatsoever. That would lead Pyrrha to asking questions, which could lead to her learning the truth about Jaune. How Pyrrha would respond to said truth was a complete unknown. For all that she was unfalteringly friendly and polite, Ruby felt she didn't yet know Pyrrha well enough to really anticipate how she'd respond to learning about Jaune's secret.

The one thing she _did_ know, beyond a shadow of the doubt, was that there was no way they could risk letting _Weiss_ find out about this. Ruby didn't doubt for a second that the knowledge that Jaune was completely untrained and untested would probably send the heiress through the roof. Weiss was already, if subtly, upset that Ruby had been named the leader of their team instead of her. It was unwise to give her another reason to resent her teammates...not to mention that Weiss would probably go straight to Ozpin, if she learned the truth about Jaune's forged transcripts.

"Y-yeah, that could be a problem," admitted Jaune.

Ruby frowned pensively. "Let's...sit on that for a bit. I can at least walk you through the basics of how to handle a sword."

"That works for me," said Jaune with a relieved grin.

"Let's head back," said Ruby. "We need to get cleaned up before we go to breakfast. It's going to be an easy day today."

Jaune nodded and followed Ruby back.

* * *

Pyrrha was already up when they arrived, but Weiss was still sound asleep. Pyrrha seemed content to accept their explanation as to where they'd been, seeing as Jaune and Ruby didn't lie about going to work out. Beacon's fitness center was there to be used, after all. In fact, Pyrrha indicated that she planned on working out in the mornings as well. The revelation made Ruby a little nervous, worrying that Pyrrha would see all too easily how untrained Jaune currently was. But attempting to dissuade Pyrrha was out of the question, as that would arouse her suspicions for sure.

Jaune took the first shower, washing quickly and changing into his usual outfit. If there was one thing he noticed, it was that most students seemed to consider their combat outfits to be casual-wear. He supposed that made sense. It was a lot harder to fight in a getup you weren't comfortable wearing.

When he emerged, Ruby went in next. By this point, Weiss was actually awake, though looking rather out of it. Jaune had to admit that Weiss' "just woken up" face was was rather cute, though he wisely decided to keep that tidbit to himself.

Ruby emerged, now wearing her armor atop her usual outfit, along with her red cloak, which Jaune and Pyrrha were surprised to see appeared to be in pristine condition. Apparently, Ruby had not been lying when she'd said it would be an "easy fix."

Once Ruby was done, it was Weiss' turn, Pyrrha having already taken care of her morning routine. Weiss took longer than the three of them put together, by Jaune's estimation, emerging from the bathroom in pristine condition, with not a hair out of place.

"Right, let's get breakfast," declared Ruby eagerly, leading the way to the dining hall, with the rest of them following suit, Weiss silently fuming all the way.

* * *

Following the morning meal, the rest of their day was taking care of the minutia that involved formally integrating into Beacon's student body, the kind of thing that had to wait until after the Initiation was completed, and it was assured that they _would_ be integrating into Beacon's student body. First, they found themselves sitting for a lecture by the ever-stern Professor Goodwitch, informing them on the official rules and regulations governing their time at school: when and where they were expected to be in uniform, the occasions where combat was permitted, rules governing the carrying and use of weapons, and various other odds and ends. Much of it was forced out of their heads at the same rate it was crammed in. Only Weiss appeared to retain all that they were told, and mostly because she was taking copious notes throughout the whole lecture.

Afterwards, they were sent to the school store, where they were fitted and set up with uniforms, as well as issued their textbooks and other classroom necessities. It was a whirlwind experience that seemed to last longer than it should have.

After that, they returned to their dorm room, where they spent the remainder of the afternoon setting up their room. Ruby had next to nothing in terms of luggage, and was content to let the other three take care of the decorating. The only thing she needed was a rack for her sword, which she anchored to the wall by her bed. Weiss had brought the majority of the decor...and the majority of _everything_, in fact.

Still, things went rather well, the only point of contention being when Weiss wanted to set up a curtain around Jaune's bed to isolate him from the rest of the team, and "stop him from trying to peep," as Weiss had put it. However, her plan was swiftly vetoed. Still, by the time they finished, their stomachs were growling and they were ready for dinner.

* * *

"Wow! What a day," sighed Jaune, slumping onto the bench in the dining hall. "It makes me worried about what our classes are going to be like."

"I'm sure it will be fine," said Pyrrha. "It's only natural that things are going to be hectic. They need to process all us first-years so that we're ready for the term."

"At least it's over," said Ruby with a groan.

As she sat, she felt eyes drifting their way again. It seemed that Pyrrha's presence drew people's attention to her like a magnet. Sensing a set of eyes on herself in particular, Ruby glanced over to see Yang, sitting with her own team, staring at her, while making a poor attempt to be subtle about it. Ruby huffed softly, and forced herself to ignore her sister's gaze.

She tried to keep her attention on her own teammates. At the moment, that consisted of listening to Weiss as she prattled on to Pyrrha about paired study-sessions. Pyrrha had affixed a polite smile on her face, but it was clear that she wasn't comfortable with Weiss' efforts to ingratiate herself with her.

Then, to her surprise, Jaune interjected. "Hey, Pyrrha," he said.

"Yes?" asked Pyrrha, sounding almost a little too eager to talk and listen to someone else for a change, though Weiss appeared to miss it, looking as though Jaune had personally insulted her by interjecting himself into the conversation.

"Listen," said Jaune, a little nervous, "I was wondering...if I could get your help with something."

"What is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well, I don't feel that I'm really up to par with my weapons yet," explained Jaune. "Would you be willing to work with me during our free periods? I could really use some pointers."

Despite herself, Ruby smiled at Jaune's willingness to take the initiative. Her earlier reservations, regarding what Pyrrha would make of Jaune's current state, remained. But she supposed it was the right choice, as Pyrrha was probably the person best suited to coaching Jaune in the use of his particular weapons.

Weiss clearly did not agree.

"Please!" scoffed Weiss dismissively, before Pyrrha could even open her mouth. "Pyrrha has better things to do with her time than play coach for the likes of you."

"Huh? Why?" asked Jaune, giving Weiss a confused look, while Pyrrha's expression became much more brittle and faked.

"Yeah, it seems like a good idea," Ruby chimed in, earning a grateful look from Pyrrha and Jaune.

Weiss blinked and stared at Jaune, evidently confused by his...confusion. "Don't you know who she is?" she demanded, looking between Ruby and Jaune.

"Of course we do," said Jaune as he shared a look with Ruby.

Weiss looked at them expectantly.

"_She's Pyrrha,_" the pair said in unison.

Pyrrha actually snorted and giggled at that, while Weiss was absolutely gobsmacked.

"Wha-what?" stammered the heiress. "You mean...you don't know?"

"Well, I guess she's kinda famous," admitted Ruby.

"'Kinda!?'" blurted Weiss, aghast.

"She is?" asked Jaune, giving Ruby a confused look.

"Well, yeah," said Ruby. "People stare at her a lot."

"Huh," said Jaune, blinking. "I thought they were staring because we took down that really big Grimm."

"I don't think anyone but the professors saw that," Ruby whispered to him. "They're definitely looking at Pyrrha."

"Oh," said Jaune, slumping a little.

"You honestly can't be telling me that you don't know who Pyrrha Nikos is!" exclaimed Weiss, waving her arms frantically.

"Uh...We just said she's Pyrrha," said Ruby.

"That's not what I mean!" snapped Weiss. "She's the four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament."

"Oh..." said Ruby, blinking. She looked at Jaune and saw that that meant nothing to him either.

Pyrrha's smile was nowhere to be seen now as Weiss continued to rant. "She's a total celebrity. She has sponsorships, endorsements, merchandise...!"

"Uh...still not ringing any bells," said Jaune.

"She's on the box of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!" shouted Weiss, jumping into a standing position in her vigor.

"Oh!" gasped Jaune, finally seeming to actually remember something. "That's where I saw you before!"

"You didn't notice?" asked Pyrrha, slightly surprised.

"Well, I thought you looked familiar," said Jaune cheerfully. "But I just thought you had one of those faces, you know."

Pyrrha actually giggled at that, while Weiss looked as though Jaune had personally insulted her...again.

"They only do that for big-name athletes, right?" asked Jaune.

"That's right," said Pyrrha, looking a bit nervous. "But the cereal isn't actually all that good for you."

"I guess I get it," said Ruby.

"You mean not even _that_ rings a bell, you dunce?" asked Weiss.

"I haven't had cereal in a while," said Ruby. "It's mostly just what I can catch and forage, unless I'm passing through a settlement, but I don't usually eat cereal there either."

That appeared to surprise _everyone_ at the table. "Wait! Where were you before you were in Vale?" asked Pyrrha.

"I was kinda working my way south across Sanus," said Ruby. "I wanted to visit Vale, 'cause I was originally from around here. But I didn't expect to get invited into Beacon so early."

"You were invited?" asked Weiss.

"She stopped a Dust-robbery," said Pyrrha.

"Really!?" exclaimed Jaune, staring wide-eyed at Ruby, who blushed and lowered her head.

"It's not that big a deal," she demurred.

"You caught one of the most notorious criminals in the Kingdom," replied Pyrrha, looking glad to have a reason to shift the conversation way from herself. "That sounds like a worthy achievement to me."

"Wait! _You're_ the one who caught Torchwick?" asked Weiss, gaping at Ruby.

"Yeah," said Ruby, her voice practically a shy whisper.

Weiss settled back, unsure of how to process that. Instead, she decided to fixate on something else. "In other words, you got lucky, but you were basically nothing more than a vagabond before."

"I was training," said Ruby. "I was testing my survival skills and fighting Grimm in the wilderness."

"I can't believe you'd waste time on such a...primitive...form of training," said Weiss, tilting her nose up. "Huntsmen and Huntresses should hold themselves to a _higher_ standard."

"Uh...How?" Ruby wanted to know.

"W-well...You should be more civilized for a start," said Weiss.

"What does that even mean?" Ruby wanted to know.

Weiss leaned back, clearly happy to explain her views to the uninformed. "Huntsmen and Huntresses represent the paragons of humanity. We are a beacon in the darkness. Traipsing through the wilderness, like some shiftless vagrant, is beneath us."

"This is about the lying on the grass thing again, isn't it?" asked Ruby, frowning.

"It's more than that!" protested Weiss.

"Uh...When we're on mission, where do you _think_ we're gonna sleep?" asked Ruby. "'Cause, unless you're only going to accept missions within walking distance of a four-star hotel, I don't think we're going to have any choice but to rough it."

"Tha-that's beside the point," stammered Weiss. She took a breath and frowned at them and then leaned forward, staring at Ruby. "Listen here," she growled. "I don't know what incomprehensible reason Professor Ozpin had to make you leader of this team, but I think it's obvious who should _really_ be in charge here. So you're going to listen to _me_. Isn't that right, Pyrrha?"

Ruby glanced at Pyrrha and was shocked to see that the redhead almost looked physically ill, almost as though she were ready to throw up. Her skin had paled considerably and her fingers gripped the edges of the table so hard that her knuckles had turned white. She was staring down at her food, looking as though she couldn't stomach the thought of eating anymore. Finally, she grimaced.

"No," she said firmly, looking as though saying that word was physically painful.

"What?" gasped Weiss.

Pyrrha took a deep breath and forced herself to let go of the table before turning to look at Weiss. "I said no, Weiss," she said, sounding firmer and more sure of herself. "Professor Ozpin made Ruby the leader of our team, and you have to accept that."

"You can't be serious," gasped Weiss. "You really think we can succeed, following the orders of this...this...dunce?"

"I think so," said Pyrrha, flashing a smile at Ruby, for all that the expression seemed to be fighting its way through the storm of whatever strange emotions were swirling through her at the moment. "Besides, Ruby was the one who figured out how to defeat that Grimm, yesterday. I certainly don't have a problem following her lead."

It seemed the more Pyrrha spoke, the easier it became for her.

"It's not right!" exclaimed Weiss. "This brat doesn't deserve to be leader, just because she showed off some flashy moves. Either of us would have been a better choice. I've studied and trained to the highest standards, under the best teachers, to prepare for the day I came here. And I won't let it be undermined by some little girl that got in because of some...some...fluke!"

She whirled on Pyrrha. "It's an insult to both of us. You're a world-class champion, Mistral's Invincible Girl. Think of what this is going to do to your reputation!"

"I..." Pyrrha once again looked like she was going to be ill. "I..." She shuddered. "I need to go." She forced herself away from the table, nearly knocking Weiss over when she suddenly pushed the bench back. Pyrrha quickly rushed out of the dining hall, people's gazes following her the entire way.

Weiss stared after Pyrrha for a moment, before whirling around to glare at Ruby and Jaune. "Now look at what you've done!" she snapped.

"It's more like what _you've_ done," Ruby retorted.

"Listen here, brat," growled Weiss, leaning over the table at her. "You can pretend all you want, but you'll never be the leader of this team unless I accept you...and I don't. As far as I'm concerned, Ozpin made a mistake."

With that, Weiss stood up from the table and marched out of the room as well.

"Well...as first days go...that could have gone better," said Jaune weakly. "I know you warned me about her, but I didn't think it was _this_ bad."

"I didn't either," said Ruby with a sigh, lowering her head into her hands.

"If it's any consolation, and I know it doesn't mean a lot, coming from a dumb weakling like me, but I'm glad _you're_ our leader, Ruby." Jaune gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "You can bet I'll follow you to Hell and back."

"Thanks, Jaune," said Ruby, giving him a warm smile.

"Still...this is gonna be touch and go," said Jaune, looking after Weiss.

"Still wanna try to woo her?" teased Ruby.

"Uh...I think I'll hold off on that," said Jaune with a sheepish grin. "Something tells me I won't survive the attempt."

"You're probably right about that," agreed Ruby with a giggle. Then she frowned. "I'm a little worried about Pyrrha, though."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "It really looked like she was having a hard time there." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "I feel kinda like an idiot for not realizing who she was though."

"Really?" asked Ruby. "I think Pyrrha liked that."

"She did?" Jaune blinked in surprise.

Ruby nodded. "She's famous, but I don't think she likes it. I know I wouldn't. Imagine people staring at you like that, all the time."

"Yeah...that would get hard after a while," conceded Jaune, finding that the idea made him feel almost physically ill.

Ruby finished her food and extricated herself from the bench. "I'm gonna head back. Remember, we've still got your Aura-training in a little bit, so don't wait too long."

"Sure thing," replied Jaune.

Ruby set off out of the hall, not noticing that her sister's eyes were no longer on her. Instead, Yang's gaze was focused intently on Jaune as he began the process of finishing his meal.

* * *

Pyrrha wasn't in their dorm room, but Weiss _was_, to her and Ruby's mutual consternation. Ruby quickly stepped back out and into the hallway, frowning and wondering just where Pyrrha might be. Then she had an idea.

Closing her eyes, Ruby took a deep breath and allowed her Aura to bloom outwards, spreading and stretching to cover a wide area. This was Extension, and advanced form of Projection. It wasn't based around the use of force, but was instead extending her Aura over a wider area to sense her surroundings, almost like a kind of radar. When Ruby was fully concentrating, she could extend her Aura several-dozen meters. Masters, like Sasame and Kyo, could keep their Extension active without sacrificing their Tempering around their bodies, a skill Ruby had managed to get the hang of, but was still refining. Sometimes, it was better to give up protection and trust her senses.

By concentrating, she was able to cover nearly the entire area of the dorms. She felt dozens of people, different Auras all around her. It was confusing, but Ruby fixated on the one she was looking for. Fortunately, she found Pyrrha within her range.

Pyrrha was up on top of a small section of the roof accessible through a stairway down the hall from the dorm common room. It took Ruby a little bit to find the way up. However, after searching, she found the stairway and emerged onto a flat section of concrete, overlooking the courtyard outside their dorms. It was flat and broad, with no obstructions. _We might be able to do some training up here,_ thought Ruby, looking around.

Pyrrha was seated at the very edge of the roof, more than close enough for Ruby to feel nervous. She was hunched over, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha flinched as Ruby called her name. Her movements shaky, Pyrrha slowly turned her head to look at Ruby, her emerald eyes glimmering.

"Pyrrha, are you okay?" pressed Ruby.

Pyrrha scrunched her face, making an obvious effort to muster the sunny smile that she favored Ruby with a second later. "Of course. I'm fine."

"Pyrrha," said Ruby, her tone a bit more stern now, "you don't have to pretend; not with me, and not with Jaune. What's wrong?"

Pyrrha slowly stood up and turned to face Ruby. As she approached, Ruby could see the tears Pyrrha was fighting to hold back. Walking up to her, Ruby slowly raised a hand to her shoulder. She felt Pyrrha shudder beneath her touch. A jolt, like an electric current, ran through Pyrrha's body and, the next second, she collapsed against Ruby, sobbing. Ruby hugged Pyrrha back as tightly as she could, letting her legs give way, slowly lowering them down to the roof. Ruby was a bit of a stranger to this situation, having only needed to comfort a couple other people this way. She did her best, making all the soothing noises she could remember Sasame making for her, during those times when Ruby herself needed comforting.

"Shh...Shh...It's okay," said Ruby, gently rubbing her hand back and forth across Pyrrha's back.

Gradually, Pyrrha's sobs trailed away, though her body continued to quake silently against Ruby's. For a while, Ruby thought Pyrrha might have cried herself asleep. But, finally, Pyrrha pulled back, her eyes meeting Ruby's with a grateful smile. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," said Ruby. "It's what friends do for each other."

"Are...are we still friends?" Pyrrha wanted to know.

"Of course we are!" exclaimed Ruby. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"I'm just..." Pyrrha sighed, finally pulling out of Ruby's arms. The two of them sat next to each other. "...I'm used to people...not..."

"Not wanting to be your friend?" asked Ruby.

Pyrrha shook her head. "No. If they want to be my friend, it's for the wrong reasons. They want to because I'm famous, because they want to be famous too...or they don't think they're good enough to be my friends...or they think _I_ think they're not good enough to be my friends..."

Ruby looked away, staring ahead of her. "Well, I figured you were famous, because everyone was always staring at you," she said. "But it doesn't really mean anything to me.

"The people I lived and trained with live apart from the world. So I didn't get any information on current events in the Kingdoms. When my sister and brother and I traveled on training excursions, we tended to keep to the settlements. So...I honestly don't know what all those titles and stuff really mean." Ruby looked over at Pyrrha. "But I _do_ know Pyrrha. She's super-nice. She's always polite and careful, but she always seems to be sort of tense, like she's afraid to let her guard down and show her true self."

"That sounds like me," said Pyrrha with a rueful laugh. "After my second tournament win, my parents began signing me up for sponsorships and endorsements. They said it would be good for me. The money and the perks were nice, but I was never really comfortable with it.

"When you're a celebrity, you're always being watched. People always have their eyes on you, whether because they admire you, or because they're watching for that sign that you're about to falter. It's like being surrounded by a pack of hungry Beowolves, just watching and waiting for the first sign of weakness, the first slip."

Pyrrha shuddered. "My agent, who managed my contracts, she created this persona that I had to adopt. I had to be modest and gracious, always with a smile at the ready, always prepared to indulge my fans, my supporters, my sponsors. I could never drop it, because I was never certain when I might be completely alone. My home was probably the only safe space I had, but it became worthless. I held this personality for so long that it sort of..._became_ me."

"Is that why it was so hard for you to speak against Weiss?" asked Ruby.

Pyrrha nodded shakily. "I...I wasn't really allowed to assert myself. Past a certain point, it all went out of my hands, and my agent and my parents handled everything. They made all the decisions, hardly consulting me, if at all. And I just had to go along with it...You have no idea how hard it was, just to force out that one 'no' to Weiss."

Ruby reached out and covered Pyrrha's hand with her own.

"I didn't want to partner with Weiss," said Pyrrha.

"Why not?" asked Ruby, before pausing and thinking about the heiress' acerbic personality. "I mean...besides the obvious."

Pyrrha giggled at that, before her previous somber mood drowned out the levity. "She approached me in the locker room before the Initiation. It's the same thing I've seen a thousand times, someone trying to butter me up with shallow praise, talking about how 'everybody must be eager to team up with a successful and powerful girl like me.' I'd have to be a complete idiot to not see what she was building to. I was almost too relieved for words when Professor Ozpin said that partners would be determined by eye-contact. If I could manage that with someone, _anyone_ other than her, I might have been able to handle it. But then _she_ just _had_ to be the first person I stumbled across..."

"I get it," said Ruby softly. "But...just because Weiss is your partner doesn't mean you have to always do what she wants. She may be your partner, but me, Jaune...and her..._we're_ your team. Jaune and I are here for you, and you don't have to keep your guard up or be anyone other than yourself with us. And you _definitely_ don't have to bend over for Weiss' sake. If anything, it would be a good idea to make sure she realizes she _can't_ always have what she wants."

Pyrrha sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "Thank you," she said. "Regardless of my partner, I'm glad I'm on your team, Ruby."

"And I'm glad you're on my team," said Ruby, "and not just because of that whole champion thingy...whatever it is."

That made Pyrrha laugh. Whens she calmed down, she looked at Ruby again. "Could you tell Jaune that I'd be happy to help with his weapons' training?"

"You can tell him yourself," Ruby said. She stood up and offered a hand to Pyrrha. "Ready to head back?"

"I think I am," said Pyrrha, taking Ruby's hand.

* * *

"I think I ate a little too much," Jaune muttered, rubbing his stomach as he made his way along the hallway towards their dorms. "I hope I'm not too late for evening training."

After everyone else had left, Jaune had finished his meal, which had probably been a little larger than wise. He'd left by himself, intending to head to the dorm, where he'd hopefully run into Ruby and they could start training his Aura, whatever that entailed.

Just as he reached a cross corridor, Jaune lurched as someone lunged out from behind a corner, powerful hands grabbing the fabric of his hoodie, just above the upper rim of his chestplate. With a surprised yelp, Jaune was yanked off his feet, whirled around and slammed against a wall, the impact snapping his head back into the hard surface as well, dizzying him.

Blinking furiously, he tried to force his swimming vision back into some semblance of clarity as he made out the figure currently holding him fast. Finally, his focus returned, and Jaune found himself facing a familiar, attractive, blonde girl. However, her expression could only be called ugly. What was more terrifying were her eyes, which he remembered being some shade of pale-purple, but were now a bright, intense red, and narrowed at him in a murderous glare.

"Listen closely, pal," growled Yang as she pressed Jaune against the wall, keeping him hefted up above the floor, "'cause I'm only gonna say this _once_. Keep your grimy hands off my sister."

"Wha-?" Jaune blinked before remembering that Yang was Ruby's sister, for all that Ruby didn't want to acknowledge her.

"I don't know what your game is, jerk, but if I even _think_ you've hurt her, you're gonna wish that snake ate you during the Initiation," promised Yang, her body beginning to radiate heat, like he was being pushed against the wall by a campfire.

"What are you talking about?" Jaune managed to grind out through the haze of pain and fear that threatened to swamp him.

"Just don't mess with my sister," snarled Yang, before dropping him. Jaune slid down the wall and into a sitting position with a groan. "I'm watching you." She turned and stalked down the hallway, going the same way Jaune had been going before, reminding him that her team's room was just across the hallway from his. _Great, Ruby doesn't want to acknowledge her, but she's still gonna go through the whole "overprotective older sibling" thing with me. Wonderful._

Forcing himself back upright, Jaune grimaced and checked himself over for injuries. Deciding everything was shipshape, he resumed his walk back to the dorm in Yang's wake. He reached his team's room at approximately the same time as Ruby and Pyrrha. Jaune could see the faint tracks of tears left running down Pyrrha's face. "Hey," he said. "You okay, Pyrrha?"

"I am now," said Pyrrha, shifting her gaze away from Jaune, her demeanor strangely shy. "And thank you for your concern." She flinched when Ruby gently elbowed her in the side, letting out a slight squeak that Jaune couldn't help but think of as cute. Reminded of what she needed to say, Pyrrha lifted her head up and looked him in the eyes again. "By the way, I would be happy to help you with your weapons' training."

"Thanks," said Jaune with a sheepish grin. "I could use all the help I can get."

"I'm sure you're not _that_ bad," said Pyrrha with an easygoing smile.

"You didn't see him during the Initiation," said Ruby in a teasing tone.

"Hey, I killed two of those Beowolves," Jaune protested.

"You brained one to death with the flat of your blade, before you remembered you're supposed to hit it with the _sharp_ part," deadpanned Ruby, to Pyrrha's titter, which she muffled with a hand over her mouth.

"It was still dead, wasn't it?" retorted Jaune.

"Except, if you hadn't wasted so much time, you might have been able to kill a third one," Ruby pointed out, to his consternation and Pyrrha's continued amusement. Then she smiled, apparently deciding that his ego had taken enough of a lancing for the night. "But you sure weren't bad handling that King Taijitu.

"You certainly saved me that time," Pyrrha added, making Jaune blush furiously.

"Anyway, it's time for your training," said Ruby. "You ready?"

"Y-yeah," said Jaune, throwing a sidelong glance at the door across the hall from theirs.

"Is something wrong?" asked Pyrrha, taking notice of Jaune's apparent nervousness.

"It's nothing," said Jaune quickly. "We should probably get started."

"What kind of training are you doing now?" asked Pyrrha.

"I'm teaching Jaune how to use his Aura," said Ruby frankly, before catching herself and realizing she might have said too much.

"Why would Jaune need Aura-training?" asked Pyrrha.

"It's just that..." Ruby paused and realized that the thing she needed to say was the truth...most of it anyway. "It's just that the kind of Aura-training I do isn't the kind normally taught in the Kingdoms. I thought it might give Jaune an edge."

"And I need just about any edge I can get," said Jaune with perfect frankness.

Pyrrha blinked. "Could I see?" she asked. "I'm curious about what kind of training you've done, Ruby." Thinking back, she remembered the strange techniques that Ruby had used during the Initiation, techniques that didn't quite match what one would expect a person to be able to do with Dust.

"Sure," said Ruby, perking up at the idea. Sure, Pyrrha had her own way of fighting, but it never hurt to acquire new skills, particularly since the basic exercises of Aura-control she'd been practicing could only supplement her current, already substantial, combat ability. "Actually, it's kinda silly, because Pyrrha and I were just up there, but I figured that the roof would be a good place for that kind of training."

"That sounds grand," said Pyrrha.

"Works for me," said Jaune, and the two of them set off after Ruby, leaving the door to their room behind.

* * *

Weiss looked up from her textbook, glancing at the door. She was certain she'd heard voices on the other side of it. _Maybe it's my imagination,_ she thought. _Or maybe it's those two loudmouths in the room across the hall._ She didn't envy Ren and Blake for having Yang and Nora as teammates. She had no doubt that their time at Beacon would be filled with raucous commotion. Whatever else could be said about her teammates, at least they were comparatively quiet.

Frowning, Weiss turned back to her textbooks, already going through them and marking out important passages, hoping that she could get ahead of whatever readings were assigned tomorrow. With that, she'd have a better, more comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, which, naturally, would translate into higher grades. Weiss had no doubt that she would be the top-performing student, academically. While she might never be a match for Pyrrha in the ring, Weiss was convinced that she could shine in their classroom studies.

For this, nothing less than _perfection_ was demanded. Weiss would be the perfect student. She would get perfect grades in every class. Within weeks, if not outright days, the instructors would be singing her praises to the heavens, and Ozpin would realize his lapse in judgment and understand that she, Weiss Schnee, was the one best-suited to lead this team. It helped that, being two years younger than the rest of them, Ruby Rose was clearly undereducated and unprepared for the rigorous curriculum of Beacon. It didn't help that she'd evidently done most of her training out in the wilderness. She'd probably never seen the inside of a classroom in her life. Weiss would completely outshine that brat.

After that, it was simply a matter of reminding Pyrrha what was at stake for both of them. They were here in Beacon to make important achievements, to show to their classmates, and the world, their capabilities and how they stood, head and shoulders, above the rest. Weiss would be damned if she let a brat like Ruby Rose and a lunkheaded idiot like Jaune Arc drag her and Pyrrha down.

Most importantly of all, she would prove to _him_ that she didn't need his power, his control, to succeed. She'd come back home to rub her success in his face and show him how a _true_ Schnee does things, unlike a mere pretender, who just happened to marry into the right family.

Returning to her work, Weiss idly wondered when Pyrrha would be getting back. It would be a good idea to get her to review their textbooks ahead of time as well.

_This is just a minor setback,_ thought Weiss determinedly. _Things will be going my way soon enough._

* * *

Roman Torchwick yawned widely, leaning back on his bunk, staring through the glassteel window, ringed by the heavy metal of his door. The walls of his cell were an off-white color, contrasting with the stereotypical depiction of prison cells with gray walls and dark, steel bars. Granted, the bars were present in the lower-security sections of the prison, but Roman would have been affronted to be kept with the hand-to-mouth, petty crime peons of low-security. Roman Torchwick was the greatest criminal Vale had ever seen. Whether it was inside or outside of prison, he warranted only the best.

Hence this lavish, maximum-security cell with its thick, armored walls and door, with a four-layer-hex-encryption-whatever security lock on the entrance that was, for the time being, guaranteed to be nigh un-hackable. And that was just the basic construction, not including things like the advanced, Atlesian-made dampening fields designed to suppress his Aura. This was a cell built to hold people at the level of Huntsmen and Huntresses, to contain those who had their Auras unlocked and possessed a Semblance. In other words, it was the kind of cell that a man of Roman's reputation and accomplishments warranted.

Of course, the fact that he was in a cell _at all_ was reason to worry. Roman was no stranger to the inside of a cell, of course. In fact, he'd been in and out of this prison multiple times over the course of his storied career, his exits sometimes legitimate, other times not. Since he'd unlocked his Aura and gotten ahold of Huntsman-grade equipment, he hadn't been back in. This would be his first time dealing with a max-security cell since having reached the level where his capability warranted one. However much he might have hated her for thwarting his robbery and subsequent getaway, Roman needed to give that red-garbed brat her due for managing what the Kingdom's police and professional Huntsmen had failed at for several years now.

Naturally, a criminal mastermind of his brilliance only relished the challenge. Escaping from prison required an understanding of the forces at work that kept him bound. A man of his skill would be able to analyze the nature of his cell and work out the best way to crack it open. The other advantage to being in operation for so many years was the fact that Roman had access to resources that lesser criminals would never get.

That was the benefit of networking.

Roman's eyebrows twitched at the faint clicking sound, coming from the door of his cell, something tapping up against the glassteel window. It might have been mistaken for the mundane clicks and taps that came part and parcel with any building, but Roman naturally recognized those sounds...or rather...the pauses between them.

"_I found you,_" the taps said.

Roman grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. Looking to all the world as though he were doing nothing more than idle fidgeting, he tapped the tip of his shoe back against the window. "_What took you so long?_"

"_Kept an eye on things,_" his compatriot replied with a series of taps. "_Made sure the plan won't work without you._"

"That's my girl," Roman muttered to himself before tapping out his response. "_How did Cinder take it?_"

There was a noticeable pause before the answer. "_...Not well._"

Roman winced. His employer was a woman whose bad side he did _not_ want to be on. _Still, this is partly _her_ fault._ If she'd had a copilot, she could've done something more than try and shoot down that little red menace. The mysterious woman he knew as Cinder Fall possessed power that he couldn't quite comprehend. But she evidently couldn't use it _and_ fly a bullhead at the same time. Still, he doubted she would accept her fair portion of the blame gracefully.

Roman was under no illusions about his place in the grand scheme of things. To his employer, he was not an associate, a partner, or even a subordinate. He was a tool. He only remained valuable to her so long as he remained useful to her plans. And the problem was that tools that lost their value were discarded or, worse, _disposed_ of. Fortunately, his associate seemed to have made sure his value hadn't completely depreciated...yet. "_When am I getting out of here?_"

"_Not for a while,_" came the reply. "_The White Fang will handle things for now._"

_So she got those mutts on board, did she?_ mused Roman, gazing up at the ceiling. He remembered Cinder mentioning that she wanted to bring the White Fang in on their little operation here, in Vale. He hadn't held out hope. He had no particular love for faunus, save for when they were useful. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of protesters-turned-terrorists mucking about. Worse still, Cinder had apparently gone to Adam Taurus. Even amongst the White Fang, he was known as one of the most serious hardliners, a guy who'd gladly see humanity enslaved or eradicated. Roman didn't relish the prospect of working with him, or anyone who worked under him.

On the other hand, he got an idea of Cinder's amendment to their plans. With him, the culprit behind several successful Dust heists, behind bars, people would lower their guards, security would drop, and people would expect crime to die down. Once that happened, he imagined that even a group that was as unfamiliar with the concept of subtlety as the White Fang could manage to steal a serious load of Dust before people got back on their game.

"_Cinder wants to know one thing,_" tapped Roman's compatriot the one person in all of Vale he truly trusted. "_Did you talk?_"

Roman snorted. "_I'm not that stupid,_" he tapped back. If he sang like a canary, it would be the end of him for sure. Roman didn't know exactly what resources Cinder had at her beck and call, but he was more than certain that he was _not_ beyond her reach, not even here. Detectives and Huntsmen had attempted to interrogate him numerous times, hoping to learn where the stolen Dust was being stockpiled, what it was intended to be used for. Being his usual glib self, Roman had talked them in circles, not giving them a straight answer, even sneaking a couple of false leads into the conversation to throw them off the trail.

Now it was a matter of time. He was pretty much sure to be tried and convicted within the month. Given his rap-sheet, Roman figured that his sentence was going to be severe, easily Life at the very least. But that hardly mattered.

He was part of something that was going to overturn everything. The bastions of order and justice were going to come crumbling down. Normally, Roman wasn't a big fan of that kind of revolution. Being a criminal was a niche profession. Breaking the rules worked best when the people set against you were obligated to _follow_ those same rules. When anarchy reigned, there was nothing for him to profit off of.

But this wasn't something he could stop. If everything was going to come tumbling down anyway, then he was, sure as hell, going to make sure he wasn't underneath it when it happened.

* * *

**If you remember, waaaay back when, when the first episode of Volume 4 came out, we found out just what was under Jaune's chestplate (cute bunny rabbit) and we also learned that he got it by mailing in _fifty_ Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box-tops...I remember going through the comments on that episode, with people lamenting about the reminder of Pyrrha, and being sad about it. Me...I thought it was hilarious. When you think about it, Jaune went through fifty boxes of that stuff, and somehow..._still_ didn't recognize Pyrrha when he saw her in the flesh. Although, maybe Pyrrha wasn't on the boxes he was eating...that could be it, right? Me...I just like to think Jaune is just _that_ clueless sometimes.**

**In canon _RWBY_, after the Initiation, the story just moves straight on to the first day. Given that the first thing our heroines do, upon getting up for the day, is set up their dorm room, it's made to appear that they went straight from the Initiation to the first day of classes. Given my own experience with college, that's a bit nonsensical, as I feel that it's more likely that there would be a day for orientation between that, where they can get their uniforms and textbooks and stuff. You wouldn't want to do it before the Initiation, because that would be kind of pointless for all the students who didn't make it through, so you'd have it afterwards, only for the students who actually made it all the way into Beacon. Maybe that day actually _did_ happen in canon, and the writers just skipped over it, but that would also be the day you'd _want_ to do all the setting up of your dorm room.**

**With regard to Weiss' increased vehemence, regarding her dissatisfaction with Ruby being named leader over her, I figured it made sense in context. In canon, Weiss wound up with Ruby as her partner, and you can pretty much read the line of thought with her. _"I can't believe I'm partnered with this little brat. Well, at least she's fairly competent, I suppose I can make the most of it, if I can get her to follow my lead. WHAT?! _She's_ being made leader?"_ In that sense, Weiss, having already come to terms with the fact that Ruby is her partner, seemed to me to be conditioned, on some level, to just resign herself to certain things.**

**In contrast, in this story, Wess' experience during the Initiation starts off with her being partnered with Pyrrha, which is pretty much a dream-come-true for her. Poor Pyrrha, being a little too conditioned to really speak her mind, can't find it in herself to really assert her real thoughts or feelings, which led to her pretty much following meekly along, which reinforces Weiss' mindset of things going her way.**

**Then, during the battle, Weiss is forced to acknowledge Ruby's competence at least, but doesn't find out until afterward that they're on a team together and _then_ gets hit with the revelation that Ruby, not her, is going to be leading the team, which would make it an extra strong punch to the gut for Weiss, which would make a much stronger pushback from her seem like a logical action, to my view.**

**Going back to the original inspiration for this story, _Matters of the Heart_, one of my major points of divergence (and the main reason my story is so much longer), is that I decided to address the overall meta-plot of the _RWBY_ storyline, ie Cinder, Salem, and everything else that entails. Though Vengfulfate denies it in their author notes, I do feel that they originally intended to include at least some of that larger storyline, before changing their mind and deciding to go with a more character-focused storyline that was easier to wrap up. My main point of evidence is a small story-arc partway through, where the students are taken on a field trip to the Emerald Forest, only for Ruby and Weiss to be separated from the rest by a massive Grimm attack...taking place in an area that was supposed to have been cleared of Grimm just before they got there, the suspicious nature of which was remarked upon at the time...and then forgotten about for the rest of the story.**

**Aside from leaving a thread blatantly dangling, I respect the author's choice to go with a more intimate and contained narrative. I certainly sometimes wish I'd made a similar decision, looking back on this whole monstrosity, and realizing what I signed myself up for. Sometimes, I feel like going back in time, and slapping my past self on the back of the head with a rolled up newspaper.**

**Also, poor Jaune...Once again, I've made Yang take the overprotective big sister route, despite me believing that her canon incarnation not being that kind of person. Of course, as in _Lost Rose_, this is mostly due to extenuating circumstances that have led Yang to behave in a different manner. More on that later...**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14:**

Their first day of classes dawned rather quietly. Of course, Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune (reluctantly, in Jaune's case) were up with the sun to go through their morning exercise routines, before getting ready for their first official day as Beacon students.

Pyrrha had found the Aura techniques Ruby taught to be fascinating in their potential and their applications. She had gladly stood beside Jaune, and practiced Temper alongside him for the remainder of the evening. Ruby was grateful for her participation, as having someone to train alongside gave Jaune a reason to be motivated and not slack off. Normally, she wouldn't consider that much of a worry, but she knew all too well that Temper was the least engaging of the Three Exercises, and how difficult it could be for a beginner to keep their focus and maintain their Temper for an extended period of time.

Likewise, having Pyrrha join them for their morning workout also proved to be a boon. Pyrrha demonstrated that even a world-class champion like herself needed to work to get and keep in shape. It was a reminder that Pyrrha hadn't gotten where she was due to some kind of natural-born genius, but through sweat and hard work. And, while Ruby knew it was probably frustrating for Jaune to see just how far ahead of him Pyrrha was in all aspects of physical fitness, it also helped him to understand that he wouldn't be able to reach her level unless he worked for it.

A nice two hour workout left them a full hour to get showered and dressed for the day. It would be the first time they put on their uniforms. They decided to let Weiss sleep in so that she could have the final shower, and take all the time she wanted to primp.

Ruby took a few extra minutes to make sure her uniform looked just so. It felt strange, looking at herself in a black jacket with gold lining, a brown vest, white shirt, red-plaid skirt, and the red ribbon around her neck. It felt a lot different from what she usually wore, a little bit more restrictive too. But she had to admit that she liked the way it looked on her.

After a moment's consideration, she donned her cloak over the shoulders, and slid Akaibara into its customary place at the small of her back. She also kept her black leggings on as well. One of the few things Ruby had bothered to confirm amongst the myriad rules that governed student appearance was the modifications they could make to their uniforms. Both her leggings and her cloak were considered acceptable modifications, while carrying a weapon was not restricted, so long as she did not draw it in the classroom or halls without permission from a teacher.

She wasn't the only one. Pyrrha also kept her circlet on while in uniform, though both she and Jaune eschewed carrying their weapons with them.

Jaune's uniform didn't carry any special modifications. The male uniform was a black suit, white shirt, blue vest, and red tie. Ruby envied that it looked a bit simpler to put on than her ensemble, though she had no idea how to tie a tie. She had to admit it looked good on him.

"You _really_ don't like to part with that," Jaune noted with some amusement when he saw Akaibara's handle protruding from behind her back.

Ruby blushed slightly. "Well, I don't feel comfortable just leaving it in a locker. I've always carried it everywhere with me." Beyond the comfort of having her weapon ready at a moment's notice, no matter where she was, Ruby was loathe to part with the precious gift that had been given to her.

"Please," scoffed Weiss, who'd emerged a minute earlier after finishing with her hair. "You're like a child who refuses to leave your security blanket behind. It's immature."

"A blanket can't be used to cut a Grimm in two, Yukihime," replied Ruby, earning a muffled giggle from Pyrrha.

"Since when are Grimm going to be inside the school?" posed Weiss. "And what is with that absurd nickname? What does it even mean?"

"Don't worry about it," said Ruby, hiding a smirk, knowing that saying that would only make Weiss worry about it _more_.

Sure enough, her words elicited a growl from the heiress, even as her eyes narrowed in a glare. Still, she didn't appear interested in carrying on the argument, probably thinking she'd made her case sufficiently.

* * *

They were ready in enough time to make a quick visit to the dining hall for breakfast, before making their way to the first classroom. The first class on their schedules was Grimm Studies, with Professor Peter Port. Team RASP made their entrance and took their seats with time to spare. Other students filed in after them and the room gradually filled up.

Just seconds before the bell was to ring, they heard the sound of scrambling feet from outside the room, and they saw the members of Team RYNB come rushing in, having apparently barely gotten ready in time. Yang brought up the rear. As she entered the room, her eyes immediately drifted over to Ruby, before zeroing in on the open seat right beside her. Before Yang could even think of making for the seat, Ruby fixed her with a glare that made Yang falter and back down. Instead, Blake graciously took the seat for herself, accepting the grateful smile from Ruby with a much more neutral expression. Yang was forced to take the seat next to Blake.

Now that everyone was seated, their teacher began his lesson. Professor Port's name proved apt, as he was a slightly portly man, dressed in a dark-red suit with gold lining. His head was topped by slightly curling, gray hair, with an equally gray, exceptionally bushy mustache so large that it rendered his mouth all but invisible as he spoke.

"Greetings, my tender, young students," he said, his bombastic voice extending to the furtherest corners of the classroom. "In my humble opinion, this is the single most important class you will ever take in this Academy. For it is here that you shall learn about the nuances of our great and terrible enemy, the Creatures of Grimm.

"They have had many names over the years. Some call them monsters, others call them demons. But I tend to refer to them as..._prey_. For what good is a Huntsman or Huntress if he or she has no knowledge about that which they are trained to hunt? In this class, you shall arm yourself with an arsenal of information, assembled from the greatest minds across the world, and my own, extensive, experience."

Ruby blinked, getting the distinct impression that this was going to set the mood for the rest of the class. Port was clearly one of _those_ people, a man in love with the sound of his own voice. No doubt he had a wealth of information to share, but it sounded as though his lectures were going to be absurdly long-winded, and filled with derivatives and deviations that would distract from the topic at hand.

However, she was surprised when Port's monologue took an abrupt turn. "That said, while a great deal of information can be gleaned from textbooks and my own, quite pertinent, stories, experience will always be the best teacher, when it comes to handling the Grimm. You've all had a taste of that danger during the Initiation. The fact that you are here means that your training in Combat Schools has not gone to waste. I am sure that you have all had the opportunity to face the Grimm there as well. But supervised battles, with teachers at the ready to intervene, cannot compare to the true experience that comes from facing Grimm, in the wild.

"On that note, we are blessed to have a student with such experience among us..."

_Uh oh,_ thought Ruby, immediately shrinking back and fighting the urge to duck beneath her hood.

"Ms. Ruby Rose has extensive experience in the wilds of Remnant, having made her way from the north of Sanus to Vale, on foot. Ms. Rose, would you please come to the front of the class?"

Ruby bit back the urge to squeak, not wanting to find herself at the center of attention, and certainly not on the first day of class no less. She would have wondered how Port had known about her training journey, but figured that Ozpin had probably filled the teachers in on it. Hesitantly, she made her way down to the floor. She could feel everyone's eyes glued to her. In particular, she felt Weiss' eyes glaring at the back of her head, almost as though the heiress was hoping to set Ruby aflame with the force of her anger alone. It seemed she was bitter about being shown up so soon...if this could count as showing her up.

"Now then, Ms. Rose," said Port, gesturing to a surprisingly detailed map of the north-eastern portion of the continent, namely Vale's territory, "why don't you show us the route you took."

He handed her a piece of chalk, which indicated that Ruby was allowed to draw on the map, indicating to her that Port had put the image up for this specific purpose. She felt a little bad, as it felt like she was just doodling over someone's hard work. However, she raised the chalk and started up near the northernmost tip of the continent, just a short ways south of Vytal.

"My teachers and I arrived by boat here, at Teleri. From there, we went our separate ways, and I headed south..." Ruby proceeded to give an abbreviated account of her journey, as well as some of the notable Grimm she encountered along the way. Recounting it grew easier as she went on. When she'd begun, many of the students were listening with evident skepticism. However, as Ruby continued to describe her journey they got more invested in it.

Finally, she reached the point where she arrived at Vale. Wrapping it up, she hoped she'd be allowed to sit back down. Instead, Port staid her with a hand to her shoulder.

"Remarkable, Ms. Rose," he complimented her. "Does anyone have any questions for her?"

"Why weren't your teachers with you?" asked a student near the back.

"I needed solo experience," explained Ruby. "During my past training excursions, I always had at least one other with me. This time, I was supposed to make it through Vale's territory by myself. We planned out our routes, along with a rough idea of how long it would take to go from settlement to settlement, and would leave messages for each other on our progress."

"So you've been on other training excursions before?" asked another student. "Where?"

"The other major one I had, we traveled across Anima," said Ruby. "We proceeded along the north and moved from east to west."

"What's the worst Grimm you encountered?" inquired a young man near the front.

Ruby swallowed, her throat working as she shivered. The memory of those dark caves in the mountains of northern Anima still made her skin crawl. "During our trip through Anima, we were caught in a nest of Ungols."

"My word!" exclaimed Port, shocked by the revelation. It appeared that even the boastful professor apparently had some opponents he balked at facing.

Ruby could see several other people in the class were unsettled by the prospect of fighting Ungols. The spider-like Grimm were rare on Sanus, thank God, and generally only occupied mountainous terrain. Enough people were arachnophobes as it was. Facing down a swarm of monstrous spiders was usually not high up on people's bucket lists. Ruby was no fan of spiders herself, and the memories of the swarming masses of skittering, segmented legs, mandibles, and fangs still gave her nightmares from time to time, to say nothing of the one at the center of that colony.

"What's the most important thing when it comes to fighting Grimm?" asked Ren, watching her with an intrigued gaze.

"Honestly, it's efficiency," said Ruby. "The truth is, there are all kinds of Grimm out there, and new ones are either appearing, or being discovered, all the time. While most of them resemble some kind of animal, others are just plain...strange. You can study the known types, but there's still always the chance that you'll run into one that nobody has recorded before. You have to be able to assess their capabilities and weaknesses on the fly and determine the easiest way to take them down.

"While it happens, it's actually rare for a settlement to be brought down by some single, ancient Grimm. More often than not, they're overrun by a horde of smaller Grimm. You have to be able to take them down as quickly and easily as possible, so that you have strength to spare for the ones that come after them."

"Quite so," agreed Port. "Thank you for your willingness to share with us, Ms. Rose. You may return to your seat."

Eyes continued to follow Ruby as she shyly returned to her seat between Jaune and Blake. She noticed that Weiss seemed positively livid now.

"Now then," said Port, striding to the center once more. "You've all heard about the threat the Grimm can pose, especially out in the wilds, far from the defenses of modern civilization. Who here believes they have the courage to face one of these creatures for themselves?"

"I do!" snapped Weiss, shooting to her feet.

Port laughed at what he assumed to be her eagerness to participate. "Very well, Ms. Schnee. Prepare yourself for battle."

There was a brief lull as the class waited for Weiss to change into her combat outfit and retrieve her weapon from the lockers. A low chatter filled the air as students talked to pass the time. As they waited, Jaune leaned over to whisper to Ruby. "I don't think she's happy."

"That's putting it lightly," observed Blake wryly, smirking at Ruby. "I don't think she liked that you were the center of attention for most of the class."

"I didn't _ask_ the teacher to call me down," groused Ruby, folding her arms and pouting. "I really hate being put on the spot like that."

"You did fine," assured Pyrrha, smiling past Jaune at her. "I thought it was fascinating."

Yang watched the back and forth between Ruby and the others, wanting to be part of the conversation. Yet she knew that any effort on her part to participate would likely cause Ruby to shut down, and refuse to talk at all, so she held her tongue. Instead, she found herself watching as Ruby leaned lightly against Jaune, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gently rubbed her upper arm, a sight that made Yang bristle internally as Jaune blatantly ignored the warning she'd given him the previous night.

"What do you think the Professor is going to have Weiss do?" asked Nora.

"Probably have her fight that Grimm," said Ruby, pointing to a cage, tucked into a corner at the floor of the classroom.

"Was that cage always there?" asked Jaune, staring at it in confusion.

"Yep," said Ruby.

"What's in there?" wondered Pyrrha.

"Boarbatusk," replied Ruby, matter-of-factly.

"How can you tell?" Yang asked, before she could stop herself, wincing as Ruby flashed a glare in her direction, before apparently deciding it was harmless to answer the question.

"I could hear it," said Ruby. "It mostly snorts, and I can hear hooves on the floor. From the way it was putting its weight down on them, I can tell it's heavy-set, with a low center of gravity."

"And what does that mean?" asked Blake.

"Boarbatusks are heavily armored along their back and sides," said Ruby. "They're low-slung, with a low center of gravity that makes them difficult to knock over, which is because their underbelly is their main weak point."

"So, basically, Weiss needs to knock it onto its back if she's going to take it out," said Jaune.

"With her Semblance, I don't imagine that will be too hard," noted Pyrrha.

"Assuming she can keep her head," said Ruby.

Weiss re-entered the room and turned to face the cage, now that Port stood at the ready, his own weapon a blunderbuss with axe-blades emerging from the handle, in hand. "Now that you are ready, Ms. Schnee, face your opponent."

With a swing of his weapon, Port broke the lock holding the cage closed. It immediately swung open as the Grimm contained within burst out. As Ruby had surmised, it was indeed a Boarbatusk. Looking like a massive wild boar, the peak of the creature's raised back was easily taller than any person in the room. Four red eyes glared out from the heavy, bone-mask over its face, which almost seemed strapped into place by some black tether, dividing the upper and lower portions of the mask, just above the curving tusks that gave the Grimm its name. Further armor plates decorated its back and sides, the ones on the back tapering into backwards-pointing, sloped spines, that reminded watchers of a hedgehog's quills.

The pig-like Grimm immediately oriented on the first person it spotted, which, naturally, was Weiss. There was only a second's pause before it charged with a snorting roar, bearing down on her like an oncoming train.

Weiss responded by leveling Myrtenaster, and matching the Grimm's charge with one of her own, executing a sliding lunge, skating across the floor.

"She's going at it head-on!" exclaimed Jaune.

"Does she know how to fight a Boarbatusk?" asked Pyrrha worriedly.

Ruby wasn't sure. She decided it was best not to say anything, as Weiss clearly wasn't in a listening mood, most likely viewing any attempt to advise her, particularly if said attempt came from Ruby, as a distraction. Instead, she sat back and watched as Weiss met her opponent halfway.

Weiss' rapier flashed as she executed several rapid thrusts in the space of a second. However, her attacks glanced off the bone armor covering the Boarbatusk's face and Weiss was forced to throw herself to the side to avoid being run over as the monster's charge threatened to trample her. As the two opponents turned to face each other again, Weiss growled in frustration and she charged it once again, aiming to catch the overgrown pig before it could begin its own charge and amass any momentum. It appeared to work and the Boarbatusk paused, almost as though it was thrown off by its enemy's apparent aggression.

However, Weiss' satisfaction disappeared as the Boarbatusk turned its head, catching Myretnaster's blade in the curve of its tusk. With a wrenching motion of its neck, it pulled Weiss' weapon out of her grip and sent it clattering across the floor.

"Oh ho! What will you do now?" commented Port, watching the battle with every evidence of amusement.

Weiss was momentarily at a loss. Having her weapon taken from her so suddenly had thrown her off her game, to the point that she almost forgot to act as the Boarbatusk surged forwards once again. Weiss managed tor recover enough to throw herself to the side, but not before the beast's tusk clipped her shoulder and sent her spinning to the floor, further away from her weapon than before.

With a pained grimace, Weiss forced herself to her feet, only to gasp as she saw the Boarbatusk curl in on itself, spinning like a wheel along its spine. Now a white and black blur, it came rushing at Weiss with the force of a battering ram. Without her weapon, Weiss only had one means of defense.

A shimmering Glyph appeared between Weiss and the incoming Boarbatusk. The whirling Grimm slammed into it. The Glyph strained and the monster's rush was checked for a scant few seconds. Then the Glyph shattered. Weiss barely managed to dive to the side as it rushed past. However, her dodge took her to within reach of her weapon.

"She's not going to win by trying to brute-force it," said Ruby softly. Then she had an idea. "Pyrrha, tell Weiss to go for the underbelly."

"Will she listen?" asked Pyrrha with wide eyes.

"She will if it's _you_," said Ruby. Weiss had approached Pyrrha as a partner because of Pyrrha's strength, skill, and prestige. If there was anyone whose advice she would heed, it would be Pyrrha's.

"Weiss!" Pyrrha shouted, trying to be heard over the porcine Grimm's grunts and snorting roars. "Go for its stomach! That's its weak spot."

Weiss grimaced, Pyrrha's words reminding her what she _should_ have done. She'd been so focused on her anger, on showing up Ruby and proving that she was better, that she'd allowed herself to make a mockery of this fight. This should have been over in the first few seconds, yet she'd foolishly decided to try and tackle her opponent head-on, and had suffered for it. However, she refused to submit to defeat.

Taking up Myrtenaster, Weiss glared fiercely at the Boarbatusk as it readied itself for another charge, this time making a more conventional one than the spinning-wheel attack from before. Myrtenaster's chambers rotated, and the Dust-chamber Weiss wished to use rotated into position. Reversing her grip on her weapon, Weiss drove the point into the ground. With a flash, a shimmering blue glyph appeared on the floor in the Boarbatusk's path. The beast clearly saw it. However, by this point, its own forward momentum kept it from changing direction and it rushed directly over the glyph.

There was a flash, a ringing noise, and a crackling sound as a spear of solid ice erupted from the glyph, jutting straight upwards as the Boarbatusk charged over it, piercing straight through its stomach and erupting out its back. The boar-like Grimm squealed in pain, its weight and inertia breaking the ice off from where it emerged from the floor. But that was the extent of its remaining power. It collapsed, sliding to a stop at Weiss' feet. Weiss panted for breath, staring at it for a moment.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Professor Port. "It seems we are indeed in the presence of a true warrior!"

Port's tone had lost none of its sincerity, and it seemed that he truly believed what he'd boasted. But it still rang hollow to Weiss. The solution had been so simple, so obvious, yet she'd struggled and made basic, beginner-level mistakes, determined to make as grand a spectacle of the Grimm's demise as possible, only to wind up on the verge of defeat, barely managing to respond to Pyrrha's advice in time.

_And it's all _her_ fault,_ Weiss thought angrily, her gaze flashing over to Ruby, who was watching with a strangely composed and neutral gaze. This had been Weiss' opportunity to stand out, to seize the spotlight, to make the teachers reconsider and contest Ozpin's decision, and it had gone completely to waste.

Worse still, if it had been Ruby, Weiss knew that the fight would have been over in seconds. Ruby didn't need to target a weak point. Weiss remembered watching her cut clean through the armor of a massive Deathsalker, without the slightest difficulty. The Boarbatusk wouldn't have presented a greater obstacle than that.

"That is all for today," declared Port. "Please remember to cover the assigned readings tonight."

The bell rang and the students began to file out of class. Weiss gathered up her things and stalked out into the hallway, not even acknowledging Pyrrha's plaintive calls for her to wait.

Ruby watched her go. She looked to Pyrrha and Jaune. "Go on ahead, I need to think a little." They had a ten minute opening between classes. Ruby wanted to at least put a little thought in how to deal with Weiss. She stepped out into the hall, and stared in the direction the others had gone…feeling more than a little lost.

"It seems leadership comes with its share of difficulties," commented a familiar voice from behind her, making Ruby squeak in surprise. Spinning about, she saw Ozpin standing there, smiling benevolently at her.

Since the initiation, Ruby had been putting more practice in keeping her awareness up, so people couldn't sneak up on her so easily. Her guard hadn't slackened, even as distracted as she was by the situation with Weiss. Yet Ozpin had entered into her space without her even noticing. "Professor?"

"You seem troubled," noted Ozpin.

Ruby wondered how he managed to show up, right when she was caught in a moment of indecision and confusion. She was beginning to wonder just how closely he was watching his students. Was she of interest to him in particular? Given the fact that she was here at all, she supposed the answer was "yes."

"I just...I don't know what to do," said Ruby with a sigh. "I've never been a leader before. Before, it was just myself. Before that, it was me and my teachers. How do I earn the respect and support of someone like Weiss? All I really know how to do is keep pushing myself and my own abilities."

"Need I point out that you have already earned the respect of the other two members of your team?" said Ozpin. "You are aware that you cannot stand completely alone, so you've invested your efforts into striving to become strong together. You already seem aware of the fact that leadership is not simply a matter of giving orders on the battlefield, it is a badge you wear constantly. That said, there will _always_ be those who question your fitness, who believe that they could do better."

"Would Weiss do better?" wondered Ruby.

"Perhaps, perhaps not," said Ozpin. "That is not entirely the point. Ms. Schnee has lessons of her own that she needs to learn. In that sense, making you the leader of your team is as much about teaching _her_ as it is about teaching you. You both are in a situation where you must take on a role that you have little comfort in fulfilling. Beacon is an Academy, and an Academy is where students come to _learn_. This too is a part of your lessons."

"I think I understand, Professor," said Ruby, bowing her head to him. "Thank you."

"It will not be easy," said Ozpin. "Sometimes, conflict cannot be avoided. You will have to make your own authority with Ms. Schnee."

Ruby nodded, secretly dreading what that might mean.

"I have probably made more mistakes in my time than any man, woman, and child on this planet," said Ozpin softly, resting a friendly hand on Ruby's shoulder. "However, I believe that the decision to make you a leader is not one of them."

Ruby smiled up at Ozpin and he nodded back to her, letting go of her shoulder and heading back down the way he had come. Ruby took a moment to settle her feelings and calm herself down. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly, then turned to make her way to the next class.

* * *

History with Professor-No!-_Doctor_ Oobleck was an interesting experience, which had little to do with the subject matter. Rather, the teacher himself was the main spectacle that held the students' attention. Oobleck gave his lecture at blistering speeds, the words seeming to rush out of his mouth in a torrent that made all of them struggle just to comprehend what he was saying. Often, by the time they understood one sentence, Oobleck was already three sentences ahead. This was punctuated by him zipping around the classroom in a blur, darting from chart to map to diagram to punctuate his statements.

More often than not, an unwary student found him or herself on the spot, the recipient of one of the Doctor's questions to check if they were remaining engaged. Only a few managed to answer correctly. Of all of them, only Weiss seemed able to keep up with the good doctor's blistering pace, and only by giving it everything she had, her pencil a blur as she jotted down notes with a speed that gave the teacher's rapid-fire speech a run for its money. Ruby would have considered asking to borrow Weiss' notes, once the lecture was over, but figured that, given Weiss' attitude, the answer would be a resounding "no" and the heiress' already low opinion of her would dip further. Ruby decided that she'd just have to hope that the assigned readings filled in the gaps that came from trying to keep up with Oobleck's speech.

After that came Dust Science, taught by Professor Garland. In its own way, this class was even _more_ difficult for Ruby than Oobleck's, as she had, at best, only the most cursory knowledge about Dust. The Mibu eschewed the use of Dust entirely, relying on Aura for most facets of their life. It was a decision that left them living in a manner that Weiss would most certainly have described as primitive, which wasn't entirely undeserving, as they lived without many of the amenities that were taken for granted in the Kingdoms. Ruby remembered Sora waxing enviously about the CCT system, and lamenting how slow communication was across Leng.

But that was a matter for another time. Most students already had a good grounding on the usage of Dust from their time in Combat School, particularly if their fighting-style was Dust-based. Even those who weren't Dustweavers still generally made use of Dust in some form, often the easy-to-use Dust cartridges and rounds that had proliferated over the years. Ruby realized she was going to struggle in this class, mainly because she lacked even the most basic grounding in the usage of Dust. Even _Jaune_ knew more about Dust than she did.

Weiss, of course, could have probably taken the course's final exam on the first day, and aced it, her position as the heiress to the world's largest Dust company having afforded her a top-of-the-line education in her family's chief product. Once again, Ruby would have loved to go to Weiss for assistance, or even tutoring on the basics of the class she would be taking. But she knew that Weiss' answer would be "no," or she would demand concessions that Ruby was not willing to give, namely becoming a proxy, so that Weiss could actually lead the team.

After Dust Science came their lunch, followed by a free period. After that, they only had one more class before they ended for the day. Beacon's schedule was a block one, and they took their classes for extended periods over the course of alternating days. Each day had one full free period. For Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha, it was certainly helpful that theirs came immediately following lunch, as it gave them additional time to train, if they ate quickly enough.

After they finished eating, the three of them departed to the locker rooms, where they changed into their fighting outfits. Pyrrha and Jaune armed themselves, and the three of them made their way out to a secluded section of Beacon's courtyard, where they could help Jaune work on how to use his weapons.

* * *

"Show me your stance," said Pyrrha.

"My stance...sure," said Jaune. He held up his shield on his left arm and raised his sword in his right hand, facing her directly, legs slightly bent.

Pyrrha's eyes widened slightly, then narrowed. "You're going to need to work on that," she said frankly.

"What's wrong with it?" asked Jaune, nervously dreading her answer.

Pyrrha turned away. With a click, her weapons slid down, her circular shield sliding into place on her left forearm, while her sword dropped right into her waiting right hand. Spinning around with a shout, she unleashed a sudden sideways slash. Jaune yelped and raised his shield. Pyrrha's sword struck with a clang, and Jaune was blown clean off his feet and onto his back.

"Owwww..." he groaned, slowly sitting up.

Pyrrha couldn't quite contain a giggle, and offered Jaune her hand, which he took gratefully.

"Your stance is unbalanced," explained Pyrrha. "It's too easy for an attack to knock you over like that. On top of that, that's an awkward position to strike from. If you want to swing your sword, you're going to have to pull back to get enough power in, which delays and telegraphs your attack. Here..."

Pyrrha began to adjust Jaune's stance, having him stand with his left foot forward, almost side-on to the front, his shield raised up to cover the level of his chest and shoulder, with his sword held at the ready behind it.

"Much better," said Pyrrha. "This is much more stable, so you can take heavier blows. It also covers more of your body, so that it's easier to protect yourself."

"What about attacking?" asked Jaune.

"Your sword is positioned so that, when you deflect a strike with your shield, you can transition into an attack easily," explained Pyrrha. "This is the basic form for a sword-and-shield style."

"Okay...now what?" asked Jaune.

Pyrrha beamed, and began walking him through the basics of using a shield. Contrary to what Jaune had thought, there was more to using a shield than simply keeping it between himself and his enemy. Even if it was a defensive one, a shield was still a weapon. Simply holding it didn't count as wielding it. Pyrrha showed him how to shift it at the moment of contact with an opponent's weapon to deflect the force of a blow, rather than straight-up absorb it. It was tricky. Jaune would have to practice hard in order to learn that skill.

For this session, that was what they focused on. Pyrrha made slow strikes with her sword, and Jaune had to work out which way to deflect them in order to minimize her attack's impact. As they continued, Pyrrha picked up the pace a little and put a little more force behind her swings.

Seeing that there was no space for her in this lesson, Ruby decided to run through her basic katas with Akaibara, grateful for the chance to practice. The downside to focusing so much on Jaune was that there would be little opportunity for her to polish her own skills, outside of sparring sessions. On the other hand, walking Jaune and Pyrrha through the basic exercises of Aura-control she practiced was helping her as well. Sasame and Kyo had always told her that it was good to continuously revisit the basics.

By the time their free period was almost over, Jaune was almost exhausted, and both Ruby and Pyrrha had worked up a decent sweat. That struck Ruby as a little bit unfortunate, as their next, and final, class of the day was Combat Class with Professor Goodwitch. While she was more than ready to fight, as was Pyrrha, Ruby hoped that Glynda didn't call on Jaune just yet.

They went back to the locker room and cleaned up a little. Fortunately, they didn't have to change back into their uniforms for this class, as it would be the only class inside Beacon where they were required to wear their combat outfits.

* * *

"I will make this plain," said Glynda as she paced across the surface of the sparring ring, below the raised seats where the students waited, "this will not be like any other class you have in Beacon. There are no readings, there will be no lectures. The layout is simple. I will call down two students, and you will fight. The conditions of victory will start to vary as the term goes on, so do not assume that this will be simple or easy. This class will also determine your combat-ranking within your year. Sometimes, I will select matchups based on the skill levels of the participants. Others, I will make the selection completely random. You will have to to learn to adapt, regardless of who you find yourself facing. Of course, it goes without saying that I expect absolutely nothing but your best efforts."

Ruby glanced at Jaune, and saw him swallow nervously. Once again, she prayed that he wouldn't be chosen for this first class. With all the students here, there was no way that Glynda could get through them all in a single session.

"While it will not happen over the course of a single session, _every_ student here will get their turn in the ring," continued Glynda. "I will determine the matchups this first time around, but, in the future, I will permit volunteers, and allow students to challenge one another. That said, I have the final say in whether or not a match goes forward."

Glynda opened up her scroll and began to tap on it. "For these first rounds, the match timer will be set at five minutes. The fight will take place within the inner ring." A glowing, blue circle, outlining the darker, inner portion of the sparring ring illuminated. "We will use basic tournament rules. There are two basic victory conditions. First, you can defeat your opponent by ring-out. If any part of their body touches the floor outside the inner ring, you win. The second is by reducing your opponent's Aura to the critical zone. If either of those conditions are fulfilled, the buzzer will sound and the match will end."

Glynda flashed her eyes up into the stands, appearing to stare at some students in particular, though Ruby couldn't tell who from this angle. "Needless to say, attacking your opponent after the buzzer sounds is _not_ permitted. Anyone who does so will be receive an immediate suspension. Repeat offenses could potentially result in expulsion, so I expect you to control yourselves."

Ruby felt a little relieved. Granted, that was typical in virtually any combat-based curriculum. They were here to learn from each other, not kill each other.

"Are there any questions?" asked Glynda, adjusting her spectacles. "No...Good. Then I shall begin the first match." She tapped her scroll a few more times. "Russel Thrush and Ruby Rose, please enter the ring."

_Not again,_ Ruby protested internally, not wanting to be put on the spot twice in one day. She got the definite feeling that Glynda hadn't chosen her for the first match by chance. She got the distinct sense that the stern disciplinarian _still_ harbored doubts about her presence here. Still, Ruby had no choice but to continue to do her best.

Entering the ring, Ruby looked over her opponent, remembering Russel was a member of Team CRDL. He'd stood out from his teammates, mostly by virtue of the fact that he eschewed the armor that the others wore, save for the single spaulder over his left shoulder. Up close, she could see that Russel's head was shaved, save for his pale-green mohawk. He was dressed in a dark-green hoodie, the sleeves of which had apparently been ripped off, and dark-gray pants. Narrowed, brown eyes watched her critically, and Ruby could tell, from the smirk on his face, that Russel didn't think she was going to be much of an opponent.

His weapons were a pair of fairly long daggers, each with a curving, single edge. The interesting part was that each also sported a system of revolving chambers, each one glowing with a different Dust-type, looking reminiscent of Weiss' rapier. However, from their size, Ruby figured that Russel's weapons couldn't hold that much Dust, so he was probably very conservative in its use...unless he was the reckless sort.

Reaching behind herself, Ruby closed the fingers of her left hand around the handle of Akaibara and drew it forth, the blade whispering reassuringly as it left the sheath. Ruby felt the comfortable, familiar feeling of her partner's Aura wash over her, the sensation pulsing from within her sword, exuding a presence that was palpable, even to the other people in the ring.

Glynda's eyes narrowed slightly, her gaze focusing on that rose-red blade. Russel tensed, not quite understanding why.

Ruby twirled her blade through a series of circular passes, before assuming her starting stance, holding it above her head, the edges oriented vertically, with the blade passing between the middle and ring fingers of her upraised right hand. Closing her eyes, Ruby exhaled slowly, then opened them again, focusing intently on her opponent.

Russel took his own stance, lowering himself into a crouch, holding up his right dagger up vertically in front of him, while raising his left dagger behind.

Glynda stepped outside of the ring, and raised the arena's safety barrier. "Begin."

Russel rushed forward with a yell, lunging directly at Ruby. He feinted with his right-hand weapon before abruptly stepping forward into an overhead slash with his left. Ruby turned her wrist, bracing the flat of her blade against her right hand, deflecting Russel's opening slash. Russel went into a rapid series of strikes, alternating his weapons, trying to overwhelm Ruby with the pace of his attacks. She worked her blade through a rapid series of parries, knocking his attacks aside.

Lunging forward, Russel crossed his arms in front of himself, then unleashed an X-shaped slash from both blades simultaneously. But Ruby was no longer in front of him, a few drifting petals the only sign that Ruby had been there at all. She had executed a swift jump over the top of Russel's head, coming down behind him and sweeping her sword at his back. Russel yelped in surprise, turning and barely managing to catch her blade with one of his daggers. Because of his delayed reaction, he wasn't in the proper position to catch her attack and he was nearly knocked off his feet, stumbling back and windmilling his arms to keep from falling over.

Ruby stepped in and went on the offensive, whipping her sword through crescent-shaped strikes and forcing Russel to work his daggers furiously to keep her at bay. His smirk was nowhere to be seen anymore, his face frozen in an expression of dismay as what he assumed to be an easy fight proved to be anything but. Ruby kept pushing, forcing Russel to continue backpedaling, right up until they reached the edge of the ring.

The click of a trigger being pulled reached Ruby's ears. The dagger in Russel's right hand abruptly burst into flame and her swung it, launching a bolt of fire right for her face. Ruby leaned to the side with a sidestep, ducking the Dust-fueled attack. She heard a second click and the left-hand dagger erupted into flames as well. Russel shouted, swinging it across his body and sending a wave of flame rushing at Ruby.

Going into a spin, Ruby swept out her cloak, channeling her Aura into it, catching the flames and sweeping them aside like a curtain. Stepping through the place they'd occupied, Ruby continued to press her attack, determined to drive Russel out of the ring.

But Russel had taken a page from her book. In the time it had taken Ruby to fend off the flames, he'd jumped into the air over her head. Unlike Ruby, Russel didn't try to come down behind his opponent, but instead dropped from above, feet-first. Ruby jumped back as Russel's double-kick hit the floor where she'd been standing. She saw the chambers of his daggers rotating again, green ones being selected this time.

Russel thrust directly ahead of himself with both daggers. A horizontal tornado exploded out from them, threatening to blow Ruby back across, and off the other side of, the ring. After skidding back a couple of meters, Ruby changed the angle of her sword, holding it vertically, she swung it upward, slicing the maelstrom in two and parting the winds around her body.

As she did, she saw Russel charging at her. With another loud yell, Russel launched himself into the air, curling his legs and flipping rapidly in a movement that reminded Ruby of the Boarbatusk's spin attack from earlier that morning. As he did, more wind streamed off his daggers, wrapping around him and increasing the speed of his rotations.

Sidestepping, Ruby moved out of the way, just as the whirlwind that was Russel went flying through the space where she'd been standing. To her surprise, she realized she hadn't fully escaped his attack, as the winds that were wrapped around him pulled her back in towards him in the wake of his passage. Russel landed and, in a single, smooth motion, transitioned into a back-kick, using the leftover momentum of his flips, the movement channeling that wind into the attack.

Bracing the flat of her blade against her right hand, Ruby blocked the kick, the wind projected by it driving her back again. Her feet skidded across the smooth floor of the ring and she was faced with the very real possibility that _she'd_ be the one forced out. Fortunately, she managed to find some traction, coming to a stop less than a meter away from the edge.

That was enough room for Russel to go on the offensive again, charging her with a flurry of slashes from his daggers, intending to overwhelm her with the sheer volume of attacks. Ruby worked furiously to defend. Fending off a slash, Ruby lunged forward with a thrust, but found herself missing when Russel executed a jumping flip over the top of her head.

Landing, Russel immediately drove for her undefended back...or at least it _seemed_ undefended. Abruptly, the blade of Ruby's sword pierced through the fabric of her cloak, heading right for Russel's chest. Her movements hidden by the garment, Ruby had reversed her grip and thrust backwards. As expected, it caught him off-guard. Furthermore, with her movements still hidden by the cloak, Russel failed to see Ruby's right hand reach across her body and close around the handle of the sword behind her left hand.

Pulling her sword back, Ruby went into a spin at the same time. Letting go with her left hand, she used her right to swing her blade through a backhanded slash in time with her spin. Russel barely caught a glimpse of the attack coming and stepped back. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't far enough, and a cry of pain burst out of his lips as Ruby's attack cut across his chest, gouging deep into his defensive Aura.

The impact nearly knocked Russel the rest of the way over. Had that happened, he would have fallen out of the ring and lost right there. Fortunately, he managed to recover, stepping forward to try and press the attack again. However, he was brought up short when Ruby brought her sword around to face him. Russel would have normally batted it aside to close in, but he misjudged the distance. By the time he was bringing his daggers up to parry, the tip of Ruby's blade was less than an inch away from his face.

Russel came to a sudden stop, flinching back. Ruby immediately took the initiative, stepping in herself. As she did, she transitioned her sword back to her left hand, bringing it back up and around and down in a powerful slash. With a surprised shout, Russel crossed his daggers, barely catching Ruby's sword in time. However, he was unprepared by the power of the blow, as Ruby channeled her Aura through the strike. Caught off-balance by his earlier flinch, Russel was knocked off his feet and sent flying out of the ring, slamming into the safety barrier beyond as the buzzer sounded, announcing Ruby's victory.

"The winner is Ruby Rose," announced Glynda, bringing down the barrier and stepping forward.

Russel groaned, having trouble getting to his feet. Ruby was about to go over to help him up when his teammates came to assist him.

"Mr. Thrush, you would do well not to underestimate your opponent," said Glynda. "Perhaps this will induce you to take every match more seriously."

"Got it," said Russel in a pained voice.

Glynda looked to Ruby and adjusted her spectacles. After a moment's pause, she spoke. "Well done, Ms. Rose."

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, feeling as though she had passed some kind of test.

* * *

Up in the stands, Weiss leaned back in her seat, her arms folded, glaring down at the ring. "She got lucky," she declared imperiously.

"I'd say not," said Pyrrha, looking...eager. "I've never seen such fine swordplay. It must be because she doesn't rely on Dust."

"What, because she showed she's ambidextrous?" scoffed Weiss.

"It's not just that," said Pyrrha. "It's true that it's impressive she can fight equally well with each hand, but it's _how_ she switched that won her the match."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss, giving Pyrrha a confused look.

"When she traded hands, she made the transition by taking the handle of her sword in her right hand while she was still holding it in her left," said Pyrrha. "Naturally, because both hands can't occupy the same space on the handle, she had to place her right hand behind her left hand."

"So what?" Weiss wanted to know.

"So, when she let go with her left and attacked with her right, she was still gripping it a few inches farther back along the handle," said Pyrrha. "That increased the reach of her sword by a small margin. That might not seem like a lot, but against an agility-based fighter like Russel, that allowed her to throw off his sense of distance and attack him when he thought he was just outside her reach. It's ingeniously subtle."

Pyrrha's heart pounded with excitement as she watched Ruby leave the ring. She hadn't felt this way since her first run in the Mistral Regional Tournament. She wanted to fight Ruby, to pit her skills against the younger girl, and find out who was better. Pyrrha got the distinct impression that Ruby would give her a challenge of the kind Pyrrha hadn't experienced in years. The notion of that thrilled her to the core.

Weiss took in the excited look on her partner's face. She wasn't completely oblivious. She was fully aware that Pyrrha was apparently agreeing to help Jaune, though she didn't know what that entailed, and that she was spending more time with the other two than her own partner.

_This isn't right,_ thought Weiss furiously. _Pyrrha is _my_ partner. I won't let that brat and that scruffy blonde drag her down._ She would fix this sorry state of affairs...one way or another.

* * *

**Bit of a warning in advance, this was written before the _After the Fall_ light novel came out, when it comes to the teachers, and the classes they teach.**

**Speaking of plot points straight-up borrowed from _Matters of the Heart_, there's Ruby being called down by Professor Port to talk about her experience. I don't mind admitting that this was based largely on a similar sequence from that story, although it serves a different purpose, as Vengefulfate's rendition is mainly for hinting about the tragic aspect of the story of Ruby's teacher. In my case, it's about the wedge between Weiss and Ruby.**

**One of my points of divergence was stretching out the time Weiss spends with an antagonistic attitude towards Ruby. In MotH, Ruby smacks it out of her partway through the Initiation. In my case, I have Weiss continuing to carry a bit of a grudge in a manner similar to her canon self's behavior, believing that _she_ should have been the one designated to lead the team, all though my version is more aggressive about asserting that. Ruby's also a bit wiser, so she doesn't make the mistake her canon-self did by trying to shout advice to a girl, whom she knows doesn't like her. She instead gets Pyrrha, the one that Weiss _does_ respect, to do it for her...which is a pretty solid leadership moment, come to think of it. Looks like Ozpin's decision was a good one after all.**

**Aside from that, we are once again going over Jaune's training, a common feature of stories that retread the Volume 1-3 events, and touch upon Jaune in any way (aside from the _RWBY, But Jaune is a Badass_ stories). As is par for the course for me, I'm a bit more detail-oriented. For time-reasons, the canon series glosses over Jaune's training (because there's only so much time in an episode after all). In my case, one of the first things I chose to focus on was the idea of training Jaune how to use his shield, which may or may not be all that accurate on how a shield of that type is supposed to be wielded, but that was my interpretation.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

The remainder of the class went rather smoothly. Aside from Ruby, Pyrrha was the only other member of Team RASP called up. She was matched against another first-year, and dominated the battle quite handily, showing precisely why she was so admired in Mistral. Aside from that, Ren and Blake were called up from Team RYNB, both of them performing well in their matches. It seemed that, between their two teams, they had some of the best-performing members of the first-year class.

"Listen, it's all well and good that you can fight," lectured Weiss. "But there's more to being a Huntress than just knowing how to swing a sword around. That's why Beacon has such a comprehensive curriculum."

"Well, you're right about that," admitted Ruby readily enough, surprising Weiss with her admission. "On that note, we've got our afternoon free-time until dinner. Let's hit the library, Jaune."

"_What!?_" exclaimed Jaune and Weiss at the same time, before looking at each other, just as shocked by the fact that they'd said the same thing as they were by Ruby's declaration.

"Yep, we need to get our homework and readings out of the way, pronto," said Ruby, latching onto Jaune's arm and pulling him away, also allowing her to lean in closer and whisper into his ear. "We need the time after dinner for training. I _warned_ you this was gonna suck."

Jaune swallowed back his protest, admitting to himself that he'd made his bed, and now he had to lie in it.

"You two wanna come with us?" asked Ruby, looking back at Pyrrha and Weiss.

"I think a group study session would be grand," said Pyrrha almost immediately, before looking at her partner. "Right, Weiss?"

Weiss blinked, frowned, then relaxed a little. "I suppose it's true that it's best to get our homework out of the way as soon as possible." Deep inside, she was quietly impressed by Ruby's work ethic. _Maybe she's not such a dunce after all..._

* * *

_I was wrong!_ Weiss fumed silently as she listened to Ruby ask question after question, seeking to clarify this or that part of their homework readings. It hadn't been too bad at first. In fact, prior to this, it had been Jaune needing the most help with the academics, having completely lost the train of Dr. Oobleck's lecture during History. But now, they had reached their Dust Science homework, and Ruby was demonstrating that she knew next to nothing on the subject matter.

"But if physical integration is so effective, why doesn't everybody use it?" asked Ruby.

"It takes a lot of practice," Pyrrha answered. "Channeling Dust into your body requires a number of things. It requires skill in manipulating Dust in its raw state, whether crystalline or powdered. It requires a great deal of physical integrity. People who fuse Dust into their bodies have to build up their muscles to handle the strain. It also stimulates your nerve endings, namely your pain-sensors."

"What about weaving it into your clothing?" asked Jaune.

"Again, it takes fine control," said Pyrrha. "That's the preferred method between the two. But it takes a great deal of practice to manipulate the effects through your Aura. On top of that, you need refined control, or a lot of Dust just goes to waste."

"Ah," said Ruby, jotting down the answer on her worksheet. "Now...Ugh! Another mixing question!" She reached over to the textbook and began flipping through it, consulting the tables within for the Dust-types and the ratios of each to determine the qualities of the resulting mixture.

_At least she tries figuring it out herself before asking annoying questions,_ Weiss was forced to concede. She sighed. "Honestly, I'm appalled at your ignorance. Dust is the cornerstone of our civilization. You should have a thorough understanding of it if you aim to be a Huntress."

"I studied outside the Kingdoms," said Ruby. "I've never used Dust before in my life."

"That can't be true!" exclaimed Weiss, smacking her hands against the table. "What about that lightning attack you used against that Grimm during the initiation? You had to have used Dust for that."

"Nope," said Ruby plainly.

"You're lying," growled Weiss.

"Nope," repeated Ruby.

"I have to admit that I have trouble believing that," said Pyrrha shyly.

Ruby sighed slowly. "I don't want to talk too much about my teachers. Some people in Vale wouldn't like it. But I guess I should at least trust my teammates."

She spread her awareness around her, checking for any sign of someone eavesdropping. Fortunately, there weren't many people using the library during the afternoon free period, most students relaxing in the space between the last class of the day and dinner, intending to do their assignments in the evening, before curfew. Sensing that they weren't being spied on, Ruby relaxed a little and lifted up her left hand. Snapping her fingers, she sparked her Aura into life. With a snap and a flash, a crackling orb of crimson electricity burst into being, hovering above her extended index finger, occasionally extending arcs to down to the finger itself.

"That's-" protested Weiss, reaching out towards the the ball of elemental energy with her fingers, aiming to affect the Dust with her own Aura...only to find nothing, "...not...Dust?" She blinked, staring at the tiny flame in complete bafflement. "H-how?"

"Amazing!" gasped Pyrrha, her eyes shining as she stared at the flame.

"Whoa!" added Jaune emphatically.

"What...how can you do that?" demanded Weiss.

Ruby turned her hand over, flipping the palm up and willing her plasma to drift to hover in the air over the center of the table. "With my Aura," she said plainly. "I've learned to change the quality of my Aura to manifest it as lightning. My technique's still incomplete. Its creator could do way more with it." She relaxed her hand, allowing the flickering spark of lightning to go out.

"And you can do that...with just your Aura?" breathed Jaune.

Ruby nodded slowly.

"Where did you...who taught you...?" Weiss was practically feeling her entire worldview crumbling away. _People can do that without Dust? What does this mean? What about my company?_

"Like I said, I'm not supposed to talk about them too much," said Ruby. "They don't get along well with the Kingdoms, an old grudge…sort of."

"I demand you tell me!" snapped Weiss.

"Weiss!" protested Pyrrha. "That is not how you ask for information."

"I'm not asking, I'm _telling!_" pressed Weiss, glaring at Ruby. "Where did you learn how to do this? Who taught you? Answer me!"

"Not if you're gonna be like that, Yukihime," replied Ruby dismissively. "Now, do you mind if we get back to our homework? We're almost done."

"I won't stand for this!" yelled Weiss, shooting to her feet. "What you do flies in the face of everything our very civilization is built upon. You come here and flaunt that kind of power in front of my face, and refuse to explain just how you came by it...What are you hiding?"

"It's none of your business, Yukihime," replied Ruby, in an annoyed tone.

"It's very _much_ my business-and stop calling me by that nickname! What does that even mean?"

"Well, I don't feel like answering your questions, not if you're going to scream like a baby," answered Ruby, already paging through her textbook for the answer to the next question.

"I am _not_ screaming like a baby!" yelled Weiss.

"You kinda are," said Jaune nervously, with a sheepish grin on his face.

"He's not wrong," added Pyrrha weakly.

Weiss looked back and forth between the other two members of her team, aghast. _They're all turning against me._ Pyrrha was her _partner_. How could Pyrrha not be worried by this development? It was as though the three of them were the _actual_ team and Weiss was some kind of...entourage. _This...this isn't how things are supposed to be. I'm supposed to be the one leading the way, setting the pace, deciding our course of action. Pyrrha and I should be working together to stand at the top of our class. But now..._

Now it wasn't simply a matter of not being chosen to lead the team. Now Ruby was flaunting something that completely defied the logic that Weiss' entire world had been built around. On top of that, the others weren't just _not_ questioning it, but were accepting it wholeheartedly. In the meantime, she was being kept out of the loop, left uninformed, essentially being sabotaged by her own teammates.

A mix of negative feelings swelled within her. Unable to stand anymore, Weiss bared her teeth. Clenching her fists so hard that her fingernails bit into the skin of her palms, Weiss turned and stalked away from her team, making her way out of the library at a fast walk, requiring every ounce of her restraint not to break into a run.

Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune watched her go.

"I...Maybe I could have handled that better," said Ruby, sighing and sagging down.

"Maybe," said Jaune. "But I do think that just demanding answers like she was, ordering you around like that...you were definitely within your rights not to answer her. Maybe if she'd asked politely…"

"I...I don't know," admitted Pyrrha, looking after Weiss. "As...difficult...as she can be, she's still our teammate. I feel like we're walling her out."

"If we're walling her out, she's bricking it up from the other side at the same time," grumbled Ruby. "She acts like everything should go the way she wants, just because she says so."

"Maybe," said Pyrrha. "But...things are going to come to a head and...if we aren't careful...I don't want to drive Weiss away completely."

"I thought you didn't want to be her partner," said Ruby, looking somberly at Pyrrha.

"I...I didn't," said Pyrrha, looking away. "But...the rules are the rules. I can't change my partner, not any more than we can change our assigned teams. I have to accept that, and I need to learn to work with Weiss. But...right now...we're just working _against_ her. However much we may be put off by her attitude, she _is_ our teammate, and we have an obligation to reach out to her as much as she has one to reach out to us. I can't accept it if we don't do everything we can to treat Weiss as a member of this team. If we do all that we can, and _she's_ the one who refuses to budge, then..."

"What else can we do?" asked Ruby, painful tension in her own voice. "It's not that I don't get that. I don't want to just push Weiss away, and act like she's not a member of this team. But she won't give at all. Everything has to be the way she wants it or nothing at all. I'm trying to show that I'm serious about this, but she doesn't care, because, as far as she's concerned, she she's better than everyone else here, except _you_, and that apparently means that she should always get what she wants."

"I know..." said Pyrrha, looking down. "And...I think _I_ have to be the one to go to her."

"You?" asked Jaune.

"I _am_ her partner," said Pyrrha. "I...I never really wanted to be, but that's how the cards were dealt. I have to deal with that. And I seem to be the only person she's even remotely inclined to listen to."

"Pyrrha..." Ruby looked worriedly at her friend.

"It's all right," said Pyrrha, smiling back at Ruby. "You didn't want to be the leader either. But here you are, trying your best to make the most of it, and do the best job you can." She looked at Jaune. "And you're working so hard too. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I hope that you'll tell me at some point."

Jaune paled slightly and nodded.

"So I shouldn't let this team fall apart, just because I'm afraid to deal with my own partner," said Pyrrha. "I'll talk to her."

"Well...all right," said Ruby. "You're right about you being the only one she'll think about listening to."

Pyrrha nodded and began to close her books. "I hope you two can make it through the rest of your homework all right. We're almost done for the night."

"Is it all right if I check my answers with you, before we turn it in?" asked Ruby hopefully.

"Of course," said Pyrrha. "Remember, we'll have tomorrow too."

Taking her books, Pyrrha headed to the door of the library. Outside, she paused, then drew in a shuddering breath and let it out. It was time to do what she'd been dreading, confronting her partner.

* * *

Yang stared at the scroll, her father's contact icon visible in the center of the screen. One tap, and she'd be speaking to him directly. It was the same position she'd been in the night after Initiation, or last night. And now, here she was again, staring at the screen, realizing she should touch that icon, call her father, and let him know...let him know that Ruby was here, that she was alive, that she was back.

_He's been worried for so long. Hell! He mostly thinks she's dead by now. I can't keep him in the dark._ Her thumb hovered a little bit closer to the icon.

Her mind went back to that morning, listening to Ruby's story of the trials she'd been through, simply walking down to Vale, traveling by foot across the continent...alone. She'd slept in trees and caves, always having to keep one eye open, in case a Grimm happened by. She'd moved from settlement to settlement, living off the land, supporting herself with the skills she'd been taught, fighting monsters every step of the way. Was it any wonder that Ozpin had invited her in?

Then there had been her match against Russel. Yang got the impression that the boys of Team CRDL were probably not amongst the top students of this year's class, but that didn't change the fact that Russel had gotten defeated handily by a girl two years his junior. Ruby had barely even taken any damage during that match as well. Ruby wasn't just able to get by here, she seemed to be thriving. And it was just the first day.

And yet, she knew that _none_ of that would matter to Taiyang Xiao Long. She still remembered those first emotional days after Ruby disappeared. She remembered him yelling over the scroll at Qrow, accusing him of taking Ruby away to foster her "idiotic fantasies." She remembered him yelling at _her_, saying that none of this would have happened, had she kept a proper eye on Ruby. Worse, Yang agreed. She should have been watching Ruby. It had been her fault that Ruby had been in danger, that day in the woods, then it was her fault that Ruby had gotten away.

Taiyang had called the police in Vale proper, telling them what happened. Then he'd gone and purchased a tracking anklet, the kind of thing criminals on parole normally wore. He was going to make sure that, from then on, he knew exactly where Ruby was at all times. As far as Yang knew, he still had it.

If he learned that Ruby was here, at Beacon, he would come within the hour. He'd pull her out of school, drag her back by force, if that was what it took. And now Yang knew that Ruby would never accept that. She'd either run away again or, worse, fight back. Taiyang may not have been an active Huntsman anymore, but that didn't mean he'd let his skills deteriorate any.

_So it's better to leave her here...where she could get herself killed?_ Yang blanched at the thought. _If she dies, then it's my fault. I might as well _still_ be pulling that wagon through the woods._

The more she looked at her scroll, the more indecision gnawed at her. It wasn't right to leave things like this. But telling Taiyang didn't feel right either. She needed to talk to someone..._Oh!_

Yang reopened her contacts and scrolled down to the list of the persons she trusted most, probably even more than her own father. She didn't hesitate to tap the icon, looking wistfully at the portrait of her Uncle Qrow.

The scroll rang for a few seconds before he answered. "_Hey there, Firecracker. How ya doin'? Heard you got into Beacon all right._"

"I did," said Yang. "Uncle Qrow..."

"_What's up? You sound pretty upset._"

"Uncle Qrow...Ruby's here," Yang finally managed to force out.

"_Huh?_"

There was something about her Uncle's response, just that one syllable, that felt off to Yang. There was surprise, but not as much as she would have expected, not from a man who'd been looking for Ruby for years, and come up empty-handed. Instead, there was more confusion than surprise.

"Uncle Qrow...?" Yang asked warily.

"_Sorry, just...trying to wrap my head around that,_" said Qrow quickly. "_Still, it's not a complete shocker. If she was gonna pop up anywhere, it would be over at Beacon. Didn't expect her for a couple more years though._"

"Didn't expect...?" Yang frowned, her eyes narrowing. "Uncle Qrow...I thought you never found Ruby."

"_I'm just sayin',_" said Qrow, his reply even more hurried, the tone of a man realizing he'd dug himself a hole and was now desperately trying to clamber out of it. "_You know how she was. It was about the only thing she ever talked about when she was little, 'til Tai put a stopper on it._"

"Uncle Qrow...you found Ruby before now, didn't you?" growled Yang. "Don't lie...not to me."

She heard Qrow sigh heavily. There was a lot of tiredness in that sound. "_Dammit, Firecracker. You could stand to be a little less perceptive._" Then he groaned. "_I've got too much on my plate to waste time dancing in circles, so yeah...I found her a few months after she left._"

"A few _months_!" gasped Yang, glad no one else was in the dorm room right now.

"_Yep,_" said Qrow. "_It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, mainly because she hooked up with a couple of travelers, and headed out of the Kingdom proper, post haste._"

"You mean she left with strangers?" gasped Yang.

"_Pretty much,_" said Qrow. "_That was what scared me at first. Then things got weird. The kinda people we'd be worried about taking Ruby wouldn't be a sort to travel through the wilderness on foot._"

"They walked out there?" gasped Yang.

"_Yep,_" said Qrow. "_And Ruby walked with 'em. I followed their trail up to Dunedain, then to Barrowdown, then I caught up with 'em in Anduin._"

"You caught up to them? You mean you actually _found_ Ruby?" asked Yang.

"_Yep,_" said Qrow. "_Let me tell you, kiddo. She wasn't in the mood to come back._"

"That shouldn't have stopped you," growled Yang.

"_I didn't let it stop me,_" said Qrow. "_Unfortunately, the people who picked her up _did_ stop me._"

"Who?" growled Yang.

"_Couple of odd sorts for sure,_" said Qrow. "_They have something of a rep out in the settlements, one that I really couldn't wrap my head around. When I asked about them, people stopped talking, like they were afraid. But, in private, they were looking forward to the next time the pair visited._"

"I don't get it," said Yang.

"_I didn't either, not at first,_" said Qrow. "_There were two of them. One was a fox-faunus, short little thing, went by the name of Sasame. The other was a swordsman by the name of Kyo. When I tried to force the issue...Kyo handed me my ass._"

"You lost?" Now Yang was completely shocked. Her Uncle Qrow was the coolest, most-badass Huntsman she knew. The idea of him losing just did not compute.

"_Badly,_" admitted Qrow. "_And, from what I could tell, that guy was taking it easy and playing at my level. I didn't even rate him getting serious. Afterwards, they made sure I wasn't in any shape to keep up the chase, so I couldn't follow them after that, even if I wanted to._"

"Which means you _didn't_ want to," said Yang in a low tone.

"_Not after I saw what they'd done for Ruby, how happy she was..._" Qrow sighed. "_You didn't see it Yang, Ruby's eyes were lit up like they hadn't been in ages. She was laughing and smiling, like she didn't have a care in the world, even though she was working her butt off with the training they were giving her. It was everything that she wanted, everything that we all denied her._"

"We...but _you_ wanted to train her," Yang pointed out.

"_Not badly enough,_" admitted Qrow with the voice of a man fully aware of his own inadequacy and unhappy to admit it. "_Listen, Firecracker, my gig as a Professor at Signal was my side job. My work as a Huntsman has always been my number-one priority. Yeah, I definitely didn't approve of what Tai was doing, but other than shouting at him about it, I was too stupid to see just how much he was hurting Ruby to really do something to stop it, not until she up and left on her own._

"_If I'd wanted to really fight for Ruby's future, I'd have taken Tai to court over it. I'd have tried to prove that he wasn't fit to be a parent. Of course, that would have _other_ repercussions. If he was unfit to be Ruby's parent, then he was probably unfit to be _yours_ as well. _Both_ of you would have been out of that house._

"_And then there'd be the question of what to do after that. Sure, I was willing to help Ruby with her weapon-training and design, but that was under the assumption that I'd be helping her as a Signal student. I couldn't just give up my work and take the two of you in myself, the courts wouldn't have found me to be much of a better fit than Tai, not with how much I drink. Well…there was that guy too…but he wasn't in the best position at the time…_"

Remembering how Qrow almost always seemed perpetually drunk, Yang couldn't help but agree with that sentiment. She wondered who this other "guy" Qrow mentioned was, but figured it was one of his friends. Qrow seemed to have a lot of unusual friends.

"_So there would have been a lot of nitty-gritty crap to wade through, in order to try and ensure that you two were looked after, but in a way that would still let you follow the paths you wanted. I...it was too much work for me then...that's my excuse. I didn't fight for Ruby hard enough because it would've been inconvenient. And, because of that, she did something stupid, reckless, and desperate. She got lucky, _obscenely_ lucky. For her story, there must be a few dozen other kids in similar situations who met ugly ends on the street. But she made it...and the people who were with her sincerely cared about her. So I made a decision...I decided to let her go._"

"And you didn't tell us?" said Yang, the words emerging along with a choked sob.

"_I knew it would hurt you and...yeah,_" said Qrow. "_I ain't gonna apologize, because that doesn't make things right in the slightest, and I have to admit, if I could go back in time and do it all over again, the only change I would've made was not picking that fight in the first place. I would've let her go without a fuss._"

Yang didn't know what to say about that.

"_Have you talked to her?_" asked Qrow.

"Y-yeah..." Yang sniffled. "She _hates_ me, Uncle Qrow. Whenever she sees me, she glares...or she pretends I'm not here at all."

"_I'm not surprised,_" said Qrow, eliciting a choking sound from Yang. "_I'm not saying she's right to treat you that way. In some ways, _you're_ as much of a victim of Tai as she was._"

"I'm not a victim!" protested Yang.

"_So Tai never got angry at you, and blamed you for her leaving?_" asked Qrow.

Yang's silence was answer enough.

"_Thought so,_" said Qrow. "_Tai's...twisted. Saying he's in grief doesn't cover for it anymore. He's been warped and, to some degree, he's done a lot of that warping himself. What Ruby did wasn't smart or mature, but sometimes the only thing you can do is make the least-bad of a host of bad decisions. I can't lecture you about it, because you were a kid too, and Tai was always feeding that guilt complex over taking Ruby with you, that time in the forest._"

"But it was _my_ fault!" exclaimed Yang. "I put her in that wagon and pulled her along with me, going on some stupid quest to find my real mother, like some kind of idiot fairy tale..."

"_A quest you wouldn't have been on if Tai had gotten his act together like he was supposed to,_" Qrow countered. "_Tai doesn't have any right to hold that over your head, not with the way he was acting at the time. But that's a bit beside the point._

"_Yeah, Ruby's probably bitter about how things were. Tell me, have you told Tai yet?_"

"No," said Yang.

"_Good choice,_" said Qrow. "_Right now, I'm not sure he's fit to handle that kind of truth. He'll find out eventually. But, hopefully, Ruby will have a chance to get settled and comfortable there, so she'll have some traction when she resists him._"

"But she can't, can she?" asked Yang.

"_Well that's the thing..._" said Qrow warily. "_It's a bit of a gray area, what with her being fifteen and all. But, knowing Oz, he has that angle covered. Unless Ruby's on the verge of expulsion, Tai won't have any leverage._"

"Oh..." said Yang.

"_Listen, I'd be the last person to lecture you on healthy relationships, I don't really have any idea how you can repair yours with Ruby,_" said Qrow. "_Just...try not to come onto her in some condescending or worried manner._"

"You mean, don't try to act like her big sister," said Yang glumly.

"_Well, not the kind of big sister you were before,_" said Qrow. "_She's where she wants to be, so try encouraging her instead. Cheer for her in her sparring matches, maybe offer to help her with her homework, that sort of thing...I don't know._" He sighed.

Yang frowned, uncertain of what to say, so she changed the subject. "Do you know anything about the people she was with...I mean...more than you did then?"

"_Quite a bit,_" said Qrow. "_But they ain't the sort of people you ask about unless you're looking for trouble. Me, I've got a special source, but I suggest you don't dig too deep. It's not illegal to ask about them, but you can ruffle the feathers of some nasty people if you do._"

"I don't get it?" asked Yang.

"_All right...I'll tell you, on the condition that you _don't_ start asking around,_" said Qrow. "_I'm serious, here._"

"All right," said Yang with a gulp.

"_Okay, Firecracker. So, here's the deal. Sasame and Kyo, those two that took Ruby in, they're from a group called the Mibu Clan..._"

* * *

Weiss wasn't sure what to do, after she'd stormed out of the library. She probably should have finished the rest of her homework, but she couldn't concentrate, not with the storm of emotions surging through her. Didn't Ruby realize how dangerous a revelation like this was? It could completely upset the world order. But she refused to share anything about her mysterious power and how it worked.

_And Pyrrha's taking _her_ side,_ thought Weiss furiously. _This wasn't how things were supposed to go..._

Ultimately, she ended up going back to their room and slamming the door shut behind her. From there, she'd kicked off her boots and huddled on her bed, unsure of what to do. Part of her felt ashamed, sulking like the child she so often accused Ruby of being, yet she couldn't figure out what else to do.

Her train of thought...or lack thereof...was interrupted by a faint knocking on the door. "Weiss?" asked a soft, polite voice. "Are you in here?"

"Pyrrha?" Weiss looked up as her partner slowly opened the door.

"Can I come in?" asked Pyrrha, as polite as ever.

"Sure," said Weiss. "It's your room too."

"I know," said Pyrrha, folding her hands together nervously as she stood in the doorway. "But if you wanted to be alone..."

"I'd be better off finding somewhere else," said Weiss with a sigh. "It's not like Ruby or Jaune would let me keep them out if they wanted to come in."

"Jaune would," said Pyrrha, "though I think that's more out of fear than respect."

"Good enough for me," muttered Weiss. Truth be told, as much as Ruby aggravated her, Jaune Arc was pretty much beneath her notice. For all that it was worrying to share a room with a male, with no telling what kind of restraint, or lack thereof, he possessed, every time he was around and said anything, Weiss was always put off by it. It was like one of the dust bunnies had started talking.

"You shouldn't be like that, Weiss," said Pyrrha with a sigh. "Ruby and Jaune are our teammates."

"It doesn't feel like that to me," growled Weiss.

"Because they won't automatically do what you say?" pressed Pyrrha.

"Because they won't _listen_ to me!" exclaimed Weiss. "I've studied and trained. Do you have any idea how humiliating it is to have all that hard work snubbed, so that Ozpin could hand the position that I rightfully earned to his...his..._pet!_"

"Weiss!" snapped Pyrrha, a degree of anger in her tone that Weiss had never believed that Pyrrha was capable of. "How dare you suggest that about Ruby?"

"Why not?" asked Weiss. "How else to you explain her being here, at her age?"

"Maybe because she worked hard too," said Pyrrha plainly. "Maybe because she worked _harder_ than us."

"That's impossible!" protested Weiss.

"Is it?" asked Pyrrha darkly, almost glaring at Weiss now. "Is it really?"

"She was out in the forests, training like some kind of barbarian," protested Weiss, "sleeping on the ground and fighting-"

"Grimm," said Pyrrha plainly. "She was out there fighting Grimm, the very things this Academy is supposed to be training us to fight. She's been out there and faced down more than most people her age have probably even _seen_ in their lives, and you think that makes her _un_qualified?"

"B-but it's so...so..." Weiss couldn't find the word she wanted. She didn't even know if the word to describe her protest existed.

"Because she didn't have a rich family that could afford the finest instructors money could buy?" asked Pyrrha bitterly. She'd been originally aiming for some kind of reconciliation with Weiss, but now she realized just why Ruby got so frustrated and bitter with the heiress. "Because she doesn't have the resources of the Schnee Dust Company to supply herself with the best equipment or all the Dust she could ever use?"

"I didn't buy my way in!" snapped Weiss.

"I never suggested you did," said Pyrrha. "But, you have to admit, because of your family, you had access to things that Ruby never could, things you've apparently come to take for granted, things that apparently make you think you're automatically better than her.

"I..." Weiss was at a loss for words. The truth was, she _did_ think that the resources she had access to made her more qualified than Ruby. After all, Weiss was groomed for leadership from the very beginning. Ever since Winter had gone into the military, Weiss had been the choice to lead the Schnee Dust Company into the future. She'd been trained to run a massive, worldwide corporation. Compared to that, a four-person team was simplicity itself. She was _overqualified_ for the position.

But it was clear that line of thought wouldn't fly with Pyrrha. So she decided on another. "But do you have any idea what this is going to do to our reputations?" she pressed. "Ruby Rose is two years younger than us. I'm the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and you're Mistral's Invincible Girl. How do you think it looks to have the two of us taking orders from a fifteen-year-old? And don't say you don't care about your reputation, or some such drivel."

"I _do_ care about my reputation," said Pyrrha darkly. "And I _hate_ that I care about it."

"What?" gasped Weiss.

"I never wanted to be the Invincible Girl," said Pyrrha. "I didn't want to be a celebrity or have endorsements. I had no idea what I was getting into, when my parents pushed me into that. I didn't realize what baggage that all came with, until my agent started regulating what I did and said, how I behaved and acted.

"I don't want to live, feeling like I'm forever being watched and assessed by people who have no right to judge me. I don't want to live in mortal fear of making a mistake, worried that people will tear into me at the first sign of weakness. If I'd really wanted that kind of life, I would have stayed in Mistral, gone to Haven. But I chose to come to Beacon, so that I could escape that."

Pyrrha fixed a bitter glare on Weiss. "So, yes, I care about my reputation. But I don't _want_ to care about it. I want to make friends, Weiss, _real_ friends, not fans who mindlessly praise everything I do. I want to become a Huntress. I want to fight the Grimm. I want to protect people. That's all I ever wanted to be. That's why it upsets me that you're trying so hard to chase the first real friends I've had in years away."

"They're just ignorant," said Weiss. "I don't know how Arc didn't recognize you, but Ruby has no clue what's going on in the world."

"I'm fine with that," said Pyrrha. "Maybe it's a bit silly that that's the basis for our friendship. But for the first time, someone actually saw me for _me,_ and not the celebrity image that's been built up around me like some kind of stupid monument. Ruby has zero context to understand the weight of the things you told her about me yesterday. That allowed her to meet me as a friend and as a peer."

"But she's not _qualified_ to be your peer," insisted Weiss. "She doesn't have anything to match your accomplishments."

"Weiss! This is Beacon Academy!" shouted Pyrrha, amazed at how bullheaded her partner was. "Do you think that, even for a minute, Professor Ozpin cares how many endorsements I have? Do you think that Dr. Oobleck will test the class on my sponsors? Do you think that Professor Port will fudge my grades on the basis of all the autographs I've signed? Do you believe that Professor Goodwitch cares about my tournament record more than how I perform in the ring before her own eyes? I came to Beacon specifically to try and leave that behind."

"And you think I didn't?" asked Weiss. "All my life, my father has tried to control everything about my upbringing. I liked to sing, so he made me put on charity concerts so that he could pat himself on the back in public about what a generous benefactor he is. He brags about how much he's built our company, while running my family's good name into the ground. I've been watched too. I've had to act the way everyone expects the Schnee heiress to act. I've had to uphold our company and family name with everything I say and do. Becoming a Huntress, coming to Beacon, those were the first real decisions I made for myself."

"Your father didn't want you to come?" asked Pyrrha.

"He didn't want me to become a Huntress," said Weiss darkly. "And even after he realized he couldn't stop me, he wanted me to go to Atlas Academy instead, where he could still have some control over me. When I didn't budge, he made me take a 'test' to prove my fitness." Her finger went up to trace the scar over her left eye. "That's how I got this."

"Weiss..." said Pyrrha softly.

"I came to Beacon because it was what 'Weiss' wanted to do, not 'Ms. Schnee,'" said Weiss. "I have to prove that I'm capable of making my own decisions, deciding things for myself, without Father looking over my shoulder and pulling my strings.

"And I know what it's like to not have friends. All I've ever had were self-serving sycophants who talked me up to my face, and then schemed behind my back about how to best take advantage of their relationship with me."

"You mean like approaching someone and buttering her up about how _everyone must be so eager to be her partner_?" asked Pyrrha ruefully.

"Ye-" Weiss' stopped mid-syllable, her mouth hanging open as she realized what Pyrrha was talking about. Weiss suddenly felt cold inside, a bitter, painful feeling she'd thought she'd left behind in Atlas. Now that Pyrrha brought it up to her, Weiss realized that was _exactly_ what she'd done when they'd talked in the locker room. _No! I hate those selfish imbeciles who think I'm too stupid to see through their paper-thin flattery! How could I go and do the same thing?_

Because that wasn't what she'd been thinking about when she'd gone to Pyrrha. Weiss hadn't been thinking about friends. Going to Beacon and becoming a Huntress weren't good enough, not to her. If she wanted to definitively throw off her father's yoke, she needed accomplishments. It wasn't enough to be here. She had to be the _best_. She had to secure every achievement and earn every accolade. Perhaps she couldn't be the best combatant, not when she was going to the same school as _the_ Pyrrha Nikos. But if she could become Pyrrha's partner, then she would have that power at her side. With Pyrrha as her partner, as a part of her team, Weiss was certain she would rise to the top.

But in order to do so, she had become the very same thing she'd hated. She wanted friends too. But the first person she'd approached herself she'd done so for completely self-serving reasons. She hadn't cared what Pyrrha wanted, just fed her the lines, assuming it was what Pyrrha wanted to hear, completely blind to realization that Pyrrha had seen through her just as plainly as she'd seen through the people who'd tried to use her.

_I...what have I done?_ Weiss was horrified, disgusted with herself. _How could I have done this?_

Suddenly, she didn't want to look at Pyrrha anymore. She was terrified at the prospect of meeting her partner's eyes and seeing the thoughts and feelings that lurked there, the hatred and resentment Pyrrha must have had for her.

"Weiss..." Pyrrha's voice was stern and firm. There was an authority to it that Weiss hadn't felt before. "...look at me."

Unable and unwilling to resist, Weiss did as she was bid, lifting her head to look into the emerald eyes of Pyrrha Nikos. Weiss had expected hatred and disgust. Instead, what she saw was sadness.

"I can understand what it's like," said Pyrrha softly, "to get so wrapped up in a persona that it becomes you, that it dictates the decisions you wanted to make for yourself by the rules you've been forced to live by. It's _so_ hard to break out. I nearly threw up yesterday, when I said 'no' to you in the dining hall. And, when you brought up my reputation, it became too much for me entirely. I couldn't keep the impulse back for a full minute."

"Why?" asked Weiss.

"Because Pyrrha Nikos: The Invincible Girl is always supposed to say 'yes'," said Pyrrha, a restrained sob in her voice. "Pyrrha Nikos can never turn down an adoring fan, never turn away a chance to sign an autograph, never dismiss an offer to do a promotion or a photo shoot. I've always had to be gracious and give the people what they want, in order to be their celebrity, their hero. I got so used to it that I'd almost completely forgotten what it was like to stand up for myself, to say what I want to say.

"So I understand that, when you don't have any idea what to do, even if that's not what you wanted to do, you defaulted to being the 'Ms. Schnee' you've always been, instead of 'Weiss'. But if you want to keep going here, if you want to stay here and be a part of this team, you need to accept that things won't always go your way and you can't just _make_ them go your way."

Pyrrha took a deep breath, closing her eyes before opening them again and staring pointedly at Weiss. "I'll be honest, Weiss. The way you approached me before Initiation, that made you the _last_ person I wanted to partner with."

Weiss drew in a shuddering breath and choked back a horrified sob, partly because she knew that she, had she been in Pyrrha's shoes, would have felt the same way.

"So I was miserable when we met up anyway. I was glad when we ended up with Ruby and Jaune. Yes, I befriended them because they didn't immediately realize who I was, but it meant that I was actually able to make _real_ friends, to deal with people who aren't obsessed with my fame. I'm glad that Ruby is the leader of our team. But having them made me afraid of dealing with you."

Pyrrha reached out and gently cupped Weiss' cheek. "And I'm sorry about that. Because of that, I haven't been a very good partner to you Weiss. And, I think that, once you stop trying to take over because you're obsessed with what you think you deserve, there might be a person in there that I really would like to be partners with. I'd very much like to meet her someday."

Weiss sniffled. Then Pyrrha pulled her into a tight hug. Weiss' restraint snapped like a thread, and she broke down sobbing, clinging tightly to Pyrrha.

"I'm sorry! Oh God, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," whispered Pyrrha softly, rubbing Weiss' back.

She held Weiss for a little while longer before they finally pulled away from each other. Pyrrha looked at Weiss. "Now...do you think you can manage something like that with Ruby and Jaune."

"I'll...I'll try," said Weiss softly. "But I've probably already burned my bridges with them."

"You haven't," Pyrrha assured her. "Ruby's been trying her hardest to reach out to you, to show you she's serious about doing things right. But even _she_ knows that she needs help. That's what you need to be, Weiss. You need to stop trying so hard to be the leader of this team and simply be the best teammate you can be...for all of us...Jaune too."

"Do we _have_ to include him in this?" asked Weiss petulantly.

"Yes, Weiss," said Pyrrha, laughing. "Jaune's our teammate too. You need to get over the fact of his gender sooner or later, because it makes you sound like a ten-year-old."

Weiss groaned and clapped her hands over her face. "Oh God! I do, don't I! I sound like some brat who still thinks boys are gross and icky."

"To be fair, they can be," said Pyrrha with a roll of her eyes. "I mean, have you _heard_ Cardinal in the dining hall?"

"Who can't?" scoffed Weiss. "They make sure _everyone_ in the damn hall can hear them."

"Better Jaune than them, right?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yes," said Weiss, the word exiting her mouth in a defeated sigh.

"So...think you're ready to try?" pressed Pyrrha.

"Yes, I think I am," said Weiss after a moment's hesitation.

* * *

It was another hour before Ruby and Jaune arrived at the room, planning to put their books away before dinner and their evening training. They were surprised to find Pyrrha and Weiss waiting for them. Pyrrha gently patted Weiss on the back, urging her to follow through on what she'd promised earlier.

"I...I'm sorry," said Weiss, looking nervously at Ruby and Jaune.

Ruby gulped, her entire body going tense. Her eyes flashed to Pyrrha, who smiled and nodded approvingly, before going back to Weiss.

"I...I got too full of myself," Weiss continued. "I overstepped, and I said things that were inappropriate, and let my temper get the better of me. I haven't been a good teammate to you these past two days and...I just want to say I'm ready to try."

Ruby looked at Weiss intently. Deep inside, a part of her was raving. What Weiss said didn't even come close to addressing her snubs and dismissals, her insinuation that Ruby was somehow her inferior because of the difference in their stations, only to turn around and ask for forgiveness with an apology like _that_. She hadn't merely overstepped, she'd actively attempted to usurp leadership and turn Ruby herself into some kind of puppet or proxy. She'd behaved as though she should be privy to every secret in Ruby's life, simply because she thought she needed to know them. And every time she insulted the quality of Ruby's training, she, by proxy, insulted the people who had saved her, and worked so hard to help her.

Yet...it was a start. And Ruby realized that it was something of an obligation, as leader of this team, for her to accept the olive branch, and see if she and Weiss could build a real working relationship as teammates. So she took a deep breath, and forced her anger and resentment back, where she could deal with them at another time. Even though she was two years younger, she had to be the bigger person here. "All right," she said with a small, but warm smile. "I accept."

Weiss smiled. Ruby noted that her smile at least looked sincere. _Maybe we can get along...we'll see._

Pyrrha sighed, relaxing a little. She could see that, while the storm had passed, the tension remained. She could tell that Weiss would have to work hard to rein in her domineering habits, coming from a life of being groomed to lead a world-spanning corporation, and follow someone else's lead, rather than making others follow hers. She could also see that, for all that Ruby had accepted Weiss' apology, the hurt from what the heiress had said earlier remained, and that Ruby hadn't completely forgiven Weiss yet. Looking over at Jaune, who was standing a little behind Ruby, Pyrrha caught his eyes and saw the same wariness in them, the realization that they still had a rocky road ahead, before they could truly say they were a working team.

_It's not perfect,_ she thought. _But it's a start. I know that, somehow, we can be a real team._

And Pyrrha supposed that a start was good enough for now.

* * *

**Well...things are...if not exactly better, at the very least they're...less bad. Weiss has been talked down from her attitude, but she's still got a little ways to go. Of course, I had a little fun bringing up her hypocrisy, which is canon, but never actually remarked upon in the show itself. After all, Weiss _does_ approach Pyrrha in a clearly self-serving manner, in Volume 1. Then, in Volume 2, when Jaune is going to such lengths to try and ask her out/to the dance, Weiss dismisses him, convinced that he's only interested in her name and wealth...a real pot calling the kettle black moment there. It's a pity no one says anything about it, though there have been plenty of fics that have brought it up before I did.**

**Of course, this chapter is also about giving Pyrrha a chance to develop as well. Given her tendencies, it would be easy with her to just avoid Weiss as much as she can, and hang with the people on the team that she _does_ like. But, as the only person whom Weiss respects to any extent, Pyrrha also realizes that she's the one with the best chance of talking Weiss around, which puts it on her to overcome her normal hangups, and actually speak her mind.**

**Going back to _Matters of the Heart_, while I wouldn't call it a flaw, exactly, at the very least, I would say that story contains a substantial missed opportunity, namely Yang's culpability for Ruby's condition. After all, it was _Yang_ who took Ruby on that trip that got her stabbed by a Nevermore feather, leaving her with a permanent debilitating condition, which is, in and of itself, ripe for all kinds of drama. Does Ruby ever blame Yang for what happened to her? Is Yang always siding with their father really just her doing what the primary adult/authority figure in her life says, or is there a measure of guilt in her actions over being the one responsible for Ruby's condition in the first place? _None_ of that is ever addressed or brought up, with Ruby's interactions with, and resentment towards, Yang focused entirely on her and Taiyang's overprotective treatment of Ruby during her childhood, at least, as far as I can remember. Like I said, a pretty serious missed opportunity.**

**Which made me want to address the issue in this story. Of course, this story's sequence of events didn't leave Ruby with a severe and permanent medical condition. But there's definitely a factor of guilt involved. The question of whether or not Ruby blames Yang for how she was treated after the incident is an open one. But there's no question that _Yang_ definitely still feels a lot of guilt over what she did, guilt that's been compounded by their father, who won't let her forget it, which gave Taiyang an extra measure of control over Yang, ensuring that she was always on his side, when it came to them deciding what was "best" for Ruby, whether she liked it or not. In the case of my story, that's largely the basis behind how Yang deals with Ruby presently, and a question about their relationship that will linger for a while yet.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

* * *

**Editing has been slowing down a bit...mainly because I've taken up experimenting with a new _RWBY_-themed recipe. Those of you who read _Lost Rose_ will remember my recipe for chocolate-chip cookies. I'm currently working on something completely different, a beverage. I'm still in the process of getting down the particulars. But, when I do, I plan on sharing it in this story.**

**Honestly, this gave me a bit of inspiration. I'm now thinking of putting together a _RWBY Recipes_ series, where I create new recipes, then post them, along with a brief one-shot story. That'll probably be a while in the making, as I only have two total recipes right now.**

* * *

Their second day of classes was more academically focused. Since they were on a block schedule, their classes alternated between days. Today, RASP's classes consisted of Logistics and Geography in the morning, followed by Survival Skills in the afternoon. Because these classes were all academically focused, Ruby and Pyrrha were free to push Jaune harder in the morning and free periods. He was already beginning to show signs of improvement, much to Ruby's gratified surprise.

Granted, it would probably mean little when Jaune's first official match in Combat Class came up. There was no way to raise him into an elite fighter in just a couple days. However, their training might, at least, give him some staying power in the ring. It helped that he had so much Aura to work with. Ruby had him practicing his Temper every evening, and also advised him to try maintaining it during periods when he wasn't practicing. She was glad when she saw he was following through, trying to maintain his Temper while eating lunch, or even when he was trying to listen in class.

In fact, by Ruby's assessment, Tempering seemed to come pretty easily to Jaune. It almost seemed natural to him. Pyrrha, in contrast, managed to get it and maintain it during their evening practice, but wasn't yet having much luck managing keeping it up any other time.

It made her feel a little bad to leave Weiss out of their practice. Pyrrha was clearly put off by Jaune's apparent lack of skill, but politely refrained from asking questions. Ruby had the feeling that, despite supposedly turning over a new leaf, Weiss wouldn't be nearly as restrained. Ruby wanted more assurance that Weiss really was prepared to actually do her part as a teammate, and not simply look to manufacture another excuse to attempt to take over. Perhaps it wasn't the most leaderly-thing to do to be so wary of Weiss after she'd apologized, but Ruby wasn't ready to put her trust in the heiress just yet.

Weiss seemed aware of this, and somewhat hurt by the mistrust Ruby showed her…but appeared willing to accept it as a natural consequence of her previous behavior, which Ruby counted as a point in her favor for the time being. It helped that Weiss hadn't yet brought up the subject of Ruby's technique, which allowed her to create lightning without Dust, again, apparently restraining herself, once again in an effort to better integrate into the team.

As for the classes themselves, they proved to be something of a mixed bag, though Ruby certainly had an easier time than she had on the first day. Logistics was, naturally, the hardest, essentially being an advanced math course applied to the act of balancing the needs of living as a Huntress, calculating things like supply costs and other expenditures, and working out what bounty missions one would have to take in order to meet those costs. It was tedious, but it at least had a real application to her life, compared to the more abstract concept of regular number-problems one encountered in the average math class.

However, Geography and Survival Skills were where she excelled. Ruby knew a great deal of the terrain of Sanus, and a portion of Anima, having traversed much of it with her own feet. Granted, she hadn't been to the deserts in the southwest, where the Kingdom of Vacuo was situated; nor had she the opportunity to visit the chilly climes of Solitas, though she and Sasame had traveled through the northern mountains of Anima. But she had traveled across the Mibu Clan's home continent of Leng and, between all those different journeys, had encountered many of the biomes and climates that the class focused on, having an intimate knowledge of their natures, their advantages, and their hazards.

Indeed, Ruby was fascinated by Geography and the potential applications of the class. When a new settlement was being created, it was only natural to hire Huntsmen and Huntresses to assist in clearing the land of Grimm and making it safe for habitation. However, what the first-year students had _not_ realized was that such Huntsmen and Huntresses were not merely there for pest extermination, but were also advisors, expected to assist in determining what areas were defensible, how a settlement could be laid out in order to hold off the Grimm, yet also remain economically productive. It was exciting and engaging.

Survival Skills was a walk in the park. This was to Ruby what Dust Science had been to Weiss, a class she probably could have taken, and passed, the final for on the first day. From the moment her journey with Kyo and Sasame had begun, they'd taught her about the potential resources of every area they passed through, how to determine what was safe to eat, what plants had potential as medicines, how to hunt and track. Their future excursions had only served to see Ruby's education expand exponentially. Her trip down from the northern tip of Sanus had served as a practical solo test of those skills, one she had passed with flying colors.

And, of course, it was gratifying to see Weiss having to struggle through lessons about surviving in the wilds, after having scoffed so much at Ruby for her "primitive" training earlier, only to now find that such training was an essential portion of their studies at Beacon. Quietly, Ruby resolved to keep any gloating she did internal, if the heiress managed to shed her pride and ask for help.

As such, the second day was much less tumultuous than the first. Weiss...after much hesitation, _did_ ask for Ruby's help during the time they spent doing homework, asking for clarifications, and even additional information on the subject. Ruby helped her without taunting, and tried her best not to act condescending when Weiss asked about something that Ruby considered obvious knowledge. Instead, Ruby let her enthusiasm for the subject matter speak for itself, and that generally helped her keep from bruising Weiss' ego.

Things were a little different when their evening practice came around.

* * *

"Pyrrha...what is Weiss doing here?" asked Ruby when Pyrrha showed up on the roof with Weiss in tow.

"I didn't think we should leave her out," said Pyrrha firmly. "Weiss deserves to learn what you're showing us as well."

Ruby's eyes slid to Weiss, who looked somewhat undecided. It was apparent that she was put off that the other three members of her team were engaged in an activity that she'd been left out of. But she wasn't sure she was welcome, and Ruby, in all honesty, wasn't sure if _she_ was ready to welcome Weiss.

"I think it's a good idea," ventured Jaune, shooting a nervous glance at Ruby. "I mean, learning to Temper has been a big help to all of us. Weiss could really benefit from it too."

Pyrrha cracked a sunny smile at Jaune's encouragement, glad that at least someone supported her idea. What was more, his endorsement appeared to put Weiss a little bit more at ease.

Suddenly Ruby felt sick to her stomach, wondering if this was what it had been like to be in Weiss' shoes, to stand apart and nurse petty grudges, instead of embracing what actually helped the team as a whole. Pyrrha was right that it wasn't fair to leave Weiss out of learning things like this, and even Jaune had agreed, despite the risk of Weiss learning about his unconventional means of entering the Academy. It made her feel selfish, a feeling that Ruby did not relish.

"All right," she said, before looking at Weiss. "I'm sorry."

"No..._I'm_ sorry," said Weiss, lowering her eyes. "Before yesterday, I probably would have rejected this flat out and...I know you're still upset with me. Thank you for being so willing to help."

_Why is she making it so hard to stay angry at her?_ Ruby silently asked herself, fighting back tears.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "All right. Jaune, Pyrrha...go ahead and focus on your Temper. I'll walk Weiss through the basics."

Pyrrha and Jaune did as they were bid, congealing their Auras around themselves and keeping them contained, while Ruby walked Weiss through the basic explanation of the three exercises.

From there, Weiss joined Jaune and Pyrrha in practicing Temper. Ruby noted that Weiss was very good at containing her Aura. It probably had to do with the fact that Weiss had been intensively trained from a young age. Furthermore, while her base weapon was a rapier, her primary fighting style revolved around advanced Dustweaving techniques, which did require more refined control of one's Aura than simply picking and firing the appropriate Dust-round.

About half an hour before curfew, they wrapped up their training. However, Weiss stopped Ruby before she could enter the door and head down. "I...I have something to say," said Weiss after a long moment of hesitation.

"What?" asked Ruby.

"I..." Weiss shuddered, clearly having difficulty saying this. Ruby waited, her own heart pounding as she wondered what was about to come out. "I...I'm really sorry."

"You said that last night," said Ruby in as neutral a tone as she could manage, wondering how this night's apology was different from the last.

"I know..." said Weiss, forcing herself to look Ruby in the eyes. "And I also know that last night's apology wasn't _nearly_ good enough, not to make up for the way I spoke to you, the way I treated you. I basically attempted a hostile takeover of the team. I insulted and belittled you repeatedly, for completely shallow reasons. After today, you'd have been perfectly within your rights to tell me to help myself, when I had questions about Geography or Survival Skills...I could even tell that you _wanted_ to on some level. But you still helped me...and you didn't even rub it in my face, when you had every right to."

Ruby hugged herself tightly, not certain how she felt about this apology.

"I...I also overreached," continued Weiss. "I pried into matters and asked questions that I had no right to expect the answers to, because they were clearly private matters for you...but I acted as though I deserved those answers, just because I wanted to know. I still want to know. But I..." Weiss sighed.

Ruby lowered her arms. "Weiss...what you've said and done...those things really hurt me. I tried _so_ hard to show that I could lead this team, that I could fulfill the role that Professor Ozpin expected of me. But you brushed aside everything, because you were absolutely convinced that you were the better choice, and that it had to be that way, because you thought so."

Weiss nodded.

Ruby stared at the roof beneath her feet. "But what _really_ hurt was when you insulted my training. When you did that, you didn't just insult me. My teachers didn't just train me, they saved my _life_. They became my family, a family that believed and encouraged me, when the ones that I left behind would have just locked me in my room for the rest of my life."

Weiss gasped softly.

Ruby looked up at her. "I ran away from home when I was nine. It was the only way I could see to have a chance to follow my dreams. I nearly died, out on the streets. But I got lucky. I found my teachers, and they took me into their home. For the last six years, I've lived with a people who live apart from the world, a very different kind of existence from life in the Kingdoms. I learned things from them that I never would have anywhere else. What's more, they taught me seriously. They believed in my dream, and did everything in their power to help me, even though they couldn't care less about the Kingdoms or Academies. They helped me because they wanted me to follow my dreams.

"So it hurt when you disparaged everything they did for me, all the work they put in, all the time they spent. When you insulted me and my training, you insulted them as well. That's not something I can forget easily."

Weiss nodded again. "I understand that," she said.

Ruby took a deep breath, closing her eyes, trying her best to stay calm. "But...even if I can't forget it...I can still forgive." She fixed Weiss' gaze with her own, silver staring into icy-blue. "I forgive you, Weiss Schnee."

Weiss sniffed and tensed. Then, to Ruby's shock, she abruptly threw her arms around the younger girl, nearly knocking Ruby over.

"Oh God! I'm so sorry!" Weiss sobbed into Ruby's shoulder.

Unable to help it, Ruby hugged her back, shedding tears of her own. "I forgive you," she whispered.

They held each other for little while longer. Finally, the emotional storm raging through both of them calmed, and they managed to let go of each other, still sniffling and wiping tears off their cheeks. What was more, they now both sported warm, if shaky smiles.

"I know it's a bit silly to ask this," said Weiss, still resting her hands on Ruby's shoulders, "but is there any chance we can start over?"

"We can try," said Ruby.

"Then let's start with introductions," said Weiss. "I'm Weiss Schnee."

"I'm Ruby Rose," Ruby said back, feeling lighter and happier than she had all day. "It's nice to meet you, Weiss."

"Likewise," said Weiss. She averted her gaze. "It's going to be hard. I have a lot of...baggage...to unload...from my upbringing. But I promise to do my utmost to be the best teammate I can be."

"And I'll try to be the best leader I can be," Ruby replied. "But I'm kinda new to this. So is it all right if I get your help, from time to time?"

"Of course," replied Weiss.

They found themselves hugging again.

"Looks like the two of you finally cleared the air," Jaune observed from the doorway, making Weiss and Ruby shriek and jump as they realized that their moment hadn't been exactly private. Both Jaune and Pyrrha were watching and listening to the entire conversation.

Ruby and Weiss' faces both turned a brilliant red.

"H-how dare you spy on us like that?" demanded Weiss, glaring at Jaune.

"You never even _looked_ to see if we'd gone anywhere," said Jaune, raising his hands defensively.

Ruby sighed, her heart calming down. True, it had been a moment of vulnerability for both her and Weiss, which they would have preferred to keep to themselves. But it probably didn't matter in the short or long term. Both Jaune and Pyrrha were clearly glad that their respective partners had patched up the differences between them. While they probably had a hard road ahead of them, before they could truly say they were perfect, they did indeed feel like a whole team now.

"So...now that that's out of the way, I guess I should clear up a few things too," said Jaune with obvious trepidation.

"Jaune..." said Ruby in a warning tone.

"No," said Jaune with a sigh, running his fingers through his hair. "It's only fair that everyone else knows too."

"Jaune, that's not what I mean," said Ruby, before stepping in closer. "There's something that I've learned about this spot."

"Huh? What?" asked Jaune, both Weiss and Pyrrha looking curious as well.

"Team Cardinal's dorm room is directly below us," whispered Ruby. With her Extension, it was only natural that she'd become aware of the presence of the four boys directly beneath their feet. "If they have the window open, they'll be able to hear anything we say above a regular conversation-tone."

"Oh..." said Jaune, going pale at the thought of any member of the four-boy team learning his secret.

Ruby could understand his trepidation. Her experience with Russel in the ring hadn't been overly bad, but that was because she'd been far stronger than he'd been expecting. She'd seen it in the smirk on his face, before the fight had begun, sensed it in his intent. Had he the advantage, he would have been happy to toy with her, like a cat with a mouse. She'd sensed similar intent from Cardin Winchester and Sky Lark, two of the other members of the team. She'd felt their eyes linger on her repeatedly, felt the sadistic malice that colored their gazes. They were looking for weakness, for vulnerability, for anything they could exploit and hold over another person; typical bullies, in other words.

In that sense, only Dove Bronzewing, the dirty-blonde, squint-eyed member of their team, didn't seem to be cut from that cloth. He seemed indifferent to the attitudes of his teammates, though it could actually just be that he wasn't aware of them, the four of them not having been a team long enough to actually know each other all that well.

They had been interested in Ruby, because she was clearly younger than anyone else in their class, probably expecting her to be a pushover, someone they could torment without fear of reprisal. Except that her performance in the fight with Russel had caught them off-guard. They hadn't realized she was a capable fighter and, by their apparent assessment, a better fighter than any of them. While she had seemed vulnerable at first, she clearly wasn't as easy a mark as they'd first thought. Now, whenever their gaze went to Ruby, their gaze dipped to her sword, which they seemed to take as a constant reminder that she was dangerous.

Of course, bullies like them didn't move on easily. If Ruby wasn't an easy mark for them, they'd go to greener pastures, and find a better target. Unfortunately, Ruby realized that Jaune was probably perfectly suited to be their target of choice. He was still working hard, building up his physique and his technique, simply practicing the basics that they'd have mastered through years of intensive training by now. He also wasn't the most assertive person, nor the kind to really stand up for himself, his confidence somewhat undermined by his situation and, worst of all, came with an easily exploitable secret that was just begging to be found out by them, which they could hold over his head and use to force him to do their bidding.

So it was natural that the roof over their heads was the last place Ruby wanted to hold a potentially explosive discussion of Jaune's secret. Jaune certainly seemed to agree, and they headed back to their own room to hold the discussion behind closed doors. It also helped that it was nearly curfew, and Glynda was ruthless in her disciplining of students that broke the rules.

They closed and locked the door behind them and settled on their respective beds.

"All right," said Weiss, looking a little agitated. As far as she'd managed to push herself to open up and really apologize to Ruby, it was clear that she still wasn't comfortable with Jaune yet. "Out with it. What's this secret that's so important?"

Jaune looked to Ruby, who merely raised an eyebrow at him. _This was _your_ idea, so get on with it._

With a sigh, Jaune rested his hand on his face. "All right...I guess I'll just have to get it over with."

From there, he explained his own situation, how his family that stopped him from training, how he'd faked his transcripts and lied his way into Beacon. As his story went on, Ruby was surprised. Weiss looked to be on the verge of exploding, but was apparently, just barely, managing to hold herself back by the slimmest of margins.

"And that's how it is," said Jaune, wrapping up his story.

A tense silence settled over the room. Ruby was still waiting for Weiss' imminent explosion of temper. However, she didn't expect Pyrrha to speak first.

"Well...that answers my questions," said the redhead in a slightly amused tone.

"Questions?" asked Jaune, looking up at her.

Pyrrha giggled and looked back at him. "Jaune, when you said you needed pointers, and when I saw what you could actually _do_, it was obvious that you barely even knew how to _hold_ your weapons. Now I understand why Ruby wanted us to talk about this here...and not where Cardinal could overhear us."

"And...you're okay with it?" asked Ruby dubiously.

"Well...it's worrying," admitted Pyrrha. "You were right to be worried about him, Ruby. He could have been killed in the first few seconds of the Initiation, if you hadn't realized the trouble he was in."

Jaune gulped and went pale.

"But now I understand what that was all about," added Pyrrha.

"What was _what_ all about?" asked Jaune.

"The morning workouts, the technique-training during your free periods, Ruby wanting to get our homework out of the way, right away in the afternoon, the Aura-training in the evenings…" Pyrrha nodded to herself. "If you really want to get up to the level of the rest of our year, you're going to have to work around our schedules to do so. It means giving up nearly all of your free time, and pushing yourself to the limit, almost every single day. It's only been two days, but, if you really can commit to that kind of training, then I'm happy to support you."

"Thanks," said Jaune, the word practically forcing itself from his mouth in a relieved sigh.

That was one person out of the way. Now all eyes went to the member of their team that they knew would probably have the most difficulty wrestling with the fact. Weiss was sitting on her bed, her posture rigid, her eyes closed, eyebrow twitching. From the tense lines on her face, they could all tell that she was holding back an angry explosion. Jaune gulped and lowered his eyes, afraid of what would come out. He knew that Weiss only barely tolerated him at best. Now he wouldn't have been surprised if she marched out of the room, and straight to Professor Goodwitch, to get him expelled.

Then Weiss inhaled sharply. Jaune twitched and tensed in anticipation of the tirade to come. However, Weiss then exhaled loudly. Then she repeated the exercise, inhaling deeply, exhaling slowly. Each time she did so, her shoulders lowered, her posture relaxed, and the tension flowed out of her body. Finally, she opened her eyes and fixed them on Jaune. Her gaze was icy-cold. But the furious anger they had all expected was nowhere to be seen.

"You...are a complete imbecile," she said finally.

_Wow...I was expecting a lot worse,_ thought Ruby wryly.

"I was being petty, when I talked about Ruby's presence being an insult," Weiss admitted readily enough. "But you...you just faked your way in, and expect that some make-up training is going to compare to the years of training all of us have gone through to ready ourselves? That really _does_ make me angry."

Jaune didn't dispute that fact. Not even Ruby, for all that she sympathized with Jaune's family situation, could dispute the fact that Weiss had a right to be angry about this. She found it near miraculous that Pyrrha had accepted it as easily as she had. Then again, perhaps Pyrrha was desperate to hold on to one of the few friendships she'd managed to form that wasn't based on her record as a champion.

Weiss continued to stare intently at Jaune. Then she forced herself to inhale and exhale again. "But...I suppose I can see that you're serious about this." Her gaze narrowed. "But you'd better _stay_ serious. If I see that you're slacking, if I so much as _think_ that you're getting lazy or taking everything that Ruby and Pyrrha are doing to help you for granted, then, so help me, I will boot you out of here myself."

Jaune swallowed and nodded nervously. "Yes, Ma'am," he said.

"I hope you appreciate what they're doing for you," said Weiss firmly, her hands going to her hips as she glared at Jaune. "It isn't just _your_ free time that's being sacrificed here. Both Ruby and Pyrrha have things that they might rather do with their free periods, or things that they'd like to do. But they've chosen to give that time up, and use it to help you instead. So, if I think, even for a second, that you don't appreciate all the help they're giving you, I will put you through _Hell_. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," squeaked Jaune.

"Good," said Weiss, letting out one last explosive exhalation.

In all honesty, Weiss was surprised at her own tolerance. Just one day before, she probably would have fetched her rapier from her locker, then run Jaune straight out of school, before insisting that Ruby submit to her authority for daring to help someone like him get through the Initiation. However, after the past twenty-four hours of wrestling with her previous tendencies, and coming to understand just how much of an ass she'd been, Weiss felt that, at the very least, she owed it to Ruby and Pyrrha to not force their hard work over the past few days to come to naught. If that was the case, then she could at least wait and see how Jaune would ultimately handle himself...though he remained on thin ice, as far as she was concerned.

"Wow..." admitted Ruby. "I have to admit, I expected worse."

"I did too," added Pyrrha with a sheepish grin. "I was almost certain you'd run to Goodwitch and tell her."

"There's no point to that," groused Weiss sourly. "Goodwitch and Ozpin both already know."

"_They do?_" asked the other three members of the team in a perfect chorus.

"Obviously," said Weiss with an indignant huff. "Beacon is the most prestigious of the Academies. Their admission process wouldn't be fooled by fake transcripts for long. It's likely that Ozpin approved Jaune's admission, knowing full well that he was lying about his background. More importantly, even if he didn't, there's no way bringing that to light would get Jaune expelled now."

"Why not?" asked Pyrrha.

"I've studied the rulebook from back to front," said Weiss, her tone turning authoritative.

"Why am I not surprised?" muttered Ruby, unable to keep an amused smirk from her face.

"Shut it!" snapped Weiss, her cheeks going red, before she forced herself to calm down again. "A-anyway, what I'm getting at is that there are two terms regarding entrance into Beacon. Those are 'acceptance' and 'enrollment.'"

"What's the difference?" asked Jaune.

"If your application is approved, then you've been accepted," said Weiss. "Now, obviously, if that was meant to be definitive, and cement your attendance, then there would be no call for the Initiation in the first place. Obviously, not everyone who was accepted was enrolled."

The others nodded, recalling that the crowd that had assembled before Ozpin during their initial orientation was far larger than the comparative handful of teams he introduced to the school afterwards.

"In other words, acceptance basically means you've been invited to take the Initiation," continued Weiss. "The application system is only there for them to assemble the best candidates. From there, the Initiation is meant to weed out everyone except for those most fit to attend Beacon. If you complete the Initiation, then you're officially 'enrolled' at Beacon...and that's all that matters afterwards."

"So that means, even if someone told the teachers about Jaune's transcripts, he wouldn't be expelled," said Ruby, her eyes widening.

Weiss nodded. "The way the rules are worded; theoretically, a complete stranger could stumble into the Initiation and, so long as he came back with a partner and a relic, could be enrolled in Beacon, even if he never originally applied. That's what those rules mean."

"That's...kinda cool," said Jaune. "So I'm in the clear, then."

"I wouldn't say _that_," growled Weiss, her eyes narrowing in a glare, making Jaune gulp and tense. "That just means that you're covered, as far as the _rules_ are concerned. You're still right to keep this a secret. If other people find out about this, they _won't_ be happy."

Jaune gulped again.

"I'm okay with this...barely," said Weiss, "and only because I know that Ruby and Pyrrha are going through so much trouble on your behalf. After what they put up with from me, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt...for _their_ sake. Others won't know about that...or they won't care. If it gets found out, you'll be in hot water, regardless of what the rules say."

Jaune swallowed yet again, hard.

Weiss abruptly leaned in close, jabbing Jaune's chest with her finger. "So you had better hope that I don't ever doubt you appreciate what Pyrrha and Ruby are doing for you, or the entire student body will learn the truth within an hour."

"R-right," said Jaune, shaking like a leaf.

Weiss settled back with a sigh. "Well then, that's all. Is there anything else?"

"Not tonight," said Ruby, glancing at the clock Weiss had set up on her desk. "Jaune, Pyrrha, and I still need to get up early tomorrow. We've burned the midnight oil enough as it is."

Weiss smiled. "That we have." Her demeanor changed and she was suddenly a very different person from the affronted girl who'd been confronting Jaune mere seconds earlier. "Could you wake me up too?"

"You want to join us?" asked Ruby, her eyes wide.

"Don't look _that_ surprised," muttered Weiss, looking away in annoyed embarrassment. "If we're going to do this, then we'll do it as a team. It feels wrong to me, knowing that you three are working hard every morning, and I'm just sleeping through it all...so I'll join you."

"All right," said Ruby, relaxing. "Well...let's get ready for bed then."

* * *

The next morning, they all got up early and proceeded to the fitness center for a workout. Much to Jaune's surprise, Ruby and Pyrrha didn't ask as much of him as they had the previous morning, or the morning before that. At the end, while he'd worked up a healthy sweat, he noted that his limbs didn't feel like jelly.

"Why are you going easy on me?" he asked.

Ruby and Pyrrha shared a glance. "Well, we don't want to wear you out, today," said Ruby. "It's likely you're going to be called into the ring during Combat Class, today."

Pyrrha nodded her agreement. "Knowing that, it's best to keep your routine light, so that you can fight at your best."

"Which isn't much," Jaune pointed out, earning an agreeing nod from Weiss, who was standing behind him so that he couldn't see it.

"True enough," conceded Pyrrha with a giggle, the angle of her gaze indicating she was more amused by Weiss' willingness to acknowledge and agree with something Jaune said than _what_ he'd actually said.

"We'll also take it easy on your technique training during our free period," added Ruby. "In fact, let's treat it like a warmup for the class."

"Sounds good to me," said Jaune, before sighing and lowering his head. "I don't think it's going to stop me from getting creamed."

"At this point, a definitive win is too much to hope for," said Weiss. "That doesn't mean you should let a defeat discourage you. You still owe it to Ruby and Pyrrha to give it nothing but your best effort."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Jaune stiffening.

Ruby and Pyrrha flashed grateful looks at Weiss, who gave them a small, almost shy smile in return. At this stage, Jaune had, understandably, little confidence in his skills and abilities, which would only be further damaged by what everyone suspected would be an inevitable loss in the ring. Neither of his trainers felt right or comfortable reminding Jaune just how much of their time they were investing in him, so it was helpful that Weiss was there to do it for them. For all that it was still rough, it seemed that they were beginning to find their dynamic as a whole team.

_We might just make it through this after all,_ thought Ruby, her optimism rising.

* * *

Their morning classes went well enough. To her relief, Ruby was not called to the front of Port's class again. She couldn't tell whether that was fortunate or unfortunate though, as it appeared that Port's normal mode of conducting class was through looooooong-winded anecdotes on his experiences...or the experiences of his father...or his grandfather...or his great-grandfather, to the point that his voice became an unending drone, and most of the students either dropped off and zoned out, or fell asleep entirely. Even _Weiss'_ determination to be a model student was undermined by the professor's endless droning, and there were moments were she seemed to fall asleep with her eyes open, before abruptly realizing where she was, and beginning to write furiously in her book.

Ruby, not nearly as motivated as Weiss was, ultimately gave up trying to follow the course of the lecture, instead choosing to meditate quietly. As she did, she became aware of the fact that Jaune and Pyrrha had both given up as well, and were, instead, choosing to practice their Temper, while they waited for Port's lecture to wind down. After a few more minutes, she heard Weiss let out a quiet huff of frustration, before she set her pencil down and joined them, making Ruby smile slightly.

Ruby just wished Yang's eyes would stop drifting in her direction so often. It made for a frustrating distraction.

* * *

After their other classes and lunch, the free period before Combat Class began. Ruby and Weiss watched as Pyrrha made Jaune continuously repeat the basic sword and shield techniques, focusing more on form than power. As they'd promised, she didn't work Jaune very hard and, by the time they were about to head for class, a light sheen of sweat on his forehead was the only sign of his training.

As they were about to head to class, Ruby stopped Jaune, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Listen," she said, "I know it probably hurts for you to hear this, but don't worry about winning today."

"It sounds like you want me to worry about something else," said Jaune.

Surprised by his insight, rather than him getting preoccupied with his inadequacies, Ruby found herself beaming. "That's right," she said. "For today, I want you to see if you can last the whole five minutes in the ring, without being knocked out or having your Aura brought down. That's your goal."

According to the basic rules of the class, if the timer ran down without any of the main victory conditions being satisfied, then the win automatically went to whoever had the most Aura remaining. Granted, if he was just taking attacks, then that would rule Jaune out pretty much automatically. But it would still be a step above losing in the regular fashion.

"Okay..." said Jaune nervously.

"There are two things I want you to focus on," said Ruby. "I want you to focus on maintaining your Temper through the fight, and practicing the deflection techniques Pyrrha's been teaching you. That's it. You're going to be facing an opponent who's attacking for real, so they aren't going to slow down or hold back the way Pyrrha does. But this is where you're actually going to apply what we've been teaching you. Got it?"

Jaune nodded.

They filed into the classroom and took their seats amongst the other students. When the bell rang, they quieted down as Glynda stepped out into the center of the sparring ring below.

"I hope that I do not have to go over the rules I laid down last time," she said. "It _has_ only been two days after all." Her eyes gazed critically over the assembled students, lingering on a few. This time, Ruby noticed the likes of Cardin and his teammates included in her gaze. "If you require any reminders or clarifications, now is the time to ask. If you act out of line during your match, the excuse of having forgotten will _not_ protect you."

When only silence greeted her inquiry, Glynda closed her eyes and nodded soberly, continuing on. "Very well then. Let's move on to those of you who did not participate in the previous period's matches."

"Jaune Arc...and Cardin Winchester, please report to the ring."

_Uh oh,_ thought Ruby, barely managing to give Jaune a reassuring smile and a pat on the back as he headed down. She saw the look on Cardin's face as he entered. True to form, his expression was smug and self-assured, the look of someone fully aware that he already had this fight in the bag. More than anything, Ruby hoped that attitude wouldn't goad Jaune into taking reckless chances. _Don't let him bait you, Jaune._

Jaune swallowed, staring nervously at his opponent. If there was one thing that could be said about Cardin, he was certainly an imposing sight. With close-cropped red hair and heavy plate armor over a powerful physique, he was clearly well-muscled, and had plenty of power to spare, which suited the heavy mace he slung casually over his shoulder. The weapon itself seemed mostly unremarkable, a thick, metal shaft extending up to a four-flanged head. The only interesting feature of note was the red crystal that rested in between those flanges, which Ruby assumed to be fire-Dust. She assumed that meant Cardin would be able to infuse his already heavy blows with explosive power, if he wanted or needed to.

_It'll be bad for Jaune if he uses that,_ she thought nervously. However, there was nothing for it. The best she could do was cheer Jaune on, and hope that he stuck to the plan.

The two of them took their positions. Jaune extended his left foot, keeping his shield up, sword at the ready behind.

"His stance looks good," observed Pyrrha.

Ruby nodded. In contrast, Cardin remained completely lax, his mace resting casually over his shoulder, his smirk only growing in the face of Jaune's wary gaze. Clearly he didn't think this was going to be any kind of contest at all. Still, if he was too busy being smug and superior...

"Begin!" declared Glynda, stepping back and activating the arena's safety barrier.

Cardin and Jaune remained still, Cardin clearly expecting Jaune to make some kind of effort to attack. When Jaune didn't move, Cardin's smirk faded somewhat.

"Come on, Arc. What's the matter?" he taunted. "You afraid of me?"

Jaune said nothing, merely remaining entrenched behind his shield, waiting for the attack to come. Ruby was relieved that the shallow taunt didn't seem to be affecting him.

"Come on, Jauney," teased Cardin. "Are you gonna spend the whole match behind your little shield? How pathetic!"

_If he has any sense, he'll _stay_ behind his shield,_ Ruby silently retorted. Technically, what Cardin was doing was a valid approach. It was a valid strategy to coax your opponent out from behind a strong defense, and into a position where they were more vulnerable. Of course, Cardin wasn't doing this for strategic reasons. He wanted to draw Jaune out and toy with him.

"What's the matter?" Cardin taunted again. "Feeling chicken, Jauney-boy? _That_ worried about getting your butt kicked in front of your team?"

Jaune said nothing, remaining where he was.

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Cardin in frustration. "What kind of match is this? You gonna do something, Teach?" He looked over at Glynda.

Glynda merely adjusted her spectacles and fixed Cardin with a cold look. "Each student is free to choose their own strategy, Mr. Winchester. If Mr. Arc wishes to wait, then that is his right."

Ruby then saw Glynda look over at Jaune, and got the distinct impression that the teacher's opinion of him had gone up by a small margin.

"Fine then," said Cardin, striding forward. "Just know I'm gonna bring you a world of pain."

Even from up in the stands, Ruby could see Jaune's throat bob as he swallowed nervously.

"All right then, here I come!" shouted Cardin, rushing forward, mace raised.

Jaune watched it come, tension filling his body. _That looks really heavy. If he puts his all into that swing, he might just break my arm._

Of course, there wasn't really anything he could do to rectify the difference between their respective strengths. All he could do was rely on the techniques he'd been practicing the past couple days. So he watched as the mace descended. It hadn't made contact, but Jaune could already feel the sheer weight behind the swing. Keeping his shield up, he focused on the sensation of his arm as the mace made contact.

When it struck, when the first vibrations of impact reached his arm, Jaune automatically shifted the shield, having seen the path of Cardin's swing. Ironically, the fact that Cardin had been so willing to telegraph his first strike actually made this closer to the scenario Jaune had been going through in his technique-training. Pyrrha's swings may not have had real power behind them, unlike Cardin's, but she telegraphed her own attacks to help Jaune work out the process of reading and reacting to them.

Jaune shifted his arm to the side, not so far that he left his body uncovered, but moved it just enough so that the mace practically skipped off the angled surface of the shield, and plummeted the rest of the way to the floor, where it slammed with enough force to crack the surface of the ring.

_Ow..._ Jaune suppressed a pained grimace. He might have deflected the blow, but his timing had been a little off, so some of the force behind the mace reached his arm, leaving it a little sore. Still, the technique had worked, and Jaune knew, once he got the timing down, he'd be able to deflect attacks like that while hardly feeling a thing.

Cardin grunted in frustration, then raised his mace once again. "Nice trick, Arc...for a coward!" Shouting the last word, Cardin followed through with a wide, looping side-swing across his body, once again telegraphing his attack so that Jaune was able to easily read the path of his swing. This time, when Cardin's mace struck, Jaune shifted his arm, bouncing it up and over, just above the level of his head, feeling the breeze of its passage across his face. Yet again, his arm was left aching with the pain of impact. But Jaune was also left with a feeling of accomplishment, realizing a strike of that force would have probably blown him off his feet, had he taken it head-on. As it was, the force sent him skidding back a few inches.

"Think you're tough, huh?" growled Cardin.

He whipped his weapon back around, launching a series of sequential strikes. Jaune concentrated as hard as he could on reading the path of Cardin's swings. His defense wasn't perfect and, after deflecting several more attacks, Jaune's arm was sore and feeling heavy. His bangs were matted with sweat, maintaining his concentration actually proving to be more draining than the physical exertion.

Luckily, Cardin, convinced of his superiority, continued to swing wildly at Jaune, making widely telegraphed swings that Jaune could read well in advance. Granted, just the effort of deflecting those swings was pushing him to the limit, and Jaune silently dreaded the point where Cardin decided he needed to stop playing around. Jaune didn't dare take his eyes off his opponent, whether to check the timer or their Aura levels, instead completely concentrating on the task at hand.

Still, he held firm. While Jaune felt sore and tired, he remained where he was, still standing, not having taken an actual hit from his opponent yet. On top of that, it was clear that Cardin's wild style of attacking was taking its toll on him as well. The bully had expected to be batting Jaune about the ring with ease, only to find that his every blow was being competently warded off.

"Come on, Jauney-boy!" shouted Cardin, taking a step back and panting. "Are you gonna take this seriously, or just keep turtling like a coward."

_"__Yeah!"_

_"__Come on!"_

_"__Do something!"_

_"__Wuss!"_

Angry shouts were beginning to echo out from the stands, several of the spectators apparently agreeing with Cardin's sentiments. Glynda remained silent, not interjecting in the slightest. Jaune took that as a sign of silent acceptance. As frustrated as he felt by the growing taunts from both Cardin and his fellow students, Jaune felt Ruby's eyes on him even _more_ keenly. He couldn't say how he knew. All he _did_ know was that Ruby was watching him.

That knowledge, along with the knowledge of what she wanted him to keep doing, was what kept him from abandoning his defense. Jaune remained where he was, his focus completely on Cardin. Cardin was clearly working to catch his wind. It was to his advantage, in that regard, if Jaune didn't go on the attack, but Jaune didn't mind. While his arm felt heavy, he was able to recover some of his stamina as well.

"All right, playtime's over," growled Cardin, gripping his mace firmly in both hands and raising it over his head. "Block this, if you can!"

As it began its descent, Jaune saw the crystal set within the flanges gleam. Jaune swallowed hard, already having an inkling of what was coming. He hadn't seen Cardin fight before, but, like Ruby, he figured he knew what the fire-Dust crystal set at the mace's center was for. _If I try to deflect that..._

Not sure of what to do, Jaune raised his shield up and bent his knees, sinking down, bracing his shield with all his strength. This was one situation where he probably wouldn't be able to simply redirect the attack to the side. In that case, it was best to hunker down and protect as much of his body as he could.

Cardin's mace struck head-on and Jaune's ears filled with a roar. The force behind the blow drove him down to on one knee, sending him sliding back. His arm practically screamed with the effort. Jaune thought he might be screaming too, but he couldn't hear it over the sound of the explosion. The air around him grew almost unbearably hot, and Jaune worried that he might wind up bursting into flames himself.

Then the sound faded. Jaune opened his eyes, not remembering when he'd closed them. His left arm ached something fierce, but it was still responding. His legs, particularly his right, where the knee had been driven hard against the floor, were sore as well. In fact, his entire body felt a bit achy after that impact.

Then something hit the floor in front of him.

Grunting, Jaune forced himself up into a standing position, blinking to clear his vision. "Ow..." he groaned, shaking his arm out.

Smoke was still streaming off his shield, stinging his nose. Looking past it, Jaune was shocked by what he saw in front of him.

Cardin lay flat on his back, completely dazed. By deciding not to try and deflect the explosion, but tank it head-on, Jaune had inadvertently created a situation where the force of Cardin's attack rebounded in his own face. Cardin's plate armor was smudged and blackened in places, as were his hands and face. He groaned in pain and tried to sit up.

Jaune looked at him, his eye narrowing. _I can finish this,_ he thought. However, he felt Ruby's gaze boring into the back of his head. He could practically hear her warning him off from doing anything reckless.

"_Finish him!_" a voice shouted from above.

Jaune ignored it, and settled into his defensive stance again.

Cardin growled and slowly began to sit up. It took him quite a bit of time to get to his feet. Jaune didn't like the idea of doing it, but he still let Cardin get up, focusing on making sure he was set for the next round of attacks.

"You son of a..." Cardin's voice trailed off as he shook his head vigorously to clear it, still swaying slightly from his disorientation. When he'd mostly recovered, he glared pointedly at Jaune. "Now you're just messing with me. I'm gonna make you wish you'd never been born, Jauney-boy!"

With a roar, Cardin charged forward, whirling his mace through a much tighter arc than before. Having less time to read the incoming attack, Jaune was a little too slow to catch which way he should shift the shield to deflect the blow. As a result, the impact knocked him off-balance and sent him stumbling. Then Cardin whipped his mace back around in a swift return-stroke that Jaune hadn't thought possible. Luckily, it came from the opposite direction Jaune had just been sent stumbling in. Because of that, when Jaune caught it on his shield again, it actually _helped_ him find his balance again. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of Cardin's onslaught.

Whipping his mace around, demonstrating incredible speed and wrist-strength, Cardin unleashed a barrage of blows that seemed to batter Jaune from all directions. Jaune couldn't quite keep up with the pace of attacks, grunting and struggling just to remain upright and keep his shield from being knocked out of position entirely. Whatever else, he remembered what Ruby had told him, and resolved to keep his defense as solid as possible. He was jolted from side to side and backwards. Desperately, he tried to keep from giving ground to avoid being driven out of the ring altogether. It was hard for him to keep track of his actual position in the midst of this attack.

Then Cardin gripped his mace in both hands as he followed through a sideways stroke by dipping it down and whipping it back up. Unfortunately, Jaune found himself in a bad position to block. Grimacing, he bore the impact on his shield as best he possibly could. But that resulted in his feet leaving the ground. Jaune yelped as he felt himself overbalance and began to fall backwards. His eyes widened even more as he saw Cardin's mace come flying back around, barely managing to intercept it with his shield. Unfortunately, the consequence of being in midair when he took that blow meant that his back was slammed back down into the floor of the ring, driving the breath from his lungs in a pained gasp.

For a moment, his vision swam, and Jaune heard a loud buzzing in his ears that made him think that he'd hit his head a little harder than he should have.

Looking up, Jaune saw Cardin standing over him, his gaze radiating pure fury. "Time for payback, Jauney-boy!" growled Cardin, raising his mace high.

Jaune grimaced and did the only thing he could, raise his shield in anticipation of the coming blow.

* * *

**In retrospect, I'm not entirely sure why I resolved the Ruby vs Weiss conflict the way I did, by having Weiss apologize once, last chapter, then have her apologize _again_, in this one. If I had to put a reason to it, it would be out of a desire to show that such things don't wrap up _that_ easily. Even if Weiss realized she was in the wrong, just saying a few contrite words to Ruby wouldn't be able to make all that go away. On top of that, last time, it was more about Weiss going through the motions. This time, after spending a day having had it made clear to her just how wrong she was, now that she's able to look past her own nose, Weiss is in a position to put more feeling into her apology. And, of course, after everything she did, Ruby wasn't exactly in a mood to simply let Weiss off the hook after her first apology. Having another, more genuine one, and getting a chance to air her own feelings made me feel that this was a more satisfying conclusion to Ruby's part in this conflict.**

**Those of you who've read _Lost Rose_ will remember the whole "acceptance" vs "enrollment" argument from there. I still maintain this as my headcanon for Jaune's situation at Beacon, rather than Ozpin merely knowing, and choosing to look the other way. Speaking for canon, I find it all the idea all the more amusing that Cardin's leverage over Jaune in Volume 1 doesn't actually exist, and Jaune went through a lot of trouble that he could've avoided, had he simply been honest from the get-go. But that's just me.**

**And now, with Jaune having gotten some serious instruction _before_ his match with Cardin, he isn't simply being batted around the ring and toyed with. Sure, Jaune isn't putting up much of a fight, but he's making Cardin work more than Cardin would believe he has to, which I think is an appropriate level of achievement on Jaune's part.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17:**

Then the lights above abruptly intensified. "That is _enough_, Mr. Winchester!"

Cardin's mace froze mid-swing, just inches away from Jaune's shield as an irate Glynda approached the pair.

"Unless you wish for an immediate suspension, I suggest you lower your weapon, Mr. Winchester," said Glynda sternly, her gaze daring Cardin to argue with her.

"Y-yes, Ma'am," said Cardin, lowering his mace to his side.

"Did you hear the buzzer sounding the end of the match?" asked Glynda.

"N-no, Professor," said Cardin nervously.

_Oh...that was the buzzer,_ thought Jaune. He'd thought the buzzing in his ears had been the consequence of the fall he'd just taken. He hadn't realized that the five minutes were up. He'd lost track of time completely.

"Good, now then..." Glynda adjusted her spectacles. "The winner is Mr. Arc."

"What the hell?!" exclaimed Cardin, his eyes going wide. He wasn't the only one shocked by the outcome. The stands were erupting with shocked exclamations.

"When the match timer runs out, the combatant with the most remaining Aura wins," said Glynda matter-of-factly. "As things stand, that means that Mr. Arc is the winner."

Now Jaune felt truly befuddled, scarcely comprehending that _he_ was the one who won, when he'd been on his back and, more or less, helpless. It felt like a lucky break. And, from the affronted shouts from the spectator seating, he wasn't the only one who thought that way.

_"__But he didn't do anything!"_

_"__He just stood there like a chump!"_

_"__Don't reward him for getting whaled on and not fighting back!"_

"SILENCE!" thundered Glynda, glaring up into the seating. "The rules make the winner clear. It is Mr. Winchester's error in judgment for recklessly using a Dust attack against an opponent with an uncommonly strong defense. As a result of taking the brunt of his own blow, he lost more Aura than his opponent. This is _not_ up for debate."

She then turned to Jaune, who was shakily getting to his feet. "Mr. Arc, your defense was excellent. That said, you had numerous opportunities and openings for counterattacking. In the future, if your opponent is so kind as to give you such openings, I suggest you take advantage of them."

"Yes, Professor," said Jaune, following his statement with a groan, slowly and painfully making his way back to his seat.

Coming up the stairs, he was greeted by an ecstatic Ruby, who threw her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly. Jaune flinched in surprise, before relaxing and hugging her back.

"You were great," declared Ruby, pulling away enough to look him in the eyes. "You were even better than I hoped."

"Thanks," said Jaune, unable to keep a smile from his face. "I mean...I didn't do all that much."

"But you did what you did really well," said Ruby. "That's what's important. You applied what you learned, and it worked out even better than we thought it would." Her smile took on a slightly vindictive quality. "I really didn't expect Cardin to blow himself up like that."

"Yeah that was pretty entertaining," said Jaune with a chuckle, before sighing. "I just wish I'd followed through."

"We'll get there," said Pyrrha from behind Ruby. "You did what we requested you do. That's what matters here."

"Now if the two of you would stop clinging to each other like a married couple and sit down," said Weiss with a smile that Jaune and Ruby might have actually considered teasing.

As it was, her remark caused them to realize they were still holding each other and they sprang apart, their faces red, much to Pyrrha's amusement as she hid her giggles behind a hand. Jaune and Ruby took their seats to wait for the next match.

As he did, Pyrrha reached over and rested a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "You did very well out there. Your technique was quite good."

"Yeah, but he overwhelmed me there, at the end," Jaune admitted.

"True," agreed Pyrrha. "But, even though you couldn't keep up with the pace of his attacks, you continued to try and apply the technique, which is what helped you last as long as you did. Most importantly, he didn't actually break through your defense. He never landed an actual blow to your body."

_Come to think of it, he didn't,_ Jaune thought, feeling a small degree of pride. It certainly soothed the sting of the scathing looks he felt directed his way from people who clearly thought him a coward for not fighting back. But it didn't matter. His team was behind him, and the two people who were actually helping him to become better had essentially given him a passing grade for this lesson.

Both Pyrrha and Ruby looked at Weiss expectantly. She blinked and stared at them. "What? I'm not just going to start praising him for doing what was expected," she said petulantly. "That's how you give him a big head and make him think that he's better than he really is."

"Aww...but I have you for that, Snow Angel," teased Jaune.

"Shut up! Don't call me that!" exclaimed Weiss, her cheeks flushing. She abruptly turned her head aside. "But...I suppose you were...adequate. But remember that you only won because your opponent was such a buffoon that he hit himself with his own attack. If it wasn't for that and, frankly, the _stupid_ amount of Aura you have, he would have won this match, nine times out of ten."

"Fair enough," Jaune conceded. At least she'd given him the tiniest hint of a compliment. He supposed that, so long as she was around, he wouldn't have to worry about his ego getting the better of him.

Glynda moved on to calling out the next match. A couple rounds later, Yang went into the ring with Sky Lark from CRDL, and dominated him mercilessly. Ruby watched her sister, taking note that Yang had apparently adopted her version of their father's fighting style, a brawling style similar to boxing, which utilized the explosive power of the guns mounted on her gauntlets.

She had to admit that Yang was both skilled and exceptionally strong, creatively applying the recoil of her shots to devastating effect, even when she wasn't striking with her fists directly. Yang could use the recoil to add power to an elbow strike, or enhance the spin she put behind a kick. In that way, it was a style that was utterly brutal in its efficiency.

Another round passed after Yang's, then it was RASP's turn again.

"Weiss Schnee...and Nora Valkyrie, please come to the ring," called Glynda, tapping her scroll.

"Go get her, Weiss," said Jaune.

"Hmph," Weiss snorted, strutting past him, though Ruby could see the smallest evidence of a smile on her face.

"Do your best," urged Pyrrha, somehow managing to make the relatively generic words of encouragement _not_ sound perfunctory.

Nora's whoop of excitement echoed through the room as the orange-haired girl made her way down to the ring, practically bouncing with excitement as she took her position, spinning the shaft of her hammer between her hands.

"This might be a tough fight for Weiss," said Ruby.

Pyrrha nodded. "Nora certainly has the advantage in strength. From what I can see, she's deceptively fast as well."

Weiss' skill with her rapier was excellent, but it worked best when supplemented by her Dust, which gave Weiss numerous options for offense and defense. What remained uncertain was whether or not the complexity of Weiss' fighting style could hold up against the pure, functional simplicity of Nora's.

"Begin!" said Glynda.

"WHOO HOO!" cheered Nora, leaping up in an impressive jump that took her in an arc, bringing her down almost on top of Weiss' head. She descended, using the momentum of her fall to add to the speed and power of her weapon as she swung her hammer straight down.

Weiss darted to the right. With a flash, a shimmering Glyph, with its snowflake design, appeared right where she stopped and almost instantly reversed her direction, sending her flying back at Nora at practically the same time Nora's hammer impacted the ground, Myrtenaster extending in a thrust, Weiss aiming to land her blow before Nora could recover from her own attack.

Despite what should have been the surprise of her opponent dodging and countering so quickly, Nora's grin didn't falter in the slightest. Instead, the chuckle that left her throat was almost gloating as she squeezed the trigger on the hammer's shaft with a click. A pink explosion erupted from her hammer's head, the shockwave bursting out across the ground around her. Weiss' eyes widened and her momentum was stopped, then reversed as she was blown back by the explosion. At the same time, the explosion propelled Nora back into the air.

Weiss, knocked off her feet by the explosion, hit the floor, bounced, and managed to use her remaining momentum to come back up to her feet. Looking up, she gasped when she saw Nora's weapon transforming, shifting as it transitioned from a hammer to a grenade launcher, which Nora immediately aimed her way.

Nora fired several shots in succession, which streaked towards Weiss like rockets, leaving trails of pink smoke in their wake. A Glyph appeared beneath Weiss' feet and propelled her up into the air, the grenades exploding where she had landed. Up in the air, another Glyph appeared behind Weiss and allowed her to launch herself at Nora like an arrow.

Nora's weapon returned to its hammer form as Nora spun the shaft to intercept Weiss' thrusts. Weiss unleashed a rapid series of strikes, but Nora showed surprising dexterity with her heavy weapon, managing to fend off all of Weiss' attacks, before whirling it around to swing the hammer at the heiress again.

A Glyph appeared between Weiss and Nora, launching Weiss back away from Nora, so that the swing of the hammer just missed clipping her. As she fell back, Weiss leveled her rapier at Nora and unleashed a jet of flame what washed over the larger girl. Nora cried out and was driven back to the ground, hitting hard enough to crack the floor. Weiss landed a few seconds later, before launching herself at Nora once again.

Smoke streamed off the orange-haired girl as Nora rose up from the small crater she'd left in the floor. When she raised her head to look at an incoming Weiss, she merely grinned eagerly and raised her hammer to meet Weiss' onslaught head-on. What followed was a straightforward melee as the two fighters exchanged a rapid series of blows. Once again, Nora's skill and control with her large, heavy weapon was nothing short of astonishing, as she deflected thrust after thrust from Weiss, even though some of her consecutive strikes were so swift that the rapier practically seemed to be in two or three places at once.

Then Nora whipped her weapon around, spinning the shaft around her body so that the butt of her weapon knocked the tip of the rapier up, leaving Weiss out of position to defend as Nora's spin continued, bringing the hammer's head down below her hip and swooping back up in an upwards strike that connected with Weiss' chest. A pink explosion blasted Weiss into the air with a scream of surprise and pain, making her friends in the stands cringe.

Nora converted her weapon back into its grenade launcher form and fired several grenades after Weiss. Weiss managed to overcome the pain of Nora's hit, summoning a Glyph to launch her down and out of the trajectory of Nora's shots, which exploded harmlessly against the safety barrier behind Weiss. Touching down, Weiss launched herself at Nora again, the chambers of her weapon revolving so that the yellow chamber was aligned to deploy its payload.

Once again, Nora switched her weapon back into its melee form as Weiss closed in. This time, as Weiss extended her blade in a thrust and Nora blocked, a crackling stream of electricity ran down the rapier's length, transitioning to the hammer's shaft, then crawling up Nora's arms. Nora's entire body jolted as the electric current ran through her.

"Oh no..."

Ruby, Pyrrha, and Jaune all looked in confusion at Ren, the source of the voice as he looked down at the ring with a grave expression.

"What's wrong?" asked Jaune nervously.

"Nora's Semblance is what's wrong," said Ren.

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"Her Semblance allows her to absorb any form of electricity...and channel it to directly enhance her muscle strength," said Ren.

"Oh dear," gasped Pyrrha, immediately returning her attention to the ring, the others following suit.

Down below, Weiss' sense of triumph at managing to hit Nora with her lightning-Dust was short-lived as she watched the yellow arcs of electricity crawling across Nora's body begin to take on a pinkish tinge. Nora grinned, her muscles tightening, then contracting explosively as she forcefully broke contact with Weiss' blade, the strength behind the move sending Weiss backpedaling. Then Nora brought her hammer around and down in a blow aimed, not for Weiss, but for the ring directly in front of Weiss. It struck with a thunderous impact, completely shattering the floor. Not only was the force of her swing increased, but her Semblance also appeared to enhance the power of the explosion her hammer unleashed as well.

Weiss screamed as she was blown backwards, skidding across the ring, barely managing to get her feet back under her as she slid to a stop, just barely inside the edge of the inner ring. Just a few more inches back and she'd lose by ring-out. However, Weiss managed to get up, jabbing her rapier into the floor. It looked as though she needed its aid to stand up. However, that proved deceptive as, with a ringing sound, a wave of ice suddenly washed across the floor, heading for Nora.

Nora merely laughed and levered back her hammer, before swinging it with all her considerable might, shattering the incoming ice and sending a barrage of chilly shrapnel back at Weiss, who gasped and grunted with pain as the remains of her own attack pelted her body mercilessly. Then Nora closed in for the the finisher, leaping into the air as she'd done at the beginning of the match. At this point, when Nora's hammer descended, either the shockwave would knock off enough of Weiss' Aura to drop it into the critical zone...or Weiss would be blown out of the ring. In either event, Nora won.

"Weiss!" Jaune shouted, shooting to his feet. "Remember the Boarbatusk!"

Weiss' eyes widened as she recognized the hint Jaune was giving her. She'd killed the Boarbatusk in class by striking its vulnerable underbelly. This situation was only marginally similar in that she had an overwhelmingly powerful opponent coming almost right for her. But she had an idea of what to do now.

Leaving Myrtenaser anchored in the ground, Weiss changed up her Dust and triggered her weapon once more. A Glyph appeared in the floor about a meter in front of her, shimmering in a pale-green color. As Nora passed over it, a green cyclone exploded upwards, the wind lifting Nora from below.

"Whoops!" yelped Nora as the trajectory of her leap was suddenly altered, so that she flew right over Weiss' head and, consequently, landed outside the ring, the buzzer sounding and announcing Weiss' victory.

"Ms. Schnee is the winner," said Glynda as she entered the ring. "Well done, both of you. Ms. Valkyrie, your technique is exceptional, and it is good to see that you do not depend entirely upon power. That said, you would do well to consider a method of approach that does not leave you so vulnerable to attack from below."

"Okay," said Nora.

"Ms. Schnee," said Glynda, turning to Weiss. "Your skill with Dust is exceptional, but you would do well to consider more non-linear modes of attack, much like the one that allowed you to win this match."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Weiss, bowing her head slightly.

"And that concludes today's matches," said Glynda. "Now that you have all received your initial assessments, we will be able to adopt a more flexible approach for future matches."

She paused and took a deep breath. "Before I let you go, I have an important announcement to make. As you all know, the biannual Vytal Festival is coming up this fall. This year, Vale shall be hosting the Festival and the Vytal Festival Tournament. Students from all four Academies, along with visitors from all four Kingdoms, will be coming to Vale to attend both the Festival and the tournament."

Excited whispers rose up from the students in the seats.

"As always, students from all years shall have the opportunity to participate in the tournament," continued Glynda. "Should you choose to enter, you will be representing, not just Beacon, but all of Vale as well. Please keep that in mind.

"Aside from that, in a few weeks, we shall be hosting the first visiting students from the other Academies. During that time, they will be attending many of the same classes as you, so I expect you to uphold our school's pride and ensure that they are welcomed properly."

Glynda paused, apparently waiting to make sure that everyone had understood her message. "Very well, you're dismissed for the day."

Everyone got up to file out of the classroom. As he and the rest of his team made their exit, Jaune was surprised when Weiss brushed her hand lightly against his and gave him the smallest (and he had to admit, one of the cutest) smiles he'd ever seen.

"Thanks for your help," she said softly, before heading out the door ahead of him.

Grinning, Ruby gently elbowed Jaune in the side. "You might have a chance with her after all," she teased.

Jaune chuckled and blushed. "Maybe," he said, though he somewhat doubted it. For now, he was a little too busy to worry about dating, Ruby and Pyrrha were seeing to that.

Team RASP left the room, unaware that two people in particular had fixed Jaune's back with intense glares. One was Cardin, as might be expected, considering the humiliating nature of his defeat at Jaune's hands. The other was Yang, her eyes flickering red as she noted that Jaune had ignored her warning from the other day.

Bringing her hands together, Yang cracked her knuckles slowly. _I guess I'll just have to remind him,_ she thought fiercely, looking forward to the next time she could catch Jaune alone.

* * *

"Rather unexpected developments?"

Glynda turned to regard Ozpin as he approached her from the floor-level entrance of the ring. "I will admit that Mr. Arc performed well beyond my expectations," she said with an impressive lack of reluctance. "His skills are still rudimentary, however. But I believe that, so long as he continues to train diligently, there may be a future for him here."

Ozpin smiled. "And it seems that his team is fully willing to support him. I believe that they will become one of the finest teams to emerge from this school."

"That still seems...somewhat overly optimistic," said Glynda. "It does seem that the techniques Ms. Rose has been instructing them in have been producing interesting results. I still have my reservations though."

"Of course," said Ozpin, nodding sagely. "However, it does give me high hopes for their future."

* * *

"You okay, Weiss?" asked Ruby, seeing Weiss stagger a little as they made their way down the hall.

"I'm fine," said Weiss.

"You seem rattled," observed Pyrrha. "I'm not surprised. Anyone would be feeling shaky after taking hits like that. Nora certainly has a lot of power."

"I-it's not like that," protested Weiss.

"It's fine to admit that you're not feeling your best," said Ruby. "Remember how I was, after the Initiation?"

"I...I guess," said Weiss.

"Speaking of that..." Jaune went and crouched down in front of Weiss. "I can carry you if you want."

"Absolutely not!" exclaimed Weiss, her eyes going wide. "I refuse to be hauled around like a common piece of luggage."

"Aww, come on, Weiss," said Ruby with a laugh. "Jaune's really good at carrying."

"I gave a lot of piggyback rides before I came here," admitted Jaune with a chuckle. "Besides, after everything you girls are doing for me, the least I can do is act as transportation."

Weiss looked at Jaune's back, then down at her own legs, which, in spite of her reluctance to admit as much, were shaking from the simple exertion of holding her up. "Fine," she said in a resigned sigh, leaning forward and leaning onto Jaune's back, wrapping her arms around his collar and letting him hook his arms under her legs. "But you'd better not try and get handsy with me."

"Never," promised Jaune, standing up with a grunt.

"She's not too heavy, is she?" asked Pyrrha worriedly, thinking that Jaune had his own battering he was recovering from.

"Pyrrha!" exclaimed Weiss, her cheeks going red as Ruby giggled.

"Nah, she's actually really light," said Jaune with a chuckle. "She's lighter than Ruby."

"What?!" exclaimed Weiss in surprise, her shocked gaze going to Ruby.

"Jaune!" protested Ruby, her face going red, before she puffed out her cheeks and glared at her partner.

"Whoops..." Jaune grinned sheepishly as he saw the affronted look on Ruby's face, realizing he was probably going to be in for trouble come tomorrow morning.

"Strange..." mused Pyrrha, her eyes going to Ruby. She could understand Weiss being fairly light, but the idea that Ruby weighed more than a girl two years her senior was quite surprising.

Jaune decided to hold his tongue, not wanting to get further on Ruby's bad side by explaining why she weighed more than most people probably suspected, for all that he didn't think it was a bad thing. Instead, he carried on, Weiss resting on his back as they made their way to the library to take care of their homework for the day.

As they walked, Ruby carefully glanced behind her, sensing hostile eyes resting on them, Jaune in particular. Sure enough, she caught sight of a head of short, red hair pulling back behind a corner. _Looks like Cardin's gonna hold a grudge,_ she thought. Still, considering the nature of the average bully, Cardin was the sort to look for a target of opportunity, namely when the object of his ire was alone and vulnerable. Ironically, with Ruby and Pyrrha speaking for nearly all of Jaune's free time, they were also inadvertently protecting him from Cardin's reprisals by ensuring that he was rarely alone. _We'll have to be more careful about it in the future,_ Ruby added silently.

Still, there was no need to worry about that for the time being. For now, they had homework to get out of the way, so that they could keep up the pace of Jaune's intensive training. He'd already begun showing the fruits of his hard work, and it was still just the first week of school. Despite her initial reservations after finding out the truth about him, Ruby found herself having high hopes for him now.

* * *

"God dammit!" snarled Cardin, slamming his fist against the wall. "Just look at that stupid jerk, living it up, with three girls at his beck and call! Just who does he think he is?"

"I don't really think he's living it up," commented Dove, leaning back against the wall, just across the hall from his teammate, his expression carefully composed. Of course, as narrow and squinted as his eyes were, it was difficult to guess what he was thinking most of the time. "If anything, being the only boy in a room with three girls is probably one heck of a trial. I feel for him and Ren."

"Yeah right," scoffed Russel, standing next to Cardin. "You saw how they were hanging off him...literally in Schnee's case."

"Yeah, he thinks he's some kind of big shot, just because he won by a fluke," added Sky. "But he's obviously an amateur. He needs to be taught a lesson."

Dove looked from one teammate to another, then lowered his head and sighed softly. "Whatever..." he grumbled, not looking forward to the coming days.

Still, it didn't look like they'd have their chance soon. Jaune's teammates appeared joined at the hip to him. He'd noticed that they spent every free period together, for the most part. He always had at least one teammate with him.

"We'll keep watching," growled Cardin. "That little coward won't be able to keep hiding behind those girls forever."

"Don't they practice on our roof?" asked Russel.

"Yeah, I can hear them sometimes," muttered Cardin. "They keep doing some kinda weird stuff with their Auras, at least, that's what they seem to be talking about. Although, I heard something interesting last night."

"What?" asked Sky.

"Arc has some kind of secret," said Cardin. "They know they're on our roof, so they went somewhere else to talk about it. But, if we can find out what Arc's secret is, we'll have him over a barrel for sure."

"Just great," grumbled Dove.

"So how do we find it?" asked Russel.

"For now, we keep our eyes and ears open," said Cardin. "I'm pretty sure an idiot like that can't keep his lips sealed forever. He'll blab sooner or later."

Dove frowned darkly, not liking the direction this was going at all.

* * *

The next day took on what had become a familiar pattern as the four of them got up early in the morning for their daily workout. As Jaune had feared, Ruby worked him extra hard, clearly not forgetting his comment about her weight the day before. In the free periods between their classes, they continued to work on his technique-training, Pyrrha increasing the pace and force behind her practice-blows to help Jaune gradually adjust to the level of actual combat. She'd also begun teaching him basic offensive techniques. Given how hard he'd worked in the morning, it was surprising that, when their free period came around, Jaune was able to hold his weapons and react without faltering.

"It probably has to do with how much Aura he has," observed Weiss at dinner. "It seems to be boosting his physical recovery ability a great deal."

"No wonder he's progressing so quickly," noted Pyrrha.

"But that won't help him with technique," noted Ruby. "He's actually pretty talented. I don't know why his family didn't see it."

Jaune frowned. "They probably didn't want to see it," he said. "The way Dad was training me, it's nothing like what you girls have me doing, and I'm not just talking about having to work around classes. He used to just drag me out, put a couple of practice weapons in my hands, and bat me around for a while, then call it a day."

Ruby blinked. "That doesn't make sense," she said. "There's no way you can just go straight to sparring without covering basic technique first."

"Not to mention no physical training to build up your strength and endurance," added Pyrrha with a frown.

"That's what I've come to realize," grumbled Jaune. "Dad wasn't actually trying to train me. Back then, I just thought he had really high standards, and I just didn't measure up. But now I'm beginning to think he really just wanted to break me down, and make me _think_ that I wasn't cut out for it."

"You mean he was trying to sabotage you?" gasped Pyrrha, her hands going to her mouth.

"The more I think about it, that's what it seems like," grumbled Jaune.

"That's...that's almost worse than what I went through," said Ruby softly. "At least my Dad just came straight out and _said_ he wasn't going to let me be a Huntress."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?" asked Pyrrha.

Jaune shook his head. "I haven't talked to my family at all, not since I left. And, to be honest, I really don't feel like doing it either."

"You mean, you haven't told them you got through Initiation?" asked Pyrrha. "I'd think you'd at least want to let them know about that."

"I considered it, just to rub their faces in it," growled Jaune. "But then I got a text from Mom...and one each from about four of my sisters the night after it."

"About what?" asked Ruby.

"They wanted to know when I was coming back," growled Jaune. "They said they'd all be waiting for me when I got there. They said there's no shame in failing...and stupid platitudes like that. They all just...took it for granted that I was gonna fail. Hell! They probably didn't even think I was gonna make it _to_ the Initiation. They just assumed I'd get there, be told my application bounced, and be sent straight back.

"And it hasn't stopped. The last three days, I've been getting messages, asking what I'm waiting for, telling me to stop being stubborn, saying that I need to get a move on and find something I can really do."

Jaune brought up his scroll, showing them a list of messages. "They're sitting there, thinking that I'm just up here, probably moping around in some hotel room. Dad's even threatened to freeze my spending account if I don't get my ass back home and stop wasting money."

"Well, Beacon's stipend is bi-weekly," said Ruby. "We don't get our first deposit until next Friday." She paused and frowned uncertainly. "Uh...Maybe you should open a new account, if your dad can just freeze yours. You'll want to be able to access the money you're getting from the school, at the very least."

"That's true," agreed Weiss.

"Um...Has it occurred to you that, maybe, you should just _talk_ to them?" asked Pyrrha. "I mean, they _are_ worried about you. Wouldn't it be better to let them know that you made it in, that you really are a Beacon student?"

"They'd probably just accuse me of lying," growled Jaune.

Pyrrha looked to Ruby for support, only to find Ruby nodding in agreement with Jaune's statement. "What?" she asked, meeting Pyrrha's gaze. "I'd rather have to sit through an entire day of Professor Port's lectures than talk to my, so-called, family." She flicked a hostile glance down the table, where Team RYNB was sitting.

Pyrrha looked to Weiss instead, only for her to sigh. "I honestly can't really disagree with them," she said. "I came here against my father's wishes. I don't exactly feel like talking to him either. Glass houses and all that..."

Pyrrha sighed and lowered her head. How was it that she, with the parents who'd pushed her into the celebrity spotlight so that they could enjoy the monetary perks of her success, somehow had the healthiest family relationship of the four of them? Certainly, her parents continued to call and message about sponsorship opportunities in Vale. But she'd at least been willing to reply and continue to inform them of her desire to focus on becoming a Huntress for the time being. _Even if we've patched things up with each other, we've still got a long list of issues to work through, it seems._

"We'll talk to Professor Ozpin about your spending account tomorrow," Ruby told Jaune. "If we're quick enough, we might be able to transfer your money from your original account before your dad can freeze it."

"That's a good idea," admitted Jaune. "You have to open your own account, right Ruby?"

"Yeah," said Ruby with a sigh. "I haven't actually had money to deposit for a while."

Pyrrha sighed in defeat and planted her face in her hands. _This is going to come to a head in a bad way,_ she thought mournfully.

"For now, let's just focus on training," said Ruby, patting Jaune on the arm. "I'm willing to bet that, sooner or later, some of them will come out to see how you're doing. Imagine the looks on their faces when they actually see you're in the school."

"That'd be nice," said Jaune with a chuckle. "But, yeah...let's talk about something else. What are we doing tomorrow? You'd said you'd be working me extra hard on Saturday."

"Right," said Ruby, beaming. "I'm thinking we could talk to Professor Goodwitch, and get her approval for a training excursion in the Emerald Forest."

"Training excursion?" gasped Pyrrha. "Are you sure?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah. I mean, there's no point in trying to block time in the sparring rings. They're booked solid all weekend, _every_ weekend. Besides, there's nothing we do there that we can't do elsewhere, that we don't already do elsewhere, that is. I've heard they let students train in the forest regularly. It's just rare for first-year students to request it so early in their first semester."

"I guess that makes sense," said Weiss. "So you want to get Jaune more experience with Grimm?"

"Pretty much," said Ruby, smiling slightly at the look of trepidation on Jaune's face. "Don't worry, Jaune. So long as we don't pull a Nora, and wake up a nest of King Taijitu, we'll be fine." She paused. "Or if we don't pull a Weiss and Pyrrha, and wake up an Elder Deathstalker."

"Sh-shut up!" exclaimed Weiss, both her and Pyrrha's cheeks burning.

Jaune covered his mouth to hide a chuckle, while Ruby didn't bother to muffle her giggles. "Anyway," she said, after she recovered, "there are plenty of weak Grimm for you to practice on. The rest of us will whittle down the numbers, and make them manageable for you."

"I feel kinda bad," said Jaune, looking down. "I mean...you're going through all this trouble for me..."

"Don't feel bad about it. That's just a waste of time and energy," admonished Weiss. "If you really care about what we, Ruby and Pyrrha in particular, are doing for you, then make sure you make the fullest use of every chance we provide you."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Jaune, stiffening and resisting the urge to salute her.

* * *

Saturday dawned normally for most students. This was the start of their weekend. For most of the first-years, this was a time to recover from the strenuous first week of school. Some slept in late or lazed about. Others made their way into Vale to enjoy the amenities that the Kingdom had to offer. Others got a jump-start on their homework, or even did some extra training in the fitness center or the sparring rings. However, that morning, only a single team of first-years descended the cliff into the Emerald Forest.

"HAAAAAAAA!" shouted Jaune as he lunged forward with a sideways slash, angling his blade to slice the head off an attacking Beowolf. Another lunged in from a different angle. Quickly executing the cross-step that Pyrrha had taught him, Jaune turned to catch the beast's swiping claws on his shield, angling and shifting it so that they skidded off without causing his arm to strain in the slightest. With another shout, he stepped forward and drove his blade into the Beowolf's chest, causing the entire monster's body to jolt, before going limp. Jaune withdrew his blade and stepped back, before the Grimm could fall over him and pin him beneath its corpse.

"Good work!" called Ruby from her position at the edge of the clearing.

Jaune would have basked in the praise more, had it not been for the dissolving corpses of a full _seven_ other Beowolves behind her, in comparison to his two. And those had just been the two that she'd let past herself for him to fight, while making sure to dispose of the others.

Ruby pulled out her scroll. "Anything else coming, Pyrrha?"

"_I see a small group of Ursai coming,_" Pyrrha replied over the device. She was presently acting as the team's spotter, having situated herself in a tall tree to spy on incoming Grimm, and report what was inbound. "_I see one with more spikes than the rest. It may be a Major._"

"Roger that," said Ruby. Then she turned to Jaune. "Okay, I'll let one Ursa through, and take care of the rest. Keep on your toes. Ursa are similar to Beowolves overall, but different enough to throw you off."

Jaune gulped and nodded, still feeling somewhat disappointed with himself that he was essentially only being allowed to deal with Ruby's leftovers.

"It's all right," said Ruby, noticing his dissatisfaction. "You'll get there, but only if we work hard and smart."

Jaune nodded. Compared to the training he'd done over the week, the overall amount of activity he'd been through should have been less, but he already felt considerably more drained. The experience of fighting real Grimm was far more stressful than simply practicing fending off Pyrrha's swings, or even standing firm against Cardin's attacks. After all, the Grimm didn't care about rules and regulations...only about killing. While Ruby was trying to keep things to a level he could handle, if he made a mistake, it could potentially cost him his life.

The sound of breaking undergrowth reached his ears, and Jaune focused on the shifting foliage as it parted to reveal the herd of bearlike Grimm, bounding forward with boundless enthusiasm, roaring triumphantly at the sight of prey.

Jaune gulped. These were a lot scarier than Beowolves.

Ruby cut across them in a streak of red, slicing one in two across the torso with a single slash of her sword. The one next to it wheeled about to target her, but she dodged its slashing claws to launch small attacks to catch the attention of a third and fourth. The last one barreled past her unimpeded, heading straight for Jaune. As it closed in, Jaune noticed that this one had numerous bone spikes protruding from its back, and that it was a good bit larger than the others. _Oh God! She left me the Major!_

The massive Grimm bore down on him like a truck, roaring. Sweating and swallowing, Jaune took his stance and readied himself. The Ursa Major reared up on its hind legs, its remaining forward momentum carrying it for the last two lumbering steps to bring him in reach as it swung at Jaune with a paw almost as wide as his torso was tall. Jaune shifted his shield upwards as the attack struck, trying to deflect it over his head. The force behind it was unreal, far more than any of Cardin's mace strikes had carried. Jaune found his feet being driven backwards, but he managed to succeed in deflecting most of the strike.

Unfortunately, the Ursa immediately followed up with a second from its opposite paw. Jaune managed to deflect that one as well, but the Ursa simply followed through with yet another, the force behind each blow being enough to unbalance him so that, by the time he recovered, he had no time to counterattack before the Ursa's next attack came.

Grimacing, Jaune decided he couldn't simply keep playing the defensive. When the Ursa's next slash came at him from his left, he stepped in, taking the attack fully on his shield. His knees almost buckled beneath the incredible force. But the Ursa itself was stymied, having its claws halted, rather than redirected. Jaune grunted and, with a roar, forced his foe's paw back, before jumping up and in to swing his sword up to take off the beast's head. The decapitated Ursa fell to the earth with enough force to make it jolt.

"That was great!" cheered Ruby, waving from in front of the dismembered corpses of the four Ursai she'd handled. Granted, Jaune's had been the biggest, meanest one of the batch, but it still made him feel pretty low that she'd managed four and looked like she'd hardly worked at all, while he'd only gone up against the one and felt like he was currently made of jelly.

"Anymore coming?" Ruby asked into her scroll.

"_I don't see any movement,_" said Pyrrha. "_I think we've cleared them out for the time being. We can send up another lure in a little bit._"

"Okay, come on down," said Ruby. She waved past Jaune at the far side of the clearing. "Weiss! We're taking a break."

"All right," said Weiss, coming from where she'd been standing, a ways behind Jaune.

Weiss had basically served as insurance for Jaune, in case he got in over his head. She also guarded the opposite end of the clearing, in case any Grimm came from that direction. Since they were just a short distance from the cliffs, that was less likely, but a precaution they took all the same.

"Okay Jaune, we can relax a little," said Ruby.

Jaune didn't need anymore urging than that, practically falling onto his butt with a tired gasp, pulling out his canteen and taking a swig of water.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ruby, sitting down by Jaune.

"Pretty shaky," Jaune admitted. "This is way scarier than dealing with Cardin."

"That's good to know," said Ruby with a giggle. "The shakes are adrenaline wearing off. You'll learn to manage it eventually, but there's no rush."

Pyrrha and Weiss joined the group, all of them, even Weiss, taking seats on the ground near Jaune and Ruby.

"You're doing great, Jaune," said Pyrrha, beaming at him. "You've managed everything so far."

"I know you probably feel bad that Ruby is mowing down Grimm, while you have to keep slogging through just a couple at a time, but you're definitely making progress," added Weiss.

"Wow, that actually sounded like praise, Yukihime," said Ruby, earning a giggle from Pyrrha.

"I-I'm just making a realistic assessment," stammered Weiss. "And stop calling me that...whatever it is you're calling me."

"It's one of the old tongues from around Mistral," said Pyrrha. "'Yuki' means snow, and I think 'hime' means princess...right?"

"Yep," said Ruby with a giggle.

"So you're calling me Snow Princess?" asked Weiss, glaring at Ruby.

"It suits you," teased Ruby.

"You insufferable, little red..." growled Weiss.

Pyrrha gently patted her shoulder. "Let it go."

Weiss sighed as Ruby giggled and Jaune chuckled.

"Though I didn't expect you to be familiar with Old-Mistralian," said Pyrrha, giving Ruby a speculative look.

"The people I trained with still use it," said Ruby. "They just call it the Old Tongue, but they use a lot of it in their terminology, and it's taught in their schools alongside Common. I've heard its usage is fading, but a lot of people are still fluent in it."

"Including you?" asked Pyrrha.

Ruby nodded slowly. "Spoken mostly. Learning to write in Old Tongue is a lot harder, because most of their written language is logographic."

"What's that mean?" asked Jaune.

"It means that written symbols stand for words and ideas, rather than sounds," said Pyrrha. "It's harder to learn, because you need to memorize a much larger number of symbols to be fluent."

"Who are these people?" asked Weiss, before catching herself. "I'm sorry." She looked away, remembering one of the painful triggers of her previous angry arguments with Ruby.

"It's okay," said Ruby. "I think I can tell you guys about it. We don't have to worry about eavesdroppers out here, at least."

"We certainly seem to be the only team in this section of the Emerald Forest," noted Pyrrha.

"Why are you so worried about people overhearing this?" asked Weiss.

"Well...the Mibu Clan, the people I lived and studied with...don't have the best relationship with the Kingdoms," explained Ruby. "Most of the people in the Kingdoms who know about them prefer to pretend they don't exist."

"That sounds...petty," said Weiss.

"It pretty much is," said Ruby. "Because of that, and because the Mibu don't have access to the CCT, they're sometimes called the Silent Kingdom. They control the entire territory of the continent of Leng, which is the _real_ reason Leng is called the Forbidden Continent."

"I thought it had to do with the Vytal Treaty," said Weiss with a frown.

"That's just one of the excuses," said Ruby. "It's true that the treaty divided Leng and its resources between the four Kingdoms, but that was before anyone bothered actually trying to see if anyone _actually_ lived there. Both Vale and Atlas went and tried to found settlements, only to find that another group had already established control of the entire continent."

"The Mibu?" asked Pyrrha.

"Uh huh," said Ruby. "The problem was that the leaders of the two expeditions didn't want to give up their claim. And they figured that, since the Mibu didn't have any Dust-tech, they'd be able to easily overwhelm them and conquer 'em basically."

"Wait a moment!" interjected Weiss. "These Mibu you lived with...they don't use Dust?"

"Nope," said Ruby.

"B-but...wha-how?" gasped Weiss.

"I'll get to that in a bit," said Ruby.

"So they got into a fight with Vale and Atlas?" prodded Jaune.

"Yep," said Ruby. "And both expeditionary forces got their butts handed to them. The Mibu crushed them completely."

"That's...that's impossible!" exclaimed Weiss. "Even if it wasn't that long after the Great War, the weapons of the Kingdoms should have been leagues above that of a people that don't even use Dust."

"Well, they did," said Ruby simply. "That's because the Mibu study Aura...more than anyone else, they know what Aura's capable of. They've developed it to the point where it's way more powerful than any Dust weapon, even those that exist now."

"Impossible!" scoffed Weiss, in spite of herself.

"Like creating lightning without Dust?" commented Pyrrha, with an amused sidelong glance.

"That's right," said Ruby, swelling a little with pride, while Weiss deflated. "But I'm not very good with it yet. You should hear some of the stories about what the real masters of that technique can do…" She sighed with envy, a far away look on her face.

"So the Mibu won then," said Jaune.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "After that, word covertly spread to Mistral and Vacuo that Leng was already taken. But no one, especially not the leaders in Vale or Atlas, wanted to admit that their great weapons and airships had been beaten by a bunch of 'primitives.' So they just decided to make up excuses for why Leng was off limits, and pretend that no one was there at all. Because the Mibu don't have the CCT, it was pretty easy."

"That's terrible," said Pyrrha.

"The Mibu _prefer_ it that way, honestly," said Ruby, a more sober expression on her face. "The one thing I've learned about them is that they're really..._really_ isolationist for the most part. Some of them would like to open up to the outside world more, especially the clan's leaders. But most of them don't want to have anything to do with the Kingdoms, so they're fine with the way things are."

"I see..." said Pyrrha with a frown.

"I'm still having difficulty accepting that they could match a Kingdom's military force without Dust," said Weiss skeptically.

"Well, like I said, the more powerful members of the clan can do way more than I can," said Ruby. "Their military is basically a warrior class, so their lowest ranks are Huntsman-class fighters."

Pyrrha gasped in amazement.

"But their strongest members, the leaders of their military, and even their government, the Five Stars and the Four Elders...they're equal to entire armies!" said Ruby, her tone growing excited. "And that's not even covering what the King can do!"

"They still have a monarchy?" asked Weiss, surprised by the notion.

"Yeah...sort of," said Ruby. "It's a little weird. One of the two who found me, Kyo-nii, his father is the Crimson King. He's the King, but he doesn't actually rule."

"Why not?" asked Jaune.

"Because he doesn't want to," said Ruby. She giggled. "So he teaches elementary school instead. He doesn't really need to do any king-stuff anyway, 'cause the Mibu have the Taishiro, the Four Elders, for that. Those are basically the equivalent to their Council."

"I see..." said Weiss with a frown.

"That sounds like an...odd arrangement," said Pyrrha.

"Yeah, it's kinda weird," admitted Ruby. "But it works, so I can't really complain. The Elders are really strong too. They're the most powerful Aura-users in the clan. The things they can do...it's like magic. In fact, they're better at what they do than someone with _actual_ magic."

"That's impressive," said Pyrrha. Then she tittered. "Though I don't think there is anyone who can use 'actual magic.'"

"Oh y-yeah...right," said Ruby, blushing slightly, realizing she'd almost said too much.

"So you're saying that, because these Mibu use their Auras so extensively, they've never needed to rely on Dust," said Weiss, her tone so skeptical.

"Yep," said Ruby. "Their power is real. I'm nowhere near that level myself."

"Well, you are still learning," said Pyrrha, patting Ruby's shoulder. "I imagine that, with more training, you'll become as strong as those people you admire."

"I hope so," said Ruby. _It'll probably take a lifetime though._

"I still have my doubts," said Weiss with a frown. "I suppose that, maybe, in the future, we could visit these people, and I could see for myself."

"That'll be hard, since they don't really like visitors all that much," said Ruby. "But it might be doable. You'll get to meet one of them soon, though."

"Really?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby, perking up. "Sasame-nee learned I got into Beacon, so she's on her way to Vale to visit and see how I'm doing. She'll be here in less than a month."

"What's taking her so long?" Weiss wanted to know.

"She's walking," Ruby deadpanned.

"Oh...right," said Weiss, remembering how Ruby had gotten to Vale herself.

"I look forward to meeting her," said Pyrrha congenially.

"You'll love her, she's really nice," said Ruby with a giggle.

"I'm sure I will." Pyrrha paused and looked around. "We've probably waited long enough. I'll send up another lure, and see if we can draw in some more Grimm."

"Oh boy," breathed Jaune.

"You've just gotta bear with it, Jaune," said Ruby, patting his shoulder. "You're doing great so far."

Pyrrha reached into the pack she'd brought and produced the lure. It was a surprisingly simple object, consisting of a canister, mounted on a thin, metal rod, with a pull-string dangling from the back end of the canister. For all intents and purposes, it was nothing more than a miniature firework. Pulling on the string caused a small, Dust-propelled round to fire up into the air and explode with a loud bang. Naturally, a noisemaker like that was practically ideal for drawing in the aggressive Grimm.

Pyrrha held the rod in one hand and aimed the device skywards, pulling on the string. The round expelled from the canister with a hiss, leaving a trail of white exhaust behind it, spiraling up into the sky, before detonating like a thunderclap. Birds scattered from trees in the vicinity, startled by the sudden sound.

"I'll get into position," said Pyrrha, heading for her perch once more.

"Get ready," said Ruby to Jaune, as she and Weiss headed for their positions.

"Great," muttered Jaune, taking up his weapons once more, shaking out his arms to get them used to fighting again. He felt pretty good, all told, his Aura boosting his recovery speed.

"What've you got for us, Pyrrha?" asked Ruby over her scroll.

"_I see a few Creeps coming,_" said Pyrrha. "_I think I see some more Beowolves too. There's a Nevermore on the way as well._"

_Hmm...The Nevermore might be a little much for Jaune,_ thought Ruby. For all that Jaune was doing well against simple opponents, like Beowolves and Ursai, a Nevermore, being a flier, would be a lot more difficult for him to defend and attack against, easily maneuvering around him in a way that ground-bound opponents couldn't match. But it would still be a good idea to at least let him have a go at it, so long as there was only the one.

_I'll let him have the Nevermore then,_ she thought, _So long as it doesn't come while he's dealing with any of the other kinds._

A couple minutes later, the first Grimm arrived at the clearing. Jaune handled three Creeps with surprising ease. He had a good handle on the Beowolves that came after that, Ruby allowing him to fight four at once this time. To her confusion though, the Nevermore failed to show.

"Pyrrha? What's up with that Nevermore?" asked Ruby. "Did it go somewhere else?"

"_No, it's still on the way,_" said Pyrrha. "_It must have been farther than I thought._"

Ruby frowned. That didn't sound right. "Hey, Pyrrha...? If that Nevermore is still coming...how far away was it when you spotted it?"

"_Uh...I'm not sure,_" said Pyrrha. "_It was a little too high up, so I didn't get a proper measure of distance._"

_Uh oh..._ "I'm guessing you didn't get a good measure of its size either," said Ruby.

"_No. But if it was farther than I thought it was when I saw it, then..._" Pyrrha's voice trailed off as she realized the implication of what she was saying. "_Oh dear..._"

"Ruby? What's wrong?" asked Jaune, not liking the nervous look on her face.

"What is it about this Nevermore?" asked Weiss, coming to join them.

"It's bigger than we thought it was," said Ruby with a sheepish grin. "I think we're about to have a hard fight on our hands, _all_ of us...not just Jaune."

"Um...What's going on?" asked Jaune.

"I think the Nevermore Pyrrha spotted is a lot bigger than we thought it was," said Ruby.

"It is," confirmed Pyrrha, having descended from her perch to join them. "It's _huge_!"

Weiss' eyes narrowed in a glare at Ruby.

"Hey!" Ruby protested. "It's not a King Taijitu nest or a huge Deathstalker!"

A screeching caw made all of them flinch and cover their ears. An enormous shadow swept past overhead, the wind of its passage buffeting their bodies with enough force to nearly knock them off their feet. They looked up to see a truly colossal Nevermore swoop past overhead, its four, glowing, red eyes glittering with malice as it banked around for another pass.

"No...but it's bad enough," declared Weiss.

* * *

**Oh hey! _There's_ the Nevermore that was missing during Initiation.**

**Jaune's definitely still working his way up the ladder, but he's definitely going places. His win over Cardin was more due to Cardin's stupidity than anything else though.**

**So yeah, Dove is the Token Good Teammate of Team CRDL in this story. I kinda latched onto the creators' idea of Dove being the secret strongest member of CRDL, and also made him the nicest member...which isn't saying much, honestly.**

**Weiss vs Nora was a tricky match to write, but we know that Nora has the edge in power, but she's no slouch in the skils department. You see it in the food-fight at the beginning of Volume 2, of all places, where Nora is going up against Yang with her watermelon-on-a-pole. Even though she's pretty much in Yang's optimal range, and _she's_ swinging around a polearm, Nora still manages to send Yang through the ceiling before Yang's hit can land. So yeah...seriously don't underestimate her.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18:**

"Jaune! To me!" shouted Pyrrha, beckoning Jaune to her side. "Weiss, Ruby...behind us!"

"What should I do?" asked Jaune, coming to stand next to Pyrrha.

"Link shields and raise them!" Pyrrha shouted urgently. "It's going to launch its feathers at us!"

_That doesn't sound so bad,_ thought Jaune, as he did as he was bid, raising his shield so that its rim overlapped with the circular rim of Pyrrha's, the two of them bracing their defensive weapons together and raising them into the path of incoming Nevermore as Weiss and Ruby took cover behind them.

The Nevermore abruptly flared its wings, bringing its swooping flight to a halt, then swept its wings forward, _hard_, launching its feathers down at them in a barrage, like arrows. Somehow, they rotated in the air so that they struck quill-first, their tips piercing the solid ground like they were made of metal.

It was a widespread barrage, striking all around them. However, several feathers found their mark on Jaune and Pyrrha's shields, striking with incredible force. _I take it back! It's bad!_ Jaune thought frantically, as he strained to keep his shield from faltering. Luckily, having Pyrrha's shield linked with his braced it, and he managed to keep it up until the feathers stopped striking the ground.

"Scatter!" shouted Ruby from behind them.

They all jumped away in separate directions, which was good. Following firing its feathers, the Nevermore had resumed its swoop towards them. Its talons struck the ground, gouging out trenches right where they'd been standing earlier. It kicked off, beat its wings once more, and took to the air again, circling around for another pass.

"We need to get out of here!" Weiss shouted.

"It's not gonna let us!" Ruby shouted back. "It'll take us out while we're going up the cliff!"

"You're not saying we should fight _that_!?" Weiss exclaimed, staring at Ruby, aghast.

"Yep," said Ruby, sounding far more cheerful than the situation warranted.

"You think we can?" asked Jaune, with no small amount of trepidation.

"I _know_ we can," said Ruby.

Pyrrha switched Milo into its rifle-mode and took aim at the Nevermore, firing off several shots at it. "We're going to have to figure out how," she said. "Its feathers might as well be armor."

Weiss grimaced, then pirouetted about. A formation of four small glyphs appeared around her body, which then fired a barrage of bolts at the Nevermore. They exploded against the beast's feathers as it completed its turn and came stooping for them again. Despite her best efforts, none of her attacks seemed to do the creature any harm.

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby, looking to her partner. "Raise your shield!"

Jaune did as he was bid, raising his shield up and over his head. Ruby jumped and landed on it, the sudden addition of her weight driving Jaune down, his knees screaming at him as he strained to remain standing.

"PUSH!" shouted Ruby excitedly.

Jaune grunted, then roared with exertion, pushing upward with all his might, using his arms and legs in the maneuver. At the peak of his efforts, Ruby kicked off his shield, the force of her action practically flinging Jaune back down so that he fell to the ground with an impact that knocked the wind from his lungs. Ruby shot upwards in a streak of red, her flight angling to take her directly towards the Nevermore, which screeched wrathfully as she approached.

Ruby merely smirked, then threw her body into a spin, wrapping her cloak around her so that she resembled a crimson cyclone, streaking through the air, leaving a trail of swirling, red petals in her wake. More petals seemed to peel off her cloak, congealing together and forming into swirling clouds that circled around her body. About six such clouds formed. Abruptly, they condensed, converging inwards, erupting into arcs of electricity that grew denser, their crimson color lightening, until they became a brilliant violet color, filling the air with an intense buzzing sound.

"_Hibana!_" The shimmering bolts of energy launched along a spiraling path to meet the incoming Nevermore, impacting with a series of powerful explosions that caused the birdlike Grimm to jolt and screech in pain. Ruby followed in the wake of her attack, her sword lashing out in a streak of red to cut along the Nevermore's side, drawing a spray of red from a line slashed along its torso as Ruby glided past.

The Nevermore's body jolted, and its wings convulsed. No longer flapping to keep itself aloft, the Nevermore plummeted to the ground, landing with a crash that shook the earth, smashing a few trees, before sliding to a stop just inside the clearing.

"Incredible," breathed Pyrrha.

Weiss' eyes widened. "Unbelievable!"

It was Jaune who realized what Ruby had done. "It's on the ground now. We can take it."

He rushed forwards. Pyrrha gasped and dashed after him. Weiss looked after her two teammates, hesitating for just a second, before following in their wake with a muttered curse at their recklessness.

The Nevermore rose up, folding its wings slightly so that it could brace the claws that protruded from the joints against the ground, strangely giving it a posture more like a bat than that of a bird. Its caw was more like a roar than the sound a crow should make. It lumbered forward to meet the incoming students. On the ground, its movements were ungainly.

It lunged forward, trying to plunge its beak into Jaune. Jaune responded by raising his shield, deflecting the beak off to the side with a spray of sparks. Yelling out, Jaune swung, his sword biting into the Nevermore's neck. Putting as much of his strength into the swing as possible, he was rewarded by a screech of pain, finding that he actually had managed to penetrate those tough, armor-like feathers.

In the meantime, Pyrrha rushed to flank the distracted Nevermore from the other side. Leaping into the air, she raised her weapon, transitioning it into its javelin form and hurling it, firing a shot from the back at the same time, to send it plunging into one of the Nevermore's glowing eyes, making its shrieks reach an even higher pitch. Its entire body lurched as it tried to pull back, preparing to try and take to the air again.

But Weiss intervened, plunging her rapier into the ground. With a ringing sound, ice rose up from the earth where the Nevermore's claws rested, locking them in place. "Finish it!" she shouted, looking up.

Ruby descended from above, her body spinning, cloak flaring out around her in a familiar motion as her sword rang and blazed with crimson light, seeming to merge with the edge of her cloak in the process of her spin. "_Kazebara!_"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha leapt back as a red crescent cleaved through the Nevermore's neck, decapitating it in one fell swoop, both sides of the wound sending a spray of red particles in the air that showered around Ruby as she touched down. The Nevermore's body gave one last lurch, then slumped lifelessly.

For a moment, the clearing was silent. Then Jaune let out a gasp and slumped down. "Geez! That was more than I was hoping for today."

"Me too," said Ruby, laughing sheepishly as she ran her hand through her hair.

"Honestly, I can't believe your luck," growled Weiss irritably. "First, those Grimm during the initiation...now this."

"Hey! _You're_ the one who woke up the Deathstalker," Ruby retorted, drawing an embarrassed blush from Weiss. "Besides, I'm surprised this Nevermore _didn't_ come after us during the initiation. I didn't think there was anything this big left in the vicinity."

"Well, whatever the case, we brought it down...and quite easily at that," commented Pyrrha, coming between the two, her hands raised in a placating gesture. "If anything, I'm surprised that it gave us so little trouble."

"That was mostly Ruby though," said Jaune. "Her swordsmanship is amazing."

"Very true," agreed Pyrrha as Ruby's face turned red.

"It's...uh...no big deal..." said Ruby, nervously tapping her fingers together.

_No big deal...huh?_ Weiss frowned, looking at Ruby from behind. _That was no ordinary lightning she made._ Lightning-Dust was a potent force to be sure. But it was hard to control properly. Generally, using more Dust produced a larger volume of lightning, enabling the user to increase their range, or cover a larger area.

Ruby's attack, on the other hand, had been much more intense than anything Weiss had ever seen lightning-Dust produce. In fact, unless she was mistaken, Ruby's attack had combined lightning and wind to produce orbs of plasma, super-energized, ionized gas that contained so much energy that it had actually reached the violet point of the visible spectrum. _Is that the result of using Aura rather than Dust? Can she really produce so much destructive power with just her Aura alone?_

It was amazing to consider...and daunting. Weiss had grown up living and breathing Dust, everything to do with it, from its usage as the foundation of the civilization of her world, to its commercial importance, to its direct application in battle. Dust was the foundation of Weiss' life. The prospect that people could use Aura to create similar effects, or even more pronounced effects than Dust, rocked Weiss to the core of her being. _And, according to Ruby, there's an entire civilization that uses nothing but their Auras._

If that knowledge spread and proliferated, what would it mean for her and the Schnee Dust Company? If people realized that they had the potential within themselves to use the power of Dust, without having to actually acquire Dust, then why would they bother with Dust at all? Now that she thought about it, Weiss figured that, perhaps, wounded pride over having their technology overcome by a bunch of assumed "primitives" might not be the only reason that the powers that be had a vested interest in keeping the Mibu Clan out of world affairs.

"Well, that was bigger than we were expecting," said Ruby, staring at the Nevermore's dissolving corpse, her words drawing Weiss back into the present. "Should we call it a day, or is everyone okay if we keep going?"

"Well, I'm rattled," admitted Jaune. "But you did all the heavy lifting on that, Ruby. So...I'm good to keep going if you are."

"That's true," agreed Pyrrha, nodding slowly. "No doubt there were more Grimm attracted by that racket, so we'll have plenty more to train on shortly."

Weiss frowned, but couldn't find any reason to abort their training session. "I'm willing to keep going," she said.

"Okay then," said Ruby. "Pyrrha..."

"On it," said Pyrrha, heading back to her perch.

Ruby stretched, then flicked her blade through a few passes. "If there aren't anymore crazy-big Grimm crashing the party, we'll probably get through these waves by lunch."

"I'm cool with that," said Jaune, stretching himself out. "This is probably some of the best training I've ever had. I can't thank you girls enough for this."

"Just do your best," said Ruby. "Right now, that's all we need."

"Don't slack off, in other words," admonished Weiss, before marching away.

Ruby giggled. "She certainly has a unique way of cheering people on."

Jaune looked after her and chuckled. "Well, considering it's her, I'll take what I can get."

"_Heads up!_" Pyrrha called over their scrolls. "_I see more Beowolves on the way._"

"Well...here we go," said Ruby. "I'm not going to tell you how many I'm letting through this time. Try and keep your awareness up."

Jaune gulped, but set himself all the same. "B-bring it on," he said, not able to completely hide the nervous quaver in his voice.

Ruby giggled. "That's the spirit," she said, heading for the edge of the clearing, and towards the approaching Grimm, their barks and growls already reaching their ears.

* * *

"And now they go back to their previous work like nothing happened," said Ozpin with a chuckle as he sipped from his mug, watching RASP's progress on his scroll.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed by their determination," said Glynda, watching the same thing on her own scroll, the two of them standing at the edge of the cliff. "Mr. Arc, in particular, continues to surprise me with the level of dedication he shows...though it remains to be seen if he can sustain it for the prolonged period that he needs to reach the level of his teammates."

"Indeed, that will be the true test of his mettle," agreed Ozpin. "He will encounter no shortage of difficulties at the hands of his classmates. I imagine that he will become frustrated sooner or later. The real question will be whether or not he allows that frustration to stymie him, or if he will work past it."

Glynda nodded. "As for Ms. Rose...She truly is uniquely capable."

"Agreed," said Ozpin.

"I'm beginning to see why she is the leader of this team," said Glynda. "Although I think that Ms. Schnee is beginning to understand the potential ramifications of the Mibu Clan...and their philosophy on Aura and Dust...becoming more widely disseminated than before."

"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "Jacques is one of the strongest proponents of hostility against the Mibu. He has even proposed another expedition to Leng on occasion."

"If his proposals gain ground..." said Glynda warily.

"It would be disastrous for Atlas," said Ozpin. "The Mibu cannot be underestimated. The destructive power of their unleashed strength surpasses that of any individual Kingdom's military."

It seemed like a gross exaggeration. While actual statistics were virtually impossible to get about the Mibu, estimates placed their total population at less than a hundred-thousand, all told, fewer people than occupied Vale itself, to say nothing of the myriad settlements that dotted the Kingdom's territory. Based on the reports from the previous failed expedition (what of them that hadn't been redacted, of course), their military seemed to number no more than a few-hundred at most. And yet, at the very least, it seemed that even their rank-and-file soldiers possessed Huntsman-level capability, on par with an Academy graduate, which would give them the worth of well over a hundred of the average soldiers that made up the bulk of any Kingdom's particular military. The fact that there were those among their number who stood above that, some by orders of magnitude, suggested combat capability that bordered on the fantastical.

In other words, the Mibu were nigh-unconquerable, so long as they were defending their own territory. Of course, such small numbers made the offensive projection of their power untenable. The amount of destructive force any one individual could bring to bear would have little influence on their ability to take and hold territory on a wider area, with the Mibu seeming to only have enough numbers to maintain their own territory, which made the risk of them seeking to make their own expeditions into the outside world a remote thing.

"Yet they continue to maintain neutrality," said Glynda. "I cannot imagine that She would be content with leaving them be, when she has turned her wrath on the rest of humanity."

"Perhaps eventually," said Ozpin. "If She crushed all other resistance and She was free to marshal her forces for that single purpose, She might proceed against them. That might well be her plan. However, the Mibu, or at least those who lead them, hold themselves back…for reasons that only _they_ seem to know."

Glynda looked at Ozpin curiously, wondering what he meant by that. However, he volunteered no other information.

Then again, perhaps he had none. Mystery pretty much defined the Mibu, as far as the Kingdoms were concerned. It might have seemed odd that an entire continent could have been claimed by someone, without the Kingdoms knowing, but historical records were far from perfect. The perpetual threat of the Grimm had seen Kingdoms rise, then fall, histories written, then lost over the course of centuries. Even now, with the CCT having ushered in a new era in communications, it was still all too easy for people and places to be lost. Coverage was far from perfect, with settlements often falling out of contact for days, or even weeks, at a time. More than once, a settlement had simply disappeared, with no one realizing it had been overrun until weeks later. Because of that, it was all too easy to overlook the existence of a people who had absolutely _no_ access to the selfsame communications technology...and even easier to wall them off.

There _had_ been attempts by the Kingdoms to found settlements on Leng, before Vale and Atlas' disastrous expedition, but they had disappeared without a trace, contact lost without explanation. Before the expedition had encountered the Mibu, Grimm had been blamed, leading to speculation that Leng was infested with particularly dangerous varieties, the reason that Vale and Atlas had made a concerted effort, after the Great War. The existence of the Mibu that the expedition had encountered suggested that those earlier attempts at settlement had either been destroyed or assimilated by them.

As it was, with their low population, vast swaths of their territory remained completely undeveloped, which potentially suggested it was possible for the Kingdoms to create settlements of their own, without engaging with the Mibu at all. However, the Mibu appeared to have a covetous streak, regarding the entirety of the Leng, whether the lands in question were previously occupied or not, as unquestionably _theirs_, and any attempt by outsiders to stake a claim was clearly to be repulsed.

Because of that, it was difficult to ascertain to what extent they knew of the situation regarding Her. What Qrow had told indicated that at least a few of them did. Why they appeared to be content to sit back and allow a threat to the entirety of humanity to go unchallenged was a mystery in and of itself. But, then again, perhaps that just spoke to the sheer intensity of their isolationist mentality. After all, by and large, they seemed just as determined to ignore the Kingdoms as the Kingdoms were to ignore them, with Ruby being the, so far, sole baffling exception.

Frowning, Glynda turned her attention back to RASP and watched as they continued to train.

* * *

"Gah! What a day?" groaned Jaune as he sagged into his seat, setting his tray down in front of him. His entire body felt as though it was made of lead.

"You did great," said Ruby. "You were able to handle five Beowolves at once, at the end there."

"True," agreed Pyrrha. "Your improvement is remarkable, in all honesty."

"It's thanks to that stupidly huge Aura of his," commented Weiss. "The way he bounces back from any physical exertion is, honestly, ridiculous. It took a whole day of continuous fights against the Grimm just to run it down to the last quarter."

"Hmm..." Ruby frowned, tapping her chin, staring at Jaune intently.

Jaune quailed away from her gaze. "Suddenly I get the feeling my life is about to get a lot more hellish."

"I'm just thinking," said Ruby. "Your Aura allows you to physically rebound really well from physical work. I'm thinking we should push you harder during your fitness training."

"That's a good point," said Pyrrha, nodding in agreement. "Perhaps, on the days we don't have Combat Class, we should focus on more physical conditioning for him."

Jaune gulped, a slight whimper working its way out of his throat.

"Relax," said Ruby, patting his arm. "If we're doing that, then it means you'll get strong a lot faster than you normally would." She giggled. "We're not gonna work you to death...just right up to the edge of it."

"I don't know what to say," said Jaune weakly.

"Say 'thank you,'" said Weiss, giving him a raised eyebrow. "Don't make me keep reminding you just how far out on a limb Ruby and Pyrrha are going for your sake, Arc. You'd better not do them the disservice of giving up now."

"No, Ma'am," said Jaune.

Ruby transitioned to gently rubbing his back. "Hey, it's okay. You're doing awesome. On top of that, tomorrow is gonna be our day off. We can do anything we want."

"That's right," said Pyrrha. "And, thanks to us getting our homework out of the way, we really have the whole day to ourselves."

Jaune chuckled. "Well, I have that to look forward to, at least."

Abruptly, the table jumped as Nora practically landed on the bench next to Jaune, grinning excitedly, her eyes shining as she looked around. "Hi, guys!" she said eagerly.

"Hey, Nora," said Ruby cheerfully.

"Where _were_ you all day?" asked Nora, as the other members of Team RYNB took their seats at the table, Yang resignedly taking the furthest position from Ruby that she could, though she couldn't quite stop looking in her sister's direction. "I was gonna suggest that we hang out together, but we couldn't find you anywhere."

"We've been down in the Emerald Forest," explained Pyrrha.

"Wait! You guys were training on Saturday?" asked Yang, her eyes going wide, unintentionally ignoring the flash of irritation that appeared on Ruby's face when she jumped in.

"Well, we still have Sunday and it's a good time to dedicate a whole day to training," said Pyrrha. "It's hard to get time blocked for ourselves in the sparring ring, plus this gives us a chance to train against actual Grimm, until we can start taking missions."

"Impressive dedication," said Ren, nodding sagely, before glancing sidelong at Nora. "I only wish my team were half as motivated."

"Aww...it's not my fault you make such delicious pancakes, Ren," said Nora cheerfully. "I just couldn't stop."

Ren sighed and slumped forward. "I really need to stop indulging her."

"You should quit while you're ahead," said Yang. "It's obvious you're wrapped around her finger."

"You could help a little," grumbled Ren, glaring halfheartedly at Yang. "You were stuffing _your_ face right alongside her."

"Hey, your pancakes really are _that_ good," said Yang, grinning. "Consider it a compliment."

"You could stand up for yourself more," said Blake, watching Ren with a slight smirk.

Ren merely glowered back at her. "You could have helped. But, instead, you disappeared right after breakfast."

"A girl can only take so much of these two," said Blake, flicking her gaze between Yang and Nora. "I need some peace and quiet."

"So you disappear for the whole day?" asked Ren.

"It was a _really_ good book," said Blake, by way of explanation, her cheeks coloring slightly.

Ren sighed, slumping again. "Like herding cats," he muttered petulantly.

Ruby watched Team RYNB's interactions, feeling a small degree of trepidation. She could sympathize with Ren having difficulties leading his team. Like her, he had been thrust into a position that he wasn't completely comfortable with. It was clear that the dynamic between his teammates wasn't helping much either. Yang and Nora were obviously getting along like a house on fire, while Blake apparently preferred spending extended periods in her own company. With a situation like that, it was understandable that Ren was having a hard time getting any kind of cohesion from his team.

In the case of Team RASP, it was an ironic stroke of good fortune that they had Jaune. With his development to rally around, they were already coming together as a team, getting accustomed to one another's quirks, adjusting to working together, and getting a feel for one another as people. Jaune's weakness had actually become the lynchpin to bringing them together as a team.

Team RYNB, on the other hand, didn't have any such catalyst. Because each member was confident in their individual skills, they felt free to go their own ways, when it came to working and training, instead of working with and helping one another. Furthermore, it was clear that Ren was uncomfortable exerting any authority as leader. But Ruby's experience over the past week had taught her that leadership was a two-way street. Ren's teammates had to be willing to actually listen to him, and set aside their own foibles, at least occasionally. Right now, they lacked the impetus to do that.

_Well, it _is_ only the first week,_ thought Ruby. Frankly, she found herself feeling incredibly lucky that she and Weiss had resolved their conflict so quickly. It was fortunate that Pyrrha had been in her corner and willing to do her part to bring Weiss around. And doing that had required Pyrrha to get over her own reluctance to assert herself and push a partner she hadn't originally wanted into doing the right thing. She supposed that Team RYNB would find their groove, sooner or later. Hopefully they could manage that before their education and training started becoming more team-oriented...or before their first missions.

Internally, Ruby shrugged, figuring it was best to leave things alone for now. Besides, dealing with RYNB's problems meant dealing with Yang...and she had no intention of doing that anytime soon.

"So..." teased Nora, leaning forward eagerly. "What are you guys doing tomorrow? Are you doing even more training?"

"No, we're taking the day off," said Jaune succinctly.

"We aren't sure what we're gonna do yet," said Ruby.

"Or even if it's going to be a 'we' situation," added Weiss tartly. "I don't know about everyone else, but I would be fine with some time to myself."

"Well, we can talk about it after dinner," said Ruby. "I was thinking of going into Vale." Then she blushed slightly. "But I don't have money to spend on anything yet."

"Wait! How did you live until now?" Yang blurted, before remembering her situation with Ruby, which she was promptly reminded of by the withering glare that Ruby flashed her way.

However, seeing as members of both teams were intrigued by Yang's question and were looking to her for an answer, Ruby realized she didn't have much choice. "I lived off the land, in between settlements. When I reached one, I usually traded work for food and a place to stay. A couple had Grimm problems that I offered to solve. They usually liked that."

"Probably because it saved them from having to shell out money for a professional Huntsman," Blake noted wryly. "Compared to that, asking for a couple nights' room and board is a pretty small compensation."

Ruby nodded. "I also did some odd jobs for lien. I didn't really do that often, 'cause it's usually easier to just exchange work for services in a place I'm passing through."

"You mean like trading dishwashing for meals and that sort of thing?" asked Ren.

"Yeah," said Ruby.

Both Ren and Nora were nodding sagely. "We've done that," he said.

"You have?" asked Pyrrha, leaning forward with interest.

"We're orphans," said Ren, exchanging a look with Nora. "We went through a bit, before we managed to get into a Combat School in Mistral."

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" said Pyrrha, her eyes going wide.

"It's fine," said Ren, a slight sadness to his smile. "We're fine now."

"'Cause we have each other!" cheered Nora, hugging Ren's arm, which he looked perfectly fine with.

Ruby giggled, feeling glad that the topic of conversation had shifted away from her. She shot a grateful look at Ren, who smiled back politely, making her realize that he'd done so intentionally, if only to keep Yang from prying even further into her life and history.

Then Jaune tapped her shoulder lightly. "We'll need to talk to Ozpin," he added. "We're gonna need to open our own accounts so that we have a place to deposit our stipends."

"Right," said Ruby, nodding.

They resumed chatting with the others as they ate. All told, dinner proved to be a pleasant experience. By the end of it, Ruby was even beginning to feel a little bit comfortable with Yang's presence, though she avoided addressing her older sister as much as possible. It seemed that Yang, while suffering the occasional impulse to ask about something or other, was managing to hold back from prying.

_Sasame-nee wouldn't be happy if she knew I was treating her like this,_ thought Ruby as she thought about the way Yang's gaze kept darting to her throughout the meal. Sasame had always pressed Ruby about reconciling with her blood-family, to reconnect with them, and mend the pain they had put her through. But, whenever Ruby looked at Yang, she felt that painful bitterness rise up within her all over again.

But she didn't have to deal with it for now. For Ruby, that was enough.

* * *

Despite Weiss' initial reluctance, they managed to talk her into making a joint trip into Vale on Sunday. Ruby hadn't spent much time in Vale proper, before running away from home, and her time in the streets hadn't exactly left her with the leeway to sightsee. She'd only been there briefly, prior to being invited to Beacon. Jaune hadn't seen much of the Kingdom either, having spent most of his time in his hometown of Ansel, with his family. Pyrrha, of course, having lived in Mistral her whole life, had never seen the Kingdom; and Weiss had spent her entire life in and around Atlas and Mantle. Sunday was a perfect day to head into the Kingdom and see the sights.

Of course, Ruby and Jaune had to see Ozpin first.

* * *

"I see," said Ozpin. "Your circumstances are understandable. I'll make arrangements with Vale Central Bank to open accounts for both of you."

His figure was highlighted against the night sky, visible through the window of his office. It was the first time the pair had been up there. Jaune was fascinated by the massive gears, visible through both the floor and the ceiling, slowly spinning around as part of a giant clockwork mechanism. They were surprised that Ozpin was willing to see them this late. Ruby was beginning to wonder if the man actually slept.

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby.

"Mr. Arc, I'll provide you the information to transfer funds," said Ozpin, looking at Jaune. "Since your account will be set up tomorrow, your father will, hopefully, have not frozen your current account yet."

"Thanks," said Jaune. "I hope so too."

"Ms. Rose, I shall also deposit some funds for your immediate use," said Ozpin, turning to Ruby. "I know that you won't receive the first installment of your stipend until the end of next week, so I'll make sure you have something to tide you over."

"Y-you don't have to," said Ruby, fidgeting and looking down, a bit shocked by the Headmaster's generosity.

"Given your circumstances, it's only natural," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "Glynda and I saw your fight with the Nevermore earlier. We were both quite impressed with you and your team's performance."

"O-oh..." Ruby found her cheeks heating up.

"In any case, it is important that you are able to enjoy yourself on your day off, after working so hard over the course of the week," said Ozpin.

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, bowing her head slightly.

"Have a good night, both of you," said Ozpin. "Your scrolls will be updated with your account information tomorrow morning."

"All right," said Ruby.

* * *

The next morning, Ruby woke up as early as usual, by force of habit. Even on her days off, she still ran through her basic katas in the morning, so she figured she would do so at Beacon as well. She tried to dress as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb her friends, who had earned the right to sleep in, if they so wanted.

"Ruby?" Blinking blearily, Jaune raised his head.

"Sorry," said Ruby. "I'm just going out for a bit."

"Training?" asked Jaune.

Ruby nodded. "I'm just doing a little practice. You can sleep, if you want."

Jaune blinked slowly and Ruby thought he was going to put his head back down and go back to sleep. However, she was surprised to then see him shift out from under the covers and get up. "Jaune. It's your day off. You don't have to get up."

Jaune gave her a smile. "It's fine," he said. "Besides, I can run through some of the basic techniques Pyrrha's taught me. I figured you might like the company."

"That would be nice," Ruby conceded with a shy smile, surprised that Jaune was so willing to join her.

The two of them made a quick detour to the locker room, so that Jaune could retrieve his weapons, then adjourned to the courtyard. There, Jaune took his stance and began to go through repetitions of the basic strikes Pyrrha had taught him, going through a one-two-three sequence of slashes, before resuming his position and starting over.

Ruby took up her own stance with Akaibara and began to move through the steps of her kata, speeding up and slowing down at certain intervals, keeping her movements smooth as she transitioned from one technique to another, completely losing herself in the feeling of perfecting her own body's movement. Because her attention was so focused inwards, she didn't realize that Jaune's eyes were on her until she was nearly finished.

Coming out of her kata, Ruby looked over to see Jaune staring at her, his mouth hanging slightly open in an expression of complete awe. Realizing that he'd been spotted, Jaune blushed profusely. "S-sorry," he stammered, looking away.

Ruby found herself giggling, though her own cheeks turned slightly red. "It's all right," she said.

"You're amazing," said Jaune, recovering a little. "Once you got going...I just couldn't stop watching you. Your technique is beautiful."

Ruby's heart hammered in her chest. She'd heard similar praise, including from Pyrrha once. But hearing it from Jaune made her feel especially giddy. "Thank you," she said.

"I guess I have a long way to go before I'm that good," said Jaune with a sigh.

"You'll get there," said Ruby, sliding her sword back into its sheath and going over to him. She rested a hand on his shoulder. "You only stop improving if you stop trying. Just keep that in mind."

"I will," promised Jaune.

Pulling out her scroll, Ruby checked the time. The sun had already crested the horizon. "Well, we weren't planning to head out until ten, what do you want to do until then?"

"Hang out, I guess," said Jaune with a shrug. "We don't want to wake Weiss and Pyrrha before they're ready, especially Weiss."

Ruby laughed. "That's true," she agreed.

* * *

They wound up making an early visit to the dining hall for breakfast. The massive room was almost desolate in its emptiness, hardly anyone being up this early on a Sunday.

Afterwards, they returned to their room to use the shower and get cleaned up for their day on the town. By the time they finished, Weiss and Pyrrha were beginning to stir.

"Were you two up already?" asked Pyrrha sleepily as she sat up to look at the pair.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "We were going through a little morning practice."

"I thought you were taking today off," said Pyrrha, looking at the pair.

"It's habit for me," said Ruby.

"And I thought it sounded like a good habit to get into," added Jaune with a chuckle.

"Well...you're not wrong," said Pyrrha, still sounding a bit sleepy.

"I think you're both crazy," grumbled Weiss as she got up and stumbled into the bathroom.

Ruby and Jaune looked after her for a moment before they both broke down laughing. After a few seconds, Pyrrha was laughing along with them.

For their trip into Vale, they noticed that Weiss and Pyrrha had opted for some different clothes. Weiss had gone with a white, flower-print dress, over which she wore a white jacket with slightly ruffled hems. Pyrrha opted to wear a bronze-colored blouse over a red skirt, with light sandals on her feet.

"You girls look good," commented Jaune, who had changed into a plain, pale-blue collared shirt with short sleeves and dark-brown slacks.

"Thank you," said Pyrrha with a faint blush, while Weiss huffed, though she couldn't quite keep her cheeks from coloring as well.

Then Weiss blinked and looked over at Ruby, who was wearing her usual outfit, sans the armor on her shoulders and hips. "Wait! You're wearing that?"

"Um...It's all I have," said Ruby, looking down at her outfit, "I mean...aside from my pajamas and underwear."

"You mean you don't have any other outfits _at all?_" asked Weiss, completely flummoxed by the idea.

"Clothes add up to more weight than you'd think on the road," said Ruby plainly. "I travel light."

"Well, you're not traveling now," Weiss pointed out.

"I don't exactly have money for clothes shopping," said Ruby, pulling out her scroll. It took her a minute to find the app that allowed her to access the account Ozpin had set up for her. She was still getting the hang of using the device. The money Ozpin had deposited for her was a pretty generous sum, but Ruby didn't want to blow it all over the course of a single day.

"Well, I do," said Weiss pointedly.

"Weiss! I can't let you-" Ruby began to protest.

"I won't hear of it, Ruby Rose," said Weiss insistently. "As a member of this team, it is my responsibility to see that my teammates are properly outfitted."

"But-" began Ruby.

"We're getting you some more clothes and I _won't_ take 'no' for an answer," said Weiss definitively, striding out the door to put an end to the conversation.

"I never expected her to be so forcefully generous," commented Pyrrha, looking after her, before looking at Ruby. "I thought she'd be leery of using her money on anything for us."

"Huh? Why?" asked Jaune, still confused by the whole issue.

"Because most people try to be friends with her so that they can use her money," said Ruby simply. "I don't really feel...right...letting her do it."

"Well, if she's going to insist, there's no reason not to accept," said Pyrrha, squeezing Ruby's shoulder as they followed Weiss.

"It reminds me of when I was traveling with Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii," said Ruby. "They could get anything in the settlements for free, because people were always so happy to have them. I felt bad for getting things, just because I happened to be with them."

"That sounds...odd," said Pyrrha. "Why would people be so willing to give to these people to travel with."

"Um...well...You wouldn't believe me if I told you," said Ruby, looking away.

"Oh out with it," said Weiss, rejoining the conversation. "It can't be anything more outlandish than what you've already told and shown us."

"You have no idea," Ruby muttered. "Sasame-nee is a skilled healer. She can treat injuries that would take weeks to heal in seconds. She can cure pretty much any disease too. Whenever we get to a settlement, she visits their hospital and treats their patients."

"That's amazing!" gasped Pyrrha. "I suppose a healing Semblance isn't impossible."

"It's not a Semblance, not really," said Ruby. "It's a skill. Technically, anyone with their Aura unlocked can learn to do it. There are dozens of healers in the capital alone, though only a couple are even close to Sasame-nee in skill. Sasame-nee even taught _me_ the basics."

"You can heal too?" said Weiss, gaping at Ruby, even as she and Pyrrha took their places in line.

"Just basic first aid stuff," said Ruby. "I can close minor and moderate wounds. I can speed the mending of broken bones, if they're set properly first-"

"And cure motion sickness," Jaune noted wryly, remembering his first meeting with Ruby. "So _that's_ what you did on the airship."

"Yep," said Ruby. "I don't hold a candle to Sasame-nee though. She's the second-best healer in the entire Mibu Clan. She's considered next in line to be the clan's Chief Physician. She can heal all kinds of major injuries, repair internal organs, and basically perform a full surgical operation without even breaking her patient's skin."

"And you're saying that this is an actual _skill_, not a Semblance?" said Weiss, now that they were taking their places at the table.

"It's actually kinda the same thing," said Ruby, looking away slightly. "It's also the basis for the techniques that I use. You see, in the Mibu, instead of Semblances, they have what they call Manifestation. Functionally, it's the same thing, using your Aura to create phenomena to interact with the world. However, in the Kingdoms, it's believed that a Semblance is a thing you _discover_, something that's innate and unchangeable. But, by learning Manifestation, you can basically..._create_ your own Semblance...is how I would put it."

"That's...insane!" gasped Weiss. "That flies in the face of the entire logic behind Aura and Semblances."

"It's what I've learned to do," said Ruby. "That's why I can use lightning and wind together. Most Mibu focus on a particular kind of Manifestation. Those who study to become warriors generally learn a particular elemental school. Earth, Water, and Fire are the popular ones."

Weiss stared dumbly at her plate, trying to process what all this meant.

"But you've picked up things from multiple schools," Pyrrha noted.

"Yeah...I kinda dabbled," said Ruby. "Sasame-nee said I should try and create a style unique to me, something that best suited me as an individual. I've got a few things I've picked up. I'm still trying to put them all together."

Thinking about how easily Ruby had dispatched an elder Deathstalker and finished off the Nevermore from the previous day, Jaune grinned. "Well, I think your style is coming together nicely. But, if this girl you were with can heal like that, I can see why you'd be so welcome in settlements."

"Yes...well..." Ruby shifted. "That's only part of it. The real reason we were always welcome was because of Kyo-nii. This is the part you won't believe."

"What did this Kyo-nii..."

"You can just call him Kyo," said Ruby. "I call him Kyo-nii because he became my big brother."

"Oh..." Pyrrha blinked. "So that -nii and -nee...?"

"-nii means 'big brother'...sort of...and -nee means 'big sister.' It's an informal thing," said Ruby. "The Mibu use honorifics from the Old Tongue, even when they're speaking in Common."

"I see," said Pyrrha, blinking. "Anyway, this Kyo-person…your brother...what does he do that the settlements value so much?"

"His Aura repels the Grimm," said Ruby.

"SAY WHAT!?" exclaimed Weiss, shooting to her feet. "That can't be true."

"It is-and keep it down," hissed Ruby. "I'm not supposed to talk about it too much."

"I mean...if that's his Semblance or Manifestation or whatever...I guess it doesn't seem completely out of left field," said Jaune with a frown.

"It's neither," said Ruby as Weiss fussed her way back into her seat. "Kyo-nii is one of the strongest people I know. His Aura...it feels...endless, like he'll never run out. Sasame-nee says that his power is so great that even the youngest, stupidest Grimm won't come within miles of him."

"That's outrageous," said Weiss, her eyes wide.

"It's true," said Ruby. "That's why the settlements didn't just let us stay and eat for free, but they basically threw a party, whenever Kyo-nii shows up. The people got some time where they didn't have to worry about Grimm attacks, and the festival kept morale up so that they were less likely to draw Grimm in after Kyo-nii left. I know it's true, 'cause I traveled with Kyo-nii for months, and _never_ saw a single Grimm, even when we were cutting straight through the wilderness."

"Amazing," gasped Pyrrha.

"When we went on training excursions across Leng and Anima, Sasame-nee and I had to travel _separately_ from Kyo-nii, so that I could actually have a chance to apply my skills against the Grimm," said Ruby. "That's one of the reasons I was by myself this last time. If Kyo-nii had been there, I wouldn't have been able to fight any Grimm."

"This is utterly unbelievable," groused Weiss, settling her face between her hands. "But I'm beginning to see that this is a trend with you. I can't say I actually buy this whole idea of a person being able to repel the Grimm like you describe...but...I won't waste time arguing over it."

"I told you you wouldn't believe me," commented Ruby wryly.

"I suppose you did warn me," grumbled Weiss.

They settled down for a while, waiting while Weiss and Pyrrha finished their meal. Then something occurred to Jaune.

"Wait a second," he said. "This Manifestation thing...is that what you're going to teach me?"

"Um...well...sort of," said Ruby.

"Sort of?"

"The three basic exercises are designed to help you learn how to control your Aura," said Ruby. "Once you really begin to get a feel for it, you can start learning the more effective ways to use your Aura to affect the world around you, even transform it into different forms or forces." She sighed. "The problem is that I can only really teach you the exercises. Teaching you Manifestation...well...any Manifestation other than mine...I don't have the skill or knowledge to do that. I don't really know what would work best for you either."

"Oh..." said Jaune, slumping.

"But Sasame-nee will be here in a few more weeks," said Ruby, her enthusiasm rising. "She helped me work out the basics of my Manifestation, so I'm sure she could help you with yours."

"I hope so," said Jaune. "It sounds awesome."

Ruby nodded.

Weiss sighed. "Well...as dubious as I find all of this, I've reached the point where questioning every little thing you say and do is become far too trying. I guess I'll just have to take you at your word, Ruby."

"Thanks," said Ruby, grateful that Weiss wasn't going to let her skepticism cause issues again.

"In the meantime, let's just enjoy our day off," said Weiss. "We'll head into town and get you some new clothes first."

"Um...okay," said Ruby, getting a sinking feeling.

* * *

**Poor Ruby. I hate clothes shopping too. When I was a kid, my parents had to drag me into the clothes store. Even now, I still avoid shopping for clothes like the plague. It takes until I wear my current clothes down into rags for me to decide to go through with looking for new ones, and I do whatever I can to get it over with as quickly as possible.**

**Like the Deathstalker, the Nevermore went down pretty easy, which is why I went with the merged-Taijitu as the final boss of the Initiation Arc.**

**Going on in the story, I found myself making Jaune into, basically, the second protagonist of the story, mainly because his development is important to the plot. On top of that, I could really see a scenario where Jaune revealed his secret to his team, and his teammates still accepted him, where them rallying together to help with his training basically enables them to more effectively bond as teammates.**

**On the other hand...Poor Ren. Having Yang _and_ Nora on the same team would be the ultimate headache. Hang in there, buddy.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19:**

"Well...what do you think?" asked Weiss as she gently ushered Ruby out of the changing room.

Ruby shuffled uncomfortably, rubbing her now-bare arms. She was unused to wearing clothing that felt so...revealing, even if Weiss assured her it was perfectly modest by most modern standards.

"You look great, Ruby," said Jaune with quite a bit of enthusiasm. "That really looks good on you."

"I agree," said Pyrrha, beaming.

Ruby's new clothes were surprisingly simple. Jaune and Pyrrha had half-expected Weiss to force her into some kind of dress, perhaps similar in style to the one Weiss herself was wearing. However, Weiss had instead decked Ruby out in a slightly low-cut, black halter top that left her arms, shoulders, and a significant portion of her back, bare. It was low-cut enough that the straps around the neck merged with the top just a little bit below the beginning of the swell of Ruby's modest bust. The top was also cropped so that it showcased a portion of Ruby's tightly-toned stomach.

Below her top was a pleated, rose-red miniskirt that extended about halfway down her thighs, with a broad, brown belt wrapped around her waist. The belt wasn't necessary to hold up the skirt, but Weiss had added it as an accessory to hold Ruby's sword, including a loop at the back for just that purpose, something that Ruby found to be quite considerate of Weiss. Below the skirt, she wore her usual black stockings and sandals.

She blushed at the praise Jaune and Pyrrha gave her, feeling a bit unnerved at all the attention she was suddenly receiving for her looks.

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed slightly as she saw the slender, yet well-defined muscles along Ruby's arms, realizing that her back was probably just as toned as her stomach and legs. _Now_ she understood why Jaune had said that Ruby was heavier than Weiss. It seemed that, beneath the relatively loose-fitting battle clothes she normally wore, Ruby's body consisted mostly of solid, muscle. With that kind of musculature, it was no wonder she weighed more than one might assume at first glance.

"Are you sure I can't wear my cloak with this?" asked Ruby nervously, glancing at Weiss.

"Of course not," said Weiss. "The entire point of this ensemble is to highlight the contrast of the lines of your form by juxtaposing exposed skin with what's covered to show your figure to your advantage. I didn't prepare this dress so that you could just cover it back over."

"Oh..." grumbled Ruby, looking down.

"Just trust me, you look much better without it in this outfit," said Weiss. "It certainly complements your regular battle outfit, but it's too much extra in this case. Less is more here."

"I'll...take your word for it," said Ruby nervously, rubbing her bare upper arms. "I feel kinda drafty."

"You'll get used to it," said Weiss. "The weather in Vale is very mild this time of year, so you don't have to worry about getting cold. Now, in Atlas, a look like this would be impossible most of the year, unless you consider hypothermia an accessory."

"Good thing we're not in Atlas then," said Pyrrha cheerfully.

"Yes," agreed Weiss. "Anything to add about her figure, Arc?" she asked, raising an eyebrow Jaune's way.

"Why did you have to phrase it like that?" moaned Jaune, rubbing his face. "And, no, I have nothing to add."

"Really, no comment at all?" asked Weiss.

Jaune looked up at her with a deadpan gaze. "Weiss, I have seven sisters. I've recently learned I'm hopeless at sweet talk, but I _do_ have enough experience with girls to recognize a loaded question when I hear one."

"Well...at least you appear to have some self-preservation instinct," mused Weiss.

"Other than the fact that you know your business, and Ruby looks really pretty like that, I have nothing to add," said Jaune firmly.

Ruby's cheeks turned bright-red and she averted her eyes. She'd heard boys call her pretty before, but Jaune's sincerity was something that made her feel genuinely self-conscious.

"Well, I'll call this endeavor a success then," said Weiss with evident satisfaction.

* * *

Weiss proudly settled the bill with the cashier. Ruby was grateful for Weiss' choice of store, which was sufficiently high-end that it was the kind of store that didn't feel the need to place tags on its garments. Even more impressively, it was an establishment meant to cater to Huntsmen and Huntresses, hence why they had a selection of different accessories to allow different weapons to be carried, depending on the wearer's preferences. The belt Weiss had selected for Ruby was a rear-holster type that suited Ruby's needs to a tee.

"You know, that really _does_ look good on you," commented Jaune as he and Ruby followed along behind Weiss and Pyrrha.

Ruby blushed. "Jaune...remember what I told you, when we met?" she asked.

"You mean about me not trying to act like a ladies man?" asked Jaune.

"I told you you were trying too hard," said Ruby, drawing a nod from her partner. "I also told you being 'nice' suits you better." Jaune nodded again and Ruby's face crimsoned a considerable degree. "_This_ is what I was talking about."

Jaune blinked, his eyes going wide as he gaped at Ruby. "Oh God! I'm sorry, Ruby. I wasn't trying to flirt, honest-!"

"I know," said Ruby, cutting him off. "That's why it works so much better."

"Oh..." said Jaune, blinking furiously. His own cheeks began to heat up. "Uh...Sorry...?" He wasn't sure if he owed her an apology...or if she actually wanted one.

Ruby giggled shyly. "You're not doing anything wrong," she said. "I'm just not used to people complimenting my looks like that."

"Really?" That surprised Jaune. "But I've always thought you looked cute. I'm surprised no one else has said anything."

Ruby blushed even harder. "Stop that..." she grumbled, averting her eyes.

"Sorry," said Jaune, blushing himself.

"A-anyway...where do you think we should go next?" asked Ruby, casting her eyes around.

"Not sure," admitted Jaune. "Weiss seems to be all for a full-on girls'-day-out-shopping-extravaganza sort of thing." He tilted his head towards Weiss, who was gesturing excitedly at a nearby storefront, holding a slightly reluctant Pyrrha by the arm.

"Yeah...not my scene," said Ruby ruefully.

"And if we let her...I'm gonna get roped into carrying everything, I can tell," said Jaune, earning a surprised look from Ruby. "Seven sisters, remember?"

"Oh...yeah..." Ruby blinked and then giggled. "I guess you've been through this sort of thing before."

"Being the only boy around seven girls means that they tend to consider you their personal pack-mule, yeah," said Jaune with a chuckle. "Let's see if we can find a safer alternative."

Casting his eyes around, Jaune found himself grinning as he spotted a familiar sight. "Fortunately, I have just the thing."

"Huh?" Ruby looked on in confusion as Jaune led her over to where Weiss and Pyrrha were, where Jaune also took Pyrrha by the arm.

"Let's go this way," said Jaune, gently guiding Ruby and Pyrrha, thus forcing Weiss to come along by proxy.

"Wait! Where do you think you're dragging us, Arc?" demanded Weiss, following along behind the three of them. "And since when do _you_ get to say where we go?"

"Right here," said Jaune, ignoring Weiss' second question, grinning up at the flashing lights and cacophony of sounds and tones issuing from within the storefront. "Welcome to the Arcade, ladies!"

"Ooh!" cooed Ruby, captivated by the sounds and light, along with the sight of machines and games she barely even remembered. Patch had had a small arcade that she and Yang had used to go to, before their falling out. But Ruby hadn't been anywhere like this in years.

"Oh! This looks grand!" said Pyrrha, her eyes wide.

"This looks utterly pedestrian," muttered Weiss petulantly, annoyed at being cheated out of her shopping excursion. However, she could see, from the excitement Ruby and Pyrrha had on display, that she wasn't going to get out of this. Slumping, she resigned herself to her fate.

* * *

The arcade proved to be the classic sort of place, with old-fashioned video games. There were also an assortment of other classic games and activities, from skee-ball to air-hockey. Many of them paid out tickets for earning points, which could be exchanged for prizes, like cheap plastic toys or large stuffed animals, at a counter near the entrance.

Ruby and Pyrrha were practically bursting with excitement, dashing from one game to another, trying their skills and luck. The coordination their training as Huntresses afforded them stood them in good stead with many of the games. Jaune also showed them how to play numerous video games, drawing upon his experience visiting the arcade in his hometown with his sisters. By the time their stomachs were starting to rumble, even Weiss was having fun, though she was loathe to admit it.

"I'm guessing you always wanted to go to a place like this," she noted, glancing at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha giggled lightly. "I have," she said. "But, of course, this isn't the sort of place Pyrrha Nikos is supposed to be at. It's beneath her." She sighed. "I always wondered why it was supposed be beneath me to have fun and enjoy myself."

"I don't know," admitted Weiss. "I've never been to one of these either. Father always said it was beneath me too."

"But it's not bad, having fun," noted Pyrrha. "You're enjoying yourself, Weiss."

"Yeah...I am," Weiss admitted reluctantly. "I suppose Arc does know a thing or two about this sort of thing."

Her admission made Pyrrha giggle, which, naturally, made Weiss blush furiously. "It's not _that_ funny!" she protested.

"I know," said Pyrrha, still chortling as she headed to the next game with a protesting Weiss on her heels.

* * *

By the time they finished with the arcade, Jaune and the girls had racked up an impressive number of tickets. Cashing them in at the counter, Ruby found herself excitedly hugging an enormous stuffed Ursa that was far less intimidating than the real thing, particularly when she cuddled it to her chest. Pyrrha settled on a small, but well-made Beowolf plushie. Weiss, discreetly, settled on a small stuffed dog.

"Looks like everyone had fun," said Jaune, eyeing Weiss with an amused smirk.

"Sh-shut up!" protested Weiss, discreetly putting her prize away, unable to respond with too much hostility. Rather than get something for himself, Jaune had shared out his own tickets between the three of them to ensure they had enough for what they wanted.

They had worked up an appetite in the arcade. However, it was a little too late for lunch, yet a little too early for dinner as well. Weiss had made plans for them to eat in a nice restaurant in the evening. Wandering into a park, they spied an ice cream stand and, soon, everyone had a cone of frozen, creamy deliciousness in hand.

Pyrrha and Weiss walked as they ate, but Jaune and Ruby opted to settle on a bench and relax a little.

"Having fun so far?" asked Jaune, flashing Ruby a smile.

"Yeah, a lot," said Ruby with a happy giggle. "If this is going to be our schedule for the rest of the year, I could get used to this."

"Well, I'm sure we won't be able to get to Vale like this every Sunday," said Jaune.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby with a sigh. "I know we'll get some work-intensive projects later on in the semester. So we'll wind up losing part of our Sundays too."

"It won't be too bad," said Jaune, licking up some of the last of his ice cream and beginning to munch his way down into the cone.

Ruby nodded. "It helps that you're working really hard. I'm glad you're giving it your all. You definitely earned the day off today."

"Thanks," said Jaune.

Ruby finished off her own ice cream cone and yawned, stretching her arms up.

"Tired?" asked Jaune.

"A little," said Ruby, blinking sleepily. "Having Weiss put me through all those outfits earlier really wore me out. The arcade was fun, but..."

"But that wears you down too," said Jaune with a chuckle. Pulling out his scroll, he checked the time. "You know, we have a while until dinner. You can nap a little if you want."

"Here?" asked Ruby, looking around nervously.

"Yeah," said Jaune, scooting a little bit away from her. "Here, lay down."

Ruby did as she was bid, laying down, resting her head across Jaune's thighs. She felt his fingers begin to gently comb through her hair, the slight pulling sensation and the feeling of his touch across her scalp surprisingly soothing. Sasame and Kyo had done much the same for her on their travels together as well.

"That feels nice," said Ruby, relaxing and letting her eyes drift closed.

"Good," said Jaune. "Just relax. We'll wake you up in a little while."

Ruby nodded against his legs and allowed herself to drift off. Jaune remained where he was, gently brushing his fingers through her hair as she slept.

A little bit later, Weiss and Pyrrha returned from their wanderings. When they saw Jaune and Ruby, their eyes widened.

"What do you think you're-?" Weiss began to ask, before she was stopped by Jaune shushing her with an unusually stern look and lifting a finger to his lips.

"Let her rest awhile," he said. "She's worn out."

"But-" Weiss began to protest.

"No, it's not indecent," Jaune said, preempting her. "Honestly, I worry about where your mind goes sometimes."

Weiss growled, her cheeks flushing, even as Pyrrha giggled, looking down at the sleeping Ruby. "She looks happy, Weiss. Let's leave her be for a while."

Weiss huffed, then sighed and slumped down on another bench nearby. Pyrrha sat next to Jaune, looking down at Ruby, who cuddled both her sword and her stuffed Ursa as she slept. "Looking at her like this, you'd never think she was so formidable."

"True," agreed Jaune, brushing a few strands of hair away from her face.

"I'm a little bit jealous though," said Pyrrha, looking enviously down at how comfortable Ruby seemed.

"Well...I don't think there's enough room on the bench for both of you," said Jaune with a chuckle. "Otherwise, I'd offer to let you take a nap too."

"You're too nice for your own good sometimes," said Pyrrha with a giggle.

"I think I owe you plenty for all you've done for me," said Jaune.

After a little bit, Pyrrha returned to Weiss and led her off to do something else, while Jaune saw to Ruby. Considering that there was nothing to do, save continue to gently brush Ruby's hair with his fingers, Jaune thought he might get bored after a while. However, he found he was the furthest thing from, marveling at the pretty girl asleep, with her head on his lap, thinking about how formidable she could be when she was awake. Considering how skilled and dangerous she was, Jaune was amazed she trusted him to look after her while she slept.

* * *

The afternoon had waned when Weiss and Pyrrha returned, their arrival enough notice for Jaune to realize it was almost time for dinner. Resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder, he began to gently shake her. "Hey, Ruby," he said softly, "time to get up."

"Hmm?" Ruby stirred, then blinked. Sitting up, she yawned and stretched. When she looked around, she realized how much of the day had gone by while she was asleep. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "I didn't mean to sleep so long. I'm sorry, Jaune."

"It's okay," said Jaune. "You looked so comfortable, I didn't want to wake you. I only did 'cause it's time for dinner."

"But you've been stuck here the whole time," protested Ruby.

Jaune grinned. "You know what, I don't mind at all."

Ruby blushed, even as Pyrrha giggled and Weiss huffed impatiently.

"Well, I had hoped that we would get a little more in for our one day off this week, but I suppose I can't protest," said Weiss. "Anyway, we need to get to the restaurant. The reservation I made is in fifteen more minutes."

Following Weiss' lead, they made their way down the streets and to the restaurant. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ruby were surprised by how casual the place was.

"I gotta say, I half expected you to bring us to some kind of upscale joint," noted Jaune.

"Please, I would have been the laughingstock of Vale," scoffed Weiss, "considering the way you're dressed. I went through the trouble of getting stylish, but casual clothes for Ruby. I wasn't about to buy her a formal outfit too."

"Good, seeing as I don't think I would have felt comfortable with someplace too formal," noted Pyrrha.

"This restaurant is supposed to be well known for the quality of its food," said Weiss simply. "It also received high marks for its service."

"Well, at least your priorities are straight, when it comes to finding a place to eat," teased Ruby.

"Hey!" protested Weiss, blushing.

Despite that, Weiss led them into the restaurant.

* * *

"That was sooooo good!" exclaimed Ruby, rubbing her stomach.

"That was a grand meal," agreed Pyrrha. "Thank you for treating us, Weiss."

"You're welcome," said Weiss, feeling vindicated by everyone's reaction to her choice in food. Part of her was just glad that everyone had enjoyed themselves. _I wonder if this is what it means to really have friends._

The sun was setting and now they were making their way back to the docks to catch an airship to Beacon. The one downside to making Sunday their day off was that they couldn't afford to stay up too late, with Monday and their next day of classes just around the corner. Still, the day had been plenty enjoyable for them, and a well-received break in their training and studies.

"And, somehow, I knew I was gonna be stuck with this job," grumbled Jaune with a small amount of amusement in his tone as he hefted the bags that carried the tangible results of their day out: the stuffed animals that he and the girls had won in the arcade, the bag containing Ruby's regular clothes, after she'd changed into the outfit Weiss had picked out for her, and a few other souvenirs (mostly picked up by Weiss).

"That's not complaining I hear?" asked Weiss, smirking over her shoulder at him.

"No, Ma'am," Jaune replied with a smirk of his own. "Just commenting on the state of affairs. I've dealt with worse."

"Seven sisters," Ruby stage-whispered to Pyrrha, earning a giggle.

"Looks like you had a lot of fun," noted Jaune as he moved to walk next to Pyrrha. All things considered, she looked as though she was on Cloud 9.

"Well...I've always wanted to be able to do this sort of thing," said Pyrrha. "Back in Mistral, it wasn't as though I had friends that I could just 'hang out' and have fun with." She sighed and looked down. "And, of course, it was hard for me to go out anywhere in public without being mobbed by the paparazzi."

"I understand that feeling," said Weiss with a sigh. She had come from similar circumstances, of course. Those who might have wanted to go out with her, generally wanted to do so for the sake of her money, and what she might be able to get for them, or the places she could get them into with the judicious application of the Schnee name. Likewise, as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, her movements in the public sphere were of intense interest to the press, who would have mobbed her at every turn over even the most mundane excursions, were it not for the small army of security personnel her father maintained to ensure their privacy.

Of course, that privilege came with its downsides. In Atlas, Weiss would have never been able to just _walk_ into an arcade, the way she had today, even considering how most of the rest of her family would have scoffed at such a banal venue. First, her family's bodyguards would have gone in and forced everyone else out, probably via the application of a generous bribe to the owner. Then they would have swept the place from top to bottom for threats and illicit devices. Finally, Weiss would have been free to enjoy the arcade's amenities...in almost complete solitude.

Though it was hard for her to admit it out loud, today had been one of the best days Weiss had ever experienced, right up there with the day she'd received Myrtenaster.

Reaching the docks, they quickly boarded the next airship to Beacon, finding that they weren't the only returning students on board. Strangely, Ruby felt several eyes on her, not just Pyrrha or Weiss, but specifically on _her_. The emotions directed her way were an unusual blend, a few looks appreciative, seeming to like her new appearance. However, there were other emotions mixed in that she couldn't quite identify. All she really knew was that these particular emotions and intentions made her skin crawl.

"You okay, Ruby?" asked Jaune, noticing her discomfort.

"It's...it's nothing," said Ruby, after a moment's uncertainty.

"I think Ruby's new look is turning a few heads," Pyrrha noted, discreetly glancing around.

"As well it _should_," said Weiss with a haughty tone.

"Yes, except not all the looks she's getting are the nice kind," said Pyrrha, wrapping a protective arm around Ruby's shoulders.

"Yeah...some of them feel strange...and wrong," said Ruby.

Pyrrha sighed. "I've gotten those looks too," she said. "Don't let it get to you."

Ruby nodded nervously and her friends guided her to a group seats where they were mostly out of the way and not too many people could shift to watch them. Ruby found herself huddling up against Jaune, feeling at least slightly comforted by his presence. For his part, Jaune let her lean against him without protest.

They arrived without incident and made their way back to their dorm room. Once there, they began to go through the process of getting ready for bed. Then Jaune noticed his weapon.

"Whoops!" he said, picking up his sheathed sword. "I forgot to take this back to the lockers when we got back this morning."

"You can just leave it here tonight," said Ruby, already hanging her own weapon on its appointed place.

"Nah, it's best if I take it back," said Jaune. "I'll just make a quick run to the locker room."

Ruby frowned, a nervous feeling rising in her gut as Jaune headed out the door.

"Is everything okay?" Pyrrha asked, noticing Ruby's unease.

"I hope so," said Ruby.

* * *

Jaune reached the locker room without incident. Tapping his code into the holographic panel, he stood back as the door sprang open, then deposited his sheathed sword. As he did, a group of shadows fell over him.

Turning around, Jaune felt his stomach churn as he was greeted by the sight of the entirety of Team CRDL gathering around him. Cardin loomed over him, grinning menacingly, supported by Russel and Sky on each flank, while Dove stood slightly back with a taciturn expression.

"Uh...H-hey, guys," said Jaune, shrinking back a bit, only to bump into his still-open locker.

"Hey there, Jauney-boy. Have fun in town?" asked Cardin.

"Um...Yeah," said Jaune.

"I'll bet you did," said Russel. "Some guys have all the luck, you know."

"What are you talking about?" asked Jaune.

"Spending the day with three cute chicks, obviously," said Sky. "I mean, seriously, you could spread the wealth man."

"I don't understand what you're talking about," said Jaune, frowning. Despite his words, he actually _did_ have an inkling at what the other boys were getting at.

"We're thinking that you're getting a little too full of yourself, Jauney-boy," said Cardin, resting a firm hand on Jaune's shoulder. Jaune tried to shrug it off, but found Cardin's hand impossible to budge. "A wuss like you doesn't deserve to be in the company of such lovely ladies." His grin widened. "Especially that Ruby Rose. I saw her new look, when you all got back. Who knew that that cloak was hiding such a hottie."

"Don't talk about her like that," growled Jaune.

"Aww, what's the matter, Jauney-boy?" teased Cardin. "Got the hots for the little Rose? I wouldn't mind plucking a few of her petals myself, if you know what I mean."

"You keep your hands off her," growled Jaune.

Cardin's hand lifted from Jaune's shoulder, only to sweep across in front of his face, then come flying back along the same course in a backhanded slap that smacked Jaune against the door of his locker. "Don't tell me what to do, wuss," snarled Cardin, now surging forward and grabbing handfuls of Jaune's shirt, lifting him up and bringing their faces to within inches of each other. "You think you're hot stuff 'cause you lucked out in your first sparring match, and managed to win on a stupid technicality?"

"No, I didn't luck out," Jaune growled back, managing to hold onto a few small shreds of his confidence.

"Oh, so what got you the win then, huh?" asked Cardin, baring his teeth in angry scowl. "Do share with the class, Jauney-boy."

"Like my teammate said, I won because I have a lot of Aura," said Jaune, before finding it in himself to grin, "and because _you're_ an idiot who was stupid enough to blow himself up with his own attack."

Cardin released Jaune's shirt with one hand, drawing it back and punching Jaune across the face. "Think you're funny, huh?" he growled, shaking Jaune like a rag-doll. Jaune, already stunned by the punch, found his head snapping back and forth, throwing his coordination further into disarray. He threw Jaune back, bouncing him off the back of his own locker and sending him falling to his knees in front of them. "It looks to me like we should teach the wimp a lesson."

"Sounds good to me," said Russel, grinning and cracking his knuckles.

"I could stand to blow off some steam myself," added Sky, tilting his head one way, then the other, eliciting popping sounds from his neck.

"This is stupid," grumbled Dove, who remained where he was, his arms folded stubbornly.

"So...how badly should we kick his ass?" asked Russel, looking to Cardin, the three boys ignoring Dove for the time being.

"Actually..." Cardin's malicious smirk returned and Jaune felt his trepidation multiply. "...a beating is so cliche, don't you guys think?"

"Uh...yeah...sure," said Sky uncertainly. "So...then what?"

Jaune staggered to his feet, only for Cardin to wrap a meaty hand around his neck and use the grip to shove him into the back of the locker. "I'm thinking that Jauney-boy here needs some supplementary lessons. Aaaand...to do that, I think we should send him on a little field trip."

"Field trip?" Russel blinked, then his eyes widened. "Oooooh!"

"Yeah," said Sky, his grin widening. "I like the sound of that."

_What do they mean?_ wondered Jaune. Then it clicked as he remembered the lecture Glynda had given them all the day they were permanently assigned lockers...namely that the lockers were equipped with rocket boosters that could allow them to be summoned for emergencies. "Cardin! Don't-!" he began to croak.

He didn't get to finish as Cardin shoved him fully back into the locker, Jaune's own sword digging painfully against his back. With a swift movement, Cardin slammed the door shut.

"CARDIN!" Jaune shouted, pounding on the door. "Don't do it! Please!"

All he heard was laughter from outside and the sound of the holographic keys of the locker's control panel being tapped in succession.

"Have a nice trip, Jauney!" Cardin said as a whining noise filled the air, making the locker's interior vibrate. "Send us a postcard when you get there!"

"CARDIN!" Jaune shouted again as the vibrations intensified. Then the locker lurched, the sudden movement knocking him off balance and banging him painfully against the cramped walls, his stomach sinking down into the bottom of his abdomen as his body was suddenly pressed down from above by an invisible force. The locker shuddered and Jaune caught the faint sound of breaking glass as it crashed through the skylight, shooting up and away to God Knows Where.

Dove frowned, his eyes tracing the trail of exhaust left by the rocket as it rose up, arcing in the air. "Where's he going?"

"Don't know, don't really care," said Cardin dismissively, turning away from where Jaune's locker had once stood. "I just popped in some random digits. If he's lucky, he won't come down someplace where there's too many Grimm."

Dove frowned darkly. "You realize that, if you get him killed, we could be expelled for this."

"Relax," said Cardin with a laugh, slapping Dove across the shoulders, making the shorter boy's body lurch with the impact, "you need to enter an override or call it to you with your scroll to get it to go off school grounds. He won't wind up anywhere too dangerous."

_He'd better not,_ thought Dove, falling behind the rest of his teammates as they joked and laughed their way down the hall, heading back to their room after an evening well spent. He'd thought that these antics were immature at first. But now they were getting dangerous.

* * *

"Jaune's taking a while," said Ruby nervously. "It shouldn't take this long to just drop off his weapon at his locker."

"Oh stop being such a worrywart," said Weiss tartly, already reclined on her bed, a textbook resting across her knees as she read ahead in preparation for their next class. "He probably got distracted by something or is just taking his time. As long as he gets back before curfew, it'll be fine."

"What if he doesn't?" said Ruby, shifting uneasily.

"Then he gets slapped with detention by Professor Goodwitch," answered Weiss dismissively. "Given how much time and effort he needs to put in to get better, he really can't afford to be, and I will be _most_ upset with him if he does."

"Jaune wouldn't do that," said Pyrrha with firm conviction.

"Not willingly," said Ruby, looking down.

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss, finally looking up from her book.

"I could just tell that Cardin and his team have had it out for Jaune ever since that sparring match," said Ruby. "I wasn't sure why I felt so worried when Jaune went to put his weapon away. But now I remember that Cardinal have been watching us."

"Why?" asked Weiss.

"Because they're bullies," growled Ruby. "And bullies don't like to play fair."

"So, if they're targeting Jaune, then they're waiting for a moment when he's by himself," said Pyrrha, realizing what Ruby was getting at.

"Yeah...so if they wanted to go after Jaune, then _now_ would be the time," said Ruby, getting up.

"Don't you think you're reading too much into this?" asked Weiss.

"I hope I am," said Ruby, getting up and heading to the closet. "But I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"Where are you going?" asked Pyrrha.

Ruby pulled out her combat outfit, which she'd hung up after returning to the room. "I'm gonna go trace the way Jaune would take to the locker room. If I'm lucky, I'll run into him on his way back. If not..." She shrugged. "I'll just try to look for him from there." She stepped into the bathroom to change into her outfit.

"I'll go with you," said Pyrrha, getting up.

"Don't!" Ruby shouted from the bathroom. "If it takes until past curfew to find Jaune, it'll be just the two of us getting detention. I don't want to drag you in with me."

Weiss huffed and got to her feet. "You dolt," she admonished, glaring at the door.

"What?" asked Ruby, opening the door and stepping out in her combat attire, complete with her cloak and hood.

"We're a team," said Weiss firmly. "So, if that blonde lummox is missing, then we'll find him as one...and take the consequences together."

"Weiss..." said Ruby, her eyes going wide with surprise.

"Step aside," said Weiss curtly, pushing Ruby out of the way as she entered the bathroom with her own battle-dress and shutting the door behind her. Pyrrha was already getting her own armor and attire out of the closet.

"Thank you," breathed Ruby, watching as her teammates got ready to help her find her partner.

"If anything, it's _Jaune_ who should be thanking us for going out of our way to help him," growled Weiss, quickly stepping out of the bathroom, demonstrating how amazingly quickly she could get suited up for battle. "He'd better actually _be_ in trouble, or I'm going to tan his hide."

Pyrrha rushed into the bathroom in Weiss' wake. As she changed into her own combat attire, Pyrrha reflected on something strange that had occurred to her, something she'd almost failed to notice amidst all the worry and uncertainty of Jaune's situation. _I didn't see Ruby's cloak when she took her combat outfit out of the closet...so where did it come from?_

* * *

Jaune yelped and shouted in pain as he was thrown about the locker, the vibrations tossing him haphazardly from one wall to the other. It hadn't been built to be used by people. There was no padding on the the walls, so Jaune was well and thoroughly battered as the rocket's path through the sky peaked, then began to turn downwards.

_Oh God!_ thought Jaune, bile rising in his throat as the descent began. Of course, since the locker was essentially built like a large rocket, he was now falling head-first, which was not doing his equilibrium any good, forcing him to fight to keep the remnants of his dinner inside him. Realizing what was coming, Jaune desperately wedged his arms against the walls over his head, pressing outwards and upwards (technically downwards, in this orientation) with all his might.

Sadly, his strength wasn't quite enough and, when the locker landed, the impact was enough to send Jaune's head careening off the metal wall with enough force to make his vision swim and his ears ring. His neck seized up painfully and, for a second, Jaune was worried that it had been broken.

Then, with a hiss, the locker's door swung open, spilling Jaune out onto the ground, his sword and sheath tumbling out as well. Jaune landed, sprawling on mercifully soft grass. At least his landing point hadn't been anywhere overly hard.

A groan forced its way out from between Jaune's lips. He coughed, then began to force himself up. As he did, his abused stomach had apparently had enough and Jaune could feel the inevitable pressure building from within, rising up his throat. Getting up onto his hands and knees, Jaune lurched, stumbling slightly forward, reflexively looking for a discreet place to throw up, even though there was probably no one around him at the moment anyway.

So, it was that he was almost immediately met with the sight of a looming abyss directly in front of him, appearing so suddenly that Jaune had nearly pitched over, headfirst, into it, before he'd even realized it was there.

"What the-?" Jaune began before his cheeks bulged. The next thing he knew, the contents of his stomach were sent spilling into the darkness below. Jaune continued until practically nothing remained in his stomach, his body still shuddering with intermittent dry heaves as he struggled tor regain some semblance of control over himself again.

Finally, he recovered to the point where he could begin to get his bearings. Looking around, he realized that he was resting on a grassy cliff. Looking down below, he could see the faint shadows of a forest canopy. _Did I end up right on the cliff over the Emerald Forest?_ he wondered for a moment. _Damn! That was close!_ Just another foot or so and the locker would have spat him out into empty space and a long fall...followed by a very abrupt stop.

Turning to look over his shoulder, Jaune looked past the figure of his locker, which jutted out of the ground, like his own premature gravestone, to see the skyline of the Academy. _Oookay...not too bad then. I'll just get up, grab my weapons and head back. Professor Goodwitch is gonna give me hell for this for sure._

Grunting, Jaune got his legs under him. Reaching out, he grabbed his weapon off the ground. Then he began to stand...only to lurch and lose his balance a little, as the ground beneath him jolted, accompanied by the sound of crumbling earth. "Oh no!" Jaune muttered, looking around frantically. It was then that he saw the cracks.

They were hard to spot in the darkness of night, being so far from the campus lights. But now he could see cracks extending from where his locker had hit the ground, reaching out towards the edge fo the cliff. _Oh...this is so not fair._

Jaune swallowed and shifted again...before feeling the ground beneath him shift in turn. His own movements were now destabilizing the very cliff beneath his feet, each shift of his weight breaking it more and more free. He was struck with indecision. Did he make the jump for it and hope that he could reach stable ground before the cliff gave way? Or did he hold still and wait for help.

_What would Ruby do?_ That was a stupid question, now that he thought about it. _Of course_ Ruby would move. Even if she couldn't get off before the ground gave way, she could easily kick off the ground, even as it was falling, to launch herself clear. In fact, he'd seen that she could, to a limited extent, kick off the air itself to change direction.

_Wait a second...doesn't she say she uses her Aura to do that?_ wondered Jaune, his eyes going wide. That was right, Ruby said she projected her Aura out through her feet to accelerate herself. _What if I do the same?_

Of course, that brought up the question of _how_. Ruby had explained Projection to him, but he was still working on Temper, and hadn't even started on Suppression yet. But there were hints there, if he cared to think about them. Ruby Projected her Aura out through her feet. So that must mean there was a way to shift her Aura to her feet and out.

Closing his eyes, Jaune focused on his Temper, surprised that it had held throughout the buffeting he'd received within the locker. Already, he could feel the physical aches of his battering fading. Even the pain in his head was clearing. He could feel his Aura surrounding him, almost like a shell. However, that shell was not solid. It felt almost like a fluid...like a liquid. _And liquid _flows_. What if I could make it flow down my legs and into my feet?_

Jaune tried doing just that. He was surprised by how easy it felt. Days spent practicing the one trick Ruby had taught him, keeping his Aura circulating around his body itself, rather than just streaming away, had essentially given him the sense for directing it. Now that he willed it to, the Aura began to stream into his feet. As it built up, Jaune was surprised to sense that the Temper around his body remained as strong as ever. More Aura was coming from within to fill what he was drawing away.

_Ruby _did_ say I have a lot of Aura,_ he thought wryly, to say nothing of the constant reminders of it. He channeled more into his feet, feeling it build up, almost like a balloon about to pop.

Remembering what happened to a balloon that popped, Jaune couldn't keep himself from smiling and chuckling, even as the weakened ground slipped beneath him again, though he hadn't moved. It seemed that waiting wasn't an option. The cliff was about to fall, regardless of what he did. He had to get out of here _now_.

_So let's pop those balloons,_ thought Jaune determinedly. The thing was, he knew he could control which way the balloons popped so that the release of Aura would propel him away. Now he just had to do it at the same time he kicked off and hoped that it worked the way he thought it would.

"Here goes..." grunted Jaune.

He tensed his legs, then pushed downwards with all his might. At the same instant, he allowed the Aura he'd been building in his feet to explode out directly below them. The sharp, sudden motion was too much for the ground, which began to slide away with a rumble, breaking even further as the force of Jaune's Aura blasted into it. However, it was enough for Jaune, as it worked beyond his wildest hopes and expectations.

Abruptly, Jaune was affected by the sensation of flight as he was launched off the ground again, this time without the aid of a catapult or rocket locker. The wind slapped at his face as Jaune found himself flying in a shallow arc that carried him away from the collapsing cliff and onto solid ground, his momentum too much for him to land easily. As a result, he hit and bounced, then rolled to a stop, grunting and grimacing the whole way. Now stationary, Jaune groaned, grateful he'd thrown up earlier, otherwise he'd be doing it now. Sitting up, he looked over just in time to see even more of the cliff give way, his locker tumbling over the edge along with it.

"Damn," he muttered, before looking down at the weapon clenched in his hand. _At least I remembered to hold onto this._ He sighed in relief.

With a pained groan, Jaune stood up and dusted himself off. "Well...at least I'm alive," he said. "Lucky me...I'm gonna be in _so_ much trouble when I get back."

"And why, pray tell, is that, Mr. Arc?"

"Well, I don't think Professor Goodwitch is gonna miss my locker being launched through the skylight," said Jaune. "And she's gonna be madder than a stung Ursa when she learns it's at the bottom of a cliff..." His voice trailed off as his brain caught up with the course of events, and he realized just _whose_ questions he was answering.

Looking over, Jaune saw the stern blonde woman staring at him over the rims of her spectacles, her riding crop gripped tightly in both hands, flexing with the creak of leather.

"Indeed I did _not_ miss one of our lockers being launched, Mr. Arc," said Glynda, her eyes narrowing. "And now, considering the destruction of school property that just occurred, you are going to tell me _exactly_ what you are doing here...and why."

"Okay..." said Jaune, realizing that Glynda was the kind of person who would drag the truth out of him, whether he wanted to tell it or not. _I am in _so_ much trouble._

* * *

**Yeah, that little bit during the Jaundice Arc in Volume 1 made what Cardin did to Jaune seems like a funny prank. But it's likely that flying around inside a locker that isn't meant to hold a person would be a pretty damn painful experience. Still, at least everyone had a nice day out before that.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20:**

_Jaune is in _so_ much trouble,_ thought Ruby, as she stared at the section of scorched floor where his locker had been standing before. She remembered the lecture about rocket lockers, though she hadn't given it much thought, seeing as she kept her sword on her person at all times.

"That stupid dolt didn't think to call his locker to put his sword in it, did he?" asked Weiss incredulously, staring at the same spot. "Those things aren't so easy to put back as they are to call out."

"He wouldn't have bothered going out to do it, though," said Pyrrha.

"So...what happened?" wondered Ruby, turning her gaze up to the hole in the skylight.

"Well, assuming the worst happened, he ran into Cardin and his posse here," said Weiss plainly.

"And they did...what, exactly?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well, if they're feeling so vindictive, and bullies usually are, I'd imagine that they launched his locker so that he'd have to go running after his weapon and wind up being caught after curfew," said Weiss.

"That's almost a relief," said Ruby.

Then she heard Pyrrha gasp. "What is it?" she asked, whipping her head around to stare at the redhead.

"I remembered that we can use our scroll's app to check our teammates' condition," said Pyrrha, having already pulled out her scroll and done just that.

"Oh..." said Ruby, blinking. It was yet another thing she'd forgotten about. Hearing Professor Goodwitch's lecture about the application had made her worry. It seemed to be a bad idea to advise your students to consult mobile devices in the middle of pitched battle. At the very least, they should have the skill and training to monitor their own sense of their own Auras. With sufficient practice, it became possible to monitor the Auras of those in one's vicinity as well.

Still, she supposed that such an application might come in handy at times like this, even if it didn't tell them _where_ Jaune was.

"Look!" said Pyrrha urgently, holding up her scroll. It showed portraits of the team's members, along with a colored bar representing their Aura's status.

Ruby immediately realized the reason for Pyrrha's anxiety when she saw that Jaune's Aura had dropped by almost half.

"W-well...I wouldn't be surprised if Cardinal roughed him up before they sent his weapon off," said Weiss frowning. "Though I'm surprised they would beat him _that_ much, given how much Aura he has, and how many hits it must have taken to reduce it to that extent."

"Jaune can be quite determined," noted Pyrrha. "But that should have taken longer, and the perpetrators, in a situation like this, like to get things done quickly, so that they can avoid being caught."

Ruby swallowed, her head snapping to look at the scorched floor again.

"What are you thinking?" asked Weiss, noticing the change in her attention.

"I'm thinking that...maybe it wasn't Jaune's _weapon_ that Cardinal sent off in that locker...or not _just_ his weapon."

Pyrrha's eyes widened and she gasped, her hand going to her mouth. "You don't mean they..."

"That's what I think," said Ruby. "There's no way to tell where they sent him. We need to find him right away."

"But how?" asked Pyrrha. "He could be anywhere!"

"According to Goodwitch, an override is needed to send the locker off of school grounds...or it needs to be summoned directly by scroll," said Weiss. "So he probably hasn't been sent anywhere too dangerous."

"But he could still be hurt," said Ruby worriedly. "Those lockers aren't meant to carry people in them."

"I know that!" snapped Weiss. "Unfortunately, I think we're going to have to go to Professor Goodwitch about this. Beacon will have a system that monitors events like this. They'll be able to track the locker, and figure out where it's landed. Hopefully we'll find Jaune there, or somewhere on his way back."

"That will not be necessary, Ms. Schnee."

The three girls whirled around at the sound of the familiar voice as Glynda entered, a harried Jaune at her side. Poor Jaune definitely looked worse for wear, his skin smudged and dirty, his shirt and pants torn and battered. However, it seemed that whatever bruisers or other injuries he'd received as a consequence of his ill-conceived flight had been healed by his impressive reserves of Aura.

But that was the last thing on Ruby's mind as she hurled herself at Jaune, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly, Jaune yelping in surprise and rocking back with the impact, before reciprocating the gesture. For a second, silence fell as the two held each other.

Then Glynda coughed, calling their attention to her. Ruby and Jaune sprang apart, blushing slightly, though Ruby still held tightly to Jaune's hand.

"Normally, there would be severe consequences for being out after curfew," said Glynda, making the students tense. "However, upon review of the circumstances, I will overlook it this time."

Weiss sagged in relief, glad to have escaped a black mark on her record.

"I commend your concern for your teammate, and your willingness to look for him," added Glynda. Then her gaze settled on Ruby. Ruby could swear she saw a spark of amusement in those normally-stern eyes. "Ms. Rose...in the future, you should remember that there is an application on your scroll that allows you to monitor the position of your teammates, through their own scrolls, so long as they are in range. In the future, that might save you a great deal of trouble."

"Oh..." squeaked Ruby, her cheeks growing redder. She was having difficulty enough remembering just to _carry_ the device on her regularly, still not used to having it, after spending so long doing without it.

"What happened, Jaune?" asked Pyrrha, approaching him worriedly.

"It would seem that Team Cardinal had some amusement at his expense," said Glynda, her tone icy.

"So they _did_ launch you out in it," said Ruby, looking worriedly at Jaune.

"Yeah," breathed Jaune, sagging.

"He was quite lucky," said Glynda, adjusting her spectacles. "His locker almost landed in the Emerald Forest. In fact, it _did_ end up there, when the cliff gave way as a consequence of its impact. Only Mr. Arc's decisive action saved himself from sharing a similar fate."

Ruby gasped and tightened her grip on Jaune's hand. Jaune smiled reassuringly at her and squeezed back. "Hey, I'm okay," he said softly.

Glynda nodded, a rare, amused smirk crossing her face. "It was quite an impressive escape...though it seems he still has some work to do on his landing strategy."

Jaune sighed, even as the girls tittered.

"In any case, it is time to return to your room for the night," said Glynda. "Seeing as Mr. Arc has not suffered any serious injury as a result of this incident, you will _not_ be excused from class tomorrow."

"But what about Cardinal?" demanded Weiss. "After what they've done-"

"They will be dealt with, Ms. Schnee," said Glynda, her tone harsh, though it was clear that Weiss wasn't the object of her anger. "Of that, you can be assured. But they shall be dealt with by _us_. Rest assured that they will be severely regretting their antics soon enough."

"I doubt it," grumbled Ruby, even as she began to tug Jaune along the hallway back towards their room. "Bullies like that only ever regret getting caught."

Behind them, Glynda sighed. "Maybe so," she admitted. "But I will work very hard to impress upon them that such behavior is unacceptable. If they cannot learn that lesson themselves, then they have no future here."

"All right," said Ruby with a relieved sigh. "Come on," she said, towing Jaune behind her, as Weiss and Pyrrha brought up the rear.

* * *

They managed to reach their room without incident, which, considering the end to their day, felt like more of an accomplishment than it should have been. From there, the girls graciously let Jaune have the first turn, taking a shower and changing into his pajamas after his ordeal, before taking the bathroom to change back into their own pajamas.

From there, they turned out the lights and climbed into their beds, yawning tiredly. In the darkness, Weiss and Pyrrha quickly dropped off to sleep. Jaune, still a bit rattled by the whole affair, remained awake, staring at the ceiling. After a few minutes, he realized he wasn't the only one.

"Ruby?" he asked, blinking and turning to look at the bed next to his, where Ruby was indeed awake, her silver eyes gleaming in the moonlight that streamed in through the window as she started at him.

After a moment's hesitation, Ruby responded by pulling back her covers, the soft whispering of her sheets sounding strangely loud in the otherwise silent room. Sitting up, she set her feet carefully on the floor, then stood and padded across the small gap between her and Jaune's beds. Her movements were slow and deliberate. With each step she took, Jaune felt his heartbeat grow and he swallowed nervously, moving to sit up in his own bed.

Ruby sat down on the edge of his bed, and stared at him silently for a moment.

"Ruby?" he whispered again. Then his eyes caught something. The moonlight coming in through the window reflected off something on her cheeks, giving them a faint shine. Reaching up, he carefully brushed a thumb over one of her cheeks, the digit coming away with some moisture clinging to it. Then he heard the faint sniffling underlying Ruby's breathing.

Abruptly, Ruby surged at him and threw her arms around his shoulders again. Reflexively, Jaune's own arms wrapped around her waist, gently tugging her up so that she was almost lying on top of him. Jaune let one hand run up her back, gently trailing his fingers up her spine before brushing them through her hair. "Shh…it's okay," he whispered gently into her ear.

"I was scared," said Ruby, a slight whimper in her voice. "I don't know what I'd have done, if anything had happened to you."

"You don't need to worry so much," said Jaune softly. "I'm not _that_ important."

"Yes you are," said Ruby, pulling back so she could look him in the eyes. "You're the first friend I made here, my _best_ friend. You're the most important person to me, here."

Jaune felt a surge of giddiness rise though him. In spite of himself, he found himself sniffling as well. "Thank you," he said. "But it's over. I'm all right."

"But…but what if something like this happens again?" asked Ruby. "Cardinal isn't going to give up, just because Goodwitch gives them a scolding."

"We'll take it as it comes," said Jaune, pulling Ruby in again so that she could rest her head against his shoulder. "I'm your partner, and I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I'm getting a lot stronger than I thought I would." His smile widened. "It's actually thanks to what _you_ taught me that I got through tonight."

That made Ruby jolt with surprise and she pulled back to look at him questioningly. Jaune chuckled at the curious look in her eyes. "Not tonight," he said. "I'll tell you tomorrow."

"Okay," said Ruby, finally smiling again. "I'm so glad you're all right, Jaune."

"So am I," said Jaune earnestly.

Ruby hesitated for a second, her eyes darting one way, then another, before she abruptly leaned in, her lips brushing ever so lightly against Jaune's cheek.

"Good night," she whispered, before returning to her own bed and sliding beneath the covers.

For a moment, Jaune found he couldn't move, merely sitting there, hand resting on his cheek, unable to comprehend what took place. Finally, he breathed out, the word exiting in a soft, nearly silent, exhale. "Whoa…!"

* * *

Dove knew this was going to happen. Somehow, he'd _always_ known it would come to this. Surprisingly, it seemed that he was the only member of his team who'd expected what he'd seen as the inevitable fallout of their evening antics with Jaune.

Even so, Dove couldn't keep from flinching along with the others, as Glynda's riding crop slapped the surface of her desk.

"The four of you don't seem to fully understand the potential outcome of what you did last night," said Glynda, her eyes narrowed in a glare as she paced around them.

"Psh...It was just a little prank," Cardin muttered under his breath.

_Why can't he keep his mouth shut?_ wondered Dove.

"Oh," said Glynda, rounding on Cardin. "Perhaps you should be aware of just how much your 'little prank' cost."

"Cost?" Russel gulped.

"A standard Beacon rocket-locker costs fifty-seven-_thousand_ lien," said Glynda firmly. "Mr. Arc's is now at the bottom of a cliff, in the Emerald Forest, where _he_ might have ended up himself, if not for his quick thinking. Given the state it is probably in now, we'll be lucky if we can manage to salvage any of it." Her eyes narrowed. "And because you bear direct responsibility for this, you four will be covering that cost, along with the penalty for the misuse of school property. Had Mr. Arc been injured, or his weapon damaged, as a result of your 'little prank', you'd be responsible for _those_ costs as well.

The boys went pale.

Glynda stepped back and adjusted her spectacles. "The four of you shall have your stipends docked, until the cost of the locker and the associated penalty are covered. On top of that, you are all suspended for a week."

"That stupid rat," growled Sky. "If he hadn't tattled on us..."

"_Two weeks_, Mr. Lark," said Glynda, her eyes narrowing.

Cardin smacked Sky in the back of the head, while Russel punched him in the ribs very un-gently. Dove merely buried his face in his hands.

"Do not blame Mr. Arc for your own misdeeds, just because you happened to be caught," snarled Glynda. "You and you alone are responsible for your actions. Mr. Arc was right to report you, and I gave him no alternative. The fact of the matter is that your attitudes and conduct are grotesquely irresponsible, and completely unbecoming of those who seek to become Huntsmen, particularly those who wish to represent this institution. Believe me, you have rightfully earned every lien and minute of your punishment. If you cannot improve your behavior, I suspect your time here will be very short indeed."

"Unbecoming..." Cardin growled.

"Comment, Mr. Winchester?" asked Glynda, her eyes going to him.

Cardin opened his mouth, only to yelp when Dove elbowed him sharply. "Just keep your mouth shut for a change," he snarled into Cardin's ear before addressing Glynda. "Don't mind him. He's just thinking about what you said."

"I see," said Glynda. "Mr. Bronzewing, you seem at least marginally more mature than your companions. I hope that you can help them to learn how to appropriately moderate their behavior."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Dove, running his hand through his hair with a sigh.

"Good,' said Glynda with a frown. "You are dismissed. Remember that I will be keeping a close eye on you in the future. Punishments for future indiscretions will be more severe, and _expulsion_ is not off the table, if this continues for long enough."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Dove, speaking quickly before any of his teammates could open their mouths. "Come on, guys, let's get out of here."

Dove shepherded his teammates from the room, doing his best to keep them from protesting as they went. When the door to Glynda's office closed behind them, Dove sagged a little in relief.

"What the hell?" demanded Cardin, rounding on him. "Just whose side are you on, huh?"

"At this point, the side of keeping us in Beacon, unless you want to talk yourself into getting expelled in our first punishment meeting," Dove growled back. "You're the idiot who needs help keeping his damn mouth shut."

"That bat was siding with Arc," protested Russel.

"And you, sure as hell, weren't gonna change her mind," Dove snapped back. "And if you keep harping about it right in front of her door, you're practically inviting another week of suspension, so I suggest you morons stop complaining about this until we get back to our room."

That got their attention and their mouths snapped shut, though they continued to glare at Dove.

_Don't get mad at me because I'm apparently the only one on this team with more than two brain cells to rub together,_ Dove thought to himself, glaring back at them.

They walked along the halls until everyone, except Dove, was satisfied that they were far enough away from Glynda's office to talk.

"I still can't believe that she took Arc's side in this," grumbled Cardin.

"Well, it's not like he took that locker out for a joyride," Dove muttered back.

"Hey, you didn't protest at the time," Cardin growled back.

"I told you, if you got him killed, we'd get expelled," Dove retorted.

"How was I supposed to know it would land on the cliffs?" protested Cardin.

"You didn't know where it was going to land and you didn't care," Dove replied. "You said so yourself. The cliffs are still part of school grounds. He went there because you didn't care, and just input a code at random."

"Ha! Just imagine if he'd fallen down the cliffs though," said Russel with a chuckle. "That would've been something to see."

_What are you, a sociopath?_ wondered Dove, growling under his breath. "You mean, wouldn't it have been something to see if his broken body ended up on the floor of the Emerald Forest for a passing Grimm to savage?"

"Uh...well..." Russel looked down, actually seeming bothered by the notion.

_Okay...maybe there's hope for him after all,_ thought Dove.

"It would have served him right," said Sky.

_Well...hope for Russel...for Sky, maybe not so much._

"Geez man, I know we don't like Arc, but that's harsh," said Russel, giving Sky a worried look.

"I don't care," said Sky. "That bastard snitched on us, and made us look like idiots in the process."

_You _are_ idiots,_ Dove thought, wisely keeping said thought to himself. "What is this, elementary school? Are you really gonna go on about him folding after being grilled by _Goodwitch_? You think _he_ was gonna pay those costs and fines when it wasn't remotely his fault that he was out there."

"If he had any spine, yeah," said Sky. "And it _was_ his fault."

"He certainly didn't shove himself in that locker," Dove retorted.

"We wouldn't have done that if he wasn't getting full of himself," said Cardin. "He's a pathetic coward, who can't do anything except turtle behind his shield. A waste of space like that doesn't belong at Beacon. We were doing him a favor, showing him that he isn't wanted here. He certainly doesn't belong on a team with three of the best and hottest women to grace our school, which he keeps flaunting in front of everybody's face."

_God! Spare me from macho posturing,_ thought Dove, turning his gaze upwards plaintively.

"Well, it's obvious that Team Raspberry are all Ozpin and Goodwitch's little darlings," snarled Sky.

"Hey, Ruby Rose is the real deal for sure," said Cardin with a smug smile. "She's also quite the looker, when you get her out from under that cloak."

"Nikos and Schnee are pretty easy on the eyes too," added Russel, licking his lips.

_Oh God! We are not talking like this,_ thought Dove, holding back an annoyed growl.

"If we can just get Arc out of the way, I'll bet we can have ourselves a good time," added Cardin with a grin.

_Not freaking likely,_ thought Dove. From what he could see, the girls, especially Ruby and Pyrrha, liked Jaune plenty well, and were perfectly happy with their arrangement. They would not be thanking Cardinal for disrupting it anytime soon, assuming Cardin could follow through with his grandiose, ill-defined scheme.

"For now, we'll keep our heads down and stay quiet," said Cardin, prompting a silent sigh of relief from Dove. "Goodwitch'll move on to other things eventually. Once that happens, we can figure out how to deal with Arc. In the meantime, we can keep an eye and ear out for that secret of his that's so important."

_For the love of God..._ thought Dove impatiently. Glynda had told him to try and rein them in, but he doubted he could manage that on his own. It was three-on-one here. Dove couldn't even begin to see how he could do anything. Cardin was dead-set on driving their team straight off a cliff. Sky and Russel were egging him on...and Dove was powerless to stop them.

* * *

Ruby had offered to give Jaune the morning off, after last night's ordeal. But Jaune had swiftly informed her that he would keep working. A night's rest had allowed his Aura to finish helping him recover, while his Aura itself recharged. He woke up the next morning, feeling a bit sleepy, a consequence of going to bed later than usual, but fine otherwise. So he doggedly got up and joined Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss for the morning workout. If anything, he worked even harder than he had before, pushing himself even more intensely.

Despite being the target of Team CRDL, and Jaune was certain that Glynda's punishment had done nothing to actually dissuade them from continuing to target him, Jaune actually felt somewhat self-satisfied. Though they talked as though he were some kind of weakling, Jaune got the impression that Cardin and his cronies actually felt _threatened_ by him, for all that he wasn't that much of a threat at the moment. He'd won his match against Cardin through dumb luck, mostly. But he'd only managed to last until that stroke of luck because of all the work his friends had put into building him up beforehand. And that was only part-way through his first week of training. If he kept going...he might actually become a genuine threat in the ring.

So Jaune found himself driven to improve as much as he could, and work as hard as he could. Though he wouldn't admit as much out loud, the fact that he could still perfectly remember the sensation of Ruby's lips on his cheek might have been a motivating factor as well. The giddy feeling the memory kindled within him was only compounded by her reaction, when he gave them a detailed recount of what had happened the previous night, especially with regards to how he'd escaped sharing the fate of his locker.

* * *

"Incredible!" gasped Ruby. "You actually worked that out on your own?"

"So it was an actual thing," said Jaune.

Ruby nodded excitedly, before pausing to dig into her oatmeal, which she'd liberally mixed with sliced strawberries. "It's called Flow. It's a more advanced application of Temper. I was gonna teach you about it after I got you up through Suppression."

"So Flow is shifting your Aura around your body?" asked Weiss, looking at Ruby attentively.

"Uh huh," said Ruby, holding up her hand, the red light of her Aura gathering around it and intensifying. "Students tend to learn a basic, bare bones, version of it in Combat School, especially when it comes to channeling their Aura through their weapons. But Flow, when combined with Temper and Projection, is way more effective than what they'd teach you in Combat School."

"It almost sounds like Jaune used a form of Projection as well though," noted Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "It's not quite, since he built up his Aura in his feet, then let it explode out. But it's pretty good for something he's never done before."

"Thanks," said Jaune, sheepishly running his hand through his hair.

"Don't let it go to your head, Arc," said Weiss tartly, before taking a bite out of her apple.

"Aw, come on Snow Angel," pleaded Jaune. "Just let me have this for once."

"Overconfidence is forbidden," said Weiss dismissively, taking another bite, while Ruby and Pyrrha tittered. "And, if you call me by that nickname again, this school will have its own ice sculpture."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Jaune flinching and straightening.

"In any case, this is pretty exciting," said Ruby, beginning to bounce in her seat.

"Is his development that remarkable?" asked Pyrrha.

"Uh huh," said Ruby. "That's sort of how I discovered _Shukuchi_, my speed technique."

"You mean you worked that one out for yourself?" asked Weiss.

"Sort of," said Ruby. "We ended up in this settlement that was being attacked by bandits. I wound up fighting one of them and I sorta worked it out. Sasame-nee taught me more about how it worked afterwards."

"Amazing!" breathed Pyrrha.

"It's not really that impressive," said Ruby, blushing and fidgeting. "It wasn't really your typical fight, and I only managed it 'cause I caught the bandit by surprise." She sighed. "I'd also already been taught and was practicing all three basic exercises, along with Flow, so I had a lot more grounding in the basics than Jaune did."

"Why do you talk down about yourself like that?" asked Jaune.

Ruby smiled sidelong at him. "Overconfidence is forbidden," she said cheekily, making Weiss, of all people, giggle.

"In any case, I would definitely like to hear more about this," said Pyrrha. "More to the point, I get the feeling you have quite a few stories from your experiences. Hopefully we'll be able to hear more about them as well."

"I guess," said Ruby. "It feels a lot like bragging through."

"Even so, I imagine there's a lot we could learn," said Pyrrha. "Telling us your experiences, and what you gained from them, could help us grow from your lessons by proxy."

"I suppose," said Ruby, perking up at the notion.

"Well, it will have to wait until later," said Weiss decisively. "We do have class in a few minutes, after all."

"That's true," agreed Ruby with a sigh.

They finished their meals and got up. As they made their way down the hall to their class, Jaune tapped Ruby's shoulder. "Are you going to teach us the next exercise tonight?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," admitted Ruby. "I think you're all doing well. But I want to be sure. You shouldn't move on to Suppression until you've got Temper down. You're doing well, but you can't keep it up constantly yet." She looked away. "I don't want to rush it."

"You want us to get into that feeling of controlling our Auras, keeping keeping them around our bodies," guessed Jaune.

"Uh huh," agreed Ruby, nodding vigorously. "More than that, it needs to be as natural as breathing and walking, something you can do and maintain without even thinking about it. That's how you learn to control your Aura naturally enough to _really_ execute Flow."

"Okay," said Jaune. He had to admit that what he'd managed the previous night had made him eager to rush ahead. But maybe he was a little _too_ eager.

_"__Overconfidence is forbidden,"_ Weiss had told him. Jaune reflected that she was probably right. Ruby might not have experience as a teacher, but there was no question she knew more about Aura, and fighting in general, than he probably _ever_ would. If that was the case, it was best to listen to her, and do as she said. _Besides, it's certainly worked well for me so far._

* * *

That afternoon, during their after-lunch free period, Pyrrha dialed up Jaune's technique-training, picking up both the pace and power of her attacks as she forced him to defend. However, Jaune was allowed to counterattack this time, striking past his shield with one of the attacks she'd taught him, if he thought he spied an opening. However, in spite of his best efforts, it took nearly everything he had to keep Pyrrha's attacks at bay, the pace of her repetitive strikes unreal. He had to focus all his senses on reading the arc of her sword, and shifting his shield to compensate and deflect. The few times he tried to counterattack, it proved a no-go, his own blows bouncing off her shield. Two out of his four attempts left him open to a counterattack in turn.

Still, it wasn't a terrible experience. Jaune was sweating and panting by the time they were done, silently praying that Glynda didn't call on him during Combat Class. Fortunately, she didn't, though she did call on Ruby and Weiss for matches of their own. Both Ruby and Weiss won their matches handily.

Their day ended without incident. With CRDL currently on suspension, and Glynda, and probably other members of the faculty, watching them like hawks, things were a lot quieter, though Jaune still couldn't quite shrug off a lingering sense of threat hanging around him, along with the feeling that he'd forgotten something important.

The next day, the girls worked him even _harder_ in the morning and free period, taking advantage of the fact that there was no Combat Class that day. Jaune wound up sweating and gasping for breath, nearly falling asleep during the afternoon class. Fortunately, by the time their last class of the day had ended, his Aura had helped him recover enough to concentrate on his homework.

The day after that, Jaune wound up being called upon during Combat Class. Glynda assigned him to fight Blake. Ruby advised Jaune to focus on his defense and Temper again, but told him he was free to counterattack if he saw an opening.

Unfortunately, Blake was no Cardin Winchester. Unlike Cardin, whose fighting style relied heavily on power and brute force, Blake was swift and precise...and evasive, as Jaune soon found to his detriment, his first attempt at a counterattack appearing to sink into her body, before it dissolved into intangible shadow, and Blake's blades found their marks on his back. Just keeping her in sight and keeping up with her movements was a difficult task, made all the harder by her Shadow Semblance, which not only left decoys that managed to fool him almost every time, but accelerated her own movement, so that she could flank him easily. Needless to say, Jaune did not manage to run out the clock that time.

Still, Glynda didn't seem all that disappointed, when she gave her usual after-battle assessment, appearing impressed with his ability to defend as well as he had. Nor did she criticize him for taking the chance to counterattack. In fact, it was _Blake_ who received the most pointed criticism, a reminder that relying too heavily on her Semblance could make her predictable. Blake appeared to take the criticism in stride. All told, she seemed a good sport, though she barely gave Jaune a second glance, once the match was over.

The rest of the week was fairly routine, going by the routine they'd already established. Pushed by his teammates, Jaune worked as hard as he possibly could, doing everything in his power to get better. Ruby and Pyrrha were always encouraging, praising him for his determination, while Weiss contributed in her own way, by continuing to remind him not to get full of himself, and that he couldn't stop trying his best, when Ruby and Pyrrha were working so hard to help him get better.

When Saturday came around, they spent it on a full-day workout this time, rather than going down to the Emerald Forest. Ruby explained that it would be a good idea to take advantage of the recovery power Jaune's enormous Aura afforded him to help him push his physical development as much as possible. Once he did that, learning and practicing techniques would come even _more_ easily to him, not to mention that it would help him hold up better in actual fights.

Straightforward workouts weren't exactly Jaune's cup of tea, but he muddled through all the same. It would be nice to be able to hold his shield and sword for extended periods, without his arms feeling like lead afterwards.

* * *

When Sunday came around, they decided to find their own ways to spend the day this time, Weiss claiming that she desperately needed some time to herself, and heading into Vale just after breakfast. Ruby opted to visit the library, looking for some casual reading to entertain herself, while Pyrrha headed to the CCT center in Beacon Tower to call home and talk to her family.

Jaune initially decided to relax in their room for a while, hanging out and playing games on their projector. However, he planned on heading into Vale as well, a little later, in order to visit the local comic shop and pick up the latest issue of _X-Ray and Vav_. He'd decided to hold off, because he didn't want Weiss to think he was following or stalking her, or something to that end.

It came as a surprise then, when someone knocked hard on his door. Jaune grunted, tensing a little, wondering if CRDL had clued in to the fact he was by himself again. However, he figured it was unlikely, given that even _they_ wouldn't be so stupid as to try something while they were still in the midst of serving their suspension for what they'd _already_ done to him.

With that comforting thought in mind, Jaune went over and opened the door. When he did, he immediately regretted his action, seeing the familiar long mane of blonde hair, full figure, and sunny smile of Yang Xiao Long. Hers was a smile that promised many unpleasant things for him.

_Dammit! I forgot about her!_ Jaune swallowed hard. He'd been so wrapped up in his recent conflict with CRDL that he'd forgotten Yang had cornered him on the first evening of school and read him the _Overprotective Big Sister Riot Act_. If the too-large smile on her face was anything to go by, Yang clearly didn't think that Jaune was minding his boundaries well enough.

"Hi, Jaune," she said cheerily, her hand immediately going to brace the door, so that he couldn't slam it closed in her face in a panic...which he'd been seriously tempted to do. "I see you're on your own today. Need some company?"

"No, not really!" said Jaune, taking a nervous step back. "But Ruby should be back any moment, so I'm all set for company." Truth be told, he didn't know when Ruby was coming back. She might have been just going to check out a book, or she might have decided to lounge in the library itself for her reading. However, maybe the prospect of facing her hostile little sister might get Yang to back off.

He should have known better than to think he'd be that lucky.

"Aww, that's nice," said Yang. "It just so happens that I scheduled a block in the sparring ring today. But my partner ditched me." Yang checked her scroll. "Oh, it looks like she ran into Ruby in the library, and the two of them are hanging out. I'm proud my little sister is getting so good at making friends."

"Th-that's nice," said Jaune, the string of hope rapidly slipping through his grip. He could already see what Yang had in mind for him. "Uh..well...I hope you find a sparring partner."

"Oh, but I _have_," said Yang, her smile, somehow, widening even further. Now she stepped into the room. "You see, a certain someone has been a naughty boy, despite my warnings. And now he owes me some time to work out my...frustrations."

Jaune gulped. "Yeah, well...I'm really not feeling up to it right now. Maybe next time-URK!"

Jaune's voice was cut off by a strangled gurgle as Yang gripped the fabric of his T-shirt and lifted him off the ground. "Listen here, Arc!" she snarled. "You're gonna step into the ring with me, or I'm beating your ass, right here in your own dorm. No one's gonna be coming for a while, so I'll have all the time in the world. But, if you come with me to the sparring ring, you'll only have to deal with an hour. And you'll have your weapon with you. So…maybe…you'll have a chance to fight back. So...what's it gonna be?"

"I'll take the ring," croaked Jaune, figuring he didn't have much of a choice.

"Good," said Yang, dropping him. "Get suited up and get your gear and meet me there. If you try to ditch me, it's gonna make what I was gonna put you through look like a walk in the park, got it?"

"Crystal clear," said Jaune.

"Great!" cheered Yang, beaming. "Don't keep me waiting now."

* * *

Jaune would have liked to drag his feet getting ready, but he figured that would only make Yang angrier. So he tried to hustle and get his things together as quickly as possible. Ironically, the fact that Beacon had yet to replace his locker had proved to be something of a blessing in that regard, as it meant that he had to keep Crocea Mors in the room with him. So it was only the work of a few minutes to get ready and set out. He reached the sparring ring to find Yang waiting for him.

"Ready for your punishment, Arc?" she asked, smacking the gauntlets that covered her forearms together.

"Nope," said Jaune earnestly. "I don't think I deserve it either."

"What you think doesn't matter, pal," growled Yang. "I warned you not to put your hands on my sister."

"She's always hugged me first," Jaune pointed out.

"I don't care," snarled Yang.

Jaune felt a frustrated growl rise in his throat, his irritation beginning to override his fear. _I'm beginning to get why Ruby doesn't want to deal with her._ Instead, he forced himself to stay calm, deploying his shield and taking up his sword. He took his usual defensive stance.

Yang's eyes narrowed, and she took her own stance. Jaune could see the tension in every line of her body, a clear indicator that she had no intention of holding back. Worse still, he got the impression that, while she was sure in her superiority, she wasn't nearly as prone to overconfidence as Cardin was. He was in for a pretty serious pounding.

Then Yang exploded into motion. She leaned forward, kicking off the ground, lunging at him. In the same movement, she punched out behind herself, discharging the guns built into her gauntlets, and using the recoil to launch herself at him like a rocket. Jaune yelped and braced himself as she came in, fist coming around to punch him.

Except...he could see it coming. Even before Yang had begun swinging her arm around, Jaune knew which direction the punch was going to be coming from. He knew it from the angle of her body as she shifted to put her weight behind the blow. As her arm actually raised up, he could see which way it was coming from, the angle of her strike. His arm began moving automatically in response, the days of training with Pyrrha, and practicing _exactly_ this sort of skill, prompting him to move without even needing to think about it. His shield rose up, and he caught Yang's punch on its angled surface, subtly shifting it so that her gauntlet skidded off it with a clang, the punch redirected. The sound of the discharge of its guns reached his ear, and the fiery bolt struck the floor near his feet.

Yang immediately followed up with a blow from her opposite arm, the second blow coming so quickly that Jaune barely had time to maneuver his shield back into position, managing to deflect that one as well. For the next few seconds, they stood in close proximity to one another, as Yang unloaded punch after punch at him, and Jaune did his best to keep up with her movements and redirect her shots away from himself.

Hearing the click of one of Yang's gauntlet clips running empty, Jaune saw his chance, and shifted his shield after catching her last punch, deflecting it so that it skidded off to his side and left Yang directly in front of him, her attacking arm extended out. Apparently, she'd been so consumed with the thought of offense, it hadn't occurred to her to defend, so she was left wide open as Jaune lunged past his shield, slashing down at her with his sword.

He heard Yang grunt in surprise and pain as the edge of his blade bit into her Aura, the blow sending her skidding back slightly. She lifted her gaze and her eyes met his. Jaune gulped as he saw that her fiery anger hadn't abated in the slightest. Instead, it appeared he'd stoked it even further by not going down in the first exchange. Now she was even _more_ furious than before, and he was already feeling more than a little worn down by taking her fierce attacks. Pumping her arms, Yang's gauntlets expelled the spent shells, and she pulled two more clips from her belt and tossed them into the air. Swinging in a motion that had clearly been practiced until she'd honed it to perfection, Yang met each clip with an arm, causing it to automatically snap into place on her gauntlet.

When Yang came in again, she changed up her approach. At first, it seemed that she was winding up for another punch. However, just as she was about to come into reach, she jumped, going into a spin. The arm she'd raised punched down, firing a shot, the recoil of which increased the speed of her spin, allowing her to bring her foot around in an axe-kick aimed at Jaune's head.

This time, Jaune was caught off-guard. He'd been too late in realizing what she was up to, making it impossible for him to properly deflect her blow, so he simply put his shield between him and Yang's foot, feeling his entire body reverberate with the force of her kick. She used the rebound of his defense to bounce off his shield and leap over his head to come down behind him.

Jaune was already turning to meet her when Yang touched down. However, he'd only begun practicing that kind of footwork with Pyrrha, so his response was sluggish. He barely had time to put his shield up as Yang's fist came back around. Again, there was no time to shift and deflect. He ended up tanking her punch head-on. The force of the blow sent him skidding back across the floor. Yang had aimed high, so Jaune found himself struggling to maintain his balance, grateful for the basic stance that Pyrrha had taught him, to keep himself from being knocked over completely.

Undaunted by his managing to hold up, Yang charged him again, swinging rapidly. Jaune once again did his best to keep up with her movements, wryly reflecting that, as terrifying as this was, at least he was getting good practice against an opponent not interested in holding back her speed to match his pace. Biding his time, Jaune waited until his ears once again picked up the telltale clicks of Yang's gauntlets emptying their ammo.

This time, he bulled forward with his shield. The movement wasn't one he'd been taught or practiced, but it seemed like a natural idea. Throwing his weight behind the move, Jaune managed to knock Yang back, staggering her and knocking her off-balance. Stepping past his shield, Jaune shouted, leading with a diagonal slash downwards, cutting across Yang's front. He followed through with a backhanded side-swing slashing across her abdomen. Drawing back, Jaune lunged forward with a thrust, completing the sequence of three attacks Pyrrha had taught him, striking Yang right in the center of her chest, and blowing her off her feet. Had her Aura not been protecting her, she would have been impaled.

Yang landed hard on her back, bouncing, then riding out the bounce to come back to her feet. When she came up, the look she flashed Jaune made his mouth go dry. Her fury was only compounded by the fact that he wasn't just folding, but fighting back as well. She reloaded her weapons. Then she charged in again. As she did, her body began to glow, her Aura seeming to expand, wreathing her in a nimbus of flame. Her hair lightened in color, becoming a wave of gold streaming in her wake, almost as though it had been transfigured into tongues of flame. The roar Yang let out as she closed in shook the arena, echoing like thunder.

Jaune braced himself, but it wasn't nearly enough. Yang's next punch came in, a haymaker that he could read easily. Raising his shield, he shifted to deflect...only for it to be nearly wrenched off his arm anyway, the force behind even that glancing impact being enough to almost completely knock the shield aside. Yang followed up with another hooking blow from her opposite fist. Jaune desperately moved his shield back into place, but wasn't quick enough to manage that _and_ deflect the next strike. The force of Yang's punch blew him off his feet.

Jaune was sent flying, and landed on his back, skidding to a stop. Unlike Yang, he wasn't trained well enough to ride his momentum and roll back to his feet. But he knew full well that staying on his back wasn't an option.

_"__A human opponent might be willing to let you get back up, if they aren't being completely pragmatic,"_ Ruby had told him once, _"but a Grimm will never pass up an opportunity to catch you while you're vulnerable. If you wind up on the ground, you need to get up as fast as you can."_

It seemed that Yang was going to take after the Grimm in this fight, though she probably wouldn't appreciate the comparison. He heard the discharge of Yang's gauntlets and saw her soar up into the air, fist raised as she descended like a meteor. It seemed that Yang, like Nora, loved a good descending strike. Desperately, Jaune pushed himself off, and managed to roll out of the way as Yang's fist slammed down where he'd been lying a second earlier.

Jaune actually _saw_ the shockwave ripple out from the point of impact, the floor shattering from the force of Yang's blow. The shockwave passed under him, and Jaune found himself blown into the air again. He got lucky though, as it actually knocked him up in such a way that his feet ended up under him. He managed to land in a standing position and quickly got his shield into place again, as Yang rose up from her crouch and turned to face him. However, Jaune found his fear quickly compounded as he saw the shift in the color of her eyes, which had turned from their normal lilac color to a deep, luminous crimson that made his stomach roil.

_I'm so screwed,_ thought Jaune as Yang charged in. There was no deflection. He caught her blow full on with his shield, which sent him sliding back across the floor. Jaune yelped in surprise and pain as his back slammed into the safety barrier. Seeing Yang closing in again, Jaune knew he was in trouble. Deflecting her raw power was mostly impossible. Instead, he decided to use his position to the best advantage he could, bracing his back against the safety barrier and keeping his shield braced to intercept her every attack full-on.

Yang hammered him mercilessly, the explosive force of her shots appearing to have also been increased by the strange surge of power she unleashed, which Jaune assumed to be her Semblance. He tried to keep his shield up and, for the most part, succeeded. Yang's every blow pressed him hard against the safety barrier, but already being braced against it spared him from much of the impact.

Then a hooking punch came in from the side. To his dismay, Jaune realized that this wasn't like the direct swings from earlier. It was deliberately targeting the rim of his shield, now that he was holding it stationary. With that incredible power behind it, Yang's punch struck the shield and sent it, and Jaune's arm, out to the side, nearly pulling Jaune's shoulder from its socket in the process. Now he was wide open, and Yang went to town.

Jaune doubled over as a powerful fist slammed into his stomach, below his chestplate. Then the right side of his head exploded in pain as it was snapped to the left. His entire vision filled with orange and gold fire. Worse still, the hits kept coming, Yang pummeling him without mercy. Unable to get his shield back into position, Jaune put his all into maintaining his Temper, knowing it was the only thing keeping him from being absolutely shattered by Yang's attacks.

Unfortunately, despite his large reserves of Aura, Jaune realized that Yang was rapidly burning them away. Temper held up better than a basic Aura-defense, but Yang's raw power was putting a _huge_ dent in it with each strike. Cardin's heaviest mace swings didn't even pack _half_ as much raw power as each punch Yang unloaded into him.

Finally, Jaune felt his Temper faltering, not because he was losing control, but because his Aura was almost out. He was down to his last reserves. Just as he was sure that Yang was about to break through, she abruptly stopped. A buzzer echoing through the room was the reason why. Apparently Jaune had reached the critical zone. His legs wobbled and he began to fall forward.

But he was stopped when Yang's hand closed around his neck, lifting him up and pushing him back up against the barrier again. For a moment, Jaune's vision was too wobbly for him to even make out the girl keeping him upright. Finally, his eyes cleared up and he saw Yang. The glow had faded from her body, her hair returning to its normal shade. However, her eyes were still that fierce red.

"I'm only going to say this _one_ more time," she snarled. "Stay away from my sister."

_Is she kidding me?_ Jaune lamented silently. _We live in the same room, for crying out loud!_

"If I catch you touching her again, I'm not going to stop next time," she continued. "I'll keep going until I break your Aura, then I'll break _you_. This is your second warning. Three strikes and you're out."

_Dammit! What does she think she's doing here?_ wondered Jaune. _Does she actually think that Ruby would want this?_

"Now, you're going to nod your head and agree with me," said Yang.

Jaune's impulse was to do exactly that. Yang terrified him far more than the entirety of Team CRDL, or even a large pack of Grimm, did. He didn't understand that incredible power she'd unleashed, but the last thing he wanted was to be on the receiving end of a beating like that again.

But another part, deeper inside him rebelled. It wasn't fair at all. He hadn't done anything wrong. Yang was incensed, apparently by the fact that Ruby sometimes hugged him and he hugged her back. Hell! She probably didn't care if he did or didn't hug Ruby back, it was the physical contact alone that was enough to set her off. There was no way Jaune was about to let her push him around because she was upset that Ruby wasn't talking to her.

Jaune did what his teammates told him because he knew full well that they had his best interests at heart, that they were working to help him become stronger, and become the Huntsman he wanted to be. Yang was apparently just jealous that she didn't get to hug Ruby the way Jaune did, jealous that Ruby had become so close to him, while she was pushed away. She was acting out that jealousy by playing up the protective big-sister role, and going all out on punishing him for exaggerated infractions. Jaune would be damned if he let her push him around for that.

_If she breaks me, she'll get in serious trouble with the teachers,_ thought Jaune. He knew that, by the standards of his personal machismo (what little he had), that was a pretty lame defense. But he'd take what vindication he could, if it came to that.

"Do it!" snapped Yang, her patience strained by Jaune's pause.

"Forget...it," Jaune croaked back, finding that, between the beating he'd taken and Yang's hand around his throat, his voice wasn't exactly in the best shape. Just trying to speak gave his windpipe a painful, scratchy sensation.

"What?" growled Yang, her grip tightening slightly, albeit at the sides of his neck, so that she wasn't strangling him...yet.

"I'm not...going along with your demands," Jaune hissed. "I'm not going to keep away from Ruby...because you threaten me. I don't give in to bullies."

"I'm gonna rip your head off," growled Yang, her Aura beginning to shine.

"You think Ruby's ever gonna patch things up with you...if you do that?" asked Jaune. "Do anything like...that...and she'll _never_ forgive you. She wouldn't...want this."

"I don't _care_ what she wants," said Yang. "As long as I can keep her safe, that's all that matters."

Despite the state he was in, Jaune couldn't quite hold back a dark chuckle at Yang's words.

"Something funny?" she asked, her eyes narrowing, her free hand coming up as a fist.

"It's just..." Jaune coughed, his neck jolting painfully against Yang's grip around it. Despite his situation, he found himself smirking. "And you wonder _why_ she ran away."

"Oh! That does it!" snapped Yang, her fist cocking back to swing at his head.

_Pushed her too far,_ Jaune thought, feeling resigned to his fate. _Well...I stood my ground. At least I can take that to my grave. Sorry, Ruby._

Abruptly, the resistance at his back, the barrier Yang was holding him up against, vanished. Of course, that didn't exactly do him much good.

"STOP!"

A hand, extending out from a loose, green sleeve, reached in from the edge of Jaune's vision, a shimmering, magenta barrier appearing between its open palm and Yang's incoming fist, stopping it fast. Another hand reached past it, slipping in under the protective cover of the gauntlet, grabbing Yang's wrist, thumb jamming hard into the joint, prompting Yang to cry out and release Jaune, who dropped to the floor, his entire body feeling limp.

Jaune's savior released Yang's wrist, and stepped in before repositioning his hand and striking straight ahead, slamming his open palm into Yang's stomach. There was another flash of purple, and Yang was blown back across the ring, landing on her back and skidding to a stop, either thrown too off-balance by the attack, or too weary from her own exertions, to ride her momentum back up into a standing position again.

Jaune looked up, finding himself staring at the back of a green tailcoat and a head of long, black hair tied into a tail. It was a familiar back.

"Hey, Ren," he said weakly.

Ren looked back over his shoulder and nodded silently at Jaune, before turning to face Yang, keeping him firmly between the two of them. "This has gone far enough," he declared. "You're stopping here, Yang."

"Get out of my way, Ren," hissed Yang, getting to her feet, her eyes flickering between red and lilac. Jaune noticed her posture was slumped. He wondered if that was because of Ren's blow, or if Yang was just _that_ spent from their fight.

That didn't seem likely. He hadn't gotten that many hits on her, four in total, if he remembered correctly.

"No," said Ren firmly. "I don't care _how_ justified you think you are, I won't let a member of my team do this to a friend."

"Shut up!" snapped Yang. "Just because you're my leader doesn't mean you get to just tell me what to do all the time! I'm doing this for Ruby!"

"Is that so?" asked Ren, reaching into his pocket and producing his scroll. "So then...you don't mind if I call her, and let her know what you're doing."

Yang's eyes stopped flickering red and her skin paled. Her arms went limp, dangling by her side.

"The fact that you don't want her to find out means you _know_ what you're doing is wrong," said Ren simply. "Your demands are unreasonable, and you have no right to dictate Jaune's actions in that way, much less punish him for them."

"I'm Ruby's sister!" Yang shouted, her tone desperate. "It's my job-"

"No, it _isn't_," said Ren sharply, cutting her off. "It's not your place right now, especially not if Ruby doesn't want you to. She's made it perfectly clear that she does not want your protection. You have to accept that, if you ever want any hope of making amends with her. Follow through on your threats, and I can guarantee that she will _never_ forgive you."

That appeared to take the last of the wind from Yang's sails, and she fell to her knees.

"Don't harass Jaune again," said Ren firmly. "If you do, Ruby _will_ know...and I'll let _her_ tell you what she thinks."

Yang fell forward, holding herself up with her hands, staring at the floor, tears dripping incessantly from her eyes.

Ren sighed and turned to Jaune. "Can you stand?" he asked.

"Uh..." Jaune struggled, trying to get to his feet. But his limbs shook, and he could barely manage to push himself up from a prone position.

Ren knelt by him and hooked Jaune's arm over his shoulder and lifted him up. "You're spent," he said. "It's not surprising. I'm impressed you lasted as well as you did."

"Thanks," said Jaune, as Ren helped him out of the sparring room.

"You shouldn't be thanking me, and I need to apologize," said Ren with a sigh. "I shouldn't have let things go that far. If I'd just done my job as leader properly, this might not have happened."

"It's not your fault," said Jaune. "I get the feeling that Yang isn't the listening type, when she's angry."

"Yet, I should have better control over my team," said Ren. He smiled at Jaune. "But that was quite the spectacle to watch."

"There for the whole thing?" asked Jaune.

"For most of it," confirmed Ren. "Your defense is coming along nicely, considering how little training you've had."

Jaune's stomach lurched, and his heart shuddered. "Y-you noticed, huh?"

Ren sighed and hung his head. "Seriously...don't admit it so easily. Not everyone will handle it as well as me."

"Duly noted," said Jaune, imagining just how furious Yang would be if she'd learned he'd lied about his transcripts, on top of everything else she apparently hated him for.

"You've been working hard," Ren noted.

"Yeah, Pyrrha and Ruby have been helping a lot," said Jaune.

"It shows," said Ren. "Not many people, even those who had prior training, could stand up to Yang's Semblance like that."

"So that _was_ her Semblance," Jaune muttered.

"It allows her to absorb power from attacks," said Ren. "She stores it up inside of her, so that she can release it in an explosive burst of power."

"Explosive is the right word for it," said Jaune.

Ren chuckled. Then he sighed. "Listen, you have every right to be upset with Yang for what she did. But...could you bring yourself to forgive her, just this once?"

A slight bubble of anger rose up inside of Jaune. "Why should I?" he muttered.

"She's very upset," said Ren.

"I couldn't tell," deadpanned Jaune.

Ren sighed again. "She desperately wants to connect with her sister, but Ruby refuses to engage with her as much as possible. But then she sees you, often fulfilling the role she wants to be in herself."

"What, an older sibling?" asked Jaune with a frown. "If anything, Ruby takes care of _me_, more than the other way around."

"But you do support her emotionally," said Ren. "You encourage her through your faith in her strength and abilities. Yang wants to do that, but finds herself kept at a distance. She has difficulty dealing with her anger and frustration at that. The last thing she wants is to be angry at Ruby, so she uses the person she sees as having supplanted her as her chosen outlet."

"Which is me," said Jaune.

"Yes," said Ren with yet another sigh. "If Ruby was willing to meet her halfway, or at least talk to her, this might not be such a problem. But I'm not going to make Ruby do anything she doesn't want to do. So...just this time, let it go please. I'll try to keep Yang in line. If she does it again, I'll tell Ruby myself."

"Okay," said Jaune.

"Thank you," said Ren. "We're here."

They'd arrived at the door to RASP's room. Jaune managed to enter the room on his own. Staggering over, he collapsed on his bed, exhausted, feeling like he needed a nap. Granted, he should probably strip out of his armor and take a shower, get himself cleaned up before Ruby and the others got back, lest they wonder what he was up to.

Once again, a perfectly good day off was disrupted by someone with a grudge against him. _I wonder if I'm _ever_ gonna have a truly relaxing Sunday,_ Jaune wondered with a tired sigh of his own.

* * *

**Poor Dove. It's tough to be the only decent guy on a team of douchebags. Here's hoping he can get them to turn over a new leaf. Jaune, on the other hand, is just plain in for a rough ride, seeing as three-fourths of CRDL _and_ Yang want his head on a platter now. Hang in there, buddy.**

**Still, at least he's coming along nicely. He was...almost...able to hold his own against Yang there.**

**Yeah, the last few chapters have been really Jaune-centric, I know. And that's gonna continue for a little while longer. Ruby is still the actual center of the story though, and it _will_ come back to her...**

**Next chapter, actually.**

**For the next few chapters, we will be returning to the past, and seeing the beginning of Ruby's introduction to the Mibu, and serious training.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21:**

_Six years ago:_

"Well, it seems we have a knack for attracting trouble," noted Sasame wryly, over the rumble of their ship's guns and the shouts of the men.

"I think we need to talk to Shinrei about more coastal patrols," noted Kyo, as he watched the smaller, faster watercraft swarm about the ship carrying them to Leng. "We seem to have developed a bit of a pirate problem."

"It's part and parcel to not having anything equivalent to a navy," said Sasame, with a heavy sigh. "We can't ask the Kingdoms to patrol our seaside territory, but if we built up naval forces of our own, even if they existed solely to prevent this sort of thing, the Kingdoms would get nervous and pushy with us."

"Damned if we do, damned if we don't, hmm?" mused Kyo idly.

Ruby, for her part, couldn't countenance how sanguine the two were being about their situation. The voyage had been quiet at first. Then, just a few days out from the coast of Sanus, they were swarmed by several small ships, which both her siblings and the crew had identified as pirates. Right now, the crew was keeping them at bay with their ship's guns, normally used to hold off aquatic Grimm.

Of course, with Kyo on board, Grimm weren't an issue. But the pirates clearly knew their business, and their own smaller boats were fast and agile, darting in and out of the line of fire before they could be caught. Occasionally, one would swoop past, with the men inside firing shots, peppering the deck of the larger vessel with Dust-rounds. Sometimes, there would be a cry of pain, and Sasame would spring into action to treat the afflicted. But, by and large, it seemed like a stalemate. The smaller boats possessed nothing powerful enough to bring the larger vessel to a stop or divert its course. All the smugglers had to do was keep pressing forward, and they would reach a, hopefully, safe harbor.

"What are they trying to do?" asked Ruby, carefully peeking over the side of the ship to watch as another pirate vessel dashed past.

"I imagine they're trying to keep us occupied, so that we don't notice the fog bank ahead," said Kyo, pointing at the gray cloud billowing just above the water.

"What is that?" gasped Ruby.

"Steam-Dust, I'd guess," commented a chiseled, black-haired man with tanned skin, coming up beside Kyo. He went without shirt or vest, leaving his top half exposed to the elements. His black hair was slightly spiky and combed back, a short, black goatee hanging off the end of his chin. Gold hoops were looped through his left ear. He surveyed the incoming boats with hard, dark-green eyes, his face set into a scowl. His hands drifted to the cutlas-type weapon belted on at his waist, hanging to the side of his worn, brown pants.

"Can we divert around it?" asked Kyo.

"Not likely," said the ship's captain. "There's a larger ship inside that cloud, mark my words. If we move, they'll move to keep us cut off."

"Then why bother with all the smaller boats?" asked Ruby, glancing over the edge again.

"If we get caught up trying to avoid the fog bank, they'll catch us and board us while we slow down to maneuver," said the captain. "Their first objective is to get people aboard."

"That would make sense," said Sasame. "They wouldn't want to risk damaging this ship, and losing potential cargo."

The captain sighed and shook his head. "Except we ain't got no cargo, yet. Those folks in Leng don't care for anything we can bring from Vale's side of the sea."

"You'll be adequately compensated," promised Kyo.

"So you've promised," said the captain. "I'll take you at your word. It ain't normal to set out with an empty hold like this. Problem is, none 'o those pirates know we ain't got nothing worth stealing."

Sasame leaned over, and quietly whispered something to Ruby about "double-negatives," which made her giggle, in spite of their situation.

"I don't suppose we could inform _them_ of that," said Kyo.

"They wouldn't believe us," grumbled the captain.

"Would your guns be sufficient for the larger vessel?" asked Sasame.

"Maybe," said the captain. "Depends on the size. The problem is that only our turret can face front. We'd need to turn to give 'em a full-on broadside. The smaller boat's'd catch us if we did that."

"Well, we can deal with boarders," said Kyo, exchanging looks with Sasame. "But we'd hate to make a mess of your ship."

"So long as she still sails afterwards, that's all that matters," said the captain. "I'll add damages to your bill."

"They'll be covered," promised Sasame.

"That being the case, let's head straight in and spring their trap," said Kyo. "To avoid casualties, please have your crew move belowdecks."

"Got it," said the captain, walking along the deck and belting out orders.

"You'll go below with the crew," said Kyo, resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby swallowed and nodded. A small part inside of her protested at being put out of the way, like a child, but her training with Kyo and Sasame had taught her that facing battle was no easy task. She wouldn't be as lucky as she'd been with the bandit woman in Barrowdown. Ruby had done a few sparring sessions with Kyo, if they could even be properly called that. Even when he was slowing down and holding back his strength to the fullest, she had difficulty keeping up with him.

"All right," she said.

All around them, the crew of the ship rushed along the deck. The guns fell silent as the crew members left their posts at the captain's orders, heading down the hatches to the quarters belowdecks. Reluctantly, Ruby moved to join them, only to be stopped by the captain, who rested a hand on her shoulder.

"I've got a place for you," he said. "You wanna watch these two in action, right?"

Ruby nodded.

"Come with me," he said. "I've sent the helmsman below too, but someone's got to steer this tub."

The captain led her along the deck, trading nods with Kyo as they passed. The captain led Ruby onto the ship's bridge. The vessel wasn't all that large, yet the bridge was surprisingly spacious. The windows afforded them a clear view of the ship's deck, as well as the sea around them.

Ruby noticed that, now that the guns had fallen silent, the pirate boats were coming alongside. A minute later, ladders clanged against the railing and men began swarming up from the boats to reach the deck. They reminded Ruby of the bandits that had attacked Barrowdown, though she supposed that pirates were essentially seafaring bandits, so it was understandable that there would be a resemblance.

However, she noticed that they seemed better-dressed than the bandits, their clothes less tattered and worn. The sunlight gleamed off the blades they drew, and some of them brandished weapons with mechashift capabilities. Knives extended into spears. Rifles sprouted bayonets. One man even brandished a cutlass similar to the captain's, a red Dust gem glittering in the pommel of its handle.

For the most part, the pirates weren't yet interested in getting through the hatches to reach the crew. Instead, they gathered on the deck, moving to encircle the two people who remained facing them. Ruby gulped, focusing her eyes on Kyo and Sasame.

* * *

"Looks like you've got some sense after all," commented a thin man with narrow eyes, idly spinning a kukri by a ring set into the base of its handle around his finger, the blade a whirling blur. "Finally decided to give up fighting?"

"Not as such," said Kyo pleasantly. "I'm afraid you've gone through a great deal of trouble to no end. This ship has no cargo presently. My friends and I are passengers, so I'm afraid there's no point to your actions."

"Ha!" barked a tall woman near the back. "You really think a bald-faced lie like that can fool us?"

"Well, you can check the hold, if you wish," said Sasame. "There's nothing here to steal."

"Even if that's the case, you'd think we'd just walk away?" commented the thin man. "A fine ship like this would make a great addition to our fleet."

"Fleet?" mused Kyo, raising an eyebrow.

They entered into the fog. After a few minutes, it began to lift, revealing that they were between, not one, but two ships, angled so that the smuggler vessel couldn't go forward any farther. The captain, seeing that the way was blocked, slowed the ship to a stop. Behind them, a third ship emerged from cover, cutting off any path of retreat.

"Aye," said the pirates' spokesman. "This is the fleet of Commodore Bloodworth. You'd best not offer any resistance, or the entire crew of this ship'll be butchered and fed to the Grimm."

"And where is this Commodore?" asked Kyo. "It seems odd that so many of you have assembled here, but the commander of this force is not present."

"Our Commodore's gone to take the bridge, of course," said the the spokesman with a laugh. "You'd think she'd just mill about on the deck?"

"Oh bother," muttered Sasame, turning to head for the bridge, only to stop as one of the pirates behind her fired a harpoon that pierced her from behind. Sasame lurched as the blade of the weapon pierced through her back, continuing on to punch out through her chest. She staggered two steps, then stopped.

"No interfering!" crowed the woman who'd fired the harpoon, which was apparently an extension of the jagged blade of the halberd she brandished.

Mocking laughter rippled back and forth amongst the pirates, only to die off as Sasame straightened and reached up to her chest. Grasping the harpoon behind its blade, she twisted and snapped the metal shaft like a twig. Walking a few steps forward, she was able to pull the cable that tethered it to the pirate's weapon out of her back, then turned to face the pirates once more.

"That was uncalled for," she said firmly. "It seems you lot enjoy bloodshed a great deal."

"Y-you're damn right we do!" shouted the pirates' spokesman, unnerved by her shrugging off what should have been a lethal wound. "We do as we like!"

"I see," said Sasame, bringing her hands together and cracking her knuckles. "I wonder how much you'll enjoy bloodshed, when it's _your_ blood that's being spilled. We need to settle this quickly, I'm afraid, so your suffering will be brief...if you last long enough to experience any at all."

* * *

The door to the bridge slammed open, a tall woman dressed in a dark-red greatcoat strutting in. Both Ruby and the captain whirled around to face her. The captain's hand immediately blurred towards his cutlass.

The patch over the woman's right eye flashed. What looked to be a yellow gem set into it flared, and a bolt flashed across the space between her and the captain with a loud crack, and the smell of ozone, striking him right in the chest. Streamers of lightning rushed across his body, the captain spasming and screaming in pain for a few seconds, before dropping to the deck. With a horrified gasp, Ruby rushed to his side, checking for signs of life.

"He's still alive, Little One," said the woman in a condescending tone. "He may still be useful after all."

Ruby growled and put herself between this strange woman and the downed captain, her hand going to the handle of her own sword. The woman made no response as Ruby drew the kodachi Kyo had given her, and held it up in a basic stance. Instead, she watched Ruby silently, something approaching amusement dancing in the wine-colored iris of her visible eye.

The woman certainly fit the image of the classical pirate. Her greatcoat was decorated with gold buttons at the front, with gold lining along the flaps and collar. Her shoulders were decorated with epaulettes, each with a white skull on a blood-red field, surrounded by a gold fringe. The cuffs of her sleeves were also black, but decorated with gold thread. She also wore what seemed to be cufflinks with red gems. Below her greatcoat, the woman wore black pants, with thigh-high leather boots that thudded with an authoritative sound against the deck, every time she took a step. Her hair was the only thing really at odds with the color motif, being a dark-blue, tied into a braided tail that was draped over her right shoulder. The top of her head was covered by a black and gold tricorn hat. Then, of course, there was her black eyepatch, with the yellow gem set into it.

As she faced the woman, Ruby's eyes went to the belt around the woman's waist, just visible between the flaps of her partially-buttoned greatcoat. The hilt of a sword of some kind protruded out from it, the handle a gleaming, gold color. Besides the gem in her eyepatch and her cufflinks, the woman was decked out in a surprising amount of jewelry. Their was a silver brooch with a blue jewel over her left breast-pocket. Green gems on gold rings decked out her fingers. Around her neck was a silver necklace, from which dangled a black gem with violet highlights. Silver earrings with pale-blue gems dangled from her earlobes.

At first glance, it seemed gaudy and impractical to load so many extras and accessories onto her person. But the woman's first action, bringing down the captain with a blast of lightning from her eyepatch, had played her hand. Ruby only knew a little about Dust from her basic education in elementary school. But she knew that its fundamental form was as naturally-occurring crystals that were left intact, or ground down into powder. The crystal in her eye patch was, in fact, a Dust-gem. Each accessory this woman wore might be Dust of some kind, meaning she was concealing a veritable arsenal in plain sight, enabling her to attack without even needing to reach for her weapon.

The woman strode forward, her boots clomping on the deck as she approached Ruby, who swallowed, keeping her guard up.

"Well well," said the woman, "a little one with some spine. You'll make a fine addition to my crew."

"I'm _not_ going to be a pirate," growled Ruby.

Her denial only seemed to amuse the woman further. "You really shouldn't knock it, Little One. This is a fine life, taking what you please, doing what you want. You can live free from those idiot Kingdoms and their Councils."

"I don't care," growled Ruby. "I don't want to be someone who steals from others."

"Well well...the Little One has principles, hmm?" mused the woman. "That just makes me want you all the more. I'll take you and break you out of those silly little ideals, until you can't live _without_ the smell of blood."

Ruby swallowed hard, remembering what Sasame had told her after she'd killed that bandit woman. Some people tumbled headlong into a life of crime, seeing little other recourse, if they wished to survive. However, Sasame had also warned her that there were those who took pride in their willingness to take what belonged to others by force. It seemed that this woman was the latter.

It was more than what she said. It was in the quality of her clothes, the expensive-looking Dust-armed accessories that dotted her person. This was a woman who wasn't hurting for means. She didn't participate in piracy to survive. She did so because she enjoyed it.

Ruby would sooner die than become someone like that.

"My name is Morgan Bloodworth," said the woman, her hand going to the golden handle of her sword. "I command three ships and over a hundred sailors. No one defies me for long, least of all a child."

Her blade slid free. It appeared to be a rapier, albeit one with a broader blade than most, almost wide enough for it to qualify as a longsword. This was a weapon built as much for slashing as it was for piercing. It looked heavy, but the woman flourished it with ease, not seeming bothered by its weight. The blade was a silvery color, with a pair of lines running up either side of the blade.

With a click, Morgan squeezed a trigger and the blade suddenly began to spin, becoming a whirling blur, almost as much a drill as it was a sword. She released the trigger, and the blade stopped spinning. "Well now...are you going to be a good little girl...or am I going to have to give you a little discipline?"

Ruby growled, carefully hefting her blade and keeping her stance.

"Well then, far be it for me to go all out against such a cute little thing," said Morgan, her tone taunting. "It sounds as though my sailors are amusing themselves with the crew, and whoever is supposed to be defending this tub, so I'll play with you while I wait for them. The bridge is as good as mine anyway."

Ruby's cheeks flushed with anger. This woman considered the fight already won. Of course, it was a pretty natural conclusion to reach. Ruby had been training hard, but there was no way a few months of training, however intensive, could put a nine-year-old on _remotely_ even footing with a woman who clearly had a level of skill equivalent to a fully-trained Huntress, seeing how easily she'd used the Dust-crystal on her eyepatch. Despite that, Ruby was determined to give it her all. The captain was down, and she'd protect him with everything she had.

For all that he'd been a harsh man, with a rather intimidating manner, the captain of this ship had been kind to her, for the brief duration she'd spent on board, sharing stories and teaching her about the seafaring life. Even his inviting her onto the bridge had been an act of kindness, a presumably safe place she could watch her brother and sister fight from. He might have been only stunned, but Ruby would do what she could to help him.

She took a deep breath, and let it out. Kyo and Sasame had warned her that an excess of anger could be dangerous. It could be a source of strength, but only if she didn't let it govern her actions. She had to draw on it, but not let it overwhelm her. Taking another breath, Ruby let her anger flow through her body, almost seeming to merge with her Aura, hardening and intensifying it. Her Aura flowed up through her blade, strengthening its core and honing its edge. She'd been practicing using her Aura through her weapons. Now was the time to put that practice to use.

Ruby lunged forward, expelling Aura from her feet to accelerate explosively, her body becoming a blur as she closed the distance between herself and Morgan. At the same time, she used Flow to channel her Aura, concentrating it along the length of her sword, which she brought down in a diagonal swing, a basic technique she'd practiced endlessly.

Morgan raised her sword almost casually to block, though her eye widened slightly. Ruby's speed impressed her, being faster than the pirate had expected. However, it was still within the realm of what Morgan could handle, so she didn't need to exert herself to catch Ruby's attack. Their blades clashed with a clang that resonated throughout the interior of the bridge. Morgan's block was firm and unyielding, the impact sending a jolt down Ruby's arms as she was repelled back by the recoil of her own blow.

She hadn't been the only one who'd felt a jolt. Morgan let out an impressed whistle, examining her own arm. "Well well...for a little thing, you can certainly pack quite a bit of power into your swing." She grinned and beckoned Ruby forward with her free hand. "Come now, Little One, show me what else you can do."

_If she wants to play with me, then fine,_ thought Ruby determinedly. If she was free to attack, then she could keep trying, and hope to work a blow through Morgan's defense. So Ruby shot forward again.

Their blades connected again, Morgan blocking Ruby's sideways slash with ease. The impact was lighter. Morgan opened her mouth to comment on it, only to realize _why_ Ruby hadn't put so much power in that slash as Ruby followed it up by bringing her blade around and up in another diagonal strike. Morgan turned her wrist, shifting her blade, causing Ruby's sword to skid off of it. However, Ruby immediately flowed into another attack, shifting through technique after technique, just as she'd practiced in the katas that Kyo had taught her.

Morgan blocked every strike, but the intensity of Ruby's onslaught was actually causing her to step back. "What a fascinating little thing you are," she commented as she fended off blow after blow. "You clearly practice diligently. In a few more years, you could be quite the little warrior." She blocked another two strikes. Then Ruby jumped up, bringing her sword straight down in a two-handed swing, aiming for Morgan's head.

"Still..." said Morgan, catching Ruby's strike with her own sword, holding it with one hand, horizontally, above her, stopping Ruby's blade cold. Intercepting Ruby's strike caused her to pause in the air for a fraction of a second. That was all Morgan needed. She lashed out with a kick, slamming the heel of her boot right into Ruby's stomach, and sending her flying across the room to hit the wall on the other side of the bridge. Ruby cried out in pain and fell to the floor. "...you need to work on not leaving yourself so open when you attack. I could have ended this a dozen times over already."

Ruby coughed. _It hurts!_ Tears ran down her face. It was the first time she'd ever _really_ been hit. When she'd sparred with him, the worst Kyo had ever given her had been the occasional rap, which stung, but couldn't compare to the brutal pain of being hit for real, even if it was a kick that had probably only used a fraction of Morgan's strength. The closest comparison had been the time that she'd broken her leg practicing the _Shukuchi_ Sasame had taught her.

Her stomach burned and ached. Ruby felt like curling up into a ball and crying.

"Oh?" Morgan pinched her chin with her fingers thoughtfully. "Is this your first real fight? You've never taken a _real_ hit before, have you? You poor dear. I hope you realize that, if you continue to resist, you'll only experience _more_ pain like that. In fact, it'll get worse each time."

Ruby sniffled. Part of her wanted to give up then and there. _It hurts...I'm scared! I want to go home!_ Then her eyes drifted to the captain, and Ruby sniffled a little harder, clearing her nose.

Gritting her teeth, Ruby forced herself to her feet and took up her sword once again. Her constant practice ensuring that she wouldn't drop it, even after taking a hit like that.

"Well well..." said Morgan again, her smirk becoming a grin, "...you're a determined little one. Good, I'd be disappointed if you gave up so easily, even if this is your first time tasting the fear of a real battle. Let's see just how far you can push that determination of yours, before you give up."

"I-I'll n-never give up," stammered Ruby.

"I very much doubt that, my dear," said Morgan. "Everyone submits eventually. There is only so much pain and fear you can endure, before your resolve crumbles. Now...come." She beckoned Ruby with her free hand yet again.

Ruby dashed forward again, her blade held high, ready to strike. Morgan smiled and raised her own sword to block, only for her eyes to widen as Ruby's knees bent and she went into a deep crouch, her sword sinking with her to execute a side-slash at the level of Morgan's shins. Morgan backpedaled, moving to lower her own sword with an indecent haste to intercept Ruby's attack.

But, even as her sword rebounded off Morgan's block, Ruby propelled herself out of her crouch, launching herself upwards, following through with a lightning-fast cut to try and catch Morgan's upper-body before she could reposition her sword to block. Morgan's own sword became a blur, flashing up to catch Ruby's, Morgan's body flinching away from the attack. Landing, Ruby Projected her Aura from her feet again, this time using the technique to dart through the opening created by Morgan's guard to flank her, then using it again to rapidly reverse her course and come at the pirate's back.

Morgan spun to follow Ruby, appearing to misgauge the angle of Ruby's attack, her sword held up at the wrong angle to intercept Ruby's next strike. A sense of triumph surged through Ruby's veins as she realized she was about to land a hit.

Then, with a click, the blade of Morgan's sword split, the edges separating and spreading apart in a scissoring motion, one blade becoming three. Ruby's sword struck one of the outermost blades, the angle of interception causing her blade to slide inwards, until it struck the base of Morgan's now trident-like weapon. Then Morgan pulled the trigger on the handle, causing three blades to spin together in a single unit, twisting to catch Ruby's sword with the torque of the motion. Then Ruby herself was pulled along by the force of the spin.

The world whirled around her, and Ruby was pulled along as Morgan turned, moving her arm in conjunction with the spin of her sword blade, before bringing the weapon, and Ruby, down, stopping her spin to release her weapon's hold on Ruby's blade, and slam Ruby into the floor with enough force to easily drive the breath from Ruby's lungs. Ruby actually bounced back up from the impact, and Morgan delivered yet another kick, throwing her across the room to hit the wall in almost the same spot she'd hit before. Ruby hit the wall and found herself sprawled on the floor yet again.

"You have a strong grip, Little One," commented Morgan, as Ruby sobbed where she lay. "Most fighters wind up having their weapons yanked right out of their hands when I do that. Of course, it helps that you're light enough that I was able to swing you around easily." With a click, her blades closed back together, becoming a single sword blade again. "Now then...ready to give up?"

Ruby sniffled and whimpered. Her limbs trembled, feeling like jelly. As Morgan had promised, this had hurt even worse than the previous kick. Still, Ruby managed to get her right hand under her and push herself up. Struggling to rise up on her shaking legs, she faced Morgan again, though the point of her sword wavered as she held it at the ready.

"My my...so determined," said Morgan, her grin widening. "Oh...this is beyond words! What a _find_ you are, Little One! I can't wait to get you aboard my flagship. Once we're alone in my cabin, I'll gladly test how much you can endure, before you _break_."

Ruby took a deep breath, then another...and another. The fact that her opponent was such a sadist was working in her favor. Morgan was willing to give Ruby all the time she needed to regain her coordination, and recover from the hits she'd just taken. Taking a few more deep breaths, Ruby felt her trembling still. It came more from fear than any damage she'd taken. The pain had been incredible, but her Tempered Aura had held, and her body itself had actually not taken much in the way of damage.

Raising her blade, Ruby cried out as she dashed forward again, once again going with an overhead strike, swinging straight down. This time, Morgan separated her blade right away, and caught Ruby's attack between the outer and center blades. With a click, the blades rotated again, trapping Ruby's blade between them and sending her whirling around as Morgan aimed to slam her into the floor again...which she did.

As before, Morgan planned to follow through with another kick. However, that was forgotten as pain exploded in a line across her abdomen, driving the wind from _her_ lungs this time, the force sending her staggering back, even as Ruby bounced off the floor. The blow she'd just taken actually sent Morgan reeling back, staggering back out the door she'd entered through, until her back hit the railing of the deck outside the bridge, which allowed her to stop without toppling overboard.

"What-?" gasped Morgan, blinking through the pain and focusing on Ruby, as the girl once again got to her feet, moving more surely this time. Then Morgan's eye widened as she saw the girl raise her sword in her right hand...and a blade of dark-red wood in her left.

Secure in her sense of superiority, Morgan hadn't bothered to note the nuances in Ruby's technique. When they'd begun, Ruby's two-handed grip had held the sword with her left-hand in front, with the right hand gripping behind. But, during this latest attack, Ruby had switched hands, her right hand moving to the fore. When Morgan had caught Ruby's kodachi by splitting her sword again, Ruby had actually released her weapon with her left hand, so that she could reach down and draw the wooden practice-sword she wore next to her real blade. As Morgan had sent her weapon and, subsequently, Ruby into a spin, Ruby had drawn the wooden blade, channeling her Aura into it and striking in conjunction with her draw, adding the force of Morgan's own counter to it as she slashed the wooden blade across Morgan's stomach.

Now Ruby stood, a weapon in each hand, both held at the ready as she faced Morgan again.

Ruby looked down at her weapons and frowned. _No...that's not right._ Right now, she stood with her weapons angled out to the sides, basically facing Morgan straight on, and leaving a huge opening right in front of her. She crossed the blades in front of her, but didn't feel satisfied with that either. _They'll just tangle each other up, if I try to swing like this. My stance needs to be more like this..._ She slid her right foot forward, holding out her kodachi in front of her in a guard, while keeping her wooden sword in her left hand out to her side. At least, like this, she could block with one, and then follow through with a swift strike from the other.

Morgan was no longer smiling. "Clever little minx, aren't you?" she asked, a growl of frustration entering her voice. It seemed that this wasn't so fun when _she_ was the one getting hurt. "Well then...perhaps it's time I got more serious about breaking you. Let's see...perhaps a little electroshock therapy..."

There was a click and yellow arcs of electricity began to jump between the separated blades of her sword, bridging the gap between the blades and crawling along their length, from the hilt to the tips. The blades began to spin, the crackling of the Dust-powered lightning merging with the whirring sound of the mechanism spinning the blades creating what almost appeared to be maelstrom of electricity whirling above the handle.

Ruby's mouth went dry, a sense of dread filling her as she watched the miniature storm that Morgan's blade had become. Her metal blade would conduct that electricity right into her hand. The wooden blade would break instantly under the mechanical torque exerted by the spin. In either case, there was no way she could defend or counter an attack like this. Unconsciously, her feet began to move of their own accord and she began to edge back.

"Ah...finally getting a sense of your inadequacy?" asked Morgan, the corners of her mouth turning up slightly, though her teeth remained gritted and bared. "But it's too little, too late, I'm afraid. I'm going to give you some stringent discipline, Little One. Let's get a head start on knocking that defiance out of you, shall we."

Ruby shivered as the blatant sadism in Morgan's tone. The pirate was clearly looking forward to the pain she'd soon be inflicting on Ruby. The sight of that malevolent gleam in her eye made Ruby quail.

Then Ruby caught a flash of movement behind the pirate woman and gasped.

* * *

The gangly man who'd been the pirates' spokesman gaped unashamedly at what remained of the boarding party. One of his compatriots threw himself at Sasame with a bestial howl, a massive claymore clasped in his hands. He brought it down towards Same's head, the blade splitting through her skull, and continuing down through her neck and into her torso.

But the split halves of Sasame's body joined back together in less than a second, leaving her looking as though the attack hadn't happened at all...save for the broad blade of the massive sword now lodged in the center of her stomach. The pirate's eyes widened in shock and he pulled back, only to stop short when his blade refused to budge, trapped in Sasame's stomach, almost as though clenched in a vice.

Sasame looked down casually at the sword imbedded in her, before her gaze drifted back up to meet that of the man who'd just tried to bisect her. Then she smiled cheerfully at him.

The man let go of the sword and backpedaled, trying to get away. But Sasame was too quick, darting forward, the sword lodged in her gut not slowing her in the least as she struck with an uppercutting punch that slammed right into the man's own stomach. The blow was such that the pirate spokesman expected his unfortunate comrade to be sent flying into the sky. But the power was beyond even _that_.

The attacker's upper body, including his head, exploded like an overripe fruit, a massive spray of red blood, mingling with chunks and giblets of the man's pulverized insides spreading out through the air, leaving only the man's waist and legs standing on the deck, before they toppled over.

"So messy," commented Kyo casually, standing amongst the bloody chunks of his own victim.

"And you're not?" countered Sasame, reaching down and casually gripping the blade of the sword and pulling it free from her torso. The blade was so long she had to pull it out through hand-over-hand transitions, before she finally pulled its full length clear of her and let it clatter onto the deck. "It's always such a hassle to remove these longer blades."

The pirate spokesman stumbled back away from the two of them, backing all the way up to the tip of the ship's bow, his back pressed into the wedge formed by the converging lines of railing. "Wha-wha-wha-what the hell are you?" he stammered, barely able to speak coherently."

"Too much for you and yours, I'm afraid," said Sasame, popping her knuckles for dramatic emphasis again. "Now then, let's finish this. Ruby-chan is doing well, but your Commodore is a little too much for her at this stage."

"Screw this!" exclaimed the spokesman. "Forget taking this ship intact! You're all sleeping with the fishes!" His hand darted inside his vest and he pulled out a small metal cylinder, a flare of some kind. "We'll just blow this heap out of the water."

"That won't do," said Sasame, with a disappointed frown.

"Ah-!" said Kyo abruptly, reaching out towards the spokesman with his free left hand.

"You're all dead!" shouted the spokesman, raising the flare into the air, preparing to trigger it.

"Look-!" Kyo began.

There was a flash of blue. A loud roar, like the rushing of river rapids or the sound of a thundering waterfall, echoed through the air. An azure, serpentine shape rushed up over the edge of the bow, fanged jaws closing across the man's torso in a spray of blood. Then both the man and the shape were gone, the sinuous form arcing over the bow and down the other side, the unfortunate pirate gone before he even had time to scream.

"-out..." finished Kyo, lowering his hand. "Well...this is somewhat unexpected."

"It seems we won't need to speak with Shinrei after all," commented Sasame, casting her gaze about, as more serpentine shapes rose around them, almost like a forest of blue kelp extending out of the water, twisting and winding, darting over the decks of the ships that encircled them.

The screams of pirates filled the air as they were snatched off the decks of their vessels and pulled into the water, or torn apart by fanged jaws where they stood. More forms punched through the hulls of the ships, teeth tearing through solid metal as easily as flesh. With low groaning sounds, the ships around them began to list, even as they were torn and rent into pieces.

Then a shrill scream cut through the air. Sasame turned and dashed towards the bridge of their own ship.

* * *

It happened in the blink of an eye. A blue, serpentine shaped lunged upwards from below, rising up over the railing like a striking snake, jaws stretching open as they lunged for Morgan from behind. Apparently, Ruby's expression and sudden gasp had alerted Morgan to her danger, and she spun about, sidestepping automatically as she brought her spinning, lightning-charged weapon about to counterattack. Her movements demonstrated speed worthy of a woman who commanded such an impressive force of pirates.

Yet she was no match for what had come for her. Her own eye widened as the jaws of an azure dragon; with an elongated snout at the end of an almost leonine head, perched atop a winding, sinuous body; closed around her left arm before she could fully pull it out of the way. Razor-sharp fangs slashed effortlessly through her Aura, easily reaching the flesh beneath, and powerful jaws snapped the humerus like a twig, ripping almost the entire limb off, leaving a bloody stump hanging just below the shoulder.

Morgan screamed in pain and fear. The force of the dragon's strike knocked her off balance, and she went tumbling over the railing, leaving Ruby, staring blankly at the space where the pirate had been standing a second earlier.

_Was that a Grimm?_ wondered Ruby, trembling at the thought. That didn't seem possible. While traveling with Kyo, Ruby had never seen even a single Grimm. Sasame continually assured her that the Grimm wouldn't come within miles of Kyo. Also...Grimm weren't blue...were they?

A pair of gentle, familiar hands gripped her shoulders and squeezed them. Ruby felt a warm, familiar Aura washing through her, the aches left by Morgan's kicks and the battering she'd taken fading into nothing in a matter of seconds. Ruby looked over her shoulder and into Sasame's smiling face. Behind Sasame, her tail extended to brush over the captain, her Aura healing him as well.

"Well done, Ruby-chan," said Sasame.

Relief at the sight of Sasame made Ruby feel weak all over again. Her legs began to quiver, and she suddenly felt exhausted.

"Put your swords away," Sasame reminded her.

Ruby nodded and tucked her wooden sword into her belt. Then, carefully, she slid her kodachi back into its sheath. By the time she finished, her hands were shaking so badly, Ruby was afraid she might cut herself on the blade before she could get it in. Only when both weapons were stowed did Sasame release Ruby's shoulders and allow her to turn around. Then Sasame opened her arms.

Ruby sniffled, then threw herself at Sasame, hugging her tightly and sobbing into her shoulder.

"Shh...it's all right," cooed Sasame, stroking her fingers through Ruby's hair. "I'm so proud of you, Ruby-chan. Were you scared?"

"Yes," Ruby mumbled, her voice muffled by the cloth of Sasame's kimono.

"That's to be expected," said Sasame. "A real fight is scary. Getting hurt is scary. Fear and pain are both something you'll need to experience and learn to overcome. It's not easy...but I know you can do it. You certainly showed it during this fight."

"I...I..." Ruby sniffled and pulled away from Sasame, red lining the skin under her eyes from her crying, tears making her cheeks glitter. "I was so scared! I wanted...I..."

"You wanted what?" asked Sasame gently.

"I wanted to go home!" exclaimed Ruby. "I just wanted it to be over, to stop...I was...I'm a coward."

"Oh, Ruby-chan! No!" Sasame pulled Ruby's face against her shoulder. "Yes, it's only natural to think that, when you're afraid, when you've never dealt with that kind of fear before. But...when you thought that, when you felt that fear...did you give up?"

"N-no," whimpered Ruby.

"That's right," said Sasame. "Being afraid doesn't make you a coward, Ruby-chan. Surrendering to fear, letting it rule you and dictate your actions, _that_ is what makes a coward. You were so afraid, but you stood up again and again, even though it hurt so much. That, Ruby-chan, is courage. You were so _very_ brave."

"R-really?" asked Ruby.

"Yes," said Sasame. "I am _so_ proud of you." She kissed the crown of Ruby's head. "Now then, my brave Ruby-chan, shall we meet our friend?"

"F-friend?" asked Ruby, pulling back to look at Sasame in confusion.

"That's right," said Sasame, pulling out a handkerchief and wiping away Ruby's snot and tears, her Aura washing over Ruby and soothing the last of her fear away. "There. All better."

"What about the captain?" asked Ruby, looking past Sasame.

"Oh, he'll be fine," said Sasame. "The hit he took wasn't bad at all."

Sure enough the ship's captain groaned and sat up, rubbing his head.

Ruby sighed in relief, glad to see that he was all right.

"Let's go," said Sasame, taking Ruby by the hand and leading her out of the bridge.

* * *

Morgan tumbled over the side of the ship, plunging towards the water below. Blood streamed from the stump of her severed arm, staining the tattered remnants of her greatcoat sleeve. She hit the water below hard, exploding to the surface, sputtering and floundering. Her hat had been knocked off and drifted away.

Turning, her eyes alit on one of the small boats some of her crew had been using to harass the smuggler vessel. Now she swam to it with her one good arm, channeling her Aura into the stump of her left arm to staunch her bleeding. Despite that, she left a red streak in the water behind her. Finally, gasping with exertion, she heaved herself over the side of the boat.

There was no time to rest though. The groaning of metal and the screams of her sailors filled her ears. Looking around, she found herself in a scene from a nightmare, as the water itself seemed to come alive, blue dragons rising up from the sea, striking out to snatch unfortunate men and women from the decks of her ships, even as others tore right through the vessels' metal hulls like paper. Morgan's mighty armada, the pride of her life, was being torn to shreds before her very eyes, and she was helpless to do anything.

Cursing, Morgan sheathed her sword and made her way to the boat's helm, starting the engine and steering away from the massacre taking place aboard her ships, aiming her boat for open water. The water behind her swelled and elongated, serpentine dragons leaping after her, their jaws opening wide.

Turning to look over her shoulder, Morgan punched out with her remaining hand. The cufflink on her wrist flared, and a bolt of fire launched out, striking the first dragon and evaporating its head into steam. The rest of its body collapsed back into regular water. The other heads continued after her. The gems on her brooch and earrings flared and the air around her suddenly chilled. A second later, the remaining dragons froze in place, their bodies crystalizing into ice.

By that time, Morgan had made it clear of the sinking remains of her fleet, and reached open water. As she did, her mind went back over the day, wondering what had gone so wrong. Her mind flashed back to the little girl with silver eyes. _If I hadn't been distracted by her, I would have seen this coming._ However, the feeling that surged through Morgan was not one of anger, nor of resentment. Instead, all she felt was eagerness. _Just you wait, Little One! I'll make you mine someday._

* * *

Sasame led Ruby out onto the deck, where Kyo stood, watching the other ships sinking around them. When he turned and saw her, he immediately stooped and lifted her up in his arms, Sasame taking charge of his sword, allowing Ruby cling tightly to him.

"You did very well," Kyo told her, kissing the tip of Ruby's nose, eliciting a giggle from her. Wrapping her arms around his neck, Ruby leaned into Kyo's shoulder and closed her eyes, relaxing in his presence.

A metallic tang reached her nose, and she blanched. Pulling away from Kyo, Ruby suddenly realized _why_ he'd picked her up as soon as he'd seen her. In her post-fight daze she'd failed to notice that the forward deck was covered in blood and guts. Scattered lumps of meat that had once been people lay everywhere, and nearly the entire surface was coated with blood, as though it had been used for paint.

Ruby's stomach roiled uncomfortably, and she looked Kyo over more carefully, shocked to see that not a single drop marked his body or his clothes. He looked perfectly clean. As did Sasame. However, she knew full well that this was _their_ doing. They had killed all these people. Certainly, they had been pirates, who would have done God-knows-what to the crew, had Kyo and Sasame not stopped them. But that didn't change the fact that they were still people in their own right. It made her uneasy.

Sasame's tail brushed over her back and Ruby's queasiness abated. "I understand," said Sasame softly. "I hope you never reach the point where killing comes _this_ easily to you, Ruby-chan."

"Me neither," admitted Ruby.

"Good," said Kyo. "You have your own path to follow, after all. Now, let's talk to Shinrei."

"Shinrei?" asked Ruby, looking around.

Stepping over the bloody deck, Kyo and Sasame approached the bow. Reaching the end of it allowed them to look over the stretch of water directly ahead of them. Looking down, Ruby gasped, her eyes going wide.

A young man, about Kyo's age, maybe a little older, was standing there...on the water itself, as though it were solid ground. His arms were folded across his chest. He looked up, favoring them dark-blue eyes and an amused smile. "Permission to come aboard?" he called out in a lilting voice.

"We're hardly in a position to grant that," Kyo called back. "But I believe the captain won't mind overly much."

The young man nodded and bent his legs. The water below him seemed to sink downwards. Then, as he pushed off, the surface sprang back, stretching upwards, as though the water's surface had become elastic. He launched into the air and touched down lightly on the deck. Now that he was closer, Ruby was able to see him much more clearly.

The young man, Shinrei presumably, stood a little bit shorter than Kyo. He had a head of short, black hair, save for the back, which had been tied into a long, narrow tail that dangled back down past his waist. He wore a dark-blue vest over his torso, which hung open, displaying an impressively well-defined set of muscles, along with his bare arms. His legs were covered by a pair of white hakama that were tied closed at his ankles, his feet covered by white socks and what appeared to be plain, straw sandals.

"Ruby-chan," said Sasame softly, "this is Shinrei, one of the Goyosei, the Five Stars of the Mibu Clan."

* * *

**This became a high-seas adventure all of a sudden.**

**I got the idea for this chapter from...well...pirates are fun to write. That's about it. Another part was to give another chance for Ruby to get a taste of combat, this time something a bit closer to the real thing. Morgan might have just been toying with her, but that's leagues beyond what she experienced with the bandit. And, of course, this being the first time she's been a fight where she took serious hits, Ruby is wrestling with the reflexive fear of pain. She _is_ only nine-years-old, after all.**

**And now...**

* * *

**Morgan Bloodworth: "Morgan" is derived from the Welsh _mor_ "sea" and _cant_ "circle." I think Morgan is the first major, non-recycled OC I came up with for this story. She's an antagonist who quickly grew on me as I was writing her, and her weapon aside, she also serves a representation of one of the major ideas I had, concerning the use of Dust. Her calling herself "Commodore" was based on real-world pirates. It wasn't unheard of for a pirate captain, if he found himself commanding more than one ship, to simply give himself a raise in rank because, hey, he's not part of an actual navy, so he can give himself whatever rank he wants. Morgan has a similar attitude.**

**I feel there's real potential in the fact that the natural form of Dust is that of crystals. If you think about it, then wouldn't concealing Dust as jewelry actually be a pretty clever move? I mean, imagine if Weiss' earrings were actually Dust-crystals, which would mean that, even when she doesn't have Myrtenaster at hand, she actually _is_ still armed. It seemed like a fairly natural idea to me, since it also gels with the canon practice of weaving Dust into clothing.**

**Tripartite Vortex: Morgan's weapon, a High-Speed Revolving Trident Sword. Morgan's sword is basically the sword-version of the trident-dagger, a form of main gauche sometimes used by duelists, the blade being able to split into three lengthwise. Added to that is a built-in rotary function. The rotation is from where the blade meets the handle, which results in all three blades spinning as a single unit, when triggered. The torque generated by the spin is far more powerful than the overall size of the weapon might suggest, and it can utilize Dust effects channeled from the various accessories Morgan wears, as well as the Dust worn in her clothing.**

**As its nature might suggest, Morgan's weapon is more specialized for usage against people, being especially suited for disarming them, which fits Morgan's nature as a sadist, since she likes to render her opponents helpless, before having her "fun" with them. Although, it being a drill-sword means that it has some substantial penetrating power too, which would come in handy for dealing with tougher varieties of Grimm. When you're the kind of person who thrives off spreading pain and misery, it's best to have something that can handle the consequences.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22:**

"Good to see you two, again," said Shinrei with a friendly grin at Kyo and Sasame. "It looks like life in the outside world has been treating you well." His eyes met Ruby's and his expression suddenly became inquisitive. "Who's this? Don't tell me you two got _busy_ out there."

"That's not even physically possible," said Sasame with a dismissive snort. "We haven't even been gone a full year." She didn't even need to comment that she and Kyo weren't in that kind of relationship anyway.

"I guess that's a bit short to have a nine-year-old," said Shinrei nodding to himself. "So you picked up a stray."

"I would hardly call her a stray," said Kyo, smiling at Ruby, "certainly not this little gem." Ruby found herself beaming at his description for her. "This is Ruby Rose...and she's our new little sister."

"Ah...adopted...gotcha," said Shinrei, smacking the palm of his hand with his opposite fist. "She's a cute one for sure, I'll admit that much. I wonder how your mom will feel about having a new daughter."

_Kyo's mom...?_ Ruby blinked, realizing that she'd never given much thought to the fact that Kyo had parents of his own. Kyo and Sasame had mentioned them offhandedly during the journey, but Ruby had never really been induced to ask. Would Kyo's parents accept her?

"Please," scoffed Sasame. "She'll be over the moon. You know how much Sora-sama loves children. If anything, it's going to be a fight to keep her from spoiling poor Ruby-chan rotten."

That lifted Ruby's spirits.

"In any case, we should inform the captain that the ship is now safe from pirates," said Kyo. "Those pirates _were_ the reason you were out here, weren't they?"

"Yep," said Shinrei. "We'd been getting word from the local fishermen that suspicious outsider vessels had been spotted in our waters. I came out to investigate. Who knew I'd find pirates raiding a ship bringing you guys back."

Kyo looked around at the mess they'd made of the deck. "We owe the captain an apology for all this mess. I don't suppose we could ask you to help clean this up?" He looked plaintively at Shinrei.

"By 'help,' you mean have me do it for you," grumbled Shinrei. Then he chuckled. "Sure, no problem."

He held out his hand and Ruby gasped as water swirled out from his empty palm in a sort of stream. He closed his hand on it, like the handle of a sword, and slashed downwards. The stream expanded explosively, becoming a wave of water that washed across the deck, picking up the scattered blood and entrails, before carrying everything over the rails and into the ocean below, leaving the wood of the deck pristine, as though nothing at all had taken place here.

"Now then, let's let the captain know it's safe to let the crew out of the hold," said Kyo, heading back to the bridge.

* * *

"I feel we _do_ owe you an apology for all the trouble we've caused," said Sasame, bowing to the ship's captain as he saw them off at the docks.

They'd landed in the seaside fishing village of Uzumaki, their intended destination. It was a lovely town, wooden buildings clustered along a sandy shore, docks extending out to the medium-sized fishing vessels that went out on a daily basis. The air smelled of brine, with the faintest whiff of a slight fishy odor, but one that was hardly disconcerting.

"Didn't lose a single man...got hardly a scratch on my deck..." The captain cracked his neck. "I took a bit of a jolt, but you fixed me right up, so I ain't got no complaints. Besides..." He turned his head to take in the crates that were now being loaded into the hold of his ship. "For a king's ransom, like this, I'd take you to the other side of the world, if it suited your fancy."

Kyo and Sasame had told Ruby that the smugglers would be generously compensated for their services. And now Ruby could see that they hadn't been exaggerating. The crates currently being loaded onto the ship were full of unrefined Dust, worth millions of lien on the open or black markets.

"Yer okay with us taking so much?" asked the captain.

"Please do," said Kyo pleasantly. "We're glad to have you take it off our hands."

"You mine so much Dust you have this much excess?" asked the captain, staring in confusion at the stack of crates waiting to be loaded.

"Ah, we don't mine Dust specifically," said Kyo. "This is a byproduct. This Dust comes from a titanium mine in the local area. It was in the way. We don't have much use for Dust, but we do keep what we do mine, mainly because disposing of it is a tricky matter, which makes it convenient for situations like this."

"Huh..." The captain scratched his chin. "It's hard to think not having a use for Dust. But I won't question your way of life, not when it's making me and my crew such a tidy profit." Truth be told, they'd make out like bandits, once they got back to Sanus. Getting this much Dust, their sole expense would be the associated costs of making the journey back and forth across the sea. They'd be rich.

The captain shook his head and shrugged. "In any case, I'm more than happy with this. I've got no complaints about our arrangements, unexpected obstacles and all. Besides, I heard this lass..." He reached down and ruffled Ruby's hair. "...fought for me when I was laid out by that pirate."

Ruby blushed and looked down.

"If'n you ever need passage, and you're in the neighborhood, look me up," said the captain. "My ship and my crew are at your service, eternally."

"Thank you," said Sasame. She and Kyo bowed politely. Ruby looked between them for a moment before nervously following suit.

They left the docks, heading towards Shinrei, who was waiting a short distance away. As they did, Ruby gently tugged at Kyo's sleeve.

"What is it, Ruby-chan?" asked Kyo, looking down at her.

"I was wondering, could I learn to use two swords?" asked Ruby, her mind going back to the fight on board the ship.

Kyo and Sasame blinked, sharing a glance between them.

"Where did you get that idea?" wondered Sasame.

Ruby began to haltingly explain the process of the fight, as well as how she'd ended up drawing her wooden sword along with her real one in order to land a blow. Both Kyo and Sasame listened with raised eyebrows.

When she finished, the pair looked at each other once again.

"Well well," said Sasame, breaking into an exuberant smile. "I wasn't expecting _this_."

"Me neither," said Kyo. "And she reached this conclusion naturally, free from actual instruction. I'd thought it odd, though helpful, when she stared practicing her strikes with both hands. But I had no idea it was leading up to this."

"It's not wrong?" asked Ruby.

"No! It's wonderful!" said Sasame, kissing Ruby's forehead. "We're impressed. We never taught you anything about this."

Kyo looked down at Ruby expectantly. "Can you show me the stance you settled on when you drew your second blade?"

Ruby nodded and moved into the stance she'd taken when facing Morgan on the bridge. Both Kyo and Sasame blinked, then smiled.

"Unbelievable," said Sasame, her voice filled with wonder. "She came up with the method on the spot, and naturally intuited the most effective stance to suit her level of training."

"So I could learn to use two swords?" asked Ruby hopefully.

"You certainly could," said Kyo, taking Ruby's hand and leading her the rest of the way towards Shinrei. "In fact, if you wish to learn a two-sword style, you should spend some time studying under Shinrei. His style, the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_, is a two-sword style at its root."

"Huh? What's this?" asked Shinrei, only hearing that last part of their conversation.

"We were thinking of having Ruby-chan spend some time learning your school," explained Sasame. "She was showing interest in two-sword styles."

"Oh! Well then..." Shinrei raised an eyebrow and stared down at Ruby, who swallowed and looked nervously up at him. "We'll have to see. Makoto-sama and his assistants handle most of the teaching these days. I'm a bit busy with my duties. But I'll see about her joining our other students."

"If you would," said Sasame. "We can worry about the details later. Let's get back to Onmyo for now." She smiled over at Ruby. "There is every chance you might find a style that suits you better. But it's never wrong to try something new, so long as don't neglect what you're already learning."

"All right," said Ruby.

"Well then, we should head out," said Kyo, looking to Shinrei. "Are you coming with us?"

"Yep," said Shinrei, nodding in satisfaction. "My job's done, so I should go back and report to Sora-sama."

"Where are we going?" asked Ruby.

"We're heading to Onmyo, the Mibu Clan's capital," said Sasame. "This settlement is only about four days away, by foot. It's the closest port. When we travel to and from Sanus, this is always where we come from or to."

"Oh," said Ruby.

They began to walk along the streets. As they did, Ruby noticed people moving out of their way. It was far cry from how citizens had reacted to their presence in the settlements that dotted Sanus. Over there, they had celebrated Kyo's arrival. Over here, they looked suspicious and wary. People cleared away, giving their party a wide birth, looking at and whispering to one another, hiding their lips behind the wide sleeves of their kimonos.

"Is something wrong?" asked Ruby, confused by the odd behavior of the people around them.

"Well, we Mibu seem to have an easier time managing the Grimm than the Kingdoms do," said Sasame. "They are largely considered little more than pests over here. Because of that, Kyo's presence doesn't have the same...impact...it does in the Kingdoms' territories."

"That and I'm afraid I have a rather unpleasant reputation over here," said Kyo.

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"It's a bit hard to explain," said Sasame. "You've, no doubt, noticed Kyo's eyes."

Ruby nodded slowly. Kyo's eyes were a singular crimson color, always shining faintly with their own luminance. They were strange to look at, at first, but she'd grown accustomed to them during the months spent on the road with him.

"The Crimson Eyes are an extremely rare trait within the Mibu Clan," said Sasame. "They appear sporadically, and only amongst the oldest, strongest bloodlines tied to the ancient ancestors of our clan. Those that possess them are born with eyes of any normal color. However, during moments of stress, intensity, when one's blood is boiling, the Crimson Eyes can appear. It is generally considered a sign that the possessor has enormous potential strength within them."

"But Kyo's eyes..." Ruby frowned, looking up at Kyo.

Sasame nodded. "Yes. Amongst those who possess the Crimson Eyes, the trait becomes visible only temporarily. And, even then, only those from the most potent bloodlines can make the trait appear in both eyes. More often than not, when it happens, the trait appears in just one eye.

"Kyo, on the other hand, was born with his Crimson Eyes fully active. He has had them all his life. The Crimson Eyes only appear so strongly in a single bloodline, the oldest, most powerful bloodline of our clan...that of the Crimson King."

"Who is the Crimson King?" asked Ruby.

"That would be my father..." said Kyo, "...currently."

Ruby gasped loudly. "You're the son of the king!?" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Does that mean you're a prince?" Suddenly, she felt as though she'd stepped into the pages of a fairy tale.

It was Shinrei who laughed the loudest, nearly doubling over from the force of his mirth. However, both Kyo and Sasame laughed as well.

"I'm afraid not," said Kyo, after he recovered. He brushed his fingers through Ruby's hair fondly. "My rank...if it can be called that...is somewhat nebulous. I have no authority, and it's not considered a given that I will ascend to take my father's throne at some point...not that I can actually call it a throne."

"Why not?" asked Ruby.

"Though he holds the title of Crimson King, Kyo's father does not rule the Mibu Clan," said Sasame. "His mother does."

"His mother..." Once again, Ruby felt a certain sense of trepidation at the thought of meeting Kyo's parents.

"Kyo's mother, Mibu Sora, is the leader of the Taishiro, or the Four Elders, of our clan," said Sasame. "For simplicity's sake, it's best to think of them as our clan's equivalent to the Kingdoms' Councils. For all intents and purposes, she is the _true_ ruler of the Mibu Clan."

"Is that because she's married to the king?" asked Ruby.

"Nope," said Kyo and Sasame in unison.

"Bloodlines are meaningless when it comes to governance," said Sasame. "One can only earn the rank of Elder through merit. Sora-sama earned her position through hard work, such that she ascended to her rank in record time. Makoto-sama, the previous leader of the Elders, was so impressed that he only waited a couple of years before stepping down and naming her the new leader, and deciding to serve under her."

"Wow..." said Ruby. Then she shivered. The idea of meeting such an exalted, accomplished person made her nervous.

"You have nothing to worry about, Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "Sora-sama adores all children. In fact, the Elders as a whole cherish the young. And I know that Sora-sama will be especially impressed by you."

Ruby blushed, looking away again.

"Anyway, back to Kyo's eyes," said Sasame. "The Crimson Eyes are something of a taboo in the clan. They are simultaneously considered both sacred and profane. Even if it currently holds no authority, people respect the throne and the one who sits on it. But, when faced with Kyo and his eyes, as well as the fact that he holds no authority himself, most people tend to view him with wariness...at best."

"I don't understand," said Ruby.

"It's all right, Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "It's not something you need to worry about anyway."

"In any case, we have a little bit longer," said Kyo. "I hope you don't mind the walk."

"Of course not," said Ruby.

* * *

Compared to the journeys between settlements in Sanus, their trip between Uzumaki and Onmyo was strangely brief. Kyo and Sasame continued Ruby's training, making her practice her exercises and techniques at the end of each day's trip. This time, they didn't go through the alternating pace of walking and running, but remained walking at an easy clip. As Ruby trained, Shinrei looked on, evaluating her with a discerning eye.

On the third day of their trip, he held a brief, whispered conversation with Sasame and Kyo, before approaching Ruby as she ran through the basic kata Kyo had taught her.

"You certainly seem diligent," he said, coming to stand a short distance away, refraining from speaking until she'd finished the kata.

"Th-thank you," said Ruby, a little disconcerted by him speaking to her. Shinrei seemed pleasant enough overall, and was clearly good friends with Kyo and Sasame. But he was unfamiliar to Ruby, and she had no idea what he thought of her.

"I've talked with Kyo and Sasame," said Shinrei. "If you're willing, I'll give you a primer on two-sword techniques."

"Okay," said Ruby, hoping her voice didn't betray her eagerness too much.

Shinrei grinned at her muffled enthusiasm, silently approving of her self-control and discipline. "For starters, wielding two swords is not as easy as you might think. Taking up a sword in each hand generally means you wield it with less than half the power of a sword you swing with both hands."

Ruby frowned and looked down at her hand, her left currently closed around the handle of her kodachi.

"That, of course, means that it takes extra training," said Shinrei. "You have to train so that you can make cuts you would normally make with both arms with just one arm. We have a saying: a sword wielded with one hand cuts flesh, while a sword wielded with two cuts bone. If you really want to learn two-swords, you must be able to cut bone with one hand."

"O-okay," said Ruby, thinking she got what Shinrei was saying.

"That said, what do you think the advantages of using two swords at once are?" asked Shinrei.

"Um..." Ruby narrowed her eyes in concentration. The first thing that occurred to her actually stemmed more from what Shinrei had said about swinging a sword in one hand, rather than two swords at once. "Flexibility...I can swing wider with my sword in one hand...and my reach on that side increases. If I have two swords...then I can have that same reach on both sides at once."

_Well, I'll be..._ thought Shinrei fighting back the approving grin that threatened to show on his face.

Ruby's assessment, while a bit awkwardly worded, was correct. Wielding a sword with two-hands increased the power of one's swings, true. However, it also limited the range and angles that the sword could be swung at, because one arm would always be crossing the body in order to execute said swing. In contrast, wielding a sword one-handed, while limiting power, enabled one to swing much wider, out at angles they couldn't reach while holding the sword in both hands. Using two at once meant that both sides could be covered to the fullest reach of the arms and shoulders simultaneously.

"What else?" prodded Shinrei.

"Um...It makes it easier to attack and defend," said Ruby. "If I use a sword to block an attack...I could attack with the other one faster than trying to attack with the one I blocked with."

"Also true," said Shinrei. "Besides the power issue of using your blades one-handed, what other problems might there be with using two swords?"

"Uh..." Ruby frowned, her eyes narrowing. "It's tricky. When I use both arms, both arms sort of want to do the same thing. But...I'd have to be able to move each one on its own...at the same time...right?"

"Correct," said Shinrei, his eyebrows going up at Ruby's insight.

Just like playing a musical instrument, using any two-weapon style, including a two-sword style necessitated being able to move both arms and hands separately from one another, performing different tasks at the same time. For many people, it was a tricky skill to acquire.

"It seems you have a good idea of the pros and cons," said Shinrei. "Are you still interested in learning?"

"Uh huh," said Ruby, nodding quickly.

Shinrei muffled a chuckle. "Well, all right then. Let's start with your first technique. Right now, we're going to work on developing your one-handed skills."

"All right," said Ruby.

Shinrei held out his left hand, water flowing out from his palm, streaming up and becoming solid, not freezing, but crystalizing into a solid object, a clear, short blade. It was formed of two curving forks in a crescent shape on the end of the handle, the lower fork extending out further, with a slightly wavy curve to its edge, while the upper one was shorter, just curving out and ending a little over halfway along the length of the lower fork. Then he created one in his right hand as well.

Ruby stared up at the blades in awe.

"This is a separate thing," said Shinrei, referring to the blades he'd just conjured. "Just focus on my motion for now. You've already learned a few one-handed swings, right?"

Ruby nodded vigorously. Kyo had taught her a few basic ones.

"Good," said Shinrei. "Now I'll teach you a set of sequential strikes. You need to get the timing and flow of the motion down, otherwise your swords will wind up hindering one another. Draw both your weapons."

Ruby nodded and pulled out her wooden sword to hold in her left hand. Shinrei walked her through a set of three strikes, alternating between her weapons.

"Each time you start over, switch your leading hand," said Shinrei. "And, when you do, make sure you trade swords as well."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"Your metal sword is heavier than your wooden one," said Shinrei. "Switching your swords when you switch hands will keep one arm from getting more of a workout than the other. Ideally, you should try to keep the strength of both your arms equal."

"All right," said Ruby.

Shinrei watched her go through the strikes, until he was satisfied she had the basic form down. He informed her to keep practicing, but to keep her movements slow and steady, focusing on form, rather than speed or power at the moment. Ruby agreed, having gone through this with all the techniques Kyo had taught her. Satisfied that she could manage on her own for a little while, he returned to Kyo and Sasame.

"What do you think of Ruby-chan?" asked Sasame in a teasing tone.

"I think you've picked a real winner," noted Shinrei. "She's smart, observant, and dedicated. As students go, she's got the total package."

"Talent and dedication are rarely found together so naturally," said Kyo, nodding in agreement. "You should keep an eye on Ruby-chan. Whenever she learns a new technique, she tends to let her excitement get the better of her."

"You mean she'll start playing with it?" asked Shinrei, imagining her trying it on trees, or even seeking out Grimm to test it on.

"Oh no," said Sasame with a laugh. "She gets so into her practicing that she'll be at it all night, if we don't stop her."

"Really now..." Shinrei frowned and got up, heading over to check on Ruby.

She was still practicing. What _truly_ amazed Shinrei wasn't that she was still going through the technique. It was the fact that she was still going through the moves he'd taught her so slowly and carefully. Many students grew impatient, and started to speed up their movements, ultimately losing their grasp on the form in the process. Ruby, on the other hand, was still going through the moves slowly and carefully, making sure each strike was perfect, before she moved on to the next one.

Even more engrossing was the faraway look in Ruby's eyes. Her mind was completely absorbed in the moment, in the movements of her own body, with no thought or focus spared to her surroundings.

_It's a good thing she's been traveling with Kyo,_ thought Shinrei, mildly amused by the notion. With Kyo and Sasame watching over her, Ruby was as safe as could be, which was good. A rampaging herd of Goliaths could have thundered through, and Ruby wouldn't have noticed in her current state.

Settling in, Shinrei continued to watch her, fascinated. He noted that she already appeared to have a proficient grasp on the form of the sequence of strikes he'd taught her, but she continued to repeat them endlessly, showing no signs of impatience.

He started when Kyo rested a hand on his shoulder. Silently, Shinrei chided himself for his lapse. He, one of the Goyosei, the elite military leaders of the Mibu Clan, had dropped his guard and forgotten his surroundings, having become completely transfixed by the sight of Ruby's training.

Kyo noticed and grinned at Shinrei. Then he went out to Ruby, who continued to swing her swords. Like Shinrei, Ruby didn't notice that Kyo was there, until he rested a hand on her shoulder. Yelping in surprise, Ruby jumped and looked up at Kyo with wide eyes.

Kyo merely smiled down at her. "It's time for bed," he said.

"O-oh..." said Ruby, blinking, her expression becoming dazed.

"Sheathe your weapons," instructed Kyo.

Ruby's arms shook as she tried to guide her kodachi into its sheath, barely managing it. Then she tucked her wooden sword into her belt as well. Now that Kyo had stopped her training, all her fatigue from the continuous working of her arms and legs had caught up to her at once. But none of that had translated to her movements while she was still practicing.

Kyo chuckled and scooped her up in his arms, Ruby beginning to nod off, even as he carried her towards the campfire, where Sasame was laying out her bedding. Shinrei looked after them, then back to the spot where Ruby had been training. Finally, he turned and followed Kyo and Ruby back to their camp.

Ruby was already asleep, Sasame seated by her, gently stroking her hair. Looking up, she watched as Shinrei took his own seat and stared at the girl intently. Leaning over, she whispered into Kyo's ear. "It seems Ruby-chan has enchanted another one."

Kyo chuckled. "So...what do you think, Shinrei?"

"She's..." Shinrei paused, trying to think of the right words. "She's something else all right. Where did you find her?"

"In Vale," said Sasame, continuing to brush Ruby's hair. "Poor thing ran away from home out of a desire to become a Huntress, after her family refused to let her."

"She wants to be a Huntress?" Shinrei frowned. "But you brought her back _here_. You want us, the Mibu, to train her, and then turn her loose in the outside world. What are you getting at?"

"We just want to help her fulfill her dreams," said Sasame with a giggle. "She's such an endearing girl that we couldn't help but want to help her. You shouldn't be reading so much into it, particularly when you know that Kyo isn't capable of such layered thinking."

"As much as I resemble that remark, I still feel I should protest," said Kyo wryly.

"True enough," admitted Shinrei, his gaze going to Sasame and his eyes narrowing intently. "Also, while Kyo may not be capable of it, you certainly _are_. You're telling me that there's no ulterior intentions behind giving a girl training in distinctive techniques that will definitely draw people's attention by how different they are from what the rest of the world understands, ultimately drawing attention to _us_, one way or another? We've spent centuries apart from the world. The past few decades, we've been content to let the world outright ignore us. Now, all of a sudden, you're into outreach..."

"Having spent so much time in the outside world, I've come to learn a great deal about it," said Sasame. "It has its flaws, to be sure. But there are things that we could benefit from there." She giggled coyly. "I have to admit, I understand Sora-sama's jealousy of their communications technology."

"Hmm..." Shinrei frowned, his brow furrowing. His eyes drifted to Ruby.

"But that is not a matter that concerns Ruby-chan directly," said Sasame firmly. "I truly do desire to help her achieve her dreams, to become what she aspires to be. Both Kyo and I genuinely love her, and want to help make her happy. Never even _think_ of doubting that."

"Point taken," said Shinrei, raising a forestalling hand.

"And now, you've taken an interest in her as well, haven't you?" prodded Kyo playfully.

"That's...true," admitted Shinrei, somewhat reluctantly. "I've never seen such a fitting student. She practiced faithfully...for hours, even though it was clear she had what I taught her down pat after the first few repetitions."

"That's our Ruby-chan," said Sasame.

"But you think she should learn the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_?" asked Shinrei.

"I believe she should study under you for a time, at least," said Sasame. "If that's what she chooses, then that's fine. Truth be told, though, I think Ruby-chan will be one of those rare people who can create a style unique to her by sublimating other, disparate arts she's learned."

"You want everyone to take a hand in teaching her?" asked Shinrei.

"Those who are willing," said Kyo. "We want to give Ruby-chan a little taste of everything, and see what excites and inspires her."

"That's asking a lot," said Shinrei. "But we'll just have to wait and see how the other Goyosei react. Aside from that, what are your plans?"

"Her training aside, the rest is tricky," said Sasame. "Our statuses could complicate things for her. I would like to have her attend regular school, with students her own age. Every child needs that kind of social interaction."

"But if she's a ward of the Mitarai Family, or the royal family, depending on who takes her in, and she's getting specialized instruction from several of the most prominent and influential members of the clan, that could complicate the whole social interaction prospect," noted Shinrei. "What you have planned for her...there are countless Mibu children who'd jump at the chance for it...but you're giving all this favor to an outsider."

"That is a complicated issue," admitted Sasame. "I'm hoping to ask for Sora-sama and Kyoichiro-sama's input, in hopes that they might have a solution. She will definitely be in the care of the royal family though. My parents would never accept her."

"Yeah," agreed Shinrei, nodding thoughtfully. "Gotta say, I'd love to see that conversation go down...be like watching fireworks."

"Hush," admonished Sasame, flicking the tip of Shinrei's nose with the tip of her tail, with enough force to knock his head back slightly.

"Well, those problems can wait," said Kyo. "We'll be in Onmyo tomorrow."

* * *

The next day, the group resumed their walk. Ruby looked around eagerly. The terrain didn't look all that different from what they'd passed through on Sanus, mostly woodlands. They followed a clear trail, a dirt road leading west and slightly north. Eventually, the road began to slope upwards, the changing elevation making Ruby's legs strain, despite all the miles she had put on them during the trek across the previous continent.

It was all worth it when they crested the rise. Ruby gasped as she got her first clear view of the Mibu Clan's capital.

First came the fields, rows upon rows of vegetation. There were grains and vegetables, as well as orchards, almost seeming to encircle the capital from her view. They seemed to stretch on forever, curving around the boundary of the city and off into the distance on either side of it. Encompassed within that boundary of agricultural land was a city that took her breath away.

Streets ran in orderly lines, a grid pattern marking out lines of homes, as well as various businesses. White stucco walls stood, side by side, with those fashioned from wood, painted in a variety of colors. Sloped roofs rose upwards, some coming to points. Here and there, square, tower-like constructs rose up. There was nothing matching Vale's skyscrapers for height, but there was an organic sense to the architecture which made it seem more…alive…to Ruby's eyes. Compared to this, the architecture of Vale, for all that it was so much more advanced, seemed stale.

Then the gridlines of the city streets gave way to rolling parks of green grass and winding, curving roads and pathways, winding their way up to a gentle slope, with larger, more ornate and complex buildings sprawling out between them. The slope and roads continued up, until they reached a set of massive walls, which blocked off the rest of the city from a single majestic building, built into the slopes of the large, rounded mountain the city rested at the foot of.

The building itself was a sprawling complex of corridors, linking together various smaller buildings and courtyards. At its center, a massive building, with walls of black stone, rose upwards, its roof consisting of the same angled design as most other buildings in the city. Resting on the wall facing the city was a massive rendition of a taijitu symbol, not unlike the one that decorated the back of Kyo's kimono.

"Woooooooow!" squealed Ruby, her eyes shining as she took it all in.

"You like our home?" asked Sasame.

"It's beautiful!" squealed Ruby, practically dancing in place. "Ooh! What's that big building on the far side?"

Sasame giggled. "That, Ruby-chan, is the Onmyo Palace, the center of the Mibu Clan's government, seat of the Taishiro...and the home of Kyo's parents."

"So it's Kyo's home?" asked Ruby, looking up at Kyo in amazement. "I can't believe it!"

"Is it really so hard?" asked Kyo, even as Sasame and Shinrei both stifled laughter at his expense.

"Yep," said Ruby, beaming. "I really can't see you living in a posh place like that."

Sasame and Shinrei couldn't stifle their laughter any longer and were doubling over with amusement.

Kyo blinked, then shrugged. "She's not wrong."

"In any case, let's keep going," said Sasame, taking Ruby's hand. "The capital looks big enough from afar. Walking all the way across it is quite the chore. It's going to take much of the day just to reach the palace gates."

"Let's go!" said Ruby eagerly, barely resisting the urge to bound down the slope, trying to tug her older sister behind her.

Sasame laughed, and the group made their way into Onmyo.

* * *

Sasame hadn't been kidding about the walk. Passing through the fields seemed to take forever, from Ruby's point of view. Then came the endless grid of the streets of the outer city. Still, there was so much to take in that Ruby didn't mind in the slightest, her eyes darting from one sight to another as she strained to take in as much as possible with every step they took.

At one point, a large shadow passed overhead. Ruby looked up and gasped, seeing a massive construct soaring overhead. It was an airship, of a kind she'd never seen before, its rounded fuselage dwarfing the comparatively small passenger-section, which appeared to have been built into its underbelly.

"That is a zeppelin," said Sasame, when Ruby asked. "Unlike the Kingdom's airships, ours fly, or float rather, through the use of lighter-than-air gasses. They are nowhere near as fast or maneuverable, but they've served us admirably well over the centuries."

It wouldn't be the last airship she saw, on their trip through the city, as Ruby soon found herself picking out several others, drifting through the sky like unusually-shaped clouds. Their movement was so lethargic, compared to the airships she'd seen plying the skies of Vale, that she'd initially mistaken them for clouds themselves.

Even though the novelty of the city was enchanting, there was an undercurrent of unease that tickled Ruby's senses. Once again, the people were shying away from Kyo in a manner she found disconcerting. She remembered what Kyo and Sasame had told her about the Crimson Eyes. _Are they really that strange?_ Ruby wondered. Having spent so long with Kyo, she'd gotten plenty used to his eyes. They were unlike the eyes of anyone else she'd ever seen. However, despite the explanation she'd received, Ruby _still_ didn't quite get why people would be so repulsed by them.

The streets of the capital were bustling. Even with people shying away from Kyo, there was still plenty going on in the background. Ruby was grateful for Sasame's hand holding hers, gently tugging her on, or Ruby would have likely found herself distracted by the countless things she saw, and getting separated from her companions.

Given the things she'd learned about the Mibu so far, Ruby wasn't all that surprised to note a complete lack of automobiles. The vehicles the Mibu utilized consisted entirely of horse-drawn wagons and carriages. Granted, that wasn't a far cry from the state of some of the more rural settlements, like Dunedain, that they had passed through on their way. But it was hard to imagine the capital city of an entire people being so...quaint.

When they reached the upper portion of the city, their surroundings changed dramatically. The crowded streets, with their straight lines, intersecting at carefully-planned angles, gave way to winding pathways with broad swaths of green grass, dotted by the occasional, artistically planted tree, stretching around them.

"Where are we now?" asked Ruby.

"This is the upper city," said Sasame, "home to the Mibu Clan's upperclass. The inhabitants of this section are from old and noble families, though their lineages don't command nearly as much power as they used to, in most cases. While the homes are private, of course, the parks up here are open to the public, and Onmyo's schools were established in this portion of the city as well."

"Ooooh..." gasped Ruby, her head practically mounted on a swivel at this point.

"Sasame is a member of one of those old noble families," added Shinrei.

"Really?" gasped Sasame.

"Yes," said Sasame in a tone that almost sounded...exasperated. "The Mitarai Family is an old and distinguished lineage. Those of us born into that family often possess an affinity for the healing arts as well, which is how I ended up becoming a healer."

"Wow!" exclaimed Ruby.

Sasame, giggled and gently rubbed Ruby's head. "Sadly, my parents are conservative fussbudgets. I don't get along with them very well. I'm afraid that they would not like you very much...nor you them."

"Oh," said Ruby, quailing slightly.

"It's their loss, Ruby-chan," Sasame assured her with a loving smile. "With any luck, you won't have to deal with them. In the meantime, you'll be staying with Kyo's parents, who I'm sure you'll love. They are two of the kindest people I know."

"Okay," said Ruby, once again feeling nervous at the prospect of meeting Kyo's parents...who were also two of the most important people in the Mibu Clan.

Out here, there was so much more space, and also fewer people. It was hard to tell if the people around here were giving them a wide berth or not, as many seemed only to consider the paths suggestions, and wandered freely across manicured lawns, or meandered through colorful and artistic gardens. She saw people reclining in the shade of trees, and having picnics out in the open. She would have liked to spend some more time here, but got the feeling she'd see plenty of it in the future.

Her legs were beginning to get tired. She was amazed how much of a chore it had been, walking across the capital. Sure, it was nothing, compared to wandering over the broken terrain of Sanus, as they moved from settlement to settlement, but this was proving to be quite the journey in its own right.

"Here we are," said Sasame, calling Ruby's attention to the wall that loomed over them, with the massive wooden gate set into its center. The wall was pure, white stucco, while the gate was stained a pale shade that almost matched. It stood open, revealing what almost looked like a woodland path on the other side.

"This is the first of the Five Shining Gates," explained Shinrei, answering Ruby's unspoken question. "They serve as the main entrance into the palace.

"There are five of them?" gasped Ruby.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "Each gate is technically the responsibility of one of the Goyosei, though that responsibility is largely ceremonial nowadays, and it's rare that all of us are present here at the same time."

"Who is here right now?" asked Kyo.

"Saisei and Taihaku," said Shinrei. "Chinmei was off checking the condition of the northeastern settlements. Keikoku is down in the southwest. At least, that's how things were, when I left to handle those pirates."

Ruby noticed a twitch on Sasame's eyebrow. "Well...I suppose it was too much to hope for," she said with a sigh. "Saisei-sama hardly ever leaves anyway."

"Um..." Ruby blinked and looked questioningly at Sasame.

"Saisei-sama is one of my teachers," Sasame explained. "She is the one who taught me the _Mumyo Kodama Ryu_. That being said...she is a rather...difficult...person, at the best of times."

"Very harsh and cynical," added Kyo.

"But one of the most senior members of the Goyosei," added Shinrei. "So she warrants a lot of respect."

They passed through the first gate, and they found themselves following a path through what looked like a forest of ancient trees. It looked almost exactly like the woodlands that Ruby, Kyo, and Sasame had traveled through in Sanus, save that the ground between the trees was inordinately clean, apparently swept clear of the detritus of rotting leaves and cleared of the loam that usually made up the forest floor. Instead, emerald-green ground cover, winding vines, and bushes filled the spaces in between trees. It gave the whole setting a strangely clean air to it, making Ruby feel as though she'd wandered into an enchanted forest out of a fairy tale.

Heading through the wooded courtyard, they found themselves reaching another wall. This wall almost seemed to have been made out of the trees themselves, coaxed into growing and winding together into a full-barrier, forming an arch in their center, into which the second gate was set, also hanging open.

"Well well well..." commented a wry voice from off to the side, as they approached the second gate. "...you've returned."

They all turned and Sasame's faced turned calm and composed as she brought her hands together and bowed to the tall woman that approached them. "Saisei-sensei," she said. "It's good to see you again."

Saisei was a tall, willowy woman, draped in white robes. Her jet-black hair flowed freely down her head to trail all the way to the ground, and then some. It framed a slightly narrow face of elegant beauty, which was only enhanced by the slight wrinkles gathering in the corners of her eyes and on her cheeks, which were slightly sunken, just enough to add an aristocratic tint to her appearance, but not enough to seem unhealthy. Her lips were pulled out into what seemed to be a permanent, cynical smile. She surveyed the group with dark-brown eyes that made Ruby think of the freshly-turned earth of some of the farmlands they'd passed by on their way here.

In her right hand, she gripped a wide, white jug, with a deceptively delicate-looking hand around its narrow neck. A faint scent wafted out that Ruby recognized all too well, seeing as it seemed a permanent accompaniment to the presence of her uncle. It seemed that Saisei was a heavy drinker as well.

"Shinrei," said Saisei, her eyes going to the young man in question. "I presume that you finished your investigation."

"Yes," said Shinrei, his behavior reserved, but less subservient than Sasame's had been. "I was on my way to report to Sora-sama on the matter."

"I see," said Saisei. Then her eyes went to Kyo. "I see _you're_ still alive," she observed sardonically. "How disappointing."

Ruby bristled, but remained still as Sasame rested a gentle, but firm, hand on her shoulder.

"You won't be rid of me that easily, Saisei," said Kyo cheerfully. "I intend to be a bother to you for a long time coming."

Saisei exhaled in what seemed to be a disappointed sigh. Then her gaze alighted on Ruby, who swallowed and tensed nervously, feeling all too clearly the intense scrutiny she was under. "And you've picked up a pet in the outside world," she observed.

"A sister, actually," said Sasame, her tone only the slightest bit defensive. "We are taking her to introduce her to Sora-sama and Kyoichiro-sama now."

"And they will dote on her ceaselessly, I have no doubt," said Saisei with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I imagine your _own_ parents will raise quite the ruckus, when they learn of her."

"That is _their_ problem," said Sasame earnestly enough. "If you're finished, Saisei-sama, we shall be on our way."

"I'm still wondering when I can retire, my dear student," prodded Saisei. "Have you not yet grown tired of traipsing across the outside?"

"Not quite," said Sasame. "And you are not nearly so old as you pretend to be. Taihaku-sama is considerably older, yet makes no such complaints."

"Taihaku doesn't have a peculiar student more than ready to take over his position," countered Saisei. "Do make your decision soon, Sasame. I grow impatient."

"Then perhaps you need to relearn patience," Sasame countered. "I am not ready to take your position, yet." With that, she led the rest of the group through the gates, leaving Saisei behind.

"I-is she always like that?" asked Ruby.

"Unfortunately, yes," said Sasame. "Don't hold it too much against her. But Saisei has always been the bitter sort. She's a pessimist by nature. But she has served with distinction for a long time. I doubt you will have much to do with her, as I doubt you have much of an affinity for the _Mumyo Kodama Ryu_."

"All right," said Ruby, holding tightly to Sasame's hand as they entered into the courtyard of the next gate.

Passing through the second gate had brought them into a tunnel. From an enchanted woodland, they suddenly seemed to have entered some kind of subterranean passage. Despite the lack of any kind of downward slope, Ruby felt as though they were making their way through the bones of the earth.

An abyss loomed in front of them, the rocky ground giving way to a crevasse that dropped off into pitch-black darkness, illuminated only by lights around their gate and ones that seemed to hover in the air over the abyss, as well as a set of lights around the stone gates on the other side of the space between the two walls. There wasn't a lack of a visible ceiling, just walls stretching up into the darkness above, with no sign of the sky. It truly felt as though they were underground.

Looking around, Ruby spotted rocky spires jutting up from the darkness below, thinking that she might be in some kind of subterranean gallery.

"This is the third gate, officially the domain of Chinmei of the Goyosei," said Sasame. "Chinmei is the Goyosei of Earth. As you can see, his gate reflects that."

"What's he like?" asked Ruby, remembering that this one was supposed to be away.

"A different type to be sure," said Sasame with a giggle. "He looks like the wild sort, but he has a good heart and a kind nature. You might find him intimidating at first. But once you speak with him, I'm sure you'll get along with him just fine."

The abyss was bridged by a single wavy path of stone that reached the flat, spreading top of a spire about midway between the two sides. Ruby held very tightly to Sasame's hand as they went across, feeling nervous, as she wondered if the path they were taking could even hold all their weight. However, they crossed without incident and made their way through the third gate.

They emerged into the sunlight again, Ruby sighing in relief, even as she blinked while her eyes adjusted. The territory of the fourth gate was an open courtyard, tiled with gray stone. Off to either side was a fountain, stone dragons winding around one another, water spraying from their nostrils and mouths, tinkling into the basins below them with a sound like countless tiny bells.

The courtyard was centered in a depression of sorts, with a raised section running around the perimeter walls, so that they had to descend a set of steps when they entered, and ascend another set after crossing and approaching the gate.

"Like it?" asked Shinrei, grinning at her. "This is my territory."

"It's pretty," said Ruby. "But it feels...sorta empty."

"She's not wrong," said Kyo, as Sasame laughed lightly, while Shinrei pouted.

They passed through the rather plain-looking wooden gate, and into another courtyard. It was similar to Shinrei's, at least at first, having the same basic layout of an open rectangle. However, the only raised section was the set of steps leading up to the fifth and final gate, which was set into the base of a pagoda-like structure, complete with a second story directly above the gate itself. The tiles of this courtyard were an off-white color, white enough to gleam in the sunlight, but not so white they reflected the light up into the faces of the people who walked over them. It was even more empty than the fourth gate's courtyard, devoid of any decoration, whatsoever.

There was an unusual quality to the air here. Just _being_ in this courtyard made Ruby feel relaxed, at peace. It felt as though there was something that gradually drained the tension from her body. She felt safe here.

"Welcome back," rumbled a deep voice, with a rich timbre that made Ruby think of distant thunder.

The man who emerged from the fifth gate was tall and well-built, standing a good head taller than Kyo. His broad shoulders supported a plain, green kimono, tucked into a set of white hakama, which, unlike Shinrei's, were untied at the ankles. The kimono was left slightly open, displaying a view of his chest and abdomen, which looked as though they had been hewn from mountain stone. The movement of his arms pulled back the sleeves enough to reveal powerful muscles. His skin was a rich, bronze-color, the product of long exposure to the sun and wind.

Just looking at this man should have made Ruby quail. His build alone made him seem positively titanic to her, and the power he radiated should have made her mouth run dry. However, she felt strangely at ease.

Part of it was his face. It was framed by white hair that ran down to his shoulders, along with a short, white beard that descended from his chin, tapering to a point. His aspect was stern and dignified, with a chiseled jawline and flat, solid-looking, cheeks. However, the look in his gold-colored eyes was kind and gentle, his lips turned up in a warm smile that looked as natural and permanent as Saisei's cynical one had looked on her face.

What was more, this man was clearly the source of the serene presence that filled the courtyard. When his gaze went to Ruby, his expression immediately softened, and she felt even more at ease, feeling as though she could walk up to this man and he would immediately sit and pull her onto his lap, as though she were a favored grandchild.

She caught motion out of the corners of her eyes. Looking around, Ruby was shocked to see that, not only Sasame, but Kyo and Shinrei were bowing to this man as well. Blinking, and looking back and forth between the three of them, she hesitated, before doing her best to mimic the gesture.

"It is good to see you again, Taihaku-sama," said Kyo, a reverence in his voice that Ruby had never heard before. She weighed what little she'd learned about the Mibu so far with the reactions of her companions. Sasame had bowed to Saisei out of obligation as her student. However, Kyo and Shinrei hadn't bowed, Kyo for reasons Ruby wasn't sure of, but Shinrei, probably, because he and Saisei were the same rank, even if she had seniority over him.

However, all three of them had bowed without hesitation before this man. It spoke of intense respect...and Ruby could understand why.

"You've grown stronger, again, Kyo," observed Taihaku with a wry quality to his voice. "I suspect that the day you surpass your parents is not far away."

"I appreciate your assessment," said Kyo, lifting his head, the others following suit.

"Sasame, I suppose Saisei has badgered you again," Taihaku observed, his gaze drifting to her.

"Indeed she did," replied Sasame. "She will have to be content to wait a while longer."

"Shinrei, I presume your mission went well," said Taihaku.

"That it did," said Shinrei in a cheeky tone. "I even picked up some walking souvenirs." He grinned, gesturing to the rest of their group.

"So I see," said Taihaku with a rumbling chuckle. Finally, his eyes settled on Ruby. "And what is your name, young lady?"

"R-Ruby R-Rose," stammered Ruby, not certain how to address this powerful, clearly-exalted man.

Taihaku merely chuckled again and fully descended the steps. "Come closer," he beckoned.

"Go on," said Sasame in an encouraging tone, her tail gently nudging Ruby forward.

Ruby did as she was bid, approaching the giant of a man, who stooped and gently clamped his hands around her waist, before straightening up to lift her off the ground. He looked her over intently, his eyes seeming to miss no detail about her appearance. Despite that, Ruby felt safe, comfortable even, in his hands.

"Hmm..." rumbled Taihaku. "Have Sasame and Kyo been training you in the Way of the sword."

"Uh huh," answered Ruby, nodding.

Taihaku smiled, the expression filling her with warmth and comfort. "They truly have discerning eyes. I do not know the circumstances of how you came to meet each other. I hope to hear the tale in full soon. However, I can see that you have the quality of a true warrior to you, Ruby-kun."

"Th-thank you," said Ruby, a bit thrown by the honorific that Taihaku had added to her name. She was used to Sasame and Kyo calling her "Ruby-chan", which Shinrei emulated. However, she didn't get the feeling that it had any negative implications.

Taihaku set her down. "And what is your relationship to her?" he asked, looking to Kyo and Sasame.

"We've adopted her as our sister," said Kyo plainly.

Taihaku chuckled. "Is that so? Well, I imagine that Sora-sama will be pleased. You're off to see her?"

"That's right," said Sasame.

Taihaku rested a hand atop Ruby's head. "I look forward to seeing you grow, Ruby-kun. I too enjoy teaching young ones. So feel free to seek me out, if you wish for a lesson or two."

"Th-thank you," said Ruby, beset by the feeling that she'd just been granted a tremendous honor.

"Please go on ahead," said Taihaku, stepping aside to let them past him and through the fifth gate.

They bowed to him again and filed past. As they left the gate and its courtyard behind, Ruby slumped a little. In Taihaku's absence, the air felt a tiny bit heavier and colder by comparison.

"It can be like that," said Sasame, gently draping her tail around Ruby's shoulders. "Taihaku-sama's Aura is quite potent."

"You all have so much respect for him," said Ruby, looking up at her three companions.

"Taihaku-sama is the leader of the Goyosei, having served the longest out of all of us," said Shinrei. "His strength is transcendent. He's a true master, easily the strongest of us."

"His offer to teach you is definitely something you'll want to take advantage of, later," added Sasame. "He is unmatched with a sword."

"Even better than Kyo?" asked Ruby.

Kyo laughed and grinned sheepishly. "When last we sparred, yes," he admitted.

"Only the Taishiro and the Crimson King are stronger," added Shinrei.

"He called me Ruby-kun," said Ruby. "What does that mean?"

"-Kun is an honorific that a teacher, like him, often uses to refer to his students," said Sasame. "In school, it is also used by upperclassmen to refer to those in the years below them."

"Does that mean you don't think of me as your student?" asked Ruby, feeling slightly worried as she looked at Sasame.

"Of course we do," said Sasame, hugging Ruby. "You are a wonderful student, Ruby-chan, one of the best I've ever seen. I called you Ruby-chan when I first saw you because you're so cute and endearing. After that...well...even if we see you as our student, we see you as our sister first. I hope that's acceptable."

"It is," said Ruby, hugging her back.

"Do you want us to call you 'Ruby-kun' from now on?" asked Sasame.

"No," said Ruby, smiling. "I like being called Ruby-chan by you. It feels nice."

"I'm glad it does." Sasame kissed Ruby on the forehead. "Now, let's move on. It's time to meet Kyo's mother."

* * *

**We have arrived.**

**You know, I'm kicking myself for not thinking of blimps and ****zeppelins, back when I was writing _Crimson Eyes_, and wanted to give the Mibu Clan their own airships, without having them use Dust-powered ones (or airplanes. Who knows if Remnant even _has_ petroleum.) I wound up creating a completely separate energy source, based on the Etheric crystals introduced by Jim Butcher in his _Cinder Spires_ series, in order to give them such. Granted, in the real world, such airships wound up being discredited by the unfortunate Hindenburg Incident, and now mainly exist as novelties, but in a world where the people who would use them have a bevy of quasi-supernatural powers that could make them far safer, they seem pretty feasible, even if they aren't the fastest things in the sky.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23:**

Ruby had thought that their journey had ended when they'd reached the palace gates. But then passing through them had turned into an odyssey of its own. Now, it seemed that traveling through the palace itself was just as arduous, in its own way. They traveled down corridors, which transitioned through a variety of different decors and color palettes. They passed by courtyards of various types and shapes. They turned at seemingly random intervals, and ascended steps on repeated occasions, only to descend another set of steps later.

"This place is so...big," said Ruby, wondering just how much longer this could go on.

"It is," said Sasame with a sigh, "annoyingly so."

"It doesn't help that the layout is deliberately confusing," added Kyo.

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"It's a throwback to the heyday of castle design," explained Shinrei. "The layout is designed to be deliberately confusing, while averting a direct route to the most important sections. An invading or infiltrating force would find themselves disoriented and worn out from having to make their way through so many twists and turns to get where they're going."

"Which isn't to say that shortcuts don't exist," said Sasame. "You'll learn them in time."

"I hope so," said Ruby, her legs beginning to shake. She squeaked when Shinrei, of all people, hoisted her up in his arms and carried her along, to the amused and adoring laughter of Sasame and Kyo.

Their trip continued until, finally, they reached the end of corridor, into which was set a rather plain-looking wooden door.

"Here we are," said Sasame. "This is where Sora-sama usually is at this time of day."

Shinrei set Ruby down and moved to open the door. Ruby's eyes roved around, taking in the room that apparently belonged to the effective ruler of the Mibu Clan.

It was a fairly large room. The walls and ceiling were built from dark-stained wood, giving off a comfortable ambience that was reminiscent of the atmosphere of Taihaku's courtyard. Most of the room was occupied by an empty space of floor, made distinct by the straw mats that took the place of the wooden flooring that most of the rest of the palace sported. Across from them, on the opposite wall, was a wooden seat, almost throne-like in its construction, with broad arms and a wide back, with a thick cushion set into it. The seat was mounted on a raised dais, a good six inches above the level of the rest of the room, the floor beneath it wood, like most of the rest of the palace.

Ruby's caught movement in her peripheral vision, and looked to the right, towards the back of the room, where she saw a setup that could have come from a stereotypical office, like any found in the Kingdoms. That corner was occupied by a mid-sized wooden desk, made from the same kind of dark wood as the walls and ceiling. Against the walls around it stood bookcases, occupied with thick volumes on the shelves of one, while the other was built in a cubicle design, the cubbies holding scrolls; not the communication devices used in the Kingdoms, but rolled-up cylinders of paper.

Behind the desk sat a woman, whom Ruby presumed to be Kyo's mother, and the head of the Taishiro. As they entered, she was currently bent over the desk, seated in a smaller, plainer chair than the one on the far side of the room, a quill in her hand, scribbling something onto a piece of paper. Even as Shinrei slid the door closed behind them, she seemed not to notice their entry.

After a few more seconds, her quill stopped and she set it down with a sigh. Her head turned up and she favored them with a warm smile. "I thought I sensed someone familiar approaching," she said teasingly. "To think that my own prodigal son would drop by for a visit, finally."

"You say that as though I never come home, O-kaa-san," said Kyo cheerfully.

Sora tittered and stood up from behind the desk, finally giving Ruby a good view of her.

Kyo's mother was a unique woman to be sure. Like Saisei, she had a tall, willowy frame. She wore what appeared to be three kimonos in layers. The innermost was a pale, sky-blue; followed by a pink layer; then the outermost a cream color. They were held together by a blue sash around her waist, with a small fan tucked into it.

Sora's face was beautiful to look at. She had almost perfect skin, completely free of blemishes and completely smooth, save for slight crinkles in the corners of her eyes and lips, suggesting that she was someone who smiled freely. She possessed warm, almond-colored eyes that glittered with wit and intelligence. Her face was framed by locks of black hair, through which were twined feathered plumes that almost looked like elegant chains of jewels, both the hair and feathers running down to the level of her ankles. It took a moment for Ruby to realize that those plumes were not some kind of accessory, woven into her hair, but a part of her body, growing right out her scalp.

Kyo's mother was a faunus.

"We'll save the greetings for a moment, and get official business out of the way," said Sora, making her way to the throne-like chair on the dais. She sat down, spreading the folds of her kimono elegantly, her poise giving her a regal, queenly quality.

Shinrei and Sasame moved immediately, stepping out into the center of the mats laid out in front of the dais. Ruby moved to follow Sasame, but was stopped by Kyo resting a hand on her shoulder. Instead, she watched as Sasame and Shinrei both dropped to their knees, then bowed forward, pressing their fingers down and lowering their foreheads all the way to the floor, a display of obeisance _beyond_ what they had shown Taihaku.

"I confirmed the reports of pirates in the waters outside Uzumaki," said Shinrei, after he and Sasame sat back up. "It seems they were hiding in our territorial waters, and using them as a staging area to strike out at ships moving along the trade route between Solitas and Sanus. Scouting them out, I found their fleet and sank them immediately. However, their leader may have gotten away."

"Unfortunate," said Sora. "You have additional information?" she asked, her gaze going to Sasame.

"We were on the ship that the pirates attacked," explained Sasame. "They were led by a woman named Morgan Bloodworth, a formidable combatant, most likely Huntress-caliber, if not better."

"Interesting," mused Sora. "If you dealt with her fleet, then at least she won't be a problem for a while. I'll have our warriors monitor the coast to see if she makes landfall there."

"I'll ensure that that information is relayed to the coast-guard," said Shinrei.

"Excellent," said Sora, clapping her hands together. "Now then, with business out of the way…Sasame…"

Sasame looked up expectantly at the woman, who rose to her feet.

"Greet me properly," said Sora.

Sasame rose to her feet as well. A second later, she threw herself at Sora, wrapping her arms around the woman's waist in a tight hug, Sora returning the gesture, trailing fingers through Sasame's auburn locks, while Sasame's tail wagged happily.

"What's going on?" whispered Ruby to Kyo, surprised by the sudden abandonment of formality.

Kyo chuckled softly, glancing down at Ruby. "Sasame's parents are…less than ideal," he explained. "Given that she's practically a sister to me, O-kaa-san chooses to treat her as a daughter as well, and provide her with the love she deserves."

Across the room, Sora and Sasame finally released each other. "And now, there is one more introduction to make, I believe," said Sora, seating herself again.

Ruby felt the pressure of Kyo's hand on her shoulder as he gently urged her forward, the two of them stepping out onto the mats to kneel next to Shinrei. Ruby looked over, then began to bend forward to bow as they had.

"That's not necessary, little one," said Sora softly. "Please look at me."

Ruby looked up and found her eyes locked with Sora. A shudder filled her as she saw the warmth in the woman's gaze, almost a palpable force in its own right.

"What is your name?" asked Sora gently.

"Ruby Rose," said Ruby.

Sora looked to Kyo. "And why is she here?" There was no reprimand in her words, merely curiosity.

"We found her in Vale," said Kyo. "We took her with us, as she wants to train to be a Huntress."

"And brought her all the way back, I see," said Sora. "I also get the feeling she is not _merely_ your student now."

"Ah..yes…well…" Kyo grinned sheepishly. "Sasame and I sort of…adopted her…as our little sister."

"Little sister…hmm?" Sora's gaze returned to Ruby, who tensed slightly. There was no hostility behind it, but the weight of Sora's eyes was compelling all the same. "Come closer, Ruby-chan. Let me have a better look at you."

Ruby got up and crossed the floor to stand before Sora. Standing up, Sora stooped down and lifted Ruby by her waist, eliciting a surprised squeak from the girl. However, Ruby's worries abated as Sora sat back down, now seating Ruby on her lap.

"Hmm…" hummed Sora, continuing to stare down at Ruby, who stared back. "You are a beautiful child. I can see why Kyo and Sasame are so taken with you. I suppose, since you are now Kyo's sister, that makes you my daughter."

"Um…uh…" Ruby didn't know what to say, unsure of how to respond. It seemed presumptuous of her to call this powerful, respected, authoritative woman her mother. It also felt strange, the idea of calling another woman "mother," ever since she'd lost her real mother, the one who'd birthed her.

"Why do you cry, little one?" asked Sora.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, confused. She hadn't even realized that her cheeks were wet, that her eyes were leaking a small, but continuous stream of tears. _Why am I crying?_

However, Sora smiled. "I think I have an idea of what's going on. Has it been some time since you were last in a mother's embrace?"

"Her original mother was killed on a mission as a Huntress," supplied Sasame.

"I see," said Sora. She wrapped her arms around Ruby and held her close.

Enwrapped in such loving warmth, Ruby found the last bonds of her restraint snapping and she leaned against Sora, pressing her face into the woman's robe, sobbing quietly, uncertain if it was happiness or sadness to moved her to such a display. Sora merely held her close, gently rocking her.

"I'm sorry," said Ruby, finally recovering some of her composure.

"It's fine," said Sora, using the wide sleeve of her kimono to dab away Ruby's tears. "Now then…" Her gaze turned back to Sasame and Kyo. "…do tell me how such a sweet child came to be in your company and how you brought her back home with you."

Kyo and Sasame related the story of how they'd come to meet Ruby and started her training, their journey across Sanus, their encounter with Qrow in Anduin, and their brief voyage across the sea, including their encounter with the pirates.

"My my," said Sora, as the tale wrapped up. She looked down at Ruby, smiling. "It seems that your life has become replete with unique experiences recently."

"I…I guess," said Ruby

"And so, you wish to study to become strong enough to become a Huntress, like your mother," said Sora. "Is that it?"

"Uh huh," said Ruby.

"From what I've heard so far, it seems you have the mettle for it," noted Sora. "If anything, you are well suited to this, if the progress Kyo and Sasame have described thus far is anything to go by." She turned her attention back to Kyo and Sasame. "And...what is it you wish for her now?"

"Well, I was thinking we could let her stay here," said Kyo.

"In the palace?" asked Sora.

"With us," said Kyo, looking at his mother.

"Hmmm..." Sora began to absently comb her fingers through Ruby's hair. "You do realize that could complicate things for her."

"Unfortunately, it's not as though my parents would accept her in our home," said Sasame glumly. "They would, if you ordered them to take her in, but they would resent having her and, most likely, vent thire resulting frustrations _on_ her."

"I can see that happening," said Sora, disappointment evident in her tone.

Ruby looked up at her, unsure what she felt. She was worried that Sora wouldn't like her, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"I assume you intend to send Ruby to school, as well as train her," added Sora.

"What?" gasped Ruby, snapping her head around to look at Sasame.

"That's right," said Sasame.

"I have to go to school?" Ruby whined.

Kyo and Sasame's eyes went wide and they looked at each other in surprise, before snapping their gaze back to Ruby. A second later, they burst out laughing, Kyo almost doubling over.

"What is it that you find so amusing?" asked Sora, her eyebrow going up.

"It's just..." Sasame was having to wipe tears from her eyes, she was laughing so hard. "...this is the first time we've heard Ruby-chan really complain about anything."

"Walking for miles everyday, working until her entire body ached, having to wake up with the sun each morning..." Kyo straightened up. "...she took all of that without protest. But something so mundane as going to school..."

"Um...It's just..." Ruby tapped her index fingers together nervously. "I...I still want to train."

Back on Patch, Ruby had been about as enthusiastic about school as any girl her age would be, which was to say that she had been more interested in spending time with her friends than anything she might have learned in class. On top of that, school had been her sanctuary away from her father's constant scrutiny, right up until Taiyang had tried to take _that_ away from her too. Of course, now, after multiple months of travel and training, the idea of giving any of that up to have to go back to something as ordinary as regular school was…unpleasant. On top of that, this was a school in a foreign land, where all the students probably had completely different customs from what she was used to. Ruby was already anticipating just how awkward joining such a class would be for her.

"And you will," said Sasame. "Yes, it means that you will have less time allotted to training each day. But we've already spent a great deal of time dedicated to laying the foundation of your learning, Ruby-chan. That was what all the intensive exercise was for during our trip, all the basics we drilled so thoroughly into you."

"You mean, you _always_ meant to send me to school?" asked Ruby.

"That's right," said Sasame. "It isn't simply a matter of academic education. You need to spend time with people your own age, make friends, interact with others. Above all else, those are the most important things that going to school supplies you with."

"She is correct," added Sora, looking down at Ruby. "If you intend to go to Beacon someday, then you will be put on a team with three other people. So you need to have some ability to deal with people your own age. This too, can be considered a sort of training."

"Oh..." Ruby's eyes widened at the prospect. "Um...all right then."

"So," said Sora, her attention once again going to Kyo and Sasame, "how do you plan on solving the conundrum of her status?"

"My status?" Ruby blinked in confusion, looking back and forth between Sora and her siblings.

"Yes, your status," said Sasame, her tone apologetic as she gripped Ruby's hand. "It's unfortunate, but the our society is a rather isolationist one. We have few dealings with the outside world. Right now, Kyo and I are some of the only members of the clan who venture beyond the boundaries of our continent with any degree of regularity. We love you dearly, and there is no doubt that you are our beloved little sister, but..."

"...but making all of that official would essentially make you a ward of the royal family," said Kyo. "Considering that you are an outsider, that would put you in a position to draw a great deal of resentment from others, including the children you would be going to school with."

Going to school seemed less appealing by the minute to Ruby's mind.

Sasame seemed to pick up on her train of thought. "There's no helping the fact that there will be some discord," she admitted. "Because you are an outsider, you will certainly face prejudice from those who will be your peers. You will probably deal with a fair few difficulties. However, I know that you can overcome that obstacle, because you, Ruby-chan, above all else, excel at persevering. You are a girl who can do anything she puts her mind to."

"All right," said Ruby.

"So then...you have a solution?" asked Sora.

"I think I do," said Sasame. "While she would stay with you, in the palace, Ruby-chan would officially become _my_ ward, a ward of the Mitarai family. Granted, that is still a rather elevated status for an outsider, but less contentious than the alternative."

"Very true," said Sora. "And your parents...?"

Sasame sighed. "They will object, of course. But they will have no alternative but to accept it. This is my decision, and I intend to abide by it."

"So be it then," said Sora. She looked down at Ruby. "So then, Ruby-chan, the current arrangement is that you will stay with us in the palace. Is that acceptable?"

"Y-yes," said Ruby.

Sora smiled warmly and held Ruby tightly, not tight enough to hurt, but enough for Ruby to feel the woman's genuine affection. "Do not worry, dear one. You are more than welcome with us. If Kyo claims you as his sister, then I shall treat you as my daughter. Are you all right with that?"

"Um..." Ruby swallowed, once again feeling confused about how she felt. She had to admit that resting in Sora's embrace and sitting on her lap brought back fond memories of when her real mother was still alive. Yet, at the same time, the idea of calling this woman, who, for all that she was truly kind and caring, was still so unfamiliar to her, "Mom," was a prospect Ruby wasn't sure she accepted.

"Ruby-chan," said Sora, gently tracing a finger across Ruby's cheek, "don't overthink it. I mean to treat you as a member of our family, but I can understand if this idea is unsettling to you. I would think no less of you if you wish to not see me as a mother. Go with whatever you are comfortable with."

"All right," said Ruby. She leaned into Sora's touch. However uncertain she felt about calling another person "Mom," it felt nice to have someone act like her mother again. She felt protected, safe, but not that smothered kind of "safe" she'd become accustomed to under her father's thumb.

The moment was abruptly ruined by a low growling from Ruby's stomach. "Um..." she said, her cheeks coloring.

"Oh dear," said Sasame, the realization dawning on her. "We skipped lunch."

"It completely slipped my mind," added Kyo.

"Mine too," said Shinrei with a sigh.

Sora gazed at them, raising an eyebrow. "You were so eager to get back here that you forgot make sure your little sister was fed?" she asked.

"I forgot too," said Ruby shyly.

Sora sighed. "Well, there's no changing that now. That being the case..." She met Ruby's eyes. "...shall we have dinner?"

"Yes, please!" said Ruby, a tad more eagerly than she meant to come off as, drawing laughter from the others, and making her blush even more.

* * *

Dinner was filling and delicious, if rather plain. Given that Sora was supposed to be the ruler of the Mibu, Ruby had half-expected an array of high-class dishes. Instead, the meal had proven to surprisingly simple. On top of that, Sora had done the cooking herself, another surprise, given that Ruby would have expected someone as high-ranked as her to have a bevy of servants at her beck and call for such mundane things. Ruby sat at a table, with Kyo on one side, Sasame on the other, and Sora directly across from her. The table itself was of the kind often found in Mistral, low-sitting, with the diners seated on cushions on the floor, rather than chairs. Shinrei had excused himself for the evening, promising to meet Ruby the next day to continue her training.

Sora filled the meal with conversation, drawing Ruby's story from her with surprising ease. Ruby was silently amazed at how easy it was for her to open up to this woman, who she didn't know all that well. In fact, she was already beginning to feel as though she'd known Sora for weeks, if not months. Sora was eager to hear more about Ruby's experiences, drawing out details that had been forgotten or glossed over during their conversation in Sora's office.

Ruby had missed this feeling, the feeling of sitting around the table with her family, talking about their days and their experiences. Back on Patch, mealtimes had come to be times of sullen silence, thanks to the fact that Taiyang or Yang's efforts to start any kind of conversation were typically shut down by Ruby. They would ask how her day had been and she would curtly answer, "The same as always." Yang was forbidden to talk about her own training in preparation for Signal at the dinner table, because it always led to arguments between their father and Ruby. Taiyang would occasionally try to start talking about something or other, but Ruby would pointedly ignore him.

That was a far cry from the lively affair that was dinner with Kyo's mother. She was astute, listening intently to Ruby's stories about her experiences. She also teased both Kyo and Sasame good-naturedly. While Sasame wasn't blood-related, it was obvious that Sora truly considered her a surrogate daughter, which might have explained why she was so open to the idea of Ruby staying with them.

The conversation was abruptly interrupted when the door to the dining room opened, and a new person entered, coming to stand directly behind Sora.

"You're late, dear," said Sora, not evening turning to look at him, though the fond smile on her face indicated she knew who exactly was standing over her now.

The man standing behind her looked distinctly familiar to Ruby, primarily because his face was almost identical in profile to Kyo's. His black hair was much neater, having been combed to run smoothly down the sides of his head, though it curled out at the sides just a little, also tapering down the back of his neck. Like Kyo, his eyes were a vivid, luminous crimson color, albeit slightly narrower, which, combined with the easygoing smile on his face, made him seem far more relaxed and serene.

He was dressed in a kimono of pure white, the wide sleeves decorated with that taijitu symbol that seemed so prevalent throughout the clan. A white sash was tied about his waist, and a rather ordinary sword in a black-lacquered sheath hung from it.

"I'm sorry," said the man, who could only have been Kyo's father. "I found some fascinating books in the archive and got carried away."

"You and your projects," said Sora with a long-suffering, yet fond sigh. "And here we are, with your son finally home again, and you can't be bothered to step away from your books."

"Perhaps you should have sent somebody to tell me Kyo was back," said Kyo's father with a chuckle.

"Would you have put down your book and come, if I had?" asked Sora.

"Probably not," said Kyo's father, moving to take the cushion next to Sora's. "I'd see him again, sooner or later." He finally seemed to notice Ruby. "And who is our dinner guest?"

"She is far more than a dinner guest," said Sora. She sighed again and chuckled wryly. "Ruby-chan," she said, looking at Ruby, "this is my husband, Mibu Kyoichiro, also known as the Crimson King.'

"N-nice to meet you," said Ruby, unsure of what to make of this man.

"Dear, this is Ruby Rose, the newest resident of our home," said Sora, glancing at her husband. "As of now, she is Kyo and Sasame's little sister."

"I see," said Kyoichiro, his gaze settling on Ruby. His eyes narrowed slightly and Ruby felt a twinge of...something...she wasn't sure what. It wasn't hostility, not exactly, more like an extremely intense interest. Whatever it was, the strange sensation set her nerves on edge. She got the distinct feeling that Kyoichiro knew something about her...something she probably didn't even know about herself.

"Interesting..." Kyoichiro mumbled, almost inaudibly.

"Oh you..." Sora withdrew her fan from her sash and lightly smacked the top of her husband's head with it. "You've met Ruby-chan for the first time, and _that's_ all you can say."

Kyoichiro grinned sheepishly and rubbed the top of his head. "I'm sorry. I was just reminded of something I read once."

"Everything reminds you of something you've read once," Sora deadpanned. "And what is it that Ruby-chan reminds you of?"

"It's nothing worth worrying about," said Kyoichiro, "coincidence, nothing more."

"Is that so...?" Sora's tone suggested she wanted to pry further. However, she paused, then took a breath and let it out slowly. "Honestly," she said with a slow shake of her head. Then she gave Ruby a wry smile. "By the way, Ruby-chan, my husband teaches the class you will be joining."

"You're sending her to school?" asked Kyoichiro.

"Of course I am," retorted Sora with a roll of her eyes. "If she's going to be living with us, then she should be able to attend school with children her own age."

"Of course," said Kyoichiro, nodding sagely.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the interplay between husband and wife. Kyoichiro seemed scatterbrained and flighty, while Sora often played at exasperation with his silliness. Looking at them, Ruby could see why Sora was the one who governed the Mibu, while Kyoichiro did other work. However, despite how warm and friendly Kyoichiro seemed, Ruby couldn't quite shake the strange feeling she had gotten, when he'd first laid eyes on her.

However, that soon became a secondary concern. The day's exertions catching up with her, Ruby found herself stifling yawns and fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Oh dear, it _is_ getting a little late," noted Sora. "Let's get you settled, so that you can get some sleep."

She led Ruby down a hallway, a short distance from the dining room. This, apparently, was the residence of the royal family. Passing a doorway, Ruby found a sitting room of sorts, which was modestly appointed, considering the caliber of the people who presumably used it. A few more doors down and Ruby found herself in a small bedroom.

"This is where you'll be staying," said Sora, showing Ruby the bedroom, with its connected bathroom and small closet. It was fairly small, but more than enough for Ruby's needs. Sasame was already unpacking Ruby's few possessions and setting them out.

"Leave your clothes in the hamper, and set them outside the door, once you've cleaned up and changed," instructed Sora, gesturing to a woven basket by the door. "I will have them cleaned and ready for you tomorrow."

"Thank you," said Ruby, before yawning again.

Sora pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head in the same manner that Kyo and Sasame did. "Remember, you are more than welcome here."

"Thank you," said Ruby.

Bidding goodnight to Kyo and Sasame, Ruby changed and did what Sora had instructed, setting her clothes out in the hamper. Afterwards, she crawled into bed and pulled the covers up over herself, silently marveling at how far she'd come from the little girl that had snuck out of a house in Patch one night.

She had traveled to a completely different continent, trained to the verge of exhaustion day in and day out. She'd become strong enough to fight, and she would only get stronger from here.

_I'm going to be a Huntress,_ she thought with a certain degree of vindictive pride. _And there's nothing Dad can do to stop me._

* * *

"What is it about Ruby-chan that caught your interest?" asked Sora, as she settled onto the bed next to her husband.

Kyoichiro was silent for a long moment, still staring at the book he'd been reading while he waited for his wife. Finally, he looked up. "That girl has silver eyes," he said.

"I noticed," said Sora. "They're beautiful eyes. It's rare, to be sure, but why does that intrigue you so?"

"Those with silver eyes are Shamans," said Kyoichiro.

Sora gasped. "Are you sure?" she asked.

Kyoichiro nodded. "If anything, in this day and age, they may be even rarer than those with the Crimson Eyes. They are a hereditary trait, but the vast majority of them have died out. I am sure that She had something to do with it."

Sora scowled darkly. "And why would She care about them? Are they a threat to Her in particular?"

"From what I read, perhaps," said Kyoichiro. "Of course, any power that isn't fully understood has potential to be dangerous, but it seems that Salem feared the power of the Silver Eyes in particular."

"Just what manner of Shaman are these Silver Eyed people?" asked Sora.

"There are conflicting accounts," said Kyoichiro. "It is said that the Silver Eyed warriors were feared by the Creatures of Grimm, able to slay them with merely a glance. Other accounts suggest that they were a form of magic...still others say that they are magic's bane."

"So even _we_ have almost no knowledge of them," said Sora.

"Not that I have been able to find," said Kyoichiro.

"And...what does that mean for Ruby-chan?" asked Sora.

"I don't know," admitted Kyoichiro. "If she is a Silver Eyed warrior, her power is dormant, and will probably remain so for years to come. That's probably for the best. What little I've found on them suggests that their power puts a tremendous strain on their bodies, if not fully harnessed, which may be difficult."

"All the more difficult because we do not know what harnessing it entails," added Sora.

"For the time being, I don't think we should worry about it," said Kyoichiro. Then he closed his eyes and chuckled. "Still, for her to be here now, it's a strange coincidence, don't you think?"

"How so?" asked Sora.

"She and Natsuki-kun are the same age," said Kyoichiro. "They'll even be classmates. A convergence of circumstances like this...I suppose one might even call it...destiny."

"Hmm...Maybe so," said Sora with a chuckle of her own. "At this point, what matters most is making sure that they are safe and happy, that they can walk the paths they choose for themselves. They will go on to do great things, I'm sure."

"Very true," said Kyoichiro.

* * *

The next day dawned and Ruby found that, as she had been assured, her clothes had been cleaned, ready to be worn again. On top of that, Sora assured her that she would be receiving additional outfits, an entire wardrobe. Ruby balked at the notion, feeling a little overwhelmed at the lavish treatment she was suddenly receiving, after spending so long on the road with so little. However, Sora assured her that it was perfectly fine.

"You'll need clothes for school," she said. "You'll also want outfits better suited for training and, eventually, one that suits you better for both fighting and travel. For the time being, don't worry about little things like that, and focus on getting stronger."

Ruby found herself nodding in agreement, not finding it in herself to reject the substantial generosity she was being shown. The clothes she'd worn all the way up through their trip through Sanus weren't exactly the best-suited for travel, for all that they'd served her well. Her skirt and blouse were getting threadbare and worn around the edges, as was her cloak, from miles upon miles of working her way through woodlands, with branches and brambles pulling at her from ever conceivable direction. Her black stockings had holes all along their lengths, but especially at the soles of her feet, where they'd been subject to the most wear.

They had just finished breakfast when a black shape rose up behind Sora. Ruby gasped in surprise and shock as the shadow took on a definitive form, a man wrapped in black bandages, completely encompassing his upper body, including his torso and arms, as well as his entire face, save for his gray eyes. Dark-gray hair sprouted from the top of his head in a shaggy mass, from which a pair of similarly-colored wolf-ears protruded.

"Dougal," said Sora, setting down her chopsticks, "what news?"

"The coastal settlements have been notified to be on the lookout for the escaped pirate," said the man, his tone soft and whispery. "There have been no signs of sightings of her yet."

"Well, if she _does_ make landfall on Leng, I'm sure we'll find her," said Sora dismissively. "Is there anything else?"

"No," said Dougal plainly. "However..." His gaze went to Ruby, who quailed away from him, even though there was already a table between them.

"Ah, yes," said Sora. "I'm sorry, Dougal, I should have introduced you to her last night. Ruby-chan, there's nothing to be afraid of."

Ruby swallowed and tried to relax. However, she couldn't help it. The Shadow Man, as she'd quickly come to think of Dougal as, seemed to have developed his appearance with intimidation in mind.

"This is Dougal Conrad, my dearest and oldest friend," explained Sora. "He also serves as the head of my Imperial Guard."

Ruby blinked in confusion. "Imperial Guard?"

"Each of us Taishiro have a number of Imperial Guards," explained Sora. "The name is somewhat...antiquated...and not quite fitting, considering their purpose."

"I don't get it," said Ruby.

"Sora-sama is far stronger than me," explained Dougal, his whispery tones still making Ruby shiver a little. "As such, I do not serve as her protector, but rather, as an extension of her will."

"Dougal is a master of the Shadow Arts," said Sora, "as are the rest of my Imperial Guard, to varying degrees. Mastery of the Shadow Arts not only enables one to manipulate shadow, but move through it as well. Shadow-travel enables one to cover long distances with far greater speed than on foot. My Imperial Guard are the official couriers of the Mibu Clan, the messengers that keep us connected with all our settlements. In a sense, you could say they are the nerves of our clan."

"Oh..." Ruby blinked.

"Each Elder's Imperial Guard serves a similar capacity," said Sora. "For example, Makoto, our clan's Chief Physician, uses his Imperial Guards to oversee our clan's healers, to ensure that our people, all across Leng, receive the best care possible."

"Okay," said Ruby. She looked at Dougal, feeling a bit strange at thinking that such an intimidating man mostly served as a messenger. Just looking at him made her feel nervous. Then she saw the wolf ears atop his head drooping slightly.

"As I said, please don't be afraid of him," said Sora. "Dougal's fashion choices aren't exactly the most...endearing...but they suit his purposes. He is actually a good man. He'd never hurt a hair on your head, dear."

"I'm sorry," said Ruby, averting her eyes. "I didn't mean to make him sad."

Dougal blinked in surprise as Sora giggled. "Whatever else, Dougal, your ears tend to give you away, no matter how well you hide your face."

Dougal grunted awkwardly and averted his eyes as well.

Now Ruby was certain, if she peeled back the wrappings over his face, she would find that Dougal's cheeks had turned pink, a thought that made her giggle. Thinking over it, her feelings were merely a visceral reaction to Dougal's appearance. However, she didn't feel anything threatening from him. Realizing that enabled her to give him a sunny smile, which made his ears stand up more attentively.

Sora tittered. "Winning yourself more friends all the time, Ruby-chan." _She truly does have an endearing nature._

"By the way, Ruby-chan has a guest," added Dougal, before his body dissolved back into shadow and sank into the floor.

"A guest...?" Ruby blinked, then looked over at the door to the dining room, where Shinrei entered.

"Hey there," he said. "Ready for your training?"

"Y-yes!" said Ruby, before looking at Sora. "Um...if that's okay?"

"Of course it is," said Sora with a warm laugh. "You're excused, Ruby-chan. Have fun."

Ruby nodded eagerly and got up from the table and headed to Shinrei, who quickly led her out.

Sora smiled and looked over at the other person sharing the table with them. "You were unusually quiet," she noted.

"There just wasn't much for me to say," said Kyo. "I appreciate you going through all the effort to make her feel welcome."

"It's the least I can do," said Sora. "Now then, I don't suppose you and Sasame have learned anything unusual in the outside world."

"Not yet," said Kyo. "However...it feels as though there is something in motion. It's more a vague impression than anything else, but I believe that Salem may be planning to take action in the next few years. I have sensed people on the hunt. I think they may be looking for the Maidens."

"Is that so...?" Sora frowned and cupped her chin. "And what of the Old Wizard."

"No word," said Kyo. "He watches and waits...as always."

Sora sighed. "I suppose that's to be expected. Oh well, there's nothing to be done now."

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Kyo.

"Not yet," said Sora, frowning darkly. "We cannot act against Salem, not with _that_ obstacle standing in our way. The Intercessor will need to be dealt with, before anything else."

"Is there anything that I can do?" asked Kyo.

"Just keep doing what you've always done," said Sora. "For now, that is all any of us _can_ do. Until we find a solution, we are stalemated."

* * *

"Here we are," said Shinrei, leading Ruby into his courtyard.

Ruby blinked, feeling slightly disoriented. Granted, the maze of corridors and hallways that made up the palace were so confusing she couldn't remember the route they'd taken through it yesterday. However, she was fairly certain that the way Shinrei had taken her wasn't the same one. It was a shorter trip, that much was certain.

"Yeah...you'll get used to it eventually," said Shinrei with a chuckle. "Kyo and Sasame are out most of the time, so it's not like they have an encyclopedic knowledge of which ways through that place are the fastest. I'll help you learn the best routes, so that you can at least walk yourself out and back, when you start going to school."

"When do I go?" asked Ruby.

"You'll join class in about a week," said Shinrei. "At least, that's when Sasame and Sora-sama think they'll have all the minutia of your enrollment squared away, along with the matter of your custody."

Ruby frowned. A lot of the talk from yesterday still went well over her head, so she wasn't sure she completely understood.

"Don't worry about it," said Shinrei. "Leave Sora-sama and Sasame to take care of the boring stuff. In the meantime, you and I get to do the fun stuff. We have about a week before you're gonna have to start splitting your time, so let's make the most of it."

"Okay!" said Ruby eagerly.

"Well then, let's get started," said Shinrei. "Draw your weapons, and let's see if you still remember the strikes I taught you the other night."

Ruby nodded and did as she was bid.

It was a day well-spent, in Ruby's mind. After demonstrating the first sequence of strikes Shinrei had taught her, he allowed her to begin practicing moving them faster, until Ruby was using them at full combat speed, practicing them ceaselessly throughout the morning.

After they broke for lunch, Shinrei taught her a new technique and had her practice that, slowly at first. However, by the time the sun was beginning to dip, he had Ruby moving at full speed on that one as well. Afterwards, he walked her back for dinner. Besides Sora and Kyo, Kyoichiro and Sasame were there as well, bidding Shinrei to sit with them as they talked about their days and asked Ruby about her training.

Afterwards, feeling tired and sleepy, Ruby got into bed, Sasame tucking her in lovingly, and kissing her forehead before leaving her to her rest.

* * *

The rest of the week proceeded similarly, the days taking on a pattern as Ruby learned several new techniques under Shinrei's tutelage. She practiced each one determinedly, until Shinrei was certain she had them down. In the morning, she practiced the techniques she'd been taught the previous day, finding herself wishing that she could somehow extend how long the days were, so that she could allot the same amount of time to each one that she learned. However, the more techniques she had to practice, the less time she could spend practicing any single one.

"That's how it goes," Shinrei said. "Learning more techniques makes it harder to master them as deeply as you could, if you just stuck to practicing only one or two. However, having a broader repertoire isn't a bad thing. It enables you to be more flexible and adapt to the situation."

On the last day, before Ruby was slated to attend school, Shinrei taught her her first kata, building a sequence of the techniques she'd just spent the week learning. Ruby spent the entire afternoon running through that kata, over and over again, all under Shinrei's attentive eye. Ruby was so enthralled by the process that she felt more than a little disappointed that, come tomorrow, she would have to give up some of the time she could spend training to go to something as mundane as school.

* * *

For Ruby's first day of school, Sasame showed up and helped Ruby put on the new kimono she'd been gifted. It was beautiful to look at, being a dark-red, with black vines and roses climbing up from the hem, up over her shoulder, and down her left sleeve. The fabric felt soft and light on her body, the brushing of it over her skin making Ruby feel slightly giddy.

"You look lovely," said Sasame definitively, stepping back to survey her work. "You'll make a wonderful first impression."

"I-if you say so," said Ruby nervously.

Sasame rested her hands on Ruby's shoulders, squeezing them gently. "Don't be too anxious, Ruby-chan. It's true that you will encounter difficulties. But I know you can overcome them."

"A-all right," said Ruby, still not feeling certain about this.

"Come on, it's time for breakfast," said Sasame. "Then I'll walk you to school."

Ruby followed Sasame out to the dining room, where Kyo and Sora were already setting the table. They ate quietly, the others offering Ruby assurances that she would be just fine. Kyoichiro had apparently left early to get things set up for class, something he did on a regular basis. After the meal, Sasame took Ruby's hand and led her through the mess of hallways that made up the palace. Shinrei had shown Ruby some faster routes, but Ruby wasn't confident that she'd memorized them all yet.

They passed through the five gates, and out into the upperclass district, the first time Ruby had set foot outside the palace since she'd arrived. They walked along a winding path, leading them to a long, low building, built from dark-stained wood, like many of the structures around them. Looking around, Ruby saw countless other children approaching the building, some younger than her, others older, many of them her age...or at least she assumed them to be. As they got closer, she clutched a bit more tightly to Sasame's hand as people began to notice them.

Hushed whispers rose up around them as Sasame led Ruby in through the main entrance, breezing down a hallway, before coming to stop at a sliding door that marked the entrance to a classroom. Surprisingly, it was hardly any different in design from the classrooms of the school Ruby had left behind on Patch. The arrangement was virtually the same, with wooden desks and chairs set up in rows, facing a larger desk at the front of the room, behind which a blackboard loomed.

_I guess some things are the same, wherever you go,_ thought Ruby.

Several other students were already filing in. Sasame led Ruby into the room, and slightly off to the side, as the seats filled up. Ruby was surprised to see that there were several empty desks throughout the room, even after students stopped filing in.

"This is just one classroom," Sasame explained to Ruby softly as they waited off to the side. "It also isn't our only school. Also, we have a rather low number of children in our population."

Ruby nodded slowly, taking in the assembled students nervously. Pretty much all of them were dressed similarly to her, some wearing long kimonos, others complimenting kimonos with hakama of various types. All kinds of styles, patterns, and colors were on display. It seemed that this class didn't have too much in the way of a dress code.

A bell chimed somewhere, clearly signaling the beginning of the day. The conversation quickly died away as the students waited. A girl in the front, rightmost desk watched the door expectantly. After another minute, it slid open to reveal Kyoichiro. At the sight of him, Ruby had to cover her mouth as her cheeks ballooned with restrained laughter. He hadn't dressed any differently, but Kyoichiro's eyes were now hidden behind a pair of thick, opaque glasses that made him look downright comical. Seeing Ruby struggling to restrain her laughter, Sasame smiled and giggled softly herself.

"Stand," declared the girl, the entire class getting to their feet as Kyoichiro entered the room. He turned to face the class. "Bow," instructed the same girl. As one, all the students bowed to Kyoichiro, who returned the gesture, before they all sat down again.

"Good morning, students," said Kyoichiro.

"_Good morning, Sensei,_" the students chorused back.

"Here, at the start of another week, I have an announcement to make," said Kyoichiro. "We have a new student starting here, today." He nodded towards Sasame and Ruby.

"Go ahead," said Sasame, gently urging Ruby forward with a hand on her shoulder.

"This is Ruby Rose," said Kyoichiro, motioning Ruby to stand next to, and slightly in front of, him. "As you might have guessed from her name, Ruby-kun is from the outside. She hails from the Kingdom of Vale. She has been adopted as a ward of the Mitarai family, and Mitarai Sasame has claimed her as a sister. As such, she will be joining us from now on. I expect you to welcome her, and show every courtesy to her that you would to each other."

Ruby tensed, feeling so many eyes on her. However, she bowed in greeting to her audience, feeling incredibly awkward, not sure if that was what she should have done. She could hear faint whispers from the students in front of her.

"_An outsider...Aren't they supposed to be barbarians?_"

"_Why would Mitarai-sama take in one of _them_?_"

"_What's so important about her?_"

"_She looks like a total bumpkin._"

"I think she looks nice."

Ruby's eyes darted towards the speaker of that last remark. It was a girl in the third row back. Her long, two-toned, blue and green hair was split into a set of twin-tails that ran down the back of her orange kimono, which was plain, save for the sky-blue hems. She met Ruby's gaze with a pair of violet eyes that were a few shades darker than Ruby remembered Yang's being. When their eyes met, the other girl smiled and gave Ruby a friendly wave. Ruby smiled and shyly waved back.

The interplay between them didn't go unnoticed by Kyoichiro, though his eyebrow went up by the slightest of fractions. Once again, Ruby was beset by that strange sensation of intense interest, the same sensation she'd felt the first time she'd met Kyoichiro. However, it vanished in a flash.

"Well then, I believe I shall have you sit next to Natsuki-kun," said Kyoichiro, gently pushing Ruby forward. "Natsuki-kun, if you would help Ruby-kun get accustomed to things here, that would be greatly appreciated."

"All right, Sensei," said the girl, smiling brightly.

As Ruby made her way to her seat, she noticed that there were a great many reactions to her presence. Some were contemptuous or dismissive. Others were indifferent. Besides the girl she was sitting next to, only a couple other students smiled at her.

"Hi!" chirped the girl she sat next to. "It's nice to meet you, Rose-chan."

"Ruby," said Ruby, remembering what Sasame and Kyo had said about names in the Mibu. "In the Kingdoms, our given name comes before our family name."

"Oh!" said the girl. "It's nice to meet you, Ruby-chan. I'm Shinomori Natsuki."

* * *

**Okay, that's it for this sequence of flashbacks. We'll pick up back here later. Next chapter, we return to present events for...quite a while, honestly.**

**The main purpose for this little arc was to build up a picture of Ruby's new family situation, basically the foundation for the background that shaped her into the character she is in the present. That and...I'm kinda sucker for writing happy domestic situations, a nice change of pace, compared to depicting, however briefly, the crappy situation that was Ruby's home life with Taiyang. I've been told that I excel in the art of WAFF.**

**With regards to recycled characters from _Crimson Eyes_, not much has changed. Kyoichiro is the king, but _Sora's_ the one who's _really_ in charge. Of course, this time, we'll actually get to see Kyoichiro doing his _real_ job, which should make for some interesting experiences.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24:**

_Present day:_

The days went by, each one gradually seeming to blend into the next. In between classes, Ruby and Pyrrha worked Jaune as hard as they could, building up his physical ability and working on his technique. Jaune practiced doggedly, putting his all into every single session, determined not to disappoint the girls who had put so much work into helping him. Weiss, in the meantime, stood by, providing the occasional hint of advice. In the evenings, all four of them practiced their Temper.

Fortunately, Jaune's third Sunday at Beacon proved to be a genuinely peaceful one, free of bullies and vindictive older sisters. He was actually able to go into Vale and visit the comic store he hadn't been able to the previous week, getting the latest issues of his favorite series, and getting back in time to enjoy reading them.

That day, when Ruby came back from reading with Blake in the library, she found Jaune enjoying his comics and asked about them. Remembering that Ruby had spent most of the last few years outside the Kingdoms, Jaune was excited to fill her in on the popular culture that had passed since she'd left. In his mind, he was already making plans to take her, maybe Weiss and Pyrrha too, to a movie next Sunday, both to show her what she'd been missing, and to thank Ruby for all the work she'd put into helping him.

Cardin and his cronies kept their distance. They had two whole weeks free of the boys, thanks to their suspension. Even after they came back, they stayed away from Jaune and the rest of Team RASP. Ruby kept a wary eye on them though, certain they hadn't changed their ways after just one session of punishment. The boys were a bit too busy to bully anyone though, being forced to do makeup work for all the classes they missed while on suspension.

Yang also stayed away from Jaune, though, from time to time, Jaune felt a chill run down his spine, particularly when he and Ruby were close together. He'd look out of the corner of his eye, and see Yang glaring at him intently. Clearly, she hadn't abandoned her hostility either. However, Ren seemed to be keeping her on a tighter leash than before, The threat of telling Ruby on her seemed to be keeping Yang in check, for the time being.

All told, things seemed to be going well.

* * *

"Anyway, since you girls have been doing so much for me, I wanted to know if you'd like to see a movie tomorrow?" Jaune was saying after they finished off their evening training, Saturday night. "There are some good ones playing."

"A movie..." Ruby's eyes went wide and glazed over. "Oh my God...I haven't been to a movie in...ever!"

"It sounds like a grand idea," said Pyrrha cheerfully, genuinely liking the notion.

"Well, if the entire team is going, then I suppose I have no objection," said Weiss.

"So you wouldn't want to go if not everyone could go?" asked Ruby, looking at Weiss in confusion.

"Well, there there should be at least two of us there with him," said Weiss pointedly, "otherwise people might think that one of us is there with him...on a date."

"A date?" Ruby's cheeks colored automatically at the notion. Even Pyrrha didn't seem immune, while Jaune sputtered nervously.

"It's not like that," he protested. "I just thought that Ruby hasn't gotten a chance to see a movie in a long time, so it could be a fun thing to do as a team."

"Oh..." said Weiss, a wry smile crossing her face. "Did you really want us to do this as a team...or were you hoping Pyrrha and I had other things to do, so that you could have Ruby alone?"

"What?!" exclaimed Ruby, nearly her entire face turning red.

"It's not like that!" protested Jaune. "I mean...I...uh..." He groaned and slumped. "I can tell there's nothing I can say that you can't turn back around on me, Weiss...So I'm just gonna shut up now."

To everyone's surprise, Weiss laughed. It was such a rare sound, coming from her that the rest of the team was taken aback.

"Were you...teasing Jaune?" asked Ruby.

"Maybe," said Weiss in a lilting tone.

"You're definitely improving," noted Pyrrha with a small degree of pride in her voice.

"Why thank you," said Weiss proudly, her nose going up a little

"Is everything all right?" asked Jaune, looking at Ruby.

He hadn't really noticed it before, but Ruby was acting a little...jittery. Seated on her bed, Ruby was eagerly kicking her legs back and forth, almost bouncing in place.

"Sorry," said Ruby sheepishly. "It's just...it's almost been a whole month since we've come to Beacon."

"That's true," said Weiss. "That is something to celebrate, I suppose."

"Well, that too," said Ruby. "But...I was thinking that Sasame-nee should be here any day now. I can't wait for her to meet everyone."

"But you don't know when, exactly, she'll show up," noted Weiss.

"Not really," said Ruby, looking down. "A month was our best guess. It might take a little longer than that."

"I'd say there's no reason to get antsy," said Jaune, gently patting Ruby on the shoulder. "She'll get here when she gets here."

"Yeah," said Ruby with a tired sigh.

"Let's just enjoy ourselves tomorrow and take things as they come for now," said Jaune.

* * *

Late next morning, they caught an airship into Vale, and soon they were looking at the different options on offer at the movie theater. They ended up picking a space opera film, belonging to a series that Jaune loved. Weiss scoffed at the idea, but, once the movie began, the others were amused to see that she was completely enthralled by the film.

They emerged from the theater, laughing and talking about the film. Weiss was in such a good mood that she even offered to buy everyone dinner again, something that none of them were about to turn down. As they made their way to the restaurant, Jaune paused when his scroll buzzed in his pocket.

Pulling it out, he looked at the caller ID and scowled.

"Who is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"Dad," grumbled Jaune, continuing to watch the scroll buzz.

"You need to talk to him sooner or later," prodded Pyrrha.

Jaune's scowl deepened. Pyrrha continued to look at him plaintively. "Look Jaune, I know it's painful. But you need to get it over and done with, or your parents won't ever stop bothering you."

"I guess," said Jaune with a low groan. He gave the girls an apologetic look. "Go on ahead without me. I might be a few minutes...and there's probably going to be some shouting involved."

"Jaune..." Ruby hesitated. "Are you sure you don't want us with you?"

Jaune gave her a grateful smile. "Nah. I can do this. I'll catch up with you."

"Okay..." Ruby reluctantly allowed Weiss and Pyrrha to lead her away.

Jaune swallowed and looked down at his scroll, which was still buzzing. After a few more repetitions, the buzz cut out...then started again. _Dad's really not gonna let me go this time, huh?_

With a sigh, Jaune answered. "Hey, Dad," he said.

"_Jaune!_" snapped a deep voice. "_What in God's name is your problem, boy? Don't you know we've been trying to get in touch with you for the better part of a month?_"

"Yeah," said Jaune.

"_Any reason you didn't answer?_"

"Maybe I didn't _feel_ like talking," Jaune retorted.

"_Is that any way to treat the people who've taken care of you all this time?_" growled his father.

"I don't know," said Jaune, his eyes narrowing, somewhat glad that this wasn't a video call. "Maybe if they weren't actually trying to undermine me, and practically wall me off from the one thing I really wanted to do with my life."

"_Bah!_" grunted his father. "_Are you still going on about that crap? Listen, Jaune. I did you a favor. You just aren't cut out to be a Hunstsman. You don't have what it takes. That should be completely clear by now, so if you'd stop loafing around in Vale and get on home, we can start working on finding a profession you're actually suited for._"

"I'm not loafing around Vale," said Jaune. "In fact, I made it into Beacon."

He wasn't sure what he expected. Maybe he'd expected denial and anger. What he didn't expect was for his father to burst out laughing. Jaune grit his teeth, growling under his breath as his father carried on for at least two solid minutes of doing nothing but laughing.

"_Oh...that's funny, Jaune,_" his father said, finally, after regaining enough of his composure to speak. "_Really, you don't have to lie to me. There's no way a fake transcript like yours could be accepted._"

"I don't know _how_ it was," said Jaune, thinking about Weiss' theory that Ozpin had already known he was lying, even before accepting him, "but it was. More importantly, I passed the Initiation."

"_What?_" Now Jaune heard genuine surprise in his father's tone.

"Yeah, funny thing..." growled Jaune. "I was damn lucky someone noticed my Aura wasn't unlocked, or I would have been splattered across the Emerald Forest like an overripe tomato...or did they not launch students off a cliff, back in your day?"

"_Jaune...that can't be right. You weren't supposed to-_"

"Supposed to what?" snapped Jaune. "I wasn't supposed to make it that far. I'd get to Beacon, find out that my little ruse had been seen through, and I'd get kicked right back to Ansel, where the lot of you could have a nice little laugh at my expense. 'Poor, silly Jaune...What an idiot, trying to chase that dream, when we went through all the trouble to make sure he couldn't do it.'"

"_I told you you weren't cut out for it,_" growled his father. "_You have zero talent-_"

"I have _something_," growled Jaune. "And now, thanks to my teammates, I know what _real_ training, _real_ preparation looks like, so I know you were faking it back then, and lying through your teeth to me, all so that you could keep me at home. I guess you won't tell me the _real_ reason you wanted to sabotage any chance I had at getting into Beacon, so I won't bother asking what it was."

He heard a loud intake of breath on the other end of the line. Jaune braced himself for one of his father's trademark roars. However, he then heard his father let out a slow breath. "_Look, Jaune, this has gone on long enough. It seems like you actually managed to stick around long enough to watch the Initiation happen. I imagine you backed down, once you realized you were standing on a catapult, or something like that. But this has to end. You need to come home, son. Your sisters and mother all miss you. I'm only giving you one warning. If I don't hear you're on an airship back by tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to freeze your account._"

"Go ahead," Jaune replied curtly.

"_If you're still going to be stubborn about this, I'll come down there and get you myself._"

"You can try," said Jaune. "But I'm not going anywhere." He sighed. "I don't know what I was expecting, Dad. My teammate told me I should at least try talking to you...but this was obviously a mistake."

Without further preamble, Jaune hung up. For good measure, he blocked his father's number. That way, the man couldn't continually ring his scroll in an effort to annoy him into picking up.

"Bastard..." growled Jaune, glaring at his scroll for a moment longer, before pocketing it and heading off to the restaurant the girls had picked out.

"How'd it go?" asked Ruby as Jaune joined them at the table.

It had only taken another couple minutes to reach the restaurant. Weiss had picked a less-expensive place this time. Looking at the table, and seeing that they still had their menus, and only water, Jaune felt a surge of gratitude that they'd waited for him before ordering.

"About how I expected," said Jaune with a sigh as he took his seat.

The hopeful look on Pyrrha's face was dashed to pieces.

"What did he say?" prodded Ruby.

"He accused me of lying, said I needed to stop wasting my time in Vale, said he was going to freeze my account...pretty much everything I thought he was gonna say."

"Jaune...I'm so sorry," said Pyrrha. "I really thought...that you might be able to..."

"Pyrrha, it's okay," said Jaune, giving her a smile. "I know you were just trying to help. It's my dad's fault that he's got his head up his-"

"Anyway!" interrupted Weiss, before things could go any further. "You need to go ahead and order, Jaune. I think the waitstaff is getting a little impatient with us."

"Oh...right," said Jaune, smiling apologetically at Weiss, and picking up his menu.

He used the menu to hide a slight smile. Sure, his family might not have believed he could accomplish anything, but at least his friends believed in him.

* * *

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Yang roared, her eyes flashing red.

Before Blake could even consider answering, Yang's hands had grabbed her by her top and lifted her up before Yang slammed Blake's back against the wall.

"Yang!" snapped Ren, looking up from his homework in response to Yang's shout. "Let her down, now!"

"Not until she tells me what she means by that?" growled Yang, glaring intently at Blake.

Unfortunately, Blake was too busy trying to get her wind back from being slammed against the wall to answer. However, Yang's patience wasn't up to the task of waiting and she pulled Blake away from the wall and slammed her against it again.

"ANSWER ME!" Yang howled.

"Nora!" snapped Ren.

"On it!" replied Nora in an uncharacteristically serious tone. A second later, she grabbed Yang's wrists and twisted, forcing Yang to let go of Blake. Before Yang could react, Nora had twisted both of the blonde's arms behind her back and had Yang on the floor in an effective submission hold.

"Let me go!" shouted Yang, trying to struggle out of Nora's grip.

"No can do," replied Nora.

While Nora and Yang might have been as thick as thieves much of the time, the ultimate fact of the matter was that, if it came to choosing between Yang and Ren, Nora would choose Ren without a second's hesitation.

"Blake? Are you all right?" asked Ren, kneeling beside Blake and helping her up.

"I'll...I'll be fine," said Blake.

"Here..." Ren led Blake to her bed and settled her on it, sitting next to her and gently rubbing her back.

After a moment, he looked over at where Nora was still keeping Yang pinned. "Have you calmed down any?"

"Not until Blake explains what she meant by that," Yang snarled. "What did you mean that Ruby's sister is coming? _I'm_ her sister."

Blake sighed. "She told me she had an adoptive older sister. The last time we were in the library together, Ruby mentioned that she would be arriving around a month after the school year began. I thought that's why she went into town with her team today."

Yang began to struggle in Nora's grip. "Let me go! I'm going after her!"

"No you're not," said Ren, frowning darkly at Yang. "In your current state, you'd do or say something you'd regret. Besides, it's not as though her sister-"

"She's _not_ Ruby's sister!" protested Yang.

"-_her sister_ is guaranteed to arrive today," said Ren, looking over at Blake. "Right?"

Blake nodded. "Ruby said a month was their best guess time-wise."

"Jaune told me that he was taking the rest of the team to a movie," continued Ren. "So, I don't think we have anything to worry about."

Yang's body shuddered. She stopped trying to struggle. Instead, she went limp and Nora hesitantly released her. Yang remained where she was, slumping all the way to the floor, her body quaking with nearly silent sobs.

"Yang...?" asked Nora, bending down to see her face.

Tears ran freely down Yang's cheeks, dropping the rest of the way to the floor. "She replaced me...just switched me out, just like that. How could she?"

"I don't know," said Ren. "I honestly wish I had an answer. Whatever grudge Ruby has against you, the only thing I can tell is that it runs deep."

"Why?" whispered Yang. "All I ever wanted was to keep her safe."

"Maybe she didn't _want_ to be kept safe," Blake countered, a slight tinge of resentment in her words. At the moment, she didn't feel like cutting her unstable partner much slack. All she'd done was offhandedly mention something Ruby had told her before, in the library, and the next thing she knew, Yang was slamming her against the wall and demanding answers like she was shaking Blake down for money.

"That's enough," said Ren, gripping Blake's shoulder firmly. "We'll have to find some way to get through to Ruby. But Yang, Ruby may just not be open to accepting you as her sister. It might be that you'll have to learn to live with that."

"Never!" growled Yang, her voice tight with fury.

Ren sighed and lowered his face into his hands. _Why me?_

* * *

The rest of Sunday evening passed, with no sign of Sasame arriving, to Ruby's subdued disappointment. They went into the next week like usual. Jaune's training was making impressive progress. On Monday, he was called to fight in Combat Class. While he didn't win his match, he _did_ manage to do some considerable damage to his opponent and hold his own for a while, almost managing to run out the clock, before his opponent finally managed to force him out of the ring.

Ruby noticed that, while her team was doing well enough, the mood over at Team RYNB was much more tense. Yang was acting sullen and depressed, mixed with moments of barely-restrained anger, while the rest of her teammates acted warily with her. Ruby also noticed that Yang was looking her way more often, though Yang didn't seem inclined to say anything at the moment.

The only other black mark was that Team CRDL was up to their old antics. They seemed to be keeping their distance from Jaune, and didn't bother him at all. If anything, their interactions had become congenial, on the rare occasions they did interact with Ruby and her friends. She noticed that Cardin seemed to be going out of his way to act nice towards _her_ in particular, holding doors open for her and the other girls, offering to carry her books for her, even suggesting he could get her food for her in the dining hall. She just wished that gave her a good feeling, instead of a sensation she could only describe as "slimy," whenever she had to deal with him. "Cardin" and "polite" were not two words that went together in her, mind and his presence was gradually growing more and more obtrusive.

By the time Friday had rolled around, Cardin's behavior was nothing short of annoying.

* * *

Ruby had set down her tray at the table. She'd managed to get through the line first, while her friends had been held up behind her. Looking back, she saw Weiss silently fuming as Russel, in front of her, dithered over which type of meat offering he wanted. A little further behind them, Pyrrha and Jaune were stuck behind Sky, who had taken a plateful of salad and, now, was carefully extracting fragments of what looked like black olives and putting them back...one at a time.

Ruby felt the air shift and warm uncomfortably as the bench beneath her shifted slightly, a heavy weight settling down next to her. Cardin took a casual seat, leaning back against the table and resting his elbows on it as he stretched his legs out into the aisle. Looking over towards her, he flashed a grin at her that made Ruby distinctly uncomfortable, as it set her nerves on edge.

"Hey there, Rose," greeted Cardin.

"Hey..." Ruby returned the greeting dully, feeling extremely uneasy with how close Cardin had planted himself.

"So, anyway, tomorrow's Saturday," said Cardin.

"Yeah," answered Ruby, really wishing she could at least find it in herself to be rude enough to tell Cardin to get lost. At the moment, the best she could manage was act as disinterested in him as possible and hope he caught the hint.

If he did, he was clearly ignoring it, as Cardin pressed on gamely. "Well, I was thinking we could head into town...just you and me." His grin progressed through several more degrees of sickening. "We could catch a movie, maybe have a nice dinner together...What do you say?"

"Sorry," said Ruby plainly. "I'm not interested. Besides, I have plans with my team."

"Aww, come on," protested Cardin plaintively. "You work way too hard. We hear you guys up there every night, training. You need to enjoy yourself more. All work and no play makes Ruby a dull girl"

He reached up and used a finger to gently caress Ruby's cheek. The gesture sent an uneasy shiver through her body. Coming directly at her, screaming insults; _that_ Ruby could understand and deal with. Attacking her with a weapon, no problem. But _this_ kind of attack was not something she was used to, particularly since it imparted a queasy feeling to her stomach, the kind that made her sympathize with Jaune's bouts of motion sickness.

"Please don't do that," said Ruby, edging away from him.

It didn't work very well, as Cardin just edged along with her, keeping her within easy reach. "Hey, I'm not hurting anything," said Cardin, resting his hand on her shoulder, almost seeming to knead or massage it. "Don't make such a big deal of something so small, Ruby. Come on, go ahead and ditch that wimp you and the girls have been fawning over. I know way more about treating a girl right than he _ever_ could."

"No thank you," said Ruby firmly, pushing Cardin's hand off her shoulder. "And please stop touching me."

She edged away again, yet Cardin continued after her, scooting even closer when she came to a stop. "Hey, come on," he persisted. "Listen, I may not be a Schnee, but my family is pretty well off. The Winchesters are a big name in Vale. I know how to show a girl a good time. I can even get us into some places that your average guy couldn't even get within a hundred feet of. Maybe I can take you to one of them, tomorrow."

"No thanks," said Ruby, pointedly avoiding making eye contact with him. "Please go away. I'm not interested."

Once again, Cardin reached up to her face, this time cupping her cheek and forcefully turning her head to look at him. "You think you aren't," he said with easy confidence. "But I'm willing to bet I can change your mind."

"I don't want my mind changed, thank you very much," said Ruby, jerking her head to get away from his hand.

"You keep saying no, but I'll get you to say yes," said Cardin, his grin growing wider. "I like it when they're feisty."

"Oh, then you'll _love_ this."

Ruby saw the space between Cardin and the table he was leaning on shimmer. A second later, a snowflake-shaped Glyph spun into being. Cardin was abruptly propelled into the air with a surprised yelp, Weiss' Glyph launching him right over the next row of tables to land, face-first, in the aisle on the other side.

"Disgusting lout," said Weiss with an angry huff as she settled into the space Cardin had forcefully vacated.

"Ruby! Are you all right?" asked Pyrrha as she and Jaune came to Ruby's other side.

"I..." Ruby sighed and slumped forward. "I was scared."

"Honestly," scoffed Weiss. "You can face Grimm that most people would run from without flinching, but that lout gets a bit handsy with you and you suddenly become a bowl of jello?"

"I'm not used to people doing that with me," said Ruby, shivering at the memory of Cardin's touch.

Pyrrha pulled Ruby against her and hugged her. "It's okay," she said. "You're all right now."

"I'm sorry, Ruby," said Jaune. "We should have realized sooner that Russel and Sky were stalling us."

"Listen, if that jerk gets too handsy with you...or if he's just bothering you in general, just tell Professor Goodwitch," said Weiss. "There's no way she'll let that kind of behavior fly."

"And with Cardinal's previous infractions, Cardin will be in even bigger trouble than before," added Pyrrha.

"I will," promised Ruby.

Jaune looked over where Cardin landed, seeing Russel and Sky helped him back up to his feet, while Dove stood back, shaking his head, looking...disgusted. _I wonder if Dove is different from the others,_ thought Jaune.

Still, there wasn't much point in wondering about that now. Jaune turned back to Ruby and rubbed her back reassuringly, even as Pyrrha continued to hug her. In the meantime, Jaune felt a familiar set of eyes burning into his back. He didn't even need to look to know that Yang was glaring at him again.

* * *

To Ruby's disappointment, Sasame _still_ hadn't shown up. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't as though she and Sasame had made definitive plans about _where_ exactly they were going to meet...or how they would know where to find each other. Technically, Ruby figured that Sasame already knew where Ruby would be most of the time, so perhaps she didn't need to think too hard about it.

Sticking with her team on Saturday and Sunday, Ruby avoided any further run-ins with Cardin, trying to make sure that someone was with her, whenever she thought Cardin might be in her vicinity. For his part, Cardin kept his distance, apparently only really wanting to approach her when he could get her alone.

Unfortunately, that meant that the boys of CRDL turned to other amusements, as Ruby found out one day, in the dining hall.

* * *

"OW! Please stop that!"

Ruby looked up at the pained shout, which was accompanied by the clatter of a dropped tray. She and her friends had just gotten their lunch and were eating, while chatting about their homework and their next class. Looking up for the source of the shout, Ruby's eyes widened at the sight of CRDL, Cardin in particular, tormenting an unfortunate girl.

Ruby recognized her from History class with Dr. Oobleck. From what she remembered, the girl was a second-year, which made her a bit of an unusual sight in a class mostly full of first-years. She was a pretty girl, with light skin that contrasted nicely with the head of brown hair that flowed down past her shoulders. However, her most distinct features were the pair of long, brown, rabbit ears that rose up from the top of her head.

Right now, the poor girl's brown eyes were squeezed shut in pain as she begged and pleaded for Cardin to release her. The brute had closed his hand around one of her ears in a tight grip, tugging on it as he laughed. The tray, with the girl's lunch, lay on the floor at her feet.

"Hey, look at this, these things are real," he said, grinning at his cronies.

"What a freak," commented Russel with a look of smug amusement.

Sky was laughing loudly, dancing in place and holding his hands over his head, mimicking...a set of antlers, maybe...it was hard to tell. Once again, Dove was sitting away, apparently muttering something about what a waste of time this was.

"Atrocious," growled Pyrrha, from where she sat, next to Ruby.

Ruby looked at Pyrrha and frowned, then at the others at the table around her. Both RASP and RYNB were there, but no one seemed inclined to do anything. Ruby's eyes found Blake. Respecting Blake's desire to keep her own faunus heritage a secret, Ruby said nothing. Blake had been watching CRDL's antics too, glaring angrily at them. Yet, when she caught Ruby looking at her, Blake's face fell and she averted her eyes.

_She's not going to do anything...even though she's a faunus too?_ Ruby thought, somehow surprised, yet also not. It was clear that Blake wanted to do something, yet confronting CRDL, when no one else seemed prepared to move, would make her stand out, maybe even put her at risk of her own faunus nature being discovered.

_Nobody's going to do anything,_ thought Ruby, her gaze skipping from one person to another. They were all content to look on from afar with disapproval and click their tongues. But no one actually _wanted_ to take the next step, and move to stop what those boys were doing.

Ruby closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she got up from the bench and headed towards CRDL, and the unfortunate faunus they were tormenting.

"Ruby?" she heard Jaune call out from behind her.

Reaching behind her, Ruby slipped her hand underneath her cloak, grasping her sword, not by its handle, but further down by its sheath. When she came within reach of Cardin, she glared intently at him, though he didn't notice her, focused as he was on his victim.

"Let her go," said Ruby in a tense, angry tone.

"Huh...?" Cardin finally noticed her and turned to look. "Well, hey there, Red. You come to play too?"

"Let her _go_," Ruby repeated, silently bristling at Cardin, albeit unknowingly, using the nickname Roman Torchwick had used to address her. "I'm not going to tell you again."

"Aw, come on, Red," said Cardin. "There's no need to get worked up over a stupid ani-OW!"

Ruby whipped her hand back out from under cloak, gripping her weapon by its sheath, then drove the pommel right into the back of the hand Cardin was using to grip the poor girl's ear, adding a twist to grind it in further. Reflexively, he released her ear. Ruby reached out and grabbed the other girl's forearm with her free hand, tugging her back away from Cardin and positioning the faunus behind her, Ruby backing the pair of them away, holding up her sheathed sword in readiness.

"Dammit!" growled Cardin, massaging his hand. "What'd you do that for, Red?"

Ruby's eyes narrowed, her glare intensifying. "If I catch you doing something like that again, your hand comes _off_." To show she meant business, she used her thumb to push the handle of her sword free, baring an inch of the crimson blade hidden within the black-lacquered sheath.

While he looked angry at first, Cardin balked at the sight of her sword, and took a step back. Then, after a second's hesitation, he lifted his hands in surrender and grinned at her. Ruby shuddered. It was that same grin that had unnerved her so much when he'd been trying to ask her out last Friday. "Fine fine," he said. "Whatever you say, Red."

Ruby carefully backed herself and the faunus girl away from CRDL, waiting until she was sure they were far enough away before turning to guide the poor girl the rest of the way back to the table she and her friends had been sitting at.

The girl's shoulders were stooped, and she was slumped forward slightly, her head hanging, ears bent low. Looking more closely, Ruby could see pained tears leaking down her cheeks.

"Are you all right?" asked Ruby, her gaze flickering to the girl's ears. "Does it still hurt?"

The girl looked back at her, clearly fighting back the urge to whimper.

"Um...What's your name?" asked Ruby. "I know we have History together, but-"

"Velvet," she said softly. "It's Velvet."

Ruby smiled. "Velvet," she said. "Does your ear still hurt?"

Velvet hesitated for a second, before nodding.

"I can help," said Ruby. "Is it all right if I touch your ear?"

Velvet blinked, looking uncertain.

"I promise I won't hurt you," Ruby said firmly.

After another second of hesitation, Velvet bowed her head low enough that Ruby was able to easily reach her ear. Lifting her hand, Ruby carefully brushed her palm against the ear that Cardin had been squeezing and tugging, letting her Aura flow out into the appendage, using it to enhance the healing faculties of that section of the body. She felt Velvet shiver against her, then sigh in relief as her pain washed away under the warm pulse of Ruby's Aura.

"Is that better?" asked Ruby.

Velvet nodded and now gave Ruby a small, relieved smile. "It is," she said. "Thank you."

"Do you want to come sit with us?" asked Ruby, using her head to gesture towards her friends.

Velvet paused, clearly not expecting this kind of treatment. However, after another second, she nodded. "That would be nice. My team's not here now, so..."

Ruby led Velvet back to the table. Pyrrha scooted over, giving them enough room for Velvet to sit between the pair. Ruby sat down and continued to gently rub Velvet's back reassuringly.

"I'm sorry about them," said Pyrrha, looking at Velvet.

"Y-you didn't do anything," said Velvet, obviously a bit uncertain when dealing with so many strangers. "You're not responsible for them."

"Yes..." Pyrrha admitted. Then she looked down in shame. "But...we _should_ have done something. We just sat here and watched and judged. But no one but Ruby actually tried to do anything."

Ruby's eyes flickered towards Blake again, not surprised to see Blake looking down in shame. Ruby understood...and couldn't completely bring herself to sympathize. Blake had put maintaining her secret over helping a fellow faunus. Granted, the fact that what CRDL had been doing was wrong should have been enough to galvanize _any_ of them to act. But Blake clearly felt _especially_ disappointed by their collective inaction.

"It's all right," said Velvet. "I'm used to it. Most people think it's not their problem and...they're not wrong."

"That shouldn't stop us from doing something when we see a situation like that," said Ren, his tone unusually bitter as he stared down at the table. "Sometimes, the worst thing you can do...is nothing at all."

Ruby blinked, wondering where that bit of wisdom had come from. She saw a melancholy look wash over Nora's face, an expression that looked almost...alien...on the girl who seemed to perpetually beam with smiles and sunshine. Reaching over, Nora gently rubbed Ren's back in a mirror of what Ruby was doing for Velvet, making him smile and lean ever so slightly towards her.

"Why didn't you do anything yourself?" asked Weiss tartly, apparently less filled with sympathy than her friends. "You're a second-year. You should have been able to put those buffoons in their place without much effort."

Ruby supposed it was true. While it wasn't a given that those in their second year at Beacon were better than the first-years, second-year students had been through things most first-years had not, including several missions and field excursions. Though Velvet's nature was timid and retiring, Ruby got the distinct impression that she was far stronger and more capable than she looked. The strong thrum of the brown-haired girl's Aura against Ruby's senses confirming that, to an extent.

"I...I wish I could," said Velvet, looking down. "But it's not that easy."

"What do you mean?" asked Nora.

"Faunus get less leeway when it comes to defending themselves," said Blake softly.

Everyone looked at her in confusion. There was an expression of genuine bitterness on Blake's face.

"It's true," said Velvet, drawing their attention back to her. "I've tried to fight back in the past. But afterwards, the ones who were attacking me, and the humans who saw it, would always say I overreacted. They'd claim that we faunus are vicious, and always looking for an excuse to cause trouble." She sighed, lowering her head.

"Even so, you should at least _try_ to stand up for yourself," said Weiss firmly. "This is Beacon Academy. There's no way someone like Professor Goodwitch would allow those louts to get away with behavior like that, or believe some stupid claims so easily."

"Maybe that's true," said Velvet. "But it's a hard habit to break."

"What about your team?" asked Pyrrha. "Where are they?"

"Out on a mission," said Velvet. "I was supposed to go with them, but I was just recovering from a cold last week, so Coco insisted that I stay here and rest up."

"So they don't let you get picked on?" asked Ren warily.

"Not when they know about it," said Velvet, sighing again. "I try to keep it from them because, when they find out, _they're_ the ones who tend to overreact."

"Oh..." said Ren.

Velvet jumped when a tray was set in front of her with a clatter, her eyes going wide in surprise. She turned and looked up to see Jaune smiling down at her. "I tried to see what you had on your tray when you dropped it, and get some more for you," he said.

"Thank you," said Velvet gratefully.

Ruby looked at Jaune and beamed proudly. Jaune smiled back and returned to his seat.

"Well, at the very least, we can stay with you until your team gets back," Ruby told Velvet. "We won't let those jerks near you."

"Y-you don't have to," said Velvet, blushing.

"But we _want_ to," said Ruby, gazing around at her friends, as though daring them to object. "And it's the right thing to do."

"But why did you help me in the first place?" asked Velvet, her gaze flashing to Pyrrha. "It's true that people know what Cardinal was doing is wrong, but they usually stay back all the same."

"Well, my big sister is a faunus," said Ruby.

Across from her, Ren, Nora, and Blake all winced visibly. Their bench jolted as Yang abruptly shot to her feet and walked away at a hurried pace. Ruby glanced after her, but otherwise ignored her.

"Your sister is a faunus...really?" asked Velvet.

"Adopted big sister," Ruby admitted. "She's a fox-faunus, but she's one of the best people I know. She's coming to visit and should be here any day now. I wouldn't be able to look her in the eye, if I just sat back and did nothing while you were being treated like that."

"She sounds like someone I'd like to meet," said Velvet.

"I'll introduce you to her, if I can," Ruby promised, ignoring the uncomfortable looks the three remaining members of RYNB were wearing at the moment.

* * *

They kept Velvet company for the remainder of lunch. Afterwards, Velvet decided to stay with RASP as they went out for their free period of training. However, as they were leaving the dining hall, Blake pulled Ruby aside with a hand to her shoulder.

"What is it?" asked Ruby, seeing the wary look on Blake's face. "Look, if it's about what happened with Velvet-"

"That's not it," said Blake abruptly. She opened her mouth to continue, then paused, seeming to think of something else. "Well...I do feel ashamed," she admitted. "I should have done something..."

"But you didn't want to risk giving yourself away," said Ruby quietly.

Blake nodded, before rallying and meeting Ruby's gaze again. This time, her expression was plaintive. "Ruby...Please talk to Yang."

Blake winced as an angry look washed over Ruby's face. "Why should I?" she growled.

Blake sighed. "Look, we've been trying to keep her from bothering you too much, because we know that it would only make things worse if she kept pushing you. But she can't take much more of this, especially now, since she knows you have another sister."

"Sasame-n-...Sasame is my adoptive older sister," said Ruby firmly. "But I consider her a more real sister than Yang ever was."

"That's not fair to Yang," said Blake. "She's been trying to find a way to connect with you, ever since the school-year began. It's tearing her apart, the way you're treating her."

"Oh!" snapped Ruby, a feeling of sheer rage welling up within her. "It's tearing _her_ apart is it?" Her voice took on a sarcastic tone. "Poor little Yang. Everybody's worried about _her_ after she spent years working with our father to try and squash my dreams and turn me into some kind of stupid doll who could only live at home. Yeah, I feel _really_ sorry for her."

"Ruby!" Blake cried out, utterly shocked by the sheer vitriol in Ruby's voice. "Don't talk about her like that."

"Why shouldn't I?" hissed Ruby.

"Look," said Blake. "Yang made mistakes, it's true. But that was six years ago. I know she wants to make amends. She hasn't talked about dragging you back home or taking you out of Beacon. She hasn't said a word about telling your father that you're here. All she wants is to be able to talk with you. The fact that you keep giving her the cold shoulder is making her...well...difficult."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, frowning more as Blake averted her eyes. "Blake, what did she do?"

"She flew off the handle the other night," said Blake. "I mentioned your other sister and she blew up, slammed me against the wall. Nora had to pull her off me and hold her down."

"What?" gasped Ruby, her eyes going wide with shock, then narrowing in anger. "How dare she..."

"Ruby, you need to understand-" began Blake.

"Oh, I _understand_ plenty," snarled Ruby. "She doesn't like the fact that I have another sister, a way better sister than she ever was, a whole family who, for all that we don't share a drop of blood, actually treated me with love and appreciation, and did everything in their power to help me, not lock me in a box."

"Ruby..." Blake didn't know what to say. At the moment, Ruby was being every bit as irrational as Yang.

"Tell Yang _this_ for me," said Ruby. "What I do and do not call my family are _my_ business, not hers. If that really makes her so mad, she can come to me and I'll _gladly_ set her straight about it." Ruby's fingers strayed to the handle of her sword. Blake swallowed. "That's all," Ruby finished before turning and marching away.

Blake watched her go, a sick feeling welling up inside of her. _This can't go on,_ she thought glumly. As much as she liked Ruby, and as close as RYNB and RASP were overall, the rift between the two sisters was only going to be a source of more discord. Ruby had basically absolved herself of any connection with Yang, leaving Team RYNB to manage Yang's behavior, difficult when Yang's anger fed so readily into her Semblance and made her into such a destructive powerhouse. The sad thing was that Yang only had so many targets to vent at.

_At least I didn't mention what Yang did to Jaune,_ thought Blake, remembering Ren telling her about that little incident. She was scared to think what Ruby might have done, had she learned that Yang had thrashed Jaune to within an inch of his Aura breaking, just for the crime of being close to her when Yang couldn't be.

The problem was that Blake didn't see any resolution to this, at least not one that ended up with things ending well for all involved. As much as Yang's irrationality caused them trouble, the fact was that she was a member of RYNB, and Blake's partner to boot. If they didn't resolve this problem, then Yang was likely to get worse before she got better, which would only mean more problems for their team.

_But what _can_ we do?_ Blake wondered. She frowned and lowered her head in thought. Perhaps they needed help from the people they normally wouldn't have considered asking. Perhaps it was time to talk to Ruby's teammates about this.

* * *

**At this point, having someone step up to help Velvet is pretty much a fanfic-cliche, I'll readily admit.**

**For those of you who've read _Lost Rose_, I know it definitely looks like I'm pretty much doing the same thing with Blaine that I did there, but that won't be the case in this story. It's gonna be a while before that particular thread comes up again though.**

**As we can see, neither Ruby nor Yang are exactly being rational about this whole deal. They're both letting their feelings get the better of them, which is making it impossible for them to even try to meet each other halfway. The fact that they aren't on the same team only makes it easier for Ruby to avoid the issue, while, at the same time, compounding Yang's distress.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25:**

Arranging a meeting between the two teams, bar the two sisters, was a more difficult prospect than Blake liked. RYNB wasn't hard, seeing as Yang was all too happy to find her own amusements on the weekend, usually involving clubs or bars in Vale. RASP, on the other hand, spent much of the week together, training in between classes, only going their separate ways on Sunday, and not always, sometimes even spending their day off together, as a team.

It had taken a little doing on the part of Blake and Ren to arrange things. It had involved a series of discreet texts between the members of the two teams, with the exception of Ruby and Yang, to find something for Ruby to do, while Yang also did her own thing, leaving the remaining six to meet behind closed doors and discuss the issue.

So it was that Sunday, just after lunch; Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha discreetly entered Team RYNB's room, across the hall from their own. Ren, Nora, and Blake were waiting for them.

The three members of RASP listened as Ren and Blake explained the problem. After they finished, a silence descended as everyone thought things over.

"I'm not sure what to do," admitted Pyrrha nervously.

"Do we _need_ to do anything?" asked Weiss. "I mean, Yang's behavior is a problem, for sure. But there have been no issues on our team, with Ruby."

Silently, both Pyrrha and Jaune noted that it was a pretty big step for Weiss to say something so complementary about Ruby. "Weiss, we can't just pretend this isn't an issue," said Pyrrha. "These are our friends we're talking about, Yang included."

"And...it's been kinda an issue for me," added Jaune with a wince, remembering his "sparring match" with Yang a few weeks back.

"Fine," said Weiss with a resigned sigh. "But what _do_ we do? Ruby's resolved not to even acknowledge Yang's existence, when she can help it."

"Maybe we can arrange a situation where they have no choice but to face each other," suggested Pyrrha, "like if we arranged a sparring match between them."

"Actually...I could see that going downhill really fast," said Jaune warily.

"Me too," agreed Ren, while Blake nodded along with him.

"Fine then, what do you suggest, lock them in a room together or something?" asked Weiss. "Try something like that, and I can pretty much guarantee that whatever building the room is in won't be standing, when it's all over."

They fell silent, contemplating their options.

"I give up!" exclaimed Nora, throwing her arms up. "I can't think of any way to get them to make up with each other."

"Maybe getting them to make up is the issue," said Ren. "We either have to get Ruby to at least acknowledge, and be willing to talk with, Yang or get Yang to accept that Ruby won't deal with her as a sister."

"This is hopeless," groaned Weiss, leaning back. "Is there any way we can make them meet halfway."

"I'm not even sure what that would look like in this situation," said Pyrrha pensively.

"There must be something..." Jaune frowned. "Ruby's not gonna do anything herself. Is there anything that Yang can do...a peace offering...something?"

"I'll...check with her," said Ren. "I don't know what other option we have."

"We'll try and work on Ruby," said Pyrrha. "But this is the one thing that makes her angrier than anything else."

"Yeah...this is gonna suck," said Jaune.

* * *

"A peace offering?" Yang frowned, looking at her teammates. "I don't know...I haven't seen Ruby in so long. All the things she was interested in, back when she was nine, I doubt they'd matter much to her now."

"Perhaps there's a hint in there somewhere," said Ren. "A person's interests can mature along with them, but they are often rooted in the things that they enjoyed as children."

"Yeah, like pancakes!" exclaimed Nora, bouncing on her bed.

"Nora, you've _always_ loved pancakes," said Ren with an exasperated, yet amused, smile. "That's one thing about you that's _never_ changed."

"That's because pancakes are timeless!" cheered Nora.

Yang and Blake couldn't help but giggle. _I'm glad they're trying to help me now,_ thought Yang. It was a far cry from before, where all she had was building frustration and..._And I just flew off the handle at Blake, just because she heard something I didn't like._ Shame washed through Yang and she slumped. _I...I've just been causing problems for my team, making things harder for them. They're trying so hard, but it may be just as much so I'll get myself under control as it is because they want to help me fix things with Ruby._

Considering _how_ she had expressed her frustrations before now, Yang's teammates were well within their rights to do any number of things to try and bring her under control. Yet here they were, trying to help her with the very thing she'd been blowing up at them over. _I need to get control of myself,_ she thought.

For now though, Yang decided to focus on trying to figure out what she could do to connect with Ruby. There had to be something. She was ashamed to realize she couldn't remember things like Ruby's favorite movies or cartoons from when she was little. Granted, those were things she'd liked when she was nine, and Ruby hadn't been in contact with the Kingdoms much over the past six years. So it was hard to say what she did and didn't like now.

The only other thing she really loved was hanging out with Uncle Qrow... Yang's eyes widened and a faint gasp escaped her. _Uncle Qrow!_ Their eccentric uncle had been someone that Ruby had always admired and desired to emulate. Ruby had been ecstatic, on those occasions where he dropped by to visit. She'd always wanted Qrow to teach her how to use the scythe, so that she could learn to fight like him.

But, in the years since the incident, Taiyang and Qrow had fought furiously over Ruby's future, Taiyang threatening to bar Qrow from even _seeing_ Ruby, if he kept pushing to have her trained. It had reached the point where, anytime Qrow showed up at the house, it always devolved into a shouting match between the two men, often leading to Qrow storming out. Qrow had admitted to Yang that he'd found Ruby after she'd run away, but had ultimately let her go, trusting the people Ruby was with. Qrow hadn't seen Ruby in six years. Now...

"You have an idea?" asked Ren.

"I think so," said Yang. "But I need to make a call."

* * *

"Watch where you're going!" snarled Cardin, glaring down at the other student, now sprawled out on the ground.

"S-sorry," the poor boy whimpered, scrambling to get away from him.

Cardin snorted and kept on walking. At the moment, he was in a foul mood. His efforts to entice Ruby were coming to nothing. If anything, she was repulsed by him, rather than attracted. He couldn't even properly take out his frustrations on fitting targets, like those faunus animals, for fear that she would follow through on the threat she'd made when he'd been tormenting Velvet. Now he was just left with lashing out at anyone unfortunate enough to cross his path.

It was Saturday. Cardin should have been enjoying the day in Vale, preferably with a pretty girl on his arm. He had a particular girl in mind too. When he'd first laid eyes on Ruby Rose, he'd thought of her as little more than a child, Ozpin's little pet, probably invited into Beacon for some random reason, or to bolster the school's reputation.

However, after seeing her fight Russel, and subsequent matches, Cardin had realized that Ruby was a prodigy, someone who had indeed earned her place at Beacon. What was more, she had been made the leader of a team that included the likes of Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee. And then, after that first Sunday in town, Cardin had gotten a look at her in her new outfit.

Now there was no question in his mind. Ruby Rose was a beautiful young woman, and one with a bright future to boot. If Cardin could hook up with her, his status and street credit would skyrocket. Now...if only she could see the appeal of being with him.

After all, Cardin came from the Winchester family. While they weren't as prestigious or powerful as the Schnees, they were a force to reckoned with in Vale. Over the years, the family had supplied multiple members of Vale's Council, and several members had gone on to become renowned Huntsmen and Huntresses. The family fortune, again, was no match for what the Schnees had, but they were more than wealthy enough for their purposes. With that kind of clout, he should have been irresistible to a girl like Ruby.

However, she was _disgusted_ by him, preferring to hang out with a wimp like Jaune Arc, all because he had the good fortune of winding up as her partner. Just the thought of a loser like that hanging out with someone as valuable as Ruby Rose was enough to make Cardin's blood boil.

Stewing in his frustrations, Cardin wasn't really looking where he was going. With his size and heft, if he bumped into anyone, _they_ were likely to be the ones to wind up on the ground. So it was only natural that, as he rounded a corner of one of Beacon's outbuildings, that he didn't see the diminutive girl who was coming the other direction, namely because she was so short that he was below his normal field of vision, even had he been paying attention.

"Oops," said the girl, skipping back slightly to avoid bumping into Cardin, her voice attracting his attention.

Cardin looked down, taking in the girl, her auburn hair and chocolate-colored eyes, her light build and, most visibly, the reddish-brown, bottlebrush tail, with a white tip, that swayed behind her.

"Terribly sorry," said the girl cheerfully. "This school is a bit hard to navigate for a visitor like me."

Cardin growled and bared his teeth. If there was one thing that irked him about Beacon, it was the fact that Ozpin and Goodwitch gave free rein to let these animals run around however they pleased. If there was one thing his family had taught him, it was that faunus were animals. They might think they had won their rights with that stupid revolution of theirs, but no amount of revolting would change the fact that they _were_ revolting. The sight of that fox-tail dancing behind this little interloper made his blood boil, particularly with the way she spoke to him, as though she had any right to address someone like him, as though she were another human herself.

"I don't suppose you could direct me to the student dormitories," said the girl, looking around. "I'm here to visit my younger sister."

Cardin growled. "You damn mutts," he snarled. "It's bad enough that the likes of you are trying to become Huntsmen. But now they're just attracting more of their kind."

"Oh, well I can see that you aren't inclined to be helpful," said the girl, shrugging indifferently. "In that case, I'll keep looking. Perhaps I'll find someone more polite."

She turned and began to walk away. Her nonchalance, not even seeming offended by his words, irked Cardin all the more. His hand twitched, and he remembered Ruby's warning.

_But she's not here, right now,_ thought Cardin. _This is perfect. There's no one around, and I can get some stress relief._

"Hold up," he said. "You think you can just walk away from me?"

"Hmmm?" The girl paused and looked back over her shoulder at him. "But I figured, since you were so upset by my presence, this was what you preferred."

"Oh, I don't like your presence all right," said Cardin. "But you're an idiot if you think you can just walk away before I can show you what your kind deserve."

"And what is that?" inquired the girl.

"A beating," said Cardin, reaching out to grab her tail. "I've been a bit stressed out lately, and a dumb mongrel like you is perfect to help me vent." He pulled back on her tail, trying to pull her towards him.

To his surprise, the girl didn't budge. Her face reflected neither pain nor fear, merely indifference. "Please let go," she said simply.

"Hell, no," growled Cardin. "An animal like you doesn't give orders to me. We're gonna play, you and I."

"Well then, I won't bother asking again," said the girl with a shrug, turning towards him so that her tail was now curled around her side. "In that case, I advise you to hold on with all your might. My idea of 'play' is very rough. It would be unfortunate if you ended up flying over the horizon."

"Huh what do you meeeeaaaaaaaan-?"

Cardin's voice ended in a terrified shout as the girl's tail abruptly pulled itself in his grip, pulling Cardin along with it. It yanked him upwards into the air with such suddenness that it wrenched his arm from its socket, lengthening and extending, before swinging him over the top of the girl's head and pulling him back down. Cardin slammed back into earth on his back, with enough force to break the ground beneath him. Something in his back cracked, and pain shot from about midway down his spine and out to the tips of his toes, making him scream in agony.

"Oooh! That was a cracked vertebrae," said the girl, wincing in sympathy. "From the way you're reacting, I imagine it put some pressure on your spinal cord, which is why you're feeling so much pain down into your legs even. It seems I dislocated your shoulder too."

Cardin wheezed and gasped. "You...b-b...You bitch!" He panted for breath for a moment before finding the strength to keep speaking. "I'll report you! Y-you won't get away with this."

"Oh...get away with what?" asked the girl in all innocence, tilting her head cutely.

"H-huh?" Cardin blinked, then realized something. He wasn't in pain anymore. He felt good as new. It was like he _hadn't_ just been smacked into the ground with bone-breaking force or had his shoulder dislocated. "Wha-what did you-?"

Before he could finish his question, he was pulled into the air with another scream, swung up and over the girl's head again and slammed back down. This time, he landed awkwardly and there was a jolt of agonizing pain from his back...followed by sheer terror as all feeling from his shoulders down vanished.

"Well, that was a broken neck," said the girl. "In stories, they always kill people that way, but not enough force and you just inflict total paralysis. Such an injury can be permanent, even if a person's recovery abilities are bolstered by their Aura." She favored Cardin with a cheerful smile. "Fortunately, you are in capable hands...or a capable tail, rather.

Cardin blinked and the sensation of...a lack of sensation...was gone. Everything was back to normal. "What was-AAAGGGHHH!"

He was whipped around yet again, this time landing on his forearm and breaking it. Even before he was finished wailing with pain and lifting up the limb to inspect it, it had returned to normal.

The girl was beaming cheerfully down at him. "Isn't it amazing?" she asked. "Injuries like this are child's play for me to fix."

"What are you?" gasped Cardin.

"I'm a healer," said the girl proudly. "Isn't it amazing to be able to experience that pain? Since I can erase it so easily, you get the unique experience of being hurt, with none of the consequences. Wonderful, isn't it?"

"Y-you..." gasped Cardin, before he was flicked around again, breaking a leg this time. "Stop it!"

"But why should I?" asked the girl, still beaming innocently. "If you want to stop, all you have to do is let go."

Cardin blinked and gaped. It was so simple. Why hadn't he done that sooner?

The answer was that he _couldn't_. Now that he thought about it, Cardin realized that the muscles of his hand had seized up, locking it in a grip around the girl's tail that was tighter than the grip of death itself. "I...I can't let go."

"Oh, that's just a safety measure," said the girl. "Like I said before, it would be a shame if you were sent flying, so I wanted to make sure you don't lose your grip."

"But now I can't let go!" protested Cardin.

"Well, if you're going to be stubborn about it, I suppose that we'll just keep playing," said the girl, blatantly ignoring that she'd just said that _she_ was the one making it so that Cardin couldn't let go.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" wailed Cardin as he was whipped through the air again, breaking his ribs this time.

"Isn't it incredible?" teased the girl. "It hurts, then it's gone, like it never happened. Don't worry, I'll heal every injury you receive, so you can continue to fall without a care in the world." Her smile widened, but the expression now looked positively vicious on her face. "People often threaten to break every bone in another's body, but you'll be the one of the few who will actually get to experience it...and then be one of the _rarer_ few able to walk away afterwards. What a truly distinct opportunity this is."

She was diminutive, a little under five feet. But, right now, to Cardin's eyes, she seemed a titan as she loomed over him, her smiling face menacing in its cheerfulness. "Now then, what should I break next, hmm...?"

A plaintive whimper was the only response Cardin could muster.

* * *

Ruby blinked and turned, finding herself looking through a few trees, back towards Beacon's main campus. _Is that...?_

"Ruby!" cried Jaune, from where he hung, "Your flame is getting too big!"

"Oh!" Ruby quickly turned back to Jaune and adjusted the size and intensity of the plasma orb hovering below him to its proper level. "Sorry." She beamed up at Jaune. "But you're doing a great job. Keep up the good work."

A pained moan was her only response as Jaune curled back and forth, dangling from his legs, his knees hooked over a tree branch, forced to keep moving his body to avoid keeping either his front or back exposed to the heat radiating upwards from the orb below for too long and start burning. However, he also had to hold each position a certain amount to allow the other side of the body to cool off enough for him to expose it again.

"Where did you get an insane exercise like this?" asked Weiss, incredulously, watching Jaune continue to work from where she stood. She was pretty sure she'd seen something like this in an artistic depiction of the torments of Hell.

"I used to do it almost every day, when I was little," said Ruby. "It's good for developing your core muscles. The heat is a nice motivating factor."

"I'm not sure how I feel about this," admitted Pyrrha, watching with no small amount of trepidation. "It looks more like torture than exercise."

"Nah, if it were torture, I'd be making the plasma hot enough that he'd burn, no matter how he moved," said Ruby dismissively. "This is just enough to not harm him...so long as he doesn't slack off."

"It sure _feels_ like torture to me," complained Jaune from above.

"If I could handle this when I was nine, you can handle it now," Ruby called back cheerfully.

"You are enjoying this way too much," muttered Weiss.

"You mind?" Ruby inquired.

Weiss looked up, seeing the distressed, borderline panicked look on Jaune's face, and the corner of her mouth quirked in a half-smile. It was a very comical expression on his face. "Not too much," she admitted.

"Well...I suppose it's for his own good," said Pyrrha, still looking unsure.

"Traitor!" wailed Jaune.

"Less griping and more working," Ruby called up at him. "If you've got the breath to complain, I must not be making the it hot enough."

"I'm working! I'm working!" Jaune's movements above became sharper.

Ruby grinned, then gasped, feeling another pulse against her senses. She turned to look in the same direction as before.

"RUBY! TOO HOT!"

"Ah!" Ruby turned back and adjusted the plasma again. "Sorry!"

"Um...if you're having trouble concentrating, perhaps we should-" Pyrrha began, only to cut off when Ruby snapped her head back around to look towards the campus again.

She'd felt it again, like a gentle pulse against her. What was more, this feeling was familiar to her. Ruby gasped, her eyes going wide, an exultant smile forming on her face as she realized what it meant.

"RUUUUBY!" Jaune yelled desperately.

"Ooops!" Ruby turned and extinguished her orb completely, leaving Jaune gasping desperately, up in the tree. "Sorry," she said. "Let's leave off here for today."

"You're actually calling off training early?" asked Weiss skeptically. "What happened?"

"She's here," said Ruby eagerly.

"She...Wait!" Pyrrha gasped. "You mean your sister?"

"Yeah!" said Ruby, practically dancing in place. "Jaune! Hurry up and get down here! I want to introduce you."

"Um...A little help heeeeeeeeeeeere!" Jaune's request terminated in a wail as his legs relaxed, which, unfortunately, resulted in them loosening their hold on the tree branch, sending him plummeting towards the ground.

"Jaune!" exclaimed Pyrrha, reaching out to catch him.

With a flash, a white Glyph appeared beneath Jaune, hovering just a foot off the ground. Jaune's drop came to an abrupt stop, leaving him hanging in the air above the earth...for all of a second, before the Glyph vanished and he dropped the rest of the way to the ground with a grunt of pain.

"Thank you, Weiss," Jaune moaned tiredly from where he lay.

"You're welcome," said Weiss with an amused smirk on her face, while Ruby giggled next to her.

Then Ruby quickly moved down to help Jaune to his feet. "Come on, silly," she said. "Hurry and get cleaned up."

Jaune groaned as he accepted Ruby's hand, grunting with the exertion of getting his tired legs under him, then straightening them. After that, he gratefully accepted the towel Pyrrha offered him, using it to dry off the sweat that had collected across his brow and bare torso, unfortunately completely oblivious to the fact that the three girls were now blushing as they eyed him, his physique having already improved markedly after just these few weeks of training, enabling him to develop muscle-tone that was bordering on impressive.

Reluctantly, Pyrrha offered Jaune his T-shirt, unable to tear her eyes away as he lifted up his arms and slid the garment over his head, feeling somewhat disappointed, once his skin disappeared beneath the garment.

"Come on!" shouted Ruby, grabbing Jaune by his wrist and yanking him back towards the school, making Jaune yelp in surprise as he struggled to keep from getting pulled off his feet, leaving him being almost dragged along in Ruby's wake.

"Ruby! Wait!" shouted Weiss as she and Pyrrha broke into a run to try and keep up with their excited leader.

* * *

"P-please stop," whimpered Cardin from where he lay, having just had his femur snapped like a twig.

"Aw...but we've only just begun," said the girl, sounding disappointed. "A human skeleton has over two-hundred bones. We're only a little ways into the double-digits."

"No more...please!" begged Cardin, tears of fear and pain streaming from his eyes.

"Well...if you really don't want to play anymore, there's no helping it," said the girl, adopting an expression of faux-benevolence. "I suppose you're the kind of person who only likes it when the 'play' is only fun for _you_. You prefer it when your playmate is the weaker one, don't you?"

Cardin gulped, his eyes widening as the girl crouched over him, positioning herself so that she was leaning directly over his head and looking straight down at his face.

"Yes," crooned the girl, "you like that: the feeling of power, the feeling of control, of being able to handle a person any way you like, while they protest and plead. But now that you're on the other end of that, it's not so fun anymore, is it?"

She leaned in closer, her nearness making Cardin tremble. "The pain is unique, true. But this sense of powerlessness, of having control wrenched away, and your pleasure and pain being completely subjected to the whims of another, _that_ is what your victims experience when you take advantage of them. Tell me...when the ones you victimized asked or begged, did you actually stop...or did you merely pause to savor their whimpering, before continuing, only stopping when _your_ wants were sated?"

Cardin whimpered wordlessly.

"Fortunately, I am a bit more merciful than you," said the girl. "If you want this to end, it's all too easy. All it takes is two very simple words." She raised her right hand and, ever so lightly, rested the tip of her index finger on the center of Cardin's forehead.

"Huh?" Cardin blinked.

"After all," continued the girl. "You were so very rude to me, even though I minded my manners, despite your lack of such. Yet you still proceeded to try and attack me. I know some of the humans in the Kingdoms harbor negative views of faunus. I find it quaintly amusing most of the time. However, not everyone is as tolerant as me. The next time you try something like this, the person you antagonize might well be stronger than you...and nowhere near as merciful as I am."

_This is her idea of mercy?_ wondered Cardin, too terrified to give voice to his thoughts.

"Now then, that having been said..." said the girl, "...as I told you before, all it takes is two simple words to end this. What do you think they are?"

Cardin's throat worked furiously. He knew exactly what words the girl was fishing for. However, his pride didn't want him to give voice to those words. This girl was a filthy faunus, a freak, masquerading as a human, pretending that the tail that grew from the base of her spine was something normal...even before she'd started stretching and manipulating it like it was some kind of furry tentacle. His family had always taught him that the faunus were beasts with delusions of grandeur, that treating them like people was beneath him...that _they_ were beneath him.

But now, he'd met this girl...and _he_ was the one beneath her, the one being tormented and beaten, his pain being treated as a source of amusement to her. It was infuriating...humiliating...to be reduced to that. And now she wanted him to compound his humiliation further. Pride and fear warred furiously within him.

"Now...what do we say?" asked the girl, reprimanding him with the sternness of a mother correcting her child's behavior.

In the end...fear won out. "I...I'm s-sorry," said Cardin, his voice trailing off in another whimper.

The girl's smile widened ever so slightly and, for all of a second, Cardin was terrified that she would ignore it and continue torturing him. Instead, he felt the muscles of his hand relax and open, her tail finally slipping out of his grip.

"There now," cooed the girl. "That wasn't so hard, now was it? In the future, I advise you to mind your manners much more carefully. You never know when someone might be the sort of person more than capable of turning your belligerence against you...and more than _willing_ to."

She stood up. "I also suggest you reconsider your life philosophy. The belief that being stronger allows you to exploit those weaker than you might seem enticing, but those who only ever pick on the weak soon find that their strength will reach its limit, whereas someone who actually aims to get stronger, generally by facing those even stronger than them, will surpass that wall. Keep this up, and you'll only be top dog for so long...if you even are now."

The girl stretched her arms above her head, her tail flicking idly. "Now then, I'll be off to find my sister. Feel free to get up whenever you're ready. It's not as though you're injured, after all."

It was true. There wasn't a trace of physical pain in Cardin's entire body. He felt fine, in fact, better than fine even, as though he'd been healed, not only of the injuries the girl herself had inflicted, but all the little sources of pain and discomfort that tended to build up in the body over time, even with Aura to help with recovery.

Yet, that revelation only terrified him all the more. Even though he was perfectly capable of standing up and walking away, without so much as a limp, Cardin was locked in place by the memory of that pain alone.

The girl merely giggled and walked away, heading back around the corner, already homing in on a familiar Aura approaching her. Turning, she began to follow that sense towards its source, her smile widening eagerly as she felt the source approaching her just as quickly.

"Sasame-nee!" shouted Ruby as she barreled towards the fox-faunus.

Mitarai Sasame's smile widened and she broke into an exuberant grin. "Ruby-chan!" she shouted back, holding out her arms in preparation to greet her little sister.

* * *

Roman groaned as he set aside his book. Prison wasn't as bad as the Dust-vision shows made it seem. The food wasn't terrible, perfectly palatable, tasty even, particularly on Saturdays. Sure, he got a few privileges, like getting books from the prison library and some time to watch whatever he wanted on the prison's projector. But that didn't change the fact that it was boring in the long run.

And, unfortunately, he figured that he was gonna be here for a while. It wasn't as though Cinder was going to spring him anytime soon, not when he was here, in plain sight, being such a good suspicion-deflector.

His eyebrows went up as he heard a faint tapping on the door to his cell again.

"_Bad news,_" his most-trusted ally reported.

Roman rolled his eyes. _Of course it is._ Using his shoe, he tapped out a response. "_What?_"

"_Cinder has a new approach,_"

Roman swallowed. _That's not good._ If Cinder was changing the plan so that she could work without him...then that made him expendable. If he became expendable, then he also became disposable. Unfortunately, his boss wasn't the sort to hesitate when it came to doing the disposing. "_Is she...?_" He really didn't want to finish that question.

"_No,_" came the answer, making him sigh in relief, before checking his behavior. He knew his cell was monitored. The last thing he wanted was to give them the impression that he was having a conversation. His ally continued. "_She still wants me for Phase 2. She won't have me if anything happens to you._"

That made Roman relax a little. He had to admit, his little helper was one of the most capable people in Vale's underworld...for a variety of tasks and roles. She didn't have the head for running things the way he did, not to mention the issues her...other problem...created, but she was even better than him, when it came to fighting, and had the capability to get into a lot of places most people couldn't, as evinced by her presence here. He could understand why Cinder valued Neo's skills so much. Now he appreciated her skills more than ever...almost as much as he appreciated her loyalty.

It was said that there was no honor among thieves. But what Roman and Neo had wasn't based on honor. It was a trust and loyalty based on far more than that. No matter how bad things got, neither would ever truly abandon the other. So, as long as she was useful in Cinder's plan, Neo would make sure that nothing happened to him.

"_What's the new approach?_" Roman asked.

"_She wouldn't tell me,_" Neo replied. "_But she's been having the White Fang move operations out of Vale._"

That got Roman thinking. For all that Cinder apparently needed Neo for the next phase of her plans, she wasn't willing to explain those plans to her, nor was she explaining how Phase 1 had changed, now that he was in custody.

He'd thought that the plan had been to have the White Fang start hitting Dust shops, now that Roman was conveniently behind bars, leaving the police with their guard down. But it seemed Cinder had something else in mind. "_What about me?_"

"_Stay put for now,_" Neo answered.

I thought so, thought Roman, suppressing the urge to groan. This probably meant he would be stuck here for a good while longer. _Still, Neo's made sure Cinder isn't gonna off me anytime soon...I hope. That's enough for now._

* * *

Ruby squealed in excitement as she threw her arms around Sasame's shoulders. Sasame immediately returned the gesture, hugging Ruby around the waist. A second later, she shifted her hands and, in the next second, Ruby squeaked as she was tossed up in the air. Sasame caught her on the way down and began to toss her up again.

"You know, there's something...off...about this picture," deadpanned Weiss, staring at the scene of a girl a full foot shorter than Ruby, tossing her up and down like Ruby was a toddler. The scene became even stranger when Sasame caught Ruby again, swinging her around so that she hooked an arm under Ruby's legs, now holding her like a toddler too, all despite the fact that Ruby was a good bit bigger than her.

"Sasame-nee! I'm too old for this," protested Ruby, blushing as receiving such treatment in front of her friends.

"Aw, but you're still my precious little sister, Ruby-chan," replied Sasame teasingly. "As your big sister, it's my _obligation_ to embarrass you in front of your friends."

"Yep, they're sisters all right," said Jaune with an amused chuckle. He'd seen that treatment between his own sisters...and been on the receiving end of it himself. He chuckled more as he watched Sasame dip Ruby down far enough that the older, yet shorter, girl could kiss the tip of Ruby's nose, drawing forth an embarrassed whine.

"You know, if you want this kind of thing to stop, you have to stop making the cutest noises when you're flustered," said Sasame, which only made Ruby whine more, even as Pyrrha began to laugh, muffling the sound with her hand.

"She _does_ make very cute noises," Pyrrha conceded softly to Jaune.

"That she does," agreed Jaune.

Finally, Sasame set Ruby down and stood back, looking her up and down. "I haven't seen you in months, Ruby-chan. Just look how much you've grown."

"I _have_ been drinking milk," said Ruby.

"Well...there's that too," said Sasame with a giggle. "But I was thinking you look more mature now. It seems that going to Beacon agrees with you quite a bit."

"I guess," demurred Ruby, looking away, her cheeks flushing.

"Oh, she's _thriving_ here," said Pyrrha cheerfully.

"Indeed," said Sasame, turning to take in Ruby's teammates for the first time.

The three other members of RASP found themselves flinching reflexively under the force of Sasame's look. There was no malice or negative emotion attached to her gaze, yet it exuded a palpable pressure.

"Well then, I suppose you'll have to introduce me," said Sasame, turning back to Ruby. "I can't wait to hear everything you've been up to."

They found their way to a table in the courtyard and seated themselves around it. Sasame's tail flicked behind her as it extended through the chair's open back, a feature designed to accommodate the faunus who attended Beacon.

"This is Weiss Schnee," said Ruby, gesturing to Weiss, who dipped her head politely, Sasame returning the gesture. "And this is her partner, Pyrrha Nikos."

"Pleased to meet you," said Pyrrha cheerfully.

"Likewise," said Sasame in an identical tone.

"And this is my partner, Jaune Arc," said Ruby, gesturing to Jaune.

"It's great to finally meet you," said Jaune.

"And I'm glad to meet you," said Sasame. "It's nice to know that Ruby's made friends who've been taking good care of her."

"Actually, it's more like she's been taking care of me," admitted Jaune with a sheepish laugh.

"Jaune!" hissed Weiss. "Do you have any idea how that sounds?"

"How what sounds?" asked Jaune, looking at Weiss in confusion.

"It...never mind," growled Weiss.

Sasame merely giggled. "Yes, good friends indeed," she said. Her eyes flickered over the three of them in turn.

Weiss had to admit that the mysterious "Sasame-nee" Ruby had talked about had not been what she'd been expecting, not that Ruby had ever given them a detailed description of the older girl. She wasn't sure what to expect. Having heard that Sasame was a healer, she'd expected a gentle demeanor, which Sasame did indeed have. However, Sasame's presence was incredible. Just her being there made the air seem lighter and clearer, almost as though Weiss had set foot in a high-class spa, just by entering into Sasame's vicinity.

"Still, you seem to have acquired quite the cast of characters," said Sasame, her gaze going back to Ruby. "And you're the team leader, are you? I'm very proud of you, Ruby-chan."

"Thanks," said Ruby, averting her eyes slightly.

"She certainly deserves it," said Jaune.

"I imagine so," said Sasame. "It's certainly quite good of her to oversee your training, Jaune-kun."

"Huh?" Jaune blinked, flinching back, his eyes going wide. Weiss and Pyrrha wound up gaping at Sasame as well...while Ruby didn't look remotely surprised.

"I can see the evidence of recent development in your physique," said Sasame plainly, her eyes gliding up and down Jaune's torso, with a look that reminded him more of being examined by a doctor than being eyed by a girl, not that the latter had happened to him much. "You've only really started training in earnest recently. You have a remarkably strong Aura. It's rare for anyone to have so much of it naturally. The state of your Temper indicates that you've unlocked it, and only been training in its usage recently...a little over a month, right?"

"Y-yeah," said Jaune, beginning to sweat.

"That explains how you've developed so quickly," noted Sasame. "Your Aura speeds your recovery, stimulating your muscle-growth after an intense workout. You can work longer and more often and, thusly, increase your musculature much more quickly than average. Ruby-chan took almost three-times as long to start showing the results you're showing now."

"So I'm basically almost at the level she was at when she was nine," noted Jaune.

"Adjusting proportionally for age," Sasame assured him. "For someone who's never received proper training before, you are showing impressive growth and, I imagine, your body should reach the levels of strength and stamina matching the rough average of others in your year in another two to three months, assuming you continue working at this pace."

"Really?" gasped Jaune, Weiss and Pyrrha looking equally surprised. Even Ruby clearly hadn't expected Sasame's assessment of his progress to be so radical.

"Yes," said Sasame. "Unfortunately, that does little for your technique, which I imagine is rudimentary at this stage. Aura boosts your physical recovery and will enable you to practice longer and harder, but there are no shortcuts to mastering a skill. That will take a little longer. However, as your body develops, you'll be able to devote more time to your technique training.

"That's good, I suppose," said Jaune. "How can you-?"

"-tell the level of your training and your history at a brief glance?" Sasame grinned at his surprise. "It's not hard. As a healer, I've developed the skill to assess my patients. By examining your physical condition, it isn't hard to begin building an understanding of your personal history. I am also adept at reading a person's reactions, so with a few well chosen statements and questions, I can gain a great deal of information about a person, both by what they say and how they say it, by reading both verbal and nonverbal cues. For example..."

Sasame's eyes narrowed and her gaze swept over all three of Ruby's teammates in just a few seconds. "From your reaction and the state of your body, the logical assessment is that you were not in a condition for the rigors of a Huntsman Academy, when you first arrived here. That suggests little or no real training prior to your admission, which itself is a conundrum, as I imagine a school as prestigious as this one must screen its applicants on _some_ level. The fact that you were admitted in that underdeveloped state, without your Aura even being unlocked, suggests that you employed some measure of deception to get in."

"Th-that's right," said Jaune, shaking in his seat.

"However, while you're discomfited by my analysis, you are surprisingly unworried about this secret," mused Sasame. "From the way they reacted, your teammates were surprised at my insight, but not at the fact of your situation itself, which tells me they are privy to your history. The fact that you seem so settled, when, under most circumstances you would normally be afraid to have someone find out your secret means that there is a secondary screening of sorts for full entry into this Academy. Passing that means that your entrance is cemented, and even the secret of your initial admission will not change that."

All four members of Team RASP nodded at that, amazed by Sasame's skill.

"Hmm..." Sasame raised an eyebrow. "What's more, your development shows that you've been taking your training seriously. Your typical glory-seeker, wanting to trick his way into a school like this, wouldn't be even half as serious about working so hard, even when confronted with their shortcomings. You're incredibly motivated, which means that you're probably just as determined to become a Huntsman as Ruby-chan was. That, combined with your condition suggests to me that your circumstances, prior to coming here, were similar to hers."

Jaune nodded vigorously.

"Ruby! Your sister is amazing," gasped Pyrrha.

"I'm almost afraid of what _else_ she might be able to tell," said Weiss softly.

"Well, there's you, Weiss-chan," said Sasame, her eyes going to Weiss. "From your posture and demeanor, I suspect you had a rather high-class upbringing, something that is borne out by the quality of your clothing. While you've clearly opened up somewhat, your manner is still slightly reserved, which suggests to me that your education was heavily focused upon maintaining appearances, and that you were raised in relative isolation."

Weiss swallowed hard.

"And _you_..." Sasame turned to look at Pyrrha, who stiffened nervously at suddenly being in the spotlight. "You don't come from as exalted a background as Weiss-chan, but you too have clearly been trained to maintain appearances. You probably have the second-most direct combat experience of anyone after Ruby-chan, though I suspect it has been in a rather formalized setting, a tournament perhaps."

Pyrrha nodded.

"I see," said Sasame. "So you established yourself as quite skilled and became famous. While you've learned to let your guard down around your friends here, your smile is still more conditioned than natural."

Pyrrha's face fell.

"It's not something you can overcome overnight," said Sasame, her eyes now flickering between Weiss and Pyrrha. "You both come from relatively friendless backgrounds, isolated from others by your respective statuses, wary of those who approach you, rightfully concerned that others' interest might stem from ulterior motives."

Weiss and Pyrrha both sighed and nodded.

"Dang! She's good," said Jaune.

"Why thank you," said Sasame, beaming proudly. "I'd like to think so."

_So this is Ruby's sister,_ thought Weiss, eyeing Sasame warily. _And this is one of the Mibu Ruby has been telling us about. She really _is_ cut from a different cloth than anyone I've ever met._

"Oh, this is just lovely!" cheered Sasame, clapping her hands together. "I'm so glad to see you're doing well, Ruby-chan. Kyo and Sora-sama will be happy to hear this as well." Her face fell a little. "Though I imagine Natsu-chan will be a little sad to not see her best friend for a while."

"I hope she doesn't get mad at me," said Ruby, looking down, the others looking at her in confusion.

"Who is this...Natsu-person?" asked Weiss, having to take a second to filter out the honorific she was still unaccustomed to dealing with.

"My best friend back in Onmyo, that's Leng's capital by the way," said Ruby.

"You've never told us about her," said Pyrrha.

"Um...well...it's never come up," said Ruby, her eyes darting about nervously.

Sasame came to her rescue, by heaving a sigh of all things. "Long distance relationships are difficult, especially since we Mibu don't have anything like the CCT. I can carry a letter back with me. I could also ask Dougal-sama if he can arrange something. Our couriers are nothing if not discrete, even if Vale and Beacon are a good bit further out of the way than most of their destinations."

"Oh! No, please," said Ruby. "I know how hard they work. They have enough to do already."

Sasame sighed. "You're probably right about that," she admitted disappointedly. "However, when I get back home, I'll check and see if I can arrange to bring her out with me the next time I come to visit."

"You could _do_ that?" asked Ruby.

"Well, it would be tricky to get the permission of Natsu-chan's family," said Sasame. "But I do know that she would like the see the outside world herself, seeing as you've told her about what you've experienced."

"That'd be great!" exclaimed Ruby, before leaning forward. "Um...Are you sure it's okay?"

"You mean about _that_?" said Sasame with a cheerful smile. "Don't worry. I doubt there will be any issues."

"What are you talking about?" asked Pyrrha warily, sensing that a good portion of this conversation was going over their heads.

"Don't worry about it," said Sasame. "It's a private matter. In any case, I'm glad to see you've been settling in well. Have you made any more friends lately."

"Yeah," said Ruby. "There's our sister-team."

"Sister-team?" inquired Sasame, tilting her head.

"We wound up fighting side-by-side with them during the initiation," explained Pyrrha. "They even have the room across the hall from us, so we're fairly close with them."

"Don't forget Velvet," added Jaune.

"Oh, right," said Ruby.

"And who is that?" asked Sasame.

"She's an upperclassman who's in our History class," said Ruby. "She's really nice."

"Ruby saved her from some bullies," said Jaune with a smirk, making Ruby squeak and blush.

Sasame giggled. "Still the same as always, though I suppose I can't complain. That's what makes you so lovable, Ruby-chan."

"I-it's not a big deal," stammered Ruby.

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about you getting a swelled head," teased Sasame.

"Not when I have Weiss," said Ruby with a giggle.

"Hey!" protested Weiss.

They all began to laugh, their guards falling away.

They began to talk some more, but were interrupted by a shout.

"Hey! Ruby! Guys!"

They all looked up to see Nora running towards them, the rest of Team RYNB following in her wake. Yang trailed at the back of the group, her pace flagging when she saw the strange girl with a fox-tail sitting at the courtyard table with them. _Is that...?_

"Hi!" cheered Ruby, waving at them, all but ignoring Yang. "Everyone, this is my big sister, Sasame." She turned back to Sasame. "Sasame-nee, this is team Rainbow. That's Ren, their leader. Next to him is his partner, Nora. Then there's Blake, with the black hair and the ea-er...bow. And..." Ruby's voice trailed off, her throat locking up reflexively. Finally, she managed to force the word out of her mouth. "...Yang."

"Oh?" Sasame pushed back her chair, still beaming pleasantly. "It's wonderful to meet you all. Particularly..." Sasame seemed to take a single step. The next thing everyone knew, she was standing directly in front of Yang, having passed by the table, and between everyone else in Team RYNB, without anyone noticing. "...you. So, you must be Yang Xiao Long."

"Ah!" Yang yelped, stumbling back at Sasame suddenly appearing in front of her. _When-? How-?_

Yang wasn't the only one shocked. Everyone except Ruby whirled around to gape at the diminutive girl, having needed to take a second to realize where she was standing. Only Ruby didn't seem surprised. Instead, she was staring at the table, her aspect having paled considerably, her expression suddenly anxious and nervous.

"Uh...um...Yes!" said Yang, still trying to recover by Sasame's sudden appearance.

"I hope you and Ruby-chan have been managing to get along," said Sasame.

"Um...uh..." Yang swallowed. "I mean...not really."

Sasame's smile vanished, replaced a frown. Only the fact that it appeared to be one of concern kept Yang from panicking. "What do you mean?"

"W-well...it's just..." Yang wasn't sure what to do in this situation. She didn't know this girl at all, knew nothing about her, save for the fact that Ruby now claimed her as a big sister. She didn't know what to say or do.

However, Nora was more than willing to speak up on Yang's behalf. "Ruby won't talk to her at all," said Nora plainly.

Ruby flinched sharply, almost curling in on herself right on her seat.

"Nora!" admonished Ren, from where he stood beside her.

"What? It's true," protested Nora.

"Won't talk to you...?" Sasame looked up at Yang expectantly. "Is that so?"

"Y-yeah," said Yang. "I've been trying, but...She won't say anything or even look at me if she can help it." She slumped. "I've been lashing out too." She wasn't sure what compelled her to be so frank, all of a sudden.

"Really now...?" Sasame slowly turned in place her eyes returning to Ruby, who refused to look up from the table. "Is this true, Ruby-chan?"

The change that had come over Sasame was jarring. Where there had once been a cheery, friendly girl, there was now a stern older sibling, staring pointedly at Ruby, her tone low, sounding slightly strict.

"I...I..." Ruby shakily looked up, meeting Sasame's eyes.

Sasame sighed, resting her hands on her hips and walking past the rest of Team RYNB, making her way back to the table. "Ruby-chan, what have we been telling you for the past six years?"

"I...I didn't think I'd see her again," said Ruby.

"I very much doubt that," said Sasame. "You knew that Yang-san intended to enter Beacon as well. If you wanted to enter, you'd wind up dealing with her, one way or another. What's the matter?"

"I...I can't," said Ruby.

"Can't what?" pressed Sasame.

"I can't do it!" Ruby cried out, finally snapping her head to look up at Sasame. "I can't forgive her! I _hate_ her!" Ruby almost screamed that last phrase out, prompting shocked gasps from everyone around her.

Yang gasped, her hands going to her mouth, tears streaming from her eyes. Unable to take anymore, she turned and bolted.

"Yang!" shouted Blake, reaching after her fruitlessly.

"I don't _need_ a sister like her," hissed Ruby, oblivious to Yang's departure. "I don't _want_ a sister like her. I have _you_, Sasame-nee."

"_Ruby Rose!_"

The tone of Sasame's voice made it crack like a whip, the tone of admonishment making her sound eerily like Glynda Goodwitch, despite the difference in pitch and timbre. It made everyone stand just a little bit straighter. Ruby in particular shot bolt upright, sitting up in her seat, hesitantly meeting Sasame's stern, disapproving gaze.

"I am _very_ disappointed in you," said Sasame. "I expect better from you, Ruby-chan. I _know_ you're better than this."

"But I-" Ruby began.

"What did I tell you when we first agreed to be sisters?" asked Sasame, folding her arms across her chest.

"Tha-that you wouldn't..." Ruby looked down again.

"That me becoming your sister did _not_ mean I would be replacing Yang-san," said Sasame firmly. "Time and again, Sora-sama, Kyo, and I have told you you need to reach out. From the look of things, your sister is more than willing to make amends. Right now, the greatest obstacle to that is your own stubbornness. I can understand if the two of you are having difficulty seeing eye-to-eye, but to treat her so cruelly...I'm shocked, Ruby-chan."

"I..." Ruby gripped the table, her knuckles turning white.

Sasame sighed. "We'll have to talk more later, Ruby-chan. I'm going to go speak with Yang-san now. I hope that, by the time we see you again, you're more willing to see past old grudges."

Sasame vanished from sight. One second she was there, the next she wasn't.

An awkward silence fell over the rest of the group, no one completely sure what to say next. Ruby continued to stare at the table, her eyes tearing up as she thought back over what had just been said in her mind. Everyone watched her, uncertain of what to say, or how to feel. They knew that Ruby didn't like Yang, but to realize that her anger had run this deep...

Surprisingly, Weiss, of all people, felt sympathetic. Reaching out, she gently covered Ruby's hand with her own and squeezed it. She was all too familiar with how much it could hurt to disappoint a sister that one loved dearly.

Finally, it was Ren who broke the awkward silence. "Actually," he said, "we came to ask if you were willing to come with us to Vale."

"Now...really?" asked Jaune skeptically.

Ren looked at him seriously, then bent down slightly so that he could whisper something to Jaune's ear.

"Oh!" said Jaune, his eyes widening. "That's not a bad idea." Smiling, he turned and offered a hand to Ruby. "Come on," he said. "You could use some time to cool off. I'm sure we'll see your sister later."

"A-all right," said Ruby, accepting Jaune's hand, allowing him to lead her away from the table and towards the air-docks.

* * *

**And Sasame's back. Boy, does she have a mean-streak, when she's provoked. Being able to inflict, then cure, injuries at the drop of a hat is a pretty handy tool, if you want to make someone feel some pain.**

**The training method Ruby uses for Jaune (and was previously used on her by Kyo and Sasame) comes courtesy of _Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple_, which I've always enjoyed the humor of.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26:**

Yang stumbled around a corner and slumped, crying openly. At the moment, she wasn't worried about someone seeing her during her moment of vulnerability. Her reputation didn't matter. Hang her reputation! Ruby had made it clear, she wanted nothing to do with Yang. _Ruby hates me!_ Those three words made it so that nothing else mattered in the slightest.

"_There_ you are."

The words made her jump, and Yang whirled around, her tear-blurred gaze barely enabling her to make out the shape of Sasame as the shorter girl stood before her, tail swaying slowly behind her as she folded her arms behind her back, seeming to inspect Yang carefully.

_It's her,_ thought Yang, her thoughts of shame and sorrow being replaced by a sense of rage. This was the girl Ruby considered her new sister. This was the girl that Ruby had chosen over her, the girl...that had _replaced_ her.

The next second, Yang's vision was dyed red. She whirled on the shorter girl, her gauntlets unfolding, her entire body filling with the power of her rage, her hair beginning to shine.

Sasame's startled gasp reached Yang's ears, but she didn't notice or care. Instead, she slammed Ember Celica home into the girl's chest with all her might, the guns built into her gauntlet discharging with a crack...and the sound of ripping flesh, as the bolt tore through Sasame's torso and burst out the other side.

Now it was Yang's turn to gasp as she realized she hadn't felt the resistance that typically accompanied her attack meeting a person's Aura. Then it hit her. Sasame hadn't guarded herself with her Aura. She'd left herself completely vulnerable to attack and now...

Yang looked down to see her arm embedded past her wrist into Sasame's chest, smoke exiting from behind the girl. Yang's attack had blown a hole clean _through_ her.

Sasame looked down at Yang's arm, then back up at her face.

"I...I..." Yang suddenly felt sick. Yet again, she'd allowed her anger to dictate her actions and lashed out. This time, she'd gone the extra distance and actually killed a person. Ruby would _absolutely_ never forgive her now.

Then Sasame spoke. "Well…normally, I would say that was uncalled for...but I can understand you having a great deal of frustration that you need to work through." Her face became stern. "Still...your temper is clearly one of your weak points. You should have better control. If it had been anyone other than me, this would _not_ have ended well."

"I...Huh?" Yang blinked, her grief and guilt disappearing in a fraction of a second, completely dispelled by Sasame's nonchalance. "What the...?"

Sasame beamed, and began to step backwards, pulling herself off Yang's fist with a wet, sucking noise. Yang expected her arm to be coated with blood and gore, with bone fragments lodged in Ember Celica's joints. But the limb was clean and pristine, as though she'd never used it, certainly not as though she'd just punched it clean through another person's torso. Then, before her eyes, the hole in Sasame's body closed up, flesh running and flowing like water to fill in the gap, skin reforming above it. Finally, Sasame's clothes repaired themselves as well, leaving her looking as though she'd never been touched.

"How-?" gasped Yang.

Sasame raised a hand. "It's an acquired skill," she said. "For a master of the _Mumyo Kodama Ryu_, that level of damage is nothing. Do you still feel the need to run out your anger a little more, Yang-san?"

"I...uh..." Yang had to admit that her anger had been pretty much snuffed out by what she'd just seen.

"I see," said Sasame. "Then perhaps we can talk a little now." She took a deep breath. "For starters, I owe you an apology for Ruby-chan's behavior."

"Huh?" Yang blinked and found herself staring. Of all the things she'd expected to hear from this girl, an apology had _not_ been one of them.

Sasame sighed. "As one of the people responsible for her upbringing over the past six years, I feel that I should have done more to encourage her to reconcile with you. We advised her as much, every time the topic came up, but I'm afraid we did not press her as hard as we should have on the topic."

"Why?" asked Yang.

"When I first took Ruby-chan with me, I made a promise to her," said Sasame. "I promised her that we would never force her into anything she didn't want to do. We could advise, we could instruct, we can express disappointment over certain decisions, but we could not _make_ her do anything, if she did not wish to do it herself."

"No! Not that!" said Yang. "Why would you push her to make up with me."

Sasame smiled warmly at Yang. "When Ruby-chan asked me to be her sister, I was overjoyed. I'd grown to love and cherish her dearly. However, it was never my desire to replace you. I always told her as much, at every opportunity. I am her sister, yes. But that does not change the fact that _you_ are her sister as well."

"But I..." Yang looked away, thinking back on all the times she'd sided with their father, helped him to isolate Ruby from the world and block her off from her dreams, all with the intent of making her safe, but at the cost of making her miserable.

"You made mistakes," said Sasame, taking Yang's hand in hers. Yang retracted her gauntlets almost automatically as Sasame gently patted the back of her hand. "That's true. However, even if they were grave mistakes, you made them out of love for her."

"If I really loved her, I wouldn't have made those mistakes though," said Yang, looking down.

Sasame exhaled loudly. "No. If you _understood_ her, you wouldn't have made those mistakes."

"I don't get it," said Yang.

Sasame giggled. "Yang-san, love is a wonderful, amazing thing. Love is wonderful, yes…but not infallible. Loving someone does not mean you truly understand them. Love can be informed by understanding, enhance and be enhanced by understanding...but it cannot _replace_ understanding. You made mistakes, not out of a lack of love for Ruby-chan, but a lack of understanding for how deep her dreams and convictions ran.

"You convinced yourself that her desire to become a Huntress was a child's wish, born of fairy tales and adventure stories. You figured that she could be made to give up on it easily enough, that she'd move on and find something safer to do."

"Yeah..." said Yang, lowering her head.

"_That_ was the source of your mistake," said Sasame. "Also, because of your lack of understanding, you failed to understand how such logic was hurting Ruby-chan, instead of helping her."

Yang sniffled. Suddenly, Sasame tugged her arm and pulled Yang into a tight, warm hug. Something warm and soft wrapped around her, seeming to encompass her entire body. Unable to contain herself anymore, Yang broke down crying as Sasame gently rubbed her back.

"It's all right," Sasame whispered softly, tilting her head up and planting a kiss on Yang's forehead.

"I don't know what to do," said Yang. "I know it was wrong. I want to be able to tell Ruby that. I want to apologize. I want to be able to hug her again, but...but she won't talk to me! She won't even _look_ at me if she can help it. How do I get through to her?"

"That _is_ the question," admitted Sasame. "Unfortunately, the answer is that you cannot get through to her alone. On some level, Ruby-chan has to be willing to accept you. Even if I hadn't made my promise to not force her to do anything she doesn't want to, I couldn't make her want to connect with you again."

"What do I do?" asked Yang. "What _can_ I do?"

Sasame pulled back and that warm, soft feeling withdrew as well. "That's a tricky question to answer," she said. "My best advice would be, if Ruby-chan isn't willing to deal with you as her sister right now, then perhaps you should give up approaching her as one."

"Huh?" grunted Yang.

"Instead of always trying to connect with her as her sister, connect with her as a peer," said Sasame.

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"It's strange to think this, but you have a rare opportunity here," said Sasame. "After all, it's rare that a loving older sister, like yourself, gets the chance to attend school in the same year as your younger sister. Instead of worrying about your familial ties, build up the ties of those who are walking the same path in life at the same time."

"You mean...?"

Sasame nodded. "Approach her, not as her sister, but as a fellow Huntress-in-training. Engage with her in the subjects she loves. Help her train. Cheer her on during her sparring matches. It might even be to your benefit to challenge her to a match or two yourself."

"I...I'm not sure I could," said Yang.

"I didn't say it would be easy," chided Sasame. "If you want Ruby-chan to acknowledge you as a sister, the best way for you, right now, is to acknowledge her as an equal. Deal with her as a fellow student and I guarantee that you will make _much_ more progress than you would have, if you simply kept trying to reconnect with her over your blood-relation."

Yang blinked, keeping silent for a moment. "That makes sense, I guess."

"That would be my advice for a start," said Sasame.

Yang looked down. "Thank you," she said softly. "You're doing so much to help me, even though I..."

"It's understandable for you to lash out," said Sasame. "For all that you are two years older than Ruby-chan, it's easy to forget that, actually, it's _only_ two years. Ruby-chan told me how, back when your mother died, you stepped up and took care of her."

"Yeah," said Yang. "But then I went and pulled that stupid stunt."

Sasame gently brushed her fingers up and down Yang's arm, the contact comforting to Yang. "It wasn't stupid," said Sasame. "At the time, it was a perfectly logical course of action for you."

"For me to go out looking for my biological mother...looking up an old abandoned cabin on the other side of the island...and dragging my vulnerable little sister along for the ride?" asked Yang. "_That's_ logical?"

"From a child's point of view, yes," said Sasame. "It was a childish decision, informed by childish logic. However, at the time, you _were_ a _child_. Children do not perceive and understand the world in the same manner adults do. They can't process all the nuances of reality to the same extent a fully mature mind can. That kind of decision was the best you were capable of, absent any guidance from one more mature and experienced than you.

"To make matters worse, you were a child who had shouldered an adult's burden, the burden of caring for another child, one younger than you, and dependent on you. It's only natural that that dependence would be overwhelming to you, that you would turn and seek some way of alleviating it."

Sasame squeezed Yang's arm gently. "And, above all else, that mistake is in the past. You learned from it, grew from it, and gained wisdom because of it. It was not solely your responsibility, nor is Ruby-chan's wellbeing solely your responsibility anymore. If you truly want to win her back, then you should do so by helping her move forward."

Yang nodded slowly. "Okay." Then she smiled. "Actually, if things work out, I might have already gotten a start on it."

"Oh?" Sasame raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," said Yang. "The others were talking with me about how to reconnect with Ruby, and I came up with something. Maybe it'll help Ruby start to forgive me."

* * *

Ruby looked around as she followed her friends through Vale. Ren, Blake, and Nora were leading the way, while RASP followed in their wake. Ruby was still feeling numb and depressed from Sasame's clear reprimand and disapproval. Ruby had never seen her adopted big sister so angry with her. Part of her was angry back. After everything Yang had done, had helped their father do to her, didn't she have a right to be angry at Yang, to not forgive her right off the bat?

"We're here."

Ruby's simmering negative emotions dissipated at the sound of Ren's words, not so much because of what he'd said, but because of the familiar presence that brushed against her senses. Her eyes widened as she found herself looking at the patio section of a small diner. At this time of day, there weren't too many patrons. However, one of them caught her attention immediately.

There was no mistaking that lanky form, lounging in a chair, sitting back and sipping from a glass of some liquor, evidently poured from the bottle resting on the table in front of him. She knew that red cape, that disheveled brown hair, the faint stubble on his chin, and the massive sword that leaned against the side of his chair.

The man looked up from his drink, and his pale-red eyes met hers.

"UNCLE QROW!" exclaimed Ruby, practically vanishing, leaving a cloud of scattering petals in her wake as she dashed over the patio railing and rushed the man who had gotten out of his seat and spread his arms in anticipation of her approach.

Qrow rocked back, knocked down into his seat by Ruby's impact. Still, he hugged her tightly, chuckling as Ruby pressed her face into his shoulder. "Hey there, Kiddo," he said, leaning down and, in a move rather uncharacteristic of him, kissing the top of her head. "Missed ya."

"I can't believe you're here!" exclaimed Ruby.

"You can thank your sister for that," said Qrow, ruffling her hair.

Ruby's first thought was Sasame, but that didn't make sense. Sasame didn't have a scroll, and wouldn't have any other means of getting in touch with Qrow, unless she chanced on him. The only other "sister" who could have arranged this was... "Yang?"

"Yep," said Qrow. "Called me up and asked if I could come see you. I was on a job, but it's nothing I can't put off for the niece I haven't seen in the better part of six years."

"Yang asked you to come?" Ruby blinked, her eyes tearing over again. _But I...but she..._

Qrow sighed and rubbed his hand through her hair. "Yeah, Yang told me the two of you were on the outs with each other. That's part of why she called me. Take a seat. Let's have something to eat."

"But my friends-"

"Have already taken off," said Qrow, pointing behind her.

Ruby looked and, to her surprise, her friends had all gone.

"They're giving us a little time. You can hook up with them later," said Qrow. "Now have a seat, and let's get us some food. You can tell me about how things are going at Beacon."

"All right," said Ruby, shifting to the seat across from Qrow.

* * *

"Unbelievable!" huffed Weiss, stalking out of the Dust shop. "I can't believe the nerve of those fools!"

"What's the matter?" asked Pyrrha. She and Jaune had been browsing while Weiss bought the Dust she needed to supply her weapon. Myrtenaster, when Weiss used it fully, could go through Dust rather quickly. Fortunately, one of the advantages of being a Schnee was that she was able to obtain Dust from any shop that carried her family's product practically for free. The cost was credited to her family, with the company picking up the tab.

"The price has gone up again," said Weiss. "First, the main railway for Dust transport was destroyed. Now our freighters are getting hit too."

"Well, it's natural for the price to go up, if that sort of thing happens," said Jaune. "I wouldn't hold it against the shopkeepers."

"I wasn't!" protested Weiss. "I was talking about the White Fang."

"The White Fang?" Pyrrha frowned. "What about them?"

"_They're_ the ones behind these attacks," growled Weiss. "They've had it out for my family's company for years now."

"Maybe if your company treated their faunus workers with an iota of respect, the White Fang wouldn't have an issue with them."

Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune, turned to see Blake, Ren, and Nora standing in the street, Nora having spotted something and dragged Ren off to see it, and Blake visiting the bookstore right next to the Dust shop. Blake had finished her own shopping and had been waiting near the entrance of the Dust shop for the rest of them.

Weiss' entire body tensed, her hands clenching in response to Blake's barb, her cheeks coloring a furious pink. "Even so..." she said, making Jaune and Pyrrha exchange surprised glances. As far as Weiss had come it was still amazing to hear her even remotely concede something when it came to someone disparaging her family's company. "...that doesn't change the fact that they aren't going to accomplish anything with violence. If anything, they're doing more harm to the people they claim to be fighting for than anything else."

Blake apparently had nothing to say to that, the tension in her lips as she pressed them together keeping her from making a biting remark. Instead, she closed her eyes and lowered her head in silent acknowledgment.

"I'll admit that having our railway and freighters being hit is cutting into company profits," continued Weiss, "but the ones really suffering from these attacks are shopkeepers like this one, who are forced to raise prices, which then drives off business."

"At least it's not as though they're losing out to competition," noted Ren, trying to find a way to work around this conversation that wouldn't lead to further confrontation between Blake and Weiss. "Pretty much every Dust shop in the city is going to be primarily stocking SDC Dust, so they're all going through the same price hike."

"There's a bit more nuance to it," said Weiss. "But you're not completely wrong." She sighed. "This is just frustrating to watch."

Pyrrha gently patted Weiss' shoulder. "Well, you've got your Dust anyway," she said. "There's nothing we can do for the time being, so let's find something else to do for now."

"Good idea," said Jaune, before rolling his eyes up thoughtfully. "I wonder how things are going for Ruby and her uncle right now."

* * *

"Sounds like a rough gig," said Qrow idly, sitting back and sipping another glass of liquor after their meal.

"It's not so bad," said Ruby. "Jaune's really improving."

"So you don't mind giving up your free time and off-periods to help the guy train up?" asked Qrow skeptically.

"Not really," said Ruby. "I wasn't sure what I'd do with my free time, if I _didn't_ need to help Jaune. Besides, it's really helped bring the team together."

"Well, a team only is as good as its weakest member overall," mused Qrow. "So it's definitely not a bad thing that you're all working to improve Arc's skill."

Ruby nodded slowly. She'd been reluctant, at first, to divulge the truth of Jaune's circumstances to her uncle. However, there had been little option, seeing as much of her and her team's time at Beacon, right now, revolved around helping Jaune improve and reach a level of competence they were all right with. Once he'd learned about it, Qrow hadn't seemed overly surprised to find out there was someone who'd lied about his transcripts in Beacon.

"You don't mind?" asked Ruby.

"Not really," said Qrow with a chuckle. "Your Ice Queen friend is right about Oz. He knew about Arc's transcripts before even giving his stamp of approval. Oz can't be fooled that easily."

"But why?" asked Ruby. "He knew that Jaune wasn't remotely qualified for Beacon, why would he accept Jaune?"

"It's a bit tricky," said Qrow. "Even for as long as I've worked for and with him, I've come to accept that you can't understand what's going on in Oz's head one-hundred-percent of the time...or even more than fifty-percent. He's a guy who can play the long game-and, by long, I mean decades."

"What does that mean?" asked Ruby.

"Don't worry too much about it," said Qrow, reaching over to pat Ruby's arm. "Having said that, I know that Oz leaves the language of admissions open to interpretation, just in the event of things like this."

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head slightly.

"There're people out there who have the potential to be first-rate Huntsmen," said Qrow. "But, through circumstances or whatever, they aren't eligible through what you might consider normal channels. They don't get to go through Combat School. Some of them can't even find training. Whatever the reason, if they've still got the drive to seriously try to be Huntsmen, Ozpin wants to have that loophole in place to give them a chance.

"Otherwise, there are other sorts of people, people who come from backgrounds that you might consider less than legitimate. Some of them want to turn their life around, and do good instead of living by taking advantage of others. That loophole's there for them too."

"Oh," said Ruby, her eyes going wide.

"Granted, it doesn't always turn out as well as it did for your boy," said Qrow with a sigh. "Damn kids always get worked up about attending such a big-name school they forget why they're there in the first place. They forget what's important, and get all hopped up about prestige and saving the school's face and whatever." He snorted. "Not every team winds up committing itself to helping an undertrained weakling, like your boy...and it doesn't always turn out well for them. But, for the sake of finding those hidden gems that might otherwise go unnoticed, Oz tries to give people like that a chance."

Ruby nodded, thinking back to Jaune and his incredible inborn Aura-level. In that respect, Jaune was truly a diamond in the rough. Ruby sometimes found herself musing that it was disappointing that Jaune had never received any real training before coming to Beacon, otherwise, he would have probably been a true ace that nearly everyone would be fighting to have on their team. Still, she saw that potential in him now.

"It's also that loophole that allowed for him to arrange bringing you here, now," said Qrow with a smirk, looking at Ruby. "A fifteen-year-old generally can't get in through regular admission, but now that you've made it through the Initiation, no one can contest your right to be here."

"Thanks," Ruby beamed.

"Still, to think you got so good so fast..." Qrow frowned contemplatively. "I gotta admit, it looks like these Mibu folks know their business."

"Um...Well...I don't think they were expecting this to happen to me this fast either," conceded Ruby. It didn't feel right to admit that her teachers had been both shocked and pleased by her, frankly, meteoric progress. Sometimes she wondered if she was advancing too quickly. She definitely felt she could spend more time refining techniques she'd already learned, before advancing on to new ones.

"It certainly is quite the bit of luck that you're attending at the same time as Yang," noted Qrow, finally bringing the conversation around full-circle.

"...Yeah..." Ruby looked down at the table, frowning darkly, a maelstrom of mixed emotions swirling through her at the thought of her sister.

"I told you before, Yang is the one who set this up," said Qrow with a sigh. "Could you at least consider talking to her?"

"I...I'm not sure I can," said Ruby. "What she did...it still hurts."

"Ruby, you're not the only one who was suffering in that house," said Qrow. "Yeah, looking back on it, letting you go with those people was the best choice, compared to what Tai was doing to you. But Yang went through a lot too."

"But she got to train! She got to go to Signal! She got to go to Beacon!" Ruby shot upright, glaring at Qrow. "Dad trained her, while he kept me at home. He was even gonna cut me off from my friends at school."

"Yeah, well..." Qrow sighed. "Yang once told me that you said that maybe Tai didn't care as much, if Yang went off and got herself killed as a Huntress."

Ruby winced at that.

"The problem is that that view may not be wide of the mark," finished Qrow with a dark frown.

"Wha-what?" gasped Ruby, horrified at the prospect. It was something she'd shouted in the heat of anger, a long time ago. To learn she might have been right...This was _not_ something she'd wanted to be right about.

"Look, it's not that Tai hates Yang or anything," said Qrow. "Yang's mom, my sister, ran out on them when Yang was just a baby. I won't mince words. My sister is a selfish, self-serving _bitch_, plain and simple."

Ruby winced to hear Qrow speak of anyone, particularly Yang's mother, with such intense dislike, not to mention the profanity.

"We weren't given the best of upbringings," said Qrow. "We didn't exactly enter Beacon for the best reasons either. Oz knew plenty about that, even before we arrived, but he gave us a chance all the same. He gave us our team, Team Stark. We got Tai and Summer, two of the best teammates we could've asked for. We were close, like family. It wasn't all that big a surprise when Tai and Raven hooked up, even less of a surprise when Yang was on the way.

"I'd thought that, maybe, my sister and I could be something better than what we'd been born into. But I was wrong about her. As soon as Yang was born, she ran off, back to our old life, without a second thought. That scarred Tai deep. Fortunately, Summer was still there. She stepped in, becoming the mother Yang needed, the woman Tai fell in love with. Then, just two years later, there you were.

"Then Summer died, and Tai went into his slump. Then Yang took the two of you on that jaunt and he finally snapped out of it. The thing is, Ruby, you look like Summer, almost the spitting image of her. For Tai, the prospect of losing the last remnant of the woman he loved more than anything was too scary to handle.

"But Yang...for all that her hair's a different color, she takes after her mother something fierce. She doesn't have Raven's worst points, that's for sure. But the resemblance is strong enough that I can imagine it sticking in Tai's mind. Because of that, he isn't as attached to her as he is you."

Ruby swallowed, the implications of her harsh remark six years ago hitting home hard.

"And the worst of it is that, however much Yang wanted to help you, Tai wouldn't _let_ her," continued Qrow. "That incident, Yang taking you out into the woods and nearly getting both of you killed, it became the thing Tai would always come back to, always remind her of, the time Yang nearly got you killed. For all these years, he's been guilting her with that, holding it over her head, using it to force her to take his side."

_I never even thought of that,_ thought Ruby. She'd known that Yang had felt guilty about that, that the guilt had been a driving force for Yang always taking their father's side. But it had never occurred to her that her father was deliberately making Yang feel even _guiltier_, in order to force her to go along with him.

"Kinda puts a different spin on things, don't it?" asked Qrow idly. "Besides that, notice something interesting about what's happened at Beacon...or what _hasn't_ happened?"

"Uh..." Ruby blinked, trying to figure out what her uncle was getting at.

"Like, maybe, even though you're here, and Yang knows it, a certain person still _hasn't_ shown up?" prodded Qrow.

"Oh!" gasped Ruby.

"That's right," said Qrow. "You've been here all this time, but Yang hasn't told Tai yet. I can tell you his attitude probably hasn't changed all that much, despite not having seen you for six years. If he hears that you're here, he'd rush over at the first opportunity for sure. That Yang hasn't told him yet certainly is a good sign, don't you think."

Ruby's face fell and she stared down at the table, unsure of what to say.

"Look, I'm not saying that you instantly have to let bygones be bygones," said Qrow. "But do you think you could talk to her a little, maybe give her a little bit of a chance?"

"I...I'll try," said Ruby, sniffling.

"That's all I can ask at this point," said Qrow. "It ain't gonna be easy, but, for both your sakes, I think you owe it to your sister to give her a chance."

"I...I..." Ruby closed her eyes, once again feeling that bitter sensation well up within her at the thought of Yang. At this point, it was as much a reflex as anything else, and one that, Ruby realized, had been running her life for a while now. She couldn't let that bitterness control her anymore than she could her fear. She had to do this, not just for Yang's sake, but for her own as well. "All right," she said finally.

Qrow sighed and smiled. Reaching across the table, he fondly ruffled Ruby's hair. "Good to hear, kiddo. Now then, I've still got a little while before I have to scram, so tell me what you've been up to these past six years..."

* * *

"Scared?" asked Sasame, as she and Yang waited at the docks for the airship that would be carrying Ruby and the others back from Vale.

"Witless," admitted Yang ruefully, checking her scroll again. She'd only just received a notification from Blake that everyone was on their way back. Apparently, after wandering town for a while, the group had gone back to the cafe to pick up Ruby as she bade farewell to Qrow.

For her part, Yang had spent the afternoon with Sasame, talking and listening. Yang wasn't sure what she'd envisioned, when she'd learned that Ruby had picked up an adopted sister. But she certainly hadn't been expecting someone like this. Sasame was caring, nurturing, and loving. Yet she also had the capacity to be strict. What had truly amazed Yang was the way that Sasame had accepted Yang's anger and frustration. More amazing still was Sasame's commitment to helping Yang reconcile with Ruby.

"It's not in my nature to leave such suffering untended," said Sasame, when asked. "More to the point, healing wounds like this will help both you and Ruby-chan grow as people. The real trial will be whether or not such bridges can be mended with your father."

"Yeah...that'll take some doing," said Yang, frowning. "More because he'd have to give up on trying to lock Ruby in the house. I don't know if he'll actually see her any differently, despite Ruby having been gone all these years."

"One can only hope," said Sasame. "It all comes down to how much your father is ruled by his previous trauma. Both you and Ruby-chan have grown from it. If that is possible for you, then it should be for him as well."

"I won't rule anything out," said Yang. "But I won't get my hopes up there, either."

"We'll see," said Sasame. She smiled as she watched the airship descend towards the landing pad.

The doors opened and the students riding within filed off, including Ruby and her friends. Ruby spotted Yang and Sasame immediately and walked towards them. Normally, her first reflex was to throw herself at Sasame and hug her. However, seeing Sasame standing next to Yang slowed Ruby up and made her stiffen nervously. Ruby hesitated for a long set of seconds, hemming and hawing. Finally, it was Jaune who urged her forward with a gentle press of his hand against the small of her back.

"You can do it," he said with an encouraging smile.

Ruby looked back at him, and then smiled back, before turning and walking the rest of the way towards them.

"Uh...Sasame-nee..." Ruby looked at Sasame first, tapping her index fingers together nervously.

"Not me," said Sasame with a crooked smile. "You know who you need to talk to first."

"A-all right," said Ruby, finally forcing her gaze to Yang, who looked just as nervous as Ruby herself felt. For a second, the two of them stared at each other awkwardly, neither able to find the words that they wanted to say.

Finally, Ruby took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Let's talk," she said firmly, walking past Yang and towards a more private spot, Yang quickly falling into step beside her.

Sasame watched them go, a neutral look on her face as she rested her fists on her hips.

"You're not going with them?" asked Jaune, coming to stand next to her.

Sasame smiled ruefully and shook her head. "No. It's best if they can manage to make amends _without_ me having to look over their shoulders and mediate."

"That sounds about right," said Jaune. "Hopefully, things go better for them than it went for my dad."

"So Ruby-chan isn't the _only_ one with family troubles, hmmm..." Sasame stared up at Jaune contemplatively. "It would seem the similarities are quite close."

"Y-yeah," admitted Jaune. "I'm not near as ready to make up with them, not when they don't even want to listen to the words that come out of my mouth."

"Well, you'll have to cross that bridge when you come to it," said Sasame. "But you'll have your friends by your side. Just remember that your family can always be supplemented...but never replaced. You owe it, both to them and yourself, to give them every chance to come around and make peace. If they do not take those chances, well..." She shrugged in resignation.

"All right," said Jaune.

"Now then...in the meantime, we should occupy ourselves while we wait for Ruby-chan and Yang-san," said Sasame. She turned to regard Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss. "So...why don't you show me what Ruby-chan has taught you thus far..."

* * *

"Here should be good," said Ruby, sitting on a bench that was facing outwards, allowing them to look over the edge of the cliff and out over the green expanse of the Emerald Forest.

Yang looked around. Ruby had chosen a far corner of Beacon's campus, relatively isolated from the rest of it. As far as places for them to hash out their differences went, it was probably a good choice. Whatever this conversation entailed, Yang wouldn't be surprised if voices were raised at some point.

Ruby sat down at one end of the bench, Yang at the other. Yang's first impulse was to scoot closer, but she knew that Ruby wouldn't like that. "So-"

"I'm sorry!" Ruby blurted, cutting Yang off. Her eyes were still focused outwards, almost as though she was afraid to look at Yang. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. That was cruel of me."

"Did you mean it, though?" asked Yang, watching Ruby closely, her stomach churning.

"Yes..." Yang gasped softly. "...No...I'm not sure." Ruby stared down at her knees. "I...I was happy...with just Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii. I loved them and they loved me."

"I love you," said Yang firmly.

"I...I know," said Ruby, her fingers bunching up the fabric of her skirt. "I didn't used to think that way. But Sasame-nee and Sora-sama...they kept telling me that-"

"Love is wonderful, but not infallible," said Yang, catching where Ruby was going. Seeing Ruby's eyes widen as she looked up at Yang in confusion, Yang couldn't help but giggle. "Sasame told me that earlier." She sighed. "I gotta admit...I had her completely wrong. She's amazing. I can see why you love her so much." Yang's expression became downcast and, now, she was the one staring at her knees. "With such an awesome big sister like her, no wonder you didn't want to bother making up with me."

That made Ruby cough out a halfhearted laugh. "I know..." she said, averting her eyes as well. "...But I guess part of that is why she was pushing for this, because she really wants what's best for me."

That made Yang flinch. "But that's what Dad and I wanted for you too," she protested.

"No!" exclaimed Ruby, turning her head sharply to glare at Yang, the force in that glance making Yang quail. "You only _thought_ you wanted what was best for me. You didn't _understand_! Isn't that what Sasame-nee told you too?"

Yang gulped and nodded wordlessly.

"Kyo-nii and Sasame-nee wanted what was best for me," said Ruby. "They took the time to understand me, to understand what I needed, what would make me better for my own sake. You and Dad only wanted what was best for _yourselves_."

"That's not true!" protested Yang.

"Yes it is!" snarled Ruby. "You got all worried and scared whenever I was out of sight for more than a few hours, whether it was at school or over at a friend's house. That's why you and Dad, especially Dad, couldn't leave me alone, unless you knew I was home. It wasn't for my sake, it was so you two could feel better about yourselves. Dad was worse, but you were like that too. Even though _you_ were the one who dragged me out into the woods in that wagon, _I_ was the one _really_ punished."

"That's not true!" Yang exclaimed. "Dad grounded me for months!"

"AND HE GROUNDED ME FOR LIFE!" yelled Ruby at the top of her lungs, angry tears leaking from her eyes, making her cheeks glisten. "I didn't do anything! But I was the one who got denied the future she wanted, while you got to go on and do exactly what you wanted in life. You'd go to Signal, then Beacon, then become a Huntress, all happy and guilt-free because you knew that, no matter what, I'd be safe at home...where I could be 'protected'!" Ruby spat out that last word like it was a curse.

"I wasn't guilt-free," said Yang. "I'll never forget what I did, what almost happened. I was a complete idiot! I had to make up for putting you in danger!"

"By locking me away from my own life?" asked Ruby. "...Just to make yourself feel better?"

"IT WAS MY FAULT!" screamed Yang, tears of her own leaking out. "_I_ was the idiot who dragged you out into the forest and nearly got us both killed by Grimm! I couldn't live with myself if I let something like that happen to you again. I had to make sure you were safe."

"But you didn't care if I was happy," grumbled Ruby. "I could be as miserable as I liked, and it wouldn't matter, so long as I was _safe_."

Yang sniffed and looked away again, unable to say anything more.

"I never resented you for that," said Ruby, "for taking me out there."

"B-but you said-" Yang began.

"I resented that you got off light, compared to me, even though I didn't actually do anything except what you told me to do!" snapped Ruby, glaring at Yang. "But I never hated you for taking me out there in the first place. Yeah, it was a stupid idea, thinking that you could find your mom, and she would come back and replace my mom, and then we'd all be one big, happy family again. But I knew, even then, that was how you were trying to cope. Dad was just gonna keep acting like a drunken moron, and forget we existed, because he was too torn up about Mom dying to think about us. I was barely old enough to have any idea what was going on. You were only two years older than me, and trying to do your best, and it was all so much. Looking back on it, I'm not surprised that was the conclusion you came to.

"Back then, you and Mom were my heroes, Yang. Mom was the super-awesome Huntress I wanted to be, and you were the ultra-cool big sis. When Mom died and you stepped in like you did, that made me admire you even more."

Ruby choked back a sob. "But then...after what you did finally got Dad off his ass and back to paying attention to us, it was like you didn't care about that. You just washed your hands and went along with whatever Dad wanted."

Yang sniffed, then sobbed. She broke down, sobbing over her legs. "You're right," she admitted finally. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Ruby! I was a complete idiot!"

A slightly smaller hand covered Yang's own and she looked up, shocked that Ruby had actually come closer and was now willingly touching her. "I know..." she said. "I...I talked to Uncle Qrow, and he told me what Dad was doing to you. I never even thought about it like that."

"Can we ever go back to the way things were between us?" asked Yang hopefully.

"I don't think so," said Ruby. "I...I'd given up on seeing you as my hero a long time ago."

Yang almost jerked away from Ruby entirely with that admission. But Ruby's hand tightened its grip on her own, keeping Yang in place.

"But..." continued Ruby, "...I think I could see you as my friend, my fellow student. I think I could handle having a sister like that."

Yang choked out a laugh. "That's what Sasame suggested too," she said.

Ruby laughed ruefully. "It's scary how good she is at reading people, isn't it?"

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "But it sure worked for us, doesn't it?"

"I guess so," said Ruby. Abruptly, she leaned against Yang, resting her head on Yang's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Yang. I'm sorry for all those hurtful things I said. I'm sorry for blocking you out and ignoring you. It's going to be tough and...I still have a lot of reflexive feelings to curb, but I hope you'll be patient while I get over them."

"I'm sorry too," said Yang. "I'm sorry that the first thing I did when I saw you again was start treating you like a child, like no time had passed at all. I hadn't seen you for years. Dad and I had all but given you up for dead, and now I know Uncle Qrow covered for you. The first thing that came to mind for me was making things go back to the way they were."

"I know," said Ruby. "But we can't go back. We can't change what's been done."

"So...I guess the only thing we can do is keep moving forward," said Yang softly.

"Yep," said Ruby.

Yang raised her arm and wrapped it around Ruby's shoulders. A second later, the two of them were embracing tightly, resting their heads against each other's shoulders, their tears dampening the fabric of their outfits.

"I love you, Ruby," Yang whispered.

"I love you too, Yang," said Ruby. "I'm sorry for ever saying I didn't."

"I'm just glad to know you don't hate me anymore," said Yang, her voice heavy with relief.

"I'm not sure I ever did," admitted Ruby. "I was just so bitter and angry...I took it out on you."

"It's okay. I know what that's like." Yang was silent for a long moment. Then she spoke again. "I guess I owe Jaune an apology for how I treated him."

"...What?"

* * *

**Yeesh...if the comments are anything to go by, a lot of you readers really want Yang to suffer...Talk about vindictive.**

**Yes, Yang's behavior is irrational and immature. Yes, what she did to Jaune was extreme, and an unacceptable way to cope. Yes, her lashing out in anger at otherwise innocent people is a bad thing. No, she never really tried apologizing before now. But it's kinda hard to, when the person you want to apologize to refuses to even acknowledge you in any sense, and doesn't allow you to engage with her in any meaningful fashion. Yes, Yang defaulted to some of the same controlling habits she relied on before Ruby ran away. It's not as though she spent several years living with a father who emotionally manipulated her by compounding her sense of guilt over something that was more _his_ fault than hers. How dare I suggest (mainly through the proxy of other characters) that it might be more emotionally fulfilling for Ruby to confront the source of her pain and anger, and deal with it in a mature fashion, rather than simply allow her to continue to avoid it for the sake of pure catharsis?**

**The number of people who apparently think sticking your head in the sand is an appropriate method of coping has me a little worried.**

**That's the essence of forgiveness in a nutshell. Ultimately, it's about being the bigger person, and letting go of what someone else had done to you, whether they've "earned" it or not. A lot of people have been ranting about how Yang hasn't done anything to "make up" for the bad things she's done, but I've always felt that line of thought is a load of bull. Just how do you "make up" for things like that? This isn't some kind of cosmic vending machine that you can just pop good deeds in like coins, until a little slip pops out, going "your sins are forgiven."**

**Some people went off about Ruby's teammates and friends trying to help, and calling it interference or manipulation, which, again, is bull. I mean, it's not as though these are eight people in an, otherwise, very close friendship group, living and working together in a situation where a disruption to that dynamic could have serious repercussions, and that having a serious wedge between two of those people; prompting one to lash out, while the other completely avoids anything to do with the other. How dare they act like they have a stake in this, when their lives might very well be on the line, and this conflict could have a very real bearing on whether or not they come out alive?**

**At this point, that's all I have to say about the matter. ****If you really don't like that, go read something else...or write your own story. If you're going to drop it, drop it, and quit bitching about how I don't kotow to your demands to immediately change my writing to suit your particular sensibilities.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27:**

"Well well, the three of you are coming along quite nicely," noted Sasame, as she observed Ruby's teammates practicing their Temper. "I can see you've been practicing regularly."

"Well, it's such a simple exercise that it's easy to find time to practice," commented Pyrrha.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "It's the kind of thing that you can do while you're waiting in line in the dining hall, on the airship flight into Vale...or in Port's class."

Weiss shot Jaune a half-glare before Pyrrha elbowed her to remind Weiss that she too had begun practicing her Temper during the long-winded professor's "lectures."

"Indeed," agreed Sasame.

"So this what you guys have been working on every night, on the roof," said Nora, squinting as she scrutinized them. "No fair! I want to learn super-cool Aura-techniques too."

"Super-boring is more like it," muttered Jaune, receiving his elbow in the ribs, courtesy of Pyrrha again.

Sasame laughed. "Very true," she said. "The basic techniques are often the most boring ones. That probably won't change, no matter what art you choose to study. But it becomes the foundation for all else you ultimately come to learn." Her eyes narrowed studiously. "By my estimation, the three of you are ready to move on to Suppression. Ruby-chan probably wanted you to practice Temper a little longer though."

"Huh? Why?" asked Jaune.

"Well, it _is_ her first time teaching," noted Sasame. "So she doesn't quite have the knack for reading when a student is ready to move on to the next level. It's to her credit that she's erring on the side of caution, rather than trying to rush ahead. Even though she has remarkable talent, Ruby-chan's natural studiousness, when it comes to learning techniques, is a talent in its own right."

"Ruby, studious...?" Weiss frowned. Granted, Ruby wasn't exactly flighty when it came to her schoolwork and, indeed, _she_ was the one who proposed doing their homework on the afternoon of the day it was assigned, rather than wait until the last minute. But she _did_ sometimes get distracted or led off on tangents, nor was she the best listener in class.

"When it comes to practical matters," said Sasame. "Academics were another thing entirely, definitely not her strongest suit. But, when it came to techniques, she would practice even the most basic ones continuously, until she was ready to pass out from exhaustion, if we didn't stop her. If anything, it frustrated her to learn new techniques, because it meant she couldn't devote as much time to practicing the ones she'd already learned."

"That sounds a little silly," said Blake.

"Well...she's not wholly wrong," said Sasame. "There's an old saying that was supposedly coined by one of the greatest martial artists of an ancient age. It's been tweaked over time, but the gist is the same."

"What saying is that?" asked Ren.

"One should not fear the fighter who has practiced a thousand techniques," quoted Sasame. "What you should fear is the fighter who has practiced a single technique a thousand times."

"That's...an interesting way to look at it," said Weiss.

"Some of the deadliest warriors in history are said to have learned only a single technique," said Sasame. "Yet they mastered said technique to such an extent that they were able to adapt it to any situation and use it, even if an opponent already knew how it worked. Granted, Ruby-chan isn't quite that narrowly-focused. But she has always striven to completely master every skill she's been taught."

"It's a good habit to get into," noted Pyrrha. "I can see how she earned a place here, two years early."

"Indeed," agreed Sasame.

"So...can we learn these Aura-tricks too?" asked Nora eagerly.

"I don't see why not," said Sasame. "The three of you, Yang-san as well, I assume, have already discovered your Semblances, which might limit your ability to develop a Manifestation. However, practicing these exercises will enable you to cultivate your Auras and improve their effectiveness."

"This Manifestation thing sounds weird," muttered Nora. "Who would've thought you could make your own Semblance."

"Aura is, itself, a manifestation of your soul," said Sasame. "A Semblance could be said to be a Manifestation of your tendencies in their rawest, most unrefined form. From the perspective of our methods, you essentially skip to step-four of training, before you've even learned step-one."

"But what is a Manifestation then?" asked Blake. "I mean...we've all seen what Ruby can do."

Remembering how Ruby had used a special technique to cut a massive Deathstalker in two, the others nodded in agreement.

"Ruby-chan's Manifestation is a bit special, even by our standards," said Sasame. "Most of our students study a particular school to develop a general form their Manifestation takes. From there, they can add their own personal tweaks. Ruby-chan, however, is in the process of building her style on the basis of her own personal tendencies. It isn't yet complete. However, you can see her natural tendencies in its apparent form."

"You mean her petals, right?" asked Pyrrha, thinking back to the petals that Ruby seemed to scatter whenever she used her Aura to accelerate, which she also ignited at times to produce her lightning.

"Exactly," said Sasame. "In a sense, that's just a side-effect, a natural product of her Aura in its raw state. But Ruby-chan has learned to work with that, and shape it to help build the form of her style, creating something that's uniquely hers."

Sasame examined each of the six students carefully. "As for you...it's hard to say. I've never worked with a student who discovered a Semblance. If you get that far, my best advice would be to look to what you can already do, then seek to refine that. However, that's a bit far in the future. For now, it's best to look at continuing to master the basics. That's what's important."

"So you can teach us, right?" asked Nora.

"I certainly can," said Sasame. She looked to Ruby's teammates. "If the three of you could continue to demonstrate for me."

"I'm not sure I'd call what we're doing demonstrating, but sure," said Jaune wryly.

Sasame began to walk Blake, Ren, and Nora through the basics of developing their Temper, condensing their externalized Aura around their bodies. It was interesting to watch someone who had actual experience teaching teach the same things that Ruby had taught them. Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha could definitely see that Ruby had been imitating her own teacher.

"So...we just keep it like this...all the time?" asked Nora, after Sasame pronounced her satisfaction with their regular Temper.

"That's right," said Sasame. "Maintaining it will continuously strengthen your Aura over time. It's a slow process, but one that you can work continuously, ultimately even while you're doing something else. After enough practice, it becomes so natural that you can maintain your Temper, even when you sleep. Just like anything else, it's a matter of dedicated training, practicing, until you can do it without thinking."

"So it ends up like walking," noted Ren. "It's something that you have to learn and practice, but you eventually become able to do it automatically."

"Correct," said Sasame. "How long it takes will be down to the amount of practice you put into it, combined with your natural tendencies. Some people will be slower at it than others. Don't get frustrated if it winds up taking longer than you think."

Sasame then turned her attention back to Ruby's three teammates. "Now then, I normally don't try to preempt another teacher, when it comes to their students, but I don't think Ruby-chan will mind if I move you three ahead. You're more than ready for the next step."

"Suppression, right?" asked Jaune.

"Correct," said Sasame.

She proceeded to instruct them in containing their Auras within their bodies, completely shutting off the outward flow. For the three of them, having come to be quite familiar with the act of controlling their Auras through Temper, were able to get the basic gist of it down fairly easily. In its own way, it was much simpler than Temper. The tricky part was making sure that the flow was completely shut off, and that there was no Aura leaking to the outside of their body. It required full physical awareness of one's own form. Fortunately, their training in Temper had helped them to develop that.

"Yeesh...I gotta say, it's pretty boring," admitted Jaune with a frown.

"I'm afraid so," said Sasame. "The first two exercises are like that. Projection is more involved, and drains you faster, so it feels like something more akin to traditional exercise. As for Suppression, I'm not quite sure that you'd care for the method _I_ used to help Ruby-chan refine it, back when she was nine."

"I think she mentioned that once," said Jaune. "You played Hide and Seek with her, right?"

"That's right," said Sasame fondly. "If Kyo or I caught her, we'd tickle her until she couldn't stand up afterwards."

That got a laugh from the students. "W-well, I'd rather avoid that," admitted Pyrrha. "I'm a little too ticklish for my own good."

"That only makes it a better motivator," said Sasame, grinning mischievously as she raised her hands, fingers twitching, making Pyrrha fall back, her eyelids twitching. "But I won't subject you to that. I imagine that, for people your age, it's not as entertaining as it is for nine-year-olds."

"I don't know..." said Jaune playfully. "Seeing you tickle the living daylights out of Pyrrha sounds pretty entertaining to me."

"Jaune!" exclaimed Pyrrha, whirling to glare at him. "And I suppose _you_ don't mind being tickled."

"I don't, actually," said Jaune, with a proud smirk. "I lived with seven sisters. _I've_ developed an immunity."

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed, and she and Jaune both turned to look at Weiss, who flinched back at the collective attention she was receiving.

"What about you, Weiss?" asked Pyrrha.

"Wha-what about me?" stammered Weiss.

"Are you ticklish?" asked Jaune.

"O-of course not!" protested Weiss, her cheeks coloring. "I assure you that I am above such...such...mundanities."

Pyrrha and Jaune shared a sidelong glance with each other. "I don't know," said Pyrrha. "What do you think?"

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," quoted Jaune.

"Maybe we should find out," said Pyrrha.

"Hold on-!" protested Weiss.

"For science," agreed Jaune.

"Now wait just a minute! That doesn't even make sense!"

Weiss began to retreat...but was a step too late. Abruptly, Pyrrha tackled her to the ground and slipped her fingers inside the hem of Weiss' jacket, running her fingertips up and down the heiress' ribs. Weiss squealed and thrashed, but Pyrrha pinned her effectively. Then Jaune, a positively malicious smirk on his face, managed to catch Weiss' legs and slide her boots off, before proceeding to give the soles of her feet the same treatment, making her laugh all the harder, her body practically spasming.

"Ooh! That looks like fun!" exclaimed Nora, grinning widely. She turned to look hopefully at Blake, who regarded Nora with narrowed eyes.

"Don't even think about it," said Blake firmly.

"I'm not helping you," said Ren loftily, when Nora turned a plaintive look on him.

"Aww..." groaned Nora, slumping in disappointment.

Sasame, in the meantime, watched the antics of Ruby's teammates with fond amusement, her hands resting on her hips.

Finally, Jaune and Pyrrha relented, letting Weiss go. For a few minutes, she simply lay on the ground, panting for breath, her cheeks thoroughly flushed, her hair and clothes now rumpled and wrinkled from her earlier struggles. Narrowing her eyes, she glared at both Jaune and Pyrrha. "I...will...never...forgive you...for this," she growled, her gaze going to Jaune in particular, even though Pyrrha had been the one to take the lead.

Jaune looked at Pyrrha, who beamed back, before shrugging. "Eh...Worth it."

Weiss groaned and slumped back down to the ground, while the others laughed.

* * *

It wasn't hard for Ruby and Yang to find the others...well...it was Ruby who did the finding. She was easily able to home in on her sense of Sasame's Aura, following it to another secluded corner of the campus, where she was surprised to see her teammates and Yang's teammates all practicing their Temper under Sasame's supervision.

Ruby abruptly noticed that Weiss was not looking her best, looking decidedly more roughed up than she remembered the heiress being. "What happened to you?" she asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," growled Weiss, throwing a petulant glare at Jaune and Pyrrha, silently warning them not to tell either.

"I guess it must have been _some_ talk," said Nora, looking over at Yang. "That's quite the shiner."

Yang's fingers reflexively went up to her right eye, the skin around which was now a dark-purple color.

"Are things okay between you two?" asked Blake, looking at Yang.

"They're fine," said Yang, who paused before amending her words. "Well...not exactly fine...but we'll get there...someday."

"And that?" asked Blake, her eyes narrowing as she examined the black eye.

"Eh, I deserved it," Yang admitted, flashing a sheepish grin at Ruby who glowered at her.

* * *

_Yang didn't cower, even though Ruby's cloak seemed to billow and swell before her eyes, its movements carried by the wave of Aura that rolled off her, betraying the raw anger presently surging through the younger girl at that moment. With a click, Ruby freed Akaibara, sliding the blade out of its sheath barely more than an inch. Just that alone was enough to change the atmosphere completely, Yang now getting a very real feeling that her very _life_ might be in danger. Strangely, she swore she heard a ringing sound, not the kind of ringing that came from her ears in the wake of an extremely loud noise, but a ringing coming from somewhere else, almost as though someone was running their finger along the rim of a partially filled goblet._

_Ruby was furious...and Yang didn't blame her. After confessing what she had done to Jaune, Ruby had fallen silent. Then..._this_ happened. Her eyes glinted with unadulterated malice, which was focused on Yang with laser-intensity, provoking a fear so powerful that Yang's limbs had gone beyond trembling, and had simply locked into place, as though her muscles had set like concrete._

_"After all that...you mean to tell me that you went after Jaune...behind my back..." growled Ruby._

_Swallowing, it was all Yang could do to nod._

_"Why?" growled Ruby._

_A dozen excuses flew through Yang's mind. She remembered, all too easily, her own words about wanting to protect her sister, and keep her safe. But Yang knew that was all so much bullshit. The truth, plain and simple..."I was jealous," she confessed. "I...I wanted to tell you how wrong I was, but...I...you..." She looked down. "He was where I wanted to be, and I just..."_

_Yang couldn't bring herself to say anymore. Just trying to put her feelings into words left her feeling more pathetic and petty than she'd ever thought it possible for a person to be. Instead, she grimaced, closing her eyes, lowering her head, and resigning herself to her fate, whatever it was that Ruby decided to do with her. In the wake of what had just happened, Yang wouldn't have been surprised if their reconciliation was over as quickly as it had begun. She felt a tiny bit justified in her overall frustration, given that her previous efforts had been met by a complete stone wall, Ruby refusing to even acknowledge her, so that Yang wouldn't have been able to get out so much as a "sorry" over her previous behavior, everything she and their father had done._

_But this...what she'd one with Jaune...this was _her_ mess, and hers alone, and she was determined to own up to it. If that meant she and Ruby were finished, so be it. Yang knew it would be devastating. But, at this point, she had no right to complain._

_The tension in the air rose...then Yang heard Ruby take a deep breath. The tension abated, and the hostility faded somewhat. The ringing subsided, and Yang heard the click of Ruby's sword returning the rest of the way to its sheath. A sense of relief rising within her, Yang dared to open her eyes._

_That proved to be a mistake, as her vision was abruptly filled by the sight of Ruby's fist, coming right at her face._

_Yang screamed in pain, Ruby's left fist connecting solidly against her right eye. The force behind the blow knocked Yang off her feet, and sent her onto her back. This had been no hasty, angry jab, but a full-on hooking punch, a punch Yang herself would have been proud of, the force of the blow enhanced by Ruby's Flow and Projection, smashing right through the protection of Yang's own Aura, leaving her writing in pain for a few moments, while Ruby stood over her, taking deep breaths to wrestle her own feelings under control._

_Finally, Yang recovered enough that she was able to look up, though she still kept her eye covered, already well aware that a bruise was forming around it._

_Ruby looked down at her with a frighteningly neutral expression. "You're lucky you did that _before_ we had this talk, Yang," she said._

_Her mouth dry, Yang couldn't move or speak._

_Ruby closed her eyes and sighed. "I said I'd forgive you," she said. "You owned up to it, so I'll forgive you...once. But this is your last and _only_ chance. You pull something like that again, whether it's with Jaune or anyone else, and it's _over_ between us. No appeals...Got it?"_

_"Y-yeah..." said Yang, her voice still quivering._

_"You owe Jaune an apology," said Ruby, pausing and thinking things over. "Blake too."_

_"I will," promised Yang._

_Ruby sighed, the rest of the tension leaving her body. Then she smiled softly. "Thanks for being honest with me, Yang. I guess that means you're serious about this."_

_"I am," said Yang injecting every ounce of conviction she could dredge up into her voice._

_Ruby bent down and offered her a hand up, which Yang accepted gladly. "I still love you," said Ruby._

_"Thanks," breathed Yang._

_"Come on...let's go find the others," said Ruby, leading Yang back the way they'd come._

* * *

Ruby held the look for a few seconds, before sighing and shaking her head. "Just remember to do what you promised."

Looking at Yang, Sasame's hand twitched, her nature as a healer urging her to deal with Yang's bruise. However, after a moment's hesitation, she chose not to act. _In a sense, that bruise is a pact between Yang-san and Ruby-chan,_ she thought to herself. _It's best if I let that heal in its own time._

"Sure thing, Sis," said Yang. "Anyway...what are you guys up to?"

"Oh! Ruby's sister's been teaching us the neat Aura tricks Ruby's been teaching her team," explained Nora.

"Neat Aura tricks?" Yang raised her eyebrows, frowning slightly before taking in the group. They didn't really seem to be doing much of anything to her eyes. However, her gaze picked up a faint shimmering outline around each of them. Frowning and squinting, Yang narrowed her gaze and noticed that each student was subtly outlined with the color of their own Aura. "What is that?"

"Well, I suppose I have one more pupil to bring up to speed," said Sasame with a giggle. Then she looked at Ruby. "I moved your teammates onto Suppression. I hope you don't mind."

"N-no, it's fine," said Ruby, waving her hands placatingly. "I thought they might be ready...but I wasn't sure."

"That's fine," said Sasame, beaming proudly at her. "I must say, I'm impressed by everyone's work ethic. Your teammates have clearly been practicing dutifully, and it seems your other friends won't take long to catch up."

"I hope not," groused Nora. "I'm still mad that you kept us from learning something awesome like this."

"Um...well...I didn't really mean to keep it from you," said Ruby, blushing.

She hadn't really intended to teach the Three Exercises to all her teammates originally either, just Jaune. But then Pyrrha had started coming to their sessions, wanting to know what Ruby had been working on him with. Then she had brought Weiss into it. Before she knew it, she had three "students" working to learn the basic Aura exercises taught within the Mibu Clan. It had been something to help bring them together as a team, a place where Jaune could be on equal footing with elites like Weiss and Pyrrha, who were so far ahead of him in every other respect.

And, Ruby supposed, the fact that Yang was on Team RYNB might have been a factor explaining why she'd never considered teaching the Three Exercises to their sister team.

Of course, now that she and Yang had begun to patch things up, Ruby supposed there was no reason not to teach those exercises to RYNB. It would be a way for both teams to come closer together. She supposed that their rooftop training sessions had just doubled in size. She wondered if she should find a different venue for their training.

_Nah, it's fine._

She and Sasame continued to coach the group through perfecting their Temper, though the nature of the exercise meant that there was very little "coaching" required, mostly reminding one of the practicing students when their focus began to waver, with much the same being done for Ruby's teammates as they practiced Suppression.

By the time they called it a day for dinner, they'd gotten a couple hours of practice in. As they headed to the dining hall, Ruby trailed back slightly. Sasame, sensing that Ruby had something to ask her, dropped back as well. Yang shot them a confused look, but Ruby waved it off before turning her attention to Sasame.

"Uh...Sasame-nee, how long are you staying?" asked Ruby.

"No more than a day or two," said Sasame. "I did promise a quick visit after all."

"Um..." Ruby lowered her head and began to fidget, tapping her index fingers together.

"What is it, Ruby-chan?" asked Sasame, raising an eyebrow. "I know that look of yours."

"Um...Do you think...that is, if it's okay...could you stay a little longer?" asked Ruby.

"Hmmm...?" Sasame examined Ruby closely. "Is it so that I could help you teach your friends a little bit more, perhaps give some more advice on where to go in the future?"

"Y-yeah," said Ruby. No matter how often Sasame did it, Ruby was still always amazed by how accurately the fox-faunus could read her intent and anticipate her thoughts.

"Hmmm..." Sasame frowned and turned forward, her eyes focusing on the back of Jaune. "Are you hoping that I can point Jaune-kun in the direction of his Manifestation, seeing as he hasn't obtained a Semblance?"

Again, Ruby nodded.

"Hmmm..." Sasame hummed under breath, walking silently for a long moment. "Well...I have no pressing matters at home. Even if I hurried straight back, Sora-sama and the others won't be expecting me for a few months. Kyo won't have made it back yet, and won't for a while longer too. Given the nature of this excursion, none of us were expecting to go back to Leng for another few months at least..." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "As far as _my_ commitments go, I could certainly afford to linger a week or two. The only issues I see are on your end."

"What issues?" asked Ruby.

"Well, seeing as I am not a student, nor a member of the staff, I doubt that the faculty here are willing to permit me an extended period to stay," said Sasame. "I don't have the money for lodgings in Vale. I suppose I could stay in the forest."

"I...uh...I could ask Professor Ozpin," blurted Ruby. "If I go up after dinner, I might be able to talk to him and see if he'd be willing. You could stay with us in our dorm room."

"Hmmm...You might not need to wait that long," said Sasame, giggling. "I was planning on paying the old wi-the old man-in the emerald tower a visit. However, it appears that he is coming to us."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked and looked around, then gasped as she spotted Ozpin standing near the entrance of the dining hall, pointedly looking at them, his expression inscrutable. "Somehow...I'm not surprised. I think I've given up on that, when it comes to him."

"Probably a wise frame of mind to adopt," said Sasame with a giggle.

Ruby's friends were a beat slower in noticing Ozpin waiting for them. "Oh! Hey, Professor," said Jaune, waving a greeting as the group came to a halt before Ozpin.

"Mr. Arc, working hard, I trust," said Ozpin calmly, nodding incrementally in Jaune's direction.

"Y-yes, Sir," said Jaune.

"Good," said Ozpin. "I hope you all enjoy your day off tomorrow. Rest is an important aspect of training as well."

"Yes, thank you," said Pyrrha, bobbing her head in acknowledgment, along with Weiss. The others imitated the gesture a few seconds behind them.

"What brings you out here, Professor?" asked Blake, already having a good idea of what the answer was.

"I came to observe how things were going," said Ozpin. "I can hardly properly ascertain the state of affairs regarding my students by remaining in my office all the time. It also offered me the opportunity to greet our guest." He nodded politely to Sasame, who smiled and inclined her head in return.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Professor Ozpin," said Sasame, her smile taking on a sly quality. "I am Mitarai Sasame, Ruby-chan's adoptive older sister. I've come to see how she was settling in here, seeing as her admission was quite the surprise for us."

Ruby flinched in surprise, confused by why Sasame hadn't amended her name order to conform to the standard used by the Kingdoms. Normally, she was a little particular about that, if only so that people didn't get her given name and surname mixed up.

"Understandable," said Ozpin. "I apologize if my offer disrupted any plans you had for her."

"Nothing we are unable to adjust for," said Sasame frankly. "Ruby-chan was at the self-refinement stage of her training anyway. There is nothing that says she couldn't accomplish that here."

"That is good to know," said Ozpin.

"In any case, it's convenient that you've decided to come to us," said Sasame. "Ruby-chan was just wondering if I could extend my stay in order to advise her on certain matters."

That got a surprised reaction from Ruby's friends, particularly her teammates, who looked at the pair in confusion.

Ozpin was silent for a moment, his eyes closing. "I don't see why not," he said with a chuckle.

Ruby gasped softly. The fact that Ozpin hadn't made any inquiry about Sasame's reason for staying seemed to indicate, not that he didn't care, but that he already knew _why_ Ruby wanted her to stay longer. Once again, she was reminded that Ozpin was apparently just as capable of reading her as Sasame was.

"Do you require any special accommodations?" asked Ozpin.

"I do not believe so," said Sasame. "I believe I can stay with Ruby-chan and her team without much difficulty. I don't take up much space after all."

"Quite true," said Ozpin, nodding sagely. "I will permit it. However, I would very much like to speak with you, after your dinner, perhaps."

"I expected as much," said Sasame, her smile widening. "I have to admit, I was looking forward to speaking with you as well, even before Ruby-chan made her request."

"I expected as much," said Ozpin, matching Sasame's intonation precisely. "In that case, I will see you shortly. I suspect you already know where you can find me."

"Indeed, I have a good idea," said Sasame, her eyes drifting to Beacon Tower, which was visible from their position, jutting up from the lower buildings around it.

"Very well," said Ozpin, trading one last nod with her. He looked at the other students. "A good evening to you all." With that, he walked off.

A confused silence followed in his wake as everyone except Sasame traded confused glances. "Okay..." said Yang finally. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing of great importance," said Sasame with an amused giggle.

They filed into the cafeteria to get their food. They were just taking their places at their chosen table when a familiar voice shouted over the general din of the room.

"Ruby!"

Ruby looked up and broke out into a smile as she saw Velvet approaching them. "Hi, Velvet. Still waiting for your team?"

Velvet nodded as she picked her seat and sat down. "I just got a call from Coco, though. She says they should be back by tomorrow."

"Oh, this is the friend you mentioned earlier," noted Sasame.

"Um...Yeah," said Ruby. "Velvet, this is Sasame, my adopted big sister."

Velvet looked at Sasame, her eyes going wide. Perhaps she hadn't expected Ruby's "big" sister to be so short. "It's...um...nice to meet you."

"Likewise," said Sasame cheerfully.

For the remainder of the evening, Sasame got to know Ruby's friends a little better. Before long, they had all dropped their guard around her, Sasame apparently knowing the best way to talk and act in order to get past people's natural barriers. Once again, her ability to astutely assess people wowed Ruby's friends, particularly when she managed to discern a great deal of Ren and Nora's history through a few basic observations. Ruby noticed that Sasame avoided doing the same for Blake, possibly out of respect for Blake's secret. Sasame would have been able to tell that Blake was a faunus at a glance, regardless of the bow.

The most unusual part of the evening was when Cardin came in with his team. Ruby noticed immediately, as she'd become wary of Cardin's presence lately, not wanting him to ever get the drop on her, for whatever reason he might want to. However, when she looked his way, as discreetly as she could, Ruby noticed something was off.

Cardin looked shaken, as though he'd had a close call recently. He was putting up a front to try and keep his team from cluing in, though Dove didn't appear to be fooled, from the way he scrutinized Cardin's actions carefully. But Ruby could tell from the stiffness of Cardin's posture and the overblown nature of his swagger. Something had either frightened or disturbed him deeply.

As usual, Cardin's eyes were on the move as well. Even if Ruby had warned him off of picking on faunus, she could tell that the habitual bully was always on the lookout for a new target of opportunity. She carefully averted her gaze slightly, not wanting to meet his eyes. With his eyes roving around, it was only natural that Cardin's would pass on their table at some point.

Then the _true_ strangeness occurred. Whenever Cardin looked towards Ruby and her friends, he was always on the lookout for an opportunity to catch Ruby on her own, often giving up and looking elsewhere when he didn't see the opportunity. But, this time, as his gaze slid across her and the others, Cardin blinked, then his gaze snapped back to Ruby...or rather...the person sitting next to Ruby.

Suddenly, Cardin went completely rigid, his posture seizing up so tightly that he nearly dropped his tray. As it was, the plates on it were clattering loudly and liquid splattered from his glass as his skin blanched almost pure white. Even at the distance they were at, Ruby could have sworn that she heard his shrill whine from the other end of the hall.

Then Sasame noticed the pressure of Cardin's eyes on her and turned to look at him. She beamed at him and offered a cheery wave. The gesture made Cardin flinch, his glass tipping over completely and flooding his tray. Cardin didn't even notice, turning about and rushing away at a walk that was almost a run, going to the furthest corner of the dining hall he could find from where Ruby and the others were.

Ruby blinked, staring after him for a second, before turning to Sasame. "Sasame-nee, did something happen between you and Cardin earlier?"

"Huh?" grunted Jaune as the others threw surprised looks at Ruby.

"He did just look like he'd just seen a ghost," noted Blake with a frown.

"Yes. Something agitated him severely," agreed Velvet, nodding.

"Oh...the young man with the red hair in the armor?" inquired Sasame. At Ruby's nod, she smiled brightly. "Ah, so that's his name. Asking for it completely slipped my mind, when we met."

"Y-you met him," sputtered Weiss, seemingly horrified by the thought. Expressions around the table indicated that the sentiment was mutual.

"Yes," said Sasame pleasantly. "I bumped into him when I was looking for Ruby-chan earlier today. He took exception to me being a faunus, silly boy. I tried to withdraw gracefully, but he insisted on being a brute."

"Oh..." said Ruby, not sounding terribly surprised.

"I'm so sorry," gasped Pyrrha.

"Please don't apologize," said Sasame. "It's not your fault and you are not responsible for him or his behavior. Besides, I disciplined him thoroughly."

"So _that_ was what I sensed earlier," said Ruby, a low groan to her voice.

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune.

"I knew Sasame-nee was here because I could sense pulses of her Aura," explained Ruby. "Normally, I wouldn't have sensed her Aura at much of a distance...unless she was actively using it." She frowned and looked at Sasame. "How many?"

"Let's see..." Sasame tapped her chin. "I think he made it to thirteen before he gave in."

"Ugh..." groaned Ruby.

"Uh, wanna explain what you're talking about?" asked Yang.

"That's how many of Cardin's bones Sasame-nee broke while 'disciplining' him," explained Ruby. "Sasame-nee's one of the nicest people in the world...if you don't get on her bad side."

"Come now, Ruby-chan," said Sasame loftily. "I have _no_ bad side."

"You mean she broke thirteen of Cardin's bones!" exclaimed Nora, her eyes going wide as she gaped at Sasame. "But he looked just fine-Oh!" The same light that dawned in Nora's eyes dawned in the others' as well. "Healer...riiiiiight..."

Now, suddenly, everyone paled at the implication.

"Your other big sister is scary," Yang whispered to Ruby.

"It's hard to make her mad," Ruby whispered back. "But when she does, she gets _mean_."

"You know I can hear you both, right?" asked Sasame teasingly, making Yang and Ruby squeak in unison.

"You could get in trouble for that," noted Weiss darkly.

"Now why would I?" asked Sasame, taking a dainty bite of her food. "After all, it's not as though that young man..."

"Cardin Winchester," said Ruby, recognizing the cue.

"...Winchester-kun has anything to show for it," continued Sasame. "If anything, I left him in even better condition than I found him in. Perhaps experiencing what it is to be a victim will encourage him to develop empathy in the future."

"That's a long shot," said Ruby. "But I guess we can only hope."

"It probably hasn't done his feelings towards faunus any favors," Blake noted sourly, Velvet nodding her agreement.

"There's no helping that," said Sasame. "When someone is that predisposed to hate another class of people, whether the differentiating factor is race or something else, it is very hard to get them to change their opinion. You can't really reason with them, because such opinions are rarely rational to begin with."

"True enough," said Velvet.

"Well, they're out of our hair, at least," said Jaune. "So what are we gonna do tomorrow?" he asked, looking around.

"Oh! Let's have a group trip into Vale!" suggested Nora eagerly.

"Uh...actually..." Ruby grinned shyly. "Yang and I were gonna go into Vale together." She looked at Sasame. "Would you come with us, Sasame-nee? I guess I want to spend the day with both of my sisters."

"My, planning sibling outings already," noted Sasame proudly. "I'd be happy to accompany you two. I really want to get to know Yang-san better."

"That sounds great!" said Yang, grinning with excitement at the prospect. For all that her and Ruby's previous conversation had gone well, she felt more secure with the idea of having Sasame come along as a mediator...at least until their reconciliation was on more secure footing.

"Well, I guess we'll find something else to do with our time," said Jaune with a chuckle.

Sasame took up her tray, getting ready to take it to the the washers. "Well then," she said, "if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with your Headmaster to attend to."

"Should I come with you?" asked Ruby.

Sasame smiled warmly at her. "No, stay with your friends, Ruby-chan. There's nothing that you need to hear at this point."

Ruby frowned, not missing the hidden meaning in Sasame's words, indicating that the content of Sasame's pending discussion with Ozpin might be important in the future. However, Sasame merely sent Ruby another smile, one loaded with her intent, that solidified the notion that the conversation between Sasame and Ozpin was to be a private one.

Ruby watched as Sasame walked over to take her tray to the dishwashers, her eyes following Sasame as the fox-faunus made her way out the door.

"I've gotta admit, this whole thing is kinda weird," said Yang. "Why would Ozpin want to have a private conversation with her?"

"Well, considering the radical nature of what she's taught us, perhaps he might have issues with her presuming to act as a teacher to his students," suggested Ren.

"I kinda doubt it," said Nora. "Wouldn't he not want her to stick around if he thought that way?"

"True," agreed Ren, conceding the point.

"Well, there's no real point in worrying about it," said Weiss dismissively. "If it has anything to do with us, I'm sure we'll hear about it in due course. My only concern is that I hope she can find her way to our dorm."

"Don't worry," said Ruby. "I'm sure Ozpin will tell her where to go."

* * *

"Quite the view," said Sasame, staring straight down into the gears that churned beneath her feet, through the transparent surface of the floor. "You seem fond of clockwork mechanisms. Perhaps it is an indication of your view on the nature of an ideal world."

"Maybe once," admitted Ozpin. "However, life has taught me that trying to make people into pieces of a conceptual mechanism tends to backfire terribly. I have learned that valuing the freedom of choice is, perhaps, one of the most important factors to affecting change in the world."

"A wise point of view indeed," said Sasame, looking up at Ozpin, her eyes narrowing slightly. "So life has taught you...or have your _lives_ taught you?"

Ozpin's eyes narrowed back.

"Has Ruby-chan noticed?" mused Sasame. "No...not yet. Her senses are not quite that refined, though, I imagine she does get a vague..._off_...feeling about you. She probably isn't even consciously aware of it yet."

"I imagine not," said Ozpin. "I must say, you have done remarkably well with her."

"Save your praise for her," said Sasame dismissively. "Ruby-chan is truly a singular individual. At best, we schooled her in the basics, and gave her pointers and direction when she asked for it. But, otherwise, she has built what she has for herself."

"Does that include her sword?" asked Ozpin skeptically.

"Of course not," said Sasame. "I can say though, that it was her nature that inspired Murasame-sama to craft it, to revive...or reincarnate rather...the design of a lost sword, producing what he rightly considers to be his finest creation yet." She smiled fondly and shook her head slowly. "Of course, what inspired him was the quality of Ruby-chan's soul."

"I imagine so," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "Those with smaller, simpler souls often have the capacity to ignite a spark in others."

"I'm glad to see you have noticed that," said Sasame. "And what of you? Do you have any plans for this small, simple soul?"

"Vague ones," said Ozpin. "Better to call them hopes...or aspirations maybe. It is my hope that, in any situation, she will act according to her nature."

"While you stand by and give her the leeway to do so," mused Sasame. "Very telling."

"You disapprove?" asked Ozpin.

"I neither approve nor disapprove," said Sasame. "I wish for Ruby-chan to live her life as she sees fit, to live according to her convictions, to seek her own happiness. I am so proud of her for having such a kind, protective spirit. May I ask why you do not simply speak plainly with her about what is at stake?"

"I have discovered that it can be...counterproductive," said Ozpin sadly, looking down. "I have seen those with her spirit before. In the past, I had been forward about the war, about the foe we fight. But, for people like her, that often induces them to try too hard, to force themselves into affairs that they are not yet ready for."

"The same could be said of her being kept in the dark though," Sasame pointed out.

"True," said Ozpin. "However, I wish for her to grow into her role as naturally as possible, to seek it out for herself, of her own will."

"The light touch is best, I suppose," said Sasame. "We've all tried hard to remind Ruby-chan that her own life is important too. But, so long as you provide the guidance she needs, I see no reason to intervene, nor say anything too much at this juncture."

"I'm grateful," said Ozpin, bowing his head to her.

"The most important skill we provide to our students is the ability to reason and discover the path to the answers they seek for themselves," said Sasame. "I wonder how long it will take Ruby-chan to notice the nature of your soul though."

"Considering her growth...probably not long at all," said Ozpin. "You don't seem overly troubled by it."

"I pity both you and the host your soul reincarnates into," said Sasame. "However, who you become is not a matter of choice for you. Rather, it is determined by the nature of the person you reincarnate into."

"You've seen this before," noted Ozpin.

"Not me specifically, but I do know of something similar," said Sasame, her eyes narrowing. "In the distant past, we Mibu created such a soul ourselves. However, when it migrated from one host to another, it was nowhere near as gentle as you are. You merge with soul of your host. Our monster mercilessly obliterated whatever poor soul inhabited his chosen body. He plagued us over the course of millennia."

"A frightening notion," said Ozpin.

"Make no mistake," said Sasame. "Salem is a fearsome creature. Even Kyo and I would admit to that. But the Demon King we Mibu long ago crafted, a living weapon meant to rule the world as our clan's proxy, was just as bad. His power grew well beyond our ancestors' control. It was one of the factors that led to them realizing the error of their ways. Back then, the Mibu were amongst the first to discover the nature of Aura, and explore its full potential, leading them to develop the notion that they were gods. That spectacular failure taught them...otherwise."

"And this monster of yours is no longer a threat?" asked Ozpin warily.

"You need not worry," said Sasame. "The Crimson King of several generations past settled with him long ago. The Demon King was laid to rest for the final time. He will not return to trouble anyone, _ever_ again."

"That is good, I suppose," said Ozpin. "So, what of the Mibu now?"

Sasame raised an eyebrow. "You wonder if we might take up the fight against Salem as well, perhaps join as allies with the Kingdoms?"

"Perhaps that is too much to hope for," said Ozpin.

"It is difficult to say," said Sasame. "When it comes to Salem, there are certain…arrangements…in place that prevent our interference. Besides, as they are now, I do not yet believe that the Mibu are quite ready to engage fully with the larger world. Our isolation has both worked for and against us. Sora-sama and the other Elders have debated the matter at length, and quite carefully, but have yet to reach a definitive answer. The general consensus is that the Mibu will have to stand on the world stage with the other Kingdoms at some point. However, they still are not yet certain as to _how_ to achieve that?"

"And is that why you took an outsider under your wing and raised her to become proficient in your arts?" mused Ozpin, turning to look out the window. "And you did so, not with the intention of inducting her into your clan, but allowing her to return to her Kingdom, and become an influence here."

"Perhaps I am like you, Ozpin-dono," said Sasame coyly. "I have no wish to steer Ruby-chan through her own life, but would rather that she follow the path she wishes. To that end, I saw to it that she was equipped as best as we could manage to fulfill her ambition. However..." She shrugged. "...if that path leads her down a road that could lead to a bridge between the Mibu and the rest of the world...I certainly do not object. Neither do Sora-sama or the others. As to whether or not she can affect the kind of change that will enable us to make a difference in the current conflict...that is completely up in the air, nor do I intend to direct her towards that end."

"I suppose that is your right...and hers," said Ozpin with a small smile, shaking his head slowly. "I can see that having you here will be interesting, for however long it lasts."

"I don't intend to overstay my welcome," said Sasame. "I just intend to stay long enough to help Ruby-chan with her little...project." Her smile widened and her tail twitched a little. "I imagine you are looking forward to the results."

"A great deal," said Ozpin.

"Good," said Sasame. "I imagine the results that come from Jaune-kun's training must be particularly interesting. You have quite the devious mind, letting that boy in with little to no training."

"There are always such hidden gems and diamonds in the rough out there," said Ozpin. "I had a feeling that Mr. Arc was just such an individual."

"You see well it seems," said Sasame. "I have one final question though."

"And that is...?"

"What are the Silver Eyes?" asked Sasame firmly.

"So...you know about them," said Ozpin.

"That is a very broad term, 'knowing'," said Sasame. "We know that they exist. We know what they look like, which was how we were able to recognize Ruby-chan as one of the Silver-Eyed Warriors. However, what they are and what they do are lost to us."

"So not even the Mibu have that knowledge," mused Ozpin.

"You overestimate us," said Sasame with a rueful laugh, "or perhaps you could say you underestimate our self-interest. The history of the Mibu goes back farther than that of any Kingdom, thanks to the fact that we have outlasted all who came before those Kingdoms. But it is the history of the world that _concerns_ the Mibu. So you could say that our history is...selective."

"Ah, I see," said Ozpin. "So what do you wish to know about the Silver-Eyed Warriors?"

"Everything," said Sasame firmly. "What they are capable of, how their power works, and how it can be used safely. We have had no historical dealing with the Silver-Eyed Warriors specifically...at least none that we've been able to discover in our archives...but we have dealt with Shamans of a similar stripe before. Such power is often a double-edged sword. Not using it properly can do as much harm to the one wielding it as it can to their enemies. If you inducted Ruby-chan into your school with the intent of eventually having her put that power to use, then I want to be assured that she can do so safely."

"An understandable concern," conceded Ozpin. "True, that trait of hers did draw my attention, much as it did with her mother. However, that alone was not enough to make me want her in Beacon this soon."

"That's good to hear," said Sasame. "But it doesn't answer my question."

The air in the room thickened abruptly as Sasame stared at Ozpin, bringing her hands together and popping her knuckles. "I will warn you..._once_...Ozpin-dono. I take my position as Ruby-chan's sister _very_ seriously. If I believe that you are withholding important information that may mean the difference between life and death for her...you will be on your way to your next host _much_ more quickly than you probably anticipated."

To his credit, Ozpin was undaunted by the threat, but appeared to take it seriously as well. "Very well," he said. "I will tell you what I know."

"Before you begin," said Sasame. "I do have one more question to ask."

Ozpin raised a silent eyebrow.

"You know full well about Ruby-chan's Silver Eyes," said Sasame firmly. "But...are you aware that her sister, Yang-san, has the Crimson Eyes?"

From the look of surprise that crossed Ozpin's face, the answer was "apparently not."

* * *

**Apologies about my rather combative tone, last chapter. I do feel some lingering frustration about a few people fronting their personal beliefs about forgiveness as though they were objective facts, and denouncing my story over it. I had some scathing replies planned for _some_ of the comments I received, but decided not to descend into that particular cesspit, as that kind of thing just never ends well. I didn't need to take that kind of tone. The subject of forgiveness is a nuanced one, with a great many approaches to it. This story reflects my own personal take on it, and I hold to it as my personal belief. That doesn't make me anymore right than anyone else on the topic, so...agree to disagree...**

**That having been said, some of my detractors did make some fairly decent points, which led to certain modifications to this chapter, which helped me fill in areas I _did_ feel were lacking before. I'm grateful for everyone's feedback...and it's something of a shock to come home from work and find over fifty review/comment notifications clogging up my email inbox. I'm hugely grateful that so many people are engaging with my story, and feel strongly enough to leave their comments. So thanks again for all your support.**

**So, in Sasame's conversation with Ozpin, there is a definite reference to Oda Nobunaga, the historical figure turned major antagonist in _Samurai Deeper Kyo_. Those who've read _Crimson Eyes_ will remember that he was the ultimate Big Bad of that story. The main purpose of mentioning him in this conversation was to establish that Nobunaga will _not_ be a player in this story, mainly to avoid rehashing any of that plot.**

**Also, poor Weiss. And her torment has only _just_ begun...**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28:**

"No way!" exclaimed Yang, hugging her pillow to her chest. "You gave Ice Queen the tickle-torture?"

"Yep," said Jaune proudly.

Weiss growled and glared at Jaune.

"Dang! I wish I could've seen it," said Yang. "Scratch that! I wish I could've _done_ it!"

"Me too," agreed Ruby eagerly.

"Well, it's not going to happen again," said Weiss firmly. "I refuse to take part in such-why are you looking at me like that?"

Weiss reeled back away from Yang and Ruby, the half-sisters sporting mischievous grins that practically screamed how closely they were related. Weiss was already beginning to regret the fact that the two of them had made up with each other.

"No! No! I am _not_ going through this again!" protested Weiss, scooting back across the floor and clambering up on her bed.

It proved to be the wrong move as Ruby shot across the gap between their respective beds in a fraction of a second, pinning Weiss to her mattress and proceeding to tickle the living daylights out of the proud heiress as Yang went to work on her feet.

"Wow..." mused Jaune as Pyrrha nearly doubled over with laughter. "You know, from the perspective of a bystander...that does look pretty cruel."

"Ooh! Can I help?" asked Nora, bouncing from where she sat on Pyrrha's bed, next to Blake. "Blake's a big meanie who won't let us tickle her, and Ren's a big meanie who won't help me tickle her."

"Don't even-" Weiss began.

"Why not," said Yang, overriding Weiss' objection instantly. "There's plenty of Ice Queen to go around."

"Stop talking about me like I'm some kind of tickling commodity! Ren! You're her partner! Rein her in!"

Looking over, Jaune saw Ren keeping a neutral expression, but he swore he saw the faintest upward quirk at the corners of the stoic boy's mouth. "It's probably best to just let them get it out of their systems," he said.

"NOOOOOOO!" wailed Weiss as Nora joined in on the fun, though Weiss' wail was soon replaced by uncontrollable laughter.

"Still," said Blake, looking over at Pyrrha, where she sat next to Jaune, "I wasn't expecting _you_ to take the lead on something like that."

Pyrrha's cheeks colored. "W-well...it seemed like fun at the time. I've never had friends I could do something like that with before. And...It's the sort of thing that should be beneath the Invincible Girl to do. I...I..." Her voice took on a quality that was almost husky, as though she'd participated in some kind of lewd act. "I _liked_ it."

"This-HA!-sort of-HAHAHAHA!-thing is-HEEE!-beneath _all_ of us!" exclaimed Weiss, in between shrieks and squeals of laugher as she struggled in the grip of the three girls.

"No, _you're_ beneath us," said Nora proudly. "That's so we can tickle you."

"WHAT KIND OF LOGIC IS THAT!" shrieked Weiss.

Ren chuckled and stood up. Going over, he gently pried Nora away from Weiss. "All right, that's enough," he said, speaking to all three girls. "She's going to asphyxiate if you keep this up."

"Aww...you're right," said Ruby as she and Yang finally released Weiss, who slumped, panting and gasping, back onto her mattress.

"I'lll...get...you...for this," promised Weiss, glaring fiercely at Ruby, who grinned back.

"Well, if it helps any, Ruby-chan is still very ticklish herself," said Sasame, sporting an almost malicious grin from where she lounged, in the room's corner, her tail seeming to have fluffed up like a pillow so that she could curl it around behind her to use as a cushion.

"Eep!" squeaked Ruby, her smile vanishing and her expression flickering from amused to nervous in a heartbeat as every eye in the room turned on her. She backed away from Weiss, but froze, almost literally, as her arms and legs were locked in place by a set of miniature Glyphs that held her hovering off the floor.

"I don't think so," growled Weiss. "I promised I would pay you back and, now, it's _my_ turn. Who else would like to see if we can make Ruby Rose turn red?"

"Nnonononononono! Please! I'll be good! I promise!" exclaimed Ruby, struggling against her restraints, to no avail. To make matters worse, Weiss' proposition had caught a few interested looks.

"Sounds like fun," said Yang gleefully.

"You do have a delightful laugh, Ruby," said Pyrrha, her smile as pleasantly polite and cheerful as always, yet somehow managing to have a devious edge to it. "Why would I dare miss out on the opportunity to hear it more often?"

"I'm in!" shouted Nora, already bouncing towards Ruby.

"Help me!" wailed Ruby, throwing a pleading look Jaune and Ren's way.

"I know when I'm outmatched," said Jaune with a sheepish grin as he held his hands up in surrender.

"Best to let her get it out of her system," repeated Ren, in reference to Nora.

"Please no! I'll be good, I promise! I'm SORRYYYYYYYYYYY!"

Ruby would have sent a look Blake's way. But she didn't get the chance as Weiss was in front of her, grinning, yet also glaring as she began to run her fingers up and down Ruby's sides, while Yang came up behind her and gave attention to her armpits. In the meantime, Nora dropped down to handle the soles of Ruby's feet. The room filled with the sound of Ruby's laughter as the few of her friends who weren't participating in her torment muffled laughs of their own. True to her promise, Weiss made sure to tickle Ruby until her entire face began to turn red from laughing so hard.

It continued for a few minutes. Jaune let it go just a little bit longer than the girls had gone at tickling Weiss, before getting to his feet. "All right, all right," he said. "That's enough."

He carefully pushed his way through the girls and hooked one arm under Ruby's legs, while using the other to brace her back. Weiss' Glyphs shattered, having been near their limit anyway. Jaune hefted Ruby in his arms in a bridal carry as she gasped and panted for breath.

"This isn't over," said Weiss grandly, pointing a finger decisively at Jaune. "I'll have my revenge on you too, Arc."

"I'm still not ticklish anymore," said Jaune.

"Th-that doesn't matter," proclaimed Weiss. "I'll find a way!"

"And what about Pyrrha?" asked Jaune. "Are you gonna have revenge on her too?"

Weiss turned to look over her shoulder at Pyrrha, who stiffened nervously and grinned shyly, offering Weiss a small wave.

"I...I...I'll let her off the hook," said Weiss, "just this once."

"Awww, Pyrrha gets a pass?" complained Jaune, not really all that upset over it. _It looks like Weiss is still having trouble dealing with Pyrrha as a normal person. Can't quite get her off that pedestal yet._

It seemed that the same thing occurred to Pyrrha as her slump appeared to be equal parts relieved and disappointed.

Ruby sighed in relief, now that the tickling was over. Reaching her arms up, she wrapped them around Jaune's shoulders and pulled herself to nuzzle against the shoulder on her head's side. "My hero," she cheered softly.

Sasame covered her mouth to muffle her giggle, watching as Jaune's face turned red. Then she heard the sound of crumpling bedsheets. Looking over at Yang, who'd sat back down, now that Ruby was no longer being tickled, she saw Yang's hand clenching, bunching up the fabric at her side. A fierce look of anger that washed over her face. Then she closed her eyes, took a deep breath. Her left hand reached over to grab her right wrist and pull it up. Her fingers slowly uncurled, releasing the bedsheet, then relaxed. Yang continued exhaling, the tension in her body seeming to leave along with the air in her lungs.

Seeming much calmer now, Yang smiled again and looked up. "You do realize that Jaune didn't stop us from tickling you?" she pointed out.

"But he did save me from your evil clutches," protested Ruby, turning and sticking her tongue out at Yang.

That got a laugh from everyone else in the room, even Yang. With the sisters beginning to mend their conflict, things were looking much better already. After they'd returned from dinner, Nora had proposed their first inter-team sleepover to celebrate Ruby and Yang's burgeoning reconciliation. Surprisingly, everyone on both teams seemed for the idea, even Weiss, not even objecting when Ruby volunteered their room for the event, on the condition that she not be ousted from her bed.

Shortly before the affair had begun, Yang had stopped Jaune in the hallway outside the dorm to issue her apology. To her surprise, Jaune accepted it rather easily, though his wording suggested that it was more out of consideration for Ren, rather than Yang herself. For her part, Yang could understand. Ren had gone out on a limb, convincing Jaune not to tell Ruby about what Yang had done to him at the time, while promising to keep her under control from then on. So, as long as what had happened between them in the sparring ring remained a one-time thing, then Jaune was willing to let bygones be bygones, mostly out of respect for RYNB's leader.

Packing nine people into a room originally meant for four was something of a task, with Sasame returning from her talk with Ozpin shortly after the decision had been made. However, they settled on the idea that the members of RASP would sleep in their beds, while Team RYNB would take the spaces between. Sasame made multiple assurances that she was fine curled up in an unoccupied corner of the room. The others were a bit worried, until Ruby assured them that Sasame was, indeed, fine.

Given that they'd just had dinner, there was no need for drinks and snacks. Largely, they spent the evening chatting and playing games. Prodded by Yang, Ruby shared some stories of her experiences on the road and, with a confirmation from Sasame that it was okay, some stories of her time in Onmyo, talking about the training she'd done with the Mibu.

Granted, there was only so much talking they could do during the night. Pyrrha couldn't help but notice that Weiss seemed quite a bit out of her element.

"You're not enjoying yourself?" she asked her partner.

"I'm having a little difficulty," said Weiss. "I've never done anything like this. I couldn't even dream of having a sleepover like this at home. It's not the sort of thing father would have ever allowed."

"I understand," said Pyrrha. "I haven't gotten to do anything like this in a long time."

"But you _did_ go to sleepovers?" asked Weiss.

"And hosted them...when I was younger," said Pyrrha, her head falling. "That was back before I entered Sanctum, and started winning tournaments. Then I became too busy with promotions and endorsements. Then my agent told me that stuff like that was beneath a person of my status." Pyrrha grimaced. "Of course, by that point, I didn't have any real friends that I would want to invite over for that sort of thing anyway."

"I can see that," said Weiss, thinking the situation over. Of course, even if her father had permitted those kinds of activities, none of her so-called "friends" were the kind of people she'd want to have over anyway. She smiled wryly. "If I'd gone to Atlas Academy, I don't think I'd have gotten the chance to do this either."

"For the same reason I wouldn't if I had gone to Mistral," Pyrrha guessed.

"Well, that too," said Weiss. "But the main reason is that no one could do that sort of thing in Atlas Academy. Life there is highly regimented. It's practically a military school. Actually, nowadays, the Academy mainly serves as a recruiting grounds for the Atlesian Military's Special Forces. That's how Winter ended up with them."

"You didn't want to go into the military?" asked Pyrrha.

Weiss shook her head. "Winter doing that is what resulted me in becoming the designated heir. Father disinherited her, accused General Ironwood of stealing and corrupting her. As the next in line, the inheritance fell to me." She frowned. "But, even here, I still need to tread carefully. If Father decides I'm not worthy either, then the inheritance will go to my brother instead."

"You have a brother?" asked Pyrrha, her surprised inquiry drawing the attention of others in the room.

Weiss nodded. "He's Ruby's age actually," she said, looking up at Ruby, who was now listening to their conversation with interest. "But he's a conniving schemer, definitely Father's favorite. At this point, Father is probably just looking for an excuse to pass me over and name Whitley his heir."

"That's awful!" said Pyrrha sharply.

"It's my family," said Weiss with a shrug. "I'll just have to deal with it by doing the best I can here. Luckily, the Vytal Festival is coming up, so I'll have a definite chance if I can make a good showing in the tournament."

"We'll just have to do our best job," declared Ruby firmly.

"We won't go easy on you though," said Yang, grinning at her sister, figuring it was best to start putting the advice Sasame and Qrow had given her to use.

If anything, that seemed to make Ruby happier than anything else Yang had said or done before. "Good," she said eagerly.

Over in her corner, Sasame silently beamed at Ruby.

They chatted and laughed for a while longer before Ruby raised her arms over her head, yawning hugely. "I think I'm ready for bed," she declared.

"I've been ready for a while now," declared Ren firmly. Indeed, he looked as though he was nodding off where he sat.

"Well, we've got a day to spend in town," said Yang, looking at Ruby. "I guess we don't want to waste too much time sleeping in."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "I guess it's lights out, everyone."

"Aww..." groaned Nora. However, hers was the only protest and even she was beginning to lose the battle with the sandman as her eyes drooped.

They began to get ready, the members of RYNB heading back across the hall to use their bathroom for their evening cleanup, while RASP did the same with theirs. The bathroom, only having so much space, could only be used by two people at a time. So Jaune and Pyrrha waited while Ruby and Weiss went first.

"You okay?" asked Jaune, looking at Pyrrha, noticing that she seemed almost reluctant to go to bed.

"It's just..." Pyrrha sighed and sniffled. "I've wanted to do something like this for so long, I've missed this so much...my eyes just kind of want to stay open."

"I know what you mean," said Jaune. "I've had moments like that."

"With your sisters?" asked Pyrrha.

"Sometimes," said Jaune. "Though, if I was lucky, I got invited to sleepovers at my friends' places. That was the only time I got out from under them, so to speak. Having a bunch of guys over at my house generally didn't turn out too well."

"Why?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well, I have seven sisters, all of whom are beautiful in their own way," said Jaune. "Even if I resented them for not letting me train to be a Huntsman, I wasn't about to let a bunch of guys spend the night drooling over them."

"Oh..." said Pyrrha, her cheeks coloring slightly. "I do suppose that might have been a bit of an issue."

"Yeah," said Jaune with a chuckle. "But it's nice to be able to do this now. We'll have to have another one sometime."

"I agree," said Pyrrha eagerly, with a fond smile.

From her place in the corner, Sasame looked on with a smile. She waited until everyone was finished with their toilette and had climbed beneath their covers before leaning back and wrapping herself in her tails. She hadn't shown her body-modification techniques to the students yet, and figured that they could do without that surprise for the night. Covered in the warm wrappings of her fluffy appendages, Sasame closed her eyes and dropped off to sleep, eager to see what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

Despite the late evening, both Sasame and Ruby were up, bright and early, on Sunday morning. Despite feeling far less well-rested than the two of them, Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha reluctantly got up as well, and joined them for a morning practice session. Sasame looked on, her eyes following Ruby as she worked through her basic katas, nodding in approval to see that Ruby's form was coming along so well.

They came back to a very pleasant surprise, when they saw that Ren had also gotten up early, and was in the process of preparing a breakfast for everyone in the kitchen of the dorm's common room. The kitchen didn't see much use, given that most students were perfectly content to get their meals from the dining hall, even on their weekends. Ren, apparently, had extensive experience making meals, primarily for himself and Nora. After he cleaned up, Jaune also joined Ren in the kitchen, having extensive experience in helping to make breakfast for his sisters.

Together, the two boys were able to put out an impressive spread, by the time the girls finished showering and dressing.

"We're definitely going to have to do this sort of thing again," declared Yang, in between stuffing her mouth with pancakes.

"Aren't Ren's pancakes the best?" asked Nora excitedly.

"I've paid money for pancakes that weren't as good as these," said Pyrrha, who looked particularly enthused that there were no cereal boxes of a particular stripe to be seen.

"Looking for your picture?" teased Yang, making Pyrrha blush.

"Ah!" exclaimed Sasame, looking at Pyrrha. "_That's_ where I saw you before." Her eyes narrowed and she fixed Pyrrha with a petulant glare. "How dare you endorse such tripe."

"Wait!" exclaimed Ruby, looking at Sasame in shock. "You've tried her cereal."

"It's not _my_ cereal," protested Pyrrha. "They just paid my agent to put my picture on the box!"

"What are you upset about anyway?" Weiss wanted to know.

"It's called _Pumpkin_ Pete's Marshmallow Flakes," declared Sasame, folding her arms across her chest. "It didn't taste like pumpkin at all."

"Uh...I think that's just a sort of brand," said Jaune. "Pumpkin Pete is just the mascot. I don't think that the cereal was supposed to taste like pumpkin."

"But then why would you put 'pumpkin' in the name?" protested Sasame, horrified. "That's just cruelly deceptive."

Detecting confused looks from her friends, Ruby giggled. "Sasame-nee _loves_ pumpkin," she stage-whispered. "She has her own pumpkin patch back home...and she's a total snob, a pumpkin-snob."

"That's a thing?" asked Yang incredulously.

"Well, it's a thing that Sasame-nee _is_," declared Ruby.

"Ruby-chan..." protested Sasame weakly, looking more than a little unsettled to have lost the upper hand for the first time, since arriving.

"Every harvest season, Sasame-nee gets totally pumpkin-crazy," said Ruby. "Every dinner has to have at least one pumpkin dish or she gets pouty."

"Ruby-chan!"

"You made pumpkin cake for four out of six of my birthdays," said Ruby, giving Sasame a deadpan look.

"Yes...well...you said you liked them," protested Sasame weakly, tapping her index fingers together in the same kind of fidget Ruby used when she was nervous.

"Yeah, but I did want to have something different, once in a while," said Ruby.

"But pumpkins are so tasty and good for you," said Sasame. "And you can do tons of delicious things with them. There's pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie..."

Everyone at the table was stifling laughter at this point, glad to see that Ruby's composed and powerful elder sister had some interesting quirks of her own.

The conversation drifted on as they all chatted and laughed, enjoying themselves, not minding the confused looks they drew as other students drifted in and out of the common room over the course of their meal, some of the looks being jealous at the meal that Ren had prepared with Jaune's help.

* * *

After they finished eating, and helped to clean up, they all went their separate ways. Ruby, Yang, and Sasame headed to the docks to take the airship into Vale, the sisters debating what activities they could do together, as well as what places they could go. Surprisingly, Sasame had an extensive knowledge of Vale, including places Yang had never heard of. She was even more surprised to learn that, when Sasame _did_ enter a Kingdom capital, she left Kyo behind to wait outside.

"Kyo can't set foot inside the Kingdoms," said Sasame plainly. "Well...he could...but we'd rather not touch off a conflict with the authorities."

"He's a criminal?" asked Yang.

"Unfortunately, yes," said Sasame. "Since he doesn't really mind all that much if he steps on the toes of people with certain interests, he has made some people upset enough to influence the authorities to put a bounty on his head. He has at least one in each Kingdom." She shrugged. "Technically, I could be considered, and technically _am_, an accomplice to him. But Kyo draws all the attention, so I can move much more freely than him."

"How do you even travel like that?" asked Yang. "People in the settlements you visit would probably report him."

Sasame smirked. "The inhabitants of the settlements value the benefits of Kyo's visits too much to want to report him."

"But if the authorities found out..." Yang said worriedly.

"Then the people could claim that we threatened them with violence," said Sasame. "The authorities would be more than willing to believe such claims, given that they know a certain extent of what Kyo is capable of."

"And you'd let them?" asked Yang incredulously.

"We don't mind," said Sasame. "It's something we've come to expect, and even encourage. If anything, the prospect of a settlement's people siding with us openly is a little too dangerous for our liking, as it brings the possibility of them being punished for their association with us on them unnecessarily."

"But why do you come to the Kingdoms?" asked Yang, wondering. Now that she thought about it, it seemed odd. Ruby had run away from home, and Sasame "just happened" to be wandering the streets of Vale and stumbled upon her. It was the kind of coincidence that seemed suspiciously contrived.

"For various reasons," said Sasame. "Sora-sama decided that, if Kyo and I were going to wander, we should bring back some useful information occasionally. I come into the Kingdoms from time to time to see what the conditions are like and determine how we could potentially interact with them. It's mostly guesswork based on what I see and hear, but it does give Sora-sama and the other Elders something to work with."

_Work with for what?_ Yang wondered.

Sasame led them down a street and to a diner that Ruby recognized. "This place is-!"

"The very same place I brought you six years ago," said Sasame proudly. "I like the food they serve here, and they've stayed open reliably for the past few years."

Yang looked around, noting that many of the diner's patrons were faunus. It was even owned and operated by one. She supposed that they were near the edge of what had, unofficially, been termed the Faunus Quarter, a section of the Kingdom that was largely occupied by faunus homes and businesses.

"I guess it makes sense that it would be here," said Yang as they took their seats.

"You mean in the so-called Faunus Quarter of the Kingdom?" asked Sasame.

"Well...yeah," said Yang warily, feeling a bit nervous about addressing the topic, particularly when there were so many faunus around. It felt like ground that a human like her shouldn't be treading on.

"It's not as though this section of the Kingdom is reserved for faunus," said Sasame. "Nor are they segregated here...not legally anyway.

"After the Revolution, Vale officially opened its housing to faunus, and around here is one of the first neighborhoods that faunus began to move into in numbers. The issue was that the humans who already lived in the vicinity were not happy with this state of affairs. Winning the Revolution might have ended official discrimination, but it did not mean that the attitudes behind such discrimination changed overnight. At first, the humans resisted. But when they saw they could not deter or discourage the faunus enough from moving in, they began to move out. Human residents sought to establish more affluent neighborhoods, away from the faunus, and the criminal element that they believed the faunus would bring with them."

"Wait! They thought that crime would go up, just because faunus were moving in?" asked Yang.

"In a sense, it's a little bit of self-fulfilling prophecy," said Sasame. "Before the Revolution, when faunus were still being fully segregated and discriminated against, they were often forbidden from holding higher-paying jobs, which were reserved for humans. Left with only the jobs the humans didn't want, faunus were often forced to either work themselves to the bone, or turn to more illicit methods to support themselves and their families. Thus, the measures humans enacted against faunus pushed them to turn to crime out of desperation."

Ruby nodded, understanding how desperation could push people into doing things they would normally never even think of doing, just as she had once been so desperate she too had considered turning to thievery...and probably would have, had Sasame not found her.

"In any case, the prophecy became self-fulfilling again," said Sasame. "Not all the humans could afford to move to more affluent portions of the Kingdom, and were left to live with the faunus. There were more than a few who resisted the idea, and turned to destructive acts to resist what they saw as faunus incursion: theft, assault, vandalism...those sorts of things. Amongst the arriving faunus, there were those who chose to fight fire with fire and, soon, crime rose in the area."

"So it comes down to the fact that crime went up because humans couldn't stand to live with faunus," said Yang glumly.

"Unfortunately, yes," said Sasame. "That's often how it goes."

"How do you know all this?" asked Yang. "You only visit once in a while, right?"

"Yes," said Sasame. "But I was curious and, as I told you earlier, my mandate was to research the social conditions of the Kingdom. Learning the issues lying in the relationships between humans and faunus here seemed quite pertinent to us."

"It does?" asked Yang, looking to Ruby.

Ruby nodded. "Kaa-san is a fanus too, and she's the official ruler of the clan."

"Wow," gasped Yang softly. The only other place she'd heard of, where faunus wielded any authority, was Menagerie, which, of course, was a Kingdom created specifically _for_ faunus.

"Hence, why Sora-sama is so interested in the conditions of the outside world," said Sasame. "Her being a faunus, dealing with those who are not traditionally used to seeing faunus in a position of power could cause issues, when the time comes for the Mibu to engage with the other Kingdoms."

"_If_ you do," said Ruby.

Sasame sighed and patted Ruby's arm. "Well, we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. It's not something you need to worry about, Ruby-chan. You just need to focus on becoming the best Huntress you possibly can."

"I will," promised Ruby firmly.

By this point they had already been seated and had read the menus. The waiter came to take their orders, giving the two human girls an odd look, but treating them politely as Sasame raised an eyebrow. In fact, the trio were the recipients of odd looks from all over the diner as the attention of the faunus patrons was drawn by the two humans in their midst. Still, while there was curiosity, there was a lack of hostility, most likely because they were seated with a faunus and treating her like family.

"Well, let's not worry too much about messy political stuff," said Sasame, waving a dismissive hand. "Yang-san, you're the guest of honor, so to speak. What would you like to talk about?"

Yang gasped, her eyes shining with an excitement as she turned to Ruby. "I want to know," she said. "I want to know where you've been and what you've seen! I want to hear all about it!"

"Um...uh..." Ruby's cheeks colored.

"It's your own fault for leaving her in the dark for so long," said Sasame with a giggle. "We've only just scratched the surface of what you've done so far. It'll take longer than any single meal to cover it all."

"That's okay," said Yang, looking down. "I...The first time I said that to her, it was just one of those things you say when you're worried about someone and you haven't seen them in a long time. The first time I asked it, I didn't really care what Ruby had been doing. But...after I saw how strong she'd gotten, how much she'd changed, I actually wanted to know what she'd been through."

"I see," said Sasame, resting her chin on her knuckles as she watched the sisters. "Then, by all means, Ruby-chan, tell your story."

"A-all right," said Ruby, her eyes darting back and forth nervously. Then, she began to tell more of the story of how she'd come to her current point in life.

* * *

Ruby telling her story lasted all the way through the meal and well beyond it. Yang hung eagerly onto her every word, listening with rapt attention as Ruby provided her with a more chronological summary of events, starting with Sasame finding her on the streets and their subsequent journey across the continent and then the sea.

To Yang; who'd wanted to become a Huntress for the thrill of going to places she'd never been, seeing things she'd never seen, doing things she'd never done; it was a story to make her jealous, a story of arduous training in the wilderness, of celebrations in towns she'd never heard of, of bandits, of pirates...

"Seriously? You were boarded by pirates!?" exclaimed Yang, shocked.

"Yes, that was quite the diversion," said Sasame was a giggle. "Kyo and I handled the boarders, but Ruby dueled their leader personally."

"Seriously!?" exclaimed Yang, shocked at the idea of her nine-year-old sister fighting against the leader of a pirate armada.

Ruby nodded, not really seeming to take pride in the memory. "It wasn't really a duel," she said. "Morgan was just toying with me. I got a hit in because she let her guard down, and I did something unexpected. But, if Shinrei-sensei hadn't shown up when he did, I would've gone down fast after that. She was strong...like Huntress-level strong."

"Still, for a girl your age, it was quite the feat," said Sasame. "Our only regret is that that woman escaped us. We never did find her, after Shinrei sank her fleet."

"She got away?" asked Yang.

"Well, she never made landfall on Leng," said Sasame. "We monitored our coast carefully after the incident, but found no sign of her. Since the larger vessels were all scuttled by Shinrei, her only option for escape would have been one of the smaller vessels they were using for harassment. If she didn't go to Leng, which would be the obvious option, given how close to the coast we were, we can only assume that she made sail for Sanus...a daunting task in such a small vessel. There's just as much chance that she never made it."

"You don't sound like you believe that," said Yang.

"I've learned to never discount someone's tenacity," said Sasame. "Until we find some confirmation of her death, I will always be open to the possibility that she's alive, somewhere."

"That's probably a good idea," said Yang.

Sasame sighed and pushed away from the table. "In any case, I think it's time we went elsewhere. There's much more to see. We can continue the story later."

She'd already settled the bill, so they were free to leave without any problems. Now they wandered through the streets, their trip taking them out of Vale's Faunus Quarter and into its commercial district, perusing shops as they went.

"So you didn't want to learn how to use a scythe, like Uncle Qrow?" asked Yang as talked turned to Ruby's training.

"I did," said Ruby. "But the problem is that no one _but_ Uncle Qrow uses a scythe like Uncle Qrow. He's the only one who really could have taught me that."

"Just in case, I looked into it shortly after we arrived," said Sasame. "I wasn't able to find any scythe-users in the Mibu. It would seem your Uncle's style is quite singular."

"Aww...that's too bad," said Yang. "I remember you talking about that High-Impact Sniper-Scythe you wanted to make. You made all those sketches and drawings-"

"And hid them so Dad wouldn't find them," said Ruby with a disappointed sigh. "I wonder if they're still there."

"I think they might be," said Yang. "I don't think Dad really searched your room all that carefully after you left. They might _still_ be there. If we ever get the chance..."

"I don't know if I will," said Ruby. "I still don't know what we're going to do about Dad. Even if we _could_ find them...I don't know what I'd do with them. I don't want to try starting to learn a completely different weapon now."

"True," said Yang. "But it might be nice to have, for nostalgia's sake."

"Have either of you decided anything about what to do about your father?" asked Sasame, making the pair jump.

"Uh...well...no," said Yang, running her hand through her hair. "To be honest, I'm a little worried about what to do. He's going to be mad as hell, when he learns that I haven't told him that Ruby was here all this time."

"Is there any chance his view on her could have changed?" asked Sasame.

"I...I don't know," said Yang hesitating. "I mean, neither of us have seen Ruby for years. She's changed so much. I know that I was able to realize how wrong we'd been when I saw her in action. But Dad..." She shrugged. "Considering how he is, I'm not even sure something like that will change his mind."

"How would you break it to him anyways?" asked Ruby, before imitating Yang doing just that. "'Hey, Dad, by the way, Ruby's here at Beacon with me.'"

"Yeah, that wouldn't go over well," deadpanned Yang.

"Well, I imagine you two will be able to think of something eventually," mused Sasame.

They rounded a corner and came to an abrupt stop. The building they had gone around had an alley between it and the next building down the street. Just a few seconds after they had turned the corner, a girl fell out of the alleyway with a pained shriek, falling to the ground, arms raised to stave off the blow that had just knocked her over.

She was a slim girl, probably somewhere between Ruby and Yang's age. Her dark-brown hair was tied back and braided into a tail that ran down to just past her neck, hanging between her shoulders. Her skin was slightly tanned, with a dusting of freckles across her cheeks. She was dressed in a white tank-top and tight, black pants that hugged the contours of her legs. However, the feature that immediately drew everyone's attention was the bushy, brown squirrel-tail that extended from a gap in the back of her pants. The poor girl's dark-green eyes were wide with fear as she stared back up into the alley.

"Where do you think you're going, freak?" growled a harsh voice from the alley.

"P-please...I didn't do anything," babbled the girl in a panicked rush.

"You slammed into me," the harsh voice snarled back. "Damn faunus! Thinking you can just have your way with me..."

"I-it was an accident!" blurted the girl. "I did-didn't mean to b-bump into you."

"I don't think you're being honest." The owner of the voice swaggered into view, a young man, roughly the same age as the girl he was harassing. He was a fair-skinned boy, with short, black hair, wearing a white shirt, black jacket, and black pants. For all that his voice sounded angry, he was grinning like he'd just found a favorite toy. "What do you think, guys? Think she's being sincere?"

A chorus of negatives echoed out of the alley, and a few other boys sauntered into view. They were dressed in outfits similar to the one leading the torment of the girl. Some of them had piercings or visible tattoos. For all that a few of them looked fairly well-built, there was no indicator that they had any combat training; typical civilian-school delinquents.

"Let's teach this trash what happens to animals who get pushy with their superiors," growled the boy, popping his knuckles dramatically.

"Get away from her!"

Ruby appeared between the boys and their target in a flurry of scattering petals, the suddenness of her appearance causing the boys to reel back in surprise, before stumbling back further as the billowing of Ruby's cloak revealed her sword behind her.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" snarled the leader, recovering from his surprise and glaring at Ruby. "Don't butt into other people's business. Get lost."

"I don't think so," said Yang, sauntering up, putting her impressive assets on full display with the expert sway of her hips and chest, smirking as the boys' eyes were immediately drawn to her breasts...almost hypnotically. "How about you jokers back off."

"Uh...I think these girls are Huntress students," one of the leader's lackeys whispered to him.

"Relax," he grunted to his friends with a smug smile of his own. "Beacon's got rules, you know. If a student uses her weapon on a civilian, she's just asking to be expelled. These two can't do a thing."

He looked forward, another taunt at the ready. However, his words came to a sputtering halt when he saw that Ruby was already ignoring him, instead turning to kneel beside the fallen faunus girl, her hand glowing with a gentle, red pulse of Aura that washed over the squirrel-faunus' body, healing the damage the girl had received, bruises fading away to nothing.

Yang, however, kept her eyes focused firmly on the gang members they were facing down. The leader of the group grinned, sauntering forward again to stand close in front of her, almost the point where they were face to face.

"So what are you gonna do, Hot Stuff?" he asked. "You gonna use your weapons, and get yourself kicked out of school? I bet you ain't such a big deal without those fancy, transforming weapons you people use. Maybe we'll have some fun with you too."

"You want to have fun?" asked Yang, grinning cheerfully as she raised her hands and began to pop her knuckles, imitating what the boy in front of her had been doing earlier. "I'll be happy to play with you."

As Ruby tended to the faunus girl, she ignored the sounds of fists against flesh, and the surprisingly high-pitched screams of the boys behind her as Yang thrashed them thoroughly, not needing to use Ember Celica against untrained civilians.

"Are you okay?" she asked the faunus girl, using her fingers and Aura to brush away one last bruise on the girl's cheek. "Did you get hurt anywhere else?"

"I'm fine now," said the girl.

"Good," said Ruby. "I'm Ruby. What's your name?"

"A-Ashley," said the girl in response. "Ashley Forrest."

"It's nice to meet you," said Ruby, offering Ashley a hand and pulling her to her feet.

By the time the two of them had stood back up, Yang was finished, standing over the sprawled forms of the delinquents.

"Y-you bitch!" coughed their leader. "W-we're gonna report you for this? You'll be out of Beacon in a heartbeat."

"Report her? Report her for what?" Sasame stepped past Yang and into the alleyway, sweeping her tail out and brushing it over the fallen boys, her Aura washing across their bodies, before fading, their bruises and injuries disappearing.

"Wha-what did you do?" demanded the leader, examining his body.

"I healed you," replied the girl simply. "Boys are such clumsy creatures after all. They fall down _so_ easily. It was so funny to see all of you trip and fall at the same time."

"What are you talking about, freak?" snarled one of the other delinquents.

"Well, you seem adamant that my friend attacked you," said Sasame cheerfully. "But I don't understand how you can say that. I see no evidence of a fight after all. Just some silly boys who went and got themselves covered in dirt and grime. What were you going to report her for again?"

The delinquents shuffled back, intimidated and confused by the strangeness unfolding before them. "Y-you won't get away with this," growled their leader.

"Get away with what?" Sasame tilted her head quizzically, before her smile took on a malicious quality. "I have no idea what you're referring to. But you should be careful. If you end up being too aggressive and belligerent, you might wind up tripping again." Her smile widened considerably, somehow appearing cheerfully innocent and downright diabolical at the same time. "I'll happily heal you as many times as necessary, but you boys could wind up falling down quite a few times, before you find your balance."

Standing beside Sasame, Yang grinned and popped her knuckles again. "So boys, are you going to fall down again?"

From the look of anger on his face, it was clear that the leader of the group might have been willing to make another try. Unfortunately for him, his friends were not as enthusiastic and several of them were already backing away, back down the alley. Looking back, the leader took notice of it and then turned and glared at the trio of girls who had taken his intended victim away.

"Fine! Have it your way," he growled. "Filthy animal-lovers." He spat on the ground in front of Yang, who glared firmly at him and raised her fist, making him flinch away.

The gang of delinquents turned and fled down the alley, heading out the other end and disappearing around the corner.

"Th-thank you," stammered Ashley, staring at the three girls in awe.

"You're welcome," said Ruby. "Do you need to sit down?" she gestured to a bench a little further down the street.

"I think I'm okay," said Ashley, examining herself. "I...I uh..."

"Well...this is a little awkward," said Yang.

They didn't know this girl after all. Now that the immediate conflict was resolved, it seemed that no one really knew what to say.

"Why did you help me?" Ashley finally asked, looking between them. "Is it because your friend's a faunus?"

"She's more than a friend," said Ruby proudly. "She's my other big sister."

"Adopted," said Sasame, amused by the look of surprise on Ashley's face.

"Other...?" Ashley blinked.

"My original big sister is right there," said Ruby, gesturing over Sasame's head at Yang, who let out a tiny gasp and looked down, her cheeks turning red. "Well...half-sister actually," continued Ruby. "That's why we don't really look like we're related."

"Oh..." Ashley stared at the trio. "Adopted...?"

"That's right," said Sasame. "She asked if I could be her big sister and she agreed." She paused at the confused look on Ashley's face. "Well...'big' sister is a bit of a misnomer, I suppose. But I am a good bit older than her."

"But...why...why would a human and faunus do that?" Ashley wanted to know. The idea seemed completely foreign to her.

"Because she's awesome," said Ruby, gesturing to Sasame.

"Because she was the most adorable thing on the face of the earth, back then," said Sasame, gesturing back.

Ruby jolted and snapped her head around to stare, aghast, at Sasame. "I'm not anymore?"

"You traded in some of your cuteness for beauty," Sasame replied proudly. "You strike a very fine balance now."

"Oh..." Ruby blinked, wondering what that actually meant, but understood that Sasame was praising her all the same.

Ashley couldn't help it. Seeing the interplay between the two of them made her begin to giggle. She could tell they loved each other quite a bit. Then something occurred to her. "Wait!" She looked from Sasame and Ruby to Yang. "You're adopted sisters," she said, addressing Ruby and Sasame. "But she's not your sister?" She looked pointedly at Yang.

"It's...it's a bit complicated," said Yang with a sigh, running her fingers through her hair. "There was trouble at home, and Ruby ran away for a while. Sasame found her and took care of her. That's how they became sisters. I only met Ruby again and made up with her recently, so it's not as though I got adopted too."

"Well, we could change that," said Sasame cheerfully.

"Huh?" Yang whipped her head around to stare at Sasame in nearly perfect synch with Ruby. "What?"

"Would you like to be my younger sister too?" asked Sasame, beaming up at Yang.

"Uh...well...this is so sudden." Yang balked and blinked. She hadn't really expected this to come up and hadn't even given it much thought, honestly. While she knew better, and certainly didn't want Ruby to stop being Sasame's little sister, after Ruby and Yang had made up, Yang hadn't given any thought to the idea of Sasame extending her the offer of sibling bonds too. "I hadn't really thought about it."

"Well, the offer is open if you feel like it," said Sasame. "You don't mind, do you?" She turned to Ruby, who blinked and thought about it for a second, before shaking her head.

"I'll think about it," said Yang earnestly.

Ashley looked on in bemusement, understandably feeling removed from the events playing out in front of her. She had no idea what to make of this, humans and faunus claiming one another as family, and openly at that, even if it wasn't by blood.

"Is that why you helped me?" asked Ashley, looking at Ruby specifically. "You have a faunus sister?"

"Um...Well...sort of..." Ruby glanced down. "I grew up around a lot of faunus. But, really...it's not good to let people get away with doing something like that to other people. I don't care if they're humans or faunus."

Sasame beamed proudly, while Yang's expression was conflicted, her mind going back to that day in the cafeteria, last week, where Team RASP and RYNB had both watched CRDL picking on Velvet...but only Ruby had taken action. The rest of them had been fine to look on, perhaps express disgust or disapproval, but not actually act on that for a girl who was a stranger to them.

Sasame, sensing Yang's unease, gently brushed her tail over Yang's forearm, relaxing her. Sasame then turned her attention back to Ashley. "Is there somewhere specific you were heading? We could accompany you."

"Um...You don't have to..."

"Nonsense," said Sasame cheerfully. "While you are safe now, there's no guarantee that those boys aren't still hanging around and just waiting for us to leave."

Ruby said nothing, even though she sensed no sign of the delinquents. While her skill at sensing the Auras, unlocked or not, was not on par with Sasame, a pack of hostile jerks with no training to speak of, who'd never learned how to hide their presence, or even that hiding their presence was actually a thing they could do, would not have been able to get close enough to watch them without her noticing, especially since she'd been putting more work into keeping her awareness up all the time. But she was also reluctant to simply leave Ashley to her own devices. At the very least, Ruby wanted to be sure that Ashley got wherever she was going safely.

Ashley hesitated, uncertain of whether or not to accept the offer.

"If you really don't want us to, I won't pressure you," said Sasame. "But we just want to be sure you at least reach your destination safely."

That put Ashley at ease and she nodded slowly. "All right," she said, giving them a nervous smile. "I was heading back home from work." Uncertain of what else to do, she began to walk, her three new friends falling into step with her.

"You work around here?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, in a flower shop a couple blocks that way," said Ashley, pointing over her shoulder.

They talked as they walked, Ruby, Sasame, and Yang learning a great deal about their new friend in the process. They learned that Ashley was a student at a school near the edge of the commercial district. It was actually a fairly well-respected school, which only accepted students who demonstrated a certain level of ability. Ashley had qualified for it, a rare feat for a faunus, making her only one of a small handful of her kind who attended that school. As it turned out, that wasn't a bad thing, not entirely. Most of her class appeared to see a faunus among their number as a novelty, rather than an affront, and treated her with respect, though she hadn't made much in the way of friends, so far.

On the weekends, she had a part-time job at the flower shop she'd mentioned. The owner was one of the few faunus who'd managed to set up a shop in the commercial district, his skill at his craft earning him a loyal customer base. The alley she'd fallen out of had been a shortcut she'd taken regularly, only, today, those delinquents had been hanging out there, and Ashley had provoked them when she'd tried to move around them.

Despite her initial reluctance, Ashley began to warm up to her escort before long, having always found the trip from her job to her home, in the Faunus Quarter, to be a stressful one. While she was rarely harassed, much less outright attacked, she got plenty of strange and dirty looks from the humans she passed along the way. While those looks didn't disappear in the face of her companions, it became a lot less troubling, now that she had company.

They arrived at the block of apartments in the Faunus Quarter, where Ashley lived with her family. There, they said their goodbyes.

"It was nice meeting you," said Ruby.

"Likewise," said Ashley. "Thank you for walking me home."

To Ashley's surprise, Ruby blushed slightly and looked down, scuffing her foot shyly. "What is it?" she asked.

"Um...Would you...would you like trade contact info?" asked Ruby bashfully.

"R-really?" asked Ashley, her eyes going wide and her own cheeks coloring as well. "Uh...Why?"

"B-because I really liked talking with you," said Ruby. "I'd like to do it again if we get the chance. Maybe we could get together and hang out."

"Y-you mean...like friends?" asked Ashley.

"Yeah!" said Ruby, balking at the eagerness in her own voice and backtracking. "I mean...if it's all right with you."

Ashley hesitated for a second, the blurted out, "I'd love to!"

"Great!" exclaimed Ruby, while Yang and Sasame looked on proudly.

The girls traded their scroll contacts with one another, Yang joining in, asking Ashley to call her if those delinquents ever gave her trouble again. Afterwards, Ruby and Yang realized that they were running fairly late, getting back. They would either need to run to catch an airship to Beacon before the dining hall closed or find a place to eat and in Vale. They quickly said their goodbyes to their new friend and set off, debating what to do.

Ashley watched them go, a giddy smile on her face. The smile remained as she made her way up the stairs, and unlocked the door to her apartment. Entering, she traded greetings with her parents, her mother making dinner, as usual. The topic of what had happened and Ashley's new friends would come up during the meal. But that was for later. At the moment, Ashley entered her room and shut the door.

Leaning against the door, Ashley let out a slow breath, her smile fading. Reaching into the back pocket of her pants, she pulled out what her employer had given her that day. It was a simple pamphlet of white paper, folded over. Unfolding it, Ashley stared at the red lion's-head design, over a series of three parallel slash marks. Taking the pamphlet in her hand, she held it out over her room's wastebasket. She hesitated for a long moment then, slowly, pulled her hand away and sighed, the pamphlet still pinched between her fingers. Opening the drawer of her desk, Ashley slipped the pamphlet between a few other things she had in the drawer and closed it.

* * *

**Meet Ashley. I figured it would be interesting for Ruby to develop a friendship with a civilian. Within the show, pretty much all the major interactions the main characters have are with other characters within their area of interest, fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses, and the like. About the only civilians of any significance I can think of are Saphron and Terra, who are important mainly though their relationship to Jaune. I liked the idea of Ruby being the kind of person who would be willing to reach out and befriend someone who has no relationship to Huntsmen or Huntresses though.**

**Although...it seems that there are other things going on there.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29:**

"I'm _so_ proud of you," said Sasame as she, Ruby, and Yang filed onto the airship back to Beacon. In the end, they'd stopped at a small restaurant, and had dinner in Vale, rather than try to rush back to Beacon to use the dining hall, before it closed.

"For what?" asked Ruby.

"For making a friend," said Sasame.

"What about saving her from a bunch of jerks?" asked Yang. "That's something to be proud of."

"True," agreed Sasame. "But protecting others comes so naturally to Ruby-chan that it's hardly remarkable." She grinned at Ruby, who was blushing furiously. "On the other hand, talking to someone she's never met before, building a connection with them, actually asking them to be her friend...that's something Ruby-chan has had some difficulty with, right?"

"I-it's not that bad," protested Ruby.

"And this is the first friend you made here who didn't have the shared experience of wanting to be a Huntsman or Huntress for you to bond over," added Sasame, making Ruby pause thoughtfully.

"Well...it is tricky," admitted Yang. "Beacon is sort of…isolated…after all. Normally, if we were going to hang out with civilians, it would be ones we knew already, like other kids we knew, back before Combat School. I don't think most Beacon students actually think about going into Vale and making friends with civilians."

"True," agreed Sasame. "But I advise you not to neglect the opportunity. As protectors, building a rapport with at least _some_ of those you protect can be a powerful asset for the kind of profession you are seeking to enter."

"How come?" asked Yang.

"Because it keeps you from dismissing your protectorate, and coming to view them as objects...or even a burden," said Sasame. "In any profession like yours, it's a common risk. There's no question about civilians. If they are attacked by Grimm, they are more likely to panic than anything else. For those charged with their protection, that complicates things and adds to the difficulty."

"Yeah, that'd be pretty frustrating," said Yang with a frown.

"But it's also the natural course of things," said Sasame. "As students of the art of combat against the enemies of humanity, you've trained to master your fear, to control your feelings, to not panic when things get frightening or dangerous. It takes years to clear that particular hurdle. A normal civilian won't have that kind of training at all."

"So how does becoming friends with one or a few of them help?" asked Yang.

"It helps you acclimate to seeing them as people in their own right," said Sasame. "They come from their own backgrounds, and have their own circumstances. They haven't lived the same life you have. Interacting with them, even if it's just one or a few, on a personal level enables you to realize that. When faced with the frustration of dealing with those who can't handle the pressures that you do the same way that you do, it can be easy to dismiss them...or even perceive them as objects. You begin to view civilians as gutless cowards, who don't even know how to keep from getting themselves killed or, barring that, as nothing more than objectives to be protected, without a care for how they think and feel.

"But by building connections with and understanding them, you become much more invested in their safety and wellbeing. Furthermore, by having a connection to you, those people will realize that you are fully invested in their wellbeing, and will invest you with their trust in turn. That trust can turn into the key that keeps fear and panic at bay, allowing you to do your job to the fullest extent of your ability."

"That's...pretty cool, now that I think about it," said Yang.

Sasame sighed. "There are drawbacks, of course. Investing yourself personally in those you protect can become a double-edged sword, should you fail."

"Fail..." Both Ruby and Yang swallowed at the idea.

"It's an unfortunate fact of life," said Sasame sadly. "You aren't gods. You won't always be able to protect everyone. You can fight for that end as best you can, but success is not guaranteed. When it comes to that, failure will be an especially bitter and painful blow. Compared to that, detaching yourself is much easier. Then casualties become little more than numbers on paper, and the concept of lives lost or saved cease to have meaning as people. But you'll never be able to fully commit yourself to your work that way, not if you merely perceive it as a game of numbers."

"Okay..." said Yang uncertainly. In that respect, she could see the appeal in keeping her distance from the people she protected. However, she got the feeling that Sasame was right to urge them to form bonds with civilians, like Ashley. Besides, what they'd done with her: helping her, then talking with her, and finally building what might have become a lasting friendship with her, had felt right. Neither Yang nor Ruby would want to take back what they'd done this day.

They made it back to Beacon without any further incident, albeit a good bit later than they'd intended, barely making it back to the dorms before curfew. Weiss tried to scold Ruby, but was forced to break off when Ruby reminded her that they had an early morning to look forward to the next day. She did tell them about what she and her sisters had done in Vale, including meeting Ashley.

* * *

"Honestly," said Weiss with a huff, as she settled back on her bed, "you'll pick up just about any stray, won't you?"

"Geez," muttered Jaune. "That's harsh."

"Well...are you going to trade scroll information with _every_ person you rescue?" asked Weiss.

"Probably the ones I like," answered Ruby.

"So you liked her?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "We got to know her while we were walking home. She's really nice. I thought I'd like to get to know her better, if I get the chance."

"That sounds nice," said Pyrrha.

"You'll let us meet her, right?" asked Jaune.

"Sure," said Ruby, beaming. "I'm not sure when or how. I mean...we only just met today. I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable or anything."

"It's nothing you need to rush," advise Sasame. "Take your time to get to know her, learn what she's comfortable with. Mistakes and misunderstandings are inevitable. The important thing is that you learn from them, and try not to make the same ones again."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"In the meantime, let's just focus on what's ahead," said Pyrrha. "We have class and training, tomorrow. Let's get our rest."

"Right," said Ruby, lying back and pulling the covers up over herself.

* * *

Sasame watched their morning workout and free-period training sessions without comment. She was more than satisfied with how hard Ruby worked Jaune to increase his physical ability, and confessed she didn't have many comments she could make regarding Jaune's fighting style. The Mibu didn't use shields of the kind Pyrrha or Jaune wielded in any of their martial schools.

"It was a shift in military doctrine that occurred very far back in our ancient history," she had explained. "I'm not sure anyone remembers why. All we do know is that the styles we have now don't really have a concept of wielding a sword and shield."

"So you don't know anything that could help?" asked Pyrrha as she watched Jaune go through his strikes. She was a little worried because they were reaching the limit of what she felt she could competently teach Jaune. While their basic weapons and techniques were fairly similar, while Milo was in its sword-mode, the more nuanced differences in their weapons began to differ, and Pyrrha knew that Jaune's ability to apply many of the more advanced skills she could try to teach him were marginal at best. The shape and balance of his sword were different, meaning how best to wield it would differ from Milo, even in Milo's sword-mode, to a certain extent. The shield was a different thing altogether. There was no way that Jaune would be able to use the same techniques with his shield that she used with Akouo.

"Well, nothing overly specific," said Sasame. "However, plenty of concepts of martial arts are, in fact, universal. The idea of the sword has evolved into numerous forms. However, all of them harken to the same base purpose. The same is true of the shield."

"How so?" asked Weiss, folding her arms.

"There are no sword and shield styles in the Mibu Clan," explained Sasame, "but there are plenty of two-weapon styles centered around a weapon used for offense and one used for defense." Ruby nodded in agreement to this. "The most common is the basic two-sword style, which uses a long and short sword. While the long-sword employs reach to attack, the short-sword is wielded by the other hand to defend at close range."

"So you're suggesting we treat Jaune's shield as a short-sword then?" asked Pyrrha.

"To an extent," said Sasame. "The shape is different, but the shield is an excellent tool for defense. When it comes to pure defense, it's better than a short-sword. It's not as maneuverable, and much heavier, but its coverage is far greater, so Jaune-kun doesn't have to make as drastic an adjustment to defend against attacks from different angles. As such, his weapons are ideally suited to a defensive style, based around creating opportunities to attack, rather than a more offensive one.

"Furthermore, even though a shield is not a sword, that does not mean that it _can't_ be employed offensively. On his left arm, Jaune-kun has a fairly hefty piece of metal that could be used to exert quite a bit of force as a blunt weapon, especially if he puts the strength of his body behind it in a charge or lunge, which it is well-positioned for. Beyond that, the rim can be employed to concentrate the force of his attacks, if he finds an opportunity, though most ways of using it would sacrifice his shield's coverage, so he'd have to be discriminating about _when_ he attacked in such a manner."

Pyrrha nodded, understanding. Her own shield was almost as much as an offensive weapon as her primary offensive weapon. Besides blocking attacks, Akouo could be used for blunt-force strikes with its flat. She'd sharpened the shield's rim for the specific purpose of being able to attack with that as well. On top of that, she'd settled on the shield's circular form to enhance its aerodynamics to allow her to use it as a throwing weapon.

Jaune's own shield hadn't been modified to that degree, but it would still have application in those areas (except for the throwing part), though the difference in shape meant how he attacked with it would vary somewhat from how Pyrrha attacked with her own weapon.

"I guess we'll have to figure it out as we go," said Ruby uncertainly.

"That's probably the best," said Sasame. "The kind of training you're giving him now is more than sufficient. Defending should come as naturally as possible for him. From there, he will have to work to gain experience in how to read the flow of battle, and shift his actions accordingly. You've taught him how to put his strength and the power of his body behind a thrust or slash of his sword. From there, it's only a few minor adjustments to manage the same thing with his shield. What you need to do is to cultivate the mindset that will allow him to recognize when such a shift in tactics is appropriate."

"All right," said Ruby, nodding, even as she began wondering about how to manage that kind of training.

"In that respect, experience will be the best teacher," said Sasame. "His physical abilities are advancing quickly, thanks to his large Aura-supply. You've been leveraging that to maximize the growth of his strength and endurance. It shouldn't take much longer for him to reach your levels. From there, I would advise shifting to a more experience-based approach to teaching."

"You mean like our trip to the Emerald Forest?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yes," said Sasame. "Fighting the Grimm like that is an excellent way to accrue experience and help him work out which techniques to employ and when to use them. It will develop his ability to use his skills in dynamic circumstances. The most difficult aspect of training for many students is shifting from simply repeating techniques through practice to actually applying them in real combat."

The other three girls nodded in agreement with that.

Pyrrha checked her scroll, noting the time. "We should call it good, here," she said. "It's almost time for Combat Class."

"I look forward to seeing this," said Sasame with a smile.

"We don't know who might be fighting today," said Ruby. "Professor Goodwitch hasn't started asking for volunteers yet."

"Even so, it's an opportunity to see how such things are managed at Beacon," mused Sasame.

* * *

They entered to the usual hubbub as students found their seats in the upper gallery, while Glynda waited on the floor below. She wouldn't say or do anything until the bell rang, so they were able to chat for a few more minutes. When the bell did ring, the entire class fell silent at once, Glynda's strict personality not permitting any discord once class began.

"Good afternoon, students," she said, inclining her head towards them. "Let's not waste any time and choose the first matchups, shall we?"

They watched as the first few matches went fairly normally. Most of them were fairly close-fought, the students being of a similar skill-level. Ren went up against Dove, their fight proving to be especially engaging as the two skilled, acrobatic fighters exchanged rapid blows from a variety of angles. At the end of the battle, Dove's greater stamina and durability won out, and Ren collapsed to his knees, panting for breath, after the buzzer sounded, signaling that his Aura had fallen into the critical zone. A loss against a member of CRDL was always a bitter blow, but it was softened somewhat by the fact that Dove appeared to be the only decent member among them, offering Ren a hand up, and not gloating smugly, or even smirking for that matter, at his win. Then again, the battle was close, and Dove's own Aura hovered just a sliver above the critical-level himself, so perhaps it was the nearness of the battle that goaded him to more sportsmanlike behavior.

"It seems Ren-kun's stamina is his greatest weakness," noted Sasame, scratching her chin. She'd been a bit confused when it was explained that even though Ren's given name was Lie, everyone still called him by his surname. She'd wondered why, and asked Ruby. The only answer Ruby had been able to give her was that they all did it because that was what _Nora_ called him, and Ren never seemed to mind.

"Yeah...Ren gets tired out easily," said Nora with a sigh. "He's not really a morning person either."

"At this point, Jaune-kun is stronger and has more endurance than him," noted Sasame, glancing at Jaune and seeing him perk up at her assessment. "Still, his technique is far more refined. If you ever end up with the ring against him, managing to turn it into a battle of attrition will be a difficult task."

"Why do you have to do that?" whimpered Jaune, sinking in his seat.

"Overconfidence is forbidden," said Weiss with a smirk, while the others laughed or giggled.

The next match was unremarkable. However, following that, Glynda chose the next set of matchups, the second-to-last match of the day. Her eyes narrowed slightly. Then she looked up. When she spoke, it seemed that she was announcing the match with some degree of trepidation. "Yang Xiao Long...and Ruby Rose...report to the ring."

"Uh..." Yang's eyes widened, while Ruby's expression reached deer-in-the-headlight levels. The two of them whipped their heads around to stare at one another in shock.

Smiling slyly, Sasame leaned over and whispered to Ruby. "You aren't afraid of your sister, are you, Ruby-chan?" At the same time, her tail reached out and curled gently around Yang's forearm, keeping her from leaving as well.

"N-no," said Ruby. "I'm afraid she'll go easy on me. I want to be taken seriously." Despite what Yang had said to her during the sleepover, it was one thing to say something so confidently, and another entirely to follow through with it.

Sasame's smile widened. "If that's what you want, then you need to impress the idea of yourself as an opponent, and a threat upon her, quite viscerally. If that's the case...why not let your sword _sing_."

"B-but that's..." gasped Ruby, looking nervously down at the handle of her sword.

"I can tell that you haven't fully wielded Akaibara for some time," she said. "I imagine you've been letting her sleep to keep from making too many waves. But now is the time to let your peers hear her voice."

"A-are you sure?" asked Ruby.

Sasame nodded. "If you want Yang-san to fight _seriously_, then make yourself a _serious_ threat, and it might dampen her inclination to deal with you lightly."

"All right," said Ruby. She stood up and headed into the ring.

Now that Ruby had been dealt with, Sasame danced across Ruby's other friends in the seats, until she reached Yang's side. "Yang-san, Ruby-chan is worried that you won't fight her seriously," she said frankly.

"Y-yeah...well...I'm not sure I can do it," admitted Yang. Just as Ruby had thought, Yang was confronted with the idea of putting her words during her sleepover into action, and finding it hard to walk her talk. "I mean, no matter how much respect I have for her, Ruby's my baby-sister. How could I ever hurt her?"

"Because she wants to be treated as your _peer_," said Sasame plainly. "Remember what I told you before?"

Yang nodded stoically. "I've given Ruby-chan advice to that end," said Sasame. "I promise that, when you face her, it will be very hard for you to worry about her as your sister. You'll have plenty else to worry about."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm not going to like that," grumbled Yang, making Sasame giggle.

"Remember," she said, "engage with Ruby-chan as her peer, and you'll gain much more ground than you will just trying to be her sister."

"All right," said Yang.

Sasame unwound her tail from around Yang's arm and allowed her to go on her way. She settled into the seat Yang had vacated, next to Blake.

"Question?" asked Sasame, seeing a curious and intense look in her eyes.

"Are you _really_ a faunus?" asked Blake. "The way you moved your tail, the way it stretched, it's not normal. A fox-tail isn't even prehensile."

"The ability to manipulate its shape like that is a product of the body modification techniques of the _Mumyo Kodama Ryu_," said Sasame. "You haven't even _begun_ to see what I can do, Blake-chan." Leaning in closer, she dropped her voice to the faintest of whisper, one that she knew that only a person with a second set of ears could detect. "However, you should refrain from asking such pointed and specific questions, based on particular knowledge of faunus, not if you don't want people to learn something you are trying to hide."

Blake's skin abruptly paled and her bow flattened slightly, making Sasame titter so lightly that only Blake could hear it.

"I feel that we should have a talk about this," Sasame whispered in the same, low tone. "After your Aura-training tonight, won't you linger and chat with me a bit?"

"A-all right," said Blake.

Sasame nodded and leaned back, now focusing her attention on the ring.

* * *

Glynda looked back and forth between Ruby and Yang. She'd had reservations about this matchup, but felt it was important to properly assess their abilities. Yang was the second-ranked fighter in the class, by Glynda's estimation. First rank was presently unidentified, with Ruby and Pyrrha both holding a strong claim to the top spot. Pairing the two of them off would be the simplest way to figure it out. However, Ruby worried Glynda. She still sensed that Ruby was hiding her full capability. She first wanted to see if a close battle against an opponent with a style significantly different from her own might be able to draw out more of that hidden capacity.

The problem would be whether or not either opponent would fight this match seriously, and in the spirit of how these matches were supposed to be conducted. Yang was normally an eager brawler, always happy to give her all in the ring, which usually led to quick, brutal victories. However, Glynda wasn't certain that she would be so eager to bring that brutality to bear against her half-sister.

Ozpin had warned her not to bring the issue up when Ruby had applied, fully accepting her as Ruby Rose, and not drawing any official connection to the Xiao Long family. However, it hadn't been hard for her to connect the dots and recognize the half-sisters for what they were. It was especially easy to see that they were estranged...and that Yang was clearly disinclined to actively try and hurt her sister, much less fight her.

Ruby...on the other hand, worried Glynda a good bit more. Ruby's animosity towards Yang hadn't been hard to miss. It was apparent that she would prefer to act as though Yang didn't exist and always seemed to take it as an irritation whenever something Yang said or did reminded her of Yang's existence.

That had changed slightly. Though they sat apart in this class, sitting with their respective teams, Glynda couldn't help but notice that, for the first time, being forced to acknowledge Yang's existence had not elicited a hostile glare from Ruby. Now the two sisters were standing across the ring from each other. There was no hostility to be seen from Ruby. In fact, both of them now seemed to have some degree of trepidation.

Despite that, they both nodded when she asked, "Are you ready?"

Deciding to simply hope that things went for the best, Glynda moved beyond the ring and brought up the safety barrier. As she did, she saw something that made her mouth go dry.

Yang dropped into her starting stance, Ember Celica unfolding to cover her forearms as she brought them up in a guard position, ready to attack or defend (but mainly attack) as needed. That wasn't abnormal in the slightest. What had prompted Glynda's unease came from the other person in the ring.

Ruby reached behind her, her left hand closing around the handle of her sword. As the blade emerged from the sheath, an eerie, ringing sound filled the arena, making the air of the entire room seem to vibrate. The sound put Glynda's nerves on edge and made her hair stand on end. A crimson Aura boiled out from the sword, swirling through the air around Ruby, making her cloak flap and flutter, as though caught in a powerful wind, the Aura curling around her like a maelstrom, disturbing the air throughout the ring as Yang's blonde locks were also tossed by the current.

Yang gasped, her eyes going wide, her entire body seizing up reflexively as she felt the surge of power from Ruby's sword. "What the-?" _That sword...it has an Aura! How?!_

Ruby whipped and twirled the sword through a few circular passes, before bringing it up and over her head. Holding it up, she held the blade parallel to the ground and across her body, resting the first two fingers of her right hand against the flat of the blade. Her own Aura unfolded outwards, the swirling, red current merging with that of the sword, their Auras mingling, combining, coalescing together, then exploding outwards with even greater strength, the release making Yang's feet actually slide backwards slightly on the smooth floor.

The rushing, tumultuous effect of Ruby's boosted Aura subsided as it condensed around her and suffused itself into her body, rather than swirling openly through the air around her. The blade of her sword continued to shine slightly, but not throwing out waves of crimson light as it had earlier. Ruby brought her sword through a few more passes, before assuming her usual starting stance, standing sidelong towards her opponent, holding the blade above her head so that the point was oriented towards Yang, the flat of the blade lightly pinched between the middle and ring fingers of her right hand.

Glynda was stunned. _I knew it had its own Aura, but I had no idea it was this potent!_ A buzzing sound drew her attention to her scroll and she gasped. The combatants' Aura-levels were on display, but the display of Ruby's Aura was flickering and displaying an error message. Apparently, the systems employed by Beacon couldn't properly monitor Ruby's Aura if she was using her sword. _Ozpin...just what were you thinking?_

Fortunately, after a few seconds' confusion, the system seemed to register the change and Ruby's Aura, and her gauge appeared as it should. Despite that, Glynda still couldn't help but feel uneasy about the prospect of letting this match go as planned.

Still, there was no turning back now. Glynda looked up, seeing that Yang was shifting nervously. It had nothing to do with the fact that Ruby was across the ring from her and everything to do with the mysterious, almost ominous sense emitted by Ruby's Aura now, the sense that Yang was now up against _two_ opponents, instead of just one.

* * *

She wasn't the only one rattled. Throughout the spectator seats in the gallery, the students were talking and whispering, exclamations of shock ringing out. The difficulties the system had in measuring Ruby's Aura were on display on the screen above the ring. Her own teammates were amongst the most surprised.

"Wha-what is _that_?" asked Weiss, gaping unashamedly down into the ring.

"That is Akaibara, Ruby-chan's sword," said Sasame. "It was forged for her by the hands of Sengo Murasame of the Taishiro, the Mibu Clan's Blademaster, our clan's master-smith. He considers it to be his finest creation to date. Akaibara means 'Red Rose' in the Old Tongue. However, Murasame-sama chose to engrave the characters as 'Aka Ibara' on it, making it 'Red Thorn' instead."

"How can a sword have an Aura?" asked Pyrrha.

"Is it so strange?" asked Sasame. "You channel Aura through your weapons when you fight. A weapon can be suffused with Aura. The ideal is to make it come alive in your hand, as a true extension of yourself. Through continuous repetition of this, you put yourself into the weapons you wield, invest them with slivers of Aura over time. That power can accumulate, build, and become something unto its own." Sasame's gaze discreetly flickered to the handle of Jaune's sword, before returning to the ring, with no one being the wiser.

She continued. "A master artisan is said to invest his heart and soul into his work. But Aura can make that a literal statement. To my knowledge, only the Mibu have ever made an art of _deliberately_ infusing Aura into one's creations to bring them to life...and none have mastered it to the extent of our clan's Blademaster. The sword in Ruby-chan's hand represents the pinnacle of his skill, an achievement he has yet to surpass."

"So she has a weapon that can give her even more Aura?" complained Weiss. "How is that fair?"

"It isn't," said Sasame. "This world isn't fair at all, in case you haven't noticed. In a fair world, all of you would have had access to the same opportunities, the same choices. But this is not a fair world. Some of you worked and trained throughout your early years and found yourselves in positions that you felt did not match the investment of time and effort that you made." She looked at Weiss, who blushed and averted her gaze. "And others received virtually no training at all." She looked to Jaune, who sighed and nodded.

Returning her eyes to the ring, Sasame chuckled. "And yet, you are all here, expected to stand as equals, your only measure what you put forth in the here and now. Fairness, Weiss-chan, does not come to you freely. It is something you must create for yourself. You must level the field with your own hands, by pitting your own advantages against your opponents'.

"Besides, simply saying that Akaibara boosts Ruby-chan's Aura does both her and Ruby-chan a disservice. A weapon that has a soul has its own will. Therefore, learning how to master one's weapon is learning how to work with that will, whether subordinating it to your own...or learning to cooperate with it. Ruby-chan's sword has a powerful Aura, which likewise means a powerful will. It is so strong that it will not permit a person it does not acknowledge to even _draw_ it. Were a person it deemed unworthy to hold the unsheathed blade, its remonstration would be even more dangerous."

"Dangerous? You mean that thing could hurt _Ruby_, if she doesn't wield it right?" Jaune tensed as he focused his attention on the ring.

"It would turn on her, possibly cutting her itself or...turning her into a demon of the blade," said Sasame. "Ruby-chan put as much work into building her rapport with Akaibara as she did into mastering every technique she ever learned. Even then, she must maintain Akaibara's respect."

* * *

Down below, Glynda took a deep breath, feeling more nervous than ever about the course of this battle. "Ready...Begin!"

The fight was very nearly over in that instant. Ruby's image flickered and, suddenly, she was right in front of Yang, having closed across nearly half the ring faster than the blink of an eye, a wave of red petals scattering in her wake and marking where she'd been standing earlier.

There was no time to think and worry about her sister. Yang's training kicked in. Her body moved automatically in response to the threat. Seeing that Ruby's sword was still in its overhead position, Yang punched directly ahead, aiming for Ruby's midriff. Ruby shifted turning her body aside from Yang's punch and thrusting forward with her blade. Yang frantically raised her other arm to block, Ruby's sword making a grating sound as its edge scraped across the metal of Yang's gauntlet.

Then Ruby pulled back, whipping her sword back around, having it come down and around, before rising in an upwards slash. Yang braced her arms to block. The battle nearly came to an end then and there. The force behind Ruby's strike was beyond what Yang had ever expected her sister was capable of. Ruby was small and fast, seeming to be more likely to use her nimble form to outmaneuver her opponent, and slip past their guard. But this strike was loaded with so much _power_.

The force of the blow launched Yang up and back, threatening to send her flying out of the ring entirely. However, with a shout, Yang brought her arms around to punch behind her, firing Ember Celica and using the recoil to reverse her momentum and launch her back at Ruby. Bringing her right arm up, Yang led with a powerful straight-punch, aimed right at Ruby's head.

Nearly being beaten by ring-out in the first second of the fight goaded Yang into taking things _much_ more seriously. Sasame was right. The feeling of intimidation Yang felt from Ruby made it hard to think of her as just Yang's little sister, the little girl Yang had once watched over, and even had a hand in raising. She was not the little girl that Yang had once desperately searched for, the girl that Yang had thought she'd needed to protect and shelter. This was a true threat, a real opponent.

Ruby sidestepped Yang's first punch, spinning her body around to the left. Yang turned, already bringing up her own left in preparation to attack, but balked as Ruby's cloak abruptly flared up in her face. She punched, but her gauntlet's bolt ripped through empty air behind the fabric. Then her senses screamed that she was in danger. She barely managed to bring her left back up in time to catch Ruby's sword as she used her spin to bring Akaibara around in a backhand slash. Once again, the sheer power behind the strike belied Yang's expectations, threatening to blow her off her feet again and send her flying out of the ring.

However, Yang was ready this time. Shifting the position of her arm, Yang levered it downwards, kicking off the ground and using the force of Ruby's strike to impart spin to her body as she rose up in the air. At the same time, Yang extended her leg to bring her heel swinging down at Ruby's head.

Her heel struck Ruby's hood, which should have allowed Yang to land a blow on the head beneath it. But the hood scattered into petals upon contact, the effect similar to Blake's shadows. Yang landed and whipped her head around, her eyes searching for any trace of red. But there was _too much_ red. Ruby's scattered petals danced around her vision, filling it with countless moving objects, and leaving Yang with little way of telling where her sister had gone.

She'd expected Ruby to attack from behind. But Ruby defied Yang's expectations yet again, seeming to materialize off to Yang's right, now spinning the other way, her cloak flaring out. Yang turned, wanting to catch Ruby's next slash and counterattack, her eyes watching for the blade as Ruby brought it around and across in a direct side-slash.

However, Ruby's strike came much sooner than Yang expected, as Ruby's sword emerged from the fluttering edges of her cloak in her right hand, executing another backhand slash. Having intended to delay her block to catch Ruby's blade at the right place and the right time, Yang found her timing off. Unable to get her arm up in time, she instead threw herself backwards, not having time to even think about trying to attack.

Even then, Ruby's sword still slashed across her chest, its edge biting into Yang's Aura and making her cry out in surprise and pain. As she'd switched hands, Ruby had gripped her right hand further back along the handle, extending her weapon's reach. It was by just a few inches. But that had been enough, combined with the unexpected nature of her attack, to catch Yang before she could escape Ruby's reach entirely.

Yang landed on her back, skidding, but managing to use her momentum to go into a roll that brought her back up to her feet. Rising up, she punched out, launching a bolt at Ruby, who slipped to the side of the incoming shot, letting it brush past her. Once again, she flashed across the distance between herself and Yang, her cloak seeming to stretch behind her as she moved.

Yang dropped into a crouch, practically going to her knees, ducking underneath another slash of Ruby's sword. Yang punched straight downwards, putting her weight, gravity, and Ember Celica's fire-Dust bolt into the blow and using it to generate a shockwave that washed out across the ground, threatening to send Ruby flying.

Ruby moved to escape the attack by jumping. Mimicking what Yang had done earlier, she put her body into a roll, turning it sideways so that, when she came back around, her sword would come straight down at Yang's head. Glancing up, Yang saw Ruby's sword come around at her more rapidly than it should have, Ruby having switched it back to her left hand. However, Yang wasn't going to be caught by the same trick so easily.

Rising up from her crouch, Yang swung her right arm up in an uppercut, meeting Ruby's descending blade directly, triggering her gauntlet as its barrels made contact with the blade's edge. However, even the, literally, explosive power of her punch met Ruby's sword, the force of Ruby's own blow was more than her previous right-handed attacks had been, the force of the two attacks canceling one another out explosively. Yang and Ruby were blown back away from each other, landing apart.

_Her left arm must be stronger than her right,_ thought Yang. It made sense. Ruby had been born left-handed after all. Even if she had learned how to swing her sword with her right hand, her left-handed blows probably had both more finesse and power to them. Now she had an idea of how Ruby's style worked.

Their feet touched the ground at practically the same time. With no hesitation, the two sisters charged one another directly. With a roar, Yang punched out, prepared to sacrifice some of her Aura by taking Ruby's attack to land one of her own. However, instead of attacking, Ruby instead shifted, smoothly drifting aside from the line of Yang's punch, the smooth crossover step allowing Ruby to circle behind Yang and come at her back. She turned as she stepped, swinging her blade around and across in a downwards, diagonal slash that aimed for where Yang's neck met her shoulder.

Yang practically screamed in pain as she felt the blade's edge bite deep into her Aura. But she weathered the blow all the same. Ruby's movements had been smooth and precise. When Yang had punched out with her left, Ruby had stepped to the right, thereby stepping to Yang's left, allowing her to dodge the attack without coming directly into line with Yang's right fist. However, as soon Yang had seen Ruby's dodge, Yang had begun turning as well. It wasn't enough to allow Yang to escape Ruby's slash. But that hadn't been Yang's intent. By catching the slash directly, Yang had taken a lot of damage. But it also meant that, for a brief second, Ruby's sword was stopped up against her body.

Turning also allowed Yang to step in closer to Ruby's body. Yang raised her right hand and fired Ember Celica across her chest without punching, instead using the recoil to drive her elbow straight into Ruby's stomach. The force of the elbow-strike nearly folded Ruby over. Ruby was blown back away. She might have screamed, but the impact had completely driven the air from her lungs.

Landing on her back, Ruby rolled smoothly back to her feet, still fighting to get her wind back. Even as she came up, she realized that Yang wasn't about to give her that opportunity, closing in with incredible speed. While it was no match for Ruby's speed, the fact that Yang was now on the offensive put all that more pressure on Ruby, who dodged to the side, sweeping her cloak around to enclose her body.

Yang struck, trying to anticipate Ruby's dodge. However, as her fist plunged into and through Ruby's cloak, there seemed to only be empty air behind it. Ruby swept her arm out, spreading her cloak and making it flare in front of Yang's face, prompting Yang to fall back. In the same motion, Ruby brought her sword around in her right hand again. Yang, seeing that, threw up her arm to block, but was caught by surprise when the blow was more powerful than she expected, making her feet skid backwards across the smooth surface of the sparring ring's floor.

Determined not to let Ruby take away her momentum, Yang punched with her other arm as she slid back, firing a bolt at Ruby. Ruby, still coming out of her turn, wasn't able to dodge so easily, not at this range. Instead, she braced the flat of her blade against the palm of her left hand so that both hands were supporting the weapon when Yang's bolt impacted against it, sending Ruby sliding back as well.

The two recovered and flew at each other once again, fists and sword moving in a flurry of gold and red as they clashed in a series of rapid and powerful blows. Ruby's cloak swirled around her body with each turn she made, making her seem like a whirling dervish, the red streak of her slashes becoming almost invisible against the backdrop of the fluttering fabric. Her sword jumped freely between her right and her left hand, changing up the timing and tempo of her attacks, but also altering reach and power at will. An attack that Yang thought she'd dodged seemed to extend out to land anyway. A swift blow she'd thought was meant to catch her off-guard with sheer speed and reach hit with force that seemed unbelievable for Ruby's small frame to be capable of.

Realizing that playing a game of inches against a speedster like Ruby was not going to allow her to win, Yang decided to invest in her biggest advantage, raw power. One thing Yang had learned was that, while Ruby's full-strength strikes were incredibly strong, far stronger than someone like her should have been capable of, Yang herself still had the edge when it came to sheer brute force. Her greatest strength would always be offensive, so she decided to throw herself at her opponent with a will, and focus on attacking.

Besides, Yang still had her trump card, her Semblance. Every hit she took made it stronger. When she unleashed it, she could turn the tables on Ruby immediately. The only risk was in delaying too much. If she waited too long, a hit might take her Aura down into the critical zone, ending the match before Yang had a chance to use her Semblance. It would be hard to gauge, since Yang had no time to check her Aura-level with her scroll, or even glance up at the screen above the arena. Ruby never gave an inch, always keeping them both on the move.

As they closed for another exchange, Yang's eyes widened when she saw Ruby's face. She'd expected a serious, stoic expression, like the one that Ruby had worn at the beginning to the fight. However, to Yang's amazement, Ruby's lips were instead stretched into a radiant smile of pure joy, her silver eyes shining with excitement. Ruby was happier than Yang had ever remembered seeing her being. A smile like that had certainly not had any place in their home before Ruby had run away.

Even more incredible was another realization. _Ruby's smiling...smiling at _me_._ Yang realized that _she_ was the one who had put that smile on Ruby's face. For the first time in years, she, Yang Xiao Long, was the one bringing happiness to Ruby. Sasame had been right. By meeting Ruby as an equal, Yang was suddenly closer to her than she'd ever been before.

Yang's body felt lighter. Her movements grew quicker and sharper, an excitement beyond that of any brawl she'd ever lost herself in rising up and filling her. _Now I get it!_ She attacked more fiercely, throwing everything she had into the fight before her, her gauntlet ringing freely against Ruby's sword.

* * *

"Unbelievable," whispered Weiss, astonishment marking her features.

"I knew Ruby was strong, but this is...insane!" gasped Jaune.

Sasame giggled. "Ruby-chan is full of surprises, isn't she?"

"How can she fight like that?" Weiss wanted to know. "I've never seen anyone wield a sword like that, switching hands continuously.

"That's one of Ruby-chan's distinct developments," said Sasame. "There are hand-changing techniques for a variety of weapons. Switching your hand can change the timing, reach, and power of your strikes. Few have ever developed it as thoroughly as Ruby-chan has though."

"How?" asked Jaune.

"Fairly early on in her training, Ruby-chan developed an interest in two-sword styles," said Sasame. "She became interested after inadvertently using it in a fight. So we found a teacher for her who specialized in such a style."

"Coming from that, Ruby-chan came up with the notion of wielding one sword as two, taking advantage of the shifts in her movements that would come from switching between hands. Doing so allowed her to create a versatile style that she could use to throw off her opponents. Even when they realize what she's doing, they can't be certain what kind of attack will come next." Sasame smiled proudly. "It's Ruby-chan's own unique form of combat."

"I thought she'd be stronger with her left hand, but it seems she's equally strong with both hands," noted Weiss.

"Of course," said Sasame. "While most two-weapon styles typically rely on different weapons in each hand, one meant for offense, the other for defense, the one that Ruby studied uses swords of equal length."

"What does that mean?" asked Jaune.

"Many things," replied Sasame. "Fighting with weapons of equal length is much more flexible than a regular two-weapon style. Either weapon can be used for offense or defense, or even both at the same time. Against a normal two-weapon style, your position, relative to your opponent, will affect which weapon they are using for what purpose, which gives you insight into their moves, depending on where you are. But, with both blades being of equal length, you cannot be sure which will be used for attack. You have to diffuse your attention more, in order to try and follow both blades, which is much more difficult to do."

"Cool!" said Jaune.

"However, it is also much more difficult to master," added Sasame. "Two-sword styles are difficult to learn from the outset, seeing as you must condition your hands and arms to perform different tasks at the same time. Most styles simplify that by the fact that, by using two different weapons, each hand and arm will have a different set of techniques for it specific to that arm. However, with equal-length blades, not only will both hands and arms have to be capable of performing all the same moves, but they will have to be able to move with complete and flexible independence of one another at all times. Longer swords make that even more difficult, which is why most equal-size two-weapon styles use short weapons."

"So that's why she went back to using one sword," said Weiss. "It simplifies the motions she needs to make. But, by switching hands freely, she can recreate most of the advantages of a two-sword style."

Sasame said nothing, her smile becoming a sly smirk. Instead, she merely hummed an acknowledgment in response to Weiss' words. Moving her gaze from Weiss and Jaune to the remaining member of Ruby's team, Sasame's smirk widened.

Pyrrha hadn't said a word since the fight had begun. That was because, from the moment Ruby had first moved, all of Pyrrha's senses had focused intently on the girl in red, tracking Ruby's every move. However, her eyes weren't narrowed, but instead wide and gleaming with sheer excitement, her lips curled up in a giddy, eager smile that was almost childlike. Indeed, Pyrrha's entire manner of polite, pleasant dignity had vanished. She was trembling and squirming, practically dancing in her seat, her knees bouncing and her hands up and clenched. She looked like a young child whose favorite treat had been placed right in front of her and, now, she was only waiting for permission to take a huge, indulgent bite.

_It isn't just which hand she's holding the sword with,_ thought Pyrrha. _Her power is determined by leverage, where on the handle she grips her weapon. Further down the handle extends her reach, but makes it harder to put her arm and wrist-strength behind a strike. However, by gripping higher up on the handle, she has the leverage to put out more power._

_On top of that, her outfit itself is part of her fighting style. Her cloak serves as both cover and distraction. By sweeping it out, she can disrupt an opponent's focus. Folding it around herself while still making it billow allows her to hide her body-position, which makes it more difficult to land a hit against her. The fact that her cloak and the blade of her sword are the same color is no coincidence either. It not only conceals the movements of the blade's attacks, but also allows her to hide when she changes hands._

_She'd be right at home in the Mibu,_ thought Sasame, realizing right away what had Pyrrha so excited. _I look forward to the moment she gets her wish._

Weiss and Jaune, to say nothing of Yang's team, were too wrapped up in the fight to notice Pyrrha's excitement, which was probably for the best, as Pyrrha would have probably turned completely red from the embarrassment. However, Sasame thought the look on Pyrrha's face suited her perfectly. Beneath the veneer of Mistral's champion lay a pure warrior, someone who lived for the challenge of facing a strong opponent; who desired, more than anything, to push her body, mind, and spirit to the limit on the field of battle and, in doing so, strive to find the way forward and improve. This was the true core of Pyrrha Nikos, the determination at her heart that had driven her to improve to the degree that she had earned the monikers of Invincible Girl and Goddess of Victory.

_What's more,_ thought Sasame, _she has gone through a prolonged drought of constant victory. Pushing herself to such an extent and refining her skills to such a level has resulted in her winning against every opponent with a level of ease that troubles her. How long has it been since she has been forced to simply struggle in order to win, much less been threatened with defeat? She'll be the perfect partner for Ruby-chan, in the ring. I hope I get to see them clash with my own eyes._

With that pleasant thought in mind, Sasame turned her attention back to the ring.

* * *

Yang's next sequence of attacks allowed her to press closer to Ruby. There were advantages and disadvantages to Yang's chosen style, which was essentially a form of armed boxing. She was at her strongest right up-close and personal. However, that meant that an opponent with any kind of handheld weapon generally held an advantage in reach over her. In order to get up-close, Yang usually had to pass through her opponent's optimum range, which opened her up to attack.

At the same time though, even if an opponent's weapon gave them a reach-advantage against her, by getting in close, Yang could close in to a distance _too_ close for an opponent to fight effectively with a longer weapon. That restricted their movements at the same time Yang was able to attack with full power. As agile with her sword Ruby was, Yang knew that Ruby's weapon would suffer from the same limitations. At extreme close-range, the distance where Yang excelled the most, Ruby's own offensive and defensive abilities would be limited.

So it came as a surprise when Ruby still managed to deflect Yang's close-range punch, not with the blade of her sword, but by bracing both hands against the handle. The impact jolted Ruby's body back though. But that had clearly been intentional, as it had put her at range to get a full swing in at Yang again.

Yang jumped back away, her sense of distance once again faltering as Ruby's reach increased with the switch of her hand, causing the tip to scrape down between Yang's breasts. Yang landed and tensed. She knew full well that she had been getting, rather than giving for most of this battle. She'd been the one taking the most damage. She couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain she had to be close to the limit, the point where the match would be called. There was no time to check. She could feel her Semblance, wound like a coiled spring in her body. She had more than enough power to turn the tables.

Grinning, Yang slammed her gauntleted fists together, unleashing her Semblance to the fullest. A wave of golden energy exploded out from her body, the shockwave actually making Ruby falter as she tried to close the distance again. Her momentum petering out, Ruby looked up at Yang, their eyes meeting...and gasped, all thoughts of fighting momentarily washed from her mind. _Yang has the Crimson Eyes! What-?_

Unfortunately, Ruby's distraction cost her dearly. as Yang surged forward with a roar that was not just heard, but _felt_ by everyone in the room, becoming a horizontally-flying meteor as she barreled at Ruby at full speed. Ruby's finely-honed combat reflexes kicked in at the last second, and she jumped desperately to the side, barely managing to avoid Yang's punch. As it was, the punch unleashed a shockwave that blew Ruby back away from her, doing some damage, even though Ruby had escaped being hit by Yang's fist itself.

The shockwave of Yang's passing blow also pushed Ruby back, keeping her from counterattacking, not that Ruby was inclined to counterattack at the moment, still reeling from the sight of Yang's transformed eyes. However, deep down, part of her knew that she needed to get her act together. Packing that much power, Yang would only need a couple of hits, maybe even just one, to completely turn the fight around and bring Ruby's Aura down to the critical zone.

Ruby closed her eyes. Even with her sight blocked, she could still track Yang's movements. If there was something good that could be said about this change of affairs, it was the fact that the explosive power that Yang was putting out inclined her to make big moves, movements that amplified the flow of her Aura and the air around her, telegraphing them well enough to Ruby's senses that she could sense Yang's attacks without needing to see them.

For the next few, furious seconds, Ruby focused purely on evasion as she drew her confused feelings back into herself, relaxing her mind and wiping her surprise at the sight of Yang's eyes away completely. She ducked and spun and jumped, channeling her Aura through her legs and feet in smooth bursts that allowed her to evade Yang's attacks by the narrowest of margins.

Regathering herself, Ruby opened her eyes and launched herself back into the fray. Engaging Yang up-close was out of the question. Her previous power was completely outmatched by Yang's new state. Instead, Ruby slipped aside from Yang's blows as best she could, dancing between them, weathering the battering she was taking just by being in the general vicinity of those haymakers. Any one of these punches would bring an end to the fight if they landed directly. Despite that, Ruby smiled eagerly, slipping under Yang's guard by going low, ducking under a straight punch and rising up, her sword also rising in an upward slash.

Then Yang's opposite hand punched straight down, firing a bolt from her gauntlet. The recoil launched Yang upwards, allowing her to spin out of the path of Ruby's attack. At the same time, the explosive bolt, enhanced by Yang's Semblance, struck the floor, the pressure wave battering Ruby and peppering her with shrapnel from broken pieces of the arena's floor. Meanwhile, Yang's spin allowed her to swiftly bring the fist she'd originally attacked with around in a spinning punch. Without a stance rooted to the floor, Yang couldn't output as much power. But her spin, combined with the awesome force of her unleashed Semblance, was still more than enough to end the fight then and there.

Frantically, Ruby raised her sword, bracing her right hand against the flat, catching Yang's incoming gauntlet. However, the burst of fire from Ember Celica against Akaibara's blade still launched Ruby backwards. In a desperate move, Ruby thrust downward, plunging her sword's blade into the floor, gripping it desperately and using it as a brake to kill her momentum, managing to stop herself at the very edge of the ring. Looking up, Ruby saw Yang touch down and come charging after her, Yang's hair streaming out behind her like a trail of golden flame.

Standing up, Ruby took a deep breath, raising her sword up in front of her, holding it horizontally across her chest, its edges oriented vertically. Her movements were smooth, yet also seemed strangely slow and deliberate, in sharp contrast to Yang's barreling approach. However, that was because they were carried out with the ease of long practice. Placing the first two fingers of her right hand against the flat of her sword's blade, Ruby traced them along its length, from the base to the tip, Akaibara flaring to life with an eerie ringing noise that filled the arena. The air swirled around Akaibara's blade as Ruby raised it over her head. Red petals drifted up from her cloak, drawn in by the circling winds to dance around the blade. The blade began to shine, crackling arcs of crimson lightning crawling up and down its length, reaching out to the petals of Ruby's Aura, and drawing them inwards, all while the wind continued to draw inwards, merging with the lightning, its sporadic crackling sound evening out into a uniform buzzing noise, while the color lightened, then brightened, shifting from red to an intense violet, which engulfed the sword in a radiant haze.

At this point, Yang was practically one step outside of striking distance. Her eyes widened at the sight of the violet flames condensing around the blade of Ruby's sword. They condensed further, seeming to solidify. Ruby's right hand rose up to grasp the handle behind her left hand. Now holding her weapon in both hands, Ruby looked Yang right in the eyes and swung straight down.

"_Yoake no Bara!_"

* * *

**Boy, it sure is a good thing that Yang and Ruby made up before this match came around. I'd hate to see the outcome, if the match had happened before Ruby had found it in herself to forgive Yang. That would've gotten ugly really fast.**

**And we come back to the thing that originally inspired me to combine _RWBY_ with _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ to begin with, Yang's eyes turning red when she _really_ gets into her Semblance. Granted, with later seasons of the show, we've seen that a character's eyes changing color in conjunction with their Semblance is not a unique thing (Tyrian), so it might well just be a factor of her Semblance. But the idea of Yang being a secret descendant of the Mibu Clan was what originally got my creative juices going, when I wrote _Crimson Eyes_.**

**Blake's remark about Sasame's tail seems pretty egregious, considering that the show's creators don't apparently have much interest in anatomical accuracy, when it comes to faunus (aside from the generic inaccuracy of sticking animal parts on human bodies to begin with). The biggest offender in this respect has to be Tyrian, probably because he's someone who most-visibly uses his faunus trait in his fighting style.**

**To elaborate, Tyrian's tail is ridiculous because...strictly anatomically speaking...scorpions don't actually have tails. To put it bluntly, and simplified, and to quote Ruby from that one segment of _Chibi_..."It's a butt." To further cement the truth of this, a scorpion's poop-chute is located directly behind the stinger itself. When it's trying to sting something, a scorpion is whipping its butt at it...arachnid Keijo, if you will...Meanwhile, Tyrian's scorpion "tail" is depicted as being extremely flexible, and even prehensile, and also seems capable of extending its overall length, from the look of some of the moves he pulls off in his fight with Qrow in Volume 4. Of course, that adds some interesting connotations to Ruby cutting it off.**

**In real life, scorpions that lose their tails also lose their ability to defecate, which ultimately results in them exploding from the build-up of feces inside their bodies (what a gross way to go), which leaves me amusingly imagining the time between Tyrian's tail getting cut off, and Watts giving him his new one, being one where Tyrian has to deal with some _serious_ constipation issues. On top of that, I love the idea, because that would mean that Ruby _literally_ tore Tyrian a new one. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30:**

"GAH!" Yang crossed her arms, bracing her gauntlets against each other, forgetting about attacking completely, as she put everything she had into fending off the attack descending towards her. The construct of violet plasma struck and exploded outwards with the sound of a thunderclap, a wave of violet energy slamming into Yang and driving her back across the ring, the intense heat melting the floor and burning fiercely into Yang's Aura, searing away the power of her Semblance, as Yang put everything she had into simply riding out the blow.

A line of violet plasma crashed out across the ring, striking against the safety barrier, making it hiss and crackle as it struggled to withstand the force it had been struck with. The explosive sound Ruby's attack had made was so loud that everyone almost everyone missed the sound of the buzzer.

Glynda gaped at the sight of what Ruby had just unleashed. Smoke was streaming out along the line of her attack, the floor on either side of the deep cut she'd made in it glowing orange. The ring was already in rough shape, having been broken and cratered in multiple places by Yang's missed attacks. But now Ruby had practically split it in two. However, that was a secondary concern.

Glynda looked down at her scroll, analyzing the Aura-levels on display. Yang's Aura had been knocked all the way down to zero. If any of Ruby's attack had gotten through after that point, Yang could have been severely injured. Gulping, Glynda brought down the safety barrier.

"Ms. Xiao Long, are you all right?" she called out as she stepped into the ring, a wave of her riding crop scattering the smoke.

A rough cough greeted her and the smoke cleared to reveal Yang, her gauntlets still crossed. Her eyes had returned to their normal color and the light of her Semblance had petered out completely. Her skin and clothes were dotted with black smudges, and sections, including a sizable portion of her face, looked as though she'd been inflicted with a sunburn. Despite that, she was still standing, though it was apparent she'd been backed up against the safety barrier. Fortunately, even though Glynda had brought it down, Yang was still standing.

"I'm..." Yang paused and coughed again, before regaining her voice. "I'm okay."

"Then Ruby Rose is the winner," declared Glynda, giving Ruby a cautious look.

Ruby had closed her eyes and was breathing slowly, her posture relaxing further with each breath she took. Finally, Ruby opened her eyes and sheathed her sword, looking at Glynda. Turning her gaze back to Yang, Glynda saw that the older sister was watching her as well, both apparently waiting for her critique.

Except that Glynda wasn't sure what to say. Any criticisms she might have had had died on her tongue the moment the fight began. It was apparent that the girls had taken the fight seriously. Yang had not held back out of reluctance to fight her sister, and Ruby had not attacked maliciously out of hatred. Instead, the two of them had met in a spectacular battle. Glynda wasn't sure what to say to either of them. Both of them had clearly fought with a strong understanding of their respective strengths and weaknesses, so she couldn't see any advice to give.

"Well fought, both of you," she said finally.

"Thank you," said Ruby with a slight smile, while Yang grinned.

Then Ruby made her way across the ring to Yang and offered Yang a shoulder to lean on as they made their way out of the ring.

Glynda looked down at the work that lay before her. Normally, it only took a matter of seconds to repair the ring. A flick of her riding crop and broken pieces would reassemble themselves perfectly, as though they'd never been separated in the first place. But that damage was minor compared to what the two sisters had inflicted over the course of their clash. This would take a good bit longer to repair. More to the point...

"It seems that we will have to call an end to the class here," said Glynda, looking up, hearing a combination of ragged cheers and groans of disappointment. Some students saw Combat Class as the most entertaining of Beacon's courses, whether it was because they enjoyed fighting or watching others fight. However, there would always be those who regarded _any_ class as an irritation, regardless of how important it might be.

"However, before I dismiss you, I wish to inform you that, starting with our first class, next week, I will not be choosing the matchups. For four classes or so, I will allow you to volunteer and/or issue challenges to your fellow students. In preparation for those classes, please consider who you wish to fight. I advise you to pick opponents who challenge your skills, not those you think will give you an easy match for the sake of improving your ranking or to pursue petty grudges." Her gaze settled on Cardin Winchester who, predictably, was glaring at Jaune. However, she couldn't really do anything at this point. Instead she sighed. "Dismissed."

* * *

Jaune and Weiss flinched as Glynda's announcement was greeted by a shrill squeal from the seat next to them. They both turned to look at Pyrrha, who looked as though her birthday and Yuletide had come simultaneously. "Uh...Pyrrha?" prompted Jaune.

Pyrrha snapped out of her gleeful daze, looking at her teammates, then flushing a furious red as she averted her eyes. "I'm sorry!" she said abruptly.

"What are you so embarrassed about?" Nora wanted to know, leaning over Pyrrha and examining her closely.

"It seems she wants, quite badly, to challenge Ruby-chan," observed Sasame with an amused smile. "Am I right, Pyrrha-chan?"

"Yes," said Pyrrha softly.

Sasame's tail rose up and brushed up and down Pyrrha's spine, the soft fur tickling against the bare skin of her shoulders as Sasame's Aura flowed through her in a gentle, soothing wave. "Come now, Pyrrha-chan, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. I appreciate your enthusiasm to challenge Ruby-chan. I think you will be a fine opponent for her."

"But why are you so excited?" asked Blake.

"It's just..." Pyrrha sighed. "I don't want to talk down about my previous opponents, but it's been so long since I've had a real fight."

"I thought so," said Sasame with a giggle. "You have the spirit of a true competitor, Pyrrha-chan. Yet I also noticed the melancholy of a competitor who has not had someone to truly compete against in a long time."

Pyrrha nodded slowly.

"Well, I guess if that's what makes you happy..." said Weiss.

"Hey," said Jaune, patting Pyrrha's shoulder, "whatever else, I'm glad to see a bit more of the real you."

"Very true," agreed Ren.

Pyrrha squeaked and hid her face.

"What's going on?" asked Ruby as she and Yang emerged from the stairs leading down to the ring, Yang's arm draped over Ruby's shoulder as she helped Yang walk.

"Nothing important," said Sasame, her tail flicking behind her as she turned to beam at Ruby and Yang. "I'm certainly glad to see that the two of you put on a good match."

Ren took in Yang's battered and burned state. "Um...Do you think we should get her to the infirmary?" he asked.

"I'm not that bad," said Yang, before coughing.

"Besides, something much better is right here," said Sasame, walking over to Yang, her Aura washing over Yang in a pink wave. The red burns marring Yang's skin faded back to their natural color, and Yang felt the pain and fatigue of her fight fade, leaving her feeling like she'd had at least an hour to rest and get her wind back.

"What did you do?" she asked as Ruby slipped out from under her arm.

"I am a healer, after all," said Sasame with a laugh. "My healing arts have numerous potential applications, from treating injuries, to relieving fatigue, to supplementing a person's Aura."

"You can do that?" gasped Ren.

Sasame nodded. "In combat, I can support my allies by channeling my Aura into them and enhancing their natural combat abilities. Given that my allies are typically so strong as to not need such an ability, it's a skill I tend to use rarely."

"Wow," whispered Nora. "That's so cool!"

"Thank you," said Sasame with a chortle.

* * *

They filed out of the classroom, Team RASP planning to head to the library to get their homework out of the way so that they could focus on their training in the evening. With some cajoling by Ren, RYNB moved to join them, Nora and Yang reluctant to spend even more time working on schoolwork immediately after class. Even Blake had a tendency to procrastinate, preferring to unwind by curling up with one of her books.

"Thanks, by the way," said Ren to Ruby in a soft tone as they made their way to the library.

"For what?" asked Ruby.

"I don't think Yang would have been half as willing to do this if she wasn't trying to keep your respect," said Ren. "She likes to blow off her homework until the last minute and, even then, she's prone to pressuring me to let her copy my answers."

Ruby raised an eyebrow and glanced in Yang's direction. "Let me know the next time she does that and I'll give her a piece of my mind."

Ren sighed. "I wish I was half as good at this leader thing as you are," he said.

"You're doing fine," said Ruby. "I'm lucky the only major issue I had with my team was dealing with Weiss. I'm amazed we managed to wrap that up in just a couple of days. You've got my sister, who's apparently something of a party girl. And then you've got Nora, who's...Nora."

"You're not wrong," said Ren with a wry smile.

"Still, I figured Blake would be helping you keep things under control," said Ruby.

"She does, somewhat," said Ren. "But dealing with Yang and Nora is asking a lot of her, and she's not always comfortable around other people, to say nothing of people like your sister and Nora." He sighed. "She tends to just disappear from time to time. I figure she's sneaking off somewhere to read."

Ruby frowned. Her own experience with running her team, if what she did could actually be called "running," had taught her it was a group effort. The leader provided direction, yes, and did her best to account for the capabilities and nuances of her teammates. But that depended on her teammates being there to support her during critical junctures. Ruby wouldn't have consolidated any authority on her own, not if Pyrrha and Jaune hand't given her their support during that critical period when Weiss had tried to usurp the position for herself.

"If you need her help, then talk to her," said Ruby, patting Ren's shoulder. "A leader needs to lead, but he can't do everything by himself. If he could, then he wouldn't need a team to lead in the first place. That's one thing I've learned this year."

Ren gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks."

* * *

That evening, all eight of them retired to the rooftop, after dinner, to practice their Aura techniques. Besides Temper and Suppression, Sasame had determined that Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha were ready to begin practicing Flow. However, in a statement of solidarity, especially remarkable for Jaune, the three of them decided to hold back, so that they could practice with RYNB when they caught up.

After their evening practice, the group filed in. But Blake was stopped by a hand pressing gently against her forearm.

"I asked to speak with you, didn't I?" prompted Sasame.

Blake nodded, swallowing nervously. Sasame wasn't holding Blake by the arm, but instead gently pressing her hand up against it. The message was simple. Sasame wanted to talk, but she would not force Blake into doing anything. That knowledge helped put her at ease.

"We'll have to keep our voices down, though," Sasame noted. "There is a troublesome group beneath our feet."

"I know," said Blake with a wan smile. "Ruby _did_ warn us."

"So then, Blake-chan, what has made you decide to hide your faunus heritage?" asked Sasame.

Blake sighed, her hand going up to the ribbon that covered her cat-ears. "Because I want to be judged for _who_ I am and what I do, not _what_ I am."

"That's naive, Blake-chan," said Sasame firmly, making Blake gasp. "Do you wish to fight for the betterment of your people?"

"Of course!" said Blake frantically. "That's the entire reason why I want to become a Huntress, to make a difference!"

"How?" asked Sasame firmly.

"I..." Blake's mouth worked silently as she realized she didn't exactly have a coherent answer.

"Your goals are shaped by your experiences," said Sasame. "Your experiences are shaped as much by _what_ you are as _who_ you are. As a faunus, there are experiences you have been through that no human could truly understand. But when you hide your ears, hide yourself, you deny all that."

"I...I'm not...!" protested Blake, her tone weakly.

"If you truly seek to help create a world where all may hold their heads high, you will never be able to accomplish it, unless you yourself learn to hold your head high, and proudly show who you are," said Sasame. "Hiding the truth about yourself is nothing more than acquiescing to your fear."

"That's not...true..." Blake still averted her eyes, her words sounding halfhearted, even to her.

"Well," noted Sasame, "it seems you're already aware of that. Yet you continue to hide...why?" She frowned, and her eyes narrowed. "Because your status as a faunus isn't what you're _truly_ afraid of others finding out is it?"

Blake gasped, paling sharply, her bow flattening out to match the ears beneath it.

"I see," said Sasame. "As a faunus, there are certain things, certain groups...that _only_ a faunus would affiliate with. That is a suspicion that many faunus labor under already. But you fear that suspicion because, in your case, it is all too real."

"Why do you have to do that?" asked Blake, her voice a low groan.

Sasame gave Blake a sad smile. "It's what I do. As a healer, I examine my patients to diagnose their ills, so that I can efficiently and effectively treat them. In the process of making that diagnosis, I have learned to read a person's reactions to my questions, interpret their responses and fit it into the framework of what I already know about them. From there, I build up a complete profile."

"So I'm your patient?" asked Blake skeptically. "I'm not sick or injured."

"There are ills of the body, ills of the mind, ills of the spirit," said Sasame. "You live with the fear of being outed as a faunus, not merely in and of itself, but because the discovery of that might well lead to the discovery of a deeper, and much more dangerous, secret. How long were you in the White Fang?"

"My entire life," said Blake. "I was practically born into it."

"I see," said Sasame.

"Have you met them before?" Blake wanted to know.

"A few times," said Sasame. "We've crossed paths with a few of their members. But I've had little reason to interact with them."

"Even though you're a faunus?" asked Blake.

"I'm a Mibu, first and foremost," said Sasame. "Unfortunately, as a Mibu, I have no right to truly interfere in how humans and faunus in the outside world treat one another, save for when it affects me directly, as was the case with Winchester-kun. We relinquished that right with our own inaction.

"When the Revolution occurred, we did nothing. We sat back and watched as the faunus of the outside world struggled for their rights. So I do not have any right to criticize the actions of the White Fang, save for when they threaten those under my protection, or those I care for."

Blake sighed.

Sasame tilted her head. "But you certainly _do_ have that right," she noted. "As one who has been a faunus of this world, as one who has been a part of that struggle, you are the one empowered to speak of what you have been through, of drawing on your own experiences. However, you can't do that if you live in denial of them, in fear of their discovery."

"So...what?" asked Blake. "I'm just supposed to go to my classmates and admit I'm a faunus, that I was part of a terrorist organization? If I do that, I'd be thrown out of Beacon in a heartbeat. I'd probably be arrested on the spot."

"That depends," said Sasame. "Not all treatments are instantaneous. Even for healers like me, there are some ailments that can only be alleviated over the course of time. Your fear and your history are of that sort. I'm not suggesting you out yourself to the student body, all at once. But it wouldn't be a bad idea to start out small."

"Small...?" Blake blinked, her ears perking beneath her bow.

"With a few you trust," said Sasame, "or even just one person you feel you can let your guard down around..."

Blake swallowed, her mind immediately going to her team, maybe even Ruby's team...with the exception of Weiss. Blake got the feeling that outing herself to Weiss was a disaster waiting to happen.

"As for the legal ramifications..." Sasame smiled slyly. "I get the feeling that the one in charge of this school has a willingness to play fast and loose, as it were, with the law, if he truly trusts in a person's good intentions. If you go to him, I am certain that he will help you. In fact, he may already suspect the truth about you, both in terms of who you are and who you _were_."

Blake swallowed nervously.

Sasame's smile disappeared and the look on her face was now deadly serious. "But, the main reason I advise this is for your own sake. The longer you hide, the harder it will be. Worse, you risk having the decision taken away from you, risk being outed in a way that could potentially undermine, or even destroy, the trust your friends have in you."

Blake's mouth went dry at the possibility. She had to admit that it was frightening to consider. The thought of Nora or Yang walking into the bathroom at an inopportune moment, or something happening to her ribbon in the midst of battle, had been possibilities that had hovered at the back of her mind ever since coming to Beacon. She had to admit that it was tiring, having to constantly keep her guard up, for fear that someone might uncover the truth about her. The best she'd managed was to retreat to the most isolated corner of the library she could find and curl up there. But that wasn't a real solution.

"I suppose...I suppose I should," said Blake, lowering her eyes.

"You don't have to right this minute," said Sasame. "But the sooner, the better."

"Right," said Blake. She sighed. "I guess I should thank you."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," replied Sasame. "I won't force you to do anything. Just as I did with Ruby-chan, all I can suggest is a path that may work better than the one you are following now."

"Thank you," said Blake earnestly. "That being the case, I choose to thank you."

Sasame smiled warmly, then actually gripped Blake's arm, pulling her close. Before Blake could react, Sasame's arms were around her, hugging her tightly. What was more, Blake felt something soft and fluffy, like a big, furry blanket wrap around her, its warmth suffusing her entire body, seeming to wipe away her tension and fear.

"You are a strong girl and, ultimately, you don't lack for courage," said Sasame. "In the end, I know you will do the right thing."

"But...is it all right to stay like this a little longer?" asked Blake, not able to remember the last time she'd felt so comfortable...so safe.

"Of course," said Sasame.

* * *

The rest of the week went by rather fast. Pyrrha was on pins and needles during Combat Class, eagerly counting down the days before she could issue her challenge. She was so excited that she barely paid attention to the class itself. Glynda called her down to fight once, and Pyrrha beat her opponent handily.

The days had become something of a routine for them. The weekend came and, without any hesitation, they transitioned to their Saturday training, focusing on continuing to build up Jaune's strength and stamina. Strangely, Ruby seemed anxious about something, her distraction once again leading to...interesting...results for Jaune's training.

It was a little bit worrying, so it was only natural that they brought it up at dinner.

"You look worried about something," noted Pyrrha. "What's wrong, Ruby?"

"W-well...I was thinking about calling Ashley," said Ruby. "I was hoping that...uh...maybe, we could hang out tomorrow."

"Why are you so worried about that?" asked Weiss.

"W-well...we only just met," said Ruby. "Wha-what if she thinks I'm being pushy or clingy?"

"I doubt she'd think that," said Yang with a smirk. "I mean, it's not like you've been calling or texting her every day or something."

If that statement had been meant to calm Ruby down, it failed miserably. Instead, Ruby gasped and cradled her head in her hands, a look of panic washing over her face. "Oh my God! You're right! I haven't talked to her at all, all week! Oh God! What if she thinks I'm some prissy elite who completely forgot about her the minute we parted ways? She must hate me! What do I do?"

"Ruby-chan..." said Sasame, her stern tone cutting through Ruby's haze of panic and indecision in an instant. "...Calm."

"Y-yes, Sasame-nee," said Ruby, taking deep breaths and relaxing herself a little.

"There's no harm in asking," said Sasame. "You live a different life from Ashley-san, there's no denying that. You have a busy schedule and are working hard. I'm sure she will be able to understand that without much trouble. But that understanding will never come if you don't talk to her."

"A-all right," said Ruby.

"So go ahead and call her," said Yang, patting Ruby on the shoulder.

"Okay," said Ruby, pulling out her scroll and moving towards the edge of the dining hall where the ambient noise was less.

Despite her friends' assurances, she still found herself staring nervously at Ashley's contact on the phone for a moment, before working up the willpower to make the call. After that, she waited anxiously while the scroll rang, before she heard a voice on the other end.

"_Hello?_"

"Hi, Ashley," said Ruby.

"_Hi, Ruby,_" Ashley said back. "_I wasn't expecting to hear from you._" She sounded slightly nervous too. But then again, she was a student of a relatively ordinary high school, talking to a Beacon student.

"I'm sorry," said Ruby. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"_No! You didn't,_" Ashley assured her, a slightly frantic note to her voice. "_I...I wasn't doing anything important. I just wasn't expecting to hear from you. I mean..._"

"Um...I wasn't sure," said Ruby. "I would have called you earlier this week, but our schedule's pretty busy and...I didn't want to be a bother...or anything like that."

"_You're not,_" Ashley assured her. There was a pause and a sigh, mixed with a giggle. "_I guess we're going to need to work on this._"

"I guess," agreed Ruby with a small smile.

"_So...what are you calling about?_" asked Ashley.

"W-well...I was wondering if you'd like to hang out sometime...tomorrow," said Ruby.

"_Well, I have my job tomorrow morning and afternoon,_" said Ashley.

"Oh..." said Ruby, her face falling.

"_But I'll talk to my boss,_" said Ashley. "_He's a nice guy, so he might be willing to let me off early. Why don't you come down to my job and meet me there. It's a flower shop just down the street from where we met. I'll send you the address._"

"Sure!" said Ruby eagerly.

"_Okay, I'll see you around...does one sound good?_"

"That sounds great," said Ruby eagerly. "I'll see you there."

"_Good,_" said Ashley. "_Are your sisters coming?_"

"Uh...I hadn't thought of that," said Ruby. "I could ask them."

"_Well...they don't have to,_" said Ashley. "_They might have other things they want to do._"

"I'll check with them and see," said Ruby.

"_Okay,_" said Ashley. "_Then I'll just wait and see who else you show up with tomorrow._"

"All right," said Ruby. "I guess this is goodbye for now."

"_Yeah, see you tomorrow,_" said Ashley.

Ruby hung up the scroll, and took a moment to calm herself down.

"Geez, you look like you just confessed your love to somebody," observed Yang wryly, leaning against the corner by the door to the dining hall.

"EEK!" squeaked Ruby, jumping and spinning. "Yang! Don't scare me like that!"

Yang just laughed. "But it sounds like you're going to meet her tomorrow," she said. "Looks like you didn't have anything to worry about."

"I know," said Ruby with a sigh. Then she looked up. "By the way, Ashley asked about you and Sasame-nee. Are you coming tomorrow?"

Yang stretched, rolling her eyes upward in the process, thinking about it. "I think I'll pass this time. You should try hanging out with her on your own a little. It'll help you get used to making friends and meeting people if I'm not hanging over your shoulder the whole time."

Ruby blinked, staring at Yang in confusion.

"What?" asked Yang, noticing her scrutiny.

"It's just...I have a hard time imagining _you_ saying something like that," deadpanned Ruby, remembering Yang's confession that she'd nearly beaten Jaune to a pulp over her frustration at being kept at a distance.

"Hey!" protested Yang. "Don't be like that." She sighed and brushed her fingers through her hair. "But, your other sister certainly says some smart things. I have to admit, now that we've made up, I do feel better about letting you go off on your own. Sasame said she won't be coming either."

"Aww..." moaned Ruby, sagging.

"She said she wants to get to know your teammates a little better," said Yang. "I think she's taking Weiss out to Vale tomorrow."

"Weiss?" Ruby blinked. "I wonder why."

"Well, you could ask her," said Yang.

"I guess," said Ruby. "But she'll only talk about it, if she has something to tell me."

* * *

"I really _do_ want to get to know your teammates and friends a little," said Sasame, when Ruby approached her after their evening Aura training. "I agree with Yang-san that meeting with Ashley-san on your own will be a good chance for you to work on building relationships."

"I did fine with Natsu-chan," said Ruby.

"Yes, but you and Natsu-chan were classmates, who saw each other every school-day," said Sasame. "You had no shortage of opportunities to speak to her without needing to make special arrangements around your respective schedules." She laughed. "Besides, Natsu-chan is an inordinately friendly and approachable girl, especially by Mibu standards."

"I guess that's true," admitted Ruby.

"Ashley-san, on the other hand, is a friend that you will have to make an effort to maintain a connection with," said Sasame. "The two of you lead very different lives, with very different claims to your respective times. Learning to work around that will be a good experience for you."

"All right," said Ruby.

"So go have fun tomorrow," said Sasame. "Also, I don't think Sunday will be the only day you can do this. You've done very well to shoulder the responsibility of helping Jaune-kun improve, but it's reaching the point where he knows what to do on his own. At some point, he will have to begin progressing without you holding his hand." Seeing Ruby's hesitance, Sasame shrugged and shook her head. "But it will be between you and your teammates to decide when that time comes."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"Now, let's get to bed," said Sasame. "You'll have plenty to do tomorrow, I'm sure."

"Wait!" said Ruby, glancing from side to side for a second, determining that the others were out of earshot. She wanted to talk to Sasame about the thing that had been on her mind since her match with Yang.

"What is it, Ruby-chan?" asked Sasame.

Ruby frowned and swallowed. "Sasame-nee, Yang has the Crimson Eyes."

"That she does," replied Sasame.

"You knew?" asked Ruby.

"Yep," said Sasame. "I saw them when I got that opportunity to talk with her alone. She allowed her anger to get the better of her, and lashed out at me. When she did, the Eyes emerged."

Ruby swallowed back an indignant exclamation that Yang would attack Sasame, before realizing that Sasame had let Yang attack her. After all, Sasame could shrug off any damage Yang could do easily, after all.

"So," prodded Sasame, "what about her Crimson Eyes?"

"I just want to know...if that's important?" asked Ruby.

"Amongst the Mibu, it would be," said Sasame. "Someone being able to invoke the Crimson Eyes in both eyes like that is an extremely rare occurrence. It means that Yang-san comes from a potent bloodline, if she has such an ability. It also likely means that she possesses yet-untapped potential. However, out here, such a trait has little meaning. Most likely, everyone who has seen it associates it with her Semblance, since it normally appears in conjunction with that, which isn't surprising, given the nature of Yang-san's Semblance."

"I guess so," said Ruby. "Should...should we tell her?"

"That...I'm not sure," said Sasame. "Whatever bloodline she is descended from is probably forgotten to the Mibu Clan. It might be worth investigating, but only out of purely academic interest. I do not believe that knowledge of the significance of a trait only really of importance to a group of people, with whom she's never associated, will be of any worth to her. But you are not obligated to keep it a secret either. It's your decision, Ruby-chan."

"All right," said Ruby, not sure what she wanted to do.

"But don't worry about that for now," said Sasame. "You're meeting your new friend tomorrow. Focus on that."

"Okay," said Ruby.

* * *

Finding the flower shop was a little bit hard, mainly because Ruby was not used to navigating with her scroll. Ashley had texted her the address and Pyrrha showed Ruby how to plug the information into the map app on her scroll and use that to locate the shop. Afterwards, Ruby found she had to be careful following the directions her scroll gave her. It was a little too easy to get so lost in interpreting the map that she might have wandered out into traffic if she weren't careful.

This day, she decided (or had been forced, rather) to wear the outfit Weiss had gotten her on RASP's first day out as a team. Her ears were still ringing slightly from Sasame's squeal over how lovely she looked in the outfit, cementing Weiss' conviction that she was right to insist that Ruby wear it again.

_"__I didn't buy that ensemble for you just so you could wear it once and forget about it,"_ Weiss had lectured her, the memory making Ruby grumble under her breath. She had to admit, she did like the feeling of how it looked on her, Jaune's assurances of how good it looked particularly compelling.

She supposed it was a better look for a day out with a civilian friend than showing up in her Huntress outfit, though her sword remained holstered behind the small of her back, something no one had bothered to try and dissuade her from.

Finally, Ruby found herself on a familiar street, turning a corner and looking along the street, past the mouth of the alley where she and her sisters had first seen Ashley. Warily, Ruby kept her awareness about her, just in case those delinquents were hanging around in the vicinity. Heading down the street, Ruby noticed that the address was just up ahead. Pocketing her scroll, she continued forward, finally finding herself standing at a slightly busy intersection, staring at the large windows encompassing a shop directly across it from where she'd come.

The road was relatively quiet, cars passing through every couple of minutes at a moderate speed, but infrequently enough that a four-way stop was all that was needed to regulate traffic, rather than a set of lights. Foot traffic was a good bit heavier, and Ruby saw numerous people wandering across the intersection, heading up and down streets. She supposed that made this a good spot for a shop, especially one occupying a corner.

The shop itself occupied the corner section of the first floor of a fair-sized multipurpose building. The floors above it might have been apartments or offices of some kind, Ruby couldn't tell. While the corner above it was sharp, conforming with the overall blocky shape of the building, the windows of the shop itself were arranged in a curved formation, giving it a slightly more organic look. The windows almost completely flooded with a picture of flowers in a variety of colors, though most were varying shades of yellow...which probably had something to do with with why the sign over the shop's door read _Golden Flower Traders_. Ruby had to admit that, just looking at it from the outside, it looked like a nice place visit, maybe even a nice place to work.

Cautiously, she made her way across the intersection and to the shop's door, pushing it open to the sound of a tinkling bell. Entering the shop, Ruby felt a little lightheaded as her nose was assaulted by the perfume of countless floral cultivars, mingling together in a heady aroma that displaced oxygen to a sufficient degree that Ruby was a little worried it might qualify as a health hazard.

After a few seconds, she adjusted and made her way further into the shop, her eyes having trouble figuring out what to focus on as she was surrounded by various floral arrays, all arranged to display their selections of flowers to the fullest. There were pre-arranged bouquets, vases where flowers could be selected individually and, on one side, rows of potted flowers, with basic gardening supplies; including empty pots, bags of soil, and seeds; in the adjacent corner, for people who wanted to try growing their own. Just as with the windows, it seemed that yellow varieties were the dominant option, though there was also a fair-sized selection of flowers in various other colors. At the back of the store was a small desk and cash register, almost looking out of place amidst all this floral splendor.

Ruby didn't see anyone upon first entering. However, as the wooden floorboards creaked slightly beneath her tread, she heard the sound of a heavier set of feet coming out from the back of the store.

"Welcome," intoned a smooth, lilting, yet masculine voice as the person she presumed to be the owner made his way out from the back. "How can I help you?"

Ruby had trouble finding her voice at first. This man was a stranger to her, of course, so striking up a conversation with him wasn't the easiest thing for her, particularly because she felt guilty about not entering his shop as a customer. She was taking up his valuable time for her personal affairs, and it wouldn't even lead to a purchase.

The other reason her tongue tied up for a few brief seconds was that this man was, perhaps, one of the most _beautiful_ men she'd ever seen. Though he was unquestionably male, there was a strongly effeminate quality to his appearance, from his thin build to the wave of blonde hair that ran down past his shoulders in a smooth, radiant cascade that Yang would have been jealous of. His hands ended in slender, delicate-looking fingers, their nails filed with a precision that Weiss would have approved of. Piercing green eyes, of the same shade as Pyrrha's, met Ruby's.

He was dressed in a white, button-down shirt, with long sleeves that weren't skintight, but not overly baggy either. His legs were covered by worn, brown pants. Over all of that was a dark-green apron. All told, he definitely looked the part of a professional florist.

However, his most prominent feature was the pair of triangular, pointed ears; covered in soft, blonde fur; that rose up from the top of his head. Ruby thought they might have been fox-ears, which would make him a fox-faunus, like Sasame, albeit with a different trait.

"H-hi," said Ruby, shifting nervously. "I...I came to see Ashley."

The man's eyebrow went up slightly. "Oh? So _you're_ the friend she was talking about."

"Um...I guess," said Ruby.

The man's scrutiny of her intensified. Given that he and Ashley were both faunus, Ruby wondered if he had issue with her being a human. However, after a moment's pause, he turned and called over his shoulder, "Ashley, your friend is here."

"Coming!" shouted a startled voice from the back. Ruby blinked, and wondered if Ashley hadn't been expecting her to actually show. She was a little early, it being roughly ten-to-one.

Ashley came out of the back at a slightly hurried pace, her hands already behind her, working the ties of the same kind of forest-green apron that her employer wore. When she saw Ruby standing there, her eyes lit up and she smiled brightly, though her momentum faltered and she came to a stop, looking just as shy and unsure as Ruby herself felt.

"Hi, Ruby," she said, the words emerging a little quickly from her mouth.

"Hi," Ruby said back.

For a second, they stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say, until Ashley's employer coughed politely. "Perhaps you'd like to introduce me to your new friend," he suggested.

"Oh! Right!" Ashley started a little at her employer's cough. "Chrys, this is Ruby Rose, from Beacon. Ruby, this is my boss, Chrysanthos Salazar."

"It's nice to meet you," said Ruby, suppressing the urge to bow to him in the manner of the Mibu Clan, people in Vale typically not using such gestures for greeting.

"Likewise," said Chrys, his voice and expression almost studiously neutral, almost as though he didn't know whether to approve or disapprove of her. "Ashley told me a little about you. I'm grateful to you for saving her from those thugs last week."

"It...it was nothing," said Ruby, looking down and blushing.

That appeared to bring a slight smile to the man's face and he chuckled. "Well then, I don't suppose you want to spend the rest of the day locked up in here, as nice a place as this is. Off with you two!" He turned his eyes to his employee. "Ashley, I'll see you on Tuesday."

"All right," said Ashley, draping her apron over the hand Chrys held out. "Let's go, Ruby."

"Okay," said Ruby, heading out the door with Ashley. Once the door closed behind them, Ruby gave Ashley a slightly confused look. "I thought you just worked here on the weekends."

"Mostly," said Ashley. "I have a short shift Tuesday and Thursday afternoons." She sighed and looked down. "My scholarship covers most of my school expenses, which is good, 'cause my family isn't that well off. They can handle the rest, but I figured I should work for my own spending money. I don't want to be too big a burden on them, not when I could have gone to a public school for nothing."

"You got a scholarship!" gasped Ruby. "Congratulations!"

Ashley gave her a slightly amused look. "It sounds weird, hearing that _this_ late into my year at school. Not to mention hearing it from a girl who got into Beacon Academy...and a whole two years early."

Ruby blushed and mumbled incoherently, making Ashley giggle. "You certainly don't like to brag," she noted.

"Uh...Well...It makes me feel weird," said Ruby. "It happened so suddenly that…I don't really know what to think. I'm just glad I'm there at all."

That just made Ashley giggle again. They walked in silence a little further, before Ruby came to a stop and looked around, realizing she didn't have much of an idea where they were, nor where they were heading. A glance at Ashley saw that she was similarly uncertain...at least as far as their destination went. "So...uh...what should we do? I'm kinda new to this sort of thing."

"You've never had friends before?" asked Ashley.

"I have," said Ruby. "But, back home, my friends were all classmates, so that kinda made it easy. Before I came to Beacon, I hadn't been to Vale for a long time and, before that, I was originally raised on Patch."

"Oh! The island," said Ashley. "Did you go to Signal then?"

"No," said Ruby, her voice taking on a sullen quality. "I trained independently, sort of."

"Oh..." said Ashley, uncertain of what to make of the sudden change in Ruby's mood. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it."

"Well...it's a little complicated," said Ruby. "The people who ended up training me aren't exactly on the best of terms with the Kingdoms, so talking about them is sort of...taboo, I guess."

"I won't pry then," said Ashley.

"So...anyway..." said Ruby, looking around again.

Ashley frowned pensively. Then, after a minute or so, her eyes lit up. "I know!" she said. "Follow me!"

She began leading Ruby along the streets, the direction of their walk taking them towards the Faunus Quarter.

* * *

"What do you think?" asked Sasame, smiling across the table at Weiss as she sipped her coffee.

"It's very good," said Weiss, after a moment, before shifting nervously.

Truth be told, the coffee was excellent, the kind of artisanal brew that one typically only found in small, local coffee shops, privately owned by people passionate about their craft. However, the location of the coffee shop definitely made Weiss feel more than a little awkward, particularly with so many eyes on her...most of them faunus.

This shop hovered on the border of Vale's Faunus Quarter and, apparently, was of sufficient quality that it attracted a fair number of humans, in addition to faunus. Despite that, Weiss knew that she; with her silvery hair, pale skin, blue eyes, and distinctive scar; stood out like a sore thumb. Even if she wasn't wearing her typical dress and jacket, with the prominent SDC snowflake sigil on its back, she knew that there were probably at least a few patrons of this shop who recognized her, perhaps from the concerts she'd performed, before coming to Beacon.

She doubted that many of the faunus in the establishment had actually watched her concerts. However, she wouldn't be surprised if the members of the Schnee Family were on the personal blacklist of quite a few faunus. The one who'd taken their orders had certainly given her an unpleasant look, probably wanting to refuse her service...had she not been with Sasame.

"You seem uncomfortable," said Sasame. "I apologize for that. It's harder to find shops that will cater to a faunus like me outside the Faunus Quarter, particularly because I don't wish to cause a ruckus."

"It's all right," said Weiss, slumping slightly. "I mean...I'm glad you're treating me well. I haven't had the best experience with faunus in the past."

"The White Fang?" Sasame raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," growled Weiss, "them."

"I see," said Sasame. "That's understandable. I haven't had many dealings with them in the past."

"But you _have_ had dealings with them?" posed Weiss.

"I've crossed paths with their members, from time to time," said Sasame. "They tend to be less active out in the settlements, unless some incident of major discrimination arises. Otherwise, they tend to concentrate their operations within the Kingdoms themselves."

"Why?" asked Weiss.

"Out in the settlements, survival trumps racism," Sasame explained. "It varies from place to place, according to location, defensibility, history, and other factors. However, living out, away from the Kingdom walls, is like balancing on the edge of a knife. One slip and your settlement's internal discord could wind up drawing the Grimm, potentially resulting in its destruction. The people who live in those places _have_ to be more amicable to those not like them, if they want to survive. Those who cannot make peace, faunus or human, are often not welcome to dwell in such places, simply because their attitudes represent a potentially greater threat."

"Wow," said Weiss.

"In a sense, the existence and nature of the Grimm make racism a luxury," said Sasame, "one that only those in comparatively safe locales can afford to indulge in."

"And what do you think about the White Fang?" asked Weiss.

"Hmm..." Sasame scratched her chin for a moment. "'Frustrated' is the word that comes to mind the most.

"Frustrated?"

Sasame hummed an affirmative. "I heard they began as a peaceful organization."

"Well, they certainly didn't _stay_ that way," muttered Weiss.

"Understandable...if unwise," said Sasame, drawing a confused look from her companion. "Peaceful protests are difficult to maintain, especially when those you are protesting against react violently, yet call you savages for retaliating in kind. It takes a strong will and unwavering conviction to not meet force with force. It also takes time..."

"So why can't they be patient?" demanded Weiss.

"Because, however long it takes to change people's attitudes, it doesn't change the fact that those attitudes are _wrong_," said Sasame plainly. "While the law of the Kingdoms may now say that faunus are equal, that means little if the hearts and minds of humans don't themselves change. But people do not relinquish their prejudices so easily. Faced with that, it's so much more cathartic to respond in kind, to meet force with force. That is the appeal of turning to violence."

"But you don't think it's right?" asked Weiss.

"Speaking as one who cannot truly pass judgment, I would still say not," said Sasame. "Ultimately, even if the faunus win better treatment of themselves through violence, that treatment is backed by _fear_ of that violence. That fear then turns into anger, anger that is turned upon others, often innocent of the violence perpetrated by others, just by virtue of the fact they happen to be faunus as well. It leads into a cycle of spiraling retaliation and escalation."

Weiss huffed, looking down at the table.

"There are no easy solutions," said Sasame, "and not any that any single person can bring about."

"And what about me?" asked Weiss.

"What _about_ you?" Sasame replied, tilting her head quizzically.

"You mean you haven't-" Weiss cut herself off and shook her head. "No, of course you haven't. Ruby hadn't heard of me either."

"I can understand that you come from a well-off family," said Sasame. "It's clear that you've experienced past conflict with faunus, with the White Fang in particular."

"My family owns the Schnee Dust Company," said Weiss. "It's the largest supplier of Dust in all of Remnant. We own the majority of Dust mines and quarries across the world."

"_Quite_ well-off then," noted Sasame.

"My father married into the family, and took over the company from my grandfather," said Weiss. She looked away. "When he gained control...Father took the company in an...unpleasant direction."

"Something to do with labor, I'd imagine," said Sasame.

Weiss nodded. "As one of the few companies in Atlas and Mantle willing to employ faunus, and supply them with equal pay to human workers, Father ensured that the majority of our workforce is faunus...something he exploits ruthlessly to maximize profit."

"And now I see why you would have issues with the White Fang," noted Sasame wryly.

Weiss nodded. "They've harassed the company endlessly. Board members have been kidnapped and executed. The White Fang attack our supply lines, hijacking or destroying the Dust before it can reach its destination, and causing damage to our infrastructure in the process.

"I've spent most of my life with a target on my back, knowing that the White Fang would come for me if they ever thought they had an opening. Even before I had settled on becoming a Huntress, my sister insisted I learn to fight, if only so I could protect myself on the occasions that our family's security was lax. My mail was inspected before it could ever be delivered to me, because we never knew when someone might send a letter bomb."

"And all because you shared the blood of a man who has done terrible things," said Sasame with a disappointed sigh, though it was clear that it wasn't Weiss who'd disappointed her. "I'm sorry to hear that, Weiss-chan."

"That's why I want to take over the company," said Weiss. "I'll fix what Father has done and restore our family's name and honor."

"It won't be easy," Sasame pointed out. "I don't have a strong understanding of economics, but I do realize that, if your father's measures have enabled profits to rise, those, besides him, who have a hand in running the company will be loathe to make changes that would shrink those gains."

"I know," said Weiss sadly. "But I have to try. I won't let Father destroy what my family has built."

"I wish you luck in that," said Sasame. "I also understand how frustrating it will be if the White Fang continues to target you, despite your good intentions, simply by the virtue of your connection with your father. But please don't allow that to taint your view of faunus in general. If you allow your experiences with the White Fang to induce you to paint all faunus with the same brush, you only serve _their_ ends."

"How?" asked Weiss.

"Treating those innocent of wrongdoing with anger and suspicion arouses anger in turn," said Sasame. "That opens them up to being drawn into the White Fang. Make no mistake, Weiss-chan, they _know_ they benefit every time people make generalizations about the faunus, based upon what that one militant group is doing. Even if it wasn't about the benefits, they would still see it as a righteous consequence, a punishment of sorts, for those who refuse to commit fully to the cause. The White Fang, as it is now, is about retaliation, not protection."

"All right," said Weiss, looking down.

Sasame smiled and reached across the table to rest her hands over Weiss' own. "I'm glad I had the chance to talk with you, Weiss-chan. And I'm even more glad that you will be with my sister from now on."

"I..." Weiss shuddered and looked away. "I...haven't been the best teammate I could be."

Sasame raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, when it was announced that Ruby-chan would be the leader, you objected, and attempted to force her to turn the role over to you."

"Yes," said Weiss, once again feeling unbalanced about how easily Sasame could read her.

"If there's one thing I've noticed about you, Weiss-chan, it's that you are rigid," said Sasame.

Weiss gave her a questioning look, prompting Sasame to elaborate.

"You're used to getting your way, or at least forcing others into letting you have your way," said Sasame. "I have no doubt that you have worked and studied very hard. You thought being assigned leadership of your team was a natural course."

Weiss nodded.

"Given what you probably have been through, I'd imagine that you would definitely be a better leader than Ruby-chan, on paper at least," said Sasame, earning a gasp from Weiss.

"_Should_ I have been leader?" she asked.

"No," said Sasame simply, her smile widening slightly at the aghast look on Weiss' face. "Yes, in terms of both skill and experience, you might have been more qualified to lead your team than Ruby-chan, but, in a sense, that is probably _why_ you weren't made the leader."

"What?!"

Sasame giggled. "I imagine Ruby-chan felt quite out of her depth at first. She probably _still_ feels a little bit out of her depth. It wasn't just that Ozpin-dono thought that she deserved the position, but because he felt there was something each of you would learn from that assignment that you would not be able to, if not pushed out of your comfort zone.

"Yes, you have more education on how to lead than Ruby-chan. But, because of that, there would only be so much you could gain from holding a role you are already comfortable with. On the other hand, being a subordinate, following the orders of someone else, I imagine that is a novel experience for you. However, this could benefit you someday, when you take over your family's company. It will enable you to perceive things from their perspective, to understand the viewpoint of one who is required to take, rather than give orders."

Weiss swallowed and nodded.

"To that end, you must enable yourself to become more flexible," said Sasame. "I can see you beginning to do that already, but you can do better. You have strength, Weiss-chan, but you need more give as well. A good sword is not forged from a single type of steel, but from at least two. The edge and outer parts might well be rigid, but the core needs a certain amount of softness, of give to it, so that it can absorb the shock of impact, and ensure the the blade can handle the rigors of battle without breaking. That is a good image for you to have for yourself, Weiss-chan."

"All right," said Weiss softly, her expression pensive. It was clear she was thinking hard about what Sasame had said.

Sasame squeezed Weiss' hand gently. "It's not something you'll be able to do all at once. But you will learn, a little at a time."

* * *

**It's funny, in a way, how Ruby's adopted family seems to be perpetually overcompensating for Ruby not being allowed to train by her father. She wasn't allowed to train before meeting them...so make _everything_ about her life relate back to her training somehow. Granted, a lot of this is mostly a way to motivate Ruby into doing things she might not be comfortable doing otherwise, like making friends. (I suppose this makes Ruby the martial arts equivalent of Twilight Sparkle.)**

**Next chapter: Ruby's Day Out continues...**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31:**

"Where are we heading?" asked Ruby, her eyes roving around to take in their surroundings as they walked.

"You'll see," said Ashley.

The Faunus Quarter wasn't demarcated by any specific border or boundary, but it stood out from the adjacent sections of Vale enough that Ruby had been able to recognize the transition, even without seeing a preponderance of ears, tails, horns, and antlers on the people now walking around her. The buildings looked more dilapidated, with cracked walls and crumbling corners. Scattered trash blew around the streets and collected at the bottom of stairwells. The streets, like the walls of the buildings around them, were cracked as well, also being decorated with a fair number of potholes, which was probably just as well, considering the lack of automobile traffic.

It seemed that not many faunus owned cars or other means of transportation. Every now and again, a bus hummed past them to stop at a corner. But other cars were a comparative rarity and, Ruby assumed, probably from outside the quarter, passing through on their way from one section of the city to another.

Some buildings sported graffiti, decorating their sides with various shapes and colors, sometimes appearing to consist of spray-painted words that Ruby couldn't read. Passing an alleyway, she caught a flash of red. Turning, she saw a lion-head over a background of three parallel slashes residing on a portion of the wall not easily visible from the street.

Of course, there were faunus everywhere. Ruby was used to faunus, having grown up around them. But it was a bit of a shift to see _just_ faunus around her, as opposed to them mingling equally with humans. But that was the nature of life in the Kingdoms right now, it seemed. As it was, she certainly caught her fair share of odd, confused, incredulous, and even hostile looks from the faunus she passed in the street, making Ruby wish she could don her cloak, but resolving not to. As it was, any of the hostile ones were keeping their distance and moving on, so Ruby figured she wasn't about to be a victim of the same kind of attack Ashley had suffered from human delinquents when they'd originally met.

Ashley led Ruby around a corner and, suddenly, Ruby's nose was met with the sweet, robust smell of baked goods, leaving her fighting back the urge to drool. Ahead of them was a corner bakery, positioned not all that differently from the flower shop Ashley worked at. Unlike the flower shop, the bakery's profile matched that of the building it was built into, not rounded. Wide, flat windows made up a significant portion of the bakery's walls.

In comparison of the building it was built into, the bakery itself was clearly well-maintained, the walls relatively undamaged and the windows looking pristine. The front was swept clean of the grime and detritus that was omnipresent throughout the rest of the district. None of the lights gleaming from within flickered. The sign, hanging just over the door, was immaculately clean, and wasn't marred by a single scratch.

"_Beary Best Bakery_," read Ruby, staring up at the sign.

"Puns aside, it's probably one of, if not _the_ best bakery in all of Vale," said Ashley proudly.

"The owner a bear-faunus?" asked Ruby in a deadpan tone.

"Yep," Ashley answered in a matching tone.

"He use a lot of honey?"

"Yep."

"But he complains about being stereotyped, doesn't he?"

"Uh huh."

"Bring it on," said Ruby, looking at Ashley, the pair of them sharing matching smirks, before breaking down laughing.

"It'll definitely be the best you've ever had," promised Ashley. "This place looks small, but they have a pretty big clientele. It's one of the few places I've seen that actually draws humans into the faunus quarter."

Ruby could definitely see that it was successful, given how well-maintained the shop was, in comparison to the buildings around it. That did say a lot for the owner's skills as a baker, so Ruby felt she was in for a treat. Amongst her adopted family in the Mibu, none of them were truly prolific bakers, save Sasame, when there was pumpkin to be had. Ruby, Sasame, and Sora had made cookies and cakes on occasion, but nothing overly special or gourmet. By comparison, the aromas currently assaulting her nose now were making her stomach rumble out of reflex, and she'd had lunch not too long ago.

"Come on!" said Ashley eagerly, taking Ruby's hand and pulling her up to the door.

Inside, the aromas were even stronger, and Ruby found herself in a little mix of bakery and cafe. The front section was occupied by several small tables, with their accompanying seats, arranged alongside the windows. Several of them were already occupied. Farther back was the glass counter, with its shelves prominently featuring cookies, cakes, scones, and other sundry pastries. Golden-brown crusts practically shined out from behind the glass.

"Wooooooow!" squealed Ruby, her eyes shining eagerly.

"Hello there," announced a grizzled, giant of a man entering through the door behind the counter. "Welcome-Oh! Ashley, what are you doing here? Don't you have work?"

"I was meeting my new friend, so Chrys let me go early," said Ashley, gesturing to Ruby, who gave a shy wave in response.

"A new friend?" The man's dark-brown eyes dropped to the sword resting at the small of Ruby's back. "You didn't tell me you'd made friends with a Huntress, Ash."

"Student Huntress," corrected Ruby nervously.

"Uh huh," said the man, folding his muscular arms and nodding his bearded head. "So...Beacon student?"

"Yes, sir," said Ruby.

"Don't 'sir' me, Miss," said the man, his eyes glinting with amusement. "I'm the one who calls people sir, around here."

"O-okay," said Ruby.

The man chuckled at her nervousness. "Don't worry. I don't bite. What's your name?"

"Ruby Rose," said Ruby.

"I'm Bruno, the owner and master artisan of all these lovely treats," said the baker with a grin. "What can I get you girls?"

Ruby surveyed the case, her initial impulse to try at least one of everything. However, she knew that would be ridiculous. However, everything looked so wonderful, she just couldn't figure out what to get.

"Let's get two slices of your honey cake," said Ashley, grinning at Ruby's hesitation. "We'll have two large cups of your house chai, while we're at it."

Bruno grinned. "Perfect choice for a newcomer."

After a brief, confused bout where each of them tried to pay for the other, Ruby and Ashley wound up splitting the bill, to Bruno's amusement, then settled at the table to wait for their food. It didn't take long, Bruno delivering their cakes, along with their tea.

Ruby gasped at the sight of her wedge-shaped slice of cake, staring in awe at the thin, orange-brown layers of cake, sandwiching equally thin layers of white frosting of some kind. She counted eight layers of each. The top and outer edge were dusted with a crumb layer to contrast with the layered interior.

"Go ahead," urged Ashley, watching as Ruby sank her fork into the cake with a grin.

Ruby took a small bite and hummed in bliss as her teeth sank into the confection. Calling it cake seemed to be a misnomer, as its texture hovered somewhere between cake and cookie to her teeth and tongue. The flavor of honey was prominent, but not overwhelming. The cream was actually slightly sweetened sour cream of some kind, its light, slightly sour flavor complimenting the heavier flavor and denser texture of the cookie layers. It was heavenly.

"Wow!" gasped Ruby, after she'd swallowed. "So gooood!"

Ashley laughed at her reaction. "I told you this is the best bakery in Vale," she said proudly.

"You did...and I agree," said Ruby with a grin. "I don't even think I need to try any other places."

She tried her drink next. She knew that chai was considered a kind of tea. Growing up among the Mibu, Ruby had become accustomed to various types of tea, particularly green tea, to which the Mibu seemed to be especially partial. She didn't even remember coffee until she'd returned to Beacon, and had seen it on offer in the dining hall. Trying it once had been enough to convince Ruby to turn right back to tea, convinced that there was no way for her to make such a drink palatable without a generous addition of sugar and cream.

As it turned out, Bruno's chai was a drink that was right up her alley, with the fragrance of tea, but mingled with numerous spices, brewed in milk instead of water, and sweetened with honey (of course). It was absolutely delicious, and the perfect compliment to her cake.

"This is soooo good!" gasped Ruby, setting her mug down.

"Isn't it," agreed Ashley, beaming proudly.

They ate a little more, before pausing, an awkward silence falling between them as the two of them realized they didn't know what else to talk about. The cake was a wonderful treat and a good conversation starter, but neither of them really knew how to keep the conversation going.

"So...um..." Ashley looked down at an angle slightly.

"Yeah?" asked Ruby.

"I was wondering...what's Beacon like?" Ashley asked, her tail twitching nervously behind her.

"Well...I haven't been to school in the Kingdoms since I was in elementary, so I'm not sure how it compares," said Ruby. "Uh...What are regular schools like anyway?"

That made Ashley snort. "Well, I never thought a Huntress student would want to know what goes on in a regular school," she commented.

"Sure," said Ruby. "I'll tell you about my school and you'll tell me about yours."

"Uh...I guess that works," said Ashley. "You're probably gonna be bored though. There's no way regular school measures up to a place like Beacon."

* * *

"Are we heading back?" asked Weiss.

"Yes," said Sasame, the two of them calmly walking down the road in the general direction of the docks. "I want to get to know your other two teammates some more too. I'd like to do that in a timely manner. I know I promised I'd stay awhile, but I don't want to overstay my welcome. I _do_ have to report back to Sora-sama sometime. Ruby-chan just wants some guidance on how to help all of you with your training, when you reach the later stages of it."

"And you can do that?" asked Weiss.

"A little," said Sasame. "Admittedly, this is uncharted territory to me as well. I've never taught Manifestation to someone who already has a Semblance. Observing you as you develop might give me an idea of where you can go from here."

"Could we really go anywhere?" asked Weiss. "I mean, I know a person's Semblance can change over time, but..."

"It makes sense," said Sasame. "A Semblance comes from your Aura, which comes from your soul. A person's soul, their sense of self, is not something immutable and unchangeable. You are not the same person you were yesterday. Nor will you be the same person tomorrow. To learn and grow is to change. Likewise, if you can change the essence of your soul, you should be able to change the shape of your Semblance as well."

"I wonder how that would work," mused Weiss with a frown.

"I'm not sure," admitted Sasame. "But I will endeavor to do my best to find out."

"I...I guess I should thank you," said Weiss, looking away. "I'm not sure I deserve to be treated so well."

"Now where did that come from?" asked Sasame, coming to a stop. When Weiss turned to look at her, she saw that Sasame had rested her fists on her hips and was pouting at her, looking ridiculously childish.

Weiss fought back the urge to laugh. Then Sasame puffed out her cheeks and Weiss couldn't stop herself anymore.

"There it is," said Sasame, her pout melting into a pleased smile at the sound of Weiss' laughter. "You are a wonderful young lady, Weiss-chan. You are also one of my Ruby-chan's precious friends. Of course I'd be willing to help you."

"Th-thank you," said Weiss, wiping her eyes. "I'm just not used to someone helping the way you do."

"Really now?" Sasame tilted her head.

Weiss sighed and looked away. "To be honest, I'm a little jealous of Ruby, having a sister like you."

"You don't like your sister?"

"I do!" protested Weiss. "I _love_ Winter! She's done so much for me, and I admire what she's done with her life."

"You said she went into the military, right?" queried Sasame. Seeing Weiss nod, she hummed thoughtfully.

Weiss could tell that Sasame was, once again, about to diagnose her.

"Our military is different from those of the Kingdoms," said Sasame. "However, I've encountered enough Kingdom soldiers to know something of them. I imagine your sister has quite the rigid manner, stiff and formal with you, rarely showing affection openly."

Her throat tightening, Weiss nodded.

Sasame sighed. "I see, so, aside from your upbringing, that's where your rigidity comes from, out of a desire to emulate her. But you desire affection."

"I..." Weiss shuddered.

Sasame gently tugged on Weiss' arm, pulling her into a hug. Weiss flinched sharply at the unexpected contact. But the feeling of warmth from Sasame's embrace was incredible. A second later, Weiss gave in and hugged her back.

"There you go," Sasame said softly. "It's not weakness to want affection, Weiss-chan. It's what all children need."

"Y-you aren't saying Winter...she...?" Weiss found herself blinking away tears at the thought.

"Of course not," said Sasame, pulling out of the embrace, looking Weiss in the eyes. "I imagine she loves you greatly. She does the best she can with you. But her understanding is incomplete I imagine. It's the same thing that created the rift between Yang-san and Ruby-chan. It's nowhere near as bad between you two as it was between them, of course. But the underlying truth is the same. You are _not_ your sister, Weiss-chan. You never will be. You'll have to make your own path, and become your own person. You can admire her and love her, while not trying to become her."

"I'll think about it," said Weiss, letting go of Sasame, the pair stepping away from each other.

They resumed their walk. However, that was interrupted when a group of people emerged from an alleyway up ahead of them. Weiss swallowed and tensed at the sight of them, recognizing trouble when she saw it.

They were dressed in various clothes, but they were all unmistakably faunus. Weiss saw one woman flex her hands, her fingernails extending out into hooked claws. Another man flexed his hands, powerful muscles rippling beneath the gray fur covering his arms. Yet another lashed what looked like an alligator tail behind her.

"And we were having such a nice conversation too," sighed Sasame, resting her hands on her hips as she stared at the faunus blocking their way.

There were about eight of them all told. Weiss swallowed nervously. Her first impulse had been to haughtily demand that they step aside. However, she could already tell that they had no intention of doing that. Worse, she could also tell that _she_ was the reason they'd gathered here. They had seen a Schnee out in the open, and were willing to do something about it. Worse still, Weiss caught flashes of white amongst the faunus in front of her and realized that at least three of them were wearing familiar white masks, masks designed to emulate the bone masks of the Creatures of Grimm. _White Fang!_

A few of the faunus in front of them parted, not to let the pair through, but to let one of their own step up from behind. He was a well-muscled man with spiky, brown pair, from which a pair of curling ram horns spiraled out. He was one of the masked faunus in the group, the red lenses over the eyeholes gleaming slightly as they glared at his intended victim. Reaching up, he gently stroked the narrow goatee that extended from his chin.

"Well done, sister," he said, addressing Sasame. "I do not know how you managed to coax a Schnee, of all people, out away from her bodyguards and weapons, but you will be handsomely rewarded for this."

"Honestly," huffed Sasame, still, resting her hands on her hips. "You have a lot of nerve, talking as though I was working for you. I was treating one of my little sister's friends to a day out, and you just had to bungle it, didn't you?"

Apparently, the group's spokesman didn't like that, his lips pulling back in a snarl that bared his teeth. "How dare you protect a Schnee?"

Sasame shrugged. "Because I like her and I feel like it," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "Now, if you don't mind, shoo. We're heading back to Beacon now. I have better things to do with my time than discipline a bunch of louts who wrapped up in delusions of righteousness."

"Delusions?!" barked a voice behind them, making Weiss gasp in surprise as she now realized that a similarly-sized group of faunus had taken their backs. The speaker was another White Fang member, with a pair of black, floppy, dog ears extending above the top of his head. "How dare you talk about our cause like that, you filthy traitor?"

Sasame sighed again. "I'm not interested in starting a lecture with you," she said, her unflappable demeanor irritating the faunus surrounding them even more. "Move aside or I will _move_ you. Attack and...I will punish you like the naughty children you are."

Angry growls sounded from all around them, but Sasame ignored that, already starting to walk forward. Weiss, with no small amount of trepidation, started to walk too.

"Don't worry," said Sasame, smiling sidelong at her. "I suppose this is my fault as much as anyone else's. I should have realized that taking you into the vicinity of the Faunus Quarter would have consequences." She sighed, shaking her head slowly. "This is a mess _I've_ made. Please allow me to clean it up."

Weiss nodded slowly, feeling nervous all the same. She didn't know just how much right Sasame had to her confidence. What Weiss _did_ know was that she, herself, was in a bad position. She'd come to Vale without her weapon. Sure, she could summon her locker with her scroll, but that would undoubtedly incite the faunus around them to attack, and she didn't know if she had the skill to hold so many attackers at bay with just basic combat techniques and her Semblance until said locker arrived, not having an ounce of Dust on her at the moment.

Still, she walked alongside Sasame as the older girl strode confidently forward, looking as though she couldn't be stopped by a solid wall. The faunus behind moved to follow, the faunus ahead tensed, hands reaching for weapons. Yet Sasame appeared to completely ignore them, her eyes not even moving as the ram-faunus drew out a telescoping baton of some kind. Others drew their own weapons, some genuine, others improvised from chunks of wood or lengths of pipe. Some of them brandished sets of claws. Still, Sasame showed no reaction.

When the first of them moved to attack, Weiss caught a flashing blur out of the corner of her eye. She gasped as Sasame's tail whipped around to strike one of their attackers with enough force to send the unfortunate woman flying across the street into the side of a building. The suddenness of the move, along with the strange way Sasame used her tail, gave all the faunus pause as they stared incredulously at her.

Sasame's tail twitched and rippled, and Weiss' eyes widened as she saw Sasame's tail begin to split, unraveling along its own length, proceeding from the base down to the tip, dividing into nine separate tails, as though they had all been braided together, and now that braid had been undone.

"Wha-what are you?" demanded the goat-faunus, reeling back away from Sasame, the others following his lead.

"I am Sasame," said the girl honestly. "Out in the settlements, I have sometimes been favored with the moniker, Sasame: the Nine-Tailed. If you do not enjoy the taste of pain, I suggest you step aside."

"G-get them!" shouted the ringleader, already throwing caution to the winds.

Weiss and Sasame were surrounded by the reddish blur of Sasame's tails as they went into motion, moving like whips, but hitting like hammers, batting their attackers aside effortlessly, and sending them sprawling all across the street. Weiss stayed where she was, unable to pry her eyes away from the spectacle, but also unable to follow it at all. It was over in just a few seconds, the only signs of the battle having taken place (if it could be called that) were the scattered, prone, and groaning forms of their attackers.

"Now then, that should be enough out of you lot," said Sasame cheerfully, stepping over the prone form of the goat-faunus. Treading carefully, Weiss followed suit.

"You traitor..." growled the man, looking up, his Grimm mask cracking, half of it falling away. "You've made an enemy of the White Fang now. We'll see you hang for this."

"You have no idea how little that worries me," said Sasame dismissively. "You should reflect upon your actions, and find better ways to apply your energy. Come, Weiss."

"R-right," said Weiss, following Sasame as she led them away from the group.

"Will you be all right?" she asked as she drew even with Sasame.

"I'll be fine," said Sasame. "Even if the White Fang _does_ start going after me specifically, there is very little they can do. At the very best, they might make me decide to use my hands."

Weiss gulped, looking down at Sasame's delicate-looking hands, wondering what _that_ might result in.

"But enough of that for now," said Sasame. "Let's return to Beacon, shall we?"

"Yes," said Weiss, reflecting upon what she had heard about the Mibu from Ruby. _I guess she wasn't exaggerating._

* * *

"I've got you this time!" cheered Nora as she bobbed her body in excitement, almost as though _she_ was the one fighting, and not her chosen cartoony avatar on the screen.

"Bring it on!" Yang exclaimed back, grinning as her fingers danced over her scroll's screen, the device serving as the controller for the game. "Show me what you've learned, Grasshopper!"

After a couple more minutes of intense gameplay, a deep voice from the screen in front of them intoned "_K.O! Burning Ninja wins!_"

"Ha!" shouted Yang, pumping a victorious fist in the air as Nora wailed and toppled over backwards.

"No fair!" she cried. "How'd you get so good at this?"

"Heh heh...It's a secret," said Yang proudly, rubbing her index finger beneath her nose.

She neglected to mention that she herself was routinely pounded by Qrow in this same game, on every occasion that he visited.

"Perhaps you could go easier on her," suggested Ren, watching from his desk, where he'd been working on homework, before taking a break to watch the pair of them play.

"Nah, trust me," said Yang, "going up against someone better than you is the best way to improve rapidly. But I can teach you how to pull off some awesome combos with your character, Nora."

"Oooh! Really!" Nora perked up.

"Yeah," said Yang. "You aren't gonna get very far if you just keep button-mashing. You only land a few lucky hits every so often that way."

"Cool!" said Nora, her previous despair over her defeat evaporating like the mist.

Ren chuckled softly, watching the pair of them play like they'd been friends for ages, instead of a little over a month. Now that Yang had reconnected with Ruby, she was much more easygoing, no longer seeming always slightly on edge. She'd also started treating Nora almost like a sister as well.

Unfortunately, that meant there were times where they were more rambunctious and disruptive than ever. Ren seriously wished that he could follow Blake to the library, and bask in some peace and quiet. But Nora had a tendency to follow him or...failing that, pop up unexpectedly. He had no wish to inflict that on Blake, who valued her quiet time dearly. However, it meant that he had to spend his time in the same room as Yang and Nora, both of whom excelled at making a ruckus. Of course, almost a lifetime spent as Nora's constant companion had conditioned Ren to filter out the commotion...most of the time.

As it was, he watched with fond amusement as Yang began to walk Nora through some of the nuances of the game they were playing. He was so lost in the moment that he nearly missed the sound of someone knocking on the door.

His first thought was that Blake had returned...except that Blake wouldn't have bothered knocking. Why would she have needed to? She could come and go as she liked. Getting up, Ren moved to the door and opened it.

He found himself facing a tall, well-muscled man with a head of slightly-grayed blonde hair. His blue eyes met Ren, and the man favored Ren with an easy smile. Ren's eyes moved down slightly, taking in the soul patch on the man's chin, and the slight stubble around it.

The man was dressed in a tan, sleeveless shirt, over which he wore a brown, leather vest, showcasing his powerful arms to the fullest. His legs were covered by a pair of brown cargo shorts. Taking him all in, Ren found that there was something familiar about this man's appearance and manner.

"Can I help you?" asked Ren.

"Hi," said the man cheerfully. "I came to visit my daughter. I heard this is her dorm."

Ren blinked and the pieces came together. "You're Yang's-?"

"Dad!" Yang had noticed the knocking, but hadn't given it too much thought, since Ren had gotten up to answer the door. However, upon hearing that familiar voice, she shot to her feet, eyes wide as she turned to face Taiyang Xiao Long, her father. Turning to look at Yang, in response to her shout, Ren noticed that she was smiling...but that said smile looked rather strained.

"What are you doing here?" Yang asked, having dropped her controller/scroll and rushing to the door with rather indecent haste.

"I can't visit my daughter?" asked Taiyang with a playful, easygoing grin.

"But what about your work at Signal?" asked Yang.

"Yang, it's Sunday," said Taiyang simply enough. "Signal's closed."

"Oh…uh…right…" said Yang, before laughing awkwardly. "Forgot about that."

"You have the day off from school, but you forgot that it's the weekend for everyone else too?" teased Taiyang.

"Sorry, I just can't really see you taking the day off," said Yang, with a sheepish grin, folding her arms behind her back, trying her level best to keep from shifting nervously...and not entirely succeeding.

"Well, I actually get a few of them, now that you're out of the house," said Taiyang, his grin widening. If he noticed Yang's unease, he apparently didn't feel the need to comment on it. "I figured I'd come up to see you, after you'd had time to settle in."

"Um...thanks," said Yang, her eyes flickering to the clock. It was getting to be late in the afternoon, hedging on towards evening. She had no idea when Ruby would be back from her day out with Ashley. Ruby wouldn't want to stay out too late, not with class the next day. If she came back while their father was still there, things were going to get ugly for sure.

However, her father finally seemed to notice her nervousness. "Something wrong, Yang?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"No! Nothing's wrong!" protested Yang, grinning and waving her hands frantically in front of her. "Everything's fine here! We're all fine! How about you?"

"Hmmm...I know that tone of yours," said Taiyang. "You're hiding something from me, Yang." His gaze wandered around the room, before coming to rest on Ren. "I know! Did you get a boyfriend?"

"What?!" blurted Yang.

"Is it him?" asked Taiyang, his gaze becoming even more intense.

"What? No!" protested Yang, completely off-balance by the sudden shift in the conversation.

"Is it you?" asked Taiyang, a slight growl entering his voice.

"No," said Ren plainly, not even seeming fazed by the question, nor the tone in Taiyang's voice. "As far as I know, Yang is not in a relationship at the moment."

"You said that awfully quickly," growled Taiyang. "You not interested in my daughter?"

"Dad!" protested Yang. "Don't threaten my teammates!"

"I'm not currently looking for a relationship at the moment," said Ren, his gaze going to Yang and his lips quirking in the slightest of smiles. "I don't think I could keep up with your daughter anyway."

"Hey!" protested Yang, whirling around to glare at Ren. "What does that mean?"

"Who cares!" shouted Nora, interjecting herself into the conversation with her usual subtlety...or lack thereof, rather. "You can't have him anyway." She threw her arms around Ren's shoulders, practically hanging off him like a toddler, which Ren hardly reacted to.

"Ah, I see," said Taiyang, the slight hostility in his attitude abating, and his grin returning.

"You do, eh," said Ren, raising an eyebrow at the man. _Like father, like daughter, I suppose. They both appear to excel at wearing me out...without actually doing anything._

"Where's your partner, by the way?" asked Taiyang, turning his attention back to Yang. "I'd like to meet her."

"Off by herself," said Yang casually. "Blake's not really a people-person, so she's probably in the library, reading."

"Ah, I guess we shouldn't disturb her then," said Taiyang, grinning again.

_Would that you could take that attitude with me,_ thought Ren ruefully.

"So, you just dropped by to visit?" asked Yang, once again reminding herself that she needed to get her father out of Beacon before he happened to bump into Ruby.

"Yeah," said Taiyang. "I know it's a little late, since you've been here for more than a month already, but I figured I'd take you into town, and we can have dinner to celebrate you passing the initiation."

Yang's eyes widened, and an excited bubble of hope rose up in her. "That sounds great!" It would get her father away from Beacon, and the possibility of running into Ruby. Vale was a big place, and Yang figured that, so long as they steered clear of anywhere around the Faunus Quarter, they weren't likely to run into Ruby anywhere in town either. And, of course, Taiyang would probably head straight back to Patch after they were done, rather than come back to Beacon with her, ensuring that he wouldn't run into Ruby then either.

"You want to come?" asked Taiyang, his eyes turning to Yang's teammates.

"We'll pass," said Ren, smiling slightly. "You and your daughter deserve some time to yourselves."

_Thanks, Ren,_ thought Yang gratefully.

"Well then, let's get going," said Taiyang, leading Yang out the door and closing it behind them.

Quiet descended on the room for a moment, before Nora spoke up.

"Ren, isn't he...?" Nora asked, her voice trailing off into uncertain silence.

"Yes," said Ren, nodding slowly.

They'd heard enough about Yang and Ruby's father by this point that neither of them had needed to be told that even mentioning Ruby would be a bad idea around this man. Neither of them had any idea how Taiyang would react to the fact that his long-lost youngest daughter was staying in the room directly across from where Yang was. All they knew was that Yang and Ruby both apparently agreed it would be a bad idea.

_Still,_ thought Ren, _if he's going to make a habit of popping over like this, I don't think we'll be able to keep Ruby's presence a secret for long. It's practically inevitable that the two of them will run into each other at this rate._

"Well, at least we're out of trouble for now," said Nora.

"Hopefully," said Ren, a feeling of foreboding still hovering over him.

* * *

Despite Ashley's worries that Ruby would find the concept of regular school boring, Ruby seemed fascinated by the various classes that Ashley had taken. She was surprised that Dust Science and History were courses that both Beacon and Ashley's school had in common. Ashley seemed surprised as well, mostly at the idea that her school had anything in common with a place like Beacon.

While it wasn't forbidden for the public to visit Beacon, it wasn't exactly easy to do. Its location, relatively isolated from the rest of Vale, made it a bit difficult to get out to, the sole road running to the school being primarily used for supply deliveries. Access, while not forbidden, was restricted. Anyone who wasn't a student, family of a student, an active or retired Hunstman, or an alumnus of the school, needed to apply for permission to visit school grounds. The only time the public was granted free access to the grounds was during the biannual Vytal Festival...which Beacon and Vale themselves only hosted on the order of once every eight years or so.

That lack of access had infused the school with a sense of mystique to the civilian populace. Rumors abounded of what happened, up above those lonely cliffs overlooking the Kingdom. There were stories that the school was one in name only, essentially being nothing more than a giant battlefield, where the Grimm ran rampant and the students had to fight constantly against them, and each other, to survive and graduate. Ashley was shocked to learn that Beacon actually had teachers and classes and homework and school uniforms...all things she had associated with as the province of civilian schools, like hers.

They'd gotten caught up in their talking, chatting long after they'd polished off their slices of cake. Despite that, neither of them felt any need to go elsewhere. Bruno showed no signs of impatience at their lingering. Instead, he appeared happy, excited even, that a student of Beacon was patronizing his establishment, and had befriended one of his regulars. He'd even given them each a free refill of their tea.

Checking her scroll, Ruby found herself sighing. "I guess I'd better head back," she said. "I'll want to catch an airship soon if I want to be back in time for dinner."

Ashley, much to her own surprise, felt a sense of melancholy at the prospect of Ruby's departure. It had been a shock, at first, seeing Ruby in normal clothes, though her sword was still present. Ashley hadn't expected to find herself so engrossed in chatting with a Beacon student, and she was surprised that she now thought of Ruby as a friend. A week ago, she'd never imagined that she'd be friends with a student Huntress.

Much like Beacon itself, the Huntsmen and Huntresses that graduated from it were also infused with a sense of mystique. They were a different class of people, who went out beyond the safety of the Kingdom walls to face and fight the monsters that a civilian like Ashley had only ever been taught to stay away from. Beyond the walls was another world entirely, a world that a person like her would never survive long in, but that people like Ruby regularly entered and left over the course of their work. Finding herself sitting in front of Ruby, chatting easily with her, Ashley was amazed to find her so...so _normal_.

Which actually made it a bit sad that they would have to call an end to their day here.

"Oh!" said Ruby, standing up abruptly, making Ashley jump slightly. "I almost forgot!"

"Forgot what?" asked Ashley, getting up as well and following Ruby to the counter.

"That cake was amazing," said Ruby, her eyes shining. "I want to bring some back so that my friends can try it."

"Oh ho!" crowed Bruno, posturing proudly. "Enraptured by my work, eh! I don't blame you, Missy. How many friends do you have?"

"I have seven-er-eight," said Ruby, having to remember to include Sasame in her count. _And maybe Velvet too,_ she thought, not sure if she'd get a chance to share this with Velvet that night. Velvet's team had come back from their mission, but Ruby hadn't gotten a chance to meet them yet.

"Hmm..." Bruno tapped his chin. "Tell you what, I'll give you a special deal on two of my whole cakes to take home with you."

"Huh? Really?" gasped Ruby, her eyes sparkling. "That would be awesome!"

"I'm glad to," said Bruno with a grin. "Roping in customers from Beacon would be a pretty big boost to my business."

"I'll let them know," said Ruby eagerly, already fishing for her scroll.

Ashley couldn't keep from grinning as she watched Ruby pay for the cakes and then wait eagerly for Bruno to box them up. Afterwards, they said their farewells to the bakery owner and headed out, pausing on the street outside the establishment.

"Would you like me to walk you home?" asked Ruby.

"No, it's fine," said Ashley. "This is the Faunus Quarter, after all. So it's not like I'm going to bump into some racist humans around here. Besides, from here, it'd be a ways out of your way to come with me, if you're heading to the docks afterwards. It's probably best for you to head straight there."

"Okay," said Ruby. "I hope we can do this again soon."

"So do I," admitted Ashley. "I don't think we can manage it every week. I do have my job after all."

"Yeah," admitted Ruby reluctantly. She couldn't ask Ashley to leave work early on a regular basis. She supposed they would have to find other times to hang out. She'd review her own schedule, and see what openings there were.

Still, they parted with smiles, both of them content with the feeling of a day well-spent. Ruby made her way through the Faunus Quarter, attracting odd looks, as a human, though most faunus didn't bother looking again, when they saw the boxes she was carrying. Apparently, being willing to shop at Bruno's bakery seemed to assuage any ill feelings there might be towards her for the time being.

* * *

It was an uneventful trip to the docks. However, once she reached them, Ruby was surprised to see two familiar figures waiting in line for the airship to Beacon. "Weiss, Sasame-nee..."

Sasame and Weiss turned towards her at the sound of her voice. Sasame's face lit up in a cheery smile and Weiss' own face betrayed a little surprise, though not much else, before settling into a small smile of her own. The sight of that small smile on Weiss' face warmed Ruby's heart nearly as much as Sasame's affectionate expression.

"Hello, Ruby-chan, finished with Ashley-san?" asked Sasame.

"Yeah," said Ruby, smiling back and hefting the back with the two stacked boxes in it. "And I brought back treats."

"Treats?" asked Weiss, her gaze going to the bag.

"Yeah, Ashley showed me this really great bakery..." Ruby went on to explain the course of her afternoon, talking about Ashley and the things that the two of them had talked about, continuing, even as they filed onto the airship and found their seats.

"I don't understand what could possibly be so interesting about a civilian school," said Weiss, frowning at Ruby.

"Well, some of it is things that we'd never get to study at Beacon," said Ruby.

"Of course we wouldn't," said Weiss, a trace of her haughty attitude returning. "As the future defenders of humanity, it isn't as though we need to worry about nonsense like home economics."

"I don't know," said Ruby. "Some of the things Ashley was telling me about sounded like they'd come in handy. I mean, you can't be on missions all the time. So, if you're going to have a home, you should probably know how to take care of it."

Weiss frowned, supposing Ruby had a good point. Growing up in the Schnee household, Weiss had never needed to learn the ins and outs of caring for a home, as it had always been taken care of for her. She didn't need to make her bed, not when Klein could do it in the time it took her to get showered and dressed for the day. She didn't need to cook, not when her family had an entire kitchen staff on call for everything from main meals to late-night snacks. She didn't need to worry about looking after or washing her clothes. All of that was the province of her family's staff, when it came to her, and the province of commoners for everyone else.

"There are many things you can learn from unexpected sources," counseled Sasame, resting a hand over Weiss'. "Running a home is akin to running a business. Both require you to understand and properly utilize the resources at your disposal."

Weiss nodded, taking Sasame's advice for what it was.

"In that vein, I imagine Ashley-san found the conversation quite educational herself," continued Sasame.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I had no idea what regular people...er...civilians, I guess, think of Beacon. Ashley told me some really crazy rumors. She was surprised we even _have_ classes..."

Their conversation continued as the airship crossed over the waters separating them from the cliffs that Beacon's docks were perched on. Sasame, understanding that the content of her conversation with Weiss had been intensely personal, kept Ruby distracted. She and Weiss, by unspoken agreement, also decided not to mention the attempted attack by disgruntled faunus and White Fang members.

Weiss felt a little conflicted about that. With their shift to violence, the White Fang had come to be identified as a terrorist organization. After the attack, there had been pretty much no other choice but to call the police, so that they could round up the now-subdued attackers. Weiss had gotten the impression that Sasame might have argued for a certain degree of leniency, but had ultimately decided to defer to Weiss' judgement on the matter.

The airship settled onto one of the pads at Beacon's docks with a light bump. The three of them got up and headed out through one of the open hatches, stepping out into the waning light of the early evening. The air was still warm and comfortable, so Ruby didn't have any issues with it washing over her bare shoulders. She figured she was getting used to this outfit, despite having only worn it for the second time.

As they left the airship, their path crossed with that of the students waiting to take the ship into town. As they did, Ruby felt a familiar presence and caught sight of a familiar head of blonde hair and lilac eyes. Looking over, she smiled as she saw Yang amongst those waiting for the new arrivals to clear the pad. "Hey, Yang!"

Ruby waved, but found her smile dying as Yang did not react in the manner she'd expected. Instead of smiling and waving back, Yang's own eyes widened and her face froze in a shock of panic, her mouth halfway open, as though she'd been about to speak, but had cut herself off.

"Ruby...?"

The reason for Yang's panic became apparent as the new voice drew Ruby's attention to the man standing beside Yang. The happy feeling in Ruby's chest, the pleasant satisfaction of a day well-spent, evaporated into nothing as she found herself staring at someone she hadn't seen in years, someone she'd left behind.

"Dad..."

* * *

**So, back to plot points borrowed from MotH, we have Taiyang randomly dropping by for a visit, and using that as a means of getting him to learn that Ruby's at Beacon. Of course, this will play out a _lot_ differently, because, as Taiyang's behavior in previous chapters demonstrates, he's not in a rational frame of mind, at all, when it comes to Ruby.**

**Aside from that, it's fun to consider things like how Huntsmen and Huntresses, or Academy students, are viewed by the populace at large. It's the kind of thing that would have been interesting to build up more in the canon series, if only so that Cinder kicking off her plan would have _that_ much more of an impact. Her little lecture to the crowds after Pyrrha accidentally destroys Penny could've had some more punch to it, if we'd been given some insight into how "normal" people view their protectors to begin with.**

**I also went with the idea of Beacon as this mysterious place, given how it's separated off from Vale. I can't imagine that it's the kind of place that civilians are normally allowed to visit, and it's only during the Vytal Festival that the grounds are actually open to others. I kinda like the idea of strange, and downright ridiculous, rumors propagating about what's out there.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32:**

_Oh crap!_ thought Yang, her entire body going rigid at the realization that, in trying to avoid their father encountering Ruby at Beacon, she had inadvertently led him right _to_ Ruby instead. Now, she felt as though she were standing in the vicinity of a container of volatile Dust, primed to go off at the slightest disturbance.

Everything froze. While the rest of the students milled about them, either filing onto the transport or dispersing into Beacon's grounds, time for the five of them seemed to stand still, no one daring to make a move.

Ruby wasn't sure what her feelings were, laying eyes on Taiyang Xiao Long for the first time in six years. There was plenty of anger to be sure, a simmering rage as she was bombarded by memories of what he had done, how he had treated her, how he'd tried to lock her away from the world. Yet that anger wasn't nearly as strong as it had been before. Reconnecting with Yang had mellowed Ruby's feeling somewhat, leaving her feeling open to the possibility that maybe...just maybe...the same was possible between her and her father; that she could get him to accept she belonged at Beacon and, in turn, she could find it in herself to forgive him for what he'd done and what he'd tried to do.

What _truly_ surprised her was the sense of melancholy that filled in over the anger as she stared at her father, taking in all the myriad ways the years had changed him. There was nothing as dramatic as the changes Yang had gone through in the space between the ages of eleven and seventeen, but he had changed all the same. His blonde hair was slightly grayer than she remembered, his hairline having receded a little. The stubble on his chin was a little thicker too. Seeing those changes struck Ruby with a sense of loss, of time missed, never to be reclaimed. She'd felt something similar when she'd seen Yang for the first time...but that had been overshadowed by Ruby's anger at the time. Now, Ruby's anger was overshadowed by that sense of loss instead.

"Ruby..." said Taiyang, his voice soft. "You're alive."

"Yeah," said Ruby, her tone neutral as she could keep it, though a slight quaver in her voice betrayed her unease, all the emotions she was desperately trying to keep bottled up, "I am."

Taiyang's expression transformed into one of relief and exultation. "I can't believe it!" he said breathlessly. "You're alive! You're here! You've come home!"

"I wouldn't say that," said Ruby, her tone turning sour.

Taiyang started towards her, arms outstretched, clearly hoping to hug her. Ruby took a step back from him, her brow furrowing. She was assailed by the sense that, if she allowed those arms to close around her, she wouldn't be able to escape them.

If he was daunted by her retreat in the face of his advance, Taiyang didn't register it, already taking another step forward. What halted him instead was the sight of what hung at the small of Ruby's back. He froze in place, his arms lowering and curling slightly, muscles bulging into stark relief as his fingers curled inwards, hands becoming fists. Relief and exultation faded from his face, anger and suspicion replacing them as his eyes narrowed.

"What is _that_?" he growled, his gaze going pointedly to Ruby's sword, the nature of the question so obvious that Ruby didn't need any gesture to tell what he was asking about.

Within Ruby, her anger bubbled to the surface once more, displacing her melancholy. Biting back a sarcastic rejoinder, knowing that Sasame would rebuke her for not at least trying to keep from burning her bridges, Ruby decided bluntness was better. "It's my sword," she said.

"Why do you have a sword?" asked Taiyang harshly. "What use could you possibly have for a weapon, when you-?" He cut himself off, looking around as Ruby found herself fuming silently in front of him. "Come to think of it...what are you even _doing_ here?"

"I'm at Beacon, Dad," said Ruby, unable to keep her sarcasm at bay any longer. "What do you think I'm here for?"

"That's impossible," said Taiyang with a an almost ridiculous degree of certainty. "Even if you _could_ become a student here, you're two years too early."

Beside him, Yang winced visibly, having, nearly word for word, said the same thing to Ruby when they'd first spoke on the day of the initiation.

"You don't get to talk about what's possible or not anymore," said Ruby, turning away from him. "Let's go," she said to Weiss and Sasame.

"Ruby, wait! Where do you think you're going?" demanded Taiyang.

"Back to my dorm," said Ruby.

"You can't be serious," protested Taiyang. "You're really staying here? How?"

"She was accepted and completed the Initiation," said Weiss, looking over her shoulder at the man, barely able to contain her distaste. While Taiyang didn't seem to be as bad as her own father, she could tell that the man seemed to be living in a delusion of his own creation.

"Shut up!" snapped Taiyang, startling Weiss with the level of ferocity in his voice. "I'm talking with my _daughter_. Don't stick your nose in."

"_You_ shut up!" Ruby snapped, turning to face Taiyang, her anger causing him to falter. "You don't get to talk to my teammate like that and you don't have any right to question _me_."

"Ruby-chan," said Sasame, resting a hand lightly on her arm. "Calm down. Try explaining the situation plainly."

"Why should I?" demanded Ruby. "He's obviously not going to listen."

"Because, like it or not, he is your father," said Sasame. "I wouldn't say you have an obligation to try and make him understand. But let's not burn your bridges so preemptively...however poor his attitude may be at the moment."

"Fine," huffed Ruby, turning to face Taiyang. "Like my teammate said, I passed the Initiation."

"How did you even get into the Initiation in the first place?" demanded Taiyang. "There's no way you would have been accepted."

Ruby opened her mouth to shout, then stopped herself, forcing herself to take a deep breath to keep from lashing out, verbally or otherwise. In a sense, Taiyang was right. On the basis of her age, there was no way she would have been accepted into Beacon so soon, not without special circumstances in play. But it was clear that her age wasn't what her father was talking about. She was reminded of Jaune's complaints about his own father, about how the man had apparently refused to believe a word that came out of Jaune's mouth, living with the assurance that Jaune was lying to him.

"Professor Ozpin personally invited me," she answered finally. "I was visiting Vale when I got caught up in a robbery. I stopped it and brought down the perpetrator. That made Professor Ozpin decide that I had what it took to succeed at Beacon."

"That bastard..." growled Taiyang, his hands curling into fists. "He doesn't know a damn thing! What does he think he's doing by bringing you here?"

Ruby didn't say anything, glaring pointedly at her father.

Then Taiyang took a deep breath and let it out slowly, the tension flowing out of his body. Finally, looking more relaxed, he looked at Ruby and spoke with a voice overflowing with fatherly authority. "All right, young lady, enough is enough. I won't put up with this foolishness any longer. We're going home, _now_."

"No," said Ruby simply, turning away.

"Ruby! Don't turn your back on me!" shouted Taiyang.

Ruby looked to Sasame, who sighed and raised her hands up slightly, shaking her head sadly. "You tried," she said. In this case, there was presently no way to make amends, if Taiyang absolutely refused to acknowledge anything other than his own wants.

Ruby nodded and began heading to the dorms again.

"Dammit, Ruby! Get over here, now!" snapped Taiyang, before beginning to follow her.

"Dad! Stop!" shouted Yang, grabbing his arm.

Taiyang did stop, but shook his arm fiercely, throwing Yang off, before whirling around to glare at her. "You!" he snarled.

"Huh?" Yang backed away, her body quivering beneath the force of her father's outraged glare.

"You knew..." growled Taiyang. "You knew that she was here, that it was dangerous, that it isn't safe for her."

"It's not safe for any of us," protested Yang.

"Ruby belongs at home!" shouted Taiyang. "She doesn't need to fill her head with stupid stories about adventures and heroics of the kind that got her mother killed! But I find her here, with _you_...and you never said a thing to me! You were just going to let her go out and get killed, weren't you? How dare you…!"

He raised his hand and Yang gasped, falling back, unsure of how to respond. Her combat reflexes screamed at her to put up her guard. But her instincts told her this was her father. This wasn't training. It wasn't a sparring match. He was hitting her in order to punish her. The years of letting what had happened, that day in the forest, weigh on her mind caused Yang's guilt, which had begun to dissipate after reuniting and reconciling with Ruby, to freeze her body.

Fortunately, she didn't need to defend. Instead, a furry, reddish-brown tail looped around Taiyang's arm, locking it in place as Taiyang tugged on it. However, his arm refused to budge.

"Xiao Long-dono, please refrain from doing something you will regret," said Sasame plainly, having turned and come over to where Taiyang and Yang were. "If you do that, then _I_ will do something you will regret."

"Let go of me," snarled Taiyang, pulling futilely against Sasame's tail. "This is none of your business."

"But it is," said Sasame. "After all, Yang-san is Ruby-chan's other sister. As a fellow sister, there is no way I could permit you to harm her out of anger."

"Other sister..." Taiyang's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"Ah, please forgive me for not introducing myself," said Sasame, bowing politely. "I am Mitarai Sasame. I am Ruby-chan's adoptive older sister, and have had the privilege of being her guardian, caretaker, and teacher these past six years. I wish I could say that it is a pleasure to meet you. However, I find your attitude to be most unpleasant, not to mention immature."

"You..." snarled Taiyang. "You took my Ruby from me? You kept her from me for six years?"

"I _took_ nothing from you," said Sasame. "You forced Ruby-chan away yourself. I merely stepped in to help and guide her along the path she chose for herself. It's unfortunate that you refuse to acknowledge the time that has passed, or the changes that she has gone through. I had hoped that she could mend her bridges with you...but it seems that there is no hope for you as you are now. I suggest you stay away from her, until you realize your mistakes."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" roared Taiyang, lunging at Sasame. However, he was wrenched back by the fact that his arm refused to budge from where Sasame's tail held it fast.

"That isn't possible," said Sasame plainly. "More to the point, your attitude is grossly inappropriate. I believe you need a time-out."

With that, she flicked her tail, flinging Taiyang through the air and sending him flying away with an outraged shout. He flew away, disappearing over a nearby stand of trees.

"What are you doing?" gasped Yang, staring after her father.

"Disciplining him," said Sasame. "It grieves me to think that I needed to treat a father of two like an unruly child, but...oh well."

"Will he be all right?" asked Yang.

"He'll be fine," said Sasame. "His Aura is strong enough to handle most of the impact. I laid my healing arts on him preemptively to handle any other damage. That will actually drain more of his Aura, which should help if he immediately attempts to use force again."

"So what are we going to do?" asked Yang.

"For now, let's just return," said Sasame, taking Yang's hand. "We could all do with a good meal, now that that's over."

Hearing a sniff prompted Sasame to look up. She saw Yang's face glistening with tears. Reaching up, Sasame cupped Yang's cheek. "You did the right thing, Yang-san," she said. "Your father is behaving foolishly, and passing the blame for his own mistakes onto you. Please don't let it get to you."

"Thanks," said Yang, leaning her face against the palm of Sasame's hand.

Sasame led Yang back to the others and they proceeded towards the dining hall. On the way, Yang told them what had happened. Ruby accepted Yang's explanation gladly, but admitted she would have appreciated a heads-up that her father was on campus.

"I really should have," said Yang. "But I didn't want to risk trying to text you and have Dad notice you were my contact." She frowned. "I didn't think to ask Nora or Ren to do it either."

"I guess they didn't think of it on their own," said Ruby dourly.

"Well, I wouldn't hold that against them," said Sasame. "I doubt it occurred to them that you would chance upon one another like this."

"Yeah, that was a really bad stroke of luck, Sis," said Yang.

"Well, thanks for at least trying," said Ruby. "This still turned out for the worst."

"We'll see," said Sasame. "I hold out hope that your father will be able to see past his preconceptions."

"In the meantime, what is that?" asked Yang, gesturing to the bagged boxes Ruby had carried all throughout the confrontation.

"Cakes," said Ruby, filling Yang in on her and Ashley's trip to the bakery and the treats she picked up for them.

"Sweet!" exclaimed Yang, making the others groan. She laughed sheepishly. "No pun intended."

"We'll have to contact everyone and let them know what you got," said Weiss, already pulling out her scroll.

Ruby nodded, then looked in the direction Sasame had thrown Taiyang.

"Don't worry about it for now," said Sasame. "If your father tries to remove you by force, he will not get far. For now, just enjoy the evening with your friends. You _do_ have class tomorrow, after all."

"Right," said Ruby, managing a smile.

* * *

Ozpin looked up from his desk as the elevator to his office opened with its usual tone. His eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of the man striding out, his blue eyes glaring intently at the Professor as he stormed out of the elevator and across the empty expanse of the office to stop at the edge of the desk.

"Mr. Xiao Long, I'm surprised to see you here," said Ozpin calmly, setting the papers he'd been working on aside. "What brings you here, this evening?"

"Cut the crap, Ozpin!" snarled Taiyang. "I want my daughter, and I want her _now_! I'm taking her home."

"And why would you wish to withdraw Ms. Xiao Long from Beacon?" asked Ozpin. "As far as I know, she's been performing well, though Glynda has informed me that her academics could use some work-"

"I'm not talking about Yang!" snapped Taiyang, baring his teeth. "At this point, I'm not sure I want her back home, _ever_. I'm talking about Ruby. I'm taking her with me."

"I'm afraid I cannot help you," said Ozpin simply. "Ms. Rose entered Beacon without listing a guardian with the authority to withdraw her."

"She's my daughter, and you know it!" shouted Taiyang. "Using her mother's name instead of mine doesn't change that!"

"Be that as it may, Ms. Rose will not be going anywhere, if she does not wish to do so," said Ozpin. "At present, she is a student of excellent standing. Her academic scores, thus far, have been excellent. Granted, there was a little difficulty at first, which is understandable, considering her unique experiences, and the fact that she is two years younger than the average first-year student. However, she has made the adjustment and is now performing very well, near the top of her class, in fact. Her combat rating is nothing short of exceptional. Glynda has informed me that it's a tossup as to whether it is her or Ms. Nikos who will take the top spot in the rankings."

"Bullshit!" snapped Taiyang. "Do you really expect me to believe that crap!?"

"We have the recordings of her combat sessions and a record of her scores on her assignments and assessments," said Ozpin. "It is all quite real."

"That doesn't change the fact that Ruby is my daughter," snapped Taiyang. "I'm taking her with me. She doesn't belong here. She belongs at home."

"That is not for you to decide," said Ozpin, tapping a command into the interface of his desk. A holographic image appeared, hovering over the desk's surface, the image of a paper form, with Ruby's signature. "Are you familiar with this?" he asked.

"That's Beacon's liability contract," said Taiyang.

The liability contract was a standard component of application to any of the four Huntsmen Academies. For students who were applying to enter a school that prepared them for a life-threatening occupation, the form acknowledged their awareness and acceptance of the risks that accompanied their training...and the possible injures, or even deaths, that might result. It was standard fare for institutions like this.

"As you can see, Ms. Rose has signed the specialized free-decision form, which is for students entering without a parent or legal guardian to consent for them," explained Ozpin. "Legally, it has been determined that she was capable of making her own decision in this matter. As such, we now hold legal responsibility for her wellbeing."

"You can't be serious!" shouted Taiyang. "I'll go straight to the Council! I _am_ Ruby's father! I can prove it!"

"Irrelevant, I'm afraid," said Ozpin with a disappointed sigh. "Unless Ms. Rose chooses to officially acknowledge you as her father, which, at this point, would require more paperwork, you have no authority over her admission into Beacon. Even if she did, so long as she remains a student in good standing, you lack the authority to remove her without her consent."

"What the hell are you getting at here?" demanded Taiyang. "What do you want Ruby for?"

"At this point, I merely acknowledged her potential," said Ozpin. "She proved herself more than capable after fighting, and successfully subduing, an infamous criminal who has repeatedly escaped arrest. Since then, she has done nothing but demonstrate that she is more than capable of excelling here. If anything, inviting her in two years early was to her benefit. If we had waited for two more years, her skills would likely have exceeded those of other first-year students to such a degree that it might have been nigh impossible for her to function on a team that was appropriately balanced."

Taiyang clenched his hands into fists, growling wordlessly and looking down.

"Mr. Xiao Long, at this point, you have no recourse to impose your will on Ms. Rose's presence here," said Ozpin frankly. "If you truly wish to have even the slightest hope of _ever_ assuming your place as her father once more, you will first need to accept her choice of direction in life, and do your best to support her. That is the only way she could ever come to accept you as such."

"Never," snarled Taiyang. "I lost her once already. I won't lose her again. And I definitely won't lose her to your scheming. Ruby will be coming home with me, one way or another."

"Do not attempt to use force," said Ozpin firmly. "If you do so, the faculty will stop you and I will have you barred from campus for the remainder of your daughters' time here as students."

"I'll do what it takes," growled Taiyang.

"Before you go and do something foolish, might I suggest and alternative?" proposed Ozpin.

"What?" growled Taiyang.

"Why not observe for a day or two," said Ozpin, "discreetly, of course. So long as you do not do anything disruptive, and keep your distance, I will permit you to sit in on Ms. Rose's classes, and see for yourself how she performs. I believe Tuesday's Combat Class will prove to be quite informative."

"And if I'm not satisfied?" asked Taiyang.

"Then that is unfortunate," said Ozpin. "As I have said earlier, you have no say in Ms. Rose's continued attendance here. It is my hope that seeing her in action will convince you to amend your view and accept her decision, which would be the first step in restoring your bond with her as her father. At this point, this is the only option I have to offer you. Otherwise, I will just have to ask you to leave and, should you refuse, I will have you escorted off-campus, and you will lose all visitation rights for the foreseeable future."

A low growl rumbled up from Taiyang's throat. "Fine," he growled.

"Very well then," said Ozpin. "I need to inform Ms. Rose, and ask her permission for you to observe."

"You shouldn't need her permission," said Taiyang.

"This is an institution for education, Mr. Xiao Long," said Ozpin, already pulling out his scroll. "Ensuring that our students have an environment conducive for such is our highest priority. It could well be that Ms. Rose will find your presence alone sufficiently disruptive to not want you in the classroom with her. If that is the case, then I'm afraid that you will simply have to accept it." He smiled in the face of Taiyang's scowl. "Fortunately, I think she will be more amenable to the idea than you might think."

* * *

"Wow! Your dad found out you were here," said Nora, gulping. "That's...not good...I'm guessing."

"Yep," deadpanned Ruby, giving Nora a flat look.

"I apologize," said Ren softly. "We should have sent you a warning. It didn't even occur to me that Yang wasn't in a position to do so."

"It was bound to happen sooner or later," said Blake, looking up from her book long enough to carve off a dainty bite of her slice of cake with her fork and eat it, humming pleasantly.

At Weiss' suggestion, the two teams met in the dining hall, getting their dinner, before helping themselves to the cakes Ruby had bought as dessert. Unfortunately, Velvet hadn't been able to join them, having gone into Vale for dinner with her team. Of course, that just meant more cake for Ruby and the rest.

"Yeah, I just wish it hadn't happened in a way that didn't get me in a heap of trouble," groaned Yang, sagging down, nearly dragging her hair through the frosting on her slice of the cake.

"At this point, there's probably no way that _wouldn't_ have happened," Jaune pointed out. "Your dad was bound to be pissed, no matter which way he found out, because you kept it from him for so long."

"I guess so," said Yang, sighing. "I can't believe he was about to hit me like that."

"Uncle Qrow said he was warped," said Ruby despondently. "I'm sorry, Yang. I had no idea he was like that."

"He's not, normally," said Yang, staring at her little sister. "After the first few months, when he gave up on finding you out there, he sorta just stopped talking about you altogether. If you ever came up in conversation, he got angry and clammed up. But, most of the time, with me at least, it was like normal. He laughed and joked and did all the things he was supposed to do."

Yang paused, deciding to not bring up a few of the more disturbing aspects of her father's behavior. Ruby and Yang had had their own rooms, back in the house on Patch. But, originally, they had shared a room, one plenty large enough for the both of them. Yang still remembered how it used to be; her bed on one side, Ruby's on the other, yellow sheets and red sheets, each of them having decorations that suited them on their side of the room.

However, after the incident, that had changed. They'd gotten their own rooms, but it wasn't necessarily a good thing. Yang found herself moved into what had once been the guest room, while Ruby got to keep their once-shared room entirely to herself. The guest room wasn't uncomfortable, but it was smaller, and practically a closet, compared to the room that she and Ruby had once shared. At the time, and ever since, Yang had considered it her due for endangering Ruby.

When Ruby had run away, and after the search had been, more or less, given up on, one might have expected that Yang would have been allowed to move back into the larger room. But that hadn't been the case. Yang had been too nervous to bring the idea up, given how Taiyang had initially blamed _her_ for Ruby's disappearance. And her father certainly hadn't seemed inclined to make any changes. If anything, he had cleaned and maintained Ruby's room meticulously, in the years she'd been gone, treating it almost more like a shrine than the room of a daughter, almost as though he believed with the fervency of a religious zealot that she would someday to return to use it, and want it exactly as she'd left it.

_Yeah...no need to creep her out any more than she already is,_ thought Yang.

"Well, at this point, there's little to do," said Sasame, having already cleaned her own plate with startling speed. "Now that Xiao Long-san knows that Ruby-chan is here, it remains to be seen whether or not he will press the issue. All we can do is wait and handle things as they happen."

Ruby nodded.

"In the meantime," said Sasame, "tell us about where you got these lovely delights. I assume this is the consequence of your time spent with your new friend."

"Uh huh," said Ruby, her smile returning as she nodded proudly. "Ashley showed me this great bakery in the Faunus Quarter..."

Weiss and Sasame had heard most of this before, but it was new information to the rest. Nora was excited by the prospect of visiting a place like that and practically begged Ren to take her there the next day off they had. Ren didn't need much badgering to give in, much to the amusement of the rest of the group. Blake also expressed an interest in going, after hearing about the tea that Ruby had been served there, which led to Yang eagerly declaring that Team RYNB would visit the bakery next Sunday, not wanting to be left out of the fun.

"I'd love to go there myself," declared Pyrrha.

"Me too," said Jaune.

Weiss looked at the rest of her team, then sighed. "I'm afraid I'll have to pass," she said, sounding disappointed.

"Weiss, what's wrong?" asked Ruby.

"As wonderful as this place sounds, if it's that deep in the Faunus Quarter, me going there will likely cause trouble," said Weiss. "There's no way anyone there would serve a Schnee, after all."

"That's not true," protested Ruby. "I'm sure the owner would understand, once he meets you. He's really nice."

"Maybe," said Weiss. "But even nice people can get angry when there's someone who's the focus of so much of it." She groaned. "Thanks to my father, the Schnee name is practically a cuss-word for faunus all over the world. Even if I'm not him, to most faunus, I'm _just_ another Schnee."

Ruby bit the inside of her lip, not sure of how to respond.

"It can't be that bad," said Jaune, trying to be optimistic. "I'm sure that they'll warm up to you, once they get to know you."

"That's assuming they're willing to get to know me," said Weiss sourly. "Seeing as just brushing through the fringes of the Faunus Quarter with Sasame was enough to draw out a small mob, I don't want to think about what happened if I went into the heart of it."

"Wait!" exclaimed Ruby, looking at Sasame in surprise. "What's this about a mob?"

"Some impulsive fools, nothing more," said Sasame with a shrug. "They were dealt with easily enough."

"But you didn't tell me?" asked Ruby.

"At the time, I didn't think it was that much of an issue," said Sasame, with a pensive frown. "However, I can see that it might cause problems in the future." Then her smile returned. "That being said, I think it might still be worth your while to go, Weiss-chan."

"Huh?" grunted Weiss, taken aback by Sasame's observation.

"You've expressed a desire to do things differently than your father," said Sasame. "You wish to take your family's company in a new direction and restore its integrity. Perhaps the place to start is here."

"How?" asked Weiss.

"For starters, by doing things you know your father would never willingly do," said Sasame. "Do you believe that he would ever think to willingly enter a faunus community and engage with its residents on any level."

"Never," said Weiss, shaking her head vigorously.

"By going out and engaging with faunus yourself, you'd already be showing yourself as someone cut from a different cloth than your father," said Sasame. "Build relationships with them, even if they, personally, have no involvement in your family's company. Doing so could have an effect that will ripple outwards, which might lead to potential goodwill when you do claim your inheritance."

"But still..." Weiss looked down. "I'd probably touch off a riot just by showing up there."

"Perhaps, perhaps not," said Sasame. "There are ways to smooth things over." She smiled slyly. "Perhaps if you were to show up in the company of another faunus..."

Ruby noticed Blake wince, but didn't comment on it, particularly because Sasame made no gesture that suggested that Blake was the particular faunus she was thinking about.

"You mean you?" asked Weiss.

"Probably not," said Sasame. "By the next time you get a chance to go, I will likely have left. However...Ruby-chan..."

"Y-yes?" Ruby was startled by Sasame's sudden shift to her.

"Perhaps, the next time you meet up with Ashley-san, you should offer to introduce your team to her," suggested Sasame.

"Oh!" Ruby's eyes widened. "Uh...It's worth a try, I guess."

"I'm not sure," said Weiss. "My being there might make her uncomfortable."

"But I'd want her to meet all of you anyway, at some point" Ruby pointed out. "I'm not ashamed to say you're my friend, Weiss. And I think Ashley could accept you if she got to know you."

"I-I'm still not sure about this," stammered Weiss, looking down and blushing. "God! This feels weird."

"Huh?" Ruby canted her head in confusion, while Sasame and Blake covered smiles. The other humans were just as perplexed by Weiss' statement as Ruby was.

To Weiss, it felt as though reality had inverted itself. The idea that someone might _not_ want to admit that they were friends with her...or go so far as to make a point of saying they weren't ashamed to be her friend...was a complete reversal of the normal course of things for her.

After all, she was Weiss Schnee, the future heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the single most powerful corporate entity in all of Remnant. Most of her life, people had _aspired_ to be her friend, to associate with her and the privilege her family name carried. In the social circles where Weiss had originally moved, she would have had to think very hard and tread very carefully, if she were to admit that she had befriended a faunus. To be in this position, to fear that her own friends might be reluctant to admit she was their friend in order to avoid backlash from a faunus community, it made Weiss begin to wonder. _Is this what it's like for faunus who interact with humans? Do they go through something like this?_

After all, in the past, Weiss had been all too happy to paint the majority of the faunus with the same brush. The White Fang had attacked her family's company relentlessly, causing thousands, if not millions of lien in damages with each move they made. Considering what the White Fang claimed to fight for, Weiss hadn't found it much of a reach to think that many faunus, even if they weren't in the White Fang themselves, were complicit on some level, secretly supporting the terrorist organization out of a desire to see her and the SDC taken down a peg or three. But now, here she was, realizing that her position was very similar, in its own way, as she ran the risk of being seen by faunus and lumped in with the likes of her father. It was...illuminating.

"I...I'll do it," said Weiss, looking up at Ruby.

"Okay," said Ruby. "I'm not sure when Ashley will be free, though. She had to ask to get off work early today to hang out with me. She won't want to do that too often and we only really have Sundays free."

"We'll think of something," said Pyrrha, patting Ruby's shoulder. "Truth be told, if it's only once in a while, I think there's nothing wrong with taking some time out of the rest of our week to meet your friend."

"True," agreed Sasame. "Doing that wouldn't disrupt your training overly much."

"Okay," said Ruby.

They chatted a little longer as they finished off the cakes. A few minutes later, Ruby's scroll rung. Picking it up, she was surprised to see that Ozpin was calling her.

"Hold on a second," said Ruby, answering her scroll. "Yes, Professor...?"

"_Ah, Ms. Rose,_" said Ozpin over the line, "_I hope I'm not calling at an inopportune time._"

"No, of course not," said Ruby. "We were just finishing dinner."

"_I see,_" said Ozpin. "_Please don't get too upset, but I am presently being visited by your father._"

"Somehow...I'm not surprised," said Ruby with a tired sigh, her face falling. "Is he doing what I think he's doing?"

"_I'm afraid so,_" said Ozpin, his tone apologetic. "_I have informed him that he has no legal authority to remove you from Beacon. If he attempts to use force, he will be stopped...and removed from the school, you have my word._"

"Thanks, I guess," said Ruby. Her eyes narrowed. "But I think you're not calling me just to let me know about this. Am I right?"

"_You are correct,_" said Ozpin. "_I made an offer to Mr. Xiao Long, one that, hopefully, might convince him to accept your decisions and, at the very least, cease to be a bother to you._"

"Not likely," grumbled Ruby. "What did you have in mind, Professor?"

"_I've offered to allow Mr. Xiao Long to observe your classes for the next two days,_" said Ozpin.

"What?!" exclaimed Ruby, shooting to her feet and startling your friends.

"_It is my hope that seeing your performance in class will convince your father that you are more than able to excel here,_" said Ozpin.

"I...I'm not sure," said Ruby warily. She had a feeling of just how this would go, having to suffer through every class with the sensation of her father's eyes boring into her the entire time, watching her constantly. It would be even worse than dealing with Yang had been, back before the sisters had reconciled, when Yang just wouldn't stop looking Ruby's way.

"_I understand your reluctance, Ms. Rose,_" said Ozpin. "_This is merely a suggestion. If you believe your father's presence will be an unacceptable distraction during class, then you do not have to accept this. I will ask Mr. Xiao Long to leave, in that case. However, I believe that this may represent an opportunity for you._"

"I..." Ruby paused, feeling the touch of Sasame's hand on her arm. Looking over, Ruby saw Sasame looking at her encouragingly. She wondered just how much the others had heard of the conversation, seeing as she wasn't using her scroll in speaker-mode. But, then again, it wasn't wise to doubt Sasame's hearing. Her powers of observation, regardless of which sense she was using to observe, were something to behold.

She definitely caught the meaning in Sasame's gaze.

Not knowing about Sasame, Ozpin pressed on. "_Please understand that, even if your father is not convinced, it will not affect your standing here. Your position as a student is under no threat._"

Ruby took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "All right," she said. "But I want him as far away from me as possible."

"_I was thinking that in any case,_" said Ozpin. "_I will do all I can to ensure that your father's presence is as un-intrusive as possible._"

"Okay," said Ruby.

"_Have a good evening, Ms. Rose,_" said Ozpin. "_For the next two days, just do as you've always done._"

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, hanging up.

"What was that all about?" asked Jaune, the others looking at her curiously.

Ruby sighed and explained what Ozpin had just arranged for her. She figured it was going to be a long two days.

* * *

Monday, it turned out, wasn't so bad. Logistics was a bit of a struggle, as always. But Ruby pressed ahead, able to tune out the sensation of her father's gaze by focusing on her work, putting all her effort into focusing on the professor's lecture and taking notes that Weiss would have been proud of. It helped that the past weeks she'd spent in the class had allowed her plenty of opportunity to work on it and calculating the needs presented by the various scenarios presented by the professor was now just a matter of plugging away. She wasn't as quick as Weiss or Pyrrha at solving the problems, but she still managed to find the correct answers within the time limit.

Continuing the trend, Geography was, as usual, so engaging that Ruby was easily able to absorb herself in learning about the land features of various biomes, particularly in areas she hadn't been to yet, and how they impacted missions to such places and settlements that might be built there. After that, Survival Skills was even easier. It helped that Professor Peach frequently turned to Ruby as almost a sort of assistant instructor in some aspects of the class, drawing on Ruby's experiences during her training sojourns to supplement the lessons.

Throughout each class, Taiyang sat quietly in the back, occupying the corner furthest from where Ruby and her friends sat. Ruby wished that Sasame was there, feeling that her adoptive sister's presence might serve as something of a buffer to her father's. However, after observing Ruby's classes for the first two days, Sasame had opted out and only continued to observe during Combat Class, where she might critique the fighting styles of Ruby and her friends, if she saw the opportunity to do so.

What her father thought of Ruby's academic performance wasn't readily apparent. Ruby made it a point to not acknowledge Taiyang's presence, trying not to give the impression she was seeking his approval. She would do what she did as a student, and he would simply have to accept it. He remained silent, following them through the halls like a shadow. Ruby was both relieved and unnerved. She'd half-expected Taiyang to continue to pressure her to come home in between classes. So it was nice that he didn't intrude during that time. However, the defiance of those expectations was troubling in its own way.

During their free periods, Ruby and Pyrrha continued to work on Jaune's technique training, though they were still at a bit of a loss as to how to help him proceed further. Ruby noticed that her father watched her through that too.

After their classes were over for the day, Ruby and her friends retired to the library to get their homework done before dinner. It was the first time she sensed any emotion from her father, as Taiyang seemed surprised that they were doing this, particularly that Ruby was not just an active participant, but the one who had originally instigated this practice.

All told, it wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be. Her father hadn't proved as much of a distraction as she'd initially feared.

After dinner, she and her friends assembled on the roof to practice their Aura-control techniques. Sasame, standing by and assessing the progress of team RYNB, determined that it wouldn't be long before they were ready to begin practicing Suppression. Throughout their training, Ruby knew that Taiyang was standing just inside the doorway, watching her intently.

After they finished and everyone began to proceed inside, Pyrrha stopped Ruby with a hand on her arm, the pause leaving them the only remaining two people on the rooftop.

"What's up, Pyrrha?" asked Ruby, looking at her teammate expectantly.

"Ruby, do you remember what's happening in Combat Class, tomorrow?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "Professor Goodwitch is letting students volunteer and challenge each other."

"I want to fight you," said Pyrrha. "Is that all right?"

"Sure," said Ruby, surprised by the intensity and eagerness in Pyrrha's voice. "Um..."

"Sorry," said Pyrrha, looking down bashfully. "It's just...ever since the first time I saw you fight, I've really wanted a match with you. You're the first person who...well..."

Ruby found herself smirking. "You mean the first person who has a chance at beating you?" she teased.

Pyrrha blushed. "Um...right."

"I don't know, Pyrrha," said Ruby, resting her hands on her hips. "I'd say I have more than just a _chance_ at beating you. Are you sure _you're_ up to fighting with _me_?"

"Ruby!" exclaimed Pyrrha, the slight warble in her voice betraying her amusement...and excitement. After a second, she calmed herself down. "Fine then. Tomorrow, it's you and me in the ring. May the best girl win."

"I intend to," said Ruby.

"I'm sure you do," Pyrrha teased back.

They headed back in, but Ruby was stopped by a firm, calloused hand that clamped around her forearm. She looked over to see that her father had grabbed her, and was holding her back, a determined look on his face.

"Ruby...?" prodded Pyrrha, having noticed.

"It's okay," said Ruby. "Go on ahead. I'll be down in a little."

"If you're sure..." said Pyrrha, eyeing Taiyang warily.

"Yeah. Go on." Ruby nodded at Pyrrha.

"All right," said Pyrrha hesitantly and proceeded down.

Ruby turned to look back at her father. "What?" she asked tersely.

"That girl...you're going to fight her?" asked Taiyang.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "What about it?"

"Ruby, don't you realize how dangerous this is?" he asked.

"Do you think I haven't fought even once before now?" asked Ruby flatly. "I beat Yang, just last week in the ring."

"Do you even _think_ that your sister would fight you seriously?" scoffed Taiyang. "She'd let you win to avoid hurting you."

Ruby bristled, knowing for a fact that Taiyang was wrong and that Yang had taken the fight seriously. Besides... "And all the other times I fought?" she wanted to know. "You think every other opponent I've faced decided that they'd rather take the hit to their combat rating and go easy, because they're afraid of hurting me?"

"Ruby, I just think-" began Taiyang.

"No!" snapped Ruby, yanking her arm out of his grip. "You _don't_ think! You _pretend_ to think, because you just want an excuse to pull me out of here, which you can't actually do. Now, was there a point to this besides trying to pretend that I got where I was because everyone decided to give me a free pass?"

"Yes," said Taiyang. "I'll make a deal with you, Ruby."

"Really? What?" Ruby raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"That girl...If you can beat her, I'll allow you to remain at Beacon," said Taiyang.

"Uh huh..." said Ruby. She had to admit that, deep down, there was a certain appeal to Taiyang's proposition. After all, winning against Pyrrha, something Ruby genuinely believed she could pull off, would apparently convince her father that she could succeed at Beacon. However... "And If I lose?"

"Then you come home," said Taiyang.

"Thought so," grumbled Ruby. "No deal."

She turned around, and walked down the stairs, leaving her father sputtering in her wake.

* * *

The next day, her father's presence was much harder to ignore, at least in part because both Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck had gone through Beacon in the same year that Taiyang had. Despite that, both teachers did not address or call attention to Taiyang during the class. The other reason he was harder to ignore was that he was staring more intently than ever at Ruby throughout her classes. The pressure of his gaze was a constant, irritating itch between her shoulder blades.

It was especially annoying during Dust Science, that day's class being a lab class where the students were required to work out the mixture to produce a particular kind of Dust and produce said Dust themselves. Ruby was both surprised and relieved when Weiss graciously offered to be her lab partner, advising Ruby as she went through the process of working out the ratios of different Dust types and helping her with the mixture. Weiss' presence and assistance kept Ruby's mind off her father long enough to get through the class and perform the work without suffering any accidents.

After lunch and their free period training, they assembled in the arena for Glynda's Combat Class. After the students took their seats and the bell rang, Glynda strode out onto the floor.

"As promised," she announced, "I will be accepting volunteers and allowing you to challenge your peers in battle. The challenged student may decline the challenge, if they so wish. The challenger is not permitted to press the issue."

Odds were that it wasn't likely for a person to turn down a challenge. After all, losing was better than being branded a coward for refusing to fight at all. The only likely exception to that was if the person being challenged had fought already, and didn't feel able to fight another round to the best of their ability.

"Are there any questions?" asked Glynda, her gaze surveying the class. "No? Good. In that case, who would like to volunteer for the first match?"

Several hands rose, some reluctantly, others more quickly. Just two seats down from Ruby, Pyrrha's hand shot straight up with such vigor that Pyrrha nearly jumped out of her seat in her eagerness to volunteer. Her excitement didn't go unnoticed by Glynda, who looked up at Pyrrha with a great degree of interest, wondering what had Pyrrha Nikos, of all people, so eager to fight.

"Ms. Nikos..." said Glynda. "...who would you like as your opponent?"

"Ruby," said Pyrrha without the slightest hesitation. "I challenge Ruby Rose."

Glynda's gaze glided over to Ruby. "Ms. Rose, do you accept Ms. Nikos' challenge?"

"I do," said Ruby, getting to her feet.

"Then report to the ring and we will begin," said Glynda.

Excited murmurs filled the air. Pyrrha went to the locker room to collect her weapons, while Ruby waited in the ring. As Ruby waited, she once again felt her father watching her. Glancing up, she saw him standing behind the uppermost row of seats, looking down at her with an expression that almost seemed...satisfied. _What is he looking so smug about?_

She didn't feel the need to ask, looking back down at waiting until Pyrrha emerged from the locker room with her confident, tournament-champion stride. As she closed the distance, Pyrrha extended her arms, her weapons sliding off her back and down into her waiting hands. In the meantime, the level of noise and excitement in the audience rose, people whispering to each other eagerly. Out of the corner of her eye, Ruby swore that some students had pulled out the scrolls and were recording the impending match.

Glynda looked back and forth between Ruby and Pyrrha, before nodding to herself and stepping back, using her scroll to bring up the arena's safety barrier. Reaching behind her, Ruby drew her sword, Akaibara's Aura exploding to almost flood the arena as it emerged from its sheath. Drawing the Aura back in, Ruby opened herself up to her sword's voice, letting it flow through her and fill her up, feeling their two Auras merge, becoming one, the merger between them explosively increasing her power. Afterwards, she assumed her usual stance, angling her sword at Pyrrha in preparation to strike.

Pyrrha responded by striking her own stance, shield raised ahead of her, sword readied behind, a variation of the same basic stance she'd taught Jaune. Her eyes met Ruby's and they both found themselves smiling in anticipation. A tense silence settled over the room as Glynda prepared to give the signal.

"Combatants, ready...Begin!"

* * *

**I've been priming for Pyrrha vs Ruby for a while. And now it's finally happening. Of course, in that context, it's happening while Taiyang is observing Ruby through her time at Beacon. This version of the guy is certainly flashing his jerkass credentials at every opportunity.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33:**

Both combatants exploded into motion simultaneously, Ruby flashing across the distance between herself and Pyrrha in an instant. Rather than try to meet her charge head-on, Pyrrha instead shifted back slightly, the entirety of her attention focusing on the path of Ruby's sword. Shifting, Ruby launched a swift strike from above. Pyrrha parried with Akouo, angling her shield so that Ruby's attack was deflected off the surface with a loud clang of metal on metal.

Following up her defense, Pyrrha immediately went on the attack, stepping forward and slashing with Milo in a swift stroke. Ruby swiftly brought her sword back around, parrying Pyrrha's attack, before riposting with another slash, aimed at Pyrrha's side, trying to work the sword inside the arc of Pyrrha's shield.

Having none of that, Pyrrha immediately jumped, her leap carrying her over the path of Ruby's slash. Imparting some spin onto her body, Pyrrha executed a whirling flip over Ruby's head, spinning around to slash at Ruby, even as she came back down. Ruby responded by ducking underneath the path of Pyrrha's swing, spinning about and aiming her next slash at Pyrrha's legs as her feet touched down.

Having seen Ruby duck, Pyrrha swung her left arm around, not blocking with her shield, but throwing it downwards, at an angle. It struck the floor between her and Ruby, in just the right position to intercept Ruby's slash, surprisingly not being knocked aside as Ruby's sword struck it. Instead, Akaibara skipped off of Akouo's surface, while the shield itself ricochetted off the floor and straight for Ruby's face.

Throwing herself backwards, Ruby almost felt Akouo's edge graze the tip of her nose as it zipped over her face. Ruby pushed off the floor, launching herself backwards in a flip that allowed her to plant her right hand against the floor, then push off in a handspring that brought her back to her feet. Coming back up, Ruby went back on the attack, darting in at Pyrrha with lightning speed, her sword flashing as she launched a flurry of slashes, exaggerating the movements of her shoulders to flare her cloak, which served to obscure Akaibara's movements.

In the time it had taken Ruby to execute her maneuver, Pyrrha switched Milo into its javelin form, gripping the shaft in both hands, using it defensively to intercept Ruby's attacks. Even as she attacked fiercely, Ruby extended her awareness all around her. She knew that focusing on Pyrrha alone could be a fatal error. Having watched her previous matches in Combat Class, Ruby remembered full well that Pyrrha was more than capable of throwing her shield so that it would rebound and come back, often at an angle that caused it to strike Pyrrha's opponent from behind, or somewhere out of their line of sight. Ruby was determined not to fall for such a trick.

That determination served her well, as Akouo did indeed come flying back, its initial flight sending it flying up at an angle, before striking the safety barrier and rebounding off of that. That sent it skipping off at another angle, which sent it spinning down to strike off another portion of the barrier, which, in turn, sent it flying at Ruby's torso from behind and to the right.

Pyrrha had figured that Ruby would anticipate Akouo's return. She'd expected Ruby to switch her weapon to her right hand and use that to counter, which would allow Pyrrha to exploit the opening on Ruby's right. However, Ruby instead gripped the hem of her cloak and swept it out, the shield striking the fluttering section of red fabric and being bounced away, as though it had hit a solid object, Ruby's deflection sending the shield spinning off in another direction.

Pyrrha's eyes widened and she fell back as Ruby continued her onslaught. Whirling her javelin like a staff, Pyrrha brought the broad blade sweeping upwards, forcing Ruby to defend. As Ruby tried to close in again, Pyrrha spun her weapon up and over her shoulders, before bringing it around, using her neck as a fulcrum, so that the shaft of Milo rested across her shoulders, aiming right at Ruby. The rifle built into Milo's shaft triggered, firing a shot out of the butt end, the recoil sending the blade leaping forward in a sudden thrust at Ruby. Using the recoil to launch the attack meant that there had been no cues in Pyrrha's own movements that indicated an attack was coming, which threw Ruby off.

Ruby quickly whipped up Akaibara to fend off the first thrust. But Pyrrha fired the rifle a second time, then a third, each shot sending Milo leaping straight at Ruby like a striking snake. Ruby was forced to retreat in order to adjust her reaction time to Milo's unpredictable movements. However, instead of pressing the attack, Pyrrha instead leapt backwards, rotating Milo in her grip, the weapon shifting into its rifle mode. Taking aim, Pyrrha fired several shots at Ruby, even as Ruby herself tried to reverse directions again and charge at Pyrrha.

Grabbing the hem of her cloak with her right hand, Ruby swept it up around her, Pyrrha's shots deflecting off the Aura-hardened fabric. Not wanting to lose her edge, Pyrrha switched her weapon back into its javelin mode and thrust straight into Ruby's cloak...only for the whole thing to dissolve into a cloud of red petals that scattered through the air around Pyrrha. Gasping in surprise, Pyrrha spun about, looking for any sign of where Ruby went.

Amidst the dancing petals in her vision, Pyrrha caught a glimpse of something else red, something larger. _Ruby's cloak!_ It fluttered in the corner of her eye before disappearing…_Behind me!_

Ruby seemed to flicker into being directly behind Pyrrha, her sword already slicing through the air at Pyrrha's unguarded back. Pyrrha was turning to meet Ruby, but her weapon was in the wrong hand to intercept Ruby's attack.

Despite that, Ruby's sword struck something hard and Pyrrha was launched, spinning, off the floor and into the air, riding the force behind Ruby's blow to escape her reach. Ruby's own eyes widened and she gasped as she saw Akouo, now resting in its customary position on Pyrrha's left forearm. _How!?_

Even if Pyrrha was capable of calculating the trajectory of her thrown shield to a T, Ruby deflecting the shield, when it had come at her, should have sent it flying off in a direction that Pyrrha hadn't planned for it to go in. What was more, Ruby's defense should have absorbed the shield's momentum, so that it wouldn't have gone much farther after being deflected. Not only that, but the direction of their fight hadn't moved in the direction the shield had gone. There was no point where Pyrrha would have had the opportunity to go over and pick it up...not without Ruby seeing it.

But now wasn't the time to ponder how Pyrrha had gotten her shield back. The spin she'd allowed herself to be knocked into allowed her to come down a generous distance away, already switching Milo back into rifle-mode and taking aim, passing the barrel of the rifle through one of the semicircular indents in her shield. Pyrrha squeezed off several shots at Ruby again.

This time, Ruby leaned forward and put her speed to use, dashing directly under Pyrrha's line of fire and closing in as quickly as she could, her body seeming to vanish, leaving brief flurries of red petals scattering in her wake, left by her footsteps. Closing in, Ruby swept Akaibara up, aiming to slash at Pyrrha from below her guard. She'd been gripping the sword in both hands as she approached. Closing in, Ruby released her left hand and slashed with her right hand, which had been positioned behind her left, giving her a few additional inches in her reach. The combination of the swift approach and the sudden extension of her attack's range appeared to catch Pyrrha off-guard, as she'd been aiming to dodge by leaning back and allowing Akaibara's tip to miss her torso by a slim margin, only to suddenly find herself within reach of an attack that was coming earlier than she'd anticipated.

However, in the end, it was enough, and Akaibara cleaved through the empty air where Pyrrha's torso had been a second earlier, its tip just missing Pyrrha's chin by the barest fraction of an inch. Once again, Ruby frowned in confusion. _What just happened?_

Normally, Ruby would have just put it down to misjudging her timing. Between extending her reach and slashing earlier, there was a margin of error that Pyrrha might have been able to exploit if Ruby had made a mistake of when and how far away she needed to be, in order to use her advantage to the fullest. However, there was something else, something Ruby couldn't quantify. The moment she'd attacked, Akaibara, and the hand wielding it, had felt...strange. Yet Ruby couldn't quite figure out how.

Once again, this strange turn of events became immaterial, as the pace of the match wasn't about to allow Ruby the time she needed to puzzle it out. Pyrrha was already counterattacking, not with Milo, but with Akouo, punching out with the shield, aiming to slam its sharpened edge right into Ruby's forehead. If that blow landed, it would do considerable damage to Ruby's Aura.

Ruby pulled back and braced the flat of Akaibara's blade with her left hand, catching the edge of Pyrrha's shield and deflecting her attack off at an angle, the shield making a loud grating sound as it slid along Ruby's blade. Ruby took advantage of the deflection and stepped in, slamming her right foot down and shifting to project her body's weight and strength out through her shoulder as she slammed the armored guard mounted there into Pyrrha's body, just below the swell of her breasts. The same movement brought her arm around so that she could follow through with a slash from Akaibara as Pyrrha was knocked back.

Once again, Ruby got a strange sensation from her arm, as though the air she was swinging her blade through had abruptly thickened. It was a minuscule shift, one that might have gone unnoticed to most people. But, to Ruby, who had trained to wield her blade as a full extension of herself, it was apparent, even if she couldn't place what that feeling was. Whatever it was, it seemed to slow her movement _just_ enough that Pyrrha had time to move Milo, which had shifted back into its sword-mode, into position to block, deflecting Ruby's blade with a clang.

There had been a similar sensation when Ruby had struck with her shoulder as well. Even as her attack had made contact, she'd felt the sensation of something pushing back against her shoulder. If Pyrrha had gotten far enough with her Aura-training to learn Projection and Flow, Ruby would have suspected that Pyrrha had used a combination of those two to kill the impact. But that wasn't in the purview of Pyrrha's skills as they were now.

Distracted as she was with the conundrum of her sword, Ruby failed to notice that Akouo was no longer on Pyrrha's left arm. Even as the shield had been deflected, Pyrrha had released it, sending it spinning off. As she closed in to press the attack and solve the mystery of what was going on with her sword, Ruby didn't realize that Akouo had rebounded off the safety barrier and was now flying directly at the back of her head. Ruby sensed its approach at the last second, feeling the surge in the air stir her hood and her hair. Desperately, Ruby shifted her Aura into her cloak to harden her hood, but was a little too late. Pyrrha's shield slammed into her skull from behind and slightly from above, snapping Ruby's head to the side.

Hardening her cloak hadn't been enough to kill the impact and protect her, but it _had_ been enough that at least part of the force of the blow was ablated. Ruby wasn't completely dazed by the impact. But she was jarred enough that she wasn't able to respond in time when Pyrrha abruptly switched Milo back into rifle-mode and fired at Ruby's chest from almost point-blank range, the bullet knocking Ruby backwards.

Akouo, after rebounding off of Ruby's cranium, bounced away, then off the barrier again, returning perfectly to Pyrrha's arm. Now Pyrrha went on the offensive, switching Milo back to sword-mode and sprinting at Ruby with all her speed. Compared to Ruby's lightning-fast moves, Pyrrha's advance should have seemed painfully slow. But rattled by receiving two blows in quick succession, Ruby was forced onto the defensive as Pyrrha closed in with a flurry of attacks, wielding sword and shield in succession to conduct a ferocious offense.

* * *

"Holy crap! This is awesome!" exclaimed Yang, leaning forward and watching with wide, excited eyes as Ruby and Pyrrha clashed, dazzled by the sparks thrown up by their clashing Auras.

"Hmm...Pyrrha-chan is a remarkable fighter," said Sasame. "It's been a while since I've seen Ruby-chan this hard-pressed."

"Well, Pyrrha _is_ the four-time Mistral Regional Champion for a reason," said Weiss.

"Yes...a _very_ good reason," said Sasame with a giggle. "With an advantage like hers, it's no wonder that she's so effective in the ring."

"What advantage?" asked Jaune.

He wasn't the only curious one. All of Ruby and Pyrrha's friends looked at Sasame expectantly.

Sasame chortled. "It's a secret," she said. "Given that it's Pyrrha-chan's secret to success, it would be unfair of me to spoil it for her. It's more important that you figure it out for yourselves. The fact that you're having so much trouble telling is a sign of just how skilled Pyrrha-chan is."

"What could it be?" wondered Blake, focusing her eyes back on the ring.

* * *

Ruby was unquestionably hard-pressed, working her sword furiously just to keep Pyrrha's rapid attacks at bay. Speed was Ruby's forte, but Pyrrha's attacks were brilliantly calculated to keep her off-balance, disrupt her rhythm, and also keep Ruby from finding her footing to use _Shukuchi_ to escape. At times, Pyrrha would abruptly throw her shield, allowing it to rebound and come at Ruby from unexpected angles, making it feel like Ruby was fighting more than one opponent at times.

Sensing Akouo coming in again, Ruby went into a spin, flaring out her cloak and hardening it with her Aura to deflect the shield. At the same time, she let her Aura scatter out in a wave of red petals that swirled through the air around her. Pyrrha moved to press her attack, but balked when she remembered that those petals could do.

"_Hanabi!_" Sure enough, with a sparking sound, they abruptly ignited in a chain of rapid crackling explosions, intense bursts of lightning threatening to sear Pyrrha's Aura off her body. Her shield thrown away, Pyrrha cried out and threw herself backwards, unable to escape the attack entirely. Thin streams of smoke trailed off her body as she backflipped away from the explosions, landing in a crouch, while her limbs tingled from the aftermath of repeated shocks. Not only had Ruby's attack disrupted Pyrrha's offense and forced her back, but it had also cut off Pyrrha's view of Ruby.

The light from above dimmed, and Pyrrha gasped, looking up to see that Ruby had leapt almost straight upwards, spinning her body so swiftly that her cloak swirled around her, making her seem like a red comet, more than anything else. More petals streaming off the cloak's edges congealed together in the air around her, igniting, the congealed masses of electricity intensifying, until they were energized into plasma, turning a rich, violet color. "_Hibana!_"

Realizing what was coming, Pyrrha jumped back. The violet bolts of Ruby's attack rained down, exploding against the arena floor, shattering it and sending smoldering, flaming pieces of stone flying through the air. Ruby had spaced her attacks out, not so much aiming for Pyrrha directly as she was aiming for where Pyrrha might dodge. There was too much space for them all to cover, but the result was that the heat of the explosion and pieces of debris both found their marks on Pyrrha's body, burning and battering away a healthy chunk of her Aura.

Following through, Ruby descended, her sword raised in both hands. She swung down with all her might, putting the full force of her strength and weight into the attack. Desperately, Pyrrha switched Milo into javelin-mode and raised it up, bracing its shaft with both hands to catch Ruby's descending blade. The impact was incredible, the floor beneath Pyrrha's feet shattering, their Auras exploding outwards from one another with a shockwave that completely dispersed the smoke raised by Ruby's previous attack.

Pyrrha grunted and strained, the pain of withstanding the force of Ruby's two-handed blow echoing through her entire body. Finally, with a groan, Pyrrha forced Ruby back. Ruby flipped backwards, shooting forward as soon as she landed, trying to catch Pyrrha before she could recover.

Pyrrha ducked and Ruby's side-slash whistled just barely above her head. Once again, Ruby was confused by the unsettling sensation that something had happened. Her sword hadn't moved the way it was supposed to. It was a minute change, but Ruby felt the course of her swing change, almost as though her sword had been subtly nudged off-course. Unfortunately, Ruby didn't have the time to ponder what had happened, as Pyrrha's rapid counterattack drew a line of fiery pain across her stomach. Ruby barely managed to raise her sword as Pyrrha followed through by continuing her turn to bring Akouo, which had mysteriously returned to her left arm again, around and punched out at Ruby's face.

Ruby found herself on the defensive again, working furiously to to parry Pyrrha's sequence of attacks. Every time she found an opening to counterattack, she would once again get that strange sensation, the sense that her sword was slowing, or not moving the way it should. It _had_ to be Pyrrha doing it, but Ruby couldn't figure out how, and Pyrrha wasn't giving her the chance to figure it out either.

Thus, despite the difficulty she was having, facing an opponent she was hardly able to land a blow against, Ruby found herself smiling as excitement raced through her veins alongside her blood.

* * *

_This is unprecedented!_ thought Glynda, fixated on the match, almost completely unable to tear her eyes away. _Both Ruby and Rose and Pyrrha Nikos are _well_ above the level of the average first-year._

Both combatants had shown all the signs of greatness in their previous matches, both being undefeated. Glynda had expected an excellent match, with both fighters pushing the limits of their abilities. However, she hadn't realized just how _high_ those limits were. It had surpassed her wildest expectations.

Though she'd been reluctant to admit it, Glynda finally fully admitted that Ozpin had been right to bring Ruby into Beacon when he had.

Though she didn't want to miss a single second of the intense melee going on before her, Glynda glanced down at her scroll, seeing the timer for the match counting down. They were already approaching the time-limit and, though they had both given and taken damage, neither Pyrrha nor Ruby showed any signs of flagging.

_I wonder how long they could press this for?_ mused Glynda, looking back at the match. At this rate, it was likely to continue on until the clock ran all the way down. To Glynda, that seemed an unfortunate way to end such a spectacular match, with the winner simply being declared based on which participant had the most Aura remaining at the end. She doubted that either of the combatants would be satisfied with such an outcome either.

Hesitating another second, Glynda decided to cancel the time limit.

* * *

"Ruby's struggling," noted Jaune.

"Still, she did a lot of damage with those lightning attacks," noted Ren. "Perhaps she should use them more often."

"She fuels those attacks with her Aura, instead of Dust," said Blake, "so she may be trying to fight more conservatively."

"Hmmm..." Jaune cupped his chin, staring thoughtfully down into the ring.

"What is it?" asked Weiss, looking at him curiously.

"I was just wondering why Ruby's lightning attacks worked better than her swordsmanship," said Jaune. "Is there something about her sword that makes it easier for Pyrrha to fight against than electricity?"

"Well, Pyrrha has probably gone up against countless sword-users," noted Weiss. "And most of them would have weapons far more advanced than Ruby's blade. That must be the reason."

"She's probably gone up against Dust-users too," said Blake. "Ruby's lightning may come from her Aura, but the way she uses it isn't all that far removed from how a Dustweaver would use fire or lightning-Dust. Plus, she's seen those attacks before."

Sasame tittered softly. "You're on the right track, Jaune-kun. I suppose I can give you a hint. Pyrrha-chan's strengths work best against some things more than others, against people more than Grimm."

"What does that mean?" asked Jaune.

"You'll need to figure it out for yourself," said Sasame.

Jaune frowned, looking down into the ring again, watching as Pyrrha once again launched Akouo, this time at an angle, not directly at Ruby, rebounding it off the safety barrier so that it arced upwards, before descending down towards Ruby's skull. Ruby fell back so quickly that her body seemed to be in two places at once, Pyrrha's shield slicing through the afterimage Ruby left behind.

Even then, the shield struck the floor, the angle of its rebound taking it right back to Pyrrha's forearm as she followed up with a thrust from her sword, shifting Milo into javelin-mode mid-thrust, the sudden extension of her reach catching Ruby in the shoulder, employing a variation of the same strategy Ruby used whenever she switched hands. Ruby staggered back, but was then caught again as Pyrrha fired the rifle component, using the recoil to make Milo leap forward in her grip to rapidly strike the same spot another time.

_That's not right,_ thought Jaune with a frown. He hadn't noticed before. With the fierce melee taking place between Ruby and Pyrrha, it was easy to forget about Pyrrha's shield, in a sense, until it rebounded back into the fray in some manner. While he wasn't an expert in physics, he was fairly certain that an object shouldn't _accelerate_ after it had bounced off another object. Yet, he was now certain that Pyrrha's shield; whenever she threw it, even after rebounding several times; not only _didn't_ lose momentum, but gained speed on occasion. He supposed that could be some secret, high-tech function hidden in the shield, but Jaune was fairly certain that Pyrrha's shield was _just_ a shield.

There were other indicators too. Ruby had missed strikes that she shouldn't have, Pyrrha seeming to dodge blows that would have hit anyone else. Now, it could easily be assumed that Pyrrha was just _that_ good. But Jaune got the inkling that there was something else in play. Ruby's attacks were just too fast for Pyrrha to dodge so perfectly and easily, even though, on multiple occasions, Ruby had taken Pyrrha by surprise with her speed.

He thought back to Sasame's hint. _What do Grimm have that would make them less susceptible to whatever Pyrrha is doing?_ Jaune tried to compare them, but couldn't figure it out.

"At this rate, Ruby's gonna lose," said Nora.

"It does look as though it will be difficult for her to turn this around," noted Ren.

"Ah, don't write Ruby-chan off just yet," said Sasame. "She has a few surprises up her sleeve."

"She'd better use them soon," said Jaune worriedly.

Down below, the fight was picking up pace, Pyrrha throwing Akouo again almost as soon as it returned to her arm. Ruby was locked on the defensive, her sword whirling about her, deflecting attacks from Milo, even as the shield came at her from off angles. Pyrrha continued to press the offensive hard, keeping Ruby off-balance, and stopping her from using her speed to escape or flank.

There was no doubt Pyrrha had a serious advantage, Ruby had lost over half her Aura, and she was losing more and more of it with each exchange. In a few more hits, Pyrrha would knock Ruby's Aura below the critical level and win the match.

Jaune winced as he saw Ruby appear to find her footing, then vanish in a flurry of petals, reappearing behind Pyrrha, sword raised, only to turn and deflect Akouo, which Pyrrha appeared to have thrown in anticipation of an attack from exactly that direction. At the same time, Pyrrha was turning to meet Ruby, Milo sweeping around in a slash that would cut into Ruby's torso, and carve away her remaining Aura.

But then, both the shield and sword were stopped, each being met with a brilliant, rose-red blade. In that instant, the entire battle, and the mental process of everyone watching it, seemed to grind to a halt as they tried to figure out what had just happened.

Ruby's slender sword had split in two, lengthwise. Now Ruby wielded two, even thinner single-edged blades, one each hand, holding off Milo with one, deflecting Akouo with the other. Pyrrha's eyes went wide, and she gasped in shock.

"What the-?!" exclaimed Jaune.

"She had two swords all along?" asked Weiss, looking shocked as well.

"Indeed," said Sasame. "As I told you before, Akaibara typically means 'Red Rose.' However, when he forged it, Murasame-sama engraved it with the characters for 'Red Thorn.'

"But, in truth, _both_ names are correct. It is a sword with two names in one, because Akaibara is two swords in one. _Bara to Ibara_...Rose and Thorn."

The lull in the battle lasted just long enough for the shocked gasps of the audience to fill the air. Then it began again...and the tide shifted.

* * *

Pyrrha's surprise was so complete that she almost forgot to react when Ruby went on the offensive, sweeping her swords through crisscrossing patterns in front of her. Raising Milo desperately, she managed to fend off the first pair of strikes, but several more followed on their heels and Pyrrha cried out as Ruby's blades cut into her Aura. Being able to attack with both hands simultaneously had enabled Ruby to more than double her pace.

Knocked backwards, Pyrrha quickly went into a backflip to get her feet back under her, sinking into a crouch, barely managing to duck beneath Ibara, Ruby's right-handed sword, which she'd slashed across her body. However, ducking left Pyrrha in a position to be caught by Bara, the left-handed sword, which Ruby had brought around low and now swept upward. Raising Milo, Pyrrha was barely able to parry. She raised her left arm as Akouo returned towards her, only for Ruby to reverse the course of Ibara and intercept the shield, knocking it away with a clang.

Jumping back, Pyrrha extended Milo into its javelin-mode, spinning it and using its shaft to deflect the next few strikes. Managing to catch both of Ruby's swords at once, Pyrrha twisted her weapon and knocked them out to Ruby's sides. Continuing the spin, she brought her weapon around, Milo shifting and collapsing into its rifle-mode, allowing Pyrrha to crack off a shot at Ruby's head from practically right in front of her.

The shot seemed to pierce through Ruby's head, except that her face had vanished, leaving only the hood of her cloak. Pyrrha's shot punched right through it, and out the other side, the whole thing dissolving into a storm of red petals.

Already anticipating what was coming, Pyrrha turned to intercept the attack from behind, but was too slow as both of Ruby's blades bit into her shoulders from above. Ruby had reversed her grip on her swords and jumped upwards, coming down directly behind Pyrrha, even as Pyrrha had originally pulled the trigger on her rifle. Rubys swords extended out behind her, and she swept them down and forward as she descended. Following through, she danced away, returning her blades to their normal grips as she raised them back over her head, leaving sweeping, red crescents in their wake.

Staggered, Pyrrha stumbled forward, knowing she had to get her balance back, or Ruby would follow through ruthlessly. She turned around, returning Milo to its sword-mode and slashing to try and catch Ruby as she charged back in. However, Pyrrha only caught a flicker of red as Ruby's cloak fluttered out of the field of her vision. Desperately, Pyrrha extended Milo into javelin-mode, whipping it up and over with her right hand and catching the shaft with her left so that the weapon was now angled diagonally across her back. She was just in time to catch Ruby's next slash, though the impressive force behind the blow threw Pyrrha off her feet.

Rather than try to fight it, Pyrrha put her weight and leg-strength into the motion as well, adding to the force of Ruby's attack to launch herself farther away, going into a twisting flip as she did so, allowing her to land upright and facing back the way she came. Pyrrha immediately sank down into a crouch, bringing her rifle to bear and firing off several shots.

Ruby's body seemed to flicker back and forth as she closed in, closing the distance faster than Pyrrha had thought possible. Barely managing to switch Milo back into sword-mode, Pyrrha raised it just in time to catch a downwards slash from Ibara. The shock of impact weakened her grip for a fraction of a second. In that fraction, Ruby brought Bara around in a sideways strike, aiming, not for Pyrrha, but for Milo, striking exactly as she raised Ibara out of the way, the force of the blow wrenching Pyrrha's weapon out of her hand, and sending it spinning away.

Not even missing a beat, Ruby swiftly raised both swords over her head and brought them down to deliver the finishing blow. Pyrrha raised her hands in what _looked_ like a desperate attempt to ward off the inevitable. But her arms, with only her Aura to protect them, wouldn't stop Ruby from finishing her off. Bara and Ibara descended in unison...only to stop, just inches away from Pyrrha's outstretched hands.

Now it was Ruby's turn to gasp. Her swords had frozen in place, seized by...something...which held them fast and kept them from moving, no matter how much weight or muscle-power Ruby put into the effort. Then she noticed both her weapons were lined in some kind of black energy, a mysterious force holding them in check.

_What is this?_ wondered Ruby. However, the time to wonder swiftly passed as Pyrrha grunted, then shifted her arms, as though shoving against something. Ruby felt her weapons pushed back. A rippling wave of black washed out from Pyrrha's outstretched hands, and Ruby felt something seize her by her shoulders and hips and launch her away from her opponent. She landed, skidding on her back a few feet farther, before pushing off the ground and coming back up to her feet, holding both swords at the ready as she faced Pyrrha.

Pyrrha stood upright again, panting for breath, her bare skin shining beneath the lights, thanks to the sheen of sweat that covered her. Ruby's eyes narrowed as she began to piece together what Pyrrha had done. Pyrrha had used some kind of force to disrupt Ruby's attack. Ruby might have thought it was telekinesis, like Glynda's. However, Ruby then realized that the force Pyrrha had used had _only_ affected certain things.

Pyrrha had obviously used that power to stop Ruby's swords. However, when Ruby had been thrown away, the parts of her that had actually been affected by the power directly had been her shoulders and hips or, rather, the _armor_ on those parts of her body. The main thing her armor had in common with her swords was that..._They're metal! That power affects metal! It must be Pyrrha's Semblance, which means her power is...magnetism!_

Pyrrha continued to pant. Then, her serious expression faded as her lips stretched in a smile, excitement filling her eyes as she looked at Ruby. Holding her arms out to either side, Pyrrha opened her hands, the same black energy that she'd used earlier covering them. A low humming sound met Ruby's ears, then Milo and Akouo both lifted up from where they'd landed, flying through the air and directly into Pyrrha's outstretched hands. From there, Pyrrha dropped into her fighting stance, fully ready to resume the battle.

Seeing the look on Pyrrha's face, Ruby couldn't stop a smile from spreading across her own. Reaching up, she unclipped the straps that held the armor plates on her shoulders to her outfit, letting them clatter to the floor. Then she did the same with the plates over her skirt. Having divested herself of most of the metal components of her outfit, Ruby suspected she was now less susceptible to Pyrrha's Semblance, though Pyrrha could obviously still affect Ruby's swords.

_Well, I'll just have to make do,_ thought Ruby, sinking into a crouch, raising Bara over her head and holding Ibara out in front of her, both weapons leveled at Pyrrha.

* * *

Ruby and Pyrrha were so absorbed in their fight that neither had noticed that the stands had exploded into a cacophony of shocked chattering, as the revelation of Pyrrha's Semblance struck home.

"I can't believe it!" gasped Weiss. "Her Semblance is Polarity!"

"Correct," said Sasame.

"So _that's_ what you meant," said Jaune, thinking back to the hint Sasame had given him about Pyrrha's Semblance being more effective against people than Grimm. _I was caught up in thinking that Grimm had something that people lacked. But it's the other way around. People use weapons, wear armor...metal. _That's_ what Pyrrha's Semblance controls._

"No wonder she's acquired such a record," noted Ren. "A Semblance like that would make her a natural enemy of just about _any_ other person, unless they were the sort to fight completely unarmed."

"But why didn't anybody notice before?" asked Nora.

"Because she normally uses it so subtly," said Blake, her eyes wide. "I bet she's been using that Semblance in all her matches. She just normally uses it in such small increments that her opponents probably don't even realize she's affecting their weapons."

"That seems to be the case," said Sasame. "On top of that, by throwing her shield and having it rebound off surfaces, she can hide the fact that she's controlling the direction of the rebound directly, making it look as though she just calculates the course of her throw _that_ perfectly."

"And her opponents, and even the audience, are usually so focused on her, they don't realize that her shield doesn't slow down after hitting something...or that it can speed up afterwards," added Jaune.

"Wow, that's practically a cheat," commented Yang.

"But it's not," said Sasame. "It's Pyrrha-chan's brilliant, highly-refined skill. She must have trained extensively to use her Semblance on such a small scale, in the midst of a heated battle. Even though she now realizes what she's up against, Ruby-chan won't have an easy time, because Pyrrha-chan's skill isn't the sort that loses very much of its effectiveness, just because an opponent knows how it works. There isn't an easy counter for that kind of ability, save for removing as much metal as possible from your person. And, of course, if you rely on a weapon, it doesn't change the fact that you're still vulnerable."

Weiss glanced around the spectator seats, her attention drawn by raised voices. She could see other students talking animatedly with each other, some of them speaking in harsh tones or using angry gestures. _I wonder if anybody else appreciates how hard Pyrrha must have worked to master this._ She would guess that many of them hadn't.

* * *

Ruby's cloak flared around her, the girl spinning like a dervish as she approached Pyrrha, the crimson color of blades masked by the fluttering fabric, making it almost impossible to tell where the next attack would be coming from.

But Pyrrha's Semblance gave her an edge that most other people wouldn't enjoy. When she used it, she could feel the attraction and repulsion of the magnetic charges on all metal in her vicinity. Thus, even if she couldn't see where Ruby's blades were coming from, until the last second, she cold still _feel_ them. More to the point, she could still affect them.

Thus Pyrrha was able to perfectly deflect the flurry of slashes Ruby launched at her. Sensing a stronger strike coming, Pyrrha shifted slightly, dodging, rather than defending. At the same time, she slightly repelled the metal of Ruby's sword, just barely nudging it off-course and up over her head. Smiling eagerly, Pyrrha surged forward to strike...only to be stymied as Ruby used the momentum of her swing to launch her body into a spin that allowed her to bring her foot around, and clock Pyrrha in the side of the head.

Launched to the side, Pyrrha fell to the ground, bouncing, before managing to find her feet again. Ruby loomed above her, having already closed the distance between them again, both swords descending, aiming to strike before Pyrrha could get her weapons in position to defend in time.

A black wave rippled out from Pyrrha's body and Ruby's swords came to a halt. Ruby grimaced and struggled, Pyrrha locking the blades in place with her Polarity to keep them from moving easily. Normally, such an overt method was out of question for Pyrrha, seeing as she tried to keep her use of her Semblance subtle. However, now that Ruby had forced her to show her hand, Pyrrha saw no reason to stint on her full strength any longer.

Staying low, Pyrrha slashed across with Milo, aiming for Ruby's legs. However, Ruby surprised her once again. Hanging onto her swords, Ruby used the fact that Pyrrha's Semblance had locked them in place to her advantage, using them to pull her feet off the ground, lifting her legs so that Milo whistled harmlessly beneath them. Swinging on the still-immobile swords, Ruby swung forward to slam her feet right into Pyrrha's face again, blasting her over backwards.

Unfortunately for Ruby, landing that blow also broke Pyrrha's hold over her swords. Still suspended in the air, after her kick, Ruby dropped to the floor with a startled "Ouch!" Fortunately, she was better off than Pyrrha, and managed to get to her feet first. However, that accident also stopped her from following through, so Pyrrha was able to get back up before Ruby could close in again.

They charged each other once again. This time, Pyrrha didn't so much as throw her shield but drop it, only for her Semblance to take hold and send it whirling through the air on its own. Now that she was done hiding it, there was no need to disguise her skill by rebounding it off of the floor or barrier. Instead, it flew in tight, circular arcs, flying outside of Ruby's field of vision before rapidly returning on a curving course to attack her from offset angles, almost like an attack drone, rather than a basic weapon. At the same time, Pyrrha shifted Milo into javelin-mode and attacked from directly in front, spinning the weapon between her hands and using its spin and reach to launch slashing attacks from unpredictable angles. Ruby was forced to divide her attention, and her swords, fending off attacks from the shield and javelin at the same time. The pace of Akouo's attacks increased rapidly, the shield a bronze blur, outlined in black, whirling around her and attacking from every conceivable direction and angle.

Ruby herself was a blur, her red cloak whirling around her body, her swords practically streaks of light, moving independently to counter all attacks. However, she was now so hard-pressed that it was all she could do to maintain her defense.

Knocking Akouo away again, Ruby raised her opposite blade to counter the next slash from Pyrrha's javelin. Abruptly, however, her sword slowed a fraction of a second and Pyrrha's slash abruptly switched into a thrust as she drove it forward at Ruby. Gasping, Ruby retreated, barely managing to keep out of Milo's range as the blade of the javelin slid past her stymied sword.

As Ruby fell back, Pyrrha drew Milo back, reversing her grip on the javelin before jumping into the air and hurling it at Ruby, who brought her opposite blade around to parry. Milo struck with a ringing impact, rebounding right back into Pyrrha's hand. At the same time, Akouo returned, crashing into the side of Ruby's head hard enough for her to see stars.

Once again, Pyrrha closed in, Akouo attacking independently as she wielded Milo with her hands, both weapons pushing Ruby ferociously. Locked on the defensive, Ruby knew she was in trouble. There were still holes in Pyrrha's style, but Ruby knew she wasn't coordinated enough to fully take advantage of them.

It occurred to her that Pyrrha's skill with her Semblance was, in fact, more limited than she let on. While controlling her shield so completely, Pyrrha apparently didn't have the attention to spare on Ruby's weapons. In other words, prior to revealing the nature of her Semblance, the _other_ reason Pyrrha had limited Akouo to rebounds was to keep the shield flying in straight lines as much as possible, only briefly intervening with her Semblance to control the direction of rebound and impart speed. Doing so allowed Pyrrha to switch to using her Semblance on her opponent's weapon and armor.

In other words, the moment Akouo stopped flying on a controlled course and went into flight powered only by its momentum indicated the moment where Pyrrha shifted from using her Semblance on her shield to using it on Ruby's weapons. If she hadn't been so busy reacting, Ruby could have taken advantage of the minute opening that presented. But the ferocity of Pyrrha's offense kept Ruby on the back-foot.

_Fine then,_ thought Ruby, an even greater excitement welling up within her, _time to pull out all the stops!_

Pyrrha closed in from the front, while Akouo circled around from behind. Ruby turned to face both side-on. Throwing out her arms, she spread out her cloak to its maximum extent. The red garment abruptly flared outward, spreading out farther than it should have. Pyrrha gasped, seeing what she had always assumed to be fabric spread through the air, almost like a red membrane or..._Aura! Her cloak isn't fabric! It's a construct of her Aura! How is that even possible?_

Even as she marveled at the truth of Ruby's signature garment, Pyrrha also realized that it explained so many things: the way Ruby's cloak could be worn into ragged strips one day, but be completely whole the next, and the fact that she had never seen it when Ruby wasn't wearing it. It all made sense now.

However, Pyrrha's realization was abruptly tempered by an even greater shock as Ruby's cloak exploded with a thunderous boom, like the sound of a lightning strike, producing a shockwave of electrified air that drove Pyrrha back. Akouo, likewise, was blown away, Ruby's cloak igniting brilliantly in an explosion that almost completely blinded Pyrrha.

Landing on her back, Pyrrha quickly recovered, rolling back onto her feet. She squinted her eyes against the fading light and smoke raised by the explosion. When her vision cleared, Pyrrha's jaw dropped, hanging slack as she stared at the transfigured state of Ruby's cloak.

What had once appeared to be nothing more than red fabric now looked as though it had been woven from feathers...or petals...of pure energy, flickering with a scintillating array of reds, blues, and violets; forming feathery layers draping down from Ruby's shoulders and resting over her head. Sparks and crackling arcs danced off the transformed garment. Every few seconds, one or more of those broad, feathery petals would peel off and dance through the air. It was beautiful, one of the most amazing things Pyrrha had ever seen.

Pulling her jaw shut, Pyrrha clenched her teeth, then felt the muscles in her cheeks tighten, almost painfully, pulling her lips out in an eager smile, the feeling of excitement suffusing her so invigorating and intoxicating that she almost felt dizzy. Despite that, her vision was clear, and Pyrrha felt everything about herself and the world around her more keenly than she'd ever thought possible.

_This_ was what she wanted. This was what she'd been yearning for; a true challenge, an opponent capable of fighting her as an equal, one that could push her to her limits and force her to struggle for victory. Even though her stamina was almost at its limit, even though her body ached from all the blows she'd taken, Pyrrha had never felt more _alive_.

"_Tenyo no Hana,_" intoned Ruby, her tone almost solemn. "One way or another, this match will end in the next two minutes, Pyrrha."

"Fine by me," said Pyrrha, raising Milo.

* * *

**This chapter was one of those things where it's fun to write, but a beast to edit.**

**As for Ruby's sword...Well, _I_ thought it was clever. Granted, I really need to put more time into actually learning Japanese. At most, I took a couple of semesters in college, but that's about it. I've seen the whole thing where they work the kanji around, so that a word can sound like one thing, but actually mean another, based on how it's written, usually in some clever manner. That's also how a lot of puns work in Japanese. In this case, I'm not sure if it would be feasible. When I plugged "red thorn" into Google Translate, what came out was "akai toge", "toge" being one of the Japanese words for "thorn", ibara another. I went with ibara, but mashing it together with "aka" or "red" gave me Akaibara, which is actually the Japanese word for "red rose" (or one of them, at least). Thinking about it, I thought it was the perfect combination, even if it might not actually be correct Japanese, thus came the idea of Ruby's sword technically having two names, which reflects its ability to split in two.**

**As for the design, well, if you're a fan of _Samurai Deeper Kyo_ (which I note quite a few of my readers are not, admittedly), or if you read _Crimson Eyes_, you might recognize the design of the Hokuto Shichisei, one of Muramasa's four Demon Blades, and the sword that was used by Hayate, one of my OCs in _Crimson Eyes_. In SDK, the sword was destroyed. In _Crimson Eyes_, I handwaved that away by saying it was restored sometime later. But, in _this_ story, I opted to leave the Hokuto Shichisei as gone and lost, and have Murasame essentially recreate it anew, as a weapon for Ruby, because it was one of my favorite weapon concepts from SDK. When I opted to give Ruby a different background and, thusly, have her wind up with a different style, I figured on a sword, and latched onto this as the ideal way to make her stand out. The fact that it can, somewhat, transform by splitting into two, makes it fairly appropriate for a _RWBY_ story to my mind. Then, just as the Hokuto Shichisei's separate swords have their own distinct names, I gave Ruby's split swords theirs as well.**

**When it comes to writing RWBY fanfiction, the classic shorthand for showing "this character is a badass" is to have them fight Pyrrha, and figure out her Semblance on their own, usually after just a couple of exchanges. I've been guilty of that too, in some of my earlier stories that I never got around to publishing. Of course, the issue with that is that it's likely that Pyrrha's undoubtedly fought quite a few "badass" people in her time. She's been through four major tournaments after all. Yet, all indicators appear to point to the idea that no one, before Mercury at least, figured it out on their own, and Mercury likely only managed it _because_ his brief match with Pyrrha was about getting her number, rather than actually beating her.**

**To that end, it was a fun challenge to work out how someone would figure out Pyrrha's Semblance in the midst of a fight with her. For Ruby, at best, she's able to feel that something's "off" about how her weapon is moving. So, instead of immediately jumping to "Pyrrha's using magnetism," she's essentially forced to overwhelm Pyrrha to the point where Pyrrha has to use it overtly, only then are Ruby, and most everybody else, able to figure out the truth of Pyrrha's Semblance.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34:**

"What is _that_!?" exclaimed Weiss, rising out of her seat, gaping at the sight of Ruby's transformed cloak.

Sasame tittered. "Ruby-chan was hard-pressed enough that she decided to go for broke."

"You mean she was holding back the entire time?" asked Yang incredulously.

"Not holding back," said Sasame. "However, she wasn't originally prepared to play all the cards in her hand. _Tenyo no Hana_ isn't so much her trump card as it is a last resort, most of the time."

"Last resort?" asked Jaune worriedly.

"At present, the technique is still incomplete," said Sasame. "As you can see, Ruby-chan's cloak is actually a construct of manifested Aura. That is a rare skill, even amongst us Mibu. Ruby-chan's Manifestation is so complete that she doesn't even need to consciously maintain it any longer. What's more, in its inert state, it really is no different than a regular piece of clothing. It doesn't register as Aura to people's senses, so Ruby-chan can use Suppression without removing it.

"This technique ignites the Aura that her cloak is woven from, giving it potent offensive and defensive capabilities. It is virtually impenetrable to all but the strongest or sharpest attacks, yet also capable of unleashing its concentrated plasma on her targets."

"It sounds perfect," said Blake. "So why would it be a last resort?"

"Because it isn't stable," said Sasame. "It's based on a technique used by a teacher of Ruby-chan's friend. Keikoku can wreathe his body in fire to protect himself from attack in a similar manner. However, using such a technique burns through a person's Aura quickly. In Keikoku's case, he supports his Fire-Wall with an additional technique, which grants him an explosive increase in power in exchange for burning through his stamina rapidly. Ruby-chan's technique is similar, except she solidifies her lightning into a garment to enshroud her body."

"So, because Ruby doesn't use that support technique..." said Ren, cluing in to what Sasame was saying.

"She's burning up her Aura," said Nora.

Sasame nodded. "Indeed, although it's a bit more complicated than that. At her current Aura-level, Ruby-chan will burn out her Aura in about two minutes. If she can't defeat Pyrrha-chan by then, Ruby-chan will lose by default."

"So why doesn't she use the support technique that her teacher uses?" asked Jaune.

"Because Ruby-chan wants to be a Huntress," said Sasame. "A Huntress cannot afford to spend her stamina wastefully. So she wants to be able to use this technique without draining her stamina."

"But what good is it if she drains her Aura instead?" asked Weiss.

"_No_ good," said Sasame. "In its current state, this technique is incomplete. Ruby-chan wants to figure out how to stabilize it, so that she can maintain it without burning through her Aura. But that is easier said than done. Not using a support technique aside, lightning is much more unstable than fire is. It doesn't help that Ruby-chan wasn't formally taught lightning techniques."

"Why not?" asked Weiss.

"Because lightning-users are extremely rare within the Mibu," explained Sasame. "Lightning is not one of the Five Principle Styles that form the core of our clan's schools of Manifestation. Ruby-chan came across the basis for her lightning techniques by finding ancient scrolls, penned by a shinobi named Sarutobi Sasuke. She has yet to fully grasp the basis for those techniques, though she has managed to take what she's learned and put her own spin on it.

"Right now, this particular technique is unstable, so she has to continually feed her Aura into it to maintain it, which is why Ruby-chan hardly ever uses it outside of sparring matches and mock battles. In the real world, against the Grimm, that technique is a last resort, a move of desperation, when Ruby-chan can't afford to hold anything back. Although...in this particular case, it's actually an extravagance."

"Extravagance?" Weiss stared down at the flaming Ruby in confusion. A blazing cloak of pure Aura was hardly what she would consider an "extravagance."

"Yes," said Sasame with a laugh. "In this situation, it's a luxury, something for her to use when she can afford to put everything she has into fighting the opponent right in front of her, without needing to worry about what might come afterwards.

"What that ultimately means is that this battle has entered its final phase. Whatever the outcome, it will be within the next two minutes."

* * *

Ruby rushed forward at Pyrrha, pivoting off her foot as she did so, sending her body into a spin and flaring the crackling, petaled cloak out in front of her. Several of the petals of plasma that now made up the garment detached, flying at Pyrrha like comets.

Falling back, Pyrrha reached out desperately with her Semblance, calling her shield back to her left arm, barely managing to recover it in time to stop one of the bolts that would have hit her directly. It exploded with enough force to jolt her arm and rock her body back, while sending a painful jolt down her arm. Her body was rocked by additional shockwaves as the other petals struck the floor around her and exploded.

Riding the force of those explosions, Pyrrha jumped upwards into the air. It proved to be the right decision as Ruby whirled through the space she'd occupied before, lightning-wreathed swords slicing and crackling through the air where Pyrrha had just been. Releasing her hold on her shield, she used her Semblance to suspend it in mid-air, then used it as a platform to kick off of, launching herself back down faster than gravity could draw her down. She flew over Ruby's back, slashing with Milo in sword-mode as she passed. However, her blade glanced off Ruby's cloak, the deceptively soft-looking petals having the hardness and strength of steel scales. Even that brief contact sent another painful jolt down Pyrrha's arm.

Touching down, Pyrrha reversed course, and launched a full attack on Ruby's back, aiming to break through her defense and cut away her remaining Aura. However, each of the three slashes she launched simply glanced off the cloak, with more electric shocks rushing along the blade of Pyrrha's weapon, and into her hand. Through her Semblance, Pyrrha felt the pushing sensation of the magnetic charge of one of Ruby's swords as it pierced through the feathers of her cloak, stabbing right for Pyrrha's stomach. Pyrrha used her semblance to slow down Ruby's backwards thrust, even as she retreated, barely managing to escape out of the sword's reach in time.

However, a portion of the energy that made up Ruby's cloak abruptly flowed down the length of her sword, twisting and twining along its length, before shooting off of its tip and blasting into Pyrrha's stomach, launching her back. Pyrrha skidded to a stop, nearly tripping over the broken and cratered surface of the ring, while Ruby followed through, whirling in, attacking with her swords, which merged almost completely with the hem of her cloak to produce flashing slashes that seared and scorched away parts of Pyrrha's Aura, even when Pyrrha blocked or dodged them.

Calling Akouo back to her left arm, Pyrrha fell back, defending as best she could. In a sense, she had the advantage. Even without Ruby's statement earlier, Pyrrha could tell that Ruby was burning out. In a sense, this technique had a similar weakness to Yang's Semblance, which Pyrrha had observed during some of Yang's previous matches. Letting this technique run its course would burn out Ruby's Aura, leaving Pyrrha the winner...if she could just hold out for the time it took Ruby to run out of Aura.

Of course, that was assuming she _could_ hold out that long. Ruby's attacks were fierce, and did damage, even when they didn't make direct contact. Worse still, whenever Pyrrha's own attacks struck that cloak, the concentrated electricity merged with it sent electric jolts running down Pyrrha's own weapon and into her body, ensuring that Pyrrha paid for each attack she landed. Just being in Ruby's vicinity was beginning to become a challenge, as the heat released by the cloak warmed the air through convection, turning the sparring ring into a giant oven...with Pyrrha practically right up against the heating element.

_I need time and distance,_ thought Pyrrha, realizing, of course, that those were the last things Ruby would give her. Still, she had to try. This was the do-or-die moment of the match. Falling another step back, Pyrrha flipped her grip on Milo, switching to its rifle mode just in time to angle the barrel upwards and fire a shot right for the sole visible vulnerable spot Ruby had right now, her face, visible through the opening of the cloak.

However, without breaking stride, Ruby turned slightly, shifting her head and shoulders around so that Pyrrha's shot glanced off the feathered layers of her hood instead. In the same move, she swept Bara up in her left hand, the lightning-lined blade striking the barrel of Pyrrha's rifle. The electric jolt that ran through Pyrrha's weapon prompted a spasm from her hand. The combination of switching her grip, followed by the recoil of the rapid shot that followed, combined with the shock of Ruby's attack, was enough to knock it free, throwing the weapon up into the air. Now Pyrrha only had her shield to block with. Not wanting to give Pyrrha a chance to throw it, Ruby charged straight in.

Desperately, Pyrrha threw out her right hand, fingers spread, as she put the full force of her Semblance into stopping Ruby's blades, repelling them with all the power she was capable of. This would bring Ruby to a stop, and give her a chance to counter, then recover Milo.

But Ruby shocked her by doing the last thing Pyrrha expected...letting go. At the exact instant she felt Pyrrha's Semblance begin to repel her blades, Ruby relinquished her hold on them, allowing them to be blown back behind her, the two swords spinning through the air to land outside the ring on the opposite side, piercing into the floor and standing upright.

Recovering from her shock, just in time, Pyrrha raised her shield, interposing it directly between herself and Ruby being her only resort at this point. There was nothing left for her to repel. Time itself seemed to slow down as she watched Ruby's hands rise up. Intense plasma swirling off her cloak and winding down her arms. At the same time, Pyrrha noticed Ruby's cloak getting shorter, as the energy that made it up was fed into her attack. Pyrrha realized that the electric current produced by Ruby's strike would be conducted right through Akouo, threatening to electrocute Pyrrha, even if she wasn't knocked out of the ring. Pyrrha realized that Ruby was putting the last dregs of her Aura into this technique. She probably intended to leave herself just enough that she didn't cross the threshold into the critical zone. More importantly, by consuming her cloak, Ruby's attack was also stripping away her protection.

Because of that, Pyrrha saw her chance. Even as she braced her shield against the oncoming attack, she reached out with her Semblance to Milo, which was still flying upwards through the air, reaching the arc of its flight. Manipulating it, Pyrrha triggered its functions, switching it into javelin-mode.

Ruby's lead foot stepped down on the floor with enough force that the hard surface cracked, and Pyrrha felt the impact through her own feet, coming to a complete stop as Ruby transferred all of her forward momentum into her hands. The palms of Ruby's hands slammed into the surface of Pyrrha's shield, the plasma Projecting outwards with incredible force.

As a last resort, almost without thinking, Pyrrha channeled her Semblance through her shield, willing it to repel whatever of Ruby that she could, be it something as small as a few coins in her pocket. However, to Pyrrha's surprise, the plasma of Ruby's attack was repelled instead, the energy and the magnetic force Pyrrha channeled out through her shield caused the two to push away from one another. However, Ruby was braced, and the magnetic field only affected the energy of her attack. Pyrrha, on the other hand, found her own defensive effort repelling _herself_ backwards.

Pyrrha felt her feet leave the surface of the ring, and she was blown backwards through the air with such speed that she knew she wouldn't touch down inside the arena. One way or another, she was on her way out. If her last trick didn't work, she would lose. _Please, make it in time!_

In the air above and behind Ruby, Milo whirled about, the tip of its blade orienting like a compass needle, aiming right for an exposed portion of Ruby's torso. Finally, Pyrrha pulled the trigger, firing the rifle and using the recoil to make the javelin accelerate downwards explosively. Ruby, having concentrated on her attack, had let her guard down and didn't realize that Milo was coming, until the crack of the rifle-shot reached her ears. By then it was too late.

Several things happened at once. Pyrrha's flight took her out past the boundary of the ring, her back slamming into the safety barrier, the energy she'd repelled away and herself away from seeming to engulf her in a cloud of sparks, though her shield staved off enough of them to save her Aura. At the same time, Milo pierced down. Ruby shifted her body at the last second, but the javelin's blade still found its mark on her side, cutting past her to sink into the arena floor as Ruby collapsed to the side. Over all of that, the buzzer sounded, announcing the end of the match.

The sparks dispersed, and Pyrrha slumped to her knees, gasping for breath.

Ruby remained where she was, sprawled out on the floor, panting as well, her Aura flickering, crackling, and finally dispersing.

A shocked silence descended over the arena So enthralled was most of the audience by the outcome that words had deserted them entirely. Almost as one, they all leaned forward, watching and waiting with bated breath for the outcome.

Ruby grunted and began to force herself up, feeling certain that she'd just lost. Across from her, Pyrrha made a similar noise and tried to stand, though her shaking legs gave out and she sank back down onto one knee again. Like Ruby, Pyrrha was certain that she'd just lost, sure that she'd left the ring before her last-ditch attack had hit home.

There was a faint crackle as the barrier came down, followed by the click of Glynda's heels as the professor walked out into the ring, carefully stepping over the broken pieces of the floor as she strode out between the girls, her eyes still fixed on her scroll, disbelief written across the professor's face. "The match...is a draw."

_"__What the hell?"_

_"__How is that even possible?"_

A twitch of her eyelid was the sole visible expression of Glynda's irritation as she turned to address the exclamations. "As unlikely as it is, such a result is possible. The systems are calibrated so that it can be assessed to within a tenth of a second which of the end-round conditions were met first. To summarize, Ms. Nikos left the ring and Ms. Rose lost the remainder of her Aura so close together as to be simultaneous to our system, thus...a draw."

Commotion exploded across the spectator seats as the students talked frantically with one another, discussing the match outcome. Glynda's eyebrow twitched again. "Quiet!"

The conversation stopped in an instant and a tense hush fell over the audience.

"Thank you," said Glynda, with an annoyed sigh. "You may chatter as much as you like after class, but right now, you need to be focused on the participants, and what you can learn from their match."

Glynda turned back to Pyrrha and Ruby, both of whom had been completely frozen in their tracks by the announcement of the draw, neither of them knowing what to make of this outcome. Then Ruby sighed tiredly and slumped a little, the tattered remnants of her red cloak dissolving into petals and drifting away before disappearing completely. Hearing a snort from Pyrrha, Ruby blinked and looked up to see Pyrrha smiling at her. A second later, Ruby smiled back.

It was such a ridiculous outcome, such a silly way for their match to end, that neither of them could completely restrain their mirth. Soon, they were both laughing softly. Normally, Glynda would have demanded their silence and attention so that she could provide her assessment of their performance. However, out of respect for their spectacular match, she let them laugh themselves out of the tense atmosphere they had been in earlier, figuring that they had earned this small respite.

After a minute, their laughter trailed off. Blinking, they slowly turned and blushed when they realized that Glynda had been watching them the whole time.

"That was an excellent match, both of you," said Glynda frankly. "You both surpassed my wildest expectations. However, that does not mean that there is not room for improvement."

She turned to Ruby. "Ms. Rose, your swordsmanship is excellent, and your use of lightning is, likewise, superb. However, it seems you still mostly regard those aspects of your style as separate disciplines. If you want to advance, you must determine a way to integrate them together. I also suspect that I do not need to tell you how unfeasible that last technique you used would be in a real-world situation."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruby, bowing her head slightly. "Thank you."

Glynda gave Ruby the smallest of smiles before turning to regard Pyrrha. "Ms. Nikos, your use of your Semblance is brilliantly refined. However, now that your hand has been shown, I'm sure you are aware that it is probably time to consider new applications for it. There are no issues with your control. However, it is clear that you are inexperienced in how to wield such a Semblance in a more overt manner."

"Thank you, Professor," said Pyrrha, also bowing her head.

Glynda nodded. "Do either of you need help standing?"

"Uh..." Ruby gathered her strength and pushed herself up with her legs. They strained and she wobbled unsteadily. However, she managed to maintain her balance and remain standing. "I'm good."

"I'm fine as well," said Pyrrha, standing up with a bit more ease.

Ruby looked down beside her and saw Pyrrha's javelin, anchored into the floor behind her. Grabbing the shaft, she gently pulled it out and carefully tossed it over to Pyrrha, who caught it with a grateful smile. Walking over, Pyrrha helped support Ruby as she hobbled over to where her swords had landed. Smiling apologetically at her weapons, Ruby pulled them out of the ground and rejoined the swords together, before sheathing them behind her.

"Now then...I will be a while repairing the ring," said Glynda, looking at the destruction around her. "You may talk amongst yourselves for the time being. When I am done I expect you all to quiet down. I suspect that, by the time I finish, we shall have time for just one more match."

Drawing her riding crop, Glynda flicked it in authoritative gestures, the chunks and pieces of the broken ring flying together and merging, cracks vanishing as though it had never been broken in the first place.

* * *

"She made the same observations I did," noted Sasame, watching Glynda. "She's a fine teacher."

"Yeah, Professor Goodwitch may be strict, but she knows her stuff," said Yang.

"It's incredible," said Weiss. "I never imagined that anyone could fight Pyrrha to a draw."

"That's my Ruby-chan," said Sasame proudly. "And she'll only get better from here on out. Then again, so will Pyrrha-chan. Those two will become excellent rivals, and push one another to greater heights."

_Now, if only a certain someone could understand her potential._ She glanced back to the back of the room, behind the furthest row of seats. Taiyang Xiao Long had been standing there only a moment ago. But he had vanished now. Sasame sensed a faint trace of his Aura leading out of the room, and down towards the locker room._ Oh dear..._

* * *

Pyrrha supported Ruby as they made their way out of the ring, heading to the hallway that led to the adjacent locker room. With a gesture of her hand, Pyrrha used her Semblance to call the discarded pieces of Ruby's armor to her. Even though she could stand on her own, Ruby figured she might need Pyrrha's help to reach the spectator seats. While Pyrrha put Milo and Akouo away, Ruby strapped her armor back onto her shoulders and hips. When she finished, she saw Pyrrha looking at her...oddly.

"What's up?" she asked.

Pyrrha blinked, then her cheeks turned pink and she smiled awkwardly. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "It's just...it seems so _odd_ to see you without your cloak."

"Yeah," said Ruby forlornly. "I feel kinda...uh...underdressed without it. I won't have enough Aura to remake it until I get a good night's sleep though."

"I never imagined that your cloak was like that, though," said Pyrrha. "I mean...making your Aura into a garment. I can't believe such techniques exist."

"Aura can do a lot more than people think," said Ruby. "That's what I've been wanting to show all of you."

Pyrrha nodded. "I really _am_ beginning to look forward to learning what I might really be able to do if I apply myself."

"I'm looking forward to it too," said Ruby.

Suddenly, Ruby jerked, feeling a stinging sensation between her shoulder blades, as though she'd been jabbed with a needle. Whirling around, she saw Taiyang standing at one of the other entrances of the locker room, the one that led up to the spectator seating. She'd been so engrossed in her match with Pyrrha that she'd completely forgotten her father was even here. Now he was standing there, the stubborn set of his jaw indicating that he was _not_ happy. Ruby got the feeling that Taiyang was not there to grudgingly admit that he'd been wrong about her, and "reluctantly" allow her to remain at Beacon (despite it not being his decision to make).

"What?" she asked tersely, leaning back a little on the bench she'd been resting on.

"You didn't win," said Taiyang plainly.

"Nope," said Ruby with a disappointed sigh. It wasn't that she was bitter about the outcome. But she really _had_ been fighting to win, so it was a little discouraging. "Still...I'll just have to get better." She threw a confident smile Pyrrha's way. "I'll win next time."

"There's not going to _be_ a next time," said Taiyang. "Did you forget about our bet?"

"Huh?" blurted Pyrrha in confusion, looking back and forth between father and daughter.

"You didn't win, so you're coming home with me," growled Taiyang, striding towards Ruby.

_So _that's_ what he was so smug about earlier,_ thought Ruby. It seemed strange that Taiyang had looked so satisfied. After she'd turned his offer down the previous night, he'd apparently seen her acceptance of Pyrrha's challenge as her changing her mind, which was beyond stupid.

"No I'm not," Ruby said, a growl entering her own voice. "I didn't take your stupid bet, remember? I didn't take it because I don't need to. If you don't want me here, that's your problem. But I'm not going anywhere."

"But you accepted her challenge," protested Taiyang.

"Yeah, because I was going to do that anyway," answered Ruby. "Her challenge had nothing to do with your stupid bet, and me accepting the match didn't mean I changed my mind about not taking it."

"For God's sake!" exclaimed Taiyang. "I thought you'd realize by now that this isn't for you, Ruby. Look at what a mess you are. You should realize just how dangerous and painful this is."

"That's right," said Ruby. "I hurt all over. But, guess what. I'm fine with it. I'd do it all over again." She smirked. "In fact I plan to. I'm not going to leave this as a draw."

"You're going to have to," said Taiyang. "You don't belong at Beacon. If you're too shortsighted to see that after what happened today, then I don't have any choice but to do this the hard way. One way or another, you're coming home with me."

"Like hell I am!" snapped Ruby. "I'm not going anywhere with you, you deluded jerk!"

Taiyang snarled wordlessly and stalked across the remaining distance between them. Reaching out, he clamped his hand around Ruby's right forearm, his hand closing like a steel vice. Ruby grunted and grimaced, a nervous sweat breaking out across her forehead. She'd completely burned out her Aura in her match with Pyrrha. Without that, there was no way she could resist her father, a trained Huntsman, no matter how long it had been since he'd started taking active missions.

"Get up!" shouted Taiyang, pulling Ruby's arm hard enough to send a jolt of pain down her shoulder, making her cry out.

"Let go of her!" shouted Pyrrha, rushing at them. However, she was caught off-guard when Taiyang snapped his free arm out, slamming the back of his fist into Pyrrha's face, knocking her clean off her feet and sending her flying a short distance, before she hit the floor and slid right back into the door of her locker.

"Stay out of this!" shouted Taiyang.

A whisper of steel reached Taiyang's ear, and he suddenly felt a chill at his neck. His eyes went back to Ruby, who was glaring at him, her silver eyes shining with pure, unadulterated rage. The second Taiyang's fist had made contact with Pyrrha's face, Ruby's free hand had gone to her sword and drawn it. Now the edge of Akaibara's crimson blade rested right up against his jugular. Taiyang swallowed nervously, feeling his Aura part before the sword's seemingly supernaturally-sharp edge.

A secret Ruby hadn't imparted to her friends was that, for the most part, when fighting other people Ruby didn't use her Aura to enhance the sharpness of her blades, she used her Aura to _blunt_ them. Akaibara's own Aura enhanced the sword's edge on its own to such an extent that, if Ruby didn't use her own Aura to sheathe the blades themselves, she could severely injure her opponents with frightening ease. It was a technique that she had put a great deal of time and effort into refining, to ensure it _never_ slipped. Of course, now that she had _no_ Aura herself, Akaibara's own Aura made it all that much more of a threat.

"Touch her..." hissed Ruby, "...touch _any_ of my friends like that again, and I'll make you regret it in Hell."

"Ruby, drop it," commanded Taiyang, putting all his fatherly authority into his tone. "You're not allowed to have weapons."

"I don't give a flying _fuck_ what you do and don't allow!" snarled Ruby, almost making Taiyang cut himself on her sword with the surprised jolt that ran through his body at her use of such intense profanity. "You don't get a say in this anymore. Now let go of my arm...or I'm cutting yours off."

Taiyang's eyes darted to Akaibara, then back to Ruby's eyes as he contemplated striking, and trying to knock her sword out of her grip.

"Try it," hissed Ruby, sensing his intention.

Swallowing again, Taiyang reluctantly released Ruby's arm and stepped back away from her. Ruby remained where she was, her sword still leveled at him. "Are you okay?" she called, not taking her eyes off her father.

"I...I'll be all right," said Pyrrha, forcing herself up by practically climbing up the door of her locker.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at Taiyang. "Get out of my sight. Go back to your stupid little house on Patch, and never come back."

"No," growled Taiyang, clenching his hands into fists. "I'm not going back without you."

"I'm sick of this," growled Ruby.

"Ruby, you don't have what it takes," said Taiyang earnestly. "That's why I made that bet in the first place. By now you should understand that you can't handle this kind of life. You might _think_ you're doing well, but there's no way your opponent was taking you seriously."

"Of course she was," growled Ruby.

"That's not possible," said Taiyang. "No one in their right mind would go all-out against a frail little girl like you."

The next thing he knew, Taiyang's head snapped to the side, his cheek stinging from the force of Pyrrha's slap. She'd put all her remaining strength and Aura into the blow, generating enough force to stagger the powerfully-built man, in spite of her fatigue.

"How dare you...?" hissed Pyrrha, her emerald eyes sparkling with fury. "Don't you dare insult me or Ruby by suggesting that I didn't take our match seriously. I put everything I had into that match. I put more than I _knew_ I had into that match. Ruby Rose is my friend and my biggest rival, and I refuse to let you belittle everything we poured our hearts and souls into."

"Y-you can't be serious," stammered Taiyang, his hand covering his still-throbbing cheek. "I know who you are. Do you expect me to believe that the legendary Pyrrha Nikos could really be forced into a draw?"

"I was," said Pyrrha. "Don't you dare suggest I didn't take this match seriously. The entire reason I'm a champion at all is because I always take my opponents seriously, no matter _who_ they are, no matter what their skill-level might be. I refuse to underestimate them. That includes Ruby. She's the first person to push me so hard since I was still in training. I won't let you take her away, not when there's so much I can learn from her."

"SHUT UP!" roared Taiyang. The force of his anger alone made Pyrrha take a hesitant step backwards. "You're _not_ a member of this family! You have no right to talk about what doesn't involve you!"

Pyrrha swallowed, but firmed her resolve and stepped forward again. "You're trying to drag my teammate and our team leader away from us. That involves me."

"It involves _us_ too."

The sound of Jaune's voice drew everyone's attention to the door. It wasn't just Jaune, but Weiss and Team RYNB as well. Sasame stood at the front, the expression on her face pleasantly cheerful, but the Aura of anger and malice radiating from her anything but.

"My my," said Sasame. "So...you tried to use whether or not she could defeat one of the top students in her class as the basis for whether or not Ruby-chan is suited to be here, Xiao Long-san. It's clear that, even should Ruby-chan have won, you still wouldn't have accepted it. You'd move the goalposts as far as possible to justify taking her back with you."

Taiyang growled. However, while he was focused on Sasame, Ruby's friends had all moved past him and assembled between him and Ruby, with Yang standing behind Ruby, resting encouraging hands on her shoulders.

"You might pretend this doesn't involve us," said Weiss firmly. "But Ruby Rose is the leader of our team and an irreplaceable part of it. Team Raspberry isn't complete without her, so we refuse to allow you to take her away."

"Weiss," whispered Ruby, her eyes beginning to tear up to hear the girl who had once been so vehemently opposed to her presence and leadership now defending her so earnestly.

"This is absurd!" snapped Taiyang, turning to glare at the students. "Yang, talk some sense into your sister."

"No," said Yang firmly.

"What?" gasped Taiyang, shocked by Yang's sudden defiance.

"I'm not going to 'talk sense' into Ruby," said Yang, smiling down at Ruby from behind. "She's already talked sense into _me_. I'm not going to stand in her way any longer. In fact, I'm going to do everything I can to support her."

"Y-you...how could you?" growled Taiyang. His eyes narrowed. "After what you've done, how dare you support Ruby putting herself in danger like this? You'd like for her to get herself killed, wouldn't you? You don't care about her. You never have."

"Of course I care about her," said Yang, though her smile faded and Ruby could sense Yang trembling through her grip on Ruby's shoulders.

"Don't lie to me!" snapped Taiyang. "You've never really cared about her safety. That's why you were so willing to drag her into the forest on that stupid quest of yours-"

The next thing Taiyang knew, a small, but powerful fist slammed into his cheek, snapping his head around, the force of the punch knocking him to the floor. Ruby stood over him, her fist clenched and held at the ready after punching him. Her Aura flared around her body, almost like an outline of her missing cloak. Behind her, her friends stared at her in shock. Her Aura had been completely drained just a second ago.

"Shut the fuck up!" hissed Ruby, glaring at her father. "You don't get to say a damn thing about what Yang did back then. The reason she went off like that was because of _you_! While she was taking care of me, you were busy getting drunk and acting like a sad sack of shit, because Mom was gone. Unlike you, Yang actually had the strength to get over it and do the right thing. So don't you dare hold that over her, you fucking hypocrite."

"Ruby...I...I was..." stammered Taiyang.

"I'm sick of hearing you use Mom's death as an excuse!" snapped Ruby. "Yang and I were hurt too. But Yang got over it. She stepped up and took care of me, while you just kept on going. You didn't do shit, because you thought your feelings, your pain were the only things that mattered. You didn't care about what anyone else felt, you only ever thought about yourself.

"Even now, it's all you're thinking about. You don't actually care what's right or what's best for me. You just want what makes you feel better about yourself. Well, I'm sick of being nice. I did everything Sasame-nee suggested, gave you every chance to look past your own nose. But there's no point. I don't see you as my father anymore and...I don't think I ever will. Go back to your stupid little house on Patch and don't bother us again."

Sasame folded her arms and sighed sadly. "Very harsh, Ruby-chan. But I can't really disagree with you this time. At this point, Xiao Long-san is not a suitable father for either of you girls."

Taiyang staggered to his feet. "I've heard ENOUGH!" he barked. "Ruby, I'm taking you home if I have to beat every student in this school to a pulp to do it."

"That won't be necessary," said Sasame, drawing Taiyang's attention back to her. "I'm sure Beacon's faculty would be more than willing to show you the door, Xiao Long-san. However, I will save them some extra work, and subdue you myself."

Taiyang growled and turned to fully face Sasame, cracking his knuckles. "You know, I've spent the last couple of days thinking about how to pay you back for taking my daughter away from me. I'll show you what happens to people who meddle with my little girl."

Sasame frowned. "Honestly," she sighed, "you disappoint me, Xiao Long-san. For someone so obsessively concerned with Ruby-chan's safety, it's unsettling to see that you're so oblivious to _danger_." She brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles in the same manner that Taiyang had. "If getting disciplined with just my tail wasn't enough, perhaps it's time for you to see what happens when I use my _hands_."

Growling furiously, Taiyang stalked forward. However, before he could even think about attacking, Sasame suddenly blurred into motion, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. She raised her right first, preparing to unleash a straightforward punch. Taiyang's eyes widened, and a horrified gasp escaped his throat.

Sasame's fist should have looked comically small to him. It was a fist the size of a child's. Yet, as she approached, to his mind's eye, it seemed to swell in size, until it was bigger than his entire body, her approaching knuckles carrying the absolute premonition...of _death_. Taiyang froze in place, every sense in his body telling him that his life was about to end, right then and there.

He blinked and, suddenly, he found Sasame's fist, looking like its normal size, hovering just beyond the tip of his nose. Sasame had raised herself up on her tail to put her face and fist at the level of Taiyang's face. Seeing him come back to his senses, and the sheen of terrified sweat that had broken out over his skin, Sasame smiled teasingly. Inching her fist forward, she lightly tapped it against the tip of his nose. "Boop."

There was a sensation, almost like a spark of static electricity, that passed between them. Abruptly, Taiyang felt as though something was winding its way through his body. His Aura was pulled inwards, and black, chain-like marks stretched across his skin, making his muscles seize up. Quivering, Taiyang dropped to the floor, unable to move at all.

"Wha-what did you do?" he gasped.

"I sealed your Aura and fettered your body," said Sasame cheerfully. "You'll be able to move under your own power in a few hours. But you will not have access to your Aura for the next two weeks. I suggest you use that time to reflect on just how your foolishness has cost you."

"I won't forget this!" snarled Taiyang.

"I imagine not," said Sasame. "But I don't mind either way. Now, we just need to inform the faculty and have you removed."

"That will not be necessary," announced Glynda as she came through the arena entrance. "I wondered why so many of my students had left the stands. Mr. Xiao Long, your behavior has proven to be unacceptably disruptive. You will be off Beacon grounds before the day is out, and your visitation rights will be revoked. If you attempt to set foot on campus again, you will be arrested, turned over to the authorities in Vale, and charged with trespassing."

Ignoring Taiyang's shouted protests, Glynda turned her stern gaze on her students. "All of you should return to your seats. There is one match remaining today and any of you, save Ms. Rose and Ms. Nikos, might be challenged. In the meantime, Mr. Xiao Long shall be dealt with."

The students nodded and turned, also ignoring Taiyang's shouts as he strained and struggled against the bonds Sasame had implanted in his body, only managing to weakly flop like a landed fish. Sasame lingered slightly, meeting Glynda's eyes and giving her a sunny smile, before following in their wake.

Glynda watched them go, before looking down at Taiyang and sighing in disappointment.

* * *

Ruby reached the bottom of the stairs before she staggered, nearly pitching forward onto her face. Jaune saved her at the last second by catching her shoulders. "Owwwww..." Ruby groaned. "My head..."

"Are you okay?" asked Jaune, trying to keep her steady, noting that the Aura that had been swirling around her when she'd punched her father had quickly dissipated.

"She will be," said Sasame. "As power born from the spirit, Aura is responsive to strong emotions. Ruby-chan's anger drew forth extra power in that moment. However, there is always a price for going beyond your limits like that. The strain has left her fatigued...and with a nasty migraine."

Reaching up, Sasame enveloped her hand with her pink Aura, and gently brushed it across Ruby's brow, her touch sweeping the throbbing sensation out of Ruby's skull. "Thanks, Sasame-nee," said Ruby softly.

"You're welcome," said Sasame, before nodding to Jaune. "Let's get you seated."

Jaune smiled and gently hefted Ruby up in his arms, carrying her up the steps. He blushed slightly to see the odd looks the other students in their class gave him as he carried Ruby to her seat and settled her as best he could, Ruby sighing with relief and leaning against him as he sat down next to her.

"Thanks for coming for me," Ruby said to her friends.

"We're glad to," said Ren, giving Ruby a warmer smile than usual.

Down below, they saw Glynda stride out to the floor and look around, asking who wanted to volunteer for the next match, pointedly ignoring Cardin's raised hand and instead picking another student.

* * *

Following the intense match, Ruby and Pyrrha were almost too tired to concentrate on their homework. Still, they kept at it doggedly, with Weiss doing more than usual to help them through the difficult sections. By the time they finished, the two former combatants were barely able to keep their eyes open.

Shortly before dinner, Ruby was abruptly surprised by a call on her scroll. Pulling it out, she realized that she was receiving a call from Ashley. "Uh...Hello?"

"_Ruby!_" exclaimed Ashley over the line. "_I can't believe it! You're incredible!_"

"Huh?"

Ashley didn't even seem to hear Ruby's confused response as she began to babble excitedly. "_That was the most awesome thing I ever saw. I didn't realize you were so amazing!_"

"Wait! What? What are you talking about?" Ruby asked, feeling dizzy and out of her depth.

"_Your match with Pyrrha, silly,_" said Ashley excitedly. "_It's all over the net. I heard it was even livestreamed. I wish I could have seen that, but I was in class when it happened._"

"My...match...you saw it?" Ruby almost felt as though Ashley was speaking in an unknown language.

"_You didn't know?_" asked Ashley, seeming to calm slightly in the face of Ruby's confusion.

"Know what?" asked Ruby.

"_When you were fighting Pyrrha, a bunch of students in your class were recording it on their scrolls," said Ashley. "The videos are being posted all over the net, and shared all across the world. You're gonna be famous, the girl who fight the Goddess of Victory to a draw._"

"Huuuuuuuuuh?!" Ruby's cheeks were practically on fire and she felt lightheaded and dizzy.

Her friends watched the exchange with interest. Jaune and Pyrrha, who'd been sitting next to her on either side, managed to hear both sides of the exchange, as did Blake, whose sharper sense of hearing was able to pick it up from a slight distance. Jaune and Pyrrha both went to their scrolls and began to go through video-sharing sites on the net. It only took them a matter of seconds to uncover the videos that Ashley was talking about.

"What's going on?" asked Yang, coming to look over their shoulders. She gasped as she saw the videos that had been posted to the web.

"Ashley's right," said Jaune, glancing through search results. "Ruby and Pyrrha's fight is all over the place. There's half a dozen articles on it already."

Hearing this, the other students pulled out their scrolls and began to conduct searches of their own. The videos recorded by their classmates were appearing, not just on video sites, but on blogs and even Dust-net news sites all over. With each second they spent searching, they found more and more.

"Oh dear..." said Pyrrha nervously. Opening one article, she realized that it wasn't just the outcome of the match that was making headlines. The revelation of her Semblance to the world at large was creating waves too.

"_Ruby...are you okay?_" asked Ashley, worried about Ruby's rather…unusual…response to finding out she'd suddenly become famous worldwide.

"Uh...Sort of..." Ruby blinked. "I just...I didn't think...I mean...Pyrrha just wanted a match. I didn't think it would turn into something this big."

"_I...I'm sorry,_" said Ashley. "_I figured you'd know already. I didn't mean to blindside you._"

"It's...all right," said Ruby. "I just really wasn't expecting it."

"_Well...um...we can talk about it the next time we get together,_" said Ashley.

"Uh...sure," said Ruby. "I'm not sure when would be good. I don't want to make you leave work early again."

"_We'll think of something,_" said Ashley. "_We can talk later._"

"Okay," said Ruby, smiling despite her nervousness over what she'd just learned.

"_Bye,_" said Ashley.

"Bye," Ruby said back, before hanging up.

"Everything okay?" asked Yang, looking at her sister worriedly.

"I...I'm not sure," admitted Ruby, staring down at the table. "When I agreed to fight Pyrrha, I didn't think it would turn into something this...big."

"Honestly, I wasn't thinking about that either," admitted Pyrrha shyly. "It didn't even occur to me that some of the students might be recording our match."

"Ashley said they were even livestreaming it," said Ruby, "whatever that means."

"Well, I wouldn't worry too much about it," said Yang with cheerful confidence. "I'm sure it'll all blow over."

"I'm not so sure," said Weiss. "Pyrrha Nikos is world-famous, and she's practically a household name in Mistral. There may be serious repercussions, if her image is damaged as a result of this match."

"Why?" asked Nora. "What's the big deal if she's fought to a draw?"

"Because people have built up an image of her in their minds as the Invincible Girl," said Weiss. "When people put someone up on a pedestal like that...they can become quite volatile, when that image of perfection is damaged in some way."

Pyrrha sighed, staring down, though everyone noted that she was looking considerably paler, all of a sudden.

Jaune wrapped a warm arm around Ruby's shoulders, pulling her against him, his presence comforting to her. With his other hand, he reached across Ruby and rested it over Pyrrha's hands. "Don't worry," he said firmly. "Whatever else, we've all got your backs on this. We know for a fact that it doesn't matter to the teachers what crazy crap gets spread around on the net. They're only going to judge us on how we perform here."

"You're right," said Pyrrha, looking up and smiling at Jaune, a bit of her color returning.

Ruby's stomach growled and she blushed slightly as her friends laughed. "I guess it's time for dinner," she said nervously. Despite that, she didn't budge from her seat.

"Ruby? Everything okay?" asked Yang.

"It's just...I get the feeling everyone is gonna be staring at us," said Ruby with a sigh. She still remembered the first few days of their time at Beacon, where almost all eyes had gone to Pyrrha whenever she entered any room. Just being caught on the fringes of all that concentrated attention had been nerve-wracking enough. The idea of being the focus of it...Ruby shuddered. It was no wonder Pyrrha had wanted to distance herself from her fame.

To her surprise though, Jaune grinned. "Actually, I've got an idea," he said. "Why don't you two head back to the dorm and relax?"

"Relax?" asked Pyrrha, sharing a confused look with Ruby.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "Take your showers, get your pajamas on, take the evening off. Don't worry about anything for the rest of the night. I'll get your food from the dining hall and bring it straight to you."

"But what about our evening training?" asked Ruby.

"Since we're just working on Temper and Suppression, I think we can manage without you for a night," said Jaune, with everyone else around the table nodding. "And you deserve the night off too, Pyrrha. I don't think one night's gonna let you fall behind."

"He's right," said Sasame, speaking up for the first time in a while. "Both of you have earned an evening's respite. I second Jaune-kun's suggestion."

"Yeah, it's a good idea," said Yang. "We'll get you girls dinner-in-bed."

Ruby and Pyrrha shared one last look before looking back to Jaune, who nodded at them.

"All right," said Ruby.

Their homework already taken care of, they packed their books and school implements and headed for the library exit. As they did, Sasame watched Jaune with a look of intense interest.

* * *

**If there's a theme to Taiyang, I guess it would be disappointment. There are people who rise to the occasion, who overcome their obstacles and personal failings, and there are those that...don't. That's Taiyang's place in the story so far. I suppose that's rather similar to how MotH wrapped up, the main difference being that my story is a long ways from over. I suppose, when you come down to it, my version of Taiyang (not to be confused with canon Tai) is like Leo Lionheart from canon _RWBY_, the person people depended on, only for him to let them down. Although, in Leo's case, he had the excuse of finding out that Ozpin had been manipulating him in a war against an immortal, unstoppable sorceress. That's enought put a damper on _anyone's_ enthusiasm, as RWBY found out, one volume later.**

**As far as the outcome of the match is concerned, well...I figured that if Ruby and Pyrrha were to fight, and the outcome was anything other than victory for Pyrrha, that would turn into a pretty big deal. Pyrrha _is_ supposed to be a celebrity after all, and her image is built entirely upon her record of victories, to the point where she's pretty much acknoweledged as being unbeatable. Anything other than a win, even if it's a draw, would cause some serious waves. Add on the fact that Pyrrha just blew the lid on what her Semblance is in front of a worldwide audience, and you've got the recipe for a major commotion, one that won't die down quickly.**

**A few people seem to think they "called me out" last chapter, regarding Sasame figuring out Pyrrha's Semblance, despite not being the one fighting her. The entire reason Sasame is able to figure it out is because she's _not_ in the ring, fighting Pyrrha, and so doesn't have to be worried about being clubbed upside the head while being distracted by thinking too hard. She can afford to sit back and watch and scrutinize to her heart's content and, because she has several years' experience over the others, she puts it together fairly quickly.**

**Honestly, I get sick of people complaining when mentors act like mentors, and dispense advice, or give other characters the benefit of their greater experience. You can complain about Sasame "solving" other characters problems, but the truth is that, despite all the conversations that have taken place, hardly anything has been "solved" yet. If I'd had Ozpin or Qrow be the ones to have those conversations (or maybe Winter, in Weiss' case), I very much doubt anyone would have batted an eye, so long as I delivered their dialogue reasonably in-character (and I know that, right away, a bunch of you will say otherwise, but I have serious doubts). If an OC isn't submitted with a complete character-sheet that lists out their their flaws and weaknesses from the get-go, people automatically scream "OP", "Mary Sue", or "Gary Stu", as though the only thing that matters is that a character is stat-balanced with RPG-level precision, which has to be proved within five minutes of their introduction or summary judgment will be passed.**

**People can whine about my characters or my worldbuilding and whatnot, but I don't really give a damn that you're upset that my characters and setting don't conform to your teaspoon-shallow concept of what those things should be.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35:**

"Jaune-kun...a word," said Sasame as everyone else headed through the door after their evening Aura practice.

"Uh...sure," said Jaune, feeling a bit nervous, for reasons he couldn't quite explain. Normally, Sasame seemed to perpetually put the people around her at ease. However, Jaune got the impression that Sasame was about to talk to him from her perspective as Ruby's sister, first and foremost.

Jaune's plan for Ruby and Pyrrha had worked out about as well as he'd hoped it would. It was an unexpected bonus to learn that the dining hall actually stocked a few bed-trays, primarily for use by the infirmary as it turned out. But once Jaune had explained things, the staff were perfectly willing to loan a pair of trays out to them for Ruby and Pyrrha. After that, Jaune and Yang had made a quick, but careful, run back to the room to drop off Ruby and Pyrrha's meals. In the time it had taken them to make the trip, both Ruby and Pyrrha had gotten their showers and changed into their pajamas, thanking the pair for the meals. Then Jaune and Yang returned to the dining hall to join the others for their meal.

There had been a few odd looks at the remaining members of RYNB and RASP. But without Ruby and Pyrrha, the attention soon wavered and tapered off.

Afterwards, it was business as usual as they adjourned to the rooftop for their evening Aura-training, supervised by Sasame. Now that training had wrapped up for the evening, they were about to head to bed, except for Jaune and Sasame, who remained on the roof until the others were out of earshot.

"Sit," said Sasame, her tone managing to sound inviting and authoritative at the same time.

Swallowing, Jaune did as he was bid, while Sasame calmly seated herself in front of him. "So..." she said, letting the pause drag out, seeming to find amusement in Jaune's discomfort, "...tell me, what do you think about Ruby-chan?"

"What do I think?" asked Jaune, blinking in confusion. He wasn't sure what to make of her question. It was similar to certain questions he'd gotten from Weiss or his sisters. However, unlike them, he got no sense of imminent danger from Sasame, no sense that she was fishing for a reason to berate or punish him.

"Yes," said Sasame cheerfully.

"Uh...well...I think she's amazing," said Jaune. He got the feeling that empty flattery would not work on Sasame, that she would probably see right through it. Despite that, his honest opinion _was_ rather flattering, so he hoped Sasame didn't take it that way. "I'm always floored by what she can do, how much she's capable of. And I can't even begin to thank her enough for everything that she's done, that she's _still_ doing, for me. I wouldn't be even a quarter of the person I am now without her. She's done more for me in just these past few weeks than my family has for the past few years."

"So your situation _is_ similar to hers," said Sasame.

"Yep," said Jaune with a sigh. He laid out his situation for her.

"No wonder she's taken such an interest in helping you," noted Sasame cheerfully. "You've been doing remarkably well, considering how late in your life you started training. That makes it something of a shame that you weren't appropriately trained earlier."

"No kidding," grumbled Jaune, looking down at his crossed legs.

Sasame flicked her tail at him, gently brushing the tip across his cheek. "Don't worry too much," she said. "In many ways, this works to your advantage."

"It does?" Jaune was taken aback by her statement.

"Yes," said Sasame cheerfully. "Because of your lack of training, prior to coming here, you are something of a blank slate. The others have all been trained in the manner that the Kingdoms train their Huntsmen and Huntresses. The skills that Ruby-chan has been teaching you all here are ones that the Mibu are taught during their childhood. Your friends, aside from Ruby-chan, all have Semblances, which makes it something of an uncertainty as to whether or not they can reap the full benefits of this training. You, on the other hand, who have only just unlocked your Aura a few weeks ago, will be free to develop a Manifestation completely according to your will."

"I just wish I knew what I want to do," mused Jaune.

Sasame tilted her head as she regarded him. "Well...I think you might be suited learning the healing arts."

"Huh?" grunted Jaune. "Me...a healer?"

Sasame beamed at him. "I believe so," she said. "The healing arts are all about sharing your Aura with those in your care. There are ways to mitigate your expenditures, so that you can spread your efforts across multiple people, but it goes without saying that a large reserve of Aura is a definite advantage for such arts.

"There are other advantages besides treating the injured. By sharing your Aura with your comrades, you can enhance their fighting ability, and support them beyond your ability at direct combat."

"I...I don't know," mused Jaune. "I mean...I wanted to become a Huntsman so that I could fight."

"Jaune-kun..." Sasame's tone abruptly became quite stern, making him gulp again as he looked at her. "...do you think _I'm_ weak in combat?"

Remembering how she'd casually tossed Ruby's father aside, Weiss' story about her effortlessly crushing a faunus mob, and how she'd apparently thrashed Cardin so badly that he was spooked by the mere sight of her, Jaune swallowed and shook his head.

"Don't underestimate the healing arts," said Sasame simply. "The more you explore them, the more ways you can use them. Technically, using them to directly harm another is a serious taboo, and outright forbidden amongst the Mibu. But that does not mean that healers are intended to be incapable of fighting. While the decision is yours, I thought I might lay out that idea for you...something to consider."

"Okay, thanks," said Jaune. He figured that Sasame might have had a point. Not to mention it would ease his mind a great deal to know that he could help his friends, if they were ever injured in the field.

"The main reason I made that recommendation is because you have a generous heart," said Sasame. "You took this profession for many of the same reasons that Ruby-chan did, to help others. You have a giving spirit, so it's fitting to develop a Manifestation that capitalizes on it."

"I guess..." said Jaune, scratching his head. "But I'm getting the feeling that this sort of thing isn't something I can just learn on the fly, or teach myself easily. Wouldn't something like that take a lot of specialized instruction."

"More or less," said Sasame. "And I _am_ only visiting after all. I will be departing in the near future. You aren't at a level where you can properly develop your Manifestation anyway, so it's a bit of a moot point at this juncture. However, by the next time I visit..."

"I'll think about it," said Jaune.

"Good," said Sasame, before giggling. "My apologies, we got sidetracked a little. I was asking you what you thought of Ruby-chan."

"And I told you," said Jaune. "Is there something you're getting at?"

"Well...I'm a little bit curious," said Sasame, her eyes narrowing slightly. "But...do you like Ruby-chan."

"Like her...?" Jaune frowned. "Of course I do. She's the best friend I could have ever asked for and...Oh..." His voice trailed off as he realized what Sasame was getting at. "Y-you mean, like...like romantically?"

"Well...just maybe," said Sasame. "I'm merely curious."

"W-well..." Jaune looked down again, his cheeks reddening. "She really is pretty, beautiful even. And she's one of the nicest people I've ever met. I'm lucky to just be able to call myself her friend. But something like that..."

"Don't sell yourself short, Jaune-kun," said Sasame. "Yes, your training is behind the level of your peers, but, in personal relationships, that is not the only measure you should consider."

"W-well...I..." Jaune's blush intensified. "If I'm honest, I think I _do_ have a crush on her. There was this one time she kissed me on the cheek and...well, I could've died happy, right then and there."

Sasame giggled at that.

"You aren't upset?" asked Jaune, remembering how Ruby's _other_ sister had essentially threatened to kill him, if she thought he was trying to get close to Ruby. Granted, that had been back when Yang was venting her frustration over not being able to talk with Ruby. But that was the sort of thing older siblings typically did.

"Of course not, silly," said Sasame. "I think it's sweet and, if you do approach her in such a fashion, I would happily approve."

"Wha-what if I...what if I hurt her?" asked Jaune.

"That depends," said Sasame, tapping her cheek, looking at Jaune with an inscrutable smile. "If it was your _intention_ to hurt her, to play with her feelings and use them to your advantage...you would be signing your death warrant." Jaune felt a shiver run down his spine at the finality in her tone. "But regular mistakes, the kind that happen in regular relationships all the time…those aren't worth threatening anyone over.

"Should you find yourself in such a relationship with Ruby-chan, it's practically inevitable that you'll hurt her at some point, and she you. You will both make mistakes, say and do things you regret. What's important is that you learn to move past those things and continue to care for each other to the best of your ability."

"Are you...trying to set me up with Ruby?" asked Jaune dubiously, scarcely believing that Sasame would do such a thing for him.

"No," said Sasame plainly. "I just wanted to bring it up, since I noticed that you did appear to have some feelings for her. Given what she's been through in her childhood, and having seen what her father is like, I can imagine you understand that Ruby-chan does not appreciate being fawned over, having people try and protect her without her input or agency. Despite knowing that, I would at least like to dote on her from time to time."

"So...what then?" asked Jaune.

"Don't think about it too much, Jaune-kun," said Sasame. "I believe you have every chance, should your feelings grow. The one thing I want to do is advise you. Should your feelings for Ruby-chan grow, _don't_ be afraid to act on them. As you said earlier, she is an amazing girl, and her skills are presently far above your own level. But, when it comes to your feelings, do not hesitate because you hold her in too much awe to remember she is still a person, a girl, at heart. I'm sure that Pyrrha-chan can tell you how desolate your relationships can be, when people put you on a pedestal and shy away from engaging with you, because they hold you in too much reverence to act honestly upon any feelings they might have."

Jaune swallowed and nodded.

"So...I guess all I really wanted to say was...don't worry, Jaune-kun," said Sasame. "More than being her teammate, or even her student, your most important role is as Ruby-chan's friend. You do more for her in that role than in any other. And, if your friendship grows into something more, then it will only be for the better."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Jaune.

"But don't overthink it," advised Sasame. "As trite as such a phrase may seem, 'follow your heart' is perhaps the best advice I can give you in this situation. If you are content with friendship, then stay her friend. But if you wish to try for something more...don't let your fear make you hesitate."

"All right," said Jaune, finding himself thinking about the topic, despite Sasame's advice not to overthink it.

Going down after the others, he and Sasame followed Weiss into their room to see that Ruby and Pyrrha had already finished their meals and gone to sleep. The rest of them went about their evening routines as quietly as they could. Just before going to bed, Jaune found himself staring down at Ruby's sleeping face, marveling at her tranquil expression. He did have to admit, seeing her like that made his heart beat just a little bit faster.

* * *

After a good night's sleep, Ruby and the others got up to face the day. To Ruby, the fact that her sparring match with Pyrrha had apparently been broadcast all over the world almost felt like a surreal dream, leaving her wondering if she'd been overreacting the previous night. However, she found herself with something of a rude awakening, when she realized that the consequences of the match were, in fact, very real.

Upon entering the dining hall with her friends, Ruby abruptly felt eyes on her from nearly every student in the room, more than a few of them whispering to one another. Ruby felt chills run down her body from all the attention, stiffening up nervously. _Oh my God! Is this what Pyrrha had to go through for so long? How is she still sane?_

A light hand rested on her shoulder and Ruby turned to see Pyrrha smiling encouragingly at her. "Don't worry about it," said Pyrrha softly. "Just relax and do what you've always done."

Ruby blinked, surprised to hear such advice coming from Pyrrha. But, then again, Pyrrha was right. Unlike Pyrrha herself, Ruby didn't have a reputation and image to live up to (not that Pyrrha was keen to live up to that image anymore). She had no reason to change her behavior, just because people were suddenly watching her more closely, particularly since she wasn't doing anything wrong.

Deciding to accept Pyrrha's advice, Ruby took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, doing her best to allow the tension to bleed out with her exhaled air. Sure, she could feel the pressure of eyes, but she supposed that it wasn't all that different from what she had gone through in the Mibu Clan, where people had watched her intently because she was "the Outsider," who'd been unofficially adopted by the Mitarai family. That had been worse, because there had been some actual hostility from some people. Compared to them, the mostly curious looks she was receiving now were a walk in the park.

Getting their trays, they made their way to their preferred table. As she seated herself, Ruby sensed a familiar Aura approaching her from behind. Turning to look, she broke into a smile to see Velvet, along with three other people she'd occasionally seen at a distance, after they'd returned. "Hi."

"Hello, Ruby," said Velvet warmly. "Can we sit with you?"

"Of course," said Ruby, shifting to make some extra room at the table, her teammates shifting with her. Velvet's petite form hardly took up any space, which could also be said, more or less, for two out of three of her companions, the only exception being the tan-skinned mountain of a man who sat next to Velvet.

"I'm glad we came at the right time," said Velvet, gesturing to the others who were sitting down with her. "This is my team."

"Nice to meet you," said the brown-haired girl sitting across from Velvet, her school uniform supplemented by a black beret over her wavy hair, and a pair of sunglasses over her brown eyes, which she lowered with her fingers upon meeting Ruby's gaze and grinning. "I'm Coco Adel."

"Fox Alistair," said the young man seated next to Coco. He was definitely the strangest-looking member of their team, having burnt-red hair that almost matched the brownish-red of his skin. His eyes were a blank, white color, seemingly devoid of iris or pupil. When his spoke, his voice was soft and whispery, almost to the point of being inaudible. However, there was...something...to it that allowed it to carry to everyone at the table, even over the general din of conversation filling the dining hall.

"Fox isn't much of a talker at first," said Coco, patting his shoulder. "Don't let his looks get to you. He's a nice guy underneath it. Of course, once he gets to know you, you can't shut him up."

Ruby giggled, remembering both Dougal, Sora's Imperial Guard, and Chinmei, one of the Goyosei. Dougal's appearance seemed calculated to inspire fear, and Chinmei, with his dreadlocks and overall wild look, looked like the Mibu equivalent of a street-tough. However, both of them had proven to be unfailingly kind and helpful.

"And I am Yatsuhashi Daichi," added the enormous young man sitting next to Velvet, bowing his head, with its close-cropped black hair. His eyes were narrow to the point that it was impossible to tell what color they were, only the black of his pupils being visible. Interestingly, in spite of sporting such an impressive stature, there was something about him that was serene and easygoing, undercutting his intimidating size.

"I'm Velvet's partner," he continued. "I want to thank you for looking after her while we were away."

"Yatsu!" protested Velvet weakly, her cheeks turning pink. The reaction was understandable, considering the phrasing almost made it sound as though Velvet was a child who'd needed to be babysat, rather than an accomplished second-year student of Beacon Academy.

"Well, we wouldn't need to worry if you'd just stand up for yourself," said Coco teasingly. "I mean...Come on! Letting a bunch of first-years bully you like that..."

"Well...I..." Velvet's ears folded over and she slumped slightly, before sighing in defeat.

"That's what I said...more or less," said Weiss.

"I'm surprised to see you getting along with her, Schnee," noted Coco.

"Coco!" admonished Velvet. "Be nice. Weiss is a friend, and she's been nothing but polite to me."

Weiss sighed, lowering her head slightly. "Yes...I have had issues with faunus, in the past. However, my family's bad reputation is almost entirely my father's doing and I am trying not to get sucked into making generalizations."

"I get it," said Coco. "Sorry about being terse there."

The rest of RASP and RYNB, as well as Sasame, introduced themselves to Team CFVY. All the while, Ruby felt the pressure of people's eyes coming and going. Apparently, "Team Coffee" was one of the more popular second-year teams at Beacon, to the point of Coco being something of a minor celebrity. Despite that, they proved to be quite friendly and amiable. With them present, Ruby felt a lot more at ease, even with the number of people looking their way. Even when the topic turned to her match with Pyrrha the previous day, she didn't find it overly uncomfortable.

"You've got moves, kid," said Coco, smirking over her sunglasses at Ruby. "I bet not many people can say they got a draw against the Invincible Girl."

"Um...well...I..." Ruby blushed and looked down.

"It really was a magnificent match," said Velvet, squeezing Ruby's shoulder. "You should be proud of your skills."

"Thank you," said Ruby softly, though her blush wasn't going away anytime soon.

"I was surprised by your Semblance," commented Yatsuhashi, looking to Pyrrha. "Is that how you became such an accomplished fighter?"

"You could say that," said Pyrrha, her shoulders tightening and back straightening nervously.

"How so?" asked Fox softly.

"Well, I normally try to keep from using my Polarity in overt ways," said Pyrrha. "I stick to minor adjustments on attack and defense so that my opponents don't realize what I'm doing. It gives me a bit of a psychological edge in my fights."

"Even though I could feel something off with my weapons, I couldn't figure out what she was doing until I managed to push her hard enough to use it openly," added Ruby.

"It's definitely one hell of an edge," said Coco.

"Which makes it all the more impressive that you were able to tie with her," noted Velvet, beaming at Ruby, making her flush all over again.

"You're definitely gonna be the bees' knees for a while," added Coco.

"But I don't want to be the bees' knees," protested Ruby frantically. "I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees."

"Come on, don't be like that," admonished Coco playfully. "It's good that you don't want to let your head get swollen, but you shouldn't let that stop you from being proud of the things you do. You've got skill, that's a fact. You should own it, not shy away from it."

"She's not wrong," said Velvet, hugging Ruby around the shoulders. "You should be proud of your accomplishments."

"Besides, it's not as though Pyrrha here seems all that upset by having her record broken," added Coco, having seen Pyrrha nod along with both her and Velvet's advice.

"Well...I was getting tired of being the Invincible Girl," said Pyrrha, looking down. "Not that I would take it easy on Ruby; I respect her far too much to do that."

"It was a fine match," said Yatsuhashi confidently. "Anyone who watches that should be able to see it."

"No kidding," agreed Coco. "There are third and fourth-years here that aren't that good."

Now Pyrrha and Ruby were both blushing.

"Uh...Why don't we talk about something else?" suggested Jaune, seeing that both Ruby and Pyrrha were getting a little unnerved by the constant praise and focused attention.

"And what do you suggest?" asked Blake.

"Well, _I'm_ curious about what kept your team away for so long," said Jaune, looking over at Coco.

The answer, as it unsurprisingly turned out, was Grimm...lots and _lots_ of Grimm. Apparently, it wasn't uncommon for Search-and-Destroy missions to run long, as any assessment of Grimm numbers in a given area was always rough, at best, and their constantly fluctuating behavior meant that said assessment could change over the course of a few hours. The three active members of Team CFVY had arrived at their mission-site to find that there had been a lot more Grimm than they'd initially expected. Fortunately, the number was not so overwhelming that they had been in danger of being overrun. But it had turned the process of clearing them out into a tedious, protracted one.

From there, the conversation ran into some of the Grimm they encountered, the tactics they used, and other information, which proved surprisingly educational for the two first-year teams, and a welcome distraction from the topic of Ruby and Pyrrha's now-viral sparring match. Everyone was so engrossed in the conversation that they nearly missed the bell signaling the final ten minutes before the first class of the day, meaning they had to rush in order to finish their meals and get to their classrooms on time.

* * *

It seemed that even the teachers were aware of what happened, though they were kind enough to limit themselves to briefly congratulating Ruby and Pyrrha when they entered the room, rather than making a big deal out of it in front of the class. Ruby was happy to lose herself in her work, and forget about the commotion over the previous day's sparring match. Unfortunately, they were abruptly reminded at lunch when Ruby and Pyrrha once again found themselves at the center of attention. Ruby wished that Sasame was there with them. But Sasame had parted ways with the rest of the group after breakfast. Where she'd gone and what she was doing were a mystery, and Ruby suspected they wouldn't see her again until dinner.

This time, there was something new to the mix...hostility. It wasn't all that intense or pervasive, but Ruby felt it quite clearly, such emotions being the ones she had trained to be the most sensitive to. At first, she thought that the simmering resentment being exuded by some of the people around them was directed at her. However, she began to realize that it wasn't her at the center of that...but Pyrrha. _Why?_

"Uh oh..." said Yang, who'd been keeping tabs on the whole affair with her scroll, in between classes (and _during_ class, sometimes, when she could get away with it).

"What is it?" asked Blake, leaning over to read over her partner's shoulder.

"Apparently the match is making a huge stir, over in Mistral," said Yang. "I guess a bunch of people weren't happy to find out what Pyrrha's Semblance was."

"Her Semblance...?" Now Ren joined Blake, reading over Yang's opposite shoulder. "Oh..."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," said Pyrrha weakly.

"What's going on?" asked Weiss.

"This one guy apparently sent a complaint to the administrative committee for the Mistral Regional Tournament," said Yang. "He's demanding that they revoke Pyrrha's tournament titles."

"Why on earth?" gasped Weiss indignantly.

"He's claiming that Pyrrha cheated," said Blake, still reading over Yang's shoulder. "He's saying that Pyrrha's Polarity gave her an unfair advantage over her opponents, and that she obtained her wins through deceit."

"That's not...entirely untrue," said Pyrrha with a sigh.

"It's completely ridiculous!" scoffed Weiss.

"Yeah!" agreed Nora with all enthusiasm. "It's not like there was a rule that you couldn't use your Semblance...was there?"

"No," said Pyrrha.

"And it's not as though deceit in a match is inherently wrong either," added Blake. "A lot of fighters keep their best moves secret, whether it's a Semblance, or a weapon's special function."

"Everyone has cards they want to keep close to the chest," said Jaune with a teasing smirk. "After all, we went over a month, before we finally learned that Ruby's sword is actually _two_ swords."

"I'm sorry!" squeaked Ruby, briefly borrowing Pyrrha's habit, making everyone else at the table burst into laughter.

"There's nothing wrong with that, Ruby," said Pyrrha, having had her spirits lifted a little. "I didn't tell anyone about my Semblance either."

"So...the sum total of all this is...what?" asked Nora, looking at Yang.

It was Weiss who answered. "Basically, one of Pyrrha's previous opponents is still sore that he lost, and wants to use Pyrrha's Semblance as an excuse to pretend he didn't. It's all just so much sour grapes."

"Oh...okay," said Nora.

"I always did feel a little bad about it," said Pyrrha.

"You don't have any reason to," Ren assured her. "It's a legitimate strategy...and a brilliant one."

"It speaks volumes about your skill and control," added Blake.

"Besides, if your Polarity was such a game-breaking advantage, then we wouldn't even be _having_ this conversation in the first place," said Weiss. "You would have won your match with Ruby and, aside from some excitement over the affair itself, the whole world would be none the wiser.

"But Ruby proved that you can overcome even a powerful Semblance like that through skill and determination. The only reason people are talking about this at all is because Ruby was good enough to force you to use it openly. If she can fight you to a draw, in spite of your Semblance, then people who get upset over a so-called 'unfair advantage' are just whining because they don't have the will to do what Ruby did."

Ruby and Pyrrha both blushed furiously under the collective praise, though they both felt better.

"Weiss isn't wrong," said Yang. "The tournament committee issued a response blowing the guy off, saying that Pyrrha followed all the proper procedures, and that her strategy was legit. This Liu guy is still hacked off about it, apparently."

"Liu...?" Pyrrha blinked. "Liu Bai?"

"That's him," said Yang, turning her scroll around to give Pyrrha a look at the portrait of the young man making the complaint. It was an image of a stone-faced young man with narrowed, grayish-blue eyes, peering over a pair of small spectacles that rested on the bridge of his nose. His white hair stood up in a cluster of spikes, spreading out from the top of his head. The portrait went down far enough to give them a view of muscular shoulders, bulging from beneath the straps of a dark-blue muscle-shirt.

"It _is_ him," said Pyrrha with a sigh.

"Who is he?" asked Ruby.

"He was my final opponent during my second run through the tournament," said Pyrrha. "Of all the opponents I faced, all four times, he's the one who gave me the hardest fight. He was...intense. I guess he was really bitter about losing, because he never entered the tournament the other two times I did."

"So he's just a bad sport," said Nora, as Yang pulled her scroll back.

Ruby frowned, looking down at her plate, thinking about the edgy atmosphere around them. Now she had an idea of what that hostility was all about. It seemed that Pyrrha's former opponent wasn't the only one upset to learn the truth about her Semblance. There seemed to be quite a few students at Beacon who didn't like the idea of Pyrrha having what they might have considered an unfair advantage.

"Well...it's nothing to get worked up over," said Weiss. "I can guarantee that it won't have any effect on things here, at Beacon."

"Don't be so sure," said Ruby. "There are a few people here upset about it, I think."

"Oh...?" Weiss glanced around, probably looking for people foolish enough to glare openly. "If they are...then they're imbeciles. That's all."

Ruby couldn't help it. That statement made her giggle.

"Now then, let's finish eating," said Weiss. "We have our free-period training to get to."

* * *

The rest of the day went by rather normally, despite the slightly tenser atmosphere than usual. Of course, just because Weiss' assessment of the situation was right didn't mean that people would magically turn off their resentment of Pyrrha. However, it also seemed that none of them were willing to act openly on their hostility.

As Ruby had expected, Sasame met them at dinner. They enjoyed their meal with relative ease, despite Ruby and Pyrrha once again being the center of attention for most of the students. But even that was wavering. Other students could only spend so long staring, if nothing was going to come from it. Since neither Ruby nor Pyrrha offered any response and no one seemed interested in doing anything _more_ than staring, the intense gazes soon wandered off. Because of that, Ruby was tempted to believe that things would be back to normal by the next day.

Unfortunately, while Beacon's students were apparently willing to move on for the time being, the rest of the world was not so accommodating. Wrapping up dinner, Ruby and the others prepared to head up to the roof for their evening Aura-training...only to be interrupted by a message from Glynda, sent to Ruby and Pyrrha's scrolls, suggesting they turn on the news. Curious, RASP, RYNB, and Sasame adjourned to RASP's room and turned on the projector, bringing up the Vale News Network's channel.

At first, it seemed nothing out of the ordinary. The news opened with a report of another Dust-freighter being lost, which made Weiss' expression darken. It then moved on through the usual line of reports about civil affairs in Vale, as well as reports on recent crimes (which had fallen considerably since the arrest of Roman Torchwick). Finally, about fifteen minutes in, the news reached the story that Glynda apparently wanted them to know about.

"_In other news,_" opened Lisa Lavender, the VNN's primary reporter, "_videos of a sparring match at Beacon Academy have gone viral across the world, particularly within Vale and Mistral. One of the match's participants was none other than Pyrrha Nikos, four-time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament, who was fought to a draw by her opponent in the match, marking an abrupt end to the champion's streak of wins, stretching, unbroken, all the way back to her first public bout._"

Lisa's face was replaced by some clipped footage of the match, showcasing one of the many heated exchanges between Ruby and Pyrrha, as Lisa's voice carried on in the background.

"_Footage of this match was recorded by Beacon students, and then shared on video-sites across the net, quickly becoming a sensation in all four Kingdoms. Of particular note is the revelation of Pyrrha Nikos' Semblance, which has been identified as Polarity, a magnetic Semblance that enables her to manipulate metal objects, which experts have identified as a major factor behind Ms. Nikos' previous record._

"_The revelation triggered some outcry from Ms. Nikos' previous opponents in the Mistral Regional Tournament, claiming that it afforded her an unfair advantage over the competition. Such allegations have been roundly dismissed by the tournament committee and the spokesperson for the Nikos family._

"_Presently, very little is known about Ms. Nikos' opponent, who has been identified as Ruby Rose, a fellow first-year student at Beacon Academy. Our own investigation has learned that Ms. Rose is considerably younger than the norm, having entered Beacon by special invitation at the age of fifteen. The circumstances behind the invitation have not been disclosed at this point. When questioned, a spokesperson for Beacon Academy declined to comment, and simply reiterated their commitment to ensuring their students' privacy._

"_It is known that Ms. Nikos has received a wide range of sponsorships and endorsements from companies in Vale and Mistral. At present, it is unknown how this match, and its outcome, will affect those. Prominent combat experts predicted Ms. Nikos' winning streak to continue all the way through the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament. We'll have more as the situation develops._"

"Honestly," scoffed Weiss, turning off the screen, "'As the situation develops...' They're treating this as though it's some kind of scandal."

"I don't think it's _that_ bad," said Jaune, before looking over and seeing the horrified look on Ruby's face. "Ruby...what's wrong?"

"I...I just didn't think about it," said Ruby. "Pyrrha's sponsorships and endorsements are important, right? What if I ruined them for her?"

"Don't be silly," said Pyrrha, wrapping Ruby in a friendly hug. "I'll be fine. I don't know exactly what the fallout will be, but I don't need sponsors, if they're willing to drop me that easily. My parents might be upset by it, but I don't mind that so much, not when I'm happy with the progress I'm making here."

"O-okay," said Ruby.

"Hmmm..."

Everyone turned at the sound of the faint, thoughtful hum to see Sasame, still staring at where the screen had been. "What is it?" asked Blake.

"Oh!" said Sasame, almost seeming to snap out of a thoughtful daze. "I was just thinking about how amazing this CCT system is. It's only been a day since the match and, already, the news has spread across the world. In the Mibu Clan, it would take days, at least, for this kind of news to reach our settlements. By the time it had spread across all our people, it would probably have become old news where it originated. I can understand why Sora-sama envies this technology so much."

"That's true," said Ren, sounding a little tired. "However, the downside of it is that it also allows small things that should, rightfully, be considered unimportant, to be built up as a significant event."

"That's right," said Yang. "This really shouldn't have needed a story on the evening news. When you get down to it, it's videos of a sparring match that people keep sharing around, and that's what spread it out to the point that someone thought it was actually newsworthy."

"Be that as it may, it is a minor tradeoff for having the ability to communicate instantly, across such distances," noted Sasame, "to say nothing of all the media you have access to."

"Yeah...I'm still not used to that," admitted Ruby.

"I wonder why Professor Goodwitch wanted us to see this, though," said Jaune.

"Considering that their match made headlines, it was probably to give us a heads-up," said Yang. "I mean, odds are that reporters and journalists are gonna be looking into this for a while. That might make it tricky if Ruby or Pyrrha wants to go to Vale while this is a thing."

Ruby tensed, pressing her lips tightly together in a nervous expression at the idea. In contrast, Pyrrha was calm...but resigned. "That's probably the case," she said. "I still remember having to deal with the paparazzi in Mistral. I hope things don't get _that_ bad."

"Papa...papa-what?" asked Ruby, having not heard the word before.

"Paparazzi," said Blake. "They're freelance photographers that shadow famous people in order to get pictures or video of them, mostly for tabloids and gossip magazines."

"In other words, scum-sucking parasites only a thin line away from being stalkers," said Weiss. "In fact, considering what some of them do in order to get their material, I'd go so far as to call them _actual_ stalkers."

"Eewww..." Ruby shuddered at the idea, hugging herself and rubbing her arms with her hands.

"It can get very troubling," admitted Pyrrha. "However, I doubt that the teachers will allow anyone like that up to Beacon."

"Yeah, it'll be when we go to Vale that the trouble will start," said Yang.

"In that case, we should probably delay plans for any trips for a little while," said Ren, "at least until this whole affair blows over."

"I guess I'll have to tell Ashley I won't be able to see her for a while," said Ruby slightly despondently.

"Well, it's not like you had definitive plans anyway," said Yang.

"And she probably wouldn't appreciate being mobbed by the press either," added Weiss. "If they found out you were seeing her, you can bet that they would start following her around too."

"Yeah...that would be bad," said Ruby.

"Well, it's probably best to just move on," said Weiss. "We've wasted valuable time over this already. We should get to the roof and get what training we can in."

"That sounds like a plan," agreed Ruby.

* * *

"My," said Ozpin, turning off the video hologram hovering over his desk, "I wasn't expecting this to become such a noisy affair."

"You underestimate the media's desire for a story," said Glynda. She sighed and looked down. "However, the fault lies with me. It did not even occur to me that students would actually record a sparring match, not when they are already recorded by our own cameras for later analysis."

"Well...Ms. Nikos _is_ a world-renowned champion," said Ozpin. "A champion is generally the one who is _challenged_, not the _challenger_. The fact that she volunteered to fight, and issued a challenge to Ms. Rose, would have immediately stirred people's interest. The fight following that was nothing short of spectacular, and its outcome unforeseen." He chuckled dryly. "It's rather amusing that we can count ourselves lucky that Ms. Rose _didn't_ win the bout, as this would have become an even bigger, messier affair."

"Very true," agreed Glynda.

"And so...what of campus security?" asked Ozpin.

"I've made it clear to the staff that visitors must be screened carefully to ensure that no members of the media infiltrate," said Glynda. "We should have no issue with reporters or paparazzi sneaking into the school."

"Very good," said Ozpin. "And what of Mr. Xiao Long?"

"He has made no efforts after being returned to Patch," said Glynda. "However, I was informed by Signal's headmaster that he has taken an extended leave of absence. At present, he remains at home."

"No news is good news, I hope," said Ozpin.

Glynda shook her head. "I am appalled by his complete unwillingness to accept reality."

"As am I," said Ozpin, "though it is not wholly unexpected. From the very moment he found out about Ms. Rose's presence here, his mind was already set on what to do. From there, he went on to set any excuse he could in order to justify it, even if it was just to himself. At this point, so long as he does not attempt to force himself back onto campus, or otherwise make himself a disruption to Ms. Rose's life, there is very little we can do."

"My worry is that the news will find out about his relation to Ms. Rose," said Glynda. "That would be quite the juicy story, and could keep the press on her trail for months."

"Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do beyond the boundaries of Beacon itself," said Ozpin. "Both Mr. Xiao Long and the press are free to speak and listen as they see fit. We shall simply have to hope that the link is not uncovered."

"And what about our response to their queries?" asked Glynda. "I've had requests for interviews with both Ms. Rose and Ms. Nikos."

"You may forward those requests to both of them," said Ozpin. "Just make it clear that it is entirely _their_ decision, and that they are under _no_ pressure to participate. You may also convey as much to the press, and urge them not to press the issue, if Ms. Rose and/or Ms. Nikos decline."

"All right," said Glynda. "Is there anything else?"

"Not right now," said Ozpin. "That should be all, for the time being. We too shall have to wait and see how the 'story' develops."

* * *

As the week progressed, Ruby and her friends hoped that the story surrounding her and Pyrrha's sparring match would eventually go away. However, each day seemed to bring with it a slew of new articles and blogs talking about the match, speculating about the factors that had influenced the outcome...and about Ruby herself.

Due to her past fame, Pyrrha's history was already well-known. It helped that her past was completely scandal-free, with no dirty laundry or closeted skeletons waiting to be dragged back into the limelight. Because of that, much of the curiosity was focused on Ruby herself. Having spent the better part of the past six years outside the Kingdoms, Ruby had very little history, aside from her earliest years on Patch. There were no records of her at any Combat School, or any other known institution. As such, there was a great deal of speculation about who she was, where she was from, and how she was trained.

The day after watching the story about their match on the news, Ruby and Pyrrha had both been notified by Glynda that various news outlets were requesting interviews, with Glynda stressing that both Ruby and Pyrrha were under no pressure to agree or even answer.

The real shock came near the end of the week, when RASP and RYNB made their regular visit to Beacon's mailroom to collect their mail.

* * *

"What is _this_?!" exclaimed Ruby, her eyes wide and her jaw slack at the massive bundle of letters stuffed as neatly into her mailbox as the staff could manage.

Normally, it was rare to find even a single piece of mail in her box, as she had no one that she corresponded with, generally only receiving the occasional piece of junk-mail. And even _that_ was rare. The world's dependence on the CCT extended to advertising, and students were more likely to have advertisements mailed to their scrolls, rather than their actual mailboxes. Because of that, checking the mail was a perfunctory activity, done every few days, after dinner, and before they went off to their evening Aura-training.

"I figured this might happen," said Pyrrha, opening her box to reveal another, even _more_ densely-stuffed, mass of letters than Ruby's currently held.

"What is it though," Ruby wanted to know.

"Fan-mail," said Pyrrha with a sigh. "I've gotten quite a bit since I came here, but not this much in a while."

"Fan-mail..." Ruby grunted, having to exert a surprising amount of strength to compress the letters enough to fit them out of her mailbox. She began to look through the letters.

"Figures," commented Yang. "They don't have your CC-Address to send messages to, so they send you regular letters instead."

Ruby frowned, staring at all the letters, not sure she liked the idea that so many complete strangers were bombarding her like this.

"You're under no obligation to read them," said Weiss. "Depending on the contents, it may be better to throw the lot away."

"But isn't that...disrespectful?" asked Ruby.

"It's up to you, but you are here to become a Huntress," said Weiss. "You came to be scrutinized by your teachers and peers, not random nobodies in Vale who suddenly think they're experts at assessing someone's combat skills. I'm willing to bet that half of them are from people blasting you for ruining Pyrrha's record."

"You don't know that, Weiss," replied Pyrrha. "And I doubt there will be that many negative ones. If anything, people are usually _happy_ to see a celebrity taken down a peg or two."

"If you're going to insist on reading them, let's at least get back to our dorm," said Jaune.

They returned to the dorm room and began to sort through the letters. Pyrrha was right in that not many of Ruby's letters were negative, only about two total, though they were both profanity-laced tirades about her being a "little brat who must have cheated." Ruby got uncomfortable after reading the first few lines of each and set them aside, where Weiss promptly shredded and disposed of them.

The rest were surprisingly positive, from people gushing over how amazing it was that she'd done so well to others saying her techniques looked beautiful. The one thing that made Ruby distinctly uncomfortable was that many of her so-called "fans" seemed more inclined to use their letters to rant about Pyrrha. It seemed that Pyrrha was right that people wanted to see her taken down a peg.

Reading so many letters and realizing that so many people were thinking about her, and what she'd done, made Ruby feel distinctly uncomfortable. She set the letters aside, not really sure what to do with them all. There was no way she could keep them, not at the rate they might start coming in at. But just throwing them away felt disrespectful.

Then she heard a faint, pained gasp from beside her. Looking over, Ruby saw Pyrrha, her eyes fixed on one of the letters in front of her, tears gathering in her eyes and her hand over her mouth. "Pyrrha, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," said Pyrrha, looking up at Ruby. "It's just..."

Jaune leaned over to look at Pyrrha's letter and gasped as well, his face flushing red with anger as he bared his teeth. Ruby had never seen Jaune look so outraged. "I can't believe this!" he exclaimed.

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"This woman wrote me," said Pyrrha. "She said her daughter was a huge fan of mine. But when they learned about my Semblance, her daughter broke down crying because I was a cheater, and destroyed all the memorabilia she'd gotten."

"And this woman is basically writing a letter condemning Pyrrha for leading her daughter, and other impressionable children, on like that," said Jaune.

"Disgusting," said Weiss with a very un-Weiss-like snort.

"Oh..." said Ruby, looking down. "I feel sorry for that girl."

"What?" asked Yang skeptically.

"Well...she got angry because she thought Pyrrha cheated, so she doesn't understand how these things actually work," said Ruby. "And she doesn't realize how hard Pyrrha trained to use her Semblance as well as she does."

"That is true," said Sasame, who'd been sitting off to the side while Ruby and Pyrrha read their letters. Her tail stretched out and gently brushed the tears from beneath Pyrrha's eyes. "Children lack the ability to understand the full context of what they see or experience. If anything, it's the mother's fault for not understanding the truth about your skills, Pyrrha-chan."

Pyrrha nodded, a smile working its way back onto her face.

"I think that's enough," said Weiss, gathering up Pyrrha's unopened letters. "No more for today. We have better things to do with our time. We'll hold onto them, if you want to read them later, Pyrrha. But I think you should just toss the rest. It's just going to be more of the same."

Pyrrha sighed and looked at the pile of letters in the wastebasket. Those had been the ones condemning her and accusing her of cheating, or mocking her for finally having her seemingly-endless winning streak broken. However, resting on the desk were a few that encouraged her to keep trying, people saying they still believed in her. However, she had discarded the ones that had contained insults or accusations against Ruby. "I suppose so."

"You're here as a Beacon student first and as a celebrity last, if at all," said Weiss. "You're under no obligation to respond to, or even bother with, things like this."

_That's true,_ thought Pyrrha. Back in Mistral, she'd been required to go through her fan-mail on a regular basis, and draft up replies to several of the letters she got every week. That had been a painfully tedious process, but one that her agent had insisted was necessary to maintain her image.

In the end, it always came back to that, her image. It had been out of her desire to leave that image behind that she'd come to Beacon in the first place. She'd become friends with Ruby and Jaune because they didn't know about her image. Weiss was right. Maintaining her image was secondary, if not unnecessary to her life at Beacon. She didn't have to worry about what people outside of school, or even outside her circle of friends, thought about her. She was free to be Pyrrha Nikos: student Huntress, not the Invincible Girl.

"We burned a good chunk of our training time on this," noted Yang. "I want to get caught up on this Aura-stuff so we can move on to the next step already."

"All right," said Pyrrha, setting aside the remainder of her letters. She'd decide what to do with them later.

They entered the hallway, heading up towards the roof, when Pyrrha was stopped by a buzz on her scroll. Pulling it out, she frowned at the notification that popped up on her screen.

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"I'm going to have to pass on training," said Pyrrha with a sigh. "My parents are calling."

* * *

**The "Holy Crap! Ruby Almost Beat Pyrrha!" saga continues. Pretty much anybody who's had any involvement with a fandom of _any_ kind has undoubtedly seen the complete and utter shitstorm that can rise up over the most seemingly innocuous things. I've seen that in the comments of my own stories, more than once.**

**Of course, the thing about Pyrrha's Semblance is that, when you get down to it, despite the fact that she's clearly put a lot of work into mastering it and using it in such a refined manner, it _is_ kinda broken, when it comes to PvP combat. That kind of natural advantage _would_ seem like a cheat to a lot of people.**

**There's been some speculation concerning Pyrrha's tournament record amongst the fandom. Like whether or not Semblances were allowed, and Pyrrha's skill at concealing hers was a way to sneak it past the judges and give herself and unfair advantage. Given that the Vytal Festival Tournament clearly has no such restrictions, I opted to assume that the same was probably true of the lower-tier tournaments in the setting too, though that might be overreaching. Even so, Pyrrha's Semblance is one of those luck-of-the-draw things that has the potential to attract a good bit of resentment, even if it's actually legitimate.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36:**

"_Pyrrha, you need to withdraw from Beacon._"

At this time of the evening, the CCT center in Beacon Tower was almost deserted. Pyrrha supposed that was for the best. She got the feeling that there might be some raised voices, before this conversation was over.

Normally, Pyrrha would have answered her scroll, and told her parents that she was doing evening practice, and that would be enough to mollify them, along with the assurance that she would talk with them on Sunday. Instead, however, they had sent a notification for a terminal call. Arranging such a call took more work than just dialing her scroll, which meant Pyrrha was obligated to answer said call...which, unfortunately, required her to abandon her friends to their practice, without her, and head to Beacon Tower to find the first available terminal. Calling in to just chat or check up on her didn't require such an elaborate action, indicating that her parents meant business...in the most literal sense imaginable.

It was a mixed blessing that the center was deserted. There were plenty of available terminals, which meant that Pyrrha would not have to wait for one in order to answer her parents. Unfortunately, Pyrrha felt she would have liked to put this conversation off, just a little bit longer, getting the feeling that it was going to be an unpleasant one.

And, given that opening line, delivered by her father, Pyrrha felt vindicated in her suspicion.

Anatolius Nikos didn't look all that much like his daughter. His short hair, combed back over the top of his head, was a lighter, almost reddish-blonde color. If one looked closely, they might see some resemblance to Pyrrha's profile in the angular lines that made up his face and the green of his narrower eyes, though it was a paler green than Pyrrha's own eyes. His chin narrowed almost to a point, decorated by a beard that was just short enough that calling it a goatee felt wrong.

Had he been sitting a little farther back from the screen, Pyrrha would have been able to see more of the dark-brown suit jacket, with its bronze trim, that he typically wore. Her father's build was nothing impressive, neither particularly muscular, nor scrawny. It was just...average...mainly because her father wasn't a Huntsman, neither of her parents were.

"I have no intention of doing that," said Pyrrha firmly, looking her father in the eye as best she could through the screen that separated them.

"_Pyrrha, dear,_" said her mother plaintively, "_don't be rash. Your image took a serious blow when those videos started circulating. Remaining at Beacon could just make things worse._"

In Pyrrha's mother, Phoinix Nikos, there was a much more definite resemblance. In fact, their faces were virtually identical in shape, though her hair was a darker-red than Pyrrha's. Unlike Pyrrha, Phoinix wore hers loose, allowing it to cascade just past her shoulders, allowing it to frame the smooth, flawless skin of her face, along with her deep, dark-blue eyes.

From the cloth over her shoulders, Pyrrha could tell that her mother was wearing a cream-colored dress, probably a fairly plain-looking, albeit expensive designer-brand one. The dress would be just enough to show off the lines of her mother's impressive bust and hips, the figure of the woman who had once been one of Mistral's most-prominent fashion models. Granted, her mother had filled out a little more, since her retirement.

No wonder she wanted Pyrrha to withdraw from Beacon so badly, seeing as she was looking across the screen and at the _reason_ she'd been able to retire at such a young age in the first place.

"I'm not overly concerned by my image, right now," said Pyrrha. "I'm concentrating on my studies and training."

"_You're so unconcerned because you have no notion of just what a mess those videos are making over here,_" declared Anatolius. "_Do you have any idea how much harassment we've received since those videos went viral?_"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Dad," said Pyrrha. "But I'm sure you can filter the mail, and I know that our neighborhood's security is more than up to the task of keeping anyone dangerous out."

_They had _better_ be up to the task,_ to Pyrrha's mind. After all, that was why, after her first two tournament wins, her family had used the money she brought in, through her endorsements, to buy a house in one of Mistral's more affluent, gated communities. They could live in luxury and comfort, out of the reach of the masses that Pyrrha was forced to deal with on a regular basis.

"_Please, Pyrrha..._" pleaded her mother, "_...think of the damage this is going to do. Holly advised us that this incident could cost you more than a few sponsors. Even if the the tournament committee has rejected accusations of cheating, that won't automatically turn public perception around. Your sponsors are more affected by opinion than the committee, and they will drop you, if they feel that this sufficiently damages their image._"

"_Exactly,_" said Anatolius, closing his eyes and nodding decisively. "_That is why you need to come home, Pyrrha. You can't work with your sponsors from over in Vale and, because you disregarded the endorsement offers we got from Vale-based companies, when we notified you about them, you haven't made inroads over there. No company in that Kingdom will touch you, now that you've become such a controversial subject._"

"_You don't have to give up your Huntress-training,_" added Phoinix in a conciliatory tone. "_You can go to Haven instead. You'll be close enough to home that you'll be able to do more to control the damage this has done, and engage with your sponsors more closely. I'm sure Professor Lionheart will approve your transfer in a heartbeat._"

"_Most importantly, it will enable us to avoid the possibility of another incident,_" added Anatolius, making the crux of the matter perfectly clear to Pyrrha, though she'd already suspected that was the _actual_ reasoning behind their desire to get her out of Beacon from the beginning.

In other words, they wanted to get her away from Ruby, and the possibility of future matches that might end in draws, or worse, a loss. In the long-term, a draw could be glossed over. But a loss would mean a definitive end to her status as the 'Invincible Girl' that so many of her sponsors had staked their reputations on.

"No," said Pyrrha simply. "I'm staying at Beacon. I refuse to withdraw just because of a draw in a sparring match."

"_A match that happened to be recorded and spread across the entire _world!" exclaimed her father, his frustration at her defiance bleeding through into his voice. "_On top of that, your Semblance has been revealed to everyone. There is no going back from that. It's destroyed your greatest advantage in your future matches._"

"Then I shall simply have to reassess how I use it," said Pyrrha. "I'll have to train harder and evolve my combat-style to make more effective use of it. That's entirely the reason why I sought out Ruby as an opponent in the first place, to push my limits and learn more about what I can and can't do. I gained more from that one match than I have in the last four years of training."

"_Don't exaggerate,_" scoffed Anatolius. "_That uppity brat got lucky, and tricked you by concealing the true nature of her weapon. That's all there is to it._"

"That 'uppity brat' is my teammate and team leader, not to mention one of the first real friends I've had in years," said Pyrrha, an edge of real anger finding its way into her voice as she glared furiously at her parents, who quailed. "Don't you dare refer to her so disrespectfully. She's a brilliant fighter who has trained as hard, if not harder, than I have. And you're one to talk about her tricking me by concealing the true nature of her weapon, when I've been doing the same thing with my Semblance for years."

"_That girl is undermining your career!_" Anatolius shouted back, gritting his teeth. "_If you allow her to completely wreck your image now, what do you think you'll do after you get out of Beacon?_"

"I don't know," said Pyrrha sarcastically, unable to keep from rolling her eyes, "maybe take bounty missions, work as a Huntress; you know...the thing I've been training my whole life to do."

"_Don't take that tone with me, young lady!_" snapped Anatolius. "_We did not raise you to talk back to us like that!_"

"I'll take whatever tone I like, Dad!" Pyrrha snapped back, leaning forward and glaring at her father through the screen. "I know you don't care so much about how I make a living as much as you care about how you'll keep yours, once you don't have all my sponsorship money to live on. Why do you think I've been practicing living within my means as Huntress and putting all that extra money into savings? I figured it would be a nice nest egg for you to live on after I graduate, and go into proper Huntress work."

"_Pyrrha...darling...please..._" pleaded Phoinix, trying to work a more sympathetic angle. "_It's lovely that you want to leave us all that money. But...I'm worried that you might need more..._"

Pyrrha frowned, pressing her lips in a tight line as she looked at her mother's face very closely. She recognized that tone, the guilty shift in her mother's eyes, glancing back and forth. "Mom...what did you buy this time?" she asked tiredly.

"_W-well...I figured that...you know, before all this happened..._" Phoinix waved her hands vaguely. "_...I thought it would be nice for us to have a way for you to get back to Mistral on short notice...like during school breaks and such...and I thought that having an available means of transport-_"

"Oh my God," groaned Pyrrha, her eyes going wide. "You bought an _airship_?!"

"_I-I put a deposit down on a lovely new model,_" said Phoinix, her voice picking up, betraying her unease. "_It wasn't too much-_"

"Moooooom!" groaned Pyrrha, palming her face with her hands, unable to look her mother in the eye for a moment, before lowering her hands to glare at her father. "I thought I gave you control of my account, and told you _not_ to let her do anymore impulse buys."

Now it was Anatolius' turn to look guilty and shift his eyes, a habit he'd, predictably, picked up from Phoinix. "_Sh-she talked me into it. I thought it was a sound investment._"

There were no words to Pyrrha's next groan, as she once again rested her face in her hands, unable to believe her parents. _How is it that I'm more responsible than the two adults in this conversation?_ she wondered exasperatedly. "I can't believe you two."

If there was one glaring fault about her mother, it was the fact that Phoinix Nikos often had eyes higher than their means. With the income from her sponsorships, Pyrrha's work had placed the Nikos family in the tier of Mistral's lower-to-mid-upperclass. But her mother wasn't truly satisfied with that, not completely. She wanted the kind of trappings that the ultra-rich elite enjoyed, like private airships. She wanted to be a part of the so-called "jet set" who could go galavanting off to exotic locales at a whim, despite the fact that supporting such a lifestyle would beyond their means, even if Pyrrha continued the same work she'd been doing.

"_Pyrrha, it's a smaller model-_" her mother began.

"It's an _intercontinental_ model!" Pyrrha exclaimed. "I'm willing to bet the down payment alone would be enough to buy a short-range model twice its size, if not bigger...up front, no less. I can't believe you'd do this!"

Private airships were expensive enough as it was. But intercontinental models were in another bracket altogether. Flight within the confines of a Kingdom wasn't all that dangerous. But the world outside the walls was a different matter. Airships were the safest and most reliable means of travel, seeing as the Grimm made things like road-maintenance all but impossible. But that didn't change the fact that flight outside the Kingdom had its hazards. There was always the risk of encountering Nevermores, Griffons, or other flying Grimm. Some large and powerful Grimm had the potential to down low-flying aircraft with thrown objects. Intercontinental airships had to be equipped with tech to counter such threats. A small model, like the one Phoinix apparently wanted, would probably have shields and emergency boosters at least, which would increase the price by an order of magnitude over a short-range model for local flights.

Despite not wanting to hear the answer to her next question, Pyrrha narrowed her eyes at her parents. "How much?"

"_The deposit was ten-million,_" her mother began, "_and we can obviously pay off the rest-_"

"TEN MILLION LIEN!" shrieked Pyrrha, her eyes going wide. "And that's just the down payment? Are you insane, Mom? That's almost a _third_ of our total assets. And it's going to be decades before you can pay it off!"

"_Don't get hysterical,_" urged Anatolius. "_We can manage, so long as you can keep your sponsors happy._"

"Cancel that purchase," said Pyrrha, with every ounce of authority she could project into her voice. "Cancel it. Return the airship, NOW!"

"_We can't do that,_" protested Phoinix. "_We'd lose the deposit then._"

"Then you're just going to have to live with it!" snapped Pyrrha. "It's your fault for thinking you could get away with buying something that ridiculous." She groaned in frustration, massaging her temple with one hand. "Do you have any idea how costly something like that is? It isn't just the payments and interest, you know. We can't exactly park something like that on our driveway. We'd have to rent space at the air-docks. Then there's maintenance fees, fuel, and permits. We'd also need a crew, or just a pilot at the very least, because I suspect neither of _you_ is going to learn how to fly an airship yourselves anytime soon."

Seeing her parents shift uncomfortably, Pyrrha figured her guess was on the mark. Even though her youthfully-retired mother had plenty of free time on her hands now, a personal airship wasn't a _true_ status-symbol unless you had someone to fly it _for_ you...at least, that's how Phoinix thought of it.

Pyrrha frowned, pressing on. "Even with my current sponsorships, this is way too much money. Between what you're already paying for, with the house and the car, we can't cover an airship and its associated costs. I'd have to..."

Pyrrha's voice trailed off. _I'd have to go back home,_ she'd realized. _I'd have to work harder, get more sponsorships, do more promotions. I'd probably have to start doing work in other Kingdoms. The airship would come in handy for that...which means..._ "Mom...Dad...What did Holly think about this?"

"_She was all for it,_" said Phoinix. "_In fact, she was the one who brought it up, and even identified a good model-_"

She was cut off by a very undignified and angry snarl from Pyrrha, a sound that Pyrrha almost never made. It was so ferocious that both her parents lurched away from the screen, as though Pyrrha might somehow strike them across the distance that separated them.

"That _bitch_!" hissed Pyrrha, pure fury surging through her veins. "So _that's_ her plan...I'm going to fire her for this!"

"_Y-you don't get to make that decision,_" declared Anatolius, trying his best to sound imperious, even though he was clearly disconcerted by Pyrrha's anger. "_Holly works for _us_, and she has done a marvelous job managing you these past few years..._"

"Of course she has," growled Pyrrha. "After all, her commission increases the more money I bring in."

She could see her agent's plan now. Holly had been the talent manager and promotional agent hired by her parents, after Pyrrha's second tournament win. She had developed Pyrrha's public image to make her more marketable, and managed all the celebrity work Pyrrha had done. It was a natural relationship of give and take. According to their arrangement, Holly's fee was a cut of the profits from each sponsorship, endorsement, or promotion.

When they had met, a naive, fourteen-year-old Pyrrha had thought Holly was nice, easy to talk to, someone who clearly knew what was best for her. But, in the following years, Pyrrha had begun to see that Holly's pleasant behavior was a persona, not unlike the one she had forced Pyrrha to adopt, designed to put her at ease and make it easier for Holly to steer Pyrrha in whatever direction she had wanted. Beneath that facade lay the heart and mind of a shrewd manipulator, someone who maneuvered others primarily to suit her own interests and wellbeing.

When Pyrrha had decided to attend Beacon, instead of Haven, it had been Holly who had objected most strongly, protesting how hard it would be for Pyrrha to keep up her image and stay current in Mistral, if she was away at Vale for nearly the entire year. It had given Pyrrha an opportunity to see the cracks in Holly's mask, and get a proper glimpse of the woman's true self.

And now Holly's scheme was painfully apparent. However much she was annoyed by their frivolous behavior, and the way they treated her fame as something that existed for their sakes, Pyrrha _did_ love her parents dearly. She wanted to support them, and ensure that they could live comfortably. It was only natural that Holly would be willing to use that sentiment to control Pyrrha. Manipulating her parents into threatening to spend themselves into destitution was the ideal lure to bring Pyrrha back to Mistral, and put her back to work.

Perhaps Pyrrha had indulged that sympathetic desire to support her parents too much, and now her parents had become too inured to the idea of getting what they wanted, without having to think too much about the cost. After all, if Pyrrha signed up for another calendar-shoot or posed for another swimsuit-magazine, the costs would be covered just fine.

Even going to an Academy, like Beacon or Haven, worked out to their benefit, in the end. Finishing her training and graduating, Pyrrha would return home, a full-fledged Huntress, along with all the adulation that came with such a title. Of course, Pyrrha's prestige could be further boosted if she racked up even more achievements while in an Academy, like...say...winning the Vytal Festival tournament one or two times, something her parents had probably assumed was a natural outcome for a girl of her skill and talents (an assumption that might well have been shaken by the sparring match that had sparked this conversation in the first place).

"_In any case, it should be obvious what you need to do,_" continued Anatolius, oblivious to his daughter's train of thought. "_You need to come home, right away. We can still work through this. This match can be explained as a fluke-no-we'll say that you _let_ that girl do as well as she did. She's two years younger than you. There's no way she could obtain such an absurd result legitimately. You just wanted to help her gain experience and polish her skills. You're just _that_ generous after all._"

Pyrrha bit her bottom lip, fighting back the urge to scream at her father for talking down about Ruby like that. She decided to at least let him finish, before tearing down his ambitious plan. "No." She injected every ounce of her personal conviction into that word.

"_What?_" blurted her father, shocked by her response.

"I will do no such thing," said Pyrrha simply. "I am not going to say or do anything to undermine the legitimacy of our match's outcome. Besides, if you're so worried about my image, think about what it would mean if I abruptly left after this match. It would look like I was running away, that I was afraid to face Ruby again."

"_It's a risk you need to take! You have to leave!_" shouted Anatolius. "_Your future is on the line._"

"My future is on track," said Pyrrha, coming to a realization that she realized had been long in coming...too long, if she was honest. "All I ever wanted was to be a Huntress, to protect people and make a difference in the world. All of this...it's what you wanted. But I wanted to be a good daughter and support you."

"_Of course you do,_" said Phoinix. "_After all, we helped you realize your talents, darling. Remember how we scrimped to pay for that fighting class, to get your Aura unlocked. After you discovered your Semblance, we paid for that personal trainer. We even covered the cost of your weapon._"

"And how many times over have I paid you back for that?" asked Pyrrha. "The house, the neighborhood, the fact that you could retire before you were even forty, Mom; I think I've more than adequately compensated you for all the money you spent on me, even if we factor in the expense of simply raising me as your child."

"_How dare you talk back to us like that, young lady?_" growled Anatolius. "_We are your _parents_. We deserve your respect and consideration. We are the ones who helped shape you into what you are today._"

"Maybe so," said Pyrrha. "But this has made me wonder who the responsible adult is in this conversation. You might be my parents, but...when I look at you...all I can see now is two spoiled _children_ who've gotten too used to getting what they want, when they want it. I've indulged you too much...but this is the final straw."

"_Pyrrha!_" gasped her mother. "_How can you talk about us like that?_"

"Because it's true," said Pyrrha. "Because I'm about to do what a responsible adult does, when their dependents fail to realize what's at stake. I'm cutting you off."

"_You can't!_" protested her father. "_You legally can't. The account is in all our names. You can't change that without our consent._"

"You're right," said Pyrrha. "But that account is _all_ you have now, that and whatever money comes in through the sponsors that don't abandon me after this false controversy. That's yours to do with as you please. The investments our financial advisor set up will be there too...in a few years from now...assuming nothing goes wrong with the stock market in the meantime. That should be more than enough to support your current living conditions, assuming you-I don't know-don't do something completely foolish, like blow it all on a private airship, and all the associated costs that come with it. But I'm not bailing you out anymore. You're going to have to learn how to live within your means, to live like adults, in other words. That's the end of it."

"_And what will you do?_" asked Anatolius, his face crimson with fury. "_How will you live?_"

"On my stipend as a Beacon student," said Pyrrha. "Once we're allowed to undertake missions, I'll be able to earn bounties as well. That's what I planned on doing from the very beginning. All the money from my work...that was for _you_. It's _always_ been for you. And it will continue to be, for the rest of your lives, so long as you don't do something utterly ridiculous. But everything I do from now on...it's for _me_, for the life I've been working towards. If you can't accept that, then I'm sorry. But I'm not turning away now. I'm happier than I've been in years. I won't let anyone take that away, not even you. I'm sorry, but this is the end of this discussion."

"_We are not remotely finished, Pyrrha!_" shouted her father. "_We are not giving you a choice. I am ordering you to come home, right now._"

"No," said Pyrrha. "Goodbye."

"_Py-_" Her mother's voice was cut off as the screen went silent, Pyrrha hanging up on them without a second's pause, not wanting to hesitate, lest she endure several more minutes of her parents' alternating between berating and cajoling her. Getting up, she walked out of the call center, the few other people there watching her go.

Pyrrha managed to hold herself together on the elevator ride down. She managed to keep her chin up through the lobby. However, only partway back to the dorm, she noticed she was completely alone in the courtyard and felt her self-control deserting her. Finding a bench, she settled down. A shuddering breath escaped her and Pyrrha sagged forward with a sorrowful moan, burying her face in her hands.

In a way, she felt foolish for trying to give Jaune advice about his own family. She'd unwittingly allowed hers to come to see her more as a tool, a financial asset, than a person in her own right. Now, supporting their indulgences had apparently become more important than the hopes and dreams she'd carried with her for most of her life.

She had to admit, she had a lot to thank her parents for, even beyond the costs of raising her and getting her trained. Pyrrha's repeated runs through the Mistral Regional Tournament had given her the drive to keep improving, the prospect of next year's tournament, and the challenges it would bring, always inspiring her to work harder, keeping her from resting on her laurels. Even working with her sponsors and promotions had taught her a lot about self control and keeping her cool. There had been so many lessons she had learned, so many experiences gained, that she wouldn't have, had her parents not pressed her onto the celebrity path.

That understanding made it all the harder for her to remain committed to her current course. Even now, a part of her wanted to rush back up to the call center, call her parents back, and apologize profusely and promise to do what she could for them. Maybe there was a way to help them out without having to leave Beacon. She'd be able to convince them that the airship was a terrible idea. She could find something to do in Vale-

Pyrrha pulled her hands away from her face and brought them back in, slapping herself..._hard_. _No_! she thought fiercely. _Don't give in. I made the right choice._ She knew that the urge to apologize, to try and make amends, even though she knew she was in the right, was her training talking; not her combat training, but the social training Holly had given her, the persona of forced modesty trying to assert itself. The weeks she'd spent on Team RASP had helped her to begin breaking out of that mold, to let her true feelings shine through, to occasionally indulge her own wants first. She might have been grateful for all that her parents had done for her, but that didn't mean she was obligated to spend her life living solely to prop them up.

A pair of small, yet strong, arms encircled her shoulders from behind, wrapping her in a warm embrace. The sudden, unexpected contact should have startled her, but Pyrrha only felt comfort from it, that realization alone telling her exactly who she had to thank for this. "Sasame?"

"I came to check on you," said Ruby's adoptive sister, leaning over the bench to hug Pyrrha. "Ruby-chan and the rest of your friends don't need me to supervise their basic Aura-training anymore than I already have. On the other hand, your conversation does not appear to have gone well."

"You could say that," said Pyrrha.

"Tell me," said Sasame simply.

That was all the prompting Pyrrha needed. Normally, she didn't want to speak about her issues and insecurities with those close to her. It felt like she was burdening them with her problems, while each of them already struggled with plenty of their own. Yet, there was, once again, something about Sasame, something about her that made Pyrrha's restraint fall away, and all her worries leave her mouth in a continuous stream, all while Ruby's sister listened in silence.

Finishing with a summary of the conversation that had just occurred, Pyrrha wrapped up her story. In the meantime, Sasame had slid over the top of the bench to sit next to her. Now Sasame's tail divided, the furry appendages wrapping around Pyrrha and pulling her close, even as Sasame's arms tightened their hold. Pyrrha was enfolded in a warm, fluffy cocoon that was softer and more comfortable than the best bed she could ever remember sleeping in.

"Goodness me," said Sasame wryly as Pyrrha sank into the embrace, "not just Ruby-chan, but _all_ of you seem to have such absurdly difficult families."

"I suppose that's true," agreed Pyrrha. After all, there was Weiss and her, admittedly difficult, relationship with her father. Then there was Jaune, whose family had tried to stifle him in a manner similar to the way Ruby's father had. There was Yang, who'd been guilted into helping stifle Ruby by a mistake made, back when she'd been young and desperate. There were Ren and Nora, who were orphans, with God-knew-what in their background. And, of course, there was Blake...with no telling what secrets lurked within her past.

"Well, I suppose that it's fitting that you all came together like this," said Sasame. "Your own families may have disappointed you in some manner or another. But you have each other now. Your unique circumstances, your distinct forms of pain, give you each something to teach one another. From that, you can forge bonds far stronger than those of blood."

"And what about the ones I am bound to _by_ blood?" asked Pyrrha.

"From the sound of things, you've done all you can for them," said Sasame. "It's always sad to see adults lose their perspective, and regress back to the mindset of children. What you did is, perhaps, the most measured and moderate response that would have been appropriate. If your parents truly cannot manage with the means you have provided them, then there may be no saving them.

"It may seem harsh, but children do not exist to be a tool of their parents. Everyone is born into this world to live his or her own life. A parent's obligation is to help a child step onto that path. Parents who have lost sight of that, and focus only upon what their child can do for _them_, are not worthy of the title."

"Thank you," said Pyrrha. "Still...it's hard."

"Of course it is," said Sasame. "You love your parents very much. You are aware of their faults, but you wish to be a good daughter all the same. In some ways, you are much more mature than Ruby-chan and Jaune-kun, when it comes to such issues. In your case, the hardest thing to do is stand back and allow life to take its course, to remind your parents that they should be able to stand on their own, as they had back before you were there."

"You're right," said Pyrrha.

"In some ways, you possess the same weakness Ruby-chan has been wrestling with," said Sasame.

"Weakness?" Pyrrha blinked, looking over at Sasame in surprise.

Sasame nodded. "You have a tendency to be too selfless, Pyrrha-chan, too willing to help others find happiness at your own expense. That has always been Ruby-chan's greatest weakness as well, something we have been working long and hard, and will continue to work, on breaking her out of. One's life should be lived for oneself, first and foremost. True selflessness is a terrible thing, Pyrrha-chan. It means seeing yourself as nothing more than the value you have for others, becoming empty, hollow, not really living."

Pyrrha swallowed. When Sasame put it like that, being completely selfless really did sound terrible. "Thank you," she said softly.

"It was nothing," said Sasame. "I'm glad we got this chance to talk. I'd been meaning to speak with you privately, like I have the rest of Ruby-chan's teammates."

"Did you want to assess us?" asked Pyrrha.

"I wanted to know more about you," said Sasame. "As I told Jaune-kun, Ruby-chan does not respond well to people manipulating things behind the scenes 'for her own good.' I do not wish to do that to her. However, though it is a selfish desire of mine, I do wish to dote on her, from time to time. Helping her friends, helping all of you strengthen your bonds and come together, that is something I'd like to do."

That made Pyrrha giggle. "It makes me wish I had a sister like you," she said.

"You could," said Sasame.

"Huh?"

"In fact," continued Sasame, "you could have a sister that _is_ me. I made a similar offer to Yang-san, though she hasn't accepted yet. But, if you'd like, I would be happy to be your sister, like I was for Ruby-chan. Truth be told I feel a certain kinship with you."

"You do?" Pyrrha was both shocked and confused.

Sasame sighed. "Yes. I can understand quite well what you've gone through...because your parents very much resemble my own."

"How so?" asked Pyrrha.

Sasame sighed, her eyes growing distant. "Parents who seem more concerned about how you can be a tool to advance their station, more than they care about your happiness...I know that quite well.

"I was born into the Mitarai Family. Our ancestor, Mitarai Tokichiro, was the creator of the healing arts that our clan relies on to this day. Because of that, our family is highly-regarded, and those of us born into it have a natural affinity for the healing arts, which is something that prompted my parents to push me onto the path of a healer, even before I had given much thought to such things as what I wanted to do with my life. And...while I do love them, I also can't help but resent them for that as well. Needless to say, their obsession with our family's status made things very tense between us, when I made Ruby-chan my ward."

"I think I understand," said Pyrrha, smiling wryly. After all, it was her own friendship with Ruby that appeared to be a major point of contention between herself and her parents, now that Ruby had proven herself someone capable of fighting her as an equal.

"And so, as two people with similar issues, I imagine we would get along quite well as sisters," said Sasame.

Pyrrha didn't have to think about Sasame's offer for very long. "I...I'd like that very much," she admitted.

"Wonderful!" cheered Sasame, hugging Pyrrha just a little bit tighter.

"Then, as my new big sister...could I ask you to let me stay like this...just a little longer?" asked Pyrrha.

"It would be my pleasure," said Sasame, stretching up to kiss Pyrrha's cheek.

Pyrrha sighed in relief and allowed the last of her tension to leave her. Before she even realized it, she completely dozed off in Sasame's arms and tails.

* * *

"You're not training with us?" asked Ruby, surprised by Pyrrha's statement, Saturday morning.

"I'm not," said Pyrrha, a slightly guilty smile decorating her face. "I know Jaune needs to keep working hard, but I don't think I'm needed to help with that. I have some training of my own that I want to do. I want to follow Professor Goodwitch's advice and address the weaknesses in my combat style."

"Oh..." said Ruby, at a bit of a loss about how to respond. It was true that spending so much time helping Jaune train meant that they had less time to work on their own skills. Ruby realized that she hadn't been doing a lot of practice for herself lately. She could definitely stand to work on addressing the issues that Glynda had brought up about her own style.

"I'm sorry," said Pyrrha, lowering her head. "I know it's selfish of me, but..." She raised her head, her eyes drifting to Sasame, who beamed proudly from where she sat, by Ruby. "...someone told me that I need to work on being more selfish."

Jaune rubbed his head, grinning sheepishly. "Well, I can't complain," he said, "not after everything you've already done for me Pyrrha. If anything, I should be apologizing for taking up so much of your time. In fact, I should apologize to _all_ of you."

"That's not necessary," said Weiss. "As a matter of fact, I have some things of my own that I would like to work on. I'm sure Ruby does as well." She smirked at their team leader. "In fact, I think now would be a good time to see if Jaune can continue to work on improving himself, _without_ the rest of us hanging over his shoulder."

"Good enough for me," said Jaune, before blushing slightly. "Um...I'm gonna regret asking this, but I'll still need some help with that core exercise Ruby likes torturing me with."

"I'll rig something up," said Weiss. "A little fire-Dust, set to the right output, should be more than capable of serving the same purpose. I have to admit, if you'll put yourself through that willingly, then I can't help but acknowledge that you're serious about this."

"Thanks," grumbled Jaune, though he was still smiling slightly.

Ruby sighed. "Well...I guess that's the way things are going to be from now on. We still need to do team exercises from time to time."

"Of course we do," said Weiss. "Professor Goodwitch did say that team-battles will be occurring, later in the semester. We'd best prepare for that as well."

"We'll have our Aura-training in the evenings too," added Pyrrha.

"Well, I guess we're going to start doing our own thing on Saturdays," said Ruby.

"During the week too," said Jaune. "I know Pyrrha's pretty much taught me all the basics of sword-and-shield techniques. Anything more advanced she could teach me would be things specific to her weapons. I need to work out the best way to use my own weapons for myself." That last line sounded suspiciously like the one he'd used to try and turn Ruby down, during Initiation. However, this time, it wasn't born from an absurd sense of pride, but instead the knowledge that he was in a unique situation, and had to find his own way through it.

"Okay..." said Ruby hesitantly. "Just don't be afraid to ask for advice."

"I won't," promised Jaune. "Whatever else, I know that you girls know way more about fighting in general than I do."

"Be careful," said Ruby, squeezing his shoulder. "They might know better than to shove you into a locker, but I bet Cardinal is still looking for their chance."

"I'll manage," Jaune promised. "I can't exactly hide behind my friends forever."

Ruby nodded, still feeling a little nervous at the prospect. She could still recall, vividly, the night Cardin and his cronies had stuffed Jaune into his rocket locker, and nearly launched him into the Emerald Forest. She was certain that CRDL wouldn't go that far again, not when they'd been caught, and were fully aware that they'd been treading on some very thin ice with Glynda. But that wouldn't stop them from subtler forms of bullying that were easier to hide. But if she refused to leave Jaune alone, just because of that fear, then it was basically saying that she had no faith in his ability to stand up for himself.

The team broke up, its members going their separate ways to work on their own for a little while. As they did, Sasame watched them, Ruby in particular, a slightly sad smile on her face.

* * *

The next bombshell was dropped when they reconvened for lunch.

"What?!" exclaimed Ruby, eyes wide at Sasame's announcement. "You're leaving?"

"Yes," said Sasame. "It's my intention to depart tomorrow evening. All things considered, I've already stayed longer than I probably should have. Two weeks is more than enough time. I promised you that I wouldn't hover."

Ruby frowned, looking down at her plate. Her first impulse was to beg Sasame to stay longer. She still wasn't confident that she could properly supervise her friends' Aura-training, much less help them develop anything resembling a Manifestation. They were still working on the basics of Temper and Suppression, and hadn't even begun on things like Flow or Projection.

Still, Sasame had her own responsibilities back home. She couldn't stay out forever, just to look over Ruby's shoulder. More importantly, Ruby knew that depending on Sasame hanging around would be almost like admitting that her father had been right, that she wasn't capable of handling things on her own, not if she kept clinging to her older sister for help and support. Sasame was just visiting after all.

"All right," said Ruby.

Sasame smiled and gently patted Ruby's arm. "You're doing just fine, Ruby-chan; _better_ than fine, in fact. You've been blessed with good friends and, even though I will be leaving, you still have another loving older sister to depend on."

Across from Ruby, Yang blushed slightly, moved by Sasame's faith in her.

"You're right," said Ruby.

"I'm glad that I got to see how you've been doing," said Sasame. "I'm even happier to meet the people who have become so important to you. I know you'll continue to grow, even when I'm not watching over you directly."

"We'll watch over her in your place," promised Pyrrha, hugging Ruby around the shoulders, "just like she's watching over us."

"Well then, I can see I have nothing to worry about," said Sasame, beaming happily.

"So, if you're leaving tomorrow evening, that means you'll have all of the rest of tomorrow to hang out," noted Yang, something strange, almost melancholy about the tone of her voice.

"That was my intention," said Sasame. "I was certainly planning to spend my last day here with Ruby-chan. Yang-san, would you like to join us again?"

"Actually...I'll pass," said Yang. "I'll be there to see you off. But what I really wanted to do was suggest something, if this is gonna be your last day together for a while."

"Oh? What's that?" asked Sasame.

"You should go to Patch," said Yang, looking at both Sasame and Ruby. "There's...there's something there you should see..."

* * *

**You know...I'm beginning to think I overdid it with the characters with bad parental figures...It seems that not a single one of the members of Team RASP came from what we might consider to be a healthy family situation...Oh well...Anyway...**

**Anatolius Nikos: The name Anatolius comes from "anatole", meaning "sunrise".**

**Phoinix Nikos: Phoinix is a greek word, meaning "dark red". It's also the root word for the word, "Phoenix".**

**At the moment, there isn't a whole lot to say about Pyrrha's parents. They're that kind of stereotypical set of parents with a child who's made them rich. They've reached the point where they don't need to hold their own jobs, because the money Pyrrha brings in by herself is _more_ than enough. Not having a whole lot of knowledge about the kind of money a celebrity of Pyrrha's type would bring in, I suspect I may be overestimating what her net worth would realistically be, but I liked the idea of her parents essentially being a couple of people who've regressed to a more childish mindset, because they hardly have to work for anything they want to buy now, if at all.**

**As you might have guessed, this was written before that Volume 6 episode, which features the appearance of that red-haired woman who may or may not be Pyrrha's mother. Obviously, Phoinix does not resemble that character in any sense, and by the time she made her appearance, there was no groundwork I could lay concerning a possible other relative Pyrrha might have. Well...that's the consequence of writing a story for an ongoing series. Those of you who read _Lost Rose_ will remember me lamenting the fact that Ozpin was revealed to have used to be called "Ozma" (Isn't that a girl's name?).**


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37:**

"Such a lovely place," said Sasame, looking at the tranquil woodlands that closed in around both her and Ruby as they walked. "It's a shame that it holds such bitter memories for you, Ruby-chan."

"Yeah," said Ruby. She had to admit, it felt good to be back on the island, the first time she'd set foot on it since the day she'd run away, six years ago. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed the sights and smells of her old home. So long as they kept away from _that place_, she supposed she could safely indulge in nostalgia.

It had taken some work to dodge the paparazzi that were still lying in wait at Vale's docks, apparently salivating at the chance to get exclusive photos of Ruby. The risk was high enough that Ruby willingly went with her casual ensemble to avoid the risk of her trademark cloak and hood catching the eye of anyone who wanted to investigate her. Aside from that, the application of Suppression had hidden her presence, keeping the chances of people noticing her to a minimum.

Following Yang's instructions, they followed a dirt path that had begun just outside of town, winding its way through the woodland that made up the bulk of the island's terrain. The air was filled with the heady scent of pinesap and the earthy aroma of loam. Sunlight filtered down through the canopy, throwing dappled shadows about as the branches of the trees around them gently swayed in the cool breeze.

The path led upwards along a gentle slope, before the trees gave way to a meadow of tall grass, which opened up in a clearing that terminated at a cliff, overlooking the sea, the faint sound of waves crashing against the rocks below forming a soothing melody to Ruby and Sasame's ears, the ocean stretching beyond the cliff's edge in a beautiful, dark-blue expanse, stretching away until it met the lighter blue of the sky.

However, the scenery was of secondary importance. As Ruby and Sasame entered the clearing, their eyes immediately fixed upon the only manmade object to occupy that space. It was a piece of carved, dark-gray stone, rectangular in shape. It projected up from the ground about three feet, its sides tapering slightly, before terminating in a flattened top, the entire construct standing near the very edge of the cliff. The side of the gravestone facing them was engraved with a rose-emblem, below which rested the name and epitaph of the person it commemorated.

_Summer Rose: Thus Kindly I Scatter._

"Mom," whispered Ruby, the faintest hint of a sob reaching her voice.

Sasame, her own face solemn, turned to look up at Ruby, reaching over and taking Ruby's hand in her own. She could understand why Ruby might be on the verge of being overcome by emotion at this moment. After all, it had been a major shock to learn that this grave was here at all.

* * *

_"__Mom's grave!" exclaimed Ruby. "It's on Patch?"_

_"__That's right," said Yang sadly averting her eyes. "It's not really a grave...more of a memorial, really. They...they n-never...they never found her body."_

_"__It was there, the whole time?" Ruby blinked furiously, tears working their way out of her eyes. She wasn't certain if they were tears of sadness...or anger. "All that time...and no one told me."_

_"__They put it on the edge of a cliff," said Yang. "It was a good ways through the forest. Dad made me not tell you, because he was afraid you'd go out there by yourself and...well...you know the rest."_

_Despite the whirlwind of emotion, Ruby could certainly understand the logic behind Taiyang not wanting her to know where her mother's grave was, if only through the twisted logic of a father who was overprotective to an absurd degree. Patch was considered one of the safest locales in Vale's territory. A fair-sized island, surrounded by relatively shallow seas, it was far easier to keep it cleared of Grimm than most other places. However, as Ruby and Yang's own experience, during that ill-advised excursion so many years ago, demonstrated, it wasn't perfect. No doubt Taiyang didn't want Ruby to know about the grave, because he thought she'd go out on her own, and wind up being attacked by some Grimm._

_"__A-anyway, I think it's past time you knew that it was there," said Yang. "And...if you and Sasame are going to be spending your last day together, then that might be the best place for you to go. I think Mom would love to meet your other big sister."_

_Ruby didn't know what to say. Part of her was simmering with barely suppressed resentment that Yang, even after they had supposedly reconciled, had kept something like this from her. However, the rest of her stringently reminded her that it wasn't entirely Yang's fault, and more Taiyang's for insisting that Ruby not even be allowed to visit her own mother's grave. Given the awkward state of affairs between them, until Sasame had helped resolve things, it was only understandable that Yang hadn't really been in a position to tell her about Summer's grave. Plus, the two weeks since they'd reconciled had been rather turbulent for a variety of reasons...and it was the sort of thing that didn't exactly come up in the course of normal conversation._

_And now, Yang was stepping back and advising Ruby and Sasame to visit the grave together, on their last day together for what could be months. It was definitely a decision born of kindness and love, a special moment that Ruby and Sasame could have to themselves._

_"__That sounds like a wonderful idea," said Sasame, covering Ruby's hand with her own. "I've always wanted to meet the mother of such a wonderful girl."_

_Ruby blushed and lowered her face slightly. "Thanks, Yang."_

* * *

For a second, Ruby's body forgot how to walk. Her legs were unable to move, locked in place as she stood, transfixed by the sight of her mother's grave. Her heart thundered in her chest, almost threatening to explode out of her ribcage, if it pounded any harder.

It shouldn't have been this difficult. When push came to shove, it was nothing more than a block of stone on the edge of a cliff. This thing wasn't actually Ruby's mother. It didn't even have her remains beneath it. But such mundane logic had no place here. In Ruby's heart, she could feel her mother, that vague presence that lingered in the back of her soul, never truly being forgotten. It might not have been in body, but Summer Rose was here...somehow...and Ruby knew it.

She felt a gentle tug on her hand, and looked down to see Sasame smiling up at her, gently pulling Ruby's arm in the direction of the gravestone, without moving herself. That light sensation broke the spell that had locked Ruby's feet in place, and she began to step forward. Sasame released her hand and transitioned her own touch to the small of Ruby's back, continuing to urge her forward, while waiting behind.

Ruby walked forward, her first two steps hesitant, but each one that followed coming more easily. Finally, she came to a stop, just a meter or so away from the stone, standing awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. She tried to remember what people did when visiting graves like this. She remembered her prayer over the grave of the bandit she'd killed, but this wasn't the same kind of situation. She thought back to those rare occasions when she'd accompanied Sasame, Natsuki, and her other friends to visit the graves of their ancestors, watching them pray at the base of those graves. Ruby didn't have any incense or offerings, but she felt she knew what she could do.

Slowly, Ruby lowered herself to her knees, then brought her hands together, pressing her palms against one another, her fingers pointing upwards. Then she bowed her head over them. After a moment of silence, where the only sounds were the whisper of the wind through the foliage, the distant crash of the waves, and the faint sounds of animals, Ruby lifted her head up and stared at the grave once more.

"Hi...Mom," she said awkwardly. "I...I'm not sure where to start. I can't believe I never got to visit you before now...I can't believe Dad would keep something like this from me. I..."

Stopping, Ruby shuddered and turned inward, ruthlessly pressing down her feelings of anger and frustration. "I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't make this about Dad. I'm glad I finally get to see you...even if it's like this.

"It's probably not all that surprising, but a whole lot has happened since you...well...since you died. I ran away from home. I trained to become a Huntress. I got stronger...a _lot_ stronger. And now I'm in Beacon, a team leader no less, just like you. I hope you're proud of me. I've worked really hard...and I'll keep working hard. I'll become a great Huntress, just like you..._better_ than you, I hope.

"I know...I know you might be scared, scared that I'll end up dead, like you did. I have to admit, I'm scared too. The thing that...that scares me the most...is that there are times where I'm _not_ scared of dying."

Ruby let out a wobbly, laugh, wiping her eyes, before continuing. "It's silly isn't it, the thing that scares me is the fact that I'm not scared sometimes. But Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii told me that it's important.

"Oh! I should tell you about my new family. I know you love Dad and that he loved you. But I couldn't stay with him. He would have just tied me down, until I couldn't do anything on my own. That's why I had to go. But I met Sasame-nee, and she became my new big sister-Don't worry!-I patched things up with Yang. Anyway, I met Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii. They took me back to their homeland, and a lot of people there became like family to me too. They taught me and helped me become stronger...a lot stronger. And, thanks to them, Professor Ozpin invited me into Beacon a whole two years early. Isn't that cool?"

Ruby giggled softly, a giddy feeling rising inside her. It was strange, but...the more she talked, the easier it became. It really _did_ almost feel as though her mother was there, hanging onto her every word.

"A-anyway, I was a little worried about going to Beacon so early. But it's been great. I've made so many wonderful friends. There's Yang, of course. But I also met this girl, Blake. She's quiet and sort of mysterious, but really nice. Then there's Nora, who's always super energetic. It's hard to believe she's older than me, sometimes. And then there's Ren. He's even quieter than Blake, but really calm and collected. He's their team leader...and it's hard for him sometimes, but I know he's working hard.

"On my team there's Weiss. She was really uptight at first. She's still pretty prickly a lot of the time, but she's definitely getting better, and we're becoming really good friends. Then there's Pyrrha. She's my rival. Her skills are amazing and, when we sparred, I almost lost against her, but we managed to draw. She's sort of a big celebrity, so she's had a hard time opening up to people. But she's definitely a lot more relaxed around us now. And then there's Jaune..."

Behind Ruby, Sasame stifled a giggle and hid a sly smile behind her hand as she saw Ruby's cheeks turn a light shade of pink.

"Jaune...Jaune's the first friend I made at Beacon. He's my best friend. If it weren't for him, I might not have stayed, after I found out that Yang was there, but he gave me the courage to keep moving forward. I was really worried about him at first. I guess it's okay to tell you, since I know you won't tell anyone, but Jaune didn't really have any training, before he got to Beacon. His family is like Dad. They didn't want him to become a Huntsman; I don't know why. He's amazing, and he's got so much potential and uh...Well...Uh...Anyway, he's really improving a lot, and I know he'll be a great addition to our team. And he's my partner too, which is great.

"Oh! And, by the way, Professor Ozpin made me team leader. Even now, I'm still kinda trying to wrap my head around it. I don't have a lot of experience telling other people what to do...and I know that's not all there is to it. I'm doing my best though. Weiss was really upset about it at first, but now she's accepted it, and we're getting along. Jaune and Pyrrha never really had a problem with it. I'll do my best to become a leader who has the respect of her teammates.

"Oh! And there's Ashley. She's my newest friend. She's this girl I met in town, and we really hit it off. I've only visited her once so far, but I really enjoy hanging out with her."

Ruby sighed. Now it came to a more difficult part of this one-sided conversation.

"Mom...I know you love Dad. I know he loves me...sort of. But...I can't accept what he's done to me, what he's _still_ trying to do. I know that, maybe, you didn't want me to become a Huntress, because of what happened to you. But I still want to. I won't blame you or your stories. I love what I've learned and what I can do, and I'll never apologize for it. I just...I just want Dad to accept the path I chose in life. That's not too much to ask, is it? I don't know if he'll ever change, but...if he does...I might be able to forgive him...maybe...someday... Maybe it's silly to ask, but could you help with that? I'm not sure how, but...I think Dad might still be willing to listen to you."

Parting her hands, Ruby reached out with her left and gently traced her fingers over the upper edge of the stone marker. "I love you, Mom, and I miss you. I hope I can make you proud."

Sniffling, Ruby stood up and backed away from the grave, not wanting to take her eyes off of it. Strangely, she felt at peace. She was reminded of what Kyo had told her, when she was praying for the bandit she'd killed. _"Prayers are for the living."_ It seemed that was true, even under circumstances like this. A feather-light touch on the back of her hand broke the spell, drawing her attention back to Sasame, who smiled up at her.

"May I have a few words with your mother?" she asked.

"Sure," said Ruby, stepping back and allowing Sasame to take her turn.

Moving to stand in front of the stone, Sasame sank to her knees and performed the same ritual gestures Ruby had, clasping her hands and bowing over them, before looking at the grave with a smile that was equal parts warm and solemn. "It's an honor to meet you, Summer-dono.

"For the past few years, I have had the privilege of looking after your daughter, of guiding and nurturing her. I, and many others, have been blessed to have her in my, in our, lives. These years have opened my eyes to so many revelations and experiences that I would have never obtained otherwise. Your daughter, your Ruby Rose is, perhaps, the single most remarkable person I have ever met...and that comes from someone who knows Kyo."

Ruby couldn't quite hide her giggle at that statement.

"I know that you may have not wanted your daughter to follow the path you did. Even if we don't have Huntsmen and Huntresses in our homeland, I know full well that it is a path fraught with hardship, danger, and, inevitably, sorrow. It is the prerogative of any parent to want to protect their child from pain, particularly pain you yourself have experienced. I too know that I would be happiest knowing that Ruby-chan could grow up with a life free from that pain."

Ruby felt her breath hitch, shocked by this revelation on Sasame's part.

"But, despite that, I also know that Ruby-chan's spirit is too great to be restrained in such a manner," continued Sasame. "I know that trying to restrain that spirit would, in the end, cause her far more pain and hardship than any amount of well-intentioned protection could ever prevent. To that end, I, and many others, have endeavored to ensure that Ruby-chan has the strength to carry the burdens she has chosen to shoulder, so that she might still have the strength to smile through any pain or sorrow, the strength to carry on and be true to herself."

Ruby sniffled, wiping her nose, then her eyes widened as Sasame bowed forward, planting the palms of her hands against the earth and touching her forehead to the ground in a gesture of supplication that Ruby knew expressed the deepest respect and reverence.

"Thus, however unworthy I might be, I pray for your blessing, Summer-dono, for the continued privilege of being a guiding light in your wonderful daughter's life, even as we reach that stage where the budding Rose has begun to bloom with all her glorious beauty and strength. I hope that you will accept me, and the rest of her extended family, watching over her, being the wind beneath her wings that will lift Ruby-chan to the furthest expanses of the sky and beyond. I love your daughter dearly, and she is my pride and joy. Please entrust her to me."

Ruby wasn't certain if Sasame's prayer was answered. It wasn't as though there was some kind of miraculous sign of her mother's approval. However, Ruby felt a lightness in her heart that hadn't been there before. Sure, it could probably be attributed to how happy Sasame's words made her. But she'd like to think, if only for a little bit, that it was a sign of Summer's blessing.

Sasame stood up and turned to head back to Ruby. When Sasame reached her, Ruby threw her arms around Sasame and hugged her tightly, Sasame returning the gesture, enfolding Ruby in the warm cocoon of her tails.

"I love you," said Ruby, tears squeezing out from her tightly-shut eyelids.

"And I you," said Sasame earnestly, stretching up to kiss Ruby on the cheek.

They stayed like that for a while, before Ruby finally found the strength of will to release her sister and step away, Sasame's tails unwinding from around her. Their business concluded, they began following the path back to town, intending to take the ferry back to Vale, and spend the rest of the day there.

Partway back, they encountered a fork in the path, which hadn't been readily visible, coming from the other way. Ruby frowned, staring down the path that forked off. She only vaguely remembered where anything on the island was anymore. But a vague memory was enough for her to figure out what lay down that path. A glance down at the ground, and a faded impression of a man's boot, confirmed her suspicion.

"So that way lies..." said Sasame.

"Yeah," said Ruby.

Sasame pursed her lips, staring down the unused path. She could feel Ruby looking expectantly at her. Turning back to Ruby, Sasame smiled. "I won't urge you to do anything," she said. "After what he tried to do, you have every right to leave him wallowing. You made every effort, but he refused to bend at all."

Ruby stared down the path a little longer. Sasame made no move, said nothing, merely waiting for Ruby to come to her decision. Finally, Ruby let out a long, tired sigh. Turning away, she led Sasame back along the path into the town proper.

* * *

The journey back to Vale was uneventful. Afterwards, Ruby and Sasame spent their time wandering and taking in the sights of the Kingdom. Having dodged the paparazzi at the docks, they were free to wander, with the photographers having no notion yet that Ruby had come to Vale at all. As the sun began to sink towards the horizon, Sasame led them to Vale's wall. Ruby called over all her friends so that they could say goodbye. Even though none of them were as close to Sasame as Ruby was, they were somewhat sad to see her go, having grown accustomed to having her there. Pyrrha, in particular, seemed melancholy about Sasame's departure, having grown attached to the idea of being Sasame's sister.

They gathered on one of the wall's observation decks, one of the places where the public was permitted to enter and look over the lands beyond Vale's perimeter. From here, they had a view of the woodland hills north of Vale, stretching out into the distance. Sasame gave each of them one last hug. She hugged Yang and Pyrrha for an extended period of time.

"I'll miss you," said Pyrrha sadly, having really grown attached to Sasame.

"I know," said Sasame. "The feeling is mutual. I will be back in the future."

"When?" asked Pyrrha, pulling out of the embrace.

"Well," said Sasame, "After I return home, I hope to be able to return in time for the Vytal Festival. I've always heard that it is quite the affair. It would be interesting to finally see it for myself."

"Cool! That means you can watch us in the tournament!" exclaimed Yang eagerly.

"I'd look forward to that as well," said Sasame, beaming at Yang.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Yang blushed and looked down, scraping her foot in a bashful gesture that looked completely out of character for her.

"What is it, Yang-san?" asked Sasame.

"Um...Well...I've been thinking about your offer," said Yang, "...you know...about us being sisters too..."

"And...?" prompted Sasame with a knowing smile.

"Well...I guess I'd like that," said Yang. "I mean...if the offer's still open and all."

Sasame giggled and reached out with her tails, wrapping them around Yang and pulling her in for another hug, Sasame rising up on one of her furry appendages to kiss Yang on the forehead. "Of course it is, Yang-chan. You are always welcome to this family. Someday, I'll come and take all of you to see the place where Ruby-chan grew up. I think that would be a fine experience for you."

"Yeah, I'd like that," said Yang, while the others nodded in agreement.

"Good," said Sasame. Releasing Yang, she backpedaled and jumped up to the railing that lined the observation platform, beaming at all of them. "I look forward to seeing you all again. I'll try to be back in time for the festival. And, Ruby-chan..."

"Yeah?" asked Ruby.

"I'll try and bring Natsu-chan with me, maybe the others too," said Sasame.

"Cool!" said Ruby eagerly.

Sasame surveyed the group with one last fond look. "All of you have grown so much in just the short time since I've met you. I look forward to what you show me the next time we meet. Goodbye for now."

Her farewell finished, Sasame leaned back slightly, and allowed gravity to do the rest, plunging backwards over the railing and dropping to the ground below. Everyone except Ruby rushed to the railing to see the diminutive girl pull a graceful backflip, landing effortlessly on her feet and turning towards the trees. A second later, she was gone, a blur bounding away across the open ground cleared in front of the perimeter wall, before vanishing into the foliage beyond.

"Wow," said Jaune with a chuckle. "It's only been a few seconds, but I miss her already."

"She's done a great deal for us, even in the short time she was here," noted Ren.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see her again," said Nora.

The others nodded. Weiss checked her scroll. "We should get going, if we want to be back in time for dinner. We'll need to leave some extra time so that we can evade the paparazzi at the docks again."

"I still can't believe we fooled them on the way out here," said Pyrrha, pulling out the beret and sunglasses Coco had loaned her. With Weiss' help, Pyrrha had tucked her flowing, red hair beneath the hat and donned the sunglasses, which, combined with the casual outfit she was wearing, made her look almost like a completely different person as they made their way out from Beacon. Now she'd have to tuck her hair in again. Wearing sunglasses in the fading light of the evening wouldn't be very fun.

"If we're careful, we shouldn't have too many problems," said Blake. "Even if the whole match has become something of a big deal, the news will lose interest before long. There's plenty else going on in the world."

"Never underestimate the staying power of a manufactured scandal," said Weiss with a sigh. "They'll keep it current for as long as they think they can draw interest to it. Fortunately, this isn't Mistral, so Pyrrha isn't as big a name out here. But it still hasn't even been a whole week since the news broke, so let's be cautious."

"And if they do catch us, it's not as though it's gonna be some big thing," said Yang. "The best they'll manage is catching pictures of us getting on the airship. Beacon students fly in and out of Vale all the time. That's why there are regular flights in the first place."

"True," said Jaune. "Best to get it over with. Push comes to shove, the rest of us will cover for Ruby and Pyrrha."

"Let's go," said Ruby, leading the group off the observation platform and back through the Kingdom.

* * *

"What have you got for me?" asked Lisa's producer, looking over the desk at her. "It's been a slow news cycle this week. All we've got are more stories about freighters being attacked."

"That sounds like news to me," deadpanned Lisa Lavender, "important news, no less."

She always hated it when her boss dismissed such essential news. More and more freighters were falling victim to the apparently rampant piracy along the sea-route between Vale and Atlas. Both the Valean and Atlesian navies were practically frantic to capture the perpetrators, but had been unable to. Supplying a naval escort to every Dust freighter making its way between Vale and Atlas was too much for either navy, and all their attempts to lure the pirates into traps had been met with utter failure. It was compelling and important, especially as each freighter that failed to make its delivery resulted in another hike in Dust prices.

"Yeah, and we've already got it covered," grumbled the producer, waving a dismissive hand. "What else are we going to tell our viewers besides 'more ships lost' and 'still no success in capturing the pirates'? That's good for-What?-thirty seconds of airtime, if that. I've got the Council on my ass about it too. They don't want to look complacent or ineffectual in front of the populace after all."

"Of course," said Lisa flatly. "So, instead of doing more to capture the perpetrators, they'd rather harass the media into making them look better."

"The navy's doing what they can," said her producer with a sigh. "The problem is that, whoever these jerks are, they're just _that_ good. But saying that much, and admitting that no one knows how they're getting away with what they're doing, just makes the military look incompetent.

"But enough arguing about that. Have you got anymore info on the Rose/Nikos affair?"

Lisa huffed. Putting it like that made it sound as though they were some sleazy tabloid, hawking a story about marital infidelity, not a sparring match with an unexpected result. Despite that, she reluctantly answered in the affirmative. "There's still a strong backlash against Pyrrha Nikos' Semblance, especially in Mistral. Our correspondents over there are even hearing rumors that some of her sponsors are considering dropping her. Apparently, the agency she works with is pressuring her to come back and manage her affairs."

"Any sign that she will?"

Lisa frowned and shook her head. "Not that I've seen. From the looks of things, Nikos has no intention of budging from Beacon, but I wouldn't know for sure, not without asking her directly."

"Any luck in securing that interview?"

Again, Lisa shook her head. "We got a response from Professor Goodwitch saying that it is entirely the girls' decision if they want to participate. So far, they've turned us down."

"Damn," muttered the producer. "And what about Nikos' opponent?"

"I've looked into Ruby Rose."

"And...?"

"She's registered as a natural-born citizen of Vale," said Lisa, looking up her notes. "But the official registry has almost no information beyond that: no listed relatives, no siblings or parents, no background beyond a little over a month ago. It's almost as though she didn't _exist_ until then. I even checked up with the records of every hospital in the Kingdom."

"So she's not from around here?" asked the producer.

"I'm not sure," said Lisa, twirling a strand of her lavender hair around her finger idly. "I _did_ uncover something interesting, though it could be a coincidence."

"If it's something, then it might be a start," said her producer. "What have you got?"

"Well, one of the hospitals I checked was a smaller one, over on Patch," said Lisa. "There was no girl by the name of Ruby Rose born there within the last fifteen to sixteen years. However...there is a Ruby _Xiao Long_, born to a Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer _Rose_, pretty much fifteen years ago."

"The mother's surname matches up," said her producer, scratching his chin. "Interesting...Did you look any further into it?"

"I did," said Lisa. "I checked records at Patch's schools. There's a small private academy where Ruby Xiao Long was enrolled."

Lisa pulled out her scroll and opened it up into its tablet mode, calling up the file in question. She turned it around to allow her producer to see it. It was a picture from one of the school's old class rosters, showing a picture of Ruby Xiao Long, along with a basic profile of her.

"That's her all right," said Lisa's producer. "She's definitely younger, but the features match up."

"That's what I thought too," said Lisa, closing down her scroll. Despite her desire to report more substantive news, she had to admit that there were aspects of this story that tickled her enthusiasm. Pyrrha Nikos was a big-name celebrity, of course, but Ruby Rose had a certain mystique about her, with all the blanks concerning her identity.

"What about her parents?"

"Huntsmen," answered Lisa. "Her father is a teacher at Signal Academy. Her mother was apparently lost on a mission, ten years ago."

"Tragic backstory," mused her producer. "That could generate a lot of interest."

Lisa shifted uneasily. "She, if this is the same girl, also has a half-sister, from a different mother. The interesting thing is that Yang Xiao Long is _also_ a student at Beacon, in the same year as Ruby."

That got her producer to raise an eyebrow. "And now we have another lead to investigate, even better."

Lisa nodded. "Now, here is where things get interesting. Ruby Xiao Long hasn't been seen for the better part of six years."

"What do you mean?" asked her producer.

"Six years ago, she was reported missing," said Lisa. "She was reported as a runaway, but the police had no luck in finding her, and the case went cold after a couple of years."

"So...six years later, a girl matching her description suddenly shows up and enrolls in Beacon, two years early no less," mused her producer. "Now we have a story."

"Well, we have a series of connections," said Lisa. "There still isn't definitive evidence that Ruby Rose _is_ actually Ruby Xiao Long, at least officially."

"True," conceded her producer with a sigh. "We aren't some kind of gossip show either. We need that evidence. Have you contacted this Taiyang Xiao Long?"

"Not yet," said Lisa. "He's still listed as a member of Signal's faculty. However, he abruptly took an extended leave of absence...just this week in fact."

"Right after the videos of the match came out?" asked the producer.

"It's hard to say," said Lisa. "I'd have to go out there and ask around to get more info."

"Well, the bit about Nikos' sponsors pulling out is probably enough for tonight," said the producer with a disappointed sigh. "Maybe tomorrow, you can get out to Patch and put out some feelers. We might even have something we can report by tomorrow night's broadcast."

"Actually, I'm thinking that, if we're patient, we might have more than that," said Lisa.

"What are you suggesting?" asked her producer, leaning forward over his desk.

"What we have are separate pieces of information that we're pulling together to make a story," said Lisa. "Now, while I can probably confirm that Ruby Rose was born Ruby Xiao Long by asking her father and residents on Patch, I think that, if we were to send Ruby this information, along with our next entreaty for an interview, she might be more interested in participating. The fact that she ran away from home hints that there might be some bad blood between her and her father. If that's the case, she might be more interested in talking with us than allowing him to write the narrative for her."

"Now that _is_ sly," said Lisa's producer with a grin. "Make it happen, Lisa. But...if she turns us down…?"

"Then I get confirmation from her father, and get _his_ story," said Lisa simply. "Then we report what we have." She didn't want to take that approach, if she could avoid it. She still knew very little about Ruby, but she seemed like a nice girl, from what little Lisa had seen of her. Several of the videos of her match with Pyrrha ended with both fighters laughing gayly, as though they'd just had the time of their lives, a sign that the two of them were probably close friends outside the ring, even if they were fierce rivals within it. Lisa felt more than a little guilty at the possibility that Ruby's life might be turned into some lurid story, simply for the sake of raking in the viewers. Securing an interview with Ruby in this fashion felt uncomfortably similar to threatening her to talk.

Still, Lisa was a person with a job. Part of that job was doing what her producer told her to. She didn't always get to pick the stories she worked. This was one of those times. Furthermore, despite her moral qualms, her curiosity, the curiosity that had drawn her into the journalism profession in the first place, had been tickled by this mysterious girl who had been able to match Mistral's legendary champion, blow for blow. Who was she? Where had she trained? Who were her teachers? Why had Ozpin invited her to Beacon so early? Those were tantalizing questions that Lisa herself now wanted to know the answers to.

Only half-listening to her producer's instructions, Lisa left his office, the gears in her head already turning as she contemplated a way to facilitate this interview that didn't end up feeling so much like blackmail.

* * *

"GAAAH!"

The ship's captain slumped to the floor, his pistol clattering across the deck. His left hand went to his shoulder to stem the blood that streamed out from the puncture wound as his right arm went limp.

"I warned you not to try anything," said the dark-blue-haired woman in a red greatcoat, looming over the captain, smirking down at him. "You didn't _seriously_ think you could get the drop on me?"

"Filthy...pirate!" spat the captain of the freighter. "Atlas and Vale will see you executed for this."

"Only if they can catch me," said the woman in a teasing tone, her wine-colored eye twinkling merrily. "Strange though that they can't seem to find any witnesses."

That caused the captain's breath to hitch slightly, which only added to the pirate's amusement as she lifted her head and laughed.

"Oh, don't worry just yet. Your death doesn't _have_ to be a certainty," she said.

"What do you mean?" asked the captain.

"As it turns out, I have quite a few openings on my crew," said the woman, grinning at him. "I'm always on the lookout for experienced sailors willing to get their hands dirty. Of course, the response time for the military is getting shorter, so the window to volunteer is only until we've finished helping ourselves to your cargo." She chuckled. "Best think about whether you'd prefer a new career...or a watery grave."

Morgan Bloodworth strode off the bridge as her men moved to take custody of the captain, and the rest of the bridge crew. All around her, her people were securing the surviving members of the freighter's crew and assembling them on the deck, while the rest of her own crew moved to load as much Dust as they could manage from the freighter's containers and into their own ship. As much as she enjoyed her job, along with the perks that were coming from her new employer's generosity, the one thing that she lamented was that she; once the infamous pirate commodore, commanding an armada of three large ships, and several smaller ones; had been reduced to the captain of a single vessel. That meant she could only secure so much cargo from each vessel she struck, which generally meant the rest went to waste.

But _what_ a vessel it was. With it, she had been able to evade the best efforts of the militaries of Atlas and Vale. Her new ship alone made this extended, if odd, job she'd taken worthwhile.

Grinning, Morgan strode in front of the assembled members of the freighter's crew, those who'd survived the initial boarding operation, and had the sense to surrender anyway. Several of them were nursing cuts, bruises, or even bullet wounds. Some sported burns from fire or lightning-Dust. At least one poor sod was missing an arm.

Seeing that everyone left had been assembled, Morgan smiled indulgently at them. "All right, you sad lot, I'm here to inform you about what's to come. You see, part of our effectiveness is ensuring that the military doesn't get any intel concerning what happens here. Unfortunately for you...that means we need to terminate any and all witnesses."

Already wan faces paled even further at the implications of her statement. Morgan grinned. "Fortunately, however, there is a way out of your predicament. If you sign on with my crew, you'll leave with us, while the rest of you foolish enough to say 'no' to such a generous offer will be sent to sleep with the fishes."

Frightened and excited murmurs ran through the group as different crew members processed her offer. She could see that some of them were giving the offer serious consideration, while others held true enough to their principles to decline on the spot. Her grin widened in eager anticipation.

"Now then," she continued, "here's the catch. You see...there's only seven openings on my crew...and it's first-come-first-served. We probably have another ten minutes before the military arrives, so you'll need to come to a decision by then."

She watched them, seeing the tension gather amongst those hopeful of saving their own skins. Turning, she walked away, waiting for her future crew to settle their roster amongst themselves. A buzzing sound issued from her left arm. Lifting it up, she pulled back the sleeve of her greatcoat just enough to bare what looked like a glowing watch-face. "What is it?"

"_Contacts, north-by-northeast,_" a voice responded. "_Identified as Atlesian warships, Dominion-class. ETA: twelve minutes._"

"Well, that gives us just enough time then," said Morgan, pulling her sleeve down again. Looking around, she caught the eyes of her crew. "Wrap it up, you swabs! Get those charges set!"

* * *

**Well look who's back. I guess it's not that much of a surprise that Morgan has returned. I liked her too much to kill her off so easily. She's a fun character for me to write. No prizes for guessing who she's working for now.**

**With regards to Lisa, I get the feeling that Ruby's story _would_ be a compelling one for a discerning reporter. She's got that mysterious vibe to her, showing up out of nowhere, and suddenly doing something completely spectacular that no one ever predicted would happen. Even if a single sparring match is a minor affair overall, the sheer number of blanks concerning Ruby's public profile would make for some pretty interesting reporting, especially since looking into it is turning up all sorts of drama.**

**But, for now, we're going back to the past. The next four chapters will be following Ruby's adventures in the Mibu...mainly going to school and making friends, as well as continuing to find her way through her training. This arc will connect back to the present in some interesting ways though, so hopefully it doesn't come off as a waste of time.**


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38:**

_Six years ago:_

"So you don't know?" asked Natsuki, pausing to take a bite of her lunch.

"Not really," said Ruby. "We were only starting to get into the early history of Vale when I left. I don't know a whole lot about the Great War, except that it has something to do with why almost everyone in the Kingdoms is named after colors...or things that make people think of color."

"Huh?" Natsuki blinked, her violet eyes bright and curious. "But it's such an odd tradition. I wonder what started it."

Ruby ate from her own lunch, frowning. Then she winced as she heard a dismissive snort from a girl sitting at a desk behind her.

"Pfft! What a dunce. She doesn't even know her homeland's history?"

"Yeah. She really _is_ a bumpkin," the girl sitting next to Ruby's heckler added.

"Oh!" commented a familiar voice, as a tall shadow loomed over the snide pair of girls. They both looked up and blanched to see Sensei leaning over them, a wide smile on his face. "Tell me then...are the two of you experts on the Mibu's history; Yuuko-kun, Akane-kun…?"

"N-no..." admitted Yuuko, the girl who'd spoken first. Beside her, Akane shook her head vigorously.

"I'd guess not, going by your scores on your last history quiz," noted Kyoichiro, straightening up. "Just as you have only really begun to learn the history of your own home, Ruby-chan had only started learning the history of hers. I should hope that the two of you would be more open-minded."

"Y-yes, Sensei," said Akane submissively as she and Yuuko bowed their heads.

Ruby blushed slightly and stared down at her desk.

"What's wrong?" asked Natsuki.

"I'm not sure Sensei should stand up for me like that," said Ruby. "What if they think he's playing favorites...or something?"

"Nah," said Natsuki, waving her hand dismissively. "Sensei really doesn't like bullies. Just because you're an outsider, it doesn't change that bullying is bad."

"I guess," agreed Ruby, feeling a bit better about the idea.

"Anyway, you said you were gonna tell me about this Barrowdown place that you visited," said Natsuki, leaning forward. "What's it like."

Ruby smiled as she began to describe the mining settlement she'd visited with Kyo and Sasame. Natsuki was incredibly curious about the world beyond the Mibu Clan's borders, something Ruby had noted was apparently a rare quality amongst the members of the clan. Few of the other students expressed an interest, save when the fact that Ruby had been traveling with Sasame and Kyo at the time came up. Otherwise, most of them seemed to find Ruby's stories beneath them.

Despite that, Ruby was glad to have Natsuki's interest, at least. School might well have been unbearable if she hadn't had at least _one_ person willing to engage with her. She just wished she had more time to do it in.

"So...do you have training again, after school?" asked Natsuki as the end of their lunch period approached.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, I don't want to slack, not when Sasame-nee was nice enough to find a teacher for me."

"What style are you studying?" asked Natsuki.

"Right now...just the basics," said Ruby. "I'm learning how to fight with two swords."

"Ooh! You should try the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_," said Natsuki eagerly. "Their base form is a two-sword style. And Shinrei-sama is awesome!"

"Um..." Ruby had to stop herself from mentioning that Shinrei _was_ the one teaching her. The fact that her trainer was one of the Goyosei was something that everyone who knew urged Ruby to keep a secret, the kind of thing that would definitely lend rumors of favoritism definite credence...not that Ruby could say that they _weren't_ playing favorites to an extent. It certainly wasn't the kind of privilege that the average member of the Mibu would enjoy.

"I...I'm not sure that's the way I want to go," said Ruby instead. "Sasame-nee said I should try different things to find what works best for me."

"That makes sense," said Natsuki, nodding sagely. "It can be hard to settle on what style you want to use. I've heard that some of the Taishiro use their own special styles."

Ruby nodded, having heard that as well. She didn't know what kind of fighting style Sora used. But Sora herself had said that it was not one of the traditional schools taught by the Mibu, instead being one that she had crafted for herself in much the same manner she and Ruby's other teachers were urging her to explore her own development.

"Did you want to learn the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_?" asked Ruby.

"N-not really," said Natsuki. "I'd like to study Keikoku-sama's school, actually."

"Keikoku-sama?"

Natsuki nodded. "Keikoku-sama is the Fire of the Goyosei. I've always wanted to learn Fire-techniques."

"Fire..." Ruby rolled her eyes upward thoughtfully. She didn't know a lot about Shinrei's style, save that it was the main school of the Water Arts practiced by the Mibu...and that a lot of its techniques revolved around dragons...which was pretty cool, actually. That said, Ruby wasn't sure that she wanted to become a water-user. Natsuki's excitement about learning the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_, as the Fire Arts of the Mibu Clan were called, was slightly infectious, and made Ruby more than a little curious.

"So...do you know when you'll be free?" asked Natsuki.

"Um...tomorrow, I think," said Ruby. "Sh-My teacher said that I should have a day off to rest, so it's best for me to have a whole day, since I'm already splitting my training time with school."

Truth be told, Ruby had originally been hoping that she could spend all of Sunday on her training. However, Shinrei; along with Sora, Sasame, and Kyo; had insisted that she take the day off, given how full the weekdays were for her. Ruby had been reluctant, not finding her training with Shinrei to be draining. Oh, it was physically tiring, of course. But it was something she looked forward to, after school, everyday. The feeling of absorbing herself in her training and focusing on nothing but polishing her technique was incredibly fulfilling.

Compared to that, school was _far_ more draining for her. The material wasn't hard, for the most part. When she'd first come to school, Ruby had been worried that she would find herself taking classes on obscure things she could scarcely imagine. However, it was something of both a surprise and a relief that the majority of the classes she took in the Mibu's school were the same she would have taken back in Patch. There were all the classics, mainly Mathematics, Language Arts, and History, as well as Physical Education.

History, naturally, was a bit of a rough patch, given that it was, somewhat predictably, focused on the history of the Mibu, which Ruby had known almost nothing of, until now.

Physical Education had the slight wrinkle that, along with the usual warmups and stretching that were part and parcel to such a class, the students were also required to perform the Three Exercises, the first thing Sasame had taught Ruby after unlocking her Aura. Given that Aura was such an indispensable part of life amongst the Mibu, Ruby supposed that was only natural to expect. She'd wondered if there would be classes on the more involved parts of how Mibu used Aura for things outside combat, however it seemed that much of that was reserved for upper-year classes, with more specific teaching and training being reserved for vocational schools.

If there was one class that Ruby could truly call herself woefully unprepared for was Old Tongue Linguistics. Ruby not having any schooling in the Old Tongue whatsoever left her working on the basics of the language, while the rest of the class was building up their vocabulary, which was a little frustrating.

What _really _made her feel so tired was the constant sensation of being scrutinized by her peers; hearing them scoff if she got a question right, or snicker derisively if she got a question wrong. Natsuki's smile and warm personality were really the only things she had to look forward to, during the day.

"Oh! Would you like to get together?" asked Natsuki, her interest piquing immediately.

"Um...sure," said Ruby, wondering what they might do. She had no idea what the Mibu did for fun, for the most part. Back on Patch, she and her friends might spend the day at the movies or over at one another's house...or at least they _had_, before her father had started butting in ever more intrusively.

"Cool! We'll have so much fun!" Natsuki promised.

"Sure," said Ruby.

"Pfft! Do outsiders even _know_ how to have fun?"

Ruby didn't bother looking around for the source of the voice. It wasn't Akane or Yuuko, but one of the boys in class. Once again, she brushed it off, letting her mind jump ahead to her after-school training. Shinrei was having her practice the katas she'd learned so far, working to synch them up with her Aura's Flow.

It was strange that Natsuki was so friendly with her, when everyone else was so apathetic. Ruby couldn't tell what set Natsuki apart from the others, save for her remarkably sunny personality. What was more, Natsuki's own position in the class was somewhat nebulous, as far as Ruby could tell. She half-expected Natsuki to become a pariah simply for deigning to associate with her. However, most of the other students simply seemed to overlook their friendship, but not ignoring Natsuki to the extent that she became an unperson. It made Ruby curious. But she was uncertain if it was something she should ask about.

_I'll ask Sasame-nee about it,_ thought Ruby to herself.

* * *

"Sasame...have you given _any_ thought to your family's good name?" demanded her father in his most severe tone, a tone that had, long ago, lost its power to intimidate her.

"Not particularly," said Sasame simply, drawing a start from both her parents.

"Of course," said her mother, with a haughty sniff that expressed her opinion perfectly, even before she started speaking again. "After all, you spend your days galavanting around the outside world with the Demon Child. It's clear you don't give much thought to the mud you smear on our reputation."

"Well then, if you knew that already, then why are we even having this conversation?" asked Sasame playfully.

"We are having it because adopting an outsider into our family goes beyond the pale," declared her father with an imperious tone.

"I have done no such thing," replied Sasame. "I have merely taken Ruby-chan as my ward. She is perfectly attached to her own name, so she hardly has any reason to be interested in ours."

"So you say, but what do you think other people will say?" asked her mother.

"Oh, plenty, I'm sure," said Sasame with a shrug. "I just choose not to listen to it."

"Do you realize that this move could jeopardize your future?" demanded her father.

"No, I did not," replied Sasame, "namely because it _doesn't_. As far as my progress goes, Makoto-sama's opinion is the only one that matters. And I know for a fact that he would adore Ruby-chan just as much as Sora-sama already does." She giggled. "And Saisei-sensei is just bitter to be bitter. She still wants me to succeed her. Adopting Ruby-chan as my sister has not changed that."

"And what of us?" demanded her mother. "You would drag our reputation, the reputation of this family, through the mud, just for the sake of an outsider brat."

Sasame sighed, standing up. "If you are so thin-skinned as to perceive Ruby-chan's presence as an insult, then there's nothing I can do. If you wish to salvage our reputation so badly, and so unnecessarily, then I have no suitable advice. I have made my decision on the matter."

"We are _not_ done with you!" snapped her father, glaring at Sasame as she headed to the door.

"But _I_ am done with _you_," said Sasame. "You two are the ones with no grounds to be offended. If Ruby-chan is such an insult, I encourage you to think about who leads the Mibu Clan...and where our _own_ family comes from, for that matter. Once you do, I think you'll realize your foolish hypocrisy. That is the end of this discussion. If you two are so desperate to talk to me, find a more appropriate topic, next time."

With that, Sasame left to the indignant protests of her parents. "Honestly," she said with a sigh. "I really do love them, but they get so silly sometimes."

"From the sound of things, your parents weren't happy with your choice," observed Kyo, who'd been waiting for her outside the door.

"No question of that," said Sasame. "Honestly, they get so worked up over Ruby-chan. I guess they've forgotten that _we_ are descended from an outsider."

"Well, that was many thousands of years ago," noted Kyo.

"Yes, but then they have the temerity to insult Sora-sama by proxy," added Sasame.

"In their defense, _most_ of the clan seems to forget that fact, when it suits them," said Kyo. "Do you think they will actually reflect on what you told them to?"

"I doubt it," said Sasame. "When those two believe that they are in the right, no amount of proof will move them. That's what makes them such a chore to deal with." She shrugged. "I allowed them to have their say. That's the end of the matter. Now it's time to pick Ruby-chan up from school."

They began to walk together, Kyo glancing sidelong at Sasame. "Has Saisei been giving you trouble as well?"

Sasame sighed, her expression falling. "Well, she has been saying...things."

"Do they trouble you?" asked Kyo.

"A little," admitted Sasame. "As much as it irks me, Saisei-sama is...more-right...than my parents are." She perked up. "Still, it's nothing to bother yourself over."

The two of them followed the path from the Mitarai Family home down towards Ruby's school. They arrived just as the bell signaled the end of the day. A minute later, a chorus of happy shouts filled the air as the students poured out of the building, heading home or to some after-school activity or another in small groups or singly. Ruby was one of the last two children to leave the building, along with her new friend.

"Sasame-nee!" shouted Ruby, waving and breaking into a run.

Sasame laughed and held out her arms, catching Ruby, the pair hugging each other tightly. Kyo looked on, laughing cheerfully. All around them, departing students looked on with a variety of expressions. There were some of annoyance and condescension, while others stared on with resentment or naked jealousy. Sasame brushed off those looks without a second thought, while Ruby's senses weren't yet refined enough to pick up on them.

"Wow, you really _are_ sisters, aren't you?" asked Natsuki, coming up behind Ruby.

"That's right, Natsu-chan," said Sasame. "It's good to see you again."

Natsuki bowed politely. "It's good to see you too, Sasame-sama." She turned and bowed to Kyo as well. "You too, Kyo."

Ruby's mouth dropped open slightly. Seeing Natsuki address Sasame respectfully was no surprise, as, according to Sasame herself, her family name and her position as the personal apprentice of the clan's Chief Physician gave her a great deal of status. However, to see Natsuki address _Kyo_ with respect, even if she didn't use an honorific with him, was a shock, considering the negative attitudes most Mibu seemed to hold towards him. What was more, it appeared that Natsuki knew both Sasame and Kyo.

"You're going home for Ruby-chan's training, right?" asked Natsuki. "Can I come part of the way with you?"

Sasame blinked, looking a bit surprised and confused by the request, before her eyes went wide and she gasped softly in surprise. "Oh! I completely forgot about that. You're going to get your checkup from Makoto-sama, aren't you?"

"Uh huh," said Natsuki, nodding cheerfully.

"Hmm..." Sasame's expression became slightly more inscrutable. "You really like Ruby-chan, don't you, Natsu-chan?"

"That's right," said Natsuki, her smile widening. "She's really nice."

Ruby blushed furiously. She was uncertain _why_ Natsuki liked her so much. However, as the one person in class, so far, that had reached out to her, Ruby had accepted her friendship readily, even though it still confused her.

"Hmm..." hummed Sasame again. "Do you think you can keep a secret?"

"Yes," said Natsuki, her eyes sparkling.

"Then I think you can accompany us _all_ the way," said Sasame.

"Huh?" Natsuki blinked in confusion.

"You'll see," Sasame, smiling enigmatically. "Let's be off."

They began to set out on the path that Ruby knew would take them back to the palace. Her heart began to pound as she wondered what Natsuki would think, once she learned that Ruby lived there.

"Why are you going to see Makoto...-sama?" asked Ruby, her voice hitching as she struggled to remember to add the honorific to the Elder's name. She was still getting used to using honorifics automatically. Kyo and Sasame were easy, particularly because their honorifics were specific to them, and Ruby had referred to them that way throughout most of their journey to Onmyo.

"I have to get regular checkups from him," said Natsuki, her expression softening slightly. Despite the fact she was still smiling, there was also a sense of melancholy to her look now.

Sasame gently brushed her tail over the top of Natsuki's head, before draping it over her shoulders. "Natsu-chan has a unique condition that requires Makoto-sama to see her regularly." She sighed. "It's rare for a condition to exist that Makoto-sama couldn't completely treat in a single session, much less one that requires regular visits to him."

"What condition is it?" blurted Ruby, before realizing what she was asking. "Oh! I'm so sorry! I probably shouldn't ask." She imagined that it was probably something extremely private to Natsuki, something Ruby wouldn't be privy to and had no right to ask about.

"It's okay," said Natsuki. "I don't know what it is myself?"

"Huh?" Ruby blinked in surprise.

"Makoto-sama won't tell me," Natsuki continued. "He said it's something I'm not ready to know yet. As far as I know, Makoto-sama, the other Taishiro, and my parents are the only ones who know what it is."

"As does the Crimson King," added Sasame. "So do Kyo and I, for that matter."

Ruby opened her mouth almost automatically to ask Sasame about it, only to stop herself. If it was such an important secret, it was something they wouldn't tell her. Besides, she still didn't have any right to know.

Sasame apparently noticed and smiled approvingly at her, which made Ruby's heart lift.

"Makoto-sama says that he'll tell me at some point," said Natsuki. "But he hasn't said when."

Ruby noticed Natsuki looking down. There was a slight trembling in her throat, a quiver to her eyes. "Are you scared?" she asked.

"Y-yes," admitted Natsuki, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head. "Makoto-sama and the others always say that it's nothing to worry about, that I can live a normal life. But..."

Ruby reached out and gently took Natsuki's hand in her own, squeezing it reassuringly.

That apparently gave Natsuki the strength to continue. "But it's scary. Even when they say it shouldn't be...If it's something so harmless, why would they keep it a secret from me? If it's something that only a tiny number of people besides the Taishiro know, then it must be something really important..."

Ruby could understand that. If such important people were keeping Natsuki's condition a secret from her, then it must have been secret for a reason. For some reason, they did not want to trust Natsuki with the knowledge of what was going on inside her own body, which was frightening in its own right, no matter how benign or harmless the condition turned out.

Sighing, Sasame squeezed Natsuki's shoulders with her tail. "It's not harmful," she promised. "However, learning about it will change your view of the world. More importantly, when you _do_ learn, you will have an important choice to make."

"When will I learn, though?" asked Natsuki anxiously.

"I don't know," said Sasame. "Makoto-sama is the one who will decide that. As far as I know, he has not picked a date yet."

"Oh..." said Natsuki, looking down.

"Don't get so glum," said Sasame. "You have a full life ahead of you, I promise. Now, chin up. We're here."

Natsuki blinked and looked up. Her eyes widened in surprise to see the first of the Five Gates looming over them. "The palace!"

Sasame giggled. "That's right," she said in a teasing tone. "You were coming to see Makoto-sama after all."

"Y-yes, but..." Natsuki turned and gaped at Ruby, beginning to put two and two together. "Wait! You mean, Ruby-chan..."

Ruby blushed furiously and looked down at her feet. "Y-yeah," she said almost inaudibly. "This is where I'm staying."

"You live in the palace?" gasped Natsuki. "That's so cool!"

Despite her reservations, Ruby found her lips curling up in a smile.

"That is correct," said Sasame, looking as though she was about to break out laughing, before managing to calm herself down. "Ruby-chan is my sister. So I have made her my ward, officially. However, she is also Kyo's sister. As such, unofficially, she is a ward of the royal family as well."

"But why is she living in the palace?" asked Natsuki, confused.

"Because staying with my family would be bad for her," said Sasame simply. "My parents are, to put it bluntly, awful. They would not treat Ruby-chan properly at all. She's much better off with Sora-sama."

"Well...obviously," said Natsuki. "I mean...living with Sora-sama...that would be _amazing_!"

This time, Sasame did laugh, and loudly at that. "Yes," she agreed. She removed her tail from Natsuki's shoulders and stepped around to stand in front of her. Now she rested her hands on the girl's shoulders. "But, Natsu-chan, it's very important that everyone else _not_ know about this."

"Huh? Why not?" asked Natsuki.

"Just as you said, most people would agree that living with Sora-sama would be a great privilege," said Sasame. "I'm sure you notice how others in your class have been treating Ruby-chan."

Her expression grave, Natsuki nodded slowly.

"Now, imagine what it would be like if they learned that an outsider, like Ruby-chan, got to stay with Sora-sama," continued Sasame.

A lump formed in the throat of Ruby's friend. A shiver ran through her body. Then she nodded again. "Y-yeah...that would be bad."

Sasame sighed. "It's true that this is a great privilege that has been bestowed upon Ruby-chan, one that she came upon largely because of luck."

Ruby looked down, an unsettling feeling congealing in her stomach, which eased slightly when she felt Kyo's hand rest on her head, his fingers stroking her hair affectionately.

"However, this was the only option we were able to find, if we wanted her to be looked after properly," continued Sasame. "In my opinion, Ruby-chan has more than earned the privilege she has, and I know she is not one to take it for granted. But we all know that your classmates are not likely to see things that way. Because of that, I need you to keep this a secret for us. Can you do that?"

Natsuki nodded fervently, her face still solemn.

"Good!" said Sasame cheerfully. "Now, chin up, and let's go see Makoto-sama."

"Right!" said Natsuki, her smile returning. The quartet made their way into the gates.

* * *

As usual, it was a trip that seemed strangely long for what was a regular part of Ruby's day. For all that her new family had shown her many shortcuts through the palace itself, the Five Gates were apparently the only point of entry and egress from the palace that led directly into the upperclass district, and the most direct route to school. There were other exits, but they emerged from the palace's flanks and back, leading out to different points along the mountain it was built into. As such, simply leaving for school and coming back felt like a much longer trip to Ruby than she thought it should have been...even if it _was_ good exercise for her legs.

Fortunately, her day got brighter when they emerged from the darkness of the third gate and into the sunlight of the fourth, with its open expanse and the soft tinkling of water from the dragon fountains on either side of the broad courtyard. As usual, Shinrei was waiting for her there.

"Hey," said Shinrei with a grin, raising a hand in greeting, his eyes fixing on Ruby. "Ready?"

"Y-yeah," said Ruby, shifting awkwardly and glancing sidelong at Natsuki, who, once again, looked completely awestruck.

"You get to train with Shinrei-sama?!" she gasped, whirling around to look at Ruby with sparkling eyes. "I'm sooo jealous!"

"I th-thought you wanted to train with Keikoku...er...Keikoku-sama," said Ruby.

"Yeah! But..." Natsuki took a few breaths to try and calm herself down. "But you get to train with one of the Goyosei! How many people get to say they can do that?"

"Not many," admitted Shinrei, coming up and resting his hand on Ruby's head, rubbing it gently and making her smile despite her nervousness. "Ruby-chan impressed me with her guts and dedication. She works hard every day."

"Wooooow!" squealed Natsuki, grinning at Ruby. "You're totally awesome, Ruby-chan!"

"N-not really..." said Ruby. "I just practice a lot and...uh..."

Sasame giggled and moved behind Natsuki, resting her hands on the shoulders of Ruby's friend. "Natsu-chan, let's move on ahead. You still have your appointment with Makoto-sama."

"Awww..." whined Natsuki, slumping in disappointment.

"Well, you know Makoto-sama's checkups don't take long," said Sasame. "If we hurry, you can come back and watch the rest of Ruby-chan's training. Would you like that?"

"Yeah!" cheered Natsuki, her good mood returning.

Shinrei laughed at the lively girl's ups and downs. "She certainly rebounds quickly." He glanced over at Ruby. "Go get changed and we'll get started."

"R-right," said Ruby, startled into motion. She quickly dashed to the small room, adjacent to the courtyard, where her training clothes were kept.

Sasame leaned forward, practically whispering her next words into Natsuki's ear. "I know it probably goes without saying, but this is a secret too, for many of the same reasons as the last one, all right?"

"Right," said Natsuki nodding gravely.

Pulling back, Sasame patted Natsuki on the back. "In the meantime, let's hurry along," she said, gently urging Natsuki forward.

Needing no further prompting, Natsuki skipped ahead, barely managing to rein herself in to keep from breaking into a mad dash to their destination, having long ago memorized the route over the course of repeated visits. In the meantime, Kyo and Sasame followed along at a slightly more sedate pace.

Kyo glanced sidelong at Sasame. "You're suddenly entrusting her with some very important secrets," he said softly, so as not to be overheard by the girl skipping ahead of them.

A light titter worked its way out of Sasame's mouth. "I consider it a kind of training," she replied in a similarly quiet tone.

"Training?" Kyo raised a quizzical eyebrow.

"Yes," said Sasame, fixing her eyes on the back of Natsuki's head. "For all that she's a sweet, loving child, with nothing but good intentions; the fact of the matter is that her enthusiasm makes her lips a little too loose for her own good. That tendency of hers is a major reason why she has not been informed about her...condition...yet. We don't know when Makoto-sama will tell her. But, in the future, Natsu-chan will have a very important secret of her own to keep. It's best to let her get experience in reining in her tongue, while she has the time."

"Ah, I see," said Kyo. "But still...to hazard Ruby-chan's wellbeing like that..."

Sasame sighed. "Admittedly, it is very risky for Ruby-chan. But I hope that their friendship will be an incentive for Natsu-chan to hold her tongue. If Natsu-chan does slip though...your father will be on hand to manage the consequences."

"You're certainly putting a lot on Tou-san," said Kyo with a laugh.

"Well, he can certainly handle it," noted Sasame. "Now, let's catch up before Natsu-chan leaves us behind."

* * *

Ten more minutes found them at the door to Makoto's examination room. Natsuki quickly knocked politely on the door.

"Come in." The voice was soft, yet also deep and resonant, carrying with it a sense of natural authority.

Natsuki quickly slid the door open and stepped into the room. It was a small room, laid out like the kind of examination rooms that were commonplace in hospitals both in the Mibu and out in the Kingdom territories. However, instead of sterile white, the walls, floor, and ceiling were simply light-colored wood, the examination table featuring a soft, cushiony surface that was designed for the comfort of the person sitting or laying on it. The wall near the table was dominated by a desk and chair. The man currently occupying that desk swiveled in his chair to face Natsu and her companions as they entered.

"Greetings, Makoto-sama," said Natsuki in her most formal tone, bowing deeply and politely to the man in front of her.

"You brought company, I see," said Makoto, Chief Physician of the Mibu Clan, and a member of the Taishiro, as his sea-green eyes fixated on the two people accompanying his patient. "Kyo, I see you're doing well."

"Likewise," said Kyo, bowing politely to Makoto, albeit not as deeply as Natsuki had.

Pale-blue hair streamed down from Makoto's head, tied loosely at the base of his neck, so that the resulting tail ran down past his waist, his sweeping, long locks curving over his round, but slightly-narrow eyes. His face was broad, with slightly-tanned skin, his cheekbones converging in at a shallow angle to meet at the point of his chin.

Getting out of his chair, Makoto's garments shifted around him. He wore a sky-blue kimono, with wide hems on its sleeves and collar of jade green, embroidered with the winding, sinuous forms of dragons in gold thread. It was tied with a plain, white sash, into which was tucked a tanto, with a pitch-black handle and sheath. At well over six-feet, Makoto towered over even Kyo. Despite that, his manner was gentle and accommodating, such that Natsuki, even as young as she was, felt no intimidation in his presence.

"Let us begin then, Natsuki-chan," said Makoto, a slight smile gracing his features. "Go ahead and hop up."

"Right!" Natsuki did as she was bid, climbing up onto the examination table and seating herself promptly.

Moving to stand in front of her, Makoto raised his right hand over Natsuki's forehead. The palm of his hand began to shine with the white-blue light of his Aura, which washed down over Natsuki's body. The girl looked up at Makoto, her eyes attentive as she observed his actions, her usual, bright and sunny smile replaced with a more contemplative look.

"And how have you been?" asked Makoto, his gaze staring off into space.

"Good," said Natsuki earnestly, knowing that, despite his seeming inattentiveness, the Elder was actually listening to every word she said.

"And your studies?" he prodded. "Have you been having any issues?"

"N-not really," stammered Natsuki.

"Not even with your math?" asked Makoto, his voice taking on a teasing quality.

"No!" said Natsuki a little more quickly than she'd meant to. "That advice you gave me last time really worked."

"Good," said Makoto.

Back and forth the conversation continued, even as Makoto bathed Natsuki in the light of his Aura. After about five minutes, Makoto pulled back. "It seems that everything is well," he said. "We're finished here, Natsuki-chan."

"Thank you, Makoto-sama," said Natsuki, practically bouncing off the examination table.

"By the way," said Makoto, making her hesitate in her steps towards the door, "you seem to be in even higher spirits than usual. Is there any particular reason?"

"Um...uh..." Natsuki blushed, her cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink.

"Natsu-chan's made a friend," said Sasame with a laugh. "It seems that she and Ruby-chan hit it off quite well."

"Ah, I see," said Makoto with a chuckle. "I'm glad to hear that. She is very lucky to have a friend like you."

That praise made Natsuki break into a radiant smile. "Thank you, Makoto-sama," she said again.

"You also seem to be in a bit of a hurry," Makoto noted.

"Um...well...Sasame-sama said that, if we finished quickly, I could go back and watch the rest of Ruby-chan's training," explained Natsuki, shuffling awkwardly, clearly eager to do exactly that, yet not wanting to appear impatient in front of the Elder.

"Well then, I won't keep you," said Makoto with another chuckle. "Off with you."

"Kyo, please accompany her," said Sasame. "I need to talk with Makoto-sama for a moment."

"Very well then," said Kyo, taking Natsuki by the hand and allowing her to lead him off, back the way they'd come.

Sasame watched them go for a moment, before turning to face Makoto. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Makoto began. "So...it seems your new sister has made yet another connection. And I wonder when you will finally get around to introducing her to _me_. I'm beginning to think you're ashamed to show your master."

That drew a laugh from Sasame. "I'm sorry, Sensei. Ruby-chan is a girl in high demand, it seems. Besides, it's not as though you couldn't pop over to meet her on any given day. She _is_ training with Shinrei after all."

"Yet, as _your_ sister, it is only fitting that _you_ be the one to introduce her to me," said Makoto, settling back into his chair, while Sasame moved to seat herself on the examination table. "I imagine your parents objected strenuously to your decision to make her your ward."

"That's putting it mildly," said Sasame blithely. "They are still as immaturely vain as ever. But, then again, it is a symptom of the same problem that dogs much of the clan. Hopefully, Ruby-chan's presence will be a wakeup call to at least some of them."

"We can only hope," said Makoto. "Still, even then, such changes may yet be long in coming. We've progressed quite a ways over the past century. The groundwork for our integration into the larger world was being laid, even in my predecessor's time."

"Considering how long ago that was, that is _quite_ some time," noted Sasame.

"How else do you think we've managed the gradual shift to Common as our primary language?" asked Makoto, amused. "We can only hope that it will not lead to the Old Tongue becoming a forgotten one."

"Hopefully not," agreed Sasame.

"And...what is it that you actually wish to speak to me about?" inquired Makoto.

"Well...perhaps it is Natsu-chan's anxiety that spurs me to this," mused Sasame, "but I find myself wondering when you might be telling her the truth."

Makoto frowned and turned to look at his desk with contemplative eyes. "That is not an easy question to answer. Considering the scope of her situation...it will be very difficult to judge when she is mature enough to make her decision." He returned his gaze to Sasame and his eyes narrowed slightly. "On that note, if she knows about your sister's status, both as a resident of the palace and as a student of Shinrei, then you are testing her capacity to keep important secrets."

"I am," said Sasame.

Makoto folded his arms and closed his eyes, lowering his chin almost to his chest as he hummed thoughtfully. "Five more weeks..." he muttered to himself.

"Pardon?" Sasame tilted her head slightly.

"Natsuki-chan's birthday is the thirteenth of August," said Makoto, opening his eyes and looking up at Sasame again. "If she can keep your sister's secrets until then, then I think she will have demonstrated she is sufficiently trustworthy. I will tell her at the appointment immediately afterwards."

"My, even allowing for that kind of time-frame, that _is_ rather sudden," noted Sasame.

"Well, you're not wrong to worry about her not knowing," said Makoto. "No matter how much we assure her otherwise, I imagine Natsuki-chan cannot shake the idea that she has some form of terminal illness, or something similarly terrible. I do not like causing her such stress anymore than you do. However, we want to ensure that her childhood can be as normal as possible. For the most part, I did not wish to burden her with the knowledge of her situation before she could enjoy her youth to the fullest."

He paused. "I get the feeling that it is not merely her anxiety that motivates you to ask," he noted. "What makes you so anxious, my apprentice?"

Sasame frowned darkly. "Within the Mibu, I often feel that time seems to stand still, especially compared to the outside world. And that is _exactly_ the problem. Even as we Mibu advance at a snail's pace, in the world beyond us...the wheel turns. My fear is that, even if we do wish to allow Natsu-chan to enjoy her childhood...if we wait too long, it may be too late, and her burden will be thrust upon her before she can learn of it."

"A valid concern," said Makoto with a frown. "Yes, then...I believe that her tenth birthday is the best time to learn then. At that point, we will tell her of her burden. And then she will have to decide whether to shoulder it...or shed it."

* * *

Natsuki and Kyo returned to the sound of steel clashing when they reached the courtyard before the Fourth Gate. There, they saw Ruby and Shinrei moving back and forth across the tiles.

"Come on!" prodded Shinrei. "Don't let your feet stick!"

Ruby grimaced and shuffled back awkwardly, working her blades to defend against Shinrei's attacks. He'd reduced both his speed and power to a level that she could handle, even if the effort of keeping up with them had covered nearly all her body in sweat. However, the fluidity of his movements, the way he transitioned from one attack to the next, made them seem to come at her faster than they actually were.

Practicing kata was all well and good. But simply going through a series of rote-memorized movements over and over again wasn't the same as applying the notion to the dynamic situation of combat. In contrast to the fluid grace she was capable of when she practiced on her own, in an actual fight, Ruby's movements were still often halting, as she wrestled with the uncertainty of which of her techniques to choose from. Simply going through the same sequence of attacks her katas used would be predictable. In both offense and defense, she found herself hesitating.

That hesitation cost her, as the blunted edge of Shinrei's crystal blade clipped her shoulder.

"Quit thinking so much," he admonished her. "Watch me and see which way I'm moving. Let your body move the way it wants."

"Yes!" shouted Ruby, trying her best to do as she was told.

Seeing Shinrei closing in with a wide swing of his right arm, Ruby focused on it and raised her blade to block. However, she was caught by surprise when Shinrei's left sword whipped around to strike her torso with enough force to sting.

"Eyes!" shouted Shinrei harshly.

"Yes!" Ruby repeated, grimacing yet again as she forced her gaze back to Shinrei's eyes, trying to follow the movements of his body with just her peripheral vision.

Thus their exchange continued. Shinrei slackened his offense, giving Ruby a chance to change the flow of battle, and go on the offensive herself. From there, he continued to coach her with terse instructions, before taking advantage of another lapse and turning the tables back on her again. The whole time, Ruby had yet to land a single blow.

Meanwhile, Natsuki watched, her eyes wide with wonder. "Wooow!" she said, trying to keep her voice soft, so as not to distract Ruby. "She's amazing!"

"You noticed?" mused Kyo with a chuckle.

"Shinrei-sama won't let her hit him even once," said Natsuki. "But she's still going at it."

"And she'd go until she dropped," said Kyo with a laugh. "Ruby-chan refuses to let herself be discouraged. She knows, full-well, that if she were to land any blows on Shinrei at this level, it would only happen because Shinrei _allowed_ her to, which she would not count as a _true_ success."

"Is this why Shinrei-sama is willing to train her?" asked Natsuki.

"Exactly," said Kyo. He sighed. "It's not as though the Goyosei are too important to take students. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that they are often too busy to do so. Even if they are masters of their respective styles, as the Goyosei, they are active members of the military and, thusly, have many claims to their time. Shinrei has had to bend a great deal to make so much time for Ruby-chan."

"And he's willing to do that?" asked Natsuki.

"He is," said Kyo. "Ruby-chan has a great deal of talent, that much is true. She picks things up quickly. But she has an even greater, rarer gift, one that is a form of talent in its own right, the kind of talent that makes her a universally appealing student."

"What's that?" asked Natsuki.

"A natural inclination to persevere," explained Kyo. "Almost everyone, when faced with an obstacle that seems insurmountable, whether it is a technique you can't learn or an opponent you can't overcome, is affected with the impulse to give up, to surrender to apathy. Overcoming such apathy means facing and addressing your shortcomings directly. For almost everyone, that is an extremely difficult thing to manage."

"But Ruby-chan can do it?"

Kyo nodded. "With astonishing ease." He gestured towards the pair sparring in front of them. "No matter how many blows she receives, no matter how harshly Shinrei critiques her, she always tries to take his words to heart and continues to move on. She won't stop or give up until he ends the session. Until then, she will listen to every word he says, and try her hardest to follow his advice."

Watching Ruby, Natsuki winced as she saw Shinrei land a hit to her shin. "It isn't working too well," she said.

"On the contrary, it's working _very_ well," said Kyo. "Ruby-chan's already come a long way."

"Really?" asked Natsuki.

"Granted, there is no denying that her movements are awkward," said Kyo. "But that is only natural. It's one thing to be told what you need to do in combat, and another to put it into practice."

"I guess that's true," said Natsuki, frowning.

"Let me put it this way," said Kyo, "do you remember how you learned to walk?"

"Um...no," admitted Natsuki, feeling sheepish about it for some reason.

"And even if you did," Kyo noted, "you would still find it hard to place the moment where you made the transition from your first, halting steps, as a toddler, to true walking. It's not simply a matter of standing up straight and putting one foot in front of the other. Walking necessitates standing, maintaining your center of gravity in a posture that is nowhere near as stable as an infant's, on all-fours. From there, moving requires adjusting your center of gravity as you step, and shift your weight from one leg to the other. For someone doing it for the first time, that's difficult enough. But then you factor in how you need to adjust your balance for moving up and down slopes, over broken terrain, or even transitioning from sitting to standing, and the mere concept of walking becomes quite complex."

"I...I'd never thought of it like that," said Natsuki.

"Because, by now, you can do it without even needing to think about it," said Kyo. "You've gotten so used to it that you no longer even think about how amazingly complex the 'simple' task of walking originally was, when you first attempted it, not to mention the time and effort it takes to develop such that skill.

"Combat is even _more_ complex and dynamic. Your weapons, the techniques you employ them for, when and where to use them, what your opponent is doing, the conditions of the battlefield; all of those factors have to be taken in and considered, processed, often all within a fraction of a second. Furthermore, with walking, if you falter and fail, you probably fall flat on your face. But in battle; a moment's hesitation, a wrong choice, a faltering step; can lead to much worse, up to and including your death. Not only is it infinitely more complex and advanced than walking, the stakes are infinitely higher as well."

Natsuki swallowed, a trickle of sweat running down her forehead at the thought of it.

"Ruby-chan has only been training a few months," continued Kyo. "As such, she is still learning techniques and how to put them into practice. At this stage, there is no way she could move straight to the phase of bringing everything together into a cohesive fighting style, no matter how talented she is. It will take years to build everything up and reach the level where she can be called truly competent, much less say that she has mastered anything."

"That's incredible," whispered Natsuki.

"Do you think you could work as hard as her?" asked Kyo.

"I...well..." Natsuki looked down. "Well, I don't know. But, knowing Ruby-chan is working this hard, I don't think I could bring myself to give up."

"A good answer," said Kyo. "Well, Keikoku will probably be back soon. I suppose we could put in a word for you, and see if he'd be willing to check your aptitude."

"Really!?" exclaimed Natsuki, her eyes shining.

"Yes," said Kyo. "It won't be too hard. But it will be up to Keikoku to decide whether or not he's willing to take you as his student."

"All right," said Natsuki, nodding fervently.

Kyo chuckled and rubbed Natsuki's head fondly.

In front of them, they saw Shinrei back away out of Ruby's reach. Ruby abruptly accelerated, her body becoming a blur to close the distance between them again. However, instead of trying to block or intercept her, Shinrei leaned back, stepped to the side, and extended a foot, tripping Ruby neatly and sending her sprawling across the tiles with a cry of pain as her face scraped painfully against them.

"Too much juice," Shinrei admonished her. "You need to judge the distance between us, and how much Aura to put into your step. You also need to remember to keep control. Lose traction and you won't need my foot to trip."

"Y-yes," grunted Ruby, her body quaking as she forced herself to her feet. She turned to face Shinrei and raised her swords.

Shinrei closed in again, their blades clashing once more as he forced Ruby to work them furiously. For the next couple of minutes, he pressed her ferociously, before finally hitting her with enough force to send her staggering back. However, instead of following through, he lowered his weapons and let them dissolve back into water, before evaporating that water into mist.

"All right," he said, "that's it for today. Go hit the showers."

"Y-yes," said Ruby, gasping for breath, sheathing her weapons with shaking arms and stumbling back towards the changing room.

Shinrei watched her go, a fond smile on his face. Kyo and Natsuki approached him. "So, how did it go?" asked Kyo.

"Same as always," said Shinrei.

"That good, huh?"

"Yep," said Shinrei with a laugh. He looked down at Natsuki. "And then there's you, Natsuki-chan. Thinking of joining us?"

"Um...well...I'm hoping I could train under Keikoku-sama," said Natsuki, tapping her fingers shyly.

Chuckling, Shinrei ruffled her hair. "Well, that might be a good choice for you. Keikoku's gonna work you hard."

"As hard as you work Ruby-chan?" asked Natsuki, her eyes going in the direction Ruby had headed.

"Only if you have the mettle to keep up with that kind of work," said Shinrei.

"I'm sure Natsu-chan will do just fine," said Sasame, coming up behind Natsuki and making her squeak in surprise. She hadn't even noticed the healer's arrival. "Having a friend to work alongside will only spur you to grow even more quickly." She sighed. "Unfortunately, that will be for later. Right now, I think it's almost time for you to head home, Natsu-chan.

"Aww..." groaned Natsuki, looking down.

"Come now, you still have your homework to finish, don't you?" asked Sasame. "You want to be able to spend all tomorrow with Ruby-chan, right?"

"Yeah!" said Natsuki sharply.

"Then we'll wait until Ruby-chan gets cleaned up and changed," said Sasame. "You can say your goodbyes, and Kyo will walk you back." She turned a look of faux-admonishment on Shinrei. "I'm sure you gave Ruby-chan plenty of bruises for me to heal."

"Yep," said Shinrei, not an ounce of guilt in his voice.

A few minutes later, Ruby hobbled out of the changing room, dressed in a fresh kimono, her movements pained, her expression tired but content. She approached the group and barely even noticed as Sasame moved to treat her, letting the pink light of her Aura bathe Ruby. Instead, she fixed her gaze on Natsuki.

"You're amazing, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki with an earnestness that made Ruby's cheeks turn a deep red. "I'm really impressed."

"Th-thank you," said Ruby, averting her eyes slightly.

"I'll be taking Natsu-chan home," said Kyo. "It's time to say goodbye now."

"R-right," said Ruby, looking back up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Natsu-chan."

"Yeah...tomorrow," agreed Natsuki.

Looking at them, Kyo paused. "Hmm..." Kyo frowned thoughtfully. "Actually, I just had an idea."

"You did?" asked Ruby and Natsuki in unison.

"Yes," said Kyo. "Since tomorrow is Sunday, and you both have it off...why don't we invite Natsu-chan to stay the night?"

"Really!?" asked Ruby and Natsuki in unison again, their voices rising in excitement.

"It won't be any trouble at all," noted Kyo. "You can join us for dinner. We have spare robes for you to use, and you two can spend the night in Ruby-chan's room."

"W-well...if you'd have me then...I'd be happy to stay," said Natsuki.

"What do you think?" asked Kyo, looking at Sasame, who was finishing up her treatment of Ruby's bruises.

"Well..." Sasame's pause ratcheted up the tension for a few seconds. But that was diffused quickly when Sasame smiled, showing she was just teasing. "As long as the two of you get your homework done first, I see no problem with it."

"Yes!" said the girls in unison, though Ruby's voice was considerably more tired.

"In that case, Dougal-san!" Sasame called out.

"Yes?" asked Dougal, rising out of Sasame' shadow and looming over her, making Natsuki gasp in surprise and take an uncertain step back. Ruby didn't even react, having already gotten used to Dougal popping up out of unexpected places.

"Would you arrange to let Natsu-chan's parents know she'll be staying with us?" asked Sasame.

"I shall see to it personally," assured Dougal. "It won't take but a moment." With that, he sank back down into the shadows and vanished.

"H-how did you know he was there?" stammered Natsuki, unnerved by Dougal's sudden appearance and equally-sudden disappearance.

"In a way, it's a rather mundane Aura technique," explained Sasame, "though tailored to Dougal-san's Manifestation. To put it simply, within the bounds of the palace, Dougal-san is _always_ close at hand, so long as there are shadows, even if they are the ones you yourselves cast."

"Oh..." said Natsuki, blinking.

"Don't worry about it," assured Sasame. "Let's be off. You two have homework to finish if you wish to enjoy the rest of your evening."

* * *

**I get the feeling that some people won't be thrilled with this arc. However, I do feel that it's necessary. Plus, I wanted to give people a feel for Ruby's life with the Mibu, and show how it shaped her. It builds up how she was trained, how she interacted with others, and how that's helped her to become who she is in the present of the story.**


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39:**

Ruby had to admit that having Natsuki spend the night had turned out to be a wonderful experience. After they'd finished their homework (with Ruby nearly falling asleep from exhaustion throughout), they had dinner with Sora, Kyo, and Sasame. Once Natsuki had overcome her starstruck reaction to Sora's presence, she proved to be as enthusiastic and energetic as always. Despite her enthusiasm, the pair weren't able to stay up very late, as Ruby's previous training meant she was ready for bed almost as soon as she was done with dinner.

They retired for the evening, with Sasame laying out extra bedding for Natsuki in Ruby's room. Ruby was asleep almost instantly, struck with an incredibly giddy and nostalgic feeling. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed something as simple as a sleepover with a friend. She still remembered the bitter feeling of a friend on Patch telling her she wasn't invited, because her friend's parents didn't want to deal with Taiyang's intrusive tendencies. But now she was able to have a friend over, and _not_ worry about her father incessantly checking in on her to make sure they weren't talking about anything on his list of forbidden topics.

Their morning could have started out better for Ruby though, mainly, because it marked her fist attempt at cooking with her new family...which served as a stark reminder of how life with the Mibu, in many ways, was just plain...odd...

* * *

"YEEK!"

With a startled yelp, Ruby reeled back, watchings as flames burst up from the pan in front of her, reducing her first attempt at cooking breakfast for herself going up in smoke.

"Are you all right?" asked Sora, immediately coming to her side.

"I...I thought I'd..." Ruby blinked back tears, utterly mortified by the display.

Sora smiled, using the corner of her sleeve to wipe the tears away. "There's no need to be upset," she said. "I too made such mistakes, the first time I tried using a stove."

"Yeah, me too," agreed Natsuki, who'd been watching from not far away. "I'm _still_ not very good at it."

Ruby frowned, looking at what the Mibu equivalent of a kitchen stove was. Without Dust, she'd imagined the Mibu using something akin to the wood-fired stoves that she'd heard were once used in primitive days, sort of a more civilized version of the cooking over a campfire that Kyo and Sasame had done, during their time on the road. However, the Mibu actually did have appliances...appliances that ran on Aura.

In this case, the "stove" was a metal plate, one of a few set into the counter. There were no controls, no knobs, no settings or markings that delineated "low", "medium", or "high". While there were no markings on the upper surface, Sora had told Ruby that the underside was covered by a "script", which converted one's Aura directly into heat. The more Aura one put in, the more heat the stove put out. Channeling Aura into the stove, surprisingly enough, didn't require continuous direct contact with it. Touching the metal plate with just her finger established a connection, which Ruby could send her Aura through, even when she might be over on the other side of the kitchen. Theoretically, with skilled control, one could utilize a stove like this with an impressive level of finesse, using their Aura to control the temperature to within a fraction of a degree.

Theoretically...

In practice...cooking on a stove like this was one of the most trying examples of multitasking that Ruby had ever experienced. The main issue was that there was no feedback, nothing to directly tell her how hot her Aura was making the stove...unless she wanted to touch the stove herself, which was ridiculous, of course. Therefore, the best way to gauge the heat of the stove was by watching how the pan, and the ingredients within it, reacted to the heat, to determine whether it was hot enough, too hot, or just right. In this case, Sora had instructed Ruby to heat a pan with oil in it, until it began to shimmer and ripple. Ruby watched the oil intently. But, with the intensity of her observation she found herself channeling too much Aura into the stove...which caused the oil to burst into flame instead.

"It is fairly tricky to work around," Sora explained. "In many ways, learning to use something as simple as a stove here is almost as much of an 'art' as what you are learning from Shinrei. It isn't merely gauging the temperature, but maintaining it, adjusting it as necessary, all while performing other tasks that go into cooking. It requires a surprising degree of multitasking skill."

"Wait until you try using the oven," Natsuki teased.

Ruby fought to keep it down, but a tiny, strangled whine still emerged from her throat.

Sora smiled, gently brushing her fingers through the hair atop Ruby's head. "Why don't you and Natsu-chan wait in the dining room. I will take care of breakfast today."

Ruby hung her head shamefully. It was a perfectly ordinary expectation. But it still felt like admitting defeat for her.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of," said Sora. "It will come to you, with time and practice. Though, I think you shouldn't worry too much at this point, not when you have so much else to practice."

With little reason to protest, Ruby, somewhat unhappily, took her leave of the kitchen, Natsuki following her, already trying to cheer her up.

* * *

Life amongst the Mibu took some getting used to, that much was for sure. Ruby wasn't entirely sure what she had expected, when she'd learned the Mibu didn't use Dust. Surprisingly, things weren't all that much different. At the very least, the Mibu had internal plumbing, so she didn't have to worry about getting water from a well...or having to dispose of her waste in a truly old-fashioned manner.

Aside from appliances, like stoves and ovens, the Mibu had refrigeration and freezing available to them as well...after a fashion. Their equivalent to such appliances took the form of heavily insulated chambers, possessing an Aura-script, like the stoves and oven, but producing cold instead of heat (Ruby was too young to note the nuances of how that would typically violate thermodynamic principles). Freezers and refrigerators had to be periodically recharged with the user's Aura. Sora showed Ruby how she determined whether that was needed with simple mercury thermometers, set inside the the chambers themselves.

The "Aura-script" was ubiquitous throughout the Mibu, and seemed to be what fueled much of their civilization; including illuminating homes and streets, and heating and cooling the interior of buildings...amongst other things. The ways in which the script could be adapted allowed the users to convert their Auras into other forces, without needing to directly train in the particular form of Manifestation that would normally be needed to achieve those effects. Though why scripts hadn't supplanted Manifestation entirely was something Ruby had not yet learned, though she had guesses.

One of the biggest differences, between the Mibu and the Kingdoms, was the absence of any form of electronic communication. Back home, on Patch, Ruby could have easily spoken to her school friends, even if they had already gone their separate ways, through scrolls (or she would have, if her father had allowed her to have a scroll of her own). They would have been able to plan outings and activities, or even just chat, without having to meet up, face-to-face.

That kind of convenience was absent from life amongst the Mibu. If Ruby wanted to speak to Natsuki, the best way was to talk to her directly, mainly at school. Sora _had_ offered the services of the Shadowrunners of her Imperial Guard. With their abilities, delivering any missive she wanted was a work of mere moments. However, Ruby was conscious of the privilege she already had, not wanting to indulge more than necessary.

Aside from that, options for entertainment were similarly limited. Back home, at least Ruby had had the option of watching shows on the network, or going to a movie (albeit from an extremely limited selection that her father had approved of). Amongst the Mibu, such forms of entertainment were nonexistent, and she had to make do with more old-school methods. Fortunately, Ruby had always been an enthusiastic reader, and her new home had an impressive library, repleat with stories she'd never seen or heard of before. Aside from that, there were other more-analogue methods of entertainment, like board and card games. She'd also learned that the capital had a variety of different forms of theater, though she hadn't yet gotten the chance to go to any performances.

At the moment, that was all so much background noise to Ruby's head, as she was still wrestling with her disappointment at being unable to do something as simple as make her own breakfast. Instead, she and Natsuki wound up waiting in the dining room, while Sora did the rest of the cooking herself. All she could hope was that it wasn't a portent of how the rest of her day was going to go.

* * *

Fortunately, things _did_ get better from there. Ruby and Natsuki spent the rest of the day playing games and exploring much of the Palace. Ruby only really knew of the places between where she was staying and where she trained, while Natsuki had only ever used the route to reach Makoto's examination room. With Sora's permission, they were free to wander almost anywhere, discovering all manner of rooms and courtyards. However, to Ruby's amazement, the day took a turn for the even better in a way she'd never imagined.

* * *

"Wouldn't it be great if we could get everyone here and play Hide and Seek?" asked Natsuki, as they rounded a corner and headed down another hallway.

"I think it's too big for that," noted Ruby, looking around with a touch of nervousness to her face. "I mean...you could search around for a week, and probably not look everywhere. What if you hid and nobody ever found you?"

Both girls shivered at the thought. "Y-yeah," admitted Natsuki. "That would be scary. Besides, it'd be really easy to get lost. You could hide so well you wouldn't be able to find yourself." She paused, a soft gasp escaping her. "Wait! What if someone did that and died? Do you think the palace is haunted?"

"Eeeeeee!" Ruby squealed, shying away from Natsuki. "Don't say that! It's scary!"

"But it'd be cool!" exclaimed Natsuki. "What would it be like to meet a ghost?"

"I don't want to know!" wailed Ruby.

The two of them were so excited and absorbed in their chatter that they didn't notice that someone was standing in front of them, until they wandered into his shadow. Looking up, the first thing they noticed was a head of pale, silvery hair, formed into curling wisps. They also saw light skin, white robes, and gray eyes that watched them intently.

"EEEK!" Ruby shrieked. "GHOST!"

"I'm sorry! Please don't haunt us!" begged Natsuki, swept up in her friend's momentary hysteria, the two of them cowering and afraid to look at the figure in front of them...until he burst out laughing.

Not considering that a very ghostly response, the two girls slowly opened their eyes and looked up at the man they'd almost bumped into. The man's appearance was, indeed, somewhat ghost-like. But it was clear that he was alive after even the most cursory examination. In addition to the white kimono he wore, he was also wore a dark-blue shawl, draped over his shoulders, so that the ends rested over his chest, the ends of which were decorated with pentagrams, embroidered with silver thread.

"M-Murasame-sama!" gasped Natsuki, immediately bowing deeply. "Oh my God!"

Ruby swallowed nervously to see her friend so flustered, and quickly joined her in bowing.

"O-oh my God!" whimpered Natsuki nervously. "I'm so sorry! Please forgive us!"

Murasame merely laughed again, prompting the girls to lift their heads and stare at him in confusion.

"What ever is there to apologize for?" asked Murasame pleasantly. "I thought I heard the sound of rambunctious children, and came to investigate. It's quite the novelty in this place."

"S-sorry to disturb you," said Natsuki, keeping her head low.

"You did no such thing," assured Murasame in a warm, fatherly tone. "As I said, I was merely curious. Truth be told, this stifling maze of a palace could use more of such excitement." Reaching down, he gently placed his fingers beneath Natsuki's chin and used the pressure to make her raise her head so that he could look her in the eyes. "In any case, it is good to see you again, Natsu-chan. It's certainly pleasant have you here for some reason _other_ than your regular checkups."

"Th-thank you, Murasame-sama," said Natsuki, blushing nervously.

"And you..." Murasame turned his attention to Ruby. "You must be the infamous Ruby Rose that I have heard so much about."

"Y-yes," said Ruby, nervously. It wasn't hard to figure out who this man was, given Natsuki's reaction. She'd also heard Murasame's name before.

"Well, as unexpected as this meeting is, I suppose it's only proper to introduce myself," commented Murasame with a chuckle. "I am Sengo Murasame of the Taishiro, Blademaster of the Mibu Clan."

"Blademaster?" asked Ruby uncertainly, wondering what the term meant.

"The master-swordsmith of the Mibu Clan," elaborated Murasame. "I forge swords for our clan, and am charged with the keeping of our clan's ancestral artifacts. I am also a swordsman. In fact, you have been a student of a student of mine, for a time."

Ruby blinked, thinking back on it. Shinrei was supposedly Makoto's student. So that ruled him out. Sasame wasn't a swordswoman. That left... "Kyo-nii?"

"That's right," said Murasame with a laugh. "I was surprised to learn that he had taken on a student of his own. Truly, children grow up so quickly. From what he's told me, you are a most remarkable pupil."

"Th-thank you," said Ruby, bowing her head again, blushing fiercely.

"So..." continued Murasame, observing them with growing interest, "the two of you are enjoying your day off, I see."

"Yes," said the girls in unison.

"Well then...seeing as it is almost time for lunch, would you two like to join me?" asked Murasame.

"We'd be honored!" gasped Natsuki, her eyes wide.

"Good," said Murasame with another amused laugh. "It's been some time since I last enjoyed company with my midday meal."

Murasame took them both by the hand, leading them along a few more bewildering twists and turns. As he did, he talked to them about the most ordinary things: their schooling, what they did during their regular days, Ruby's journey to Onmyo. He drew out the details of Ruby's training under Kyo, Sasame, and Shinrei. After that, he divined Natsuki's interests and inclinations.

Their journey eventually took them outside the main palace, emerging from a door at the end of a corridor and into a grassy meadow, surrounded by trees. Across the meadow from where they'd emerged stood a modest-looking cottage-like building, its front section suspended on poles over a section of the grass, while its back stretched back and eventually merged with the earth of the mountain itself.

"These are my quarters," explained Murasame, as the girls gazed around them in wonder.

He led them across the meadow and up the stairs to the house's porch. From there, he slid open the doors and led them into a rather plain-looking room, the floors made from simple woven mats called tatami, which Ruby had learned were considered traditional flooring amongst the Mibu.

"What do you think?" asked Murasame, chuckling as the girls looked around while taking their seats on the cushions he laid out for them.

"It's...a lot plainer than I expected," noted Natsuki.

"That it is," said Murasame. "I've never really felt much need for anything opulent. For the most part, we Taishiro are a little too engrossed in our work to bother with decoration for our quarters."

"I think it's nice," said Ruby softly. "It feels...really peaceful."

"That was what I was aiming for," noted Murasame, pulling on a section of the wall and revealing that, like the doors they'd entered through, the other wall panels could be slid back, opening the entire room up to the outside air, allowing them to enjoy the soft breeze of the summer's day, and listen to the sound of birds and other animals outside.

"Please relax," urged Murasame, heading for an adjoining room that Ruby assumed to be the kitchen. "I'll have lunch ready momentarily."

Ruby and Natsuki both nodded, relaxing and taking in the scenery around them as they waited.

"How do you know Murasame-sama?" asked Ruby, deciding to break the silence. "It sounded like you've talked before."

"Well, I've bumped into him a few times while coming for my checkups," explained Natsuki. "He's sometimes there, talking with Makoto-sama, when I come in."

"Have you met all the Taishiro?" asked Ruby.

"No," said Natsuki with a disappointed sigh. "I haven't met Haruka-sama yet."

"Haruka-sama?" Ruby blinked, tilting her head.

"Almost no one has met her," explained Natsuki. "Everyone says that she's the most brilliant member of the Taishiro, and that no one else but the other Elders can keep up with her, so she doesn't bother with lesser folk like us."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration," commented Murasame, entering the room again and setting out trays for them, making the girls squeak in surprise, feeling guilty at being caught gossiping about the Elders.

"Wha-what do you mean?" asked Ruby as the three of them began to start eating their rather ordinary meals of miso soup, rice, and grilled fish. For his part, it seemed that Murasame wasn't all that much better of a cook than Sora was.

"Well, there's no question that Haruka is the most brilliant member of the Taishiro," said Murasame. "In fact, I daresay she's the finest mind to grace the Mibu in several generations. But the unfortunate fact of the matter is that she's...well...too _shy_ to engage with others, most of the time."

"Shy?" Ruby canted her head again, amazed at the idea that someone in such an exalted position would be gripped by such a...mundane issue.

Murasame shrugged. "Haruka is most comfortable when talking about her areas of expertise. Of course, because of that, very few, save those of us with a firm grounding in the knowledge of those selfsame subjects, can understand her. Otherwise, it's difficult for her to manage a complete and coherent sentence. Oftentimes, she winds up stammering and stuttering so badly that she's almost impossible to understand."

"Oooh!" said Ruby and Natsuki in unison.

Ruby looked down. "I can understand that," she admitted.

"I imagine so," agreed Murasame, gently ruffling her hair. "You've come to an unfamiliar land and have started to live amongst an unfamiliar people, with manners and customs far removed from those you are used to. I imagine you've had your share of awkward moments."

Ruby nodded slowly. "But that's okay," she said. "I have Natsu-chan, so that makes it a lot easier."

"Awww...thank you, Ruby-chan," cooed Natsuki, beaming.

They ate and talked. As they did, Ruby found her eyes sliding across the room, taking in its plain walls, before finding them fixing on a door at the back of the room, not the one that led into the kitchen, but a door that, presumably, led deeper into the house. No matter how often Ruby pried her eyes away and tried to keep her focus on the people she was eating with, she found her gaze being drawn back to that door, almost feeling as though someone was calling out to her.

"Ruby-chan...?"

"Y-yes!" blurted Ruby, startled out of her reverie by Murasame's voice, realizing that she'd lost the train of conversation completely. She fumbled, her chopsticks dropping to her tray with a clatter.

"You seem distracted," noted Murasame. "Are you all right?"

"Yes," said Ruby, swallowing and deciding to ask the question that had bubbled up within her. "What's behind that door?"

"That door leads to a few other rooms," said Murasame, "including the bathroom, my bedroom, and a storage room. Beyond that...is my workshop."

"Your workshop?"

"Indeed," said Murasame. "That is where I forge my blades and keep my finished pieces."

"Oh..." Ruby once again found her eyes drawn to the door.

"Hmm..." mused Murasame, watching her with no small amount of interest. "After we finish lunch, would you like to see?"

"REALLY!?" Natsuki practically shrieked, making Ruby and even Murasame flinch in surprise.

"Of course," said Murasame, recovering his composure.

"That would be amazing!" gasped Natsuki. "Hardly anyone gets to see your workshop, Murasame-sama."

"Perhaps, if more people were inclined to visit me," said Murasame with a chuckle. "It isn't my intent to make it a tourist destination, but I've never indicated that it was some sort of forbidden place. If I got more visitors, perhaps more of my children would find their way into good homes."

"Your children?" asked Ruby.

"I am very…attached…to the blades I forge," explained Murasame. "To me, they are practically my children. It is my desire to see that they find their way into worthy hands. But very few people come up to see me."

"Are people afraid to visit you?" asked Ruby, frowning. There was a certain strangeness to this situation, from her point of view.

"I'm afraid so," said Murasame sadly.

Her fellow students, even Natsuki, spoke of the likes of the Taishiro and Goyosei with a reverence that bordered upon worshipful at times. They spoke as though the mere thought of engaging with such exalted figures was a kind of sacrilege, an intrusion or profaning of something sacred. Yet, every one of these exalted people struck Ruby as truly ordinary. It was true that they all sported powerful, even awesome, presences, Auras that commanded respect and deference as automatically as breathing. Yet they were also so very..._ordinary_. They were ordinary people, willing to talk about ordinary things.

Ruby's evening meals didn't seem at all far removed from regular family meals that many members of the Mibu Clan probably participated in every night, with Sora partaking and chatting just as normally as anyone might expect of an ordinary person. Despite that, it seemed that most other members of the Mibu Clan considered the likes of the Taishiro and Goyosei as above such mundane interactions.

"Part of the issue is that we often get so busy that there is little time for ordinary affairs," said Murasame. "I'm afraid that contributes to the illusion that we are, somehow, above it all. It's saddening, but also a very difficult illusion to dispel." He sighed and shook his head. "Still, no point in worrying about that now. Let me get this cleaned up, and I'll show you my work."

Ruby and Natsuki gasped, looking at each other with faces alight with eager excitement. They spent the few minutes it took Murasame to clear away the remains of their meal practically wriggling in place.

Finally, Murasame emerged from the kitchen and beckoned them to follow. The girls leapt to their feet and rushed in his wake, as he opened the door at the back of the living room, leading them down a simple hallway. First they passed what were clearly Murasame's bedroom and bathroom, the two rooms sitting almost exactly across the hall from one another. After that came what looked like a guest room, followed by a closed door, which Ruby suspected was the storage room Murasame had mentioned earlier. There was also a door that led to what looked like a study of sorts.

Following the hallway farther down, they came to another door, this one made, not of wood, but solid steel, resting on hinges, as opposed to the sliding doors that were typical to Mibu architecture. Murasame rested his hand on it. Ruby's eyes caught sight of the faint shimmer of his Aura, which flickered over the door's surface. There was a soft click, then the door swung open silently.

Now they entered into another hallway, this one wider and taller than the one they'd left. Rather than being built from wood, it had apparently been hewn out of the bedrock of the mountain itself. What was more, the air within this hallway was far warmer than the air of the house they had just left behind.

But that was the furthest thing from either of the girls' minds. Instead, they were transfixed by the sight of what hung from the walls on either side of the hallway.

The soft light from the lamps hanging along the center of the ceiling gleamed off countless metallic surfaces. Blades of every size and shape hung from racks, forming row upon row of sharpened steel, stretching on along the walls. There were swords aplenty, but also spears and halberds. The curved profiles of the katana-type blades favored by the Mibu rested alongside straight-edged longswords and narrow rapiers. Light diffused across rippling patterns of flowing grain that made some blades look as though they had been carved from trees of pure steel. Others refracted the light to create shimmering, prismatic effects, almost like nacre. Still others reflected the light off of almost perfectly-polished, mirror-like surfaces. It was clear that each and every one of them was a work of art, a piece of peerless craftsmanship.

"Sooo pretty!" breathed Ruby, her eyes dancing from the surface of one blade to another. The strange pulling sensation she'd felt had now diffused around her, and she realized that it was emanating from almost every blade. She almost felt as though they were calling out to her, a chorus of myriad voices, each one eagerly seeking her attention.

"They're amazing!" agreed Natsuki, sweeping her eyes over the assembled weapons. "I wish..."

Murasame chuckled and rested a hand on Natsuki's shoulder. However, his attention was on Ruby.

Now that initial wonder of the sight that had greeted them had worn off, Ruby found herself frowning as a strange pressure began to build in her head. The voices, if they could be called that, all seemed to be clamoring for her attention. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down, relaxing a little. Closing her eyes, she tried to pick out the individual voices.

_Please! Speak more clearly! I'm listening!_ Ruby sank into the familiar trance-like state that she'd used to get the feel of her Aura, which had helped her to master her Tempering. She allowed her own thoughts to drift away so that she could hear the voices around her more clearly. She could feel eagerness, almost a kind of loneliness, as though the voices belonged to several someones who had been alone for a very long time, and just wanted someone to hear them.

And hear them she did. It wasn't words, but a ringing sound, almost like a chorus of countless small bells. Warmth washed over her. It was a different warmth from the almost stifling heat that suffused the tunnel. Instead, it was soft and familiar, the warmth of Aura. Ruby lost herself to the voices and sensations, completely unaware of what was happening around her.

"What's going on?" asked Natsuki, her voice panicky.

"What indeed?" mused Murasame.

At first, Ruby had begun acting strangely, as though she was trying to listen to someone other than the two of them. Then she'd closed her eyes and gone completely still and silent. A few seconds later, the blades assembled around them began to ring like countless bells. Their forms sparked and sparkled, then flared with light of their own, beyond that which reflected off their surfaces from the lamps above, brilliant flares of light completely filling the tunnel to an almost blinding degree.

"It's Aura!" gasped Natsuki, her eyes wide, even as she held up an arm to shield them. "The swords have their own Aura."

"They do," agreed Murasame, having to raise his voice to be heard over the ringing. "But this is..." His gaze went to Ruby and he saw a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead. The girl almost seemed to be in a trance, her silver eyes hidden behind closed lids, her arms hanging slack as she stood amidst the light and sound, seeming to soak it all in. _She's..._

Hesitantly, Murasame reached out and rested his hand on Ruby's shoulder. She was so absorbed in her trance that she didn't seem to notice. Frowning, Murasame gently Projected a small amount of his Aura into her, the reaction of her own Aura knocking her out of her reverie. Ruby jolted sharply, her eyes snapping open with a shocked gasp.

And just like that, the phenomenon ended. The ringing went silent. The light of the blades' Auras dissipated and everything went back to the way it had been. If anything, the tunnel seemed quieter and darker than before.

Ruby slumped slightly, gasping for breath, her entire body quaking.

"Ruby-chan...what did you do?" asked Natsuki, her voice heavy with astonishment.

"I...I don't know," said Ruby. "It felt like...like someone...like a lot of people...like they were trying to t-talk to me. But I couldn't understand them. There were so many… I decided to try and listen and...it all just got so loud."

_This child..._ Murasame looked at her with silent fascination. "Can you still hear them?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," said Ruby. "Sort of...They all feel so...lonely."

"I see," said Murasame, smiling slightly. "I'd meant to take you both further. But now I think this is as far as we should go."

"I...I'm sorry," said Ruby. "I did something wrong, didn't I?"

"Not at all," Murasame assured her. "But I need to think about some things. I've never seen anything like this before."

He began to lead them out of his workshop. Ruby felt sorry to go, looking back at the blades lining the walls. "Are you sure I didn't do something wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"You didn't," replied Murasame. "But, in the meantime, perhaps I can show the two of you around the palace a little more."

"Yes, please!" said Natsuki eagerly.

Ruby tried to smile and nod in agreement. But her heart wasn't in it. Leaving Murasame's cottage and the workshop behind left her with a strange, lingering sense of melancholy.

* * *

The last few hours of their day off were spent with Murasame showing them a few secret spots of the palace neither of the girls had seen yet. There were small gardens, filled with beautiful flowers, rooms housing magnificent works of art, even a pavilion situated out over the center of a fair-sized lake that the girls couldn't see the bottom of if they looked down.

As such, it was almost an unwelcome surprise as their day came to a close, with Sasame appearing to walk Natsuki home. Ruby saw her friend off with a smile and a wave, actually looking forward to school the next day, somewhat. Natsuki was still her only friend in class. But Ruby supposed that was good enough for now.

* * *

"And did you have fun?" asked Sora over dinner that night.

"Yeah," said Ruby, her tone not matching her words. "It was a lot of fun."

"You seemed troubled by something," noted Sora. "What is it?"

"W-well...something strange happened," said Ruby. She began to relate what had taken place in Murasame's home, with the swords he'd forged. Sora, Kyo, and Sasame listened with rapt attention as Ruby described the strange phenomenon that had occurred.

Kyo, Sora, and Sasame shared curious looks as they listened to Ruby's tale. When she finished, she noticed they were looking at her intently.

"I _did_ do something wrong, didn't I?" she said worriedly.

The other three immediately broke out into warm, loving smiles. "Not at all," Sora assured her. "But it is _interesting_."

"It's something I've never heard of happening before," added Sasame.

"Me neither," agreed Kyo. _At least, not on that scale._

"But what did I do?" asked Ruby.

"Well...here's a hint," said Kyo. "You've seen that sort of thing before."

"I have?" asked Ruby.

"Oh yes," replied Kyo. "You just need to think back and remember what is so familiar about what you experienced with Murasame-sama's creations."

"Familiar...?" Ruby's voice trailed off as she reflected. Now that she thought about it, there _was_ something familiar about what had happened with those swords.

"Of course, back then, it wasn't many blades...but one," added Sasame.

Ruby frowned, then gasped as Sasame and Kyo's hints sank in. _That's right, I did see that before!_ Now she remembered, that ringing, the light issuing forth from the blade. She'd seen all that before...back during Kyo's fight with Qrow. When Kyo had used the _Mizuchi_, he'd made that light and sound come out of his sword.

"So you _do_ remember," observed Kyo, chuckling at the dawning realization on Ruby's face.

"Yeah! But what is it?" asked Ruby.

"Well...it's...something you might not be ready to learn yet," said Kyo.

"Huuuuuuuuuh?" groaned Ruby disappointedly.

"It's actually something fairly advanced," said Kyo. "In order to do it properly, you need to make sure you master the fundamentals of combat first."

"All right," groaned Ruby, slumping in her seat, making the others laugh.

"And what about the rest of your day?" inquired Sasame. "Did you and Natsu-chan have fun together?"

"Yeah," said Ruby, perking back up.

"See, school isn't so bad, if you can make a friend like that," said Sasame.

"Yeah...but..." Ruby frowned and looked down uncertainly.

"What is it?" asked Kyo.

"I just wonder _why_ Natsu-chan's my friend," said Ruby. "I mean...it's not like anyone else in our class is interested."

In that sense, Natsuki's friendship was certainly a blessing to Ruby. However, with the exception of her, everyone else in Ruby's class seemed, at best, indifferent or, at worst, outright hostile to her presence. She couldn't understand what had made someone like Natsuki reach out to her.

"Well, you are now aware that Natsu-chan regularly makes trips to the palace for her checkups," said Sasame.

Ruby nodded.

"Part of the reason behind her openness is that Natsu-chan has frequently spoken with members of the Taishiro," said Sasame. "As such, she's had exposure to their perspective."

"On the rare occasions I've seen Natsu-chan, we've talked about many things, including the outside world," said Sora. "She was quite eager to learn what it was like."

"A-and you know?" asked Ruby.

"Quite well," said Sora, her smile widening. "You see, Ruby-chan..._I_ was born in the outside world too."

"Huh?" Ruby's mind ground to a halt for a brief moment as Sora's statement sank in. "HUUUUUUUUUUH!"

Kyo and Sasame burst out laughing as Sora hid her own tittering behind the sleeve of her kimono.

"You're joking, right?" asked Ruby, staring at Sora.

"I'm not," said Sora, lowering her sleeve. "I was born in Kuchinashi, a village in Mistral's territory."

Ruby's jaw hung slack as she stared at Kyo's mother. "B-but you're..."

"There's no rule that a born outsider _can't_ become one of the Taishiro," said Sora. "I officially became one of the Mibu when I married Kyo's father. Like Kyo, he too wandered the outside world in his youth. We met during one of those sojourns of his."

"It's something of a tradition in our family," said Kyo helpfully.

"Dougal also comes from the outside," added Sora, "the same place, in fact. We were childhood friends. He followed me into the Mibu, and took his place as the leader of my Imperial Guard."

That explained why Dougal's name was different from most of the other Mibu, including the name order, now that Ruby thought about it. But Sora... "So, did you change your name when you joined?" she asked.

"Not my given name," said Sora. "I was born Sora Oshiro. I did take my husband's surname, and adopted the Mibu name-order when I married, though. You see, apparently the Mibu and a sizable portion of Mistral's population are of the same ethnic descent. As such, my name and racial traits are close enough to that of Mibu natives that you couldn't tell I'm foreign-born, just from looking at me or hearing my name."

"It's never been a secret," added Sasame. "However, because Sora-sama does share traits with most native-born Mibu, they, for the most part, have forgotten that she was not originally one of them...or conveniently forget when it suits them." That last part was uttered in a tone of disappointment.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, looking at Sasame in confusion.

"Just my parents being foolish," said Sasame with a sigh.

"Sasame is descended from an outsider," explained Kyo.

"Really?" gasped Ruby, looking to Sasame for confirmation.

The fox-girl nodded. "The founder of our family, Mitarai Tokichiro, was an outsider who entered the clan. In fact, Tokichiro, also known as Akari, is the first known outsider to have held the rank of one of the Taishiro, the clan's first official Chief Physician in fact."

"Cool!" exclaimed Ruby.

"Of course," continued Sasame, "because that was many thousands of years ago, our family, my parents in particular, tend to forget that little tidbit, when they have an opportunity to act like a pair of blue-blooded idiots."

Ruby grimaced at Sasame's harsh assessment of her parents. Seeing her look, Sasame laughed. "Oh, I still love them. They _are_ my parents after all, and I know they do love me, even if they're blinded by our family's status from time to time. But that doesn't change the fact that they remain willfully blind to the truth about our origins."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"Akari-sama, the founder of our line was originally what we call a Shaman," explained Sasame.

"What are Shamans?" asked Ruby.

Sora's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but she remained silent.

"Shamans are rare or unique existences," explained Sasame. "They possess abilities and/or powers that are distinct from what one can accomplish through Aura or Dust. One might call such abilities supernatural...or even magical. Shaman is a blanket category that refers to a number of things, and they are often as different from one another as they are from ordinary people.

"In the case of my ancestor, Akari-sama was a powerful healer, whose abilities weren't originally understood, both within the Mibu Clan and without. Eventually, through study and analysis, it was realized that her healing abilities stemmed from specialized applications of Aura that she had uncovered intuitively, without realizing it. Because of that, it was assumed she possessed some special power. However, after it was understood, Akari-sama was able to codify her abilities and pass them along as the healing arts now practiced by our clan."

"That is how it goes for Shamans," said Sora. "Sometimes, the mechanism behind their power is merely a dimension of Aura that we were previously unaware of. But, other times, there is indeed a supernatural element to their power."

"In any case," continued Sasame. "Because of that, my family has had a powerful affinity for the healing arts throughout the ages, and many Chief Physicians, including those who have been elevated to the rank of one of the Taishiro, have emerged from our line. My talents caught the attention of Makoto-sama, our current Chief Physician. He made me his personal apprentice, which my parents loved, because it increased our clout. Of course, they get sensitive about anything they fear might undermine our status, which is why they've objected to us being sisters."

"I'm sorry," said Ruby, lowering her eyes.

"You've done nothing wrong, Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "The nice thing about my position is that Makoto-sama only cares about my skills, and overall loyalty to the clan, as a healer. Because of that, my parents don't have the pull to censure any of my activities or decisions. The only thing they can do is complain very loudly, when I bother to listen to them."

Sora nodded. "Which brings us back to our original topic. As you can see, because she has interacted with us a good bit more than other children her age, Natsu-chan has had exposure to perspectives outside those governed by the usual Mibu prejudices."

"On top of that, there's her condition," added Kyo. "She does not yet know what it is. However, it has given her the experience of knowing what it is like to stand apart from others, to have something that separates her from the rest. That knowledge has granted her an extra degree of empathy for someone like you, Ruby-chan, someone who has also been marked as one set apart from the rest; though, in this case, that is because of your outsider status."

"Oh..." said Ruby.

"Regardless, Natsu-chan is a bright and wonderful child," said Sora. "She is very friendly by nature, and inclined to reach out to others. So she was willing to reach out to you."

Ruby was silent, staring down at her plate in contemplation.

Sasame extended her tail and brushed it across Ruby's shoulders. "Natsu-chan is something of a special case. There's no denying that. You shouldn't try to rely on her being your _sole_ friend in that class. I know you have the capability to find other friends there."

"I-I'm not so sure," said Ruby with a frown.

"I am," said Kyo. "Just as Natsu-chan reached out to you, you need to also reach out to others."

"Do I have to?" asked Ruby, her complaint causing everyone at the table to twitch.

Kyo and Sasame muffled snorts and even Sora was forced to hide an amused smile behind her sleeve. "As always, it's such a shock to hear you actually complain about something, Ruby-chan," said Sasame.

"It's refreshing," added Kyo.

Their amusement made Ruby pout, which, to her dismay, only amused them more, mainly because her pouting face was cute as well.

"But anyway, yes, Ruby-chan, you do need to reach out to others," said Sasame. "It's wonderful that Natsu-chan was so quick to befriend you, but that doesn't mean you get to stop trying."

"Remember," added Sora, "if you're working to become a Huntress, you'll need to develop and improve your interpersonal skills. That will help you be more effective, when you're placed on a team someday."

"All right," said Ruby in a resigned tone.

* * *

"Well well, taken an interest in Ruby-chan, have you?" asked Sora, coming to stand near Murasame.

Monday evening saw Ruby in her usual place, training under Shinrei in the courtyard of the Fourth Gate. This time, her training had a new spectator, in the form of the Elder casually leaning on the wall on the other side of the open gate, peering around to watch discreetly, as Ruby went diligently through the techniques and katas Shinrei had taught her, while Shinrei himself supervised.

"Well, there is no question that she is quite interesting," noted Murasame. "Did she tell you about what happened in my workshop yesterday?"

"She did," said Sora. "I was quite surprised to hear it. Of course, anyone who trains diligently, and fully masters both their Art and themselves, can develop the capability to hear the voice of their blade."

"But Ruby-chan has not yet reached that point in her training," said Murasame. "Not only that, rather than hear the voice of a blade she has bonded with through continued use and reliance, she was able to hear the voices of every blade I created, though it was apparently an almost overwhelming experience for her. What do you think it means?"

"You tell me," said Sora. "After all, _you_ are the Blademaster. Who better to expound on matters of the sword than you?"

"Hmm..." Murasame scratched his chin, staring out at Ruby. By now, sweat was gathering on her brow and her breathing was growing heavier. Despite that, despite doing the same things for hours, day after day, she never flagged, always working to go through the movements of the techniques she'd been taught, to perfect them, to understand them.

"I wouldn't quite call it talent," he said, speaking as much to himself as he was Sora. "She has a goal that she strives toward with all her strength, a heart that yearns to protect and serve others. She dedicates herself to that path almost single-mindedly, to such a degree that she has to be guided to branch out beyond it. No...it isn't talent that allowed her to hear the voices of my blades. It was an open and loving heart, the product of a small and simple soul."

"As I thought then," said Sora. "That child truly is remarkable." She chortled lightly. "I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised that she managed something like that. If anything, that girl likely gets along with your blades better than she does people. That's something we'll have to work on."

"I suppose so," agreed Murasame. "But she has forged several meaningful connections already."

"Yes, with my son and Sasame," said Sora. "I've never seen them so taken with anyone before, but they do truly view her as their sister. And then there's Shinrei and Natsu-chan."

"And you as well," noted Murasame.

Sora's smile twitched slightly. "I can't deny that," she admitted. "It always saddened me to not be permitted another child. But that is the fate ordained for those who marry into the Royal Family. I know that Kyo would have loved a brother or sister of his own. That is why he and Sasame have bonded so strongly. Now he has that in Ruby-chan. We are blessed to have her."

"So we are," observed Murasame, watching as Ruby transitioned to another kata. "I believe I will forge something for her."

Sora blinked, and looked at Murasame in surprise.

"Oh, not for a while yet," he said, raising a hand, "years probably. She has yet more growing to do, and she should be sure of her style's final form before I decide on the nature of her weapon."

"What about the ones you've already made?" asked Sora, more out of curiosity than anything else. "Couldn't she choose one of those?"

"I don't think she could," said Murasame. "She heard all of those blades, listened to all their voices. She could never choose one of them over the others. So I will forge one especially for her. She has a tendency to sway others too easily, so I think her sword will have to be a bit more willful and contrary, someone whose respect she will have to fight for and _earn_. Yes...that's the sword for her."

"It seems to me that you have a clear idea of what you want to create already," said Sora.

"To a certain extent," said Murasame. "But I am missing parts. I'll still need to wait."

"My...to see you so inspired," said Sora, drawing her fan and flicking it open to screen the lower portion of her face. "It's such a rare occurrence. I look forward to the finished product."

She headed back into the palace. Murasame lingered at the gate for a while longer, turning to look at Ruby once more as she began to spar against Shinrei. "As do I," he mused softly.

* * *

"Ruby-kun, your answer?"

"Ah! Yes!" Ruby perked, jerking in her seat in surprise at suddenly being called on. She tried her best to remain focused. But her attention did wander from time to time, which wasn't exactly atypical of children her age.

Still, part of the reason that she'd allowed her attention to wander this time was that she'd already worked out the answer to the problem. She hoped she was correct as she gave it. To her relief, Kyoichiro smiled and nodded, turning to write Ruby's answer onto the board.

Hearing a faint cough that might have been to disguise a dismissive snort from behind her, Ruby winced, though she thought she might have just been hearing things. However, knowing that the sound had come from the direction of Yuuko and Akane, the two girls who apparently had the biggest chips on their shoulders, when it came to her presence in class, made her suspect that she hadn't. There were, maybe, one or two others who resented Ruby's presence to a lesser degree, but those two were the worst. The rest of the class seemed largely indifferent to her presence.

Deciding that now wasn't the time to worry about such things, Ruby resolved to concentrate on her classwork instead, focusing on Kyoichiro as he espoused further on the nature of the math problem she'd just solved, while also writing additional practice problems for the class as well. _Everyone says I need to reach out,_ she mused silently. _But...how do I do that exactly?_

* * *

Natsuki took a bite of her lunch and chewed it thoughtfully, as she mulled over what Ruby had told her. "More friends, hmmm?"

"Uh huh," said Ruby. "Kyo-nii and Sasame-nee are both saying that I need to reach out to others, and make more friends." Sora had said as much as well, but Ruby figured that she probably shouldn't say as much, out where others could hear them. That she had dinner with Sora every night was an extension of the secret that she was living at the palace.

"Well...there's Miyu-chan," said Natsuki, her eyes flicking in the direction of a girl with long, red hair occupying the desk nearest to the door. From what little Ruby had seen of her, she was a very serious girl, perhaps more serious than an elementary student probably should be. Ruby couldn't remember ever seeing Miyu smile. Although that might have been because she hadn't given Miyu much thought before.

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah," replied Natsuki. "Miyu-chan's actually really nice. She's always helping others with their homework, 'cause she's one of the smartest students in class. She sticks around after school to get her homework done, and anyone who has any questions usually comes to her then."

"That's...really nice," said Ruby, giving Miyu a second look. She was currently sitting by herself, but didn't exactly seem lonely. Perhaps she was the kind of person who liked to eat in peace and quiet.

"Uh huh," agreed Natsuki, nodding enthusiastically. "Then there's Setsuna-kun." She gestured towards a silver-haired boy seated near the back of the class. Like Miyu, he seemed to have a taciturn nature, his face set in a quasi-permanent neutral expression. "He doesn't say much, but he always helps clean up the classroom in the afternoon. He's also training, like you, Ruby-chan."

"In what and with who?" asked Ruby.

"Um...I'm not sure," admitted Natsuki. "He doesn't talk a lot. But I think he's actually a really nice boy."

Ruby blinked and looked back and forth between Miyu and Setsuna. She couldn't help but notice that Natsuki had marked out the two quietest people in class as potential friends for her. "Do you like quiet people?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm...I wouldn't exactly say that," said Natsuki, frowning and tapping her chin with her index finger. "It's just...I think that a lot of quiet people are secretly kind."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked in surprise, wondering just what kind of logic Natsuki used to justify that kind of assumption.

"You'll see," said Natsuki eagerly. "You should ask Miyu-chan for help with your homework, after school."

"But my training..." protested Ruby.

"Oh! Yeah...I almost forgot." Natsuki rolled her eyes upward thoughtfully, mulling it over. "Well maybe if you talked to Sh-Er!-your teacher, he'd let you switch and do your homework at school, before going to training."

Considering that Shinrei was already favoring her so much by teaching her himself, Ruby felt reluctant to impose any requests upon him, even if said request didn't demand extra time from him. Still, considering what her siblings and Sora wanted her to do, she supposed it couldn't hurt to ask.

Besides, homework would be a lot easier if she wasn't on the verge of nodding off on the spot after her training.

"I guess I can ask him," said Ruby, frowning contemplatively. She just hoped that Shinrei didn't think she was being difficult by asking this.

* * *

**It sure is weird, how a small and simple soul can sometimes do _big_ things.**


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40:**

"Sure, no problem," said Shinrei casually.

"Okay," said Ruby, feeling a bit dazed from how easy it had been, and how willing Shinrei had been to accommodate her.

She'd still been a bit worried when she'd brought the question up to him, upon arriving for her daily training. But Shinrei had only been curious about the reason why she wanted to change up her schedule. After that, he'd been happy to do so.

"You seem surprised," Shinrei noted, raising an eyebrow.

"Um...well...you're already doing so much for me and..." Ruby ground her toe against the tiles as she looked down.

"Well, yeah," said Shinrei. "But it's not like this was something I explicitly decided on. We just kinda settled on this schedule for your training. You're right about it being easier to concentrate on your homework, if you aren't worn out from working yourself to the bone." He chuckled. "I gotta say, I'm impressed you'd be willing to do it right after school. A lot of kids like a grace period between getting out for the day and doing their homework."

"Well...I'm training," said Ruby. "So I don't really don't have that kind of time."

"Yep," agreed Shinrei. "But Kyo, Sasame, and Sora-sama aren't wrong about you needing to socialize more. This is definitely the right approach." He noticed that Ruby didn't seem very excited about the prospect. "What's the matter?"

"W-well...I'm just thinking," said Ruby. "Not everyone would understand as well as Natsu-chan, even if they were my friends. What would they think about me living in the palace, with Sora-sam...or training with you?"

"To be truly honest, that's hard to say," said Shinrei. "It depends on the person, and how close they are to you. But I can see your worry.

"If you become friends with people, while still keeping those secrets from them, it's only natural that there's going to be some distance you can't cross with them. I'd say that, after you spend some time getting to know them, you can maybe gauge how well they'd take learning about where you live and what you do. But that's something that you'd have to do on a case-by-case basis."

"Right," said Ruby uncertainly. "I wish there was an easier way to figure that sort of thing out."

"No helping it," said Shinrei with a shrug. "Of course, there's nothing wrong with passing up training for now."

"_What_?" asked Ruby, a strangely harsh tone to her question.

Shinrei flinched, not expecting such a harsh response. "You're incredibly talented and dedicated, Ruby-chan. But you're in a pretty big rush to get stronger. That can be unhealthy, particularly if you neglect to have a life _outside_ of training."

"B-but I thought I was a good student," said Ruby, a strange, almost panicked expression flickering across her face.

"Are you kidding me?" asked Shinrei, beginning to worry. "You're a _great_ student, Ruby-chan, one of the best I've ever seen. You have more talent and drive than I _ever_ did."

"Th-then why do you want me to stop?" asked Ruby, tears starting to leak from her eyes.

"Huh?" Shinrei tilted his head in confusion. "Who said anything about stopping? I just think you need to slow down a little, like maybe cutting this down to four days a week, so that you have more time to spend with your friends."

"Sure," spat Ruby bitterly, angry tears running down her cheeks. "That's what you'll say at first. Then you'll want me to slow down more. Then you'll tell me I'm 'just not cut out for this', right?"

"What?" asked Shinrei, beginning to wonder if Ruby was hearing something completely different from what he was saying. "No! That's not what I'm saying at all! I don't have any intention of giving up on you."

"Then why are you trying to hold me back?" Ruby wanted to know.

"Who said anything about holding you back?" asked Shinrei. "I sure didn't."

"But you just said I should pass on training!" Ruby protested.

"For now, and not completely," clarified Shinrei. "You shouldn't rush this. Having a life outside of training is more important for you now. You need to enjoy being a kid, and make friends while you can."

Despite Shinrei's best efforts, Ruby wasn't calming down. She was crying openly now, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You're saying that now. But I know how this is going to go. You start by saying I should slow down. Then you'll start to say I'm not any good. Then you'll tell me I don't need to train, that I should just give up!"

"What?" grunted Shinrei. "Where did all this come from? Why would you think I would do that?"

"Because no one believes in me!" exclaimed Ruby. "Everyone thinks I'm weak, that I can't get stronger, so they're always trying to get me to give up, so that I can be locked away, like some kind of stupid doll!"

"ENOUGH!" barked Shinrei, channeling his Aura, and Projecting it out through his voice.

Ruby's mouth snapped closed with an audible click of teeth. Shinrei bit back the urge to sigh. Ruby was on the verge of panicking completely. He realized now that he'd stumbled over the trigger to some manner of hidden trauma. He'd gotten the basic gist of what Ruby had been through, from Sasame and Kyo, but not all the particulars. However, he had noticed that his efforts to gently talk Ruby down from her panic were counterproductive. That being the case, it might well have been an excess of gentleness that had caused this problem. So maybe a bit of harshness was what Ruby needed now.

"Is that what you really think?" asked Shinrei, his tone stern.

Ruby sniffed.

"You think that your brother and sister don't believe in you," he continued, "even after they put all that time and energy into your training?"

Ruby shook her head silently.

"Of course not," he agreed. "They're the ones who recommended you to me after all. They don't make such recommendations lightly, nor do I have the luxury of taking students casually. I don't talk about this, because I don't want you to think you're a burden to me; but, as one of the Goyosei, I have a great many claims to my time, claims that are difficult to balance with the needs of a dedicated student."

Ruby let out a soft whimper.

Kneeling down, Shinrei rested his hands on his shoulders. "But I took you on because I saw your _potential_, Ruby. Every time we spar, I only hold back enough to ensure I don't injure you, so you know I don't treat you like you're made of glass."

Remembering the pain of the blows she'd received, Ruby found herself nodding.

"Listen carefully," said Shinrei, his tone becoming firmer. "You are _incredibly_ talented, and _unbelievably_ dedicated. That kind of combination is exceedingly rare. The issue is that there are aspects of your growth that neither talent nor dedication can help."

"Like what?" asked Ruby, her panic fading, replaced by genuine curiosity.

"Well...just plain _growing_, for one thing," said Shinrei. "Like it or not, at the end of the day, until your next birthday, you're still only nine years old. Even then, once your birthday comes, you'll still _only_ be ten years old. Your natural growth is just as important as developing your strength and technique. But no amount of training can make you literally grow up faster. If anything, training too much can have an adverse effect on your growth. As you get older, your body will grow and develop, becoming accustomed to greater strain. But you can't rush it.

"But that applies to the rest of your life too. Sora-sama could have easily arranged for you to be home-schooled. She would strictly screen whatever teachers you were assigned, of course. You could have studied your academics without having to worry about classmates being prejudiced against you for being an outsider. But she didn't...and you know why."

Ruby nodded slowly.

Shinrei ruffled her hair fondly. "You need to forge connections with people your own age. You need peers and friends. Sending you to school is to enable you to grow as a whole person. That kind of growth also takes time, time that dedication can't do much to shorten. In order to bond with people, you need to spend time with them. It's not just pointless platitudes either. Having friends and growing emotionally will help inform your training."

"How?" asked Ruby, her eyes going wide, immediately growing more interested.

Shinrei bit back an amused chuckle. _One track mind, this one,_ he thought wryly. "Well, for a start, by interacting people, you can develop the skill of reading them. That can be helpful in social interactions. But, in battle, it can be _priceless_.

"In a real fight, you can't simply move in the present. You have to be able to perceive the fight's future. Reading an opponent will enable you to foresee their next moves. Knowing those moves enable you to gain the upper hand. The better you can read your enemy, the further ahead you'll be able to see. A true master of such skills can completely control the flow of battle. Against someone who has the same skill, whoever is better at reading their opponent will be the victor."

Standing back up, Shinrei stepped back a little, spreading out his arms. "It's best to show you," he said. "So, right now, I want you to attack me."

"Attack you?" asked Ruby.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "This isn't a sparring match. I'm not going to hit back. But I want you to simply try your hardest to hit me."

"Okay," said Ruby, rising. She drew her swords, and took her starting stance. Shinrei made no move to mimic her, instead lowering his arms and standing at ease. Ruby might have thought he was mocking her. But she could see the serious expression he was wearing. He wanted to show her something.

Ruby shot forward, her body becoming a blur. She tried to moderate the force of her Aura a little more, trying to control her acceleration to keep it appropriate to the distance between herself and her opponent. As a result, she came to within reach of Shinrei swiftly, slashing out with one sword.

But Shinrei wasn't there anymore. He hardly seemed to move at all, but despite that, Ruby's swing still missed. She followed through, going into a fierce offensive, throwing every technique he'd taught her at him. Again, Shinrei barely seemed to move at all, at times his body moving so smoothly, and in conjunction with Ruby's swords, that they both seemed frozen in time to her. He glided between her attacks, slipped through gaps in her strokes, always moving effortlessly out of the way. Then, in a flickering instant, when Ruby raised her blades for an overhead attack, Shinrei vanished in that brief second where Ruby's rising arms crossed in front of her eyes, blocking out her view of him.

Gasping, Ruby turned her head right and left, looking for any sign of her teacher.

"Pretty neat, huh?" asked Shinrei from directly behind her, making Ruby shriek and jump, before turning around to face him.

"Wha-what was that?" asked Ruby, still wrestling with her physical reaction to being startled so suddenly.

"That's what we call the Dancing Blade," explained Shinrei. "There are multiple components to it. But, to put it simply, you learn your opponent's rhythm."

"Rhythm?" Ruby blinked in confusion.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "In essence, you internalize your opponent's rhythm, and dance with them."

"Dance?"

Shinrei chuckled. "It might sound silly to you, but martial arts and dance are actually closely related. In dancing, you move in conjunction with your partner. In martial arts, you move opposed to them. But, in both arts, succeeding and failing are all based upon your ability and skill at managing all the aspects of interaction between you: space, timing, position, orientation...Rhythm has aspects of all of that. From when you plant your foot to when you begin your strike, there's a beat to it. Learn to read that beat, and you'll know what your opponent will do before _they_ do."

"Wow," Ruby whispered.

"For the past few weeks, I've been training you," continued Shinrei. "I've watched your every move. It's only natural that I'd be able to learn your rhythm."

Ruby nodded. "But you've never used it before," she observed.

"Yep," said Shinrei. "It's the difference between difficult and impossible. If I used the Dancing Blade during our spars, you'd have no chance of hitting me, the same chance you'd have if I used all my speed or strength against you. You achieve goals like that only by meeting other, more immediate, goals, and building yourself up so that that previously impossible goal won't be impossible anymore."

"But...if you already know my rhythm, then I'll never hit you," Ruby protested.

"Well...if you never learn," said Shinrei. "Rhythm is an almost unconscious expression of yourself. But, through training, you can become conscious of your rhythm. From there, you can learn to control it, adjusting it so that I can't read it so easily. And, of course, once you reach that level, you'll start to learn _my_ rhythm too. Once that starts, our bouts are going to enter another dimension entirely. And then you'll _really_ see how battle can be like a dance."

"Wooooow!" gasped Ruby, her eyes sparkling.

_God...her enthusiasm is unbelievable,_ Shinrei mused silently. _If only she could approach _other_ aspects of her life with this kind of fervor._

"Of course, in order to be able to do that, you still need to be able to interact with people," said Shinrei. "So, making friends, learning to understand people, it's all a part of becoming stronger. Reducing your training so that you have more time to spend with friends isn't lessening your commitment to becoming stronger, it's a critical part of it, and it also gives your body time to grow, so that you can work harder without hurting yourself."

"Okay," said Ruby softly, looking down, feeling ashamed about her previous outburst. It made her feel childish. Worse, it was immature and ungrateful to Shinrei, considering everything he'd already done for her.

"It's all right," said Shinrei, seeming to read her mind. "That might have been childish. But there's no getting around the fact that you _are_ a child, and will be for sometime yet. Nothing good comes from trying to grow up too quickly. Haste is bad. Working you too hard now would only lead to harm that would impair you in the future. So it's important that we do this right the first time."

"R-right," said Ruby.

Shinrei was unable to keep a warm smile from his face. So he crouched down again, resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "You are the best student I could have ever hoped for," he said, injecting all the sincerity he could muster into his voice. "I'm proud to be your teacher, Ruby-chan. I have no intention of giving up on you..._ever_."

"Th-thank you," said Ruby.

Unable to help himself, Shinrei drew her into a fond hug. Ruby would have reciprocated, but her swords were still in her hands, so she kept her arms lowered, but leaned into the embrace. "You're gonna become an incredible warrior, Ruby-chan, and I'm going to do everything I can to ensure it." He let go of her and stood up again. "Now, with that established, I want you to think about what Sora-sama, and everyone else wants you to do."

"You mean making friends?" asked Ruby.

Shinrei grinned and nodded. "Instead of being something separate from your training, making friends is a part of it, a critical part. Dealing with other people will help you become a better fighter in the future, so what we're asking of you is an extension of your training, not a distraction from it."

"Okay," said Ruby, feeling slightly less hesitant at the notion.

"Think you can manage that?" asked Shinrei.

Ruby nodded.

"Okay then," said Shinrei. "We'll go ahead and switch your training and homework periods. From there, once you get more used to the idea, we'll talk about adjusting the number of sessions each week...but not right away."

Ruby nodded, still feeling trepidation about being advised to step down her training. But she was beginning to understand the reasons behind it; the real reasons, not the reasons she'd projected in her brief panic.

"Okay then," said Shinrei, stepping back and folding his arms. "Of course, we're still on for tonight. So now, let's start with your katas. Take your stance."

"Yes, Sensei," said Ruby eagerly, quick to do as she was told.

* * *

Following the advice of her family and Natsuki, Ruby approached Miyu after class the next day. It was just as well. Ruby might have been able to keep up in most subjects. However, learning the Old Tongue was difficult, considering she had none of the grounding the rest of the class did in the ancient language, something Yuuko and Akane both mocked her for, whenever the opportunity came up. While everyone else was working on kanji, the primary written language of the Old Tongue, Ruby was just learning the basics of hiragana, the Old Tongue's main phonetic system. Whereas everyone else in class had drill-books for their current year, Ruby's drill-books were the beginner-level ones.

Much to her surprise, Miyu was actually willing to help, acting as Ruby's conversation partner to practice the basic phrases she learned, and even helping in other subjects. In a burst of cleverness that actually surprised herself, Ruby began to use her language practice as a way to learn more about Miyu, tailoring the back and forth questions to ask about her family and where she lived, as well as her likes and interests. Gradually, as the days passed, Ruby was able to actually start conversing with Miyu in a more casual manner.

Miyu's family, it turned out, came from the Mibu Clan's middle-class. Her parents were artisans, though what kind Ruby had yet to learn. She _did_ learn that they lived in the main section of Onmyo, just close enough to the upperclass district that this was the closest school to Miyu's home. Apparently, she had to wake up fairly early in the morning to make the walk to this school. Ruby could sympathize, knowing that she had to plan her schedule around the time needed to navigate the Palace's labyrinthine layout, just to reach the gates, and that was _with_ the shortcuts that Sasame and the others had shown her, to say nothing of the walk through the upperclass district itself.

Much to Ruby's surprise, Miyu revealed that her parents hadn't done much to embed the typical Mibu prejudice against outsiders in her, generally being too focused on other matters to worry about things outside their homeland. Because of that, she had taken to the more nuanced portrait that Kyoichiro, and his vetted teachers, painted of the outside world. Ruby was, of course, the first outsider that Miyu had ever met and engaged with, and it didn't take Ruby long to realize just how much curiosity that Miyu held towards the outside world, though Ruby couldn't really elaborate all that much, only able to inform Miyu on things that Ruby knew through personal experience.

One thing that Ruby learned for certain was that Miyu was steady, calm, and serious, though she at least knew how to smile. The other thing that stood out about Miyu was that she absolutely _loved_ picnics. When Ruby and Natsuki proposed such an outing for their next Sunday together, Miyu had been ecstatic.

And Miyu was kind, true to Natsuki's assessment of her. While Ruby had been making headway with Miyu, the bullies in the class hadn't lost any of the animosity towards her, though most of the students appeared to have generally accepted her presence. One day, after returning with Natsuki from spending their inter-period free-time outside, enjoying the weather, Ruby arrived to find that that her Old Tongue workbook had been savaged. Someone had defaced it, tearing out pages, and smearing black ink across those that remained.

Though there was no evidence to confirm it, Ruby noticed that Yuuko and Akane, _especially_ Akane, seemed quite pleased with themselves, the latter's sneer becoming more prominent while Ruby fought back tears.

Then Miyu had entered the room, seeing what had Ruby so upset. She quietly took the ruined workbook from Ruby, and disposed of it. During their next allotted set of free time, Miyu vanished, only to return near the end, carrying a brand new workbook for Ruby, having rushed over to the early-education portion of the school to get a new one for her.

In the end, Miyu had been surprisingly easy to approach. Ruby was a bit more reluctant to follow up on Natsuki's other suggestion, and approach Setsuna. However, she found her opportunity. One of the expectations of students was that they clean up the classroom at the end of the day, not merely putting away their tools and books, but actually sweeping and cleaning the room. The duty rotated so that a different group of students was responsible for the job each day. Ruby, much to her relief, was not assigned to the same group as her bullies, and had Natsuki in hers.

However, even on days when it wasn't his group's job, Setsuna still remained behind after class, helping to clean and care for the classroom. Somewhat nervously at first, Ruby approached him, and began to talk to him.

Setsuna wasn't much of a talker, generally giving short responses to Ruby's questions. But they were never curt or dismissive. She learned that he was a student of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, the Mibu Clan's school of earth-based Manifestation. With a little bit more prodding from her, and the revelation that she was learning the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ (for now), Ruby was able to goad him into elaborating on what he was learning.

Apparently, unlike her, Setsuna usually only had classes three days a week. He was interested in more. But his parents insisted that he would only be permitted to dedicate himself to his training more after he got through elementary school. Apparently, Setsuna intended to become a live-in student at the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_'s main school, once he graduated.

Talking with Setsuna helped Ruby to realize that Shinrei had been right about the need to cut back on her training. Setsuna had been frustrated, at first, that his parents would not permit him to train more. But, as he'd spent more time at school and studying, he'd come to see that the time he spent here was important. He kept to himself for the most part, but he did build connections with his classmates, mainly through helping them clean up the classroom nearly every day.

Setsuna's elaboration on what his training was like also awakened Ruby to the incredible privilege she'd been granted, being permitted to train under Shinrei directly, on a daily basis. In Setsuna's school, he trained with well over a dozen other students, _occasionally_ under the direct supervision of Chinmei, though he often left for extended periods, according to whatever needs his position as one of the Goyosei required of him.

Haruka, despite being the Grandmaster of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, almost never appeared within the school's walls. When she did, she rarely spoke, merely watching silently. Remembering what Murasame had told her about Haruka's shy nature, Ruby could understand how the reclusive member of the Taishiro had come by her somewhat daunting reputation, however unintentionally. Ruby wondered if she should tell Setsuna about that, but realized that he'd be unlikely to believe her, unless she revealed to him _how_ she'd come by that particular bit of information, which would potentially lead to her revealing _other_ parts of her circumstances, which she couldn't tell to Setsuna, at least not until she'd better gauged how he'd react to it.

In any case, hearing about Setsuna's own experience in training further cemented Ruby's realization of how lucky and privileged she was to receive regular, individual instruction from Shinrei. It made her feel more than a little guilty about her previous outburst at him.

Deciding to follow both her sensei's advice and Setsuna's example, Ruby reduced the number of training sessions she had every week, time Shinrei was glad to give her. With that, Ruby began to learn more about what her friends and peers did with their time after school, when they weren't doing their homework. Ruby began to join her new friends in their afternoon activities.

The tentative friendships Ruby struck up with Miyu and Setsuna were just the beginning for her. She wasn't the only one who spent time with Miyu after school. Many of their classmates sought out Miyu's assistance for some assignment or other, Miyu apparently being incredibly gifted in all the subjects they were taught. Likewise, Setsuna was somewhat popular as well, given that he frequently stayed to help out his classmates with cleaning duties, even when it wasn't his day. By becoming their friend, Ruby found herself interacting with her classmates more, and many of them were gradually warming to her presence in class.

Of all Ruby's classmates, only Akane and Yuuko remained stubbornly opposed to her presence in class. If anything, while the others gradually grew to accept her, their pranks became all the more vicious.

One day, Ruby came back to the classroom for the last class of the day, only to find her desktop defiled by crudely-scrawled kanji insults, which she couldn't read, something she realized was meant to be an additional insult to her. Setsuna quickly helped her scrub it down, even as Kyoichiro began to final class of the day. Once again, Akane and Yuuko looked extra-pleased, though no one had seen them do it. Still, with Setsuna's help, Ruby was able to get her desk clean in a timely manner, which kept her from getting too worked up about it.

So, despite her two primary tormenters' efforts to drive her out, Ruby continued to steadily progress, building her relationship with her other classmates, little by little. The more progress she made, the more frustrated the bullies seemed.

* * *

"Why won't the outsider take a hint?" growled Akane, glaring at Ruby, who was eating her lunch with Natsuki. This time, Miyu had actually gone over to join them, though Setsuna continued to eat by himself.

Yuuko huffed. "Outsiders are just stupid. That's what O-Tou-san says."

"I heard O-Kaa-san and O-Tou-san talking last night," grumbled Akane. "They say the Mitarai family have closed themselves off. Sasame-sama's parents are ashamed she's adopted an outsider."

"They should be," muttered Yuuko. "Imagine how bad that must be for their status. I bet they can't even _show_ their faces in public anymore."

"But why would Sasame-sama adopt some outsider anyway?" wondered Akane. "What's so special about her?"

"Probably something stupid," said Yuuko. "Sasame-sama hangs out with the Demon Child a lot."

Abruptly, they both twitched and straightened, casting about with wary glances, wondering if Kyoichiro might be listening in on them. Neither of them wanted to be caught saying bad things about the man's son, after all.

"We have to do something," said Akane, turning back to their conversation, after confirming that they hadn't been overheard. "We need to make it _absolutely_ clear to that outsider that she doesn't belong here."

Yuuko nodded. "But what? None of the others are helping us. Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun are helping _her_ now."

Akane's eyes narrowed. Then a sly smile appeared on her face. "I've got an idea," she said, the look on her face actually making her friend and coconspirator nervous.

"What idea?" asked Yuuko.

Akane merely grinned, a look on her face that filled Yuuko with a sense of foreboding.

* * *

After lunch, the students had a recess period, enabling them to go out and play in the schoolyard. Miyu and Natsuki were happily teaching Ruby some of the different games played by the Mibu Clan's children, with Setsuna watching from a short distance away. When the bell rang to announce the final minutes until class resumed, Ruby and her friends returned to the classroom. As they did, Ruby noticed a strange, uncomfortable silence, particularly from the students who arrived ahead of them.

Upon entering the room, Ruby blinked in surprise, seeing something resting on top of her desk. Her first impulse was to think that someone had defaced her desk again. But it didn't take long for her to feel relieved. In fact, she felt a flutter of happiness in her chest at the sight.

Someone had taken an ordinary drinking glass, and set it on her desk. Inside the glass, someone had set a trio of bright flowers, which looked as though they'd been picked from the flowerbed outside.

"Oh..." said Ruby, blinking, wondering if this was someone's way of encouraging her. However, her thoughts were cut off by the tense gasp from Natsuki, beside her. Looking over, Ruby found herself confused. Natsuki's skin had paled considerably, and her expression was a mix of horror and outrage. Glancing to her other side, Ruby saw Miyu in a similar state.

"Natsu-chan...Miyu-chan...Is something wrong?" asked Ruby, looking back and forth between them.

Miyu didn't seem to hear her, instead turning around to survey the other students, many of whom looked uncomfortable with the situation. "Who did this?" Miyu demanded furiously.

A faint, stifled cough drew Ruby's attention to Akane and Yuuko. Yuuko looked distinctly uneasy, keeping her gaze averted. Akane, on the other hand, had a vicious smirk on her face, though she was trying hard to look innocent...and failing miserably.

Ruby glanced back down at the flowers again. _What's going on?_ She thought they looked nice, but Natsuki and Miyu were downright furious. Was there something she was missing here?

"Everyone, please take your seats," said Kyoichiro, entering the classroom. As he did so, his eyes surveyed the room. His gaze immediately zeroed in on the trio of Ruby, Natsuki, and Miyu. Then his eyes went to Ruby's desk, and he froze in place.

The tension in the classroom abruptly ratcheted up by several notches. Ruby abruptly sensed a feeling of danger, almost like the rumble of a distant storm, gradually growing closer. The air became heavy, difficult to breathe. Natsuki and Miyu, already pale, only grew whiter in shade, indicating to Ruby she wasn't the only one feeling it.

Akane's smirk was suddenly nowhere to be found.

"Oeki," said Kyoichiro.

"My Lord," whispered a voice from within the teacher's shadow.

"Fetch Sasame at once," said Kyoichiro.

"As you wish."

Kyoichiro walked between the rows of desks, making his way between them. Miyu and Natsuki fell back away, while Ruby moved a bit closer to her desk. Kyoichiro stared down at the flower and its improvised vase for a moment, before turning to survey the rest of the room. "Who is responsible for this?" he asked.

Silence greeted his query. Kyoichiro's manner grew much stricter. Reaching up, he removed his glasses, making everyone in the room cringe away at the sight of his Crimson Eyes revealed.

"Make no mistake," said Kyoichiro grimly, "this is _unacceptable_. Not a single one of you will be permitted to leave, until the one who did this is identified."

Silence greeted his statement again, the air only growing tenser. Despite her confusion, Ruby found herself sweating, feeling uneasy. Why would something as simple as a few flowers on her desk cause so much anger? All she could tell was that this anger was not directed at her.

She noticed that Yuuko was looking gray. Beside her, Akane looked just about ready to faint. Still, no one said a word.

"I _will_ find out who did this," declared Kyoichiro emphatically. "If you come forward now, your consequences will be less severe. However, if you draw this out..."

"It was Akane!" blurted out Yuuko. "She did it!"

"Yuuko!" protested Akane, gaping at her friend.

"I told her it was a bad idea, but she still did it!" continued Yuuko. "I didn't want her to..."

Kyoichiro raised his right hand slightly, and Yuuko's jaw snapped shut. Likewise, Akane sat up, ramrod-straight, in her seat. He slowly made his way over to their desks, standing over them, and staring down at the two girls.

"Akane-kun...is this true?" he asked.

"N-n-n-n-..." Akane tried to lie, but her tongue refused to work properly, her fear keeping her from articulating a proper explanation.

"Did...you...do...this?" pressed Kyoichiro, leaving a slight pause between each word.

Akane inhaled sharply, her body trembling.

"Sensei?" asked Ruby, her own voice cutting through the tension like a knife.

Kyoichiro turned his gaze towards her. Ruby flinched slightly at his reaction. It was jarring, seeing the eyes he normally hid behind his silly glasses, but she was used to seeing such eyes from Kyo, so it didn't bother her. What _did_ bother her was the way his expression washed from one of anger to one of sadness, when his attention was turned from Akane to her.

"I...I don't understand," Ruby admitted. "Is...Is this wrong?" she gestured weakly at the flowers on her desk. "I thought they were nice."

Other students in the classroom all gaped at her. Ruby blinked, wondering if what she had said was so strange.

Kyoichiro let out a soft sigh, reaching up to gently pinch the bridge of his nose. Then he smiled sadly at her. "Sometimes I forget that you aren't fully educated in all the nuances of our culture, Ruby-kun. There is nothing wrong with that. However..."

The door to the classroom slid open, and Sasame came in. "I came as soon as I could," said Sasame, her eyes going immediately to Ruby, then to Ruby's desk. "Oh my."

"Sasame, please take Ruby-kun home for the day," said Kyoichiro.

"Of course," said Sasame, quickly moving towards Ruby. "Ruby-chan, please get your things."

"I...uh...what?" Ruby blinked, looking around in confusion. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," said Sasame, coming up to her.

While Ruby had been stopped by her indecision, Miyu and Natsuki had acted on her behalf, gathering up the things Ruby would need to take home. They quickly handed Ruby's book-bag to Sasame, who took it.

"I'll explain," said Sasame, resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Just come with me, please."

"A-all right," said Ruby, reluctantly allowing herself to be steered out of the classroom.

When the door shut behind them, Kyoichiro's expression hardened once again. He turned back to Akane, looking down on her, the force of his will increasing substantially. Normally, Kyoichiro was not one to use fear to rule over his students. He preferred to cultivate respect from his students, to motivate them to seek learning for their own good. However, there were times when students had to be reminded that there were lines that should _not_ be crossed.

Had he so wished it, Kyoichiro could have crushed the child before him with nothing more than the force of his anger, smothering the breath from her body. A few steps down from that, he could have incited such terror within her that her psyche would be permanently shattered, leaving her a gibbering mess, in a state of perpetual panic. But Kyoichiro was no such monster that he would do that willingly, and no such blunderer that he would allow his anger to override his control over a child's prank taken too far. Instead, he wielded the force of his anger with a surgeon's precision, utilizing _exactly_ enough to reinforce Akane's realization that she was in _deep_ trouble.

"I will ask you once more, Akane-kun," said Kyoichiro firmly. "Did you do this?"

Akane had to fight to fill her lungs. When she tried to speak, her voice emerged in an unintelligible squeak. She had to try again. Finally, she managed to force out a single syllable.

"Yes."

* * *

To say that the Tachibanas, Daiki and Kazue, were shocked to receive a summons to their daughter's school was an understatement, a shock that was further reinforced by the fact that it was delivered by none other than one of Sora's Imperial Guard, rising right up out of Daiki's shadow to inform them that their daughter's teacher was calling them for an immediate meeting.

The worried parents wasted no time getting to the school, where they were quickly shown to Kyoichiro's office. Entering the room, with its sparse decorations, bookshelf, and a desk with stacks of quizzes waiting to be graded, it was easy to forget that the teacher who used this office was also none other than the Crimson King.

Normally, when acting in accordance with his status as a teacher, Kyoichiro wore his opaque, rather comical-looking glasses, in order to look more friendly and approachable. In this office, he was not the Crimson King of the Mibu, but a teacher, one who cared deeply for his students' development. The latter aspect had not changed. Kyoichiro was still very much a teacher in this room...but he was _not_ wearing his glasses.

The sight of those Crimson Eyes sent shivers down the spines of Akane's parents. They had often spoke harshly of the Crimson King's son, Kyo. However, it was strange how easy it was to forget that Kyo's father sported the same eyes.

"Please, sit," said Kyoichiro, his expression neutral as he gestured to the chairs in front of his desk.

Daiki and Kazue quickly took the offered seats, smoothing their kimonos and trying to make themselves comfortable.

Kyoichiro leaned forward, resting his elbows on top of the desk, lacing his fingers together and resting his chin atop his knuckles. "I am afraid to tell you that there has been an instance of severe bullying, involving your daughter, today," he said.

"Is she all right?" asked Kazue quickly.

"She is all right," said Kyoichiro. "But there were flowers on the desk."

Daiki shot to his feet. "Who was responsible!?" he demanded furiously, his outrage overriding his unease at the sight of Kyoichiro's eyes. Daiki's own grayish-blue eyes were gleaming with anger. "I _demand_ their immediate expulsion!"

The angry outburst was understandable. Whatever else could be said about them, the Mibu were a people who treasured their children, mainly because their rate of birth was so low, considered something of a side-effect of their extended lifespans. The school Kyoichiro ran and worked in saw to the education of a full third of the capital's entire population of children on its own. The Mibu expected their children to be well looked after, something which was indeed possible, thanks to the skill and training of the clan's healers.

However, on occasion...the worst sometimes _did_ happen, and a child's life would be cut tragically short. The fact that it was such a rare occurrence only made it all the more painful when such a loss was suffered. As such, in their schools, when such a tragedy arose, it was traditional to place a vase of flowers on the desk of the deceased student.

Of course, in the hands of someone with ill intent, the meaning behind such a gesture could be twisted in the cruelest of ways. Placing flowers on the desk of a deceased student was a gesture of sympathy and support. However, when such a token was placed on the desk of one still living...its meaning became far more malicious..._We wish you were dead._ As far as bullying could go, it was perhaps one of the cruelest statements one student could make to another, even though it involved no destruction or defacing of property, nor did it involve physical injury. The fact that the Mibu, as a people, cherished their children all the more dearly only made such an action into a dagger that was driven deeper still into the heart of the recipient.

And so the Tachibanas' anger was understandable...or would have been, had the situation been what they'd interpreted it to be.

"Is that so?" asked Kyoichiro, not even flinching at Daiki's outburst. "The culprit did confess, so I am considering a degree of leniency. Suspension, perhaps..."

"No!" snapped Kazue. "This kind of behavior is _not_ to be tolerated. We demand to know who did this! I want them removed from this school immediately!"

"I see," said Kyoichiro, closing his eyes. "If that is how you truly feel then…I am saddened to inform you that your daughter shall be expelled from this school."

"Wha-what?" gasped Kazue.

"But Akane-!" began Daiki.

"Is the _culprit_," said Kyoichiro simply. "I did not say that the flowers were on _her_ desk."

"What?" repeated Kazue, beginning to feel lightheaded, her shoulder-length black hair rippling from the tremors running through her body.

"Perhaps your daughter has informed you that a student transferred into her class a few weeks ago," said Kyoichiro.

"We've heard," said Daiki sullenly.

As far as they were concerned, it was an affront to have an outsider join Akane's class. Worse still, said outsider had been adopted into the Mitarai Family by the family's daughter, Sasame. Sasame's parents were so ashamed of their daughter's behavior that they had ceased coming to and hosting social engagements altogether, not that anyone could blame them. Members of other upperclass families, Daiki and Kazue among them, had speculated that Sasame would be dismissed from her current apprenticeship any day now, a devastating blow to the prestige of the family, whose founder had introduced healing arts practiced by the Mibu clan so many generations ago.

Of course, however scandalous they might have found it, the Tachibanas knew better than to air their grievances to their daughter's teacher. To have Akane be taught by the Crimson King himself was a mark of prestige to them, however...nebulous...the King's official status might have been. But they had occasionally remarked that Ruby Rose should be "encouraged" to leave the class, preferably the school, altogether.

"Your daughter left flowers in a glass on Ruby-kun's desk," said Kyoichiro, his expression darkening.

"Th-that's...but..." Daiki didn't know what to say.

"It's somewhat helpful that, as someone who has yet to learn all the aspects of our culture, including the meaning behind certain gestures, that Ruby-kun did not understand the import of having flowers placed on her desk. She will know before tomorrow, I assure you. However, that now leaves me with the issue of your daughter's punishment."

"Th-there must be some mistake..." pressed Kazue. "Akane would never do this."

"She admitted to it, and her friend admitted to witnessing her do so," said Kyoichiro. "The kitchen staff saw her borrowing the glass that was used. Other students witnessed her picking the flowers placed into the glass. Thus, her guilt has been confirmed. So it would seem that the only acceptable recourse now is to have her officially removed from this school. I'm afraid that this will also go onto her permanent record. We can not condone such malicious actions amongst our students."

"S-surely...there is something else," said Kazue. "You mentioned suspension."

"That does not strike me as adequate," said Kyoichiro. "Ruby-kun will be devastated, once she learns the meaning behind Akane-kun's gesture. It does not seem to me that allowing someone willing to go to such lengths to torment her to remain in the same class will foster a healthy learning environment."

"How dare you?!" snarled Daiki, momentarily forgetting who he was talking to. "Why should an outsider like her receive such coddling treatment? I refuse to accept it."

"Coddling, hmm...?" mused Kyoichiro.

"That filthy barbarian shouldn't get special protection," growled Daiki.

"How odd," said Kyoichiro. "I wonder if you perceive your own hypocrisy. After all, you two were the ones who insisted upon the culprit's expulsion. I am merely following _your_ instructions here."

"What?" gasped Kazue.

"There was a reason I was so vague about who was the victim and who was the culprit in this affair," said Kyoichiro. "So, now that it's revealed that _your_ daughter was the one responsible, you want leniency. If you believed it had happened _to_ her, you would demand the harshest punishment possible, without hesitation. Now that you have learned that she is the culprit, however, you have the gall to level such accusations about Ruby-kun, while demanding special treatment for your _own_ child."

Daiki and Kazue fell silent, unable to say anything.

Kyoichiro's eyes narrowed dangerously, the force of his will becoming something palpable, physical. "I am well aware of the foolish prejudice so many of you harbor towards outsiders. Do not think that we are not aware of the disparaging remarks and generalizations that you make about them, never mind that such remarks apply to my _wife_, the head of the Taishiro herself, however often you lot conveniently forget that fact.

Shivers ran down the spines of the Tachibanas.

"It's just as galling to hear about the Mitarai Family's utterly foolish behavior," continued Kyoichiro, "considering that they themselves are descended from an outsider, who also sat as one of the Taishiro, in her day. It is their _own_ actions that reflect poorly upon them, not Sasame's. Makoto has never expressed anything less than absolute pride in her as his apprentice, something her adoption of Ruby-kun has not changed.

"As such, since you seem to want me to bend the rules for your daughter, despite demanding her expulsion earlier, when you were not aware that _she_ was the culprit, I will give her special treatment, this time."

"You will?" said Kazue, sagging in relief, relief that quickly faded at the sly smile on Kyoichiro's face.

"I will," he said. "In this case, your daughter's punishment shall not be decided by me. Ruby-kun is in the process of having the meaning behind Akane-kun's gesture explained to her by Sasame. Tomorrow, it will be _Ruby-kun_ who decides your daughter's fate. If she wishes it, Akane-kun shall be expelled, with all the additional consequences that incurs. However, if she decides to be lenient, then leniency is what Akane-kun shall receive. You had best hope that Ruby-kun's compassion exceeds yours."

* * *

**Even though she's away from her father, the way he treated her has left a mark on Ruby, however rarely it comes up. It's not much of an issue mainly because her new family's treatment of her is such a huge departure from that of her old family. Of course, that only makes Ruby confronting the idea that one of her teachers is saying something she might, maybe, be able to see coming out of her father's mouth as a jarring reminder that it immediately leads her into some serious slippery-slope type reasoning.**

**Of course, since it _is_ Ruby, if you can somehow tie it back to her training, you can get her to do anything.**

**So, I wound up going pretty broad-strokes with Ruby making new friends, mainly because I didn't want this story to get bogged down in regular-school drama. I figure there's only so much of this you guys can take, before you start complaining about how you miss the main plot. Don't worry, we're near the end of this flashback arc.**


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41:**

Ruby sobbed in Sasame's arms, while Sora looked on with a sad expression. They were presently seated in Ruby's room, on her bed. In addition to wrapping Ruby in her arms, Sasame had divided her tails, enveloping Ruby in a fuzzy warmth. Ruby needed that warmth, needed to feel the affection behind the gesture. It was a balm that soothed the pain she felt in her soul.

It hadn't exactly taken Sasame long to explain the meaning behind Akane's little gesture in the classroom. Naturally, Sora had been horrified to hear that someone had done that to Ruby in school.

"I'm so sorry, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, before gently kissing Ruby's forehead. "You don't deserve such treatment." She sighed. "I generally appreciate children, but they always find a way to surprise me...sometimes not in a good manner."

"B-but...did they...did they really...does Akane-chan really hate me that much?" asked Ruby.

"I doubt it," said Sasame. "Children your age are still developing their emotional capability, particularly the ability to feel empathy. Akane-chan knows that her gesture hurt you, _meant_ it to hurt you. But she doesn't realize how that actually feels, because she has not ever considered how receiving such a gesture would hurt _her_."

Reaching up, Sasame brushed some tears off Ruby's cheek. "If anything, it's amazing how powerful your sense of empathy for others is, Ruby-chan. I'm always amazed by your capacity to care. It's one of your greatest strengths, and easily the most beautiful thing about you...aside from your smile."

The teasing statement at the end managed to coax a watery smile out of Ruby.

"Do you feel a little better?" asked Sasame.

Ruby nodded. "N-now what?" she asked.

"That remains to be seen," said Sora, now stepping out of the door, and into the room. "My husband will make the decision, with regard to Akane-kun's punishment."

"How bad will she be punished?" asked Ruby warily, prompting an odd look from both of the women in the room.

"Depending on what my husband decides, potentially expulsion," said Sora.

"Um..." Much to their surprise, Ruby looked uneasy at the prospect.

"You don't feel she should be expelled?" asked Sora.

"I...I'm not sure," said Ruby, looking down. "I mean...I don't want to let her get away with it. But I don't want her thrown out of school because of me."

"Ruby-chan," said Sasame firmly, drawing Ruby's eyes to hers. "If Akane-kun is expelled, it will be entirely upon _her_, because of what _she_ chose to do. You are not at fault, especially not because Akane-kun chose to take exception to the fact that you are a born outsider. Her punishment is one that she will have earned through her own actions."

"A-all right," said Ruby softly.

"You are such a kind child, Ruby-chan," observed Sora fondly, reaching between Sasame's tails to brush her fingers through Ruby's hair.

A shadow stretched out from the door, before rising up from the floor to resolve into the form of Dougal. "How is she?" he asked in his soft, whispery voice.

"She'll be fine," said Sora, turning to her Imperial Guard with a relaxed smile. "Ruby-chan is strong."

"That's good," said Dougal. "I've brought her a visitor."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked.

Natsuki peered timidly from behind the frame of the door. "Ruby-chan?" she asked worriedly.

"Natsu-chan!" Ruby jumped off the bed, pulling out from Sasame's tails.

The two girls rushed to each other, hugging one another tightly. They clung to one another for a few minutes, before finally pulling away enough that they could look each other in the eyes.

"Are you okay, Ruby-chan?" asked Natsuki worriedly.

"I'm fine," said Ruby, giving her best friend a teary-eyed smile.

"Thank goodness," said Natsuki, wiping her own eyes. "We were all worried about you."

"'We'?" Ruby canted her head slightly.

"Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun," Natsuki reminded her. "They were worried too."

"Oh..." Ruby felt her heart flutter. It was wonderful to know that Natsuki had been worried about her. But to realize that Natsuki wasn't the only one, that there were other people in her class who wanted to know if she was all right, that made her realize _why_ her family wanted her to make friends so badly.

"Sensei was furious," said Natsuki, giving Ruby a nervous grin. "I've never seen him so angry. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen...and I wasn't even the one he was angry _at_!"

"I'm sorry," Ruby squeaked, ducking her head.

Now it was Natsuki's turn to cant her own head. "Why? It's not your fault. It's Akane-chan's fault for being such a bully."

"B-but...if I hadn't been there..." Ruby muttered.

"Ruby-chan, I'm _glad_ you're in our class," said Natsuki with intense conviction.

"Y-you are?" asked Ruby.

"Of course I am!" exclaimed Natsuki. "You're my best friend! I think the fact that you're an outsider is great. Makoto-sama and the others are always telling me how important it is not to judge people you've never met. Our classmates are getting to know someone who was born outside the Mibu, and that's important. If Akane-chan and Yuuko-chan can't handle that, then they're just jerks."

"From the mouths of babes," Sasame muttered softly, a fond smile on her face as she watched the two girls.

Ruby sniffed, already feeling much better. Truth be told, while it hurt to learn what Akane had meant by putting flowers on her desk, Ruby had to admit that she probably didn't feel it as keenly as someone born and raised in the Mibu probably would. She'd thought it was a gesture of encouragement at first, with only the other students', and then Kyoichiro's, reactions telling her that something was wrong.

"Well then," said Sora. "If you're feeling better, Ruby-chan, then I think it's time for dinner. Why don't you join us, Natsu-chan?"

"Um...but...I should be getting home," said Natsuki, looking at Sora worriedly.

"Nonsense," said Sora. "It's getting a little late for that. I'm not sending you back out through the palace at this time of night, especially not after you came all the way here to check on Ruby-chan. In fact, you might as well spend the night here. I'll have Dougal inform your parents, and you can go back to school with Ruby-chan tomorrow morning."

"But my homework!" protested Natsuki.

"Something tells me that you'll be excused for that tomorrow," said Sasame. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

"Okay," said the girls in unison.

"Now then, Ruby-chan, go wash your face," said Sora. "We'll wait for you at the dinner table."

"All right," said Ruby, heading to the bathroom.

* * *

A few minutes later, they were all seated at the table, eating. Kyo had joined them, having left the task of consoling Ruby to Sora and Sasame. The topic of Akane's cruel prank was set aside, and they instead talked about more mundane matters. Sasame and Sora asked Ruby questions about her other friends, almost as though they were quizzing Ruby about how well she knew them. Aside from that, they asked Natsuki about how she was doing.

Natsuki reported that her parents had begun training her in swordsmanship. Given that she was only just starting out, they weren't going to enroll Nastsuki in a Manifestation-based school, until she had a better idea of what she wanted to do, even though Natsuki continued to express interest in studying the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_, under Keikoku. In the meantime, they could begin the process of developing her martial skills themselves.

Ruby was excited to learn that her friend was training too, and began to wonder if they could start training together, drawing a puzzled look from Natsuki, and amused ones from Sora and Sasame. Kyo chuckled behind his sleeve.

Around the time they were finishing up, the door to the dining room opened, and Kyoichiro entered. "I see things are just fine back here," he observed, smiling.

"Ruby-chan is a strong girl," said Sasame simply.

Kyoichiro noticed that Ruby was looking at him worriedly. "Yes?" he asked.

"Um...uh...I just wanted to know..." Ruby looked down at her plate, while tapping her index fingers together shyly. "Wha-what about Akane-chan? What are you going to do to her?"

Kyoichiro's smile faded, and his eyes narrowed slightly. He looked at Ruby intently, interested by her inquiry, mainly because there was absolutely nothing vindictive about it. Ruby almost sounded as though she was...worried...about her tormentor. "Her fate is...undecided, as of yet," said Kyoichiro.

"Why not?" asked Ruby, looking up at him in confusion. "Sora-sama and Sasame-nee said she'd probably be expelled!"

"Probably is not the same thing as certainly," Kyoichiro reminded her, studying her expression and her emotions carefully. "And would you _prefer_ to see her expelled?"

"Um..." Ruby looked down, not looking certain at all.

Sora and Sasame watched the exchange with keen interest. Kyo merely smiled at the sight. Natsuki was baffled.

"But, Sensei," Natsuki protested, "after what Akane-chan did..."

"Yes, normally she _would_ be expelled," Kyoichiro replied. "However, I have chosen to make a special exception here. The fact is that she still _might_ be."

"But she might not," said Ruby, her head coming up, her interest rising, her manner piquing the interest of the rest of her adopted family. Ruby almost sounded...hopeful.

"Indeed," said Kyoichiro. "But it will not be my decision."

"Why not?" asked Natsuki.

"Because...it will be Ruby-kun's choice," said Kyoichiro, fixing his gaze firmly on Ruby, who gasped.

"Me!?" exclaimed Ruby, shocked.

"Yes," said Kyoichiro. "Tomorrow morning, you shall be the one to decide Akane-kun's fate. If you wish it, she will be expelled immediately."

"If I don't...?" pressed Ruby.

"Then she will still be punished," said Kyoichiro. "But she won't be expelled."

"I...I don't understand," said Ruby softly. While she didn't know how she felt about Akane being expelled, she _did_ know that there were rules to be followed. So it seemed strange that Kyoichiro was bending those rules, under these circumstances.

"Let us just say there are...unusual circumstances in play," said Kyoichiro. "You needn't decide now. Your decision will be required before the first bell, tomorrow morning."

"O-okay," said Ruby.

Natsuki looked at her friend worriedly, but said nothing. She too was confused as to why their teacher would leave the final decision of Akane's punishment in Ruby's hands. Still, she knew better than to question their teacher too much.

"For now, don't worry about it, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, reaching over to hold her hand. "The last thing we want is for you to lose sleep over this. In the morning, just make the decision that feels best to you. Don't overthink it."

"A-all right," said Ruby.

* * *

After dinner, when the girls had been put to bed, Sora and her husband went through the process of their own preparations for sleep.

"You already know what decision Ruby-chan will make, don't you?" teased Sora, as the pair climbed into bed.

"It was written all over her face," said Kyoichiro with a chuckle. "She is compassionate to a fault. In the future, that will be something to temper. But, for now, it's a valuable strength to her."

"True," agreed Sora. "And it's a valuable opportunity for us."

Kyoichiro nodded. "Ruby-kun is an exceptional girl, but she has been her peers' first exposure to an outsider, so her behavior will shape their preconceptions towards other outsiders. If they can be taught not to paint with so broad a brush, then hopefully those children will will not be bound by the prejudices of their parents."

"In any case, all that is left is to see what tomorrow will bring," said Sora, before pausing. "Oh...if you would please be so kind as to excuse Natsu-chan for not having her homework ready tomorrow. I can assure you she has a very good reason."

Kyoichiro laughed. "Of course," he said.

* * *

The next morning, Ruby and Natsuki had to get up early. Ruby was expected to give her decision before classes started for the day, so she needed to be there earlier than usual. While Natsuki had been given the option of sleeping in until the usual time, she opted to get up early too, explaining that it would be awkward to go after Ruby had already left.

After breakfast, they made their way through the palace's hallways, then across the upperclass district to their school. Sasame accompanied them.

Upon arriving at school, Ruby and Natsuki headed to their classroom, Sasame still following. Entering the classroom, they were not surprised to see Kyoichiro already there, seated at his desk. What _did_ surprise them was the fact that Akane was present as well, as were an unfamiliar man and woman, whom Ruby and Natsuki assumed to be Akane's parents.

"Thank you for your prompt arrival, Ruby-kun," said Kyoichiro. At the moment, he was not wearing his glasses, leaving his Crimson Eyes in full view. His gaze went to Natsuki. "Natsuki-kun, would you please wait out in the hall."

"Y-yes, Sensei," said Natsuki nervously, stepping outside and sliding the door closed behind her.

"Now then, Ruby-kun," said Kyoichiro, turning his gaze upon Ruby, "I trust that you have learned the meaning behind what Akane-kun did."

"Yes," said Ruby, seeing Akane wince visibly.

From where she stood, behind Ruby, Sasame took in Akane's condition. Akane looked terrible. Her hair had been brushed to perfection, and her kimono was freshly-cleaned, and had probably been inspected meticulously by her parents, prior to their arrival. It was clear that they had wanted her to make the best impression she possibly could. But Akane's face betrayed her _real_ condition. Her eyes were red, with dark bags underneath them. Sasame would not have been surprised if Akane hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night, too busy crying in fear and anguish over her impending punishment. Sasame also suspected that her parents might have had harsh words for her as well.

Even if they had approved of Akane's bullying behavior, and her efforts to drive "the outsider" out of her class. They would not have been happy about the fact that Akane's actions had drawn the Crimson King's censure. Now that they were faced with the, what they assumed to be inevitable, consequences of Akane's actions, they had most likely been incensed about the stain on their reputation that Akane's decisions would leave them with, and probably hadn't been shy about berating her for it.

Ruby looked a little tired as well. It was apparent to Sasame that Ruby, despite Kyo's advice to do otherwise, had dwelt quite a bit on what her decision would be. While she'd clearly gotten more sleep than Akane had, Ruby had still lost a fair bit of her own.

Now sleepiness was the furthest thing from Akane's mind. She was leaning forward, hanging onto every word being spoken in the room, her body trembling from nerves.

"Then we shall not mince words," said Kyoichiro. "Ruby Rose, should Tachibana Akane be expelled for her actions?"

"No," said Ruby, without hesitation.

Akane's parents gasped, her mother nearly fainting with relief. Akane's jaw hung slack, and she stared at Ruby as though the other girl had grown a second head, tears gathering in her eyes.

Sasame and Kyoichiro, however, merely smiled with satisfaction.

"Very well then," said Kyoichiro, marking something down on the papers that were apparently Akane's records. "Akane-kun, you shall not be expelled for this. However, that does not mean you are excepted from punishment. Instead, you shall receive an in-school-suspension of two weeks, during which time, I hope that you will reflect upon your attitudes and behavior, and strive to improve them."

"Y-yes, Sensei," said Akane, too stunned to formulate any other response.

"Now then, you two are dismissed," said Kyoichiro, looking up at Akane's parents, who were still too busy being stunned by Ruby's mercy. "I will have you notified of the particulars shortly."

"Y-yes, of course," said Daiki, quickly taking his wife by the arm, and leading her from the room. As they passed Ruby, Akane's parents gave her an odd look, clearly not knowing what to make of her.

"Akane-kun, please report to the disciplinary office," said Kyoichiro. "Your suspension will start today."

"Y-yes, Sensei," said Akane, still struggling to make sense of what had just happened. She headed to the door. As she passed Ruby, Akane paused. It was slight, for barely a second, but Ruby met Akane's sideways glance and, for the first time, saw something other than dislike or contempt in the other girl's gaze. She couldn't figure out what it was, but there wasn't time to build a better understanding. Akane broke eye-contact and was out the door before Ruby could think to do or say anything.

"Sasame-nee?" said Ruby, her eyes rolling back and up, as she tried to look at Sasame, who'd remained behind her, without turning her head. Needless to say, she wasn't successful.

"Hmm?" asked Sasame, her tail wagging slowly back and forth.

"Did I do all right?" asked Ruby.

"What do you mean by that, Ruby-chan?" asked Sasame.

Ruby frowned, then lowered her eyes back down, so that she could look at Kyoichiro, who was watching her with both amusement and interest. "Is that what you wanted me to do?" she asked.

"It is what I expected of you," said Kyoichiro. "Did you choose not to have Akane-kun expelled because you believed that's what _I_ wanted?"

"No," said Ruby. "If I had said that I wanted Akane-chan expelled, then what would you have done?"

"I would have expelled her," said Kyoichiro simply. "Truth be told, for the kind of infraction Akane-kun committed, that would be the normal penalty, unless there were extenuating circumstances."

"So why did you leave it up to me?" asked Ruby.

Kyoichiro's smile widened slightly. "Tell me, Ruby-kun, if it wasn't because you thought I wanted you to, why _did_ you decide Akane-kun should not be expelled?"

"I...I just..." Ruby looked down at her feet. "I know I'm different. I...I haven't learned what's it's like to be a Mibu. It feels weird, when I think about it. Everyone else was so shocked when they saw the flowers. But I saw something different. But it was still the same thing."

Sasame smiled, gently squeezing Ruby's shoulders, encouraging her to go on.

"It hurt to learn what that meant, what Akane-chan was saying to me," said Ruby. "But...I thought that, maybe, Akane-chan sees me differently, like the way I saw those flowers. If that's the case...I want to try and find a way to help her see me the way Natsu-chan, Miyu-chan, and Setsuna-kun all see me. If I got her expelled, then...I wouldn't really be doing anything."

Kyoichiro's eyebrow went up. Then his gaze drifted over the top of Ruby's head, to the eyes of a beaming Sasame. "You and Kyo truly found yourselves a remarkable little sister, Sasame."

"Didn't we," cooed Sasame in agreement, hugging Ruby to her chest. Ruby squeaked in surprise, but almost immediately relaxed into the hug.

"In answer to your questions, Ruby-kun," said Kyoichiro, "your answer is what I _expected_, because I hazarded an educated guess that you were the kind of person I thought you were. I am glad to see that I was correct."

"Th-thank you, Sensei," said Ruby.

"You are kind, Ruby-kun," said Kyoichiro. "That is one of your strongest qualities. I wanted both Akane-kun and her parents to see your best qualities, because that makes you so much harder to dismiss, from their point of view. Having mercy on someone who wronged you so badly, when they themselves demanded expulsion."

"Huh? They did?" Ruby canted her head in confusion.

"When I first called them over to explain what happened, I kept my explanation vague as to who had done what to whom," said Kyoichiro. "I was a bit...deceptive...in my vagueness, in order to lead them to the belief that their daughter was the one who had been wronged. Naturally, they immediately demanded the defaulter's expulsion.

"Of course, when they learned that _Akane-kun_ was the one to commit the infraction, their tone changed quite quickly. Had I simply told them straight out what had happened; and then given them the opportunity to explain how they would have handled it, had it happened to their daughter; what do you think they would have said?"

Ruby frowned. She knew plenty well how some adults could pretend to be nice, but still be jerks. Her father was one of the worst in that regard. "They'd say that they'd forgive the one who did it, and ask for you to go easy."

"Exactly," said Kyoichiro. "So I misled them, so that, when they learned the truth, they could not simply retreat behind the polite fiction that they would be happy to grant the mercy they themselves were begging for. Left with the fact that they had demanded their own daughter's expulsion, however unintentionally, I backed them into a corner. Then, I left it to you to give them a way out."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"To make them think," said Kyoichiro. "Akane-kun didn't come to her views on her own. _I_ certainly didn't instill them in her. Sadly, amongst the Mibu Clan's upperclass families, there are many who share negative views of outsiders. Part of that descends from the fact that we have a bit of an...unpleasant...history with some of the Kingdoms. But the other part is that, because we Mibu live apart from them, they believe that we are naturally superior. What you said about not seeing the same thing others did, I call a lens."

"Like for glasses?" asked Ruby.

Kyoichiro chuckled, pulling out his own glasses and looking at them with a fond smile. "More like for a kaleidoscope. You see a world that is distorted from how others see it. Just as your viewpoint is distorted in one way, Akane-kun's is distorted in a different way. How a person's lens changes what they see is shaped by many things: experience, personality, environment...for children, like you and Akane-kun, a major factor is your families. Akane-kun looks at outsiders, like you, in a certain way because that is how her parents taught her to see them, because they have grown up with that same lens."

"So...having me not have Akane-chan expelled...changes their lens?" asked Ruby, blinking.

"More like it makes them aware of the lens itself," said Kyoichiro. "I don't think I need to tell you that not all outsiders are as kind as you are."

Ruby nodded. She'd experienced cruel treatment from some people, while she'd been living on the streets of Vale, in those days before she met Sasame. She also remembered the bandits, and also Sasame's talk about why people turn out bad. Then there were Morgan and her pirates, who preyed on others because they enjoyed it, even more than because they needed what they stole.

"But that is as true for the Mibu as it is for outsiders," said Kyoichiro, his expression sobering. "We have a military and law enforcement for a reason, because, even in this clan of ours, that so many of its members hold as being above those who dwell in the world outside, there are those who turn to evil actions, for any number of reasons. Mibu and outsider...they are merely labels. Take those away, and all you have are people...good people, bad people, but still _all_ people."

Ruby nodded.

"Granted, it might be a little much to hope that Akane-kun or her parents will be able to follow the line of reason that far," said Kyoichiro. "It's all too likely a possibility that, when she returns to class, Akane-kun will resume tormenting you again, not having truly learned a thing. It's likely that she knows better than to go as far as she did last time, but that is the extent to which she might think of it."

Ruby nodded.

"Knowing that, do you think you might regret being so kind to Akane-kun?" asked Kyoichiro.

"No," said Ruby firmly, shaking her head.

"As I thought then," said Kyoichiro. _Such a small and simple soul. No wonder she heard the voices of Murasame's blades so easily. Given the kind of life she seeks to lead, that kindness can be a hinderance, if it isn't tempered properly. _All_ of us will have to do our parts to ensure she's raised right._

Sasame had let go of Ruby and gone to the door. Opening it, she grinned and waved Natsuki back into the classroom.

"Well then, you two," said Kyoichiro, raising his eyebrows at them, while sliding his glasses back into place, "it is my understanding that you didn't get any homework done, last night."

Ruby and Natsuki blushed.

"Of course, given your circumstances, your homework will be excused today," said Kyoichiro. "By the way, Ruby-kun, Miyu-kun made copies of her notes on the classes you missed for you. Be sure to review them before school starts today."

Ruby gasped, her eyes tearing up again. Behind her and Natsuki, Sasame looked on fondly, her expression one of pride.

* * *

Miyu was typically the first person to arrive to their classroom in the morning, which made it something of a surprise for her to find Ruby and Natsuki there already. However, even more surprising was the tight hug Ruby greeted her with, thanking Miyu for copying her own notes for Ruby to use. Miyu flinched, hesitated for a few seconds, then returned the gesture.

Though Kyoichiro never made any announcement, beyond the fact that Akane had been suspended, it eventually got out that Ruby had been the one to stop Akane from being expelled, something that caused many of her classmates' estimations of her to rise considerably. That, and her growing friendships with Miyu and Setsuna, led to the rest of the class taking a considerably more friendly view of Ruby. Even Yuuko had broken off her teasing and snide remarks, keeping to herself for the most part. With every day that passed, Ruby felt less and less like an outsider, and more like an actual member of her class, a part of the place she now called home.

About a week after the incident, Ruby found herself involved in another momentous occasion, this time being invited to Natsuki's tenth birthday party. It was odd that, in the course of her and Natsuki's friendship, this was the first time she'd ever been invited over to Natsuki's house, which resided at the edge of the upperclass district, marking Natsuki's family as one of those that hovered on the border between the Mibu Clan's upper and middle classes. The house was both modest in size and decor, but more than enough for the three people that called it home.

It was also Ruby's first opportunity to meet Natsuki's parents; a tall, taciturn man, with short, black hair, named Aoshi; and a lively woman, with her black hair tied into a long braid, named Misao. The pair both welcomed Ruby into their home, having a great deal of interest in finally meeting the friend their daughter talked constantly about. While Misao welcomed Ruby with a warm and cheerful smile, Aoshi looked at her carefully, almost as though he didn't know what to make of her. Said wariness softened as the evening wore on, and he grew more accustomed to Ruby's presence, which was helped by how obvious and firm Ruby's friendship with Natsuki was.

Ruby, Miyu, and Setsuna were in attendance at the party, along with a couple of other members of class, each of them bringing presents. Sasame attended as well, bringing along a present of her own, though she waited until all of Natsuki and Ruby's other classmates had left, before presenting the gift to Natsuki.

It was a kodachi, along with a note informing Natsuki of when Keikoku would be available to start her training. The shriek of excitement Natsuki released was almost deafening, though everyone took it in stride. Natsuki's parents thanked Sasame profusely for her and the Goyosei's generosity, which Sasame demurred by pointing out that it was Keikoku's generosity that led to him setting aside time to begin Natsuki's training...and that it would be up to Natsuki as to whether or not she could keep up with the kind of training Keikoku would put her through.

Following that, Ruby's days began to take on a pleasant pattern. She still trained with Shinrei, three days a week. The other days she spent time with her friends, learning more about them, and enjoying her time as a child. Her friends took her down into the main portion of Onmyo, where they would often spend hours wandering its streets, visiting shops and stalls, Ruby familiarizing herself with a wider portion of her new home. As August bled into September, Ruby finally worked up the courage to reveal the secret of where she lived, and who she was living with, to Miyu and Setsuna.

The pair were shocked to learn that Ruby lived in Onmyo Palace, with Sora herself, no less. However, they ultimately took it in stride, and their regard for Ruby didn't suffer, particularly after everything she had done to earn their respect. It was another shock to learn that Ruby was learning swordsmanship from Shinrei. Setsuna was openly jealous, but didn't fault Ruby for her right to study under Shinrei, particularly after he watched one of their sessions, and saw how hard Shinrei worked her, and everything Ruby took without protest.

So it was that, with Miyu and Setsuna now a part of the group that knew her secret, Ruby had two new friends to visit her in the palace on Sundays. The quartet spent their time exploring the many halls and passageways of the palace, always seeking to learn new things about the place, taking full advantage of the lack of concern Sora and Kyoichiro showed towards their wanderings. They stumbled into Murasame on a couple of occasions, which led to them spending time in his home again, which had Miyu and Setsuna starry-eyed.

September turned into October, the leaves beginning to turn with it, the tree-covered surface of the mountain the palace was built into turning into a riot of colors. Despite the fact that she'd now lived in Onmyo since July, Ruby was still learning new things about her home.

* * *

"Wooooow...look at all these books," said Natsuki, staring around the shelves that lined the walls of the long, somewhat narrow room in awe. Some were standard bookshelves, but others were honeycomb-like structures, built to house rolled up scrolls. A long table occupied the center of the room, running almost its entire length, leaving just enough space between it and the wall for someone to walk between them.

"Be careful," said Miyu, frowning worriedly as she looked around. From the layer of dust on the shelves, it seemed that no one had been in this room for a while. The scrolls and books looked very old, with many of them appearing to be in delicate condition.

"We should probably go somewhere else," added Setsuna, picking up on Miyu's caution. They both got the impression that there were probably valuable things in this room, which might be all too easily damaged through careless handling.

Ruby, however, appeared to ignore them, making her way along the shelves. There were titles on the spines of the books, and the cubbyholes for the scrolls were also labeled. But the labels were in kanji. Still having only just begun her education in Old Tongue, Ruby had only just begun learning a few of the most basic kanji, so hardly anything she saw was something she could understand. "What are the titles?" she asked.

Setsuna moved to peruse the shelves next to her. "Some of these are manuals," he said, frowning as he began to translate. Being only nine himself, Setsuna's Old Tongue vocabulary was larger than Ruby's by a substantial margin, but hardly comprehensive. "_The Book of Five Rings_..._The Art of War_..._Komei's Tactics_...there's a bunch of stuff here about martial arts and strategy."

"Oooh!" said Ruby, her eyes sparkling with excitement, prompting a resigned, but also amused, sigh from Miyu, while Natsuki giggled.

"What about this one?" pressed Ruby, pointing to one of the scrolls.

Setsuna stared that the label of the scroll's cubbyhole, his eyes narrowing. "_Raikoken_...That translates to _Sword of Lightning_."

"Sword of lightning..." Ruby's expression softened, going from excited and childlike to intensely interested. Moving very slowly and carefully, she reached up and pulled the scroll out of its resting place. The paper was set inside a sealed cylinder, presumably to keep it protected from the elements.

"Be careful!" said Miyu worriedly.

Ruby _was_ careful, removing the cap of the scroll container, and gently fishing it out with her fingers. Taking her prize to the table, she pulled out a chair and sat down, not even taking notice of the layer of dust covering the surface she sat on, though she brushed away the dust on the surface of the table in front of her. From there, she, slowly and carefully, began to unroll the scroll.

It was completely indecipherable to her. Ruby knew she shouldn't have been surprised. After all, she had barely begun to learn the written language of the Mibu Old Tongue, so it was only natural that the characters that covered the pages of the scroll were so much gibberish to her. They were accompanied by illustrations, which seemed oddly simplistic.

"Can you read it?" she asked, looking over at Setsuna, who was peering at the document, over her shoulder.

"A little bit," said Setsuna. "It seems to be about a particular kind of Manifestation, one that uses lightning. I haven't heard of that kind of Manifestation before."

A slight cough caught their attention. Looking over, they saw Dougal, standing in a corner that had been unoccupied before. It was clear that he'd made a specific effort not to startle them, lest that result in the delicate, valuable scroll being torn.

"It is an extremely rare form of Manifestation," said Dougal, his own gaze going to the scroll. "Because it isn't amongst the Five Principle Styles, very few people have ever actually learned that technique. Lightning is an extremely advanced skill." His gaze went back to meeting Ruby's eyes. "Needless to say, you have a great deal of growing to do, before you should even _consider_ attempting this technique."

"R-right," said Ruby nervously, wondering if she was in trouble for handling something like this, whether it was because she was looking into something she wasn't ready for, or because she was risking damage to a valuable piece of history.

"You aren't in trouble," said Dougal, a slight crinkling in the corners of his eyes indicating the smile that was hidden by his bandages. "If anything, your curiosity is to be commended. As you can tell, this room has not seen visitors in a while."

"Yeah," said Ruby, guiltily examining the sleeves of her kimono, blackened from wiping the dust off the table's surface.

"Of course, scrolls like this are difficult to manage in any case," said Dougal. "Obviously, command of the Old Tongue is necessary to understand it in any context."

"Obviously," agreed Ruby.

"But there is more to it than that," said Dougal, coming a bit closer. "At your level, even if you could read the words, what this scroll has to say would still only come off as gibberish to you, because you lack the sufficient level of understanding to establish the meaning of those words. If you are curious about what this scroll might be able to teach you, then you will need to be diligent in your training, both in your technique, and in the Old Tongue."

"All right," said Ruby, looking down at the scroll. "If it's all right, could I hold onto this, so that I can try reading it again someday."

"I'm afraid not," said Dougal, a note of actual regret in his voice. "I'm afraid, as delicate as the current state of that document is, that allowing it to leave this room would be a bad idea. You will simply have to come back to it at a later date."

Ruby would have liked to appeal that decision, maybe practice her puppy-eyes on Dougal. But she figured he wasn't likely to budge. Besides, he was right. If she took this scroll out of this room, and back to her own, there was a pretty good chance that she'd make a mistake handling it in the future, and wind up doing serious damage to it. That would be an unacceptable outcome.

Reluctantly, Ruby carefully rolled the scroll back up, and placed it back into its container, before placing it back into its cubbyhole. Sensing that it was time to take their leave, Ruby and her friends made their exit, leaving Dougal alone in the room. When the door closed, Dougal surveyed the shelves one last time, his eyes widening slightly, as something occurred to him. He quickly sank back down into his shadow and vanished.

* * *

The days passed, September flowing on into October. The days rapidly grew shorter and colder. Ruby's friends took her into town more often. Ruby watched and participated in festivals celebrating various holidays. She tried many of the different street foods her friends favored, from grilled squid on skewers to roasted sweet potatoes. Everything was always so new and different to her that she'd lost track of the passage of days. Before she knew it, her birthday was upon her.

Halloween was a fairly substantial holiday in the outside world. In the Kingdoms, and larger settlements, trick-or-treating had been a long, storied tradition amongst children, and even some adults. In the Mibu Clan, it appeared that such traditions were not observed. They still observed Halloween, but celebrations of it were a bit more contained, with families throwing parties for the children, instead of the children going from house to house to get treats.

Ruby had always been a bit sensitive about the issues that came with being born on such a popular holiday. When she had been younger, she'd often demanded extra treats, by virtue of it being her birthday, as well as Halloween. Of course, with all the activities and other parties going on, hosting an actual party on her birthday had often proven unfeasible, so it tended to be held a couple of days before or after, depending on what was more convenient.

Of course, that was _before_ her father's overbearing manner had begun to push down the number of people who came. She still had bitter memories of him throwing out newly-opened presents, because he claimed they "encouraged recklessness" on her part, sometimes right in front of the people who'd just given them to her. Her most recent birthday had just been Taiyang, Yang, and a sullen Ruby. Qrow had dropped by for a few minutes, but quickly left to avoid another shouting match with Taiyang on his niece's birthday.

This marked the first birthday Ruby would spend with her new family and friends. She was excited and nervous about it. After speaking at length with Sora, Kyoichiro, Kyo, and Sasame; Ruby made the bold decision to invite the entire class to her party, at her home...in the palace…as good as stating that she was actually a ward of the royal family, practically the adopted daughter of the Mibu Clan's ruler. It was a difficult decision to make. Ruby had solidified her place in her class, forging growing connections with her other classmates, though she primarily spent her time with her three main friends. Even Akane and Yuuko had finally begun to warm up to her, Ruby's act of mercy, weeks ago, having managed to eat away that the pillar of resentment that shored up their beliefs.

It was a risky maneuver. Even if they swore Ruby's classmates to secrecy, the fact that so many children would know Ruby's secret practically _ensured_ that the information would get out, sooner or later, particularly amongst the children's families. How such families would react to an outsider like Ruby, someone who rated as less than a nobody to the Mibu culture at large, being adopted by Sora, of all people, was a troubling notion.

However, Sora and the others agreed on principle. Ruby was going to live in the palace for years to come, and keeping the secret of her true residence for all that time was a difficult notion, to say the least. Sooner or later, someone outside Ruby's circle of secret-keepers was bound to find out. So it was better to reveal the truth on _their_ terms, not simply have someone trip over it inadvertently. There was bound to be outrage and controversy, but Ruby ultimately decided to put her faith in her friends and classmates, hoping that they would be willing to stand with her.

All told, the party proved to be a substantial success. To say that her classmates were shocked to learn that Ruby lived in the palace, with the royal family, was an understatement. It had actually been easy to arrange the surprise, given that the palace; with its massive assortment of rooms, courtyards, and pavilions; was no stranger to hosting parties organized by people other than those who lived and worked there. But Ruby's guests had arrived to be greeted by Sora herself, causing many a jaw to hang slack, children and adults alike too caught up gaping in stupefaction to say or do anything for up to a minute or more. Ruby would have found it hilarious, if not for the fact that her nerves were taut with tension at how the revelation would be received.

The shock everyone was wrestling through managed to keep any outcry down, as Sora began to preside over the party; hosting its accompanying meal, supervising games and activities, while deftly stepping aside to keep the adults occupied with conversation; every bit the consummate hostess.

The fact that Shinrei and Keikoku stopped by was another stunner for all in attendance, Shinrei deciding that, if they were going to go all-in on the revelations, then they might as well establish that Ruby was his student as well, with Keikoku doing the same for Natsuki. Once again, their classmates were shocked. Between all of this, it appeared that their ability to be amazed had been numbed to the point that hardly anyone batted an eyelash when Makoto and, later, Murasame, put on appearances of their own; wishing Ruby well, before trading greetings and smalltalk with the parents of Ruby's classmates. The elusive Haruka never showed up, but that was hardly a surprise to anyone.

All told, the revelation of Ruby's home and family went down as well as they could have hoped. There would probably be other fallout afterwards. But the party itself went swimmingly, Ruby happily accepting the presents her friends and classmates had gotten her, amazed at how much thought many of them had put into their gifts. There were candies and treats, clothes and accessories, books and toys; all fairly standard gifts for children Ruby's age, both in and outside the Mibu. It was certainly the best birthday Ruby had celebrated in years, once again affirming the rightness of her decision to leave home, and impressing upon her how lucky she was to have been taken into such a kind and loving family.

But the best gifts Ruby received that evening came from unexpected parties. The first, from Shinrei, was a matching pair of brand new kodachi for her. Over the course of her training and sparring sessions, Ruby's practice weapons had gradually worn down, especially the wooden sword that Kyo had carved for her. The kodachi she'd received in Barrowdown was in better shape, particularly since Ruby was careful to make sure she maintained it properly. But the pair that Shinrei had gotten for her had been subtly balanced and tweaked for two-weapon fighting, specifically tailored for the style she was training in. Shinrei had commissioned them from a smith in the city, as he felt it was too early to approach Murasame to have a sword forged for her. But their quality was still substantial. It was a gift that Ruby cherished.

Her other favorite gift came from Dougal, of all people. In fact, it would have been better to say that Dougal gave her several gifts. Ruby opened the large box he had presented her, finding several books and scrolls contained within. The kanji titles, despite being indecipherable to her still, were familiar, and Ruby realized she was looking at several of the texts from that hidden archive she and her friends had stumbled upon, all those weeks ago. They were all works pertaining to strategy and martial arts, with scrolls that described ancient techniques. And, at the very top of the small stack of scroll cylinders, was a cylinder containing a very familiar scroll within it, the one describing the technique Ruby had been so fascinated with.

They had all been transcribed onto brand new parchment, ensuring that Ruby could keep them, without having to worry about accidentally damaging or destroying the fragile originals. Of course, they had all been transcribed in their original Old Tongue, meaning that Ruby couldn't read them yet. Thus, it turned out that Dougal had given her both a gift _and_ an extended homework project. Ruby would have to work hard to master the Old Tongue well enough that she could actually read what was on those pages, while also training her swordsmanship to actually learn the techniques many of them contained. It was a thoughtful gift that had Ruby's guests impressed with her dedication to her own training.

Ruby's tenth birthday turned out to be a tremendous success. As the news that Sora had adopted an outsider child continued to spread, there was outcry, but often by people far removed from Ruby herself. Her own classmates, even Akane and Yuuko, adapted to the idea easily enough, and Ruby was able to go through her school life with very little fear of harassment.

The fact that Ruby was getting personal training from Shinrei, of all people, created more of a stir. But Ruby's classmates were now able to accompany her into the palace, and watch her training themselves. Two of her classmates were actually inducted students of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_, who had enrolled at Makoto's main school for the art. They were especially jealous of Ruby getting personal training from Shinrei. But they balked when they saw the intensity of it, and were quickly humbled by Ruby's unflinching willingness to apply herself to any task Shinrei demanded of her.

For her part, Ruby found herself blissfully happy with the turn her life had taken. She had found a home and family, even friends, people who were helping her become better and stronger. She no longer had to worry about a father and sister who tried to stifle her. This was a better outcome than she'd ever had any right to hope for.

Because of that, Ruby barely noticed when Natsuki's next appointment with Makoto came up. Even though said appointments were months apart, it was a regular event that Natsuki hardly even batted an eyelash at anymore. Because of that, there was no reason for Ruby to take any exceptional notice of it either. While Ruby was at one of her regular training sessions with Shinrei, Natsuki made her way to Makoto's examination room for her regular checkup.

* * *

"Please, have a seat, Natsuki-chan," said Makoto, gesturing to the examination table.

Natsuki hopped onto it promptly, looking back at Makoto. To her surprise, he didn't start with smalltalk. Nor did he approach and bathe her in the light of his Aura, as he usually did. Instead, he remained in his own seat, watching her carefully.

"I have thought this over carefully, Natsuki-chan," said Makoto. "In a sense, your learning about Ruby-chan's circumstances was something of a test for you, a test of your ability to keep secrets."

"Why?" asked Natsuki.

"Because of _your_ secret," said Makoto. "Your condition is not some terrible thing, in and of itself. However, it carries implications that, depending on your decision, could have a substantial impact upon your life."

"My secret..." whispered Natsuki, her eyes widening. She let out a soft gasp. "Does that mean...?"

"Yes," said Makoto. "I have decided that it is time to tell you exactly _why_ you have needed to come to me on a regular basis."

"Really?!" exclaimed Natsuki, still feeling a bit off-kilter at the realization that she was finally going to learn the secret that so many important people had been keeping from her.

Makoto nodded. "If you wish," he said. "However, before you decide, you need to know that this secret will greatly change your worldview. You will learn things that nearly the entirety of the rest of the clan does not. On top of that, you will become a keeper of that secret yourself, which is why Sasame and I tested you earlier."

Natsuki hesitated, blinking, trying to process all of this.

Makoto's expression was sober, yet calm. "So, Natsuki-chan, it will be your choice. You can agree to learn the truth now...or you can put it off until later. There is nothing wrong with choosing to not know it for a while longer. Indeed, I would prefer for you to have a normal childhood for as long as possible. But you have shown that you can bear the responsibility, if you wish to know."

Natsuki cast her eyes down. All her life, she had worried and agonized over what condition Makoto was continuously treating her for. Even though it had never hampered her in any fashion, and there was never any indicator that there was actually anything wrong with her, it remained a subtle worry, always tugging and nagging at the edge of her consciousness. On a certain level, she had always wanted to know, of course. But there had also been that nagging doubt, the fear of what it was that she would learn.

Looking up, Natsuki met Makoto's eyes squarely. "Tell me, please," she said.

Makoto's expression softened, and he smiled sadly. "Very well then," he said. "In that case, we must establish context. So, to begin with, I have question for you...

"...What is your favorite fairy tale?"

* * *

**Aaaaaaaand scene!**

**We'll come back here later. But, starting next chapter, we'll be heading back to the present storyline.**

**Oh come on, it's not _that_ much of a cliffhanger...I'm sure. There must be some completely different fairy tale-based thing that Makoto's telling Natsuki about.**

**Once again, we kinda breezed through a fair bit of stuff in this chapter. While I suppose Ruby's birthday might make for a pretty important scene, I opted to summarize, rather than draw it out. Once again, I wanted to keep from drawing the past-arc out too much, since it's mainly about Ruby having a pretty dang normal life, when all's said and done. Later revisits to the past will be in more detail, mainly because they cover some more important stuff.**


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42:**

_Present day:_

Ruby straightened up, finishing up the last adjustments to her skirt. Looking at the reflection of her silver eyes, staring back at her from the mirror, Ruby smiled contentedly. Seeing as everything about her uniform was as it should be, she decided to don the final piece of her outfit. Reaching up, Ruby pressed her hands to her collarbones, channeling her Aura through them. Sweeping them back, she trailed them up and over her shoulders, red particles streaming out and merging together, as Ruby worked her arms behind her neck, shaping her Aura to form the contours of her hood, while more particles seemed to stream out of thin air behind her, continuing to fuse together to form the trailing folds of her cloak.

Her ensemble complete, Ruby let out a satisfied breath and turned to let herself out of the bathroom. She found herself immediately meeting Pyrrha's emerald gaze, Ruby stepping aside to give Pyrrha her turn in the bathroom to get dressed for the day. Like Ruby had been before, Pyrrha had been wearing her morning workout outfit, a simplified version of her usual battle ensemble. Behind Pyrrha, Weiss and Jaune waited on their respective beds, awaiting their turns in the bathroom, the former occupied with running a file over her nails, while the latter idly browsed a comic.

The routine had become natural to them in the weeks since they'd come to Beacon. They'd all gotten their timing down to a T, working out exactly how long each of them had to primp in the bathroom, before they had to head out to breakfast, then class. That certainly put them a leg above their sister team, RASP always leaving their room to the sounds of scrambling from the one across the hall, often accompanied by frantic entreaties for someone or other (usually Yang) to hurry up and let someone else use the bathroom. While Team RASP arrived in the dining hall at a relaxed walk, Team RYNB typically arrived at a panicked run, often with as little as five minutes before the first bell announced that it was time to get to class.

Still, whatever else, Ruby could say that RYNB's routine, if it could be called that, worked for them. Indeed, Yang and Nora in particular appeared to thrive off the frenetic pace of their particular lifestyle, while Ren and Blake had adapted with impressive ease to their respective partners' behavior. So, while there was always a degree of urgency underlying their actions, it never seemed that neither of RYNB's quieter members were in any danger of losing their patience with their respective partners.

It helped that, within Beacon at least, the fervor over Ruby's sparring match with Pyrrha had calmed somewhat. The pair were no longer the object of constant stares, the second they set foot in the dining hall, though they did tend to attract a considerable amount of attention still. Ruby was getting used to the continuous scrutiny, though she wished she could say that was a good thing. Otherwise, everything was going exactly as it should.

Another day of classes went by. Ruby tried not to worry too much about Jaune during her free period, instead spending it running through some of her katas. If Jaune really could continue to work on his training on his own, then she could afford to work on her own training, particularly when it came to applying Glynda's advice at the end of her match with Pyrrha. Ruby needed to work on bringing the disparate parts of her style together, forming them into a cohesive whole. She also needed to work on refining her technique for lightning. She'd carried the _Raikoken_ scroll all the way to Vale from Onmyo, but she had yet to fully understand it.

After their free period, Combat Class was held. Ruby and the others filed in, eagerly awaiting to see who would fight today.

* * *

Jaune grit his teeth, deflecting the mace with an echoing clang. With his impressive wrist strength, Cardin quickly brought it through a short crescent, bringing the heavy weapon back around with speed that belied its bulk. Jaune shifted, deflecting that swing off as well, but the followthrough stroke came just as fast, a constant assault that left him no opening to strike back.

It wasn't much of a surprise that, the moment Glynda had opened up the floor for volunteers, Cardin's hand had been amongst those that had shot up. After multiple sessions of avoiding calling on him, specifically because she knew what match he was going to request, Glynda finally gave in and gave Cardin his chance to make his challenge. Not even Jaune was surprised, already getting to his feet and checking his weapons, before nodding his acceptance and proceeding down to the ring, Ruby and Pyrrha's words of encouragement following him. Just as he had last time, Jaune drew his sword, deployed his shield, and took his stance, ready to take whatever Cardin tried to throw at him.

This time, there was no waiting, no taunting, no baiting. The second Glynda gave the signal to begin the match, Cardin bulled forward, swinging his weapon with all the ferocity he could muster. It had been a whirling assault, the speedy smashes of the mace's flanges against the shield making Jaune's arm ache, while he continued to try and shift the shield to deflect the attacks to keep from having to tank their full power.

Meeting Cardin's eyes, Jaune could see the simmering rage in them. Cardin wasn't going to mince words this time. He intended to overwhelm Jaune's defense with his power and speed, then pound into him when he was vulnerable. But Jaune was just as determined not to let him, standing his ground, keeping his shield at the ready, fully committing to tracking Cardin's every move and responding appropriately. If Cardin wasn't going to give him any chance to counterattack, then Jaune would just have to wait him out, until Cardin's furious offensive lost steam.

And it was working. Cardin was growing more and more frustrated with each blow that failed to make it past Jaune's shield. Stepping forward, he executed a more powerful swing than usual. When Jaune moved to deflect it, he was still sent skidding back on his feet. Cardin followed it up with a much wider swing, bringing the mace around and up, so that he struck down from overhead.

Jaune's eyes widened. Amongst the other things he had been training on, with Pyrrha and the others, gauging the distance and reach of his opponent was one of them. It was all part and parcel to being able to read the path of their attacks after all. After skidding back from Cardin's latest attack, Jaune saw that Cardin was starting his new one without actually stepping forward to keep Jaune in reach. Because of that, his swing was going to fall short, not even grazing the surface of the shield.

But Jaune knew that there was no way that Cardin would make that kind of mistake. He might have been reckless and bullheaded, but a guy who liked to beat on his opponents would know if an opponent was out of beating-range. That Cardin was still swinging, despite the fact Jaune was obviously out of his reach, was a sign of something else...and Jaune knew _exactly_ what.

Sure enough, there was that telltale spark from the fire-Dust crystal set within the mace's flanges. Seeing it, Jaune jumped aside, right as the mace struck down. A wave of flame exploded out from the point of impact, rushing forward through the space Jaune had occupied. Jaune would have been hard-pressed to defend against it, because the line of the explosions would have carried directly under his feet.

But Jaune successfully jumped to his right, keeping his shield up to ward off the heat and shockwaves that billowed out from the wave of flame, while also stepping in and bringing his sword down on Cardin. Cardin's own field of vision was mostly blocked by the fierce light of his explosion. That, combined with his certainty that he'd just dealt a telling blow to his opponent, kept him from reacting until he felt the edge of Jaune's sword bite into the Aura over his shoulder.

Crying out in surprise, Cardin lurched away from the hit, reeling. Following up, Jaune launched a second slash, then a third. Each blow landed, carving sections off the Aura-meter displayed above the arena. Finally, Cardin managed to ward off the fourth blow, taking the shaft of his mace in both hands, and using it like a staff to catch Jaune's descending sword from above. The impact sent jolts of pain down the taller boy's arms, making him grimace. But he still managed to stop Jaune's sword. Following that, Cardin kicked out with a foot, aiming to hit Jaune in the stomach. But Jaune's shield was already there, having come back into position the second Jaune knew his offensive had been stopped. The force pushed Jaune back, but he simply fell back into his regular stance, keeping his shield up and ready.

For a second, the two fighters simply stood there, both of them breathing hard. But Cardin was especially winded, taking great, heaving gasps that lifted and lowered his entire upper body. Jaune was panting too, but managed to relax his breathing to the point where his nostrils flaring was the only indicator that he was breathing harder than usual. Jaune's forehead glimmered with sweat, but Cardin was soaked with it.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Cardin strode forward with a roar, swinging his weapon in a wide, arcing, upward swing. Jaune deflected the attack, then stepped forward, moving his shield aside and unleashing a powerful sideways slash across Cardin's torso. His attack carried him past Cardin, and Jaune quickly pivoted around, striking with another diagonal downwards slash, while Cardin was still reeling from the previous blow.

Powering through the pain, Cardin spun around faster than Jaune would have given him credit for, unleashing his mace in a backhanded swing, his turn actually causing him to step in towards Jaune. Jaune turned and caught the mace with his shield. This close to Cardin, the mace's head actually reached past the edge, and it was the shaft that struck Jaune's shield. Because of his position, Jaune wasn't able properly deflect the strike, and he was lifted off his feet by the power behind the blow. Then Cardin triggered his fire-Dust again. With the head partially protruding around the edge of the shield, the resulting explosion wasn't completely blocked, and Jaune was launched away with a cry of pain.

Landing on his shoulder, Jaune tried to remember Pyrrha's lesson about breakfalls, and tried to use his momentum to turn his landing into a roll. He succeeded partially, managing to quickly get his feet back under him, but his form could have been better, and his shoulder and back were sore from smacking against the hard surface. The resulting impacts also bled away enough of his momentum that Jaune couldn't rise up easily, instead having to struggle to get his legs to straighten enough to lift him into a standing position. The aftereffects of the explosion had rattled him, which only made it all the harder for him to rise up.

Unfortunately, Cardin was fully willing to take advantage of the situation, already bulling forward with another angry roar, gripping his mace in both hands, and raising it high over his head. Jaune, seeing that he wasn't going to be able to get up in time, instead decided to take advantage of the massive opening Cardin was giving him. Seeing his opponent not yet all the way up, Cardin had once again resorted to a big, heavily-telegraphed move, one that left him completely unguarded.

Instead of trying to keep getting up, Jaune allowed himself to fall forward, before pushing off with his leading leg with all his strength, putting it, and the weight of his whole body, behind the thrust he launched, striking Cardin firmly in the abdomen Cardin's angry roar terminated in a whoosh, as his remaining breath exploded out. His swing faltered, losing its power. His own forward momentum combined with the force of Jaune's lunge to prompt Cardin's body to fold over Jaune's extended sword, his feet lifting off the floor. As Jaune finished extending, he grunted, sending a surge of Aura up his arm, using Flow, and then Projecting it out to add to the physical force of his blow, actually knocking Cardin back halfway across the ring.

Cardin slammed down onto his back with an agonized grunt, the buzzer sounding, signaling his defeat. Meanwhile, Jaune, unfortunately, had extended himself too far, and fell forward, smacking onto the floor with a startled yelp, and a clattering sound from his chestplate. For a second, the two boys laid there, before Jaune groaned, and moved to get his arms and legs underneath him.

"That's it for the match," declared Glynda, bringing down the shield, and striding out into the ring. "Mr. Arc is the winner."

Grimacing, and rubbing his sore nose, Jaune struggled to his feet. Looking over, he saw Cardin groaning and struggling to get up. Collapsing his shield, Jaune sheathed his sword, and attached Crocea Mors to his hip, before walking over, a bit unsteadily, to offer Cardin a hand up. Cardin simply glared at him and slapped the proffered hand aside. From her position, Glynda's eyes narrowed at the blatant show of poor sportsmanship, but she said nothing otherwise.

Instead, she began her critique. "Mr. Winchester, you need to exercise more caution, particularly against an opponent with such a strong defense. Attacking recklessly only undermines your staying power."

Cardin grunted, and averted his eyes, before resuming his struggle to stand.

"Mr. Arc," continued Glynda, focusing her gaze on Jaune. "You fought well. You do need to work on your balance, however. I doubt there are many who could say they won a match by falling flat on their face." Jaune could have sworn he saw the faintest glimmer of amusement in Glynda's eyes, while the corners of her mouth twitched up in the tiniest suggestion of a smile.

"Thank you, Professor," said Jaune, still panting for breath. The soreness of his face, particularly his nose, was already fading, thanks to his Aura's recuperative capabilities.

"You may return to your seats," said Glynda, nodding at the two boys, who began to walk back towards the stairs leading up. Jaune's steps were already steadying, but Cardin's gait was lurching and unbalanced.

Jaune emerged to an enthusiastic hug from Ruby, while Pyrrha cheerfully complimented him on his form...immediately followed by Weiss snarking about his "graceful, diving thrust", which had Jaune blushing. It certainly hadn't been a picture finish. But a win was a win. And, this time, he hadn't simply won through Cardin's own stupidity. Even the members of their sister team were congratulating him, Yang slapping Jaune on the back with enough force to almost send him pitching forward into the next row of seats.

Of course, it went without saying that Cardin wasn't taking his second loss to Jaune, in as many matches, well at all. Cardin's indigo eyes were locked on Jaune, and he glared furiously. Jaune didn't notice, neither did his friends, except Ruby, who watched Cardin warily out of the corner of her eye. Jaune was doing more of his training on his own now, which would only make him more vulnerable to Cardin and his cronies. Unfortunately, she couldn't keep an eye on her partner constantly. This match, at least, had shown that Jaune could hold his own in a straightforward fight. Hopefully, CRDL's punishment for their previous bullying of Jaune would keep them from attempting anything else outside the ring.

There were a couple more matches that session. But no one from Ruby and her group of friends were called to fight. Much to their lack of surprise, people weren't exactly chomping at the bit to challenge Pyrrha Nikos, or the girl that had fought her to a draw. While the match had brought an end to Pyrrha's image of invulnerability, it had also revealed her Semblance, which only seemed to make potential opponents less-inclined to fight her. It seemed that the fact that Ruby had actually been able to match Pyrrha had elevated the younger girl up to a similar level of status, with most students assuming that they had no hope against her.

Granted, this would be one of the last sessions where Glynda would be calling for volunteers for a while. In the next session, she would go back to picking out the matchups herself. Hopefully that would give Pyrrha and Ruby more opportunities to fight.

* * *

When the class ended, Ruby and her friends filed out into the hall, preparing to head to the library to get started on their homework. However, Ruby's scroll buzzed in her pocket. Fishing it out, Ruby was surprised to see a message from Ozpin, of all people, summoning her and her team to his office.

Saying their goodbyes to their friends on Team RYNB, Ruby and her teammates made their way across the campus to Beacon Tower, taking the elevator up to Ozpin's office. As they waited for the elevator to finish its ascent, Ruby shifted uneasily, wondering if they were in trouble for something.

The doors slid open, and they crossed the expanse of the office to stand before the desk. Ozpin was there, already watching them from his seat. "Thank you for coming so promptly, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin. "I apologize for calling you out here, but I felt that you needed to be informed of this development; Ms. Nikos as well."

"Uh oh," said Jaune.

Pyrrha sighed. "What is the media saying now?" she wanted to know. It must have been something quite scandalous, for the Headmaster to call them to his office.

"Nothing, actually...not yet," said Ozpin. "However, the issue is what they _might_ say, if we do not address this."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"We've received another request for an interview, from Ms. Lavender, of the Vale News Network," said Ozpin. "Normally, we would simply pass that along and, as usual, leave it up to you whether to accept or reject the request. However, said request was accompanied by a packet of information."

Ozpin tapped the surface of his desk, and a hologram flickered into being above it. A series of files appeared in the air for all of them to see. Ruby gasped as she met the eyes of a picture of herself, a much younger picture. Reading the accompanying information made her heart hammer in her chest. "This is from my primary school, on Patch!"

"And a confirmation of your birth from the hospital," added Ozpin, bringing another file to the fore. "At least, it's a confirmation that there was a Ruby Xiao Long, born to Taiyang Xiao Long and Summer Rose. However, it's not hard to make the connection. There are also police reports regarding your disappearance." New pages flickered up, allowing Ruby and her teammates to see.

"They found all of this," whispered Ruby, horrified.

"Ms. Lavender's investigative capabilities are to be commended," said Ozpin, dismissing the image over his desk. "She has requested an interview with you, at least, and has indicated that the alternative would be to head over to Patch..."

"...And talk to Dad," grumbled Ruby.

Ozpin nodded slowly.

"This is preposterous!" exclaimed Weiss. "This is blackmail...extortion!"

"All Ms. Lavender's information was obtained through legitimate channels," said Ozpin. "Her willingness to try and use this as leverage to entice you into an interview with her is only slightly better than the alternative of her simply continuing her investigation, by moving on to your father, Ms. Rose."

"That's one heck of a mixed blessing, if I've ever heard one," grumbled Jaune.

The look on Ozpin's face indicated he agreed.

"What should I do?" asked Ruby.

"As always, the choice as to whether or not you accept this request lies with you," said Ozpin. "Regardless of what else Ms. Lavender finds, what narrative your father attempts to spin, your place at Beacon is under no threat. However, allowing your father to write the story concerning your disappearance could make things difficult for you in the public sphere, particularly if you ever wish to go into Vale anytime in the future."

Ruby felt sick to her stomach.

"As for that...we would simply have to take things as they come," continued Ozpin. "However, should you decide to accept this request, _this_ is where I would need to advise you."

"How so?" asked Ruby.

"Should you accept Ms. Lavender's request, then the question will invariably arise as to where and how you were trained," explained Ozpin.

"Oh..." said Ruby, realizing what he was getting at.

"Do you not want people to find out about the Mibu?" asked Weiss.

"It's not me, so much as...others," said Ozpin cryptically. "Acknowledging the Mibu is a serious taboo, particularly here in Vale, as they were heading that expedition that the Mibu brought to such a disastrous and humiliating end. If the subject of the Mibu were to come up in the midst of a public interview, there are some powerful...and dangerous...people who would take notice...and then potentially take action."

"How?" wondered Pyrrha.

"A number of ways," said Ozpin. "Furthermore, if it is to silence someone they don't want talking, about a subject they don't want spoken of, then they will not hesitate to target those close to you, Ms. Rose."

_Ashley,_ thought Ruby worriedly. Needless to say, the bulk of her friends were powerful fighters (Jaune wasn't, but was getting there). They were also Beacon students, who spent the majority of their time on a rather secure campus. Even when they went into Vale, they had the advantage of their Auras and combat training, even if they weren't carrying their weapons at the time.

But Ashley was a civilian, going to a civilian school. Compared to Ruby's other friends, she was dangerously vulnerable and exposed. It didn't help that Ruby hadn't been worried about being seen with her, before she had abruptly became famous. Considering the kind of people Ozpin was describing, and the kind of acts he suggested they were willing to commit, Ruby wouldn't put it past them to find out about Ashley, somehow.

"That being said, if you agree to the interview, I urge you to exercise discretion, when talking about your training," said Ozpin. "That includes speaking about how you use Aura instead of Dust. Presently, it is assumed by the public at large that you used Dust for your lightning techniques. It might be in your best interests to do nothing that would disabuse them of that notion."

"Do you think I should agree to the interview?" asked Ruby.

"I cannot advise you either way," said Ozpin sadly. "Both approaches come with their own attendant risks."

Ruby mulled his words over. She could see what he meant about risks. If she agreed to the interview, she would have to tiptoe around the subject of her training, and where she'd done it. However, if she refused, then this reporter would just go and get a story from her father..._a_ story, not _the_ story. Ruby was already seeing all the myriad ways Taiyang could try to spin this opportunity, from accusing Sasame (he didn't know about Kyo yet) of kidnapping, Ozpin of interference, or even claiming that she was a prisoner at Beacon. While she didn't know how those things would go over, what she _did_ know was that it could make matters uncomfortable for a long time to come.

There was also the risk that her father's remarks could wind up drawing attention to the Mibu in some way or another, even if he wasn't aware of it. Mitarai Sasame wasn't a normal name in the Kingdoms, and her name order indicated further differences, which might be enough to incite a reaction from these "powerful people" Ozpin had warned her about.

"I guess I should agree," said Ruby with a pensive frown.

"That is, perhaps, the best option," said Ozpin. "After all, it will give you an opportunity to shape the narrative, and you need not say anything you do not want to."

"All right," said Ruby. "I'll agree to it."

She felt a hand close around her own. Ruby looked up next to her, to see that Pyrrha had taken her hand with a friendly smile. "_We'll_ agree to it," said Pyrrha firmly.

"A-are you sure?" asked Ruby.

Pyrrha nodded. "If I'm there, it will give them a second person to question, which will limit the time they have for individual questions, making it less likely that they'll ask too much about your training."

"That's an excellent idea," said Ozpin, "and certainly our best hope to avoid any future problems. Hopefully, we can satisfy the media's need for a story, and they can move on."

"Hopefully..." said Ruby uneasily.

* * *

Ruby sent in their agreement to the interview, which had probably gone over as something of a surprise to the people at the VNN, this particular invitation having been issued to Ruby alone. Along with it, they sent a request to hold the interview that coming Saturday, so that it wouldn't cut into their school or homework time.

Within a matter of hours, Ruby was already regretting her decision, when Yang showed her and Pyrrha that the VNN had followed up by bombarding advertisements for the interview all over the network. It seemed that the station was going to try and milk this opportunity for all that it was worth.

* * *

"_So you don't really want to do it?_" asked Ashley over the scroll.

Ruby sighed, rolling back on her bed. "Not really," she said. "But they found out a bunch of stuff about me, and, well...if I _don't_ go in, they'll go interview my dad instead, and I don't want to think of what he'll say."

"_You mentioned running away from home,_" said Ashley, recalling their conversation the last time they went out together.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "Unfortunately, I ran into Dad right after I came back from our time at the bakery. He hadn't changed much."

"_How bad?_"

"He tried to drag me back to his home, pretending I lost a bet to him, a bet I never made."

"_Ouch!_" Ruby could practically hear Ashley wince over the line.

Ruby let out another breath. "So he's not allowed on campus anymore. Apparently he took a bunch of time off from Signal. No one's sure what that means. For all I know, he could be sitting around, drunk off his butt again, as though that wasn't what caused the problems in the first place."

"_Do you want to talk about it?_" prodded Ashley.

"Not right now," said Ruby, "not over a scroll, at least."

"_I understand,_" said Ashley. "_I guess we're not going to be able to hang out together for a while._"

"Probably not," said Ruby not bothering to hide her regret. "I don't want to get you chased around by reporters too. You might want to...uh...not talk about knowing me, for a while at least."

"_Um...It might be a little too late,_" said Ashley, sounding vaguely ashamed.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"_Um...well...you know when that video of your match with Pyrrha first came out?_"

"Uh huh..."

"_Well...uh, I'd just gotten out of class, when I saw some people watching it. So I was watching over their shoulders, and the first thing out of my mouth was 'Is that Ruby?_'"

"Oops," said Ruby, seeing where this was going.

Ashley let out a nervous giggle. "_Yeah. And my classmates were like, 'You know her?' And I said, 'Sure, she's my friend.' And then...well...things got...a bit hectic. I'm sorry._"

"It's okay," said Ruby quickly. "There's nothing to be done. I just figured you shouldn't talk about it so that you don't get bugged by the press. How are things in school?"

"_A little weird,_" admitted Ashley. "_I had a bunch of classmates asking if I could introduce them to you, but I told them you're pretty shy._"

"That's not too far from the truth," mused Ruby.

"_They backed down after a while,_" said Ashley. "_I haven't had reporters coming banging on my door yet, so I think I'm in the clear, for now. For all I know, they might think I'm just making it up. Either that, or reporters don't want to bother with interviewing a faunus._"

Ruby made a sour face, glad her friend couldn't see it. "Talk about your mixed blessings," she said softly.

"_I know, right!?_" Despite what she'd just said, Ashley seemed to consider her remark more of a jest than a serious statement.

"_Well, I'll still be watching,_" said Ashley, her tone softening. "_Let's hope this gets the press to let up, then we can find some time to hang out again._"

"I'd like that," said Ruby. "I also want to introduce you to my teammates, if I can get the chance."

"_I'd really like that,_" said Ashley eagerly, making Ruby bite back a giggle, figuring that the fact that Pyrrha was on Ruby's team was probably one of the main factors behind her friend's enthusiasm.

"Talk to you later," said Ruby.

"_Bye,_" Ashley replied, the two of them hanging up.

Ruby fell back onto her bed with a sigh, staring at the ceiling. It felt good to be able to talk to Ashley, even if it was just over a scroll. Ruby figured that having this kind of connection, a friend she could chat and gossip with over the scroll, was one of the things she'd missed out on, running away from home. Sure, she'd been able to talk with her friends, back in Onmyo, but they'd always had to be in the same place in order to do that. There was definitely something nice about being able to talk to Ashley on a whim, without needing to worry about meeting up with her in person, while dragging a gaggle of reporters and photographers in her wake. All Ruby had to do was pull the device out of her pocket and, like magic, she could talk to her friend in the Faunus Quarter of Vale as though they were together in the same room. Of course, given the way her father had been acting, back before she'd left, it was likely that Ruby would have missed out on this sort of thing anyway. She doubted that Taiyang would have even allowed her to _have_ her own scroll, and his decision to pull her out of school would have left Ruby without any friends to call.

She was of two minds about the upcoming interview. Saturday couldn't soon enough, as doing this would hopefully allow her and Pyrrha to put this ridiculous matter behind them and move on. However, she also wished she could put it off indefinitely. She hadn't come to Beacon to get caught up in media sensations and false scandals. She wanted to become a Huntress, and go out to fight the Grimm. That such a huge affair could be made out of a single sparring match was galling in the extreme. On top of that, there were the worries about what might happen, if she allowed it to slip that she'd been trained by the Mibu, Ozpin's dire warnings lingering in the back of her mind.

Still, the die had been cast. Now all Ruby could do was hope that this interview would help settle things sooner.

* * *

As a man of action, Adam Taurus didn't like to be kept waiting. Every minute spent standing around was a minute that could be spent elsewhere, doing something productive. There were attacks to organize, raids to plan, a host of matters that demanded his attention. Just about any of them would have been preferable to standing here, on a rocky outcropping that jutted out into the sea, like a natural pier.

Of course, as the leader of Vale's branch of the White Fang, Adam Taurus also knew a thing or two about patience, about the need to wait. An optimal attack always relied upon finding the best time to strike, and Adam was someone who knew how to execute a perfect attack. That ability to wait, and strike at _just_ the right time was even critical to his style.

The wind blowing in off the sea ruffled the short, spiked, red hair on top of his head, blowing between the curving arcs of the two horns that protruded from his cranium. It also caused the tail of the black suit-jacket he wore to billow behind him, making the red shirt he wore beneath it more visible, as well as showcasing his black pants and shoes. The moonlight gleamed down, illuminating the symbol of a wilting rose embroidered in red onto the back of his jacket. However, the aspect of his appearance that commanded the most attention was the white mask, decorated with red, which rested over his face, covering his eyes and obscuring his appearance. Since he had introduced the concept, the white mask, based upon the Creatures of Grimm, had become the hallmark of the White Fang, particularly here, in the area around Vale.

Taken altogether, Adam looked like a monster. And he supposed that he _was_ one. He was _proud_ to call himself a monster. As far as he was concerned, monsters were what the humans deserved. He was a monster, leading other monsters, monsters that, like the Grimm, would ultimately descend upon and devour the human race, leaving a world where the faunus would rule.

Of course, accomplishing this took a good bit more doing than Adam would have liked, hence why he was out here, waiting for an ally to bring in the supplies he needed. It irritated him to no end to be so dependent on humans, it hadn't helped that he and the White Fang had been forced into this dependency under duress. However, he also had to admit that these humans had their uses.

Beneath the night sky, away from the lights of the Kingdom, the sea was dark. However, before Adam's masked eyes, the section of the sea grew darker still, a black shadow becoming visible beneath the surface, slowly approaching the point he stood upon. Adam tensed slightly, the fingers of his left hand tightening around his weapon, a sheathed chokuto. Both the sword and the sheath were weapons in their own right, named Wilt and Blush respectively. If the need arose, Adam could draw his blade in a crimson flash, cutting down most foes before they could even blink.

He was prepared to execute just such a strike, just in case. Normally, the seas around Vale were too shallow to support the movement of especially large aquatic Grimm, except for particular points like this one, where the seafloor was virtually nonexistent beyond the rocky projection Adam himself stood upon, marking the beginning of a rapidly deepening trench that extended out into the open ocean. Such a space was a conduit where large, ocean-faring Grimm might be able to get closer to shore than usual in this region. However, it was also this unique piece of oceanic topography that made it possible for Adam to treat with his ally effectively.

So it was that Adam relaxed when the dark mass that rose up from below did not explode upwards with a bloodthirsty roar. Though his tension peaked when the moon gleamed off the white of a massive human skull, leering out of the water at him with black, empty eyes. It rose up smoothly and softly, water spilling down the gentle slope of a curving hull of black metal, upon which the image of a human skull had been painted in frightening relief, so that those empty eyes stared out from the hull just over the ship's pointed bow. Aside from the splashing of the water, there had been virtually no sound to mark the vessel's arrival. It had risen up from the depths as silently as a wraith, a silence that completely belied a vessel the size of one of Atlas' Seraphim-class warships.

Even though he could only see the topmost portion of it, Adam found himself admiring the submersible's graceful design, noting the smooth, continuous curve of its elongated body, undisrupted by anything that might have been a bridge. The front portion of it narrowed down to an almost dagger-like point, which came to rest mere inches away from the edge of the natural pier that Adam stood upon.

A soft hiss accompanied a spray of water along the centerline of the vessel's hull. A seam appeared, and the front portion, the narrowing part of the submersible's dorsal surface, split open, the two curving portions of the top of the hull sliding away from one another, giving Adam a view of a cavernous interior, like a hangar. Having fully emerged from the deep, the metal plating of the floor within this open section was now almost perfectly level with Adam's perch. He could have stepped forward onto the deck of this vessel without the slightest bit of difficulty.

However, he did not do so. The blue-haired woman in the red greatcoat standing directly in front of him would have made that difficult. At the sight of the woman, and her gaudy outfit, Adam suppressed the urge to growl. Most of their human allies were irritating, at the best of times, but this particular woman was insufferable. It didn't help that, at the sight of him, the woman broke out into a particularly covetous smirk.

"Adam Taurus," she said, a husky tone to her voice, "so good to see you again."

"Morgan..." growled Adam, gritting his teeth. "Let's get this over with."

Morgan Bloodworth chuckled. "My my, still such a contrary fellow, Adam. You could stand to loosen up a little. You should spend some time at sea with me."

"Not a chance," growled Adam. "Have you got the goods or not?"

"Of course I do," said Morgan, adopting an expression of resigned good humor. "When have I ever let you, or _her_, down?"

Adam had to admit that she hadn't. "I suppose you're more reliable than Torchwick," he said.

"Come now, dear Roman was _very_ reliable," said Morgan. "I can attest to that. What I am to the high seas, he is to the streets of Vale."

"_Was_, you mean," grumbled Adam.

"I suppose," said Morgan. "Although that speaks more to the quality of the one that managed to bring him down than any _lack_ of quality on his part."

"I'm not interested in arguing over that," grumbled Adam. "Get your cargo unloaded, then go off and keep doing your pirating."

Morgan sighed dramatically. "Still no appreciation for the finer things in life, I see, like congenial conversation." She shrugged. "Oh well." With that, she turned and shouted into the hold. "Oy! Get those crates unloaded, you swabs!"

Adam turned and stalked back down the rocky projection. As he left, several other members of the White Fang filed in in his wake, forming a line along the point, while the members of Morgan's crew did the same from the other side, forming a single chain of people, along which they passed several crates out from the submersible, and down the point, where more White Fang members loaded them onto the bays of waiting bullheads.

For her part, Morgan took a couple of skipping steps forward and to one side, practically jumping off the deck of her ship. She landed on the curving hull, sliding down along its length to where it met the waters that embraced the point. Upon reaching the water, Morgan didn't hesitate to step forward. However, rather than plunge right into the unusually deep water, the liquid beneath Morgan's boot solidified into ice, accompanied by a flash from the blue, jeweled cufflinks on her sleeves. She continued to walk forward, new footholds of ice appearing beneath each step as she walked along the point, before she reached the main portion of the shore, where the ice beneath her feet rose up into a column that allowed her to step off onto dry land.

"You want something else?" growled Adam, glaring at her as she moved up to stand next to him.

"Merely to ask how things are going for you," said Morgan cheerfully. "Has our mutual employer been as grating for you as she has for me?"

Adam snorted softly. "You're fortunate you hardly have to deal with her."

"True enough, I suppose," said Morgan with a grin. "I also wanted to inform you of an opportunity."

"What opportunity?" growled Adam.

"Schnee is adapting his strategy," said Morgan. "Of course, one vessel, even one as splendid as mine, can only be in one place at a time. Schnee appears to be aware of that. He's been sending some of his latest shipments around the east coast of Sanus, and having them carried overland to Vale. Of course, it's more expensive than shipping them to Vale's docks directly, but that's still preferable to having _me_ get them."

"So change seas," growled Adam.

"Were that so easy," said Morgan with a laugh. "Of course, Schnee is still sending shipments down this route. The problem is, whether he goes east or west, some of those shipments are decoys...empty holds, stacked with fake ballast to throw us off. I've found two already."

"So keep sinking them," growled Adam. "Schnee won't be able to waste his cargo-space on decoy containers if he doesn't _have_ the ships to use as decoys."

"I could, darling," said Morgan. "However, as magnificent as my vessel is, it can't be in two places at once. I can either patrol along the western coast of Sanus, or the eastern side. In either case, it means that more than a few ships are bound to get past me. On top of that, we shouldn't destroy _all_ of Schnee's ships. After all, even if it's unwillingly, he _is_ still our chief supplier. That being the case, I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?" growled Adam.

"Why don't I hold down the fort on the eastern side?" said Morgan. "I'll handle the ships that come that way. You, however, already have your people in the Kingdom. They were supposed to be helping Roman pull off heists there. Of course, now that dear Roman has been incarcerated..."

"You're saying that I should have them rob the shipments brought in through the docks in Vale?" asked Adam.

Morgan nodded, grinning. "Think about it. The SDC will be so relieved, simply by the realization that their ships are making it to port, that they probably won't even think about upping the security at the docks. All those lovely containers of Dust, just sitting there, waiting for some enterprising White Fang to remove them..."

"I'll consider it," growled Adam.

"Oh dear, are you worried _that_ much about losing Cinder's approval?" asked Morgan teasingly. "Don't worry, Laddie. We're only improving upon her plan. Or are you just _that_ afraid of her?"

With a click, Adam's thumb pushed against the hilt of his sword, baring a crimson inch of the blade within the sheath, while his lips pulled back to reveal his teeth. "Tread carefully, pirate scum," he snarled. "Don't speak of fear, when you serve her for the same reason."

Morgan threw back her head and laughed. "Oh Laddie," she cooed, once she calmed down enough, "I don't fear Cinder. For sure, she has power, and a lot of it. But I have seen _far_ worse." She fixed Adam with a feral grin, her sole visible eye taking on a manic quality. "I've seen the sea literally come alive and devour an entire fleet of my ships. I didn't lose this arm to a Grimm, I'll have you know." She pulled back the sleeve over her left arm, reveal plates of black metal. "Compared to that, Cinder throwing out a few sparks isn't anything to get worked up about, even if she doesn't need to use Dust to do it."

"Then why do you serve her?" asked Adam.

"Isn't it obvious?" Morgan retorted, gesturing to the state-of-the-art submersible still being unloaded a short ways away. "It's because I've been so handsomely compensated. Look at her! A beauty like this would be the envy of even Atlas' navy. With her to helm, me and my crew have become ghosts of the depths, swallowing ships into darkness, with no one any the wiser.

"On top of that, Cinder's little 'arrangement' with you makes it so much easier for me to offload the loot from my raids. You'd be surprised at how hard and complicated it can be to sell illicit cargo, under normal circumstances."

Morgan certainly didn't mean for her manner and words to calm Adam. But he still sheathed his sword, mostly because, however much he despised this woman, associating with her was a necessity. It helped that, while she was undeniably a self-serving witch, at the very least she wasn't discriminating in her selfishness. The faunus members of her crew were treated just as well as the human ones, even if the faunus were the minority. Just to be sure, Adam had a few of his own people subtly 'chat' with some of the faunus members of Morgan's crew during a couple of their earlier liaisons. It turned out that the one case of racism being exhibited by a human aboard Morgan's vessel had ended with the human being flogged to within an inch of his life by Morgan herself.

"So...what do you think?" asked Morgan. "You can run it by Cinder, if you like. But I intend to head east after this."

"Fine," huffed Adam, glancing over to see that his soldiers and Morgan's crew were offloading the last of her cargo.

Morgan flashed him one last teasing grin. "It's been a treat, as usual, Adam. We'll see each other again, I'm sure."

"I'm sure..." agreed Adam, reluctantly.

Morgan kindly waited for Adam's subordinates to get out of her way, before heading out along the rocks, and stepping smoothly onto the deck of her ship. She walked into it without a glance back, the curving plates of the hull sliding closed once again. Adam watched as the submersible sank out of sight, locking gazes with that painted skull, until it too vanished.

"Vale...hmm?" Adam mused as he turned away to head towards the bullhead that would carry him and his men back to their next staging area. _It's just as well,_ he thought. _After all, that's the most likely place to find her._

* * *

**Well, Jaune's certainly improving. Or rather...Cardin hasn't really learned his lesson yet.**

**Once I wrote her, I knew I had to bring Morgan back. Making her a part of Salem's crew was a pretty natural fit, and I found that she has a unique dynamic with the rest of Salem's people, although that won't come up for a while. There were other ideas I had that didn't pan out, mostly because they didn't fit with the flow of the story, or make much sense. I'll get into those later.**


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43:**

When Ruby and Pyrrha arrived at the news station, the very last thing they expected was for Lisa Lavender to greet them with an apology.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "Using the information I found like that was my idea."

"You obviously knew it was wrong," Pyrrha noted. "That's practically blackmail."

Lisa's expression remained apologetic. "I figured it might be better than the alternative. One way or another, my bosses wanted more out of this story. The obvious route would be to follow up on the information I had and go after your father, Ms. Rose. But, considering that you ran away from home, I figured that wouldn't go over well with you...or at least, it would go over better to ask you to give _your_ side of the story."

Ruby blinked. She was surprised that such consideration had gone into what had been a rather dastardly move. It didn't really change the fact that Lisa's approach had been low. But she at least had good intentions...and hadn't used them as paving on the road to Hell...Purgatory maybe, but not Hell.

"Well...I'm okay," said Ruby, sighing. "I'd rather not bother with this, but..."

"I know," said Lisa sadly. "I'd rather move onto real news, but this is what we have now. I don't get as much freedom to choose the stories I want to cover as I'd like, so..." She shrugged in defeat.

"Well, no point in crying over spilled milk now," said Pyrrha.

"That being said, let's get you situated," said Lisa, leading them into the studio where their interview would be shot. It was a surprisingly plain room, with little to distract from the discussion that would be taking place. A trio of chairs were arranged on a carpeted stage, set up against a blank backdrop. The stage gave way to a black floor, where cameras were arranged at a variety of angles, all of them capable of adjusting their position and orientation.

The interview was set at an hour, which made Ruby more than a little nervous. She had no idea how much time they could eat up with the basic questions. Even with both her and Pyrrha present, there was probably going to be plenty of time for Lisa to ask about her training. Ruby merely found herself hoping that she could avoid the topic as much as possible.

With the countdown to air-time commencing, the three of them sat down and readied themselves. Ruby fidgeted nervously, until Pyrrha reached over to take one of her hands, and give a reassuring squeeze. Pyrrha, an old hand at this sort of thing, was perfectly calm and composed, a polite, easygoing smile on her face as she mentally counted down the seconds herself, until they went live.

When the cameras began to roll, Lisa immediately turned to address the audience. "Thank you for tuning in for our special interview with Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos. These two young students of Beacon Academy have become known internationally, after recordings of their sparring match went viral across all four Kingdoms. With Ms. Nikos' previous undefeated streak, the occurrence of a draw in their match caused quite the stir, which is what has led to this moment." She turned to Pyrrha and Ruby, flashing them an encouraging smile. "Thank you for joining us."

"Thank you for having us," said Pyrrha, as polite as ever.

"To begin with, you turned down several previous requests for interviews," said Lisa, to the surprise of Ruby, and even Pyrrha. "I apologize for us twisting your arms, in a sense, but I _am_ curious, was there a reason that you were opposed to giving interviews before?"

"Well, to be honest, we never thought it was such an important issue," said Pyrrha, leaning back, affecting a relaxed, casual look. "It was just a sparring match, after all. At the time, we had no idea it was going to be shared so widely. Truth be told, it didn't seem like something worth getting worked up about."

"I see," said Lisa, turning her eyes to Ruby. "Ms. Rose...?"

"Um...well..." Ruby shifted awkwardly, not having had any of the practice Pyrrha had had at these sorts of things. "Pyrrha's right that we didn't think about it at the time. Even afterwards, it just seemed so...silly. Besides, we're busy."

"Busy with what?" wondered Lisa.

"Training," said Ruby, frankly enough. "We're at Beacon to train to be Huntresses, so...this sort of thing..." Ruby waved a vague hand at the studio set up around them. "It's not something that we wanted to have to deal with, especially over just a sparring match."

"You were aware of Ms. Nikos previous reputation, of course?" noted Lisa.

"Yeah," said Ruby.

"To be honest, I didn't think all that much about my reputation at the time either," said Pyrrha. "I was excited to find an opponent who could actually push me to my limits. That was the best fight I've had since my very first matches in my first run in the Mistral Regional Tournament."

"So, your previous opponents have not been able to satisfy you?" pressed Lisa.

Pyrrha sighed. "I don't wish to imply that I'm talking down about my previous opponents," she said. "However, because of my record, the moment I step into the ring, many of them have already given up. They assume that their defeat is inevitable, and then don't bother to give it their all. That was a perpetual problem, back at Sanctum."

"And your Semblance doesn't have anything to do with it?" pressed Lisa.

"It's an advantage," said Pyrrha. "Maybe it's a bigger advantage than most would have, but that doesn't make me invincible, despite what people call me. Every fighter brings their advantages and disadvantages into the ring, and it's up to them to make the best use of those that they can. My Semblance is far from infallible. As my partner once pointed out, if it were, we wouldn't even be _having_ this interview. I would have simply defeated Ruby the way I do all my opponents, and no one would have been any the wiser."

Lisa nodded, her eyes widening at the implication. "That's an interesting point to make. Let's go over the match itself. What brought it about? Why did you challenge Ms. Rose?"

"I'd been wanting to fight Ruby after the first time I saw her fight," said Pyrrha. "Her skills are spectacular, and I saw someone who would be an actual challenge to me."

"And why did you accept her challenge, Ms. Rose?" asked Lisa, turning her eyes on Ruby.

"Well, 'cause Pyrrha's my friend," said Ruby. "She wanted to fight, and I wanted to fight her. I was excited to go up against a strong opponent."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "So you thought you could be the one to defeat the Invincible Girl?"

"Um...What?" Ruby blinked. "I wasn't even thinking about that. I've been...out of touch...for a while, so I didn't even know who Pyrrha was, until I came to Beacon."

"Where were you?" wondered Lisa.

"All over the place," Ruby replied. "I did most of my training out in the wilderness, between the settlements."

That was a little bit of a lie. She had been on two training excursions, one across Leng, the other across Anima. But the bulk of her training had been in Onmyo, not that she could afford to say anything about that here.

"I see," said Lisa. "Your training is one of the major blanks concerning your personal information, Ms. Rose. Who taught you how to fight?"

"I can't answer that," said Ruby, figuring that trying to dance around the subject would only just make Lisa latch onto that all the more. "My teachers...prefer to remain anonymous."

"Is that so?" mused Lisa, her eyes narrowing slightly. Ruby could tell that her response had made Lisa even more curious. Hopefully she wouldn't press it anyway.

Fortunately, Lisa backed down. Instead, she changed topics. "Now then, I found out a fair bit about you, Ms. Rose, though I suppose it's more than you would have liked."

Ruby nodded.

Lisa made a show of looking through a sheaf of papers that presumably contained her notes for the interview. "So then, if you don't mind, I have a few questions concerning your background."

"I'll answer what I can," said Ruby warily.

"You were reported to the police as missing, some six years ago," said Lisa. "The official report was that you ran away from home."

"I did," said Ruby.

"May I ask why?"

Ruby frowned. "It's a bit of a long story. There are parts I feel okay with talking about, and parts I don't."

"Then, by all means, please tell us what you feel comfortable with," said Lisa.

"Okay..." began Ruby.

Abruptly, Lisa reacted to something outside Ruby's field of vision. "Actually, I'm afraid that we'll have to come back to that, after a short sponsor break."

"And cut!" shouted someone from over in the studio section.

"Sorry," said Lisa, immediately relaxing a little more. "I should have warned you that we'll be cutting to commercials occasionally during this."

"Well, it's what I expected," said Pyrrha.

"Uh...I guess I should've," said Ruby.

"There should be three more such breaks over the course of this session," said Lisa. "They last about five minutes each. Feel free to get a drink of water or use the restroom, if you need to."

"Thanks," said Ruby, feeling a bit relieved that this hour-long interview wouldn't actually be conducted for a whole hour.

Neither she and Pyrrha felt any need to move at the moment, so they waited until the crew began the countdown to the resumption of the program. Lisa straightened in her seat, and flashed the pair a grin. A few seconds later, the count reached zero, and she resumed.

"And we're back with Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos, regarding the sparring match that went viral across the four Kingdoms. When we last left off, Ms. Rose was about to inform us about her background, and her decision to run away from home. Ms. Rose..."

It took Ruby a second to recognize her cue. She flinched, blinking, then began to speak. "Oh! Right...Um...A-anyway...Yeah, I did run away from home, when I was nine."

"Why?" asked Lisa.

"I couldn't stay with my father anymore," said Ruby. "It's a bit of a long story, going back to when my mother died."

"Your mother was a Huntress, correct?" pressed Lisa.

Ruby nodded. "She died on a mission. After that, Dad...well...he shut down. He stopped doing...just about anything, really, except for drinking. He stopped caring about anything else. My older sister basically had to start looking after the both of us, in his place."

"That's awful!" gasped Lisa, one hand going to her mouth.

Ruby nodded. "But then there was an incident..." She decided not to relate the whole details, not wanting to cast Yang in a negative light for her ill-considered decision. "We were attacked by Grimm. Luckily, our uncle was able to save us. After that, Dad kinda snapped out of whatever funk he was in. But..." Ruby sighed. "Well...he started treating me differently."

"How so?" asked Lisa warily.

"He wouldn't let me train, said I wasn't allowed to become a Huntress," said Ruby, frowning as she recalled those days. "He started to get...pushy, I guess. He got anxious if I was away from home for too long, even if I was at school or with friends. Basically, his behavior started pushing my friends away, because they and their families didn't want to deal with him. Then, one night, I heard him telling my sister that he was gonna pull me out of school, and keep me at home all the time."

"That certainly is...disturbing," said Lisa, unnerved by the notion.

Ruby nodded. "I got together what I could and left that night, while everyone else was asleep. I snuck on the ferry to Vale, and tried to get training there. I didn't have much luck, and I ran out of what money I brought with me before too long. If I hadn't run into my first teacher, I would've started stealing to get by."

"So your teacher saved you from that?" asked Lisa.

Ruby nodded. "After she learned what I'd been through, she offered to help me. I was a bit suspicious at first, but she was honest with me. She took me out of the Kingdom to meet her friend, my other teacher, and they began my training."

"You _do_ realize that what they did could technically be construed as kidnapping?" inquired Lisa.

"I know," said Ruby. "But they never betrayed my trust. They never did anything...bad...or hurt me. They trained me, and that's what allowed me to get into Beacon when I did."

"And so you spent six years with these teachers of yours?"

Ruby nodded again. "They became my family. They're my brother and sister now, two of the people I love most in the world." Granted, there were quite a few other people that Ruby considered her teachers. In some ways, Shinrei had been more of a teacher, in a formal sense at least, than Kyo and Sasame had been, since he was her main instructor in swordsmanship, back in Onmyo. Of course, Ruby couldn't say anything about that.

Lisa smiled fondly, an expression mirrored by Pyrrha, which Ruby thought looked much better than her normal, polite, smile. "Is there anything you _can_ tell us about your training?" Lisa asked next.

Ruby shrugged. "Well, there was all the usual stuff: strength training, endurance training, agility training, technique training. It was a little tricky for me to settle on a particular style. They also taught me wilderness survival and navigation, so that I can move between settlements. We went on a training excursion across Anima, when I turned thirteen. Just this year, we started another training excursion, where I was going to head down the length of Sanus, on my own, and meet up with them later on. I decided to drop by Vale, while I was at it, and that's when I wound up being invited into Beacon."

"Ah yes, the circumstances surrounding that are rather foggy," noted Lisa. "How did you wind up being invited into Beacon?"

"Um...well..." Ruby began to tap her index fingers together nervously. She wondered if she was even allowed to talk about her altercation with Roman. Ozpin had only advised her to avoid talking about her connections with the Mibu Clan. Ruby supposed that meant that talking about Roman Torchwick was okay...at least, not something that would lead to any threats against her...maybe.

In the end, she decided to go with a general overview. Perhaps Lisa wouldn't pry into it too much. "Well, I was visiting a Dust-shop, when these men came in and tried to rob the place. Since I was there, I took them down. Their leader almost got away, but I managed to pin him down until Professor Goodwitch was able to take him into custody. She took me to meet Professor Ozpin, and he invited me into Beacon."

Ruby could practically see the wheels turning in Lisa's head. "A Dust-shop robbery...Was the leader of the thieves Roman Torchwick? Was that _you_?"

Ruby blushed furiously and ducked her head. "Yeah," she said quietly.

"Amazing!" gasped Lisa. Then she paused. "But the police report on the situation never mentioned it."

"I'm not sure, but I think they wanted to keep my name out of it at the time," said Ruby, thinking that Ozpin might have had something to do with that. After all, if her name and face had been broadcasted across the Kingdom, then she probably would have been hearing from her father a lot sooner than she actually had.

"And can this be confirmed?" asked Lisa.

"I think so," said Ruby. "I don't know what any of the reports say about it."

"Hmmm..." Lisa tilted her head, apparently trying to figure out what to do with this new bit of information. "Well, that's for another time. So that was how you entered Beacon two years early, then?"

Ruby nodded nervously.

"I see," said Lisa. Once again, she paused, noticing another signal. "When we come back from our next break, we will go over the match that started all this."

Once again, someone out in the studio called "Cut!" Lisa, Ruby, and Pyrrha relaxed once more.

"I'm sorry for leaving you out of the conversation there, Ms. Nikos," said Lisa, regarding Pyrrha.

"It's fine," Pyrrha demurred, secretly pleased to actually be on the fringes of the conversation for a change. She'd done multi-person interviews before, but whoever was doing the interview almost always had more interest in her than any of the other participants. Though she didn't wish Ruby any discomfort, it was nice to not be the one put on the spot for a change.

"Need any water, bathroom break?" pressed Lisa.

"I could use a drink," said Ruby. She'd done a lot more talking than she was used to.

Someone immediately brought over a glass of water for her to sip from. By the time the countdown for the next segment began, she'd finished it, and handed it off. When the program resumed, Lisa opened with another intro, for the benefit of anyone who had tuned in in the meantime.

"And now, we return to the subject of the match itself," said Lisa. "I imagine the outcome was a surprise."

"It was," agreed Ruby. "Draws hardly ever happen."

"Professor Goodwitch has said that the monitoring systems are calibrated to within a tenth of a second," added Pyrrha. "Ruby knocked me out of the ring, and my last-ditch attack took off the last of her Aura within that period of time. Had either of us been a fraction faster or slower, the narrative here would be quite different."

"You don't seem too bothered by this, Ms. Nikos," said Lisa, focusing on Pyrrha.

"I'm not...not really," said Pyrrha. "This was the closest I've come to defeat since I first really started learning how to apply my Semblance. It was a grand experience to be pushed to my absolute limits."

"So you don't mind your record being broken?" asked Lisa.

"No," said Pyrrha, before sighing. "To be honest, I've always been bothered by it. I've wanted to push my capabilities, and discover my limitations. Always winning makes it hard to do that, especially when many of my opponents don't have much interest in giving it their all. Fighting against Ruby had forced me to reconsider how I fight, and think about how I can adapt and improve. I can't thank her enough for that."

"So there is no resentment towards her for exposing your Semblance?" prodded Lisa.

"None," said Pyrrha, without hesitation. "It's been my secret for years, I'll admit. But it's no different from any other fighter's secret. Some people have a special move. Others have a hidden function in their weapon. I just did a very good job at keeping my Semblance hidden from others."

"And how does your Semblance work, exactly?" asked Lisa.

"Well, as the media has explained numerous times, my Semblance is Polarity, magnetism. I can use it to affect almost anything made of metal. In my matches, I tend to use it in very small increments, in order to hide its presence. I can make minute adjustments to my opponents' movements on attack and defense in order to give myself an edge. Because they don't know what I'm doing, my opponents can't work out how to counter it."

"So you would say that the effectiveness of your Semblance is based upon your skill with using it," noted Lisa.

Pyrrha nodded, but it was Ruby who answered. "She really _is_ skilled!" Ruby said eagerly. "When I was fighting her, I felt something was...off...about my sword, whenever I was coming close to hitting her with it. But I couldn't figure out what was going on, not until I started using both my swords, and almost overwhelmed her."

"Ruby is the first opponent I've faced to force me to use my Semblance overtly," Pyrrha added. "Of course, now that it's in the open, I need to work out better ways to make use of it, seeing as there's no point to keeping it hidden anymore."

"Not that using it the way she always did before is a bad idea," Ruby pointed out. "Even when I knew what she was doing, figuring out what to do about it is tricky. It's not like you can switch to a non-magnetic weapon in the middle of combat. And she's so good at making those little adjustments that it's hard to do something about them, even when you know they're coming."

"Nonetheless, I'm quite excited about taking the opportunity to extend my repertoire," added Pyrrha. "I intend to use this opportunity to build on my strengths to create an even better style for myself."

"So there's no ill-will over the outcome of this match at all?" wondered Lisa.

"Nope," said Ruby.

"None," added Pyrrha.

"It would seem the two of you are very good friends," noted Lisa.

"Of course we are," said Ruby eagerly.

"Ruby is one of the best friends I've ever had," added Pyrrha.

"And do the two of you intend to fight again?" asked Lisa.

"Definitely," said Ruby. Then she paused, her eyes dancing back and forth to take in the scenery around them. "But...I think we'll try and keep it from being recorded, next time."

"That would probably be for the best," said Pyrrha, giggling

"And if you should lose, Ms. Nikos?"

Pyrrha shrugged. "Then I'll train harder, until I can beat her."

"So you aren't overly concerned about losing your reputation as the Invincible Girl?"

Pyrrha sighed, scratching her cheek. "That's a more...complicated...issue."

"Indeed it is," said Lisa. "Just a draw, and the revelation of your Semblance, has had quite the impact, one that's been felt the world over."

"You could say that," said Pyrrha, her good mood waning somewhat.

"From what we've heard, there has been quite the backlash in Mistral," added Lisa.

"There has," agreed Pyrrha. "I know that some have tried to call my previous tournament record into question, but the committee has stood by their decision."

"And what about your sponsors?" asked Lisa.

"I...haven't been keeping much track of that," said Pyrrha. "I put any work in that area on indefinite hold, while I was attending Beacon and, to be honest, I haven't had much interest in picking it back up after I graduate."

"You haven't?" asked Lisa.

Pyrrha sighed. "Well...I have to admit that many of the perks that come with a celebrity status are nice. But I feel that all the stress it puts me under isn't worth it. Honestly, facing down a horde of Grimm is less bothersome than some of the affairs I've been asked to do."

Lisa began to laugh at the perceived joke...until she realized that Pyrrha was being completely honest. "You mean, like having your life and actions heavily scrutinized over the outcome of a single sparring match?" she posed, starting to get a feel for what Pyrrha was talking about.

Pyrrha nodded, her expression sober. "Truth be told, my parents wanted me to withdraw from Beacon, and transfer to Haven."

"And do you plan to?"

"Absolutely not." Pyrrha's tone was resolute. "I'm happier than I've been in years, and I very much like the current direction of my life. If my sponsors choose to abandon me, then I have no issue with their decision. Once I graduate, I have confidence in my ability to live within my means as a professional Huntress."

"That's quite the bold claim," said Lisa.

"I don't think so, not really," said Pyrrha. "It's true that there's a great deal of risk entailed in such a profession. But, if you can deal with that, you can make quite a fine life for yourself."

"It certainly is good to know you have confidence in that arena," said Lisa.

A second later, they were caught in another break. This time, Ruby had to use the restroom. A helpful member of the staff gave her instructions. Though she tried to be quick, Ruby barely made it back under the five-minute time limit. Part of the problem was that she'd gotten caught up wondering what the rest of their interview would be about.

Once again, Lisa led with a final intro, indicating what was going on. After that, she dropped a surprising revelation. "By the way, we just received some interesting news, while this interview was going on. We were contacted by Professor Glynda Goodwitch, of Beacon Academy."

"Okay..." said Ruby warily, while Pyrrha looked on with a curious expression.

"She corroborated your role in bringing down Roman Torchwick," said Lisa. "She even supplied us with video evidence as proof. As a matter of fact, let's run it now."

The wall behind them abruptly turned into a large screen, broadcasting a recording of Ruby's fight with Roman and his enforcers. The sequence had actually been cut together from multiple different cameras, starting with a security feed inside the Dust shop, before transitioning to, and cutting between, a number of Vale's own security cameras, which provided different views of Ruby's fight with thugs in the street, followed by her duel with Roman. When he tried to flee to the roof, the camera feed followed them all the way up to the rooftop, giving everyone an overhead view of the struggle between Ruby and Roman, while the bullhead piloted by Roman's accomplice circled around. Finally, it showcased Glynda's arrival, and the departure of the bullhead.

Pyrrha blinked, wondering just how they'd gotten that video of the rooftop component of the fight. She didn't know about the architecture in that area, so maybe the camera had been mounted on a taller building...if there was one. It could have been taken by a drone, but she couldn't fathom why a drone would be there.

By the time the video had run its course, Ruby's face had turned bright-red. She'd ducked her head, throwing her hood over it. Lisa's expression had transitioned over the course of the broadcasted fight herself, going from one of polite interest, and washing to one of complete awe.

"Well," she said, once the video had run its course, "I think it's safe to say that we now know why Professor Ozpin issued you an invitation. That was a spectacular demonstration of skill, if I've ever seen one."

"It is," agreed Pyrrha, no small amount of awe in her tone. She'd never gotten the full details of what had happened that night. But now, seeing it for herself, she was all the more glad that Ruby was at Beacon with her.

"I see that the bullhead and its pilot got away though," noted Lisa.

Ruby nodded underneath her hood. "I...I guess who-whoever it was d-decided to cut their losses." She decided not to bring up the part where the pilot had been about to fire on her and Roman both, deciding to eliminate Roman, if his capture couldn't be prevented.

"Is this your first time seeing this, Ms. Nikos?" asked Lisa, looking to Pyrrha.

"It is," said Pyrrha, smiling. "Ruby had mentioned it. But she never went into detail about it."

Lisa chuckled softly. "I'd expect you to be more confident, after bringing down the most notorious criminal in the Kingdom."

"Um...uh...Well...I didn't know anything about that at the time," said Ruby, her voice getting softer. "I was just there...and they tried to hold up the place...and...well...I...I just did what I do."

Pyrrha giggled. "Ruby's very modest, most of the time," she said.

"I don't want people to think I'm bragging," protested Ruby weakly, tapping her index fingers together.

Ruby heard a high-pitched, muffled noise from Lisa, across from her. Then, to her surprise, she thought she heard something similar from Pyrrha. Ruby didn't realize it, but, at that moment, both of them had come within a hair's-breadth of jumping on her and cuddling her like an oversized plushie. She looked back and forth between her teammate and the reporter, baffled.

Finally, Lisa and Pyrrha managed to get their emotions under control. "Well, I can definitely see the appeal of being her teammate," noted Lisa.

"Quite," agreed Pyrrha cheerily, the two of them sharing a knowing smile, while Ruby continued to look back and forth between them in confusion.

Lisa coughed, regathering her composure. "In any case, I understand that your older sister is attending Beacon as well," she observed.

"That's true," said Ruby.

"Then you can tell us more about that after our final break," said Lisa, signaling another round of commercials.

Ruby leaned back in her seat with a tired sigh. It was almost over. Truth be told, it hadn't been that stressful. Lisa had been warned away from any lines of questioning about Ruby's teachers and training easily enough. Maybe it was a sort of apology for the underhanded way she'd brought this interview about that Lisa didn't pry too deeply into any topic Ruby expressed reluctance to talk about. Either way, it was nearly done.

Their five minutes came and went, with Lisa performing her last intro to the interview, and immediately resuming her line of questioning before.

"When last we left off, we were talking about the fact that you are attending Beacon with your older sister," said Lisa.

"That's right," said Ruby, feeling a bit uncomfortable about where this was about to go.

"And how has that been for you?" she asked.

"Um...Touch and go," said Ruby, "especially at first."

"It certainly came with its ups and downs," supplemented Pyrrha. "Frankly, we're lucky her sister ended up on a different team, or our dorm room probably wouldn't still be standing."

"Pyrrha!" Ruby squeaked, turning bright red and throwing an indignant glance her friend's way.

"So...I take it your relationship was rocky," observed Lisa.

Ruby let out a defeated sigh, sagging down. "Yeah," she admitted. "It was mostly my fault. I...well...for a long time...I blamed Yang for a lot of what I went through with Dad."

"Why is that?" asked Lisa.

"Well, every time Dad cut me off, decided I couldn't do something, or threw some kind of new restriction into my life, Yang was right there with him, going along with it without question, all while she got to get training, go to Signal, and become a Huntress." Ruby's tone darkened as her recall brought old emotions to the surface. "To be honest...I hated her for it."

"And that resentment was still there when you met her six years later?" asked Lisa.

Ruby nodded, looking abashed. "Well...neither of us got off on the right foot. Yang started talking down to me, like she and Dad used to. I...well...I got aggressive back."

"Really?" Lisa tilted her head, having a hard time seeing this modest, rather timid child acting aggressively with anyone, least of all her own sister.

"For several weeks, she refused to act as though Yang existed at all, if she could avoid it," added Pyrrha helpfully. "It was quite the source of tension, particularly since our teams were so close, otherwise."

Ruby looked as though she wanted to duck her head under her hood, and pretend the world outside it did not exist, as mortified as she looked.

"Did you manage to overcome this issue between the two of you?" asked Lisa.

"We did...eventually," said Ruby. "I...I blamed Yang unfairly for a lot of my problems. She's only two years older than me, so she wasn't in much of a position to go against Dad either. After a few things happened, we managed to talk things out. We're doing a lot better now."

"Her father, however, is _still_ quite the piece of work," said Pyrrha, a surprisingly bitter tone to her voice, one that was extremely at odds with her normal public demeanor.

"What happened?" asked Lisa.

"Well, it wasn't long before our match," said Pyrrha. "Ruby and Yang's father found that Ruby was at Beacon. He didn't react well."

"He tried to drag me back to his home from the moment he saw me," added Ruby sourly. "Professor Ozpin gave him the chance to watch me in my classes, to try and get him to change his mind. But he just ignored everything he saw and still decided that I shouldn't be a Huntress. He saw my match with Pyrrha, even tried to make me wager whether or not I could stay at Beacon over it. I didn't take him up on it, but he still acted like I did. So he treated our draw like he won."

"That's terrible!" gasped Lisa.

"The faculty had to basically throw him out," said Pyrrha. "As far as we know, he's on Patch still, but he's completely lost all visitation rights to Beacon."

Secretly, Lisa was glad for her decision to arrange this interview, even if Ruby and Pyrrha had needed to be coerced into participating. It would have been far better than giving Ruby's father a chance to write the narrative of this story. As it was, there was still every chance that her producer would still want her to reach out to Taiyang. But, at least this way, it would probably do a lot less harm to Ruby's private life.

"Well, it would seem that, despite all the obstacles in your path, and in spite of your father's best efforts, you are well on the way to becoming a fine Huntress," observed Lisa, smiling at the blush that decorated Ruby's cheeks.

"Thanks," Ruby squeaked.

"Ms. Nikos, it also sounds like you are on the road to becoming an excellent warrior as well," added Lisa, focusing her attention on Pyrrha.

"Thank you," said Pyrrha demurely.

"That's all the time we have for today," said Lisa. "I want to thank the two of you for joining us today, and I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors."

"Thank you," said Ruby and Pyrrha in unison.

With that, the cameras cut out for a final time, leaving Ruby and Pyrrha to slump with relief.

"I mean it when I say, thank you for coming down today," said Lisa, her tone earnest. "I know this must have been hard for the two of you."

"Well...I'm glad it's over," said Ruby.

"Unfortunately, it may not be over for a little while yet," said Lisa sadly. "While I'm sure it's helped people get a better appreciation for your situation, you're still going to be the focus of a fair bit of attention for sometime to come, at least until some bigger story comes out."

Pyrrha nodded in agreement, having had to put up with this sort of thing before. "It might be a little while before we can go into Vale normally," she added.

Ruby's face fell. She was looking forward to the next time she could see Ashley, but the more this whole affair snowballed out of control, the longer it seemed it would be until she could do that again.

Pyrrha, sensing Ruby's unease, reached over and rested an encouraging hand on Ruby's forearm. "It'll be fine," she said. "It won't be right away, but people will get over this eventually."

Ruby nodded. Secretly, she was just looking forward to the point where she dropped back into obscurity enough that people would stop writing her letters. While it had never quite reached the level of the first batch she found, each day still brought with it a pile of letters deposited into her mailbox. After her initial taste of what those letters had contained, Ruby had been reluctant to read anymore of them.

At first, they had simply rested on her desk, slowly building up into a pile that threatened to bury the entire thing. It was Weiss who had finally put her foot down, demanding that Ruby do something about them, even if it was throwing them away. She managed to get through to Ruby by pointing out that worrying too much about them was a distraction from her training. Ruby had never asked anybody to write her, and that these letters were an unnecessary distraction. Ruby had wound up throwing them away, unopened. But she couldn't quite stifle the sense of guilt that welled up within her every time she did so.

Ruby and Pyrrha said their goodbyes to Lisa, before heading to the top of the station, where a bullhead was waiting to ferry them back to Beacon. It had been a generous act on Glynda's part to offer air transportation directly to and from the station, so that the pair didn't have to try and make their way to Vale's streets, right after their interview had probably put them at the forefront of the thoughts of most of the populace. It might also have been a subtle apology on Glynda's part, for not anticipating something like this arising from what should have been a simple sparring match.

Tired from the stressful experience of her first televised interview, Ruby found herself nodding off to the muted whine of the bullhead's engines, leaning her head against Pyrrha's shoulder, and falling asleep. Glancing Ruby's way, Pyrrha found herself smiling at the serene look on her sleeping friend's face. Pyrrha draped an arm across Ruby's shoulders, letting the girl sleep through the flight. When the bullhead landed, rather than wake Ruby up, Pyrrha opted to carry her back to their room.

* * *

"HAA!" Jaune swept his sword through the downward arc Pyrrha had taught him. Stepping forward, he followed through with a second, horizontal, slash. Stepping forward again, he dipped the tip of his weapon down, before unleashing an upwards-sweeping blow. Finishing that, he drew back, maneuvering his shield back into place, practicing returning to his basic stance, and setting himself up for another repetition.

"Not bad," observed a bland voice from the edge of the clearing Jaune was practicing in.

Jaune jumped at the sudden voice intruding into his practice. Whirling about, he kept his shield at the ready, eying his commentator warily. It didn't help his anxiety to notice that the one talking to him was none other than Dove Bronzewing, one of Cardin's teammates.

The boy watched Jaune with a neutral expression, his arms folded across his chest, while he leaned against a tree. Jaune had picked a rather heavily wooded section of the courtyard to practice in, it being in a relatively unoccupied corner of Beacon's campus, affording him a good degree of privacy, allowing him to practice without too many interruptions.

Dove's expression was unreadable, his face set into that serious, stoic look he nearly always seemed to wear, when he wasn't expressing frustration at the antics of his teammates. Jaune had difficulty remembering if he'd ever seen the taciturn boy smile...maybe, after that one sparring match with Ren...

"It's not a bad idea, practicing out here," said Dove, stepping away from the tree. "Cardin's been trying to figure out where you go for a while now. But he's always checking the sparring rings and the training center. A place like this is one of the last he'd look. Of course, if he _did_ find out you were out here...alone...well..."

Jaune gulped, Dove's words helping him to realize that this was a double-edged sword. Out here, he was, of course, where very few people would think to look for him, including someone probably dead-set on interrupting his training. However, that isolation could be turned against him easily enough. If Cardin and his cronies found him out here, then they could torment Jaune with almost complete impunity, well away from any potential witnesses. At least, over in the official sparring rings and training center, it was more likely that the boys would be seen, and caught, at their bullying.

It took another few seconds for the other implication of Dove's words to sink in. "Wait...if?"

Dove shrugged indifferently. "I ain't about to help that muscle-brained moron cause anymore trouble for us, however much Sky and Russel seem to be egging him on. To be honest, I think his fixation on you is stupidity of the highest order. But Cardin's the sort with tunnel vision that would put an angry Boarbatusk to shame. The idiot doesn't care a lick for the consequences...right up until they bite him in the ass, then he has the gall to act as though it's _someone else's_ fault that he's in trouble for the crap he's pulled."

It was surprising to hear Dove rant about his teammate and leader like that. In a way, Jaune was reminded of Weiss, during the uncomfortable first couple days of Team RASP's formation, always finding fault in their new leader, always talking down about her. Except, in this case, Dove's complaints were perfectly justified. Cardin _did_ seem more interested in pursuing grudges, and acting like a bully, than actually acting as a Huntsman.

"Still, looking at you now, I think I get what the issue is," said Dove, stepping away from the tree. "That practice...basic drills...You're a beginner, aren't you?"

"Um..." Jaune's eyes went wide, and his entire body went tense, though he kept his shield up.

"Well...that explains a lot," grumbled Dove, glancing down at an angle. "It certainly explains why your teammates have been hanging around you so much. So they've been helping you train up, huh?"

"Y-yeah," admitted Jaune, reluctantly. Remembering how this had gone with Ren, he supposed he should have minded his friend's advice to not admit it so easily to someone who had figured him out. But Jaune also figured that he probably had no chance of actually pulling a fast one on Dove.

"Never trained before you got here, huh?" mused Dove. "I'd ask what in the hell you were thinking...but it's probably pointless. It's not my problem anyway."

"You're not angry?" asked Jaune.

"Eh, if you can't hack it, you can't hack it," said Dove with an indifferent shrug. "It's not like you bumped anyone else off the admission list. The Initiation's for weeding out the people with no hope of succeeding here. The fact that you made it through that means something."

"It means I have good friends," said Jaune seriously.

"Then maybe that's what you've got going for you...for now," said Dove. "Other things will come. But if you've got friends willing to help you, then you've got more than a lot of other people here."

"You're...why are you here?" inquired Jaune, canting his head.

"Well, I figured I'd look for you in the last place my leader would think to look," said Dove. "Granted, 'last' means it's _still_ on the list, and he'll get around to looking for you out here, sooner or later. That being the case, I figured it's best if I find you first."

"Why?" asked Jaune.

"So I can get your contact info," said Dove. "If Cardin or any of the others start heading your way, I can send you a warning, so you can clear out before they get here."

"You'd do that?" asked Jaune.

"Look, it's none of my business, if you're at Beacon with no training," said Dove. "If your teammates are willing to put up with that, more power to 'em. I'm not sure I would, were I in their place. But that's just me. What I _do_ know is that we're on Goodwitch's watchlist now. If Cardin pulls anything remotely like that stunt with your locker, then we're probably out of here on our asses..._all_ of us." He looked down, grumbling something unflattering about his teammates under his breath, before resuming. "And if I can't get that through Cardin's thick skull, then the next best thing is to do everything I can to make sure he doesn't get a chance to screw up."

"O-okay," said Jaune.

"That being said, let's swap our info," said Dove, pulling out his scroll.

"Sure," said Jaune, doing the same.

A moment later, they had traded their contact information.

"Well...now that that's done, I'm out," said Dove, turning around with an idle wave of his hand.

"Hey, hold on a second," called Jaune plaintively.

Dove paused. "What?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Would you...would you train with me for a while?" asked Jaune. "Practicing on my own is all well and good for swinging my sword. But I still need to do more work on my defense."

"So you want me to come at you," said Dove, turning around.

"Yeah," said Jaune.

Dove smirked. "Well...I'm not doing this because I'm gonna become your training buddy. But it pisses me off that my teammates are more interested in settling pointless grudges than they are training. Considering your level, it's beyond humiliating Cardin lost to you in that last match. I'd rather not end up like him, so I'll get a little training of my own in."

"Thanks," said Jaune.

Reaching down, Dove pulled his sword out of its sheath, leveling it at Jaune, before charging him. Jaune raised his shield and deflected Dove's swift slash. His arm immediately jolted as Dove whipped his blade back around, much faster than Cardin could manage with his mace, launching another three strikes, only two of which Jaune could manage to deflect properly. Abruptly, Dove kicked off the ground, going into a spinning, flipping leap over Jaune's head, bringing his body around to swing the sword at the back of Jaune's skull. Not even thinking about it, Jaune crouched, while bringing his shield up over his head to deflect the attack, immediately turning around to face Dove again, as the other boy touched down on the other side of him.

With that first exchange, it immediately became apparent that Dove was no Pyrrha, in the sense that Dove had no interest in holding back to help Jaune become acclimated to following his moves. Dove was attacking for real, his attacks aiming to get through Jaune's defense and strike him directly. Despite that, Jaune found himself smiling. It actually felt good. Besides, he needed more practice against people who weren't holding back, simply because of his skill-level.

Meeting Dove's squinted eyes, Jaune noted that the other boy was smiling as well. Dove rushed forward again, and Jaune raised his shield to meet him.

* * *

**With regards to the interview, I'm not sure if that was an hour's worth of dialogue (counting commercial breaks). Once again, this is mainly about the fact that Pyrrha challenged someone, and didn't win, would probably be a fairly big deal, considering the reputation she's supposed to have.**


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter 44:**

"And you actually _gave_ him your contact info?!" exclaimed Weiss in disbelief.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Well...yeah," he said. "It made sense to me. And Dove seemed on the level." In retrospect, he wondered if it had been a good idea to bring this up right before bed. The last thing he wanted was to get into an argument with Weiss that would carry through the night, even though tomorrow was Sunday...and he was probably incapable of actually arguing with her to begin with.

Weiss smacked her face with the palm of her right hand. "Of all the stupid...doltish..."

"I think it's a good idea," said Pyrrha, Ruby nodding her agreement.

"You two don't actually think that _any_ member of that team is worthy of any trust?" asked Weiss, glaring at them skeptically.

Ruby quailed. "Well...Dove seems...different," she said, tapping her index fingers together.

Pyrrha nodded her agreement.

It had been apparent for a while now that Dove was cut from a different cloth than his teammates. Whereas Russel and Sky apparently went along with whatever Cardin wanted enthusiastically; be it bullying Jaune or faunus, or causing some other form of disruption; Dove always seemed to stand back, looking on with plain disapproval. Of course, he had never really done anything to stop them either, merely commenting irritably on their behavior. But then, he was in a one-vs-three situation, whenever his opinions clashed with theirs, which probably didn't make it any easier for him to dissuade them from whatever course of action they settled on.

"Besides," added Pyrrha, "it isn't as though adding Jaune to his contact list will let him know where Jaune is. If he doesn't register Jaune as a teammate, he can't track Jaune's location with his app."

"True, I suppose," said Weiss with a sigh. She turned an intense gaze on Jaune. "But you still need to be careful. Regardless of how trustworthy Bronzewing seems, you can't be absolutely certain of that. If he starts asking about where you are, I advise you to think _very_ carefully before telling him."

"R-right," said Jaune nervously, more unnerved by Weiss' attitude than the prospect of Dove betraying him.

"What annoys me is that Cardin and the others are actively looking for Jaune," grumbled Ruby. "Why are they wasting time looking for him, when they could be working on getting better?"

"If anything, I think that's what Dove's angry about," added Jaune.

Weiss groaned. "Because that lummox, Cardin, is a boneheaded idiot, who believes that losing to someone he deems weaker than him is sufficiently emasculating that he believes he can't move on until he's taken some measure of retribution, typically a measure even greater than whatever the perceived slight against him was."

"Quite true," agreed Pyrrha. "I've dealt with people like that before." Of course, that had been before her reputation had really taken off. Prior to her being saddled with the label of Invincible Girl, she'd dealt with her fair share of sore losers, who took her defeating them as some kind of personal insult, sometimes going to absurd lengths to get back at her. Of course, once her renown had reached celebrity-status, and after her reputation in the ring had been thoroughly solidified, that kind of response had tapered off, as people, including her opponents, began to take her victories as an inevitability.

"Is there anything we can do to get Cardin to back off?" wondered Ruby.

Weiss rubbed her temples. "It's unlikely," she said. "If the threat of Professor Goodwitch's wrath isn't making them check their behavior, then it's likely that nothing short of them being slapped with the actual consequences of their actions will get through to them. And, if that's the case, then they're probably going to wind up expelled before long."

"But what about Dove?" asked Jaune.

Weiss looked at him, actually looking somewhat saddened by the prospect. "I don't know," she admitted. "I certainly hope he wouldn't wind up going down with them. But...if the rest of his team is implicated..." She shrugged uncertainly.

Jaune wasn't happy at the idea. He'd actually spent a couple of productive hours with Dove, trading blows with the other boy. Dove was a completely different opponent than any of Jaune's current teammates, and certainly different from Cardin. Their impromptu sparring session had been intense. In the end, Jaune had been left lying on the ground, after Dove's swift and acrobatic sword style had finally found its way through his defenses. But Jaune had actually managed to land a couple hits, which was more than what he had been able to say about his match against Blake.

On top of that, as a fellow sword-user, Dove actually had some helpful advice to give Jaune about how he used his own sword, for all that their respective styles were very different. Jaune had left the session with a few new techniques and exercises to try, which would hopefully allow him to refine his own style even more.

It would be a shame for someone like that to wind up being thrown out of Beacon because his teammates couldn't rein in their troublemaking tendencies.

"Let's just hope that something can get through to Cardin, and he learns to back off," said Ruby, though her tone indicated she didn't have much hope in the idea.

"Enough of that," said Weiss with a sigh. "All we can do is try to steer clear of that buffoon and his cronies as much as possible. At least he hasn't tried hitting on Ruby again."

Ruby nodded, quietly relieved. Even after Sasame had left, Cardin hadn't made any further overtures towards her. It was likely that his treatment at Sasame's hands, and the fact that she was Ruby's sister, had caused him to back down, if only out of fear of Sasame's reprisal, if she ever found out he'd done anything...untoward...to Ruby.

"Anyway," continued Weiss, a smile appearing on her face, "I must say that Ruby and Pyrrha's interview was a pleasure to watch, myself."

Ruby and Pyrrha immediately flushed red.

"I haven't seen it yet," commented Jaune, having been out training, while it had broadcast. He'd wanted to watch it, but figured that doing his part for his team came first.

"Yes, well, it'll be up on the network for you to watch, when you have time," said Weiss dismissively. "Someone put it up on the holoscreen in the common room, and I think that half the students in the dorm were glued to it the whole way through."

"Um...uh...h-how did they handle it?" asked Ruby nervously.

"It's hard to say," said Weiss, a slight smirk on her face. "Pyrrha talking about her Semblance made more than a few people scowl, but that says more about them than what it says about her."

In retrospect, Pyrrha could understand if her words made some people angry. After all, she'd laid out that her Semblance didn't make her invincible, by virtue of the fact that Ruby had been able to force her to a draw. That being the case, it left the implication that no one else had been able to manage even that much, much less defeat her, because they themselves weren't willing to do the work needed to overcome such a disadvantage. People had taken solace from Pyrrha's status as the Invincible Girl, believing that no amount of work and effort on their part could make a difference against her, and now she had basically accused them of using that belief as an excuse not to work harder.

Ruby swallowed, wondering how people were taking her part in the interview.

"How did they handle Ruby?" asked Jaune.

"I suspect she will be quite popular," said Weiss, her smirk widening. "Once they played the video of her bringing down Torchwick, all pretty much everyone could say was how incredible it was."

Ruby blushed furiously. Pyrrha reached over and rubbed her back sympathetically, understanding that Ruby was likely to be at the center of attention for a while. "You'll be able to manage," she said. "At the end of the day, you don't need to do anything differently."

"We might want to consider disguises, if you ever want to go back into Vale again," added Weiss.

Ruby slumped with a sigh. It had been her hope that this interview would stop people talking and speculating about her all the time. But it only seemed to put her further into the spotlight. She just wished that all the fervor over a single sparring match with Pyrrha would just go away.

* * *

"So he wasn't in the weight-room?" asked Cardin, slipping his tank-top over his shoulders.

"Today he wasn't," replied Russel, sliding into a light t-shirt. "Only saw some upperclassmen, and if they know when he comes in, they weren't sharing."

Sky was already in his sleeping outfit, lounging on his bed and starring at the ceiling, when he gave his comment. "I didn't find him in the simulation room either."

"That asshole's hiding from us," growled Cardin, thumping his fist against his desk. "Where the hell is he?" He turned his gaze on Dove, who was also reclined back on his bed, arms folded behind his head. "Where'd you look?"

"Library," answered Dove.

Cardin snorted.. "Like he'd be there."

"Wasn't looking for _him_," said Dove. "I needed a reference book for that paper on whiptails I have that's due Monday." He sat up on his bed, swinging his legs around so that they dangled off. "And _you_ have one on rapier wasps. You might want to get cracking on that."

"So you weren't even _looking_ for Arc?" asked Cardin, genuinely aghast.

"Nope," said Dove, forehead creasing in a scowl, the only visible indicator, as it wasn't actually possible for his eyes to get any narrower. "I've got better things to do with my time than help you settle a pointless grudge."

"So you're cool with Arc making chumps out of us?" asked Russel furiously.

"Arc's doing squat," Dove retorted. "If anyone is making chumps out of you chumps, it's _you_ chumps. I didn't come to Beacon to waste my time playing king-of-the-goddamn-hill, like we're still in elementary school. I've got more important things to worry about, like actually passing class."

Cardin's lips pulled back into a growl that was almost feral, baring his teeth. His hands clenching into fists. "I thought you were a member of this team," he growled.

"I _am_ a member," said Dove dismissively. "And it looks like I might be the _only_ member, seeing as you guys care less about actually becoming Huntsmen and more about finding the fast-track out of here, probably with Goodwitch's heels up your asses."

He pointed directly at Cardin. "You should've been able to walk all over him in your matches, but now you're oh-for-two, and you haven't done a damn thing about it."

"He got lucky," growled Cardin.

"No," Dove replied, "you got _sloppy_. I _know_ you can do better than that. But, whenever you get out in the ring with Arc, you swing that mace around with all the grace of a braindead gorilla. You refuse to take him seriously, and he winds up turning your own stupidity against you. You leave openings a complete amateur can exploit...But it's somehow _his_ fault for exploiting them?"

He jabbed his finger into Cardin's chest. "The first time, you lost because you blew yourself up with your own attack. The second time, you left an opening so wide that Arc was able to beat you with an attack that left him lying flat on his face. When are you gonna get your head out of your ass and actually _stop_ treating this like a damn game?"

Dove hadn't exactly picked his words to calm Cardin down, so he wasn't remotely surprised when Cardin's response was to snarl, then actually lash out at him. Dove saw Cardin's punch coming from a mile away, reacting with all the grace his training had imparted to him, catching it, using Cardin's own momentum to throw the taller, heavier boy to the floor, before maneuvering around to plant himself against Cardin's shoulders, while wrenching his attacking arm back so that it was threatening to be pulled out of its socket.

"Look at you," snarled Dove, red-hot fury surging through his veins. "_This_ is why Arc keeps beating you, because you don't actually give a shit about any of this. You could've spent this day training, working on getting good enough that a klutz like him has no chance against you. Instead, you three all blew it looking for Arc so that you could...what...beat him down again, do something that'll get us suspended, if not expelled?"

Taking one hand off Cardin's arm, Dove put it up against the back of Cardin's head, then used it to smack his growling face into the floor, stunning him so that, when Dove got off and released his arm, Cardin didn't immediately follow up by trying to swing at him.

"I'm done with this crap," growled Dove, glaring down at Cardin, before transferring his glare to the other two members of his team, who stared at him in shock. "I've got better things to do than waste my time on your dick-measuring contest with Arc. My advice is that you give it up, and actually focus on what you're _supposed_ to be at Beacon to do. But if you can't manage that, then leave me out of your idiocy."

What Dove didn't say was that, if he got wind of them planning another stunt, he'd go straight to Goodwitch. If he couldn't get through to them the way she wanted, then he'd just have to go to her and hope that, by being the one to alert her to them, he'd at least get out of whatever punishment these three brought down on their heads.

With an angry growl, Dove stalked out of the dorm room. He figured he'd head to the common room and chill there for a while, at least until things cooled off. Reaching his destination, he flopped down onto the couch there with a grunt.

"Oh!"

The startled exclamation drew Dove's attention to the kitchen. To his surprise, there was Pyrrha, in the process of filling a kettle. Rather than her typical outfit, or her uniform, she was wearing her pajamas. Even her hair was out of its trademark ponytail, and cascading freely down her back.

"Hey, sorry to bother you," said Dove, before letting out a tired sigh.

"It's all right," said Pyrrha, turning on the stove, letting the kettle begin heating.

Dove watched her as she set out a teapot and started spooning leaves into it. Clad as she was, in a pale-pink spaghetti-strap nightgown, which did little to disguise her impressive figure, Dove could understand why Cardin and the others were jealous of Jaune, especially if he got to see this every night. Having seen them in their own sleepwear, before the initiation, Dove knew that Ruby and Weiss' own choice of pajamas was plenty...he couldn't call it provocative, but they certainly didn't do anything to undermine how attractive the other two girls were. To be honest, he found it a marvel that Jaune was still sane.

"You're up late," he noted.

"Yes...well...it shouldn't be much of an issue tonight," said Pyrrha.

That was true. On Friday and Saturday nights, curfew was suspended, so that students could stay up for as long as the felt like, provided they weren't actually disturbing anyone who wanted to sleep. This time of evening, it was rare to find anyone in the common room, which may have been why Pyrrha was out here in the first place.

"Bit late for tea," he noted.

"It's an herbal blend," Pyrrha replied. "It helps me sleep."

"This a regular occurrence?"

"Not really." Pyrrha paused at the kettle's whistle, then moved to pour the water into the teapot. "Some nights, I could just use a little extra help."

"I can understand that," said Dove.

To his surprise, Pyrrha brought the teapot to the table in front of the couch, then set out, not one, but two mugs, setting one right in front of Dove.

"I'm good," said Dove.

"You should try it," pressed Pyrrha. "It's good for calming the nerves."

Dove chuckled. "I can see why you'd need that, after today."

Pyrrha giggled nervously, her cheeks turning pink.

"You two did good in that interview," added Dove.

"Thank you," said Pyrrha, pouring out a mug for each of them. Picking hers up, she took a speculative sip from it, while watching him warily. "You aren't upset about my Semblance?" she asked, lowering her mug.

"If anything, I'm kicking myself for not figuring it out on my own," said Dove, snorting. "But I guess, if you've gone this long without anyone figuring it out, that just goes to show how good you are with it."

"It does?" asked Pyrrha, though she'd gotten similar comments from her friends.

"Hell yeah," Dove answered emphatically. "If I had that kind of Semblance, you'd bet I wouldn't hesitate to start juggling my opponents' weapons. But you, you kept using it so subtly that it took Ruby backing you into a complete corner for anyone to see what it is. And, in all that time, none of your other opponents figured it out on their own. Managing that takes serious skill."

Pyrrha blushed intensely. Looking at her, Dove was amazed at how vulnerable and...soft...she looked. This was Pyrrha with her guard down, not dressed for battle, not carrying her modest celebrity persona, nor the confident champion persona she had in the ring. It was strange to think about how normal she actually was. _In a sense, I guess that's why she has such a hard time,_ he thought. For a lot of people, thinking of Pyrrha Nikos as "normal" in any context just did not compute, so they could never engage with her in any normal fashion.

"May I ask about your Semblance?" asked Pyrrha.

"Sure," said Dove. "It's nothing to write home about. I call it Equilibrium. Basically, I never get dizzy or disoriented. You could stick me in a tumble-drier, and I'd know up from down the whole time."

"That's...actually quite impressive," noted Pyrrha. "It certainly explains why you can use such an acrobatic fighting style."

"Yeah, well, it's a work in progress," said Dove. "Even if I never get dizzy, it doesn't mean I can keep my balance. It's a bit of work to get my body to do what it needs to, in order to keep from planting on my face sometimes. It doesn't exactly do the work for me when gauging my momentum, coming out of a spin or flip."

"But still, that's quite an ability to have," said Pyrrha. "It's good to know your limitations. You're working on refining your skills, just like the rest of us."

"Well...most of the rest," Dove amended for her, thinking about his teammates.

Pyrrha just giggled at that.

"Any reason you're being so chatty with me?" asked Dove. His voice dropped in volume considerably. He doubted his teammates would be following him anytime soon, but he certainly didn't need them to know he was covering for Jaune. "I'm guessing Arc told you about our arrangement."

Pyrrha nodded, her own voice dropping to match his. "And we're grateful for it."

"It's no big deal," said Dove, leaning back and taking another sip from his mug. "I just want to keep Cardin out of trouble, so that I don't get thrown out with him. It's a pain in the neck that I need to actually do _any_ work in that respect."

Pyrrha nodded, her smile actually widening. "That's true," she said. "But you didn't have to spar with Jaune too."

Dove snorted again. "If I've realized anything from watching your team, it's that I need to work myself harder. Sparring with Arc was as good a way as any."

The smile that remained on Pyrrha's face told him she wasn't fully buying his self-serving excuse. "If that's the case, would you be willing to spar with me?" she asked.

To his surprise, Dove found himself grinning at the notion. "Well...if you're offering, I guess I wouldn't mind that much. Am I gonna be your training dummy for all the new tricks you're coming up with for your Semblance?"

"Absolutely," said Pyrrha, beaming.

"Heh..." grunted Dove, "Bring it on."

* * *

Sunday came and went. Ruby and Pyrrha continued to do their utmost to carry on normally, despite the eyes and whispers that followed their every step outside their room. Ruby was the focus of fascination, and no small amount of admiration, but Pyrrha continued to be the subject of bitter resentment, most people not liking what she'd said about her Semblance, and what she'd said said about them. In the end, Ruby and Pyrrha joined Blake in the library, settling down with some nice books for some quiet reading time.

While they were enjoying their quiet time, they actually saw Dove come into the library, albeit from a distance. It looked as though he was doing all right, checking out a book, presumably for one of the homework assignments they'd been given. Seeing them, he glanced their way, and Pyrrha offered him a smile and a wave, the latter of which he returned noncommittally, before going back to what he was doing.

With the beginning of the week, it was easy to see the rift that was developing within Team CRDL. In the dining hall, Dove entered separately from his team, and took up a seat well away from them, something his teammates also did. They sat apart during class, often on opposite sides of the room from each other. Cardin was the most obviously upset, frequently throwing glares Dove's way, which Dove pointedly ignored. Sky and Russel stayed with Cardin, but the looks on their faces indicated how uncertain they felt about the whole situation.

Academic classes went as they usually did, which was well enough for RYNB and RASP. They couldn't help but notice that Dove was the only member of his team to hand in his assigned fauna-report in during their Survival Skills class, where each student had been assigned to write a detailed report on a single type of animal, covering everything from their behaviors, to the hazards they presented, to how they might be potentially useful in some way. The rest of Dove's team had nothing to show for the entire weekend they'd been assigned to complete it, which had resulted in detention for the three of them after class, where they would be forced to write their reports in a less than ideal environment.

The major change came during Combat Class. For the most part, it proceeded as normal, until Glynda's selection process, randomized this time, picked Pyrrha for a match. Her opponent had protested, first demanding that Pyrrha not be permitted to use her Semblance. However, Glynda had overruled said protest and, with the threat of detention, the unhappy student had descended to face Pyrrha in the ring.

The resulting match had been a farce, with Pyrrha's opponent blatantly not even trying to win, which resulted in a severe scolding by Glynda, and him being assigned detention anyway. Despite that, many other students glared and edged away from Pyrrha when she returned to her seat.

Two days later, it was Ruby's turn. To her surprise, her opponent was quite eager to face her, attacking with enthusiastic gusto. Ruby managed to defeat the other girl without exerting herself overly much, not even needing to separate Akaibara. It seemed strange to Ruby, seeing her opponent return to the stands, seeming almost…triumphant…despite having lost. It was almost as though she had replaced Pyrrha in people's minds. Ruby had managed to force the Invincible Girl to a draw, but had not demonstrated some form of what they considered to be a game-breaking Semblance, which made her the girl to beat. Ruby honestly couldn't say how she felt about that.

There was one other wrinkle this week though, and that was Friday. Instead of their regular classes, the first-year students were instead ushered aboard a few bullheads, which ferried them out to the forest of Forever Fall, which occupied a swath of land north of Vale, running up along the coast of Sanus for miles. For a while, it ran adjacent to the Emerald Forest, which lay directly north of Beacon itself, but stretched eastward.

Ruby had fond memories of making her way down through Forever Fall, when she had been making her way to Vale during her training excursion. She loved the scenery, the fact that that nearly all the vegetation, from the leaves on the trees to the very grass beneath their feet, was dyed a vivid-red color. It reminded her of Kyo's eyes, not to mention that red was her favorite color to begin with. It was a sight of stunning beauty, with the leaves always falling and littering the ground, giving the impression of a land that had been permanently set into autumn, hence the name.

* * *

"Ahhh...I never get tired of this," sighed Ruby, turning to take in as much of the scenery as she could.

"It _is_ very beautiful," agreed Weiss. "But, like Professor Goodwitch said, we aren't here to sightsee."

"It doesn't mean we can't," Ruby pointed out.

"Yes, but we should at least try to get our assignment out of the way first," replied Weiss, hefting her jar, each of them having been given one. "Once that's out of the way, we'll have all the free-time we could ask for."

Their assignment couldn't have been simpler. Professor Peach, by way of Glynda, had required that each student fill one jar of red-sap from a tree in the forest.

"You're right," said Ruby, her admission drawing a proud smile from Weiss, though that was the sole display she permitted herself.

"What's the big deal about this sap anyway?" asked Jaune, looking at his own empty jar in confusion.

"It has a variety of uses," explained Blake.

"And it's delicious!" added Nora, holding up, not one, but two jars. "The stuff's the best syrup. I can't wait to get some to go with Ren's pancakes."

Nora's friends all glanced to Ren, who merely shrugged. "She's not wrong," he said. "The sugar-content is substantial, and it doesn't even have to be boiled down." He then gave Nora a pointed look. "But just _one_ jar."

"Aww..." groaned Nora, sagging defeatedly.

Besides being simple, their assignment was also quite easy. Finding the right trees had been no trouble, and it was the work of seconds to insert the tap, and a matter of minutes before a jar had been filled. Unlike sugar maples, the red trees of the forest gave up their sap rather freely. In order to keep any one tree from being over-tapped though, each student found their own, which wasn't hard, as groves of the appropriate trees were plentiful.

The sole hitch in the whole affair was that Nora's love of the stuff overrode her restraint, the one extra jar Ren had permitted her not being enough to satisfy her craving, which prompted her to turn to the other members of her party. As a result, if one did not guard their filled jar carefully, their ears would pick up a slurping sound, and their eyes would turn down to find said jar suddenly, and suspiciously, empty.

Having filled her jar, Ruby settled down against the trunk of one of the untapped trees with a relaxed sigh, taking solace in the overall quiet of the setting. The first-year students had been able to spread out over a fairly wide area, ensuring that RASP and RYNB weren't stuck around their fellow students. It was pleasant, not being the center of attention for a while. Ruby knew that Pyrrha appreciated it even more, not having to worry about the resentful looks that followed her nearly everywhere else.

"It really is amazing out here," said Pyrrha, settling down next to Ruby, the pair of them keeping their jars in front of them, hands resting on lids to fend off the dreaded Nora.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "You should see it from the peaks just a little farther north from here. The red goes on for miles and miles..."

"Maybe we'll get the chance to climb them sometime," said Pyrrha.

"That could be fun," agreed Ruby.

The two of them leaned back and relaxed, listening to the idle chatter of their friends, neither of them needing to speak to fill the silence between them. Sometimes, it was nice to just sit back and let the world pass them by.

And then...

_"Sluuuuurp!"_

"NORA!"

Weiss' enraged shriek jolted the pair out of their pleasant reverie. Looking over, they saw an incensed Weiss chasing an apologizing Nora, who, for all the "sorries" that spilled from her mouth, didn't look even remotely contrite. Weiss brandished Myrtenaster, threatening to freeze Nora in place to ensure she didn't steal anymore sap, while the others looked on.

Ruby and Pyrrha exchanged a look, then broke down laughing.

Ruby's laughter abruptly cut itself off as she felt a familiar malice, which washed over the group, before focusing in on Jaune, who was taking as much amusement as everyone else in this affair, unaware of the sets of vindictive eyes glued to his unguarded back.

Ruby rose to her feet, her movement surprising Pyrrha, who looked to her in confusion.

* * *

The source of the malice that Ruby had detected, predictably, came from a certain trio of boys, watching the other two teams from behind the crest of a nearby hill. Cardin, Russel, and Sky were there, laying down on the grass so that their heads just barely peeked up over the top of the hill, trying to get as much concealment as they could. Dove stood behind them, looking on without even a token effort at veiling his contempt.

"There he is," growled Cardin, his gaze settling intently between Jaune's shoulders.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Russel.

"I'm glad you asked," said Cardin with a smirk. "You may be wondering why, despite the fact that we were asked to fill just one jar of sap, I got two."

"Yes, that is one of the _many_ questions I've been asking myself lately," grumbled Dove behind them.

Reaching beside his prone body, Cardin pulled up the white box he'd discreetly smuggled out of Beacon for this trip, setting it in front of himself, along with the second jar he'd filled. "Now, according to that lame-ass report I had to do on rapier wasps, they absolutely _love_ this sap."

"You caught a bunch of rapier wasps?" asked Sky, his eyes widening.

"Wasn't too hard," said Cardin. "Like I said, they love the sap. Put a little in the box, and you've got 'em. Now, all I have to do is take this jar, and chuck it at Arc, over there. Once he's doused with the stuff, we open up the box...and watch the show."

"Are you serious!?" blurted Dove. "You want to set a swarm of rapier wasps on the guy? Are you trying to kill him?"

"He's got Aura, he'll be fine," scoffed Cardin, "probably."

Dove had his doubts. Rapier wasps were nasty little critters. Getting their name from their absurdly long and straight stingers, they were highly aggressive and persistent, often dogging a target for hours, after one of their nests was disturbed. Their venom, while not particularly potent, was nonetheless painful, and some people were allergic to it, which would upgrade an attack to potentially lethal.

Grinning sadistically, Cardin rose to his feet, cocking back his arm to throw the jar. But, when he actually tried to throw it, he found himself swinging an empty hand. Cardin stared dumbly at it in confusion, before turning towards Dove, who had deftly plucked the jar from his hand right before Cardin would have tossed it.

"All right, I've had enough of this crap," growled Dove.

"Give back the jar," growled Cardin.

"Sure..." said Dove. "...Here!"

Abruptly, Dove threw the jar...at Cardin, smashing it against his bird-decorated chestplate, splattering its red contents across the metal, as well as Cardin's shirt, where it quickly began to soak in.

"There you go," said Dove, a smirk on his face. "I'd think twice about opening that box now, if I were you."

Baring his teeth, Cardin growled, drawing out his mace, brandishing it towards Dove. "All right, pal, you think you can undermine me, huh?"

Dove made no move to draw his weapon. "I don't _need_ to undermine you," he replied. "I don't know what the hell Ozpin saw in you that convinced him you deserved to be a leader, but you better damn well start _showing_ it. The only leading you've done is leading this team right into a ditch."

"We'll see about that," snarled Cardin. "Russel, Sky, we're teaching this jerk a lesson."

Russel and Sky tensed, their hands going to their weapons. Dove tensed as well. He had no doubt he could take on any of these three individually. But if they decided to gang up on him, that was a different matter. Besides... "Come on, guys. Use your heads for a change. This has been getting ridiculous. You've blown so much time and energy on this grudge you have against Arc, and for what...?"

Russel faltered, his daggers lowering. Sky, however, tightened his grip on his halberd.

"Are you really that upset about Arc being on a team with three girls?" pressed Dove skeptically. "Are you really that big a bunch of hormonal idiots? For God's sake, you act like him being on a team with them means he's sleeping with all of them...or something. Seriously, can you try and grow up at least a little?"

"You know," rumbled Cardin, "I've just about had my fill of you talking down to us. I'm going to remind you exactly who is in charge here."

With that, Cardin lunged forward, leading with a swing of his mace.

* * *

"What was that?" asked Pyrrha, catching the distant sound of breaking glass.

"I think Cardinal's up to something," said Ruby, her eyes fixed on the hill, where she'd sensed the three boys' malice leaking from. Something else appeared to have caught their attention though. They were moving off.

Ruby set out to climb the hill, Pyrrha following her. It wasn't very far to go. At the top, Ruby frowned at the white, cardboard box, lying near a few scattered glass shards, the glass and ground around them splattered with spilled sap.

"What happened here?" mused Pyrrha. "What's in the box?"

"Don't touch it!" said Ruby quickly, picking up a definite sense of danger from the box and its contents.

Frowning, she crouched down and gently rested her fingers atop the lid. From within, she could feel the vibrations of countless buzzing wings, and tiny bodies battering against the interior. "Rapier wasps," she said softly.

"Why would they have a box of rapier wasps?" wondered Pyrrha. Then her eyes went to the broken jar. "Oh my..."

"Yeah, that's what I think too," said Ruby. "I think they were gonna throw the jar at Jaune, splash him with the sap, then open the box."

"So why didn't they?" asked Pyrrha. "Why is the jar broken up here?"

"I think Dove stopped them," said Ruby.

Pyrrha gasped.

Ruby looked out into the forest, in the direction CRDL had moved. She couldn't see them through the crimson undergrowth, but she could sense the turmoil of Auras in battle, particularly one Aura striving against three others. Dove was fighting against the other three members of his team. Standing up, Ruby sighed and looked to Pyrrha. "I guess we should help him out."

While Ruby had no issues with helping Dove, the fact that he was even _in_ a situation where he might need help was galling. The behavior of the other three members of CRDL was nothing short of disgraceful, and now they were trying to beat down the one member who was trying to instill at least a modicum of decency.

"Ruby? What's going on?" Jaune arrived atop the hill, accompanied by the others.

"Cardinal was getting ready to play a prank," said Ruby, gesturing to the box of wasps.

Jaune was about to ask for more clarification, when an angry roar echoed from nearby, a powerful one at that. It was so loud that the listeners felt it in their bones, the vibrations knocking a fresh rain of leaves from the branches of nearby trees.

"That sounded like a big Ursa," noted Yang.

"Ursa Major, at least," agreed Ruby.

A few seconds later, there was a loud rustling from the vegetation in front of them. The others tensed, readying their weapons, but Ruby held up her hand, already sensing what...or rather, who...was coming. A few seconds later, Sky and Russel burst through the foliage, running for their lives. Russel, so terrified out of his mind that he wasn't even looking where he was going, ran straight into Yang. He practically bounced off of her, stumbling back. Before he could fall over, Yang reached out and grabbed him by his shirt, hoisting him off the ground.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"Ursa...really big Ursa!" gasped Russel.

Yang let go of Russel when she caught sight of a flash of petals out of the corner of her eye. Looking over, she caught a glimpse of Ruby's cloak as it vanished amidst the leaves, Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha quickly rushing through after her.

* * *

_You have got to be kidding me!_ Dove was aghast at his situation. It was bad enough that he'd gotten into a straight-up fight with his teammates, forced to fight a defensive battle against the three of them. However, it was even worse when they emerged into one clearing...only to find a massive Ursa Major coming from the other end. The roar the beast let out was impressive, startling the four boys out of their brawl.

Immediately turning, they brandished their weapons at the powerfully-built, bear-like creature, noting the backwards-sloping spikes that extended from its back as it lumbered towards them, snarling and gnashing its teeth. As it did, its attention homed in on Cardin, and the sap that was splattered across his chest.

_Huh...So Ursas like that stuff too,_ noted Dove, leveling his sword at the creature. _Who knew?_

Truth be told, seeing this massive monster up close was terrifying. It was certainly bigger than anything Dove or the other boys had encountered during initiation. However, he was fairly certain that the four of them would be able to take it.

Then Sky and Russel had rushed off with panicked shouts.

Dove groaned at his own teammates' cowardice. A look at Cardin told him that Cardin would have run, if he could. But Cardin also realized that the Ursa was interested in the sap splattered across his chestplate, which meant that his running would only incite it to pursue. They'd have to kill the Ursa. The two of them brandished their weapons, getting ready for the fight.

Then a crashing sound echoed through the forest, and a second Ursa Major, just as large and ferocious as the first, emerged from the tree line, growling and snarling.

"What?" deadpanned Dove, a bit too shocked to muster any fear. _Two Majors...?_

"Crap!" blurted Cardin, falling back another few paces.

The first Ursa noticed Cardin's vulnerability, lunging forward, rising up on its hind paws. Cardin brought up his mace in a clumsy block, but the swipe of those powerful claws knocked it completely out of his grip, while the force behind the blow sent Cardin sprawling.

"Dammit!" exclaimed Dove, turning to try and get the first Ursa off Cardin. However, that became the furthest thing from his mind when the second one charged. Cursing even more, Dove turned, lining up his sword, and the gun built into the hilt, with it, firing off several shots. A few found their mark amidst the wiry fur of the Ursa's shoulders, but the others just glanced off the bone-mask that covered its face. In any case, the shots that _did_ strike home didn't seem to manage anything other than irritating the Grimm.

Dove was forced to leap out of the way, the Ursa barreling past with all the finesse of a runaway train. In the process of executing his flipping evasion, Dove lashed out with his sword, slashing along the beast's side. The Ursa roared in pain and anger, before rounding on him, rising up on its hind legs, unleashing a series of slashes with its forepaws. Dove jumped and danced, spinning and flipping over, before ducking under, swipes that would have blown through his Aura in just a couple hits. As he did, he tried to retaliate, but the Ursa's reach kept him from striking any serious blows with his sword.

All the while, the first Ursa loomed menacingly over Cardin, raising one paw to deliver the finishing blow, while Cardin tried desperately to crawl away.

Then, to make things worse, a _third_ Ursa, yet another Major, emerged from the trees.

_What the hell?_ Dove exclaimed mentally. _Is there a convention going on?_

It was common knowledge that Grimm grew larger and more powerful, the older they got. If they managed to survive their younger, more impetuous phase, they could grow and mature, their new forms gaining new designations to fit the increased threat they presented. Beowolves could grow into Alphas, Ursai into Majors...and so on. The period required for them to achieve such growth was unknown, with estimations ranging from a few years, to decades, to possibly even centuries. However, more often than not, an Alpha or Major generally led a pack of smaller variants. For multiple Ursa Majors to congregate like this...something must have been seriously wrong.

However, Dove couldn't afford to waste any time thinking about that. He was doing his utmost to deal with the Ursa that was attacking him, while the other one was about to kill Cardin. Now a third had entered the fray, leaving them with very little hope of victory, much less any chance of coming out unscathed.

The first Ursa, the one about to kill Cardin, raised a massive paw, presumably to strike his head from his shoulders. Cardin cringed and whimpered, closing his eyes as it approached.

A loud clanging noise echoed out.

Nervously, Cardin peaked one eye open, then the other, seeing a head of blonde hair, and the back of an armor-covered hoodie. Jaune now stood between Cardin and the Ursa, his shield up, fending off the powerful claws that had been about to strike Cardin. Jaune had braced his shield with a growl, before lunging forward with a shout, leading with a powerful slash of his sword. His step took him inside the reach of the Ursa's forelimbs, before it could think about trying to attack him, his sword flashing and cutting across the monster's chest.

The Ursa reeled back with an angry roar, staggering on its paws.

At the same time, a gunshot echoed out, and the Ursa attacking Dove suddenly sprouted a red and gold javelin from one eye, prompting the beast to abandon its attack, rearing back with a pained roar of its own. The javelin jerked, then pulled free, prompting another cry of pain from the beast, while the weapon itself returned to the hand that had thrown it, Pyrrha coming up to stand beside Dove, brandishing both her weapons. Dove glanced sidelong at Pyrrha, and flashed her a relieved smile.

Red and white flashed past them, Ruby and Weiss coming to a stop before the third Ursa.

"What's going on?" asked Weiss, aghast at the spectacle before them. An Ursa Major leading two or more smaller Ursas wouldn't have been surprising. But three Ursa Majors...

"This is bad," said Ruby, taking in the situation with a sober gaze. _If there's this many Majors here, then that means something must have brought them together._

The trees from where the Ursas had first emerged began to sway, accompanied by the snapping of countless branches, and the sound of trunks cracking and splintering. They could see a few trees abruptly sway dramatically, their red-covered tops abruptly falling over out of sight, accompanied by a loud crash. Something very large and powerful was making its way towards them.

A black mass appeared amidst the trunks, striding forward, plowing through another two trees at the edge of the clearing, batting the trunks aside with contemptuous ease. The monster that emerged caused everyone's mouths to go dry.

"A Duba..." Ruby whispered, her eyes going wide.

The monster let out a roar that shook the very earth beneath their feet.

* * *

**Meet my first original Grimm in this story. Given the change of circumstances, I had to up the threat the characters are facing.**


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45:**

"You _know_ this thing?" asked Weiss, risking a glance at Ruby, though it took her eyes off the Ursa Major they were facing down for a fraction of a second.

"It's a Duba," said Ruby. "It's an Ursa Major's Ursa Major."

That was something of an understatement of the sheer fearsomeness of the beast bearing down on them. It was like an Ursa the way a tiger was like a house cat. It was easily twice as large as any of the Ursa Majors that had preceded it. Compared to the Ursai's bulky, lumbering bodies, the Duba's build was sleeker, lither; sporting a powerful, densely muscled torso, with a sloped back. Its limbs were long and graceful, especially in comparison to the stocky build of a typical Ursa, giving it an appearance that was somewhere between a bear and a big cat.

Its paws were definitely Ursa paws though, massive and broad, each finger and toe sporting curved, bone-white claws that might as well have been swords, given their length. The thick, black, wiry fur that covered its body was interrupted by white, spiky vertebrae, which seemed to protrude directly from the skin of its back, forming a spiny ridge along the line of its backbone. More white plates covered the front of its forelimbs, below the elbows, almost like gauntlets.

And then, there was the mask. Like all Grimm, the Duba's face was covered by a mask of white bone, from which a pair of eyes glowed a malevolent red. The mask was stretched to fit the creature's slightly elongated muzzle, but also extended down to cover its lower jaw, almost seeming to enclose its entire head like a helmet, albeit with a hinge to allow it to open its mouth, displaying a maw of fangs that rivaled its claws in their fearsome length.

The Duba didn't walk towards them so much as it _stalked_. In comparison to the lumbering movements of an Ursa, the Duba's were smooth, graceful...undeniably predatory...like the approach of a hunting cat.

The tension in the clearing rose to a fever-pitch. They already had to contend with a full three Ursa Majors. But this new monster was in a league of its own.

"Weiss, can you handle this Ursa?" asked Ruby.

Realizing what her teammate had in mind, Weiss swallowed nervously. "I'll have to," she said grimly.

"The others should be here soon," said Ruby. "Just hold out for a little bit."

"Sure thing," said Weiss, focusing her attention on the Ursa Major before her.

Ruby vanished in a blur of red petals, darting beneath a swipe of the Ursa's paw, and rushing straight for the Nandi Bear. The beast immediately noticed her approach...and let out another roar.

The roar was so powerful that the air ahead of the Duba's mouth distorted and rippled. The sound carried a force of its own, one that halted Ruby's charge in its tracks, leaving her feeling almost as though she'd slammed face-first into a solid wall. Stumbling and reeling, Ruby barely noticed as the Duba's limbs bent slightly, those powerful muscles straining and tensing. Those terrifying claws sank down into the ground, giving it traction. Then it pushed off, rushing at Ruby in a blur that rivaled her own speed.

Seeing it bearing down on her, Ruby darted to the side, barely escaping a swipe of that massive paw. She was fortunate, as those enormous claws tore through the earth, ripping a deep trench where Ruby stood, sending dirt and stones scattering everywhere.

As though that were a signal, the assembled Ursai went on the attack as well, roaring and lunging for the humans that stood before them.

Dove and Pyrrha jumped to either side as the Ursa they faced charged forward, trying to bull them over with the sheer bulk of its body. Jumping and going into a flip, Dove lined up his sword and fired several shots into the monster's body as it barreled past. However, his bullets didn't seem to do much harm. On its other side, Pyrrha spun around, using her turn to add to her momentum, allowing her to sling her shield, which flew unerringly at the back of the Ursa's head, slamming home, and causing it to lurch forward, as the sharpened edge of the shield threatened to sever its spine. Still, the Ursa ducked down, and the shield ended up bouncing away.

Meanwhile, Jaune held up his shield, using it to deflect the powerful swipes of the Ursa that menaced him and Cardin, shifting his shield to minimize the force of its impact. He was reminded of Team RASP's training session in the Emerald Forest, where Ruby had left him an Ursa Major to fight against. Once again, he found himself unable to find a proper opening, not while the Ursa continued to flail away with its paws. Remembering how he'd killed one last time, Jaune braced himself for a swing of the Grimm's right paw, raising his shield and using it to tank the Ursa's swing directly, bringing its swinging paw to a stop, even as Jaune's legs threatened to buckle beneath the force of the blow.

From there, Jaune lunged forward, stepping inside the Ursa's reach, thrusting out with his sword for its chest. To his surprise, however, the Ursa leaned back, the point of Jaune's sword just barely managing to nick its chest, before it pulled out of reach. Of course, stepping back also brought Jaune within the radius of its swing again, and it unleashed another powerful blow from its left paw. With a yelp, Jaune turned, bringing up his shield to take the attack. However, he wasn't braced this time, and wound up being launched off his feet and sent flying through the air.

Upon Ruby's abrupt departure, Weiss dashed forward, gliding across the ground in a sliding thrust that allowed her to drive Myrtenaster's tip right into the Ursa's chest. However, her blade barely seemed to penetrate an inch, at most, before it stopped. Pulling it back, Weiss unleashed a flurry of thrusts, trying to pierce the wiry fur and tough skin of the Ursa. The beast responded to her attack with an angry slash of one paw, forcing Weiss to retreat. Jumping back, she cycled the Dust-chamber of her weapon, arming it with fire-Dust. Her next thrust sent a gout of flame washing over the Ursa.

The Ursa Major roared with pain and anger, hunkering down and ducking its head. When the flames abated, it was smoking and smoldering, but still very much alive, and very dangerous. Sensing the end to the Dust attack, it immediately went on the offensive, charging forward at Weiss. But Weiss had already begun her next attack. Cycling to a new chamber, she planted her rapier into the ground. There was a ringing noise, and a wave of icy stalagmites exploded out of the ground between her and the Ursa, forming a thicket of spearlike points. The Ursa's own momentum worked against it, causing it to plow into those sharpened points before it could even begin trying to slow down, the spears of ice piercing its hide all over.

But its momentum worked in its favor as well, the Ursa Major's sheer bulk shattering the ice barrier, allowing it to continue its charge, unabated. Weiss gasped, barely managing to conjure a glyph to launch herself up and over it in time. Unfortunately, she misjudged the thrust she needed. Thinking in terms of a regular Ursa, Weiss forgot to take into account the long spines extending from the Major's back. Her glyph-aided dodge took her directly over the Ursa's back, but not high enough to escape its spines. Weiss screamed as their points raked her Aura as it passed beneath her, throwing her into an uncontrolled spin that brought her slamming down into the ground, Myrtenaster bouncing out of her grip.

Not far away, Jaune slammed into the ground from the hit he'd taken, his breath exploding from his lungs in a pained wheeze, the impact stunning him. Still, Jaune forced himself to try and get up as fast as he could, sure that the Ursa would be rushing his way to capitalize on its new advantage. However, as he got up, he could see the beast had apparently lost interest in him...and it wasn't hard to see why. While Jaune had been fighting the Ursa, Cardin had been scooting across the ground, keeping horrified eyes fixed on the beast, as he tried to reach his mace. The Ursa had noticed, and oriented on Cardin, looming over him again.

Jaune sucked in a deep breath, willing himself to move. His first steps were staggering at first. But he quickly managed to reach a proper run. As he did, Jaune raised his sword and let out a loud shout, practically challenging the Ursa. It wasn't very pragmatic, seeing as he was giving up the chance to attack the Grimm from its blind spot. However, he needed to attract its attention, to keep it from killing Cardin. Hearing his cry, the Ursa turned, then let out a roar of its own, falling down on all fours to charge to meet him.

Right as they were about to collide, Jaune leaned forward, thrusting his shield ahead of him. The Ursa rose up, hefting one paw to swing at Jaune mid-stride. However, right as it was rising up, a whirling, green blur flew out from the nearby undergrowth, StormFlower's blade slashing across the Ursa's back legs, right as it was trying to rear up to strike at Jaune. The beast's charge and attack faltered, and it stumbled forward, slamming its head right into the face of Jaune's shield.

Jaune grunted, his legs and arm burning from the impact. Even if the power of its charge had been disrupted, the hit still carried the force of the monster's bulk, along with its forward momentum. But slamming into his shield headfirst had stunned the Ursa. Stepping out to the side, Jaune raised his sword, and brought it down in a powerful slash that took the Ursa's head off. Its legs gave out, and the rest of its body collapsed with enough force to make the ground shake.

Cardin stared at Jaune incredulously, while StormFlower whirled through the air to return to Ren's outstretched hand as he emerged from amongst the trees.

"Thanks," said Jaune, panting and sagging, throwing Ren a grateful look.

A pink and orange blur flashed past Ren, Nora flying into the clearing, her feet planted on the head of her hammer, while she held onto its shaft, practically surfing her weapon into battle with a loud whoop of excitement. Her flight carried her in an arc towards where Pyrrha and Dove were trying to hold their own against their Ursa.

Seeing her coming, Pyrrha charged the Ursa from the front, prompting it to rear up and slash at her. Because of that, its head was in perfect position for Nora to slam her hammer into it from behind, sending the Ursa falling forward.

Dove delivered the finishing blow, going into a jumping spin that allowed him to put all his body's strength into an upwards slash to meet the Ursa's descending neck, decapitating it in a manner similar to Jaune's opponent.

The final Ursa reared up over Weiss, who was struggling to stand back up, after taking several hits from its spines. The Ursa loomed over her, raising its claws. But before it could strike, a gold blur flash past Weiss, Yang appearing, delivering a powerful uppercut right into the Ursa's stomach, before following through with a mighty punch that sent it flying backwards. The Ursa landed, rolling onto its back, snapping its spines. Rolling back onto its stomach, it got its legs beneath it, and tried to rise, only to lurch when the blade of Blake's sickle pierced through the back of its head. The Ursa went limp, collapsing to the ground.

"You okay, Weiss?" asked Yang, extending a hand down.

"I'll be all right," gasped Weiss, accepting Yang's hand, and leaning against her, until she'd recovered enough to stand on her own.

Everyone's attention turned to Ruby and the Duba. While the others had been fighting against the Ursa Majors, Ruby and the Duba were locked into a fierce exchange, a maelstrom of black, white, and red. The monstrous Grimm moved with a speed that was utterly at odds with its size, its body and limbs black and white blurs. What was more, to everyone's shock, it was no mindless beast, lashing out or attacking wildly. As Ruby darted in to slash at it, the Duba defended with the bone plates over its forelimbs, or even dodged other attacks. It then counterattacked with incredible speed and power, its missed swings tearing apart the earth, making it shake with each impact.

For her part, Ruby was clearly fighting with everything she had, flurrying bursts of petals scattering around her as she dodged, sometimes appearing in two, or even three, places at once, while dodging the Duba's powerful blows. There was no way she could defend against that kind of force. The raw power of a single swing would allow those sword-like claws to carve right through her Aura, reaching the vulnerable flesh beneath.

"We have to _do_ something!" said Yang urgently. "If Ruby gets hit once, she's a goner."

"We have to be careful though," said Ren warily. "The way those two are dancing around, there's a real risk of Ruby getting hit, if everyone just starts shooting in indiscriminately."

There wasn't much of an objection, nor was anyone suggesting that they try to close in and fight the Duba in melee, the way Ruby was. Even Pyrrha, who'd gone head-to-head with Ruby, was having trouble keeping up. It was one thing in a one-on-one battle, where her opponent's movements were the only thing she had to keep track of. But the introduction of a second participant, one moving at nearly the same speed as Ruby, increased the complexity dramatically. On top of that, there was no way for her to use her Semblance to affect the Grimm directly.

Still, no one wanted to simply stand idly by. Ruby was holding her own for now, but it was clear that she was struggling. The Duba was almost a match for her in speed, and completely eclipsed her in the area of raw power. It was telling that Ruby hadn't unleashed any of her Manifestation attacks, apparently not having the time to gather the power for those techniques. And, while they couldn't be certain, it seemed like the Grimm itself might have had a well-developed situational awareness, intentionally keeping close to Ruby in order to limit potential opportunities for the people around them to interfere.

Jaune's eyes widened, and he noticed something about Ruby's position. Ruby was a blur, but from what he could see, she was an airborne one, apparently using her _Shukuchi_ to skip off the air itself at times, only touching down on the ground for brief instants.

"Nora, Yang, target the legs!" he shouted. "Aim as low as you can, right for its feet."

"Are you sure?" asked Yang worriedly, terrified at the prospect of hitting her sister.

"I am," said Jaune quickly. "Ruby's staying up high. I think she's doing it on purpose."

"Do it!" said Ren decisively, making it an order to his teammates from their leader.

Swallowing nervously, Yang cocked back her fists, then began to pump them forward and back, using the motion to launch fiery bolts from Ember Celica. Beside her, Nora collapsed her weapon into its grenade launcher form, and began to fire her payload as well. Streaks of orange and pink converged on the melee, exploding against the ground in the area around the Duba's paws.

The monster roared in pain, its movements faltering slightly. Cunning and capable it might have been, it was still a Creature of Grimm, when all was said and done. Its nature as such drove it to immediately retaliate against the ones that had caused it pain. Abandoning its attack on Ruby, it turned about, sweeping its paw down and slamming it into and through the earth, sending a shockwave tearing across the ground at Yang and Nora, who dove aside as the wave of earth and rock rushed through where they'd been standing.

That faltering of its attack gave Ruby an opening. She darted back, her cloak scattering still more petals through the air around her, Ruby herself going into a rapid spin. In less than a second, the petals had congealed into several orbs of red, which glowed and crackled, their color intensifying into a brilliant violet.

"_Hibana!_" The bolts of plasma shot down at the Duba from above, exploding across its body, making its entire form jolt as the beast let out a bellow of rage, immediately wheeling back towards Ruby again.

Seeing her opportunity, Pyrrha charged forward, Milo and Akouo raised. Behind her, Weiss swept Myrtenaster in an arc through the air around her, a quartet of small glyphs forming in her vicinity, which then fired bolts of blue energy at the monster. They flew past the charging Pyrrha to explode against the beast's hide, icy crystals growing out from where they landed.

Pyrrha jumped, cocking back her right arm, Milo transforming into its javelin-mode, with Pyrrha cocking back her arm in preparation to throw. The Nandi Bear, its attention diverted by Weiss' attack, turned to face Pyrrha right a she let fly, firing Milo's rifle to accelerate the javelin's flight. At the last second, the Duba turned its head, so that Milo's blade skipped off the curved surface of its bone mask.

Frantically Pyrrha used her Semblance to call her weapon back to her hand. At the same time, the Duba surged towards her, one paw raised, ready to drive those massive claws into Pyrrha's body. Pyrrha brought up her shield to defend, but knew that the sheer power behind the incoming blow was going to send her flying.

Then, seemingly out of thin air, Ren appeared on the Grimm's back, having approached completely unnoticed. He brought the blades of his StormFlower down, driving the points directly into the flesh at the base of the monster's neck, angling his weapons so that their barrels pointed directly at the back of the Duba's head, right where the white plate of its bone mask ended. Squeezing the trigger sent magenta bursts driving into that weak-spot.

The Duba bellowed in pain. Instead of trying to thrash and dislodge its unwelcome passenger, the Duba displayed that frightening cunning an older Grimm was known for, opting to simply throw itself over backwards, trying to crush Ren beneath its bulk. Ren managed to pull StormFlower free, but was too slow to throw himself clear. Fortunately, he was saved by a black ribbon that had wrapped around his wait, Blake pulling him out from under the Duba, mere fractions of a second before it would have crushed him beneath its bulk. Ren managed to land a short distance away from where the monster was already getting back to its feet.

The interventions had ultimately amounted to no more than a few seconds cumulatively. However, those few seconds were all that Ruby needed. Still in the air above the Duba, she brought the first two fingers of her right hand to the base of Akaibara's blade, running them along the length of the blade's flat, all the way to the tip. With a loud ring, her sword blazed with crimson light, the air gathering around the blade, as Ruby took it in both hands, raising it over her head. Not needing any prompting, Weiss created a black glyph directly below Ruby, which turned red as it sucked Ruby through it, Ruby kicking off with her _Shukuchi_ to accelerate even more, practically becoming a streak of crimson light as she descended.

At the last second, the Duba became aware of the impending danger, turning its head towards the source of the threatening sensation its honed senses perceived. It saw the descending streak of red and shifted its body, preparing to dodge. Its legs tensed, and it was about to launch itself out of the path of Ruby's strike.

But then a sword stabbed right through one of its hind legs. With a loud shout, Dove drove his weapon in with all the strength he had, punching right through the flesh above the Grimm's ankle, so that the blade of his sword emerged from the other side. Dove continued to push, until he'd brought the hilt of his weapon up against the Grimm's flesh, then started pulling the trigger, pumping bullets into the beast's leg at point blank range.

The Duba's leg spasmed, and it kicked reflexively, flinging Dove back, the force of the move causing Dove to lose his grip on his sword, and sending him flying. Even though he the world around him was a complete blur, Dove could tell that he was about to hit the ground hard. However, at the last second, his body was suddenly surrounded by a black outline, the power of Pyrrha's Semblance latching onto his armor, buoying him up and slowing him enough that he was able to bring his spinning under control, and then land on his feet.

In the meantime, his desperate attack had bought Ruby the last fraction of a second she needed to strike. "_Kazegiri!_" Ruby brought Akaibara down in a single slash, etching a line of crimson light through the air, seeming to split the world around her in two. She cut clean through the Duba's midsection, before landing in a crouch beside it. The large Grimm let out a single, final roar, then collapsed its upper half falling one way, its hindquarters the other, both halves releasing a shower of red particles that seemed to rain around Ruby. They hit the ground with enough force to send a jolt through the earth that everyone in the vicinity felt beneath their feet. After a few seconds, the Duba joined the Ursa Majors in dissolving into smoky particles.

"Wow..." breathed Yang, sagging, then falling to her knees. "That was a thing."

Jaune went forward to meet Ruby, who was staggering at little. "You okay?" he asked worriedly, seeing that her face was covered with sweat.

"I'll be all right," said Ruby, giving him a shaky smile, while sliding Akaibara back into its sheath. "I'm just coming down off the adrenaline. I'll be right as rain in a moment."

"Good," breathed Jaune in relief.

"That was a good call you made," added Ruby, "telling Yang and Nora to target its feet."

"I saw you trying to stay up high as much as possible, and figured that was what you were aiming for," said Jaune.

"You were right," Ruby replied.

Jaune flinched, then stiffened, when Ruby leaned forward, resting her head against his shoulder. "Uh...Ruby?"

"If it's okay, can we stay like this for a bit?" asked Ruby softly.

Jaune immediately found himself smiling warmly, reaching up to wrap his arm around her shoulders. "Yeah. It's fine."

"Well, I am glad to see that my intervention was not required," observed Glynda, striding out of the trees, her sudden appearance making everyone jump. Ruby and Jaune sprang apart, before joining the rest of their friends in spinning around to watch Glynda nervously. Despite her words, she didn't look glad. Granted, she didn't look angry either, merely wearing the same stern expression that was her trademark.

"Hey there, Professor," said Yang. "W-were you there the whole time?"

"Not the whole time," said Glynda, "but long enough. That was well fought, all of you..._especially_ you, Ms. Rose." Now Glynda actually _did_ smile, her praise and expression making Ruby blush.

Then Glynda's eyes went to Jaune. "Mr. Arc, that was an excellent call by you."

"Thanks, Professor," said Jaune, blushing himself.

"And the rest of you did an excellent job in providing the support that Ms. Rose needed," added Glynda, sweeping her gaze around to encompass the entire group, but skipping over Cardin, who was only now getting back to his feet.

Now Glynda adjusted her spectacles, then addressed the group as a whole. "Very well then, you had all best remember to return to our transports at the proper time. Carry on."

"Wait!" exclaimed Cardin, his eyes going wide with surprise. "You mean, after all of that, we're _still_ going to go forward with this?"

"Of course, Mr. Winchester," said Glynda dismissively. "Seeing as the Grimm are dead, there is no reason to suspend the mission."

"B-but..." protested Cardin weakly.

"Unforeseen circumstances are a fact of life, Mr. Winchester," said Glynda, her tone cold. "Even the most innocuous, low-risk mission can turn dangerous unexpectedly. You had best get accustomed to adapting to dynamic situations, Mr. Winchester, or you will not get very far here." Her eyes narrowed. "Besides, it is not as though you have anything to complain about, since you chose to...sit out...this particular battle."

Cardin's face turned red, burning with shame. Jaune actually found himself wincing at Cardin's embarrassment. He had expected Glynda to skip over addressing what Cardin had done completely. But it appeared that Cardin complaining about the mission continuing, despite the intense battle that had just taken place, had prompted her to address it openly.

Seeing that no one else had anything to say, Glynda turned on her heel and walked out of the clearing. "Don't forget your jars," she added as a final remark.

"Well...that's that," said Jaune.

Pyrrha went over to where the Duba had fallen, picking Dove's sword up off the ground. Walking back to him, she returned it to him, Dove accepting it with a grateful smile.

Then Dove turned to Cardin. "Are we done here?" he asked flatly.

"Yeah..." said Cardin, his expression becoming pensive. "We are."

"Good," said Dove, walking past him.

Cardin stood there for a long moment, before his gaze drifted to Jaune, who was once again allowing Ruby to lean against him, pressing her face into his shoulder. Finally, Cardin let out a slow breath, and turned to follow Dove. A few paces into the trees, he found Dove, staring down Sky and Russel, the other two boys too ashamed to meet Dove's squinty eyes. When Cardin appeared behind Dove, they both took nervous steps back, their eyes widening. Cardin met their gazes squarely, then closed his eyes and shook his head with a tired sigh.

"Let's just get this over with," he grumbled. He walked past Sky and Russel, already heading towards the rendezvous. Dove followed behind him, with the last two members of their team falling meekly into line.

* * *

Fortunately, there were no further Grimm interruptions to their field trip. Ruby, cautiously released the rapier wasps from their confinement, even leaving an offering of sap on a nearby tree, almost as an apology for what the insects had been through.

Of course, in their rush to confront the Grimm, the group had left their jars behind. Unfortunately, as soon as they made their way back, they realized that said jars had been left unguarded...something that _Nora_ had realized first. So it was with no small amount of consternation that they arrived back at where they had been working to find Nora already there, rubbing her stomach, licking her lips, not even bothering to _try_ and look innocent.

At this point, the only thing they could do was shake their heads, tap some new trees, and fill their jars once again, making absolutely certain to safeguard their provender this time. However, Nora's triumph was short-lived. By the time it was time for them to leave, she was suffering the consequences of overindulging in her vice, feeling woozy and nauseous. The ride on the bullhead didn't help matters and, by the time they had arrived back at Beacon, Nora's skin was a shade of green that looked distinctly unhealthy. They had scarcely reached their rooms, when Nora had bolted for her team's bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her. A few seconds later, their ears were assaulted with the sound of her being violently ill.

"Serves her right," scoffed Weiss, savoring the delicious (_Ha!_) irony of Nora suffering from her excess.

"Weiss!" protested Pyrrha, though she admitted to herself, guiltily, that she too felt a certain degree of satisfaction in Nora getting her just desserts (_Ha ha!_).

"It's not as though she didn't earn it," consoled Jaune, enjoying the sounds of sweet (_Yang might have been a bad influence on them._) revenge.

When Nora finally emerged from the bathroom, her skin only slightly paler than usual now. She still looked woozy, but was able to stand up without needing to be supported. Ren decided that her indigestion was more than enough of a punishment for her at the moment, merely asking if she had learned anything, to which Nora nodded wordlessly, a miserable expression on her face.

It would be two weeks before she could even bring herself to _look_ at the jar of sap she had collected for her own use...much less use it.

* * *

The mood in CRDL's room was low. The four boys sat on their respective bunks. Sky and Russel glanced evasively between Dove and Cardin. Cardin stared down at his knees, his expression pensive. Dove, on the other hand, was much more relaxed, leaning back casually against the wall his bed had been set next to, arms folded.

"Not going to say anything?" asked Cardin, not looking up.

"Do you want me to?" asked Dove.

"No," said Cardin.

"Then I won't," replied Dove.

"Not even 'I told you so?'"

"You seem to already know about that," said Dove.

Cardin sighed. "What do you want?"

Dove leaned forward. "What I want is for you to get it together. You've blown the first weeks of this year on a petty grudge against Arc. You've wasted time and energy on trying to haze him; put our school lives into jeopardy, because of a bunch of macho-man bull. We're lagging behind as students, as a team, as combatants, and we're on Goodwitch's watchlist.

"I came to this Academy because I want to become a Huntsman. What did _you_ come here for, Cardin?"

"The same," said Cardin softly.

"Is that really true?" pressed Dove.

Cardin closed his eyes. After a long moment, he opened them again. "No."

"Then what?" asked Dove.

"I came here because I wanted to be on top," said Cardin. "I don't want people to look down on me. No one looks down on Huntsmen."

"Don't be so sure," said Russel.

"Huh?" grunted Sky, as all three other sets of eyes swiveled towards the young man with the green mohawk.

"If you think that no one looks down on Huntsmen, you haven't been to my hometown," said Russel.

"What are you talking about?" asked Cardin.

"The people in my town hate Hunstmen with a passion," growled Russel, looking up at the ceiling. "They claim that Huntsmen are just glorified extortionists. They always exaggerate the threats they're up against, charge way too much for their work, and take advantage of the fact people need them to keep the Grimm at bay. Doesn't help that our village is on the Blacklist."

"What's the Blacklist?" asked Sky.

"Basically, we're last priority for Huntsmen," said Russel. "They'll only send someone out if there's a real risk that we're about to be overrun. But Grimm running through our fields, messing up our crops...we can't even post missions for that."

"That sucks," said Sky.

"Eh, it's their own fault," grumbled Russel.

"What do you mean?" asked Dove.

"The village _earned_ its place on the Blacklist," said Russel. "They got blacklisted because they kept lying about the mission levels they were posting, always hiring lower-level Huntsmen, so they wouldn't have to pay as much. If it happens once or twice, it's not a big deal. You can't predict Grimm perfectly, after all. But when the Huntsmen realized that the danger-level exceeded the mission-level that had been posted, _consistently_, they realized that the villagers had been pulling a fast one. They got a warning from the Kingdom, but ignored it. So they got stuck on the Blacklist instead. Dumbasses still keep blaming Huntsmen for it though."

"And you wanted to become a Huntsman?" asked Cardin, shocked.

"Not at first," said Russel. "But I was outside playing once, and was nearly run over by a Boarbatusk. This Huntress in white comes out of nowhere and saves me, takes me back home, doesn't even think to ask about money. To me, she was a goddamn hero. After that, I started learning more about what Huntsmen are all about, decided I wanted to be one."

"That can't have gone over well," noted Dove.

"Not at all," said Russel with a sardonic grin. "My parents damn near kicked me out of the house. I managed to talk them around, and they actually covered my tuition for Combat School. But it was a near thing."

"So what do you want out of this?" asked Dove, focusing on Russel.

"I want to become a Huntsman," said Russel. "I..."

"You want to be like the one who saved you," said Sky.

Russel nodded. Then he looked to Cardin. "So yeah...not everyone loves and respects Huntsmen."

"If they do, it's because there's a standard, and we're supposed to uphold it," said Dove. "All this stupid macho posturing is nothing but a waste of time."

"What about you?" asked Cardin, looking to Sky.

Sky sighed. "Family business," he said. "Dad was a Huntsman, decided I wanted to be like Dad, so...here I am."

"And are you like your dad?" pressed Dove.

Sky was silent for a long moment. "Nope," he said, sounding disappointed.

"So now what do we do?" asked Dove, looking back to Cardin.

"What do you mean?" Cardin asked back.

"You were gonna chuck a jar of sap at Jaune, then set a box of rapier wasps on him," said Dove harshly. "I don't know if Arc knew that at the time. But, all the same, when that Ursa was about to take your head off, there he was. Even after all the things you did to him, he was still there when you needed it."

Cardin averted his eyes again.

"_That's_ how a Huntsman is supposed to act," said Dove. "Arc's skills may be sub-par right now, but he's still more of a Huntsman than you are. The way I see it, you can keep wasting time and energy trying to tear him down...or you can build yourself up. Are you gonna keep blowing your time here on adolescent crap...or are you ready to actually _be_ the thing you came to this school to become?"

Cardin was silent.

Dove decided to go for the finisher. "I know where to find Arc," he said.

"What?" blurted out Sky, sitting bolt-upright.

"How long?" pressed Russel.

"The whole week," Dove replied.

The other three boys stared at him incredulously. "And you kept that from us?" demanded Sky.

"Yep," said Dove, not even trying to be obtuse about it.

"Why the hell?" gasped Russel.

"Gee...why do you think?" Dove retorted. "If you'd known where Arc was going on his off periods, what would you have done?"

The other boys didn't need to answer out loud. Following along with Cardin's desires, they'd searched for Jaune with the intention of exercising their frustrations on him, likely beating him into the ground.

"Do you know what Arc was doing, off on his own?" asked Dove.

"Hiding," scoffed Sky.

"Training," corrected Dove. "While you jackasses were busy acting like the bullies from every school-drama on the networks, Arc was busy working his ass off. I've even sparred with him a few times. He's still pretty weak overall, but he's getting better fast, because he's putting in the damn _work_, all while you guys are doing pretty much nothing."

Dove focused on Cardin. "How tired are you of losing to someone in the ring, just because you can't even bother to take him seriously? How quick do you want to be left in the dust by Arc, because he keeps training, while you've been doing nothing but flexing your damn muscles? Are you gonna look at what happened today, and just go back to the same old same old? Or are you actually going to do what really needs to be done?"

Cardin clenched his jaw. "Fine..." he groaned. "You win."

Dove sighed, leaning back again. "Thank God," he breathed.

Cardin groaned. "I suck as a leader," he said.

"Yep," said Dove, not even trying to deflect.

"You want to be the leader?" asked Cardin.

"Nope," Dove answered. "Ozpin made you leader, so you're stuck with it. You're already leading this team, you just need to do it right...and lead this team in the right direction."

In a sense, Dove could see why Ozpin had made Cardin leader. For all that he was bullheaded, and had a tendency to hold grudges over stupid things, Cardin did have some promising qualities. He had a natural charisma, something that had swayed Russel and Sky easily enough. He could be decisive, sometimes. Right now, he just wasn't using those qualities of his in the right way.

It would be an uphill battle, but Dove truly felt like things were finally turning around for Team CRDL.

* * *

The weekend went, more or less, like usual. The fervor over their sparring match had died down a little, since the interview, but neither Ruby nor Pyrrha still felt comfortable with the idea of going into Vale just yet, particularly Ruby, since she didn't want to expose Ashley to the press, and all the pressure that had come along with suddenly finding herself an informal celebrity. In the end, the two had to content themselves with keeping touch over their scrolls, filling each other in on how their respective school lives were going.

Ashley apparently hadn't made much headway in making friends at school. While she hadn't been targeted by bullying or hazing, despite being the only faunus in her class, there was still a distance between her and her human classmates that she found daunting. Reminded of her own experiences as an outsider who'd immigrated into the Mibu, Ruby offered what advice she could, though she couldn't be sure that Ashley would find anyone like Miyu or Setsuna among her classmates. But there was hopefully _someone_ there that Ashley could connect with.

Aside from that, the weekend had proven to be fairly uneventful. It had been a surprise, a pleasant one actually, to hear from Lisa, of all people. She'd sent a message, which Glynda had passed on to Ruby, that she'd successfully headed off an attempt by her network to set up an interview with Taiyang. Though they were reluctant to let go of such a juicy gossip piece, Lisa was continuing to cajole her peers and higher-ups into finding other stories more worthy of coverage, rather than continuing to hound a pair of girls who would like nothing more than to drop straight back into obscurity.

It was touch and go. Pyrrha's parents, and her agent, hadn't been happy about Pyrrha's remarks about not caring whether or not her sponsors abandoned her. Worse still, her parents were livid that Pyrrha had publicly spoken about their attempt to get her to withdraw from Beacon. It wasn't long before another call came over the CCT. While she still answered it, Pyrrha ended the call the very second her father began to berate her over her "ungrateful attitude." From then on, she denied every subsequent call that came in from her parents, finding herself beginning to empathize with Jaune and Ruby's own family troubles, when it came to having parental figures who stubbornly refused to see anything but what they wanted.

It was all the worse when Pyrrha was abruptly called to Ozpin's office, only to find that she had, somehow, submitted a formal withdrawal form for Beacon, a form that Pyrrha knew she hadn't even _looked_ at. Ozpin had suspected as much, with Pyrrha placing her manager, Holly, at the top of the list of suspects for performing such a move. Suspecting that this might not be the last time someone tried something of this nature, Ozpin declared that Pyrrha would not be permitted to withdraw or transfer from Beacon, unless she came directly to his office, and told him so, to his face, and got the necessary paperwork to fill out _directly_ from him, terms Pyrrha was glad to agree too.

Once the weekend was over, things went back to normal, with one surprisingly pleasant wrinkle. Team CRDL had changed their tune. No longer were they going around, trying to catch Jaune when he was on his own. In fact, they didn't bother with him at all, instead focusing on their own training. While Cardin, Sky, and Russel never apologized to Jaune for their treatment of him, there was a sense that they had genuinely buried the hatchet this time. Much to Ruby's relief, there was no sign that Cardin was interested in resuming his romantic overtures towards her either.

The excitement over Ruby and Pyrrha's sparring match aside, it looked as though their life in Beacon had finally settled down, leaving Ruby and the others feeling a sense of hope and optimism about the time to come.

* * *

**"_Paging a Mr. Murphy! Paging Mr. Murphy! Your law has been invoked!_"**

**"Duba" is another name for a cryptid that is probably best known as the Nandi Bear, hailing from around East Africa. Descriptions of it tend to vary, but one of the popular ones is a sort of bear/hyena hybrid. It's supposed to be a pretty nasty little beastie.**

**The Duba comes from an idea I had from a while back, concerning evolved or "Elder" Grimm. Sure, in the show we have a few examples of this, like Alpha Beowolves and Ursa Majors. But, aside from them, there're the really big ones, like the Wyvern from Volume 3 and the Leviathan from Volume 6. And there are the Goliaths from Volume 2 too, which touched off Dr. Oobleck's lecture on how not all Grimm are mindless. The Nuckelavee from Volume 4 is probably pretty darn old too.**

**This is mostly borrowed ideas from one of the prototype stories that I wrote, the overall idea not having any real bearing on this plot, but the idea was the concept of "Elder" Grimm vs simply "Older" Grimm. Older Grimm are Grimm who've simply lived a long time, usually just getting bigger, and maybe smarter, but by and large not actually developing into something all that special.**

**On the other end of that, _Elder_ Grimm are not Grimm that have just lived longer, but Grimm that have survived multiple encounters with humanity. Where as Older Grimm get larger and stronger with age, Elder Grimm essentially go through pseudo-evolutionary process that's basically leveling-up over the course of repeat engagements with Huntsmen and the like. If a Grimm can win, escape, or otherwise survive multiple fights against people, then it has the chance of evolving into an Elder Grimm. As an alternative to the simply older and bigger "older" Grimm, Elder Grimm can sometimes wind up smaller than their Older counterparts, but gain speed and power, along with a few...other...abilities.**

**Unfortunately, with everything that wound up going on in this story, there was no place for me to squeeze in all this extra lore and Grimm development, so the Duba winds up as nothing more than a particularly nasty Ursa-variant. However, I am planning on introducing this concept into my _Lost Rose_ sequel, so stay tuned for that.**


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46:**

"Are you okay with this?" asked Ruby nervously, looking at Jaune, who stood beside her.

"Why are you asking _me_?" her partner retorted. "I've already said I'm fine with this. If you can't go into Vale to see Ashley yet, then the next best thing is to invite her over here. Ozpin gave his permission, and we're all settled." He paused. "I figured you'd want Weiss and Pyrrha here too."

"Um...Well...I was hoping to kinda ease her in," said Ruby, tapping her fingers together. Ashley knew that she and Pyrrha were teammates, but Ruby was a little worried that Ashley's response to seeing Pyrrha Nikos in the flesh might put Pyrrha off a little. But what _really_ worried Ruby was how Ashley would react to meeting Weiss.

Still, there was nothing to be done, except go through with it, and allow the chips to fall where they may. Hopefully, Ashley wouldn't be too quick to judge Weiss, simply on the basis of her father's reputation.

They watched as the airship dipped down towards the platform. Given that it was Sunday, there was no shortage of students returning from Vale, after visiting it in the morning, although many more were waiting to board the airship, eager to spend the last afternoon of their weekend enjoying the Kingdom's amenities. Still, they held back as the passengers disembarked from the airship.

Ruby scanned the crowd of students, and broke out into a smile when she saw Ashley's tail, raised up behind her, almost like a flag, marking her position amongst the students.

"Ashley!" Ruby shouted, jumping up and down, waving to get her friend's attention.

Hearing Ruby's voice, Ashely's eyes immediately swiveled around, and after a few seconds of looking, zeroed in on Ruby's position. Then it was Ashley's turn to break out into a grin. "Ruby!" she shouted back, rushing towards her friend.

The two of them approached, then abruptly stopped just a little ways away from each other, not sure how to properly greet each other for a few, awkward, seconds. Then Ruby resigned herself to throwing caution to the winds, and wrapped her arms around Ashley in a hug, which Ashley quickly returned after a few seconds.

"You made it," said Ruby, pulling out of the embrace.

"Of course I did," said Ashley. "I can't believe you were able to get permission for me to come."

"It wasn't that hard," said Jaune, coming up behind Ruby. "Professor Ozpin's a pretty nice guy, when all is said and done."

"Is this...your partner?" asked Ashley, staring at Jaune with wide eyes.

"Yep," said Ruby.

"Nice to meet you, finally," said Jaune with an easygoing grin. "The name's Jaune Arc; short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

Ashley gaped at him for a second, before closing her mouth and puffing out her cheeks. "Pfffft!" Then she burst out laughing.

Ruby laughed along with her, while Jaune chuckled as well. Straightening up, Ruby gently elbowed him in the side. "Nice intro," she teased.

"Thanks," said Jaune, grinning back at her. "It's a gift." Knowing that Ashley was going to be slightly intimidated by the prospect of coming to Beacon and meeting other students, he figured that defaulting to his old greeting was a good way of breaking the ice, and showing her that there was nothing to be worried about.

Ashley relaxed after a moment, wiping her eyes. "It's nice to meet you," she said finally. "Ruby's told me a lot about you."

"And we've heard a lot about you," said Jaune, extending a hand, which Ashley took.

They began to walk towards the main campus. The trio got a few odd looks, though whether it was because Ashley was a faunus, or clearly not a student, or some mixture of both, they couldn't say.

"Did you get through Vale okay?" asked Ruby, a note of worry in her voice. She still remembered the circumstances of their first meeting all too clearly.

"It was fine," said Ashley. "I mean, it's not as though Vale is the kind of place where I'll be jumped simply for setting foot out of the Faunus Quarter. I've made the commute between my home and my job, not to mention from home to school, plenty of times, and that was the first time anyone actually tried anything with me."

She paused. "I mean, it's not as though I didn't get _some_ looks, but that was par for the course." She remembered getting quite a few odd looks while she was on the airship as well, though that might have been as much about her being a civilian taking a flight to Beacon as it was about her being a faunus.

As they approached the campus, Ashley momentarily forgot about their conversation, her eyes going wide as she tried to take everything in. She clearly hadn't expected to see such a beautiful locale, certainly not in a school that was for Huntsmen and Huntresses. "Wooow...this place is amazing!"

"It's pretty neat," agreed Ruby, before grinning shyly at the aghast look Ashley sent her. "Spend almost every waking moment in one place for a few weeks, and you get used to it."

"I guess," said Ashley, going back to taking in the sights. "This looks more like one of those high-class private schools you see on the holo-dramas than a Huntsman Academy."

"Well, you're not wrong," said Jaune, "especially when it comes to the classrooms. But you should see the arenas."

Ruby nodded. "We'll show you that later," she added.

"Really?" gasped Ashley, clasping her hands together, with her eyes sparkling in excitement.

"You bet," said Jaune. "We might even hold a match for you to watch."

Ruby's nod of agreement was met with an excited squeal from Ashley. Admittedly, she liked the aspects of a more "normal" friendship. But she supposed that there was nothing wrong with showing Ashley the unique parts of the Beacon lifestyle.

"Where are we going now?" asked Ashley.

"Our dorm room," said Ruby. "Our other teammates are waiting there."

"You mean...Pyrrha Nikos?" asked Ashley, her eyes sparkling again, before she froze, realizing she was beginning to act like a fangirl, and trying to school her face to a more neutral setting.

"Yes," said Ruby, coughing awkwardly, and not just because of Ashley's reaction to the prospect of meeting Pyrrha. "Um...I should tell you about our other teammate, Pyrrha's partner."

"What about her?" asked Ashley, her excitement faltering in the face of Ruby's worried tone.

"Um...the fourth member of our team is...Weiss Schnee," said Ruby, swallowing as she watched the myriad emotions flash across Ashley's face.

"Y-you mean...th-there's a _Schnee_ at Beacon?" asked Ashley, her face paling slightly. "And...she's on _your_ team?"

"Yep," said Ruby. Coming to a stop, she turned and rested her hands on Ashley's shoulders, a bit of an awkward gesture, given that Ashley was taller than her. "I...I um…know that the SDC has a rocky history with the faunus...b-but...please don't hold it against Weiss. She's not her father."

"B-but then...why did you...?" Ashley waved her hand in a vague gesture.

"I just...didn't want you to be blindsided by it," said Ruby. "Weiss told me how faunus feel about her family. She didn't exactly have the...best...view of faunus herself. But she's gotten a lot better about it. I think you two could get along, if you get to know each other."

Seeking affirmation, Ashley turned her gaze to Jaune.

"Well...she's prickly," Jaune admitted, giving Ashley a sheepish grin, "and pretty uptight. But she's actually fairly nice, when all's said and done. On top of that, we're all friends with the faunus member of a second-year team, and they get along pretty well."

Granted, it couldn't exactly be said that Weiss and Velvet were friends, except by association through their mutual friendship with Ruby, but they were certainly plenty cordial with one another. It helped a great deal that Velvet was one of the most inoffensive people on the face of the planet, in their humble opinion.

"It'll be okay," said Ruby, giving Ashley's shoulders a squeeze. "Weiss is actually pretty nice, once you get to know her. She's actually pretty afraid of meeting you too. She really wants to make a good impression."

"It'll be fine," said Jaune, trying to reassure both of them. "Of course, there's no point in putting it off either. So let's get this done."

With that, he began to gently urge them back into moving.

* * *

"Weiss, please stop pacing like that," requested Pyrrha, her insistent tone masking the amusement she _actually_ felt, seeing Weiss in the throes of her anxiety over the prospect of meeting Ruby's friend. "She's not going to bite your head off."

"How do you know that?" asked Weiss frantically, whirling about to stare at Pyrrha with wide eyes, an expression of frantic nervousness that looked positively alien on her face. "I couldn't even go out for coffee with Ruby's sister, near the Faunus Quarter, without touching off a small riot. My father is pretty much the boogeyman of faunus. How in the world could she ever accept me?"

_This feels so...strange,_ thought Pyrrha, amused by that notion. Weiss Schnee was the daughter of the most influential family in all of Remnant. She'd been born into a position of absurd wealth and privilege, the kind of things that caused people to automatically gravitate towards her, if only for the most selfish of reasons. Back in Atlas, and even here in Vale (among the upperclass at least), people would fight tooth and nail for the chance to become "Weiss' friend". Weiss' attitude towards such interest in her was jaded and cynical in the extreme.

All of which made it a breath of fresh air to see her fretting so much about wanting to make a good impression on her teammate's friend. This was the closest to a normal schoolgirl that Pyrrha had ever seen Weiss act. It was also a sign of just how much Weiss was beginning to truly embrace life at Beacon, and move past her status. Weiss, as she'd been when she'd first arrived, would have likely scoffed at the idea of meeting a low-class civilian, much less a faunus one.

"Look," said Pyrrha, getting to her feet and resting her hands on Weiss shoulders, "there's nothing you can do but put your best foot forward. Ruby, Jaune, and I will do our best to help you. I think you'll do fine."

"Do you really...?" asked Weiss.

"I do," agreed Pyrrha.

There was a click from the door latch. Weiss suddenly squeaked, then darted behind Pyrrha, actually cowering behind her back, an action that left Pyrrha completely at a loss as for how to respond.

"We're here," declared Ruby, stepping through the door, Ashley following close behind her, her posture nervous, with Jaune bringing up the rear.

"Hello," said Pyrrha cheerfully," stepping forward to greet Ruby's friend. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Pyrrha Nikos."

"W-wow," gasped Ashley, her eyes wide. For a second, she was at a loss for words. Then, after a few seconds, she found herself blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "Can I have your autograph?!"

Unable to help herself, Pyrrha broke down giggling, an action that was mirrored by Ruby and Jaune, prompting Ashley to flush and bow her head. "I'm so sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's perfectly all right," said Pyrrha, after a moment. "I'd be happy to give you an autograph later."

"N-no, it was rude of me," demurred Ashley, averting her eyes. "I know you just went through a lot, because of all that fame, and I just went and..."

"It's fine," said Pyrrha, resting a hand on Ashley's shoulder, and giving it a friendly squeeze. "But first, there's one last person for you to meet. Right, Weiss?"

There was a startled squeak from behind Pyrrha, Weiss peeking out, then ducking back behind her partner, an action that had Ruby and Jaune both as dumbfounded as Pyrrha had been earlier. For her part, Ashley backed up nervously. Jaune kept behind her, keeping Ashley from backing up too far. In the meantime, Pyrrha stepped aside, not allowing Weiss to keep hiding behind her.

Awkwardly, Weiss shuffled forward, her eyes diverted down. "Um...Uh...H-hello," she said. "I-I'm Weiss."

Jaune, Ruby, and Pyrrha gaped unashamedly, unable to properly compute the notion of Weiss acting so...shy. This wasn't like her at all.

_She _really_ wants to make a good impression,_ thought Jaune, amazed by the prospect.

"Um...H-hi," replied Ashley, taking a nervous step forward, so that the two of them were now face-to-face. "I'm Ashley."

Weiss slowly lifted her face, almost afraid to meet Ashley's eyes. Pale-blue met deep forest-green. For a long moment, the two of them stared at each other. Weiss' anxiety was making her want to duck her head again. What she was doing flew in the face of years of conditioning at the hands of her father and tutors. She was the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, an elite far beyond the status of a lowly faunus civilian, like Ashley. By all rights, it was an insult that she was even in the same space as this nothing of a girl. That was the kind of mindset her father had certainly sought to instill in her, once upon a time.

But these weeks at Beacon, being around Ruby, dealing with Velvet, meeting Ruby's sister, talking about her family's conflict with the faunus; all of that put Weiss off her balance. For the first time, she found herself genuinely worried about making a good impression. Sure, Ashley was merely Ruby's friend. But Weiss was Ruby's friend too, and now she found herself desperately wanting to do the best she could to be friends with Ruby's friend.

For her part, Ashley's mind had become dominated by a single realization, one that had kicked in the moment Weiss had raised her face and looked directly at her. _She's beautiful!_ She'd seen Weiss on the holoscreen before, of course. She'd even seen snatches of Weiss singing at concerts. It went without saying that the Schnee heiress was good looking. But now, seeing her up close, Ashley found her cheeks heating up.

Weiss' silvery hair and pale complexion gave her appearance an ethereal quality, something that almost marked her as some enchanted princess from a fairy tale. The vertical scar running down over her left eye should have detracted from that. However, it instead served to ground her beauty, making Weiss humanly, rather than inhumanly, beautiful. Combined with her petite build, and her uncharacteristically shy demeanor at the moment, and Ashley found Weiss to be the most beautiful person she'd ever laid eyes on.

"It's...nice to meet you," said Weiss, hesitantly raised her left hand.

"L-likewise," replied Ashley, hesitating a second, mostly because she was right-handed, so it took her mind and body a second to properly match Weiss' gesture. Raising her own left hand, Ashley took Weiss'. All at once, Ashley found herself fascinated all over again.

Weiss' hand and fingers looked so small and delicate. Yet, the instant Weiss' grip closed around Ashley's, Ashley could feel her strength. Weiss' skin looked silky-smooth over her knuckles and the back of her hand. But the inside of her fingers, from the tips down to base were lined with callouses. This was the hand of a swordswoman, a warrior. That realization only made Weiss all the more fascinating to Ashley's eyes.

The awkward moment continued, the two of them not realizing how long they stood there, hands clasped, while the others looked on with a mixture of confusion and amusement. No one wanted to say or do anything, lest the moment be ruined. There was an unspoken agreement between the other three people in the room to let Ashley and Weiss work this out for themselves. As long as there were no signs that things were about to go south, then the best they could do was stand back and see if the unlikely pair could get along.

"I...I've heard a lot about you," said Weiss.

"That's nice," said Ashley, still trying to wrestle around her own confused feelings.

"I g-guess you've heard a lot about me too," said Weiss.

"Yeah," agreed Ashley. "But now I think a lot of it isn't true."

"Depends on what you've heard," said Weiss, looking down again.

Unfortunately, while there was an unspoken agreement between Weiss' teammates not to interrupt the moment, said agreement had _not_ been struck with the members of RYNB, as demonstrated when Nora abruptly poked her head around the edge of the door.

"Hi!" she shouted, making everyone in the room jump and yelp. "Is Ruby's friend here yet?"

Ashley's reaction was particularly intense, as she shrieked, jumping several feet in the air, while her tail stood straight up, running parallel to her spine, bristling as all its fur stood on end. Touching back down, she released Weiss' hand, whirling around to stare at Nora in shock, lacking any idea of how to respond to the orange-haired girl now grinning at her.

Before Ashley could even figure out what was going on, Nora was through the door, and standing right in front of her. "Hi!" she repeated. "I'm Nora! Wow! You're so cute!"

"Um...uh..." Ashley stammered, completely at a loss for how to respond.

"It's so exciting to meet you! I've wanted to say hello for so long!" Nora continued to ramble, clamping her hands around Ashley's shoulders and lifting her off the floor. Ashley could only squeak and whimper as Nora began to shake her about energetically, the incredible strength of her arms making Ashley feel like she could be broken in two any second now.

"_NORA VALKYRIE!_" Weiss' voice was like a clap of thunder, cutting right through Nora's ramble. "_PUT HER DOWN, RIGHT THIS INSTANT!_"

Startled, Nora dropped Ashley immediately, Ashley landing awkwardly on her feet and stumbling back, only to find herself supported by Weiss, catching her before the disoriented girl could topple over backwards. Ashley gasped, looking over to see Weiss glaring fiercely at Nora, who had the awareness to look abashed.

"That is _not_ how you treat a guest!" Weiss admonished her fiercely. "Ashley's a civilian. With your strength, you could hurt her, if you're not careful."

"I'm sorry," squeaked Nora, stepping back nervously.

Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha traded nonplussed looks. "That's the most Weiss Weiss has been all day," Jaune remarked in a whisper.

The other two nodded their agreement.

"I'm terribly sorry about her," Weiss said, her tone now more clipped and businesslike. "Nora tends to think that manners are things that happen to other people."

"I-it's all right," said Ashley, staring at Weiss in awe, practically seeing her for the first time...again.

"Are you all right?" Weiss asked, wanting to make sure that Ashley was steady before she let go.

Ashley nodded wordlessly. Weiss took her hands off Ashley's shoulders, then, as though realizing what she'd just done, blushed furiously and looked away. "I...uh...I didn't mean to..."

"I-it's all right," said Ashley.

"Huh?" Nora canted her head, confused.

"So I guess she's here then," said Yang, poking her head around the door next. "Hey there, Ash. Good to see you again."

"N-nice to see you too, Yang," said Ashley, still recovering from the shock of meeting Nora, coupled with her first brush with Weiss' real personality.

Yang stepped through, followed by Ren and Blake.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," said Ren, bowing politely to Ashley. "I apologize for Nora. She can be a little...much."

"It's okay," said Ashley.

Ashley's gaze drifted to Blake, their eyes meeting. "Hello," said Blake softly.

"Hi," Ashley said back, feeling strangely uneasy for some reason. There was something about Blake that made the hairs of her tail stand on end, though Ashley couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Ruby noticed the interaction, realizing that Ashley might be sensing the fact that Blake was a faunus. She wondered if she ought to try and divert Ashley's attention, but subsequently decided that she would only head things off if she thought Ashley was going to out Blake to the others.

"So, what do you think of your first taste of Beacon Academy?" asked Yang, grinning.

"It's amazing," said Ashley, relaxing in the presence of Ruby's older sister. Seeing someone, besides Ruby, who she'd met before apparently eased Ashley's nervousness, though Ruby noticed that Ashley had subtly shifted to keep away from Nora, who at least had the awareness to look contrite, after scaring Ashley half to death.

On the other hand, Weiss couldn't quite keep herself from scoffing, momentarily forgetting her previous nervousness, and desire to make a good impression on Ruby's friend. "Please, all you've seen are the dorms and the courtyard. It's not as though this is any different from other boarding schools."

"She's not wrong," noted Pyrrha.

Granted, none of them had actually considered going to a normal boarding school. But a dorm was a dorm, no matter where you were, and Beacon's were no more elaborate than any number of other schools, mundane or otherwise, across Remnant. Their most advanced feature was the locks on the doors, keyed to the scrolls of the people occupying each room, and even that was a common part of other school dorms.

Ashley had been a bit startled by Weiss' shift to a more assertive attitude. But she wasn't too uncomfortable with it, much to Ruby's relief. After seeing Weiss and Ashley meet like each was afraid the other would bolt at the slightest provocation, it was good to see Weiss falling back into her more normal behavior, and that Ashley wasn't being put off by it.

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "Since you're here, we should give you the full tour."

"I-if you're all right with that," said Ashley nervously. "I mean...I don't want to just be a tourist."

"It's fine," said Yang. "We can show you where we hang, all the cool spots. Heck, we can hit the sparring ring too."

Ashley nodded eagerly at the prospect. Despite what Ruby had told her, Ashley still had a hard time internalizing the idea that Beacon was a relatively normal school, one with an exceptional curriculum, but still a school, when all was said and done; complete with things like classes, homework, projects, and the countless other mundanities that made a school a school. However much she tried, she couldn't completely abandon the idea of Beacon that had been planted in her head from the wild rumors of those who had never set foot in the place.

* * *

So they set out, Yang leading the way, with Ruby and Ashley following immediately behind her, while the others brought up the rear. Yang was all too happy to show Ashley the classrooms, unused during the weekend. Ashley was both shocked and impressed to see the layout, with the tiered rows of seats, reminding her of the classrooms of some high-end colleges she'd been looking into.

Of course, each of the classrooms were also unique, emblematic of whichever teacher taught there. There was Oobleck's classroom, with pictures and diagrams scattered across the walls, and even covering the blackboards, some connected with strings, making it look like the lair of a conspiracy theorist. There was Dust Science, with its laboratory setup, featuring equipment that Ashley had never laid eyes on before. Each of the other classrooms featured different appearances, showcasing the unique course-load Beacon students were expected to shoulder.

And, of course, there was Port's classroom, which had blackboards decorated with detailed diagrams of different Grimm, a wealth of information that Ashley had never seen in her life. To her, Grimm were monsters, things from nightmares that she had been diligently been taught to avoid at all costs. But, in this classroom, she was getting to see the Grimm as the students of Beacon saw them, as obstacles and enemies, to be analyzed and understood, so that they could be fought more effectively.

It was an odd experience to be sure. Ashley felt she was looking through a curtain into another world, and surprised to find that it looked amazingly like her own. At the same time, there was a very real difference. It might have looked like a normal school. But the subjects these students studied were anything but.

"I understand," said Ruby, when Ashley voiced her feelings on the matter. "It feels weird to think that we're at a school for hunting monsters, but you actually have to do homework, read textbooks about the monsters, and write papers about the monsters."

"You mean it's a drag," groaned Yang, making Ashley laugh. "I mean, at the end of the day, all you do is hit it until it's dead, while making sure it doesn't hit you back."

"But understanding what you're up against is the best way to ensure you can do that," countered Ren.

"Yeah, but that doesn't make it any less boring," said Yang. "I mean, you should sit in for one of Professor Port's lectures, Ash. If there's one thing that's totally amazing, it's the way a man can make teaching about the hunting the eternal enemy of mankind the most boring thing on the face of the planet."

Ashley briefly thought that Yang was joking, until she noticed that everyone was nodding along with her.

"At least he does practical sometimes," ventured Pyrrha.

"True, that does liven things up," added Blake.

"Practical?" Ashley looked to Ruby for clarification.

"Sometimes, Professor Port brings a Grimm into the classroom and has one of us fight it," Ruby explained, making Ashley gasp in shock.

Behind them, Weiss blushed furiously and looked down.

"And have all of you done this?" asked Ashley.

"Not all of us," said Nora, disappointed.

"There's well over a dozen students in each class," Ren reminded her, before addressing Ashley directly. "Keeping Grimm in captivity is difficult enough that we only have an opportunity every couple of weeks, assuming the Professor can actually obtain one. And, even then, it's usually just one student who gets to fight."

"Of course, we can schedule training sessions in the Emerald Forest," added Ruby, her teammates nodding, remembering one such particular training session.

"Wow..." whispered Ashley. It was disconcerting to hear these students talk about something that she would never consider doing, as though it were a casual activity.

"Yeah, I guess it's a pretty big deal," noted Yang casually. "I mean, do anything often enough, and it becomes pretty ordinary, after a while."

"Until you wind up fighting a Duba," commented Blake wryly.

"Yeah...then it gets tricky," admitted Yang.

"But enough of that," declared Nora. "Where do we go next?"

* * *

They decided to visit the library. It was certainly one of the more impressive places on campus, and Ashley was shocked to see the plethora of books on display. It was certainly considerably larger than her own school's library. After that, they visited the sparring rings. To their good fortune, they found one that wasn't in use, and were able to secure it for themselves.

"So this is where you fight each other?" asked Ashley, looking around.

"Well, one of the places," said Ruby.

The sparring rings were not as impressive as the room used by Goodwitch for Combat Class. Instead of the upper balcony, with seating for a number of students, the sparring rings, while being almost the same size as the ring used in class, were simpler in design, with an outer ring of benches lining the wall, seating fewer spectators, which was understandable, as these were meant to be used by one or two teams at a time, mainly for individual matches. There were a couple of larger rings, capable of hosting multi-team battles, as well.

The proximity of those benches to the center of the action was a bit unnerving to Ashley.

"Don't worry," said Yang, gently patting Ashley on the back. "The shields here are top notch. It'd have to be a pretty serious hit to actually break through them. Now then, who wants to go out there?"

"Huh?" gasped Weiss.

"Well, we went through the trouble of taking up this ring, might as well use it," declared Yang. "Besides, Ashley came all the way up from Vale, so we should give her a show."

"That's true," agreed Ren.

"It would be remiss of us to take this ring, then not use it," added Blake, prompting an askance look from Ashley, who still felt unsettled by the black-haired girl's presence.

"Well, I think Ruby should be one of the participants," said Ren.

"Me?" asked Ruby.

"She's your friend first," said Ren. "If anyone is going to show off for her, it should be you."

"Y-yeah...well..." Ruby gazed bashfully down at her toes.

"Let's set up the randomizer and pick an opponent for her," said Yang, using her scroll to interface with the ring's controls. Opening it up into tablet mode, she brought up the display, showing Ruby's portrait on one side, while a wheel of portraits, representing the rest of them spun on the other side, before slowing down to reveal Ruby's opponent...Weiss.

Weiss gasped, and her eyes went wide.

"Well, the god of random numbers has spoken," declared Yang with a grin. "Go get your weapon, Weiss."

Overcoming her surprise, Weiss drew herself up, projecting as much confidence as she could. "Very well then." She turned and strode out to get Myrtenaster from the nearby locker room.

"Are you okay with this?" asked Ashley, giving Ruby a worried look.

"It's okay," said Ruby. "We do this all the time."

"In class, usually," added Pyrrha.

Silently, the members of both teams noted that they should spend more time in the sparring rings. RASP in particular had never actually visited the rings, occupied as they were with Jaune's basic training, though that had become less of an issue, now that Jaune was working on his own.

"Have you fought Weiss before?" asked Ashley.

"Actually...no," admitted Ruby sheepishly.

"I have!" declared Nora cheerfully.

"Is she strong?" asked Ashley.

"Super-strong!" replied Nora excitedly. "She beat me, and I've got these guns!" She flexed her arms, with their impressive muscles, for emphasis.

"Although, in this case, strong means skilled," commented Ren. "Weiss' style is extremely refined and precise. I think you'll be impressed."

A few minutes later, Weiss arrived, Myrtenaster at her hip. "Ready?" she asked Ruby.

"Yep," said Ruby, fingering Akaibara's hilt. The two of them headed out into the center of the ring, while Yang brought up the arena's shield.

Ashley's eyes caught the shimmer of green energy climbing up in front of her, before it vanished from her sight. "Are we really okay right here?" she asked nervously.

"Yep, replied Yang, rapping her knuckles against the shield producing ripples of green light that spread out from the point of impact, along with a faint crackling sound.

Warily, Ashley reached out in front of herself, only to stop when Pyrrha gently rested her hand atop Ashley's own. "I wouldn't advise that," said Pyrrha. "It does give you a jolt, and it can be quite painful, if your Aura isn't unlocked."

Squeaking nervously, Ashley stepped back, sitting herself down on the bench behind her, keeping her hands pressed to her lap.

"Don't worry too much about it," said Yang.

Ashley nodded, then suddenly got an idea. "Is it okay if I record the fight?" she asked.

"Uh...sure," said Jaune.

"Just...please don't put the fight out on the network," pleaded Pyrrha.

"I won't," promised Ashley, pulling out her scroll, and turning on the video recorder.

Out in the ring, Ruby and Weiss assumed their starting positions; Weiss with her rapier poised to thrust, pointing right at Ruby; Ruby with her sword held up over her head, the blade pinched between the middle and ring fingers of her right hand.

"Begin!" shouted Yang.

The pair blurred into motion instantly. Weiss rushed forward, executing her trademark sliding lunge that allowed her to launch a swift thrust, right at Ruby's chest. Ruby countered it by whipping Akaibara around in a rapid parry that knocked the thrust aside. Following through, Weiss unleashed a rapid series of thrusts, the blade of Myrtenaster becoming a flickering blur between her and Ruby. Ruby's response was to maneuver her own sword with her wrists, sweeping it in front of her in tight crescents, curving streaks of red intercepting the white flashes of Weiss' thrusts.

Then Weiss stumbled forward, her latest thrust finding no resistance. Ruby had vanished, leaving only a flurry of petals where she'd been before, Weiss tottering into the space she had occupied. Ruby was already behind Weiss, Akaibara poised to swing. Weiss gasped. Her own senses might not have been honed to the degree that Ruby's were, but she could definitely sense the threat from behind. Besides, it was the only logical way Ruby could have moved, considering the circumstances.

With a flash, a white Glyph spun into being beneath Weiss' feet, launching her upwards without her needing to bend her legs to jump. Ruby's sword slashed through the space Weiss had been standing, while Weiss' Glyph carried her over Ruby's head. Another Glyph appeared in the air behind Weiss, launching her back down at Ruby, like an arrow from a bow. Ruby darted back, escaping the line of Weiss' strike, before darting back in, trying to catch Weiss before she could dodge again.

Another Glyph appeared beneath Weiss' feet. But, this time, instead of launching her into the air, it instead sent Weiss sliding off at an angle, her high-heeled boots sliding across the floor of the ring as smoothly as though she were skating on ice. At the same time, the Dust-chambers of her weapon revolved, the fire-Dust chamber rolling into place, while Weiss slashed her blade through the air in front of her, flames trailing off it to form a burning crescent of yellow, orange, and red that flashed across the space between her and Ruby, a wave of flame that washed across the ground.

Ruby was a streak of red as she shot upwards over the wave, descending on Weiss with a powerful slash of her sword. Weiss threw herself backwards, Akaibara slamming down where she'd been standing with a crash, actually splitting the surface of the ring. Falling back, Weiss selected the ice-Dust chamber next, thrusting down into the ring at her feet, utilizing her favored tactic of unleashing a wave of ice-spears at her opponent. It also created a wall of ice that cut her and Ruby off from each other.

Seeing the points of Weiss' ice spears coming at her, Ruby remained dauntless. Rather than falling back, she shot forwards, seeming to deliberately throw herself onto the points of Wiess' weaponized icicles. However, with subtle turns of her body, Ruby slipped between the points, at the same point, drawing back Akaibara, holding it in both hands, with the blade pointed in front of her, poised for a two-handed thrust. A crackling thread of red lightning climbed the length of the sword, winding around it, almost like a thorny vine. As she reached the wall of ice, she thrust forward. "_Takenoko!_"

The lightning leapt out from the tip of her sword with an echoing crack, striking the wall ahead of the tip of the blade itself, sword and lightning both punching right through. Weiss shrieked as the lightning struck her, the sudden jolt causing her muscles to seize and spasm, keeping her from dodging when the sword followed, the tip striking her shoulder. There was a flash of red against white, sparks of the two colors shooting off in different directions from the clash between their Auras, before Weiss was thrown back away from Ruby.

Ashley gasped, shooting to her feet, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be recording. "Take it easy," said Pyrrha, resting a reassuring hand on Ashley's shoulder. "Weiss' Aura took the hit."

Ashley stood there, blinking dumbly for a moment. "I guess I should have known," she said. After all, she'd seen Ruby's match with Pyrrha, which had involved each of the pair landing blows on the other with their edged weapons. But it was one thing to see that on a screen, another entirely to watch it happen to someone she knew, right in front of her own eyes.

"It _does_ look crazy," agreed Jaune.

Calming down, Ashley sat back down, and resumed recording.

Ruby advanced, the ice crumbling away from the force of her last attack, giving her an opening to proceed through, so that she could capitalize on the hit she'd just landed. But Weiss was already responding. A black Glyph appeared behind Weiss, pulling her through it and sending her flying out the other side at a greater speed. At the same time, she swept her rapier through the air, creating a quartet of much smaller Glyphs, which then launched white bolts at Ruby, arcing through the air like missiles.

Not faltering, Ruby twisted, turned, and danced between the bolts, which exploded against the wall of ice behind her, before dashing forward again, leaving a trail of petals in her wake. Ahead of her, Weiss landed, driving Myrtenaster into the floor again. Abruptly, Ruby lurched to a stop with a startled squeak, finding her feet pinned to the floor by the appearance of another black Glyph. Ahead of her, she saw Weiss draw back her weapon for a powerful thrust, though Ruby was still out of reach.

The chamber of wind-Dust slid into place next, and Weiss thrust out at Ruby with a loud shout, unleashing a horizontal tornado that flew right at Ruby, hitting right as the Glyph holding Ruby in place expired, the sudden surge of wind sending her flying and spinning backwards.

Weiss swept her weapon through another crescent in the air around her, creating another series of miniature Glyphs, which glowed orange and red, launching fireballs that slammed into the remains of the ice-wall she'd created, shattering it into fragments. From there, Weiss reversed her grip on Myrtenaster, and drove into the floor again. Another Glyph, this one glowing green, appeared right where Ruby's windblown flight carried her, erupting in a tornado that quickly swept Ruby up into it. Also drawn in were the shrapnel that Weiss had made of the ice-wall, becoming sharp-edged hailstones that circled through the whirlwind, bombarding Ruby from all sides.

Ruby wrapped herself up in her cloak, channeling her Aura through it to harden it, until it was as strong as a sheet of armor, the ice shattering impotently against its folds, while Ruby rode out the turbulent whirlwind.

"Wow!" exclaimed Jaune. "Weiss totally has the advantage here."

"She might even win!" declared Nora.

Ashley watched with wide, eager eyes, wondering just who would emerge from this bout the winner.

Ruby kicked out, firing her Aura out through her feet, using the action to propel herself out of the weakening tornado. She shot towards the floor, managing to get her feet under herself and slide to a stop. As she stood upright, Weiss appeared behind her with the flash of a conjured Glyph, using it to angle her approach to come at Ruby from her blindspot, so that the folds of Ruby's own hood kept Weiss out of her field of view.

As she approached, Myrtenaster poised to deliver a devastating thrust, Weiss thought she could hear the faintest hissing sound from Ruby. Nonetheless, she attacked. Myrtenaster struck Ruby right in the neck, the silvery blade plunging into the folds of red fabric...which then dissolved into a cloud of petals. Beyond that lay only empty air, with no sign of Ruby.

Before Weiss could even begin to try and locate her opponent, Ruby rose up from below, having sunken down into a crouch, taking her below the line of Weiss' thrust, turning and rising to bring her blade up in a slash, aiming right for Weiss' torso. Akaibara struck with a flash of red and a pained shriek from Weiss, who was thrown backwards from the blow. She landed on her back…hard. Still, she managed to quickly use what remained of her momentum to roll back onto her feet, rising up to a standing position. As she did, she created another set of miniature Glyphs, aiming to use another barrage of bolts to try and slow Ruby's pursuit, and buy herself more time to come up with her next move.

Another faint hiss reached her ears.

"_HIbana!_" A barrage of bolts of violet plasma slammed into the miniature Glyphs, shattering them, the thundering cracks of their discharges staggering Weiss. Ruby followed in the wake of her attack. Desperately, Weiss drove Myrtenaster into the floor, conjuring another wall of ice. Forgoing attack this time, she focused on conjuring as thick and solid a barrier as she could manage, hearing yet another hiss from Ruby as she did so.

But Ruby moved as though she knew exactly what Weiss was going to do, firing her Aura from the soles of her feet to launch herself upwards, just enough that she was able to use Weiss' rising wall as a foothold, before it could even begin to grow to its full height, stepping off with another sharp, precise application of her Aura to send her in a flipping dive towards the floor, an arcing blur of red touching down directly behind Weiss, poised to strike.

Gasping, Weiss turned, raising Myrtenaster, bracing the flat of her blade with her right hand. But that did next to nothing to stop the force of Ruby's strike. Although Weiss' block kept Akaibara from biting into her Aura once more, she was still thrown backwards into her own ice-wall, cracking it with the force, the impact driving the breath from her lungs.

Through her blurred vision, Weiss could see Ruby closing in again. Desperate to escape, Weiss created another Glyph, using it to throw herself to the side. She heard another hiss, then, to her shock, she saw that Ruby was directly in front of her, having matched her movement perfectly. Weiss caught a glimpse of a red flash over from where they'd just been, and saw that her Glyph had been turned red by its contact with Ruby's Aura. That was when Weiss realized that Ruby had deliberately stepped down on the Glyph, when Weiss had created it, using it to propel herself in the same direction as her opponent.

Akaibara flashed once more, and Weiss screamed, her body slamming into the barrier with an angry crackle, before sliding to the floor, Myrtenaster tumbling from nerveless fingers.

"And that's the match!" declared Yang.

"Is she okay?" asked Ashley, shutting down her scroll and standing up worriedly.

"She got her bell rung, that's for sure," said Nora.

Yang brought down the safety barrier, and Weiss' friends swarmed around her, including a concerned Ruby, who sheathed her own sword and crouched down in front of Weiss.

"You okay?" asked Ren, supporting Weiss from behind and gently massaging her shoulders.

"Ouch..." was all that Weiss had the wherewithal to say.

"She'll be fine," declared Nora.

They helped Weiss over to the bench, where they sat her down next to Ashley, who looked on worriedly.

"Sorry, I guess I got carried away there, at the end," said Ruby sheepishly.

"No...it's fine," said Weiss, who was beginning to feel a bit more lucid.

"That was amazing!" gasped Ashley, gaping at them. "I never imagined that Huntresses could do things like that!"

Weiss and Ruby both blushed.

"Yes, well, when Weiss cuts loose with her Dust, she really makes Nature's Wrath live up to its name," commented Pyrrha.

"But Ruby was even _more_ incredible," said Weiss, sighing.

"You almost had her a couple times there," Ren pointed out.

Weiss wondered if that really was the truth. Glancing up at the screen, still hovering over the ring, she could see the differences in their Auras. Ruby had taken Weiss down almost to the critical zone with only the scant few hits she'd landed, while Weiss had barely managed to make a dent in Ruby's Aura. Even if Ruby hadn't won by ring-out, Weiss wouldn't have been surprised if the match had lasted longer than a few seconds beyond that attack.

"Well, we're set for another twenty minutes or so," said Yang, checking her scroll's clock. "By the time the ring's fixed, we should be good for one more bout."

"Fixed..." Ashley's eyes glanced out towards the ring, noticing where it was pitted and split by the attacks the combatants had exchanged. Now those deformations were filling in, the ring mending itself before her eyes. The ice structures Weiss had created were crumbling and dissolving.

"The rings are capable of self-repair," explained Blake. "Special vibrations break down Dust constructs, while earth-Dust is used to fix the surface of the ring itself."

"During Combat Class, Goodwitch fixes the ring herself, 'cause it's faster that way," added Nora.

"She can do that?" wondered Ashley.

"Yeah, Professor Goodwitch's telekinesis shouldn't be underestimated," said Ruby.

"She's capable of performing molecular bonding to rejoin broken objects," added Pyrrha. "She uses her Semblance to call all the debris back together, then just merges them as though they've never been broken in the first place."

"Wow..." whispered Ashley. The more she heard, the more she realized that Huntsmen and Huntresses really were an existence apart from the world she knew. It wasn't merely that they went out to fight the monsters that occupied people's nightmares. They were capable of things that bordered on the magical to her mind. She figured that such things were well beyond the reach of an ordinary mortal like herself.

Yang seemed to read Ashley's mind. "Don't get too starstruck," she said, gently patting the girl's shoulder, careful to moderate her strength. "We started out as regular people too, even Ice Queen, here."

"Hey!" protested Weiss weakly.

"But we _have_ been training most of our lives to cultivate the skills you see here today," added Pyrrha.

Outside of Ashley's field of view, Jaune shifted nervously, and studiously averted his eyes.

"It isn't as though the people who come here are superiorly gifted," continued Ren.

"So don't sell yourself short," finished Ruby, smiling at her friend.

Ashley nodded, figuring that she needed to think this over more. She did have to admit that, for as incredible as the things they could do were, the people she'd met today were just people, from the way they acted and carried themselves. They could be shy or confident, prone to erratic behavior or remarkably steady. Having them all around her, talking so normally, did make them seem rather ordinary to Ashley, even if what they did was so extraordinary.

"So, who wants the next bout?" asked Yang, looking up to monitor the progress of the ring's self-repair.

"Ooh!" squealed Nora, jumping up and down. "Pick me! Pick me! Put me in, coach!"

"In that case, I nominate myself," declared Yang, already winding her right arm.

"You're welcome to her," said Ren, sporting a relieved smile.

"This fight's going to be loud," commented Blake, giving the pair a wan look as they strode out into the ring, while Ren took over the job of bringing up the barrier.

Ashley twitched, looking at Blake again, a pensive frown on her face. There was something about Blake that struck Ashley as...strange. But she couldn't quite place it.

Still, that notion was knocked out of her head completely as Yang and Nora went at it in the ring. Ruby and Weiss' fight had been impressive, with the pair looking as though they were dancing, in between flashes of elemental energy. But Yang and Nora were powerhouses, with fighting styles that were best described as "explosive." Bangs and roars echoed out, barely muted by the safety barrier. Fiery bolts collided with pink shockwaves. Gauntleted fists slammed into a massive warhammer. Forced apart by colliding blows, Yang fired fire-Dust rounds from the barrels of Ember Celica, while Nora replied in kind with grenades from Magnhild. When they closed in, Yang ducked and weaved, throwing out swift punches, punctuated by shots from her weapon, while Nora whirled her hammer through swift spins, countering with swings that unleashed explosive shockwaves upon contact.

It was hard to tell who had the advantage. At range, Nora seemed to have the edge, her grenades exploding in a wider radius, inflicting damage, even if they missed hitting their target outright. But Yang's shots had a higher velocity, enabling greater accuracy on her part. In close, it looked as though Yang had the advantage, able to come right in, stepping well inside the reach of Nora's long, bulkier weapon, to deliver swift attacks. However, Nora's mastery of her hammer was not to be underestimated, and her handling of it allowed her to keep pace with Yang, even right up close.

It was a slugfest, but one that Nora seemed to be winning. Though both of them lost Aura with each exchange, Yang's was dropping faster than her opponent's. The longer the fight went on, the wider the gap between them grew. Finally, it looked as though Yang was at her limit, her Aura hovering just above the critical zone, while Nora still had a healthy chunk of hers remaining.

Ashley leaned forward, on the edge of her seat, certain that Yang was about to lose. Then she heard Ren mutter softly behind her. "It's Yang's win," he said.

"Nora forgot about her Semblance," added Blake.

As the pair closed in for a final exchange, Yang's body abruptly began to shine from within, her hair glowing brilliantly, yellow motes drifting off into the air behind her. Her eyes turned a brilliant crimson color, and Yang unleashed a mighty punch. For her part, Nora saw the attack coming, but all she could do was shriek and put up her weapon to block the incoming attack. It was useless, Yang's punch unleashing a mighty explosion that blasted Nora backwards, slamming her into the safety barrier even harder than Ruby had blasted Weiss against it earlier. Not only that, but Nora's Aura advantage vanished completely, what remained of her meter dropping all the way down into the critical zone from that one hit.

"Ring-out _and_ knockout," declared Ren, bringing down the barrier.

Nora sat up, her head swaying around in woozy circles. "Whoo...can someone stop the ring from spinning...I wanna get off."

The others laughed, as Yang went to offer a helping hand to her teammate.

* * *

**Well, if you can't bring Ruby to Ashley, just bring Ashley to Ruby. As I've said before, it's fun to explore a civilian perspective in the World of Remnant, from time to time, particularly where it concerns how they view Huntsmen...or the Huntsmen Academies. We get to see Ashley being shocked to see what Beacon looks like. Considering the rumors that would probably be flying about the place, it's hard to imagine that Beacon is...a school. Heck, I've been a _RWBY_ fan for a few years now, and I'm still amazed that Beacon and the other Academies (sans Shade) have cute little uniforms for their students to wear during class. I mean...I guess a dress code might be important, but it seems like a relatively minor thing in a school that's all about teaching students how to slay monsters.**


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47:**

After working up an appetite in the ring, the group retired to the dining hall for dinner. Ashley was relieved to see that Beacon served the same food she'd seen in any home or restaurant down in Vale, having imagined that the students were given some super-secret nutritional formula that enabled such a monstrous growth in their abilities.

After that, it was time for Ashley to head home. Reaching the air-docks, she turned to say goodbye to Ruby and the rest of her new friends. "I had an amazing time," she said, gladly hugging Ruby. "Thank you for inviting me here."

"I'm glad you got to come," said Ruby.

"It's unfortunate we won't be able to do this too often," said Pyrrha, resting a friendly hand on Ashley's shoulder. "Hopefully, next time, we'll be able to visit you."

Ashley nodded eagerly. Then her eyes turned to Weiss. Unable to help herself, Ashley found her cheeks heating up at the sight of the pale girl. Even though Weiss looked tired, and a little bit frazzled from the aftereffects of her bout in the ring, she still looked beautiful. If anything, there was something about her slightly disheveled looks that struck Ashley as even _more_ appealing. It was bizarre to think that this was the girl her neighbors and friends had spoken of in such insulting terms, even though mention of her came up far more rarely than it did her father.

"I'm glad I got to meet you," said Weiss, the sincerity in her tone surprising, making Ashley's heart flutter.

"M-me too," stammered Ashley. She and Weiss clasped hands again, Ashley holding on a little longer than she intended.

"Yang...?" said Ruby, throwing a glance at her older sister.

"Sure, I can make it before the last airship leaves," said Yang, nodding and grinning.

"What?" asked Ashley, letting go of Weiss' hand...reluctantly.

"I'm gonna walk you back, at least as far as the faunus quarter," said Yang, giving Ashley's shoulder a friendly squeeze. "Vale's pretty safe. But it's getting late, and nightfall is when the creeps start coming out of the woodwork. We don't want to take any chances."

"Thank you," said Ashley, feeling relieved. She hadn't given much thought to the hour. She paused. "Why you?"

"Ruby's too famous to go with you, right now," Yang pointed out. "It's the same for Pyrrha. Weiss would just attract _more_ trouble." That got an emphatic nod from the girl in question. "Of everyone else, I know you best, and I can handle myself plenty well, without needing to use my weapons, so there shouldn't be any problems."

"All right," said Ashley. She exchanged one last smile and nod with her new friends. "Thank you so much for today. I hope I get to see you soon."

"Good night," said Ruby, waving goodbye.

Ashley and Yang stepped aboard the airship, Ashley watching at the window, staring as it lifted off, treating her to one last view of Beacon Academy, before the vessel turned towards Vale.

Ruby watched the transport go for a minute, before turning to join the rest of her friends in heading back to the dorm. She found herself walking alongside Weiss. "What did you think?" she asked.

"I thought she was nice," said Weiss. She looked down. "I...I hope I made a good impression. I think I did."

"I'm pretty sure you did," said Ruby wryly, remembering the color on Ashley's cheeks whenever she and Weiss addressed each other.

"That's good," said Weiss.

"Thank you," said Ruby.

"For what?" asked Weiss.

"For worrying about what Ashley thought of you," said Ruby. "It's hard for me to think of you doing something like that."

"It...was weird," said Weiss, a pensive frown on her face. "I...I never thought _I_ would be the one worrying about what other people thought of me. I guess that made me...more anxious than usual."

"I can see that," said Ruby. She decided to switch the topic. "That was a good match, by the way."

"Thanks," said Weiss, before sighing. "I thought I was better than that, though."

"You're great!" Ruby assured her quickly. "I had some really tough moments there."

"But you never were really in any danger of losing," Weiss observed. "I could tell. You completely turned the tables on me, at the end there."

"Well, it's not because I was holding back or anything," Ruby replied. "I just learned your rhythm."

"What?" asked Weiss, blinking in surprise and confusion.

"It's a technique my first teacher, Shinrei-sensei, taught me," said Ruby. "When you fight someone, you learn their rhythm, and you can use that to anticipate their moves, so that you can avoid their attacks and keep them from avoiding yours. He calls it the Dancing Blade."

"My rhythm...?" wondered Weiss.

Ruby nodded. "I...I'm still working on getting the hang of it. Most of the time, it takes me more than one fight for me to figure out a person's rhythm. I couldn't do it with Pyrrha. It doesn't help that I was distracted by trying to figure out her Semblance.

"But your rhythm was really easy for me to learn. Your style is super-refined, and it's almost like a dance sometimes. So it was all out there for me to see."

Weiss looked down, thinking over what Ruby had been saying. "So...that sound you were making, that hissing noise..."

"That was me vocalizing the timing of your actions," said Ruby. "When you lunge to when you thrust, when you stab down to when your ice appears, when your Glyph appears to when it moves you...I got the timing down for all those things, so I was able to counter them."

Weiss' eyes widened. Now that she thought about it, it really _had_ felt as though Ruby had been dancing with her at the end there, moving in perfect synch and time with Weiss' own movements, even to the point she was able to use Weiss' own Glyph, which Weiss had been using to avoid her, to catch up.

"How do I counter that?" asked Weiss.

"It's tricky," said Ruby. "I can't beat Shinrei-sensei, because he's even better at reading my rhythm than I am his. But...sometimes, you just have to do something completely off-the-wall to throw off an opponent who can do that. It's not easy. Your rhythm is a big part of who you are and what you do. Most people can't just...turn it off. I can't do that."

"Huh..." mused Weiss, figuring that she had a rather high hurdle to make if she ever wanted to overcome that particular skill of Ruby's. Ruby's statement about learning a person's rhythm over the course of multiple battles indicated that her knowledge of Weiss' rhythm would carry over into their next match, which would mean that her victory was bound to be even more one-sided, as she would be able to do what she'd done at the end of the last battle from the start, in the next one.

_I was such an idiot,_ thought Weiss, not thinking about the match, but further back, when she and Ruby had still been at odds. Back during those first few, frustrating, days, Weiss had, on many occasions, entertained the daydream of her calling Ruby down into the ring, and beating her soundly. Weiss had envisioned demonstrating her superiority, crushing the opposition Ruby represented as decisively as anything else that had stood in her way before. But now, she realized she would have just been setting herself up for defeat. Today's loss had been humbling. But, had she confronted Ruby at the peak of her previous arrogance, the resulting defeat would have been nothing short of _humiliating_.

Still, Weiss resolved to get better. Ruby was strong, skilled, and intelligent; able to go toe-to-toe with Pyrrha Nikos. But she wasn't invincible. Neither was Pyrrha. It wasn't even just about her own ambitions. Weiss owed it to both Ruby and Pyrrha to strive to overcome them. In order for her to show her respect for how strong they were, she had to strive to become _stronger_ than them.

_Now I just have to figure out where to start,_ thought Weiss.

* * *

The trip back home had been uneventful for Ashley. No one accosted her or Yang during their walk, although that could have been due to Yang's presence. Even if Ember Celica was rather innocuous in its standby-mode as a pair of bracelets on Yang's arms, Yang carried herself with an air of confidence and strength that would have dissuaded all but the most foolhardy troublemakers. Fortunately, those people weren't as likely to be out on a Sunday night as they were on a Friday or Saturday evening. The end result was a pleasant walk a short ways into the faunus quarter, before she and Yang said their goodbyes, Ashley confident enough to cover the remaining distance home on her own.

A few minutes later, she entered the door to her family's apartment, closing it behind her, while calling "I'm home," to her parents in the living room.

"Welcome back, Ashley," said her mother, Elowen, who'd been watching the holoscreen alongside her husband. Much like her daughter, she was slim, with a modest figure. Her skin was fair, but her hair and eyes matched Ashley's almost exactly. Like her daughter, she sported a bushy squirrel-tail that extended from the base of her spine.

"Have fun, today?" asked Oliver. Ashley's father was a bit stockier and thicker than her mother, sporting a head of short, black hair and dark-blue eyes. His grin at the sight of her framing a pair of enlarged incisors.

"Yeah," said Ashley, giggling. "Ruby and her friends were all so nice. I got to see some amazing things."

"Really now?" pressed Elowen. "Do tell."

Ashley was quick to tell them everything she had seen and done at Beacon. She even showed them her recordings of the two matches that had been fought today.

"Those Beacon kids really are something else," observed Oliver, raising an eyebrow as Ashley finished.

Elowen, however, had borrowed Ashley's scroll, and was browsing through the various pictures Ashley had taken during her day at Beacon. Her expression fell, a fond smile dissolving into a pensive frown. "So you really met Weiss Schnee," she said, finding several pictures with the white-haired girl in them.

"Y-yes," said Ashley, nervous at the sight of her mother's expression.

"Are you sure everything went all right?" asked Elowen, turning a suspicious look on her daughter.

"Y-yeah," said Ashley, a bit flustered by the sudden shift in tone.

"So, Ms. Schnee didn't say or do anything that made you feel uncomfortable?" pressed Elowen.

"N-no!" exclaimed Ashley. "Not like that, anyway. She was actually very nice and polite...and nervous. I think she wanted to make a good impression."

"Is that so?" mused Elowen, her eyes narrowing.

"Come now, dear," her husband was quick to reassure her, "you don't need to overthink everything."

"All I think is that a Schnee shouldn't be trusted," said Elowen, her tone harsh. "For all we know, she could be trying butter you up, Ashley."

"Butter me up for what?" Ashley wanted to know. "Mom, she's _Weiss Schnee_! There is absolutely nothing a low-class civilian student, like me, could have that would be worth buttering me up _for_."

"She has a point," Oliver commented. Then he smirked, borrowing Ashley's scroll from Elowen and swiping through the photos himself. "And, from the look of things, if she was trying to make a good impression on you, honey, she certainly succeeded. I'd almost think you were up there to visit _her_, rather than this Ruby-girl, who invited you in the first place."

Ashley squeaked, her cheeks turning red, and she looked down, abashed. "W-well...she is very pretty..."

"That's hardly a surprise, considering she's a Schnee," muttered Elowen.

Oliver gave her an encouraging smile. "I think it's fine," he said. "Weiss Schnee isn't her father. It's not as though she has the power to make decisions about what the SDC does, or how they do things, so it's unfair to saddle her with responsibility for that."

"Maybe not," countered Elowen. "But she's also been raised by that man. No doubt she's been thoroughly indoctrinated in his racist ideology."

"Something tells me she wouldn't be worried about making a good impression, if that were the case," said Oliver with a sigh. "Even if she was, most likely it's a habit her friends are trying to break her out of."

Ashley nodded in agreement.

Oliver handed Ashley's scroll back, then patted his wife's shoulder. "Try not to cast a pall over Ashley's day, dear," he said. "She had a wonderful time, up at Beacon. I'm glad she got the chance to go." Then he turned another grin on his daughter. "So...when can we meet this new friend of yours?"

"Um...well...Ruby's a bit worried about coming to Vale right now," said Ashley. "She's waiting for all that hubbub over her sparring match with Pyrrha to die down."

"Yeah, I can see that being an issue," said Oliver. "I'm in agreement with that. From what I've heard, fame by association isn't all that it's cracked up to be."

"I suppose that's true," said Elowen, her manner mellowing considerably. "I'd rather not be mobbed by the press, day and night, just because my daughter happens to be friends with a girl who became an accidental celebrity over a sparring match."

"Still, after watching those matches, it's kinda amazing to think our Ashley's friends with a Beacon student," said Oliver. "You'd think those kids were monsters, the way they knock each other around."

Despite herself, Ashley couldn't help but nod in agreement. During the matches, particularly the second one, with Yang against Nora, she remembered both of them being hit with blows that Ashley had been certain would have broken most, if not all, the bones in her body, had it been _her_ out there in the ring. Yet, each time, they'd gotten back up and carried on as though it hadn't happened. Yang was even in good enough shape to escort her back to the faunus quarter.

It was a stark reminder of the differences between Huntsmen and Huntresses, even ones in training, and a mere civilian, like Ashley herself.

"Well, there's nothing really wrong about it," noted Oliver. "This Ruby-girl sounds very nice. I hope we get to meet her soon."

"I hope so too," said Ashley, nodding emphatically.

* * *

Having already had dinner at Beacon, Ashley soon retired to her room, after chatting with her parents some more. Sitting at her desk, she took a few moments to look through the pictures she'd taken that day, smiling at the sight of her new friends. Despite what her father had pointed out, something Ashley herself was all too conscious of, she could also see how the boys and girls she had met this day were, in their own way, perfectly normal people.

She'd seen them talk and chatter, acting no differently than Ashley's classmates in her own school. She'd seen them bicker and tease each other in an easygoing way. For all that they could pull off superhuman feats like they were nothing, they still seemed to do, and be interested in, all the normal things that made up the lives of people everywhere.

Setting down her scroll, Ashley pulled open her desk drawer, pulling out the pamphlet she'd secreted there. Opening it up, she stared at the writing and pictures on it, the declarations and promises it made. Reading those over again, she found herself frowning uneasily.

* * *

In the end, it took another couple of weeks for the last of the fervor over Ruby and Pyrrha's sparring match to drain away. Things never truly went back to "normal," for all that that was a bit of a loaded term, when it came to life at Beacon Academy. Some students continued to express resentment over Pyrrha's Semblance. Those who faced her in the ring were reluctant to give it their all, figuring that their defeat was sealed the moment they'd been picked as her opponent. Their lack of effort always incensed Glynda, and Pyrrha's matches often ended with her opponent assigned detention.

On the other hand, Ruby's opponents came after her as enthusiastically as possible. Few of them were good enough to really pressure her though. Strangely, they always seemed to take defeat at her hands as a mark of pride. It only made her feel worse about what was going on with Pyrrha, as one of the things that Pyrrha had always despised about her reputation was that it had made her opponents give up on trying too hard...even before everyone had learned what her Semblance was.

Still, there was at least one student who was willing to put in the extra effort, when it came to facing off against Pyrrha. Dove Bronzewing hadn't yet faced her in Combat Class, but he had become a frequent sparring partner for both Pyrrha _and_ Jaune, alternating between each of them. It was a surprise that he was willing to work to help with Jaune's training. At the same time, he was also the person Pyrrha tested her new applications for her Semblance on.

However, Ruby and Pyrrha were finally able to go into Vale without needing to worry about drawing a mob of reporters and freelance photographers down on them like a flock of vultures. Ruby was quick to take advantage of this, finally able to go out to visit Ashley, instead of the other way around. Ruby mostly visited on the weekends, with Ashley even making changes to her work schedule to better provide opportunities.

One Saturday evening, Ruby even got to meet Ashley's parents over dinner. Oliver and Elowen were a pleasant couple, who appeared to have no issue with the idea of Ashley having become such close friends with a human, and a Beacon student. They were nice, though Elowen _did_ ask a few pointed questions about Weiss, much to Ruby's discomfort. In the interest of smoothing things over, and possibly laying the groundwork that might be used to, one day, allow Weiss to safely visit the faunus quarter, Ruby answered as honestly as she could, talking about Weiss' behavior at the beginning of the year, and how she had changed over the course of the semester. She wasn't sure if her efforts had paid off. Otherwise, everything went well.

Even though she and her friends were no longer watching over his shoulder, Ruby was pleased to see that Jaune continued to train diligently. His efforts were paying impressive dividends. While he was still working on the most basic of attacks with his sword, he practiced them so thoroughly that it was beginning to have a noticeable impact in the ring. A simple downwards strike with his sword, after using his shield to fend off an incoming attack, might not have been the flashiest trick in the book. But, during a sparring match, Jaune was able to execute the move perfectly against his opponent, taking off nearly half the other person's Aura with a single strike.

Of course, when it came to using his shield, Jaune needed a partner, someone to attack him, so that he could practice defending. However, that problem soon solved itself.

With the improved relationship between RASP and RYNB, RASP felt comfortable with admitting Jaune's secret to their sister-team. Ren had already figured it out for himself some time ago, but Nora, Blake, and Yang were all surprised by the revelation.

Nora had bounced back quickly, not even seeming to really mind. Blake, somewhat surprisingly, was silent on the matter, appearing to refrain from judging Jaune in any manner over what he'd done. Ruby wondered if Blake's guilt over the fact that she continued to hide that she was a faunus from her friends had something to do with that. Blake had yet to share it with even her own team, something that worried Ruby a little. But the reaction that had worried them all the most had come from Yang.

It was brief, but harrowing. For a moment, Yang had been silent. Then the room had begun to warm, while her body began to shine. Her eyes turned crimson, and Ruby began to worry that she might have to fight her own sister in order to protect Jaune. It appeared that learning that her little sister's partner and best friend had lied his way into Beacon had caused Yang's "overprotective big sister instincts" to rear their collective head again. If they wound up coming to blows over that, it would mean the end of any reconciliation between Ruby and Yang, something Ruby did not want to happen, now that she'd gotten so close to her sister. However, after another harrowing moment, Yang had managed to rein in her anger, forcing herself to calm down. It helped that Ruby was quick to explain exactly _why_ she had decided to help Jaune, instead of turning him in to Glynda.

The end result was that Jaune had no shortage of sparring partners willing to help him with his training. Ren, Yang, Nora, and Blake all had unique styles, which gave Jaune a variety of different ways to practice his defense. Yang, in particular, became extremely enthusiastic about sparring with him, declaring that, if he was going to be Ruby's partner, then she needed to do everything in her power to toughen him up. The rounds he spent in the ring with her were always especially punishing. But, unlike that first time, Yang never went too far.

On top of that, Jaune found himself spending time with the boys of CRDL, of all people. The change Cardin's near-death in Forever Fall had wrought in his behavior was remarkable, to say the least. Sky and Russel were both contrite about their cowardice in the face of danger, and, with Dove offering a little guidance, they were working hard to get their act together. The fact that they too were willing to spar with Jaune, not simply bully him, furthered his experience and growth even more.

With Jaune's skill and ability improving rapidly, Team RASP began to dedicate their Saturdays to team practice sessions, sometimes on their own, sometimes with RYNB. They worked to coordinate their actions, coming up with combination attacks, while working out how to communicate effectively with each other on the battlefield. Late into the second half of the semester, Glynda introduced double and team-matches during Combat Class. RASP and RYNB found their proactivity in this regard had stood them in good stead, and the two teams quickly advanced to the Number One and Two spots respectively.

Pyrrha and Ruby also found themselves sparring frequently. After her match with Weiss, and revealing her skill at learning people's rhythms, Ruby had been afraid that Pyrrha would shy away from fighting her, not wanting Ruby to learn her rhythm. But Pyrrha, showcasing the dedication she possessed towards bettering herself, attacked the problem head-on. She was determined to find a way to counter that particular skill, but realized the only way she could do so was to confront it head-on, and learn how Ruby used Pyrrha's rhythm against her. Said spars were always conducted in private, with even their friends barred from watching. Ruby and Pyrrha kept the result of every match; whether win, lose, or draw; a carefully guarded secret.

Thus, as her first semester at Beacon began to draw to a close, Ruby found herself looking forward to the future.

* * *

"_The White Fang are moving._"

"Hmm..." Roman frowned, thinking that over. "_What kind of movement?_" he tapped back against the door of his cell.

"_They're starting to do our job,_" Neo replied. "_They're stealing the Dust shipments that make it into the Kingdom._"

Roman hid a scowl, knowing that changes in his facial expressions could hint that he was conversing with someone. "_Cinder say anything about it?_"

"_She said there was a change of plans, that was all,_" Neo tapped back. "_I think Adam talked with her about something._"

_I wonder what,_ Roman mused silently. The more he heard, the more uncomfortable he felt. Right now, it sounded as though he had become largely superfluous to Cinder's plan. That being the case, his sole remaining purpose was to serve as Neo's tether, for so long as Cinder still needed Neo for _her_ part in the plan. But he was beginning to wonder if Neo would become superfluous to Cinder's plan as well. If that was the case, then their imminent, and probably very painful, death was just around the corner. _This needs a rethink._

Of course, he could always change his tune, tell the authorities everything he knew, be honest for a change. However, what he knew was pitifully little. And he had no doubt that whatever he told the police would somehow make it all the way back to Cinder's ears, at which point, her reprisal would come instantly and ruthlessly. He couldn't afford to take that chance.

That being the case, what did he do? Roman's eyes narrowed as he mulled it over. Time probably wasn't on his side. But time was currently the only weapon he had...well...time _and_ Neo. What little time he had left, Roman would bide, looking for his chance. That was his only hope now. He'd have Neo wait and watch. While she did, he would rack his brains for every option he could find to get them out of this situation.

Finally, he tapped on the door again. "_Watch Cinder and the White Fang. Report anything that catches your eye._"

"_Understood,_" came Neo's reply.

"_Neo..._" he tapped at a more deliberate pace.

He could feel her waiting in silence.

"_My life...in your hands._"

The reply, "_And mine, in yours._"

Then she was gone.

Roman smiled and relaxed on his cot once more, content. Cinder was powerful, but she was a fool, a bully. Whatever mysterious power she possessed, she adored using it to throw her weight around, expecting everyone to acquiesce to her desires out of fear. It usually worked, because that there was no denying, as frustrating as it was to see her throwing her weight around, Cinder definitely had some serious _weight_ to throw around.

But that overconfidence would be her undoing, he was sure. Cinder only saw those beneath her as tools, to be used, to serve their purpose, to be disposed of if they upset or failed her. For the most part, Roman agreed. However, even a self-serving survivor like him needed someone that he could put his absolute trust in. That was why he had Neo. Cinder only knew how to threaten or cajole. But Roman had someone he knew he could _trust_, someone he could believe in. Come Hell or high water, Neo would come through for him.

_I'll find my chance, Cinder,_ he thought. _If you're going to just dispose of me anyway, I'll make sure it's the hardest thing you've ever had to do._

* * *

"Where is Ms. Scarlatina?" Oobleck's glasses flashed as he cast his gaze around the room, looking for any sign of her.

The other students could only offer blank looks, all of them just as confused as Oobleck was by Velvet's unannounced absence.

Oobleck frowned. "Odd..." he murmured. "That is not like her at all."

Ruby frowned worriedly from her seat. As Oobleck said, it wasn't like Velvet to straight up skip class like this. She was a model student.

Still, there was nothing anyone could do. Once class was over, Velvet's unexcused absence would be reported, then she would just wind up punished, just like anyone else. The problem was that this behavior was so atypical of her that no one could really accept it. There had to be _something_ going on.

"I suppose there's nothing to be done-" Oobleck began to say, only to pause when his scroll vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out, he found a message there. "Well...I suppose that's that then. Never mind."

The rest of the class looked on in confusion. Putting his scroll away, Oobleck resumed class as though nothing had happened. Ruby did her best to keep focused. But the nagging worry over what had happened to Velvet kept dogging her.

With the end of class, she quickly approached Oobleck. "Professor-?" she began.

"Doctor!" Oobleck reminded her in a strict tone, making Ruby squeak and flinch.

"Er...Dr. Oobleck," she said. "Was that message about Velvet?"

"It was," said Oobleck. "I am not at liberty to discuss the situation. However, her absence has been excused." He sighed, slumping and looking down a little. "I know you only ask because you are worried about her wellbeing, Ms. Rose. I advise you to speak with her teammates about the situation."

"Yes, thank you, Doctor," said Ruby, quickly bowing her head to him, before rejoining her friends, who waited at the door.

* * *

Finding Velvet would have to wait until lunch. Even then, Ruby's friends insisted that she eat lunch first, before checking with CFVY. They would forgo training during their free period today, seeing as finding out if Velvet was all right was more important. Ruby did her best to eat a sufficient lunch, her anxiety curbing her appetite a little. Finally, RASP and RYNB made their way to Team CFVY's dorm, where Ruby knocked softly.

The door opened to reveal Coco. It was a bit of a shock to see Coco in a Beacon uniform, and without her trademark sunglasses on top of that. Her expression was irritated, but quickly softened at the sight of Ruby and her friends. "Hey there," she said, giving them a wan smile. "I think I can guess why you guys came."

"Is Velvet all right?" asked Ruby, blurting out the question foremost in her thoughts.

"I'm fine," said Velvet from within the room. "You can come in, Ruby."

Coco sighed and opened the door wide, stepping aside to let Ruby and the others come in. Granted, along with her and Velvet, squeezing a grand total of ten people into one dorm room was a little much, so RYNB waited at the door, while RASP entered the room.

They found Velvet seated on her bed, nursing a mug of dark-brown liquid. The sweet scent reaching their noses told Ruby and the others that it was hot cocoa. Currently, Velvet was dressed in a set of loose-fitting flannel pajamas in a pale-cream color. Her hair was slightly disheveled, and the skin under her eyes was dark.

"What happened?" asked Ruby, sitting on the bed beside Velvet.

"I had a rough night, that's all," said Velvet, trying her hardest to give Ruby a reassuring smile, though it wavered and wobbled. "I had to make an evening run to pick up some special Dust I ordered. There was a misunderstanding..."

"Misunderstanding nothing!" snapped Coco. "That was the most bullshit example of racial profiling I've ever seen!"

"Please, Coco!" pleaded Velvet, her ears folding over as she gave her team leader a plaintive look.

"Racial profiling?" asked Ruby worriedly.

Coco scowled. "Some asshole saw her leaving the shop with Dust vials, assumed she'd just stolen them, and called the cops on her. The dumbasses actually had the gall to take her in."

"What?" gasped Weiss, she and Pyrrha looking horrified.

"Oh, it gets worse," growled Coco, looking fit to murder someone.

"Coco..." whimpered Velvet.

Ruby rested a hand on Velvet's shoulder, calming her a little, before looking back at Coco. "What did they do?"

"They held her in custody through the whole night," Coco snarled, "didn't read her her rights, didn't even look at her student ID. They just took what she had on her and left her in an interrogation room all night. Then, right as the sun was rising, they started grilling her on what she was doing out at that time of night, why she had Dust, what she was gonna be using it for."

"That's terrible!" exclaimed Nora. "Why would they do that?"

Velvet whimpered, slumping a little more. Ruby began to gently rub her back.

Coco's look darkened even more. "It's an old trick. Sometimes, when criminals are doing their thing, the police just want to find someone, anyone...If they can find someone who matches the basic profile of who they're looking for, then it doesn't matter if that person is guilty or innocent."

"They take her in, deprive her of sleep..." Now Blake was speaking, her tone dark and weary. "...Then they start to ask the questions. They try to steer the conversation, try to trap her into something that sounds like an admission of guilt, or simply pressure her to confess to whatever it is they want to accuse her of."

"What were they trying to accuse her of?" asked Ruby.

"Of being White Fang," hissed Coco.

The tension in the room increased. But Coco's words stirred a powerful reaction from two people in particular. First, Weiss frowned darkly, her entire body going tense, her hands clenching tightly. The other was Blake, who flinched sharply, actually taking a nervous step back, her bow twitching slightly, due to the movement of the ears hidden beneath it.

"So...they wanted Velvet to admit she was stealing Dust for the White Fang or something?" asked Jaune.

"Pretty much," growled Coco.

"I probably could have avoided this if I'd just told them what the Dust was for," said Velvet, looking down morosely.

"Yeah right," scoffed Coco. "Those assholes were looking to pin something on you from the start. Besides, they had no right to pry, particularly since you have a Beacon ID, an authentic one. If they weren't going to charge you with anything, then they had no right to interrogate you."

"What did you need the Dust for?" asked Ruby, before pausing. "Um...If it's all right for me to ask."

"It's fine," said Velvet, giving Ruby a shaky smile. "I need it for my weapon."

"It's a bit tricky," said Coco. "Anesidora uses a pretty special formulation of Dust, so she has to get a lot of it special ordered. That's tough enough during regular times, but especially hard now, with all those SDC freighters being hit...and now the White Fang hijacking a hefty portion of what _does_ make it in through the port."

At the mention of the White Fang, Weiss and Blake flinched again. Now Blake was growing angry. Ruby frowned, sensing Blake's rising anger. Carefully, Ruby looked up at the black-haired girl, fixing her with a look intense enough for Blake to feel the pressure of Ruby's gaze. Their eyes met, and Ruby gave Blake the smallest shake of her head, urging Blake to hold her tongue for now.

Coco continued, unaware of the silent conversation. "The formula is Vel's special recipe, something she's been perfecting for years, so she's pretty tight-lipped about what goes into it, even with us. But, because she was reluctant to tell, those bastards in the police took it as her hiding something, and tried to get her locked up for it."

Velvet shuddered, prompting Ruby to resume rubbing her back.

"When Velvet didn't come back last night, after the last airship had landed, we got worried," said Coco. "We tried calling. But those jerks had confiscated her scroll too, so she couldn't call or take calls. We had no idea where she was. So, first thing this morning, we asked Ozpin for permission to ditch our first classes of the day to go and find her. Then we used the tracking app to find her scroll, which brought us right to the station."

Velvet actually let out a small giggle. "You should have seen it," she told Ruby. "I think I was just about to break, when, all of a sudden, Coco kicks in the door to the interrogation room and tells me that we're going home. The detectives questioning me tried to stop her-"

"But I told them that they either needed to charge Velvet with something, or she was leaving with us. I got all of Velvet's stuff out of their evidence room. The Dust was there, along with the receipt for the purchase, everything that they needed to see she'd been legit, and they'd just ignored it and shoved it into a locker. I'm lucky I got to them before they thought to destroy the receipt. I had to practically threaten to shoot the place up to get them to part with it."

Velvet let out another giggle, one that was mixed with a faint sob, her relief at being saved by Coco mixed with her depression over what she'd just been through.

"Well, after what she'd been through, Velvet was in no shape to go to class," said Coco. "So we brought her back here so that she could get some rest."

"I'm so sorry, Velvet," Ruby said softly, hugging Velvet around the shoulders with one arm.

"It's all right," said Velvet.

"It's _not_ all right," growled Weiss, the last person Ruby expected to say something like that in this situation. "This is absurd! Just where do those cretins get off treating her like this?"

"My thoughts exactly," said Coco, giving Weiss a a smirk that showcased her sympathetic fury. "I just about opened fire on that place on principle. The bastards would've had it coming."

"And it would have just made things worse," Velvet admonished Coco gently.

Coco sighed and slumped. "I know," she admitted. "But it would've at least made me _feel_ better. Professor Ozpin is having words with the chief over this, but I doubt it'll get far. The police don't like Huntsmen sticking their noses into law enforcement, unless they're asked."

"Yeah, but they basically stuck their fingers up your noses and pulled you in," said Yang, before frowning at her own analogy.

"I couldn't put it better myself," said Coco. "But right now, Velvet's back, she's not hurt, and she still has her Dust, and that's all that matters."

Ruby nodded slowly, continuing to gently rub Velvet's back. "Have the White Fang gotten more active lately?" she asked.

Velvet nodded. "For a while, it was the freighters being attacked at sea. But the SDC started sending shipments around the east coast of Sanus, and then bringing them in overland. Then the SDC started sending them both ways, just trying to ensure that _some_ Dust made it to Vale."

"More expensive, but way better than just losing them altogether," noted Coco. "From the sound of things, whoever is going after the Dust at sea is a one-group operation, so they can only stake out one route at a time. It looks like whoever is doing this went to the east."

"But then the White Fang started hitting the shipments that came in through Vale's ports," said Velvet. "Sometimes, they're knocking over the Dust-shops themselves. The proprietor of the shop I visited is an acquaintance of mine. He tries to be unbiased, but he admitted to me that his blood pressure goes through the roof, whenever a faunus enters the place. He apologized for it. But I can't exactly blame him."

"It sucks," muttered Coco. "Perfectly innocent faunus are being suspected. And, if Velvet's case is any indicator, the cops are just plain cracking down on them, hoping they'll snap up a White Fang member more by luck than actual effort. And, if they're trying what they did with Velvet on others, a lot of other people wouldn't hold up as well as she did. So they put innocent faunus away, and get to pretend that they're doing their part to fight the White Fang menace, all while the _real_ crooks are probably getting away scot-free"

"I wish there was something we could do," said Nora.

Coco sighed. "Not much you can do," she admitted. "I mean, unless someone can track down the White Fang and actually _find_ them, then there's nothing anyone here can do."

Once again, Ruby sensed an interesting reaction from Blake, a tensing of her posture. She was uneasy about something. Ruby was beginning to suspect that Blake had another secret, beyond the fact that she was hiding her status as a faunus. Given what she was reacting to, however subtly, it was possible that Blake had some history with the White Fang.

_Did Sasame-nee know?_ Ruby wondered. As astute as Sasame was, she'd likely divined a great deal of Blake's history just from the interactions they'd had while she'd been visiting. Ruby's own insight was nowhere near that level. However, she also knew that, if Sasame had found out something like that, she would keep it to herself. Amongst other things, Sasame excelled at keeping the confidence of her "patients," keeping what important secrets she learned about them to herself, unless it presented a direct threat to someone she cared about. That Sasame had said nothing about Blake's history indicated that she trusted Blake.

Of course, those were questions for later, questions Ruby was fairly certain it wasn't her place to ask. For now though, she wanted to focus on helping Velvet feel better. Despite her outwardly calm manner, Ruby could tell that Velvet was still shaken by what she had been through. She began to send gentle pulses of her Aura through the other girl, allowing it to wash through her in soothing waves, gently brushing away the tension within her.

Velvet's eyelids began to droop. She gave them all a sleepy smile. "Thank you all for worrying about me. But I'll be all right. I can get through this."

"You'll have all of us with you," Ruby assured her, sending another gentle pulse of Aura through her.

"You look like you're finally ready to get some proper rest," said Coco, noticing Velvet's lowering eyelids.

She gently took the mug from Velvet's hands. With Ruby's help, Coco laid Velvet out on her bed, then pulled the covers over her and tucked her in. Velvet let out one last sleepy yawn, before rolling over onto her side and closing her eyes. They watched her for a moment, before everyone, including Coco, stepped outside, Coco turning out the lights and closing the door behind her.

"I don't know what you did, but thanks," said Coco, giving Ruby a grateful smile.

"It was nothing," said Ruby bashfully. As uses for the healing arts Sasame had taught her went, it was nothing to write home about. Sasame's Aura could be used as a full anesthetic, capable of putting someone under for the duration of a surgical procedure. Even though Sasame's kind of surgery wasn't particularly invasive or stressful for her patients, it often helped to put them to sleep so that Sasame had an easier time treating injuries, without them needing to deal with the pain of said injuries.

Compared to that, easing an already drowsy girl into a regular sleep was child's play.

Coco sighed, running her hand through her hair. "Well, if she sleeps like this through the night, she should be good to go back to class tomorrow. I'm still thinking of going back to that station and razing it to the ground."

"If you decide to do that, let us know," said Yang with a feral grin, smacking the palm of her left hand with her right fist. "We'd love to help."

"Oh yeah," agreed Nora, with a grin matching Yang.

Ren sighed. "It isn't going to happen," he said.

"No it isn't," said Coco, her expression becoming defeated. "I just wish there was _some_ way to give those jerks some payback for what they put Velvet through."

"Yes, but that kind of attitude is what's making the White Fang such a problem in the first place," said Weiss, her tone bitter.

"What do you mean?" asked Blake, surprised by the observation.

Weiss sighed. "I have to admit, my family has had a...rough...history with the White Fang. Actually, that's putting it mildly. Thanks to what Father has done with the company, the White Fang have been doing everything in their power to inflict as much damage to it as possible. We've had trains hit, entire loads of Dust stolen, processing plants burned to the ground, even board members who were kidnapped and executed."

She shuddered and hugged herself. "There was one time a package arrived for me. The butler who received it was new. He hadn't been trained enough to remember all the appropriate precautions. He was bringing it straight to my room...when it blew up in his hands."

Pyrrha gasped, her hands going to her mouth.

Weiss stared off into the distance. "I was working on one of my tutoring assignments at the time. I heard the explosion, felt the room shake. I ran out into the hall to see what had happened and..." Her hand went to her mouth. "There was hardly anything left of the poor man...just blood...and a few chunks."

Ruby could hear and feel Blake's breath quickening. Weiss' recounting of what had happened was bringing Blake to the edge of a nervous breakdown.

Weiss continued, oblivious to Blake's reaction. "I later overheard Father talking with Klein about it. Klein was saying that we were _lucky_. The bomb's maker had botched the triggering mechanism, otherwise it would have gone off when the package was opened. But the maker had made a mistake, so it went off because it was jostled a little. I came _this_ close to being killed by a letter bomb...saved by a _mistake_."

Pyrrha hugged Weiss tightly from behind. "I'm so sorry," she said softly.

Weiss sniffed. "It's all right. Thinking about it still gives me the shakes." She shook her head. "But...that's the problem. I used to hate the White Fang. I thought they were nothing more than scum-sucking terrorists, who didn't care who they hurt, so long as they got to do some harm to a few humans. They were no better than animals."

Sensing a rising anger from Blake, Ruby decided to head off the impending explosion of temper. "It sounds like your opinion changed a little."

"It did," said Weiss, giving Ruby a smile. "And it's thanks to your sister. She and I talked, and she pointed out some things about what I was going through, and what the faunus were going through. She talked about how the White Fang were all about retaliation now, how they _know_ that what they do makes it harder for other faunus, because that makes it easier to recruit them."

Blake's anger vanished, and she sagged down. Ruby could sense her ears drooping beneath the bow that covered them.

"Well...if you're going through crap like that, I can see why you'd have a few issues," said Coco.

"Yes, but my point is that retaliating won't make anything better," said Weiss, looking at Coco. "In a way, that's what the police are doing. They can't find the actual perpetrators, so they retaliate against the next most convenient target."

"Other faunus," muttered Yang.

"But that won't actually help anything," said Ren.

"Maybe not...but someone needs to stop the cycle somewhere," said Ruby.

She felt Blake stiffen at her words, then relax a little. It confused Ruby a little. But then she realized what it was. That slight change was a sign of resolve, conviction. Blake had faced a difficult choice...then made her decision. She hadn't meant for her words to do that, but Ruby supposed she should be be glad that she'd helped Blake make _some_ kind of decision.

* * *

They had to rush a bit to make it to their last class of the day, having spent nearly all their free period with Velvet and Coco. After that, they did their homework like usual, had their dinner, then adjourned to the roof for their usual Aura-training. When they were finished, Ruby wasn't all that surprised when Blake asked for all eight of them to meet up in RYNB's room.

"What's up, Blake?" asked Yang, giving her partner a worried look, watching from her bed as Blake stood at the head of the room.

Blake shifted nervously, her eyes darting back and forth across her assembled friends. Finally, she took a deep breath. _I've put this off for too long,_ she thought. Reaching up, she pulled at the bow atop her head, unwrapping it. The ribbon flowed free, revealing her secret, a pair of black cat-ears that stood atop her head.

Weiss gasped, her eyes widening. Her reaction was the most dramatic, but the others, except for Ruby, were surprised as well.

"You're a faunus?" asked Nora.

"I am," said Blake.

"Why did you hide it?" asked Ren, his stoic demeanor actually faltering considerably.

"You were worried about being bullied, weren't you?" asked Jaune.

"That was...part of it..." said Blake, looking down, ashamed.

Weiss' eyes widened, her mind already beginning to piece together what Blake was about to admit to.

"The fact is..." said Blake. She paused, grimacing, as though she would vomit, rather than say whatever she was about to say next. "The truth is...until a few months before I came to Beacon...I was a member of the White Fang."

* * *

_**"Will you tell the truth? Or will someone tell it for you? The answer can make all the difference in the world."**_

**It's interesting that the Volume 7 episode, _As Above, So Below_, had that as a caption, considering those are my thoughts considering Blake's secret, back in Volume 1. Given that the revelation of Blake's status as a faunus, and ultimately, her history with the White Fang, is pretty much the pivotal point of that volume, how her secret comes to light is a similarly important point in any fanfiction that retreads the first volume to any extent. Of course, reactions are pending.**

**With Velvet, I did draw from similar real-world scenarios. It's been established that there's a fairly big problem with police in some areas being a little too keen on finding _someone_ to pin a crime on, and that has, on occasion, led them to taking in an otherwise innocent person (at least one who's innocent of the crime they're being grilled for), and basically badgering them into making a confession, and often sticking to prosecuting said person, even when new evidence pointing elsewhere comes to light.**

**Some people might get antsy about me bringing up "racial profiling". But, in a setting where racism plays a critical component in the actions and backgrounds of the characters, and _especially_ in a setting where there is an organization representing a specific race, and acting violently while doing so, the presence of such profiling is going to pretty much be a given. The White Fang is a faunus organization, so it isn't as though the police are gonna be looking at _humans_ over their activities. On some level, that's to be expected. However, as real-world examples have shown, pushing that too far can have some pretty unpleasant consequences, and can wind up being counterproductive.**


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48:**

In the silence that followed Blake's admission, one could have heard a pin drop. In the first moments that it took for her announcement to sink in, all everyone could do, Ruby included, was stare at Blake. Ruby had already begun to suspect Blake's history, given her reactions during their conversations with Velvet and Coco earlier. But it was one thing to have a vague suspicion, and another to hear Blake just up and _say_ it.

Then, once the full weight of Blake's announcement had settled upon them, everyone's eyes drifted another way, their collective gaze settling on _Weiss_, as they awaited her reaction. Hearing what Weiss had experienced earlier, none of them were expecting her reaction to be pretty.

For her part, Weiss was still staring at Blake in complete silence, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging slightly open. Her entire body had gone still, as though she'd suddenly become a statue. It was an unsettling sight, to say the least. Her mind was running at full tilt, going back over the past few weeks and months, and all the interactions therein. She was reviewing her entire personal history with Blake in a completely new light, thanks to the revelation she'd just received.

_Was she here for me?_ Weiss wondered. _Was all this just a gambit to get close to me, a chance for the White Fang to take out a Schnee?_ That had been Weiss' initial interpretation, despite the fact that Blake had referred to her membership in the organization in the past tense. But Weiss quickly deduced that that didn't actually make all that much sense. If Blake had really come to Beacon to find a way to get at Weiss, Weiss would have expected Blake to try to get as close as possible.

But Blake had kept her distance instead. Part of it was thanks to them being on different teams. However, it was also due to Blake being a more solitary person, preferring to spend much of her free time in the library, reading. If anything, Blake appeared to be more interested in indulging her personal interests than some kind of mission concerning the Schnee heiress. There was nothing about her behavior that came up as actually malicious.

Processing everything she'd just heard, which, admittedly, wasn't much, Weiss came to a conclusion...that she didn't know enough yet. So she closed her eyes, then took a deep breath to calm herself down. "All right," she said. "Continue."

"Are you okay, Weiss?" asked Jaune. "Considering what you told us earlier, you're taking this...pretty well."

"Well, I could be doing better," Weiss admitted, giving Jaune a wan smile. "But I've realized that just what I've heard now isn't enough for me to decide anything. So..." She focused her eyes on Blake. "...please continue."

Blake's entire body seemed to slump in relief. "All right," she said.

"How long have you been in the White Fang?" asked Ren.

"All my life," answered Blake frankly. "In fact, you could say I was born into it." She looked down. "I am Blake Belladonna, and my father...is Ghira Belladonna."

Weiss gasped in shock. "I...I never even noticed that you two shared the same last name," she whispered.

Granted, that wouldn't have been proof of anything. Remnant wasn't such a small place that there weren't people with overlapping surnames, who were completely unrelated to each other otherwise. However, thinking back to the pictures she had seen of the man, Weiss could definitely see a certain resemblance between them.

"Um...Who is this guy?" asked Ruby a bit warily.

"Ghira Belladonna was the previous leader of the White Fang," said Ren. "However, he retired from the position years ago. Right now, he's the current Chieftain of Menagerie."

"Holy cow!" exclaimed Nora, grinning at Blake. "Does that mean we've been living with a real-life princess?"

"Hardly," said Blake, laughing softly at Nora's conclusion. "I...I haven't been all that close to my parents for a few years now. We didn't part on the best of terms."

She paused, and shook her head. "I need to do this properly," she said. Then she looked back up at them. "Like Weiss said, my father was the previous head of the White Fang."

Weiss pressed her lips together in a thin line. When she was younger, she remembered overhearing her father talking, ranting really, about Ghira Belladonna, and his "upstart mongrel movement," which threatened to tank their company profits. Jacques Schnee had perceived the White Fang's previous leader as an irritating dissident, someone who needed to be shut up through any means necessary, lest his efforts to improve faunus rights gained traction.

Of course, said statements had been worded somewhat differently than that. Jacques had referred to Ghira as someone who was a threat to the SDC, someone who was determined to destroy its profitability, and ruin the Schnee Family's livelihood. He was someone who represented faunus greed, who scrabbled for more, despite the fact that the SDC were one of the few companies in Atlas willing to hire faunus, and pay them the same wages as their human laborers. But no, that wasn't good enough for the faunus. They didn't just want the same wages as the humans. They wanted _better_ wages, _more_ advantageous treatment, always _more_, never enough...

At least, that was how her father had phrased it. Back then, a younger, more naive, Weiss had taken his words at face value, and seen the, then peaceful, White Fang as greedy and ungrateful for all that her family had done for them. Growing older and wiser, learning more about her family's company, and how it was run, had given Weiss a greater appreciation for the more subtle manner in which her father had exploited his faunus labor, and why the faunus would want to protest that. Of course, by then, the White Fang had morphed into its more violent incarnation, and she now had _new_ reasons to despise them.

Blake continued, oblivious to Weiss' line of thought. "Back then, I took part in every rally, every protest, at the front of every crowd..." She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. "It was frustrating. We tried to protest peacefully, but the humans would respond with violence. They'd throw stones, beat us with whatever they could get their hands on. But, if we tried to push back, to defend ourselves, the media would jump all over it and declare proof of 'faunus savagery,' and use that to condemn us, to justify our oppression and mistreatment."

Collectively, everyone's minds went back to the day they'd befriended Velvet. They'd asked her why she'd allowed CRDL to abuse her so, even though she was so much stronger than them. Blake had said something like that then, about how a faunus fighting in self-defense would still be characterized as going too far, then condemned as a savage.

"I wasn't the only one frustrated," continued Blake. "Within the White Fang, people started to call for a new approach. 'Peaceful protests weren't working,' they said. The only things humans understood was violence. So, if we couldn't get them to change their minds through peaceful means, we would _force_ them to change...and pay them back for the pain they put us through.

"Finally, Father was forced to step down, and a new leader took over the White Fang. Under Sienna Khan, we changed our approach. We started to fight back, literally. We targeted humans who abused faunus, wrecked businesses that refused to serve us, robbed from companies that exploited faunus labor..."

Weiss was silent, though her mind continued to whirl through the various actions the White Fang had taken against her company. Having spent her entire life on one side of this conflict, she was now getting to see it through the lens of someone from the other side of the battle. It was...enlightening...to say the least.

"It was...it felt good," explained Blake. "After everything we'd been through, after all the abuse and mistreatment, we were finally able to hit back, to hurt the people who hurt us. It felt _so_ good. We were actually beginning to see change too. Businesses changed how they dealt with the faunus, because they didn't want to be the next one wrecked by our reprisals."

"But it was all through fear," said Weiss, remembering what Sasame had told her.

Blake nodded. "And it was getting worse," said Blake. She shuddered again, hugging herself even tighter. "We were taking it further...too far, especially here, in Vale. The current leader of the Vale branch of the White Fang is a man named Adam Taurus. He and I were...close."

"Um...how close?" asked Yang. When she saw the reddening of Blake's cheeks, she gulped. "Oh..."

"When my parents left the White Fang, I stayed," said Blake. She let out a choked sob. "I was so...so angry. We were finally getting the change we'd been fighting for, but it felt like my parents were actually against it. I didn't realize what they were upset about, back then. To me, it felt like they were abandoning the fight, like they didn't have the spine to do what was necessary to win our rights. Adam...fed that belief, manipulated me...so that I would stay with him."

"Blake..." Yang stood up and wrapped her in a hug.

Blake pressed on. "But, the longer I stayed with him, the more things began to change. People weren't just being hurt. They were _dying_. And they were being killed on missions that Adam led. I was still training at the time, so I didn't know all those missions entailed. So, when he told me that they were accidents, or that things just sometimes went out of control, I believed him. When I was finally able to join him on the front lines, I began to see otherwise. I saw that Adam didn't kill just because circumstances forced him to, that he was doing it because he _wanted_ to, because he _liked_ killing humans.

"And it got worse. We were targeting those who were exploiting or oppressing the faunus. But Adam started to broaden our targets. He stopped caring about collateral damage, about who else might be caught up in our attacks, even if those other people were faunus. He justified it by saying that they deserved it, for not fighting alongside us. But I was finally starting to see it for what it was. Adam just wanted to kill. He wasn't being driven by righteousness, or justice, or equality. He was being driven by _spite_. He'd been hurt, and he'd become consumed with the desire to hurt the world right back. It was all about hurting them more, doing more damage...I...I couldn't stand that."

Blake sniffled, quaking in Yang's arms. She looked up at her assembled friends. "So I left. I abandoned Adam in the middle of a mission, and came to Vale. And now...here I am."

Silence greeted the end of Blake's tale. Everyone was processing her explanation, trying to figure out where she stood with them. Finally, it was Ruby who spoke first.

"Why come to Beacon?" she asked.

"I..." Blake swallowed. "When I was little, I'd fantasized about being a Huntress. I wanted to be a hero, not just fighting the Grimm, but standing up for the oppressed. I thought that, as a Huntress, I'd be able to better help people, to make change.

"But, when the White Fang started to change, I just wanted to fight alongside them. I gave up on that. The others were always talking about how Huntsmen were a part of the system that oppressed us. After all, there had been more than a few occasions where our rallies were broken up with assistance of Huntsmen, hired by the Schnees, or someone else. Huntsmen were just tools of human oppression. That's what I'd started to believe. But...when I left...that was the only thing I could come back to, the only direction I could think of in my life. I...I don't have the courage to go back to Menagerie, to face my parents again, to admit that they were right all along. So I came here instead."

Ruby stood up and joined Yang in hugging Blake. "We're glad you're here," she said softly.

Blake sniffled and closed her eyes. "Thank you," she breathed softly.

While still holding Blake, Ruby let her eyes wander back to Weiss, wondering how she was taking all of this. Weiss appeared deep in thought, presumably considering the possible ramifications of the fact that she'd been living in close proximity to a former member of the White Fang for months.

Finally, she spoke. "Why?" Weiss asked. "Why tell us all of this?"

"I...I realized that I need to stop hiding," said Blake, her ears drooping. "I hid my status as a faunus, because I was afraid of how people would treat me. But I also hid it because I...I wanted to put my past as a member of the White Fang behind me. But, after hearing what you've been through, even if I've never had a hand in it, I couldn't just leave everyone in the dark. You deserve better than that."

Weiss' lips slowly curled up in a smile. "Thank you," she said softly.

Ruby and Yang let go of Blake, returning to their former positions. "So now what?" asked Ruby.

"What?" Blake stared at her in confusion.

"You've told us your past, and who you were," said Ruby. "Where do we go from here?"

"I...I don't know," said Blake, looking down. "I wanted to clear the air, because I was tired of hiding behind a lie. But I'm not sure what else to do."

"Well, at this point, the only thing I can think of is that we carry on as usual," said Ren. "We know more about you, and that's what matters."

"That's right," agreed Jaune. "I mean...unless you think there's something we need to do."

"There's something _I_ need to do," said Blake, frowning.

"What?" Pyrrha wanted to know.

"I need to investigate what's going on in Vale," said Blake. "I need to find out if the White Fang really is behind the thefts that are going on."

"You have reason to doubt?" wondered Ren. He didn't sound skeptical, merely curious.

Blake frowned. "Given what they put Velvet through, it seems possible to me that the police might be blaming the White Fang, because it's convenient for them, and the faunus are easy targets."

"That...sounds unpleasantly likely," grumbled Weiss.

"She's got a point," said Nora. "I mean, Ruby put that Torchwick jerk away, but he isn't the only crook out there."

"No kidding," agreed Pyrrha. "_Somebody_ was flying the bullhead that tried to extract him, so he has at least one accomplice, likely more. If anyone is behind a crime wave, they're just as suspect as the White Fang."

"So where do we start?" wondered Ruby.

"No!" blurted Blake, glaring at them, her outburst making everyone in the room jump. "You don't understand! This is my responsibility. I need to do this _myself_."

They stared at her incredulously. Then, to everyone's shock, Jaune stood up, stepping forward to stand right in front of Blake. She stared at him in confusion...until Jaune raised his hand, and brought it down in a chop, right between her ears.

"Ow!" exclaimed Blake, cringing and covering the top of her head.

Everyone else could only stare at Jaune in amazement, barely comprehending how he, of all people, could do that.

"Don't be an idiot, Blake," he admonished her. "You're our friend, and there's no way in Hell we're letting you do this alone. You don't get to wall us out with some stupid excuse about it being your responsibility. You left the White Fang. Maybe you were responsible for some of what they did while you were with them, but you aren't responsible for what they're doing right now."

"You don't understand," protested Blake, looking up at Jaune plaintively. "If you get involved, the White Fang will target you too. They'll come after you."

"So?" It was Weiss who spoke now, her tone ladened with scorn. "Weren't you listening to what I said earlier, Blake? I've had a target on my back for years. The White Fang have been going after me for most of my life. They're certainly not _just_ your problem."

"B-but..." Blake was struggling to find the words to voice her protests.

"As the leader of this team, I say that you can't leave us out of this," said Ren. Even though there was a teasing smile on his face, his tone was firm and resolute, indicating that he would brook no argument from her.

"That's right," said Nora. "We'll find those White Fang jerks and smack some sense into them."

"No way I'm letting my partner leave me out of this," added Yang, just as firmly.

"Sorry," said Pyrrha, giving Blake an apologetic smile. "But we're not giving you a choice about this. You aren't going to do this alone."

Blake let out a whimper, but that was her final sound of protest, before she slumped, her shoulders sagging in defeat. "Fine," she moaned.

Jaune sighed in relief, settling back down next to Ruby, who glanced sidelong at him. "You did good," she whispered.

"Just remembered what someone else told me," Jaune replied in the same tone, thinking back to the initiation, when Ruby had learned the truth about him.

Ruby giggled, then leaned her head against his shoulder.

"So...where do we start?" asked Pyrrha.

"Probably the docks," said Ren.

"Why there?" Yang wanted to know.

"Apparently, most of the thefts are taking place around the docks," said Ren. "The Dust is being stolen after it's been offloaded, and is in the process of being shipped through the Kingdom. The perpetrators have been knocking over the occasional Dust-shop, but they're mainly hitting it along the distribution routes."

"That makes sense," said Weiss. "It's easier to secure a location, rather than something that is on the move, so the Dust would be at its most vulnerable while it's being transported."

"So, we go to the docks, and tail the next big Dust shipment that comes in," said Yang, nodding.

"That'll be easier said than done," mused Jaune. "I mean, the Dust is going to be moved by truck, and we'll be on foot. Besides, I don't want to think of how the staff is going to take us following them around."

"Well, if it's wheels you need, I've got 'em," said Yang. "But I can only tail one truck at a time. So, if we're wrong..."

"Or...we can do this a different way," said Weiss.

"How so?" asked Blake, looking at her.

Weiss smiled. "Well...I might be able to use my...connections. After all, it _is_ SDC Dust that is coming into the Kingdom and being stolen. I can request the shipping manifest, which will include which shops are being supplied by which load, and when they will be shipped out. After that, it's simply a matter of determining their routes. Rather than try to follow all the trucks, we can stake them out along their routes, which should give us a better chance of catching the culprits."

"That...sounds like a pretty good idea," said Ruby, considering it.

"Of course, we still need to work around our classes," continued Weiss. "Unless we want to bring Professor Ozpin and the Beacon staff in on this."

"Let's...table that for now," said Blake, frowning at the idea.

The others shared nervous looks. After all, what they were talking about was essentially vigilante activity. They were directly infringing on the territory of Vale's law enforcement. That said law enforcement appeared to be more concerned with finding scapegoats in place of the actual criminals would be immaterial, as it concerned RASP and RYNB's own actions. Perhaps, with sanction from Ozpin, they could have it classed as an official mission, which, while it wouldn't make the police happy, would shelter them from the legal consequences of their actions. However, that would be based on the assumption that Ozpin _would_ sanction such an activity by first-year students.

On top of that, assuming it was possible, getting his support would require laying out the entire reasoning behind their actions, which would undoubtedly include bringing up Blake's background in some manner. The question of how Ozpin would react to that was an open one. Sasame had told Blake that Ozpin might well have already suspected that she was from the White Fang, but Blake wasn't certain that she was willing to put that theory to the test, particularly if it turned out that Sasame was wrong.

"Let's at least get an idea of what we're dealing with," said Ruby finally. "Tomorrow's Friday, so we can head into Vale, after class, and visit the docks to get Weiss' info at least."

"That sounds like a valid plan," agreed Pyrrha.

"We can also scout out the lay of the land a little," said Jaune.

The others all nodded, Blake doing so reluctantly, still believing that it was better if she didn't get her friends involved, but also realizing that attempting to dissuade them was a fruitless endeavor. Instead, she found herself closing her eyes and resigning herself to the reality that her friends wouldn't let her enter this fight alone. She found that reassuring for some reason.

* * *

The classes the next day were fairly uneventful. They didn't have History, so they didn't get to see Velvet until lunch. Her team was keeping close to her, ready to fend off any potential harassers. Velvet definitely looked better, now that she had gotten some rest. She and the rest of CFVY were happy to join RASP and RYNB at their table.

Ruby briefly entertained bringing CFVY in on their little plan. Coco was definitely primed to take some kind of action, if only to do something about the atmosphere that had led to Velvet's interrogation. However, she and the others opted not to, mostly because it ran the risk of exposing Blake's past association with the White Fang, and they weren't sure how that would be taken by the second-year team.

With the last class of the day done, they adjourned to get their homework out of the way, before catching the next available airship into Vale. From there, they made a beeline for the Kingdom's port.

* * *

"It's such a pity," said Weiss, letting out a despondent sigh as they walked beneath a banner being stretched through the air over the street, welcoming foreign visitors and students to Vale for the Vytal Festival. "This is the perfect time to welcome our contemporaries from the other Academies, and observe them."

"You mean spy on them?" teased Yang.

"I said no such thing," said Weiss, turning her nose upward in a huff.

The others laughed, but the mood soured as their path towards the docks took them past the ruined front of a Dust store, its display window smashed in. Yellow and black crime-scene tape stretched across the broken window and the door, with more being stretched over the entire front of the shop. A police car was parked out in front of it, with a pair of officers standing before the door, talking in quiet tones.

"You thinking White Fang?" mused one, looking at the ruined storefront.

"I'm thinking we're not paid enough for this," groused the other.

Beneath the cover of her bow, Blake's ears drooped.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked her softly.

"Not really," said Blake, disappointment echoing through her entire being. "It's just...I don't like this at all."

"I don't think the ones who did this care about being liked...at least, not by the people they do this _to_," muttered Yang, under her breath.

Continuing on, they reached the docks, which established a broad arc along Vale's harbor. All kinds of ships were moored along its length, both large and small. The northernmost end was given over to the bulk freighters, massive vessels, their decks stacked high with rectangular containers. There were currently two moored at port, and the students could see the cranes working to offload those numerous containers.

"Maybe we'll get lucky, tonight," mused Jaune.

"Not likely," said Weiss, frowning. "Neither of those is an SDC vessel. There's a chance that one might be coming in later tonight, but we won't know that until I get the schedule and manifest from the offices."

"Well, let's not waste time," said Ruby. "If we wanna organize a stakeout, we'll need to be ready."

The others nodded, and they began to make their way along the docks towards the towers of containers.

Their journey was delayed when they heard a chorus of angry shouts from a smaller cargo ship, moored just a short distance away, along their route. Looking over, they could see sailors running about on the ship's deck, their movements almost giving the impression of an anthill that had just been kicked. It took a few seconds to see what all the excitement was about, namely another figure, bounding amidst those sailors, dodging one way then another, leaping and ducking to escape grasping hands, flipping about with an agility that spoke of impressive skill.

The sailors' efforts proved to be in vain, the figure vaulting over the railing in an impressive leap that carried him to one of the lampposts that lined the the length of the docks. "Thanks for the ride, guys!" he shouted cheerfully over his shoulder.

A distant shout reached their ears. "Someone get that no-good stowaway!"

The strange boy flipped over, prompting a widening of the eyes of his audience when he dangled from the lamppost by a gold-furred, prehensile tail, actually stopping to peel and begin eating a banana. "Hey!" he retorted around the fruit. "A 'no-good' stowaway would have been caught. I'm a _great_ stowaway!"

The boy yelped, having to abruptly dodge a thrown object, which didn't come from the ship, but the docks below. Looking down, the Beacon students saw the officers who had been stationed outside the ruined Dust shop, glaring up at the young faunus. The boy whipped his body around to stand atop the lamppost.

Doing so gave them a good look at the young man. He wore a crisp, white, high-collared, short-sleeved jacket that hung open over his shoulders, with no accompanying shirt to hide the toned muscles of his pectorals and abdomen beneath it, the lines of which appeared to have been etched into his tanned skin with a chisel. His forearms were covered by red bracers, over black, fingerless gloves. Over his legs, he wore a set of light-blue cargo pants and plain sneakers. A circular, gold pendant hung from a black cord around his neck. The young man's eyes, set beneath a head of messy, spiky blonde hair, were a shade of blue, slightly lighter than Jaune's, with just a hint of gray to them. Those eyes practically sparkled with a spirit of mischief, which completely matched the playful grin the boy appeared to habitually wear, albeit a grin that faded into an annoyed frown as he looked down at the officer who'd just tried to knock him from his perch.

"Get down from there!" shouted one of the men.

The erudite response was a half-eaten banana, and its accompanying peel, which landed squarely on the man's face. The boy had already moved on, leaping from his perch, landing on a post along the dock, then running up to the wall where it met the road. From there, the boy executed an impressive leap up the face of the wall, landing a short distance down the road from Ruby and the others. From there, he took off at a sprint, his flight carrying him past the group.

As he passed, his eyes found Blake's, and the boy shot her a wink. Then he was gone.

"Well...Um..." Yang looked in the direction he was heading.

Abruptly, Blake was gone, chasing after the boy.

"Blake! Wait!" shouted Ren, the rest of Team RYNB going after their wayward member.

"Should we...?" wondered Pyrrha.

"You guys go on ahead and get what we need," said Ruby, "I'll go after them."

"Are you-?" Jaune began to ask, only to find himself addressing a cloud of scattering petals. "Okay then..."

Weiss sighed. "Whatever. Let's just go. Ruby will keep them in check...I hope."

* * *

Using her Aura, Ruby channeled it out through her feet as she dashed after her friends. She supposed she should stay with her own team. But she figured it might be best if she kept a tab on their sister-team, if only to ensure that something didn't go wrong. The boy had been unusual, to be sure, but Ruby hadn't felt any sense of real danger from him. That wasn't saying that he wasn't capable...just that he didn't seem to be a direct threat to them. While she'd never actually dealt with anyone from that group, Ruby imagined she would feel quite a bit more threatened by members of the White Fang. There had been no hostility in the boy's behavior, not even after those police had chucked something at him.

Tracking her friends with her awareness, Ruby could sense their Auras, even after they'd rounded a corner. Turning to follow them, she realized too late that there was someone in front of her. As a result, Ruby found herself slamming head-on into another girl, who'd been about to come around the corner the other way.

"Oof!" Ruby squeaked, bouncing off the other girl, feeling as though she'd hit something as solid as a rock. Despite her impressive solidity, the other girl still overbalanced and fell over backwards with a yelp of surprise.

"I-I'm sorry," said Ruby, managing to maintain her balance, looking down at the girl, lying on her back. "Are you all right?"

"I am wonderful, thank you," said the other girl in a cheerful tone that didn't strike Ruby as the normal response a person would have to being unceremoniously knocked over. "It's nice to meet you."

"Um..." Ruby wasn't sure how to respond, already taking in the features of this unusual girl.

Outwardly, she looked fairly normal. The fair skin of her face was dotted with freckles across her cheeks, while she looked up at Ruby with a pair of pale-green eyes. The girl's head was covered by short, curly, orange hair, with a few strands sticking up in a cowlick at the top. A pink bow was tied behind her head as well.

She was dressed in a gray blouse, with gray overalls, and black stockings. A black collar was also closed around her neck. Lines of green ran up the outside edges of her stockings, as well as her collar, with two lines running up the front of her skirt, with Ruby suspecting that another pair ran up the back as well.

Despite her rather unremarkable appearance, Ruby couldn't help but feel...confused...by the girl in front of, and below, her. To the eyes, she looked normal. But to Ruby's _other_ senses, there was something...off...about her. Part of the reason Ruby hadn't sensed her in time to react was because the girl just didn't feel...all there. In fact, she seemed almost...inanimate...to Ruby's senses, as though Ruby was staring at an unliving object that had been sculpted in a person's likeness. Ruby couldn't sense the physical warmth of a human body, nor the flow of air in and out that would have indicated her breathing. All told, the girl didn't feel alive at all.

But Ruby could sense her Aura. In fact, that was the most apparent thing about her. The girl's Aura blazed like a beacon. It was the only indicator that Ruby had had that _anyone_ had been around the corner. However...it seemed that this girl's Aura was the _only_ indicator that she was alive at all.

It took an extra moment for Ruby to realize that her confusion had distracted her. She'd already spent a lot of time staring at this girl, only to realize that her friends had escaped the radius of her Extension. However, she couldn't simply leave this unknown person lying on the ground. "Um...Do you need help getting up?"

In response, the girl bucked her hips, kicking her legs up into the air, transitioning the motion down her spine to bounce her shoulders clear, even as she rocked back forward to land on her feet, and rise back up into a standing position. "I am perfectly fine getting up on my own," she said, after the fact.

"Oh...uh...okay," said Ruby, not sure of how else to respond.

"Sal-_u-_tations," said the girl cheerfully. "My name is Penny Polendina. It's nice to meet you."

"Um...I'm Ruby," said Ruby, feeling her eyelid beginning to twitch. The girl's nature was odd enough, but her strange mannerisms only made her presence all the more unsettling.

"It's nice to meet you," replied Penny.

"You said that already," Ruby pointed out.

"So I did," noted Penny, still beaming.

"Um...well...it was nice meeting you," said Ruby, stepping past the girl. "Take care, friend."

Ruby was about to set out after RYNB once more, only to find Penny in front of her again, blocking her path. _She's fast!_ What was more, once again, Ruby's was confounded by the unnatural manner that the girl registered to her senses; seeming, at once, both alive, yet not; that strange, contradicting sense of her throwing off Ruby's awareness.

"_What_ did you call me?" asked Penny, her smile gone. Instead, she was staring expectantly at Ruby, as though she'd just had a revelation.

"Um...you mean 'friend'?" asked Ruby.

"That's it!" said Penny. "Are we _really_ friends?"

In her mind's eye, Ruby could picture Weiss shaking her head vigorously, while Pyrrha and Jaune looked on with sheepish, uneasy looks. All the same, Ruby couldn't help but answer, "Sure."

Penny squealed, jumping in the air, holding up her hands and squeezing them in a triumphant gesture. "Sen-_sa-_tional!" she exclaimed happily. "I am _so_ glad to be your friend, Friend Ruby."

"M-me too," said Ruby, stumbling back away from Penny's enthusiasm. "A-anyway, I have to go after my friends-my _other_ friends. Um...Maybe we can talk later."

As tactless as it was, Ruby decided to use her Aura, executing her _Shukuchi_ to dart past Penny and down the way RYNB had gone. Despite how abrupt and rude her departure had been, Ruby could still hear Penny's cheerful farewell from behind her, indicating that the strange girl hadn't taken umbrage at Ruby's behavior. _That was odd._

* * *

The boy's run carried him down an alleyway. A swift jump carried him up to the railings of a nearby fire escape. Not even bothering to climb over them, he instead pushed off, his jump carrying him farther upwards and across the alley, allowing him to plant his feet on the wall, before repeating the action, then doing so again in a series of back and forth hops that carried him up the sides of the two buildings, allowing him to vault over the edge of a roof. Upon landing, he stood up straight, and let out a relieved breath.

"Heck of a way to make an entrance," he said to himself, his tone cocky and self-assured.

Then a dark figure appeared over the edge on the side of the roof opposite the one he'd just come over. The boy's eyes widened for a few seconds, before he relaxed a little, an easygoing grin appearing on his face as he recognized the raven-haired beauty he'd passed just outside the docks. "Well hey there," he said in his most confident voice. "I figured I'd made an impression, but I didn't figure it was _that_ good."

Blake's yellow eyes narrowed as she took in the boy. There was no question that he was an attractive specimen. But that wasn't something to bother over now. What she really needed was answers. "Who are you?" she asked.

"The name's Sun Wukong," said the boy, folding his arms and striding towards her. "I'm a student from Haven. You?"

"So...you're _not_ involved with the White Fang?" asked Blake.

Sun stopped, throwing up his hands, a shocked and...almost disgusted...look appearing on his face. "Hell no!" he exclaimed. "I don't have anything to do with those jerks." He might have been more offended, but Sun was fairly certain the black ribbon atop Blake's head was hiding something extra, from the way it sometimes twitched.

Blake huffed in disappointment, then turned away. If this boy didn't have anything to do with the White Fang, then there was nothing more for her to investigate here.

Sun was surprised by her reaction. Seeing as she was about to head back down, he approached her again. "Hey! Wait! That's _all_ you wanted to know?"

"Yes," said Blake, glancing over her shoulder at him. "Sorry to bother you."

"Hold on!" protested Sun. "Why are you looking for the White Fang? You don't want to join them, do you?"

The glare that Blake sent his way was all the answer he needed.

"Okay," said Sun, holding up his hands in surrender. "Then what are you looking for them for?"

"It's personal," said Blake, turning away. "You shouldn't get involved."

"I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have stowed away on a freighter from Vacuo," said Sun, his cocky grin returning. "There's a lot of things I shouldn't do that I do anyway."

Despite herself, Blake couldn't help but let out the tiniest snort of amusement. His ears picking up the sound, Sun's grin widened as he realized he'd found a chink in her armor. Seeing that he apparently wasn't going to let this go, Blake decided to give him an answer. "I'm trying to stop them."

"Stop them from doing what?" Sun asked.

Blake turned to face him once again. "Why do you care?" she asked. "This isn't your fight."

"Who's to say it isn't?" asked Sun. "The White Fang are a bunch of holier-than-thou jerks, who give upstanding faunus, like us, a bad name."

Blake fixed the "upstanding faunus" she'd just seen fleeing from a ship full of sailors, and the law, with a deadpan look.

"Uh...Like _you_?" Sun amended with a sheepish grin.

Blake's ears drooped beneath her bow. Her twitch didn't go unnoticed by Sun.

"Well...you get the picture," said Sun. "Anyway, if they're up to shenanigans, I'd want to put a stop to them too."

Blake stared at him for a long moment, Sun's grin growing shakier by the second.

"You're going to invite yourself along, even if I tell you not to come, aren't you?" she asked.

"You already know me so well," said Sun, his previous confidence returning.

Blake sighed. _Well...at least we'll have another set of eyes on the situation,_ she thought in resignation, _assuming we can trust him, of course._ "All right," she said out loud, "let's go then."

"Anything for the lovely lady," said Sun with an earnestness that surprised her.

Blake refused to look at him again, not even to shoot him a glare at his shameless flirting. If she turned her head, even a little, he'd undoubtedly see the pink tinge of her cheeks. The last thing she wanted him to know was that his flirting was rather effective.

* * *

"And you're sure we shouldn't be helping her?" asked Ren dubiously, staring up at the distant roof.

"Nah, Blake's got this," said Yang, her voice full of confidence.

"How do you know?" asked Nora.

"You guys saw that look he sent her, right?" inquired Yang. Seeing her two teammates nod, she grinned. "Then trust me, Blake's gonna totally have him wrapped around her finger. You'll see."

Much to Ren and Nora's surprise, Blake and the blonde stowaway came around the corner, out of the alleyway on one side of the building. On the other hand, Yang flashed Blake a triumphant grin that had Blake rolling her eyes…and smirking.

"Everyone, this is Sun," said Blake laconically, "Sun, this is Yang, my partner; Ren, our team leader; and Nora, our…Nora."

"Wassup?" said Sun, grinning and raising a hand in greeting.

"Sun's going to be helping us with our...investigation," continued Blake.

"Really?" asked Ren, staring at Sun in confusion.

"Cool!" exclaimed Nora, darting to circle around Sun. "That was really cool, how you got here. Why were you on that ship? Is stowing away fun?"

"It's a pretty sweet way to get around," said Sun, grinning, before quailing slightly under the half-lidded glare that Blake and Ren both flashed him.

"Please don't give her ideas," said Ren in a resigned tone.

"So why were you stowing away on that ship?" asked Yang, raising an eyebrow, but giving Sun a playful smirk.

Sun's grin turned sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his head. "Well...we had a bit of a break before my partner and I were due to come to Beacon for the exchange, you know. I decided to head to Vacuo to visit my family, before heading straight here. But...uh...I ran out of money, so I decided to take a boat without getting a ticket."

"Your school didn't cover it?" asked Ren.

"Haven would've sprung for the tickets if I'd gone _straight_ to Beacon," said Sun. "But personal trips, like mine, we have to pay for out of pocket. It made more sense to come straight to Vale than go back to Mistral."

"Makes sense," said Yang.

Before the questioning could continue, Ruby arrived in a flurry of red petals, panting for breath. "I caught up with you!" she gasped, before looking up and seeing Sun, who gave her a cheerful wave. Tilting her head, Ruby looked to her sister and friends. "What'd I miss?"

* * *

"Let me get this straight," said Weiss, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "We take our eyes off you for just a few minutes, and now this lout has managed to bully his way into our investigation."

"Hey, I don't _bully_ my way into anything," Sun protested, picking up the coffee cup with his tail and bringing it to his lips for a sip. Then he shot a grin and a wink at Blake, who was sitting next to him. "I _charm_ my way into things."

Blake shifted her face away from him slightly, mainly to hide the pink coloring her cheeks.

"I'm sure that the crew of the ship you arrived on beg to differ," commented Pyrrha, prompting Sun to flinch, and his smile to falter, which produced a giggle from Blake, something that Sun actually seemed to enjoy.

"Well, I sure didn't bully my way onto it," said Sun, before chuckling weakly. "Though I guess I kinda bullied my way _off_ it."

"Ehhhhh, semantics," said Nora, waving one hand dismissively, while using the other to raise her mug of hot cocoa to her lips, allowing her to punctuate her statement with a noisy slurp.

"He seems pretty cool," said Jaune.

"That's hardly a sterling recommendation," Weiss retorted, making Jaune quail beneath her glare.

"He wouldn't let it go," said Blake, taking another sip of her tea. "I figured he'd just tag along without our permission anyway."

"And what makes you think we can trust him?" asked Weiss.

Blake didn't answer.

"Hey, I'm totally trustworthy," protested Sun.

"Says the one who stowed away on a freighter," commented Ren.

"Low blow," grumbled Sun.

"It's more than that!" snapped Weiss. "This boy just happens to pop up out of nowhere, and he decides to help us investigate the White Fang, just like that? How do we know-?" Weiss' voice abruptly cut off as she saw the absolutely _livid_ glare Blake directed her way. "I'm sorry," she said softly, slumping down.

Blake felt something tickle along the side of her neck. She gasped and twitched, shivering from the not-unpleasant sensation of Sun's tail brushing over her bare skin, completely breaking the glare she'd fixed Weiss with. Looking over, she saw Sun smiling at her, looking completely unruffled.

"It's okay," he said, before looking back at Weiss. "You want to be sure I'm not one of them, right?"

Though Weiss nodded, she had the decency to look abashed.

"Well...it's not entirely an illegitimate question," admitted Sun, scratching his head. "I come from Vacuo. Discrimination isn't all that big a problem over there. It's a tough place to live. If you can manage it, people tend to respect you, regardless of whether or not you have extra parts.

"When I went to Haven, I had to deal with some pretty big culture shock, mainly the part where I realized that people over in Mistral actually _did_ care that I was a faunus...and not always in a good way."

"Why did you go to Haven?" asked Ren. "It sounds like Shade would have been a better place for you."

Sun grinned. "Well, Mom always told me that, if I want to be a great Huntsman, I needed to learn more about the wider world. Sometimes, that means dealing with parts of it that aren't so pleasant. I knew that things outside of Vacuo weren't exactly hunky dory, especially for faunus like me. But it's one thing to 'know' it, because that's what you're taught in school, and another thing to _know_, because you've experienced it for yourself. I needed to see what the world outside Vacuo is like for a faunus. Having experienced that now, I can't say I don't understand wanting to fight against those prejudices. But the way the White Fang goes about it...really leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

Everyone stared at Sun for a long moment, enough to make him nervous. "Was it something I said?"

"We just weren't expecting that kind of answer from you," said Yang. "If we're going by base impressions, you don't exactly come off as a 'deep thought' kind of a guy."

"I'm a man of many talents," said Sun proudly.

"Yet modesty is not one of them," Blake observed with a smirk.

"Nope," agreed Sun wholeheartedly, drawing another snort from Blake.

Weiss frowned...then sighed. "Well…in the end, I suppose it's your call, Ruby," she said, looking over at her leader.

Ruby wasn't sure how _she'd_ essentially been designated the leader of this whole affair, particularly since Weiss and Blake were supposed to be taking the lead on this. But she decided to follow through all the same. Truth be told, she had little trouble accepting Sun's presence in their group. His friendly manner and surprisingly thoughtful words aside, she couldn't help but like him.

Sun's Aura was one of the brightest and most optimistic she'd ever seen. It was the Aura of someone who took things as they came, but always with a view towards seeing the glass as half-full. He was quick to make friends, but also steadfastly loyal to those he befriended, however brief their association. Beneath that cheerful demeanor, Ruby could sense powerful conviction, and unwavering devotion, whether to the course he'd put his life on...or the girl sitting next to him, despite having known her for a couple of hours at best, by this point.

"I like him," she said finally. "Let's keep him."

Weiss let out a long breath. "Fine," she said in a resigned tone. "Well, let's not waste anymore time, and get to planning, shall we?" She pulled out her scroll and opened up into tablet mode. "It took a little...persuading, but Pyrrha and I were able to convince the administrators at the docks to provide us with information about the next Dust shipment coming in."

"That's good," said Ruby.

"It's going to be tricky to manage this," said Weiss. "This is the biggest shipment of Dust that's come through since the piracy shifted to the Almaren. We don't want to be spread too thin, in case we actually find what we're looking for. So we should at least keep to pairs."

"We don't exactly have an even number, though," said Pyrrha, looking around.

"Then one trio," said Weiss.

Ruby sighed. "That's too bad. If only we had one more person."

"One more person for what, Friend-Ruby?"

Ruby shrieked, lurching in shock at the unexpected, yet familiar, voice that spoke up from behind her. She wasn't the only one, all the others at the table jumping in surprise, nearly upsetting all the cups on it.

"Penny!" exclaimed Ruby, whirling around to see the girl she'd met earlier beaming at her...after standing behind her to practically look over her shoulder.

_I didn't sense her again!_ thought Ruby, shocked that she hadn't noticed such a brilliant, intense Aura come up behind her. Once again, that strange aspect of Penny; that lively Aura contrasting with a cold, lifeless-seeming body; served to keep Ruby from properly noticing her, until Penny had spoken. _What _is_ she?_

"What are you doing here?" Ruby asked, trying to get her breathing under control.

"I saw you in here, and wanted say hello," said Penny, before raising a hand in greeting. "Hello."

"Who is this?" asked Weiss, staring, aghast, at Penny.

"This is Penny," said Ruby lamely. "I...bumped into her earlier."

"Friend-Ruby said she was my friend, so I wanted to see my friend," said Penny.

"...Okay," said Yang.

"Anyway, what do you need another person for, Friend-Ruby?" asked Penny.

"Ah...we're...um..." Ruby tried to figure out how to explain this away.

"You're investigating the White Fang attacks on Dust shipments brought in through Vale's docks," said Penny, her smile widening. "I heard."

"How long have you been eavesdropping on us?" asked Blake warily.

"Thirteen minutes, and thirty-seven seconds," said Penny, without missing a beat.

_Were you standing there the whole time?_ everyone wondered nervously, afraid to ask. _And why didn't we notice?_

"If you need one more person to assist you, then I would be happy to be of service," said Penny.

"Um...uh...I don't think that's a good idea, Penny," said Ruby. "This could wind up being dangerous."

"There is no need to worry," said Penny standing up a little straighter. "I am combat ready."

"Are you an Academy student?" asked Pyrrha.

"I am Penny Polendina, student of Atlas Academy," declared Penny proudly. "I will be happy to provide whatever assistance I am able to my new friend."

"She's certainly...peppy," said Yang, blinking.

"Eh, the more the merrier," said Sun, grinning, while Blake gave him a wan look.

_Does anything faze him?_ she wondered.

Weiss groaned, leaning forward and closing her eyes. After a moment, she sat back up and looked at Ruby. "Well...?"

Ruby gave Penny a worried look, before sighing. "Sure...why not."

Penny squealed. "Sen-_sa-_tional! I shall give it my best efforts, Friend-Ruby!"

"Right," said Ruby, her eyelid twitching. Then she sighed and turned back to Weiss. "Well...let's do this."

* * *

**Sun and Penny make their grand entrance. One of the story threads I considered, early on, was actually having our heroes investigating Morgan's piracy, rather than White Fang thefts, which would lead them to intercepting one of Morgan's attacks, then forcing their way onto her ship, only to find Sun imprisoned there, after she took the ship he'd stowed away on. That definitely did not pan out, for multiple reasons.**

**First, I couldn't work out a reason Ruby and her friends would go out or be sent out to investigate the pirates at this stage of the story, at least, not without it coming off as ridiculously contrived. After all, getting all the way out to a ship at sea would be a lot more involved than popping order to investigate an area that's in their figurative backyard. Secondly, I established that Morgan's been hitting the Dust freighters being sent between Atlas and Vale, while a small ship from Vacuo would be pretty much beneath her notice, and outside her current choice of targets. Because of that, I opted for Sun's usual introduction, fresh off stowing away on a ship from Vacuo...although he's off to a smoother start with Ruby and her friends than in canon. It helps that Blake came out as a White Fang member of her own volition, rather than accidentally blurting it out in the midst of an argument with Weiss.**

**As for Penny's introduction, well...Ruby's certainly got a head start on cluing in to her true nature.**

**Time to see how the mission goes down.**


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49:**

"Is everyone in position?" asked Weiss.

"_We're clear at the docks,_" Blake announced over her scroll.

"_Good to go at Point One,_" declared Ruby.

"_All set at Point Two,_" declared Jaune.

"_Point Three, ready,_" said Ren.

"And we've got Point Four," finished Yang, grinning impishly, while lounging against the side of her motorcycle.

In the end, it had been tricky to work out exactly _how_ to cover the trucks as they made their deliveries. They had the schedule for when the trucks came in to receive their loads. However, besides the start and finish of the deliveries, the exact route could only really be guessed at. It had taken them a while to figure what roads the trucks would probably travel on to deliver their Dust.

From there, each pair would be stationed at particular points along the route. They'd studied the routes in order to figure out the best places the White Fang might launch ambushes from. As the trucks passed each point, the pair stationed there would move into position to observe the next delivery truck along its route. Obviously, with all the deliveries going to different Dust shops throughout the Kingdom, it was given that the drivers wouldn't be waiting for one delivery to finish before they started. So the students would have to move fast, if they wanted to be in position to monitor the next truck or convoy on the list.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of guesswork involved, which meant there was every chance they might not catch anyone that night. The two largest deliveries were being shipped to the police and Valean military, which would result in the vehicles entering into more secure territory, where it would be harder to monitor them. Everyone would be on the move throughout the night, so they could only hope that they would be able to keep up with it all.

Blake and Sun were monitoring the starting point of all the shipments, the docks themselves. They would be able to inform the others if any of the scheduled pickups began earlier or later than they should have, allowing the rest to adapt accordingly. Ruby and Penny had the points closest to the docks, with Jaune and Pyrrha having the next ones out. After them, Ren and Nora had the next points in the sequence. Finally, Weiss and Yang would do their best to supervise the arrival of the Dust at each of its intended destinations. With Yang's motorcycle, Bumblebee, Yang and Weiss would be able to cover ground a lot faster than the others, hence why they were stationed the farthest out, with their observation points being the farthest apart.

Once the sun had set, they began to put their plans into motion. The deliveries weren't expected to start until later in the evening, and would occur intermittently throughout the night. Some shop owners preferred to receive their merchandise for the next day right after they closed, while others would rather get it right before they opened. The result was that the first trucks wouldn't be arriving at the docks until well into the night...if everything went the way it was supposed to.

* * *

Blake and Sun carefully infiltrated the docks, dodging security guards and sensors to enter undetected. Once they'd gotten in, they mounted the highest stack of crates they could find, in order to get a proper view of the area where the SDC freighter had just unloaded, massive stacks of crates forming an artificial landscape of rectangular metal mountains.

"The first delivery is scheduled for ten," said Sun. "We've got some time."

Blake nodded.

"It's kinda weird though," mused Sun, not bothered by Blake's quiet nature, happy to fill the silence himself.

"What is?" asked Blake.

"I'm just wondering why the cops _haven't_ thought to do anything like this," said Sun. "They have the manpower and vehicles. They could monitor the routes easily."

Blake frowned, her eyes narrowing. "I can't say," she said. "I don't want to think that Vale's police force is completely corrupt. But...they might be complacent."

That seemed like the likeliest explanation to Blake's mind. After Roman Torchwick's arrest, crime in Vale had taken a tremendous nosedive. It had actually been unnerving. Normally, when someone of Torchwick's caliber was put behind bars, there was a chaotic rush by other criminals to fill the power vacuum left. Instead, crime had tapered off considerably, with only a few petty thieves still working.

Prior to Lisa's interview with Ruby, the police had taken credit for it, of course, even if no one had ever explicitly said that Roman had been brought down by them. It was naturally assumed, by virtue of Ruby's name being kept out of it. Of course, when the White Fang began to start their Dust thefts, the police had been left scrambling. It was possible that Ruby's interview, and the revelation that she, not the police, had brought down Roman Trochwick, might have made things worse. Without that feather in their cap to draw public goodwill, the police had scrambled to take actions that at least gave off the _appearance_ of trying to do something, which was what led them to detaining innocent faunus, like Velvet, then trying to goad them into confessing to something...anything.

That being the case, Blake was more than a little miffed that the police would rather resort to grandstanding measures, instead of actually _doing_ something productive. Of course, there might be every chance they could be wrong, and the police were in fact doing something. That could potentially be bad. Blake didn't like the idea of what would happen if they wound up tripping over, and tripping up, a police sting in the process of their own investigation. Still, the die had been cast. Now it was time to see the results of the roll.

"Hmm..."

Blake, glanced at Sun, upon hearing his pensive hum. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"It's just..." Sun frowned. "It was actually pretty easy to get in here."

Blake felt an uneasy tingle run down her spine. Now that Sun mentioned it, it was more than a little odd that there had been so little security they needed to dodge around, in order to enter the docks. The White Fang had recently become more active, and were hitting Dust shipments, so why hadn't the administrators beefed up security around the main point Dust entered the Kingdom through?

Swallowing, Blake pulled out her scroll, and placed a call to Weiss. "Hey, Weiss..."

"_Yes?_" came Weiss' reply, curt and businesslike.

"You said this was the biggest shipment to come through in a while, right?"

"_Yes, much bigger,_" said Weiss. "_I guess, since it looked like whoever was hitting the freighters moved east, they decided to take a chance on sending a larger shipment through the Aman. That's why keeping up with all these deliveries is going to be such a hassle. Why?_"

Blake swallowed. "Sun and I just realized that security around the docks...is probably not up to par."

Weiss was silent for a moment. "_Oh..._"

"Hey...Blake..." Sun gently elbowed her in the side.

"What is it?" asked Blake.

"I think that bad feeling we just had was spot on," Sun whispered.

Blake looked around, and saw what he meant. The docks had gone strangely quiet. When they'd first entered, they could see the lights of the docks' security personnel, moving between the rows of containers. But now...those lights were gone. What was more, the lights illuminating the docks themselves suddenly cut out, throwing the entire place into darkness.

"Weiss!" Blake hissed into her scroll. "We had it wrong! They aren't going after the trucks this time. They're going to hit the docks themselves! They're going after the entire shipment!"

"_What?!_" Weiss exclaimed. "_That's impossible! The White Fang would need some serious equipment to move all that Dust._"

The familiar sound of jet engines filled the air, and Blake looked up to see dark shapes swooping out of the night, several bullheads descending down towards the SDC freighter, and the containers near it. "It looks like they have that equipment."

She heard a muffled curse over the other end of the line. "_I'll let the others know,_" Weiss said sharply. "_Keep an eye on things there._"

Weiss hung up. Blake watched from over the side of the container, her fingers clenching against the edges as the bullheads landed, their bay doors opening, disgorging several faunus, dressed in white, sleeveless shirts and black pants. Their faces were covered by bone-white masks, designed to imitate the Creatures of Grimm. They quickly fanned out, inspecting the containers.

"This is bad," muttered Sun.

"That's putting it mildly," agreed Blake, wishing there was something she could do. Every fiber of her being was screaming for her to get down there, to take her former comrades to task for their foolishness. But doing so was too dangerous, not when there were only two of them.

Then, out of the darkness of the central bullhead's passenger bay, a new person emerged. The problem was that this person was someone Blake recognized. "Ilia!"

The girl was a slim and slender young woman, the tight lines of her sleeveless, black stealth suit showcasing the smooth, flowing lines of her body, including the tight lines of her small bust and toned rear. Her skin was tanned, but dotted in places with spots of darker-brown. Brown hair covered her head, tied into a tail that ran down past her shoulders, all the way to the small of her back, before curling in on itself, like a fiddlehead frond.

Her eyes and face were hidden by the white Grimm-mask she wore. But hers was somewhat different from the ones employed by the other White Fang members. It was broad, covering the upper section of her head, its point extending down over the tip her nose, while it also rose up, the upper section sloping up to a point at the top of her head. Two upward-curving horns extended from the face of the mask, one from either side of her forehead.

"You know her?" asked Sun.

Blake nodded. "She's an old friend," she explained. "We used to train together a lot. But I thought she'd stayed with the Menagerie Branch. Why is she here, in Vale?"

"Might as well put that on the list of questions," muttered Sun.

Blake frowned. "Wait here," she said firmly.

"Huh?" Sun glanced to his side, only to realize that Blake hadn't even waited for his response. Instead, he found himself staring at the empty top of the container, where she'd been lying a moment before. "Are you kidding me?!"

* * *

_A few minutes earlier..._

"What should we do while we wait, Friend-Ruby?" asked Penny.

"Something...inconspicuous...I guess," said Ruby uncertainly. "Also, could you just call me Ruby?"

"Okay, Ruby," said Penny, her unflappable good cheer as unfaltering as ever.

Ruby had to admit that Penny's question had been a good one. They couldn't exactly just stand around on a street corner and wait for the delivery trucks to drive by. They'd stand out like a pair of sore thumbs to anyone, including any White Fang planning to set up an ambush. Unfortunately, this particular spot lacked a place where they could easily wait.

Glancing up, Ruby saw the building looming behind them. It was an ordinary apartment complex. With its height, they would be high up enough that no one would spot them from street level. If the White Fang were going to ambush the Dust delivery here, it was also a potential spot they could launch their attack from. Being able to survey the street _and_ keep that spot under observation would be a good idea.

"Let's get up there," said Ruby, leading Penny to a fire escape that they would be able to take up to the rooftop.

A few minutes later, they were tucked behind an air-conditioning unit, where they could watch both the street and the vantage point at the corner of the building, where prospective ambushers were likely to watch from, before descending on their prey.

"Hey, Penny?" said Ruby, looking warily at her new friend.

"Yes, Ruby?" Penny replied.

"I'm sorry if this is too personal, but..._what_ are you?" asked Ruby.

"Huh?" Penny's eyes went wide. Ruby could have sworn she heard a faint whirring sound from somewhere. "Wha-what are you talking about?"

Ruby swallowed. "You don't breathe," she said. "You don't have a pulse." She took one of Penny's hands in her own. "These aren't bones under your skin. It's something else, something more solid. Aside from the fact that you have an Aura, you don't feel alive at all...almost like you're a walking, talking statue."

"I...I don't know what you're talking about-Hic!" Penny's expression became evasive, something that surprised Ruby, considering she hadn't realized that the other girl even _could_ look nervous. "I'm-Hic!-I'm a perfectly normal-Hic!-um...person!"

Ruby's expression went flat, conveying that she didn't believe Penny so obviously that not even Penny could miss it. Penny only became more nervous at the sight of that expression. Then Ruby slowly let out a sigh. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's not really my business, is it? I'll drop it."

"Y-you will?" Penny seemed surprised by the notion.

"Yeah...I just...I didn't know what to make of you," said Ruby, looking down. "But that's not right. I shouldn't be prying into your life, trying to ferret out your secrets, just because they make me a little uncomfortable."

"Ruby...?"

Ruby looked up to see Penny giving her a worried expression, the most serious and sober look she'd ever seen Penny wear; though, granted, their brief association hadn't exactly afforded Ruby an extensive opportunity to familiarize herself with the nuances of Penny's expressions. "Yes?"

"Are we...are we _really_ friends?" asked Penny.

"Um...Well..." Ruby could tell that her hesitance was making Penny uneasy. Penny seemed to have difficulty with hiding her expressions. Between that and her powerful and lively Aura, the girl wore her emotions on her sleeve. Ruby wasn't certain that she could give a firm affirmative on the matter either. After all, Penny was someone she'd literally run into the previous day, and someone who had invited herself along on this excursion. It hadn't helped that, after their strategy-meeting the previous afternoon, she had disappeared until their designated meeting time, today, leaving Ruby with very little chance to get to know her new "friend", and temporary partner.

And yet, despite how…unusual…Penny had been, Ruby couldn't actually say that there was anything she genuinely disliked about Penny. Sure, the other girl was peppy to a fault, and there was something...off...about Penny's mannerisms. But she was earnest and straightforward, with a positive personality that Ruby couldn't help but admire. The fact that Penny's nature seemed to irk Weiss to no end was a plus as well...simply for the amusement it provided.

"Yes," said Ruby finally, giving Penny her most sincere smile. "We are. I have to admit that I'm not...used...to someone like you. But you're someone worth getting to know, and I really think we are friends."

"Thank you," said Penny, smiling widely. Then that smile quickly faded. "You're right."

"About...?"

Penny looked down. "I'm not...I'm not a real girl."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"I'm...an android," said Penny.

"Android...?" Ruby tilted her head. It took her a few extra seconds to piece together what Penny was talking about. Then she let out a soft gasp. Given her time with the Mibu, and her sojourns in the wilderness, she hadn't given a thought to the humanoid machines employed by the more advanced Kingdoms, often as security or as a supplement to their military. If it weren't for the fact that the topic occasionally came up in class, Ruby would have forgotten they were a thing entirely, seeing as Beacon didn't utilize androids of any kind.

"So...you're a robot?" said Ruby, trying to process it.

"That's...probably the best way to put it," said Penny. "I'm a product of the most advanced technology Atlas is capable of, the first of my kind, an artificial person capable of generating an Aura." She looked down. "I'm not a real person at all."

"Yes you are," said Ruby firmly, drawing a surprised squeak from Penny, who looked up at her in shock.

"I am?"

"Of course you are," said Ruby, smiling warmly. "You have an Aura. I can feel it. Having an Aura means you have a soul. Sure, you might not be a human or faunus, but you're still a real person."

"Really?" Penny's eyes blinked, mimicking the expression of a confused person.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I want you to meet someone." She drew her sword. "This is my first partner, Akaibara."

Holding the handle in her left hand, Ruby rested the flat of the blade across the fingers of her left, holding it out for Penny to inspect. Penny looked closely, leaning in towards the blade. Then her eyes widened and she gasped, which felt strange to Ruby, as she couldn't sense the inhalation that should have accompanied such a sound.

"Y-your sword has an Aura!" said Penny, amazed. "How?"

"It was forged for my by someone who's probably the greatest smith in the world," said Ruby. "He can breathe life into the weapons he creates. She isn't animate, the way you or I are, but she's alive in her own way. She's not quite the same as you, but close enough. She's my most-trusted partner, and my dearest companion. So, if I can accept her as alive, then I can definitely believe you're alive too."

"That's...that's sen-_sa-_tional," said Penny.

Ruby smiled, then quickly returned her sword to its sheath, before Penny could touch it. "She's temperamental though, so I wouldn't advise trying to hold her."

"It's...amazing," said Penny.

"So, I know you're a real person," said Ruby. "The fact that you have nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts doesn't change that."

"Thank you," said Penny, lowering her head. Then she looked at Ruby. "Please don't tell anyone?"

"Why?" asked Ruby, not that she was planning to, not without Penny's permission.

"It's an important secret," said Penny. "Officially, I'm a student of Atlas Academy. Not many people know what I really am. General Ironwood doesn't want the secret to get out."

"Who?" Ruby canted her head.

"General James Ironwood," said Penny, looking at Ruby in surprise. "You don't know him?"

Ruby shook her head wordlessly.

"He's the Commander in Chief of the Atlesian Military, and is the Headmaster of Atlas Academy, which means he holds two seats on Atlas' Council," explained Penny. "He's the one in charge of me."

"So...you're here on his orders?" asked Ruby.

Penny shook her head. "I...I'm out without permission. The General is very protective of me, and wants to make sure that there isn't much risk of my secret getting out. But I wanted to see Vale for myself. What's the point of coming to a new Kingdom if I don't get to visit it? I know it's going to get me in trouble, but..."

"You still need to see things for yourself," said Ruby softly. "It's no good spending your life completely ruled by someone else."

"You understand!" gasped Penny.

Ruby smiled and nodded. "My dad didn't want me to be a Huntress, so he wouldn't let me do anything that might allow me to get closer to that."

She related her conflict with her father, and how she'd run away from home. She mostly skipped over being taken and trained by the Mibu, giving Penny as general a summary as she could.

"I see," said Penny, when Ruby had finished. "It is kind of similar to how I feel sometimes. My father and Mr. Ironwood...they aren't sure that I'm ready yet. One day, it will be my job to save the world. That's why I'm at the Vytal Festival, to test myself in the tournament, and see the rest of the world."

"Save the world from what?" asked Ruby.

"I...I don't know yet," said Penny, looking down again.

Ruby frowned. The Vytal Festival was supposed to celebrate the peace that followed the Great War, to reaffirm the bonds and unity between the four Kingdoms. The fact that they were at peace was something that had been emphasized over and over again. So what was Penny expected to save the world _from_?

And yet, there was that unsettling feeling that not _all_ was right with the world. Ruby had spent much of her life divorced from the Kingdoms, living with the Mibu. Yet she could still feel quite keenly that there was something _not_ right about the current state of affairs. After all, wasn't that why they were out here to begin with? The White Fang had graduated from retaliation for abuse against faunus by humans, moving into outright theft, stealing weapons and munitions in the form of Dust. Tensions between humans and faunus were at an all-time high. Even if she couldn't see exactly what was going on, Ruby couldn't help but get the sense of darkness, gathering out there, at the edge of her senses. There was _something_ going on.

Ruby was about to talk more. She wasn't sure what she should say, what she _could_ say. However, all thoughts of further conversation were cut short with a call from Weiss.

"_We had it all wrong!_" said Weiss over the scroll. "_The White Fang are going to hit the docks! They aren't just going after a single delivery, they're going to try and steal the entire shipment!_"

"Penny and I will head there right now," said Ruby, shooting up.

"_Please hurry,_" urged Weiss. "_We'll get the others over to help, but I'm worried that Blake might do something rash. You're the closest ones, so make sure you support her._"

"Will do," said Ruby, putting her scroll away. Turning to Penny, she smiled. "You said you were combat ready, right? I hope that's not a bluff."

"Not in the least!" said Penny, grinning back at her.

* * *

Blake had to take a roundabout route, carefully slipping through the gaps between containers, circling around the formation of landed bullheads, gradually moving closer to the White Fang soldiers working amongst the SDC containers, prominently marked with the SDC snowflake sigil. Presently, the soldiers were fanning out, inspecting the containers, noting their contents. How they would get all these containers out was still a mystery.

But it was a mystery that could be solved later. Blake slipped closer, ducking up against the edge of the bullhead that Ilia had stepped out of. It was at the center of the three bullheads, which had landed in an arc in a broad clearing between the stacks of containers. Moving slowly and deliberately, Blake peeked around the rounded hull, seeing Ilia standing there, apparently supervising the actions of the others. She said nothing, merely watching quietly.

Blake took a deep breath. _She's a friend. Just talk to her._ Carefully, Blake rounded the bullhead's nose, taking slow steps towards her old friend. "Ilia?"

The shorter, slimmer girl jolted, as though she'd been jabbed with a live wire. Spinning about, she stared at Blake, the opening of her mouth being the only indicator of her surprise, with the rest of her face hidden behind that mask. "Blake!?" Her exclamation drew the attention of several of the White Fang soldiers in the vicinity. Several of them trained their weapons on Blake, though none of them opened fire...yet.

Blake felt her stomach lurch. Ilia's voice contained an incredible range of emotions and, somehow, Blake could pick them all out. There was surprise, of course; Blake being the last person Ilia would expect to be seeing at a time and place like this. There was anger, the reasons for which Blake could easily guess at. And, for some reason...there was fear.

"Ilia...what's going on?" asked Blake, approaching her friend slowly. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"We...?" With that, anger came to the forefront of Ilia's tone. "What 'we', Blake? Last I checked, there is no 'we'. You _left_, remember? You abandoned the organization, left in the middle of a mission. You don't get to talk as though you're still one of us." As she spoke, Ilia changed, her skin turning a bright, fiery-red color, with the speckles that spotted it turning yellow, along with her hair. Some people wore their emotions on their sleeves, but Ilia wore hers on her skin.

Blake swallowed. "Do you know _why_ I left?" she asked, stepping closer. "Do you know what Adam's been doing, what he's backing? That train we were on, he was going to blow it up...with everyone on it! He didn't care that they were all just people who happened to work for the wrong employer. He was going to kill all of them for a chance to hit back at the SDC."

"But you still left," Ilia pointed out. "If you really aren't happy about the way things are going, why didn't you fight it? Why didn't you work _with_ the organization?"

"I think you know why," Blake spat, her tone becoming just as bitter and angry as Ilia's.

After all, Blake was the daughter of Ghira "The Coward" Belladonna, as he'd become known amongst the rank and file of the White Fang. He'd been the leader who couldn't stomach doing what was "necessary" to fight against human oppression. Adam might have been close enough to her to see that Blake didn't agree with her father's beliefs, but most of the rest of the organization merely saw her as an extension of him, someone to attack in his absence. If she had tried to call Adam out on his excessive violence, her words would have been brushed off as the lies and exaggerations of the daughter of a coward, and a coward in her own right.

Ilia clearly understood that much. Aside from Adam, she had been one of the few close enough to Blake to accept her as something other than her father's daughter. Her skin turned green, with her spots and hairs turning blue. "Blake..."

"This..." Blake gestured around them. "We're supposed to be _better_ than this. You're acting like common thieves, causing mayhem and destruction."

"We're stealing what we need," Ilia countered, her normal colors returning. "We've always stolen the Dust we need for our actions, you know that Blake. You've stolen Dust yourself. Suddenly, it's wrong?"

"It's wrong because it's Adam you're stealing it for," Blake countered. "Do you have any idea what he's going to use this for?"

Ilia's mouth closed, her lips becoming a tight line.

"I may not know what his exact plan is," said Blake, stepping closer. "But I know him well enough to know exactly _what kind_ of plan it's going to be. If he wants so much Dust, it's because he's planning on using it to hurt people, on a massive scale. And he isn't going to care who gets caught up in it, whether or not they're innocent of the kind of oppression that we're supposed to be fighting against. Do you _really_ want to be a part of that, Ilia?"

Ilia frowned, her posture, slightly slumped, indicating that she wasn't sure, that there was something about Blake's words that struck a chord within her. All around them, the other members of the White Fang watched the argument unfold, unsure of how to respond. Some of them might have known Blake, by reputation at least, but they all clearly decided to stay back and let the one heading up their operation take the lead in what to do.

"We can't go back, Blake," said Ilia finally. "We don't have a choice. You talk about innocents. There are _no_ innocents! There are those who oppress us, and there are those who stand by and let it happen, by doing nothing, because it's not convenient for them. We tried doing it your father's way. We tried to do it peacefully. But the humans showed that they don't want peace, they don't want equality. We're done with equality. From now on, we're doing what's best for _us_! If we can't talk the humans down from their hate, we'll use the next best thing...fear. You can argue all you want about the ethics of what Adam and the others are doing, but the one thing you can't argue is that it hasn't gotten us results."

"You say that now," said Blake softly. "But that is only in the short term. Eventually, that fear is going to come back at us...and things will be even worse than ever."

"Either way, you shouldn't be here," said Ilia, reaching down to her waist, pulling what looked like a small, steel-gray revolver with a black handle. It possessed two large chambers on either side of it. As Ilia pulled it out, a blade extended from it, consisting of cylindrical sections and tapering to a needlelike point. She leveled her weapon at Blake, the tension in the air increasing as the other soldiers also prepared to open fire, or otherwise attack.

"I'm going to give you one last chance," said Ilia. "Leave, Blake. Leave _now_. If you do, no one will stop you or try to hurt you. But that's the only chance you're going to get. If you don't leave, you're just an obstacle...and you know what happens to obstacles."

Blake tensed, keeping her hands down at her sides. However, she was ready to move the moment violence broke out. "I'm not going anywhere, Ilia. I'm putting a stop to this...right now."

"So be it, Blake," said Ilia, green and yellow flickering across her body once more.

The tension rose to a fever-pitch. And then...

"Hey!"

Everyone looked up. Ilia, just in time to see something yellow come flying right at her face. A second later, she grimaced as a half-eaten banana, and its peel, splattered across her mask. Frustrated, she pulled the mask off, but the next things to greet her eyes were the soles of a pair of sneakers, descending in the banana's wake. Ilia could only cry out in pain as the double-kick, with the full measure of Sun Wukong's weight behind it, slammed right into her face, driving her down into the ground, her Aura managing to keep her head from being crushed, but still leaving her dazed from the impact as Sun bounced off her face, executing a graceful forward flip, before landing next to Blake.

"Leave her alone," he growled, facing the other faunus.

Ilia looked up, the loss of her mask revealing a pair of gray eyes, which turned yellow, matching her spots and hair as red swept across the rest of her skin. "Get them!" she shouted, suiting action to word, and lashing out with her weapon, before she'd even gotten all the way back up to her feet. As she did, the cylindrical blade of her weapon extended, those sections separating to reveal a flexible cord running through them, which crackled and turned yellow, as lightning-Dust ran up its length. The increase in the weapon's range caught Sun off-guard, and he was forced to jump aside as the whip-like weapon slashed through the space he'd occupied with an angry crackle.

At the same time, the White Fang members holding rifles opened fire. Several of their shots riddled Blake's body, only for it to dissolve into a dark mass, before vanishing like a cloud of smoke in a breeze. Before they could understand what had happened, Blake was among them. She drew Gambol Shroud, pulling the cleaver-like weapon off her back and slashing at the soldiers around her, the power behind her blows sending them flying.

Ilia charged to meet her, but was forced to dodge as Sun countered her previous attack with a flying kick. Sun's missed kick sent him into the midst of another group of soldiers, who immediately turned their weapons on him. Several wielded swords or axes. Sun ducked and weaved dodging their attacks with ease, downing one with a punch to the face, before flipping over a sideways slash to catch another attacker across the jaw with a jumping roundhouse kick.

When Sun landed, his hand darted behind his back, reaching under his shirt, and pulling what looked like a set of rods that had been tucked into the waistband of his pants. Pulling them out caused the sections to unfold and link together in a red and gold staff that Sun whirled in his hands, before striking out with it, bringing down several soldiers in the space of just a few seconds.

He turned to face Ilia, just in time as she contracted her whip back down into its sword form, pulling the trigger on its handle, which sent a bolt of yellow flying across the distance between them. Sun had already brought up his staff, spinning it, causing the bullet of condensed lightning-Dust to crackle and disperse along its length, spreading outward and not touching the hand holding the spinning shaft of the weapon.

They charged each other, Sun bringing his staff out of its spin just in time to bring it swinging around in a strike aimed at Ilia's side. The blow was too powerful for Ilia to block, so she ducked, throwing herself into a forward roll that carried her past Sun, coming out of it and spinning around to thrust at him from behind. Continuing the swing of his weapon, Sun brought his staff around and knocked Ilia's thrust aside, turning around to followthrough with a swing from the other end of his weapon.

Ilia jumped back, extending her weapon into its whip-mode. lashing out with crackling, yellow electricity along its length. Sun jumped aside from the whip's lashing movement, feeling his skin tingling from the near miss. Dispersing the energy of an electric gunshot was one thing. But maintaining prolonged contact with Ilia's weapon, with its electric current active, would only channel that energy into his body through his hands.

Instead, he dove straight in for her again. As he did, the staff separated, becoming two. Furthermore, those two pieces separated further, handles curving down, joined by chains at their ends, forming two pairs of nunchaku, made from joined short-barreled shotguns. Sun whirled his weapons in his hands, the guns becoming spinning red and gold blurs. Closing with Ilia, he struck with them, firing one gun, before flipping it in his grip to fire the other, while the one he originally shot chambered a new round. He whirled his two weapons through complicated patterns, creating a multifaceted attack that had Ilia backpedaling desperately to avoid it.

Then Blake arrived, leaping over Sun's shoulder in a flying kick that landed against Ilia's face, knocking her away and onto her back. In the time Ilia and Sun's exchange had taken, Blake had seen to the remaining soldiers. Now Blake and Sun stood together, looking down on a prone Ilia, who glared up at them.

"That's enough," said Blake, looking at her former-friend sadly. "This has to stop, Ilia. This won't solve anything. Adam's way won't save the faunus."

"It's too late for that," said Ilia. "You can't stop this."

As if summoned by her words, the air filled with the whine of jet engines anew. Blake and Sun looked up to see even _more_ bullheads swooping in.

"I warned you," said Ilia, her green and blue colors returning, her eyes turning blue as well. "You _really_ shouldn't be here, Blake. I wish you'd run, while you had the chance."

Blake swallowed, not all that surprised to see more soldiers dropping down from the hovering airships. However, the true impact of Ilia's words struck home as Blake saw an all-too-familiar figure in red and black drop along with them.

A young man, a few years older than Blake, touched down amidst the soldiers, who quickly spread out to encircle Blake and Sun. His eyes were hidden by the white Grimm-mask across his face, with elaborate, red, horn-like designs running across the eye-slits cut into it. His short, spiky hair was red, with streaks of brown running through it, sloping backwards over his head in a manner that constantly looked windswept, with a pair of backwards-curving horns extending up over his hair, from above his forehead. The young man's mouth was set into a grim line, looking perfectly at home amongst the chiseled features of his face.

With his black pants and suit-jacket, he would have been almost invisible in the darkness that pervaded the docks, now that all the lights had been taken out, were it not for the red shirt he wore beneath his jacket, and the red lining of the jacket itself. There was a crimson design of a wilting flower embroidered over his left shoulder, and red flame-designs decorating the tails of his jacket. His hands were covered by black gloves, the left hand clenched around the handle of his weapon.

Blake gulped nervously at the sight of that weapon, _weapons_ rather. She was all too familiar with what it was capable of. Wilt and Blush, he had named them. In their regular form, they looked like a relatively ordinary sword and sheath. But the trigger built into it, a short distance down from the mouth of the sheath, betrayed its true nature. The Dust-rounds fired by the weapon, while plenty dangerous in their own right, showed their true threat when combined with the blood-red blade of the chokuto, which Blake knew to be concealed within the sheath.

"Blake..." growled the young man.

"Adam..." Blake replied, unable to keep the frightened quaver from her voice.

Adam Taurus strode forward, his expression stern. "To think...after you left...after you fled, like a coward...I would find you here, like this, Blake. To the very end, you're nothing but a disappointment to me."

Blake shivered, his words driving into her skin like needles. "Adam..." she said, trying to put as much strength into her voice as she could. "...This is wrong. This isn't how we're going to win equality."

"You're a fool, Blake," growled Adam. "The time to fight for equality is past. The humans _had_ their chance, and they squandered it. If they refuse to share this world with us, then we will _take_ it from them." He took another two steps. "But I should have known you wouldn't have the stomach for it. I guess you're your father's daughter after all, a coward to the end."

Shivering, Blake took a step back, her weapons trembling in her grip. Her reaction prompted Adam's expression to change, going from a frown to a smirk. "But it's just as well that I've found you again...My Darling. Your betrayal hurt me, but I can forgive that, because you belong with me. And now...I will take you back where you belong."

Adam moved to step forward again, only to come to a halt as Sun stepped forward as well, joining his nunchaku back into their staff-form, and using the extended weapon to hold Adam at a distance. "Back off, creep," he growled.

"Sun! Don't..." A frightened whimper crept into Blake's voice.

Adam looked at Sun, then glanced down at the staff being pointed at his chest, then back up at Sun, as though he'd only just noticed Sun's presence at all. His smirk widened, and he tilted his head back, barking out a harsh laugh. "Well well, would you look at that," he observed in a mocking tone. "You just can't seem to stop hiding behind others, Blake. It seems that you're still afraid to fight your own battles."

Adam's laugh was echoed by the soldiers behind him, spreading in a soft wave through their ranks.

"Shut up!" snapped Sun. "All I see is an abusive jerk who likes to make other people feel small." Then he matched Adam's mocking smile. "Compensating for something down below, maybe?"

Adam's smirk was wiped away, replaced by an angry scowl.

Sun's smirk became a teasing grin. "Hey, come on, man. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I can understand that it's a little hard to cope with, but you really shouldn't be taking it out on others."

"Don't talk as though you understand anything," growled angry.

"I understand enough," Sun retorted, his own smile vanishing. "You may be a terrorist, but you're also just a bully, a pathetic jerk who talks down to others in order to feel better about himself. If this kind of treatment is what you have for her, then it's no wonder she left you, dude. Who wants to put up with an abusive jackass?"

"Sun, stop!" Blake warned him desperately, already able to sense Adam's ire increasing.

"It looks as though you've found quite the irritating shield to cower behind, Blake," growled Adam. "But it's just as well. I'll show you the price of leaving me...with his corpse!"

Turning slightly, Adam addressed the other soldiers. "Bring her down!" he shouted. "But make sure you don't kill her!" Then he turned to face Sun again. "I'll deal with this one."

"Fine by me, pal," Sun replied.

"No!" exclaimed Blake. But there was nothing she could do.

Sun and Adam rushed each other. The red blade of Adam's sword flashed, a crimson streak, accompanied by the sound of a gunshot, rushed forth from the sheath. Sun met it with a swing of his staff, the two weapons clashing with a loud clang.

"Sun!" exclaimed Blake, trying to rush to his aid, only to stop when Ilia, having taken advantage of the time afforded by the conversation to recover, struck at her from the side.

Ilia's electrified whip pierced through Blake's chest, only for Blake's body to vanish. Using her shadow, Blake launched herself up over Ilia's head, descending with a slash from Gambol Shroud's bladed sheath. Once again, Ilia dodged by throwing herself into a forward roll. Before she even came out of it, she lashed out with her weapon again, forcing Blake to substitute another shadow, while sidestepping the attack herself. Bringing her right arm around in a wide swing, the black blade of Blake's katana folded over on itself, transforming into a sickle, which fired as Blake threw it, the recoil of her shot accelerating the weapon, swinging along its ribbon, right for the rising Ilia's ankles.

Kicking off the ground, Ilia barely managed to jump over the low sweep of Blake's sickle, going into a backflip, lashing out with her whip again. Swinging her sheath across her body, Blake deflected it and surged forward, a tug on her weapon's ribbon triggering the pistol again, firing another shot that both accelerated the sickle, and slightly altered the trajectory of its swing, bringing it circling around to slash at Ilia from a new angle, striking downwards at her from above in a diagonal line. Retracting her whip back into its sword-form, Ilia barely managed to bring it around in time to deflect the sickle. By that point, Blake had closed to swing her sheath, which Ilia, again just barely, managed to block and brace. For a few brief seconds, they stood, poised against each other, the scraping of their weapons against each other grating against their ears.

They both changed tactics at the same time. Ilia abruptly extended her weapon into its whip-form again, while sidestepping enough that Blake's weight would send her stumbling forward at the sudden lack of resistance to her attack. At the same time, a tug on Gambol Shroud's ribbon brought the sickle back to her hand. While Ilia lashed at Blake with the whip, Blake aimed her pistol and pulled the trigger.

Blake screamed as Ilia's whip scored her Aura, and electric arcs danced out from the line of its contact across her body. At the same time, Ilia cried out in pain as Blake's shots struck her torso, the impact knocking her back. The two girls fell to the ground at the same time, landing heavily, unable to immediately return to their feet.

However, the main difference between them was that Ilia had numbers on her side. While she struggled to get up, three White Fang soldiers descended on Blake, swinging at her prone form with broad-bladed swords. They were cheap, mass-produced weapons, nothing even remotely equivocal to the kind of advanced weaponry Blake, Sun, Ilia, or Adam wielded, but plenty dangerous in their own right, particularly if Blake was in no condition to fend off their blows.

The blades struck home, cleaving through her body. But the soldiers abruptly stumbled forward at the lack of resistance to their strikes. Blake's shadow propelled her up over their heads, allowing her to land behind them. Before they could recover, she threw her sickle again, swinging it on its ribbon to take their legs out from under them, knocking them into the air. Before they could all all the way to the ground, Blake dashed through them, launching a rapid series of slashes, both with her sickle and sheath, knocking them away and sending them sprawling.

Several familiar clicks sounded from another angle, and Blake quickly pulled her sickle back into her hand, unfolding the blade back out into its katana-mode. She turned to face several more soldiers as they opened fire with assault rifles. Blakes blades were blurs as she whipped them through a rapid defensive pattern, batting away the bullets that came flying at her.

Then Ilia's whip pierced into her Aura at the small of her back, and Blake shrieked in pain as golden arcs of energy danced over her body, making her muscles spasm and clench painfully. Desperately, she used what little control she had remaining to throw herself forward, managing to escape the point of Ilia's weapon, and its devastating current. But she was in no shape to get right back up and keep fighting. She fell to the ground, her body trembling.

Ilia stood over her, contracting her weapon back into its sword-form, green and blue washing over her again. "I told you, you shouldn't be here, Blake," she said softly, her expression mournful.

* * *

After the initial impact between their weapons, Sun and Adam jumped back away from each other. They quickly closed again, weapons flashing. Sun slammed his staff into the blade of Adam's sword, before jerking sharply to the side to avoid a shot from the rifle that formed the sword's sheath. That movement gave Adam the time he needed to quickly re-sheathe his sword, before, in a flash, drawing it again, the blade practically a streak of crimson light in the darkness.

Planting his staff, Sun used it to vault upwards. Adam's strike knocked the staff out from under's Sun's body, prompting him to descend. But Sun quickly turned his fall into a flip, using it to bring the staff down in a powerful stroke. Adam caught the descending staff with his sheath, while readying his sword to slash at Sun's unguarded torso.

But there was a lack of power behind Sun's strike. No sooner had the staff made contact with the sheath than did the staff separate, dividing into the twin pairs of gun-chucks once again. The chain joining the pair that had formed the end of the staff that made contact with Adam's sheath wrapped around the weapon in question, allowing Sun to yank it down and to the side with one arm, while he swung the other at Adam's incoming sword. The nature of the weapon meant that the flailing end didn't have the power to fully deflect Adam's strike. But it was actually a distraction. When one end struck Adam's sword with a loud clang, the other end, in Sun's hand, pointed right at his chest, Sun pulling the trigger.

Seeing Sun's attack coming, Adam swiftly changed the course of his strike, instead using his sword to deflect the shot Sun fired. From there, Adam pulled hard, managing to pull his sheath free. He moved to sheathe his sword again, but Sun advanced with a whirling onslaught from his weapons, unleashing a flurry of strikes and firing the four guns that made up the weapons' handles again and again. Adam was only able to partially sheathe his sword, swiftly maneuvering the weapon with both hands in order to catch the incoming attacks with the exposed section of the blade.

It took several seconds, but Sun came to the realization that Adam had _deliberately_ not sheathed his sword all the way. With every hit he blocked, and every bullet he deflected, the blade of Adam's sword began to glow, the glow increasing with each impact. _That's not good..._

Abruptly, Sun stopped his attacks, instead jumping back. He rejoined his gun-chucks back into a staff, whirling it over his head, then bringing it straight down, not at Adam, but at the ground. A shockwave rippled out, forcing Adam to jump up and back. Landing on his feet, Adam slammed his sword home, and took his usual stance. However, Sun's instincts were screaming at him that things were not the same as before.

Then a scream reached his ears.

"Blake!" Sun shouted in dismay, turning in the direction of the sound. At that second, he realized his lapse. He'd allowed himself to be distracted from an extremely dangerous enemy. Too late, Sun turned to face Adam, readying himself as best he could for what was to come.

However, the expected attack never came. Shortly before Blake's scream had echoed out, a pair of figures dropped over the dock's perimeter walls. One, a red cloak trailing behind her, shot across the ground, leaving scattering flurries of red petals in her wake, closing in on Adam from behind. Just after Blake screamed, the new arrival took to the air, going into a horizontal spin. In the same move, she held out her sword, running the first two fingers of her right hand along the flat of the blade, tracing it from the hilt to the tip.

The blade let out an echoing ring, flashing with crimson light. She descended on Adam from behind, bringing her sword around and down in a slash, aiming right for Adam's head. "_Kazebara!_"

But Adam had sensed the attack coming. The red of his jacket lining, shirt, and mask all illuminated, glowing starkly against the black of the rest of his outfit. In an instant, Adam drew, using the motion to turn and slash at the newcomer. His own sword blazed with a crimson light to match that of his attacker, the two blades meeting.

There was a flash and, for the briefest of instants, the entire world seemed to be dyed red, with all the objects within it reduced to ebony shadows. Time seemed to stop. Adam and his attacker froze in place.

Then time abruptly started again. There was an almost deafening ring, then the air around the two combatants seemed to shatter. Waves of sickly red and black flashed out in all directions, biting into and through everything in their path. Bright-red streams of wind whistled outward, slicing through earth and metal cleanly. Containers collapsed, their metal walls carved to pieces, spilling vials of Dust and trunks full of valuable crystals across the pavement of the docks. The three landed bullheads abruptly fell apart in cleanly-sliced pieces.

Of the White Fang soldiers menacing Blake, several of them screamed in surprise and agony as streams of wind and flashes of red Aura cut into them. Blood flew through the air, and several collapsed with severe lacerations. Ilia barely had any warning of the attack's approach. But she turned, whirling her whip in a circular motion to deflect the incoming wind and energy in a manner similar to how Sun had used his staff. Even so, she found herself wincing as traces of it got through, razor-edged breezes that whipped past her, opening thin cuts along her arms. They were little more than paper-cuts, but the edges of those winds had cut right through her Aura with nary a sign of resistance.

Sun, like Ilia, escaped with only a few shallow cuts. But that was mainly because he had been directly behind Adam, when the two colliding attacks had exploded in such spectacular fashion. In front of him, Adam had grunted and grimaced in pain, several blades of Aura and wind biting into his body, cutting lines across his front. In contrast, his opponent rode out the shockwave of the explosion, letting it blow her cloak across her body to enfold it, while channeling her Aura into the garment to harden it into armor. As a result, when she touched down, she sported only a single thin, shallow scratch across her right cheek.

Everything came to a stop. All eyes were on Adam and the girl who'd just matched his most powerful attack. Adam himself stared at the girl in disbelief, while she stared back at him with a dispassionate gaze, meeting his angry glare with a pair of steely, silver eyes. She lifted her sword. Taking it up in both hands. With a tiny "chink," the blade split lengthwise, directly up the center of its length, one double-edged blade becoming two single-edged ones. The girl whipped them through a few circular passes, before settling into her stance, her left-handed sword extended, straight out in front of her, her right one held up and over her shoulder, so it extended down her back.

Ruby Rose had entered the battle.

* * *

**IT'S TIME FOR A-Whoa! Wrong franchise...got turned around for a moment.**

**Early appearances for Adam and Ilia. Maybe Adam wasn't much a surprise. Even before the end of Volume 2, we were all pretty sure he was hanging around in the Vale area (it's a crying shame he and Roman never had a scene together...not that I'm one to talk). But I imagine Ilia showing up was a surprise. There are reasons, I assure you.**


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50:**

* * *

**So...starting today actually, I'll be going on vacation. Yeah...I know it's a weird time. Unfortunately, I made the arrangements well before this whole coronavirus thing really kicked off in the US, particularly putting in the vacation request at my job (I had floating holidays leftover from last year that they said I had to use by the end of March, or else). Essentially, I'm paying a few-hundred dollars to sit around in a hotel room for the better part of a week, since pretty much everywhere is closed. Even so, it'll be nice to get away from home and have a few days to myself. At least I should be able to get quite a bit of writing done. I'll also be catching up on my sleep. Working a morning-shift when you are _not_ a morning person is grueling.**

**On that note, I still intend to update while I'm out, since all of the hotels I'm staying at have wifi. However, because I'll be sleeping in every day, said updates will happen later in the day. Usually, when I update a story, I do so before I go to work in the morning, between 5 and 6 AM where I live. Sunday-Monday is my weekend typically, which is why my updates on those days are so much later, if you've ever wondered. So, if on Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday, you check in to find my story, and it hasn't updated yet, please do not worry. I _will_ update it, just later than usual.**

* * *

Penny rose up from behind Ruby, her eyes wide in amazement at what had just happened. Like Sun, she had escaped the worst of the explosion, having been almost directly behind Ruby, when the two colliding attacks had shattered against each other. Even so, a few slashes of wind and Aura had reached her, mostly along her upper arms. They had sliced through the cloth of her blouse, and parted the skin beneath. However, instead of blood dripping out, those cuts in her skin instead pulled apart slightly, revealing gray metal beneath. Fortunately, they were so small that they were virtually unnoticeable in the low-light conditions of the docks…even to the more discerning eyes of faunus.

"Ruby?" asked Penny.

"Go help Blake, Penny," said Ruby, not taking her eyes off Adam. "You too, Sun."

"You sure?" asked Sun, not certain about this. He took pride in his combat skills. But there was no denying that Adam had had him dead to rights earlier. That guy was _good_, older and more experienced than any of them; maybe not by a colossal margin, but enough to make a serious difference. The thought of Ruby going up against him alone was a daunting one.

Looking past an angry, glaring Adam, Ruby gave Sun a level look, her expression steely and determined. "I've got this."

Adam's lips pulled back to bare his teeth, and a low growl escaped him. "Human arrogance...childish arrogance, twice the arrogance in one, it seems. I'll make short work of you, filthy human brat."

Penny ran past Ruby, moving to skirt the reach of Adam's sword. Adam made no move to stop her. Despite his grim, confident pronouncement, he remained focused on Ruby, his posture and behavior wary. Despite his words, he was taking her seriously as an opponent.

Despite what he had said, Adam was troubled by Ruby. Having an opponent meet one of his most powerful attacks head-on, and come out almost unscathed, was an unprecedented experience for him. Adam's _Moonslice_ had brought down massive androids, was capable of cutting through even powerful Aura like paper and, at its peak, could reduce its target to dust. The more power he accumulated, the stronger and more unstoppable it was. That Ruby had actually managed to equal it was a daunting occurrence.

Ruby was also wary. She knew next to nothing of her opponent. But she could easily tell that Adam was _not_ someone to be trifled with. She could feel it in his intense focus, his body coiled like a spring, ready to strike in an instant. She could feel the powerful sense of danger that came from being his opponent. Most of all, she could sense his Aura.

Adam's Aura was like a naked blade. It was hard and strong, with a deadly edge to it. However, that edge was jagged and rough, the kind of edge that made a clean cut impossible...but, in some ways, rendered the sword all the more dangerous, because it was more likely to rip and tear, rather than simply slice. It was the Aura of someone who had once fought with incredible conviction, conviction that had been ground and worn down. His commitment to his cause had been replaced with the overwhelming desire to shed blood, and cause pain to anyone he saw as his enemy. He didn't merely fight to kill...he fought to _hurt_, to harm...It was, at once, pitiful to behold...and terrifying to be the focus of.

Ruby's experience, all her training, the battles she'd fought, gave her a fairly precise idea of Adam's strength. Kyo or Sasame would have made quick work of him. But she gauged Adam to be somewhere above her, overall. This was a dangerous adversary, and there would be no holding back on his part. He had already decided to kill her. If Ruby wanted to come out the other end of this battle alive, she would need to tread the razor-thin margin between life and death. The prospect was frightening...but also exciting.

For a long moment, they remained still, frozen in their standoff. Then, by some unspoken agreement, they blurred into motion simultaneously, red and black rushing at each other. Adam's blade shot forth from its sheath, while Ruby turned, leading with a slash from her left-handed blade. Two crimson streaks intersected, the air screaming with the sound of their impact.

* * *

The shock of Ruby's interruption had brought the other portion of the battle to a sudden halt. Sun and Penny's rejoining of it kicked things off once again. Ilia was forced to wrench her eyes away from the confrontation when she saw Sun swinging his staff at her. Desperately, she retracted her weapon into its sword-form, holding it up. But it was a light weapon, not meant to take powerful attacks straight on. As a result, Sun's blow easily powered through her weak block, knocking Ilia back and away from Blake.

Meanwhile, Penny charged straight into the scattered troops of the white Fang. The pack on her back opened up, deploying what looked like a gun at first, until it abruptly unfolded to reveal a long, single-edged sword, with an almost wavy curve to its edge, before sweeping up to an elegant point. The edge was a light-gray, steel color, while the body and spine were a darker gray, with a line of pale-green running parallel to the spine. The bronze-colored hilt was decorated with a green symbol that was commonly seen as the on/off symbol on electronic devices.

Rather than move to her hand, Penny's sword instead hovered behind her back. Then, with a click, and the sound of metal sliding against metal, it separated, fanning out into no fewer than _ten_ separate blades. They spread out, extending past Penny's shoulders, looking like the feathers of a set of disembodied wings.

Leaping into the air, Penny directed her swords into a sweeping slash at the White Fang members into her path. They were helpless, those who tried to defend finding their weapons sheared through effortlessly. Landing amongst them, Penny surged forward, spinning and dancing through their ranks, her swords sweeping around her in circular movements, executing successive slashes. Her attack brought the others running. However, Penny brought five of her swords together in a circular formation, the handles almost meeting in the center, the blades looking like the spokes of an invisible wheel. With a gesture, she sent that spinning formation of swords whirling through the charging faunus, knocking them into the air and scattering them like bowling pins.

Not far away, Sun separated his staff into its dual gun-chucks again, unleashing a fierce onslaught against Ilia, who found herself hard pressed to defend against the series of rapid attacks that came from a baffling number of different directions. She was driven back, Sun forcing her farther away from Blake. So occupied was she by defending against Sun's weapons that Ilia missed Sun jumping off the ground to go into a back-kick. His foot impacted her stomach, driving Ilia's breath from her lungs, and flinging her back to slam against the side of a container. Slumping to her knees, Ilia looked up to see Sun jump into the air, rejoining his weapons into a staff again, and bringing it down in an overhead swing, aiming right for her head.

Desperately, Ilia brought up her sword, bracing the round blade with her left hand (grateful the blade had no edges to speak of), and catching Sun's attack directly. It struck with incredible force, the power behind it making Ilia's arms scream. Bracing herself had barely managed to allow her to stop the blow from reaching her head. The impact relented and, the instant Sun's feet touched down on the ground, Ilia dropped her left hand and ducked forward, while bringing her weapon down and around, the blade unlocking and extending into its whip-form, while Ilia swept it at Sun's feet.

Sun immediately jumped over the sweep of the weapon, his ears catching the angry crackle of the yellow lightning that ran up and down its length. Now it was Ilia who went on the offensive. The flexible nature of her weapon, which would allow it to simply bend around impediments, along with its electrical charge, made blocking it nearly impossible, forcing Sun to duck and dodge the whip entirely. Ilia manipulated the weapon with deft flicks of her wrist, making its length bend and undulate unpredictably, making it harder for Sun to read, while the pace of her attacks kept Sun off-balance, and kept him from taking back the offensive.

Then Sun jumped upwards, his leap taking him out of even the extended range of Ilia's whip. As he did, he tossed his staff over his shoulder, his tail curling around it to keep the weapon from being lost, while Sun clasped his hands together in a movement that almost seemed as though he were meditating.

Light flashed off to either side of him, and a pair of glowing, gold-colored clones of Sun appeared in the air beside him. One was empty-handed, but the other wielded a replica of Sun's staff. Pulling up his legs, Sun allowed the clones to bend downwards, inverting so that they could plant the soles of their feet against his own. The three of them kicked together, Sun launching his duplicates down at Ilia like projectiles.

Ilia met the incoming clones with swift lashes of her whip, one strike each. Upon impact, the clones burst with a flash. Two in swift succession dazzled her, leaving Ilia blinking and grimacing as she tried to clear her vision. Then she heard Sun's shoes hit the ground behind her, and reflexively lashed at him with her whip.

Sun had separated his staff again, meeting Ilia's swinging whip with his left-hand gun-chuck, allowing its chain to tangle with Ilia's whip. Predictably, this allowed the electrical charge flowing through Ilia's weapon to run through the connected weapons, and down Sun's arm, making him grimace and grit his teeth against the pain. But he bore it, because it allowed him to bring his other gun-chuck around to slam into the side of Ilia's head, slamming right up against her temple.

Ilia's head snapped to the side, the stars exploding across her vision joining those created by the flashing explosion of Sun's clones. She was left completely unguarded when Sun smoothly followed through with a deft flip of his grip, that allowed him to bring the barrel of the handle he was holding to bear, right on the center of her chest. Pulling the trigger sent the Dust-round slamming home between Ilia's breasts at point-blank range. Her hand released her whip, ending the electrical discharge, while she was flung back by the impact of the shot, landing on her back with a cry of pain.

Ilia releasing her grip on the weapon also meant that her grip on the trigger was gone as well, ending the electric current flowing through it. Sun grunted and flicked his wrist, untangling their weapons, allowing Ilia's whip to clatter to the pavement. As he did, he grimaced and flexed his arm, feeling residual spasms from the voltage running through him. "Man, that smarts."

"Ilia!"

Sun looked up to see that Blake had recovered enough to stand and move on her own. Now she rushed to Ilia's side, crouching next to her, looking down, her golden eyes overflowing with worry. Perhaps he should have been miffed that Blake was apparently more worried about the girl who'd literally stabbed her in the back, with an electrified whip no less, but he mostly felt grateful at the knowledge that Blake was all right.

Making his way over, Sun moved to crouch on Ilia's other side, leaning over her. "She'll be all right," he said to Blake. "Her Aura tanked it. But she won't have any left after this."

Blake nodded, flashing Sun a grateful smile.

Ilia coughed, then groaned in pain, slowly opening her eyes and staring up at them. "You're both such idiots," she muttered.

"Even if we're on different sides, you're still my friend," said Blake, smiling down at Ilia.

Ilia sniffled, then let out a choked sob, turning her face away from Blake. "Why do you always have to be like this?" she complained.

Lifting his head, Sun took stock of their overall situation. Penny's intervention had allowed him to focus entirely upon Ilia. Looking up, he saw that there was little need to be worried about the orange-haired girl. She was currently in the middle of scattering the White Fang soldiers like fallen leaves. They were throwing everything they had at her, but Penny seemed untouchable.

Then, with a whine of engines, two bullheads swooped down to join the battle. One stooped down towards Penny, while its companion diverted, heading for Sun and Blake...and _Ilia_. Looking at it, Sun found himself staring down the barrels of a pair of chin-mounted machine-guns.

"Crap! Move!" shouted Sun. It looked as though the pilot wasn't going to spare a thought for Ilia. In her condition, the bullets would tear right through her unprotected body. Quickly, Sun scooped Ilia up off the ground, hefting her in his arms, and diving to the side. Blake also stood up, her shadow propelling her in the same direction, while it was riddled by the strafing bullhead's shots.

Rather than dodge, Penny instead recalled her swords to hover between her and the incoming bullhead, assembling them all into the same circular formation she had attacked with earlier. The formation of blades began to spin rapidly, their blurring forms intercepting and deflecting the bullets. The bullhead passed overhead, and the two airships quickly circled around for another attack-run.

Penny changed the formation of her swords. The blades rotated their orientation, so that they now formed a cylindrical formation, their tips pointing out ahead of Penny. Then they folded in half, the front ends folding back over their spines, then sliding back along it, while the handles rotated down at an angle, the swords becoming guns. The guns began to revolve in their formation, while Penny extended her hands out into the center of it. An orb of crackling, glowing, green energy began to form ahead of her hands. It was as though those orbiting guns had become the barrel for an even larger gun.

The bullheads descended again, this time apparently focusing all their firepower on Penny. However, by the time they were in range, it was too late for them. Penny pulled her arms back up against her sides, closing her hands into fists, then punched out into the sphere of green energy she'd built up. A blast of green light lanced out, slashing through the night sky, cutting both bullheads to pieces, spilling out their pilots, and a few other White Fang soldiers who hadn't yet disembarked.

From where they'd ducked behind a nearby container for cover, Sun, Blake, and Ilia looked out, staring at Penny in amazement. "That girl is dynamite!" exclaimed Sun. "Where'd Ruby meet her, again?"

"Ran into her on the street," said Blake, also shocked.

Ilia said nothing, the overall oddness of the situation exceeding her ability to comment on it.

"And the rest of the White Fang...?" wondered Sun.

He and Blake looked up, seeing two of the remaining bullheads hovering up high, their movements indicating their pilots uncertainty at what to do in this situation. They didn't dare descend into Penny's line of fire. Most, if not all, the soldiers on the ground had been incapacitated. That meant that the only real threat left was...

Looking over, Blake, Sun, and Ilia could see a pair of black and crimson blurs, dancing amongst the containers, their weapons streaks of violent red in the darkness of night. Ruby and Adam were still fighting. The intensity of their battle was such that no one felt safe intervening.

* * *

Ruby spun and danced, alternating attacks between her swords, while Adam countered with his own blade. Occasionally, he would supplement his sword-work with shots from his sheath, prompting Ruby to defend or dodge. As often as possible, Adam would return Wilt to Blush, then draw the sword again, using the movement to accelerate his attacks to incredible levels.

Raising Ibara in her right hand, Ruby caught Adam's slashing blade, using the force of impact to send her body into a spin that allowed her to bring Bara around in her left hand for a counter-slash, aimed at Adam's neck. Adam sidestepped and leaned away, carrying his neck out of Ruby's reach, while using his wrist to bring Wilt down so that he could attack with an upwards-sweeping slash. Ruby's body blurred, slipping to the side of Adam's strike, leaving a cloud of petals in her wake, her swift movement carrying her around behind Adam.

A deft move spun Blush in the grip of Adam's left hand, so that its barrel was in line to intercept Ruby as soon as she appeared behind the man. Ruby was forced to blur back when the rifle fired, a bullet shooting up through where her head had been. Taking advantage of the delay in her action, Adam spun Blush back around, slamming Wilt home, before drawing it, while pulling Blush's trigger. Using the momentum of his own drawing slash, Adam spun his body around to the right, bringing the blade around to hack at Ruby's midsection.

Ruby had already jumped into a cartwheeling leap that allowed her to spin up and over the line of Adam's attack. Coming out of her spin, Ruby slashed at him with Ibara, forcing Adam to raise his sheath to block the attack. Ruby followed through with Bara, but Adam was able to use Wilt to parry. Knocking both Ruby's weapons back, Adam took advantage of the opening between her arms to lash out with a side-kick that slammed home into her stomach, knocking Ruby back.

However, the kick didn't inflict much damage. Ruby had already sensed it coming, and had jumped back at the instant it made contact, killing nearly all the force of the blow. She landed just in time to see Adam come back down, his sword returning to its sheath, before he lunged at her, charging across the space between them, and unleashing yet another blindingly-fast quickdraw.

Whipping her right-handed sword down low, Ruby brought it up from beneath the line of Adam's slash, even as she bent her legs, allowing her to bounce the slash over her hooded head. In the meantime, Ruby also darted forward, her left-handed blade rushing for Adam's torso. With an angry grunt, Adam threw himself to the side, grimacing as he felt the edge of Ruby's sword graze his Aura, sending a stinging line of pain across the left side of his torso.

Snarling, Adam reversed course, bringing Wilt back along its original course, only to find that Ruby had vanished. Realizing that she was trying to flank him again, Adam jumped, throwing himself into a forward flip, carrying him clear of a horizontal slash from behind. While inverted in the air, Adam leveled Blush at Ruby, firing off several shots at her. Ruby advanced, while either shifting aside from the bullets in a blur of red, or cutting them down. Righting himself, Adam landed, still facing away from Ruby, inserting Wilt straight down into its sheath again. Turning one-hundred-and-eighty degrees, Adam unleashed another quickdraw slash, which Ruby jumped over.

Ruby's jump carried her over Adam's head. Adam had landed almost right up against a container. So Ruby turned in the air to plant her feet against the container's wall, her remaining momentum holding her against it for a second. From that horizontal position, she turned her body to slash down at Adam with Ibara. Adam jumped away, barely managing to escape the line of Ruby's attack. Leveling Blush, he fired another shot. But Ruby kicked off the side of the container, launching herself almost straight at him, but at enough of an angle that Adam's shot barely missed hitting her. Adam's response was to bring up Wilt to block her downwards slash with Bara, before Ruby shot past him.

Landing, Ruby turned to face Adam once more, only to gasp. Adam was coming right at her again, but he was different. His body had transformed into a black shadow, with the red parts of his outfit glowing starkly against that shadow. But what truly shocked her was the sense she felt of there being _more than one_ of Adam. Ruby danced aside from her attacker's downward slash, only to see another black and red shadow detach from it to slash sideways at her neck. Ruby managed to duck beneath it, but then the real Adam charged right through the two shadows, the blade of Wilt glowing a menacing red as he brought it around at Ruby from her left.

Pushing off with all the strength her legs could muster, and adding her Aura to boost her movement further, Ruby shot upwards like a rocket, leaving Adam's sword passing through a cloud of petals. Standing in their midst, Adam's senses indicated that he was in danger, and he jumped back just in time.

"_Hanabi!_" The drifting petals sparked, crackled, then exploded like a chain of firecrackers, sending sparks and arcs of electricity dancing through the space they'd just filled. Up above, Ruby went into a spin, scattering still more petals around her, the petals then converging and congealing to form orbs of violet energy. "_Hibana!_" The bolts rushed down at Adam in a fierce barrage.

Adam's response was to insert Wilt back into Blush, then draw it again. This time, he wasn't slashing. Adam pulled only about half the sword from its sheath, holding his blade up to catch and intercept the incoming bolts. Instead of exploding against his sword, they vanished, their energy drawn into the blade, which shined with malevolent light, Adam using swift, sharp movements to catch each incoming attack before it could reach him. When the last of Ruby's shots had vanished into the blade of his sword, Adam slammed it all the way back into the sheath.

_So that's where his power is coming from,_ Ruby thought, landing atop a crate and looking down at him. _He can absorb attacking energy into the sword. It looks like he can store it away for later use._

That explained the source of the awesome power of the attack Adam had met her _Kazebara_ with. He caught the energy with his sword, probably storing it within his sheath, then unleashing it for powerful strikes. She'd put a lot of energy into her _Hibana_, which meant that Adam would have quite a bit to work with.

Sure enough, the red of his outfit and hair began to glow, standing out starkly. It was the powerful glow she'd seen when he'd been about to use that attack on Sun. Then Adam rushed forward, planting one foot against the side of the container that Ruby was standing atop, and using his momentum to run straight up the side. Ruby gasped and sidestepped as he drew wilt forth in a blinding slash, upon reaching her. _He's faster!_

Sure enough, Adam alit atop the container, and spun around to shoot at Ruby again, slashing at her with Wilt at a speed that was beginning to rival his earlier quickdraw attacks. Manipulating her Aura through her feet, Ruby dodged desperately between the slashes, keeping to small, swift movements, making her form seem to double, then triple, as Adam's blurring blade cut through afterimages left in her wake. Ruby counterattacked, her own swords becoming streaks of red light, extending from the black blurs that were her sleeves. But Adam defended with both his sword and sheath, the ringing of metal against metal merging together so that distinctive impacts became a single, continuous ringing noise.

Ruby used her _Shukuchi_ to quickly dart around Adam's body, attempting to flank him again. In doing so, however, she created an opening for Adam to return Wilt to Blush. Before Ruby could attack with her own swords, Adam had turned, pushing off in the same motion, accelerating to rapidly penetrate into her space, coming almost body-to-body with her. At this range, he was too close to properly execute a slash with the blade of his sword. Instead, he released the handle with his right hand, and pulled the trigger with his left, Wilt shooting out of Blush to slam the sword's pommel straight into the left side of Ruby's abdomen.

Ruby cried out in surprise and pain, knocked back by the hit. Adam's sword fully emerged from its sheath, while also rebounding from the impact against Ruby's body, to hang in the air for the fraction of a second Adam needed to continue rushing forward, snatching the tumbling sword out of the air. Ruby landed, her feet skidding almost all the way to the edge of the container. Looking up, she saw, not one, but at least _four_ Adams charging her, their movements so swift that they seemed to flicker and blink around her in all directions.

_He can do all _this_ with his Semblance?_ It was amazing to consider. She'd thought that Adam's Semblance was similar to Yang's, simple absorption and return of attacking energy. But it seemed that Adam could get quite a bit of mileage out of this ability. First and foremost, unlike Yang, the absorption aspect of his ability negated the power of the attacks he intercepted with his sword, which meant that he wasn't taking damage in the process. He could use the accumulated energy to launch powerful attacks, or selectively boost his abilities. It seemed he could even Project it outwards to create clones that were capable of tangible attacks of their own. The idea that he could utilize his Semblance in so versatile a manner actually made it seem less like a Semblance...and more like a Manifestation.

But there wasn't really any time to consider the implications of this. With Adam and his clones circling her at incredible speed, it was difficult for Ruby to tell where his next attack would be coming from. The clones could attack too. Still, simply waiting for Adam to try and sink his blade into her flesh didn't sit well with Ruby, so she decided to attack.

With a yell, she slid her swords against one another, grinding their flats together in a scissoring motion, before pulling them apart in a wide sweep around her body. Both blades blazed with crimson light, Ruby's wide sweep creating an almost completely circular wave of wind that rushed out around her, slashing down Adam's clones in an instant.

Adam himself had managed to dodge to the one space Ruby's wide attack could not reach, directly behind her. However, he wasn't in much position to counterattack, his dodge having carried him into the empty air beyond the edge of the container. With nothing to stand on, Adam fell.

But he wasn't content to merely fall without trying anything. Leveling blush at Ruby's back, Adam fired several more shots as he dropped. Spinning to face him, Ruby swept her cloak around, hardening the folds of the fabric with her Aura, repelling the bullets until she was in position to work her swords to deflect Adam's other shots. Then she dove off the container after him.

Landing on the ground, Adam swept his sword up over his head to deflect Ruby's descending slash, putting enough power into the blow that Ruby was knocked up and over his head, coming down behind him. Adam spun about to face her, inserting Wilt into its sheath again. Then, in a flash, he charged at her, Ruby barely managed to bring her blades up to block. What followed was not one, but three slashes that came so quickly that they seemed to land in almost perfect unison. Their power seemed to merge together, and Ruby was knocked backwards with a surprised yelp.

Still, Ruby managed to land on her feet, skidding to a stop. However, when she looked up, she did so just in time to see Adam's entire form light up, sickly red and black energy illuminating his body. With an angry howl, Adam reversed his grip on Wilt, then drove it straight into the ground in front of him, the sword generating a roaring wave of red and black that bore down on Ruby, looking set to devour her.

Ruby's response was to cross her swords again, once again sliding the blades against each other as she pulled them back apart. With a shout of her own, she reversed her grip on Ibara, and drove the sword into the ground, in a movement that mirrored Adam's. A shining blade of crimson wind roared up to meet the darker-red and black of Adam's attack, Ruby's counter splitting his incoming assault around her, diverting its force off to the sides, where it slammed into the towers of stacked containers with a thunderous crash, prompting them to tip over, the stacked rectangles collapsing with the sound of steel slamming against pavement, making the ground shake.

Meanwhile, Ruby drew back Bara, and then slashed in Adam's direction with an overhead strike. Crackling arcs of crimson electricity climbed the length of the blade, like thorny, red vines. The lightning extended out from the tip of the blade, lashing out at Adam like a whip. His vision blocked by the explosion caused by their colliding attacks, Adam didn't see Ruby's lightning whip until it was too late, the lash of electrical energy rushing out of the smoke and dust thrown up by their exchange.

Adam shifted to dodge, but only managed to avoid taking the hit straight in the chest, instead allowing the lightning to strike him in the left shoulder. With a cry of pain, Adam was blasted back, knocked into a spin that slammed his back against the side of the container directly behind him. He fell to the ground with a dull thud, and the sharper clangs of his weapons against the hard pavement.

Panting for breath, Ruby forced herself to stand up, having to use more strength than she liked to wrench Ibara free from the ground. She wobbled, her legs feeling a bit weak and shaky, after all the power she'd put into those two attacks. Across from her, Adam was already getting up as well. Unlike her, he didn't look nearly as winded, even if he was a bit more battered.

Of course, that was only to be expected. Much of the energy Adam was using during their fight _wasn't_ his. In fact, everything, from his earlier blurring speed, to his clones, to the massive wave he'd just unleashed, had all come from attacks that Ruby had launched at him. Ruby wasn't merely pitting her strength against Adam, but having her power neutralized and sent right back at herself. Adam's Semblance not only made him capable of dangerously powerful attacks, but also gave him an edge in attrition.

Ruby had fueled her counter against that last attack entirely from her own reserves, and now her Aura was beginning to get dangerously low. Her cloak fluttered behind her, ragged holes marring its red expanse, a sign that her protection was beginning to wear thin. She couldn't afford to let this battle drag out. If she fell against Adam, then her friends would be next. Blake and Sun were both worn down from their own fights (Penny too, in all likelihood), while Adam would still be comparatively fresh, because, again, much of the energy he was using right now _wasn't_ coming from him.

Despite that, Ruby remained calm, closing her eyes and taking slow, even breaths, willing her heart to calm. She relaxed and immersed herself in the flow of her own Aura, allowing it to sooth her frazzled nerves and ease her tense muscles.

Across from her, Adam staggered and shuddered. He had reserves to spare, but Ruby's hit had still rattled him. What was more, it had made him angry. She could feel his tension growing, the anger tightening the flow of his Aura, making it halt and seize. He was furious.

"Not bad," he growled, glaring at her through the slits in his mask, "for a human." He spat the last word out, as though it were a racial epithet, which, she supposed, it _was_ to him.

Ruby slowly opened her eyes, focusing her gaze on Adam, her entire being a quiet center amidst the hurricane of battle. She felt fully calm and composed, as though she could keep on fighting indefinitely, even though that most certainly _wasn't_ the case. More to the point, she had seen the way to victory. It wouldn't be easy, but she could manage it. Their last exchange had solidified Ruby's understanding of her opponent...and provided her with exactly what she needed to take him down. It would be tricky though, like threading the eye of a needle, but it was something she could do.

For his part, Adam seemed infuriated by her calm and confidence. "I can see that Blake likes to make her friends do the fighting for her," he snarled.

Ruby merely smiled. "She isn't making me do anything," she retorted. "You're just not worth her time."

Her words definitely had a pronounced effect. Hearing Adam immediately bring the conversation to Blake had spoken to Ruby of a deep interest, bordering on obsession. Blake had mentioned their earlier relationship, but now Ruby could see that it had apparently led Adam to being fixated on her. That was fine by Ruby. It gave her more ways to get an edge over him.

Adam returned his sword to its sheath, standing tall. "You may think that you're some kind of hero, but that couldn't be further from the truth. You fight for a corrupt system that fuels the oppression of our people. You fight against us because you fear us, because you could never truly accept faunus as equals."

"Um...One of my big sisters is a faunus," said Ruby, canting her head.

Adam jolted.

Ruby giggled. "My adopted mom's a faunus too," she added, finding amusement in another confused jerk of Adam's body. "I've spent most of my life living with and around faunus and humans. None of them worry about discrimination, and they're perfectly fine with each other. Of course, it's a different situation, where I come from. I know things aren't as good in the Kingdoms, and that's a problem that has to be addressed."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "But you don't actually care about that. You talk about justice, like it's some magic word that excuses what you do. But I can feel it. You _like_ killing, you _like_ hurting, you _like_ the blood. I don't know what happened. Maybe someone did something awful to you, maybe even something unforgivable, but it's not even about that anymore. It's about you being able to hurt as many people as much as you can. You're not fighting for justice or the faunus. You're just fighting for _yourself_."

Having not picked her words to try and talk Adam down, Ruby was not surprised to see his lips pull back to bare his teeth, a low, angry growl escaping him. The gloved fingers of his hand clenched so tightly around the handle of his weapon that it began to shake and rattle in his grip. His entire body trembled, Ruby's words taking the simmering pot of his anger...and bringing it straight to a boil.

"You certainly don't lack for arrogance, you little _bitch_," snarled Adam. "Death alone isn't good enough for you anymore. I will make you scream while you die. And I'll make sure that Blake sees every minute of it."

Ruby said nothing in response, merely adopting her stance once again, schooling her face to tranquil impassivity, while staring across at her opponent. Seeing his words not even fazing her, Adam let out another angry growl, and sank into his own stance, ready to draw again.

_Here we go,_ thought Ruby. The pair blurred, shooting toward each other once more.

They clashed again, as they had so many times before, their blades streaks of red in the night, crimson sparks scattering through the air as their Auras vied against one another. They shifted and danced, jockeying for position, cutting, blocking, parrying, riposting, and dodging. In the first few seconds of their exchange, they were a pair of black and red blurs, dancing amid arcs and flashes of red, the steady clang of steel on steel setting a rapid tempo between them.

Then, ever so slightly, Ruby's movements began to flag. Her dodges became narrower, her blocks more frantic. Her own attacks reduced in occurrence, as she found herself fighting more defensively. Realizing that her strength and stamina must be reaching their limits, Adam doubled down, channeling what little remained of the power he'd absorbed from her previous attacks through his limbs to enhance his speed and power. At the moment, he didn't have the means to unleash anymore clones or powerful slashes from Wilt. Unless Ruby tried another powerful attack for him to absorb, he'd have to defeat her primarily with swordsmanship.

Still, it seemed that that would be enough. Adam attacked more aggressively, pushing harder against Ruby, his sword becoming a flickering series of lines in the air. Each draw he made set him up for multiple slashes, which he sometimes followed through with a shot from Blush to keep Ruby off-balance. Gradually, he started to drive her back towards the side of a toppled container, aiming to hem her in...then finish her off.

Ruby worked her swords in tandem to keep Adam's attacks at bay. But it was a difficult proposition. Adam's raw strength was greater than hers, and it was an advantage that he was leveraging to its fullest against her. Still, Ruby fought hard, trying to find some opening she could use. She could sense the container looming up behind her, which was when she saw her opening.

Rather than try to resist, Ruby allowed Adam's next slash to knock her away, smacking her cloaked back against the container, jarring her painfully. The extra distance gave Adam the time he needed to sheathe Wilt, before he advanced again, the blade flying forth in a flash. With a smirk, Ruby shifted to the side. Adam's slash reached its full extension and, right before it would have cut into her, the tip and the upper portion of the blade sank into the steel side of the container.

Of course, between the speed and power of his technique, and the Aura-enhanced edge of the blade, Adam's sword parted the steel like a hot knife through butter. But that slight contact slowed his blade just enough that Ruby was able to leap upwards, kicking off the side of the container and rushing over Adam's head. She twisted her body to avoid the shot from Blush Adam fired up at her, managing to land behind him. Now _Adam_ was the one pinned against the side of the container.

Moving swiftly, Ruby began her technique. She'd need to do this right to make it work. She rejoined her swords, before running the first two fingers of her right hand along the length of the blade, tracing its flat from the hilt to the tip. Akaibara let out a bell-like tone and came alight in her hands. The wind swirled inwards, gathering around the blade of the sword, condensing and concentrating. Kicking off the ground, Ruby tilted her body on its side, so that she drifted through the air in a horizontal position, going into a spin that brought her sword up, around, then down, carving a shining trail through the air, as she brought it down towards Adam. "_Kazebara!_"

Adam had already turned to follow her. However, despite the longer windup to Ruby's current attack, he'd allowed it, because it gave him the opening he needed to return his sword to its sheath. Last time, Adam had countered with his Semblance-fueled attack, the _Moonslice_. Now, as he faced her descending sword without any accumulated energy remaining...he grinned triumphantly.

The reason why became apparent when Adam raised his weapons to defend against Ruby's blow, the first half of Wilt's blade leaving the sheath, Adam holding them both up horizontally to brace against the vertical strike.

Ruby's blade met Adam's...and the energy of her attack vanished. The wind that she'd bound into a blade that could slice through a Deathstalker's carapace like paper dispersed. Her sword was stopped cold by Adam's defense, and all the power she'd invested in her attack simply…disappeared…absorbed into Adam's blade.

Then Adam snapped out his leg, catching Ruby in the midsection, knocking her back away from him. Ruby yelped in pain, hitting the ground, bouncing and rolling. She managed to get back up on her feet. But now she was in no position to respond to what was about to come next.

Adam brought his foot back down, Wilt slamming home into Blush. The red parts of Adam's outfit, along with his hair, began to shine malevolently, a victorious chuckle issuing from his throat as he focused on Ruby, then rushed at her, his body practically seeming to vanish from where it had been standing. The next instant...he was directly in front of Ruby.

A faint hiss escaped Ruby's lips.

Wilt flashed out from the sheath, faster than any of his previous attacks. The entire world turned red, all the objects within it, including Ruby and Adam, being reduced to nothing more than shadows. Before his eye, Adam saw the ebony silhouette of Ruby's cloak crumble into dust, scattering into nothingness. Then the world returned to normal, with no trace of Ruby Rose before Adam's eyes, save for a few drifting petals of bloody crimson.

Then he jolted sharply forward, an angry line of pain biting across his back. Adam yelled in pain and anger. Thrown forward, he twisted his body around, slashing wildly at his assailant. As he did, his eyes widened behind his mask. Before him was that red cloak, that black and red hair, those silver eyes... _How…!?_

Ruby was smiling confidently as she went on the attack now, striking with a speed and strength Adam had previously thought her no longer able to muster. Now _Adam_ found himself on the defensive, Ruby's blades slipping past his attempts to defend. Her swords barely made contact with Wilt or Blush. Whenever Adam shifted to block one, Ruby struck with the other, before he could respond. Her two swords traced lines of agony across Adam's body again and again, staggering him repeatedly.

Adam hadn't been a fool, of course. Even though he'd put most of the captured energy to use against Ruby in that last attempt, he'd held off on using _all_ of it. Even if he brought Ruby down, there was still the matter of Blake and her current paramour to deal with. The energy he'd stolen from Ruby's attacks would be enough to deal a severe blow to either of them. But the possibility of Ruby escaping his strike had seemed unlikely.

With an angry growl, Adam bulled through the next two slashes Ruby landed on him, shouldering them with his Aura, and accepting the damage as a necessary evil. He returned Wilt to its sheath, then almost immediately drew it again, his slash forcing Ruby to dance back out of its reach. Then, a black and glowing-red clone of Adam surged forth, unleashing another slash at Ruby, which she ducked, followed by a second clone, this one striking with a downwards stroke, Ruby shifting aside from it her cloak drifting up to envelop her body. Then Adam charged forward again, seeming to merge with his clones, having already returned Wilt to Blush, only to draw the sword again in an attack that cut right through Ruby, only for him to be confronted with the image of her cloak bursting into a cloud of petals upon contact with his sword.

Now Ruby had flanked him again, landing another three blows, knocking Adam off his feet. Landing hard, Adam still had the wherewithal to use his momentum to come back up to a standing position. Even as he did, he fired Blush at the incoming Ruby, but she shifted aside from the shot without even breaking stride. Instead, she brought Bara up to counter Wilt, while slashing up with Ibara, her blade cutting at Adam's Aura, up and across his chest, sending him staggering back again.

Their dance had changed. Now Ruby slipped aside from Adam's every slash and shot, seeming to know every attack's direction and timing, while her own swords flawlessly slipped through every gap in his defense. She was a blur, dancing around Adam, her blades hard to follow against the fluttering backdrop of her cloak, her movements always seeming to slip out of Adam's line of sight, every stroke of her swords coming from a dead-angle of his vision.

Each attack of his that missed, and each blow that Ruby landed, only served to stoke Adam's anger further. Less than a minute ago, he'd had her exactly where he wanted her. He'd completely outmatched her. That last use of his Moonslice should have ended the fight right then and there. But now their positions had been completely reversed. Worse still, it seemed as though Ruby knew every move he was going to make, often even before _he_ knew what he was going to do.

Ruby danced. During their original exchange, she had allowed herself to feel and experience Adam's rhythm. Now she'd fully internalized it. Even when Adam had been pressing her, seemingly overpowering her, she had actually been in full control, deliberately flagging her movements to build Adam's confidence and arrogance, his assurance of his imminent victory. Then she'd used _Kazebara_, knowing full well that Adam would absorb it, and immediately use it to counterattack overwhelmingly. In that instant, when Adam had been possessed of complete assurance of his victory, he'd left himself wide open.

Now Ruby was on the offensive, while her opponent flailed with an impotent defense. She danced to the beat of his movements, able to tell when he was readying to slash, able to feel the extra beat in his melody, which signaled Wilt's return to its sheath. She was aware of the half-beat of his draw, and the rest that followed it. Ruby layered her own movements over Adam's own, reading both his offense and defense to slip her blades through the gaps in his awareness, landing hit after hit, steadily chiseling away at his Aura.

The clank of Wilt's hilt striking against Blush alerted Ruby to Adam's sheathing. Rather than the half-beat of his usual draw, she felt him pause for a full beat, and she knew what was coming. From behind, the flair of Adam's jacket kept Ruby from seeing his sheath, but she knew he was about to unleash the last of the power he'd siphoned away from her _Kazebara_ to launch an attack at her.

Adam drew, his movement accelerating to a ridiculous extent, a flashing wave of crimson lashing out at Ruby. Adam was rewarded with the sight of her cloak, cut in two, before it dissolved into another cloud of petals.

The next thing Adam knew, the edge of Ruby's sword bit into the Aura around his left wrist. Adam yowled in pain and anger, trying to turn towards the source of his pain. But the cut was followed by a heavier, blunt, blow, Ruby's foot kicking his hand. His grip weakened by her earlier sword stroke, Blush was knocked right out of his hand.

"No!" shouted Adam, watching his sheath go tumbling away. Then there was a flash, a ringing sound filling the air yet again. Ruby had rejoined her swords, and then traced her fingers along the length of the blade. Taking it up in both hands, she held it up over her head, while electricity crackled up and down its length. At the same time, currents of air swirled around the sword, winding inwards, combining with the lightning, transforming from red and washing to a brilliant violet color, a nimbus of energy wreathing the length of Ruby's blade.

"_Yoake no Bara!_"

With that, Ruby brought her sword down with a roar like thunder.

* * *

**So, my take on how Adam uses his Semblance is that he typically needs to have his sword partially sheathed, in order to absorb attacks. At least, that's how I saw it. It's not entirely clear whether or not the sheath is strictly necessary for him to use his Semblance in canon, but that's how I chose to interpret it for the purposes of this story (and most of the stories I write that Adam plays a part in).**

**Seeing Adam fight in Volume 6 was a bit of an odd experience, because I've never before been hit with the notion of a character being buffed _and_ nerfed at the same time. Compared to its displays in the previous volumes, Adam's Moonslice was dulled down from the one-hit-KO I think quite a few of us were led to believe it was (there's been some arguing about extenuating circumstances, like Yang's remaining Aura vs the amount of power Adam absorbed, and so on, so it might never have been as deadly as I thought it was). At the same time though, they sure broadened the repertoire of options that Adam had as for _how_ to put that power to use. Clones? Seriously? I thought clones were Blake's schtick. But then, quite a few people in _RWBY_ have duplication Semblances of some kind or another. But the fact that Adam could do that, on top of all the _other_ stuff he can use his Semblance for had it bordering on the ridiculous...cool...but ridiculous.**

**Poor Ilia. From what I saw in the show, I got the impression that stealth and infiltration are more her specialty, and she's a little lacking, when it comes to a straight-up fight. Up against a more direct opponent, like Sun, she's at a substantial disadvantage.**


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51:**

"Uh...Looks like the situation's under control," noted Sun, watching the last of the White Fang's soldiers go down before Penny's flying swords. While the soldiers' skills were nothing to write home about, it spoke volumes about Penny's abilities that she was able to lay waste to them so effortlessly. On top of that, there wasn't a single one actually injured. Penny had neatly and precisely broken their Auras, while also knocking them unconscious.

Blake glanced up, seeing the few remaining bullheads circling, their movements betraying their pilots' uncertainty. None of them wanted to chance another attack run, which would have brought them into the line of fire of Penny's incredibly powerful beam-attack.

_Just what kind of attack is that anyway?_ Blake wondered, her gaze going back to Penny. Given the power and range it possessed, it should have taken a substantial amount of Dust to fire a beam like that. However, there was no space on Penny's swords for Dust-storage. It might have been contained in her backpack, and the energy transmitted down the length of the wires that were joined to the pommel of each of her blades' handles. But it would still have required a rather large amount in storage, which seemed at odds with how slim Penny's backpack was.

Still, she supposed that this wasn't the time to worry too much about the particulars. As peculiar a girl as she was, it seemed that their decision to include Penny in this little operation had proven to be the right choice after all. She'd _more_ than pulled her weight.

"It'd be nice if we could bring those down," noted Sun, looking up at the bullheads.

"Let's not borrow too much trouble," said Blake, feeling nervous.

After one last thunderous crash, and a flash of violet light, the cacophony of Ruby's battle against Adam Taurus had died away. Blake could only hope and pray that Ruby had survived. Adam's incredible skill and experience had more than earned his place at the head of the White Fang's Vale Branch, a position granted to him personally by the High Leader, Sienna Khan. He'd overseen much of Blake's training, even helped her to design her own weapon. Even though they had undertaken missions side-by-side, Blake was under no illusions that she was his equal. At the end of the day, the thought of fighting Adam terrified her. The thought of _Ruby_ fighting him was even more frightening.

Blake jerked sharply, her cat ears perking as she picked up the click of heeled soles. Turning around, she brandished Gambol Shroud in its sickle mode, pointing its pistol at the source of the noise. Then she relaxed at the sight of Pyrrha, making her way towards them.

"Thank God," Blake gasped, relaxing a little.

"_I_ should be saying that," said Pyrrha with a relieved smile. "We were worried something might have happened, when you stopped reporting in."

"Well...things got hectic," said Blake, her ears drooping in slight shame as she realized that she'd basically forgotten her job to go haring off on her own. The logical course of action should have been to wait for the others to rendezvous with them, _then_ take action. Instead, she'd exposed herself, and basically put everyone else at risk by forcing them to bail her out.

"At least they seem to be under control now," said Pyrrha, surveying the situation.

"Where's Jaune?" asked Sun.

"He went to check on Ruby," said Pyrrha.

"Is that a good idea?" asked Blake, her eyes going wide. Now that they knew about Jaune's 'history,' and how he'd gotten into Beacon, it seemed like a dangerous idea to send him into a conflict with Adam Taurus.

"It's fine," said Pyrrha, beaming. "From the looks of things, Ruby won."

Blake's jaw dropped, and Gambol Shroud clattered from nerveless fingers. "She...won?"

"Damn, that girl's a certified badass," said Sun, with an impressed whistle. While his duel with Adam had been cut short, he'd gotten a taste of just how dangerous the other man was. In fact, Sun got the distinct impression that he'd been just a hair's breadth away from being taken down, before Ruby had jumped in. The notion that she'd actually _beaten_ someone like that was an astounding one.

Pyrrha nodded. "But she used up almost all her Aura to do it. She's sitting in the critical zone right now. If this were an official match, she'd be disqualified."

Of course, it wasn't an official match. This had been a life or death battle. Blake didn't need to know Adam as well as she did to be able to tell that he would be fighting to kill, especially against a human, especially against a human who had opposed him as brazenly as Ruby had. So the notion of whether or not she'd be disqualified was a silly one. The fact that she had Aura left at all was amazing. The fact that she was victorious was more amazing still.

"Where are the others?" asked Blake, deciding that focusing on the task at hand was more important.

"Ren and Nora will be here soon," Pyrrha reported dutifully. "Though Weiss and Yang might arrive first, since they have Yang's motorcycle. The police should be here soon too. Last I heard, Weiss had called in the theft." Of course, even if she hadn't, the spectacular noise of the battle would have attracted attention before long. Either way, it looked like things were wrapping up.

"Well, we should probably at least make sure the White Fang are restrained," said Blake with a sigh, "especially Adam and Ilia. Could you help us with her, Pyrrha?"

"Sure...Um..." Pyrrha looked around. "Which one is Ilia?"

That confused Blake and Sun. "What are you talking about?" Sun asked. "Ilia's the one right..." He looked down and found himself staring at empty pavement. "...here...?"

"She's gone!" gasped Blake.

"She must have snuck off while we're distracted," groused Sun, grimacing and smacking a fist against the side of the container they'd taken cover behind. "Dammit!"

Blake frowned. That didn't make sense. Ilia had been right next to them. They would have been able to see her get up and move off. As a chameleon-faunus, Ilia could change the color of her skin to better blend in to her surroundings, but, at this range, such an ability wouldn't have done her that much good. Besides, she'd had her Aura broken and her body battered by the hits that Blake and Sun had landed on her, so she shouldn't have been able to make such a stealthy getaway.

"Um...At least we have the other one," suggested Pyrrha a bit lamely.

* * *

Desperately, Adam lifted Wilt to intercept the incoming blow, bracing his left hand against the flat of the blade, putting all his strength into the task.

It wasn't remotely enough.

Over the course of their fight, Ruby had observed, all too clearly, the manner in which Adam's Semblance functioned; the peculiar method he used to block attacks, in order to absorb their energy to turn against his opponent. Adam's Semblance required both sword and sheath to function properly; the sword to absorb the incoming energy, the sheath to contain it. Without both, Adam could not utilize his Semblance properly. Perhaps Wilt could hold a little energy on its own, but that was a fraction of the power he could build up by containing it in Blush, certainly not enough for it to withstand Ruby's attack.

Adam found himself on the receiving end of a wave of violet plasma that blasted him back, its edge biting and burning through his Aura. Adam was blown into the side of a container, then _through_ it, as the wave of energy split it in two. Desperately, Adam channeled every last ounce of energy he had left into resisting the blow, lest it cleave _him_ in two as well. Finally, Wilt could take no more, the red blade of the sword snapping like a twig. As it did, that energized edge brushed against Adam's mask, right in the center of his face.

Adam landed hard on his back, the remaining force of Ruby's attack driving him into the pavement with enough force to shatter it, Adam's body digging a trench with his passage, before he finally slid to a stop, laying on his back with a pained groan. There was a crackling flare of light across his body, Adam's Aura breaking and dissipating.

Ruby stared at him, gasping for breath. Her legs buckled, threatening to send her pitching forward onto her face, and she staggered. _I did it!_ she thought, elated.

It had been a tightrope act for sure, managing her remaining Aura to the most precise degree humanly possible. It had been a serious gamble, first investing a great deal of her own strength into drawing out Adam's strongest attack, then taking advantage of the opening it presented to turn the tide of battle. From there, she had worn Adam down through continuous hits, bringing him down to the point where she could finally end it. Allowing him to throw out one final powerful attack had given her the last opening she'd needed to disarm, then defeat, him.

Still, as she swayed, Ruby reminded herself that she couldn't allow her own guard to falter. That was what had doomed Adam after all. She couldn't afford to capitalize on his mistake, only to make the exact same one herself. She struggled to keep her eyes fixed on Adam, ready for any sign that she was being baited into a trap herself.

Then a powerful arm slipped around her front, and Ruby found herself steadied in a gentle grip.

"Easy there," Jaune said into her ear, his voice making Ruby want to sigh in relief. Jaune and Pyrrha had arrived.

At the moment, Jaune had his shield resting on his left arm, with the sword still inserted into it. His right hand he used to keep Ruby steady, making sure she didn't fall over.

"Thanks," she breathed, smiling tiredly. At the moment, she was having plenty of trouble just trying to stand on her own. Her cloak was almost more holes than cloth by this point, a testament to just how much of her Aura she'd used up. She'd managed to beat Adam...with almost no room to spare. If he'd landed just one more hit, Ruby might not have managed to find victory this night.

"Where's Pyrrha?" asked Ruby.

"Helping Blake, Sun, and Penny mop up the last White Fang soldiers," said Jaune. "There wasn't a lot for us to do over there though."

Finally taking her eyes off Adam's prone form, Ruby looked up to see at least three bullheads hovering up over the docks. However, they weren't attacking, instead drifting one way then the other. It looked as though they were wary of trying anything more. It also seemed that all the White Fang's troops had been expended.

A cough, followed by a hoarse, angry growl reached their ears, prompting Ruby and Jaune to look over and see Adam stir. First, he rolled over onto his stomach. Then, slowly, he forced himself up onto his hands and knees, before managing to stand up. Then he turned around to face Ruby again. He looked even weaker than Ruby felt, and she could sense that his Aura had been broken. If he tried to fight, her next blows would bite into his flesh with almost no effort on her part...assuming she could manage more blows in her current state.

Then a soft sound echoed through the air, an almost inaudible "clink!" Adam's mask cracked, right down the center, between his eyes, fragments of it dropping away. Then, suddenly, the whole thing split in two, falling free of Adam's face.

Ruby and Jaune both gasped. Ruby's stomach rebelled, lurching and threatening to expel her dinner at the sight of what lay behind Adam's mask. His eyes had clearly been blue, at one point. The right one still was. However, the left was completely different, a bloody sclera framing a dark-gray iris, and a pale-gray pupil. The cause of this change was plain, etched in angry red across his face, directly over the ruined eye in a red brand, featuring three familiar letters in a blocky font; _SDC_.

Ruby's hand went to her mouth, horror rushing through her as she wondered just how someone could do that to another person. She could scarcely imagine someone maiming anyone so horribly. The mark on Adam's face, that scarred brand, was terribly ugly, but the implications behind it were so much _worse_.

It seemed to take Adam an extra second to realize that his mask had come off. His left hand came up to cover the brand, while his right brandished what remained of his sword. "You like this?" he shouted at her, his right, unharmed, eye shining with rage. "This is what humans like you are capable of!" His right eye narrowed, and his body tensed.

He wanted to strike, but his body wasn't up to the task. Adam took a step forward, then staggered.

Ruby carefully removed herself from Jaune's supporting arm. Though it was unpleasant, she forced herself to look straight Adam and his scar. As she did, she couldn't help but pity this man for all that he had been through. Granted, none of that excused any of his actions, but she still felt sorry for him, that he'd been so maimed and tormented.

Adam saw her pity clearly, and it only stoked his rage to greater heights. "Don't you dare look down on me! I don't need some human brat's excuse for pity! I'll kill you!"

"I do feel sorry for you," Ruby admitted. "But that doesn't change what needs to be done. You've been hurt badly. But that doesn't give you the right to hurt others."

"I AM DELIVERING JUSTICE TO THIS WORLD!" Adam roared. "You humans no longer deserve your place in it!"

Ruby opened her mouth, but stopped when she felt Jaune's hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw him giving her a sad look. "He's not gonna change his mind," Jaune said. "Let's just take him down and let the police handle the rest."

Ruby sighed, and nodded. They hadn't come to host a debate after all, they'd come to stop the White Fang from stealing more Dust. And it looked as though they'd succeeded. Sure, it looked as though a few bullheads were going to get away, but the troops had been brought down and, hopefully, they now had two important figures in the organization for the police to take into custody.

"Right," said Ruby, looking over at Adam.

At the moment, he was still swaying uneasily, staggering, barely able to keep standing. Right now, it seemed like all it would take was a stiff breeze to knock him over. However, Ruby could still feel his intense tenacity. Her family had taught her that few things were more dangerous than a cornered animal. That applied to humans and faunus as well. If his back was against the wall, Aura or no Aura, then Adam was still potentially very dangerous. He was brandishing the broken blade of Wilt, with the suggestion that he might know how to use it.

Ruby wasn't feeling at her best herself. The wisest course would be to stand back and let Jaune finish subduing Adam. Still, she didn't want to send Jaune in blind, not knowing what Adam might have up his sleeve.

Then it occurred to her. _What am I doing?_ she scolded herself. _Jaune's my _partner_, not my protectorate._

With a sigh, she turned to look at Jaune. "Can you try to knock him out?" she asked. "It shouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah," said Jaune, grabbing Crocea Mors' handle. Rather than draw forth the sword, he instead collapsed the shield back into its sheath-mode, and then hefted the whole thing as a single, unified weapon.

Ruby smiled, then glanced nervously Adam's way. "Just be careful. His Aura's broken, but he's still dangerous."

"Got it," said Jaune, his expression hardening. He began to walk towards Adam. Ruby followed behind him.

Seeing Jaune approaching, Adam snarled and spat a glob of bloody saliva on the ground. "What's the matter?" he shouted. "Are you _that_ afraid of me that you can't even finish this yourself, coward?"

"Sorry," said Ruby, giving Adam a small smile. "But this is too important to take pointless chances for my pride. If anything, it's because I think _that_ highly of your abilities."

Adam seemed genuinely taken aback by that, blinking in surprise, drawing himself up. His expression was baffled.

Deciding to take a chance, Ruby gave Adam a sheepish grin. "Um...Having said that, if you want, I'd accept your peaceful surrender, then Jaune won't have to bop you on the head."

From the return of his angry glare, Ruby figured that she'd botched that chance.

Jaune rolled his eyes. "Geez, could you have phrased that a less silly way?" he asked. "He might have actually listened."

Ruby sighed. "Probably," she admitted, before bowing her head to Adam. "Sorry."

Jaune hefted his sword and took a proper attacking stance, focusing his gaze and keeping his attention on Adam, as though he were about to begin a fight against the man in earnest, rather than knock him out, when he was already at the edge of unconsciousness to begin with. Ruby felt pride swell inside her to see Jaune taking this so seriously. They couldn't afford to take chances with someone this dangerous.

Despite the relief that came with the realization that help had arrived, Ruby still hadn't completely dropped her guard. It was something that her family and teachers had hammered home over and over again. In the wild, it was an indispensable skill, when the Grimm could come at any time and in any number. Ruby had kept her awareness spread, mainly because, even if Adam himself was no longer in fighting shape, there might still be someone who could try and help him.

And that proved to be exactly the case. Ruby gasped, her eyes going wide. "Jaune! Watch out!"

Jaune would have asked what he was supposed to watch out for, but the question was answered the instant after Ruby had opened her mouth. There was a flash from behind Adam, and someone appeared out of thin air, dashing past him and darting right for Jaune. Upon hearing Ruby's warning, Jaune immediately went into his default defensive mode. Still holding the sword's handle, he triggered the transition of the sheath to its shield-mode, the spreading shield cutting off his vision of what was in front of him, but also saving him from what came next.

He felt a pair of impacts, something hard clanging against the shield. With the awkward position he was holding it in, Jaune was driven back, nearly having the entire thing knocked out of his grip. In a bit of last-second inspiration, Jaune used the momentum of the blows to turn his wrist, sliding his left arm into the shield's straps as it oriented upright, while drawing his sword forth in the same move. From there, he sank into his default stance, holding his shield up and ready for the next attack. As he did, he was able to see his attacker.

The girl who'd struck him used the recoil of her own kick to launch herself backwards in a flip that allowed her to land right next to Adam. _Whoa! She's tiny!_ That was the first thought that appeared in Jaune's head. The new girl was even shorter than Ruby, barely topping out at a little below five-feet, even with the heels of her thigh-length white boots boosting her height. However, that was hardly the most curious thing about her appearance.

First was her hair, which descended in a swirling corkscrew, down the length of her back. It consisted to two colors from either side of her head. The right side was a pale-pink color, while the left was dark-brown. Said colors were mirrored by her eyes, set into the pale skin of her rounded, face, like Ruby's, just enough to look full, without looking overly babyish. She was clad in a white jacket with pink lining, over what looked like brown corset, tucked into a set of black pants, which, in turn, were tucked into those boots of hers.

Her size aside, she was actually quite the beauty, with a bust that was impressive, considering her stature, her outfit highlighting the curved contours of her hips to her advantage. She looked quite dainty, but the kicks she'd delivered to Jaune's shield indicated that she packed a wallop. The grace with which she'd performed her backflip showcased her poise and balance. This girl was dangerous.

In her right hand, she hefted what looked like a closed umbrella or parasol. As she came to a rest next to Adam, she hefted it, opening it to reveal a lacy, curved canopy that was slightly translucent, then rested the shaft over her shoulder, spinning it in her grip idly.

Ruby's eyes narrowed as she regarded the smaller girl. There was one other factor that stood out to her. This girl; who'd jumped in to save Adam Taurus, the head of Vale's White Fang branch, a man who couldn't stop talking about how much he hated humanity; was a _human_.

Adam grimaced, staggering again. The girl reached out with her free hand to steady him. The touch made Adam glare at her. "You're..." He paused, letting out a pained cough. "...Torchwick's..."

_Torchwick?_ Ruby's eyes went wide at that. She supposed that, even if Roman himself was in jail, there might still be any number of his associates running around. But for one of them to be helping the White Fang...

Rather than try and attack again, Jaune had fallen back, taking up a position slightly in front of Ruby, guarding her. In the face of this unexpected attacker, his first priority was making sure that his partner was covered. That gave Ruby a sense of relief, as she didn't want to try calling Jaune back, if he'd recklessly gone on the attack.

Instead, Ruby looked over Jaune's shoulder, meeting the other girl's mismatched eyes. The smaller girl blinked and, to Ruby's amazement, when her eyes opened again, the colors had swapped. Before, her left eye had been brown, her right pink, matching her hair. But now her pink eye was on the left, with her brown one on her right.

"Are you here to help him get away?" asked Ruby warily.

The smaller girl smiled and nodded.

Ruby let out a slow breath. "Fine then," she said. "Go."

The girl smiled, the bowed towards her, holding out her left hand in a courtly gesture, before straightening up and taking Adam's arm. Then she jumped back, taking Adam with her, the difference in their sizes not seeming to impede her in the slightest. There was a flash...and the pair vanished from sight, though Ruby could still sense their presences retreating.

"Was it a good idea to let them go?" asked Jaune.

"We didn't have much choice," said Ruby, shaking her head. "That girl...she's too dangerous right now." If Ruby hadn't expended nearly all of her Aura in the fight against Adam, things might have been different. But things were what they were. Ruby supposed she could have tried to stall, until the rest of their group had gotten there. But she decided that it wasn't worth the risk. That smaller girl was just too much of an unknown...and too much of a threat.

The roar of an engine reached their ears. Ruby and Jaune turned to see a yellow and black object come flying over one of the dock's security walls, with two figures clinging to its back. The motorcycle landed out of sight. After a few seconds of the sound of its engine revving and its tires screeching reverberating off nearby containers, the vehicle shot out from between two rows of the rectangular blocks, turning and screeching to a halt. Yang and Weiss dismounted, Weiss looking more than a little unsteady on her feet.

"Ruby! Are you okay?" asked Yang, rushing to her younger sister's side.

"I'm fine, Sis," said Ruby, giving Yang a tired smile.

"This place is a disaster zone," observed Weiss, hobbling over to join them.

"Yeah...things happened," said Ruby sheepishly, able to see that Weiss was borderline incensed at the damage that had been done to numerous containers of her company's precious merchandise.

"Looks like we got here before Ren and Nora," said Yang, grinning at Weiss.

"Only because you drive like a maniac," Weiss, countered, glaring back at her.

"So, did we nail the jerks?" asked Yang, turning back to Ruby and Jaune.

"Well...I beat their leader," said Ruby, before slumping and sighing. "But someone came and bailed him out."

As if on cue, there was a familiar sound of engines whining. A bullhead lifted up from behind a nearby stack of containers. Ruby frowned, watching it. She hadn't noticed one of them landing. It wouldn't have been hard, in the midst of all the chaos taking place on the ground. It seemed that Adam's mysterious rescuer had apparently made full arrangements to evacuate him.

She could see the girl now, standing in the passenger bay, the crook of her umbrella hooked over one of the overhead railings. Even over this distance, Ruby could see that the girl was looking back at her. There was a sober expression on the smaller girl's face, almost pensive. She looked as though she was studying Ruby. Ruby studied her right back, wondering just what the basis for the other girl's interest was.

"Let's bring it down!" shouted Yang, deploying her gauntlets, readying to open fire.

She was stopped by Weiss, who latched onto the arm Yang had pulled back, in preparation to fire one of Ember Celica's bolts. "Don't even try it, you idiot!" exclaimed Weiss, clinging desperately to Yang's arm. "There's way too much Dust out in the open now! If that thing crashes, the entire dock could go up!"

"Oh..." said Yang, disappointed. She let her arms drop, much to Weiss' relief.

Ruby and the small girl's gaze was broken when the bullhead pivoted around, before going into flight mode, swooping out, over the bay, before turning towards a more distant part of Vale. The other bullheads that had been loitering in the skies above quickly moved to join it.

They stared after it for a moment, before Ruby finally sighed and shrugged. "Well...let's go check on the others."

* * *

The night, as it turned out, wasn't a total loss. Ren and Nora arrived just in time to finish helping secure the remaining White Fang prisoners. Strangely, _Penny_ was the one behind their restraint, producing strings of impressive tensile strength, with which they were easily able to bind the limbs of the disabled soldiers. The howl of sirens behind Ren and Nora indicated that the police weren't far behind.

Ruby briefly considered them making a break for it, before the police found them. Perhaps they could slip away in the night, leaving the police a gift of practically gift-wrapped White Fang grunts, as though they were secret agents of justice. It was an almost...superhero-y...thing to do, which had a certain appeal. Also appealing was the prospect of distancing themselves from the damage that had been done during the fighting. There was really no sugarcoating it. Sections of the docks had been wrecked. Containers had been knocked over, split open, and their contents sent scattering across the ground. It was nothing short of a miracle that none of the spilled Dust had been triggered, which would have resulted in the very conflagration that Weiss had cautioned Yang against causing. Perhaps it was a testament to how well the SDC stored their product that none of it had been triggered.

In the end, Ruby decided against it. From the sound of things, the police had arrived in force and, by the time they'd finished restraining all the prisoners, the cops had clearly established a cordon around the docks. Trying to escape now would only make them look like the guilty party, maybe not guilty of trying to steal Dust (what, with the _actual_ culprits hogtied in a nice little group in the open), but definitely guilty of something, which Ruby supposed was true enough. In the end, they'd just have to own up to it and face the music.

Much to their surprise, the police were surprisingly accommodating, one of the detectives taking them aside and asking them questions. Blake and Ruby kept close to Sun, silently vouching for him, if the police had any ideas about trying to add him to the number of prisoners they were currently carting away.

After the questioning was over, they sat off to the side, watching as the police began to clean up the operation. Ambulances were brought in for the injured security guards, which gave Ruby an idea of what the small, nimble girl had been up to. If she'd guessed correctly, that girl had been one taking out what few guards had been in the docks this night.

While they watched and talked amongst themselves, Ruby sensed Penny abruptly stiffen, her Aura flaring nervously. Turning to look at her newest friend, Ruby saw Penny slowly backing away. Carefully, so as not to attract too much attention to herself, Ruby moved from her seat on a stack of shipping crates and went to Penny. "What is it?" she asked softly.

"I...I have to go," said Penny, looking down. Ruby found herself troubled by the android's nervous demeanor. "The-My...uh...My...handler is here, to pick me up. He's probably not happy with me going off on my own."

"Will you be okay?" asked Ruby resting a hand on Penny's shoulder.

"Don't worry," said Penny, giving Ruby a sunny smile. "At most, he'll just give me a scolding. He's not a bad person."

"Should I come with you?" asked Ruby.

Penny shook her head. "It's probably best if you stay with the others. I'll...I'll see you later, if I can."

"All right," said Ruby, giving Penny one last fond smile. "Take care, friend."

Much to her surprise, caught a slight giggle from Penny, indicating the android had caught the small joke behind the sincere expression of care. "I will, Friend-Ruby." With that, Penny turned and jogged off.

Ruby returned to the rest of her friends, Jaune being the first to notice her arrival...and Penny's absence. "Where's Penny?" he asked.

"She had to go," said Ruby. "Someone came to pick her up."

"That's weird," said Yang.

"So...now what?" asked Nora, watching the last of the White Fang soldiers being loaded into a police truck.

"We've been told to stay put," said Ruby, sighing. "I got a text from Professor Goodwitch, telling us she's coming to pick us up. I don't think she's happy with us."

That sent a shiver down the spines of everyone pleasant, save for Sun, who'd never had to deal with Beacon's Deputy Headmistress before.

"Uh...It's not too late to make a break for it," suggested Pyrrha lamely.

"She already knows," said Weiss, letting out a tired sigh. "We're sunk."

The others slumped. It looked as though their already-long night was a fair ways from being over yet.

* * *

The warehouse door slid open with a clanging, rattling sound. Grunting, Adam staggered in, leaning against the frame of the door, panting for breath. His left hand was curled around the handle of his weapon once more, his rescuer actually having the consideration to retrieve it before they left, leaving only the broken-off portion of Wilt's blade behind.

Behind him came Ilia, along with their...benefactor...who was currently supporting Ilia, by draping the chameleon-faunus' arm over her shoulder. They made their way deeper into the warehouse's interior, making their way between the rows of empty shelves, which almost seemed skeletal in appearance, thanks to a lack of anything for the warehouse to actually "house."

Near the center of the building, in a space between all those shelves, a table had been set, along with a few chairs. Spread over the surface of the table was a map of Vale, showcasing a variety of marks indicating crimes that had already been committed, and those that were planned for the future. A bright-red line had been drawn to encircle the docks.

The girl helped Ilia to one of the chairs, settling her into it, before drawing back. Adam slumped into a chair of his own, taking a moment to rest, before leaning forward and picking up a black marker, which he used to draw an angry-looking X-mark across the circle around the docks. That task done, Adam lazily tossed the implement aside, and leaned back, staring at the ceiling with his one functional eye.

"Well, it would seem that things did not go well tonight," purred a husky, seductive voice.

Ilia and Adam both jolted, sitting up straight in their seats, while their rescuer's posture stiffened, and she took a few steps farther back.

Accompanied by the clinking sound of glass clicking against a hard surface, a woman strode out of the darkness. She was a figure of beauty, her dark-red minidress showing off the magnificent curves of her bust and hips, which swayed sensually with each step she took, the garment baring her shoulders, so that the creamy color of her skin stood out starkly against the dress's own coloration. Gold embroidery ran down the sleeves, and along the collar of her garment, while a blue feather accessory decorated her right hip. The woman's raven tresses flowed down from her head, hanging a little below the shoulders. A significant portion of her bangs partially covered her left eye, while the right, with its amber iris, was left unobscured.

Behind the woman were two others, a light-skinned boy with gray hair, and a dark-skinned girl with mint-green hair. They followed in the woman's wake like her own shadows, barely noticeable in comparison to the woman's seductive, yet imposing, presence.

"Cinder..." growled Adam, forcing himself to stand up.

"What happened, Adam?" asked Cinder. "Not only did you return without anything to show for tonight's efforts, but it would seem that the bulk of your forces did not make it out with you."

"There were complications," said Adam. "One of our former members, and a group of her friends, disrupted the operation."

"And they managed to not only stop you from taking the Dust, but also brought down all your troops," noted Cinder. "Not to mention that you and your...assistant..." Her gaze flicked to Ilia, who flinched away from her. "...were reduced to this state. You're fortunate that Neo was on hand to assist, or you might not have escaped at all." The woman tilted her head in the direction of the diminutive girl, who offered her a nervous smile in return.

Adam growled in frustration, the fingers of his left hand clenching around the handle of Blush, even though the blade within it was broken. Behind Cinder, her two followers tensed, the girl's hands drifting towards the handles of the revolvers that rested at her waist, while the boy's knees bent. In her chair, Ilia's hand began to stray towards the handle of her own weapon.

But everyone froze when Cinder held up her hand. There was a flash, and an orb of flame, the size of a baseball, flared into being, hovering in the air over it. The woman's irises seemed to shine from within. Both the temperature and tension in the air rapidly began to rise.

Then, just like that, Cinder snuffed the fireball out. "There's no need for hostility," she said, maintaining a pleasant tone. "If you are in this state, Adam, it speaks a great deal about the ability of the ones who managed to do so much damage to one of your operations."

With that, the woman moved forward to take one of the seats at the table, on the side opposite from Adam. Sitting down, she rested her arms over the top of the table, clasping her hands together, while she smiled indulgently at Adam. "So...I want you to tell me, in detail, _everything_ that happened tonight."

* * *

"Well...on a scale of one to ten...how screwed are we?" asked Yang, once Ren and Ruby had left Glynda's office.

"I'd say a twelve," said Ruby.

"Maybe a thirteen," amended Ren.

"We're going to have detention for the rest of the semester," added Ruby, earning pained groans from her audience.

"Frankly, we're lucky we weren't suspended," said Ren.

"If any of that Dust had gone off, we might have been expelled," added Ruby.

"At least the police aren't going to be pressing charges," added Ren.

"What would they be charging us with?" demanded Nora.

"Vigilantism," replied Ren. "It's a legitimate crime."

"Professor Ozpin managed to work out some stuff with them, under the table," said Ruby. "They get to take credit for all the White Fang grunts we took down."

"Well, that sucks," grumbled Yang.

"Probably for the best," said Jaune, earning him a nod of agreement from Weiss and Pyrrha.

"Looking back on it, it was a foolish course of action," Weiss admitted.

"Ah, well, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and all that..." said Yang, almost dismissively. "At least we got out in one piece...and we roped in a bunch of White Fang thugs in the bargain."

"Maybe the police will stop harassing innocent faunus over all this," mused Jaune.

"I doubt we'll be that lucky," groused Nora.

They could only hope. Only time would tell whether or not their actions had done any good. Sure, they'd saved a shipment of Dust from the White Fang, and taken a number of the organization's members into custody doing so. But the leaders of the operation, Adam and Ilia, had escaped. There was no telling how many more people the White Fang might be able to call on for future operations. For all they knew, this might be a bump in the road. On top of that, it was only _one_ shipment of Dust that had been saved. There was still that mysterious raider in the ocean, taking down the SDC's ships. Even if other loads made it into Vale, odds were good that the White Fang would go after them too. And, on those occasions, it was all but impossible that RASP and RYNB would be in a position to do anything about them.

Even the potential silver lining of the police having actual White Fang prisoners to charge, instead of innocent faunus, was a fleeting one. Now that there was full, concrete evidence that the White Fang was the group behind the Dust thefts, more suspicion was likely to fall upon the faunus as a whole. It was all too likely that the police would start investigating regular, uninvolved faunus even _more_ intrusively than before. That kind of ill treatment was likely to drive more faunus into the White Fang, promising them an outlet for all the frustration they felt at their persecution, setting off a cycle of worsening relations.

So...it was unlikely that things would get all that much better. At best, the White Fang had probably been dealt a serious setback by the events of this night. But a setback was the most it would be. The actual problem had not been dealt with, and Ruby got the feeling that there was very little any of them could actually do about it. The adults appeared keen to keep these issues to themselves.

Although...maybe they had already earned a little slack. As harsh as it seemed, Glynda's pronouncement of detention for the remainder of the semester was more lenient than it first appeared. Semester finals were coming up the week after next, which meant, overall, that their time in detention would be less time that CRDL spent in suspension for their stunt with Jaune and his locker.

Distracted as they were by the aftermath of their little excursion, and Glynda's lecture about their behavior, it took Ruby and Ren a little extra time to notice that their group was one member short. "Where's Blake?" asked Ren.

"Uh...Professor Ozpin called her to his office," said Yang, looking nervous at the prospect.

Ruby and Ren shared an uneasy glance, worried about what Ozpin would want to talk to Blake about. Given what they had learned about her and her history, it probably wasn't good.

* * *

"And so...tell me about your plan of action for this past evening, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin simply.

Blake swallowed, feeling unnerved. After welcoming her into his office, instructing her to take a seat, and even pouring a cup of tea for her (the presence of coffee in Ozpin's mug, and the out-of-place look of the tea-set on his desk, indicating that this was a specific accommodation to her tastes), this was the very first thing he'd asked of her.

"I...What...?" Blake was caught, unsure of what to do. Part of her instinctively wanted to divert, to try and pass this all off as a mere coincidence that had spiraled out of control. However, another, more rational part of her reminded her that the teachers already known that this had been a deliberate action on the parts of RASP and RYNB

"Let us not mince words, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin. "We know that you were looking to intercept and head off a Dust theft. What I wish to know is how you had planned going about doing it, and how those plans wound up lining up with reality."

Blake found herself staring in shock at the Headmaster. The last thing she'd expected, when she'd been called up here, was a debriefing, the kind of thing she'd expect after an _actual_ mission. It also stood to reason that the next logical question was "Why her?" After all, this plan had been something developed mainly by Weiss and Ruby. Blake had been the impetus behind it, with her-

And, with that realization, the bottom dropped out of her stomach, and Blake knew exactly _why_ Ozpin had called her here, instead of Ruby or Weiss, or both their teams.

"I see you are beginning to understand the _real_ reason you are here, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin. "We will get to that in a moment. However, be assured that your present status at Beacon is under no threat. Let us start from the top. Tell me how this night was supposed to go, and how it did or did not work out the way you expected."

Reluctantly, Blake nodded, and began to tell Ozpin what they had come up with. She explained their plan for monitoring the Dust deliveries, to try and figure out where the White Fang might strike. She then described how they'd been caught by surprise when the White Fang instead launched a strike to steal the Dust shipment in its entirety, right from the docks. From there, the story devolved into a brief recounting to of the battle. Blake only had the broad strokes version of Ruby's end of the fight, but had more details concerning the part that had involved her, Sun, and Penny.

Ozpin's expression as she wrapped up her story was a pensive one. It wasn't stern or disapproving, not at all like the look that Glynda had given them the moment she'd stepped off the bullhead at the docks.

"Interesting," he said finally. "I must admit, for a rather ad-hoc operation, it was fairly well-planned out. True, there is definitely room for improvement, and a great many things that need to be considered, if you ever intend to run future operations like this; but this is most definitely well above what I would expect from two teams of first-year students."

"'If' we intend to run another operation?" Blake's ears perked up from beneath their bow, scarcely able to comprehend Ozpin's choice of words.

"Perhaps I should say, 'when'," Ozpin replied with a smile that was both knowing and amused. "I have the distinct feeling that, despite Glynda's remonstrations, you are not all that interested in simply standing aside and leaving things to the authorities."

"Probably not," admitted Blake. "Especially if the authorities are more interested in going after innocents, like Velvet, than doing any _actual_ investigations."

"A sentiment I share," said Ozpin. "But this is not an easy matter. The police, the military, and the Huntsmen are all meant to hold their distinct roles. In an ideal world; the military handles external threats, be it bandits or other Kingdoms; the police see to the maintaining of law and order within the Kingdoms and settlements; while Huntsmen deal with the Grimm. Of course, as a student-Huntress yourself, you understand well enough that those boundaries are not so distinct and impassible."

Blake nodded slowly.

"Truth be told, the police were quite irate about what happened tonight," said Ozpin. "I received quite the complaint about how they should be informed of such potential crimes, instead of Huntsmen, student or otherwise, conducting undisclosed operations right under their noses." Ozpin's expression hardened. "I chose to remind them that they had access to much of the same information you had, and yet they still chose to prioritize harassing innocent faunus, including one of my students, over following up such apparent leads." His smile returned. "Strangely...they had very little to say in response to that."

Blake found herself smiling as well. In a sense, that put the impetus of this operation on the police, and their own inaction, rather than on Blake and her friends.

"That being said, the law is the law, and it must be upheld to the best of our abilities," said Ozpin. "That counterpoint worked this time. Hopefully, the authorities will take my advice to heart, and try to be more discerning in their efforts, rather than taking frivolous actions simply for the sake of _looking_ like they are doing something. But this would not be the first time they ignored such an epiphany."

Blake nodded.

"Now then, to the real matter..." said Ozpin, his eyes narrowing at Blake. Abruptly, Blake felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, her ears stretching upwards, the tension in the air ratcheting up several brackets. "...the reason I called you here, instead of your leaders, or both your teams in their entirety."

Blake swallowed, a lump forming in her throat that threatened to cut off her voice entirely.

"Do you still choose to hide the truth about yourself?" asked Ozpin.

"I...I don't know," said Blake, barely even surprised by the fact that Ozpin knew she was a faunus. It wasn't all that surprising that he'd realized it. "I told my friends. But I don't know if I can really be open about it."

"And is fear of persecution the _only_ reason you seek to remain in hiding?" pressed Ozpin.

The lump in Blake's throat grew, and she found herself having difficulty breathing. She knew exactly what Ozpin was getting at. It was a question that he clearly already had a good idea of the answer to.

"Is there anything else you would like to say about what happened?" pressed Ozpin.

_Why is he asking me like that?_ Blake wondered. Given what he knew, or thought he knew, why hadn't he pressed her directly? That was when she realized that there was a certain...lack...of pressure in Ozpin's gaze. Now she understood. He had asked her in this manner to give her an out. If she didn't want to tell him, she could say no, and would be speaking the unvarnished truth. For the sake of her comfort, he was letting her bring this to an end, rather than reveal a secret that she had worked so hard to keep hidden.

Closing her eyes, Blake thought of her talk with Sasame on the roof, those weeks ago. She thought about her team, their sister team, and how they had dealt with the truth about her. Ozpin had told her that her standing in Beacon was under no threat, while also implying that he knew the answer to his own question. She could be truthful, if she wanted, and she wasn't in danger of being thrown out of Beacon...

A sense of relief filled her heart. Taking a deep breath, Blake felt the lump in her throat dissolve, freeing her voice and her breath. "I...Before I came to Beacon, I had been a member of the White Fang."

Ozpin nodded, his smile returning. "Thank you for being frank with me, Ms. Belladonna. Your family name, of course, is not wholly unknown to me. I have held your father in high esteem for his commitment to nonviolence. Hearing that he had been ousted from his position came was an unpleasant revelation."

Blake felt the urge to scoff. However badly she felt about the way the White Fang was going now, she'd grown to feel more than a little scorn at her father's unwillingness to do what she and others had thought they needed to do, in order to affect real change. The more cynical portion of her also scoffed at the fact that it was a human saying this. Of course humans preferred the White Fang, when they were nonviolent. Humans preferred "animals" that were "tame", after all. Yet, at the same time, she could sense the sincerity behind Ozpin's words, the true respect she held for the views and actions of Blake's father.

Ozpin's smile took on a bit more of a teasing quality. "Of course, having said that, given that he is a rather prominent figure in the world-faunus community, it's rather understandable that we would have...ideas concerning your background, once we realized who you were related to."

Blake grunted.

"In the future, I would suggest a pseudonym."

Blake flushed in embarrassment. Now that she thought about it, her own cover might have been worse than Jaune's, when it came to lying about their pasts before entering Beacon.

"So, now that that is in the open, I suppose the next part of this conversation should be about what comes next," said Ozpin.

Blake nodded.

"That having been said, this kind of conversation is one that should not take place just between the two of us," he continued. "Obviously, your friends and teammates are a part of this as well. So...it will not take place here and now. However, Ms. Belladonna, the next time you have...ideas...concerning taking action against the White Fang in the future, it is my hope you will bring them to me. You might be surprised to find that I might not simply refuse your ideas on the basis that you are mere students."

"So that means...?" Blake's eyes widened.

"It will be conditional," said Ozpin. "We shall wait and see first, if the police will use this as an opportunity to amend their approach to dealing with the problem. Of that...I cannot say I am wholly optimistic. But we shall see."

Blake nodded, amazed by the idea. The possibilities were dizzying. Of course, Ozpin had said it was conditional. But...if there was even a chance that she could do something, that she and her friends could do something, it was one worth taking.

"Of course, needless to say, your hands shall be tied for the remainder of the semester," continued Ozpin, showing subtle amusement at her grunt and abrupt flinch, "Glynda has seen to that. Do try to be on your best behavior from now on. Glynda's assessment of your maturity is a factor that I will be weighing, when it comes to whether or not you and your friends get to participate in any future 'operations'."

"Yes, Professor," said Blake.

"You are dismissed, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin.

Blake left. Once the elevator door closed behind her, Ozpin leaned back in his seat. Tapping the top of his desk, he activated its built-in projector, an image appearing in the air above it. It was a familiar picture, showcasing a quartet of people, former students of his. Ozpin's gaze went to one figure in particular, that of a young woman, most of her body hidden by the folds of the white cloak she wore. However, from beneath her hood was a youthful face, all too familiar in appearance; black hair, fading to red at the tips; and striking, silver eyes.

"For better or worse, your daughter is treading the same path you have," said Ozpin softly, fixating on the young woman's features. "I will do my best to ensure she does not meet your fate. I know you would probably not like this. But she has too much of you in her. I will do the best I can for her...Summer."

* * *

**Neo saves the day...for the bad guys, anyway. Even in canon, she always seems to be carrying the team. And so we reach the end of the Volume 1 set of events. Things have been changed around considerably, and now it's time to see what the overall fallout of that is.**


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52:**

"Are you okay, Blake?" asked Yang, the second Blake entered their room.

"I'm fine," said Blake, giving her friends a tired smile, not all that surprised to see that her team and RASP had been waiting up for her.

"What did Ozpin want to talk about?" asked Nora.

"He wanted to hear more details about what happened," explained Blake. "He wanted to know what our plan had been, how what happened did or didn't line up with what were expecting...it was almost like a debriefing really."

"That's it?" asked Ren.

"Well...I think he knew..." said Blake, "...that I was White Fang, that is. I told him I was, and he seemed all right with it."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Blake smiled and continued. "And, from the sound of things, he doesn't feel that we were wrong to act, but he wants us to come to him in the future, if we want to try planning something like that."

"That's...unexpectedly lenient of him," said Weiss.

"We've still got detention though," Jaune pointed out.

"I guess Ozpin gets to be the easygoing one and Goodwitch is the hardass," said Yang, drawing an irate look from Weiss. "What?"

"I hope you don't repeat that where it might make it back to her ears," was all that Weiss had to say.

"But the good news is that Ozpin gave us an option to continue," said Ruby.

"It probably is a good idea," said Blake. "Since Adam and Ilia got away, they're sure to be back. I know we haven't seen the last of the White Fang."

"And the girl that helped them get out was working for Torchwick," said Ruby, remembering Adam's words.

"But Torchwick's in prison," Pyrrha pointed out.

"But it doesn't mean that he doesn't have people outside the prison," said Ren. "Someone like him is bound to have cohorts."

Ruby nodded, remembering the group of oddly-dressed men she had brought down, along with Roman himself.

"But why would they work with the White Fang?" Blake wondered. "The White Fang I knew, even at their worst, wouldn't lower themselves to consorting with...someone they consider human scum."

Shrugs were the only response anyone could muster. The more they pondered the situation, the stranger it seemed, and the more disturbing. The White Fang had stolen plenty of Dust, as had the mysterious sea raider targeting the SDC's ships. Where all that Dust was going, what it was being used for, were also driving questions that needed to be answered. Were the pirates and the White Fang operating independently of each other, with the latter capitalizing on opportunities created by the former, or was there collusion in that arena as well?

In the end, there wasn't much point in worrying over it right now. They weren't going to be in any position to follow up leads until the semester was over anyway. Besides, Ruby had something else she wanted to ask about. "Blake...?"

"Yes?" Blake looked at Ruby inquisitively.

"I saw..." Ruby swallowed, a queasy feeling rising in her stomach at the memory of it. "...I broke Adam's mask...I saw his face."

"Oh..." Blake went pale.

"Wait! What's this about this Adam-guy's face?" asked Nora.

"He was branded," said Ruby, "by the SDC."

"_What_?!" exclaimed Weiss, clenching her fists. "Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure," said Jaune, remembering the mark himself. "Blocky font...all capitals...SDC...And right over his left eye too."

Weiss' expression fell, and her entire body sagged.

"Do you know how he got that?" asked Ruby, looking at Blake.

Blake shook her head. "He never gave me the specifics of how he'd been marked. All he said was that it was a classic example of how the humans oppressed faunus like us."

"Was he a slave or something?" wondered Nora.

"Impossible!" scoffed Weiss.

"You sure, Ice Queen?" asked Yang. "I've heard some pretty creepy things about how your family's company does business."

"First off," protested Weiss, "if you're going to brand slaves, you certainly wouldn't brand them _there_. The entire point of having slaves is for them to be useful. Branding one across one of his eyes would _definitely_ impair his usefulness. So a brand on the chest or back would be a better choice.

"Secondly, I'll admit that, while Atlas is not the most...progressive...of Kingdoms, when it comes to the issue of faunus rights, slavery is still outlawed there. Not even my father would dare defy the law on that front."

Blake frowned sourly, refraining from pointing out some of the myriad ways "slavery" could be practiced without being officially recognized as such, many of which the SDC definitely _did_ practice.

"That being said, given what you've described..." Weiss frowned. "...It's probably a thief's brand."

"A thief's brand?" gasped Pyrrha.

"It's illegal," said Weiss, sounding disgusted herself, to her credit, "but the kind of thing that's more easily overlooked than outright slavery. If a faunus is caught stealing something, usually Dust, sometimes, whoever caught him will use the brand to mark him as a thief...and to make him an example to others who might be planning the same thing."

"That's awful!" whispered Ruby.

Weiss nodded. "It's absolutely atrocious, but something that Father would have an easier time turning a blind eye to."

"It wouldn't surprise me," said Blake softly. "It sounds like something that might have happened to Adam in his past."

"No wonder he has so much hate," Ruby said softly.

Blake swallowed and nodded. "But that doesn't make what he's doing now right. We have to stop him."

"We will...if we can," said Yang, resting a hand on her partner's arm. "But we can't be going about this without a solid plan. We're kinda barred from this sorta thing for a while, so there's no point in worrying about it now."

Blake nodded reluctantly.

"My thoughts exactly," said Weiss, huffing and nodding her agreement. "Our semester finals are coming up after all...and these shenanigans have cut into our study-time considerably."

"Typical Weiss," said Nora, not bothering to stifle a laugh.

"Quiet you," huffed Weiss, a smile appearing on her face, despite her pithy response, the rest of her friends chortling as the tension drained from the room.

* * *

_"__A filthy thief, huh?" snarled the supervisor, the bulge of his stomach quivering with each step he took, while he paced around the bound boy before him._

_The young man had been forced to his knees. The clothes he wore were ragged and worn. His right eye sported a dark bruise, while his arms had been bound behind his back. The foreman took a look at the unkempt mop of red and black hair atop his head and, most prominently, the pair of curving horns that stretched up from it. His lips curled back in a disgusted sneer._

_"__So you think you can just waltz in and take whatever you want, huh?" growled the supervisor. "You mongrels seem to think that you're entitled to whatever you like, eh?"_

_"__Please! We can't afford it," protested the young faunus. "It was a mistake. I won't do it again."_

_The supervisor's face lit up in a sadistic leer. "No, you won't," he agreed. "We'll make damn sure of that, you little rat." He held out his right hand. One of the guards in the room pressed a metal rod into his palm. The man closed his hand around it, bringing the object up for the young faunus to see._

_At the far end of the metal rod from the handle was a flat, rectangular block. Holding it up allowed the boy to see the SDC logo standing out against the flat surface of the block. His gaze flicked up to the supervisor uncertainly. That uncertainty only seemed to make the man smile all the wider._

_A flick of his wrist caused the shaft of the rod to slide forward from the handle, revealing an opening, almost like a chute. The supervisor held out his left hand, and the guard on that side deposited a single red Dust crystal into it. Taking the crystal, the supervisor dropped it down the chute in the shaft of his device. Another flick of his wrist slid it back closed with a click. There was another click as his thumb pressed a button on the handle._

_A faint whine filled the air. After a few seconds, the letters of the logo, along with the lines that framed it from above and below, began to glow red, then orange, before beginning to take on a yellowish tint. Sweat began to break out across the boy's face as he felt the heat washing outwards from the device._

_"__And now..." declared the supervisor, "...it's time to make sure that everyone knows exactly who you tried to steal from...and what happens to idiots who try to take company property."_

_"__No!" shouted the boy, struggling against his bonds._

_"__Hold him still!" snapped the supervisor to his guards, who immediately moved to restrain the boy. "I know exactly where to mark him! Keep his head steady!"_

_"__No! Stop! Please!" The boy tried to thrash and beg in his captors' grip, but they held him tightly. Rough hands clamped down on his head, holding his face still, leaving the boy in the perfect position to watch as the superheated brand inched closer and closer._

_A sizzling hiss filled the air, but was quickly drowned out by an agonized scream. A second later, the air filled with the scent of scorched flesh._

_"__Toss that animal out!" snapped the supervisor. "If he lives, he'll get to be an example to the rest of his kind!"_

_Those were the last words the boy heard before he forsook his pain for the merciful darkness of unconsciousness..._

* * *

Adam's eyes opened. After another moment, he sat upright, his hand going to the left side of his face. He couldn't see the shadow of his hand over his left eye. Even though it opened and closed like normal, there was nothing his eye on that side could see. Instead...Adam felt. He could still feel that burn. There were times where the brand pained him, like the sensation of a bad sunburn on the left side of his face. It continued to persist, even years later, especially when he was reminded of its existence.

There wasn't any pain when he had his mask, though. It wasn't shame that drove Adam to wear his mask every waking moment. As far as he was concerned, the mask over his eyes was his _true_ face. Humanity had spent ages tormenting the faunus, calling them monsters. That being the case, Adam had decided to _become_ that monster. He would be a specter that inspired fear in the humans. They would dread him, just like they dreaded the Grimm his mask impersonated.

But then he had fought that girl, and she had struck through all his defenses, the first person to accomplish that in quite a while. She'd broken through his true face, and revealed what lay beneath it. His scar, his brand, was like an indicator of vulnerability. And that girl, that little red-cloaked brat, had exposed him. If it took him a hundred years, Adam would repay her for that humiliation.

A heated throb came from the scar once more, and Adam grimaced. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to recall the memory of the day he had repaid that pain.

* * *

_Adam Taurus stared down at the prone, flabby figure of the supervisor. All around him, the other members of the White Fang were picking up crates of Dust and hauling them out the doors, loading them onto waiting trucks. In just a few minutes, this entire place would be an empty shell. Then, once the charges were set, the SDC wouldn't even have the consolation of simply starting up the processing center again to try and recoup the loss from this night._

_"__Y-you damn animal!" snapped the supervisor, thrashing in pain from the wound Adam had cut into his shoulder. "You'll pay for this! The SDC doesn't forgive vermin like you stealing from us!"_

_"__Oh, I'm counting on it," said Adam, a sadistic grin appearing on his face. "I know all too well how you humans deal with us faunus. It's time for you to receive a taste of your own medicine."_

_"__You don't know anything!" retorted the supervisor. "You think you know pain? When we catch you, I'll give you a taste of pain you'll never forget!"_

_"__I haven't forgotten," said Adam, reaching up and taking off his mask. The revelation of his face, and the brand seared over his left eye, prompted a gasp from the supervisor._

_"__It's-y-you..." he stammered. "You're that mongrel brat who-who..."_

_Adam smirked, returning his mask to his face. "I was just a desperate child, wanting to get a little Dust to help keep my family's home warm against Mantle's cold. For that, I was irreversibly maimed, and the sight stolen from my left eye. As you promised, that pain has stayed with me this entire time."_

_His grin returning, Adam held out his right hand, one of his subordinates placing a familiar object into it, a branding iron, much like the one this selfsame supervisor had used on him back then. But the design was different. Instead of a rectangular plate, engraved with the SDC's logo, it was instead a flat disk, the raised engraving depicting the head of a lion, on a background of three parallel slashes, like claw-marks, the logo of the new and improved White Fang._

_The supervisor's eyes widened at the sight of the iron, and he began to squirm and writhe, his undulations scooting his body along the floor like the movements of a worm, as he struggled in a futile effort to get away. But his limbs lacked the strength to carry him far enough, fast enough, to get anywhere. Adam followed him at a sedate, easygoing pace, savoring the man's fear. In the meantime, he reached into his jacket pocket with his left hand, pulling out a red Dust-crystal, and depositing it into the fuel-shoot of his custom branding-iron._

_"__You needn't worry about remembering this pain," said Adam. "I'm much more merciful than you, in that respect. All that I will assure you...is that this pain...will be the _last_ thing you ever feel."_

_The faint, whining hum of the Dust-heater built into the brand filled the air. The supervisor's eyes bulged in their sockets as Adam raised the brand over his face, then drove it down. The man's scream dragged on, accompanied by the sizzling sound and smell of burning flesh. Finally, a long moment later, Adam raised the brand form the man's face. The supervisor was dead, the image of the White Fang's symbol burned into his face like a blackened stain._

_"__Set him up outside," Adam told one of his men. "Make sure he's far enough away that the explosives won't disturb him. We'll let the Schnees know just what fates their abuse and excess have earned them."_

* * *

A soft sigh escaped Adam, the burning sensation of the mark engraved on the flesh over his left eye cooling with the memory of the moment he had taken his revenge. He still had the branding iron. While he hadn't used it since, he still held onto it. After all, when the moment came, he fully planned to use it again. Someday soon, he would gladly send Jacques Schnee the head of one of his precious children, with the mark of the White Fang burned right into their face. Someday...he would leave Jacques' corpse with a brand of its own.

Still, that was "someday." And it would be a while before it came. They had much to do in the meantime. With a sigh, Adam got up, sitting up on his cot, his hand reaching out to pluck his mask, a spare to replace the one that girl had broken, from where it rested, on a table beside him. Slipping it onto his face, Adam stood up and pulled on his jacket, before heading out the door of his "bedroom."

It wasn't so much a room as it was a repurposed closet, set up adjacent to the office used to oversee the empty warehouse that the White Fang were currently using as their base of operations in Vale. They were set up to be ready to move at a moment's notice. What little possessions he had could be easily stowed away and carried out as he needed. Looking down from the window of the office, Adam could see things that wouldn't be so easily relocated.

Crates and containers of Dust were stacked in orderly rows, several masked members of the White Fang moving between them. With each successful heist, their stockpile grew, and Adam could scarcely wait for the moment he put all this stored destructive power to use.

The door to the office opened, then closed, with a pair of clicks. Having not turned on the light, Adam found himself looking into shadows, shadows that even his faunus night-vision had trouble penetrating. But there was a deeper blackness there, a blackness that formed around the image of a white mask, with a pair of curved horns projecting out from its forehead, indicating the identity of the person who approached him.

"What is it?" asked Adam.

"She's back," Ilia informed him. "She wants to speak with you."

Adam let out a derisive snort. "Of course she does."

It was galling that he, Adam Taurus, was the beck and call of a filthy human. But, at the moment, they had no other choice. He strode past Ilia, whose skin had turned pitch-black, heading out the door of the office and down the stairs that would take him to the warehouse floor.

He found the woman there. Cinder Fall smiled as she turned to face Adam. "Adam, I trust you've rested well."

"I never do," Adam replied. "What do you want now?"

Cinder's smile widened. "Come now, Adam. There is no need to be like this. This is a great moment for the White Fang. The day will soon come where you can strike a blow against those who've oppressed your people."

"Someday, _you_ will be on that list," Adam growled, glaring at the woman.

"You know well enough that I have nothing against the faunus," said Cinder, strutting forward. "I have great respect for your leadership, your strength, and your unwavering conviction. It's those very things that make you so useful to us. But us using you has nothing to do with your race. You and yours were merely the ones best suited for this task."

"That is no comfort to me," snarled Adam.

"Well, it's good that I did not care to comfort you," Cinder teased back. "As it is, I have come to address an issue that has cropped up, as a result of the recent debacle at the docks."

Adam hissed in anger. Of course she had to rub _that_ in again.

"Now now," said Cinder, raising a hand in a placating gesture, "there is no need to be so upset. Considering the...unique factors...in play, it's understandable that the result was unexpected. That is why I have not made any mention of punishment. But, what _cannot_ be overlooked is that the incident has left you with a sever deficiency in manpower."

"Our recruiters are taking care of that as we speak," said Adam.

"But are they doing well enough?" said Cinder. "I've seen how your organization's recruitment meetings work, Adam. If we had the better part of a year, you might be able to recoup your losses from Vale's faunus population with your current methods. But they are much too passive.

"Fortunately, I have an...associate...who can help. Much as it irritates me to acknowledge him, it cannot be denied that he has a substantial expertise in a number of diverse fields. I presented our conundrum to him, and he was able to come up with an...effective...way of increasing the yield of your recruitment drives."

"Oh...?" Adam raised a skeptical eyebrow.

Cinder pulled out her scroll. With a few taps, she transferred a file stored on it to Adam's scroll, which chimed upon receiving those files. Pulling out his scroll, Adam opened it up into its tablet-mode, allowing him to review the file. Behind the slits of his mask, his eyes widened. "This is..."

"If you follow the good Doctor's directions, I can assure you that you will have quite a few faunus willing to join your cause," Cinder assured him. "This should be suitable for rebuilding your force much more quickly."

Adam reviewed the file in more detail, ignoring Cinder for the moment. Then he closed down his scroll and pocketed it. "We'll just have to see if it works as well as you promise. I will begin coaching our recruitment officers immediately."

"I look forward to the results," Cinder cooed.

* * *

Ashley came to a stop. For a moment, she watched Chrys' back as he walked a little farther down the alleyway, moving towards the entrance to an unused warehouse. There, she could see a small line of people filing in past a guard.

"Ashley?" Her employer turned around to regard her with a confused look.

"I...I'm not sure about this," said Ashley, looking down, grinding the sole of her shoe against the pavement. "I really don't think this is for me."

Chrysanthos Floris smiled, his blonde hair swaying in the wind as he walked towards her, then rested his hands on her shoulders. "I understand that you're nervous," he said. "Trust me, this is just an...information session. They're mostly going to talk about their goals and answer questions. You don't have to sign up, if you don't want to."

"But...what about the news?" asked Ashley.

Chrys frowned. "The news can get distorted," he said. "That said, if the White Fang need Dust, this might be the only way they can get it."

"But what for?" asked Ashley. "I've heard they're actually _attacking_ people. I don't want to be a part of something like that."

Chrys sighed and lowered his head. "Listen, Ashley, don't let the stories of a few bad examples color your views as a whole. The White Fang does a tremendous amount of good for us."

"How?" asked Ashley.

Her employer's smile took on a wry quality. "Do you ever find it odd...that a faunus like me was able to open up a shop in one of the most prime locations of Vale's commercial district?"

Ashley blinked, staring up at Chrys for a moment. Now that he mentioned it, it _was_ more than a little unusual that the landlord of such a location would be willing to have a faunus tenant.

"When I was first looking to open up shop," began Chrys, "it was only natural that I look for the most prime locations for business. My shop is a niche one, since I specialize in flowers, particularly the yellow kind. That kind of specialized business wouldn't do well in the Faunus Quarter. It's not as though I'm someone who can generate universal appeal, the way Bruno does."

Ashley nodded in agreement.

Chrys released her shoulders and turned away from her for a minute. "I checked and applied at almost a dozen different locations. And at every one of them, the results were similar. Either I was outright denied, or the landlord abruptly increased the cost of the lease, sometimes to several times the amount originally offered. Some of them tried to be subtle about it, coming up with various excuses about additional 'risk factors' that I brought along with me. But the _real_ reason was obvious.

"I filed complaints with the Council's Faunus-Relations Committee, but all I got were noncommittal answers, with nothing to show for my efforts."

Ashley nodded. Chrys wasn't the first person she'd heard complain about the Faunus-Relations Committee. The committee was notorious amongst Vale's faunus as nothing more than a publicity stunt, created by the Council to make it _look_ like they were taking bettering the lot of Vale's faunus citizens seriously.

Chrys snorted. "It was around that time that I came to my first rally," he said. "While I was there, I interviewed with a recruiter, and explained my problem to him. I was sure that he was doing nothing more than gathering information for talking points, another example of how humans were oppressing us and so on. However, he said he'd take my case to someone and see if there was something they could do for me. I hadn't even joined yet.

"About three days later, I got a call from one of my prospective landlords. He explained that there had been a sudden change...a re-evaluation of sorts...and that I could lease the space in his building for _half_ his original asking price...and that he would cover utility costs for my first year."

Ashley's jaw dropped, making Chrys chuckle.

"I joined up the very next day," he finished. "There's more to the White Fang than what you just see and hear on the news. They _are_ fighting for us faunus, for our rights and dignity. The way they fight can appear different, depending on the kind of battle being fought, but they're still fighting for people like us. I wanted you to be able to see that for yourself."

Ashley shifted uncertainly. She had to admit that Chrys' story certainly made the organization sound more appealing.

"I'm not the only one," Chrys continued. "You know Tukson, right?"

Ashley nodded hesitantly. She wasn't a huge reader, but had visited the man's bookshop occasionally, and even gotten her school textbooks from him. Now that she thought about it, it occurred to her that he too was set up in an area that would have normally been difficult for a faunus to open an establishment.

"His story is basically the same as mine," said Chrys. "We owe our success, what we've accomplished thus far, to the White Fang and the opportunities they afforded us. You may not think you need that kind of support right now, but you never know where your life might take you, so there is always the risk that you'll find yourself in a place where discrimination keeps you from doing what you've set out to do in life. At the very least, I want you to see what the White Fang is about for yourself."

"A-all right," said Ashley, still feeling hesitant.

Her hesitation was understandable. After all, not even her parents knew what she was _really_ doing this evening. They were under the impression that Chrys had called her in for a late-night shift to re-organize his store. She couldn't imagine what they would say if they knew her employer had actually called her over to take her to a clandestine meeting with a group that the media often referred to as a terrorist organization. As it was, she couldn't imagine what her classmates would say either, some very unflattering things to be sure.

But Chrys had been calmly adamant that she see for herself what the White Fang was about. While he never got overbearing about it, he continued to gently press and pester her about it. Even this "shift" she was working had been cover that they'd worked out beforehand. Chrys was even paying her for the hours she would be at the meeting, so Ashley certainly couldn't complain about that.

So she and Chrys continued on, heading for the door. There, the doorman inspected them briefly, before admitting them, handing them each something that made Ashley tense nervously. It was a simple white mask, meant to rest above the nose and cover the eyes. It was a white color, reminding her of pictures and illustrations she'd seen of the Creatures of Grimm.

She looked over at Chrys for an explanation, only to find that he too was staring at the mask, somewhat nervously. "Is this...normal?" she asked.

"It's...new," said Chrys warily, a frown appearing on his face. "I know that members of the Vale Branch have been wearing these lately, but I thought it was the ones who were in on militant actions who were wearing these. They aren't supposed to just hand them out to new recruits or prospectives."

Ashley swallowed, feeling an uncomfortable lump rise in her throat.

Chrys gave her an encouraging smile, thought it was beginning to waver. "I'm sure it's nothing more than a new wrinkle. Don't worry too much about it. If you're not into this, you can just hand it back in when the meeting's over."

"R-right," said Ashley.

Reluctantly, they slipped the masks on their faces and moved forward with the other arrivals, filing inside the warehouse, where they found themselves assembling in a crowd. A makeshift stage had been set up at one end, with everyone gathering in front of it. The new arrivals were bunched together in the rightmost section, standing out by virtue of their varied clothes and the simple masks they were all wearing. The left half of the floor was occupied by those who were clearly active members, made all the more apparent by their slightly larger, more-ornate masks, covering a larger section of their faces than the ones the new arrivals wore. They were all also dressed in the same uniform; sleeveless white shirts, and black pants. They stood in orderly rows, arms folded behind their back in military discipline, a stark contrast to the disorganized mob presented by those who were only just _thinking_ about joining.

Low muttering filled the warehouse, all of it provided by the new and prospective recruits, like Ashley herself. Looking to Chrys, she couldn't help but notice how tense his posture was. There was something going on here, something he didn't understand. Clearly, this wasn't the kind of meeting he had been expecting.

"What do they usually do at meetings like this?" she asked.

"Normally, someone presents a short speech," said Chrys. "They call up volunteers to share their experiences. A few others come up to explain how the White Fang has helped them. After that, we're supposed to mingle. We can talk to the recruiters, ask more questions, get more details, that sort of thing."

"And the soldier-types?" asked Ashley.

"They aren't usually assembled together like this, and not so many of them," said Chrys warily. "Usually, there's only a small complement for security."

Ashley found herself feeling more nervous with each passing minute.

Finally, the lights dimmed, a silent signal that the time for chatter had passed. The mutterings died down, and everyone's attention became focused upon the stage. A man mounted the steps and began to walk across it towards the center. He wore something similar to uniform worn by the other soldiers, but he was definitely somebody a good bit more important. His sleeveless shit looked more substantial, with a high collar rising around his neck, and formidable looking metal armguards covering his forearms and the backs of his hands.

"Welcome, brothers and sisters," said the man, stretching his thickly-muscled arms to either side. His voice was distorted, mainly because, unlike the other soldiers, his Grimm-mask was much more elaborate, covering the entirety of his face, designs in blood-red spiraling down past both the eye-slits and down to where it came to a point, just past his chin. "Thank you for coming to join us this evening. I am certain that the decision to become a part of our battle for the sake of our people is not one you've made lightly."

"Decision?" hissed Ashley, looking at Chrys, aghast.

To his credit, Chrys looked utterly baffled. "This isn't right," he muttered. "Why is he talking like everyone's already joined?"

He wasn't the only one discomfited by the strange approach utilized by the man on the stage.

"Just know that, by dedicating yourself to our cause, you are fighting for the wellbeing of faunus across the whole of Remnant," continued the man. "Our cause is greater than any single injustice, mightier than any one Kingdom. All across this world, our people are suffering under the yoke of human oppression. Because of that, we of the White Fang must take it upon ourselves to stand up and _fight_!"

The soldiers on the left side of the floor raised a hearty cheer, at least a few voices from the new and prospective recruits on the right echoing them.

The soldier on the stage continued to speak. "Tonight, you will learn more about the cause to which you will be dedicating yourselves. Your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated. After last week's...disruption...we have been in dire need of assistance, and you will all have an important role to play."

_Disruption?_ Ashley's eyes widened as she wracked her mind for what had happened. Then she remembered a news story about the police cracking down on a White Fang attempt to raid a massive SDC Dust shipment, arresting a number of members. _Are they trying to make up for the openings in their roster?_ she wondered.

"Now then, let's begin by giving you a taste of what we are fighting against," continued the man on stage.

From there, the meeting began to go the way Chrys had explained it would. Various volunteers from the ranks of the soldiers on the left side of the room came up onto stage. One man, sporting a pair of dog-ears, explained why his left ear looked so badly tattered, explaining how he had been jumped by a pair of thugs, one of whom had taken a knife to his ear with the intent of cutting it off, and how he had been detained and imprisoned by the police for his effort to defend himself, without his ear ever being properly treated. He then explained how the White Fang, after hearing his story, had tracked down the thugs in question...and promptly cut off _their_ ears in return.

A woman came up, explaining how she had been beaten and raped by a human she had known. But, when she went to the police to report him, they had done nothing, even ridiculed her in the most disgusting fashion. The White Fang had helped her by paying a visit to the man...and castrating him.

More and more volunteers filed up onto the stage to give their stories. Said stories were bloody and unsettling. Ashley heard about beatings, about people being mauled and maimed. Volunteers talked about the organization wreaking a bloody retribution for the wrongs done to them. Glancing sidelong at her employer, Ashley could see that Chrys was definitely uneasy.

"Are the stories normally this graphic?" she asked.

Chrys shook his head slowly. "No," he said.

"This is the first time it's been like this?" she pressed.

Chrys nodded. "I haven't..." he gulped, pausing as another graphic story, replete with descriptions of gore and human savagery washed over them. "...haven't been to one of these meetings in a while. This change can't have come all that long ago, though."

Ashley shuddered and turned her attention back onto the stage.

The stories continued. As they did, the mood in the room was beginning to turn. Everyone felt a surge of anger and indignation at the relation of every injustice. That anger was turned into a cathartic euphoria as the speech segued into the part where the White Fang paid the aggressors back for their actions. Gradually, the audience began to grow more and more involved, shouting angrily, then cheering. Back and forth the mood swayed. Gradually, Ashley began to feel herself being swept up in it. Hearing the stories of attacks, of rapes, of beatings, of bloody mutilations; they all brought up reminders of her own encounter in that alley. There was no telling what those thugs might have done to her had Ruby not-

And, just like that, Ashley felt as though she'd been doused by a bucket of cold water. The anger and fear surging through her was washed away. She remembered a pair of kind and friendly silver eyes, a gentle touch that had erased the pain of the beating she'd been subjected to. She remembered Ruby's smile, her laughter, their friendship. She'd been attacked on the basis of her race; but Ruby, a human, had stood up for her, protected her. Ruby Rose was a Huntress, someone who shouldn't have even bothered with a civilian like Ashley. Yet she had reached out, and now Ashley found herself closer to Ruby, a human, than she was to most of the faunus friends she knew.

One of the electives Ashley was taking at her school was Public Speech and Debate. Multiple classes were spent going over how public speakers could moderate their speech in everything from volume and tone, to their very body language. Looking at the current speaker on stage, Ashley began to see him, and the ones that had come before him, with fresh eyes.

These weren't shy, nervous volunteers, uneasily recounting traumatic experiences. Each one spoke with incredible passion, never hesitating or stuttering. One moment, they would be speaking _just_ loud enough to ensure their words were heard by everyone in the audience. Then, when their narrative got to the critical moment, that speaking-voice became an impassioned shout, accompanied by the appropriate gestures, a raised fist pumped in the air, a bold step forward. These people knew _how_ to say what they were saying, how to make their words have an impact. It was possible that most, if not all, of these stories were completely true. But the speakers had clearly been coached on _how_ to tell them.

And it was working. People were becoming engrossed. The more horrific or grotesque the atrocity committed by the humans, the more that revulsion turned to euphoria when the speaker talked about how the White Fang struck back. And the speakers kept on coming. Some stories lasted just a few minutes, others half an hour or more. Ashley was beginning to lose track of time. Worse, she was getting tired. As she did, she found it harder and harder to keep from being swept up in the fervor of the speakers and their passion. To keep her head on straight, she focused on dissecting their storytelling, silently picking apart what words and actions were consciously chosen to sway the crowd. In between those times, she kept tabs on the people around her to see how they were doing.

She wasn't the only one getting tired. Everyone had been standing in place for the better part of three hours now. There had been no breaks, whether for refreshment or simply to take a few minutes sitting down to rest. To Ashley, it seemed like they were getting more and more drawn into the stories, using the narratives to take their minds off their exhaustion. As a result, their enthusiasm was growing.

Finally, just when Ashley was beginning to think she could stand no more, the latest volunteer left the stage. The man with the full-face mask came back on. "Thank you all for listening to these tales. As you can see, there is no limit to humans' capacity for aggression. Even after the Revolution, when we were supposed to have obtained equality, have things actually changed?"

"NO!" shouted someone from within the crowd.

"That's right!" shouted the man, pumping his fist in the air. "Not so long ago, we, the brothers and sisters of the White Fang, strove to peacefully work with the humans to bring about that ideal of equality that so many before us sacrificed their lives for. Those brave souls fought and died, laying down their lives to save us from being penned like animals! The fact that any are able to dwell in this Kingdom at all is due to their mighty spirit.

"But the humans do not appreciate that! Instead of admitting their defeat, instead of accepting what is _right_, they choose to stew in resentment and anger, sore losers to the bitter end. They rejected our attempts to make peaceful resolutions. So we chose to speak to those savages through the only language they seem to understand, the language of _blood_!"

A ragged cheer rose through the warehouse.

"Now that you understand what we are fighting against, what is at stake, if you have the courage to stand with your fellow faunus, become brothers and sisters of the White Fang. If the humans cannot be swayed by reason, then we will deal with them through _force_. Rise up!"

A louder cheer swept through the room.

"All you new recruits, come forward and give your names to the officers at the foot of the stage," instructed the man in charge. "With your help, we will step forward and make great strides into the future."

The crowd began to move. Ashley found people walking around her. She stumbled as someone pushed her aside in their eagerness to get to the front. Ashley's stumble sent her bumping into Chrys, who managed to keep her from falling over.

"Are you all right?" asked Chrys, steadying her. Looking up, Ashley could tell that he was a bit dazed, apparently just as tired from the long hours of continuous standing as her.

"No," said Ashley. "this isn't what you'd said it would be at all. Let's get out of here. I just want to go home."

"I...I understand," said Chrys, his expression falling. He directed one last uneasy look around. "I don't get why they're doing it, but this wasn't at all what it was like for me."

"L-let's just get out," said Ashley, sweating, both from nerves and from spending so long packed into a confined space with so many bodies.

"Right," said Chrys, a sense of fresh unease welling up within him.

The only instruction they'd been given was to move to the foot of the stage in order to sign up with the White Fang. But no one had said anything about what to do if they didn't feel it was for them. What was more, now that he was looking around, Chrys noticed something else. The soldiers who'd been occupying the left section of the floor in orderly rows had moved. They now stood around the perimeter of the room, with at least two standing beside every door. Only one door stood open, and it was the one that the newly-signed-up recruits were being directed out through.

Being taller than Ashley, Chrys had a better vantage point, allowing him to see that he and Ashley weren't the only ones who'd avoided being drawn in by the impassioned, but mind-numbing, presentation. He spotted one other faunus, a boy a couple years older than Ashley, sporting a colorful frill that folded flush against his neck. The boy made his way to one of the closed doors to address the soldiers there. Carefully, Chrys took Ashley by the shoulder, steering them both in the direction of the boy, hoping that this would be their way out of this.

As they approached, he was able to pick up what the boy was saying. "So...this really isn't for me. You mind if I head on out."

The soldier on one side of the door stared at the boy. With the mask on his face, it was hard to piece together his expression. But the hard set of his mouth was not an encouraging sign. "All new recruits need to go to the front of the stage and give their names."

"Yeah, but I don't want to join," the boy replied. "I mean, i-it sounds like you're all fighting the good fight here, but this just doesn't seem like my thing. I thought this was just an informational meeting anyway."

That didn't sway the soldier out all. In fact, his hand drifted towards the butt of the pistol holstered at his waist. "All new recruits must report to the front of the room. Now, go."

The young man backed off, hands raised warily. "Okay okay! I'm heading up."

Chrys swallowed, and Ashley shivered, pressing herself up against him nervously. "I'm _really_ not liking this," she said.

"Me neither," said Chrys. He looked at the open door past the recruiters. "Maybe we can just go past them without signing up. They probably just want everyone to use the same exit."

Ashley swallowed, not thinking that was the most likely possibility. Still, it looked as though there was no other way to get out of here. She and Chrys decided to fall in behind the the young man they'd been watching earlier, to see if he tried doing exactly that.

Sure enough, when the young man reached the front of the line, he grinned nervously at the recruiter before him.

"Provide your name and contact information," said the recruiter.

"Y-yeah...about that," said the young man, rubbing the back of his head uneasily. "I don't feel that this is for me, so I'll just be passing by."

He moved to step past the recruiter, only to stop when the recruiter held out a hand to block him.

"There is no need for you to be worried about giving your name," said the recruiter. "All your information will be kept within the organization."

"Y-yeah, but I don't want to be in the organization," replied the young man.

The recruiter looked at him with an intensity that could be felt, even through the obscuring slits of that mask. "Are you saying that, after everything you've heard, you aren't impassioned by the plight faced by our brothers and sisters?"

"That's not it," protested the boy, growing more nervous. "But fighting isn't my thing. It sounds like I'd just weigh you guys down, so it's probably best if I just take my leave."

"Do you not wish to make the world a better place for your fellow faunus?" pressed the recruiter.

"Um...sure, but-"

"Then you should feel no unease about giving your name, brother."

As the recruiter and the young man went back and forth, two more of the soldiers came to stand behind the recruiter, their imposing appearance, and the hands they rested on their holstered weapons adding to the pressure. At the same time, a few of the people in line behind Chrys and Ashley were beginning to grow irritated. Tired after spending hours standing and listening to speakers drone on, while fired up with the passion those very same speakers had incited within them, they were impatient to get their turn to sign up for the White Fang.

"Are you a coward?" someone called out from behind Chrys, making him tense, his grip on Ashley's shoulder tightening.

"Looks like someone doesn't have the spine to do what's right," taunted another.

"H-hey now..." stammered the young man, throwing a nervous glance over his shoulder.

Ashley shivered, the feeling passing up into Chrys, through his hand on her shoulder. It was a feeling that he mirrored a fraction of a second later. Now they could see the forces at play. They weren't going to let anyone leave without first signing on. The young man, his resistance already weakened by the experience of standing through the constant tirades, found his resolve crumbling when faced by the recruiter, who refused to let him through, while the prospective recruits pushed him from behind with their anger.

After another minute of trying to talk his way through, the young man buckled and provided his name and information. The recruiter made him wait an extra minute, using his own scroll to check and make sure the contact information was valid. Only then did they let him through.

"C-Chrys," said Ashley, a tight whimper in her voice.

"It seems there's no other choice," Chrys told her. "Just give them the information and we'll get through this."

There were another two people ahead of them, before it was there turn. The recruiter looked up at the pair. "Are you two here together?" he asked.

"Yes," replied Chrys. "I am Chrysanthos Floris. I've already signed on. I was bringing this young lady here to learn more about our organization."

"I see," said the recruiter, a smile appearing on his lips, before his gaze turned to Ashley. "Thank you for your work, Brother Chrysanthos. What is your name, Miss."

"A-Ashley Forrest," said Ashley uneasily.

Next, she gave the recruiter her contact information. The recruiter gladly welcomed her into the White Fang, allowing the pair to move past and out the door. They stepped out into the street, where they returned their masks to the guards standing outside the doors. From there, they headed back the way they had come.

"Th-that isn't what you said it would be at all!" Ashley said frantically.

"That wasn't what it was like for me," said Chrys, frowning. "I don't like it either. Something must have happened to make them more forceful in bringing in recruits.

"But don't worry. There are different kinds of members. There are the ones like the soldiers, who participate actively. But there are the lower-level members, like us. Mostly we're just supposed to attend the rallies and spread the word. Oh...and we have to pay our dues."

"I didn't want to sign up to begin with!" protested Ashley. "And now you're saying I need to _pay_ for it?"

Chrys gave her a shaky smile. "Don't worry about it," he said. "This was my fault, so I'll pay your dues, this time. Hopefully, we can get in touch with someone and clear up this misunderstanding before the next set of dues is...well...due."

"Couldn't we just...not...pay my dues?" asked Ashley. "Then they'd just kick me out, right?"

Chrys frowned. "Given how they were pressuring people to sign up, I think they may not simply let you leave like that," he said.

"But you still think that this is just a 'misunderstanding' that can be cleared up?" Ashley retorted in a deadpan tone.

Chrys dipped his head, conceding the point.

"We just gave them my name and information," said Ashley, her body beginning to quake at the realization. "They have enough to find out where I live, where I go to school, all my information. What would they do with that if I tried to leave?"

Perhaps they would do nothing. But Ashley could see all different kinds of ways this could go badly. What if they decided to give her name to the authorities? She had just been signed up as a member of the White Fang, so that made her a criminal by association. _No...they wouldn't do that,_ Ashley thought, her pallor lightening further. _I've been to one of their hideouts, seen one of their rallies. If they gave me to the police, I could just give that info to the police myself._ That meant that, if they had any doubts about her loyalty, they were likely to take action to ensure she couldn't tell anyone about what she had seen and heard tonight.

"This was a terrible idea," Ashley whispered.

"Yes...it was," agreed Chrys, still feeling most unsettled by what they'd just experienced.

* * *

**Oh yeah...there was another reason for why Ashley's in this story.**

**Granted, I'm no expert in psychology, but I felt like this would be a passable effort at depicting certain kinds of mental manipulation. Adam has to get his people somehow, and Cinder knows a guy...**

**I also liked the idea of depicting different ways that the White Fang can "fight" for faunus rights. _RWBY_, being somewhat focused in perspective, is mainly concerned with the White Fang's more militant activities. Team RWBY and company go up against White Fang soldiers, representing the more militant elements of the organization. But there's also the White Fang of people like Tukson, who, for all we see, is a humble bookshop owner. Maybe that's not all there is to him, but it wouldn't surprise me if the White Fang had all kinds of members, with all kinds of roles.**

**And so, while the ones carrying out the Dust robberies and carrying out terrorist attacks are the ones we see the most of in the show itself, I figured that there would be other elements, like those who act to "persuade" corrupt human landlords to allow faunus to lease space in their buildings, among other things. It would go a ways towards giving the organization a certain mass appeal, especially to other faunus, especially the kind of actions the organization might use under Sienna, and why those would have more appeal than nonviolent approaches.**


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53:**

"Ashley?"

"Huh!?" Ashley jerked, sitting upright, forcing herself to remember that she wasn't alone.

"Are you okay?" asked Ruby, staring across the table at her friend. "You looked like you were miles away."

Ashley gave Ruby a shaky smile. "It's okay," she said. "It's fine. Just...you know...school troubles."

"Oh," said Ruby, her expression faltering slightly. "Yeah, I can sympathize."

"I still can't believe that _you_, of all people, got detention," Ashley pointed out, unable to keep a slight giggle from her tone.

"I don't wanna talk about it," grumbled Ruby petulantly, dropping her eyes to the mug of chai before her.

Ashley couldn't help but laugh at that. At times like this, Ruby actually acted her age, not like the more-mature personality she presented as a Huntress. It was refreshing, a reminder that even Huntresses were people. Of course, given how she was currently dressed, Ruby scarcely looked the part of a Huntress anyway.

At the moment, she was clad in a light-gray, one-piece, minidress, held up by a pair of thin straps over her shoulders, its skirt ending midway down her thighs. It was an outfit that had gotten Ruby more than a few appreciative looks on her way to Bruno's bakery from the air-docks. Only the sword, holstered on the back side of the broad belt Ruby wore, indicated who she really was.

"At least it's over," said Ashley. "Imagine having to spend your break on detention."

"Tell me about it," groused Ruby with a roll of her eyes.

Detention aside, the remainder of their semester had gone over rather well. RASP and RYNB had made use of their detention to study up for their classes (at Weiss' insistence), in order to get top marks on their exams, something they hoped would mollify Glynda. It appeared that they had succeeded. The semester finals had been a snap, with all eight members passing in the top percentile of their class.

On top of that, after a semester of evaluating their performance over the course of several matches, Glynda released the first-year students' official combat rankings, a highly-anticipated event. Once again, the results were gratifying, if a little embarrassing. Ruby and Pyrrha were both listed in the top spot, their undefeated records resulting in them tying for the Number-One position. Yang stood at second, right behind them, followed by Weiss. To their surprise, Dove Bronzewing took third-place. However, he was followed by Blake, Ren, and Nora.

Of the eight of them, only Jaune hadn't made it into the top ranks of the combat ratings. Unfortunately, he was still lingering in the bottom quarter of students, second-to-last in fact. The only student ranked lower than Jaune was Cardin Winchester, thanks to the two defeats Jaune had handed Cardin before. But that was to be expected. After all, having no formal training whatsoever meant that Jaune was _years_ behind the other students. And while he'd made up an incredible amount of ground over the course of the semester, he still lost far more often than he won, whenever it was his turn to fight a match. Still, with the encouragement of his friends, he continued to train diligently, and advance steadily. Hopefully, by the next time the rankings were announced, he would have gone up a few ranks.

Following their semester finals, there was a week-long break before the next semester of classes at Beacon began. During this time, many of the students returned home to spend time with their families. However, more than a few students remained at Beacon. Some, like Ren and Nora, lacked a home to return to. Others; like Weiss, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Blake; had issues that led to them to preferring to remain at Beacon, rather than engage with their families. They were joined by Yang, who hadn't even needed the terse message from Taiyang to know that she wasn't welcome back on Patch, for daring to side with Ruby against him.

Ruby, of course, was on wonderful terms with the people she considered her _real_ family. However, seeing as they lived on another continent, one that wasn't accessible to most modes of transportation used by the rest of the world, meant that, logistically speaking, popping over for a quick visit and returning in time to resume her classes just wasn't feasible.

And so, Ruby had opted to use her time on break to spend time with Ashley. The only downside was that their school breaks didn't line up exactly. Ashley's school would be in session for another week yet. All the same, having full days free meant that Ruby had time in the afternoon to come down into Vale and hang out with Ashley, after she got out of her school.

Today, Ruby had come on her own, but the day before, Jaune had come with her. Both Pyrrha and Weiss had declined accompanying them for the time being. Pyrrha was considering it, but still felt a little too self-conscious about her fame to risk Ashley getting caught up in all that. Weiss, naturally, was far too nervous at the prospect of entering into the heart of the Faunus Quarter, even if she did so in the company of a faunus friend.

Silently, Ashley thought it was a good thing that Weiss hadn't come yet. Considering what had just happened in her own life, the last thing Ashley wanted was for word to get around that she knew a Schnee, much less was on friendly terms with one.

In the time since the rally, Ashley had received word on upcoming meetings, to which she had been invited...in rather forceful terms. At this point, she had sent polite declinations, complaining of scheduling conflicts. So far, that appeared to be sufficient. Apparently, whoever was in charge of attendance at these things was too busy to deal with a single new recruit. But Ashley worried that she couldn't keep avoiding their meetings forever.

However, she decided to set that aside and focus on her friend. "What did you end up in detention for anyway?" she asked.

Ruby blushed. "Well...we're not supposed to talk about it." Her eyes drifted down and to the side. "We...um...got into a little trouble with the law."

"What?" blurted Ashley. "Were you arrested?"

"No!" said Ruby quickly. "We just stepped on some toes." Then she narrowed her eyes and glared out the window. "The cops are a bunch'a jerks anyway."

"Well...I can't argue with that?" asked Ashley. She'd heard a few stories about the police detaining innocent faunus, then grilling them for hours over perceived violations, apparently hoping to goad them into admitting some kind of connection to the White Fang. While she hadn't been through anything like that herself, she had been stopped by officers on her walks to and from school on a couple of occasions, the officers asking pointed questions about who she was and where she was going, before asking to see her student ID to confirm she was a student of the school she claimed to be from. Ashley had certainly never seen them stopping _humans_ to answer those questions.

"Now I _have_ to know what happened," said Ashley. "Come on! Spill!"

Ruby hemmed and hawed for a few moments, before letting out a sigh. "Well...all right. But you can't tell anyone else. Seriously! Like, I could get in real trouble if people found out I told you."

"I won't say a word," said Ashley.

Ruby told Ashley about what she and her friends had done, shortly before the end of the semester. She explained about how Velvet being accosted by the police, how it had inspired them to take action on the matter, and how they'd come up with a plan to counter the next White Fang heist. Following that, she described the battle at the docks, and her fight with Adam. For the time being, Ruby omitted details about Blake being a faunus or a former-member of the White Fang. However, she told as much as she could about everything else.

Ashley listened, riveted by the story. Her eyes grew wider with each passing sentence Ruby spoke, trying to process what she was hearing. _Ruby fought the White Fang-No!-Ruby fought _Adam Taurus_...and won!_ On one level, that was amazing. Ashley had only just been inducted, reluctantly, into the White Fang, so it was only natural that she hadn't even seen Adam Taurus yet. However, there probably wasn't a faunus in the Kingdom who hadn't at least heard of him.

Some saw him as a valiant warrior, fighting injustice and giving the humans a taste of their own medicine. Others saw him as a deranged psychopath, who merely used the White Fang's mission as a pretext to indulge in his bloodlust. From what Ruby was saying, Ashley was beginning to lean towards the latter. The one thing that nearly everyone, Ruby included, agreed on was that Adam was _strong_. Given the attacks he'd been responsible for, it was only natural that he was on the top of the Kingdom's Most-Wanted List (especially since the Number 1 position had been relinquished by Roman Torchwick). Adam had been targeted by the police, the military, the SDC's substantial security forces, and numerous Huntsmen and Huntresses. But none of them had succeeded in bringing him in...and many had paid for the attempt with their lives.

The idea that Ruby had actually succeeded in going toe-to-toe with someone like that, had fought against him and _won_, was awe-inspiring. That was a feat beyond merely tying with Pyrrha Nikos. Once again, Ruby, despite her modest demeanor, displayed an awe-inspiring strength that left Ashley breathless, particularly considering the rather nervous and bashful manner she used to describe her victory.

On the other hand...it was terrifying. Ruby had fought against the White Fang. There was little doubt to Ashley's mind that the White Fang had marked Ruby as an enemy now. And now...Ashley was a member of the White Fang. It didn't matter that Ashley had been inducted against her will. What would happen if they realized that Ashley knew Ruby, was friends with her? Ashley's mind called up horrifying images of punishments and beatings for daring to befriend a Huntress. Then she considered the dreadful possibility that the White Fang might order her to spy on Ruby, maybe even lead her into a trap.

_What would Ruby say?_ Ashley wondered, her heart thudding alarmingly. The fact that Ashley was now a member of the White Fang was never more prominent than at this moment, when she was sitting right before one of the organization's enemies, listening to Ruby as she described a fight against that very same organization. How would Ruby react to learning that Ashley had become a member? Would Ruby still be friends with her? Would she care that Ashley had been brought to a meeting by her employer and basically coerced into signing on?

_She'd probably take me to the police the first chance she got,_ thought Ashley, before silently berating herself for thinking so little of Ruby. Surely, this considerate, kind girl, who'd once intervened to protect Ashley from being beaten, wouldn't jump to conclusions about her...right? In the end, however much Ashley wanted to believe that, her fear still guided her tongue, carefully directing their conversation around anything that might hint at the possibility that Ashley herself was White Fang.

Fortunately, it seemed that Ruby didn't suspect anything of that manner. While she expressed a certain degree of worry, noting that Ashley seemed nervous or tense about something, Ashley managed to play it off by claiming to be nervous about her own upcoming exams, which were likely nothing, compared to Beacon's, though Ruby quickly countered by revealing a little of the content of her exams, which were revealed to be not all that different from the kind of exams Ashley would be taking, even if the subjects differed.

After chatting for a while longer, they parted with a promise to see each other again soon, Ruby hoping to bring more of her friends along next time. For her part, Ashley returned home. There, she gave her normal greeting to her parents and retired to her room. Once within, she pulled out her scroll, finding herself staring at the latest message she'd gotten from the White Fang. It was a notification for another meeting. Silently, Ashley wondered how long she could keep this up before someone in the organization noticed her reluctance to participate.

_I can't keep this up,_ she thought. _There has to be some way out of this._

* * *

"So I think we should visit the bakery on the last day of our break," said Ruby, looking around the table at her friends.

"That sounds like a fun idea," said Jaune. "It's a really awesome place. I wouldn't complain about going there again."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" asked Pyrrha warily.

"It should be fine for you," said Blake.

If anything, Pyrrha's fame had been waning over the past few weeks. From the sound of things, at least a few of her sponsors in Mistral had decided to drop her. But Pyrrha was unconcerned about it, for the most part. Her only worry was whether or not her parents were spending the money she'd left to them wisely.

"That's all well and good," said Weiss. "But I obviously _can't_ go."

"Sure you can," said Yang, grinning.

"Excuse me!" exclaimed Weiss, looking at Yang in surprise. "Do you want to set off a riot."

"Look, it's a risk for sure," said Yang. "But we'll all be with you, Weiss."

"Besides," added Ren, "if you want to start changing how the faunus see you, you need to engage with them at some point or another. You can't do that by hiding up at Beacon."

"You might have a point," conceded Weiss.

"We'll be right there," said Ruby, gently patting Weiss shoulder. "I know Ashley would like to see you again too."

Weiss' eyes lowered slightly, a small smile appearing on her face. "That would be nice," she admitted.

"It's an awesome way to spend our last day of freedom!" added Nora.

"Certainly beats hanging out at school, for sure," added Jaune with a grin. "I mean, can you imagine us wasting our last day of break like that."

"Heck no!" agreed Yang. "We'd probably go stir-crazy and start a food fight in the cafeteria, or something."

"Goodwitch would have our heads for that for sure," added Ren with a nervous shiver. After one dressing down from Glynda, thanks to their adventure at the docks, they were not keen to experience another of the stern disciplinarian's lectures.

"I'll call Ashley and let her know," said Ruby. "We can figure out when to meet up."

* * *

"Welcome to _Tukson's Book Trade_: Home to very book under the sun."

"You never get tired of saying that, do you?"

Tukson looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading to smirk at his customer. "It's a catchphrase for a reason," he retorted.

The bookshop owner was a surprisingly imposing figure for someone of such a humble profession. He was well-built, with dark-brown hair, sporting prominent sideburns. All told, he gave the impression of someone ready and able to handle trouble, an impression that had headed off more than one group of troublemaking hoodlums trying to mess up his shop for one reason or another.

He and Chrys couldn't have been a bigger study in contrasts, with Chrys' light complexion, golden hair; along with his light, willowy build, bordering on effeminate; contrasting heavily with Tukson's darker motif and heavier build. Despite that, they had been drawn together as friends due to their mutual experience as faunus, who'd managed to succeed and thrive in the human-dominated commercial district of Vale.

"You said my order came in," said Chrys, making his way to the register.

"Yep, just last night," said Tukson, ducking into the back, before returning with a package. "It wasn't easy tracking this guy down you know. You have a gift for testing my skills."

"Yes, well, floriography is a fairly obscure subject these days," said Chrys with a soft chuckle. "I'm a bit surprised though. Mistral's artistic culture was flourishing, even during the days when it was 'cooperating' with Mantle on their little ban against artistic expression."

"Yeah, well stuff this old happens to be in the hands of some individuals that are tough to access," Tukson countered. "But I've never failed a customer yet."

"You might want to adapt your catchphrase though," said Chrys. "Perhaps 'Home to _almost_ every book under the sun', would be better, along with a promise of 'If it isn't here, I can find it and have it delivered.'"

"Too much of a mouthful," Tukson replied.

"Ah well," said Chrys with a shrug. "I tried. I can only hope you don't get smacked with a claim of false advertising."

The two men laughed. Tukson turned back to his newspaper, while Chrys began to peruse the shelves, looking to see if anything caught his eye, before he settled his bill for the book he'd ordered. A comfortable silence fell over the shop. However, it only lasted for a moment.

"Hey, how's your part-timer holding up?" asked Tukson, looking up from his newspaper.

"She's still shaken," Chrys admitted. "She hasn't been able to look me straight in the eye ever since the meeting."

"From the sound of things, I don't blame her," said Tukson. "What the hell are they thinking?"

"I don't know," said Chrys. "I've never seen anything like that before. The previous meetings were never so forceful about recruitment. This was more like conscription than anything else."

"Yeah...It's enough to get me worried," said Tukson. "I've been hearing some pretty dark rumors. The Dust thefts are crazy enough. But now..."

"Working with humans," mused Chrys, "human criminals at that."

"And something went south during that last big Dust heist at the docks," added Tukson. "From what I hear, Adam's been on the warpath ever since. They want to get their numbers up as fast as possible, hence the more forceful recruitment."

"That's what I thought," said Chrys. "But what are we building our numbers up for?"

"That's what's got me worried," Tukson admitted. He sighed and looked down. "The way things are...I..."

"You're thinking of leaving, aren't you?" asked Chrys, his eyes narrowing.

Tukson groaned and nodded. "I've already got a ticket to Vacuo," he admitted. "I don't want to be a part of this anymore."

"But going all the way to Vacuo?" asked Chrys.

"Probably the safest option," said Tukson. "If they're being this forceful about recruitment, then think about how they'll react to someone leaving."

"Surely they wouldn't," Chrys suggested.

Tukson's eyes narrowed. "I would have thought that too," he said. "But I also never thought they'd start forcing people to join them like that too. If this is the direction the White Fang's heading, I'd sooner send in my resignation from somewhere well out of their reach."

When it came to that, Vacuo was most likely the best place. Considering the desert Kingdom's inhospitable nature, humans and faunus had been forced to coexist in order to survive, which had engendered a mutual respect between the two races. Because of that, there was little reason for the White Fang to be active in that Kingdom.

"Well, I'll wish you luck," said Chrys, giving his old friend one last smile, before stepping up to the counter to pay for his purchase, having found nothing more to buy while he was there. "Send me a letter when you get there."

"Sure thing," said Tukson, grinning.

* * *

"The next shipment is ready," declared Meinrad, standing over the desk that Adam was currently seated behind.

"See that it is sent out," said Adam, looking up at his lieutenant, taking in the man's muscle-bound physique, and the full-face mask he wore, one even more elaborate than Adam's own. "Are we on schedule?"

"We're behind," admitted Meinrad quietly. Seeing Adam's upper lip curl back slightly, he hastily amended his statement. "However, only by a small margin. The pirate has managed to keep us from falling too far short of our goal."

That was scant comfort to Adam. But he would take what he could get, he supposed.

"There is better news though," declared Meinrad. "The operation to acquire the Atlesian prototypes was a success. As promised, one is being brought into Vale for our next rally, while the rest are being delivered to the staging point."

"That _is_ good news," said Adam. "For a human, that little helper of Torchwick's is worth her weight in gold."

"It certainly can't be denied," agreed Meinrad.

"What else is there?" asked Adam.

"There are some members expressing discontent over the nature of our...revised...recruitment rallies," said Meinrad. "Apparently, there are even some who are talking about leaving the organization."

Adam frowned, his head lowering. "That is...disappointing." Truth be told, he felt more than a little strongly about deserters. However, the White Fang had been founded for the sake of _helping_ faunus. If members wanted to leave, then there was no reason to stop them, provided that there was no risk of said members reporting the organization's activities to the police...

...Or...that was the way it _had_ been. But the instructions that he'd been given by Cinder's "associate", the same one who had proposed the new format for their rallies, had also been clear. Desertion was a crime against the White Fang, a crime that needed to be punished. While he might have chafed at having to act according to a human's directions, Adam had to admit that this idea appealed to him considerably.

"Do we know of any specific deserters?" asked Adam.

"One of our agents in the transportation administration discovered that Tukson, the bookseller, recently purchased a ticket to Vacuo…one way," declared Meinrad. "We suspect he is planning to flee."

"I see," said Adam. "Who is he?"

"He tried to open his bookselling business in the commercial district," explained Meinrad. "However, the human landlords all discriminated against him. When he provided his story at one of our rallies, a few operatives were sent to 'convince' one of the landlords to be much more reasonable in his leasing practices."

"In other words, he owes us for even being able to conduct business at all," said Adam. "Yet now he decides that he no longer has the spine to fight for our cause." His lips pulled back, baring his teeth in a grin. "Very well then. I shall pay him a visit."

"A-are you sure, Sir?" asked Meinrad. "I mean, he's not even an active agent. Surely someone so low isn't worth your time."

"That is what will make the message all the more poignant," said Adam. "It will serve as a potent reminder of what happens to those who think they can simply abandon our cause. I will show them the fate of the faithless _myself_."

"V-very well, Sir," said Meinrad, backing out of the room. Though the large man wouldn't admit it, he was perturbed by the ferocious feeling of wrath that seemed to ooze forth from Adam's every pore.

For all that he was an incredible warrior, and inspiring leader, one fact about Adam Taurus that none could deny was that, above all else, he was terrifying.

Adam watched the door close behind his lieutenant, before leaning back in his seat, already looking forward to the bit of make-work he'd taken upon himself. After all, it would help alleviate some of the frustration he felt over his recent defeat.

* * *

The Sunday before their classes were scheduled to resume, RASP and RYNB made their way into Vale. Ruby had called ahead to inform Ashley of their plans, with Ashley promising to meet them. Though Ruby couldn't put her finger on it, Ashley seemed anxious for some reason. She figured that Ashley was probably just worried about how people would react to Weiss entering the Faunus Quarter, but she couldn't be completely sure.

As the eight of them walked, Weiss gravitated towards the center of the group. Pyrrha walked with her, keeping a gentle hand one Weiss' shoulder, a gesture of silent reassurance. It was an unspoken agreement amongst the others that they wouldn't leave Weiss alone while they were in the Faunus Quarter. While Weiss was capable of handling herself, it seemed that any attempts at violence were more likely to result from attacks of opportunity, rather than a bunch of angry faunus trying to face down an entire eight Beacon students, simply for the sake of getting at one person.

To help keep from drawing too much attention to themselves, they'd all picked out casual clothes for themselves, allowing them to look mostly like any group of teenagers going out for a day on the town, for all that a group consisting mostly of humans normally wouldn't enter the Faunus Quarter, unless they were planning to start trouble. As such, when they reached the streets that formed the invisible boundary of the quarter, RASP and RYNB immediately began to draw some odd, and worried, looks. However, just a block in, they saw Ashley, waiting for them.

"Ashley!" shouted Ruby, rushing forward to exchange a quick hug with her friend.

"Welcome back," Ashley replied, a happy smile on her face as she surveyed the group. "Wow, you really brought everybody, didn't you?"

"Yep," said Ruby, stepping back, before quickly darting behind Weiss and gently pushing her to the front. "Even Weiss is here."

"Th-thank you for having us," said Weiss, looking around nervously. She might not have been dressed in her usual outfit, with its prominent snowflake sigil practically proclaiming her to be a Schnee, but her appearance was distinct enough on its own that people were likely to recognize her, if they looked closely enough.

"Well...it's not like you're all coming over to my place," said Ashley. "But I'm glad you're here, Weiss." Seeing Weiss was certainly good, but her presence had Ashley's heart beating faster for other reasons, namely what might happen if anyone connected to the White Fang learned that Ashley had cultivated a friendship with the daughter of the one the organization considered their archenemy.

Still, there was nothing to be done. Instead, Ashley led the group down the streets towards Bruno's bakery. As she did, she exchanged pleasantries with everyone. They all chatted amicably, ignoring the odd and nervous looks that passersby threw their way. As they walked and talked, Weiss slowly relaxed, enjoying her time out in Vale. Considering that Ashley was walking near her, it seemed that her presence was being overlooked for the time being.

They made it to the bakery without incident. Bruno was working behind the counter as usual. Looking up, he grinned at the sight of Ashley entering the bakery with such a large company. "Well well, moving up in the world, are ya? These _all_ Beacon students?"

"They are,"said Ashley.

"This is my team," said Ruby, gesturing to Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss. Then she gestured to RYNB. "And this is the team my sister's on."

"My popularity's just about to explode," said Bruno with a grin. Then his eyes fixed on Weiss. "Hmm...You look familiar."

"I'm Weiss Schnee," said Weiss, trying to remain as calm and collected as she could. While she didn't want to come off as arrogant, she also didn't want to look overly afraid either. "It's nice to meet you."

Bruno blinked, his expression going flat and confused. "Weiss Schnee..._that_ Weiss Schnee."

"Yes," replied Weiss simply.

"From _those_ Schnees?"

"The very same," Weiss answered.

"Hmmm..." Bruno frowned. But it was a pensive expression, not an angry one. He was apparently trying to figure out how to react to Weiss' presence in his shop. "You're certainly the polite one," he said.

"Thank you," said Weiss. It was actually her second choice of responses. Her first had been to remark that she had been raised to understand the importance of good manners, but figured that would come off as deceitful and hypocritical, considering the reputation her family currently had.

"You certainly aren't what I was expecting," Bruno admitted. "I figured you'd be a bit more uptight."

"You should have seen me at the beginning of the semester," said Weiss, finding it in herself to smile wryly.

That seemed to break the ice. Bruno barked out a loud laugh. "Well well, I can certainly say you're not your father at least...not that I know the man."

"Yes, well..." Weiss sighed. "I can certainly say that he lives down to his reputation. I hope you can appreciate that, as his daughter, I am trying to do what I can to mitigate the damage he has done."

"Well, that's fine by me," said Bruno, grinning. "Last test, then."

"Last test?" Weiss blinked, wondering when she'd been tested.

"You like this little lady, Ashley?" asked Bruno, looking to the girl in question.

"I-I do," said Ashley, struggling to keep from too emphatic a response, her cheeks coloring slightly.

"Well then, that's good enough for me," said Bruno, turning back to Weiss. "Welcome to my bakery, Miss. Feel free to order when you're ready."

Weiss let out a breath she hadn't even been aware she'd been holding. Looking over at Ruby, she saw Ruby flash her a grin and a thumbs up. Weiss mirrored the gesture, feeling surprisingly proud of how she'd handled herself.

From there, everyone went about perusing the confections that Bruno had on offer.

* * *

A tone sounded through the bookshop, announcing the arrival of a customer. "Welcome to _Tukson's Book Trade_: home to every book under the sun," declared Tukson, coming out to see who was visiting him.

Almost immediately, he knew something was wrong. The young man who'd entered the shop showed no signs of looking at any of the books. Instead, he walked straight down the aisle between the tables and shelves. Taking in the sight of the young man, Tukson immediately tensed.

He was wearing a black jacket with red lining. The jacket had a large hood that the man had pulled up and over his head, so that it almost completely covered the upper-half of his face. It was exactly the kind of garb worn by someone who didn't want others to see his face, namely because he was up to some nefarious activity. Furthermore, Tukson could see something long and narrow protruding down and out from within the jacket...almost like the sheath of a weapon of some kind.

The young man stopped, dead-center, in the middle of the shop, turning his head this way and that, surveying the entirety of the space. "It seems you've done quite well for yourself here," he said.

"I suppose I have," said Tukson.

"I have no doubt that, even after you opened this place, your status as a faunus has caused you no small amount of trouble," continued the young man.

Tukson grunted. That much was true. Even if the White Fang had "gotten through" to the landlord on allowing him to lease this space, there were still people who took exception to a faunus doing business in the human-dominated commercial district. His shop had been vandalized multiple times, and there had been the occasional gang of hoodlums who tried to cause trouble in his shop. In recent years, those troubles had tapered off, as he became more and more established.

However, the fact that this young man had immediately remarked on how people had treated him for being a faunus gave Tukson an idea of what was going on. All at once, his body tensed, his fingers clenching beneath the level of the desk, hidden claws sliding out from his fingers.

"I don't want any trouble," said Tukson, deciding to cut straight to the heart of the matter.

"You don't want trouble...is that it?" asked the young man, a soft growl of anger. "Is that why you choose to turn your back on your brothers and sisters, and flee with your tail between your legs."

"So...you're from the White Fang then?" guessed Tukson.

The man reached into his jacket, producing a white mask, which he slipped onto his face, before reaching up to pull his hood off, revealing the head of red hair, and the two bull-horns that protruded upwards.

Tukson's jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide. "A-Adam Taurus."

"So...you recognize me?"

"Of course I do," growled Tukson. "I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't. What does the leader of the Vale Branch want with me?"

"Cowardice before the enemy is to be punished," said Adam coldly. "As the leader of the Vale Branch, it is my responsibility to deliver that punishment."

"So that's what it's come to, huh?" growled Tukson. "And you wonder _why_ I want to leave."

"What?" growled Adam.

"People like me joined the White Fang to fight against prejudice and oppression, for the right to choose our own path in this world," said Tukson. "We didn't join so that you could badger and coerce young people into joining, so that they could be nothing more than weapons in your arsenal. We were supposed to be fighting against human oppression...But this coercion, and now even death for wanting to leave? You've taken the humans' oppression and replaced it with your _own_."

"We have a sacred duty to take this world for the sake of the faunus," declared Adam Taurus. "Cowardice and indecision have no place in our struggle."

"So that's how it is," growled Tukson. "You're so desperate to strike out that you're going to condemn anyone who isn't willing to die for you...not the faunus...not our cause...but _you_!" Tukson leapt onto the desk, brandishing his clawed hands. "You're a blight upon the White Fang, and a curse on our people!"

"So you wish to die that badly?" asked Adam.

"I'm no fool," Tukson growled back. "I know there's no escaping from you. If you took the trouble of coming yourself, then there's no way you're thinking about mercy. If I'm going to die today, then I'll do it on my terms."

With a roar, Tukson launched himself off the desk, leaping towards Adam, claws outstretched.

Adam sank into a crouch, his right hand going to the handle of his sword, hidden beneath his jacket. He slipped between Tukson's clawed hands. There was a loud bang, followed by a crimson flash...then the sound of something heavy striking the floor…followed by a _second_ something heavy.

A moment later, Adam put his mask away, then put his hood back up...and took his leave.

* * *

After enjoying their afternoon at the bakery, Ashley saw her friends off at the edge of the Faunus Quarter, exchanging one last fond hug with Ruby...followed by a hug from Yang...then from Nora.

"Thanks for having us today," said Ruby.

Ashley laughed. "You say that like I invited you all over to my apartment."

"Well...you _did_ take us to your favorite bakery," Jaune pointed out.

"That's not really the same," said Ashley.

"Well, we could have a get-together at your place," suggested Yang.

"Eight guests...in _our_ apartment?" Ashley raised an eyebrow. "I don't think my parents would be up for that." While hardly cramped, Ashley's family's apartment was definitely not a spacious abode. Just having one of the two teams over would have used up all their available sitting space.

"Yeah, that would be a little much," agreed Ruby.

"Well...maybe we should get an apartment of our own, and have parties there!" suggested Nora eagerly.

Everyone else simply stared at her. Ashley turned her gaze to Ren. Despite having engaged with him perhaps the least out of anyone in the group, Ashley had seen enough of his interactions with Nora to know that he was the person most qualified to explain her...eccentricities.

Ren simply shook his head. "Don't mind her," he said. "She's just like that."

"Right..." said Ashley.

"Good luck on your exams," said Weiss, giving Ashley a warm smile.

"Thank you," said Ashley. "Good luck on your next semester."

Exchanging a few final parting words and waves with her friends, Ashley watched them go, before turning back towards her own apartment. It felt strange to her, to realize that she suddenly had such a large group of friends...all of them human...and all of them Beacon students. It was an odd place for her to be. Every minute she spent around them felt as though she were getting a special look into a different world, and finding it strangely like her own.

But perhaps that was the truth of the matter. Ruby and her peers definitely had advanced and specialized training, preparing for an exceptionally dangerous profession. But, beneath all that, they were people, just like Ashley herself. The fact that they were all human didn't even really seem to set them apart from Ashley. It was a warm, reassuring feeling. For a brief time, Ashley was able to forget about the weight of her recent induction into the White Fang...and just be a normal girl, with normal friends.

So it was that Ashley returned home with a light heart. Unbeknownst to her, her day had not gone unobserved. In fact, Ashley's entire meeting with Ruby and her friends had been watched from the very beginning. Even now, two people lounged in an alleyway, watching as Ashley made her trip back to her apartment. A young man, with fair skin, gray hair and grey eyes; along with a young woman, with dark skin, mint-green hair, and red eyes; let their gazes linger on the unsuspecting girl...before fading back into the darkness of the alley.

* * *

"I'm home," Ashley called out, closing the apartment door behind her.

"Welcome back, dear," her father called back.

"How was your day out with your friends?" asked her mother.

"It was great," said Ashley, beaming happily. "Everyone was there today."

"Even Weiss Schnee?" asked Elowen skeptically.

"Even Weiss," confirmed Ashley, feeling a little proud to say that.

"That's...quite the surprise," said Elowen.

"Well, if she's willing to come out here, then she can't be nearly as bad as her father," said Oliver.

"She's hoping to turn things around, once she takes over the SDC," said Ashley, remembering what Weiss had told her, over the course of their conversations that day.

"That sounds like quite the promise," said Elowen. "It's a shame that it's probably an empty one."

"Dear..." admonished Oliver, giving his wife a reproachful glance.

Elowen shrugged. "It's the same story," she said. "Think about that last Council member we elected. During his campaign, he was all bout 'making things better for the faunus'. But, once he was in office, he didn't do a damn thing. When he's asked about it, all we get are hollow platitudes about 'patience' and the 'need to wait.'"

She huffed irritably. "Even if Weiss means well, assuming she actually takes control of the SDC, I'm willing to bet she won't find living up to her promises an easy thing. Once that happens, you can bet that she'll pay lip-service to those promises she made before, at best."

"You're too cynical," said Oliver with a sigh.

"Life isn't kind to ideals," Elowen retorted with a sigh of her own.

Ashley watched the exchange, feeling more than a little nervous. She liked Weiss, believed it when Weiss said she wanted to change the SDC for the better. She had to admit that her mother sounded a bit like Chrys, in these moments. He'd said similar things. It was that kind of difficulty that had led to him turning to the White Fang in the first place.

Still, the argument was over for now. The two participants had settled into a silence, an unspoken agreement to set the topic aside, if only to keep from completely spoiling Ashley's experience with her friends. Over dinner, she told her parents about the things she'd talked about with her Beacon friends. Oliver was practically in stitches over some of Nora's antics, as relayed to Ashley by Ren. Even Elowen couldn't help but smile and laugh at Ren correcting Nora's recounting of her own recurring dreams.

Following that, they adjourned to the living room. As was the norm, Ashley's parents turned on the local news, while Ashley surfed the network on her scroll, mostly looking up interesting tidbits to gossip about with her classmates. However, that diversion was interrupted by a sharp gasp from Elowen. Looking up, Ashley saw the image on the holoscreen, along with the caption beneath, and found herself gasping as well.

_"Bookshop Owner Murdered!"_ the heading read.

"_Local store owner, Tukson Moreno was found, murdered, in his shop, right in the heart of Vale's commercial district,_" Lisa Lavender was saying. "_Details are scarce, but the incident does not appear to be a robbery. No cash or valuables are thought to be missing. Given that Mr. Moreno was somewhat well-known as one of the few faunus to open an establishment in the commercial district, investigators are looking into the possibility that the crime was racially-motivated._"

"Tukson..." breathed Elowen, her eyes brimming with tears. "That's horrible!"

Ashley opened her mouth, but couldn't find anything to say. She felt lightheaded, having difficulty breathing. She didn't know the man all that well. But she had been to Tukson's bookshop before. She'd even purchased her textbooks there, remembering him giving her a special discount, congratulating her for making it into such an exclusive school.

And now...he was just...gone...

There was another nagging feeling, something tugging at the back of her skull, the feeling that she knew something about Tukson, something that might throw a new light onto this incident. Then she remembered what Chrys had told her that terrible night. _Tukson's a member of the White Fang too!_

Granted, that itself wasn't proof of anything. There was every chance that Tukson's death had nothing to do with his status as a White Fang member. Yet it was an unsettling coincidence. Shouldn't the White Fang have protected him, if a racist was going to kill him? Of course, that seemed like a bit silly to assume. It wasn't as though the White Fang was omniscient, which was why they were better known for their retaliation than their protection.

The news itself was unsettling enough. But the questions and suspicions it conjured in Ashley's mind stayed with her, even after the evening news moved past those events. Those thoughts stayed with Ashley, even after she bade her parents good night, and retired to her bed. They kept her up, and staring at the ceiling of her room, hours after she'd turned the lights out.

* * *

**Alas, poor Tukson! I knew him...Okay, not really...okay, not at all.**

**Things are definitely heading down a rough road. Poor Ashley is gradually being painted into a corner, and there's no easy way out.**


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54:**

The students of Beacon Academy milled about. Being between classes, many were walking about the campus courtyards, or heading for the docks. However, they all found their eyes drawn upwards, as a trio of massive shadows glided by overhead.

Three enormous airships soared through the sky above, the sunlight seeming to be absorbed by their slate-gray hulls. The elongated, tapering shape of their central fuselage mounted blocky engines to either side, near the rear, with long, with tapering maneuvering vanes extending out behind them, almost like spines, or the feathers of a pair of wings. Majestic and graceful, they soared over the skies above Beacon like a trio of gigantic hawks. Their movements perfectly coordinated, they banked around and down, descending towards the air-docks that rested on the edge of the cliffs, their maneuvering vanes closing in towards each other, lifting clear so that the massive airships' landing struts could make unimpeded contact with the ground.

Once all three airships had landed, ramps descended from their hulls, white-uniformed personnel disembarking, most of them hoisting bags or packs, heading along the path between the curving lines of the colonnade, and making their way towards Beacon and its guest dormitories.

Watching the landing from the window set into the wall of his office, high up in Beacon tower, Ozpin frowned, finding it a daunting sight. The ships were technological marvels, capable of ferrying their cargoes and passengers between and across entire continents, able to remain aloft for weeks at a time, virtually indefinitely with the aid of midair refueling. Furthermore, they each possessed enough onboard weaponry to reduce a significant portion of Beacon, or Vale for that matter, to rubble with a single barrage. Despite what their owner intended, Ozpin found the presence of such aircraft in his Academy's airspace to be _less_ than reassuring.

"James never can seem to do anything without making it a show of strength," observed Glynda gravely, also looking out the window, from the front side of Ozpin's desk.

"I'm sure he feels he's doing what's best," said Ozpin with a sigh.

"And that's exactly the problem," mumbled Glynda, a sentiment that Ozpin agreed with strongly.

They continued to watch, waiting for the inevitable. A few moments later, it came, the tone of the elevator arriving, and the doors sliding open. Turning, Ozpin couldn't keep a warm smile from appearing on his face. However...agitating...the manner of his arrival had been, there was no denying that it was good to lay eyes on an old friend.

"James, it's good to see you again," said Ozpin.

"Likewise, Oz," said General James Ironwood, striding confidently out of the elevator, walking right through the center of Ozpin's office.

Ironwood cut an impressive figure, tall and imposing, with broad shoulders and a solid torso, supported by powerful legs. All of that was somewhat hidden by his uniform, a white overcoat, over a gray undercoat and black sweater, the red of his tie barely visible beneath the collar of his overcoat. Crisp, white pants were tucked into silver boots, and a white glove covered his right hand. The most unusual feature Ironwood sported was the strip of gray metal, which hovered just above his right eyebrow. His close-cropped hair was mostly black, with streaks of white in his sideburns. Piercing eyes of dark-blue looked out from above chiseled cheeks.

All told, Ironwood was a man who looked as though he'd been hewn from stone, carved like a sculpture of some heroic ideal. That appearance lent him many stony qualities: strength, solidity, and rigidity. At the moment, his expression was composed and disciplined, but with a slight smile of his own, a single ray of warmth extending out from within that chilly exterior.

That warmth only grew as Ironwood's gaze switched from Ozpin to Glynda, his smile growing even warmer, even a touch affectionate. "It's lovely to see you again, Glynda."

"James," said Glynda, her terse greeting a sharp contrast to Ironwood's more heartfelt one.

If he was hurt by her brusque response, Ironwood didn't show it, his smile lingering for a few more seconds, before his gaze returned to Ozpin, who was currently in the process of pouring a mug of coffee for him. "I'm happy to welcome you to Beacon," he said, handing over the mug.

Ironwood accepted, reaching inside his jacket and withdrawing a flask. Unscrewing the lid, he added some of the contents to his coffee, before taking a long sip from the mug. Once he lowered it, Ironwood's expression changed, becoming more serious. "While I enjoy the pleasantries, I feel that we should get down to brass tacks, Oz. You know why I'm here."

"Yes, well, while it's unusual for an Academy Headmaster to accompany his students abroad, I imagine that it's only natural that you wish to encourage them, and see their performance personally," said Ozpin, giving Ironwood his most disarming smile.

"Oz..." Ironwood's voice lowered, becoming a warning growl. "That's _not_ why I'm here, and you know it."

"I'm also aware that travel between Kingdoms has been more dangerous, lately," Ozpin continued. "But, even so, an escort of this magnitude is rather...excessive, don't you think?"

"That's not why _they_ are here, and you know it," said Ironwood, his eyes narrowing.

"Even so, that is the reasoning I prefer to adopt," said Ozpin, his own smile fading. "The Vytal Festival is meant to celebrate peace between the four Kingdoms, James. Bringing in a small fleet of your warships just gives everyone the wrong idea."

"It's not for show, Ozpin," said Ironwood. "You know what's going on. Right now, more than ever, we need to stand strong, to show our enemies that we will not be cowed by their actions."

Ozpin shook his head. "James, shows of force are counterproductive in this setting." He turned to stare out the window, looking at the ships resting on his docks. "In Atlas, perhaps, a sight like this might be reassuring. No doubt your people are accustomed to the sight of your military vessels on their skyline. But Vale is not so acclimated. Imagine what the people are thinking, seeing the ships of a foreign military occupying their skies, looking down on them."

"You know what's at stake," growled Ironwood.

"I do," said Ozpin, turning back towards Ironwood. "Glynda knows. Certain individuals know. But the _people_ do not. They will look up and see your ships, James, and they will wonder, just what such a display of strength is for...and it's all too likely that they will come to the _wrong_ conclusion. If that happens, then, rather than reassuring people, your vessels shall become a source of unease...and you know we cannot afford that."

Ironwood sighed. "I knew we wouldn't see eye to eye on this," he said. "But I hoped you would trust me more than this, Oz."

"It would help if you behaved in a more trust_worthy_ manner," retorted Glynda.

Ironwood's gaze flicked to her for a second, before returning to Ozpin. "Besides, if we are talking about questionable judgment, then I wonder how certain people would feel about your choice of students."

Pulling out his scroll, Ironwood set it down onto the desk. There was a flicker of light that spread across the surface of the desk, before a holographic screen flickered into being, hovering directly over it. The screen showcased a recording of a recent incident, the fight at the docks, involving RASP and RYNB fighting against the White Fang. It showed the image of a girl all too familiar to Ozpin and Glynda, a girl in a black kimono, with a red cloak and red armor over her shoulders and hips, wielding a pair of crimson blades. The recording was from multiple angles, showing her duel against Adam Taurus.

"I fail to see what you are implying, James," said Ozpin, barely even looking at the recording, "save that I should feel somewhat disturbed that you are apparently spying on my students."

"When your students involve one of mine in activities of questionable legality, I'm practically obligated to investigate," Ironwood rejoined. "Imagine my surprise at realizing that you have admitted one of _them_ into our school."

"I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that, James," said Ozpin. "Ms. Rose is a natural-born citizen of Vale."

"Don't play coy with me, Oz," growled Ironwood. "To the average observer, that wind and lightning might just be assumed to be Dust. But I can tell otherwise. There's no mistaking those methods and techniques. She's one of _them_! You've gone and inducted a Mibu into Beacon. It doesn't matter where she was born. It's clear that she's been educated and trained by them."

"I would prefer it if you didn't refer to the Mibu Clan as some sort of hostile Other," said Ozpin, slumping down into his seat. "They are not some unnatural existence."

"I'm sure that the Council doesn't feel that way," said Ironwood.

"I'm sure we agree that the Council could stand to be more mature about past matters," said Ozpin, "instead of simply pretending that an entire Kingdom's worth of people does not exist, in order to protect their pride."

"Is that what this is about, Oz?" asked Ironwood. "Are you trying to force the Kingdoms to acknowledge the Mibu's existence."

"No," replied Ozpin. "Granted, that is something they will have to do, sooner or later. But this..." He gestured to the footage of Ruby, which had now transitioned to one of the viral recordings of her match against Pyrrha. "...is a girl who desperately wished to become a Huntress. Her father, unreasonably, denied her the chance to do so, so she turned elsewhere to obtain the training she needed. It was mere chance that she was adopted by the Mibu, and raised by them. It is more than fortuitous that their training proved to make her an exceptional fighter for her age."

"And yet, it doesn't change the fact that her presence is as much of a threat as what you perceive my ships to be," countered Ironwood.

"They are hardly equivocal," said Ozpin. "Besides, the Mibu have no interest in interfering with our affairs. Ms. Rose was trained by them, true. But she does not represent them in any meaningful fashion. She is fully committed to becoming the best Huntress she can be."

"The Mibu aren't the real threat, I'll admit," said Ironwood. "But you know she's a threat all the same. If it becomes known where she comes from, and who trained her, your position will become extremely tenuous, Oz."

"That is a risk I choose to take," said Ozpin. "It is more than worthwhile to be able to have someone with Ms. Rose's level of skill and ability here."

"It could cost you your position," replied Ironwood. "If the Council loses faith in you, as the Headmaster of Beacon, they could demand you step down, then appoint someone more sympathetic to their views in your place. _Then_ where will that girl be?"

"In a difficult position, I'll admit," said Ozpin. "But the Council would not be so rash as to demand my resignation over a single student."

"They will, if she continues to cause disturbances, like the one at the docks," said Ironwood.

"And yet, she was there to fight against the White Fang, while they were trying to steal the commercial products of your own Kingdom, no less," Ozpin pointed out. "Because of that, a major Dust-theft was averted, and well over two-dozen members of the White Fang were taken into custody. Even the property damage caused by the battle was relatively minor, compared to the loss that would have been incurred, had the White Fang been permitted to go about their business, unimpeded."

"But we both know the Council is unlikely to see it that way," said Ironwood. "If you are too soft to remove that girl from your school, then, at the very least, you need to see to it that she is properly monitored, if only to keep her from causing another incident."

"I have taken all necessary precautions, James," said Ozpin firmly. "There is no need for extra surveillance of my own students, thank you very much."

"I feel differently," Ironwood growled. "Particularly since she got one of my own students wrapped up in this absurdity."

"From what I understand, Ms. Polendina _volunteered_ to join them in their efforts," said Ozpin. "If you truly take issue with that, then you should be discussing it with her."

"Oh, I have," said Ironwood, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "I've impressed on her that she is not to have anymore dealings with that Mibu girl."

"Now that seems excessive, James," said Ozpin.

"It's necessary!" Ironwood snapped.

"ENOUGH!" shouted Glynda, glaring at both the arguing men, having grown tired of their continued back and forth. "This is getting us nowhere. James, if you're going to be here, then we need to set some ground rules."

Ironwood and Ozpin both looked at Glynda expectantly.

"First and foremost, you are _not_ to interfere with Ms. Rose in any fashion," said Glynda.

"But-" Ironwood began to protest.

"_No_," said Glynda, her tone brooking no argument. "This is _not_ up for debate. Regardless of your feelings about the Mibu, or her association with them, Ms. Rose's status as a student of Beacon is not for you to question. We will handle our own affairs. Likewise, how you handle your students is _your_ own affair. However, while they are guests at our Academy, they shall be beholden to _our_ rules. Is that understood?"

Ironwood stared at her for a moment, before letting out a slow breath. "Fine..."

Glynda rapped her riding crop against the palm of her head. "Likewise, having such an overt foreign military presence over the skies of Beacon and Vale is unacceptable."

"That's-!" Ironwood began to protest.

"However," interjected Glynda, cutting him off, "if you are truly unwilling to send them home, then I suppose we shall have no choice but to allow it."

"Thank you," said Ironwood, a relieved smile appearing on his face.

"Glynda..." Ozpin began.

"But," Glynda interjected again, "they shall be kept outside Kingdom airspace. You may assign them to border-patrol duties, if you so wish. We can always use more thinning out of the Grimm presence outside our walls, especially to the southeast."

"That is acceptable," said Ironwood.

"Good," said Glynda firmly. "Then this argument is over. Now, if we could move on to discussing more productive matters..."

"Of course," said Ironwood, while Ozpin gave Glynda a grateful look.

* * *

Ruby's eyes flickered back and forth, looking over the cards in her hand, before going to the board in front of her, and the plastic pieces set up across its surface. "So...uh...what now?"

"Well, first you choose what actions you want to take," explained Jaune, from where he sat beside her. "You can lay down a card, you can choose to move some of your forces, or you can launch an attack."

"Oh..." said Ruby, her eyes once again flickering across the board. "What should I-?"

"Well, Yang's pretty vulnerable in this position," Jaune pointed out.

"Hey!" protested Ruby's sister, glaring at Jaune from across the table.

"Your other threatened territories are pretty solid, so you shouldn't have to worry too much about any attacks from the others, next turn," continued Jaune, ignoring Yang's protest. "You've spent the last few turns building up your forces, might as well use them."

"All right..." said Ruby. "I guess I'll attack then."

"I won't forgive you for this," growled Yang, continuing to glare at Jaune.

"I suggest you play this," said Jaune, pointing to one of the cards in Ruby's hand. "Yang's got a card facedown, so it's probably a trap-card. This'll be a good precaution."

"But I thought I could attack _or_ play a card," Ruby pointed out. "I can do both?"

"It's an action-card," Jaune explained, "which means it can be used to support the particular action you're taking; in this case, attacking."

"Oh..." said Ruby, laying down the card and beginning her attack.

A few brief minutes of squabbling later, and Yang slumped back in her seat, moaning at the considerable loss of territory she'd suffered to Ruby's invading forces. "No fair...You shouldn't be able to help her like that, Jaune."

"It was _your_ idea to pick a game that Ruby's never played before," Jaune replied. "I'm just showing her the ropes."

It was an excuse that no one, not even Ruby, bought. Given that Jaune was laying out suggestions for every course of action she took, it was more like Jaune was just playing _through_ Ruby. However, since she was winning, complaining about it was the furthest thing from Ruby's mind, particularly because she'd have no idea about what to do otherwise.

And it was fun seeing Yang growl in frustration, when _she_ had been the one to drag Ruby into this game. After seeing how lost Ruby had looked at the beginning-phase of the game, Jaune had volunteered to assist her, and now they were dominating the board...for now. It seemed that Jaune had some fairly decent experience, playing _Remnant: The Game_, with his sisters. On top of that, he was a surprisingly astute tactician and strategist. He seemed to have a good idea of the best move to make in any situation, and certain decisions that hadn't seemed like a good idea, earlier on, turned out to be exceptionally wise, sometimes several rounds later.

"Nora!" exclaimed Yang, turning to the girl in question, whose turn was next. "Help me! We've got to stop them!"

"Okay! Sure!" replied Nora, as cheerfully whimsical as ever. "What should I do?"

"You should attack them here!" Yang pointed to one of Ruby's territories, which bordered Nora's own. "You've got Atlesian Air Fleet, which will let you circumvent their fixed defenses."

"Yeah, but we laid down an anti-air defense two rounds ago," Jaune replied with a grin. "Besides..." He pointed to one of the territories that Yang had bordering Nora's. "...this spot is _way_ more vulnerable. She depleted her defense to try that surprise attack against us, last round. Now it's yours for the taking."

"Ooooh!" cooed Nora, her eyes going to the territory in question, the prospect of an easy victory more enticing than Yang's talk of an alliance.

"Cheater!" snapped Yang, pointing accusingly across the table at Jaune.

"Just advising Nora of her options," replied Jaune, giving Yang a smug smirk. "You're the one who wanted to openly collude with her. You shouldn't be so reckless with your forces."

A few minutes later, Yang was slumped and moaning, while Nora was practically beaming at her own success, with Yang's territory even _more_ depleted than before. Nora's attack had triggered Yang's trap-card, which she played desperately. However, in the end, it wasn't able to make up the difference.

With an irritated growl, Yang took her turn, clearly trying to bolster her flagging defenses, before she turned to their fourth (or fifth) player, eyes shimmering with her desperate plea. "Blake...partner...we're besties, right? You'll stand with me."

Blake glanced down at the board, then back up at Yang...then back down at the board again...then back to Yang. Her lips curled up in a sly smirk. "I don't know, Yang. Knowing you, you'll probably go after me next."

"Of course I won't!" Yang countered, her desperation growing. "I _never_ betray my allies."

"That's what you said...right before you went after Ruby, three rounds ago," Blake pointed out.

"Y-yeah, but there were special circumstances..."

"Besides," Blake continued, her eyes going down on the board, eyeing a particular territory of Yang's, "that spot looks like a tasty and tempting target."

"Blake..." Yang whimpered, her voice quavering.

Another quick few minutes later, and Yang was once again slumped and moaning. "This game sucks," she grumbled.

"Weren't you saying you'd totally kick all our butts, when we first started?" asked Ruby.

"But you all ganged up on me!" Yang countered. "This is bullying!"

The sounds of bickering drifted through the library, washing over the other members of RASP and RYNB, who were sat at an adjacent table. Ren and Pyrrha were both reading books, while Weiss was going over something in one of her textbooks, the three of them frequently glancing up at their friends, and the game they were playing. Both Ren and Pyrrha couldn't keep soft chuckles and giggles from escaping at the sight of their friends' antics. Weiss, in contrast, appeared to be of two minds; occasionally looking up with an irritated scowl; at other times, fighting, and failing, to keep an amused smirk from her face, particularly at Yang's increasingly numerous exclamations of consternation.

One might have thought they would be more annoyed at the boisterous game being played in a place where people were generally expected to be quiet. However, they had selected a section of the library away from most of the other people. It being a late-Saturday afternoon, the library was lightly-occupied as it was, with most other students out enjoying the first day of their weekend. The members of the two teams had wrapped up their training for the day, and had decided to spend the afternoon together, with Yang suggesting the game. So far, despite the fair amount of noise they'd been making, there had been no protest, neither from other students nor the library staff.

In particular, Ren was enjoying the show, mainly because Blake was participating with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. It seemed that; between revealing her secrets to the group, and getting the unofficial (if conditional) support of Professor Ozpin; a weight had been lifted from her shoulders, and several of the barriers she had placed between herself and her teammates and friends had come down. For a little bit, Ren had worried that she might be distracted by the conundrum of the White Fang, and a desire to continue their investigations. But he suspected that Ozpin's willingness to consider supporting their actions, as well as whatever advice he had given her, was helping her cope with whatever anxiety she might have been feeling over the matter.

Right as the game switched to Ruby again, a familiar figure stepped past a bookshelf.

"Yo," greeted Sun Wukong, wearing his trademark playful grin, and raising a hand in greeting. "What's shakin'?"

"Hey, Sun," said Ruby, looking up at him with a welcoming smile.

Yang, who'd still been slumped over her side of the board, lifted her head to throw a scowl Sun's way. "And where have _you_ been, Bucko?" she asked. "I seem to remember you making yourself scarce, before we got back to Beacon."

"Yeah, well...since I got in a little early..." Sun's grin turned sheepish, and he rubbed the back of his head. "...I wasn't actually..._at_ Beacon yet. So I sorta figured that they'd just overlook me, if I wasn't, you know, there." His grin turned triumphant. "And I was right!"

"So you left the rest of us high and dry…with detention?" asked Nora, a slight growl.

"Uhhhh..." Sun didn't seem to have much of a response to that.

"It's fine," said Blake, glancing up from their game.

"Yeah, he was a big help," added Ruby.

"Aww...thanks," said Sun, blushing from Blake and Ruby's support (but mostly Blake's). "Well, it's too bad that the bad guys' top people got away, but we still made a dent."

"That much is true," agreed Ren.

"So now you're officially here for the exchange?"asked Pyrrha.

"That's right," replied Sun. "And I'm not alone."

Indeed he wasn't. Everyone had been a bit occupied by Sun, so they had overlooked the other boy with him. The young man in question was a handsome specimen, with a head of spiky, light-blue hair that leaned to the right of his head in a slightly windswept look. It nicely complimented his tanned skin and dark-blue eyes. He wore a white dress-shirt underneath a red jacket, with a wide, upturned, black collar. Below that, he wore a set of gray jeans, with black pads strapped to the outside of his thighs. His hands were covered by black, fingerless gloves. In addition to that, the top of his head was adorned by a set of goggles, with gray frames and yellow lenses.

Upon Sun calling attention to him, the boy smiled, then grinned. Those watching swore that they could see a sharp gleam of light from his perfect, white teeth, accompanied by an audible "ping".

"Yo," he said. "I'm Neptune. Nice to meet you."

"Hey," said Jaune, giving Neptune a friendly wave.

Neptune's eyes drifted amongst them before coming to rest on Weiss, who had been looking at him with a surprising degree of intensity. "I don't think I caught your name, Snow Angel," he said, flashing her another gleaming grin.

Much to everyone's shock and surprise, Weiss' response was to giggle shyly, and blush, before replying. "It's Weiss."

The rest of the group traded incredulous glances, having a hard time imagining Weiss responding in such a manner. "Did that just happen?" Jaune asked Ruby in a whisper.

"I think so," said Ruby at the same volume, pinching herself to make sure. "Maybe she's not a total ice queen after all."

Neptune looked around, taking in the group, and the game that four (five) of them had been playing. "I thought libraries were supposed to be quiet," he added.

"Dude, quit being such a nerd," teased Sun.

"Ah...Intellectual," Neptune quickly corrected, glaring at his friend.

"So, this guy on your team?" asked Yang, looking over Neptune with a critical eye.

"Yep, this is my partner on Team Sun," said Sun.

"Team Sun?" Blake's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, S-S-S-N," said Sun, sounding out the letters. "It's a gang of the four baddest dudes to ever grace the halls of Haven."

"Sure," said Blake, a healthy dose of skepticism and amusement in her voice, which Sun didn't seem to mind.

"That sounds confusing," said Nora. "How do you know if people are talking about your team or you?"

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, sharing a look with Jaune. "I mean, can you imagine if I was on a team and it was named 'Team Ruby'? How weird would that be?"

"Like _that_ would happen," scoffed Weiss.

"Where is the rest of your team?" asked Pyrrha, looking between the two boys.

Sun and Neptune shrugged. "They're back at Haven," explained Sun.

"Sage and Scarlet weren't really all that interested in the exchange," added Neptune. "They'll join us for the festival, so we can fight in the tournament."

"I didn't even know you could split your team like that," mused Ren.

"It happens," said Sun. "Sage and Scarlet have some special courses they're taking that they don't want to drop. But Neptune and I didn't have any commitments, so we decided to come see what Beacon was like."

"Like what you see so far?" asked Ruby.

"Oh yeah," said Sun, though everybody noticed his eyes seemed to drift to Blake, as he spoke. Meanwhile, Neptune was looking at Weiss again.

"Well, you're welcome to join us," said Jaune, gesturing to the group.

"Sure, hanging out for a while could be fun," said Neptune, glancing down and seeing Yang's predicament. "Looks like you're in a bit of a tight spot there. Maybe I could give you some pointers."

"I'm game," said Yang, scooting over and allowing Neptune to pull up a chair to sit next to her. "Anything to turn the tables on these jerks."

"Ha!" barked Nora, giving Yang a fierce grin. "I'd like to see you come back from _this_." She gestured to the layout of the board, with Yang's forces being at a serious disadvantage.

* * *

A couple hours later, Nora's good cheer was nowhere to be seen as she slouched back to the dorms, along with the rest of the group. With Neptune's guidance, Yang had actually managed to turn her situation around, effectively countering both Blake and Nora, though Jaune/Ruby remained formidable opponents. As a result, before long, Blake and Nora had been forced off the board entirely, with the entire thing boiling down to a two-way match, with Jaune and Ruby vying against Yang and Neptune, the two boys guiding their partners into a match that led into a protracted stalemate...which had ultimately led to them declaring a draw, on account of time.

By that point, Sun and Neptune had thoroughly integrated into the fabric of the group, becoming fast friends with everyone. What was truly amazing was that they couldn't help but notice that Weiss kept looking at Neptune with admiring eyes, every time he implemented a cunning strategy. Likewise, Blake's taciturn behavior was surprisingly tempered by a number of blushes and giggles, often triggered by Sun's remarks and behavior.

By the time they called off the game, it was nearly time for dinner. So the group had headed back to the dorm rooms to put away the game and their books. They split up from Sun and Neptune, who were being housed at the visitor dorms, promising to meet back up at the dining hall.

Still laughing and chatting, RASP and RYNB emerged from their rooms to head down the hallway towards the dining hall. However, they found their way partially blocked by a trio of unknown individuals, who were heading down the hall in the opposite direction. They were dressed in school uniforms. But the black jacket and pants, in the boy's case; and dark-gray, checkered skirts, for the girls; were clearly _not_ Beacon uniforms.

"Hey there," said Yang, grinning and raising a hand in greeting as the two groups approached each other. "You guys must be here for the festival."

"That's right," purred the apparent leader of the trio, a young woman with wavy, black hair, and orange eyes. "We were just looking for our rooms."

"Those uniforms..." Weiss' eyes narrowed slightly. "You three are from Haven, right?"

"That's right," replied the other girl, sporting dark skin, red eyes, and mint-green hair. She flashed them a friendly smile.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that the dormitories for the visiting students aren't here," said Ren politely.

"You're looking for the building just east of here," added Pyrrha helpfully.

"Thanks," said the gray-haired boy, giving them a grin.

"We must have gotten turned around," added the young woman.

"No problem," said Yang, returning the boy's grin.

"Since you're here for the exchange, we'll probably be seeing quite a bit of each other," added Weiss.

"Yes," agreed the black-haired young woman. "I hope that we get the chance to become better acquainted."

"Might as well start now," said Nora. "I'm Nora. Nice to meet you."

"And I am Cinder," replied the young woman, giving Nora a small smile. She gestured to the girl at her left. "This is Emerald." Then she gestured to the boy. "And this is Mercury."

"Ooh! Where's your fourth member?" asked Nora, glancing around.

"She's...somewhere," said Emerald, her eyebrows twitching. "She's got a tendency to wander off on her own. Don't worry. You'll see her at some point. So, what are the rest of your names?"

The others went around, sharing their names with the newly-arrived trio of Haven students...with one notable exception. Jaune felt a slight tug on his left sleeve, and glanced over to see Ruby. At the sight of her, he suddenly felt a flare of worry.

Ruby was smiling. But, as much time as he'd spent around her, Jaune knew enough to realize that her expression was strained. What was more, her complexion was a good bit paler than it normally was. On top of that, he swore he could see a faint gleam of the overhead lights off her forehead. Ruby had broken out in a sweat. She was gripping the sleeve of Jaune's hoody with all the strength of her deceptively delicate-looking fingers, her knuckles turning white from clenching so hard. Jaune opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but was cut off by Cinder, who had noticed that Ruby hadn't spoken yet.

"And what is your name?" she inquired, looking right at Ruby.

Ruby's lips pulled back in a grin. It looked incredibly cheerful, but Jaune could tell that Ruby was putting on a front. "R-Ruby," she said. "It's nice to meet you."

Cinder let out a soft hum. "Likewise," she said. "I so _very_ look forward to getting to know you better."

"S-sure," said Ruby. She wasn't showing it visibly, but Jaune could feel her tremors through the hand that gripped his sleeve.

_She's terrified,_ Jaune realized. _Why?_

"Well then, I guess we'll be on our way," said Cinder, nodding to the group. If she noticed anything odd about Ruby's behavior, she didn't comment on it.

RASP and RYNB split, allowing the trio of visiting students to pass between them, and continue down the hall, where they would find an exit that would allow them to reach the dormitory for visiting students.

"Well...they were nice," said Pyrrha, after a moment's pause.

"Yeah," agreed Nora. "I bet we'll become good friends."

"Ruby?" Jaune looked worriedly at his partner. Her tremors had only become more pronounced, which told him that she had been making a concerted effort to put on a normal front before their visitors.

"You okay, Sis?" asked Yang, noticing Ruby's apparent discomfort.

Ruby hesitated, then flashed them a grin. "Y-yeah," she stammered, somewhat unconvincingly. "Y-...You guys should go on ahead. I just realized that I forgot something back in the room. I'll catch up soon."

"Are you sure you're all right?" asked Pyrrha, her own worry rising at Ruby's unusual behavior.

"I'm great," said Ruby. "I'll be right behind you."

Despite her words, Jaune noticed it appeared to take an unusual act of will for Ruby to release her hold on his sleeve. Once she did, she took a couple steps, then vanished in a flurry of red petals. They barely even saw the door to RASP's room open, before it had shut again.

"What was that all about?" asked Weiss, her tone hovering somewhere between concerned and irate.

Despite their concern, the group decided to press on. Only Jaune hesitated a little longer, his worried gaze lingering on the door of RASP's room. _Ruby..._

* * *

"So...that little one is the one that Adam was talking about," mused Cinder, Mercury and Emerald following slightly behind her as she walked.

"Hard to believe a little tyke like that could beat Taurus, of all people," commented Mercury. "She looked afraid of her own shadow."

"Yeah," agreed Emerald. "I've never seen a case of social anxiety that bad before. Are you _sure_ that's the girl Adam was talking about?"

Cinder paused and turned, her orange eyes shining from within, the luminance sending a terrified twitch down Emerald's spine. "Are you..._questioning_ me?" asked Cinder, a faint growl of anger melding with the silky purr of her normal speaking voice.

"N-no, Ma'am," said Emerald, averting her gaze quickly.

"That's what I thought," said Cinder, turning her eyes forward once more. "I do have to admit, her behavior was a bit...odd. But people have different faces, on and off the battlefield. She strikes me as the sort who is much more comfortable in a combat situation than a social one."

"Makes sense then," said Mercury. "Out of that whole group, she's the _only_ one who was carrying her weapon."

"I feel that I would _very_ much like to get to know her better," mused Cinder, gently stroking her chin. "If someone like her was able to best Adam Taurus, then there is definitely more to her than meets the eye."

* * *

Immediately after slamming the door shut behind her, Ruby quickly made her way to her destination...the bathroom. Once inside, she slammed that door closed as well. From there, she barely made the necessary pair of staggering steps to reach the toilet, before her legs gave out, and she collapsed onto her knees. It was a work of sheer will to retain her control, until she could lift the lid and seat. Only then, with her face hovering over the bowl, did Ruby let go.

For the next few minutes, she heaved the contents of her stomach into the toilet, her roiling bowels sending spasm after spasm through her body. Tears streamed out of her eyes, and Ruby had to fight to keep from simply collapsing. She threw up until her stomach had nothing left to give. And, even then, she continued to gag and retch for several minutes afterward. It was the work of several more minutes to get enough control that she felt safe pulling her face away from the toilet. Even then, the most she could manage was sagging down, scooting over to the wall by the toilet. There, she hugged her knees to her chest, continuing to tremble.

_That woman..._ Ruby thought, her vision going blurry from her tears. _What _is_ she?_

Outwardly, Cinder had been unquestionably human. But outward appearances could be deceiving. Once Ruby's other senses had brushed across Cinder, they told a different story entirely. Oh, Cinder had a human Aura all right. But Ruby had also sensed a sickening corruption, the presence of something dark and unnatural. That corruption stitched into place the tattered energies of something else, something Ruby was _more_ than a little familiar with. It was something that had once been whole and beautiful, but now torn asunder. The thing forcibly bound to Cinder's soul _reeked_ of atrocity. And then, there had been the hunger...

_What did she do?_ Ruby wondered, her stomach roiling again at the memory of her senses brushing against that sickeningly mutilated soul. _How could she do that to another person?_

It had taken every ounce of Ruby's will, all the discipline her training had imparted, to keep from screaming at what she had felt. If she had slipped just a little, she would have broken down into a gibbering mess, right there in the hallway. But her experience told her that this Cinder was the _last_ person she could afford to show weakness in front of. That aching hunger...Ruby was certain that it would swallow her up at the slightest sign of vulnerability.

There was only one thing Ruby knew for certain. Whoever Cinder was...she was unquestionably _evil_. No one with even an ounce of good in their soul would so willingly consent to performing whatever act of violation she had been required to perform to result in the twisted state her soul currently existed in. What was worse...Ruby recognized that energy, the power that Cinder had torn from someone else, and then forcibly bound to her own Aura.

Questions raced through her mind. However, there was one in particular that stood out. _What should I do?_ Now that she had sensed something so dark and disfigured, there was no way that Ruby could stand idly by and leave it be. There was no way someone who had done...whatever it was that Cinder had done...would come to Beacon with good intentions. But Ruby was at a loss for what to do about it. Her friends wouldn't believe her, even though she'd already both told and shown them some unbelievable things. Incredible feats of Aura were one thing; but stories of magic, fairy tales...

Perhaps she needed to confront Cinder herself. However, Ruby found herself balking at that. The thought of facing the twisted thing that lurked within Cinder's skin was one of the most daunting thoughts she had ever considered. Sure, in terms of overall threat, Cinder would be nothing, compared to the likes of her older brother. But the sheer _wrongness_ of it made her hesitate all the same. And, of course, if no one else had an idea of the context, how would it look if Ruby started a fight with a visiting student out of the blue?

But she had to do _something_. Ruby pursed her lips, trying to figure out what course of action she could take. If only there was someone she could just talk to about this, someone she could trust to listen to her, and be discreet about what she said.

She inhaled sharply, an idea appearing in her head. Maybe there _was_ someone she could talk to. _Professor Ozpin!_ At first blush, it seemed silly to run to Beacon's Headmaster, especially about the outlandish topic she needed to speak about. However, there was also a strange feasibility to it. Ozpin had always shown himself to be surprisingly tolerant and open-minded. After all, he was the one who had welcomed Ruby to Beacon in the first place, _because_ of what she had learned from the Mibu, rather than in spite of it. It was him who had expressed a sort of backhanded approval of the actions RASP and RYNB had taken against the White Fang at the docks. On top of all that. If there was anyone at Beacon positioned to do something with the information suddenly found herself in possession of, it would be him.

Ruby just prayed that he would believe her.

* * *

Of course, she couldn't just rush straight to Ozpin's office with the stench of vomit on her breath and tear-tracks down her face. So Ruby took a moment to rinse out her mouth, quickly brush her teeth and wash her face, before making a dash for Beacon Tower. She barely managed to slow herself down to a walk before entering the lobby. It took considerable willpower to keep herself composed for the brief walk across the lobby, around the central pillar that stretched upward, and to the elevator.

The doors closed, and an electronic voice chimed over the speakers. "_Please state your destination._"

"Professor Ozpin's office, please," said Ruby.

"_Please submit your scroll for identification,_" ordered the voice. Ruby held up her scroll to the panel beside the door. There was a beep, as its signal was received and processed by the AI governing the elevator. "_Please state your business,_" requested the AI.

Ruby swallowed, wondering how she ought to frame this. "I...It's...It's a matter of security."

"_Please hold,_" instructed the electronic receptionist. Now the content of Ruby's request was likely being sent straight to Ozpin. She could only hope he would accept it. Finally, the voice spoke again. "_Your request has been accepted._" With that, there was a faint jolt, and the elevator began to ascend upwards.

It was a tense minute Ruby spent waiting for the elevator to reach its destination. As she waited, she was assailed by doubts and worries. What if Ozpin didn't believe her? What if he laughed off her report? Worse, what if he dismissed it as nothing more than a child's fantasies, and began to question her fitness to attend Beacon? The more Ruby thought about it, the more likely it seemed, and the more unwise this course of action became to her mind. She wondered if she ought to back out. But that seemed even sillier, especially now, after she had already gone through the trouble of coming to the tower, and was already on her way up to Ozpin's office.

Hearing the tone that announced the elevator's arrival, Ruby sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes. As the doors slid open, she let that breath out, doing her best to let all her excess anxiety flow out, along with the air in her lungs. She had moderate success. Her hands still trembled from a bad case of nerves, as much a residual effect of what she had encountered in the hallway of her dorm as it was worries about what she was going to be faced with.

"Ms. Rose...?" Ozpin looked up from some paperwork he'd apparently been going over, before she had arrived. Looking at her, his eyes immediately narrowed, and Ruby got the impression that he was able to tell something was amiss, without her even needing to say anything. "Please, come and take a seat." He gestured to the chair set in front of his desk.

Ruby nodded, and stepped out of the elevator, the sound of her sandals scuffing against the hard floor of the office sounding strangely loud. Above and below, she saw slowly turning gears, while behind Ozpin, she saw Vale's skyline, illuminated by the light of the setting sun.

As Ruby settled into the seat, Ozpin clasped his hands together in front of his face, resting his elbows against the surface of the desk. "Well now, Ms. Rose, this is unexpected. What brings you here, today?" Taking in her appearance, Ozpin found himself noting that she was looking unusually pale. "Are you all right?"

"I...I'm okay," said Ruby, after a moment's pause. She took a deep breath, then let it out again. "Professor...there's...I don't know how to put this...and you might not believe me...but there's someone...someone _very_ dangerous at Beacon now."

Ozpin raised a curious eyebrow. "I'm curious what you mean by that. After all, given that this is a school for Huntsmen and Huntresses, being 'dangerous' is practically a requirement for entry."

Ruby swallowed. "Someone evil then," she amended.

"And what makes you say this?" asked Ozpin.

Ruby swallowed. "I...It's...It's difficult to explain," she said, looking down at her knees. "It means telling you something that you aren't likely to believe." _And telling you at least part of a secret I shouldn't be sharing with anyone._

"And yet, you seem to think that telling me is important, nonetheless," noted Ozpin. "If you are worried about my skepticism, why did you still come to speak to me of this...person?"

"Well, I figured you were the one best to talk to about this," said Ruby. "I know you're open-minded. And...well...we _did_ promise to come to you, if we were planning anything. This is serious, and I feel you need to know about it."

"So then, what is it you wish to say?" asked Ozpin. "Please speak frankly, Ms. Rose. At the very least, I can withhold judgment until I hear the entirety of what you have to say."

"All right," said Ruby, taking yet another deep breath. "You see-"

Ruby was cut off by the ringing of her scroll from her pocket. Frowning, Ruby fished out the device, expecting either Yang, Weiss, or Jaune calling, wanting to know where she was. However, to her surprise, she saw that Ashley was calling. It wasn't exactly unprecedented, but Ruby was usually the one who called Ashley to chat. It seemed odd to her. "Um...Sorry," she said, giving Ozpin an apologetic look. "Just a moment."

Answering the scroll, Ruby brought it to her ear. "Ashley, sorry, but now's really not a good time and-"

"_Ruby!_" Ashley's voice was soft, almost a whisper, yet with a note of urgency that Ruby could pick up easily, a faint warble that suggested more than a little panic. "_Ruby, please...I...I don't know who else to call._"

Ruby's eyes widened. She couldn't remember hearing Ashley sound like this…ever. She sounded desperate. "Ashley? What's wrong."

She heard sniffles and sobs of the line for a few seconds. "_I'm sorry...I'm so sorry, Ruby. I should have told you. But I was scared._"

Ruby shot to her feet, knocking over her chair. "Ashley, talk to me! What's going on?"

"_It's...I..._" Another shuddering sob came over the line. "_The White Fang...They're going to _kill_ me!_"

* * *

**You know, sometimes it's the little things that are the most fun to play around with, like the idea of Blake mellowing out because she doesn't feel as much pressure over the whole White Fang thing; or how, when Ironwood, Ozpin, and Glynda are together, it's _Glynda_ who's the adult in the room.**

**Yeah, from Ruby's point of view, Cinder is pretty much a Humanoid Abomination...and this is _before_ Salem started grafting Grimm parts onto her body.**

**At this point, the hardest leap was for Ruby to come to the conclusion to tell Ozpin about what was going down. At this point, she doesn't really have anyone else she can trust with what she wants to talk about, so she goes for a person who's proven himself to be remarkably reasonable.**


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55:**

* * *

**Hey, hope everyone's doing all right during this...time. For my part, things haven't been so bad. The vacation was a wash, and I wound up cutting it short, cancelling my last hotel reservation, and coming home early. But then it basically got extended by another week when the company I work for closed our retail locations for the time being. Fortunately, I'm still being paid for the hours I would have been working, which leaves me in a lot better condition than some people in this situation, for which I'm grateful.**

**In the meantime, I've been eating up the time with stupid youtube videos, catching up on my anime backlog on Crunchyroll, reading some new books...Oh! And I've started playing Minecraft again...which hasn't exactly been doing my productivity any favors, but I'm gonna try and knuckle down and get more writing done. I've also been experimenting in the kitchen, and I'll go ahead and share that recipe I've been working on down below. Hopefully, this might be something those of you who are looking for something to do could try. It's been a pretty fun way to pass the time.**

* * *

_Earlier that day:_

"Do you have everything you need?" asked Oliver, glancing up from his newspaper, as Ashley gathered everything for her shift at work.

"I do," said Ashley, giving her father a sunny smile. She hefted her pack and set out the door, exchanging one last farewell with her parents. After that, it was a short trip down to the ground floor and out the door.

She had barely set foot out onto the street, when her scroll rang. Picking it up, Ashley was surprised to see Chrys calling her. She wondered if he needed something. He'd occasionally asked her to pick up some item or another on the way over, reimbursing her after she arrived.

"What is it?" Ashley asked, answering the call. "Do you need something, Boss?"

"_I just need you to get here quickly,_" said Chrys, his tone strangely urgent. "_We need to talk._"

"Chrys...what's wrong?" asked Ashley, her pace already quickening in response to his words.

"_Listen, Ashley, we're in serious trouble,_" said Chrys. "_You remember what happened to Tukson, last Sunday?_"

Ashley nodded reflexively, even though she knew Chrys couldn't see her. "I do," she said.

"_Yeah, well...it wasn't some racist human who did him in,_" said Chrys. "_The White Fang killed him._"

"What?" gasped Ashley, coming to a halt.

"_I...I talked to him not long before that,_" said Chrys. "_He was planning on getting out, and heading for Vacuo. I guess the White Fang found out, somehow. So they killed him before he could get away._"

Ashley's legs began to shake.

"_Listen, just get here as fast as you can,_" continued Chrys. "_We need to make plans. We'll need to get you and your family out of Vale. I thought things had gone south, after that last meeting. But I never thought they were _this_ bad. We've got to get away, before they find out about you._"

"Me?" wondered Ashley.

"_Yeah,_" replied Chrys. "_If they find out you're friends with a Huntress, even a student-one, I don't think they're going to take it well. We need to get you and your family to safety._"

"But what about you?" asked Ashley.

"_It's _my_ fault you're wrapped up in this,_" Chrys answered. "_So I'm gonna take responsibility. Don't worry, I plan on getting out of dodge, before I wind up like Tukson. But getting you and your parents out comes first. Get over here, and we'll come up with a plan._"

"All right," said Ashley, walking again. As she pocketed her scroll, she picked up the pace of her walk, quickly making her way along the streets towards the commercial district, and the flower shop.

When she arrived, Ashley was immediately struck by the sense that something was wrong. The bell rang as she opened the door and walked into the shop. But she heard no sounds from the back, not even Chrys' usual greeting, in case the person coming into the store was a customer.

"Chrys?" she called. "I'm here. Where are you?"

Silence was her only response. An uneasy quiver in her stomach, Ashley stepped around the register, and made her way through the door into the back. "Chrys…?"

Behind the door, the back of the store was an office on one side, and a storage room on the other. A door led to the office where Chrys kept his ledgers and terminal, for keeping track of his supplies, profits, and expenditures. Outside that door, the room was occupied by shelves, holding stacks of pots, bags of soil and fertilizer, and racks of seed packets, amongst other things. Anything that wasn't the flowers themselves was stowed back here.

Opening the door to the office, Ashley glanced in to see it was empty. "Chrys?" she asked again, pulling back, and looking around some more. She walked along the rows of shelves, then paused, hearing the sound of the sole of her shoe stepping in something wet. Looking down, Ashley gasped in horror, seeing a pool of bright-red spreading across the gray of the floor, the liquid spreading out from beneath the shelf, apparently originating from the next aisle over.

Rushing, Ashley darted around the shelf, and found herself staring down at her employer. Chrysanthos was sprawled out on the floor, blood pooling around his body, from where it had been spilling out of an incision made into his neck. Before she could stop herself, a scream tore its way out of Ashley's throat, and she stumbled back, before losing her balance and falling down onto her butt, reflexively continuing to push and scoot away from the grisly sight.

Then she heard the bell ring from the front. Ashley looked up. Her first thought was that a customer had come in. If that was the case, then it was someone she could ask for help. She needed to call the police right away. But then she heard them speaking.

"_Sounds like she found him._"

"_We really need to do this? She's just a kid._"

"_It's the boss's orders. Besides, if she's a traitor, like the florist, then it's what she deserves._"

A strangled whimper made its way out of Ashley's throat. Now she realized what had happened. Apparently, the White Fang had found out about Chrys too. They'd killed him, just like they'd killed Tukson. And now they were going to take the opportunity to kill her too.

Frantically, Ashley looked around. Then it struck her. There was a back entrance to the store, where Chrys took his deliveries. The White Fang's people had come in through the front. So she could get out through the back, before they could find her. There was no time to waste. Ashley forced herself up, and began a stumbling run towards the back door.

Right as she threw herself against it, to knock it open, Ashley heard someone shout from the direction of the front of the shop. "Hey! Stop!"

Ashley ignored the shout, and lunged out the door, stumbling out into the alley behind the shop. She frantically looked right, then left, trying to figure out which way to go. The alley opened both ways, so at least she didn't have to worry about being cornered up against a dead end. Then she caught a glimpse of movement to her left, and saw someone coming around the corner of the building. The person was wearing a pitch-black hoody, but Ashley caught a flash of white beneath that hood-_A mask!_

Not needing anymore impetus, Ashley turned right, and rushed for the street. As she did, she heard the door to the shop slam open behind her, followed by the sound of shoes rapping against the pavement in her wake. Dashing out into the open, Ashley glanced to her right, only to see another person come around the corner, from the direction of the shop, prompting her to turn left.

And so the chase began. Ashley ran as fast as her legs would carry her. As she did, her mind worked desperately to figure out where she could go. But she would always be distracted by the sight of one of pursuers, rounding a corner, or waiting down a side-street, forcing her to quickly decide on a new path.

Then she hit upon an idea. _Ruby!_ If she could just get to the air-docks, maybe she could catch an airship to Beacon, before her pursuers caught up with her. Even if security wouldn't let her aboard without a pass, at least there would be people around who could hopefully hold off the White Fang pursuing her long enough for her to get permission.

However, as she continued to run, Ashley realized that she was only getting farther and farther away from the docks. In fact, they were in the direction almost directly opposite the way she was currently heading. However, a glance over her shoulder showed her a vision of one of those black-clad people running after her. Doubling back was not an option.

Worse, the streets of the commercial district had given way to the more deserted ones of the industrial district. Ashley now found herself running between warehouses, empty, with most of the workers home for the weekend. In her panic, she'd run into a place with fewer witnesses, an ideal space for the White Fang to dispose of her without interference.

Her strength was giving out too. Panic had lent wings to her feet, but Ashley's legs were burning from the strain of running, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She needed to find a place to hide. Perhaps if she ran into one of the warehouses, she could find a spot to hide, while she figured out what to do next. At the very least, she needed to find a place to catch her breath. But all the warehouses would be locked up.

Then she saw her chance. Ashley's flight was carrying her past a construction sight. A framework of steel girders rose up from the earth, holding the floors and walls of a partially-completed building, the entire area dotted with stacks of pallets, bricks, and other building materials, providing ample cover for her to hole up behind. Cornering sharply, Ashley dashed into the empty lot. She scrambled onto the ground floor, then spotted a set of stairs leading up to the partially complete floor above. Quickly, Ashley ran up those as well. Up there, she found herself amidst a maze of boxes and scaffolds. Running a little farther, she ducked behind a stack of empty pallets, and slumped down onto her butt, leaning up against them, gasping for breath. Reaching behind her, she pulled her tail down and around to her front, hugging it to help keep it out of sight.

As quickly as she could, Ashley tried to get her breathing under control, not wanting to give herself away. Forcing herself to breathe more slowly, she struggled against the hammering of her pulse in her ears, her limbs quaking from both her fear and her exertion. While she did that, she heard faint shouts.

"_-didn't get away, did she?_"

"_Not a chance._"

"_The sun's setting! Get those lights on!_"

They were looking for her. That much was obvious. Now Ashley realized she'd made a grave mistake. As large as the building was, by running up and hiding on one of the upper stories, she'd essentially trapped herself. All the White Fang had to do was watch the ways down, and she'd have no way of getting out without them spotting her. She was a squirrel-faunus and, like a squirrel, she'd now been treed, with the White Fang below baying for her blood like a pack of hounds.

_What do I do?_ Ashley thought, looking around, trying to think of some solution to her dilemma. _I should call the police!_

That was a possibility, but Ashley wasn't sure the police would be able to figure out where she was. She hadn't been keeping track herself, so she couldn't give them much more than "a construction site in the industrial district." Worse than that, even if it had been against her will, Ashley herself _had_ been inducted into the White Fang. What if the police just arrested her, along with the rest of the White Fang pursuing her? She'd heard about how they were accosting innocent faunus over the slightest suspicion. There was no way she could expect anything better. Ashley let out a defeated sigh. _If only I'd been able to get to Beacon...Wait! Beacon! Ruby!_

That's when it struck her. There _was_ someone she could call, someone who'd faced down the White Fang before, a friend that she could contact. If she couldn't get to Beacon, and safety, then the next best thing was to get Beacon to come to her, in the form of Ruby. It was tenuous logic, but the best Ashley could think of, under her current pressure. Ruby had saved her once before, so Ashley prayed that Ruby could save her again.

So, with trembling fingers, Ashely pulled out her scroll, almost dropping it in her nerves, selected Ruby's contact, and placed the call, praying that she could get through.

* * *

_Present:_

For the moment, telling Ozpin about her encounter in the hallway became the furthest thing from Ruby's mind. "Tell me where you are," said Ruby, her tone firm.

"_I...I don't know,_" Ashley answered. "_I'm in a construction site, somewhere in the industrial district. I'm hidden, but the White Fang are looking for me._"

Ruby frowned, wondering what other clues Ashley could give her to allow her to figure out her friend's location.

"Ms. Rose..."

Ruby looked up to see Ozpin watching her with a stern look. He nodded at her. "Tell your friend to stay on the line," he said, "and place your scroll on my desk."

Ruby nodded. "Stay with me, Ashley," she said, before pulling her scroll away from her ear and setting it on top of Ozpin's desk.

There was a flicker of light across the desk's surface, then a holographic image of the information on Ruby's screen appeared in the air over the desk. It showed a picture of Ashley's face, along with her name.

"Keep her talking," said Ozpin, already tapping at an interface on his side of the desk.

"What can you tell me about the building, Ashley?" asked Ruby, leaning forward, planting her hands on the edge fo the desk.

"_It's at least four stories...I think._" Ashley's voice now came from speakers on the desk itself. "_I'm on the second floor. Ruby, I can hear them! They're getting closer!_"

"Keep your voice down, if you can," said Ruby. "We're working out where you are."

"_A-all right,_" said Ashley.

"We can find her, right?" asked Ruby, looking to Ozpin.

"As long as she stays on the line," said Ozpin. "This is the CCT Tower of Vale after all, so it's the main point of reference for all location software, used by all scrolls throughout the Kingdom. Pinpointing her position will take a minute, at least."

Ruby nodded, then turned her attention back to her friend. "What happened, Ashley?"

"_I...I was g-going to work,_" Ashley began to explain. "_Chrys called me, and said we had to talk. W-when I got there, he...h-he was..._" The strangled sob that followed told Ruby all that she needed to know.

Despite not knowing the man all that well, Ruby felt the pressure of tears building behind her eyes. Chrys had always seemed like a fairly nice person, nice enough that Ruby felt guilty that the only reason she visited his store was to meet up with Ashley. And now he was gone. _How could they do that?_

Still, she had to keep it together, for Ashley's sake. "Then what happened?"

Ashley sniffed. "_I screamed. Th-they must have been watching the sh-shop. They c-came in the door, and...and I ran._"

Ruby frowned. "You got away?"

"_S-sort of,_" said Ashley. "_They c-came in through the f-front, and I...I went out the back._"

"Was Chrys in the front or the back of the store?" asked Ruby.

"_The back. Why?_"

Ruby frowned, meeting Ozpin's eyes across the desk, noting the same suspicion in his gaze that she felt. The White Fang had killed Chrys in the back of his own store, so there was no way they would have missed the back exit. If they had been planning to catch Ashley too (though _why_ was still something Ruby was trying to figure out), then there was no way they could have overlooked so obvious an exit. Someone should have been waiting for her, behind the shop. That someone wasn't meant...She was _meant_ to escape.

"How did you end up in the industrial district?" asked Ruby.

"_They w-were chasing me,_" said Ashley. "_Whenever I saw them, I went down a way that was clear._"

_That's too deliberate,_ thought Ruby. In other words, Ashley's pursuers hadn't tried to entrap her, but kept leaving a path of escape open. They'd done that in order to guide the path of Ashley's flight into the industrial district. If that was the case, then she was likely right where they wanted her. _But why?_

Why go after Ashley at all, for that matter? She was a faunus, one of the ones the White Fang was supposed to be fighting _for_. Even considering Adam's hardline stance, and anger towards faunus who didn't fight, singling out a single person like this, particularly a civilian like Ashley, was excessive.

_Maybe because she goes to school with humans,_ thought Ruby. But that still seemed excessive for such an elaborate method of herding her to a particular location. If they'd wanted to kill her for that reason, then it would have been best to simply trap her in the shop and kill her there.

There was only one other reason Ruby could think of why Ashley would be targeted. When she thought about it, everything clicked into place. Her eyes widened. That had to be it. And, if that was the case, the real reason behind this was...

"I've almost got her location," said Ozpin, tapping his interface again.

Then an electric squeal echoed across the line. Ruby yelped, a sound that was echoed by Ashley on the other end. The surface of Ozpin's desk flashed, and the holographic image went staticky, flickering and jumping.

"Ashley!" shouted Ruby. "Are you still there? Can you hear me?"

"_Y-yes,_" said Ashley, her voice buzzing heavily. "_I can hear you._"

Ruby let out a breath. "Thank God."

"They must have a jammer," said Ozpin. "It isn't strong enough to knock out the connection with the CCT completely. But it's prevented me from getting an exact fix on her location."

"Do we have a general idea?" asked Ruby.

"Within a hundred meters," said Ozpin.

"Good enough," said Ruby, picking her scroll off the desk. "Professor..."

"I will have a bullhead waiting at the docks for you," said Ozpin. "You need to keep Ms. Forrest on the line. I'll contact your team and sister-team."

"Thank you," said Ruby, giving the Headmaster a grateful smile. "And can you make it _two_ bullheads?"

* * *

Ruby kept Ashley talking, while she waited for the elevator to descend, and even as she dashed across the campus towards the docks. There, Ruby was relieved see that she'd arrived only seconds ahead of her friends. As it had turned out, once Ozpin had filled them in, they had run outside the dining hall, and called their lockers, right then and there, rather than waste precious moments running to the locker room to arm up. Glynda probably wouldn't be happy, but her ire was worth it to avoid even a single wasted second.

"What's the plan?" asked Jaune, as the others arrived.

"My team with me," said Ruby. "We're going to the industrial district. Ozpin gave me an idea of where Ashley is. Once we get there, I think I can find her. Once we do, we take out the White Fang, and get her to safety."

"Wait! What about us?" asked Yang, looking over at her own team. "We should be going with you, Ruby."

"No," said Ruby, locking eyes with Ren. "I need you to head somewhere else..."

* * *

On the bullhead, Ruby resumed her conversation with Ashley, keeping her talking, if only to help her from going completely panicking. It was also helping to keep Ruby from panicking to. Hearing Ashley's voice was an assurance that she was still alive after all.

"_They're getting closer!_" Ashley whispered.

"Just keep it down," said Ruby. "Leave the scroll on, no matter what happens."

"_Okay,_" said Ashley. "_Wha-what do I do if they find me._"

"Cooperate with them," said Ruby. "I don't think they're going to kill you right away. Stall as much as you can."

She heard a shouting voice in the background, which drew a squeak from Ashley.

"_We know you're around here, somewhere!_" shouted a harsh, male voice. "_Come out!_"

"Stay put," said Ruby firmly.

"_The longer this takes, the harder it's gonna be on you!_"

"Just listen to me," said Ruby.

"_Okay,_" Ashley whispered.

"We're almost there," Ruby promised her. "We _will_ save you, Ashley."

"_I believe you,_" said Ashley, her voice calming.

"We're coming for you," said Ruby.

"_Get those lights on!_" shouted a voice, sounding closer now.

_Lights?_ Ruby frowned. _Faunus have superior night-vision. Why would they need lights to help them search?_ Then her eyes widened again. _Oh! It's not for _them_._ Her suspicions about the _real_ reason behind this were getting firmer with each passing second.

A crack, the sound of a gunshot, came through, the volume causing the speakers on Ruby's scroll to pop, making her yelp. It was a sound echoed by Ashley. Fortunately, it was frightened, rather than pained, telling Ruby that Ashley was still uninjured...for now.

"_There you are!_" called out that harsh voice again.

"_Ruby! They've found me!_" Ashley kept her voice down, but the panic was returning.

Ruby directed a frantic look at Weiss, who quickly leaned into the cockpit to confer with the pilot. Leaning back out, she held up two fingers.

"Just a few more seconds," Ruby called into the scroll. "Try and play it off, like you think they don't really know where you are, like they're bluffing."

"_They shot the corner of the pallets,_" Ashley whispered back. "_I think they know._"

"Yeah, but we're so close. Give me every second you can buy."

Then the harsh voice called out again. "_You know, those things won't stand up to Dust-rounds. I can shoot you right through them._"

When the gunshots came, Ashley screamed. "Are you all right?" Ruby asked frantically, hoping her friend hadn't dropped the scroll.

"_Somehow,_" said Ashley. "_But they scared me. It was right over my head._"

Ruby pictured it, the pallets stacked over Ashley's head erupting in a cloud of splinters, as Dust-rounds tore through them.

"_Get out here, now!_" snapped the voice. "_Play nice, and I might just be convinced to make this quick._"

"_What now?_" Ashley asked.

"Now...do as he says," said Ruby.

An inarticulate squeak was all Ashley was capable of.

"Put your scroll on the floor, and leave it behind," said Ruby. "That way, I can still hear what's going on. Take it slowly. You're tired and shaky. Play it up, and take as long as you can going out to meet them."

"_O-okay._" There was a click of the scroll being set onto a hard surface. Then there was silence for a few seconds, before Ruby heard Ashley's voice, more distant, but at a more normal speaking volume. "_P-please don't shoot!_"

"_There you are, traitor,_" growled her tormentor. "_Get out here._"

Ruby could hear Ashley's uneven footsteps, imagining them being halting, Ashley needing to lean on the pallets as she walked. But she'd appeared, and that was prompting her pursuers to hold off on attacking her, for now. If they were up to what she thought they were, Ruby figured there was a good chance they'd want to keep her alive...for a little while longer, at least.

"Ruby!" Weiss called from near the cockpit. "We're here!"

Ruby nodded, getting to her feet. "Open the doors," she called.

The pilot obeyed, and the wall on one side of the passenger bay folded upward. Immediately, Ruby found herself staggering, buffeted by the wind, and the backwash of the bullhead's engine, as the airship switched to hover-mode. Ruby found herself looking down across the sparsely lit industrial district, all but deserted at this day and time. Seeing the blocky shadows of the buildings below, Ruby knew Ashley was somewhere down amongst them. _But where...?_

She didn't have time to be indecisive. Every second was needed. Ruby swept her eyes, looking anything that might be the location Ashley had described, while the pilot slowly turned the airship around to give her a panoramic view. Finally, Ruby spotted what she was looking for, a partially-constructed building, naked girders rising up from a space between two other buildings on either side. She couldn't afford to be wrong though, so Ruby needed to confirm her suspicions.

Closing her eyes, Ruby sucked in a deep breath, then Projected her Aura out. This wasn't the forceful Projection she had practiced continually with her friends, but a gentle washing outward of her Aura, Extension. Through it, she could sense everything it came in contact with. If she expanded it all the way around herself, her reach would be too limited to effectively search the area Ozpin had narrowed Ashley's position down to. But, by channeling it in a single direction, Ruby was able to Extend her Aura farther, easily reaching the skeleton of the building.

As it washed over the building, Ruby was able to feel it through her Aura. Indeed, there were four partially-finished floors, but only the second was accessible from the ground without the assistance of a lift. On the second floor, she found Ashley's presence. She could feel the other girl's fear, as well as the malice of the unlocked Auras that were gathered around her.

"I've found them!" Ruby announced.

"We'll get over to them," said Pyrrha.

"No time," said Ruby. "Launch me!"

"What?" exclaimed Weiss.

"Launch me, then come after," said Ruby. "I need to get there now."

"Don't waste time," Jaune shouted at Weiss and Pyrrha. Pulling his weapon off his hip, Jaune slipped his arms through the straps and opened it up into its shield-mode, leaving the sword inserted, while he braced the shield with both arms.

Ruby took a deep breath, then channeled her Aura into her feet, converting it. She jumped back, planting the soles of her sandals against Jaune's shield, as the Aura around her feet crackled and sparked. At the same time, Jaune's shield was outlined by the black of Pyrrha's Semblance, Pyrrha raising her right hand to channel her power.

It was something that had first become apparent during Ruby's first match with Pyrrha, and something they'd experimented with, both during their subsequent bouts and their team training. The electricity produced by Ruby's Manifestation could be affected by Pyrrha's magnetism. Because of that, even though there was no metal in Ruby's sandals, Pyrrha was able to keep her feet anchored to the shield, through the application of electromagnetism, holding the electric field Ruby was generating against Jaune's shield.

Frowning, Weiss drew and pointed Myrtenaster at Jaune and Ruby. There was a flash, and a black Glyph appeared at Ruby's feet, holding her in place even more firmly. Another second, and the hum of Ruby's electricity grew even louder.

"Now!" shouted Ruby.

Weiss flicked her fingers. Her Glyph turned white, then flashed to red. At the same time, Pyrrha reversed her Polarity, switching from attraction to repulsion. The combination of the two, along with the expulsion of Ruby's Aura out from her feet, launched her out of the bullhead's bay like a rocket. Ruby's cloak flared out behind her, while she flashed through the sky, leaving a trail of scattering petals in her wake, like a crimson shooting star. The entire bullhead rocked, tipping and drifting in the wake of her departure, before righting itself once again.

"That dolt," grumbled Weiss, pushing herself up and away from the wall, before turning to the cockpit again. "Get to that construction site," she said, pointing it out to the pilot through the canopy. "That's the target zone!"

* * *

"On your knees," snarled the soldier, looking truly monstrous in the glare of the powerful floodlights that had been switched on.

"W-why are you doing this?" whimpered Ashley, doing as she was told.

"We've heard what you've been doing, traitor," growled the man, prodding the back of Ashley's head with a rifle. "Consorting with a Huntress, and a human one at that...Disgusting!"

"It's not wrong," Ashley replied. "She's my f-friend."

The soldier threw back his head and barked out a harsh laugh. "You hear that, guys?" he called to his compatriots. "This idiot thinks that Huntress is a friend." Laughter echoed around them.

He let out a wordless snarl and jabbed the back of Ashley's head harder, making her yelp in pain and fear. "You're an idiot," he growled. "I bet that little bitch wouldn't lift a finger to help you."

"That's not true," Ashley whimpered.

"Well...you'd better hope so," said the soldier, a sick, vindictive tone in his voice. "We went through a lot of trouble, you know."

"What?" gasped Ashley, turning to look at him with wide, trembling eyes.

The man's grin sickened her. "We picked up your signal," he said. "We figured you might be calling your 'friend.' In fact, you could say we were banking on it."

"What?" Ashley repeated, finding herself breathing harder, panic beginning to set in.

"Yeah," said the soldier. "The boss seemed to think it was worth trying. Me, I've got my doubts. A dumbass Huntress wouldn't go out on a limb for a civilian bitch, like you, much less a faunus. Face it, you've been left high and dry."

Ashley found herself sweating in fear. She didn't believe the man's assertions. However, if what he said was true, then Ruby was..._It's a trap!_

Suddenly, she found herself hoping Ruby _wasn't_ really coming. The thought of being the instrument that led her friend to her death sickened Ashley, to the point that she felt as though she might not want to live to find out if her tormentor was right.

"No one's coming," growled the soldier, aiming his gun at her. "I should go ahead and put you out of your misery."

Then Ashley heard it. It was faint, at first, the sound of a voice carried over the wind. However, as it grew louder, Ashley found her eyes spilling over with tears again, but for a different reason this time.

"aaaaaaaaaaasssshhHHHLLLLEEEEEEYYYYYYYY!"

The White Fang soldiers surrounding her heard it too, their heads perking up.

"What the-?" grunted the man who'd been taunting and prodding her.

Despite everything she'd just heard and learned, Ashley couldn't stop a relieved smile from breaking out across her face. All it was was Ruby shouting her name. But, to Ashley, it was the most wonderful sound in the world.

A streak of red flashed between the girders, flying through the building. Ruby slammed into their midst with an explosive impact that made the entire building rumble, girders groaning and creaking. Akaibara flew out of its sheath with an almost deafening ring. Before the soldiers could even begin to respond, Ruby struck, her blade flashing through the air like a streak of light, her movements impossible to follow. Not a single shot was fired, not a single enemy blade was swung. Before the White Fang soldiers could even _think_ of responding, they were blown away, Ruby striking them down with swift speed and efficiency, taking all of them out in just a tiny handful of seconds. Ashley caught a glimpse of the soldier who'd been harassing her slamming into the stack of pallets she'd been hidden behind earlier.

Then all the noise faded, with only faint echoes returning. Looking around, Ashley saw the entirety of the group that had come after her laid out. One woman was imbedded in a pile of cinderblocks, sprawled out in the indent she'd smashed into them, almost like a stony couch. Another was folded over a piece of scaffolding like a rug, hung out to dry. The rest were sprawled out here and there.

And there was Ruby, standing right before Ashley, her cloak still stirring from the tempest her arrival had stirred up, sword held out and ready. To Ashley's eyes, Ruby looked like the heroic figure of every fairy tale she'd ever read or been told.

Then Ruby sheathed her sword and turned to face Ashley, a frantic look in her eyes.

"Ruby..." Ashley whispered, her heart thundering in her chest.

Ruby's face broke out in a relieved smile. Before they even realized what they were doing, they threw themselves at each other, seizing one another in a tight hug.

"Ruby!" cried Ashley, pressing her face against her friend's collarbone. "You came!"

"Thank God," Ruby breathed. "You're okay. I'm _so_ glad you're okay."

Ashley was surprised to hear a sob in Ruby's voice. Pulling back, she saw that Ruby was crying too. "Ruby...?"

"I was so worried," said Ruby, using a thumb to brush away some of Ashley's tears. "If anything had happened to you..." Ruby sniffed, then hugged Ashley to herself tightly.

Now Ashley realized that, in her own way, Ruby had been just as frightened as she was. Despite that, Ruby had been a rock of calm, the only thing keeping Ashley from sinking into the depths of her own fear. If Ruby hadn't kept her talking, kept talking to her, Ashley might have gone mad.

Still... "You came...you actually came for me," Ashley sobbed.

Ruby leaned forward, resting their foreheads together. "Of course I did, silly," said Ruby.

The whine of jet engines filled the air, prompting them to look up. A familiar bullhead drifted over head, and a trio of figures dropped down from it. Weiss and Pyrrha landed with picture-perfect crouches. However, Jaune yelped as he landed, his legs folding up beneath him and dropping him onto his butt.

"Still working on the landing strategy," he groaned, rubbing his behind as Pyrrha pulled him to his feet. Then he staggered towards Ashley and Ruby, Pyrrha and Weiss walking alongside him.

"This is all wonderful," said Weiss. "But we need to get out of here. The White Fang might have reinforcements."

"Oh, they _do_," said Ruby, her tone dry.

As if summoned by her voice, the crack of a gunshot echoed through the air. It was accompanied by the ping of metal against metal. Then the bullhead above lurched, as something detonated against its starboard engine. The airship shuddered and spun, before it began to turn away, trailing smoke.

"There goes our ride," said Weiss, holding her scroll up to her ear. "We need to get a clear landing zone, before we can get a pickup. Worst case, we'll have to just head for the air-docks on foot."

"It's not going to be that easy," said Ruby, letting go of Ashley.

Turning away, Ruby faced towards a darkened section of the second floor, created by the shadows thrown by all the floodlights that had been turned on. A slow clap echoed out from the darkness, the tempo lazy. It was accompanied by the sound of shoes scuffing against the building's floor. The light from the lamps caught on and reflected off of something red, the color shining almost demonically out of the darkness. Then the light illuminated more, the outline of a body, a jacket, and a mask.

Ashley's eyes went wide, and her pupils contracted, as the horned head of Adam Taurus seemed to melt out of the shadows. Ashley imagined that this was what it must be like, out in the wilderness, to have one of the creatures of Grimm come upon oneself in the dead of night. If Ruby had looked like a hero out of a fairy tale, then Adam was a monster, straight out of her deepest nightmares.

He walked sedately towards them, stepping boldly out into the center of one of the illuminated areas, where the lights were oriented towards each other, throwing his shadow three different ways. He regarded them with a smug smile as he applauded them mockingly.

"Well well, so the righteous Huntress makes her grand entrance and saves the day," declared Adam.

The sound of his voice chilled Ashley to the bone. Her legs gave out, and she began to fall. Ruby turned sideways and caught Ashley, before she could pitch forward onto her face. Despite her worry, Ruby's gaze never left Adam.

"So I guess _this_ is what you wanted," observed Ruby dryly.

"That's right," agreed Adam, lowering his hands, his left going to the weapon holstered at his waist and pulling it free. "At the very least, that traitor was useful. This almost makes up for her crime of trying to abandon her brothers and sisters."

"Brothers and sisters...?" Weiss gasped. "Ashley you were...in the White Fang?"

"I..." Ashley couldn't bring herself to speak, her fear of Adam, and her shame at the secret she'd been keeping from her friends cutting off her voice.

Ruby lifted a hand to her cheek, and gently brushed her index finger across it. Ashley looked up to see that Ruby was now looking at her, risking taking her eyes off Adam, just so that she could smile warmly at Ashley. There was no anger or suspicion in her gaze, only affection and care. "It's okay," she said.

"But-" Weiss began.

"No," said Ruby, her tone firm and steely, making Weiss' jaw snap shut with an audible clack of teeth. "We have a job to do." She fixed Weiss with that unwavering gaze of hers. "I'm counting on you."

Weiss sucked in a breath, then drew herself up. "Of course," she said, a trace of her old haughtiness creeping into her tone.

Ruby nodded, and leaned in closer to her team, who also closed in. Adam frowned, noticing that Ruby appeared to be whispering something to the rest of them.

"Are you sure?" asked Pyrrha.

Ruby nodded.

"But he's by himself," Weiss pointed out. "We can take him down together."

Ruby merely shook her head. "He's _not_ by himself."

Reaching up, she unclasped her cloak. In a single motion, she swept it off her shoulders, swirling it around to drape over Ashley instead, wrapping her up in the red fabric. Then Ruby carefully lowered Ashley to the floor, before stepping away.

"I'm not sure about this," said Pyrrha.

"Let's just do it," said Jaune in a firm, commanding tone. "Form up."

While Ruby stood back up and turned towards Adam; Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss encircled Ashley, turning their backs to her. Jaune and Pyrrha raised their shields, while Weiss raised her rapier straight up in front of her. All three of them bowed their heads and closed their eyes, seeming to be focusing or concentrating on something.

"So...you're going to face me alone," observed Adam, his smirk returning. "You're really _that_ confident in your victory?"

Ruby smiled back. "It's not about confidence," she replied. "It's about need."

"How so?" wondered Adam.

"Maybe, to you, fighting and killing me is the end," said Ruby. "But, to me, fighting you is just the means. We came here to save Ashley, so that's what comes first, no matter what else might be happening."

That wiped the smile from Adam's face, his lips curling back in a growl.

Ruby giggled at that. "Why so angry?" she wondered. "_You're_ the one who put Ashley in danger to bring me out here. Did you think I was just going to forget about her to throw down with you?" Then her smile faded, and her expression hardened. "Besides, I _know_ you."

"You know nothing about me," snarled Adam.

Ruby's smile returned, but it was thin, an angry smile. "I know you're shallow and petty," she replied, prompting a jolt of surprise and another angry exhalation from Adam. "You're the kind of guy that, if you can't win, you'll make sure _I lose_. That's why I know what's really at stake here."

Adam's left hand clenched so tightly around Blush that Wilt began to rattle within it. His entire body trembled with pure rage. "You arrogant witch," he snarled. "You think you're so smart, Huntress? All I needed was the right bait, and you jumped headlong into my trap."

"Yeah, but I knew it was a trap already," said Ruby, smirking. "You made it way too obvious."

"He did?" wondered Ashley.

"Sorry, Ashley," said Ruby, flashing her friend and apologetic smile, "but it's obvious they _let_ you run. Then they herded you here. They figured you'd call me."

"But then, I..." Ashley began to tear up again.

"It's okay," said Ruby, turning back to Adam. "A trap is only as good as the one who sets it...and you're a pretty sad trap-maker, Taurus."

"You're really _that_ confident, are you?" asked Adam.

"It doesn't matter how confident I am," Ruby replied. "Ashley needed me, so I came."

"Don't bore me with your hypocritical posturing, human!" shouted Adam, pointing accusingly at her. "You never would have done this for just any faunus, just the one you happened to befriend."

"I'd like to think otherwise," said Ruby. "But you're probably right that I was only able to do this, because Ashley is my friend."

"Able to...?" wondered Ashley softly.

"Because Ashley is my friend, she thought to call me," explained Ruby. "Because she called me, I was able to be here for her. So, yeah, I guess it's because she's my friend." She narrowed her eyes. "And besides, if we're talking about hypocrisy, you take the cake, Adam Taurus."

"Do tell," said Adam.

"You threaten, intimidate, and even kill the very people you claim to be fighting _for_," said Ruby, her voice hardening, like steel. "It's like I told you at the docks. In the end, you don't really care for your cause. You can talk all you want about how irredeemable we humans are, or how someone like Ashley is a traitor, just because I'm her friend. But the truth is that, when you're angry or frustrated, you want to hurt someone, because that's what makes you feel better. You want to kill, and you use pretty words, like 'justice', as an excuse.

"Face it, Adam Taurus...you're _hollow_."

A low growl emerged from Adam's throat, slowly building in volume, until it forced his mouth open and he roared in fury, throwing his arms out to the side. The sound was so intense that it could be felt as much as heard. In the face of that noise, Ashley whimpered and hunkered down within the protective circle of Ruby's teammates. Finally, after letting out all his rage in that sound, Adam lowered his head, panting slightly.

"I should have known better than to waste time exchanging words with you," he snarled. "I will remove your head and have it mounted on a pole, and plant it right before the steps of Beacon! I will kill those worthless fools behind you, then gut that traitor, and you'll die, knowing that _she_ will die, because of your failure."

Ruby's smile faded away, and her expression hardened. "We'll see about that," she said. "You made a serious mistake, Adam." Her left hand closed around Akaibara's handle. "You threatened someone dear to me. You put lives in the danger, for the sake of your stupid grudge. You want to play the monster, then fine." Akaibara rang as it emerged from her sheath, the crimson blade's Aura swirling through the air like a maelstrom, before curling inwards on itself, condensing around the sword, and Ruby's body, merging with her own Aura, as Ruby split the blade and took up her starting stance.

"I'm a Huntress," intoned Ruby, "and a Huntress fights monsters."

Adam grinned, then barked out a harsh laugh, even though his every hair was standing on end. "All this conviction...for a single pathetic, worthless girl, one who's done nothing but sob and cry, ever since you've come here."

Ashley winced.

"Of course," Ruby answered. "That's what a Huntress does. If someone is crying and afraid, it's my duty to protect them, and change the meaning of their tears."

Adam took a deep breath, clenching his right hand into a fist, holding his arms out slightly, his entire posture rising and falling in conjunction with his inhalations and exhalations. "An answer for everything, it seems. Fine!" He lifted his gaze up, his eyes staring past Ruby and her friends, slightly over their heads. "Do it!" he barked.

A loud clunk echoed through the empty building, and, all at once, the lights went out, plunging them all into darkness. Pitch-blackness descended upon them. There were still light-sources: the moon and stars, lamps from the streets outside. But, compared to the illumination from before, the darkness that suddenly descended seemed ominously absolute.

Within that darkness, Ruby caught a glimpse of red, the markings on Adam's mask, and the red components of his outfit, seeming to glow softly. They were soon joined by a new source of red, the blade of Adam's repaired sword, which he slowly drew from its sheath.

"We will see just how far your convictions can carry you...when you fight on _my_ ground," said Adam. "Here I come!"

With that, he rushed towards Ruby, and the battle was joined.

* * *

**Adam vs Ruby: Round 2**

* * *

**And so, a recipe that, hopefully, you might be able to try, while you're weathering this lovely little pandemic we find ourselves in.**

**A little while after the holidays, I got into experimenting with milk-washing, after one of the more recent _Good Eats_ episodes introduced a milk punch recipe. The main issue for me, and one that kept me from trying the recipe from the episode as is is that milk punch is typically a booze recipe...and I'm a teetotaler. Surprisingly, a search for virgin or non-alcoholic milk-punches turned up next to nothing, except for those milk punches that don't involve milk-washing. Still, the principle is simple enough. All you need is an acidic liquid with a ph of 4.6 or less, and you can make the milk curdle. Fortunately, most fruit juices fall into that sweet spot, which makes it pretty easy to build a base solution to work with.**

**The downside is that there is some...special equipment...required to pull this off. It's nothing super-expensive, but some of these things you may need to order and have delivered. Plus, I know that the current situation is making the availability of certain items limited. I've managed to consistently find the ingredients I need at my local grocery stores, but I know that may not be true for everyone. Even so...I decided to go ahead and put up this recipe.**

* * *

**Ruby Rose Milk Washed Punch:**

**Special Equipment:**

A pitcher that can hold over a quart.  
A large strainer.  
A large jar or saucepan that can accommodate said strainer  
A large coffee filter, preferably in the 1.5 gallon range.*  
A kettle (electric preferred)

**Ingredients:**

2 1/4 cups of water.  
8 Earl Gray tea bags (or black tea of your choice).  
60 grams of granulated sugar.  
1 cup of cranberry juice.**  
4 oz of apple juice.**  
2 oz of fresh-squeezed lemon juice.  
2 oz allspice syrup (recipe below).  
1 cup of whole milk.

**Instructions:**

Heat water in a kettle to 208 degrees Fahrenheit. (If you don't have a kettle where you can set the temperature, bring it to a boil, then take off the heat and hold for a count of twenty.) Pour the water over the teabags in a four-quart measuring cup and let steep for three minutes. After three minutes, remove the tea bags. _Do not squeeze or wring them._ Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Then add the cranberry juice, apple juice, lemon juice, and allspice syrup. Allow to sit for at least twenty minutes to let the temperature drop.

Pour the whole milk into the large pitcher. Then pour the tea mixture into the milk. Let sit on the counter for one hour.

Set the large strainer over the mouth of a jar or saucepan and press the coffee filter down into the strainer. Pour the mixture into the filter. You may have to pause and wait for it to drain down a little, before pouring the rest in. Wait until the liquid drains completely (approximately one hour). Once the liquid has filtered through, pour back into the (cleaned) pitcher, chill, and serve.

* No matter where I looked, coffee filters in this size were not available for purchase in local retail stores, not even the big discount clubs, like Sams or Costco. I wound up having to go online and ordering some. They generally don't come in boxes less than 500 though. If you're only looking to experiment, I've actually found that I could ask the folks at my local Starbucks for a few of their large coffee machine filters, and they were happy to give me some. So if you're just trying it out, probably start by asking them or your local coffee shop. I don't know how the current situation might affect their willingness to hand them out, but it doesn't hurt to ask. Just be sure to have a ziplock bag or something similar to hold them for transport home. If that doesn't work, you can do it with multiple layers of cheesecloth.

** Look for 100% juice with no added sugar. It's supposed to be sweet, not tooth-rotting.

* * *

**Allspice Syrup:**

**Equipment:**

1-quart saucepan.  
Spice grinder or repurposed coffee grinder.  
Small strainer.  
2-3 layers of cheesecloth.  
Condiment bottle.

**Ingredients:**

1 cup of water.  
1 cup of sugar.  
1 tablespoon of freshly-ground allspice.

**Instructions:**

Combine water, sugar, and allspice in the saucepan. Bring to a boil on the stove, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Once the mixture begins to boil, drop the heat to low, cover, and allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes. Then turn off the heat and allow to steep for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, pour the mixture through the cheesecloth and strainer into a small measuring cup to remove the solids, then transfer to a condiment bottle for storage and serving.

* * *

**Addendums****:**

This recipe takes a more traditional milk punch recipe, and swaps out most of the main ingredients for non-alcoholic substitutes. The base recipe called for ruby port, rum, and allspice dram; for which I substituted cranberry juice for the port (because it's also red), apple juice for the rum (I googled "non-alcoholic substitutes for rum"), and allspice syrup for the dram. Aside from that, the process remains the same.

This recipe, call for the mixture to be strained once, which was what the recipe I based it off of called for. I noticed that straining it only once does leave the mixture a little tiny bit cloudy. Most other recipes I looked at called for filtering the liquid back through the curds at least one more time to get that perfect, crystal clear punch. However, when I did that...it took a _long_ time for the liquid to filter through a second time...like six hours...seriously. I suppose you could just use another empty coffee filter, though I'm not sure what effect that would have on the final product. So, unless you're doing this for a party or guests (which is unlikely under the current circumstances), or you can afford and are willing to wait that long, you can go ahead and give it that extra straining, though I didn't notice any difference in taste.

Aside from that, you can tinker around with the amount of added sugar. I've tried everything from 85 grams to 60 grams (my personal recommendation) to 40 grams to none. I did note that the no-sugar-added punch came out a bit thinner and more watery on the texture side though. Again, look for unsweetened juices and then adjust the sugar-level yourself. I've also played around with different quantities of milk, up to a 1 1/2 cups (mainly because, since I don't drink whole milk normally, I just bought the small bottles, which usually don't come smaller than 12 oz, and just decided to use the whole bottle, rather than go through the trouble of measuring). The extra whey protein from the larger quantity of milk gives it a slightly richer mouthfeel, but the extra fluid waters down the flavor a little.

* * *

**So, there you have it. Mostly, this was just an experiment on my part to create a virgin milk punch (life for a teetotaler can be hard sometimes). Now that I got this to work, I'm actually thinking of branching out. Two other variations I'm working on are a punch with a chai-base (I'm going to use one of those chai concentrate syrups you can get at the store). I'm also going to try a chocolate variant, since chocolate itself is a pretty acidic ingredient, and it wouldn't take much extra to create a chocolate solution that's got a low-enough ph to curdle milk. Aside from that, you can play around with the different juice options. Like I said, most juices are on the acidic side and, even if it's not quite below that magic 4.6 number, you can always give it a boost with some citrus, like orange, lemon, or lime. You can also start out smaller, with 1-2 cup amounts, and just strain through a regular-size coffee filter.**

**I hope that some of you give this a try, and that it helps to alleviate some boredom for those of you stuck at home, and gives you something new and interesting to try. Once all the quarantine and stay-at-home orders come to an end, and we can start throwing parties again, this would be a cool trick to whip out at parties, particularly those with kids or people (like me) who can't or choose to abstain from drinking (my sister is the former, I am the latter).**

**I'll admit, part of this came from the idea of imagining how Ruby would react to seeing something like this, and learning "Wait! There's milk in that?" It gave me a few chuckles.**

**Until next time...**


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56:**

"You _allowed_ her to go?" asked Glynda, staring at the back of Ozpin's head. "Surely, we could have dispatched a professional Huntsman to handle the situation."

"Perhaps," said Ozpin, staring out at the distant skyline of Vale. With the sun having set, the cityscape was illuminated by countless lights, which glittered like jewels. "But there is no doubt in my mind that Ms. Rose would not be dissuaded. Her friend was threatened, and that demanded she take action. Precious time would have been wasted arguing the matter. I simply chose to bow to the inevitable, and provide her with what she needed to see things through."

"And you really believe she thought things through?" asked Glynda. "Even though her friend is being threatened."

"I _know_ she did," said Ozpin, chuckling softly. "I was fairly certain at the beginning, but all uncertainty vanished fairly quickly...the moment she asked for _two_ bullheads."

"Let us hope your faith is rewarded," said Glynda, letting out a slow sigh. "We're sure to hear from the police about this...again. And, now that James is here, I imagine he will be up in arms over this as well."

"We shall see," said Ozpin. "If nothing else, James appreciates decisiveness. Ms. Rose has more than demonstrated that, this evening."

"That much is true," agreed Glynda, the ghost of a smile appearing on her face.

"By the way, considering the state of affairs in Vale, I have the feeling RASP's most difficult obstacle will come _after_ they have secured Ms. Forrest's safety." Ozpin shook his head sadly. "Would you be willing to provide them some aid?"

* * *

"How much longer?" Weiss whispered harshly.

"We can probably go ahead," said Jaune. "It's not perfect, but we'll have adapted a little."

Slowly, Ruby's three teammates opened their eyes. The darkness verged on impenetrable, but, thanks to closing their eyes before, they had effectively jump-started the process of adapting their vision to a low-light situation, thanks to Ruby's words beforehand.

_"__Adam's going to kill the lights,"_ she'd whispered to them. _"Keep your eyes closed, until you hear them go out. I'll keep him talking for as long as I can."_

Ruby hadn't missed the idiosyncrasies behind the whole pursuit of Ashley. Beyond the fact that the White Fang had clearly been guiding Ashley's flight to this location, they had turned on the lights while searching for her. However, for faunus, so proud of their superior night-vision, that was an unusual move, particularly since it would illuminate the space for Ashley's rescuers. Therefore, turning on the lights had been part of the trap too. Draw Team RASP into an illuminated area, allow them to acclimate, then cut off the source of light...and then strike while they were still adapting to the sudden change in conditions.

Weiss had to admit that Ruby had walked a fine line. Considering how much she had baited and angered Adam, she was amazed that he'd held off calling for the lights to be shut off for as long as he had. But she supposed that Ruby really did get him well enough. Adam was petty and vindictive, but also somewhat narcissistic. He didn't just want to get back at Ruby for his loss at the docks by killing her right away. He wanted her to _regret_ making an enemy of him. He wanted her to understand how he'd set up her demise, and so on... Ruby had played on that, prompting him to respond to her barbs with angry tirades, before eating up still more time lecturing and taunting him.

Weiss found herself smirking. _And I used to think she had no business being our leader._

Their eyes were almost adapted. They could make out the dark shapes of the various objects around them. They kept their eyes moving, on alert for any signs of impending attack. Ahead of him, Jaune could see blurring shadows, and flashes of red, accompanied by the grunts and shouts of Adam. Straining his ears, he could pick up faint hissing noises from Ruby, which made him smile. Strangely, the sound of blades clashing, of steel against steel, was mostly absent, only the occasional clang sounding out.

But now wasn't the time to be focusing on that. They had to keep their guard up for the first signs of an incoming attack. As it was, Jaune picked up the faintest flash of motion...over his head. Whipping his gaze up, his eyes widened as he saw the faint lights from outside catching on a white jacket. Had he not already preemptively adapted his eyes to the darkness, he might have missed even that small sign.

"Above!" he shouted.

The figure launched straight downward, something in their hand pointed at the top of Ashley's head. Jaune shifted, raising his shield and holding it up between Ashley and the incoming attack. He felt something hard strike the angled surface, accompanied by a jolt that ran up his arm. In these conditions, he wasn't really up to trying to read and deflect incoming attacks, especially since he could barely see them. Fortunately, the force behind the blow wasn't all that impressive.

Seeing as his shield had halted both attack and attacker, Jaune shifted, dipping it to the side slightly, hearing and feeling something sharp and pointed scraping across its surface, while he slashed upwards with his sword. There were two sharp impacts against his shield, and his sword met with empty air, the attacker having kicked both her heeled boots against the shield to launch herself out of the way of his swing.

Jaune's eyes tracked her as she executed a graceful, acrobatic arc over his head, before touching down lightly, directly in front of him. His eyes adapting further, Jaune was able to make out her features, including the two-toned color of her hair. In this faint light, it came off as little more than a slight difference in shade, but still visible all the same. More than that, he remembered her height...or lack thereof.

"It's the girl from the docks," he announced to his teammates.

"The one that works for Torchwick?" asked Weiss.

"Probably," said Jaune, keeping wary eyes locked on the girl.

Now he could see what she had attacked with. The parasol she'd been carrying at the docks was clamped tightly in her right hand, holding it by its closed canopy. He could see the light from outside gleaming faintly off a metal surface, the point of a narrow blade that extended straight out from the parasol's tip. _This is gonna be tough,_ he thought.

Once again, Ruby had called it perfectly. Given his vindictive nature, if Adam Taurus couldn't win, he'd do his utmost to make sure Ruby lost. In this case, "loss" would mean Ashley dying. Losing the person that Ruby had come to protect would certainly count as a loss for her. But Ruby had understood that already, hence ordering the rest of her team into a close formation around Ashley, with instructions to keep her safe, no matter what.

But it wasn't going to be an easy job. Between what he had seen at the docks, and the attack he'd fended off just now, Jaune could tell that their opponent was nimble and elusive. The three other members of RASP were stuck in a fixed position, defending a helpless civilian. This girl, in the meantime, could dance around them and attack from any position she pleased. In a situation like this, save for an incredible stroke of luck, bringing her down would be all but impossible.

_But it's not about bringing her down,_ Jaune realized. _If she's going after Ashley, then we win by keeping Ashley safe. That's all that matters._

That being the case, they needed to focus one-hundred percent on defense. "Weiss, keep your hard-light-Dust at the ready," he said, keeping his voice as soft as he could.

Weiss grunted, which wasn't her irritably shouting at him to not tell her what to do, which was a good sign, he supposed. "Pyrrha, did you get her?"

"I did," said Pyrrha.

"Keep track of her," Jaune ordered. "Keep us posted on where she's going. Don't be afraid to move me or Weiss, if you think you need to."

"Got it," said Pyrrha.

Now that his eyes had adapted, Jaune was able to make out the girl's expression. He'd been expecting to see that same mischievous smile she'd shown at the docks. However, she was watching the three of them with a surprisingly serious expression, one that seemed almost pensive. She hefted her parasol, then shifted forwards.

Even though he'd been expecting an attack, Jaune was nearly caught off-guard. The girl lunged in with impressive speed, almost rivaling Ruby's. Her body flashed across the distance between them. Jaune raised his shield, meeting the point of her thrusting blade, her attack skipping off the surface. With a shout, Jaune slashed at her, but the girl had already kicked off the floor, going into a sideways flip that carried her out of the line of his slash.

She barely even took the time to touch down again, before kicking off. Her dodge had carried her into the area where Jaune and Pyrrha's eyesight overlapped. Then, to both their shock, the girl went in two directions at the same time, seeming to split. One shot off to the left, circling around Pyrrha, towards Weiss, while the other reversed course, going back right, around to Jaune.

Swallowing, Jaune stood firm. The girl lashed out at him, but he kept his stance. Her bladed parasol lanced out at him, reaching past his shield and striking his shoulder...only to shatter, as though she'd been made of glass. At the same time, Jaune felt a gentle tug on his shield, and shifted it to his right, her blade emerging out of thin air, and scraping across the surface again. This time, Jaune caught a faint gasp of surprise from the girl, who jumped back before he could try to follow through. There was a flash of light, dazzling him a little, and she vanished from sight.

"An illusionist," observed Pyrrha cooly.

"Good thing we had this plan ready to go," noted Jaune.

"Definitely," agreed Weiss.

Granted, their plan had been meant to counter their darkness-impaired vision. But it was effective against illusions as well, it seemed.

Weiss felt a slight tug on her rapier, pulling it up a little. Immediately, she shifted her arm to cooperate with the movement, whipping her rapier in a crescent motion that caught the descending blade of the diminutive girl's weapon, and parrying it. Turning her wrist, Weiss quickly reversed the crescent motion, and brought her sword around in a lightning-fast repost. The girl's parasol abruptly opened, the canopy flaring outward. Myrtenaster's point glanced off its curved surface. However, the open parasol also cut off her vision. A faint, grating noise reached her ears.

But then Weiss felt a tug at her sword again, and she whipped it around in that direction, even as the girl twisted around behind the cover of her parasol's canopy. Her right now gripped the weapon by its shaft, while her left hand closed on it farther down, just below the crook. Pulling her left arm back, she drew a slender, straight-edged blade forth from the parasol, while spinning behind the canopy to bring it around in a slash at Weiss from her right.

But Myrtenaster was there to meet it, the girl's sword clanging off the rapier's blade. Flicking the first two fingers of her right hand, Weiss summoned a Glyph, which spun outwards at an angle to the parasol's canopy, blowing it aside and exposing the girl behind it. From there, Weiss swiftly brought Myrtenaster around for another riposte, thrusting out at the girl's back, just between her shoulder blades. However, Weiss' sword pierced the girl, and she shattered...again.

Now it was Pyrrha's turn. Raising Akouo, she caught the slash of the girl's sword, before parrying aside the accompanying thrust from the parasol's bladed-tip. The girl danced back away from Pyrrha, holding both components of her weapon, one in each hand.

Reversing course, the girl launched a barrage of attacks at Pyrrha, who fended them off expertly. When the girl again jumped back out of range, Pyrrha flipped her grip on Milo, transitioning it into rifle mode, and cracking off several shots as soon as the barrel aligned with their opponent. The girl opened her parasol, spinning the canopy, and using it to deflect the bullets. The lacy thing looked as though it would tear in a stiff breeze, but Milo's rounds glanced off without leaving a mark.

On and on it went, the girl dancing around the trio, attacking and retreating, trying to find or make an opening to get at Ashley, who remained at their center, resting on her knees, watching everything nervously. Despite her overall fear, Ashley found herself feeling strangely detached, as though she were watching from a place of isolation, where none of what was going on around her could actually affect her. Rationally, she knew it wasn't true. But the sense of security supplied by the trio protecting her; and the warm, protective feeling supplied by Ruby's cloak; imparted a sense of peace.

Sometimes, the girl doubled or tripled, illusory duplicates splitting off and mounting attacks of their own. At other times, she would use an illusion as a distraction, but circle around invisibly to attack from a different direction. Sometimes she just up and vanished, only to strike from concealment later. Through it all, Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha held firm.

Neo frowned. She had to admit she was surprised to be so completely stymied. Sure, the three in front of her had a solid defensive formation, one that they were holding to with an admirable degree of determination. As much as she was taunting and baiting them by flitting away, they remained committed to holding the line, and keeping her from reaching her quarry. However, more surprising than that was the fact that they were able to respond to her attacks, no matter what illusions she showed them. Even the scruffy boy, whom she deemed the weakest, wasn't falling for her usual tricks.

What Neo _didn't_ know was that, from the moment she launched her first attack, Pyrrha had applied her Semblance to Neo's weapon. Pyrrha's Polarity was public knowledge now, with even Neo knowing about it. Neo would have expected Pyrrha utilizing her Polarity to interfere with her weapons, maybe even try and use it to disarm her. However, Pyrrha had done no such thing.

It was Ruby who had deduced a potential application of Pyrrha's Semblance. Even though her friends were still only working on the basics of Aura-manipulation, Ruby had told them about some of the more advanced skills, including the one known as Extension, expanding one's Aura to sense one's surroundings without needing their other senses. However, Ruby had deduced that Polarity could act as an Extension for Pyrrha, albeit in a limited sense.

Once Pyrrha applied her Semblance to an opponent's weapon, she could keep them continuously magnetized. Normally, that did nothing, until she needed to attack or defend, when she then increased the power in order to actually affect the movement of her opponent's weapon. However, even when not actively manipulating a weapon, Pyrrha could still feel its position in relation to her, feeling the weak sense of attraction and repulsion created by the magnetic field around the weapon.

Therefore, Neo's weapons, while magnetized by Pyrrha's Semblance, always stood out to Pyrrha's awareness. No matter what illusions Neo created, Pyrrha could _always_ tell where she was, and how she would attack. Even when Neo wasn't attacking with the weapons themselves, their orientation, relative to her movement, gave Pyrrha a rough idea of what kind of attack Neo would be launching.

It had been Jaune who had come up with this particular strategy. Once they had begun their team-training, Jaune had hit upon the idea of a formation with Pyrrha at its center, acting as a control-tower of sorts. By utilizing the knowledge Ruby had hit upon regarding Pyrrha's Semblance, Jaune realized that Pyrrha didn't need to limit herself to their opponents' weapons. She could also utilize her Polarity on her teammates' weapons. Using that, she could use subtle tugs on her teammates' weapons to indicate which way they needed go, and how they needed to attack or defend.

Thanks to that, this formation; with Pyrrha acting as their "eyes", using gentle tugs of her Semblance to tell Jaune and Weiss what moves to make to fend off Neo's attack; was proving to be all but impenetrable. Neo, not feeling any form of interference on her own weapons, was unaware of just how her opponents were able to read and track her every move. It was frustrating. But Neo was feeling something else as well, an emotion that was actually somewhat foreign to her...hope.

Still, Neo had a job to do here, and her sole trusted companion's safety and wellbeing depended on her being able to do it effectively. She couldn't allow Adam to return to Cinder with a report that Neo had been anything less than dedicated to fulfilling her role. So Neo began to press the attack harder.

Dashing towards the group, she lashed out with her heeled boots, kicking at Jaune, who braced his shield. But he wasn't prepared for Neo to actually use the move as a prelude to leaping off his shield itself, the move carrying her into the air over his head, where she stabbed down with her sword. Her attack would have struck Jaune from above, had Pyrrha's Semblance not seized his shield, and dragged it up to intercept the blow. Neo grimaced as the recoil jolted her arms. She'd put everything she'd had into that hit, so it slowed her to the point where she was almost caught, when Jaune followed through with a slash of his sword. Pushing down on her sword, she used it as a fulcrum to lift her body out of the path of his swing, though Jaune's attack still struck Neo's sword, knocking it off his shield, and taking away her support. Still, the missed attack left an opening that allowed Neo to plant her feet on the shield and push off, shooting straight up.

From there, she was forced to open her umbrella's canopy, using it to deflect another series of shots from Milo. Re-sheathing her sword, she flipped away and landed in front of Jaune again, charging forward. This time, she went low, dropping into a diving charge that had her skimming just barely above the ground, the bladed tip of her parasol aimed to thrust out, right at Ashley.

Fortunately, Pyrrha was still tracking her, and Pyrrha countered with a gentle tug on Jaune's sword, guiding him into swinging it down past his legs, slashing right for Neo. He missed her weapon, but the slash of his sword threatened to catch her right in the face, so Neo was forced to abort her attack, her blade pulling back mere inches from the cloak wrapped around Ashley's body.

At the last second though, Neo smirked. There was a faint hiss, and the top section of her parasol leapt forward, continuing on past Jaune's guard, flying off the end of the sword sheathed in the shaft, and striking Ashley right in the chest.

A ringing sound echoed through the darkness, and Neo's bladed parasol glanced off the red folds of fabric wrapped around Ashley's body, bouncing back away, with Ashley not feeling a thing from the impact. Neo gasped and leapt back, barely having the presence of mind to catch the upper portion of her weapon as it bounced away from where it had hit, before she darted back and vanished in another strobing flash.

"That was too close," gasped Jaune.

"Thank goodness for Ruby, though," said Pyrrha, letting out a breathy sigh of relief.

"She thought of everything," noted Weiss with a wry smile.

Within the folds of Ruby's cloak, Ashley blinked in confusion. She'd been afraid, the moment she'd seen that blade fly for her. However, she'd remained where she was, feeling strangely secure and safe. Having that cloak wrapped around her was like being enfolded in Ruby's presence. Little did she know how literal that sentiment was.

The cloak was a creation of Ruby's Aura. In battle, Ruby could channel her Aura through it, hardening it into armor. She'd imbued it with extra Aura, the moment she'd draped it around Ashley on the off chance that, if one of Neo's attacks made it through the tight defense of Ruby's teammates, Ashley would have one extra layer of protection she could rely on. Even now, in the midst of fighting for her life against a madman, Ruby's mind and spirit were still focused on protecting the person in their care.

Still, that close call also served as a frightening reminder to Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha. While Ruby's failsafe had kept Neo's attack from hurting Ashley, the fact remained that Neo had penetrated their formation. That was something they couldn't allow to happen again. So they hunkered down and focused on fending off their foe's next attack. However, strangely enough, Neo hadn't made any moves since vanishing.

"Where is she?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha.

"Behind the stack of cement bags, a little to your left," Pyrrha whispered back.

Jaune frowned. "Do you think she's figured it out?" he wondered.

Pyrrha swallowed. "If that's the case, we might be in trouble."

Of course, the main limitation of Pyrrha's Semblance-based Extension was that it was limited to the objects affected by her Semblance, metal, Neo's weapons in this case. If Neo realized that Pyrrha was tracking her through her Semblance, then she might have left her weapon behind to give the impression she wasn't moving, while aiming to strike in a different fashion. After having taken kicks from those heeled boots on two occasions now, Jaune didn't fancy what they would do if she landed a hit on his head or stomach. Even without her parasol, Neo wasn't someone to be taken lightly, he was sure.

"We'll just have to be ready," said Jaune. "Pyrrha, keep track of the girl's weapon. If it moves, we know she's still using it. Weiss, you and I are gonna keep our eyes peeled." He paused, before glancing down at Ashley. "Um...I know it's hard, but could I ask you to keep an eye out."

"Me?" Ashley pointed to herself in confusion.

Jaune nodded. "You _are_ a faunus after all," he said. "So your night-vision is leagues better than ours. If this girl comes at us, you have the best chance of seeing her."

"A-all right," said Ashley. Truth be told, she was tired of feeling helpless, not wanting to be a complete burden to her rescuers. If she could make even a small contribution to their efforts, she'd feel all that much more relieved.

With that, the four of them settled in and waited for Neo's next attack. All the while, the sounds of Ruby's battle with Adam continued to echo through the building.

* * *

With a shout, Adam drew Wilt, the red blade flashing through the air. Ruby ducked beneath it. Adam followed through with three more slashes, each almost as fast as his initial draw, before finishing it off with a shot from Blush. Ruby's form seemed to double, then triple, dancing between the different attacks. She responded with a thrust, forcing Adam to sweep his sword around to knock it aside. However, in doing so, he swept his sword across in front of his face. In that brief instant, when Wilt passed in front of his eyes, Ruby vanished from sight.

The next thing Adam knew, his heightened instincts prompted him to throw himself forward. But the delay caused by his confused hesitation meant that he still caught the edge of Ruby's blade, slashing into the Aura at his back, making him grunt in pain. With an enraged growl, Adam dropped low, before turning and sweeping Wilt, the sword gliding less than an inch above the floor. Naturally, Ruby jumped to avoid the attack at her feet. But Adam had anticipated that, already aiming Blush, and firing another shot at the airborne Ruby.

But Ruby hadn't jumped straight up, as Adam had anticipated, or even directly over his head. Instead, she had gone into a drifting roll that caused her body to gain barely any altitude at all, the move bringing her feet back down with surprising speed, before she darted forward, slashing her swords at Adam in a crossing pair of slashes that threatened to carve an X into his chest. By reversing his grip on Wilt, and drawing it back across his chest, Adam barely managed to deflect her attack, the force behind the blow actually making him skid back across the floor.

In that instant, Adam reversed his grip again, before slamming Wilt home into its sheath, and setting up for another draw. Ruby charged forward at him, aiming to close the distance again. Adam leveled his weapon at her, and pulled the trigger, prompting Ruby to lift one of her swords to deflect the pommel of Adam's sword, which was sent flying for her forehead. In that instant, Adam rushed forward, snatching his tumbling blade from the air, and going right into a series of slashes.

Except that his sword cut through empty space again, Ruby dancing aside from his first slash, before skipping back from its followthrough. Adam lunged after her, extending Wilt in a thrust, but Ruby easily batted that attack aside with Ibara, in her right hand, before launching her own return-strike with Bara, in her left hand.

Adam barely managed to get Wilt back into position for a parry. He quickly followed that up by returning his sword to its sheath, while Ruby stepped forward, taking advantage of the fractional delay created by that move to strike back, before Adam could execute another lightning-fast draw.

Except that was the furthest thing from Adam's mind. Instead of trying to draw Wilt, while Ruby was too far inside his range for him to execute a proper slash with it, he pulled it about halfway out of its sheath, swiftly bringing it up to intercept the descending Ibara. The potential of his Semblance was incredible. Even though it was most effective when used to block powerful attacks, Adam could still build it up, a little at a time, by absorbing the force from multiple weaker attacks. Besides, even Ruby's basic slashes carried quite a bit of force behind them. A few of those, and his counterstrike would be enough to cut her in two.

But Ibara halted a fraction of a centimeter away from Wilt's blade. Adam's jaw dropped slightly, before he was suddenly caught by a slash, cutting across his body from his right. Adam howled with pain.

In the instant she had begun her swing with her right arm, Ruby had begun to turn the rest of her body around, using her right shoulder as a fulcrum. Her right arm appeared to move almost independently from the rest of her body. But it was a movement that Adam had missed, because he had been focused on intercepting Ruby's attack. But it had been a feint, allowing Ruby to strike at the opening on his right side. At his level of skill, Adam shouldn't have fallen for such a basic trick so easily. But Ruby had tailored her movements perfectly to prey upon his expectations.

Adam's Semblance was powerful, there was no question. But, now that she understood the mechanics of how it worked, Ruby also knew how to keep that Semblance from becoming a factor in their fight. Adam had a peculiar method of defending, partially drawing his sword, when he stockpiled power to use with his Semblance. Because of that, Ruby knew how to move to lure out that defense, and create openings through the more limited range of movement Adam had, when holding his weapon like that.

Frustrated, Adam slammed his sword back all the way into its sheath, before executing another draw. But Ruby ducked beneath the line of his slash, continuing the rotation of her body from before, turning around to bring Ibara around in a horizontal slash across Adam's stomach.

Immediately, Adam responded by aiming Blush and pulling the trigger, firing a bullet at Ruby's chest. However, Ruby dodged it by sidestepping and dashing forward at the same time, her move carrying her past Adam, sweeping Bara up across his left side in the process. Yet again, Adam turned to follow her, turning to his left, while sheathing Wilt again. As he'd expected, Ruby was preparing to unleash another slash at him, leading with Ibara, but Bara following up behind at another angle.

Again, Adam partially drew his sword, holding it up in preparation to intercept Ruby's first attack, then immediately catch her second. However, he was again caught off-guard when both of Ruby's swords reversed course, Ruby leaning back...so that she could lash out with a kick that caught Adam right in his diaphragm, expelling all the air from his lungs in a pained gasp. Wheezing and fighting through the pain, Adam was left unable to respond properly, as Ruby danced around him, her swords slashing again and again. In a desperate defense, he unsheathed Wilt, and tried to wield it and Blush in tandem to intercept her strikes, all thoughts of absorbing her attack power forgotten, as he fought to get his breath back enough to fight properly.

Yet Ruby's swords seemed to always find their way through his defenses. His every attack seemed to miss its mark. _Again..._ he thought furiously, thinking back to the night at the docks. _It's happening again!_ It was just like the final round of their fight that night, where Ruby had suddenly turned the tables on him, right after she'd been about to die by his hand. Except, this time, there had been no point where she'd been at a disadvantage.

_But how?_ Adam wondered, spasming from the pain of another slash biting into his Aura. It was only natural for him to be confused. After all, he'd allowed Ruby and her friends to assemble in a well-lit area...right before plunging them into near-absolute darkness. With her eyes unable to adjust quickly enough, and going up against a faunus, with naturally superior night-vision; she should have been all but helpless, completely at the mercy of his blade of vengeance.

Yet Ruby moved with perfect surety. There was no delay, no hesitation, no confusion. She always seemed to know where he was, when and how he would strike. As she landed yet another slash on him, Adam caught a glimpse of Ruby's face, and found his jaw dropping.

Ruby's eyes were shut tight.

Rather than trying to adjust her eyes to the new conditions, she'd forgone the use of her sight entirely. Had Adam known exactly _how_ Ruby was doing that, he would have been even more astonished...mainly because Ruby had foregone using her protective Aura entirely. Instead, she had spread her Aura out around her, gathering it at her shoulders, and allowing it to sweep and billow out with her every movement, like an ethereal, invisible version of her own cloak. With that, she didn't need her eyes to sense her surroundings, nor Adam's position and movement.

It was a risky strategy to be sure. Normally, Ruby was able to layer her Extension over her protective Aura, to enhance her awareness without needing to sacrifice defense. However, she'd imbued the bulk of her defensive Aura in her cloak, when she'd wrapped it around Ashley, leaving herself without enough to use Exetnsion while protecting herself. In this state, Ruby was completely unprotected. If Adam landed so much as a single attack, even a glancing blow, it could inflict potentially fatal damage. Adam wouldn't even need his Semblance for that. With every second of this battle, Ruby was putting her life on the line. And the only reason she could even pull this off...was because she had already learned Adam's rhythm.

Because of that, Ruby was able to anticipate Adam's every move. She knew the timing of his every attack, when he would defend, how he would dodge, and when he would try to absorb her attacking energy with his Semblance. It allowed her to find and exploit every opening, and she did so with merciless precision.

This time, Ruby fought conservatively. Rather than trying to catch Adam with one of her more advanced techniques, and risk him absorbing its power and turning it back on her, she instead relied on basic swordsmanship, landing hit after hit, slowly and steadily chipping away at his Aura and strength.

Even though Ruby had learned the Dancing Blade from Shinrei, her proficiency wasn't at her teacher's level. Thanks to her previous fight with Adam, she already had his rhythm down. But learning it had still been a difficult feat. What was more, it was even trickier to completely give herself up, and fully commit herself to dancing in synch with the moves of her enemy. However, in this situation, with one of her senses bound, Ruby had no choice but to completely entrust herself to her understanding of her foe's rhythm. So she danced to the music of Adam's body and soul.

And it was working. She could feel his Aura steadily weakening, his strength flagging, his frustration building. The angrier her got, the more he was prone to lashing out recklessly, leaving even bigger openings for her to exploit. Of course, that entailed a risk of its own. When his anger and recklessness overtook him, Adam was more inclined to break from his usual form, and employ a move that flew in the face of his rhythm. Normally, in a serious fight, that was an absurdly dangerous move, one that would likely result in defeat. But, in Ruby's situation, it had the potential to completely reverse her advantage, as Adam could, at any time, abruptly unleash a move that she was unable to anticipate, something all the more dangerous, thanks to her forgoing her Aura's defensive capability.

Thus, even though, from the outside, it looked much more one-sided than their first encounter, the rematch between Ruby and Adam was no less of a tightrope walk for Ruby, where a single wrong move could result in death. Even faunus night-vision had its limits. Even though he could see far better than a human, under these conditions, Adam's perception of color and detail were still muted, in comparison to what he could see under the full light of day. Because of that, and a lack of nearby light sources, there was nothing to catch off the layer of sweat that gathered on Ruby's face. Had he been able to see that, Adam would have realized just how difficult this battle was for her.

Of course, because he couldn't see Ruby's sweat, and see just how intense her focus was, Adam was swept up in the illusion that Ruby was effortlessly thrashing him. Because of that, he was all the more incensed by the apparent ease with which Ruby was winning their fight. To his eyes, she seemed but a shadow, flickering in and out of sight, throwing up scattering clouds of petals with each sudden acceleration. Without power from his Semblance to enhance his speed, Adam was left unable to completely keep up with or follow Ruby's movements.

Then it happened, and a decisive mistake was made. Ruby had just slipped behind Adam again, landing a pair of slashes to his torso and leg in the process. Adam turned after her, drawing Wilt. This time, Ruby abruptly turned back, and met his strike head-on. Ibara rang loudly, as it clashed directly against Wilt's blade. Then, to Adam's shock, Ruby swung Bara, not at his body, but at the back of her own sword, Bara striking the back of Ibara immediately as it made contact with Wilt. The sudden enhancement of the striking force prompted Ibara's blade to shear right through Wilt, cutting Adam's sword in half.

"NO!" roared Adam furiously, watching Wilt's upper portion go spinning off into the darkness.

The next thing Adam knew, Ruby was scraping her swords against each other, the blades ringing, crackling vines of crimson electricity climbing their lengths, wreathing the blades. Wasting no time, Adam sheathed what was left of Wilt, prepared to draw just enough to intercept the powerful attack about to come. Perhaps Ruby thought that, by breaking his sword, she had sealed his Semblance again. But Adam knew that, so long as he had a portion of Wilt's blade, and Blush to store the gathered energy, he could still put his Semblance to use. So, as Ruby raised her lightning-charged swords overhead, Adam pulled a portion of his sword out, while leaving a fraction of it still in its sheath, prepared to catch her descending blades.

But, upon swinging her swords downward, Ruby abruptly twirled her swords in her grip, pointing them almost straight downwards, then driving them down into the floor. The crimson vines of lightning raced across the floor like creepers, reaching Adam's legs. Still braced to block against an overhead strike, Adam hadn't even _thought_ to shift his stance, and so was caught when Ruby's lightning reached his shoes, then climbed up his legs. Adam howled with pain as the electrified coils crackled against his Aura, his body spasming, Wilt and Blush falling from his hands to clatter against the floor.

Seeing her opponent disarmed, Ruby braced her hands against her planted swords, using them to hold up her body as she swung around, and slammed both of her feet home against Adam's chest and stomach, blowing him back, and sending him flying away across the building, slamming his back against a girder. Adam let out a pained gasp and slumped, only the girder at his back keeping him upright. His Aura flickered, then dispersed with a snap.

Ruby stood up, pulling her swords free of the floor. Only now did she open her eyes, staring at Adam, silhouetted by the light from the few street lamps outside. She met his angry gaze, even though she couldn't actually see his eyes. Her expression determined, she started towards him.

"Ruby! Look out!"

Ashley's voice caught Ruby's attention. A fraction of a second later, Ruby sensed a presence approaching her from behind. Her Extension was still active, but Ashley's warning put her back on alert, after Ruby had relaxed her guard, something she silently chided herself for. Just because she had beaten Adam didn't mean that his compatriot wasn't still in play, or that she would stay mindlessly focused on trying to fight her way through the other three to Ashley, when her ally was on the ropes.

Ruby swiftly turned to meet the diminutive form of Neo, Ibara meeting the blade of the sword hidden in Neo's parasol, while Bara rose up to parry aside a thrust from the blade concealed in the parasol's tip. Ruby quickly countered, but Neo dodged effortlessly, jumping into a swift flip that carried her over Ruby's head. Ruby turned to follow her opponent, only to find herself facing the spread canopy of Neo's parasol. Despite the presence of the canopy obstructing her vision, Ruby knew to retreat, falling back just as Neo whipped it aside to thrust out with the sword.

Then Neo jumped back as well, sheathing her sword in the parasol's shaft once more, and coming to stand between Ruby and Adam, her expression wary. She'd even managed to somehow retrieve Adam's weapons in the midst of her maneuver. Ruby met the other girl's mismatched gaze, frowning. There was...something...about the impression she got from Neo. It wasn't hostility. But Ruby wasn't sure what she was feeling, regarding Neo's intent. All that really mattered at this point was that Neo was on Adam's side.

Then Ruby's ears picked up a distant sound that was rapidly increasing in volume, as the source grew closer, the sound of sirens. "Give up, Adam," she said. "The police will be here soon." She rejoined her swords, holding Akaibara at her side, ready to bring it up at a moment's notice.

Adam coughed, then grunted, forcing himself to stand up, without the girder to support him. He took a staggering step, but faltered, unable to truly walk on his own. "You think you've won, have you?" he growled. "Well, think again." Reaching into his jacket he pulled out a scroll. "Keep that useless traitor, if you want. But I wonder just how happy she'll be to be alive...when her _family_ pays the price for her treachery."

"NO!" screamed Ashley, surging to her feet, trying to lunge out of the protective circle of Ruby's teammates, only to be stopped by Jaune, who restrained her with his right arm, careful to keep his sword away from her body.

Ruby said nothing, glaring past Neo at Adam. She knew that, if she tried to stop him, Neo would simply stop her. There was no way to reach Adam before he made the call. All she could do was watch.

"I'll even do you a favor, and put it on speaker," said Adam, tapping the screen of his scroll, "so that you can all savor the screams of her parents as they die." He held it up, a click signaling that someone on the other end of the line had picked it up. "It's me...Do it."

There was a pause. Then a voice came over the speaker. "_I'm sorry, but the thug you've just called is unconscious, and can't come to the scroll right now. Please leave your name and a brief message after the groan._" Yang's voice was followed by another few seconds of silence, before a low, pained groan came over the speaker...then the call ended with another click.

Now the smile that Ruby had been struggling to keep hidden burst forth on her face.

Adam stared at his device, dumbfounded. "How...?"

"I told you, Adam," said Ruby. "I _know_ you. You're petty and shallow. If you can't win, you'll make sure I lose. I figured that, if you couldn't kill me, and I stopped you from killing Ashley, then you'd target her parents. Your plan was obvious from the very beginning."

"You..." growled Adam, lurching forward clumsily, grabbing his weapons from Neo's hand. However, Neo stopped him, and wound up catching him, before he could fall forward onto his face. Looking up at him, she gave him a grave look, shaking her head slowly.

Outside, the sound of sirens continued to grow louder, and the red and blue lights of the police cars was now visible, coming through the spaces between the girders.

Adam let out an animalistic snarl, before pushing away from Neo, and sheathing what remained of his sword. "Don't think you'll be this lucky again, bitch! One way or another, I _will_ take your head...and I will make sure that you suffer before I do."

"Not happening," Ruby replied, starting forward.

Adam was clearly in no shape to keep fighting, or even move under his own power. Sure, if Ruby attacked, Neo would protect him. However, that would keep her from helping his getaway, and Adam would be unable to do so on his own. So Ruby was prepared to go on the attack, and bring Adam down for the police to handle. However, she was stymied when Neo abruptly flicked a hand, and an object rushed through the darkness at Ruby's head.

Ruby could have easily dodged the thrown object, or batted it out of the way with her sword. But there was something about it, and the strange intent behind Neo's action, that told Ruby it wasn't an attack, or even really a distraction, though it definitely served enough as the latter for Neo to pull Adam's right arm over her shoulder, then jump back, carrying him away, the pair vanishing in a flash. Meanwhile, Ruby caught the object Neo had lobbed her way.

It was a scroll. Ruby frowned, staring down at it for a moment, before tapping the screen to wake it. The scroll was locked, but she recognized the wallpaper. "Jaune..." she said, holding up the scroll Neo had thrown her.

Jaune and the others had already come up behind her, still keeping Ashley protectively between them, wrapped in Ruby's cloak. His eyes widened when he saw the scroll. "Hey! That's mine!" Immediately, Jaune began to frantically pat down his pockets, slapping at his thighs. "What the-? When did she...?"

Pausing, Jaune tried to think of when Neo might have been able to steal his scroll. Then he remembered her last attack against the three of them, the one where she'd nearly gotten to Ashley, only to be stopped by Ruby's cloak. At the time, Neo had gone low, and sheathed her parasol, which meant she'd had a hand free. Furthermore, her low charge and thrust had carried her to within arms' reach of Jaune's legs, before he'd managed to drive her back with an attack from his sword. _Did she pick my pocket then?_

After that, Neo had retreated into hiding, and hadn't taken action again, until Ruby had beaten Adam.

Ruby handed the scroll to Jaune, who frowned at the device, unlocking it and looking through it. "What was she doing?" he wondered aloud, not finding anything amiss. "It's not like she could've unlocked it herself, not here, not in the time she had it."

"There are all manner of illicit programs out there," said Weiss. "Who knows what that girl did to it."

"We can figure it out later," said Ruby, turning to look out through the openings between the girders, seeing cars with flashing blue and red lights screech into the open lot around the partially finished building. "Let's take care of things here, first."

* * *

**Well...that's what happens when you fight the same opponent without doing anything to train yourself up first. In Adam's case, he was doubly hadicapped, because a major aspect of Ruby's style is building on her ability to anticipate her opponent's moves.**

**I liked the idea of using Pyrrha's Semblance like this, mainly because it fits really well into a teamwork-based move that doesn't have Pyrrha doing all the fighting, so making her the control tower of a formation felt like a pretty novel thing to do.**

**I wonder what Neo was doing with Jaune's scroll...probably downloading a bunch of porn onto it.**


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57:**

Oliver and Elowen huddled together on the floor of their apartment, in between the seats and couch that occupied their living room. Around them, the white-masked members of the White Fang lounged on the furniture, their leader having taken the couch himself, sprawling across it lazily, his feet kicking in the air, while he rested his head, with its prominent ram-horns, on the opposite arm. He idly held up a sword with a crude-looking, blocky blade, which he was turning to catch the light from above.

One of his compatriots, a lithe young woman, occupied one of the armchairs. She was casually inspecting her free hand, the other closed around the handle of her rifle. Every now and then, the muscles of her fingers would twitch, and a set of nasty-looking claws would emerge from beneath her nails, prompting a frightened twitch from the couple on the floor, which in turn prompted a vicious grin from the young woman, before she retracted the claws, only to repeat the process a moment later.

Another soldier rested in the other armchair, one leg casually crossed over the other, a cheetah tail draped over one of the chair's arms, while the masked man kept the rifle in his hands casually trained on the pair on the floor.

Finally, the fourth member of the group leaned against the wall, just beside a window overlooking the street outside. His mask did nothing to conseal the set of whiskers that extended out from above his lips, and he kept his arms folded, a sheathed sword with a broad, curved blade resting on his left hip.

"Relax," said the ram-faunus on the couch, turning his head to smirk at Elowen and Oliver, "this'll all be over soon."

"Wha-what is the meaning of this?" demanded Elowen.

They had been settling in for the evening. With Ashley at work, the pair were prepared for a quiet dinner, only for them to receive a knock at the door. The Faunus Quarter wasn't the safest place in Vale, but neither was it the hive of scum and villainy that the media sometimes painted it as. Oliver hadn't thought twice about opening the door to see who was there. As a result, he was caught completely off-guard when four faunus, all of them wearing the infamous masks of the White Fang, bulled their way in, knocking him over in the process. Oliver's forehead sported an ugly bruise from the hit he'd taken from a rifle's butt in the process of the White Fang soldiers' entry.

From there, the pair had been swiftly cordoned off, forced to kneel on the floor of their own home, while these invaders took up their positions on the chairs and couches, and against the wall.

"Well...you see...your daughter's been a baaaad little girl," explained the ram. "She seemed to think that we'd overlook one of our own associating with a human Huntress."

"One of your own...?" Oliver blinked, then glared at the man. "Our daughter would _never_ join the White Fang."

"Think again," taunted the ram. "In any case, your daughter is supposed to be punished. 'Course, if she doesn't want to pay the price herself, then you two are gonna pay it for her."

"Just who do you think you are!?" shouted Elowen. "I thought the White Fang was supposed to _help_ faunus! But here you are, forcing your way into people's homes, threatening them for the actions of others! You're nothing but thugs and bullies!"

"Careful what you say," snarled the woman, unsheathing her claws again. "This is bigger than any one faunus, and we can't allow our work to be undermined."

"Plus, your daughter deserves it," added the cheetah on the opposite chair, "fraternizing with the enemy like that."

"Shut it!" snapped the whiskered faunus by the window. "All of you just shut up. We came here to do a job, so quit being assholes about it."

Elowen and Oliver exchanged a wary look. They got the impression that the one by the window didn't like what the group was doing. But he didn't seem committed enough to actively oppose it.

The tense, nervous silence stretched on. Oliver had tears streaming from his eyes. More than the fear he felt at the danger to him and his wife, right in their own home, he was afraid for their daughter. The White Fang was out to kill their precious Ashley...and there was nothing they could do about it.

Then someone knocked on the door again.

All at once, the four White Fang soldiers jolted into action, the three seated ones shooting to their feet. Weapons were leveled at the door, as the knocking continued. The soldiers traded uneasy looks, unsure of what to do. Whatever they had been prepared for, apparently someone knocking on the door of their targets' apartment was _not_ it.

"Hey there!" shouted a girl's voice from outside. "Got a special delivery for ya!"

The sound of glass breaking prompted the four soldiers to whirl towards the window, just in time to see a gray canister strike the floor, before exploding into a cloud of pink smoke that flooded the apartment.

"What the hell?"

"What's going on!"

"Who cares?"

Before they could figure out what to do, the door suddenly exploded inward, fragments of it catching Claws in the chest and face, the Dust-round that followed blowing her off her feet. Cheetah and Ram both turned towards the door, Cheetah raising his rifle and firing off a barrage, while Ram raised his sword. Meanwhile, Whiskers was backing up towards the wall.

The window the smoke grenade had been fired through shattered completely, one black shadow flying in, followed by a second. Cheetah turned towards the sound, rifle rising, but was instead caught by a fist to the side of his head, as another figure rushed through the shattered door.

Whiskers slashed at the approaching shadow, his sword cutting it in two. However, the shadow abruptly vanished and, the next thing he knew, a heeled shoe slammed into his face, breaking his mask and sending him flying to slam his head against the wall.

Ram brought his sword down at the figure who'd just taken out Cheetah. But the figure swiftly turned to meet the incoming attack, a fist surging up in a vicious uppercut that snapped the crude weapon in half, before following up with a powerful straight from the opposite fist, slamming dead-center into Ram's mask, and sending him flying into the wall with enough force for his head to smash _through_ it. Fortunately, his Aura kept his skull from shattering, but he was definitely out of the fight.

Elowen and Oliver clung tightly to each other, completely baffled as to what was going on. They both screeched when a pair of hands descended, one resting on Oliver's shoulder, the other on Elowen's.

"It's all right," whispered a calm, male voice to them. "We're friends of your daughter."

"Clear!" shouted an exuberant female voice from over by the broken door.

"Clear," responded a calmer voice from where Whiskers had been knocked against the wall.

"Clear," called the voice of the young man by Elowen and Oliver.

"Well...for a given definition of clear, anyway," commented the young woman at the door. "Can we do anything about this smoke now...maybe crack of open a window, or...?" Yang's voice trailed off, able to _feel_ the deadpan stare Blake was leveling in her direction, a silent reminder of Blake's mode of entry. Yang chuckled sheepishly. "Right..."

Behind Elowen and Oliver, Ren sighed and rubbed his face. "The smoke should clear in a moment," he said.

"Cool," said Yang. "I like being able to see...and why does it smell like bubblegum?"

Oliver and Elowen had had the same question, but figured it was bad form to start complaining about the way their lives had been saved.

"Best to ask Nora, yourself," Ren replied, helping the couple to their feet. "Are you two all right?"

"We're...fine," said Elowen.

"But what about Ashley?" asked Oliver frantically. "These bastards said that she's a target."

"Your daughter is in good hands," said Ren, the clearing smoke now thin enough that he was able to see the pair's faces, and they his. He gave them a reassuring smile. "Ruby and her team went to help her."

Elowen and Oliver shared a look with each other, before turning back to Ren. "Ruby did?"

"Yes," said Ren. "Ashley called her for help. Ruby figured that you two would be under threat as well, so she asked us to come help you."

"Good thing we did," added Yang with a grin.

"We...we can't thank you enough," said Oliver.

"Don't thank us just yet," said Blake. "We should get moving."

"Moving?" asked Elowen.

Ren nodded. "The police are coming to see to the White Fang. But that doesn't mean you're out of danger. Until we're completely sure of your safety, we are gong to relocate you to Beacon Academy for the time being. I hope you don't mind."

"W-well, considering what just happened, I certainly have no complaints," said Oliver.

"I suppose we have no choice," agreed Elowen.

"Then gather what essentials you can," said Ren, "along with your daughter's. She'll be joining you there."

Oliver and Elowen quickly gathered the things they'd need: toiletries, a few changes of clothes, and certain possessions they couldn't leave behind. Afterwards, they went through Ashley's room to gather the same for her. While they did, Blake and Yang went through the process of restraining the unconscious soldiers, while Ren called Nora, telling her to move over to the roof of the building they were in. Finally, he called the bullhead that had dropped them off for pickup.

Elowen and Oliver were just assembling with the three students, when a buzzing sound, the sound of a scroll set to vibrate, came from the pocket of the whiskered White Fang soldier. Pulling it out of his pocket, Yang looked at the unfamiliar scroll number. Realizing what it must be, a wicked grin spread across her face, and she answered it, putting it on speaker.

"_It's me...Do it._"

Blake twitched, trembling as a familiar voice came from the device. "Adam," she whispered softly.

Yang flashed Blake a grin, before turning back to the scroll. "I'm sorry, but the thug you've just called is unconscious, and can't come to the scroll right now. Please leave your name and a brief message after the groan." Then she held the scroll up to the mouth of Ram, and pushed his stomach in, prompting him to let out a low, pained groan. Finished, Yang hung up.

"He's not going to like that," observed Blake.

"Too bad," said Yang. "He's the _last_ guy who should be getting what he wants."

"W-was that...?" wondered Elowen.

"The order for them to kill you," confirmed Ren, prompting Ashley's parents to go pale. However, he gave them a small smile. "But, considering what Ruby told us, if he's saying that, then that means he lost. So Ashley is all right."

The pair let out sighs of relief. Ren patted their shoulders. "Let's get going," he said. "You'll be safe at Beacon."

The couple nodded, and hoisted their bags over their shoulders, with Ren, Blake, and Yang each taking additional bags. From there, the five of them made their way up to the roof, where the bullhead was gradually lowering. The whine of its engine drowned out the sound of the sirens, but they could see flashing blue and red lights approaching from the streets below.

Boarding the bullhead, Elowen and Oliver paused, taking one last look at their home, wondering if they would get the chance to see it again. However, that brief pause was all they had time for. Soon, the airship was making its way out of Vale, and across the bay to Beacon. On the ride over, they listened to Yang bicker with Nora over the contents of her smoke grenade, while Ren and Blake listened to the pair with fond amusement. It was strange to think that this quartet of people had just saved them from almost certain death.

Silently, the couple prayed that their daughter would reunite with them soon.

* * *

"What do you mean she's under arrest?" demanded Weiss, glaring at the police officer.

"I've got orders to take in _all_ White Fang on the scene," replied the officer, looking down at his scroll, his tone unconcerned.

"Yes, and you _have_," Weiss pointed out.

Now the officer lifted his eyes to glare back at Weiss. "The White Fang is a faunus organization, so any faunus on the scene is a suspect," he replied.

"That's not how it works at all!" Weiss snapped.

Behind them, Ashley, still wrapped in Ruby's cloak, began to step forward. "B-but-" Ashley began to interject, before she was stopped by Jaune and Pyrrha.

Jaune gently grabbed Ashley's arm through the cloth of the cloak to get her attention, shaking his head when she met his eyes. "Don't say anything right now," he advised her.

"You can't just go around throwing out blanket accusations like that," Weiss protested.

"You don't have the right to dictate our procedure," the officer countered, now glaring at her. "We'll get this sorted out at the station. Whether or not this faunus is a member of the White Fang is something our interrogators will find out."

"Because we know that your interrogators are _so_ dedicated to getting the truth," Weiss retorted sarcastically. "It's not like they have a track record of harassing and browbeating innocent faunus in an effort to force a confession out of them."

The officer grit his teeth. "Like I said, you don't get to dictate our procedures. Like it or not, that faunus is coming with us. So hand her over."

"Not on your life," Weiss replied.

"Then I guess you want to come down to the station too," said the officer.

"You can try and make me," Weiss growled back, her left hand twitching.

Ruby, who'd been standing slightly behind Weiss, reached out and rested a hand against Weiss'. Looking back at Ruby, Weiss saw the younger girl shake her head slowly. Weiss paused, letting out a slow breath. Ruby smiled, then stepped forward. She kept her expression calm, meeting the officer's gaze squarely. "I'm sorry, Sir, but Ashley is coming with us. After what just happened, we need to get her somewhere where the White Fang can't reach her."

"That is none of my concern," growled the officer. "I won't have you removing a suspect from my custody."

"Ashley isn't a suspect," Ruby countered. "She's the victim, and a witness."

"That will be for _us_ to determine," growled the officer. "Listen here, you brat! I've had it up to here with you damn students conducting your unauthorized activities and interfering with our investigations."

"Maybe we wouldn't have to if you did any actual _investigating_," Weiss scoffed.

"Weiss...not helping," said Ruby, following it up with a sigh.

"That does it!" snapped the officer. "Stand aside, or you can join that faunus in the patrol car."

"If that's necessary, then _I'll_ go with Ashley," said Ruby, drawing a surprised gasp from Weiss and Pyrrha, though Jaune merely wore a rueful smile, having figured that Ruby would say something like that. "No matter what, I'm not leaving her alone."

While the officer clearly didn't like that, it was apparent that this was a compromise he was prepared to accept. However, whatever he had been planning to say next was cut off by the whine of a bullhead's engines. They looked up to see the curved hull of one of the familiar airships swooping by overhead. It came to a halt, its engines already shifting into hover-mode. As they did, Ruby's eyes narrowed.

Given that the vessel in question wasn't smoking from one engine, it was safe to say that this was _not_ the bullhead that had brought them out to the scene. It hovered in place, not descending any farther; not that it could, the open space before the construction site clogged with police cars. But then the bay doors folded up, and a familiar figure strode out to the edge.

"Are we in trouble?" Jaune asked, his tone rising.

The others could understand his worry. Compared to the police officers around them, one of whom who had been threatening to arrest the lot of them for protecting Ashley, the sight of Glynda Goodwitch, staring sternly down from her perch, was _far_ more intimidating, not in the least because they were fresh off a round of detention from the last "mission" they'd conducted. They couldn't help but wonder if Glynda would be as upset with them as she had been last time.

Drawing her riding crop, Glynda pointed it downwards, then flicked it back and forth. A pair of the police cruisers were lined with violet light, their forms lifting up and levitating away from one another in a display of Glynda's trademark telekinesis, creating a space wide enough for the bullhead to set down. The sight of the woman moving two multi-ton vehicles with a pair of simple gestures was enough to completely cow the police, and prompted Ashley's jaw to drop.

Now the bullhead was free to lower. Setting down on the open ground, Glynda stepped down and walked towards them, her gaze severe. "Is there a problem, officers?" she asked.

Taking a few extra seconds, the officer that had been accosting them drew himself up. "Y-yes," he said, forcing out a harsh tone. "Your students are interfering in an active investigation. They've conducted an unauthorized operation in the middle of our jurisdiction, and are now refusing to turn over a suspect."

Weiss growled, her fingers clenching. But Ruby stopped her with a light brush of fingers across Weiss' knuckles.

Glynda's expression didn't even flicker before the officer's anger. "I'm afraid there are some errors in your statement, officer," she said.

"Huh?"

"First, this is _not_ an unauthorized mission," said Glynda. "This mission was authorized by Headmaster Ozpin himself. Second, Ashley Forrest is an important material witness in _our_ investigation. Recovering her safely was the primary objective of this operation. Her parents have already been secured by one of our other teams, and are on their way to Beacon as we speak."

The confirmation that her parents were all right, and being taken to safety, nearly made Ashley's legs buckle in relief, Jaune and Pyrrha moving to support her.

"Th-that's..." The police officer bared his teeth, trying to come up with something. Unfortunately, he was out of moves.

If RASP's mission had been unauthorized, they would have been left without a leg to stand on, legally speaking. The police would have been free to take Ashley away, with Ruby accompanying her being the only compromise they were willing to agree to. Despite Weiss' desire to the contrary, resorting to force was out of the question, as that would have constituted an abuse of power, according to the laws governing Huntsmen and Huntresses.

However, Glynda's intervention, and her assurance that the mission had been authorized by Beacon and Ozpin, changed all that. The authority of Huntsmen on-mission superseded that of the police, and even the military. Technically, as students, RASP had no such authority, even if their mission was officially authorized. But with an actual Huntress, in the form of Glynda, on the scene to lend her authority, they were now protected.

"That being said, you are free to continue investigating the scene," said Glynda. "And we will gladly leave any actual prisoners to your care, officer." She turned to regard RASP and Ashley. "Now then, get aboard, and we will return to Beacon immediately."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruby, giving Glynda relieved smile, before turning to her friends. "Let's go."

The five of them walked past the paralyzed, but angry, police officer, Glynda falling into step with them. They climbed aboard the bullhead, Ruby pulling Ashley up by her hand. Getting settled into their seats, they relaxed as the bay doors closed, and the aircraft lifted off.

The bullhead was a utilitarian aircraft. Therefore, luxuries, such as sound dampeners, were generally of the cheaper kind, cutting out just enough of the engines' drone for them to hold a conversation, if they spoke just below the level of a shout. Despite that, because Ruby was sitting next to her, she was able to hear the faint sniffling coming out from beneath the red hood covering Ashley's head.

"Are you all right?" asked Ruby, leaning forward a bit to inspect her friend's face, beneath the cowl.

Tears were streaming down Ashley's face. "It's just...I'm so happy," she said. "You saved me."

Ruby reached up and brushed tears off Ashley's face. "Of course I did," she said, giving Ashley a warm smile, before pulling her into a hug.

Ashley leaned in, resting her head against Ruby's shoulder, sobbing in relief. Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha all looked on with fond smiles. From the far end of the row of seats, Glynda found herself with a smile on her face as well...though she would deny ever making such an expression in the future.

* * *

It was a matter of minutes before they arrived at Beacon. Despite that, between her fear and relief, Ashley had all but fallen asleep on Ruby's shoulder. Though she didn't want to, Ruby roused her friend when the bullhead began to land. Blinking blearily, Ashley allowed Ruby to help her up, so that they could disembark. Another bullhead had already landed on an adjacent pad. Team RYNB was there, along with Ashley's parents.

"Ashley!" shouted Oliver, he and Elowen breaking into a run at the sight of her.

"Mom! Dad!" Her fatigue forgotten, Ashley rushed to meet them, her parents enfolding her in a tight hug.

"Thank God you're all right," Elowen whispered into her daughter's ear.

"I feel the same," said Ashley, shedding still more tears as she pressed into the embrace.

RASP, RYNB, and Glynda all looked on, glad to see the family reunited. For the moment, they were content to watch Ashley hug her parents. However, the tap of approaching footsteps, and the slurp of liquid from a mug, announced the arrival of Ozpin, also smiling fondly.

"Well, it's good to see that things have gone well," said Ozpin, giving the entire group an appreciative look. His voice prompted Ashley, Oliver, and Elowen to break up their hug, the three of them turning to face the Headmaster.

"We can't thank you enough for this," said Elowen, she and her husband resting hands on their daughter's shoulders.

"There's no need to thank me," said Ozpin. "There is someone far more deserving of your gratitude." His eyes drifted to Ruby, who looked down with a blush, while Pyrrha and Jaune chuckled softly. Even Weiss was wearing an amused smile.

"We have a great deal to discuss, particularly concerning this night's circumstances," said Ozpin. "However, you've been through quite the ordeal, so that can at least wait until tomorrow. Glynda will guide you to your quarters here. In the meantime, though it is late, I would like Team Raspberry and Team Rainbow to report to my office for debriefing."

"_Yes, Professor,_" said Ruby and Ren dutifully, while Yang and Nora stifled tired groans.

"I'll give you some time," said Ozpin, already turning back towards the tower. "Go ahead and say your goodbyes."

"Thank you," said Ruby.

Glynda waited off to the side as the two teams gathered around the Forrest Family.

"We can't thank you enough for this," said Elowen. Looking over, she met Weiss' eyes specifically. "Ms. Schnee, I owe you an apology."

"F-for what?" asked Weiss, blinking in confusion.

"Even though it was not where you could hear it, I have said some...unpleasant things about you, and made assumptions," said Elowen, lowering her gaze. "I was wrong to do so."

"It's all right," said Weiss, giving the woman a rueful smile. "Considering who my father is, I can't blame you."

"But that's no reason to pass judgment on his daughter," said Elowen. "You aren't him, and I shouldn't forget that."

"Thank you," said Weiss.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Ashley were standing before each other, Ruby wrapping her friend in one last hug. They pulled away from each other, and Ruby gave Ashley a sheepish smile. "Uh...Can I have my cloak back?"

Ashley averted her eyes, using her hands to pull it tighter around herself. "Um...Ruby...Could I maybe...keep it?"

Ruby blinked, surprised by the request. "You can't," she said.

"But...you have a spare, don't you?" asked Ashley.

"Why does she want to keep it so badly?" Nora whispered to Yang.

Yang smiled. "Well, it's something Ruby put around her when she was feeling vulnerable," she pointed out. "I bet it was a huge source of comfort to her. And..." Yang's smile turned sly.

"And what?" prodded Nora.

"Nothing," Yang answered.

"I'm sorry, but you literally can't," said Ruby, trying to explain herself. "That cloak's made from my Aura. It's not even real cloth. Even if I don't take it back, it'll just disappear on its own before long."

Ashley's eyes widened. She remembered what Ruby had told her about Aura. That explained why she felt so secure and protected in it. Ruby had literally wrapped Ashley up in the protective essence of her soul. _Even so.._. "Then...could I keep it until it does?"

_Well, I get the feeling I won't need it back tonight,_ thought Ruby. _And my Aura will recover on its own by morning. So..._ "All right," she said.

"Thank you," said Ashley. She stared down at her feet, gently scuffing her shoes against the asphalt. "Um...Ruby..."

"Yeah?" Ruby canted her head.

"I...I...well...I..." Ashley had no idea how to say what she wanted to say, how to put her feelings into words. But she managed to lift her face to look Ruby in the eyes once more. "You were my hero, today, and I...well..."

Ruby blinked, still waiting for Ashley to make her point.

An impulse rushed up, and Ashley found herself surging forward, her hands rising to grip Ruby's shoulders. Normally, with her reaction-speed, Ruby would have been able to do a half-dozen things in that time. However, her mind was locked by confusion as Ashley brought their faces together, and planted her lips against Ruby's.

Startled gasps and exclamations made their way around the two teams, with both of Ashley's parents looking on with a mixture of surprise and amusement.

"Knew it," said Yang, her smile becoming a grin.

Ashley pulled away, and took in the dazed expression on Ruby's face. "I know it's sudden, but...do you think we could...um...?" Unable to finish her sentence, Ashley awkwardly looked away.

Ruby blinked in confusion for a moment, before finally processing what Ashley was saying to her. Her cheeks flushed, and she gasped slightly. Then she frowned sadly. "I'm sorry, but we can't," said Ruby.

The sound of Ashley's heart breaking was almost physically audible. "Wha-why not?" she wanted to know.

Ruby did her best to put on a reassuring face. "I'm flattered, I really am," she explained. "But it just wouldn't work between us."

"Why not?" wondered Ashley. _Because you're a Huntress, and I'm a civilian? Because you're a human, and I'm a faunus?_

"Because I'm straight," Ruby answered simply. "Sorry, but I don't like girls that way."

Ashley's jaw hung slack for a moment, while an awkward silence fell over the entire group. Pulling back, she ducked beneath her borrowed hood, her entire face burning red. "You can just kill me now," she said. How ironic. She'd escaped death at the hands of the White Fang, and Adam Taurus himself, only to now die of embarrassment.

"Ashley, please!" protested Ruby, grabbing the hem of her cloak, and using it to gently tug Ashley towards her. "I'm sorry. I know it's not what you wanted. I understand." She ducked enough to look up under the hood to meet Ashley's mortified gaze, not a difficult task, since Ashley was a little taller than her. "It's all right," she said, using her thumbs to brush tears from Ashley's cheeks.

"B-but I..." Ashley averted her eyes.

"I'm grateful," said Ruby. "I'm sorry that we can't be more, but can we still be friends?"

Ashley sniffled. "Yes."

Ruby sighed, and pulled her friend into another hug.

As they embraced, the others were doing their best to contain their reactions. "Well, that's a pity," said Yang, resting her hands on her hips. "Those two would've made the cutest couple. I bet Sasame would have been over the moon."

"I hope it's not too much of a disappointment for her," said Blake.

"Aw well," said Nora, shrugging.

"I think she'll be fine," said Ren. "Her feelings likely came out of the heat of the moment. Once she calms down, she should be able to recover."

Weiss sported a wry smile, glancing sidelong to take in the expression on Jaune's face. "Try not to look _too_ relieved, Arc."

"I...I don't know what you're talking about," Jaune stammered, while Pyrrha laughed into her hand.

Meanwhile, with Ruby's help, Ashley was managing to calm herself down, though her face was still looking distinctly flushed. Glynda stepped forward. "I'm sorry to call an end to this," she said with all sincerity, "but I believe it is time for me to show you to your quarters. You all will be free to visit the Forrest Family, when you have time. But, for now, you eight should report to Ozpin."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruby, before turning to Ashley one last time. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

"All right," said Ashley, drawing Ruby's cloak about herself a bit more tightly.

After that, she and her parents turned away. Glynda flicked her riding crop, levitating the family's bags with her Semblance, before leading them away.

"Well...let's go get debriefed," said Ruby.

* * *

Ozpin was waiting for them, having set out eight chairs in his office. Two, for Ruby and Ren, were at the front, while the other six were arranged in a row behind them. Ruby couldn't help but wonder where Ozpin got those chairs, considering she hadn't seen them before, and there wasn't any place in the office to keep them...that she could see anyway.

They took their seats, Ozpin sliding mugs across the desk to them. Ruby was surprised to see that, instead of coffee, they were filled with hot cocoa.

"You're going to want a good night's sleep after this," Ozpin pointed out. "As such, I figured that coffee was probably a poor choice."

"Well, you're not wrong," said Ruby, fighting back a yawn.

Then her stomach chose to add its own two cents, with a low gurgle rising from her belly, her body reminding her that she had gone on this spur of the moment mission without having any dinner. A range of similar sounds came from behind her, and she realized that her call to action had likely interrupted her friends' dinners as well.

"Well, perhaps after a hearty meal," noted Ozpin. "The dining hall is closed. However, we do have a few staff on call for situations like this. You wouldn't be the first team to return from a mission late at night. Once we are done here, I will notify them, and you will be able to get something to eat."

"Thank you," said Ruby gratefully.

"Now then," said Ozpin, leaning forward on his desk. "I want to begin by saying that you have all done excellent work, especially you, Ms. Rose."

Ruby blushed. "Thank you, Professor," she said.

"Considering the urgency of the situation, I took a calculated risk, and chose to trust your judgment," said Ozpin. "Clearly, that was the correct choice. Thanks to the decisions you made, a family was saved from being torn asunder by violence tonight."

Ruby smiled contentedly, while her friends shared proud looks.

"That having been said," continued Ozpin, "I would now like to go over the particulars of you mission, starting with you, Ms. Rose."

"What about me?" asked Ruby.

"Please explain to me the reasoning behind your course of action," said Ozpin.

Ruby nodded. "Well...I think we both realized that the White Fang could have caught Ashley a lot sooner than they did. So I knew they'd deliberately let her run. And, from what she told us, she was obviously being manipulated as far as what _way_ to run."

Ozpin nodded. "And, because of that, you determined that it was a trap."

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I don't know how, but someone figured that Ashley and I were friends." Granted, the "how" of that could have been any number of things. After all, now that she wasn't at risk of being hounded by the press anymore, Ruby hadn't exactly been trying to keep her meetings with Ashley covert. "That information made its way back to Adam Taurus. So he decided to use it to...pay me back, I guess, for beating him at the docks."

"It _is_ the kind of thing Adam would do," said Blake. "He really hates losing. If an operation failed, he would be furious."

"And you determined that he was using this situation to draw you out," said Ozpin.

Ruby nodded. "That's the only reason that they'd go through such a roundabout way of running Ashley down. If it were just about anyone else, I figure they'd probably just kill Ashley and be done with it."

A shiver went down her spine at the thought of it. Ruby dreaded that more than the thought of risking her life fighting for her friend. Such an act would have been a powerful psychological blow in its own right. Ruby would have learned about Ashley's death, and been powerless to have done anything about it, because she hadn't been aware that Ashley was in danger in the first place. Ironically, Adam's grudge, and his desire to score payback directly, had been what saved Ashley this night.

From there, Ruby went through how she realized the White Fang had deliberately turned on the lights, while looking for Ashley, so that Adam could have them turned off when the fight began, trying to capitalize on his advantage of faunus night-vision.

"And what prompted you to send Team Rainbow to Ms. Forrest's parents?" asked Ozpin.

"Because I realized that Adam hates losing," said Ruby, echoing what Blake had just said. "I figured that, if he was trying to draw me into a fight on his terms, he would be pretty confident. But, after last time, he'd want to be sure that, if he couldn't beat me down on his own, he could at least _punish_ me for beating him. First, he tried to have Ashley killed while he was fighting me. Because Ashley was our reason for being out there in the first place, he knew that would be even worse for me than losing to him. But I also figured that, if he'd go that far, he'd probably go the extra mile, and go after Ashley's family too, on the off chance we managed to beat him _and_ protect Ashley."

"As vindictive as Adam is, that's definitely the kind of thing I'd expect from him," added Blake.

From there, they went into a detailed analysis of the fights themselves, going over RASP's strategy for fighting Adam and protecting Ashley. Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha related their fight against the diminutive girl who'd attacked on Adam's behalf. Team RYNB went over their strategy for rescuing Ashley's parents.

On the whole, the debriefing went on for about an hour. By the time they wrapped it up, they were all failing to fight back their yawns. Nora and Jaune, in particular, were on the verge of conking out in their seats.

Finally, they wrapped up with RASP explaining their confrontation with the police. Ozpin nodded, taking in all the information they'd related. "You've all done very well tonight," he said. "This was a mission worthy of professional Huntsmen, and you all have every right to be very proud of yourselves."

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, blushing again.

"Now then...Ms. Rose, I would like to speak with you a bit more," said Ozpin, drawing a surprised start from Ruby and her friends. "The rest of you are dismissed."

"Um...Really?" asked Jaune, giving Ruby a worried look.

"Don't worry," said Ozpin, giving Jaune a smile. "She is not in trouble. There is another topic we need to discuss."

"All right..." said Ruby, feeling a bit confused.

The others filed out of the office, leaving Ruby and Ozpin alone.

Ozpin smiled apologetically at Ruby. "I'm sorry, Ms. Rose, but I suspect that we do not want the others to be around for this discussion."

"Um...What discussion?" asked Ruby.

"You've forgotten?" wondered Ozpin. "Lest we forget, it was only happenstance that Ms. Forrest called you when she did. But you were already in my office for a different reason, remember?"

"Oh?" Ruby flushed in embarrassment. In all the excitement of the evening, she'd all but completely forgotten _why_ she'd happened to be in the office with Ozpin, when Ashley made her call. "Whoops..."

Ozpin chuckled. "Somewhat understandable, considering the...hectic...evening you've just had. However, I believe that this might be a matter that we should not put off." His expression hardened considerably, and he leaned forward, his mouth hidden behind the steepled fingers of his hands. "Now then...what was this about someone dangerous and evil being here, at Beacon?"

Ruby swallowed, her face heating up, even as a chill made its way down her spine. The memory of meeting Cinder in the hallway, of her senses brushing against that twisted, corrupt soul, rose up within her. All of a sudden, Ruby was very grateful for her empty stomach.

"W-well..." she said. "It's going to take some explaining. I'm not entirely sure what happened, myself." She took a deep breath. "All I know is that she did something...terrible."

"Well, it's best to start at the beginning," said Ozpin.

Ruby nodded, then took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she fixed her eyes on Ozpin's. "Professor...do you believe...in magic?"

* * *

**Bit shorter chapter this time, since it's largely about wrapping up the aftermath of this latest conflict.**

**I get the feeling some people might dispute the humor of that Ashley/Ruby moment. But I enjoyed writing it, largely because, even in a society where acceptance of people with differing orientations is fully normalized, there's room for that kind of humor because people don't walk around with little banners on their head proclaiming that they are straight, gay, or anything else, so that kind of "whoops" moment is perfectly plausible.**

**To clarify, Ruby is straight for the purposes of _this_ story. Canon Ruby's orientation remains up in the air at the moment, and we have yet to definitively see where it will come down. I won't mind either way, so long as the relationship in question is fairly decently-written. (Presently bracing myself for essay-length comments on why this or that ship is wonderful/terrible/would never work/is better than this or that other ship/etc...)**

**For my part, I do like _RWBY_'s approach to the depiction of non-heterosexual people/couples, in large part because they're simply being depicted as...there...as in admitting they exist, and that they don't necessarily need to force any special commentary on it through the pipe. Ilia is presented as having been infatuated with Blake, but it's not presented as this identity crisis of Ilia wrestling with her sexuality, but rather simply presented as Ilia having feelings for someone, and that someone having no idea, because said someone was too busy getting closer to a certain someone-else. That the "someone" Ilia fell for happened to be another girl is presented as purely incidental, and of no importance otherwise.**

**I especially love the introduction of Saphron and Terra, wherein we are introduced to a married lesbian couple...and nobody bats an eye. The sequence of events basically starts with Jaune introducing his sister to everyone, Terra coming in, Terra being introduced as Saphron's wife; and the sum response from pretty much everyone in the scene is basically "Oh, hi Jaune's sister's wife," before carrying on. Nobody even bothers to ask where Adrian came from, which would be the big question mark hovering over the family situation otherwise. Jaune's sister married a woman, they have a kid, and it's all perfectly natural and normal and not worth bothering over.**

**I have plenty more I could say on the subject, but I'm gonna cut myself off so this Author's note doesn't wind up longer than the chapter itself...**

**Anyway, next chapter will be another flashback...just next chapter...and it's definitely pertinent, as we are going _right_ back to where we left off the last time we were with young-Ruby in the Mibu Clan...and you can probably guess what that means.**


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58:**

_Six years ago:_

"_The Tale of the Seasons_?" Natsuki blinked in confusion.

"It's better known in the outside world," explained Makoto. "Would you like to hear it?"

"All right," said Natsuki.

Makoto told her the story of an old man, living in self-imposed isolation, until he was approached by four young women. One by one, they wore through his defenses and restored his hope and optimism for the world. In thanks, the old man, a wizard, chose to reward the maidens by taking the magic power within him, and dividing it up between them, empowering those young women to become incarnations of the seasons...Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, the Four Maidens.

"That's a nice story," said Natsuki. "But what does that have to do with me?"

"Because...it is not _actually_ a fairy tale," said Makoto, drawing a gasp from his young audience. "It truly happened." He shook his head slightly. "Granted, the exact details may not necessarily line up with the retelling, particularly because there is more than one version of it. However, the ultimate truth is that there really was a wizard, and he really did impart his magic to four young women."

"Magic...?" Natsuki's eyes widened.

"Correct," said Makoto, "a power separate from that born of Aura, or that born of Dust, which is used in the outside world. Through that power, wielding elemental force equivalent to any of our schools of Manifestation would be a simple matter."

"And what about me?" asked Natsuki again.

Makoto frowned. "The power of the Maidens has one other quality. It is cyclical. Empowered as they are, Maidens still live out mortal lives. They grow old, and then pass on...assuming their lives are not ended prematurely. However...their magic does _not_ pass on with them.

"Instead, upon the death of its host, the magic seeks out a new vessel, and grants its power to her. The criteria for this is somewhat nebulous. According to what we have learned, the first option is that the magic is passed on to the last person in the thoughts of the dying Maiden. Should the Maiden not have anyone particular in mind, or should the person in their last thoughts not meet the criteria for inheriting the power...it will instead go to someone at random."

"And what's the cri-er...criteria?" asked Natsuki, wrestling with the unfamiliar word.

"The host must be a young woman," said Makoto. "Granted, the definition of 'young' is rather...unclear. As best we can determine, it could mean any young woman up to their mid-thirties...but with no lower-limit, as far as age is concerned."

"No lower...limit...?" Natsuki eyes widened, and he mouth drifted open, a soft gasp lingering in the air between her and the healer. "So...it could even be...a _baby_?"

"Indeed," said Makoto. "When you were barely a month old, your parents brought you to me with a most unusual story. They told me that, in the dead of night, a mysterious force blasted a hole through the roof of your bedroom and shattered your crib, with you in it. They found you amidst the wreckage of it, playing with balls of light and heat."

Natsuki gasped louder. "S-so...I'm...I'm a Maiden...?"

"Yes," said Makoto. "You are the Summer Maiden. It has been a long time since the power came to someone within the Mibu." He shook his head. "I suppose the law of averages dictates that it was due to happen sooner or later."

"So...I can do magic?" asked Natsuki, looking down at her hands.

"Not at the moment," said Makoto. "The magic of the Maidens is dangerous. It comes into you, fully formed. From the moment it entered you, you possessed the full scope of its power, irrespective of training or effort, you would have access to power potentially equal to that of any of our schools of Manifestation. Of course, learning to apply that power effectively would take time and effort. But that's a separate matter.

"The issue was that, having such power manifest within an infant was a tremendous danger. In your condition, such power would have been beholden to your merest whim, and the first of your childish tantrums could have wrecked your family's home."

"Tantrums...?" Natsuki's expression fell.

Makoto gently brushed a hand through her hair. "I don't mean to be disparaging. Amongst other things, children fuss and cry. You were of a milder disposition than most, but you had your moments. However, being able to throw about fire and lightning with your squalls would have made you...unmanageable.

"To that end, after consulting with my fellow Taishiro, we chose to place a seal on your magic."

"You can do that?" asked Natsuki, eyes wide.

Makoto chuckled. "I can," he said. "Technically, magic is beyond my ability to control. However, the Maiden's power binds itself to your Aura. That bond is within my domain. As such, I...isolated it from the rest of you...I suppose is the best way to put it.

"Of course, the seal is constructed from my Aura. Over time, it naturally weakens, both as a consequence of being detached from me, and your own Aura working against it. Because of that, it needs to be renewed periodically."

Natsuki gasped again, sitting up straighter. "The checkups!" she exclaimed. "_That's_ what they were for!"

"Correct," said Makoto, chuckling. "Yes, your checkups are meant for me to restore the seal. That is the 'condition' you have been treated for, over the course of so many years." Makoto bowed his head before her, a contrite gesture that no one would have ever expected one of the exalted Taishiro to make. "Of course, because of that, I have caused you a great deal of stress and anxiety, to say nothing of lying to you by omission. Because of that, I humbly apologize for any distress that has resulted from my decision."

"It's...all right," said Natsuki, stunned to see one of the most powerful and exalted members of the clan bowing before her. It was an unsettling sight. "I...I think I understand." She frowned. "But...why is this such a big secret?"

"The Maidens themselves are a great secret," explained Makoto. "Outside the clan, very few know of their existence. Within the clan, only us Taishiro, and a select few others, know. Not even the Goyosei are aware of the Maidens' existence."

"Sasame-sama knows," said Natsuki.

"As do Kyo and his father," added Makoto. "Your parents are aware, as well. But that is the extent to which the knowledge of this affair goes."

"But why?" asked Natsuki.

"The power of the Maidens is both potent and formidable," said Makoto, his expression stern. "Because of that, there are any number of people who, if they knew such a power was real, would go to any lengths to secure it for their own use, whether by trying to bend a Maiden to their will...or forcefully take her power for themselves."

"How could they take it?" wondered Natsuki.

"I would rather not speak of such things to one as young as you," said Makoto sadly. "However, you have earned the right to know." He closed his eyes. "As I told you, the last person in the Maiden's thoughts will be the first candidate to inherit her power. Should she fit the criteria, it will be hers. Of course, if one were to say...kill a Maiden...then her attacker has a high chance of being the last person in the current Maiden's thoughts."

"Oh..." said Natsuki, paling. "You think someone might try to do that to me?"

"It is but one possibility," said Makoto. His expression darkened even more. "But that only scratches the surface of the reason this is such a serious secret. There is another, even more important aspect, one that is critical to the Maidens...and the role they play in this world."

"Role...?"

"You see," began Makoto, "the wizard who granted the Maidens their power did so many centuries ago."

"That's why it's an old fairy tale, right?" asked Natsuki.

Makoto nodded. "However...the truth is that that wizard...is still _alive_."

Natsuki gasped, then shook her head vigorously. "Well...that's not all that big a deal," she pointed out.

"True enough," agreed Makoto with a chuckle.

After all, the Mibu had long ago perfected the techniques of Aura, through which they could maintain their bodies in a healthy state, virtually indefinitely. Makoto himself was well into his third century of life. So the prospect of a man extending his life, even by several centuries, was not such a strange thing to those of the Mibu Clan.

"But his method of persisting is not the same as ours," Makoto continued. "It is linked to...his magic. In fact, you might even say that it served as the basis for the method by which the Maidens' powers are transferred from one host to the next. But, rather than it being his power that is passed on, his _soul_ is instead passed on to a new host."

"Oh..." Natsuki frowned. "I bet that feels...strange."

"Most likely," agreed Makoto.

"Is the wizard going to come after me?" Natsuki wanted to know. "Does he want his magic back?" She frowned, staring down at herself. "If he does, I could give it back to him. I mean...it's no big deal."

That actually got a laugh from Makoto. "Oh no, there's no need to worry about that. In fact, in the outside world, the Wizard is one of those who works to continue protecting the Maidens, and has done so since the day he created the first ones." Then, once again, his expression became dark. "The true problem is that the Wizard has an enemy...a _terrible_ enemy."

Natsuki swallowed, feeling the air around her become heavy.

"This foe also seeks the Maidens, for Her own ends. She is a terrible threat to the whole of the world. So, even as the Wizard and his allies have worked to keep the Maidens secret, and protect them, She has striven to secure them for her own purposes. Should She ever obtain that which She seeks, this world will know peril like no other."

Natsuki felt sweat bead upon her brow, a chill washing over her.

Makoto now looked at her with sadness. "If She were to learn that you were here, that you were a Maiden, it is likely that She would come for you, in some form or another."

"What do you mean?" asked Natsuki.

"She rarely acts herself anymore," said Makoto. "But She is as old as the Wizard, even older, in Her own way. Like the Wizard, She is in possession of powerful magic. Unlike him, She never parted with it, and still possesses the full measure of Her power. However, Her greatest strength lies in Her ability to use others to Her ends. As such, She has numerous agents and servants to act upon Her behalf, to act as Her eyes and ears, or Her arms and legs. If word of your existence reached Her ears, then it is likely that those servants of Hers would come for you."

Natsuki began to shiver.

Makoto smiled, reaching up and resting a hand on her shoulder, the warmth of his Aura washing through her. "However, that is not necessarily what would happen," he said. "While She is powerful...She is not truly invincible."

"She isn't?" asked Natsuki.

Makoto chuckled. "Magic is a lost power, one descended from a distant age. The Wizard and his foe are the only ones in the current world, aside from the Maidens of course, who possess such power. However, we of the Mibu have learned a great deal about magic, over the ages. In fact, you could say that we've come to hold it in a certain disdain."

"You don't like it?" asked Natsuki.

"We don't think highly of it," said Makoto. "Your magic, Natsuki-chan, has an innate limit. And, while you can learn to tap into it more, and wield it more effectively, no amount of training will ever increase it. However, Manifestation, the cultivation of one's Aura, enables one's power to be increased without limit. As such, while She might be a terrible threat to most, even amongst the Mibu, She could not hope to win against us Taishiro, much less the Crimson King."

"Oh," said Natsuki, relaxing a little.

_Of course, if only a simple contest of power was a way to settle this,_ thought Makoto ruefully. _The real issue is much more...complex..._

Out loud, he said, "So, it is just as likely that She will simply bide her time, and wait for your power to pass naturally. But that is neither here, nor there. So long as your secret is kept, She will not learn of you, and will not have to decide either way."

Natsuki nodded vigorously.

"Of course, because your safety is paramount, we opted to keep the secret," continued Makoto. "Better to not allow Her to know, so that we don't have to deal with Her, if not necessary."

Natsuki was silent for several minutes, pondering over this. Finally, she looked up again. "So...what does this mean for me?"

"That _is_ the question," said Makoto. "As we have told you, once you learned the truth, you would have a decision to make."

Natsuki swallowed.

"There are different options for you," explained Makoto. "The first, and the one that would resolve this most simply and easily, would be for us to exorcise your magic."

"Ex-er-exorcise?" asked Natsuki wrestling with the unfamiliar word.

"Remove it," elaborated Makoto. "With my Spiritual Surgery, it would be a simple task. Sasame or I could manage the operation easily. We would sever the magic's bond with you, and it would be free to seek out a new host...hopefully elsewhere."

"Oh..." said Natsuki.

"The second one...and the one that would be the hardest on you...would be to remove the seal, and for you to fully embrace the Maiden's power." Makoto's eyes narrowed. "It would mean that you would gain access to incredible power, a chance for you to become a tremendous force for good in the world."

"But wouldn't that...?" began Natsuki, her mind going back to everything Makoto had already told her.

Makoto nodded gravely. "Indeed, that would also mean fully embracing all the responsibilities and burdens that come with being a Maiden. Like it or not, you would become a part of this conflict between the Wizard and his enemy. You have been on the sidelines, until now, but embracing your power as the Summer Maiden would move you into the midst of their war.

"Furthermore...should you choose to accept the power and burdens of the Summer Maiden...there will be no going back. I can use my Spiritual Surgery to remove your magic now, because my seal has kept its bond to your Aura minimal. In its current state, severing that bond is a simple matter. However, should you embrace your magic, it would integrate itself into your Aura, fully entwining itself with the essence of your soul. Before long, severing that bond would be a tremendously traumatic act, one that would leave you mentally and spiritually devastated as a result. And, beyond that, the magic would integrate into your soul so completely, that nothing short of your death would set it loose."

Paling, Natsuki began to shake. Again, Makoto brushed a hand across her, using his Aura to calm her nerves and ease her fear. "I know that this is a lot to take in," he said, "particularly as you are only ten. Truth be told, I would have liked to put this off for a few more years, so that you could live as normal and happy a life as possible, without this decision being thrust upon you. Indeed, we regard it as a gross irresponsibility on the part of the Wizard that he never seemed to consider the possibility of the Maidens' magic finding an infant as a recipient.

"Truth be told, I sometimes think it would have been best to have simply exorcised you, while you were still an infant. That way, you would have been able to live without the burden of this magic, even if you didn't know of its existence. You would have had a normal life, free from the machinations of Her, and the Wizard."

"Why didn't you?" asked Natsuki.

"Because, in the end, this magic is both privilege and responsibility," said Makoto, smiling at Natsuki. "Keeping you safe was our objective, yes. However, we also decided to allow the power to remain within you, and defer the decision, until you were old enough."

"Old enough for what?"

"For you to choose for yourself." Makoto rested both hands on Natsuki's shoulders, squeezing them gently. "Like it or not, the Maiden's power came to you, Natsuki-chan. Some would call it chance, others _enishi_, destiny, a link binding you to people long past, and even to the Wizard himself. It is a difficult decision, and not one to be made lightly. But, above all else, we wanted the decision to be _yours_...because you deserve the right to choose how you live your life."

Natsuki felt a few tears run down her cheeks.

Makoto smiled warmly at her. "With the power of the Summer Maiden, you could become a force of tremendous good in the world. You could use it to help and save many. Or you could even help, in a manner, by not doing anything, and simply remaining its steward, if only to ensure that it does not fall into Her hands for the duration of your own life. That too, would be a way of helping, however passive it may be."

"Oh..." Natsuki's eyes went wide at the thought. "You mean...I could help people, like Ruby-chan wants to?"

"Indeed," said Makoto. "Of course, agreeing to that comes with the burdens and threats I've told you about. Should you decide to embrace your role as the Summer Maiden, there is every chance, despite our best efforts, that She will learn of it, and come for you...however roundabout a manner She might choose." _Or, more likely, the Intercessor would come in Her stead._

Natsuki swallowed, and nodded.

"Of course, if you choose to exorcise it, then you would no longer have to worry about any of this: the magic, the responsibility, the risk, the enemy. You could return to a normal life, free of any such existential threat."

Natsuki frowned. "But then...the magic would just go to someone else...and _she_ would be the one having to deal with all of this."

"That is true," said Makoto. "Of course, that will be true sooner or later, regardless. As hard as it may be for someone as young as you to think about such things, in the future, you will pass from this world, Natsuki-chan, as we all will. And, when that happens, there will be a new Summer Maiden."

Natsuki nodded gravely.

Makoto rested a hand atop her head, gently ruffling her hair. "You need not make this decision immediately," he said. "So long as I maintain the seal, there is no need to worry about the magic bonding to your soul. I can exorcise the magic or remove the seal at any time. Even if it takes years for you to come to a decision, Natsuki-chan, that will be fine, so long as it remains _your_ decision."

Natsuki looked down at her hands, as though she expected the magic to come flowing out of them. "I...how do I decide?" she wondered.

"That will be up to you," said Makoto. "I do not wish to influence your decision unduly, to pressure you one way or another. You need not even think about it all that much, if you don't wish. I am prepared to continue your 'treatments' for many years to come, if you don't feel comfortable with deciding. Take your time, and think things through at your own pace."

"What would you want me to do?" asked Natsuki, looking up at Makoto.

Makoto chuckled, and brushed a finger across her cheek. "What I want is for you to live a life of health and happiness. True happiness does not come from avoiding danger. Nor does it arise from courting unnecessary risk. It is up to you to decide whether your happiness resides within the risky path of embracing the Summer Maiden's power...or the safer path, where you may yet find a way of life that calls to you."

"Oh..." said Natsuki. "Um..."

Getting an idea of what her next question would be, Makoto nodded. "As your parents already know all of this, you are free to consult with them. Keep in mind that they share the wish for you to make a decision of your own free will. I am sure that their preference would veer towards your safety, if you were to ask their opinion. But their opinion is _all_ they can give. They cannot decide _for_ you."

Natsuki nodded.

"Of course, you are free to talk with me about it, or Murasame, should you run into him. Sora and Sasame could talk to you about it as well, as could Kyo, should you find some reason to consult him."

"What about Ruby-chan?" Natsuki blurted out, the thought escaping her mouth before her reason reminded her of what Makoto had told her already.

For some reason though, Makoto's response wasn't an immediate rebuke that Ruby was one of those who didn't know the secret of Natsuki's condition. Instead, Makoto's gaze turned downward slightly, his frown pensive, rather than disapproving.

_Normally, I would say no to that,_ he thought. _But Ruby-chan has shown herself capable of discretion. More to the point, the most significant figures in her life are already aware of this, which would leave her the odd one out. Besides, it would do Natsuki-chan well to have a peer, someone her own age, to consult with. In that respect, Ruby-chan is unquestionably the best choice._

Makoto raised his eyes. "If you wish to tell Ruby-chan, I will allow it." He held up a hand in response to Natsuki's excited gasp. "However..." he interjected, "...you must think it over _carefully_, before telling her the truth. Even if Ruby-chan is completely trustworthy, of which I have little doubt, the fact remains that one extra person knowing entails that much more risk, one way or another. Furthermore, as one who knows, she too could be a target, if someone serving the enemy thinks she has information they could obtain."

Natsuki nodded fervently.

"Above all else, Ruby-chan is the _only_ one you are permitted to tell," finished Makoto. "Your other friends cannot learn of this, under any circumstances. Is that clear?"

"Yes," said Natsuki.

"Good," said Makoto. "Now then, I will renew the seal and send you on your way."

"All right," said Natsuki. She looked up at Makoto, unsure of how to feel about all of this. "Thank you for telling me the truth, Makoto-sama."

"I'm glad you're bearing it so well," said Makoto, the light of his Aura washing over her once more. "Remember, make the choice that you think will suit you best. All of us, more than anything else, wish for your happiness, Natsuki-chan."

* * *

Ruby's body was sticky with sweat from her training session with Shinrei. She sported several bruises, from where he had reminded her not to let her guard down. Her muscles burned from exertion, and her throat burned from numerous harsh breaths. Strangely enough, she loved it. It told her that she was working hard, and getting stronger, one day at a time. She was giving her all towards her all-important goal.

So, despite all the pain she was in, Ruby left the changing room with a smile on her face, feeling content at an evening well-spent. Even though it was the dead of winter, the wards set over the Palace, the Five Gates in particular, kept everything at a comfortable temperature. So Ruby was free to work as hard, and get as sweaty, as she wished, without having to worry about the cold air plunging her into hypothermia.

However, Shinrei had promised her that, sometime in the future, he'd take her out from under the wards to train in the ice and snow. Doing so would give her experience in dealing with environmental conditions. The Grimm could attack at any time of year, after all. Except for the icy climes of Solitas, where the cold was so intense that it could freeze all but the hardiest solid, the Grimm were just as likely to attack in the dead of winter as they were at the height of summer. And even Solitas had Grimm that had adapted to the freezing conditions. Ruby would have to be prepared to fight against them under any circumstance, if she wanted to succeed as a Huntress.

Making her way towards the hallway that led back towards her family's quarters in the palace, Ruby found herself wondering about Natsuki. Normally, Natsuki trained under Keikoku, while Ruby trained under Shinrei. However, today, Natsuki's training session had been canceled, on account of her checkup from Makoto. Normally, since Makoto's checkups generally didn't take very long at all, that would have been no reason for Natsuki to have to cancel. The fact that she did seemed to indicate that something else was going on.

So it was that Ruby found herself surprised to see Natsuki waiting a little farther down the hallway, sitting in one of the little alcoves that could be found up and down the length of the labyrinthine Palace complex. She was completely lost in thought, unaware of her surroundings.

"Natsu-chan?" asked Ruby, approaching cautiously.

Despite her best efforts, her words drew a start from her friend, Natsuki letting out a loud, albeit adorable, squeak, and jumping to her feet. A second later, she reclaimed her awareness of her situation, and relaxed. "Oh, it's you, Ruby-chan."

"Sorry," said Ruby. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," Natsuki replied.

"Is...?" Ruby hesitated, wondering if she was prying. "Is something wrong, Natsu-chan?"

"W-well...I..." Natsu-chan sighed, sitting back down on the bench in the alcove, Ruby joining her. "Makoto-sama...he..." Natsuki took a deep breath. "He told me about my condition."

"Oh..." Ruby clamped her mouth shut. Her first impulse was to ask what it was. Because Natsuki had been anxious about it, Ruby was anxious by proxy. She wanted to know if her friend was going to be all right, if the assurances that everyone else had been giving them were the truth of the matter. "Um...A-are you...?"

"I'm okay," said Natsuki, beaming at Ruby, though the expression seemed slightly forced. "It's just...weird. I..." Natsuki looked down, staring at her feet. "I don't know what to think. It's a lot to take in."

"...Okay..." Ruby wasn't sure what else to say, in this situation. She wasn't sure if she should say anything. Natsuki was apparently still thinking things through, and Ruby didn't want to bother her. She hoped that just sitting next to Natsuki didn't count as bothering. "Do you want...uh...that is...should I...go?"

"No!" Natsuki's voice was so urgent that it locked Ruby into place, even before Natsuki's hand gripped her own with a force that was almost painful. Natsuki looked at Ruby nervously, before looking away again. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just...this is a lot...and I don't want to be alone."

"Okay," said Ruby, settling back into her seat, turning her hand so that she could hold Natsuki's back. The two of them sat in silence, while Ruby watched her friend wrestle with whatever conundrum she had been presented with.

Gradually, Natsuki leaned towards her, until she was resting her head on Ruby's shoulder. Smiling, Ruby leaned back against her friend, wondering just how long they should stay like this. It would be time for dinner soon. Natsuki probably had to go home to see her family. Still, Ruby wasn't sure what to do. Whatever was bothering Natsuki seemed important, so Ruby didn't want to interrupt her. However, Ruby's earlier training was already leaving her feeling fatigued, so despite her best efforts, her eyelids began to droop.

Thinking that she should probably tell Natsuki, Ruby turned her head, only to find that Natsuki's eyes had already drifted closed, and her breathing had slowed. Ruby couldn't quite help but smile and giggle. Whatever Natsuki had learned had troubled her enough that her fatigue had won out over Ruby's. She supposed the right thing to do was wake her friend up, or at least try and get her to bed. But Ruby couldn't bring herself to disturb Natsuki in any fashion. So she instead leaned back against her, wishing she had her cloak to wrap around them. But the garment that had been an irreplaceable part of Ruby's attire in the outside world mostly hung in her closet, seeing as it didn't quite fit with her school or training clothes. Someday, she would like to get an outfit it could go with, something that would truly represent the person she'd become.

But that was a matter for another time. Instead, Ruby allowed her own eyes to drift shut, the two friends slumbering against each other.

* * *

Natsuki's eyes slowly opened. She was laying somewhere soft, certainly not where she'd fallen asleep. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't meant to fall asleep in the alcove. _Where am I now? What about Ruby-chan? Wait! What time is it?_

"Oh no!" exclaimed Natsuki, sitting upright. "I'm late! Kaa-chan and Tou-san are gonna be so mad!"

"Don't worry, they already know where you are," said Sora, her voice quavering slightly from laughter.

Blinking her eyes, Natsuki finally took in her surroundings, realizing that she'd been seated on a couch in the quarters of the Royal Family's living room. She'd been in this room plenty of times, during her sleepovers with Ruby. Sora now drifted in front of Natsuki, setting a mug of warm amazake in front of her. Natsuki picked up the mug and sipped from it, savoring the sweetness and richness of the drink.

"I had Dougal inform your parents that you would be spending the night here," said Sora. "He brought your sleepover kit back, so everything should be fine."

Natsuki blushed. After so many occasions where she'd been part of spur-of-the-moment sleepovers, she and her parents had decided to put together a sleepover kit, a simple collection of her necessary toiletries, a spare outfit, and the few other things she'd need for a sudden sleepover, all arranged into an easily-carried bundle that Dougal could hop over and fetch. It felt a bit silly to have prepared a kit for a sleepover, the way some people assembled kits for different kinds of disasters.

"Where's Ruby-chan?" asked Natsuki.

"In bed," said Sora, giggling. "Poor dear; her stomach won't be too happy with her for skipping dinner. But a small snack should be easy to arrange, should she wake before morning."

"I'm sorry," said Natsuki, looking down. "It's my fault."

"I suppose so," agreed Sora, settling into a chair near the couch. "But 'fault' implies wrongdoing, and neither you nor Ruby-chan did anything wrong. You have just learned an important secret behind your entire life, and Ruby-chan was doing her best as a friend to offer comfort and solace, even if she didn't know the reason for your distress. Of course, between the training she'd just finished, and the mental fatigue caused by the stress of all the revelations you've learned, it's only natural that the two of you would doze off."

Natsuki blinked. "Makoto-sama said I could tell Ruby-chan. Should I?"

"Well...I would say that it isn't my right to suggest either way," said Sora, her smile softening. She shifted to sit next to Natsuki, then pulled the girl onto her lap. "But, as an adult, it is our responsibility to provide guidance and offer advice, if only so that you can make an informed decision."

"And what's your advice, Sora-sama?" asked Natsuki.

Sora smiled down at her. "Considering things carefully, telling Ruby-chan means that she would experience a measure of danger, being one of the few people with knowledge of your secret. However, knowing her, it is a risk she would accept without a second's hesitation. With her convictions, that girl would leap straight into the fire for a complete stranger. For someone she treasures and loves, there is no doubt that she would gladly shoulder any burden for your sake."

"That sounds...I don't know...bad," said Natsuki.

Sora nodded. "Yes...Such convictions can be very self-destructive. We have to take great care to ensure that Ruby-chan is raised right, to not allow her desire to help others overcome her ability to help _herself_. That being said...such conviction is not such a bad thing, not for one in your position."

"My position?" Natsuki canted her head, staring up into Sora's eyes.

Sora sighed, closing her eyes, gently combing her fingers through Natsuki's hair. "You have just learned that you carry an incredible power within you, a power that we have kept partitioned off from you, mainly for your safety. Now you are faced with the decision of whether to accept that power, or to allow us to separate it from you.

"Everyone involved in this affair treasures your freedom and your right to make your own choices, Natsu-chan. Though we wish to protect you, we would never desire to impose our own will on you, particularly when it is such an important decision. That is why we strived to provide you with as complete a picture as possible, so that you can make the best decision you are capable of.

"At the same time though, everyone who knows about this is older than you. We have perspectives removed from your own. We were all young once, but it is hard to recollect just how we perceived the world, and our decisions, at such an age. Faced with such a conundrum, it can help greatly to have someone your age, an equal, from whom you can solicit an opinion.

"So, in all honesty, I think telling Ruby-chan would be a good idea. She is the kind of girl who would never regret taking on the risks inherent to having such knowledge, and that she would never think to turn against you, or betray your trust. She would definitely be someone you could trust, and someone whose thoughts might well be worth asking."

"Oh..." Natsuki frowned thoughtfully, running it through in her mind.

"The choice remains yours, of course," said Sora. "However, I do believe that telling Ruby-chan would be a good idea."

"All right," said Natsuki.

"Don't worry overmuch," said Sora. "Now then, it's a little late, but would you like some dinner, before bed?"

"Yes, please," said Natsuki, beaming up at Sora.

* * *

Ruby yawned, then sat up slowly, stretching. After a second, her situation came to her, and she gasped. She was in her room, on her bed, in her pajamas. The last thing she remembered was falling asleep next to Natsuki in the alcove. Someone must have brought her back.

Blinking, Ruby turned her head to see a familiar futon laid out on the floor of her room, with an even more familiar figure tucked under its sheets. The sight of Natsuki sleeping peacefully made Ruby smile. _I guess we just had another sleepover,_ she thought.

Moving carefully and quietly, Ruby got out of bed, and made her way to the bathroom, where she got to work getting cleaned up for the day. By the time she was finished, she realized that she was feeling so hungry that it was almost painful. _I guess that's what I get for falling asleep before dinner,_ she thought. _I wonder why no one woke me up._

After getting dressed, Ruby crouched by Natsuki's futon, looking at her sleeping face, wondering whether or not to wake her up. On one hand, Ruby figured that Natsuki would want breakfast too. However, she looked so peaceful right now, and Ruby figured that she was probably still wrestling with whatever she'd learned the previous day. So maybe it was best to let her sleep.

The decision was made for her when Natsuki's eyes slowly opened. She stared up at Ruby for a second, before her eyes went wide. "Ruby-chan!"

"Yeek!" squealed Ruby, barely managing to fall back out of the way before Natsuki sat bolt-upright, nearly smacking their heads together. "Natsu-chan! What's wrong?"

"Oh..." Natsuki blinked, apparently trying to get a grip on her present situation. Ruby wondered if Natsuki had no idea what had happened to them last night. "Sorry, I got a little too excited."

"That's okay," said Ruby.

Natsuki turned towards Ruby, then smiled contentedly.

"Natsu-chan?" Ruby blinked in confusion.

Natsuki sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just...really glad that you're my friend."

"I'm...glad too," said Ruby, even more confused, wondering what had brought this about.

Natsuki giggled. "Um...Let me get cleaned up and dressed real quick. I want to tell you something."

"About what you learned yesterday?" wondered Ruby.

"Mm hmm." Natsuki nodded, still smiling happily.

"Okay..." said Ruby, wondering if this was all right.

"Just give me a moment," said Natsuki, grabbing her clothes and heading to the bathroom. In just a few moments, she was out, still running a brush through her two-toned hair. She sat down on her futon, while Ruby took a seat on her bed.

Natsuki opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a low, angry gurgle from Ruby's stomach. Ruby wrapped her arms around her torso, bending forward, her face contorting in an uncomfortable grimace. "I'm sorry, Natsu-chan," said Ruby, giving Natsuki a pained, yet contrite look. "C-can we get some food first? I'm _so_ hungry."

Natsuki's jaw dropped slightly. Then she recalled what Sora had said to her last night, and found herself giggling. "Sure," she said cheerfully.

* * *

Sora had breakfast ready by the time they reached the table, having prepared their favorites. Ruby ate ravenously, while Sasame coached her to slow down, lest she choke. Kyo looked on, laughing at Ruby's appetite, while Sora politely kept Natsuki occupied by asking her about how she'd slept.

The sight was so normal, so comfortable, that Natsuki couldn't help the contented feeling welling up within her, tears coming out of her eyes.

"Is something wrong, Natsu-chan?" asked Ruby, noticing Natsuki smiling, yet also crying.

"Nothing," said Natsuki, so glad she could be a part of this, that this was her life. She looked imploringly at Sora, who figured out what Natsuki wanted.

"Come on then," said Sora, tapping Sasame and Kyo, leading them out of the room, leaving Ruby and Natsuki by themselves .

"What did you want to talk to me about?" asked Ruby.

"Makoto-sama told me everything," said Natsuki.

"Everything?"

"Uh huh...Why I had to keep seeing him, what the checkups are about, what my secret is..."

"Okay..." Ruby blinked. "Are you sure you can tell me about it?"

"Uh huh," said Natsuki, nodding. "Makoto-sama said it was okay, and Sora-sama thought it was a good idea."

"If you think it's a good idea, then I'll listen," said Ruby, leaning forward.

Natsuki told Ruby everything: the magic, the Maidens, the Wizard, the enemy, all the secrets that Makoto had entrusted to her. Ruby listened, enraptured, the remnants of her food forgotten. Once Natsuki finished, there was only one word to express Ruby's feelings on the matter.

"Wow..."

"That's all you can say?" asked Natsuki.

"W-well, it's a lot to think about," said Ruby, frowning. Then she sighed. "I'll never call _The Tale of the Seasons_ a boring story again."

"You think it's boring?" asked Natsuki, feeling a little bit let down, even though it wasn't a story about _her_ in particular.

"Um...Well...it's just four girls meeting an old man, becoming friends with him, and then he gives them neat magic." Ruby sighed. "I would've liked for the story to say something about what they _did_ with the magic. I mean, think of all the adventures they could have: slaying monsters, finding treasure, saving princes, that sort of thing..."

Natsuki found herself giggling. "Well, when you put it that way, the story could definitely be more interesting." Then she paused, her humor disappearing. "But, Ruby-chan, what do you think?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"Sh-should I let Makoto-sama exercise-er-exor-uh-take my magic away?" Natsuki paused, trying to remember what the word was. The way she'd phrased it made it sound worse than it was.

"I don't know," admitted Ruby. "I mean, having magic sounds awesome. But what Makoto-sama told you makes this sound really complicated. There's a lot of stuff that comes with it."

"That's right," said Natsuki. "I mean, if _you_ had magic, would you want to keep it?"

"I don't know," said Ruby again. "I just can't imagine it, having power like that. What would it be like?" She paused. "But...I guess having awesome magic would make it a lot easier to help and protect people. I could be a great Huntress, if I had magic."

"That's probably true," said Natsuki, figuring that was the kind of thing Ruby would fixate on. "But what about this um...enemy...person?"

"Well, if she's a bad guy-um-girl, then she'd be someone I'd want to fight anyway," said Ruby, frowning determinedly. "Makoto-sama said she wants to do really bad things, right?"

"Yeah," said Natsuki.

"So, as a Huntress, it would be like...my duty...to fight her anyway, magic or not. I mean, if having the magic meant she'd be coming after me, then she might not have as much time to hurt or scare other people, right?"

Natsuki frowned, taking in Ruby's logic. Abruptly, she was reminded of what Sora had said about Ruby's convictions the previous night, how she would gladly suffer any number of terrible burdens for the sake of others. For the first time, Natsuki found herself feeling frightened, not _of_ Ruby, but _for_ her. If this was her attitude towards the idea of someone seeking her life, then it was probably for the best that the magic had come to Natsuki, rather than Ruby.

Ruby paused, abruptly reminding herself that she didn't have magic powers, but Natsuki did. "But I guess that doesn't have all that much to do with you, Natsu-chan. I mean, you don't want to be a Huntress, do you?"

"Um...well...no," said Natsuki. After all, Huntsmen and Huntresses were figures of the outside world, who had nothing to do with the Mibu. Natsuki had never even really heard of them, before Ruby had come. Granted, ever since they'd met, Ruby had been all too happy to fill Natsuki in about Huntsmen and Huntresses, and what they did. The Mibu Clan's military fulfilled much the same role within the clan, across all the territories that it controlled. Natsuki had never really thought of herself joining the military either. She'd wanted to study under Keikoku, but hadn't really given much thought beyond that.

"So...I guess you shouldn't use what I'd do as an example," said Ruby, looking down at the table. "I mean, everyone tells me that I need to be more careful, that I can't help people if I get myself hurt."

"Yeah, well, that's obvious," said Natsuki. She sighed. "Well...I don't know," she said, tears beginning to leak out of her eyes.

"Natsu-chan, what's wrong?" asked Ruby, seeing her friend on the verge of breaking down.

"It's just...this is all so much," said Natsuki, her tears coming more strongly. "I...I didn't want any of this, this magic, this choice. I don't know what to do. I was always scared of what this secret thing about me was that no one would tell me. But now, it's turned out to be something bigger than I ever thought, and I just don't...I don't..."

Ruby made her way around the table, and pulled Natsuki out of her seat, wrapping the other girl in a hug. Natsuki broke down crying in Ruby's arms, the pair of them sinking to the floor. Ruby held her friend tightly, letting Natsuki sob into her shoulder, not caring when the cloth of her kimono became damp. Instead, she ran her fingers through Natsuki's hair, and whispered all the soothing noises that Sasame made for her, when she was upset. "It's okay...It'll be okay, Natsu-chan."

"I just...I can't decide," said Natsuki. "All I wanted was to have fun, to learn under Keikoku-sama, and do...I don't know what I want to do yet, but I know this Maiden thing wasn't on the list. I don't know what to decide, or what to think."

"Then don't," said Ruby.

"Huh?" Natsuki froze, then pulled back from Ruby, violet eyes meeting silver.

Ruby beamed at her. "_Don't_ decide," said Ruby. "_Don't_ think about it. _Don't_ worry."

"Huh, but..."

"Makoto-sama said you didn't have to, right?" asked Ruby. Seeing Natsuki nod, Ruby's smile widened. "Then don't decide. Don't bother with it for now. You're learning under Keikoku-sama, like you wanted. You're doing the things you love right now. So, instead of worrying about something you don't have to decide right away, just forget about it for now. Let's just live."

"Let's just live," repeated Natsuki softly, turning over Ruby's words in her mind.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "Let's have fun, learn a lot, and get stronger. That's all we need to do for now. Then, later; when you're older, stronger, and smarter; you might know what you want, and what decision to make. Makoto-sama said he was fine with you waiting, right?"

"Uh huh," said Natsuki.

"Then wait," said Ruby. "Getting all crazy over it won't help you make a better decision. If they're gonna give you time, you might as well take it." She leaned in, resting their foreheads together. "Let's just live, Natsu-chan."

Slowly, Natsuki found her anxiety draining away. Ruby was right. There was no need to worry so much, to rush to a decision. Everyone was giving her time and space, everything she needed to make the best decision she could. If that was the case, then she owed it to everyone to take all of that, so that she could make the best possible decision. No longer feeling tears running down her face, Natsuki smiled. "All right, Ruby-chan...Let's just live."

"Just one thing," said Ruby, pulling back away again. "I promise that I'll keep your secret, Natsu-chan. And, if you ever need me to, I'll be there for you. I'll do everything I can to protect you."

"Thanks, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki, smiling warmly at her best friend.

* * *

_**Still**_** my personal headcanon that _The Tale of the Seasons_ would bore Ruby silly...**

**So yeah, Natsuki is the Summer Maiden. In all honesty, the situation with the Maidens is rife with all kinds of questions. The creators have only answered a few so far, to my knowledge. We know that there's an upper limit to how old someone is, before they aren't eligible to inherit the power anymore, around thirty or so, but no mention has yet been made of a lower limit, where someone might be _too young_ to receive the power. Is there one? Does that mean a baby _could_ become a Maiden, the way Natsuki did?**

**And, of course, when you factor in the issue of it being a young _woman_, there are other questions. Is it a matter of sex or gender? Is someone who is (or was) biologically male, but who identifies as female, eligible? What about the flipside? Is someone who's biologically female, but identifies as male ineligible? What about someone who's gender-fluid? Granted, we now have the example of Penny in Volume 7 (spoilers), whose soul came from a man, but who _definitely_ identifies as female, so maybe part of that question has been answered.**

**Like I said, quite a few possibilities to play around with.**

**Next chapter, we go back to the present, right where we left off. There won't be anymore flashback chapters for a while, I'm afraid. When we _do_ come back, time will have skipped ahead by a few years to a rather interesting period of Ruby's life.**


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59:**

_Present day:_

"Quite the interesting notion," said Ozpin, watching Ruby carefully. "And one of these 'Maidens' is here, at Beacon?"

"W-well...I wouldn't quite call her a Maiden...not really," said Ruby, her expression falling, feeling lightheaded at the memory of the atrocious thing that lurked behind Cinder's pleasant facade. "She had the Maiden's power...or a part of it, anyway...and...I'm sure she did something terrible to get it."

"What makes you say that?" asked Ozpin.

"It was torn...tattered," said Ruby, shuddering, hugging herself tightly, "like she tore off a piece of the Maiden's soul and stitched it to her own. It was ugly and gross and..." She shivered, unable to fully articulate just how horrible it had felt to look upon such a soul. "And...if she's willing to do _that_ to someone, then there's no way she can be good."

"It is indeed a disturbing thing you describe," conceded Ozpin. "And, if what you say is true, then she would have tremendously destructive power at her disposal, a very real and serious threat to my school...that is...if such things as magic and Maidens _were_ real."

Ruby swallowed, the bottom dropping out of her stomach. She'd known it had been a long shot. All of this banked on Ozpin believing her, despite the absurdity of the claims she was making. But how would anyone believe that such things were real, just hearing it out of the blue, from a fifteen-year-old girl no less? If she was lucky, he'd probably dismiss her assertions as fantasy, perhaps born of a mistaken impression, caused by too much interest in fantastical stories and fairy tales. At worst, he might deem her too immature to be kept at Beacon.

Ruby's nervous musings were interrupted by a tone from the elevator behind her. Turning her head, she saw the doors open to reveal Glynda, and someone she didn't know. The tall, imposing man in a military uniform strode forward, his expression stony and determined, as though he were marching to battle, and not walking into the office of Beacon's Headmaster.

"Oz? What do you need?" asked the man, before his eyes found Ruby, and widened in recognition.

"Ms. Rose, this is General James Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas Academy, and an old friend of mine," said Ozpin, his introduction only serving to make Ruby all the more nervous. "He is visiting to oversee his students' participation in the Vytal Festival."

"Why is _she_ here, Oz?" asked Ironwood, his eyes going to Beacon's Headmaster.

"Ms. Rose was just telling me a most interesting story," said Ozpin, switching the focus of his gaze to Ironwood and Glynda. "Apparently, someone with a portion of the power of one of the four Maidens has infiltrated Beacon, under the guise of a student visiting from another Academy.

Ruby shuddered. There was no way Ozpin could be _that_ cruel, was there? He wasn't just prepared to dismiss her words as fantasy, but had even called Glynda, and the head of another Academy, to worsen her humiliation. Surely there was no way that Ozpin could be so sickly sadistic as to do something like that.

"Ms. Rose," said Ozpin firmly, drawing Ruby's gaze back to him.

When Ruby met his eyes, Ozpin's stony facade fell, and he smiled encouragingly at her. "You can be at ease, Ms. Rose. I believe you."

Ruby's entire body suddenly felt so light that she might have floated off her seat. "Y-you d-do...?"

"I do," said Ozpin.

"Oz..." said Ironwood in a warning tone.

"There's no point in concealing it, James," said Ozpin, glancing Ironwood's way. "If she knows about the Maidens already, there's no point in pretending otherwise." His gaze returned to Ruby. "We know that the Maidens are real. In fact, _we_ are the ones charged with concealing and protecting them."

"You are...?" Ruby whispered, her eyes going wide. She thought back to what she had learned from Natsuki, and the people in the Mibu who had known her secret, about the ones who protected the Maidens in the outside world. "It can't be..."

Abruptly, Ruby allowed her awareness expand, opening herself to sense the presence and nature of Ozpin's Aura. She reeled with shock as her awareness brushed against his Aura...or _Auras_ rather. Ozpin didn't have just one Aura, but _several_, dozens, perhaps even hundreds. They were impossible to count, not simply because of their number, but because they had all layered together, the boundaries of where one person's Aura began, and another's ended, blurring from the compression and merging of countless disparate souls being pressed and fused together into a single being. At the center of it all, infusing the entire thing with its presence, was the Aura and soul of a single person, whose presence completely subsumed the others, which were all like him, in some fashion or another.

"You're _him_!" gasped Ruby, scarcely able to believe it, despite knowing that the Maidens were real. "You're the Wizard!"

"I am," said Ozpin, chuckling. "Well...your sister _did_ say it was only a matter of time, before you noticed. Though I wonder if she thought you'd catch on _this_ quickly."

"Her sister?" growled Ironwood warily.

Ozpin waved Ironwood's inquiry off dismissively. Instead, he focused his attention on Ruby. "Ms. Rose, I must thank you for bringing the presence of this person to our attention. As it was, we have been looking for her for some time."

"Who is she?" asked Ruby.

"We only know so much," admitted Ozpin, much to Ironwood's consternation. "You see, not so long ago, shortly before you arrived in Vale in fact, one of the Maidens, the Fall Maiden, was attacked, and a portion of her power stolen. It was a completely unprecedented occurrence, something we hadn't even thought possible, before it actually happened."

"So Cinder is..." said Ruby.

"Yes, she would be the one responsible," agreed Ozpin. "She and her companions attacked the Fall Maiden, out in the wilderness. However, they were interrupted before she could complete whatever process she was using to steal the Fall Maiden's power away."

"As a result, the Fall Maiden is currently in critical condition," said Glynda, chipping in, for the first time since she'd arrived. "And her condition has been worsening."

"It's fortunate that you uncovered her assailant," added Ozpin. "Before you came to me, we were considering...drastic...actions to rectify the situation."

"What actions?" wondered Ruby.

"You don't need to know," said Ironwood curtly.

"True, I'm afraid," said Ozpin, frowning and silently rebuking Ironwood with a sharp glance for his manner. "It's better if we limit saying things unnecessarily."

"So...now what?" asked Ruby, looking at Ozpin.

"_That_ is the question," replied Ozpin inscrutably, tapping the surface of his desk, bringing up a holographic image that hovered above it. On it was a list of files that he began scrolling through. Ruby realized that it was a list of files on the students visiting from the other Academies, sorted by school and team.

"You said they were wearing Haven uniforms," observed Ozpin, scrolling some more. "Their leader identified herself as Cinder, along with two of her other teammates, Emerald and Mercury."

"That's right," said Ruby. "They didn't give me their surnames, though."

"That's fine," said Ozpin, selecting a file. "Their given names are enough."

Opening the file revealed information on the team in question, Team CMSN. "Team Crimson," said Ozpin, bringing up the profiles of its members. "Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, Emerald Sustrai, and Nyx Nocturne. They are listed as third-years of Haven Academy."

Glynda appeared to be reviewing their information on her scroll as well, now. "Their files all seem legitimate. From everything I can see, they are actual students of Haven Academy."

"If they have gone so far as to infiltrate, they would not take half-measures when it comes to falsifying the information necessary to masquerade as students," said Ozpin, frowning.

"We'll probably have to contact Leo directly," said Ironwood.

"Um..." said Ruby, squirming in her seat a little, only to find herself feeling even more uncomfortable, as she realized she'd just drawn everyone's attention to her. "What should I do?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin. "We shouldn't keep you longer than necessary. You're already late enough for your dinner and bed as it is. We'll take things from here, for now.

"As for your question, I'm sorry that, for the time being, the answer is...nothing."

"Nothing?" Ruby wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"At this point, we cannot afford to arouse this...Cinder's...suspicions," explained Ozpin. "You've given us a valuable opportunity here. For the first time in a while, we might actually be _ahead_ of the enemy's plans. But that hinges on her not realizing that we already know who she is, and where she is. Doing this right will require careful preparation and observation. We cannot afford to waste this opportunity by acting rashly." Ruby could have sworn he looked pointedly at Ironwood, when he said that.

"With that in mind," he continued, returning his gaze to Ruby, "I have to ask you not to try anything, Ms. Rose. This Cinder Fall was dangerous enough that she was able to successfully subdue one of the Maidens, without any of their power. While she most likely had assistance, and an excellent plan, that only makes her all the _more_ dangerous, if she is capable of such things, in addition to wielding the Maiden's magic."

Ruby nodded nervously.

"As such, please keep your contact with her to a minimum. Do not seek her out at all. Carry on normally, as though you are aware of nothing amiss."

"O-okay," said Ruby, feeling uneasy at the prospect. It didn't feel right to simply sit by, when she knew someone so dangerous and evil was lurking around. At the same time, she had already gotten the impression that this was too big for her to tackle by herself, which was what had prompted her to go to Ozpin about this in the first place. At this point, the best she could do was defer to his judgment.

"I must also ask you not to speak to your friends of this matter," said Ozpin firmly. "The secret of the Maidens cannot be allowed to be spread indiscriminately. Even if you trust your friends, there is still a degree of unnecessary risk in telling anyone who does not need to know."

"Yes, Professor," said Ruby, finding it easier to agree to that particular stipulation, as it was something she was used to already.

"Then off with you," said Ozpin. "Thank you for everything you've done, Ms. Rose."

Ruby nodded, standing up and heading to the elevator.

Once she was gone, Ironwood's eyes narrowed. "She was far different from what I expected."

"A remarkable young lady," said Ozpin, with a soft chuckle. "I'm sure she will go far."

"Still...if she knows about the Maidens, then she could only have learned from the Mibu," Ironwood pointed out. "They _know_, Ozpin. If they know, there's no telling where their spies might be."

"You needn't worry overly much about Mibu spies," said Ozpin. "The Mibu have assembled that information over the course of centuries. They are a people with long memories, and there's no doubt that they are skilled in assembling facts gathered over the course of an extended period of time."

Ironwood frowned, not completely buying that explanation.

"In any case, I don't believe we need to worry about them being enemies in this matter," Ozpin pointed out. "Ms. Rose, the closest thing we have to a representative of them, has been nothing but helpful, even granting us with this unprecedented opportunity."

"I suppose that much is true," agreed Ironwood, somewhat reluctantly. "If nothing else, she is indeed as decisive and skilled as you described."

"Ah, watched her debriefing already, have you?" asked Ozpin with a chuckle.

Ironwood exhaled slowly. "She successfully defeated Adam Taurus, twice no less. This most recent time, she even managed it in the dark, with his natural advantage over her...though he's managed to escape both times."

"It would appear that he has obtained substantial help," said Ozpin.

Ironwood nodded. "At the very least, she seems trustworthy." He looked at the file on Team CMSN, still floating above Ozpin's desk. "And what about Cinder? When do we move against her?"

"That is more difficult," said Ozpin. "We cannot afford to waste this chance. But we must be cautious. If she catches wind of the fact that we are onto her, she will either cause an incident, or simply vanish. In either case, we will be back where we started, with Autumn's condition worsening, and no means of fixing this. We cannot allow her to slip away, but we need to be absolutely sure, when we _do_ move."

"Yet we cannot afford to wait too long," said Ironwood.

"I believe we have time," said Ozpin. "She took the trouble of crafting such a convincing set of student profiles for herself and her cohorts. If this was meant to be a brief infiltration, she wouldn't need to be so comprehensive. The fact she went through so much trouble means that they mean for their cover to last for longer...likely through the Vytal Festival."

"So whatever they are planning involves the festival, and the tournament," said Glynda.

"Most likely," agreed Ozpin. "But that means we have time to gather information and observe them. Most of all, we cannot afford to be reckless."

"I hope you're right, Oz," said Ironwood, his voice a soft growl. "But, if we waste this opportunity, because you refuse to take action, then it will be on your head."

"So it will be," said Ozpin. "You are right that we must strike a balance between caution and decisiveness. Action will be required at some point. But, for now, let us gather as much information on our subjects as we can."

"When it comes to that, one of the members of this team stands out to me," said Ironwood, tapping Ozpin's desk, manipulating the interface to bring the picture of the gray-haired boy to the fore. "Mercury Black...There is another M. Black that I know of, one with quite the reputation. If this Mercury is connected to him..."

"By all means, find out what you can learn," said Ozpin. If Ironwood had something to work on, it would keep him from jumping the gun.

"Ms. Sustrai's profile lists her as being from Vacuo," noted Glynda, selecting Emerald's profile on her scroll. "Of course, there's a possibility that any information pertaining to their backgrounds or history is falsified."

"Yes, but they would still wish to have something that they can easily relate to," said Ozpin. "When infiltrators are questioned about their personal history, it is much easier for them to describe places they are familiar with, rather than making things up whole-cloth. Most likely, the information on Ms. Sustrai's home Kingdom is accurate. Her appearance certainly suggests someone of Vacuoan origin." Darker skin-tones, like Emerald's, were often characteristic of people from the desert region, where the tanning effect of sun-exposure almost seemed to have sunk in on a genetic level amongst many of the people who called that harsh region home.

"Cinder Fall is listed as being from Mistral," noted Ironwood. "But it will be difficult to confirm. Perhaps we could have Leo look into it."

"Let's not," said Ozpin warily, his tone drawing surprised looks from both Ironwood and Glynda. "Think about it. The information on these profiles is impressively complete, their cover as students utterly airtight. These are no mere cheap forgeries. These are authentic identities of Haven students...which means that someone at Haven helped in creating them...someone highly-placed."

"You can't possibly be suggesting Leo?" gasped Glynda.

Ozpin frowned. "Truth be told, I don't wish to suspect him. However, we cannot be too careful in this situation. Furthermore, even if Leo is not compromised, it is likely someone on his staff. We cannot allow any hint that we suspect them to reach Cinder Fall and her cohorts. Therefore, we should endeavor to keep our inquiries away from Haven in its entirety."

"That makes sense," agreed Ironwood.

"Then let us proceed," said Ozpin. "I will contact Qrow, and let him know of our plan of action."

"Hopefully he can come back quickly," said Glynda. "We will need every edge we can get against these people." Loathe as she was to admit it, the drunkard was unquestionably one of the finest Huntsmen currently active, and one of the few people that Ozpin trusted completely. He had been the one to rescue Amber, when she'd been attacked, and had been eager to find and deal with her attackers.

"I'll begin immediately," said Ironwood, heading for the elevator.

Once it closed, Glynda and Ozpin let out sighs of relief. "Must he be so difficult?" she wondered.

"He is eager," said Ozpin. "If we can temper that aspect of him, he will truly be a great asset."

Glynda nodded.

"Still, it is fortunate that he overlooked certain omissions from Ms. Rose's story," mused Ozpin.

"What omissions?" asked Glynda, looking at Ozpin in surprise.

"Ms. Rose's senses are incredibly refined," noted Ozpin. "So it is no surprise that she recognized that something was seriously wrong with Cinder Fall. That having been said...how did Ms. Rose know that Ms. Fall had stolen a _Maiden's_ powers, specifically?"

Glynda gasped softly.

"She could only have made such a determination...because she is already familiar with the sensation of a Maiden's magic, from having sensed such power before."

"In other words, she's met one of the other Maidens, maybe even knows her," said Glynda breathlessly.

"Two Maidens are currently unaccounted for," said Ozpin. "The Spring Maiden abandoned her duties and fled, over a decade ago. We cannot even be certain that she is still alive. The Summer Maiden has not been found, not since the passing of the previous one."

"You believe that one of the missing Maidens is with the Mibu?" asked Glynda.

"She might even _be_ one of the Mibu," corrected Ozpin. "If the Summer or Spring Maiden's power ended up going to someone at random, then the young women of the Mibu Clan would have had just as much a chance of receiving it as anyone."

"But what does that mean?" asked Glynda.

"At the very least, one of the Maidens is secure," said Ozpin. "If she is living with the Mibu, or is one of them, then she is probably in the safest position of any of them. The Mibu protect their own fiercely. And the power that they can bring to bear is not to be trifled with, not even by Salem. Few of her agents would have any hope of penetrating their defenses. The Mibu regard even the Grimm as a mere inconvenience at worst."

"I suppose that would be reassuring," mused Glynda. "Though James probably would not agree."

"Then we shall not bring it up with him," said Ozpin. "Though, if he does realize it himself, then we must do what we can to dissuade him from acting on that knowledge."

"That seems wisest," said Glynda.

* * *

"What did Ozpin talk to you about?" asked Weiss, as soon as Ruby returned from her late dinner.

Ruby swept an apologetic gaze across her teammates. "I'm sorry, but I can't talk about it," she said. "It's kinda...super-secret."

"Secret enough that you have to keep it from your own teammates?" pressed Weiss.

"'Fraid so," said Ruby. "I really wish I could tell you, Weiss. But these are serious _secret_-secrets."

"Then we won't pry," said Pyrrha, resting a hand on Weiss' arm, silently urging her partner to leave things where they were.

"I'm sorry," said Ruby, bowing her head to them.

"Well, so long as you're not in any trouble," said Jaune. "You'd tell us, right?"

"Of course I would," said Ruby, giving him a grateful smile.

"Then that's all we really need to know," said Jaune.

"Thanks," said Ruby. "Let's get some sleep."

"Well...at least tomorrow is Sunday," said Weiss, finding it in herself to smile. "We could certainly do with a lazy day, after what we went through."

"Pretty considerate of the White Fang to do all this on a Saturday night," added Jaune jokingly.

That night, Ruby slipped beneath the sheets. Despite the fact she didn't think she'd done anything wrong, whether pertaining to Ashley's rescue, or telling Ozpin about Cinder, she was struck by the nagging feeling that something was wrong, that she'd overlooked something. She just wished she could place it. Still, the exhaustion of what she'd been through caught up with her, and she slipped away regardless.

* * *

"_I WANT THAT GIRL DEAD!_" Adam's voice roared out from the scroll, the force behind his shout actually making the device's speakers crackle from the feedback.

Cinder grimaced, holding the scroll well away from her ear. "You certainly like to talk about what _you_ want Adam. Need I remind you that we do _not_ work for you."

"_I've sunk an enormous amount of our resources into this 'project' of yours,_" Adam growled back. "_You _owe_ me._"

"Adam," said Cinder, a dangerous purr entering her voice, "that is _not_ how our relationship works. Do you need me to come down there and _remind_ you of the basis for our alliance?"

For a few, tense seconds, the only sound coming from Cinder's scroll was the sound of harsh breaths, Adam trying to get his rage under control.

Mercury and Emerald traded looks, smirking. Truth be told, they could care less about the White Fang, or the organization's "mission". It didn't help that Adam was so unbearably dogmatic that they could scarcely meet with him for more than a few minutes before he would start ranting about "human oppression" or the like, when he wasn't complaining about having to work for Cinder. Granted, Adam's help hadn't been obtained through the most...polite...of methods. But they had tried being nice the first time. It was Adam's stubbornness that had resulted in their present relationship being even less-equal than it would have, had he accepted their overtures the first time.

At present, Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald were in Cinder's room in the visitor dorms. Truth be told, there wasn't all that much for them to do on the weekends, except pretend to be students. Mercury and Emerald could go out to socialize, perhaps try to learn more about their possible targets. But that could wait until later. Cinder was generally stuck with the nitty gritty of organizing disparate components of their plan: managing Torchwick's criminal cohorts, the White Fang, and Morgan's pirates.

Unfortunately, their lazy, relaxing morning had been interrupted by a call from Adam himself. Apparently, his operation to use one of the dissenters targeted for elimination as a way to draw out Ruby Rose and kill her had gone south in a big way. It had actually been Emerald and Mercury who had floated the idea. In their investigations into some of Beacon's students, particularly the Academy's two most-notable first-years, they had learned that one of the White Fang's new recruits, Ashley Forrest, was a close friend of Ruby Rose in particular. Passing that information on to Adam, they suggested that he use Ashley's elimination as a way to draw out the girl who'd humiliated him into a fight on his terms, and repay the favor...with death.

The way they, and Cinder, saw it, there weren't many downsides. Another would-be deserter was made an example of. One or more of Beacon's promising students were eliminated. There would be at least one less candidate for them to evaluate. And, finally, the negativity stirred up by the White Fang's activities would receive a nice shot in the arm.

Of course, all that reckoned without the possibility of _utter-failure_ on Adam's part. Every single aspect of this operation had ended in a loss for him. His efforts to kill Ruby, as well as her friend, had been defeated. Even his plan to kill Ashley's family instead had been thwarted too. In the process, several more of Adam's more loyal and committed troops had been subdued and captured, now in police custody. Adam's humiliation was compounded by the fact that he'd now lost to the same opponent twice, this time in a situation where he had deliberately tailored the environment to his advantage.

And now, here he was, shouting at them over a scroll, first thing in the morning; probably the first thing Adam had done since he'd regained consciousness from having his Aura broken the previous night. According to Neo's report, he'd passed out soon after their escape. Neo had also given them a fairly decent summary of the fight itself. As if all the other factors of Adam's defeat were bad enough, apparently Ruby Rose had _literally_ beaten him with her eyes closed. On top of that, the young girl's analysis of the situation, and her understanding of Adam's tendencies, had been flawless. She'd completely read his plan, and countered it perfectly.

According to Cinder, rather than being a sign of Adam's incompetence, it was a sign that Ruby Rose was _not_ someone to be taken lightly, reinforcing the threat the seemingly unassuming little girl they'd seen cringing away from them in the hallway actually presented.

Of course, none of that was any help in calming Adam, who had demanded that they do something. It wasn't even a matter of making good of the White Fang's promise of fatal punishment for those who tried to desert the organization. Adam just wanted to hit back at Ruby, to find some way to make her suffer for humiliating him...again.

"Much as I would like to help you, Adam," continued Cinder, "we simply can't. We cannot afford to jeopardize our cover for a single civilian girl. It's unfortunate, but I just don't see it as a risk worth taking.

"Look on the bright side, an entire family was forced to flee Vale, and are now cowering at Beacon. That seems to me to be an excellent sign of how fearsome the White Fang's reprisal is."

"_That's not good enough!_" snapped Adam. "_This was your stipulation. Those who try to leave cannot be allowed to live!_"

"And it was _your_ job to see it through," Cinder countered, "one that you seemed very confident about being able to carry out. Yet you found yourself beaten, by the very same opponent no less."

"Aww...Come on, Cinder. Cut the boy some slack."

The scroll fell from Cinder's hand as she jumped up from her seat on her bed in shock. Both Mercury and Emerald jolted as well, looking around for the source of the voice. A figure sat down onto the bed, right next to where Cinder had been sitting, the light tinkling of bells that adorned his hat accentuating his movements musically.

"Jester!" yelped Cinder, unable to hide her shock at the man's appearance.

He inclined his head towards her, tinkling the bells attached to the three tips of his fool's hat, lips pulling back to bare his teeth in a shining grin, which, combined with the white domino-mask obscuring his eyes with opaque lenses, was downright sinister-looking. As befitted his name, the man was clad in a classic jester's outfit, something right out of the stories of the old royal courts of Vale's monarchy, although the colors were off.

Classical jesters typically wore bright, motley-colored coats and breeches. While Jester's coat was certainly motley, his colors were a patchwork of dark-purple and pitch-black, making his white mask stand out all the more unsettlingly amidst all that dark coloring. Leaning back on Cinder's bed, he kicked up one of his legs, revealing shoes that ended with curling tips, also adorned with bells.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Cinder.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood, and decided to pop in to check on y'all," said Jester, chuckling. "You know how the boss lady loves to worry and fret. Figured I'd just scamper on home with some good news that yer all healthy and happy as clams." He paused, raising the marotte in his right hand. Carved from ebony, the stick sported a carved likeness of Jester's fool's cap...fitted over the head of a human skull. "But here you are, arguing with our good man, Taurus, over a trifle no less."

"This is hardly a trifle," said Cinder. "Taurus failed in his responsibilities, yet he wants us to clean up his mess."

"Well now...that's true," agreed Jester. "But it's hard to hold against him, ya know."

Cinder frowned, and nodded. "How much do you know?" she asked.

"Enough," said Jester, tilting his face towards the ceiling, "maybe even more than you."

"So you think we should do Adam's job _for_ him?" asked Mercury.

"Well, we can't exactly let it out that the White Fang is letting deserters slip through the cracks, now can we?" mused Jester.

"But we can't jeopardize our cover," Emerald pointed out.

"True, true," agreed Jester. "Well...that's not entirely true, I guess. Let's just say that, in these difficult times, sometimes a certain degree of risk is necessary."

"Risk...?" mused Cinder.

"High risk, high return," clarified Jester. "Now, set aside your frustration with our buddy, Adam, for a moment, and think about the situation. Here, you have someone who's fled the White Fang and sought sanctuary at Beacon Academy. Sure, you could just stick to your guns, keep your cover, and sit back. But let's think about where that leads, eh.

"Sooner or later, this girl is gonna speak out. Now that ain't the end 'o the world. But if she starts talking about the White Fang's...revised...recruitment rallies, as well as what they're doing to keep theirs in line, people are gonna start talkin'. More faunus will turn against the Fang, and it's gonna get harder to find the manpower to really make your plan come together. But think about this..."

Jester's grin widened slightly. Just that simple change was enough to make it all the more menacing. "Everybody assumes that, because this girl and her family made it into the loving arms of Beacon's security, they're free and clear. They beat the game, cleared the last boss, all that jazz... Now..._after_ all that reassurance, what might happen if this girl and her parents were to...I don't know...turn up dead, in their room at Beacon; just when they thought they were safe, just when almost everyone else did too?"

"Hmmm..." Cinder frowned, pinching her chin thoughtfully.

Jester made sense. From the perspective of the two teams that had fought for them, Ashley Forrest and her parents were completely safe, now that they had been delivered to Beacon. Adam wanted to deliver a psychological blow to Ruby Rose. And what blow could be more powerful than having Ruby's friend die, _after_ Ruby had saved her? From the perspective of their overall purpose, it had some interesting benefits. The people of Vale would get to see that Beacon's security was weak, that even the supposed sanctuary of the Academy was susceptible to being penetrated. It would reinforce the message to the members of the White Fang that there was no escape for deserters. Finally, it would enhance the overall fear and negativity within the Kingdom nicely.

"Ya see?" prodded Jester. "When you think about it, there might just be more pros than cons."

"True...I suppose," said Cinder. "However, we need to be careful. Depending on how we do this, Ozpin could realize that the White Fang has cohorts within Beacon's grounds itself."

"Yeah, and busting into where those three are hiding could be noisy," Mercury pointed out. "Even if Emerald worked the locks, they'd probably notice and call somebody. That comes with a pretty big risk of being discovered."

Jester laughed. "And why would dear Em need to deal with locks at all?" he asked. "After all, I suspect that this little girl is just the sort to throw the door wide open for a friendly face." He turned his gaze to Emerald, who was beginning to smile. "And we all know that Em is _more_ than capable of delivering on that."

"Yes...I suppose this could be workable," said Cinder thoughtfully.

"Well, the choice is yours," said Jester, shrugging indifferently. "I've delivered my advice. You seem to be doing well enough, Cinder. Ta."

Abruptly, the strangely-dressed man toppled over backwards, seeming to fall through a gap between the mattress and the wall...except that the mattress had been pushed up flush against the wall. Yet he fell behind it all the same, vanishing from sight.

"_Who was that?_" asked Adam over the scroll, having heard everything.

"An...associate," said Cinder, frowning, while picking up the scroll. "In any case, his advice is always sound. So, that having been said..."

"_You'll do it?_" asked Adam eagerly.

"I suppose we will," said Cinder, lowering her head slightly. "However, we will do it in _our_ time, not yours, Taurus. There is certain groundwork that must be laid, before we go ahead with this."

"_Wait too long, and the little bitch will squeal,_" growled Adam.

"That will be _your_ problem to deal with," said Cinder. "She's likely spilling everything to Ozpin and his staff as we speak anyway. So it's too late to kill her for the sake of shutting her up. We will just have to focus on delivering as effective a message as possible."

* * *

"I didn't want to join," said Ashley, her voice soft, her gaze distant. "I told Chrys that. But he kept pushing."

"Was he trying to force you?" asked Glynda.

"Not really," said Ashley, pausing to sniff hard.

Standing behind her seat, Ruby rested her hands on Ashley's shoulders, squeezing them as reassuringly as she could.

Ozpin nodded across the desk at her. "I can understand that it is hard to talk about your employer, considering what happened. However, please do your best to recall what you can."

Ashley nodded, letting out a soft whimper, and raising her arm to wipe her eyes. "Chrys told me about what the White Fang did for faunus, how he wouldn't even have his shop, if it wasn't for them. He wanted me to at least hear what they had to say. One rally, that was supposed to be it. If I didn't want to join, he'd drop it, and that would be that."

"What happened at the rally?" Glynda pressed gently.

"It was late," said Ashley. "Chrys asked me to tell Mom and Dad that I had an overnight shift, that we were gonna reset the shop's layout."

"So that's when it was," said Elowen, frowning at the memory. She'd thought she'd noticed some extra tension, when Ashley had returned from that particular shift.

"It was just supposed to be an informational rally," continued Ashley. "They'd make a few speeches, tell a few stories, let us ask questions, and then we'd go. But...when we got there...it wasn't anything like what Chrys said it would be."

"How so?" asked Ozpin.

"It was really tense," said Ashley. "They had a stage, and members came up to talk about how they were discriminated against. They were all really violent stories too. And they also talked about how the White Fang got back at the humans who'd hurt them. It went on for hours, with no breaks. I...I felt like everything was just too staged."

"Classic brainwashing tactics," mused Ozpin.

"After it was over, we were supposed to sign up," said Ashley. "I didn't want to, but the recruiters...they wouldn't let you leave if you didn't sign up. At least, that's how it seemed. There was a boy ahead of us, who didn't want to join either. But they kept saying that he needed to sign up. Then the others with us started to pressure him too."

"Inciting mob-mentality to increase the degree of peer pressure..." muttered Glynda.

"Chrys told me to just go ahead and give them my name and contact info," continued Ashley, "so that we could avoid a confrontation. After that...well...I just stayed away from the rallies, came up with excuses. But then...then Chrys..." Ashley broke down sobbing.

Ruby quickly wrapped her friend in a hug, letting Ashley cry into her shoulder.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Forrest," said Ozpin, giving Ashley and her parents a reassuring smile. "I understand that this was a traumatic experience for you. But this is very helpful information, and it may allow us to save others with similar difficulties."

"I hope so," said Ashley, pulling away from Ruby enough to meet Ozpin. "I just wish there was more I could do."

"There might be," said Ozpin. "However...it could be harder on you."

"What do you mean?" asked Ashley.

"If you wish to do more, then the most effective thing would probably be to start telling your story to a wider audience," explained Ozpin. "I won't make it a requirement. However, I would like you to consider speaking to the press about your experience."

"I-I'll think about it," said Ashley.

"Please do," said Ozpin. "Thank you for your time, Ms. Forrest."

Ashley nodded, Ruby helping her up out of her chair, so that they could leave.

Just after breakfast that morning, Ruby had been summoned, along with her team, to Ozpin's office. She found herself meeting Glynda, along with the Forrest Family, in the tower lobby, all of them convening, so that Ashley could share the story of her involvement with the White Fang.

Ruby had been shocked to learn that Chrys had been a White Fang member, albeit a passive one. But it also given her a glimpse into the organization's appeal, with the story Ashley had related about how they had helped Chrys get established, by dealing with a landlord who'd discriminated against him for being a faunus. Then had come the story of the rally, and the revelation that Ashley and other faunus were essentially being conscripted by the organization.

For the others in their group, it had been an experience of relief, mingled with dread, learning that their friend wasn't a committed member of the White Fang, but had been dragged into it against her will. Ruby wondered what Blake would make of this, once she learned what Ashley had been through.

"For the time being, you may return to your quarters," said Ozpin. "I hope you don't feel too confined, but we do need to be careful about having civilians present on our campus, so we can't afford to allow you to move around too freely. We don't wish to have you questioned or harassed. Our students generally have good intentions, but their curiosity can get the better of them."

"I guess that's the price we pay," said Oliver with a shrug, not minding all that much.

They had been given quarters in Beacon's faculty wing, a full suite of rooms, actually larger than their own apartment. It came with all the amenities they might need, including a full kitchen. The only downside was that there was only one bedroom, with one bed...but a very nice one. The couch wasn't bad either.

"I am sure that Ms. Rose and her friends would be amenable to escorting you, should you wish to go anywhere," added Ozpin, getting a nod of confirmation from Ruby, "though they will not be available during class."

"Of course," said Elowen.

"Then, if that is everything-" Ozpin began preparing to call the meeting to a close...only to be interrupted by the sound of Jaune's scroll ringing.

"Huh?" Jaune fumbled his scroll for a second, cringing away from Glynda's glare. "S-sorry," he said bashfully, "I thought I silenced it."

Pulling it out, he moved to turn off the scroll's ringer, only to freeze when he saw what was on the screen. "Ruby..."

"What is it?" asked Ruby, coming over to see what had stopped Jaune in his tracks. Seeing it for herself, she gasped softly.

"Is it something pertinent to _this_ discussion?" asked Glynda cooly, her patience at this interruption being strained.

Before Jaune and Ruby could answer, the scroll rang again, then a third time. With each new message, Jaune and Ruby became considerably more nervous. Finally, they looked up at Ozpin and Glynda.

"It's _very_ pertinent," said Ruby, nodding to Jaune. "Show them."

Jaune nodded, bringing his scroll over to the desk, and showing the messages to the two teachers.

The messages were from someone named "Neo." Each of the three messages was succinct and to the point.

"_Your friend isn't safe at Beacon,_" said the first.

"_They're coming for her,_" said the second.

"_Don't trust what you see or hear,_" said the third.

"Who is this...Neo-person?" asked Glynda, frowning.

"If I had to guess, I think she's the girl who was with Adam, last night," said Jaune.

"Probably," agreed Ruby.

"And what about this message?" asked Glynda. "How do you know this girl?"

"I don't," said Jaune, going through his scroll. "She's not showing up on my contacts. I can't get anything from the sender-part of the message. There's no way to get the scroll-contact, or even reply. It looks like this is one-way...somehow."

"She picked Jaune's pocket during the fight," added Ruby, "and then threw his scroll to me, when it was over."

"She withdrew at the end, and stopped attacking," noted Pyrrha, Weiss nodding next to her. "I was tracking her weapons, but she stopped moving. We thought she might be setting up for an unarmed attack. But she never came for us, and didn't move again, until she saved Adam from Ruby."

"She must have been doing...whatever it was she did with Jaune's scroll...during that time," said Weiss.

"There are some truly genius-if rather illegal-programs out there, which might enable such a setup," mused Ozpin. "She must have downloaded Mr. Arc's contact information to her scroll, while her own has a masking program in place to prevent her messages being traced back to their point of origin."

"But what's the point of this message?" asked Jaune, frowning at the messages again.

"It seems fairly straightforward to me," said Glynda. "It would seem that the White Fang have not given up, simply because Ms. Forrest and her parents are in Beacon custody."

Ashley gasped, while her parents clasped one another's hands tightly. Ruby immediately moved to stand closer to Ashley, as though someone might attack them right then and there, in the middle of Ozpin's office.

"You think the White Fang are going to attack Beacon?" asked Weiss.

"That would be absurd," said Glynda. "However much manpower they might have, they would have to be suicidal to try and launch an assault on a Huntsman Academy."

"It wouldn't have to be an assault," Pyrrha pointed out. "What if they sent infiltrators?"

Ruby inhaled sharply, her eyes going wide. Her gaze darted to Ozpin, then Glynda. Beacon's Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress both met her gaze, understanding her unspoken suspicion.

It seemed outlandish. There was no tangible connection between Cinder Fall and the White Fang. After all, Cinder and her cohorts were all human. But...then again...there _was_ a human working with the White Fang right now, one who had saved Adam from capture twice. And, if there _was_ a connection, then the White Fang wouldn't need to send infiltrators, because some were already in place.

"Why would this Neo-person warn us about this, though?" asked Jaune. "I mean...she's working with the White Fang now, isn't she?"

"_That_ is the question," said Ozpin. "However, it is still worth taking this warning seriously, if only because it is better to be prepared for the worst-case scenario."

"What bothers me is the third message," said Ruby, frowning. "What does she mean about not trusting what we see or hear?"

Pyrrha let out a soft gasp, then snapped her fingers. "Illusion!" she exclaimed.

"Huh?" Ruby turned to Pyrrha, confused.

"Oooh!" gasped Jaune, already getting what Pyrrha was suggesting, while Weiss nodded in silent agreement.

"When Neo attacked us, trying to get at Ashley, she used illusions," explained Pyrrha. "She could create false images, or completely hide herself from sight."

"You think she might be warning us that she would be sent after Ms. Forrest and her family?" asked Ozpin.

"Maybe," said Ruby. "Or maybe there's someone else they have with illusions. If she can practically make herself invisible, then it's pointless to warn us about seeing and hearing. So she might be meaning someone or something else."

"But what?" asked Jaune.

"Well...what if Neo's-or someone else's-illusions...let her take on someone else's appearance?" wondered Ruby.

A tense silence filled the room.

"You mean, if I saw...like..._you_ at the door," said Ashley, thinking of the little peephole set into their door.

"A disturbing notion," said Ozpin.

"So...then...either Neo, or someone else, is planning to try and use some kind of illusion to get Ashley or her parents to let them into their room, so that they can finish the job," said Jaune.

"That appears to be the idea," said Glynda warily. "But can we even trust this message?"

"It's certainly odd," said Ozpin. "Why would this girl warn us, if she was planning an attack, or being party to one? Yet, at the same time, this message would simply lead us to taking extra precautions that wouldn't cause any harm, if it proved to be false."

They were silent for a few more minutes, before Ruby spoke. "Well...let's go with the assumption that this is true," she said. "I think I know what precautions we need to take..."

* * *

**Yeah...A little bit of Oztroll at the beginning there, stringing Ruby along like that...**

**So the net result of everything that happened is that Ozpin and Co now know that Cinder and her party are at Beacon, and are the bad guys, well before they do in canon. Of course, they're in a tricky situation, with Cinder and her people hiding in plain sight. Simply moving on them would cause a ruckus, which would raise all sorts of questions, questions Ozpin doesn't want people asking. On top of that, while they now know that Cinder's the one who took the Maiden's power, they don't quite know what she and her allies are capable of, so it's in their best interest to hang back for a while, and take advantage of the fact that they know who and where the bad guys _are_, but that the bad guys don't know that they know.**

**Of course, thanks to the events of Volumes 5 and 6, we know Adam's one hell of a sore loser, especially if he's beaten by someone whom he thinks he should've won against. A lot of people have complained about Adam's character over the course of the series, mainly how he seemed to degrade in the events leading up to his death. And, of course, a lot of those complaints come down to shipping. Apparently, if you listen to the loudest whiners, Adam died for the sake of Bumblebee...or something like that. Of course, Taurudonna was pretty much sunk by the end of Volume 3, so I'd say there was _never_ a possibility of that coming to fruition.**

**The main issue is that, when it comes to Adam's character, we are, at best, given the CliffNotes version of his character development, in the form of the Volume 6 character short. It's sad, but the writers and animators only have so much time to allot to any given character's story. However, the definite thing highlighted by Adam's character short is the reminder that character development has just as much potential to be _regressive_ as it does to be _progressive_. A character can fail to rise to the occasion, can embrace their worse aspects, fail to learn the right lessons, and learn all the wrong ones. That's where most villains come from to begin with.**

**With regards to Adam, it's clear that he started out with noble intentions. His first on-screen kill (chronologically speaking) is implied to be more unintentional than anything else. From there, we shift to seeing him having clearly gotten a taste for killing, and his need to manipulate Blake to keep her close to him. By the time we hit the events of Volumes 5 and 6, it's become clear that Adam's view of justice is entirely fixated around his personal gratification. However, we also see that he's also begun to develop some narcissistic tendencies, namely an inability to admit when he's wrong. As such, when the Battle of Haven goes down, and Adam flees the scene, and winds up losing the support of the White Fang, his narcissism prevents him from accepting responsibility for his failures in attack on Haven, which requires that said blame instead be placed on someone else. And so, his obsession with Blake turns her into the repository of the blame for everything that went wrong for him leading up to that point, which is why he winds up pursuing her so doggedly.**

**Well, enough of that...Neo seems to be up to something though...**


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60:**

After their tumultuous weekend, RASP and RYNB did their best to slip back into their normal routines as much as possible. Once again, the details of their mission were hushed up by Ozpin, the police yet again getting credit for apprehending another handful of confirmed White Fang operatives, apparently in exchange for the chief ceasing his calls demanding that Ozpin hand over the Forrest Family.

Given the warning they had received, an unfortunate consequence was that the Forrest Family's freedom was restricted even further. Now that illusions were in play, any moment they spent outside of their room was a chance for an assailant to close in and strike, possibly even using some form of deception to swap with one of the family's escorts to get close. Against civilians, without unlocked Auras, it would take but a fraction of a second to deal a lethal wound.

Ruby and her friends visited as much as they possibly could, while trying to keep from neglecting their training. It made things a little awkward. But that was better than letting Ashley and her parents languish in isolation. Ozpin also informed them that he was in covert discussions with the VNN to bring Lisa Lavender over to Beacon, with a camera crew, to conduct an interview, to help get Ashley's story told.

RASP and RYNB had plenty to keep themselves occupied though. Their second semester of classes was proceeding much like their first. However, second semester carried with it the exciting prospect of the first-years first official missions, something that probably would have been far more exciting to RASP and RYNB, had they not conducted two unofficial missions (even if Ozpin had sanctioned the second one) already. Still, it was a chance to get a taste of the actual work that Huntsmen and Huntresses conducted regularly, maybe even learn from an active Huntsman directly.

* * *

"I still don't get it," said Weiss, taking a break from studying, the mere fact that she was doing so a sign of just how strange the conundrum was. "Why would Neo help us?"

"Well...she's a human," Jaune pointed out. "Maybe she doesn't really want to work with the White Fang. Even if she's working with them, I can't imagine they're making her feel welcome."

"Maybe..." mused Blake. "But why is she working with the White Fang to begin with or, for that matter, why would the White Fang work with a human, like her? I'd always thought that Adam would sooner run himself through with his own sword than work with a human."

"Maybe they weren't given a choice," said Ruby softly, her mind going over to Cinder, and the terrifying revelation that had lurked behind her pleasant facade.

According to Ozpin, Cinder had stolen a portion of the Fall Maiden's power. Ruby had been able to sense that stolen portion, unnaturally stitched to the woman's Aura. If she had access to that magic, even if only part of it, then Ruby could see her using that power to…influence…others into doing things they normally wouldn't do. Having seen a Maiden's power for herself, Ruby could admit that it was both impressive and daunting, especially so for someone who didn't know what was actually going on.

Of course, again, she had to remind herself that there was no proof that Cinder's group had any involvement with the White Fang. This was purely conjecture at best. And yet...it fit well with what was happening in Vale, with the White Fang.

"So, you think that someone is _making_ Adam and a human work together?" asked Blake, looking at Ruby with a disbelieving gaze.

Ruby could understand Blake's skepticism. Having fought Adam twice now, Ruby knew full well just how formidable he was. The fact that she had won both times didn't change how near those victories had been, no matter how easy they might have seemed on the surface. The idea that there was someone out there who could force Adam to do anything he didn't want to seemed ludicrous. And yet...Ruby could think of someone like that, who was right here at Beacon...hiding in plain sight...not that she could actually say anything about that.

"Well, even if it's hard to believe, it also makes sense," said Jaune. "That's about the only way I could think of for someone to do it."

"But why would Neo go along with it?" asked Ren, setting aside his own textbook for the time being.

"Well, if someone is dangerous enough to force this Taurus-guy to do something, then it isn't hard to assume they could do the same for Neo," Yang pointed out.

"But she'd risk that to contact and warn us?" wondered Weiss.

"Well...maybe...there's something else," said Nora, humming thoughtfully.

"Something else..." Ruby frowned, thinking back over the encounters she'd had with both Adam and Neo. Then she remembered what Adam had said, back at the docks, the first time Neo had rescued him. "Well...if what Adam said is true, Neo works for Torchwick."

"So she's one of Torchwick's people," said Weiss. "But how does that change the situation?"

"Well...what if we assume _Torchwick_ was the one who was supposed to be working with these guys?" suggested Jaune. "I mean, up until he was caught, he'd started raiding Dust shops too. Now, all of a sudden, it's the White Fang who are doing the Dust-stealing."

"That's right," said Pyrrha, nodding slowly. "But then Torchwick was caught...by Ruby."

"Well, if we're going with the theory that Neo and the White Fang were threatened into working together, then I think I get it," said Yang. "After all, if a person is gonna use intimidation to force someone to do something, then they probably aren't the sort to be all that forgiving, if one of the people working for them fails."

"So Ruby beats Torchwick, and gets him arrested," said Weiss. "Then, whoever is behind all of this basically uses Torchwick's fate as a way to keep Neo in line. Basically, they're probably saying that, if Neo does a good enough job, they'll let Torchwick off the hook."

"But then why is Neo reaching out to us, now?" asked Pyrrha.

"That's the tricky part," Jaune admitted, frowning. "If she starts giving us info, she risks getting found out. If that happens, then she and Torchwick are probably up the creek without a paddle."

"Assuming her information is good," Weiss pointed out. "After all, she could still be working for the White Fang, or whoever this assumed third-party is. They might be using her to pass us false information."

"Except that that brings us back to where we were at our meeting with Ozpin," Ruby pointed out. "This kind of info would just make us take extra precautions. Sure, if she's lying to us, then we made things extra-complicated for nothing. But it's not exactly something that would be actively harmful, if it _is_ false."

"It could be a ploy to gain our trust," countered Weiss. "Sure, this information seems harmless, if it turns out to be false; or even if it pans out, she could be using that to make us trust her more, and then use that trust to lure us into a trap or something."

"That makes sense," agreed Nora, folding her arms over her chest, and nodding slowly.

"Well...we won't know either way," said Ruby. "The best we can do now is take things as they come."

"I suppose," said Weiss, sighing. "But it's so frustrating to not have all the information on this."

The others nodded. But there wasn't really anything to be done about it at the moment. After their meeting with Ozpin, there had been no further contact from Neo. Ozpin had left Jaune's scroll with him, trusting them to inform him, if Neo sent any more messages. But Neo's name hadn't popped up on Jaune's scroll even once since.

In the end, the only thing they could do was hope for the best. So they got back to work. With their Thursday classes out of the way, they were finishing up their homework in the library, ensuring that their weekend would be clear. It wasn't the first time that their study session had been interrupted by an impromptu debate over recent events, said debates ranging from the topic of what they could do for Ashley and her family, to when it might be safe for the Forrests to move back to Vale. Unfortunately, those topics had reached dead ends in much the same way their latest one had.

Unfortunately for their homework, the sudden questioning of Neo's intentions wasn't fated to be the only interruption to their work, as Ruby's scroll sounded, announcing a message. Pulling it out, Ruby frowned at the message. A few seconds later, Ren's scroll sounded as well. Pulling his scroll out, he narrowed his eyes at the words on the screen.

"What is it?" asked Nora, trying to shift to read over Ren's shoulder.

"Professor Ozpin's calling our team to his office," said Ren.

"Ours too," said Ruby, holding up her scroll for everyone at the table to see.

"What now?" wondered Yang.

"Perhaps we're about to get more information," suggested Pyrrha.

"We'll just have to find out," said Ruby, already getting out of her seat, and gathering up her materials.

* * *

_"__Brother Adam's behavior is growing more erratic by the day. Lately, he has become even _more_ prone to outbursts of temper, often at the slightest provocation. At this point, I fear it is only a matter of time before he turns these outbursts at one our brothers or sisters. I feel that his restraint in that area is hanging by a thread. The failure of his attempt to entrap and kill the Beacon Student who thwarted the theft at the docks has only caused his disposition to worsen all the more._

_"__These new allies of his are not helping matters. It is clear that Brother Adam has been working _for_ them, rather than the other way around, and that _they_ are the ones dictating the current course of our plans. The only one presently assisting us is the girl who was a former-associate of Roman Torchwick, Vale's primary crime lord, prior to his capture. She has proven reliable, and has rescued Brother Adam from capture, twice. But the others have broken off contact for the most part, and have not been seen for multiple weeks now, though it seems that Brother Adam is able to contact them, if he needs to._

_"__It is hard to say how Brother Adam came to work for these people, or what their end-goals are. He hasn't divulged any information on that front to me. However, seeing how this Cinder-woman deals with him, I have come to believe that coercion is involved at some level. Through her connections, we have been furnished with Dust and ordinance beyond what we have been able to obtain through our own actions. However, what we are to do with all of this is worrying._

_"__I haven't yet seen what Brother Adam and the others are doing in the southeast quadrant, that ruined extension. But it seems to me that the nature of this plan is far more destructive than I initially feared. Brother Adam has become less and less discriminating in his targets. Having taken all this into account, it is my recommendation..."_

Ilia froze at the sound of knocking at her door. Quickly, she closed down her work station, and extracted the message tube from it, carefully stowing it in her chosen hiding place. Only then did she turn towards the door. "Yes?" she called out.

"Brother Adam wishes to speak with you," said a deep, harsh voice from the hallway. Ilia knew that it could only be Meinrad.

Getting up, Ilia moved to the door and opened it, putting her mask onto her face as she did so. Opening the door, she could see the burly, masked man already heading down the hall. Wordlessly, Ilia followed him. Reaching the warehouse's "office," a small folding table, set up in an out-of-the-way corner, Ilia saw Adam poring over a few maps of Vale and the surrounding area.

"You called me?" asked Ilia.

Adam looked up, a smile appearing on his face. "Sister Ilia...it's good to see you."

_You're talking as though you don't see me everyday,_ Ilia mused silently, fighting to keep her face from adopting a deadpan expression. Though, with her eyes covered, and the hard-set she kept her mouth to, it wasn't that difficult to keep her feelings concealed. The fact that Adam appeared to be in such a good mood shouldn't have been as disturbing as it was. The sight of that smile was setting off all kinds of warning bells in her head.

"What is it?" asked Ilia.

"I have decided to charge _you_ with delivering the seminal speech at our next rally," declared Adam, smirking. "Meinrad will be on hand to assist, should you need it. But I have confidence in your ability to rally the new recruits to us."

Ilia frowned. "You're not going to deliver it yourself."

"I need to head out to the staging point," said Adam. "Considering how things are going out there, I shall need to be on hand to make sure that work does not flag."

_That's good,_ thought Ilia. It was much harder for her to slip her messages out, while Adam was present. It was always tricky, dealing with his incredible alertness, though she supposed that was why he was such an effective fighter and leader in the first place.

"But first, I want to show you something," said Adam, his smirk becoming a grin. He led Ilia away from the table, and into another section of the warehouse, Meinrad following behind them. Ilia felt only more uneasy at Adam's increasing enthusiasm.

Ilia wondered just what Adam was going to show her. However, she didn't need to ask, as they rounded a corner, and she laid eyes on the enormous bulk that almost completely filled up the warehouse's loading dock. Her eyes widened behind her mask, and her jaw dropped, her gaze slowly moving upward, tracing every deadly line of Adam's new acquisition.

"It was just dropped off," explained Adam, "one of a full dozen. This one will be the showpiece of our next rally, a demonstration of just how powerful we've become. With these in our hands, we will be able to truly deal a telling blow to the human scum."

Ilia didn't share Adam's excitement. In fact, the sight of the thing looming over them only served to fill her with dread. _There will be no going back after this,_ she realized. _If he unleashes this within the Kingdom, he might as well be declaring war on behalf of all the White Fang. This is too much._

All the same, she kept her true feelings to herself, already having an idea of how Adam would respond to any expression of reluctance to agree with him. Her message back home had suddenly become all the more urgent.

* * *

_"__You want me to _spy_...on Brother Adam?" Ilia didn't even bother to keep her disbelief from her voice._

_After all, this was Adam Taurus they were talking about, one of their greatest warriors, perhaps _the_ greatest warrior in the White Fang. Every operation he had led so far had been an unqualified success. He was an inspiration to their organization's members in every corner of every Kingdom. Even outside the Vale Branch, he was practically legendary, with many looking up to him, even here._

_The woman sitting before Ilia nodded. Her wild-looking black hair, with its chin-length, asymmetrical bob-cut swaying with the movement. Her orange eyes focused on Ilia with a piercing intensity, the orange-furred ears atop her head standing up attentively. It was hard not to look at the small, red, diamond-shaped jewel that rested in the center of her forehead, just above those eyes._

_Leaning back in her seat, the woman folded her arms, the black-striped tattoos standing out against her tanned skin, matching the color of the black, form-fitting dress she wore, over which was an orange cape, set, like her dress, to reveal a generous portion of her shoulders and back._

_"__The news coming out of Vale has become worrying, lately," said Sienna Khan, High Leader of the White Fang. "Have you heard about Sister Blake?"_

_"__I...have," said Ilia, glancing down. "I'm having a hard time believing it. She's not a coward, unlike her father."_

_"__SILENCE!" barked Sienna, rising from her seat, glaring down with an intensity that turned the look into a force in its own right, forcing a quailing squeak from Ilia. "Do not _ever_ call Ghira Belladonna a coward!"_

_Sienna took a few breaths to calm herself, before sitting back down. "I realize that this is the view that many have. But they are fools. Ghira Belladonna was many things; naive, hopelessly idealistic, soft even; but _never_ a coward. His methods were insufficient, which is why I forced him to step down. But understand this, Sister Ilia, I hold Ghira in the highest esteem. Even now, he dedicates himself to the administration of Menagerie, supervising the sole true safe haven for our people, an immense task, given the circumstances."_

_She leaned forward in her seat. "So...if I hear you calling him a coward again, I will cut out your tongue, myself. Is that clear?"_

_"__Y-yes," stammered Ilia, completely cowed by Sienna's display of temper._

_Sienna sighed. "My apologies. Because I respect Ghira, I tend to react harshly to those who mock him. I know that many view him as a coward for refusing to resort to violence. But he did so out of genuine belief, not fear or weakness. I refuse to accept or encourage such talk."_

_"__I u-understand," said Ilia._

_"__Which means that I very much doubt that Sister Blake deserted out of cowardice either," continued Sienna. "Granted, I did not know her well. But she and Adam were very close."_

_"__Yes," said Ilia, a slight hint of bitterness sneaking into her voice, "they were."_

_"__Which makes it all the more troubling that she would abandon him," said Sienna. "I choose to see Sister's Blake's actions as a bellwether of Adam's own...and what I've discerned is troubling, namely that Blake's desertion was not reported by Adam directly."_

_Ilia nodded. Had Adam reported Blake's desertion, they would have known within a week or two of it. However, the information had instead filtered in through the channels of rumor, before being confirmed. Because of what they did, the White Fang were not so foolish as to make use of the CCT for long-range communications, which meant that they had to rely on older, slower methods. As a result, by the time the knowledge of Blake's actions had reached them, it was already over a month old._

_"__What Adam _has_ reported is troubling, through its omission of details," continued Sienna. "He is no longer submitting detailed operation reports. Again, what details we are getting come through more indirect paths. And again, what I am hearing is troubling. Adam's actions have become unnecessarily destructive._

_"__I was one of the first to suggest the use of violence. I opposed Ghira, because I saw that peace had bred complacency. I will not allow the humans to push us down without us pushing back. To that end, I want them to fear and respect the faunus. However, I am beginning to suspect that Adam is taking things too far._

_"__What we do _not_ need is war. War between the humans and faunus will be one we cannot win. This will not be one of revolution, but one of extermination. If Adam continues to push things past the breaking point, that may well be what we face in the future."_

_Ilia nodded, though she wasn't sure if she completely agreed._

_Sienna sighed. "So, I need you to go to Vale. The official reason is that you were sent because of your long history with Sister Blake, with the intention of trying to convince her to return to the fold, should the opportunity arise. Belladonna's daughter is a potentially powerful and important figure, however unofficial that power might be._

_"__But your _real_ reason is to learn what you can about the situation, and what Adam is doing. Do whatever he needs you to, but report back to me; your actions, his, your impressions, the general situation; I want to know what Adam has been keeping from me. Is that understood?"_

_"__Yes, High Leader," said Ilia, bowing her head._

* * *

Returning to her room, Ilia carefully locked the door, before retrieving the message-tube, and plugging it back into her workstation. She'd finish her report, then submit it via short-range transmission. From there, the message would be carried through a combination of hidden relays, and by hand, making its way across Sanus to Anima, then to the White Fang's headquarters, near Mistral. It was a slower method than calling Sienna up on her scroll (not that Ilia had Sienna's contact information), but _much_ more secure.

The CCT System that was supposed to link all four Kingdoms together through the nigh-instantaneous sharing of information across continents was a wonderful thing. But, in its shadow lurked a hidden danger. Because all intercontinental communications were routed through one or more of the central towers, that meant that nearly everything that was being said over the CCT was passing through those centralized systems, where they could be monitored easily. While Atlas, the Kingdom behind the creation of the system, promised that the privacy of users conversations would be upheld, no one in the White Fang was naive enough to believe that they would uphold that stance, not when it was such a tempting way to spy on potential enemies.

So the White Fang retained a network of short-ranged relays and messengers, utilizing their scrolls only for local area communications. Such communications were slower, and sometimes unreliable, thanks to the Grimm. But it was better than their movements, plans, or dispositions being picked up by the enemy.

As such, it would be a few days, at least, before Ilia's report made it to Sienna's hand. It would be weeks before Ilia had any notion of what Sienna would make of that information, as she was not in a position to receive replies without giving herself away. As it was, it was extremely difficult to write and send these reports without anyone else finding out. If Adam learned what she was doing, and what she was saying...Ilia dreaded being the focus of his anger, suspecting it would be completely unrestrained.

So it was with trepidation that she extracted the message tube, preparing to take it to their transmitter, and sending the message along on the first leg of its journey. Opening the door to her room, Ilia glanced both ways, making sure that the coast was clear, before making her way down the hallway towards their communications station. Behind her, Ilia was unaware that someone had been in the room with her, from the moment she'd returned from her conversation with Adam.

In the darkness of Ilia's empty room, a pair of eyes blinked open, pink and brown appearing, before disappearing with a blink, then reappearing opposite where they'd been before.

* * *

The doors slid open, and the two teams spilled out of the crowded elevator, quickly spreading out into the less-cramped confines of Ozpin's considerably roomier office. Once again, eight chairs had been set out for them, with two being set slightly ahead of the other six. Ozpin waited in his own seat, on the other side of the desk. Behind him, on his right, was Glynda, which wasn't all that surprising. However, the person who flanked his chair on the left was much more surprising.

"General Ironwood!" gasped Weiss, her eyes going wide.

Just behind her, Ruby picked up a startling change in Blake, her posture going completely rigid, eyes narrowing, ears stretching up beneath the concealment of her bow, the muscles of her limbs tightening. It was accompanied by a flare of intense anger, an anger that Blake was struggling to keep contained.

If either of the three adults on the other side of the desk noticed Blake's reaction, they chose not to show it. Instead, Ironwood smiled, a friendly expression that looked surprisingly at-home on his face. "Ms. Schnee, it's good to see you again."

"Likewise, Sir," said Weiss, pausing in her approach to drop into a polite curtsy, nearly tripping up Jaune, who'd been following behind her.

"Please," said Ironwood, holding up his gloved right hand to forestall any further attempts at formality. "This isn't a social engagement, Ms. Schnee. Be at ease. You needn't bother with such things here."

"Yes, Sir," said Weiss, her tone still completely polite.

"By the way, your sister sends her regards," added Ironwood. "While she isn't in Vale presently, she might be through sometime in the near future."

"I look forward to it," said Weiss, her smile becoming more genuine and enthusiastic.

"Well then, I suppose introductions aren't necessary," said Ozpin with a dry chuckle, as the students took their seats. "It would appear that you all know General Ironwood...or at least know _of_ him."

They all nodded, save for Blake, who averted her eyes angrily. "What does _he_ want?" she asked irritably.

"Is there a problem Miss...?" Ironwood raised an eyebrow.

"Belladonna," Blake replied coldly, glaring steadily at the general.

"Oh..." said Ironwood, his expression faltering, before being replaced by a frown of his own. "I see..." He turned to Ozpin. "I'm beginning to have my doubts about this, Oz."

"Your doubts are noted," replied Ozpin, with the tone of one who would then immediately discard said notes.

"What are you doing, allowing a White Fang member into Beacon, in the first place?" asked Ironwood, his tone becoming harsher.

"_Former_-member," replied Ozpin, cutting off a harsh rejoinder from Blake. "Ms. Belladonna has become a staunch opponent of the White Fang's current direction, and committed to stopping whatever it is they are planning."

"I have my doubts," growled Ironwood.

"I can tell you what to do with your doubts," Blake hissed back.

"Blake! What's gotten into you?" asked Weiss, shocked by Blake's attitude towards Ironwood. "General Ironwood is incredibly progressive. You should know about all the reforms for faunus equality he's instated in the Atlesian Military."

Blake turned an angry look on Weiss, who quailed away from it. "And yet, he's still your father's biggest enabler, isn't he?"

Weiss' protests died on her tongue, and she averted her gaze from Blake, who returned her glare to Ironwood. "After all, the SDC's Number One customer is the Atlesian Military. So, as long as you get all the Dust and fancy tech you want, you'll let Jacques Schnee do whatever he wants with his workers, won't you? I guess that shows how 'progressive' you really are."

"I think that's enough out of you," said Ironwood, clearly trying his hardest to maintain his composure. "There are factors in play that you couldn't even begin to understand. It is not as though I can do anything I want."

"That's rich, coming from the one-man majority of the Atlesian Council," replied Blake. "That's about as close to absolute power as you can get, until you get around to taking over for a third member too. Yet you still act as though you're powerless to change anything, when, in reality, it's just inconvenient for you."

Ironwood's jaw clenched tightly.

"Enough!"

To everyone's surprise, the harsh bark came, not from any of the three teachers, but from Ren, who'd turned in his seat to look intently at Blake. Meeting Ren's magenta eyes, she quailed before the intense look he was giving her, her jaw closing.

Ren sighed, before turning back to the teachers. "I apologize for my teammate's outburst," he said. "Whatever grievances she might have, this is clearly _not_ the time or place. That having been said, it is probably best to get to the reason you called us here. We obviously do not want to draw this out."

Ozpin smiled, while Glynda adjusted her spectacles, using the motion to mask her own surprise. It was always a shock to see Ren behave so assertively. Behind him, Nora was fighting down an expression of glee...and failing...while her cheeks turned pink.

Ruby nodded in agreement with Ren, focusing on Ozpin. "What did you call us for, Professor?"

"It so happens that I have a mission for you," said Ozpin. "The General has a particular task, and I have suggested you as the ones to undertake it, mainly due to your record of success on previous missions...even if one of them was unofficial." His eyes drifted to Blake. "It also serves as an opportunity for you to continue your investigation, Ms. Belladonna..."

Blake gasped, sitting up in her seat, ears perking beneath her bow.

"...assuming you can show proper self-control," added Ozpin, somewhat wryly.

Blake's bow flattened, the ears under it drooping, while she slumped down slightly, averting her gaze, abashed.

"Now then, right to the point," said Ozpin, before turning his eyes to Ironwood. "James, if you would explain..."

Ironwood hesitated, clearly rethinking the situation, his gaze flicking to Blake again, before he took a breath, and produced his scroll, laying it out on Ozpin's desk. There was a flicker of light, as the scroll synched with the desk's interface. Above the desk, a flickering hologram appeared, illuminating a hulking figure, the sight of it drawing a collective gasp from the assembled students.

A blocky chassis was suspended from a pair of tall legs, with two broad arms emerging on either side of it, each arm supporting several large gun barrels. Mounted on its back were blocky projections that looked like missile launchers of some kind. Somehow, despite the fact that the hologram hovering over the desk was obviously considerably smaller than real-life, the image still managed to convey a sense of immensity. It was obvious that this thing was _big_.

"What is _that_?" gasped Jaune.

"This is the Atlesian Paladin-290," explained Ironwood, his voice reverting to a crisp tone of a military man giving a report. "It was designed to support our latest generation of Knight-class androids in the field, a piloted mech, supported by the best armor and weaponry our Kingdom has to offer, ensuring that we have a human presence of the battlefield, as necessary."

"Okay..." said Nora dubiously. "So...it's a really big robot-thing...run by a person?"

"...Yes," said Ironwood, after a noticeable hesitation.

"Right...and what does this have to do with us?" asked Yang equally dubiously.

To their surprise, Ironwood's stiff posture faltered, his head lowering, and his gaze averting away from them.

"Oh no," mumbled Blake. "Please don't tell me..."

"The shipment of Paladins that was bound for Vale has been hijacked...and lost," said Ironwood, clearly reluctant to say so. "And we suspect...the White Fang was behind it."

"Are you kidding me!?" snapped Blake, shooting to her feet. "So much for your vaunted Atlesian security!"

Ironwood winced visibly. Glynda's eyelid twitched, and she began to shift forward to reprimand Blake for her outburst.

But Glynda was preempted by Ren. "Blake! Sit down!"

Blake quailed beneath the commanding glare that Ren leveled at her, sinking back down into her seat.

"Why the heck were you bringing these things to Vale, in the first place?" asked Yang, still staring in shock at the war-machine hovering over Ozpin's desk.

"A question I share," Glynda muttered under her breath.

"That's classified," said Ironwood.

"Sure it is," muttered Yang irritably.

"So...I'm assuming you want our help in locating these machines?" asked Pyrrha.

"That would be correct, Ms. Nikos," said Ozpin, glad to be getting their briefing back on track. "As James has said, we suspect the White Fang to be responsible for this theft. That being the case, it is imperative that we find the missing Paladins as soon as possible, before they are...put to use."

The students before him paled at the implications of such a machine unleashing its destructive power, particularly within the confines of Vale.

"Since the White Fang is the chief suspect, we were hoping that Ms. Belladonna could apply her knowledge of the organization, and see if there is a way to figure out where they are presently located."

Blake frowned thoughtfully, her eyes lowering.

"That makes sense," said Ruby, more to herself. She and Ren turned to Blake. "What do you think?"

"Me...but you're the leaders?" asked Blake, looking between the two of them.

"Yet, the impetus of this plan is on you," said Ren. "Given what Professor Ozpin is suggesting, you will be the one putting yourself at the most risk."

Blake met their eyes, then nodded slowly. "All right," she said, before looking past them at Ozpin, pointedly avoiding looking at Ironwood. "We'll do it."

"You will?" asked Ironwood, surprised by her decision.

Blake glared at him. "I don't like you, General," she said plainly. "And I like even less that you saw fit to ship-how many...?"

"Twelve," said Ironwood weakly.

Blake's eyes widened, while Yang sputtered in shock and anger. Then Blake narrowed her eyes again. "-a dozen of your new war-machines to Vale for God-knows what reason. But, if there's one thing I can be certain of, it's that we can't allow the White Fang to use them. If the White Fang has them, then that means that _Adam_ has them. I don't doubt that he's working out a way to use them to inflict the maximum amount of damage and casualties he possibly can."

The other students swallowed at the thought of that.

Still, Ruby found it in herself to give the three adults in front of her a reassuring smile. "Well, there you have it," she said. "We'll take the mission."

"Thank you," said Ozpin, evidently relieved.

"So then, we're gonna need all the information you have on this Paladin-thing," said Ruby.

"Absolutely not!" snapped Ironwood. "The schematics of this weapon are Top Secret."

"A secret the White Fang already have access to," scoffed Blake. "You're closing the stable doors, after the horse has bolted...and the rest of the stable has already burned to the ground."

Ironwood gritted his teeth. "Your mission is to find the location of the missing Paladins. Once you have, and reported it properly, _I_ will take charge of assembling a strike team to reclaim them. So you have no use for it."

"Even so, if we're looking for these machines, there's a good chance we could wind up fighting them," Pyrrha countered, "whether we want to or not."

Ruby nodded. "I'm sorry, but we aren't negotiating on this, General. We need that information. If you don't provide it, then we won't accept this mission."

Ironwood ground his teeth together, his jaw clenching.

"James..."

Ozpin's voice cut through the tense air of the office, prompting a sharp flinch from Ironwood, who turned to look down at him in surprise. Ozpin looked back up, a stern expression on his face. "Give them the information they require."

"I can't just-!" Ironwood began to protest.

"I agree with them," said Ozpin firmly. "They are right to require detailed information about their quarry, particularly when there is a substantial risk it might be used against them. So, please..."

Ironwood locked eyes with Ozpin for a long moment. Seeing that Beacon's Headmaster was not going to budge, he let out a long sigh, sagging in defeat, before turning his eyes back towards the two teams in front of him. "Fine then. But you will make sure that this information is kept confidential. If I find out that you have leaked it-"

"Spare us the threats," grumbled Blake, rolling her eyes. "Like I said, it's already leaked, since the White Fang has the machines themselves."

"We won't share it," said Ren, throwing another glare Blake's way. "You have our word."

Ironwood frowned, clearly unhappy with the situation. However, he nodded. Ren and Ruby reached into their pockets to retrieve their own scrolls, before setting the devices onto Ozpin's desk. There was a flicker of light, illuminating the files that were sent from Ironwood's device to those of the team leaders. Retrieving their scrolls, Ren and Ruby looked over the files in question briefly, before exchanging a look and a nod.

"Now then, the mission shall commence at your discretion," said Ozpin. "Obviously, time is of the essence, but you shall need to come up with a plan of action. Once you do, please inform me, and then tell me whatever you need, and I shall do my best to provide whatever aid I can."

"I already have an idea," said Blake firmly. "The White Fang holds regular faction rallies. Considering what Ashley has told us, they use those to recruit new members, and issue orders to those already initiated. It gives the newcomers an idea of what they'll be doing."

"You think they'd actually be so foolish as to reveal information about the Paladins at a recruitment rally?" asked Ironwood skeptically.

Blake flashed him a quick glare, before continuing. "If Adam has these things in his possession, then he'd practically be tripping over himself to show them off. It would be the perfect way for him to declare how much power the White Fang has now, especially since they managed to pull one over on Atlas at the same time."

Ironwood growled under his breath, but remained silent, at a warning look from Ozpin. "And do you know when and where these rallies will be?" Ozpin asked.

"I think I can find out," said Blake.

"So...you'd be infiltrating one of those rallies then?" asked Yang.

"It's the only way," Blake replied. "Only a faunus would be able to enter, and anyone working security would be able to spot someone faking. Trust me, it's been tried before."

"That still seems really risky," said Ruby. "We can't let you go in by yourself."

"I agree," said Ren.

"Maybe we should get another faunus in on this," said Jaune.

"Velvet?" ventured Pyrrha.

"Unfortunately," interjected Ozpin, interrupting the impromptu strategy discussion that had just begun in the middle of his office, "Ms. Scarlatina is presently indisposed, as Team Coffee is away on a mission of their own." He was smiling slightly, as he spoke.

Behind him, Glynda was smiling as well, admiring the students' initiative, and their willingness to plan things out. On the other hand, Ironwood was clearly unhappy with the idea of someone else being brought in on this affair.

"Well...darn," said Yang.

Abruptly, Ruby began to smirk, a sly smile spreading across her face. "But there _is_ someone we can ask," she said.

Weiss clued in first. "No! Absolutely not! We are not bringing that...that..._scamp_ in on this."

"Oh! I see," said Yang, developing a sly smirk of her own. "Ruby's right, Ice Queen. He's _perfect_. Besides, we know he'd jump at this in a heartbeat, especially if it's to help Blake."

"That is hardly the basis for determining whether or not to invite someone into such an extremely sensitive operation!" Weiss protested.

"Excuse me." Now it was Glynda who spoke, starling RASP and RYNB into silence, as she looked sternly down at them. "Just _who_ are you proposing you invite along on this mission?"

Ruby and Yang immediately adopted sheepish expressions. "Well..." said Ruby, a little reluctantly.

* * *

"I do _not_ approve of this," said Ironwood firmly, staring at the elevator doors that had closed behind the eight students.

"Unfortunate," said Ozpin. "However, I do not fault them for wanting to have additional support, particularly for Ms. Belladonna's part of their mission."

"But entrusting a vital role to someone completely unknown, someone who's not even from Vale or Atlas...?" said Ironwood.

"Mr. Wukong's...method of arrival...is certainly dubious," said Ozpin. "However, he is a legitimate part of the Vytal Festival's exchange program."

"So are Cinder Fall and her cohorts," Ironwood countered, "at least, so far as the paperwork is concerned. How do we know that we can trust him anymore than we can trust them?"

"Ms. Rose's intuition has served her well, thus far," said Ozpin. "She seems to consider Mr. Wukong trustworthy enough, and he has already aided them in battle against the White Fang before."

"It could just be an act," Ironwood pointed out. "It's just the sort of thing that an infiltrator would do to gain trust."

"Perhaps," said Ozpin. "However, risks must be taken at some point. If Ms. Rose and Mr. Ren feel sufficiently confident enough in taking this one, then that is their prerogative. This is _their_ mission, after all."

"I pray that you're right about this, Oz," said Ironwood reluctantly.

"So do I," said Ozpin.

* * *

With the sound of fluttering wings, a black crow swooped low over the house. It was a fine building, assembled in the style of a classic log cabin, looking perfectly rustic and homey, blending in naturally with the forest that grew up around it. The crow arced its flight around, coming by for another pass, before dipping low...

A human landed on the ground in front of the house, his legs bending to absorb the impact of his landing. The lanky body of Qrow Branwen rose up, his tattered red cape fluttering behind him as he took in the sight of the house...and frowned darkly. After all, this house had been Ruby's prison for four years of her life.

Having been on mission at the time, Qrow hadn't heard about Taiyang's little...altercation...with Ruby and her friends until well after the fact. In fact, he was more than a little frustrated that he had found out through a news broadcast, on the network, rather than a direct message from Ozpin. However, part of that had been because he was on mission...and had been keeping communication to a minimum as much as necessary. Once he'd found out, he'd contacted Ozpin, and found himself in for a surprise, as Ozpin had been about to contact him anyway, informing Qrow that there had been a development in Autumn's situation, and that he needed to return to Beacon.

The message had been urgent, as had been the request Ozpin had sent. But Qrow still found the time to pay a visit to Taiyang's house on Patch. Sure, it was probably just a waste of time, and he'd probably just wind up in another fruitless shouting match with Taiyang again. But it was worth it to try one more time to get Ruby and Yang's father to see reason. Having checked, Qrow knew that Taiyang had taken an extended leave of absence from his work at Signal. Now, as he approached the front door of the house, he dreaded what he was about to find.

Qrow's hand closed around the knob, and turned it. To his surprise, the door was locked. That made Qrow frown. Taiyang tended to leave the front door unlocked, when he was home, before he went to bed anyway. If the house was locked at this time of day, then something was off. Reaching into his pocket, Qrow retrieved his key, and inserted into the lock. The key turned, which was a relief. Qrow was always worried that, at some point, Taiyang would change the locks on the house, just to spite him. However, he never seemed to get around to it. It helped that these were the old-fashioned, manual locks, rather than the kind of fancy electronic ones that were keyed to a code on somebody's scroll. Taiyang had always had a fondness for that kind of thing, and it made them harder to change out than changing an electronic code, which worked for Qrow.

The door opened with a click, and Qrow stepped into the entryway, his frown deepening as he saw that the lights were all out. The house was silent and still, with no sign of anyone inside. A growing feeling of foreboding rising within him, Qrow moved down to reach the door to the living room.

His first thought, after finding out about Taiyang's leave of absence, was that he had gravitated back to bad habits. So, when Qrow entered the living room, he'd expected to see every horizontal surface littered with empty liquor bottles. However, the room was empty, with no sign of any such detritus.

Prowling farther into the room, Qrow looked around for any signs of what might have happened, if anything. Looking down at the end-table, set beside the arm of the couch, Qrow ran his finger across the surface, pulling it away to look at the dry, gray residue that clung to the tip, and then looking down at the streak his finger had left through the layer of dust that had accumulated on the tabletop. It suggested more than a few days had passed since Taiyang had last cleaned up. Taiyang wasn't a neat-freak, but he was definitely an effective homemaker, and not the sort to allow dust to pile up to this extent on his furniture. Taiyang hadn't been in the house for a week or more.

That set off alarm bells in Qrow's head. When he got to Beacon, he resolved to check and see if Taiyang had taken a mission. If so, that would have been reassuring. Perhaps he had decided to channel his frustration into something productive. But Qrow knew better than to get his hopes up. Something about this; Taiyang's absence from work, the empty home, and the lack of knowledge about where the father of Qrow's nieces had gone; it all gave Qrow the impression that Taiyang was up to something. And, when he found out, Qrow was sure that he wouldn't like what that something was.

* * *

**For those of you who are worried about a repeat of the Ironwood-bashing that my previous stories engaged in, I advise you to hold on. I opted to actually try something different with the guy this time, so don't worry.**

**Ozpin's as good as his word. The kids aren't being left to get into things on their own, and are actually getting official support. How's that for deviation from canon?**

**And now we have Ilia's _actual_ reason for being in Vale this time. Sienna is certainly a good bit more aware of things in this story than she is in canon, and is definitely willing to take a closer look, when she realizes something is up. In all honesty, I think that communication lags like this might well _be_ the reason why Sienna was blindsided by Adam's actions in canon. Unfortunately, with only so much time to work, CRWBY only has so much time to build context for things, which _was_ why they had _The World of Remnant_ for Volumes 2-4, but even that probably wasn't suited to really getting into the nitty-gritty of things like the full nuances behind communication with the CCT. The way the towers work, it really makes sense that routing long-distance communications through them would also serve as a way to create the perfect setup for surveilling said communications as well, which is why a subversive group, like the White Fang, would want to rely on something else for anything more than local-area comms.**

**Because of that, it would be pretty understandable for Sienna not to have as much of an idea of what's going on in Vale until the Fall of Beacon actually started on a live broadcast. In this case, she's picked up on things that might well have not reached her ears at all, in canon, and decided to take a closer look, via Ilia.**


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61:**

While time might have been of the essence, RASP and RYNB couldn't afford to allow the mission to disrupt their appearance as normal students. Of all of them, Ruby alone knew that this was doubly important, with Cinder and her lackeys hanging around Beacon. If they thought the two teams were up to something, and if they, as Ruby and Ozpin's circle suspected, were connected to the White Fang, then they might pass along a warning to the White Fang about what was coming.

So it was that the two teams decided to set their mission for Friday evening. According to Blake, it was a prime time for the White Fang to hold one of their rallies. Most workers would be getting off for the weekend, which meant that they'd be more comfortable with the idea of attending a meeting that might go late into the night. Considering what they'd learned about the new rally format from Ashley, it meant that tired faunus, fresh off a long day, would be more easily worn down and manipulated into being drawn in by the White Fang's rhetoric.

Despite the fact that they tried to look as casual as possible, Ruby and her friends were all on pins and needles during the latter half of the day. Once again, they would be hazarding their lives on a dangerous mission. The only reassurance that this wasn't them going off on some kind of independent investigation, but one that was fully supported by Ozpin. In a sense, they were already doing real Huntsman and Huntress work, albeit not the kind of work that Huntsmen typically did.

After their final class of the day let out, they quickly retired to the library, hoping to knock off their homework as fast as possible, while also maintaining appearances. They had a pattern of behavior to uphold after all. Any divergence from that pattern might cause someone to realize that something was amiss.

Finally, their homework done, the two teams returned to RASP's dorm room, where they suited up for battle. For most of the rest of them, that simply involved switching out their uniforms for their combat outfits. But Blake, who figured she needed as much cover as she could get, opted to trade out her usual outfit for a white v-neck shirt, with a cropped bottom, and black hems. Her legs were covered by tight, black pants, the overall change in her appearance hopefully keeping her from being recognized on the spot, when she entered the rally.

By the time they were ready, there was a soft knocking on their window. Looking out, Ruby grinned, seeing Sun literally hanging out...dangling from a tree branch just outside their window.

Opening it up, Ruby leaned out to greet their friend. "Hey, Sun. You made it."

"'Course I did," replied Sun, flashing her a cheeky grin. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. Sounds like this is gonna be one awesome mission, which is why I brought Neptune along."

"Neptune?" Ruby blinked. "Where?"

Glancing around, she spotted the blue-haired boy, standing on the ledge that ran along the wall, passing just beneath the window sill. He stood rigidly straight, his back pressed up against the wall, looking a little...tense. "Hey," he said, clearly trying to retain a casual and composed attitude...and not doing a very good job. "What's up? Can I come in? It's really high."

Ruby glanced down, figuring that it wasn't _that_ high. She could easily drop straight down to the ground from this height. But she decided not to debate the point, instead moving to make room, so that Neptune could slide along the wall, then practically fall into the room. Behind him, Sun rocked his body to swing by his tail, before letting go of the branch, and executing a neat flip that carried him through the window, landing gracefully on the floor.

"Showoff," grumbled Neptune.

"So...what's the plan?" asked Sun.

"Basically, you and I are going to infiltrate a White Fang rally," said Blake. "We're going to see if we can get any information on this stolen Atlesian equipment."

"Right..." said Sun. "A Paladin, right? Sounds like a seriously badass piece of tech."

"Looked like it packs enough firepower to level a city block," clarified Jaune. "Once you guys have the location nailed down, we'll be there as support."

"Support for what?" asked Neptune.

"Well...unfortunately...thanks to our little squabble at the docks, the White Fang already have a pretty good idea of what Sun and I look like," said Blake. "If anyone at the rally recognizes us...things are going to get ugly...fast. So we'll need backup."

"Right," said Sun. "Sounds pretty good. Besides, considering what your friend has said about this new format, it's gonna be pretty dang hard to slip out without attracting attention, seeing as they're trying to railroad attendees into signing up. So, even if no one recognizes us, things could get pretty complicated."

"After that, we shake off pursuit, and get back to Ozpin and Ironwood with what information we have," said Blake, "assuming we have any."

"Yeah, I guess it would be a little much to expect them to have a map posted, complete with a little caption saying, 'Stolen Paladins, Here,'" noted Jaune dryly.

"Uh...problem," said Neptune. "If you guys do get found out, the White Fang is gonna know that you have information on where the Paladins are, right? Won't they just move them?"

"We're talking about multi-ton pieces of heavy machinery," Pyrrha pointed out. "Those aren't something that you can just pick up and carry off at a moment's notice, especially not without attracting attention. We'll just have to get back to Ozpin and hope that he and Ironwood can mount a response quickly enough that they don't have time to move them."

"And, they don't necessarily know that we're after the Paladins," said Weiss. "If we're involved, the White Fang will probably assume that we came with the intent of breaking up the rally, considering what happened to Ashley. So, hopefully, they won't think about any information they might have let slip."

"Assuming they let any slip to begin with," added Ren. "In any case, this is the best plan we've got."

"So how do we play this?" asked Sun.

"Basically act like we're heading out for a night on the town," said Yang, wearing a grin. "We're gonna spread out through Vale, sorta like we're students looking to have fun on a Friday night. Actually, while you and Blake are scouting out the rally, I'm thinking of hitting up a friend of mine on the shadier side of town. I figure he might have some info that could help us out."

"Worth looking into," said Ruby, her eyes going to Sun's partner. "Why don't you take Neptune with you?"

"What?" blurted Weiss, looking rather unhappy at the prospect.

"Sure, sounds like a plan," said Yang, wearing a grin, a playful twinkle in the eye suggesting that she was doing it as much for Weiss' reaction as practicality.

"B-b-b-but..." Weiss tried fish for a protest. But Pyrrha quickly took one of Weiss' arms in her own, tugging her towards the door.

"Come along, partner," said Pyrrha playfully. "I'm looking forward to another visit to the arcade."

The others watched the pair go, Ruby giggling, before glancing at Jaune. "Shall we?" she asked.

"Sure," said Jaune, flashing Ruby a grin.

The two of them headed out through the door. The others followed suit, making their way to the airship docks, catching separate flights into Vale, and spreading out through the city. However, they tried to keep their positions near the edge of the industrial district, where Blake believed that the rallies would be held, the White Fang taking advantage of the warren of warehouses that could be taken over for a night or two, before being neatly abandoned.

* * *

Ozpin looked up from his work at the sound of the elevator doors opening. A smile appeared on his face as he saw a familiar lanky figure saunter into the office. "Hello, Qrow," he said. "I'm glad you were able to respond so promptly."

"Yeah, well, when I get a message like that, it's kinda important to be quick on the draw," said Qrow. "So...Autumn's attacker is here, huh?"

"She is indeed," said Ozpin, bringing up the images of Team CMSN. "Cinder Fall would appear to be the culprit."

Qrow squinted, staring at the images. "They look...kinda familiar."

"You said your view of them was distorted in some way, when you rescued Autumn," said Ozpin.

"Yep," said Qrow. "The one who did it...her face was flickering in and out of focus, like an old holoscreen. I thought it was maybe her magic. But I've also wondered if it's something else. Illusion-type Semblances ain't unheard of, after all."

"Very true," agreed Ozpin, thinking back to the warning Ruby's team had received from Neo.

"How'd you find out?" asked Qrow.

Ozpin's smile widened slightly. "Would you believe that your _niece_ is the one who identified them?"

"Huh?" Qrow blinked, shocked by the idea. "Say what? How would Ruby know how to spot a Maiden?"

"That _is_ the question," agreed Ozpin, "albeit one I have decided to hold off on asking. However, I have confidence in her assessment. Her senses are remarkably refined, and her ability to sense that which is not visible to the naked eye is _especially_ impressive. From the way she described it, sensing the portion of Autumn's power bound to Cinder's soul was rather traumatic."

"Yeah, I'll bet," said Qrow, feeling more than a little uncomfortable at the thought of his favorite niece sensing something so disturbing. "But I guess it saved our bacon."

"That it did," agreed Ozpin. "Of course, now the question is how to act on this information."

"Well, that ain't gonna be easy," noted Qrow. "If this Cinder-chick figures out we're onto her, she'll probably bail and disappear, and we'll be left right back where we started."

"Those were our thoughts exactly," agreed Ozpin.

"Well, whether in strategy or combat, foresight is key," said Qrow. "Know where the enemy is gonna be, then get there ahead of them. We know where they are now, but what we need to do is figure out what their _next_ move is gonna be." He frowned. "So...to start with, what are they tryin' to accomplish by coming to Beacon in the first place?"

"I imagine that one of their priorities is finding Autumn, in order to finish what Ms. Fall started," said Ozpin. "Looking for her at Beacon would be the logical place to start."

"And, if they clued into what your original plan of action was gonna be, they'll also figure that the student body is a short-list for your Guardian candidates," added Qrow. "So they're probably trying to screen the students here, and figure out which one is your first choice."

"Quite likely," agreed Ozpin, frowning. "But is that _all_ they are here for?"

"Huh?" grunted Qrow.

"Ms. Fall and her cohorts went through the trouble of crafting extremely comprehensive cover for themselves as Haven students," said Ozpin. "Had Ms. Rose not sensed Ms. Fall's...condition...there was nothing about their profiles that would have raised any red flags for us. That tells me that this infiltration is meant to last for an extended period of time."

"Through the festival, you mean," clarified Qrow.

Ozpin nodded. "So our enemies may well have multiple objectives, which include the festival or the tournament factoring into their plans in some fashion."

"Well, if they came as a visiting team, then they're probably gonna get involved with the tournament," mused Qrow. "But what the hell would they be trying to accomplish by doing that?"

"Above all else, we must remember that these are Her agents," said Ozpin firmly. "If She sent them, then I imagine that the ultimate aim of their plan will involve the Grimm, in some fashion."

"Orchestrate a Grimm attack, huh?" mused Qrow.

"Indeed," agreed Ozpin, tapping the surface of his desk, and calling up a holographic map of Vale. The map was ringed with red contact-icons, indicating the positions of recent Grimm attacks. "Our defenses are pressed, more-so than usual. Normally, this would hardly register as a minor uptick, hardly worth noticing. Certainly, the military is more than capable of handling these numbers for now. However, we can definitely trace the source of this phenomenon.

"Violent activity by the White Fang is on the rise, resulting in increased anxiety amongst the populace. On top of that, it's caused growing tensions between the humans and faunus, resulting in still more fear and anxiety. Then, there is the scarcity in Dust, caused by the thefts of said resource, perpetrated by the White Fang and the piracy at sea. The resulting increase in price and lack of availability is worsening the mood of the citizens even more."

"So you're thinking that they're gradually stoking negativity," said Qrow. "They want to draw in even more Grimm."

"Yes," said Ozpin. "And, if they can make those negative emotions surge and peak, then the results will be disastrous."

Qrow swallowed.

"Of course, given what James has reported, with the theft of his Paladins, we might be facing that critical blow sooner than that," added Ozpin.

"What was that shellhead thinking, bringing those things to Vale anyway?" growled Qrow.

"Most likely the same logic that induced him to bring his forces along with him, when he delivered his students into our care," said Ozpin with a sigh. "He meant for it to be an assistance, a bolstering of our firepower against this threat. Unfortunately, such power does not help us to deal with those who are already within our own ranks."

"Always trying to swing a sledgehammer where we need a scalpel," grumbled Qrow.

"True enough," said Ozpin. "Hopefully, we can deal with this situation without resorting to James' firepower. However, if push comes to shove...having it available might not be the worst thing in the world."

"Assuming we let the bad guys' plans get that far," growled Qrow.

"That just makes it all the more imperative that we figure out their next move," said Ozpin. "So then...if we presume that their ultimate aim is to trigger a large-scale Grimm attack, what short-term objectives would they need to satisfy, in order to make it possible?"

"Hmm...?" Grow pinched his chin, staring at the map of Vale. "Well...in any conflict, particularly one where they're trying to control the reactions of the populace, the most critical component is gonna be seizing control of the flow of information."

"In other words..." prodded Ozpin.

"They're gonna target the tower," said Qrow. "I don't know what exactly they'd do, but you can bet that they'll come after this joint sooner or later, if only to bring it down, so that we can't communicate with the other Kingdoms anymore."

"I see," said Ozpin, nodding to himself. "That certainly makes sense. That being the case...we might be able to give James something to do after all."

"Good," said Qrow. He paused. "But before we do, I've got a question for ya, Oz."

"What is it?"

"You have any idea what Tai's been up to?" asked Qrow. "I dropped by to check up on him, on the way here. But the house was empty. From the looks of things, he hasn't been drinkin' himself into a stupor."

"That sounds like a good thing," noted Ozpin.

"I wish it did," countered Qrow. "But, the problem is, if he ain't drikin' away his sorrows, but he's still taking that leave of absence from Signal, then what _is_ he doing? I figured I'd check and see if he'd taken any missions. Going to you would be faster than checking the mission-boards."

"True," agreed Ozpin, tapping his desk again. The map of Vale disappeared, and was replaced by a listing of missions, and the Huntsmen who had taken them. However... "Mr. Xiao Long does not appear to have taken an official mission," he said, his tone growing a bit more worried.

"That's what I was afraid of," muttered Qrow. "From the sound of things, that idiot hasn't given up on dragging Ruby back home."

"Indeed not," said Ozpin. "Despite seeing Ms. Rose achieve a draw against Ms. Nikos, he _still_ deemed her unsuitable for Beacon, and attempted to forcefully remove her-against my warnings, I might add-and was prepared to fight through anyone in his way, in order to do so."

"So he hasn't suddenly had a change of heart, and we've got no idea where he is now," said Qrow. "That's a bad sign."

"Very bad indeed," said Ozpin. "It will take some time to prepare for dealing with Ms. Fall. So long as you stay in contact, you are free to look for Mr. Xiao Long. Hopefully, you can find him, before he does something rash."

"My pleasure," muttered Qrow, already heading for the elevator.

"You are also free to keep an eye on your nieces," added Ozpin, prompting a start from Qrow, who paused, and turned to look inquisitively at the Headmaster.

"What are they doing now?" Qrow wondered, thinking he might not like an answer.

"They are currently on the trail of James' missing Paladins," Ozpin explained. "As such, one of their teammates is currently working to infiltrate a White Fang rally."

"Right..." said Qrow.

"For the time being, I ask you not to intervene, unless you determine that they will be harmed otherwise," said Ozpin. "Allow them to fully apply and test their own abilities first."

"Trial by fire, huh?" mused Qrow. "That's beginning to sound awfully familiar, Oz."

"I gave them a choice," said Ozpin, smiling indulgently, "just as I did with you."

"Yeah," agreed Qrow. "But it's a choice I'd rather they didn't have. Still, I guess if you think they're good for it, that should speak for something."

"I certainly have faith in their capability," replied Ozpin.

"I hope they can live up to it," muttered Qrow, heading for the elevator again, his pace increasing.

* * *

Blake traced her fingers along a set of three parallel grooves, carved against the side of a wall. "We're close," she said.

"How do you know?" asked Sun.

"It looks like a claw-mark," said Blake. "The angle it's carved at indicates direction. The spacing between the lines tells distance."

"Wow..." said Sun. "That's quite a bit, for a trio of scratch-marks."

"That's how they manage to keep avoiding the law finding their rallies," said Blake. "These are guideposts for those already initiated, they then provide the route to newcomers, without informing them how they got that information."

"Makes sense, I guess," said Sun.

The two of them started walking again, Blake taking the lead. They soon learned they weren't alone. In the distance, they could see other people, approaching from a different direction, along the street, or coming out of nearby alleyways. The presence of ears or tails indicated that they were also faunus, all of them gradually converging towards the same location. Reaching a corner, Blake and Sun peered around to see the other faunus filing in through a door, an older faunus in a black suit, with a pair of bat-ears extending from the sides of his head, handing out small, white masks to the new arrivals.

"Why the Grimm masks?" asked Sun.

"It was Adam's idea," said Blake. "If humanity wanted to keep treating us like monsters, then we'd _give_ them monsters."

"Real upstanding guy," groused Sun.

Blake sighed. "Let's just get this over with." Leaning back behind the corner, she pulled out her scroll, quickly sending a message to their friends, informing them of the rally's location, while Sun kept watch.

After that, Blake slid her scroll back into her pocket, and the two of them heading for the door. Reaching up, Blake pulled her bow free, revealing her ears for the doorman, prompting him to let them in without question, happily handing them masks, which enabled them to blend in with the other attendees.

"Here we go," muttered Sun softly.

Blake glanced about nervously. Slowly, her hand reached over, fingers brushing against Sun's knuckles. His response was to turn his own hand, and take hers in a reassuring grip, the two of them taking as much reassurance as they could in each other's company, as they proceeded into this tense situation, on a very dangerous mission.

* * *

"That was pretty good," said Jaune, he and Ruby stepping out of the restaurant, and into the early-summer evening of Vale.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, rubbing her belly happily.

Since the plan called for them to simply act like students, spending their Friday evening out on the town, that was exactly what they did. Specifically, Ruby and Jaune had headed over to pay a visit to the comic shop, Jaune even buying the latest issue of his favorite _X-Ray and Vav_ line ("To keep our cover," he claimed afterwards). Then they visited a local weapons shop, where Ruby could ogle the various parts and mods she didn't need ("You never know," was her response). Finally, with the sky growing darker, and the lamps lighting, they stopped for dinner at a nice restaurant that Weiss had recommended.

They'd eaten well, but lightly, not wanting to suffer from cramps, if things on Blake's end went south and they were forced to fight. Fortunately, the place they'd gone to hadn't been one for large portions, so they'd been able to eat just enough to keep them going for the night, without weighing them down, if things got...frantic.

Now, they strolled down the street, side by side, their path gradually carrying them closer to the edge of the industrial district. As they walked, Ruby found her hand straying to Jaune's, who responded by taking her hand in his, sending a giddy sensation rushing through Ruby. It was a shame that they were on a mission, she found herself reflecting, as this situation felt an awful lot like a date.

_Maybe it would be fun to go on one of these later...when we aren't trying to track down a bunch of heavy weapons,_ she thought, definitely enjoying Jaune's company. The contact between them was enough to make her cheeks flush a light-red color.

Even as they walked, Ruby kept her awareness up, her senses spread out to encompass the area around them. As wonderful as it was to spend the evening with Jaune, strolling along in Vale's twilight, they couldn't allow themselves to forget that they were on-mission. Ruby intended not to let her guard down for a second, considering this a part of her training, developing what her teachers had called the _Shingan_, a particular ability that built upon one's senses, in order to provide them with a complete picture of their surroundings, one that could be provided without resorting to Extension, which limited her ability to rely on her defensive Aura.

So it was that Ruby felt _his_ presence before she saw him. The feeling of her awareness brushing against the presence of a familiar Aura brought her to a sharp halt, tugging Jaune to a stop, and eliciting a startled yelp from him.

"Ruby! What-?" Jaune began, only to be stopped by Ruby quickly shushing him.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. The sound of her name got his attention, and he turned around, quickly rushing around the corner to find the source of the voice.

"Oh no," groaned Ruby, sagging and frowning as Taiyang Xiao Long came into view, his expression frantic. He skidded to a stop, facing them fully.

"Ruby," he said breathlessly, the sight of him making Ruby's stomach churn uncomfortably.

_We really don't need this right now,_ thought Ruby. As if on cue, the scroll in her pocket chimed, indicating she had a message, Jaune's scroll chiming as well, which meant it was Blake, indicating that she'd found the White Fang rally. As if the timing of this wasn't bad enough.

* * *

The roar of Yang's motorcycle cut through the early-evening air, accompanied by a screech of tires, her bike sliding to a stop, drifting neatly into a parking place. Pulling off her yellow helmet, she flashed a grin behind her at her passenger. "We're here."

Neptune had to force himself to unwrap his arms from around Yang's stomach, though feeling her toned front wasn't the only reason he was reluctant to let go. Riding along with Yang was an experience comparable to fighting a high-level Grimm. Neptune's libido had been forgotten entirely, and he clung to her with all his strength, sure that any weakness on his part would lead to him being thrown through the air, whenever she executed one of those death-defying turns along the street. As a consequence, his arm muscles were stiff from the constant effort, making removing them an effort in and of itself.

Still, he managed it, and Yang appeared to enjoy it, not even threatening to slug him. Instead, she gave him an amused grin, before heading off towards their destination. Neptune quickly fell into step behind her, seeing that they were heading for what was obviously a nightclub. "Um...Is this really the place?" asked Neptune, wondering if Yang just wanted to use the mission as an excuse to hit up the bar and dance floor.

"Yep," said Yang. "The owner moonlights as an information broker."

"Uh huh..." said Neptune, frowning slightly.

A man in uniform stood in front of the club's doors. He was dressed in a black suit, with a dark-red tie, his head covered by a bowler hat, with red trim above the brim. His eyes were covered by sunglasses, despite the fading light. His head slowly swiveled back and forth. Like most nightclubs, this place wouldn't open for a while yet. He was probably there to turn away anyone who tried to get in early. As they came closer, his eyes fixed on them. He was clearly preparing to warn them off...only for him to completely freeze at the sight of the blonde bombshell striding confidently closer.

The response was immediate, and the man let out a shocked yelp, turning to open the doors and dart through, before pulling them shut behind him. From within, Neptune could hear still more shouts, the bouncer apparently calling for additional help.

"Should I be worried?" he wondered.

"Nah, I've got this," said Yang with a grin.

The fact that she raised her right fist, and opened up Ember Celica did not exactly fill Neptune with reassurance. Not even breaking stride, Yang punched out, discharging her weapon upon contact with the door. To Neptune's surprise, the door itself held pretty well. But the force blew it back on its hinges, making it swing open rapidly. Behind it, he could see the bouncer, and several identically-attired men, get sent sprawling. From within, the beat of the music thrummed out, like the pulse of some massive, living creature. Yang continued forward, closing down her gauntlet, and sauntering forward with a confident smirk on her face.

"Hey!" she cheered, coming in through the door. "Guess who's back."

The response was a series of rapid clicking noises, the sound of guns being drawn and readied. Yang and Neptune found themselves staring down the barrels of over a dozen guns of various types, ranging from pistols to submachine guns.

Yang's only response was to scowl. The music that had been playing started to loop, prompting Yang to turn her glare up to the DJ booth, where the DJ slowly rose up, then quietly lifted the needle off the skipping record, before sinking back down again. That seen to, Yang quickly returned her look back to the men assembled in front of her.

"Wait!" interjected a voice in an urgent tone, a burly, well-dressed man pushing his way between the bouncers. Hei Xiong came to a stop, pushing down the barrel of the gun, belonging to the man standing beside him. "Blondie...you're here...why?"

"Because _someone_ still owes me a drink," answered Yang, giving him a smirk.

Hei, otherwise known as "Junior," let out out a defeated sigh. "Come with me," he said in a low tone. His response prompted the bouncers to lower their guns, the group dispersing, throwing wary looks Yang's way as they did so. None of them seemed to give Neptune so much as a glance, seeing as they were so worried about Yang...save for two black-haired girls, standing beside the door, staring at Neptune intently.

Turning to regard them, Neptune found he liked what he saw. They were clearly twins, sporting identical green eyes and black hair. One wore her hair in a short bob-cut, clad in a red, strapless dress, with black lining, decorated with what looked like newsprint. The other wore a similar dress, but of a very pale-green hue, with a prominent feathered scarf around her neck. The girl in red sported wrist-mounted claws, while the girl in green stepped forward, her bladed, high-heeled boots clicking sharply against the floor.

Deciding to fall back on his surefire charm, Neptune flashed them his best grin, throwing back his head slightly. "Ladies..."

The girls looked him over, then glanced back at each other, before looking back at him again. In perfect unison, they scoffed, "Whatever," before turning on their heels and strutting away.

"Well...that could've gone better," said Neptune, rubbing the back of his head, before setting off in the wake of Yang and Junior.

"Found your sister, I heard," noted Junior.

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "Pretty crazy to run into her at Beacon."

"I'll bet," agreed Junior, already working on preparing Yang's drink, knowing exactly what she was about to ask for. Less than a minute later, a Strawberry Sunrise, complete with a little umbrella, came sliding to a stop in front of Yang, who accepted it with a grin.

Yang wasn't all that surprised, given that Ruby had talked about her by name, in the interview she and Pyrrha did with Lisa Lavender. Obviously, Junior, considering the...spectacular...manner of Yang's inquiry, was easily able to put two and two together.

"I'm happy for you," said Junior, sounding surprisingly earnest, turning away to clean a glass. "Your sister got really lucky. Most kids don't last long on the streets. If it isn't the elements or starvation, the real sickos out there wind up doing them in instead."

"Sickos?" queried Neptune.

Junior gave him a flat look. "Let's just say you don't want to know what some freaks do to get off, and leave it at that. I don't have anything to do with that crap."

"Did Roman Torchwick?" asked Yang.

"Hell no!" said Junior earnestly, freezing as he realized the intensity of his own exclamation. He paused, shaking his head at the bouncers, who'd paused to look their way. Realizing that his outburst had resulted in giving away some information, he glared at Yang and Neptune...

...Until Neptune smiled and slid a lien card across the bar to him. Looking down at it, Junior inspected the card, and the amount on it, before nodding and dropping his hand over it, pulling it over to his side and pocketing it. Meanwhile, Yang shot Neptune an incredulous look, which earned a smile and a shrug from him.

"Clever kids," muttered Junior, sighing. "No, Roman had nothing to do with that kind of racket." He paused again, rethinking his phrasing. "I should say that he _did_, but he was the kind of guy who made taking those sorts down his side gig."

"He targeted traffickers?" asked Neptune, both him and Yang finding their eyes widening at the thought.

Junior smirked at their surprise. "Well, I wouldn't say he did it for entirely altruistic reasons. Trafficking can be pretty lucrative, which is one of the reasons it's so hard to stamp out. Roman would take them down, free their merchandise, and help himself to all their capital. At one point, one of the little ones he set loose ended up sticking with him."

Yang frowned. "Let me guess...little midget, mismatched eyes, brown and pink hair, likes umbrellas..."

"Right on target," said Junior, smirking. "Normally, Roman didn't give much thought to what happened to those kids, after he freed them. He liked to call the cops, 'cause it kept the Kingdom's resources tied up for a little longer, while he conducted a few extra heists. But that girl, she had some pretty useful gifts. Roman took a shine to her, and basically began grooming her for the business."

"Did he...?" Neptune asked warily.

"No," said Junior firmly. He sighed. "If anything, Roman basically adopted her. She's probably the only one in the world he actually trusts and cares for. The bond those two have, it's stronger than blood."

"Hmm..." Yang frowned, looking down at the bar.

This was more than she'd been hoping for, but not quite the kind of information she'd been expecting. She'd intended to press for info about the White Fang activities, and leads on Ironwood's Paladins. However, a rather idle inquiry on her part had resulted in some pertinent information on another of their mysteries, the actions of the mysterious Neo, who'd gone out of their way to warn them that Ashley was still in danger, even up at Beacon.

From what Junior had told them, Neo was singularly loyal to Roman Torchwick. Roman might have been in jail, but it appeared that Neo was working to serve his interests outside. She was presently working with the White Fang, yet had also seemingly betrayed them. It jived with one of their theories that Neo was working with the White Fang under duress, with Roman's wellbeing being at stake.

But why reach out to them then?

"That all you want?" asked Junior, watching Yang sip her drink with a strangely pensive expression.

Yang opened her mouth, but stopped when Neptune held up a hand. Reaching into his pocket again, Neptune pulled out some more lien, and slid them across to Junior. "Actually, the real reason we're here is to ask if you know anything about what the White Fang has been doing," he said.

Junior frowned. "That's dangerous business, kids," he said.

"I like danger," said Yang, shooting the bartender her best daredevil grin.

"I noticed," said Junior, rolling his eyes and remembering what had happened the last time Yang had come to the club. Then he sighed. "Anything in particular?"

"They've been stealing a lot of Dust," said Yang. "Any idea where all that Dust is going?"

Junior frowned. "Now that you mention it, my contacts at the perimeter walls have told me they've noticed quite a few unscheduled flights heading back and forth between Vale and the southeast, that old, abandoned extension..."

"Unscheduled flights?" Yang's eyebrows went up.

Junior nodded. "Bullheads," he said. "They don't have any flight plans, no known IFF, or any identifying marks. However, someone in the chain of command appears to have been bought off, because everyone's been told not to bother with them."

"Right...not suspicious at all," mused Yang.

Junior nodded. "Anything else?"

"Uh...Let me think..." Yang tried to think of any other questions they might need to ask, while Neptune sweated beside her, wondering how much money he would have to part with, before this was over.

Then there was a ring from Yang's pocket. Pulling at her scroll, her frowned reappeared, a serious expression on her face. "Well, I think that's gonna be it for now," she said. Picking up her Sunrise, she downed what was left in one go, before standing up. "Come on, Neptune."

Sighing in relief, Neptune pushed away from the bar, trading a small nod with Junior, before he followed Yang towards the doors. Once again, he couldn't help but notice how the bouncers all shied away from Yang as she walked past them, giving her a wide berth.

Outside, he followed Yang to her bike. "What's up?" he asked.

"Blake and Sun found the rally," said Yang. "They're going in, now. We're gonna go meet up with the others, and make sure they have backup."

"Roger that," said Neptune, swinging his leg over the motorcycle's seat, and hugging Yang from behind once more.

Bumblebee's engine roared, Neptune yelping as the sudden acceleration lifted the front wheel clear of the ground for a few seconds, before he and Yang rumbled off to prepare for whatever might await them.

* * *

Blake and Sun stood amidst several faunus, all of them wearing the white masks of prospective initiates to the White Fang. The group was a loose crowd, dressed in all manner of outfits, which contrasted sharply with the organized ranks of uniformed members, with their larger, more prominent masks, who had lined up on the left side of the warehouse floor, all of them facing the stage, where, presumably, the speakers would start stirring up the crowd with speeches of human bigotry, and White Fang retaliation for such.

A large portion of said stage was dominated by a massive object, hidden beneath a tarpaulin, the mere sight of it imparting an ominous feeling to Blake and Sun, who already suspected what it might be.

The crowd quieted as a hulking man, wearing a full-face, more ornately decorated version of the typical White Fang mask strode forward, his imposing presence prompting conversations to slow to a halt. Everyone's attention was riveted on the figure standing on the stage.

"Anyone you know?" Sun whispered softly, his lips inches away from Blake's human ears.

"Meinrad," Blake whispered back just as softly. "He's a lieutenant, strong, dangerous...fanatically loyal to Adam."

"Sounds like a nice guy," Sun muttered.

"Thank you all for coming," declared the man. "I am sure you are all eager to hear how the White Fang has fought, and continues to fight, for the sake of our fellow faunus. To that end, there are several here, who shall speak about what the White Fang has done for them. I implore you to listen to what they have to say."

"Here it comes," said Blake, remembering what Ashley had told them about the new rally format.

Sure enough, one by one, the speakers came on the stage. They gave impassioned speeches about human mistreatment, violence, discrimination, and subjugation; each speech followed by the story of how the White Fang had saved or avenged them. With each speech, Blake found her frown deepening, anger rising within her, as she wondered if these people would talk about what had happened to Tukson, or Chrys, or Ashley and her family; how the White Fang killed and threatened people for the crime of not wanting to be part of acts of heinous violence. Sun's hand in her own helped her keep her calm though, and the two of them waited out the tirade, which dragged on for one hour, then two...

When it was closing in on three hours, Meinrad came back onto the stage. This time, he was joined by another figure, one even _more_ familiar to Blake, familiar to Sun as well.

"Uh oh," Sun whispered as they watched the svelte figure of Ilia take the stage alongside the lieutenant.

"Is that a human?" someone in the crowd asked.

Blake winced, her ears drooping as she remembered the stories Ilia had told her, about passing for human at an Atlesian school. From the slight tensing of Ilia's posture, followed by her skin and spots washing red and yellow respectively, Blake suspected that her resemblance to a human was still something she no longer enjoyed bringing up. If nothing else, the change in her skin-color was definite proof that she was a faunus...even if most of the crowd were not familiar enough with Ilia to recognize the anger represented by those colors.

Ilia took a steadying breath, and her colors returned to normal. She proceeded as though no one had said anything. "Brothers and sisters," she called out, "tonight, we have something special to show you."

"Uh oh..." muttered Sun, his and Blake's eyes once again going to the tarpaulin-covered mass dominating much of the stage.

Ilia continued, striding back and forth across the stage as she spoke. "Tonight, you heard stories of how the humans have abused us. You've heard about what they do to keep our people down and oppressed. When they do so, we strike back. We remind them that we, the faunus, are _not_ to be trifled with, to be taken lightly. And yet...very little changes.

"The root of that problem lies, not just with the humans who oppress us directly, but the systems that prop them up, the systems that resist, and even oppose the change necessary to recognize us as equals. The Kingdoms, the Councils, the Huntsmen, and their Academies; these are the systems that put the status-quo ahead of doing what's right. It is in their benefit to do as little as possible. And so, these forces of oppression must be fought."

Angry muttering filled the warehouse, coming almost entirely from the crowd of prospective recruits on the right, many of them voicing agreement with what Ilia was saying.

She continued. "But fighting against these systems is not something so simple. They are powerful. In order to stand against them, to oppose the cause of our people's suffering at its roots, we need _power_. Fortunately, we have gained powerful allies, allies who have aided us in amassing the power we need to _truly_ strike back at the cause of our pain."

The muttering of the crowd grew more excited, many of them leaning forward eagerly. Ilia turned her head, nodding to someone behind her. A few shadows moved behind the object, and the tarpaulin slid off.

Blake gasped, Sun along with her. They weren't the only ones. Shocked voices filled the room as the hulking figure of the Atlesian Paladin was revealed for all to see. Despite having already seen the hologram, and gotten an impression of its size, Blake wasn't prepared for the sheer bulk of the machine that rested, crouched, at the center of the stage. It looked exactly as depicted in Ironwood's hologram, with the addition of a red White Fang symbol painted on one side of the chassis.

"Whoah!" Sun gasped, staring up at the machine. "You showed me the pictures and all, but this thing..."

"Yeah," agreed Blake. _And Adam has eleven more of these! If he unleashes them on Vale, it will be nothing less than a bloodbath! We have to stop this!_

Then, to Blake's horror, a new sound began to rise amongst the faunus, both those gathered for recruitment and the soldiers lined up...cheers. The faunus assembled in the warehouse were looking up at this engine of death and destruction...and celebrating.

* * *

**Well...at least Tai hasn't taken up drinking again.**


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62:**

For a few seconds, all Ruby could do was stare at her father. _What is he doing here? Why did we have to run into him now, of all times?_

For his part, Taiyang looked shocked, but also fulfilled. Ruby got the distinct impression he hadn't been just wandering into Vale to hit up the bars and drink away his sorrows.

"_There_ you are," he said, confirming Ruby's suspicions.

_He's been looking for me._ Just that thought made her stomach twist itself into knots. So _this_ was what he'd been doing, during his leave of absence from Signal. He wasn't allowed up at Beacon, but Beacon students came down to Vale all the time. So he must have been coming to Vale as well, especially on the weekends, looking for her, trying to find her, where she was away from the Academy, and out from under the protective umbrella of its faculty. _That sick jerk!_

Taiyang's eyes flicked downward, and Ruby realized he was looking at her hand, the hand Jaune was holding. A second later, his hostility piqued. "Jaune!" Ruby shouted, letting go of his hand, and shifting to the side.

Jaune recognized that tone of voice, springing into action immediately. His left hand swooped down, grabbing Crocea Mors by its straps, sliding through them as he lifted sword and sheath up, the sheath expanding outwards to form the shield.

He was barely in time. There was a flash of light glinting off of something silver, and then something slammed into the shield, dead-center. Unfortunately, Jaune hadn't had time to read the path of the attack. And it had been too fast in any case, so he wound up being blasted off his feet. With surprised shout, Jaune was blown backwards, landing hard on his back, and sliding to a stop, groaning with pain at the shock of impact.

His left arm felt numb. The force had been incredible, almost up there with Yang, when she unleashed her Semblance at full-throttle. Jaune could handle that kind of force, normally. But, in the course of sparring matches, he'd come to anticipate when Yang's more powerful attacks would come, and brace himself accordingly. This time, Ruby's shout had been all the warning he'd gotten, and he'd been hit before he'd had a chance to brace, leaving him barely able to so much as twitch his left arm. "Ow..."

"Keep your hands off _my_ daughter," snarled Taiyang, glaring furiously at the prone boy.

His eyes caught a crimson flash from his right, and Taiyang jumped back, raising his forearms. The red blade of Akaibara clanged and screeched off the metal of the pair of silvery gauntlets that covered his forearms. The force behind the blow was incredible, Taiyang being sent skidding back along the sidewalk.

Ruby interposed herself between her father and Jaune, working Akaibara through a pass, before assuming her usual stance. "Keep your hands off of _my_ partner!" Ruby shouted back, glaring furiously at Taiyang.

"Ruby," said Taiyang, his voice stern and expression stony, "drop that sword. You're coming home with me...right now."

"Not a chance," growled Ruby, gritting her teeth, her body tensing. _We really don't have time for this._

"If you aren't going to give up that sword, I'm going to _take_ it from you," said Taiyang, speaking as though she were a toddler. "That thing is going in the scrap heap, where it belongs."

The surge of anger that rushed through Ruby at the mere notion of throwing Akaibara, her closest companion, away prompted her Aura to surge, her cloak billowing against the wind, growing around her, and spreading menacingly. Her sword didn't like the idea either, an angry chime issuing forth from the blade, and its own Aura surging to merge with her own.

The force of her Aura and malice hit Taiyang like a slap across his entire body, actually driving him back a step. Ruby bared her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him. "Back off, creep," she said. "You lay a hand on me, or my sword, and I'm cutting it off."

"Watch your words, young lady!" snapped Taiyang. "I am your _father_. I will not tolerate any backtalk from you."

"When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours that I don't give a damn what you do and don't tolerate?!" shouted Ruby. "You aren't my father. You haven't been my father for more than ten years. You're an obsessive stalker, and you need to stay out of my life!"

"Don't make this harder on yourself, Ruby." Taiyang took a step forward.

"Ruby," said Jaune, stepping up beside her. "Blake found the rally."

Ruby nodded slightly at Jaune's words, having sensed him pull out his scroll to check the message, as soon as he'd gotten back to his feet. It was good that he was keeping his mind on the mission. But that didn't help the situation here too much. _Maybe I should send Jaune ahead._

That seemed logical, but Ruby doubted that Jaune would be willing to just leave her here, not with her father literally trying to drag her away again. In confirmation of that suspicion, she heard the whisper of steel as Jaune drew his own sword from his shield, taking up a stance beside her.

"Stay out of this, boy," Taiyang growled, throwing a glare at Jaune.

"I don't listen to jerks who try and kidnap my partner," Jaune replied. Glancing to Ruby, he asked, "What's the plan?"

"Keep back and let me fight," said Ruby, not taking her eyes off her father. "Watch for an opening."

"Got it," said Jaune, nodding without question.

"Ruby...this is your last warning," said Taiyang. "Do as I say, or there will be consequences."

"Fine, this is _your_ last warning," Ruby retorted. "Get lost, or _I'll_ be the consequence."

She didn't wait for her father to answer. Instead, she shot forward, stepping off with her Aura, her _Shukuchi_ taking her across the distance between them in an instant, Akaibara descending at Taiyang's head. The blade screeched and grated as it met the curved surface of the silver gauntlet Taiyang threw up to block the attack. Shifting his arm, Taiyang deflected the slash to the side. Then he worked the same arm through a circular motion, using it to bring his hand around to grab at Ruby's forearm.

Ruby's response was to jump, going into a roll as she did so, which allowed her to continue moving the sword in the same direction, bringing her arm out of the way of Taiyang's grab, while her jump and spin brought her over his head, bringing the sword around in a complete circle to slash up at Taiyang from behind. Her father grunted, stumbling forward as Akaibara's edge bit into his Aura.

Landing, Ruby found herself staring into her father's eyes, as he'd immediately reversed direction and rushed her. She raised her sword, but found herself thrown off by the fact that Taiyang was closer than he should have been. It wasn't a matter of timing, that he'd closed in too fast. Rather, he'd stepped in too close to properly attack himself. At this distance, there was no way for him to execute a proper punch. Instead, he brought his right arm circling around in front of him, aiming for Ruby's wrist.

Darting back, Ruby slashed at him with Akaibara, which Taiyang deflected again. Then, once again, he closed in, getting too close, both for her to properly swing her sword and for him to throw a proper punch. The attacks Taiyang launched also differed from her expectations. His hands always moved for her arms, targeting either the forearm or the wrist. Instead of closing into fists, his hands opened and reached. Rather than aiming for strikes or blows, Taiyang was seeking to grab and grapple.

He wasn't fighting to defeat Ruby, or even to subdue her. Instead, he was coming at her with the singleminded intent of disarming her. He'd said he was going to take her sword away. And now he was doing his utmost to make that threat come true. Even more troubling, his movements were surprisingly smooth and polished, as though he'd practiced them countless times before.

Revulsion mingled with white-hot fury in Ruby's gut. _Don't tell me _that's_ what he's been doing,_ she thought incredulously. After he'd been thrown out of, and barred from, Beacon's campus, Ruby had assumed that Taiyang had gone back to his old habit of drinking away his sorrow, especially once she'd heard that he'd taken an extended leave of absence from Signal. _Never_ had she considered the possibility that her father was taking that leave in order to train himself up, and focus on disarming techniques, specifically so that he could take her sword away from her.

Once again, it spoke to the disturbing depths of her father's obsession with bringing her home, focusing so intently on developing the means to take away her weapon, which he saw as the most apparent symbol of her empowerment (or defiance, from his perspective). It had been months since their last encounter, and Ruby could see that Taiyang probably hadn't spent an idle minute. It was desperation of the most unnerving and disgusting kind.

On the other hand, it was also infuriating in the extreme. Even now, after seeing what she could do, her father _still_ refused to take her seriously. Ruby had fought Pyrrha Nikos to a draw, an accomplishment regarded as so incredible that it had netted her several weeks of fame, and status as a minor celebrity to boot. Despite that, Taiyang still didn't take her seriously enough to consider her worth fighting. As far as he was concerned, she was an unruly child needing discipline, his skill and strength being honed for the task of parting her with her weapon, which he apparently saw as something more akin to forcing a toddler to give up an implement of mischief.

Which wasn't to say this wasn't a challenging battle. When Taiyang had launched his first attack against Jaune, it had been so fast that Ruby had barely seen it coming with enough leeway to actually warn her partner, and not enough for him to respond properly, for all that Jaune was definitely a world away from the clumsy boy he'd been at the beginning of the year. Unlike Ruby, Taiyang hadn't trained in the advanced Aura-control skills that Ruby had. He hadn't used _Shukuchi_, or one of the equivalent skills that the Mibu practiced, instead utilizing nothing more than regular Aura-boosted leg-strength and footwork. In doing so, he'd been able to close and strike with incredible speed. Even now, his attempted grapples to wrest Ruby's weapon from her were all launched with blurring speed, Ruby only able to keep up by virtue of her own training honing all her senses to better read her opponent's actions.

Taiyang was a full Huntsman, and a veteran at that. Ruby felt the pressure of all those years of training, growth, and experience now. She'd successfully beaten Adam Taurus twice, and found herself admitting that her father was somewhere within that bracket of strength and skill. Only the fact that he was clearly restricting his own tactics to attempting to disarm Ruby kept this from being all the way at that level.

It didn't help that his tactics were also making it harder for her to properly wield her sword, which was probably intentional on his part. In order to execute his grabs, he needed to get closer than he would need to to punch, often closing in anywhere from half a step to a full step nearer than Ruby would have expected, which kept throwing off own timing and distance. It also introduced an irregular element to his rhythm, which was making it difficult for Ruby to learn it, and properly bring him down.

But, above all else, it was just so. Damn. _Frustrating!_ Ruby Rose was a Huntress-in-training, on a mission no less, a mission that had been issued by none other than Ozpin and General Ironwood. She was supposed to be helping her friends locate a dozen stolen war machines; which were likely in the hands of a deranged, human-hating psychopath; with hundreds, if not thousands, of lives in the balance, should Adam actually get the chance to put them to use.

Blake and Sun were risking their _lives_ to find and infiltrate a White Fang rally, in order to find leads, with the very real possibility that they would run into someone who would recognize and try to kill them on the spot. Ruby should have been with the rest of her friends, prepping to back them up, in case things went wrong, which was a very real possibility. She needed to conserve her strength, stamina, and Aura, and be ready for a serious fight.

And yet...here she was, fighting against her own father, who refused to see anything about the young woman she'd become, who'd instead latched onto the demented image in his head of a doll-like child, who apparently existed solely for him to keep locked up and protected from the world. It was frustrating and disgusting and all so damn _pointless_.

Still, at this point, there was nothing to do but deal with the situation as it was. Taiyang had made it apparent that he would not be talked out of this. If he couldn't be talked down, then Ruby would just have to _beat_ him down.

Another near miss...the tips of Taiyang's fingers brushed against the sleeve of Ruby's kimono. This time, rather than dodge back, in order to find room to swing her sword, Ruby stepped in. Pulling her right arm in, she opened her right hand, the swirling red petals of her Aura coming together, congealing into an orb of intense, violet plasma, which she then thrust straight into Taiyang's stomach. Her father howled with pain as crackling streamers of electricity danced across his body, before the plasma exploded, blasting him backwards, and sending him flying down the length of the sidewalk.

Ruby grimaced, her hand twitching slightly, palm tingling…and feeling like it had been sunburned. There was a reason she had developed _Hibana_ to fire from detached positions around her, rather than launching it straight out from her hand, like she'd just done. It was much easier and faster to mold her Aura with her hand. But lightning, even if it was lightning _she'd_ created from her own Aura, was difficult to rein in, and trying to use it through her body in any substantial volume, rather than producing it in the air, or using her sword as a medium, had the potential to have repercussions. Still, there had been no real damage this time, and she could still fight.

Taiyang came to a stop, his shoes skidding against the concrete. His muscles spasmed slightly from the shock he'd received, while his outfit smoked and sported a black scorch mark, from where Ruby's attack had made contact. But he remained standing. Raising his head, his eyes met Ruby's with an infuriated look, a look Ruby returned in full. Taiyang opened his mouth, probably to scold her again, only for him to cry out again, as something white flashed behind him, and he was thrown forward.

Ruby's attack had actually sent Taiyang flying back towards _Jaune_. In the course of their exchange, Taiyang had forgotten all about Ruby's partner, but she _hadn't_. Taiyang had skidded to a stop just within lunging distance of Jaune and, between Taiyang's obsession and the hampering of his muscles from the electrified attack Ruby had just hit him with, it was all the opening Jaune had needed. Stepping into his attack, Jaune executed a basic downwards slash, an incredibly simple technique, and one he had been honing non-stop since he'd learned it. The force behind the blow sent Taiyang lurching and flying forward, straight into Ruby's followup.

"_Raikoben!_" arcs of crimson lightning climbed Akaibara's blade, extending out to lash like a thorn-lined whip, which lashed across Taiyang's chest, sending new streamers and arcs of electricity dancing across his body. Not pausing, Ruby transferred her sword to her right hand, while going into a spin that allowed her to bring the blade around and slash at Taiyang's stomach. Her attack carried her past him, while Taiyang pitched over forward, falling face-first to the sidewalk. Ruby's own movement carried her over to stand next to Jaune again.

Despite having scored some serious hits, Ruby and Jaune knew better than to let their guards down. Sure enough, Taiyang quickly got back to his feet, turning to face them, looking even more outraged than before. He bared his teeth, his hands clenching into fists. This time, Ruby thought that her father might have been angered enough to consider attacking her for real. She quickly readied herself to resume the fight.

Then the flutter of wings reached her ears. Less than a second later, someone dropped down between her and Taiyang. Ruby's eyes caught the flash of a familiar red cape, and the white shirt of a lanky figure she knew all too well.

Qrow Branwen landed in a crouch, right in front of Taiyang. Before Ruby's father could respond, Qrow rose up out of his crouch, twisting and immediately snapping one leg out in a powerful back-kick that slammed straight into Taiyang's sternum, driving the breath from his lungs and sending him flying back even farther down the street. Bringing his foot back down, Qrow wasted no time in drawing his sword, and leveling it at his former teammate.

"Uncle Qrow!" shouted Ruby.

"You've got a mission, right Rosebud?" asked Qrow, not even glancing over his shoulder at her. "Get to it. I'll take care of this blockhead."

"Thanks, Uncle Qrow!" said Ruby, relief flooding through her. She and Jaune wasted no time sheathing their weapons and taking off down the street, Jaune bringing Blake's message back up on his scroll to find out where they needed to go.

Meanwhile, Qrow watched and waited as Taiyang got up, his posture swaying. "Give it up, Tai," Qrow told him. "This is _beyond_ idiotic. Keep this up, and you're gonna lose everything."

"Shut up!" snapped Taiyang, glaring at his brother-in-law. "You don't understand! It's obvious that no one does! Ruby belongs at home! She belongs with _me_!"

"Belongs _with_ you...or _to_ you?" asked Qrow, glaring back.

"What's the difference?" Taiyang asked back.

"The fact that you're even _asking_ that shows just how badly you've lost it," said Qrow. "Ruby isn't some possession, and she sure as hell ain't a replacement for Summer. I don't think you even see Ruby for herself, just how much she looks like Summer, and that is seriously twisted."

"That's ENOUGH!" roared Taiyang, charging forward.

Qrow met him head-on, his sword clashing against Taiyang's silver gauntlets.

* * *

"Well...at least our mission is productive," Sun muttered. "We were asked to find the Paladins, and we've already found one."

Blake wished she could share in his optimism. Instead, her mind was overrun by images of this death-machine turned loose in Vale, leveling buildings with missiles, then using its arm-mounted cannons to gun down the fleeing survivors. And there was only _one_ here, right now. A dozen of these machines going on the attack would bring about the worst disaster in Vale's history, since the debacle of Mountain Glenn. _Adam must be having wet dreams about that,_ she thought sourly.

Ilia continued to pace before the mighty machine on the stage, waiting for the crowd's enthusiasm to die down a little, before resuming her speech. "This machine was designed by the Atlesian military to supplement their android forces. Ironwood has talked about the importance of having a man on the battlefield. But...aren't the androids supposed to be enough? Aren't the androids there to ensure that no one has to risk their lives against the Grimm? If that's the case, then just what is this machine for? What...or _who_...was it made to be used _against_?"

Angry muttering replaced the earlier cheers.

Ilia continued. "People like Ironwood covet power, so that they can continue to prop up the systems that oppress and enslave us, like the SDC."

Several of the assembled faunus booed at the sound of that name.

"But now, thanks to our new allies, we've managed to obtain some of these machines for ourselves. It's ironic, but _we_ will be the ones to test their effectiveness for the General of Atlas. He designed these machines to be tools of our oppression, symbols of his power. But now, with his own weapons, we shall make him, and all the humans, feel _our_ power!"

Once again, the cheering started back up.

Ilia held up a hand to call for silence. It took a moment, but the noise gradually dropped away. "Now, many of our brothers and sisters have already relocated to our operation in the southeast. If you want to stay within the Kingdom, that's fine. But this is your opportunity to strike back, and make a real difference."

Ilia nodded to Meinrad, and made her way to the edge of the stage. Meinrad moved to the fore, calling out the next set of instructions. "New recruits, come forward!"

"Okay...now what?" asked Sun, looking from side to side.

"I'm thinking," said Blake, also looking around anxiously.

As Ashley had described, soldiers had been stationed at all of the exits, with the recruits being funneled through a small group who were taking names and contact information, before being ushered out the exit, which was off to one side of the stage. There was no way they could see to leave that didn't involve them attracting attention in some way. With this many other people around, they couldn't quietly disable the guards at one of the other exits, and take their leave.

Unfortunately, they were unable to even fully ponder their situation. By stopping the way they had, the crowd parted around them, creating a disturbance in the flow of new recruits to the front. At floor-level, it wasn't really apparent. But it was much more readily visible from the stage. Meinrad, who'd been surveying the whole affair, noticed the strange parting of the crowd, caused by a pair of people who weren't moving, instead looking around furtively. Behind his mask, his eyes widened, then narrowed, as he took in familiar details.

A low growl rose in his throat. Sun was able to sense the pressure of the muscular man's eyes upon them, and swallowed nervously. "He sees us," he said softly, before giving Meinrad a sheepish grin, and raising his hand in a shy wave.

"He'll see a lot more than that," said Blake, smirking.

Drawing Gambol Shroud, she folded over the blade into its revolver-mode, which she then aimed at the fusebox, which rested on the wall behind the stage. A single shot struck the box, plunging the whole warehouse into darkness.

"GET THEM!" roared Meinrad.

"Uh...I don't think that's gonna help all that much," Sun pointed out, he and Blake able to see almost perfectly fine, despite the darkness that had fallen over the warehouse.

"Just cover your eyes," hissed Blake, pulling out her insurance, something she'd asked her friends to prepare before hand.

Sun did as he was bid, hearing what sounded like the clink of something metal hitting the floor. Then, from the air, he heard the sound of something exploding. Even though he'd pulled off his mask, and then planted his hands over his face, he could still see the light, piercing even through his eyelids, though Blake's warning prompted him to block enough of it that his vision wasn't troubled.

On the other hand, all the faunus around them screamed. Blake had borrowed one of Nora's grenades to serve as a housing, turning it over to Weiss, who'd then loaded it with a payload of specially-formulated Dust, a blend designed to produce a brilliant, blinding flare of light. By taking out the lights first, Blake had allowed the faunus around them to fall back on their night-vision, which only made the effects of the resulting flare all the more pronounced.

"Sun, the window!" she shouted over the din.

Both she and Sun jumped, vaulting over prospective recruits and the soldiers who'd been sent to capture them, using the latter's heads as stepping stones to reach the stage, before jumping to smash through the window, getting out into the street. A sense of triumph welled up inside of Blake at the fact that their escape had worked. However, even before she'd struck the window, she'd heard something that had turned her blood to ice in her veins...the faint whining sound of a powerful piece of machinery starting up, gradually growing louder.

They hit the ground, rolling to handle the impact, coming back up into a run that carried them away from the warehouse. Behind them, the wall exploded outward, erupting into a shower of masonry as the Atlesian Paladin plowed right through it, not slowing in the slightest, barreling after them in hot pursuit.

* * *

_Sometime earlier:_

Ruby and Jaune arrived on the warehouse roof, crouching down next to the others. "Sorry we're late," she said.

"Just where have you been?" asked Weiss tartly.

"We ran into Ruby's dad," said Jaune simply.

"What?" gasped Yang, her eyes going wide.

"Did he...?" Pyrrha began to ask.

"Yep," said Ruby.

"But you got away," Ren noted.

"Uncle Qrow showed up and held him off," said Ruby. Then she sighed. "I so did _not_ need that tonight." Shaking her head, she tried to get her mind focused back on the mission. "What'd I miss?"

"Your guess is as good as ours," said Weiss, pointing across a vacant lot at another warehouse. "Blake and Sun went in there about an hour ago, and it's been quiet ever since."

"No news is good news," said Neptune hopefully.

"Or they were caught before they could get out a call for help," said Weiss.

"Wow...would it kill you to be more optimistic, Ice Queen?" asked Yang sourly.

"Hmph!" grunted Weiss. "Why should I? Pessimism is _much_ better than optimism."

"It is?" asked Nora, canting her head in confusion.

"Of course," said Weiss. "Being overly optimistic is a surefire way to set yourself up for disappointment." A wry smirk appeared on her face. "But, as a pessimist, you can always be pleasantly surprised."

"Whoa..." said Nora. "That's deep."

"Not really," Yang muttered.

"Hopefully, those two can find something out that'll help us locate those weapons," mused Jaune.

"If they don't, we could have a lead," said Yang, sharing a glance with Neptune.

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"We went to an...acquaintance...of mine," said Yang. "His info's pretty solid. Apparently, someone is making a lot of cargo deliveries out past the Kingdom walls, out to the southeast."

"Mountain Glenn...the failed settlement?" asked Weiss.

"Sounds like it," said Neptune. "There's not much else out there...except for Grimm, of course...lots and lots of Grimm."

"Could the Paladins be out there?" mused Ren.

"Sounds likely," said Neptune. "It'd pretty hard to get a round dozen of those things in through the Kingdom's borders without attracting a lot of attention."

"But what would the White Fang be doing with them out there?" asked Ruby.

"I suppose that would be the next thing to investigate," said Weiss, "assuming, of course, the General doesn't take over the investigation from here."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what Blake and Sun find out," said Yang.

Their wait was a long and anxious one, the group watching intently for any sign of activity from the other warehouse, which might indicate that something had gone wrong. However, there was no sign of anything, good or bad.

Closing in on the third hour since Blake and Sun had entered the rally, something finally changed. The lights, visible through the windows of the warehouse, abruptly went out. A couple seconds later, there was a brilliant flare of light form within. Then, another few seconds after that, the window shattered as Blake and Sun leapt through it. Then, a few seconds behind them, the wall crumbled before one of the very Atlesian Paladins they had been sent to find.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," groaned Yang.

* * *

The light from the lamps above flashed off of whirling steel, Qrow's sword clashing harshly against Taiyang's gauntlets, the two Huntsmen exchanging blows at incredible speed. Their fight took them down the street, before Taiyang jumped, vaulting off a lamppost, and using it to reach the roof of a building. Qrow was a beat behind him, rising up and swinging his sword down with incredible force. Taiyang blocked it by crossing his arms, bracing against the powerful slash, which prompted the concrete beneath his feet to crack, then shatter, just shy of sending the pair smashing through the ceiling into someone's apartment.

_Tai's really stepped up his game,_ thought Qrow, using the broad flat of his weapon to block a harsh punch, the force of which sent his feet skidding backwards.

Taking up a job as a professor at Signal, Taiyang had mostly retired from working as an active Huntsman. Following Summer's death, and after he'd gotten out of his drunken funk, Taiyang had given up missions completely. It would have been a positive thing, had Qrow not known that Taiyang had done so solely for the purpose of being there to keep an eye on Ruby. It would have been a stretch to say that Taiyang had gone soft. He still kept in shape, and training prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses helped him keep his skills polished. However, having foregone the danger of actual missions for so long had definitely taken the edge off his skill...before now.

But now, Taiyang's speed, strength, and reflexes were up where Qrow remembered them being, during the height of their time as one half of Team STRQ. Rather than withdraw into drunken depression, upon taking his leave of absence, it was clear that Taiyang had been using that free time to whip himself back into shape, bringing himself back up to full fighting trim. Qrow would have been impressed, had he not realized the singular obsession that underlaid Taiyang's action. _He did it to get to Ruby._

_That_ was the apparent aim behind Taiyang's work. Having been forcibly booted off Beacon grounds, and told to not come back, Taiyang should have finally gotten the message that Ruby wasn't coming back to him, not so long as he failed to realize the reason that she'd left in the first place. Instead, it appeared that Taiyang had taken it as a challenge. If Beacon wouldn't hand Ruby over to him, then Taiyang would train himself up, until he could _take_ Ruby back, by force if necessary.

Given how it seemed that he was making regular visits to Vale, Qrow also got the impression that Taiyang was hoping to run into Ruby while she was in town, whether by herself or with her friends. Of course, given the size of Vale, it was a tremendous stroke of luck that they'd managed to bump into each other at all. Despite the trouble it had caused her, Qrow was a little glad _he_ hadn't been around when it had happened, otherwise, he would have said that Ruby had been affected by his Semblance.

Using his wrist, Qrow worked his sword through several swift, deft slashes, Taiyang's arms blurring to block them. However, in the process, Qrow stepped in a little closer. Before Taiyang realized it, Qrow's fist slammed straight into his gut, reminding Taiyang that Qrow could pack a punch, even without his weapon. Taiyang gasped in pain, but responded by stepping in closer, and then driving an elbow at Qrow's sternum. Qrow turned aside, but not fast enough, taking a hit to the bottom of his rib-cage, on one side, making him grunt in pain.

The whirling roundhouse kick that Taiyang followed up with would have been enough to knock Qrow completely off his feet, had Qrow not swiftly maneuvered his forearm to block, before he struck again, this time driving the pommel of his sword into the side of Taiyang's abdomen, triggering a partial transformation of his weapon in the process, and extending the handle into the shaft of his scythe, which multiplied the force generated. When Taiyang was sent flying back, nearly being knocked off the roof by the hit, Qrow retracted the shaft to become the handle of the sword once again.

Taiyang collapsed to his knees, coughing and wheezing, struggling to get his breathing back under control.

"This is pathetic, Tai," said Qrow, not bothering to keep his scorn out of his voice. "Worse than that, it's downright insane. At this rate, you're gonna get committed."

"Shut up!" snapped Taiyang, lifting his head to glare at Qrow, spittle flecking his lips. "I won't give up! I won't let Ruby suffer Summer's fate!"

"None of us want that," said Qrow.

"Then why are you letting her do this?" demanded Taiyang. "Training, missions, putting herself at risk, it's just like Summer all over again..." He snarled in a manner that was downright bestial. "...especially now that _Ozpin_ has his hands on her."

"And I suppose you think your way is better," scoffed Qrow.

"Of course it is!" shouted Taiyang. "I would have kept her secure. I would have kept her _safe_. I would have kept her _alive_! I would have _protected_ her!"

"What you were doing wasn't protection, it was _imprisonment_," Qrow countered. "Locking Ruby up in your house, watching her every move, driving away even her own friends; she wouldn't be alive, because you wouldn't let her actually have a _life_. You were treating her like some kind of doll to play house with. What next, would you chain her to the freaking wall?"

"If that's what keeps her from rushing off to try some moronically suicidal act, then of course," Taiyang replied. The respite bought by the argument had given him the time he needed to get his legs back under him, and rise back up to a standing position, though one hand was still resting over the spot on his torso, where Qrow's last attack had landed.

"Oh, she'd do something suicidal, all right," muttered Qrow.

His brain was already running over the worst-case scenario, had Taiyang gotten his wish. Qrow could see it in his mind's eye; Taiyang coming back from Signal, Yang gone to Beacon, Ruby having been locked in at home, possibly in her own room all day. Taiyang would call out that he was home, call out for Ruby, only to receive silence. Perhaps he'd ignore it, until it was time for dinner, putting it down to petulance. But, sooner or later, Taiyang would get around to checking up on Ruby, going to her room with the intention of berating her for her sullen behavior. He'd open his door, and be greeted with the sight of Ruby's dangling feet, the girl's body swaying slowly back and forth, strung up from the ceiling light, strangled by her own cloak.

Sure, it was just a fantasy, an imagining of the worst possible outcome. The problem was that it was a depressingly likely one, should Taiyang get his way. it would be all the worse now, with Ruby having gotten a taste of freedom, and the chance to actually follow the road to her dream. Taiyang forcibly taking all that away from her would only do even more-irreparable harm.

_Well, at least that's not a real risk this time,_ thought Qrow, feeling some relief. As much as he'd improved, Taiyang wasn't a fully-credible threat...yet. Sure, he'd trained himself back up to where he'd been during Team STRQ's glory days, but Qrow had gone even further. Where Taiyang had retired, Qrow hadn't, continuing to take missions, all the way up into the present. He'd been through countless life-or-death struggles, and had left the guy he'd been back then in the dust.

On top of that Taiyang wasn't exactly in top shape right now. Qrow had seen enough, right before he'd intervened. Ruby and Jaune had both landed some solid hits on Taiyang, and Qrow had only added to that. Taiyang's Aura had to be flagging. It showed in the way that Taiyang continued to clutch his side, where Qrow's hit had landed last.

"It's time to put an end to this, Tai," said Qrow, brandishing his blade again. "This has gone far enough. If this is what it's come to, then I'm gonna make sure to get you some _real_ help."

"I don't need your kind of help," spat Taiyang. "I need to bring my daughter home."

"But that's the last thing _she_ needs," Qrow countered.

With a roar of anger, Taiyang rushed forward. Glowing inlays flickered to life, throwing the designs of his gauntlets into stark relief, shining bright-orange and red. When Qrow dodged Taiyang's next punch, he had to lean back even farther from the heat emitted by the jet of flame that roared off the end of Taiyang's fist.

Fisticuffs wasn't the only thing Yang had gotten from her father. Taiyang's gauntlets were equipped with Dust-channels, allowing him to unleash the elemental fury of the Dust loaded within. Though he could technically switch it out, Qrow had known Taiyang to mostly rely on fire-Dust. The Dust rounds of Yang's Ember Celica packed a good bit more oomph, compared to her father's attacks from ground Dust. But Taiyang's way was a bit more versatile, with him having more control over the flames that came out.

But that wasn't enough to help Taiyang this time. Qrow knew his techniques well enough. The next jet of flame was dispersed by the whirling blade of his spinning sword, Qrow following through by bringing the sword around and down, before sweeping up. Taiyang blocked the blade with a clang. But his eyes widened as Qrow levered back the grip, the shotgun barrels attached to the hilt swinging up to point right at Taiyang's chest. The blonde man was blown backwards by the scattershot spray, taking the entire blast in the chest, at point-blank range.

Taiyang was knocked backwards off the edge of the building, his body stunned by the hit. He caught sight of a fluttering, black shadow. A crow took off from the edge of the building, swooping up into a tight loop, before diving straight down at him. The next thing Taiyang knew, Qrow planted both feet against his chest, using the combination of momentum and weight to drive Taiyang down to earth with enough force to leave a crater in the asphalt, where they landed.

Qrow stepped off Taiyang, watching with satisfaction as the other man's Aura flickered, then broke. Taiyang slumped, unmoving. Qrow watched him for a minute, wanting to be absolutely sure that Taiyang was out. Then he let out a low sigh. "God dammit, Tai," he muttered.

* * *

"You know, when we were planning to back them up, I don't think we were planning for something like this," observed Yang as they rushed to meet up with Blake and Sun.

"You don't say," growled Weiss.

"_What should we do?_" asked Sun, shouting to be heard through Blake's scroll, as the pair of them vaulted across warehouse roofs. The Paladin charged alongside them.

"_It's too fast,_" said Blake. "_Let's get to the highway. If we can catch a ride on a car, then we can leave it behind._"

"NO!" shouted Ruby into her scroll with all her might.

"_Ruby, we can't keep ahead of it like this!_" protested Blake.

"We are _not_ taking that thing onto the highway!" Ruby replied. "It would be a massacre!" In her mind's eye, she could already see the Paladin brutally plowing through vehicles, smashing them aside, or even crushing them underfoot, in an effort to get at the pilot's targets. There was absolutely no way they could allow themselves to lead this thing somewhere where civilians would get caught up.

"Where to then?" asked Sun.

"We'll take it down, right here," declared Ruby.

"That's nuts!" exclaimed Neptune, in between panting breaths.

"If we all work together, we can do it," declared Ren.

"We got a different problem," said Yang, pointing in the direction Blake and Sun had come from.

Several masked figures, wearing familiar uniforms, were running along in the Paladin's wake.

"Let's split up then," said Ruby.

"I'll take my team to support Blake and Sun," said Ren.

"We'll head off the White Fang then," said Ruby.

"What about me?" gasped Neptune.

"Go with Rainbow," said Ruby. "They'll need all the help they can get."

"Got it," said Neptune.

Team RASP veered off, dashing between the warehouses to cut off the pursuing White Fang soldiers. They emerged from the gap between the massive buildings, almost right in the face of the first ranks of pursuing troops. The soldiers faltered, surprised by the sudden emergence of obstacles. As a result, the four students were able to leap right into their midst, taking them down with ease.

Seeing their frontrunners go down so suddenly brought the other soldiers up short. They hesitated, sharing uncertain looks, regarding the four students standing before them warily.

"Maybe they'll back down," suggested Jaune hopefully.

"They won't," said Weiss.

A few seconds later, some woman shouted out, "It's a _Schnee_!"

That appeared to erase any hesitation on their part, and the rest of the soldiers charged forward.

"Told you," said Weiss sardonically.

"Well, I guess we get to hand over another batch of gift-wrapped White Fang to the police," offered Pyrrha.

None of the others had any chance to offer a response to that, as the soldiers were upon them.

* * *

Sun and Blake landed after leaping off the roof of the last warehouse in the row. Landing on the ground, they turned to see the Paladin already bearing down on them, its arm-mounted cannons rising up to aim at the pair.

A trio of grenades, leaving behind contrails of pink smoke, arced out of a nearby alleyway, two smashing into the ground near the mech, while the third struck it right in the chassis. Instead of rocking the machine with explosive force, the grenades instead burst into clouds of dense, pink smoke, expanding out to engulf Blake and Sun as well.

The Paladin's pilot hesitated. The machine began to slowly stalk forward. As it did, streams of red light, laser-sights, swept through the cloud of smoke. The machine turned left, then right, sweeping its guns across a broad arc in front of it.

A shadow darted through the smoke to its left. The machine turned towards it, trying to track the movement, but stopped, the pilot's attention caught by another shadow flickering to the right. Another shadow crossed right in front of it, and the Paladin opened fire, sending a pair of explosive bolts slamming into the ground, near where someone had been a second earlier. However, they was no sign that it had hit anything.

The pilot's attention had been drawn by whoever had come in front of the Paladin. As such, all his machine's sensors were focused in that space. He was caught off-guard when a figure dropped down from straight above. With a loud whoop, Nora descended from a high leap, swinging her hammer down with all her might. The resulting impact made the entire machine jolt, driving its metal feet several inches into the asphalt. The hit of her hammer was followed up by an explosive shockwave, rocking the machine even further, prompting it to stagger drunkenly, as Nora used her own explosion to launch herself clear.

Then Ren seemed to materialize from the dissipating smoke, appearing right in front of the machine, almost directly between its feet. Kicking off the ground, he launched himself for the spherical targeting sensor dangling from the chin of the machine, almost like a fruit. Swinging both his weapons, he plunged the blades right through the lens of the sensor, before tilting the guns forward and pulling the triggers, sending magenta bolts ripping through the attachment point for the sensor, tearing it free entirely.

Landing from his attack, Ren looked up to see a massive metal foot rushing right at him. However, something wrapped around his midsection and pulled him back, just in time. The Paladin's kick barely missed the tip of his chin. Ren skidded to a stop next to Blake, who unwrapped Gambol Shroud's ribbon from around him, while Sun and Neptune took position next to her. Yang and Nora formed up on Ren's other side.

"What's the plan?" asked Yang.

Ren recalled what they'd learned about the Paladin's design, from the plans that Ironwood had begrudgingly given to them. He and Ruby had considered it an outside possibility that they would encounter one of the mechs in combat. Neither of them had entertained the notion that it would happen like _this_. Still, the plans had given him an idea of how to proceed, now that they were up against one.

"We take it apart," said Ren, "piece by piece."

* * *

**They say no plan survives contact with the enemy. That's doubly true in this situation, as nobody factored on Taiyang showing up. Good thing Qrow was looking into this.**

**So Nora has officially expanded to include smoke grenades. Good for her. Though we still don't know why they smell like bubblegum.**


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63:**

Masked faunus yowled as a white figure flashed through their ranks. Weiss' sliding lunge carried her through their midst before they could even _think_ about turning to attack her. The soldiers easily jumped clear of the tip of her extended rapier. However, that was a minor concern, compared to the wave of ice that spread in Weiss' wake, catching the soldiers who thought they'd dodged, and freezing them in place.

Pyrrha and Ruby followed up on either side, taking down the immobilized soldiers with swift slashes of their blades. Behind them, Jaune followed along, taking care of any stragglers not caught by Weiss' attack.

A soldier rushed Jaune with an angry yell, swinging what appeared to be a crude sword of some kind. Jaune didn't have time to identify what kind of blade it was supposed to be. Bringing up his shield, he caught the blade's descending edge, intending to deflect the impact, just as he'd practiced incessantly. However, the sword snapped right on contact with the shield. The soldier froze, clearly shocked by the destruction of his weapon. Before he could recover, Jaune drove forward, thrusting in and up with the top edge of his shield, slamming it right into the unfortunate man's chin, knocking him over and out.

Another soldier rushed Jaune from the opposite direction. Jaune turned about, barely managing to get his shield into position in time, deflecting a slash from a blade that did not break this time. However, that mattered little, Jaune following up his defense by stepping forward and striking with his sword, dropping the new attacker just as easily as the last one.

Weiss' lunge petered out, having carried her almost right into the middle of the crowd of soldiers. The masked faunus all oriented on her with enraged abandon, several of them raising rifles and pistols, despite the very real risk that their shots would hit their comrades, should they miss their intended target. Others closed to melee range, brandishing swords, spears, and axes, heedless of the risk presented by their gunmen.

Weiss created a Glyph beneath her feet, launching herself directly upwards. Below her, the melee attackers stumbled into the space she'd just vacated, while several of the gunmen had already opened fire. All throughout the group, bodies lurched and jolted, as they were riddled with bullets. These soldiers might have had Aura, but it was not Tempered, and they felt the full impact of every shot.

Up above, Weiss reached the crest of her flight, drawing back her rapier. She'd already switched the Dust-chambers. As she descended back down, she thrust Myrtenaster ahead of her, swirling flames stretching along the length of the blade. Weiss slammed it home, unleashing an explosive shockwave that blew the stumbling and pained soldiers away from her.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha dove into the thick of another group of soldiers, leading with a swing of her left arm that launched Akouo ahead of her. The shield slammed straight into the masked face of the first soldier in front of her, shattering his mask and sending him reeling back. The shield continued on, rebounding from head to head, laying low half-a-dozen troops in a matter of seconds. Then Pyrrha arrived, extending Milo into its javelin mode, she spun and slashed with its blade, using the shaft to fend off strikes from the melee attackers.

At the same time, she used her Polarity to guide Akouo, bringing the shield around to swoop about her body in tight arcs, guarding her rear and flanks, downing soldier after soldier. A burly man, wielding a large hammer, albeit not one as large or impressive as Nora's, slammed his weapon against the shield before it could strike him, deflecting it. At the same time, another soldier, this one wielding a spear that was a good bit longer than Pyrrha's javelin, approached her from the front.

An artful twirl of her weapon allowed Pyrrha to rest Milo across her shoulders, the butt end pointing at the hammer-wielding brute, while the blade pointed at the spear wielder. Triggering the built-in rifle, the shot flew from the butt, striking the hammer-user in the chest, sending him stumbling back, while the recoil sent Milo leaping forward out of Pyrrha's hands, flying past the spear to strike its wielder. Pyrrha dashed forward, snatching Milo out of the air, before it could begin to fall, downing her frontal attacker with a slash, while her shield swooped back around at the brute, who was still staggered by the impact of the gunshot against his Aura, and slammed into the side of his head, knocking him out completely.

Not far away, Ruby also waded into the midst of the soldiers. Akaibara was a crimson streak around her body, the blade, which had broken Adam's sword twice now, cutting effortlessly through the cheap weapons wielded by the White Fang's grunts. Some tried to down her with gunshots. But many of them missed entirely, thanks to the blurring movements of Ruby's body, which made her seem to flicker from place to place. Most of the time, the soldiers realized that they'd taken aim at one of her afterimages, rather than her. On top of that, what few bullets that _did_ make contact glanced off the folds of Ruby's cloak, as though it were woven from solid steel.

Whirling through their midst like a dervish, Ruby's attacks sent soldiers' bodies flying up into the air, scattering around her like the crimson petals produced by her Aura, before falling back to earth like a heavy rain. In a matter of seconds, Ruby was surrounded by prone, groaning forms.

A flash of white caught her eye, and Ruby looked over to see what looked like a rocket slam into a curved barrier of white light, which had appeared between Weiss' upraised rapier and the incoming projectile. Weiss lowered her weapon, the barrier vanishing, before she used a Glyph to launch herself forward at the rocket-wielding faunus. The soldier pulled back on the handles of his weapon, levering them back, transforming the whole thing into a massive club, which he then swung at Weiss' head.

His swing was painfully slow, though, and Weiss easily darted inside his reach to strike home with Myrtenaster, the rapier's impact blowing the faunus back, the club tumbling out of his hand. He joined the rest of the group on the ground, moaning in pain.

"That looks like all of them," said Weiss, casting a contemptuous glance around herself.

"That wasn't too bad," said Jaune.

"Now what?" asked Pyrrha. "I suppose we should make sure they're properly restrained."

"It shouldn't be a problem," said Ruby. "With the shape they're in, it's gonna be a couple hours before they're up to going anywhere. But, just in case..."

Ruby raised Akaibara, holding it up vertically. With the first two fingers of her right hand, she traced her fingertips along the flat of the blade, moving from the base, up to the tip. When she finished, the blade crackled with thorny vines of crimson lightning. "_Shibaru, Rai no Keikyoku!_" Inverting her sword, she drove it into the ground at her feet.

The lightning crawling along the length of her sword bled out into the ground, spreading to climb across the prone bodies of the White Fang soldiers. her friends watched in awe as the entire group was covered by thorny veils of crackling electricity, which then faded, seeming to sink into their flesh.

"What did you do?" asked Jaune.

"Paralyzed their nerves," said Ruby. "I went light, so that they won't have heart problems or not be able to breathe, but they won't be able to move for sure now." She swayed a little. "Ooh...that took a bit."

"You okay?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yeah," said Ruby, giving her friends a shaky smile. "Just a little bit winded. I just came up with that not too long ago. I figured, if we're gonna keep leaving piles of unconscious terrorists lying around, we should make sure they can't go anywhere...and I don't want to carry a bunch of bindings on me.

"Yes, that would be inconvenient," Pyrrha agreed.

"Well...once you get your wind back, we should go help the others," said Jaune, casting a worried look in the direction of the battle. Moving to stand beside Ruby he allowed her to lean against him, and relax a little.

Ruby looked up. "Pyrrha, Weiss; go on ahead. We'll catch up in a minute."

"All right," said Weiss, nodding. She and Pyrrha exchanged a look, before running off towards the sounds of RYNB's battle with the Paladin.

Ruby spent another moment leaning against Jaune, letting the feeling of his presence soothe her, her heart-rate calming down. Finally, she felt well enough to join the fight again. Pulling back, she gave her partner a grateful smile. Jaune smiled back down at her, reaching up with the fingers of his left hand (careful to avoid clocking her with the shield in the process), and brushing aside a few strands of hair that had fallen across her face.

"What would I do without you?" Ruby asked him softly.

"You'd probably manage," Jaune replied, a slight chuckle rising in his throat. "The real question is what _I'd_ do without _you_."

"I'm glad we don't have to worry about the answer to either," said Ruby.

Jaune nodded.

They prepared to head off after Weiss and Pyrrha, only for Ruby to pause, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. They were being watched…by two people. Ruby could sense their presences. One was perched on edge of the warehouse roof, almost directly above them. The other...was much harder to pin down. At best, Ruby could get a general sense of direction, but a glance that way showed her nothing.

Looking up, Ruby's silver eyes met a pair of gray ones. She found herself staring at another girl, who was crouched at the edge of the warehouse roof. The girl's skin was pitch-black, making her form almost invisible against the night sky, though that was offset by the white, horned mask over her face, those gray eyes barely visible through the slits. _So, _that's_ Ilia,_ she thought, remembering what Blake had told her about Blake's old friend from the White Fang.

Ruby's eyes went to the weapon in Ilia's hand, before going back to Ilia's face. Strangely, Ruby felt no hostility from Ilia. It was almost as though the other girl was simply trying to assess the situation, though there was something else about the girl's emotions that Ruby couldn't quite place.

Then Ilia slowly withdrew back from the edge, vanishing from sight. Ruby could sense her falling back, apparently departing entirely, though Ruby suspected that she might double back in order to observe the fight with the Paladin.

Ilia gone, Ruby's attention went back to their other watcher. Again, she glanced in the basic direction she sensed the observation from, but couldn't see any signs of the other person. Her other senses weren't able to pinpoint the watcher's location either. _It's probably Neo,_ thought Ruby, thinking that this felt similar to the other times that Neo's eyes had been on her. _She's good._

"What's going on?" asked Jaune, still staring at the warehouse roof. Following Ruby's gaze, he'd been able to see Ilia as well, just barely, though he wouldn't have noticed her, if Ruby hadn't looked her way so pointedly.

"I'm not sure about Ilia," said Ruby. "But I think Neo's watching us from somewhere else, though I can't say where."

"Is that a problem?" asked Jaune.

"I'm not sure," admitted Ruby. "But it's a moot point now. Let's go help the others."

"Okay," said Jaune, the two of them setting out towards the sounds of battle.

* * *

_"__Meinrad! What are you doing? You can't activate that _here_!"_

_"__Silence! I refuse to let that traitor, and her filthy friend, escape!"_

* * *

Ilia retreated away from the girl in red, a bevy of mixed feelings in her heart. She'd watched as the other troops had rushed off after Meinrad, and their Paladin. The most she could do was stop the new recruits, and prospective ones, from joining them. More than a few had seen enough though, already fleeing, and discarding their masks in the process. Ilia didn't blame them. It was one thing to talk and cheer about violence, when it was something that others merely talked about. But seeing such in real life made for a completely different experience. Several of those who had come to this rally had realized that this particular kind of fear wasn't for them.

No doubt, Adam, and those who shared his fanaticism, believed that they could break the more timid ones with time and conditioning. Ilia felt fairly certain that they could. But that didn't mean that they _should_. If anything, Ilia felt horrified by the prospect. Sienna would be revolted as well. She had no desire to force those who didn't have it within them to fight onto the battlefield.

And yet, Ilia had done her part. She'd given her speech. She'd stirred up the feelings of anger within those who were upset over discrimination, whipping them into a violent frenzy that they would then turn upon the humans. But that wouldn't engender respect. That would only enkindle fear and resentment from the humans, and a desire to respond in kind.

Little by little, Ilia was beginning to understand why Blake's father had foresworn such things. _But...Is it too late for us? It's not just Adam's faction. The White Fang has relied on violence too much. And now we've backed ourselves into a corner, where it seems that the only way out is even more extreme violence._ There had to be a way to put a stop to it. Ilia just wished she knew what that way was.

She made her way along the row of warehouses, heading for the sounds of battle. She wasn't sure what she could do, beyond watching. But she wanted to see just what Blake's new friends were made of. One of them had already proven a match for Adam, twice over. Were the rest of them any good? If that was the case, what did that mean?

Even as she pondered those questions, Ilia failed to realize that she was being followed. A silent figure stole along in her wake, her footsteps falling perfectly in time with Ilia's own. Behind Ilia, Neo moved under the cover of her Semblance, the light bent perfectly around her body, rendering herself completely invisible. She too wished to see the outcome of this battle, to see if, just maybe, there was something to these people who'd managed to defeat Adam's plans twice. Neo too would see what they were made of with her own eyes.

* * *

The Paladin stalked forward, firing a salvo from its arm-mounted cannons. RYNB, Sun, and Neptune scattered, the shots blowing apart the asphalt where they'd been standing, sending chunks of it flying through the air, while smaller fragments buzzed about like angry hornets. Even if the shots didn't hit directly, their explosive force, and the shrapnel they threw up, made even near misses a threat.

Still, these were weapons designed to take down large and powerful Grimm, or heavy swarms, where the collateral damage would rip through a packed mass of Beowolves or Creeps. Against a sextet of Huntsman students, such shots were far less effective, as everyone went their own way. Neptune was a bit slow on the uptake though, being caught by one of the explosions and blown off his feet. He landed hard on his back, stunned, but uninjured.

Again, the machine's overwhelming power worked against it. With the smoke and dust thrown up by its explosions, Neptune was blocked from sight, so the pilot made no effort to try and finish the job. Instead, he was tracking the movement of the others as they circled around the Paladin. The machine swiveled atop its legs, allowing it to turn without needing to move its feet. Its guns tracked a black, fleeting shadow in particular, firing off a constant stream of shots.

Blake shot forward, her Shadow being ripped apart behind her, even as it propelled her at an angle that allowed her to clear the next shot. She got the impression that it was someone familiar in the cockpit, probably Meinrad. The lieutenant in particular she could see holding a grudge against her for her desertion. He had always been one of Adam's more-devoted followers, no doubt relishing this opportunity to punish her.

Of course, that fixation worked against him. Even as he continued to try and track Blake, a pair of glowing figures, sharing the likeness of a particular monkey-faunus, dropped down in front of the Paladin, directly into the path of its cannons. They exploded in flares of light. From the cockpit's right, Nora abruptly flew in, riding the head of her hammer and propelled by one of the weapon's explosive shockwaves. Pulling the weapon out from under her feet, Nora brought it around in a powerful horizontal swing.

"SMAAAASH!" she shouted, slamming the hammer directly into the side of the Paladin's cockpit, triggering her weapon's shockwave again, which both sent her flying back away and sent the machine staggering. The fact that the cockpit wasn't aligned with the legs only made it wobble more awkwardly, as the pilot wrestled with the controls and tried to adjust for the differing angles of movement.

Then Yang dropped down from above, having launched herself up with the recoil of her gauntlets. She landed squarely on the Paladin's left shoulder. With a loud shout, she punched down with a rapid sequence of blows from her right and left hands, discharging Ember Celica directly into the Paladin's exposed shoulder joint. The sudden explosive impacts against its shoulder only made the machine wobble all the more uneasily, the pilot desperately fighting for control.

It wasn't helped by Sun, who charged from the dead angle behind the cockpit, jumping up to attack the legs, which were still turned at an angle to the cockpit's orientation. Sun drove his staff directly into one of the knee joints, an explosive shockwave punching into the joint, making the leg seize up.

The Paladin lurched violently, the sudden shift throwing Yang off its shoulder. She punched out with her gauntlets, launching another pair of shots, which exploded against the mech's shoulder again, while the recoil also launched her away. The mech tilted dangerously, practically on the verge of falling over. However, at the last second, the whining of servos filled the air, and the turning of the Paladin's torso accelerated so that it could plant its right arm against the ground, the forearm segment rotating, the guns folding back, and a fist-like extension replacing them, allowing the Paladin to plant said fist to keep from falling over all the way.

"Nice save!" Nora shouted from where she'd landed.

It was clear that the pilot didn't exactly enjoy her compliment. Instead, there was a hiss from the pods mounted behind its shoulders, and a barrage of rockets launched outward, their trajectories spreading out in broad arcs, before turning to converge on Nora, whose grin turned nervous.

"Uh oh!" she squeaked.

A bolt of blue and white plasma slammed into one missile, then another, each shot downing one of the volley with pinpoint precision. Neptune had finally stood up and entered back into the fight, and not alone. Beneath his feet, a white Glyph had appeared, shining with a faintly yellowish tinge, a pair of clock hands spinning about the circular sigil faster and faster, becoming blurs, with the Glyph's light coalescing around Neptune and outlining his body.

To Neptune's eyes, the missiles had slowed down to a crawl, which allowed him to aim at them as though they were stationary targets on a range. Even the shots of his weapon were faster, allowing him to target them easily, rather than needing to lead his shots to account for the missiles' trajectories. With another series of shots, he downed several of the remaining missiles...right as the Glyph's power expired, and time sped up to its normal rate.

Two of the missiles remained, still homing in on Nora. However, two things happened at once. First, the missiles were seized in fields of black, their bodies shaking as they were pulled away from their guided trajectories. Then Ren seemed to appear out of nowhere, standing atop the Paladin's cockpit. Spreading his arms, Ren aimed at the missile pods, or rather, the targeting sensors mounted at the base of each of them, and opened fire, his shots causing both sensors to explode in a shower of sparks, while he jumped clear.

The missiles that Pyrrha had gripped with her Semblance ceased their struggle to correct their flight-paths, submitting entirely to the guidance of her Polarity. Smiling, Pyrrha directed them back around, then let them go, the missiles flying straight back towards the listing Paladin, slamming into the very pods that had fired them, blasting the pods off their mounts, before detonating the payloads within, the explosions rocking the machine below, as the Paladin lurched once more, its efforts to correct is position further disrupted.

"Glad you could make it," said Ren, landing next to Pyrrha, who was sweating a little from the effort of controlling the missiles.

"You were just in time," agreed Neptune, flashing a grin at Weiss, though she was a little too focused on the task at hand to notice it.

"We need to keep at it!" declared Weiss, glaring at the machine.

Their strategy for fighting the Paladin had hinged upon the revelations provided by the schematics that Ironwood had given them. The Paladins that had been stolen were prototypes, still in the testing phase. As a result, much of their armor was incomplete. Both the targeting sensors and the joints were exposed, allowing the designers to view and test the mechanisms while the machine was active. By targeting those points, they could bring down the Paladin little by little. Of course, it wasn't an easy task. Prototype it might have been, but this Atlesian Paladin was fully-armed, and more than capable of inflicting a great deal of destruction, exposed joints or not.

Before them, the Paladin pushed off with its right arm, managing to right itself. Both Yang and Nora charged to meet it, flying at the machine from opposing directions, propelled by the explosive force of their weapons. The Paladin immediately responded to both of them, splitting its aim. The left targeted Yang with its cannons, while the right drew back, aiming a punch at the incoming Nora.

Yang punched directly downwards, abruptly shifting the course of her flight up, over the Paladin's first shot. The mech would have tried to track her. However, that was when the damage that Yang had inflicted previously caught up to it. The recoil of the cannon-shot naturally drove the barrel of the gun backwards. There was a cracking noise, followed by an explosion of sparks and smoke from its damaged shoulder joint, then the sound of metal shrieking filled the air, the Paladin's left arm dropping free at the shoulder, a few trailing wires still connecting the separated pieces, before they too snapped.

A second later, Nora met the Paladin's right-handed punch with a sideways swing of her hammer, spinning her body to add centrifugal force to the blow, slamming her hammer against the machine's fist, head-on, triggering Magnhild's explosion on impact. The recoil sent her flying back away again, while the Paladin staggered more, already unbalanced by the loss of its arm.

Then Blake darted in, rushing at the mech straight from the front. The pilot tried to catch her with a wild swing of its remaining arm, but the attack only passed through Blake's Shadow, which propelled her the rest of the way in, where her weapons struck with precision, taking out two of the Paladin's remaining targeting sensors. Now the mech was nearly blind. Desperately, the pilot armed its right arm-cannon, and began to fire around wildly, hoping to hit something solely by virtue of the explosive force behind its shots.

One such bolt rushed right for where Blake had landed, after retreating from her last attack. She barely had time to rise up out of her crouch, and look back the way she came, before she saw bolt of white energy flying straight at her. Her mouth dropped open to scream. Then a figure dropped down in front of her. Sun extended his staff, spinning it rapidly, the weapon becoming a red and gold blur in his hand. The bolt exploded against it, the defensive maneuver successfully deflecting most of the force. But the shot was a lot more powerful than the attacks Sun typically used this move to deflect, so the remaining force blew him back into Blake, knocking both of them sprawling.

The Paladin's pilot noticed, and the machine bounded towards them, leaping up and then dropping towards them, one massive metal foot threatening to crush them beneath it.

Then someone else skidded to a stop in front of them. Blake and Sun caught a glimpse of a ragged hoody, covered by white armor. Jaune lifted up his shield, bracing with all his might. Reflecting back on his training, he shifted as much Aura as he could spare into the shield. Ruby had only begun to teach them the basics of Flow, so his control was rudimentary, amounting to little more than flushing everything he had into the shield he was holding up. Not remembering to shunt Aura to any of the rest of his body, Jaune would probably still find himself folding before the Paladin's weight.

But something within his shield responded. A sharp chiming noise filled the air, and the surface of Crocea Mors shield flashed pure-white. The Paladin's massive foot slammed down on the shield's surface. However, rather than crushing down the person holding it up, the machine abruptly shuddered, the scream of servos straining filling the air, and showers of sparks erupting from the knee and hip joints. The Paladin was suddenly blasted back the way it had come, leaving Jaune standing there, looking perplexed, an expression shared by Blake and Sun behind him.

The Paladin's arcing flight carried it towards the other new arrival, a figure in black, shrouded in red. Ruby stood at the point where the Paladin was about to land, Akaibara split into its two component swords. Ruby watched it, an almost placid expression on her face. Crossing her swords in front of her, she scissored them back apart, sliding their flats against one another. As they did, the blades rang and flashed with brilliant red light, the atmosphere curling in around them.

"_Akai Hanabira no Mai!_" Flashing crimson crescents scattered through the air, as Ruby shot up to meet the Paladin. The blades of red wind sliced through its chassis effortlessly, cutting through the layers of armored plate like butter. Ruby landed on one side, her swords blurring to a stop, her left held across her body, while the right was extended back down over her shoulder, her cape flaring dramatically. Showers of red petals fountained from the cuts she'd inflicted on the Paladin, like blood from sliced arteries, as though the mech was bleeding.

The Paladin fell to earth...and shattered to pieces on impact, the cleanly-severed remnants spilling the pilot onto the ground. A few seconds later, the muscular figure of Meinrad slowly rose up with an angry growl, staggered and dazed by the unexpected tumble, but not injured.

"You damn wretches," he snarled, taking a staggering step towards them.

"Meinrad..." whispered Blake, looking at her former comrade sadly.

"Whatever," said Yang dismissively, stepping up to stand next to her partner. "Let's just take him down already."

With that, Yang punched forward, launching a shot from Ember Celica. The bolt rushed across the space between her and the White Fang Lieutenant, who braced himself against it.

Then, at the last second, a familiar figure, dressed in white and brown, dropped down between Meinrad and the incoming shot. The bolt of fire-Dust scattered across the curved surface of an open parasol. Lifting it out of the way, Neo rested her weapon over her shoulder, beaming cheerfully at the assembled students. Behind her and Meinrad, a large object dropped down from the sky, a bullhead. Its engines kicked in, bringing its descent to a halt, just barely above the ground, a demonstration of impressive skill on the part of the pilot. The bay doors opened to reveal Ilia, who jumped down and quickly pulled Meinrad into the passenger bay. The bulky man went reluctantly.

"You're not getting away!" shouted Yang, preparing to rush forward, only to stop as Ruby lurched, and fell down on one knee.

"Ruby!" shouted Yang, abruptly distracted by her sister's plight.

Ruby was gasping for breath, her cloak fanning out behind her, looking ragged. "Don't...worry...about me," she said, between panting breaths.

However, that tiny delay was enough. With Meinrad, Ilia, and Neo aboard, the bullhead lifted off into the sky, swiftly accelerating out of reach.

"Dammit!" snapped Yang, stomping angrily.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group, save for Jaune, who was looking over Ruby worriedly, assembled around the wrecked Paladin.

"Well...that's one down," said Sun sheepishly.

* * *

"What were you thinking?" demanded Ironwood, looming over the desk at them.

"That that thing had to be stopped," replied Ren, remaining calm in the face of the General's frustration. "We could not allow something that dangerous to run around, nor could we risk it blundering into a more populated area."

"That one Paladin represents an investment of millions of lien!" Ironwood exclaimed. "And now it's so much scrap, thanks to you children."

"And what exactly did you expect us to _do_ with it?" asked Yang sardonically. "Should we have let that jerk kill us all, so that you could have a chance to get it back without a scratch later?"

"Your investment was lost the moment your shoddy Atlesian security let them be _stolen_ in the first place," added Blake irritably. "Regardless of the situation, it'll be nothing short of a miracle for you to recover any of them undamaged."

"She's right," said Ozpin, glaring sidelong at Ironwood. "Given the circumstances, they had no choice but to do whatever was necessary to stop that Paladin from inflicting damage."

"You'd be a fool to expect anything else," added Glynda. "Ms. Belladonna is right about the rest of them as well. Ensuring that those machines do not inflict damage on the Kingdom is the priority, and that shall be accomplished by any means necessary. If any of them are left in useable condition afterwards, then you are welcome to them."

"That is not how this was supposed to go," protested Ironwood.

"You lost your war machines in Valean territory," said Ozpin, giving Ironwood a stern look. "They have fallen into the hands of terrorists, and represent a threat to the citizens of Vale. As such, Atlesian protocols and priorities are not our concern."

Ironwood glared at Ozpin and Glynda, before letting out a long sigh, and slumping over the desk. "You're right," he admitted reluctantly.

"We _did_ get information on where the rest might be though," said Ruby.

"That's right!" said Sun excitedly, from where he was standing, a little behind Blake. "Lizard-Girl said something about an operation in the southeast."

"That's what my info-broker friend said too," added Yang, with Neptune nodding, though his eyebrow went up at Yang referring Junior as a "friend". "Someone's been moving a lot of cargo and heavy equipment by bullhead to the southeast."

"Mountain Glenn..." mused Ozpin softly.

"What's the deal with that place?" asked Jaune.

"It's the site of a failed extension of Vale," said Glynda. "Sadly, it was overrun many years ago. Only ruins remain now." She frowned. "And it remains heavily infested by Grimm still...strangely enough, which makes it odd that anyone would attempt to set up any kind of operation out there."

"Do you have any idea what they could be doing?" asked Ruby.

"That is...difficult," said Ozpin. "If the White Fang are moving large amounts of materiel out there, then they must be building something. However, there are more suitable sites to use as staging points for attacks against the Kingdom."

"Definitely someplace they'd set up if they didn't want people looking too hard for them, though," said Weiss. "If they've figured out someway to keep the Grimm from bothering them too much, then the Grimm themselves become a deterrent to searchers."

"Very true," agreed Ozpin.

"So we operate under the assumption that they've found someway to keep the Grimm from overrunning their position," said Pyrrha. "We just have to figure out how to find them, with all the Grimm swarming around."

"You say 'we' under the assumption that you will be a part of any future operation," grumbled Ironwood.

"Hey, we found your walking gun-thingy," protested Nora.

"And wrecked it," countered Ironwood.

"And we'll wreck the rest of them, if we have to," Blake replied.

"Again, a moot point," said Ozpin. "Given the circumstances, it is best to have Raspberry and Rainbow continue on with this investigation, as they have already gained experience against a Paladin in combat. So far, they've proven worthy of our trust."

Ironwood didn't look happy, but made no further protests.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Nora eagerly. "When do we go in?"

"Not for another week, at least," said Ozpin.

"Huh!?" gasped his audience. In fact, both Ironwood and Glynda looked surprised as well.

"Oz!" protested Ironwood. "This situation is top priority! There's no telling when the White Fang could put these machines to use."

"He's right," said Glynda, the urgency of the situation actually keeping her from wincing at the thought of agreeing with Ironwood.

"As a matter of fact, I believe that we _do_ have an idea of when they might launch their attack," said Ozpin, a sly smile on his face. "Need I remind you what will be taking place a little over a week from now?"

"The first-years will be going on their first missions..." Glynda's voice trailed off, her eyes going wide. "Oh..."

"Yes," agreed Ozpin, nodding sagely. "Over the course of that week, not only the first-years, but most of our students, will be heading out on missions. On top of that, several of the Kingdom's Huntsmen and Huntresses will be leading those missions."

"Leaving the Kingdom's defenses much lighter," mused Ironwood. "Vale's military isn't equipped to handle the Paladins, to say nothing of the police."

Ozpin nodded. "If it were a matter of one or two, I wouldn't be so concerned. But with eleven still out there..."

"It'll be a bloodbath," whispered Blake, her eyes wide with horror.

"Therefore, we can hazard a guess that the White Fang's attack will take place during the mission-period," said Ozpin, "most likely at the time when the largest number of our students are outside the Kingdom itself."

"That would make sense," said Ironwood, scratching his chin. "But doesn't that make it all the more imperative that we find them before then?"

"True," said Ozpin. "However, we don't want to spook them unnecessarily, or we might run the risk of setting off an attack prematurely. Even if they aren't fully prepared, they might still be able to inflict severe damage on the Kingdom, with the right plan. Therefore, if we are going to send in searchers, then we need to do so in a manner that will not attract unnecessary attention."

"How so?" asked Ruby.

Ozpin smiled. "As it so happens, Mountain Glenn is one of the areas that is regularly subjected to Search-and-Destroy missions, to clear out the Grimm population there. Because they tend to congregate so heavily in that area, they often mount attacks on the wall, if their numbers are allowed to grow beyond a certain extent. To prevent that, we frequently send in Huntsmen, or students, to clear them out, and keep their numbers manageable.

"Normally, such a mission is considered too dangerous for first-years. However, I believe that Raspberry and Rainbow have more than proved their mettle, considering their previous excursions."

"Dang, we're really making an impression, huh?" mused Yang, beaming with self-satisfaction.

"So, you send us in on this Search-and-Destroy mission, and we use that as cover to find the White Fang's operation," said Ren.

"Correct," said Ozpin. "Once you do, we can relay the location to Ironwood, and his forces can move in to deal with the White Fang." He looked pointedly at Ironwood. "You may use that to reclaim your Paladins, if you believe you can. However, preventing any threat to the citizens of Vale is the highest priority."

"Very well," said Ironwood with a sigh. "It would be unacceptable to have our own technology used to inflict civilian casualties."

_Glad to see his head might be in the right place after all,_ thought Blake, though she still couldn't shed her dislike of the man who would bring such dangerous weapons into a Kingdom that wasn't his own to begin with.

"That being said, since the White Fang may very well be planning to launch their attack during the mission-period, it is imperative that they are found quickly," said Ozpin. "The mission-period occupies two whole weeks. By the end of the first week, our personnel shall be the lightest. Therefore, it is imperative you learn their location by then."

"Understood," said Ruby and Ren in unison.

"On top of that, unless you have no other alternative, you must absolutely _not_ engage with the White Fang," continued Ozpin, his gaze going pointedly to Blake, who shied away from it. "If they know that they've been found, then they may very well choose to launch their attack prematurely, which could still result in severe damage and civilian casualties."

Blake understood the unspoken message in Ozpin's instructions. During the unofficial mission at the docks, she had given herself away by approaching Ilia. If she did something similar during the Mountain Glenn mission, then she would be putting lives at risk. Even if she thought it was her responsibility to try and reason down the White Fang, making sure they couldn't inflict harm on innocent civilians had priority.

"Good," said Ozpin, smiling at the two teams. "Other than that, excellent work on your mission. You are dismissed."

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby.

While the others got up and began to head to the elevator, Ruby remained seated. The others paused, looking back over their shoulders at her.

"Is there something else, Ms. Rose?" asked Ozpin.

"I'm afraid so," said Ruby.

"I see...this is about your father then," said Ozpin, sighing sadly.

"Yes," said Ruby.

The others turned to watch and listen, noting that neither Ruby nor Ozpin seemed to mind. Ironwood and Glynda both looked on. Ironwood's expression was neutral, but Glynda's was clearly one of frustration, frustration that _wasn't_ directed at Ruby, fortunately.

Ruby had included her altercation with her father in the mission report, mainly because his actions constituted interference in the mission, and indicated that he had no intention of giving up on her anytime soon, which would only lead to more incidents, if something wasn't done.

"Qrow told me that he has successfully subdued Taiyang," said Ozpin. "For the moment, we are keeping him restrained, until we can figure out what to do with him."

"Okay..." said Ruby.

"Normally, it would be best to provide him with counseling," said Ozpin. "However, there will be no helping him if he does not recognize that he needs help. So long as he remains stubbornly convinced that he is in the right, we would sooner pull the moon back into a single piece."

"Then what?" asked Ruby. "Can you keep him confined?"

"Well..." Ozpin frowned. "The issue is muddied. If he refuses counseling, and continues insist on interfering with you, then we can have the courts take care of it." He rubbed his chin. "A restraining order would likely be middlingly effective at best, even if it were to force him to relinquish his weapons. Mr. Xiao Long has made it apparent that he believes his claim to you supersedes the law, and would ignore any such strictures at will. Therefore, we shall have to aim for a harsher sentence, and request his commitment to a psychiatric institution."

Ruby sighed. "Well...whatever you can do," she said.

"We will do what we can," Ozpin promised.

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, finally getting up from her seat, and following her friends into the elevator, the group packing themselves in rather tightly.

Ozpin watched the doors close, then let out another sigh.

"That fool," grumbled Glynda.

"Taiyang Xiao Long is a traumatized man," said Ozpin. "It is clear that said trauma runs far deeper than we ever thought. I fear that he may well be beyond all reasoning."

"Then what can we do?" asked Glynda.

"Short of having him committed, very little," said Ozpin. "I would like to say that option shall remain a last resort. With what he knows, a regular institution, even one suited to Huntsmen, would be insufficient. If he is sufficiently desperate, he might well trade upon his knowledge in order to gain leverage...or even simply indulge in vengeance. He might well be at the point where he perceives throwing the Kingdom into chaos as an appropriate recourse, so long as he gets Ms. Rose back into his custody."

"That would be unacceptable," said Ironwood firmly.

Ozpin nodded. "It will be difficult," he said. "But I will make arrangements. It is my hope that we can find some way to get through to him."

A heavy silence fell over the office, before Ironwood decided to change the subject. "About the mission, Oz...are you sure it's wise to wait?"

"It is the best option I can think of," said Ozpin. "The White Fang are aware that Ms. Belladonna was at their rally, a rally where the location of their present operation was alluded to. They will be on their guard right now."

"But...if they wait, and don't see any sign that anyone is looking for them..." mused Glynda, "...then they might believe that Ms. Belladonna was disinterested in that information, or did not pick up on it...and their guard could potentially lower again."

"In any case, we shall see," said Ozpin, clasping his hands in front of his face. "Why Mountain Glenn though...? What is there that they require for their plan?"

"Do you think this may have something to do with Cinder Fall?" asked Glynda.

"We still have no confirmation that she and her cohorts are working with the White Fang," said Ozpin, frowning, "though that remains a distinct possibility."

"If that is the case, then Cinder is working for Her," said Glynda, "which would mean that the White Fang are also working for Her, albeit indirectly. And there is one thing that Mountain Glenn has in excess, which She has always had her subordinates make effective use of."

"Grimm," growled Ironwood.

Ozpin nodded. "So you think that the high concentration of Grimm in Mountain Glenn may be a factor in the White Fang's plan?"

"Quite possibly even a vital component," said Glynda. "We mustn't forget that Mountain Glenn was directly connected to the heart of Vale itself at one point."

"Those tunnels have long since been sealed," said Ozpin.

"What is sealed can be unsealed," Ironwood pointed out. "This information broker your students mentioned said that there have been large shipments out of the Kingdom. While much of that may be the Dust they've stolen, it's also possible that those shipments might include the heavy equipment necessary for clearing the tunnels, and opening the way into the Kingdom back up."

"Then we should look into seeing if there have been any thefts of construction equipment," said Glynda.

"Please do," said Ozpin, frowning. "I do not like the sound of this."

"If that _is_ the case..." said Ironwood.

Ozpin nodded. "Then we do have one major advantage. We know where those tunnels come out, inside Vale. If the White Fang try to attack along that route, then we have an idea of their egress, though we cannot rule out the possibility of them opening up different exits along the tunnel's path. Once they are within Vale's perimeter, they could forcefully make their exit anywhere along that line."

"Those tunnels run under the faunus quarter though," Glynda pointed out. "Surely they wouldn't endanger their fellow faunus by doing so in that area."

"Normally, I wouldn't think so," said Ozpin. "However, the situation with the Forrest Family indicates that the White Fang, at least their Vale Branch, is no longer so concerned about the wellbeing of uninvolved faunus, if it means realizing their goals."

Glynda and Ironwood paled at the possibility.

"That being the case, what should we do?" asked Glynda.

"James, you brought your army to my Kingdom," said Ozpin, looking at Ironwood. "I think we may well have found an appropriate use for them."

Ironwood could only nod in agreement, too disturbed by the possibilities to feel any vindication at Ozpin acknowledging that his forces might be needed after all.


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64:**

Dove leapt over the line of Pyrrha's slashing sword, his spinning jump allowing him to bring his own sword around to slash at her. However, she swiftly deflected his blow with her shield. Landing, Dove tried to keep the initiative, pushing in with a flurry of strikes. Pyrrha fended off his attacks masterfully, before striking out at him again, her xiphos abruptly lengthening into a javelin in her grip, mid-thrust, suddenly extending her reach.

Dove attempted to fall back, only to feel as though he was trying to pull his body through mud. Pyrrha's Semblance had latched onto his armor, keeping him from retreating. Quickly, he recovered, flicking his sword up to bat Pyrrha's thrust aside, though Milo scratched against the armor over his shoulder, scraping away a little of his Aura, but not enough to trouble him. Continuing the motion, Dove brought his sword back around to point directly at Pyrrha, and pulled the trigger, firing several shots straight at her chest.

Pyrrha's shield snapped into place, Dove's bullets clanging off its curved surface. However, the sudden distraction prompted her to release her Polarity's hold over Dove's armor. Dove followed up by stepping forward...then dropping down into the deepest crouch he could manage. The feint worked. Given the acrobatic nature of his style, his opponents, including Pyrrha, had grown accustomed to him leaping _up_, and trying to jump over their heads. Because of that, going low tended to throw them off. Dove had put a lot of time into improving his ground-game lately.

From down-low, he lashed out with his sword, aiming for Pyrrha's ankles and shins. Pyrrha quickly danced back, frantically pulling her legs out of the way of his attacks. Dove advanced after her, keeping low. Stepping in this position was hard, but he'd been working on his skill in this area, allowing him to keep Pyrrha in reach a little bit longer than he might have otherwise.

Of course, Pyrrha wasn't content to simply passively retreat from him. Even as she fell back, she spun her javelin in her grip, Milo shifting into its rifle form, which Pyrrha aimed down at Dove. Seeing the shot coming, Dove lunged forward, going into a diving roll that took him past Pyrrha's legs. The sudden acceleration threw off Pyrrha's aim...and her defense...so she was caught off-guard when Dove's sword flickered out to slash at her thigh. Pyrrha danced back again, her Aura dipping, the sudden drop inspiring gasps and cheers from the crowd of observers. Just landing a hit on Pyrrha Nikos was considered a nigh-miraculous feat, especially now, with her having no reason to play coy with her Semblance.

Of course, Dove refused to be content with "just a hit." Coming back up into a standing position, he immediately followed through with another barrage of shots from his gun. Pyrrha held up her shield, and Dove's eyes widened as he saw the black energy lining its edges. Rather than simply deflect his bullets off its face, she used her Polarity to draw the projectiles into a rapid orbit around the rim of her shield, before releasing them to go flying back the way they came.

Fortunately, Dove had been expecting this. He'd been the one Pyrrha had originally _tested_ this skill on. What he _hadn't_ been prepared for was Pyrrha to fire her rifle again, timing her shots perfectly. Her bullets flew in the wake of Dove's returning ones. Dove managed to use his sword to deflect the bullets that Pyrrha returned, but he was caught off-guard by the shots following behind them, and he lurched as several of them slammed home into his chest.

Pyrrha wasn't about to waste her advantage, already rushing towards him. Instead of fighting to recover his balance, after the hits he'd just taken, Dove did the unexpected thing, and simply allowed himself to fall over backwards, Pyrrha's sword cleaving through the air, right over his face. Dropping down, Dove had already leveled his sword at Pyrrha, and pulled the trigger. Pyrrha was forced to stop her attack, frantically bringing up her shield to fend off the shots, having been caught sufficiently off-guard that she wasn't able to use her Semblance to catch his bullets, like before.

That slight delay was all that Dove needed, turning his fall into a roll that brought him back to his feet. It wasn't the most graceful recovery, but it was enough. He was still in a crouch when Pyrrha emerged from behind her shield again, preparing to go on the attack once more.

Dove's response was a technique he'd termed the _Arc Thrust_ (much to Jaune's chagrin). From his crouched position, rather than try to stand all the way up, Dove instead lunged forward, launching himself straight ahead, with all the strength his legs could spare, driving his sword straight for Pyrrha's stomach. Pyrrha's eyes widened at the unexpected attack. At the very last second, Dove's sword was lined by the black energy of Polarity, but that only slowed his sword a little bit. Pyrrha was still knocked back, staggering from the thrust straight to her abdomen.

A Semblance like Pyrrha's was, in the end, just like any other skill in her arsenal. She'd refined her control over it to an incredible degree, so that she could wield it with a level of proficiency and responsiveness that bordered on reflexive. However, just as with any other aspect of her style, Pyrrha's Semblance could be countered by catching her when she wasn't prepared. In this case, her reaction had been delayed, so she'd only been able to lower Dove's momentum by a small degree, before his thrust landed.

But that wasn't enough to turn the tides. Pyrrha's Semblance was a powerful advantage, a devastating one even. But it wasn't _all_ that Pyrrha was. For all that so many students made about the advantage Pyrrha's Semblance gave her, it was easy to forget just how devastating she could be with just her weapons, and the skill she had in wielding them. Pyrrha had completely mastered all aspects of her style, brilliantly employing all three forms of her main weapon, while being equally accomplished at using her shield both defensively and offensively.

So it was that Dove found his flying thrust countered by a flying shield, which flew straight at his face. Yelping in surprise, Dove, flailed wildly with his sword, managing to knock Akouo away, before it could hit. By that point, his forward momentum was gone, and he dropped straight down, managing to catch himself with his free hand, so that he didn't completely imitate Arc, and end his attack with a face-plant.

But throwing her shield had only been the first part of Pyrrha's counterattack. She followed by extending Milo out into its javelin-form again, cocking back her right harm, and then hurling it straight at him, firing a shot from the rifle component to impart an explosive burst of acceleration. Still, Dove was able to kick off the ground, going into a one-handed handstand, while twisting his body slightly, so that Pyrrha's thrown javelin only glanced off the armor of his chestpiece. From there, he pushed off with his arm, throwing himself into a cartwheeling flip that brought him back into an upright position, while also allowing him to bring his sword around to slash at Pyrrha in the same motion.

Pyrrha demonstrated that she was no slouch in the agility department either, gracefully dodging Dove's slash with a rolling flip of her own, carrying her over his blade. Her jump might not have made it, but Dove could feel her Semblance gently nudge the blade of his sword down, just far enough that she was able to clear the line of his attack by the narrowest of margins. Had he still been in ignorance of her Semblance, he would have been completely clueless about what she'd just done. But, now that he knew what to expect, he found he could tell easily enough when she was manipulating his weapons.

Not that knowing made it any easier to counter.

Pyrrha landed and employed her Polarity again, calling her weapons right back to her hands. From there, she and Dove engaged in a much more straightforward match of blades, her sword and shield clashing repeatedly against Dove's sword, as the two of them fenced furiously for a few seconds.

Then Pyrrha dropped low, slashing at his shins. Dove jumped over it, pulling his legs up to clear her attack, and Pyrrha rose up, punching forward with her shield. But Dove simply stepped out and planted one foot on Akouo's surface, using the shield as a platform to leap off of, going into a spinning flip that carried him over Pyrrha's head, while allowing him to slash at her from behind.

However, to his surprise, Akouo immediately detached from Pyrrha's forearm, moving up to intercept his slash, without her needing to move. Instead, she angled Milo downwards, then the weapon's orientation reversed as it transformed into its rifle-mode, pointing out from under Pyrrha's armpit, the barrel extending out to rest in one of the semicircular indents on Akouo's rim. The shot Pyrrha fired from that seemingly impossible angle struck Dove right in the forehead.

Dove was blown backwards by the hit, and Pyrrha immediately capitalized, spinning, while returning Milo to its xiphos-form. Jumping, she now used her own shield as a platform, using Polarity to hold it in place, while she stepped off it to reach Dove. The next thing Dove knew, he was on the receiving end of a sequence of powerful slashes, each one carving off a significant chunk of his remaining Aura. Before he could even think about recovering, Pyrrha's own attacks were pushing her back away from him. But she wasn't even remotely done.

Pyrrha fell backwards, arching her back, and using that to bring her legs up, clamping Dove's face right between her calves. Leaning back, Pyrrha turned her fall into a flip, pulling Dove around, up and over, before slamming him, head-first, into the ring. Pyrrha herself bounced away to land on her feet, deftly catching Akouo, and adopting her standard stance, shield held up and ready, with the sword angled to pass through one of its indents, prepared to continue the match.

But the buzzer signaled that the match was over, and the lights returned to their usual levels. Pyrrha quickly relaxed, then shifted her weapons to her back and rushed to Dove's side.

"And that's the match," declared Glynda, walking out onto the ring.

Pyrrha helped a groaning Dove up, pulling one arm over her shoulder to support him, before standing them both up. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"You rung my bell," Dove said. "But I can handle it."

"Excellent work...both of you," said Glynda, looking at the two fighters. Her gaze settled on Dove in particular. "It is good to see a student who is _actually_ willing to give it their all in the ring, regardless of who their opponent might be."

"Thank you, Ma'am," said Dove.

"Ms. Nikos," said Glynda, her gaze turning to Pyrrha, "I can see that you've been making progress with expanding the scope of what you can do with your Semblance. However, there appear to be some rough patches still. For the most part, you seem to be struggling to decide on how to use it sometimes."

That hadn't been how it had looked to Dove, but he supposed that just spoke to Pyrrha's skill, that even her moments of hesitation and indecision were so minute that he could scarcely perceive them.

Strangely enough, Glynda's criticism appeared to make Pyrrha's day, and she was fighting to keep from almost literally glowing with happiness. "Thank you, Professor," she said. "I'll do my best."

Glynda couldn't quite keep an amused smile from her face at Pyrrha's enthusiasm. "It seems to me that both of you will do quite well at the upcoming tournament. You may return to your seats."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Pyrrha and Dove in almost perfect unison.

They made their way up the stairs to the spectator seating, Pyrrha still supporting Dove. As they did, they could hear some angry muttering from some of the other students. More than a few had picked up on Glynda's indirect remonstration of their unwillingness to make an effort to fight Pyrrha seriously.

"_What's that idiot think he's doing?_" groused one voice.

"_It's not as though he had a chance,_" said another.

"_Probably just showing off for the Prof,_" added another sullenly.

Dove chose to ignore them. Glancing sidelong at his opponent, Dove could see that Pyrrha felt hurt by their remarks, even though Dove himself was the subject of most of them.

"Don't worry about them," he told Pyrrha into a low voice, letting her help him into his seat, where he settled with a sigh. "They're just a bunch of morons who're gonna fold the first time things get tough in the field, at this rate."

"Even so, it's not fair to you," said Pyrrha. "You're the first person besides Ruby to actually challenge me."

For this session, Glynda was soliciting volunteer matchups. So Dove had decided to take his turn, and had challenged Pyrrha. He'd thought that, by being her main partner in testing different applications for her Semblance, he'd have an edge. And he certainly did, especially compared to most of the other students. But that edge had not been sufficient enough to make up the gap.

"You still made more of a dent than pretty much every student since her match with Ruby put together," said Cardin, gently slugging Dove in the shoulder from the next seat over.

"Thanks," said Dove, gratified by the praise. The past couple of months had seen a massive improvement in CRDL's team dynamic, now that the other three members had finally gotten their heads on straight.

The students talked amongst themselves for a little bit, while waiting for Glynda to finish fixing the ring. Pyrrha settled in between Weiss and Ruby, exchanging smiles and accepting compliments from her teammates. Pyrrha found herself beaming when Weiss and Ruby started complimenting Dove as well.

Finishing up in the ring, Glynda checked her scroll. "It would seem we have time for one more match, before we wrap up for the day. Are there any volunteers?"

"I'll go," called out a feminine voice from the stands, a dark-skinned hand rising up into the air.

Glynda looked up at the volunteer, and her eyes narrowed by the tiniest fraction. "Ms. Sustrai, was it?"

"That's right," said Emerald, smiling down at Glynda, the look in her dark-red eyes seeming completely innocent.

Emerald's decision to volunteer wasn't all that odd. She and Mercury weren't the only visiting students in attendance. Even though they were technically visitors, for all intents and purposes, those participating in the exchange from the other Academies were treated as full students by Beacon, for the duration of their time there. They were expected to attend class, participate, and would be graded accordingly. Naturally, that included Combat Class.

"Let's see about matching you up with an opponent then," said Glynda, looking down at her scroll.

"Actually...I'd like to fight...her," said Emerald, still smiling cheerfully...and pointing straight at Ruby.

"M-me?" blurted Ruby nervously, surprised to be put on the spot.

Glynda frowned at that. Ruby had been challenged once already today, but her opponent hadn't been able to put up much of a fight, so she'd hardly lost any Aura at all. So there were no grounds to turn Emerald's request down.

"Ms. Rose, do you accept the challenge?" asked Glynda.

"Yes," replied Ruby automatically, shooting to her feet.

"You okay?" asked Jaune, looking at her worriedly.

"I'm fine," said Ruby, smiling down at him.

Jaune felt that Ruby was putting on a front, but said nothing.

For her part, Ruby was smiling outwardly. But, inwardly, Ruby's heart was hammering hard against her ribs. Emerald was one of Cinder's group. It couldn't have been coincidence that Emerald had suddenly decided to fight her. Sure, given the widely-circulated videos of her match against Pyrrha, Ruby was accustomed to people challenging her. But she felt that Emerald had singled her out for _other_ reasons.

As she and her opponent made their way down to the ring, Ruby pondered her options. _Are they trying to gauge my ability? Should I hold back?_ She mulled it over for a step. _No. They've probably already seen the footage of my fight against Pyrrha, not to mention the other recordings of my matches. I should fight like usual then. I just need to be on my guard._

Set with her plan (for all that it constituted a plan), Ruby headed out into the ring, Emerald emerging from one of the other entrances. They faced each other, Ruby taking in the details of her current adversary.

Emerald was an attractive young woman, with appealing dark, tanned skin. Her mint-green hair framed either side of her face, with a pair of long tails extending down her back. Her eyes were red, but not quite the same luminous crimson of Kyo or his father.

Ozpin had suggested that Emerald's appearance indicated she might hail from Vacuo and, from the way she dressed, Ruby wouldn't be surprised. Emerald's top was...lacking, to say the least, with white straps framing a low-cut, olive-green crop-top, which showed a generous portion of her cleavage, while leaving her shoulders, arms, and midriff completely bare. A brown belt around her waist held up a pair of white pants, which were covered by a pair of brown, leather chaps, both of which were tucked into a set of boots.

The curved handles of her weapon protruded out slightly from either side of her waist, holstered at the small of her back. Ruby's eyes traced the contours of the handles, making out what appeared to be the beginnings of a trigger-guard. They were likely revolvers then. Of course, it was likely that wasn't _all_ that they were.

Over the course of her time at Beacon, Ruby had begun to notice something. Her sense of people was getting sharper. With the experience she'd accrued from all her fights, whether in the ring or outside it, she'd begun to get a sense of how people's Auras could tell her about how they fought. Its distribution, its intensity, the way it flowed through a person. It all spoke of their style, their manner on the battlefield, and even their preferences.

Yang's Aura, naturally, was centered around her forearms and fists. It was dense and powerful, making Ruby think of red-hot steel. Its condensation towards her front spoke of Yang's favored head-on style of attack.

In contrast, Blake's Aura was light and wispy, much like the Shadows her Semblance left behind. The way it gathered about both her hands spoke of the dual nature of her weapon, though the greater intensity about her right hand told Ruby which was dominant. The extra concentration at the wrist and fingers, as well as the circling flow about them was reminiscent of the swings Blake made with her weapon in its sickle-mode, on the end of its long ribbon.

Each and every one of her friends' Auras had their own nuances and idiosyncrasies about them that proved informative about their styles and preferences in combat. And it could tell her a great deal about their overall nature as well. Adam's Aura was strong and intense, but ragged, like a sword that had been chipped and worn down, his conviction and commitment to his ideals eroding, exposing a desire to inflict harm, even over his commitment to his cause. It had been her experience with that Aura that had enabled Ruby to realize just what kind of person Adam was, and see through his plans for her.

So now, Ruby opened up her senses, and allowed Emerald's Aura to tell her story. Emerald's Aura was light and wispy, almost like Blake's, but a bit more solid. It coiled loosely around her arms, swirling in circular patterns, suggesting that she, like Blake, wielded a flexible weapon of some kind. Her Aura also tightly sheathed her forearms, wrists, and hands beneath those coils, suggesting a slashing weapon of some kind. Furthermore, the distribution of the Aura to her arms was almost perfectly equal, suggesting that she was ambidextrous overall, though Ruby thought that Emerald might favor her right hand a little more. Finally, there was an intense concentration of Aura around Emerald's eyes and encircling the top of her head. Ruby had never seen that particular pattern before, so it left her wondering what it meant.

As for what it told her about Emerald's personality...Ruby got the impression that Emerald's Aura was like a shell, enclosing a soft interior. Emerald had been through harsh experiences in the past, which had taught her to steel herself and focus on her own protection. However, that shell masked a desire for affection and affirmation. There was something jagged and spiky about it, though it was hidden by the veneer of Emerald's friendly smile. She was putting on a front then. But beneath that front bubbled a resentment for those who had not gone through the experiences she had, and a sort of vindictive enjoyment in the suffering of those privileged people.

_I wonder what she's been through, to be like this,_ thought Ruby, feeling almost sad about what she sensed from Emerald.

At the very least, Ruby didn't sense anything remotely as disturbing as what she had gotten from Cinder. So Emerald, as bad as she was, hadn't done something as malicious and vile as what Cinder had done to tear the Fall Maiden's power asunder. Still, there was every chance that Emerald had been party to that act, even if she wasn't the direct perpetrator. Considering what the Maidens were capable of, subduing one would be a nigh-impossible task for a single person. So it made sense that Cinder would have had help.

However, all that speculation was for later. Right now, Ruby needed to focus on things that would have a bearing on the immediate fight. So she focused on what Emerald's Aura and stance told her about what would come. Emerald was standing, facing Ruby straight-on, her body not angled in any fashion. Her hands were lowered at her sides, ready to reach for those handles at an instant's notice. If Ruby's deduction about Emerald's weapons being revolvers was correct, then Emerald would likely start off the fight by opening fire, straight on. From her stance, she wasn't about to close the distance herself. So she'd instead open fire, and wait while Ruby came to her.

_Well, if that's what she wants, then fine,_ thought Ruby. _We'll see if she can handle how _fast_ I get over there._

"Fighters, ready," Glynda ordered.

Ruby drew Akaibara, working it through a few circular passes, before settling into her usual stance. Emerald pulled her weapons free, revealing them to indeed be revolvers. She spun them in her grip, the weapons becoming blurs, before Emerald stopped, and leveled them right at Ruby.

Glynda stepped out of the ring and brought up the barrier. "Begin!"

Emerald opened fire, unleashing a withering salvo of rapid shots from her revolver. The green bolts suggested bullets enhanced by wind-Dust, which would increase their speed, accuracy, and ability to penetrate. However, they passed through empty air. The second Glynda had given the signal, Ruby had rushed forward, channeling her Aura out through her feet, while leaning down and forward, allowing her to slip in below Emerald's line of fire. She was a blur, flashing across the space between them in an instant. By the time Emerald had noticed that she'd missed, and began to adjust her aim, Ruby was already close-in, literally under her guns.

_This is what she did with Torchwick,_ thought Emerald, remembering the recording of the event, which had aired during Ruby and Pyrrha's interview with Lisa. _Dammit! I should've seen this coming._

In the course of her charge, Ruby had drawn her sword back, lowering it down and across her body. When she closed in on Emerald, she immediately slashed upwards at an angle. Emerald responded with impressive speed. From beneath the barrels of each of her guns, a curved blade unfolded, with the edge on the inward side of the curve, their length telescoping out. The blades flipped up to extend from the barrels, which themselves turned into extensions of the handles. Emerald now wielded a pair of sickles, one of which she just barely managed to whip down to counter Ruby's slash.

However, Emerald was not prepared for the power of Ruby's Flow, which sent her Aura up through the blade, only to explode outward upon contact with Emerald's weapon. As a consequence, Emerald was knocked back by the slash, her arm tingling from the force of the blow. Ruby wasn't about to give her a chance to recover, darting after her and unleashing a series of rapid slashes.

Emerald tried to counter as best she could, using one blade to parry Ruby's next strike, while slashing at her with the other. However, she found herself striking empty air again. Ruby was a crimson flash at the edge of her vision, having darted past her, while turning about to slash at Emerald from behind. Emerald jumped away, executing an acrobatic spinning flip that enabled her to escape over the line of Ruby's slash, the kind of move that Dove or Pyrrha might have performed. At the same time, Emerald used her spin to bring herself around to counterattack.

On the surface, it appeared that Emerald's dodge had carried her out of range to strike back, her sickles unable to reach Ruby from where she currently was. But then, the barrels of her revolvers detached, right where they met the weapons' chambers, extending out on chains, now having morphed into a pair of kusarigama. With the extended reach of her weapons, Emerald slashed at Ruby, whipping her arm around to use the chain's length to maximize the acceleration of her sickles' blades. Emerald led with her right handed-weapon, swinging it across her body, while executing a backhanded swing with her left, a little bit after. The two blades slashed out on parallel trajectories, with her left-handed sickle cutting through the air a little bit above and behind her right-handed one. Ruby would jump to dodge the first, only to leap right into the path of the second.

Except that Ruby could tell what was coming. Instead of leaping straight up, she jumped into an aerial roll of her own, just high enough to clear the first blade, while using the spin to turn her body horizontal, allowing her to slip through the space between the two attacks. Before Emerald had finished, Ruby had already touched down, then shot off with another application of her _Shukuchi_, flashing in at Emerald again.

Emerald frantically defended, using her handle, at the base of the chain, to block Ruby's slash. She executed her block by swinging the handle at Ruby's incoming sword, the two weapons meeting with a clang. Naturally, the momentum behind the swing meant that it continued through the chain, which began to swing around behind Ruby, threatening to wrap around her, while Emerald retracted the chain on the weapon in her other hand, preparing to strike with the sickle.

Ruby tried to dodge back, her cloak folding around her, but only wound up pushing up against the chain that had been circling behind her, which prompted the arc of its swing to tighten. That was enough to slow Ruby's retreat. Smirking, Emerald stepped forward, slashing up with her sickle. Her blade cleaved at Ruby's red cloak, splitting it in a diagonal line that ran all the way up and across Ruby's torso.

Then the cloak dissolved into a cloud of red petals, and Emerald was left with the realization that she'd struck empty space yet again. She felt Ruby's blade bite into her Aura, right across her stomach. If it hadn't been for Emerald's own Aura, she would have had her guts spilled by the hit…or that was how it felt to her. As it was, she lurched, folding over the point of impact with a pained gasp. She barely had the wherewithal to throw herself forward, managing to escape with little more than a scratch as Ruby attacked from behind again.

In the instant that Emerald had tried to snare Ruby with her chain, Ruby had backpedaled for exactly one step, before using her cloak as a decoy, then reversing course and darting forward again, ducking down beneath the line of Emerald's slash, and rushing past her, transferring Akaibara to her right hand, so that she could cut across Emerald's stomach as she passed, before executing another lightning-fast spin to perform a followup slash from behind.

Emerald had thrown herself away from that followup with as much strength as her legs could muster. The clumsy dodge had resulted in her diving for the floor, which she turned into a roll, quickly coming back to her feet, while using the move to turn around, fully expecting Ruby to come after her, which Ruby did. Emerald extended her other weapon again, whirling both blades around at the ends of their chains, trying to use their speed and reach to keep Ruby at bay. Her weapons were blurs, looking almost like a pair of impenetrable shields as she tried to keep them between her and Ruby.

But Ruby dove right into the blurring barrier of steel without hesitation, launching herself off the floor with another burst of Aura from her feet, leaving behind a trail of red petals as she sent her body into another spin, drawing her cloak around herself so that she looked like a spiraling red missile. Right as she was about to fly right into Emerald's kursarigama, Ruby released her hold on her cloak, allowing it to flare out around her, hardening the edge with her Aura. The whirling cloak struck Emerald's sickles, bouncing the blades away and allowing Ruby to fly right between them, and straight inside Emerald's reach again.

Ruby touched down, transferring her sword back to her left hand, and putting the momentum of her spin into a slash. Emerald yelped, barely managing to cross the handles of her weapons at the last second, before the blow struck home. The raw power of Ruby's momentum and Aura behind the attack blew Emerald off her feet, and sent her flying back, though, in the process, Ruby had to duck to keep from being hit by the sickles, as they were pulled past her on their chains.

Emerald skidded to a stop, her chains retracting inward, and the sickle-blades retracting and folding down, the weapons becoming revolvers once more. Ruby charged forward, preparing to hit Emerald before the other girl could try to draw a bead on her. But then Emerald raised her hands, letting go of the handles, and letting the weapons fall to dangle from her index fingers by their trigger-guards.

"I surrender!" said Emerald, her voice and expression frantic.

A chorus of shocked and worried shouts rose up, people expecting Emerald to take a direct hit from Ruby's sword. But Ruby's slash froze, her sword and body coming to a complete halt, Akaibara's edge stopping less than an inch from the side of Emerald's chest, the sword, gripped in both hands, Ruby ready to switch grips again upon completion of her attack. A cloud of Ruby's petals drifted past the pair, as her cloak flared out around them, momentarily seeming to engulf both of them, before drifting back.

Panting and sweating, Emerald looked down, meeting the steely gaze of one of Ruby's silver eyes, visible past the edge of her hood.

In fact, Ruby had sensed Emerald's intent vanish as soon as she'd been knocked back. Ruby had already begun her next attack, but had immediately switched gears, channeling her Aura through her feet in the opposite direction, while using it to stiffen the muscles of her arms slightly, in order to stop the swing she'd already begun. Her execution had been perfect, and she managed to stop her sword right before it would have connected with Emerald.

Still panting, Emerald took a step back. Ruby did the same. Lowering Akaibara, she quickly sheathed it. "Is that it?" she asked, feeling a bit disappointed that they hadn't been able to fight to the proper conclusion of their match. In the heat and excitement of their battle, she'd momentarily forgotten her wariness of the older girl, only now remembering that Emerald was not _just_ a visiting student from Haven.

"Y-yeah..." said Emerald, her voice shaky. "Sorry, but that was _way_ more than what I was expecting. You're something else."

Ruby beamed at the praise. Emerald's smile and tone indicated sincerity, and Ruby felt that Emerald genuinely meant what she said. However, Ruby could sense a dangerous, subtle malice underlying that. Emerald was appraising Ruby, not as a rival, but as a threat, and that undercurrent of malice indicated she was looking forward to making sure Ruby _ceased_ to be a threat at some point.

"Then Ms. Rose is the winner, again," said Glynda, bringing down the barrier, and stepping forward. "Hopefully, you will exercise a bit more care in picking your opponents next time, Ms. Sustrai."

Emerald nodded, still breathing hard. The two of them parted ways, heading back up to their respective seats, while Glynda turned to address the students as a whole.

"That is all for today. Remember, the dance is this weekend, and your first missions will be on Monday. Make sure you are prepared for both."

Ruby allowed herself to smile slightly. It might have been the first mission for the rest of the first-years. But, for RASP and RYNB, it was officially their third mission, and unofficially their fourth. Still, their upcoming mission was a level of difficulty well above that of what most first-years would be expecting from their missions. However, as she ascended, she spared some of her attention to follow Emerald's progress, as the green-haired girl joined her partner, who was already getting up from his seat, so that they could head for the exit.

Approaching her team, Ruby noticed that Pyrrha was wearing an angry scowl. "You okay?" she asked.

Pyrrha blinked, then appeared to realize the expression she was making. Abruptly, her look shifted from angry to mortified, an embarrassed blush rushing over her face. "I'm sorry!" she squeaked nervously, averting her eyes. "I was just a little upset."

"Why?" asked Weiss, looking at her partner in confusion.

"It's just...that brought up bad memories," said Pyrrha.

"You mean about your opponents giving up?" asked Jaune.

Pyrrha nodded. "It just made me angry. It felt like Emerald just called you down there to size you up a little, and that she wasn't taking the match seriously at all."

_That's not all that far from the truth,_ thought Ruby. One thing she'd noticed about Emerald, over the course of their match, was a certain lack of commitment on the dark-skinned girl's part. From the very beginning, Ruby hadn't detected any intent to win from the other girl. Instead, Emerald had been rather panicked, when she was suddenly pressured far more than she'd been expecting and, from then on, had been desperately looking for her chance to disengage enough to actually call an end to the match. She'd only just barely managed it.

_So she was just trying to get a feel for me,_ thought Ruby, her gaze shifting towards the door Emerald and Mercury had left through. _I wonder what they got out of it._

* * *

As soon as they were in the hallway, and out of view, Emerald slumped against the wall with a pained sigh, her hand going to trace a line of red that had been drawn across her stomach. "Ooow..." she groaned.

Mercury regarded her with a smirk. Out of his Haven uniform, his preferred attire was a gray and black jacket, tucked into a pair of black pants. His arms were decorated by rebraces and vambraces. His feet were covered by a set of boots, running up his thighs, wrapped around by a set of cartridges in an ammo-feed, similar to the gauntlets that Yang utilized, indicating these to be his weapons.

"What's the matter, Emerald?" he taunted. "Isn't learning fun?"

"Shut up!" groused Emerald, glaring at him. "I'd like to see you go a round in the ring with that little red menace."

Mercury's smirk became a grin. "Hey, you were the one who said you'd like to get a feel for her," he retorted. "Weren't you saying something about her being a yappy little dog, who'd fold with a good spanking?"

"Shut up!" repeated Emerald, averting her gaze, and blushing with shame, which, naturally, only made Mercury's grin widen.

* * *

"Hey! Blake!"

Shutting her book at the sound of Sun's voice, Blake looked up at him. "Yes?"

Sun came to a stop in front of her, Neptune trailing behind him, looking on with an amused smile. "How are you doing?" he asked.

"Just fine," said Blake, a bit bemused by Sun's manner. He seemed uncharacteristically shy and bashful, averting his eyes slightly and rubbing the back of his head.

"Anyway...um...I heard that there's a dance this weekend," said Sun, shifting hesitantly. "Sounds pretty lame, to be honest. But, I was thinking...uh...well..."

"Yes?" prodded Blake, her bow twitching as her hidden ears perked up slightly.

"Well...maybe you and I-that is...together...maybe...um...not so lame...?" Forcing an approximation of a confident grin on his face, Sun looked at Blake hopefully...and somewhat plaintively.

"What?" asked Blake, her tone flat, as she tried to decode Sun's request.

"Dude, just spit it out," urged Neptune from behind him.

Sun took a deep breath. "Will you go to the dance with me?!" he blurted out in a sudden rush.

"Hmmm..." Blake looked down at her book, a pensive frown on her face.

Watching her, Sun was practically counting the seconds, as they dragged out, his face falling just a little bit more the longer Blake seemed to hesitate.

Finally, Blake looked back up at him, a smile appearing on her face. "I will," she said.

Sun's eyes widened, looking like Yuletide had just come early. The widest, dopiest grin imaginable spread across his face, and he leapt into the air, pumping his fists in triumph. "YES!"

Turning to face him, Blake favored Sun with a sly smile. "I have the feeling you'd look quite fetching in a tie," she said, her voice making Sun freeze in place, then stand at attention, as though he were taking orders from a military officer. "I expect you to dress properly. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," said Sun immediately.

"Good," said Blake, giggling. "I'm not expecting anything too fancy. But you'd better at least have a good shirt and tie, and a nice pair of pants. Those jeans are _not_ going to cut it."

"Gotcha!" said Sun eagerly.

"Then I'll see you on Saturday," said Blake, turning away to join her friends, as they set out across the courtyard.

Sun watched her go, his mouth hanging open slightly, a happily dazed expression covering his face. "What a woman," he breathed.

Neptune looked on from behind, folding his arms, wearing a smirk. "Dude, I think you're overestimating yourself," he said.

"What are you talking about?" asked Sun, turning to glare sourly at his partner.

Neptune raised an eyebrow. "For starters, I don't think you even know how to _tie_ a tie. Have you even worn our school uniform once?"

"What can I say?" asked Sun rhetorically, his grin returning. "I'm from Vacuo. We're not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."

"Which definitely doesn't help you get gussied up for this dance," Neptune pointed out.

Sun's confident grin didn't falter an iota. "Well it's a good thing I've got the coolest partner in all of Haven here to help me out," he said.

"Oh...I'm gonna help you out, am I?" asked Neptune.

"Sure," said Sun, before faltering. Seeing Neptune still smirking at him, he adopted a plaintive look. "Pleeeeeaaaaaase!"

Rolling his eyes, Neptune pursed his lips, before blowing out through them. "Fine."

"Awesome! You're the best!"

* * *

"Looks like someone's got a date," teased Yang, grinning slyly at Blake as she returned to the fold.

Smirking, Blake rolled her eyes. "Well, I figured that he deserves some sort of reward, after all the help he's given us."

"Uh huh, sure..." said Yang with mock dubiousness. "And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the thought of those chiseled abs up against you, the two of you pressing close together on the dance floor, those taut muscles wrapped around you..."

Blake's cheeks were heating up as Yang continued to speak, her words putting images in Blake's head that her own imagination was supplementing with addendums from her favorite reading material. "Shut up," she spat out weakly.

Yang merely cackled. Then she turned to Nora. "What about you? You and Ren gonna go together?"

"You bet!" cheered Nora, grinning widely. "Just watch! We're gonna tear it up on the dance floor!"

Jaune looked at Ren, a smirk of his own in place. "Sounds like Nora's jumping the gun a little," he said.

"Not really," Ren replied. "Her manner doesn't indicate it, but Nora is an excellent dancer."

Jaune stumbled, his entire body lurching in confusion. "S-so...you're going with her?"

Ren gave Jaune a bemused look. "Of course," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Uh...you know what...never mind," said Jaune, sighing and stepping away, before slumping with a defeated sigh.

"Something wrong, Arc?" asked Weiss, watching him intently, while smiling slyly.

"N-no, nothing!" said Jaune quickly, waving his arms frantically, before forcing himself to straighten up.

"I don't know," said Pyrrha, approaching him from the other side, her smile friendlier, but no less sly. "It almost sounded like you were hoping that Ren was going stag."

"That's not it at all!" protested Jaune, flailing his arms. "I just figured it was weird that Ren would agree so automatically. He and Nora are always saying they're not together-together."

"And you _believe_ them?" asked Weiss skeptically. "All it takes is one look, and you can tell that those two have practically been married since before they got here."

"Very true," agreed Pyrrha.

"And what about you two?" asked Jaune, looking back and forth between his two teammates. "Do you have dates?"

"You're going with Dove, right?" asked Weiss.

Pyrrha nodded happily. "He asked me earlier this week." She looked positively thrilled by the prospect. Then she turned her gaze to Weiss. "Are you hoping that Neptune asks you?"

"Why wait?" said Weiss with impressive surety. "There is no need for us to be bound by stale gender norms. I am perfectly fine with asking _him_."

The pair turned their eyes towards Jaune, who flinched back from the intense, questioning gazes they leveled at him. "Uh...!"

"So..." prodded Weiss, leaning in towards him.

"So...what?" asked Jaune nervously.

"When are you asking her?" inquired Pyrrha, also leaning in.

"Asking who?" replied Jaune.

"_Ruby!_" exclaimed Weiss and Pyrrha simultaneously, making Jaune jump and yelp.

"What?" shouted Ruby from a little ways away. A few minutes ago, she had been distracted by the sight of Team CFVY, and had been chatting happily with Velvet, only to look over when she heard her name being called.

"Nothing!" Pyrrha called back, waving at Ruby, who gave Pyrrha a confused look, but returned the wave, before resuming her conversation with Velvet.

Weiss and Pyrrha returned to looking at Jaune intently, their expressions bordering on glares. Jaune chuckled nervously, his grin strained, as he leaned back away from them.

"Uh...I-I'm not sure," he said.

Weiss and Pyrrha exchanged a look with each other, before sighing sadly.

* * *

"So...what do you have for me?" cooed Cinder, smiling at Emerald and Mercury as they settled on the floor in front of her bed. Cinder was seated on the bed, plying a needle and thread along a piece of cloth, the beginnings of a black outfit taking shape across her lap.

"Not much," admitted Emerald reluctantly, staring down and off to the side.

"Emerald wasn't in the ring with her for ten seconds, before she started looking for a way out," added Mercury with a taunting grin.

"Shut up!" snapped Emerald, glaring at him.

"More dangerous than we expected, hmmm?" mused Cinder, looking down at Emerald.

"She's fast," said Emerald. "Most of the battle, she was a blur. I was barely able to keep her from running rings around me."

"She also knows how to take the shortest distance," said Mercury. "With how fast she was, you'd think she'd be dashing all over the place, but her movements were all tight and controlled. Up close, that only makes her seem even faster."

"And she packs a wallop, for being such a pipsqueak," added Emerald, fingering her stomach, where the line Ruby's hit had left had faded.

"Savvy too," said Mercury, scratching his chin. "The first time around, Emerald bringing out her chains will throw the poor schmuck off. But Ruby didn't flinch. It was almost as though she was expecting something like that."

"Interesting..." said Cinder pensively, making a few more passes with her needle. "And have you figured out her Semblance?"

"Um...We're...not sure," admitted Emerald, trading a look with Mercury.

"From the way she kicks up those petals when she moves, we figured that her Semblance might be speed-related," said Mercury.

"But, during the fight, she created a decoy of some kind," added Emerald. "I'm just not sure what to think."

"Taurus reported that she uses wind and lightning," added Mercury. "And we have the recordings of her other matches to show the lightning part."

"So she's at least a skilled Dustweaver," added Emerald.

"Hmm...I wonder about that," said Cinder, pausing in her project to retrieve her scroll.

Opening it up into tablet-mode, Cinder brought up the recording of Ruby's match against Pyrrha. Scrubbing through it, she brought the playback to a particular point, where Ruby had leapt up into the air above Pyrrha. The image showed a cloud of petals around Ruby, which condensed around her, transforming into violet bolts of plasma. "Notice anything interesting?"

"She's making her lightning from those petals," observed Emerald.

"But those come from her Aura, right?" asked Mercury.

Cinder smiled slyly. "Or so we thought," she said. She fast-forwarded to the end of the match, showing how Ruby had transformed her cloak, and how it was completely gone, when the match was over.

"Could the Dust be woven into her cloak?" wondered Emerald.

"But look at the way it burns through her Aura, once she activated it," Mercury pointed out. "Sure, doing that would burn out the Dust pretty quick, but she shouldn't have needed much Aura beyond the initial activation, and certainly wouldn't have to burn it continuously."

"But then...if she isn't producing elemental attacks from her Dust, then where?" Emerald frowned. "It's almost like...magic."

"Yessss," cooed Cinder, her voice almost becoming a hiss. "It looks innocuous, easy to pass off as nothing more than a trick. But there is clearly more to this girl's power than meets the eye. If we're lucky, then we might even have an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, with our little operation. Just imagine how pleased She will be...if we manage to secure two of the keys at once."

Emerald and Mercury traded another glance, their eyes narrowing, and their lips curling up in smiles of their own.

"Of course, we can't get carried away," said Cinder, smiling down at her outfit. "We need to make sure we secure our primary objectives first, then we can worry about extra credit." She chuckled dryly. "It would seem that we have a fun weekend ahead of us."

* * *

**There's a special sort of amusement I take from the fact that, in _Lost Rose_, Weiss and Pyrrha were the initial main villains. Now, in this story, they're totally on-board with Lancaster...even Pyrrha. I'll admit that there were times where I entertained the idea of this being a harem fic...centered around Ruby, with Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha falling for her (why should Jaune always have all the fun). But I'm not _that_ bold (maybe "bold" isn't the right word, I dunno).**

**Poor Emerald sure bit off more than she could chew though. And, of course, Cinder's line of thought seems to be going interesting directions...almost as though there might be things that she's ****_not _****informed of. Keep that in mind, going forward.**

**Blake is certainly a lot more easygoing, now that there's a clear plan to follow, and she even has Ozpin's support for her desire to investigate the White Fang. That certainly reduces the worry that she'll work herself to the edge of exhaustion, like she did in canon.**

**I also fudged the timeline a bit. In canon, the dance is immediately followed by the first-years' missions, the very next day (or is implied to be, given the flow of events). But that didn't seem all that practical to me, given that you'd have a major social event, probably going late into the night, and then immediately following it up with important, possibly life-threatening, field experiences. So it made sense to me for the dance to be on Saturday, followed by a day off, then having the missions on Monday instead. Granted, maybe they're just simulating how suddenly things like that can come up for Huntsmen and Huntresses. But I figured that would be a little hard on first-years.**

**And there's one other little hint of things that have differed from canon.**


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter 65**

Following their homework time, dinner, and evening Aura-training; Team RASP had retired to their room as usual, each of them taking turns going through their evening routine. However, there was one slight wrinkle. While Ruby was in the bathroom, getting changed into her pajamas, Weiss and Pyrrha quickly cornered Jaune.

"When are you asking her?" demanded Weiss.

"Wha-what makes you think I'm gonna ask her?" Jaune countered nervously.

"Why wouldn't you?" asked Pyrrha. "I thought you liked Ruby."

"I do!" countered Jaune, before freezing and cringing, the eyes of all three participants in the conversation darting to the bathroom door, worried that Ruby might overhear them. Assured that they hadn't been overheard yet, they returned to the topic at hand. Jaune spoke quieter. "It's just, I...I'm not sure I..."

"You're not sure you what?" Weiss pressed.

"I don't even have a chance," said Jaune as harshly as he could, while trying to keep his voice down. "I mean, Ruby is just...amazing. She's one of the strongest people I know...period. She's sweet and kind and..._beautiful_. The way she moves when she's fighting, it's..." Jaune let out a long sigh, unable to find the words. "She's done so much for me, ever since I met her. I couldn't even begin to thank her enough."

Jaune looked down at his lap, his hands curling into fists. "And here I am, just some dork, who just happened to luck out by being her partner. How could a plain loser like me hope to-"

He was cut off in the most unlikely manner imaginable, when Pyrrha abruptly slapped him across the face, the crack of her hand against his cheek echoing through the room, drawing a sharp gasp of surprise from Weiss, who covered her mouth in shock.

"Guys! Is everything okay out there?" asked Ruby from the bathroom, her attention drawn by the unexpected sound.

"Everything's fine," Weiss shouted back quickly, still aghast at what Pyrrha had done.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha glared ferociously at Jaune. "Don't..." she growled, "...don't you _dare_ start. Do you have any idea what it's like, to have people assume they're not worthy of you, no matter what you might think about them? You have no idea how hard it is, when everyone assumes you're too good for them, when they put you up on a pedestal, where you can be idolized and worshipped...but always be alone. Don't you _dare_ do that to Ruby." Tears actually began to leak from Pyrrha's eyes.

Jaune rubbed his cheek, stunned by the unexpected violence from his normally gentle and docile teammate. "I...uh..." _Wait! Haven't I heard something like this before?_

His mind flashed back to a few months ago, when he and Sasame had had their quiet discussion on the roof of the dorms. Sasame, while certainly being gentler about it, had told him much the same, stressing the importance of not talking down about himself, and not thinking that Ruby was "too good" for him, when it was clear that him being around her made both of them so happy.

Managing to recover from her own shock at Pyrrha's behavior, Weiss found it in herself to scoff at Jaune. "Honestly, I can't even begin to understand why you might think she doesn't like you, or that she would say no. We've all seen how the two of you are together. If I didn't live in the same room with both of you, and spend most of my waking time around you, I'd think you were dating already."

Pyrrha nodded her agreement. "You make her happy, Jaune. I know she'd _love_ to go to the dance with you."

"But...what do I say?" asked Jaune.

"Just ask her," advised Pyrrha. "Don't bother with anything fancy. Don't try to put on a show, or make a production out of it. Just go ahead and ask her."

Beside Pyrrha, Weiss nodded decisively.

Jaune rubbed his cheek again. Fortunately, as usual, his impressive supply of Aura had done its job, and the welt that Pyrrha's slap had left across his face had already vanished, ensuring that he wouldn't need to deal with any awkward questions from Ruby, when she came out of the bathroom. Thinking over what Weiss and Pyrrha had told him, and mulling over his own feelings, he found himself wondering why he was making so many excuses.

"All right," he said. "I'll do it."

"When?" asked Weiss.

"Um..." Jaune hesitated.

Pyrrha and Weiss shared a look, sly smiles appearing on their faces. "How about right now?" suggested Pyrrha, the partners turning to look at Jaune again.

"Huh?"

"That's a wonderful idea," said Weiss, nodding her agreement. "Pyrrha and I will step out for a moment and give the two of you your privacy. You ask her, and that will be that."

The pair of them made their way out the door. "Don't you dare chicken out," Weiss warned, before shutting it behind them, leaving Jaune alone in the room again.

He only had a few seconds to himself, before the door to the bathroom opened, and Ruby stepped out. "Jaune?" asked Ruby, blinking in confusion, looking around. "What's going on? Where did Weiss and Pyrrha go?"

"They, uh...they stepped out for a bit," said Jaune, unsure of what else to say. He'd wished he'd had just a little longer to steel himself for this.

But now Ruby was here, right in front of him. Granted, Jaune saw her every single day, both in her clothes and the silk pajamas she was wearing now. Still, it had been a while since Jaune had taken so much notice of her appearance. Right now, wearing her red jinbei, with their black rose-print design, her hair freshly brushed, Ruby looked so soft and vulnerable. Jaune knew that was just an illusion though, that she was still every bit as strong and formidable as she was when she was fully-dressed. But it was a beautiful look for her.

Ruby also appeared to be more conscious of the situation than usual, staring back at Jaune. Her left hand reached across to grip her right arm, above the elbow, and she averted her eyes slightly, her cheeks reddening for a reason she couldn't describe.

Jaune blinked, then cringed, realizing he'd just been staring at her. Had his sisters been here, he knew he'd have gotten a piece of their minds for ogling a girl like that. He blinked and averted his eyes away from Ruby. "I-I'm sorry," he stammered.

"It's o-okay," said Ruby, feeling just as awkward, for some reason.

Jaune wrestled with his feelings. Weiss and Pyrrha were right, he wanted to do this. He wanted to ask Ruby to the dance, maybe even see if they could do more than that. Given how obvious it was, it shouldn't have been so hard. Yet Jaune found his words stopping up in his mouth. Those old insecurities were bubbling up all over again, even after Pyrrha had just freshly slapped them out of him.

Perhaps he should have chalked it up to his upbringing. Jaune's sisters had teased him mercilessly about how he behaved around girls, turning into an awkward, stuttering mess, especially if it was a girl he liked. They made jokes about how unlikely it would ever be for him to get a girlfriend. They made predictions about how long he would be a bachelor for. His parents didn't do that. But Jaune could tell that his mother's assurances were largely perfunctory, and always rang hollow. His father's advice, saying all he needed was confidence, also seemed to have done more harm than good.

But he was here now, at Beacon, in a place that his entire family had predicted he would never be able to get into. Hell! His father had _laughed_ at Jaune, when he'd said he'd gotten in. But he was here. He was living in a dorm room with three incredibly talented, powerful, smart, and beautiful young women, across from a room with three more attractive girls, whom he interacted with on a regular basis. And he'd managed to become friends with _all_ of them.

Considering all the things he'd done, all the things that were supposed to have been impossible for him; dorky, weak, pathetic, silly Jaune; asking his partner out to the dance shouldn't be such a difficult thing at all.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune stood up. Walking over to stand in front of Ruby, he was once again struck by her appearance. _She's so small..._ Granted, that was a bit of an exaggeration. Jaune didn't know much about such things, but he figured that Ruby's height was probably average for her age. Neo had certainly been smaller too. Once again, it was the effect of Ruby's current state of dress, in her pajamas, without her cape billowing around her, which always seemed to make her come off as bigger than she actually was...larger than life, really.

Ruby looked up as he approached, her eyes meeting his. Jaune was struck dumb all over again at the sight of her silver eyes. Like just about everything else about Ruby's appearance, they were beautiful, shining with a color beyond the gray eyes he'd seen in other people.

"Ruby," he said softly.

"Y-yes...?" she said, her mouth hanging open slightly, while she gazed up at him with an expression that looked...hopeful.

_She wants me to ask,_ he realized. Just that thought made giddiness surge through him. Jaune couldn't keep a smile from spreading across his face. "Ruby Rose...would you..." He paused, his nerves keeping him from making a proper delivery. "Would you...please...come to the dance with me?"

Ruby's eyes widened, her mouth dropping a little farther, accompanied by a soft intake of breath. Jaune could have sworn that her eyes literally shined. Then Ruby broke out into a radiant smile that put everything about her appearance before to shame.

"Yes!" she shouted, throwing her arms around his shoulders and hugging him.

Smiling so hard that his cheeks hurt, Jaune hugged her back, holding Ruby tight against him, relishing the feeling of her body's contours pressed up against her own.

"I was getting worried," said Ruby, pulling far enough back that she could look him in the eyes. "I thought you might not want to."

"Maybe you should've asked _me_," teased Jaune.

"Maybe," Ruby teased back. "Would you have said yes?"

"Considering who was asking, I don't think I could say no," Jaune replied.

"You're getting this suave-talk thing down," Ruby said with a giggle.

"Thanks," said Jaune, pulling her up against him.

Ruby pressed her face into his shoulder with a happy sigh. A comfortable silence fell over them, the need to say or do anything else vanishing. All Jaune wanted to do was keep holding her. He could tell Ruby felt the same, as her breathing continued to slow, to the point where he was beginning to think she might fall asleep against him. Jaune would have been happy to spend all night like this.

Sadly, it wasn't to be. The door swung open, and Weiss and Pyrrha came in again, prompting Jaune and Ruby to jump apart.

"We're back," announced Weiss with a sharp huff. "Did you finally do it, Arc?" Seeing Jaune nod hesitantly, she smirked. "Good! Now then, in honor of you finally discovering your spine, Pyrrha and I shall graciously allow you next use of the bathroom."

Pyrrha was already gathering up Jaune's onesie, and pushing it into his arms. All Jaune could do was stammer and stutter, unable to muster up a coherent word of protest as Weiss braced her hands against his back, then pushed him across the floor, towards the bathroom.

"Now get in there and get done," Weiss insisted firmly. "Pyrrha and I don't want to be kept waiting. We have important things to talk about with Ruby, so don't even _think_ about trying to eavesdrop."

One last push sent Jaune stumbling into the bathroom. A second later, a Glyph appeared on the door, slamming it shut. The boy out of the room, in a sense, Weiss turned to Ruby with a victorious smirk on her face. "And now...we have _things_ to discuss," she said, speaking in a tone that sent shivers of fear dancing down Ruby's spine.

* * *

Adam's roar was one of pure fury, as he slammed the butt end of his weapon into Meinrad's stomach. The muscular man doubled over from the hit, stumbling back. Pulling back, Adam transitioned to a swing that caught his lieutenant across the face. Meinrad's mask cracked, and the man was knocked sprawling by the blow. Adam stood over his prone form, panting and heaving.

Ilia stared at them, eyes wide, her mouth hanging open, her entire body paralyzed by fear. She'd seen Adam rage before. He'd vented his anger on objects, but never on people. But now here he was, beating his own lieutenant. For a moment, as she watched his entire body tense, she feared that he was about to draw his sword, that she would see that red blade, having been reforged again, emerge from its sheath. _Would Adam really go so far?_

"Do you have any idea what your incompetence has cost us?" demanded Adam, glaring down at Meinrad, who could only groan in response. "That Paladin was _priceless_. And now it's ruined...and you couldn't even bring down a single one of those damn flies. This degree of failure is unacceptable!"

_And what about you?_ Ilia wanted to ask. After all, Adam was one to talk about failure, having been beaten twice, by the same girl no less. Granted, Meinrad had been piloting the pinnacle of Atlesian military technology. But he'd been up against no few than ten opponents, when all was said and done, including the girl who'd bested Adam twice. It was more than hypocritical for Adam to berate Meinrad for _his_ failures.

Yet, not one word escaped her mouth. She knew Meinrad had to be thinking the same thing. Yet he said nothing too. They were already wary of Adam's rage, and they were certain that, if either of them was foolish enough to give voice to their thoughts, the head that spoke those words would be rolling across the floor a second later.

_He's out of control,_ thought Ilia, a cold sweat streaming down her face. _He has to be stopped._

Adam paused, his breathing slowing down. Then he turned to regard Ilia. "Blake was there?" he said.

Wordlessly, Ilia nodded.

"Does she know about _this_?" he asked gesturing to the cavern around them.

Ilia turned, taking in the scene, watching a few of their other Paladins clanking around, pulling double-duty as cargo haulers and forklifts, moving crates and pallets, while other soldiers milled about, loading up supplies onto the waiting train. Looking back to Adam...she slowly shook her head.

"No, we spotted Blake before I could finish the speech."

Ilia could practically feel Meinrad's surprise and shock, though he had the sense to say nothing. It was a huge gamble on her part. If Adam found out that she had just lied, then her head would likely be rolling across the floor, given the current state of his temper.

"And you're certain she has no idea about this?" asked Adam.

"She knows that something is going on," said Ilia. After all, there was no way Blake _couldn't_ realize it, seeing as they'd paraded an Atlesian Paladin in front of their rally. Even a complete idiot would understand that the White Fang wouldn't be amassing so much firepower without the intent to _do_ something with it. "But I doubt she has any idea where, and definitely not when."

To a certain extent, Ilia believed the latter assertion. There certainly hadn't been any hint of the timing of their upcoming operation in her speech. So Blake and her new friends had no way of knowing when the next White Fang attack was coming.

Looking back, Ilia found herself wishing she'd slipped some kind of hint in.

"Good," said Adam, his posture relaxing. He turned to throw one last glare down at Meinrad. "We need to make absolutely _certain_ this attack works. I will tolerate no more failures."

Again, Ilia and Meinrad had to fight to keep from bristling at the hypocrisy behind those words. Fortunately, Adam was already moving off to something else. Ilia made her way to Meinrad, helping him up off the floor.

"Why did you lie to him?" asked Meinrad, his voice a low rumble.

"Do you _want_ to die?" Ilia asked him. "Sorry, but giving my life for the cause is one thing. Getting cut down because our leader can't keep a lid on his temper is another."

Meinrad grumbled, but didn't dispute her argument, much to Ilia's relief. She helped him to a small crate, which he was able to use as a seat. At least there, he could spend some time letting his Aura recover his body from the beating it had just taken. In the meantime, Ilia was already mentally composing another report to Sienna. She'd expressed uncertainty in her last missive. But now Ilia was certain. She was certain that Adam could not be entrusted with his position for a moment longer. If this kept up, he was only going to become a bane to the very cause he was supposed to serve.

Now she found herself silently praying that Blake _did_ come, and try to stop their operation. In spite of what she had said, upon first meeting up with her former-friend again, Ilia found herself swallowing her words. _Blake was right. We can't allow this to continue._

But the real problem was Adam himself. At his level, he was more than capable of killing anyone who tried to stop him. On top of that, he'd engendered a sense of fanatical loyalty amongst most of his followers. Even Meinrad, for all that he was disturbed by Adam's display of temper, and the beating he'd just received, was still fully behind the attack they were about to execute. Right now, Ilia was alone, amongst the Vale Branch, in her belief that this attack could not be allowed to happen. Something _had_ to be done. But Ilia wasn't sure she could do anything...or that she had the courage to go through with it.

_Blake...please...find us...stop us..._

* * *

"Wow! A formal dance? That sounds like fun."

Ashley grinned at Ruby over their coffee mugs, the two of them enjoying the warmth of the afternoon at a table in the courtyard.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, her expression faltering slightly. "Weiss says we're gonna go into Vale, Friday afternoon. She wants us all to get dresses."

"What's wrong with that?" asked Ashley, picking up on Ruby's unease. "I mean...you wear a dress at a formal dance. That's normal."

"I know," said Ruby, looking down. "I was just thinking about the last time Weiss took me to get a new outfit. It's...draining. And I know that, since this dance is such a big deal, she's gonna be even more picky and persnickety than she usually is."

Ashley laughed at the idea, though she had yet to be fully exposed to Weiss' usual personality, for all that she'd gotten some good glimpses of it. "It's too bad," she said, once she calmed down. "I wish I could go. I'd like to see you in a dress."

Ruby blushed, in spite of herself. Granted, Ashley was just teasing, but it was hard to forget that she'd tried to start a relationship, which Ruby had needed to turn down due to basic incompatibility. Still, she was glad that Ashley was comfortable enough that she was able to tease her like this.

She was also struck by a realization from Ashely's words. _Could she come?_

Granted, this dance was supposed to be for students from the Academies. However, she'd heard that at least a couple of students had significant others not at Beacon, who they would be bringing to the dance. Perhaps, seeing as Ashley was technically a guest at Beacon, she could be allowed to attend as well.

However, the warning that Neo had imparted lingered at the back of Ruby's mind. Even now, the only reason Ashley was permitted out of the suite that Glynda and Ozpin had so generously provided her family was because Ruby was with her. Even then, it was still a considerable risk, considering the possibility that someone might still be planning to make an attempt on the lives of Ashley and her parents.

The dance would be an even bigger risk, with numerous people mingling together within an enclosed space, and countless distractions to take attention away from keeping an eye out for Ashley's safety. A would-be assassin wouldn't even need the help of the illusions that Neo had warned them about, simply able to use the crowds to slip in close, and then strike, before anyone was the wiser.

Ruby kept that to herself though, not wanting to worry her friend unnecessarily.

"So, you're going with Jaune?" asked Ashley, her question surprising Ruby.

Squeaking and blushing again, Ruby nodded shyly. "He asked me last night," she said, her voice a nervous whisper.

"Finally," said Ashley, letting out a small laugh.

"You knew?" asked Ruby.

"Well, it wasn't hard to see that that boy was crazy for you," said Ashley, grinning cheekily. "I think he was about to faint with relief, when you turned me down." She sighed and affected an expression of mock annoyance. "Lucky jerk."

Ruby found herself giggling, in spite of her embarrassment. "Yeah, it wasn't easy for him," she said.

"Maybe you should've just asked him," Ashely countered, grinning mischievously to see Ruby's face almost start to glow from her blush.

"I-I couldn't do that," she said, looking down and tapping her index fingers together.

"Yep, you two were made for each other," deadpanned Ashley with a smirk. "What about Weiss and Pyrrha?"

"Well, Pyrrha got asked by Dove," said Ruby.

"That squinty boy?" Ashley asked, remembering some of the pictures of Beacon life that Ruby had shown her, a few of which included the boy in question.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "They've been spending a lot of time together. Pyrrha keeps getting his help to try out new moves with her Semblance. When he asked her, I think she was so happy she was about to pop."

"I could see that," said Ashley, chuckling at the idea.

Granted, she might not have been as enamored of Pyrrha Nikos as someone from Mistral would be, but she would have balked at the idea of asking someone so famous out to the dance. Of course, now that the truth behind Pyrrha's Semblance had been revealed, Ashley could also see resentment as something that kept the other students from approaching Pyrrha.

"And Weiss...?"

"She's gonna ask Neptune," said Ruby. "He's that guy with blue hair."

"The one who helped you on your last mission, right?"

Ruby nodded.

Ashley couldn't quite keep a frown off her face. She remembered some of the pictures that Ruby and Weiss had shown her of the boy. Granted, Ashley had to admit that he looked handsome, even if she didn't swing that way. But he struck her as one of _those_ boys, the kind who put on a suave front, but were secretly jerks underneath it all. Still, she supposed that it was Weiss' right to ask him out, and Ashley had to admit that she wasn't some kind of perfect judge of people, particularly of someone she'd never actually met or interacted with.

"Is Yang going with anybody?" Ashley asked instead.

Ruby shook her head. "Not that I know of," she said. "She doesn't seem to mind, even though everybody else is gonna have a date. But I guess that's Yang for you."

"She's got confidence in spades," said Ashley, nodding in agreement.

_I wonder if _Yang_ could take Ashley to the dance,_ thought Ruby. It seemed feasible, though she couldn't make any promises on her sister's behalf. Still, if Yang was with Ashley, then Ashley would be a good bit safer. After all, Yang's style was built around unarmed techniques, so, even without her signature gauntlets, Yang would be _more_ than up to the task of protecting Ashley, should anyone try anything, especially in close quarters. Ruby silently resolved to run it by her sister, and see what Yang thought of it.

They continued to chat about the upcoming dance. Ashley learned that Team CFVY was behind the setup. It had actually been a near thing with the second-year team. They'd been off on a Search-and-Destroy mission of their own, while RASP and RYNB had been hunting down clues on the location of Ironwood's Paladins. It had been speculated that they wouldn't be back in time, with a high possibility that the Grimm numbers were high enough that CFVY's mission would run longer than originally projected.

But, much to everyone's surprise, as well as their own, CFVY had actually wound up finishing their mission early. They'd returned, explaining that the Grimm had been strangely sparse, and had vanished entirely before long. The village headman who'd initially sent the mission request had been strangely sanguine about the whole affair, even paying CFVY a considerable bonus, before eagerly sending them on their way. Coco and Velvet had been unable to express anything but utter bemusement at the strange turn of affairs, though Ruby had an inkling of an idea of what had _really_ been going on. She kept those thoughts to herself though.

The afternoon wore on into evening and, much to Ruby's regret, it came time to take Ashley back to her family's quarters. Ruby still had homework to get done after all, so she couldn't afford to spend her entire afternoon just chatting. She supposed that she and Ashley could work on their homework together, Ashley having been sent assignments by her school, once the faculty there had been appraised of the situation. Ruby figured it might even be fun to once again shock Ashley with the idea of seeing a Huntress-student do something so mundane, as well as what homework Ruby might be doing.

But Ruby had promised to meet up with her friends first. So, with some reluctance, she escorted Ashley back to the faculty quarters and dropped her off, before returning to her dorm room to get her books.

When she arrived, Ruby was greeted by something she had not been expecting, the sound of someone crying. Opening the door, Ruby looked in, her eyes going wide at the sight of a familiar figure in white. Weiss was hunched over her desk, sniffling and shuddering, wiping furiously at her eyes and nose.

"Weiss?" asked Ruby, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind her, rightly figuring that this was something her friend would not want other people finding out about.

Weiss jerked in her seat, whipping her head around to look at Ruby, her expression terrified. Despite Weiss' best efforts, Ruby could still see the red under her eyes.

"What happened?" asked Ruby, going to Weiss chair, and resting a hand on her shoulder.

Weiss shuddered. "It's nothing," she said, turning away.

"Weiss, it's obviously _not_ nothing," said Ruby firmly. "Please...You don't have to put on a tough front with us."

Weiss shivered, then shook. "It really _is_ nothing," she said. "I shouldn't be feeling like this...not over something so pointlessly silly."

Ruby began to ask, then she had an inkling of an idea. "Is it Neptune?"

The jolt that ran through Weiss' body was all the answer Ruby needed.

"Is he going with somebody else?" asked Ruby.

Weiss shook her head wordlessly.

"Oh..." Ruby's eyes widened as the realization seeped in. "He turned you down, didn't he?"

Weiss nodded. "H-he said that the dance sounded lame, and that he didn't really want to be caught going to it with anyone."

"Lame...?" Ruby frowned, having a hard time believing that anyone would think like that. After all, the entire student body of Beacon, along with nearly all the visiting students, were practically trembling with excitement over it. She could hardly imagine anyone being reluctant to go, much less reluctant to go with _Weiss Schnee_, one of the smartest, most beautiful girls in all of Beacon. Ruby might not have been an expert on romantic matters, but even _she_ knew that more than half the boys in the school would jump at the chance to do what Neptune had just refused to.

Something told her there was more going on here, but it was all on Neptune's end of things, so she couldn't figure out what, for the life of her. However, she _did_ know that she had to do something for Weiss. Her own friend's wellbeing was much more important right now, though Ruby silently wondered why Neptune would do something so ridiculous.

* * *

"You're an idiot," said Sun flatly, giving Neptune a deadpan look. "You know that, right?"

"Shut up!" snapped Neptune, glaring at his partner. "I can't tell her something like that. She'll think I'm lame."

"You _are_ lame," said Sun. "Seriously, you turned down _Weiss Schnee_, the classiest girl in school, when _she_ came to _you_ no less. Not only that, you did it in the douchiest manner possible, just because you didn't want to admit you don't know how to dance."

"Shut up!" repeated Neptune. "What would she think of me, if she took me to a dance, then found out I _can't_ dance?"

"Uh, I'd be more worried about what she thinks of you _now_," Sun countered. "I mean, it's not like you sounded like a total jerk, acting as though going to the dance with her would be a complete drag. Seriously, where do these moronic macho-man insecurities come from, man?"

"Look, it's over and done with, and that's that," said Neptune stubbornly, before glaring at Sun. "And don't you dare spill."

"Fiiiine," groaned Sun, laying back on his bed. "You're still an idiot. And don't blame me if her friends come around, looking to put your head on a platter. I ain't protecting you."

* * *

_Doesn't matter,_ thought Ruby forcefully. Right now, she had to figure out a way to make things better for Weiss.

Weiss sighed, leaning back in her seat and using a handkerchief to wipe her eyes, before blowing her nose into it. "I'm sorry," she said. "I know you just had a wonderful afternoon with Ashley, and now I've ruined it."

"You haven't ruined anything," said Ruby, hugging Weiss around the shoulders. "Maybe you should come with me next time. I know Ashley likes seeing you."

"I'd like seeing her too," Weiss admitted. "God knows, it would be a better use of my time than what I just did." She sighed. "It'd be more worth my while to ask her than Neptune."

Ruby blinked, something clicking inside of her. "Weiss, do you uh...swing both ways?" Ruby always felt awkward, trying to clarify such things.

"Yes," said Weiss.

_Huh,_ mused Ruby silently. _I had no idea._ Granted, she sometimes got the feeling Weiss might have had a crush on Pyrrha at some point. But it seemed that Weiss' initial desire to be the strongest pair at Beacon had shouldered aside any romantic inclinations.

But that also gave her an idea. "Why don't you ask _Ashley_ to go with you then?" she suggested.

"What?!" exclaimed Weiss, sitting upright in surprise, throwing off Ruby's arms.

"U-uh...it's just that...I thought Ashley might have fun at the dance," said Ruby bashfully. "And the two of you do get along really well, er...and Ashley really seems to like you...and I thought she might be getting tired of being in that suite with her parents all the time."

Weiss stared at Ruby, clearly mulling over what Ruby was suggesting. To Ruby's surprise, Weiss' cheeks actually began to turn red. "Th-that...doesn't seem like a terrible idea."

"Great!" said Ruby, beaming brightly.

"But we should run it past Ozpin," said Weiss, drawing a surprised start from Ruby. "Our friendship regardless, Ashley and her parents are in protective custody, so it may be that taking her to the dance would be an unnecessary security risk."

"All right," said Ruby. "Do we go to Ozpin before or after you ask Ashley?"

"Before," said Weiss, frowning. "I don't want to get her hopes up, in case Ozpin doesn't allow it."

"All right," said Ruby.

* * *

Much to Ruby's surprise, Weiss was willing to put off _homework_, in order to go visit Ozpin in the tower. As always, getting an audience with him seemed inordinately easy, considering just how busy his position must have been, though Ruby silently entertained the fantasy of Ozpin kicking back and sipping his coffee, while making Glynda do all the work. She could almost picture such a strained relationship being reality, however utterly unfeasible it must have actually been.

Much to their surprise, Ozpin was more than amicable to the idea.

"I believe it would do Ms. Forrest well to get out more," he said, giving them a calm smile. "Her safety is important, but we do not want her to feel as though she's being imprisoned. It saddens me that we cannot find a similar impetus to give her parents time to go out more. I shall have to look into that."

"Thank you, Professor," said Weiss, sagging with relief.

"However," began Ozpin, his expression growing stern, "that does not mean that there won't be...stipulations."

"What kind?" asked Ruby, leaning forward.

Ozpin frowned. "From what we know, Ms. Forrest's life may well still be under threat. As you have surmised, Ms. Rose, taking her to the dance would also be placing her at risk, in a situation where you will be surrounded by any number of people with a great deal of activity going on.

"Therefore, Ms. Schnee, since you will be the one escorting Ms. Forrest, you must be mindful of her safety at all times. Where she goes, you go. Do not leave her side for a single moment, even to get a glass of punch or use the restroom. I know it may be awkward, in the case of the latter, but remember that we must be on guard against a possible illusionist, who could approach under virtually any pretense. When you are not out on the dance floor, I advise against getting caught up in any crowds, and keep to the fringes of the room. Do you understand?"

"Yes," said Weiss firmly. "May I have permission to take Ashley into Vale to get her a dress?"

"You may," said Ozpin with a nod. "The same stipulations apply there as well. Do not leave her side for a moment. If she uses a dressing room, make sure you have line of sight to it at all times."

"Understood," replied Weiss.

"Very well then," said Ozpin, leaning back, his smile returning. "In that case, I wish you a pleasant time at the dance, and I hope that you can ensure that Ms. Forrest has an enjoyable evening as well."

"Thank you, Professor," said Weiss, before she and Ruby made their way back into the elevator.

"Phew...feels like we're taking a head of state to the dance, instead of a friend," said Ruby.

"It can't be helped," said Weiss, scowling. "It's ridiculous how stupidly vindictive the White Fang are being."

_It may not really be the White Fang,_ thought Ruby, frowning slightly. Granted, Adam was just petty and vindictive enough to want to have Ashley killed, simply to spite her. But Ruby's suspicions of Cinder's group were getting stronger by the day, her feeling that they might try to kill Ashley on behalf of the White Fang approaching the level of conviction.

"In any case, we're going to need more time to shop for dresses," said Weiss, frowning. "I'll have to get advice from Coco."

"Coco?" Ruby raised an eyebrow.

"She's the fashion expert on campus," said Weiss. "And since she has Velvet as a teammate, she must know the best places to shop for a dress for a faunus." She sighed, adopting a sour look. "I can say for sure that the establishments that my family would normally patronize would not be very accommodating to Ashley."

"Oh..." said Ruby, not really knowing what to say to that.

"In any case, that can wait until I ask Ashley," said Weiss. "After all, the first thing to do is be sure that she would be willing to come."

* * *

As it turned out, Ashley was ecstatic at the idea of going to the dance. Though, perhaps, from the blush on her face, Ruby thought she might have been ecstatic at the prospect of going with Weiss. In any case, Ashley was more than happy to accept Weiss' invitation. Much to their surprise, Ashley's parents gave their blessing, even Elowen, who had always acted the most suspicious of Weiss. They kindly waved off Ruby and Weiss' apologies for leaving them behind in the room, while their daughter enjoyed herself at the dance, promising that they would have plenty to do with their time.

So it was that RASP and RYNB found themselves on an airship, along with Ashley, all nine of them heading into Vale, Friday afternoon, to get their formal clothes for the dance. Weiss, in an extreme show of generosity, insisted upon paying for everyone's garments, even the boys'. As she had promised, Weiss had gotten in touch with Coco to find faunus-friendly establishments, where they could shop.

Ruby viewed the whole affair with trepidation, remembering how she'd been nearly exhausted the last time Weiss had gotten her fitted for an outfit. And now she was going to be trying on a dress for a _formal_ event, which all but assured that Weiss would be even more picky than usual.

She wasn't wrong. However, the presence of six other girls kept Weiss sufficiently distracted that she wasn't induced to keep sending Ruby in and out of the dressing room, trying on dress after dress. Of course, part of that was that Weiss kept a careful eye on Ashley, ensuring that the civilian girl was watched at all times, and making sure to task someone to keep an eye on her, whenever Weiss herself had to step into the dressing room. Given the intensity of Weiss' supervision, Ruby would have thought that she held _Ashley_ in suspicion, though she knew it was merely to ensure that absolutely nobody could potentially threaten the girl.

So, overall, it wasn't nearly as stressful an experience for Ruby as it had been the last time. It was also enjoyable to see all the other girls try on their dresses, and show them off. On top of it all, the owner of the establishment was incredibly cordial. It appeared that invoking Coco's name, and the promise of an extra-large purchase at the end of it all, had induced him to utilize every ounce of hospitality he possessed, even providing them with refreshments.

Afternoon wore on into evening, and Ruby exited the dressing room in her latest ensemble, stepping before the waiting eyes of the other girls-the boys were made to shop separately-and submit herself to their judgment once again.

Yang took one look at Ruby and froze, midway through her sip of ice-water. She set it down with a triumphant grin, snapping her fingers decisively and pointing straight at Ruby. "That's the one," she said.

Self-consciously, Ruby rubbed at her bare shoulders and blushed..

"Hmm..." hummed Weiss, exercising a bit more discretion. "I think you're right," she said.

"Does that mean I'm done?" asked Ruby hopefully.

Weiss' eyes narrowed, and Ruby found herself cringing away from her scrutiny. "Stand up straight!" commanded Weiss imperiously. "And don't bunch up your shoulders!"

Unable to help herself, Ruby obeyed.

Weiss looked at her for another few, uncomfortable, seconds, before smiling. Ruby got the distinct impression that the delay was more about making her sweat than Weiss actually needing the time to arrive at a decision. "It will do," she said finally.

"Thank God," breathed Ruby, slumping.

"Go change, and we'll get it reserved," commanded Weiss.

"Yes, Ma'am," said Ruby, turning and marching into the back.

"And then we'll find the proper shoes to go with it," added Weiss, smirking slyly.

Ruby froze in the middle of getting her dress off. "Wait! By 'proper shoes,' do you mean...?"

"_Yes,_" said all the other girls in attendance.

"Noooooooooo!" Ruby wailed from behind the curtain, to the amused titters of the other girls.

Ruby made her exit from the room, freshly despondent. "Why...?" she groaned. "Heels are murder."

"They promote balance and proper posture," Weiss replied.

"By which you mean leg and back pain, and potential long-term injuries," Ruby countered. "I don't even know how you can fight in those."

"Practice," Weiss replied smugly.

"Whatever," grumbled Ruby with a defeated sigh.

"Now then, with Ruby settled, it's your turn again, Ashley," said Weiss.

"All right," said Ashley, with considerably more eagerness than Ruby had displayed, hopping off the bench and picking the next dress off the rack.

"Looks like she's having fun," observed Yang.

"Well, this is a rather 'normal' activity for girls, including civilians," said Pyrrha. "This is probably one of the few kinds of outings we can take her on, where she isn't completely out of her depth."

"True," agreed Blake.

They all paused to imagine what it would be like if they had taken Ashley to go shopping for weapon parts or Dust, easily able to envision the lost and befuddled look on her face as she examined items that she would have never laid eyes on before, in the normal course of things.

"It helps that it feels pretty normal, compared to being hounded by a bunch of crazy jerks," added Nora at a whisper.

The others nodded. Considering the current state of her life, this was probably a welcome dose of normality for Ashley, the chance to venture out of the protective bubble she and her parents were currently being kept in. With all her friends from Beacon present, Ashley was decently safe from any attempts on her life by the White Fang, particularly with all of them on the watch. When she wasn't in the dressing room, she was seated right next to Weiss, who was careful to remain close at all times.

While they waited for Ashley, the door to the fitting area opened, with one of the female attendants entering. "I hope you don't mind," she said, "but we had another party come in for a fitting. Would you mind terribly if they joined you?"

"Of course not," said Weiss, though they all tensed slightly. Until they were sure of who was in this other party, they couldn't be sure that this wasn't an attempt by the White Fang to get close to Ashley.

They relaxed slightly when a trio of humans filed through the door, but not completely. After all, Neo had shown that the White Fang, presently, were not completely averse to working with or employing human agents, even if it was under presumptive duress. However, Ruby broke the silence with a shocked gasp, her eyes widening with recognition at the curly, orange hair; pale-green eyes; and freckle-spotted face of one of the girls.

"Penny!"

* * *

**Wow...Pyrrha's gotten assertive lately.**

**Given the circumstances, you gotta feel for the Forrest family, although I think we could empathize with them quite a bit right now. Sure, none of us have a bunch of murderous terrorists chomping at the bit to kill us at the first opportunity (I hope). But we _are_ dealing with a nasty virus that always seems to be hanging around, ready to infect at the drop of a hat, forcing us all to go stir-crazy with the various stay-at-home orders we've been dealing with.**

**On that note, I hope everyone is handling things well. I'd say I'm not, given that this has caused me to rediscover the joys of Minecraft, playing the game, getting side-tracked by one project after another, deciding that my giant treehouse needs a giant ****aquarium, putting things together-and why is it suddenly three in the morning?**

**No. I don't have a problem. I can quit whenever I want.**

**Next chapter...we get to meet Penny's teammates.**


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter 66:**

"Ruby!" Penny Polendina exclaimed, throwing herself at her friend, who had already been getting to her feet.

Unfortunately, the weight of Penny's android body was too much for Ruby, in her current state of balance, and Ruby was completely knocked over by Penny's enthusiastic tackle, and found herself being crushed beneath Penny's metal frame.

"Whyyyyyy?" groaned Ruby.

"Long time, no see," said Yang, grinning brilliantly at the sight of their friend. "Where have you been?"

"With my team," declared Penny proudly, shifting her weight enough to lessen the burden on Ruby, who let out a long sigh of relief.

"Ooookay," said Yang, throwing a dubious look at the other two girls who'd arrived with Penny.

They were a study in contrasts. The girl who'd been just behind Penny looked on with an impassive expression. Her skin was a dark, tanned color. She surveyed the scene with a pair of blue eyes, and sported a head of navy-blue hair. Her hair was short, reaching down to just below her chin at its longest. Like Ruby, her hair was styled to be asymmetrical to one side, on the left in her case.

She was dressed in a short-sleeved, white, button-down shirt, which was tucked into a sky-blue skirt. Her arms were covered by long, black, fingerless gloves that ran up past her elbows, leaving only a small portion of skin showing between the ends of the gloves and her sleeves. Her legs were covered by white leggings, which were closed with gold buttons, with black shoes over her feet. Her head was covered by a beret, which matched the color of her skirt perfectly. Her forehead was decorated by a small, yellow mark, shaped almost like a starburst.

By and large, her posture was incredibly rigid. She stood straight up, exuding an almost military bearing.

"Ma'am, please remember that we only have two hours of time allotted to this," she said, her voice completely calm and neutral, bordering on robotic. "We have already spent more than fifteen minutes in transit. We should finish this as expediently as possible."

"Aww, come off it," said the other girl. "You know we're on exchange now, right? We get to go by Beacon's rules."

Ruby's gaze shifted to take in the other girl. Her long, black hair was styled into a pair of corkscrewing twin-tails, which ended just above her waist. Her complexion was much lighter than her companion's, almost as pale as Weiss actually. Her pink eyes augmented the playful expression on her face. She was considerably taller than Penny and the dark-skinned girl, with impressively long legs and arms, which were just short of looking too long on her. They were surprisingly thin, almost scrawny even.

Rather than a dress of any kind, this girl was dressed in a white, long-sleeved, button-down shirt, over which she wore a black, sleeveless vest. Her legs were covered by slightly loose, black pants, with what looked like black dress shoes on her feet. The long, delicate-looking fingers of her hands were covered by white gloves. The shirt hugged her outline fairly well, with the girl's figure indicating a rather modest bust.

While Ruby was dragging herself out from under Penny, Weiss had gotten up and marched over to stand before the two girls.

"Ms. Schnee," said the dark-skinned girl, her tone flat and devoid of intonation of any kind.

"Soleil," Weiss replied, her voice just as devoid of inflection.

"Huh?" Ruby cocked her head to one side, unsure of what was going on here. Weiss and the other girl's voices indicated that they weren't friendly with one another, but there was nothing negative either. They greeted one another with an utter lack of any kind of emotion.

"Hey, Boss-Lady," said the peppy girl, grinning past Soleil's shoulder.

"I'm not your boss," said Weiss, letting out a small sigh.

"Yeah, but my dad works for your dad, so that kinda means that he'll be working for _you_ someday," said the peppy girl, "right?"

"I _will_ be taking over the company," said Weiss. "But that does not mean I will be _your_ boss, unless you choose to join your father...and I'm not in charge yet."

"Eh, details, details," replied the other girl dismissively, waving an idle hand.

Getting up, after escaping Penny's full-body press, Ruby came to stand behind Weiss. "You know these people?" asked Ruby.

Weiss nodded. "Ruby, this is Ciel Soleil," she said, gesturing to the dark-skinned girl. "And this is Piper Cerny." She gestured to the peppy girl.

"Nice to meetcha," said Piper cheerfully, before pausing and rolling up her eyes thoughtfully. "Hey! Wait a second! Why is the Boss-Lady introducing us? Penny, you've gotta introduce your teammates, you know."

"Right," said Penny, shooting to her feet with a giggle, and saluting playfully. "Ruby, these are my teammates, Ciel and Piper."

Piper gave Penny a deadpan look. "Little late now," she groused.

Ciel's expression didn't flicker an iota through the whole exchange. "We should get on with this," she said. "We've wasted another two minutes."

Piper sighed, leaning on Ciel's shoulder. "Geez, you've gotta loosen up, Ciel."

"In any case, let's begin making our selections," said Ciel, walking away, without bothering to shrug off Piper's arm. Her departure was so smooth, yet so sudden, that Piper was left looking as though she was leaning on thin air for a second, before she abruptly let out a surprised cry and flailed her arms to recover her balance. Then, with a sigh, Piper went to join Ciel at the rack to look through the available dresses. Penny gave Ruby another wave, before going to do the same.

"Wow," said Nora, looking after them, "they're kinda weird."

"_You're one to talk,_" said Blake, Yang, and Weiss in unison, while Ruby giggled.

"Sounds like you have a history with those two," said Yang, as Weiss rejoined her on the bench.

"Well...history...is a bit much," said Weiss.

"Good, bad, what?" prodded Yang.

"Neither," said Weiss. "I barely know them at all. I've seen Ciel at a few galas that Father has hosted. She comes from a distinguished military family."

"She seemed a bit...uh..." Ruby struggled to find the words.

"Uptight," suggested Blake.

Weiss rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Ciel Soleil is as precise and timely as an Atlesian-made atomic clock...and about half as charming. Granted, at the very least, she's never approached me with ulterior motives...or _any_ motive at all, for that matter."

"Huh..." mused Ruby, glancing over at the dark-skinned girl, who was staring at a dress that Piper was holding up for her.

Weiss recalled a few of her run-ins with Ciel, if they could really be called that. She knew that Ciel, and her family, attended those galas largely at the behest of Ironwood, for whatever reason. If there was one genuinely positive thing Weiss could say about Ciel, it was that her disinterest in pretty much everything social also extended to the self-serving and backbiting tendencies that most of the other girls who moved in her circles possessed. Ciel rarely offered her more than a greeting at those galas, before moving off and doing something else.

"And the other one?" asked Blake, glancing at Piper.

"Piper Cerny is...well..." Weiss shrugged. "I don't know her very well either. I've encountered her at our primary development facility from time to time. Her father is one of our Research and Development chiefs. From what I've heard, she has a fairly impressive intellect. It's a surprise to see that she went into Atlas Academy."

"She seems cool, at least," said Yang.

"I suppose," said Weiss, thinking back to her brief meetings with Piper before. She remembered Piper being a bit more reserved back then. Of course, it might have been because she was interacting with Weiss within the context of the Weiss being the daughter of the man who employed Piper's father. Piper could have easily been afraid of offending her back then, worried that any such offense could lead to the loss of her father's job...which made it a little jarring that she was now casually referring to Weiss as "Boss-Lady," and showing off a much more easygoing manner.

Piper quickly ushered Penny into one of the dressing rooms, after picking out a dress for her to try. Then she came over and dropped down onto a nearby bench, kicking her legs out. "So...bit of a surprise to run into you here, Boss-Lady."

"Likewise," said Weiss, glancing over to see Ciel still examining dresses. Then she turned her gaze back to Piper. "And _please_ don't call me that."

"Is Weiss okay?" asked Piper.

"It's fine," said Weiss.

"You gonna tell Ciel to call you that too?" asked Piper playfully. "Or are you gonna let her stick with that stuffy 'Ms. Schnee' moniker?"

"I'd just as soon do something more productive with my time," retorted Weiss, "such as asking a river to run backwards, or a rock to not roll downhill."

Piper chortled at that.

"In any case, I'm surprised to see you here too," Weiss added. "I thought you were going to go into a technical school, considering your interests."

"Never planned to," said Piper, flashing a toothy grin. "Pops wanted me to, but I've always wanted to be a Huntress...Weapons are the coolest!"

"You can say that again," said Ruby, smiling widely, excited at the thought that she'd met a fellow enthusiast.

Piper ran her eyes over the group, taking them all in. "So, you girls are the ones that Penny hooked up with, a few weeks back."

"She told you about us?" asked Yang.

"Nope," said Piper, her expression falling slightly. "Had to get it second-hand." She let out a disappointed sigh. "I don't know what his deal is, but Ironwood hardly ever lets the poor girl out. I don't even see her in any of our classes."

"Ms. Penny is an important personage," declared Ciel, walking over stiffly to join them. "Her safety and wellbeing are General Ironwood's top priority."

_So I'm guessing they don't know,_ thought Ruby, glancing between the two other girls. From the sound of things, they had no idea that Penny was an android. If that was the case, she could understand why Ironwood was keeping interactions to a minimum.

"Still think it's weird," grumbled Piper. "If a girl's on a team, she should be _on_ a team, not..._adjacent_ to it. You know what I mean?"

"I think so," said Weiss.

"Oh well, no point in arguing with the General over it," said Piper in a voice laden with resignation. "So why don't you introduce your friends to us, Weiss?"

"All right," said Weiss. She gestured to Pyrrha. "This is Pyrrha Nikos, my partner."

"Hello there," said Pyrrha politely. Truth be told, she probably needed no introduction, but it was polite at least.

"Wow! You got _Pyrrha_ as a partner," said Piper, her eyes widening. "Lucky you."

Pyrrha blushed furiously and averted her eyes.

"And this is Ruby Rose," added Weiss, gesturing to Ruby, "our leader."

"Hi," chirped Ruby.

Piper looked at Ruby, then blinked, then gasped. "Oh! Wait! I remember you. You were the one who fought Nikos to a draw!"

"Uh..." Ruby's cheeks heated up and she averted her eyes as well.

"Dang! No wonder you're the team leader," observed Piper with a grin.

"It is quite an accomplishment," agreed Ciel.

"Now it's official," said Piper proudly. "You got _Ciel_ to compliment you. Now _that's_ an accomplishment."

Ruby's blush merely spread.

"What about the rest of them?" asked Piper, moving on with surprising abruptness.

"This is Yang Xiao Long, Nora Valkyrie, and Blake Belladonna," said Weiss, gesturing to the other three girls. "They're from Team Rainbow, our sister-team."

"Sister-team, huh?" Piper raised an eyebrow.

"We ended up all working together during the initiation," explained Ruby.

"Plus, Yang is Ruby's actual sister," added Nora.

"Wait! How does that-?" Piper began to question, before remembering what she'd heard about Ruby. "Oh...right...Grade-skipper."

"Pretty weird how that worked out," said Nora, prompting a nod from Blake.

Piper mulled it over for a moment. "So I'm guessing the other two are boys."

"Yep," said Ruby. "We have Jaune on our team, and Ren's the leader of Team Rainbow."

"Huh, I guess that means Rain's meeting with them," said Piper, casting her eyes at a wall that separated them from the other set of changing rooms, which were currently being used by the boys.

Weiss jolted, throwing a surprised look at Piper. "What!? Rain's on your team?" She froze for a second. "Wait! Rain's training to be a Huntsman?"

"Who's Rain?" asked Ruby.

"He's..." Weiss paused, before looking down, seeming a bit confused about how to frame it. "...a boy I know."

"Oooh...An old flame?" Yang wanted to know.

"Hardly," scoffed Weiss, before sighing, "though not for a lack of trying on his father's part."

"What's that mean?" asked Nora.

"He was one of your suitors?" inquired Pyrrha, getting an idea of what Weiss was getting at.

"Of a sort," said Weiss. "Granted, it was largely against his will, so I don't hold it against him, particularly because he never tried to really make an effort at it."

"His family is seriously old-money," explained Piper. "Apparently, they come from one of those old noble lineages from back when the Kingdoms were _actual_ kingdoms. I guess they use marriages as a way to keep their capital from running out...which was why his dad tried to set him up with Weiss."

Weiss nodded. Given her position as the present heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, she'd had no shortage of suitors, whether they were advanced by their own families, or introduced by her own father; people who either sought to marry her in order to get access to the Schnee Family's wealth and power, or people her father considered marrying her to, because they had something her father thought would strengthen the company.

Of all of them, Rain was one of the extreme few Weiss had actually come away with a positive impression of, mainly by virtue of his lack of interest in going along with his father's desire to court her. He'd been frank and polite about his reasons for approaching her, and allowed her to turn him down with minimal fuss, something Weiss respected him for.

However, given the nature of his family, she was even more surprised to learn that he'd gone into Huntsman training, even more than Piper's decision surprised her.

Piper developed a sly grin. "Of course, you definitely don't have to worry about him courting you now, Weiss. After all, our boy is head over heels for Ciel."

All eyes went to Ciel, who...didn't react at all, merely checking the glowing, blue screen of her wristwatch, before glancing at the dressing room Penny was using. After a moment, she seemed to actually realize she was being stared at. "Yes?"

"Uh...I take it you're not interested," said Yang.

"It's immaterial to the current situation," said Ciel. "And it is true that Rain has expressed in interest in courting me. I had nothing to add."

"Did he ask you to the dance?" asked Ruby.

"He did," replied Ciel.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"And...?" prodded Nora, leaning forward.

"And...what?" Ciel wanted to know.

"Did you say yes?" pressed Yang.

"I did," said Ciel without hesitation.

Everyone stared at her for a little longer, prompting her to ask, "What?"

"I'm beginning to get what you mean about her, Weiss," said Yang, leaning over to whisper into Weiss ear. Weiss could only nod in response.

"Eh, she's just like that," said Piper with a shrug. "Teasing her's no fun at all."

"Do you like him?" asked Ruby.

"I appreciate Rain's skills as my comrade," said Ciel. "He also shows an admirable degree of restraint, and appreciates the boundaries I have set, so his feelings have not become...overbearing."

"Uh...translation?" said Pyrrha, everyone looking to Piper.

"Basically, Rain's good at his job, is pretty dang nice and patient, and totally cool with going at Ciel's pace," said Piper. "Sorry, this girl totally partitions her life. So there's no room for romance, when there's work or studying to be done. Luckily, Rain gets that, and takes it in stride; a pretty upstanding guy all around."

"Sounds like a winner," said Yang.

"Given that we are currently occupied with our studies and training, I do not wish to be distracted by romantic matters," said Ciel. "However, I do not find the idea of a relationship with him objectionable."

_Penny's the android, but Ciel is _way_ more like a robot,_ thought Ruby wryly.

"I'm surprised that he even decided to _become_ a Huntsman," added Weiss.

"Actually, he's a bit like me." explained Piper. "It's what he's always wanted to do. His dad wasn't very happy about it. But Rain managed to get training, and made it into Atlas easy." Her grin widened. "It helps that his weapon is totally awesome!"

_Now I wanna see their weapons,_ thought Ruby eagerly.

They chatted some more, though all talking came to a halt when Ashley emerged from her dressing room. The dress she had tried, at Weiss' instigation, was a leaf-green sleeveless number, with a rather tight-fitting miniskirt that was slightly ruffled, with her bushy tail extending from the gap that had been provided at the back of the dress, a feature deliberately incorporated for a faunus, the main reason that Coco had recommended this particular establishment to Weiss and her friends.

Ashley blushed, shifting nervously before her assembled friends, as well as the newcomers from Atlas. She'd actually hesitated a good few minutes, after she'd finished dressing up, a bit nervous at showing herself in front of these strangers. But after hearing Ruby and the others chatting easily with them, she emerged in her new outfit to the vocal appreciation of her friends.

"That looks great on you, Ash," said Yang, before glancing sidelong at Weiss. "Still, I was expecting something...I don't know...poofier...for the skirt."

"That wouldn't work at all," said Weiss. "We don't want to break up her outline too much. A wider skirt would clash with her tail."

Blake, who'd been mostly silent through the session, raised an impressed eyebrow, amazed that Weiss would tailor her expectations to choose a dress that would show a person's faunus traits to their advantage.

Ashley, of course, needed to be introduced to Penny's team...twice, after Penny exited the dressing room in her first outfit. Then her circumstances needed to be explained to the Atlesian team, which drew a shocked response, particularly from Piper and (impressively) Ciel, upon learning that Ruby had faced off against Adam _twice_, and won both times. For the time being, Ruby and her friends left out the part where they suspected that someone at Beacon was working for the White Fang, and still gunning for Ashley. What they _did_ say at least mollified Ciel, who had been troubled by the idea of a civilian running around on the grounds of a Huntsman Academy.

"That's a pretty crazy story," said Piper, staring at Ruby with wide eyes. "So...not only Nikos, but Taurus too. Damn! Color me seriously impressed. That guy's messed up pro Huntsmen pretty badly."

"Killed some," added Ciel.

"Yeah, but Ruby is just that awesome," said Yang proudly, while Ruby blushed and looked down.

"It helps that Ruby is especially skilled at learning how to read an opponent," said Pyrrha, having experienced the full brunt of Ruby's ability during their clandestine matches. "Unless Taurus substantially changes his style, it's unlikely that he'll _ever_ be able to gain a sufficient advantage to defeat Ruby."

"Do you think that's likely?" Weiss whispered softly to Blake, who frowned.

"Adam probably doesn't understand how Ruby beat him," Blake replied, just as quietly. "He'll train. But I doubt he would ever want to change his style substantially, as he'd feel like that's an even worse admission of defeat."

"I guess we have little to worry about, if Ruby runs into him again," mused Weiss.

"I suppose," agreed Blake.

* * *

"What's taking so long?!" demanded Adam, shouting into his scroll as he paced through the cavern. "That girl should be dead by now."

"_Need I remind you that _you_ are not in a position to be making demands,_" replied Cinder, her purring voice underlined and distorted by the crackling of static, and interrupted by the occasional pop. The signal boosters the White Fang were using to allow Adam to stay in touch with Cinder were far from perfect, particularly with the impediment of a certain mountain between them and Vale.

"It's only a matter of time before she spills everything," snarled Adam. "If the public gets word of this..."

"_I understand what's at stake, Adam, thank you very much,_" Cinder replied flatly. "_Rest assured, the girl _will_ die. But we have preparations to make, preparations that are essential for our main plan as well._"

"What preparations?" asked Adam.

"_Perhaps it's best if I keep that to myself,_" replied Cinder, earning an angry growl. "_You are a bit too impulsive Adam. Granted, it would be virtually impossible for you to leak anything out there. But I would sooner not take unnecessary risks, particularly considering the risk we are already taking on your behalf...which you could stand to show more appreciation for._"

Adam growled again.

Cinder sighed, the sound causing another pop over the tenuous connection. "_Well...I suppose I can tell you a little. Tomorrow evening, Beacon will be hosting a little soirée, a dance._"

"And the girl will be there?" prodded Adam. "You'll kill her there?"

"_If the opportunity presents itself. It would appear that her friends have invited her. However, we shall not make any attempt, should it prove too risky. The important thing is that the dance will occupy much of Beacon's staff, which should leave their security a little...lacking. Thanks to that, I will be able to run a certain errand, which will make the assassination you've been asking for much easier to execute._

"_After that, starting on Monday, the first-year teams will be leaving on their missions, including your target's friends and protectors; and, of course, a significant portion of Beacon's staff will be accompanying them. Once the cat's away, the mice will play; as the saying goes. In that nice, convenient window of opportunity, we shall dispatch the girl and her parents. That should be enough to satisfy you._"

"Assuming she doesn't go public before then," growled Adam.

"_That is not my concern,_" replied Cinder firmly. "_We are already going out on quite the limb for you, Adam Taurus. I would hope you would appreciate that, particularly since the need for this was born from your failure in the first place. We have other priorities, ones far more important than cleaning up _your_ mess, so you should be grateful that we are willing to do this at all. Have a pleasant day._"

Cinder's scroll disconnected with a final pop. Adam glared down at the scroll, his lips pulling back to bare his teeth, the fingers of his right hand tightening around the housing, while his left clenched around the handle of blush, Wilt rattling within the sheath.

Finally, Adam pocketed his scroll, before turning around to see Ilia and Meinrad staring at him, both of them having borne witness to the conversation, which Adam had chosen to hold around the assembly of crates that was serving as an impromptu table, surrounded by smaller crates that were being used as chairs, all set up within the space designated for their equally impromptu command center, which was really nothing more than a clear spot set adjacent to their work-site. Seeing as they were currently underground, there was little need for an awning of any kind.

"What?" he snarled, glaring furiously at them, the force of his anger palpable, even though the slits in his mask kept his eyes from being visible.

"Nothing, Brother," said Meinrad. "The task shall be done. So...we should perhaps focus on our work, here."

Ilia nodded in wordless agreement.

Adam's grip on Blush tightened even more, and Ilia tensed, fearing that he was about to lash out at them again. Adam's behavior had only become more volatile, in the days since the failed rally in Vale. The arrests had been yet another hit to their manpower, which was making it nearly impossible to keep to their required schedule. The members were pulling double, even triple, shifts to ensure that everything was ready, and it was running them ragged. It didn't help that each delay or setback only provoked more violent responses from Adam, leading to battered workers visiting the medic, which did not help their schedule in the slightest. At this rate, meeting Cinder's deadline was looking more and more difficult by the day.

But there was no one willing to explain to Adam how his outbursts were only making things worse. He was already the highest-ranking member of the White Fang present, with no one to supersede his authority. The lethality of his skill and strength meant that no one beneath him was willing to challenge him, particularly as it was growing more and more likely that anyone who expressed opposition of any kind towards him would bear the brunt of that lethality.

Right now...Adam was their own worst enemy.

"Perhaps you ought to dial back the hostility a notch, oh great warrior," said a strange voice, accompanied by a jingle of bells.

Their heads snapped around to seek the source of the voice. There stood a man in a black and purple jester's outfit, seeming to melt out of the darkness, the bells on his cap and shoes ringing lightly with every movement.

"A human!" shouted Meinrad, surging to his feet.

Ilia jumped up as well, unsure of what to do. But neither she nor Meinrad got their chance, as they were preempted by a black and red blur. Adam closed the distance between himself and the newcomer in the blink of an eye, Wilt flying out of its sheath in a streak of red. Before anyone could even twitch, he'd launched a barrage of swift, crimson slashes that left red streaks dancing across the vision of everyone watching. Wilt returned to its resting place with a swift clang.

But the jester stood there, seemingly unfazed by the blows he'd just been hit with, not a showing a single sign that they'd even touched him. "Wow...mighty quick to blow your load there. Maybe that's why the kitty left your camp."

Adam roared, and Wilt emerged again. Another barrage of slashes later, and Adam stood there, panting for breath, glaring at the jester, who was still unfazed. "Got it out of your system yet?" he asked.

In response, Adam leveled Blush and fired several shots at the man. However, the shots were accompanied by the soft "ping" of the bullets falling to the ground, landing right at the jester's feet. "Still going...? Okay. I can wait."

"What are you?" gasped Adam.

"I'm a friend," said the jester, raising his left hand across his chest, and bowing forward slightly. "I think you heard me the first time you called dear little Cinder about your rodent problem. I'm the one who convinced her it would be a good idea to do you that favor...even if she _is_ a little slow following up on it."

"You are Jester then?" asked Adam.

"I am," replied Jester, his grin widening slightly, which only made his countenance seem all the more sinister.

"And why can't I hit you?" demanded Adam.

"It isn't allowed," Jester replied. "Since ancient times, in the courts of lords and kings, those who spoke against their masters were punished...save one. The Jester is empowered to stand before the mighty and the powerful, to speak the hard truths, to say the words that the kings did not want to hear. That was possible because the Jester cannot be touched. I am beyond the reach of your blade, Adam Taurus, because I am the one empowered to tell you that which you do not want to hear."

"And what is that?" asked Adam.

"That you are not fit for this," said Jester. "You have become the greatest hinderance to your own success, Adam Taurus. Guided by grudges, ruled by impulse, you have done more harm to your own cause than any human propaganda. Even your own now dwell in fear of your wrath. Instead of making them feel stronger, for fighting for their cause, you make them feel oppressed, because the slightest error may invite your wrath."

"Lies!" snarled Adam.

"The Jester does not lie," replied Jester with a cackle. "He merely points out the lies you tell _yourself_. For example, do you not think it hypocritical to beat this poor man..." With the marotte in his right hand, he gestured to Meinrad. "...for failing to bring down a pack of students, when said pack included the girl that _you_ failed to defeat twice?"

Another roar erupted from Adam's throat, and Wilt flashed again. But Jester remained untouched.

"You lose yourself in anger too easily, Adam Taurus," chided Jester. "You can lash out all you want, but spilling all the blood in the world will not make truth become untruth."

"Shut up!" shouted Adam.

"Nope," replied Jester simply. "When all others stand silent, it's my job to speak out. If you wish to truly make progress, Adam Taurus, then you must stop trying to do what cannot be done. Cease attempting to silence me...and _listen_."

"I will not listen to the words of another human!" shouted Adam. "I've had enough of your kind to last me a lifetime!"

"Your tolerance needs work too then," said Jester, raising his marotte. "I'm here to help you, Adam. Flailing about blindly in your anger may be cathartic, but far from productive...or are you telling me that your schedule _isn't_ being slowed by the stream of people you keep sending to the medic?"

Before Adam could respond, Jester had already reached out and gently settled the skull atop his marotte on Adam's shoulder. The next thing Adam knew, he sank to his knees, even though Jester's touch had been light as a feather, his body feeling heavier than he'd ever thought possible.

"Come now," cajoled Jester. "Let's talk this over...peacefully."

Ilia and Meinrad looked on helplessly, unsure of whether or not to interfere. On one hand, this human was making a mockery of their leader, subduing him with painful ease. On the other...what he was saying was true. As he had said he would, Jester spoke the words that Ilia and Meinrad were afraid to, the words that were choked down by fear. He'd said the very things they'd wanted to say...and Adam hadn't been able to touch him...literally.

"Listen to me, Adam Taurus," said Jester, "the ability to instill fear is a critical ability in any leader. Fear is a powerful motivator, especially fear of failure. But fear of violence..." He clicked his tongue disappointedly. "...you hamper the ones who should be aiding you. They have things to say that you need to hear, yet they do not speak. Why do you think that is?"

Adam grunted. It wasn't apparent whether he had nothing to say, or if he was trying to speak, and Jester was silencing him in some fashion. He remained where he was, apparently held in place by Jester's will.

"Listen well Adam Taurus: Love for your friends, hatred for your enemies. Be sure not to confuse the two. Forge your rage and hone it for your foes. Wielding it against your own only dulls your blade, when you wield it against the one you are truly meant to."

Another grunt came from Adam.

Jester sighed. "You need to be retrained." His gaze settled on Meinrad and Ilia, who flinched as those hidden eyes landed on them. "I'm borrowing this one for a sabbatical...possibly a mondical and a tuesdical too. You two have this operation nailed down pretty well. If anything, you'll do better without this one mucking things up."

"Wait-!" shouted Ilia, reaching out towards them.

But they were already gone. Jester and Adam's forms had abruptly swirled together, their bodies appearing to run and spiral inwards, like paint flowing down a drain. In a fraction of a second, they had vanished.

Ilia and Meinrad stared at the empty space for a moment. They were joined by other members of the White Fang, who'd been drawn by Adam's shouts, and the sound of his weapon. They'd borne witness to their leader being subdued with the greatest of ease, before he was abruptly taken away, leaving it look as though he'd never been there to begin with.

"What do we do now?" asked Ilia, looking to Meinrad.

"We continue our work," said Meinrad, sounding unhappy nonetheless. "While I worry about what that fiend is doing, completing the mission is what truly matters. And I know that is what Brother Adam would want."

Ilia wasn't so sure. But, then again, she supposed it was the only option they had. They could look for Adam, but there was no telling where Jester had taken him. If they missed their opportunity, and blew the operation, Ilia wouldn't count that as a bad thing. However, she knew that Adam, once he returned (assuming he did), would be completely unforgiving. And then there was the matter of his...benefactor...who Ilia feared would be even less-inclined to forgive failure of such magnitude, seeing as she apparently considered them all tools.

Truth be told, seeing this operation...this atrocity...to completion was the last thing Ilia wanted to do. But she had her duty. Sienna's orders were clear, and Ilia couldn't do anything to jeopardize her cover. Silently, she bowed her head, preparing to resume preparations for the unforgivable deed they were about to commit.

At least they had the benefit of working without Adam snarling down the back of their necks for a while.

* * *

Adam's body slammed into the dirt with enough force to drive the breath from his lungs. Jester's bells jingled as he set down next to Adam, grinning down at the prone faunus.

"Where...where are we?" wheezed Adam, staring up at the man.

They were under the open sky. The broken moon, and all its fragments, loomed overhead, its light washing out the stars. Adam couldn't see any trees. Instead, they appeared to be in the midst of a rolling plain, grassland stretching away in all directions.

"Eh...somewhere," was all Jester said.

"Take...me...back!" demanded Adam, rising to his feet.

"No can do," said Jester. "Let's face it. They'll get more work done _without_ you there than with all the threats and beatings you can fling their way."

"I'll kill you!" shouted Adam.

"I think we've already established that that ain't happening," said Jester. "If you'd like to swing your sword at me a few-hundred more times, then go ahead. I'll wait for you to get it out of your system."

"What do you want?" demanded Adam.

"I want to make you into the best _you_ that I can," said Jester, tapping his marotte against his shoulder. "But, to do that, we need to do some work. As you are now, you are...lacking."

"Lacking what?" scoffed Adam.

"Discipline...focus...willpower...strength..." Jester's grin widened as his words only seemed to make Adam angrier. "Let's put it this way, you're a sword."

"A sword?"

"Doesn't that make you happy, Adam?" inquired Jester, chuckling. "You are a blade in the hands of your cause. Power is your edge, conviction your technique. You are wielded in how and where you apply your power. You honed yourself to a magnificent edge and made many a fine cut.

"But blades wear down, and grow dull. The katana is a magnificent blade. Its outside is high-carbon steel, made to hold a razor-edge. Its core is softer steel...supple...made to withstand the force of impact. The combination of these two is what makes it such a fine blade. However, polish and wear them too much, and the outer steel is worn away, and only the soft steel is left. When that happens, it ceases to be an effective weapon.

"That's what's happened to you. You've polished yourself against the whetstone of your anger and resentment. But you've ground away too much. And now your own hatred undermines your strength. Thus, you need to be reforged. You must be made anew, with a new core and a new edge, reborn as a proper weapon. You must then maintain yourself and your will properly. _That_ is where I can help you."

Adam lowered his face. But his posture betrayed that his anger was only growing. "I..." His voice was a low growl. "I need no help from the likes of YOU!" He lunged forward, his hand going for Wilt's handle.

But Jester was behind him, his bells jingling once. Adam froze. The entire world seemed to come to a stop.

From the tip of the carved fools hat that rested atop the wooden skull at the end of Jester's marotte...a single bead of blood dripped.

Adam lurched, blood bursting out from lacerations that opened up across his body. How many there were; ten, twenty, thirty, more...he couldn't say. He couldn't even say it was speed. He couldn't be sure what had happened. All he did know was that he had been about to strike...but now he had been beaten to within an inch of his life.

"I can tell this is gonna take a while," said Jester, letting out a disappointed sigh. "It's not my intent to beat you into submission, Adam. There is much I want to show you, much I can do for you. It would do you no good to simply pound the defiance out of you. That defiance is a critical part of who you are, a major component of your strength. To remove that would hobble you. I merely want to show you how to hone it."

Jester grinned. "Well, we'll have plenty of time, I promise. By the time it's over, Adam, I'll have you feeling like a new man."

* * *

"It pains me to see you like this, Mr. Xiao Long," said Ozpin, seating himself at the table before Taiyang.

Taiyang growled, his blue eyes glaring piercingly across the table at Ozpin. "Let. Me. Out!"

"I am afraid that is _not_ an option for now," said Ozpin sadly. "So long as you continue to insist on interfering so obstructively in your daughter's life, we cannot permit you to continue to run free. Right now, your behavior clearly falls under the category of stalking and harassment. Your continued efforts have only made Ms. Rose all the more determined to never see you as her father."

"I don't care how she sees me!" shouted Taiyang. "I AM her father, and I will do what it takes to keep you from killing her...like you did Summer."

"I did not kill your wife, Mr. Xiao Long," said Ozpin.

"She died because she was working for _you_!" Taiyang shouted back, slamming his fists against the table. Though it was bolted to the floor, the vibrations still ran through it, so that Ozpin felt them at his end. "It was a mission that _you_ sent her on. You set her up to be killed."

"That was never my intention, and you know it," said Ozpin. "Ms. Rose knew the risks, as did you, as does Qrow. Risks are risks because there was never any guarantee of survival. No amount of skill and power can make one invincible, Mr. Xiao Long."

"And that's why I won't allow Ruby to become a Huntress," said Taiyang firmly. "You're right, it's a risky profession. So I won't allow my daughter to take those risks. It's my right!"

"It is not," countered Ozpin. "You cannot unilaterally dictate your daughter's path through life. At some point, she must be permitted to make her own decisions." His eyes narrowed over his spectacles. "If things went as you wished, what would happen, once you passed from this world? You are older than Ms. Rose after all. Even if you successfully shielded her from all risks, and all the ills of the world, you would still be hampered by your own mortality, and would be able to do nothing for her past that. However, your treatment would all but ensure that Ms. Rose would not be capable of doing anything for herself."

"I'd figure something out," claimed Taiyang, his assertion ringing hollow.

"I sincerely doubt that," said Ozpin. "However, it is all merely hypothetical. The truth is that you are not permitted to interfere with your daughter any longer."

"I won't give up!" shouted Taiyang.

"I feared that was the case," said Ozpin. "That is why I have spoken to the Council."

"What?" gasped Taiyang, leaning forward.

"Taiyang Xiao Long, you are hereby stripped of your Huntsman license," said Ozpin sadly. "Furthermore, you have been deemed a continued risk to your daughters' wellbeing, and represent a persistent threat. As such, you are to be confined to a secure facility..._this_ facility, until such time that it is deemed that you no longer present a continued threat to Ms. Rose, which will only be possible after completion of full grief-counseling, and a full psychological evaluation." Ozpin slowly shook his head. "If you remain committed to pursuing Ms. Rose in such a manner, then you shall be here for a _very_ long time."

Taiyang's lips curled back, baring his teeth. The look of utter fury on his face should have been enough to make Beacon's Headmaster burst into flame from the mere heat of his gaze. Taiyang roared wordlessly, lunging over the table at Ozpin. However, he reeled back, having slammed face-first into the barrier of hard-light-Dust that partitioned the room. Invisible normally, the barrier flashed white upon contact, hexagonal panels of energy appearing to rebound Taiyang back, knocking him over, and sending him sprawling.

With another sigh, Ozpin stood up. "I hope that you are able to rise above this, Mr. Xiao Long. Otherwise, you will be an inmate here for a very long time."

Taiyang's only response was to scramble back up, then launch himself around the table. He was stymied by the same barrier as before, but slammed his fists against it repeatedly, trying desperately to batter his way through, his wordless roars carrying a force in their own right. All Ozpin could do was leave the room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

**It really says something when you get abducted in front of your comrades, and their reaction basically amounts to "Well now we can get some work done." Yeah...Adam has issues.**

**On the bright side, at least Taiyang won't be a problem for a while, assuming he can actually accept some help for a change. Of course, in order to help somebody like him, he has to want it first. That was an issue with an aunt of mine. She was diagnosed with depression, and offered treatment...and she flat-out refused. In the end, my uncle had to separate from her, and take custody of their kids, because she absolutely refused to accept any kind of treatment for a serious problem. So yeah, the kind of "help" Taiyang needs will only work if he accepts it...and he's not in an accepting mood at the moment.**

**We also get to meet Penny's teammates. First, of course, we have Ciel, one of my favorite characters, with regards to design. It's sad that we don't get to see more of her, even with Volume 7 and the series moving to Atlas. Hopefully that doesn't mean she was one of the casualties of the Fall. Aside from her...**

**Piper Cerny: This is another of my recycled characters from _Crimson Eyes_, though she received a much more thorough retooling than most of my other recycled OCs, given that she's pretty much completely different, except for a couple different things...we'll get to those later. As before, Piper's name is a bit of a joke on my part, a pun. Still waiting for someone to puzzle it out.**

**Rain: Sir-Not-Appearing-in-this-Chapter will get a proper introduction later.**

**You know...it's kinda odd how so many of my teams ended up with the three-girls-and-a-guy arrangement. I didn't mean to do that...I'm not sure how it ended up that way either.**


	67. Chapter 67

**Chapter 67:**

Saturday was a completely different kind of experience for Ruby. She couldn't quite say why. Sure, the dance was looming that evening. But it wasn't as though some paradigm of the world had shifted. Everything was the same as it had always been. She woke up in the same bed, in the same room, to the same sound of her teammates doing the same. They might have been forgoing their usual Saturday training (not wanting to exhaust themselves before the big event), but they weren't planning anything exceptional. They'd find things to occupy their day, then return to their dorm room and get dressed up, and then go to the ballroom.

So why did everything feel so different?

Throughout the day, Ruby kept glancing at Jaune, wondering why she felt so nervous around him, all of a sudden. Nothing had changed. Jaune hadn't suddenly started glowing. He hadn't suddenly become the most handsome and attractive hunk Ruby could have possibly imagined. He was still the same dorky, goofy knight she'd met on Day One, even if he was growing more capable by the day. Him asking her to the dance hadn't suddenly caused her to see him in a new light.

So why did looking at him make her feel different?

Ruby didn't have the answer to those questions. She wasn't sure if she could bring up her worries to Weiss or Pyrrha. The other two girls on her team were as cool as cucumbers, clearly old hands at this sort of thing. Granted, they had both admitted that this would be the first time they would be going to a social event with someone specific. But it wasn't as though they were doing something monumentally out of their comfort zone. And Ruby found herself doubting that either of them would be able to tell her why looking at Jaune suddenly made her feel so different.

Curious and worried, Ruby turned to Yang.

* * *

"Really now...?" said Yang, a wide grin forming on her face. "Looking at Jaune has you suddenly getting butterflies in your tummy, does it?"

"Yaaang," groaned Ruby, leaning back in her seat, her gaze sweeping upward to take in the blue sky above, Ruby having called Yang out to a secluded corner of the courtyard for this conversation.

"I'm just saying," said Yang, mocking dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief, "my adorable little sis is growing up so fast. It makes me proud."

"Laugh it up," grumbled Ruby, glaring sourly at Yang. "Are you gonna help me to figure this out or not?"

"What's there to figure out?" asked Yang, her question strangely earnest. "You like Jaune, don't you?"

"Yeah," said Ruby.

"Being around him makes you happy, right?"

"Yeah."

"So you're going to the dance with a boy you happen to like," summarized Yang. "It's not the most absurd thing in the world, Ruby. You're not actually feeling anything different about him. You're just paying more attention to the way he makes you feel suddenly. You're giving it more thought, dwelling on it more, and that's making it seem like a bigger deal than it really is."

Ruby blinked at Yang for a few moments. "Is that all?" she asked.

"Pretty much," said Yang. Reaching across, she took Ruby's hands in her own. "Listen, this dance shouldn't be some huge romantic revelation for you. Just go and have fun. Dance with Jaune. Hang out with him. Talk to him. Focus on having a good time. Don't worry about your 'relationship' or feelings. Just do what feels natural and right."

Ruby's petulant expression made an abrupt comeback. "Does that mean I can ditch the heels?"

"Nope, those are mandatory."

"This is tyranny!"

* * *

Ruby's conversation with Yang had helped to eat up a little time. It also served to make her feel a tiny bit better. Despite Yang's advice, Ruby couldn't quite help but continue to worry over how much her feelings for Jaune were standing out to her suddenly. Although, part of her felt surprised that she'd actually managed an impressive milestone.

She'd actually treated Yang like an older sister. Ruby had sought Yang out for advice and comfort. And Yang had provided it, maybe teasing Ruby a little, but never belittling her. On top of that, she showed no signs of the hostility she'd previously expressed toward Jaune. Considering that this was the girl who'd once nearly beat Jaune to a pulp for daring to so much as _touch_ Ruby, it was considerable progress.

For her part, Yang found herself reflecting on how much had changed. She'd come to realize that, had Ruby not run away, she likely would have never met a boy like Jaune. Taiyang would have likely kept Ruby locked away in their home, unable to meet anyone or form any connections at all. It made Yang wonder just how their father could have been so selfish...and how she could have been so willing to go along with it.

But those weren't concerns for now. Evening came. They had dinner, then retired to their rooms, separating by gender to get dressed for the evening. The girls would use RASP's room as a dressing room, while Jaune, Ren and Sun would use RYNB's room to change into their suits. Sun, in particular, needed some help from Jaune to get properly dressed up.

Once they were finished, the boys stepped out into the hall to wait for the girls to finish their own work. The sounds of high-pitched voices, accompanied by giggles, and even small shrieks, echoed out from the room.

"Sounds like they're having fun," said Jaune, adjusting the red bow-tie that rested over his white button-down shirt, over which he wore a gray vest, followed by a black jacket with gold thread outlining the hems. Looking down, he made one last check of his black dress-pants and matching shoes. Everything seemed in order.

"I don't even know how you can keep up with all this fashion-stuff," complained Sun, fiddling with his tie. "Stupid...neck-trap," he muttered, before Jaune reached over to slap Sun's hand down.

Neptune might have helped Sun pick out his outfit, but _Jaune_ had done the lion's share of work in making sure that Sun wore it properly. It didn't help that Sun and Neptune were still on the outs with each other, Sun annoyed that Neptune was so willing to hurt Weiss' feelings in an unnecessary effort to preserve his pride, while Neptune had been annoyed that Sun kept pestering him about it. Learning that Weiss was going with Ashley instead hadn't done much to alleviate the situation, so Sun had turned to Jaune and Ren for help.

Sun's ensemble was much more simple than the other two boys. All he had on was a white, button-down shirt, tucked into a pair of tan dress-pants. The shirt's short sleeves showed off his muscular arms, while a dark-blue tie dangled down from his neck.

The first time Sun had tried dressing himself, he'd left multiple buttons below the collar of his shit unbuttoned, with the tie tied directly around his neck instead, while the collar had been left sticking almost straight up. It had taken Jaune more work than it should have to fix the outfit. Then there had been a brief argument, where Jaune and Ren had needed to force Sun to leave his bracers and gloves behind, leaving Sun feeling underdressed...ironically.

Ren, for his part, looked perfectly composed in his dark-green suit. It was a variation on his usual tailcoat, with purple lining on the inside, and a matching color decorating the hems. Underneath that, he wore a white shirt, with a pink tie, matching the streak that ran through his hair.

A moment later, they were joined by Dove, who'd dressed up in CRDL's dorm. The other boys had to blink a couple of times, Dove's ensemble being quite eye-catching, mainly because of how bright it was. It wasn't garish, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was the inverse of what they were expecting.

Dove was dressed in a pure-white suit-jacket and pants, which he was wearing over a black shirt, accompanied by a red tie. The one thing they could say for sure was that it looked good on him.

"Girls taking their time?" asked Dove, coming to stand next to the other boys.

"As they are wont to do," said Jaune, remembering how long his sisters could spend getting dressed for their social engagements. Jaune might not have noticed as much, had they not always hogged the bathroom to do their makeup.

"At least we don't have to worry about time," said Ren, checking it on his scroll.

"With Weiss?" scoffed Jaune. "Trust me, if we had to worry about time, we'd hear a lot less laughing coming from that room...and a lot more screeching."

"True," agreed Dove, the boys sharing a laugh of their own.

The door opened to reveal Yang, looking gorgeous in her white neck-halter dress, with its gray hems and short skirt. It left both her arms, and much of her legs, bare, as well as accentuating her impressive bust. Even though none of the boys before her were going with her, they all stiffened nervously at the sight of her.

"Well hey there," said Yang, giving them all a grin. "Sorry to keep you boys waiting. But we're ready now."

Opening the door wide, Yang revealed the rest of their group.

Weiss and Ashley were the first to emerge, Ashley wearing the dark-green dress she'd picked out from the day before. Weiss' dress was similar to Yang's, all white in color, with a short skirt that ended a little ways above her knees. Hers sported cutouts at the waist, and was held up by a translucent mesh that ran over her shoulders. Ashley, who was hanging on her arm, looked positively giddy, while Weiss seemed plenty happy herself.

They were followed by Blake, who was clad in a dark-purple neck-halter dress, with a tight skirt that had been slit up the right side. A narrow, black sash had been tied around her waist, while her neck, shoulders, back were covered by a mesh similar to the kind that Weiss wore. Clasping her hands together in front of herself, she tilted her head demurely as she walked out to Sun, who could only stare at her in breathless awe.

"I knew you'd look good in a tie," she said playfully, giving him a smile.

It took Sun a few seconds to pull his thoughts together. He opened his mouth, working to find the right words. Finally, he did his best to grin confidently. "My lady," he said, holding out his hand to her in a laughable imitation of a noble courtier.

Blake laughed softly, then gratefully accepted Sun's hand, allowing him to lead her out of the way, and allow the other girls to make their exits.

Pyrrha was next. Her red dress' skirt extended all the way down to her ankles, also sporting a long slit along the right side. Her hair was done up in its usual style, complete with her circlet, while the dress' collar rose up to encompass her neck in a an imitation of the gorget she normally wore. Her green eyes twinkled with excitement as she took in Dove, who smiled calmly, and silently offered his hand to her, which Pyrrha gladly accepted.

After Pyrrha, a pink blur rushed out of the room, Nora tackling Ren with enough force to throw him to the floor. "It's time!" she squealed excitedly, grinning and nuzzling into Ren's shoulder, while he sighed and hugged her back.

The others barely caught a glimpse of Nora's strapless, pink dress, with a pale-pink skirt that flared out around her legs. Before they could take in too many details though, Nora had already stood up, and was hauling Ren down the hallway at a speed that would have done Ruby proud.

"That girl is a force of nature," observed Yang.

"Poor Ren," added Weiss.

"He didn't seem to mind too much," noted Dove wryly, having noticed that Ren hadn't made a single noise of complaint, for all the rough treatment he was receiving.

"Well, that leaves..." Yang paused, taking notice of the one person who hadn't emerged from RASP's room yet. "Ruby?"

"C-coming," announced Ruby, her voice accompanied by a few grunts, and the stilted sounds of an awkward, stumbling walk. "How do Weiss and Pyrrha fight in these things?"

Ruby finally made it to the door, reaching out one hand to steady herself against the frame. Despite her unsteady posture, and the nervous grimace on her face, Jaune felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of her.

Ruby was wearing a dark-red dress with a short skirt, displaying the dark-grey leggings she wore beneath it. A thick, black sash was wrapped around her waist, with the bodice of her dress being split down to the sash, with black lacing connecting it together. Like Weiss and Blake, her neck and shoulders were covered by translucent mesh, though Ruby's featured black hems. On her feet were the source of Ruby's discomfort, a pair of black pumps, upon which she tottered unsteadily.

She didn't so much as walk to Jaune as she collapsed against him, Jaune catching her by her arms, and helping Ruby steady herself. For his part, Jaune's face felt as though it was about to catch fire. "Y-you look _beautiful_," he said softly.

Looking up, Ruby momentarily forgot her plight, her own face reddening as she saw Jaune staring at her with such an adoring gaze. "Th-thanks," she said, averting her eyes.

A click and a flash from Yang's scroll caught their eyes, and they looked over to see Ruby's sister, grinning evilly, still holding the incriminating device in her hand. "You two look sooo cute together," she cooed.

"Yaaang!" Ruby wailed petulantly, while the other girls giggled.

"They're sisters all right," Blake whispered to Sun.

"Yep," Sun agreed.

"Well, we should be off," declared Weiss, leading Ashley down the hall.

"We're going on ahead," added Blake, her and Sun making their way past Ruby and Jaune.

Pyrrha flashed the pair an encouraging smile as she and Dove did the same. Finally, Yang gave the pair one last teasing grin, before setting off herself. Ruby and Jaune stared after them for a moment, before looking back at each other.

Ruby was still clinging tightly to Jaune's supporting arms. With a startled yelp, Ruby disengaged, flailing her arms. However, she'd forgotten that she hadn't yet recovered her balance, and immediately began to keel over. Acting quickly, Jaune slipped an arm around her waist to keep her upright. Before he could think too much about what he was doing, he pulled Ruby up against himself, Ruby found herself leaning against Jaune's chest, one hand resting on his shoulder. Looking at him again, she blushed even harder, then pressed her face against his other shoulder

"Sorry," she said, whimpering slightly.

"It's okay," said Jaune, tightening his hold on her waist a little. "I guess it would be tricky, walking on heels for the first time."

"Yeah," grumbled Ruby. "Stupid...lady-stilts. Weiss and Yang just want to embarrass me."

"I don't think they'd go that far," said Jaune, patting Ruby's arm sympathetically. He disengaged a little. "Here, just lean on me while we walk. You'll be able to get used to it a little, by the time we get to the ballroom."

It was an awkward, uneasy walk. Ruby was grateful she had Jaune's arm to hang onto. However, as he had suggested, by the time they actually reached the dance itself, Ruby was getting the hang of walking in her heels, though she was certain that her ankles and calves would be unpleasantly sore, by the time the night was over.

Reaching the entrance to the ballroom, they were surprised to see Velvet there, greeting the guests who entered. She looked beautiful, wearing a long, dark-red dress, similar to Pyrrha's, although Velvet's was completely strapless, leaving her shoulders and arms bare. Her long, auburn hair was done up into a tight bun, highlighting the contours of her neck as well. She beamed at the pair as they made their entrance.

"Ruby, Jaune! It's good to see you."

"Thanks, Vel," said Ruby, smiling back.

"I hope you have fun tonight," said Velvet, quickly ushering them inside.

Already, the dance was in full swing. Couples in dashing suits and colorful dresses whirled about the floor to the classical music drifting over the gathering. Others were gathered about at the fringes of the room, forming small knots of conversation. Some were seated at tables, others on chairs that lined the walls. A long table held a few snacks in the form of basic finger-foods, assembled around the punch bowl.

"So...how are you feeling?" asked Jaune, looking over at Ruby.

Ruby sighed wistfully, staring out at the dance floor. "I'd like to dance," she said, her tone a little morose. "But I don't know this kind of dancing at all."

"You've danced before?" asked Jaune, beginning to lead her along the edges of the dance floor.

Ruby blushed. "Well...it's a bit tricky. My first formal teacher taught me the _Mumyo Saigyo_ style of swordsmanship. Its movements have their basis in dance, so I actually learned quite a bit about dancing from him." She glanced nervously out at the waltzing couples. "But it was a bit different from this kind of dancing...and I didn't have to worry about these darn heels."

Jaune patted her hand sympathetically. "Let's walk around a little more. That'll help you get used to them. Then, once they switch to a slower song, we can go out on the floor, and I'll walk you through it."

"_You_ know how to dance?" gasped Ruby incredulously, staring up at him.

Jaune smirked back down at her. "It's pretty amazing, the things you learn growing up with seven sisters."

* * *

"I can't thank you enough for this," said Pyrrha happily, letting Dove lead her through the steps of the song currently playing.

"Well, I figured that we spent enough time together already, so why not," said Dove, smiling back, before guiding Pyrrha through an artful twirl, the two of them coming back together without missing a beat. The move had Pyrrha giggling happily. She felt as though her own feet had wings, and she didn't want this moment to end.

Even before her Semblance had been outed, Pyrrha had figured she might be going to an event like this alone. People's tendency to put her up on a pedestal meant that very few would have had the courage or initiative to ask her out like this. Of course, after her Semblance had been revealed, being asked by anyone had become even less-likely, with Pyrrha certain that the other students would avoid her like the plague.

And that had been true...for the most part. The only exception had been Dove, who'd been willing to train with her, and be the test dummy for new techniques involving her Semblance. The more time they spent together, the more Pyrrha found herself appreciating him. While he was a fierce fighter in the ring, outside of it, he was exceptionally gentle and quiet, but still confident enough in himself to speak to her as an equal, not as some exalted goddess.

It was rapidly turning into the best night of her life. Once again, Pyrrha found herself glad that she hadn't listened to her parents, and left Beacon. She was happier than she could remember being in years.

* * *

"You're surprisingly good at this," commented Weiss, as she and Ashley moved gracefully to the strains of the song currently playing.

Much to Weiss' surprise, Ashley gave her a wry smile. "Not expecting a plebeian, like myself, to know a thing or two about formal dances?"

Weiss sputtered and blushed. "Uh..W-well...th-that's not..."

Ashley laughed. "It's all right," she said. "I can understand. I guess it goes to show that no learning ever goes to waste."

"Huh?" Weiss blinked, staring at Ashley in surprise. "You took classes?"

Ashley shifted her eyes away, blushing a little. "It was an elective in my first semester," she admitted.

Weiss supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. After all, while she had been mostly homeschooled, she had received training in formal dancing herself. It wasn't as though people spontaneously came into being, knowing the steps to a formal dance like this. What _really_ surprised Weiss was that Ashley wasn't merely dancing with her, but Ashley was _leading_ the dance. It took Weiss a few extra seconds to realize that, while they were moving to the same music as the other dancers, Ashley was guiding their movements, keeping their turns more conservative, while their steps allowed them to keep clear of the other dancers. The apparent reason for such differences swished behind Ashley.

"When you're a faunus with a sizable tail, you need to learn a few extra tricks," said Ashley, cluing into Weiss' thoughts.

"But everyone else in your school is human, right?" asked Weiss, wondering how Ashley had learned about such things.

"Luckily, our instructor knows about faunus-dancing too," said Ashley. "It's actually pretty nice. When I was admitted, the administration reviewed their teachers' awareness of faunus issues in various classes, to make sure I could be properly accommodated."

"That _is_ nice," noted Weiss.

It also spoke to a fairly progressive mindset. It implied that they were looking towards admitting more faunus in the future. Granted, the official divisions, with regard to admissions, were based more around the school's tuition than any kind of racial bias. But conditions in the faunus quarter were such that almost no faunus could have afforded to go to such an institution, Ashley having only managed to get in through a scholarship.

But perhaps the school was reviewing their conditions, and considering revising that, perhaps to give other faunus, like Ashley, a better chance at a high-class education that could hopefully enable them to live better lives in the future. It was certainly an idea that spat in the face of the White Fang's rhetoric.

Thinking about the White Fang brought reality crashing back down on Weiss for an instant. She suddenly realized she was letting her guard down. Dance or not, Ashley was still at risk. However, ironically, Ashley's style of dance, which gave the other dancers a wide berth, was well-suited to keeping her safe, as it made it all but impossible for a potential attacker to approach them covertly. But Weiss would have to keep reminding herself not to let her current partner out of her sight, not until Ashley was safely back in her family's quarters.

* * *

Blake couldn't quite keep herself from laughing as she and Sun didn't so much as dance, but lurch across the floor in movements that barely managed to mimic the other dancers. What Sun lacked in skill though, he more than made up for in enthusiasm.

"You should laugh more," Sun noted, absolutely smitten with the radiant smile on Blake's face. "It sounds great."

"Thank you," said Blake, feeling another giggle rise in her throat.

Unexpectedly, she slowed their dancing down, and leaned in close to Sun, resting her head against his shoulder. The arm Sun around her waist tightened its hold, pulling her body flush against his front.

Blake sighed contentedly. "Thank you...for everything."

"It wasn't much," said Sun.

"You've risked your life to help me and the others, despite having no real reason to," said Blake, looking up into his eyes.

"I've got all the reason I need, right in front of me," said Sun, smiling down at her.

Blake's response was to blush, then lean in to nuzzle against his shoulder again.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" asked Jaune.

"A little bit better," said Ruby, smiling up at him.

They'd made a couple laps of the ballroom, enjoying the sight of their friends having fun, most of them out on the dance floor. Seeing Blake and Sun's clumsy efforts was a sight that served to make Ruby feel a little less self-conscious about her own difficulties; as was the sight of Ren trying his hardest to remain standing, while he and Nora swept through the crowd, the pair not so much dancing as Nora was swinging Ren around in her arms, while Ren was holding on for dear life to keep from getting thrown off his feet. They also saw Yang drag a nervous Russel out onto the floor, and then lead the poor boy through an energetic dance of their own, complete with Yang being the one to guide Russel through spins and dips.

"Ready to give it a try?" asked Jaune, smiling confidently down at Ruby.

"Y-yeah," said Ruby.

Hearing the current song switch to a slower one, Jaune led Ruby out onto the floor. Taking her right hand in his left, Jaune slid his right arm around Ruby's waist, while she rested her left hand against his shoulder. From there, they began to move, Jaune quietly whispering the steps to Ruby as he led her through them, one at a time.

It wasn't anything artful or graceful. Ruby's movements were halting and nervous, while Jaune kept from trying to put her through anything too fancy. As they danced, Ruby could feel several pairs of eyes on her, people all around them watching with interest. She supposed it was inevitable. In some ways, she had supplanted Pyrrha's status as the Invincible Girl on campus. Ruby could feel people watching them, and couldn't help but wonder if they were silently judging her, expecting her to fail in some fashion.

"Don't think about it," Jaune whispered to her softly, locking their gazes together. "Just keep your eyes on me, all right?"

"Okay," Ruby whispered.

As they continued through the dance, Ruby started to get a hang on the simple pattern of steps Jaune was using, not needing his guidance any longer. Gradually, her entire posture began to relax, and she found herself slowly drifting closer to him, until she was pressed up against him, her head resting contentedly against his collarbone. For his part, Jaune simply held her, while continuing to set the rhythm and lead them through the pattern of steps. Ruby followed along easily, her training being perfectly suited to this sort of thing.

Ruby would have liked to continue for a while longer. However, much to her disappointment, the song drifted to an end, and was soon replaced with a more energetic one. She and Jaune were forced to hastily abandon the dance floor, while many of the other couples swept into a dance with a much more rapid tempo.

"Having fun?" asked Jaune as he and Ruby escaped to the snack table and punchbowl.

"That was great," said Ruby, feeling a bit breathless, despite the fact that their dance hadn't been the slightest bit energetic.

Jaune quickly poured them a pair of glasses of punch, which they began to sip from, while they searched through the crowd of other students to see how the others were faring.

Ashley and Weiss were happily chatting away with Blake and Sun, the four of them seated at one of the tables that ringed the ballroom. Ruby noticed that Weiss was keeping Ashley's back to the wall, ensuring that no one could come up behind her. Pyrrha and Dove were still out on the dance floor, and looking as though they were still having the time of their lives. Ren was collapsed on one of the seats around the edge of the ballroom, clearly exhausted, barely having the strength to hold the glass of punch clutched in his right hand, much less to lift it to his lips. He was being fanned by a giggling Nora, who appeared to find his fatigue hilarious. Yang had switched Russel out for Cardin, and was now whirling the taller boy around the floor with much the same enthusiasm she had his smaller counterpart. Ruby couldn't be sure, but she thought she could sense a small degree of mischief in Yang's desire to completely wear out the other three boys of CRDL.

Looking around some more, Ruby spotted Ozpin, along with Port, Oobleck, and Glynda. They had occupied a small corner of the ballroom on their own, looking to be having an agreeable time talking over glasses of punch (or a mug of coffee, in Ozpin's case). Ruby found herself smiling as she saw none other than General Ironwood approach the group, holding an inviting hand out to Glynda. After a moment's hesitation, and an encouraging look from Ozpin, Glynda accepted the General's offer, handing her glass off to Port, and allowing Ironwood to lead her out for a round on the dance floor.

Aside from Velvet, Team CFVY were all in attendance, as was to be expected from the team who had organized the event. Coco and Fox were standing behind the DJ booth, picking out the songs. Velvet was still greeting people coming in through the door. Yatsuhashi was slowly making his way around the ballroom's perimeter, his large frame and imposing presence serving as a means of keeping order, leading Ruby to suspect he was acting as the bouncer for the evening, in the event that someone got...rowdy.

A familiar presence brushed against Ruby's awareness, and she glanced up to see a pair of familiar faces looking down from one of the ballroom's balconies. She saw Emerald, clad in a dark-green dress; and Mercury, wearing a black suit; looking down over the rest of the students. They were hardly the only ones wandering around the upstairs area, but Ruby couldn't help but feel nervous at the fact that they were watching the crowd below so intently. Of course, she couldn't confide her suspicions to Jaune. At best, she'd have to keep an eye on them, particularly when it came to paying attention to their position, relative to Ashley.

Then Ruby sensed a familiar Aura approaching her. As before, she was thrown off by the lack of other indicators that an actual person was coming near her. Glancing over, Ruby grinned to see Penny, looking lovely in a short, pale-green dress, held up by a pair of straps over her shoulders. Penny approached them with a cheerful grin on her freckled face.

"Ruby! You made it," declared Penny excitedly.

"Of course I did, silly," said Ruby with a small laugh. "I'm glad you made it too..." Her voice trailed off slightly, and Ruby looked around in confusion. "Where are your teammates?"

"Uh...Hic!" The hiccup appeared to be the only answer that Penny could sheepishly offer.

"You ditched them, didn't you?" deadpanned Jaune.

"N-no I didn't-Hic!" protested Penny...rather unconvincingly.

Then Ruby sensed another familiar presence approaching. "Well there you are," observed Piper, approaching the group, wearing a tight-fitting, strapless minidress, with a pink color that was a few shades darker than the hue of her eyes. There was a look of mirth in her eyes as she saw a momentary expression of distress flash across Penny's face. "You can't lose me that easily."

"I wasn't trying to lose you-Hic!...Honest!...Hic!" Penny's protest, once again, rang fairly insincere.

"Uh huh," said Piper, rolling her eyes with good-natured amusement, apparently seeing Penny's efforts to escape her management more amusing than troubling. "Remember, Penny, how you behave yourself tonight will determine how willing General Ironwood is to let you out and about in the future."

"I know," said Penny in an annoyed tone.

"And...we agreed that you were going to be on your best behavior for me, didn't we?" asked Piper, leaning in to stare intently into Penny's eyes.

"Yes," said Penny, averting her gaze slightly.

"And we agreed so that Ciel could enjoy herself with Rain, without having to worry about her getting in trouble, because you wandered off again," added Piper.

"Yes," said Penny, sounding much more contrite now.

"Good," said Piper, her voice softening. She reached up to gently pat the top of Penny's head. "Now, remember to behave yourself."

"Yes," said Penny tiredly, expressing a tiny bit of annoyance at being addressed like a mischievous toddler.

"Come on, don't be like that," said Piper, sighing. "I know it's hard, with Ironwood keeping you on a short leash all the time. But we agreed that Ciel needs an evening to spend without needing to worry, right?"

"Yes," said Penny.

"Where is Ciel?" asked Ruby, looking around.

"Over there, with Rain," said Piper, pointing out to the dance floor.

There Ciel was, clad in a long, deep-blue dress, held up by a narrowing strap over her left shoulder, while leaving her right shoulder bare, the hem of her bodice angling asymmetrically across her cleavage, dipping down about halfway to her waist on her right side.

She was dancing in the arms of a handsome young man who was looking at her with an enraptured expression, blue eyes that were a match for her own looking out from over chiseled cheeks, dark, reddish-brown hair extending out over his forehead, before sweeping slightly to the right. Behind his head, it was tied into a thin tail that extended down to just past his shoulders. At present, he was dressed in a blueish-gray suit, over a white-shirt, with a black tie.

Much to their surprise, Ciel's face was illuminated by the smallest of smiles, and it appeared that she was genuinely enjoying herself, dancing with this boy.

"So that's Rain," noted Ruby.

"I remember him," said Jaune, having already seen him before, in the boys' fitting room, while they'd been picking out their clothes.

"He seems nice," said Ruby.

"A pretty good guy all around," said Piper, grinning. "A bit of a doormat though. He could stand to assert himself a little more...though I can at least say he's no slouch on the battlefield."

Beside Piper, Penny was twitching impatiently. Finally, she broke into an exuberant grin. "I know! Ruby! You should dance with me!"

"Wha-what?" sputtered Ruby, caught off-guard by the sudden proposal, out of left field.

"Come on!" shouted Penny, grabbing Ruby's arm and towing her eagerly out onto the dance floor.

"Hey! Wait! Hold on! I'm not used to these things yet!" Ruby's protests were ignored and she had to fight her hardest to keep from being pulled off her feet as Penny tugged her right into the midst of the other dancers, then began to whirl the pair of them about enthusiastically.

"That girl..." sighed Piper, watching them with disgruntled amusement. She gave Jaune a wry look. "Sorry about her stealing your date there."

"Not a big deal," said Jaune, noting that, despite putting more effort into remaining upright than actually dancing, Ruby _did_ appear to be enjoying herself with Penny. Turning back to Piper, he offered her his hand. "Shall we join them, Milady, seeing as you need to keep close to her and all."

Piper laughed and took Jaune's offered hand. "A pleasure, Milord," she replied.

Jaune led the pair of them out, and soon they were amidst the dancers as well, Jaune carefully leading their movements to keep them near Ruby and Penny the whole time, getting an impressed eyebrow raise from Piper at his skill.

When the song switched, they quickly traded partners, Jaune successfully stealing Ruby back from Penny, while Piper took over as the android's partner, much more able to keep up with her movements, mainly because, unlike Ruby, Piper had clearly not been badgered into wearing heels by her teammates.

* * *

Emerald and Mercury looked on from above, watching as the various couples swirled about the floor, some heading off to rest, others stepping back on. They noted, in particular, the disposition of the faculty members, and the members of the two teams that had become such a thorn in the White Fang's side lately.

"It appears that all the dancers have partners," said Emerald softly, while Mercury smirked next to her.

Cinder's voice came back over the earbud that Emerald had synched with her scroll. "_How much time do I have?_"

"You should probably be back home by midnight," suggested Mercury, half-jokingly, "just to be safe."

"_I'll keep an eye on the clock,_" declared Cinder, her voice cutting out.

"And she's off," observed Mercury, he and Emerald returning their attention to the dancers.

Once again, they noted the position of Ashley, who had returned to the dance floor with Weiss. "Looks like we won't get our chance tonight," he noted. "Those two are joined at the hip."

"Huh, maybe the heiress has a thing for the faunus," mused Emerald. "Wouldn't that be something?"

"Something interesting," agreed Mercury, pulling out his scroll. "You wondering what I'm wondering?"

"What her father might think of it," said Emerald, smirking in agreement, producing her own scroll as well.

It appeared that the chance to eliminate their target wouldn't come this evening. However, the two of them, having been firmly coached by Cinder, were keenly aware of the opportunity to sow the seeds of discord later on down the road.

* * *

After another couple of songs, Ruby and Jaune emerged from the dance floor. Thanks to her growing confidence at moving about in heels, Ruby had been willing to try dancing through a couple of songs that had faster tempos than the slow one she and Jaune had danced at the start.

While Ruby wasn't tired yet, she was feeling more than a little hot and sweaty. At Jaune's suggestion, the pair of them moved outside to cool down, away from the heat of a room being occupied by countless warm bodies. Stepping out into the cool evening air, Ruby immediately felt the chill of the evening breeze wicking away the sweat from her exposed skin.

"Phew...that's better," she said with a satisfied sigh.

"It feels pretty nice," agreed Jaune. "So...having fun?"

"Lots," said Ruby, turning to face him. "Thank you so much for coming with me."

"It was my pleasure," replied Jaune.

An impulse welled up inside of Ruby, and she embraced it, by wrapping her arms around Jaune, a gesture he happily returned. They held their embrace for a long moment, simply taking the time to enjoy the feeling of each other's presence.

Pulling away, they spent another moment simply taking each other in. For his part, Jaune was awestruck by Ruby. The moonlight from above spilled down over her, throwing the creamy tones of her skin into stark contrast against the darker hues of her dress, while her silver eyes seemed to shimmer with a light all their own. The blissful smile on Ruby's face, as she stared back at him, only served to make her all the more beautiful to his eyes.

"I'm glad I came with you," said Ruby.

"I am too," said Jaune. He hesitated for a moment. "Ruby..."

"Yes?" Ruby blinked up at him.

It took Jaune a moment to come up with the words he wanted to say. "It's just...uh...I...I just want to say that..." He paused, taking a breath to steady himself. "I can't even begin to tell you just how lucky I am to have you for a partner. If it weren't for you, I'd still be a dork who didn't know the first thing about being a Huntsman. Everything I've managed to accomplish, since coming here, it's all thanks to you."

Technically, without Ruby's help, Jaune would have likely been a red smear across one of the trees of the Emerald Forest, a mere few seconds into the Initiation. But he decided it was better not to bring that up. It might spoil the mood.

"I feel pretty lucky too," Ruby replied. "I'm really lucky to have such a wonderful partner. When I'm around you, I always feel at ease, like I don't have to worry too much about my problems, or the difficulties ahead of us. Without you, I might not have even found the courage to go through with the Initiation, after I found out Yang was coming here." A mischievous twinkle appeared in her eye. "I'm glad I didn't club you over the head and drag you back to Goodwitch."

"Yeah, I'm pretty glad about that too," agreed Jaune, giving her a sheepish grin, making Ruby giggle.

The conversation trailed off, the pair of them still staring at each other, no longer fully embracing, but still touching. Looking down at Ruby, Jaune found himself feeling a new impulse. Hesitantly, he began to lean closer to her again, not pulling her into a hug this time, but instead bringing his face towards hers. Looking up at him, Ruby's eyes widened as she realized what he was trying to do, her mouth drifting slightly open. Feeling a similar impulse, Ruby allowed her face to drift closer to his as well.

The moment was perfect. And the two of them were completely lost in it...lost...until Ruby abruptly caught a flicker of motion behind Jaune. Her eyes widened even further, and her enraptured expression vanished with an abrupt gasp. She jerked sharply away from Jaune.

The sudden change in Ruby's demeanor shocked Jaune, making him flinch. A wave of panic rose up within him. "Ruby?" he asked nervously, afraid that he'd taken things too far. _Does she not feel the same way? Did I misread her? Oh God! What if she hates me?_

But Ruby wasn't looking at Jaune, instead stepping past him, looking towards the roof of the dormitory, which stretched out, across the courtyard from them. Realizing that something had caught her attention, Jaune felt his panic subside, disappointment at the ruined moment taking its place. Turning around himself, that disappointment was then replaced by confusion, as he too saw what had drawn Ruby's attention. "Who is that?"

A woman with long, black hair was running along the rooftop, vaulting over gables as she made her way along the length of the building. She was dressed in a tight, black outfit, which hugged the contours of her body. It was hard to make out the details from a distance, but she looked as though she was wearing a mask.

Ruby frowned, stepping forward. "She looks like she's heading for the tower," she observed. Taking another step, Ruby reached behind herself, her hand drifting towards the small of her back...only to freeze when her fingers curled around empty air.

_Uh oh..._ Unfortunately, Weiss had shifted on her usual willingness to accommodate Ruby's habits, instead insisting that Ruby leave her sword behind this one night. Now, confronted by this suspicious situation, Ruby felt she needed to take action, but was without her weapon. Even worse, thanks to her usual habit of carrying Akaibara with her, Ruby had never bothered with storing her weapon within the rocket locker assigned to her. Tonight, it was hanging on its wall rack, over her bed, where she usually left it when she slept. Not only did she not have her weapon, Ruby didn't have the means to call it in her time of need.

"Jaune, can you-?" Ruby's voice cut off abruptly as she turned to address Jaune, only to see his diminishing back, Jaune heading in the direction of their dorm at a full sprint.

A wistful smile appeared on Ruby's face, her unease over the situation briefly washed out by a swell of affection. _He really is the best partner ever, _she thought, before setting off after the mysterious woman.

* * *

**And Cinder ruins the moment. Poor Ruby probably never thought that not using the lockers would backfire like this.**

**We also get our first look at the last member of Penny's team...which doesn't amount to much, so I'll hold off on his introduction for a little longer.**


	68. Chapter 68

**Chapter 68:**

Ruby's steps were stilted and stumbling. She moved as fast as she could, doing her best to keep from twisting an ankle, thanks to the heeled shoes Weiss and Yang had insisted on her wearing. _I swear, after this, I'm never wearing these stupid things again!_

Reaching the courtyard around the base of the tower, Ruby made her way towards the entrance, her pace slowing slightly as she approached. Looking around, Ruby tried to spy any sign of the woman. However, she couldn't see a trace of her, until she looked at one of the flowerbeds arrayed around the base of Beacon Tower. There, just stretching out from behind the corner, was a booted foot. Stepping around the flowerbed, Ruby found the armored figure of one of Beacon's security personnel unmoving.

Cautiously, Ruby crouched next to him, reaching out to press her hand to his neck. Rather than feel for his pulse, she instead felt his Aura. The man was alive, but out cold. Ruby frowned. It would be the work of a few seconds to fix this, and wake the man up. However, those might not be seconds she had, if she wanted to catch up to the woman.

Of course, this was Beacon's campus. Strangely-dressed women aside, there wasn't much here to pose a threat to the unconscious man. Seeing as he'd been efficiently knocked out, there was no need to worry about other injuries either. So, in the interest of time, and conserving her Aura, Ruby left him where he was, heading into the tower's lobby.

Inside the lobby, Ruby saw more evidence, other guards sprawled out across the floor. The woman had felt the need to drag the guard outside out of the way, in order to keep people from realizing that something was wrong right away. However, inside the lobby, she clearly had no such worries about moving her victims out of sight. Ruby checked each of them briefly, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that they were all unconscious and, aside from being a little battered, uninjured. She wondered if the woman had gone out of her way to not kill for some reason.

Heading to the elevators, Ruby checked them. Most were on the ground floor. But one had been used to go up to the Call Center, midway up the tower. Ruby frowned. It wasn't a perfect theory, but it was probably most likely that the mysterious woman was there. Pressing the call button, she waited for the elevator in question to descend. When it opened, she was confronted by evidence that her hunch was right, in the form of two more guards, slumped up against the sides of the interior.

Pulling out her scroll, Ruby placed a call to Professor Ozpin.

"_Ms. Rose...?_" Ruby could hear the slight confusion in Ozpin's voice. "_Am I right in guessing that, if you are using your scroll to contact me, you are currently not at the dance, enjoying yourself?_"

"Yes, Professor," said Ruby. "Jaune and I stepped out for a bit. When we did, we saw a suspicious woman heading for Beacon Tower. The security staff here are all unconscious, and I think she's up in the Call Center now."

"_I see,_" said Ozpin. _"I shall dispatch assistance then. I assume you are already on your way up._"

"I'm about to head up," said Ruby, glancing at the elevator. "It was hard to tell from a distance, but I think it was Cinder."

"_I see,_" said Ozpin. "_It's probably pointless to try and dissuade you at this juncture. However, I advise you to be as careful as you can. Play for time as much as possible, and hold out for backup. And, above all else, if you confirm that it _is_ Ms. Fall, then do not say anything that might indicate that you know who she is._"

"Right," said Ruby, swallowing.

"_Good luck,_" said Ozpin, hanging up.

Ruby put her scroll away, then stepped into the waiting elevator. She stumbled, her heel catching slightly in the gap between the door and the interior, making her grimace in annoyance. _There's no way I can fight with these stupid things on._

That being the case, it was probably better to just take them off. She could definitely fight better with her stocking-covered feet than she could with those stupid shoes on. Sliding her feet out of her shoes, Ruby called forth her Aura, weaving it together to form her trademark cloak, draping around her shoulders, while she pulled the hood over her head.

Considering the circumstances, she was pretty badly outmatched. She'd been trained in unarmed fighting, but she wasn't nearly as good at it as she was with her sword. She still had her Manifestation techniques. But that didn't go all that far towards balancing the scales, and her best ones were meant to be used with a sword. Under the circumstances, it was a bad idea to go up against someone as dangerous as Cinder without some kind of weapon. _If only there was something I could use,_ mused Ruby.

Then she glanced down and smiled, looking at her discarded shoes. _Maybe there is_, she thought. _I guess I should thank Weiss and Yang after all._

* * *

Jaune nearly slammed into the door of the dorm room, almost forgetting to stop. He cursed the few extra seconds of fumbling it took him to get his scroll out and unlock the damn thing. Barging in, he looked up at the wall, his gaze zeroing in on the familiar form of a sheathed sword, resting silently on the two hooks that served as its rack, leaving it resting right above Ruby's bed, at a level where she could reach up and take it down without needing to sit up, or even stretch her arm.

Stepping forward, Jaune reached out towards the sword, planning to grab it off the wall, before pausing nervously. Ruby had warned him and the others that Akaibara could be temperamental, and that it didn't tolerate people fumbling with it lightly. Jaune had rushed off to get it for Ruby without pausing to ask, or even wonder, whether it was safe to just grab it like this.

Swallowing, Jaune steeled himself. _Ruby needs this sword right now,_ he thought firmly. He couldn't afford to hesitate. Every second he wasted was another second Ruby had to get hurt, because she didn't have her trusted weapon at her side.

"Here goes nothing," said Jaune, bracing himself, then reaching out to close his hand over the black-lacquered sheath, lifting the weapon up off its resting place, and pulling it towards him.

Nothing happened.

Jaune let out a sigh of relief, then reminded himself that Ruby needed this sword ten minutes ago. Turning around, he rushed back out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

* * *

The elevator doors slid open, and Ruby stepped out, casting her eyes about warily. She'd drawn her cloak all the way around her body, so that she was completely enclosed by it, while keeping her hood up as well. In this situation, her cloak, which she could harden with further Aura, would be her best defense. Her feet barely made a sound as she moved across the smooth floor of the call center. There was just enough friction that Ruby didn't have to worry about them sliding out from under her, much to her relief.

Her sweeping gaze took in the call center, with its rows of dark, inert consoles. At this time of night, it was only natural that there was no one using them, nor was there any staff. Even the reception desk at the front of the room, and the holographic A.I.s that normally manned them, were silent and empty.

Even as she took things in with her eyes, Ruby's other senses were reaching out as well. Almost immediately, she found her target.

It was Cinder all right. There was no mistaking that twisted soul, and the mutilated power stapled to it. Just feeling Cinder's presence had Ruby feel like she was stepping into a nightmare, a cold sweat spreading across her skin as she realized that she had deliberately sought out battle against this..._thing_.

_I'm just stalling for time,_ thought Ruby. It was a hollow assurance. For better or worse, she was on her own against this woman, devoid of her favored weapon. It would be minutes, at best, before backup arrived. Even a scant handful of minutes would be a long time against a person like this.

Still, she needed to do this, so Ruby proceeded forward. At the moment, she stalked forward cautiously, sweeping her gaze around, as though she was still looking for the intruder, even though she already had Cinder's exact location fixed.

Cinder had crouched almost directly behind the receptionist desk, leaving Ruby suspecting that she had been doing something with one of the computers there. What that was, Ruby couldn't even begin to guess. She'd gotten the hang of using her scroll now, but the countless nuances of technology employed by the outside world were still largely baffling to her, existing far outside the purview of the education she'd received amongst the Mibu.

At present, Cinder was keeping hidden, clearly thinking that Ruby had no idea where she was. Ruby figured it would be for the best to let Cinder entertain that illusion for as long as possible. Rushing into a confrontation would only end badly for Ruby.

"Hello?" Ruby called out in a tentative voice, trying to reinforce the illusion that she had no idea where Cinder was, or even if she was actually here.

Then Ruby sensed the first stirrings of intent from Cinder. The woman's Aura throbbed with eagerness, an eagerness which fixated upon Ruby with all the intensity of a tiger singling out its prey from the herd. The sensation made Ruby tremble. There was something wrong about this.

Considering the trouble Cinder had gone through to keep from raising any kind of alarm on her way in, it was most likely that she was working on some covert objective. That being the case, it would have been in her best interests to avoid confrontation as much as possible. The best choice for her would be to remain hidden, and wait for an opportunity to make a quiet escape. Yet now, Ruby could see that Cinder was planning to emerge and attack her, when she probably thought that Ruby had no idea of where she was. What was more, the confident surge of her Aura indicated her intention to dispense with stealth entirely. This wasn't an ambush. She was going to reveal herself, _then_ attack. _Why?_

Ruby's eyes turned to catch Cinder as she rose up from behind the reception desk, stepping out into the open. Even without Ruby being able to sense her Aura, it was hard to mistake that shoulder-length, wavy, black hair; or those amber eyes, which glowed with a subdued malevolence.

At present, she was clad in a skintight outfit, consisting of a sleeveless top, with a zipper running down its center, which was open just enough to show a tantalizing view of her cleavage. Her arms were covered in long, black gloves, which ran almost all the way up to her shoulders. Over her legs, she wore skintight, black pants; with tall, high-heeled shoes covering her feet.

_For real!? What is it with girls in the Kingdoms and fighting in heels!?_ Despite her consternation, Ruby kept her thoughts to herself, instead resolving to just roll with it.

Cinder stepped out into the open...or prowled, rather. Her movements were smooth and measured, almost like the stride of a big cat on the hunt. Ruby frowned, her silver eyes meeting Cinder's amber ones, as she tried to figure out what to do.

For her part, Cinder merely smiled, excitement throbbing through her veins. _What a marvelous opportunity...for her to fall into my lap like this._

It had been an enigma, how a mere child could possibly present such a difficulty. Yet this girl had subdued Roman Torchwick, then gone on to defeat Adam Taurus twice. She'd utterly overwhelmed Emerald in the ring. She was nothing more than a child, yet she'd shown herself to be more of an impediment than many professional Huntsmen Cinder had dealt with. And then, there were the other indicators...wind and lightning, used in a way that suggested that the girl didn't use a speck of Dust in her fighting style. Cinder was more than a little intrigued.

_Could she be one of the Maidens?_ wondered Cinder. If that was the case, then this was a prime opportunity. Of all the incredible strokes of luck, this girl, Ruby Rose, had come to _her_. At the moment, Cinder felt certain that this was a chance to assess her, to confirm her own suspicions. And, if they proved correct, this was also an opportunity to subdue Ruby, and take her away. At the moment, Cinder lacked the means to do what she had done to the Fall Maiden. However, once she had Ruby Rose in her possession...arrangements could be made, she was sure.

Well...that might have been overreaching a bit. Right now, Cinder had her priorities. The fact that another Maiden might well have dropped into her lap would be a wonderful windfall, but not one she was actually in a position to take advantage of. At this point, ensuring that her team's cover was maintained was more important. Dealing with Ruby would only add an extra layer of risk, a severe one. No, she would have to wait for a more opportune time.

But there was still the matter of confirming that Ruby _was_ a Maiden. Cinder was fairly certain, but there was always the chance that she had been mistaken or misread something. Of course, the best way to test whether or not this girl really was a Maiden would be to test her in battle, which was why Cinder chose to show herself. It helped that her errand here had already been completed. So she now had some extra time to work with.

Coming to stand in the open, Cinder and Ruby faced one another. Ruby kept her body enshrouded within her cloak, while Cinder stood in a posture that was almost casual. Glancing at Cinder's waist, Ruby could see several canisters that were hooked to the belt that held up her pants. Through her Aura, Ruby could sense Dust, by virtue of detecting its latent energy. She'd been able to sense that an impressive amount of fire-Dust had been woven into the fabric of Cinder's outfit. However, those canisters were carrying something else entirely. What they were carrying, Ruby couldn't tell, which only made her more wary of those canisters in particular.

Then Cinder grabbed one of those canisters from her hip with her left hand. Bringing it up, she swept it up and back across her body in a wide arc, spraying some kind of cloud of airborne particles from it, which hovered in a cloud in front of her body. Ruby wondered just what it was. Then her eyes widened as Cinder's free hand came up, the fine particles drifting in the air swirling together, congealing and merging together, while glowing with orange heat, which appeared to be supplied by the glowing lines of fire-Dust crawling up the fabric of Cinder's clothes in glowing lines.

In just a second, that cloud of airborne dust had condensed and been molded into shards of what looked liked glass. They were veined through with what looked like lines of molten light. Cinder directed them with a sweep of her free hand, launching them at Ruby in a barrage.

With a surprised gasp, Ruby went into motion, kicking off the floor, and throwing her body into a rapid spin, which flared her cloak around her. Hardening it with her Aura, she allowed the flaps of her garment to ward off those glowing shards, which impacted against the floor and walls, shattering with explosive force. Even as she defended, Ruby had gone forward, darting towards Cinder in a crimson blur, throwing up a wave of petals that scattered ahead of her, dancing out towards Cinder.

"_Hanabi!_"

Cinder jumped back as those petals ignited and burst, like a chain of firecrackers, filling the space where she'd been standing with crackling, angry sparks. Going into a spin of her own, Cinder discarded the empty canister, while holding her hands out to her sides. With a flash of orange light in the air, and molten lines crawling up her clothes, a pair of swords appeared in her hands, seeming to come out of nowhere. Their appearance gave Ruby pause, not because of the way Cinder had seemingly pulled them out of nowhere, but because, within Cinder, she could sense the torn portion of the Maiden's power pulse, Cinder forcefully drawing on it to create the blades she wielded now.

_It feels like it's screaming,_ thought Ruby, forcing down a bout of nausea.

The swords Cinder held seemed to be forged from black glass, like obsidian. They were broad, curved blades, widening out from the handles, before the leading edge swept up into a graceful tip. The backsides of the blades featured angled edges and sharp points as well, giving the swords a somewhat jagged appearance. Furthermore, Ruby could sense that Cinder had transferred some of the Dust in her outfit into the glass that made up the blades' bodies.

Now armed, Cinder reversed directions, rushing in. She covered the distance between them in a single step, leading with a slash from her left-hand sword. Ruby spun in the same direction, using a flare of her cloak to deflect the slash, before continuing it to catch the followthrough strike from the other sword. But, with a deft move of her wrist, Cinder reversed the course of her right-handed sword, bringing it back around. Rather than try to match Cinder with another spin, Ruby instead opened her cloak, lashing out with her own right hand, the object within it colliding with Cinder's sword to the sound of two hard objects clashing.

Cinder gasped, her eyes going wide with shock behind her mask. Her sword was caught by the arch of one of Ruby's heeled shoes. In a swift, smooth move, Ruby pulled down, using the heel itself to keep Cinder's blade trapped and lower it out of the way, as she followed up by swinging the shoe in her other hand, striking at Cinder's torso with the tip of its heel.

Cinder gasped and pulled away, the edge of her caught sword grating as she pulled it forcefully out of its entrapment, orange and red sparking. She pulled away just fast enough that Ruby's swing missed, the shoe in her left hand just grazing the fabric of Cinder's top. Despite that, Cinder's senses indicated that she'd just escaped from something akin to real blade. Glancing down, she noticed a small cut in the fabric of her jacket, running just below her right breast.

Glancing back up, she could still scarcely believe her eyes as she watched Ruby brandish the heeled shoes she'd been wearing earlier. _She's channeling her Aura through them to use them as weapons...but why?!_ If Ruby was a Maiden, then her magic would allow her to create whatever kind of weapon she wanted, on the spot. If that was the case, why resort to employing such...improvisational...implements? Was she just _that_ committed to maintaining her cover?

For her part, Ruby fought back a grimace. _Makes me wish I'd practiced kama-techniques more._ Thanks to her friend, Setsuna, she'd dabbled a little bit in the handheld sickles, but had never practiced their techniques with any serious intent. However, they were probably the closest allegory to the weapons in her hands, and Ruby's extensive training in two-sword styles meant that she could fill in the gap a little, only needing to be mindful of the differing orientation of the "blade" of her weapon.

Of course, leather and fabric were hardly any match for magic-forged, Dust-empowered glass. In order to make her shoes hold up against Cinder's swords, Ruby had to channel extra Aura into them, just to harden them enough to properly exchange blows with her opponent. This was a stopgap at best. All Ruby could hope to do was buy enough time for Jaune to get here with her sword, or for Ozpin's promised reinforcements to show up, whichever came first.

Cinder bit back a growl, finding herself frustrated to be facing an opponent wielding something so...ridiculous. It truly felt as though she was being taken lightly, even though her rational mind indicated that Ruby was most likely improvising to make up for the fact that she hadn't been able to retrieve her weapon, before coming up the tower to confront her. Yet, that didn't make this any less ridiculous.

Not about to allow Cinder any chance to reclaim the initiative, Ruby went on the offensive. Her body blurred, and she crossed the distance between herself and Cinder in a flash, lashing out with her shoes. Cinder countered easily. Improvised or not, a major weakness of Ruby's weapons was that Cinder's totally outclassed them in terms of reach. To make up for that, Ruby had to move in closer, where the greater length of Cinder's weapons would be a hinderance, rather than an asset. But Cinder's own skills made that a difficult barrier to cross.

For a few seconds, the two rapidly traded blows, Cinder's swords ringing loudly against the heels of Ruby's shoes, almost as though the shoes were made of forged steel. They danced around one another, Ruby's movements flickering and darting, sometimes making her appear to be in more than one place at once. On more than one occasion, Cinder briefly believed that she had successfully pierced or sliced Ruby's body through her cloak, only for said cloak to dissolve into a cloud of petals, revealing that she had struck empty air.

They closed for another exchange. Cinder attacked with a crossing slash directly in front of her. Ruby dropped into a crouch, using her Aura to reduce the friction beneath her feet to slide beneath it, and directly past her opponent. Cinder was no slouch though, twisting and dodging out of the way when Ruby tried to strike at her in the process. Cinder quickly spun about, trying to keep track of her opponent, her swords seeking. Ruby had jumped out of her crouch, alighting on one of the rows of terminals that occupied the center of the room. Cinder's blade cut through her cloak at the level of Ruby's shins, threatening to cut her legs out from under her.

To Cinder's lack of surprise, the cloak simply melted into another cloud of scattering petals, revealing that Ruby had vanished from sight again. Cinder kept an eye out with her peripheral vision, scanning around her for the signs of Ruby's next attack. However, she forgot to think vertically. Rather than try to flank her again, Ruby had instead jumped straight upwards, inverting her body to plant her feet against the ceiling of the call center. From there, she launched herself down at Cinder.

Though she might not have had anything on the level of Ruby's senses, Cinder had plenty of experience to ensure she didn't remain wholly dependent on her eyes. She felt the rush of air from above, accompanied by a wave of descending intent, the surefire sign of an impending attack. Gasping, Cinder looked up, seeing Ruby already almost within striking distance. Desperately, she raised her blades to block. But it was too late. The unexpected direction of the attack had delayed Cinder's reaction, and she crossed her swords after the heel of Ruby's shoe had already struck the crown of her head.

Cinder's head jerked forward from the force of the blow, her entire body jolting, the impact stunning her slightly. Ruby landed in a crouch in front of her. Desperately, Cinder both jumped and fell back, trying to buy time and distance. Fortunately, the small size of Ruby's improvised weapons meant that Cinder didn't need to move very far at all. Even a fraction of a second would be enough for her to recover from the stunning effect.

Rather than try to pursue Cinder, Ruby rose up out of her crouch, while spinning around and lashing out with her foot in a powerful back-kick, which struck Cinder directly in the stomach, driving the breath from the woman's lungs, while the Aura expelled by the striking limb blew Cinder away, threatening to slam her into the very line of consoles that Ruby had used as a platform earlier.

At the last second, Cinder kicked off the floor, launching herself into a jumping backflip, which allowed her to plant her hands on the top of the terminal, before pushing off in a handspring, not hindered by the fact that she was still holding her swords while she did this. Pushing off, she brought the pommels of her swords together, the two weapons merging into one, their edges facing outwards, creating the profile of a bow. A black string stretched from one sword-tip to the other, completing the transformation.

In a smooth motion, Cinder's right hand drifted back to the string, while the left remained closed around the merged grip. Swirling particles condensed together to form a full trio of arrows, already nocked, even as Cinder drew the string back. Molten lines climbed Cinder's outfit, and Ruby could sense the energy potential of that woven Dust being transferred into those arrows, concentrating at the tips.

Releasing the string, Cinder let the arrows fly. Ruby kicked off the floor, launching herself right towards the center of the gap between the three of them. There was no way to slip between them without them striking her body, but Ruby was prepared for that. Once again, she spun her body, flaring out her cloak, while channeling her Aura through it, the hardened, spinning garment deflecting the arrows off. Two of the arrows lodged in the floor, while the third protruded out of the wall at an angle.

_They didn't explode,_ Ruby noted, briefly confused. Then she realized that the potential energy of the Dust Cinder had used was still infused into those arrows. Right now, they were bombs, landmines, just waiting for the right moment to be triggered. Ruby was willing to bet that Cinder was banking on Ruby forgetting about the arrows, after her attack had failed, then using the fight to drive Ruby back into their vicinity, before setting them off.

Ruby wasn't about to let that happen, instead driving forward doggedly, determined to close in on Cinder, before she could loose another volley. Cinder separated her bow into its component swords, meeting Ruby head-on, apparently having already recovered from the kick she received. On top of that, the edges of her swords sparked, and were suddenly lined with orange flames, the Dust worked into the blades igniting. They met Ruby's improvised sickles with another set of clangs, the impacts sending embers and angry sparks dancing off the swords, and straight at Ruby's face, even as contact with the superheated weapons scorched Ruby's hands, close as they were to the point of impact.

"Ow! Hot!" shouted Ruby, knocked away, even as she turned her head, using the edge of her hood to block the worst of the sparks. Then Cinder returned the favor from earlier, lashing out with a kick of her own, which caught Ruby in the side. Ruby was knocked back with a cry of pain, feeling the heel of Cinder's own shoe dig into her side, which, she supposed, was one reason wearing heels to battle might be a legitimate strategy...maybe.

The problem was that Cinder's kick had knocked Ruby right back to the lodged arrows, just as Ruby had feared. She landed right in the midst of all three of them. The one in the wall was a short distance to her right, while the ones in the floor were impeded to the left and behind her. In front of her, Ruby saw Cinder's triumphant smirk, as Cinder uncurled the first two fingers of her right hand from around the handle of her sword, then gesturing upwards slightly. A sinister keening sound filled the air, the points where the arrows were imbedded glowing a malevolent orange, which rapidly spread out into disks of flame, before the arrows exploded, sending waves of fire billowing out in every direction.

However, since she had been expecting this kind of attack, Ruby wasn't caught by it. Even when Cinder had begun to trigger her arrows, Ruby was already on the move, leaning forward, channeling her Aura through her feet, using it to fling herself in the only direction that wasn't blocked by an arrow that was about to explode...directly in front of her. She crossed the distance between the two of them in a flash.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Cinder had anticipated such an approach, her swords igniting again, the flames burning with even greater intensity than before. Not liking the idea of what contact with such intense heat would do with her hands, Ruby immediately countered. With an angry crackle, crimson lines of electricity extended out from her hands, dancing along her shoes, and down the length of her heels, extending them, while air was drawn in, merging with the intensifying electrical energy, becoming blades of highly-energized plasma, which glowed violet, forming a pair of curving blades that gave the shoes Ruby was wielding the appearance of _actual_ sickles in her hands.

Cinder's swords left trails of fire, forming a pair of glowing orange arcs, which intersected with the violet tracks of light left by Ruby's weapons. The two attacks collided with a flash, an explosion of both fire and thunder echoing through the enclosed space of the call center, flinging the two combatants away from each other. Cinder's swords shattered into countless fragments. Ruby's own recoil knocked her body into a spin, but she was already beginning her next attack.

"_Hibana!_" With a flare of the edge of her cloak, Ruby launched a trio of violet bolts of plasma, which flew at Cinder with incredible speed. However, Cinder wasn't caught that easily. Touching down, she held out her left hand, holding it up to catch each of the incoming bolts in turn, the plasma splashing and exploding against a shield of fiery light. Meanwhile, Cinder worked her right hand through an exaggerated circle.

The fragments of her ruined swords began to swirl together, forming another array of glass shards, hovering in the air around her. As soon as Ruby's last bolt splashed impotently against her defense, Cinder stepped forward, sweeping her right hand out. The glass shards launched at Ruby like arrows, forcing Ruby to jump aside, having to flare and harden her cloak again to deflect a couple of the shards that were still in danger of striking her directly.

Landing, Ruby held up her hands, ready to continue the battle, only to find that things didn't feel quite right. Looking down, Ruby saw that all she had now were the scorched remnants of the toes of her shoes. The rest had been burned to ash and crumbled away, the consequence of channeling such powerful elemental energy through an object not even remotely capable of withstanding such forces. Ruby's reinforcement with her Aura had been insufficient to allow the shoes to maintain their integrity, at least, not if she was trying to do both at once.

Despite having been practically handed such a potent advantage, for a moment, all Cinder could do was glare incredulously at her opponent, once again flabbergasted at the idea that this child was using such ridiculous implements as weapons in the first place. For her part, Ruby stared down at the ruined shoes for a moment, before looking back up at Cinder with a sheepish grin. "Whoops."

* * *

Jaune's breath came in ragged pants as he came rushing back to Beacon Tower. He had no idea how far behind Ruby he was. There was no telling how long she'd been fighting to hold off that mysterious woman, assuming they were fighting at all. Without her sword, maybe Ruby already was...

Jaune vigorously shook his head, cutting off that line of thought ruthlessly. He knew that Ruby wasn't helpless without her sword. The fact of the matter was, that, even without her weapon, she was still able to wipe the floor with him, even when Jaune still had his...not that that was much of an endorsement, considering the rudimentary level of his own skills.

Reaching into his pocket with his free hand, Jaune pulled out his own scroll, bringing up the app he needed to summon his rocket locker. It arrived with a hiss of its jets, slamming down into the pavement, and embedding there at an angle, fortuitously landing just a little ways ahead of him, the door even facing the perfect direction as it sprang open, allowing him to snatch Crocea Mors out without even needing to break stride. Immediately, Jaune made his way past the unconscious guard outside the entrance, and into the interior. Just like Ruby before him, he balked at the sight of the scattered, prone guards laying about the lobby.

Making his way past the guards, Jaune looked to the elevators, realizing that he had almost no idea where in this structure Ruby was. Fortunately, he quickly received a clue. Muffled booms and vibrations descended from above, indicating a fight on the upper floors. Glancing at the elevators, Jaune saw that one was currently parked at the CCT call center. Quickly, he pressed the call button, waiting several anxious seconds for the elevator to arrive. At least the sounds from above indicated that Ruby was still fighting...or so he hoped.

The doors slid open, and Jaune rushed in, yelping at the sight of the unconscious guards in the elevator, before quickly rallying and pushing the button that would take him to the call center, praying that his guess was right.

_Hang on, Ruby. I'm coming._

* * *

Cinder's efforts to hold her feelings in check were failing. It was bad enough that this girl had tried to fight her with _shoes_, of all things. But to have her hold her own so well, to push Cinder as far as she had with ridiculous, improvised implements was absolutely galling. And now, Ruby stood there with that sheepish, childish grin on her face, as though this was all some silly game to her.

Cinder's patience was fraying. She'd been trying to push Ruby hard enough to reveal the truth about herself, to see with her own eyes whether or not the girl possessed the magic of one of the Maidens. The more they fought, the more convinced Cinder was. Ruby had been conservative with those electrical attacks, instead remaining carefully dependent on her shoes, right up until their latest clash. There, Cinder had seen the first cracks in Ruby's mask, as the younger girl channeled potent elemental energy through her improvised weapons, striking with enough force to shatter Cinder's own swords, formidable as they were.

And now, without even improvised weapons to rely on, Ruby would have no choice but to show her true colors. _Now to truly back her into a corner. Then we'll see if she really _is_ one of the Maidens._

Ruby swallowed, unnerved the intensity of Cinder's intent. There was something more going on here that she couldn't figure out. One thing she _did_ know for sure was that Cinder's intent felt familiar. She'd sensed that intent before, on the night she'd brought down Roman Torchwick. _Cinder was the one piloting the bullhead,_ thought Ruby, remembering the sensation she'd felt, right before the pilot had triggered the airship's guns.

If that was the case, then the links between Cinder's group and the White Fang were clear. Roman had been working for Cinder, probably cowed into submission by demonstrations of her power, forcing him and Neo to work with the White Fang, who'd been likewise subdued. If that was the case, then there was a very real chance that Neo's odd actions were based on trying to find some way for her and Roman to escape Cinder's control.

But that was an issue for later. Not being immolated was the critical factor right now. Ruby took a nervous step back, unsure of how to respond. She still had a few measures, including her more basic Manifestation techniques. However, her best attacks required her sword, which was still on the way. _I hope Jaune gets here soon._

Glowing lines of molten light climbed Cinder's outfit, jumping from her jacket's shoulder to the glove extending down her right arm, the power congealing in the palm of her upraised hand to form an orb of fire, hovering there. Ruby's senses could tell that the fireball was actually two components. The outer part was formed by Cinder's magic, while the inner core was concentrated Dust.

Cinder thrust out the palm of her hand, propelling the fireball at Ruby, who swept her cloak out, while hardening it with her Aura, to deflect it. The fireball burst against against the cloak, flames billowing and washing away in the direction of Ruby's sweep, while what looked almost like droplets of molten lava splattered around her. Ruby could sense that her defense had deflected the heat and flames of Cinder's magic. But the Dust had not yet actually been triggered, now scattered in fragments around her.

Then, just as she expected, Cinder turned her right hand palm-up again, raising the hand in a gesture, while Ruby sensed the Dust around her igniting, that sinister keening noise filling the air again. The scattered Dust erupted in columns of flame that scorched and melted the metal ceiling of the room. But Ruby was already gone, circling around Cinder, a flickering blur of crimson. Stepping off the top of one of the CCT terminals, Ruby launched herself into the air, spinning about, the petals of her Aura congealing into another set of violet bolts of plasma. "_Hibana!_"

Six bolts of plasma rocketed at Cinder, who responded by holding out her hands, launching fireballs to intercept them. The colliding attacks exploded with a sound like multiple claps of thunder, filling the air between Cinder and Ruby with smoke, forming a barrier that cut off their vision of one another.

Ruby's eyes might have been blocked, but she could still perceive Cinder with her other senses. She sensed Cinder charging forward, bulling through the impediment created by her smoke, hand going to her belt to pull off another canister, which she used to spray more dust into the air. Cinder emerged from the smoke, using a terminal as a foothold as well, an array of glass shards hovering in the air around her, ready to be sent flying by a single gesture.

But Cinder didn't see Ruby. Instead, she found herself in the midst of a cloud of fluttering petals. Her eyes widened in surprise and shock. Then she heard Ruby's voice.

"_Hanabi!_"

With a crackling series of explosions, like a chain of firecrackers going off, the petals around Cinder exploded in a flurry of sparks and arcs of electricity. The attack shattered her glass shards before she could use them. But Cinder had already started her counter. Molten lines climbed her body, swirling arrays forming in the air around her. Cinder swept her arms out to her sides, the array creating a powerful explosion that forced Ruby's petals away before they could detonate against her.

Landing on the floor with a click of heels, Cinder cast around for Ruby. She spotted a flapping cape as Ruby rushed along behind one line of consoles, using them for cover. With an angry growl, Cinder pursued her, swords of black glass appearing in her hands with a fiery flash again. While she had been armed, it had been _Ruby_ who'd been focused on getting into close combat. Now, with her weapons destroyed, Ruby was trying to keep her distance, while peppering Cinder with attacks to wear her down. Now it would be fully to _Cinder's_ advantage to close the distance between them, and engage Ruby at melee range.

Anticipating the line of Ruby's darting, dodging movements, Cinder altered her course to intercept, leaping past the line of consoles and planting herself firmly in Ruby's path. Ruby gasped, trying to stop and backpedal. However, her momentum, aided by the stockings on her feet, overpowered the force of friction, which Ruby had been certain would allow her to keep her footing earlier, causing her to slide towards Cinder, while her balance began to fail her.

Still, as Cinder lunged in, slashing with one of her swords, Ruby had the presence of mind to whip her upper body around, using the movement to flare her cloak up between her and Cinder, once again hardening the garment to deflect the attack. Skidding to a stop, Ruby gripped the edges of her cloak with her hands, using them to manipulate it to continue batting away Cinder's slashes, before expelling her Aura from her feet to reverse her course, and retreat out of Cinder's range.

Even as she did, Ruby saw Cinder bring her swords together to create her bow, another trio of arrows appearing as she drew back the string. Ruby readied herself to deflect the arrows. But then her ears picked up a sound that was almost completed masked by the noise of the battle, and the pounding of her own heartbeat in her ears, the tone of the elevator arriving.

The elevator doors opened to reveal Jaune, emerging from within with wide eyes, his gaze taking in the war-zone that the call center had become. His eyes found Ruby, and she turned to look at him, a thrill of excitement rushing through her at the sight of the sheathed sword gripped firmly in Jaune's right hand. "Jaune!"

"Ruby!" Jaune shouted back, already drawing his arm back to throw the sword to her.

But Cinder had noticed Jaune's arrival as well. Without hesitation, she turned in place, her aim swinging around to bring the arrows to bear on Jaune.

"No!" shouted Ruby, her eyes going wide.

Jaune saw Cinder's aim shift, but remained committed. Stepping into the motion, Jaune threw Ruby's sword at her. In that same instant, Cinder loosed her arrows, which flew true, striking their target dead-on.

A surge of panic rose up within Ruby as the arrows struck and exploded, enshrouding Jaune with flames and smoke. However, her panic abated when she sensed what Jaune had done. Preoccupied by the sight of her weapon in his right hand, her eyes hadn't picked out the fact that Jaune's own weapon was already resting on his forearm. Even though Crocea Mors' sheath remained in its compacted form, Jaune had already slid his arm through the straps. Immediately after throwing Ruby's sword, he'd brought his own weapon up, the sheath opening up into its shield-mode, the heads of Cinder's arrows striking and shattering, one with explosive force.

Jaune had been knocked back by the blast, barely able to keep from being blown off his feet entirely. But he was unharmed. His right hand immediately closed around the handle of his sword, and he drew it forth. Sliding his left foot forward, Jaune took his regular stance, standing at the ready, and holding his ground before the elevator doors.

Meanwhile, freshly-calmed, Ruby extended her left hand into the air, closing her fingers around Akaibara's sheath. In a smooth motion, she slid it into her sash, at the small of her back, before transitioning her grip to the handle, drawing the crimson blade forth, an echoing ring filling the air as its Aura surged outward to merge with Ruby's own Bringing it around, Ruby closed her right hand around the handle as well, the weapon splitting, one blade becoming two. From there, Ruby took her stance, holding her left-handed sword in front of her, while she held the right up and over, so that the blade extended down her back.

Cinder's eyes widened when she saw Ruby draw her sword. The change that this young girl had undergone was as incredible as it was baffling. She could feel a heaviness in the air, the sensation that the quality of Ruby's Aura itself had changed. The sense of danger that Ruby exuded had multiplied exponentially. Now Cinder could _definitely_ see how this girl had defeated the likes of Torchwick and Taurus. There was absolutely no comparison between these fabulous blades and the flimsy shoes that Ruby had been swinging around earlier.

But all of that made Cinder all the more certain that this was a sham. To her mind, it made perfect sense. In order to more effectively keep her cover, Ruby had apparently turned to these blades to supplement her fighting style, with the intent of using them to better deceive people and keep them from realizing the true nature of her power. Her opponents would fixate on the swords, while ignoring the unnatural nature of her elemental attacks. It was an ideal deception, as far as Cinder was concerned.

However, there was no time for her to see if her supposition was correct. Ruby charged straight forward, swinging Bara and Ibara with such speed that the swords were practically streaks of light. Splitting her bow back into its component swords, Cinder met Ruby's slashes with her own, orange intersecting with red in a deafening ring. To her shock, Cinder found herself blasted back by the impact behind Ruby's swings, the strength she'd been using earlier _nothing_ compared to what she exhibited now.

Cinder was sent flying back, Ruby rushing after her in a blur of red. Ruby's swords lashed out again, and Cinder's rose to meet them. This time, Cinder's swords shattered in her hands, the shards scattering into the air, before being blown away by the shockwaves of impact. Desperately, Cinder thrust her hands out in front of her, while Ruby followed through with a pair of slashes that etched an X-shape in the air between her and Cinder. The attack bit into the barrier that Cinder had created, reinforced by the use of both of her hands, Cinder managed to keep the blades themselves from biting into her, but the power behind those swings was enough to launch her back again.

Cinder's back struck one of the terminals, the metal surface crumpling from the impact, while Cinder screamed in pain, before she bounced off, her momentum causing her to tumble back over it, and slam into the wall behind it. From there, she dropped to the floor, collapsing to her knees.

Looking up, Cinder saw Ruby take to the air, using the same terminal she'd just smashed Cinder against as a stepping stone. Fire streamed from outside corner of Cinder's right eye, her mask actually cracking slightly from the force of her tapping more deeply into her stolen power than ever before. At the same time, molten lines glowed in a manner that was almost blinding, racing up her outfit, before running down her arm, swirling arrays, like the ones that had preceded her explosion earlier, forming around her arm as Cinder thrust it out at Ruby with an angry scream.

What emerged from Cinder's hand was no mere fireball, nor even a torrent of flame. Rather it seemed more a pure laser of solidified heat, easily the width of a lamppost, it lanced out at Ruby, shining with pure destructive force. Ruby's previous defensive technique, with her hardened cloak, would have no hope of deflecting an attack containing such focused and concentrated power.

However, Ruby was already countering in her own fashion. Having rejoined her swords, Ruby took Akaibara up in her left hand, while using the first two fingers of her right to trace the flat of the blade, from base to tip. Akaibara blazed to life with another echoing ring, the blade shining like a red star. Ruby went into a spin, the blade of her sword seeming to merge with the edge of her cloak as she brought it around in a wide slash. "_Kazebara!_"

The edge created by Ruby's slash cleaved straight through the incoming beam of Cinder's attack, splitting it in two around her. The split beam rushed past her on both sides, each half of the attack containing enough force to continue on, punching through the ceiling, and out through the wall behind it, twin beams lancing out and lighting up the night sky.

Cinder gaped in horror. She could scarcely believe that Ruby had just defeated an attack that powerful. However, fending off Cinder's attack had kept Ruby landing her own. Touching down in front of Cinder, the pair found their duel pausing for the briefest of seconds. In that second...things suddenly became much more difficult for both of them.

The elevator doors behind Jaune sounded, then opened once again. Looking over his shoulder, Jaune gasped in surprise to see none other than General Ironwood, striding forth from within the elevator, accompanied by a squad of his own soldiers, the armored men fanning out along the wall, training their rifles on the crouched figure of Cinder. They were joined by Ironwood, who reached into his jacket and drew out a large revolver, which he then trained on the black-garbed woman.

"Surrender now!" demanded Ironwood.

The arrival of Ironwood and his soldiers had drawn both Cinder and Ruby's attention. As her gaze and awareness shifted towards the new arrivals, Ruby abruptly noticed something she had overlooked before. Cinder had fired three arrows at Jaune. But only one of the Dust-infused projectiles had actually exploded. The other two had shattered into glasslike fragments, fragments that were now scattered across the floor around Jaune, some of the soldiers even stepping on those fragments as they deployed along the wall. Just as she had sensed before, with the arrows that Cinder had fired earlier, Ruby realized that each of those pieces still contained the full destructive power that Cinder had infused into her original attack. She didn't need to see the smirk that spread across Cinder's face to know what was coming next.

Defeating or subduing Cinder was forgotten. Ruby turned away, lunging towards the assembled soldiers, using another terminal as a platform to step off of to launch herself over all remaining impediments. "Look out!" she screamed, her expression wild and frantic.

Behind her, Cinder raised her right hand. A sinister keening noise filled the air again.

Jaune heard the sound, felt the bloom of heat at the level of his legs, rising upward. He met Ruby's expression, and saw her fear. Ruby realized she couldn't protect all the soldiers. They had fanned out to either side of Jaune and Ironwood, making her unable to reach both groups. Her frantic gaze met Jaune's and, somehow, he understood what she wanted, without even needing to exchange words. Shifting back, Jaune threw himself bodily against the nearest soldier, prompting him to stumble into his comrade, setting off a chain reaction that had all the soldiers bunching up into a group, Jaune continuing to press against them, pushing them away from the glowing shards on the floor, while raising his shield.

Despite his efforts, Jaune knew he wasn't going to be able to do much good. Even if he got the soldiers bunched up behind him, there was just too much space to cover. At best, his shield would cover part of his body, while his Aura did the rest. He would be protected, but all the soldiers who were directly behind him would still be caught in the blast. In spite of this realization, a thrill of determination rushed through Jaune. Ruby was counting on him to protect these men. He was a Huntsman, and he'd be damned if he let her down. _I _will_ protect them._

He wasn't sure what happened next. All of a sudden, he felt...something...from the shield on his left arm. He couldn't quite put words to it. All he could say was that it was a feeling of affirmation. The next thing he knew, a ringing sound reached his ears, a sound that reminded him of the ring that issued forth from Ruby's sword, whenever she tapped into its Aura. The next thing he knew, Jaune's entire world went white.

Across from him, Ruby threw herself in front of the other group of soldiers, her sudden appearance prompting them to lurch backwards, while Ruby flared her cloak out to either side, channeling every last ounce of Aura she had left into the move, the red garment swelling to encompass the entire squad of men, while the intensity of the light and heat emitting from the fragments of Cinder's arrows reached their peak.

A wave of explosions erupted across the space in front of the elevators, filling the air with flames and smoke. The shockwaves shook the tower's entire structure. The windows ringing the wall shattered outwards, sending fragments of glass scattering into the empty courtyard below.

* * *

**The idea for Ruby to use her heels as weapons comes from the OEL-Manga series, _Amazing Agent Luna_. It's a cute little series and a fun read, but the part that jumped out at me was near the end, where one of the characters is confronted outside of a wedding by her enemy, wearing a dress and heels. Rather than fight _in_ the heels, she instead pulls them off and uses them as weapons, which I found to be a brilliant idea. Ruby, of course, has it even better, since she has Aura. Of course, it's tricky to remember that shoes, most of the time, are not actual weapons, so Ruby would have to be a lot better than she is to fight like she does, and _not_ ultimately wind up burning them to a crisp.**

**Of course, unlike her canon self, this version of Ruby is a bit more skilled at fighting without her signature weapon. She's still a long ways from her best, but nowhere near as hopeless as her canon self was at this point in time.**

**As for Cinder...confirmation-bias is a scary thing. Aside from that, while the show has her doing some pretty impressive stuff, even before she fully takes Amber's powers, we're really left guessing, during Volumes 1-3, how much of what she does is the result of magic, and how much she uses Dust for. It was apparent to me at least that Cinder was mixing the two to make up for the fact that she hasn't stolen _all_ of Amber's power yet. The result is that she gets fairly creative.**


	69. Chapter 69

**Chapter 69:**

Then it was over. Ruby's cloak returned to its normal size, now looking completely ragged and worn, holes marring its entire surface. With a tired gasp, Ruby collapsed to her knees, Bara and Ibara clattering against the floor as Ruby planted her hands, holding herself up to keep from falling over completely. Behind her, the flare of white that had surged forth from Jaune's shield faded, leaving him feeling winded, like he'd just run for miles. He doubled over, gasping for breath.

Of the two groups of soldiers they'd rushed to save, not a single scratch was to be found.

Of Cinder...there was no sign. She had vanished from where she'd been crouched, leaving no trace of her behind.

The smoke continued to dissipate, prompting Ruby and Jaune to look up in the direction of the one person they'd made no effort to protect, primarily because he was the one _least_ in need of their protection. Ironwood had been standing, dead-center, and took the full force of the blast, stepping back and raising his right arm in a guard position. When the smoke cleared, Ruby and Jaune were shocked to see the lights from overhead gleaming off of metal surfaces. Ironwood's jacket and pants had been scorched away, revealing that almost his entire right side, from the neck down, was cybernetic.

Stepping forward, Ironwood surveyed the empty room with a cold gaze. Ruby could feel frustration welling up from within him at the loss of their quarry. She was slightly worried that said frustration would soon be turned on her and Jaune. But then Ironwood let out his breath with a sigh, lowering his head with an expression of disappointment, but his anger fading.

Turning, he surveyed the condition of his men, before turning his gaze to Jaune, then Ruby. "It would seem she got away," he said.

"'Fraid so," said Ruby, feeling more than a little disappointed herself, mainly because she thought she'd almost had Cinder on the ropes for a moment, before things had abruptly changed.

Ironwood's expression was stony. Nonetheless, he transferred his revolver to his robotic right hand, and rested his flesh and blood one on Ruby's shoulder. "You've done enough this evening," he said, his tone conveying reassurance, rather than a rebuke. "Get some rest. We'll call you over for a debriefing tomorrow."

"All right," said Ruby tiredly. She tried to get to her feet, but couldn't find the energy to do so.

Sheathing his sword, and returning Crocea Mors to his waist, Jaune lumbered over, cautiously bending down and offering her a hand up, his caution mainly to keep from overbalancing and falling over himself. Fortunately, he had enough strength remaining to pull Ruby back to her feet. Once she was upright, she rejoined her swords, then sheathed Akaibara, her cloak dissolving into scattering petals, leaving her shoulders bare once more. Leaning heavily against Jaune, she allowed him to guide her towards the elevator.

Behind them, Ironwood's troops fanned out, looking for evidence of their culprit. Ironwood was already speaking into his scroll, issuing orders for more men below to search for any sign of Cinder's escape outside the tower. Ruby knew better than to think they would find any. In the moment she'd been focused completely on keeping the soldiers safe, she'd lost all track of Cinder's presence, no matter how distinctive it was. And now that presence had vanished. Cinder was gone.

The elevator doors closed, leaving Ruby and Jaune alone. Ruby noted that the unconscious soldiers from earlier were gone, Ironwood's people having apparently removed them. However, that was a secondary concern. Right now, she was too busy feeling tired. She leaned back against Jaune, taking solace in the sensation of his chest pressed up against her back. Jaune slipped his arms around her front, hugging her to him. Tilting her head back, Ruby smiled contentedly, feeling Jaune gently nuzzle into her hair.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"I'm just glad I made it in time," Jaune said back, his arms tightening around Ruby's waist. "You gave me a scare."

"Sorry..."

"Well, it's _you_, so I'm not all that surprised," said Jaune wryly, making Ruby squeak and blush.

The elevator doors opened into the lobby, Ruby and Jaune stepping out. There, they noticed more of Ironwood's soldiers, talking to one another in clipped tones. The unconscious ones had been pulled aside, and were being seen to by medics. Now that she had the time, Ruby wished she had the Aura to help. But she was tapped out at the moment. As it was, there was no way she could even _walk_ without Jaune's assistance.

To their relief, none of the soldiers paid them any mind, possibly having received word from above that they weren't to be bothered. Reaching the tower entrance, Ruby surveyed the courtyard dubiously, her eyes looking out towards the line of the student dormitories. It was normally a fairly short walk, but seemed so much longer to her, in her current state. On top of that, she could feel the holes she'd worn through her stockings. Without any Aura left to protect her feet from the rough ground, the trip looked to be even more unpleasant.

Then Jaune bent down to hook one arm behind her knees, before straightening back up, prompting a squeak as he hefted Ruby in his arms.

"I've gotcha," said Jaune, smiling reassuringly at her.

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby.

"Yep," replied Jaune. "I felt a little bit drained at first, but fine now."

Considering the incredible reserves of Aura Jaune possessed, Ruby wasn't so surprised. Even if fending off Cinder's explosions had left a serious dent in them, Jaune was probably still a long ways from being tapped out. With a contented sigh, Ruby rested her head against his shoulder.

No more words needing to be spoken, they set out, Ruby nearly falling asleep in Jaune's arms.

* * *

"Did you have a good time?" asked Weiss, escorting Ashley back to her family's quarters.

"It was wonderful!" Ashley exclaimed, beaming at Weiss. "I can't thank you enough for taking me."

Weiss smiled, her cheeks coloring a bit. Even though they'd left the ballroom behind, the pair continued to keep their arms linked, as though afraid to let go. Weiss couldn't even say for certain what about Ashley appealed to her so much. She was a civilian, without anything remarkable to really lay claim to. Even her admission into a relatively exclusive school in Vale was practically beneath mundane to someone of Weiss' status. There was virtually no comparison between the fairly high-level school Ashley had been admitted to and the ludicrously exclusive schools Weiss could have attended in Atlas, had she not been completely homeschooled. And yet...there was something, something that made it so that Weiss didn't want to pull away, didn't want this wonderful night to end.

Going with Ashley was far beyond a mere consolation for not being able to go with Neptune. If anything, Weiss felt she was happier with Ashley than she ever would have been with Neptune, so she didn't know what to make of the fluttering feeling in her chest at the contact between their arms, at the closeness of their bodies.

They reached the entrance to the faculty quarters, Weiss escorting Ashley through its hallways to the door of the suite she shared with her parents. There, Ashley turned so that they were facing each other, reaching out to take Weiss' hands in her own. For a moment, they stared at each other, neither sure of what to do.

Then, abruptly, Ashley leaned forward to capture Weiss' lips with a kiss. Weiss' eyes widened in surprise at the contact, then fluttered, then slowly closed, Weiss leaning back into the kiss, her hands tightening their grip on Ashley's own.

The sensation sent excitement rushing through Weiss' body, making her tingle from top to bottom, goosebumps spreading over her skin with a shiver. This feeling, it was wonderful, intoxicating..._wrong_.

They pulled away slowly...reluctantly...their cheeks flushed, their hearts thudding inside their chests, their breathing speeding up. The look in Ashley's eyes indicated she wanted to continue, to bring their lips together again. Weiss felt a similar impulse well up within her. But reality reared its ugly head within the depths of her rational mind, and quashed the impulse against all her reluctance.

"Ashley..." said Weiss, her nervousness spreading to her voice. "We...w-we can't..."

"Wha-what do you mean?" asked Ashley, stepping back nervously, letting go of Weiss' hands. Her blush deepened and she quickly brought her palms to her face. "Oh God! Don't tell me I just kissed a straight girl again."

In spite of herself, Weiss couldn't quite keep a giggle down at the memory of Ashley being awkwardly turned down by Ruby. Clamping down on her mirth, she tried to keep a reassuring smile on her face. "That's...not it," she said. "I'm a bit more, uh..."

"You're bi?" Ashley asked to clarify.

Weiss nodded.

"Then why?" asked Ashley plaintively, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.

Fighting back tears herself, Weiss turned away, forcing her gaze to the wall across the hall from them. "This is just a bad idea," she said. "I'm sorry...but we...we wouldn't work out."

"Because you're a Schnee?" Ashley guessed.

"Yes," breathed Weiss, slumping slightly, her head and shoulders drooping.

"I...I guess that makes sense," said Ashley, a melancholy warble making its way into her voice. "Y-you're a different class of person, after all."

"That's not it!" said Weiss hurriedly, quickly turning back to Ashley. "I'm _not_ too good for you," she said. "You're a wonderful person, Ashley, and I'd feel privileged to be with you."

"Then why?" asked Ashley.

"It's just..." Weiss sighed. "M-my father. If he found out about us..."

"You'd be in trouble," guessed Ashley.

"That's putting it mildly," said Weiss, looking back up. "Please understand. If it was just about his anger and displeasure, I wouldn't give a damn. But...but...he'd..." She paused, her mind searching for a way to put this that didn't make it sound completely selfish. In the end, all she could do was be frank. "He'd disinherit me. I wouldn't be able to take over the company."

True to Weiss' expectations, Ashley's expression fell. "Oh..." she said. "I guess it was silly of me to think I mattered more than that."

"That's not it!" protested Weiss, gripping Ashley's forearms. "I _need_ to take over the company. What my father's done, the things he's gotten away with, he has to be _stopped_, and I'm the one to do it. But I can't do anything if I get disinherited. I won't be able to help any of the faunus he's exploited. I'd just be leaving them to their fate."

"Does it _have_ to be you?" asked Ashley.

"Yes," said Weiss sadly. "Winter has already been disinherited. And, if Father does the same to me, then Whitley will get the company, and there's no way he would want to change anything. He's just like Father. If anything, he might be worse."

"I-I guess that would be important," said Ashley, now feeling like she was the one being unreasonably selfish, for wanting to take away Weiss' chance to help the faunus oppressed by the SDC.

"Th-there's more than that," said Weiss. "If we had a relationship, if word got out, then..." Weiss shuddered. "You have no idea of the scandal, the humiliation. In Atlas, in those circles, it would be a travesty."

"You're afraid of their reaction?" asked Ashley incredulously.

"It's not them I'm afraid of," said Weiss insistently, "it's Father. He won't tolerate anything that could be damaging to the company's image. Ashley, you don't understand; all the things you've heard about him, they don't do him justice. My father is a _monster_! And if he thinks that something is a threat to his image, or the company's image, then he will do _anything_ to make it go away.

"His first resort will be to throw money at it, to use bribes. If that doesn't work, he'll resort to blackmail and extortion. If that isn't feasible, then he'll use more direct methods. The next time, it won't be a mob of faunus extremists, led and mismanaged by a manchild with a grudge. It'll be a team of SDC troubleshooters with no compunctions about holding back."

A shudder of fear ran down Ashley's spine.

Weiss sniffed hard. "I can't...I can't put you at risk of that. I don't have the power to protect you from Father, and we can't keep you locked up at Beacon forever. That's why...that's why..." Weiss sobbed, tears spilling down her face. "I'm sorry!"

Unable to resist, Ashley hugged Weiss tightly. Despite her own reluctance, Weiss' arms almost automatically rose up to return the embrace, the two of them clinging to each other. Pulling away, Weiss looked into Ashley's eyes, the other girl shedding tears as well. Against her reservations, against the rational voice within her screaming for her to stop, to not let this go an inch further, Weiss found herself drawn in by the look in Ashley's eyes. Their lips came together once more, the pair clinging to each other with an intensity that bordered on desperation.

When they pulled away, Ashley was still smiling. "E-even with what you said," she stammered, "even if it's selfish...I still...I still want to try."

Weiss sniffed, a reluctant smile making its way to her face, her heart kicking her head to the side. "So do I," she admitted. "B-but...we'd have to keep it secret. Your family and my friends are one thing, but we can't let anyone else find out about it. Your life could be at stake."

"I...I know," said Ashley, looking away, feeling guilt well up within her, not for Weiss, but for the risk this put her parents in too. Once again, they would be under threat, simply by virtue of being related to her.

Weiss' hands went up to Ashley's cheeks, pulling their heads together. This time, Weiss rested her forehead against Ashley's. "We need to be careful," she said.

"And what about tonight?" asked Ashley. "All those people saw us together at the dance."

Weiss shook her head. "Friends dance together all the time," she said. "It won't be a big deal. If Father hears about that, well..." Weiss paused for a second. "It's hurtful to say it, but we'll just say you're a charity case."

"A charity case?" asked Ashley, feeling a bit miffed, despite knowing that wasn't how Weiss really felt.

Weiss nodded. "You went through a rough spot, because you were targeted by the White Fang. I took you to the dance as an act of kindness, to help you feel better." An uncharacteristically crooked smile spread across her face. "Father might actually love that; the heiress to the SDC, comforting and escorting an innocent faunus, marked for death by the White Fang. That's the kind of positive press that he'd pay money for."

The idea prompted a giggle from Ashley. "When you put it like that, it certainly sounds like a good idea."

Weiss turned a wry smile on her new, secret, girlfriend. "And...it'll make it a bit easier for us to...do things...together," she said.

"R-right," said Ashley. "So then..."

"Y-yeah," said Weiss.

There was another pause, then they leaned in again, exchanging one last kiss. Pulling away, Weiss smiled and wiped her tears. "I guess this is goodnight," she said.

"R-right," said Ashley reluctantly.

After another moment's hesitation, they let go of each other. Weiss took a reluctant step backwards. Just as hesitantly and awkwardly, Ashley opened the door, then shuffled inside her family's room. The door closed, leaving Weiss alone in the hall, staring at it. For a moment, Weiss stood there silently, unable to will herself to move. Then she turned around, her movements jerky and unsteady, before marching down the hall.

Just a few steps into her walk, Weiss paused, then turned towards the wall. Leaning towards it, she held herself up with one hand her head drooping, a tired sigh issuing forth from her lips. _I am _such_ an idiot,_ she berated herself harshly.

* * *

By the time they arrived at their room, Ruby felt well enough that she could stand on her own. Jaune set her down, before turning away to set Crocea Mors aside. He'd get it back into its locker later, when said locker was returned to the locker room. Setting the sword on his desk, Jaune was about to pull off his suit jacket, when he felt a light tug on his sleeve. Turning around, Jaune was surprised to see Ruby looking at him.

"Jaune..." said Ruby nervously, looking nervous...and ashamed, "...I'm sorry."

"Huh?" Jaune blinked in confusion, drawing back slightly. "Sorry for what?"

"You were having such a good time," said Ruby, looking down. "But then, I saw that woman and..."

"_That's_ what you're apologizing for?" asked Jaune. Stepping forward, Jaune rested his hands on Ruby's shoulders. "Ruby, that's the _last_ thing you need to apologize for."

"But I-" Ruby began to protest.

"Ruby, you're a Huntress," said Jaune firmly. "Well...maybe not officially...but you're definitely one at heart. You can't ignore a situation, just because of some silly social event. I don't know what that woman was up to, but it's obvious that she was trouble. And I'd be stupid to get angry, just because _you_ were the one who tried to stop her." He chuckled. "If I was bothered by that, do you think I would've gone through the trouble of getting your sword?"

Ruby figured that he would, even if he was bothered. Jaune was just _that_ kind and helpful a person. But she found herself smiling, nonetheless.

"Ruby, that dedication, that determination..." Jaune moved his right hand to gently cup her chin and raise her face, so that her eyes met his. "...those are the things I admire most about you. I could _never_ hate you for that. Even if it miffs me a little that that lady spoiled our moment, I _can't_ not like you, no matter how many times something like that crops up."

"R-really?" gasped Ruby, her eyes going wide, her cheeks reddening.

Jaune let out a weak chuckle, feeling his own cheeks heat up. _Well...no point in beating around the bush now._ "Ruby...I can't really deny it. I'm crazy for you."

Ruby gasped even more loudly, the vivid red of her cheeks matching the color of her dress.

Letting go of Ruby's chin, Jaune averted his eyes now, having to draw upon all his courage to say what came next. "I really liked dancing with you, Ruby. And...well...I guess I want to do more than just go to a dance with you. I...well...I..." He sighed. He couldn't think of a way to ask this that didn't sound awkward. Of course, maybe that was just a sign of how awkward he was. "Ruby, I...I'd like to be more than just friends, more than partners. W-would you be...my...my girlfriend?"

The sudden and powerful intake of breath from Ruby was more than Jaune had been expecting. And he definitely hadn't been expecting Ruby to suddenly surge forward, throwing her arms around his shoulders, and hugging him tightly, he certainly couldn't complain about it either. Reflexively, Jaune's arms circled Ruby's waist, holding her tight, as his ears rang from her shouts.

"Yes!" exclaimed Ruby. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! I'd love to be your girlfriend!"

Jaune rocked backward from the impact of Ruby's deceptively small form against him. All he could do was hold on with all his might. Once he recovered his balance, Jaune found himself staring into Ruby's eyes once again, marveling at their magnificent color. Ruby was staring back at him, just as transfixed. Slowly, their faces began to drift towards one another.

This time, there were no interruptions.

Their lips connected. The touch was light, tentative at first. Pulling away, Jaune and Ruby stared at each other again. Then, unable to help themselves, their lips came back together. This time, they pressed into the kiss. Jaune marveled at the softness of Ruby's lips, as he massaged them against his own. His hold on her tightened, pulling Ruby's body flush against his front, while Ruby's hands drifted up to his hair, pulling him in even tighter.

For several moments, the only sound in the dorm room was the gentle smacking of their lips parting, after coming together, over and over again. One of Jaune's hands drifted up Ruby's back, his fingers lightly tracing her spine, before reaching her shoulder, and gripping it tight, while his other drifted lower, pulling Ruby in more so that she was bent back slightly in Jaune's arms.

Pulling away from each other, Jaune realized that he was feeling hot, feverish even. Just one taste, and he was already addicted. He wanted to hold Ruby tighter, to feel more of her..._Uh oh,_ he thought, feeling a certain part of him responding to the idea. "Uh...R-Ruby...I think, maybe...um..."

"That's enough for tonight?" guessed Ruby, feeling more than a little excited herself, particularly two sections of her body.

"Y-yeah...We wouldn't want to...uh...get...you know..."

"Frisky?" guessed Ruby, raising an eyebrow, a wry smile appearing on her face. Seeing Jaune flush, she giggled. "I know."

"Y-you do?" asked Jaune.

Ruby's expression flashed from amused to deadpan in a heartbeat. "Jaune, my big sister-er-my _other_ big sister-is a healer...who knows almost _everything_ about human and faunus physiology. Trust me, no one can give _The Talk_ quite like Sasame-nee can."

"O-oh," said Jaune.

Ruby exhaled through her nostrils in an amused sigh, and then leaned forward again. This time, she wasn't bringing her face to Jaune's, instead tucking her head up against his shoulder, under the crook of his neck, allowing Jaune to rest his chin over her head. For now, they simply held each other. The fever from earlier subsided, and the two of them sank into the milder warmth of the comfort they found in each other's arms.

Through that contact, Jaune felt Ruby's body beginning to tremble. At first, he wondered if it was excitement or nerves. But then, looking down, he saw her legs quivering, struggling to keep her up. "Ruby, I think it's time for bed," he said.

Having a very good feel for her own body's condition, Ruby was hard-pressed to disagree. "Yeah," she said disappointedly, releasing her hold on Jaune. They parted, Jaune resting his hands on her shoulders again.

"Go ahead and get ready," said Jaune. "You're the one who did the heavy lifting tonight."

Ruby nodded, pulling Akaibara out of her sash, and resting it on its rack once more. Taking her pajamas into the bathroom, Ruby went through the process of getting ready for bed, including a rather lengthy shower to wash away the sweat and soot from the fight against the fire-wielding woman. By the time she'd finished, her body was feeling heavy and leaden. Emerging from the bathroom in her pajamas, Ruby gladly allowed Jaune to take his turn.

When Jaune had finished and emerged, clad in his onesie, he was surprised to see that Ruby hadn't crawled beneath the covers of her bed, but was instead sitting on the side of _his_ bed. "Ruby...?"

Ruby looked up at him with a plaintive expression. "Jaune...I know we've only just started," she said, sounding nervous, "but...tonight...can we...can we...uh...?"

Jaune looked down into her eyes, and found himself facing a plaintive expression that was practically a weapon every bit as dangerous as her sword, in its own way. He couldn't bring himself to say no to a look like that. "Sure," he said, before taking on a serious look. "But I'm telling you now, if-God forbid-Yang finds us like this, I'm depending on you to protect me."

"Sure," said Ruby.

"You're also going to be getting the brunt of whatever lecture Weiss subjects us to, when she sees us," he added.

Ruby giggled at that. "Okay," she said. Then she held out her arms to him.

Jaune sighed, and pulled Ruby up, so that he could pull back the covers on his bed. After turning out the lights, he got in first, then held the covers up as Ruby crawled in after him. After some shifting around to get situated, Jaune wrapped his arms around Ruby and pulled her up against him. Ruby tucked her head in under his chin, and rested it against his shoulder with a happy sigh, hugging him back in return. Secure in the incredible comfort of their embrace, the pair of them drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

* * *

Pyrrha hummed happily as she made her way down the hallway. Tonight had been a grand experience. She and Dove had spent most of the evening dancing away. Just the realization that someone was willing to be with her like that was intoxicating. She hadn't wanted the evening to end. Sadly, it ultimately had to, Pyrrha escorting Dove back to his dorm room, then seeing him off with a polite kiss to the cheek.

Hilariously, upon arrival at CRDL's room, they had looked in to see the other three members of Dove's team down for the count, collapsed across their beds, so completely exhausted that they hadn't even bothered to remove their suits. Apparently, Yang had exhausted all three of them, even when they had taken turns dancing with her, which Pyrrha suspected had been Yang's intention the whole time...perhaps as punishment for the boys' earlier behavior and attitude, if only a playful kind.

It had been a wonderful experience, and Pyrrha had more than enjoyed Dove's company. She wasn't sure if they would ever be anything more than friends, but she was willing to find out, which was far more than she could have ever said about any potential relationships in the past.

Arriving at the door to RASP's room, Pyrrha was surprised to see Weiss approaching from the other direction. She knew that Weiss and Ashley had left before she and Dove had. She supposed that the extra distance between the faculty quarters and the dorms explained why they'd reached their room at nearly the same time. Pyrrha smiled at her partner and friend. But that smile quickly faltered when she saw the red beneath Weiss' eyes, and the tear tracks left in her mascara. "Weiss...is everything okay?"

Weiss looked up at Pyrrha, and smiled brightly. But that only made Pyrrha frown. A master of the polite smile, Pyrrha could recognize a mask when she saw one. Weiss' mask cracked almost immediately. It looked as though Weiss wanted to pretend everything was fine. But couldn't find it in herself to do so.

"N-no," said Weiss, looking at the wall, and sniffing hard.

"What happened?" asked Pyrrha. "Is Ashley all right?"

"She...she's all right," Weiss replied, looking up again. "B-but, when we got back, things got...we got..."

"Did Ashley try to hook up with you?" asked Pyrrha, remembering how that had gone with Ruby.

"Y-yes," replied Weiss, her body shuddering.

"And you turned her down?" guessed Pyrrha. That would certainly explain why Weiss was upset. She and Ashley had clearly been having a good time together, so it would hurt to let Ashley down a second time, after Ruby.

"Worse," said Weiss, her voice dropping down to a whisper. "I...I said yes."

"Huh?" Pyrrha canted her head, staring incredulously at Weiss. "But...but that's _wonderful_, Weiss! Why would you be upset about that?"

"Because it's boneheaded and stupid!" snapped Weiss, looking up at Pyrrha. "If Father were to find out that I'm in a relationship with a faunus, I can say goodbye to my inheritance, and any chance to save my family's name. Worse, Ashley and her family would be put at risk all over again! But...but I...I..."

"But it felt too right," said Pyrrha, stepping closer and pulling Weiss into a hug. "Even if your head told you it was stupid, your heart wouldn't allow you to stay away. It's all right."

"But it's _not_," Weiss protested, even as she leaned into the embrace and hugged Pyrrha back. "I'm putting Ashley at risk like this. I can't protect her from Father...not by myself."

"Who said you'd be doing it by yourself?" asked Pyrrha, prompting Weiss to pull back enough that their gazes to meet. Pyrrha firmed her expression, taking on a look of stern determination. "Weiss, right here, you have seven people who are willing to stand with you and help you. You know Ruby would fight off the entire Atlesian military to protect Ashley, right?"

Weiss sniffled and nodded, unable to keep a ragged giggle from rising up in her throat.

"We won't let you face your Father alone," Pyrrha promised her. "We'll do whatever we can to help you. So don't give up on your own happiness so easily."

"I...I'll try," Weiss conceded.

"Good," said Pyrrha, raising her hands and using her thumbs to wipe away Weiss' tears. "That's enough for tonight. We need to get some rest. Our mission starts Monday...and it's going to be a doozy."

"You're right," said Weiss.

They opened the door to a dark dorm room. That wasn't a surprise. If Ruby and Jaune had come back earlier, and gone to bed, then of course the lights would be out. Weiss carefully made her way over to one of the desks, and turned on the lamp to its lowest level, giving off just enough light for her and Pyrrha to see by, but not enough that it would disturb the two sleepers, hopefully.

Immediately, they realized that something was off. The covers on Ruby's bed were undisturbed, but the lump beneath Jaune's covers indicated that he had come back, at least. But it made Weiss and Pyrrha wonder where Ruby had gone...until Pyrrha leaned over and realized that Jaune wasn't the _only_ one in his bed.

Unable to help herself, Pyrrha found her face breaking into a happy and amused smile as he saw Jaune and Ruby, fast asleep, clearly holding each other tight beneath the covers, the pair of them out cold, not having even twitched at the sound or light from Weiss and Pyrrha's arrival.

"At least something good happened for somebody," Pyrrha whispered in an aside to Weiss.

For her part, Weiss frowned imperiously, and started forward, her high-class upbringing coming to the fore. However, she stopped when Pyrrha grabbed her gently, but firmly, by the shoulder.

"Don't wake them," Pyrrha said, still keeping her voice down. "Let them have this, for tonight at least."

Weiss looked at Pyrrha, then down at the cuddling pair, taking in the blissfully peaceful expression on Ruby's face. Slowly, she exhaled in a resigned sigh. "Fine," she conceded.

While Weiss went to use the shower, Pyrrha got out her scroll and snapped a picture of the sleeping couple, resolving to send it to Yang, sometime tomorrow, when Ruby would be awake enough to defend Jaune from the initial surge of her older sister's overprotective instincts. Once Yang got over that, Pyrrha was sure that she would find the sight just as cute as Pyrrha herself did. On top of that, Sasame would probably want to see it too. And it would be something that they would be able to tease the newly-minted couple with for weeks to come.

All told, it had definitely been a good night.

* * *

Even after getting safely back to her room, Cinder hadn't found the energy to change out of her infiltration outfit. Instead, she'd collapsed onto her bed, leaning back against the wall, her breath coming in slow pants. Her hair was ragged and matted with sweat.

After escaping from Beacon Tower, the plan had been to rendezvous with Mercury and Emerald at the dance, the other two providing the alibi Cinder needed to ensure that no one suspected she had been anywhere _but_ the ballroom that night.

But now, there was no way Cinder could put on an appearance in the ballroom, not looking like she'd been through a full marathon. She'd equipped her outfit to transform into her formal dress. But there was nothing she could have done about how ragged and worn she currently looked. People would have undoubtedly noticed and, even with Emerald and Mercury vouching for her, would have had a hard time believing that she'd _only_ been dancing that evening.

_That girl..._ thought Cinder, biting at her thumbnail, _...I'm sure of it. She's one of _them_, a Maiden. There's another Maiden here, at Beacon Academy._

It was the only way Cinder could explain it. Ruby Rose had done an admirable job of clinging to her cover. But, once she'd gotten a proper weapon into her hands, she'd relinquished enough of her restraint to play her hand. Cinder had seen it clearly enough, the awesome power of nature itself unleashed, a power that had allowed her to cleave through one of the strongest attacks Cinder had ever used. _There's no other explanation._

Knowing that, Cinder's path was clear. _We need to secure her...somehow._ The question was how and when. In her present situation, Ruby would always be under someone's eye. She wouldn't be missing for long, before Ozpin bent all his resources towards looking for her, assuming there was a way to take her, while she was on campus to begin with. It certainly wouldn't be an easy task. If anything, Cinder thought that Ruby might have been more dangerous than the Fall Maiden had been. Still, with the proper plan...

The door to her room opened with a click. Cinder looked up to see Emerald and Mercury file in, the pair of them looking confused.

"We missed you at the dance," Mercury pointed out.

"Something came up," said Cinder.

"Any problems?" asked Mercury.

"Everything went smoothly enough," said Cinder, a smile finding its way onto her face. "The job is done."

"Are you all right?" asked Emerald, worried by how ragged Cinder looked.

"_Better_ than all right," cooed Cinder. "I've confirmed the identity of our dear Rose. There's no doubt in my mind now. She's one of _them_."

Emerald and Mercury exchanged bemused looks. "But Beacon already has the Fall Maiden," said Emerald. "Why would one of the others be here?"

"That should be one of the things we'll want to find out," said Cinder. "Fortunately, we now have the means to start looking."

* * *

Jaune hummed softly as he awakened. As he did, he slowly became conscious of a weight up against him, his arms wrapped around something soft and pleasant, which was also pressed up against his side. His chin was nestled up against something silky and smooth, with a faintly floral scent. As he began to stir, he could sense movement from the weight beside him.

_Oh...right...Ruby..._ Jaune's memory, faulty first thing in the morning, was beginning to dredge up the details of last night: the dance, the woman, the fight, his confession, their kiss...

Looking down, Jaune's blue eyes slowly opened, finding a pair of silver ones staring back as Ruby looked up at him. Their cheeks were both pink as they stared at each other. Finally, after a long moment, the corners of Ruby's mouth curled up in a lazy smile. "'Morning," she said.

"'Morning," agreed Jaune, smiling back, as something clicked in the background.

The sight of Ruby's face, with such a sleepy, yet happy expression, caused overflowing affection to well up from within Jaune. Before he could even think to stop himself, he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss. Ruby hummed in delight, and returned the gesture, their arms tightening their hold on each other, while their legs tangled together beneath the blankets. They pulled back away from each other, another click sounding as their lips parted.

"I guess it's time to get up," said Ruby.

"It's Sunday," Jaune pointed out. "We don't have to get up yet."

Ruby giggled giddily, loving the idea of spending more of the morning cuddling with Jaune. However, she knew it wasn't to be. For all she knew, it would only be a matter of moments before she'd be called to see Ozpin and Ironwood about the events of the previous night.

Unfortunately, there were _other_ concerns to address first, as a polite, yet insistent, "Ahem," sounded from behind them.

Ruby and Jaune froze, their eyes going wide as they realized that they were not alone. Swallowing nervously, Jaune pulled his head back, and looked up, while Ruby turned hers around to do the same. Their mortification was combined with a complete lack of surprise as they saw Weiss and Pyrrha there, perched on the edge of Pyrrha's bed, watching the other pair. Both girls were still in their nightgowns, and their expressions, as they took in the tender scene playing out before them, were a study in contrasts.

Weiss' expression was a stony, barely a step down from outright disapproval, not quite frowning, but definitely not smiling. Next to her, Pyrrha smiled...dangerously. It was hard to imagine _Pyrrha Nikos_, of all people, looking like the cat that just ate the canary, but she pulled the look off with impressive aplomb. And, seeing the scroll in her hand, it wasn't hard to imagine why she looked so pleased with herself, Jaune and Ruby realizing just what those clicks earlier had been.

"Uh..." grunted Jaune.

"Finally awake, I see," said Weiss, speaking in a cool tone.

"Um..." squeaked Ruby, her cheeks heating up to the point she thought they would burst into flame.

Pyrrha giggled at the deer-in-the-headlights look the couple was giving her and Weiss.

"Well then, now that you're finally conscious, I believe we need to have a talk," said Weiss firmly.

Ruby squeaked again, then dove beneath the blankets, pulling them up over her head. Jaune looked down in amused consternation. "Hey! Don't leave me alone with them!"

"Ruby Rose, you can't hide from this," declared Weiss imperiously. "Come out of that bed, right now!"

"Never!" came the muffled cry from beneath the blanket.

"I could always send these pictures to Yang," suggested Pyrrha, beaming with dangerous innocence. "I'm sure that she'd _love_ to see how happy the two of you are."

"Noooooo!" wailed Ruby.

"Yeah...I'd like to keep my teeth intact," added Jaune uneasily.

"Then come out," demanded Weiss.

After a long pause, Ruby's voice returned with a muffled, "Fine." A moment's squirming later, she popped her head out from beneath the covers, drawing another bout of laughter from Pyrrha at the tangled state of her hair and the petulant look on her face.

"Good," said Weiss. "Now...out. I assume you're at least wearing your pajamas."

"Yeah," grumbled Ruby, crawling out from beneath the blankets to sit on the edge of the bed, Jaune joining her.

"Good," said Weiss with a huff, folding her arms across her chest. "Now, since it's apparent that the two of you are _more_ than just partners right now, I believe it's important that we establish some ground rules."

"All right," said Ruby, sighing resignedly.

"First things first, you two did leave the dance rather early last night," noted Weiss, remembering that she'd lost track of them at least three hours before the dance officially wound down for the night. "I am hoping that it _wasn't_ because the two of you chose to be intimate with each other, while we weren't in the room."

Jaune blushed, but Ruby huffed. "No, we didn't have sex," she confirmed.

"Good," said Weiss. "That had better remain the case for the foreseeable future. Just in case I was not clear enough, you two are not to engage in any such...relations."

"We weren't planning on it," said Ruby, Jaune nodding stiffly and nervously beside her.

"Yes, well...I've often heard that something like that can end up being quite spontaneous," said Weiss, nodding to herself. "Therefore, we shall make it clear that you are planning to _not _do that."

"Weiss...that's a little far," Pyrrha pointed out. "They only just got together last night."

"And look at them now," Weiss retorted. "They're already sharing a bed.

"It would be one thing if the two of them were on separate teams, where they'd normally be staying in separate rooms. But they're on the _same_ team, in the _same_ room. They're partners too. Because of that, they have to deal with extra temptation. _Someone_ has to set some boundaries."

Weiss returned her gaze to Ruby and Jaune. "Now then, let me make this clear. I get the feeling the two of you will do well together. However, you need to exercise some restraint. So...you will only be allowed to sleep in the same bed on weekend evenings. No...canoodling...on weeknights. Is that understood?"

"We understand," said Ruby, surprisingly firmly.

Weiss sighed. "Very well then. At this point, that's all I can ask. This is a shared space, after all, so you need to be mindful that you two are not the _only_ people using this room."

"We know, Weiss," said Ruby, Jaune nodding next to her.

"Now then...as far as the issue of sex is concerned, I'm assuming you've had some education," said Weiss.

Ruby nodded. "Like I told Jaune, my sister is a healer. Sasame-nee taught me everything I need to know."

"And, even though we made it clear that sex is _not_ going to happen in the foreseeable future, I'm aware that...accidents...do happen." Weiss took a deep breath. "So...on the issue of protection..."

"I'm covered," said Ruby, eliciting surprised looks from everyone else in the room.

"Y-you are?" gasped Pyrrha.

"Healer-sister, remember," Ruby reminded them with a smirk. "Sasame-nee gave me a...treatment. It's a hundred-percent effective." She blushed and looked down. "It also helps with...other...problems."

"Oh..." said Weiss, all three other members of RASP understanding. Jaune might have been a boy, but he'd lived with eight other girls for most of his life, so he'd had more experience with feminine issues than most other males would consider healthy.

"Yeah...Sasame-nee is gonna have to undo it, if I want to have kids," said Ruby. "But we definitely don't have to worry about that for a while."

"True," agreed Pyrrha. "In any case, Weiss'...remonstrations...aside, we're both very happy for both of you."

"Thank you," said Jaune.

"We'll also be willing to help Ruby run interference, once Yang finds out," added Pyrrha, drawing a strangled grunt from Jaune.

"Thanks," said Ruby, giggling at Jaune's nervousness.

Over on her desk, Ruby's scroll buzzed. Getting up, Ruby picked up her scroll and checked it. "I have to go," she said.

"What is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"Is it Ironwood?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah," said Ruby, already gathering her clothes together.

"Wait! What?" Weiss lurched to her feet. "Why would Ironwood be messaging you now?"

"Does it have to do with our mission?" asked Pyrrha.

"Uh...not really," said Jaune.

"You can tell them," explained Ruby, disappearing into the bathroom.

"Right..." said Jaune, meeting the worried looks of Weiss and Pyrrha. "So, things got a little busy last night..."

* * *

By the time Jaune had wrapped up his explanation of what had happened, and fielded the inevitable questions, Ruby had bounced out of the bathroom and out the door. Weiss and Pyrrha took their turns getting dressed next. Afterwards, they both headed out to enjoy their last day of rest before their mission began on Monday.

For her part, Weiss wasn't sure what to do, feeling strangely aimless. She supposed she could go visit Ashley and her family, maybe take Ashley out to do something. Considering what had happened just the previous evening, Weiss enjoyed the idea of it, yet also balked at it, worried about people drawing conclusions, should they see her and Ashley spending time together.

Still, at the very least, she could spend some time with Ashley, maybe make sure her parents were aware of the situation, and were all right with it. While Elowen might have warmed up to her, Weiss knew that Ashley's mother had initially viewed her with suspicion, and Weiss wanted to be sure that she was all right with a Schnee dating her daughter.

Sadly, Weiss' plans were interrupted by the sound of her scroll. Pulling it out, Weiss saw the ID of the caller contacting her...and paled.

Her first impulse was to ignore it. Perhaps he would assume that she was busy, and give up. However, she knew that putting it off was likely to only make it more unpleasant, once she finally got around to answering it. Reluctantly, she answered the call.

"Hello, Father," she said.

"_Weiss,_" Jacques Schnee's voice replied, clipped and terse, "_good of you to finally speak with me. It would seem that we have some important matters to talk about._"

* * *

**Boy...I can already see the comments now. Even though I've been building up Lancaster for sixty-plus chapters, I know _some_ people are going to feel blindsided by this...for some reason. Some people will be cheering, others booing...and the rest are gonna basically shrug and continue on. Oh well...that's part and parcel when it comes to shipping. As other authors have noted, it's absolutely amazing how worked up people will get over romantic relationships between _fictional_ characters. I imagine there are any number of arguments that could be made about how _well_ I did or did not pull it off, many of which are plenty valid, but if you dislike this ship on principle...that's your problem.**

**Moving on...**

**Weiss and Ashley was not something that occurred to me at first. But it developed fairly naturally between them, at least from my point of view. I like the extra note of conflict that Weiss, being the heiress to a company run by a guy who is quite notable for being...not nice...to faunus, adds to the story.**

**As for Cinder, confirmation-bias is a scary thing.**

**And yes, Jaune is still wearing the onesie. What? It's comfortable.**


	70. Chapter 70

**Chapter 70**

The elevator doors opened to admit Ruby into Ozpin's office. Besides the Headmaster himself, Ironwood and Glynda were there as well, along with...

"Uncle Qrow!" shouted Ruby, momentarily forgetting where she was as she shot across the space between herself and her uncle, throwing herself at him, the man catching her in a hug with a gruff laugh.

"Hey there, Rosebud," said Qrow, ruffling her hair fondly. "I hear you've been getting up to all kinds of shenanigans, while I was away."

"I guess," said Ruby. "But you were there during the last mission."

"Yep, lucky for you," agreed Qrow, "which, believe me, is nothing short of a miracle for me."

Ozpin coughed politely to get their attention. "Qrow has long been an associate of us, and one of my most trusted allies. As such, he is fully aware of the situation with the Fall Maiden. In fact, he is the one who rescued her, when she was attacked."

"Really?" asked Ruby, looking to Qrow.

"Hey, you doubt me?" asked Qrow, feigning hurt.

"Not really," said Ruby.

"Didn't get a good look at her attackers though," muttered Qrow. "From the sound of things, this Cinder-woman is a piece of work."

Ruby nodded fervently. "She's terrifying," she said. "Everything about her feels wrong."

"And you managed to hold your own against her, last night," noted Ozpin.

"I'm not sure of that," said Ruby. "I don't understand what she was doing."

"At which point we should bring this meeting back around to its intended subject," said Ironwood, stepping out from behind Ozpin's desk, approaching Ruby as she stepped away from Qrow to face him. "I will begin by offering you my deepest gratitude."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked.

Ironwood smiled. "Had you and your partner not acted, several of my men would be dead, and the rest injured, by that woman's attack. Yes, you abandoned the fight in order to protect them, but the fact remains that they are alive and unharmed because you did so. And, for that, I am genuinely grateful."

"Um...Y-you're welcome," said Ruby bashfully, averting her eyes.

Out of her field of vision, Glynda's lips turned up in a rare smile.

"And now, we should get your impressions about Cinder Fall," said Ozpin. "This is important, as what you've learned from this fight may well be critical to apprehending her later."

"Right," said Ruby, nodding stiffly. She frowned, taking a moment to think back over the fight, and her impressions of her opponent. "Cinder's strong, no doubt about that. She attacked with fire and glass, and her clothes had Dust woven into them."

"Glass?" asked Glynda.

Ruby nodded. "She kept some kind of dust or sand in canisters on her belt. She'd spray that into the air, then use her flames to melt it down into glass shards that she could fire off. She also made swords and arrows out of glass too."

"Perhaps it is something related to her Semblance then," mused Ozpin.

Ruby nodded. "I think she uses her Semblance to control dust-regular dust that is-and her magic and/or fire-Dust supplies the heat to melt it down." She paused. "I'm not entirely sure. Maybe she can control the glass too."

"But you did confirm that she utilizes Dust," said Glynda.

Ruby nodded. "I could sense it, and the way her clothes lit up when she used it gave her away. I think she has to use _some_ Dust, because the Maiden powers she has are incomplete."

"That makes sense," said Ironwood.

"She'd use her magic for more immediate effects, but then work Dust into whatever she made," continued Ruby. "She'd use her attacks, like her fireballs and arrows to scatter it around, then detonate it later."

"That was what she used at the end of the fight," noted Ironwood.

"Are there any weaknesses you could determine?" asked Ozpin.

Ruby nodded. "Her weapons are strong, but...kinda brittle. Once I got my sword, her swords actually broke pretty easily. Again, it's probably because her powers are incomplete.

"Her barrier isn't very strong either. On top of that, she also needs to use her hands to bring it up. In fact, it looked as though she couldn't put up her barrier unless she has at least one empty hand to do it."

"Very helpful," noted Ozpin, nodding to himself. "Is there anything else you noticed?"

Ruby frowned. "Well...not with her powers," she said. "But her behavior was strange."

"How so?" asked Glynda.

"Well...she went through all that trouble to break into the CCT covertly. She was hidden when I entered the call center. It's obvious that being stealthy was important, probably because she didn't want anyone to find out what she was doing there. So she _should've_ been looking for a way to leave without me finding her. I mean, I was able to sense her when I got there, but _she_ didn't know that, so she should have been looking to avoid a confrontation.

"But instead, she stepped right out into the open and came at me. She didn't even try for an ambush, to catch me off-guard. She just stood right up, and _then_ attacked. And I can't figure out why."

"When you put it like that, it _is_ very unusual," agreed Ironwood, frowning. "That would be an extreme risk for her to take. What did she hope to gain by starting a fight like that?"

"Hopefully, it will be a question we can put to her directly, before long," said Ozpin.

"There's one other thing," added Ruby. "I'm pretty sure that Cinder is involved with the White Fang, and what they're doing."

"How so?" asked Glynda.

Ruby frowned. "The intent I felt from her, it was familiar. Cinder was piloting the bullhead that was trying to pick up Torchwick, the night we caught him. When she was opening fire, I felt that same intent. So I'm sure that Cinder is the one making Torchwick's group and the White Fang work together."

"Ahh...that makes sense," said Ozpin. "It certainly falls within our expectations. Demonstrating the Maiden's magic, even in its incomplete form, would be suitably intimidating, and certainly an excellent means of inducing either the White Fang or Torchwick to cooperate with her aims. This information goes a long ways towards preparing us to apprehend Ms. Fall. Thank you for your help, Ms. Rose."

"You're welcome," said Ruby, bowing her head slightly.

"I look forward to the results of your next mission, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin. "Please make sure you are fully rested and ready."

"Yes, Sir," said Ruby, giving him her most confident smile, before heading out.

Watching her go, Ozpin kept one thought to himself. _She knows about the Maiden's barrier, and even how it is _supposed_ to work, as opposed to the way Cinder Fall uses it. That makes it all the more apparent that Ms. Rose has substantial knowledge of the Maidens._

However, he chose to keep that thought to himself for the time being. "What do you think?" he asked, letting his gaze drift amongst the other members of his circle.

"Well, it gives us plenty to go on," said Qrow. "With this, we can put that witch down, and get Autumn back on the mend."

"The question is when and how?" asked Glynda.

"This week might afford us an opportunity," said Ozpin, bringing up Team CMSN, and their mission schedule. "Depending on what mission they choose, we can make use of how long they remain on campus. On the other hand, as we will know what mission they choose, we will also be able to follow their movements easily enough."

"Assuming the mission is legit, and they don't simply use it as a way to disappear for a bit," noted Qrow.

"Quite possible," agreed Ozpin, glancing at Glynda. "Though that would be difficult to arrange, as the mission in question would still lack confirmation of completion. We shall need to monitor them closely...and carefully. Until we are ready, we absolutely _cannot_ let them realize we are onto them."

"Agreed," said Ironwood. He paused, glancing down at the desk. "And Oz...I owe you an apology for doubting you earlier. I misjudged Ms. Rose. She is indeed an excellent example of a Huntress, and one who belongs in this school."

"Thank you," said Ozpin.

"Hopefully, the mission will turn out well," said Qrow. "We're pretty sure those White Fang have those Paladins out in Mountain Glenn. The question is what they're gonna use them for."

"I have faith in Raspberry and Rainbow to come through for us," said Ozpin. "After which, it will be our responsibility to capitalize on the information they obtain."

"We'll need to be ready to move," said Ironwood.

"Luckily, your forces are already positioned near the southeast," said Glynda, looking to Ironwood. "Once we nail down the location of the White Fang's base, they will be perfectly-placed to strike."

"Agreed," said Ironwood, glad that they weren't turning their noses up at the opportunity he had brought to the table.

A tone sounded from the interface in Ozpin's desk, a message flashing up to appear before his eyes. He read it over carefully. "Oh dear..." he said softly.

"Something wrong, Oz?" asked Qrow.

"Yes..." said Ozpin, frowning. "We might wind up having to reconsider our mission assignments."

Qrow, Ironwood, and Glynda all moved to read over Ozpin's shoulder. When they did, their eyes widened considerably.

* * *

"What is there to talk about, Father?" asked Weiss, careful to keep her tone as level as possible, in order to keep her father from thinking she was being sarcastic.

"_First, there is the matter of your team composition,_" said Jacques. "_It has come to my attention that, in spite of all the resources we put into your upbringing and training, you somehow _failed_ to secure the leader-position in your team._"

"I do not see that as a failure," said Weiss earnestly.

"_Is that so?_" said Jacques, his own voice dripping with sarcasm. "_Then, by all means, please enlighten me as to how being passed over for Ozpin's pet brat, a girl two years your junior, is anything _but_ an abysmal failure._"

Inwardly, Weiss bristled at the insult to Ruby, not in the least because those were the terms she had once used _herself_ to describe the younger girl. It was a bitter reminder of the ugly attitude she had carried with her during those first days at Beacon. Luckily, she had an answer ready, thanks to what Sasame had once told her.

"Because I already have sufficient skill and experience in positions of leadership," she explained. "Beacon is a _school_, first and foremost, so there would be nothing for me to gain from assuming a role I am already comfortable with. Ozpin selected Ruby because he saw potential in her, and wanted to give her the opportunity to develop it, while I would be on-hand to help support her, utilizing my greater experience to advise her."

Granted, the latter part of that statement was supposition, and Weiss wasn't entirely sure that it was truth. But it seemed plausible enough and, more importantly, would help mollify her father's ire.

She heard Jacques irritated huff over the line. "_I suppose that's...acceptable,_" he said, after a moment's hesitation. "_But I still believe that there is some degree of insult implied by granting the position to an undeserving brat._"

Once again, Weiss fought the urge to snap at her father for insulting Ruby, and also stamped down on her impulse to scoff at his self-centered attitude, going so far as to believe a single team-assignment at Beacon was, somehow, meant to be an insult aimed at him, as though the world revolved around him to that extent.

"_Now then...onto more current matters,_" continued Jacques. "_It has recently come to my attention that you have been keeping some very interesting company...a certain faunus..._"

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss, her stomach dropping, as she realized that her father could only be talking about Ashley. Blake's cover was still secure, and nobody outside their two teams, and Ozpin and his closest associates, were aware that she was a faunus, much less a former-member of the White Fang. Had her Father known about that, he definitely would _not_ be so restrained in his insinuations.

"_Don't play coy with me, Weiss!_" snapped Jacques. "_I'm talking about that piece of riffraff that accompanied you to your school's dance, last night._"

"Ashley is a friend of Ruby's," said Weiss. "She's a pleasant enough person. What's wrong with that?"

"_What's wrong is that you wasted your evening consorting with a piece of faunus gutter-trash!_" snapped Jacques. "_There were any number of more suitable candidates you could have brought with you, ones who could have helped to build your future clout and connections, and you threw it away to spend the night frolicking with that worthless refuse._"

Once again, Weiss had to fight to keep from snapping at her father and his insults, even more audacious than the ones he'd used to refer to Ruby. Ashley and her family might not have been very well-off, but they were a long ways away from the penniless status her father implied with his condescending nicknames for her. Granted, considering the Schnee Family's wealth, she figured that her father probably didn't care enough to make that distinction.

However, fighting him over that was a losing proposition. Instead, Weiss had to hit back with the plan she'd shared with Ashley. It would be touch and go, as she hadn't been expecting to be confronted over this so soon. But she'd have to just try and wing it.

"I actually figured it was the wisest choice of an escort I could have wished for," said Weiss. "Taking Ashley to the dance presented a wonderful opportunity for our image."

"_What?_"

Now Weiss was fighting back the urge to giggle, having almost never heard such a flat, uncomprehending tone from her father. It was clear that her response had utterly thrown Jacques for a loop.

"Tell me, Father, are you aware of Ashley's current situation?" she asked. The answer was "obviously not," considering they were still making arrangements to go public with her story.

"_Of course not,_" scoffed Jacques. "_Why would I care about a wretched mongrel?_"

"Then allow me to enlighten you," said Weiss smoothly, injecting a bit of her old haughtiness in her tone. Hopefully that would sell this angle to him better. "As it so happens, Ashley and Ruby happened to meet, while Ruby was in Vale, and struck up a friendship. It was all very natural and spontaneous really."

"_And I fail to see where this justifies your actions in any fashion,_" growled Jacques.

"Patience, Father," Weiss admonished, careful to keep her response jesting, implying that she wasn't actually chiding him. "You see, after a few weeks of this, Ashley was inducted into the White Fang."

"_WHAT?!_" Jacques roared furiously, making Weiss grimace and hold the scroll away from her face.

"You see," she continued, maintaining her calm, "she was forcefully conscripted into the organization. She avoided participating in any of their actions completely, because her entrance was unwilling. However, because it was learned that she had befriended Ruby, a human Huntress, the White Fang targeted her for elimination. Our team was the one tasked with saving and recovering her. Ashley and her family are currently being sheltered at Beacon, because they are still targets of White Fang reprisals.

"And so, I thought that taking Ashley to the dance was a wonderful gesture. Can't you see it, Father? A Schnee and a faunus, together, taking a stand against the White Fang, showing both humans and faunus who the _real_ enemy is...Wouldn't that be a marvelous statement, and quite the excellent piece of positive press for our company right now? The White Fang will certainly have a harder time gaining traction, once it gets around that a Schnee offered comfort and support to a faunus that _they_ threatened, when they are the ones claiming to fight for the faunus. So many wonderful ways to spin this...don't you think?"

Just the fact that her father had allowed her to go on this long indicated that Weiss' plan was having an effect. He was definitely thinking about what she'd said. The fact that he hadn't said anything immediately after she'd finished was a good sign too, as were the pensive sounds that broadcasted from the scroll's speakers.

_Please...please buy it,_ Weiss pleaded silently. If she could get Jacques to swallow this, then he wouldn't look askance at her continuing to spend time with Ashley, so long as they were careful that no one saw them exchanging overt gestures of affection.

"_Interesting..._" said Jacques finally. "_It has potential...provided that word _does_ get out. To that end, you should ensure that your friend is able to share with the world what the White Fang has done to her._"

"I certainly will, Father," said Weiss, earnestly enough.

There was another pregnant pause of the line. "_I shall be honest with you, Weiss..._"

_What a novelty,_ thought Weiss sarcastically. Her father wasn't some serial liar who spoke falsehoods to everyone around him, that aspect being reserved for her mother (his wife) and the hoi polloi. The former he'd led on to believe that he'd married her out of love, when he'd _actually_ been seeking the company, and its wealth, for himself. The latter he fed constant lies about what a generous and charitable man he was. However, with Weiss herself, he had always been unpleasantly frank, particularly when it came to expressing disappointment or anger with her.

Jacques continued. "_...when I had initially called you, it was to inform you that I would be stripping you of your title for your foolishness, and naming Whitley as my heir. In all honesty, I am still convinced he would be the better choice._"

Weiss swallowed, going cold at the thought.

"_However...you have managed to adequately argue your case, which has led me to rethink my decision._"

Now Weiss was fighting back the urge to sigh in relief.

"_But...that is not yet set in stone. The matter remains that you have strained my faith in your suitability as my heir. And so...in order to _fully_ convince me of your fitness, I now require something of you._"

"And what is that?" asked Weiss, a slight quaver finding its way into her voice, despite her best efforts.

She could practically hear Jacques' smug smile at her nervousness over the line. "_It's nothing overly troublesome, I assure you. In fact, it should be well within the scope of your...abilities...seeing as I intend to make use of your training as a Huntress._"

"And what is that?" repeated Weiss, a bevy of emotions rushing through her, trying to keep up with the various things implied by her father's statement.

"_It is my understanding that your first official missions will be beginning shortly,_" said Jacques.

"Yes," agreed Weiss. "In fact, we are scheduled to leave on our mission, tomorrow."

"_That much is true,_" agreed Jacques. "_However, you will not be leaving for the mission that you originally signed up for._"

"What?" gasped Weiss.

"_You see, it's bad enough that those faunus mutts have been raiding the Dust that our company sends of Vale,_" explained Jacques. "_But the real problem is those damn pirates, who have been hitting our shipping. Not only has that Dust been a loss, but the ship and its crew are often lost as well. It's a severe blow, every time it happens, and it reduces our capacity to move our product as well. This _cannot_ be allowed to continue. Therefore, I have made arrangements for you and your...team...to stop it._"

"You can't be serious!" protested Weiss. "You can't just _order_ Beacon to assign us a specific mission. There's no way the Headmaster would approve."

"_Oh...I think he will be amenable,_" said Jacques, sounding unbearably smug. "_After all, when I sent in my request, I sent it along with a warning. You see...with shipping being so unreliable, I may have no choice but to cut off supply to Vale in its entirety. That would be a severe blow in the short term, yes. But it's far preferable to continuing to lose more product, every time those damn pirates hit our ships. Atlas' and Vale's militaries have proven completely ineffectual, so it is time to see if the vaunted Huntsmen and Huntresses of Beacon have what it takes to solve this problem._"

"And what reason would we be expected to succeed?" asked Weiss, her eyes narrowing. She didn't want to imply that she was incapable. However, there was no way that a single team of students could possibly, somehow, manage what the militaries of two Kingdoms, one of which was the most technologically-advanced in the world, had failed repeatedly, despite the resources at their disposal.

"_Well...it's probably overdue that I resorted to this strategy,_" said Jacques. "_I have decided to have your team rendezvous with my next shipment. You will board that ship, and accompany it to its destination. When the pirates attack...you shall _deal_ with them._"

"That's a rather haphazard way of going about it, Father," said Weiss. "There's no guarantee that the pirates will target that particular vessel. Should it reach port without incident, then what?"

"_Then we shall lather, rinse, and repeat; until those thieves take the bait. I find it likely that they _will_ strike, however. These pirates have been most active in the Almaren, and appear to have concentrated their efforts there. This particular freighter will be plying that ocean, and it has been a sufficient period of time, since the last one was hit, that I feel certain this one will be targeted._"

Weiss swallowed. It was a sufficiently plausible plan, she supposed. The problem was that her father was basically holding Vale's Dust supply hostage in order to strong-arm Ozpin into assigning this mission to her team. Sure, this was an important issue as well, as the pirates were even _more_ of a threat to Vale's Dust supply, right now, than the White Fang were. But they already had an important mission, locating the stolen Paladins, before the White Fang unleashed them against Vale.

Still, there was nothing to be done to fight her father on this. At this point, there were two options for her. She could go along, and take this mission with her team, and hope they solved the pirate problem. Or Ozpin could risk her father's wrath, and refuse. She didn't know what Jacques' decision regarding her status would be then. However, the one thing that was clear to her was that defying him herself was out of the question. That would get her nowhere...except disinherited.

"Very well, Father," she said. "I will see what Ozpin has to say about this."

"_Very good, Weiss,_" replied Jacques, his words perfunctory. "_If you come through on this, then your status will be on solid ground once more. Do not fail me._"

Not bothering with anything as plebeian as a goodbye, Jacques hung up abruptly, leaving Weiss staring at her silent scroll. For a second, she stood there, like a statue, her mind running through everything that had just happened. Finally, it was too much. Weiss had to find a bench and sit down. When she did, she leaned back with a tired sigh, staring dumbly at the sky. _This is a disaster,_ she thought. And, sadly, it seemed that things were only likely to get worse from there.

* * *

It was an uneasy group that convened in Ozpin's office. Weiss had barely had time to call Ruby, and inform her of the situation, before RASP and RYNB were summoned by Ozpin. Ruby, who'd been there less than an hour earlier, found her head spinning at the sudden change in the situation. Her stomach was churning unpleasantly at what was going on.

They entered the office to the sounds of an argument.

"There's no way you can let that man get away with this!" Glynda was shouting.

"At this point, we have no choice," Ozpin replied calmly. "Little enough Dust is getting through as is. We cannot afford Mr. Schnee cutting us off."

"Oz! Let me talk with him," Ironwood pleaded. "Jacques can be a reasonable man."

"If he were _truly_ reasonable, then he likely wouldn't have resorted to such actions," Glynda scoffed. "This is nothing less than taking the entirety of Vale hostage. This is downright _criminal_! He needs to be arrested!"

"Unfortunately, his arguments are valid, under Atlesian law," said Ironwood. "I may control the Council, but the Council is still beholden to that law, unless we go through the procedures to change it. And we definitely don't have time to go through all that, before the lack of Dust supplies is felt by Vale as a whole."

"Professor...?" said Ruby tentatively, thinking that the teachers might not have wanted the students to see them acting like this.

All three adults snapped their heads up, looking towards the two teams that had just filed out of the elevator. Looking around, Ruby spotted Qrow, leaning idly against one of the office's columns. Their eyes meeting, Qrow grinned, and shot Ruby a wink.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," said Ozpin. "Ms. Rose, I suspect Ms. Schnee has filled you in on the situation."

"She has," replied Ruby, the others nodding slowly. Weiss had filled in everyone else as best she could, during the brief elevator ride up.

"So...as you are already aware, things have become...complicated," said Ozpin.

"I'm very sorry about all of this," said Weiss, lowering her head.

"There is nothing to be ashamed of, Ms. Schnee," replied Ozpin. "Your father did this on his own."

"Yes, but there is more to it than that," said Weiss. "You see, much of this is about my choice of partners for the dance, last night."

Glynda's eyes widened, while Ironwood grunted irritably.

"In other words, because you attended the dance in the company of a faunus...?" began Ozpin.

"Father decided to submit this as a test of my suitability as heir," answered Weiss.

"That man..." muttered Glynda irritably.

"So then...what do we do?" asked Pyrrha.

"Our options are limited at this point," said Ozpin. "Because of the SDC's dominance in the Dust market, there are few competitors who will be able to pick up the slack, should they cease shipments to Vale. Without Dust, a great deal of the Kingdom's infrastructure will be at risk, particularly our defenses. The military has enough Dust stockpiled to continue to hold off the Grimm for a time. However, their supplies are not infinite. And, as the crisis worsens, the negativity of the populace will only serve to make the pressure of the Grimm all the greater, which will further reduce their stocks."

"Perhaps we should go through with it," said Ruby.

Her words drew shocked looks from nearly everyone in the room. Only Qrow and Ren seemed unsurprised, the former chuckling under his breath.

"You mean we should give up on the White Fang investigation?" asked Blake incredulously.

"Not us," clarified Ren, already seeing where Ruby was going with this. "This mission was for Team Raspberry to begin with, so we will be able to continue on and investigate Mountain Glenn. It will be more dangerous, with only four of us, but we can still do it."

"Besides, these pirates are a problem too," added Ruby. "Part of the reason the Dust crisis is so severe right now is because so many shipments haven't even made it to Vale for the White Fang to steal. If we take out the pirates, we'll make things better."

"...She's not wrong," said Glynda, reluctantly, after a moment's hesitation. It wasn't that she contested Ruby's words, but she didn't want to do anything that could be seen as acquiescing to Jacques demands.

"Very true," mused Ozpin, resting his chin on his knuckles. "In fact, the White Fang participating in Dust heists was a more recent development, as Jacques' shift in tactics allowed more shipments to get through. It suggests to me that pirates and the White Fang might be part of the same problem."

"You mean the pirates could be working with the White Fang?" guessed Nora.

"Or the pirates _are_ White Fang," muttered Blake.

"Either answer is possible," said Ozpin. "Or it could be that the two are completely unrelated. We cannot be sure at this juncture."

Meeting Ozpin's gaze, Ruby was sure that he thought that the pirates and the White Fang's activities _were_ connected. If they were, then that meant that the pirates were also connected to Cinder in some fashion, which made it all the more important that they be stopped.

"So...I guess we're going up to Atlas," said Jaune warily.

"I'm not exactly happy about the idea of sending Rainbow into Mountain Glenn without support," said Weiss, glancing worriedly at Ren's team.

Ironwood shifted. "That does not necessarily need to be the case," he said.

"You would assign one of your teams to support Rainbow?" asked Glynda.

"Yes," said Ironwood. "Once it became clear that this was going to happen, no matter what we wanted, I took the liberty of calling them. They should be arriving shortly."

They waited for a moment, until the elevator doors opened again. When they did, Ruby gasped, her eyes going wide, while she smiled brightly. "Penny!"

"Sal_u_tations, Ruby," said Penny cheerfully, marching into the room alongside the rest of her teammates.

RASP and RYNB parted to make room for the Atlesian team to approach the desk. Ciel, Penny, and Piper were all garbed in their usual outfits. For everyone, except Jaune and Ren, it was their first time seeing Rain in his combat outfit. He was dressed in a white, button-down shirt, which was tucked into a pair of black pants, themselves tucked into a pair of dark-brown boots. Over his shirt, he wore a brown, leather jacket. The jacket's sleeves were uneven, with the left extending all the way down to his wrist, while the right ended at his elbow. A pair of leather straps crossed his chest, going over his shoulders, before crossing down behind his back, to come back around just above his waist.

"Team Copper, reporting as requested, Sir," said Ciel crisply, settling into an At Ease position, her hands behind her back, with Piper and Rain mirroring her posture. In contrast, Penny adopted a much more relaxed version of the posture, also clasping her hands behind her back, but keeping her stance looser.

Ironwood surveyed Team CPPR carefully for a moment. "I have summoned you for an important mission," he explained. "Through the investigations of Team Raspberry and Team Rainbow, we have obtained intelligence that the White Fang is conducting clandestine operations southeast of Vale, in the abandoned extension known as Mountain Glenn."

Penny's smile faltered somewhat, as she began to adopt a more serious expression. The other three members flinched, then stiffened at the mention of the White Fang.

"At present, the White Fang are in possession of up to eleven of our new prototype Paladins," added Ironwood. "We believe that they are planning on using Mountain Glenn as a staging point for an attack on the Kingdom. We _cannot_ allow that to happen.

"Originally, Raspberry and Rainbow were to perform reconnaissance operations in Mountain Glenn, under the cover of a Search and Destroy mission to cull the Grimm population, and locate the White Fang's operation. However, unexpected circumstances have required that Raspberry be reassigned. As such, I will now be assigning _you_ to accompany and assist Team Rainbow in locating the White Fang operation."

A silence stretched out for a moment, before Ironwood spoke again. "Any questions?"

Ciel raised a hand. "You said this was a reconnaissance mission, Sir. Are we to assume that we will need to avoid confrontation with the White Fang, should we locate them?"

"That is correct," said Ironwood, nodding curtly. "We know next to nothing about the White Fang's activities out there, including whatever contingencies they might have, should they realize they have been discovered. We want to be _absolutely_ sure that we can bring down all of them, and secure the Paladins before they can be used against Vale. Therefore, secrecy will be of the utmost importance."

"Understood," said Ciel, nodding briskly.

"From what I understand, student-missions of this type are to be supervised by a Huntsman or Huntress," said Rain, his voice proving to be quite smooth, almost soothing even. "Will we be supervised in a similar manner?"

"That is the plan," said Ozpin, nodding slightly. "As there will be two teams participating in this mission, you will be assisted by two Huntsmen. Team Rainbow will be supervised by my friend and associate, Qrow Branwen."

"Yo," said Qrow, raising a casual hand from where he was.

"Team Copper shall be supervised by Dr. Oobleck, our historian, and an expert on the local area, Mountain Glenn especially," continued Ozpin. "Hopefully, you will be able to locate the threat, which will enable James to send in his forces to fully neutralize it."

RYNB and CPPR nodded in agreement.

"What about us?" asked Ruby, mostly curious.

"I will make arrangements for an Atlesian Specialist to join you, when you arrive," Ironwood replied. He surveyed all three teams. "Are there any further questions?" When none were brought up, he nodded. "Very good then...Dismissed."

The three teams turned towards the elevator, only to pause, as they realized there was no way all twelve of them would fit in there at once.

* * *

"I'm so sorry," said Ashley.

"Please don't say that. It's not your fault," replied Weiss, taking Ashley's hands in her own. "I just wasn't expecting my father to find out about this so soon."

"Is it really _that_ suspicious?" asked Elowen, sitting in an armchair, across the table from Weiss, Ashley, and Ruby, who were taking up the room's couch.

The suite in the faculty quarters that had been granted to the Forrest Family was very well-appointed, certainly better-furnished than any student dorm-room. All the furnishings were of a higher quality than anything the Forrests had owned. There was little in the way of decor, seeing as the resident would usually be supplying their own. However, there was a spacious living room, with plush chairs and a couch, arranged around a high-quality coffee-table, carved from some dark wood.

The far wall of the room from the door was occupied by a large window that gave them a sweeping view of the rest of Beacon's campus, complete with Beacon Tower looming over the whole thing. Upon entry, the Forrests had been assured that the windows in the suite were not only polarized, for privacy, but reinforced against firearms as well, able to stand up to even heavier-caliber weapons. Apparently, the occasional stray round was not such an unusual problem on a campus that catered to students who spent much of their time heavily-armed. It was at least a frequent enough problem that certain sections of the school had been built to withstand such...accidents.

The arrangement was still somewhat awkward, if only because, even if the suite was spacious, it was still mainly furnished for a single occupant, rather than a family of three. There was one bedroom, with a single bed, and a single bathroom, something of a downgrade for the family, with Ashley being used to having her own bathroom, while her parents shared another. The other awkwardness was that they didn't often see the outside of the room. Considering the active threat against them, none of the family's members could go outside without an escort, which meant that the majority of each day, the entirety more than once, was spent within this room. The presence of an entertainment center, with its high-quality holoscreen only went so far towards keeping them from going completely stir-crazy.

Ruby reflected somewhat bitterly that she had succeeded in keeping Ashley from being arrested...only to deliver her into a different kind of imprisonment. She hoped that they could resolve this situation with the White Fang soon.

Oliver emerged from the suite's kitchenette, which occupied a corner of the area by the window. He'd been preparing some coffee for their guests, and his own family, which he set out on the table, after shifting aside the small mess of papers that occupied its center.

The papers were Ashley's schoolwork. After learning of her situation, the faculty of Ashley's school had been surprisingly accommodating, her teachers putting together and sending work packets for her to complete, in lieu of attending class. With them came notes from her teachers, indicating that Ashley's classmates were worried about her, and frequently asked about her wellbeing.

In response to Elowen's question, Weiss nodded slowly. "I'd expected him to find out, sooner or later," she said. "But the rumor mill should have at least taken a few days to reach his ears in Atlas." She frowned. "For him to get back to me the very next morning tells me that someone there basically _sent_ him some manner of report on my actions, last night."

"Well, you _are_ a rather high-profile person," Elowen pointed out. "As the heiress to the SDC, there are any number of people who are probably watching your actions."

"I suppose that's true," admitted Weiss. "However, all things considered, I didn't think people would see anything all that unusual. Our team spends a lot of time with B-Velvet." Weiss fought down a scowl as she recovered from her verbal misstep, almost outing Blake, having momentarily forgotten that Blake's faunus-status was known only to a chosen few.

"Yes, but spending time around faunus, on a campus with several faunus in attendance, isn't the same thing as going to a formal dance with one on your arm," said Elowen. "That's bound to attract attention."

"I suppose," conceded Weiss. "I guess I underestimated my fellow students' eagerness to stick their noses into others' business." She scowled. "But Father pulling this stunt...practically holding Vale hostage to pressgang my team into a mission that serves his interests...that's a new low, even for him."

"Maybe he's desperate," said Ruby.

"Maybe..." said Weiss. It was true that the pirates were doing serious damage to the SDC's shipping; between the stolen Dust, the lost ships, and their crews; each hit vessel cost the SDC far more than what the White Fang did, when they stole Dust from the local distributors. Ships had to be replaced, new crews hired and trained. Knowledge of the fate of the previous crews would only make sailors all the _more_ reluctant to serve on SDC vessels, which would force Jacques to spend more on incentives to entice crew members.

"But why doesn't he just hire actual Huntsmen?" wondered Oliver. "I mean, with his wealth, he could probably afford the best of the best. Why basically contract out to a bunch of students, much less his own daughter and heir?"

"Well...for the latter part, I can certainly say he isn't overly concerned with my wellbeing," said Weiss sourly. "At this point, Father is just looking for an excuse to disinherit me, so that he can go ahead and pass everything to his favorite. Just going to the dance with Ashley was enough for him, and I only managed to just barely talk him around, and got off with this glorified errand for my trouble. If we fail, he gets to go ahead and drop me from the line of inheritance. And if I'm killed, it's no skin off his nose."

"That repulsive fiend!" gasped Elowen, while Ashley tightened her hold on Weiss' hands, prompting Weiss to squeeze her hands back.

"He's absolute scum," Weiss agreed. "But at this point, there's no fighting it. If we can pull this off, I'll have more security in my position."

"But we'll still have to pretend, won't we?" asked Ashley sadly.

Her own expression falling, Weiss nodded. "Yes," she said. "Just dancing with you was nearly enough. If Father finds out about...us...there won't be any fast-talking I can do to keep him from dropping me. For all I know, that might be enough for him to straight-up disown me...not to mention the worse consequences."

Ashley lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said softly.

Weiss let go of one of Ashley's hands to gently push her chin up, so that they could look each other in the eyes. "I'm not," she said firmly. "I've regretted quite a few things in my life. But _you_ are not one of them."

Ashley sniffed. Then she and Weiss leaned in, exchanging a quick chaste kiss, the most they were comfortable with, especially with Ashley's parents and Ruby in the room.

Elowen favored the pair with a warm smile. "You know, dear, your tail is looking a little mussed. Why don't you take Weiss to the bedroom, and show her how to brush it."

"A-are you sure?" asked Ashley, her cheeks going pink, while Weiss blinked in confusion.

"It's fine," said Elowen, Oliver nodding in agreement. "Go ahead."

Ashley nodded, then stood up, pulling Weiss off the couch and into the bedroom, closing the door behind them.

"That was nice of you," said Ruby.

Oliver chuckled. "They deserve some privacy to say goodbye properly. From the sound of things, a normal date would be out of the question for them."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. She had fond memories of brushing Sasame's tail for her, on occasion. The grooming was a nice bonding activity for the new couple, not too intimate, but certainly better than just quick kisses before an audience, even if said audience was an approving one. "I'm sorry about this."

"You've never done anything but your absolute best by us," said Oliver. "We don't regret our daughter meeting you and your friends at all."

"Still, I wish we could be here for you all," said Ruby. "And your interview is coming up this week too."

"We'll get through it," said Elowen.

Though it had been tricky to set up, Ozpin and Glynda had come through with a definite date for Ashley's interview with Lisa and the VNN, where she could speak out about the White Fang and their new recruitment methods, which would hopefully accomplish several things at once. Ruby just wished she could be there to support her friend, when it happened, knowing that Ashely and her family had never wanted such a level of media scrutiny, simply for being her friend.

However, the Paladins couldn't wait any longer. Ruby glanced towards the door, silently wishing Ashley luck.

* * *

"Like this?" asked Weiss cautiously, gently pulling the brush along the length of Ashley's tail, which rested on her lap. Weiss was honestly shocked at how soft and fluffy Ashley's tail felt. She probably could have spent all day just brushing her fingers through it.

"Yes, that's right," said Ashley, humming at the sensations. "Just don't pull on my tail. My fur doesn't tangle much, so you won't have to do much work."

"That's good," said Weiss, continuing the process. It was amazingly soothing, feeling wonderful, after the stress of everything she'd been through so far today.

For a moment, they let a comfortable silence rest between them, Ashley softly humming or cooing at the sensations of having her fur brushed, while Weiss simply enjoyed the feeling of Ashley's fur rubbing against her hands, while she ran the brush through it, as well as the feeling of it tickling the skin of her thighs, when the occasional twitch caused part of the puffy appendage to brush under the hem of her skirt. It was peaceful and fulfilling.

Finally, Ashley broke the silence. "Weiss...do you really think it will work out for us?"

Weiss was silent for a bit longer, pondering the answer. She couldn't bring herself to give Ashley some kind of false assurance though. "I...I don't know," she admitted. "If we can keep it under wraps long enough, once I'm control of the SDC, we won't need to worry about keeping it secret."

That was a _very_ big "if" though. It would be years before Jacques was ready to turn the SDC over to his chosen heir, assuming Weiss still was that heir by the time that came around. After all, there would be plenty of other occasions in the future that could furnish her father with other excuses to turn the inheritance over to Whitley instead.

_I'd probably have a better chance of convincing Father to stop thinking of faunus a sub-human animals,_ she thought bitterly, before reconsidering. There wasn't a chance in Hell that Jacques Schnee would reconsider anything, least of all his prejudices. In public, he put on the face of the man who ran "one of the only businesses in Atlas that paid faunus the same wages as humans", fronting himself as someone downright benevolent.

Very few people actually fell for that lie all the way. It was true that the base wage Jacques Schnee paid his faunus employees was the same as the human ones. But the faunus were given far smaller raises, and were almost always passed over for promotions. Whenever those particular discrepancies were brought up, Jacques had always claimed that advancement in the company should be based on merit, rather than race; implying that people were saying he would be advancing faunus _because_ they were faunus, not that they would do well at the jobs they might be promoted into. However, it seemed that, within the SDC, being _human_ was the greatest merit of all.

Of course, Weiss was even more privy to her father's attitude, having heard many of his more private diatribes, when he wasn't putting on a polite front for a press release or a social gathering. He often lamented having to give any consideration to those "filthy mongrels", stating that they should be motivated with whips, rather than a paycheck. Even as an impressionable young child, Weiss had found his attitude disgusting, particularly because she was able to pick up the discrepancy between how he presented himself to the rest of the world...and how he _really_ was.

So the idea of getting Jacques to open up to the notion of his daughter being in a relationship with a faunus was as much a fantasy as any fairy tale she'd read as a child. But the idea that she and Ashley could keep their relationship a secret for that long was just as much of a fantasy. And, worse, it wasn't fair to either of them. They deserved to be open with their feelings for each other. At this rate, there was no way that Weiss could take Ashley on a proper date, at least not one that wouldn't end up with a dozen or more pictures of them on the network, where Jacques would find out about them, then immediately be on the scroll with her again.

It would take its toll on them. Ashley wouldn't be satisfied forever with gestures of affection that could only be exchanged in complete privacy, having to pretend to act like mere friends in public, having to forever contrive plausible excuses to spend time with each other. Weiss knew she wouldn't be satisfied with that either.

One way or another, this relationship was destined to end in disaster, probably for both of them. The problem was that Weiss couldn't bring herself to end it. It would be best to do it now, before they were fully-invested. They could still make it a clean break, without doing much harm to one another. The longer they carried on like this, the harder and more painful it would be, when that end inevitably came.

But Weiss couldn't. She couldn't break it off. The feeling of holding Ashley, their lips against each other's, it was intoxicating, and Weiss couldn't consign herself to never experiencing that feeling again. _Why am I so weak?_

"Weiss...?"

Weiss stared, realizing that she'd completely zoned out, even forgetting to continue brushing Ashley's tail.

"You don't think it's going to work," said Ashley sadly.

Weiss wanted to contradict her, to tell her everything was going to be all right. But she just couldn't. "No...I don't," she admitted, sniffing hard. "Ashley, I'm sorry! This is so wrong! But we can't do this without you being put in danger...again! My scumbag of a father would never let us get away with it. Look what he's done, just from the idea of us attending a dance together. We're doomed, if we keep this up!"

Weiss was shaking, on the verge of a panic. "But I...I can't stop. I can't do it!" She turned her eyes to Ashley, tears falling freely.

Ashley smiled, tears of her own falling. Her tail lifted off Weiss' lap, rising up to gently brush its soft fur against Weiss' cheeks, dabbing at her tears. Weiss stared at it for a second, before hugging the fluffy appendage tightly, reveling in how soft and warm it was. Ashley turned and hugged Weiss back, her tail pressed between them.

"I can't stop either," she admitted. "I admire just how much you want to make things better. And...and I know I'm only making it harder. But I can't..."

"We're both idiots then," said Weiss.

"Yep," agreed Ashley.

The two of them shared a kiss, a much longer and lingering one than any one they'd exchanged previously. Weiss' grip transferred from Ashley's tail to her shoulders, pulling her in closer, while Ashley's tail slipped out from between them. Their lips still connected, they toppled over onto the bed, making the most of their goodbye.

* * *

The long-distance flight between Vale and Soyuz, the port-settlement that most of the SDC's Dust was shipped out of, was too far for the bullheads typically used by Beacon to ship their students to missions. An intercontinental airship was, understandably, far more expensive, Beacon not owning any for student-use.

The SDC, on the other hand, maintained a small fleet of such vessels, at least one or two stationed in each Kingdom's central airport. After a couple of hours of frenzied negotiation, which Ironwood was heavily involved in, one of these vessels was requisitioned for their use. Ruby had no idea how Jacques Schnee thought they were supposed to get to Atlas without such an airship, but she got the impression that he hadn't actually cared, and expected Beacon to take care of everything. Nor did she know what Ironwood had actually done to convince him.

All Ruby and the other members of her team knew was that they were glad that Ironwood had succeeded.

Their day had begun in much the same way as it had for the other students. They had gotten up, gone over their weapons one last time, to ensure that everything was in working order, and all their ammunition (for those who needed it) was fully-stocked. Then they joined RYNB for breakfast, before everyone assembled in the auditorium for an address by Ozpin. Most teams would be picking their missions after this assembly, which made it rather odd that RASP, RYNB, and now CPPR, had their missions already selected for them. Not that anyone else knew that.

Ozpin had given a brief speech, going into the history of the Great War, and how it had led to the trend of using colors as the basis for people's names. Ruby had listened attentively. The Mibu, having never participated in the Great War, had no such impetus, and felt comfortable naming their children in whatever way they saw fit, albeit almost all their names had their roots in the Old Tongue.

From there, Ozpin had segued into a speech about the importance of cooperation and doing their best, before leaving everyone...everyone else, that was...to pick their missions. From there, RASP barely had time to say goodbye to RYNB and CPPR, before they were whisked away by a bullhead to Vale's primary airport, where they were immediately ushered aboard an SDC airship, and sent north.

It was an eight-hour flight. Fortunately, and the reason they were so grateful that Ironwood had managed this for them, the SDC airship was equipped with surprisingly comfortable amenities. The seats were larger than those of commercial airships, and well-spaced. Some were even outright couches. Each one came equipped with an entertainment center and work-station, and they were capable of fully reclining to double as beds.

Ruby and Jaune immediately took one of the couches for themselves, leaning against each other. After an allowance from Weiss, they had even reclined the couch and slept, holding each other tightly, taking a brief nap, before their arrival in Soyuz.

Their arrival occurred with very little fanfare, merely an announcement from the pilot that they were landing. Gathering their baggage, they assembled at the hatch. When it opened, it was Weiss, the native Atlesian, who took the first steps off the aircraft, leading the way for the others. Ruby, Jaune, and Pyrrha tried to look focused, but couldn't quite keep themselves from looking like total rubberneckers as they stepped off the airship. Because of that, Ruby nearly walked straight into Weiss' back as she abruptly froze in place, midway down the stairs.

Confused, Ruby looked over Weiss' shoulder to see what had stalled her, only to see a severe-looking woman in a white-outfit, a woman with rather familiar-looking features. It appeared that this was the Specialist that Ironwood had assigned to them. Given how she looked, Ruby had some idea of just _why_ Weiss had suddenly stopped.

"Winter!" exclaimed Weiss, her eyes going wide.

* * *

**I find it fairly amusing that, even though the world of Remnant, including Vale, is shown to have a slew of different airships, the vast majority of stories, at least the ones that take place in and around Vale, would indicate that people think bullheads are the _only_ airships that Beacon uses. We do have the airships that take the students to Beacon in the first episode, and appear in the Volume 1 intro...and are subsequently never seen again, as well as the air-busses used during the Vytal Festival. The common fandom consensus is that airships are the primary means for students to travel to and from Beacon (I haven't found anything official that confirms or denies that), and that makes sense, considering Beacon's location.**

**The main thing that sticks out to me about bullheads is that they strike me as primarily short-range aircraft, basically meant to deliver Huntsmen and Huntresses quickly to trouble spots, but not exactly made for intercontinental travel. That's pretty much purely conjecture on my part, but it makes sense, since the emphasis on its design appears to be speed and maneuverability, rather than range. With those engines, they're also noisy as heck, and not something you'd want to use for regular flights in and out of a major metropolitan area.**

**Jacques holding Vale's Dust supply hostage to get Ozpin and Beacon to take care of a problem for him seems _exactly_ like the sort of dick move he'd do. Using it as a way to "judge" Weiss fitness as the heir to the SDC is just icing on the cake for him.**

**And hey, would you look at that. I totally _can_ write Ironwood as something _other_ than a tyrannical, Orwellian, control freak. Who knew?**

**So...going from here, we're going back to alternating chapters that will depict the two separate missions going on. The timeline between the two chapters is gonna desynch a bit, but I'll try and keep you all appraised of what's going on at what time, so you don't get too confused.**

**Aside from that, meet the last member of Penny's team, Rain Elric. There isn't all that much to say about him yet. He's from an old noble family, so I gave him a distinct form of speaking to try and demonstrate that. You'll learn more about him in upcoming chapters.**


	71. Chapter 71

**Chapter 71:**

_Day 1:_

Looking at Winter Schnee, Ruby could immediately see the resemblance. She definitely bore many of the same features as Weiss, those ice-blue eyes and white hair. Even her slim, dancer's physique seemed quite akin to Weiss'. Winter's skin, while still fairly pale, had a slightly more tanned and weathered look to it. It appeared that Weiss' sister was no stranger to long periods spent outdoors, especially in the harsh weather of the more northern climes.

Winter's choice of clothing certainly didn't seem to contain all that many concessions to the weather of Solitas though. The jacket she wore over her navy-blue, button-down blouse seemed mainly decorative, being mostly open at the front, only held together at the collar, by a red brooch; and over her stomach with a gray buckle. The sleeves were open along the upper arms, exposing her bare skin to the open air, before closing over her forearms, and being tucked into a pair of black gloves. Her legs were covered by tight-fitting, white pants, which were supported by black garters, the tails of her jacket trailing behind her, with a lighter, lacier section underneath them, almost like the back of a skirt. Once again, Ruby was beset by consternation at the sight of yet another woman who apparently felt the need to fight in heels, her own ankles throbbing at the mere sight of the high-heeled boots Winter wore.

All told, Winter's appearance and posture gave off a conservative bearing, which was only supported by the way her white hair was tied into a tight bun at the back-left part of her head, which had her bangs sweeping down along the right side of her face. She stood with perfect, parade-ground posture, arms folded behind her back.

At the left side of her waist, she wore what appeared to be a saber of some kind, complete with an elegant, sweeping guard along the handle. Near the pommel, there was a window, revealing a section of pale-blue, which stood out against the plain gray of the steel. Ruby's senses could detect the energy that indicated that it was actually a Dust-chamber. Furthermore, though it wasn't readily visible, Ruby could also sense the presence of a second one. It seemed that Winter's weapon was a more conservative version of the principle utilized by Weiss' own sword.

_No, that's not right,_ she thought. _Winter is Weiss' _older_ sister, and Weiss probably tried to emulate her style to some extent. That means that Weiss' weapon is probably an _elaboration_ on Winter's._

Ruby reflected on what that might mean then. She remembered Weiss informing them that Winter had been disinherited for her decision to join the military. If Ruby had to guess, Weiss and Winter's father had probably reduced or cut off Winter's access to the SDC's Dust supply as a punitive measure for her defiance, and Winter might have adjusted her style as a result, reducing her reliance on Dust, in order to make better use of what Dust she was able to obtain. In comparison, Weiss' own weapon, with its multiple Dust-chambers and her heavy reliance on their contents, was downright extravagant by comparison.

Ruby's observations were cut short by Winter's voice, snapping briskly through the cold air. "What are you doing, Weiss?" she demanded crisply. "I don't believe I taught you to stand around, gawping like a fish. You're holding up your teammates. Get down here."

"Y-yes," shouted Weiss quickly, lurching into motion again.

Ruby could feel Weiss' embarrassment through her Aura, and even feel the faint increase of heat in her cheeks, which stood out all the more starkly on her wind-cooled skin. Weiss hadn't seen her sister in months, and the very first thing Winter had to say to her was nothing more than a sharp remonstration. She was mortified.

For her part, Ruby felt the hackles rise along the back of her neck. Almost immediately, she was starting to get a sense of dislike for Winter Schnee. Having two older-sister figures of her own had conditioned Ruby to have different expectations of older siblings. The clipped, businesslike tone Winter set contrasted harshly against Sasame's gentle affirmation; and Yang's somewhat overenthusiastic, but genuinely warm, affection.

Rationally, Ruby realized that, as someone in the military, Winter probably kept her demeanor under strict control, keeping her personal feelings separate for more private and intimate moments. Despite that, it was hard to suppress the visceral irritation she felt, seeing Winter's first interactions with Weiss, which made her seem as cold and pitiless as the season she was named for.

The four of them quickly made their way down the steps, assembling before Winter in a line. Winter let her gaze drift over them for a moment, before returning it to Weiss. "And...how have you been?" she asked.

"I've been doing quite well," said Weiss, speaking quickly, the words almost seeming to tumble out of her mouth. "I am at the top of my class, academically, and am regularly within the top-five in combat scores, and-!"

Weiss' voice terminated in a pained yelp as Winter abruptly chopped the top of her head, cutting her off, before speaking in the same remonstrating tone as earlier. "Silence, you boob!" she scolded sharply. "I don't recall asking your ranking. I'm asking how you've _been_. Have you been eating properly? Have you picked up any hobbies? Have you made any new friends?"

Ruby blinked furiously, thrown off by Winter's line of questioning. Her thoughts about Winter's inquiry had been more along Weiss', expecting the harsh woman to be asking about Weiss' performance at Beacon. So it was a shock to learn that she was actually asking about her sister's wellbeing. Inspecting Winter more closely, Ruby could sense it, beneath the layer of cold professionalism she cloaked her personality with like plates of armor, a surprisingly powerful love for her younger sister. _Maybe I had her wrong,_ Ruby thought.

"Y-yes," stammered Weiss. "W-well...I've made friends with all my teammates, and our sister-team."

"Is that so?" said Winter, raising an eyebrow, her eyes glancing across the other three people lined up with Weiss once more. "Introductions, please."

"Of course," said Weiss, gesturing to Pyrrha. "This is Pyrrha Nikos, my partner."

"Ms. Nikos, your reputation precedes you," said Winter, inclining her head formally towards Pyrrha.

"Thank you...I think," said Pyrrha uncertainly, reflecting that her reputation was not so sterling anymore, now that the revelation of her Semblance had met with such a mixed reception.

"Next to her is Jaune Arc," said Weiss.

Winter's gaze went to Jaune, who quailed slightly. Offering her a nervous grin, he raised a hand in greeting. "Uh...Hi."

The silence after that stretched on uncomfortably, before Weiss realized that Winter apparently had nothing to say to Jaune. "A-and this is Ruby Rose, our team leader," said Weiss, gesturing to Ruby, standing at the end of the line.

Placing her hands together, Ruby bowed slightly in greeting. "Hello," she said, deciding to put her best foot forward, mostly for Weiss' sake.

"I see," said Winter, fixing Ruby with a gaze that made her feel uncomfortably like an insect, pinned for display. "So _this_ is the team leader you wrote of. How...underwhelming."

Ruby felt her cheeks heat up, able to viscerally _feel_ the disappointment Winter was subtly expressing through her Aura. Knowing it was private correspondence, Ruby had no idea what Weiss had been saying about her. But it had apparently given Winter expectations, which she now seemed to think Ruby fell short of.

Winter drew back slightly, looking at the three of them as a whole. "In any case, I must thank the three of you for taking an interest in my sister."

"Uh...you're welcome," said Jaune awkwardly.

Another awkward silence descended. Since it seemed that introductions wouldn't be going any further, Ruby decided to get down to business. "So then...the mission...?" she prompted.

"Yes," said Winter stiffly, a certain degree of irritation in her bearing now, though Ruby was relieved to feel that it wasn't directed at her specifically. "The _Bulwark_ is scheduled for departure at O-five-hundred, tomorrow morning. We must be aboard no later than O-four-thirty. Due to limitations on crew space, you will be permitted to bring along only the bare minimum of luggage, one mid-sized suitcase each. I will review your selections to ensure that only the most necessary items are brought. Anything extra will be sent back to Beacon."

"Understood," said Ruby, not feeling overly worried. Even now, she was only carrying the small haversack she needed for her usual belongings. Winter's provisions were certainly more forgiving than Ruby was used to, Ruby being accustomed to traveling by foot, with only what she could carry.

Winter flashed a look Ruby's way, accompanied by the tiniest nod of acknowledgement, before she continued. "For tonight, I have booked quarters for all of you at the _Atlas Imperial_. Enjoy their amenities while you can. Conditions onboard the _Bulwark_ will be much more spartan."

"Thank you very much!" said Weiss with breathless earnestness. From the excitement in her voice, Ruby figured that the _Atlas Imperial_ was a fairly exclusive hotel, perhaps overly luxurious for their needs.

"Please save your thanks for General Ironwood," said Winter firmly. "It was he who insisted upon this particular choice in lodgings. The SDC will be paying for everything." Ruby could have sworn she saw a faint smile flash across Winter's face at the notion.

_Oh..._ thought Ruby, once again finding reason to be grateful to Ironwood. She was beginning to get the feeling that all this favored treatment for them was being insisted on, not out of regard for them, but out of a desire to make this endeavor as costly to the SDC as possible, a preemptive punishment to Jacques for daring to use his clout to basically hold Vale hostage, in order to force Beacon to send them on this mission. Ruby couldn't really fault Ironwood for that.

"Now then, I will see you to the hotel," said Winter. "Your luggage will be seen to, so feel free to leave it here."

Ruby didn't see the point in it, already plenty comfortable with carrying her haversack. Jaune and Pyrrha had also packed light, each holding a suitcase that they could easily carry. Weiss had the largest one, which Ruby knew to be packed with extra Dust.

Still, they did as they were told, falling in behind Winter as she led the way to their residence for the night. As they did, Ruby enfolded her cloak around herself to ward off the chill of Solitas' winds. It was summer, yet the temperatures here were barely a step above the dead of winter in Sanus. It made Ruby shiver at the mere idea of what things must have been like during that season up north.

Fortunately, it wasn't a long walk, mainly because Winter merely escorted them to the edge of the landing pad, where a white limousine awaited. Once again, Ruby got the distinct impression that this was another expenditure being forced upon the SDC. The chauffeur opened the door for them, the quartet and Winter ducking their heads and settling into the plush, leather seats that lined the left side of the vehicle's interior.

It was definitely a luxurious way to travel. The seats were more like a set of small couches, with plenty of room for the five of them to stretch out. The right side of the cabin was dominated by a minibar, carved from dark-colored wood. The cabinets below were filled with bottles, containing various drinks, while there were glasses set atop it, held in place by micro-gravity-Dust fields to keep them from sliding or tilting while the vehicle was in motion. It was a level of luxury beyond what any of them, except maybe Weiss, were accustomed to. The rear end of the cabin was dominated by the back window, which could be cut off by an image projected from the high-definition holoscreen situated directly below it. The opposite end was cut off by the partition between the passenger-cabin and the driver's compartment, closed off by a barrier of opaque, hard-light-Dust.

Despite the luxury of the accommodations, the members of RASP sat stiffly, made nervous by the sheer extravagance of their surroundings, even Weiss. None of them made a move towards the drinks stored beneath the minibar. Winter appeared more comfortable, but maintained a mostly rigid posture, as befitted someone of her occupation.

They barely even felt it, when the car went into motion. Ruby glanced sidelong at Winter, wondering if there was anything expected of them right now. "So...do you know anything about these pirates?" she asked warily.

Winter inclined her head slightly, her tone still professional as she spoke. "We know very little. From what little of the ships' distress calls make it through, they apparently have some impressive means of stealth, as their appearance is always completely unexpected. The manner in which their transmissions are cut off suggest that the pirates are in possession of jamming technology, though that is not unexpected. However, their raids are remarkably fast, and the pirates have always departed before any of our vessels can reach the scene."

"How?" wondered Pyrrha. "You'd expect the ship's crew to be wary of any vessel approaching them."

"At this point, we can only surmise," said Winter. "Our best guess is that the pirates are in possession of a submersible vehicle."

"That's insane!" gasped Weiss, unable to maintain her manners at the idea.

Ruby frowned, finding herself in agreement with Weiss. Submarines were rare in the seas of Remnant. According to what they had learned in Oobleck's class, Mantle had tried to deploy some during the Great War, in order to harass the shipping efforts of Vale and Vacuo. But they saw little success, mostly because said submarines almost never lasted long enough to find a target. Attacks by aquatic Grimm were difficult enough to fend off, when Huntsmen had the deck of a ship to use as a foothold. Underwater, there was no way to deploy Huntsmen effectively, or any means for them to fight all that well, which meant that Grimm would have to be held off entirely by ship-board armaments, or the submersible in question would have to surface to fight off the monster, which ran the risk of exposing them to enemy surface vessels. Otherwise, their only other hope was going unnoticed by the Grimm, which was difficult at the best of times, considering the nature of their missions.

Winter nodded. "However, at this point, it is the only feasible way in which these pirates could get close enough to mount such a swift attack, then disappear before reinforcements can arrive. Normally, a submersible vessel would still be picked up on sonar, long before it came into attack range. But we cannot rule out the possibility of some unknown stealth technology...though how seafaring marauders would have gotten their hands on such technology is unknown."

That was a perplexing conundrum indeed. Ruby remembered, all too well, the pirates she'd encountered, back during her first trip to Leng. The pirates she and her siblings had encountered had been a miniature fleet, consisting of a variety of vessels, with the only commonality between them being that they had been stolen by the pirates that used them. Given the scarcity of functional submersibles in this day and age, how a group of thieves had managed to acquire one was a mystery.

"Have there been Huntsmen accompanying the ships?" asked Pyrrha. It wasn't an uncommon mission for Huntsmen to take, after all. Even with the impressive armaments ships these days sported to deal with the Grimm, it was still best to have at least one or two professional Huntsmen on hand to take the fight to the Grimm themselves.

"I'm afraid not, most of the time," said Winter, a scowl flickering across her face, for all of a second. "Father is cheap like that. He has more confidence in the armaments on the SDC's freighters than he does in unaffiliated Huntsmen. He did hire a few to protect the latest shipments. But they were bottom-of-the-barrel garbage, who barely passed the licensing exam, the cheapest he could find. Naturally, they didn't seem to accomplish much."

"But he thinks that _we'll_ be better?" asked Jaune. "I mean, even if they weren't the best, they still were _actual_ Huntsmen, right?"

Winter turned a critical eye on Jaune, who quailed away from her gaze. "Weiss mentioned you," she said. "You forged your transcripts, in order to get accepted into Beacon."

Jaune turned a wide-eyed look on Weiss, not sure how to feel, other than surprised and upset, that she had told her sister on him. Weiss shook her head.

"It was in your student profile," said Winter casually. "That particular information is not available to the general public, but I have the clearance to see it, when the lives of the people under our protection may depend on your level of ability." Her eyes narrowed. "Your instructors have noted that your growth has been impressive, meteoric even."

Jaune might have puffed up his chest a little, had he not still been quailing from Winter's gaze. "Still," she continued, "I have my doubts."

"Even if _I_ vouch for him?" asked Weiss, surprising Jaune, prompting another wide-eyed look from him.

"You do?" asked Winter, giving Weiss a look that only partly managed to mask her own surprise.

"I can easily say that Jaune definitely has a long ways to go," said Weiss firmly, prompting Jaune to sag slightly. "However, compared to his level, when he entered Beacon, his growth has been exceptional, and he is closing the gap between us quite quickly. He also has an exceptional reserve of Aura, and will be an asset to our mission."

Now Jaune was blushing furiously at having Weiss, of all people, talk him up like this.

"Well then..." said Winter, inclining her head towards Weiss, now with a neutral expression. "...I suppose I have little choice but to accept that for now. We work with what we're given."

She turned to regard Jaune again. "An aspiring Huntsman does not necessarily _have_ to attend and graduate from an Academy in order to get their license. If one has been trained independently, they can choose to take the licensing exam directly. Unfortunately, the requirements for graduation from an Academy are a good bit more stringent than the exam itself."

"Huh...really?" Jaune wilted at the idea that he hadn't actually needed to lie his way into Beacon to become a Huntsman.

"You wouldn't have made it," Weiss told him frankly. "Without _any_ training at all, you wouldn't have even met the more-lax requirements of the exam, no matter how hard you tried."

_That's true,_ Jaune admitted to himself, slumping again.

"Graduating from an Academy also has greater benefits," added Pyrrha. "In addition to the extra dedicated training you receive, graduates have access to higher-tier missions, without needing to build up their records first. Meeting the graduation requirements is its own licensing exam, so you don't have to take an extra exam afterwards."

"And now...you will actually be able to say that you _were_ trained," finished Weiss. "So, yes, as foolish as your decision was, getting into Beacon was the right choice for you."

"Thanks," said Jaune, sighing in relief.

Then Ruby's hand found his own. Looking over, his eyes met hers, a silent look of reassurance passing from her to him. _And, if you hadn't come to Beacon, we wouldn't have met._ Ruby didn't need to say that out loud to her new boyfriend...especially not in front of Winter.

Winter coughed, before getting the conversation back on track. "In any case, as we've said, the conditions for passing the licensing exam are considerably more lax than Academy standards, so passing the exam does not necessarily make a Huntsman better than an Academy student, even if they _are_ licensed."

"But why would they lower their standards like that?" asked Jaune.

Winter sighed. "Academy standards are stringent by necessity. They seek to cultivate the best possible Huntsmen and Huntresses. Sadly...only a few can meet those standards. Beyond getting accepted, and surviving the Initiation, making it through all four years of training is an arduous task; a long and difficult road that few reach the end of.

"On the other hand, the need for Huntsmen is substantial, and demand is widespread across a wealth of territories and settlements. So, even if the Academies assure quality, quantity is still needed as well, even if many of those who make up the latter are lacking in the former."

"Oh..." said Jaune softly.

"Ultimately, what that means is that Father's choice of protection for his ships is well below the standard you have been held to," finished Winter. "So, yes, there is every reason to believe that you will do a better job of protecting this vessel than any of the peons he has hired in the past."

"That's...reassuring to know," said Ruby.

"Of course, whether or not that is still _good enough_ remains to be seen," added Winter, somewhat unnecessarily.

Their ride slowed down and came to a stop. A moment later, they heard the driver's door open, then shut, followed by the chauffeur opening the passenger door for them to get out. RASP and Winter stepped out, finding themselves standing at the entrance of a palatial building. Team RASP, with the exception of Weiss, were unable to keep their jaws from hanging slack as they stared up at the magnificent structure.

"We're actually staying _here_?" gasped Jaune.

"Correct," said Winter, matter-of-factly.

"You're a celebrity, Pyrrha," said Ruby, looking to the girl in question, "you must've stayed in places like this before."

Her eyes still bulging, Pyrrha shook her head vigorously. "My manager was always insistent on cutting costs, whenever possible. I've stayed in some lovely places, but never anywhere this grand." Her parents, on the other hand, had always been keen to stay in the lap of luxury, whenever _they_ went on vacation. However, Pyrrha had almost never joined them, and had certainly never stayed in accommodations like _this_.

"This hotel is meant to host SDC executives, or even Father, when he needs to see to business in Soyuz," said Weiss, sounding rather irritated. "Only the best for him and his lackeys, after all..."

"Very true," agreed Winter. "I'm afraid that you'll only have the night to spend here, so make the most of it while you can. That having been said, let's go get you checked in."

Winter led them into the lobby, which looked even more posh and spectacular than the exterior. Their shoes clicked against a marble floor that was polished to a mirror-shine. All around them, seats upholstered in the highest-quality leather were arranged around tables of varying types. Some were more ornamental, clearly carved from expensive woods, while others were technological marvels, sporting holographic interfaces, like the kind found in Ozpin's desk.

There were few occupants visible. A couple of men in immaculate suits discussed something, seated across from one another, looking at a spreadsheet that was projected in the air between them. Another executive quickly marched past the incoming students, heading out the door, not even glancing their way.

Winter led them up to the desk, and began to speak to the receptionist, who immediately sat up a little straighter and used her finest manners, as soon as she realized she was addressing a group that contained no fewer than two daughters of the Schnee patriarch. Even disinherited, it was clear that Winter's surname still carried quite a bit of clout, all on its own, which Weiss' presence only enhanced.

From there, getting their rooms was a simple matter, particularly because Winter did all the talking. After a few minutes, the receptionist asked for their scrolls. Ruby and the others dutifully placed the devices on the counter, itself a disguised interface, and the information on their rooms, along with the keys, was wired directly into the scrolls themselves.

Their business concluded, Winter led them away. "You have been assigned to a group suite," she said. "I tried for individual rooms, but it was not to be."

She sounded disappointed at that. Ruby wondered if it was because Winter counted it as a missed opportunity to continue milking her father for all he was worth.

Winter continued. "However, you shall each have your own bedrooms."

"It's probably better this way," said Pyrrha, exchanging smiles with Ruby, Jaune, and Weiss. "We're used to rooming together, so sharing a common space feels more normal to us."

"I suppose it does," conceded Winter. "Your luggage shall be sent to your suite directly, and you can get it sorted out when you get there. From now until tomorrow morning, your time is your own. You have full access to the hotel's amenities, including restaurants and room-service. The SDC shall be covering _all_ expenses, so do not worry about the price of anything."

In other words, she was encouraging them to run up the biggest bill they could as continued punishment for Jacques' underhanded tactics.

Still, considering how amazing this place seemed, Ruby and the others weren't all that concerned about holding back.

* * *

Winter had expressed disappointment that she'd only managed to get a suite with four bedrooms. But Ruby couldn't find it in herself to be disappointed. One glance at the magnificently-furnished common area; itself large enough that the Forrest Family's entire apartment could have fit inside of it, with room to spare; was enough for Ruby to realize that this was a level of luxury beyond anything she had experienced on the road. Even as an adopted member of the Mibu Royal Family, this was a level of luxury above her experience. Her family's quarters within the palace were much humbler than this hotel suite.

Jaune, Ruby, and Pyrrha explored the common room, their postures tight, arms held close to their bodies, almost afraid to touch anything. A single cushion on one of the couches was probably worth more than they'd see from their student stipends for a whole year...or at least, that was how it seemed.

Ruby wished Weiss was still with them, certain that the heiress would probably look at the furnishings and declare them "passable," compared to what she enjoyed in her own home. However, Weiss and Winter had gone off on their own, the sisters apparently seeking to reconnect in private.

Ruby didn't begrudge them that. She hoped that a more private setting would strip away Winter's frigid exterior, and prompt her to show Weiss more open affection. However, she wouldn't pry. However she might have felt personally about Winter's manner, it wasn't her place to criticize how the Schnee sisters did things, so long as there was no sign that Weiss was actually hurt by the way she'd been treated.

"So...now what?" asked Jaune, finally deciding to take the plunge, and seating himself on one of the couches, arrayed before the biggest holoscreen projector any of them had seen.

"I guess whatever we feel like," said Pyrrha, settling into a plush chair, and tapping its arm to reveal another holographic interface. Soon, she was paging through the room-service options. "I am feeling rather peckish after our flight."

Ruby and Jaune nodded, Jaune in particular. While his Aura had mitigated his tendency to motion sickness, so that he hadn't been perpetually on the verge of throwing up throughout the trip, he still hadn't had much of an appetite. Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss had forgone eating more than a light snack out of sympathy.

"So...what is there to do, actually?" wondered Jaune. "I can't imagine a place like this having video games."

"They do, actually," said Pyrrha, bringing the option up on the screen. "Oftentimes, executives travel with their families, including their children, who need their own entertainment."

"Tough for me to picture Weiss playing video games on a trip," mused Jaune.

"Not all such families are so...stringent...with their children," said Pyrrha. She pulled up a menu of their options. "Shall we play, while we wait? The hotel charges by the hour."

"I think Winter would probably like that," said Ruby with a giggle.

* * *

Weiss took a sip from the teacup, then selected one of the finger-sandwiches on the plate before her. She had to admit that, while she preferred coffee, she enjoyed afternoon tea with her sister. It helped that she'd been feeling more than a little hungry, after not eating more than a light snack on the flight over, out of sympathy for Jaune.

"You seem to be doing well for yourself," said Winter.

"Thank you," said Weiss, unconsciously puffing up at Winter's praise.

"You certainly seem to have interesting taste in teammates," said Winter.

"W-well...given the format of the Initiation, it wasn't much of a choice," said Weiss.

"So I heard," said Winter. "However...to have a Mibu on your team..."

Weiss frowned. "You know?"

"The General briefed me about your teammates, Ms. Rose in particular," said Winter, taking a sip from her own cup, before refilling it from the pot. "He seems to think quite highly of her, which surprised me."

"You doubt her accomplishments?" asked Weiss.

"And _what_ has she accomplished?" asked Winter.

"I saw her cut an elder Deathstalker in two, during the Initiation," said Weiss firmly. "She can create lightning and wind-attacks without a speck of Dust. She officially fought Pyrrha to a draw, and they've sparred many times since, though neither of them will tell anyone who won or lost. She's fought and bested Adam Taurus himself..._twice_. And she once carved up an Atlesian Paladin like a Yuletide turkey."

Winter's eyes widened with each deed Weiss attributed to Ruby. While she knew better than to doubt Ironwood's assessments, the fact of the matter was that Winter had a hard time believing that someone hailing from a culture that many, amongst the few who knew of them, deemed primitive would be capable of such things. The Mibu were a backwards people, foolishly eschewing the opportunities created by modern technological advances, in exchange for placing their faith in esoteric arts that were little more than blind superstition.

Granted, Winter didn't believe the rumors to that extent, unlike Jacques, who happily championed the cause of another "expedition" to Leng to bring the Mibu to heel, and grant the SDC access to new, untapped sources of Dust. According to him, the disastrous defeat of the previous expedition had been nothing more than a fluke, a lucky break for the Mibu. Since then, Atlesian technology had advanced by leaps and bounds, and the Mibu couldn't possibly hope to offer any resistance to the power that Atlas could bring to bear now.

And, as much as she despised her father, Winter couldn't quite disagree. Whatever advantage the Mibu had had, the last time the Kingdoms had intruded on their territory, they were surely unprepared for the new technology the Atlesian military had at its disposal. Winter didn't think that justified another "expedition", but she did believe that the Mibu needed to be willing to accept their limitations, and stop being so stubborn.

And then Ruby Rose had appeared at Beacon, performing feats that were shocking, to say the least. This fifteen-year-old child was competing equally, or even _above_ the level of her peers, all of whom were at least two years older than her. She'd been invited in early, and acknowledged as the leader of her team, even by Weiss. It was a startling development that left Winter struggling what to think, at least so far as Ruby Rose remained nothing more than a dossier.

Meeting her in person had left Winter wondering. She honestly couldn't see just what it was about Ruby Rose that had gained the respect of Ironwood and Weiss. She seemed capable. But there just didn't seem to be that much to her. All she had was a single sword, not even one equipped with Dust. Given her lifetime of training and experience, Winter could hardly imagine such a basic weapon being capable of the feats attributed to its wielder.

But Weiss' impassioned defense of Ruby had left Winter wondering again.

"So...it would seem you respect her a great deal," she said.

Weiss nodded. "She's even been helping us learn how to control our Auras better. It seems the Mibu have studied that, more than anything else."

"And has it helped you in any meaningful fashion?" asked Winter.

Weiss looked down at herself, holding up her hands as though she was inspecting them. "I think so," she said. "My Aura-guard is more solid now, so I lose less, if I take a hit. My reserve has been increasing steadily. And...using my Semblance has become easier and more efficient."

"So...you've been improving, have you?" asked Winter.

Weiss nodded. "I've been perfecting my Glyphs. I've even started working on Time Dilation."

"Oh...and what about your Summoning?" asked Winter.

Cheeks flushing with shame, Weiss lowered her gaze to the table. "Not so much..." she said.

"And why not?" asked Winter.

"You know I can't," countered Weiss.

"You can," Winter assured her. "All Schnees are capable of summoning. It's simply a matter of effort...and will. Unlike most Semblances, ours is hereditary. After our meal, I would like to see the fruits of your effort for myself."

"Okay..." said Weiss, her appetite diminishing at the prospect.

* * *

Dinner had come and gone. After playing games a little longer, they'd decided to settle in for the night. They had an early morning awaiting them, after all. However, they'd noticed that Weiss _still_ hadn't come back from her meeting with Winter. It was getting late, and Weiss' teammates were getting worried. Considering how much Weiss was a stickler for sticking to a schedule, it was unusual for her to fall behind like this.

Ruby stood up. "I'll go get her."

Going out into the hallway, Ruby took a deep breath, then Extended her Aura, allowing to spread out around her, almost like an expansion of her cloak, which billowed with the action. Through it, she could sense her way through the hallways and rooms around her, feeling the presences of the people who were currently in the hotel. She could sense other people in their own rooms, but paid no mind to what they were doing, not wanting to invade their privacy. Staff moved through the hallways on whatever jobs they were assigned. Furthermore, she could sense the pulsing Auras of Weiss and Winter.

Winter, to Ruby's surprise, was already in one of the rooms. In contrast, Weiss was standing in the middle of a larger, open room. Her Aura was flaring brightly, a sign that she was putting it into action. A blossom of her Aura marked the floor in front of her, but it felt off to Ruby, not matching any of the Glyphs Weiss had used before.

Frowning, Ruby made her way down the hall, taking an elevator to the floor Weiss was on. Arriving there, Ruby could see that the entire level consisted of conference rooms of varying sizes, ranging from ones that were smaller than the suite she was sharing with her team, to a full-sized ballroom, even bigger than the one the Beacon Dance had taken place in. It was in this largest room that Weiss was practicing.

Opening the door, Ruby slipped into the room. The lights had been dimmed, so it made the light of Weiss' Glyph stand out all the more starkly on the floor below her. True to the impression she'd gotten through her Extension, the Glyph was different from the other ones Ruby had seen. She was accustomed to the snowflake-sigil of Weiss' Propulsion Glyph. She'd also seen the clock-face of the Time Dilation Glyph. But this one was different.

From within the center of the Glyph's concentric circles, a quartet of swords extended, their points angled out, like those of a compass, a sword-wheel. It rotated on the floor before Weiss, flashing, flickering, then fading, before flaring again. For her part, Weiss stood straight, her posture rigid, her sword pointed at the Glyph, almost as though she were trying to threaten it into doing her bidding. Her eyes were closed, face scrunched in furious concentration.

Looking on worriedly, Ruby monitored Weiss' condition. Weiss' Aura was throbbing with the force of her effort. She had poured a great deal of it into the Glyph, but to no end, it seemed. For its part, the Glyph was just barely holding itself together. But whatever it was supposed to do...it wasn't doing. Ruby frowned, wondering what Weiss was trying, why she was staying up so late, when she should be in bed, resting for the day to come.

Finally, unable to keep her silence any longer, Ruby took a step forward. "Weiss..." she said softly.

Weiss' eyes snapped open with a gasp. The Glyph shattered, scattering into motes of light that danced through the air, before fading from view. Weiss bent forward, her legs buckling. At the last second, she planted Myrtenaster's tip, using it to hold herself up. For a moment, she stayed like that, catching her breath, before looking up and glaring at Ruby. "What do you think you're doing, you dunce?" she snapped. "I almost had it!"

It was a startling change. Ruby hadn't seen Weiss like this in a long while, especially not after Weiss had overcome her initial issues with not being named the leader of their team. It had certainly been quite some time since Weiss had used the term, "dunce," in anything other than a playful parlance.

"It's getting late," said Ruby. "You need to get some sleep, Weiss. We have to leave early, tomorrow."

"I'll be up in a little bit," said Weiss firmly. "I just need to try this again."

"What are you trying?" asked Ruby.

"None of your-!" Weiss stopped herself, her jaw snapping shut. Then she took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Ruby could sense Weiss tension bleeding away with her breath, the disturbance in the Temper of her Aura calming with the action.

"Better?" asked Ruby cautiously.

"Yes," said Weiss, her tone resigned. "I was lying. I _don't_ almost have it. I've _never_ had it...not the way Winter does."

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

Weiss sighed, then allowed herself to sag down to the floor. She set Myrtenaster off to the side, hugging her legs to her chest. Ruby sat down next to her, crossing her own legs.

"There are three main applications of the Schnee Family Semblance," said Weiss. "The first is Propulsion; the second, Time Dilation; and, finally...Summoning."

"What is Summoning?" asked Ruby, canting her head curiously. "It sounds cool."

"A Schnee is supposed to be able to Summon avatars of the foes they've defeated to fight by their side," said Weiss, averting her eyes and resting her cheek against her raised knees. "Concentrate on the image of the foes you've defeated, the enemies who forced you to push past who you were, to become who you _are_...and call them forth."

"That's...cool," said Ruby.

"It would be," said Weiss, a sob rising in her throat, "if I could _do_ it."

"You can't?" asked Ruby.

"Have you ever seen me do it?" asked Weiss sardonically.

"Uh...no," said Ruby.

Weiss scowled. "Believe me, considering some of the situations we've been in, if I could Summon, I damn well _would_. But I can't! I've tried and tried and tried...and I just _can't_, no matter how much I try not to doubt myself, like Winter says."

"She tells you not to doubt yourself?" asked Ruby.

"She tells me to _stop_ doubting myself," Weiss clarified. "I wish I could, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it."

Ruby frowned, staring down at her own crossed legs for a moment. As she did, she began to speak. "You know...when I think about it, the Schnee Semblance is kinda...strange."

"Why?" asked Weiss, her head perking up.

"Well, for starters, your Semblance is hereditary, right?" Ruby thought she remembered Weiss saying that before. Glancing at Weiss, she saw the white-haired girl nodding her head in confirmation. "That's...odd. I mean, a Semblance is born from your soul, right? So why would it always have the same shape as the people before you?" Her frown deepened. "How did you learn about your Semblance?"

"Winter unlocked my Aura," said Weiss. "After that, she began to teach me about our Semblance."

Weiss laid it out, the stories of copying down the particular Glyphs, memorizing their features, learning what each one did. She described the practice regimen; first creating the Glyphs at will, then learning to invoke their effects. With each word, the furrows on Ruby's forehead grew deeper and deeper.

"Weiss..." said Ruby suddenly, cutting Weiss off, right as she was getting back into another diatribe about all her failed attempts to invoke her Summoning Glyph.

"What?" asked Weiss, glancing curiously at Ruby.

"I...I think I know what's going on," said Ruby, her eyes widening. "Weiss, what you're describing isn't a Semblance."

"What are you talking about?" scoffed Weiss. "Of course it is-"

"It's not!" blurted Ruby sharply, cutting her friend off. "Don't you see it, Weiss? You didn't discover your Semblance? Those Glyphs didn't just appear out of your soul. You were _taught_ them, _taught_ their shape, _taught_ what they were supposed to do, and made to create them and produce those effects themselves. Don't you see? That's not a Semblance...it's a Manifestation!"

"What!?" Weiss exclaimed. "There's no way! That's impossible! That isn't remotely like anything you do!"

"Of course it isn't," said Ruby. "There are dozens of different Manifestations. I even went and created my own. In the Mibu, I've seen people use fire, water, earth, metal, light, and a bunch of others. It's amazing what Aura is capable of."

"But our Semblance can't be a Manifestation," declared Weiss. "I mean...wouldn't we have known."

"Not necessarily," said Ruby. "I mean, _I_ call it a Manifestation, because that's the term we use in the Mibu. But if somebody who wasn't a Mibu came up with the same thing, then they wouldn't necessarily call it the same thing. Whoever started this Schnee Semblance of yours, they probably only knew of things like that as Semblances, so they just called it a Semblance too. But the way it's passed down, the fact that you have to be taught how to do it. That really means it's a Manifestation."

"Okay..." said Weiss, blinking slowly. "So...it's a Manifestation then...How does that help me...exactly?"

Ruby smiled. "It means you can use what you _already_ know to make it work," she said. "You already have a Manifestation, but you learned it without first learning the most basic skills of Aura-control. But now...you've been practicing those skills for months. So...if we put everything together...then you might just be able to do it."

Weiss was skeptical. But, then again, what Ruby was saying _did_ make a certain amount of sense, though Weiss couldn't imagine how somebody could create a Manifestation, and still call it a Semblance, if it was really something so different.

_But then, Ruby and Sasame did say that Manifestation basically _is_ a Semblance,_ thought Weiss. _The only difference is that a Semblance is raw, while a Manifestation is something you shape and create for yourself._

"Okay," she said. "What do I do?"

"Here, stand up," said Ruby, getting to her feet and offering Weiss her hand.

Weiss took it, allowing Ruby to pull it to her feet.

"Let's go in order," said Ruby, moving to stand behind Weiss, resting her hands on Weiss' shoulders. "Start with your Temper."

Weiss didn't even need to actually "start". After months of practice, holding her Temper was as natural as breathing. Even when she'd been exerting herself to try and force her Summoning Glyph to work, it had remained in place, albeit agitated.

"Now...Suppression," said Ruby.

Weiss turned her Aura off.

"Feel it building inside of you," said Ruby, almost whispering in Weiss' ear. "Now...open it up again."

Weiss did so.

"Create your Glyph," said Ruby.

The Glyph shimmered into being. For some reason, the shape felt much more natural, though Weiss couldn't quite articulate why.

"Now...what are you trying to Summon?" asked Ruby.

"A knight," said Weiss, her voice soft, "an Arma Gigas. My Father made me fight an augmented one, in order to get to go to Beacon."

"Think about it," said Ruby. "Picture it in your mind. Make it the _only_ thing you think about."

Weiss did so. Surprisingly, the image came readily. She knew the Knight's image well. Facing it had been her greatest triumph, her first true act of defiance against her Father, which he hadn't immediately slapped down. It had also been a traumatic moment, when she'd taken the hit that had left her with the scar over her left eye, an imperfection that would mar her face for the rest of her life. Weiss had seen it in her dreams…and her nightmares. She'd been reminded with memories of her victory, and taunted with how terrible it might have been, had she failed. It took no effort at all to bring up its image.

"Now," said Ruby, "Holding that image in your mind, Project your Aura through the Glyph. Make the image..._real_."

Weiss followed through automatically. Had she been in a normal state of mind, she would have been hampered by the thoughts of all her previous failures, Winter's continued admonitions about her doubting herself, and her own expectation that each subsequent attempt would be no different. But doubt was far from Weiss' mind at the moment. Instead, she followed Ruby's instructions, as though this was nothing more than an ordinary evening of Aura-practice. Building her Aura within her, she Projected it outward through her Glyph.

The sword-wheel in front of her blazed brilliantly. In her mind's eye, Weiss thought of nothing else but of the Knight, its image, its contours, every plate and joint of its armored body. She felt her Aura take shape, solidifying, hardening...Before her eyes, the light faded, leaving behind that familiar, armored body, that curved, backwards-sweeping crest at the top of its helm, the massive greatsword gripped in its hands. It stood before her, its sword resting, point-down, in front of its body, its hands resting atop the crossguard.

Then, the Knight knelt before her, its head bowing, as though declaring its fealty to her will.

"See?" asked Ruby, smiling proudly.

Weiss made a choking sound. Tears began to run down her face. "I did it," she whispered.

"Yep," agreed Ruby, squeezing Weiss' shoulders.

Weiss sniffed, finding it hard to breathe all of a sudden, feeling completely overcome with emotion. Moving closer, Weiss rested a hand against the curved plate over the Knight's forearm. It wasn't metal, but it felt solid, impenetrable. It felt..._powerful_.

Wiping her tears with her sleeve, Weiss dismissed the Knight. Turning and smiling at Ruby, she sheathed her sword, before throwing herself at her leader, seizing the younger girl in a tight hug. "Thank you!" she exclaimed.

Saying nothing, Ruby merely hugged Weiss back as tightly as she was able, glad to see her friend no longer being chained down by her doubts. "I knew you could do it," she said.

"But how?" asked Weiss, looking Ruby in the eyes. "Winter tried so hard..."

"She kept telling you to _not_ doubt yourself," said Ruby, pulling out of the embrace, taking Weiss by the hand and leading her back along the way that would take them to their suite. "Sasame-nee told me something once."

"What?"

"Well, she said people have this funny tendency," said Ruby. "You know how parents tell their kids not to do something, and almost immediately, the kid does it?"

Weiss nodded. It was something she was loathe to admit, but even she had done it once in a while, during her youngest years. If she was lucky, it was Klein that she disobeyed, and he merely fondly, but sternly, reprimanded her. If she was unlucky, it was her Father, and her disobedience was followed by a slap across the face.

"That's because a person's mind doesn't automatically catch the negative," said Ruby. "When you're told not to doubt yourself, your brain doesn't automatically pick up on the 'not' part, so you have to consciously add it in. Most of the time, that's fine. But, when it's something that's really dependent on your state of mind, it's hard to internalize that 'not' enough to actually keep from doubting yourself."

"But Winter could do it," said Weiss. "And she must have been taught the same way she taught me."

"I don't know," admitted Ruby. "How hard it is to do that varies from person to person. Winter might have been better at that part of it, or she might have been taught in a slightly different way, and didn't realize it. That's the tricky thing. She might know those skills herself, but that doesn't mean she knows how to teach them to someone else."

"But _you_ do," Weiss pointed out, thinking about how Ruby had taught them the basic exercises.

"Well...All I can say is that I'm imitating the way Sasame-nee taught me how to control my Aura," said Ruby, shrugging. "I don't know enough about your sister to say what she was doing."

Weiss nodded, feeling bemused, but not frustrated. She knew that Winter hadn't been deliberately trying to undermine her. But it was still frustrating to think about all the time she had wasted, essentially beating her head against the wall and trying to force her Semblance to work.

"But how did you know what to do?" asked Weiss, as they stepped into the elevator.

"Well, I kinda just applied what I know to it," said Ruby. "You know how I always use those attack names, when I use specific techniques?"

Weiss nodded. She had thought it was odd that Ruby would shout what sounded like random words, when launching attacks. But those words were specific to each attack.

"It's a sort of mental trick," Ruby explained. "Aura is power of the soul, channeled through the body, and controlled and shaped by the mind. In order to use a technique, I need to have an image of it to accomplish that. But doing that in the middle of battle can be tricky, seeing as battle is so...distracting."

Weiss nodded.

"So, in order to help the process along, you create the image of a technique, and give it a name," Ruby continued to explain. "By putting it into words, you can make the image of your technique come to mind by speaking its name, which allows you to bring mind, body, and soul together. And, from that, technique is born.

"In your case, your 'word' was the Glyph you were using. The Knight you wanted to summon was the image you put to that word, and then you put your Aura, your soul, into that, and your Summon was the result."

They emerged from the elevator, making their way back to their suite. Stopping at the door, Weiss turned and pulled Ruby into another hug.

"Thank you so much," she whispered.

"You're my friend and teammate," said Ruby, hugging her back. "Of course I'd do everything I can to help you. Just remember, you aren't alone Weiss.

"I don't think I can ever forget that," said Weiss, pulling out of the embrace. "I suppose, as an expression of gratitude, I will permit you to spend the night with Jaune, if you like."

Even though she was blushing Ruby couldn't quite keep a wry smile from her face either. "That's generous of you," she said.

"Yes, well...don't go expecting such leniency for every little thing," said Weiss, a trace of her haughtiness creeping into her voice. "But, since we are spending one last night in luxury, before boarding that ship, I suppose I can permit you _one_ extra luxury."

"Just who is the leader here?" wondered Ruby, opening the door and ushering them in for the night.

* * *

**I kinda pulled the same move I did, back when I wrote _Crimson Eyes_, by making the Schnee Semblance a Manifestation. However, it checks all the boxes, from my view. It has multiple forms and functions, and is possessed by multiple people. The idea of it being a hereditary Semblance is born of a misconception, with Weiss, Winter, and those who came before them not quite realizing that it wasn't "unlocked" when they were taught it, but the act of teaching it _shaped_ it into the same form for each person who subsequently learned it. Of course, since Manifestation is terminology specific to the Mibu, someone who did develop one outside of the Mibu would generally put it within the framework of what they already know, hence the Schnee considered their particular power a Semblance instead.**

**During Volume 6, Maria mentions a license exam that she took, rather than going to an Academy. I think it's implied that it was because the Academies weren't quite up and running in their current incarnations yet, but I also like to think that this could be an explanation, because...however you look at it...demand for Huntsmen and Huntresses probably outstrips the capability of a mere four Academies to provide for all the different places and people who might need protection. Therefore, I considered the possibility of people who trained independently, and got their licenses through a system that was...less discerning...than Beacon or any of the other Academies. It would also explain where we get such characters as Dee and Dudley from Volume 6; supposedly-professional Huntsmen, yet one of them goes down like a chump in the first few seconds of the Grimm attack, while the other barely contributes anything, and actually winds up making the situation worse; all while RWBY and JNR are mowing down Grimm left, right, and center, with even Oscar's putting up a good fight.**

**Next chapter: We go back to Vale, where RYNB and CPPR's mission is beginning.**


	72. Chapter 72

**Chapter 72:**

_Day 1:_

Yang frowned, watching the bullhead that would carry her sister's team to the airport lift off. The idea that her little sister, whom she'd only recently reunited and reconciled with, would be taking a dangerous mission in another Kingdom was a troubling one. Perhaps it was a remnant of the overprotective habits she'd cultivated under their father, but Yang felt uncomfortable at the thought that Ruby would be so far away.

"They'll be fine," said Blake, resting an easy hand on Yang's shoulder. "Your sister certainly knows how to take care of herself. And she'll have the rest of her team with her."

"I guess," said Yang uneasily.

Blake smiled. "Come on," she said. "It's time for us to head out on our own mission."

"Right," said Yang, seeing what remained of their own team, along with Team CPPR, already heading towards a different pad, where another bullhead was waiting to whisk them off to Mountain Glenn. Even from this distance, she could see the lanky figure of her uncle Qrow, along with the figure of Professor Oobleck. Yang had a hard time imagining their quirky History teacher as a hardened Huntsman. However, she supposed that must be a basic requirement to even teach at Beacon.

They were about to head over, when a shout caught their attention.

"Hey!" Sun rushed up to RYNB, Blake in particular, Neptune following in his wake, huffing and panting.

"Sun?" Blake canted her head at the sight of him, though she couldn't keep a small smile from her face.

"I heard you were heading out," explained Sun. "Wanted to get the chance to wish you luck."

Blake's smile widened. "Thanks," she said.

Closing the distance between them, Sun reached out and gently brushed his fingers against Blake's upper arm. "Be careful out there," he said.

"I will," Blake promised. "Thank you."

"What are you guys gonna be doing?" asked Yang, looking between the two boys.

"Well...since going out on the town with you girls..." He was interrupted by a cough from a certain someone. "...and Ren...tends to end up with things exploding, Neptune and I decided to take a mission with the local police."

"We're even getting Junior Detective badges," bragged Neptune, puffing himself up. The others all ignored him.

"Sounds pretty fun," said Nora. "And this from the guy who showed up in Vale, running _from_ the cops."

"What can I say, I like to get to know the people who chase me," said Sun, grinning and throwing a wink at Blake, who blushed.

"It sounds like you'll be having fun," observed Blake. Stepping in closer, she stood on her toes to bring her lips to Sun's cheek, giving him a light peck, before stepping back. "I'll see you, when we get back."

"Looking forward to it," said Sun, who, despite his red face, looked as though he could have died happy, right then and there.

"Ahem..." Ciel's insistent cough drew the group's attention to Team CPPR. Holding up her left arm, Ciel pointed to the screen of her wristwatch.

"...Right," said Blake, blushing harder. She stepped back from Sun. "Goodbye then."

"Yeah...bye," said Sun, waving reluctantly.

"We'll catch'ya later," declared Yang, waving over her shoulder as RYNB and CPPR headed towards the waiting bullhead. Moderating her pace, she fell back to walk next to her partner, giving Blake a cheeky smile.

"What?" asked Blake, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," said Yang. "I guess...I'm a little jealous. He's a real keeper."

Blake's first impulse was to deny that there was anything going on between her and Sun, but then realized it was futile. "I suppose he is," she said, smiling fondly.

The two teams reached the landing pad, where they saw Qrow, already leaning casually up against the side of the bullhead, pulling out his flask and sipping from it. In contrast, Oobleck stood before the aircraft's open bay-doors, straight-backed, with posture that would have done any of the Atlesian students proud. His usual attire was covered by a khaki, button-down safari shirt; over which he wore a tan great-coat; while his unruly hair was covered by the rounded dome of a pith helmet.

"Well then, let us embark quickly," said Oobleck, speaking at his usual rapid clip. "We are burning daylight, people."

"Wouldn't have lost so much time if you'd stopped obsessing over the luggage," grumbled Qrow, pushing away from the hull and stepping aboard.

Oobleck merely growled under his breath, but held his tongue otherwise, instead turning to climb in after Qrow, with RYNB and CPPR following him.

When they had first met with Qrow and Oobleck for their initial briefing, Oobleck had informed them that, since their mission was actually a reconnaissance mission, he would would take care of their packs, wanting to ensure that they were packed light and ready to move, without needing a fixed base of operations. But he had been overruled by Qrow, who'd said the _students_ needed to choose what to bring.

_"__If they get worn out, 'cause they brought too much crap, it'll just serve 'em right,"_ he'd commented dryly.

It had led to the eight students attending the mission to review what they had packed, and ensure they had brought along only what was absolutely necessary. As Oobleck had explained, they would be spending much of their mission on the move, searching for signs of the White Fang, while fighting Grimm. Because of that, they couldn't afford to be weighed down by their packs. Of course, considering how long the mission was supposed to run, they couldn't afford to stint on the necessities either, particularly things like extra Dust and spare rounds. Everyone had finished making their selections, only able to hope that they'd made the right decisions.

Compared to some of the flights that students would be taking out to their various mission points, the bullhead flight to Mountain Glenn was comparatively brief, so much so that the pilot didn't bother closing the doors.

"Okay, real briefing time," said Qrow, looking to Oobleck. "Doc, what can ya tell us 'bout the place?"

Oobleck grunted, and nodded. "Right, as you all learned in class, Mountain Glenn was the result of an attempt to expand Vale. A tunnel was excavated, connecting the settlement directly to Vale's center, in order to encourage commerce and make migration easier.

"At first, it seemed to be a success. The area chosen for the settlement was known for its cave systems, as well as deep forests, providing plentiful building materials. Thanks to well-situated natural barriers and aggressive perimeter defenses, the settlement thrived for a brief period of time. However, despite this, pressure from the Grimm only continued to mount. The frequency and intensity of their attacks only increased, no matter how often they were repulsed. Ultimately, the settlement was overrun. In an act of desperation, the tunnels between Mountain Glenn and Vale were demolished, in order to keep the Grimm from reaching Vale, trapping a large portion of the populace."

"That's awful!" gasped Nora, her free hand going to cover her mouth, while she steadied herself with her other hand, holding onto the bar running along the ceiling.

"It was a...difficult...decision," said Oobleck forlornly. "No one knows what exactly caused so much pressure from the Grimm. The persistence of their attacks was well beyond what would have been justified by the average level of negativity from the settlement's inhabitants."

"You make it sound as though there's something here that draws the Grimm, besides negativity," observed Piper.

"That may be true," said Oobleck. "After all, the reason Mountain Glenn is subject to so many Search-and-Destroy missions in the first place is because, even though the inhabitants are all dead and gone, the Grimm still continue to congregate. However, what reason they could possibly have to gather here remains unknown."

"And the White Fang are out there in that...somewhere," said Blake, gazing at the forest canopy flashing by below intently.

"That's what we're aiming to find out," said Qrow.

The airship dipped, its curving flight taking them around the forest-covered side of a mountain, Mount Glenn, from which the settlement had taken its name. Coming around the other side, what remained of the settlement itself hove into view. Crumbling skyscrapers stretched upward from from ruined and potholed streets. Here and there, ruined cars could be seen, some crumpled and rusted heaps, many of them sporting parallel rents along their bodies. Weeds sprouted from cracked asphalt, and vines climbed up dilapidated walls.

"This is awful," whispered Yang, her eyes wide. It was one thing to hear and read about fallen settlements, like this one, but another thing entirely to see, with her own eyes, the devastation wrought by the Grimm.

"It is," agreed Oobleck, while Qrow nodded gravely.

Their bullhead swooped down low over an open cul-de-sac, coming into a hover, allowing the students and teachers to disembark.

"So, what is the plan now?" asked Rain, looking around.

"Now we begin our search," said Oobleck. "We are looking for an underground criminal organization, so following the pattern of Grimm activity will give us clues as to their location."

"Cool," said Piper, before pointing down the street. "Looks like there's one now."

True to her words, a Beowolf prowled out from between a pair of buildings. The black-furred, lupine Grimm growled softly, lowering the nose of its white-masked head to the ground, seeming to be looking for something. Shifting its head back and forth, it began to creep along, heading along the street, its movements taking it along perpendicular to the line of sight of the party currently watching it.

"Excellent," said Oobleck. "For now, we follow it."

"And...the rest of them...?" asked Ren, taking a step back as the Beowolf was followed by the rest of its pack, the whole group slowly prowling along. Then...one on the fringes of the group lifted its nose, sniffing the air. With an angry snarl, it turned and looked directly at the two teams and their escorts.

"Looks like they saw us," said Yang. "What's Plan B?"

With a loud howl, the Beowolf signaled the rest of its pack, all of them orienting on the group immediately. Without hesitation, they began to charge forward.

"Now...show us what you can do," said Oobleck simply.

The eight students drew their weapons. The members of RYNB glanced sidelong at their new friends on CPPR. Blake had already seen Penny's wired blades before. But the other students' weapons were an unknown.

Ciel tapped the glowing, blue screen of her watch-face. With a series of rapid clicks, silvery plates unfolded from the steel rim of the watch-face, and the band around her wrist, sliding out and linking together to form a smooth, curved surface, creating a half-gauntlet that covered Ciel's forearm, with more plates completely enclosing her hand, with a rectangular indentation resting just behind where her knuckles were located beneath the gauntlet. From the rounded end of the hand-guard, a long, straight-edged blade extended, her weapon revealing itself to be a pata-sword. Both gauntlet and blade were embellished with the curling lines of gold inlays. The blue screen of her watch-face glowed out from its original location, above her wrist.

Reaching behind herself, Piper withdrew her hands to reveal an octet of black, metal spheres, which she held between the fingers of her hands. Each sphere was about the size of a ping-pong ball. In the face of the approaching Beowolves, she crossed her arms in front of herself, then flung them apart, throwing the spheres into the air. As they took flight, the spheres expanded to the size of tennis balls, leaping towards the incoming Grimm on looping and swooping paths that indicated the presence of independent propulsion for each of them. From within the sleeves of Piper's shirt, wires extended out over the backs of her hands, splitting to run out to the tips of her fingers, almost seeming to merge with the fabric of her gloves.

When Rain had shown up for the mission, he'd had two additions to his outfit. The first was an angular, diamond-shaped shield, resting on his back. Its face was a burnished gray, decorated with a quartet of royal-blue raindrops, while the outer edges were a lighter, silvery-gray. As the Grimm closed, he snapped out his right arm, and the shield slid off his back and down to connect to the second addition, a steel-colored armguard, which held what looked like a reel of some kind of pale-green string or thread. As Rain lifted his arm towards the incoming Beowolves, the tip of the shield pointing out over his hand elongated out, his shield becoming an angular kite-shield, but with Rain wielding it in a way that made it seem more like an oversized katar.

The eight students rushed forward to meet the Beowolf pack. As they did, the howls of the Beowolves were joined by other sounds, the roars of Ursai; and the snarling, barking sounds of angry Creeps. The calls let out by the Beowolves were drawing in Grimm from the surrounding area, making it all the more important that the students got rid of these ones first, before they were simply swamped by sheer numbers.

Yang dove straight in, her gauntlets thundering with each punch she threw, smashing the heads or chests of the Grimm, often with a single hit each. Beside her, Blake danced gracefully amidst the pack, her cleaver-like sheath and black katana flashing out, cutting the monsters down with ease. Ren led with short bursts of shots from his guns, bringing down several Beowolves before they even came into range, then diving into their midst, wielding the blades of his StormFlower with delicate precision. Not far away, Nora charged in headlong, swinging her hammer straight into the body of the first Beowolf she encountered, and sending it flying back through the ranks of its fellows, bowling them over.

Aside from Ren's bullets, the black orbs Piper had launched were the first to meet the enemy. Despite their small size, the eight spheres punched effortlessly through the body of the first Beowolf they encountered, prompting it to collapse. From there, their looping flightpaths spread them throughout the pack, sending them smashing through any impediment before them. Piper followed behind her weapons, the fingers of her hands making delicate, darting movements, almost as though she were playing the keys of a pair of invisible keyboards.

Ciel and Rain were much more straightforward, joining the other students in their charge, they attacked with swift slashes, Rain striking with the sharpened edge of his shield, easily cutting down any Grimm that came his way, while Ciel did the same with her sword. Just past them, Penny spun like a dervish through the ranks of the Grimm, her swords whirling around her body.

Between the eight of them, they quickly made short work of the Beowolf pack. Before they could stop and try to catch their breath though, more Grimm arrived on the scene. Bounding Beowolves charged in alongside lumbering Ursai. Creeps ran like ostriches, or hopped along like grotesque kangaroo parodies. They streamed from every alleyway, rushed down every boulevard, every one of them keen to sink their teeth and claws into the prey that had appeared in their vicinity.

Still, RYNB and CPPR fought with vigor. Ciel tapped the screen of her watch-face, the screen's color switching from blue to red. Red light climbed the length of her sword, making it look as though she'd just pulled it from the forge. Facing a charging Ursa, with a pair of Beowolves following in its wake, she swung out with a wide slash, sending a red crescent of pure heat flashing out, cutting down all three Grimm with one stroke.

Piper danced amid the monsters, her movements graceful and balletic. All the while, her fingers continued a dance of their own, directing her flying orbs though offensive and defensive patterns, their bodies punching holes through attacking Grimm, even smashing through the bone-plate armor of their bodies with ease.

At one point, faced with an enormous Ursa Major bearing down on her, Piper snapped her right hand out to one side. All eight orbs came together, seven forming a line that extended out from the thumb-side of her hand, while the eighth hovered behind her pinky. The black and purple emissions of gravity-Dust flared out from the orbs, congealing and solidifying so that seven ran along the spine of a massive, curved, single-edged blade; looking like a giant, broad-bladed scimitar, while the eighth formed the pommel. Piper stepped into a diagonal swing, aiming upwards, cutting the Ursa Major in two. From there, the orbs split and resumed their independent attacks.

About half of the flying swords Penny was controlling split off, transforming into their gun-modes, sending lances of green energy flying through the ranks of the attacking Grimm, downing them swiftly and efficiently, while Penny continued to direct the rest to cut down anything that came close to her.

Rain had separated from his comrades, fighting his way through the Grimm, until he was well away from the others. It might have seemed that he'd foolishly allowed himself to be isolated. However, it was the best way for him to deploy his weapon. Abruptly, the extended tip of his kite shield retracted, returning the shield to its original diamond-shape. Then, the plates separated four ways, forming four smaller diamonds, a pale-green membrane connecting them to one another. The whole thing lifted away from his right arm, taking to the air, with green threads of string connecting it to the spool on his forearm, Rain manipulating the string with the fingers of both hands.

The kite swooped down, flying in a wide circle around Rain as he spun in place, attacking, not with the shield itself, but with the string. The string slashed all the Grimm in a perfect circle around him in two. A roar drew his attention to an approaching Elder Creep, its back covered with curved plates of bone-armor, giving it the appearance of a living tank. Manipulating the kite-string with deft movements of his fingers, Rain brought it diving down to drive its leading tip straight into the top of the Creep's head. The monster's body lurched forwards and down from the force of impact, and the weight of the weapon itself. But its armor held, and the kite glanced off harmlessly.

Angered, the Creep reared up with a roar. But Rain directed his kite into a swift circle around it, wrapping the string around the Creep several times. From there, he stepped back, while giving the string a mighty pull. At the same time, the kite flew out away from the Creep in the opposite direction, pulling the string taut. The wind-Dust infusing formed a swirling, razor-edged cyclone that carved the Grimm into pieces.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Rain quickly retracted the string, pulling the kite back to his forearm, its plates rejoining together, Rain turning just in time to hold up the shield to deflect a Beowolf's slashing claws, sending him skidding back. As his momentum petered out, he snapped his right arm out, his shield elongating again, so that he could meet the Beowolf with a powerful slash to cut it down.

* * *

Qrow leaned casually against a crumbling wall. It might have once been part of a building, but the wall, barely taller than he was, was the only thing left now. Unscrewing the lid of his flask, he took a pull of its contents. "Those Atlesian kids sure have some neat toys," he noted.

Oobleck grunted in acknowledgement, instead inspecting the very wall Qrow was leaning against, running fingers over its surface, before peering to inspect inside a particular crack.

Lowering his flask, Qrow puffed out a sigh. "Well, if the White Fang doesn't know we're here yet, they _will_ soon."

* * *

About fifteen more minutes of intense fighting saw the end of the Grimm horde, allowing the students, and their escorts, to resume their investigation. However, that was not the last group of Grimm to harass them. Oftentimes, it seemed they could barely travel a full block, before they were jumped by another Beowolf pack, or dive-bombed by a murder of small Nevermores. Every time, the calls of the attacking Grimm, along with the sounds of the accompanying battle, only served as a beacon to call in more of their kind, making each individual battle feel even longer and more-protracted than it should have.

The sun climbed across the sky, the day growing warm, the warmth uncomfortable with the sheer level of physical exertion the eight students were performing. Only Penny seemed unbothered by the constant battles, remaining as bright and chipper as she had when they'd first met up in the morning. Even Nora's, normally boundless, energy levels were beginning to dwindle.

To make matters worse, the Huntsmen who were supposed to be leading this expedition were seemingly unhelpful. Professor ("Doctor!") Oobleck was often nearby. But he scarcely even threw a glance at the attacking Grimm, unless one came for him directly, in which case, he dispatched it quickly and easily, before turning back to what he had been doing before, which seemed to involve inspecting random pieces of scenery. Qrow, on the other hand, often seemed to straight-up vanish for several minutes at a time, reappearing later, seemingly out of nowhere. In either case, it was clear that neither of them were going to be helping the students with their fighting.

Of course, even as they worked to clear out the obscene numbers of Grimm infesting the empty streets and ruined buildings, the students were still on the lookout for signs of the White Fang. In order to help expedite the process, and reduce their chance of drawing in too many Grimm at once, they split up and spread out. Initially, everyone stuck with their regular partners. However, before long, the two teams were mingling more fully, making partnerships more fluid.

* * *

Ren rested a hand on Ciel's shoulder, pulling her back from peering around the corner of a building. A pair of Beowolves had spotted her, and charged. Ciel had been about to step forward to confront them, but had been stopped by Ren's hand. As she was pulled back, she felt a cool sensation wash across her skin. The colors of the world seemed to fade slightly, and her mind was grasped by a strange sense of calm.

The Beowolves barreled right past, running straight down the street without even glancing around the corner, passing Ren and Ciel by, like they hadn't even been there. Once the beasts were far enough away, Ren lifted his hand away, letting out a soft breath, and the world returned to normal. Ciel turned to regard him, one eyebrow rising in interest.

"That's a useful ability," she commented.

"It can be," replied Ren, giving her a slight nod.

The two of them returned to their work, carefully inspecting nearby buildings for signs of anything other than the Grimm. What they'd found was not all that promising. Inspecting a dilapidated storefront had revealed nothing more than the rotted remains of product packaging, the contents having long before been taken by animals. Inspecting a back room had revealed the grisly discovery of a pair of skeletons, their bones scattered, some missing.

However, of anyone other than the remains of the original inhabitants, there had been no sign, so far. Ciel and Ren refused to let that discourage them though. Instead, they used Ren's Semblance to search methodically, avoiding confrontation with the Grimm, allowing their friends to draw the monsters' attention, while they were able to make more thorough searches of the surrounding area.

The two leaders found that they got on well together. Their mutually quiet nature meant that neither felt any kind of obligation to fill in the silence between them, instead contenting themselves with speaking to one another only when necessary.

The sound of beating wings drew Ren's gaze upwards, worrying that another Nevermore was about to stoop on them. However, to his relief, it was nothing more than an ordinary crow, which disappeared past the corner of the building they were crouched beside.

A minute later, a raspy voice spoke up from behind them. "Yo."

The pair turned, weapons at the ready, only to see Qrow standing behind them, arms folded, a smug look on his face. Ren tamped down the impulse to ask the Huntsman how he'd snuck up on the pair of them so easily. Instead, he decided to keep his response professional. "Yes...?"

"Just checkin' up on ya," said Qrow. "Seems like you two have everything well in hand, for now."

"And what have you been doing?" asked Ren.

"Scoutin' out the place," replied Qrow, taking his flask out, "same as you. I figured, with all the ruckus you kids are raising, someone might be curious enough to take a look. Seems like no one's taken the bait yet."

"That makes sense," mused Ciel, realizing what Qrow was getting at.

They were using a Search-and-Destroy mission as cover for their search for the White Fang operation. However, such a mission was, by its very nature, not a quiet one in the least. Such missions were a regular occurrence in Mountain Glenn, so the White Fang would not be overly surprised to see groups of students out on such a mission, particularly during a time when most of the students were taking missions. At the same time, though, they would be fools to _not_ investigate the situation, if only to confirm that things were as they were supposed to be, and that the students weren't in danger of stumbling on them by complete accident.

Realizing that, all Qrow had to do was hang back and remain hidden, and watch for signs of White Fang scouts and sentries. Then, when someone _did_ come to look, all Qrow had to do was follow them back to where they came from.

"We've been searching for evidence of any activity," noted Ren. "It might be that we are in the wrong section of Mountain Glenn right now."

"Well, we've got a couple more days, before crunch time," said Qrow. "We need to make sure we do things right, so we don't want to make it obvious we're looking."

Ren and Ciel nodded. "Is there anything else, Sir?" asked Ciel.

Qrow's eyes narrowed as he stared at them. "Just a little curiosity of mine," he said. "Why do you two want to become Huntsmen?"

"What?" Ren was thrown by the unexpected question. From her own lack of reaction, it seemed Ciel might not know what to think about it either.

"Call it idle curiosity," said Qrow, folding his arms. "But what are you kids doing out here, in the middle of a wrecked settlement, skulking around, looking for terrorists? What is it that gets ya going?"

Ren frowned, looking down.

"It seemed the obvious choice for me," said Ciel simply.

"That so?" asked Qrow.

Ciel retracted her weapon back into its watch-form, standing up straight and folding her arms behind her back, as though she were delivering a military report. "My family has served in the Atlesian military for three generations. However, I will be the first member to enter military service as a Specialist. It is my aspiration to usher in a new standard that those who follow in my footsteps can follow."

"That's...interesting," said Qrow, his expression becoming slightly sour. "You're starting to sound like a certain Ice Queen I know."

"I hold Specialist Schnee in the highest regard," said Ciel simply. "I see her as a figure well worth emulating."

"I'm more bothered by the fact you knew I was talking about _her_," muttered Qrow.

Ren sighed. "Well...I can't lay claim to that kind of legacy. My father was a hunter."

"So you wanted to tackle more dangerous game?" asked Qrow, raising an eyebrow.

Ren frowned. "No," he said. "When Nora and I were children, our hometown was destroyed by a Grimm."

Ciel snapped her head around to stare at him with wide eyes. "_A_ Grimm?" she asked.

Even if a settlement's defenses were light, the likelihood of a single Grimm bringing an entire one down, unless it was some isolated hamlet of a dozen or so people, was absurd…until said Grimm called in reinforcements. That Ren's story indicated that a _single_ Grimm was fully responsible for the settlement's destruction told her that this was no ordinary Grimm.

Ren nodded gravely. "We had no Huntsmen. My mother died when our house was destroyed, before we could even try to get away. Father..." Ren stared down. "He tried his best.

"I know what it's like to lose everything, to see the people you love be devoured by the monsters. If I can make it so that one less person has to experience that, then I will have fulfilled my ambition."

Qrow smirked at that. "Not bad, kid. The two of you have potential." He began to back off. "I'll leave you to your work."

He backed up, then jumped, kicking off the side of the building to launch himself up farther, before disappearing over the edge of the roof. Ren and Ciel stared after him, wondering what that conversation had been all about.

Then they heard the sound of more approaching Grimm. Ren placed his hand on Ciel's shoulder, and activated his Semblance once more, allowing the two of them to continue.

* * *

"Your weapon is very unusual," noted Blake, watching as Rain's kite returned to his arm, before lengthening back into its shield/blade configuration.

"Well, I cannot deny that," Rain admitted. "I have always possessed a fondness for kites. I flew them often, as a child."

Blake smiled at that, wishing she had such childhood memories. Most of her childhood, that she could remember, had been taken up by following her parents along to participate in the protests they'd organized across multiple Kingdoms. There had been little time or opportunity to play, and playing outside carried the risk of becoming a target of human retaliation, part of the reason she had cultivated her habit for reading.

"I can't imagine that it was easy, learning such a weapon," noted Blake.

"That much is true," agreed Rain. "As far as I know, mine is the first weapon of its kind. Therefore, I was required to innovate the technique for its usage."

It was interesting to speak to Team CPPR's sole male member. Rain was polite, both by nature and by speech, often speaking more formally and precisely. It was almost what Blake would have expected of someone with such a high-class upbringing, except that she knew Weiss to be much more at ease speaking casually. Although, perhaps that spoke to the difference between their families. The Schnees were members of the Atlesian upper crust, by virtue of their all-powerful Dust empire. In contrast, Rain was _actual_ nobility.

Rain regarded her carefully, before looking around pointedly, making sure that no Grimm were about to attack them. They were currently situated in a lull, which made it easier to talk. "If I may, Ms. Belladonna, I would like to be blunt with you."

"Blunt?" Blake's ears twitched beneath their bow.

Rain nodded. "I apologize if this is prying. However, it would seem to me that you have a personal stake in this matter. Is that correct?"

Blake's eyes widened fractionally. "What makes you say that?"

"When the topic of the White Fang comes up, I cannot help but notice that you seem more personally invested than the rest." His eyes narrowed. "Do you have a personal grievance with them?"

Averting her eyes, Blake reached across with her left hand to grasp her right forearm nervously. "Th-that's not it," she said, uneasy with Rain's insight.

"I see...my apologies," said Rain simply. It seemed less that he'd swallowed her half-hearted denial, and more that he was too polite to press the issue, when he was seeing it make her so uncomfortable.

"Have you ever dealt with the White Fang?" asked Blake, turning the inquiry around on her temporary partner.

Rain shook his head slightly. "Not truly," he said. "My family has had little to do with...well...anything, of late, least of all politics. Father insists that we are above that, because of our noble stock. However, the truth is that our nobility has no bearing on the world, as it currently stands. I believe that, presently, the White Fang cannot even be _bothered_ to consider the Elric Family." His smile became rueful. "I must admit that I find it something of an amusing irony that their attitude towards us might well have changed, had I actually followed through on Father's ambitions in having me pursue Ms. Schnee."

"That's probably true," agreed Blake, with a wry smile of her own.

"Then, may I propose a question to you both?" asked Oobleck, prompting Blake to jump in surprise, when she realized that he was lounging on a ledge formed by the crumbling upper floor of a nearby building, having apparently heard every word they'd just been saying. Rain snapped his head up to look at the teacher, but his response was otherwise subdued.

"What is it?" Rain asked.

"Why do you wish to be Huntsmen?" asked Oobleck, staring down at them.

"That's easy," said Blake, the answer coming to her lips with almost no forethought. "There's too much injustice in the world. Someone has to do something."

"I see..." said Oobleck, his eyes narrowing behind his glasses. "How?"

"That's..." Blake's face became vacant, as she pondered the question. "I...I don't know."

"Hmmm..." Oobleck hummed. Then he turned his attention to Rain. "And you, Mr. Elric. I cannot help but notice that it is unusual for someone of your background to take on such a dangerous profession. What prompted you to do so?"

"Well...I simply did not wish to feel superfluous," said Rain, smiling calmly. "I saw no point in clinging to a name and bloodline that served no purpose." He paused, canting his head in thought. "Though...I suppose there are any number of ways I could have chosen to be an active part of the world. As for what made me choose to become a Huntsman in particular..." His cheeks turned slightly pink. "...a friend inspired me. That is all I shall say on the matter."

"Very well then," said Oobleck decisively, jotting something down into his notebook. "Carry on."

With that, he suddenly blurred out of sight, disappearing so fast that they didn't actually see him stand up first.

Blake turned her gaze back to Rain with a sly smile. "A friend, hmmm? Would she happen to be a certain team leader of yours?"

Rain sighed. "I suppose it was obvious," he admitted. Then he chuckled. "Well...there is no point in hiding it, I suppose."

"I think it's sweet," said Blake.

"That is kind of you to say," said Rain, inclining his head politely towards her.

* * *

"Your balls are so cool!" said Nora, grinning as she watched the black orbs under Piper's command annihilate another Ursa.

"You need to be more careful with your phrasing," Piper replied, giving Nora a cheeky grin. "There's no telling what people might think, if they heard that out of context."

"Oh, I know _exactly_ what they'd think," said Nora, with a sly grin. "I have the network too, you know."

Piper giggled, her orbs returning to her hands, before she stowed them behind her. "Then should I admire how well you can _pound_ a Grimm?"

"Ew! Gross!" Nora grimaced, sticking out her tongue, prompting a laugh from Piper.

"By the way," said Piper, "you and your partner seem quite close. You wouldn't happen to be...more than that...would you?"

Nora gasped, her eyes going wide. "What? No!" She flailed her hands out in front of her, forcing Piper to take a step back, as one of those hands was still gripping Magnhild. "W-we're together, but not _together_-together."

"Aww...Why not?" asked Piper, grinning. "I can tell you like him, I mean, _like_-like him. Surely you've thought of it?"

"I...I have," admitted Nora, her cheeks turning red, while she averted her gaze. "It's just...I've been with Ren for so long, and we just...we're just really good together. But it feels strange to try for something more."

"Maybe you're just nervous," said Piper. "It wouldn't hurt to ask. I think he likes you too."

"M-maybe," said Nora. Desperate to change the subject, she turned the question around on Piper. "Is there anyone in your life?"

"Not at the moment," said Piper, closing her eyes pensively. "I mean, I'm not like Ciel. I don't feel the need to partition romance out of my school-life. But...I just haven't found anyone like that yet." She sighed.

"That's too bad," said Nora.

"Well, it is what it is," said Piper with a shrug. "I'm sure I'll find someone, sooner or later." Truth be told, she had someone in mind…but he was more of a penpal than anything else at the moment. Still, no telling what the future might hold.

"I guess," said Nora.

Piper tapped her chin. "Well, that blonde fellow, Arc, had some appeal to him. Unfortunately, he's attached, isn't he?"

"Yep," agreed Nora.

"Well, plenty of fish in the sea," said Piper with a shrug. "I guess we should move on to the next batch of Grimm, or at least see if we can turn up some clues about those terrorists."

"A wise decision, Ms. Cerny," declared Oobleck, popping up from behind a low wall, making both girls jump and yelp. "As entertaining as gossiping about school relationships can be, it is hardly productive."

Nora glowered at him, but Piper merely tittered, flapping a dismissive hand his way. "You sound just like my dear leader, Doctor. One must seize the little moments when they can."

"An interesting philosophy," said Oobleck, frowning. "And just why is it you seek to become a Huntress, Ms. Cerny? From what I understand about your background, you would normally seem uninterested in it."

Piper lowered her face slightly, her bangs falling forward to obscure her eyes. As she did, her smile stretched slightly, sending a shiver down Nora's spine. There was something...sinister, about her bearing.

"Well...truth be told, I'm not that nice a person, Doctor," said Piper. "I enjoy making weapons...and I enjoy _using_ them. Honestly, watching my little babies punch holes through Grimm, like they're made of tissue paper, is downright _thrilling_. I have something of a sadistic streak, I'm afraid. I like...breaking things."

"Interesting," said Oobleck.

Piper let out a soft sigh, her normal smile returning. "But it seems I'm possessed of enough self awareness to know I shouldn't be exercising those tendencies on people, at least not willy nilly. I figured being a Huntress would give me...an outlet. If I want to break things, I decided I should take a profession that would give me plenty of things _to_ break."

"I see," said Oobleck, his expression inscrutable. Then his gaze shifted sharply to Nora, giving no indication that what Piper had said bothered him at all. "And you, Ms. Valkyrie?"

"Um...well..." Nora was still rattled by what Piper had revealed. "I...I don't have a huge reason." She sighed. "I never knew my parents. My first memories were of being alone, scrounging for what I could find to get by.

"The town I was in got hit by a Grimm...and that's when I met Ren. He saved me, comforted me, protected me...Without him, I'd be..." She shuddered. "Looking at what Ren did for me back then, I want to be able to do that for other people too."

"Hmm..." Oobleck nodded, his expression indicated that was the kind of answer he'd expected. "Very good. Carry on." And, with that, he vanished.

Nora turned a worried look at Piper, who returned the look forlornly. "And now you see the _other_ reason I'm not all that eager to find a partner in the romantic sense."

"You mean you..." Nora swallowed nervously.

Piper held up her hands in a placating gesture. "No! No! Don't get me wrong. It isn't as though I have some kind of impulse that I'm constantly trying to rein in. You needn't worry about me losing control and attacking someone, or something like that. I just worry...I mean, it's hard for me to imagine most potential romantic partners fully accepting me, once they learn of my...tendencies." She sighed. "I hold out hope, though." There was _one_ person she had in mind, a friend from back home, but she didn't generally talk about their relationship with others outside her team.

"Okay," said Nora, knowing that that wary feeling wouldn't be going away anytime soon, regardless of what Piper told her.

* * *

With the explosive sound of its discharge, Ember Celica blasted a Creep, blowing its head into dust, and sending the rest of its body sailing down the street. It disintegrated a few seconds later. Behind her, Penny pulled her swords back, having just finished carving an entire pack of Beowolves into hash. Yang was panting, her hair matted and tangled, everything soaked through with sweat. In contrast, Penny looked as fresh and chipper as a daisy.

"Seriously..." gasped Yang, in between pants, "...where...do you...get...all that energy."

"Um..." Penny turned around, smiling sheepishly, and scratching her cheek nervously. "I don't know. Hic!"

"Right..." said Yang skeptically. She took a moment to let her breathing calm, while keeping a sharp ear out for signs of the next Grimm attack. Fortunately, she knew that, even if she missed those signs, Penny was likely to pick them up. In fact, the curly-haired girl seemed to have an almost preternatural awareness of their surroundings, including the presence of any hostiles. She'd already saved Yang and the others from walking straight into three different ambushes during the course of the day. It was almost as though she was equipped with radar or something.

A loud caw tore through the intense silence that had followed the death of the last remaining Grimm. Its sudden blaring making Yang yelp and jump. She immediately fell into a defensive stance, looking up and around frantically, looking for the Nevermore she was sure was about to dive-bomb her.

However, Penny gave no sign that she'd detected any Grimm. Instead, she merely glanced curiously in the direction of the sound, with Yang following the line of her eyes. A black bird, a raven, had perched atop a listing lamppost, which had somehow remained standing in the years since the settlement had fallen. Yang had to take a second look, just to confirm that the raven was indeed a raven, and not a small Nevermore. But it only had two eyes, and there was no sign of the white mask that Grimm normally sported. Finally, she allowed herself to relax a little.

Despite that, there was still something about the bird that unnerved her. Penny's attention had already wandered elsewhere. But Yang couldn't help but feel that something was...off. She could've sworn the bird was staring right back at her. Sure, it cocked its head in those sharp, jerky movements birds were known for, but the line of its eyesight didn't seem to be changing. Yang frowned, her eyes narrowing. She took a curious step closer.

"Yo."

Yang jumped again, with a sharp shriek, the sound apparently startling the raven into flight with an angry caw. Turning around, Yang caught her breath at the sight of her uncle, now standing beside Penny. Strangely, he seemed to have been looking up at the raven as well. However, his gaze swiftly dipped back down to her.

"Geez, Uncle Qrow, you trying to give me a heart-attack?" asked Yang, giving him a rueful grin.

"It'd be a pretty sad day, when you got hit with one of those, just because somebody got the drop on ya," drawled Qrow.

Yang rested her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Find anything?" she asked.

Qrow smirked. "It took a lot of searching around, but I finally managed to find a clue." Raising his hand, he held up a small, familiar-looking object.

"A bullet casing?" Yang walked up and held out her hand, allowing Qrow to drop the item in question into it. "A recent one," she added.

Finding a spent casing in the middle of a fallen settlement wasn't so strange. Several Huntsmen and Huntresses had supposedly given their lives to the defense of Mountain Glenn, before it had fallen. So it was only natural that the remnants of such a battle would still be lying around, here and there. However, those casings were likely just as worn and corroded by exposure to the elements.

This one displayed the telltale scorch marks of discharge, but no immediate signs of rust. It hadn't been lying around for long.

"There's definitely someone out here," noted Qrow.

"It could be from someone taking an earlier Search-and-Destroy mission," said Yang.

"That is not likely," said Penny, coming closer, and examining the casing with her own eyes. "The signs indicate that this casing was discharged less than a week ago. There have been no such missions that recently."

"Uh...How do you know that?" asked Yang, staring at Penny in shock.

"Um..Well...I-Hic!-I do a lot of research," said Penny.

"Riiiiight..." deadpanned Yang. Given Penny's evasive behavior, she figured it was better not to press the issue.

"Well, with that, we've made some progress," said Qrow, taking the casing back. "We know that someone's out here. Odds are it's the White Fang."

"Where did you find this?" asked Yang.

"A little to the south of here," said Qrow. "I figured they might be that way." He glanced up. "Sun's getting a little low, so it's best to call it a day. We'll find a place to make camp and settle in for the night. You kids have been working pretty hard."

"Music to my ears," said Yang, stretching and grinning.

She and Penny fell into step alongside Qrow. As they walked, Qrow glanced sidelong at his niece. "Firecracker...?"

"Yeah?" Yang glanced back at him, uncertain of what to make of Qrow's tone.

"I've been wonderin'," he said. "You wanted to become a Huntress to look for Ruby, right?"

"That's about the size of it," said Yang, before sighing and shrugging. "I guess it was a pretty silly idea. I mean, Ruby survived by an insane streak of luck. So it would've taken luck just as insane for me to find any trace of her." She frowned. "But I couldn't help but stick to it. I was frustrated, and I felt like I was the _only_ one who still wanted to find her." She turned a glare on Qrow. "Particularly because a certain _someone_ neglected to tell us she was still alive."

Penny walked along, keeping slightly behind them, feeling as though she was listening to something that was better kept private. Ruby had given her the rundown on what had happened though, so Penny at least knew what they were talking about.

"Well...I ain't about to apologize for that," said Qrow frankly, shrugging. "You know as well as I do that wouldn't do any good now."

"Right," said Yang. "Ruby's here now. She's alive, and she's happy. That's enough for me."

"Good to know, Firecracker," said Qrow, sinking his hands into his pockets. "But I guess the big question I have now is...if you've got what ya wanted out of this, then...why are you still here?"

"Huh?" Yang blinked.

"Why are you still at Beacon, training?" pressed Qrow. "Why are ya still tryin' to become a Huntress, if the one thing ya wanted to do is already done?"

"Well..." Yang frowned, staring down at his feet. "I...I haven't thought all that much about it. Aside from finding Ruby, it's mostly been for selfish reasons..."

She remembered her early days of training, back when Ruby had still been at home. She'd been excited at the prospect of becoming a Huntress, of going out and having adventures. She was a thrill-seeker at heart. She'd imagined going off on wild adventures, getting wrapped up in all kinds of insane situations, never knowing what the next day might bring. If she happened to help people while she was at it, so much the better. It had been a win-win situation, as far as she was concerned.

Ruby's flight had changed things. Yang's priority had shifted to finding Ruby, following her trail, and bringing her home. And then Ruby had been there, at Beacon, and Yang's main goal had been met. But, in the subsequent weeks of struggling to reconnect with her sister, and getting a firsthand taste of the resentment Ruby held for her, Yang had come to realize something about her original ambitions.

Now, when Yang looked back on her old reasons for wanting to become a Huntress, all she could feel was disgust, with a heaping side of self-loathing. She'd only ever wanted to become a Huntress for reasons of selfish self-gratification. She'd go off, having all kinds of adventures and fun, while Ruby would be stuck at home, safe, but forever stifled under Taiyang's thumb. And Yang...the old Yang...would have been perfectly fine with that. But meeting Ruby again, reconnecting her, seeing firsthand Ruby's own reasons for becoming a Huntress, seeing that powerful conviction to be a hero, to help others, to do whatever it took to protect people, had made Yang take a close look at herself. And she hadn't been happy with what she'd seen.

So why was she still here, still at Beacon, still training to become a Huntress? Her old reason of finding Ruby was now moot. Her reason before that was insufficient.

"I...I don't know," said Yang, frowning. "I guess, right now...I'm just going with the flow...I suppose. I mean, I've already put this much work into it now, so...it would just suck to turn aside now, just because I don't know why."

She glanced at her hands. "I guess...if I had to give a reason...I'd still say it's for Ruby, but not in the same way as before. Now that I know her, now that we're sisters again, and I've seen how incredibly determined she is to become a Huntress, I'd say I want to be there for her, to do what I can to support her.

"Ruby's so amazing. She wants to be the old-school kind of hero, the one who goes out and helps people, rescuing them from the darkness, and never asking a single thing in return. I want to help her be that hero, to hold her up as best I can, and make up for all those years I spent trying to hold her back. I want to be there for her now, because I failed her before."

Qrow's expression sobered, ironically for him, and he reached out and gently grasped Yang's shoulder. "You weren't the only one, Firecracker. We _all_ failed Ruby, back then, some worse than others; Tai worst of all, of course. That ain't a burden you need to bear alone. But still..." He gave her a warm smile, something that was a genuine rarity for a man like him. "...I'm glad you're there for her now. I know she is too."

"Yeah," said Yang, smiling warmly, looking down at her feet.

Penny followed behind them, listening silently. _Father told me people are complicated. I guess this is what he meant._

They continued on, meeting up with the others, picking out their campsite, and hashing out their plan for the next day.

* * *

Crouched in the shadows that concealed a significant portion of a building's upper floor, Ilia muffled a gasp as she stared down at the gathering of students and Huntsmen, who made their way into another building, one that looked somewhat structurally sound. At the moment, Ilia's skin was pitch-black, allowing her to blend into the shadows around her.

Ilia's heart lurched at the sight of the familiar group arrayed down before her. She could easily recognize her old friend's team. She even recognized the orange-haired girl that had fought alongside Blake at the docks, though the strange girl's three teammates were unfamiliar faces, as were the Huntsmen who had accompanied the whole group. But that hardly mattered.

Blake was here, in Mountain Glenn. A feeling of hope arose, unbidden, in Ilia's chest. This was her chance, a chance to put a stop to the madness that Adam Taurus had roped the Vale branch into, a chance to stop him from setting back years of progress. These people were here, and _before_ the crucial time. Ilia couldn't afford to let it go past.

She knew this might mean an end to her own tenure in the White Fang. Even if it had been for the right reasons, she suspected that even Sienna Khan, who had sent her to Vale out of mistrust in Adam in the first place, would not forgive such an outright betrayal of the organization. But still, there was no way she could allow this insanity to go through. If Blake was here, then, maybe, Ilia could get her to listen.

Of course, Ilia was unaware that she herself was being watched. A short ways behind her, a certain other person crouched, watching through mismatched eyes, veiled by light and shadow, waiting silently...

* * *

**I like the little "Why did you want to become a Huntsman/Huntress?" bit. It gives a chance to go into different characters' background. Of course, only Yang and Blake are there from the original RWBY. In Yang's case, her motivations have changed, big-time, compared to her canon self, or even from the beginning of the story. I also liked changing up the partnerships, giving characters a chance to interact with those who they wouldn't normally.**

**And now...Team CPPR's weapons.**

* * *

**Gram Vajra: A Multifunction Dust-Energized Pata Sword. For this story, I gave Ciel a different weapon than what she uses in _Lost Rose_...just because. The pata-sword is a pretty cool weapon to base off of anyway, and it's pretty under-appreciated. And, hey, if Yang's gauntlets can shrink down into those tiny bracelets, shotgun rounds and all, then a gauntlet-sword collapsing into a wristwatch doesn't seem so completely out of left field. Ciel's sword utilizes Dust in a unique manner, allowing her to utilize it to energize the blade of her sword. It doesn't have quite as dramatic a capability as Weiss' rapier, but is more self-contained and efficient overall. My original inspiration for how this weapon uses Dust was actually from an idea I had, a long time ago, regarding a possible upgrade for _Weiss'_ weapon. I retooled it for Ciel in this story.**

* * *

**Pulsar: Remote Dust-Propelled Projectile Drones. Pulsar's drones use gravity-Dust to fly and enhance their overall impact. They're basically remote-controlled bullets, which are continuously propelled and controlled, able to smash through just about anything in their path. By linking them up, Piper can also utilize them in a more dramatic fashion, or utilize them to produce gravity fields that can assist allies, or even serve as footholds. Some of the ideas for this came from the series, _S-Cry-ed_, and Asuka Tachibana's Infinity Eight. They're little black spheres, which plays into Piper's name as well.**

* * *

**Pench Kaateh: A Dust-Propelled Fighting-Kite-Shield...yes, really. So...sometimes, when you're writing _RWBY_ fanfiction, you come up with a character, and have to come up with a badass weapon for them to wield, or...you come up with a badass weapon, and _then_ have to come up with a character to use it. This is an example of the latter. I actually thought up this kind of weapon a while ago, when I thought that, after complaining about how lackluster so many _RWBY_ fanfiction weapon concepts can be, while then equipping many of my OCs with the most mundane weapons imaginable, I figured I ought to practice what I preach, and come up with a properly-crazy weapon all my own. To wit, I tried to come up with the most absurd thing I could think of.**

**Upon thinking about it, I hit upon the notion "what if it was a kite-shield that was an _actual_ kite?" And thus, this weapon was born. Kite fighting is actually a popular sport, especially in the Middle East and through Asia. Kites have abrasives that are rubbed into portions of their strings, and are then sent out to compete, by trying to direct one kite to cut the string of another. It can actually be pretty dangerous, because the severed portion of the string has the potential to cut people on the ground, and people have even had their throats slit by a rogue kite-string.**

**In this case, Rain's shield is armed with a wind-Dust membrane, which links the separate components, allowing it to fly through the air. Because it produces its own wind, it's not beholden to environmental air currents, though they can cause interference, if they are strong enough. The string is also impregnated with wind-Dust, and can be used as a cutting weapon. It's an extremely versatile weapon, but difficult to control, particularly since the design is unique to Rain, and there was no previous body of training for him to go off of, so he had to spend quite a bit of time getting down how to really use it.**


	73. Chapter 73

**Chapter 73:**

_Day 2:_

Truth be told, it was hard for Ruby to acclimate to the luxurious amenities of the _Atlas Imperial_. Everything about the beds, from the mattresses to the sheets laid upon them, probably cost more than Ruby would see in over a year of accumulated stipends from Beacon. Maybe, as a professional Huntress, taking several high-paying bounty missions in a row, she might see enough money to outfit a bed like this, after a few months of work. But it would take a ridiculous amount of effort to do so, especially when such money could be spent on much better things. It was so ridiculously lavish so as to render even her family's quarters in the Royal Palace of Onmyo as downright monastic by comparison. Given that, sleeping in such a soft, luxurious mattress, with such crisp and smooth sheets, would have been hard to deal with, under most circumstances.

But Ruby found herself not minding in the slightest, mostly because, to her, being able to sleep in Jaune's arms was the greatest luxury of all. It was nothing short of amazing how comfortable it felt to sleep being held by someone so dear to her. What was more, she was both surprised and discomfited by how deeply she'd slept in such a state. It was enough to worry her that sleeping with Jaune would prompt her to drop her guard too much, which might be a serious hinderance, should they take any missions where they had to sleep out in the wilderness.

But for now, in the confines of a safe and secure hotel, Ruby was glad that she was able to enjoy the experience for all it was worth, made even better by Weiss' approval. And so Ruby had gone to bed, relishing the experience of pressing her back up against Jaune's ever more chiseled and defined chest and stomach, with the feeling of his arms wrapped around her front. The only tricky bit had been acclimating herself to the feeling of a certain...other...part of Jaune's, one that had grown both in size and hardness upon contact with her behind, contact with which prompted Ruby to resist the urge to rub her thighs together, and press back against it. Experiencing that feeling, before she and Jaune had managed to drop off, had left her appreciating the reason _why_ Weiss wanted to limit Ruby and Jaune's opportunities to sleep together, even if she debated the wisdom of it.

On one hand, Ruby could certainly understand Weiss' intent, the desire to keep them from crossing the line too soon, by limiting the opportunities for provocation and temptation. On the other hand, Ruby wondered if that only made each opportunity she and Jaune had to sleep together all the more tempting to them, whereas doing so on a more frequent and regular basis would allow them to become accustomed to the practice, which might lead to the contact between them becoming less...stimulating. Ruby couldn't be sure. But for now, she decided it was best to defer to Weiss, one of those occasions where being older probably made one a better judge of such things.

When she'd dropped off, Ruby had been slightly worried that she would sleep through their wakeup call. Getting aboard the ship on time, at four-thirty, would necessitate waking up early enough to make room for their morning routines, including breakfast, while making space in their schedule for transit back to the docks. As such, they had set their wakeup time at the ungodly time of three-thirty. Normally, Ruby wouldn't have had too much issue with waking up so early, even if it was earlier than even she was used to, since it would be well before the sun started rise. Having trained herself to sleep; while maintaining an awareness of her surroundings, and spring straight into wakefulness at the first sign of a threat; had accustomed her to wake up whenever she was required to, regardless of the hour. However, the comfort of drifting off in Jaune's arms had left Ruby wondering if it might induce her to lower her sleeping guard too much.

However, she found she needn't have worried. When the alarm she'd set on her scroll sounded in the morning, Ruby's eyes snapped open, and she began to rouse herself, her movements prompting Jaune to stir behind her.

"It time?" he asked blearily, as Ruby pulled, reluctantly, out of his hold, and slipped out from beneath the covers.

"Yep," Ruby replied.

With a groan, Jaune forced himself to sit up, yawning and smacking his lips.

"Try not to fall back asleep," Ruby urged him, heading out and moving to the next-door bedroom, where she'd deposited her things, before having been given permission to spend the night with Jaune.

If there was one major advantage to their arrangement, it was that they each had their own bathroom to use to freshen up in the morning, as well as their own bedrooms to get dressed in, which greatly streamlined the process of going through their morning toilette, giving them more time for other things, like breakfast.

Normally, it was far too early for the hotel's staff to have the kitchens up and running for their morning room service. However, Winter had come through for them there as well, making arrangements with the management to have someone prepare their meals in anticipation of their early departure. As a truly high-class establishment, the _Atlas Imperial_ was able to accommodate even the most unreasonable of arrangements...for an extra cost, of course, which Winter was, no doubt, willing to lay on the SDC.

The caveat was that they'd needed to make their selections the night before, so that they didn't slow things up, when they rose in the morning. But that wasn't too much trouble. Ruby was washed and ready to greet the staff, when they showed up with the trolley of breakfast food, helping them to set the dining table in the living room of the suite. By the time the staff rolled the empty trolley back out, the rest of RASP were emerging, fresh and ready, from their own rooms.

They ate quietly, Ruby tucking into her breakfast of strawberry-covered waffles with an almost frantic eagerness. This would be their best meal for the next several days. While eating in the mess hall of the freighter would be well above the level of having to subsist on trail rations and forage in the wilderness, there was no way they could produce anything on the level of this breakfast.

After breakfast, they got their luggage, being careful to adhere to Winter's stipulation of one case (or pack, in Ruby's case) each, leaving whatever was leftover in their rooms for the staff to see to, and send back to Beacon. For her part, Ruby didn't actually need to leave anything behind, having already packed as she normally would for the road. It helped that, not needing Dust, she had room aplenty. Jaune was surprisingly well-prepared as well, having gone on multiple camping trips with his family. Pyrrha had a bit more difficulty, but applied what they'd learned in their survival courses well enough. Naturally, Weiss had it the hardest, mainly because she was troubled by how much room she needed to make for the extra supply of Dust she needed to bring along.

Still, they arrived at the hotel lobby on time, early even. Winter was already there, a suitcase of her own resting on the floor behind her. She scrutinized them all with critical eyes, before giving a single nod of approval. "Good. It would appear that you are all able to follow instructions. I hope that you didn't leave anything you might have needed behind."

Ruby would have found the remark annoyingly patronizing, but noted that Winter mostly seemed to be speaking to herself, and making a clinical assessment of the situation, rather than talking down to them.

* * *

They took the same limo that they'd ridden to the hotel, going the other way this time, of course. They arrived at the docks with time to spare. The freighter was already there, its gangplank down and waiting for them. RASP and Winter wasted no time hurrying aboard, Ruby noting that the crew were currently going over everything, making sure that the cargo was secure, and checking for any signs of problems with the hull or engines.

Winter took them up to the bridge, where she introduced them all to the captain. The man seemed pretty much the embodiment of what Ruby had come to expect from anyone related to the SDC. He was crisp and professional, cleanly shaven and immaculately groomed, despite doing what was probably a fairly stressful and difficult job. His uniform was just as crisp and immaculate, looking like it had come fresh from the cleaners. It made Ruby wonder just how the man would look by the time they reached the end of their journey.

He looked them over with eyes every bit as critical as Winter's, though Ruby could sense a much greater degree of skepticism from him. It was clear that he wasn't trained to assess the ability of Huntsmen and Huntresses, the way Winter had been. His experience was all in dealing with the ship, the sea, and everything that came with it. So he only saw a group of teenagers, assigned to an Atlesian Specialist. His attitude was one of subdued dismissiveness, which he kept tamped down, probably to avoid drawing Winter's ire.

Still, he detailed a crew member to guide them to their assigned quarters onboard the ship. RASP was given a single cabin, with four bunks. Winter had a cabin of her own, of course. They set about stowing their luggage, then settled in to discuss what they would be doing.

"We'll want to stay out of the crew's way," said Weiss. "But, besides the pirates, we'll also probably need to be on hand to deal with any seaborne Grimm that might come after the ship."

"That probably won't be a major issue," noted Pyrrha. "I suspect that the ship's own armaments are more than capable of handling anything but the largest such Grimm."

"Probably," agreed Weiss, her expression souring. "But I wouldn't put it past the captain to order us to fight instead, if only because it will save the SDC money on ammunition. Since we're on a mission, there's only a standard fee, set to the danger-level, so they don't need to worry about any ammo that _we_ use, while fighting off the Grimm."

"We'll need to set watches," said Ruby. "Whether it's the Grimm or the pirates, they could come at any time, day or night. So we need to make sure we have a steady rotation."

"True," agreed Weiss, pinching her chin thoughtfully. "I bet the pirates would probably attack under the cover of darkness. We should adjust our own hours accordingly."

Ruby shook her head. "If they can arrange it, they'll definitely attack during the day."

"They will?" asked Pyrrha, giving Ruby a surprised look.

Ruby nodded. "I've seen pirate attacks before. Shipboard combat is treacherous enough, when you _can_ see what you're doing. Unless the entire crew is faunus, there's no way they'd run the extra risk that would come with trying to board and take a ship in the middle of the night, not out on the open sea, away from any extra light-sources."

"Makes sense," said Jaune. "If Winter's theory about them having a submarine is right, then they don't need the cover of night to get close."

"But that doesn't mean that they _won't_ attack at night, if they feel it's the best opportunity," Ruby added, nodding to Weiss. "And, of course, the Grimm won't care _what_ time of day it is. So it's best for all of us to be up during the day, then set watches during the night." She sighed. "We're gonna be doing a lot of sitting and waiting though. It's gonna be pretty boring."

"Boring would be best though," said Pyrrha.

Weiss sighed. "Still, I hope the pirates _do_ show up."

"Yeah, it would be good to deal with them and be done with it," said Jaune.

"More than that," said Weiss bitterly. "Father made it clear. If the pirates don't attack us this time, he intends to have us return to Atlas and repeat the process until they do. I would much rather only go through this mission once."

"He can do that?" asked Pyrrha incredulously.

Her skepticism was understandable. It was clear that Jacques had pushed his luck, badgering Beacon into assigning them this mission in the first place. Forcing them to take it over, again and again, should the pirates not attack, seemed like an abuse that not even Ozpin and Ironwood would tolerate, no matter how severe the threat of Jacques cutting Vale off from most of its Dust supply would be.

Weiss glowered sourly at the wall. "It would count as an extension," she explained. "Since we would be able to return and rearm at Soyuz each time we restarted, the conditions of the mission allow for an extension of up to an extra month, if necessary."

"Although Winter can keep punishing the SDC by setting us up at those fancy digs every time," added Ruby with a giggle, drawing smiles from everyone else in the room.

Silently, Ruby hoped that they were able to deal with the pirates the first time through as well, if only so that they could put a stop to what these thieves were doing. Given that the pirates were destroying almost every ship they took, there was little question of what happened to the crew. Ruby wanted to stop them, if only to put an end to the pain and death they left in their wake.

Unfortunately, the first few days were bound to be fairly boring. If the pirates were going to attack, it would be when they were well away from the shores of Solitas, probably as far out at sea as possible, in order to maximize the time they had before any reinforcements summoned by the ship's distress call could reach them.

* * *

The ship departed on schedule. By the time the sun had risen, the coast of Solitas had already faded into a dark blur behind them, while the ocean spread outward in undulating waves of choppy blue in all directions. By the time noon came around, they would be out of sight of land altogether.

At first, Ruby's concern was Jaune. Already prone to motion sickness, when traveling by air, she was a bit worried that he would be incapacitated by seasickness before long, even if his Aura was able to mitigate the effects of such ailments. Fortunately, the more gradual undulations of a ship appeared to have less of an effect on him than the kind that resulted from airship travel, so Jaune acclimated fairly well to their new situation.

The biggest issue was wrestling with boredom. Hours away from land, with only a mostly featureless expanse of blue stretching out around them, there was little to see or do. Unlike the crew they didn't have much in the way of active duties to keep them occupied. Instead, they were positioned around the upper decks, keeping an eye out for any signs of Grimm or the pirates, though the ship's radar would pick up signs of the former well before they might appear in sight to the students' eyes.

It was somewhat disturbing then that Grimm attacks were unpleasantly frequent. It had only been a few minutes past noon when the first pack of Sahuagin tried to clamber aboard. A little later in the afternoon, a mid-sized Kraken made its own attempt. Other Grimm approached throughout the day.

While RASP fought off any Grimm that tried to climb aboard the vessel, Ruby was pleased to see that the captain was making use of the ship's guns to deal with the Grimm when he could. She later learned that her worries had been well-founded, and he had been planning on leaning heavily on RASP to do most of the fighting, allowing him to save on the expense of ammunition (with the insinuation that he'd been pressured from above to do so). However, Winter had quickly put her foot down, emphasizing that RASP was here to deal with the pirates, and that they needed to conserve their strength as much as possible.

The frequency of attacks was certainly inordinate. Listening discretely to the crew led the students to learn that Grimm usually attacked once or twice a day, if they attacked at all. In fact, it was not unheard of for a ship to go its entire run without encountering a Grimm, seagoing Grimm apparently being the most infrequent.

It wasn't hard to understand _why_ though. The tension in the air was palpable, after all. The pirates had already hit numerous ships before, and always escaping with impunity. Everyone, from the captain down, was simmering in a stew of anxiety, each of them wondering if they would be next, if their ship would be the latest one to not make it into port. Not even the presence of Academy students and an Atlesian Specialist onboard could do much to mitigate the undercurrent of fear that ran throughout the entire vessel. Naturally, the constant negativity was like a perpetual lure to the Grimm.

Still, at the end of the day, boredom remained the greatest enemy of all. The members of RASP did their best to cope, passing their time in idle conversation, even as they tried to keep an eye out for danger. They played a few basic games, including card games and video games. They also read books that they'd downloaded on their scrolls, in anticipation of just such a prolonged trip.

They also did some routine exercises, mainly to keep their bodies limber, in anticipation of needing to spring into action. However, they did their best to avoid exercising too strenuously. Nothing would be worse than the pirates suddenly attacking, only for one or more of them to be incapacitated from being worn out by heavy training, though some of them did a better job of coping with that than others.

* * *

"What did you think you were doing?" admonished Ruby, pulling the sheets of the bunk over a panting and groaning Weiss.

"I need to master it," said Weiss, before groaning again. "You saw, Ruby. It takes forever for me to Summon anything."

"I know," said Ruby. "But you keep disrupting it by rushing. You need to go through the process in order, just like you did at the hotel."

"But that takes so _long_," Weiss protested.

"And it will, for a while," said Ruby. "That's how it works, Weiss. You learn a technique by breaking it down into its basic parts, and performing them in sequence. The more you practice, the easier it gets to compress that sequence down, as you get more familiar with it. But you can't try to just skip over the sequence entirely."

"Okay," said Weiss. "Then that's what I'll do, next time."

"No," said Ruby firmly.

"Huh?" Weiss blinked, staring up at Ruby in confusion.

"You _aren't_ going to be practicing Summoning," Ruby told her firmly, "not while we're onboard this ship."

"B-but..." Weiss began.

"No," said Ruby. "Regular exercise can be draining enough. But Summoning is a Manifestation technique, and each time you practice it, you spend a healthy chunk of your Aura. You barely got three tries before you were tapped out this time."

"But that makes it even more important for me to-" Weiss began to protest.

"_Not_ while we're on mission," admonished Ruby, placing a hand on Weiss' forehead, and exerting some pressure to keep her from sitting up. It didn't take much at all, a sign of just how badly Weiss had overextended herself. "Think about it, Weiss! If the pirates attacked right now, which they very well could, what would _you_ be doing?"

Weiss wanted to protest, to say that she'd fight them. But the state of her body was too weak for her to go through with it. Her limbs felt like they'd been cast in lead, and her head ached something fierce.

"Get it?" pressed Ruby. "You're in no shape to fight, right now. You'd be nothing but a liability. That's the consequence of you pushing your limits when we don't have that luxury. It's one thing to push yourself like that, when we're safe at Beacon. But out here, we can't afford to take those kinds of risks."

"But what will Winter think?" asked Weiss.

"That you're a boob who doesn't prioritize properly," replied Ruby. "I know that she wouldn't approve of you pushing yourself to the edge like this, when we need to conserve our strength for the enemy. If she _did_ approve, she wouldn't be worthy of your respect as a Specialist."

Weiss sighed in disappointment. "But I just got it," she moaned. "I finally performed a successful Summoning."

"I know," said Ruby, smiling ruefully. "And, when we get back to Beacon, you can train on it all you want. But _not_ now. Understand?"

With another shuddering sigh, Weiss nodded, acknowledging her defeat.

"Good," said Ruby. "Now get some rest. You're going to have the first watch tonight."

With a tired sigh, Weiss closed her eyes and slipped away. Ruby helped her with a gentle pulse of Aura to ease the migraine that had come from Weiss overextending her own Aura. Standing up, she turned to see Jaune, leaning in the doorway.

"Pretty weird to see _you_ being the one to tell _Weiss_ off for being reckless," Jaune noted, after Ruby had shut the door to their cabin.

"That was stupid of her," grumbled Ruby. "I think it's because her sister's here. She's desperate to impress Winter, by showing that she can Summon now."

"Really?" asked Jaune.

"Well, I'm pretty sure of it," said Ruby. "She and Winter went off to have their little sisterly reunion at the hotel. Then, that evening, Weiss is suddenly staying up late, desperately trying to master a skill I don't think she's _tried_ to touch, while she's been at Beacon at least, not when we can see her."

Ever since they had decided that Jaune's own training no longer needed to be constantly supervised, each of them had done plenty of training on their own. So there was no telling what Weiss had been working on, during those times. But Ruby got the impression that attempts to Summon had not been it, at least, not with any frequency, given the manner with which Weiss had talked down about her ability to do so, the previous night. Ruby got the impression that Weiss had grown so tired of constant failures that she had unconsciously shied away from practicing Summoning at all.

"And now, thanks to you, she's actually managed to do it," said Jaune. "So now she's rushing to do it well enough that she can show off for Winter."

Ruby nodded. "But yeah, now is not the time for it."

"You trained on your own trips, right?" asked Jaune.

"Yes, but that was different," said Ruby. "Those were excursions _for_ training. And either Kyo-nii, Sasame-nee, or both of them, were with me on any of those, save for the last one. So I was free to work myself until I melted into a puddle of goo, because I knew that they wouldn't let any Grimm close to me. Heck, if Kyo-nii was there, we didn't need to worry about the Grimm at all."

"Makes sense," mused Jaune idly. "Hopefully, her pride won't be too stung by having you scold her like that."

"Better me than Winter," said Ruby. "Weiss would be devastated if she got told off like that by her."

"No doubt," agreed Jaune. "You really think Winter would disapprove."

"I sure hope so," said Ruby. "'Cause it _is_ pretty stupid to push yourself like that, when you're on a mission where the bad guys could attack at any time. We can't afford to have Weiss laid up like that, right now."

"It'll be fine," said Jaune, taking her hand, and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's only the first day. The pirates probably won't attack until we're farther out."

"But we can't count on that," said Ruby. "People like that are all about doing the unexpected. They might decide to attack now because they _know_ they're expected to attack later on."

Abruptly, Jaune stopped. Ruby took a couple more steps before the realization caught up with her. Before she could turn, Jaune had moved behind her, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her up against his chest, hugging her from behind. "Take it easy," he said, his voice a soothing whisper into her ear. "You're not going to be any good either, if you wear yourself into a frazzle by worrying."

Ruby's first impulse was to protest. But the feeling of Jaune holding her was too soothing. And he was right too. That realization prompted her to lean back into the embrace with a happy sigh. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Anything for you," Jaune replied, leaning his head forward, so that he could kiss her cheek. "Remember, we're a team, so you don't need to do _all_ the worrying, okay?"

"All right," said Ruby, taking a breath to wash the rest of her tension away. _He really _is_ the best partner ever._

* * *

When night fell, they settled into their cabin. As Ruby had promised, Weiss had the first watch. That had certainly been for the best. Having barely woken up in time for dinner, Weiss wasn't feeling all that sleepy, when the time for them to go to bed came around. Per their plans, each one of them spent their watch on the upper deck, watching the sea for any signs of Grimm or pirate attacks. It appeared that the exhaustion most of the crew felt allowed them to sleep, which cut down on the negativity drawing the Grimm. The ship's guns remained silent throughout the night.

Morning arrived without fanfare. Ruby, who'd taken the final watch, roused the others. They had access to the ship's facilities, including a small shower and bathroom in their cabin. However, the limitation of resources, particularly fresh water, limited the amount of time they could spend in the shower.

"Ugh, I already can't wait to get off this tub," Weiss grumbled as they made their way into the mess hall for breakfast.

"If you think this is bad, wait until we get our first wilderness mission," replied Ruby with a teasing grin. "If you're lucky, you might find a stream or lake to provide water to wash off with. But you can't actually bathe, 'cause the last thing you want is for a Grimm to come on you when you're buck naked."

"I imagine that feels uncomfortable," noted Pyrrha.

"Eh, you get used to it," said Ruby with a shrug, as they took their trays with their humble meals to an empty table. "In the wilderness, there's so many other smells around that you don't really realize how ripe you're getting. It's only when you get back to civilization that you start to notice."

"That sounds disgusting," muttered Weiss.

"Well, that's what you signed up for," Ruby pointed out.

Weiss groaned, nearly planting her face into her breakfast. Then the sharp click of heels reached their ears. Winter appeared in the doorway, the sight of her making Weiss sit bolt-upright. A few moments later, after collecting her own breakfast, Winter joined the group at their table.

"It would seem that our first night of travel has passed without incident," Winter observed.

Weiss threw an inquisitive look to Ruby, and Ruby responded with the tiniest shake of her head, indicating that she had not told Winter about the stunt Weiss had pulled the previous day.

They ate in silence, before taking their trays to the dishwashers. From there, they made their way out to the deck for another day to be spent, looking out for any sign of the pirates.

* * *

"Ms. Rose...a moment of your time, please," said Winter, the click of her heels broadcasting her approach to Ruby, well before her request did.

"Yes?" asked Ruby. There was no reason for her to disagree, after all. Time was something they had an excess of, until either Grimm or pirates appeared.

"It is my understanding that you have been providing my sister...supplementary...instruction," said Winter, regarding Ruby with a stern expression, the set of her lips only a slight twitch away from becoming an outright frown.

"Yes, her and my other friends," said Ruby, fighting back a frown of her own, not certain of the vague sense of emotion she was getting from Winter's Aura.

"I see," said Winter, turning to stare out over the railings of the upper deck, which wrapped around the bridge. "You are teaching Weiss and the others what you have learned from the Mibu."

Ruby jolted at the mention. The fact that she had been trained by the Mibu was largely under wraps...or not officially acknowledged, at least. Ozpin had warned her against broadcasting that fact, as well as the existence of the clan itself publicly. But Winter apparently knew already.

"J-just the basics," said Ruby, turning to look out over the water as well. "That's all I'm really qualified to teach."

"And you believe there to be merit in such lessons?" asked Winter.

Ruby bristled silently at the manifest skepticism in the Specialist's voice. "I do," she answered flatly.

"And just what merit is there in such antiquated techniques?" wondered Winter.

"They aren't antiquated," Ruby replied intently, a spark of anger appearing in her voice. "Yes, the basis for them has been passed down for generations, within the clan, but each generation takes what they are taught, and refines it. To the Mibu, developing the arts of using Aura isn't some kind of arcane tradition. It's every bit as much a science as anything you might do with Dust."

"And yet...even though the Mibu have access to Dust, they choose to ignore its potential," said Winter.

"If it works for them, then that's fine," said Ruby. "They've gotten by just fine without using it for thousands of years. As far as they're concerned, the Grimm are nothing more than pests."

That wasn't entirely true. If there was one thing that the outside world had that the Mibu-or Sora, rather-coveted, it was the CCT, the ability to communicate across the width and breadth of their Kingdoms nigh instantaneously. While the Shadowalkers of Sora's Imperial Guard were excellent couriers, never failing to deliver their missives, even their impressive speed was still practically a snail's pace, compared to the lightning-fast method the CCT afforded.

"And what do they think of the other Kingdoms?" asked Winter.

Ruby frowned. "Not much," said Ruby. "Though, that's mostly out of a lack of interest than anything else." If there was one thing she truly disliked about the Mibu Clan, it was their insular nature. Even if she'd fostered a greater appreciation for outsiders and the outside world amongst her classmates, and her small circle of friends there, it would take years more of such work to make such a change amongst the general population, and some of them would never give up their stubborn insistence on the Mibu's superiority.

"So they do not worry about the pace at which technological advancement has increased?" pressed Winter.

Ruby turned her gaze to the older woman now, noting the firm set in Winter's jaw. "Thinking of planning another 'expedition'?" she asked.

"I am not," said Winter. "But Father has championed the idea many times. General Ironwood will not allow such a measure to pass, so long as he maintains his hold on both his Council seats. But Father gains support with each effort. The upperclass, including powerful financial backers of many aspiring Council candidates, are coming to see things his way. If the General should lose his hold over one or both of the Council seats, then the tide would turn. Even if he is Commander in Chief of the military, General Ironwood would have to bow to the will of the Council, if they ordered an expedition."

"It would be a disaster," Ruby replied frankly. "You might think that Atlas has come a long way, since the last time. But you haven't come nearly far _enough_."

"What makes you so confident of that?" asked Winter.

"How many Specialists does the Atlesian military have?" asked Ruby.

"There are presently thirty-seven active Specialists," replied Winter.

The complete integration of Atlas' Council, military, and Academy was a more recent development, under General Ironwood. While the number of Academy graduates entering the military was increasing with each successive year, it was still a program that was just beginning to gain ground.

"By that measure, the Mibu have almost ten-times that," Ruby replied.

Winter's jaw dropped.

"The kind of training you get from Combat School and Huntsman Academies, minus using Dust and advanced tech, is military training for the Mibu," Ruby informed her. "The Mibu don't have Huntsmen, because the members of their military practically _are_ Huntsmen. And that's just the rank-and-file."

Sure, members of the military who were of Winter's caliber, if Ruby went by her senses' assessment of the woman, were a good bit rarer. By Ruby's assessment, Winter would probably place somewhere in the mid or upper-tier of the Mibu Clan's military ranks. However, even the lowest ranking member of the Mibu's military would be able to give her a decent fight, at least. A group of three or more, working as a team...And all of that was _without_ factoring what would happen if the Goyosei fought...or the Taishiro.

Of course, it didn't mean anything if Winter didn't believe her. Ruby wouldn't have put it past the woman to think she was making all this up, or exaggerating, or simply assessing the Mibu's strength through rose-colored glasses. Winter's control was sufficient to keep her thoughts to herself, preventing Ruby from gleaning more than just a basic impression by reading the fluctuations of her Aura.

"An interesting claim," said Winter finally. "It's certainly one to consider."

"Every member of the Mibu has their Aura unlocked from birth," said Ruby. "They spend their entire lives honing it. A tiny portion of them learn to use their Aura for combat, but that still puts them well ahead of any Kingdom."

Winter frowned, thinking about the kind of issues that would arise if every member of the Kingdoms had their Auras unlocked. For the majority of them, it would be of little to no use. There being no point in learning to control and use their Auras in any capacity, because they would not be going into work as Huntsmen or Huntresses. It seemed like a silly notion.

But, then again, if the Mibu had truly explored Aura to the extent that Ruby stated, then, just as was the case with Dust in the Kingdoms, perhaps usage of Aura had expanded to encompass facets of everyday life for the Mibu. It was hard to imagine that. But she supposed it was possible.

"Do you...object to me teaching Weiss Aura-techniques?" asked Ruby, looking straight at Winter.

"I...do not," said Winter after a moment. "I have doubts as to their efficacy. But I have no right to exert any authority over what Weiss does with her time at Beacon. The results shall have to speak for themselves."

_Oh, they will,_ thought Ruby, thinking about Weiss' first successful Summoning.

"Is that all then?" she asked out loud.

"For now," said Winter. "Weiss has expressed a great deal of confidence in your ability, Ms. Rose. I hope you do not disappoint me." With that, she turned and walked away.

Ruby frowned, watching Winter go. She got the impression that Weiss' sister's questions had been as much a test of her disposition as they were an interrogation into just whether or not the Aura-techniques Weiss was learning were effective. What had initially seemed as an arrogant Atlesian's inquiry about the means of the 'primitive' Mibu might well actually have been Winter's effort to assess Ruby's capability as a leader. What Winter truly made of her, Ruby couldn't say.

"I'm sorry about that," said Weiss, stepping out onto the deck from the bridge, where she'd been going over a chart of their course. "My sister can be...stringent."

"I'm not sure that's the word I would use," mused Ruby, not sure what word she _would_ use. Winter Schnee was not someone that she could easily put into a box, however much Ruby would have liked to simply categorize the woman, and file her impression of Winter away under a simple label.

"Winter doesn't support Father's ambitions," said Weiss.

"I figured as much," said Ruby. She glanced at Weiss. "Notice anything interesting about our course?"

"No," breathed Weiss, leaning over the rail. "It's not as though I can pick out a point and say that _that's_ where we're most likely to be attacked. At this point, the best we can say is that it'll be somewhere out there..." She waved her right arm in a vague, sweeping gesture, encompassing the expanse of blue that spread out before them. "I'm just bored. I need something to do, since I can't practice my Summoning."

"Well...you can't practice that specifically," said Ruby, rolling her eyes upward thoughtfully. "But...there is something that you _can_ practice, which will allow you to prep for it."

"What?" asked Weiss desperately.

"Do you remember the steps I had you go through, to get the Summon to work?" asked Ruby.

Weiss nodded. "Temper, Suppression, Projection; just like we always do in regular..." Weiss' voice trailed off.

Ruby grinned at her. "That's right. "Even my techniques have their basis in that sequence. Temper is something that you should have going pretty much constantly by now. But Suppression, then building to Projection; that's something you can actually practice."

"What good does that do?" asked Weiss.

"How long do you think it took for you to Summon that Knight, the other night?" asked Ruby.

Weiss frowned. The process had taken well over a minute, even following Ruby's instructions.

"In order for any technique to be useable in battle, you have to compress those steps way down," said Ruby. "A second, or less, is what you should be aiming for."

"So then...?" prodded Weiss, waiting to hear what Ruby wanted her to do.

"Start with your Temper," said Ruby. "Then use Suppression. From there, build up for your Projection. But, instead of actually using Projection, just relax back into Temper. That way you don't go blowing away chunks of your Aura reserve with each repetition."

"Okay," said Weiss.

"Just keep working with that," said Ruby. "Going fast shouldn't be your intent though. Going _smooth_ should. By doing it right, and continuing to do it right, you'll gradually start to do it faster. There's no way to rush it, except to just practice it as much as you can."

"Well...I'll have plenty of time, I suppose," said Weiss.

* * *

Time they certainly had. Ruby and Weiss retired to a clear portion of the ship's deck, where Jaune and Pyrrha joined them. Once there, they began to train in the basic Aura exercises Ruby had taught them. To keep from expending their Aura before the enemy attacked, they avoided Projection, with Ruby schooling Pyrrha and Jaune in Flow. Meanwhile, Weiss practiced the Temper-Suppression-release sequence Ruby had instructed her in.

At the same time, Ruby had Weiss concentrate on the image of her Summons. "When it comes to techniques, a clear image is always going to be one of the most important things," Ruby told her. "If you're going to give shape to your Aura, you need to know exactly _what_ shape you're giving it."

They kept at it throughout the entire day. Ruby could sense Winter watching them, though, as always, she had a hard time figuring out what Weiss' sister made of this. But having this shared activity between them helped the day to go by faster.

The night passed uneventfully again, carrying them into the third day of their voyage. Once again, save for the occasional attack by Grimm, everything was relatively quiet. None of the attacking Grimm were at a level where the ship's guns had been unable to deal with them, so there had been little for RASP to do. As a focusing exercise, Ruby had them practice through the next Grimm attack, focusing even over the thunder of the ship's cannons. Only if they were specifically called to battle would they be permitted to abandon their training.

By the fourth day, they were almost halfway through their voyage. Ruby awoke to an irritating sensation, like a prickling at the back of her neck. It hovered about like a persistent itch, making her uneasy. Worse, it threatened to shorten her temper. Ruby had to work to maintain her self-control. Fortunately, there wasn't anything that really bothered her, save for Winter's continued observation, which she'd already resigned herself to.

* * *

It wasn't until after lunch, with the strange sensation bothering her throughout that entire day, that Ruby _finally_ clued into what she was feeling. They were being watched. This wasn't the sensation of Winter's observation, dispassionate and neutral. This was a malicious sensation. They were being watched by someone who intended them harm. The reason it had taken Ruby so long to realize it was because she was not the singular focus of this observation. Whoever was watching them was watching the ship and its crew as a whole, of which Ruby constituted only a tiny part.

With a small gasp, she broke off looking over her friends' training, and instead made her way to the railing, which allowed her to look over the side of the ship, and directly into the sea below.

_I can feel it,_ she thought, reaching out through her Extension into the water below, looking for any trace of the source of the malice that was now silently shadowing them. _They're there._

This wasn't a Grimm. They were out of the direct reach of Ruby's Extension, but she could still feel their intent resonating through her Aura. It was the product of other Auras, humans and faunus. Considering what they already knew, it all made perfect sense.

"What is it?" asked Winter, coming to see what had Ruby looking over the railing.

"They're down there," said Ruby, "the pirates."

"That _is_ the theory," said Winter.

"No!" snapped Ruby, turning to glare at Winter. "They're down there right _now_! They're stalking us from below."

"How can you tell?" asked Winter warily.

"I can feel it," said Ruby, turning her gaze back to the sea washing past below. "I can't be sure how far, but...they're below...and a little ways behind."

Winter frowned, and Ruby could sense her skepticism easily. "And yet there hasn't been the slightest sign on radar or sonar," she pointed out.

"If what you've said about the other ships they've hit is true, then that's to be expected," said Ruby. "They've always gotten close enough to attack and board without being picked up. Radar and sonar are pretty much useless in this situation."

"You're right about that," admitted Winter. "That being the case, if they truly _are_ following us right now, then why are they not attacking yet?"

"They're watching us," said Ruby. "They're gathering information, making sure of things like our course and disposition. Maybe they're collecting data to make sure this isn't a lure or a trap. All I know for sure is that they're just tailing us for now."

To her surprise, Ruby sensed Winter's skepticism fading. "If that is the case, then would you be aware of when they are about to attack?" she asked.

"I'd have an idea," said Ruby. "But it's tricky without knowing much about them or their vehicle. I don't know how short the interval between me sensing the change and them actually launching their attack will be."

"A minute, possibly more, at least," said Winter. "They are planning an attack. But they are aiming to board and capture for cargo. They won't want to risk anything that might lead to damaging the cargo, or setting it off. Therefore, they will not attack from underwater, with torpedoes. Instead, the very first thing they will do is surface. From there, I assume they will use some kind of mechanism to facilitate the boarding itself. Perhaps their submarine is equipped with personnel catapults."

"What are those?" asked Ruby.

"They are similar to the mechanisms that were used to launch you, during your Initiation," explained Winter. "If a vessel is carrying Aura-enabled individuals, it's one of the best ways to deliver them to a target."

"Okay," said Ruby. "If that's the case, then there's probably time to get the warning out then."

Winter's eyes narrowed. "Then please continue to monitor the situation. If you believe they are about to attack, inform me, and we will immediately have the crew secure themselves."

"Understood," said Ruby, feeling reminded of her first time at sea.

She couldn't help but wonder why Winter was willing to believe her so readily about this. Perhaps Winter was just being cautious. If it just turned out to be Ruby's imagination, then they could discount it and continue on, with nothing really being affected. The situation was uncertain enough that Winter was apparently unwilling to discount _any_ potential indicators of an incoming attack. It was a strict professionalism centered around her duty. Ruby admired that.

* * *

The pirates continued to stalk them for the remainder of the day. Ruby had informed her friends about was going on, warning them to ready themselves. It was difficult for any of them to sleep that night. But they managed. Ruby carefully maintained her awareness, even with her eyes closed, something she had perfected in the time she'd spent traveling the awareness.

There was a brief debate about whether or not to call in the military for reinforcements. A single call could have Atlesian airships within striking distance in just a few hours. Of course, that was assuming the pirates didn't attack before then. The main concern though, was that the appearance of military craft would scare the pirates off, and force RASP and Winter to start over. Therefore, it was decided to issue the military a notification, and then have them wait at a substantial distance, before moving in.

When her turn came to take watch, Ruby didn't leave the cabin. Instead, she sat back on her bunk, leaning her back against the wall, and closed her eyes, falling into the sensation of her Aura, monitoring the scrutiny and intent of the pirates. As the last hours of the night passed into morning, Ruby's eyes shot open.

She could sense it, the subtle shift in their intent. The pirates were about to strike. "They're coming!"

Immediately, she sprang into action, shaking her teammates awake. They roused without protest, realizing the only reason Ruby would awaken them so roughly. Quickly, they gathered their weapons and equipment. Weiss rushed to Winter's cabin to fetch her, while Ruby went to notify the captain.

The man was far more skeptical than Winter, dismissing Ruby's assertions with a contemptuous sneer, clearly seeing her methods as nothing more than fantasy. It wasn't until Winter arrived on the bridge and delivered a clear order that the captain finally took action, ordering all crew bellow-decks. As the men scurried about atop the deck, making one last check to ensure that everything was secure, Ruby and her friends looked on anxiously.

"What are they waiting for?" asked Weiss. At this point, it had been nearly fifteen minutes since Ruby had roused them.

Ruby's eyes shifted up to the eastern horizon, which was gradually beginning lighten as day approached. "Dawn," she said. "They're going to attack with the sun at their backs."

Jaune frowned. "So they'll be coming up on the left-"

"Port," Weiss corrected him.

"But he's not here," said Jaune.

The sound of Weiss' hand against her face stood out starkly over the faint crash of waves against the hull. "Not the teacher, you dunce! Port, as in the port-side. That's the name for the left side of the ship."

"Oh..." said Jaune. "Why don't they just call it the left side?"

"Um, I think we can go over that later," said Pyrrha with a nervous grin, as she tried to calm Weiss down. "Anyway, yes, I think that's correct. If they want to attack with the rising sun at their backs, they'll be coming up on the port-side of the ship."

"We'll have to be careful," said Ruby. "Try to keep from looking into the sun as it comes up. Jaune, you're going to be guarding the main hatch into the crew quarters."

"Got it," said Jaune.

"Weiss, take the bow section," added Ruby.

"Understood," said Weiss, moving towards her assigned position.

"Pyrrha, hold the midsection."

"All right," said Pyrrha, barely needing to move, seeing as they were standing near the center anyway.

"Where are you gonna be?" asked Jaune.

Ruby thought back to her first experience with a pirate raid. "The bridge," she said.

* * *

A few minutes later, the sun crested the horizon. Out at sea, there was nothing to obstruct it, so its light felt incredibly intense as it washed over the sea and ship. RASP and Winter waited. From her position by the bridge, Ruby looked out over the railings, peering down into the sea below.

A massive shadow began to ascend upwards, out of the depths.

"They're surfacing!" Ruby announced to her teammates over their scrolls.

Looking down again, Ruby found herself biting back a scream. A white shape was set against the black, in the unmistakable form of a face. Her first impulse was to think that it was a massive Grimm. However, the skull lacked the glowing red eyes characteristic of the monsters. Instead, black pits leered out over the grinning teeth of what was, unmistakably, a giant human skull. The sight of that leering face rushing up at them made a thrill of fear shoot through Ruby's heart.

It took her an extra second to realize that it was probably intentional on the part of whoever had painted that ghastly decoration on the front and top of the submersible, making it the first thing people would see as it rushed for the surface. It was a sight that would send less-well-trained people into a panic.

The skull rushed upwards at the front of the black mass of the submersible itself. A second later, it exploded out of the water with a roar, its elongated, yet gracefully tapering bow projecting upwards into the air, more than half of the widening body of the vehicle trailing behind it. Finally, its momentum petered out, and it tipped forward, crashing back down in a manner reminiscent of a breaching whale, throwing up waves of spray that forced Ruby to shield herself with her cloak. From farther down the freighter's deck, she could hear Weiss' cry of consternation, while Pyrrha and Jaune held up their shields to ward off the worst of the spray as well.

The helmsman of the submarine had judged things to a nicety, bringing the submarine roaring up from the depths right alongside the freighter, matching their speeds perfectly. The two vessels now ran side-by-side. The tiniest mistake, and the submarine would have come up against their hull, which would have been disastrous for both ships.

A seam appeared along the front section of the dorsal surface, splitting the painted skull in two. The halves of the hull slid apart from one another, before sliding back, revealing an internal deck. On that deck, Ruby could see figures standing on familiar-looking squares. Sure enough, a series of faint hisses erupted, and the squares of metal revealed themselves to be catapults, launching the pirates up into graceful arcs that carried them up and over, onto the freighter's deck. As they rose, their bodies were silhouetted against the rising sun. Had Ruby and the others not been aware that this had been their plan, they might have been caught by the move, and blinded as the pirates landed amongst them. However, RASP were ready.

The pirates landed on the deck with shouted battlecries, brandishing their weapons. The battle was joined.

* * *

**And this is where the timeline between the two story-threads de-synchs. I'm keeping track of what day it is, so, hopefully, you don't get too confused.**

**The pirates' submarine is loosely based on the Tuatha De Danann, from _Full Metal Panic_. I thought adding the skull to the design was inspired, myself (not to toot my own horn). Just imagine what it would be like, leaning over the side of a ship, staring down into those blue depths...only to see _that_ rushing up at you. Talk about freaky.**


	74. Chapter 74

**Chapter 74**

_Day 2:_

Morning dawned over a mostly-silent ruin. The sunlight filtered between the crumbling skyscrapers of Mountain Glenn. The sound of the wind passing between the buildings mingled with the chirps of birds and the calls of small animals and insects. The night had been uneventful, none of the pairs on watch seeing anything out of the ordinary. A few Grimm had been spotted in the distance, but they had always been moving away.

When morning came, the last pair on watch, Penny and Yang, roused the others. From there, they breakfasted lightly on trail rations, before setting out in search of more signs of White Fang activity, while also preparing the face down the waves of attacking Grimm that the day was sure to bring.

Except...there were _no_ Grimm. As the two teams and their Huntsmen moved out, searching through the early morning, they didn't encounter so much as a single Creep or Beowolf. That would have been a relief, normally. No Grimm were the best kind of Grimm after all. But the contrast between this day and the previous one was nothing short of unnerving. The previous day, the Grimm had been waiting behind every corner, lurking within every building, and always in ridiculous numbers. When they had called it a day, the searchers had taken it for granted that they'd probably barely put a dent in the Grimm numbers of Mountain Glenn, in spite of all the heavy fighting they'd done. At the very least, they'd expected another day of hard fighting ahead of them.

But now, the streets were deserted. Every single Grimm, from the smallest Nevermore to the largest Goliath had apparently vanished off the face of the earth.

* * *

"Okay...this is seriously creepy," said Piper, rubbing her arms, while ignoring the wan look Nora was giving her. "Where the heck are they?"

"An important question," declared Oobleck, pausing for a moment. "For the Grimm, atypical behavior is dangerous behavior, no matter how benign that behavior may be at first glance. The Grimm do not simply abandon a territory for no reason."

"Do you think that something might have drawn them off?" asked Blake worriedly. A terrifying thought forced its way into her head. "What if...what if something happened in Vale, and they were drawn by the surge of negativity?"

"It would have to be something extreme in order for that to happen," said Oobleck.

"Like say...unleashing eleven Paladins in the middle of a population center...?" suggested Yang worriedly.

They all shared uneasy looks at that idea. The whole reason for their being out here was to locate the Paladins in the first place, with what evidence they'd uncovered from their previous investigation suggesting that the Paladins were out in Mountain Glenn. But that wasn't a guarantee. There was always the risk that they could have gotten something wrong, misread some detail. And, if that was the case, there were any number of things they could have gotten wrong too...like the timing for the White Fang's attack. That was reasoned speculation on the part of Ozpin, with him assuming, naturally, that the White Fang would want to strike when the Kingdom was at its most vulnerable. However, there was nothing that said that the White Fang _had_ to ascribe to that logic. They could launch their attack whenever it suited them.

And, worst of all, they were essentially blind to what was happening in Vale, out here. They were out of range of the CCT and any of its relays. If something had happened, there was no way for them to hear about it, short of traveling a fair distance to find a signal, which would put a severe dent into their search-time, if the White Fang hadn't done anything yet.

Qrow stretched his arms up over his head, before bending back, his joints and vertebrae issuing several pops. "Well, I can give it a check," he said.

"How?" asked Yang, looking at him in confusion.

"I've got my ways," said Qrow. "Be back in a tick. The rest of you, split up and get lookin'. If the Grimm aren't around, then that means, at the very least, we have the time and energy to spend on looking for the White Fang. Until we've got evidence to the contrary, we keep working as though everything's going the way it should be."

"He's right," said Oobleck. "Split up. We'll keep moving through the southern quadrant. Let's try to avoid making too much noise now. It's one thing, when there are battles going on all around, but it will be much easier for any enemy scouts to pick up on our intentions than it was before."

The students nodded in acknowledgment, breaking up into pairs once again, this time working with their regular partners.

Meanwhile, Qrow stepped discreetly around the corner of a building. A few seconds later, a crow fluttered into the air, winging its way in the direction of Vale. A single raven, perched on the sill of a shattered window, watched it go.

* * *

"This is so strange," said Blake softly, casting her gaze around the empty streets and buildings. "Where did they all go?"

She'd expected something from Yang, a guess, even a joke. But instead, all Blake got was silence. Confused, she turned to look at her partner, only to see a strangely pensive look on Yang's face. "What is it?" Blake asked.

Yang blinked, then seemed to only just realize that Blake was talking to her. She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I was thinking about something...something Ruby told us."

"What's that?" asked Blake.

"Well, she was talking about..." Yang's voice trailed off again, her gaze drifting upward. The look on her face was a strange combination of confused, concerned, and unnerved.

"Now what?" asked Blake, following Yang's gaze towards a black object perched on the peek of a ruined fountain. For a second, Blake worried that it might have been a Nevermore. However, another second's observation told her it was just a raven. "What about it?" she asked.

"It's just...I'd swear that's the same one I saw yesterday," said Yang, staring at the bird, which, without a doubt, was staring right _back_ at her. "It's been watching me."

"Are you sure you're not just imagining things?" asked Blake warily.

"Pretty sure," said Yang, her frown increasing. "Except..."

"Except what?"

Yang's eyes narrowed slightly. "Maybe I _am_ just imagining things, but I think I've seen that raven around before, not just in Mountain Glenn. I've seen it in a few places, from time to time, or one like it."

"That sounds very unusual," said Blake skeptically. "That could have just as easily been any raven you happened to see at a given time. They're not exactly uncommon after all."

"Maybe you're right," said Yang. "I've just got this feeling..."

They both jumped reflexively when the raven before them blared out an especially harsh and loud caw. The sudden noise was such a disruption to the pervasive silence that it was all the more jarring. Yang had no doubt. The damn bird had made them jump on purpose.

She started towards it. However, the raven took off in a flurry of beating wings, its flight brief, before it alighted on the twisted remains of a fire hydrant a block down from its original location. It turned and looked intently at Yang once more, before letting out another loud caw.

With a growl, Yang broke into a run, chasing after it.

"Yang!" shouted Blake, reaching out to forestall her partner. But she was too slow. For all that Yang was the close-range bruiser on their team, it was easy to forget that she was fast, maybe nowhere near as fast as someone like Ruby, but fast enough to throw people off, even people like her partner, who should have been accustomed to her speed by now.

Yang had cleared more than half the block between her and the raven, before it took to the air again, flying back and darting around the corner of a building. Yang quickly followed it, dashing out of sight.

Blake lowered her hand, before breathing out a heavy sigh. "She couldn't blame me if I made a joke about 'watching the birdy', right?"

Still, Yang was Blake's partner, and Blake needed to keep close to her, however birdbrained (Ha!) Yang's current actions were. Blake leaned forward, lifting one leg up to break into a run after her partner. But then a rock clattered against the broken asphalt in front of her.

Blake's reflexes kicked in, and she automatically jumped back away from the stone as it clicked and bounced along the street, its movements indicating it had been thrown from the building immediately to Blake's right. She whirled about, pulling Gambol Shroud off her back, drawing her sword and holding her sheath at the ready.

Sunlight gleamed off the white surface of a familiar horned mask, right before it and its wearer pulled back out of sight. Blake's jaw dropped as horrified recognition surged through her. _Ilia!_

Panic surged up, and Blake broke into a run, charging into the building at full speed, her mind whirling in worry as the realization of their situation sank in for her. _I'm such an idiot! Of course someone from the White Fang might recognize me. Forget being a former member, I've already disrupted their activities on two separate occasions. They'd have an entire dossier on me, if they didn't already have one. There's no way that one of them, least of all Ilia, would see me out here with the others, and not realize what we must be trying to do!_

Those thoughts brought a whole sequence of terrified speculations running through her brain. What if the knowledge that she was out here, looking for them, had prompted the White Fang to jump the gun, and launch their attack early? What if that was the reason the Grimm were curiously absent? Had the White Fang's attack produced enough negativity to draw all the Grimm into Vale?

Charging into the building, Blake was ready to drag Ilia out of the shadows and demand an answer. Only then did the more rational part of her mind catch up with her, bringing her skidding to a stop.

_Wait!_ she thought. _Ilia threw that stone to get my attention. Why would she even do that?_

If the White Fang really were onto the real reason behind RYNB and CPPR's mission, then there was no reason for their spies and scouts to broadcast their presence. And, if they were going to give themselves away, it was better to do it with _bullets_ than a thrown rock. Why would Ilia deliberately signal to Blake that she was watching?

Blake's answer came a few seconds later, when Ilia stepped out of the shadows, the black of her skin fading back into its normal tan color. At the same time, Ilia raised her right hand up, and pulled the mask away from her face, revealing her gray eyes staring mournfully at her former-comrade. Then, to Blake's surprise, Ilia raised both her hands slowly into the air, keeping them well clear of the weapon holstered at her waist.

"Ilia?" Blake asked, tilting her head.

"Blake..." said Ilia, her voice husky with nervousness. "...we need to talk."

* * *

Panting for breath, Yang rounded another corner. Every time she laid eyes on that bird, it took off again, darting out of sight, until Yang passed whatever obstruction it had used, at which point, she caught a glimpse of it, before it darted off again.

In the back of her head, the more rational part of Yang's brain was calling her ten different kinds of idiot. There was no questioning the raven's actions now. It was obviously leading her on, drawing her away from the others, isolating her. This had all the hallmarks of a trap, if ever there was one. Whoever was behind this, Yang was playing right into their hands.

But, despite that, something within her refused to allow her to stop now. There was a nagging need, a pull exuded by a strange sense of familiarity that she couldn't place. She _had_ to know what was going on here. Now, if only she could catch up to that damn bird.

Then it happened. The raven alit on the twisted bracket of a mount that had once held up a sign of some kind, the sign itself long torn down. There it rested, waiting longer this time, allowing Yang to close the distance with it. Then, just as she was almost directly beneath it, the raven cawed again, spreading its wings and taking to the air, flying into a ruined window above.

"Dammit!" shouted Yang, breaking into a run again, rushing through the ruined doors of the building, finding herself in a lobby. Slowing down, Yang turned her head back and forth, taking in the scenery. The carpet that had once covered the floor had been mostly eaten away, leaving the concrete surface beneath it. Ahead of her, Yang saw a pair of ticket booths, flanking another set of doors...what was left of them. They'd been wooden ones, probably very nice ones at one time. But now, all that remained were a few broken chunks, suspended from rusting hinges.

Stepping forward, Yang carefully walked through the doorway, ducking her head slightly to keep from catching her hair on the cobweb that decorated one corner of it.

The doorway led into a larger, much more open space. This had once been a theater; not a movie theater, but a live theater. Yang found herself walking down an aisle between rows of folding seats. Off to her right, the remains of a lighting rig rested amidst the splintered chairs it had fallen upon. To her left, a hole in the wall led to another section of the building, the nature of the hole, and the devastation in its immediate vicinity, making Yang think that an Ursa might have crashed through the wall there, a Major, if the claw marks on either side of the hole were any indication.

Ahead of her was the stage. It was mostly intact, though the curtains that would have fallen across it were nothing more than tattered swatches of cloth, after so long had passed. The entire auditorium was filled with a pervasive gloom, which the beams of light streaming in through the holes in the roof did little to alleviate. One such beam stabbed down, almost dead-center, at the stage, like some kind of forlorn spotlight. For some reason, there was something about this place that spoke to Yang about the devastation that had fallen upon Mountain Glenn. It was rather fitting that a place like this, one that had probably seen all manner of performances, would exude such a sense of tragedy.

As distracted as she had been by the scenery, Yang had momentarily forgotten about the raven, until it chose to announce its presence again, its harsh call making Yang jump, whirling around to look back the way she'd come, before looking up in search of the source of the sound. She found herself staring up into an upper gallery, looking just as ruined and dilapidated as the rest of the theater. She very much doubted that the floor up there was structurally sound, even if she could figure out how to reach that position.

The flutter of wings was especially loud in this more silent and enclosed space. Yang could hear the bird taking off and settling down, darting from one position to the next. At times, she thought she could see the fleeting shadow of it, but could never nail down its exact location.

And then it really hit home for her. Here she was, in a completely enclosed space, isolated well away from her team, surrounded by darkness...if this was a trap, then here was the place to spring it. Yang tensed, sinking into a crouch, Ember Celica unfolding along her arms. Slowly, she swept her gaze about the auditorium, her eyes searching every nook and cranny for any sign of ambush.

It was then that she became conscious of the presence at her back. It made her spine tingle, and Yang was suddenly beset by horrific images of a ghost looming behind her, before her mind told her imagination to cut it the hell out. Despite that, Yang couldn't help the goosebumps that spread across her skin as she turned back towards the front of the theater.

There, on the stage, standing right beneath the light leaking in from the hole above, stood _the woman_.

Yang's mouth went dry at the sight of her. The woman exuded an almost inhuman presence, standing atop that stage. Yang had no idea where she'd come from. She hadn't been there one second, and now...there she was, her sudden appearance really making her seem like some kind of paranormal spirit. The woman's look only enhanced that impression.

She was dressed in a red, long-sleeved, short-skirted dress with a black skirt and a broad stripe of black across her chest. The sleeves of her top ran all the way down into the red, plated gauntlets that ran from the back of her hands to her elbows. Her hands were covered by black, fingerless gloves. A red belt or sash ran around her waist, with something that looked like either a tuft of black feathers or fur hung from the right side of it, while the handle of a sword, inserted into a bulky-looking sheath, protruded from the holster on the left. A number of beaded necklaces were draped around the woman's neck.

It was her head that featured the most prominent aspect of her appearance. The woman's face was covered by a white mask, decorated with veins of red, which encompassed the entirety of her face, even stretching over the top, making it something of a cross between a mask and a helmet. A set of four slits were opened in the mask, creating the image of eyes. Yang could have sworn she saw a pair of red orbs gazing out through the lower pair of slits. Long, black hair stretched out behind, falling down her back in a wavy cascade.

On the whole, the woman's appearance was utterly inhuman. With that white mask, and its resemblance to the creatures of Grimm, Yang's first thought was that the woman was another member of the White Fang. But that didn't really make sense. Above all else, she couldn't shake the strange, sickening sense of familiarity that rose up at the sight of the woman, as though Yang was staring at someone she'd seen before, but she could not place her mental finger on when or where.

But, above all else, the one impression that Yang had of this woman was that she was _dangerous_. Whoever she was, her posture and bearing spoke of tremendous confidence. Yang considered herself no slouch, and as someone not to be underestimated. But she could tell this woman wasn't intimidated by her in the slightest.

The eerie silence stretched out between them as the two women stared each other down. Neither seemed willing to make a move...or perhaps the woman on the stage was simply willing to bide her time, and wait and see how Yang reacted. For her part, the only thing Yang was certain of was that she couldn't move carelessly, a feeling she rarely got, given her usual nature.

Finally, Yang's patience ran out. "Okay," she said skeptically, "I'll bite. Who are you, and what do you want?"

Her question elicited a strange reaction from the woman, who almost seemed to flinch slightly. Then, slowly and deliberately, her left hand rose up, her hand cupping the collection of angled surfaces that formed her mask/helmet. Just as slowly, the woman pulled, lifting the mask up, before pulling it clear of her head, and revealing her face. The sight of of the woman's countenance stopped Yang's breath in her throat.

It was like staring into a mirror. The woman had _her_ face...Yang's face...albeit seeming just a tiny bit more gaunt and angled. It was the kind of face that Yang could imagine herself wearing after a couple more decades of hardship. And those eyes, those bright-crimson orbs that stabbed outwards, seeming almost faintly luminous, were plenty familiar too. They were the exact same eyes that Yang herself had, when she was riding the high of her Semblance.

_It can't be!_ The sight of the woman's face snapped some kind of barrier to one of Yang's oldest memories, the memory of the discovery that had touched off that fateful trip through the woods so many years ago, the act that had wound up healing her family, before sundering it all over again. Yang remembered the picture, an image of four people lined up, three of whom she knew well. There had been her father, Taiyang, looking younger and handsomer, missing his facial hair; her mother, Summer Rose, who had been so completely enshrouded in the white cloak she perpetually wore that only the slight profile of her face could be seen; her Uncle Qrow, looking pretty much as he did now, virtually unchanged, maybe missing a little stubble and a few wrinkles; and one other person, a woman..._this_ woman.

It was the picture that had led to Yang discovering the truth about herself. Summer was _not_ her biological mother. Instead, Yang had been born to her father and the other woman in this picture, her _real_ mother, who had disappeared years ago, without Yang having so much as a single recollection of her face.

"Raven..." whispered Yang.

Raven Branwen favored her daughter with a slight smirk. "Shouldn't you be calling me 'Mom', Yang? We have a lot to talk about."

* * *

Blake's jaw dropped. She could scarcely believe her eyes. Peering through the window of a ruined building, its glass long since shattered and its frame decayed beyond recognition, she stared out of the subterranean structure, which overlooked the hive of activity one of Mountain Glenn's largest underground caverns had become.

It had been stunning to learn that the crumbling city above actually stood over another crumbling city below. It was the kind of discovery that made Blake wonder if Mountain Glenn had been built upon the remains of another, even older settlement. However, it had quickly become apparent that that was an erroneous notion. The buildings below were of the same architectural style as those above, showing many of the same signs of decay, albeit fewer from being hidden underground, and away from many of the environmental factors that had eroded portions of the structures above. On top of that, Blake saw a few buildings that stretched up to, and _through_, the cavern roof, making her suspect that they were practically basement portions of the skyscrapers above.

It was Ilia who had explained the history of this place to her. When Mountain Glenn had been overrun aboveground, while Vale had collapsed the tunnels and sealed the settlement off, the people of Mountain Glenn had made one last desperate attempt at survival. They'd retreated into the caverns, sealing themselves off from the Grimm above, and tried to survive underground. Such a daring act might have worked, had not one of their excavations opened a hole into a cavern that had been packed to the gills with even more Grimm. The resulting disaster had turned this underground section of Mountain Glenn into a single, giant tomb.

As disheartening as it had been to hear that, Blake wasn't really able to spare too much thought for it, focused as she was on the fact that her former-friend and comrade was the one explaining this to her, while leading her right to the heart of the White Fang's operation.

And what an operation it was. Before them, resting on its tracks, was a large, multi-car train. It was an older model, probably restored from the ones that Mountain Glenn had used for transport between the settlement and Vale. Those tracks stretched off down a tunnel. It had been hard, keeping her bearings in this underground space, but Blake was fairly certain that that tunnel ran in the direction of the Kingdom. In fact, even before Ilia confirmed it, Blake was sure that that was the very tunnel that had once served as the vital artery between Mountain Glenn and Vale, once collapsed...and now reopened.

There were the Paladins too, all eleven remaining ones. Eight of them rested on flatbed cars that rested midway along the train's length, while the remaining three tramped around the encampment, carrying pallets and crates, many of which Blake didn't doubt were filled with the stolen Dust, accumulated through the numerous thefts throughout the Kingdom...and more besides.

Directly behind the locomotive were a series of cars that appeared to be for cargo, with multiple crates being loaded onto them. Though she could only catch the tiniest glimpse of the interior through their doors, Blake thought she could see racks of weapons and munitions. Behind them were the flatbeds for the Paladins. Behind the flatbeds were another series of cars. These ones were simple boxcars, their broad loading-doors thrown wide open to reveal empty interiors, empty...except for a single device in each one, said device featuring two large Dust-chambers, one red, one pale-blue. Blake recognized those devices easily enough from her own time in the White Fang. _Bombs...and powerful ones at that!_

The thought made Blake's stomach churn. This was beyond her most pessimistic imaginings of what kind of operation the White Fang were running down here. She could have imagined that the Fang had reopened the tunnels leading into Vale. She could have imagined them marching the stolen Paladins down those tunnels, and using them to break out into the Kingdom on the other side, blasting away at everything in their sights with complete abandon. But she'd never imagined an operation like this.

"What are they doing?" asked Blake. "Are they going to detonate those bombs while attacking?"

Crouched beside her, Ilia shook her head slowly. "No," she said, "it's worse than that. Those bombs are for farther down the tunnel, while the train is still outside the Kingdom."

"They're trying to bring the tunnel down behind them?"

Again, Ilia shook her head. "They're trying to open it up, create pitfalls to the outside. And when that happens, you know what will be coming in."

"Grimm...!" whispered Blake, horror flooding through her voice.

Her throat bobbing, Ilia nodded uneasily. "As the train heads down the tunnel, the boxcars at the back will detach, one by one, and detonate, opening up the tunnel and letting Grimm in. The Grimm will automatically start following the train, all the way down to the end of the line. They've reinforced the armor at the front, so that the train can ram right through the barrier at the other side."

"They're going to create a breach!" gasped Blake, her body beginning to shake. "They'll flood the Kingdom with Grimm...right in Vale's center."

"And, at the same time, the Paladins will go on the attack," added Ilia. "Those other cars have enough room and armaments for a small army."

"A breach, executed alongside a full-fledged attack!" gasped Blake. "God! They'll slaughter hundreds!"

Ilia nodded, her skin paling in a way that had nothing to do with her faunus trait.

Blake took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, before turning to look inquisitively at Ilia. "Why are you showing me this?" she asked.

"Because you were right," said Ilia, a faint sob making its way into her voice. "We can't let this happen. Adam is taking things _way_ too far. If the White Fang pulls this off, it'll probably mean the end of human-faunus relations in Vale as we know it.

"And Adam would count that as a win. Because of this attack, backlash against the faunus population will be tremendous, which will drive God-knows how many of them into the White Fang. The odds of coexistence will slip down the drain, not just in Vale, but across all four Kingdoms."

"He's trying to incite an all-out war," whispered Blake. "But that's...insane. As strong as the White Fang's become, there's no way we could win that kind of conflict."

Ilia nodded again. "Adam thinks our allies will help turn the tables, even if he doesn't like them."

"Allies?" asked Blake, her ears perking upright beneath her bow.

"A woman named Cinder, and her minions," said Ilia.

"Cinder!?" gasped Blake.

Her mind snapped back to that day at Beacon, where they'd come across the new arrivals from Haven, walking down the student-dorm hallway. She could scarcely imagine the amber-eyed woman as being the mastermind behind the strange alliance between the White Fang and human criminals, like Torchwick and Neo. _But why is she in Beacon, and posing as a student?_

"She's...different," said Ilia, shivering, running her hands along the bare skin of her arms. "She can do things that we can't explain. She's been the one holding the reins of this whole thing, even if Adam is the face of things on the White Fang side. The changes in recruitment rallies came from someone on her end too."

That knowledge raised so many more questions. Who was this woman? Why was she helping the White Fang...or...rather...why was she subordinating the White Fang to her will? What was she planning?

Those questions could wait. Right now, what mattered was that this operation of the White Fang had to be stopped. "Where's Adam?" Blake asked. As the most dangerous member present, knowing what to do about him was their highest priority.

"We don't know," Ilia admitted, to a shocked gasp from Blake. "It's really strange. Someone from Cinder's end, a man that we only know as Jester, came and took him, said something about retraining him...or something...We don't know. All we do know is that Adam's not here now."

That was confusing and troubling. Blake would have counted Adam's whereabouts as critical information, not to mention the complete unknown this other person, this Jester, Ilia had referenced represented. Still, if Adam wasn't here now, then that at least meant that they had a better chance of putting a stop to this.

"We need to go back to the others," said Blake, thinking of her teammates and Team CPPR, not to mention Qrow and Oobleck. "Now that we know what's going on, we can call in Ironwood's forces-"

"You can't!" Ilia exclaimed, barely managing to keep her voice to a harsh whisper. "That train is ready to go, right _now_! If they get so much as a hint of anyone coming to attack, they'll send it off, even if they haven't loaded all the armaments. Even if it isn't fully loaded, the train's still equipped to do plenty of damage, not to mention the Grimm."

Blake could see that. It was exactly the kind of thing that Ozpin had warned them about, in fact. While a group of Huntsmen and students sneaking into the cavern to find the White Fang was one thing, sending in a trio of warships and hundreds of troops in an all-out attack was another, the kind of thing the White Fang would see coming a mile away. They needed another approach, one that would ensure that the White Fang couldn't still launch their attack, before they were rounded up...which begged the question of just what approach to take.

In either case, there was one thing Blake knew for sure. She needed to report back to the others and let them know that she'd found the White Fang's operation, the missing Paladins, and learned their plans. From there, they could figure out what course of action to take, beyond reporting back to Ironwood.

"How long do we have?" asked Blake, looking to Ilia again.

"The operation is scheduled to begin early next week," said Ilia. "It was supposed to be earlier, but we kept encountering...delays."

Blake couldn't quite keep from smirking at that, considering that she and her friends had undoubtedly accounted for at least _some_ of said delays. She was just glad that they had a few days' grace-period with which to act. "Do you know why the Grimm are gone, up above?"

"I...don't," said Ilia, looking discomfited. "I mean, I didn't really think about how quiet things were, but it's strange. All I know is that _we_ don't have anything to do with it."

"Okay..." said Blake frowning. So it appeared that the White Fang had no idea why the Grimm were absent as well. At least she didn't have to worry about it being because the organization had already launched their attack. But that left one more mystery to nag at them. If there was a benefit to this, it would be that, if the situation persisted, the White Fang's efforts might not lead any Grimm into the Kingdom itself, though that was only a small boon to the situation, considering that the Paladins, soldiers, and armaments could cause plenty of damage on their own.

Finally, she looked back at Ilia, her expression plaintive. "I need to report to the others about this," she said. "We'll decide what to do then. But...would you come with me?"

"What?" gasped Ilia, giving Blake a shocked look.

Blake sighed. "My own team might back me up," she said. "But I can't imagine that Team Copper, or our Huntsmen, would believe me right off the bat. I need proof...and you're basically it." She gazed at Ilia. "Please! It's our best chance at stopping this."

Ilia was silent, staring pensively down at the floor in front of her. Finally, she looked back up, meeting Blake's eyes. "All right."

Before Ilia could react, Blake lunged at her, seizing the chameleon-faunus in a tight hug.

"Thank you," Blake whispered, feeling gratified that she wouldn't have to fight her old friend on this.

Ilia returned the embrace awkwardly, glad that her head was currently resting over Blake's shoulder, which kept Blake from seeing the pink tinge that spread across her cheeks at the close contact between them. Finally, Blake released her, and Ilia pulled back, averting her eyes slightly. "So unfair," she muttered.

"What?" asked Blake, not quite hearing what her friend had said.

"Nothing," grumbled Ilia, turning to look at Blake again, this time with determined eyes. "But, I want to make one thing clear. I'm _not_ leaving the White Fang. This isn't some defection on my part. I just need to make sure that we stop the Vale branch from inciting an all-out race-war. That's why High Leader Khan sent me in the first place."

"She did?" gasped Blake.

Ilia nodded gravely. "High Leader Khan was hearing some odd and...troubling...things from Vale, entirely second-hand, since Adam stopped sending proper reports. She used your abandonment as an excuse, and sent me. The official reason was that I'm here to try and convince you to come back. But the _real_ reason was to find out what Adam's really been up to. I know that High Leader Khan would never agree to these kinds of methods. So, by helping you, I'm actually carrying out her will."

Blake mulled that over for a moment, before nodding. "At this point, I'll just take what I can get to put a stop to this. Let's head back."

"Right," said Ilia softly, the two of them withdrawing as quietly as they had arrived.

Behind them, the gloom that shrouded the empty room they'd been spying on the White Fang's operation from peeled back like a curtain, revealing a pair of mismatched eyes that stared after them.

* * *

"I'd only call you 'Mom' if that's what you actually were," countered Yang harshly, her eyes narrowing in an angry glare at the woman in front of her.

"I was the one who birthed you," Raven pointed out.

"And the one who _ditched_ us," Yang retorted. "Let's get this straight, Raven. I have a mother, and she's _not_ you."

Yang expected a harsh rebuke, maybe an angry outburst of some kind. However, instead, Raven was silent for a few long seconds, before inclining her head in the barest of nods, like a fencer conceding a point. "Fair enough."

Yang frowned, somehow feeling upset that Raven had given up on Yang acknowledging her as a mother so easily. A long time ago, she had entertained the notion of finding Raven, believing, in her child's mind, that finding the missing parent, who had abandoned them so long ago, could somehow mend their broken family. It was a childish fantasy, and one that Yang had quickly abandoned in the face of harsh reality, especially after Ruby had fled from home. It was the pursuit of that fantasy that had prompted the sequence of events that had led Ruby to running away in the first place, the idiocy that her father hadn't hesitated to remind her of, time and time again. No, Yang had given up looking for her biological mother a long time ago.

To be faced with her now, after all this time, when Yang hadn't even been looking for her, was only all the more disconcerting. "What do you want?" asked Yang.

"Like I said...we have a lot to talk about," replied Raven, her eyes narrowing, betraying some frustration with the curt tone her daughter was taking with her. "I need to tell you a few things."

"About what?" asked Yang.

"First...you shouldn't trust Ozpin," said Raven. "If you follow him blindly, it's only going to lead to tragedy. You and all your friends will suffer, if you allow him to manipulate you into fighting his battles."

"What does that mean?" asked Yang. She had to admit that there were times she felt something that...unsettled her...about Beacon's mysterious Headmaster, however amiable and approachable he might have seemed.

"This is all just a game to him," explained Raven, stepping forward, out from under the light streaming down from above, her eyes gleaming dangerously in the gloom beyond. "To him, you and your friends are nothing more than pawns, lives that he's throwing away for a battle that you have no hope of winning. You aren't the first, nor will you be the last. After all, he threw away your so-called 'real' mother in much the same way."

"What?" gasped Yang.

"I'm guessing that no one told you about her final mission," said Raven. "Well...it hardly matters. Summer trusted Ozpin, and look where that got her."

Yang felt a chill run down her spine. Granted, she shouldn't have been surprised. At the same time, her rational mind rebelled at what Raven was saying. Of course Summer had died on a dangerous mission. That was the risk intrinsic to being a Huntress, whether said mission came from Ozpin or not. Unless... "Are you saying Ozpin sent her off on some kind of suicide mission?"

"Let's just say that he knew the chances of success were...Grimm," said Raven, chuckling at her own morbid pun.

"And is that all you're here for?" asked Yang, frowning. "You're gonna spout off some cryptic bullshit about Ozpin, and pretend that makes up for the seventeen years of my life where you _weren't_ there? You come out of nowhere, talking like that, and expect me to take you at your word? Why should I believe _you_ anymore than I believe Ozpin?"

Raven's smirk faded. "Well...I guess I should be proud that you know better than to take something you were told at face value." She sighed. "But that's not the real reason I'm here."

"And what is the real reason?" wondered Yang bitterly.

"The real reason I came to you was to warn you of the one person you shouldn't trust, above all else," said Raven, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "In fact, if you have any sense in your head, you'll consider her an enemy from now on."

"And who is that?" asked Yang.

"Ruby Rose," replied Raven, "your so-called sister."

Another silence fell between them. A second later... "What!?" Reflexively, Yang dropped into a crouch, brandishing her gauntlets. "Why should I see Ruby as an enemy?"

Raven smirked. "You hold her in high regard, don't you?"

"Of course I do!" Yang protested. "She's the person most-earnest about becoming a Huntress that I've ever met. I respect her and love her."

"But I wonder if she returns those feelings," mused Raven.

"Of course she does!" Yang protested again, before her heart abruptly shuddered in her chest.

Did Ruby love her...really? On the surface, Yang really thought so. She remembered their emotional reconciliation, the closeness they enjoyed afterwards, that Yang had wanted so desperately for so long.

But, Yang also remembered the hostility before, the boiling resentment that Ruby had expressed through her words and looks. Before their reconciliation, Ruby had _hated_ Yang, holding Yang at least partially responsible for all the things that had ultimately forced Ruby to abandon their home. Had Ruby _really_ let go of that resentment?

Abruptly, Yang shook her head and clapped her hands against her cheeks. _Stop that!_ she admonished herself. Even if Ruby had been resentful, it had been for real reasons. Just who was this woman, the one who'd run out on her husband and newborn daughter, to question what was between Yang and her sister? Besides...

"It doesn't matter," said Yang. "I love Ruby _because_ she's my sister. I don't hold those feelings for what I can get out of it."

"Foolish," grunted Raven, her eyes narrowing. "So you would stand behind your sister, even though she's a cold-blooded killer, who claims a complete monster as her kin?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Yang.

"Oh...I'm guessing your little sister hasn't told you all the things she's been up to, since she left home," teased Raven, smirking again.

Yang canted her head slightly. Ruby had given her general rundowns of several of the things she had been through over the years. But going over detailed recollections of absolutely _everything_ she'd done hadn't been something they'd had time for. Yang did remember Ruby telling her the story of how she'd accidentally killed that bandit and Barrowdown, back when she was only nine. If Ruby had killed someone besides that, it had probably been under similar circumstances.

"Your little sister is a murderer," declared Raven imperiously. "She and her family have all but wiped out my people. Now we live on the very brink of destruction, clinging to survival with the last of our strength."

"And who are 'your people?'" asked Yang skeptically, raising an eyebrow. "I know Ruby well enough. I know that she wouldn't kill without reason, or even just because she didn't like someone. Hell, she was prepared to risk her life to protect someone like Roman Torchwick, when he was about to be offed. So I know for a fact that, if Ruby really _did_ kill 'your people', then there was probably a good reason for it."

"You don't know her nearly half as well as you think," growled Raven. "You have no idea of the kind of monsters she associates with, what they've done to her, what they've made her into."

Yang folded her arms. "You know, I think the one not telling me things is _you_. You want me to take your word over Ruby's. You talk about _your_ people, but the people who should've mattered, like Dad and me, you ditched. At least Ruby had a good reason for running away. What's yours?"

"That has nothing to do with this," Raven growled.

"I think it does," said Yang. "After all, you talk about how I shouldn't trust Ruby, but you haven't given me any good reason to trust _you_."

A dry chuckle echoed through the abandoned space. "Looks like Firecracker's gotcha nailed down pretty well, Sis," rasped a familiar, gravelly voice.

Yang looked over her shoulder to see Qrow slouching into the auditorium, coming down the aisle behind her.

"Stay out of this," growled Raven, glaring at her brother.

"Why should I?" asked Qrow. "I can't help but notice you haven't answered Yang's question. Just who are 'your people'? I wonder...what were they doing when they got on Ruby's bad side...or...what did she _stop_ them from doing?"

"Shut your mouth," snarled Raven, attaching her mask to her belt, so that she could reach her right hand across to close around the handle of her sword. "You abandoned the tribe, your family."

"And you abandoned your husband and daughter," Qrow countered, his hand drifting to the handle of his own sword. "And now you just show up out of the blue, spouting off half-truths, pretending she belongs with you, just because you suddenly have a use for her. Don't make me laugh, Raven. You have a very skewed idea of what 'family' means."

"What is she talking about?" asked Yang, looking to Qrow. "Who is this tribe?"

"Bunch'a thieves and murderers," replied Qrow. "This is the first I've heard of them being on the ropes. Whatever Ruby and her brother did must'a messed 'em up something fierce." He smirked, though there was nothing but pure fury in his eyes as he looked at Raven. "The weak die and the strong survive. That's your philosophy, right? I guess you and yours were the weak ones this time. How's that philosophy working out for you now?"

Raven bared her teeth in an angry grimace.

"So, what's it gonna be, Raven?" asked Qrow, his tone becoming mocking. "Are we gonna throw down?"

Raven's gaze drifted back to Yang. "If you put your faith in that red brat, you'll wind up regretting it." She released her hold on her sword's handle, slowly extending her right hand out to Yang. "I know you've been curious, Yang; that, despite all your questions, Tai and Qrow haven't told you a thing. If you come with me, I can answer those questions."

"No thanks," said Yang, her gaze hardening. "I haven't bothered with those questions for a long time. I'm staying with my family, my _real_ family. Besides, I get the feeling that what I'd _really_ regret is throwing them away and putting my trust in you."

Raven huffed, lowering her hand back to her sword. "If that's the way you feel...fine. But Ruby Rose will pay for what she's done. And, if you get in my way the next time, I won't be so kind."

"You weren't very kind this time," Yang retorted.

Raven drew her sword, a blade of bright crimson. As it cleared the sheath, the sword's length nearly doubled, going from katana-length to O-dachi length in an instant. Rather than attack Yang and Qrow, Raven instead turned and slashed downward. Her blade left a red streak in its wake, like a cut in the fabric of space itself, which swiftly opened up into a swirling vortex of red and black. Throwing one last glare over her shoulder at Yang and Qrow, Raven walked into the vortex, which then collapsed in on itself, leaving no trace behind.

Straightening up, Qrow wiped his forehead with his forearm. "Phew...glad I made it in time."

"What was all that about?" asked Yang. "What's this family and tribe she was talking about?"

"It's a long story," said Qrow, frowning.

"One you've never told me," Yang noted.

"Yep," said Qrow. "I'm not gonna pretend Tai and I had good reasons for not telling you. Back before we lost Summer, we didn't want you to worry over how much Summer loved you. Maybe that was silly, but that kinda doubt can destroy a relationship between kids and their parents. After Summer...well...it was just too personal...for me and Tai both. Raven hurt us pretty bad, running off like she did. And we just didn't want to talk about it.

"But you found out anyway. But, after that one mistake you made, you just stopped asking. I guess we just assumed you let it go."

"I kinda did," admitted Yang. "Ruby was supposed to be the one who mattered, and I couldn't put her in danger like that again." She looked up at Qrow. "You asked why I wanted to be a Huntress, yesterday. Well...before Ruby ran away, it was so that I could look for Raven. I figured that I'd become a Huntress, and that I'd finally be able to really look for her, that I'd be able to track her down and find her. And, I wouldn't have to worry about what happened before happening again, because Ruby would be..."

Yang's voice trailed off, and a wave of nauseating guilt rose within her stomach. She shivered. "A-anyway, after Ruby ran, that's when my goals switched. By the time I found Ruby, I just...I just didn't care about Raven anymore. It wasn't worth it to find her. I guess...I guess I still don't have a real answer for why I'm here, except to back Ruby up as best I can."

Qrow clapped her on the shoulder. "You'll be a fine Huntress, kid. You're already better than _I_ was, at your age. I guess it's time you learned the truth about your mother. But it's gonna have to wait just a little longer. Things are getting real."

"Real...?" Yang froze as those words sank in. "Wait! Is Vale...?"

"Nah, Vale's still standin'," said Qrow casually. "But your partner came back...with a tagalong...from the White Fang."

"What?!" gasped Yang.

"She's got the intelligence we need" said Qrow. "But the situation's a bit worse than we thought, so we're probably going to have to be a bit more proactive than just bringin' Ironwood a report on where his machines are."

He began to lead Yang out of the theater. "Let's meet up with the others, Firecracker. We've got a pretty tough job ahead of us."

* * *

**So...yeah...still don't have much sympathy for Raven.**

**I don't have a lot to say about this chapter. Ilia has made her move, and we know Neo is hanging around somewhere.**

**I don't think anyone has guessed the pun behind Piper's name yet, so I figured I'd drop a couple of hints. In this case, "Piper" refers to a particular genus of plants. "Cerny" is Czech for "Black". Hope that gives you an idea.**


	75. Chapter 75

**Chapter 75:**

_Day 5:_

Ruby didn't have any time to spare a thought for her teammates, stretched out as they were along the length of the ship's deck. All she could do was hope that they were able to handle themselves, and that their preparations would be enough to handle the threat these pirates represented.

The majority of them touched down on the ship's deck, crouching to absorb the shock of landing, while brandishing weapons. These were not the cheap, mass-produced weapons used by the White Fang's rank-and-file. Nor were they the ramshackle, cobbled-together hybrids that had been brandished by the bandits Ruby had faced in the past. These were sturdy, well-made pieces, most of them custom jobs, and many of them equipped with mechashift capabilities. Said weapons might not have been Huntsman-level, but they were enough to make these pirates dangerous, a threat that was only magnified by the advantage their numbers represented.

Four touched down on the deck around the bridge, flanking Ruby from two sides. Ruby knew that their priority would be to bring her down, so that they could secure the bridge and, from there, control of the entire ship. All four pirates immediately rounded on her, one bringing up a rifle, with a jagged-looking bayonet extending from beneath its barrel. The other three moved to attack her from different angles, which kept them from interfering with their comrade's line of fire.

Ruby didn't hesitate. She'd already drawn Akaibara the second she'd seen the rising shadow of the pirates' submersible. Now she flashed straight for the rifle-wielding man, her sword becoming a crimson streak. The man pulled the trigger, firing a shot that buzzed past Ruby's cheek and over her shoulder. Then Ruby was past him. The man's cry of pain ended with a wet gurgle, blood welling up from his mouth, even as his shoulders and upper-chest dropped away, Akaibara having sliced him clean through.

There was no time to spare a thought for the life she had just taken. Ruby turned to face the remaining pirates, steeling herself for what she was about to do. Even without Winter's pep-talk earlier, she was prepared.

* * *

_The previous evening:_

_"__Say what?!" gasped Jaune, his eyes wide. Beside him, Weiss and Pyrrha looked similarly shocked, though Weiss' expression was more muted. "You want us to _kill_ them?"_

_Winter frowned gravely. "I won't mandate it," she said. "However, the truth of the matter is that these pirates are dangerous. They've overpowered professional Huntsmen before. As I've already said, those Huntsmen weren't up to the level of students, like yourselves. But that doesn't change the fact that they _were_ professionals. Ordinary fighters wouldn't overpower them so easily. People like that are strong enough that they can keep on fighting, even if their Aura is broken. Unlike the White Fang soldiers you've fought before, they won't collapse the second their Auras break, but will continue to be a threat, even afterwards. Only by rendering them unconscious would you be able to stop them and, even then, many of these men are probably the type to play possum to set up a sneak attack later on. On top of that, these brigands will have numbers on their side._

_"__The consequence of all these combined factors is that we cannot afford to play around with them. These pirates will be attempting to storm the ship, and speed will be their greatest ally. Every second you spend trying to subdue one will be a second that the rest will be using to fulfill their objective. Therefore, you cannot afford to hold back, even if that means leaving corpses behind."_

_Jaune swallowed nervously, looking like he was going to be sick. Weiss and Pyrrha weren't faring much better._

_Winter sighed. "Were it up to me, you wouldn't be given such a mission yet. It's too early for you to face some of the more...difficult...aspects of a Huntsman or Huntress' work. But Father just _had_ to stick his nose in. In any case, taking on this mission means that you have taken on the responsibility of protecting this ship and its crew. That means you must accept the conviction that you hold their lives up as having more value than those of the pirates that are threatening those lives."_

_She looked pointedly at Weiss. "I'm sorry, Weiss. I didn't want you to have to deal with this sort of thing so soon. But we have no choice now. Father may even have anticipated this, and expects you to hesitate at the crucial moment. If that winds up costing us, then he'll have the excuse he needs to disinherit you."_

_Weiss shuddered._

_"__Are you all prepared?" asked Winter._

_Pyrrha and Jaune were sweating with nerves. Weiss seemed more composed. But it was largely a front. Instead of looking at Winter though, they instead looked to Ruby, who showed no sign of trouble._

_"__Are you all right with this?" asked Weiss._

_Ruby nodded. "I...I've already killed people before," she admitted. "They were bandits. But they're still people, no matter what they might be doing. That's not easy...and it _shouldn't_ be easy." She straightened up. "Some people might say you have no choice, but that's not true."_

_Winter raised an eyebrow with interest._

_"__It'll _always_ be a choice," explained Ruby. "But...making the choice to spare people like this, when they're still a threat, that could lead to the mission failing. So...if it's a choice between the pirates and the crew of this ship, I'll protect the crew and kill the pirates, because what we came here to do was protect these people. And, if that's the choice that allows me to do that, then I'll make it."_

_"__An interesting way of rationalizing it," mused Winter, appearing to look at Ruby in a new light._

_Ruby regarded Winter with a level gaze. "All lives have value. It doesn't matter whether those people are criminals, terrorists, bandits, or pirates. Taking that life is a conscious decision to deny that value, to value someone or something over that life. At the end of the day, you have to look at what you want to accomplish, and then decide whether it is worth it to you, whether you value what you're doing over the lives of the people you're fighting."_

_The other three members of Ruby's team stared at her. It was Weiss who broke the silence with a tired sigh. "Honestly, you have to make it difficult, don't you? Couldn't you just back up Winter and say that it's necessary?"_

_"__I don't like those words," said Ruby sadly. "I've always felt that, if you let yourself off by saying that, you wind up backing yourself into a corner. Then it gets easier; easier to to say it's necessary, easier to say you _had_ to do it. I want to become a Huntress to protect people. And I'm afraid that, if I let myself write off people's lives too easily, I won't be able to do that."_

_Winter scratched her chin, regarding Ruby with a look that bordered on fascination. "Well...I feel that your reasoning may be a little convoluted. But it is sound." She looked to the other three. "Prepare yourselves. At the very least, it is as your leader has said. If you want to see this mission through, and protect the people under your care, you have a decision to make."_

* * *

Ruby could only hope that Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha had managed to make some form of peace with that decision. She didn't exactly have the luxury of watching over them now, as she closed with the other three pirates.

One of them raised a cutlass, which crackled with sparks of yellow electricity, courtesy of the lightning-Dust coursing through the blade. Ruby ducked under his swing, not even really noticing the stinging sparks that resulted from the near-miss. Instead, she whipped her sword around and up as she passed, slicing the man in two from his waist to his opposite shoulder.

The remaining two pirates quickly moved to flank her. The one in the front brandished a pair of short-swords with jagged looking edges. Such weapons did not seem capable of cutting cleanly or easily, but Ruby knew better than to underestimate them. Even then, her real concern was the burly woman who'd taken up a position behind her, leveling the arm-mounted weapon on her right arm right between Ruby's shoulder-blades. With a low, explosive sound, like that of a shot from a large-caliber gun, the spike of the woman's pile-bunker thrust outward, its length actually increasing, even as it was propelled forward.

The spike pierced Ruby's cloak, right between her shoulders. But, before the woman's eyes, the cloak dissolved into a cloud of petals, revealing her comrade on the other side, who'd been pierced through the chest, her attack punching right through the protective layer of his Aura, blood spraying out from the hole punched through his back.

Her eyes wide, the woman retracted the spike of her weapon. However, before she could even begin to think about looking for her target, before the man in front of her had even collapsed halfway to the deck, she felt a chill from her neck, and all sensation below there abruptly vanished, darkness claiming her a few seconds later.

Ruby touched down behind the woman, her opponent's severed head landing and bouncing across the deck a short ways, before the woman's body fell to join it. Ruby paused, casting a glance further down the deck to see how the others were faring. To her relief, all three of them were still fighting. She caught a glimpse of a prone body near where Pyrrha was fighting, blood spreading in a pool around it. She probably shouldn't have felt so reassured by the sight of an enemy corpse, but at least that meant that Pyrrha had the upper hand, for now.

Then she caught a glimpse of Weiss hosing down a man with a stream of fire from Myrtenaster. Shrieking in pain, the man rushed to the railing, throwing himself overboard. With both ships still in motion, he would likely be left behind, even if he swam with all his might, assuming he was in any condition to do so in the first place.

Another cry of pain reached her ears, and Ruby saw a man go stumbling back away from Jaune, blood spilling from the stump where his arm used to be.

The sound of a collapsing body further astern drew Ruby's attention to Winter. Turning, she saw Weiss' sister drawing her saber from a gaudily-dressed woman, who fell back limply. Winter had even more corpses scattered around her. Turning, she traded gazes with Ruby.

Then the hiss of another round of catapults sounded, indicating that the pirates had reinforcements on the way.

* * *

There had been no time to worry about right or wrong. The moment the attack began, Pyrrha's body had moved almost all on its own. The pirates came for her, wielding a motley assortment of weapons. However, they were all made of metal, and Pyrrha was easily able to counter their moves. As they pressed in, Pyrrha danced amongst them, fighting back as best she could.

One man yowled, as Akouo smashed into his head, his Aura flickering, then breaking. However, rather than collapsing bonelessly: like a weaker opponent might, when their Aura was broken; or concede defeat, the way an opponent might in the ring; he instead rushed her again, still brandishing a weapon that resembled a giant fishhook. Pressured as she was, Pyrrha didn't have the thought to spare for his condition. So, as her shield returned to her arm, she quickly spun about, using Akouo to ward off a strike from another of the pirates attacking her, while quickly slashing out under the man's guard with Milo. The man tried to catch her sword with his hook. But, at the last second, Pyrrha abruptly triggered its transformation into its javelin-mode, and Milo stabbed forward to impale the man in the stomach.

The pirate jolted, then lurched as Pyrrha pulled her weapon free, retracting it back down into its xiphos-form once again. For a second, Pyrrha froze as the weight of what she'd just done sank in. However, her training and reflexes saved her when one of the other pirates came at her back, screaming obscenities. There was no time for remorse, and Pyrrha found herself fighting for her life once again. Amidst the clash of blades and the battlecries, she heard the hiss of the catapults of the pirates' submersible firing once again, launching a fresh wave of reinforcements.

It was beginning to sink in for Pyrrha that the way she was fighting wouldn't cut it. Right now, despite having already killed one man, she was still fighting like she was in a tournament ring. She was fighting to win, in that abstract sense that was only possible when a fight was governed by rules and regulations, and the combatants were willing and able to abide by them.

Though Pyrrha didn't want to dehumanize her opponents, she realized that it would be best to treat this fight as though she were fighting against the Grimm. She would have to look for the most efficient and effective way to bring down each attacker, to ensure that they were no longer a threat to her. Swallowing, Pyrrha steeled herself, and went on the offensive.

* * *

As her flames sent the screaming faunus tumbling over the railing, Weiss felt like someone had stuck an electrode right into her chest. A stinging pain snapped all the way through her, out to the tips of her extremities. Sure, the man might have survived hitting the water, which would have put out the flames. Assuming he wasn't too badly injured, he could probably even swim. But it was doubtful he would be able to find purchase on either the freighter or the hull of his own submersible. He'd be left behind, in a barren stretch of ocean, far away from the nearest land. He'd die, whether from exposure, losing his strength and being unable to tread water for any longer, or being snapped up by a passing Grimm. One way or another, the man's life was probably over.

It didn't surprise her that the other pirates showed absolutely _no_ concern for their lost comrade. None of them turned to offer him a hand, or even shout for someone else to help him. Instead, they pressed their attack. Perhaps it was less a callous dismissal of a lost comrade, and more of a commitment to their work to take the vessel. Perhaps it was somewhere between the two. The pirates were fighting fairly cohesively after all. But they gave no indicators that they cared overly much for one another.

There was a hiss, and a series of shadows flitted upwards, the pirates' reinforcements arcing through the air over the deck. Weiss looked up at them, as they passed the angle of the rising sun. Her eyes narrowed in a grim expression. There were a number of things that weighed upon her in this battle. Her inheritance, the claim she held to the SDC, hung in the balance. If she failed, it would be gone, along with any chance she had of fixing the damage her father had done.

There was Winter, who was also fighting in this battle. She was putting her faith in Weiss' ability to hold her own, to complete the mission. And Weiss couldn't let her sister down, no more than she could afford to become a hinderance to her own team.

Finally, there was the crew of this vessel, people who had the simple misfortune of being hired to work for a certain company, men and women who had nothing to do with the evils her father perpetrated. In a sense, they were victims of him as much as the faunus who worked his mines. After all, they had been knowingly offered up, the ship they worked upon serving as bait to draw the pirates into an attack. If Weiss failed, then their lives would be forfeit.

So, as the new arrivals descended towards the deck, Weiss switched Dust-chambers, reversed her grip on Myrtenaster, and plunged the blade into the floor at her feet. A forest of icy spines erupted around her, stretching up towards the descending pirates. A couple realized their plight, and quickly brought their weapons into play, shattering the frigid points in their path to make a safe landing. But three of them weren't quick enough, and instead found themselves impaled, their bodies sliding to a stop upon the frozen spears, unmoving, blood dripping down.

Weiss fought down the sickening feeling that rose in her gut. Pulling her sword free, she whipped it around to meet the attacks of one of the surviving pirates, prepared to do what it took to get through this.

* * *

It was, Jaune decided, surprisingly easy to kill a man. When his first victim went down, screaming, blood streaming from the stump that remained in the wake of the sword-blow that had severed his arm, Jaune had expected to feel sick, to have the strength go out of his legs. But, as the man's comrades closed in, Jaune found his grip on his weapons tightening, his muscles holding firm, and his body already going through the motions of defense and attack.

The months of training he'd put in, since coming to Beacon, were doing much of the work for him. It helped that both the sword and shield of Crocea Mors were a cut above the weapons wielded by the pirates. Still, that would have meant little, were it not for his training. He expected the look of pain on his first victim's face to stick in his mind. Instead, he found his mind's eye focusing on something else.

He remembered the look of relief on Ruby's face, when he'd arrived in the CCT, a few nights earlier. She'd been facing a dangerous adversary, with virtually nothing. When Jaune had arrived with her sword, of course she'd looked relieved. But there had been something _else_ to her expression, a look of hope fulfilled. She'd put her faith in him to get her sword to her in time, and he had delivered.

Ruby had believed in him, put her trust and faith in him..._Him!_...Jaune Arc...the boy who'd lied his way into Beacon, not knowing the first thing about becoming a Huntsman; the boy whose own family saw as nothing more than the punchline of a seventeen-year-long joke; the boy whose father had openly laughed at him, when told that he had passed the Initiation. Ruby had accepted him as a partner, dedicated herself to helping him realize his potential and, when the chips were down, depended on him to back her up.

He also remembered what had followed the fight in the tower; that quiet, intimate moment in their dorm; her lips on his, the two of them sharing their first kiss; falling asleep with her in his arms; the look of joy on Ruby's face when he'd found the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend. Right now, he was fighting for Ruby, to be the support she required, the help that she needed.

As Jaune's convictions firmed and solidified, a faint ring emerged from the blade of his sword, a spark of white light running up its length. The next time Jaune slashed with it, his sword flashed, launching a brilliant crescent at the pirate who thought he'd dodged back out of its reach. Instead, the flying slash cleaved both through his weapon and his body, dropping him to the deck in two pieces.

Jaune was baffled. He'd seen other fighters use their weapons as conduits for their Aura to launch similar attacks, but he hadn't gotten that far with his own training. More to the point, he could definitely feel that it wasn't _just_ his Aura that had gone into that. However, there was no time to marvel at the phenomenon. The other pirates pressed the attack, and the hiss of catapults announced that more would be arriving any second now.

Jaune turned to meet a fiercely grinning man, baring a mouth full of pointed teeth, who swung down with a massive axe. The shield came up to meet the swing. Again, the ringing noise sounded. The shield flashed. The man's axe shattered, not merely breaking against the shield, but rebounding, so that those shattered fragments pierced the man's flesh. Riddled with flechettes of his own making the unfortunate pirate dropped bonelessly to the deck.

Something was going on with his weapons, something Jaune didn't understand. However, understanding wasn't really necessary at this point. All he could do was keep fighting.

* * *

The sharp click of boots resounded along the open deck of the submersible. Their owner moved with a sure, determined stride, her crimson greatcoat sweeping along in her wake, almost like a cape. "How are they faring?"

"We've hit unexpected resistance," declared the woman following along behind her, an opened scroll in her hands. "This ship appears to have brought Huntsmen with them, as well as an Atlesian Specialist."

"Two waves, and they still haven't taken the deck or the bridge, hmm?" mused Morgan Bloodworth, a smirk on her face as she pinched her chin thoughtfully. "Seems these Huntsmen are made of sterner stuff than Old Man Schnee typically springs for."

"They're younger than the ones we've dealt with before," added Morgan's attendant. "They might be from an Academy."

Morgan tittered. "Well, wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise. I can scarcely imagine Schnee entrusting his cargo to a group of children. But if they're holding this well, then there must be something to these Academies after all." A fierce grin spread across her face. "I suppose it's time for _me_ to make an appearance."

Her confident stride not faltering, she made her way to the nearest catapult, the one closest to the stern of the deck. Beside her, the other members of the crew cued up for the third wave. Still grinning, Morgan bent her knees slightly, crouching a little. Then, as the catapults fired, she pushed off, using her own leg-power to add spring to her launch, sending her higher still. Flying through the air, Morgan spotted her landing point. As she did, something caught her eye, making it widen.

* * *

Another pirate fell, a scream escaping from her lips, before her torso fell away from her legs. Ruby stood back, panting slightly, while looking around warily for signs of the next attack. It came soon enough, the familiar hiss of the submarine's catapults announcing that the third wave of pirates was incoming.

Ruby and Winter had a good enough hold of things around the bridge. But, from the sound of things, the battle on the main deck was only growing in intensity. With their inexperience, both in battle in general and at killing non-Grimm opponents, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss were much harder pressed. They were still fighting well, but were definitely beginning to feel the pressure of their opponents more, particularly as their numbers increased for the third time in this fight.

At this point, Ruby figured it might be best if she went down to the main deck as well, to support her teammates, if only for a little. Winter was plenty skilled, and definitely had no compunctions against cutting her foes down. Still, they would need to wait until they had seen off the third wave, before considering the possibility of heading down to support the other three.

However, while more pirates landed amidst the melee churning on the deck, a single figure descended from above to land on the deck around the bridge. The woman landed with an almost casual posture, hands resting on her waist, knees barely flexing to avoid the shock of impact, the thigh-length boots on her feet thudding authoritatively upon arrival. The tail of her dark-red greatcoat fanned out behind her, almost like Ruby's own cape. The woman didn't even need to use a hand to steady the tricorn hat that rested atop her head, almost as though it had been glued in place. The braided blue length of her hair fell to rest, draped over her right shoulder.

Ruby and Winter both turned about to face the woman. Ruby abruptly felt her knees go weak, her jaw dropping to hang slack, a horrified shudder running down her spine.

"You must be the captain," observed Winter, leveling her saber at the woman.

"I certainly must," agreed the woman, an amused smirk on her face. "I wouldn't have any other post in my crew."

"Morgan Bloodworth," said Ruby, her voice almost a whisper.

Morgan immediately turned to regard Ruby, her eye narrowing slightly, before going wide. "Oh! It _is_ you, Little One." She broke into an ecstatic grin that bordered on orgasmic. "Ooooooh! How exciting. We reunite after so many years apart. We must have been destined to meet again!"

"You know this woman?" asked Winter pointedly, addressing Ruby.

"Oh yes," replied Morgan, not caring that the question hadn't been addressed to her. "This little, red minx was quite the stubborn opponent, even for such a little lass."

Ruby swallowed, her mind flashing back to that day, the pain and fear of her first _real_ battle. Her hand quivered slightly.

"Yes...I can see that you haven't forgotten," said Morgan happily. "No one ever really forgets their first time. I was the one who gave you your first real taste of the pain and fear of battle." She licked her lips. "What a pity we were interrupted back then. I would have very much liked to have taught you so much _more_."

"I learned enough," said Ruby, brandishing her sword.

"We'll see about that," said Morgan, hoisting up her left hand. Ruby blinked, suddenly recalling that Morgan's left arm had been ripped off by Shinrei's attack. But now, there it was, as though it had never been gone. She wondered for a moment, until the gloved hand rotated a full three-hundred-sixty degrees on the end of Morgan's wrist, accompanied by the whirring sound of servos. "As you can see, I've managed to replace that which I lost. Even though your friend sank those tubs that served as my fleet earlier, I happened to obtain a new vessel, my marvelous _Schneller Geist_. With it, I've become a true phantom of the seas, haunting my victims and dragging them down to a watery grave."

"In other words, you're as good as admitting that you are the sole perpetrator behind the recent spate of pirate attacks that have plagued the SDC's shipping," declared Winter.

Morgan finally turned to regard Winter. "Tis true," she admitted. Then she scrutinized Winter carefully. "Hmm? That complexion, the hair, those eyes...you're a Schnee, aren't you?"

"I am," replied Winter.

"Aaaaaah! I see," said Morgan. Then she turned and strode along the deck, heading for the section that overlooked the main deck, where the others fighting, brushing past Ruby so casually that Ruby hadn't even thought of using her sword on the woman. "And there, on the bow, _another_ one! What a windfall!

"We came for the Dust. But it seems that we have the opportunity for an even better prize. Not one, but two of Jacques Schnee's daughters, just ripe for the taking; what a wonderful opportunity. I wonder what your dear father would pay to see you returned, safe and sound."

"Probably not as much as you'd think," said Winter in a sour tone. "Father's penchant for being a miser exceeds any love he might hold for us, if such a man is capable of love in any capacity."

"How harsh," mused Morgan. "What a horrid man, to treat his daughters so. Still, you might be bluffing. Besides, even if you _are_ telling the truth, a lovely pair, like you and your sister, will afford my crew quite a bit of entertainment, I think. These poor souls have been away from land for a while, risking their lives in battle. The least I can do is indulge them, maybe by chaining the pair of you down and allowing them to have their way with you in whatever way they might choose."

Ruby's skin crawled at the thought.

Morgan's grin widened. "Yes...not just you. The boy and the other girl as well, they're all fine specimens. We'll have to make sure that we can take you all alive and unspoiled. The spoiling can come later."

Turning back around, Morgan fixed Ruby with a save grin, her wine-red eye gleaming possessively. "But not you, Little One. You I will be keeping aaaaaaallllllllll to myself."

"The only thing you will be taking is a swift trip to Hell!" declared Winter, charging forward.

"Wait!" Ruby shouted, raising a hand in warning. "She's-!"

Before Ruby could finish, the yellow gem set into Morgan's eyepatch flashed, a bolt of electrical energy crossing the space between her and Winter in an instant. It exploded against Winter's face. However, she continued on undaunted, to the surprise of both Morgan and Ruby. Then, as Winter's face cleared through the cloud of sparks, they could both see the small Glyph that had spun into being in front of it, having blocked Morgan's attack.

Morgan's hand immediately went to the handle of her sword, that broad-bladed rapier that Ruby remembered so well. Morgan swept it up deftly to parry Winter's attack, their blades ringing against each other. Winter immediately jumped back, standing next to Ruby.

"I will take her," Winter declared. "Go! Help Weiss and the others."

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby.

Winter glared sidelong at her. "I may not be the heir to the company any longer, but I've grown up with a substantial education in Dust. I can recognize her hidden weapons well enough."

Swallowing, Ruby nodded, her main worry alleviated. She remembered, all too well, the veritable arsenal that Morgan carried, concealed as so much jewelry and decoration. For all they knew, she might have additional Dust woven into her clothes themselves. But it was obvious that Winter was the sort of person who knew enough about that to not be caught off-guard so easily. Instead, she settled for warning Winter about Morgan's other hidden card. "Be careful of her sword. It's a High-Speed Revolving Trident-Sword, made for disarming."

"No fair spoiling the surprise, Little One," teased Morgan, splitting her sword blade into three, and swiftly bringing them back together, making a snipping sound similar to a large pair of scissors, before spinning the blade again.

"Thank you," said Winter, a small smile appearing on her face. "Go."

Ruby nodded, and vanished in a blur of red, a slight flicker of motion and a spray of petals being the only indicator she'd passed Morgan, before she stepped off the railing and soared out over the main deck, descending into the melee below.

Winter leveled her saber at Morgan. With a click, her handle opened up, revealing the handle of a second, shorter sword, which jumped across to her left hand. Taking up both weapons, Winter readied herself. Across from her, Morgan sneered, spinning the blade of her own weapon playfully. Then the two women charged each other, their blades meeting with a clash.

* * *

Sweat streamed down Pyrrha's face. She could scarcely imagine a situation where she felt more pressed. Not even fighting against the Grimm seemed as stressful as this. The pirates were relentless, attacking from all directions, their numbers increasing with each wave. Pyrrha was accustomed to fighting multiple opponents, having done it in more than a few demonstration-battles. But those had been with tournament rules, her opponents folding or withdrawing the moment their Auras entered the red, before they could actually be injured. No one had been fighting to hurt or kill their opponents.

It was a struggle to remember that this was a fight to the death, and Pyrrha still found herself hesitating each time she broke an opponent's Aura. Oftentimes, that led to said foe continuing to menace her, alongside the other pirates, until she finally managed to put said man or woman down for good.

That was bad enough, but what made it all the worse was that the pirates didn't even seem fazed by their losses. More than once, she heard the death of one of her opponents accompanied by the callous taunt of one of his comrades. At least one of them had saved herself from death by pulling another ally into the path of Pyrrha's attack. That said ally still had Aura left to spare hardly seemed to matter, as that person had been knocked away, and collapsed, after the attack, suggesting that breaking his Aura had knocked him out, though, after seeing several other pirates get up and keep fighting, Pyrrha knew she couldn't count him out just yet.

Unfortunately, she wasn't bringing down her opponents fast enough. With each wave, the number of pirates pressing her increased. She'd fought groups of opposing opponents before, but never with such a disparity in numbers. At this rate, even if she was better than several of them put together, they would still wind up swamping her, or bringing her down through attrition.

Pyrrha stumbled, then caught a cutlass to the ribs, which knocked her back. Fortunately, the blow hadn't been enough to break through her Aura. But it had staggered her, leaving her open for more attacks. Rallying as best she could, Pyrrha found herself forced onto the defensive, the enemy numbers finally beginning to tell.

The rest of the battle she saw in flashes, mainly through her peripheral vision. Jaune was holding strong, keeping his shield at the ready, and striking back when he could. Weiss' portion of the deck had been transformed by jagged walls of ice, which she was clearly using to partition the battlefield, preventing the pirates from bringing the full weight of their numbers to bear. But she only had so much Dust in Myrtenaster, and no opportunity to reload it, with the pirates reaching her already pressing her.

_We can't keep this up,_ thought Pyrrha.

Then a whirlwind descended onto the main deck.

Ruby arrived, splitting Akaibara, her cloak flashing about her, hiding the slashing blades of her swords. Flashes of crimson scattered around her as she landed right in the midst of the sailors menacing Pyrrha.

"_Akai Hanabira no Mai!_"

Abruptly, the majority of the pirates still fighting Pyrrha were sliced into multiple pieces, blades of wind cleaving effortlessly through their Auras and what little armor they might have been wearing. Their dismembered bodies scattered across the deck, blood spreading over the entire space.

_Now_ the pirates reacted with fear. A few screamed, immediately turning and fleeing for the side of the ship. Others turned to address this new threat, rushing right for Ruby. A couple tried to continue fighting against Pyrrha. But, with the reduction in numbers against her, Pyrrha was immediately able to turn the fight around, switching Milo to its rifle-mode to bring the barrel right up below one opponent's chin, firing off a round that blew the top and back of his skull away. In the same move, she fended off the other's attack with her shield, before driving Akouo's sharpened edge into his chest, nearly losing the shield when it almost lodged between the man's ribs. But, with the aid of her Semblance, Pyrrha pulled it free.

In the meantime, the pirates that had rushed Ruby soon found themselves reduced to the same bloody chunks as their comrades, while those who had fled threw themselves over the side with complete abandon, the splashes that followed indicating that they'd missed the deck of the submarine altogether, probably condemning them to a prolonged death, treading water helplessly in the open ocean.

A brief lull fell over the section of the deck Pyrrha had been fighting on, though the sounds of battle still resounded from both towards the bow and astern, where Weiss and Jaune were facing their respective foes.

"Go help Weiss," said Ruby.

"Roger," said Pyrrha, already turning and running towards the bow. As she did, she aimed her rifle, firing off several shots, as much to attract the attention of some of Weiss' opponents as to inflict any actual damage. As she did, she heard the hiss announcing the arrival of another wave of boarders.

_Is there any end to them?_ Pyrrha wondered desperately.

* * *

Winter and Morgan fenced fiercely, their blades blurring, leaving trails of light as they flashed through the air. They danced swiftly around one another, stabbing and slashing, their blades moving in swift arcs, both to attack and parry. Winter fought conservatively, feeling her opponent out, using her shorter blade to parry Morgan's attacks, while attacking with the saber. Winter kept her expression composed and focused, trying to read her opponent, while not letting herself to forget that Morgan had more than just her sword to use.

In contrast, Morgan was practically a wild-woman. She attacked relentlessly, her offensive making it hard for Winter to find an opportunity to attack. As Winter's saber descended in a downwards slash, Morgan brought her broad-bladed rapier up to parry, but engaged its rotation, using that to enhance the force of the move, without needing to put any extra arm-strength into it, bouncing Winter's saber away at an angle, before quickly riposting. As Winter moved to catch the incoming thrust with the dagger, Morgan spun the blade again, the rotation knocking away Winter's attempt to parry as well. Winter sidestepped to avoid the thrust, but grunted in pain as, at the last second, Morgan split her sword's blade, the opening action bringing one of its now three blades into range to scrape across the Aura protecting Winter's stomach.

Winter's response was to sweep her saber up, hoping to catch Morgan before she could bring her attacking sword back to parry. But Morgan's response was to throw herself forward, Winter's slash only cutting a slit in the trailing tail of Morgan's greatcoat. The uncoordinated dive should have left Morgan in a bad position to counter whatever followup Winter utilized. But Morgan caught herself by angling her sword downwards, thrusting its tip into the deck, and planting it firmly. Not even halting her movement in the slightest, she kicked her feet off the deck completely.

In the same instant, Morgan triggered her sword's rotation again. With the blade lodged in the deck, it was the handle that spun instead, spinning Morgan's body along with it, allowing her to bring her body around and lash out with a kick, putting both her weight and the force of her spin into the boot that she slammed into Winter's side, sending Winter sprawling across the deck.

Winter recovered easily, rolling back to her feet in a smooth motion that also allowed her turn to keep from showing her back to Morgan. Plunging her saber into the deck, Winter halted her momentum, crouching down on one knee. But her aim wasn't simply stopping her tumble. Even as Morgan planted her feet again, pulling her sword free to the deck, the sword-wheel of the Schnees' Summoning Glyph appeared at Winter's feet. With a ringing sound, and a bright flash, a pair of blue and white Beowolves materialized out of thin air, launching themselves at Morgan with ferocious howls.

"There's the Schnee Semblance I've heard so much about!" crowed Morgan, her sword flashing, cutting down the incoming Beowolves with ease.

The Beowolves' bodies collapsed, before breaking apart into countless motes of light. However, their disintegrating bodies revealed Winter, directly behind them, her sword slashing across her body, right for Morgan, whose own weapon was now out of position from striking down the Beowolves, her reaction further slowed by the fact that Winter had been out of her vision when she'd attacked. There was no way Morgan could bring her sword back to parry in time.

Instead, Morgan brought her left arm up, Winter's saber striking with a metallic clang against the sleeve covering the forearm. _Dammit! I forgot her left arm is prosthetic,_ thought Winter, mentally chiding herself for her oversight.

Morgan cackled, then opened her left hand, a flash of blue indicating the activation of ice-Dust, Morgan having molded them into countless minuscule needles, which now raced across the space between the two fighters, rushing right for Winter's eyes.

Already falling back, Winter didn't flinch in the face of the attack threatening to blind her. Instead, a snowflake Propulsion Glyph appeared before her face, blocking the icy needles, and sending them bouncing back, heading for Morgan's eye. Morgan shifted her head a tiny bit, so that the needles struck and shattered against the eyepatch covering her right eye. Tiny flashes of her Aura bloomed where the other needles struck, but the damage done had been negligible at best. From there, Morgan stepped into the next attack as though nothing had happened.

Once again, Winter brought up her dagger to parry. As she did, Morgan's sword split, threatening to catch Winter's dagger between the tines of her divided blade. A Glyph appeared beneath Winter's feet, launching her back, clearing her away from both Morgan's attempt to disarm and her thrust. With another laugh, Morgan closed her sword again, before lifting the blade to meet Winter's incoming slash. However, Morgan's sword split again, threatening to catch and disarm Winter's attacking weapon now.

With an angry growl, Winter forced herself to halt her attack, barely managing to pull her sword clear before Morgan engaged her weapon's rotation, which threatened to catch the saber's blade in the the spinning tines, locking it into place with the torque of the movement. Seeing Winter escape that attempt didn't daunt Morgan in the slightest, and she merely launched into a flurry of slashes and stabs, opening and closing her blade in rapid succession, while spinning it, making an obvious effort to deprive Winter of her blades, her sword making scissoring, snipping sounds every time it opened and closed.

Baring her teeth angrily, Winter abruptly sank into a crouch, ducking beneath Morgan's next thrust, the split sword passing by over her head. However, when Morgan retracted her thrust, she engaged her weapon's rotation again, so that the act of pulling back brought one of the edged tines to cut across Winter's shoulder, scoring Winter's Aura, an attack that made Winter wince. But that wasn't enough to make her falter, Winter rising up from her crouch with an upward sweep of her saber.

Unable to bring her weapon, split or otherwise, into place, Morgan stepped back, bringing up her left arm to catch the slash on her prosthetic again, only to find her feet going out from under her. In the moment she'd crouched, Winter had swept her saber across the deck in front of her, producing a wave of ice that washed out beneath Morgans' boots, stealing the friction from the surface beneath her. The loss of her footing kept Morgan from positioning her arm properly, and she flinched as Winter's saber cut across her chest. Morgan fell onto her back, hard.

Jumping into the air, Winter quickly descended on her prone foe, saber raised to thrust down at her. Morgan's response was to thrust up with her own weapon, splitting and spinning the blade again. At the same time, fire roared up along the tines of the trident-sword, the sword's rotation spreading the flames and making them spin into a rumbling maelstrom that washed out at Winter. Winter responded by sweeping her dagger across her body, triggering the wind-Dust carried in the dagger's handle, using the wind to disperse the flames, so that the most that Winter felt was a sudden wave of heat washing over her body.

Winter's saber plunged through the parting flames, only to get caught in the tines of Morgan's spinning sword, the weapon's rotation deviating Winter's thrust so that her saber plunged into the deck by Morgan's head, the saber's edge scraping along her cheek, actually cutting through her Aura and opening a thin, bloody line along her cheek. Despite that, Morgan's grin didn't falter, one booted foot already kicking up at Winter's sternum.

Winter quickly pulled her left arm back across her body to block the incoming kick. But, with a flash and ring, Morgan's rising boot was suddenly covered by a sheath of rock, which increased its mass and force considerably, in addition to hardening it. Winter cried out in pain at the impact, the kick knocking her upwards. As she did, she felt her grip on her dagger weakening.

Then Morgan's grin widened, and she swung her left arm across her body. As she did, the sound of tearing cloth announced the shredding of the glove that covered her left hand. The mechanical appendage transformed before Winter's widening eyes, the fingers extending, palm splitting, and plates retracting as the extremity transformed into a five-tailed whip, several barbs sprouting along its length like thorns along vines. The barbed tails struck her left arm, at and around her wrist, curling around it to dig the barbs in and pull at the limb. With a cry of pain, Winter managed to pull her arm free. But the cost was that her already-weakened grip on her dagger was broken, the short blade sent skittering across the deck to slide over the side, and into the water below.

Knocked back by Morgan's kick, Winter's arm sported a few small lacerations, where the barbs of Morgan's concealed whip had cut through, not only her Aura, but the gloves beneath it, leaving Winter trailing blood through the air as she fell onto her back. Again, she quickly moved to put her feet back under her, but the move was awkward, and she remained in a crouch, her face contorted in a pained grimace.

In the meantime, flames washed out from Morgan's greatcoat, the ice sizzling as it swiftly melted, then evaporated. Traction regained, Morgan quickly sat up and rose to her feet herself, surrounded by the silver mist of the evaporated water, giving her an almost demonic appearance.

She cackled loudly. "Oh! I haven't had this much fun in a long time!" With a whir, the wrist of her prosthetic hand began to spin, spreading the tails of her whip into a whirling blur off to her side, the barbs striking sparks against the metal of the deck. "I'll have to be careful, or I'll break you myself, before my crew gets their chance."

Winter grimaced, glaring at Morgan furiously. Despite losing one of her blades, she didn't bother wasting time or energy on remorse or loss. Instead, she plunged her saber into the deck again, calling forth another Summoning Glyph. This time, with the sound of numerous beating wings, a murder of small Nevermore scattered into the air around her, before turning their flight to converge on Morgan from multiple directions, swarming her, stabbing with their beaks and scratching with their claws. After that, Winter pulled her sword free and lunged in, ready to continue the battle once more.

* * *

**Winter vs Morgan was fun to write. Back during her initial appearance, we only really got to see Morgan playing around. This time, we get to see what she can do in a serious fight. She's also added some features, since her original appearance. Given her nature, a whip was a pretty natural choice for her.**


	76. Chapter 76

**Chapter 76:**

_Day 2:_

"Raven was warning me about Ozpin," said Yang, as she and Qrow made their way back to where the rest of the group was rendezvousing.

"Let me guess, she said Ozpin was treating you like pawns," growled Qrow.

"Pretty much," replied Yang.

Qrow sighed. "Well...on that, she ain't entirely wrong."

"What?" gasped Yang.

"Like it or not, Firecracker, we're all pieces on a _big_ board," said Qrow. "That ain't to say that Ozpin isn't taking this seriously, 'cause he is. But, the general needs to stay in the back for a reason."

"What do you mean?" asked Yang.

"Trust me, Oz would like nothing better than to charge in and do the fighting himself," said Qrow. "It ain't that he _can't_ fight. Hell, he's one of the best I've seen by a mile. But commanders who charge right into the fray alongside their rank-and-file may be romantic...but ain't all that effective."

"Why?"

Qrow huffed. "If you're gonna command something on the level of a war, like the one Oz is fighting, you've gotta keep back, not to stay safe, but to keep a wide view of what's going on. If you're right out in the thick of things, it closes off your view to what's going on elsewhere. Ozpin has to keep his distance from the fighting, so that he can help the people who do the fighting to get to where their strengths can do the most good.

"So, yeah, he technically sent Summer off to die, but that wasn't his intention. And Oz feels it, every time he loses someone on a mission. It may not be as personal for him as it was for us, but he still feels it...and he's lost _way_ more people...'cause he's been at this for a long time."

"How long?" asked Yang, beginning to feel very out of her depth. Between Raven's warning, and Qrow's statements, she was getting the impression that things were much bigger than simply stopping the White Fang's terrorist plot, that this was all part of something even bigger than the White Fang itself.

"You ain't quite ready to hear about that, Firecracker," said Qrow sadly. "Maybe someday, you'll get to learn about the bigger picture. But now ain't the time. For now, we've gotta stay focused on the mission, and the mission's already gotten more complicated than we were banking on." He gave a Yang a pointed look. "Can you manage that?"

"Yeah," said Yang, reluctant to give up on her questions so easily. But, like it or not, Qrow was right. They had more immediate problems to focus on, rather than a vague, larger conflict. Hopefully Qrow would be willing to tell her more, once this was all over.

She and Qrow were the last to return, the others having already gathered in the same abandoned building that had served as their camp the previous night. Immediately, Yang could feel the tension in the air, and it wasn't hard to identify the cause.

Said obvious cause was standing beside, and a little behind, Blake. Ilia's posture was taut and nervous, her right hand hovering by the handle of her weapon, though she'd yet to pull it free. Blake's posture was slightly more protective, prepared to ward off anyone who impulsively attacked the White Fang member. At the very least, Ilia had chosen to keep her mask off, which was apparently what had kept the members of CPPR from attacking her on sight.

Speaking of CPPR, the team from Atlas was arrayed in a loose arc in front of Blake and Ilia, their weapons at the ready. Ren and Nora were there as well, standing slightly off to the side, though, from their position and posture, they were ready to leap to Blake's defense in a second. Professor ("Doctor!") Oobleck stood off to the side, watching everything unfold with a dispassionate expression.

"Wow...little tense here, huh?" mused Yang rhetorically, as she and Qrow approached.

As she approached, Yang noticed Qrow hanging back, watching things calmly, but cautiously. It appeared that the adults here were waiting to see just how the students resolved this apparent conflict, perhaps hoping that they could do so without them needing to step in.

At the sight of Yang, Blake's eyes betrayed a measure of relief, though she remained wary. "Please! Lower your weapons. Ilia isn't here to fight."

"Regardless, she is a member of the White Fang," said Ciel, her tone hard, not hostile, but determined, giving everyone the impression that this was the result of her by-the-book mentality at work, more than any actual enmity towards Ilia. "She needs to disarm and submit to custody."

"I'm _not_ here to surrender," declared Ilia, her tone stubborn.

_Not helping,_ thought Yang ruefully.

"Look, Ilia is here to help," said Blake firmly. "This information is critical, and the safety of Vale depends on it."

"We cannot take the statements of a known criminal at her word," declared Ciel firmly. She kept her pata sword leveled at Blake and Ilia. On her left, Rain stood, his shield deployed, its elongated tip running out along his forearm, but angled down. His expression was wary, but not hard. Instead, he regarded Blake with renewed interest. Piper worked the fingers of her right hand, casually directing four of the orbs that made up her unusual weapon in a loose orbit above her upturned palm. Her expression was one of curiosity, for the most part. And Penny...Penny was the only member of CPPR who hadn't deployed her weapon in some fashion, looking cheerfully oblivious to the gravity of the situation.

"Okay! Timeout!" declared Yang, holding her hands up, striding right between the two opposing factions, before holding a hand out to either side. "I know things are weird, but I get the feeling that this is really _not_ the time or place to be having a Vacuoan standoff."

"She's not wrong," agreed Ren, joining Yang in standing between CPPR and Blake and Ilia. "We can't let our feelings get out of hand, or we could wind up drawing the Grimm to us."

_Not that there seem to be any Grimm _to_ draw, right now,_ Yang noted, though she kept that thought to herself, if only to keep from undermining her leader's argument.

Ciel frowned firmly, the stubborn set of her mouth indicating that she was not planning on backing down easily. However, beside her, a series of clicks announced Rain compacting his shield, before slipping it back into place on his back. From there, he rested his hand on Ciel's forearm, gently pushing her weapon down.

"I am in agreement, I must say," he said softly. "Procedure cannot account for every possible situation. Let us at least hear them out, first."

Ciel turned her head to meet Rain's eyes. There was something, almost like a silent conversation that passed between them. Then Ciel closed her eyes and relaxed her arm, retracting her weapon. "Very well then," she said, folding her arms behind her back, looking past Yang and Ren at Blake and Ilia. "However, there is a great deal you need to explain." On her other side, Piper put her orbs away.

Yang, Ren, and Blake sighed, relaxing, while Ilia remained wary and on-guard, understandable, considering her insistence that she was not surrendering or defecting from the White Fang and, thusly, was technically still dealing with enemies.

Rain sent a wry, yet still polite, smile at Blake. "Ms. Belladonna, does this mean that I was correct...about you having a personal stake in this matter?"

"Um..." Blake tensed.

"You seem a little more protective of Miss..." Rain turned his gaze to Ilia. "I apologize. What was your name again?"

"Ilia," she said, a little reluctantly.

He continued. "...Ms. Ilia than one might expect of one who is merely protecting her informant. It suggests to me that the two of you have a more personal relationship."

Ciel and Piper both threw Rain a surprised glance, while Yang, Ren, and Nora all looked nervously at Blake. Penny continued to beam pleasantly, not seeming bothered by this conversation in the slightest.

Blake let out a defeated sigh. "You're not wrong," she admitted, reaching up to untie her ribbon, revealing her cat-ears.

Piper gasped softly, and Ciel's eyes widened fractionally. However, Rain's pleasant expression didn't falter in the slightest. "I see," he said. "So now it becomes more clear...You _do_ have a personal stake in this affair."

"I do," agreed Blake.

Rain glanced at Ciel, who looked back and nodded. "Very well," she said. "Let's hear what your friend has to say, Ms. Belladonna."

Blake gave Rain a grateful smile. "Thank you," she said softly.

From there, the tension mostly dissipated, though everyone still regarded Ilia somewhat warily, which she didn't seem to mind too much, seeing as she was still making it clear that her presence did not indicate she was defecting from the White Fang.

Ilia and Blake explained what the White Fang were doing, in the caverns beneath the settlement. At they spoke, the faces of everyone else, even those of the veteran Huntsmen, paled starkly, the implications of what the White Fang was doing sinking in viscerally.

"Those monsters!" exclaimed Nora, her eyes threatening to spill over with tears. "How could they?"

"They're not monsters!" protested Ilia. "They're just misguided!"

"Willingly leading a horde of Grimm into the middle of Vale is 'misguided!'?" scoffed Nora with uncharacteristic fury. "Only a monster would do something so terrible! How can you even say that? How can you have _anything_ to do with something like that? Do you have any idea what it's like, to see the Grimm destroy everything you know, to watch as they rampage and slaughter everyone around you, and...and..." Nora's breathing was growing heavier and more frantic with each word she spoke.

Then Ren reached out, gently resting the tips of his fingers against Nora's shoulder. There was flicker, and the colors of Nora, and everything she was wearing, faded, her expression relaxing as she came down from the emotional high. Turning his gaze back to Ilia allowed her to see the hard look in Ren's own eyes, a sign that he definitely shared Nora's sentiments, even if he was less vocal about them.

Ilia glowered back at them, her expression not faltering. "And I'll ask if you know what it's like, to spend your entire life being stepped on, just because you were born different? Do you know what it's like to have to hide what you are, just to be able to attend a decent school and have a snowflake's chance in Hell of earning a better life for yourself?" Her hands balled into fists, red and yellow washing across her body. "Do you know what it's like to hear someone you've gone to school with; someone you've grown up beside, played games with, gone to sleepovers with; _snicker_ when they learn that your parents _died_ in a mining accident?"

Now Nora was leaning away from Ilia, shocked and dismayed at what she was hearing. Even Ren looked discomfited by this revelation. Yang had covered her mouth. Piper frowned darkly. Even Penny's expression appeared to wilt before the force of Ilia's anger. Ciel's expression was flat. Both she and Rain's faces both showed signs of recognition.

"The Titan Prep incident," said Ciel softly. "That was you?"

"What?" asked Yang, looking to Ciel.

"Titan Preparatory School was a prominent prep-school in Atlas," explained Piper. "It's certainly a pretty exclusive place."

"Several years ago, a scandal broke that cost the school a great deal of its reputation," said Rain pensively. "A faunus had infiltrated the school as a student, and befriended several other students, before attacking them viciously."

Ciel frowned darkly. "The parents of the victims, many of them affluent and influential members of Atlas' upperclass were outraged. Several prominent donors pulled their funding, and the school nearly went under."

Noting that Ilia's anger was not abating at hearing this story, Rain pressed on. "The official report was that it was a deliberate infiltration, and represented an early sign of the White Fang's shift towards violence, though that appears to have been a story meant to assuage the parents of the students, as the administration would not want to admit that they had been fooled into allowing a faunus to attend."

Ilia nodded, before turning her glare back to Nora. "Make no mistake. We _tried_ being nice. We tried to peacefully encourage change. But that just made the humans arrogant. It made them think that they could just push us back, beat us, oppress us with violence, all while hypocritically calling _us_ animals and savages. That showed us the truth. The only time we made any meaningful gains was during the Revolution. If we really wanted to change things, to make the humans understand that we have the right to be treated equal, then we needed to _fight_.

"I'll admit that Adam's faction is taking things way too far. But they've been led astray. There's someone else pulling the strings, using them as a means to an end. I'll even admit that Adam is no longer suited to lead them, and that he has become dangerously unstable. I've reported as much to High Leader Khan, which was the reason I was here to begin with. But we are _not_ monsters."

Nora and Ren appeared somewhat contrite, though their gazes still sparked with anger. Knowing what little she did about their history, Yang knew that they had personal experience with the devastation the Grimm could wreak, so she could understand their anger, even if she could also sympathize with Ilia's stance.

"Still, at the moment, it's pointless to debate the ethics and morality of the White Fang at present," said Ciel, calling attention back to the matter at hand. She looked to Oobleck and Qrow. "Doctor, Mr. Branwen, this situation is clearly more tenuous than we were expecting. Your thoughts?"

Qrow hummed, before turning his gaze to Ilia. "From the sound of things, that little operation of theirs is almost ready to go, right?"

Ilia nodded, her angry colors fading back into their normal hues. "The operation is in its final stages. We are just stocking the last of our munitions, and awaiting the arrival of the last personnel, before the attack is launched. The attack is scheduled to commence next Monday. It was meant to be earlier, but progress has been slowed by certain...setbacks." She grimaced uncomfortably at the memory of some of those setbacks, namely the ones Adam was responsible for.

"But the train is able to get underway at any moment, is it not?" asked Oobleck.

Ilia nodded again, her expression much graver. "The tunnel has been cleared, the tracks repaired, and the train itself is fully operational. Though it wouldn't have the planned full force behind it, the operation could be commenced as-is, and the train could be launched with only a moment's notice."

"In other words, if James comes storming in with his ships and troops, he could wind up triggering the attack prematurely," said Qrow, frowning darkly. "It wouldn't have as much oomph, but it would still do a hell of a lot of damage."

"That's right," agreed Ilia.

"Perhaps, if he sent his troops in through the tunnel," suggested Oobleck. "Then, even if the train is launched, they would be in a position to intercept it."

"There are alarms set to warn if the tunnel is breached from the far end," said Ilia in a warning tone. "If that happens, the train is to be launched immediately, and Ironwood's forces will be walking right into an incoming train, leading a small army of Grimm behind it."

"Still a strategy worth considering," mused Oobleck. "However, the number of troops he would be able to send through the tunnel at once would stymie their effectiveness."

"Is there something _we_ could do?" asked Yang, looking at the two Huntsmen.

"If we try, there's a chance we could set off the attack," said Ren. "There's no way we could fight our way through the White Fang to reach the train before they get it underway, especially if they employ even a single Paladin to forestall us."

"That's if we go for the train directly..."

Everyone's eyes went to Ciel, who was cupping her chin pensively, her gaze angled down. "Regardless of what is on the train, what weapons it has, or how many Paladins are accompanying it, the simple fact of the matter is that the train cannot go anywhere, unless it has _tracks_."

"Oh!" gasped Piper, her eyes lighting up. "I see."

Ciel turned her eyes back to Ilia. "Is the tunnel alarmed on this end?"

"It isn't," said Ilia, her own eyes widening at the realization. "We were worried about intrusion from the opposite end, in Vale. But, with the encampment around the tunnel mouth, alarming the tunnel itself was seen as superfluous."

"And you could get us through the camp's security," noted Blake, looking Ilia. "That's how you were able to show me the operation in the first place, without anyone finding out. Do you think you could get us into the tunnel?"

"I could," replied Ilia. "Once we're past the perimeter, the tunnel entrance isn't actually guarded, so it would be possible to slip in with a group this small."

"So we take out the tracks," said Ren, "and then the train will not be able to go anywhere."

"More than that," said Piper, her eyes slipping to Penny. "If we hit it in the right place, we could cave in the tunnel again. That would set back the White Fang's schedule by weeks and, if we time this right, we can do it so that the General's forces can come in and roll them up before they could pull out." She flashed Ciel a playful grin. "Look at you, Boss, bucking convention like that."

Ciel coughed, her expression softening. She favored Rain with a small, yet fond, smile. "Procedure can't account for everything," she said, prompting a sheepish grin and blush from Rain. Then she turned her eyes to Qrow and Oobleck once again. "Of course, we still require your approval to move forward with this."

Qrow chuckled, grinning and shaking his head. "Well, you kids have a damn good handle on things. What do you think, Bart?" He looked at Oobleck.

"It is a legitimate strategy," said Oobleck. "And it is a matter best left in our hands. I'm afraid that General Ironwood may not be as...flexible...in regards to procedure, should we seek to have him send a force in for this, in our stead."

"Got that right," agreed Qrow, glancing at Ilia. "He sure as hell won't want to put his trust in someone from the White Fang, especially since you're not a defector. We don't need that kind of conflict weighing us down."

"It represents a substantial risk, but one well worth taking," said Ciel. "Doctor, considering your specialty in history, I presume you know the proper place to collapse the tunnel that would enable us to block it off again."

"Correct," agreed Oobleck. "Considering the strategy Ms. Amitola has informed us of, the White Fang will be looking to collapse areas where the tunnel is near the surface, in order to create openings for the Grimm. However, the tunnel runs under Mount Glenn itself, which means that, if we choose the correct location, we will have an entire mountain's worth of stone to fill the tunnel with."

"Aside from the getting-past-the-guards-with-eleven-people part, we've got a pretty good handle on this," mused Qrow.

"Ten, actually," said Oobleck, adjusting his glasses.

"What?" grunted Qrow, looking at his fellow Huntsman.

"Someone needs to return to Vale, and report this to Ozpin and Ironwood," replied Oobleck. "The General will need to muster his forces, so that the White Fang can be corralled, before they escape."

"Oh...good point," conceded Qrow.

Ilia frowned, looking down. It was one thing to head off an absurdly violent attack like the one Vale's White Fang was currently preparing. But arranging for them to be caught and arrested, on top of all that, was practically a betrayal, something that Sienna Khan might not forgive, even though she would not have approved of what Adam's people were doing in the first place.

Still, there was nothing to be done at this point. She had already stepped past the line, simply by revealing the situation to Blake, then following her back to fill in the rest of the group. She _had_ to see this through now. The one thing she was sure of was that she could not be party to such a hideous act of senseless violence. She had to stop it, as much for the sake of the White Fang itself as for their potential victims.

"All right then," said Qrow, stretching his arms over his head. "I'll head back to inform Oz and Jimmy."

"Actually, it had better be me," said Oobleck.

"Huh?" blurted Qrow, staring at the doctor in confusion.

"Qrow, you're better suited for this kind of operation than I am," explained Oobleck. "Therefore, it is best if you remained with the students to supervise them through this. In the meantime, I shall signal for pickup by bullhead, and fly straight back to Beacon."

"Well...if you're sure..." said Qrow uneasily. He supposed that he couldn't outfly a bullhead, but he figured that his departure would at least be more discreet.

"Okay then," said Ren, calmly laying things out, "the plan is for us to slip past the perimeter of the White Fang's encampment, then enter the tunnel. Following it down until we are under the bulk of Mount Glenn, we'll trigger a collapse, and block the tunnel, as well as take out the tracks the train would be using."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Yang, nodding to herself. "So, that leads to one more question..."

"Which side of the cave-in do we want to be on, after we bring it down?" said Piper.

"It would probably be best to be on Vale's side, when we destroy it," said Ciel. "Destroying the tunnel will undoubtedly be noticed by the White Fang, and they will probably investigate in force, probably including the stolen Paladins. If we are caught in that situation, we will be trapped, with no means of escape, our only hope being holding out until the General's forces arrive."

"But, if we are on the other side, we can simply retreat the rest of the way down the tunnel, straight into Vale," finished Rain, nodding in agreement.

"Kind of a shame, really," grumbled Yang. "I mean, after going through with this, I'd really like to be on hand to see the whole thing go down. It feels weird to just do one part, and leave the rest to someone else."

"It's the best approach," said Ciel frankly. "In operations with so many moving parts, the best you can do is the part that you are assigned, and trust in the others to do theirs."

"Though, in this case, we would be the ones who cannot be trusted," Ren pointed out, "this plan of ours is coloring outside the lines, as it were."

Ciel shrugged. "Sometimes that can't be avoided," she admitted, seeming more comfortable with the fact now. "One of the first things we were taught in strategy and tactics class is that, once the battle begins, _nothing_ goes as planned. While this isn't an outright battle, it is a conflict of another kind. A dynamic situation requires that one be able to react dynamically."

"So we have a plan," said Piper. "We sneak into the tunnel, bring it down, then follow it back to Vale, and leave mopping up the White Fang to the General."

"Then I shall leave forthwith," declared Oobleck, pulling out his scroll. "Assuming a prompt response to my beckon-call, I should be back at Beacon before nightfall. With that, we should set a specific time, tomorrow, for the operation, so that Ironwood's forces can move in promptly, after the tunnel has been destroyed."

"Ilia…?" said Blake, looking to her friend.

Ilia sighed, looking down with a despondent expression. "The noon lunch-break would be best," she said. "Since most of the soldiers will be eating, their response will be delayed. The lookouts won't be paying as much attention."

"Very well then," said Oobleck, regarding the students. "Your team will collapse the tunnel promptly at twelve-fifteen then. The General will be moving his forces in before that, so they will likely be spotted before that. If you notice any signs that the train has already begun moving, bring the tunnel down immediately."

"Understood," said Ciel.

"We're counting on you to help us get past the sentries then," said Yang, throwing a nervous smile at Ilia.

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this," grumbled Ilia, cradling her face with her hands.

"You have a way, don't you?" asked Blake.

"I do," said Ilia. "It's going to be tricky. You'll have to pass through at least part of the encampment to reach the tunnel mouth, which means that you'll have plenty of chances to be spotted, even past the sentries."

Pulling out her scroll, Ilia opened it up into tablet mode, bringing up a map of Mountain Glenn. It was an interactive map, which allowed her to overlay the surface streets and structures with those in the caverns below. She linked her scroll with those of RYNB and CPPR, sharing the full map with them, as well as Qrow and Oobleck. Oobleck was especially impressed, as the White Fang's map of the ruined settlement was far more complete than his own, outdated, one.

"I need to head back," explained Ilia.

"Unacceptable-!" Ciel began to exclaim, before she was stopped by Rain, gently brushing his fingers over her knuckles.

"She has to," he explained. "They will be missing her, if they are not already. I am guessing that, if she does not return within a prescribed period of time, they will suspect something is amiss."

"That's right," agreed Ilia, nodding. "I don't have much time left, really, so I need to leave in just a few minutes, if I'm going to make it back before they suspect something." She tapped the image of the map on her scroll, highlighting a particular point, which appeared on the scrolls of everyone else. "I'll meet up with you all here, tomorrow, at ten. From there, I'll guide you past the sentries, and into the cavern.

"From there, I'll split with you. I'll cause some kind of commotion on the opposite end of the encampment, which will hopefully draw everyone's gaze away from the tunnel, which will allow you to enter it. Once inside, you shouldn't have to worry about anymore security. Make your way down the tunnel, and wait at the target point. Then bring it down."

Ciel frowned. "The way that is set up makes it very easy for you to get away, once your part is done."

Ilia returned her gaze. "That's right," she agreed. "I told you that I am not surrendering or defecting. We are cooperating to put a stop to this particular operation. But I will _not_ abandon the White Fang."

"We don't have much of a choice," Piper pointed out.

Ciel sighed, lowering her head. "I suppose not." She raised her gaze. "As strange as it feels to say this, Ms. Amitola, we shall put our faith in you. Our lives are in your hands, with this operation."

Ilia didn't know what to say in response to this. She wasn't just hearing this from a human, but from an Atlesian, a student of Atlas Academy no less. To hear this girl express faith, however reluctantly, in her, was jarring to say the least.

Blake rested a hand on Ilia's shoulder. "Remember, humans aren't beyond redemption," she said.

Ilia frowned, but then sighed and nodded. "I suppose not," she said. "But one person doesn't stand for a whole race."

"That goes both ways," Ren pointed out. "The humans who have fought against the rights you seek do not represent all of us."

"I guess that's true too," admitted Ilia, reluctantly. "I'll need to think about things, after this is over. Hopefully High Leader Khan can sort things out with the Vale faction, once this is stopped."

"Well then, we are in agreement," said Oobleck. "Ms. Amitola, it's best you were gone. I shall go to call the bullhead immediately."

Oobleck and Ilia left simultaneously, leaving RYNB and CPPR alone with Qrow.

Yang sighed. "Well, so much for this just being a scouting mission, huh?"

"You said it," agreed Nora with a laugh.

* * *

_Day 3:_

It was a tense wait. The rest of the afternoon passed rather uneventfully, which was unnerving in its own way, given that their surroundings should have been crawling with Grimm. The inability to participate in the familiar, if strenuous, activity of Grimm extermination not helping to pass the time. The only reassurance that day was when they received confirmation that Oobleck had been picked up by the bullhead, and that he was one his way back to Beacon to report to Ozpin and Ironwood. That night, they took up their watches as before. But everyone's sleep was fitful, the prospect of the upcoming operation, impromptu as it was, leaving them with frayed nerves.

Morning dawned on a Mountain Glenn that was, once again, silent and strangely devoid of Grimm. That silence only added to the tension in the air as the two teams, and Qrow, ate their breakfast. After that, they made their way, cautiously, to their meeting with Ilia. Given the nature of their mission, they wound up leaving most of their luggage behind, instead taking the bare essentials to make sure they could move as quickly and quietly as possible.

The designated point was what had once been an office building of some kind. Its crumbling facade had been knocked down partway up. Entering the building, they looked around warily, their weapons at the ready, in case this proved to be an ambush.

"You're right on time," said Ilia, melting out of the shadows, her black skin melting back into its normal shade, removing her mask.

They relaxed a little at the sight of her, though none of them lowered their guard completely, especially not the members of Team CPPR, though Penny seemed almost oblivious to the danger.

"Follow me," said Ilia, beckoning the others towards an innocuous-seeming door. It was metal, but it had rusted over the years, looking warped and non-functional. Pulling it open, Ilia revealed a stairway that descended down into the darkness.

As they cautiously followed Ilia down the stairs, Blake realized that this was one of the underground buildings that rose straight up from the cavern below, and into the settlement above. They descended the stairs for several minutes, before emerging into an underground lobby. The pervasive gloom of the cavern surrounded them, made all the more intense by their inability to use lights, lest they attract the attention of the White Fang, relying on Ilia and Blake to guide them through the darkness.

From there, Ilia led them along a convoluted path that wound around rubble and through dilapidated buildings. As they moved, Ilia quietly pointed out the positions of sentries, telling them when to move and where to move to. They moved cautiously, dreading each and every click of dislodged stone. The crumbling caverns were actually full of tiny ambient noises, which would help to mask the sounds of their movements, but did nothing to sooth their frazzled nerves.

After several minutes of skulking, they found themselves crouched behind the remains of a shattered building, looking around the corner at the line of the cavern wall, which ran all the way up to the entrance of the tunnel. From there, they could see the White Fang's encampment. As Ilia had promised, there were no sentries. However, their position afforded them a view of numerous soldiers moving about, carrying out various sundry tasks. At any given point, there would be several White Fang members looking in the general direction of the space they would have to move through to reach the tunnel entrance. On their own, there was no way they could reach their destination unseen.

"I'll have to cause a distraction," explained Ilia softly. "I'll do it near the other end of the encampment, so that, hopefully, everyone's gonna be looking over that way. That'll be your window to make for the tunnel."

Ilia turned to go, but stopped when Blake rested a hand on her arm, arresting her for a second. "What?" she asked, looking back at Blake, only to balk at the sad and worried look in her old comrade's eyes.

"Be careful, Ilia," said Blake softly.

Despite herself, Ilia found herself wiping away tears, before she slipped her mask on to. "You too," she said. "Just hurry."

With that, Ilia's skin turned black, and she faded into the shadows.

"She's not so bad," said Yang, giving Blake's shoulder a friendly squeeze. "I think we could be friends even."

"She might like that," mused Blake, before sighing.

RYNB, CPPR, and Qrow settled in to wait, tensely counting the seconds as they passed, while keeping their eyes and ears peeled for anyone who was in danger of finding them. They were within the camp's perimeter after all, so there was nothing stopping a random White Fang member from wandering into their hiding place. No one was patrolling, this far in. Instead, they were working. But that only made their movements all the more unpredictable, and impossible to tell when they might or might not be looking towards the wall along the tunnel entrance.

Then it came. They had no trouble recognizing Ilia's distraction. A flash strobed from the other end of the camp, followed by a loud explosion, sending a vibration running through the floors and walls of the entire cavern. Loose stones dropped from the ceiling above, and building walls crumbled slightly, even the wall the students and Qrow were hiding behind.

Naturally, the explosion drew everyone's attention in its direction. Every member of the White Fang stopped what they were doing to stare.

"That's our signal!" announced Qrow as loudly and harshly as he dared. "Go! Go!"

They darted out from behind their cover, running along the cavern walls. As they did, they watched the nearby soldiers intently, looking for the slightest sign that they'd been noticed. As they did, snatches of conversation drifted their way.

"_-the hell happened?_"

"_Some idiot screwed up with a crate of fire-Dust, nearly sent the whole stash up!_"

"_Let's get over there, before it spreads to the cars!_"

"_Good thing Adam's not here. Last thing we need is him sending some other poor schmuck to the infirmary over this._"

"_Some poor schmuck might be going there anyway._"

Then they were in the tunnel, quickly running along the tracks, until the entrance fell away behind them. After a few minutes of running, they slowed down to a walk, then stopped, looking back the way they came, eyes and ears straining for any sign that the alarm had been raised. Fortunately, all they heard was silence, even the aftermath of the explosion dropping away.

"Looks like we made it," said Ren, letting out a soft breath.

"Looks that way," agreed Qrow, checking his scroll. "Let's get moving. We ain't got a lot of time, and we've got about five miles to the target point. We need to get there before Ironwood's forces launch their attack, so we've got a march on our hands."

"Understood," said Ciel, the others nodding alongside her.

* * *

"What on earth happened?" demanded Ilia, watching as the soldiers put out the flames. She was sweating from the effort of carrying crates away from the threatened zone, in order to keep them from going up as well. It had taken over an hour to get the situation under control.

"No idea," declared Meinrad. "My first thought was that we were under attack. But it seems that someone was just clumsy."

"Maybe a crate stacked wrong," suggested Perry, a member who stood out for his wearing of glasses over his mask.

"Let's just thank God Adam wasn't here to see this," said Ilia with a sigh. "There's no telling how many he'd put out of commission, if he saw this."

"Someone might well _die_," said Meinrad gravely. "Something like this could give us away to those student teams in the vicinity." He looked to Ilia. "You're _certain_ that they're just here for Grimm extermination?"

"That's right," confirmed Ilia, before frowning. "Though they seem to be short on targets all of a sudden."

"I suspect the Grimm population will return to normal soon," mused Meinrad. "Whatever this phenomenon is, it's certain to be temporary. They'll be back before we launch the operation, I'm sure."

"And if they aren't?" asked Perry.

"Then we go with what we have," declared Meinrad firmly. "We can't afford to put things off anymore than we already have. Even if we don't have the Grimm, we still have eleven Paladins. We shall simply have to focus on causing as much damage as we possibly can before the authorities respond. We'll have surprise on our side, so there will be plenty of human and house-pet blood flowing, by the time they get there."

Ilia grimaced, once again reminded of how glad she was she'd been able to get Blake and the others into the tunnel. Adam had stoked his subordinates' hatred of humans to a fanatical degree. This branch of the White Fang no longer had any interest in coexisting with humans, merely inflicting as much violence on the humans as they could...with the eventual goal of killing or subjugating them all.

It had been simplicity itself to sneak in amidst the stacked crates of Dust. Finding the smallest crate of fire-Dust she could, she'd carefully agitated the crystals, then balanced it atop another crate, one set a ways from the others, before bumping the whole thing with her shoulder, and making tracks. She was aiming for the smallest explosion she could get, not wanting to set off a conflagration that would send the entire camp up, just something that would get everyone's attention with the utmost urgency.

And it had worked like a charm. Now the fires had been put out, the other crates were being tallied to see what they had lost and saved; and, most importantly, no one had noticed the eight students and one Huntsman slipping into the tunnel. At least, Ilia _hoped_ that was the case. The fact that the alarm hadn't been raised meant they hadn't been found yet. However, they could have simply missed their window, and stayed hidden, or retreated. She supposed she'd find out later on, assuming the tunnel caved in on time.

As things quieted down, another sound reached Ilia's ears, soft and nearly inaudible in the wake of the ruckus she'd set off; the sound of sandals scraping against the stony ground in the unmistakable pattern of footsteps, their soft shushing noise distinct from the crunch of something with harder soles. Frowning, Ilia turned towards the source of the noise.

There was no way Ironwood's forces were mounting an attack now. Even if that were likely, there was no way that one of his soldiers, or even one of his pet Huntsmen, would be wearing _sandals_. _It could be some other Huntsman,_ Ilia supposed. Perhaps someone else had been active in the vicinity of Mountain Glenn, and had been drawn by the racket caused by the explosion she'd set off. If that was the case, they would have to kill him quickly.

She wasn't the only one who'd noticed. The other soldiers in the vicinity were looking towards the source of the sound as well. They all watched intently, hands straying towards the handles of weapons.

The first thing that appeared from the gloom was a pair of brilliant crimson eyes, which shined faintly in the darkness. A young man materialized from the darkness, his black kimono seeming to melt out of the shadows. His scruffy hair was, likewise, black. The simplicity of his garb marked him as someone who was probably not a Huntsman. However, there was no mistaking the shape of the sheathed sword he cradled in the crook of his left arm, its handle extending up past his shoulder.

The man's expression was pleasantly serene, as though walking through the empty caverns of a dead settlement was the most normal thing in the world, and that happening across a terrorist encampment was completely mundane. He didn't even flinch as rifles were trained on him, alongside the click of safeties being disengaged.

Ilia pulled her own weapon free, the flexible blade extending out. Beside her, Meinrad revved his weaponized chainsaw menacingly.

"My," said the man, smiling politely. "I thought I heard some sort of commotion. I never expected the White Fang."

"Who are you?" demanded Meinrad.

"Just a traveler," declared the man calmly. "Perhaps you can help me. I've been looking for a discreet way to enter Vale. I have family there that I'd like to visit."

"You will find no help here," growled Meinrad, hefting his weapon. "Now that you've seen us, there's no way we can allow a human like you to go free. You shall be silenced, for the sake of our work, human scum."

"Well...that won't do at all," replied the man, his smile actually widening at the threat. "I'm afraid I can't die, right now. I'll ask you to lower your weapons and allow me to go in peace. Otherwise...I shall kill anyone who tries to kill me."

Gripping the sheath of his sword, the man maneuvered it so that his right hand closed around the handle, ready to draw the o-dachi free.

"Kill him," ordered Meinrad grimly.

* * *

They set off down the tunnel at a brisk pace. All told, it shouldn't have been a hard task. As student Huntsmen and Huntresses, they'd trained their bodies for the task of extended battles against the Grimm, which could, and did, last for hours at a time. Compared to that, a simple walk along a straight, level path was child's play. Of course, the tension of their situation contrasted harshly with the mundanity of their current action. The monotonous journey down the tunnel seemed to take forever.

They walked in silence, speaking only when necessary, and whispering softly. Even though the tunnel was empty, the confined space created echoes, which could channel loud noises a considerable distance in either direction. The last thing they wanted was for some soldier making an inspection near the tunnel entrance to hear something suspicious.

Nearly an hour into their journey, Qrow checked his scroll. "We're gettin' close," he declared. "Maybe another half an hour, at this pace."

"Thank God," Yang groaned. "I'm getting sick of this tunnel."

"You'd best get used to it," said Ren. "We'll be taking it all the way back to Vale. That's a full twelve more miles."

"Once we cave in the tunnel, we won't have to worry about keeping the noise down anymore," said Piper. "That'll make things easier on us."

"The worst'll definitely be behind us," Blake agreed.

Abruptly, Penny came to a stop.

"What is it?" asked Ciel, looking at her partner warily.

"There's a commotion from behind us," said Penny, her tone becoming strangely flat. She turned her head to look back the way they'd come, the way it rotated almost independently from the rest of her body coming off as slightly unnerving. However, no one had the time or energy to comment on that. Instead, they all tensed, looking the same way Penny was.

"I don't hear anything," said Nora.

"I might," said Blake, frowning and closing her eyes untying her ribbon to fully expose her feline ears. "It's hard to say, but there are some low sounds."

"Mighty impressive set of ears ya've got there, kid," noted Qrow, giving Penny a slightly suspicious look.

"Thank you," said Penny, her expression flipping back to cheerful in an instant. Then she gasped, whipping her head back around towards the way they'd come from. "The alarm has been raised."

"What?!" gasped Blake.

"Did Amitola betray us?" asked Ciel.

"She wouldn't do that!" Blake insisted harshly.

"Definitely not after waiting this long," Rain pointed out. "If she was truly planning treachery, I doubt she would wait this long, and allow us to get so close to our target."

"If the alarm's been raised though, they'll send the train out," said Piper.

"Can we bring down the tunnel here?" asked Yang, looking to her uncle.

"Nope," said Qrow, consulting the map on his scroll. "It's too thin. We'd just knock open a hole for the Grimm. We've gotta get farther under the mountain, before hitting the ceiling."

"Then let's pick up the pace," said Nora. "We've gotta move fast."

They broke into a light jog, heading down the tunnel quickly, while still moderating their pace in order to eat up more distance. It was hard going, only Penny seeming unbothered by the now-blistering rate of travel.

After a few minutes, Penny frowned. "The train is coming," she declared.

"How can you hear that?" asked Blake, giving Penny a confused look, her own ears only able to pick up the tiniest hint of low noise.

"Talk later," said Ciel. "We need to pick up the pace."

They broke into a run. Now their breath was coming in ragged gasps. Their legs and lungs were burning from the exertion. Again, only Penny seemed unaffected by the strain. Before long, the rest of them began to hear the train too. It was a low rumble, gradually, but swiftly, building behind them. The ground beneath their feet began to vibrate.

"Are we close enough yet?" gasped Ren, looking to Qrow.

"Almost there," said Qrow, checking his scroll as he ran.

Looking back, Yang saw a light shining out behind them, the rumbling and screeching of the approaching train only getting louder with each passing second. As student Huntsmen and Huntresses, they might have been quick on their feet. But, over distance, that didn't compare to the power of a Dust-propelled locomotive. Behind that powerful light illuminating the tracks ahead, she could make out the shadowed outline of the train itself. "We aren't going to make it!" she shouted.

"How far?" asked Ciel, looking to Qrow.

"Another couple-hundred meters!" Qrow shouted back. "I can see it now!"

"Penny!?" Ciel whipped her head around to look at her partner.

"I can see the target!" Penny confirmed.

"Then hit it now!" shouted Ciel.

"We'll be trapped on this side, though!" Piper pointed out.

"Stopping the attack takes priority!" Ren shouted. "Do it!"

"Affirmative!" exclaimed Penny, coming to a stop.

In a flash, her blades deployed, shifting swiftly to their gun-modes, arranging themselves in a cylindrical formation in front of her, revolving around as an orb of crackling green energy built in the formation's center.

The train was rapidly bearing down on them, the sound of its approach almost deafening.

Penny pulled her arms back, then punched out into the sphere of energy, sending a beam of emerald-green lancing out to strike the tunnel ceiling a few-hundred meters down. The beam struck, shattering stone on impact and scoring a deep line along the ceiling. Cracks split out from either side of the channel Penny had just carved. Then, with a loud roar, the ceiling broke, crumbling down, sending countless tons of rubble spilling down onto the track, more and more falling, until the tunnel ahead was almost completely filled in.

"Get clear!" shouted Yang, jumping and tackling Blake, throwing both of them well clear of the tracks. The others followed suit, leaping to either side, allowing the train to barrel past them. A deafening shriek of straining metal filled the air. The train's conductor must have seen the cave-in, and was now applying the brakes for all he was worth. But it was too little, _far_ too late. The massive tonnage of the train meant that its forward inertia was such that, at its present speed, it would take more than a mile for the continuous application of its brakes to bring it to a stop.

As a result, its speed hadn't even really begun to drop when it slammed right into the unforgiving mass of stone. Being forged from steel, the train actually punched a good ways into the pile blocking its path. But it wouldn't be going any farther. The locomotive crumpled like an empty can, everyone one watching flinching at the sight, realizing that the conductor, and whatever crew were in the first few cars, were probably dead.

Behind the locomotive, the first few cars; carrying the munitions, weapons, and personnel for the operation; piled up against each other. Clearly, at least one or more of the crates of Dust loaded into those cars was set off by the impact, and a chain of explosions rippled down the length of the first one, tearing it apart, the destruction spreading to the car behind it, and so on...

Behind that came the flatbeds, upon which seven of the eleven stolen Paladins were still standing. The mechs were already moving, four of them jumping clear, though the remaining three weren't quick enough to fully escape, and were flung into the twisted mass of metal and fire the lead cars had become, fire that was soon joined by crackling arcs of lightning, sudden outcroppings of stone, and jagged peaks of ice, as different Dust-types ignited all at once, turning the whole affair into a giant elemental conflagration.

But the real horror was behind the flatbeds, the cars carrying the large bombs, each one meant to set off an explosion large enough to punch a hole through the tunnel ceiling in their own right. There were six such cars, and not a single one had been detached yet.

"Team Copper!" shouted Ciel, her voice barely carrying over the cacophony. "Full-Defense Formation! Everyone else, behind us!"

They all rushed to comply, struggling to overcome the disorientation that came with being subjected to the outrageous jolting of the destruction up ahead. Rain took the lead, fully opening his kite-shield, and planting its pointed tip firmly in the floor, the sharpened metal punching through the concrete and stone to anchor it securely in place. Ciel crouched down beside him on his left, prompting him to wrap his free arm around her shoulders and pull her close, to help cover as much of her with his shield as he could.

Even as she did so, Ciel tapped the face of her watch, the blue screen turning white. She interlaced the fingers of her left hand with those of Rain's right, and a shimmering barrier of glowing, hexagonal plates extended out from the edges of Rain's shield, while the shield itself began to shine white, increasing its coverage dramatically.

Then Penny and Piper joined in. Penny deployed her swords once more, the blades flying out past the edges of Rain and Ciel's combined shield, and orienting with their points outwards into a circular formation, which began to spin clockwise, the blades leaving trails of green energy in their wake, which solidified into a single, circular plane of emerald energy, which seemed to merge with the curving plane of Ciel and Rain's barrier. Piper deployed her orbs as well, which formed an orbit, just beyond the tips of Penny's swords, revolving counterclockwise, shimmering black joining the green and white.

The rest of the group sheltered behind the powerful shield, the whole barrier having been raised without a moment to spare, as the large bombs in the back of the train went off, one after another, filling the tunnel with roaring flames, the shockwave shattering the legs of one of the four Paladins that had managed to dismount before the crash, bringing it down, while throwing the other three ahead of its passage.

Continuing on, the shockwave struck the shield, breaking against its curving surface. The waves of flame followed behind it. The sound was all-consuming, and the air became unbearably hot, searing their lungs with every breath. Yang was sure she was screaming, but she couldn't hear it over the unbelievable roar of the explosions, focused and channeled by the tunnel walls, which were now functioning like the barrel of an enormous gun.

The shield began to crack, all those merged fields of Dust-energy beginning to crumble under the strain. It was successfully ablating and deflecting the majority of the explosion's force, but it wouldn't be able to hold out completely. As the shield gave way, Rain pulled Ciel tightly against himself, covering as much of her with his shield as he could. Behind them, Penny turned and pulled Piper into a tight embrace, placing her body between the other girl and the incoming explosion. The shield shattered, and all four of them were blown off their feet.

Behind Team CPPR, Yang stepped forward, slamming her gauntlets together. The searing heat that had filled the tunnel was scorching her Aura. But it was also feeding her Semblance. In an instant, Yang unleashed that accumulated power to hit the incoming energy head-on. Behind her, Ren planted his hands against her shoulders. Yang gasped, feeling his Aura flowing through her, manipulating the energy of her Semblance. Realizing what he was up to, Yang allowed him, Ren's magenta Aura merging with the gold of her own, creating shimmering plane of energy that held off the incoming shockwaves and flames...briefly.

However, after just a few seconds, Yang's accumulated strength was tapped out. Her and Ren's barrier shattered. Behind them, Nora protectively hugged Blake, while Yang quickly spun about to do the same to Ren. Nearby, Qrow held his sword in his hand, spinning it until it became a gray blur, dispersing the explosion's force...for a second...before he too was blown off his feet.

Yang felt the fires burning away her Aura, not giving her any chance at recovery. The world was unbearably hot, and she was sure she was about to turn to ash.

And then it was over. The explosion had barely lasted a tiny handful of seconds, but it had felt like an eternity to those who'd been hit by it. In its wake, it left ringing ears, as everyone lay prone, trying to pull their faculties back together and find the wherewithal to get up again.

It was Qrow who spoke first, coughing to clear his throat, sitting up with a groan. "Sound off, everyone," he called out, trying to be heard over the crackling and crumbling sounds that remained in the wake of the conflagration.

"I'm okay...more or less," said Yang, groaning as she pried her arms out from around Ren, then forced the stiffened limbs against the floor to push herself up off him.

"I'm alive," Ren announced more quietly, giving Yang a grateful smile.

"We're okay over here," announced a burnt and smudged Nora as she released Blake, who groaned.

"I feel like a tube of toothpaste," Blake complained, figuring she'd probably taken more damage from Nora's constricting embrace, which would have put a python to shame, than the explosion itself.

"Copper? You kids all right?" Qrow looked warily at the four students who'd been at the forefront of the explosion.

Ciel blinked, feeling Rain's arms still wrapped protectively around her, though the two of them were lying down now, side-by side. "No severe injuries to report," she announced for herself. Glancing at her companion, she felt her breath catch in her throat at his battered appearance, Rain bleeding from a small gash across his cheek. "Rain?"

Slowly, Rain blinked blearily, then his eyes opened and he gave her a tired smile. "I am well enough, thank you," he said.

Ciel let out a breathy sigh, a relieved smile appearing on her face. "Thank goodness," she said. "I think you saved me."

She saw a gleam of mischief in Rain's eye, before he abruptly leaned towards her. Before Ciel could react, Rain planted his lips against hers in a brief kiss, before pulling back.

"Rain!" gasped Ciel, her cheeks reddening, admonishment and astonishment mixing in her tone. This was something she'd never expected of her teammate, and aspiring romantic companion. It was against the rules she'd established, when they'd begun their relationship, which mandated against overt expressions of affection while they were out in the field. At the same time, after the near-death experience they'd just been through, the kiss had been almost intoxicating, and Ciel found herself struggling against the impulse to lean in and kiss him back.

"I figured that, since I saved my lady from harm, I deserved a small reward," Rain replied teasingly.

"I suppose you did," Ciel replied, giving into her impulse, and planting a kiss on his lips. Rain jolted slightly, before relaxing into it. After a few seconds, they relaxed, leaning their foreheads together.

"Well, that's just the cutest thing," observed Piper, sitting up from where she and Penny had been laid out. "I'm okay too, by the way," she added, having been distracted from answering Qrow's feeling by watching the romantic moment unfold before her.

"I am in sen-_sa-_tional condition," declared Penny, sitting up as well, looking considerably more battered.

When the others looked at her, a chorus of gasps filled the air.

"What is it?" asked Penny, looking around in confusion. "Is there something on my face?"

"P-Penny..." stammered Piper, her eyes bulging in their sockets. "Your s-skin..."

"Huh?" Penny brought her fingers up to her face...and froze. The skin over her cheek had been torn away in a broad patch. However, instead of bloody flesh, what had instead been exposed beneath it was gray metal. "Uh oh..." Examining the rest of her body, Penny saw that her skin had been torn in other spots, especially along her forearms, where the sleeves that normally covered them had been burned away from the explosion, displaying more metal hidden beneath.

"Penny…what…?" gasped Ciel, she and Rain both sitting up and staring at her in shock.

They weren't the only ones. RYNB and Qrow also stared at Penny, whose expression became more and more distressed as she realized her secret had been revealed.

"I...I'm...uh..." Penny struggled to answer the looks and unspoken questions being directed at her. However, the sound of something cracking, followed by a low groan, put paid to that.

"Crap!" snapped Qrow, glancing up at the tunnel ceiling. Cracks were spreading out from the explosion's epicenter, crawling along the length of the tunnel. "We ain't got time for an interrogation now. Get moving, everyone!"

Yang and Nora quickly moved to help their teammates, Yang hoisting Blake's arm over her shoulder, Nora doing the same for Ren, the four of them hobbling back down the way they'd come as fast as they could. Behind them, Penny sprang into motion, not bothering to worry about what had just come to light, instead pulling Piper onto her back, her swords retracting, before wrapping around her to bind Piper there. Then she quickly picked both Rain and Ciel up, tucking them under her arms, and running along in RYNB's wake. For his part, Qrow broke into a staggering run, all nine of them fleeing as fast as their feet could carry them.

The ceiling began to break behind them, sending more stones crashing down, the destruction spreading, caving in the tunnel, and threatening to bury them alive, if their bodies weren't smashed by the tons of rubble spilling down first. They moved as fast as they could, the destruction biting at their heels. Piper flicked her fingers, the black orbs of her weapon rising up and flying behind them, black flashes of energy repelling some of the stones that threatened to catch them.

For a second, they were all sure they wouldn't make it. But finally, after a few-dozen meters, the roar of the collapsing tunnel tapered off, then stopped. Looking behind them, the students, and Qrow, could see that the destruction had finally stopped spreading.

"Holy shit!" gasped Yang, she and Blake sagging down. They weren't the only ones. Ren and Nora nearly pitched over, their legs giving out completely. Qrow fell back onto his butt, taking up a sitting position, before taking out his flask and taking a long pull of its contents. Penny set down her burden, the other three members of her team relaxing, while Penny retracted and stowed her swords, before she bent and began to gather up Piper's orbs, which had fallen and rolled to a stop a short distance away.

As she stood up, Piper's weapon cradled in her arms, Penny saw that the others were staring at her again. "Um...I can explain-hic!" she said nervously.

Ciel let out a long sigh. "Explanations can come later," she said. "We need to focus on the mission now."

"Like it or not, we're doing things the hard way," added Piper. "We just have to hope that we can hold out until the General's forces hit them from the other direction."

Yang let out a wry chuckle, which was cut off by a few coughs. "At least we don't have to worry about those Paladins," she said, grinning.

A rumble came from the pile of rubble blocking the tunnel ahead of them. It tapered off, then came again. All their eyes went to the mass of stones, which began to shift and vibrate. Then, with a crash, a metal fist punched out and into the open air. It was joined by another, then a third. Metal arms planted, and the pile of stone shifted off the chassises of three Paladins, slowly pulling themselves free of the rubble.

"Firecracker...you really shouldn't tempt fate like that," grumbled Qrow. _Especially around me._

Their hopes flagging, the students, and their Huntsman escort, watched as the three war machines gradually worked themselves free of the rubble.

* * *

**This chapter wound up running pretty long. Still, these guys can't catch a break, can they? But at least the big attack's been headed off.**


	77. Chapter 77

**Chapter 77:**

_Day 5:_

Jaune was beginning to fold under the number of pirates besieging his position. His shield and sword couldn't be everywhere. Despite his best efforts, he found himself being hit in the back, even as he blocked an attack from another direction. His sword struck out, but he failed to land many attacks; the hits he was taking, and his need to keep his defense up, hampering his ability to attack.

And then Ruby arrived like a whirling crimson hurricane, her swords cutting several pirates to pieces, before they even realized she was there. Once they _did_ notice, the survivors immediately fell back, while Ruby's own movements made her seem like a red wind, wrapping around Jaune's body, before stopping with them back-to-back.

"Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

"I'll live," said Jaune, before grunting, his Aura handling the pain of the hits he'd taken. "These jerks just keep coming, though."

"I know," agreed Ruby. "Winter's fighting their captain. We'll just have to hold up as best we can, down here."

"Easier for you than me," said Jaune, looking at the blood that had been practically painted across the ship's deck in the wake of Ruby's passage.

Shadows descended from above, and a fresh wave of pirate reinforcements touched down, before throwing themselves into the fray with a gusto. From there on, things were a blur for Jaune and Ruby. Jaune fought as best he could, continuing to use his shield to deflect attacks, before striking out from behind it. For her part, Ruby was a force of nature, quickly cutting through the ranks of newly arrived pirates, cutting down several of them before they could react.

Barely a minute after the fourth wave's arrival, all their enemies had fallen, leaving Jaune and Ruby alone, panting for breath. Jaune was more winded than Ruby was by a mile, sweat streaming down his face. But Ruby wasn't in peak condition either, the holes dotting her cloak displaying the Aura she'd spent.

They turned to look down towards the bow, where Weiss and Pyrrha were fighting together. Pyrrha's arrival had given Weiss a chance to reload Myrtenaster, and now she was using her Dust attacks to support Pyrrha's efforts. They weren't cutting through the enemy with as much efficiency as Ruby had, but they were definitely making progress.

The surviving pirates fell back away from the pair, only to turn and see that their comrades on the other end of the deck had already been wiped out. Trapped between two pairs of Beacon students, they looked about nervously, their previous confidence faltering. The reason behind their sudden unease became even more apparent, when the sound of the catapults firing off a fresh wave of reinforcements failed to reach the deck.

"Looks like they're just about out of numbers," said Jaune, relief washing through him at the realization. He'd been worried that this fight would drag on until he couldn't lift his sword anymore.

Then a shadow passed over their heads, and a white mass landed in front of them. Looking down, Ruby and Jaune gasped.

"Winter!" Weiss shouted, her voice heavy with dismay.

Winter was sprawled out across the deck, the spilled blood dying the white of her clothes, mingling with the blood leaking from the lacerations across her body, including her arms and legs.

"Well well, four waves down, and you _still_ haven't folded."

Ruby and Jaune looked up to see Morgan standing on the upper-deck, leering down at them with that sadistic grin of hers. Despite having apparently won over Winter, it was apparent that Morgan hadn't gotten things completely her own way either. Her own face was covered by small lacerations, and there were tears across the fabric of her greatcoat, particularly along the sleeve of her left arm, exposing her prosthetic limb in its entirety. Her hat and eyepatch had been knocked off completely, revealing that her right eye was actually uninjured beneath it. Despite that, there was no sign that her energy and confidence were flagging in any way.

"I've got to say, it's never taken my men more than two waves to overrun a ship's defenders. And you landlubbers have taken down four. My crew's about tapped out now. I guess that means more people on this ship are going to get the privilege of living through this."

"They won't have to worry about that," growled Ruby. "You're going down, today!"

Morgan's grin widened, and she vaulted over the railing, her jump carrying her over Ruby and Jaune's heads, landing between them and the pirates milling about in the middle of the deck. "We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" she asked cheerfully.

"Captain!" protested one of the pirates. "We're just about out of crew, and the military could be here any minute!"

"We've never taken this long to seize a vessel!" added another.

"_Quiet_, you swabs!" Morgan shouted over her shoulder at them. "The next one who speaks out gets a taste of my blade!" She turned back to Ruby and Jaune...or Ruby, rather. "Now then, Little One. Are you ready to back up your bold talk?"

Ruby stepped ahead of Jaune, flourishing both her swords, before taking her stance, left sword held out ahead of her, right-handed one held so that it was oriented to point down her back. Jaune wanted to protest, but held his tongue, figuring that Ruby probably had a good grip on the situation.

It was clear that Morgan was seriously unbalanced. Even though her previous raids had relied heavily on speed; overwhelming a ship's defenders, and bringing it under control before any help they could summon had arrived; she didn't betray an ounce of lost confidence at the realization that this particular attempt had lasted far longer than any previous ones. Her crew had taken far more casualties as well. The longer this went on, the more likely it was that the Atlesian or Valean military would arrive. The sensible thing to do was cut their losses and retreat. But that seemed to be the furthest thing from Morgan's mind.

Instead, she chuckled, grinning ecstatically at Ruby, as though she were in the midst of a drug-induced high. "And to think, you were such a wee lass, the last time you challenged me. Now you've grown enough that we can play properly."

Ruby said nothing in response, merely evening out her breathing in preparation for what was to come. If Morgan wanted to play around, fine by her. It simply gave them more time until somebody came to their aid.

"Jaune, keep an eye on Winter," Ruby instructed her partner. The last thing she wanted was for one of Morgan's crew to get the idea of threatening the disabled Specialist in an effort to influence the fight. She figured Morgan would probably object to it. But Morgan's behavior was inconsistent enough that Ruby couldn't say _how_ she would react to it.

"You've got it," said Jaune, already settling himself over Winter, shield held at the ready.

And so, Ruby and Morgan faced each other down, a significant portion of the broad expanse of the freighter's deck between them. The deck itself was slick with blood, something Ruby took note of, as it could potentially undermine her footing. Taking another breath, Ruby let her awareness spread outward, her Extension brushing across Morgan, taking in the nature of her body and Aura.

Ruby could sense the potential energy represented by the unexpended Dust, woven into Morgan's clothes, and cunningly concealed as jewelry. There was far less of it than there had been before Morgan's fight with Winter, indicating that she'd expended a considerable amount of it. However, there was still enough remaining to make Ruby wary. Morgan's Aura was erratic and chaotic, making it hard to get a feel for the nature of her style. It was definitely more heavily concentrated in her right hand and arm, indicating her favoring it for her swordsmanship, which wasn't surprising. However, there was a strange, loose pattern around her left arm, the cybernetic one.

_She must have a weapon concealed in it,_ thought Ruby. Given the pervasiveness of mechashift weaponry, even amongst those who weren't Huntsmen or Huntresses, Ruby wouldn't have put it past Morgan to have installed some form of weapon in her prosthetic limb, expected it of her even, considering Morgan's love of secreting unpleasant surprises on her person.

Eager to begin, Morgan triggered her sword, the blade whirring and spinning, while splitting and closing with that snipping sound. Then with a sharp bark of laughter, Morgan lunged forward, her feet sliding across the deck, propelled by Aura in a sliding attack similar to the kind Weiss often used.

Ruby didn't wait for Morgan to come to her. She stepped forward, channeling her Aura through her feet, leaving small flurries of crimson petals in her wake. The two fighters closed, their blades meeting with a sharp clang. Immediately, they set to dancing about, moving back and forth along the deck, shifting and stepping, circling and whirling. Ruby worked Bara and Ibara furiously, using both swords to the fullest extent she could. However, Morgan proved more than adept at handling an opponent with two swords, parrying Ruby's incoming attacks with seeming ease. The metal chassis of her prosthetic arm made for a serviceable shield, allowing her to use the limb to deflect some of Ruby's slashes as well.

It didn't help that Morgan immediately set about trying to divest Ruby of her weapons, opening and closing the tines of her spinning sword repeatedly, in an effort to catch one or the other of Ruby's blades, so that she could use the rotational force of her weapon to wrench the trapped sword from Ruby's hand. As such, Ruby was often forced to divert, or outright abort, her attack, to keep her weapons from getting caught. More than simply being disarmed and left weaponless, Ruby's swords were irreplaceable masterpieces, and her closest companions, whose loss she would feel as keenly as the death of any of her friends or teammates. In these conditions, it would be all too easy for one of Morgan's disarms to send one of Ruby's swords tumbling over the side, into the fathomless depths below, where it would be all but certainly lost for good.

On the surface, Morgan's style appeared erratic, playful even, but her technique was truly masterful. She continually used the threat of disarmament as a means of breaking Ruby's rhythm, keeping her from investing her full speed and power in any of her attacks. On a frustrating note, Ruby was reminded of her fight with her father, a couple weeks ago. Taiyang's style had also been focused on disarming attacks, his primary goal throughout the fight being to separate Ruby from her swords.

Ironically, fighting Morgan, even though she had the same aim, was less frustrating. Taiyang's efforts had been born of a twisted and warped love, and the belief that he was doing what was best for Ruby. It was devoid of malice, which only made it all the more irritating, as Taiyang refused to see just how much his actions were hurting her. In contrast, Morgan wore her malice and sadism openly. She was doing this specifically to leave Ruby at her mercy, with the intent of inflicting pain. But at least Morgan was open about it, not hiding behind the excuse of doing something for Ruby's "own good."

So Ruby fought carefully and cautiously, focusing on feeling her opponent out, trying to better learn the nuances of Morgan's style, and work out the best way to find and exploit an opening.

Abruptly, Morgan picked up the pace, going on the offensive, lunging in with a sudden thrust that left her stepping directly between Bara and Ibara. Ruby backpedaled, her Shukuchi allowing her to dance out of range of the thrust faster than Morgan could advance. But then a clicking noise accompanied the transformation of Morgan's left hand, her fingers and palm dividing and lengthening, the becoming a five-tailed whip, barbs extending along its length as Morgan lashed out with it, trying to catch Ruby and keep her from escaping the pirate's reach.

Shunting her Aura into her cloak, Ruby whipped it out, using the broad stretch of fabric to bat back all five tails. Even if her garment had been made of mundane fabric, the barbs of Morgan's whip still wouldn't have caught on it. But now Ruby understood how Morgan was able to get one-up on Winter. This was not the kind of weapon Ruby would have imagined Morgan having secreted away in her prosthetic limb.

Continuing to dance back away from her opponent, Ruby continued the movement of her cloak, flapping it between the two of them, before sweeping it back out, her cloak scattering red petals in a cloud, which Morgan stepped into, before she even noticed what was happening.

"_Hanabi!_"

With a yelp, Morgan halted her advance, jumping back with the first snap of Ruby's petals igniting. They exploded across Morgan's vision countless strings of firecrackers, dancing sparks threatening to catch her and jolt her with electric shocks. Furthermore, the sudden distraction they afforded help to screen Ruby's next move, as more petals scattered from her cloak, swiftly merging together, their color washing from red to violet.

"_Hibana!_" The orbs of plasma launched through the remains of Ruby's previous attack, leaping at Morgan like missiles. Morgan's eyes went wide, and she immediately went on the defensive.

Swirling, pale-green winds enveloped the spinning blade of Morgan's sword, her blade opening right as Ruby's attack reached her, expanding the whirlwind, which swept up the orbs of plasma into the whirlwind, before scattering them around her on arcing courses. A couple slammed into the deck, exploding with miniature thunderclaps, and blowing open holes. Another couple arced down over the railing, to do the same to the deck of the submersible still running alongside the freighter. The rest either shot off into the sky, or splashed and hissed harmlessly into the ocean surface.

The tines of Morgan's sword scissored back closed, while Morgan lunged forward again, the whirlwind around her still-spinning blade only increasing in size and intensity, with streams washing off behind the woman as she moved, acting as propulsion, while they also concentrated down at the tip in a tightening spiral that made Morgan's weapon seem like a massive drill. She flew towards Ruby at frightening speed, her body becoming a blur. Ruby retreated again, her cloak flapping up to envelop her body as she moved. But she wasn't able to escape Morgan's reach fast enough.

Morgan's sword pierced right through Ruby's cloak, the drill-like maelstrom of winds shredding it and ripping a rapidly widening hole through it. However, beyond the red garment was...nothing. Instead, the cloak dissolved into another cloud of red petals, with Morgan's attack sending her shooting through empty space instead.

But Morgan wasn't dissuaded so easily. Already reading ahead, she lashed out with the whip extending from her left arm, even as she brought her charge to a stop and turned. The sudden counter caught Ruby; who'd sidestepped Morgan's previous attack, and was coming in to strike; off-guard, Ruby crying out in pain as five barbed tails slashed at her Aura. What was worse, the tails bent and turned around Ruby's body, the barbs threatening to catch and sink in, where her Aura's protection might be weak. If Ruby was caught, and tried to dislodge herself, she'd only wind up opening grievous wounds across her body.

So Ruby stepped in closer instead, ignoring the sharp pain of Morgan's whips, driving in too close to use the blades of her swords effectively, instead rushing past Morgan, while slamming the pommel of Ibara into the side of Morgan's torso with all the strength her body and forward momentum could convey. Morgan let out a sharp wheeze of pain, the force of the blow actually lifting her feet up off the deck a little.

From there, Ruby turned left into a spin, pulling Ibara's pommel away from Morgan, while continuing to step around the woman, her spin accelerating with a flurry of petals spreading in a ring around her. Before Morgan could recover, Ruby's left foot came up and around in a kick that caught Morgan in the opposite side, knocking her back across the deck, before Ruby immediately reversed direction to pursue her.

Morgan's back hit the deck, and she bounced up, going into a flip that allowed her to get her feet under her. However, Morgan's boots came down on one of the many pools of blood spreading across the deck, and went back out from under her again. But this merely proved to be a ruse, as Morgan actually used the movement to kick up a splatter of blood. With a crackling sound, the crimson droplets elongated and froze into countless red needles, which immediately went flying at the face of the incoming Ruby.

Shifting her head slightly, Ruby brought her hood around, using it to deflect the needles, which struck with surprising force, considering their minuscule size. Even with her vision cut off, Ruby still tracked Morgan with her other senses. So Ruby wasn't surprised when Morgan immediately followed up by lashing out with her whip once more, the weapon spinning where the woman's prosthetic wrist had once been, prompting the whip's tails to fan out, even as they reached for Ruby.

Kicking off the deck, Ruby launched herself upwards, putting more power than she would have liked into the move. The rotation of Morgan's wrist only served to continue spreading her whips out, forcing Ruby to make quite the detour to escape their spinning reach, which also kept her from striking out at Morgan as she passed over the woman's head. It also gave Morgan plenty of time to turn back around to face her, as Ruby came down on the pirate's other side.

They turned towards each other, their slashing blades meeting once more, Morgan following up by lashing at Ruby with her whip again, this time sweeping it low to try and tangle Ruby's feet. Ruby avoided by jumping again, not as high this time. However, Morgan had already anticipated this kind of dodge, and had started rotating her wrist again, sending the tails lashing upwards in the same movement. Two of them glanced off Ruby's hood, but a third tail made its way past the edge, and lashed her across the face, sending Ruby reeling back, before she escaped the weapon's reach.

Ruby stumbled upon landing, her Aura protecting her from having lines of blood drawn across her face, but not doing much to dull the pain of the initial hit, leaving a burning sensation. Morgan didn't hesitate to capitalize, crowing with laughter as she advanced, thrusting with her sword again, launching a rapid series of thrusts. Ruby worked her own swords to deflect Morgan's attacks, continuing to stumble backwards away from the madwoman.

But then Morgan opened her sword once again, catching one of Ruby's attempted parries with Ibara between the extended tines. Ruby gasped, her eyes widening as she realized what was about to happen. A triumphant grin on her face, Morgan triggered her sword's spin again, preparing to pull Ruby's sword right out of her hand, and send it flying over the side fo the ship.

Ruby's body moved automatically. There was no time to think, no time to figure out to escape this predicament. But somehow, she knew what to do. Morgan's technique was actually banking on Ruby trying to escape, to pull back and away. Doing so would weaken Ruby's grip on her trapped sword, making it all the easier for her to tear it out of Ruby's hand.

So Ruby didn't try to back away. Instead, she shifted forward...and thrusted the blade of Bara over and across Ibara, slipping it into the opening between the tines on the other side of Morgan's weapon, the twisting torque of Morgan's sword now holding both of Ruby's swords fast. Whatever motor Morgan had for spinning her weapon, it was ridiculously powerful for its size. Even with both of Ruby's swords, with the strength of both her arms holding it back, she felt as though she was on the verge of losing _both_ blades now. But, again, Ruby's instincts, honed through years of training and harsh experience, showed her the way forward. Ruby simply used all the strength she cold muster, putting it into her wrists, and she twisted.

Where before the tines of Morgan's sword had been pressed against the flats of Ruby's trapped swords, they were now suddenly pressing up against the edges. For a fraction of a second, the two fighters were frozen, straining against one another. Then, with a sudden shearing sound, the outside tines of Morgan's trident-sword snapped clean off, the two lengths of sharpened metal flying away to either side.

Morgan's eyes went wide, a look of genuine dismay appearing on her face for the first time throughout the entire fight. Ruby didn't waste any time basking in her sudden triumph, instead following through by stepping forward, turning her swords again so that their flats grated against one another as Ruby brought them scissoring across Morgan's chest. In the same movement, the blades rang eerily, shining with brilliant crimson light, which then condensed into crackling lightning, which launched Morgan back away from Ruby, flying on a crescent of crimson energy.

Morgan slammed down onto the deck of the ship, plowing through the ranks of her own crew in the process. The pirates she came into contact with were either knocked aside or thrown away, crimson arcs crackling across their bodies, while Morgan practically writhed amidst a web of red lightning, a pained scream tearing its way out of her lips.

Panting from exertion, Ruby stepped towards Morgan, determined to close in before she could recover, and finish the fight for good. However, when her left foot came down, Ruby screamed in pain, her leg suddenly losing strength. Looking down, she saw several ugly gashes opened up around and above her ankle, blood staining the black fabric of her leggings.

In the same instant that Ruby had knocked her back, Morgan had lashed out with the five-tailed whip extending from her left arm. Aiming low again, she managed to catch the barbs on Ruby's left leg, near the ankle. Then, when she had been knocked back, the force of Ruby's own attack had pulled the barbs free, the force allowing them to reach through Ruby's Aura and tear into the muscle and skin below, possibly even nicking a tendon.

Ruby grit her teeth, tears of pain streaming down her face. Grimacing, she tried to force herself upright, but only staggered, sinking down again. In this state, she had no footing to speak of. She might as well have been all but helpless, given that she couldn't even bring herself to stand. She had successfully inflicted critical damage on Morgan's sword, but quite possibly at the cost of her own ability to keep fighting.

"Ruby!" her friends shouted in near unison. Weiss and Pyrrha lurched towards her, but came up short when they realized that they would have to fight their way through what remained of Morgan's crew to reach her; not undoable, but also not expedient at this time. Jaune also took a step her way, but stopped, looking down and reminding himself to watch over Winter.

However, a glance Morgan's way allowed Jaune to notice that the pirates were primarily focused on helping her and their comrades up, many of them having been stunned by contact with the lightning that had been wreathing Morgan's body. At the moment, none of them seemed to have a thought to spare for him. Taking the gamble, Jaune made for Ruby.

Ruby was down on one knee, her injured leg resting behind her, blood leaking to mingle with that already spilled across the deck. Her face was pale and drawn, grimacing in pain.

"Hang on!" Jaune said quickly, crouching down next to her. "We'll get that taken care of." He looked up at Ruby. "You can heal it, can't you?"

Ruby shook her head. "The Healing Arts I learned I can't use on myself. That's just the way they work."

Jaune nodded, then frowned. The memory of his talk with Sasame, on the roof of the dorms, came back. She'd once told him that she saw him as having potential as a healer...which gave him an idea. "What if _I_ do it?" he asked.

"Jaune...that's not something you can just..._do_!" Ruby protested, throwing him an incredulous look.

"Still probably our best chance," Jaune pointed out, throwing a wary glance Morgan's way, where her people were propping her up.

Seeing his point, Ruby took a breath. "All right," she said. "But you need to listen carefully. You're going to be sending your Aura into me. If you aren't careful, it's going to wind up working like an attack, and just end up hurting me worse."

Gulping, Jaune nodded. "Got it," he said.

"You're going to be using the skills you've already learned," said Ruby. "Maintain your Temper, then use Flow to channel your Aura into your hands. From there, bring your hands to my leg, and Project your Aura into me. Don't try to use a lot of force, just send it out."

"Right," said Jaune, already gathering his Aura into his hands, which began to shine white.

"Go gently," Ruby urged him. "Channel your Aura into mine, and focus on enhancing its ability to heal."

Jaune nodded, collapsing his shield, and sheathing his sword, setting them aside so that he could freely rest his hands over Ruby's wounds.

"Quite the blow you managed to land, you little minx," commented Morgan, still leaning heavily against one of her men. She examined her sword, the central blade/tine looking even thinner than a standard rapier blade. "You truly _have_ grown so much, since the last time I've seen you."

Ruby paid Morgan no mind, instead keeping her attention on Jaune, while tracking Morgan's crew, making sure none of them went after Winter.

Jaune breathed out, then Projected his Aura out through his hands, focusing on his desire to ease Ruby's pain, to help her, the way she'd helped him. He remembered back to the impression he'd gotten from when she'd used her Aura to help him on the airship to Beacon, all those months ago, even though he'd had no idea what she'd been doing at the time. The white light of his Aura flowed out through his hands, washing and rippling across Ruby's leg, pooling in the gashes that the barbs of Morgan's whip had etched into her skin.

Morgan stared at the spectacle, frowning as she got an idea of what Jaune was doing. "Well now...we can't have that," she declared. "If you lads and lasses would be so kind as to keep blondie there out of our hair, I have things to finish with the Little One."

Several members of her crew lifted their weapons, ready to threaten Jaune, though a couple of them began to move towards Winter, who had yet to move.

"No!" shouted Weiss, taking a step forward, but balking as the remainder of Morgan's crew barred her and Pyrrha's way. They could probably fight their way through, but not in time to make a difference on Jaune and Ruby's side of things.

Then Weiss had an idea; a reckless, ill-considered idea; but probably the best one to deal with the present situation. "Pyrrha, keep me covered," she said.

Pyrrha nodded, and took up a guard position in front of Weiss. Stepping back, Weiss reversed her grip on Myrtenaser, planting the rapier's tip into the deck. Taking a deep breath, she drew her Temper in, using Suppression to clamp down on her Aura, building it up. Then she opened up her Aura again. Down the length of the deck, past the gathering of the pirates, the sword-wheel of her Summoning Glyph appeared, spinning on the deck, halfway between where Winter lay and where Jaune was at work healing Ruby's leg.

The Glyph's sudden appearance prompted Morgan's crew to balk. Seeing the flash of light, and recognizing the Glyph that Winter had used against her multiple times prompted Morgan to glare at Weiss. "Get her!" she shouted.

Several pirates started towards Weiss, only for Pyrrha to drive them back with expert use of her sword and shield.

Meanwhile, Weiss focused her mind on the image of what she wanted to Summon, following the steps Ruby had walked her through, back at the hotel in Soyuz. Opening her eyes, she Projected her Aura into the image, through the Glyph, putting all the Aura she could spare into it, leaving her with hardly any left. Across from her, the Glyph flared, its light rising to almost blinding levels.

Then, with a final, blazing flash, it appeared, the crested helm, the curved plates, the massive sword...the Arma Gigas rose up from Weiss' Glyph. Faced with the approaching enemies, it raised its sword, and struck, using a horizontal sweep to blast the attacking pirates back. Most of them had their Auras broken by the hit, while one was cleaved right in two. The remainder of Morgan's crew fell back, effectively stymied by the appearance of the Knight.

"Well well...quite the trick," noted Morgan, finally pushing herself free of her subordinate's support. "Your sister certainly didn't bring out anything _this_ impressive."

Over where she lay, Winter groaned softly, stirring out of her unconsciousness. Her eyes slowly opening, Winter found herself looking almost straight at the glowing boot of the Knight, planted firmly on the deck in front of her. _That's...a Summon. But Weiss...?_ Winter's gaze slid across the deck, looking past the remaining pirates at Weiss, who looked on the verge of collapse, but both happy and satisfied with the results of her effort.

Meanwhile, Jaune watched as the inflow of his Aura closed Ruby's wounds, the cuts in her flesh shrinking, then fading away entirely, not even leaving red lines to stand out against the light color of her skin. Smiling, Jaune allowed himself to relax, glad that he was able to help. Glancing over at Ruby, he noticed that she was still looking worse for wear. Her cloak was ragged and torn, a sign that her own Aura was flagging.

Then Jaune remembered something else Sasame had shown them. His smile widening, Jaune moved his hands, resting them on Ruby's shoulders from behind.

"Jaune?" asked Ruby, glancing over her shoulder in confusion, before gasping in surprise as she felt his Aura flowing into her once more. This time, it was more powerful, a warm current flowing into her own Aura...and bolstering it. _This is...Sasame-nee's support technique!_

Jaune's Aura washed through her like a warm current, soothing aching muscles, cooling burning lungs. The tears and holes across Ruby's cloak began to close, almost like her wound had earlier. Fresh strength rushed into her, leaving her feeling invigorated. In fact...she felt even _better_ than she had before. _Sasame-nee's technique was never this powerful...not for the amount of Aura that he's using. It's almost like his Aura doesn't just supplement mine...but amplifies it too. This is incredible!_

With a sigh of relief, Jaune pulled his hands away and stood back, taking up his weapons again. Ruby rose to her feet on her own, her cloak seeming to float upwards in the wind from her freshly rejuvenated and enhanced Aura. In her hands, Bara and Ibara shined and rang, the two swords practically singing with their eagerness to resume the battle.

And Morgan saw it all, her eyes going wide at the sight of Ruby, easily looking to be at at least one-hundred and twenty percent. The normally maniacal pirate licked her lips, betraying genuine unease for the first time since the fight had begun. "Well well...that is quite the trick your friend has up his sleeve, Little One. I would very much like to have that for my own crew."

Ruby gave Morgan a teasing smile. "Sorry, but he's already taken."

"I see," said Morgan. "Well...this turn of affairs mandates a rethink."

"Not just that, Captain!" shouted one of the pirates near the railing. "Look!"

They all looked out to see what the pirate was looking at. Away to the north, far out past the freighter's stern, the blue sea stretched out to the curving horizon, and hovering over it, a pair of angular shapes.

The thud of Morgan's boots against the deck preceded her declaration. "Playtime's over it seems! Back to the ship, you swabs!"

The pirates rushed to obey her, falling back from Pyrrha and Weiss, no longer menacing Winter or Ruby. Instead, they all rushed headlong to the edge, throwing themselves over the railing, and gladly risking the drop to the deck of the submersible below.

"We can't let them get away!" Weiss shouted, taking a staggering step after them.

If the pirates escaped, particularly with their own vessel intact, then they would simply retreat, lick their wounds, and pick up where they left off later. Weiss knew all too well that such a result would not satisfy her father. Either he would disinherit her on the spot, or simply call on her team the next time the pirates started raiding his ships. Either way, letting them escape was out of the question.

Ruby rushed to the edge of the ship after the pirates. Reaching the railing, she looked down to see that the deck was already closing. The instant the massive doors that formed the dorsal section of the submersible's hull slid closed, the vehicle would begin to submerge, and escape beneath the waves, as undetectable as it had been upon approach. Boarding was out of the question, as fighting their way, possibly destructively, through the submersible while it was underwater would have disastrous consequences.

Ruby looked over at Pyrrha, who was now at the railing beside her. "Pyrrha, use your Semblance to keep the deck from closing up!"

Not questioning her, Pyrrha lifted both of her hands, holding them out. Black energy enveloped the pistons pulling the dorsal hatches closed, the mechanisms groaning as they fought back against the force of Pyrrha's Polarity. They jerked and shuddered, but continued to slide closer together, albeit at a slower rate.

In seconds, fresh sweat was streaming down Pyrrha's brow. "I...I can't keep this up for long," she announced.

"Weiss...whatever you've got!" said Ruby frantically, turning to Weiss, hoping that her Dust would have something that could finish the job.

To her relief, Weiss smiled confidently, and nodded decisively. "Leave it to me," she said.

Behind her, her Summon jumped off the deck. With a flash, one of Weiss' Propulsion Glyphs appeared beneath its feet, launching it higher up, over the side of the boat, and into the air above the submersible. Meanwhile, Weiss lifted Myrtenaster vertically, the Dust-chambers rotating, a chamber of brown-colored Dust sliding into place. A pair of Glyphs appeared midway along the length of the Knight's sword, ringing it. They slid away from one another. As they moved, the hard-light that appeared to make up the Knight's weapon was replaced by dark stone.

A final Glyph appeared above and behind the Knight, launching it downwards like a missile. It dove between the pieces of the submersible's hull, the Summon driving its stone sword straight down into the deck. Upon penetrating into the deck, the stone that made up the sword abruptly exploded in volume, the blade expanding to become a massive spike, which punched all the way down through the submarine's decks, and out through its ventral hull.

The _Schneller Geist_ rocked violently. With a pained gasp, Pyrrha released her Semblance, allowing the dorsal hatches to slide closed uninhibited...except that they were now jammed by the presence of the massive chunk of stone that formed the top of the spike that Weiss' Knight had just driven right through it, the Knight itself having already evaporated into motes of light.

Both Weiss and Pyrrha collapsed to their knees, their Auras dispersing with a snapping sound. But their work was done. The _Schneller Geist_ was still sliding below the waves. But this was no controlled submersion. As the four students watched, it listed, unbalanced by the sudden unexpected weight near its bow, pitching forward at a steeper angle than it should have, water flowing in through the open hatch. The submersible was done for.

* * *

Morgan staggered, her legs quaking with the effort needed to move. It didn't help that the corridor was beginning to list to one side, as the _Schneller Geist's_ angle continued to increase. She'd already discarded the broken remnants of her sword and retracted her whip. Now she made her way to a single door, set into a recess on one side of the hall. Thankfully, it was on the side that was angled downwards, ensuring that she didn't have to climb, though she did have to work to maintain her balance, and keep from pitching into the room as the door opened.

Inside was her cabin. The captain's quarters was of two parts. On one side were the richly appointed furnishings that were appropriate for a pirate captain with Morgan's record of success. On the other side, a sluiced floor, chains, and...other implements...marked the section of the room where Morgan indulged in her personal hobby. However, she ignored both sides, instead making her way down the line that divided the room in the center. At the other end was a set of shelves. On one side was a shelf of books of all varieties, while the other side, the one that ran into Morgan's hobby-room, housed her "toys."

Reaching for one book that rested right on the edge of the divide, Morgan pulled on its spine. Rather than coming off the shelf, the book instead leaned back, revealing itself to be a switch, the shelf and wall in front of her dividing along that very same centerline that ran across her room.

Behind that door...was another door. Slipping the glove off her right hand, Morgan held it out to the panel set off to the right side of that door. After the panel scanned her biometrics, the second door slid open, and Morgan stepped into the chamber beyond, the door sliding shut behind her.

She was not alone in the room. The lights from overhead threw everything into a sinister, red cast. That light fell upon the room's occupant, which was neither human nor faunus. Those who saw it would have little difficulty recognizing it as a Creature of Grimm. But it was not a type of Grimm that most everyone, save for a select few, would be familiar with.

Its shape was reminiscent of a jellyfish, with a black, spherical mantle, about the size of a human head, with a lipped ring at the bottom. The mantle was covered across most of its surface by cracked, white bone-plates, which were so characteristic of the Grimm. Within the sphere, a dark-red light glowed malevolently. The lip at the bottom of the mantle was lined with short, curved, toothlike plates, their tips pointing downwards. From beneath the mantle trailed a set of six red tentacles, tipped with sharp, white, blade-like points, two of which were as large and broad as full-sized daggers.

Strangely, rather than lash out and attack her, the Grimm only turned in place, orienting itself so a fair-sized gap between the bone-plates that covered its mantle was facing towards Morgan.

"Hello, Milady," said Morgan in a cheerful tone.

The glassy, black surface of the strange Grimm, called a Seer, began to ripple, color appearing across its "face." The ripples gradually resolved into the, somewhat distorted and stretched, image of a humanlike face...a face with white skin, red veins, and eyes of dark-red set against black sclera.

"_What do you have to report?_" a feminine voice asked, issuing forth from the Seer. The voice was deep and resonant, carrying with it a sense of true power and authority.

Morgan's smile faded, and she bowed her head. "Failure, I'm afraid. I have overreached, and...as a consequence, the _Schneller Geist_ is now done for."

For a moment, silence was her only response. After that delay, the woman's voice spoke through the Grimm. "_You disappoint me, Morgan._"

Letting out a soft sigh, Morgan lowered her head. "I figured as much, Milady. I have nothing to say for myself, honestly." Raising her head, she looked at the face stretched across the mantle of the Seer with a smile that looked strangely sincere on her. "Of course, I am prepared to accept responsibility for this; whether that means going down with my ship, or accepting whatever other punishment you choose to mete out." She sighed again, the sound mingling with a sob as her head dipped once more. "Honestly...I don't know how I could possibly face dear Arthur, after wrecking his masterpiece like this."

Again, the one she was conversing with was silent for a long moment. Then, "_Tell me, Morgan, do you know the difference between an error and a mistake?_"

"I'm afraid I have not pondered that, Milady," said Morgan.

"_Anyone can make an error, Morgan. But that error does not become a mistake until you _refuse_ to correct it. Rectifying an error requires acknowledging it. Failure recognized is a failure that can be learned from. Tell me, Morgan...do you know what your error was?_"

"I indulged my proclivities too much," said Morgan simply. "I encountered...someone I desired...and allowed that impulse to blind me to my work. So I did not think to retreat until it was too late."

Again, Morgan's response was followed by a momentary silence. "_Then it seems that you _are_ capable of learning from your failure. You have the capacity to correct your error, Morgan. Because of that...I permit you to return to me. We shall see what is to be done later._"

"Your mercy humbles me, Milady," said Morgan. "I shall return to you with the utmost speed. Please convey my deepest apologies and regrets to Arthur in the meantime."

"_And I shall expedite your return,_" replied the woman's voice.

"My deepest gratitude, Milady," said Morgan.

The face rippled and faded from the Seer's mantle, leaving Morgan alone once more, with just the Grimm for company. Making her way across the listing room, Morgan settled into the cushions of a couch that was recessed into one side of the wall. Reaching over, she pressed her hand to a panel, set into the inside of the recess.

There was a hissing sound, accompanied by a jolting lurch. The sound of the alarms blaring through the _Schneller Geist_'s corridors fell away, leaving silence in their wake.

* * *

The _Schneller Geist_ continued to descend into the depths. While its crew floundered and drowned as water rapidly pooled within it, a single spherical pod burst out near the stern, leaving a trail of bubbles behind it. The pod shot away at an upward angle, taking it towards the surface, its two passengers, Morgan and her unlikely companion, leaving the crew of her ship to their fate.

Suddenly, the sinking submarine was not alone. An undulating, serpentine shape rose upwards from the depths, a pair of glowing, dark-red eyes focusing on the descending submersible. An elongated snout opened to reveal a tooth-lined maw. The long, serpentine form of a Sea Feilong coiled about the stricken vessel's hull, its muscles contracting. With low groaning noises, the submersible's hull crumpled like an empty can. Between the crushing power of the Feilong, and the water filling it, the submarine's Dust-reactor detonated, the resulting explosion taking the Grimm along with it, and sending a shockwave that produced a plume of water at the surface, visible to those on the deck of the freighter.

Meanwhile, a second Sea Feilong rose up from the depths, this one angling for the escape pod that had jettisoned from the _Schneller Geist_. Instead of attacking though, the Feilong instead took the pod in its mouth with a surprisingly delicate grip, and carried it away.

* * *

"Looks like it's over," said Ruby softly.

"Yep," agreed Jaune. "Now what?"

"Can you help Winter?" asked Ruby, looking to him.

Jaune stared down at his hands. "I've got a little left in the tank," he said. "I'll do what I can."

Staggering a little, he made his way to Winter. Ruby checked on Weiss and Pyrrha, making sure that they were all right. Their Auras were completely depleted, but they were uninjured at least. After that final exertion with her Knight, Weiss was on the verge of passing out, only managing to remain conscious through sheer force of will. Satisfied that her teammates weren't in any danger, Ruby made her way to the bridge, in order to inform the captain that he could sound the All Clear.

By the time the pair of Atlesian warships caught up with the freighter, Jaune had successfully treated the worst of Winter's injuries, though he hadn't been able to completely heal her, before running out of Aura himself. Therefore, even though the pirates were gone, Ruby found herself glad for the presence of the two military vessels that had responded to the _Bulwark_'s distress call, which had been broadcasting from the second the pirates' vessel had appeared on the surface. Even though the signal had been jammed by the pirates shortly afterwards, it had been enough for the military to get a fix on their location.

Between the lingering negativity; brought on by the crew forced to listen to the sounds of battle, and the sight of the scattered remains of the pirates who had been killed in the fighting; it was all too likely that at least some Grimm would be drawn to the ship now. At the moment, Ruby was the only one capable of fighting, the rest being up to the freighter's own armaments.

For her part, Ruby soon found herself coming down from the momentary high produced by the excess Aura that Jaune had flooded through her. Her Aura-levels returned to normal, though not completely depleted. Mental fatigue soon rushed in, and Ruby found herself swaying as well, though she managed to maintain consciousness and knew she'd be able to fight, albeit in a reduced capacity, if she needed to.

She was lucid enough to hand off responsibility to the commander of the soldiers and androids that rappelled down from one of the warships hovering above, the Atlesian forces not only reinforcing the freighter's defenses, but also taking charge of cleaning up what remained of the pirates. Out of the uncounted number that had assaulted the ship, only a scant handful had survived. Ruby found herself wondering just how well her three friends would deal with the fact that they had ended lives this day. At the moment, exhaustion, both mental and physical, kept them from having to deal with that. However, once they recovered, the weight of their deeds would settle in again. Ruby just hoped she was able to help them deal with it.

But that was for later. In the now, they had additional support, all but ensuring that they would make it to port intact. Their mission had been successful, and Weiss' father would be satisfied...hopefully. The freighter's own security cameras had captured the battle in nearly its entirety, while the warships' sensors had picked up the signs of the _Schneller Geist_'s destruction, confirming that the pirates would no longer be a problem for the SDC's ships.

For now, at least, they could all rest, secure in the knowledge that they had succeeded.

* * *

**Salem: channeling the wisdom of my favorite fictional character of all time...**

**Aside from that, though it isn't directly stated, the presence of the Seer hidden on her ship was what allowed Morgan to carry out her raids without needing to worry about wild Grimm butting in.**

**By the way, _ Schneller Geist_ is the original German name for a monster that supposedly menaced the skies of New England, up through the early 20th Century, which is better known by the mangled, American version of the name, Snallygaster. The original German name means "Quick Spirit", and it was notorious for being an aggressive monster that even attacked people and drank their blood. For those of you curious about that, there is a book on the subject available through most digital platforms, and it is briefly described in the _Lore_ Podcast, Episode 69.**


	78. Chapter 78

**Chapter 78:**

_Day 3:_

"Well...that's unfortunate," deadpanned Blake, watching the Paladins pry themselves free of the rubble with a flat look.

"Tell me about it," grumbled Qrow, under his breath.

The situation was bad enough on the surface. Just _one_ Paladin had given both RASP and RYNB trouble. Now, RYNB and CPPR were facing down _three_. On top of that, the students and Qrow were battered and worn from the explosive shockwave unleashed by the train's destruction. Some, like Ren and Rain, were clearly on their last legs, while the rest of them were a long ways from the top of their game.

It looked to be a losing proposition, until...

"Uh...I think we might be okay," said Nora, a smile appearing on her face as she watched the first of the three Paladins struggle out from beneath the rubble that now filled the tunnel.

The others could see what she meant. The first Paladin to fully emerge had clearly not escaped unscathed. In fact, it seemed barely operational. The mech's left arm was completely gone, having apparently been torn off, either shredded by the explosion or trapped by the literal mountain of stone that had dropped onto the machine. Its right arm wasn't in much better shape, the barrel of its cannon warped and crushed, like an empty soda can. The limb's movements were jerky, accompanied by the sound of straining servos. The forearm section twitched, the pilot apparently attempting to shift the limb to its close-combat configuration, only to find the arm too damaged to properly make the transition. As the Paladin lumbered away from the rubble, it moved with a limping gait, its right leg unable to articulate to properly step forward.

It quickly became clear that the other two were in a similar state, their motions lurching and unbalanced, limbs mangled. They had all lost their missile pods, the protruding structures having been especially exposed to the worst of the impact of both the explosion and the tunnel collapse, with the pilots fortunate that the destruction of said pods hadn't set off the missiles within, which would have likely wrought even more catastrophic damage on their machines. Of the three of them, only one of the Paladins had a single working cannon. The third one had already been in its full close-combat configuration, but one of its arms was slow to respond, and trailing sparks with each movement. Their chassis were dented and deformed, plates splitting in some places.

"We might have a chance after all," noted Piper.

"Well...let's not give 'em a chance to get their bearings," said Qrow, hefting his sword. "Take 'em fast. I'll get the one on the right." He immediately charged, angling towards the Paladin in question, the only one with a gun intact.

Yang sighted on the center one. "I've got enough in the tank to polish off our first contender," she declared.

"We'll...cover you," wheezed Ren, forcing himself to his feet. He wasn't in shape to fight by a long shot, but he could at least pepper the Paladin with his guns. Nora stepped up beside him, leveling Magnhild, in its grenade-launcher-mode, at the mech. Blake equipped her pistol, though she, like Ren, knew her weapon wouldn't do much harm.

"We'll take the last one then," declared Ciel, looking to Penny and trading a nod with her, before looking to Piper. "How are your reserves?"

Piper, who'd taken her weapon back from Penny, was already in the process of reloading it. Holding up her hands, she displayed eight small gravity-Dust crystals, one neatly balanced on the tip of each gloved finger. The orbs moved to hover above her fingers. A single hole irised open at the bottom of each orb, and the Dust crystals shot up into each orb, as though drawn by some kind of vacuum.

"Good to go," Piper declared. "I'm on my second-to-last batch, though, so we need to make this count."

Ciel nodded, looking to her boyfriend. "Rain?"

"I don't really have much left," Rain admitted, shrugging his shoulders and working his arms. "But I'll keep you covered."

Ciel nodded, and looked to Penny and Piper. "Lancer formation, then."

"Affirmative!" declared Penny, grinning.

"Here I go!" declared Yang, slamming her gauntlets together. Her entire body flashed, a wave of golden flame enveloping her form.

Though Yang had expended a good bit of the power accumulated by her Semblance to hold off the explosion earlier, the remnants of the shockwave had built that expended power back up again. Granted, it had come at the cost of wearing down Yang's Aura almost to the point of complete depletion, to the point where her Aura reserves were currently resting in the red. But, until her Semblance ran out, she would be able to fight even _better_ than she would at her normal level.

Of course, she was currently running on borrowed time, so Yang had to make every second count. Not wasting any time on hesitation, she set off after her uncle, charging the center of the three Paladins, the one probably most-mangled by the explosion and collapse.

Meanwhile, the Paladin on the right responded to Qrow's approach by leveling the barrel of its working gun at him. There was a flash from within. However, instead of sending a bolt of energy lancing out at the incoming Huntsman, the flash of energy instead emitted from the back, near the cannon's action, exploding and shattering the gun, right where it met the Paladin's elbow joint, the remnants of the weapon sent tumbling away by the explosion.

Not waiting for his opponent to come to grips with what had just happened to his machine, Qrow took to the air. As he did, his weapon transitioned to its scythe-mode. Holding the weapon in both hands, so that its shaft was pressed up against the small of his back, Qrow triggered the shotguns built into the weapon's head, the barrels pointing opposite the blade, their recoil sending him into a rapid spin, until both man and weapon were nothing more than a blur.

The Paladin responded by trying to counter with its other, more-intact arm, swinging a metal fist up to meet Qrow. However, the arm's movements were halting and lethargic, not even amounting to a proper swing. So Qrow flashed by, transferring the momentum of his spin into a single, powerful slash, cleaving all the way through the hull...and the pilot within the mech. The Paladin's chassis split in two along a diagonal line, the top half sliding off, before the bottom section toppled over in the opposite direction.

Yang charged right in at her target. The Paladin's pilot clearly saw Yang approach. However, its response was sluggish, which wasn't helped when the rest of RYNB opened fire. It jolted as it was riddled with shots, the explosions of Nora's grenades being particularly disruptive. As things were, it was completely helpless when Yang closed in with a roar, slamming one glowing fist dead center into its chassis. The entire mech shattered into pieces, its pilot spilling out amidst the wreckage, unconscious.

In contrast, none of Team CPPR moved from their original location. Ciel raised her left arm, the blade of her pata sword splitting down the center, separating into two parallel tines. Reaching behind her, Ciel produced a single heavy-caliber rifle bullet, which she loaded into the indentation behind her knuckles, near the base of what had been her weapon's blade, then tapped the screen of her watch, the face turning yellow. With a low hum, the edges of the tines of Ciel's weapon began to shine yellow, crackling arcs of electricity jumping between them, while running from the base to the tip.

Then Penny joined her, standing with her right shoulder pressed to Ciel's left, using her right hand to steady Ciel's left arm, helping her aim. At the same time, Penny's swords deployed once more, transforming into their gun-modes, and whirling around in that familiar, cylindrical formation. This time, their revolutions were centered around the crackling tines of Ciel's weapon, the electricity taking on a greenish tinge, while an orb of emerald energy gathered at the base of Ciel's blade.

Piper stepped up behind the pair, directing her own weapon, the eight orbs assembling ahead of Penny's guns, within the circumference described by their formation, before revolving in the direction opposite Penny's blades. A cylindrical field of ebony energy enshrouded the tines of Ciel's weapon, and the energy-sphere Penny had produced, condensing it down until it was no longer a crackling orb, but almost a solid marble of green energy, while the gravity-field produced by Piper's weapon extended out ahead of Ciel's, almost like the barrel of a large gun.

Meanwhile, Rain stood to one side, shield at the ready, prepared to intercept any attacks that came the girls' way, though he probably needn't have bothered. As badly damaged as it was, their target Paladin was in no shape to retaliate from its current distance. It tried to approach them, but couldn't manage more than a few hobbling steps before the three girls were ready to fire.

The buzz and hum of Ciel's railgun rapidly increased in intensity and pitch. Then, with a shriek of splitting air, the bullet raced out, piercing through the center of the energy-sphere created by Penny, which seemed to be pulled into the bullet itself as it passed through. As the bullet continued to accelerate down the tines of Ciel's weapon, it also drew in the gravitational energy produced by Piper's orbs, forming an ebony core within a green streak of light, which lanced out at blinding speed, the shockwave of its passage throwing up dust along the ground as it raced towards its target.

There was no chance for the unfortunate Paladin to evade, and CPPR's shot struck it dead-center. The Paladin's entire chassis detonated with a loud roar, shattering into even smaller fragments than the one that Yang had destroyed. The shot continued on to pierce into the pile of rubble behind it, boring a hole several meters deep in the pile of rubble filling the tunnel ahead of them. All that was left of the Paladin was a pair of legs, which slowly toppled over, landing with a loud clang.

"Damn!" exclaimed Yang, staring at the aftermath of CPPR's attack. "That's kinda overkill, don't you think?" Part of her balked at the realization that there was nothing left of that Paladin's pilot either. But, then again, Qrow had killed the pilot of his Paladin as well.

"Some things are best not left to chance," said Ciel, lowering her arm, and retracting her weapon. "Given the information the General supplied us, it is best not to underestimate even the prototype Paladins."

"Besides, it's nice to do something flashy, once in a while," declared Piper, grinning exultantly as she held up her right hand, first two fingers extended and spread in a victory pose. "I love Lancer Formation! It's my favorite combo-attack."

"It _is_ really cool," agreed Nora.

"Well...cool or not, we've got other things to worry about," said Qrow, looking back down the way they'd come, towards Mountain Glenn and the White Fang encampment. "We stopped the attack. Now we've got to deal with the White Fang we left behind."

Retracting her weapon, Ciel checked her watch. "We still have a little over half an hour until the General and his forces are scheduled to attack."

"So the question is what prompted the White Fang to go ahead with their attack ahead of schedule," said Ren, "seeing as it's unlikely that we were the ones who tripped the alarm."

"I wouldn't have put it past Jimmy to jump the gun," grumbled Qrow.

"I don't believe the General would do that," Ciel asserted.

Ren folded his arms. "The way I see it, we have two options. We can either wait here, either for the General's forces or the White Fang, or we can return the way we came, and see for ourselves just what the situation is."

"Assuming we don't run into the White Fang on the way back," said Blake dourly. "Whatever happened back at the camp, I very much doubt that _that_..." She gestured to the pile of smoldering rubble and the three wrecked Paladins. "...went unnoticed. The White Fang would, at the very least, send someone to investigate."

"Well...I'm all for heading back," said Yang. "I really don't want to get bottled up back here."

Perhaps they could use some of the rubble to fortify their position and hold out. But it was all too likely that the White Fang might use explosives to either bring more of the tunnel down, right on top of them, or trap them on both sides, something none of them wanted to contend with.

"I agree," said Piper. "We'll have a better chance of fighting our way free. Besides, that'll enable us to meet up with the General's forces."

"Well...we're still in pretty rough shape," Nora pointed out. "I don't know about the rest of you...but I could use a nap."

Nora's teammates stared at her in shock. "Things _must_ be bad, if you're saying that," Blake noted.

"What?" asked Nora innocently. "I get sleepy too."

"We _are_ a long ways from fighting trim," noted Rain.

The members of RYNB exchanged looks, then nodded. In unison, they used Suppression, closing off their Auras completely.

The members of CPPR stared at RYNB in confusion. They weren't able to sense exactly what RYNB had done, but had noticed that strange fading sensation, as the four Beacon students' Auras vanished.

"What did you just do?" asked Ciel.

"It's a trick my sister taught us," explained Yang. "We basically closed off our Auras. That means that we're basically as vulnerable as someone without an unlocked Aura right now, but it boosts the rate our Auras recover at. So, if we keep this going, while we head up the tunnel, we'll be able to recover some extra Aura, which'll help us, when the fighting starts again."

Ciel exchanged looks with her teammates. "We will need to look into this matter, after the mission is over."

"I'm sure that Ruby would be happy to give you all pointers," said Nora, grinning broadly.

"Well...let's head out," said Qrow, knowing full well what his niece was teaching her peers. He'd already gotten the skinny on where she'd picked up that trick.

They set off, walking as quickly as they could, which was surprisingly quick, considering all that they'd been through. As they did, their attention turned to Penny, the gray splotches of metal still visible through the torn patches of her skin.

"So...shall we address the Goliath in the tunnel?" asked Rain.

"Um...I...really shouldn't say," said Penny, averting her eyes, her manner slightly guilty.

As she walked, Piper reached up, brushing a finger across the patch of metal visible on Penny's cheek. "It's too extensive to be a regular prosthetic," Piper noted. "Penny...what is this?"

"That's enough," said Ciel firmly, prompting surprised looks from everyone else. "We shouldn't pry."

"You don't want to know?" asked Piper, looking a Ciel skeptically.

"I'll admit to being curious," said Ciel. "However, it _does_ explain why the General has been keeping Ms. Penny close, and has limited her interactions with the rest of us before. That means that Ms. Penny is not permitted to answer your question."

"That does make sense," noted Rain. "Very well...we shall not pry."

"Uh...I kinda still want to know," said Nora, raising a hand.

"If Penny doesn't wish to answer, and if answering is likely to get her in trouble with Ironwood, then it's best we not press the matter," said Ren.

"Fiiiiiiine..." groaned Yang and Piper in reluctant unison, prompting a smirk from Blake.

Penny looked down, watching the tracks as they passed, her eyes darting back and forth for a moment. "I'll tell you," she said finally.

"Are you sure, Ma'am?" asked Ciel worriedly. "The General probably wouldn't approve."

"At this point, we've been doin' quite a few things Jimmy might not approve of," commented Qrow, idly folding his arms behind his head as he walked.

The others nodded, remembering that this entire operation had been…unsanctioned…as they hadn't had the time to get approval from Ironwood beforehand. Of course, given the nature of the situation, that was understandable.

"At this point, it's probably just best to just tell you," said Penny forlornly. "I don't think the General would be able to keep you in the dark, with what you've seen now."

"So what's the deal then?" asked Piper.

"Well...I'm not human...not really," said Penny.

She explained the truth of her nature as the world's first, and only, Aura-producing android. The others listened raptly, amazed by the revelation. Once Penny finished explaining, she trailed off into an uneasy silence as she waited for the others to process what she revealed.

Nora was the first. "Wow! That is totally _awesome_!"

"Huh?" Penny blinked, staring at Nora in confusion.

"Well...it really _is_ cool isn't it?" Nora pointed out, grinning. "I mean, you've got super-strength, and those ultra-cool weapons. As far as I'm concerned, you're the bee's knees."

"Um...thanks," said Penny, shocked that someone could accept her so easily.

"It explains a few things," said Blake, "like how you knew the alarm had been raised at the encampment, and how you heard the train coming well before the rest of us."

Penny nodded silently.

"I've just got one question," said Yang.

"Yes?" said Penny, looking to her.

"Does Ruby know?"

Penny nodded. "Ruby was able to figure it out one her own," she explained. "She said she couldn't sense the typical signs of life from me, even though I have an Aura."

"Sounds like the kinda thing our Rosebud would notice," said Qrow, a wry smile on his face. _She was able to sense that Cinder had stolen the Maiden's power. Compared to that, sensing that something was off with this girl would be a cakewalk for her._

"And she's okay with it?" asked Yang.

"Yes," said Penny, smiling at the memory. "She said it doesn't matter that I'm made of metal, instead of squishy guts."

"That _does_ sound like the kind of thing Ruby would say," mused Ren with a small smile on his own.

"Well, I'm down with this," said Yang, grinning and gently clapping Penny on the shoulder.

"Thank you," said Penny, her anxiety lessening, though the greater part of her reservations remained as she awaited to reaction of her own teammates.

Piper frowned and hummed. "Well...I can kinda see why this would be a big secret," she said, before her expression turned slightly angry. "But still...we're your teammates, so we should've been told, at least."

"I'm sorry," said Penny, ducking her head.

Piper gave Penny a small smile. "I'm not mad at you," she said. "I'm mad at the General. Being an effective team is based on trust, and it feels like he...uh...forced you to..._not_ trust us. That's the kind of thing that can cause serious problems...like say, if you're damaged on a mission, and we suddenly see that you ain't sporting flesh and blood beneath that skin." Her smile turned rueful.

"I suppose that's true," Penny admitted.

"Well, I cannot fault you for anything," said Rain, smiling kindly at her. "I agree with Piper's view on General Ironwood's decision to force you to keep this secret from us, but none of that is on you."

"Thank you," said Penny, her voice heavy with relief, before she turned her gaze to her partner. "Ciel...?"

Ciel stared stoically ahead. "I don't have anything to add," she said simply.

"You...don't?" asked Penny, tilting her head.

Ciel turned to look at Penny, her expression firm and businesslike. "This information changes nothing. I am still responsible for you, when you are not under General Ironwood's supervision. Most importantly, you are still my assigned partner, both on and off the battlefield. None of that has changed." Ciel then allowed her lips to curl up in the smallest of smiles, prompting a wave of relief to rush through Penny.

"Thank you," said Penny earnestly.

"Wow, you've really loosened up on this trip, Boss," commented Piper with a wry grin.

"I blame it on the company," said Ciel, flashing a small smirk over at the members of RYNB, prompting a chortle from Yang and Nora, while Blake smirked back.

"Good that you've all cleared the air," commented Qrow. "That's gonna make this walk a whole lot less awkward."

* * *

Their journey continued for a while longer. The entire group lapsed into a comfortable, if wary, silence. They didn't have much to say, and wanted to make sure that they weren't caught off-guard by any attacks. However, as the minutes passed, the strangeness set in anew, as there were no signs of any White Fang soldiers coming down the tunnel to investigate the cataclysmic commotion that RYNB and CPPR had caused.

"This feels weird," Yang commented.

"Could they have been wiped out?" wondered Piper. "I mean, _something_ raised the alarm, which means that they might've been attacked. If that's the case, and no one's coming to see what we did, then maybe that means there's no one _left_ to investigate."

Blake's stride faltered, a yawning abyss opening up in the pit of her stomach as the impact of Piper's words sank in. _What if they were wiped out?_ she wondered. _What if Ilia...?_

"Take it easy," said Yang, resting a comforting hand on Blake's shoulder. "We'll find out what happened, sooner or later."

Blake nodded uneasily. Despite Yang's words, Blake couldn't quite keep from worrying about the fate her old friend.

Then Penny came to an abrupt halt, holding up a hand to forestall any further movement. "Someone is approaching," she declared, using that strangely flat, serious tone she'd used when she'd announced the alarm had been raised earlier. "I'm picking up two contacts."

"Thanks for the head's up," said Yang.

"See, I told you this is cool!" said Nora excitedly. "I bet she totally has radar built in."

"I do," confirmed Penny, beaming at the excited squeal that came from Nora.

"Nora, please focus," said Ren tiredly.

"Oh...right, possible bad guys coming," said Nora, perking up.

They quickly drew their weapons. RYNB ended their Suppression, bringing up their Temper once more. They arrayed themselves ahead of CPPR, with Penny joining them on the front line, planning to use their more-recovered Auras to fend off whatever attacked.

"What else can you tell us?" asked Yang, opening up Ember Celica, and taking up her stance.

"The contacts are staggered," said Penny. "One is ahead of the other. I'm not sure, but it seems as though the one in front is being pursued."

"Weird..." muttered Piper.

Another couple of minutes later, they heard the sound of heavy footfalls, the sound of someone quite bulky running. After a few more seconds, that sound was joined the sound of panting breaths. From the darkness, a familiar burly, masked figure appeared, jogging down the tunnel towards them. Hefted in his right hand, so that its motor rested on his shoulder, was a massive chainsaw. When he saw them, the man came to a stop, bringing the weapon down and holding it at the ready, the engine revving with a menacing buzz.

"Meinrad?" said Blake, her eyes widening at the sight of Adam's lieutenant coming towards them.

"You..." growled Meinraid, rage palpable in his voice. "I should have known it was you. You brought this upon us!"

"Brought what?" asked Blake worriedly. "What happened?"

"You...are the reason they're all dead," growled Meinrad. "All your brothers and sisters...you led their death right to them."

"They're dead...?" gasped Blake, horrified, thinking of all the faunus they'd seen in the encampment. "All of them...?" Ilia's face flashed through her mind, and Blake felt as though she was about to throw up.

"You..." Meinrad began, before his voice tapered off. "You..."

"Uh...what's his deal?" asked Yang.

She got her answer a second later...when blood erupted from Meinrad's body, suddenly revealing him to be sliced into several pieces vertically, as though he'd been diced by an invisible knife. His chainsaw was not spared the treatment, fragments of its chain flung away as the blade and engine were sliced through just as cleanly.

Nora screamed.

Blake dropped to her knees, her expression horrified and vacant.

Yang's arms went slack.

The members of CPPR all reacted with varying degrees of shock and confusion, though their response was more wary, as they looked for any sign of the attack that had killed Meinrad. In the meantime, Ren turned to comfort Nora.

"Uh oh," muttered Qrow.

"You know what that was?" asked Yang, looking to her uncle.

"I've got a pretty good idea," said Qrow, his throat bobbing as he swallowed, "mainly because I was on the receiving end of that, once upon a time."

"What?" gasped Yang.

Qrow favored Yang with a shaky smile. "Well...remember what I told you about where Ruby's been the past few years?"

"Yeah?" said Yang, her eyes widening. "You don't mean...?"

"I _was_ wondering where the Grimm went," continued Qrow, looking down the tunnel. "Guess we know now."

In the silence that followed Meinrad's abrupt demise, the sound of sandals scraping on the floor could be heard. A moment later, a figure in a black kimono melted out of the darkness, his red eyes faintly luminous in the low light of the tunnel.

"Well now," said Demon Eyes Kyo, smiling as he regarded the group in front of him. "I thought there was someone else down this way. I never imagined that we would meet like this, Branwen-san."

"Hey there, pal," said Qrow, one eyelid twitching. "Been awhile. At least we know what the hubbub was about, now."

"Uh...who is this?" asked Nora, she, and everyone else, looking back and forth between Kyo and Qrow. "You _know_ him?"

"Yep," said Qrow, his voice dry. "Kids, meet Kyo, Ruby's big brother."

* * *

Ashley sat back and stretched, yawning widely.

"It isn't even noon yet," Elowen admonished her, giving her daughter a wry smile over the top of her book. "It's far too early for you to be yawning like that. And you slept in to boot."

"Can you blame me?" asked Ashley, staring down at the latest packet of work her school had sent her. "I mean, anybody would start yawning, having to just read all this stuff, then answer a bunch of questions about it. Besides, just hanging around in this room all the time is making me sleepy."

Elowen's smile twitched a little. "Well, you're not wrong," she said with a sigh.

Even if it was for the most benign of reasons, their quarters at Beacon were little more than a prison, a gilded cage. There were perfectly valid reasons as to why they couldn't go out without supervision. But that didn't make being stuck in this same room for most of the day, every day, any less of a tedious affair. Before, they'd at least had the semi-regular visits of Ruby and her friends to look forward to, not to mention those times said friends would escort them outside, just so they could enjoy a change of scenery. But now that RASP and RYNB had both left on their respective missions, there was little reason for them to be about. As pleasant as they were, the faculty members of Beacon weren't as engaging company as Ruby and her friends were.

The high point of the week, so far, had been the interview. Lisa Lavender and her crew had arrived, escorted by Glynda, to take Ashley's statement about what she had been through at the hands of the White Fang. Ashley had given them everything, telling them about her forced induction, Chrys' death, and Adam's attempt on her life, which had also been a trap for Ruby. Her parents had added their own experience, about how they'd been held hostage in their own home, to be killed if Adam had failed to kill Ruby and/or Ashley.

It was the kind of story that would utterly _destroy_ the White Fang's credibility as a faunus-rights organization. Of course, the backlash would be intense, which made Ashley a little glad that she and her family were already under Beacon's protection.

Ashley stretched again, popping the joints in her back, preparing to knuckle back down and focus on her work. Despite their situation, her mother had insisted upon at least _some_ kind of work ethic, namely that Ashley was required to complete a certain number of assignments each day, before she was permitted to do much else, like watch shows on the holoscreen, or play games on her scroll. It wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world, but it was fair, Ashley supposed.

Unfortunately, schoolwork was still just so boring. The fact that she was, technically, free to complete it at her own pace only served as an incentive to put it off to deal with, until later. It didn't help that the couch Ashley was currently sitting on, as she worked, also doubled as her bed, where she slept every night, while her parents slept in the sole bedroom of the suite. The impulse to just stretch out and nap the day away was compelling, not helped by this presently lethargic lifestyle of theirs.

After a few more minutes of work, Ashley found herself distracted by a sound that had the hairs of her neck standing on end, the sound of someone knocking on the door to their room.

She wasn't the only one. At the first knock, Elowen sat bolt-upright, the book in her hands tumbling to the floor. In the kitchen, they heard something clatter as it was dropped, before Oliver peaked his head out, all of them looking at the door with unusual intensity.

Slowly, Ashley got to her feet, setting down her pencil. With one hand, she motioned her parents to get back, Elowen and Oliver falling back towards the bedroom. With her other, she drew out her scroll, already paging down through her contacts, and selecting one. Reaching the door, Ashley, swallowed, before speaking up. "Hello?"

"Hi!" chirped a familiar voice. "It's me, Ashley. You gonna let me in?"

Looking through the peephole, Ashley was greeted by the sight of a familiar head of black hair, with red tips, and silver eyes. The sight of Ruby Rose beaming at her through the door should have been reassuring. But it only served to put Ashley's nerves even _more_ on-edge.

"Weren't you supposed to be on a mission?" asked Ashley, trying to make it sound like a friendly query, rather than a suspicious one.

There was a distinct pause, before Ruby answered. "Yeah, but we finished up early, so we got to come back right away. Is something wrong, Ashley? Aren't you gonna let me in?"

"Just a moment," Ashley said quickly. "It's a mess in here. Let me get things cleaned up."

Stepping back away from the door, Ashley pulled back out of range, holding her scroll up to her ear. The person she'd called had already answered.

"_Ms. Forrest?_" inquired Glynda Goodwitch. "_Is something wrong?_"

"Professor...Ruby's still out on a mission, isn't she?"

"_She is indeed,_" replied Glynda crisply. "_Ms. Forrest, such inquiries are understandable, but now is not the time. I am in the middle of a very important meeting, right now-_"

"But I'm seeing Ruby outside our door, right now," said Ashley, talking over Glynda, silencing the woman on the other end. "And she knocked without calling."

"_I see,_" said Glynda, her tone much more tense. "_I will have help to you momentarily. In the meantime, you and your parents will take the agreed-upon actions._"

"A-all right," said Ashley.

"_We will have help to you as soon as humanly possible,_" assured Glynda. "_I am on my way now._"

"All right," said Ashley.

"_Stay on the line with me, and keep me appraised of the situation,_" instructed Glynda.

Ashley nodded, forgetting that Glynda couldn't see her do so, and darted into the bedroom, where her parents were already waiting.

* * *

"Something's wrong," muttered Emerald, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Give it time," said Mercury casually, the two of them standing in the empty hallway, right before the door that led into the Forrest Family's suite. "They're probably making things presentable. Don't want to be caught messing up the place when you're a guest, right?"

"It feels like she's stalling," grumbled Emerald.

"Well, doesn't your Semblance help to figure that out?" asked Mercury.

"It's hard to do, if I can't get direct line-of-sight," replied Emerald, glaring at her companion. "It was tough enough just getting her close enough to the door that I could use it on her. Even then, I can't really get anything from her, right now."

"Talk about useless," Mercury grumbled. "But still, there's no reason to worry. It's not like they have any reason to expect someone coming after them here, remember? As far as they know, they're safe, and away from the White Fang's reach."

"I don't think so," muttered Emerald.

She remembered watching their targets before, noting that the Forrest family spent very little time outside their suite, and never without someone escorting them. Sure, Beacon wasn't exactly the safest place in the world for regular civilians to be wandering around, so it made sense that the staff would want to make sure that the Forrests didn't wander into someplace where they could get hit by a stray round or a piece of debris. But the security measures that had been taken on their behalf went above and beyond that, like they were _expecting_ that the Forrests might be attacked, despite supposedly being safe at Beacon.

"Well, what do you want to do then?" asked Mercury. "I can break down the door easily enough. But that makes things noisy. You wanna try popping the locks?"

Emerald frowned. That was a last resort. Sure, it would be quieter than Mercury kicking the door in, but only initially. Focusing on the locks would keep Emerald from being able to use her Semblance until after the door was open, at which point, there was every chance that any one of her targets could yell or scream. Using her Semblance on one person required pretty intense concentration. Using it on two at once left her with a persistent migraine afterwards. Using it on three people was all but impossible, and Emerald was liable to knock herself out trying. That being the case, her working the lock was only slightly less-noisy than straight up forcing an entry.

Leaning in, Emerald pressed her ear to the door, listening for any signs that Ashley was following through on her claim of cleaning things up. But she couldn't hear anything. Of course, that didn't necessarily mean that Ashley wasn't still working on making the suite presentable. She just might not have needed to do anything particularly noisy. However, with things being what they were, it only made Emerald all the more paranoid.

Pulling back, she looked to Mercury. "I'm calling it off," she said.

"What!?" Mercury explained, before catching Emerald's warning glare, a silent reminder to keep things down. They weren't supposed to be here, after all.

"They didn't take the bait," Emerald decided. "And I'm willing to bet she called Goodwitch, or someone else. We've been compromised. I know Cinder won't be happy if we can't off these three, but she'll be even _more_ pissed if we blow our cover."

"Well...you're not wrong," said Mercury, groaning in resignation. "Fine. Let's bail. But _you're_ the one who's gonna have to explain this to Cinder."

"Fine by me," said Emerald, already setting off down the hall. Mercury quickly moved to follow her.

Just as they were about to reach the corner, which would take them to the stairs they would take to exit, they heard the sound of heavy footsteps thudding on the carpet. Smacking her arm against Mercury's chest, Emerald forced him back against the wall as a familiar portly figure barreled around the corner, nearly slamming right into them.

Emerald's eyes narrowed and she immediately went to work, activating her Semblance as fast as she could. She made it just in time. Port might have caught a flash of...something...in his peripheral vision. But by the time he whipped his head around to confirm, Emerald had already worked her way inside his head, showing him an image of an empty hallway, while she and Mercury schooled their breathing to near complete silence, pressing back as far away from him as the wall at their backs would allow.

Fortunately, Port was in such a hurry that he didn't bother to spend more than a second checking. After that, he resumed his run down the hallway, heading right for the Forrest Family's door. In the meantime, Emerald and Mercury quickly ducked around the corner, allowing Emerald to release her Semblance. They peeked around, in order to see what happened next.

Sure enough, Port stopped right in front of the Forrest Family's door, confirming Emerald's suspicions that Ashley had been stalling, waiting for help to arrive. Then, to their surprise, Port pulled his scroll out, and held it up to his ear.

"Hello, Mrs. Forrest," he said, listening to the response. "This is Peter. I'm outside your door, right now. Is everyone all right?...Very good. Can you confirm that there is no one else in the apartment?...I see. If you're sure it's safe, then you can come out and open the door. Glynda is only a little bit behind me. Everything will be fine."

Emerald pulled back and exchanged nods with Mercury, the two of them making themselves scarce before Glynda Goodwitch arrived. Emerald didn't want to test her Semblance's speed against the much more careful Deputy Headmistress of Beacon, so it was best they were gone before she got there.

* * *

Glynda was a mere two minutes behind Port. She arrived to find the Forrests, scared, but unharmed. Ashely was quick to explain what had happened, making Glynda glad for the precautions they had taken, their suspicions having been borne out. After confirming the family's safety, Glynda left Peter with them, and made her way back to Beacon Tower.

By this point, Ironwood and Oobleck had already left to carry out the operation against the White Fang in Mountain Glenn. Ironwood hadn't been happy to learn that the students were acting beyond the parameters of the assigned mission. However, once Oobleck had explained what was going on, Ironwood had proven much more understanding, even if he was leery about trusting the word of an active White Fang member. But that was an issue for another time.

"I see," said Ozpin, frowning over the desk at her, as Glynda made her report. "And you're certain it was not a false alarm?"

"I am," said Glynda firmly. "Granted, we found no signs of the ones who apparently tried to trick their way into the suite, but all three members of the Forrest family confirmed hearing the knocks, even though Ashley was the only one who saw Ruby outside the door."

"And yet..." Ozpin activated the interface built into his desk, bringing up a holographic image. Glynda immediately recognized the image, one of the security feed from the hallway that ran outside the family's suite.

"I'm guessing this is from the time the attempt was made," said Glynda.

"Correct," confirmed Ozpin. "As you can see, there is no one out there...no one visible, anyway."

"So you think they were either mistaken or lying?" asked Glynda.

"Actually...no," said Ozpin, his frown becoming a small smile. "On the contrary. I think that their testimony is extremely important in figuring out several things at once. I believe that someone _did_ indeed attempt entry into their suite. More importantly, this clarifies an important question."

"Which one?" asked Glynda.

Ozpin brought up several additional images, all of them camera feeds from the security cameras around the faculty quarters, including the main entryway and just outside. They were from the same period of time as the first feed. All of them showed...no one.

"Note the feeds with views of the outside," said Ozpin. "Do you see the angle of the shadows?"

"Yes," said Glynda, examining the visible shadows, cast by trees and lampposts in the courtyard outside. "The shadows indicate that this feed is from the afternoon, but it isn't even past noon yet."

"In other words, our camera feeds were hacked," said Ozpin. "The footage they were actually taking was instead substituted by a loop of earlier footage, footage that showed no one entering or leaving the building, or moving through its hallways.

"Therefore, in their attempt on the Forrest family's lives, our enemy has, in fact, played their hand. Ever since Saturday evening, we have been wondering just what Cinder Fall was up to, in the CCT. _Now_ we have an idea."

"She's done something to our systems," said Glynda, her eyes widening. "She's subverted control."

"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "In fact, I suspect that hijacking our security feeds is hardly the only thing she is capable of right now. Given the length of time between her entry and when Ms. Rose encountered her, I suspect she downloaded something onto the network."

"A virus," said Glynda. "This is a serious breach. That means that any information we have on the network, or even our communications, is something she will be privy to."

"Amongst other things, yes," agreed Ozpin. "It also gives her power to subvert control over our systems, including what we see and hear."

"So, it was Cinder who made the attempt," guessed Glynda.

"Most likely one of her associates," said Ozpin. "Given what we know about Ms. Fall, it is highly unlikely that illusions are amongst her repertoire."

Glynda nodded.

"And," continued Ozpin, bringing up other security feeds, "if we do things properly, then..."

He brought up a feed from earlier, before the attempt on the Forrest family. It showed Emerald and Mercury leaving their rooms in the guest dormitories, and making their way together down the hallway. Ozpin switched the feeds, which showed them moving across the campus, in the direction of the faculty quarters, following them across different cameras, until the point where they should have reached their destination, only for them to enter at the moment where the feeds of the faculty quarters were replaced by loops.

"So it _was_ those two," noted Glynda, frowning. "That seems remiss of them, that they would only bother to change the footage of the cameras around the faculty quarters themselves."

"Keep in mind that they have no reason to believe that we suspect them," said Ozpin, his smile widening. "They can't have realized that Ms. Rose sensed Autumn's magic within Cinder Fall, and figured out just what was going on."

"So this is absolute confirmation that Cinder Fall and her cohorts are working with the White Fang," said Glynda.

"Probably more accurate to say that, at the moment, the White Fang is working _for_ Ms. Fall," said Ozpin gravely.

"And now...we must figure out just how to respond," mused Glynda.

* * *

"This guy is Ruby's brother?" gasped Blake, staring at Kyo incredulously.

"I am," replied Kyo cheerfully. "In fact, I was hoping to visit her, so I was looking for a discreet entry point into Vale. I'm afraid that, unlike Sasame, I've never been all that good at incognito activities." He sheathed his sword, before scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin.

Blake glanced down at Meinrad, then up at Kyo. "You killed them," she said softly, "_all_ of them."

"Well, not all," said Kyo. "A few of them ran. Those I didn't bother with. I merely killed everyone who tried to kill me."

"Including Ilia?" pressed Blake. "Did you kill her?"

"Um..." Kyo canted his head to one side. "I don't know. I'm afraid I have no idea who that was."

"A girl with tanned skin," said Ren. "She wielded a whip-sword-type weapon."

"Hmm...Her?" Kyo pinched his chin, rolling his eyes up thoughtfully. "I _do_ remember her. It was a bit odd."

"Why?" asked Blake, tensing, her hand going for Gambol Shroud.

"Because I didn't get the chance to fight her at all," said Kyo. He gestured to Meinrad. "She was standing quite close to this fellow, I remember. However, the very moment he gave the order to attack, someone else attacked her from concealment. I believe she was knocked out and carried away. But I could only track them with my other senses, and I couldn't see them at all. On top of that, shortly after, I had...other...concerns."

"So someone knocked Ilia out and took her away...?" said Yang, eyes narrowing.

"Someone you couldn't see," said Ren.

"Neo," whispered Blake. "But why?"

Kyo shrugged. "I have no idea," he admitted. "I'm afraid I'm not so good that I can read my opponents' minds."

"Well, that's something we can worry about later," said Qrow. "The big question, right now, is what to do with you."

It was Penny who answered initially. "I believe we are required to take him into custody," she said. "Demon Eyes Kyo has several high-profile bounties throughout all four Kingdoms." She immediately deployed her swords.

"Hang on-!" Yang began to protest.

"_Stop!_"

To everyone's surprise, the shouted order came from Ciel, who immediately grasped Penny by the arm, before she could begin to attack. Given Penny's immense strength, Ciel could have very easily simply been dragged along by the android. However, Penny stopped herself, upon feeling the contact of Ciel's fingers against her arm.

"Ciel?" asked Penny, glancing at her partner.

"Do not attempt anything against him," said Ciel gravely.

"But-" Penny began to protest.

"If you do, you will _not_ survive," said Ciel firmly. "General Ironwood himself classified Kyo as above S-Class. No one below Senior Specialist rank would even be permitted to _try_ and take him in."

"Uh...What?" Yang blinked, looking to Qrow.

"Well, that's Jimmy's way of trying to keep the bodycount down," said Qrow. "S-Rank bounties are darn rare already. Someone above _that_ is pretty much untouchable, no matter how much money you throw into the bounty. Truth be told, even Senior Specialists would balk at taking a run at him."

"At him...?" Nora threw a dubious look at Kyo, who smiled politely and waved.

"You're gonna have to see the aftermath of what he left in that White Fang encampment to understand," growled Qrow. He glanced meaningfully down at Meinrad's corpse. "I know, first-hand, just what a monster he is."

"Wait! This is the guy who beat you, six years ago?" asked Yang, staring at Kyo.

"Yep," admitted Qrow readily. "Trust me, Firecracker, he's way out of our league. Let's just consider it lucky that he did the heavy lifting for us. Ironwood won't be too happy about so many corpses, but there's no helping it now."

Blake threw a bitter glare Kyo's way. Even if she had parted ways with the White Fang, she still regarded the organization in general as one with good intentions, even if they had lost their way, particularly in the case of the Vale Branch. But Kyo had slaughtered nearly all of them, yet betrayed no signs of remorse.

"At least we don't have to worry about fighting our way out of this tunnel," said Ren, finding the silver lining. "We should head back."

"True," said Qrow. "If Kyo's here, we don't have to worry about the Grimm either."

"So the rumors _are_ true," said Rain, staring at Kyo with wide eyes.

"You mean about him scaring off all the Grimm?" asked Nora.

"You know about that?" asked Piper, staring at the members of RYNB.

"Ruby told us," said Yang. "Kyo's her adopted brother, after all."

"We had heard as much about the investigations into him," said Ciel. "Investigators rarely found a trace of information about his whereabouts, as the settlements he visited almost never reported him in any fashion. When someone _did_ investigate, they wound up hearing whispers that Kyo's arrival at any location signaled a period free from any Grimm incursion.

"Most of the higher-ups in the military believe that to be impossible. They believe that Kyo's arrival coincidentally coincided with a decline in localized Grimm activity in a few locations, and the members of the settlements, not knowing any better, credited him for it, and the reputation stuck." She swallowed. "But you're all saying that this is true."

"According to Ruby, yep," said Yang, folding her arms. "Though, I think we've had a pretty good demonstration of it during our mission, haven't we?"

"It _is_ true," noted Rain. "When we first arrived, Mountain Glenn was crawling with Grimm. But, ever since yesterday, there has not been a single one to be found."

"Yesterday would be the time I arrived in the vicinity," said Kyo.

"So...now what?" asked Ren, looking to Qrow.

Qrow sighed, running a hand through his messy hair. "Well, we head back out, and meet up with Jimmy's forces." He looked at Kyo. "If we're lucky, they haven't closed in yet. If they have...things could get a bit messy."

They continued walking down the tunnel. Their journey was in relative silence. However, as they approached the tunnel mouth, they began to hear the sounds of frantic activity.

"The General's forces are there," said Penny.

"Uh..." Everyone glanced uneasily at Kyo, who looked completely unbothered by the situation.

"No point in trying to hide him back there," said Qrow, glancing into the darkness behind them. "James is gonna search the tunnel anyway." He sighed. "Might as well get this over with. Hopefully, we don't wind up with another pile of corpses on our hands."

They continued out, stepping into the larger cavern. Indeed, Ironwood's forces were already there, soldiers mingling with Knight-class androids, cataloguing crates of munitions and Dust, inspecting the remaining Paladins, which looked to have been sliced to pieces...and gathering up the remains of the White Fang soldiers that had met their ends at the edge of Kyo's sword. None of the students could keep from blanching, or their stomachs from roiling, as a Knight marched past, a severed head held in its hands.

The entire encampment had been turned into a charnel house. The corpses of slain faunus were strewn about, many of them in multiple pieces. Even the imposing figures of the Paladins had been reduced to so much scrap. The sight was enough to make the students turn uneasy eyes on Kyo once again.

"Halt!" snapped a firm and imperious voice, making the students jump.

"Uh oh," grumbled Qrow.

Ironwood strode forward, followed by another squad of Knights, and a separate squad of soldiers. They all formed up beside him, training their rifles directly on Kyo. Ironwood reached into his jacket, pulling forth his revolver, and leveling it at Kyo as once.

"Demon Eyes Kyo, you are wanted for crimes against the states of Atlas and Vale," declared Ironwood, his eyes narrowed into a stony glare at the red-eyed man. "Surrender at once!"

* * *

**When it comes to Cinder's virus, I as a little disappointed in how I handled Ozpin and the others figuring it out, back when I wrote _Lost Rose_. So, this time, I wanted them to need more evidence to work with, before they figured out what Cinder had done.**


	79. Chapter 79

**Chapter 79:**

_Day 6:_

_Throughout my life, I lived within the cycle of life and death._

_Through my life, I lived through much death._

_Through living, I witnessed death, and was death to others._

_By stepping beyond life, I learned to see the cycle from without._

_By seeing and living the cycle, I came to know the One._

_To know the One is to touch the One._

_To touch the One is to obtain the power of the One._

_Touch the One and take It in._

_Make yourself the center._

_Call upon the One as thunder..._

And so it went...

Ruby stared at the scroll, a scroll she'd read so often that she'd practically memorized the words. However, just as she'd been told long ago, being able to read it was not the same thing as _understanding_ it. The words were cryptic and vague, nigh incomprehensible. Yet, somehow, within them was the clue, the key to learning the truth behind the technique she sought.

_What does it mean to live within the cycle of life and death?_ wondered Ruby. _I've lived through so many dangerous things, which must be what it means to live through death. And I've seen people die, and killed people myself. But how do you step beyond life? What does it mean to know the One? What _is_ the One, anyway?_

"Whatcha reading?" asked Jaune, leaning over her shoulder.

Ruby jumped with a yelp. "Jaune!" she shouted, turning around and glaring at him, though there wasn't much force behind it.

Jaune just laughed and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Normally, you'd already notice me. I guess I get to say I took the great Ruby's back for once, huh?"

Ruby blushed furiously and pouted at him, making Jaune laugh harder. _He looks a bit like Kyo-nii, when he rubs the back of his head like that,_ she noted, canting her head slightly. _Does that mean I prefer boys who are like my brother?...Nah. That sounds a little creepy._

Finished grinning and laughing, Jaune's expression softened to one of curiosity. "So what is it that's got you so entranced. I didn't think you were such a heavy reader."

"I'm not Blake," said Ruby, sighing. "But...I've been working on this for a long time."

"What is it?" asked Jaune.

Ruby showed him the scroll, letting him look over her shoulder as she unrolled it. There wasn't much to it. It was a fairly short work, consisting of a scant few lines of writing, accompanied by a few illustrations that were barely more than stick figures depicting stances and actions. Jaune looked at it, his gaze brushing over the kanji characters. "Yeah...I've got nothing," he said.

Ruby giggled. "I'm not surprised," she said. "This is Old Tongue, after all." She frowned, turning her attention back to the scroll. "This was a gift for my tenth birthday. It's a scroll that describes a really powerful technique. I've spent the last five-plus years trying to learn it."

"Five years...for _you_?" Jaune blinked in surprise. "Given who you are, I'd have figured that you would learn it pretty easily."

"Not everything is that easy," said Ruby with a sigh. "Of course, part of that time was spent simply learning the Old Tongue, and reading kanji. That was three years on its own."

"But, even though you can read it, you're still having trouble," noted Jaune.

"Yep," said Ruby frankly, staring dourly at the words. "From what my teachers told me, it's hard to learn techniques like this, mainly because you need to reach the same level and state of mind as the one who wrote it. Otherwise, the words just come off as gibberish."

"So...you're not there yet, huh?" asked Jaune.

"Nope," admitted Ruby, sighing.

"I'm surprised someone gave that to you for a birthday present," said Jaune.

Ruby smiled, recounting the story of how she'd come across the scroll with her friends, and how Dougal had arranged to have it, and several other such texts, transcribed as a present for her birthday. It was one of the most wonderful and thoughtful gifts that she'd ever received, only exceeded by her sword.

As she talked, Ruby unconsciously began to lean back. Before either of them had really noticed, she was leaning back against Jaune's chest, while he wrapped an arm around her midsection, resting his chin over her shoulder, the two of them leaning their heads together.

"What kind of technique is it?" asked Jaune.

"It's called the _Raikoken,_" said Ruby. "It's a technique that allows you to control lightning by channeling it into your sword."

"But...can't you do that already?" asked Jaune.

"Well...I can convert my Aura into electricity and harness it," said Ruby. "But that's not the same thing as lightning, at least...not where this technique is concerned."

"What's the difference?" asked Jaune.

"Controlling and wielding lightning is _more_ than just electricity," said Ruby. "It's supposed to be about commanding the raw power of nature itself."

"That sounds...pretty awesome," said Jaune, though he was having trouble wrapping his head around the conceptual difference. After all, lightning was just another kind of electricity, wasn't it?

Ruby giggled, and nuzzled her cheek against Jaune's. "It does," she agreed.

"Well...maybe if you talked it out," said Jaune. "I mean, since I'm here, you could just bounce ideas off of me."

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby, moving her eyes to glance his way.

"Sure," said Jaune, his hold on her tightening. "After everything you've done for me, the very least I can do is be your sounding board."

That made Ruby smile contentedly, and she turned her head to gaze out at the rippling expanse of blue that passed in front of them. It had barely been a day since their harrowing battle against the pirates. The Atlesian military vessels had stayed with them long enough to ensure that RASP and Winter recovered from the battle, before turning back towards Solitas.

Now that the expected danger was over, the mood across the ship was much more relaxed. The crew no longer went about their tasks with the tension of those expecting a messy demise. The captain no longer expressed doubt in, and subtle contempt for, those who had been tasked with protecting his vessel. For her part, Winter clearly no longer doubted Ruby's capability in battle...and appeared to be rethinking the capability of the Mibu, after seeing what one of them was capable of. Ruby admitted to being skilled and talented for her age, but also made it clear that she was a long ways from the peak of what the Mibu were capable of.

Now she and Jaune were leaning back against the wall of the upper deck, simply taking it easy, waiting for the ship to make it into port. Operationally speaking, nothing had changed. They were still on standby, in case an attacking Grimm made it past the ship's primary defenses. They continued to sleep in watches. But the relaxed atmosphere was a far cry from how things had been at the beginning of their voyage. Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha still practiced controlling their Auras under Ruby's eye. But now it was simply a way to stave off boredom and pass the time, rather than a means of keeping them from going crazy under the tension of an attack they knew was coming, but had no idea of when or how. It also served as a sort of therapy, a way to keep from dwelling too much on the lives they'd taken.

Ruby translated what the scroll said, speaking the words aloud for Jaune to listen. When she finished, she glanced over to see the most adorably pensive look on his face.

"Yeah...that's pretty cryptic," he said. "I mean, why can't this guy just explain things, step by step?"

"Well...it's probably not something you'd want just anyone trying," said Ruby, giggling. "By making it so weird-sounding and hard to understand, you make sure that the person who's learning this is skilled enough to do it properly...and mature enough to use that kind of power responsibly.

"Also...I think it has something to do with the foundation."

"Foundation?" asked Jaune.

"It's like learning any technique, in a sense," said Ruby. "Before you can just swing a sword, you need to know how to hold it, where to put your feet. You need to know how to step, even how to breathe. It all comes together, and that's where technique comes from."

"That...makes sense," said Jaune, thinking about how Ruby and Pyrrha had instructed him in using his sword.

"So...understanding things like this life and death stuff, or what the One is, are sort of the foundation to learning this technique," said Ruby. "But...I get the feeling that it's not really something you can just put into words that would allow somebody to instantly understand what you're talking about. There's something there...something that plays a role that words can't on their own."

"What do you think that is?" asked Jaune.

"Experience, maybe," said Ruby. "The guy who wrote this lived a long time ago. I've done some research on who he was, to see if there's something about him that could help me understand what he's talking about here."

"What did you learn?" asked Jaune.

"The guy who came up with this technique was named Sarutobi Sasuke," said Ruby. "A loooooooong time ago, he was this famous shinobi."

"What's a shinobi again?"

"It's another word for ninja," clarified Ruby.

"Oh...like Blake then."

That made Ruby laugh out loud, her body quaking in Jaune's arms. "I guess that's true," she agreed. "And Ren too, I guess."

"Cool! What else did you learn?"

Ruby rolled her eyes upward in thought. "Well...there's some confusing stuff about him. I get the feeling that a lot of info about him is missing. The histories said that he was of the Mibu, but not _one_ of them."

"Maybe he was adopted, like you were," suggested Jaune.

"Maybe..." conceded Ruby with a frown, before continuing. "One of the big things I learned was that he was a serious prodigy. He'd supposedly created this technique by the time he was twelve."

"Seriously!?" gasped Jaune.

"Yep," replied Ruby. "I mean, I've had a lot of people call me talented, which makes it hard to keep from getting a swelled head. But I can't imagine creating such a powerful technique...out of nothing, and all by the time he was three years younger than I am now."

"Well...there's no point in comparing yourself to him," Jaune pointed out. "I mean, you were talking about experience earlier, right? Maybe he just had the kind of experiences he needed to come up with this technique by that time, and you haven't. If it was just a matter of talent, then I doubt it's something that could really be taught to others."

Ruby's smile returned, and she gave Jaune a quick peck on the cheek. "You might be right. Thanks."

"No problem," said Jaune, blushing while wearing the goofiest grin imaginable. Recovering from his brief state of bliss, he thought silently for a moment. "But, you know...that life and death stuff reminds me of something."

"What?" pressed Ruby.

"You ever get those lectures in elementary school...you know...the ones about the cycle of life, and all that?"

"You mean the one about how animals that eat the plants get eaten by other animals, and how those animals die, and their bodies get broken down into nutrients for the plants?"

"That's the one," said Jaune. "Maybe that's what this Sasuke-guy is talking about in the beginning there."

"That's what I thought too," said Ruby, making Jaune slump, as he now realized that he hadn't come up with something that Ruby hadn't already. "In fact, I'm pretty sure what those first couple of lines are talking about.

"People aren't exempt from that cycle after all. We die too. When we die, our bodies return to the earth, and become part of it." She pursed her lips. "I guess that's what it means to live through the cycle of life and death. But is that what he really means?"

"I think so," said Jaune. "He talks about surviving death too, and...killing people...I guess."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, nodding gravely. "I just wish that didn't sound like I need to kill a bunch of people to really understand what he's talking about."

"Uh...You didn't seem to have t-too much of a problem with it," Jaune noted, his mind drifting back to their battle, remembering Ruby cutting through the pirates like a hot knife through butter.

"That's...different," said Ruby. "I don't want to kill...just as a default. But, sometimes, there's just no way to protect the people who need it, if I'm not willing to. If I were more skilled, that might not be the case-"

"Don't," said Jaune simply, cutting her off.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked in confusion.

Jaune stared sternly at her. "Don't put it like that," he said. "Don't make it about you not being good enough." He sighed, staring down. "To be honest, it scared me...just how easy it was, the first time. I...I wanted to become a Huntsman to be a hero, to protect people. But I had no idea that something like killing other people would be a part of that. But...I feel like we shouldn't let it get us down like that. Like it or not, we killed people yesterday. But they chose to attack us, they chose to threaten the people of this ship, so that's a risk they should have accepted as well."

"You're taking that pretty well," said Ruby. She sighed. "I was pretty much catatonic, the first time I killed someone."

"Um...I think I have an idea," said Jaune. "How old were you?"

"Nine," said Ruby. "It wasn't all that long after I started traveling with Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii."

"Those bandits in Barrowdown, right?" asked Jaune, vaguely remembering Ruby's previous retellings.

"Uh huh," said Ruby.

"Yeah...not surprising that you'd be pretty disturbed, killing someone at that age," Jaune pointed out. "I guess, you could say that Weiss, Pyrrha, and I knew what we were getting into, to some extent. It may have been a heck of a lot earlier than we were expecting to, but well...that sort of thing was going to come up sooner or later.

"Hell! Looking back on all our fights with the White Fang, it's kind of a miracle that we didn't kill at least some of those faunus, even by accident."

"True," agreed Ruby.

"But...I guess I'm saying that you shouldn't talk down about yourself like that, even if it is for something like killing," Jaune pointed out.

"Thanks," whispered Ruby, closing her eyes, leaning into his embrace once more.

"Still...I can kinda understand not wanting to kill a bunch of people to learn a technique," said Jaune, bringing them back from their tangent.

"Yeah," said Ruby tiredly. "But...I guess, I can get what it means. Killing people is basically returning them to the earth. But...how do you get out of that cycle? How do you get beyond that, and look at it from the outside?"

"Well...he mentions surviving death a bunch of times..." mused Jaune. "Maybe he's talking about near-death-experiences...or something like that."

"That...makes sense," said Ruby, mulling it over.

"I'm guessing you've had plenty of those too, though," said Jaune.

"Yes and no," said Ruby frowning. "I mean, there were some close calls when I was younger. My teachers and family were willing to take some serious risks with me. But…at the end of the day, I knew they'd be there for me, if I _really_ got in over my head. When I was traveling on my own, or during our time at Beacon, I've only felt really pushed the edge a couple of times."

"Your fights with Adam?" guessed Jaune, rewarded by a silent nod.

"And Morgan...But...is that it?" wondered Ruby. "Do I have to fight those kinds of battles, where I'm really put at the edge of life and death?"

"I don't know," Jaune admitted. "But...that kinda sounds like what he's talking about. What do else do you know about this guy?"

"Well...things were different back then," said Ruby. "He used to live in the wilderness, in a place called Aokigahara."

"What's that mean?" asked Jaune.

"A rough translation is 'Sea of Trees,'" said Ruby. "But, it apparently had a nickname...the Forest of Death."

"Charming," said Jaune.

"According to the histories I found, Sasuke was basically born there," said Ruby. "He grew up surrounded by monsters, and had to fight for his life from his earliest years."

"That sure sounds like a situation where he'd have plenty of near-death experiences," said Jaune.

"Uh huh," grunted Ruby.

"So...If I had to guess, I'd say that those moments, like your fights with Adam, are the key," said Jaune. "It's not about how much you kill, or even about actually killing, but about that point where you really feel like you're about to die."

"You might be right," said Ruby. "Thanks, Jaune. That's a big help."

"Really?" asked Jaune, amazed by the idea that he could actually do or say something to help Ruby figure out what sounded like a really high-level skill.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "I mean...I've got an idea of what I need to focus on. There's not much else I can do but think about those moments. I'm not about to go around looking for death-matches right now, after all."

"Probably a good idea," said Jaune wryly.

She frowned pensively. "Kyo-nii would talk about that, from time to time."

"About what?"

"About fighting to the death," said Ruby. "There's something special about putting your life on the line against an opponent of equal skill. It's in that moment, where it's down to the wire, where the line between victory and defeat is the same as the one between life and death; where your awareness really grows. He always said it was like a drug."

"Have you ever felt that?" asked Jaune.

"A little...during my second fight against Adam," said Ruby. "At the time, I was fighting him in the dark. I'd given my cloak to Ashley. In order to fight him, I had to Extend my Aura to sense my surroundings. If he'd hit me like that, even a glancing blow could have fatally injured me. He was upset, because he couldn't touch me, but that was because I couldn't _let_ him touch me. One hit, and I would have died. It was a crazy tightrope act."

"I...I never knew it was so close," said Jaune nervously. To him, and Ruby's other teammates, what of her fight with Adam they had seen, in between repelling attacks from Neo, had made it look as though Ruby had dominated him, rather effortlessly at that. But now, Ruby made it apparent that the fight had been much closer than anyone, including Adam, had thought.

"So...do you think that, if you think about how you felt back then, it might help?" asked Jaune.

"Well...it's an idea," said Ruby, frowning. "Though...I can't understand how thinking back to what I was feeling would help me right now, with what I'm trying to do."

"Not like you have much else to do at the moment," Jaune pointed out.

"I guess you're right," admitted Ruby.

Jaune smiled and pulled her tighter up against him, settling Ruby's head into the crook of his neck. She nuzzled against him, closing her eyes and relaxing, allowing her mind to drift back to that harrowing battle, trying to recapture the sensation she'd experienced there, on the edge between life and death.

It wasn't an easy thing to do. Before Ruby even realized it, she found herself drifting off, rather than reminiscing. Rather than fight it, she instead allowed herself to relax even more, falling asleep in Jaune's arms, enjoying the impromptu nap. She would slumber peacefully for about an hour, until she was awakened by the ship's guns taking out another incoming Grimm. Until then, she decided to enjoy the quiet time, before they arrived back in Vale.

* * *

"How are you two feeling?" asked Winter, looking over Weiss and Pyrrha.

"You're asking _us_ that?" asked Pyrrha, somewhat wryly, taking in the bandages that were wrapped around Winter's arms and legs. More were hidden by her clothes. Between her sword and her five-tailed whip, Morgan had inflicted quite a bit of damage on the Specialist. Winter's Aura was helping her to recover faster. But it would take more than a single day to get over so many injuries, especially after her Aura had been depleted and broken in the battle where she'd acquired them. After they'd recovered their own Auras, Jaune and Ruby had offered to speed things up, but Winter had declined, citing the need for them to be prepared for possible Grimm attack. If Jaune or Ruby had spent their Aura healing Winter, who would have been exhausted by the treatment, they wouldn't be in a position to help, should a severe attack occur. Better that only one of them was hampered, rather than three.

"My issues are purely physical," said Winter, gesturing herself, before wincing as the motion jarred one of her still-healing wounds. She fixed Weiss and Pyrrha with worried look. "However, seeing how this is the first time either of you has killed someone else, I was worried about how you were taking it."

Weiss swallowed, staring down at the plate of food in front of her. The mess' food was, by no means, the pinnacle of cuisine, but it was palatable enough. But, right now, Winter's question was making Weiss' appetite curl in on itself and disappear.

"I...when it was happening...I didn't really have enough time to think about it," she said.

"That's often how it goes," said Winter. "In battle, questions of morality behind such actions wait until after it has played out. If you allow yourself to be distracted by them, then you often wind up not surviving long enough to address such ethical quandaries at all."

"We did the right thing, didn't we?" asked Weiss.

"Seeing as your mission was to protect this crew and ship, I would say so," said Winter. "That's what matters. Whether pirates wound up dead or not is secondary...at best."

"That's the first time I've ever killed someone," said Weiss, "or several someones, for that matter."

"That doesn't surprise me," said Winter. "A Huntress' first kill is often not necessarily some dramatically singular event. It often happens in the heat of an intense situation, where you're quickly forced to move over to the next kill, simply to keep going, and survive to fulfill your mission."

Weiss nodded, seeing the logic in Winter's words.

"And you, Ms. Nikos?" asked Winter, her gaze going to Pyrrha.

Pyrrha shuddered. "It felt so strange," she said. "I trained as a tournament fighter. So my mind kept defaulting back to the rules that we observed in the ring. Injuring an opponent that was already out of Aura is the kind of action that could ruin a person's career. Killing someone would be completely beyond the pale."

Winter nodded. "Even in your sparring matches at Beacon, you've been required to pull back, when you reach the critical zone, in order to avoid injuring or killing your opponent. However, in real world battles, hesitating to push beyond that point, and finish your foe, can lead to death or failure."

"Are you saying Beacon is wrong?" asked Weiss.

"Of course not," scoffed Winter, gently rapping the top of Weiss' head. "Sparring matches in Atlas are governed by the same rules. Foes in the field are one thing, but no one wants to push students to _murder_ one another in the ring. The important thing is being able to make that distinction, to know when restraint is a liability, rather than a virtue."

Pyrrha shuddered. "It's strange. After the first one...it got easier."

"It always does," said Winter. "It is a difficult line to walk. As you face more situations like this, it becomes much easier to deal with death, and accept the necessity of inflicting it. That being said, it will always be your responsibility to not become callous about it, to not stop looking for ways that avoid killing those you might find yourself in conflict with. I believe Ms. Rose's thoughts on the matter are a little overly convoluted, because she wants to avoid thinking of it as a necessity, but I can understand the importance of viewing the act of killing as a choice. It's not something you should ever do thoughtlessly, mindlessly."

"I don't think I could ever do something like _that_ thoughtlessly," said Weiss, swallowing again.

"Like I said, killing becomes easier, the more you do it," said Winter. "So that will be a risk that will stay with you, throughout your careers. That having been said though, as Huntresses, your focus will be primarily upon combating the Grimm. Situations like this one, where you will be expected to come into conflict with other people, will be fewer and farther between."

"I don't know...we've been on quite a few of those missions already," commented Pyrrha.

"I suppose you have," admitted Winter, smirking. "Your experience at Beacon, thus far, has been rather atypical for students at your stage of development. I would be worried, save for the fact that your actions over the course of this mission have assured me that you can handle that kind of strain."

"Thank you," said Weiss, straightening up, her discomfort shrinking in the face of Winter's praise.

Winter's smirk became a more genuine smile. "No matter what Father might do or say about you, Weiss, I am proud of you. You've come much farther than I had ever thought, and I held you to a high standard to begin with."

Now Weiss was blushing, while Pyrrha tittered beside her.

"I also noticed that you appear to have gotten the hang of Summoning," added Winter.

Weiss looked down, her blush fading. "W-well...Ruby gave me a few pointers...and they were a big help."

"Ruby did?" Winter frowned pensively. "What kind of advice did she give you."

"A few things," explained Weiss. "She helped me with the steps to make the Summoning work...and she said things that made me rethink our Semblance."

"What things?" asked Winter.

Weiss looked up at Winter. "How did you learn to use the Schnee Semblance?"

Now it was Winter's turn to look down. She tapped one finger idly on the surface of the table. "Well...I had to discover it for myself," she said. "Mother was of no help, of course."

Weiss nodded. Even before she had turned to drink, Willow Schnee, mother to Weiss and Winter, had never been all that remarkable of a person, beyond her connection to the Schnee name itself. Of course, Willow had been given the finest upbringing available, complete with the Schnee Family education in all things Dust. But Willow had hardly ever been much for business either, one of the main reasons her father, Nicholas, had been convinced to allow someone like Jacques to marry into the family.

So Willow had never been trained as a Huntress, the way Weiss and Winter had been. She hadn't even had her Aura unlocked. So it stood to reason that she would be of no help, when it came to mastering the Schnee Hereditary Semblance.

Winter continued. "So I turned to Grandfather's journals. They explained the nature of our Semblance, how our Glyphs worked."

"How did you learn to produce the Glyphs?" asked Weiss.

"Well, they're a part of our Semblance," said Winter, "so they were always within me. Examining the images in Grandfather's journals allowed me to properly visualize them and bring them out. From there, I eventually learned how to invoke their power."

A soft gasp came from Weiss, taking Winter aback.

"Ruby was right," Weiss whispered softly.

"Right about what?" asked Winter.

Weiss lifted her head, meeting Winter's gaze. "Winter, our Semblance...it _isn't_ a Semblance."

For a moment, silence reigned at the table. Then... "What?" blurted Winter, all pretense of class forgotten.

"Ruby pointed it out to me," said Weiss. "I couldn't learn to use our Glyphs, not until I was taught what they were, not until I memorized their shapes." She remembered faithfully sketching down each Glyph, over and over again, until she'd could call its shape to her mind with but a single thought. "Our Semblance, it isn't something we were born with. It's something we're taught; or taught yourself, in your case."

"B-but...that's not possible," said Winter. "It _has_ to be a Semblance. What else could it be?"

"What Ruby calls a Manifestation," said Weiss firmly. "Think about it, Winter. Why would a Semblance be hereditary? What is it about the Schnee Family that would result in our Semblance manifesting the same way in each generation? Why just us?

"The reason is that our Semblance isn't a Semblance at all. It's a Manifestation, a power we've learned to create for ourselves. It isn't passed down through our blood, but through the teachings left behind by previous generations."

"That's...insane," said Winter, though her skepticism was faltering. "If that was the case, why has it always been known as a Semblance? That's what Grandfather called it, what his father before him called it, and so on."

"Perhaps because that's the only thing they _knew_ to call it," said Weiss. "Manifestation is a term that's specific to the Mibu. But that doesn't mean that someone outside the Mibu couldn't come up with the same basic concept, but call it something different. Whoever created our Glyphs still saw it as a Semblance, because that's the accepted name for a phenomenon, produced by Aura, that allows the power of one's soul to interact with the world."

Winter was silent for a while longer. When she spoke again, her tone was still laden with skepticism. "I have a hard time accepting that, Weiss. Are you certain you're not allowing your leader's statements to cloud your understanding?"

"They haven't clouded anything," Weiss protested. "If anything, they've clarified things. The steps that Ruby walked me through are what helped me learn to Summon. With what she helped me to accomplish, I'm more certain than ever."

Winter's expression was uncertain. Then she shifted her gaze to Pyrrha, who'd been listening to the conversation with quiet fascination. "And you, Ms. Nikos? Do you agree with Weiss?"

"W-well...I'm not certain I can say," said Pyrrha, thrown by being drawn back into the conversation so suddenly. "I mean, my Semblance is definitely a Semblance, in terms of how we think of these things. But...a lot of what Weiss and Ruby says makes sense. I mean...when you think about it, it's strange that a Semblance would allow you to use so many different abilities."

Winter looked down, deep in thought once more. "I suppose this is something I need to think more about," she conceded. "If this is true, then I clearly do need to rethink a great many other things as well." She lifted her head, a wan smile on her face. "At the very least, I believe I owe your leader an apology."

"For what?" asked Weiss.

Winter sighed. "I disparaged her abilities, both directly and indirectly. Given the nature of her upbringing and training, I was under the impression that she was ruled by antiquated ideas and archaic skills that would make her a hinderance on the battlefield."

"You mean the same skills that allowed her to fight Pyrrha to a draw?" For the first time, Weiss felt a flare of genuine consternation towards her sister light from within her. Whenever Winter had berated Weiss during her training, it had always been apparent that such remonstrations were because Winter believed that Weiss could do better than she already had. Because of that, such remarks prompted Weiss to direct any frustration she felt from them at herself. But to hear Winter disparage Ruby, because Ruby's training was outside the scope of Winter's understanding and experience, prompted a wave of actual anger from Weiss, directed at Winter.

Granted, Winter wasn't in a position to have confirmation of _all_ of Ruby's accomplishments. Weiss herself had initially believed that Ruby's early acceptance into Beacon had been a sign of favoritism from Ozpin. She could also admit that Ruby defeating Adam Taurus twice was something she'd have a hard time believing, had she not seen it with her own eyes (in the case of the second time, at least). But Ruby's fight with Pyrrha had become a viral sensation that had stirred up a media firestorm. Said fight had _definitely_ been a rousing demonstration of Ruby's skill and ability. So it was absolutely galling to hear that Winter had discounted Ruby, despite most likely having seen that particular match herself.

Winter was torn between being surprised by the angry tone of Weiss' voice, and abashed at the remonstration she deserved. "I supposed I allowed my prejudices to cloud my vision," she admitted. "And, for that, I really do owe Ms. Rose an apology."

Weiss nodded, Pyrrha nodding along a beat behind her. "Please see that you do," she said, before catching herself and realizing that _she_ was now the one scolding _Winter_.

To her surprise, Winter smiled. "It would seem that attending Beacon agrees with you a great deal, Weiss."

"I suppose it does," agreed Weiss, blushing and looking down.

Winter's smile faded. "On that note, I have one final inquiry to make," she said.

"What is it?" asked Weiss.

"I am aware of the reason Father forced your team to take this mission," said Winter. "During the formal ball, hosted by Beacon for the visiting students, you attended in the company of a young faunus woman, correct?"

Weiss nodded.

"From what I had heard, this was a means of striking back at the White Fang, as this poor girl had been victimized by them," continued Winter.

"That's right," said Weiss.

Winter's eyes narrowed. "Then...there is just one thing I want to confirm about this girl that you took to the dance."

"Yes...?"

"Are you and this girl..._more_ than just friends?" asked Winter.

Weiss immediately opened her mouth to respond, only for Winter to forestall her with a raised hand. "Remember, you are answering _me_...not Father."

Weiss froze, her mouth still open. After a moment, she closed it, then closed her eyes, before taking a deep breath. "Ashley and I _are_ more than friends," she said.

"As I thought then," said Winter, her own eyes drifting closed. "Honestly, Weiss...you really do have a gift for making things difficult for yourself."

"I know," grumbled Weiss.

Raising her hands, Winter brought her fingers to her forehead, and began to massage her temples. "I don't know what to say, Weiss. I'm sure you're aware of how this kind of relationship would complicate your claim to the SDC."

"'Complicate' is putting it mildly," said Weiss, earning a nod from Winter.

"And, on top of that," Winter continued, "I'm sure you are also aware how your position would complicate this relationship."

"I know," said Weiss, her face falling.

For a long moment, her sister was silent. Then Winter let out a slow sigh. "Still...if she makes you happy, Weiss, then I have no reason to object."

"She does," said Weiss, a faint smile reappearing on her face.

"Then I wish you luck...and discretion," said Winter.

"You aren't worried that this girl might have ulterior motives?" asked Pyrrha, not because she would ever think that kind of thing of Ashley, but because that was the kind of thing she had expected Winter to ask.

Winter gave Weiss' partner a wan smile. "I do not doubt Weiss' ability to spot those kinds of self-serving fools. For better or for worse, she has been approached by those sorts since the very first time she appeared in public. If anything, I suspect that Weiss' tendencies towards caution have occasionally chased away those looking to genuinely befriend her. If Weiss believes that this girl genuinely likes her, then I suspect that her judgment is sound."

"That makes sense," said Pyrrha, having been through that herself.

"That having been said, I do hope that I get to meet her, at some point," said Winter.

"I'll introduce her to you, if I get the chance," said Weiss earnestly.

They ate in silence for a little while longer. The shift in the conversation helped to distract Weiss and Pyrrha from their uneasiness over having killed some of their opponents during the battle, so they were able to eat a little more than before.

"So now what?" asked Pyrrha, after a few minutes.

"We'll report the mission as a success, once we arrive at Ulmo," said Winter "From there, the four of you will return to Beacon, while I will make my way back to Atlas, unless General Ironwood has need of me in Vale."

Silently, Weiss hoped that Ironwood had something for Winter to do in Vale, if only so she could get the chance to fulfill Winter's desire to be introduced to Ashley.

With any luck, the rest of their mission would proceed smoothly.

* * *

Fortunately, nothing happened during the remainder of their mission. Grimm attacks slacked off as they drew closer to land, and their destination. Winter made her apology to Ruby, which Ruby accepted as gracefully as she was able, though, once again, she had to suppress the urge to gloat.

As they drew nearer to their goal, Ruby found her thoughts straying to RYNB, and hoping that her sister team had been able to successfully do their part in the effort to foil the White Fang's planned attack on Vale. The majority of their trip had been spent outside the range of the CCT network, so it had been all but impossible to check on their sister team's status. The crew and soldiers aboard the Atlesian warships that had come to their aid had not been aware of conditions in Vale, though no news was good news, or so Ruby hoped.

She hadn't known what to expect from the port town of Ulmo. There had been the mishmash of rustic and urban styles that had been Anduin, and there was the quaint, picturesque fishing village of Teleri. The one thing Ruby hadn't expected was for Ulmo to look so...cosmopolitan.

Indeed, it was a city, almost a match for the port of Soyuz, which they'd left behind on Solitas. As the only settlement on the eastern coast of Sanus with the facilities to handle full-sized SDC freighters, Ruby supposed she should have expected a more robust cityscape. But that didn't make it any less jarring. The skyscrapers that dominated the settlement's skyline were not as tall and imposing as the ones in Vale, but definitely gave the whole place a much more commercial and modern look. However, like Anduin, the city's overall design was a mix of architectural styles, with many buildings sporting the sloped roofs more and pagoda-like structures that were commonplace in Mistral and Leng.

According to Winter, this was because Ulmo was the main trading hub between Vale and Mistral, the bridge between Sanus and Anima, through which the plethora of goods and resources supplied by the largest (territorially speaking) of the four Kingdoms flowed. Back during the Great War, Ulmo had been one of the major points of contention, during the early days of the conflict. It had started out as one of those troublesome colonies, founded by Mistral on soil that had been officially claimed by Vale, one of the sparks that had eventually lit the fire of the largest war in recent history.

After the war, Vale had reclaimed Ulmo. However, the King of Vale had chosen to reach out to Mistral, as a conciliatory gesture, requesting the other Kingdom's cooperation in setting up the main port between the two powers. According to Winter, this was similar to the arrangement between Mistral and Atlas in the city of Argus. However, unlike Argus, Mistral had no military presence, and claimed no territory in Ulmo, even if several Mistral-based businesses owned a substantial portion of the property in the city.

All of that was nothing more than window dressings though. Ruby and the others found themselves heaving a sigh of relief, as their vessel slipped into its appointed dock. Once that was over, their mission was officially completed. Free to disembark, they immediately made their way to Ulmo's CCT facility to deliver their mission report.

* * *

"_I am most pleased to hear that your mission was a success,_" said Ozpin, smiling through the screen of the terminal that Ruby and her team were currently gathered around.

"It's a weight off our minds too," said Ruby, smiling back, feeling the tension drain out of her. "Is everything okay over there?"

"_If you are referring to the situation with the White Fang, then, yes, the situation was resolved successfully...though not in the manner we had initially anticipated,_" said Ozpin. "_Your friends can fill you in on the rest, when you arrive. I think you will be pleasantly surprised, Ms. Rose._"

"All right," said Ruby, wondering what was going on. The knowledge that RYNB and CPPR's mission had concluded successfully was a relief, especially the knowledge that the White Fang had _not_ successfully launched an attack on Vale.

"_I shall arrange for a bullhead to be dispatched as soon as possible,_" said Ozpin. "_However, it will not arrive until sometime tomorrow. Your time, until then, is your own, as will be your remaining time, once you arrive back home, until classes resume on Monday. Consider this a well-earned vacation. Since this was technically an official mission, not merely a training one, you will be awarded a full bounty for your hard work, which, from the sound of things, you have rightfully earned. Arrangements for your lodgings have been made, and all expenses are being covered by the 'generosity' of the Schnee Dust Company, so please do enjoy yourselves._"

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, as her friends laughed behind her at the continued 'punishment' being levied upon the SDC, Jacques in particular, by Ozpin and Ironwood for forcing them into this mission.

Granted, even if they were put up in the most expensive lodgings, and ate the priciest food they could, the expenditures were a drop in the bucket, compared to the value of the Dust they had stopped the theft of, not to mention the fact that they had successfully secured the SDC's sea routes against further piracy, for now at least, which meant that the SDC's profits would far outweigh the expenditures of four student Huntsmen milking their hospitality for every lien they could. However, given what Weiss and Winter had told them of their father's attitude, he would likely regard every extra lien spent as a personal slight against him, which was pretty much the point of all this.

However, Ruby set that at the back of her mind for the time being. Instead, after bidding goodbye to Ozpin, she chose to focus on the question of how to spend the remainder of their day in Ulmo. Given that its primary function was to facilitate trade between Mistral and Vale, Ulmo wasn't a tourist town, though it did boast a fair few entertainment venues, for the benefit of those who staffed and ran the businesses that made the settlement so affluent. It also boasted a robust marketplace, showcasing the exotic goods that were shipped in from across Anima. RASP figured that it was best to start their excursion there, allowing them to shop for souvenirs for their friends, back at Beacon.

All told, the remainder of their day was spent agreeably, with Winter capping things off by taking them out to eat at the most-exclusive restaurant in the city. It had come as a surprise to RASP, as they'd expected Winter to take Weiss off for a more private dinner, an opportunity for them to spend some more time together, before they parted ways. However, Winter revealed that there was no need to say goodbye.

While RASP had been reporting to Ozpin, Winter had been delivering her own report to Ironwood. Ironwood had been especially pleased by the results of their mission. He'd also dropped another bombshell. In the wake of the successful collaboration between Beacon and Atlas to bring down the White Fang's attempted terrorist attack on Vale, the Councils of Vale and Atlas, along with Ozpin and Ironwood, had agreed to a full collaboration between Vale and Atlas for the security of the upcoming Vytal Festival, a gesture meant to showcase the full measure of cooperation and goodwill between the two Kingdoms. But the real surprise was that, instead of being sent back to Atlas, Winter would be coming to Vale with RASP, and would be becoming a member of Ironwood's on-site staff for the duration of the festival, meaning that there would be no shortage of opportunities for her and Weiss to spend time together in the future.

Of course, even with the deluge of positive news that had been delivered, both ways, Ruby couldn't quite shake the uneasy feeling that dwelt in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't expected Ozpin to say anything about the situation with Cinder, and Team CMSN. But Ozpin had been unusually sparse with many details concerning what was happening in Vale, omissions that Ruby couldn't help but notice. Ozpin usually played things close to the chest, she had learned. But he was being even more tight-lipped than usual. Strangely enough, she suspected the omissions themselves were a silent message to her..._Be careful what you say._ Such a message made her wonder if something else had occurred in Vale, during their time away.

_Oh well,_ she thought, _I guess we'll find out when we get back._

* * *

As it turned out, their bullhead would not arrive until early in the afternoon, leaving them free to sleep in. By the time it had arrived, they'd already enjoyed a pleasant brunch and spent some more time out on the town. The flight back was pleasantly brief.

When the airship touched down, the passenger bay doors opened to a group of familiar faces.

"Welcome back!" Nora cheered, sweeping Weiss and Pyrrha up in a bone-crushing hug, completely squeezing the air out of their lungs before either of them could think of protesting. Meanwhile, Ruby found herself swept up by Yang in a similarly constricting embrace. Jaune got off easily, trading a hand-clasp with Ren. However, his luck wasn't to last, as Nora quickly noticed that he hadn't gotten a hug, and promptly dropped Weiss and Pyrrha to give him one, giving him the full benefit of being hugged by two of her arms. In the meantime, Blake stood back, watching the proceedings with an amused smile.

RYNB weren't the only ones present. As soon as Yang released Ruby, the poor girl was bowled over by an overenthusiastic Penny, whose weight and strength were soon smothering the breath from her body all over again. In the meantime, Weiss traded pleasant, if neutral, greetings with Ciel, before trading more congenial ones with Piper and Rain.

Of course, CPPR wasn't on hand just to welcome RASP back. After trading polite greetings with Weiss' teammates, Ciel instead went to Winter. "Ms. Schnee," she said, standing sharply at attention. "General Ironwood has asked me to welcome you to Beacon, and provide you with directions to his lodging."

"I'm grateful," said Winter, one corner of her lips curling up in the tiniest of smiles. "The General informed me that you performed exceptionally well on your mission, Ms. Soleil."

To the shock of everyone watching, Ciel did the most uncharacteristic thing imaginable. She averted her eyes, blushing like a schoolgirl. "Th-that is very kind of you to say, Ms. Schnee. I'm deeply honored."

"She _stuttered_," Piper whispered to Rain. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Well, she _is_ meeting the person she idolizes," said Rain.

Winter's smile widened fractionally. "I have been asked to assist the General in overseeing security for the Vytal Festival. Considering your performance, I believe it would be prudent to have you assist me, Ms. Soleil."

Ciel gasped, her eyes going wide, looking like a child who'd just been given the best Yuletide present ever. "I...I would be honored, Ms. Schnee!"

Ruby sidled over and gently elbowed Weiss in the ribs. "Careful there, I think Ciel is aiming to steal your place as Winter's sister."

Weiss merely chuckled. "If Winter can get her to display a greater emotional range than a chunk of rock, then more power to her."

Realizing she was making a spectacle of herself, Ciel coughed, forcing her expression back to its usual neutral cast. "There is one other matter that I have been asked to inform you of, Ms. Schnee."

"And what is that?" asked Winter, her own smile fading.

"During our mission, we encountered a particular...individual," said Ciel. "At present, he will be staying at Beacon, for a little while at least. You might consider him something between a guest and a prisoner."

"What?" Now Winter was completely baffled. She wasn't the only one. The members of RASP were similarly perplexed.

"The General requested that I inform you, so as to ensure that you do not unnecessarily cause a scene, when you see him," said Ciel.

"And just who is this...individual?" asked Winter warily.

"That would be me."

Before she could even think of stopping herself, Ruby gasped at the sound of the voice, whirling around, her eyes going wide. A second later, she was gone, a flurry of petals marking where she'd been standing. A short ways away, a young man in a black kimono laughed and opened his arms, rocking as the red and black blur of Ruby slammed into him, setting him back onto his heels.

"KYO-NII!" yelled Ruby, hugging him with all her might.

"That guy's..." said Jaune.

"...Ruby's brother?" finished Pyrrha.

"Demon Eyes Kyo," growled Winter, her hand drifting towards the handle of her saber.

"Please," said Ciel urgently, resting a hand on the saber's pommel to keep Winter from drawing it. "As I said, he is presently in Beacon's custody. General Ironwood has said that we are _not_ to interfere with him, unless he becomes hostile to us."

Winter directed a confused look at Ciel, before looking back at Kyo, who had picked Ruby up by the waist, and was now twirling her around, while she laughed joyously. "What is going on here?"

"Um...It's a long story," said Ciel.

* * *

**And now we rewind the clock back to where we left off, last chapter.**


	80. Chapter 80

**Chapter 80:**

_Day Three:_

For someone staring down the barrels of well over a dozen rifles, Kyo's reaction was shockingly...blithe.

"I decline," he said, in answer to Ironwood's call for his surrender.

Immediately, the tension ratcheted up several levels, RYNB and CPPR forgetting to breathe as they watched the confrontation unfold. After seeing the aftermath of what Kyo had wrought with the White Fang, they were horrified by the possibility of him inflicting the same kind of carnage upon the Atlesian forces.

Ironwood, his soldiers, and Knights, all kept their guns leveled at the young man, their barrels unwavering. A closer look, however, could see the beads of sweat forming on the General's brow as Kyo met his gaze. Kyo's expression was cheerfully pleasant, and his entire reaction indicated that he was completely unbothered by the situation...not feeling even remotely threatened by the firepower pointed his way.

Finally, Ironwood let out a slow breath, then lowered his revolver. "Stand down," he ordered. His soldiers and androids immediately followed suit, lowering the barrels of their guns, before standing aside. Ironwood returned his gun to its holster, and stepped forward. "Well...I had to at least make a token call," he said. "But, protocol aside, I refuse to send my men to be butchered to no end."

"I appreciate your candor, Ironwood-dono," said Kyo, bowing his head politely. "Considering that you appear to be an ally of my new friends, I would have rather not started a fight with you."

"Wait! When did _we_ become your friends?" asked Yang, glaring at Kyo's back.

He turned his head, beaming at her. There was something about his gaze; those eerie, luminous eyes of his; that unsettled her, something she found strangely familiar about it.

"Well, you all are Ruby-chan's friends," he said. "So I thought we would be friends as well."

"I'm not interested in being friends with someone who slaughters faunus wholesale," said Blake, glaring at him.

"Wholesale slaughter would imply that they were helpless," said Kyo. "As I told you, they tried to kill me first."

"Considering what you're capable of, those White Fang soldiers were as good as helpless," commented Qrow. "Still, I can't exactly fault ya for not standing by and doing nothing when they came at you."

"He's a murderer!" protested Blake.

"So are we," said Ren softly, drawing a shocked gasp from her and Yang, while Nora nodded in agreement with him, her expression surprisingly grave.

"What are you talking about?" asked Blake, whipping her head around to stare at Ren.

Ren gave her a level look. "How many soldiers do you think were on that train?" he asked.

Blake's eyes went wide.

Ren pressed on. "It's true that Penny was the one who brought the tunnel down. But we were _all_ part and parcel to this plan, so the responsibility is shared between us for the weight of those lives. Like it or not, we killed people today as well."

"Th-that was different," protested Blake. "We didn't have any other choice-"

"Of course we did," declared Piper, glaring at Blake. "We had a choice. We could have chosen _not_ to destroy the tunnel. We could have just let the train go on its way, and hit Vale. Or we could've torn up the tracks instead, and derailed it. I'm not sure the casualties would have been much better if we'd done that."

"We would have had to fight more Paladins though," Rain pointed out helpfully.

"So...yeah, flat out calling him a murderer, and acting like we're not, after what we just did, is kind of hypocritical," said Piper, glowering at Blake, who quailed away.

"Well, the situation ain't exactly equivocal," said Qrow, weighing in. He traced his fingers along his arm, shuddering. "I know from experience that this kid is more than capable of bringing people down without killing them, and pretty easily at that. Even though he has that kind of skill, he still chose to kill them."

"That much is true, I admit," said Kyo, his expression sobering. "That said, when someone comes at me with intent to kill, I generally find it appropriate to respond in kind." His expression hardened further. "Those who seek to kill, yet are not prepared to _be killed_ themselves...are especially deserving of death, to my mind. These people were those sorts, the sorts who looked forward to inflicting death on a massive scale, upon those who had no means or will to fight back. Yet, the moment they found themselves on the verge of death, they all acted as though they were subjected to some manner of terrible injustice."

"So you believe you were being just?" asked Penny, eyeing Kyo warily.

"Hardly," said Kyo, his smile returning, while he scratched the back of his head. "That's my personal inclination. I don't hold any pretense towards being just."

"'Least he's honest about it," muttered Qrow. He looked over at Ironwood, who'd been watching the whole conversation with a neutral expression. "So...what's next, James?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure," admitted Ironwood with a tired sigh. "I'm afraid that will depend on what choices Kyo makes."

"Ah well...I'm not sure what choices I have," said Kyo sheepishly. "When I came here, it was because I had sensed people in the vicinity, and hoped that they might know of a discrete way for me to enter Vale."

"What business do you have in Vale?" growled Ironwood. "I know well enough that you don't enter the Kingdoms themselves. Instead, you move amongst the settlements."

"Well, I generally don't care for the Kingdoms themselves," said Kyo. "I find them rather noisy and crowded. However, I was hoping to visit my sister at Beacon. I figured Ruby-chan wouldn't care for it, if I caused too much of a commotion."

"Ruby Rose is your sister?" Ironwood's eyes widened. He looked to Qrow for confirmation.

"Adopted," said Qrow, tiredly rubbing his forehead, "but...yeah."

Ironwood's frown deepened.

"Well, if it's any consolation, we, that is Sasame and I, never adopted Ruby-chan with the intention of raising her to be like us, or even loyal to the Mibu Clan. From before the moment we met her, her overriding ambition has always been to be a Huntress. We merely did our best to aid her in fulfilling that goal." Kyo turned his smile back to RYNB and CPPR, Blake in particular. "Part and parcel to that was making sure she did not take the killing of others so casually. In that sense, you might say I set myself up as an example of what _not_ to aspire to."

"That's an interesting way to put it," said Qrow, a faint smile appearing on his face. He looked to Ironwood. "If that's the case, James, why don't we just _bring_ him to Beacon."

"_WHAT?!_" everyone on RYNB and CPPR, along with Ironwood, blurted out.

Qrow sighed. "Whatever else, I know for a fact he's actually a pretty decent guy," he explained. "All the people he's killed were the sort like this lot." He gestured to what remained of the White Fang soldiers occupying the encampment. "He's killed bandits, terrorists, other criminals...but he's never turned his blade on civilians. If anything, he's probably done more to protect people than any Huntsman or Huntress out there."

"You're referring to his purported ability to repel the Grimm?" asked Ironwood skeptically.

"You encounter any on your way in?" asked Qrow.

Ironwood was silent for a long moment. "...No."

"Yeah, that was him," said Qrow. "It's been that way since yesterday. Now you can see it for yourself."

Ironwood had no response for that.

"This way, we can bypass Vale, and any chance that he might run afoul of the law," said Qrow. "Granted, it ain't as though his mug is known to every lawman in the Kingdom, the way Torchwick's was, but it's better we don't cause a ruckus."

"I don't understand why we should do anything to help him," growled Ironwood.

"'Cause, either way, this guy's gonna find his way in," said Qrow. "If that's the case, and he stirs up trouble with the cops, then that'll mean headaches aplenty for everybody." _Especially Ruby,_ he added silently. "If we take him to Beacon ourselves, then we can avoid stirring up trouble, and we'll be able to keep an eye on him, while he's there." He turned his gaze towards the wrecked Paladins. "Besides, I think we owe him one."

Despite himself, Ironwood nodded. Considering what they had learned about the White Fang's encampment, he had prepared his forces for a prolonged and messy conflict with the stolen Paladins, with a high probability of casualties. Kyo's intervention had ensured that no Atlesian lives had been sacrificed this day.

"I suppose there's no helping it then," he said.

"Wow...this is weird," commented Piper.

"It certainly is unconventional," said Ciel. "Though, unconventional situations appear to be something of a trend, as of late."

Blake frowned sourly, not liking the idea of having someone like Kyo at Beacon. The idea of him killing people so casually, even if they were terrorists plotting an attack against the Kingdom, reminded her too much of Adam. She couldn't even begin to understand how Ruby could claim someone like this as her brother.

Yang stared at Kyo, unable to figure out what to think of him. He was everything that Ruby had described him as. Yet there was more to him than what Ruby had said. Those other things disturbed her. _And he's Ruby's brother,_ she thought warily.

"That being the case, I shall arrange for a transport back to Beacon," said Ironwood, looking to the two teams of students. "I know that the situation has become...unusual...but I still need to express my gratitude for all that you've done out here. Well done, all of you."

"General," interjected Ciel, surprising everyone. "Were any of the White Fang taken alive?"

"Some were captured, yes," said Ironwood. "Apparently, they were fleeing Kyo. However, that simply meant they ran right into our cordon."

"Was there a girl with tan skin, brown hair, and grey eyes among them?" asked Ciel.

"There was no such individual amongst them," said Ironwood, his frown deepening. "From what I gather, this would be Ilia Amitola, your informant."

They nodded.

"No, we did not capture her," said Ironwood. "Nor have we found any trace of her remains amongst the casualties here."

"Thank goodness," breathed Blake, her shoulders slumping. Sure, it seemed that Kyo wouldn't have any reason to lie about whether or not he killed Ilia, but it was a relief to get confirmation of her survival and escape.

"This Amitola girl might well have helped us to avert a severe catastrophe today," said Ironwood, his harsh gaze resting on Blake in particular. "But the fact of the matter remains that she is still an active member of the White Fang. So do not think that we will hesitate to arrest her, should we get the opportunity."

"I...understand," said Blake reluctantly.

"With that handled, it's time to send you all back," said Ironwood, pulling out his scroll. "Your mission is officially completed. With that, you are free to spend your time as you see fit, until classes resume."

"Awesome!" exclaimed Yang, the macabre situation temporarily leaving her mind, an eager grin blossoming on her face.

The period for the first-years' first official missions was two weeks in length. Given the nature of the missions themselves, and their staggered start and end dates, it essentially meant that, if they completed their mission before the end of that period, they had several days of vacation to look forward to. Even if RYNB and CPPR had been expecting to finish their mission before the end of the week, they hadn't expected to wrap things up on their third day.

However, Yang quickly found herself wincing as Blake punched her shoulder and glared at her. Rubbing her shoulder, Yang grinned sheepishly, realizing that such an outburst was probably in poor taste, considering their surroundings, and what had just happened.

"My men will direct you to the surface," said Ironwood. "A bullhead will be waiting there to take you back to Beacon." He glared at Kyo. "I expect you to behave yourself."

"I shall be on my best behavior, I promise," said Kyo cheerfully, brushing off the hostility behind Ironwood's expression.

* * *

Ilia groaned, her eyes slowly sliding open. Her head ached, a knot of pain having formed at the base her skull. That had been where she'd been hit, so she wasn't all that surprised. "Wha-what happened? Where...where am I?"

The last thing she remembered was watching as the first of their troops charged the fool who'd walked so foolishly, if blithely, into their encampment. Ilia remembered seeing his sword fly free of its sheath, the blade accelerating to such an extent that her eyes had only caught flashes of light glancing off its surface...before the first of the man's opponents had fallen to the ground...in pieces.

Ilia had made to join the attack. Even if they were misguided and overcome with homicidal zeal, at the end of they day, the White Fang soldiers there were her comrades, and she couldn't allow them to be butchered. However, even as she'd taken her first step towards the man, she'd felt something slam into the back of her head...and everything had gone dark.

Becoming conscious of her surroundings, Ilia felt herself lying down on something hard, bare ground, probably. However, her head was lying on something a bit softer. It wasn't some fluffy cushion though. It took Ilia a second to place the sensation. Her head was resting on a pair of legs, consisting of toned and taut musculature. Her head was resting on someone's lap.

Her vision swimming back into focus, Ilia stared upward, her grey eyes meeting a mismatched pair of pink and brown. The owner of those eyes blinked and, when those eyes opened again, the colors had switched. The girl's pale skin seemed almost illuminated by the faint light, her expression slightly worried. However, upon seeing Ilia regaining consciousness, her lips turned upwards in a small, but relieved, smile.

"Y-you're..." Ilia struggled a moment. Part of it was that her brain was swimming upstream against the flow of the unconsciousness she'd just awakened from. The other was that she just hadn't taken all that much notice of Torchwick's little minion, even though she'd helped Ilia and Adam escape from serious scrapes, multiple times now. "...Neo...right?"

Neo nodded, beaming happily down at Ilia.

"W-why did you...interfere?" asked Ilia, struggling to find the right word for what Neo had done.

Neo frowned now. Fishing around in her white jacket, she pulled out a scroll, then began to tap the screen for a moment. Then she turned and showed what she'd written to Ilia.

"_I saved you,_" the message said.

"What?" grunted Ilia.

Neo tapped on her scroll again. "_You would have died. Everyone else did._"

"What?!" Now Ilia's voice was a shocked gasp, her eyes going wide, before she grunted, eyes scrunching shut again as the sudden exhalation jolted the still-fading knot of pain at the back of her head. "Th-they're all dead! But-!"

Neo shook her head, resting a hand on Ilia's forehead to keep her from sitting up. In her current state, Ilia didn't have the wherewithal to fight back, so she was kept resting on Neo's legs. Seeing that Ilia wasn't about to try getting up again, Neo removed her hand, gently trailing her fingers across Ilia's forehead, teasing the small lock that refused to be tied back with the rest of Ilia's hair, before tapping out another response on her scroll.

"_I checked. Atlas arrived, just in time to clean up the mess._"

Ilia swallowed, a nauseating feeling rising in her stomach. "H-how? It was just one person."

Neo shook her head slowly. "_You had no chance._" her scroll said.

"Who was he?" asked Ilia.

Instead of writing a response on her scroll, Neo instead brought up a dossier, and showed it to Ilia.

"Demon Eyes...Kyo?" Ilia read the name, confused. Seeing the image of the young man on the screen beneath that name brought back the memory of that face...and those eyes. Thinking about it, Ilia could see how someone might call them "demon eyes." Neo used her finger to scroll through the dossier, allowing Ilia to read the information that the underworld had gathered about the man.

Said information was...troubling...to say the least. He had a reputation in the Kingdoms, particularly the settlements. Apparently, he had gotten on the wrong side of several criminal organizations. Any such organization that had attempted go after him had subsequently found themselves being wiped out, Kyo leaving piles of corpses in his wake.

Of course, a propensity for creating dead bodies had gotten the interest of the lawful authorities of the Kingdoms, in a bad way. On top of that, some of the organizations that Kyo had obliterated had had legitimate connections, some of them even serving as extensions of wealthy and powerful people's influence in the underworld. Because of that, Kyo was considered a criminal as well.

In any case, the one thing that was made abundantly clear was that he was someone _not_ to be trifled with. More importantly, Ilia could understand how someone like that might have been more than a match for a small army of White Fang soldiers. But even then... _We had Paladins too. He took them down too?_

Neo seemed to understand Ilia's question, without Ilia speaking it. "_The Paladins were useless,_" her scroll said. "_He cut through them like paper._"

"So...there was no chance?" asked Ilia.

Neo shook her head, something about her expression telling Ilia that the White Fang had sealed their fates the moment they'd attacked him. Then Ilia's eyes widened and she jolted, sending another bolt of pain through her head, though she didn't care. "Wait! If we were going to be wiped out, then...?"

Neo began tapping her scroll again. "_Meinrad sent the train out. But your friends stopped it from reaching Vale._"

Ilia let out a sigh of relief at the realization that RYNB and CPPR had successfully derailed the attack. Then she froze, her gaze snapping back to Neo once more, her eyes going wide and a chill running down on her spine. "You said...my...friends...?"

Neo's smile took on a sly quality now. She began to tap on her scroll again, before showing Ilia the words. "_I've been watching you. I saw what you did. I know what you've been doing._"

Bile rose afresh in Ilia's throat, and it took all her willpower to keep from vomiting. Her skin turned a uniform, dull-yellow color.

Neo quickly typed out another message. "_I know about the messages you've sent to Sienna Khan. I've been watching you for a while._"

The unspoken message was clear. If Neo had wanted, she could have gone straight to Adam, anytime in those days before he had been stolen away by the mysterious Jester. Had she, Ilia had no doubt that her corpse would have been strung up over the encampment as a reminder to the rest of his soldiers about what happened to those who betrayed the White Fang, or _him_ rather. Neo had known...but she hadn't told. She'd kept Ilia's secrets. "Why?" Her skin returned to its normal hue.

"_I wanted to stop the attack too,_" said Neo.

Seeing the look on Ilia's face, Neo let out a small, nearly soundless, sigh, then showed the screen of her scroll once more. "_Don't think too highly of me._" she said. "_I don't really care about the White Fang, or faunus-rights and all that. I didn't want the plan to succeed, because it was Hers._"

Illia didn't need to ask who "She" was. Cinder Fall, the mysterious woman who had subordinated the White Fang, who had made them a means to her ends... True, she had seen them armed and empowered beyond anything they had ever imagined possible. But, at the same time, they were nothing more than cogs in her machine, pawns in whatever game she was playing.

Adam had been able to look past that, seeing the promise of all the destruction he could inflict on Vale. But Ilia hadn't. What Cinder wanted them to do, the attack she'd helped orchestrate, was completely beyond the pale. But Cinder didn't care about that, didn't care about the position that would leave the White Fang in. Heck, Ilia wouldn't have been surprised if Cinder's intention had been to make the White Fang the scapegoat for whatever atrocity she had planned, and then leave them holding the bag.

From what little Ilia knew about Neo and, by extension, Roman Torchwick, she figured they must have been in similar straits, working together with the White Fang under duress, with Cinder providing the pressure. So Ilia could definitely see Neo wanting to undermine Cinder's plans, if only to spite her.

The nausea of fear subsided as Neo's words sank in for Ilia. Neo had seen what Ilia had been up to, realized that Ilia had been working against Adam and Cinder, and hadn't told anyone. In a sense, Neo had been protecting her. On top of that, when the rest of the White Fang in the encampment had thrown themselves into what had been, apparently, a hopeless battle against Demon Eyes Kyo, Neo had gone through the trouble of getting Ilia out, before she could suffer the same fate.

But that didn't make sense. From what Ilia could tell, she had served her purpose, from Neo's point of view. There had been no need for Neo to go out of her way like that. By all rights, Neo should have been free to simply leave Ilia to her fate, to suffer the consequences of the collective foolishness that had led them to charge the most dangerous man in all four Kingdoms, without even bothering to confirm who he was, and what he could do. So then... "Why did you save me?"

To Ilia's shock, Neo's smile adopted a tender quality. "_I don't care about the White Fang,_" she said over her scroll. "_But I do care about you._" Two spots of pink appeared on Neo's cheeks.

Sucking in a surprised breath, Ilia felt her own cheeks heat up. "Um...uh..." She had no idea how to respond. The last thing she'd been expecting was for Torchwick's minion to develop a crush on her.

Ilia was no stranger to such feelings herself. She'd nursed a serious infatuation with Blake for the longest time, looking on with pained feelings as Blake had fallen for Adam instead. Truth be told, Ilia had never confirmed Blake's orientation, had always been afraid to find out that it would be pretty much impossible for Blake to harbor those feelings for her. Seeing Blake with that blonde monkey-faunus at the docks and the warehouse had been another emotional punch to the gut for her.

Given the fact that they were now on opposite sides of this conflict, Ilia should have probably given up on those feelings. But she couldn't simply make them go away so easily. Instead, she'd been troubled by resentment, knowing that Blake had no idea how she felt, even if that wasn't really fair to Blake, considering that Ilia had kept her feelings hidden as much as possible.

To realize that she was now subject to similar feelings, from someone she barely knew, was jarring. Considering it, Ilia found she wasn't immediately repulsed by the notion. Sure, Neo was a human. Ilia harbored a strong resentment against humans in general. But she didn't hate them completely.

She hated the girls who'd laughed, upon hearing about the death of a bunch of faunus in a mining accident, a bunch of faunus that happened to include Ilia's parents. She hated the humans who had harassed and oppressed them, who had ignored the White Fang's peaceful overtures, and even fought back against them, the ones who had forced them to fight in the more literal sense. She hated the humans who acted so high and mighty, while standing by and doing nothing as the faunus struggled for their rights, the Councils and Academies, who were more concerned with preserving the status quo than doing what was _right_. Yes, Ilia hated particular humans and particular types of humans. But she had never hated _all_ of them.

Unlike Adam, she had no desire to see humans subjugated or exterminated. She just wanted the humans to stop trying to hurt the faunus all the time. And she certainly wasn't disgusted or revolted by humans on a visceral level, the way some of the members of the Vale Branch were.

Because of that, Ilia was more than able to admit that Neo was an attractive girl, her size and unique coloration giving her an almost exotic quality that Ilia could admire. It helped that, despite her small stature, Neo's physique was more than a little appealing, and Ilia could appreciate that ivory skin, those mismatched eyes, not to mention that pleasant swell of cleavage that she also envied...

Once again, Neo appeared to be privy to Ilia's thoughts, without Ilia needing to say anything. She let out a small, almost inaudible, giggle. She produced another response on her scroll. "_I want to protect Roman. He comes before everything else. But I'd like to protect you too._"

Now it wasn't just Ilia's cheeks that had turned pink. The color washed across her skin, her freckles turning a dark, rose-red, along with her hair and eyes. The sight of Ilia's color changing made Neo smile wider, another almost-silent giggle escaping her. The small sound made Ilia realize what she had been doing, and the training that had allowed her to hide her faunus-status for a healthy chunk of her life kicked in, and she forced her skin to return to its normal hues.

Still smiling, Neo shook her head. "_You don't have to hide that._" she said. "_I think it's cute._"

...And there went Ilia's self-control again, pink washing across her body even more quickly than before, the sudden change making Neo's entire body quake with silent laughter. After a moment, she recovered. Her expression sobered, and she began to tap on her scroll once more.

"_Once you're rested, we'll head back,_" she said. "_It's going to be a tough trip._"

Ilia nodded, her own expression grave, her colors returning to normal. Regardless of Kyo, it was likely that the marshaling of the small flotilla of Ironwood's warships had been noticed by the people in the Kingdom, including those White Fang still in Vale proper. They would realize what happened and, rightly, assume that everyone in Mountain Glenn had either been killed or captured. There would be no bullheads sent out and, right now, Ilia and Neo were out of range of scroll contact, the signal booster they'd used at the encampment being amongst the things Ironwood's forces would have undoubtedly confiscated.

That meant that Ilia and Neo had no choice but to make their way back to Vale the hard way, by traversing the forests between Mountain Glenn and the Kingdom walls on foot. The distance was nearly twenty miles, but that was as the crow flew. Those miles were miles of uneven, mountainous terrain, with plenty of ups and downs and necessary detours that would stretch that journey out to an uncomfortable degree, with no trails to ensure easy routes to follow. A journey that was mere minutes by bullhead would constitute at least two days, or more, by foot.

Worse still, they would have no supplies. The rations the White Fang had brought with them to Mountain Glenn were amongst the things that were, even now, being seized by the Atlesian forces. Ilia had survival training, a necessity, considering that the White Fang often set up encampments in the depths of the wilderness to hide from the authorities, when they weren't operating from within the Kingdoms themselves. But having to forage for food and water for both her and Neo would only draw out the journey even more, and food would still be scant.

And all that was without factoring in the Grimm. Ilia had no idea what, but _something_ had been keeping the Grimm away from the White Fang's base in Mountain Glenn, even before they had up and vanished from the area entirely. But Ilia knew from experience that that protection, whatever it was, extended only to the encampment, having had to evade or fight Grimm during her scouting expeditions to the surface. They were still curiously absent, but Ilia knew better than to take that absence for granted on their journey back to Vale.

All in all, it was shaping up to be a long and arduous journey. Ilia sighed tiredly. If only they had access to at least some of the food from the encampment, or if they could get to the signal booster and summon a ride back. If only the Atlesians hadn't taken it all..._Wait! The Atlesians!_

Ilia's eyes widened, attracting Neo's attention. "Neo..." she said, "...what's your Semblance?" Even though she didn't know the specifics, Ilia realized that Neo must have had some kind of stealth-type Semblance, if she'd been able to watch what Ilia had been doing all this time, without Ilia even realizing it.

Neo took a moment to type her response. "_I can control light,_" she said. "_I can use it for illusions, or to hide myself._"

"Can you hide other people too?" asked Ilia, her heartbeat speeding up.

Neo's own eyes widened slightly, as she realized what Ilia was getting at. However, the excitement faded from her face, and she pouted as she gave her answer. "_I can only control visible light. If you're thinking of hitching a ride with the Atlesians, it won't work. I can't hide from their androids' infrared and radar._"

Now it was Ilia's turn to smile slyly. "You can leave that to me," she said. "Guess what _my_ Semblance is."

Neo canted her head, looking confused, a look that Ilia found quite cute, honestly. "_Changing colors?_" she guessed.

Ilia scowled up at her. "That's my faunus-trait," she said. "I'm a chameleon."

Now Neo smiled teasingly at Ilia, telling her that Neo had already known that, and had just been pushing her buttons.

Ilia rolled her eyes, smiling in spite of herself. "My Semblance, might be able to help with the other things, if you can keep us hidden from sight."

Neo nodded, and leaned in to listen more.

* * *

The flight back to Beacon was mercifully brief. Through it all, Yang couldn't help but stare at Kyo. _This is Ruby's brother..._ Raven's words drifted to the front of her mind. _"You have no idea of the kind of monsters she associates with..."_ Given what she'd seen of the aftermath of what he'd done with the White Fang, Yang could understand thinking of Kyo as a monster. Despite that, he had a strangely pleasant demeanor, one that stood at odds with the person who'd just slaughtered dozens of White Fang soldiers.

But the more she looked at him, the more she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about Kyo...something familiar. It was on the tip of Yang's tongue, just beyond her ability to put into words.

Then Kyo appeared to notice her staring, and turned to look at her, their eyes meeting. Seeing those crimson orbs of his, looking directly into hers, finally tipped Yang off to that realization that was just out of reach, a soft gasp escaping her. _They're the same as Raven's...the same as mine..._

Indeed, Kyo's eyes were that same luminous crimson color that Yang had seen in Raven's eyes, when they'd met for the first time in Yang's life. They were also the same eyes that Yang herself sported, when her Semblance was kicking into high gear or her anger was getting the better of her. It was disconcerting to see that color in the eyes of a person that she, to her knowledge, had no relation to. Kyo was Ruby's adopted brother, which meant that he shared no blood with Ruby or Yang. _What does that mean?_

Kyo merely smiled warmly at her, acknowledging her staring, but not calling her out on it. Instead, he turned his attention elsewhere, content to leave her still looking at him.

A few minutes later, their airship settled onto one of the landing pads at Beacon's air-dock. The passenger bay doors opened, allowing the group to disembark, Qrow in the lead. Ozpin was there, waiting for them, with Oobleck and Glynda waiting alongside him.

"Welcome back," he said, "and congratulations on your success. We're quite glad to hear that the White Fang's planned attack was successfully stopped."

"The kids handled themselves like pros," said Qrow, smirking over his shoulder at them. "We also brought back a stray. If I promise to look after him, can we keep him?"

"Very funny, Branwen-san," said Kyo, who was chuckling himself.

"Ah, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," said Ozpin, stepping forward and stopping directly in front of Kyo. "After I finish debriefing Rainbow and Copper, I would very much like to speak with you."

"I would be happy to do so," said Kyo. "Has my sister returned from her mission? The entire point of this in the first place was to visit her, after all."

"I am afraid she is not due back for another five days at least," said Ozpin. "Still, we will be happy to accommodate you, while you wait."

"I'm grateful to hear that," said Kyo, bowing politely to Ozpin.

"Now then, let us adjourn to my office, so that we may conduct your debriefing," said Ozpin, turning back to the students.

* * *

The debriefing was a little protracted, the students needing to explain how their plans had changed, after they'd discovered the White Fang's operation. Blake had also admitted that she'd been shown the operation by Ilia, who had lost faith in Adam's leadership and was rebelling against the extreme militant stance of the Vale branch.

The implications of that information alone were substantial. Ilia's actions and intentions revealed deep divisions amongst the White Fang, which brought to light new possibilities for combating them...or even making peace with them, if possible. From what Ilia had told Blake and the others, it seemed that Sienna Khan was far more reasonable than Adam Taurus. If there was a way to make contact with her, then, perhaps, a dialogue could be established, maybe even an end to the conflict brokered.

Of course, those were considerations for a later time.

It was Blake who brought forth the most troubling piece of information, which Ilia had told her, about Cinder, who was apparently the one behind this whole affair, using the White Fang as her pawns. Strangely, she noticed that none of the adults in the room betrayed any surprise at the revelation, unlike her fellow students.

"Wait! So those guys have been a part of this the whole time?" exclaimed Nora, hugging herself, shivering.

"Dammit! And I thought Em was pretty cool," growled Yang, smacking the palm of her right hand with her left fist.

"We should move to take them into custody immediately," said Ciel, her expression hardening as her teammates nodded in agreement.

Ozpin held up a hand. "As for that...we are aware of Cinder Fall's disposition."

"Huh?" grunted Nora, the students all staring in shock at Ozpin.

"We learned about her from...another source," said Ozpin, a wry smile flickering across his face. "As such, we are taking measures to keep them under surveillance, in preparation for taking them into custody. However, as you might guess, going about that with someone dangerous enough to force the most militant and racist faction of the White Fang to work alongside the most notorious human criminal in the Kingdom, one who has a reputation for racism himself, is no small undertaking, and we must be extremely careful in how we handle this."

"So...what does this mean for us?" asked Ren.

"For the time being, I advise you to avoid Team Crimson as much as possible," said Ozpin. "Of course, it wouldn't do for you to look as though you're going out of your way to avoid them, but keep contact to a minimum. I know this will be difficult, but you must act as though you suspect nothing of them."

"We'll try our best, Sir," said Ciel, Ren nodding beside her.

"That is all I can ask at this juncture," said Ozpin. "Now...let us wrap up your debriefing."

Ozpin listened to the story of how the mission had concluded, before dismissing RYNB and CPPR, informing them that the remaining time of the mission period would serve as a vacation for them. On top of that, in reward for the successful resolution of their mission, they were paid bounties, something that would normally not be made available until they started their second-year missions.

So the students left, their hearts lighter, and their pockets heavier. Kyo, who'd stood at the back of the room and waited his turn throughout the debriefing, now stood in Ozpin's office. Qrow and Glynda both waited in the wings, watching and listening. Their expressions were wary. Kyo still carried his sword, and no one had dared suggest he relinquish it. If he wanted to start a fight, here and now, there would be no way to stop him...and even less of a way for any of them to win.

"So...we finally meet Ms. Rose's infamous brother," said Ozpin, smiling at Kyo.

"I would hardly go so far as to call myself infamous," said Kyo.

"Then you gravely underestimate yourself," replied Ozpin. "Between your...criminal record...and your reputation amongst the settlements, you have quite the substantial reputation, for both good and for ill."

"Ah well, it is what it is," said Kyo with a shrug. "All I did was brush off the sparks that fell on me. Somehow, I wound up making quite a few enemies, which I actually relish. Since the Grimm steer clear of me, nowadays, it's good to have someone to cross blades with."

"I'll bet," grumbled Qrow, remembering his own run-in with Kyo all too well.

"And how has Ruby-chan been doing here?" asked Kyo.

"She has been thriving, by all measures," said Ozpin, his smile widening. "She has proven herself one of the top students in her year, in the combat rankings. Academically, she is near the top of her class, though she did struggle at first. However, she works diligently to overcome her limitations."

"That's the Ruby-chan I know," said Kyo, laughing. "She's always wanted to be a Huntress, more than anything. Even when she lived with us, it was harder to convince her to take it easier on herself than it was to get her to work harder."

"Sounds like my Rosebud, all right," said Qrow, smiling a little.

Kyo paused, his eyes rolling upward slightly. "However, one thing that concerns me is the question of the family she left behind," he said. "I know she has been on good terms with Branwen-san-we helped with that a little-but I am also aware that she left other family behind, when she ran away. Has she reconnected with them at all?"

"She has," said Ozpin. "In fact, Qrow aside, you've already met one of the people she initially left behind." He tapped the interface on his desk, bringing up the image of Yang.

"Oh! Her," said Kyo, his eyes widening. "I had thought she'd been watching me closely on the ride back. So that's why."

"Well...it may not be the only reason," said Ozpin. "There is something else you should see."

He brought up another image, this one showing Yang in one of her sparring matches, with the full power of her Semblance unleashed. His eyes widened, taking the sight of the Yang's own eyes, which had turned the same brilliant crimson color as his own, instead of their normal lilac shade. "Well now! That is a surprise." He paused and frowned. "Though...now that I look at her like that...there's something familiar about her."

"Perhaps this," said Ozpin bringing up a picture of another person, prompting a gasp from Kyo. The image was of a woman, the contours of her face a near-perfect match for Yang's, albeit looking older, and with black hair, instead of blonde.

"Branwen...san..." Kyo slowly turned to look at Qrow. "Wait a minute...are you relatives?"

"Took ya long enough," groused Qrow. "Raven's my twin-sister. And, from what I've heard, you've crossed her path before."

"That I have," said Kyo. "We were abroad on a training excursion for Ruby-chan, traveling through Anima. We parted ways, since Ruby-chan couldn't exactly test her skills against the Grimm, if I was around. She and Sasame traveled around the northern edge of Lake Matsu, while I took the southern route, and we met up on the other side.

"During that time, a group of bandits calling themselves the Branwen Tribe attacked the settlement I was visiting. Apparently, since they were throwing a festival to celebrate my arrival, the bandits thought that the place would be easy pickings. Of course, since I was there, I disabused them of the notion. I wound up killing most of them, before they had the sense to retreat.

"When I met up with Ruby-chan and Sasame, I learned that the tribe had actually split to attack multiple targets, Ruby-chan and Sasame seeing off an attack by another group of them. Because the settlement I was at was the larger target, I wound up getting the bulk of them though."

"Explains why Raven would have a grudge against you and Ruby," said Qrow.

"I suppose," said Kyo, scratching his chin, while staring at Raven's picture. "I remember her well enough. She attacked me first. However, after our initial exchange, she backed off almost immediately, and allowed her subordinates to fight instead."

"So she threw their lives away," growled Qrow. "'The strong survive', my ass! Of course she'd spout that, then split the moment things get tougher than she's expecting."

"Considering her nature, I suspect it's because she considers it a strength to be willing to sacrifice members of her tribe," said Kyo. "There are many in the world who would consider the ability to make 'difficult decisions' like that a strength."

"It's just an excuse though," grumbled Qrow.

"I don't dispute that," replied Kyo.

"Perhaps though, you could shed some light on the nature of these eyes you, Raven, and Ms. Xiao Long possess," said Ozpin.

"Ah...well...they are an atavistic trait," said Kyo. "Truth be told, they are of little relevance in this day and age, especially in my generation."

"Is that so?" asked Ozpin, frowning.

"It's nothing you need be concerned about," said Kyo. "In the case of Xiao Long-san, they are a potent asset, yes. But the fact that they can manifest at all indicates that she is already tapping into their potential, so there is little for me to add on that front."

"I suppose I shall have to take you at your word," said Ozpin. "Though I would like to know more about them all the same."

"Well...there is only so much I can tell," said Kyo. "Suffice to say that they should not complicate things for Xiao Long-san. Were she a member of the Mibu, that would be a different case. But that trait holds no cultural relevance outside the Mibu Clan."

"If you say so," said Qrow, sounding skeptical.

"If I have anything else to say on the matter, it will be to Xiao Long-san herself," said Kyo. "It's a personal subject after all." He tilted his head as he regarded Ozpin. "Is that all you wished to speak of?"

"Hardly," said Ozpin. "Seeing as you are the second of two visitors from the Mibu Clan that we have had, not counting Ms. Rose herself, I find myself wondering if the Mibu have finally begun to take an interest in matters beyond their own borders."

"That might be stretching it," said Kyo. "The Taishiro have always monitored affairs outside the clan to a certain extent. But the majority remain rather insular in their bent. My interest here is purely personal, as it pertains to my sister, and her wellbeing.

"Sasame, on the other hand...might be another matter entirely. However, you would be best put putting that question to her directly."

"I have already," said Ozpin. "I was hoping that, as another person of note with the clan, perhaps you could facilitate more interaction and dialogue."

Ozpin's remark drew a sharp, shocked look from both Qrow and Glynda, their jaws dropping slightly.

Kyo merely laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Well...in my case, I'm no real help. My rank within the clan is pretty much defined by its _lack_ of authority. Sasame holds far more political influence than I do, I assure you."

"I see," said Ozpin.

"Was there anything else you wished to ask about?" inquired Kyo.

"Not at this time," said Ozpin. "Glynda will see you to your quarters for the duration of your stay. Please make yourself at home."

"I am grateful for your hospitality," said Kyo, bowing to Ozpin once again.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when the Atlesian manta touched down in Vale. Even though Ironwood's forces were largely contained within the three warships he'd brought with him, he maintained regular contact with his contemporaries in the Valean military, as well as Vale's Council. While Ironwood was quick to lay claim to the remains of the Atlesian Paladins that the White Fang had stolen, he was just as quick to relinquish the stolen Dust that had been recovered back to Vale.

This manta was making one such delivery, touching down near the edge of one of the military compounds that lined Vale's perimeter. Even as the Atlesian soldiers, assisted by a quartet of Knights, began to offload the crates of Dust that had been shipped in, a pair of extra passengers made their way off the ramp, skirting the soldiers and androids, quickly locating the entrance to the base and slipping through it, with no one being the wiser.

A few minutes later, they finally dropped their cover, the air around them shattering like glass to reveal Neo and Ilia, the pair holding hands, triumphant smiles on their faces.

"See...I told you it would work," said Ilia, not bothering to try and keep from sounding a trifle smug.

Neo beamed and nodded.

While Ilia's faunus-trait allowed her to change the color of her skin, her Semblance allowed her to blend into her surroundings in a different way. She could control both her body temperature and her radar return, making her nearly invisible to many of the advanced sensors employed by Atlas. It was the reason she was one of the White Fang's top infiltrators. Combining that with her ability to change her color, and she could infiltrate many locations normally deemed impenetrable to those without special technology. It had served her and her comrades well on any number of dangerous missions. And now, it had allowed her and Neo, with the aid of Neo's own Semblance, to successfully make their way back to Vale much more quickly than they had initially worried.

Despite being finished with their escape, Ilia couldn't help but notice that Neo continued to hold her hand. Once again, Ilia's skin was tinged a pink color, which drew another giggle from the diminutive girl.

"Oh hush," grumbled Ilia, schooling her skin back to its normal hue. In the caverns below Mountain Glenn, well away from the search areas of the Atlesian forces, it wasn't such a big deal if she let go of her restraint, concerning her skin. But here, in the midst of Vale, where news about her faunus trait might have been spread to the authorities, it was much more important to keep a low profile.

"So...now what?" asked Ilia.

Neo canted her head slightly, before fishing out her scroll once more. "_We have our priorities,_" she typed. "_You need to see to the White Fang, here. I need to check on Roman, and...figure out a way to bring Cinder down._"

"Can we?" asked Ilia.

Neo nodded. "_You might already have a way,_" she said. "_You've already set your friends at Beacon on her trail._"

"They aren't my friends," Ilia protested weakly, unable to put much conviction into her words.

Neo simply shrugged. "_In any case, if I can manage this right, we might be able to take out Cinder, and I can arrange amnesty for Roman. I guess you'll have to decide what the White Fang needs to do._"

"I'll see what I can do," said Ilia with a sigh. She met Neo's gaze once more. "I guess we're going our separate ways for now."

Neo nodded, not bothering to type out another response. Ilia took a step back from her, a prelude to turning away and going on her way. However, she paused when a smirk appeared on Neo's face.

Before Ilia could react, Neo had surged forward, jumping up to throw her arms around Ilia's shoulders, so that she could bring her face in close...and press her lips to Ilia's. Before Ilia could even think to react, her own arms had circled Neo's waist, pulling the diminutive girl closer. Neo worked her lips against Ilia's, gently prying them apart, then slipping her tongue in. On reflex, Ilia found herself responding in kind. Before she could assert control over her reactions, a low moan emerged from her throat, and her skin blazed bright-pink and dark-red.

Then Neo pulled away, slipping out of Ilia's arms like an eel, a thin strand of saliva connecting their mouths briefly, before snapping. Neo danced back, a triumphant grin on her face as, starting with her cheeks, the dark-red of Ilia's spots spread out to encompass her skin entirely, turning her as red as a tomato.

Neo stuck out her tongue for a second, then winked cheekily, before vanishing in a strobing flash, leaving a blushing Ilia alone. Ilia didn't need Neo's scroll to understand what she had just "said". Whatever else she might be at the moment, Neo was a _thief_, above all else...and now she'd just "stolen" a kiss from the girl she fancied. Strangely, Ilia didn't find herself minding too much.

* * *

**Ilia/Neo is a ship I honestly haven't really found any stories for, so I think I'm at least _one_ of the first to suggest it. That's not all that surprising, given that they've never even _met_ in canon. I suppose we could call this one _Rainbow Sherbert._ (Yes, I know sherbert isn't an ice cream, but work with me here.) Writing this, they just kinda clicked for me, so I went with it. It's also fun expanding Ilia's repertoire of color-changes, beyond the ones she's shown in canon, coming up with color combinations, and what they mean.**

**Kyo's role in the upcoming arcs is off and on, as he doesn't actually have that much fighting to do, and much of his influence on the plot is based upon his penchant for making things really...really...awkward, in a variety of ways. The fact that his introduction to Ruby's friends didn't exactly go over all that well would be our first example.**


	81. Chapter 81

**Chapter 81:**

_Day Nine:_

It took a moment to calm things down and get everyone off the docks. Ruby continued to cling tightly to Kyo, enjoying the feeling of hugging her big brother, after not having seen him in so long, blissfully ignorant of the bevy of mixed feelings leveled their way, by Winter in particular, who, despite Ciel's brief explanation, still looked as though she was on the verge of trying to take Kyo into custody.

Finally, after much cajoling by her friends on RYNB and CPPR, Ruby was convinced to move the reunion elsewhere. To that end, they adjourned to a discrete corner of the courtyard, where they seated themselves at a group of tables to compare notes and share stories. The first thing Ruby did was introduce her brother to her friends.

"Yeah...so this is Kyo-nii," said Ruby, gesturing to Kyo, who laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Thank you for the perfunctory introduction, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, smirking down at her.

"W-well...I've told them a bit about you, so..." Ruby shrugged, prompting a sigh from Kyo. "A-anyway, I should introduce you to my friends. You've already met Rainbow and Copper, I guess."

"Somewhat," said Kyo, beaming at the two teams that had brought him back to Beacon. "Granted...I have yet to obtain anything beyond a passing acquaintance with them. We have not interacted all that much since we arrived at Beacon."

"Really?" asked Ruby, her gaze brushing over RYNB and CPPR.

"Well...as my sister, I believe the main effort of facilitating any kind of interaction should belong to you, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, grinning down at her. "Anything else would be a little awkward."

"That's putting it mildly," said Yang, under her breath. The faint chuckle from Kyo indicated that he heard her well enough.

"Well...that, and our first meeting resulted in them getting experience with my more...um...controversial side," added Kyo lamely. "I probably did not make the best of first impressions, you could say."

"Meaning...what?" asked Ruby.

"Meaning he slaughtered nearly the entire White Fang encampment based out in Mountain Glenn," said Blake, her tone becoming harsh.

"Oh," said Ruby, glancing at Kyo.

Kyo's smile didn't falter. "Well...I _did_ warn the White Fang that I would kill those who tried to kill me."

"Ugh..." groaned Ruby, her head drooping. "Wow...that's an awful way to introduce yourself to my friends."

"You're all right with this?" asked Blake, staring at Ruby in shock.

"W-well...I can't say that I'm as casual about it as Kyo," said Ruby, her expression sobering. "But...in that position, I can't say that I wouldn't kill at least some of the White Fang, if they attacked me like that."

"Considering our own experiences, I have to agree," said Pyrrha, Weiss and Jaune nodding.

"Ah," said Kyo, his attention going to Ruby's teammates. "I'm guessing that you three made your first kills on this mission of yours."

"That's right," said Jaune, his expression falling.

"I can see that you seem to be holding up rather well," noted Kyo. "It is something you will not wish to experience too often. Hopefully that will spur you to improve."

"Huh?" grunted Blake. She wasn't the only one confused by Kyo's remark.

"In pitched battle, being able to show mercy to your opponent is the ultimate luxury," said Kyo, beaming at them. "After all, unless you completely subdue them, it is entirely too possible that the object of your mercy will wind up remaining a threat to you, while the battle continues. If you truly wish to be able to show mercy, without risking the outcome of your fights, you will need near-absolute power over life and death...the ability to hold your enemy's life completely in your hand. It requires a great deal of strength and skill to obtain that kind of mastery."

"And what about you?" asked Blake. "Do you have that kind of mastery?"

"I do...with respect to most opponents," said Kyo. "Such power is conditional, as it is always relative to the strength of your opponent. The stronger your adversary is, the stronger you must be, if you wish to be assured of defeating them without killing them."

"So...you didn't have to kill those White Fang soldiers?" asked Nora.

"Of course not," replied Kyo. "All things considered, defeating them without killing them would be rather easy for me."

"But you killed them anyway..." gasped Blake. "How could you?"

"Because I despise people like them," replied Kyo, his expression hardening. The air around them was suddenly charged with tension, like the onset of a terrible storm. "They would happily kill others for the sake of their 'ideals', yet apparently did not think that they had any reason to think that the same might might be visited upon them. As far as I am concerned, those who kill, but who are not prepared to _be_ killed are the lowest of the low."

Blake's ears drooped beneath her ribbon, her expression faltering.

Kyo relaxed, his expression softening again, the tension in the air dissipating, as though it had never been there to begin with. "I can understand if you are disconcerted with me. I greatly admire and respect Ruby-chan's strength and convictions, her adherence to her ideals. But I am _not_ her. The ideals that she holds to, the goals she has set for herself, are not mine. So please do not judge us in accordance to each other."

"Yeah...we're kinda weird like that," said Ruby, smiling awkwardly.

The others could only stare as they watched the pair smile and laugh, unable to help the strange, awkward feeling in the air.

"A-anyway, let me introduce you to my friends, Kyo-nii," said Ruby, darting to stand by her teammates.

"All right," said Kyo.

"This is Weiss Schnee," said Ruby, gesturing to Weiss, "and her partner, Pyrrha Nikos."

"It's nice to finally meet you," said Pyrrha, grinning awkwardly, raising her hand in greeting.

"Indeed," Kyo replied. "Thank you for looking after my sister. I imagine she must give you no shortage of headaches."

"Hey!" Ruby protested,

"You could say that again," said Weiss, throwing a teasing smirk at Ruby.

"Weeiiiiissss..." Ruby whined, her cheeks turning red.

"To be honest, she does more work keeping Weiss in line than the other way around," said Pyrrha, now smiling slyly at Weiss, who found it her turn to start blushing.

"I'd say we're all keeping each other in check," suggested Jaune with an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his head. The gesture prompted everyone to stare at him strangely.

_He looks just like Kyo when he does that,_ noted Pyrrha, the others thinking the same.

"And you are...?" asked Kyo, his gaze going to Jaune.

"This is Jaune Arc," said Ruby, grinning from ear to ear. "He's my partner...and...my boyfriend." The last two words of that sentence were barely above a mumble.

Jaune jolted, his face turning red, surprised that Ruby would acknowledge their relationship so! openly.

"WHAT?" exclaimed Yang, her eyes going wide.

"Whoops," Pyrrha whispered to Weiss.

"I forgot she wasn't informed about that yet," Weiss muttered, she and Pyrrha both watching Yang cautiously.

"Well well, it seems you have come a long way, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, getting to his feet and standing in front of Jaune, almost seeming to loom over him.

"Uh oh..." Pyrrha whispered, her eyes going wide.

They'd been so focused on Yang that they hadn't spared a thought for how Ruby's brother might take the situation. Kyo looked down at Jaune, still smiling, his expression inscrutable. The fact that he was smiling, in and of itself, didn't necessarily mean anything. RASP and RYNB knew from experience that a person could smile quite pleasantly, yet still manage to exude an aura of overwhelming menace, thanks to the time Sasame had spent with them.

However, there was no such sense of danger from Kyo. Instead, he held out his hand to Jaune, Jaune taking it hesitantly, Kyo giving Jaune a friendly clap on the shoulder with his other hand. Jaune had expected Kyo to start squeezing in an effort to crush his hand, but Kyo's clasp simply remained firm.

"I can tell that you will do your best by her," said Kyo simply smiling down at Jaune. "I wish you the best of luck. Being with her will not be the easiest thing, I am sure."

"Hey!" protested Ruby, her face turning red.

"Well, if anything, Ruby is the one looking after me," said Jaune.

"I imagine that it will seem such," said Kyo. "However, I ask that you continue to remind her that she cannot be trying to save the world _all_ the time, so it is important that she take time for herself."

"I'll do what I can," said Jaune.

"My thanks," said Kyo, releasing his hand.

"Wow...I was worried there for a minute," said Weiss.

"You were?" Kyo looked to her, blinking in confusion. "Why?"

"Um…well...We figured you might threaten him. Isn't that what brothers do?" asked Pyrrha.

"Maybe some," said Kyo with a shrug. "However, I also know that Ruby-chan would despise that sort of interference in her life. She wishes to be able to make, and learn from, her own mistakes, though..." Kyo looked at Jaune again. "...this does not strike me as a mistake."

"Th-thanks," said Jaune, blushing. Ruby giggled and sidled up next to him, taking his hand in her own.

Yang looked on, her hands clenching into fists as she watched Jaune and Ruby hold hands. She wasn't sure how to process this. In some ways, it was the realization of her greatest fear, since she'd first seen Ruby and Jaune together. Yang's overprotective instincts were bubbling up within her, threatening to erupt, insisting there was no way she could allow some boy like Jaune to have his way with her baby sister.

Seeing Kyo and Ruby's teammates so blithely accept their relationship, however, dumped a bucket of cold water on the embers of Yang's anger, reminding her that her reaction was a visceral and reflexive one, a resurgence of her old protective instincts, a sign that she still hadn't completely overcome her past feelings of condescending worry for Ruby's wellbeing. After all, hadn't _she_ been the one who'd encouraged Ruby, when Ruby had been freaking out over how to handle going to the dance with Jaune? Yang figured she ought to be over this by now.

So she took a deep breath, and forced herself to relax. Yang didn't notice, but Kyo had picked up on her momentary flare of animosity, and had flashed her a curious look, noticing that Yang appeared to quickly get over whatever anger she was experiencing.

Following Ruby's introduction of her teammates, she officially introduced Kyo to Team RYNB and CPPR. Kyo greeted them all congenially, though their responses to him were guarded, Blake's in particular. Kyo noticed, but was not overly concerned with their responses to him.

Throughout it all, Yang watched Kyo warily, unsure of what to make of the man her sister claimed as family.

* * *

"This is where you're staying?" gasped Ruby, staring at the door to Kyo's room in the faculty quarters of Beacon.

"While I am here," agreed Kyo. "It was rather kind of Professor Ozpin to make this space available to me."

"Kindness might not have been the only thing he was thinking of," said Weiss, her gaze drifting to the door to the room adjacent to Kyo's.

Ruby couldn't help but agree. It was no coincidence that Kyo's room was right next door to the room currently being shared by Ashley and her family. It appeared that Ozpin had taken the opportunity to add another layer of protection for the Forrest Family to enjoy.

The reminder of Ashley's situation jolted Ruby with the realization that she hadn't yet told her friend that she and her teammates, particularly Weiss, were back. Realizing that, Ruby had an idea. "I know, I need to introduce you to Ashley."

"Is this the friend that Sasame mentioned?" asked Kyo.

Ruby nodded, beaming. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her scroll and called Ashley. "Hey, Ashley," she said to her friend's greeting on the other end of the line. "That's right. I'm back. Sorry, I should have called as soon as we got to Ulmo. We're outside your door, right now. Yeah, Weiss is with me. I have someone else-"

Before Ruby could finish, the door next to Kyo's swung open, Ashley almost flinging it open in her eagerness. She bolted right out into the hallway. A second later, her eyes settled on Ruby and Weiss, while Jaune, Pyrrha, and Kyo all backed away to give her some room.

Wordlessly, Ashley flung herself at the pair, Weiss and Ruby catching her, enfolding Ashley in a tight embrace. While still hugging both of them, Ashley turned her head and planted a quick kiss on Weiss' lips, before turning back to lean her head down into their shoulders.

"I'm so glad to see you again," she said softly.

"It's good to see you too, Ashley," said Ruby. "Are you all right?"

"I am now," said Ashley, her voice heavy with relief.

"Did...did something happen?" asked Weiss, beginning to worry.

"Yeah," said Ashley.

"Please, come in," said Elowen, stepping into the hall behind her daughter. "We'll explain."

They assembled in the room, listening as Ashley and her parents related the story of what had happened while RASP had been away on their mission. Ruby had gasped, her hand covering her mouth as she stared at her friend.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry." Tears began to leak from her eyes. "I should have been here with you, Ashley."

"That's not true," said Ashley, wiping her own eyes, then leaning into Weiss' embrace. "You can't spend all your time just protecting us. You're a Huntress in training. You've got a lot of responsibilities. It's wrong to completely upend all of that, just for us."

"Besides," added Oliver, "it's thanks to the precautions that you took that we were able to get through this."

"It is," agreed Ashley, nodding along with her father's statement. "The instant someone knocked on our door without calling first, I knew something was up."

Faced with the prospect of an illusionist trying to get at Ashley, even within the perceived safety of Beacon's campus, Ruby had been the one to suggest the measure that would ensure that Ashley or her parents weren't fooled into opening their door to a potential attacker. Thus, their precaution was, if anyone was visiting, they were to call Ashley's scroll first, and let her know they were outside her door. Anyone who approached the door and knocked, without calling first, was immediately suspected, and Ashley was to immediately call Glynda and get her, or a member of Beacon's faculty, to investigate.

And it had worked this time. Ashley informed them about what she had seen and heard through the door, how someone had made her see and hear Ruby, claiming to be back from her mission already.

Ruby wasn't sure exactly how they'd done it, but she already had a good idea of who had been behind this. _It had to be someone from Cinder's group,_ she thought. It was most likely Emerald or Mercury who had been responsible for the illusion. Ruby couldn't quite rule out Neo, though her illusions seemed to be purely visual in nature; that and, according to what RYNB and CPPR had learned about the mysterious person who had spirited Ilia away, when Kyo had confronted the White Fang, it seemed that Neo had been in Mountain Glenn at the time. Ruby was fairly certain that Cinder's Semblance wasn't illusory in nature, so that made her two flunkies, masquerading as her teammates, the most likely culprits.

"I'm glad it worked out for you," said Pyrrha, Jaune nodding in agreement alongside her.

"Yeah...but it was a little too close for comfort," said Ashley with a tired sigh. "Why can't these people just leave us alone? What's so important about us that they keep trying to kill us?"

"It's mostly my fault," said Ruby. "It's because you were friends with me that you were targeted by the White Fang in the first place."

Ashley sniffled, then shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "If I'd just kept saying no, when Chrys kept trying to get me to come to one of their rallies, I wouldn't have even wound up on their radar."

"I wouldn't be sure," said Weiss, drawing a surprised look from Ashley. "A faunus being the personal friend of a Huntress would still fly in the face of their narrative, so there's every chance they would have sought to 'punish' you, regardless of whether or not you'd been inducted into their ranks."

"I guess," said Ashley.

"Now now," said Oliver, clapping his hands twice. "Enough of such dreary topics. Now that you all are back, we shouldn't be complaining, particularly since your precautions did save our lives. Also...I have a question." He looked to Kyo, who'd been leaning against the wall, observing from the sidelines throughout the whole affair. "Just who are you, young man?"

"Ah, hello," said Kyo, now that the attention of Ashley's family was focused on him. "My name is Kyo. I am Ruby-chan's brother."

"Oh! It's you," said Ashley, staring at him with wide eyes. She'd heard a bit about Ruby's brother from her.

"That's right," agreed Kyo. "It seems that you and I shall be neighbors, for a little while at least. Professor Ozpin has given me the room next to yours."

"Yep," agreed Ruby. "That means you'll be even safer now. There's no way Kyo-nii will let anyone bad near you."

"How do you know?" asked Ashley.

"Well, I should be able to sense any murderous intent directed your way," explained Kyo. "That being the case, I will know the instant someone approaches your door with ill intentions, though, after the last time, I suspect they will be wary of trying to same thing twice."

"Let's hope so," said Jaune, frowning darkly.

Ruby nodded, her mind already going to Cinder and her team. _We need to do something about them,_ she thought. She knew that Ozpin had told her to do nothing that would let on to Cinder that they knew about who she really was. But now Cinder and her lackeys were an active threat to Ruby's friend, and her family. She couldn't allow this to go on. _I guess I should talk to him about this,_ she thought.

"Well, I think that's enough of this cloak and dagger nonsense," said Elowen, bringing out some tea and coffee for their guests. "Tell us how your mission went."

* * *

"What do you mean, you lost track of them?" demanded Ironwood, glaring over Ozpin's desk at him.

"It's exactly what we mean," said Glynda, frowning from where she stood, just a little behind and to the right of Ozpin's chair. "We've lost track of their location."

"I'm afraid we were a little complacent," admitted Ozpin with a tired sigh. "I admit that we should have suspected this, the moment we realized that they had infiltrated the CCT itself."

"The mission they took was not a real one," said Glynda. "It appeared in our system the very day the official mission period began."

"Checking with the listed client proved that it was a fraud," added Ozpin. "They submitted no such mission request, nor have they seen any sign of Team Crimson."

"Are you suggesting that they were using this as a way to slip away from us?" growled Ironwood.

"I doubt that," said Glynda.

"Again, going through so much trouble to infiltrate Beacon, it's unlikely that they would abandon their position here, unless they realized that we suspected them," added Ozpin.

"And could they suspect that?" wondered Ironwood.

"It's possible," admitted Glynda, "especially after their attempt on the Forrest Family's lives was successfully thwarted."

"However, their 'mission' was selected before that," continued Ozpin. "So it's unlikely that they are using it as a means of covering their tracks. Rather, I suspect that they are using it to run certain errands that they could not otherwise, lest their absence from Beacon at the time cause suspicion, and that they will return when their designated mission period is up."

"That being the case, I suppose that the major question is just what 'errands' they are using their mission as cover for?" mused Glynda.

"Most likely something to do with the White Fang's planned attack," said Ozpin, "which begs the question of what they will do, now that that plan has fallen through."

"Whatever the case may be, perhaps we should be on hand to welcome them back, when they return," growled Ironwood.

"That may be the best approach," agreed Ozpin. "And what of your expert?"

"He should be here by tomorrow," said Ironwood. "I have confidence in his ability to ferret out this virus. He should also be on hand to ensure that we are prepared to counter any future cyber-attacks between now and the Vytal Festival."

"I would think that a scientist of his caliber would have a hard time opening up his schedule so much," said Glynda.

"Normally," agreed Ironwood, "but he's said that he's able to bring his work with him this time." A small smile appeared on Ironwood's face. "Besides, Dr. Polendina has said that he wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to see his daughter's tournament debut in person for the world."

* * *

"Nothing?" asked Cinder, frowning.

"Not a peep," said Mercury, tossing his scroll onto the table of the hotel suite the three of them had rented out for the duration of the "mission" they'd picked.

Cinder had figured that, if they weren't going to be doing anything particularly involved, they might as well enjoy some luxury while they waited for the White Fang's attack. So she had used her new control of the CCT to reserve them a room at a very nice hotel, one with a set of windows with a fine view of Vale's central plaza, where the White Fang attack was expected to break through. Unfortunately, the expected attack had never occurred.

"They're late," said Emerald. "They must have _some_ reason, even if it is just an excuse."

"Pretty hard getting a scroll signal out of Mountain Glenn at the best of times," said Mercury, lowering his scroll to the table with a sigh. "Besides, if something _did_ happen, wouldn't contacting us be a last resort?"

"It should be," said Emerald. "But that hasn't stopped Taurus from calling us up at every opportunity to pester us about when we're going to off the girl and her parents."

Mercury grunted, shooting Emerald a glare, prompting her eyes to widen as she realized that she'd just let slip a reminder of their own recent failure. She still couldn't explain just how Ashley had realized something was up. Even if it had been difficult to get her Semblance to work through such indirect contact, Emerald figured she'd still managed to give a good enough imitation of Ruby to bring down a civilian's guard.

Nervously, Emerald glanced at Cinder. Cinder had been...perturbed...when she learned that Emerald and Mercury had failed in their effort to kill the Forrest Family. However, she appeared to be at least somewhat mollified by the pair's caution, appreciating their decision to retreat, rather than do anything that might jeopardize their cover. But that didn't mean that they felt reminding Cinder of that particular failure was a good idea.

"Something's wrong," said Cinder. "One way or another, the attack should have happened by now."

She opened up her scroll into its tablet mode, bringing up an image. It showed a map of Vale, and its surrounding territories, with indicators marking the position of three particular aircraft in the general area, Ironwood's warships. At present, the ships were patrolling different points of Vale's perimeter. Tapping the screen, Cinder rewound the map to show their disposition a few days earlier.

"Look at this," she said.

"This is from the third day of the mission-period," noted Mercury.

"They all converged on Mountain Glenn, quite abruptly at that," said Cinder.

"You think they attacked the encampment?" asked Emerald.

"But Adam would've sent the train out at the first sign of trouble," Mercury pointed out. "Executing the attack, even partially, would have been better than blowing all the prep work that went into it."

"And yet, it would seem that _something_ has gone wrong," said Cinder. "Maybe we need to pay a visit to the members still based in Vale."

"Assuming they're in the know anymore than we are," said Emerald. "They're gonna have just as much trouble getting any contact from Mountain Glenn as we have."

Cinder frowned pensively. "We can't afford to get distracted though. We have other plans to make, during our 'mission'."

Mercury and Emerald shared an uncertain glance. After all the admonishments they'd been given about the importance of maintaining their cover, it seemed more than a little hypocritical on Cinder's part to be planning such a risky operation in the midst of their main plan. However, they also couldn't deny that this was an unprecedented opportunity for them. The chance to secure a second Maiden, without needing to scour the four Kingdoms for her location, was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Then a tone sounded from Cinder's scroll, indicating that she'd just received a text. Bringing it up, Cinder's eyes widened in surprise. "Neo?"

"Isn't she supposed to be out in Mountain Glenn with the Fang?" asked Emerald, moving to see the message for herself.

"_Just got back,_" Neo's text said. "_Sorry about the delay. It was a long walk to Vale._"

A moment later, another text arrived from her. "_I bet you want to know why the attack was late._" After another moment, "_Sorry, but it's not coming. They got caught._"

"_What happened?_" asked Cinder in her reply, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "_I hope you have a good reason for this failure. Keep in mind that dear Roman is still in very hot water with us...and you would not want to make it any hotter for him._"

Emerald and Mercury could practically see Neo sweating in their mind's eye. Neo was an important piece in their plans, both because of her incredibly useful Semblance, a helpful compliment to Emerald's own, and because she was the fourth member of their "team," for the Beacon infiltration.

"_Some very interesting and unpleasant things happened,_" came Neo's reply. "_I can show and tell._"

What followed was a series of texts, Neo elaborating as much as she could within the limited format. The texts were accompanied by pictures of the event. Cinder's eyes widened when she saw the picture of the young man with luminous red eyes, cutting through the White Fang like butter.

"_Everyone died,_" said Neo. "_I barely managed to get the chameleon-girl out. But this guy killed them all so fast that they didn't have time to send the train out. I guess the White Fang didn't know better than to pick a fight with Demon Eyes Kyo. They didn't even think of trying to send the train out, until it was too late._"

"Demon Eyes Kyo?" Emerald blinked in confusion. "Who's that?"

"I've heard of him," said Mercury. "Dude's supposedly a total badass. He's on the blacklist of a bunch of different organizations, and the authorities of the Kingdoms too. He's supposedly wanted in all four."

"What's he want here?" wondered Emerald.

"God only knows," grumbled Mercury with a shrug. "The guy wanders all over the place. He's supposed to stick to the settlements for the most part, though."

Cinder's eyes narrowed dangerously. "_Can anything be salvaged?_" she asked.

"_Probably not,_" came the reply. "_The commotion caught the attention of Atlas. Ironwood's forces moved in almost immediately. They've probably cleaned out everything, by now._"

Cinder let out a low sigh. "_What about Adam?_" she asked.

The pause that followed was strangely long. "_He wasn't there,_" Neo replied finally.

"What?!" exclaimed Emerald and Mercury, with Cinder texting back exactly that response.

"_He went missing a while ago,_" Neo explained. "_We couldn't get in touch with you over it. Someone called Jester took him away. He seemed to know you._"

"Jester...?" Emerald and Mercury traded confused looks, while Cinder simply set the scroll down, staring at it with an expression that bordered on incomprehension.

"Why would he do that?" asked Emerald.

"Beats me," said Mercury. "That creep's harder to figure out than Tyrian."

"But this is interference," said Emerald. "Jester wouldn't jeopardize our plans like this, would he?"

"Maybe he didn't think doing this would," said Cinder, twirling an ebony lock of hair around one finger. "Adam's behavior has been...erratic...lately. His calls to us alone were proof of that. If anything, removing him, even temporarily, might have helped things along in Mountain Glenn." She looked back up at her disciples. "It's a question we can put to him ourselves, the next time he shows up."

"God knows when that might be," muttered Mercury.

"Nothing to be done," grumbled Cinder, glancing down at the scroll.

"Do you believe Neo?" asked Emerald.

"She provided sufficient evidence, so I should say that she has managed to justify our situation well enough," said Cinder. "We still need her, after all, so there's nothing to be gained by lashing out at her without good reason." She smiled cruelly. "After all, so long as Roman's fate hangs in the balance, she has every reason to do her best for us."

Emerald and Mercury nodded. Meanwhile, Cinder typed back her reply to Neo, relaying her next set of instructions. Neo would meet up with the other three members of "Team CMSN", before they returned to Beacon from their "mission", completing their team. At the very least, it would be helpful to have Neo along for the next operation they had in mind.

"Now then, since the White Fang's attack was a wash, let's focus on making sure that _this_ plan does not go awry," said Cinder, bringing up an image of their target, one Ruby Rose. "We will secure this Maiden, by any means necessary."

* * *

Ilia was exhausted. Following the debacle in Mountain Glenn, she had been putting in the hours trying to get the remaining White Fang, those still stationed in Vale proper, under control. It hadn't been easy. They'd been furious to learn that all the time, effort, and resources they'd invested in the operation had been wasted, to say nothing of the deaths of so many of their brothers and sisters.

That wasn't the only headache awaiting Ilia when she got back either. During the past week, Ashley Forrest and her parents had conducted an interview with Lisa Lavender, which had aired on the VNN, exposing the format of the White Fang's revised recruitment rallies, and their willingness to murder their fellow faunus for desiring to leave, or befriending humans. That had been a public relations nightmare, and one that left Ilia plenty glad that Adam was MIA, as she could scarcely imagine the bloodshed he would perpetrate, had he learned of this.

Some had demanded random attacks to at least partially compensate for the missed opportunity. Others had called for a direct reprisal against Beacon, or the Atlesian forces, whom they held responsible for the failure, as well as the Forrest Family for inciting popular opinion against them; even though Ilia had kept them from learning that either Kingdom had a hand in the operation's failure, save for being on hand to clean up in the aftermath. At least part of that had involved keeping word that the two student teams had been involved from getting out. Ilia and Neo were spinning a version of the tale where the soldiers had been taken down before the train was sent out, to avoid questions of how the train itself had been stopped.

It wasn't easy. Demon Eyes Kyo wasn't all that well known a moniker within the walls of Vale itself, to the point that the members out in Mountain Glenn hadn't even recognized him, when he'd abruptly appeared. Some relatively unknown vagabond didn't make nearly as satisfying a target for retaliation as the agents of the major powers they were actually fighting against.

Of course, there was no way Ilia could even _think_ of letting them attempt any kind of attack now. Despite what she told the others, she knew exactly who had been truly responsible for the planned attack's failure, a list of names that included her own. It had only been by the luckiest of twists of fate that Kyo had shown up out of nowhere, conveniently serving as the scapegoat for the whole debacle. If they were to focus their animosity on anyone, it should be him...yet she also knew that there was no way she could allow them to act on that.

Either way, they just didn't have the people or the resources anymore. Everything that they'd sunk into the Mountain Glenn operation was now a complete loss. They might be able to scrape together enough Dust for a few explosives, but that would be it. And, if they did anything that attracted the authorities' attention now, they were just begging to be snapped up, which would essentially wipe out what remained of the Vale Branch.

And so, every meeting had turned into another tired chorus of exhortations for her comrades to control their feelings, and keep laying low, at least until she could figure out what to do. Ilia was at her wits' end, to be honest. Worse, she expected Cinder to show up at any time, demanding to know what had happened to the attack. Even though she and Neo had agreed upon their story, Ilia dreaded the notion of even trying to explain the failure to that woman. That fear, combined with the myriad other worries, plagued her through the night, keeping her from getting a proper sleep.

So it was with a tired yawn that Ilia rose from her bed, hours after finally managing to allow sleep to claim her. To her horror, she realized that she'd slept through her alarm, and the latest meeting she had needed to attend to try and help figure out the way forward. God only knew what those hotheads would agree to in her absence. _Maybe that's why they didn't send anyone to wake me,_ she thought frantically as she rushed to dress, not even bothering with a shower, barely managing to get her hair in order before she leapt out of her quarters, which had been erected within the confines of an unused warehouse they'd temporarily taken over.

Ilia rushed out, expecting any number of things; from an empty warehouse, the remaining members having already set out to try one of their ill-planned attempts at retaliation that she had shut down before; to a meeting already in progress, with the remaining members ready to grill her for her negligence.

As it turned out, the warehouse _was_ mostly empty. Ilia could see no sign of the rank-and-file members, which only made her stomach sink as the worst possibilities she could imagine bombarded her mind's eye. However, as she rounded the corner of a set of shelves, arriving at the meeting "room" they had set up, she soon saw that saw she was not alone after all. Instead, when she saw who was seated at the nominal head of the table, Ilia came to a complete stop, her eyes going wide, her jaw dropping.

"Well well..." commented the smirking black-haired woman seated at the table, her dark skin decorated with black tiger-stripe tattoos, orange feline ears protruding from the top of her head, "...finally awake, I see."

"H-H-High Leader Khan!" exclaimed Ilia, reflexively falling on one knee. "I-I have no excuse! I'm so sorry!"

"Peace," interjected Sienna, her voice conveying an authority that made Ilia's mouth snap shut on reflex. Her expression softened, her smile becoming more genuine. "You've clearly been working hard, keeping this rabble under control. Some extra rest is the least I could allow you for all that you've done."

"I'm grateful for your consideration," said Ilia. "I did not know you were coming."

"I _did_ send a message saying I was on my way," said Sienna, her smile fading slightly. "Though, I suppose it didn't reach you, seeing as you were probably out at Mountain Glenn at the time."

"Most likely," said Ilia. "I was not expecting you."

"Considering your report on the situation, I felt it best to come handle it myself," said Sienna. "For that, you have my gratitude. I had no idea Adam had gone this far astray. That was a severe oversight on my part."

"High Leader, there's no way you could have known," protested Ilia, raising her head.

"Couldn't I?" asked Sienna rhetorically. "The signs were all there. With each mission he led, there were growing rumors and reports of unnecessary violence on Adam's part. However, he was strong, decisive, and got results. He had a great deal of charisma, which attracted others to our cause, and inspired them to greater efforts. I was distracted by those things, and ignored the warning signs, until it was almost too late."

Ilia lowered her head back down, a frown on her face.

"And where is Adam now?" asked Sienna, her expression hardening. "It would seem that we have some things to discuss about his future in the organization...including whether or not he _has_ a future at all."

"He's...not here," said Ilia. "We don't know where he is. He was...taken."

Sienna's ears perked up. "Taken...by who...and how?"

"It's...a long story," said Ilia.

"I see," said Sienna. "Rise, Sister Ilia. Join me at the table, and relay to me all that you have seen and heard over the course of your mission. Just what has been going on in Vale?"

"Of course," said Ilia. She did as Sienna bade her, seating herself across the table from her leader.

She told Sienna everything, the story of her experiences in Vale spilling from her lips in a rush. It started with learning about the White Fang's Dust thefts, and how they had been coerced into doing this for the mysterious woman known as Cinder. She talked about the attack on the docks, where she'd met Blake. Following that came the story of the revised rallies, and the more forceful recruitment methods. Then came the attack on Ashley, which Adam had used to try and lure out Ruby, only to lose a second time. Then came the rally that Blake and her new friend had infiltrated, then their retreat to Mountain Glenn, where Sienna listened uneasily to the stories of Adam's erratic and violent behavior, which had then been brought to bear against his own subordinates.

"Absolutely unacceptable," growled Sienna. "This Jester, whoever he is, would do well to see to it that Taurus _never_ comes back. If he does...there will be nothing for him in the White Fang, save for the edge of a sword."

Ilia swallowed. She continued, relaying the plan for the attack, to create a breach, and lead an army of Grimm into Vale in an effort to inflict mass casualties. For a moment, Sienna's anger abated, replaced by horror, her pallor lightening an unhealthy degree. Finally, Ilia reached the point she'd been dreading since this conversation began.

"I...I have to report that..." Ilia swallowed. "I have betrayed the White Fang."

"How so?" asked Sienna, no anger finding its way into her tone, only cool curiosity.

"Last week, a pair of teams from Beacon began operating within Mountain Glenn," said Ilia. "They seemed to be on a Search and Destroy mission, depopulating the local Grimm. However, I noticed Blake and her friends amongst their number. Given that they were at the rally, I figured that they were looking for our encampment.

"I...I reached out to them. When I got the chance, I revealed myself to Blake, and showed her what was going on, then helped them work out a plan to put a stop to it. I smuggled them past our camp's perimeter, then created a distraction, so that they could enter the tunnel and seal it up."

"And were you responsible for the deaths of your brothers and sisters?" asked Sienna, already knowing, in the most general sense, of what had happened to those who had staffed the operation.

Ilia shook her head. "If things had gone according to plan, Ironwood's forces would have hit the encampment, right after the tunnel had been sealed. The General would have been aiming to subdue and capture, though there's no telling how many might have died in the ensuing fight. But..._he_ showed up."

"He...?" Sienna raised an eyebrow.

"Demon Eyes Kyo," said Ilia.

Sienna's eyes went wide, pressing her lips into a tight line. "Truly?"

"Y-yes," said Ilia. "I didn't recognize him at the time. He was the _last_ person we'd expected to find blundering into our camp. But, in retrospect, those eyes of his were unmistakable."

"Did he attack?" asked Sienna.

"Not until we attacked first," said Ilia. "He said he was simply looking for a way into Vale. But Meinrad gave the order to attack."

"But you didn't?" asked Sienna.

"Um...an...associate of ours...knocked me out and carried me away, before I could," said Ilia, averting her eyes. "Otherwise, I would probably be as dead as the others."

"Who is this associate?" asked Sienna.

"Her name is Neo Politan," said Ilia. "She serves the criminal, Roman Torchwick."

"I'm guessing that this Cinder-woman you have been referring to is the reason she was working with you," said Sienna, resting her elbows on the table, folding her hands so that she could rest her chin atop them.

"And for similar reasons," said Ilia. "Cinder threatened her and Torchwick, the same way she threatened us. There was no way we would be working together otherwise."

"Indeed," agreed Sienna. "But she helped you escape?"

"Yes, we were able to combine our skills to reach Vale much more quickly than we would otherwise," said Ilia. "Even now, we're still working together, to an extent, in order to bring down Cinder, so that she can't threaten us again."

"Interesting..." Sienna frowned. "Let's get back to the main topic. You said that Adam's Lieutenant gave the order to attack Kyo?"

Ilia nodded.

Sienna sighed, shaking her head. "That poor, dead fool. He should have known better. If that's the case, then there's nothing to be done. That man is a living catastrophe to anyone who makes an enemy of him. It is best to steer clear of him entirely."

Ilia nodded, a cold sweat breaking out across her body. Regardless of what they were talking about, the fact remained that she'd just informed Sienna about her betrayal. For how calmly she was taking it, Ilia wouldn't have put it past Sienna to order her death.

Sienna met Ilia's eyes. "Ilia Amitola...I was right to send you on this mission."

"I...uh...What?" Ilia didn't know how to respond. "But, High Leader...I-!"

Sienna held out one hand, holding it up in a gesture to forestall the remainder of Ilia's outburst. "There is no denying that what you did constitutes a betrayal of the White Fang. However, you resorted to that in order to prevent an even greater betrayal, one that might well have doomed us all, had it been allowed to occur. Of course, had you attempted to hide your role in this, much less lied to me, your life _truly_ would have been forfeit, no matter how justified your actions might have been. But you were honest about your actions, and were prepared to accept the consequences for them. As such, you have not only earned a reprieve...but praise for your observance of your duties."

"I...I can't thank you enough, High Leader," said Ilia, bowing her head towards the table.

"Now then, the question becomes where we go from here," said Sienna, leaning back in her seat. "Your thoughts, Sister Ilia?"

"I'm not certain," said Ilia, lowering her gaze. "Dealing with Cinder is the best way to take care of most of our problems. However...she is too dangerous to take lightly."

"Indeed, if she can cow Taurus into submission," said Sienna. "He is many things, but a coward is _not_ one of them. No mere threat of force would be enough to enforce his obedience. That being the case, if we are to fight this woman, we will need allies, and...we will need to reconsider our approach in the future."

"I...I beg your pardon?" asked Ilia.

Sienna sighed, her gaze drifting away. "I had always thought Ghira's methods to be naive, placing far too much belief in our ability to sway the humans without resorting to violence. But...perhaps one of the reasons he went to such lengths to discourage violence on our part was because he had foreseen a situation like this; a situation where violent zeal has overridden our goals, a continuing spiral of escalation, two sides forever locked into a cycle of retaliation...with destruction as the sole outcome."

"What are you suggesting, High Leader?" asked Ilia.

"Perhaps..." Sienna spoke pensively, speaking as much to herself as she was Ilia. "...perhaps the time has come to reconsider the way we do things. We need a new approach. We cannot allow things to spin so completely out of control again." She looked up, meeting Ilia's eyes with a determined gaze. "Sister Ilia...what would you say to reaching out?"

"What?" gasped Ilia. "There's no way! As far as the authorities are concerned, we're nothing more than terrorists. They would never accept anything beyond unconditional surrender."

"If we reached out to the Council, yes," agreed Sienna. "However, I think there's another institution in Vale, one with power that rivals the Council's own. And, from what I've heard, their leadership is more inclined to be...flexible."

"You mean...Beacon?" Ilia's jaw hung slack. Was Sienna really suggesting that they open negotiations with Beacon Academy?

Sienna smiled at her. "Well now, Sister Ilia, it might well be to our benefit that Blake chose to leave and go to Beacon. In fact, it might well be our salvation."

* * *

**Now everyone's back at Beacon, safe and sound. Awkward conversations abound all over the place.**


	82. Chapter 82

**Chapter 82**:

* * *

**Here we go...Starting tomorrow, I finally go back to work, after I clocked out for a week-long vacation that wound up going on for two months. I shouldn't have any issues with posting...provided I can shift back to being a productive member of society, as opposed to being a lazy slob. Of course, the one who will truly suffer, due to this change, will be our dog, as he has gotten used to three walks a day, the poor guy. He's gonna be _so_ disappointed when he realizes I can't take him out for his usual afternoon five-mile ramble. Pray for him.**

* * *

"So...I assume you have questions for me."

Yang blinked, and flinched sharply, as Kyo settled onto the bench next to her, sitting far enough on the other side that they weren't touching. He calmly rested his sheathed sword against his left shoulder, its handle extending out above and behind his head. His sudden interjection into her thoughts had completely thrown Yang for a loop. She hadn't even sensed his approach.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, gesturing to the small section of the courtyard she'd taken for herself, deciding that she needed some time to think things over. "Shouldn't you be hanging out with Ruby?"

"I could ask you the same question," said Kyo. "Ruby-chan has told me that the two of you reconciled. I figured you would want to spend more time with her."

"Reconciling doesn't mean she likes it if I get too clingy with her," said Yang sighing sadly, "especially since her new boyfriend is the guy I started out threatening, earlier this year."

"Ah, I see," said Kyo, chuckling to himself. "I can understand that being a bit of an issue. So you were worried about her being in such close company with a boy?"

"Well...yeah," said Yang. "I mean, the last thing I remember about Ruby was her being this idealistic girl, who wanted to save everyone she could. I was crazy worried about her sharing a room with a guy, a guy who clearly had a thing for her."

"Well, Ruby-chan is still very idealistic," noted Kyo. "But being idealistic is not the same thing as being naive, though idealism and naiveté do go hand and hand, often enough."

"And why aren't _you_ with her?" asked Yang, bringing the conversation back to where it began. "I thought that was the entire point of you visiting, after all."

Indeed, Ruby had spent the the full day following her team's return to Beacon in Kyo's company. But a day later, it almost seemed as though Ruby had already tired of her brother's presence.

Kyo laughed lightly. "Well, Ruby-chan and Jaune-kun are in Vale right now. It's rather ironic that, despite having been officially 'together' for the better part of two weeks now, the pair of them have not been on an actual date yet. They'd made plans, during the remainder of their voyage, and I certainly have no wish to be an impediment to those. My arrival already prompted Ruby-chan to delay their plans by a day, so I didn't want to set them back any further."

This prompted another flinch from Yang, thanks to the visceral reminder that her baby sister was in an actual relationship...with a boy. She supposed that, as far as boys went, Jaune was about as safe as they came, so there shouldn't have been anything to worry about. Jaune would never try to force Ruby into anything she wasn't comfortable with (and Ruby was more than capable of beating the crap out of him if he ever _did_ try). Besides, going on dates was something girls did with their boyfriends, so there was no reason she should have seen it as something ominous and unsettling.

"How come you're taking this so easily?" asked Yang.

"Well, when you've trained your senses as well as I have, you can learn to sense people's intentions through their Auras," said Kyo, smiling serenely at Yang. "Ruby-chan is quite capable of that as well, by the way. The moment I met Jaune-kun, I could sense his feelings towards Ruby-chan. I sensed a great deal of respect and admiration, genuine friendship, and a very strong affection. It helps that Jaune-kun is obviously not very practiced in masking his feelings. As such, it wasn't hard to see that they would do well by one another."

"Good to know," said Yang dubiously. "But then...what brings you to me?"

"Well, as I said, I believed you might have some questions," said Kyo, "questions that do not necessarily pertain to your sister."

Yang met his gaze finding herself momentarily lost in those luminous crimson orbs of his. It was disconcerting, seeing those eyes on someone else. It was the same unease that seeing her mother unmasked had inspired, the sight of something strange, yet familiar. "What's with your eyes?" she blurted out, before she could stop herself, abruptly looking away, her cheeks turning red at her sudden indiscretion.

Kyo burst out laughing, loudly, lurching forward in his mirth. "W-well now...you certainly don't mince words," he said, after recovering enough control to speak.

Yang's embarrassed blush only intensified.

"Or perhaps the more appropriate question, the one you are truly seeking the answer too...is what is with _your_ eyes...and your mother's eyes," observed Kyo, after calming back down.

"So you know about her," muttered Yang.

"Ozpin-dono did show me images of the two of you," said Kyo.

"So...what's the deal?" asked Yang.

Kyo leaned back on the bench, his gaze sliding up towards the sky. "What you and I-and your mother-possess is a trait that we, in the Mibu, have long referred to as the Crimson Eyes."

"Well...that's kinda...lame," said Yang.

Kyo chuckled. "I suppose it is a rather uninspired name," he said. "However, the main point is that it is a trait that is found primarily within the Mibu Clan."

"So...we're Mibu?" asked Yang, referring to herself and her mother.

"Not truly," said Kyo. "You are distantly...very distantly...descended from our ancient ancestors, but that is not so unusual a thing. That you have the Crimson Eyes is far more remarkable, seeing as the trait is extremely rare, even within the current Mibu Clan, even amongst families that can trace their lineage back through millennia, not to mention that your Crimson Eyes manifest in _both_ eyes."

"They don't usually?" asked Yang.

Kyo slowly shook his head. "On the rare occasions they do manifest, those who possess the Crimson Eyes could instead be said to possess a Crimson _Eye_. Either the left or the right eye will transform. Only someone coming from an extremely distinguished lineage is likely to manifest them in both their eyes."

"Wow...so I'm from a distinguished lineage, huh?" mused Yang, thinking about what she'd recently learned about Raven's "family," during this last mission.

"From a bloodline perspective, yes," said Kyo. "Though I couldn't give you any kind of genealogy, as said bloodline has probably been separated from the rest of the Mibu Clan for countless generations."

"Not surprised," said Yang, sighing. Then she frowned pensively. "Hold on...how come Raven's eyes are always red, while mine are usually like this?" She gestured to to her own, currently-lilac, eyes. "Yours too," she added after a second.

"That's hard to say," said Kyo. "With regard to Raven-san's eyes, it's possible that she's so accustomed to drawing on them that she is able to maintain their manifestation constantly." _Although there's probably a different reason,_ he thought, remembering his own experiences with Raven.

"As for me...it's a familial trait. My family line is distinct amongst the Mibu. Children of our line are always born with the Crimson Eyes active. It's been that way for generations."

"Why?" asked Yang.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you," said Kyo.

"Can't...or won't?" asked Yang warily.

"...Yes," said Kyo, drawing a frustrated growl. "As it's something specific to us Mibu, it would be pointless for you to know. All you need know is that our family is...distinct.

"That being said, there is more significance to the Crimson Eyes than mere family history. The Crimson Eyes are an atavistic trait, the recurrence of an inherited trait that has been long lost to most."

"So...I'm a throwback," said Yang, frowning.

"That is not a bad thing," said Kyo. "Long ago, _all_ the members of the Mibu supposedly possessed the Crimson Eyes. With those eyes came immense power. Both the occurrence of the eyes, and the power they conveyed, dwindled with the passing of ages, until they were all but forgotten."

"So...wait a second!" Yang perked up. "You're saying that these eyes are like...some kind of superpower?!"

"Something like that," said Kyo, chuckling again. "Their presence and appearance means that you possess yet-untapped potential. Learning to invoke that power could allow you to unleash strength previously unknown to you."

"Really...?" Yang inhaled slowly, bringing her fingers up to trace the skin beneath one eye. "That's...kinda awesome!" She looked at Kyo. "I always thought my eyes were a part of my Semblance."

"Not quite," said Kyo, "though they probably aren't unrelated. Tell me...what is your Semblance?"

"When I take hits in battle, my Semblance charges up," said Yang. "When I tap into it, I can use all that power to basically pay back what my opponent did to me...plus interest."

"Impressive," said Kyo, scratching his chin. "Is that all there is to it?"

"W-well...it's not just damage," said Yang. "My Semblance can be powered up by my feelings, particularly when I get angry. When I'm really swept up in it, that's when my eyes turn red."

"Ah!" said Kyo sharply. "There's the connection."

"What connection?"

Kyo smirked. "The conditions you just described, your feelings running high, your blood hot in your veins..._those_ are the conditions that typically bring out the Crimson Eyes for those who haven't yet learned to control them. Those feelings, those moments, are when you are overriding the unconscious limiters your mind and body place on themselves, and are beginning to tap into your full potential power."

Yang's eyes went wide. "So that's it," she said, almost breathless. "But...what does that mean? What can I do with this?"

"I'm sure that Ruby-chan has told you about what Semblances are," said Kyo, "and what they aren't."

"You mean that stuff about Manifestation?" asked Yang. Seeing Kyo nod, she nodded back. "Yeah. She told us about that. I mean, it's a bit hard to believe, seeing as it goes against most of what we've been taught our entire lives. But, after seeing what Ruby can do..."

"Your Crimson Eyes could most definitely affect the development of your Manifestation," said Kyo, "particularly its potency."

"How so?" asked Yang.

"Well, I imagine that it's been a bit of a conundrum for you all," said Kyo. "With the exception of Jaune-kun, the rest of you have already acquired Semblances, so that makes it difficult to figure out how to produce a Manifestation."

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "Sasame was kinda at a loss too. She said she wasn't sure what kind of advice she could give us." She paused. "I mean, the training we've been doing with the basics of Aura-control has been a pretty big help on its own. But...creating some kind of new ability..." She shrugged.

"Well, all things considered...perhaps the best approach for you is not to look towards developing some wholly new ability, but instead steering the development of the ability you already have in a direction of your choosing," suggested Kyo.

"What would that look like?" asked Yang.

Kyo grinned. "Considering what you've told me, your current Semblance could refined in multiple ways. First and foremost, with refinement, it might be possible for you to absorb the energy of incoming attacks without actually taking damage from them."

"That would be nice," said Yang, considering that was the biggest drawback of her Semblance. To power it up all the way, she often had to get beat down right to the edge. In matches according to official rules, that often brought her right to the brink of being defeated by Aura-level. It was something her father and other teachers had often chided her for, as it was the kind of practice that encouraged recklessness on her part. If there was a way for her to reap the benefits of her Semblance, without having to suffer the drawbacks, then she was all for it.

"The other approach to refinement would be to boost your Semblance's 'return', so to speak," said Kyo. "You said you pay back the damage you receive 'with interest'. But, by refining your ability, you could potentially increase that 'interest' dramatically. In fact, that's where I suspect the potential of your Crimson Eyes may lie."

"Really?!" gasped Yang. "That would be awesome!"

"Of course, it would be best to explore both paths," said Kyo, chuckling. "Imagine being able to to render incoming attacks harmless, before sending that power back, inflated by an order of magnitude."

"Pretty damn awesome!" agreed Yang. "Where do I start?"

"In some ways, you've already started," said Kyo. "First and foremost, you need to continue practicing the three basic exercises you've already learned."

"Awww, come on!" exclaimed Yang frustratedly.

Kyo chuckled. "I'm sorry, but that much is the truth. As I once told Ruby-chan, I know those exercises come off as tedious and boring, and it can seem like you're practicing them to no real end. But the benefits will be there, if you are diligent.

"Temper and Projection both work to cultivate your Aura, increasing its volume; gradually, in the case of the former, and more rapidly, in the case of the latter. Suppression cultivates control of your Aura's inward and outward flow. Through that kind of practice, you will be able to 'get to know' your power, so to speak. Once you do, you will be able to start affecting its shape and its capabilities."

"Um...what is that like...exactly?" asked Yang.

"Not telling," said Kyo in a cheeky tone.

"What?!" exclaimed Yang, glaring at him.

Kyo laughed. "I'm sorry, but it's very difficult to put that sensation into words. And it's unique to each person who does it. More to the point, you will be exploring the shape and color of an ability you already have, rather than creating one from whole cloth, so your experience will be far removed from mine or Ruby-chan's.

"My best advice is to practice usage of your Semblance, under controlled circumstances of course, and turn your focus inwards. How does it feel, when that power builds within you? How can you divorce that accumulation from actually taking damage from incoming attacks? Maybe you should even examine what happens to that power, if you do not expend it. Imagine simply accumulating more and more power over time, a continuous reserve of extra strength that you could tap into at will."

"Yeah...that would be pretty cool," said Yang, smiling a little. "Thanks, Kyo."

"Yes, well..." Kyo scratched his cheek. "You are Ruby-chan's other sister, after all. So, by extension, that would make you my sister as well."

"Um...I'm not sure about that," said Yang, her tone flat. "I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of a guy like you being my brother."

"So harsh," said Kyo with another laugh. "Yet Sasame told me that you accepted _her_ offer of sisterhood. You're making me feel left out." He fake-pouted at her.

"Yeah, well, Sasame's different," said Yang decisively.

"That she is," agreed Kyo. "However, that is only by certain degrees. You've only been exposed to her better sides, for the most part."

"Better sides...?" repeated Yang skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

Kyo's smile became a smirk. "Sasame has the capacity to be just as violent as I am, sometimes. She too is capable of killing with little hesitation or remorse after the fact. She hasn't killed as many people as I have, but that's mostly because she's more often in the back, healing those we are protecting from those who become _my_ victims. Any of those who have made it past me to threaten those people then become _Sasame's_ victims."

Yang shuddered, feeling a chilling sensation washing across her skin. Abruptly, she was reminded of the first day she and the others had met Ruby's other sister, and subsequently learned that one of the first things Sasame had done, upon coming to Beacon, was brutally _torture_ Cardin Winchester. Granted, it had been Cardin who had started the whole thing, threatening and violently harassing Sasame for being a faunus. But that didn't change how disturbing it had been to hear how Sasame had broken Cardin's bones, only to heal them immediately afterwards, only so that she could break other bones in their place.

"I can see you have some sense of what I'm talking about," said Kyo. "Had it been Sasame who had come upon the White Fang in those caverns; doubtless, as a faunus; she would have received a much warmer reception. However, once she learned what they were up to, I can assure you that there would be just as many corpses as a result...if not more. Sasame dislikes those who threaten the helpless and innocent even more than I do."

"Even though she's a healer?" asked Yang.

"More _because_ she's a healer," Kyo replied. "Because she heals the hurts of others, she is far more conscious of the pain they suffer. Because of that, her tolerance for those who would willingly _inflict_ such pain is extremely low."

"Huh?" mused Yang. "Weird. She certainly tolerated those jerks who tried to attack Weiss, while they were together."

"Yes, well, Sasame was most likely trying to avoid causing complications for your friend," said Kyo. "Her way of killing is even more messy than mine."

Thinking back to those dismembered bodies in the catacombs of Mountain Glenn, Yang threw Kyo a skeptical glance.

"Sasame can hit very hard," said Kyo. "Hard enough to splatter a person's body like an overripe fruit."

"Oh..." Yang fought down the churning in her stomach, imagining such an event.

"Still...if you don't really feel up to calling me 'Kyo-nii,' like Ruby-chan does, I'm fine with that," said Kyo, his sheepish grin returning. "At the very least, I'm glad we had this chance to talk, Yang-san."

Slowly, Yang nodded. "Yeah...me too." Then she paused. "Wait a second! What about Uncle Qrow?"

"What about him?" asked Kyo.

"Raven and I; our eyes are inherited," said Yang. "But Uncle Qrow's never shown them."

Indeed, while Qrow's eyes were a dull kind of rusty-red. They weren't the same bright, luminous color that Yang and her mother sported.

Kyo shrugged. "Such is the nature of atavistic traits. They can disappear completely, only to pop up generations later. In the case of siblings, the trait can manifest in one, but not the other. Given that your mother and uncle are twins, that would be quite curious...except for the fact that they are fraternal twins, so their genetics are not identical. Either that, or Branwen-san simply hasn't fulfilled the conditions to activate them, the way his sister has."

"I guess that makes sense," said Yang.

"Did you have any other questions?" asked Kyo.

"Well...now that you mention it..." Yang suddenly found a crafty grin spreading across her face. "...any embarrassing stories about Ruby you'd care to share? As her big sister, I feel like I'm in need of some good teasing material."

Kyo returned her grin. "Well...I can certainly help with that."

* * *

"You okay?" asked Jaune.

Ruby had abruptly jolted, a shudder running in a wave from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, leaving goosebumps in its wake. _I'm getting the feeling I'm missing something I should be heading off at the pass,_ she thought. Out loud, she said, "It's nothing."

Jaune's expression was skeptical, but..."If you say so…"

"It's fine," said Ruby, giggling, the briefly troubling sensation passing with nary an aftereffect, indicating to her that it wasn't anything dangerous or threatening. She reached across the table to take Jaune's hand in her own.

Jaune smiled back at her, before letting go so that they could return to their meal.

Their first real date had been miles better than their outing, during their mission to find information on the location of the stolen Paladins. It helped that there was no overt threat of danger looming over their heads. They didn't have to worry about waiting for that call from Blake, saying she'd located the White Fang's rally. They _certainly_ didn't have to worry about tripping over Ruby's father again. All that was left was to spend the day as they saw fit.

They'd both dressed down (or up, depending on how one saw it) for the day, Ruby wearing the outfit that Weiss had bought for her during their first outing as a team in Vale, while Jaune had gone with a dark-blue, collared shirt; and a pair of surprisingly decent-looking tan slacks. As usual, Ruby felt a little exposed, wearing a top that showed off so much of her shoulders and back, not to mention a bit of her cleavage. However, she couldn't deny the giddy feeling that had accompanied her blush when Jaune admitted that it was his favorite outfit to see her in.

They'd started fairly early, going out for breakfast at a diner, before heading to a movie. Ruby still blushed, when she remembered Nora's suggestion.

_"Pick a movie that's kinda boring,"_ Nora had said. _"That way, when the two of you start necking, you won't be missing out on anything."_

There were two problems with Nora's suggestion. First, neither Ruby nor Jaune had much interest in going to a boring movie. Second, they didn't feel nearly comfortable enough yet to start...necking. So they'd instead settled on an action movie that looked rather entertaining.

And entertaining it was, though, as a pair of Beacon students, the pair of them actually found the movie's fight scenes to be more comedic than exciting, both of them having fun at poking holes in the moves used by the actors on the screen...in hushed tones, of course, though they might have attracted one or two glares from their neighbors.

By the time the movie wrapped up, they were a good ways into the afternoon. From there, they had simply spent their time touring the city, entering any shop that caught their eyes. Since the movie had lasted through noon, they'd decided on an early dinner at a small cafe, which had been a recommendation from Blake.

As first dates went, it had been wonderful. They'd enjoyed the sensation of holding hands as they walked, even exchanging the occasional quick kiss. Neither of them felt ready for anything overly intimate, for all that they had slept in the same bed on multiple occasions already, so their interactions were mostly chaste and innocent.

As they ate their meal, they shared stories from their childhood. Ruby talked about some of the adventures she'd been on with her friends. Jaune shared the more pleasant stories of things he had done with his sisters. While he might have rightfully resented them for backing up his parents in doing everything they could to block him from becoming a Huntsman, and outright bullying him in the case of one of them, he still had fond memories of them all playing together.

They'd just wrapped up dinner, and were moving on to dessert, when Jaune's scroll buzzed. "Oh! How about that," he said, mostly to himself.

"What is it?" asked Ruby, leaning forward.

"Saphron wants to talk," said Jaune. "She wants to know when I'm free to take a terminal call."

"Saphron?" Ruby canted her head slightly.

"My oldest sister," said Jaune. "I told you about her, didn't I?"

"I think so," said Ruby, trying to pick out which one of his sisters he was talking about.

Jaune smiled fondly. "She's the only one of my sisters who moved away from home. She settled down in Argus, got married, and even has a son now. I'm an uncle." That last statement was made with only the kind of pride that a truly loving brother could produce.

"Did she ever try to discourage you, like your other sisters?" asked Ruby.

"Saph...nah," said Jaune, shaking his head, still looking at the message on his scroll fondly. "Part of it was that she'd already moved out by the time I really started arguing with our family over all that. I like to think she would've taken my side, if she had been there. She used to tell me that she looked forward to the day I'd be a great hero."

"What's she look like?" asked Ruby.

"Well, let me see...I think I have a more recent picture of her," said Jaune, flipping through saved images on his scroll. "Here it is. Her wife's in the picture too."

The moment Ruby looked at the picture, she could tell which one was Jaune's sister. Saphron had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her brother, though her hair cascaded down past her shoulders in flowing waves that Yang would have probably been envious of. She was wearing a relatively simple khaki-colored vest, which left her arms bare.

She was seated next to a woman with a somewhat darker complexion, sporting dark-brown hair that had been cut just above her neck, with a single smooth bang drifting across her forehead, just over her dark-brown eyes, over which she wore a pair of red-framed glasses with rectangular rims. She wore a navy-blue button-down shirt, over which she also wore a light-blue cardigan. The two of them were both smiling, beaming pleasantly at the camera.

"She looks nice," said Ruby. "Do you have any pictures of their son?"

"Not yet," said Jaune, taking his scroll back. "I'll ask, if I get the chance." He grinned across the table at Ruby. "If she can do it, wanna go talk to her, after we get back to Beacon?"

"A-are you sure?" asked Ruby. "I mean...doesn't she want to talk just to you?"

"Well, she sent the request just for me," said Jaune. "But that's just because she didn't expect me to be with anyone else. I'd love to introduce my partner and girlfriend to her."

Ruby blushed furiously, but she was also pleasantly surprised that Jaune was so eager to introduce her as his girlfriend to the one sister he seemed to get along with, at the moment. "Sure," she said.

"Great," said Jaune. _Someday, I'd like to introduce her to Mom and the other girls...when they aren't trying to pretend I'm some kinda fragile china doll that'll break with a light touch._ He quickly tapped out a reply to his sister on his scroll. Only a few seconds passed before a reply came back, confirming the time.

"So, we'll talk to her in about an hour," said Jaune. "That'll give us time to enjoy dessert, before we have to grab an airship back."

"Sounds good," said Ruby.

A moment later, she was cooing as their desserts arrived, eagerly sharing tastes of hers with Jaune, before trying his own. After that, they settled their bill, then headed out to the docks for their airship.

As they walked, they continued to chat amiably with one another. A short ways out from the dock, Ruby became conscious of a familiar, darting shadow, lingering at the edge of her senses. _Neo?_ She couldn't be sure, but she thought the diminutive girl might have been following them for a while, possibly even before they'd gone into the cafe for dinner.

"Something wrong?" asked Jaune, noticing Ruby's momentary distraction.

"Not really," said Ruby. "I can sense Neo."

"Huh?" Jaune tensed, feeling more than a little vulnerable, seeing as he'd left his weapons in his locker, back in Beacon; unlike Ruby, who, as usual, was wearing her sword.

"It's okay," said Ruby, taking his hand. "She's watching us, but I don't sense anything malicious about it."

Instead, all Ruby felt was that same wary curiosity she always seemed to sense from Neo, almost as though the shorter girl expected something from her, and was waiting patiently to see if Ruby could deliver. It always made Ruby wonder just _what_ Neo was looking for, though she doubted she'd get an answer until she got the chance to ask Neo herself.

Once they arrived at the docks and boarded their airship, Neo's presence slipped away, as they left her back behind in Vale. That left Ruby and Jaune free to relax for the time being. So they leaned against each other, basking in the peace and quiet of the nearly-empty airship, enjoying their time before Jaune would introduce Ruby to his eldest sibling.

* * *

Jaune fidgeted anxiously as he stared at the terminal screen, watching the spinning icon of the official symbol of Vale, which served as a screensaver. After arriving at the tower, they'd been directed to a terminal, where they'd waited while the CCT routed through the tower in Mistral to reach the relay in Argus, where Jaune's sister was hopefully also waiting.

Finally, the image of Vale's symbol was replaced by the face of Jaune's sister. She looked pretty much identical to her appearance in the picture that Jaune had showed Ruby. At the sight of her brother, Saphron Cotta-Arc broke out in a radiant smile. "_Jaune!_" she cheered. "_It's so good to see you. How've you been doing, Baby Bro?_"

"I'm not a baby," groused Jaune, smiling nonetheless. "I'm doing great, Saph. How're Terra and Adrian doing?"

"_Oh! Adrian is growing like a weed,_" said Saphron. "_He's such a bright boy! You don't have a picture, right? I'll send one right away._"

Saphron and Jaune plugged their scrolls into their respective terminals. A few seconds later, not just one photo, but an entire small album was downloaded onto Jaune's scroll.

After that was taken care of, Saphron's expression softened. "_So...you did it. You actually made it into Beacon._"

"Yeah," said Jaune, before freezing. "Wait! How do you know about that?"

Saphron smirked, holding up a finger. "_One...you're calling me from the CCT Tower in Vale, not one of the call centers in town. That's what the Caller ID says, anyway. Since the tower is the centerpiece of Beacon's campus, the only ones with access to it are students._"

A second finger joined the first. "_Secondly, your shirt isn't doing a good job of hiding the fact that you're looking pretty ripped. Someone's been working out hard. If I weren't into girls, I might be developing a brother complex right now._"

Jaune blushed furiously at that, while Ruby tittered behind him.

Saphron's ring finger joined her index and middle fingers. "_And finally...you've got that pretty little thing standing behind you, wearing a sword. That's a Huntress student, if I've ever seen one. And we live within a stone's throw of Sanctum, so I've seen a few._" She paused, looking Ruby over pensively. "_She looks familiar too..._"

Even as she blushed at Saphron complimenting her looks, Ruby exchanged a glance with Jaune. "Isn't Sanctum where Pyrrha came from?" asked Jaune, Ruby nodding.

Saphron's eyes widened. "_That's right!_" she exclaimed, startling the pair. "_That's the girl who fought the Pyrrha Nikos to a draw! Pretty illustrious company you've got there, Baby Bro._"

Ruby's face flushed bright-red, while Jaune laughed awkwardly, rubbing his hand behind his head. "Yeah...Ruby's my partner."

Saphron's eyes went wider.

"And...She's my girlfriend now," Jaune added, his cheeks turning pink.

For a long moment, Saphron was silent. Then... "_That's awesome Jaune!_" she exclaimed, grinning hugely. "_Congratulations! Looks like you managed to snatch a real winner! You've got to give me the skinny on how that went down._"

"Well...sure," said Jaune.

"_Actually...hold up!_" said Saphron, holding up a finger again. "_Let's do better and start from the beginning. I want to hear how you actually managed to get _into_ Beacon. This has gotta be a story for the ages._"

"Oh, it's a story all right," said Ruby, giggling as Jaune's blush darkened.

"Yeah...I didn't get off to the best of starts," commented Jaune.

He went through the whole thing as best he could, starting with meeting Ruby on the airship, befriending her, then the two of them going through the initiation, complete with her saving him from being splattered across the Emerald Forest, then learning about his history and unlocking his Aura. After that, he gave a brief overview of their first couple of semesters at Beacon, the training he'd undergone to start reaching the level of an actual Beacon student. He glossed over a few things, namely their altercations with the White Fang, and the clandestine missions they'd done on behalf of Ironwood and Ozpin. He did give a brief overview of their most recent mission, including a story of their battle against the pirates, though he left out the part where he'd killed some of them, not feeling comfortable telling Saphron that. Ruby chimed in where she could, helping fill in a few extra details. He also related the story of how he and Ruby had gotten together, a story that had Saphron cooing and squealing.

"_Wow!_" she said, once Jaune had finished. "_You're really going places, Little Bro._"

"Thanks," said Jaune.

"_I sure hope the two of you aren't getting busy just yet,_" teased Saphron. "_I may be a mother now, but I'm not ready to be an aunt._"

"S-Saph!" sputtered Jaune, his and Ruby's faces turning red at the implication, prompting a burst of laughter from Saphron.

"_I'm just teasing you. You know that._" Her expression sobered a little, though she was still smiling. "_So...you did it. You _really_ did it. I'm so proud of you, Jaune. I knew you had it in you._"

"Thanks," said Jaune. "You were probably the _only_ one."

Saphron's smile wilted. "_Have you talked to the others?_"

"I talked to Dad..._once_," said Jaune, a harsh edge creeping into his tone.

"_Oh...I'm guessing that didn't go over well._"

"When I told him I got in...he laughed at me," said Jaune. "He straight up accused me of lying, then went on another of his patronizing monologues. He even froze my account. It's a good thing that I thought to set up a separate account to hold my stipend, or I'd probably be in trouble."

"_Oh Jaune..._" said Saphron, a sad edge in her voice. "_What about Mom and the girls?_"

"Well...they've tapered off," said Jaune. "They still send me the occasional text, telling me there's no shame in owning up and coming back, like I've been lying, every time I told them I actually got in. None of them believe me."

Saphron sighed. "_I'm sorry to hear that. Even if they mean well, that's a stupid way to go about it._"

"I just wish I knew what they had against me becoming a Huntsman," said Jaune. "I know for a fact now that Dad was deliberately scrolling it in when he was 'training' me."

Saphron's face fell. "_I might know,_" she said.

"You do?" asked Jaune.

Saphron nodded. "_Dad and I disagreed on it. But Mom always backed him up, so did the other girls. You probably don't remember, but, when you were first born...you weren't exactly the healthiest little baby._"

"I...wasn't?" Jaune blinked furiously. This was news to him. Behind him, Ruby squeezed his shoulder worriedly.

Saphron nodded, her expression grave. "_When you first came out...the prognosis wasn't good. You were premature, barely breathing, and your vitals were very weak. The doctors weren't sure you would even last the first night. They called it something of a miracle, when you pulled through._"

"I...I never knew that," said Jaune, sitting rigidly upright in his seat, his hand coming up to rest over the one Ruby had placed on his shoulder.

"_Even after that, you were a sickly little thing,_" continued Saphron. "_For that first year, you kept getting sick from one thing or another. The doctors said you had an immune deficiency. They predicted that you might not even be able to function properly, if you lasted past infancy. You might not be able to walk, or even have more than the most basic motor skills. I remember that time pretty well. Mom and Dad were practically living on pins and needles, and the rest of us weren't much better._

"_Then...right around the time you turned one...you suddenly got better. The doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle. It seemed that, out of nowhere, you were as healthy as you should've been, and all was suddenly right with the world. They just couldn't explain it._"

"That's..." Jaune didn't know how to respond. "No one ever told me about that."

Saphron averted her eyes slightly, looking abashed. "_Yeah...well...we weren't exactly comfortable talking about it. That was a scary time for all of us. Us older girls were terrified that we were about to lose our new baby brother forever...and it was scary as hell. It was even worse for Mom and Dad. They were there for every fit, for every single time your little body collapsed, every time whichever doctor they took you to delivered a more ominous prognosis than the last. Even after you recovered, we were all on the lookout, worried that whatever it was that was wrong with you might suddenly make a comeback, though that seemed less and less likely, as the years went on, and you grew into a perfectly normal and healthy boy._

"_If I had to guess, I think Mom and Dad haven't grown out of that worry. They might still remember you as that weak little thing, always on the verge of dying. The thought of the child, who they had spent so long being terrified of losing, suddenly wanting to go into the most dangerous profession in the world...I can understand why they'd be reluctant, even if I can't condone it._"

"And where does the part about treating me like some walking punchline come in?" wondered Jaune angrily. "They could've explained this to me, talked about their worries. Instead, they just spewed a bunch of patronizing garbage, kept telling me that I 'didn't have it in me,' or whatever other excuse they wanted to make up. My little sisters basically laughed at me and mocked me for even trying."

"_Well, speaking for our younger sisters, obviously they weren't there,_" said Saphron. "_Mom and Dad swore us older girls to silence on the whole thing. They never had to live through that fear, and they had no idea what'd happened to you. So, seeing how Mom and Dad treated you, without context, I guess they kind of got it into their minds that it was because you were incapable in general. That's definitely not fair to you, of course, but it's on Mom and Dad for not setting the record straight._

"_As for Mom and Dad, I think I can understand, if I can't excuse it. After they spent so much energy worrying about your fate, wondering if each and every day was going to be your last, you went through your miracle recovery, but they never _stopped_ worrying. Then this unbelievably lucky boy of theirs; a boy lucky to reach his second year of life at all, a boy they continually worried about losing; decided he wanted to go into a line of work that carried a serious chance of injury, or even death. Even if you had no idea of what they'd been through, and they'd never told you, it might almost seem like you were spitting on all the fear they'd put themselves through. I think, unconsciously, they may have resented you for that, maybe even seen you as...well...stupid...despite this all being something you had no idea about._"

"So...I'm apparently an idiot because I unknowingly reminded them of all the trauma I went through...which I never could have known, because no one ever told me?" asked Jaune.

"_Maybe,_" said Saphron. "_Like I said, I can understand it. But I won't excuse it. I just think that's why. Mom and Dad never really let go of that memory of you as a helpless, frail child, and they couldn't stomach the thought of that child going through all the risk of trying to become a Huntsman._"

"God..." whispered Jaune, Ruby squeezing his shoulder from behind.

"_I'm sorry,_" said Saphron. "_It definitely wasn't fair to you. I mean, you've been perfectly healthy ever since. Heck! I can't even remember the last time you had so much as a cold. If anything, I think you were even _healthier_ after all that than most kids. But I should've at least told you about all this sooner. Someone should have. That wasn't fair to you at all, holding stuff you had no control over, and no knowledge of, over your head like that. I...I should've done more. And I'm sorry for that._"

"It's okay," said Jaune, his smile returning. "Thanks for finally telling me, Saph."

"_I'm glad to help, even if only a little,_" said Saphron. "_I'd ask if that might make you more inclined to talk with the others, but I won't pressure you._"

"I need to think about it," said Jaune.

"_That's all that I can ask,_" said Saphron, smiling fondly. "_Still, if you called them up, with that lovely young lady standing behind you, it might finally sink in that their little fledgling has really left the nest._"

"Maybe worth a try," admitted Jaune.

They were silent for a few seconds, before Saphron clapped her hands together. "_Well, enough of that depressing topic. Let's talk about something else. Are you gonna be in the Vytal Festival Tournament, Baby Bro?_"

"You know it," said Jaune.

As they ended the call and left the building, Ruby go the impression that there might have been something she'd forgotten about. However, it quickly faded into the back of her mind.

* * *

"Wow! What a day," groaned Jaune, stretching his arms over his head as he and Ruby made their way out of Beacon Tower.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "That was a lot of fun. I can't wait 'til we go on another date."

"I'm looking forward to it too," agreed Jaune, wrapping an arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulling her up against his side. Ruby let out a soft sound, almost like a purr, nuzzling into his embrace.

By the time they'd wrapped up their conversation with Saphron, night had fallen, and they found themselves making their way back to the dorms under the light of the lampposts. The scenery carried a peaceful ambience, fully conveying the warmth of the passing summer, the falling of night having cooled things down pleasantly, without it being chilly.

The pair took their time making their way back to the dorms, savoring each slow step they took, leaning into each other, almost as though they needed one another's support to keep upright. Jaune was deliriously happy, barely able to comprehend the fact that he had such a beautiful, brilliant, and strong girlfriend at his side. It felt truly miraculous.

Ruby was equally giddy, having nursed a strong crush on Jaune for a while now. While he might have been weaker than her by a substantial degree, she'd always found herself admiring the strength of his character, his spirit, his willingness to give it his all to become strong enough to really earn his place at Beacon. He always seemed to know how to put a smile on her face, or how to make her feel at ease, when she was feeling stressed. The feeling of being wrapped up in his arms, held in a comforting embrace, was literally a dream come true.

They arrived at the dorms to find that Weiss and Pyrrha were still out, doing whatever it was they were doing with their time off. Knowing Weiss, she was probably forcing herself through extra study sessions, in an unnecessary effort to raise her grades, as though she weren't already at the top of the class in academics. That, or she might be spending some time with Ashley and her family.

Pyrrha was harder to figure out. It was strange, but Ruby couldn't quite remember Pyrrha having any particular hobbies. It was hard to think of what she'd do with so much free time on her own, except train, maybe. Ruby hoped that Pyrrha had found something to spend her time on.

At the moment though, the pair's main concern was that they had the the room to themselves, for a little while at least. Not wanting to pull apart from each other just yet, Ruby and Jaune settled down next to each other on Jaune's bed, Jaune's arm still wrapped around Ruby's shoulders.

"So...now what?" asked Jaune.

"Well, I _am_ tired," said Ruby. "But I don't quite feel like going to bed yet."

"Me neither," admitted Jaune.

The truth was, despite how tired they were feeling, neither of them really wanted this night to end. They lounged together in an easy silence, though it was slowly becoming weighed down by a burgeoning tension between them. That tension had Ruby slowly turning her head towards Jaune, who matched her movement so that the two of them were staring into each other's eyes.

Jaune moved first, dipping his head down, taking Ruby's lips in a sweet, gentle kiss. This hadn't been like the brief pecks they'd exchanged throughout the day, or any of the previous days of their relationship. It was more like that first kiss they'd shared, when Jaune had asked Ruby to be his girlfriend. However, there was a greater intensity to it, the two of them leaning into the action, pressing their lips together harder...until simply massaging one another's lips wasn't enough.

It was Ruby who made the next move, her lips parting slightly to let her tongue slip out. It brushed against Jaune's in a gentle caress. His sensitivity maximized by the excitement of the moment, Jaune perceived the brief contact, and opened his own lips slightly, granting entrance to Ruby's tongue. His own tongue slipped out to meet it, their tips brushing against each other, before slowly rubbing and slithering against each other.

After a dizzying moment, they pulled apart, panting slightly, still staring at each other. Abruptly, Ruby squeaked as the arm Jaune hadn't draped over her shoulders wrapped around her midriff. A second later, he'd pulled her up and onto his lap. Ruby found her head tilted back as Jaune leaned his almost directly down to kiss her with increased vigor, their tongues twisting and rubbing wildly together, sometimes slipping past one another to explore the contours and textures of the other's mouth. The intensity and excitement rushing through Ruby prompted a husky moan to escape from her lungs, bleeding out between their lips.

Their latest kiss coming to an end, the pair pulled away from each other, breathing even harder now. Both of them sported a faint shine of sweat, their bodies feeling heated from the intimacy and excitement, as though they'd just concluded a brief period of intense exercise.

"Wow..." breathed Ruby.

"Yeah," Jaune agreed, before giving her a dopy grin that had Ruby giggling helplessly.

"Oh! You think it's funny, do you?" growled Jaune playfully. He turned Ruby on his lap, so that her back was now pressed up against his chest, while his arms wrapped tightly around her stomach, holding her in place.

"Jaune! What are you doing?" Ruby squirmed in his hold, struggling reflexively, albeit more playfully than anything else.

She got her answer when she suddenly felt Jaune's lips on the bare skin of her back, just above the fabric of her top. Ruby let out a slight shriek, her body lurching in her surprise, though it wasn't enough to escape Jaune's grip, which he held as he peppered her back with kisses, slowly climbing higher with each one. Several light pecks later, his lips found the curve of her shoulder, Jaune starting by almost seeming to walk his lips along her skin, finally pulling away when he reached the strap that held up her halter-top.

However, the pause only lasted long enough for him to transfer his affections to the opposite shoulder, and resume his progress inward and upwards. When he reached the strap of her top this time, he continued, kissing his way up her neck, leaning forward to let his lips trace the line of her jaw, before pulling back along her cheek, finally reaching the lobe of her ear, Jaune finishing with a quick lick, which had Ruby shivering with delight, and squealing at the same time.

"Th-that's playing dirty," Ruby growled, throwing a mock glare over her shoulder at him.

Jaune smirked at her. "All's fair in love and war," he said.

They stared at each other again. Ruby had to admit that she was feeling...hot, like someone had stoked a furnace in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't the only one feeling the effects of the exchange. Her squirming in Jaune's lap had caused a certain part of him to harden, and begin pressing against the crease of her toned behind. Suddenly, Ruby's clothes were starting to feel too restrictive, and she began to feel the impulse to pull them off. Another part of her mind wondered if Jaune was feeling the same way, and imagining what it would be like if he took his clothes off too, what it would feel like to press skin against skin, to...

Suddenly, the hands that Ruby had latched onto Jaune's arms let go, and she brought them up to her face, slapping them against her cheeks, the sharp sound of impact jolting both her and Jaune out of the lustful daze they'd found themselves in. Coming all the way back to her senses, Ruby let out a long breath.

"I think we should stop here," she said, albeit reluctantly.

A faint groan sounded from within Jaune's throat, and his legs shifted anxiously, prodding his member against her behind again, threatening to stir up Ruby's own passions again. However, Ruby took a deep breath, then released her Aura from her body, projecting it out through her back in slow, soothing waves, using the same trick of the healing arts she'd once used to soothe a frightened and traumatized Velvet. Now she used it to slowly and gently calm Jaune, bringing him down out of the emotional high they'd found themselves in.

Jaune let out his breath in a slow stream, before pressing his face into Ruby's hair, kissing the top of her head. "Sorry," he said, relaxing a little, though he kept his arms wrapped gently around her, "guess I got a little carried away."

"We both did," said Ruby, smiling back at him. "It's fine. So long as we know where to stop, there's no problem. I liked that." She blushed. "I'd...I'd like to do more stuff like that, sometime."

"Me too," agreed Jaune, dipping his head to press his face into her hair again.

"Let's get ready for bed," said Ruby. "We get to sleep together tonight too."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune.

One of the many benefits of having a few days between the end of their mission and the resumption of their classes was that they were free to share a bed every night, until Sunday evening. Weiss had been reluctant to allow such a luxury, but had to admit that it was within the bounds of the rules that she had set for them, and thusly had no grounds for objection.

So Ruby and Jaune took their turns getting ready for bed, before slipping beneath the cover's of Jaune's bed, wrapping each other up in their arms once more, and drifting off to a peaceful, well-earned rest.

* * *

**Because Yang and her...trait...are not center-stage in this story, it doesn't get a lot of development. Likewise, Kyo's overall situation, and that of his family, won't be a major factor either.**

**Back when I was writing _Crimson Eyes_ I got through the entire story before realizing that I'd never actually thought about Qrow, given that he's Raven's brother and Yang's uncle, which means he comes from the same bloodline as them. Strangely...no one remarked on it at the time. Qrow's eyes _do_ seem to be a different shade of red, compared to Yang and Raven's, so this is the explanation I went with.**

**And now we've also learned a little more about Jaune's family situation, and where his family's view comes from. There's going to be more on this later.**


	83. Chapter 83

**Chapter 83**

The pair of them enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in the next morning, relishing the fact that they still had three whole days until class resumed. Ruby was determined to make the most of them. Granted, they could have spent this extra time training. But they all deserved a rest and a break, after what they'd just been through, so a few days spent lazing around wasn't so terrible, in the grand scheme of things. If anything, Jaune's performance during the mission had indicated that his training was going _very_ well.

Weiss and Pyrrha had come back sometime after Jaune and Ruby had fallen asleep. The pair continued to sleep, while Jaune and Ruby went about the process of getting ready for the day. After an easygoing breakfast, the pair made their way across the campus to the faculty quarters. Ruby glanced at the door to the Forrest Family's room as she and Jaune passed it, before the pair stopped to knock at the door to Kyo's room.

The door opened and Ruby's brother welcomed them with a cheerful smile. "Good morning, you two," he said. "I trust your date went well."

"It was great," breathed Ruby.

"I'm glad to hear it," said Kyo, beaming at them. "Please, come inside. I'd love to hear how it went."

"Pretty pleasantly," said Jaune as they settled on the couch in Kyo's living room, a near identical match for the one next door, where Ashley and her parents were staying.

Kyo busied himself in the kitchen, humming softly. Ruby glanced in to see him fiddling with the stove, before finding himself clueless. "Here, let me make the tea, Kyo-nii."

"But this is my first chance to really try a stove," said Kyo, beaming at her. "You know that O-Kaa-san won't let me in the kitchen at home."

"With good reason," Ruby teased, drawing a grunt from her brother. "Besides, the stoves in the Kingdoms work differently than the ones in Onmyo."

"Dust-powered, I presume," said Kyo.

"Uh huh," replied Ruby, adjusting the knob to the right setting, watching as red energy shimmered out from the metal ring that formed one of the stove's burners, before setting the filled kettle on it.

In just a few seconds, the kettle was already at temperature. One of the advantages of Dust stoves was that they could be set to an exact temperature, which was useful in a number of different ways. It was the kind of feature that Ruby would have definitely liked to have had, back in Onmyo. She also didn't need to perpetually focus on maintaining the heat with her Aura either, making it much easier to multitask. While steam spilled out from the kettle's spout, Ruby busied herself in the cupboards, looking for tea. She found that Ozpin, or whoever had set up this suite, had outdone themselves, and included a very fine selection of quality teas amongst the various foodstuffs stored in the pantry.

_Blake would flip,_ mused Ruby, thinking that inviting her over to try some of the different teas that Kyo had been supplied with would go a ways towards soothing her tension around the man who'd slain so many White Fang soldiers.

Knowing her brother's preferences, Ruby found a good green tea, then measured out some leaves into the cast iron teapot that she'd found in another cupboard, before pouring in some water. From there, she set out the cups and pot on the tray, while silently keeping track of the minutes it would take for the tea to finish steeping.

"Ah," said Kyo, noticing the wire steeping basket left on the counter. "Didn't we need that?"

Ruby giggled. "Kaa-san says not to use those things. You've gotta let the leaves have room to bloom in the water, if you're gonna get the best flavor. There's a strainer on the tray."

"I didn't realize you knew so much about tea," said Jaune, as Ruby brought the tray out from the kitchen, Kyo following her, a comically defeated look on his face.

"The Mibu take their tea pretty seriously," said Ruby. "They're like Mistralians that way."

"Good tea is always worth the effort to make right," commented Kyo.

"As though _you_ took the time to make any," commented Ruby, drawing another grunt from her brother.

Jaune laughed, drawing a laugh from Kyo as well. Ruby's expression went deadpan as she took in the sight of the two of them, their gesture of rubbing the back of their heads, while grinning sheepishly, looking nearly identical. _I thought girls went for boys who remind them of their fathers,_ she mused. Then she thought about her father. _Well, I can understand that. I guess my big brother would be the next best thing then._

Granted, Ruby doubted she would ever see Jaune grinning wildly, while cutting down dozens of opponents, which she didn't count as a bad thing. There was no need for Jaune to embrace the excitement and bloodlust of battle the same way Kyo did, even if Ruby didn't necessarily disapprove of Kyo's tendencies

She began to fill the cups, pouring the tea through the strainer to catch the leaves.

"It's done already?" mused Jaune.

"A lot of green tea types don't take long to steep," explained Ruby. "In fact, steeping them too long is pretty easy, which causes 'em to get bitter."

"Oh," said Jaune, picking up his cup and sipping gingerly from it. "It's really floral," he said, blinking. "A little sweet too."

"That means I didn't let it steep too long," said Ruby proudly. "I was a bit worried I'd gone rusty. Maybe I need to start hosting teatime with Blake."

"Why not," said Jaune. "Tea sounds like a nice hobby to get into."

"On that note, have you picked up any hobbies here, Ruby-chan?" asked Kyo.

"Well, Jaune's gotten me into comic books," said Ruby, making her boyfriend blush. "I forgot how much I missed those."

"We have those in Leng," Kyo pointed out.

"Yeah, and I like them too," said Ruby. "But Vale's are different. And they make me a little nostalgic."

"I bet the Mibu don't have _X-Ray and Vav_," said Jaune proudly.

"That they don't," agreed Kyo with a laugh. "I may have to see some of these comics for myself. They don't tend to be that easily available, out in the more rural settlements."

"Well, I can let you borrow mine, while you're here," said Jaune.

"I'd be most grateful," said Kyo. "So then...back to our original topic, how did your date go?"

"It went great," said Ruby. "I mean, it's not too different from the stuff we've already done together with our teammates. But it feels different for just the two of us to do it."

"So long as you're comfortable with things," said Kyo. "That's what's most important, after all, I suppose."

"We're plenty comfortable," said Jaune, taking another sip from his cup.

"So...there isn't a lot to say about yesterday," said Ruby. "The most interesting thing was when Jaune's sister called him."

"Sister?" Kyo raised an eyebrow at Jaune.

"My oldest sister, Saphron, lives in Argus, over in Mistral," said Jaune. "Right now, she's the only member of the family I'm on good terms with."

"Oh my...what's this about now?" asked Kyo, his eyes widening slightly.

Jaune exchanged a quick look with Ruby, who nodded encouragingly. With a sigh, he began to relate his story, telling Kyo almost everything, including his sneaking into Beacon with false transcripts. To it, he added the new information he had gained from Saphron, the previous evening.

"My...quite the situation," mused Kyo. "No wonder you and Ruby-chan bonded so well, coming from similar backgrounds."

"Yeah...that seems to be something of a trend with our peer group," said Ruby, her tone becoming sour. "Pyrrha's parents basically wanted to whore her out to any sponsors who would pay for her endorsements. They pretty much ordered her to leave Beacon, after our sparring match got spread across the network."

"And the less said about Weiss' dad, the better," growled Jaune. "That jerk basically blackmailed us into taking a mission to protect one of his ships by holding Vale's Dust supply hostage."

"Well, shared experience _would_ help you bond better," noted Kyo, trying for the silver lining, with marginal success. "Still, the story about the situation of your birth makes me curious, Jaune-kun."

"It does...?" asked Jaune.

Kyo nodded. "You told me that your recovery was...miraculous, right?"

Jaune nodded. "That's the way Saphron put it. For the first year of my life, everyone was pretty sure I'd just up and die at some point, I was so weak. I don't remember any of that, of course."

"From the sound of things, it would almost seem that someone with the healing arts treated you," mused Kyo. "However, Sasame and I had not started wandering yet, and my parents had finished their wanderings long before that, not to mention that Tou-san never went abroad with a healer."

"What are you suggesting, Kyo-nii?" asked Ruby.

"Well...perhaps Jaune-kun has...special qualities," said Kyo pensively. "Ruby-chan, have you ever noticed anything unusual about him...not wrong per-say...but something that struck you as different?"

"Yep," said Ruby, drawing a startled grunt from Jaune, who looked at her worriedly. "First there's his Aura. His reserves are insane. I couldn't believe how much he had, when I first unlocked it. He's just a little ways below the Goyosei in Aura-level."

"Well now...that _is_ something," said Kyo, scratching his chin idly.

"Is that...strange?" asked Jaune.

"The level of Aura-reserves Ruby-chan is describing normally takes several years of training and constant cultivation," explained Kyo. "For you to have so much, just upon having it unlocked, is rather unusual. It's not completely inconceivable, but definitely a good ways outside the norm...

"...Not in a bad way, mind you," Kyo amended quickly, seeing the look on Jaune's face. "There's nothing wrong with having so much Aura. In your particular circumstances, it's most certainly a definite boon to have that at your disposal, when you've lacked development in other areas for so long. It's gone a long way towards helping you catch up with your peers."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune, his concern waning.

"The other thing..." Ruby frowned. "During this last mission, Jaune healed my injuries."

"Really?" Kyo leaned back, surprised.

"Sasame said I have an affinity for the healing arts," explained Jaune, "though she didn't actually train me. Ruby gave me some pointers on what to do, so I was able to help her, when that pirate wounded her."

"That's quite impressive," noted Kyo, his smile widening. "To successfully heal even minor injuries, with nothing more than a little verbal advice, is definitely a sign of a strong affinity. But that's not all that strange, Ruby-chan."

"The strange thing is what came after," said Ruby. "He also figured out Sasame-nee's support technique. He helped boost my strength, when I was worn out from the fight."

"Again, impressive, but not-" Kyo began to observe.

"What's really strange was how powerful it was," continued Ruby, cutting him off. "It was almost nothing like Sasame-nee's technique. Jaune was boosting my power...amplifying it, not just supplementing it."

"Well now...that _is_ different," said Kyo, "and quite interesting."

"Really?" asked Jaune.

"The basis of Sasame's healing arts is actually quite a simple thing," said Kyo. "The healing arts are based around supplementing a person's natural healing ability through their Aura. Through training, a healer learns to refine their precision, so that their Aura will only affect just the injured areas, without bleeding off into the regions around it. Through refinement, that allows a healer to treat an injured person faster and more efficiently, which allows her to help far more people. In a sense, it's little more than basic addition. Your Aura plus your subject's Aura, a simple case of one-plus-one equalling two.

"But what Ruby-chan is describing is more than that. Instead of one-plus-one equalling two, you can make it equal four, five, or even more. In fact, your own Aura might be capable of _multiplying_ the strength of another person's."

"That sounds pretty cool," said Jaune.

"It is," agreed Kyo, "and it also gives me an idea about the circumstances of your first year of life."

"It does?" asked Jaune.

"If your power is capable of defying that basic limitation of the healing arts, then it might be capable of defying other ones as well," said Kyo. "I believe we can test that, right now."

"We can?" asked Jaune.

"Quite simply," said Kyo, standing up and going to the wall by the door, where a rack had been installed to hold his sword, another surprising act of hospitality by Ozpin.

"Uh...Kyo-nii?" asked Ruby, her eyes going wide with Ruby.

"I'm not threatening him," said Kyo, pulling his sheathed sword off the rack. "This is just a simple test. I won't go through with it, unless Jaune-kun agrees to it."

"Um...what kind of test are we talking about here?" asked Jaune.

"I'm going to cut you," said Kyo. "I'll inflict a cut too severe for your Aura to fix on its own, right away."

"I'm not sure about this," said Jaune warily, getting up and backing away from Kyo.

"Don't worry," said Kyo. "I won't sever anything important, just a minor laceration overall, nothing life-threatening. It would be the kind of wound Ruby-chan is more than capable of treating for you."

"Okay..." said Jaune.

"I'm not sure about this, Kyo-nii," said Ruby warily.

"You doubt my precision with a sword?" asked Kyo, looking at Ruby with an almost hurt expression.

"I'm just not sure about you cutting my boyfriend," said Ruby, standing up and planting her hands on her hips, glaring at him. "I don't care what your reasons are."

"Like I said, I won't go through with it, if Jaune-kun does not wish me to," said Kyo, turning his gaze back to Jaune. "That said, Jaune-kun, may I have permission to cut you? I believe this might be the key to understanding what happened to you as an infant."

"W-well...I'm still not sure this isn't some covert threat to warn me off from being Ruby's boyfriend," said Jaune.

"I wouldn't do that," said Kyo with complete sincerity. "I like you a great deal already, Jaune-kun. I think you are a fine companion for my sister."

"Um..." Jaune stared uncertainly at the naked blade in Kyo's hand. Even though Kyo was holding the weapon down and at ease, Jaune could sense a pressure from the blade, one even more intense than the presence he felt from Ruby's sword, when Akaibara was unsheathed. Still, he could tell that Kyo was being honest with him, at least. "Okay then."

"Very well then," said Kyo. "Pull back the sleeve on your left arm, and hold it up."

Gulping, Jaune followed Kyo's instructions, holding the limb up for his inspection.

"Good," said Kyo. "Now, try not to tense up. I'll let you prepare, and make the cut on the count of three."

_I know this trick already,_ thought Jaune, having seen it in action plenty of times. Kyo would count, and probably cut him on "two," or even right at "one," to try and take him by surprise, before he could tense up in anticipation of the pain.

So it came as a surprise when Kyo's count made it to "three" without a single movement of his blade. Then Jaune's confusion compounded when Kyo went onto "four," then "five."

At "six," his sword flickered, the movement nothing more than a faint flash of the light off the steel. The next thing Jaune knew, a line of pain climbed up his forearm, a cut opening almost all the way up to the elbow, with blood spraying out in a brief arc. However, it wasn't the spurt of a cut vein or artery, just a spray pulled out by the speed of Kyo's strike. The pain was sharp, but incredibly light, a sign of just how fine a cut Kyo had made.

Ruby quickly slapped a cloth bandage from the suite's first-aid kit over the wound to mop up the blood, before any of it could reach the floor. She pulled it off, revealing the red stain on the previously-pristine white of the fabric. However, more blood quickly welled up from the cut running up the line of Jaune's forearm.

"Oooowww!" groaned Jaune, fighting the urge to slap his right hand over the cut, stopping mainly because he knew his hand wasn't wide enough to stem the blood along the entire length of the incision.

"Now then," said Kyo, sliding his sword back into its sheath, not a spot of blood marring the length of the blade, "remember what you did with Ruby-chan on the ship, and apply it to the cut on your arm."

"Kyo-nii! That's impossible!" protested Ruby. "You know the healing arts don't work that way!"

"Nor do they work the way you described Jaune-kun's working on the ship," noted Kyo. "Let him try."

"All right," said Jaune warily, holding up his right and, using Flow to channel his Aura into it. "Here goes."

From there, he brought it to the cut welling up on his left arm. No sooner had he begun to channel his Aura along the length of the incision, it closed up, vanishing with such speed that Jaune thought time might have turned backwards on his arm for a moment, the pain vanishing without a trace. "That was easier than I thought."

"Huh?" Ruby wiped away the blood that had welled up with a fresh bandage, revealing pristine and unmarred skin. "Wha-what the...?"

"Is it really that strange?" asked Jaune, looking at Ruby.

"It's not just strange!" protested Ruby. "That should be outright _impossible_! The healing arts just _don't_ work like that!"

"As I thought then," said Kyo. "I think this may well explain the mystery behind Jaune-kun's miraculous recovery, during his infancy."

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"To put it simply...Jaune-kun is a Shaman," said Kyo.

* * *

Weiss closed her eyes, smoothly cutting off the outward flow of her Aura. She started from the top of her head, then spread the effect down throughout her body, shutting down the flow of Aura out through her arms, then her torso, down her waist, then down to the tips of her toes. Within her, she felt the sense of power building.

All at once, Weiss snapped her eyes open, Projecting the accumulated power outwards, producing a surge of air around her, as her Aura blazed to its full, furious strength. Then she drew it back inwards, pulling it beneath the controlled sheath of her Temper once more.

Sweat beaded her brow, and Weiss was breathing a little heavier. After a few seconds, she recovered enough to start the exercise over again.

Over on the bench, Ashley watched Weiss with fascination. Even though her own Aura wasn't unlocked, she could still see the light of Weiss' Aura, when it was Projected outwards. The accumulated energy was visible to the naked eye of even someone uninitiated, like Ashley herself. The shimmering white field of energy that enveloped Weiss was something to behold, a sight so beautiful that Ashley could never get tired of seeing it. Likewise, feeling the surge of air produced by the explosive release of power was thrilling, making Ashley's heart beat faster.

"I'm sorry there isn't much more to see," said Weiss, after performing the exercise once more.

"That's fine," said Ashley. "It's amazing to watch. But I'm not sure what you're doing."

Weiss smiled and moved to settle on the bench of the practice ring, sitting next to Ashley, who handed Weiss a bottle of water. Weiss drank gratefully.

"It's something that Ruby taught me," explained Weiss. "The key to mastering my Summons is learning to master Suppression. By shutting down my Aura, I increase my ability to forcefully create more through Projection. It also enables me to hone my focus and intent, to ensure that my power goes to the construct I want to create, with less of it being wasted."

"Is it working?" asked Ashley.

"It's already worked," said Weiss.

Standing up, she once again moved to the center of the ring. There, she drew Myrtenaster. Closing her eyes, she once again initiated Suppression, closing down her Aura in that smooth, practiced action. When she opened her eyes again, she pointed out with her rapier, unleashing her Aura. This time, instead of letting it explode outwards in the usual Projection she practiced, Weiss focused the release of energy, channeling it down the length of her sword, her mind faithfully producing the shape she wanted her Aura to take.

With a flash, the sword-wheel of her Summoning Glyph appeared on the floor. The Glyph's spin accelerated, its glow intensifying as Weiss brought to mind the meaning she wanted this Glyph to hold. A blinding flash lit up the room for a handful of seconds. When it died down Ashely's gasp echoed out.

The kneeling form of Weiss' Arma Gigas Summon was now where the Glyph had been, the massive figure crouched down on one knee, its head bowed, the tip of its sword resting against the floor of the practice ring, looking to all the world like a giant knight, pledging fealty to his lady.

"It's beautiful," Ashley breathed.

"Thanks," said Weiss.

At her direction, the knight stood up, before turning to face Ashley. The sight of it walking towards her made Ashley tense nervously, her tail extending straight up the line of her back. Then the knight stopped, kneeling down again, it extended the hand not resting on the crossguard of its sword to Ashley, holding it out in an almost courtly gesture.

Hesitantly, Ashley raised her hand, and rested it on the knights, her hand dwarfed by the individual digits of the knight's extended fingers. Both Ashley and the knight rose to their feet. The towering figure was so high that Ashley had to extend her arm upwards a little to keep contact. The knight then led her out to the ring, where Weiss waited.

As soon as Ashley reached Weiss, the Arma Gigas dissolved into a cloud of glittering motes of white light, leaving Ashley and Weiss alone once more. Now it was Weiss who held out her free hand, Ashley transferring her fingers to it. Wordlessly, Weiss brought Ashley's hand up, so that she could brush her lips against the skin of the other girl's knuckles, prompting a furious blush from Ashley.

"W-Weiss..." she stammered, unsure of what to say.

Lowering their joined hands, Weiss smiled at Ashley. "I'm sorry," she said. "I can't take you on a proper date. This is the best I can do."

"It's fine," said Ashley. "I don't mind."

"You should," said Weiss. "It's not fair to you."

"It's not fair to you either," Ashley pointed out. "You're putting everything at risk for me."

Weiss tugged on Ashley's hand, bringing her closer, so that they stood pressed together, resting their foreheads against each other. "Even so, it's a risk I want to take," said Weiss.

"Me too," agreed Ashley.

They tilted their heads forward, bringing their lips together in a lingering kiss. After holding it for several seconds, they pulled away.

Silently, they went back to the bench, Weiss taking a second to sheath her sword, then taking Ashely's hand again. The pair of them leaned back against the wall.

"Have you heard from your father yet?" asked Ashley warily.

"Not yet," said Weiss. "Granted, it's only been a couple of days. I count that as a good thing."

If she was going to hear from her father right away, it would likely be because Jacques had decided she was unfit to inherit after all. That he was taking this long meant that he might have found other things to focus on, rather than questioning her fitness to inherit, which meant he was sufficiently satisfied by the results of the mission, and felt no need to comment on it further.

"Well, as long as things went the way they were supposed to," said Ashley.

Weiss nodded. "With the pirates and a healthy chunk of the White Fang out of commission, we shouldn't have to worry about Dust thefts for a while."

Or so she hoped. Granted, Weiss couldn't be sure of what state Vale's White Fang was in. Everything RYNB and CPPR had told her about the White Fang's operation in Mountain Glenn indicated that it represented an extreme investment of personnel and materiel on the part of the White Fang, most likely using up the majority of their more experienced members.

The only real concern was the reluctant conscripts, those like Ashley, who'd been drafted into the organization more or less against their will. However, from the look of things, they had not yet shipped out to Mountain Glenn yet. According to the tiny number of survivors that had been apprehended, the new recruits were being trained with the intent on shipping them out to the encampment on the eve of the attack itself, where they would provide their weight of numbers behind the operation. What had happened to those recruits themselves was still up in the air at the moment.

Of course, the problem was that, with it being unknown how many of the White Fang remained, they couldn't be sure that someone wouldn't come after Ashley and her family again. The fact that there were infiltrators, who had targeted her at Beacon, indicated that their influence was far-reaching. But continuing to keep Ashley and her parents confined to their suite wasn't feasible in the long term.

Still, most everything had been settled...for now.

She and Ashley leaned against each other, still holding their hands. They took a moment to relax, enjoying the peaceful ambience that had fallen over them, thanks to Weiss reserving the training ring for herself today. It was easier than usual, most students still being out on mission, meaning less competition for the rings. Only a tiny number of teams had returned early enough, and there were more than enough rings to go around, for those who actually wished to use them.

That peaceful atmosphere was interrupted by the sharp click of heels against the hardened floor. Weiss and Ashley sat bolt upright, their eyes going wide as the white-clad figure of Winter appeared at the entrance to the room.

"I was told I would find you here, Weiss," said Winter, a small smile gracing her features. "Is _this_ the young woman responsible for all this commotion?"

"That's not fair, Winter," protested Weiss. "None of this is Ashley's fault."

"I suppose not," said Winter. "But it is important to identify her as a catalyst of our current situation, particularly the mission we just completed." She strode forward, her posture as stiff as ever, but her smile softening. "More importantly, I believe I said that I wished to meet the young lady who has become so important to you, Weiss."

"D-does she...?" asked Ashley, looking nervously to Weiss.

"She knows," said Weiss. "Don't worry. She's not Father."

"Well then, Weiss, introductions, please," instructed Winter firmly.

"Of course," said Weiss coming to her feet, smoothing her skirt, before offering a hand to Ashley and helping her up, not letting go as Ashley stood next to her. "Winter, this is Ashley Forrest, my girlfriend. Ashley, this is Winter, Senior Specialist in the Atlesian Military, personal adjutant to General Ironwood, and my older sister."

"I-it's an honor to meet you," said Ashley, unsure of how to properly greet Winter.

Winter held out a hand, which Ashley took after a moment's hesitation, accompanying the clasp with a firm squeeze, but not a painful one, before letting go. "The pleasure is mine, Ms. Forrest. I am glad that Weiss was able to meet someone she can bond so closely with." Her smile faded, her expression hardening. "I must caution you that this relationship will be fraught with risk. I know that Weiss has already warned you, and that you have already experienced some of that yourself. However, there is no denying that, if Father learns of this, Weiss' position as the heir to the SDC will be in jeopardy."

"I know," said Ashley, bowing her head slightly.

"If you both choose to proceed, knowing this, then I will do everything in my power to support you," said Winter. "I cannot do anything to influence the status of Weiss' inheritance, unfortunately. Should Father get a single whiff that this is going on, I have little doubt that he will not hesitate to immediately confer everything to Whitley." She sighed despondently. "I hope you are aware that, however hard you try, that may well be unavoidable."

Weiss and Ashley both swallowed nervously, the tension only increasing as Winter gazed at them all the more intently.

"Having said that, Weiss, my last question is for you," said Winter. "You have your goals and, despite your best efforts, in the future I expect that you will have a call to make."

Weiss' hand began to feel clammy in Ashley's grip.

"Keeping this relationship under wraps for the duration required for you to cement your claim is all but impossible," said Winter. "There is no way the two of you can keep this quiet for that long, no matter how hard you try."

Weiss began to shake.

"That being said, I shall put this question to you now...Weiss," said Winter, her eyes narrowing. "Are you truly committed to your relationship to Ms. Forrest? Should the situation require it, are you prepared to relinquish your claim to the SDC for the sake of remaining by her side?"

"I..." Weiss opened her mouth, then closed it. She had thought about this many times before. She'd talked to Ashley about it too. But it had always seemed abstract and hypothetical, which allowed her to entertain the foolish fantasy that there was, just maybe, a way for her and Ashley to pull this off.

But Winter was putting paid to that delusion, making it clear in no uncertain terms that Weiss had a call to make. She had to decide which she truly valued more, her relationship with Ashley or her claim to the SDC.

Winter sighed again, her expression still stony. "It is not too late for the two of you to call this off," she said. "This relationship is still very young, and the two of you still have a chance to go your separate ways, with minimal hurt. But Weiss...this is on you. If you are encouraging Ms. Forrest's feelings, only to be willing to be cowed into dropping this relationship, should it become a present liability to your claim, then I cannot approve of this."

"Ms. Schnee...Weiss wouldn't do that," Ashley protested.

The look Winter gave Ashley was stern, but softer than the one she'd given Weiss. "I appreciate your faith in my sister, Ms. Forrest. It is even well-placed. That said, this relationship is still in its infancy, for both of you. To say that both of you are willing to put your lives and futures on the line for this is an incredibly premature assessment. Weiss is not an ordinary person, and she has a very inordinate calling in her life. That status comes with expectations and responsibilities, which makes it extremely incompatible with you, Ms. Forrest.

"Like it or not, people _will_ learn of this. And when they do, _Father_ will learn of this. When he does, he will disapprove...to put it mildly. When that happens, Weiss will be faced with the decision of whether or not to continue, or throw this relationship aside to maintain appearances."

Once again, Winter turned her gaze on Weiss. "And so now...I present you with a choice, Weiss. Is your relationship with Ms. Forrest worth throwing away the goal you have worked towards for so long, sacrificing all that time spent, all the effort you've made? It is not fair to her in the slightest, if you are not prepared to do that."

"I...I..." Weiss opened and closed her mouth, completely uncertain of how to cope with such a terrible reality.

Winter rested her hands on Weiss' shoulders. "Please, Weiss," she implored. "I'm telling you this, because I care about you. More than that, I can see that you truly care about Ms. Forrest. Because of that, you _have_ to be prepared to make this decision for her."

"I..." Weiss took a deep breath, closing her eyes, trying to imagine what it would mean, giving up her claim to the SDC.

Giving that up meant giving up any hope she had of changing the company for a better, of resolving the mess her father had made of things. The company would be in Whitley's hands...and Weiss didn't like the implications of that. Whitley was shrewd, manipulative, and cunning. Weiss knew for a fact that Jacques had always wanted him to inherit, with her status as second-eldest being the only obstacle, and had been mostly looking for an excuse to pass her over.

Even if the truth about her and Ashley's relationship never came out, it was all too likely that Jacques would find, or even engineer, a different excuse. Weiss was playing a game where the odds had been stacked against her from the very beginning. She could choose to drop this relationship, on the slim chance of being able to maintain her claim long enough to actually take the company from her father, or she could embrace the promise of genuine happiness an open and honest relationship with Ashley would bring.

"I choose Ashley," said Weiss finally, looking up at Winter, meeting her gaze with all the conviction she could muster, hearing Ashley's soft gasp off to her side.

Winter smiled once again, a smile filled with genuine warmth and affection. "I'm proud of you, Weiss," she said. "I will do everything in my power to support you, including doing what I can to protect Ms. Forrest against Father's reprisals."

"Y-you're not upset?" asked Weiss.

"Why would I be?" said Winter, lifting her hands off Weiss' shoulders. "The only reason you were ever burdened with this was because _I_ chose to renounce my claim. I chose the military over the family, over dealing with Father's endless efforts to mold me into his puppet. I was disinherited as a result, and this burden fell to you. But it should not be a child's obligation to clean up their parent's mess. Truth be told, if I could get Whitley out of this, I would, and leave Father to lay in the bed that he has made."

Weiss nodded slowly and uneasily.

"That said, there is no harm in keeping things quiet a little while longer," said Winter, stepping back from the pair, "particularly considering that she is still marked for death by the White Fang. People knowing that she is in a relationship with you will only put a bigger target on her back. So it is best to probably keep this under wraps, until after the Vytal Festival is over."

"All right," said Weiss, slumping back onto the bench, Ashley almost collapsing next to her.

Winter took a seat next to them. "So then, please tell me about yourself, Ms. Forrest. I wish to learn more about the girl that my sister is willing to risk so much for."

* * *

"What's a Shaman?" asked Jaune, canting his head in confusion. He looked to Ruby, who smiled knowingly.

Kyo's smile faded slightly. "Shaman is a term within the Mibu Clan," he explained. "It is a blanket definition for those who are empowered in ways that we cannot explain through the mechanics of Aura or Dust."

_Like the Maidens,_ thought Ruby, a bit surprised the notion had never occurred to her before.

"Even though it's a blanket definition, it's a bit overly generalized," said Kyo. "Shamans come in a variety of types, and are often as different from each other as they are from normal people.

"Some are distinct individuals, who manifest unusual abilities on their own. Others are hereditary, able to pass their traits from one generation to the next. Others are the recipients of such power from an outside force."

"What about me?" asked Jaune, frowning.

"That is difficult to say," said Kyo, still smiling, despite the strange revelation he was conveying. "There is no way, right here and now, to say where your unique attributes fall. It could well be that your abilities comprise a previously unidentified attribute of Aura, one that we are simply not aware of yet. Believe it or not, that is not so strange. Sasame's ancestor was one such Shaman."

"Really?" asked Jaune, while Ruby smiled, having already heard this before.

Kyo nodded sagely. "The founder of the Mitarai Family; Mitarai Tokichiro, who was often better known as Akari; was classified as a Shaman for most of her life. However, later on, she was able to interpret the mechanisms behind her healing art, and teach them to others. This enabled her to create the foundation for the healing arts the Mibu Clan has used ever since. You might well be of a similar stripe, Jaune-kun."

"That feels...weird," said Jaune, looking at his arm, where the cut Kyo had made had been. There was no trace of it now, not even a scab or scar.

"It might be strange, but it seems that this power can explain several idiosyncrasies," said Kyo. "Since it works differently from the healing arts, as we Mibu understand them, it is most likely the reason behind your miraculous recovery from your condition as an infant, though it implies some very interesting things."

"It does?" asked Jaune, Ruby sharing his confusion.

"Yes," replied Kyo. "Given what we saw right now, one might assume that your power uses your Aura as a medium for its use. However, that's unusual.

"You managed to heal yourself as an infant, but doing so did not unlock your Aura, as one might expect. That indicates that, while your power might operate through your Aura, it is distinct from your Aura itself. There is also the question of why it manifested right then and there, rather than the moment you were born. Granted, these are questions I am not equipped to answer, and might well remain unanswered, no matter how deeply we investigate."

"Oh..." said Jaune. "In the end...what does this all mean for me?"

"Well, that's still up in the air," conceded Kyo. "Much of this is speculation on my part. These are questions Sasame is better-equipped to field and answer, so it is best to put them to her, when she arrives for the festival. That being said, the immediate consequence is that it appears that your affinity for the healing arts is well beyond what even Sasame suspected. Should you manage to successfully hone that power, Jaune-kun, then you might well become an even more powerful healer than her, or even our Chief Physician. If that's the case, then there is no imagining the sheer scale of the good that you could do for the world."

"Wow..." whispered Jaune, looking down at his hands again.

"For the time being, the best choice would be to take your time and explore your potential," said Kyo. "At the moment, there are a great many things you are presently focusing on, so it's no crime to put this off for a little while longer, for now."

"That's true," agreed Ruby. "You're already kinda wrapped up with combat training, and mastering healing will come as you get better at basic Aura-control."

"I thought I was pretty good," grumbled Jaune.

"Certainly," agreed Kyo. "However, that skill is still nascent. Just as it is with your sword techniques, Aura-techniques must be continually practiced, so that they become an act of will, without any need for forethought. Once you reach that point, you will be prepared to further delve the more advanced arts."

"Weiss is doing the same thing," Ruby reminded Jaune. "She can create a Summon now, but the process is still too lengthy for it to be of any use in a regular battle, not unless she can hide behind us to buy the time she needs. So she's practicing basic exercises to refine them down to the point where her Summon can be used in straightforward combat."

"Right..." said Jaune, getting where Ruby and Kyo were going with this.

"Speaking of practice..." said Kyo, turning his attention to Ruby. "...have you been making any progress?"

Ruby abruptly looked down, abashed. "No..." she admitted. "I've been training this whole time. But I just don't _get_ it..."

"Get what?" asked Jaune, blinking. Then he paused. "Wait, is this about that scroll you had, the lightning-sword thing?"

"That would be it," said Kyo.

Ruby sighed. "I've been thinking things over, but the words are still mostly words. I get some of the gist of what Sasuke has been talking about, but...I'm not really understanding it."

Kyo chuckled. "That's no terrible thing, Ruby-chan. Yes, Sarutobi Sasuke developed the Raikoken by the time he was twelve, but he lived a very different kind of life than you did."

"That Aokigahara place sounds pretty hardcore," noted Jaune.

"That's putting it mildly," said Kyo. "It was inhabited by monsters, not Creatures of Grimm mind you, but things _far_ worse. They were, in fact, human once. However, they were twisted and corrupted, developing a love for human flesh, engaging in wanton murder and cannibalism."

Jaune and Ruby shivered.

"Aside from that, unless you were a cannibal yourself, food was very hard to come by in such a place," continued Kyo. "Sarutobi Sasuke was born into all of that. It's nothing short of a miracle that he did not grow to be as twisted and evil as many of the forest's other inhabitants. As a child, he survived there, mostly alone, constantly surrounded by enemies, and perpetually on the edge of starvation."

"That's...awful," said Jaune.

Kyo nodded. "In a sense, you could say that that forms the basis for his understanding. When he speaks of understanding the cycle of life and death, of being part of it, of stepping beyond it, he is speaking about his experience of living near death, of being faced with the threat of death, and walking that paper-thin line to find the way to continue living."

Ruby gasped softly.

Kyo smiled. "It's the same for you in battle, Ruby-chan. When you are fighting for your life, when you are faced with the prospect of death, you must move past your own limits, expand your awareness, and find the path where there was none before. Follow that path to find victory, and you have successfully stepped beyond life, as Sasuke would put it."

Ruby lowered her eyes, thinking back to her fights with Adam, those two times where she'd truly felt herself walking such a thin line, balancing on the knife's edge between victory and defeat. She'd been through a few fights like that, throughout her history, though not many stood out to her at the moment.

The image of a young woman with close-cropped hair, and a vicious smile, briefly surfaced.

"Of course, since Sasuke dealt with such things since his earliest years, it's no wonder that he grew to develop such an understanding, at such a young age," said Kyo, his expression and tone becoming mildly apologetic. "I hope you understand that, however much you might have gained from it, Sasame and I, your other teachers as well, have not gone to great lengths to place you in such situations, Ruby-chan. We may have allowed them to develop naturally, but never forcefully created them. Just because Sasuke lived in such a manner does not mean that you need to."

"I...understand," said Ruby, giving her brother a smile.

"If you can properly call upon the few experiences you've had, then you can use Sasuke's words as a bridge to arrive at the proper place, without needing to face as much hardship as he did," continued Kyo. "That is why people like him have left behind scrolls like yours, to enable you to benefit from his experience, without having to share it in its entirety, because, of course, he would never wish such a childhood upon another person."

Ruby nodded.

"Above all else, don't be in a rush," said Kyo. "Understanding will come, sooner or later, it does not really matter which. What matters is that you do it properly."

"Right..." said Ruby, smiling.

A pause came over the conversation, which was ultimately broken by Jaune. "Well...that got pretty deep."

"I suppose it did," said Kyo with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head. "So then...what shall we do now? I don't think you want to stay cooped up in here all day, however interesting out talks have been."

Ruby and Jaune frowned pensively, thinking over their options. Then Ruby's face lit up, her eyes going wide. "I know!" she exclaimed, looking up at her brother. "Spar with me, Kyo-nii!"

"Huh?" grunted Jaune, looking between the two with confusion.

To his surprise, Kyo's eyes twinkled with merriment. "Oh! That sounds like a wonderful idea," he said. "We haven't played together in a while, Ruby-chan. I'd love to see how much you've grown."

Considering what he knew about Ruby and her brother, Jaune supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that it had come to this sooner or later. But it was kinda strange, seeing the pair talk about a sparring match the way other siblings might have talked about a favorite game they hadn't played in a long time, not that Jaune could judge them for that.

"I should see if I can reserve a ring," said Ruby, already pulling out her scroll and looking through it.

_This'll be interesting,_ Jaune thought.


	84. Chapter 84

**Chapter 84:**

Fortunately, thanks to the fact that the majority of students were still away on missions, it wasn't hard for Ruby to secure the use of one of the training rings. Jaune couldn't help but notice that Ruby had reserved the largest available ring, generally used for multi-team battles, rather than individual matches, which resulted in it being nearly three-times the size of the rings for individuals.

"Wouldn't a regular sparring ring have been good enough?" asked Jaune, casting a wary eye over the expanse, even bigger than the ring that they used in Combat Class.

"Trust me, Kyo-nii is gonna need some room," said Ruby. "If we used a smaller ring, then there'd be a lot of collateral damage."

"Sounds to me like he's sloppy," commented Weiss, entering the spectator section, with Ashley at her side. Much like the spectator seating in Combat Class, the seats for this sparring ring were set into the balcony of an upper level, overlooking the whole ring. She and Ashley were accompanied by Winter, who took the seat next to Weiss.

"I might be, to a certain extent," said Kyo with a laugh, rubbing the back of his head again. Looking to Ruby, he raised and eyebrow. "You called your friends?"

"Yeah, well..." Ruby bashfully averted her gaze. "I thought they should see what you can do."

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt," said Kyo with a shrug.

Yang and Blake arrived a minute later, Ren and Nora shortly after them. After Ren and Nora, Pyrrha arrived at a run, having apparently come from somewhere a little farther away. Then, much to Ruby's surprise, the members of CPPR filed in as well, Penny waving enthusiastically as she and her team settled into a set of seats in the gallery. They were joined by Qrow, who came over to speak with Ruby.

"Hey there, Rosebud," he said, grinning widely. "I'm lookin' forward to seeing if you can do better than me with this punk."

"I'll certainly try, Uncle Qrow," said Ruby.

"I think Ruby-chan will do quite well," said Kyo. "She's grown a great deal, while she was away."

"I've seen that," noted Qrow.

"Perhaps," said Kyo. "But you might be surprised at the extent. With those of us who really know her, we can draw out more than Ruby-chan herself often realizes she's capable of."

"Well now, that'll be something to see," said Qrow, before sauntering off to sit next to Yang.

Ruby turned to face Jaune, and was surprised when he leaned in and planted a quick peck on her lips. "Good luck out there," he said softly.

"Thanks," said Ruby, blushing at the public display of affection.

Ruby and Kyo set out into the ring. Kyo pulled his sword out of its sheath, discarding the scabbard off to the side, resting the nearly five-foot-long blade over his right shoulder in a casual stance. When the pair of them arrived at the center of the ring, they turned to face each other. Meanwhile, Jaune brought up the ring's safety barrier, wondering just what kind of fight they were in for.

As soon as the barrier came up, Ruby drew her sword, splitting the blade into two, holding the one in her left hand out in front of her, the blade angled to one side, while she held the other up and over her head, so that the blade ran straight down her back. Kyo brought his sword up off his shoulder, holding it out in front of him, the blade angled upward in a basic stance. The two of them watched each other closely, their bodies going completely still.

No one had thought to announce the start of the match, so it came as a shock when Ruby and Kyo blurred into motion in almost perfect unison. They rushed each other head-on, Ruby meeting the descending blade of Kyo's Tenro with Ibara, in her right hand, the two blades meeting with an echoing clang.

Almost immediately, Ruby was blasted back, her momentum completely reversed by the raw power behind Kyo's swing. Kyo didn't wait for her backwards flight to terminate, instead rushing right after her. By the time Ruby's feet had touched down, Kyo was already on her, his sword little more than a flash of silvery light in the eyes of the onlookers as he unleashed a flurry of slashes with a speed and finesse that belied the length and weight of his blade.

Ruby responded by working her two swords in tandem, the blades becoming crimson blurs as she intercepted and deflected Kyo's slashes. Rather than try to slow her backwards movement to a stop, Ruby kicked off the floor, kicking up a wave of petals as she accelerated her movement back. Kyo continued to press after her, his sword probing and striking. This time, Ruby bobbed and weaved, her body seeming to multiply as she danced between Kyo's strikes, though she still continued to give ground to him.

Suddenly, Ruby's angle of movement changed. Rather than continuing to backpedal, she abruptly shot off to one side, leaving another cloud of petals in her wake as she skirted around one of Kyo's downward strikes. Her own swords lashed out as she passed him, but Kyo's response was just as lightning-fast, allowing him to slip away from the line of her attack, while stepping around and bringing his sword up in an upward-sweeping slash. Crossing her blades in front of her, Ruby barely managed to fend off Kyo's blow, which lifted her feet off the ground. Before she could even start to come back down, Kyo had stepped forward, lowering the blade of his sword and bringing it across his front on a powerful sideways slash, which launched Ruby across the ring in the opposite direction. Yet again, Kyo went after her, attacking relentlessly.

* * *

"God!" gasped Ashley, watching the bout unfold.

"I've never seen anybody overpower Ruby like that," added Yang.

"Not surprised," said Qrow, chuckling. "Kyo's got a reputation for a reason. And this is him holding back."

"You're kidding me!" exclaimed Yang, staring at her uncle.

"Nope," said Qrow, his expression sobering. "Take it from a guy who's been on the receiving end of his strength, and that was six years ago. Demon Eyes Kyo hasn't shown a bit of what he can really do."

* * *

The instant Ruby's sandals touched the floor again, she shot straight upwards, leaving an expanding ring of petals in her wake that washed across the floor like a shockwave. Her sudden launch carried her over the line of Kyo's next slash and directly over his head. However, Kyo easily ducked beneath her counterattacks from above, and immediately pivoted around to launch another attack at her as she landed. His sword cleaved right through the fabric of her cloak, cutting it in two.

The cut cloak collapsed into a cloud of petals, revealing it to be a decoy. Rather than descend straight down, Ruby had instead utilized her Aura again, this time using it to propel her body off the air itself. Using it, she was able to alter the angle of her descent, while leaving a facsimile of her cloak as a decoy to distract Kyo. Her angle of descent prompted her to land off to Kyo's right, at his very feet. From her low position, she spun about, her cloak flaring out along the ground, while Bara glided mere inches off the floor at his ankles.

Kyo was already falling back, lifting his foot above the level of Ruby's strike. But Ruby continued her spin, following through with Ibara at a higher level, prompting Kyo to shift back to try and escape the radius of her reach. However, the tip of her sword grazed his leg, the edge grating against his Aura. It was little more than a nick, but marked the first blow Ruby had landed.

Then Ruby immediately had a premonition of danger, sensing a terrifying threat descending from above. Expelling her Aura from her feet, she shot off to the side as Kyo's sword cleaved down through where she had been crouched a second earlier. Upon striking the floor, Kyo's stroke hit with an impact that rocked the entire ring, his blade splitting the floor in a line that extended all the way to the edge, only stopping when it reached the barrier, which flared and crackled angrily.

However, even as Kyo's strike split the ring, Ruby appeared behind him in a flash, her own swords streaks of crimson light in the air. She attacked furiously with both blades, etching a complex weave of red lines in the air between her and Kyo. Kyo was already dodging, his body becoming a blur as he slipped away from Ruby's attacks. Just as Kyo had earlier, when he had been knocking Ruby around, Ruby gave chase, not giving her brother a chance to disengage. Turning to face her fully, Kyo wielded his sword defensively, even as he gave ground, his sword ringing against Ruby's twin blades in a furious tempo. From time to time, Kyo would lash out with a counterattack, forcing Ruby to either parry or dodge. But his efforts failed to break her offensive completely, and she continued her barrage of attacks.

Shifting forward again, Kyo gave up his retreat, driving in to meet Ruby head-on, Tenro blurring and flashing as it clashed against Bara and Ibara. Ruby used the sheer speed and ferocity of her own offensive to keep Kyo from making any powerful swings, which would have completely overpowered her. Now she and Kyo were battling on more equal footing, their bodies, especially their legs and feet, blurs as they danced around each other, surrounded by the flashes of the lights from above gleaming off the blades of their swords, further illuminated by the flashes that accompanied every clash of blades, their Aura creating bursts of furious sparks between them.

* * *

"Was Ruby always this fast?" wondered Pyrrha, her eyes wide as she watched the battle.

It was hard to tell, but, compared to her own experience fighting against Ruby, Pyrrha was fairly certain that Ruby was moving faster and hitting harder than she ever had against Pyrrha in any of their bouts.

"Maybe," mused Qrow. "Kyo's pulling the same trick he did against me, when he fought."

"What trick?" asked Jaune.

"Basically, he started this match at Ruby's optimal speed and pace," said Qrow. "As it's going on, he speeds up a little tiny bit more. He's doing it in such tiny increments, I'm willing to bet that Ruby hasn't even noticed yet. By doing that, he can get her moving past even what her top speed would normally be, because she doesn't realize that she's actually pushing herself harder than she would normally."

"Why?" asked Weiss.

"Best way to get someone to improve quickly is to force them to fight just a little above their best," said Qrow. "Everyone always has that little tiny bit more to give that they don't even realize they have. By drawing that out, and keeping them fighting at that level, you get their body to grow to meet the strain. Then you can get them to push a little further still."

"That's one heck of a way to train," said Nora.

"It ain't easy to pull off, especially for the teacher," said Qrow. "Doing that requires complete knowledge of the student's level, and pretty much perfect control over your own strength. Probably why Rosebud hasn't tried that with you, Jaune."

"Oh," mused Jaune.

"I guess that explains why they haven't tried anything more fancy," said Weiss. "So far, they both seem to be focusing on swordsmanship and footwork, for the most part. The closest Ruby has gotten to using one of her Manifestation techniques is that decoy trick she pulls with her cloak."

"I can see why Ruby booked the biggest sparring ring we have though," said Blake, her eyes going to the line that Kyo's sword had cleaved through the ring. "His power is no joke."

"You ain't seen nothin' yet," commented Qrow.

* * *

Ruby's arms ached, the shock of repeated impacts against Kyo's sword sending jolts of pain running all the way from her hands to her shoulders. What was more, she could feel Kyo's hits getting more powerful with each clash of their blades. She was aware of what he was doing, having experienced this pretty much every time she had ever sparred with him. She didn't resent him for that. She knew well enough that, if Kyo used his full strength and speed against her, she wouldn't stand a chance in a serious fight. Instead, he was limiting both his speed and strength to give her a fighting chance, not with the intent allowing her to seize any kind of win, but as a means of forcing her to power past her current limits.

Not that Ruby had time to actually think about what Kyo was doing. Her conscious mind had no hope of keeping up with the progress of events. If she even tried to actually _think_ during this fight, that would break her focus and leave her open to Kyo's attacks, any one of which was probably more than capable of wiping out her Aura on its own.

Ruby pushed her legs harder than she could ever remember doing, dashing around Kyo, flanking him and trying to catch him off-guard, bombarding him with attacks from every angle, moving so swiftly that it almost looked as though several swift red shadows were darting around Kyo. He still managed to keep up with her, turning to meet her swords with his own, while bending his upper body like a reed in the wind to evade many of her other attacks.

The furious rate of movement was taxing for Ruby, not merely because of the exertion of her legs. Maintaining her control over the expulsion of her Aura from the soles of her feet to ensure the proper execution of her Shukuchi was critical. A single mistimed burst of Aura, or misjudging the power she needed, could send her legs flying out from under her, leaving Ruby sliding across the ring on her side or back. Increasing her speed required her to increase her control.

But she managed it. With every step she took and every strike she made, Ruby sent flurries of red petals dancing into the air, which swirled around the combatants in a vivid, crimson maelstrom. Then Ruby abruptly darted back, dancing away from the reach of even Kyo's O-dachi. In her wake, all the petals swirling through the air abruptly converged inwards on Kyo.

"_Hanabi!_"

With a series of crackling, sparking sounds, like a line of firecrackers going off; Ruby's petals sparked to life, filling the air with angry explosions that bombarded Kyo with a converging explosion of angry, red arcs of lightning.

Ruby heard Kyo's shout with her ears, but that was secondary, as she _felt_ it before she heard it. Kyo's Aura exploded out from him in a red wave, completely blasting away the lightning Ruby had generated before it could even reach him. It was nothing more than a basic Projection, but the sheer power behind it was like nothing Ruby was capable of. Her technique was completely blown away...and Ruby herself wasn't far behind, the force of Kyo's Aura striking her like a slap across the entire front of her body, driving her back farther than she'd meant to retreat.

Skidding to a stop, Ruby saw Kyo through the red haze of his Aura, which lingered in the air, like a bloody mist. He brought Tenro up, holding it at the level of his face, the blade extending across in front of him, parallel to the ground. Bringing up the first two fingers of his left hand, Kyo rested them on the flat of the blade, right at the hilt, before tracing them along, the metal glowing a shimmering white in the wake of their passage.

To Ruby's eyes, the movement looked slow and deliberate, so smooth and practiced that Kyo might well have been doing it in slow motion. However, that was because her own internal sense of time had been suspended by the intensity of the battle, which had enhanced her awareness to levels she normally wasn't capable of. In real-time, Kyo's movements were taking less than a second to execute. That he was able to make it look so smooth and deliberate was an indicator of the sheer level of practice he had put into it. It was nothing more or less than pure _mastery_.

Ruby immediately knew what Kyo was about to do. She'd seen this technique so many times before, even been hit by it in previous sparring matches. She'd seen this technique lay out her Uncle Qrow in a single blow. She was also aware that she didn't have the time to close in and attack before Kyo used it. She was still struggling to bring her own backwards momentum under control. Once she did, and reversed direction, Kyo would have already launched his own attack.

So Ruby made no effort to close in. Instead, she brought Bara and Ibara together, the two swords becoming one once again. Bringing Akaibara up, Ruby mimicked Kyo's own motions, tracing the first two fingers of her right hand up to rest against the flat of the blade, right where it met the hilt of her sword. Then she too traced her fingers along the length of the blade, Akaibara blazing with crimson light to match that of Tenro's, the two swords letting out echoing chimes that resounded throughout the entire room, making the teeth of the onlookers buzz.

Kyo brought his left hand up to grip the handle of his sword behind his right, while raising Tenro over his head, so that the edge of the curved blade faced upwards, extending back and to his right, angled ever-so-slightly downwards. The air rippled, converging in around the blade, drawing in the red haze left behind by his earlier Projection, the atmosphere in his vicinity being condensed into the purest extension of his sword.

"_Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Mizuchi!_"

Kyo brought his sword down in a mighty slash that sent a wave of pure white, edged with red, washing across the arena, threatening to break over Ruby, and carve her into pieces. In the meantime, Ruby had kicked off the floor, tilting her body nearly horizontal as she went into a spin that made her cloak flare out around her, using the spin to bring Akaibara up and around in a descending strike, the sword's blade seeming to merge with the edge of her cloak, as Ruby met Kyo's attack head-on with her own.

"_Kazebara!_"

A razor-thin line of pure red bit into the incoming wave of Kyo's _Mizuchi_, splitting it in two, parting it around Ruby. Ruby could feel the attack rushing by her, its passage teasing at the edge of her extended cloak, completely shredding and obliterating whatever it came in contact with. Kyo had gone lightly, but his attack would have still cut effortlessly through her Aura, and opened up countless lacerations across her body.

There was a time where he would have never even _thought_ about using the _Mizuchi_ against Ruby, without Sasame nearby to heal any injuries. That he was willing to use the _Mizuchi_, under these circumstances, was a sign of his respect for Ruby's growth, the realization of which thrilled her to her core.

Against the force of Kyo's attack, there was no way for Ruby's Kazebara to reach all the way to Kyo. Instead, it merely parted the Mizuchi, successfully countering Kyo's attack. Looking past the split waves of white atmosphere, Ruby saw Kyo, sword still extended and lowered from his strike. Their eyes met, Kyo's Crimson Eyes burning with frightening intensity, a sign of his excitement, which was also betrayed by the joyous grin he wore. The combination of his grin and shining eyes resulted in Kyo's visage coming off as downright _demonic_. It was a sight to put fear into the hearts of most who saw it. However, the sight of that grin filled Ruby's heart with elation.

She wasn't just seeing it in his face. Ruby could feel it in the waves of Aura-infused atmosphere that washed past her on either side..._pride_. Kyo was proud of her, proud of how far she'd come, how well she was doing against him. The feeling of the pride he had in her made Ruby's own heart sing in response. Unconsciously, Ruby's lips pulled back, baring her teeth in an exultant grin that was a match for Kyo's own.

All of that was conveyed in the fraction of a second it had taken Ruby's sandaled feet to touch the floor after pulling off her technique. The instant she touched down, Ruby was off like a shot, hurtling across the floor at her top speed, Akaibara splitting in her hands once more. She crossed her arms in front of her body, so that the blades of Bara and Ibara were pointed behind her. As Kyo raised his sword to meet her attack, Ruby brought her blades crossing in front of her in an attack that had every ounce of her power and momentum behind it.

* * *

"Holy SHIT!" Qrow had been reaching for his flask at the moment he'd seen Kyo unleash the _Mizuchi_ against Ruby. In that instant, his shock had prompted him to drop the container, sending it clattering cross the floor, bouncing off Yang's boot, and sliding across the floor to come to a rest further down the aisle. Retrieving it was the furthest thing from Qrow's mind, said mind overcome by a flashback of his own experience with Kyo's technique.

"What the hell was that!?" exclaimed Yang, her eyes wide, her voice nearly drowned out by the almost deafening clang of clashing swords below as Ruby closed with Kyo again.

"That's the trick Kyo laid me out with, when I fought him," said Qrow. "If Sasame hadn't been with him, I'd have probably bled to death, and he was taking it easy on me."

"And Kyo just used that on _Ruby_!?" asked Weiss, her voice tight with fury.

"It probably means that he respected her enough to believe she could handle it," said Pyrrha, her own voice surprisingly calm, even though her heart was pounding. She couldn't keep a happy smile from her face as she observed, "Besides, Ruby doesn't seem to mind."

It took a few seconds for the others to catch on to what Pyrrha meant. Ruby and Kyo had resumed their dangerous dance down below, their bodies blurring, flickering in and out of focus with each strike, dodge, and step. In those brief instants where they could make out the expressions on the fighters' faces, they were able to make out the identical joyous grins sported by Ruby and Kyo. The two of them looked as though there was no place they would rather be.

_She looks so happy,_ thought Yang, a smile appearing on her own face. By now, she was past the point of feeling too much guilt over the fact that, not so long ago, she would have been terrified at the thought of Ruby putting herself in danger like this. The Yang from back then would have been at the edge of the ring, pounding her fists against the barrier in an effort to break through and save her sister. The Yang from back then wouldn't have noticed, or cared for that matter, about how big Ruby's grin was, how happy she looked. But now, she could simply sit back and enjoy the sheer joy expressed, not just on Ruby's face, but through every movement of her body.

Silently, Yang wondered if their father could ever be brought to see Ruby in this light, to see how happy she was, how strong she was. No matter how much time had passed, or how much Ruby had changed, Taiyang had refused to see her as anything beyond that helpless little toddler that Yang had pulled along on an ill-advised adventure in search of Yang's missing mother. He'd refused to see the powerful and beautiful young woman that Ruby had become.

_Maybe there's something I can do about that,_ thought Yang, her fingers slipping into her pocket to graze against the edge of her scroll.

* * *

As she dodged past another powerful slash of Kyo's sword, Ruby danced around to one side of him. Instead of trying to attack him when she passed, she instead brought the blades of her two swords together, crossing them, then grinding their flats against each other as she pulled them apart. Bara crackled, crimson vines of thorny lightning climbing up its length. Meanwhile, Ibara's blade shimmered, red-dyed wind swirling and condensing around it.

Now turning in place, Ruby slashed at Kyo, who was still turning to face her again. Kyo sensed the attack incoming, and danced aside, the trailing sleeve of his kimono being nicked by the crescent-shaped wave of wind that flickered past him. Ruby followed through with a vertical, downwards strike from Bara, the crimson lightning winding around it crackling angrily, then extending to lash out like a whip, bending to strike at Kyo from an angle separate that of the her sword's strike.

Her excitement spiked when she saw Kyo try to fend off her lightning with his sword. Upon connecting with the the crimson arc of electricity, Kyo's sword flashed, Ruby's lightning flashing down its length and right up into Kyo's hand, sending a jolt up his arm and through his entire body, the resulting flinch causing his movement to falter, keeping him from attacking or defending. It was a fractional pause, one that would only slow him down for an instant, but that instant was all Ruby would need.

Even if he was faltering from coming into contact with Ruby's lightning, Kyo still had _some_ control, enough to shift his weight backwards to try and throw himself out of the range of the next attack he knew was coming. And try he did. However, his movement was slow, and he felt as though he were in a river, fighting to climb upstream.

Even though he'd dodged the wind-blade from Ibara, that hadn't been the end of that particular blade's attack. Even now, the currents of air continued to swirl inwards to condense around the sword, creating a constant pull that drew Kyo's body towards Ruby, keeping him from escaping with the limited control he currently had over his own body.

Ruby raised Bara and Ibara together, joining the swords over her head, gripping Akaibara's handle in both hands. The wind that had swirled and condensed around Ibara merged with the lightning that still wreathed Bara, fusing together to form a sheath of intense plasma around Akaibara's blade, its color washing from red to an brilliant violet.

Tenro sang in Kyo's hand, his Aura blazing brilliant red, merging with the sword's white. "_Mumyo Jinpu Ryu-!_" he began.

"_Yoake no Bara!_" Ruby brought her sword down in a two-handed strike, the plasma condensed around her blade exploding with a crack like thunder.

Ruby was aware that Kyo possessed a defensive technique, _Timbe_, which allowed him to generate a curved plane of condensed air that could be used as a shield. However, she was certain that her technique had the power to cleave straight through it.

Instead, the power of Ruby's attack abruptly _vanished_. Even the thunderclap of the blade landing was cut short, as though someone had hit the mute button on reality itself. It reminded Ruby of her experience with Adam's Semblance, where he'd completely drained the power out of her Kazebara, and into his sword. But this was different. Whatever Ruby's sword had struck had simply made the power of her attack...disappear...as though it had never existed in the first place. That, combined with the sudden cessation of its noise made Ruby sense that she was in the presence of a phenomenon that transcended the very nature of the world itself, overriding things like the physics of force and sound.

The light of Ruby's technique had vanished just as abruptly, snuffed out like a candle-flame. It took an extra second for Ruby's eyes to adjust, mainly because, in addition to the light of her technique suddenly disappearing, things had become strangely dark. As such, it took Ruby a moment to comprehend what she was seeing. Something glittered above her, and her jaw dropped. _Stars?_!

Akaibara was stopped cold, its edge resting against a curving surface of hexagonal plates, joining together to form a semi-transparent barrier between her and her opponent. Looking up, Ruby saw that barrier washing with the colors and lights of the night sky. It was difficult to wrap her mind at the realization that she was looking at the shell of an enormous turtle.

Abruptly, white streams of air whipped outward, forming into the bodies of countless serpents, which lashed out to wrap around Ruby's body, entwining around her legs and arms, and seizing her torso in a crushing grip, locking her completely into place. _Th-this is...!_

This was a technique _leagues_ beyond what she had been expecting. It was one Kyo's _Ougi_, his ultimate techniques, four techniques that represented the pinnacle of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_, and made the _Mizuchi_ Ruby had thwarted earlier look like a parlor trick. Never had she imagined that Kyo would use one of those techniques on her.

"_Genbu..._" intoned Kyo, a warm smile on his face. "The heavens are its shell, its body the earth, the air between a nest of serpents. Countless streams of air weave together into a protective lattice, forming an impenetrable barrier, the ultimate defense. The coils of the serpents will crush and tear anything in their hold to pieces."

The serpents of wind tightened their hold, squeezing the air from Ruby's lungs.

"Do you feel it...the caress of _Genbu's_ serpents?" asked Kyo with a smile.

Then the crushing feeling of the wind holding her in place vanished, the wind dissipating into nothing. Ruby dropped to the floor, immediately collapsing onto her knees, gasping for breath, greedily sucking air into her abused lungs, her body sore and aching from being gripped so tightly. Had Kyo wished it, he could have transformed the serpents that had held her into whirlwinds that would have shredded her body into nothingness. Instead, he had dispelled his technique.

Her body shaking from the exertion and stress, it took Ruby a moment to raise her head to look up at Kyo, her hood falling back to let her see him more clearly.

"Looks like I win again, Ruby-chan," said Kyo with a wide smile.

Despite having lost, Ruby couldn't help but feel a wave of giddiness threaten to swamp her. Part of her had known that Kyo would win. He'd always win. If she ever won against him, it would be because he allowed her to. But Kyo respected her too much to grant her that kind of empty victory, instead using defeat to spur and inspire her to continue moving forward, until the day she reached his level, and claimed a genuine victory over him.

What thrilled her the most was the sheer pride expressed by Kyo's smile. Though it was more subtle than the grin he'd been wearing earlier, it felt more profound.

"That was amazing, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, extending his left hand down.

Tiredly, Ruby lifted her right to grip it, allowing him to pull her to her feet.

"I never expected to need to use _Genbu_ against you," he said. "You really surprised me at the end. You grew much more than I thought."

Ruby was smiling so hard her cheeks ached. Even if Kyo hadn't been fighting at his full strength, she'd still managed to back him into the corner, forcing him to the point where he'd had to use one of his best techniques to turn the tables on her. It was more than she'd thought she'd manage to accomplish.

Abruptly, Kyo reversed his grip on Tenro, stabbing the blade into the ground so that he could take her in his arms and pull her into a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered softly, kissing the top of her head while Ruby carefully hugged him back.

The moment came to an end when the sound of a single pair of hands clapping in a slow tempo echoed through the room. Pulling away from each other, Ruby and Kyo looked up into the audience. However, the clapping was not coming from any of the three teams of students present, nor was it coming from Qrow or Winter. It was coming from behind them, where a trio of figures stood, the white-haired man in the center of the trio applauding slowly.

"An excellent match," declared Ozpin, smiling earnestly as he took in the siblings in the ring.

"P-P-P-Professor...!" sputtered Ruby, her face turning bright red, not even certain _why_ she was embarrassed that Ozpin had been watching her match with Kyo.

Glynda stood to Ozpin's right, while General Ironwood flanked him on his left. Both of them were still wide-eyed with shock, overwhelmed by the display of skill and power they'd just been witness too.

Kyo laughed, yet again rubbing the back of his head with his left hand, as he pulled Tenro free with his right. "That's kind of you to say, Professor," he said. "I must say, Beacon really _does_ agree with Ruby-chan. I had been expecting her to have improved since I last sparred with her, but not to _this_ degree."

"K-Kyo-nii..." stammered Ruby, her face growing hotter.

Another set of hands joined in the applause, this pair clapping much more rapidly and enthusiastically. "Sensational, Ruby!" cheered Penny, jumping to her feet with an exultant grin. "That was a wonderful match!"

Her hand still shaking from the aftermath of her last clash with Kyo, Ruby fumbled a little, but managed to slip Akaibara into her sheath. In the meantime, a shocked Jaune managed to find the wherewithal to bring down the barrier. Penny didn't bother with the stairs down to the ring, instead throwing herself right over the railing so that she could rush to Ruby, and seize her in a crushing hug that reminded Ruby just a bit too much of the feeling of being wrapped in Kyo's technique earlier.

"Penny..." she managed to croak, "...air...!"

"Ah!" With a squeak of surprise, Penny released Ruby, dropping her back to the floor. Ruby stumbled, on the verge of keeling over, only to be saved when Kyo planted Tenro again and slipped his hands under her armpits to keep her from keeling over entirely.

"Sorry," said Penny.

"It's okay," said Ruby, Kyo steadying her until she could stand on her own again.

She barely had time to breathe, before she was swarmed by the rest of her friends, who gathered around her. Yang and Nora each seized her in hugs that were nearly a match for Penny's, leaving Ruby staggering between them, until Jaune took her in his arms, holding her close in a much more gentle embrace that allowed Ruby to recover a little. She felt him send just a little bit of his Aura into her, restoring some of her strength and calming the shaking of her limbs.

"Thanks," she said softly, looking into his eyes.

"Least I could do," said Jaune, smiling back at her, before letting her rest her head against his collar for a little longer.

"Gotta say, Kiddo, you scared me out of five years of my life," commented Qrow, smirking as he spoke. "You did better than I did, for sure."

"Thanks, Uncle Qrow," said Ruby, pulling away from Jaune enough to grin at him.

"No wonder she's so strong," commented Weiss, who was standing next to Pyrrha, the two of them keeping a respectful distance to keep from making Ruby feel overwhelmed.

"It's certainly understandable, if _that's_ the caliber of training she's gotten," said Pyrrha.

Not far away, Ciel looked on, flanked by Piper and Rain. "So that is what the Mibu are capable of," mused Ciel.

"I can certainly see how Kyo was able to completely wipe out the White Fang," said Rain.

"No wonder the General didn't try to take him in," added Piper. "The soldiers and androids wouldn't have stood a chance."

Farther up, Ozpin couldn't quite keep from smirking at the sight of the awestruck looks on the faces of Ironwood, Glynda, and Winter. "So then...what do you think of Ms. Rose's performance?" he asked.

"That was..." Glynda was actually fighting to find the right words to describe her thoughts. "Her ability is _far_ beyond what we thought it was."

"Granted, as one of her instructors, Kyo has the capability to draw forth potential that even Ms. Rose isn't aware of yet," noted Ozpin. "It will take more training, before she can perform at that level consistently."

Ironwood swallowed. "Winter...your thoughts?" he asked.

Winter blinked owlishly. "If this is the caliber of warrior that they produce, then we absolutely _cannot_ permit Jacques or his cohorts to railroad through any plan to invade the Mibu."

"That much is true," agreed Ironwood.

"Granted, Kyo is more of a representation of the upper tier of the clan members, in terms of strength," said Ozpin. "Only a few of them could be said to be at Ms. Rose's level, much less Kyo's."

"Yet there is also the implication...that some members of his clan might be even _stronger_ than him," commented Ironwood.

"Which would make it wise to not make enemies of them," said Winter.

"Very true," said Ozpin. "And, of course, they would be far more valuable as friends. After all, there is a great deal we can learn from them, considering that everything that we saw in this ring took place without the use of Dust." He lowered his voice, so that only Ironwood and Glynda could hear him. "Without the use of magic too."

Ironwood and Glynda nodded gravely.

* * *

After Ruby's sparring match with her brother, the group broke up once more. A tired Ruby retreated to her team's dorm room to shower after her exertion. Kyo had also broken a sweat, but not to the degree Ruby had, happy to simply wipe himself down with a towel. He was content to wait for Ruby out in the courtyard, while the others went their separate ways.

Weiss returned to her practice, with Ashley looking on again. Jaune, having been reminded by the brief topic of comics, during his and Ruby's earlier conversation with Kyo, caught an airship into Vale to pick up the latest issue of _X-Ray and Vav_, promising to share it with Ruby and Kyo later. Pyrrha also borrowed an individual training ring for her own use, lamenting that CRDL was still on their mission, meaning Dove wasn't around to help her test new applications for her Semblance. Fortunately, Yang volunteered to take Dove's place, hoping to do some training herself, and begin applying some suggestions Kyo had made the previous day. Blake, unsurprisingly, chose to retreat to the library. Ren and Nora joined Jaune for the flight into Vale, only for Nora to drag Ren off for some fun activities of their own (with Nora suspiciously refusing to use the word, "date").

After Ruby had finished with her shower, she dressed in one of the casual outfits Weiss had gotten her, the gray minidress this time, and took her combat outfit to laundry to get it washed. After that, she joined Kyo in the courtyard.

"That's a good look for you, Ruby-chan," he commented, upon seeing her new outfit.

"Thanks," said Ruby.

"Did your friends help you pick it out?" asked Kyo.

"Weiss did," said Ruby, her expression turning sour, prompting a laugh from her brother. "She dragged me into the clothing store and put me through three different outfits, before she finally settled on one."

Kyo laughed again. "You always _did_ hate getting fitted for new clothes," he noted. "The only exception was when you were putting together your combat outfit."

"That's because everyone just uses me as their dress-up doll," groused Ruby. "I hardly get to say anything."

"Well...far be it for me to say anything about your fashion sense," said Kyo, who only ever seemed to own one outfit, though he actually did have a separate one for formal occasions, which he had worn a number of times that he could count on the fingers of one hand.

Ruby sighed.

"So then..." said Kyo, "...do you think our match helped?"

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, confused for a moment.

"Earlier, you said you were having difficulty grasping the concepts Sarutobi Sasuke articulated in his scroll," noted Kyo. "I figured that you asked for the match to get a little more experience, to see if you could get closer to the state of mind you needed."

"Um..." Ruby blushed. "Actually...I just realized it had been so long since I sparred with you, Kyo-nii, that that was the first thing that came to mind."

Kyo burst out laughing uproariously, prompting Ruby's blush to only become all the more vivid. "I suppose I've rubbed off on you a little," he said.

"Ugh..." groaned Ruby, ducking her head. "I wasn't even thinking about it. What a wasted opportunity."

"It doesn't have to be wasted," said Kyo. "After all, I fought you with the intention of giving you experience to that end. So, if you reflect upon what you experienced, you might find a better understanding."

"Oh..." Ruby turned her eyes upwards.

"There's no need to rush it," said Kyo. "But pushing yourself to the edge of your ability, the limits of your body and mind is where you will find the understanding necessary to achieve mastery over the elements, especially something like lightning."

"I'll try," said Ruby, her mind reflexively going over her experience once more, thinking about how it felt to clash with her brother, and push herself to her limits.

"Ruby!"

Ruby's attempts to do so were interrupted by the shout of a familiar voice. Looking towards the source, Ruby smiled to see Penny running towards her. "Hey, Penny," she said cheerfully, as the android skidded to a stop in front of them.

"I was hoping to see you again," declared Penny excitedly.

Ruby blinked, looking around. "Uh, Penny...you're not on the lam again, are you?"

"Oh...no," said Penny, blinking. "General Ironwood has been convinced to relax his restrictions concerning my activities, and has permitted me to move around more freely."

"Really?" asked Ruby. Upon seeing Penny nod, Ruby broke out into a radiant grin. "That's great!"

"It's really nice," said Penny. "I know Ciel and Rain are happy, since they get to go on a date together."

"I thought Ciel didn't like mixing her school life with romance," said Ruby.

"Well, according to Ciel, we are technically on leave," explained Penny. "Therefore, she is perfectly fine with spending her free time with Rain in a romantic context, particularly since she doesn't need to escort me anymore." Penny adopted a more sly-looking expression, and leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, "I think this last mission helped her loosen up a little."

Penny and Ruby shared a giggle at that.

"Should I leave you two alone?" asked Kyo, his tone curious.

"Oh! I'm sorry, Ruby," said Penny, straightening up and looking to Kyo. "That was incredibly rude of me to interrupt your time with your brother like that." She bowed slightly to Kyo, her movement looking stiff and robotic. "My apologies."

Kyo held up a hand. "Please, think nothing of it," he said. "I'm glad that Ruby-chan has made so many good friends, including ones of such an unusual stripe as yourself."

"Um..." Penny did a good job emulating the way normal humans stiffened nervously.

"Yeah, Kyo-nii _would_ figure that out even more easily than I did," said Ruby. "There isn't really a point in trying to keep it a secret around him." After all, Ruby had been able to pick up that something had been...off...about Penny from the moment they had met. It had taken her some time to truly figure out _what_ it was about Penny that unsettled her. Kyo, with all his experience and skill, would have picked up on those odd cues from the moment Penny had entered his vicinity.

"Well...it's not much of a secret anymore," said Penny, "not around our friends at least."

During the debriefing following RYNB and CPPR's mission in Mountain Glenn, it was only natural that the revelation of Penny's android nature had come up. Ironwood was, naturally, quite discomfited at the realization of just how many people were now aware of Penny's secret, and had determinedly instructed them not to speak of it to people outside the two teams. At that point, Penny had revealed that Ruby had already learned the truth about her, which prompted Ironwood to broaden that stricture to include Team RASP as well.

In a subsequent discussion, the other three members of CPPR, primarily Rain and Piper, had pressed Ironwood to grant Penny more freedom, so that she could continue to practice at engaging in human interaction, and build further social experience. Though she agreed for the same reasons as the others, Ciel had avoided chiming in, mainly to keep from looking as though she wished to lessen her responsibility as Penny's partner and primary supervisor. The fact that it was something Penny's father had requested as well had ultimately convinced Ironwood to bend, and give Penny more freedom.

Penny and Ruby filled Kyo in on the fact that Penny was an android. The revelation surprised and interested Kyo. It also seemed to unsettle him, though that reaction quickly subsided.

"Does your father know how you were made?" asked Kyo.

"I'm not sure," said Penny. "He's always been vague about what research he was working on, when I was born. The one thing he _did_ tell me is that there were factors that he has not quantified behind it, and that he has refrained from exploring the concept further."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

Penny blinked. "Well, Father said that he didn't set out to create me, a living android that is, and that it was more accident than intention that I was born. He calls me his Miracle Child, and says that I should _stay_ a miracle."

"That is probably the wisest course," observed Kyo, his tone strangely grave.

Ruby threw a confused look at her brother, but he warned her off with a tiniest shake of his head.

"Actually, I _did_ want to talk to you, Mr. Mibu," said Penny, grinning at Kyo.

"Please, just call me Kyo," said Kyo, "and what is it that you wish to talk about?"

Penny's smile faded. "It's just...I can't figure out what it was that you did during that match. Ruby's techniques are hard for me to understand too, but she mostly does just produce electricity with her Aura, and use it to control air. But your techniques...my sensors couldn't quite process what you did. The first one you used...it seemed to be just moving air. But I could tell there was more to it. And then the one you ended the fight with..."

"Ah, I see," said Kyo. "Well...it can be difficult to explain properly." He paused, mulling things over. "Let's start off simple..."

He leaned down and picked up one of the small pebbles strewn about the area, setting it down on the table. "For a moment, factor out things like modern technology, or your own strength, Penny-chan. Imagine yourself as a normal human."

"All right," said Penny.

"Now then, picking up a stone like this is a simple matter," said Kyo, pinching the stone with his index finger and thumb and picking it up, before setting it back down. "Of course, doing so requires that you exert strength, however little."

Penny nodded, while Ruby leaned back and listened with amusement.

"Now then," continued Kyo, "imagine if this stone was larger and heavier. If you wished to pick up a larger stone, you would have to exert more strength, right?"

Again, Penny nodded.

"Of course, the bigger the stone is, the more strength you have to use to move it," explained Kyo. "Ultimately, it would get to the point where it is too large and heavy for you to move with your own strength."

"All right," said Penny, still confused as to where this was going.

"Now then, factoring out the conveniences of modern technology, what are the possible ways that you could use to move that stone?" asked Kyo.

"Umm..." Penny blinked. "Maybe with simple machines, like a lever or pulley."

"Yes," agreed Kyo, beaming and nodding. "But it's strange, when you think about it, isn't it? After all, it isn't as though using a lever to move a stone means that it made you any stronger."

"It's not strange," protested Penny. "That's just basic physics. The lever magnifies the force used on one end at the other."

"Very true," agreed Kyo. "And that is the basis for all science and technology. You learn about the mechanisms within the laws of physics and chemistry in the world, and learn to work with those to accomplish things that a person would be utterly incapable of with nothing more than their own base strength and ability.

"But there are forces beyond mere physics at work in the world, mechanisms that operate upon the fabric of reality itself, which can be used to accomplish...greater things. That is the basis behind the more powerful techniques we Mibu employ, particularly when it comes to my _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_. One's technique becomes a metaphysical lever, of sorts, evoking the mechanisms within the fabric of the world to achieve phenomena that can't be quantified by mere physics."

Penny stared at him for a long moment. "I...think...I understand," she said hesitantly.

"Ah...well...that's the way I can best put it into words," said Kyo with a sheepish grin. "It's not as though I've given much thought to articulating _how_ my techniques work. I've always been more of a learn-by-doing type myself. My own teacher basically had to _beat_ the secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ into me."

"Were you hoping to try it yourself?" asked Ruby.

"Um...sort of," said Penny. "I mean...I can augment my fighting ability by using Dust. However, I would like to experiment with learning more about how to use Aura the way you do, Ruby."

"Well, no harm in trying, I suppose," said Kyo. "Ruby-chan could easily start walking you through the three basic exercises."

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Ruby, grinning at the thought of introducing Penny to the same exercises she'd taught to her friends.

* * *

Ruby and Kyo spent the afternoon walking Penny through the three basic exercises of Aura-control. They'd worried that Penny's nature as an android might make it more difficult for her to understand the basic elements, they found out that the opposite was true. Once Penny had the basic nature of Tempering explained to her, and Ruby showed her how to do it, she was able to immediately Temper her Aura. Ruby figured that it had something to do with the cognitive functions of an android brain, as opposed to a human or faunus one. From there, they were able to quickly walk her through Suppression and Projection.

They left off there, letting Penny practice Projection until she expended the considerable amount of Aura she possessed. It was amazing to discover that Penny's Aura reserves exceeded even Jaune's. More than that, she recovered her Aura much more easily and quickly. It appeared that, even though she had a soul like a human or faunus, Penny's was functionally different on a certain level, which appeared to work mostly to her advantage.

By the time they'd finished, evening had fallen, and the three of them met up with their friends for dinner. Strangely, Jaune was absent, having not returned from Vale yet. Ruby was a bit confused, thinking that Jaune had only gone for a quick jaunt to the comic store. She'd figured he would have been back well before dinner.

By the time dinner had ended, Ruby was starting to get worried. It wouldn't be long before the last airship of the day departed, after which, travel between Vale and Beacon would be cut off until the next morning. Sure, Jaune had the funds to rent a room for the night. But just his being gone for so long, without any known reason, was troubling.

Ruby tried calling and texting Jaune on his scroll. But there was no answer. Her calls went straight to voicemail, and she couldn't tell if he had seen her texts or not. Her worry only increased when her attempt to locate Jaune's scroll with her own scroll's tracking app came up with nothing, the device unable to detect the signal of Jaune's.

Despite her unease, Ruby and her teammates returned to their dorm room. By this point, Ruby had changed back into her freshly laundered fighting outfit, still feeling more comfortable in it than any of the casual outfits Weiss had gotten for her. Ruby settled onto her bed, trying to remain calm, but still anxiously glancing at her scroll regularly. Her unease was understood by Weiss and Pyrrha, but they both remained optimistic that Jaune was fine, and the inability of the app to locate him was nothing more than a glitch.

* * *

"_Hey Ruby, can you get somewhere private? There's something I need to talk to you about._"

Ruby frowned, wondering what Jaune was up to. In just a few minutes, the last airship from Beacon to Vale would be leaving, where it would then pick up the last load of passengers traveling to the Academy, before shutting down for the night. _I'd rather he talked to me in person, rather than risk getting stuck in Vale,_ she thought. But she did suppose that Jaune could be texting her from the air-docks.

Excusing herself from the room, Ruby moved a ways down the hall, where she wouldn't have to worry about being overheard, and texted Jaune that she was alone.

A few seconds later, her scroll rang.

"Jaune!" she exclaimed, answering it. "Where have you been all day? I've been really worried!"

"_I'm sorry, but Jaune can't come to the scroll right now._"

Ruby gasped at the sound of a voice that was most certainly not Jaune's. It was a woman's voice, low and smooth, but with the faintest hint of a sultry purr. The sound of that voice chilled her blood, mainly because she recognized it. _Cinder!_

* * *

**Cinder Calls-Er-I mean Cinder Fall calls...**

**I'd initially thought about pushing back the cliffhanger, and leaving off with Ruby wondering where Jaune is, but figured that nobody would really have any trouble guessing what was up.**

**Kyo's explanation to Penny for his techniques actually has its basis for an idea had for a system of magic for a fantasy story I might write...that is...if I had a story to go with the magic system I made up. Truth be told, I'm pretty stuck when it comes to coming up with my own ideas. I do way better fooling around in someone else's sandbox, which is why I haven't ever branched out into original fiction.**

**This chapter was written before Volume 7 came out, and we learned some more of the specifics about how Penny was made. I was able to factor in more of that in later chapters.**


	85. Chapter 85

**Chapter 85**

It took all of Ruby's willpower to keep that name from escaping her lips. As it was, the confusion and fear had momentarily paralyzed her, numerous realizations descending upon her all at once, stopping her voice in her throat.

Cinder had Jaune's scroll. Jaune had not yet come back to Beacon. That could only mean one thing, that Cinder had _Jaune_, in whatever context that meant. But what that meant was still a baffling mystery. However, the one thing that Ruby knew for sure was that this was bad. There was no way Cinder was doing this with good intentions.

Had Cinder realized that Ruby, and by extension the authorities at Beacon, were onto her? Was this some gambit to get them to back off? That didn't seem likely. It would have been more expedient for Cinder and her people to simply disappear, while on their "mission," vanishing without a hint of what they were doing and where they were going.

For the time being, Ruby decided to play dumb. If her worries were correct, then Cinder would call her bluff. If not, then maybe there was still something she could learn about the situation, beyond exactly what Cinder wanted from her.

"W-who is th-this?" asked Ruby, not needing to fake the frightened stammer that crept into her voice. "Where's Jaune?"

"_Jaune Arc is all right for now,_" cooed Cinder. "_How long that _remains_ the case is dependent on your behavior. As for who I am...let us just say we are...acquainted._"

Ruby swallowed, her mind able to piece together a few facts about the situation now. Cinder didn't seem to suspect that Ruby knew about who she really was, unless she was just playing along. She hadn't bothered trying to disguise her voice over the scroll, which was either a sign of great confidence, or a sign that she knew she didn't need to bother.

"Wha-what do you want?" stuttered Ruby, her heart thundering in her chest.

"_Oh...I think you know,_" said Cinder. "_But...for the sake of fun, I'll pretend. Let's just say that you have something that belongs to me, and I wish to claim it._"

"I…do...?" Ruby didn't have to fake confusion. She was genuinely confused. Of all the responses she'd expected, this one was not one of the ones she'd anticipated. _What do I have that she could want?_

"_Fine then...play dumb with me, if you wish,_" said Cinder. "_Just know that you are risking your dear partner's safety for toying with me._"

"Fine," said Ruby, feigning resignation. "Let's get more specific. What do you want me to do...specifically?"

"_To the point...good,_" said Cinder smugly. "_The final airship from Beacon will soon be departing, and you are going to be on it...alone. We are watching you, and we'll know if you try to bring anyone else in on this._"

Ruby swallowed, glancing around nervously. Thanks to the mission in Mountain Glenn, RASP, RYNB, and CPPR all knew about Cinder's connection with the White Fang, and that she had been the one calling the shots there. Ozpin had also revealed that Cinder had, through some means, taken some measure of control over the CCT. He and his people suspected a virus.

They had already confirmed that it had allowed Cinder and her people to tamper with the security footage around Beacon's campus, which presumably meant that they could also monitor the security feeds themselves. Of course, given that every scroll used by every student at Beacon interfaced with the CCT on a regular basis, Ruby wouldn't have been surprised if her own scroll was infected by the presumed virus, allowing Cinder to monitor her activities, which was disturbing, to say the least.

_No!_ she thought. The uneasy feeling that had been dogging her since the previous day finally crystalized. It wasn't her scroll that had been infected, it had been _Jaune's_. During his conversation with Saphron, Jaune had plugged in his scroll to receive the pictures of his nephew from her. That had to have been the time when the virus Cinder had implanted had found its way onto his scroll. _No wonder I couldn't find him with the locator app._ Lulled into a false sense of normalcy by the conversation with his sister, they'd briefly lowered their guards, forgetting Ozpin's warnings about the virus. Ruby was silently kicking herself for not realizing it sooner. It was a bitter oversight to make.

Meanwhile, Cinder was continuing with her instructions. "_Once you arrive in Vale, you will be able to use your scroll's locator app to find your lost little partner. I suspect you will know what to do from there._"

"Yeah," said Ruby, feeling sick to her stomach. Then she took a deep breath. "How do I know Jaune's still alive? All you have is his scroll right now."

"_Clever,_" said Cinder. "_It would seem you're not completely naive. Well then...some proof..._"

A tone signaled the arrival of a text, this one with an attached image. It showed a frightened Jaune, tied to a chair, a gag over his mouth. There wasn't enough in the frame for Ruby to make out where he was being held. He was definitely alive, looking relatively unharmed. At least it seemed that Cinder and her cohorts hadn't done anything to hurt him, beyond what they'd done to take him hostage in the first place.

"_And, in case you think that this is a saved photo from earlier..._" continued Cinder, already anticipating Ruby's next question.

"_Ruby...!_"

"Jaune!" exclaimed Ruby, recognizing her friend's voice over the line.

"_Ruby, don't-!_" Jaune's voice was cut off, muffled sounds replacing it, making Ruby suspect he'd just been gagged.

"_As you can see _and_ hear, your friend is alive...for now,_" said Cinder, taking the scroll again. "_How long he stays that way is up to you, of course._"

"Of course," grumbled Ruby.

"_Now then, best be off with you. You have a flight to catch. Don't be late. Remember, not a word to anyone. We _will_ know._"

Cinder ended the call there, the line going dead with a click. For a moment, Ruby stood there, a terrifying chill running down her spine. Of course, even if Jaune was still alive, Cinder might well be disposing of him, even now, after he'd served his purpose. It wasn't as though Ruby could keep calling to confirm. If Cinder hadn't killed Jaune yet, pestering her for proof was likely to prompt her to kill him, out of frustration, if nothing else.

Ruby looked down the hallway towards her dorm room. Weiss and Pyrrha were right there. Maybe she could meet with them and form a plan. But that didn't seem likely. Ruby didn't know where the cameras that monitored Beacon were located. They were remarkably discreet in their design and, unlike living observers, possessed no intent for Ruby to sense. There could be some in this hallway. They might or might not have a view of the door. Ruby couldn't take the risk that Cinder might see her meeting with her other teammates. Not to mention she would _know_ something was up if they all left together. Cinder had picked her timing well, choosing to make Ruby leave on the last airship from Beacon, ensuring that her teammates couldn't follow on a later one.

There wasn't much time to debate what to do, sadly. Ruby was glad she'd changed back into her combat outfit at least. She was also glad she hadn't hung up Akaibara yet, her sword still resting at the small of her back. At least she wouldn't be going in defenseless. Sadly, there was no more time to hesitate. Ruby made her way down the stairs and out of the dorms. She had an airship to catch.

* * *

True to Cinder's promise, when Ruby stepped off the airship in Vale, she was able to bring up the location of Jaune's scroll on her app. With assistance from the CCT, Ruby was even able to overlay it with a map of Vale, so she wasn't left wandering down streets in the general direction of the yellow blip that represented her partner's scroll. Her sandals scuffed softly against the concrete sidewalks as she made her way towards the location, keeping her wits about her.

Not far away from he destination, Ruby was able to sense Neo's presence. The diminutive girl was watching her warily, but without any sign of overt hostility, which Ruby didn't know what to make of. She suspected that Neo was, in some way, trying to get herself and Torchwick out from under Cinder's thumb. If that was the case, then Neo was very unlucky. Her warnings were still on Jaune's scroll, a ways down on the list of message threads, but easy enough for Cinder to find, if she looked.

Still, that was a secondary concern at best. Right now, Ruby's main focus was on saving Jaune...and trying to figure out just what Cinder was after. Cinder had said that Ruby had something that "belonged to her." What that was, Ruby couldn't figure out for the life of her.

The signal from Jaune's scroll led Ruby to what looked like an empty and abandoned lot, deep in the Kingdom's industrial district. The burnt out remains of what appeared to have once been a factory of some kind rose up around her, though the ceiling had long since fallen in. As places to go, it was probably perfect for Cinder's plans. It was empty and isolated, well away from prying eyes, especially at this time of night. If things got...noisy...it was unlikely that anybody would notice and raise an alarm. Even if they did, it would be a while before the police arrived to investigate.

Stepping through the empty arch of a crumbling doorway, Ruby found herself navigating the factory's rubble-strewn floor. A massive, twisted piece of ruined machinery of some kind dominated the space near the wall on her left, while crumbled chunks of masonry dotted the floor all around her, presumably coming from the ruined ceiling. Up above, chunks of steel jutted from what remained of the walls. There were even the decaying remains of a gantry, which terminated in a jagged mess of torn metal.

It was the kind of setting that was favored by horror movies, not that Ruby had seen any since coming back to Vale. But she could imagine some deranged stalker, hunting a gang of helpless teenagers through this mess of rubble. If anything, that was her position right now. Cinder's cohorts might well be stalking her, even now. Ruby kept her senses Extended, on watch for the first sign of an attack.

Stepping around a large pile of rubble, Ruby's body shuddered in relief when she saw Jaune. Immediately, she was able to sense the presence of his Aura, a sure indicator that he was alive. He was still tied to a metal folding chair, the one she'd seen in the picture. At present, he was slumped forward against his restraints, possibly unconscious. Said chair rested out in a rather open space, far away from any potential cover.

Ruby's first impulse was to rush to his side and check his condition. However, it was all too clear that she was being baited. Even with Jaune right in front of her, she couldn't allow herself to be distracted. Cinder and her team were here somewhere. Carefully, Ruby stepped a little closer to Jaune, her hand going to the handle of her sword. With a whisper of steel, Akaibara slid free. Her guard up, Ruby advanced a little closer, looking for any signs of danger.

She risked another glance at her scroll. The signal from Jaune's scroll wasn't coming from where he was, directly in front of her. It was coming from a little bit behind him and to the right...behind another pile of rubble that obscured her line of sight. Carefully, she Extended her senses in that direction. Immediately, her awareness encountered the twisted monstrosity that was Cinder's soul. She was standing just behind that pile of rubble, presumably ready to stride out when the time was right. From her poise, it was clear she had a preference for drama over practicality.

Despite that, Ruby feigned ignorance, sweeping her Extension around her immediate area, checking for signs of Cinder's cohorts. Mercury was crouched atop the remains of one of the beams above, a position that would allow him to drop down almost right on top of her, when the time was right. Emerald was farther back than Cinder, hidden behind a cracked pillar with nothing for it to support any longer. That made Ruby frown pensively. Was Emerald farther back so she could provide ranged support with her revolvers? Or was she the illusionist Neo had warned them about, and was keeping out of the way so that she could use her ability more freely?

_Only one way to find out, I guess,_ thought Ruby, already thinking ahead. Her first priority was Jaune. She had to make sure he was safe...at least safe for long enough. She had almost reached him. Ruby had thought that Cinder was going to cut her off, in order to continue using Jaune as leverage. But Cinder continued to wait out of sight.

_Here we go then,_ thought Ruby, closing the distance between herself and Jaune. He was still bowed over, apparently out cold. Still holding her scroll, Ruby held out her right hand, gently touching the first two fingers to the back of Jaune's head, sending a pulse of Aura through them. Jaune flinched slightly, and Ruby could sense the bruise at the back of his head, presumably where he'd been hit to knock him out.

She could sense him stir, his consciousness returning. Crouching down beside him, Ruby pretended to inspect him for injuries. Using the hand she was still holding at the back of his head, Ruby kept Jaune's head bowed, keeping him from lifting it up to betray the fact that he was awake. "Keep still," she whispered softly. "Pretend you're still out."

The fact that Jaune didn't move indicated that he heard her and was obeying her instructions. Carefully, Ruby sliced the ropes binding his arms and legs to the chair, before moving to remove the gag. She held up her hand fingers to his neck, as though checking for his pulse. "Jaune," she said in a louder voice. "Come on! Wake up! I'm gonna get you outta here!"

Jaune shuddered, and let out a low groan, forcing Ruby to hold back a smile as he played along, pretending to slowly come-to. As he did, Ruby could sense his Aura, going to work to heal the rest of the damage to him. Once again, she found herself marveling at an ability to do what no ordinary healer could. It made for one impressive trump card in this situation.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid that you won't be doing that," cooed Cinder. Like an actor waiting for her cue, she strode confidently into the open, fully extending each leg ahead of her with each step, swaying her hips confidently.

Ruby looked up, rising to her feet, taking Cinder in. As she did, she silently slipped Jaune her scroll, the message she'd discreetly typed on the screen for him to see. Reading it quickly, Jaune carefully hid the scroll from sight, covering it with his hands, while still feigning being just barely on the edge of consciousness. She stood warily between Jaune and Cinder, raising her sword in a warding gesture.

Cinder was dressed in, what Ruby assumed to be, her real combat outfit. It consisted of a dark-red, off-the-shoulders minidress, with a v-neck that showed off a generous portion of her cleavage. Its collar and the hem of the skirt were decorated with designs in gold embroidery, with the short skirt showing Cinder's legs to her advantage, something she clearly knew, from the way she walked. Furthermore, it was slit along its right side, the slit running up towards her hip, where it was topped by a blue, feathery accessory. Her eyes gleamed with the vicious malevolence that Ruby had sensed being barely held in check during their first meeting, and carefully restrained during their fight in the tower. This was Cinder truly presenting herself _as_ herself, not pretending to be a student or remaining quiet for the sake of her infiltration.

She moved and carried herself with the appearance of someone who knew she held all the cards. She knew she had the advantage, and so did Ruby. Thanks to her own tricks, Ruby wasn't at as much of a disadvantage as Cinder might have thought, but only by a little bit. Aside from walking right into their trap, Ruby was still tired from her fight with Kyo. She'd recovered somewhat in the hours since, but her cloak still looked a little ragged at the edges, betraying the fact that her Aura wasn't fully topped off.

"Welcome, Ruby Rose," said Cinder. "I'm so glad to see that you're being cooperative. We wouldn't want dear Jaune to suffer an unpleasant fate, would we?"

Ruby growled in frustration. "What do you want?"

"Why...I figured that would be obvious," said Cinder, her tone taunting. "Do you truly think you can still hide it...what you _really_ are?"

_What does she mean by that?_ wondered Ruby, baffled by the insinuation. Cinder was suggesting that Ruby was...something. But wasn't _Cinder_ the one who...? _Oh..._ Ruby suddenly got an idea of what Cinder might be implying.

"I understand why you would go to such lengths to hide it," explained Cinder, stalking forward until she was just a couple meters away from Ruby, before coming to a stop. "I'm sure that Ozpin has told you that you were destined to do great things, that you had the power to change the world. The latter part might have even been true. But...I'm sorry to say that destiny was never on your side."

_Wow...she's really getting a kick out of all this cryptic conversation stuff,_ thought Ruby, her expression deadpan.

"That's the unfortunate reality of this situation," continued Cinder. "You were promised a power that was never yours. You just aren't worthy of it. But I am. So I will _take_ what's mine."

_So that _is_ it,_ thought Ruby. _Cinder thinks I'm a Maiden. How on earth did she come to _that_ conclusion?_

Then again, it didn't take too much reflection to hit upon Cinder's reasoning. Given that she possessed a Maiden's power, and knew the difference between what that power and what using Dust looked like, she must have realized that Ruby wasn't using Dust in her fights. But Cinder apparently lacked the proper context to understand that Ruby's abilities were the result of her mastery of Aura, and so assumed it to be a product of magic instead. Because of that, she had come to the erroneous conclusion that Ruby was one of the four Maidens.

It also explained the reasoning behind Cinder's behavior in Beacon Tower, on the night of the dance. Cinder had openly attacked Ruby because she had wanted to test her, to find evidence that Ruby was a Maiden. And, from the look of things, what Cinder had seen had made her certain.

_Boy...isn't that ironic?_ thought Ruby. She might not have been a Maiden, but she _knew_ one.

Now then...the real question was how to approach this. Her initial priority had been making sure that Jaune was safe. Now that she'd gotten him conscious, and he'd healed himself, that problem was taken care of, which meant that her new priority was making sure that she took Cinder _down_.

Maybe Ozpin and Ironwood had been too cautious, and they should have gone after Cinder sooner. Maybe not. It was hard to tell. Had Cinder not gotten it into her head that Ruby was one of the Maidens, then she would probably still be carrying on under the guise of a student, happily assuming that no one had any idea what she was up to.

But now, Cinder had played her hand. If Ruby didn't take her down, and Cinder got away, she would know the jig was up, because she had given _herself_ away. And while she might have been thwarted for now, she and her allies would be able to disappear, and fall back to come up with a new plan. Sure, they wouldn't have the advantage of anonymity that they'd enjoyed before. But that probably wouldn't slow them down all _that_ much. So Ruby had to make sure that she brought Cinder down, here and now.

So now the question was how to approach this confrontation. She could continue to feign ignorance (not that she had to pretend that she wasn't a Maiden). But Cinder was making it clear that that wouldn't fly. So then, Ruby figured the next best thing was to play along, see what else she could wrangle out of Cinder in this conversation, before things got...dicey.

It was clear that, just like Adam, Cinder had a love of drama. _Seriously, what is it with the bad guys and strutting around like they're in a stage performance?_ Cinder didn't merely want to win against Ruby, she wanted to flaunt her victory. She wanted to drive Ruby into a corner, then lord it over her, until she was ready to deal the final blow. It was the same kind of urge that had prompted Adam to conceive of a needlessly complicated plot to draw Ruby into a bald-faced plan to kill her. And, just as with Adam, Ruby had seen the setup coming from a mile away.

Not that that made things easier in this case. Cinder was no Adam Taurus. She had power that Adam couldn't even dream of, even if her power was incomplete. Ruby felt that their fight in Beacon Tower was more of a scuffle to someone of Cinder's caliber. What was more, Cinder wasn't alone this time. She had backup in the form of Emerald and Mercury, and possibly Neo. She would be fighting uninhibited, not merely testing the waters this time. The thought of facing that twisted, mutilated soul, of having that hungry malice focused entirely on her, made Ruby feel slightly faint.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, breathing out her tension through her lips, letting a wave of soothing calm spread through her. _It's not hopeless by a long shot,_ she thought. _I can do this. Cinder's nothing, compared to Kyo-nii._

As terrifying as the state of Cinder's soul was, it belied the fact that the incomplete nature of her power resulted in idiosyncrasies that inhibited her in battle. In some ways, Ruby suspected Cinder might have been _more_ formidable _before_ she'd gotten her hands on the Fall Maiden's magic. Relying only on skill, technique, and Dust would have likely made her more creative. Her techniques would have been more refined, and she wouldn't have had to work around bothersome limits imposed on her by the fact that she was missing much of the Maiden's full power.

Opening her eyes, Ruby smirked. "Fine...you got me," she said, pulling back her lips to flash Cinder the smallest of grins. "But _boy_ are you entitled."

"Excuse me...?" growled Cinder the look of smug superiority slipping from her face.

Ruby giggled, not even really needing to fake it. "I wonder just who died and made _you_ queen of the world, that you apparently get to decide who's worthy of this. It sounds to me like Little Miss Fall is just a spoiled little girl, who's gonna throw a tantrum anytime she doesn't get exactly what she wants." Ruby pursed her lips playfully. "Awww...Does Widdle Miss Fawl want mowre powa? You want some magic? How about telling me what the magic word is, huh?"

The reactions Ruby got were telling. Predictably, Cinder clearly did not like being talked down to, especially not with baby-talk. Ruby could feel smoldering rage become blazing rage through the angry ripples of Cinder's Aura, not that the snarling grimace on her face didn't betray her feelings all on its own. Her two subordinates were reacting too. From her place of concealment, Emerald was seething with indignation, while Mercury was actually having to stifle his own mirth. Jaune, of course, was confused. He had no idea what they were talking about, of course. Ruby could only hope that that confusion wouldn't keep him from remembering what he needed to do.

"You think this is funny, you little brat?" growled Cinder. "And here I figured you'd play along, if only so your little boyfriend doesn't have to die."

"I'm not that stupid," replied Ruby, keeping her voice smug. "You never had any intention of letting Jaune go, no matter what I did. After all, he knows who you are, and what you've done. You obviously don't want witnesses, or you wouldn't have gone through the trouble of calling me all the way out here, on my own."

"So you have some awareness of your situation," said Cinder. "But you don't seem to understand just how grave it really is."

"Oh, I understand plenty," said Ruby. "_You're_ the one lacking in understanding. You're so hungry for power, so desperate, so clawing, that you've almost completely shut down your ability to think about anything beyond your own wants. And now...that's _really_ bitten you in the butt. You just haven't realized that yet."

The angry glow in Cinder's eyes wasn't just metaphorical anymore. In fact, orange flames were now streaming from the outside corner of her right eye, while her irises gleamed with malevolent light. The more angry Cinder got, the more agitated her power became, and the more Ruby could sense the instability of Cinder's condition and, oddly, the _less_ frightening Cinder became.

One thing was clear, while Cinder definitely craved power, it wasn't entirely for its own sake. What Cinder _truly_ craved was respect and/or fear. If she couldn't get the former, she'd settle for the latter, so long as she received some form of the deference she clearly thought was her due. In fact, she might have _preferred_ fear. It also explained her tendency towards the dramatic. Adam's had been born from pure spiteful vindictiveness. Cinder's dramatic tendencies came from a desperate desire to stand over others.

The real reason she'd gone through all this was so that she could assert her superiority. She'd manipulated Ruby to bring her out here on her own, to show that she could control Ruby. She'd put on this little play to rub in just how much better she thought she was. It was all in service to her ego.

So...by kicking that ego, and knocking Cinder down a few pegs, Ruby was chiseling away at Cinder's effectiveness. All things considered, successfully stealing Amber's power might well have been the worst thing Cinder could have done to herself. It had stoked her sense of entitlement and stifled her ability to fully think critically, and now her every action was colored by her focus on her own gratification. _Give a mouse a cookie..._ as the old story went.

Or perhaps it was that hunger Ruby sensed. If it felt so severe from Ruby's perspective, she could scarcely imagine what it was like for Cinder. Ruby had to imagine it was like the sensation of starving, of a stomach so empty that it was agonizing. Yet no amount of eating could fill that void, and it would only continue to torment Cinder, until she finally claimed the missing portion of the Fall Maiden's pwer. Perhaps that hunger had driven her to seek the magic she thought Ruby possessed, thinking that _that_ might assuage that void within her. In either case, such a sensation might well have filled Cinder with such an intense sense of want, that it had stifled her more rational aspects. Regardless, such a condition didn't leave Cinder well-disposed to being taunted.

"Little fool," growled Cinder. "I'm going to _enjoy_ taking your power." Her cruel smile returned. "I'm a little...lacking...in the component I had last time. So I'll just have to take it the old-fashioned way...by making you _suffer_, until my face is the last, and only, thing on your mind, when you finally die."

"Oooooooh...Breaking out the big guns, huh?" asked Ruby, still grinning. "You're _really_ gonna be disappointed then." That was true, in more ways than one. Even if Cinder succeeded, she wouldn't be getting what she wanted, because the magic was never in Ruby to begin with. Of course, in that particular situation, Ruby would lose too, so Ruby would rather that Cinder be the _only_ one disappointed.

Cinder shifted. It was a collection of small changes; the way her feet slid further apart, her spine and knees bending slightly, her hands drifting away from her sides; that betrayed her shifting into combat mode. Behind Cinder, from her cover, Ruby could sense Emerald's Aura growing stronger, gathering about her head, before reaching out towards Ruby.

It was that approaching Aura, almost like the classic Projection Ruby had practiced since the beginning, that made her wary. When it came in contact with Ruby's own Aura, nothing happened. Instead, it slipped past without the slightest bit of resistance. Emerald had a healer's touch. But mending hurts was clearly the furthest thing from Emerald's mind. Emerald's Aura still carried her animosity, which made it all the more unusual that it was able to slip past Ruby's guard so easily.

From above, Ruby sensed Mercury go into action, dropping from his perch, and plummeting down at her. The strange thing was that, while she could sense his movement through her Extension, Ruby didn't hear a thing, not a single sound from the human-sized object dropping through the air at a quickly increasing velocity. As Mercury closed in, one foot extended, Ruby began to feel the surge of air that preceded his arrival, and dove forward.

Mercury's boot slammed into the concrete floor, soundlessly. Ruby's dive took her into a roll that allowed her to briefly look back at where she'd been standing. She could see the concrete breaking, but saw no sign of Mercury. Then there was a faint flicker, his body appearing, almost like static on a screen, before flickering out of sight again. But her Extension could still pick up on him.

Coming back up to her feet, Ruby split Akaibara, holding out Ibara to ward off Mercury, while Bara flicked out to cut an incoming fireball from Cinder in two. Cinder's Aura and expression both betrayed her surprise and confusion. Ruby could sense similar confusion from Emerald. And, when Ruby's stance indicated that she knew where Mercury was, Emerald's uncertainty grew further...and Ruby caught a glimpse of Mercury's outline flickering into view again, before being wiped away, as Emerald tried to double down and concentrate.

_So that's how it works,_ thought Ruby. Emerald _had_ been the illusionist that Neo had warned them about. But Emerald's illusions worked differently from Neo's. Where Neo manipulated light to create false images, or make herself invisible, Emerald's ability appeared to interfere directly with a person's senses. She had manipulated Ruby's vision and hearing to try and hide Mercury from her.

_This is dangerous,_ thought Ruby. While she could still track Mercury through her Extension, Ruby wasn't certain how long that would last. Even with what she'd just learned, the full scope of Emerald's ability was unknown. Was she limited to sight and sound, or could she affect other senses as well? Would she be able to interfere with the things Ruby sensed through her Aura?

The best approach would be to make sure that she didn't have to find out. Taking out Emerald was the first priority, in this situation, ensuring that she could fight unimpeded. But Ruby couldn't act directly. If her enemies clued in to her intentions, then they would act to stop her, and the job would only grow that much more difficult. Better to continue to act like she had no idea what was going on, and hopefully find a way to shift the battle in Emerald's direction, then take her down before Cinder or Mercury could try and prevent it.

Of course, there was one more thing to get done, before Ruby got to that. _Here goes..._

The tiny scrape of Ruby's sandals against the concrete floor was the only warning her opponents got. The next instant, a flicker of red crossed the space from where she had been standing, rushing straight for Cinder. Ruby attacked with a descending slash from Bara. Fiery flashes lit up Cinder's hands, and her two curved, black, glassy swords rose to meet it, crossing together to catch the descending blade.

Ruby quickly retaliated, swinging Ibara in low, slashing across her body, aiming for Cinder's stomach. Quickly disengaging, Cinder danced back, swinging her right-handed sword down to intercept the slash, while still warding off the attack from above with her left. For the next few seconds, the air filled with the sounds of rapid clangs as Ruby and Cinder exchanged blows at a furious pace.

Behind her, Ruby sensed Mercury preparing to go on the attack. As soon as he took the first step, Jaune burst out of his seat, shedding the bindings holding him in place, and booking it in the opposite direction, heading for the nearest exit he could find.

"Crap!" shouted Mercury, checking his rush, and immediately shifting his weight to kick out behind him. A bursting sound accompanied a flash of silver, a bolt of what seemed like compressed air shooting out from the sole of his boot, flying right at Jaune, and catching him in the small of the back. Jaune pitched forward, slamming front and face-first into the ground. However, he quickly got his hands back under him, and got back to his feet, shrugging off the hit with an ease that surprised Mercury.

Cinder's eyes widened, and so did Emerald's. They had both assumed that Jaune had yet to fully regain consciousness. On top of that, he'd taken a hit in the back from Mercury's shot and kept going. They were mostly unaware of Jaune's impressive Aura-reserves. It had helped that, anticipating an attack from behind to keep him from escaping, Jaune had used Flow to shift most of his Aura behind him, covering his back, and keeping Mercury's bolt from inflicting any real damage.

Of course, with his limited skill at Flow, Jaune had neglected to maintain enough coverage of his front. It hadn't helped that, not knowing where the attack would fall, he'd spread his concentrated Aura across the entire back of his body, from his head to his feet. As a result, he wound up bloodying his nose and scraping his face against the floor. But that wasn't enough to keep him down. Even as he got up, he put his Aura to work, healing the damage rapidly, the wounds closing in an instant, and he continued to run.

"That son of a-!" Mercury began to shout, turning to launch another attack.

But he was cut off as Ruby abruptly disengaged from Cinder, bouncing away in a flash of red, flickering across the floor at Mercury, closing the distance between them in a blink. Jaune's sudden escape hadn't just caught Mercury and Cinder off-guard. It had also surprised Emerald. The resulting distraction caused her control over her Semblance to waver, allowing Mercury to appear before Ruby's eyes and ears. Now she closed in on him with incredible speed.

Having gone into a spin to launch another kick that would allow him to shoot another bolt after Jaune, Mercury was now in a bad position to counter as Ruby suddenly appeared in his space, her swords streaks of red, slashing at him from both directions. So, instead of continuing to try and fire after Jaune, Mercury put an extra twist into his hips. At the same time, the foot he'd previously kicked out with, which was now descending toward the floor, discharged a blast of silver wind, which launched Mercury's body up and off the floor, while another burst of wind expelled from the sole of his other foot, sending him into a rapid spin, carrying him up and over Ruby's swords.

Ruby moved to follow up her attack, intending to catch Mercury before he could evade again. However, her senses blared a warning that an attack was coming from behind her. Reflexively, she channeled her Aura through her cloak, flaring it out, while turning her body, using the hardened garment to catch the arrow that Cinder had fired at her back, deflecting it away. The stall gave Mercury enough time that his spinning jump carried him out of the immediate reach of Ruby's swords.

Landing, Mercury shifted, casting his gaze back at Jaune, who was now nearly out of the empty building. Shifting his weight, Mercury prepared to pursue.

"Stop!" shouted Cinder, catching Mercury's attention. "He can't do a thing right now. We'll hunt that idiot down later, if Neo doesn't do it for us. Ruby comes first!"

Ruby dipped her head forward slightly, using her hood to obscure her triumphant smirk. _That's what I'd thought you'd say,_ she thought. In the end, what Cinder wanted took precedent over maintaining control of the situation. The thing she she'd been hunting for was right before her eyes, or so she thought, so her priorities had shifted to procuring Ruby's "magic" first.

It helped that Cinder probably assumed that, having a hold of Jaune's scroll herself, Jaune wouldn't be able to call for help. He'd be left stumbling through Vale, with Cinder sending Emerald and Mercury after him, as soon as they took down Ruby. Of course, they'd failed to notice that Ruby had slipped Jaune _her_ scroll, while she'd been reviving him.

Of course, there was one major wild card in this situation, one that Ruby knew to be hanging around. The real question was what Neo would do. If she attacked Jaune right now, he'd be pretty much helpless before her. Unless Jaune could use Ruby's scroll to call his locker, he would be in a serious pinch.

Of course...that was assuming Neo tried to stop him. Ruby had gotten a better picture of Neo's intentions right now, and could only pray that her guess had been right.

At the moment, the only thing Ruby could do was fight for herself now. She had to believe in Jaune, that he could come through for her. In the meantime, she needed to focus on the fight at hand, which would only grow trickier, as she felt Emerald's will and Aura focus on her once more. Now Mercury and Cinder both began to flicker, not fading from sight, but flashing from place to place, appearing to teleport. Through her extension, Ruby could sense their real movements. She could only hope that Emerald didn't catch on, and interfere with that too, assuming she could.

Two opponents closed in on her from either side, while a third waited in hiding, hijacking and disrupting her senses. Taking a deep breath, Ruby prepared for the fight of her life.

* * *

Jaune burst out of the abandoned factory, rushing across the empty lot, which had once served as parking for the workers. Reaching the edge of the lot, Jaune stopped, turning around as he saw flashes of orange, red, and silver within the warehouse, accompanied by angry explosions and thunderous cracks.

It looked as though he wasn't being pursued right now, which meant that here and now were as good a place as any. First things first, he had to call in his locker. Then he had to call Weiss or Pyrrha, and let them know what was going on, then Ozpin, if Jaune could reach him.

Reaching for his pocket, Jaune was about to pull out the scroll Ruby had handed him, only to stop when the space in front of him shattered like glass, revealing a familiar diminutive girl, clad in white and brown, with two-toned hair.

"Crap!" exclaimed Jaune, forgetting about the scroll for a second, instead holding up his arm to ward off the kick Neo launched at him. He grimaced as the heel of her boot punched against the muscle of his arm. Fortunately, Jaune's practice with Flow had allowed him to concentrate his Aura in time. Ruby would have probably considered it laughably slow, but it was enough for now...

Or so he thought, until Neo used the recoil from the impact of her boot against his arm to kick up, so that she could bring her other leg around, and slam her opposite foot into his stomach, driving the air from Jaune's lungs and knocking him onto his back. The force sent him skidding back across the ground for a short distance, while Neo touched back down, her closed parasol held casually in both her hands.

_Well...so much for that plan,_ thought Jaune, struggling to get to his feet, and regain his wind. Neo stood there...eyeing him. Given the nature of the situation, Jaune had expected to see a superior smirk on her face, the look of a girl who was enjoying toying with a weaker opponent. Neither of them was under any illusions that Jaune would be an actual threat, especially unarmed. The only thing Jaune had going for him was his Aura-reserves, and those, while substantial, weren't infinite. Neo would wear him down eventually, practically at her leisure, given that he had virtually no hope of landing any blows of his own. However, the look on Neo's face was serious...and pensive.

Standing up, Jaune managed to suck in a breath of air, hunkering down and preparing himself to take a beating. However, much to his surprise, Neo made no move to follow up on her last attack, continuing to watch him curiously. Slowly, Jaune lowered his arms, prepared to bring them up as quickly as he could, in case this was a trick to make him lower his guard.

Then, to his surprise, Neo pulled out her own scroll, tapping on the screen for a few seconds, before holding it up for him to see.

"_Can she win?_" Neo asked.

"Who...Ruby?" wondered Jaune.

Neo nodded.

"I...I'm not sure," said Jaune, his answer clearly one that Neo didn't like, from the frown that appeared on her lips. "Listen, I don't even know what that Cinder-woman is capable of, but Ruby's strong. I believe in her. But she had a rough fight earlier today, so she's not at her best."

Naturally, that assurance didn't really make Neo any happier.

"You don't like working for her...do you?" asked Jaune.

Neo's lips pulled back to bare her teeth, a tiny flash of white, and then it was gone. Still looking serious and upset, she shook her head.

Jaune gave her a rueful smile. "Then you'd better at least let me call in the cavalry," he said. "I don't know for sure if Ruby can win now. But she'll have a much better chance if I can get her help."

Neo shook her head vigorously, before tapping out another answer on her scroll. "_That's not good enough! I need to be sure._"

Jaune's smile widened slightly. "I don't think you have time to be sure," he pointed out. "Cinder has my scroll, you know."

Neo's eyes went wide, then blinked. When she opened them again, the pink and brown of her irises had been replaced by off-white, almost indistinguishable from her sclera.

"I never did get around to deleting your messages," said Jaune. "Cinder might not even bother, if she gets what she wants out of this fight. There's every chance she could just toss it. But she might still have a use for it. She might keep it. She might look through it. Are you willing to take a chance on that...or do you need to be _sure_?"

Neo reeled, almost as though Jaune had actually hit her, as impossible as such a feat would be for him. She blinked again, pink and brown returning to her eyes, which she then narrowed in a glare at him.

"Well...it's your call," said Jaune. There was no taunting in his tone, only resignation, the acknowledgment that Neo was in control here.

Neo sighed, a look of resignation washing across her own face. She gave Jaune a fractional nod and stepped away, turning around and looking at the factory.

Jaune pulled out Ruby's scroll, bringing up the call-app, and punching in the code for his locker, which would bring it to his location. Looking up, he could see that Neo was still there, watching the factory anxiously, the sounds of battle continuing to ring out from within it. Jaune took a couple of steps over to stand behind her, cautiously reaching out and resting a hand on her shoulder.

Neo turned to look at him dourly.

"Let us help you," said Jaune, giving her a smile. "Then you won't have to live in fear of her ever again."

Neo let out a soundless sigh, before holding up her scroll again. "_Just call your friends already, idiot._" Then she vanished with a flash.

"Right," muttered Jaune, stepping away from Neo had been and dialing Pyrrha's scroll. From above, he heard the hiss of his descending locker.


	86. Chapter 86

**Chapter 86:**

"Now Ruby's gone too," grumbled Weiss, pacing back and forth in their room.

"Weiss, calm down," said Pyrrha. "I'm sure it's nothing."

"Don't be ridiculous," growled Weiss, turning to Pyrrha. "For all we know the two of them could have conspired to get a hotel room in Vale, and they might be there right now...canoodling."

Pyrrha couldn't stop the quiet huff of laughter that escaped her. "I doubt that they're doing _that_," she said. "Ruby and Jaune know better, Weiss."

"I know..." admitted Weiss, slumping. "But the last airship from Vale was over an hour ago. If Jaune didn't come back on that, then he's stuck in the Kingdom. If Ruby went on the last one out to look for him, then she'll be stuck too."

"They'll manage," said Pyrrha. "They can take care of themselves, especially Ruby."

A tone rang out from Weiss' scroll. Pulling it out, Weiss saw she was getting a call from Glynda Goodwitch. _Oh no...!_ If the school's chief disciplinarian was calling her, then that could only mean one thing...trouble.

"H-Hello, Professor," greeted Weiss, holding the scroll up to her ear. "How can I help you?"

"_Ms. Schnee, perhaps you can explain why Mr. Arc's locker abruptly launched, and is currently on a trajectory for Vale,_" suggested Glynda.

"WHAT!?" exclaimed Weiss, prompting Pyrrha to practically fall off her bed in surprise.

"_Please don't make me repeat myself,_" said Glynda coolly. "_I have tried calling Mr. Arc's scroll, but he is not answering._"

"I have no idea what's going on," said Weiss. "Jaune's been missing for most of the day. Ruby's gone too. For some reason, our tracking app isn't working, and we can't locate either of them."

She heard a silent intake of breath from the other end of the line.

"Have you tried calling Ruby?" asked Weiss.

"_Her scroll appears to be busy,_" commented Glynda.

Pyrrha heard a ringing sound from her own pocket. "Maybe it's because Ruby's calling me," she suggested, holding it up to show Weiss that Ruby's contact was on the screen.

Weiss nodded at her, and Pyrrha answered the call.

"Hello...Ruby?" asked Pyrrha. "What's going on? You disappeared-"

"_Pyrrha!_" It wasn't Ruby's voice that came over the scroll, but Jaune's.

"Jaune!" exclaimed Pyrrha, shooting to her feet. "What's going on? Where have you been? Ruby's been worried sick about you?"

"_Well, I _was_ being held hostage,_" Jaune answered dryly. "_Cinder and her people knocked me out, then tied me up. They called Ruby down. I don't get what she wanted, something about 'power' or 'magic'. It doesn't make any sense. But Ruby's fighting Cinder and her goons right now!_"

"Where are you?" asked Pyrrha, staring at Weiss, who was starring back, her jaw hanging slack.

"_Some abandoned factory, over in the industrial district,_" said Jaune. "_I think Cinder used that virus they told us about to block the locator app on our scrolls, and I'm not sure of the exact address._"

"Um..." Pyrrha looked over to Weiss, who looked just as unsure of what to do.

"_Ms. Schnee,_" said Glynda, "_Please connect your scroll with Ms. Nikos' in conference-call-mode._"

"Oh! Right!" Weiss fiddled with the settings on her scroll, essentially calling Pyrrha's, while leaving Glynda on the line. Pyrrha accepted the call, turning the whole thing into a conference call between the pair of them, Jaune, and Glynda.

"_Mr. Arc, please give me an update on your situation,_" said Glynda.

Jaune quickly repeated what he'd told Pyrrha already, with Glynda and Weiss listening in as well.

"_This is terrible,_" Glynda muttered, just barely loud enough for the other three to hear her.

"What do we do, Professor?" asked Weiss. "If Cinder is blocking the locator signal from Jaune and Ruby's scrolls, how do we find them?"

"_That is actually rather easy,_" said Glynda. "_Thanks to Mr. Arc calling his locker, I now have their location from its trajectory. While the locator signal through the app has been blocked, it appears to not have hampered the signal received by our lockers. As for the plan of action, are the two of you prepared to support your teammates?_"

"Of course," said Pyrrha, Weiss nodding her agreement, despite the fact Glynda couldn't see her at the moment.

"_Good,_" said Glynda. "_Then arm up. Also, see if Team Rainbow is prepared to assist you._"

"Right," said Weiss.

"_After you've armed yourselves, report to the docks. I will have a bullhead waiting._"

"Yes, Professor," said Pyrrha. "Will you be coming with us?"

"_I plan to. But first, I will collect Ms. Rose's brother, as I suspect he will be an important asset in bringing this to a successful conclusion._"

_Yeah, having Kyo along _would_ be a good thing,_ thought Pyrrha, remembering Kyo's fight with Ruby. If anyone could bring Cinder down, it would be him.

* * *

Glynda came to a stop in front of the door to Kyo's suite. It was only a short trip from her own quarters, allowing her to reach his door in less than a minute. When she arrived, she rapped sharply on the door. "Mr. Mibu! I require your assistance."

There was no response, prompting Glynda to frown. So she knocked again. "Mr. Mibu, your sister is in grave danger! Please!"

A click sounded, but not from the door in front of her, but from the next door down. "Professor...?" asked Ashley sleepily, wearing her pajamas as she leaned out the door of her family's room. "What's going on?"

"Ms. Forrest, you shouldn't be opening your door, unless one of us calls you first," Glynda reminded her.

Ashley blinked, then paled as she realized what she'd done. Her reaction probably wouldn't have been as visceral, had Emerald and Mercury not tried to pull exactly that trick on her a few days ago. Instead she nodded fearfully, but her mind remained focused. "Professor...you said Ruby was in danger. What's going on?"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that," said Glynda. "This is a sensitive matter, though it may not be unconnected to your situation. I was hoping that her brother would be willing to assist, but..." She glared at the door.

"M-maybe he's not in," suggested Ashley.

"But where else would he be?" wondered Glynda, more to herself than Ashley. "The only reasons he'd be out of the room would be to spend time with Ms. Rose and her friends..." Glynda's eyes widened as the realization hit her.

"Professor...?" asked Ashley warily.

"It would appear this is a waste of time," said Glynda, giving Kyo's door one last look, before looking to Ashley. "Please remain in your room, Ms. Forrest. Your safety is our priority."

"But what about Kyo?" asked Ashley.

"If I am correct, then he is probably over where Ms. Rose is," said Glynda, straightening up. "So it is best that the rest of her team and friends join them."

* * *

Ruby bent her spine back, allowing her to slip beneath the line of Mercury's roundhouse kick. Jumping off the ground turned her body completely horizontal, as she went into an almost lazy-looking spin, allowing her to whirl around and slash out with Ibara to counter an attack from Cinder, who'd closed in from the opposite direction, leading with a slash from her own blade. Ruby followed through, thrusting out with Bara, prompting Cinder to bring her other sword up in a parry of her own. At the same time, Ruby touched down to turn and slash at Mercury with Ibara.

Her right-handed sword bounced off the upraised shin that Mercury blocked with. Her blade struck his trousers, above his boot. However, instead of striking flesh, blood, and Aura, Ruby felt the recoil of her sword striking something metallic. Channeling her Aura into the strike, she used the contact to explore the contours of Mercury's legs, making her hide a gasp when she realized that they weren't flesh and blood at all.

Mercury's legs were metal prosthetics. The greaves on his boots were a disguise, built to hide the _true_ nature of his weapons. Whoever had made those prosthetics knew their business, as Ruby's ears hadn't picked up the slightest telltale whirr of servos. Nor had they been picked up by her regular Extension.

Both Cinder and Mercury flickered out of sight. Ruby saw them reappear, but her Extension told her that where she saw them with her eyes was _not_ where they actually were. On top of that, the sounds they produced while moving and attacking were coming from their true positions.

It seemed that Emerald's ability to interfere with her target's senses was limited, at least in one sense. Ruby suspected that Emerald was struggling to keep up with the pace of the fight. In order to compensate, she had focused her efforts on disrupting Ruby's sense of sight, bombarding her with false images to try and confuse her as to the true position and distance of her opponents. That was a fairly wise strategy, one that would seriously hamper most fighters. But Ruby had trained long and hard to build her ability to perceive the world through her other senses. She might not have had anything on the level of a true _Shingan_, but she was skilled enough that mere visual hallucinations wouldn't be an impediment.

Of course, if Emerald decided her current approach wasn't working, and shifted strategies, then that would a different matter. Finding a way to take her out was still Ruby's top priority.

At present though, she was a little too hard pressed to find an opportunity. Mercury's movements were acrobatic, often seeming dancelike, allowing him to use his legs to strike from unusual angles. On top of that, the shots and gusts he fired extended the reach of his attacks to an impressive degree.

Cinder's own moves were swift and deadly, very much how Ruby remembered them from their fight in the Tower. In fact, Cinder's attacks were even faster and stronger than before, as she was no longer simply testing Ruby, but genuinely fighting to win. Streaks of flame flashed along the edges of the blades, extending the reach of Cinder's attacks, and making even near-misses painful and damaging, the heat of her passing attacks scorching Ruby's Aura.

Ruby fought with all the speed and skill she possessed, working her swords in tandem to keep her adversaries at bay, while flaring her cloak to fend off strikes from unexpected angles. Unlike the fight in the tower, Ruby couldn't bring the full strength of her attacks to bear on either of her opponents, as one would attack while Ruby was trying to focus on the other, successfully keeping her strength divided, and keeping her from getting a proper attack off.

_This must have been how they brought down the Fall Maiden,_ thought Ruby, as the battle continued. She could see the strategy at work. Use numbers to their advantage, strategically diffuse their opponent's awareness to keep her from bringing her full power to bear on any single one of them, and wear her down through attrition. It was definitely a good strategy, the perfect way to deal with a much more powerful opponent. It was taking all of Ruby's skill just to keep Cinder and Mercury at bay. If she could just buy herself some space...

Ruby brought the flats of her swords together, scraping Ibara along the length of Barra, while pulling it back, almost as though she was sharpening her left-handed sword, and using the right one as a honing steel. However, as she pulled Ibara away, it trailed crackling streamers of crimson electricity, which Ruby lashed out with as she swung the blade at Mercury.

Mercury yelped, jumping back, but the lightning extended out from the tip of Ruby's sword, striking at him like a whip. Reflexively, Mercury kicked at it, firing a shot to counter the incoming arc, prompting the lightning to explode in red sparks.

In the meantime, Cinder came at Ruby's back, slashing her swords through Ruby's cloak, which dissolved into a cloud of petals, Ruby having already danced aside from her thrust. The petals swirled and converged around Cinder.

"_Hanabi!_"

At Ruby's command, they exploded into sparking bursts of electricity. However, Cinder had already been moving to evade them, glowing arrays forming in rings around her body, before exploding outward in a fiery shockwave, dispelling Ruby's attack in much the same way she had, back In Beacon Tower. The shockwave made Ruby stumble, leaving her open as Mercury went back on the offensive, jumping into a flip that allowed him to bring one leg up, around, and down in an axe-kick, aimed at Ruby's head. At the same time, Cinder followed through on her explosion by charging in, leveling both swords for a double-thrust attack.

Ruby used a small jump to spin, flaring her cloak around her to deflect Cinder's thrust and Mercury's kick. At the same time, she used her Aura to accelerate, prompting petals to stream off the tattered hem of her cloak, swirling through the air around her in a red cyclone. Then the petals converged inward on one another, congealing into six orbs of crackling electricity, which rapidly condensed into violet plasma. "_Hibana!_"

Ruby's attack launched all six orbs in arcing trajectories, curving the flights that initially matched the direction of her spin, before homing in on her two targets. Mercury kicked back, going into a handstand that allowed him to flair his legs out as he spun his body, firing shots to intercept Ruby's plasma-orbs, which exploded with loud claps, like thunder. Cinder jumped aside from two, bringing up her swords and crossing them in front of her body to intercept the third, which shattered the glass blades into small fragments, embers and arcs of plasma and electricity searing her Aura, prompting an enraged grimace of pain from the young woman. Cinder glared furiously at Ruby.

What Cinder failed to realize was that her dodge had put her in the perfect position for Ruby's strategy. Furthermore, one of the two plasma bolts that had missed Cinder went on to strike near the pillar Emerald was concealed behind, throwing up a cloud of smoke and dust. Emerald reeled, coughing and rubbing her eyes, stung by the burning embers thrown up, disrupting her control over her Semblance. Mercury and Cinder abruptly flashed into focus before Ruby's eyes.

Cinder swiftly worked her hands through circular motions, the fragments of her broken swords swirling around and condensing in on each other in a manner reminiscent of how Ruby's petals had moved earlier. As they did, they glowed a brilliant orange, melting together to form a cloud of glass shards that hovered in a loose formation around Cinder's body.

Ruby scraped her swords against each other, red vines of lightning climbing the length of both of them this time, stretching and arcing to connect the two, even as Ruby pulled them apart from one another. Turning around, Ruby focused completely on Cinder, and flashed forward, closing the distance between them in what seemed like a single step. At the same time, Cinder launched her shards. Ruby lowered her head, hardening her cloak and hood with her Aura. Even so, a few of the shards scorched and scratched at her exposed arms and legs. Still, she closed quickly enough that Cinder was forced to throw herself to the side of the crackling double-slash Ruby unleashed.

Even with her cloak hardened, Ruby still felt the hammer-blows of two of Mercury's silver bolts, which he'd fired at her back as she'd gone after Cinder. Ruby didn't bother tying to defend or counter them. Instead, she used the power behind the hits to add to her forward momentum as she pushed off the ground with all her strength, launching herself straight ahead into a charge that carried her right _past_ the dodging Cinder.

The true purpose behind Ruby's _Hibana_ earlier hadn't been to bring her opponents down, or even inflict any damage really. Instead, by forcing Cinder to dodge part of her attack, Ruby had succeeded in maneuvering her into the ideal position, directly between Ruby and the pillar Emerald had been hiding behind. Over the course of the melee, Ruby had been carefully working her position closer to the pillar, trying to reach the point where she could close the distance with it in a single lunge. And now, with Cinder dodging her slashes, Ruby's way was clear, and she put all her speed into rushing straight for Emerald's position.

Emerald was still distracted from the smoke and dust of Ruby's earlier attack. Beyond keeping her from continuing to use her Semblance, it also left her unaware that Ruby was now coming right towards her, not that she would have time to dodge in any case.

As she closed in on the pillar, Ruby brought her swords back together. The streamers of lightning merged, swirling around Akaibara's blade in a spiral pattern, almost like that of a drill, rushing from the hilt to the tip, right as Ruby thrust her sword straight into the pillar. "_Takenoko!_"

Emerald's instincts finally warned her of the incoming threat. She turned to backpedal away from the pillar. But it was too little, too late. Like a bamboo shoot growing out of the ground, the spiraling spear of Ruby's lightning pierced through the other side of the pillar, punching right through Emerald's stomach and out her back. The pillar shattered completely, the concrete fragments thrown at Emerald and pummeling her body and Aura, all while red streamers of electricity crackled across her. Emerald's shrill scream echoed through the factory.

Emerald flew backwards, propelled by the momentum behind Ruby's charge, being carried along by the lance of lightning she was impaled upon. Ruby planted her lead foot, skidding to a stop, while the lightning piercing Emerald dissolved into sparks. Emerald continued to fly another few meters, before landing hard on her back, her body spasming fiercely, a black, circular burn of blackened flesh marring the skin just above her navel. She stared up at the night sky with unseeing eyes.

"Emerald!" shouted Mercury, both him and Cinder staring in shock at their disabled, possibly deceased, companion.

_She played us for fools!_ Cinder thought. _She was targeting Emerald from the beginning! How did she know?_

"No more illusions, right?" asked Ruby with a grim expression, turning to face her other two opponents.

"Why you..." growled Mercury, baring his teeth in an angry snarl. Cinder's expression was even more furious.

Ruby didn't feel all that good about what she had done to Emerald. In the context of the battle, she had decided to put Emerald down in the most expedient manner possible. To that end, she'd used as much power as she could spare. The consequence was that Emerald had been severely injured, possibly fatally. Even if she did survive, Ruby's attack had burned its way right through her spinal column. Emerald's lower body would likely be paralyzed for the remainder of her life. Were they in Leng, that might not have necessarily been the case. But there was no one in Vale with Sasame or Makoto's capacity for healing.

Not that Ruby had time to worry about that right now. Her legs and arms were beginning to shake. The tremors were slight, but enough that Ruby was able to notice them. Her fatigue from her earlier match with Kyo was beginning to catch up to her. Even though she'd taken down one of her opponents, Ruby wasn't exactly filled with confidence in her ability to handle the other two. It didn't help that Cinder and Mercury were only going to start taking her even _more_ seriously.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby centered herself again, trying to relax her body enough that the tremors subsided. She only had marginal success. Her cloak was looking still more tattered, more holes than cloth at this point. She'd put a lot of effort into just taking out Emerald, and she wasn't sure she had enough left to handle Mercury and Cinder both. But it had to be done. If nothing else, she could still hold out hope that Jaune and the others would arrive on the scene.

Red lines of molten light climbed up the length of Cinder's dress, fire congealing in her right hand, before she thrust her palm out at Ruby, launching several angry balls of fire at her in rapid succession. Ruby darted to the side, her _Shukuchi_ carrying her clear of Cinder's attacks, the heat and shockwaves of the explosions buffeting her from behind. It seemed that Cinder didn't even care that Emerald might get caught up in such destructive blows, another sign of Cinder's self-absorption.

Ruby rushed at Cinder, approaching her from a new angle, threatening to close in before Cinder could track her and attack with more fireballs. A flash of gray and black rushed past Cinder as Mercury moved to intercept Ruby. Behind him, Cinder brought her hands out, conjuring her glass swords once again, and charging in Mercury's wake, while Ruby came to meet them, splitting Akaibara once more.

* * *

Jaune was torn. On one hand, now that he'd armed up with his sword and shield, his first thought was getting back to Ruby's side and backing her up. However, his rational mind reminded him that it was probably best to let the others get here, so that they could properly coordinate a strategy against Cinder.

In the end, he decided to stick to the strategy Ruby had given him. A handful of tense minutes passed, while the clash of steel, the crack of lightning, and the roar of flames echoed from the factory. Finally, Jaune's ears picked up a sound that was most welcome...the whine of a bullhead's engines.

Looking up, Jaune saw the familiar aircraft swooping in low. Its rounded belly almost scraped the ground as it pulled up, before swiftly slipping into its hovering configuration, its nose pitching upwards to allow it to decelerate more quickly, the pilot clearly bringing all his skill to bear on the task of getting his passengers onto the scene as quickly as possible.

The passenger bays slid open, and Jaune's relief multiplied at the sight of Weiss, Pyrrha, and Team RYNB, accompanied by Glynda Goodwitch herself, all of them jumping off the airship and approaching at a rapid clip.

Then Jaune blinked, realizing that the one person who should have been there wasn't. "Where's Kyo?" he asked.

"I don't know," admitted Glynda as she approached. "He was not in his quarters, it would seem. But that can wait for later. We must deal with Ms. Rose's enemies right now."

"How is she doing?" asked Yang, looking worriedly past Jaune at the warehouse.

"She's been holding out pretty well," said Jaune. "But she must be getting worn down, so I don't know how much longer she can keep it up. We have to hurry." Without her scroll on her, there was no way to monitor the current state of Ruby's Aura. But Jaune knew that she couldn't have been at her best, after her intense match against Kyo earlier.

"There's no need to rush," called a familiar voice from in front of them.

"What the-!?" yelped Jaune, jumping and spinning around, looking wide-eyed at the source of the voice. The others were likewise startled.

Where there had only been an empty expanse of concrete before, Kyo now stood, watching them with a pleasant smile on his face. His sheathed sword was gripped in both hands, its end resting against the ground directly in front of him.

"When did you-?" Jaune began to ask.

"I sensed Ruby-chan's distress the second she received that call about you," said Kyo. "I opted to follow along, so I...hitchhiked on the same airship that brought her to Vale."

"B-but..." Jaune began, wondering how Kyo could have followed Ruby like that, not to mention how he'd somehow hidden his presence so perfectly that not even Jaune or Neo had noticed that he'd been there the entire time, to say nothing of the three in the warehouse.

"Come now, Sasame and I are the ones who _taught_ Ruby-chan Suppression," said Kyo. "I am an old hand at this sort of thing, though I rarely have reason to hide."

"What do you mean we shouldn't rush?" demanded Yang, stepping forward, glaring angrily at him. "Ruby's in danger!"

"That she is," agreed Kyo, "which is the entire point."

"Huh?" Yang's anger gave way to pure confusion as she tried to figure out just what Kyo's cryptic statement meant.

"Considering her situation, including the state of her Aura and stamina, I realized that this is the perfect opportunity for Ruby-chan to grow," said Kyo.

"Wait! You're saying you're doing this for her training?" asked Weiss incredulously.

"I am," agreed Kyo. "I believe Jaune-kun knows about this, but Ruby-chan has been struggling to acquire a certain technique..."

"_That's_ what you're doing," said Jaune, Kyo's words clicking in his mind. "You want Ruby to push herself right to the edge, don't you?"

"That is correct," said Kyo. "She's holding out quite well, but she needs to go further. She must push herself to her utmost limit, to the point where her strength has completely fled her. Only there, upon the precipice of death itself, can she acquire the awareness to perceive the One."

"You're putting your own sister's life at risk...for the sake of a technique?" asked Glynda furiously.

"I am," agreed Kyo blandly. "Make no mistake, Professor. As Ruby-chan's brother, there is nothing more that I would like than to rush to her side and cut down the ones menacing her. It takes more effort than you might think to hold myself back like this.

"However, in order to obtain that which she seeks, Ruby-chan _must_ hazard her life. There is no real way to mitigate that risk. And this is the perfect opportunity for her. I feel that it would only do her more harm to rob her of it."

"Bullshit!" snapped Yang, stepping forward. "I don't care what reasons you have. I'm backing Ruby up!"

"A sentiment I share, Ms. Xiao Long," agreed Glynda, brandishing her crop.

The others readied their weapons, prepared to fight their way past Kyo. They all froze when a shrill scream echoed out of the factory, followed by a tense silence.

"Well...that's one down," said Kyo, cocking his head.

Given his reaction, they realized that he meant that Ruby had taken down one of her assailants. But that didn't change the fact that Ruby was still outnumbered, if to less of a degree than before. None of them were prepared to back down, not even in the face of this new revelation.

So Glynda raised her crop, violet light lining it as she prepared to attack.

Kyo raised his sword up, then brought it down, thudding the end of the sheath into the ground. With a roar, his Aura exploded outwards like a crimson inferno, Kyo looking as though he had been immolated by his own power. The outward rush of his Aura slammed headlong into Glynda and the students, actually sending them skidding back more than a meter. When they recovered, they found their bodies paralyzed.

There was no strange power, no special technique that held them fast. Instead, what locked the eight of them in place was nothing more than pure, primal fear. Kyo's presence gripped them with bonds stronger than steel, locking their bodies in place. They realized that, ever since he had come to Beacon, they had never truly understood _what_ Kyo was. To them, he'd been Ruby's quirky, slightly mysterious brother. Sure, his match against Ruby had shown him to be incredibly skilled and strong. They also knew that he'd effortlessly wiped out an entire White Fang encampment, without even breaking a sweat. But, for the first time, they were were experiencing the true Demon Eyes Kyo.

This was the power that had allowed him to freely wander the width and breadth of Remnant, to have survived earning the enmity of all four Kingdoms, the power that sent the Grimm fleeing en-mass from his mere vicinity. It was beyond their wildest imaginings, and stopped all thoughts of fighting against him cold.

"Please do not try to interfere," said Kyo. "I am keeping track of things. It is within my skill to come to Ruby-chan's rescue, if absolutely necessary. But it will be less-so, if I am having to fend you off at the same time. So...for Ruby-chan's sake, don't press this."

"W-well...?" asked Nora, looking around at the others.

Jaune took a deep breath, and sheathed his sword, collapsing the shield and hanging it from his waist. "Let's wait," he said. He probably understood better than anyone else, save for Kyo, just how important getting stronger was to Ruby. He figured that, if Kyo truly thought it was best for her, then he didn't really have the wherewithal to argue. Even if he did, trying to force their way was a futile effort at this point.

All they could do was stand back and wait, and hope that Ruby would come through.

* * *

Ruby felt the presence of Kyo's Aura. She wasn't the only one. In front of her, Cinder and Mercury both flinched as the immense presence appeared at the edge of their senses. They probably didn't recognize it for what it was, which was for the best.

_Kyo-nii is here,_ Ruby thought. _But he wouldn't do that unless..._

That's when it struck her. Kyo was outside. If he was unleashing his Aura like that, it wasn't to fight. Kyo's fighting Aura was more controlled, more contained. He was Projecting his Aura to intimidate. Now Ruby understood. Her friends were outside, but Kyo was keeping them from interfering, using their fear of his Aura to hold them in place. If that was the case, then there was only one reason why Kyo would stop her friends from helping her.

He saw an opportunity for her to get stronger.

Ruby could understand his logic easily. If she could beat her current opponents, in her current situation, then there was no doubt her skill and ability would grow by leaps and bounds. But winning in this situation was definitely a tall order, if there ever was one.

_I'll just have to muddle through,_ thought Ruby, focusing on Cinder and Mercury again, the pair of them refocusing on her once more. As she did, a nostalgic feeling welled up within her. She'd been, more or less, thrown to the wolves here, left to fend for herself against an opponent who might be too much for her, with no guarantee that she'd be bailed out, if things went badly.

She swallowed the urge to laugh to herself. _Just like back home,_ she thought. _Good times…_

They closed in another clash of clanging blades, crackling lightning, roaring flames, and howling winds. Ruby danced between Cinder and Mercury working her swords to keep her opponents at bay. Mercury and Cinder danced around her, continually pressuring her, keeping her from getting the upper hand.

Ruby found that her focus was slipping. She was beginning to feel light-headed. Her Aura continued to dwindle, her body slacking from fatigue. Her consciousness was fading away. Despite that, she continued to fight. Her swords moved almost as though they had minds of their own, her body responding purely to her sense of her opponents' presence, with almost no conscious input on her part.

Even though Ruby was on the edge of defeat, she could feel her enemies' distress. Cinder and Mercury were uneasy. Ruby sensing, locating, and taking Emerald out had been something they hadn't been expecting. Without Emerald to disrupt her senses, they knew that Ruby would have an easier time fighting them, even if they still outnumbered her. That tiny uncertainty kept them holding back, not willing to fully commit to any particular attack that might bring Ruby down.

Mercury skidded back away, repelled by another slash from Ibara. His pants were lined with cuts, exposing the metal legs hidden beneath them. Across from him, Cinder brought her swords crashing against Bara, Ruby countering with Ibara. With an angry growl, Mercury kicked off the ground and launched himself at Ruby in a flying kick.

As Mercury closed in, Cinder leapt back, bringing the pommels of her swords together, an arrow forming from what looked like a cloud of swirling ashes, while her blades converted into a bow. Drawing back the string, Cinder sighted on Ruby, and released, sending the arrow flying right at her. Ruby had just finished repelling Mercury's attack, when she whirled to face the incoming arrow, her swords rising to meet it.

At the last second, Ruby jumped back and away from the arrow. She was just in time, as the arrow exploded into flames and shrapnel, right before it would have met Ruby's swords. Turning her body, Ruby brought her cloak up to intercept the fragments launched her way like flechettes, the sharp-edged fragments knocking petals away from her cloak, which vanished into the air around her. The cloth was quickly growing more and more tattered with each passing exchange.

Distracted as she was by Cinder's exploding arrow, Ruby still didn't miss Mercury's approach. However, she wasn't in a very good position to defend or dodge, the tiredness weighing down her body slowing her response. Instead, she turned her head as best she could, hardening the fabric of her hood as the top of Mercury's foot slammed into it. At the same time, Ruby put all her right arm's strength in an upward slash. She was knocked away, and sent sprawling, by Mercury. However, she managed to make him pay for landing that hit, as Mercury staggered, a line of pain etched across his chest, Ruby's sword biting deeply into his Aura.

Mercury landed and stumbled, having to fight and find his balance. Meanwhile, Cinder closed in with Ruby next, trying to catch her before she could get back on her feet. Separating her bow back into its component swords, Cinder stabbed down at the prone girl with them.

Ruby Projected her Aura from the soles of her feet, the explosive release pushing her body up and off the floor, allowing her to execute a backflip that carried her out from under Cinder's descending swords, which plunged into the concrete where Ruby had been laying. Even as she came upright, Ruby expelled a small cloud of petals from the edge of her cloak, which converged together into a single orb of violet plasma. She quickly launched that orb at Cinder.

Cinder released the swords, holding up her right hand, fingers spread. Ruby's attack exploded against a barrier of fiery light that appeared a few inches away from Cinder's palm. In Cinder's left hand, Dust and magic congealed together into a fireball, which she launched at the backpedaling Ruby. Still stumbling, Ruby used her left arm to flap her cloak out to intercept the fireball, which splattered like an overripe fruit against it, sending glowing embers scattering across the floor.

Coming to a stop, Ruby realized her plight too late. She'd just been knocked back into the space she'd been in when Cinder had launched her barrage of fireballs earlier. Now she could sense those scattered fragments and particles of Dust on the floor around her, just waiting for Cinder to activate them. She had been maneuvered, just as _she_ had maneuvered Cinder earlier.

Smirking triumphantly, Cinder gestured upwards with her right hand, a sinister keening sound filling the air as the floor around Ruby glowed with molten light, its intensity increasing rapidly. There was no path for Ruby to escape. She was completely encircled, and her stance was too off-balance for her to use her _Shukuchi_ to flee. As things were, Ruby knew she'd be completely wiped out by this blast, and left at her opponent's mercy. There was only one trick left in her arsenal that would allow her to escape this. After that, she would have thirty seconds, at most, to finish this fight, or she would be left completely helpless.

Desperately, Ruby infused the rest of her remaining Aura into her cloak, before prompting her power to explode outwards with a thunderous boom. A flash of light exploded out from her, right as several columns of flame erupted from the floor under and around her. The explosive release of Ruby's technique blasted the flames away, and instead it was Cinder who was left staggering from the resulting shockwave.

When Cinder recovered, her eyes widened and her mouth hung slack at the sight before her. Ruby stood tall, not wearing a cloak of red fabric, but one that looked as though it had been assembled from layers upon layers of flower petals, that also resembled feathers. They flickered through scintillating shades of red, blue, green, and violet, shimmering and crackling. Occasionally, a petal would peel off and go drifting through the air, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake.

"_Tenyo no Hana,_" intoned Ruby gravely, her gaze focusing intently on Cinder.

Propelling himself with a shot from his boot, Mercury took to the air behind Ruby, launching himself in a flying roundhouse kick at the unguarded back of her head.

Remembering what this technique had done during Ruby's match with Pyrrha, Cinder opened her mouth to order Mercury to stop. But it was too late. Mercury's foot connected with Ruby's hood, and stopped cold, as though he'd struck a surface of unyielding steel. At the same time, arcs of varicolored lightning climbed up the length of his prosthetic leg, and Mercury was blown backwards with a cry of pain, the limb he'd attacked with sparking and smoking. He landed hard on his back. Looking up, Mercury's mouth hung slack as he saw one of the petals that made up Ruby's cloak detach, flying at him like a meteor. He vanished in an explosion of thunder.

Ruby didn't even have the time to spare Mercury a glance. Already, she was shooting towards Cinder, whose face was frozen in a look of shock and fear. Ruby slashed at Cinder with her swords, which had merged with the edges of her cloak, humming and crackling. Cinder's own blades rose to meet them.

Glass was normally a good insulator against electricity. However, when heated to high temperatures, it actually became a conductor. Cinder had been continually channeling her flames through the blades of her glass swords whenever she conjured them. As a consequence, they were quite hot indeed. So, when they met Ruby's swords, Cinder screamed as electricity raced up her arms, jolting her body, throwing her stance off, and allowing Ruby's attack to blast her backwards.

Ruby followed, also shooting off additional petals from her cloak, which spread out, then converged on Cinder on spiraling trajectories. Cinder barely managed to recover in time, dropping her swords and holding out her hands, catching one attack after another with her barrier. But doing so allowed Ruby to close the distance unimpeded, her swords slicing up at Cinder, only for Cinder to catch the blades as well with her barrier.

But it was a stalemate. Cinder was in no position to counterattack, and utterly unable to force Ruby back with her own strength. As a result, Cinder could only watch as Ruby's cloak spread behind her, more petals detaching to converge on the woman. With this, the fight would end.

Ruby froze. The portions of her cloak that she'd been attacking with scattered off in random directions. Her entire body was still, though she was still exerting her strength through her swords.

_What?_ wondered Cinder, gazing at Ruby with incomprehension.

For Ruby, everything had suddenly gone black. It wasn't just her sight. Her sense of hearing had shut down as well. Smell, taste, touch, even her sense of her own body's position; all of it was gone. _What? Is this...? But I..._

"C-Cinder..." Her name, exiting Emerald's mouth in a pained wheeze, was the only thing Cinder needed to know. Somehow, despite what she'd suffered, Emerald had managed to claw her way back to consciousness, if only for a few seconds. She'd raised her head, glaring at Ruby, focusing everything she had left on one last application of her Semblance, using it to shut down _all_ of Ruby's senses at once. It was excruciatingly painful, requiring every ounce of focus.

But it gave Cinder the opening she needed. Cinder jumped back, and Ruby stumbled blindly ahead, not even able to place her legs properly. Jumping back a little farther, Cinder called fire to her hands, building up the most powerful blast she was capable of.

With a pained grunt, Emerald slumped down, and did not move again.

Ruby's awareness came back all at once. It was disorienting. More worryingly, she now saw a roaring blast of flame rushing right at her. Desperately, Ruby enfolded her cloak around herself, the fireball exploding against the humming garment. Ruby was knocked backwards, her cloak shielding her from the flames and heat, but not helping her maintain her balance. She slammed into the ground, skidding to a stop. Shakily, she got to her legs...right as the last remaining seconds she had ticked away.

All at once, her cloak dissolved, the petals scattering, then fading. Ruby gasped, feeling her entire body go numb. Tiredly, Ruby slumped to her knees, unable to even lift her arms.

For a long moment, silence descended on the factory. Cinder stood where she was, panting for breath, sweat streaming down her face. This battle had been far more hard-fought than she'd anticipated, even though she thought she was going up against another Maiden.

"It would seem that you are nothing more than a pathetic novice," she said finally, smiling as she gazed down at Ruby, a feeling of triumph welling up within her.

Ruby was too dazed to even notice, staring straight ahead, her mind swimming through a tired haze, barely even able to grasp at her situation. Her every breath hurt, and her vision swam. _Am I...going to die?_

That thought was terrifying. But Ruby was too worn and exhausted to even feel fear. _So...this is what it means to stand on the edge of death._ In a way, the realization was strangely soothing. Ruby had always thought this moment would be one that would result in an intense panic, a desperate desire to hold onto her life. Instead, all she could feel was a strange sense of peace, a quiet euphoria.

With that calm, came a strange clarity that she had been lacking before. Ruby felt as though she was seeing the world through different eyes. The haze before her vision wasn't something that merely appeared to her eyes, it was something she could feel in the air around her. It felt like something omnipresent, yet something she had never properly sensed before...because it was something that was around her always.

_This is...the One,_ she realized. She could see it and feel it. The One that Sarutobi Sasuke had referred to had indeed been a product of the cycle of life and death. It was the Aura of the world itself, an aggregate formed by the countless lives that were born, lived, and then died across its surface. Everyone and everything was a part of the One, Ruby herself, even those like Cinder or Adam. Before her eyes, she could see Cinder's Aura blending with the One. Even the energy they'd expended in their battle hadn't disappeared. It too had become a part of this immense, endless thing.

This was what Sasuke had been referring to. This was the basis for his technique. Beyond mere electricity, it was about tapping into the power of the world itself, drawing from that immense, endless Aura, and commanding the power of nature.

_Call upon the One,_ Ruby thought, remembering the words of the scroll. _Make myself the Center._

She inhaled, feeling that power entering through her breath. Right now, she was all but empty. Ironically, that only made her a more fitting receptacle for the power of the world's Aura. It flowed in with every breath she took, filling her up. As she did, she spread her awareness upwards, and called out.

* * *

A low rumble filled the air. Suddenly, there was a strange, charged feeling in the atmosphere. Ruby's friends were distracted from their confrontation with Kyo. Looking up, they saw the, already dark, night sky darken even more, black clouds boiling out of nowhere, piling up in an unmistakable cumulonimbus formation, directly over the abandoned factory.

Glynda's riding crop dropped from her nerveless hand. "Tha-that is..." she stammered, her eyes wide. "That should be impossible!"

Kyo looked over his shoulder at the mass of clouds, and smiled. "Ruby-chan never disappoints," he said happily.

"This is Ruby's doing?" asked Ren, staring up at the clouds.

"That it is," replied Kyo, chuckling.

* * *

Cinder looked up, her eyes narrowing, before glancing back down at Ruby. "It would seem that you don't know when you're beaten," she said, an angry growl underlaying her words. "All this time and effort, pretending...only to call upon your true power in the eleventh hour...how foolish."

She called forth her swords, before joining them to form her bow. Drawing back the string, she conjured an arrow, which she then leveled right at Ruby's chest. "I imagine that you believed you were told you could do great things with this power. But you can rest easy, knowing that _I_ will do things you never even imagined."

With that, Cinder loosed her arrow. It was a black streak, crossing the small distance between them in less than a second. That should have been the end of Ruby, right then and there. However, an angry ring echoed out from Bara in her left hand. The sword flashed with a strobe of brilliant red, before seeming to seize control of her left arm, swinging itself up to intercept the incoming arrow, batting it aside with a clang.

"What?" Cinder couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Even more unbelievably, Ibara, in Ruby's right hand, emitted a ring of its own, glowing more steadily than its counterpart. Vines of pure red seemed to stretch out from the handle, climbing across Ruby's hand, then moving up her arm, hidden by her sleeve. Ruby lurched up, almost as though she were being pulled by the sword itself, which yanked her to her feet, then forward to slash at Cinder, who jumped back, barely avoiding the unprecedented attack.

"What is this?" demanded Cinder.

Ruby now stood, still mostly slumped. However, both swords now rang, more red vines emerging from their handles to climb up Ruby's arms. Then their ringing reached a shrill pitch, and they both flashed with the intensity of a camera strobe. Ruby's body jolted sharply, her spine straightening, and her lips opening in a harsh gasp, Ruby found herself blinking, seeming awake and alert once more.

"How...how did you...?" Cinder wasn't even sure what she was trying to ask. Her eyes went to Ruby's swords. "Just what are those?"

Ruby seemed to ignore Cinder, her attention instead going to her blades. _Thank you,_ she thought to her magnificent weapons. Next, she brought Bara and Ibara together, joining them. She held Akaibara out in front of her, its tip pointing almost straight up. Up above, the clouds rumbled ominously, a circular eye forming in their center, directly over Ruby. Her next words she spoke almost as a chant.

"_Thunder of heaven,_

"_Thunder of earth,_

"_Come forth from the thunder clouds,_

"_Light the darkest places of the earth,_

"_Grant your strength to me!_"

As Ruby had been speaking, lightning began to jump back and forth across the eye of the storm. As she finished her mantra, a powerful bolt abruptly lanced downward, plunging to meet the upraised tip of her sword. With a deafening boom, the lightning bolt struck with a force that made the earth shake. Cinder screamed as she was knocked back by the resulting shockwave, her hair standing on end from the energy flooding the space, her eyes blinded, her ears deafened.

When her senses returned, Cinder found herself staring aghast at the sight before her. Crackling arcs of lightning danced up and down the length of Ruby's sword, winding around the blade, almost seeming to dance around it. This wasn't the crimson electricity from earlier, but harsh white, with an a faint, blue tint to it...feeling infinitely more powerful.

"_Raikoken._"


	87. Chapter 87

**Chapter 87**

"This can't be!" shrieked Cinder, her right eye blazing with angry orange flames. "You were beaten! You were at my mercy! After all your stalling and pretending, you only show the full power of your magic now?"

"Because I couldn't do it before," said Ruby, smiling past the crackling arcs of lightning that danced along and around her sword. "It's thanks to you pushing me to the edge like this, that I was able to finally use this. Oh...and it's not magic. It never was."

"What?" Cinder's voice dropped to a lower register.

Ruby smirked at her. "This isn't magic. This is a technique, one I've been trying to learn for years."

"Don't lie to me, you little bitch!" snapped Cinder, gritting her teeth. "There is no possible way to command that kind of power _without _magic! You can't fool me!"

"I don't have to," said Ruby. "You fooled yourself."

"Shut up!" shouted Cinder. "That power is _mine!_ Give it to me!"

"Fine!" Ruby reversed her grip on her sword, then drove it into the ground. The lightning seemed to vanish. "Then come and get it."

With a scream, Cinder launched herself at Ruby. A familiar sound echoed from behind Ruby, the sound of a discharging weapon. Mercury had managed to escape the last attack she'd launched at him at the last second. His right leg had been damaged from his attempt to hit her, while her _Tenyo no Hana_ had been active. Still, he'd managed to launch himself with his left leg, then turn his hips to bring that leg back around for an attack at the back of her head. This time, Ruby had no Aura-forged garment to protect herself with.

Instead, both her assailants froze in place, their bodies seizing up. White lightning wrapped around them, binding their limbs in place. Both Cinder and Mercury couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"_Raijin: Moraien._" Ruby relaxed her stance, standing casually by her sword, the palm of her left hand resting against Akaibara's pommel. "You've stepped into the lightning's web. Now there's no escape for you."

Cinder and Mercury were now able to see the shape of the power that held them fast. Stretching out from where Ruby's sword was anchored into the ground were lines of crackling lightning, which had been previously circulating around her sword. They were connected by perpendicular arcs of energy, crossing one another in a form that indeed _did_ resemble the web of some monstrous spider.

_This is...this is completely different from what she was doing before,_ thought Cinder.

For her part, Ruby was secretly amazed at how simple it was, now that she'd gotten over her block. She'd envisioned herself doing this so many times, imagining each and every one of the derivative techniques that had been passed down through Sarutobi Sasuke's scroll. She'd created her own variants, using her normal lightning techniques, but they lacked the incredible power that the harnessed power of nature did.

As she'd expected though, controlling this much harnessed, wild, natural power was a lot more difficult than she made it look. Sure, she'd been able to successfully duplicate Sasuke's _Moraien_. But maintaining her hold was leaving her with a splitting headache. Her exhausted and drained condition wasn't helping matters. It seemed that drawing on the world's Aura could supplement her own, but not replace it. If anything, hosting this kind of power was putting an even greater strain on her body. Without her sword to hold it, the lightning she'd called down on herself would have annihilated her on the spot. Any mundane weapon, even the finest Huntsman-class ones, would have been melted into slag. Only one of Murasame's masterpieces, or a sword rivaling them, would be capable of this.

She didn't have much time. She could feel her control slipping. If that happened, her lightning web would unravel, Cinder and Mercury would be free to go back on the attack, and Ruby would _truly_ be out of options. She had to finish this, here and now.

Ruby separated her weapon, leaving Ibara anchored in the earth, while lifting Bara in her left hand. Holding it up, she took Bara in both hands, taking a textbook sword-stance, holding the blade out in front of her, angled upwards, aligned with the center of her body. "It's time to finish this, Cinder," she said.

Cinder struggled against the lightning binding her body. But her efforts only seemed to pull it in all the tighter around herself. She summoned all her magic, activated all the Dust woven into her dress. The flames streaming from her right eye intensified. Her garment began to glow, casting off flickering embers, glowing, circular arrays forming in the air around her. Given another few seconds, she could blow away this restraint, especially since Ruby was only using the residual power left within Ibara to maintain it. Even if Cinder did nothing, the lightning web would collapse on its own in less than a minute.

But Cinder didn't have a few seconds. Ruby took a deep breath, once again opening herself to the sense of the world's Aura in the air around her. Feeling that power respond, she once again called out to the skies above, where that black mass of clouds still hovered. Ruby shot forward, her sword rising over her head for a downward strike.

"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Cinder, unable to move as Ruby's sword descended.

"_Raijin: Honorai Ikazuchi!_"

Lightning shot downwards from the clouds, striking the tip of Ruby's sword as she brought it down, both the blade and the bolt of lightning blasting right through Cinder, turning her body into a black shadow against a white backdrop. A second strike, carrying the remainder of the power infused into Ruby's sword, cut through Cinder's body perpendicular to her first stroke, from left to right, cutting Cinder into quarters. Ruby emerged from the other side, coming to a stop with her sword angled up over her head.

Cinder's scream had been cut off by the roar of thunder. The lightning that had infused Ruby's blade consumed even her body, burning it away...until nothing remained. Only a scant few ashes drifted through the air, the sole remaining particles of what had once been Cinder Fall. There was a flash, and a column of orange light shot upwards into the night sky, punching through the clouds above, clearing them away. The light's course curved, carrying it in an arc...towards Beacon Academy.

But Ruby barely even noticed. She staggered, her arms going limp, her hands barely managing to maintain their grip on her sword. Turning around, she slowly made her way to Ibara, step by laborious step. Meanwhile, the web of lightning flickered, then disappeared into scattering sparks.

Mercury dropped down to the floor, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. He could scarcely believe his eyes. Cinder was gone...without a trace. Emerald was down for the count, possibly dead as well. Everything that they'd worked towards had gone up in smoke...all because of this one girl.

Loyalty was not one of the traits Mercury counted as his own. Given what Cinder had been offering, he'd gladly accepted her offer to turn the world on its head. But that didn't mean he held any personal loyalty to Cinder, beyond what she could provide him. Despite his flirtatious attitude towards her, he didn't hold any particular loyalty to Emerald either. From the day he'd been old enough to walk, his father had taught him to treat everything and everyone as a means to an end.

None of that really mattered though. Mercury wasn't the sort to necessarily take pride in his work. But that didn't mean he liked seeing a plan that he'd literally invested _years_ of his life in come to nothing, all in a single instant. And now...looking at the girl responsible for it all going to Hell, what rose up in Mercury's gut was a wave of the purest rage. No matter what else happened...he would make her _pay!_

As the web of lightning disappeared, Mercury touched down on the floor, his right leg barely able to hold the weight of his body. But he managed it long enough to fire a shot from the sole of his left foot, using that to launch his body into the air. Using his hips and spine, he pulled himself into a spin that allowed him to bring his left leg around, putting everything he had into the kick he was aiming right at Ruby's head. In her condition, she had no hope of dodging or defending. The hit would shatter her skull, and splatter her brains across the floor.

His foot struck the curving surface of a heater shield. Jaune grunted and strained in his effort to stave off Mercury's attack, before shifting his arm and allowing Mercury's kick to skid off the curved surface of the shield. Mercury's eyes went wide, realizing that he was off-balance, not having given a thought to what came after this kick. Because of that, he had no recourse when Weiss and Pyrrha shot past Jaune, thrusting out with their own weapons. They struck Mercury in the chest. His Aura held, barely, but he was launched backwards by the dual hits.

Flying backwards, Mercury's head bent back, allowing him to see a familiar figure, her body silhouetted by the thick mane of wavy, golden hair that streamed from her head. His gray eyes met a pair of glowing crimson ones. "Oh, shi-"

That was all Mercury got out before he flew past Yang, who slammed her right fist straight down into his abdomen, discharging Ember Celica on impact, blasting Mercury right down into the floor, shattering the concrete under his back. With a crackle of shimmering gray, and a faint snapping noise, Mercury's Aura broke and dissipated, his body going limp.

Through it all, Ruby didn't even seem to be aware of the fact that she'd almost been killed, continuing to try and stagger towards the sword she'd planted in the ground. However, her strength gave out, and her gaze went dark. Bara slipped out of the fingers of her left hand, falling towards the floor, While Ruby herself began to fall forward.

"Ruby!" shouted Jaune, quickly turning around, extending his right arm to catch her, careful not to let her fall against the blade of his sword. A second later, Weiss and Pyrrha were beside him, quickly helping to steady Ruby and keep her from falling all the way to the floor.

Meanwhile, Kyo had calmly stooped down, effortlessly catching Bara by its handle, before it hit the floor. Straightening up, Kyo nestled his own sword in the crook of his right elbow, while carrying Bara over to Ibara, joining the swords together, before pulling Akaibara free of the earth.

Jaune had sheathed his weapons and, with help from Weiss and Pyrrha, turned Ruby in his grip so that he could stand up with her in his arms. Ruby's eyes blinked slowly, opening briefly. She stared upwards, seemingly unable to actually see what was going on around her. "M-m-my..." she stuttered, the syllable barely making it past her lips.

"I have her here," said Kyo, smiling as he stepped up to Ruby and Jaune, ignoring the latter's glare. Kyo pulled Ruby's sheath from its resting place on her sash, and slid Akaibara back into place.

"Kyo...nii..." Ruby tilted her head slightly in the direction of his voice. "D-did you...did you see...?"

"I did," confirmed Kyo, beaming. He took Ruby's hands, and closed them around Akaibara's sheath. Ruby grasped the sword and pulled it back, hugging it to herself like a stuffed animal, even gently nuzzling her cheek against the handle as she let out a contented sigh.

"Rest, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, brushing his fingers over her forehead.

Ruby went still, and her breathing became softer, until it was almost impossible to tell if she was breathing at all.

"Will she...?" asked Jaune warily, taking in Ruby's condition.

"She needs rest, that's all," said Kyo. "At the moment, her body has shut down from the exertion. It's a safety mechanism, a result of going so far past her limits."

"She could have died, you know," protested Weiss, glaring sourly at Ruby's brother.

"But she didn't," said Kyo cheerfully.

"Did you know that Ruby would succeed?" asked Pyrrha.

"Beyond all shadow of doubt...? No."

Kyo's response prompted every one, including Glynda, to glare furiously at him.

"Then why did you let her do that?" demanded Nora.

"Because I knew she _could_, even if I wasn't certain that she _would,_" replied Kyo sagely. "This was never going to be a sure thing. The results could have gone wrong in any number of ways. Ruby-chan could have failed, and died to Cinder's swords before we intervened. She could have faltered on the technique, and blown herself to atoms. There were many risks to allowing her to do this, severe ones.

"However, that didn't change the fact that I still had to let her _try._ There will always be risk in this. But I had faith that Ruby-chan's training and conviction would see her through. And they did." Kyo laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Of course, that doesn't change the fact that it was a near thing. But you can't exactly fault the results, can you? Nor can you fault the fact that Ruby-chan is quite happy with them."

Jaune sighed, and looked down at Ruby's face. Despite her being unconscious from exhaustion, he had to admit that she looked positively blissful. In the end, arguing with Kyo wouldn't do anything. What was done was done. He tightened his arms around her, hugging her against his chest.

"Let's get her home," said Jaune.

* * *

Roman twitched at the sound of tapping against the glassteel of his door. Neo was back

After a few taps, Roman gasped and sat up on his cot, forgetting about pretending to be alone. His jaw hung slack as Neo's report conveyed three simple words.

"_Cinder is dead._"

"No way..." he muttered under his breath.

"_Ruby killed her,_" Neo tapped out.

"She did it..." mumbled Roman. "That little red brat actually did it."

"_Now what?_" Neo asked.

"Now..." said Roman, still speaking aloud, not bothering to worry about being covert over this revelation. "Now...we should cut a deal."

* * *

Ruby's eyelids felt sticky as she peeled them open. When she inhaled, air entered through a burning throat. The act of inhaling also caused her chest to ache. Her entire body felt sore and worn, her muscles feeling like they had multiple tears, and her bones like they might have been cracked. Her arms, especially, tingled as though millions of microscopic needles were being stabbed into them, over and over again, with lines sharp, burning pain running from the tips of her fingers, all the way up to her elbows.

Despite all that, her head felt strangely clear. This was no sluggish daze that normally accompanied waking up in such a sorry state. She found herself staring up at a white ceiling, one she knew wasn't the ceiling of her dorm room. In fact, her head was probably the only thing that _wasn't_ in pain.

She started by moving her eyes only, taking in as much of her surroundings as she could. It took Ruby a moment to realize that she was in Beacon's infirmary. She wasn't wearing her combat outfit, or her pajamas. Instead, she'd apparently been put into a white hospital gown. The sheets of her bed were probably fairly light, but Ruby felt as though they were weighing down on her chest, making it a little hard to breathe, but not overwhelmingly so.

A faint snore drew her attention. Slowly, Ruby turned her head, the muscles of her neck, stiff and achy, much like the rest of her. She managed to turn her gaze far enough to see a familiar mop of blonde hair, to her right. Jaune was reclined in a chair beside her bed, his head tilted back against the wall. Her right arm was extended out from under the sheets, with Jaune holding her hand tightly in his. The sight made Ruby smile.

Her left arm was curled around something long, thin, and hard. Laboring to turn her head the other way, Ruby's smile only widened as she saw the familiar hilt of her sword protruding from beneath her sheets.

"You were very reluctant to let go of her," said Kyo, appearing at the foot of her bed, almost seeming to materialize out of thin air. "The staff had a hard time getting you out of your clothes like that."

Turning to look at him, Ruby giggled, the noise stinging her throat. "Sorry," she croaked softly.

Kyo chuckled and shook his head slightly. Moving to the side of her bed, Ruby saw him take a cup of water. He braced her head up, so that she could drink from it, before letting her lay her head back down. The water helped sooth her throat. In fact, the cool feeling of it seemed to spread down and through her body, soothing the aching and burning feelings plaguing her.

"Where is everyone?" Ruby asked.

"Well, Goodwitch-dono sent most of them back to their rooms," said Kyo. "They weren't happy at the idea. Your sister protested quite strongly. But Goodwitch-dono remained firm."

"But she let Jaune stay?" Ruby turned her head to look at Jaune again, her neck feeling a little less stiff now.

"Jaune-kun was adamant, and Goodwitch-dono said that partners have priority," said Kyo.

"I'll bet Yang didn't like that," said Ruby wryly.

"She certainly didn't," agreed Kyo.

"What about you?" asked Ruby, turning to look at her brother again.

Kyo chuckled softly, rubbing the back of his head in that familiar gesture of his. "Ah...well...I had to be discreet about visiting. In fact, Goodwitch-dono might have banned me...technically."

"Why?" asked Ruby, raising an eyebrow.

Kyo repeated his head rubbing from earlier. "Well...I...that is to say...I'm afraid that I am _not_ your friends' favorite person, right now."

"Because you stopped them from helping me, right?" asked Ruby, smirking.

"That is..._exactly_ the reason," said Kyo.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle, even though it made her chest ache again. "But you came anyway," she noted.

"Yes, well...for some reason, the staff didn't seem to mind," said Kyo.

They undoubtedly hadn't even noticed. While Kyo didn't look it, his Suppression was exceptional. Suppression erased all outward signs of Aura, but the user was still very much visible, and could give themselves away through physical cues. Of course, Masters, like Kyo, could erase their presence so completely that, to the senses of regular people, or those with more limited training, they might as well be part of the scenery. Ruby suspected that Kyo had walked right in, past the reception desk, without attracting a _first_ look, much less a second one.

Kyo's expression softened, and he reached out to gently brush his hand across Ruby's forehead, his fingers combing through her bangs. "So...you did it," he said.

"Yeah...not that it turned out all that well for me," said Ruby.

Kyo chuckled. "Yes. That _is_ a consequence of going so far past your limits. Still, now that you've experienced the sensation, you can probably attune yourself to the world's Aura without needing to completely drain your own, with a little practice."

Ruby nodded.

"And it would seem that your sword had some remonstrations for you as well," said Kyo, reaching down to carefully trace his fingers along her forearm.

Ruby saw the angry, red lines that ran up the length of the limb, knowing there was a matching set on her other arm. "Yeah, I figured she wasn't happy, when she did that."

"Your sword is a companion who fights _with_ you," said Kyo. "So it generally finds it offensive to have to fight _fo_r you. Still, it would seem she isn't too angry."

Ruby nodded. It might have seemed strange to others that her own sword would do something like that. But she still remembered how contrary Akaibara could be, and how hard she had needed to work to earn her sword's trust and respect. Swords like that had ways of reprimanding people that seemed to defy logic at time. Akaibara had thorns that could prick Ruby fairly badly, if she drew her sword's ire. From what Ruby had heard about some blades, particularly those like the Muramasa that Kyo wielded, the consequences of losing a sword's respect could be _much_ worse, so she had gotten off easy. Probably because, whatever else, Ruby loved her sword, and knew full well that that love was reciprocated, however prickly the manner.

"That was very well done, Ruby-chan. I know that Sasame will be ecstatic, once she finds out."

Ruby's smile widened.

Kyo brushed his fingers across the top of her head, before he leaned down and kissed her crown. "I'll see you later, once you're up and about," he promised.

"Okay," said Ruby. "I love you, Kyo-nii."

"I love you too," Kyo answered.

Straightening up, Kyo made his way through the door. The door clicked shut behind him. That tiny sound appeared to be enough to make Jaune stir. Blinking and yawning, he sat up in his seat, groaning and stretching his back, while still keeping a firm grip on Ruby's hand. Turning his head, he looked at Ruby, a relieved smile spreading across his face at the sight of her looking back.

"Morning, sleepy head," she said.

"Shouldn't I be saying that?" asked Jaune playfully.

"Only if you wake up first," Ruby replied cheekily, earning a chuckle from him.

"How are you feeling?" asked Jaune.

"Well...I could be better," said Ruby, shifting, wincing as she felt a variety of tiny pains run up and down her body.

"The doctor said you have multiple mild muscle tears across your entire body," said Jaune. "Your bones were pretty battered too." He frowned and traced his hands long the red lines drawn along her hand and forearm, similar to what Kyo had done earlier. "And then there's what you did to your hands and arms."

"Yeah...my sword had to help me a little," said Ruby. "She isn't exactly gentle."

"This has happened before?" asked Jaune.

"A couple times," admitted Ruby. "One time was because Akaibara got mad at me. I did something she really didn't like, so she...scolded me, I guess."

"You mean your sword actually injures you, when it's mad?" asked Jaune, shocked.

"Sort of," said Ruby. "These aren't severe, and a sword can do _way_ more. There are horror stories about what Kyo's sword can do, if it ever loses respect for its wielder."

"Please...let's _not_ talk about him, right now," said Jaune, his expression sour for a moment.

"Okay," said Ruby, understanding why, and not really objecting. She supposed she _had_ put her friends through quite the scare, with what she'd done, and Kyo had only made things worse in that respect. That aspect of their relationship would probably be a difficult one for her friends and teachers to grasp.

Jaune let out a breath. "A-anyway...why would your sword do that to you?"

Ruby giggled. "Well, she is a sword after all. It's not like she has a mouth or tongue to scold me with. So she does it with her Aura, which is kinda...thorny."

"Thorny, huh...?" Jaune frowned at the red lines running up Ruby's arms. He closed his eyes, seeming to accept what Ruby had told him. When he opened them again, he gave her a small smile. "So...last night...that was that _Raikoken_ thing you were talking about, right?"

"Yeah," said Ruby, a blissful look on her face. "I finally did it."

"I gotta admit, it _looked_ pretty awesome," said Jaune.

"It felt pretty awesome at the time too," said Ruby. "Now I just need to practice to be able to do it without draining the rest of my Aura first." Something occurred to her. "Wait! What about you? Are you okay, Jaune?"

"I'm fine," said Jaune, squeezing her hand, before reaching out with his other hand to cup her cheek. "I got knocked out, when they first caught me, so I was a bit sore at the back of the head, and then the ropes chafed my arms and legs a little. But my Aura healed it all up easily."

"Good," said Ruby.

"Ruby..." Jaune frowned. "...what was Cinder talking about? I didn't get a lot of it, but she was talking about some kind of power...magic?"

"That's..." Ruby frowned. "The gist of it is that Cinder thought I had something that I didn't, something that she wanted."

"What was it?"

Ruby looked away from Jaune for a moment, mulling the situation over. If she told him she shouldn't be talking about it, he would probably accept it. However, that wasn't exactly fair to Jaune, as he'd been attacked and held hostage over this mistake. Ozpin might not like it, but, given what Jaune had already heard, it was probably best to just go ahead and set him straight.

"You have to understand, this is a pretty big secret," said Ruby, looking up at Jaune again. "Professor Ozpin might not like me telling you, but it's probably best you know."

"Okay..." said Jaune hesitantly. "What did Cinder think you had?"

"Magic," said Ruby plainly.

"...What?"

Ruby couldn't exactly blame Jaune for such a flat reaction. Said straight out, it _did_ seem pretty ridiculous. "So...have you heard _The Story of the Seasons_?"

"Yeah," said Jaune. "My youngest sisters loves that one."

"Well...the story's true," said Ruby.

"_Really!?_" gasped Jaune.

Ruby nodded, laying out everything she knew about the Maidens, about the nature of their power, and how it was passed from one woman to another. Jaune listened with rapt attention, eyes wide with shock. For the time being, Ruby decided to leave out a couple of details, namely that she knew one of the Maidens personally, and that Ozpin was the Wizard from the story. Other than that, she told Jaune pretty much everything.

"Wow..." said Jaune, once she finished, "...that's...a lot to take in."

"I know," said Ruby. "But it's true."

"So...now that Cinder's dead...um...?"

"I don't know for sure," admitted Ruby. "Hopefully the power that she stole will go back to the person she stole it from, and then that woman will get better. That's the best-case scenario, I think."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "But what does that mean for you?"

"I don't know for sure," said Ruby. "I guess, things just go back to mostly normal for us. Cinder's gone, the White Fang have been stopped, and Vale seems to be safe for now. So...there isn't much else to do but just keep working as students, and get ready for the festival, and all that."

"Right," said Jaune, seeming a bit let down by the idea that, after everything they'd done and been through, they'd just go back to being regular Beacon students.

"That's just the way it goes," said Ruby. "This is super-secret stuff, so it's not like Professor Ozpin can give us some kind of award, or any recognition at all really."

"You seem pretty okay with that," noted Jaune.

"Well, Cinder's not a threat anymore," said Ruby. "We've definitely put a stop to whatever evil plan they had in the works, so that means a lot of people, who might have died or been hurt otherwise, will be safe. I think I'm good with that."

"I'm glad to see that you already have the heart of a true Huntress," observed Ozpin, stepping into the room.

"Hello, Professor," said Ruby, jolting a little at Ozpin's unexpected arrival. She hadn't sensed his approach at all. But, then again, having just come out of unconsciousness after straining both her body and Aura past all rational limits, Ruby hadn't invested too much in keeping her senses expanded to track anything beyond her most immediate surroundings.

"And how are you feeling, this morning?" inquired Ozpin, smiling down at her.

"Pretty stiff and achy," said Ruby.

"Oh? I figured that your partner would have taken care of that," said Ozpin, glancing at Jaune.

"W-well...I was waiting to hear back from her doctor," explained Jaune. "If she needed any special procedures or anything, I figured that I might do more harm than good, since I barely know what I'm doing with this healing stuff. But if it's something her Aura would be able to take care of on its own, then I figure I can expedite the process." He looked to Ruby. "That's the right way, isn't it?"

Ruby beamed at him and nodded, glad that Jaune hadn't jumped the gun on her. One might have assumed that the healing arts were easy, simply a matter of channeling one's Aura into their patient. But there were nuances that made it a more complex matter. If a healer was sloppy, they could do a great deal of harm. If bones weren't set properly, before their healing, they would heal crookedly. Damage to organs had to be managed carefully, or there could be side-effects that could do lasting harm. Even with Aura, putting a person's body back together was infinitely more difficult than taking it apart in the first place.

"Well then, you're in luck," said Ozpin. "I spoke with Ms. Rose's doctor on the way here. According to him, Ms. Rose's body is at no real risk, provided she doesn't overexert herself while she's healing up. At most, he prescribed continued bed rest to allow her Aura to do its work. That being, said, I believe you can go ahead."

"Okay..." said Jaune, turning to Ruby, who gave him a final nod of confirmation.

"Remember, don't force your Aura into me," said Ruby. "Project it gently, and let it Flow. Focus on using it to enhance my own Aura's recovery ability."

"Right..." said Jaune, closing his eyes. He clasped her hand in both of his. A few seconds of concentration later, and Jaune's body was outlined with a faint, white light. Then that light flowed down to his hands, concentrating there, before flowing out into Ruby's body.

Ruby bit down on a gasp, feeling Jaune's Aura cause her own to surge. Jaune put more into it than he needed to, not surprising, considering how little practice he had with the technique. However, it was merely a bit shocking, not painful or harmful. Within just a few seconds, Ruby could feel the pain throughout her body subsiding. Even the red marks Akaibara had left on her hands and arms were receding. In just a little over a minute, she felt almost as good as new.

"I think that's good," she said.

"Okay," said Jaune, no longer sending his Aura into her, but still holding on to her hand.

"Quite impressive," said Ozpin. "That is a most welcome skill that you have, Mr. Arc. I hope that you will continue to nurture it."

"I plan to," said Jaune. "I don't want to push it too far, not until Ruby's sister gets back, and I can get some pointers from her."

"Probably the wisest course of action," said Ozpin, nodding to himself. "And how do you feel now, Ms. Rose?"

"Pretty much good to go," said Ruby, before yawning. "Still a little sluggish though."

"Considering what you did, yesterday and last evening, I am not surprised," said Ozpin. "We appeared to have misstepped with Cinder Fall. Though James did not say anything, I think he believes that I hesitated too much...and he might be right."

"I can't say," said Ruby. "Cinder got it into her head that I was one of the Maidens, and decided she was going to try and take my power too."

Ozpin glanced at Jaune, who swallowed.

"I told him," said Ruby. "He was taken hostage over it, so it's only fair that he knows, not to mention Cinder was talking to me about it, right where he could hear it."

"I see," said Ozpin, looking a bit more intently at Jaune. "Mr. Arc, I hope that I do not need to tell you that this is not something you should speak of carelessly."

"R-right," said Jaune.

"So, anyway, I don't think it's your fault," said Ruby, continuing where she'd left off. "The important thing is that everything turned out okay."

"Agreed, in more ways than one," said Ozpin, his expression warming. "On that note...since you are now healed, do you feel up to walking, Ms. Rose?"

"Yeah," said Ruby.

"Good," said Ozpin. "In that case, go ahead and get cleaned and dressed. Your teammates got your outfit cleaned and mended, and it is ready for you." He gestured to a small table, set against the wall, across from the foot of her bed, where her clothes rested, along with the armor she usually wore. "After that, I will be able to show you the consequences of your adventure, last night."

"All right," said Ruby, sitting up.

Her body was still stiff, and the joints of her spine popped a few times. Jaune helped steady her as she got her feet under herself. She was a bit shaky, but ultimately able to stand on her own. Getting up, she collected her outfit, then went into the bathroom to shower and change. There were also the usual toiletries there, which allowed her to brush her teeth. By the time she finished up, she was feeling even more refreshed, able to form her cloak and hood, stepping out of the bathroom feeling as good as new.

"Excellent," said Ozpin. "Now then, if you two will follow me."

Ruby and Jaune nodded, falling into step behind Ozpin as he led the way down the infirmary's hall. A couple of doors down, he came to a stop, and then gently pushed the door open. Ruby looked in past Ozpin, and gasped in shock.

"Emerald!" She barely had the wherewithal to keep her voice in check, the girl's name escaping her mouth in a harsh whisper.

Emerald Sustrai lay on the bed, her eyes closed. Like Ruby, her regular outfit had been removed. Unlike Ruby, she had been linked up to monitors and an I.V, her condition clearly more severe than Ruby's had been.

Ozpin closed the door, giving Ruby a grave look. "The doctor says that she will survive. However, it is likely that the injuries you inflicted to her spinal column are permanent. She has been paralyzed from the waist down."

"Oh..." said Ruby sadly, looking down.

"No one here will hold it against you," said Ozpin.

"I know," said Ruby. "I'm glad she'll live, at least." Having Cinder's blood on her hands was enough, as far as she was concerned.

"Mr. Black has been taken into police custody," continued Ozpin. "He suffered some damage to his prosthetics. However, given how dangerous they were, that is hardly a bad thing."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "You're going to want to be careful, when Emerald wakes up. She has an illusion-type Semblance. I think she interacts with a person's senses to interfere with how they perceive their surroundings."

"I see, so _she_ is the illusionist who tried to breach Ms. Forrest's room," noted Ozpin, rubbing his chin.

"Looks that way," said Ruby. "I'm not entirely sure what conditions she can use it under, like how close she has to be, or if she has to have some form of contact with her target. So she could be tricky to handle, even partially paralyzed."

"Understood, I will have the staff and security briefed," said Ozpin. "Now then, let's continue."

He led them out of the infirmary, and through the hallways of Beacon. There were more people out and about now, with most of the missions having officially come to an end. It would only be a couple more days until classes resumed. Ruby was pretty sure that, by Sunday, most everyone would be back.

Ozpin led them to the faculty quarters. At first, she thought he was taking them to see Ashley, though she couldn't figure out why, or maybe Kyo. She had no idea where Kyo presently stood with the enigmatic Headmaster. However, Ozpin led them to a different room entirely. Upon knocking, the door was opened by none other than Glynda Goodwitch herself.

"Hello, Glynda," said Ozpin. "How is our guest doing today?"

_Guest...?_ Ruby wondered. _Could it be...?_

"A bit more restless than is probably good for her," said Glynda, smiling despite her words. "Not that I can blame her for that."

"Is she up for visitors?" asked Ozpin.

Ruby flinched slightly as Glynda's eyes came to rest on her. "Considering who it is, I think she will be most happy to accept a visitor or two."

Ruby's heartbeat quickened as Glynda led the group into her suite. It was a good bit larger than the Forrest Family's, two floors down; featuring a large living room, its own dining room, and even a full-sized kitchen. On top of the master bedroom, for Glynda herself, it also had a nicely appointed guest room. Ruby supposed that being Deputy Headmistress of Beacon came with its fair share of perks.

Glynda led them to the guest room. Glynda had them wait just outside, while she went to talk to the occupant. Ruby, Jaune, and Ozpin listened from outside.

"You have guests," Glynda said.

"Is _she_ one of them?" came back a soft, feminine voice, weak and slightly hoarse, suggesting that the speaker hadn't spoken in a very long time.

"She is," replied Glynda.

"I'd like that," the other woman replied.

Glynda emerged from the room, and nodded to her guests. Ozpin entered first, motioning Ruby and Jaune to stay back. "Hello, Amber. How are you feeling today?"

"Like jelly," said the young woman, Amber apparently. "But I'm alive and awake, so it's not bad at all."

"Good," said Ozpin, sounding genuinely happy. "It does me well to see you finally on the road to recovery."

"Thank you," Amber replied. "Um...not that it isn't good to see you again, Professor, but..."

"You would like to speak with _her_, correct?"

"Y-yes."

Ozpin chuckled softly. "Ms. Rose, please come in."

Ruby hesitantly stepped through the door, her suspicions becoming certainty as she laid eyes on the bedridden young woman who occupied the room.

Amber was a young woman, who looked to be of an age with Weiss' sister, Winter. However, it wasn't a sure thing. Amber's complexion was light-brown. Her face was framed with locks of straight, brown hair that ended just above her shoulders. Ruby met her eyes, a shade of brown that matched her hair, with a small beauty mark beneath her left eye. The rest of Amber's body was obscured by the loose fabric of a hospital gown, not unlike the one Ruby had been wearing earlier. Ruby wasn't able to get a good idea of Amber's figure, but the young woman's arms looked almost painfully thin. Her hands were closed around a small glass of water, which she rested on her lap as she sat in the bed, propped up by a stack of pillows.

Amber was clearly a beautiful young woman. But that beauty was marred by the unpleasant-looking, weblike scar that covered much of the left side of her face, including the area around and over her left eye, the lid scarred as well, the discoloration visible when she blinked. Ruby could only guess that the scar was a result of Cinder's partially-successful attempt to remove the Maiden powers from her.

"Ms. Rose, please allow me to introduce Amber Akiyama, the Fall Maiden," said Ozpin. "Amber, this is Ruby Rose."

"H-hello," said Ruby, stepping past Ozpin, and moving to stand nervously at the side of Amber's bed. "It's nice to meet you."

"I'm glad I could meet you too," said Amber, smiling widely up at her. "When I heard what happened, I just _had_ to meet the girl who saved my life."

Ruby sniffed, uncertain why her nose suddenly seemed so stuffy, and her eyes felt like pressure was building behind them. Seeing the chair set next to the bed, near the head, Ruby sat down in it. Releasing the glass she held with one hand, Amber offered it to Ruby, who took it in both of hers, holding it tightly.

It was strange beyond words. Ruby had never seen Amber before in her life, never even heard her name spoken before today. When she'd heard about the Fall Maiden from Ozpin, it had been vague and almost impersonal, Ozpin only telling her a tiny bit about the Maiden's condition. Yet the mere sight of this woman on the bed before her; alive and, if not exactly well, at least on the road to recovery; filled Ruby with more happiness and relief than she could describe. Ruby found herself bowing her head over the hand she held, tears running freely down her cheeks.

Amber herself was smiling so widely that her own cheeks must have been sore from the exertion. She too was shedding silent tears, both of them so overcome with emotion that, for the moment, there were no words they could say to one another.

From the entrance to the room, Jaune also found himself wiping away tears, just glad to see Ruby look so happy and fulfilled, while Glynda dabbed beneath her eyes with a handkerchief. Only Ozpin sported dry eyes. But the uncharacteristically wide smile on his face spoke volumes enough for him.

The strangely celebratory silence stretched on for several minutes, neither of the girls feeling up to words, while none of the other observers dared to intrude on the happy interlude. Finally, it was Ruby who broke the silence.

"I...I don't even know what to say," she said.

"Well," Amber replied, "how about introducing yourself. I want to know about you...everything you can tell me."

"O-okay," said Ruby.

Ozpin rested a hand against Jaune's shoulder and gently directed him out of the room, Glynda following them, and shutting the door behind herself.

"Let's let them have this moment to themselves," Ozpin said softly.

"Sure," said Jaune not minding it, not when he had seen that euphoric smile on Ruby's face, something he found unspeakably beautiful. It made him slightly regretful that he hadn't snapped a picture with his scroll, when he had a chance.

"Now then, while those two are getting acquainted, we do have another matter to discuss, Mr. Arc," said Ozpin.

"We do...?" asked Jaune.

"That we do, seeing as you are now another who knows the truth about the Maidens," said Ozpin. "Therefore, it is important that we ensure your discretion. Ms. Rose has been admirable about keeping that secret to herself. It was only through a set of unique coincidences that you came to learn about it. Therefore, I hope that we can trust your discretion as well. This is something that we cannot allow to get out, under any circumstances."

"Okay..." said Jaune. "I'd ask why not, but considering what just happened to Amber, I think I understand why people learning the Maidens are real would be a bad thing."

"I imagine so," agreed Glynda.

"That said...I think we should tell our teammates, at least," said Jaune, "and probably Team Rainbow too."

"I do not believe that is wise," said Glynda, adjusting her glasses slightly.

"Why do you believe that, Mr. Arc?" asked Ozpin.

"Well, Rainbow and Raspberry know the basics of this situation," said Jaune. "They know that Cinder took me hostage to call out Ruby. But they don't know why. While we could make up some kind of lie, or just tell them that we aren't allowed to talk about it, I feel like that's not fulfilling our responsibilities as their teammates and friends. Not to mention that Yang is Ruby's sister, and would be pretty desperate to know why she was targeted."

"And you believe that making sure that your two teams know about this situation is part of your responsibility to them, Mr. Arc?" said Ozpin.

Jaune nodded. "Without any knowledge of the Fall Maiden, all we had was information on scattered situations. We know that Cinder was working with both Torchwick and the White Fang...or that they were working _for_ her, rather. We know that she was planning on using them to some kind of end. But that end would be completely impossible to figure out without the knowledge of the Fall Maiden.

"All this was to bring about a chance to get at her, wasn't it? Cinder was trying to throw Vale into chaos because she thought that would give her an opportunity to get to Amber, and finish what she'd started by stealing part of her power in the first place. But she got it into her head that Ruby was a Maiden too, and got greedy. Because of that, she went out on a limb, and wound up getting killed as a result. With that, we can get a better idea on the big picture, and it'll keep the others from asking uncomfortable questions."

"Hmm..." Ozpin scratched his chin, mulling the matter over. "Your arguments are fairly sensible, Mr. Arc. Glynda, your thoughts?"

Glynda was silent for a moment. "The more people who know a secret, the less secret it is," she said finally. "Our inner circle is small and intimate for that very reason, to ensure that information does not leak. What you are proposing, Mr. Arc, is that we broaden the number of people with knowledge of this affair by an additional six, not including yourself. That represents an extreme risk."

Jaune tensed, expecting a stern dismissal of his idea. However, Glynda gave him a small smile as she continued.

"That having been said, we have already been entrusting Raspberry and Rainbow with a great deal more than we would the average set of students. Without even knowing why, they have already been acting on our behalf for the better part of a semester, as a part of this secret war. So...we might as well go ahead and bring them up to speed on the situation."

"Very well then," said Ozpin. He frowned. "That being the case, then I feel it most prudent to tell them...everything."

Despite agreeing to tell RYNB and the rest of RASP about the Maidens just a few seconds ago, Glynda was taken aback by Ozpin's statement. "Wha-what...? _Everything_? Are you sure?"

Ozpin nodded. "At this stage, it is critical that we make sure that Raspberry and Rainbow understand the full scope of the situation, and the forces arrayed." He looked over at Jaune. "Call your friends, Mr. Arc. We have a great deal to talk about."

* * *

**Been a while since I've had something to say at the end of a chapter. Getting back up to speed with work hasn't been entirely easy. I'm immensely grateful though. I was one of the first people in my workplace that got asked to come back, and though quite a few others were brought back on reduced hours, I was immediately brought back on my full schedule. There's certainly been some adjustments to be made. Who knew that, when you have to wear a mask for the better part of eight hours, the biggest strain would be on your _ears_. That and I find myself worn out after I've spent a day on the register, because I have to do a wax-on-wax-off with a sanitary wipe after every transaction. Still, it's good to have a job again. Anyway...**

**The "Kyo Makes Things Awkward" saga continues, as Ruby's friends aren't exactly happy with what he just did, not that anybody really disputes their right to be unhappy about it. Ruby's family situation is...kinda weird. You'll get to see more of that later.**

**Is it a bad thing that I derive so much satisfaction from killing Cinder in my stories...? Nah. I don't really think so.**

**And, of course, now that Cinder is gone, Amber is back on the scene. And now everyone else gets to be clued in too.**


	88. Chapter 88

**Chapter 88:**

It was the work of just a minute or so for Jaune to call Pyrrha and Weiss, informing them that Ozpin wanted to speak with them, as well as Team RYNB. After that, it was several moments of tense waiting, while everyone made their way to Glynda's suite in the faculty quarters. In the meantime, Ozpin departed briefly, promising he would be back by the time the others arrived, or maybe just a little bit after.

All the while, Ruby remained in the guest room with Amber, the two of them talking in low voices, though an occasional giggle or laugh could be heard. Whatever it was they were talking about, it seemed that they were enjoying their conversation immensely.

A few minutes later, Weiss and Pyrrha arrived. The two of them were tense, not all that surprising, given it was Glynda's room that they'd been called to. Generally, one was only ever summoned into the presence of the Deputy Headmistress when something about their behavior needed to be called into account. However, they relaxed, seeing Jaune sitting on one of the couches in the living room, looking quite comfortable and at ease. Meanwhile, Glynda bustled about the kitchen, actually going through the trouble of putting together a lunch for her guests.

The idea of Glynda cooking was strange enough to the students. Seeing her in action was even _more_ disconcerting, as Glynda used her Semblance freely to help with preparation, her telekinesis moving containers, ingredients, and utensils, allowing her to perform several tasks simultaneously. It reminded them of a scene from a certain fantasy cartoon…though the scene in question had involved mops and buckets of water. Of course, they knew better than to worry about Glynda flooding the kitchen.

Yang arrived only a couple minutes after Weiss and Pyrrha, with Ren and Nora on her heels. Blake was the last to arrive, having once again been ensconced in the library, when she'd received the call for them to report to Glynda's quarters.

"Wow, pretty swanky place here, Professor," said Yang, surveying Glynda's domain.

"Thank you for saying so," said Glynda, actually smiling at the compliment, the mere action unsettling Yang even more than any stern reprimand might have.

"Where's Ruby?" asked Pyrrha, concerned. "I thought she was here."

"She is here," said Glynda, using her telekinesis to deliver a pair of trays to the coffee table in the living room. One tray was set with a coffee service, the other for tea. The students were free to decide which they preferred. "At present, she is talking with a guest of mine. That will be a part of this conversation as well."

"Is she all right?" asked Weiss, looking pointedly at Jaune.

"Most certainly in good health," agreed Glynda. "I believe we have Mr. Arc to thank for that."

Jaune blushed, averting his eyes as the others laughed.

They chatted amongst themselves for a bit, while sipping from their cups. After a few more minutes, Ruby emerged from the guest room.

"Does Amber require anything?" asked Glynda, looking up at Ruby.

"She's resting," said Ruby. "I guess I tired her out by talking so much."

"It's the most activity she's had since waking up," said Glynda. "Hopefully that will help settle her for a while. I may have to call upon you again, Ms. Rose, seeing as Amber seems to enjoy talking with you so much."

Ruby blushed, hearing Jaune chuckle, but noticing that the rest of her friends were now there...and staring at her with expressions of curiosity and confusion. "Um..."

"We're going to tell them everything," said Jaune. "Goodwitch and Ozpin gave their permission."

"Oh..." said Ruby.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Yang.

"A friend I just made," said Ruby, smiling. "I guess we get to explain that now. But it's probably best to start at the beginning."

"What are we waiting for then?" asked Weiss.

"Ozpin," said Glynda plainly. "He was to be present for this as well, though he has yet to return from...wherever it is that he has gone."

They waited a few more minutes, before Ruby sensed Ozpin's approach...along with company, someone she wasn't surprised to sense in his presence, given the circumstances. She was already getting up to answer the door, before Ozpin knocked on it.

"Thank you all for waiting," said Ozpin, entering the room...with Kyo behind him.

"What's _he_ doing here?" asked Yang harshly.

"Ozpin-dono invited me," said Kyo cheerfully, completely unbothered by the anger being directed at him by most of the other people in the room.

Ruby sighed. "You weren't kidding, were you?"

"Yes, they _are_ rather upset with me," said Kyo. "I suppose I deserve that."

"You deliberately put your own sister's life at risk, against a real enemy, just so she could learn a technique," Weiss pointed out.

"I don't deny that," said Kyo. "Sasame and I also abandoned her on the edge of Sanus to travel on her own across well over several-hundred miles' worth of hostile, Grimm-infested terrain with nary a second thought. And that's to say nothing of the things we allowed her to experience, back in Leng. So this is hardly an unusual practice for us."

"It _is_ how I came to Vale," added Ruby sheepishly.

"Yes, but you actively _stopped_ us from helping her," Pyrrha pointed out.

"I apologize for disrupting the team dynamic," said Kyo, rubbing the back of his head in that familiar gesture of his. "However, Ruby-chan has always been so very passionate about learning the _Raikoken_. Assessing the situation, I determined that this would be the best possible opportunity for that, so...I...well..." He chuckled. "I suppose I just wanted to indulge her in that respect. She _is_ my sister after all, and I do tend to want to dote on her."

"Kyo-nii..." whined Ruby, blushing, which only prompted Kyo to laugh and fondly ruffle her hair.

That's_ his idea of doting on her?_ thought Yang incredulously.

_And, from the way Ruby's reacting, it really seems like the kind of thing he _would_ spoil her with,_ Pyrrha thought.

In unison, everyone found themselves having the exact same thought. _These siblings are weird._

"In any case, Kyo knows enough about the particulars of this situation that he is qualified to be present," said Ozpin. "I invited James as well. However, he has other matters to attend to, with the Vytal Festival coming up, and couldn't spare the time, though he did send his approval."

_I wasn't expecting that,_ thought Glynda, as she continued to work in the kitchen.

Ironwood's fixation on security bordered on paranoia at times. He had balked at the idea of letting Ruby in on the most basic aspects of this situation. Sure, after the exceptional performance of RASP and RYNB on their missions, he had begun to show more faith in them, but it still felt like an exceptional leap for him to be willing to entrust the members of both teams with the full story. _Perhaps Amber's recovery and the death of Cinder changed his mind in that respect,_ thought Glynda.

"Now then, let us begin," said Ozpin. "What is your favorite fairy tale...?"

* * *

"I hope you know what you're doing, Whitley," growled Jacques Schnee, looking intently over his desk at his son.

Jacques was the very image of a respectable businessman. His grayish-white hair was slicked back over his head, combed to perfection, while the bushy mustache beneath his nose was likewise flawlessly groomed. Combined with the pristine white, double-breasted jacket he wore over his light-blue shirt and gray tie; his appearance spoke of perfection and control. He was a man who exercised control over even the most minuscule details of his life, as well as the lives of those who lived beneath him, including his own children...or that was how he would have preferred it.

Two of his three children had caused him no shortage of grief, though, despite his best efforts. Winter had gone to Atlas Academy, and become enamored with the military life, deciding to serve under Ironwood as a Specialist, rather than properly assume her mantle as first in line to inherit the SDC. When he realized that Winter would not conform to the role that he had set out for her, Jacques had disinherited her, and moved on to his next daughter.

Weiss had proven a disappointment as well. True, her ability as a singer, combined with her delicate, refined appearance had served to win her a strong following, back when she'd still been performing. In that respect, she would have been an admirable support for Winter, serving to polish the Schnee Family's public image to a fine luster.

However, Weiss had never really grasped the nuances of running the SDC to his satisfaction, and her occasional bouts of willfulness led to him doubting that he could mold her properly. The fact that she had outright defied him by going to Beacon Academy, in another Kingdom entirely, only served to cement that impression. On top of that, she went on to besmirch the name of the Schnees and the SDC by attending a formal event with a _faunus_, despite the clever reason she had given for it. No, to Jacques' mind, Weiss was not suited to take over the SDC, and it was only a matter of time before she gave him all the reason he needed to strip her of the title, and bestow it on his third child, the only one he had found truly worthy of the position.

That third child stood before him now. Whitely Schnee; the youngest, and only, son of the Schnee family; shared his sisters' attributes in many ways, having the same pale complexion, pale-blue eyes, and white hair. His build was thin and slender, fit, but not particularly athletic. His hair was cut much shorter than his sisters, his bangs combed to the left of his head, and a small cowlick sprouting from the top. Like Jacques, his clothing was immaculate, consisting of a short-sleeved white shirt, with the sleeves fastened just above his elbows. All of that was beneath a light-blue vest, accented with a black tie. Navy-blue trousers and black dress-shoes completed the ensemble.

Whitely stood, his position relaxed, yet also respectful, arms folded behind his back as he smiled at his father across the desk.

"Of course, Father," said Whitely, his voice smooth, almost oily. "I assure you that the Vytal Festival will afford us with ample opportunities to secure my...position."

"Weiss managed to squeak through the last test I gave her," said Jacques. "She will give up the game soon enough. There is no need for you to go to Vale. I will handle matters."

"Come now, Father," said Whitley. "If I do not do some 'handling' of my own, how could anyone say that I properly earned my place as your heir? Please, leave Weiss to me. Besides, it is for the best that we not leave any ill feelings behind."

"I hope you're not going soft on your sister," growled Jacques.

Whitley chuckled, his smirking smile widening. "Hardly, Father. I'm just thinking further ahead. You _know_ just how much of a sore loser Weiss is." _After all, you're the one who raised her to be like that,_ he added silently, though he kept that particular thought to himself. After all, that was a trait that Jacques had fostered in all his children, mainly because he himself held "loss" of any kind to be an unacceptable outcome. "Better that she be...convinced...to give up her position willingly, than be left thinking she was cheated out of it."

"Who cares what she thinks?" growled Jacques. "At this point, I'm prepared to cut that ungrateful brat loose."

"As I said, I'm just thinking further ahead," explained Whitley. "If Weiss believes she was cheated out of the inheritance, she will oppose it, fight it. Yes, that would do next to nothing to change your mind. However, it would make things inconvenient, damaging even, depending on _how_ she chooses to fight it. I believe that, even if she isn't a suitable heir, she remains a potential asset. Isn't it better to keep such assets close and available, rather than cause ourselves greater inconvenience down the road?"

"You have a point," conceded Jacques.

It was that far-sighted shrewdness that had convinced Jacques that Whitley was his ideal heir. Rather than the boorish, violent tendencies of his sisters, Whitley was possessed of a refined, analytical mind, and a willingness to think his way out of problems, rather than try to hack and slash past them. Whitley was always thinking ahead, always weighing costs and benefits, and always leaving the dirty work to others. That was proper for someone who would, one day, be leading the most powerful company in Remnant.

"Besides," added Whitley, "the Vytal Festival is a fine opportunity for us. There will be numerous events that I can use to build relations with potential investors. After your last...shall we say..._interaction_...with Vale, I'm afraid quite a few feathers were ruffled. It is for the best if someone from the family is on hand to soothe them. On top of that, it will afford me more opportunities to work on Weiss."

"It might afford you opportunities to find a suitable companion for yourself," added Jacques.

"Perhaps," said Whitley. "Though that is a secondary concern at present. Please be patient, Father. I am sure that I will furnish you with a suitable heir in due time."

"The daughter of Soleil is in Vale right now," Jacques pointed out. "_Being_ a specialist is useless for the purposes of leading the company. But having one for your wife, to say nothing of having an additional tie to the military, would not be a bad thing at all."

"I will keep that in mind," said Whitley, though he'd already crossed Ciel Soleil off the list of candidates some time ago. After all, the son of the Elric Family had apparently caught her eye, so he thought his chances slim, not that he had ever made any attempts a courting her. There were other things to consider, when selecting a potential wife, not that he was in any hurry to.

"I look forward to your results, Whitley," said Jacques. "You are the only member of this family who seems to _truly_ understand the importance of our position."

"Of course, Father," said Whitley. "I shall not disappoint you."

"You are free to go then," said Jacques, nodding towards the door.

"Thank you, Father," said Whitley, turning on his heel and walking casually out the door, shutting it behind him.

As he made his way through the pristine, white-marble halls of the Schnee manor, Whitley's scroll rang in his pocket. Taking it out, his smile widened as he saw the contact listed. Bringing it up to his ear, he answered it. "It's good to hear from you. Did you manage to come through?"

He listened to the response. "An Ursa Major? Excellent! I take it that it's already been secured in the usual location...Good. I'll be right down."

Tucking his scroll away, Whitley made his way down into the manor's basement. Much of the basement served as nothing more than storage space, or space for the myriad pieces of machinery that served the manor above. However, the basement was also a space where his family had set up to handle more...discreet...matters.

Whitley's walk took him to a pair of heavy, armored doors. Forged from the finest steel alloys, they could handle a sustained artillery barrage without breaking, just the sort of barrier they needed, should the things on the other side of that door become...unmanageable. Stepping to the keypad, Whitley keyed in his code to the door, before shifting to bring his eye up to the scanner mounted above the pad, allowing it to scan his retina to confirm his identity.

That taken care of, the doors slid apart from one another, the heavy metal groaning. Whitley stepped through the doors, which slid back closed behind him. The groaning sound of the doors did little to stifle the snarls, growls, and roars of the room's primary occupant.

"Quite a fine specimen," said Whitley, lips pulling back to show a faint grin.

"Nothing but the best for you, Young Master," said the disheveled Huntsman, rubbing his hands together greedily.

Before Whitley was the massive form of an Ursa Major, the monstrous, powerfully-built Grimm dwarfing him several times over. At the sight of the human appearing before it, the creature shifted its weight, lunging forward, jaws wide open. To his credit, Whitley didn't so much as flinch as the Ursa's jaws closed with a loud snap, mere inches away from his face. The beast had been restrained, advanced alloy chains holding its limbs, which had been broken to keep it from exerting its full strength.

Capturing Grimm alive was an exceedingly difficult task, even for veteran Huntsmen. It went beyond the danger the Grimm themselves presented, should the measures taken to restrain them fail. Captive Grimm had a tendency to die unexpectedly, sometimes for no apparent reason. Capturing one, and then hobbling it to this extent, was an even more impressive feat, one that Whitley had only ever seen _this_ Huntsman, who was mainly known by the moniker, "The Grimm Wrangler," perform. This particular man had a skill for capturing Grimm alive, and in a variety of states that suited the needs of his clients.

In this case, Whitley wanted Grimm that were restrained almost completely, in a state where they could easily be finished off. Smiling at the sight of this impressive windfall, he held out his right hand.

The Huntsman passed Whitley a large-bore pistol, the most powerful gun of its kind, capable of firing much more powerful Dust-cartridges than most handguns. Taking the gun in his left hand, Whitley lined it up with the center of the Ursa's head, right between its glowing, angry, red eyes. He waited a second as the beast thrashed against its chains to make sure the shot was properly lined up, then pulled the trigger.

The sound of the gunshot was terrific. The kick of the gravity-round that Whitley had just fired was capable of breaking the arm of an average man. As it was, the recoil was enough to send him stumbling back several steps to slam his shoulders into the door, his arm swinging up to point the gun at the ceiling, before he recovered and lowered it.

Still, his shot had hit its mark, and the Ursa Major slumped against its restraints, a significant portion of its head missing. A few seconds later, the dead Grimm dissolved.

Whitley grunted, massaging his left forearm. "Unpleasant as always," he said.

"Perhaps if you trained more, Young Master," suggested the Huntsman, carefully prying the gun from Whitley's hand, Whitley grunting in pain as he did so.

"The pain is actually important, believe it or not," said Whitley, holding up his arm and examining it. "I will be fine in a few hours. The bone is not displaced."

"True," agreed the Huntsman.

Whitley smiled at the man, before reaching into his pocket with his uninjured right hand, and pulling out his scroll. He tapped the screen a few times, utilizing the necessary applications. "Your payment has been routed to your account, as per our agreement...along with a nice bonus for the impressive specimen you managed to secure. You have my gratitude."

"Your generosity is greatly appreciated," said the Huntsman, bowing to Whitley. "I shall try to outdo my success with the next one."

"I am sure that you will," replied Whitley.

The Huntsman took his leave through a small side-door, leaving Whitley alone in the room.

"Now then..." said Whitley, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. Then, he turned towards the open floor, where the Ursa had once been, and extended his right hand.

With a flicker of blue-white light, a Glyph appeared on the floor, a quartet of swords arranged with their tips pointing outwards. The light of the Glyph intensified to almost blinding levels, before vanishing in a flash. When the light subsided, the glowing blue and white figure of a massive Ursa Major stood before Whitley, looking at him, before slowly bowing its head in submission.

"Excellent," said Whitley, dismissing the Summon, before examining his left arm again.

Whitley Schnee had never liked pain. Even when it came to maintaining his physical fitness, he only worked out hard enough to keep his body slim and healthy, the bare minimum necessary. He'd never liked the prospect of combat, never enjoyed the idea of employing a weapon. He had certainly never entertained the notion of becoming a Huntsman. Such things were not for him, something he knew his sisters looked down on him for.

Perhaps this was overkill. After all, as the prospective heir to the SDC, with the favor of his father, Whitley had access to untold resources. He could afford to hire the best combatants to serve as his security, arrange for the finest technology to guard him. He could easily keep himself safe and happy from the likes of the White Fang without having to so much as lift a finger.

And yet, Whitley knew that it wasn't enough. Multiple members of the SDC's Board of Directors employed similar security measures. But they had been abducted by the White Fang and executed, _in spite_ of those measures. Security could fail, be subverted, or plain overpowered. The unexpected was always possible. Life had taught Whitley an important lesson. One could never have too many cards in their hand, and Whitley had invested a great deal of time, and his personal funds, into placing as many cards into his hand as he could.

Finally, Whitley opened the door and exited the room, heading back the way he came, making for his room, where he could recuperate. Even though his left hand and arm were throbbing in pain, Whitley smiled._ I think I'm going to enjoy this trip to Vale._

* * *

"This is...just unbelievable," said Weiss, as Ozpin wrapped up his explanation about the Maidens, and their power. "You're saying that magic is real, and that the Maidens of the fairy tale are real...and one of them is behind _that_ door?" She gestured to the door to the guest room.

"Yes," said Ozpin plainly.

"It's...a lot to take in," said Ren softly.

"Believe me, it gets weirder," said Ruby, grimacing slightly.

"There's more!" gasped Nora, her eyes going wide.

"Yep," said Ruby, giving Ozpin a sidelong look, which prompted him the chuckle.

Their discussion had migrated to Glynda's dining room table, which had enough seating for all of them. Glynda had wasted no time setting out lunch, having proved to be quite the able chef, even when cooking for such a large number.

"So what else is there?" asked Blake.

"Well...you know the Wizard from the story?" said Ruby.

"Yes," said Pyrrha, her eyes widening.

"He's sitting right there," said Ruby, gesturing to Ozpin.

Ozpin smirked and raised his hand. "Hello again."

Jaws dropped around the table.

"You've got to be lying," said Yang.

"Well...I am no stranger to such deceptions," said Ozpin. "But this is no deception."

"So you can do magic too?" gasped Nora, her eyes going even wider.

"Not so much," admitted Ozpin with a sigh. "Many ages ago, generations past, I shared the bulk of my power with four young women, who had rekindled my faith in humanity. Since then, my magic has been virtually nonexistent."

"Uh...just how long ago was this?" asked Jaune.

"I no longer have an exact count," said Ozpin. "A few centuries at least."

"Wow..." deadpanned Yang. "How old are you, 'cause I'd swear you don't look a day past your two-hundred."

Ozpin laughed at her jest. "It's very kind of you to say so, Ms. Xiao Long. The truth is, I am both older and younger than you think. You see, long ago, I was...cursed."

"Cursed?" asked Ruby, canting her head. This was new to her. It hadn't occurred to her to question Ozpin's age.

"Yes, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin, looking to her. "You can sense my Aura. No doubt you have noticed its...unusual nature."

Ruby swallowed, nodding. "It's...like...multiplied."

"Huh?" grunted Weiss.

"He has more than one Aura," explained Ruby. "They're all different. But they're all him too. It's weird to describe. It's like layers all sandwiched and pressed together, until they're all one thing. But you can still see the layers...sort of."

"Probably as apt a description as one can provide," said Kyo.

Ozpin nodded. "The nature of my curse forces me to live through multiple lives. When I die, I am reincarnated within the body of a likeminded soul. Over time, that soul assimilates with my own, and the souls of all those that have come before me."

Ozpin stared sadly at the table. "This body once belonged to a young man, with no aspirations of becoming a Huntsman. I appeared within him one day. From there, he was forced onto a path to becoming a Huntsman. Gradually, our souls merged, he and me becoming one, his identity being...subsumed...into mine. I have been through this...many times."

"That's..." Ruby didn't know what to say. She could scarcely imagine such an experience. Presumably, the man who Ozpin had been...before he became Ozpin...had dreams and aspirations of his own. However, his entire life had been derailed, and even his identity becoming another one of the layers of souls that made up Ozpin's soul. It was a terrible fate, one that neither Ozpin, nor the one he was reincarnated into, could avert.

"Who would do something like that?" gasped Blake, horrified. "What kind of monster would put such a terrible curse on you?"

Ozpin's smile became bitter. "Not a monster...but a god."

"God...?" whispered Ruby, feeling faint.

Ozpin sighed. "It is best to go back to the beginning. There are many legends and tales in the world of Remnant. Some of them have a grain of truth to them. And, as you have learned from the story about the Maidens, some of them _are_ truth. This particular legend is one of the oldest, and known only to a few.

"Long ago, there were two brothers, gods. The eldest was the God of Light and Creation. The younger was the God of Darkness and Destruction. For a long time, the two of them were in conflict. What the elder brother created, the younger would destroy. The elder brother created life. The younger brother created death. Across the ages, they competed, the younger brother trying to outdo the things his elder brother created by creating things to destroy them. As the pinnacle of that effort, the God of Darkness created a twisted perversion of life; monsters, beasts that existed solely to destroy and kill all that lived."

"The Creatures of Grimm," said Ruby, her eyes widening.

Ozpin nodded. "This continued for a long time. Finally, the God of Light came to the conclusion that their conflict would prove to be fruitless, possibly ending in their mutual destruction. To prevent that, he proposed a cessation to the conflict. As a means of forging peace between them, he proposed that they collaborate on one final creation. The God of Darkness agreed.

"So the two brothers pooled their power and breathed life into something new. The God of Light granted this new creation with his gifts of Creation and Knowledge. The God of Darkness bestowed it with the gifts of Choice and Destruction. The result of this collaboration was a lifeform never before seen in the world...humanity.

"Content with their creation, the brothers withdrew from the world, but not before leaving behind some traces of themselves. They left four Relics, artifacts imbued with the very essence of the gifts they had bestowed upon humanity: Creation, Knowledge, Choice, and Destruction."

"I'm guessing the Relics are the important part," said Ren.

Ozpin nodded. "They are powerful magical artifacts. If they fell into the wrong hands, they could wreak untold destruction, and throw the world into chaos."

"Are the bad guys trying to find them then?" asked Jaune. "If that's the case, I guess we should be trying to find them first."

"If these Relics are so important, why are they even bothering with the Maidens?" asked Blake. "Where do they fit into all of this?"

"In answer to Mr. Arc's question, we know where the Relics are. Unfortunately, so do our enemies...in a general sense.

"In answer to Ms. Belladonna's question, the Maidens are important, because they are the keys to the Relics."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"The Relics are here," said Ruby softly, "at Beacon...aren't they?" She paused, her forehead creasing as she thought it through. "No! That's not right! There are _four_ Academies! That means..."

"Correct, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin, giving her an approving look. "One of the Relics is hidden within each Academy. They are each stored in a secret place, within a special chamber. And the keys to those chambers are..."

"The Maidens," finished Pyrrha. "So Cinder wasn't just after the Fall Maiden's power for its own sake, but because it's the key to accessing the Relic, probably the one right here, at Beacon!"

"Well, I believe that Cinder Fall's actions were born of a considerable lust for power, first and foremost," said Ozpin, sighing. "But yes, the enemy's longterm goals are to acquire the Relics themselves."

"You say enemy like they're still out there," said Weiss suspiciously. "Does that mean that Cinder...was working for someone else?"

"Yes," said Ozpin, his expression darkening. "Her name...is Salem. The truth is...we know little about her."

Across the table, Kyo raised a single eyebrow, though the gesture went unnoticed by everyone at the table, save Ozpin.

Ozpin continued. "Long ago, I was cursed by the gods for failing to stop her. As such, I have fought Salem across the centuries, me trying to put an end to her destructive ways, while she tries to tear down everything that humanity has built."

Kyo was no longer smiling, though, again, the change in his expression was unnoticed by everyone except Ozpin.

"So...that means that, even with Cinder gone...it's not over," said Ruby.

Ozpin nodded. "Cinder Fall has been brought down, her plan ruined. However, so long as Salem is still active, she will come again. She will find new pawns, make new plans, and continue her work. Even now, some of her pieces are still in place. The virus that Cinder planted in Vale's CCT remains, and we are waiting for Ironwood's expert from Atlas to arrive and remove it. Even though the White Fang encampment in Mountain Glenn was destroyed, and everything that they invested in their planned attack was lost, the overall disposition of the White Fang remains in question."

"According to Ilia, it was limited to the Vale Branch," said Blake. "Sienna Khan sent her in order to spy on Adam and learn what he was up to."

"Assuming you can trust her words," commented Glynda.

Blake bristled at that, but Ozpin held up a hand, forestalling her angry response.

"Considering that Ms. Amitola was the one who provided the critical information on the planned attack _and_ smuggled our teams past her own forces' perimeter in order to stop it, I believe she was speaking in earnest. However, the question remains of just how much of a threat the Vale Branch presents. Adam Taurus is still at large, after all."

Blake settled and nodded slowly, silently dreading the fact that they had no idea where Adam had gone. Not even Ilia knew what had happened to him, only that he had been taken by someone called Jester.

"In any case, it remains to be seen whether or not one of Salem's other agents will attempt to pick up where Cinder Fall left off," continued Ozpin. "So...even though the immediate threat has been dealt with, it is for the best to keep from assuming that all is well. We must remain on our guard. Normally, I would rather that you be able to return to your lives as normal students. But you have become an integral part of this, not entirely through your own actions. You have earned the right to know the truth. But that also means that you now bear some of the responsibility for seeing this battle through."

"We understand," said Ruby, her friends all nodding.

"Thank you," said Ozpin. "For the time being, you can rest easy though. Whatever new plans Salem's agents concoct, it will be some time before they can get around to putting them into action, possibly even as far as into the next school year."

"We should be so lucky," groused Yang, with a sour look on her face.

"What about her?" asked Weiss, gesturing to the door.

"At this point, Amber's only real concern should be her own recuperation," said Ozpin. "She will need substantial physical therapy to regain her old strength, which will take both time and effort."

"Well...we have a healer in the party now," said Nora, gesturing to Jaune. "Why don't we just sic him on her and make her all better?"

"It doesn't work that way," said Ruby. "The healing arts treat actual damage and injuries. But Amber's problem is atrophy. Not even Jaune's abilities can replace lost muscle mass."

"Well, that's too bad," said Yang.

"It's fine, so long as she's okay," said Ruby. "I'm just glad she's getting better."

"It can't have been easy for her," noted Ren, "being stuck in a coma, with no idea if she would ever wake up again."

Ruby nodded, feeling tears build up behind her eyes at the thought of it.

Ozpin frowned. "Truth be told, before Ms. Rose killed Cinder Fall, we were considering...drastic measures to rectify the situation. Sadly, they would not have resulted in any good outcomes for Amber. So it is a great relief that she has regained her power, and is on the road to recovery."

"What kind of measures?" asked Pyrrha, only to flinch when Ozpin looked pointedly at her.

"Truth be told...we were planning to transfer Amber's Aura to a new host," said Ozpin. "Not even I can remove her magic, as I am currently. Allowing her to die would most likely simply have sent her magic to Cinder Fall, completing her power. So our course of desperation would be to transfer what Amber's powers were attached to, her Aura, into a viable candidate. We called this our Guardian Plan."

Ruby looked back and forth between Ozpin and Pyrrha. "Pyrrha was your candidate, wasn't she?"

"She was," agreed Ozpin.

Pyrrha gasped, turning pale. "I...I..."

"I won't lie to you, Ms. Nikos," said Ozpin gravely. "We are well aware that this plan was morally and ethically dubious, even more-so because we could not be sure of the outcome, and what it would do to you. However, we had no intention of forcing it upon you.

"Had we gone forward with it, I would have called you up, and explained what I have just told all of you, and offered you the choice to accept this responsibility or not. Had you chosen not to, we would not have discouraged you."

"Disgusting," growled Weiss, glaring at Ozpin.

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Nora, looking at Weiss in confusion.

Weiss wasn't the only one glaring at Ozpin. Ren and Blake were giving him dark looks as well. Yang's own eyes were narrowed dangerously.

"You say you'd give her a choice, but you'd really just be manipulating her," said Weiss. "You know exactly what to say to Pyrrha. Just by phrasing it as a responsibility, you make it sound like her turning this plan down would be her shirking her responsibilities, which would just add extra pressure on her to go through with it."

Ozpin said nothing, appearing to accept Weiss' accusations without protest.

"As he said, we were desperate," said Glynda. "Fortunately, with Amber now on the mend, that is no longer an issue."

"Maybe so," said Weiss. "But don't expect us to forget that anytime soon."

"I cannot hold that against you," said Ozpin. "Desperation often takes us down ways that are darker than what we would normally condone. You have every right to resent me for it. Above all else, I am glad that it did not come to that."

"Weiss...it's over," said Ruby, reaching across to her teammate, gently patting Weiss' hand. "Let's just move on."

Weiss glared at Ozpin for a few more seconds, before exhaling loudly. "Fine," she grumbled.

"Speaking of moving on...what now?" asked Jaune.

"For now, you return to your normal lives as students," said Ozpin. "I will not say that you may not be asked to take on special missions in the future. But, for now, set worries about Salem and her plans aside, and enjoy your time at Beacon. Thanks to you, the Vytal Festival is under less risk of being the target of attack."

"Of course, please do keep your eyes and ears open," said Glynda. "If you see or hear anything that raises your suspicions, bring it to us, and we shall look into the matter."

"Roger," said Nora, saluting playfully.

"Now that that has all been addressed, you are dismissed," said Ozpin.

The students and Kyo got up from their seats. However, Ruby lingered behind for a moment, looking plaintively at Ozpin and Glynda. "Um...about Amber...would it be possible for me to see her again?"

Ozpin and Glynda both smiled at Ruby. "Of course," said Ozpin. "I suspect that you and Amber shall become good friends. I am certain that that will be an aid to her recovery."

"Thank you," said Ruby, bowing her head to the teachers, before leaving.

Ozpin and Glynda watched her go. "Truly a remarkable child," said Glynda softly.

"And she's only just getting started," added Ozpin.

* * *

"What happened?" growled Adam, staring at the empty space, where the White Fang encampment he'd left behind had once been.

Returning from the training he'd been forced by Jester to undergo, Adam had expected the encampment to be empty, of course. But he'd also expected to return, and see Vale still reeling from the effects of the breach. He'd expected to see clouds of smoke rising from the center of the Kingdom, buildings in ruins, families mourning fallen loved ones, and countless people howling for the Council and Ozpin to take responsibility for their failures. He had expected to see the streets stained with blood.

Backtracking to the White Fang base, it had become apparent why. The train was gone. A short journey down the tunnel showed it buried beneath a pile of rubble, dropped down on it from the mountain above.

"Looks like things went south," observed Jester, his bells tinkling as he glanced up at the broken ceiling. "Whoever did this knew their business. That's for sure."

"I knew I shouldn't have left," growled Adam.

"Eh, if you'd been here, as you were, things _still_ wouldn't have worked out," said Jester with a shrug. "Your temper issues would have kept pushing the project back, until it was so far behind schedule that it couldn't be salvaged. I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

"How can you be so blithe about this?" demanded Adam, sweeping his arm to encompass the ruined train. "All our work and planning, all the resources we invested...Ruined! Gone! Wasted!"

"That's what happens sometimes," said Jester indifferently. "I'm used to seeing a plan come to naught. As the old saying goes...If at first you don't succeed, try try again. 'Course, that's a lot easier for me than most people."

"I get the feeling that Cinder does not share that attitude," snarled Adam.

"That's because, in her own way, my Little Sparkler is even more immature than you are," said Jester, grinning and tapping Adam's forehead playfully. "I guess I should check in on her too. In the meantime, you should get back to training. You have more work to do, if you're going to master your new blade."

Adam's gaze went to the weapon that had replaced Wilt and Blush. An enormous, curved sword now hung at his back, secured by leather straps that would allow him to bring it around to his left hip, so that he could draw it like his old blade. Even though it was merely a sword, featuring no transformational capabilities, nor was the sheath a weapon in its own right, it was a weapon that far surpassed his old one. Once mastered, it would make him truly unstoppable on the battlefield. But mastering it was proving a difficult task indeed, even with Jester's unique method of assistance.

"So be it," said Adam, turning and walking away from the ruins of what had once been a grand plan to bring the Kingdom of Vale to its knees.

Jester chuckled. "The boy still needs more tempering." He began to rub his hands together. "Now then...let's go see what's become of Cinder."

* * *

Ozpin had returned to his office to see to the myriad tasks required to bring the Vytal Festival together, and make it a success. Fortunately, having Ironwood's people to work with expedited those tasks considerably, given that Atlesians excelled at organization, above almost everything else.

A few moments into his work, Ozpin received notice from below that he had a guest requesting a meeting with him. Ozpin quickly approved the meeting, allowing his visitor to take the elevator up. A moment later, the doors slid open to admit none other than Kyo, who strode out, with his sheathed sword in hand.

"Ah...How can I help you, Kyo?" asked Ozpin.

"Well, I came to speak with you about your little meeting earlier," said Kyo. "I am more than a little disappointed that, despite your assurances that you would tell my sister and her friends 'everything' you continued to hide behind half-truths and lies."

"I am not sure of what you are talking about," said Ozpin.

Kyo moved to stare out the window. "Things like saying that you know 'little' about Salem," he replied. "You know her quite well, don't you? Indeed, this conflict between the two of you is _quite_ personal." Slowly, he turned to regard Ozpin. "Marital spats can be quite severe...and yours is one for the ages."

Ozpin sighed, slumping forward to rest his elbows atop his desk, while cradling his forehead in his hands. "Leave it to the Mibu to figure so much out." Raising his head, he glared back at Kyo with uncharacteristic anger. "Still...your friend, Sasame, told me that the Mibu's history of the world is the history of the world that _concerns_ the Mibu. I did not know that the Mibu were so concerned with my personal affairs."

"Of course your conflict concerns us," said Kyo. "Our history goes back quite a long time...longer than you could possibly realize. The pawns of those two Pretenders have always been of interest to us."

"Pretenders...?" whispered Ozpin.

Kyo chuckled. "You aren't the only one keeping secrets, Ozpin-dono. That said...there is little we can do, under the circumstances."

"What do you mean?" asked Ozpin.

"It's strange isn't it?" asked Kyo. "During the meeting earlier, you spoke of facing Salem's agents, and foiling her plans. But nothing was spoken of dealing with this problem at its _source_, Salem herself. Of course, it was fortunate that you were not required to explain that, as dealing with Salem permanently would be quite impossible for you...and it would do your allies no good to tell them that."

"And will you tell them that?" asked Ozpin.

"I will not," said Kyo. "Still...I hope that, someday, you find it in yourself to trust my sister with the truth...the _whole_ truth. She is stronger than you give her credit for...which is saying something."

"And what will _you_ do in the meantime?" asked Ozpin.

"Watch over her," said Kyo. "That is the most that we can do. I imagine you find it odd. However much power we Mibu profess to have, and however much of an eyesore we might find Salem to be...we stay our blades."

"Yes, that _is_ odd," agreed Ozpin.

"We have an arrangement of sorts," said Kyo, "not with Salem, mind you, but with one close to her, one who is far more than he pretends to be..."

* * *

Blake had settled back in the library for some evening reading, enjoying the last of her two evenings until it was time for class to resume. However, after the discussion of the heavy affairs with Ozpin and Glynda, Blake was finding it hard to keep her mind on her book. Instead, her thoughts continued to wander to everything she had learned over the course of the discussion.

The enormity of it all was daunting. She had joined Beacon to become a Huntress, to escape her past crimes as a member of the White Fang, and, in some way, make up for them. But now, she had just learned of a conflict that spanned millennia, with the fate of everyone hanging in the balance. Now she was a part of that conflict, whether she liked it or not. So were the White Fang.

Her thoughts went to Adam, wondering where he was, then Ilia, and wondering if she was all right. With a sigh, Blake closed her book and leaned back in her seat, staring forlornly at the ceiling. She wasn't sure how much time she spent like that. However, she was eventually startled out of her reverie by the sound of her scroll.

Pulling it out, Blake found her eyes widening as she saw a call from an unknown contact. "Hello?" she asked, bringing it up to her ear. "Who is this?"

"_Blake..._"

Blake's eyes widened at the sound of the familiar, if slightly distorted, voice coming from her device. "Ilia! You're all right?"

"_I didn't realize you were even worried,_" said Ilia, her tone sour.

"Of course I was," said Blake. "I mean...Kyo told us that someone knocked you out and escaped with you, before he could kill you. But we couldn't be sure you were all right."

"_Yes, I'm alive,_" said Ilia tiredly.

Blake sniffed, and rubbed a tear from under her eye. "I'm glad to hear that."

Ilia was silent for a moment. "_You really _were_ worried, weren't you?_"

"Yes," said Blake. "Ilia...whatever disagreements we have, whatever might come between us...I still think of you as a friend. No matter what, I would never wish you dead."

Again, Ilia fell silent. "_You're too good for me,_" she said finally.

"That's not true," said Blake. "So...what are you calling about?"

"_I...I have a message...for your Headmaster,_" said Ilia.

"Professor Ozpin...?" Blake's eyes widened, and she sat up a little straighter, her ears going upright beneath her bow.

"_I have a message for him, from High Leader Khan,_" said Ilia.

"What?!" gasped Blake. "Wait! Does that mean-?"

"_High Leader Khan is here, in Vale, right now,_" said Ilia, confirming Blake's suspicions. "_After I reported Adam's actions to her, she came in person to put a stop to him. It's a good thing we acted when we did, as she would have been too late. However, reviewing these events have prompted High Leader Khan to reconsider the White Fang's stance._

"_At the moment, dealing with the Council is out of the question. They would accept nothing less than our complete surrender. However...it is known that Professor Ozpin holds considerable power, and that he is more...flexible._"

Blake thought back to what she had learned earlier, including some of the more dubious actions Ozpin was prepared to carry out for the sake of his secret war with Salem. "You're not wrong."

"_Because of that, High Leader Khan wishes to meet with Professor Ozpin, and open negotiations,_" said Ilia. "_And she was hoping that you would be the intermediary, Blake._"

Blake's jaw dropped, unable to find the words to describe the situation. _This could change everything!_

* * *

"Jaune...is something wrong?" asked Ruby, looking at her partner and boyfriend, who was seated pensively on his bed.

"N-no!" protested Jaune, his eyes going wide. "Wh-why would you think that?"

"Um...You're not looking me in the eyes, for one thing," observed Ruby, giving him a worried look.

"Th-that's because y-your eyes...are so pretty that they're distracting me," said Jaune nervously.

Ruby would have giggled at the cheesy compliment, if she weren't so worried. "Jaune...please talk to me," she said, moving to sit next to him on his bed.

After they'd finished their meeting with Ozpin, Ruby and Jaune had returned to their dorm room. Despite having just recently woken up from her overexertion, Ruby was still feeling a bit sluggish, and figured a little extra sleep wouldn't be amiss. Jaune had accompanied her. But, almost immediately upon arrival, he'd sat down on the side of his bed and stared at the floor. At first, Ruby had figured he was still mulling over all the secrets they had learned that day. But, after changing into her pajamas in the bathroom, and finding him in the same position upon leaving, she had begun to worry.

Reaching out, Ruby rested her hand over his, only to feel a flinch run up Jaune's body at that contact. "Please," she whispered as plaintively as she could. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No!" exclaimed Jaune, with surprising vehemence. "You didn't do anything wrong, Ruby." He stared at her with wide eyes, before letting out a long, slow breath. "It's...me."

"What about you?" asked Ruby.

"It's just..." Jaune transitioned to staring straight ahead, at the wall over Ruby's bed, where Akaibara rested on its rack. "...I feel...useless."

"Jaune!" gasped Ruby, her eyes going wide. "How could you say that?"

"I...I was taken hostage," said Jaune. "I was in Vale, and got clonked in the back of the head before I even knew what was going on. The next thing I knew, I was tied to a chair, and that witch was using my scroll to bait you out." Tears began to stream down his face. "I was worse than useless...I was a damn liability! I put you in danger!"

"Jaune..." gasped Ruby.

Jaune lowered his head. "I...I guess my family was right about me. I'm not cut out to be a Huntsman after all."

Fury hummed through Ruby's veins. She shot to her feet and moved to stand directly in front of Jaune, prompting him to look up at her in confusion. Then...Ruby slapped him across the face..._hard_.

"R-Ruby..." whimpered Jaune, massaging the red welt that was blossoming across his cheek.

Next, Ruby planted both hands on his cheeks, and leaned in to kiss him..._hard_. Ruby put all the passion and energy she could muster into the gesture, forcing her tongue past Jaune's lips and into his mouth, where she began to run it around, along his teeth, and wrestling energetically with his own. Transitioning her hands to his shoulders, Ruby pushed Jaune back down onto the bed, following him down, keeping their lips locked the whole way. On reflex, Jaune's hands went to her torso, before sliding across her back so that he could wrap his arms around her, and pull her closer.

Finally, desperate for air, Ruby pulled back, still glaring daggers at Jaune. "Don't you..._ever_...say that about yourself..._ever!_ You are_ not_ a liability! And you are _not_ useless!"

"B-but..." Jaune began to protest.

"You're not as strong as the rest of us," Ruby admitted readily. "But that's not the same thing as being weak or useless. You're strong, Jaune. You've worked harder than anyone these past few months, even me. We're still stronger than you, because we were that much further ahead when you started. But you're closing the gap, Jaune. You are, and don't ever think otherwise."

"Yes, but..." Jaune began.

Ruby sniffed. "Honestly, I wouldn't even _be_ at Beacon without you. I would have run off the moment I saw Yang, the day of initiation. You're the one who gave me the courage to keep going.

"When we were fighting Adam, the second time, I trusted you to keep Ashley safe. When we were fighting the pirates, you were the one who healed me, so that I could keep going, after Morgan wounded me.

"And, yes, Cinder might have taken you hostage to draw me out. But you did exactly what I needed you to do. You got to a place where you could call the others, and your weapon. Kyo-nii might have kept you from interfering, during the fight, but you're the one who saved me from Mercury at the end. So...no matter what, Jaune, you are _not_ useless. I never want you to think that about yourself."

Ruby lowered herself down, and pressed her lips to his in a gentler, chaster kiss. "I need you, Jaune," she said. "You're the one person I've been able to depend on, more than anything else." She sniffled, and giggled slightly. "That's why I can trust you with my heart."

In the process of Ruby's monologue, Jaune had started to tear up as well. When she finished, he was still shedding tears, but smiling in relief. "Thanks, Ruby," he said.

"You're welcome," said Ruby. "Now, go get cleaned up and changed. This is the last night we're gonna be able to sleep together for a few days, so let's make the most of it while we can."

"Sure thing," said Jaune, getting up to change into his own pajamas.

A few minutes later, Ruby snuggled down in Jaune's arms, humming contentedly in the feeling of having him with her. As he watched her drift off, Jaune pressed his lips to Ruby's forehead. "No matter what, you keep saving me," he said softly, before letting his eyes drift closed as well.

* * *

The Man made his way through the halls of his estate. Perhaps it wasn't as sprawling and opulent as the Schnee Manor, but it was an excellent symbol of his status and wealth. He certainly felt it was his due, given the service he had rendered the Kingdom of Vale. Spending his days dealing with the clamoring, needy populace, ever desperate for whatever bone he could throw their way, he felt he was more than owed a place that he could retreat to, where he could enjoy what little time he had to himself.

Sadly, the Man couldn't even lay claim to that, as he frequently had to bring his work home with him. Such was the curse of someone in his position. He wielded incredible power, but said power required a great deal of time and effort to maintain. Sometimes, the Man brought his work home with him. Other times, his work came _to_ him at his home.

Such was the case this evening, when he entered his study to find a file on his desk. Looking at it, the man sighed, and took his seat. Opening the file, he frowned at the picture within.

It was of a girl, fifteen-years-old, with black and red hair...and silver eyes. She was a pretty little thing, to be sure. However, that was only incidental to the Man's interests. Of more interest was the sequence of pictures that followed the image of her face, showing her wielding a slender, straight, double-edged sword. Some pictures showed the blade with arcs of red lightning wreathed around it. Others showed her using a blade of wind to cleave through incredibly strong substances.

Other information accompanied the pictures. Each one came with a caption indicating, "_No trace of Dust found, upon examination._"

Reaching the end of the file, the Man's eyes narrowed behind the round, circular lenses of his glasses as he read the conclusion drawn by his investigators. "_Evidence appears conclusive that the subject, Ruby Rose, does not rely on Dust, but instead utilizes Aura to produce effects that have been confused with the product of Dust-usage. Therefore, the evidence indicates that Ruby Rose, despite being a natural-born citizen of Vale, has in fact been trained by the Mibu Clan._

"_Threat level: High._

"_Recommended course of action: Immediate termination._"

The Man leaned back with a sigh, removing his glasses, and gently massaging the bridge of his nose. "And she seemed like such a promising young thing," he said softly. "A pity."

He pulled out his scroll, dialing a number that would not be found on his contact lists. No record of it would appear on his logs either. After a few rings, the other end was picked up with a near-silent click. No voice answered, but the Man needed no answer. Instead, he began speaking.

"I've read the report. I agree with your assessment. You have authorization to begin. Assemble a preliminary plan for the target's elimination."

* * *

**Even though Cinder is gone, the machinations continue on. Ruby and her friends aren't gonna be getting their Happily Ever After just yet.**

**But, for now, we return to the past for the final flashback arc, which will feature some of the more important occurrences in Ruby's upbringing, shedding some light into parts of her history that have been alluded to, but not yet depicted.**


	89. Chapter 89

**Chapter 89:**

_Over two years ago:_

The sound of metal beating against metal rang out continuously, setting a steady rhythm. Over and over again, Murasame brought the hammer down, each blow compressing and spreading the metal he held. Gradually, bit by bit, the steel billet laid out in front of him thinned and flattened. When he deemed it ready, he brought the glowing chunk of steel to the edge of the anvil. Turning the head of his specially-designed hammer, Murasame cut a thin channel with the chisel-shaped edge on the backside of the hammer's head, nearly all the way through the billet, before bringing the flat head down on the part that extended out over the edge of the anvil. Bringing the whole thing back to the center of the anvil, he hammered the bent portion back over the base, pounding them together, then beating the whole thing down again.

Over and over the process went, first folding latitudinally, then longitudinally, forming overlapping layers within the metal, evening out its carbon content, and forging the steel into a structure similar to a mesh, building its strength. Murasame would repeat the folding process sixteen times, each of these a process, in and of itself, that he would be repeating seven times, all of that a process he would be repeating twice. Creating a sword was an involved process, with a great deal of work, even for a master-smith, like Murasame. If anything, because of his elevated level of skill, Murasame's swordsmithing process entailed even _more_ work.

Most smiths within the Mibu were served by as many as two or three apprentices. The apprentices wielded large, heavy hammers for the purpose of pounding out the metal, while the master set the pace and took care of the fine details. But Murasame did all the hammering himself. With his Aura and technique, he could give his small hammer impact and effect of the larger hammers an apprentice would usually wield, allowing him to perform the entire process himself. Of course, that meant he was essentially doing three people's-worth of work singlehandedly.

On top of that, most smiths focused solely on the forging of their blades. The finishing stages, polishing and sharpening, were taken care of by dedicated craftsmen, who were recognized as artisans in their own right. However, in the course of his long life, Murasame had learned the sharpener's and polisher's trades...and had mastered them as well. He also took care of the smelting of his own steel, and the acquisition and preparation of other necessary materials.

Thus, forging a sword was a lengthy process for him. To put forth his absolute best work, Murasame would invest a month or more. This particular _pair_ of weapons promised to be an investment of time and effort surpassing any of his previous works.

Still, such work had never daunted him. Indeed, the thought of the task that lay before him only further incited Murasame's enthusiasm. He was excited and eager to see what his work produced, to push his mastery of his craft to its absolute limit. His creations were born from inspiration, that inspiration could come from any number of sources. Murasame had been inspired by things that might have never seemed to have any connection to swords.

He had been inspired by the flowing waters of mountain streams, by the undulations of the ocean waves, by the leaves of the maple tree drifting on the wind. He'd been inspired by the layered colors of the setting and rising sun, had his creative energies stirred by observing the phases of the moon. It could be the simplest, most mundane things in life that brought forth his artistry. This time, his inspiration came from a different source.

On rare occasions, Murasame was inspired by the thought of the one who would wield the blade he forged. It was rare for him to forge a blade for a specific person, and only a small number of people could have been said to have been honored to be the source of Murasame's inspiration. This was one of those exceedingly rare occasions. This time, Murasame had been inspired by a young girl, a child who would be turning thirteen, later this year. Through meeting her, and seeing the nature of her small and simple soul, he had seen a potential that had excited him, and moved him to create.

Though he had only just begun forging the steel this day, the process of this sword's creation had begun long before now. It had begun shortly after Murasame had met that little, silver-eyed child. Watching her grow, seeing her mature, he had found the idea for the sword he wanted to forge for her take shape in his mind, its form becoming more and more clear by the day. And now, with this girl only a little over a month away from turning thirteen, the sword he wanted to make became clear to him.

To further refine his idea, Murasame had turned to the ancient scripts of previous Mibu Blademasters, going so far as to research the texts produced by the great Muramasa, the swordsmith revered above all others by the Mibu. Muramasa's true masterpieces remained unsurpassed by any of his successors, particularly the mighty Tenro, passed down by each generation of the royal line. Even though it was less-impressive, the Hokurakushimon, his legendary demon-spear, had yet to be matched. Even the supposedly flawed Shibien maintained a peerless edge and refined spirit. The least of his masterworks, an unassuming kodachi, was still a masterpiece beyond the reckoning of even the greatest of the smiths that had come after him.

However, in his researches, Murasame had come across something else, a forgotten masterwork. It was the most unusual of all of Muramasa's designs. A sword that was not one sword, but two. It had apparently been destroyed in the conflict between the ancient Mibu and the First Kyo, the progenitor of the line that, even now, bore his name. Before Murmasa had forged the kodachi that would be his final work, it was that forgotten pair of blades that, together, made up one of the four legendary masterpieces. Upon setting eyes on that design, Murasame had known instantly what he wanted to create, and the still-blurred image of the sword he wished to forge snapped into perfect clarity.

When he had set to work, his hands had started moving of their own volition, their actions guided by the pure artistry born of Murasame's mastery of the forging arts, fueled by the image that hung within his mind. It would be a difficult task for him, one that would take him past the absolute limit of his skill. With this...he would achieve a new pinnacle.

His first billet completed, Murasame moved to the next. The basic katana usually contained at least two different steels, with differing carbon content: the softer core-steel, and the harder outer, or edge, steel. The differing types of steel enabled the creation of a blade that could withstand the trauma of battle, while holding an edge that could be honed to a razor's sharpness. Different, more advanced, forging techniques altered the arrangement of of soft and hard steels, adding different layers.

Murasame's creation would have _seven_.

Seven layers, the school of forging known as _Soshu Kitae_, said to have been developed by a mastersmith who predated even Muramasa. The sword Murasame forged would consist of seven separate layers. First, there was the block of soft, core-steel at the center. On either side of it were welded the slightly harder panels to further enhance its resistance to impact. Then, outside would be the jacket-steel. With the ridge-steel running along the spine of the sword, and the edge-steel forming the edge itself, Murasame's method used the differing types of steel to produce blades of unmatched durability...somewhat.

In truth, the method Murasame utilized had been born in an era when smiths had limited access to high-quality steel, whether due to a lack of purity in the source iron, or the limitations of old-school smelting methods. Thus, they had produced these designs to enhance what was otherwise a poor material to produce swords of superior quality. Advancements in metallurgy could produce steel blades of a single type of steel that would hold their edge and withstand impact even better than that of the traditionally-forged katana. The steel that Murasame smelted via the traditional _Tatara_ Method didn't hold a candle to the advanced alloys born from Atlesian science, which would have been able to produce a superior blade with only a fraction of the time and effort.

Yet Murasame persisted in relying on this ancient, outdated, inferior method of forging. Why? Because, above all else, Murasame was an _artist_. There was no artistry in a lifeless blade, forged and honed by machines, made from steel that might as well be cooked up by a chemist in a lab.

There was more to it than semantics and aesthetics. Murasame's artistry, his devotion to his craft did more than merely shape the steel and bring it together. In the end, his investment of his heart and soul became literal, doing more than simply bringing a blade together, but bringing it to _life_. It was what allowed him to literally breathe life into his creations, granting a sword an Aura of its own, making it powerful and truly alive, in its own way. The infusion of Aura turned what should have been an inferior object into a weapon of unmatched power, which no amount of scientific tinkering could surpass.

Take Tenro, for example. Forged by Muramasa, the blade represented the pinnacle of his skill. It was born of inferior steel, forged through outdated methods. Yet the sword had survived hundreds of millennia; without scratch, chip, or tarnish. It was virtually indestructible, able to withstand forces that, by all rights, should have snapped the steel the blade was composed of like a twig; its edge able to cleave through substances that should have been _well_ beyond its ability to cut. It was no dusty relic either, locked away and painstakingly preserved against the ravages of time. It had been passed down through the generations, each holder wielding the sword with incredible vigor. Yet it showed no mark of all that time and use. The Aura born from it had made the sword _immortal_.

With that goal in mind, Murasame pressed forward, beginning the process of folding the next steel, putting his soul into every blow of his hammer, not minding the sweat that streamed down his face, both from his exertions and the sweltering heat of his forge. His mind had entered into an almost trancelike state, the process seeming like a dream to him. He had been lulled by the music of his art, the varying tempo of his hammer, and the crackling rumble of his forge, fueled by the fires of the mountain itself. It was a symphony of fire and steel. On he worked, not minding the time that passed, not even noting the hours.

* * *

"Ruby-chan! This way!"

"Coming!" shouted Ruby, jogging lightly towards her friends, seated comfortably on a blanket, spread at the base of one of the large maples that populated the park. Said park skirted the side of the royal palace, meeting with the wooded slopes of the volcanic mountain the palace had been built into the side of, open spaces giving way to dense woodland. From here, they had a scenic view, not merely of the park's trees, but of the riot of autumn colors, varying shades of red, brown, and gold, that ran across the sides of the mountain.

The leaves of the tree that her friends were already seated under were a particularly vivid shade of red, their color matching that of the haori that Ruby wore over her black kosode and red sash, with black hakama. It flapped and waved behind her in a manner reminiscent of the cloak she'd once worn. It wasn't quite the same, but it was a better match to the style of dress favored by the Mibu, though Ruby one day hoped that she could find an outfit that properly blended the differing styles of her two homelands.

As she ran to meet her friends, her ears caught faint whispers, coming from others in the park, small groups that had situated themselves for their own Koyo viewings. Even though it had been over three years since she had come to the Mibu Clan, the whispers hadn't stopped, not completely. The sight of a member of the Royal Family, however unofficial her membership might have been, tended to stir at least a passing interest in anyone who saw her. After all, even now, many still saw Ruby as "The Outsider." For most, that merely made her a curiosity. But to a dwindling, yet stubborn, few, it made her a walking insult.

Fortunately, Ruby didn't need to mind such people's opinions all that much. They were limited to harsh, angry whispers amongst themselves. Even if she was an oddity, the majority of the residents of Onmyo had come to accept her presence amongst them, embrace it even.

Of course, the ones who had embraced her presence the most were her friends, who, right now, were setting out food and drink in preparation for the viewing. Her best friend, Natsuki, was waving excitedly, beckoning Ruby over the join them.

Natsuki had grown a fair bit taller in the years since Ruby had first met her. Her long hair, which had once been tied in twin-tails, now ran down to the small of her back in an elaborate braid, weaving together strands of blue and green. Her violet eyes glittered with cheerful excitement, set into a soft face with rounded cheeks, her lips curled back into an almost perpetual grin. She was dressed in a forest-green kimono, with a white sash.

"Hi, everyone!" chirped Ruby, settling herself down on the blanket beside her friends, setting out the box of food that she'd brought.

"We were wondering if you were gonna make it," said Natsuki.

"She's not _tha_t late," said Miyu.

In contrast to Natsuki's energetic, almost childish, cheerfulness, Miyu practically exuded an air of refined elegance, something she had carried with her to some degree or another ever since Ruby had met her. Her hair; a bright, vivid, scarlet; cascaded down her back in a smooth wave. The smooth contours of her face helped frame a pair of serious, blueish-gray eyes. She had settled onto the blanket, dressed in a pale-blue kimono, held together by a green sash.

As she settled onto the blanket, Ruby glanced at the other member of her circle of friends. Setsuna was a stern-faced boy, rarely smiling. His silver hair hung in a short, bowl-cut around his head, while amber, slit-pupilled eyes stared outwards with an air of pronounced gravity that belied his age. Rather than a kimono, Setsuna's attire consisted of a loose, white shirt, tied together at the front, tucked into a pair of pale-blue shorts. Setting on the blanket next to him were his weapons, a pair of kama; small, handheld sickles.

Setsuna wasn't that big of a talker, so he had nothing to add to the conversation. The sight of his sickles though reminded Ruby that her own weapons were still holstered at her back. Reaching behind herself, she slid the two sheathed katanas she wore out of her sash, and set them on the blanket beside her. When she'd started, Ruby had trained with kodachi, a particular type of short-sword, due to the small size of her young body. However, as she'd gotten older, she'd soon outgrown her kodachi, and had been moved up to katanas instead.

Said kodachi now rested on the blanket next to Natsuki, who had been glad to receive them from Ruby for her own training. While Ruby had trained with kodachi because of her size, Natsuki had taken up kodachi for their own qualities, which, when wielded by a full-grown fighter, had their own particular techniques. Natsuki's father was a master of dual-kodachi techniques, and was now training her in them, even as she studied Manifestation under Keikoku of the Goyosei.

The four of them chattered excitedly as they got their food and drinks set up. They had each picked up different boxes of food in the city to prepare of the viewing, and were excited to try out all the different delicacies they'd acquired. Ruby was especially excited, having come to adore the colors of the fall trees. In her eyes, it was a sight even more beautiful than the cherry blossom groves in the springtime.

"Enjoying yourselves already, I see," observed a familiar voice from behind Ruby, who squeaked.

Instantly, all four of them surged to their feet, turning and bowing respectfully to the woman who had come up behind them.

Mibu Sora; head of the Taishiro, wife of the Crimson King, and Ruby's own adoptive mother; beamed at the quartet, returning their slight bow in an acknowledgement of the necessary formalities. As always, she looked resplendent, the varicolored plumes of feathers descending from her head in lieu of hair shimmering in the light of the fall afternoon. Also as always, she wore three, layered, kimonos. Today, the outermost was a pale, cream colored one. It was accented by an inner layer of dark-red, followed by an earthy brown.

Beside her stood Mitarai Sasame, personal apprentice to the Mibu Clan's Chief Physician, and Ruby's adoptive sister. As always, Sasame's diminutive stature, now putting her at slightly shorter than Ruby, was somewhat disconcerting, Ruby remembering how much bigger Sasame had seemed when she was little. Very little had changed about Sasame's appearance over the years; still sporting that same head of flowing, auburn hair; chocolate-brown eyes; and the fox-tail, wagging slowly behind her.

Sora and Sasame had brought boxes of their own, Sasame even carrying another blanket, which she laid out right next to the one set up by Ruby and her friends. They all shifted to better arrange themselves, talking as they finished setting up. Sora settled next to Ruby, occasionally pausing to gently brush fingers through her hair.

The arrival of the head of the Taishiro herself had caught the attention of everyone in their vicinity, even if they hadn't seen the pair arrive. Using Suppression, and completely erasing their presence, Sasame and Sora had passed amongst the rest of the people in the park without attracting a single glance, until they had ended their Suppression upon reaching Ruby's group. To everyone, it would have almost seemed as though the pair had emerged out of thin air.

Her awareness spread around her, Ruby could sense a vibrant tapestry of different feelings. Admiration for Sora and Sasame stood at the forefront, their presence attracting no shortage of excitement and adulation. Beneath that was an undercurrent of jealousy. Some people were more than a little unhappy that Sora and Sasame were gracing a foursome of rather unimportant children with their presence, leading them to wonder just what a few children had done to earn what seemed such an exalted honor.

Beneath that, there was a tiny trickle of genuine malice...anger...outrage. People weren't merely jealous of the fact that Ruby and her friends were associating so freely with two such exalted people, they were offended by it, particularly by Ruby's association. The most prideful people in the vicinity considered it a grave insult that a lowly Outsider would dare presume to act so casually in the presence of the head of the Taishiro. The fact that Ruby was Sora's unofficially-adopted daughter was only kindling to the flames of their anger.

But such anger was nothing more than a minuscule itch at the back of Ruby's mind, easily ignored. Ruby had learned to not be bothered by such negativity, training herself only to take notice when anger evolved into intent, and someone began to _act_ on that anger. Right now, those who were angry at her were merely stewing away in righteous indignation.

The group ate and drank freely, laughing and talking. When they had finished the food, they settled back to enjoy the sight of the fall colors. Her belly full, Ruby found herself leaning contentedly against Sora, until Sora had pulled Ruby down so that Ruby could rest her head in the grown woman's lap, staring up at the magnificent colors around them.

Nearby, Natsuki grinned cheerfully, laying back and staring straight up at the leaves dancing above, gasping softly as the wind knocked a few of them loose, sending them drifting through the air. Meanwhile, Miyu leaned against Setsuna, resting her head against his shoulder, her hand going to rest over his knee, with Setsuna resting his hand over hers, while leaning back against her, resting his cheek against the top of her head, one of his rare smiles appearing on his face.

The sight of the couple sent a pang of envy through Ruby's gut. It was somewhat unfortunate that she, Miyu, and Natsuki had all developed an interest in boys at roughly the same time. Given that he was the boy that they most-frequently associated with; combined with the fact that Setsuna was kind, intelligent, and patient; on top of him being quite handsome, especially with his shirt off (as they had discovered last new-years, when they'd watched Setsuna and some of the other boys vigorously pound mochi in the traditional practice); all three of them had begun to nurse crushes of varying intensity over the boy. Natsuki's interest was fairly fleeting, and she gave up rather quickly, upon noticing the interest of her friends. Miyu and Ruby, on the other hand, had been more seriously invested.

However, in the end, it had been Miyu who had won out, her quiet nature meshing nicely with Setsuna's, helped along by the fact that Setsuna had apparently hosted a crush of his own on her, for an even longer time. Reluctantly, Ruby had bowed out, swallowing her own disappointment. She bore Miyu no ill-will for being the "winner". But that didn't stop her from feeling the occasional pang of jealousy, whenever Miyu and Setsuna were "lovey dovey", as Natsuki had put it.

The sting of her missed chance passed quickly though, and Ruby returned to simply observing the scenery, listening to the sound of the wind through the branches above, and the chatter of distant voices. It was a beautiful afternoon, perfect for a Koyo viewing, only a few small, puffy clouds of white drifting aimlessly through the sky.

Eventually, what stirred Ruby from her position on Sora's lap was not hunger, nor was it boredom. Instead, it was the inevitable result of partaking in so much food and drink...particularly the latter...that drove her to get up. Politely excusing herself, Ruby picked up her swords, sliding them back into place in her sash, before heading for the park's restrooms.

Walking briskly along the park's paths, Ruby relaxed as the low, wooden building came into sight. It was but a few minutes to take care of her business and wash her hands. Then she was out, and heading back to rejoin her group once more.

However, just a few steps away from the restrooms...Ruby came to a sudden halt, her entire body freezing in place. The relaxed smile on her face vanished, replaced by stern look that was a match for one of Setsuna's. Her body tensed in readiness, her arms slipping beneath the hem of her haori, hands closing around the handles of her swords.

An eerie silence fell over the scene, the sound of people talking and shouting in the distance seeming to fall away. The wind seemed to go dead, the leaves no longer stirring in the breeze. Even the myriad noises of birds and insects became insubstantial, leaving Ruby alone...yet most definitely _not_ alone.

Abruptly, Ruby blurred backwards, her sudden step kicking up a small flurry of red petals from her feet. Her swords emerged with a flash, sunlight flashing off the silvery metal of the blades as Ruby wove them in front of her. The air filled with the sound of several small objects striking against the metal surfaces of her swords, as she batted away the incoming projectiles.

Coming to a stop, Ruby's eyes glanced downwards towards her feet, seeing several long, thin needles imbedded in the ground, where she had been standing, others spread out farther, after she'd knocked them away with her swords. Up above, a dark shape dropped down from the branches of the nearest tree, descending towards her behind a tide of murderous intent.

It was hard to imagine that someone so large could be so stealthy. Ruby's attacker was nearly a full seven feet tall. He was an oddity to be sure, with black skin that seemed to absorb the light around him. It was a pure, pitch-black ebony that was not the product of any particular racial phenotype, but something more artificial-seeming, a product of Manifestation probably. On top of that, the man's eyes were little more than small spots of white set into his bald head, with no sign of iris or pupil. There didn't seem to be a trace of hair on his body either, nothing but a smooth expanse of toned muscles, much of which was readily visible, thanks to the sleeveless haori he wore, with no accompanying clothes beneath it, along with a set of short hakama that exposed much of his long legs.

And his legs _were_ long...unusually so, a length that was nearly matched by his arms, giving the man the appearance of being stretched out. While his limbs weren't lacking in muscles, their unusual length, in comparison to his body, served to give him a spindly, almost insectile, sense of proportion.

The assassin landed soundlessly, brandishing a fist, more needles extending from between his fingers in rows. His arm blurred, and he launched them in a fierce barrage. Ruby could sense the Aura imbued into those tiny projectiles, not merely enhancing their piercing power, but also imbuing them with whatever properties. She wasn't sure what those properties were, but Ruby _did_ know that she couldn't allow herself to take a hit from them.

Turning her body, Ruby swept out the flap of her haori, channeling her Aura through the cloth. The combination allowed her to smoothly deflect the thrown needles. A second later, Ruby blurred again, closing with her attacker before the needles she'd blocked had finished falling to the ground.

Her swords flashed, but only cut through empty air, the man displaying agility at odds with his size, allowing him to take to the air with impressive ease. A flying leap took him over Ruby's head, his other hand lashing out to fling another barrage of needles her way. Ruby continued to move in the same direction, turning about and deflecting the needles she couldn't avoid.

Her opponent touched down in front of her, nearly right in the spot Ruby had charged from. His arms flopped down to dangle limply at his sides. However, his intent allowed Ruby to easily tell that he hadn't given up already. Instead, he inhaled deeply, his chest expanding, ballooning outward from the volume of air he was taking in. Ruby could sense his Aura, gathering there, as well as in his mouth.

With a sudden lurch forward, the man, blowing his breath out in a fierce, powerful exhalation, cheeks puffing, and lips pursing, firing a stream of dozens, possibly hundreds, of needles from his mouth, all of them flying with lightning-speed at where Ruby stood...or rather...where she _had_ been standing.

Ruby was already behind the man, her haori streaming behind her as she came to a stop. The only indicator of her passage was the dancing cloud of petals, drifting before her attacker's eyes, almost taunting him, their movements stirred by the passage of the countless needles he had fired. The man jerked, then lurched forward, a spray of blood erupting from a diagonal cut across his chest, stretching from the lower-right side of his torso, and extending up to his left shoulder.

With a pained grunt, the man fell forward to land face-first on the earth.

Ruby exhaled softly. However, even though her attacker was down, she did not relax her body. Instead, her stern bearing remained undisturbed. A second later, the reason why became apparent, as she abruptly shifted to the side, her swords flicking upwards, deflecting another set of slashes with a pair of loud clangs, her next attacker using the impact of her parry to dart away out of her reach, before she could counterattack.

The second attacker touched down lightly, a short distance away. He wasn't as large and imposing as the first, being of average size, though that still left him as a fair bit taller than Ruby herself. In contrast to the first attacker, this man's build was thinner and lighter, almost to the point of being willowy, though his proportions were much more average. His skin was also a contrast to the previous attackers, practically the inverse, an almost ghostly-pale. He wore a rather unassuming brown kimono, which seemed to blend in with the trees around him. Underneath it, there was a tight, black cloth undershirt of some kind, the neck of which stretched up to cover the lower half of his face. Above the mask, flat, gray eyes stared at her with an insidious malice. His gaze made Ruby shiver. His head was topped by a mass of black hair, which was pulled back and tied behind him, before expanding into a spiky mass, straight out behind his skull.

In the man's hands were his weapons, which resembled Setsuna's kama. However, unlike regular sickles, where the blade emerged from the side of the shaft, these had their blades mounted on the end of the shaft, though still perpendicular to the shaft's orientation. The blades were broader, almost teardrop-shaped, curving and tapering to a fine point on one end, with a wider, more angular tip on the other. The edge ran all the way around the blade, only interrupted by the point where the shaft was mounted. They were surprisingly elegant-looking weapons.

For a moment, Ruby and the new assassin stared each other down. Then they blurred towards each other. They met nearly exactly halfway between their starting points, their blades coming together loudly, before they danced apart. For a few seconds, they circled, maneuvering and striking at the same time, their weapons flashes of silver in between them, sparks flaring from where their blades met and their Auras clashed.

Retreating away from each other, Ruby took up a defensive stance. Her opponent's retreat kicked up a few of the fallen leaves around him. Then, abruptly, the leaves the man had sent dancing through the air began to multiply, their numbers increasing exponentially, flowing through the air in a torrent of red, brown, and gold. They converged on Ruby, enveloping her from all sides, completely swamping her vision.

Frowning, Ruby narrowed her eyes, sweeping her gaze around, seeing almost nothing but swirling leaves. She tensed, realizing that her senses were being blocked by the attack. The assassin clearly planned to use this technique to mask his approach, and strike a fatal blow. Then Ruby caught sight of a shadow flitting amongst the leaves.

Darting forward, she slashed at the shadow, feeling her blades connect with something that felt almost solid, yet too insubstantial to be an actual body. Her eyes widened as the shadow dissolved into yet more leaves, revealing itself to be nothing more than a dummy. More shadows flickered at the edge of her vision, and Ruby realized that she was being surrounded by decoys.

Lashing out blindly wouldn't work. Nor would trying to escape. There was no way the assassin hadn't prepared for such a simple solution to the problem presented by his technique. Instead, Ruby closed her eyes and waited. She ignored the input of her physical senses; the sight of the leaves swirling around her, the omnipresent sound of their rustling, the continuous feeling of them brushing against her skin and clothes. Instead, she relaxed her body, and devoted herself entirely perceiving her opponent's intent. If she couldn't find him in this storm of autumn leaves, then she would wait for him to come to her, and allow his intent to strike to reveal himself.

It was a dangerous plan. The assassin's level of skill would determine the interval between intent and action. If his skill was high enough, his intent and his attack would come at practically the same time, leaving Ruby with virtually no chance to defend herself. Ruby would just have to trust in her own skills, and hope that her response would be able to match his attack.

The swirling leaves in front of her parted. Silver blades flashed amidst the mass of fall colors, the two cuts creating a leaning-cross formation in the air, splitting Ruby's form into quarters. The man's momentum carried him past her, the leaves created by his technique scattering as he came to a stop, and turned to regard his handiwork.

He saw the red fabric of Ruby's haori, cut into four by his attack...right before it dissolved into a cloud of red petals, which rapidly mixed into the swirling leaves. The assassin's eyes widened in shock at seeing her turn his own trick against him. off to his right, where a significant portion of his leaves still twirled through the air, Ruby appeared, almost seeming to materialize amidst the red maple leaves. The man caught sight of her out of the corner of his eye, and turned to defend. His movements were too late though, and Ruby flashed past him, her swords etching an X-shape across his chest, and sending the man's blood spraying through the air. The second assassin collapsed to the ground with a gasp of pain.

Coming to a stop, Ruby relaxed her body a little, then let out a long breath, before flicking her swords to fling the blood off of them. Then she carefully slid them back into their sheaths, and turned to regard the results of her battle.

Her two attackers lay on the ground, motionless. Ruby could sense their Auras beginning to fade, indicating that they were dying. She swallowed back an unpleasant feeling in her throat.

"Two, this time?" noted a familiar voice behind her.

"Takezo-san?" Ruby turned and saw a mid-sized man of seemingly average build standing there, dressed from head to toe in the loose-fitting black of a shinobi shozoku, having appeared out of her own shadow. Only his dark-blue eyes were visible, through the gap between his hood and mask. Despite that, Ruby could see the man's smile in the crinkling of his eyes.

This was one of Sora's Imperial Guard. They typically served as the Mibu Clan's couriers, the nerves connecting the clan's capital with their scattered settlements. However, within the confines of the capital, including the area of the Royal Palace, there were always at least a few on hand, waiting, quite literally, in the shadows.

"That was well-fought," he complimented her.

"Thank you," said Ruby, bowing her head and blushing slightly. She wasn't exactly keen on getting praise for dealing fatal blows to people, but she supposed that defeating two assassination attempts in succession was worth taking pride in.

"I'm here," said Sasame, arriving so quickly that she seemed to just appear out of thin air. Within seconds, she had stooped down beside the second assassin, her Aura streaming out to stifle the bleeding, before closing the X-shaped cut across his chest. She was done in less than a minute, standing up and moving to Ruby's first attacker, even as black bands extended across the skin of the man she'd just treated, locking down his Aura, and fettering his body to keep him from escaping or threatening Ruby again.

After giving the black-skinned assassin the same treatment, Sasame stood up, dusting off her hands. "Well, that was quite the exciting interlude," she commented. "How were they, Ruby-chan?"

"Um...the second one was better," said Ruby. "He was faster, and he didn't broadcast his intent so much."

"That would make sense," said Takezo, already moving to bind the limbs of the two assassins, even though that was merely a formality at this point.

"And which ones are they this time?" asked Sora, coming to stand by her Guard.

Takezo gestured to the smaller of the two, the second one. "Kato Hiroki, of the _Shirogarasu-Ryu_." He gestured to the larger, black-skinned one. "Ito Masaru, of the _Kurosasori-Ryu_."

"Hirelings then," noted Sora.

"Your orders, Sora-sama?" asked Takezo.

"Give them the usual punishment," said Sora. "And find out who hired them."

"Of course," said Takezo, throwing the smaller of the two assassins over his shoulder, while hauling the other at his side. A few seconds later, he sank down into his shadow, taking Ruby's attackers with him.

"Shall we return to your friends?" asked Sora.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "Were they worried?"

"A bit," said Sora, as she, Ruby, and Sasame began to walk. "But this is the sixteenth time this has happened now, so I think they are getting used to it."

Ruby nodded, wondering if she would see her attackers again. She'd only had one assassin make a second attempt so far.

Though Ruby's status as a member of the Royal Family was informal, when it came to would-be assassins, those who were caught (which was all of them so far) were subjected to the penalties applied to an assassination attempt against official royalty. To an outsider, that might have seemed like a form of favoritism, but it was actually the inverse. The penalty for attempted murder of a member of the Mibu Clan's Royal Family was _much_ lighter than the same thing against a civilian. A failed assassin was imprisoned for two weeks, then set free without further penalties, compared to a potential punishment of up to life-imprisonment, for attempting to kill a civilian.

Of course, the reason for such mild penalties was the absolute confidence most members of the Royal Family had in their skills. Both Sora and Kyoichiro had been subjected to dozens of various assassination attempts over the course of their lives, and tended to regard attempts more as a form of entertainment and exercise than anything else. Kyo was the exception. As the Crimson Cross Knight, those who attempted to kill him were not subjected to _any_ penalty at all…assuming they survived, of course. In Ruby's case, both she and her family had quickly come to see assassination attempts made on her as a form of extra training.

The first attempt on Ruby's life had come only a couple of months after her tenth birthday, where it had been revealed that she was living with the Royal Family. Shinrei had taken her outside the walls to work on practicing her techniques in the winter snows. At one point, he had disappeared from sight, and Ruby had been jumped by a masked man, wielding a katana.

It had been a terrifying battle, up there with her fight against Morgan in terms of the fear Ruby had experienced in that moment. However, in response to the threat to her life, the skills she'd been so constantly practicing had kicked in, and she'd defended and countered, fighting for her life. It was a fierce exchange, where her would-be killer had been surprised by the unexpected resistance, having clearly not expected much of a threat from a novice child who hadn't even been training for a full year.

He'd still won in the end, successfully disarming Ruby, and even cutting through her Aura to wound her side. Only then; with Ruby prone, blood streaming from her side to stain the snow around her red, and her attacker poised to deliver the finishing blow; did Shinrei appear, bringing down the assassin in a matter of seconds. Sasame had shown up a minute later, quickly healing the wound to Ruby's side without even leaving a scar.

Afterwards, Ruby had realized that Shinrei had deliberately left her to draw out the assassin, and allow him to make the attempt, allowing Ruby to get real-world experience against an opponent out to take her life. Much to Ruby's shock, her family had actually thrown her a small party to celebrate her fighting through her first assassination attempt. Once Ruby had realized how valuable the experience was, she had come to embrace the attempts, whenever they came.

Ruby's fending off two assassins had not gone unnoticed by the other people in the park, and several were watching her as she made her way back to the others. Ruby could sense that a few people had increased their respect for her, after seeing her defeat two assassins in succession, though a tiny number remained ensconced in their contempt for her, clearly rankled by the fact that the assassination had failed.

Ruby's friends had heard the distant sounds of the fight, even sensing the clashing Auras of Ruby battling her opponents. As soon as she'd settled down, they asked her who had attacked her this time.

"Oooh!" gasped Natsuki. "A _Shirogarasu_-user? That's cool!"

"I've heard that the _Shirogarasu-Ryu_ is quite refined," commented Miyu. "But I had thought that their technique was based on cherry blossoms."

"It could hardly be considered an effective technique if it could only be used during that brief period of spring, when the blossoms are in bloom," commented Sasame. "In some ways, fostering that thought makes it easier for them to catch an opponent off-guard."

"You'd think those losers would give up by now," grumbled Natsuki, pouting.

"Well, those who persist will persist," said Sora calmly. "I am subjected to attempts, every now and then, particularly when I implement a new policy."

"I didn't think people would hold that against you," said Setsuna.

Sora shrugged. "Ultimately, you can't please everyone all the time. A new policy will invariably wind up making _someone_ unhappy in some way. Occasionally, the anger is sufficient that the one offended will either hire someone to kill me, or make the attempt themselves."

"That just seems immature," mused Miyu.

"Oh, it is," regarded Sora. "But it certainly livens up the day. In Ruby-chan's case, one cannot deny that attempts on her life provide an excellent opportunity for her to put her training into practice."

"Not that Ruby-chan's going to have to worry about it for much longer," said Natsuki. "You're going on another trip after New Years, right?"

Ruby nodded. "Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii are taking me on a trip across Anima."

"That should be quite the excellent experience," said Sora. "Anima's terrain encompasses a wide variety of environments. That kind of journey will afford you some great opportunities."

Ruby nodded, her insides squirming with excitement at the prospect of another trip with her siblings. For the last one, Kyo and Sasame had taken her on an extended tour of Leng, visiting the various Mibu Settlements, shortly after her eleventh birthday. But she was looking forward to this opportunity to visit foreign lands even more.

The Koyo viewing continued throughout the afternoon, Ruby and her friends filling it with chatter and fun.

* * *

Seven pieces...each folded sixteen times...well over four-hundred-fifty-thousand layers in total...then repeated.

It had taken days of work for Murasame to finish the folding of the fourteen different pieces of steel that would make his masterpiece. Next came the assembly, one of the trickiest parts of the construction. Assembling the different steels together into a single billet, he would forge-weld them together into a single piece, then draw it out into the proper shape. It took careful precision to ensure that all seven layers would come together to form the proper cross-section. On top of that, since he was forging two blades together, Murasame had to assure that they were of the exact same dimensions, without there being even a nanometer of variance between them.

The forge was filled once again with the sound of hammer on steel as Murasame pounded out a steady tempo, shaping the assembled billet into what would soon be its final form. The metal, having been successfully forged together, was now drawn out into the elongated shape to form the actual sword. Applying the Soshu Kitae method of forging ensured that the sword was completely laminated on all sides by the same hard steel that formed the cutting edge. Down at the far end of the sword, where all the sections of high-carbon steel had come together, Murasame cut the excess away at a sharp angle, forming the sword's tip. Then, using his first creation as a guide, Murasame began work on the second.

It took all his skill and focus to ensure that that the two blades were perfectly identical. However, when Murasame was finished, he was pleased with his work, able to feel the absolute perfect parity between the two swords. If he could follow this process all the way to its end, then his masterpiece would be realized.

At present though, they didn't resemble swords so much as long sickles. Rather than forge them straight, Murasame had hammered them out into a subtle inverse curve, with the cutting-edge on the inside. Once he was completely finished, that shape would be different, but it played a specific purpose.

After forging came another intricate method, requiring perfect precision. Murasame had cooled his creations, then carefully checked them, smoothing out rough spots, and ensuring that no warping had occurred. It was a long, tedious, detailed bit of work, as well as ensuring that the edge was properly formed. What came next was one of the most important steps in the forging process.

Murasame created two different types of clay, diluted with water until they formed thin pastes that could be easily spread across the surface of his creations. The black clay he spread in a thin layer along the section of the sword that would form the edge, while a thicker layer of red clay was spread along the body, the wavy line where the two different types of clay met denoting the boundary of the hamon, the pattern that indicated where the hardened martensitic steel of the edge transitioned to the pearlite and ferrite of the body, creating a blade with a fearsome edge, and a supple spine that could help it to weather impact.

Applying his artistry, Murasame painted lines of red clay across the black, creating patterns that reached nearly all the way down the edge, ensuring that the softer steels would reach across the hardened ones, reinforcing the strength of the edge along the length of the blade. If the hamon joined with the rest of the blade along a single line, then it was possible for it to eventually break along that line. Introducing lines of softer steel down, almost all the way to the edge, enabled the two types of steel to enmesh with one another, ensuring that the harder edge remained in place.

Then came the final steps. After the coating was complete for each blade, Murasame heated them in his furnace, carefully monitoring their color with his eyes to ensure that they were uniformly heated. Using his Aura allowed him to manipulate how the heat moved into the steel, making sure that everything was absolutely perfect. Then, once the perfect temperature had been reached, the blade was removed, and immediately transferred to a tub of water.

The heated steel hissed angrily as it entered the water, throwing up clouds of steam and boiling fiercely. Within seconds, the cooling process was complete, and Murasame performed the same with the second blade. The quenching completed for both of them, he carefully examined the products of his efforts, and smiled...they were absolutely identical, and perfect…and completely straight.

The unique manner in which katanas were quenched was also responsible for one of their most-defining features, that graceful curve for which they were well known. The differing speeds at which the steel cooled meant that the softer, more-insulated, steel along the spine cooled more slowly, contracting more, pulling the sword into its curve. However, what Murasame had sought were not curved blades, but straight ones. To that end, he had forged them with that unusual inverse-curve, so that, when the steel cooled, the contracting spine would pull the blades back into a straight, rather than curved, shape.

With this, his project was finally beginning to near completion.

_Now...for the finishing touches._

* * *

**And now you get to see why Ruby wasn't exactly bothered by Kyo holding everyone else back while she was fighting Cinder. Her family takes the Ryōzanpaku approach to training. Fortunately, that's something Ruby takes to rather well.**

**Depicting the process of Murasame forging Ruby's sword was a little bit on the difficult side. There are any number of books, websites, videos, etc depicting how katanas are forged, but there are some details on the nuances that information seems to be scarce on. Most information to be found depicts, at most, the Kobuse method of forging, where the outer steel is hammered into a U-shape, and the core steel is centered inside it. But, when it comes to the more complicated cross-sections, particularly the famous Soshu Kitae method, information has been scant, particularly where I looked for it.**

**Obviously, there's a _lot_ more to forging Nihonto than what I've depicted here, and I know better than to think my depiction is all that close to being perfectly accurate, and that's before all the mystical mumbo jumbo from the setting gets inserted in. Hopefully that's not a deal-breaker for anyone.**

**Also, apologies for the late posting. I overslept (Monday is the second day of my weekend). I've also recently started playing _Maneater_, which has not been helping my work ethic any.**


	90. Chapter 90

**Chapter 90:**

The forging of his two swords finished, it was time for the the final work that would bring out their true beauty and functionality. With this, Murasame left the forge and returned to his house, where his workroom resided. First came the sharpening. Using a rough grindstone, Murasame methodically sanded away the metal leading up to the edge, carefully shaping it to a razor's sharpness. It was precise work, and Murasame frequently had to check to ensure that the edge was properly aligned.

It was at this stage that smiths could add other aspects to the sword, such as grooves along the blade, or even horimono, decorative carvings. It was also when most smiths signed their creations on the blade's tang. Murasame had opted to forgo any decorations at this point. Grooves could serve a functional purpose, lightening the blade, but Murasame had already determined that he did not need grooves in this sword. Instead, he went straight into the rough polishing, and then the final polishing.

Sword polishing was an art all its own and, throughout history, sword polishers were dedicated artisans on the level of the smiths themselves. However, Murasame's long life had enabled him to master the art of polishing as well, enabling him to work the sword from start to finish. And now, he set to work with a series of increasingly fine polishing stones, gradually bringing out his creation's luster, and bringing out the beauty of its hamon.

With each successive round of polishing, Murasame's work became more detailed, until he had reached the final stages, using tiny flecks of stone to finely wear away just the right parts of the steel, so that the crystalized steel of the edge stood out perfectly from the darker color of the softer steel, the difference produced by the layering of clay during the quenching process. From flakes, Murasame worked with a slurry of fine grains, using that to bring out the final details of the sword. Working this part put his fingers in extreme proximity to the sword's razor-sharp edge, threatening severe injury if he made the smallest mistake. However, Murasame's movements were sure and confident, and not a single drop of his blood was spilled.

With the polishing finished, Murasame moved on to the mounting. Unlike the typical materials used for the hilt, Murasame chose something different. Just as it had for the sword he had based his design on, Murasame intended to make hilt and sword one and the same. It seemed fitting to him. As a Huntress, Ruby would want to have a weapon that could serve her completely, and Murasame felt it best if she did not have to worry about wearing down the handle.

So he chose to make the handle from steel. In order for it to function properly, he chose to compose the handle from softer steel, like the kind he used for the core of the sword. On his forge, he shaped it into an elongated rectangle. He rounded off the edges, to ensure that they fit comfortably in the hand. The handle was where Murasame chose to add decoration, carefully chiseling out the shapes of roses, growing from thorny vines, winding their way around the block. In one of the gaps between the vines, Murasame inscribed the sword's name.

Then, once he was finished...Murasame split the whole thing in half lengthwise. Along the cut surface of each half, he carved a groove. With careful heating, he melded the tang of one sword into the groove of its chosen handle, using his Aura to guide the process, so that the handle and the tang were one, yet not _completely_ one, which would prevent the shock of any impact traveling up the blade from going straight into Ruby's hand, when she wielded it. It was then that he inscribed each sword's name, chiseling the kanji into the smooth surface of the cut section of the handle. One blade he named Bara, the other Ibara.

Both swords now finished, the last step would be the most unique...and difficult. Working with extreme delicacy, Murasame heated the spines of the swords, from the very tip, all the way back to the handle, heating the cut sides of the handle as well. It took extreme care to perform this step, heating the swords just enough to make them pliable, without threatening the tempering. This part could not be accomplished with any mundane heat, but only through the application of his Aura. Finally, Murasame brought the glowing portions of the two swords...and pressed them together.

A snapping sound, like a spark, rang through the room. The heated portions of the sword cooled instantly, the heat being absorbed, consumed even. The two blades became one, from tip to handle, even the seam of their joining disappearing, producing a single, double-edged, sword, the straight edges running perfectly parallel to one another, all the way down to the angle of the tip. But that wasn't the only thing to happen.

The sparking sound and the disappearance of the heat, born from Murasame's Aura, had resulted in the emergence of something else. From within the sword, Murasame could feel the pulse of life, like a newborn taking its first breath. That sensation grew stronger with each passing minute, increasing, until it was an intense buzz.

Murasame smiled, tears leaking from his eyes. He could feel it, the life and will of his sword. It was stronger, more vivid, than any sword he had forged before. In fact, he felt as though the strength of its Aura might even rival that of Kyo's Tenro. Perhaps that was overly prideful of him, but it truly seemed an accurate assessment.

More than anything, he could feel his creation's heart. "Welcome to the world, my dear child," he said softly, lovingly tracing the petal-like pattern of the hamon with his eyes. "I dub thee Akaibara. You are the brightest child I have yet brought into this world...and I have a special place for you."

* * *

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RUBY-CHAN!" cheered her friends and classmates as Ruby blew out the candles on her cake.

As always, Ruby blushed. It was a bit harrowing, being at the center of attention, even for something like her own birthday. As always, her entire class had been invited to the event, which they had all been happy to accept, considering that, as always, it was being held in one of the pavilions in the Royal Palace, with Sora and Sasame overseeing the whole thing, along with members of the Taishiro and Goyosei popping by to deliver their own well wishes and presents.

It was a fun experience, particularly since Ruby no longer needed to worry about her classmates holding any negative feelings towards her. Whatever the disposition of opinions about her amongst the Mibu in general, Ruby was held in fairly high esteem in her own class, and not merely because of her connection with the Royal Family. Even Yuuko and Akane had long since warmed up to her, and now Ruby considered them to be good friends, even if they weren't in her closest circle of friends.

Some of them maintained a careful distance from her though. That was mainly due to the fact that, whatever her classmates thought about her, such thoughts were not necessarily maintained by their families. Like Akane and Yuuko, there were a couple of others in the class who came from some of the Mibu's more prominent, older families. The members of those older, noble lineages formed the core of those who continued to stubbornly oppose Ruby's presence, and her attachment to the Royal Family. Though Ruby had never confirmed it with Sasame or Sora, she also suspected that they were the main instigators behind the different assassination attempts she had weathered throughout her past few years.

But even those families didn't dare bar their children from attending her birthday party. The very same obsession with status that had them scorning Ruby so violently also kept them from doing something as uncouth as refusing an invitation from the head of the Taishiro herself.

It was nothing to worry about. Sora kept the adults occupied with polite, friendly conversation, while Sasame led Ruby and her friends through the various games and activities that were part and parcel to a birthday party, some seeming a bit overly childish, given that Ruby had just turned thirteen, but entertaining all the same. Ruby had come to absolutely cherish her birthday, and the chance to celebrate with her family. Someone had even either evicted Sasame from the kitchen, or had convinced her to bend, seeing as the cake had been chocolate this time.

Of course, there were also the presents. Ruby liked to believe that she wasn't too greedy. But she had to admit that it was always fun to get so many presents from her friends. Most of them were relatively small and casual, candy and other treats, but some of them were quite meaningful.

Miyu and Setsuna had worked together to get Ruby a brand new set of zori and tabi, both made from excellent, durable materials, in anticipation of her upcoming training excursion in Anima. Ruby could sense the potent infusion of Aura in the garments, improving their resistance to wear, and staving off dirt and stains. She couldn't ask for a better set of footwear for her trip.

Natsuki had gotten Ruby a brand new tea set, and even a canister of excellent matcha to go with it. In the years since she had come to the Mibu, Ruby had come to enjoy tea quite a bit, and had even been educated in the Tea Ceremony by Sora, though she'd rarely ever been to one. Not many of her classmates had the patience to sit through such a slow-paced event.

Sora had commissioned the creation of armor, laminated metal plates that formed a pair of rectangular paldrons (or sode, as the Mibu called them) that she would wear over her shoulders, as well as a set of tassets (kusazuri) to wear over her hakama. The rectangular plates of steel were the same red as her haori, and Ruby was excited to get the chance to try them on.

Various guests cycled throughout. Shinrei, Keikoku, Chinmei, and even Taihaku circulated through to offer their own congratulations, as did Makoto. The excitement and energy were such that it took Ruby a while to notice that a certain person _hadn't_ shown up. Perhaps it was arrogant of her to expect him, but he had shown up without fail for all her previous birthdays, and often stayed a while to talk with her and her friends.

"Where's Murasame-sama?" asked Ruby, managing to make a discreet inquiry to Sora.

"His workshop, perhaps," said Sora contemplatively. "He's been quite busy on a project, these past few weeks. I've hardly seen him since early-September."

Perhaps it was odd, but Ruby had been too busy to notice that she hadn't run into Murasame in the halls of the palace for more than a month. Usually, she bumped into him at least once a week, often with such regularity that she was beginning to think that the Blademaster was actually making it a point to check up on her regularly.

"Is everything all right?" asked Ruby.

To her surprise, Sora smiled. "Oh, it's fine. It's likely that Murasame is working on a new sword. He makes weapons fairly regularly, mainly to stay in practice, or as the mood strikes him. But, every now and then, he gets especially impassioned, and can spend a month or more on a single blade."

"Wow..." Ruby whispered. If he had been indisposed this long, then Murasame must have been _especially_ impassioned about this sword.

Sora used her sleeve to hide her widening smile, and a titter. She had a _very_ good idea of the reason Murasame was so wrapped up in his work this time. She suspected that they would see him before the day was over.

However, Ruby was pulled back to the party by Natsuki before she could make any further inquiries on the matter. Ruby was once again swept up in the fun and excitement, the day only getting better with the arrival of Kyo, who had been off on one of his excursions to another continent, mainly to give outlying settlements respite from the Grimm. He had done so quite often, during the past few years, disappearing for months at a time. Sometimes, Sasame accompanied him. However, she seemed more inclined, lately, to stay behind. Whether it was to attend to her work as Makoto's apprentice, or to remain close to Ruby, she wouldn't say.

In fact, Sasame had taken on an apprentice of her own lately. The previous year, Miyu had expressed an interest in learning the Healing Arts. Sasame began to test her, providing Miyu with textbooks, and guiding her to practice with her Aura. Before long, Miyu was accompanying Sasame on trips to the hospitals around Onmyo to get experience with treating different types of wounds and ailments. Sasame had often told Ruby that Miyu had considerable talent and, probably thanks to her exposure to Ruby, a good bit of dedication to her work.

* * *

In fact, Murasame _did_ show up, a little over two hours after the party had wound down, and most of the guests had gone home. Only Ruby, Kyo, Sasame, Sora, Natsuki, Miyu, and Setsuna remained. As had become a tradition over the years, Ruby's closest friends remained behind for a post-birthday sleepover, spending the evening talking and playing together, before setting up cushions around the living room in the Royal Family's quarters, and falling asleep.

They had been in the midst of playing a board game, when Murasame entered the room. "Good evening," he said cheerfully. "I hope I'm not too late." He had a long, wooden box tucked under his arm as he made his way into the room.

"Well, you _did_ miss Ruby-chan's party," observed Sora, "not entirely by accident, I'm guessing."

Murasame chuckled. "Guilty as charged, I'm afraid," he admitted.

"Huh? It's not like you to skip out on Ruby-chan's party," noted Natsuki.

"Yes, well...I have a present for her, and I felt it was for the best if only a few people were immediately aware of this," said Murasame.

That got him quite a few curious looks. Murasame had given Ruby a present each year, and had not been shy about doing so. Why was it then that, this year, he was suddenly wary of letting too many others see what he had for her?

The three other adults, however, were already hiding eager smiles of their own. "In that case," said Sora, "let's not waste any time. Please show her already."

"Gladly," said Murasame, setting down the box he'd brought on the living room table. "Ruby-chan...this is for you."

Ruby swallowed, approaching the box nervously. She could already tell that this was different from any other present she had gotten, not merely this birthday, but every one she'd ever had. The box was rather plain-looking. Unlike most of her presents from earlier in the day, it had not been wrapped. It was a simple rectangle of wood, with a lid that lifted off. Nervously, Ruby brushed her fingers along the box's upper edge. Strangely, none of her friends, not even Natsuki, urged her to hurry up. There was a strange gravity to the situation that they could all sense.

Slowly, Ruby removed the lid of the box, setting it aside, everything else falling away as her lungs filled from a stunned gasp at the sight of what lay before her. She wasn't the only one. There was a collective intake of breath from everyone, even her mother and siblings.

Ruby's eyes watered as she regarded the slender blade within, forged from bright-red steel, and a rectangular handle of darker-red. Her eyes traced the petal-like pattern of the hamon, running up the length of the blade, along both of its edges. It was a work of craftsmanship and beauty unlike anything she had ever seen before.

"Oh my..." whispered Sora, having to cover her mouth with a sleeve to hide the fact that her jaw was hanging slack.

"Magnificent," said Kyo, his voice as exultant as it was quiet.

"Wow!" squealed Sasame.

Their voices didn't even register to Ruby's ears. The world seemed completely muted as she examined the sword. It was lying in a recess in the padded interior, with its intended sheath resting in a recess next to it, leaving the blade on display. The instant she'd laid eyes on this sword, she'd felt something like a spark between herself and the blade. It was as though mere visual contact had created some kind of connection. Already, she could feel that this blade was hers...and hers alone. Tears began to run down Ruby's cheeks.

"Wha-what's her name?" asked Ruby, not taking her eyes off Murasame's creation.

"I named her Akaibara," said Murasame. "That word typically means Red Rose. However, as you can see, I used the characters for 'aka' and 'ibara.' So the name also means Red Thorn. I made her a flower of beauty to match your own...and a thorn for your foes."

"She's..." Ruby sniffled, having to wipe her eyes. "...She's amazing! I...I..."

"Go ahead and take her up," said Murasame.

Gingerly, reverently, Ruby slipped the fingers of her left hand around the handle, lifting the blade free of the box's confines. The handle felt perfectly natural in her hand, despite its odd design. Lifting the blade free, Ruby carefully rested the flat of the blade against the fingers of her right hand as she let her eyes trace along the sword's length, taking in the rippling of the grain produced by countless layers of meticulously folded steel. Even though its shape and design were completely at odd with the blades she had trained with, Ruby couldn't help but feel that this sword was perfect for her.

That was...until she felt a sharp pricking sensation in her hand, an angry jolt from the sword's Aura. "Ah!" she exclaimed, jerking the sword away from her fingers, nearly cutting one of them. "Huh?" She felt a sensation almost like repulsion from the blade. If the sword had been a person, Ruby got the feeling she would be huffing, and turning her head away.

Murasame chuckled. "As you can see...she's a bit prideful and contrary. Earning her respect and cooperation will take some doing. I didn't want to make this _too_ easy for you, after all."

"...I don't get it," admitted Ruby, after a moment's thought.

"You will...in time," said Murasame. "I know that she is quite a bit different, both in form and appearance, from the swords you've trained with. However, I promise that she will be quite suited to your style. Given your aspirations as a Huntress, I was moved to include a certain transitional element in her design, just how I've heard the weapons of Huntsmen and Huntresses can often transform."

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"I think I'll leave that for you to discover," said Murasame. "You'll have to gain her trust more, before she'll allow you to use her full potential. Rather than color your expectations, I want you to explore your potential together, and find out for yourself just what your new weapon can do."

Ruby sniffed. Despite the indifferent attitude Akaibara was currently demonstrating, Ruby had already fallen in love with her new sword.

"Congratulations, Ruby-chan...and happy birthday," said Murasame, smiling warmly.

"For now, it's probably best if you sheathe her, and take her back to your room," suggested Sasame. "You can begin practicing with her tomorrow."

"Okay," said Ruby, taking out the sheath, then sliding Akaibara's blade into it.

She quickly took both the sword, and the box it had come in, bearing them out of the living room, and down the hallway to her own. As she did, Sora approached Murasame.

"Just as you said you would," she noted.

"Yes," agreed Murasame. "She _does_ tend to sway people very easily. I thought it would be to her benefit to have to struggle a little."

Sora giggled. "Oh, I hope you haven't underestimated our Ruby-chan. She has _never_ allowed struggle to deter her."

"I'm counting on that," he said.

* * *

"Congratulations on your new sword," said Shinrei, when Ruby arrived at the courtyard before the Fourth Gate. "I heard Murasame-sama knocked out a real doozy for you."

Calling Murasame's creation a "doozy" seemed unfitting to Ruby. She'd barely been able to sleep through the night, practically salivating at the idea of being able to try out her new sword. Sora had needed to admonish Ruby to attend to her friends that morning, in order to keep her from running off to put Akaibara through her paces, and abandoning them.

Fortunately, they could all understand her excitement. After all, Akaibara was no mere birthday present, and Murasame's presenting her to Ruby was more than an act of generosity. Ruby had been granted a tremendous honor, not merely being entrusted with one of the Elder's creations, but having one forged especially for her. It was the kind of thing that supposedly only happened once a generation, if even that. It was the kind of thing that happened in stories and legends, which had been depicted in some of the books Ruby had read, or the plays her family had taken her to. She'd certainly never imagined that _she_ would be granted such an honor.

As a result, spending the morning playing and talking with her friends had almost been torture to Ruby, when she would have liked nothing more than to take out Akaibara and bear her straight away to practice. When the time had finally come to see her friends off, Ruby had done so with all the haste she could manage, without seeming impolite, before practically sprinting to her training session with Shinrei, eager to begin trying out her new weapon as soon as she could.

"Ready to give her a go?" asked Shinrei. "Her design's a good bit different from what you're used to, so we'll just spend today getting a feel for her."

"Okay," said Ruby, already staring eagerly at the sheathed weapon in her hands.

"Well...go ahead," beckoned Shinrei.

Ruby nodded, tightening the fingers of her left hand around the handle, while firmly holding the sheath with her right. Then, Ruby pulled...

...

...

The blade didn't move. Ruby frowned. Perhaps the sheath was a bit tight, and required a bit more effort to slide it free. Tensing her arms, she grasped the sword even tighter, and pulled harder.

...

...

The sword didn't even budge.

"Huh?" grunted Ruby, confused. She thought Akaibara had slipped rather easily into its sheath the previous night, to the point where she might have been worried that it would slide out too easily, had she not had complete faith in Murasame's craftsmanship.

Gritting her teeth, Ruby pulled even harder, straining her arms. If she pulled the sword free now, she might wind up accidentally slashing out with it. As such, Shinrei took a cautious step away from her. However, as Ruby continued to exert more strength, to the point where her arms were trembling from the strain and sweat was beading on her forehead, Akaibara remained stubbornly unmoving, almost as though the sword and sheath were all of a single piece.

Finally, after well over a minute of grunting, growling, and pulling with all her might, Ruby relented, panting for breath, her right arm feeling light and tired from the intense effort trying to wrest the sword free of its sheath. _Oh God! Did I do something wrong already? What if I stored her wrong last night, and she warped so much I can't get the sheath off?_

Seeing that Ruby was beginning to panic, Shinrei stepped closer. "Can I see?" he asked.

Reluctantly, Ruby nodded, and handed him the sheathed sword. Shinrei took it up, grasping the handle with his right hand, and pulled. There was a moment of hesitation, then the blade slid free with a click. "Oh...I get it."

"What did you do?" gasped Ruby.

"Whoo boy..." said Shinrei, sliding the sword back in, to Ruby's dismay, "...you might not like hearing this."

"Hearing what?" asked Ruby.

"The reason you can't draw her is...because she won't _let_ you draw her," said Shinrei.

"Wh-why not?" asked Ruby.

Shinrei sighed. "To put it bluntly...your sword doesn't respect you."

"What?!" gasped Ruby, horrified.

"Murasame-sama certainly forged a pretty neat piece of work here...which is putting it mildly," said Shinrei. "It wasn't easy for me to draw her. I had to subordinate her will, and basically make her bend to mine. But that approach definitely won't work for you."

"It won't?" asked Ruby.

"Nope," said Shinrei. "For starters, she's strong...and getting stronger. She's freshly forged and finished, so her Aura is still coming together. But before long, she'll start to mature, and I get the feeling that, once she does, even _I_ won't be able to make her do something she doesn't want to do."

"Oh..." gasped Ruby.

"Besides, if you just force your sword to obey your will, you're basically stifling her potential," said Shinrei. "If you want to be able to draw her, you have to earn her trust and respect."

_Murasame-sama said something like that, last night,_ thought Ruby, taking the sheathed blade back from Shinrei.

Seeing Ruby holding the sword uncertainly, both hands now gripped around the sheath, he frowned contemplatively. "Well...we won't get much training done if you can't even draw her," he pointed out. "At this point, do you want to set her aside, so that we can do the training? You could work on figuring out how to draw her later."

"Uh..." Ruby stared at Shinrei awkwardly. Then her gaze dipped down to the sheathed sword in her hands, then back up to her teacher. For a long moment, Ruby's gaze darted back and forth. But rather than try to prod her out of her hesitation, Shinrei waited patiently, his expression completely neutral.

"Um...Shinrei-sensei...actually...uh..."

"Yes?" asked Shinrei.

"I uh...that is, I...if you don't mind, I'd...like to...keep trying..." stammered Ruby.

"Keep trying what?" asked Shinrei.

"Uh well...I'd like to keep trying to draw her," said Ruby, glancing down at her sword.

"Why?" asked Shinrei. "We won't get any training done like that."

"It's just..." Ruby swallowed. "I get th-the feeling that...if I just act like I can just use my regular swords, if I can't draw her...she...she'll feel like I'm giving up on her...and that won't make it any easier for me to draw her."

_This girl is smart,_ thought Shinrei, trying his hardest to keep his face from breaking into a wide grin. "Well...are you sure...?"

"I-if it's all right with you," said Ruby. "I mean...I think this is important. But...I don't want to waste your time."

"Ruby-chan...if you really feel like this is what you need to do, then I'll let you," said Shinrei earnestly.

"I...I do," said Ruby, nodding.

Shinrei nodded back. "All right then. So, from now until it's time for you to go back for dinner, just focus on figuring out how to draw your sword."

"Yes, Sensei," said Ruby. "Do you have any advice."

"Nope," said Shinrei, smirking. "This is one of those things you're going to have to figure out for yourself. You'll need to listen to the voice of your sword, and figure out how to get your sword's respect."

"Okay," said Ruby.

Ruby settled onto the floor of the courtyard, crossing her legs under her as she stared at her sheathed sword, transferring her left hand back to handle. She began to tug on it, though the blade remained stubbornly locked into the sheath. Sighing, she closed her eyes, emptied her mind, and opened her awareness to the sword in her hands.

Behind her, Shinrei finally let his grin show. _That's it, Ruby-chan,_ he thought eagerly. _Right now, learning how to use that sword is gonna be your top priority. Once you learn how to use her, you're going to grow by leaps and bounds._

_ That sword's no doozy. Murasame-sama forged a genuine masterwork, a bonafide Treasure Blade. Her Aura is still young. But once she matures, she's going to be equal to Tenro. With a partner like that in your hand, Ruby-chan, there's gonna be no limit to what you can accomplish._

* * *

"Ruby-chan...?"

"H-huh!?" Ruby perked up in her seat, blinking in confusion.

"You're doing it again," deadpanned Natsuki.

"Oh..." Ruby slumped in her seat slightly.

"You've been awfully distracted lately," observed Miyu. "Is everything all right?"

"I'm okay," said Ruby, before sighing, a melancholy frown appearing on her face. "It's just...I keep thinking about my sword."

"It really bothers you, doesn't it?" asked Setsuna.

"I wouldn't call it bothering," said Ruby. "It's just...I just can't figure out what she wants."

Ruby's friends exchanged worried looks. Given the magnificent honor of being bestowed a custom-forged sword, made by the hands of Murasame himself, they had expected Ruby to practically be buoyant with excitement, come Monday. However, instead they had been greeted by a slightly-depressed girl, whose mind now seemed to wander repeatedly. She'd even lost focus in class on multiple occasions, earning her an admonishment from their teacher.

They missed having Kyoichiro as their teacher, but he could teach only so many classes, and they had graduated above the grade he normally worked with. There had been a little worry that their new teacher would be biased against Ruby for her outsider heritage. But Kyoichiro had stringent standards, and vetted his teachers very carefully. There had been no signs that their current teacher bore Ruby any ill will over where she had come from. In fact, given the fact that Ruby was a very good student, all told, their teacher had almost never had to scold her for not paying attention in class before.

Which only made her current situation all the stranger. Ruby had even come with her usual dual-katanas hanging from her sash, rather than her new blade. At least that had a fairly understandable explanation. Just as it had been with living with the Royal Family, when she'd first come to Onmyo, Ruby wasn't exactly sure that the revelation she'd received a sword personally forged by Murasame himself as a birthday present would go over well with her less-understanding peers. For the time being, she opted to keep her original swords, if only for the sake of keeping up appearances.

The fact that Ruby brought her swords to school wasn't considered odd anymore. After the first attempt on her life, Ruby had been granted permission to wear her kodachi to school, and keep them with her in the classroom. That had started a few angry whispers about "favoritism" and "special treatment," almost to the point of resetting her relationship with her classmates almost all the way back to the days where she was being scorned for being an outsider...But then a woman wielding an urumi had tried to kill her in the schoolyard, when she and her friends had gotten off for the day. After that, the rest of her peers were more understanding of why Ruby got to bring her weapons to school.

Once they'd gotten to their lunch period, Ruby's friends had managed to get the story from her; Ruby explaining that, once Akaibara had been sheathed, the sword had stubbornly refused to be drawn, Ruby spending her entire scheduled practice session the previous day trying to get the sword to open up to her. In the end, she had been called back to join her family to dinner...having only met with failure.

And now, here she was, in school, not proudly bearing Murasame's gift, but carrying her usual swords, still stewing in frustration over her failure, yesterday. As such, Ruby's mind continuously went back to Akaibara, wondering just _why_ her sword still refused to accept her.

It wasn't that Ruby couldn't hear the voice of her sword. Ruby knew for a fact she could. After all, she'd been able to hear the voice of every weapon in Murasame's armory. She could sense Akaibara's presence, even get a whiff of her will. It wasn't so much that she couldn't hear Akaibara's voice as it was that her sword just refused to speak. Once again, Ruby got the impression that, if Akaibara were a person, she'd be huffing and stubbornly turning her head away. (In future years, during her time at Beacon, Ruby would come to consider Akaibara, during this phase of her training, to have been almost like a "Sword-version of Weiss". Weiss would _not_ appreciate the comparison.)

"Ruby-chan...you're doing it again," said Natsuki, noticing that Ruby's focus was slipping once more.

"Sorry..." sighed Ruby, feeling miserable. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

"I imagine she's having a difficult time in school, right about now," said Murasame, chuckling slightly as he sipped at his tea.

Across from him, on the other side of the small table at the center of the garden pavilion they were currently relaxing in, Sora raised an eyebrow, giving Murasame a crooked smile. "I never pegged you for a sadist...taking so much enjoyment in my daughter's misery."

"Talent only takes one so far," said Murasame. "Ruby-chan is already remarkably talented, taking to her training like a duck to water. But she also has that exceedingly rare talent of a natural-born inclination towards diligence. Thus, she works studiously to practice even the things that come easily to her. However, I believe this marks the first time she has ever truly come up against a wall in her training."

"Even though Shinrei always thrashes her during their sparring sessions," noted Sora.

"She does not perceive that as a wall," said Murasame. "Rather, she sees her sessions with Shinrei as a road. He is perpetually leading her down a path towards becoming stronger, faster, and more skilled. Only when she reaches the point that she can truly fight him as an equal, will he become a wall to her.

"On the other hand, when it comes to wielding her new blade, this is, I believe, the first time that all her efforts have resulted in complete and utter failure. Shinrei told me that, by the end of her first session with Akaibara, Ruby-chan was no closer to drawing her than she was at the beginning."

"And you seem to find that a good thing," said Sora.

Murasame closed his eyes. "This will be the first true test of Ruby-chan's diligence. How willing is she to continue to pursue something that seems well and truly impossible to her? If she can work her way past this, then she will reach the point where no level of growth shall be out of her grasp. She could even come to surpass the likes of Kyo and his father...or you."

"Truly..." said Sora. "And just what is it that Ruby-chan is doing so wrong, that her sword even refuses to leave its sheath? Not even Tenro ever did that."

Murasame smiled. "Though I found myself inspired by the design of Muramasa's Hokuto Shichisei, I came to the realization that I could never match or surpass him if I continued to simply try to ape what he has done. While the form may be almost identical, I realized that I needed to find my own essence, to impart to the blades I forged. I needed to find a vision that was distinct to me.

"Muramasa's swords were forged in an era of perpetual conflict, when feuding warlords waged battle continuously. His own student, the First Kyo, was a renegade from the Mibu Clan, forever under the threat of death. His creations were true demon blades, for a time when demons were needed.

"On the other hand, in this era, what the world needs are those who are willing to fight for and protect the weak, who are willing to stand against the darkness, and preserve the light of life and hope. I believe I forged Akaibara to help Ruby-chan realize that end. As such, I figured that a sword that was less...violent...in its reprimands would be better suited to her.

"And...as for her current difficulties...I believe they stem from the fact that Ruby-chan has a tendency to do everything right."

"Everything right...?" Both Sora's eyebrows went up. "Just what do you mean by that?"

"Ruby-chan's talent is incredible," said Murasame. "On top of that, she has a small and simple soul, and a very open heart, able to open herself and hear the voices, loud and quiet, of all the blades I forged at once. Such an open heart is...hard to pair a proper sword with, the main reason I did not try to grant her any of the ones I have already forged.

"To that end, I forged Akaibara to be...spoiled. She's selfish. She doesn't just want Ruby-chan to be open to her, she wants Ruby-chan's full will and attention. As ironic as it may seem, if Ruby-chan's greatest strength is her ability to open her heart, then the solution to her first hurdle in dealing with Akaibara will be to close herself off, to a certain extent. In order to proceed, Ruby-chan will need to learn how to be selfish."

"Interesting..." mused Sora.

"I've noticed that a truly great sword is not merely forged to be wielded," said Murasame, "but that it also _forges_ the one who wields it. Sword and user will grow together, their separate strengths coming together to give rise to a power far beyond the sum of their parts."

Sora chuckled. "If that's true, I look forward to seeing the end result of this."

"I, on the other hand, shall savor Ruby-chan's struggle in the present," said Murasame. "It will be a true joy to watch her persevere in the face of real adversity."

* * *

Before Ruby knew it, two whole weeks had gone by. From her perspective, they seemed completely wasted. Every time she should have been training with Shinrei, she instead spent trying to coax her sword from its sheath, only to have the blade remain stubbornly locked in place. In the course of those two weeks, she hadn't practiced a single kata, nor had she exchanged any blows with her teacher. Instead, she spent each session seated on the courtyard floor...all her senses bent towards her sword, trying to figure out just what Akaibara wanted from her.

It was beginning to affect her life outside of training too. Ruby only grew more and more distracted in class. On top of that, it was hard for her to focus on her homework. Her grades were suffering and, worst of all, she could tell that her friends were worried about her, that they wanted to help. But they didn't know how. _Ruby_ didn't know how they could help, or even if help was even possible in a situation like this.

Instead of spending time with them, she had increased the time she spent trying to figure out her sword. Her friends were more than understanding, thankfully. As it was, Ruby was growing moody and withdrawn, as her frustration at her lack of success mounted. (In future years, once she was at Beacon, she would refer to herself during this time as being quite "Blakey". Blake would _not_ appreciate the comparison.)

* * *

At the end of her second week spent on her sword, Ruby emerged from school for the day, ready to return home and spend another afternoon wrestling with her sword in both body and spirit. Abruptly, however, she found her hands seized by Natsuki, who was stubbornly refusing to let her go. "Natsu-chan...?"

"Nope," said Natsuki firmly. "You're coming with us, today, Ruby-chan."

"Huh?" Ruby looked to Miyu and Setsuna for confirmation, only to see them nodding in agreement.

"You need a break," said Miyu.

"But I-" Ruby began to protest.

"We know how important this is to you," said Setsuna. "But, at the same time, this is hurting you. You need time and space."

"Yeah, so we've got a special plan," said Natsuki, grinning and sweeping her arm out to encompass the freshly fallen snow. "We're going sledding on the mountain, today. And you're coming with us."

"I'm afraid we won't be taking no for an answer," added Miyu, showing an uncharacteristic smirk.

"And if you were thinking of trying to escape by force, we've talked to your mom and sister about it," said Setsuna. "They aren't gonna let you blow any time on your sword today either. Sasame-sama will march you out to meet with the rest of us herself."

"Just give it up and come have fun with us, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki, grinning fiendishly. "Your mean ole' sword will still be there tomorrow."

Ruby wanted to point out that Akaibara was definitely not old, but that was splitting hairs at this point. Her friends were clearly going to have their way, whether she liked it or not. So Ruby resigned herself to spending the afternoon with them.

* * *

It was, Ruby decided, a good way to spend the afternoon. With the arrival of winter, the residents of Onmyo had set up some impressive sledding courses down the side of the mountain, with paths winding between trees and around rocky outcroppings. By the time her second run had started, Ruby was smiling and laughing, simply enjoying being with her friends, forgetting all about her previous frustration.

In a way, it was euphoric, a reminder of what she'd been missing out on for the past two weeks. She could have been spending time with her friends, enjoying those last few weeks before she and her siblings set out on a journey that would take them away from home for the better part of a year. But instead, she'd spent all that time fiddling around with a stubborn sword that just wouldn't _tell_ her what it wanted her to do, even though she knew it was perfectly capable of doing so.

Wrapping up their session, with the sun descending towards the horizon, Ruby and her friends made their way back. Ruby would split away from them before long, heading back to the Palace on her own. Ruby's path took her along the forest that dominated much of the mountainside. Many of the trees had lost their leaves for the year, but there were a few evergreens supplying some color beyond the white of the snow, and the gray and brown of exposed trunks. A faint breeze blew along them, stirring their branches, making wood groan softly.

Ruby's ears picked up the sound of another rustling, separate from that caused by the wind, the groan of weight settling onto an exposed branch above her. However, it didn't immediately register to her mind. The next thing Ruby heard was the sharp whistle of air being parted by a descending blade.

With a gasp, Ruby threw herself forward, going into a roll that barely managed to carry her out of the path of the slash, the blade nicking the edge of her haori. Coming back up on her feet, Ruby spun around to face her assassin.

The man was dressed in an unremarkable, brown kimono, with a bandana wrapped over the top of his head, and a second one covering his mouth. His eyes were featureless white orbs, disconcerting, as they seemed to glow slightly. In his right hand, he held the katana he had just attacked Ruby with, while the left held several metal spikes, larger and longer than the needles the _Kurosasori-Ryu_ practitioner Ruby had fought over a month ago had used.

A crinkling at the corner of the man's eyes indicated he was smiling, and it wasn't a pleasant smile either.

Ruby frowned darkly. _As if I didn't have enough to worry about,_ she thought. Something else occurred to her though. This man was broadcasting his murderous intent quite openly, yet Ruby had almost been caught by his first attack. Now that she thought about it, there had been signs of his approach. He wasn't nearly as stealthy as that _Shirogarasu-Ryu_ fighter had been before, so Ruby should have noticed him coming.

But she hadn't...and Ruby realized why. She'd been distracted, off-balance. The conundrum of her sword was making it harder for her to keep her awareness open, to sense incoming attacks. On top of that, she'd gone a full two weeks without engaging in any training. Her responses were getting dull and rusty.

Anger hummed through Ruby's veins; anger at herself, for allowing herself to be distracted; anger at her attacker, for coming for her at such an inconvenient time; anger at her new sword, for being so uncooperative that its refusal to allow her to even draw it was now serving as a dangerous distraction in her life.

However, _now_ wasn't the best time to be stewing in anger. This assailant certainly wasn't going to stand back and wait for her to get over her present issues. Sheathing his sword, he reached up with his right hand, hooking his fingers over the bandana covering his mouth. From his pursed lips, he blew a stream of gray powder into the air. It looked like ash, floating and drifting, obscuring everything like a cloud of fog, made up of countless tiny particles. The cloud engulfed Ruby, who waited warily. Her senses didn't convey any immediate danger, which suggested the cloud wasn't any kind of poison, or harmful in its own right, understandable, given that the assassin was within it too.

Reaching into the flap of his kimono, the assassin drew forth another set of spikes. With three in his right, and three in his left, the assassin attacked, flinging the spikes for Ruby. Ruby could see that the back ends of the spikes were anchored to wires, which the assassin continued to hold in his hands.

Drawing her swords, Ruby parried the spikes, aiming to knock them away. That was when she realized the danger. As her metal blades contacted the spikes, they sparked against each other, a combination of Aura and metallic impact. The particles in the air ignited, generating a searing explosion, which caused Ruby to shriek as she jumped away. The realization of what she was up against came a little too late though, and she felt the heat burning at her Aura, and her clothes smoldering from the flames. Meanwhile, her opponent simply pulled on the wires to bring the spikes back to his hands.

She tried to dodge out of the cloud, but the assassin appeared able to control it to some extent, the dust billowing around her, spreading to keep her encompassed, even as he hurled his spikes at her again. This time, Ruby dodged, rather than try to parry, and set off another explosion. But a slight tug on the wires allowed the assassin to alter the course of his spikes, so that two of them struck each other, creating more sparks, and setting off another explosion, this one almost directly behind Ruby.

The shockwave sent Ruby stumbling forward and, almost before she knew what was happening, she found two more spikes less than an inch away from piercing her eyes. Yelping, Ruby jerked aside, barely managing to avoid being blinded, but having one of the spikes scrape a line across her cheek as it passed. Then, of course, the assassin manipulated the wires to have those spikes clash against each other as well, setting off another explosion that sent Ruby sprawling.

Prone on the ground, Ruby's ears picked up the whistling noise of more spikes approaching. Desperately, she pushed off, launching herself away from where she was laying, her ears picking up the thud of the projectiles striking where her head had been. Managing to come back to her feet, Ruby noted that the spikes didn't trigger an explosion this time. Because they had struck soft, damp earth, recently cleared of snow, there was nothing to spark.

More importantly, Ruby saw an opportunity. Her attacker was now just outside of the dust cloud, ensuring that he would not be hit by any of the explosions that he sparked. His choice of weapons told Ruby everything she needed to know about certain particular limitations of his style. He had sheathed his katana and was now relying entirely on ranged weapons, trying to keep her at a distance, so he didn't risk blowing himself up. Therefore, the most expedient solution to her plight was to get close, and stop him from igniting his dust.

When her attacker threw his spikes again, Ruby immediately shot between them, heading right for them. She didn't even mind that he triggered an explosion behind her, as the shockwave lent speed to her footwork, allowing her to close the distance even more unexpectedly. Smiling victoriously, she slashed with both her swords as she closed in.

Her blades cleaved through the man's body, carving him into quarters. Too late, Ruby noticed of the lack of resistance to her swords. A second later, the man's body dissolved into just more of the dust he had breathed out.

A shadow fell over Ruby from above. She looked up just in time to see the spikes descending towards her, already too close for her to dodge. Desperately, she fended them off with her swords, only for the sparks of impact to trigger numerous explosions practically right in front of her. Ruby screamed in pain as the flames seared her body, the shockwaves driving her to her knees. Seeing only one way out of this, she shrugged out of her haori.

The assassin tossed his spikes down once again, sending the metal piercing through the smoke and flames. His eyes narrowed in satisfaction as he saw them punch through the red garment. Landing, he retrieved them, only to find the fabric of Ruby's haori clinging to them, the garment's wearer nowhere to be seen. It would be the work of just a few seconds for the assassin to free his weapons from the fabric...but those were seconds Ruby had no intention of giving him.

Abruptly, the assassin lurched, a pair of swords piercing him from behind, their points punching out through his torso. His back arched, and he let out a pained gasp. The spikes fell from his grip, dropping to the ground.

Gasping for breath, cut, bruised, and burned, Ruby leaned into her attacker's back, thrusting her swords all the way through, before pulling them out with a slicing motion, causing them to cut through the muscles of her attacker's abdomen, sending blood spraying through the air. Stepping back away from him, Ruby staggered, swaying drunkenly. Meanwhile, the assassin collapsed to the ground, no longer moving.

"That was closer than I would have liked," admitted Sasame, once again seeming to appear out of thin air. Ruby suspected that one of Sora's Guards had fetched her again, though she had no way to be sure. That was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment though.

In fact, she barely even noticed Sasame, as her older sister crouched down by the dying assassin, and began to heal him. Instead, Ruby's feelings and thoughts were directed inward...and they were angry.

_Stupid! Careless! Sloppy!_ Ruby berated herself fiercely. _I wasn't paying attention at all. I practically handed my head to him on a silver platter, let him do whatever he wanted, and nearly got myself killed...all because I was too busy thinking about that stupid sword. I've been spending so much time on it that I've slacked off._

Sasame stood up, ready to turn her attention to Ruby's injuries. However, she paused, seeing a look of absolute fury that looked utterly uncharacteristic on her younger sister's face. "Ruby-chan...?"

Ruby didn't even seem to notice. Instead, she turned sharply, and stalked off, heading back towards the palace.

"Well now..." said Sasame, quickly turning to make sure that a member of Sora's Guard was seeing to the assassin, before heading off in pursuit of Ruby.

* * *

The sound of Ruby's stomping feet on the wooden floorboards of the palace hallways was a foreign one. It had been a long time since Ruby had felt so furious, not since before she had left her old home, on Patch. She didn't care that she thudded her way past Sora, drawing a concerned look from her. She didn't care that Kyo watched her warily as she went past him, heading right for her room.

All she cared about was that, right there, resting on its rack, was her sword..._her _sword. Pulling off her old swords, Ruby set them aside. There was an impulse to throw them, throw something...but Ruby refused to show such disrespect to the implements that had saved her life. Instead, she kept her frustration focused on the cause of it all.

She snatched Akaibara from its rack, not even bothering to leave her room, glaring down at it. "I'm sick of this, you stupid hunk of scrap metal," she growled. "I've had enough of you being so damn stubborn. If you're going to be like this, then fine...I'm through being nice. But, one way or another, you're coming out of that sheath."

With a wordless snarl, Ruby clenched her left hand around Akaibara's handle with all her might, pulling, not merely with all her strength, but ever ounce of her will. This was _her_ sword, and it was time to make that clear.

Akaibara slid forth from her sheath as though the inside had been coated with oil. The ease with which she emerged was such that Ruby almost swung her straight off the draw, stumbling back clumsily as her intended exertion met with far less resistance than she had expected.

"What...?" Ruby blinked, staring at her sword in confusion. _Why...?_

For the first time, Ruby felt a genuine response from her sword, something more than the brief expression of disdain. Suddenly, she felt a sensation of smug satisfaction radiating from the blade, as though her sword was saying _"It's about time."_

Ruby swallowed, feeling a strange lump in her throat. _When I was angry with her, she suddenly cooperated with me. But that doesn't make sense. Why would she respect me for being angry with her?_

A confused frown spread across Ruby's face. _Maybe there's more to respect than just being nice to someone or something,_ she mused.

At the end of the day, Akaibara, for all that she had an Aura, and even a personality, was not a person. She was a sword, steel forged with the purpose of cutting down her wielder's enemies. Perhaps such an object was not drawn by kind words and warm thoughts. Instead, Akaibara wanted her wielder to show spine, to assert herself, and invoke her own will.

Of course, Akaibara wanted that will to be centered on herself. Just listening, as Ruby had with Murasame's other weapons, would not be enough. Akaibara wasn't like any of those blades...she wanted to be the _true_ focus of Ruby's attention, in a way that would never work for any other weapon.

"You're _so_ high maintenance," grumbled Ruby. Then, despite everything that had just happened, her anger evaporated. Whatever else, she'd found a way forward. _I guess we'll just muddle along._

A giggle drew her attention to the door of her room.

"So you managed it," observed Sasame.

"Y-yeah," said Ruby.

"I'm proud of you, Ruby-chan," said Sasame earnestly. "That was probably the hardest obstacle that's ever been set for you, and you've cleared it."

"It's not over yet," said Ruby, staring at her sword, feeling Akaibara's Aura pricking at her hand. "She's going to take some work to get along with."

"I get the feeling you'll manage," said Sasame. "Now then...how about letting me treat your injuries. And then...you could use a bath."

Ruby let out a small eep, staring down at herself. Her clothes were tattered and smudged, and she sported cuts, bruises, and burns across her body. The realization of them all caused the pain she'd suffered to come to the forefront of her mind. "Oh...ow."

Sasame laughed. "Put Akaibara away, and let me see to your injuries. Then get your bath, Ruby-chan."

Ruby nodded, submitting to her sister's ministrations. _I've got a long way to go._

* * *

**I've been looking forward to writing how Ruby got her sword, and then learned to use it, for a while. It's also an opportunity to show Ruby _really_ struggling with something. Ironically, her tendency to be too nice can turn out to be a double-edged sword, sometimes (ha ha).**


	91. Chapter 91

**Chapter 91:**

"Bye, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki, trying hard to keep from shedding too many tears as she hugged Ruby tightly. "Don't do anything too crazy."

"I make no such promises," said Ruby, hugging her best friend back.

After that, it was time to exchange hugs with Miyu and Setsuna, the latter being a little awkward, given the crush Ruby had once nursed. However, she managed with only a slight tint of red to her cheeks. Pulling away, she smiled happily at all her friends. "I'll bring back souvenirs," she promised.

"Are you sure it's okay to not take your other swords?" asked Natsuki, giving Akaibara a dubious look.

The sword was now tucked in her sash, resting at the small of her back, where her previous weapons once resided. Ruby had respectfully transferred her katanas to shiro-saya, the white, wooden storage sheaths meant for when the blades were not going to see use for a long time.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "It's kinda the only choice I've got at this point."

Just as it had been, during those first two weeks after getting Akaibara, Ruby had found the idea of keeping her old swords as backup something that her new sword would take offense to. One way or another, Ruby had to get along with her new partner. If she brought her other two swords along as well, then it was as good as saying she had no faith in the sword that was forged especially for her. Akaibara was often moody, sometimes unpredictable, somewhat like a cat. There were times when Ruby could wield her easily, and times where she didn't even want to leave her sheath.

Despite that, Ruby realized that the only way to truly bond with her sword was to place her trust and life in it. Therefore, even though it was risky, Akaibara was going to be her only weapon on this excursion.

"You'll get the hang of it," Setsuna assured her. "When you put your mind to it, there's pretty much nothing you _can't_ do.

"Thanks," said Ruby, blushing some more.

"Ready to go, Ruby-chan?" asked Sasame, coming up behind her, a traveling haversack already slung over one shoulder. Kyo was waiting just a little bit farther behind.

"Uh huh," said Ruby, nodding eagerly.

"Then let's go," said Sasame. "We don't want to be late for our ride."

Ruby nodded. For the purpose of their journey, they would be taking a zeppelin from Onmyo to a settlement on the western coast of Leng. From there, they would take a ship across the sea, and then make their way through Mistral's territories on foot. Once they arrived in Anima, they planned on parting ways. Ruby and Sasame would travel north, around Lake Matsu, while Kyo would take the southern route. This would be the first training excursion Ruby would be taking apart from her brother. But she would have no hope of gaining experience against the Grimm, if he was around, given that his presence was perpetually frightening them off.

* * *

They made their way up the ramp, into the zeppelin's quarters inside its hull. It was the first time Ruby would have ever spent so much time inside one of the Mibu Clan's zeppelins, having only ever used them for short trips before.

Ruby had always been curious about the Mibu's equivalent to the airships that the Kingdoms used. Zeppelins were larger, slower, and less-maneuverable than the Dust-powered airships used by the Kingdoms. However, they still seemed to do their jobs admirably, carrying passengers and cargo across the width and breadth of Leng. At first glance, they seemed clumsy and vulnerable, enormous targets, far too easily attacked by airborne Grimm. However, Ruby had learned that they each had their own counters for such threats.

Zeppelins were primarily operated by those who had studied the Gravity Arts, derivatives of the same arts that were at the core of the _Mumyo-Dai'On-Ryu_ that her friend, Setsuna, studied. The application of advanced Aura script allowed them to control every aspect of the airships' movement, while a member of the warrior class accompanied every airship, ensuring that it was protected from the Grimm.

Fortunately, with Kyo along for the ride, they wouldn't have to worry about any Grimm attacks on their trip. Instead, Ruby was free to sit back and enjoy the panoramic views that were available from the windows of the cabin she shared with Sasame. It was a marvelous experience. Granted, Ruby had never been on a Kingdom airship before, so she didn't have a real comparison to make. But she had to admit that there was something distinctly pleasant about this kind of journey.

They arrived on the other side of Leng without incident, docking at another seaside fishing village. Given that the Mibu had no commerce with the other Kingdoms, almost every settlement by the sea was either given to fishing or salt-production. There were also a few dedicated to the growing of nori and kombu, along with other seafoods. The Mibu had a strong aquaculture industry, with Ruby learning in school that they'd succeeded in the farming of several important fish species that served as foodstuffs throughout their territory.

Finding passage across the sea to Anima was a bit more difficult to arrange. Unlike in the Kingdoms; where passage to Leng was forbidden, and therefore had to be arranged through illicit means; any such arrangements in Leng could be conducted aboveboard. Technically, most Mibu were not permitted to leave Leng. But the Crimson Cross Knight, and those who traveled with him, were amongst the few granted that special freedom. However, the difficult part was finding a ship whose captain and crew were willing to bother. Unlike the smugglers who had brought Ruby and her siblings to Leng, there was little for anyone to gain by ferrying them over to Anima, given that few Mibu had any interest in the things the Kingdom might be able to provide them.

Still, Kyo and Sasame were ultimately able to make the arrangements. One of the larger fishing vessels, used to fish out in deeper waters, was capable of taking them across and, after the captain had been promised substantial compensation for their efforts, their journey was underway once again.

Much like the zeppelins that plied Leng's skies, their seagoing vessels were well-equipped to handle the threat of Grimm as well, though again, Kyo's presence made such concerns unnecessary. Ruby was just glad to know that there was little likelihood of any problems arising as the ship made its return voyage.

They had been dropped off on an unoccupied stretch of coastline, just a ways east of Mistral proper. This was where Ruby and Sasame parted ways from Kyo. From there, they would make their way over the land, Ruby learning from Sasame, passing through settlements, and generally doing whatever needed to be done. For the most part, that entailed walking...a _lot_ of walking...well over twenty miles on a given day. But Ruby's training stood her in good stead, and she took to the journey without complaint.

Of course, without Kyo's presence, there were Grimm. For the most part, Sasame stood back and let Ruby handle herself. Ruby, for her part, took to fighting the Grimm with a gusto. This was what she had been training for, after all. It was fulfilling to mow down packs of Beowolves, or cut down Ursai. Her training had honed her skills and abilities to a remarkable extent, and Ruby found that, even while dealing with a sometimes uncooperative sword, she could still handle the Grimm with ease, though she found herself relishing the prospect of a real challenge.

* * *

"It looks like you're coming along nicely," said Sasame, watching as the last Ursa of the group that had just attacked collapsed, dissolving into smoke.

Ruby sheathed her sword and turned to face her sister. "I'm just glad it's working."

Of course, the issue with Akaibara being unwilling to be wielded by another sword was that Ruby was threatened with losing all the time and effort she'd spent on learning her two-sword style. However, she'd managed to hit on a solution. Rather than starting from scratch, and trying to reteach herself how to fight with a single sword, Ruby instead began to adapt many of her techniques from her previous styles.

By switching Akaibara from one hand to the other, she could recreate many of the techniques she'd used with a two-sword style, mainly those that involved attacking with her swords in succession. On top of that, she'd discovered new nuances that could be applied to her style. Switching hands with her sword allowed her to manipulate where she gripped it easily, enabling her to alter both the reach and power of her attacks, which proved to be an impressive way to catch adversaries off-guard. She'd even managed to surprise Shinrei with it, the first time Ruby used it against him in a sparring session. The enthusiastic praise he'd given her had made her heart soar at the time.

Of course, she had yet to see any of the transformational capability that Murasame had told her that the sword was capable of. Akaibara's form remained as static and unchanging as that of any sword Ruby had worked with. Even if it could transform, Ruby was left wondering _how_. It was all a single piece, even the handle being a permanent part of the sword's form. The sheath was a fine work in and of itself, made of metal, rather than wood and lacquer, reinforced by the Aura infused into it by Murasame. However, it was nothing more than a sheath, with Akaibara herself indicating her displeasure the one time Ruby had tried to wield the sheath as a secondary weapon.

Sasame came up behind Ruby, resting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You'll get the hang of it, I promise," she said. "Just as it is with meeting new people, you won't learn everything about your sword all at once. You'll have to get to know her, and learn her attributes over time. Of course, being a sword, the best way for you to do so will be to wield her."

"I understand," said Ruby.

"Good," said Sasame. "Now then, by my reckoning, we're not all that far from the next town. Let's continue on."

Ruby nodded.

* * *

Traveling without Kyo presented challenges beyond having to actually deal with the Grimm for a change. Kyo's presence was an event to be celebrated at settlements across the Kingdoms, promising a time free of Grimm, where people could let down their guard and be at ease. It was an opportunity for those charged with defending a settlement as well. They could repair defensive emplacements that the Grimm had been gradually worn down, or take the extra time to train or rest up. If there was internal discord drawing Grimm with negativity, then Kyo's arrival gave people a chance to work out their differences, with Kyo or Sasame sometimes serving as a mediator. Many was the embattled settlement that had been brought sudden relief when the Grimm abruptly fled at Kyo's approach.

As a result, it was not hard at all to find both food and lodging at a settlement, as the innkeepers practically fought for the privilege of hosting Kyo and his companions, and they were promised free food at any establishment therein. It certainly made visiting anyplace in the Kingdoms with him quite the unusual, if pleasant, experience.

On the other hand, with Sasame alone, they had a little less ease in securing food and lodgings in settlements they passed through. In fact, there had been some resistance to Sasame's presence, given that she was a faunus. The last town they'd been in had actually tried to run them out. However, Sasame had cowed their would-be attackers with a display of Aura, forcing them to back down, before she and Ruby left peacefully to simply make their way to the next settlement down the line.

Fortunately, Sasame had her own tools to barter with, namely her healing skills. Whenever they arrived at a settlement that would allow them in, however suspicious or frosty their welcome was, Sasame would immediately set to treating all the injured and sick present. Peoples' attitudes quickly changed when Sasame revealed her ability to make an injury that would normally take weeks to heal vanish within the space of a few seconds. Once she'd demonstrated that, it wasn't all that hard to find lodging after all, although, on multiple occasions, they found themselves bunking with the family of someone Sasame had healed, rather than being granted a free room at an inn. But a fairly comfortable bed and a home-cooked meal made by their host family wasn't all that bad a tradeoff, from Ruby's point of view.

* * *

Their stay in the settlement of Shiragiku proved to be uneventful. Sasame had an easy enough time finding them lodgings, as it had been a town that she and Kyo had visited before. Though the residents were disappointed that Kyo hadn't come with them, they were all too happy to accept Sasame's offer of treatment for their sick and injured. Without a festival to serve as a reason, their stay was determined by how long it took Sasame to see to her patients. Given her skill with the healing arts, it was rare for them to spend more than one day in a settlement.

By the next day, they were on their way towards their next destination. As they worked their way north, the air began to get even colder than it already was. It was approaching spring, by the time they reached the mountains, so snow wasn't an uncommon sight, and the days and nights were fairly cold. But, as they made their way into the more mountainous northern climes, the cold became especially bitter. It made for a difficult factor in their journey, and Ruby was forced to use her focus and mastery of her Aura as a means of staving off the chill. If she allowed it to make herself too sluggish, she could be caught off-guard by an attacking Grimm.

Their journey north would mainly skirt the edge of the inland sea that made up the center of Anima. As such, they wouldn't be heading to any of the northernmost settlements of Mistral, like Argus. However, their path did take them up into mountainous terrain, where they found themselves braving blizzards, and struggling to find footing on icy terrain. Well...Ruby did, at least. Sasame continued on, unbothered in the slightest by the cold, and finding footing in even the worst circumstances with an ease that left Ruby envious.

Eventually, over the course of their journey, they reached Hinagiku, a small settlement tucked inside a mountain pass. As settlements went, it was small and unimpressive. It didn't have any major products of its own, being situated neither for mining nor farming. However, its primary purpose was to serve as a checkpoint for east/west commerce through the mountains. It was a safe stopping point for caravans and ground-based transports that were forced to ply their way around the northern section of the continent.

The sight of the settlement was a welcome one to Ruby's eyes. She was fine with traveling through the wilderness, even during winter. But experiencing the harsh cold of northern Anima tried even _her_ patience. Ruby didn't care if they wound up bedding down in some warehouse. She just wanted _some_ kind of shelter, and a few hours of consistent warmth that didn't require remaining close to a fire.

However, their arrival in town didn't give Ruby a good feeling.

* * *

"I don't like this," she whispered to Sasame, taking in the sullen gazes and slumped postures of the people around them.

Their arrival in Hinagiku hadn't attracted so much as a second glance. That wasn't so odd, given that this town was created to host travelers. However, it wasn't so much a lack of novelty in their arrival as it was the fact that the residents seemed to be struggling to notice anything beyond whatever it was they were immediately doing.

"There is definitely something off here," said Sasame.

"Do you think it's Apathy?" Ruby asked, shuddering at the thought.

Ruby had never encountered the skeletal, humanoid Grimm herself. But she had been taught about them, namely their ability to drain the emotions out of their prey, until only that which they had been named for remained, their victims ultimately losing even the will to perform the basic tasks required to maintain their own lives.

"No," said Sasame. "The Apathy's power is carried through their presence, which we would have felt, had we come into their vicinity. No...there's a different factor responsible for people's behavior here, though I wouldn't rule out the involvement of Grimm of some kind. We can hopefully find out more."

Their first destination would be the hospital, or whatever the settlement's equivalent would be. There, Sasame conveyed her offer to heal any injured or sick. Her offer, naturally, was greeted with skepticism by the doctor in attendance...until Sasame began to demonstrate her skill. Her first patient was a local mountaineer, whose leg had been broken in a rockslide. It was the work of less than a minute for Sasame to fully heal the injury, then remove the man's cast.

Afterwards, she treated a woman suffering from pneumonia, and a couple of other patients. The local clinic was small, and it turned out that there weren't all that many injured in the settlement, though the ultimate reason for that proved to be rather depressing.

"There just hasn't been all that much going on," explained the doctor, treating the pair to a meal at the nearest restaurant. Ruby and Sasame couldn't help but notice the place was looking...empty. "Travelers haven't been coming through. No business means no income. Even places like this are starting to run short on supplies anyway."

"What's going on?" asked Ruby.

The doctor sighed. "We don't know," he admitted. "The last two caravans that passed through were heading west. But, the last time we got a scroll signal through to Ajisai-that's the settlement down the road from here, by the way-they said the group hadn't made it. We also heard that a few groups of travelers were coming up the other way, but they never showed."

"Which would suggest that something is happening on the road between here and Ajisai," said Sasame.

The doctor nodded. "The mayor thought it was Grimm, of course. She sent our local Huntress to investigate...and she flat out vanished." The doctor sighed, momentarily fidgeting with something in his hand.

Ruby glanced down, seeing a locket...and a ring around the man's finger. "Was the Huntress...?"

"My wife," answered the doctor sadly. "That was two weeks ago. We've tried contacting Mistral, wanted to see if we could get a full team, maybe even two, up here to clear out whatever's infesting the road beyond here. But the price to get that mission on the boards, well..."

"Even though it's a full threat to your town?" asked Sasame. "I thought there were emergency measures in place for that."

"There're supposed to be," growled the doctor. "But the Council doesn't consider our situation and 'emergency'. Haven't said why, even though letting this thing go on could strangle the life out of this place. But we have our suspicions."

"What?" asked Ruby.

"Airships," growled the doctor. "They've been seeing more use lately, makes it a hell of a lot easier to get goods, if they don't have to rely on roads. If airships let merchants get their stuff to other parts of Mistral, without having to take the risk of going through this place, they don't see any reason to help an old relic like this town keep going."

"Th-that's awful!" gasped Ruby.

The doctor shrugged. "People are talking about leaving already. Commerce through here has only been getting slower, even before whatever it was took up residence on the road to Ajisai. I think this town was about done for, either way."

"Are you going to leave?" asked Ruby.

The doctor stared down at his locket. "I'm too old to be thinking of pulling up stakes now. My wife was getting on in years as a Huntress, so she wasn't the one best suited for that kind of work anymore. She was even talking about retiring."

"I'm so sorry," whispered Ruby.

The doctor shrugged, giving Ruby a weak smile. "I knew the risks when I married her, that there was every chance that, someday, she'd go out on a mission...and not come back. 'Course, that doesn't really make it hurt any less. But I'll live. But I don't have reason to go elsewhere. Our children are grown, and following their own paths. We even split the difference. Both our kids are in Argus now. Our son's entering med-school, and our daughter's in Sanctum. They'll be able to manage just fine."

The doctor looked up at them. "Because of that, I can't exactly recommend that you keep heading on. Whatever's on the road ahead, it's swallowing people up, before they have a chance to get any call for help out. Something like that isn't something a couple of travelers like you should be trying to mess with. Better to go back and find another path."

"Sadly, the only paths around this...obstruction...are prohibitively longer," said Sasame. "And they lead even farther north, into more inhospitable terrain, where there are virtually no settlements at all." She smiled. "So we shall have to simply keep moving forward and, in the process, we'll take care of that problem for you."

"I'd say you're arrogant," said the doctor. "But that's what I thought before you healed all my patients like it was nothing." He sighed. "I can't say or do anything to stop you. But I won't hold out hope either."

* * *

They ended up staying the night in the doctor's home, located directly above his clinic. In the morning, they moved out, making their way along the road through the pass.

"Wha-what do you think is out here?" asked Ruby as she and Sasame threaded their way along the rocky switchback trail that made its way down the mountainside.

"Something unpleasant, I'm sure," said Sasame. "I'm not an expert on the Kingdoms' communication technology, but what I've learned suggests that travelers should be able to contact the authorities in Ajisai easily enough, if they came under attack. What that implies is that..."

"Whatever attacked them finished them off before they could even manage that," said Ruby. "So it's fast and strong."

"Most likely," agreed Sasame. "On top of that, it probably has the element of surprise in some fashion. Looking at this road, you wouldn't think that there are all that many places to hide. But the right kind of Grimm can hide in surprising places. If one of them launched an attack from concealment, there would be no time at all to send out a distress call."

"Do you know which one?" asked Ruby.

"Not for certain," said Sasame. "But, considering the mountainous terrain...and so far north..."

"You have one in mind?" asked Ruby.

"Yes, but it's not a pleasant notion," said Sasame.

They made their way along a road that was barely wide enough for small wagons to make it along. The trail doubled back on itself repeatedly in a zigzag pattern of switchbacks that allowed those traveling to make their way down the mountainside without needing to try and make their way straight down the steep slope. Even though they were necessary to make a particular trail a manageable grade, they were always regarded with annoyance by those who had to travel them, given that they greatly extended a distance that seemed much smaller on a map.

The terrain around them was harsh and rocky, jutting boulders, interspersed with slopes of scree, which almost looked like rivers of fragmented stone, leading downwards to the large pile covering the bottom of the mountain slope. Ruby imagined that much of the work maintaining this trail went into sweeping the rocky fragments clear, and that they sometimes covered entire sections of the pathway at times.

It was as they passed one of those scree slopes that it happened. Sasame had slowed down slightly, falling behind. Ruby had been about to ask what was keeping her, when she sensed the dark presence and terrifying malice. It had appeared all at once, seemingly out of nowhere, a sharp spike of murderous intent, reminding her of some of the better assassins that had come after her the past couple of years.

The soft click of a dislodged stone was the only other warning she received. Ruby was already turning to face the rocky slope, the source of that frightening malice, when it happened. The rocky surface of the mountainside abruptly parted from the rest of it, opening to the side like a curtain. However, Ruby had no time to take in that particular detail. Instead, her view was taken up by the sight of long, multi-jointed, hairy limbs reaching out for her with lightning speed. She caught the flash of white; bone claws, fangs mounted on extending mandibles; and a sextet of vicious, red eyes glaring at her.

Ruby screamed, her eyes going wide. Her mind went into a panic at the sight of the horrifying thing rushing down at her. Fortunately, her training knew what to do, even if her own mind was in disarray. Akaibara flashed out from its sheath, Ruby's body moving assuredly to sidestep the incoming attack, her own form blurring and her footsteps sending up a flurry of petals. Akaibara flashed across her vision in a red streak, cutting the lunging _thing_ in two. Her attacker continued forward, the light of those evil eyes dimming as its body pitched forward, bouncing down the slope in two pieces, dislodging loose rock and causing a small landslide on its way down. Ruby's eyes moved to take in the spindly legs, curling in on themselves, as the Grimm's hair form dissolved before it could reach the bottom of the slope.

"As I feared," observed Sasame sadly.

Ruby gasped for breath, her heart hammering against her ribs, as though she'd flat-out sprinted a mile or more. Her arms and legs began to shake as the adrenaline of her near-death experience subsided. Unbidden, frightened tears streaked down her cheeks. "Wha-wha-what was that!?"

"An Ungol," said Sasame, her voice thick with distaste. Her expression softened and she moved to take Ruby's right hand in hers. "Are you all right, Ruby-chan?"

"I...I think so," said Ruby, taking more breaths. "Tha-that was scarier than anything I've ever seen."

"I can understand," said Sasame sadly. "Ungols are particularly unpleasant creatures."

Next to them, the curtain of loose rock abruptly collapsed downward and inward, black particles drifting out from between the stones as they fell down to reveal a dark hole, leading back into the mountain.

"Don't let your guard down," said Sasame. "Amongst other things, Ungols are hive-type Grimm."

"Hive-type?" Ruby frowned. She hadn't heard that particular classification.

"It's similar to pack-type Grimm, like Beowolves," said Sasame. "Ungols congregate in groups, forming a semi-permanent nest. They're fearsome enough on their own. But the hive strengthens communication and coordination between them. The rest of the hive is well aware that this one has died."

"Oh..." Ruby swallowed. "That's bad."

"Indeed," said Sasame. "But they've lost the advantage of surprise, now that we've exposed one of their burrows. We know what we're up against, and we have a way in to deal with them."

"Right," said Ruby, still feeling shaky.

Sasame sent a gentle pulse washing through her, calming Ruby's body.

"What just happened?" asked Ruby. "I mean, I know it just attacked me, but..."

"You've learned about trapdoor spiders in school, right Ruby-chan?" asked Sasame.

Ruby nodded slowly. She remembered them covering that kind of spider briefly in one of her science lessons. The spiders were famous as ambush predators; digging burrows, then fashioning "trapdoors" out of sticks, dirt, and their own silk. From within those burrows, they could surge out of their camouflaged cover, and snatch prey away in the blink of an eye.

"Ungols are basically enormous trapdoor spiders...that prey on people," said Sasame, staring down the burrow. "On top of that, unlike actual trapdoor spiders, they're communal, more like ants really. As you can see, despite their size, they don't lose any of their speed. They can snatch a person away before most even have time to scream."

Ruby nodded, her skin paling at the notion. The caravan travelers might not have even noticed that they were under attack at first. She could see them in her mind's eye, their path taking them across the mouth of one of these hidden burrows. The last person in line would be targeted, snatched away with nary a sound. Those still traveling would turn around and realize that somebody was suddenly missing. While they were distracted by the plight of their missing member, other Ungols would strike from hiding, picking their targets off, one by one. By the time anyone figured out that Grimm were behind it, it was probably already too late.

Sasame crouched down, picking up and turning over a loose stone. "They hold their doors together with Unlight. It's basically their equivalent to spider-silk. It has more persistence than most Grimm-secreted substances, but it dissolves along with them."

"So _that's_ what happened to all those caravans," said Ruby sadly, looking down the slope, wondering just how many hidden burrows lined the trail.

Sasame nodded. "Clearing them out is going to be an unpleasant task." She gestured down the dark tunnel, leading inside the mountain face. "They don't propagate overly much. But if we don't deal with the queen, more will soon replace any that we kill."

"Right," said Ruby, swallowing nervously. "There's a queen...?"

"Yes," said Sasame. "That's the other aspect of hive-type Grimm. Their hive will always have a leader. Beowolves have their Alphas, Ursas have Majors. Ungols will have a queen, not merely one that leads them, but spawns more of their kind."

"So we'll have to kill that," said Ruby nervously.

"Then let's go ahead," said Sasame. "You take the lead, Ruby-chan."

Ruby nodded nervously, stepping up and making her way into the tunnel. Just a few steps in, and the darkness grew oppressive. The faint light streaming in through the tunnel mouth didn't reach far. Soon, she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. Swallowing down frightened bile in her throat, Ruby used Extension to feel the way ahead. As she did, she also reduced her focus on her eyes, trying to pay more attention to her other senses, and figure out just what was up ahead.

Before long, she felt them, more strands of that "Unlight", as Sasame had termed it. She'd actually been brushing up against them as soon as she'd entered the tunnel, and they were transmitting tiny vibrations down the length of the burrow, like some kind of low-tech alarm system. And then, through her Extension...she felt more intense vibrations coming back up.

"They're coming," she said.

"They are," agreed Sasame. "Keep pressing forward."

Ruby continued forward. Soon, the source of the vibrations traveling up the webs came within the scope of her Extension. She could sense the skittering bodies, those hairy, spindly forms, which filled her with a sense of utter revulsion. The Creatures of Grimm were frightening in general, but these monstrosities were utterly _horrifying_. Ruby had never considered herself an arachnophobe before, even if she'd never particularly liked spiders, but she might be one by the time this fight was over.

She couldn't count them, there were so many, and they ranged from ones as large as the one that had first lunged at her to smaller forms, which she presumed to be juveniles. It seemed that the one that had attacked her first was as large as they got, a bit of knowledge that provided some bitter reassurance. They wouldn't be bigger, but they were already more than big enough for her tastes.

And then they arrived, flowing out in a tide of skittering, claw-tipped, legs and clicking mandibles. Ruby completely invested herself in her technique, refusing to put too much thought into _what_ she was up against. It was actually a reassurance that it was now too dark for her to actually see what she was fighting, only able to catch the flashes of red eyes and white bone against a black backdrop. Akaibara flashed in streaks of red, briefly lighting up the darkness, but providing no real illumination.

Ruby let her training guide her, feeling out the shapes of the Grimm bodies with her Extension, and allowing that knowledge to guide her strikes to what she needed to cut, in order to kill the Grimm as efficiently as she could, bringing them down with one slash apiece, when she could. Angry screeches, focused and amplified by the tunnel, filled her ears. A fetid stench flooded her nostrils, almost like a mix of brimstone and rotting flesh. Her entire body had broken out in a sweat that had nothing to do with her exertion. This was terrifying, sickening, the very last place Ruby would ever want to be.

But she kept pushing forward, fighting her way through the swarm of spider-like Grimm, cutting them down before they could reach her. Occasionally, the bristly fur of a leg would brush against her in a near-miss. Those bristles were practically claws in their own right, biting at Ruby's protective Aura, threatening to injure her, even if she dodged those claws and fangs. That slight contact was enough to make her shudder, feeling sick to the pit of her stomach. She had the feeling that, if she stopped now, she might wind up throwing up on the floor.

But she kept going. These were the monsters she had trained herself to fight. They had preyed on far too many people already, and Ruby refused to allow them to take another life, not when she could do something about it. It was frightening and sickening work, but Ruby couldn't allow herself to stop. _This_ was the very thing she had wanted to do her whole life, and she refused to back down now.

So she danced, weaving Akaibara in a complex pattern in front of her, cutting down anything and everything that came within her reach. All the while, she slowly made her way farther and farther down the tunnel. Ironically, the design of the Ungols' own lair was working against them, the tunnel serving as a natural chokepoint, keeping them from leveraging their numbers fully, so the continuous wave that came at her was never threatening to overwhelm her with sheer numbers. Likewise, their packed forms kept them from maneuvering effectively, instead driving them straight into her blade.

Then, gradually, their numbers began to taper off. The easing up of the pressure was reassuring to Ruby. However, it also brought with it new dangers. The fewer Ungols there were, the more room the ones that were left had to move. They were smaller too, making them even more maneuverable and harder to track. Ruby realized she couldn't let her guard down until every last one of them was gone.

Finally, the last of the skittering, scuttling Grimm perished before her blade, and Ruby allowed herself to stop, panting from fear and exertion, her stomach roiling. Sasame gently pressed a hand to her back, sending a warming pulse of Aura through Ruby, causing her condition to subside.

"Well done, Ruby-chan," said Sasame.

"I-is that all of them?" asked Ruby.

"Probably not," admitted Sasame, "though that probably is _most_ of them. The queen will keep a few close to her for extra protection, even though it's formidable enough on its own. But there is no doubt that the vast majority of them were what came against you just now.

"Let's keep going. The queen will simply spawn more, if we allow it to keep living. Fortunately, Ungol hives are not terribly complicated. We can just keep following this tunnel back to the center, which is where the queen will be."

"R-right," said Ruby, shivering at the thought of what the queen of a hive of disgusting creatures like this must be like.

She took a breath and calmed herself as best she could, before setting off, following the contours of the wall with her Extension, alert against further attacks. Sasame had told her that she had killed most of them, but that didn't mean that there weren't more waiting down the way. In fact, Ruby was all but certain of it.

The walls of the tunnel were fairly smooth and continuous, with only the occasional crevice or crack marking points where the stone was broken by the natural formation of the mountains themselves. So it was immediately suspicious when Ruby's Extended Aura brushed against two small piles of broken stone, scree inside an artificially excavated tunnel. Reaching a little farther allowed her to feel the dark presences hidden behind them, though it had been difficult. It seemed that Ungols had their own variation of Suppression, able to hide their presence impressively well, even from Ruby's own enhanced senses.

But they weren't able to hide completely. So when Ruby strode past the concealed burrows, she wasn't caught off-guard by the Ungols that abruptly lunged out from behind their cover, cutting them down with ease. It was even easier than it had been the first time, considering she didn't have to see them with her eyes. Once the dead Ungols had dissolved, Ruby could easily sense just how shallow the burrows had been, just small compartments, excavated into the tunnel walls, barely large enough to hold their occupants.

"They must have just made these," said Ruby, brushing her fingers against the stone.

Sasame nodded. "It's a reminder that the Grimm are not mindless as they might first appear. Hive-types in particular can be coordinated to a dangerous degree by their queen."

Ruby swallowed again, and continued forward.

The tunnel they were in began to slope downwards, not too steeply, but enough to clue Ruby into the fact that they were descending. They came upon a few more impromptu burrows along the way. Not bothering to try and bait the hiding Ungols out of these, Ruby simply thrust her sword between chunks of stone, killing the Grimm before they could even think of attacking. All the while, they continued onwards and downwards. Ruby wondered just how far they would go.

Not too long, as it turned out. A few-dozen more meters along, and Ruby could sense the tunnel abruptly open out into a large cavern. Her senses brushed against more of those black, Unlight webs. They emerged near the ceiling of the chamber, which she thought made sense, as they'd entered through the first burrow they encountered, up near the top of the trail.

The chamber was enormous, Ruby thinking that it was about as large overall as the rarely-used throne room in the Mibu Clan's Royal Palace. It was roughly spherical in shape, though its walls were rough and uneven. Spreading out her Extension as far as she could go, Ruby could sense multiple other entrances around and below their point of arrival. Webs stretched out from them, running in towards the center of the room, where they converged together into a tangled mass that must have been a nest for the queen.

"Looks like this is it," said Ruby, quivering at the thought of facing the _thing_ that resided in that nest.

"That's right," said Sasame. "Be careful, Ruby-chan. Ungols are bad enough on their own. But a Shelob is especially dangerous."

"Shelob..." Ruby whispered. Her attention went down to the webs forming its nest. "Is Unlight sticky?"

"By default, yes," said Sasame. "However, Aura repels it. So, as long as you maintain your Temper, it won't adhere to you. You've experienced this already, after all."

Ruby nodded, remembering the webs she'd brushed up against on the way down. At the time, she'd simply thought they were too thin to actually hinder her, not noticing whether they'd stuck or not.

Sasame continued. "You'll need to be careful of your clothes though, especially your haori. Temper can dissipate through loose clothing, especially given that you're using Extension as well. So don't lose focus."

"R-right," said Ruby nervously. She stepped to the edge of the tunnel, right where it dropped away into the cavern. She took a deep, slow breath, letting it out just as slowly. Her fingers tightened around Akaibara's handle. For some reason, she didn't feel any disapproval from her sword. Instead, her Aura was a reassuring thrum against Ruby's own. In fact, Ruby now realized that she hadn't had to struggle with her sword throughout this whole fight. The two of them had been working together seamlessly, even though she'd been frightened out of her wits.

Sasame gently rubbed Ruby's back, just between her shoulders. "Fearlessness is a subtype of foolishness, Ruby-chan. That you feel fear is only right. That you do not allow it to govern you is critical. I believe your sword recognizes that, and respects it. Keep pressing forward, just the way you are."

Ruby nodded, then took another deep breath. Then she stepped out into empty space.

Immediately, she began to fall. However, her fall only carried her so far, as she landed on one of the winding, woven stretches of Unlight that reached out from one of the lower tunnels. The webs flexed underneath her weight, before rebounding slightly, like the undulating surface of a long, narrow trampoline. Ruby took a few seconds to find her footing, before standing up slowly and carefully.

The vibrations of her landing had already been carried down the length of the webs, into the nest at the center. For a moment, nothing happened...then a series of vibrations came racing back from the center of the tangled mass. Ruby's mouth went dry as she felt a pair of long legs, still spindly, but much thicker than those of any of the Ungols she had faced so far had possessed, reached out, parting sections of the tangled mass of webs, pulling them far enough apart for a massive, bulbous body to wriggle forth, along with six more legs, which stretched out to find purchase on neighboring webs.

The Shelob was easily four times the size of the largest Ungols Ruby had faced so far, and they had been half again the size of a full-grown human. Its legs stretched out above and below, latching onto other webs, suspending its head and abdomen in the space between them. Its form was shockingly visible in the near pitch-blackness of the cavern. Ruby wasn't sure where the light could be coming from, but some of it gleamed off the monster's form, illuminating a white bone-plate exoskeleton, from which extended bristles of black hair, as stiff and sharp as the claws on lesser Ungols had been.

Four pairs of angry red eyes glared at Ruby, illuminating fangs large enough to punch completely through her torso, mounted on extending mandibles easily longer than her own arms. Even worse was the terrible malice that swept through her, the sense of pure hatred and hunger coming from the Ungol.

It was more hideous than her wildest imaginings. Ruby's entire body quaked at the sight of the grotesque thing now suspended in front of her. Part of her mind was screaming at her to run, to flee back up one of these tunnels as fast as her feet would carry her. it would be all right. This monster was too large to move through the tunnels its offspring had excavated. It couldn't catch her. She could escape, and make it down the mountain safely. Hadn't she already done enough?

_No!_ Ruby fiercely forced down the fearful thoughts rising within her. She hadn't come down into this hive for her own sake. She'd come down her to make this monstrosity answer for all the lives it and its offspring had taken, all the innocent victims they'd claimed, and would continue to claim, if she left this one free to spawn new Ungols. Backing down wasn't an option here.

"No matter what," she said out loud, tightening her grasp on Akaibara, "I'm bringing you down."

Akaibara shivered in her grip, and Ruby's ears heard an echoing chime, a perfect tone, like a finger running along the edge of a crystal goblet. The sound filled her up, and Ruby felt her fear subsiding completely, coming under control. Warmth flowed up her arm from the hand that gripped her sword.

_So that's how it is,_ she thought, a smile crossing her face. _I think I understand you a little better now, Sweetheart._

A sharp pricking sensation came from the center of her left palm, as though Akaibara was admonishing her for thinking of her with such a cutesy nickname. It made Ruby want to giggle. _Sorry, but if you're going to work with me, you're gonna have to deal with stuff like that. I don't mind you wanting me to have more spine. But that also means I'm not gonna change who I am for you._

The pricking sensation subsided, and approval flooded out from the sword.

This interplay took place in about a second. As the chiming noise released by Akaibara reached the Shelob, it twitched, then quivered. Then, with an outraged screech, it threw itself along the webs, bearing down on Ruby with the force of an onrushing train, fangs outstretched for her.

* * *

**The name for Ungols, of course, comes from Ungoliant; the terrifying, spider-monster, ancient psuedo-god...thing; created by J.R.R. Tolkein. And, of course, anyone who has read or seen _The Lord of the Rings_ doesn't need to ask where Shelob comes from. They are giant trapdoor-spider type Grimm. The inspiration actually comes from something else entirely.**

**My original inspiration for a Grimm like this comes from the Bunyips, as they are depicted in the _Temeraire_ novel series, written by Naomi Novik. If you haven't read**** that series, you should. It's the Napoleonic wars...with dragons...and it's awesome. During one of the books, the main characters are essentially exiled to Australia, and have to make their way across the Outback. During that time, members of their crew just seem to...vanish...for no reason. It isn't until the main character spots a Bunyip (which, in these stories, is a sort of dragon subtype) snatching a man away that they realize what's going on. And, obviously, it was the Bunyips that were modeled after real-life trapdoor-spiders, but that image was what gave me the idea of a Grimm doing something similar. The Bunyips in the novel series are also pack-hunters, which gave me the idea of making Ungols Grimm that live in hives, coordinating to snatch entire caravans away before most of the people in them even realize something is going on...because giant spiders appearing out of nowhere to snatch people up aren't horrifying enough on their own.**

**Sweet dreams, people.**


	92. Chapter 92

**Chapter 92:**

Ruby channeled her Aura out through the soles of her feet, pushing off and launching herself upwards. The bony mass of the Shelob shot beneath her, its form a blur in the twilit darkness of the cavern. Ruby shot straight upwards, her body turning to orient her feet above her, her jump carrying her up to another of the roadways of web running down from the various tunnel entrances. The web flexed against her momentum, before snapping back, allowing Ruby to use it as a springboard to launch herself back down at the monstrosity.

The Shelob's legs were a blur, already changing the Grimm's orientation completely, rolling its body over so that Ruby was diving right for that bulging abdomen. As it did, one of its legs lashed out at her. Ruby slashed her sword to meet it, but was shocked to feel the blade repelled by the offset impact of what was unmistakably a _parry_.

The lashing leg deflected Akaibara's slash, and three other legs immediately followed in its wake, converging on Ruby's body from different angles. Shifting her weight desperately, Ruby managed to twist out of the way of two of the legs, while lashing out with Akaibara in a frantic parry of her own, managing to deflect its attack. Pitting her weight against the mass behind that deceptively spindly leg only served to knock Ruby's body off the path of her original movement. Doing so actually helped her, as it carried her clear when the legs she'd dodged came at her again.

_This thing...it's using techniques!_ Ruby realized, her eyes going wide. Grimm were wild and frantic. Beowolves lunged and snapped with their jaws. Ursas swiped with their paws. These were all basic movements. However, the Shelob demonstrated an unmistakable understanding of how to read an attack, and then deflect, rather than try to block it.

To Ruby's shock, she felt the four rearmost legs of the Shelob keep it suspended on its webs, while also maneuvering its body. The front two legs on its right side curled inwards towards the tip of its abdomen, where the spinneret produced a web of fresh Unlight, crisscrossing strands that those two legs pulled free, before stretching out, spreading the web like a reaching net. Even as her block sent her tumbling away from the gigantic spider, those two legs lashed out, flinging its newly-created net out to reach for Ruby, threatening to tangle and trap her, even if her Aura kept the strands from sticking.

Taking a deep breath, Ruby Projected her Aura outwards, using an explosive wave to deflect the incoming net. It was a tactic she couldn't rely on too much in this fight, as it would exhaust her Aura too quickly. However, in this case, it bought her time for her tumble to bring her to another set of strands, which she was able to push her feet against, before launching herself back at the Shelob.

Akaibara flashed, slicing through the net of webbing it flung at her, even as Ruby closed in on the beast's body. However, the Shelob lurched out of the way of her strike, carrying it clear of the red streak of Ruby's slash. Using her own attack to turn her body, Ruby brought her sword around, just in time to deflect the stabbing strikes of the Shelob's left-front two legs.

_It fights with its four front legs,_ Ruby realized. _It moves with its back legs. The two on the right use the net for defense and entrapment, while the two on the left attack. This thing has a fully-developed fighting style._

It was shocking and terrifying. It didn't just speak of the animalistic intelligence that the Grimm were supposed to be capable of, but of a driving will and awareness that bordered upon full sapience. This thing wasn't attacking wildly, but tactically, strategically even. Furthermore, its bulk belied its incredible speed. Ruby realized that it was reaping the same benefits from the webs that formed its nest that she had. It was using the webs' elasticity to enhance its movement, allowing it to evade, even with its large, bulky-seeming body.

Again, the power and mass behind the Shelob's lashing legs changed the course of Ruby's flight. She managed to get her feet between her and the next web, getting the impression that the Shelob was trying to disrupt and slow her movements. Her suspicions gained ground as the beast rounded on her, the net, seemingly not all that badly damaged by her previous cut to it, extending out to threaten her from her left, while its free legs curled in from the right. Furthermore, Ruby could sense, and vaguely see, it curling its abdomen forward, aligning its spinneret with her, ready to produce another net of Unlight to catch her, if she tried to drive straight down the middle.

Channeling more Aura through her feet, Ruby changed her orientation slightly, launching herself upwards at an angle, not heading for the Shelob at all, but over and above it, aiming for another thick strand of webbing. Twisting her body, she planted her feet against those strands as well, feeling them stretch against the momentum behind her arrival, before pushing off as they snapped back, using them to enhance her speed even further.

Again, instead of aiming for her opponent, Ruby launched herself off at an angle, skirting the Shelob, and aiming for another set of Unlight strands. She repeated this again and again, bouncing around the Shelob at an increasing pace, a flickering red blur, as the Grimm itself turned about in place, using its four back legs to freely control its orientation to turn and try and follow her, while it flailed with both its net and its free legs, trying to catch her as she zoomed past.

It was then that Ruby began to realize the Grimm's limitations. It was intelligent, dangerously so, even capable of creating and refining an actual fighting style. But it wasn't fully there yet. It could plan for the future, to an extent, like trying to herd her right into its clutches before. But it couldn't fully read her, the way she could read it. It couldn't perceive how she was using her orientation to affect her movement, and control the angle she launched herself at. If it could, all it would need to do was fling its net across the path of Ruby's next rebound to catch her easily. Instead, it was trying to catch her reactively, which left its attacks closing in on where she had been, not where she presently _was_...or where she would be.

Still, actually killing the Shelob was no easy task. Ruby realized that it would notice the very second she homed in on it, and changed her course from one of evasion to one of attack. So then the question became one of how to keep it from defending or evading her attack. On top of that, she probably had one chance at this, at best. She had to connect, and she had to make her hit count, or the fight would probably be over for her.

Abruptly, Ruby shifted her course, aiming to pass by close to the Shelob, but not come right at it. She had an idea, and now was the best time to try it out. Her shifting movement would bring her close to the creature's right, near the two legs that were wielding its net. The Shelob didn't miss the opportunity, flicking its legs and lashing out at her with the netlike web. However, as before, it wasn't anticipating, merely reacting after the fact. In fact, it would miss Ruby as she simply flashed by. But Ruby had more than mere avoidance on her mind.

As she shot past the extending web, she reached out with her right hand, snagging some of the strands. Her Aura kept it from adhering to her skin, but did nothing to mitigate the fact that the Unlight felt so, so, _so_ very wrong to the touch of her bare skin. It was gooey and sticky, as expected from an oversized spiderweb. But there was something more...wrong...to it, a cold that almost threatened to suck the life out of her very body, which her Aura was now holding at bay.

Still, she couldn't let her revulsion at the contact with this substance stop her from doing what needed doing. Ruby's own flight pulled the webbing taut, before abruptly altering her course, bringing her swinging around behind the monstrosity. The Shelob screeched, pulling on its web, but it was already under the pull of Ruby's momentum. All that did was ensure that the web wrapped completely around it, tying its front four legs to its abdomen, while it wriggled and shrieked angrily.

Her prey caught in its own trap, Ruby let go of the web, allowing her remaining momentum to send her flying away, into another set of strands, planting her sandals against them again, allowing her inertia to bend the strands outward, so that they would snap back and launch her back at the Shelob. This time, distracted as the beast was, it wasn't putting enough attention into monitoring her movements. This would be her chance to strike a decisive blow.

But she couldn't afford to waste it. However, Ruby already had an idea. It was one that had been coming into being, ever since she had begun working with Akaibara, ever since she'd started learning how to listen to her sword's voice. Almost automatically, she began performing an action that had been ingrained in her mind years ago...outside the walls of Anduin.

Ruby placed the first two fingers of her right hand against the flat of her blade, right where the blade met the hilt. From there, she traced them up the length of the sword, using the contact to to stoke her sword's Aura to life. Another chime sounded, this one even louder than before, echoing within the cavern, and causing all the strands of Unlight to vibrate angrily, as though they were writhing in pain from the sound.

And Ruby felt it. Akaibara felt as though it were an extension of her own hand, the sword's Aura her own. Ruby felt it reaching out in the air around her, calling it inwards, binding it together. Drawing it in to condense around the sword itself. Ruby couldn't do what Kyo did, use the entire atmosphere as a weapon to utterly annihilate her foe. But she could condense the air itself into a pure extension of her blade, longer and even sharper, capable of cutting through nearly anything.

All of this occurred in the scant seconds her momentum was stretching her web foothold taut. Within Ruby's mind, all the aspects of her training clicked into place, her new technique's name coming off her tongue with such natural ease that it felt as though she'd known it all this time.

"_Kazegiri!_"

With that, Ruby shot at the Shelob, still writhing and struggling in its own web. In a few seconds, it would probably part the strands and slip them up. Naturally, the fiendish monster didn't need to worry about its own web sticking to itself. It just needed to pull apart the sections that entangled it to slip its limbs free. However, it wasn't free quite yet. It noticed Ruby's approach...too late for it to escape.

Ruby shot past it, a red line trailing from the edge of her sword to slice the beast in two. The Shelob was split lengthwise, the diagonal line of Ruby's slash cutting down through its head, and across its abdomen.

Ruby gasped, having been so focused on her attack that she'd momentarily forgotten about what came afterwards. She nearly clotheslined herself on the strand of web in front of her, slamming into it chest-first instead, the momentum behind her flight stretching it again. However, in the focus on the aftermath of her technique, Ruby's Temper had become disrupted, allowing the Unlight to adhere to her clothes, leaving her stuck fast. Though that was probably a good thing, as she'd forgotten to consider her landing, so it was leagues better than slamming face-first into the cavern wall.

Then, as the falling halves of the bisected Shelob began to dissolve, so too did its webbing. It gave way, allowing Ruby to fall the rest of the way to the floor. Ruby expelled her Aura from her feet to cushion her fall, landing in a crouch as countless small objects rained down around her. Her first thoughts were that they had been stones. But then she realized that they had come within the tangled mass of web that had served as the Grimm's nest. Approaching one, she bent over to pick it up, only to straighten back up in a jolt of revulsion, as her mind grasped the truth of what she'd been touching.

They were bones...the skeletal remains of several people, the victims of the Ungols that the Shelob had spawned. Remembering how trapdoor spiders worked, and how the first Ungol she'd encountered had attacked her, Ruby realized what must have happened. These people had been dragged back into the depths of the Grimm's lair, possibly still alive, where they were entombed in the inky-black webs that sucked the life from them slowly, probably prolonging their despair. It was a horrid way to go.

_But it's gone now,_ thought Ruby. _Hopefully, these people can all rest in peace now._

The sound of faint footfalls reached her ears as Sasame landed next to her. Pulling something out of her pack, Sasame cupped it in her hands, then held it up. It was a crystal, a product of Mibu artisans, which converted Aura into visible light. Holding it aloft, Sasame illuminated the cavern, revealing the scattered remains of well over a dozen people.

"This is terrible," said Ruby softly.

"But it's over," said Sasame.

"No...no it's not," said Ruby.

After all, this was the sort of scenario playing out in a dozen different places, albeit in different fashions. In one place, it might be a swarm of Lancers. In another, a pack of Ursai. Still another place might be mobbed by Creeps, or Boarbatusks, or Griffons, or Manticores. All across the face of Remnant, the Creatures of Grimm were threatening innocent people, inundating them with fear, and then reaping the results. That knowledge only prompted Ruby's conviction to crystalize within her heart.

_Someone needs to fight against this,_ she thought furiously. _Someone needs to stand up to them, and tell them that they don't have the right to prey on people. I'll do it...I'll fight._

Sasame watched Ruby, smiling sadly. Then she closed her eyes and slowly shook her head, before casting her glance around the cavern once more. Seeing the light catch on something that seemed like metal, she moved and crouched down behind the broken remains of another skeleton. It was surrounded by pieces of what looked like armor, as well as the broken, wave-shaped blade of a sword.

"I'm guessing this is our host's late wife," said Sasame sadly, picking up the pieces of metal.

Ruby crouched down next to her. "We should bring them back to him," she said.

Ideally, they would have brought the Huntress' full remains with them. But the woman's bones were now mixed up inextricably with those of the countless other victims of the Grimm's predation. In the end, they would just have to settle for what they could identify.

"Are you sure?" asked Sasame. "That means going all the way back up."

"I'm okay with that," said Ruby. "Besides, they need somebody to tell them that the road is safe again."

Sasame smiled, then leaned over to kiss Ruby's cheek. "You always make me proud beyond words, Ruby-chan."

Ruby smiled, before turning her attention to the grim task of gathering up the remains of the fallen Huntress' armor and weapons.

* * *

As Sasame had warned, the journey back up the mountain was an arduous one. Fortunately, though they hadn't been able to reach the tunnel they'd entered from, they were able to use the tunnel to exit out a ways up the path, so they didn't need to go all the way up from the bottom. However, that didn't change the fact that Ruby was soaked with sweat, and ready to collapse, by the time they reached the top. She'd just had a furious battle against an entire nest of Ungols, as well as the Shelob, and she was worn to her absolute limits.

Still, the look of utter relief on the faces of the mayor and the townsfolk as they reported that the road between Hinagiku and Ajisai was clear of Grimm now was more than enough to justify the fatigue Ruby felt. The mournful look on the doctor's face was less-heartening, but he wound up smiling and thanking them for delivering some portion of his wife's remains, and confirming her fate.

"I'm grateful," he told them. "At the very least, I have something to bury now." He sniffed. "It'll be hard to tell the children about what happened. But they understand too, especially since my youngest is planning to be a Huntress herself."

Ruby frowned, remembering what had happened when her own mother had died on a mission, how her father had withdrawn, only to decide to completely stifle her, when he came out of his funk. Why couldn't Taiyang have been as strong as this man?

"I can't thank you enough for this," he said. "Ms. Rose...I know that you will make a spectacular Huntress someday. In fact, I think you already _are_ one. I hope, should you get the chance to meet my daughter, that the two of you can become friends."

"I hope so too, Dr. Chloris," said Ruby, giving him the most sincere smile she could manage.

* * *

They found themselves spending another night in Hinagiku. This time, the mayor had them put up in the inn and paid for their meal out of his own pocket, unable to thank them enough for what they had done. They'd already managed to contact Ajisai, and report the situation to them.

The heads of the two towns were already in talks about what to do with the caverns excavated by the Ungols. Leaving them as they were was practically an invitation for more Grimm to come in and infest them, maybe something not as dangerous as Ungols...or maybe something worse. Collapsing the tunnels and caverns was dangerous, as they threatened to destabilize the face of the whole section of that mountain, which would wind up requiring them to re-establish the road up. Instead, the favored theory appeared to be that the towns could arrange for a militia to occupy the caverns themselves, turning it into a sort of garrison, which would help keep Grimm off the mountain in general. But, ultimately, that was of no real concern to Ruby or Sasame.

The very next day, they were on the road again, making their journey down out of Hinagiku for the second time. This time, they weren't jumped by giant spiders on the way down. The trip to Ajisai was rather short, and fairly easy, taking a little over half the day to complete.

Ajisai was a larger town, being much more accessible than Hinagiku, up in its mountain pass, positioned at a crossroads that saw the town overseeing the distribution of goods across a large section of Anima. On top of that, their fields meant that Ajisai had some agricultural products of their own to market. While they had been inconvenienced by the loss of commerce through the pass that Hinagiku maintained, their existence had been threatened, the way Hinagiku's had been.

Upon arrival though, Ruby and Sasame found themselves faced with an unpleasant surprise.

* * *

"What?" asked Ruby, shocked by what she'd just heard.

"I'm afraid that we aren't permitted to grant you entrance," declared the guard minding the gate into the settlement. "We thank you for your aid in reopening the road to the pass, but that's also the problem."

"I see..." said Sasame. "It appears that we've stepped on someone's toes again."

"I'm afraid so," said the guard, shifting his rifle uneasily. His bearing wasn't hostile. Instead, he had the disposition of someone who did not like the message he was having to deliver. "Someone, possibly as high up as Mistral's Council, was not happy to hear the situation has been resolved, particularly as it was done through what they've referred to as 'vigilante action,' rather than the proper channels of using a legally-hired Huntsman."

Sasame sighed, planting her fists upon her hips. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened. Those in power, particularly when they use said power to enrich themselves, are quite vindictive, when they feel that said power is being undermined."

"Something like that," agreed the guard. "We're obligated to report you when you set foot in here, so that Mistral can send Huntsmen charged to arrest you. However..."

"If we don't 'set foot' in the town, then there is nothing to report," noted Sasame, smiling wryly.

The guard lowered his helmeted head. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly. "This is poor thanks for what you've done for us, and Hinagiku, but it's the best we can do."

Of course, they could have allowed the pair into the town, then simply neglected to report them. It was highly likely that many of the townspeople would have gone along with that, if not all of them. However, if word ever _did_ make it back to Mistral that they'd deliberately allowed such a thing, the punishment would have fallen upon the town's leadership, who had apparently made the decision that turning Ruby and Sasame away at the gate was the safest option.

"Your gratitude is appreciated," said Sasame. "That being the case, we shall continue on."

Ruby nodded, albeit somewhat reluctantly, having never imagined that the act of helping people in need could be looked upon as something bad by others.

"Sadly, it's a more common problem than you might think, Ruby-chan," said Sasame sadly as they made their way away from the town. "The higher up you go, the more you find people who weigh lives only in terms of numbers. To those who rule Mistral, helping Hinagiku was merely weighed in terms of cost versus benefits...leading them to believe that cutting those people loose was the best option."

"But us helping them was a good thing, wasn't it?" asked Ruby. "I mean, the pass is open again. That's good for the economy, right? And we didn't even charge anyone for it, like a Huntsman would."

"True," agreed Sasame. "And, in a sense, there is a genuine good reason that a Kingdom does not want people running around, doing Huntsmen and Huntresses' jobs for them. The payments the towns make for them to fight the Grimm are how those people earn their living. As someone who aspires to be a Huntress herself one day, you too will one day be living in accordance to that system, earning your living by doing for pay what you've been doing for free now. In that sense, we potentially took that mission away from a Huntsman or Huntress who might have needed that payment to continue supporting themselves."

"But-" Ruby began.

Sasame nodded, cutting her off. "But we already know that Hinagiku, at least, couldn't afford the money needed for enough Huntsmen to effectively clear the road, even if they didn't know it was an Ungol infestation at the time. Therefore, there was no payment they could have made anyway.

"So, in the end, what it comes down to is simple pettiness. Someone, after making what they probably determined to be a beneficial decision, most likely felt slighted that that decision was subsequently undermined, and then rendered irrelevant."

Ruby sighed despondently, prompting Sasame to sympathetically pat her arm. "That's the way people are, Ruby-chan. There are good ones and bad ones. Not all the bad ones will be the kind you can fight as enemies, the way you can with bandits and pirates. Dealing with them will require skills outside the realm of combat."

That drew a contemplative frown from Ruby. She'd always wanted to be a Huntress to protect people, to help those in need. But it was hard to run up against the realization that not everyone would support that goal, that there were those who might, however indirectly, see the suffering of innocents as something they could benefit from. It was a depressing realization.

"Don't lose heart, Ruby-chan," Sasame advised her. "Your purpose is clear, and you shouldn't let situations like this muddle it. You didn't clear that road, or even provide that nice doctor with closure to be thanked for it, right?"

Ruby nodded, her expression firm.

"Just follow the path that you wish to, Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "We shall see to giving you the strength you need to ensure you need not turn aside from it."

"Thank you, Sasame-nee," said Ruby.

Sasame executed a quick hop, bringing herself up high enough to kiss Ruby's cheek. "You make me prouder every day, Ruby-chan."

* * *

Their journey continued on, winter having fully transitioned into spring, then giving way to summer. They made their way through deep forests, across wide plains, and over rolling hills. Compared to the weather when they'd first set out, the days were edging towards unpleasantly hot. Granted, it wasn't as bad as it could be. They weren't traveling through the deserts of Vacuo, after all. But Ruby found herself wishing her haori came with a hood as the sun beat down on her from above. She considered getting herself a hat in one of the settlements they came across, though she figured that something not specifically made to stay on her head in combat might become a hinderance.

Still, she continued on, determining to weather whatever the season threw at her. As a Huntress, she would have to go out to fight the Grimm in any weather. Sure, if she were the kind of person solely interested in the profession for the sake of making a living, she could try to accumulate bounties during the more temperate months, and then ride out the more hostile seasons on her earnings, or pick assignments based on what kind of weather was expected for them. But that wasn't how Ruby did things. She wanted to be ready and willing to fight, no matter the weather, no matter the season.

By and large, the days took on a pattern. Constant walking through the wilderness, punctuated by the occasional Grimm attack, with Sasame standing back and allowing Ruby to handle herself. They sometimes came across a settlement, with Sasame using her skills as a healer to win them food and lodgings. It was an almost monotonous existence.

So it came as a surprise when Ruby was abruptly reminded on how tenuous life outside the Kingdoms could be.

* * *

It had started when Sasame came to an abrupt stop, her entire body freezing, her tail standing out straight behind her, fur bristling.

Ruby frowned. Instead of questioning her sister, she cast out her senses, trying to figure out what had caught Sasame's attention. It wasn't all that hard. Her ears picked up the faint sound of angry roars, and the crack of gunshots in the distance. Her nose picked up the slight scent of smoke. There were people up ahead, and they were under attack from the Grimm.

Not needing any urging from Sasame, Ruby rushed forward. Sasame ran alongside her, the two of them adopting a swift, loping pace, designed to cover distance quickly, without completely wearing them out the way a full-on sprint would. Given her ability, Sasame could have outpaced Ruby easily. However, she chose to run alongside her instead, ensuring that they stayed together.

They broke from the trees to see a settlement under siege, a mixed pack of Ursai and Beowolves throwing themselves at the walls, while the town's militia fired down on them from the ramparts above. They were being menaced from above as well, however, by a trio of mid-sized Nevermores, which alternated between stooping to attack with their claws and beaks, and launching barrages of feathers. The smell of smoke came from a farmstead outside the walls, the house already crackling with flames, collapsing inward on itself.

It was a common layout in agricultural settlements. The needs of agriculture made it impractical to try and encircle farms, and their sprawling fields, within a defensive wall. Instead, the best they could do was fortify the town itself, with the farmers outside needing to flee within the walls to find shelter. Sadly, that meant that they wound up abandoning their fields and homes to the ravages of the Grimm. But it was about the only arrangement possible in such communities.

Ruby and Sasame were prepared to rush right past the burning farmstead to deal with the Grimm pressuring the walls. However, Ruby skidded to a stop when her senses told her that there were still Grimm at the farmhouse, more or less ignoring the flames as they prowled through the structure, knocking down what little remained standing, and clawing about as though they were searching for something.

Grimm wouldn't normally focus on a single home like that, not when there was such a large, enticing source of negativity to draw them, in the form of the town itself, and the frightened people huddled within the walls. The fact that these Grimm were searching the remains of the farmhouse so intently meant that there was a source of negativity present there...someone still alive, whose fear was drawing in at least _some_ of the monsters.

"Sasame-nee!" Ruby called out.

"I'll go on ahead," Sasame informed her, suiting action to word, and breaking into a sprint for the walls.

Ruby turned and rushed for the Grimm searching the burned out ruin. By the time the two Beowolves and an Ursa Major sensed her approach, she was already upon them. The Ursa Major turned towards her, bellowing out a roar of challenge...which was swiftly cut off when Ruby decapitated it in passing. The Beowolves quickly rounded on her, only to fall just as quickly.

Left standing alone in what was left of the house, flames crackling around her, Ruby Extended her Aura, seeking the person whose fear had drawn these Grimm. She sensed a small, weak presence coming from down below. Whoever it was, they weren't very strong, not because of illness or injury, but mostly age. _A child!_

There must have been a basement of some kind, with the child taking shelter down there. Ruby used her eyes and Aura to try and find the way down, feeling the contours of stairs rising up from below. She followed them over to where they approached the surface, her path taking her just outside what remained of the house's walls, where she found herself looking at the doors of a storm cellar.

The doors were locked and bolted, their wood reinforced with steel, probably to protect against the tornados that sometimes ravaged the region, as well as the Grimm. The Grimm, even the Ursa Major, were relatively unintelligent, not recognizing the doors for what they were, instead attempting to take the shortest available path towards the source of the fear that had drawn them, by clawing their way down from above. However, they had been thwarted by the house's concrete foundation, which served as a roof for the cellar down below. Given time, they would have dug their way through. But it was that impediment that had stalled them long enough for Ruby to deal with them.

Drawing Akaibara, Ruby aimed her slash precisely, cutting through the bolts holding the doors shut. Sheathing her sword, she reached down and pulled the doors open. There were the stairs, descending into darkness. From that darkness, Ruby could hear the faint sounds of terrified sobbing.

Moving slowly and carefully, she made her way down the stairs, not wanting to panic the person hiding there. There was no telling how someone so afraid might react. They might not even realize she was a person herself, and lash out. So Ruby descended cautiously. "Hello..." she called out ahead of herself.

The sobbing tapered off, though Ruby could hear a succession of sniffles. "M-mom...?"

Ruby's heart lurched. The voice was young, slightly high-pitched, but still masculine enough for Ruby to recognize it as that of a boy. "I'm sorry," she said as gently as she could manage. "I'm not your mother. But maybe I can help you find her."

"Wha-what about...?" the boy began to ask, his voice trailing off fearfully.

"The Grimm are gone," said Ruby. "I took care of them."

She descended the rest of the way into the cellar, finding herself in a cubicle room, the walls, floor, and ceiling all made from concrete. A light hanging from the ceiling above would have normally supplied illumination. But whatever its source of power had been had probably been cut off or destroyed. Instead, the space was illuminated by a small, battery-powered lamp that rested atop one of the crates that occupied a substantial portion of the room's space, along with a few barrels. Ruby had no way of knowing their contents, realizing that they probably held at least some of the farm's supplies and tools.

The boy was huddled in the gap between two of those crates, with the lamp resting atop the one to his right. He was pressed up against the wall, the scuffed knees of his gray trousers pressed up against the dirty, white shirt that covered his chest. Tough-looking, black boots covered his feet, pressed up against the floor, pushing his back against the wall as hard as his legs could manage. The tanned color of his skin was visible on the arms he'd wrapped tightly around his legs.

As Ruby approached, the boy looked up at her, his rising head revealing a tangled mess of black hair, reminding her of Kyo's a little. When he looked up, Ruby was greeted by an adorably rounded face, with cheeks dusted by freckles.

But it was his eyes that were the most fascinating aspect of him. They were hazel overall, but actually mixed different colors; the main, inside portion, of his irises being a deep, forest-green, while the rims were decorated with burnt-orange and yellow. Right now, those eyes were staring fearfully up at her, desperately seeking any form of reassurance they could find.

Ruby judged this boy to be about ten or eleven, which only put him at just a couple of years younger than her. By the time she was his age, she'd already been training for over a year. But this poor boy was not an aspiring Huntsman. He was just a civilian, a farmer's child, who'd probably only ever known the fields of his farm, and the streets of the town. He'd most likely been raised to regard the Grimm as objects of fear, to be avoided at all costs. He'd never received training to master his fear, the way Ruby had, so she could understand him looking so afraid and helpless.

"It's okay," said Ruby softly, holding out a hand to him. "I'm here to help."

"A-are y-you a Huntress?" stammered the boy.

"Not yet," said Ruby. "But I'm training to be one. I took care of the Grimm above, so you're safe now."

The boy regarded her warily, then slowly released his legs to reach out for her hand with his. Ruby took it, and slowly pulled the boy to his feet, taking his opposite forearm to help steady him as his leg muscles unclenched, and he took his first halting steps. She had no idea how long he'd been down here, but some stiffness wasn't a surprise, when he'd been curled up so tightly.

"What's your name?" asked Ruby, looking the boy in his, almost-mesmerizing, eyes.

"O-Oscar," said the boy haltingly, almost seeming to need to comb his memory for what his name was. "M'name's Oscar."

"Oscar, it's nice to meet you. My name's Ruby. Let's see if we can find your parents."

* * *

By the time Ruby helped the hesitant Oscar up the stairs and back out into the sunlight, the battle was already over. Sasame had reached the wall and practically obliterated the Grimm attacking there, her hands, feet, and tails turning her into a whirlwind of death that had torn the Grimm to shreds, even before their bodies could disintegrate, which had freed up the members of the militia to focus their fire on the Nevermores menacing them from above, bringing them down.

Ruby's Extension and other senses produced no signs of human life in the vicinity of the farmhouse. So she reasoned that their best hope of finding Oscar's parents was to inquire at the town, Sakura, itself, where the farmers would have fled to hide when the Grimm attacked.

By the time she and Oscar reached the gates, Sasame was already trading greetings with the captain of the militia, who was thanking them profusely for their assistance. As it turned out, they had been struggling to get a signal out to anywhere to get a Huntsman to assist them. They'd been briefly worried that the attacking Grimm might overrun their defenses. Given the depth of some of the claw marks on the wall, that worry was not unwarranted, given that this was clearly one of the less-affluent settlements, unable to afford the powerful Dust-turrets some settlements protected their borders with. They'd been holding off the Grimm with rifles and standard Dust-rounds.

Ruby bringing Oscar to the gates set things into motion quickly. Small settlements like this were the sort where everyone knew almost everyone else. Oscar's parents were known, and the guards immediately set about making inquiries into where they were.

The results...were not positive.

* * *

Ruby, Oscar, and Sasame were shown to the local tavern to wait for news, where they were provided with food and drink by the grateful proprietor, who knew Oscar well enough to bring the boy his favorite meal, something he apparently always ordered, on the occasions his parents brought him here to eat. They were most of the way through the meal when the guard captain came back in. At the sight of the dark look on his face, Ruby's heart fell.

"We found them," he said, the tone of his voice making that declaration anything but reassuring.

As young as he was, Oscar had picked up on the man's face and tone as well, and had already realized that the news was bad. He let out a sad whimper.

The captain pulled off his helmet, holding it to his chest, looking down at his feet. "Poor George was a ways out in the fields...never had a chance...brought down while running for the house. Tierra...was caught out in the open. Looked like she was running away from the house."

"M-mom t-t-t-told me to get to the cellar, th-then..." Oscar shivered, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Everyone else figured out what must have happened. Oscar's mother had seen the Grimm coming, clearly too late for her to take her son and run for the town's walls. From the sound of things, they had been close enough that she'd feared they wouldn't even make it into the shelter of the cellar on time. To buy her son the time he needed to close and lock the cellar doors, she had made herself a target, and distracted the Grimm coming their way...at the cost of her life.

"I'm sorry, Son," said the captain sympathetically. "I wish there was something I could do."

"What _can_ be done for him?" asked Sasame, while a tearful Ruby pulled the crying Oscar into a tight hug.

The captain sighed despondently. "The Pines' farm's a wreck. The Grimm came from that way, so most of their crops were trampled. This close to the harvest season, that's almost a complete loss. There's nothing for the boy to go back to right now."

"Is there someone who can take him in?" inquired Sasame.

"A few," said the captain. "Heck, I'd adopt him myself. I've known the Pines my whole life, but..." He frowned pensively.

Sasame raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"He's got family, an aunt." explained the captain. "She lives in Tsubaki, 'bout eighty or so miles down the road. She's his mother's sister. If anything happened to them, his parents wanted her to look after him."

"And would she accept that responsibility?" asked Sasame warily.

"Auntie Em would," said Oscar, looking up from Ruby's shoulder, where his tears had left dark blotches on her haori. "Sh-she's always been really nice to me. Mom said that she'd look after me, if...if...if anything happened to her and Dad." The reality of it sinking in again prompted Oscar to press his face back into Ruby's shoulder.

Ruby looked plaintively at Sasame.

"Eighty miles is quite a ways," noted Sasame. "But you managed that farther than that, when you were his age. It will take us a few days."

Sasame didn't bother to point out that Tsubaki was out of the way, as far as their excursion was concerned. Of course, somebody in need of help trumped their travel plans, which were loose to begin with.

"Well, if you give us a day or so, we'll probably be able to raise Tsubaki on the CCT," said the guard captain. "Our signal's pretty shaky, this far out. But they have a full relay. They're a pretty good-sized settlement too; set up along the railway, even have their own airship. We're needing them to send out relief supplies anyway, so you and Oscar can hitch a ride back."

"Then that's what we'll do," said Sasame.

* * *

It wasn't much of a surprise that the town was willing to cover the cost of their inn room, given what had just happened. The guard captain had offered to let Oscar to stay at his house for the night. However, upon seeing how reluctant Oscar was to part from Ruby, Sasame instead stated her decision to keep the boy with them. The captain was understanding .

Which was how Ruby and Sasame now found themselves in the room provided to them. The room was small, but comfortably appointed, sporting a single bed, but one large enough for all three of them. The local tailor had been glad to furnish the boy with some light, cotton pajamas to wear, given that all Oscar's own clothes had gone up in flames with his original home. Ruby and Oscar had taken turns using the bathroom and changing into their pajamas, while Sasame saw to getting said clothes cleaned.

Sasame returned to see Ruby sitting on the bed, Oscar sprawled out across it, his head resting on her lap, as Ruby gently brushed her fingers through his hair. Dark spots on the legs of Ruby's pajamas told the tale of how the poor boy had cried himself to sleep.

"I...I wish there's something I could do for him," said Ruby, looking up at Sasame, red underneath her own eyes indicating that she had been shedding tears too.

"Sometimes, all we can do is be there for the ones who grieve," said Sasame sadly, sitting down next to Ruby and taking her turn brushing her fingers through Oscar's hair, sending a gentle pulse of Aura into him, sending the boy into a deeper sleep, where he hopefully wouldn't be troubled by nightmares.

"He'd kinda stopped earlier," said Ruby. "But then he just started again. I didn't know what to do or say..."

"Ruby-chan..." said Sasame firmly, stroking Ruby's cheek, "...calm. It's good that you're so so vested in Oscar-kun's wellbeing. But panic is good for no one."

"Right," said Ruby, dropping her gaze.

"From the look of things, you've done what you needed to do," said Sasame. "What he needs right now is for someone to be there for him, to accept his grief, to enable him to let it out, so that he doesn't need to hide those feelings inside."

Ruby nodded slowly.

"We'll get him to his aunt," said Sasame. "Hopefully, it's a place where he can do well."

"Yeah..." said Ruby softly.

Sasame brushed her fingers through Ruby's hair. "You'll make a fine Huntress," she said. "Now get some sleep. There's no telling when that airship will arrive."

* * *

**Well hey, look who Ruby just met. She's getting to know all kinds of people. Of course, in canon, we have yet to receive any real explanation for why Oscar was living with his aunt, before Ozpin popped into his head. Knowing the writers' penchant for leaving certain intriguing gaps in characters' backstories frustratingly unfilled, (see Jaune) there is every possibility that we may never know.**


	93. Chapter 93

**Chapter 93:**

The airship arrived a little after noon. Sakura's signal had gotten through sometime late at night, and Tsubaki had loaded and launched their airship as soon as they could. The vessel was a standard Mistralian design, composed of wood, looking rather like a seagoing vessel, with winglike sails mounted atop and to either side of its hull, like masts on a ship. A propeller extending out the back provided the main form of propulsion used by the vessel, spinning constantly, even as it rested its keel against the concrete surface of Sakura's air-dock, with people offloading the relief supplies from it.

Ruby fought to keep from quivering with excitement. This would be the first time she had ever been on any Kingdom's airship. She wondered how the experience would be different from the Mibu Clan's zeppelins. Oscar stood beside her, watching anxiously, his hand closed tightly around hers.

The two of them had been more or less inseparable since morning, with Oscar only willing to leave her side to use the bathroom, or allow her to use the bathroom. Otherwise, he stayed as close as he possibly could, and did whatever he could to maintain some form of contact, usually by holding her hand.

For her part, Ruby didn't mind all that much. She was glad that Oscar trusted her, at least, though it did make her worry if he would be willing to part with her, when the time finally came for her to leave. At the moment, she was just glad that her presence was a comfort to the poor boy, who was still wrestling with his grief.

"They're almost unloaded, then they're lifting off straight away," Sasame said. "We'd best get aboard."

They were greeted at the pad by Sakura's mayor, as well as the guard captain, both men thanking Ruby and Sasame profusely for all that they'd done, as well as wishing Oscar well, hoping that his aunt took good care of him. After that, the trio boarded the airship, and Ruby watched with wide eyes as the ground fell away, the ship lifting off, then banking south and east.

The first thing that stood out to Ruby was that it was _much_ faster than the Mibu clan's zeppelins. On top of that, the flight was remarkably smooth. As lighter-than-air vessels, zeppelins were especially affected by wind currents and aerial turbulence. But the Dust-powered airship they were currently riding on seemed to slice right through those things. Even though there was a breeze through Ruby's hair, it didn't feel nearly as strong as it should have, given the speed they were traveling at, giving her a strange feeling of being divorced from the reality of their movement.

In the end, it wasn't some fantastical thing. But it _was_ a novel experience for her, and Ruby was glad she'd gotten the chance, even if it did mean making her and Sasame's journey longer as a consequence.

* * *

Fortunately, no Grimm targeted the airship as they flew, and their trip to Tsubaki was uneventful, the airship setting down into its dock without incident. From there, it was just a matter of getting directions to the home of Oscar's aunt, one Emalee Pine. It turned out that she too was a farmer, whose farm lay on the outskirts of town, like most of the farms in the area.

Ruby wasn't expecting such a young woman, particularly one who looked as though she might be less than thirty. Oscar must have taken after his mother a lot, because his mother's sister shared so many traits with him that Ruby would have thought that _she_ was his mother at first glance. Like Oscar, she had tanned skin and black hair, hers was messy, much like his. Her eyes were a dark, olive-green, and she lacked Oscar's freckles, the skin of her face smooth and clear.

She was dressed in a dark-brown shirt, with black trousers, held up by suspenders, their legs tucked into a set of heavy-looking work boots. When she took the gloves off her hands, Ruby could see the tough callouses that protected her fingers and palms. This woman was no stranger to long days of hard work.

"Oscar!" she yelled at the sight of him.

Oscar's eyes overflowed with tears. "Auntie Em!" he shouted back, letting go of Ruby's hand and rushing to her, the woman seizing him in a tight hug.

"Auntie...M-Mom...Dad...they..." Oscar struggled to even say anything, while his aunt hugged him tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Oscar," said Emalee, kissing the top of his head, shedding tears of her own.

Ruby and Sasame watched as the two shared their grief with one another, Ruby wondering if they ought to take their leave. This seemed like a personal moment for Oscar and his aunt, and Ruby didn't want to intrude.

Abruptly, Emalee looked up from her nephew, her eyes meeting Ruby and Sasame's. "I can't thank you enough," she said.

"I'm sorry we couldn't do anything for your sister and her husband," said Sasame, bowing her head.

"You saved my nephew, that's what would have mattered most to them," said Emalee, standing up, while holding Oscar against herself, the boy's face still buried in her shirt. "Even though he's my nephew, he's the closest I've ever had to a son. I can't have children of my own, so..."

Ruby and Sasame nodded.

"I don't know what you plan on doing, or where you're heading next," said Emalee. "But I can at least thank you for saving Oscar by giving you a place to sleep for the night, and a good couple of meals to send you on your way."

"If it's no strain on your means, then we would be happy to accept your hospitality," said Sasame, she and Ruby bowing gratefully to the woman.

"Then please come in," said Emalee. "I'd like to know more about the two people who saved my nephew."

* * *

It was a pleasant evening, all told. Granted, there was still much grief and trauma for Oscar and Emalee to deal with, Oscar having lost his parents and Emalee having lost her sister and her brother-in-law. However, Emalee didn't let that get in the way of showing Ruby and Sasame the best hospitality she had to offer. Being in the presence of family had eased Oscar's need to remain in contact with Ruby at all times, but he did try to stay as close to her as he was allowed, sitting next to her at the dinner table, or sharing the couch with her in the living room.

Sasame and Emalee kept their thoughts to themselves. It was mostly Oscar fixating on Ruby, as the one who'd saved him. However, they both noticed the slight signs of a crush. When he learned that Ruby and Sasame would be moving on; now that they'd gotten him to a safe place, where they could be assured of his long-term care; they boy had expressed some disappointment, but had mostly kept his feelings to himself. For her part, Ruby didn't really notice.

* * *

After spending the night in the guest room of Emalee's farmhouse, then enjoying a hearty breakfast, Ruby and Sasame said their goodbyes to Emalee and Oscar in the yard before the front porch.

Oscar nearly knocked over Ruby when he tackled her for one last hug. "W-will I see you again?" he asked, looking up at her with teary, pleading eyes.

"I hope so," said Ruby. "I...I don't know when I might be over this way again, but if I am, I'll come see you."

"Please do," begged Oscar, making both his aunt and Sasame hide cheerful titters.

Ruby held him close one last time, then slowly let him go, Oscar accepting the parting with some reluctance, Emalee coming behind him to rest her hands on his shoulders as the pair watched Ruby and Sasame set off down the road that led out of the farm, and out of Tsubaki itself.

Sasame noticed the pensive expression on Ruby's face. "Something wrong, Ruby-chan?"

"N-not really," said Ruby, stuttering a little. "I mean, I'm just wondering when I might see Oscar-kun again."

"Missing him already?" asked Sasame in a teasing tone. "Have you finally moved on from Setsuna-kun then?"

"Sasame-nee!" exclaimed Ruby, her cheeks turning red. "D-don't say it like that. I've already gotten past that. I'm happy for Setsuna-kun and Miyu-chan. B-besides..."

"Besides what?" pressed Sasame, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not like that," protested Ruby. "I-I mean, Oscar-kun's only eleven. He probably doesn't even think about girls like that, yet."

"Well...I won't lecture you about that right now," said Sasame. "Some do start earlier, after all. However, that's immaterial at this point. Oscar-kun is only two years younger than you, so it's not such a huge gap. I imagine that he will grow to become quite the handsome fellow. So you might wish to give serious consideration to coming back to see him, should you get the chance."

Ruby squeaked, her blush spreading. "Please don't tease me like that," she pleaded.

Sasame laughed. "But you make such adorable noises when you're flustered, Ruby-chan. If you don't wish to be teased so much, you shouldn't make it so enjoyable for me."

Ruby pouted, puffing out her cheeks in displeasure...which only resulted in Sasame laughing all the harder.

* * *

Their journey continued on. The detour to Tsubaki had added some extra distance, but neither of them minded much. They took a bit of a revised route, heading for their original next-intended destination of Botan, a mid-sized settlement that was also a substantial agricultural center.

When it suited them, the pair abandoned the road in favor of striking straight overland, taking the more direct route to their destination. That generally meant they had to work harder, navigating over terrain that the roads ran around, but since the purpose of this journey was training in the first place, they didn't mind that. It also led to increased confrontations with the Grimm, which they didn't mind either.

* * *

"Have you ever been to Botan before, Sasame-nee?" asked Ruby as they made their way between the trees of a dense forest.

"Yes," replied Sasame. "It might be a bit disappointing for them, seeing as we don't have Kyo along, this time. However, there are plenty of injured for me to treat, seeing as lots of people have a tendency to get themselves hurt in the agricultural profession, one way or another."

"How?" asked Ruby.

"Accidents with tools and heavy machinery, sunstroke, various diseases..." Sasame counted off the reasons with her fingers. "People try to be careful in such settlements, but accidents like that are a fact of life. It's a pity I can't visit such places more frequently, to provide better peace of mind. But it's nice to do what I can, when I pass through. They are a fairly friendly bunch."

Ruby nodded, looking forward to seeing this new place. Visiting a new settlement always brought out a mixture of excitement and trepidation within her. She was excited at the prospect of seeing new places, and meeting new people. But her experience in previous settlements had taught her that outsiders were not always welcome, particularly faunus, or those in the company of a faunus. It was reassuring to visit a place that Sasame and Kyo had been to before, as that pretty much ensured a positive reaction.

They were only a few hours out from the settlement, by Sasame's estimation, when she and Ruby came to an abrupt stop, their senses going on high alert, Ruby's body tensing. A shot rang out, Sasame's head jerking slightly as the bullet struck her right in the temple. Another shot sounded, and Ruby blurred to the side to evade it.

A full sextet of people lunged out from behind trees or within bushes. An equal balance of men and women, they were dressed in ragged clothes, covered by a hodgepodge of leather and metal armor. Their weapons were similarly roughshod, three of them wielding standard rifles, equipped with bayonets, while two others wielded short, broad, blocky, rather unimpressive blades. Then there was the man who appeared to be their leader. He carried a pair of pistols, leather wraps around each grip binding a knife-length blade so that it protruded down from the handle.

They closed in without preamble, the rifle-users immediately attacking with their bayonets, rather than potentially wasting ammunition in these close quarters, while the two blade-wielders moved to support them from the flanks. Only the leader hung back, a sadistic smirk on his face as he watched his crew close in on the two girls.

"They're all yours, Ruby-chan," said Sasame dismissively.

Ruby smiled eagerly. Akaibara practically flew out of her sheath, with a chime singing the sword's eagerness for battle. Bringing the blade around in front of her, Ruby cleaved through the barrels of all three rifles in a single slash, the bayonets failing to reach her entirely. The rifle-users fell back, eyes wide with shock. Even if their weapons were relatively...rough, they were still durable and reliable.

The first of the blade wielders charged Ruby from the side, screaming out a battle cry. Ruby barely had to move her body to dodge the woman's wild slashes, leaning one way, then another, drifting out of the path of that swinging blade, barely needing to move her feet. All Ruby needed to do was wait for the woman to overextend herself, then stepped in, slamming the pommel of her sword into the woman's sternum.

The other blade-wielder, also a woman, attacked Sasame instead. She launched a slash at the diminutive girl, grinning viciously as the blade of her weapon sank into Sasame's neck. However, that grin quickly faded when there was no spurt of blood, the kind of result characteristic of such wounds. Instead, the blade lodged into place, with Sasame not even showing any kind of inconvenience at having it stuck in her neck.

"That was uncalled for," said Sasame, staring dispassionately up at the woman...before lifting her hand, and flicking the woman in the forehead. The woman's hand relinquished its grip on her weapon instantly, mainly because she was blown back several meters, slamming into the trunk of the tree directly behind her, before slumping to the ground.

Sasame pulled the blade free of her neck, tossing it aside, while the wound it had inflicted closed, and then turned towards the leader, just as the fifth attacker slumped and passed out from Ruby's hit to her torso. All that remained were the three who'd been wielding rifles, as well as the leader. The rifle-users were too gobsmacked to consider making any other kind of attack, while the leader's smug expression had dropped away into one of fear and dismay.

"Well then, that was disappointingly amateurish of you," noted Sasame, locking eyes with the leader. "Still, if you wish to try for yourself, you're free to give Ruby-chan your best effort."

"Wha-what the hell are you?" demanded the bandit leader, leveling his pistols at Ruby and Sasame, who didn't even both to look at the weapons.

"Just a couple of travelers," said Ruby cheekily, grinning.

"Y-Y-Y-You don't know who you're messing with," sputtered the leader. "We're the Branwen Tribe!"

"Hey!" protested Ruby, pouting. "_You_ were the ones messing with _us_. We were just minding our own business, before you attacked." Even as she spoke, she felt a twinge of something like recognition. That name sounded familiar to her.

"That's not the point!" snapped the leader. "You don't want our tribe as your enemies, so you'd best surrender and hand over all your goods."

Ruby and Sasame exchanged dubious looks. "Uh...no," said Ruby, turning back to the bandit leader. "You gonna try and make us?"

"Little..." growled the bandit, baring his teeth.

He stared Ruby down for a long moment, before he brought his pistols up at her, opening fire as soon as he had drawn a bead on the girl. His three remaining subordinates scattered out of the way as the man rushed forward, firing several shots from his pistols, holding them in a strange, sideways orientation that didn't seem like it was an effective way to aim them.

Ruby's body flickered back and forth across his field of vision, her sudden and erratic movements throwing off what little aim he had. They closed with each other, the man switching modes of attack, transitioning straight into an arcing slash from the blade strapped to the handle of his left-handed pistol, like a dagger held in a reverse-grip, aiming for Ruby's neck.

Ruby ducked beneath the line of that slash easily, shifting up and to the right, keeping the man from following up his attack with a slash from the blade in his right hand. The man instead simply aimed across his chest with his right-handed pistol, and squeezed off several shots. But Ruby vanished from his line of sight before the bullets could reach her. The man's head turned frantically as he tried to track the girl, but was unable to spot any sign of her.

The sunlight from above dimmed, a shadow passing over the man's head. He realized it was Ruby. Looking up, he caught sight of the red hem of her haori, but Ruby was already touching down on his other side. The man quickly reversed the direction of his right arm, thrusting the blade of his dagger at her. But Akaibara flickered up, slicing through the steel with ease, before descending again to cut the pistol in two along the barrel, slicing through the action in the process. The man continued his turn to try and line up his other gun, only to freeze when Akaibara's blade drifted back up to kiss the skin of his neck, hovering a fraction of a centimeter away from his jugular.

"Drop it, please," said Ruby cheerfully.

The remaining pistol clattered to the ground, along with its ruined counterpart.

"Thank you," said Ruby cheerfully.

"Now then...what to do with them..." mused Sasame, pinching her chin thoughtfully as she regarded the four conscious, but disarmed, attackers.

"Should we take them on to Botan?" asked Ruby. "They'll have a jail there, or something...right?"

"I believe they do," said Sasame. "But minding six captives will be quite a chore, particularly seeing as we do not have enough rope to bind them all, at the moment." She supposed she could just bind them with her tails. But walking the rest of the way to Botan, carrying six people like that, would be an unpleasant chore.

"Should we knock them out?" asked Ruby.

"That might be the most prudent course, short of killing them," said Sasame, making the bandits blanch. "Of course, if we leave them unconscious, and a Grimm happens by...it will be about the same result."

Her words certainly didn't reassure the bandits, their leader beginning to vibrate in place as Ruby's sword continued to tickle his neck.

"Then...should we just leave them?" asked Ruby, frowning.

"In the end, that might be about the best option we have," said Sasame. "Of course, the important thing is to figure out _why_ they were out here in the first place."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. As attacks went, this one had been sloppy, executed without anything in the way of prior planning. She could tell that much by the hurried manner in which the bandits had hidden themselves, and the way they'd surged out, trying to cow her and Sasame with numbers, before attacking with abandon.

Given that the two of them weren't following a road, and were traveling straight through the woodlands, it wasn't as though there was any way the bandits could have known they were coming. That meant that this was an attack of opportunity. The bandits were out here, doing something else, when they'd spotted a pair of presumably easy targets, and jumped at the chance. The real question was what that "something else" was. Given their numbers, and how lightly-armed they were, Ruby noted they seemed to be equipped for moving quickly and quietly, rather than an all-out attack, which most likely meant...

"They're scouts," she said. "They must be scouting out Botan for an attack."

"That's the most likely possibility," said Sasame, beaming at Ruby, before transferring to a sterner gaze at the bandits' leader. "Is that the case?"

"Uh...um..." The man's eyes roved wildly as he tried to figure some way out of this predicament...and probably a way to deflect their inquiries.

"I wouldn't try lying, if I were you," pressed Sasame, her cheerful smile returning. "I'm quite good at spotting liars."

"She really is," Ruby assured them.

The leader swallowed, the bobbing lump of his throat threatening to move his neck enough to cut it against Ruby's sword. "Y-yes," he said.

"Ah, I see," said Sasame. "It _is_ the harvest season, after all. I bet you've been checking the state of their crops. Once the farmers bring it all in, your tribe was planning to attack, so that you could help yourselves to their bounty."

The bandit grunted.

"Well, I'm sure we can find out how things are, when we get to Botan," said Sasame. "I'm sure that the people there will appreciate the warning." Her smile took on a vindictive quality. "And I am sure that the one _you_ answer to will be quite happy at the realization that you've blown their cover, and stripped them of the element of surprise."

A faint whimper escaped the man, and Ruby thought she spotted a suspicious wet spot appearing on the crotch of his pants.

"Well then, let's just be on our way, Ruby-chan," said Sasame. She grinned at the bandit. "If your precious Branwen Tribe thinks that they will find an easy target in Botan, then they will be sorely mistaken, I promise you."

Ruby lowered and sheathed her sword, turning and walking away from the bandit leader, who slumped to his knees. Ruby's stride was assured and confident, that of someone who didn't expect any attempt by the remaining bandits to attack her from behind, while she was walking away. Of course, given the level of their skills, Ruby would have been able to sense any such attack coming a mile away.

None of the bandits were that foolish, or they had already been fully cowed by Ruby's display of skill and Sasame's display of...what she had displayed. Even after spending years with Sasame, Ruby could still find herself unnerved by the sight of Sasame's regenerative abilities in action, partly because her exposure to them was still rather limited, far fewer members of the Mibu being willing to make an attempt on Sasame's life than they were on Ruby's.

So it was that they left without further harassment, eventually leaving the trees to find themselves in the fields of Botan. Much like Sakura, and other agricultural towns they had come across, this settlement too followed the rule of having the farms and fields situated in the land out around the settlement, with the defensive wall encircling the town itself, including the warehouses and granaries where their produce was stored. As they made their way in, Ruby and Sasame could see that the fields were mostly bare, the grain having been harvested, and fruiting plants having been picked clean.

From the looks of things, the harvest was over, or nearly over. With the prospect of an impending bandit attack, that was a bad sign, as it wouldn't be long before the Branwen Tribe made their move, striking before too much of the produce could be shipped out. Of course, even if that hadn't been the case, the Branwen Tribe was liable to move up their schedule on account that their presence had been revealed to begin with, aiming to attack before the settlement could call in help.

Upon reaching the defensive wall, and the entry gates themselves, one of the people manning them recognized Sasame instantly, having been one of the injured she had treated her previous time through. Following the expected inquiries into Kyo's location, he was all too happy to show them through, and then direct them to the mayor.

* * *

"Well, it's just too bad that Kyo can't join us this time," said the mayor, a jolly old fellow, whose first action after greeting the pair was to bring out a plate of cookies, freshly baked by his wife, no less. And they were chocolate chip too, much to Ruby's utter delight. In spite of her best efforts, the plate was empty on a matter of minutes, both Sasame and their host looking on in amusement, Ruby mortified by her lack of self control after the fact, though, thankfully, the mayor only seemed proud that she had liked his wife's cookies so much.

After that, they had quickly gotten down to business, with Sasame having some unpleasant news to deliver this time around.

"So...not only do we have to deal with the disappointment that Kyo will not be coming, this time around, but you're telling us that the Branwen Tribe is planning an attack?" asked the mayor, somewhat rhetorically.

"I'm afraid so," said Sasame diplomatically.

"Oh dear..." grumbled the mayor, putting his face into his hands.

"You know who the Branwen Tribe are?" asked Ruby, canting her head curiously, still troubled by the feeling she was overlooking something.

"I don't think there's a person in any settlement across all of Anima who doesn't shudder, when they hear that name," growled the mayor, his expression darkening. "They're the nastiest, most ferocious pack of thieves and thugs on the entire continent, probably in all of Remnant."

"Kyo and I have heard rumors of them as well, though we've never encountered them ourselves," said Sasame.

The mayor nodded. "They've always been a serious threat to any settlement out there. But a little over a decade ago, they got a new leader. From what I've heard, she's turned them into a force that even the Huntsmen and the military don't want to take on, if they can avoid it. Settlements that defy them don't merely get wrecked, they get wiped off the map. Some say that the Branwen Tribe are the harbingers of disaster."

"That's awful!" gasped Ruby. Even as she reeled at the revelation of what they were up against, there was a slight note of confusion in her mind. _Branwen...why does that sound familiar?_

"And now you say they've been scouting out our settlement," said the mayor, letting out a tired sigh. "If they're coming for us, fighting back would be folly. We will have to give up a tribute, and hope that we can satisfy them enough to leave us alone."

Ruby opened her mouth, unsure of what to say. On one hand, it felt truly wrong to give into a bunch of bullies, which this bunch of bandits certainly seemed to be. On the other though, if what the mayor was saying was true, then fighting would put the settlement in serious danger. She certainly couldn't tell someone who had so much responsibility resting on his shoulders what to do.

While she'd never been trained in civil matters, watching and listening to her adoptive mother talk about the conundrums of leading the Mibu Clan had taught her that things were not always as cut and dried as they first appeared.

"Might I suggest something?" posed Sasame, snapping Ruby out of her confusion.

"Hmm?" grunted the mayor, looking at Ruby's sister.

"Allow us to handle it," said Sasame, resting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "The two of us will see to your bandit problem, and you won't need to part with a single grain of wheat."

"A-are you serious?" gasped the mayor. "I mean...we aren't talking about just a few, like that scouting party you squabbled with earlier. We're talking about an entire tribe, dozens of them, maybe a hundred or more. And their leader is reputed to be a monster in her own right."

Sasame's smile widened slightly, and Ruby could feel an intense pressure radiating out from her. Sasame was releasing her Aura. There was no malice in it...yet. But there was a pure, unsullied intent to fight. "Tell me...do you know why the Grimm flee before Kyo?"

"I...I never thought about it," admitted the mayor. "It seemed so automatic, I figured that was just his Semblance, even though it might seem impossible for such a Semblance to exist..."

"Kyo possesses no such power," said Sasame simply.

"Then...how?"

"The reason the Grimm flee before Kyo...is because Kyo is, quite simply, just _that_ strong."

The mayor blinked. "I...I don't understand."

Sasame rested her cheek against her right fist, propping it up with her elbow on the arm of her chair. "Just as animals can sense the onset of a natural disaster, and know to flee it instinctively, so too is Kyo a 'disaster' to the Grimm. They can sense his strength, and instinctively know that to oppose him...is to die. As such, even the youngest, most foolhardy, Grimm will flee Kyo's vicinity as fast as they are able, not willing to risk setting foot within more than a score of miles of him.

"Tell me...are these bandits able to make such a claim? Are they able to drive the Grimm before them...or do the Grimm follow after them, as always, like flies and vultures seeking carrion?"

"They definitely don't do anything like that," said the mayor. "If anything, it's the usual problem, where their attacks carry the threat of calling in the Grimm while they're still in the midst of battle." His eyes narrowed. "But you can't be seriously suggesting that you're _that_ strong yourself..."

"I'm not," admitted Sasame. "And Ruby-chan certainly is not that strong either. However, I am one of the few in our clan who approaches Kyo's strength. I can assure you that, however strong these bandits might be, they are no match for the two of us together."

"And you truly believe that the two of you can match them?" gasped the mayor.

"More than that," said Sasame, "I intend to use them as fodder for Ruby-chan's training." She ruffled Ruby's hair affectionately. "That should tell you how little I worry about them."

Ruby gave Sasame a nervous look, unsure about Sasame speaking on her behalf like this, though she had always trusted Sasame with knowing just how far to push her training. She felt that worry all the more keenly because more than just _her_ life lay on the line with this.

"A-are you certain?" asked the mayor.

Sasame sighed, her expression falling. "Truth be told, the chance of settling this amicably has probably already long passed. Thanks to us defeating their scouting party, they already know that we will have warned you about this, so they are likely moving to attack, regardless of what actions you might have planned to appease them. Fighting may well be the only way at this juncture."

The mayor swallowed nervously. "If you're truly sure..." he said.

"I am certain," said Sasame. "I swear on my life and honor that we shall put these bandits to flight, or put them in the earth. Should they manage to inflict harm upon you and yours, I will gladly surrender my life in recompense."

"S-Sasame-nee!" gasped Ruby, horrified.

"To say that with such confidence..." said the mayor. "...truly, you have never done wrong by us. In accordance with that, I shall place the lives of my people in your hands once more." He bowed deeply to Sasame. "Please protect our home."

"Gladly," said Sasame, bowing back. "Those fools shall rue the day they laid eyes upon you and yours."

* * *

The scouting party's leader yowled in pain as a boot crashed into the side of his head, throwing him to the ground. Sprawled out, the man whimpered pitifully, cowering before the young woman who stood over him.

The woman standing over him didn't seem all that intimidating, at first glance. She had a slender, almost boyish figure. Her brown hair was cut extremely short, keeping it well clear of her ice-blue eyes, which glared harshly at the prone man. She was dressed in a brown vest, over a torn, white shirt. The right leg of her maroon pants was rolled up to her thigh, while the other ran down into her boot. Both her legs were covered by guards that covered her knees and shins. At her hips rested a pair of weapons, pistols with curved blades extending out around from the back.

"So...let me see if I got this straight," growled the young woman, her presence radiating a sense of menace that substantially dwarfed her appearance. "You lackwits were given a simple job...just _one_ job. Check the town, and stay out of sight. Instead, not only did you break cover to attack a couple of random travelers, you got yourselves thrashed in the process, and said travelers are now, as we speak, warning Botan that we're coming. Did I get all that right?"

"Y-Y-Yes, M-Ma'am," stammered the scouting party's leader pathetically. A short ways away, the rest of his group cowered pitifully away, each of them afraid they would be next to receive the woman's wrath.

"Pathetic," snarled the woman. "Absolutely pitiful. And to think that you lot are supposed to be members of _our_ tribe. Since when do six warriors of the Branwen get themselves thrashed by a couple of puny girls."

"Th-they weren't ordinary!" protested one of the women in the scouting party. "The small one, the fox-faunus...I darn near cut her head off...but she shrugged it off like it was nothing! They're unnatural!"

She was next, receiving a vicious backhand across her jaw that nearly broke it. The blow flung her to the ground with a cry of pain. She curled up into a ball, whimpering.

"In all my time, I've never heard such a worthless pile of bullshit!" snapped the woman. "You can thank your lucky stars Raven isn't here. Had she heard such drivel, she would have taken your head, right then and there. You punks better be grateful that you got me instead."

"Y-yes, Ms. Vernal," whimpered the other woman, cowering away from her.

Vernal smiled, though her eyes remained hard an icy. "Well, since the lot of you failed so miserably, you're the ones who get to be the vanguard of our attack."

All six members of the scouting party twitched, their faces paling. "B-but our weapons are-" the leader began to protest.

"Well...you''ll just have to do _without_ them," said Vernal casually. "It's just too bad that you were so incompetent as to lose or break them in the first place. Now...go get ready as best you can. We attack tonight."

"Ma'am," whispered one of the other members of the raiding party, coming up behind Vernal, "what about the ultimatum? Shouldn't we give them a chance to pay tribute, before attacking?"

That was the preferred method, after all. While wreaking havoc was a boon to their reputation as a force to be feared and dreaded, truth be told, it wasn't profitable in the long term to wipe out _every_ settlement they targeted. Often, the most prudent course was to let their reputation do the work for them. It had a lot of advantages. They ran less risk of suffering loss or injury of their members in the attack, and the settlements that surrendered and paid tribute got to live another day...and serve as targets for future raids.

However... "Not this time," said Vernal darkly. "Now that those two have warned the town, they'll be on the lookout for us. They might have even called Mistral for reinforcements. If the military and the Huntsmen come to reinforce them, it will be all that much more difficult for us to pull this off."

After all, their raiding party represented only a part of the overall manpower of the Branwen Tribe. Botan was a relatively soft target, so there had been no need to send more than a mid-sized detachment, some forty people. The bulk of their tribe, led by Raven herself, was currently pursuing bigger prey.

For their sake, those six fools who'd given them away to the inhabitants had better hope that this raid went well...or that they died in the attempt. Because if things went south, and they were still around to be held responsible for it, then Raven would go to great lengths to make them regret their incompetence.

* * *

"Do you think the bandits are gonna come from this way?" asked Ruby.

Sasame nodded, the pair of them staring out over the fields, towards the woodlands near where they'd come from loomed ahead, the colors of the autumn leaves fading along with the light.

"What if they try to go around and come from another direction..." Ruby began to ask, "...or if they scatter and try to attack from multiple ways at once?"

"All valid strategies," said Sasame, glad that her sister was thinking things through so thoroughly. "However, now that we've ruined their chance at stealth, speed will be their greatest asset. While scattering and attacking from multiple directions might be a good way to throw off defenders, they are more likely to value an attack that concentrates their strength, and allows them to secure their objectives as quickly as possible. Skirting around in this terrain will cost them precious time and energy, and scattering will make it much harder to coordinate the timing of their actions. So, for the sake of efficiency, coming all at once from the same way will be one of their more reliable tactics, in this particular set of circumstances."

"Can we stop them?" asked Ruby.

"I believe we can," said Sasame. "The townsfolk have taken shelter, just in case. That won't stop the bandits from wrecking the town in reprisal, but they don't have the time to worry about being thorough. Their primary concern will be securing the goods they've come to steal, and getting out. The mayor has already put the call into Mistral, and said that both the military and Huntsmen are on their way. Though, if the bandits attack tonight, they won't make it in time."

Ruby nodded. In situations like this, it was best to defer to her sister's greater experience. So she closed her eyes, centered herself, and waited quietly. She absorbed herself into the scenery, taking every sound and scent that reached her. She could hear the faint sound of the wind through the trees, even the occasional leaf falling to land, ever so gently, against the ground.

Then she heard them. They were so soft that it was almost impossible to pick them out amidst the background noise of the forest, the faint sounds of ground cover being disturbed by slow...careful motions, so as to erase as much noise as possible...the sound of footsteps, steps made by those who were accustomed to moving quietly in the wilderness. _They're here!_

Ruby allowed her eyes to drift open, taking in the scenery around her. Unlike her sister, she was no faunus, possessed no exceptional night vision. However, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness as best they could. The moon cast down plenty of light on its own, though the trees simply used that light to throw deep shadows against an already-stygian backdrop. However, focusing her gaze in the direction of the noises she'd heard, Ruby was able to spot the faint signs of motion, moving in contrast to the consistent swaying of the trees and branches.

There were figures moving in the darkness, picking their way forward, moving from tree to tree, seeking cover in the shadows. It was the movement of people who were expecting someone to be on the lookout for them. Though, to Ruby, it seemed like a rather futile effort. Between the incoming bandits and their target was a wide swath of open ground, the fields, fields that had been cleared by the harvest. If the bandits wanted cover for their attack, they'd have to move through the fields that still had some plants in them. However, the one that was directly in their path now was a grain field, its contents completely reaped at least a day before.

_Sasame-nee's right,_ she thought, _they're in a hurry. So they can't be picky about their way in._

She and Sasame stood in the middle of that field, out in the open, a deliberate challenge to the attackers. How they would respond was the question in Ruby's mind.

The sounds of footsteps stopped. In fact, for a moment, it seemed that _all_ sound had stopped. The bandits had stopped moving forward, having reached the edge of the woodlands, the limit of their cover. From there, it would be a straight run across open ground towards the settlement. It made sense that they would gather their strength there, before making an attempt.

It was Sasame who broke that silence, clapping her hands together sharply, the sound startling Ruby as much as it did the hiding bandits. Sasame put both her ridiculous strength and her Aura into the move, the clap of her hands sending out a palpable shockwave that buffeted Ruby's body. But the main force of the action was directed ahead of her, throwing up a wave of dirt that formed a momentary cloud of dust, hovering over the empty field.

"We know you're there," said the diminutive girl cheerfully. "Come out. I assure you, it's just the two of us here."

Ruby found herself wondering if the bandits would actually oblige her. Now that they were in range, she could feel their emotions through her Extension. Many of them were hesitating, wondering if Sasame's words were in earnest. Ironically, the fact that they could not see any evidence that Sasame was lying only seemed to make them all the more reluctant to commit, certain that there was some kind of trick.

"So hesitant," said Sasame with a giggle. "Well...if they want to wait there all night, all the better. I'm sure that the Huntsmen will be here by tomorrow morning...and the military won't be far behind them."

Ruby's ears caught the sound of harsh, angry whispers, and frightened responses. Finally, the undergrowth shifted more loudly, and fallen leaves crunched underfoot as someone dispensed with stealth entirely, emerging from the undergrowth, six others following her.

They stepped out of the woods, and into the open. Ruby recognized the six members of the scouting party that had tried to attack her and Sasame earlier, but not the short-haired woman who led them. Compared to the cringing sextet of bandits behind her, the woman moved with a great deal of swagger and confidence. She strode out into the open with nary a concern for potential ambush, or snipers trying to pick her off, apparently able to take Sasame's words at face-value...or confident in her skills to handle whatever trick was thrown her way.

"Well well," said the young woman, resting her left hand casually on her hip, just above the handle of the curved, bladed gun that hung there, "there really _are_ only two of you. I was wondering if my scouts were feeding me a line of bull."

"As you can see, they were in earnest," said Sasame cheerfully. "Likewise, I assure you that my earlier statement was also in earnest. We two are the only barrier between you and your target. Kill us, and you are free to do as you please."

"That makes things simple," said the woman. "I like simple. You two are clearly confident, despite being a couple of kids."

"I may not look it, but I am already in my twenties," said Sasame cheerfully.

The woman's eyebrow went up. "Oh really...? And just how old are you?"

"You know it's rude to ask a lady's age," teased Sasame. "Though, as bandits, I imagine that manners are a secondary concern for you."

The woman snorted. "And what about the other pipsqueak. She another 'older-than-she-looks' type."

"Oh no, she really is only thirteen," said Sasame lightly.

"Sasame-nee!" protested Ruby. "Why is it okay for you to give _my_ age?"

"Because," said Sasame teasingly.

Ruby pouted, puffing out her cheeks.

The woman laughed long and loud at their antics. "Well...I have to say, the two of you have some guts. That's for sure. I think I like you. I am Vernal, of the Branwen Tribe. And you are...?"

Sasame bowed politely to the woman, her fox-tail flicking behind her. "I am Mitarai Sasame."

"Ruby Rose," said Ruby, mirroring her sister's gesture.

"Well then," said Vernal, "seeing as we're off to such a good start, perhaps the two of you might consider joining us. The Branwen Tribe is always on the lookout for new recruits, and we only accept the strong."

Sasame's eyes narrowed. She was still smiling, but the very essence of her demeanor had been changed, sending chills down even Ruby's spine. "The strong...is that so?" she asked, her tone softening.

"That's right," said Vernal, tensing slightly, not quite cluing in to the change in Sasame's attitude, but sensing that something was off all the same.

"Well now...that's quite the claim," said Sasame. "And just what strength is it that you value?"

"Huh?" Vernal flinched, a confused grunt escaping her before she could stop herself.

"Is it the strength to come like a bunch of thieves in the night, against a target you know does not have the strength to stand up against you?" asked Sasame, her Aura humming with controlled fury. "Is it the strength to wander about like vagabonds, helping yourself to the produce of others' hard work, because you are too pathetically lazy to make a real life for yourselves?"

Vernal took a step back, baring her teeth as she realized that Sasame was mocking her. "You seem to be eager to die," she noted.

"And why is that?" asked Sasame. "Is it because I scoff at your notions of strength, the idea that preying upon those with the will to tame and work the land, to carve out a pocket of civilization against the wilderness and the Grimm, somehow makes you strong? You seem to perceive yourself as a predator, Vernal-san, a mighty tigress perhaps. But that couldn't be further from the truth."

"Oh..." ground out Vernal. "And what is it that _you_ think I am."

"A parasite," replied Sasame. "You and your so-called tribe are an infestation, eating away at what others have made, while creating nothing of your own. You claim strength, but only pick the battles that you know you can win, against those who lack the ability to fight back against you.

"Isn't that why you're here, now? You want to attack this place _before_ the Huntsmen and the military arrive, before you wind up facing a genuine threat. You want to strike while these people are still relatively defenseless, before you wind up against anyone who can actually fight back. That...Vernal-san...is the furthest thing from _true_ strength."

Vernal growled, her hands drifting down to close around the handles of her weapons. Pulling them free, the blades extended out, forming a curving ring that almost completely enclosed the pistols at the center, a curving trigger-guard forming a second ring within. Each pistol sported two barrels, aiming out through the gap between the curved blades.

"It looks like you have a death wish after all," she growled. "I never thought that a couple of brats would be stupid enough to want to take us on." A smirk appeared on her face. "I won't even need to use my real power."

_Real power...?_ wondered Ruby, raising a confused eyebrow.

From the way they acted, the bandits appeared to know what she was talking about, but that didn't give Ruby any information to go on.

"Well then...if the two of you are so ready and willing to die, then we'll be happy to oblige you," said Vernal, gesturing with her weapon. "Get them!"

* * *

**Showtime!**

**In canon, we know that Oscar was living with his Aunt. Calling her some name that can be shortened to "Aunty Em" seems pretty popular, because it then becomes another Wizard of Oz shoutout. Fortunately, the "Pine" surname takes care of the color component that brings it in line with Monty's rules.**


	94. Chapter 94

**Chapter 94:**

The six members of the scouting party surged forward first. Ruby had expected them to produce weapons. What she hadn't expected was that they'd clearly not rearmed since the scuffle earlier that day. The three rifle-users hadn't fixed their weapons, but had instead reclaimed both halves of their broken ones. Grasping the severed barrel, and its affixed bayonet in one hand, while hefting the stock like a club in the other, they charged ahead of their comrades. The two women who'd wielded short blades earlier had managed to recover their weapons, but they were no more threatening than they'd been earlier in the day. And then there was the leader, who advanced with a pair of knives in his grip.

It was sad to watch, particularly considering the way Vernal hung back behind them, smirk on her face. This wasn't an attack, this was a punishment for those six. Vernal was throwing them to their likely deaths for their failure earlier. The rest of the raiding party was waiting behind Vernal, awaiting her signal to charge.

"Leave these ones to me, Ruby-chan," said Sasame simply.

Ruby nodded.

Sasame took two steps forward, then waited for the doomed attackers. Abruptly, her tail blurred, stretching and elongating to whip around in front of her. To Vernal and the other bandits, it seemed as though the six members of the former scouting party abruptly vanished in a cloud of dust. The six of them were sent flying off to the side, tumbling in the dirt.

"Well...that was disappointing," said Vernal callously.

"So are you," replied Sasame. "Are you ready to start the _actual_ fight now?"

"Fine then," grumbled Vernal.

"Ruby-chan," said Sasame, glancing over, "Vernal-san is yours."

Ruby swallowed, realizing that Sasame had basically given her the hardest fight in the lot. While she had been mocking Vernal earlier, Sasame was well aware that Vernal's level as a fighter was probably a good bit higher than Ruby's. This would likely be even _more_ difficult than the fight against the Shelob.

Ruby stepped forward, drawing her sword, locking eyes with Vernal.

"So...the little brat thinks she's a hero," said Vernal, smirking. "I guess your friend is throwing you to the wolves."

Ruby said nothing, merely working Akaibara through a few passes, before taking her stance.

"Well you're no fun," grumbled Vernal.

Vernal took one step, then shot forward, closing the distance between herself and Ruby rapidly. It was impressive speed, though nowhere near around the level of the _Shukuchi_ Ruby and her teachers practiced. Ruby sidestepped Vernal's first slash from the circular blade in her right hand, dodging to the side and attacking. Vernal easily fended off Ruby's slash with the weapon in her left hand, before spinning in a complete circle to execute a sideways slash with her right hand again. The move was so swift that Ruby barely anticipated it, managing to duck beneath the slash. Vernal followed up with another slash with her left-handed weapon.

Bringing Akaibara up, Ruby blocked the attack, bouncing the blade away. Vernal danced back, while quickly bringing her left hand back around, this time aligning the barrels of the pistol at the center of the weapon with Ruby's torso, and squeezing off several shots. Ruby dodged back herself, managing to evade Vernal's shots. However, as she did, she noticed two things.

First, Vernal's right hand was empty.

Second, there was a whirling sound of parting air coming from behind Ruby's head.

Ruby gasped, shifting to the side, not able to completely avoid the spinning blade of Vernal's weapon as it came flying past her, cutting into the Aura protecting her shoulder. Ruby grimaced, then realized that, while she'd been distracted by the weapon, Vernal had rushed forward. Even as she caught her returning blade, Vernal kicked out, slamming the sole of her boot into Ruby's stomach, blowing her back. Ruby's back slammed into the ground, her body plowing a furrow in the tilled earth. Now looking up, her eyes widened when she saw Vernal take to the air, descending on her, feet first.

Ruby rolled to the side, avoiding Vernal's feet, which had slammed down where her head had been, then continued rolling to avoid the blade in Vernal's right hand, which she stabbed down next. Ruby managed to roll back to her feet, using the movement to fling some of the loose dirt clinging to her haori at Vernal's face. However, Vernal wasn't caught off-guard by the attempted blinding in the slightest, easily deflecting the light spray of dirt by raising an arm, all while she closed in, launching a flurry of attacks.

Ruby worked her sword frantically, parrying the slashes she could, dodging the ones she couldn't. Vernal's offense was intense, her speed and power close in easily rivaling, at times exceeding, Ruby's own. Even if she didn't have access to the Aura-enhanced movement techniques Ruby did, her sheer physical speed was in a class high enough to make her a threat in her own right. On top of that, she employed the compound nature of her weapons to the fullest. These were no shoddy pieces, cobbled together from different components. This was Huntress-level weaponry. Vernal repeatedly tried to line up the barrels of her gun with Ruby's body, so that even slashes that missed could still result in a threatening situation. And then there were the times she occasionally threw one, which would send the blade whirling around on a circular path, only to come flying back in from Ruby's blind spot.

Now that she had a better handle on Vernal's skills, Ruby was careful to keep all her senses on alert, monitoring the movement of everything in her vicinity. With that, she was able to keep up with Vernal's attacks, even when they came at her from unexpected directions.

Seeing an opening, Ruby attacked, slashing at Vernal's neck. However, Vernal easily shifted aside to avoid the slash, then raised her weapon to catch Ruby's descending blade between its two curved ones, trapping it in place with a twist of her wrist. Ruby gasped, leaning away as Vernal slashed at her with the blade in the opposite hand, managing to avoid it, only to catch a roundhouse kick to her midriff for her trouble, the kick knocking Ruby back again, driving the breath from her body.

Ruby's feet skidded in the soft dirt, before she sank to her knees. Before she could find the strength to stand again, she saw Vernal coming at her, going into a spin to put more power behind her next attacks. With a panic yelp, Ruby worked Akaibara furiously, managing to deflect the two slashes from the circular blades, trying to get her feet under her, only to wind up stumbling back from the impact of those slashes.

"You're pathetic!" shouted Vernal, crossing her arms, then throwing them apart, creating a cross-shaped slash with her blades that knocked Ruby clean off her feet all over again.

Ruby wheezed painfully as she slammed into the ground once more, unable to stop herself from going into a roll that pressed her face into the dirt, getting it in her nose and mouth. Coughing and spitting, she tried to get up, only for Vernal's boot to come down on the back of her head, driving her face back down into the dirt.

"You really thought you could protect those worthless idiots?" asked Vernal, using her weight to force Ruby's face down into the ground, nearly forcing her to choke on the dirt. "You'll never survive with an attitude like that."

Ruby focused, then Projected her Aura, the force blowing Vernal back, causing her foot to come off the back of Ruby's head, while she flailed her arms out, trying to keep her balance. No longer restrained by Vernal's weight, Ruby surged up and forward. This close in, there was no space for her to bring her sword's blade into play, so she instead drove the pommel into Vernal's lowest left rib, causing her to yelp in pain as she was knocked back.

"Those people never did anything to you," growled Ruby, shaking her head to throw off some of the dirt in her hair, and caked on her face. "Leave them alone."

"I don't care whether they did anything or not," grunted Vernal, clearly angry at having taken a hit. "What matters is that they have what we need."

"Need for what?" asked Ruby.

"For us to survive," Vernal growled back. "That's what matters out here, not principles, not right or wrong. If you want to survive, you need to be strong. If you're not strong, then you're weak. If you're weak, then you're just fodder for everyone else."

"That's stupid!" shouted Ruby. "You don't have to live that way. You just _want_ to!"

"Oh, and I bet you think I should just set up a farm somewhere, or maybe play protector for those fools," scoffed Vernal.

"What's so wrong with that?" asked Ruby.

"Because weaklings like that are made for us," said Vernal, grinning savagely. "What they have is ours for the taking. If they're too weak to stop us, then it's what they deserve."

"That doesn't make you strong," Ruby shouted back. "That just makes you a bully."

"Oh spare me your elementary school logic," retorted Vernal.

They charged each other again, a spray of dirt and red petals exploding up from where Ruby's feet had been. Vernal was surprised by the speed of Ruby's approach, but wasn't caught off-guard that easily. They met in another clash of blades. This time, Ruby met attack with attack, attacking just as fiercely as Vernal was, while still trying to fend off Vernal's own strikes.

Ruby started off wielding her sword with two hands, bringing it down in a slash that Vernal easily deflected with a semicircular sweep of her left-handed weapon, then following up with a slash across her body with the one in her right hand. Ruby ducked beneath it, releasing her hold on her sword with her left hand, stepping in and rising back up with a right-handed slash. Vernal leaned back, but misjudged the distance, having been used to Ruby's previous range. However, with her right hand holding the handle further back, Ruby was able to increase the range of her slash by a scant inch. That was enough to catch Vernal off-guard, and she flinched as Ruby's sword scored the Aura along her torso.

Stumbling back, Vernal growled in furry, stepping forward to slash at Ruby with her left-handed weapon. Ruby reached up with her own left hand, grabbing the sword higher up on the handle, and letting go with her right hand, meeting Vernal's slash with an unexpected burst of power, the impact between their blades stopping the two combatants cold for a second.

However, Ruby could sense that Vernal had thrown her other weapon, and sensed it circling around to come at her from behind and to the side. Channeling her Aura through her feet, Ruby launched herself off the ground so that Vernal's other weapon only stirred the petals left in Ruby's wake as it passed beneath her.

Vernal caught her returning weapon, and pointed both of her armaments upwards, firing off a series of shots at Ruby as her leap carried her up and over Vernal's head. Akaibara was a crimson streak, Vernal's shots pinging off the blade as Ruby descended behind her, closing in just as Vernal turned to face her.

Ruby went on the attack again, this time even more intensely than before, switching her hands to change the reach and power of her attacks on the fly. Vernal grimaced and grunted, having trouble keeping track of the subtle changes in Ruby's attacks. She might try to parry one slash, only to find her parry coming almost too late, the blade a fraction of an inch closer than she thought it would be. Other times, she moved to block, only for her to underestimate the strength she needed to put into the action, her arm knocked out wide by the impact of Ruby's slash.

Vernal growled, her frustration mounting as Ruby continued to press her. She was the second-strongest member of the Branwen Tribe, second only to Raven herself. Yet here she was, being pressed by a thirteen-year-old. Not only that, but this soft, bleeding heart of a girl was wasting her time and energy protecting a bunch of no-name farmers.

"You're wasting my time!" she shouted, bulling forward, catching Ruby's sword between the curved blades of her right-handed weapon, allowing Akaibara's blade to hit the inner-ring of the trigger-guard, before twisting her wrist to trap the blade. Then she thrust out with her other blade, using that one to lock Ruby's sword as well, so that Vernal was now restraining Ruby's weapon with the strength of both her arms. Ruby gasped, preparing to throw herself back to avoid another kick.

Instead, Vernal pulled Ruby's sword down, using the movement not to draw Ruby in or set her up for a kick, but to instead line up the barrels of her pistols with Ruby's body. Pulling the triggers, Vernal activated her guns' secondary function, four yellow beams of lightning-Dust energy lancing out to strike Ruby's abdomen. Ruby screamed, her Aura flickering visibly, body spasming.

With a chuckle, Vernal pulled back, leaving Ruby to collapse to one knee, forcing the young girl to plant her sword blade to keep from falling over. "You're pretty tenacious, I'll give you that," she said. "You should join our tribe. If you can lose those stupid notions of being some kind of hero from your head, you could actually be something more."

"I _will_ be something more," growled Ruby, forcing herself back up. "I don't want anything to do with your stupid tribe. You're scum."

"And you're an idiot!" snapped Vernal. "Those fools in that settlement, they _deserve_ what's about to happen to them. It's their fault for being weak." Her eyes narrowed and her grin became sadistic. "And it'll be your fault for not being strong enough to stop us. You failed...because you're weak."

White-hot fury flowed through Ruby's veins. Her anger was more intense than she could ever remember it being before. She couldn't believe that this bully dared to think that being willing to attack those who couldn't defend themselves somehow made her strong. To her amazement, Ruby found her anger resonating with something. Looking down, Ruby noticed that the Aura within her sword was throbbing. Akaibara shared Ruby's anger. The sword too despised Vernal's self-serving logic. Now it was ready to strike out as well.

_Yeah...let's show her what real strength is,_ thought Ruby, taking Akaibara in both hands.

Something about the sword changed. For a second, Ruby was afraid that it had broken for some incomprehensible reason. Then she realized what had happened. The sword had split lengthwise, from tip to pommel, separating along the spine. As her hands came apart, Ruby realized she now had a weapon in each hand. Her one sword...had become two.

"What the...?" gasped Vernal, confused by the sight before her.

Ruby looked down at her two swords now, seeing the characters engraved on the handles, where they had been joined previously. The one in her left hand was named Bara, the one in her right Ibara. _Bara and Ibara...Murasame-sama said Akaibara means Red Rose. But he used the characters for Red Thorn instead. So...that means that this is a sword with two names, because it's actually two swords._

Ruby's lips curled back, baring her teeth in a grin. Unlike Vernal's sadistic, malicious expression earlier, this was a grin of pure exultation. _Murasame-sama said he created this sword to transform. This is what he meant. She's perfect._

With this, Ruby could now use the techniques she had honed under Shinrei's tutelage to their fullest.

For her part, Vernal glared angrily at Ruby. "Don't think that just suddenly having two swords will do anything for you, you stupid brat. You're still going to die."

"We'll see," said Ruby, adopting her own version of the two-sword stance Shinrei used, holding her left-handed sword out in front of her, and bringing her right arm up and over her head, so that the sword was pointed towards the ground, hanging behind her left shoulder.

They closed with one another again, their blades ringing in a furious tempo as they traded blows at a much higher pace than before. Vernal was right in that Ruby's gaining a second sword hadn't suddenly made her stronger and faster. Having a sword in each hand enabled her to up the pace of her attacks though, no longer needing to transfer the blade from one hand to another.

Despite that, Ruby still couldn't find a means of getting an edge over Vernal. The woman was just too strong, and fast enough to keep up with Ruby on top of that. The previous hits Ruby had taken were taking their toll as well, sore spots on her body twinging with every move she made. The ringing sound of their weapons clashing was beginning to make her ears sore.

With a savage grin, Vernal triggered her guns once more, this time channeling lightning-Dust energy along the line of a slash that she aimed downwards, at the ground beneath Ruby's feet. Ruby yelped as she suddenly tilted backwards, her balance thrown off, while her vision was also cut off by the spray of dirt erupting between herself and her opponent.

_She's going to hit me!_ Ruby realized.

For some reason, she wasn't sure if it was panic or simple acceptance, but Ruby's mind went blank. She stopped thinking, stopped trying to envision what Vernal's next move would be. Her eyes caught the glint of the moonlight off of steel as the curved blades of Vernal's weapon pierced through the curtain of dirt above her, before slashing down at her.

Then, despite her mind having stopped functioning, Ruby's body seemed to move on its own. Her balance shifted, her spine tilting her body back farther, so that Vernal's blade sliced through the air just a few inches over her upwards-looking eyes. Ruby sucked in a surprised breath, but didn't have to time to think about what she'd just done. Instead, her legs seemed to move with a mind of their own, kicking off the ground and sending her into a backflip, right as Vernal's second blade emerged from the wave of airborne dirt in a sideways slash, Ruby's feet clearing the line of the attack just in time.

Ruby touched down as the dirt thrown up by Vernal's lightning attack earlier came dropping back down, Vernal herself charging forward, unleashing a flurry of slashes at Ruby, who shifted and stepped slipping around, aside, and between each of Vernal's attacks. At times she moved so abruptly that her body seemed to double or triple.

"What are you doing?!" shouted Vernal furiously.

Ruby wasn't sure herself. It was strange. She felt so light, so relaxed, almost as though she wasn't fighting...but dancing. That realization was when it struck her. This was the technique Shinrei had been teaching her. She had internalized Vernal's rhythm, and was now anticipating Vernal's every move. Ruby knew what Vernal was about to do before _Vernal_ did. She could sense it all, the speed, angle, and timing of every slash, that brief flicker where a blade paused, just before Vernal pulled the trigger to fire a bullet from the pistol.

That was all well and good when fighting defensively, but Ruby needed to go on the offense. That was a tricky shift for her to make. At the moment, she was in perfect synch with her opponent. Now she had to figure out how to turn that around, and add her own layer to her opponent's movement. Still, if she knew how Vernal was moving, Ruby knew she would find her opening.

Vernal jumped, going into a sideways spin that allowed her to bring both of her blades around in succession. Ruby blocked those attacks, stepping forward into the space Vernal had vacated. While she'd been defending, Vernal had let go of one of her weapons, sending the circular blade spinning through the air, arcing to come back around. Ruby quickly brought her swords around to parry as Vernal unleashed a powerful attack at her back. The force seemed to send Ruby stumbling forward, leaving her vulnerable as Vernal's flying weapon came arcing around to slash at her from the side.

The blade cleaved straight through Ruby's body, and Vernal was treated to the sight of the younger girl's red haori splitting in two...before the red fabric abruptly dissolved into a cloud of petals.

"What-?" she gasped.

That was all Vernal managed to get out before she was struck from behind. The blades of Ruby's swords bit into, then through Vernal's Aura. Only speed born of experience prompted Vernal to throw herself forward before Ruby's dual slashes could cut her back all the way open. She stumbled forward, trailing blood.

"You bitch!" she howled, turning around to swing her right-handed blade at Ruby. However, Ruby was already below the line of the slash, stepping in and countering with cuts from her own swords. Vernal screamed as those blades bit through her Aura again. _What the hell is with those swords?!_

Akaibara, enhanced by Ruby's Aura, was more than capable of cutting through defensive Auras like a hot knife through butter. Indeed, with Akaibara's edges, and the blade's own Aura, it was more than capable of making that kind of cut on its own. (In the future, Ruby would develop the technique of actually using her own Aura to _dull_ Akaibara's edges, to keep her from cutting through opponents in sparring matches, her Aura becoming something of a second sheath for her sword. But that would be a ways down the road.) Unfortunately for Vernal, who had never learned Tempering, her Aura might as well have been paper to the blade of Ruby's sword.

All Vernal could do was try her best to keep from allowing Ruby's swords to strike too deep, pulling away whenever she felt the sensation of pain. However, she knew that was a stopgap at best. Ruby's attacks were drawing blood, which would eventually catch up to Vernal, causing her responses to slacken.

However, her mind was too busy reeling in disbelief to come up with a solution. This girl, this thirteen-year-old _brat_, was beating her. What was more, this girl was fighting to protect a bunch of stupid townsfolk. This _wasn't_ what Vernal had been brought up to believe. Fighting for others made you weak and stupid, left you open to be exploited, and turned into tools for those with _real_ power. Even fighting for her own tribe was technically a fight for herself. If you weren't strong, if you didn't prove your strength constantly, someone would stab you in the back and climb to the top over your own body.

Even as Vernal's blood spilled from the cuts across her body, it seethed with outrage at Ruby's defiance. _It's because of that sword! If she didn't have that damn sword, she'd be dead already!_

Of course, in Vernal's case, that was just one of so many excuses, excuses to keep the truth at bay, the realization that she had already lost. At this point, Ruby would only need a single decisive blow to end this fight for good, and that blow grew nearer and nearer with each hit she landed on Vernal's body.

For her part, Ruby was amazed at how well she was doing. This was the first time she had truly absorbed an opponent's rhythm. She wasn't sure how long she could keep this up. Sure, she was pushing Vernal back for now, but all it would take was one slip-up, and things would shift back in her opponent's favor. The cuts she'd made against Vernal were scratches at best. Maybe the blood loss would start to slow Vernal down in time, but maybe not nearly soon enough for it to do Ruby any good. When they got right down to it, Vernal was still stronger than her, and Ruby's Dancing Blade was still the only thing keeping Vernal from landing any hits now.

She needed a decisive blow, something that would bring this battle to an end, once and for all.

She felt the buzz of Aura against her hands from Bara and Ibara, the swords thrumming with eagerness. Ruby's mind briefly flashed back to her fight against the Shelob. She remembered the feeling of merging her Aura with Akaibara's fully, reaching out to bind the air to their control, and using it to strike.

But _Kazegiri_ required too much build-up. She needed a technique that she could perform in the midst of a heated exchange with an opponent, something she could pull off within a single attacking beat, without breaking her own fighting rhythm. Strangely, she felt as though such a move wasn't beyond her. It wouldn't have the full reach and power of _Kazegiri_, but it would be more than enough for the opponent in front of her. A blade of the wind was far sharper than even Bara and Ibara's blades on their own.

Still reading Vernal's rhythm, Ruby sensed when Vernal threw one of her blades, knew when the weapon would return. She slipped aside from the returning attack, then struck it with her own sword as she did so, sending back at Vernal even faster, which threw off Vernal's attempt to catch the weapon by its handle. Vernal backpedaled in order to properly catch the weapon without hurting herself, giving Ruby the chance she needed to make her move.

Ruby jumped, turning her body horizontal, and going into a rolling spin. The move, ironically, was reminiscent of the attacks Vernal had used earlier. As she did, Ruby brought Bara and Ibara back together. From there, she brought the first two fingers of her right hand trailing up the length of her sword, brushing them against the flat of Akaibara's blade, from hilt to tip. The sword let out a ringing chime, the blade flaring to life, shedding waves of crimson light. Ruby felt her and Akaibara's awareness mingling together. Through that, she was able to feel the air, calling it inwards, condensing it around the blade, becoming an extension of it. Due to the condensed timing, Ruby wasn't able to draw as much in as she had against the Shelob. But this would be more than enough for her.

"_Kazebara!_" Ruby brought the sword around and down in a wide slash. Vernal desperately brought up her blades to block, but the red streak of Ruby's wind blade cleaved right through them, continuing on to cleave through Vernal herself.

Their battle came to an abrupt halt, Ruby landing and stumbling, having trouble remembering to place her feet correctly, after pulling off an attack she'd only just come up with. In the meantime, Vernal stood there dumbly, eyes wide, her arms falling to hang slack. The severed blades of her weapon fell to the ground, sinking into the soft dirt of the tilled field.

"You..." she hissed. "You..."

A red line appeared on her face, spreading up, then extending downwards, reaching from the top of her head, all the way to her pelvis. The two halves of her body fell apart, splitting perfectly down the middle, sending blood arcing through the air, while Ruby looked on sadly, her expression resigned.

"It's over, Ruby-chan," said Sasame gently, coming up to her, her tail reaching up to drape itself over Ruby's shoulders.

Ruby shuddered, then looked past Sasame to see that the rest of the field was covered with craters in the soft dirt. Here and there, she saw scattered body parts, from those who had been struck so hard that their bodies were blown to pieces. She'd been so absorbed in her fight against Vernal that she hadn't even been able to spare a thought for the rest of the battle, Sasame having taken on the remaining bandits. However, Ruby could see that the battle had been as one-sided as she'd expected, Sasame obviously having won well before Ruby's own fight had finished.

"Did you leave anyone alive?" asked Ruby.

"Just them," said Sasame, gesturing to the groaning forms of the six members of the scouting party they had encountered earlier that day, the ones Vernal had sent ahead, wielding the same broken weapons they had earlier, clearly being expected to die. Now they were the only survivors.

Sasame's tails stretched out, brushing over the prone bandits, her Aura healing them enough to bring them back to consciousness. With pained groans, the men and women of the scouting party stirred, looking up to see Sasame and Ruby staring over them. Their eyes took in Ruby's battered, dirty, and bruised state, then drifted to Sasame, who looked pristine, then went wide with fear.

"Now then...you six are the only ones left," said Sasame cheerfully. "My little sister has seen to your leader personally."

Ruby felt a little queasy at that. Vernal hadn't been her first kill, not even since the bandit she'd killed, back when she was nine. But she didn't yet have all that much experience taking someone's life. The thought of the corpse she'd left behind her had Ruby feeling like she might throw up. To hear Sasame using that as leverage to threaten the remaining members of the raiding party was especially disconcerting.

"Now then," said Sasame, "I've been nice enough to go ahead and heal you six, so you'll be able to walk on your own. If you would do me the favor of coming quietly, I would greatly appreciate it. If you choose not to...you'll be joining the rest of your 'friends'."

The six survivors traced their eyes over what had remained of their comrades and tribesmen, their gazes lingering on Vernal's bisected body. Not only were they taking in the results of Sasame and Ruby's work, but they were also looking at what was left of those who had watched as they were sent ahead on a suicide attack with broken weapons.

One by one, they turned back to Sasame, and wordlessly raised their hands in surrender.

"A wise decision," said Sasame. "Let's return and bring the good news to the people."

* * *

_This wasn't how it was supposed to go._

That was the thought that went through Raven's head as she stared at the scattered remains of her tribesmen, her people. This was supposed to have been an easy job. The settlement of Keshi-Ki was larger than most, home to several major farms and ranches, producing mountains of grain, vegetables, and meat. Some had called it "Mistral's Breadbasket," given that it supplied the largest percentage of produce to the Kingdom of any single settlement.

It had been situated in an enormous, broad, mountain valley, with steep walls on all sides keeping the Grimm at bay. The high elevation made it difficult for ground vehicles to get to, but a long tunnel, and well-developed airport facilities enabled them to ship their produce out quickly and easily. Normally, raiding a settlement this large and prosperous was a risky prospect, the kind even the Branwen Tribe would have balked at. However, there were two major factors that had made Raven reconsider her plans.

First, the settlement's population was relatively low, considering its overall size. Much of its space was given over to the massive fields that produced the food that made the settlement so prosperous. There were fields of grain and vegetables, and pastures for livestock. But the population of people needed to maintain them was considerably lower than one might have thought, especially with the advent of automated technologies imported from Atlas. That, combined with the natural barriers meant that the defenses were light.

Second, they had let down their guard. Raven figured that they must have been celebrating a successful harvest. Whatever the reason, even the sentries seemed to have largely abandoned their posts, coming in to join in the fun. It was completely idiotic. Natural barriers or not, no place was truly impregnable against the Grimm, so someone had to _always_ be on the lookout. Even if they were throwing a celebration, it wasn't as though positive emotions chased the Grimm away, the way negative ones called them in, so there was no sensible explanation for such dereliction of duty.

Seeing that, Raven had realized she didn't even need the full force of her tribe for the raid. She decided to send Vernal out with a smaller detachment to hit the smaller, even more vulnerable, town of Botan instead. Still having more than half her tribe's people with her, Raven figured that she had enough to make these brainless weaklings regret how lax they'd been.

She'd been wrong.

So_ very_ wrong.

Even if she'd brought her entire tribe with her, it wouldn't have been nearly enough. Even though the sentries had all left their posts, someone _hadn't_ missed the approach of Raven and her forces. So, when a single individual confronted them in the empty fields outside the town proper, Raven had been genuinely surprised.

The young man didn't cut a particularly impressive figure to her eyes, dressed as he was in a simple, black, ratty kimono. Sure, the long sword he carried, its back resting casually across his right shoulder, was impressive. But Raven's sword was equal in length, when the blade was fully extended, not to mention it was clear that the young man's sword was _just_ a sword, holding none of the myriad extra options and functions that hers did.

Naturally, Raven had assumed that this young man would be an easy kill. She wouldn't even need to call upon her special abilities to deal with this single impediment. Sure, taking him on herself seemed like overkill, but she supposed she needed to remind her people why _she_ was in charge.

That was when one of her people had taken the task of telling her who this young man was. Kyo was his name apparently. Because of the glowing, strangely familiar, crimson eyes he sported, he was better known by the moniker, Demon Eyes Kyo. It had taken a moment of reflection for Raven to realize that Kyo's eyes were nearly identical to her own, making her wonder if there was some form of relation between them. But that was a moot point. The fool was standing between her and her target, and needed to be taught a lesson he wouldn't live long enough to reap the benefits of.

They'd exchanged a few words, Kyo warning her off, and Raven dictating what was about to happen to him for standing in her way; the standard pre-battle banter. Predictably, she wasn't about to call back her tribe and leave without any plunder. Less predictably, Kyo was undaunted by the force arrayed against him, to such a degree that Raven wondered if he was touched in the head, that he'd so badly misread the situation.

Then they'd begun. The moment Kyo's sword came in contact with her own, Raven realized she'd made a grave mistake. This young man was no ordinary person. In just that brief instant of contact between their blades, all of Raven's experience; the countless times she'd escaped death by the skin of her teeth, all the opponents she'd clashed with; all of that had told her that Kyo was beyond her to such a ludicrous degree that it wasn't even funny. Even the power of the Spring Maiden, her deepest, greatest secret, wouldn't be enough to bridge the gap between them. Kyo stood on another plane entirely.

And he had also dispensed with any thought of mercy towards her. Raven realized that, if she tried to retreat, he would cut her in two easily. Her only option was to order her tribe on the attack. They'd jumped in quickly, throwing themselves at Kyo with reckless abandon...and dying in droves. Raven had fallen back as quickly as she could. When she did, she saw Kyo _slaughtering_ her people.

When the dust had settled, nearly everyone had died, and Kyo hadn't been so much as touched. The dirt of the field was soaked with blood, scattered body parts littering the ground like chaff in the wake of a harvest. And, in the center of it all, stood _him_. Kyo's Aura swirled and boiled, exceeding anything Raven would have thought possible. Only a tiny handful of her people survived. With an angry grimace, Raven made the one decision that galled her the most. She'd called a retreat, and opened a portal back to their camp.

Fortunately, Kyo had made no attempt to pursue, instead watching with a distant smile on his face as they made their escape. Raven had thrown one last glare at him, before passing through the portal herself, then closing it behind her.

In addition to the scant handful of people she'd managed to bring back with her, all Raven had were those that had been left behind to guard their camp, which brought their numbers to about thirteen, all told. After that, Raven had decided to check on Vernal...only to find that her portal wouldn't open. A chill fell over Raven's body when she realized what that meant.

Desperate to find out for herself, Raven had taken flight, winging her way to Botan to see what the conclusion of Vernal's group's raid had yielded. She'd arrived, only to find the settlement untouched. The reason why became apparent a second later. She'd arrived just in time to see two young women take six of the surviving members of Vernal's party into custody, leaving behind what remained of Vernal herself. She'd heard the fox-faunus explain that the red-clad girl next to her had been the one to kill Vernal.

That was when it sank in for Raven. In a single night, her tribe had been all but wiped out. The Branwen Tribe, which had plundered the settlements of Anima for generations, was now on the edge of extinction. The people that Raven had led, the ones she had sworn to do everything in her power to ensure the survival of, were now almost all gone. The scant handful she had left wouldn't be able to make any meaningful raids. At best, they could pick off a lightly-guarded caravan. Even though she had the power of the Spring Maiden, she couldn't afford to wield it too freely, lest she attract Salem's attention. The Branwen name, once feared across all of Mistral's territory, would become a joke, before it was probably forgotten altogether as what remained of her tribe died out.

Searing rage erupted in Raven's heart. Her anger focused itself on the two girls that had somehow killed Vernal and her group. _This wasn't how things were supposed to go!_ She wanted to exact some form of retribution for what had just happened. She intended to. She was now prepared to throw all caution to the winds.

_Forget the plunder! I'll raze this whole settlement to the ground, and leave nothing more than scorched earth in my wake. I'll unleash the full power of the Spring Maiden, and remind all of Remnant what happens when they make an enemy of me! They'll all suffer!_

It was at that moment that the short, fox-tailed girl abruptly turned in Raven's direction, her eyes finding Raven easily, despite Raven being...well...a raven, at the moment. The girl had easily sensed Raven's anger and her intent, and had zeroed in on her position instantly.

"I know you're there," said the girl, her eyes narrowing as she turned to regard Raven. "I can sense your malice. If you have any intention of acting upon it, I suggest you come out...right _now_."

Raven hesitated, her eagerness to attack snuffed out like a candle's flame. This girl, Sasame, exuded an uncanny presence, similar to that of Kyo, if to less of a degree. However, Raven could still sense that this girl was plenty dangerous in her own right.

And then...the other girl had turned around. Raven had been able to tell she was younger than Sasame. But that wasn't what stood out the most. Instead, Raven found herself staring into a pair of familiar silver eyes. _It can't be!_

But there was no mistaking or denying it; not those eyes, not the black hair turning red towards the tips, not those features on her girlish face. This girl had _her_ eyes..._Summer's_ eyes. _Summer's daughter...here? Why? What is she doing with this person?_

Just because Raven had left her family behind didn't mean she didn't occasionally check up on them, mainly out of curiosity. There had been a mix of anger and regret, when she'd learned that Taiyang had gone on to marry Summer, after she'd left, with Summer going on to raise Raven's daughter as her own. She'd also learned that Summer had given birth to a daughter as well. Ultimately, Raven had decided to let it go. Summer was welcome to the little brats, if she wanted them.

But then Summer had died. Raven hadn't been surprised. Summer had been an idiot, who was always getting in over her head. Of course Summer would take on some kind of impossible task and get herself killed, probably protecting some worthless backwater somewhere, where the clueless idiots populating it were too weak to save themselves. After spending four years of her life sitting through Summer's diatribes about their duty as Huntresses, about what they owed to the people of Remnant, about their responsibility to protect those who couldn't protect themselves, Raven couldn't help but feel a kind of vindictive satisfaction. Of course that kind of thinking had gotten Summer killed, while Raven herself was still alive.

Regardless of all that, the sight of Summer's daughter standing there was too strange, too unreal, almost as though Summer was there herself, passing judgment over what Raven had done. Ultimately, Raven had found herself retreating, rather than daring to confront the people who had wrought such havoc on her tribe.

And now...Raven rested in her tent, at the center of an empty encampment, the rest of her people keeping themselves occupied, probably mourning the loss of their friends and comrades. In that tent, Raven tried to come to terms with what had just happened, how her tribe had wound up in such dire straits. Only one thing came to mind.

_It's all _their_ fault,_ she thought furiously, the faces of Ruby, Sasame, and Kyo flashing through her mind. _They did this._

If it was the last thing she did, Raven would make them regret taking up arms against her tribe, and repay them for all the pain they had done to her. She could return to the settlements they had been protecting, after they'd left, and destroy them. That would make for a good start. However, Raven knew that that would be nothing more than an exercise in pettiness. Those three might not even come to learn what had happened to those settlements until years later. Rather, engaging in such an activity might well draw Salem's attention. Instead, Raven would find out all she could about them, and then find the best way to take her revenge directly.

Raven's mind fixated on Ruby, the youngest, the weakest, the most vulnerable. Her revenge would start there. Sasame had claimed the girl as a sister, for whatever reason, so killing her would be the best way to get back at the fox-faunus. But finding the right opportunity would take time.

And so, Raven decided bide her time and wait. Besides, she had to do what she could to ensure that what remained of her tribe didn't die out. Somehow, she would get her people through this. She hadn't gone through so much, made so many difficult decisions and sacrifices, to have it all come to naught now.

_This isn't over,_ Raven thought with an angry growl.

* * *

**Vernal obviously isn't as strong as she was, when she appeared in canon, this being a few years back from her canon appearance, of course. I realize that might not satisfy a lot of people, but the idea is that much of Ruby's development comes from scraping together as many "by the skin of her teeth" victories as she can.**


	95. Chapter 95

**Chapter 95:**

"Kyo-nii!" shouted Ruby, breaking into a run ahead of Sasame, rushing straight for her brother, who laughed and held out his arms to her. Ruby jumped into them, hugging him enthusiastically, Kyo returning the embrace with all the enthusiasm he could muster.

Per their plans, Kyo would meet up with Ruby and Sasame in the settlement of Ayame, on the western coast of Anima. Amongst other things, the town was also known as the "Gateway to the West," where many of the goods imported from Sanus were brought in. It was as good a place as any to find passage to a port in Sanus, where they could make their way across to Leng. If they were lucky, they might even be able to find someone willing to take them _all_ the way to Leng.

It had been a long journey, one that had been made a few days longer by the detour Ruby and Sasame had wound up taking to help Oscar. As a result, Kyo had spent a few days waiting in Ayame for them. The residents certainly hadn't minded, all too happy to have a few extra Grimm-free days to enjoy themselves.

"You've grown some, since I last saw you," said Kyo.

"Of course," said Ruby proudly, throwing her shoulders back and resting fists on her hips. "Just because I've been traveling around doesn't mean I've been neglecting myself. I've been drinking milk in every place we went through."

Both Sasame and Kyo chuckled at that. "That wasn't quite what I was talking about," Kyo said, to Ruby's disappointed "Aaaawww..." His expression softened again. "You've gotten stronger again, Ruby-chan. And, unless I'm mistaken, your bond with your sword has grown too."

Ruby's disappointment was wiped out in an instant. She began to nod her head so rapidly that it was practically a blur. "Yeah! Guess what! My sword can transform!"

"Oh?" Kyo raised an eyebrow.

Ruby quickly stepped back, drawing Akaibara. A second later, she was holding two swords instead of one.

"My my..." said Kyo, an excited smile of his own appearing. "I know Murasame-sama had integrated some form of transformational component into his creation, but to think it was something that suited you so perfectly..."

"Of course it was," said Sasame, "it's a sword he forged specifically _for_ Ruby-chan, after all."

Ruby nodded, bringing her swords back together, so that she could sheath it.

"In that case, perhaps a sparring match is in order," said Kyo, scratching his chin. "I'd like to see what you can do now myself."

Ruby began to hop up and down in excitement. "Oh yes yes yes yes yes! Please! Let's spar, Kyo-nii!"

Sasame laughed, resting a hand atop Ruby's head, forcing her back down to the ground. "One thing at a time, Ruby-chan. Let's get our things settled at the inn. Kyo, have you made arrangements for our trip out?"

"Not yet," said Kyo. "Seeing as I wasn't sure when you'd arrive, I didn't want to speak for anyone's time until I had confirmation that you were actually here."

"Then get that squared away first," said Sasame in a firm tone that brooked no argument. "Check and see who can take us across, and when. If you can find someone willing to take us all the way around Sanus and straight to Leng, so much the better."

"Awwwwww..." Now both Ruby _and_ Kyo were groaning in disappointment.

Sasame muffled a giggle in the back of her throat. _Like brother, like sister._ "Once you get those things done, Kyo, _then_ you can spar with Ruby-chan. But no sooner. I'm off to the hospital to do my part in earning our keep, so I trust you to do your chores as well."

"Yes, Sasame-nee," said Ruby, she and Kyo slumping in defeat, once again eliciting a restrained giggle from Sasame.

* * *

By the time Ruby had gotten her and Sasame's luggage, light as it was, settled at the inn, made arrangements to get her outfit laundered, and taken care of the other minutia that came with making a stop in any of the settlements on the course of their journey, it was lunchtime. Thanks to Kyo, the innkeeper had already been expecting her and Sasame, and was happy to provide Ruby with a meal. Ruby ate ravenously, especially hungry after several days-worth of field rations and forage. She'd learned a great deal about both finding and making her own food from Sasame, especially over the course of this journey, but that didn't change the fact that obtaining food in the wilderness was always a time-consuming chore, and it was rare that they had enough food for Ruby to truly eat her fill.

Her stomach full, Ruby sat back to enjoy a quiet afternoon, waiting until Kyo returned from his attempts to find passage for them.

It was another couple of hours before Kyo returned. He'd had some luck on this day. There had been a couple of ships leaving for Sanus. Their captains had been reluctant to allow Kyo and the others to embark though, mostly because the captains had felt that the promise of a Grimm-free voyage wasn't worth the risk of being caught with a wanted criminal as a passenger. However, Kyo had gotten word of a captain, arriving in another two days, who was known to have looser standards and, more importantly, might be willing to make the longer trip to Leng for the compensation that Kyo claimed the Mibu Clan could provide them.

Her stomach having been settled from lunch, Ruby was more than happy to take up Kyo's offer of a spar, and the two of them had moved to an open area just outside the settlement, where they could fight without worrying about causing any collateral damage to the settlement itself.

Their match was brief, and Ruby could tell that Kyo was holding back to give her a chance to demonstrate everything she'd gained over the course of her journey. But it was still fun all the same. Seeing his blissfully proud smile at the sight of all she had accomplished was more than enough to make her happy, even though she was left on her back with his sword at her throat.

"You've gotten a lot stronger, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, beaming at her.

"But not strong enough," said Ruby, smiling in spite of her words.

"You'll get there, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, helping her to her feet. "I know that, no matter what, you'll keep moving forward. You've passed several important hurdles on this trip, and you still have more growing to do. The day when you leave us to go to Beacon is not so far off.

Ruby's face practically shined with joy. Little did she and Kyo know that the day she would go to Beacon was even closer than they'd anticipated.

* * *

In anticipation of a possible ride, the trio stayed two more days in town, before the captain who might have been able to take them to Leng arrived. When he did, Ruby was shocked to see that it was the very same captain who had taken them across the sea on her first journey to the Mibu homeland. True to the promise he'd made last time, said captain had agreed to whatever they wanted before Kyo and Sasame could even begin to articulate their request.

Fortunately, the journey to Leng was free of pirates this time, being completely uneventful. Again, upon their arrival in Leng, the captain and his crew were handsomely compensated for their willingness to go out of their way for the trio, and he reiterated his promise that he was at their service, should their paths ever cross again.

After arriving in Leng, it was a much shorter walk to get back to Onmyo, where Ruby's friends and family were waiting for her. Sora's Guards had gotten wind of their arrival, and gone ahead of them. So it was that, as soon as they set foot within Onmyo's city-limits, Ruby was beset by Natsuki, who tackled her in an excited hug, followed by Miyu and Setsuna. After trading greetings with her friends, along with promises to tell them all about what had happened during her journey, Ruby and her siblings were off to the palace to see their family.

They made their way unchallenged, all the way up until they reached the fourth gate, where Shinrei was waiting for Ruby, along with Sora and Murasame.

"Welcome home, Ruby-chan," said Sora, enfolding her adopted daughter in a warm hug.

"I'm back, Kaa-san," said Ruby, snuggling into the embrace.

After a moment of basking in each other's affection, the pair released each other so that Ruby could offer a proper greeting to Murasame. She bowed politely, while the Mibu Blademaster beamed at her.

"I hope that my child has served you well, Ruby-chan," said Murasame.

Ruby blushed. "She's a bit of a troublemaker," she admitted, "but we get along just fine. In fact..." Ruby stepped back so that she could draw Akaibara, before splitting the sword into Bara and Ibara, prompting an impressed whistle from Shinrei, and a pleased chuckle from Murasame.

"So...you're that far along already," he said. "Always exceeding expectations, Ruby-chan."

Ruby blushed, bowing her head slightly. Reaching out, Murasame fondly ruffled her hair.

"I trust you've experienced a great deal during your journey," said Sora. "I look forward to hearing all about it. Your friends will too. Unfortunately, we couldn't invite all your peers this time, but we were still planning on celebrating your birthday, once you got back."

"Ah...but that was two weeks ago," said Ruby.

It was unfortunate, but the prolonged nature of their journey meant that Ruby's birthday had passed while she and Sasame were on the road between settlements.

"But that doesn't mean your friends can't celebrate it with you, does it?" said Sora. "Even if it's later than usual this year, they still want to congratulate you on being a year older. And they have presents for you too."

"I...I mean..." Ruby fidgeted, lowering her head and tapping her index fingers together bashfully. "I don't want anyone to feel like they have to go through extra trouble."

"That would only be a problem if it actually _was_ trouble," said Shinrei, ruffling her hair playfully. "But, since it's for you, celebrating is the furthest thing from being trouble for us."

"Very true," agreed Sora, laughing as well. "Besides, it's a chance for all of us to hear your stories, and learn about your experiences. I'm quite looking forward to finding out what you've been through, since we last talked."

"O-okay," said Ruby nervously.

* * *

Despite it being well into November, Ruby had to admit that she enjoyed her small, belated birthday party. Besides Natsuki, Miyu, and Setsuna, Murasame and Shinrei were the only other guests. Makoto stopped by briefly, but that was it. It consisted of a dinner that they ate together, followed by cake and presents, then her friends stayed for a sleepover with her.

All told, it was the best welcome-back Ruby could have ever wished for. Being on the road and traveling another land entirely had been a wonderful experience. She'd seen and been through so much in the past few months. But she had to admit that it was good to be home, surrounded by her friends and family. After everything she had been through, it would actually be a shame to have to go back to egular life and training for a while. But Sasame and Kyo promised that they were already coming up with another trip for her. Ruby wondered if they'd be going through the deserts of Vacuo next, or maybe the icy plains of Solitas. However, that would have to come later.

While the other students in Ruby's class got to enjoy their winter breaks, Ruby was stuck playing catchup on the schoolwork she'd missed while she was away. It was a special arrangement, and one of the rare cases where her connection to the Royal Family afforded her an extra advantage. No one in her class really thought to complain about it though, once they saw how Ruby was stuck seeing tutors and writing papers day after day, while they were free to go out and enjoy the season. Still, seeing as it was an arrangement that had allowed her to take such a fantastic journey, Ruby didn't complain.

After that, it was back to business as usual, including the occasional assassin coming after her again. Their attacks were more infrequent, after she'd been gone for the better part of a year. Even though they had identified the ones who'd hired or sent assassins after Ruby, Sora and the other Taishiro declined to take action against them for the most part, seeing the assassins as an extra training opportunity for Ruby. It seemed that those who had sent the assassins interpreted such restraint as a sort of approval of their attempts to rid the Mibu of the "dirty outsider" who plagued them.

The only time they _did_ take action was when an assassination attempt occurred right in the middle of class, with the assassin crashing through the windows, showering her fellow students with broken glass in an attempt to get at her. Following that, Sora had ordered the assassin _and_ his master imprisoned for a full twenty years as a reminder that attacks that endangered others besides Ruby would _not_ be tolerated.

* * *

Sasame stepped off the path that stretched between the first and second gates. Here, in this forest setting, she wandered amidst the trees, her way winding between them, until she reached a set of sliding doors that were set into the trunk of a particularly massive specimen. Within, she found a room that would not have seemed out of place in any normal house out amongst the Mibu. Tatami mats covered the floors, while sliding doors and walls partitioned off the space, including a bedroom, kitchen, and storage room. The storage room in particular hosted several jars that Sasame knew to be filled with sake.

"You called for me, Saisei-sama?" asked Sasame, kneeling on the floor.

"Ah, there you are, my wayward student," commented Saisei, emerging from the storage room, jug in hand, her black hair trailing on the floor behind her. "Have you come to your senses yet, or do you have still more larking about to do, before you finally take up your responsibilities?"

"I'm afraid I cannot succeed you just yet, Saisei-sama," said Sasame, her eyebrow twitching, in spite of the cheery tone she inserted into her voice.

The corner of Saisei's mouth quirked. "Is that so. I am beginning to think that you have _no_ wish to enter the Goyosei."

"That is not true," said Sasame.

"So, in other words, you wish to continue wasting your time with that whelp you and Sora-sama have adopted," noted Saisei, sitting herself down. Unlike Sasame, Saisei adopted a much more casual posture, crossing her legs and leaning back.

"Please do not speak of Ruby-chan in such demeaning terms," said Sasame, her tail flicking behind her with agitation.

"Then you should cease using her as your excuse to avoid the responsibilities you once sought for yourself," said Saisei, leaning over to rest one hollow cheek against her fist. "You once sought my rank, because you believed in your duty to the clan. Yet now, you use that child as a way to escape that responsibility at every turn."

"I merely wish to help see Ruby-chan's training through to its end," said Sasame.

Saisei huffed softly. "Truly, what a remarkable child she is. Goyosei and Taishiro alike seem drawn to dote on her, as though she were some holy thing. I wilt with disappointment every time I hear another assassination attempt has failed."

"That is an unkind thing to say of my sister, Saisei-sama," said Sasame.

"And yet, I cannot help but notice that, Outsider or no, that child is an impediment to the proper governance of our clan," said Saisei, her words making Sasame twitch. "Shinrei diverts his duties and redistributes his workload amongst the rest of us so that he might train her. My apprentice; who once expressed so much eagerness about taking my place, who once waxed on for hours about all the good she wished to use this position to do for the clan; has seen fit to use her as an excuse to put off promotion to that selfsame position for several _years_. Murasame-sama has seen fit to bestow upon her an honor that many born into the clan would sacrifice their lives for. Even Sora-sama, for all that she at least does her own work, apparently sees fit to allow these lapses to occur with nary a remark."

"Because we believe that Ruby-chan is important," said Sasame.

"Important…to whom?" asked Saisei. "You all must remember that, from beginning to end, you have sworn to serve the Mibu. When you take actions, when you make decisions, those must be weighed against the scale of your clan. That child, these favors, these indulgences; where do they rest on this scale? If you have the intention of serving this clan, then your actions must be _in_ service of _that_ service. Tell me, how does spending so much time and energy on this one child serve the Mibu?"

"In multiple ways," said Sasame. "In the near-future, Ruby-chan shall attend an Academy, and become a Huntress."

"What of it?" asked Saisei. "We have no use for the products of the Kingdoms' Academies amongst us. I ask you again, what benefit is that to the Mibu?"

"I believe that Ruby-chan shall become a bridge, between the Mibu and the outside world," said Sasame. "Even though, as a Huntress, she will be serving the people of the Kingdoms, she will do so as one who was raised by the Mibu, and shall represent us to the rest of the world, a connection that we can use to forge deeper bonds in the future."

"You seem to be operating under the assumption that we, the Mibu, wish to forge such bonds in the first place," said Saisei. "Last I heard, the stricture against engaging with the Kingdoms in any meaningful fashion, save for your and Kyo's sojourns, was still in place. We have no need of them, and they have no regard for us. So long as they do not intrude upon our territory, I do not see any reason for us to seek such bonds."

"Sora-sama thinks otherwise," said Sasame. "We believe that the Kingdoms have much to offer us, and we them."

"And yet, the opinion I just expressed is still the majority amongst the Mibu," said Saisei, "at least, amongst those who care enough to _have_ and opinion."

"Ruby-chan will benefit us there as well," said Sasame. "Already, she stands amongst her peers as a sterling example of a truly good person, regardless of where she originated. The bonds she has forged amongst her friends and classmates will serve as a foundation for changing that viewpoint."

Saisei's throat bobbed. She twitched, then threw her head back in a haughty laugh. Sasame grimaced, her tail flicking behind her. Finally, after over a minute of laughing, Saisei calmed back down.

"Well now, Sasame…I did not know you were seeking to become a clown, instead of taking my place. You should have told me."

"I speak in earnest, Saisei-sama," said Sasame.

"Then you speak in folly," said Saisei, her smile disappearing. "If your words held any weight, then those insipid fools would have given up on their assassination attempts by now. Yet they stubbornly send killer after killer. And do you know why?"

Sasame said nothing, casting her gaze downwards.

"Because the bonds that this child forges with other children mean next to nothing," said Saisei. "True, in the years to come, those children might become the heads of their families, and use their changed worldviews to soften their own children's attitudes towards outsiders. But what of the families of those who have _not_ been in contact with your sister? I suppose that means you intend on making this plan of yours come to fruition in another century or so. I know that, to us Mibu, that doesn't mean as much as it would to an outsider. But I had thought you were looking for something more immediate."

"I…am," said Sasame.

"Then why do you dither?" asked Saisei, her expression hardening. "You know full well a way to affect greater change, more quickly, than this nonsense you have regaled me with. You know what you truly need to do, if you wish to achieve your aims."

Sasame swallowed.

"Without question, Saisei of the Goyosei would be able to do infinitely more to achieve your aims than Mitarai Sasame, sister of Ruby Rose. Yet you delay…Take your place. Accept the duty you once sought. Work towards the end that you seek. Take on the responsibility you were once so eager for, before Kyo and that child corrupted you."

Sasame looked down, curling her hands into fists against the floor.

"Well…" prodded Saisei.

"I…can't," said Sasame. "Not yet."

Saisei sagged and groaned. "So, you are still determined to shirk. It seems I will have to seek another apprentice then."

"Please," said Sasame, raising her head. "Three more years."

Saisei raised an eyebrow. "Three…you say."

Sasame nodded slowly. "Three more years," she pleaded. "Let me see Ruby-chan off to Beacon. After that, I shall immediately succeed your name." She bowed low, lowering her head all the way to the floor. "I admit…this is purely selfish indulgence on my part. But…I wish to spend as much time as I can as Ruby-chan's sister, before she leaves us. Please accept this foolish, selfish desire of mine. After that, I assure you that I will take your place, and serve the Mibu with complete devotion."

Saisei regarded her silently. "Truly…you are a fool," she said slowly. "I would be better served by taking the time to train a new apprentice with a proper sense of duty…"

Sasame said nothing, keeping her head lowered.

Saisei was silent a moment longer. Then she exhaled slowly, lowering her head. "Three years," she said. "Use them well. I will not accept anymore delays."

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Saisei-sama," said Sasame.

"That child must be affecting me as well," grumbled Saisei, taking a swig from her jug. "I am _much_ too lenient for my own good."

* * *

The year went on, Ruby continuing to work in both classes and training. Even though she continued to study swordsmanship under Shinrei, she also continued to work on developing her own Manifestation. Her success with using wind had encouraged her over the past year, and she continued to refine that. On top of that, she also began to explore techniques for generating and controlling lightning. Despite her best efforts, understanding of the scroll that Sarutobi Sasuke had left behind eluded her, so Ruby had gone on to the next best thing, learning to convert her Aura into electrical energy.

To accomplish that, she joined Natsuki for a few lessons under Keikoku, learning the basis behind the fire-techniques of the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_. That had been an exciting experience. Granted, it was mostly a stopgap, which would allow her to understand the nature of lightning and electricity some more. But it was something she could work with. In fact, as Natsuki's skills continued to grow alongside Ruby's own, the two of them began to spar with one another. Occasionally, Setsuna joined in, with Miyu looking on, ready to heal those who were injured as part of her ongoing work as Sasame's apprentice.

Then Ruby happened upon a discovery…

* * *

"Look at this!" Ruby shouted, spinning in her black kimono with its red sash and short, slightly ruffled skirt. Combined with the black stockings on her legs, Ruby's new set of clothes looked to be a mix between the styles of the Mibu Clan and what the people of Vale typically wore, being a little like the dress she'd used to wear, before she'd come to Leng. It was accented by the armor she'd received for her thirteenth birthday on her shoulders and hips.

"You look nice, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki, frowning in spite of her words. "But…were you really spending so much time working in secret on an outfit? That's not like you at all."

Miyu and Setsuna nodded in agreement, where they sat, on one of the couches in the Royal Family's living room. It was reasonable to be confused by this. After all, getting Ruby to shop for clothes in general, much less anything fashionable, was like pulling teeth.

And yet, Ruby had been spending more time than usual apart from her friends lately, claiming she was working on something secret. After a few weeks of this odd behavior, complete with her dodging questions about what it was that she'd been working on, Ruby had called them up to the palace, gathered them in the living room, and appeared before them in this outfit.

Ruby pouted at the confusion she'd received in place of enthusiasm. "Well…do you notice anything in particular?" she asked.

"You left out your haori," said Miyu. "But I thought you liked it."

"I did," said Ruby. "But I found something better."

"_Not_ wearing a haori," guessed Natsuki, a slight teasing inflection to her voice.

Ruby pouted at her, making Natsuki giggle softly, a sound that was echoed by Miyu, while Setsuna coughed politely into his hand.

Ruby's smile quickly returned though, becoming an eager grin. "This is cool, I promise you," she said. "Just check out _this_!"

Bringing her hands up to the level of her shoulders, Ruby swept them back and down slightly. Red petals streamed out from her palms. Then, before the widening eyes of her friends, those petals merged together, transitioning from mere Aura into something much more…_real_. Before their eyes, Ruby's Aura wove itself into a red cloak that trailed down her back, to the level of her ankles. Moving her hands up behind her neck, Ruby shaped a matching hood, the entire garment adhering directly to her collar, despite a lack of any actual clasps.

Natsuki had to strain to close her mouth in the face of what she'd just seen. "Ruby-chan…" she whispered, before jumping to her feet. "That's totally _awesome_!"

Throwing back her shoulders, Ruby puffed out her chest proudly, most definitely gratified by her best friend's praise.

"This is…" Miyu and Setsuna were dumbfounded. "How…?" Miyu asked, shocked.

Ruby chuckled. "I worked hard on it."

Natsuki had already darted over, pinching the cloth of Ruby's new cloak between her fingers. "Whoa! This feels like _real_ cloth, Ruby-chan. What did you do?"

"Well, you know how some manifestations can create matter?" asked Ruby.

"You mean like how Shinrei-sama can conjure water?" guessed Setsuna.

Ruby nodded. "Well, I was thinking about that, and I thought that…maybe…I could conjure something else. So I decided to make my Aura into cloth."

"That's…a bit of a leap," said Miyu, canting her head. "I…I suppose I've heard of similar tricks. But…I'd never thought of it being used like this."

Ruby nodded. "But it gets better," she declared. "Watch _this_!"

To the naked eye, nothing had changed. Nonetheless, Ruby's friends immediately perceived the difference, gasping in unison.

"You're using Suppression!" exclaimed Natsuki.

"But the cloak is still there!" added Miyu.

"It's tough to explain," said Ruby, ending her Suppression. "But it's neat. I figured out that, if I put enough thought into making what I made out of my Aura real, it would stay, even if I didn't keep maintaining it with my Aura. That's why this took me so long."

"It's amazing," breathed Natsuki. "That looks really good on you, Ruby-chan."

"Thanks," said Ruby. "This outfit is kinda based on what I used to wear. I feel like this might be what I want to wear, when I go to Beacon."

"That's still a ways off though," Setsuna pointed out.

"I know," admitted Ruby. "But…it still seemed like a good idea. I'm gonna use my next trip with Kyo-nii and Sasame-nee to check out how well it works."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Miyu.

Ruby grinned, already looking forward to her next training trip, wondering what her siblings had planned for her.

* * *

Little by little, they were all moving forward in their own ways. It was things like that that made those times some of the happiest in Ruby's life. She grew used to attending class, wearing the sword Murasame had forged for her. Now that she'd truly made Akaibara her own, she was proud to wear it, not minding the occasional jealous whisper. Granted, once people knew what she'd gone through to master the blade, they generally came to believe that she had earned it.

Days passed into weeks, weeks became months, and just like that, another year went by. When Ruby's birthday came around again, she celebrated it with her friends and peers once more. This year, there were no exceptional gifts on the level of the sword Murasame had granted her. But it was a fun occasion all the same.

Towards the end of the year, Kyo and Sasame came to her with their proposal for their next training excursion.

* * *

"By myself?" asked Ruby, shocked by the notion.

"Yes, we'll start on the northern tip of Sanus," explained Sasame. "Kyo and I will go one way, and you will go another. You're free to pick your own route."

Kyo picked up the explanation from there. "Our objective will be to make our way to the lands south and west of Vale. There, we'll meet up at Haradrim, one of the settlements just outside of where the terrain transitions into the desert regions. From there, we'll make our way through the territories around Vacuo."

"Oh!" gasped Ruby.

"The first part will be a test of what you've learned during our past excursions," explained Sasame. "You'll test your ability to sustain yourself as you make your way south. You can visit settlements, even Vale itself, as you head that way, if you want. But your objective will be to make it to Haradrim within three months."

Ruby had to admit, as objectives went, that was kind of cool. And while the idea of traveling without either of her siblings saddened her, she was excited by the notion of seeing just how far she could push her abilities on her own. It was the kind of training her father would have absolutely _never_ allowed her, something she was certain that most students her age, back in the Kingdoms, would have never gotten. It was an exciting opportunity, and one she was eager to take advantage of.

"I like it," she declared.

"Good," said Sasame, she and Kyo nodding. "Then we'll set out shortly after the new year. I would have liked to take you to Solitas as well, but this will probably be the final excursion we'll have time to do, before you need to apply to Beacon."

"Maybe we should skip straight to the desert," suggested Ruby. "Then we could split the year between Vacuo and Atlas."

"Sadly, that would be fairly difficult to manage," said Kyo. "The positioning of the continents would make it difficult to transfer from one to the other."

"We could try to start in Vacuo, then make our way up through Vale's territory, then head to Solitas from the northern tip of Sanus," said Sasame, tapping her chin. "However, it would take most of the year just to make that transition, so it's best if we keep to our original plan. Besides, the solo excursion is the really important bit. We need to make sure you're fully capable of using the skills we've taught you in terrain you're already familiar with. Not to mention that our trip through northern Anima came close to the kind of environments you'd see in Solitas.

"Even if you went to Beacon right now, I'm certain that you have a breadth of training and experience that the vast majority of their applicants can't lay claim to. Not coming from one of their accredited Combat Schools, you might need that extra edge to get their approval."

Ruby nodded slowly. She liked the idea of visiting all four Kingdoms' territories, and experiencing every major type of terrain, before applying to Beacon. But she supposed there was only so much time in her life for such things. As it was, the idea that she might already be more than qualified for Beacon was quite appealing. If that was the case, she couldn't wait to see what the faculty there thought of her, when she actually turned seventeen.

* * *

The rest of the year went by rather normally. Before Ruby knew it, it was time for her and her siblings to leave for Sanus. They would take a ship to Teleri, and make their way south from there. The closer the time came, the more eager Ruby was to set out. In some ways, this was a chance to prove herself, to really try her skills as an aspiring Huntress, out in the world, in a real situation where she didn't have the reassurance of Sasame or Kyo to bail her out.

On top of that, it was a rare opportunity to visit Vale. Ruby hadn't been back to her home Kingdom since the day she'd set out with Sasame and Kyo to finally get the training she had been seeking. This time, she wouldn't have to worry about her father and uncle hunting for her. Qrow had already promised to not to reveal where she had gone, and she was certain that Taiyang had given up on her by now. She'd be free to explore all the places in Vale she'd been barred from before, maybe even sneak a peek at Beacon itself, before going on her way. It was all so thrilling that Ruby was practically hopping in place at the railing, when their ship came within view of Sanus.

At Teleri, they stayed long enough for the people to throw a celebration for Kyo's arrival. After that, Ruby went her way, while Kyo and Sasame went theirs.

It was lonely going, making her way through the wilderness on her own, with no one to talk to. Besides survival, Ruby was also testing her skills at navigation, using natural signs to make her way, rather than a compass. It was tricky. But, with each day she traveled, with each settlement she stopped at on the way, Ruby's confidence grew by leaps and bounds. She was doing it. Not even sixteen yet, two years too early to enter Beacon, and she was already doing what most Beacon students couldn't manage on their own. It was exciting and affirming, a continuous proof that her father had been wrong, that she _did_ have what it took to be a Huntress.

In the second month of her journey, Ruby found herself staring up at familiar walls, walls she had left behind years ago.

* * *

_This place hasn't changed all that much,_ thought Ruby as she made her way down the streets of Vale. Granted, she had only spent a couple weeks in the Kingdom, living on the streets, having only visited it occasionally in the years before that, so perhaps it was a little silly to think she could judge how much or how little the place had changed. Sure, everything looked more or less the same as it had when she'd left. But Ruby couldn't say that she was familiar with every shop and establishment. So it was just as likely that _plenty_ had changed since she'd been away.

_I guess I just want to feel nostalgic about something._ After all, she was _from_ Vale. So she felt as though she should have felt something more significant after coming back for the first time in years.

She was a little surprised at how easy it had been to get in. Having not been in the Kingdom since she was nine, Ruby had expected to have a harder time gaining entry. However, it had been rather easy to use her Suppression to slip past the guards at the nearest gate. They had been bored and inattentive, likely because foot-traffic was practically nonexistent these days, given the dominance of airship travel. The sight of Ruby might have been exceptional enough to gain their attention, had she not masked her presence before they would have seen her.

Unfortunately, entering legitimately hadn't really been an option. Ruby had no identification, and was carrying a weapon. Those facts would have raised more than a few eyebrows, had anyone in a position of authority taken notice of her. The last thing Ruby wanted was for someone to start asking questions about who she was and where she came from, questions that might lead them back to the one person she wanted to avoid at all costs, while she was here. Because of that, sneaking in had been her only real option.

Making her way through the streets, Ruby took stock of her resources. She'd been saving up lien while making her way through the settlements, performing odd jobs here and there, occasionally doing a Huntress' work and killing Grimm for a fee, less than what a professional would have charged. While she hadn't been to Vale in years, she was aware of at least _some_ things. One was that her usual tactic of bartering service for service wouldn't work so well in the Kingdom. In here, if one wanted something; be it food, shelter, or any other kind of service; one needed actual money. Aware of this, Ruby had been saving up on her way down.

Now that she was here in Vale itself, she planned on finding an affordable hotel to stay the night in, buying a meal at a local eatery, taking a quick look around, before making her way out the other side, and continuing on her way south and west. Some people might ask questions, considering her age. But it had been six years since Ruby had last set foot in the Kingdom, so she was willing to bet she could get through without causing any major disturbances.

It was late, so she was debating whether or not she could find a hotel that would allow her to check in at such an hour. In the meantime, she paused, noticing the window of a store still lit, despite how late it was. Looking up at the name, her eyes widened. _A Dust shop!_

How many times had she stared longingly into the window of the little Dust shop that served Signal Academy on Patch, knowing she could never set foot inside? Her father had used his clout as a professor at Signal to ban her from even entering the place, much less buying anything from it. But now, she was out in the world, on her own, with no one to tell her she _couldn't_ enter this shop. What was more, it was still open-No!-it had only _just_ opened a couple of hours ago. The hours for this store went through the night, before it closed up midway through the morning.

An irresistible compulsion surged through her, an excitement, almost as though she were indulging in some kind of forbidden vice...which Ruby technically supposed she was, if she was still considering her father's rules. She could go inside and buy herself something. The fact that she didn't actually _need_ Dust, thanks to her training, was only an afterthought. It didn't necessarily need to be Dust. It could be something small and inconsequential, just something to prove that she'd been in there, a way of indirectly thumbing her nose in the face of her father's strictures, even if he wasn't there to appreciate how she was defying him.

It was also a way to kill time until morning came around, and she could book a room for herself. With her mind made up, Ruby pushed open the door and stepped inside. The chime in her ears, accompanied by the sight of the balding old man at the counter looking up at her, caused her previous confidence to disappear, her excitement wilting unconsciously at the prospect of dealing with another person, after spending so long with only herself for company.

"E-Excuse me," she stammered nervously, "are you still open?"

"Mmm-hmm." The soft grunt of acknowledgment was the only response she needed, Ruby glad that the old man apparently wasn't much for conversation either, not asking any questions about who she was or where she'd come from. Ruby supposed he might just have been glad for some company, given how lonely and quiet this store seemed.

Making her way through the store, she thought about what she might like to buy, when her eyes settled on a magazine rack, set with magazines catering to Huntsmen and Huntresses. There were magazines with articles about the latest weapon designs, the newest components, which special blends of Dust were popular lately. Ruby's heart thudded against her ribs in excitement as she made her way back, picking up the first volume, her breathing quickening at the thought of the forbidden material that lay just behind this cover.

Within minutes, Ruby was completely absorbed, glad that the shopkeeper apparently didn't feel the need to try and stop her. She was so absorbed, that she missed the door chiming again. She missed the sounds of conversation from the front. In fact, much to her chagrin, she didn't notice anything until a spike of dangerous intent appeared behind her, accompanied by the click of some kind of mechanism, and the sensation of something being lined up with the back of her head.

"Hands in the air!" snapped the man behind her.

Ruby blinked, feeling as though she was just coming out of a daze. "Huh?"

"I said, _hands in the air!_" reiterated the man behind her.

Ruby slowly turned her head, staring in confusion at the black-suited man standing behind her, a nasty-looking submachine gun pointed directly at her head. "Are you...robbing me?" she asked hesitantly.

The thug looked confused for a moment, as though he couldn't believe she was asking _that_ question. Having his choice of possible responses to give to such a question, the man decided to go with the straightforward one. "Yes."

"Ohh..." said Ruby, her eyes going wide with understanding.

The rest, as they say...is history.

* * *

**And with this, we've finally come full circle. I am waiting for you Vizzini. You told me to go back to the beginning...so I have. Okay...I'm not actually waiting. Vizzini, you're on your own.**

**This marks the end of the flashback arcs, now that that story has looped back around to where we started, in Chapter 1. I hope that at least some people enjoyed the ride.**

**If there's one thing I'm disappointed about in the flashback arcs, it was mainly that I didn't come up with much for Saisei to do. Given that the people Ruby grew up around were largely divided into two camps; those who love her because she's adorable and a genuinely good person, and those who hate her guts because she's a scruffy outsider; I'd envisioned Saisei as something of a middle ground. Someone whose attitude towards Ruby is antagonistic, but not out of prejudicial hate so much as having more sensible reasons to somewhat dislike this girl who's forced herself into the center of a circle of some of the most powerful people charged with running their clan.**

**In any case, I particularly enjoyed writing this arc, which was largely written while waiting in lines between different RTX 2019 panels, down in Austin (just for the record). Here's hoping that RTX 2020 works out (or that it works at all, fingers crossed...), particularly as this was the point where Ruby gets ahold of the signature elements that follow her character into the present storyline, namely her sword and cloak, as well as covering the experiences she's alluded to before.**

**And now you know why Kyo throwing her to the wolves against Cinder wasn't anything she would get mad about.**


	96. Chapter 96

**Chapter 96:**

_Present day:_

Ruby stood alone, surrounded by the whispering of the wind through the leaves of the trees that gave the Emerald Forest its name. This far out from Beacon and Vale, she could practice her technique without causing too much of a commotion. Assuming she was successful, the most that the people of Vale would notice would be some dark clouds on the horizon, which would dissipate harmlessly before anything came of them.

Of course, that was assuming she _could_ do what she'd set out to do.

Granted, at the moment, calling down lightning wasn't really her goal. Well...it was...in the end. But what she needed to do first was recapture that feeling from her fight against Cinder, that moment where her awareness had reached the point where she could sense the One, the aggregate of the countless lives that passed through the world that gave Remnant itself its own Aura, an Aura that she was part of, an Aura that she could call upon to command the power of nature itself.

The problem was that, at the time, she'd been on the verge of unconsciousness, her Aura completely depleted by all the hits she'd taken and her exertions in the battle. It was the moment Cinder had been prepared to end her life, when everything was on the line. So Ruby's memories were a bit hazy. She needed to recapture the feeling of that moment, hopefully without running her Aura down to nothing, the way she had last time.

So she took deep, slow breaths, relaxing both her mind and body, allowing her awareness to spread out around her, much as she usually did in preparation for battle. But, this time, she wasn't looking for enemies or anticipating incoming attacks, but something else. Granted, she couldn't afford to let her guard down. This _was_ the Emerald Forest after all. And she was farther out than most first-years typically went, farther out than where the relics were kept for the Initiation. This far out, there would be Grimm, and plenty of them...normally.

At the moment, Ruby realized that she was still _well_ within the area of effect caused by her brother's presence. Having Kyo at Beacon meant that the Grimm within a score of miles would have hightailed it away as fast as their limbs could carry them. So the Emerald Forest was probably as safe as it could be at the moment. That was fine by Ruby. She'd do better without any distractions anyway.

She could feel it, hovering just at the edges of awareness, not in terms of distance. The Aura of the world was omnipresent after all, it was both near and far. Rather, it was almost like a radio that hadn't been tuned to the right frequency, a note that the instrument of her mind and soul needed just a tiny little adjustment to play. It was there, she knew it, and could feel it, but she couldn't quite fully perceive it.

The issue was her own Aura. It too was a part of the One, Ruby realized, marking her as a part of the great and eternal cycle of life being born, then being lost, and returning to the earth, her Aura being absorbed back into that of the world. Because she was a part of that much greater Aura, it was harder to perceive, much like how a person might have difficulty understanding how large a building they were in, when they were enclosed within a single tiny room within said building. Completely expending her Aura had caused her to...step outside, so to speak...allowing her to look at the building, at the One, from without, and see it for what it really was. Now she had to maintain that kind of awareness and understanding, without stepping outside the "room" of her Aura.

Rushing things wouldn't do any good. So Ruby relaxed her conscious thoughts...and listened and felt. Perceiving that greater power lingering at the edge of her awareness, Ruby did her best to fixate on that, to perceive it more clearly. That was all she did. She allowed nothing else to bother her. She set aside her doubts and confusion, simply focusing on the task at hand. To anyone who might have been watching her, it must have seemed as though she was doing nothing. But, to Ruby, this was the most important training of her life.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when the alarm on her scroll went off. Ruby had set it to warn her when she needed to start heading back to Beacon. It had been a long hike out here, after all. If she wanted to get back in time for dinner, she needed to start heading back now. At that moment, her awareness returning to her own body, Ruby's stomach chose to remind her of how hungry she was. She'd had a hearty breakfast before setting out, but had spent all day out in the forest, surrounded by nature. So it was only natural that her stomach was feeling rather neglected.

Smiling contentedly at a day well-spent, Ruby sheathed her sword, and turned back to Beacon.

* * *

Ruby arrived at the dining hall to the chatter of her fellow students, many of them waving and gesticulating excitedly. Normally, Saturday wasn't a day for large numbers of students to eat at the dining hall, many of them instead choosing to take the opportunity to travel to Vale for dinner. However, with the end of their mission periods last week, many students were taking the opportunity to catch up with one another, and prepare their plans for the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament.

The Tournament and Festival wouldn't be for a while yet, but everyone's excitement was already reaching fever pitch. Challenges had been made. Rivalries had been formed. Everyone was wondering just which teams would be named to the tournament. Each school would be putting forth eight teams, which would be chosen from amongst all four years. While that technically meant that there was a potential for two teams from each year to participate, the even distribution stopped there. Many was the time over the past forty tournaments that an Academy had chosen not to send _any_ teams from their first-year class.

At this point, Ruby wasn't overly worried. Between herself and Pyrrha, she felt her team was a lock for the tournament, as was Team RYNB. It remained to be seen whether any of Beacon's other first-year teams qualified; maybe CRDL, now that the boys had gotten their act together. Team CFVY was considered another surefire lock for the tournament, given that they were considered the best team in their year by a wide margin.

Glancing around the dining hall, Ruby looked for any sign of her teammates. Granted, with it being Saturday evening, there could have been any number of ways they might have chosen to spend their time, so there was no guarantee that they were here, right now. However, she found it a bit troubling that she saw no sign of them anywhere.

_I wonder where they all are?_ mused Ruby, wondering if she ought to try ringing up Jaune, Weiss, or Pyrrha on their scrolls. In the end, she decided against it, figuring that her unease was from the lingering remnants of the fear caused by Cinder and her cohorts kidnapping Jaune not so long ago. That worry continued to linger. But; with Cinder gone, Mercury in custody, and Emerald almost completely incapacitated; that threat was no more.

"Ruby!" exclaimed a familiar voice exuberantly behind her.

Spinning about, Ruby grinned. "Penny!"

Her orange-haired android friend was racing towards her, an excited grin of her own in place. "I'm so glad I found you, Ruby," said Penny cheerfully.

"Where are your teammates?" asked Ruby, tilting her head slightly. "I thought Ciel or Piper would be around."

"I'm allowed to go out on my own more now," said Penny proudly. "Papa talked to Ironwood, and he agreed that I don't need an escort all the time."

"That's good," said Ruby, glad to know that Penny wasn't simply wandering away from her escorts again, which had a tendency to get her, and the people supposed to be watching her, in trouble.

Penny's father had arrived just a little earlier that week, arriving at Beacon's airdock in his own airship, a surprisingly large and blocky vessel that, according to Penny, not only housed much of her father's scientific equipment, but also the resources and facilities to ensure her maintenance. The latter case wasn't all that much of a necessity, as Penny's body had been designed to make it as self-sufficient as possible. But, according to Penny, her father was constantly designing new upgrades to her form. Some of them enhanced her performance, but many were based around improving her sensitivity and input to better simulate a more genuinely human experience.

To Ruby, she was guessing it was a sign that the love Pietro Polendina showed for his daughter was genuine. He wanted, as much as possible, for her to experience a human life, not merely the life of a robot mimicking human behavior. She'd been pleasantly surprised when the old, but exuberant, old man had greeted her with a hearty handshake and a laugh, saying that he was glad that Penny had made such a good friend.

Of course, Pietro had been busy. He hadn't actually come for Penny's sake, but because Ironwood had asked for his help in removing the virus that Cinder had planted in the CCT. Apparently, the program was extremely difficult to locate and remove, and the act of doing so had eaten up a considerable portion of the scientist's time...though Penny reported that he had been making progress.

"So why were you looking for me, Penny?" asked Ruby.

"Well...your brother's gotten in a fight with Team Coffee," said Penny in the same chipper tone she seemed to use for anything that wasn't a life-threatening emergency.

"What?!" exclaimed Ruby, her eyes going wide. "Where?"

"In the main sparring ring," replied Penny cheerfully.

Ruby groaned, slapping a hand over her face. Dinner would have to wait, it seemed.

Worried about what her brother might be doing to her friends, Ruby rushed off, Penny scrambling along in her wake, eager to see how things played out.

* * *

When Ruby had first heard Penny say that Kyo had gotten into a fight with CFVY, her first thought had been that they'd attacked him for openly wandering the campus. Ruby couldn't imagine anyone outside those involved with the affair in Mountain Glenn having any knowledge of the...complicated...circumstances behind Kyo's presence at Beacon. It was a bit of a relief to know that they were using the sparring ring, as that meant that they hadn't just up and attacked Kyo.

Granted, her assessment turned to be not too far off, as far as the instigation of the conflict went. Coco and Fox had spotted Kyo wandering the campus (well...Coco had), and wound up recognizing him. They'd immediately questioned what he was doing there, only to be shocked when Kyo revealed himself to be Ruby's brother.

There was little that was known about Kyo by the general populace, including Beacon students. So things like _how_ he'd wound up a wanted man, or what it was he did out in the settlements, weren't well known to those living in Vale. Learning that this criminal claimed Ruby as a relative had led to Coco demanding a challenge, which Kyo had gladly accepted, bored after several days with very little to do.

So Coco had gathered her team, and they had taken the main sparring ring. Now they were engaging Kyo in a four-on-one match.

When she arrived, Ruby wasn't surprised to see that Team CFVY wasn't doing so well.

Kyo was toying with them, effortlessly dodging their attacks, even though they frequently came at him from multiple directions at once. Coco had relatively few opportunities to fight to her strength though, unable to deploy her minigun without one of her comrades being in the line of fire. Instead, it was up to Fox and Velvet to supply ranged support, with Fox using the guns built into his arm-mounted blades to attack, when he had the opportunity, or Velvet to use her camera apparatus to simulate projectile weapons.

Whatever they tried inevitably proved useless. Kyo wove through their attacks with an ease that bordered on careless, looking as though he wasn't even thinking about what he was doing, dancing aside from slashes, leaning out of the way of the occasional bullet, parrying an attack he wasn't even looking at with his sword. Ruby could easily tell that Kyo was holding back, not even bothering to strike out, fully aware that he could shift the course of the fight at any moment, at his leisure.

"How long ago did the match start?" asked Ruby, staring up at the screen that displayed the participants' Aura levels.

"Um...About ten minutes...I think," said Penny.

The members of CFVY showed varying degrees of loss to their Auras. That wasn't due to blows struck against them, but them expending their Aura for their Semblances and attacks. It was harder to read Kyo's condition, given that he didn't _have_ an Aura gauge. Said gauges were provided by the users' scrolls, which monitored their Auras. Not having a scroll meant that there was nothing that would allow the spectators to see the quantified state of Kyo's Aura.

Still, just looking at Kyo's general condition, especially in contrast to the states of those on Team CFVY, it was easy for Ruby to guess that, if Kyo _had_ had an Aura gauge, it wouldn't show much depletion on his part, if any at all.

Sweat was streaming down Coco's face as she closed in, swinging Gianduja by its strap, turning the handbag into an improvised flail, extending her reach, as well as adding centrifugal force to the strike, not that that mattered against Kyo, who leaned slightly to the side, so that the swinging bag breezed past him, doing no more than ruffling his hair.

From behind, Yatsuhashi approached, wielding Fulcrum, his massive, single-edged sword; its wide, orange blade descending towards the back of Kyo's head. Kyo's body blurred in place as he spun about, his sword rising up to strike the side of Yatsuhashi's, knocking the downward slash aside so that the blade instead bit into the ring beside Kyo's feet. The force behind the blow prompted the floor to shatter, which had thrown more than one opponent off-balance.

That was what Yatsuhashi had been aiming for. His left hand released its grip on his sword's handle, reaching out for Kyo's face. Just inches away from his fingers closing around Kyo's head, Kyo abruptly vanished from sight, Yatsuhashi's hand closing on empty air. Kyo had settled for dodging straight back, his retreat taking him at an angle that wouldn't lead to him approaching Coco. However, that didn't help all that much, as now Fox was behind him, the dark-skinned man lunging at Kyo's back with his blades. Sharp Retribution's blade also encountered empty air though, Kyo immediately jumping into a backflip that carried him over the line of Fox's leading slash, his body almost seeming to drift lazily through the air, before he completed his flip, touching down lightly behind Fox.

Instead of turning to try and continue his attack, Fox instead continued forward, going into a leap himself. A second later, it became apparent why. Coco had opened Gianduja into its minigun-form, while Velvet had used her camera-projector, Anesidora, to create a hard-light copy of the very same weapon, both of them taking aim at Kyo from offset angles, creating overlapping fire-lanes meant to overwhelm his defenses.

His smile widening, Kyo brought his sword up, pressing the first two fingers of his left hand against the flat of the blade, where it met the sword's hilt. He then brushed them along the length of his weapon, Tenro's Aura coming to life with a loud ringing sound, the sword shedding waves of light into the air around it. Kyo stopped his movement with his fingers resting near the sword's tip.

"_Mumyo Jinpu Ryu: Timbe!_"

Coco and Velvet's combined fire spattered against a curved hemisphere of condensed air that rose up between Kyo and them. Coco smirked, applying her Semblance to her attack. Hype allowed her to enhance the destructive potential of the Dust she used exponentially. However, there were no visual indicators to give away that she was using it. If an opponent was watching her Aura gauge, they would see it dip abruptly. But that was the extent of it. Otherwise, they'd have no idea what was coming.

Except that Kyo somehow _did_. His body abruptly vanished, right at the second Coco's Semblance-enhanced shots struck the shield, which cracked, then shattered. But her remaining bullets cut through empty air again, Kyo having jumped almost straight up. Coco and Velvet both looked up, trying to track Kyo's movement. They raised their guns, but Kyo was already descending, coming back down before the line of bullets they spat could catch up to him.

He landed next to Velvet, his sword descending to attack for the first time since the match had begun. He didn't target Velvet herself, instead cutting cleanly through the spinning barrels of her hard-light copy of Coco's weapon. Velvet herself released the hologram, jumping back as it dissolved into impotent motes of light. A new hologram appeared, this one forming a pair of hard-light gauntlets around her forearms. Ruby gasped as she recognized Yang's weapon.

"That's no good," said Kyo. "If you had that kind of weapon available, you shouldn't have tried to gain distance first."

To prove his point, he simply leveled his sword in Velvet's direction, so that, when she tried to reverse course, she nearly impaled her forehead against the tip of his blade, forcing her to stop cold.

Meanwhile, Coco closed in behind Kyo with an angry growl, Gianduja collapsing back into its handbag form, which Coco swung at the back of Kyo's head. Yet again, Kyo dodged effortlessly.

"You need to eliminate waste in your movements," chided Kyo, sliding aside. "Too much windup gives your opponent a warning. It also means you aren't fully controlling your weapon's weight and heft."

"We don't need your lectures," commented Yatsuhashi, closing in with a horizontal swing from Fulcrum.

Kyo vanished again. Yatsuhashi looked around, only to realize his sword was heavier than normal. His eyes widening, he turned his head to see Kyo crouched on the broad flat of his sword, Tenro extended out to his side.

"I think otherwise," replied Kyo, jumping off of Yatsuhashi's blade without striking back, landing a couple meters away. "Your size gives you an advantage in both reach and height, yet you aren't able to utilize either to their fullest. You need to do a better job of controlling the zone of your reach."

"Is this a fight or a lecture?" asked Fox, charging in and unleashing a series of slashes from Sharp Retribution, Kyo dodging them just as easily as everything else CFVY had tried to throw at him.

"I don't see why it can't be both," commented Kyo in an easygoing manner, indicating he wasn't even winded by the fight, able to talk while still dodging Fox's attacks. "For your part, you're too dependent on technology to make up for your lack of sight. But, with proper training, you should be able to perceive the world even _more_ clearly than others do with their eyes."

Fox stepped down hard, thrusting out with his fists, turning his body so that his arms were extended parallel to each other, the left above the right. Kyo brought up Tenro, angling it so that the flat of the blade was set to intercept both hands, bracing the palm of his left hand against the flat of the blade on the opposite side. When Fox struck, there was a second's pause, before he was abruptly blown backwards, his arms flying back with such force that his shoulders were nearly wrenched from their sockets.

"Fox!" shouted Velvet worriedly.

"Stay focused!" shouted Coco, bringing out her minigun again.

Velvet flinched, then nodded, her weapon creating a hologram of a rifle with an extremely long barrel, which she aimed at Kyo.

They both opened fire, but Kyo dodged their shots again, abruptly vanishing, his body a flashing blur as it passed between them. Coco growled in frustration, trying to bring her own weapon around, while Velvet spun the rifle in her grip, so that she was now aiming it behind her, the barrel passing under her right armpit. She pulled the trigger, firing a shot with far less lag than there would have been, had she tried to turn all the way around before firing. But Kyo sidestepped her shot just as easily. His dodge brought him into position so that, when Coco turned around, she found Fox in her line of fire.

"And when the lynchpin to your teamwork is disrupted," said Kyo, "your coordination drops. If you don't have his telepathy, you quickly start to lose track of one another."

"H-how...?" asked Velvet, her arms going slack in shock.

Fox's Semblance was something of an open secret, not something they went out of their way to hide, but not something they openly advertised either. It was a Semblance that had made them one of the most effective teams at Beacon, enabling them to coordinate their actions without needing to speak a word. It was a difficult thing to counter, even when one knew what they were doing. But, when they went up against opponents who didn't know about Fox's Semblance, no one had managed to figure out what he was doing in the middle of a fight like this.

"When you attune yourself to the Flow of an opponent's Aura, you can learn more about what they're doing," said Kyo, resting the back of his sword over his shoulder, relaxing in the midst of this lull in their fight. "It wasn't hard at all to sense the Aura connecting your minds to his. He's managed to leverage it to create a sort of network for the four of you, allowing you to communicate freely without needing to say a word aloud."

All four members of CFVY found their jaws hanging slack at that. Never before had anyone so completely and accurately assessed the nature of Fox's Semblance, on the fly and in the middle of battle no less.

Kyo laughed, grinning sheepishly, while rubbing the back of his head with his left hand. "Sorry. Did I expose your trump card? It didn't seem like you were making much of an effort to keep it secret."

"W-we weren't, but..." Velvet began.

"That's enough!" snapped Coco, her hand tightening its grip on the strap of her handbag. "We're still in the middle of a fight."

The buzzer abruptly sounded. Looking over, they saw Ruby standing at the edge of the ring, just beyond the radius of the safety barrier, using her scroll to bring down the barrier. Doing so had triggered the buzzer, announcing an unofficial end to the fight.

"Ruby!" exclaimed Velvet, her ears standing up straight.

Ruby walked into the ring, heading straight up to Kyo, and staring up at him. "That's enough, Kyo-nii."

Kyo laughed again. "I'm sorry, Ruby-chan. I got carried away."

Coco gaped at them for a second, before finding it in herself to speak again. "W-wait a second! So this jerk really _is_ your brother?"

"Yep," said Ruby, smiling at her friends. "It's not nice of him to bully you like that. I'm sorry." She offered them a small bow.

"I wasn't bullying them," complained Kyo.

"You could've taken them more seriously," Ruby admonished.

"Yes, well...I didn't want to actually _injure_ anyone," said Kyo sheepishly, "especially since Sasame isn't here to put them back together."

Ruby sighed, running her own fingers through her hair.

"Injure...?" asked Coco skeptically.

"Most of Kyo-nii's techniques a little too...sharp," said Ruby, giving Coco a grave look. "Just his sword can cut through Aura like a hot knife through butter, so he could have cut you easily, if he ever went on the offensive."

"S-seriously?" asked Velvet.

"Yeah," replied Ruby, before turning around and directing an admonishing look at all five of them. "How did this even start, anyway? Penny gave me the basic idea, but..."

"We saw him just out walking around, like he belonged here," growled Coco. "Now, I may not have an encyclopedic knowledge of the official bounty list. But I recognized that he was on it."

"He even admitted to being wanted," added Yatsuhashi.

"I also told you that I had been invited here," said Kyo. "But you didn't believe me."

"He's sort of a guest/prisoner," said Ruby, a nervous chuckle escaping her own throat.

"What does that even mean?" asked Fox.

Ruby felt herself sweating a little. "W-well...to anyone who asks, he's technically imprisoned here, at Beacon. But he's more like a guest, since he can go where he wants, or leave whenever he wants."

"How can he leave whenever he wants?" demanded Yatsuhashi, his voice growing a little bit harsher.

"Well...because nobody could really stop him if he decided to," said Ruby, "which I think you guys know well enough now."

They were silent a moment, before Velvet spoke up. "She's not wrong."

"But I never expected you to take them up on a match like that," said Ruby, looking accusingly at Kyo.

"Well, it was either that or they attacked me right in the middle of the courtyard," said Kyo. "I figured that bringing our fight here would cause less of a disturbance."

"He's not wrong," said Coco.

"And you spent the last fifteen minutes or so toying with them," noticed Ruby.

"Well, it was a bit entertaining," said Kyo. "I don't want to pick on people weaker than me, but it was interesting to see so many different examples of how eclectic the weapons and styles of the Kingdoms can be."

"And then he started giving us advice," groused Coco.

"Well, Kyo-nii _is_ one of the best there is at what he does," said Ruby. "So you might do well to listen."

"Huh?" Coco and her teammates blinked at that, flummoxed by Ruby's suggestion.

"In all the world right now, nobody's probably fought more people than Kyo-nii has," explained Ruby. "…Well…maybe his parents and the Elders, but no one else. I'd say that nobody's fought more Grimm than him either, except that the Grimm have been scared to come near him for so long that that's probably not true anymore."

"W-wait a second, you're saying the _Grimm_ are scared to come near him?" gasped Coco.

"Yep," said Ruby.

"People seem to like that quality of mine," noted Kyo, "though I find it rather dull. I believe that's the primary reason why Ozpin-dono has requested that I remain a guest up through the upcoming festival."

"Wha-?" grunted Fox.

Coco, on the other hand, was staring at Kyo with narrowed eyes through her shades. "A few weeks back, when we took that mission before the dance...the Grimm just up and...disappeared before we could kill them all. We thought it was weird, but the people in the settlement just kinda laughed it off. But that was you, wasn't it?"

"A few weeks back..." Kyo hummed, scratching his chin. "What settlement was this?"

"Lower Cairn," said Coco.

"Ah yes, I did visit there, just before reaching Mountain Glenn," said Kyo. "They threw quite the party. Apparently the Grimm had had them pretty hard-pressed, before I arrived."

"Party...?" Velvet stared uncomprehendingly at Kyo.

Ruby sighed and explained the basics of Kyo's "arrangement" with the settlements. The knowledge came as a complete shock to CFVY, though they could now understand why no one in the settlements had ever tried to turn Kyo in, and why he was able to move about with so much freedom.

"So, the entire reason you're at Beacon at all is...?" prodded Fox.

"To visit Ruby-chan, of course," replied Kyo cheerfully.

"Yep," said Ruby, smiling, in spite of how awkward the situation had become.

"So...we picked a fight for no good reason," said Coco, slumping in disappointment.

"Now, I wouldn't say that," said Kyo. "I did have a fairly good time. It's been a while since I've had the chance to play with anyone."

"Play with..." grumbled Yatsuhashi.

"And there's certainly no reason you couldn't stand to gain from this experience," said Kyo. "I thought I gave you several good pieces of advice."

"You mean those things you were telling us?" asked Fox.

"Yes," replied Kyo. "I thought they were quite salient."

He pointed sharply at Coco. "The delay, when your weapon transitions between modes, is rather pronounced, so you either need to modify it or work out a better means of covering for the delay caused by transition. In a teamwork scenario, your teammates' actions should provide you the time and cover to do so, and they should be mindful of your line of fire, so that they can clear it without your opponent getting a warning."

He pointed to Yatsuhashi. "Like I told you, _you_ need to make better use of your size and reach. With your physique, the range of your maai is exceptional, so you shouldn't allow your opponents to enter your space so easily. If you control your zone, then you can control the entire battle."

Next, he pointed to Fox. "_You_ need to be less reliant on that gizmo in your ear. It might be helpful in finding your way, but it's actually an extra source of stimulus that you need to perceive in the midst of battle, a potential distraction."

"Sure, pick on the blind guy," grumbled Fox.

"Now that's hardly a matter of importance," said Kyo. "Believe it or not, blindness is not such a tremendous setback. After all, you've come at me from my blindspot several times now, but I was able to respond, even though I didn't see your attacks coming."

"It's true," agreed Ruby.

Finally, Kyo turned his attention to Velvet, who recoiled back from his finger. "And _you_...were especially disappointing."

"I...what?" gasped Velvet.

"Your ability to mimic the moves of others is absolutely fantastic," said Kyo. "An ability like that enables you to acquire techniques in a mere fraction of the time most people would require. So it disappoints me that you have done practically nothing with it."

"Nothing!?" exclaimed Coco furiously.

Kyo frowned. "Your entire weapon is designed around aping the the styles of others. However, your ability is limited merely to imitating physical motions. Given how many fighters integrate their Semblances into their fighting styles, how often have you been hampered by your inability to do the same, when you imitate them?"

Velvet squeaked, ducking her head, ears folding forward in mortification.

"On top of that, continuously switching between weapons and styles means that you are forever changing the pattern of your attack. While, in the short term, that can make for unpredictable changes that can throw an opponent off, in the long term, it will disrupt your ability to fully leverage the skills you apply. Each weapon has its own distinct use, range, and timing. When you change between them, you have to change everything you are doing in order to adjust to the new paradigm that each weapon sets.

"What you _should_ be doing is seeking to take all the different techniques and styles you've experienced, and combine them together with a stable weapon to create your own style that leverages everything you've experienced to the fullest, rather than simply switching from one to another. Unless you do that, you'll never graduate beyond mere proficiency to full mastery."

"C-can I even do that?" asked Velvet.

"Of course you can," said Kyo, his hand coming to rest gently on Ruby's shoulder. "After all, it's nothing less than what Ruby-chan herself has been doing."

"Really?" gasped Velvet, her shocked gaze going to Ruby, who blushed furiously.

"Y-yeah...kinda," said Ruby, averting her eyes.

"Ruby-chan has had multiple teachers over the years," explained Kyo. "While it's nowhere near close to your ability, she is rather quick to pick up new techniques and skills, most of the time. She borrowed wind-based techniques by observing mine, while her two-sword techniques came from another of her teachers. Besides that, she has integrated numerous other aspects to create a style that is completely her own."

Kyo moved his hand from Ruby's shoulder to Velvet's. "The act of learning is the act of imitation. To copy another is to learn from them. But if you do not take that copy and do something to truly make it your own, then you are not _completing_ the act of learning."

"I...I never thought of it like that," admitted Velvet, her head lowering.

"You have a remarkable ability," said Kyo. "But you need to make the fullest possible use of it."

"I'll definitely have to think about this," Velvet admitted.

"Right," said Ruby decisively. "I think that's enough for now. If we don't hurry up, we're gonna miss dinner."

"Shoot! Forgot all about that," said Coco, before bringing her hand to her stomach, which growled loudly.

They made their way towards the door. As they did, Coco clapped Ruby on the shoulder. "I gotta admit, I thought your brother was a psycho, at first. But he's actually pretty cool."

"He is," agreed Ruby.

"A psycho, or cool...?"

Ruby giggled. "Yes."

* * *

"I've got it now," said Pietro Polendina.

Penny's father stood before Ozpin, Ironwood, and Glynda, the light streaming in from the window shining off the white whiskers of his heavy beard, and gleaming off the bald crown of his head as the elderly man looked soberly at the people assembled before him. Beneath him, a four-legged mechanical apparatus, which served as his primary means of locomotion, whirred softly with each step it took.

"You've managed to isolate the virus' program?" asked Ironwood, leaning forward eagerly.

Pietro nodded. "That took some doing. The design of the virus' program is nothing short of ingenious. I've rarely ever seen something so advanced."

"Describe its nature for us," said Ozpin, "if you please."

Pietro nodded, bringing up his scroll, and flicking through it. "It's designed to be incredibly adaptive and prolific. Its adaptive algorithms made it absurdly difficult for me to decipher its code. They're designed to allow the virus to elude detection and infiltrate new systems. With less than a minute, it can download itself into any device or system that directly interfaces with a system that it has already infected."

"A direct interface?" asked Glynda, looking for clarification.

"So something like placing a call _through_ the CCT would not be enough to serve as a vector," explained Pietro. "However, if you interfaced your device with a terminal, like to download a file for example, _that_ would allow the virus to propagate."

"And what does the virus _do_ in the systems it has infiltrated?" asked Ozpin.

"It's actual function is quite simple," said Pietro. "The virus is itself an interface. So someone who interacts with an infected system using the virus' program as the interface has complete administrator access and control. They can see every file, and control every function of an infected system."

"God! They would have had complete control over everything linked to the network," said Glynda.

"No wonder they were able to tamper with our security footage," added Ozpin darkly.

"And that's just scratching the surface of the damage this thing could do, if we hadn't found out about it," said Ironwood darkly. "Have you managed to counter it, Doctor?"

"I'm still working on way to do so," said Pietro. "Its adaptive algorithms mean that a standard antivirus program won't work to destroy it. So I'm working on creating a counter-virus, one that can match this one's adaptivity and destroy it in every device and system it has infected. That's going to take some additional time."

"Do you think you can manage it before the Vytal Festival?" asked Ozpin.

"It might be doable, but I can't make any guarantees," said Pietro.

"Do the best you can," said Ozpin. "That's all we can ask at this point."

"I shall," promised Pietro, before frowning. "However, I do have one definitive piece of information that I can give you."

"What is it?" asked Glynda.

"The creator of this virus...I know who he is," said Pietro. "There's only _one_ man who could have designed something this brilliant."

"Who?" asked Ironwood.

"Arthur Watts," replied Pietro darkly.

Ironwood jolted, his eyes going wide. A creaking sound came from the metal of his prosthetic arm as that hand clenched tightly into a fist. "You're sure?"

Pietro nodded gravely. "No one else has this level of expertise."

"Who is this man?" asked Glynda.

"He was once the rising stars of the Atlesian scientific community," said Pietro, sighing. "A true polymath, the man was a genius in several fields, ranging from robotics to biology. It was said that there was practically no area of science that he couldn't develop an in-depth understanding of in less than a month. His ability to combine all those different disciplines was likewise incredible."

"I've never heard of this man," said Glynda.

"He's supposed to be dead," said Ironwood. "He died as a result of an accident involving the Paladin Project."

Pietro sighed. "He had always been sore that the Penny Project was chosen over his own proposal to enhance the defenses of Atlas."

"And he was always a smug bastard, completely assured of his own superiority," grumbled Ironwood.

"Not that such an attitude was unwarranted, given that he was legitimately brilliant," added Pietro. "It saddens me to think that he has turned his genius to such dark ends.

Ozpin exchanged worried glances with Ironwood and Glynda. They had been fully aware that Salem had other agents working on her behalf. But it was disturbing to realize that they had someone this dangerous, and apparently depraved, doing so. Even with Cinder gone, they weren't so foolish as to believe that the threat was over. So the question was if this Watts person, or any of Salem's other people, would attempt something during the Vytal Festival.

"We won't be able to lower our guards," said Ozpin.

"Not that we were planning to do that in the first place," added Ironwood.

"Please proceed with your work, Doctor," said Ozpin, turning back to Pietro, "as fast as you are able. But quality takes precedent over speed. We must not make any mistakes."

"Understood," said Pietro. "I shall begin immediately."

* * *

**Canon raises plenty of questions regarding various aspects of the plot.**

**With the Vytal Festival Tournament, the big question is how teams are chosen to participate. Breaking down the overall numbers, it's easy to figure out how many teams each school would have been able to send, but it can be presumed that not every team was able to participate. So how does an Academy decide which teams to send? Back in Volume 2, after Pyrrha finished thrashing Team CRDL, Glynda says she "should have no trouble qualifying". However, it's never specified what "qualifying" entails, not to mention that her words are addressed to Pyrrha in particular, when the fact that the tournament starts out with full-team matches would seem to imply that it's teams, rather than individuals, who are qualified.**

**Considering the possibilities, the two most likely ones I can guess are that teams are qualified via a series of matches, with those that win, or achieve a certain score, being named to the tournament. The other is that the teachers simply review each team's performance, and make an educated guess as to which teams would be most likely to progress far, or even win. With regard to that, I opted for the latter explanation, as I felt it would be repetitive to have a separate tournament arc preceding the main tournament arc of the festival itself.**

**My other big question, which comes up in the chapter, pertains to Watts, namely _why_ he's so disgruntled. I mean, the general why is obvious. He feels that his genius was under-appreciated, and was incensed that Ironwood chose Pietro and Penny over him. However, it's implied that Watts and Pietro (as well as other scientists) were clearly submitting competing proposals for Atlas' defense. So what was the idea that Watts was so invested in that he would turn to someone who was basically the enemy of all humanity for his revenge over it not being chosen? It clearly isn't any of the ones his name has been attached to, given that they are actually in wide use. Or maybe it's simply his pride at the idea of Ironwood deferring to someone _other_ than him was so galling that Watts couldn't handle it, rather than a matter of _which_ proposal Ironwood adopted specifically. This is more of a curiosity than something that would really be plot-essential, but something that could also be helpful in better understanding Watts' character.**


	97. Chapter 97

**Chapter 97:**

With the threat of Cinder and her minions gone, the days slipped into a more comfortable pattern for Ruby and her friends. Now that the main instigator of the plot against Beacon had been dealt with, and the Fall Maiden was back on the mend, there was no looming, existential threat to distract them from their regular schoolwork, studies, and training. Sure, the overarching threat of Salem still loomed over everything. But her threat was a distant one, and one that Ruby and her friends resolved not to worry about until they saw new evidence of some other scheme.

There were a few differences. In the week since the battle, Emerald had regained consciousness, but remained in the infirmary, mostly unresponsive. She ate the food she was given, but rarely spoke, save to voice her needs. Attempts at interrogation yielded nothing of use to the investigators. She spent most of her time in a sullen silence, staring off into space.

Mercury was similarly uncooperative. His weaponized prosthetics had been removed in favor of the most basic, harmless models. Like Emerald, attempts at interrogation yielded little from him, though he was at least more animated than his counterpart, often teasing or taunting during attempts at questioning him, showing no signs of unease, be it Ironwood or Glynda who tried to convince him to give up information.

In the meantime, Ruby and her friends went back to training. Ruby's training mostly consisted of retreating to the Emerald Forest to continue practicing her ability to sense and harness the world's Aura, the preface to fully utilizing the _Raikoken_. She made progress, but it was slow, sometimes frustratingly slow. However, considering how long it had taken her to reach_ this_ point in her training, Ruby didn't begrudge the extra time taken. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd be able to utilize the _Raikoken_ during the tournament anyway, so there was no need to rush.

All of this wasn't to say that the days weren't without their surprises. The first one came just a week after the fight against Cinder...

* * *

Ruby and Kyo were on their way back to Kyo's suite in the faculty quarters. While Ruby continued to work alone to harness the skills behind the _Raikoken_, Kyo had decided to amuse himself by essentially acting as a sort of supplementary combat teacher to any students who were interested, apparently having enjoyed his little "sparring session" with Team CFVY the previous Saturday. Ruby was starting to get used to coming back and finding her brother fighting/lecturing her teammates, RYNB, CPPR, and even Sun and Neptune. Kyo would be effortlessly dodging their attacks, batting them across the room, all while carefully dissecting the strengths and weaknesses of their fighting styles.

For their part, at least Ruby's friends appeared to think that the sessions benefitted them, for all that they considered it more than a little galling that Ruby's older brother was constantly talking down to them about how they fought. It didn't help that, amongst RASP and RYNB at least, there were still those who resented him personally for things he had done. Blake still hadn't quite let go of Kyo slaughtering the White Fang encamped in Mountain Glenn. Jaune, Weiss, and Yang all still felt varying degrees of resentment towards him for his barring them from intervening, while Ruby was fighting Cinder. The others were simply wary of Kyo in general.

At least it was productive.

In any case, Ruby decided to walk Kyo back after one of these sessions, mostly so that she could hang out with him in his quarters for a while. She'd gotten quite happy with the fact that she got to spend so much time with her brother. They passed through the main entrance to the faculty quarters, and reached the door to the stairs that led up to the floor Kyo was staying on. When they opened the door, a familiar person tumbled forward with a yelp, her stumbling collapse causing her to fall right into Kyo's arms.

"Amber!" exclaimed Ruby, shocked to see her new friend, the recovering Fall Maiden, up and about.

Amber's hospital gown had been replaced by a plain, cream-colored dress, its skirt running down just past her knees, its top featuring short sleeves that ended halfway down to her elbows. It didn't do much to compliment Amber's appearance, which wasn't exactly saying anything about it, as that was due more to the painfully thin state of Amber's arms and legs, rather any fault of the dress, which was simply quite...simple, probably meant to be something that she could put on and take off fairly easily.

Of course, none of that was really what needed to be questioned. Instead, Ruby asked, "What are you doing out of Professor Goodwitch's room?"

"I...I just needed to...get out," said Amber, leaning heavily against Kyo, gripping his outstretched arms as tight as she could. She took a few panting breaths, giving away just how much a struggle simply making her way down the hallway and stairs had been. "I wanted...to get some...fresh air...see the sun for a little while."

"Couldn't you have asked Professor Goodwitch for help with that?" asked Ruby.

"Glynda...has too much...to do...to just take me...for a walk," said Amber, still struggling to keep herself upright.

"Yeah, but you obviously can't make it that far on your own yet," said Ruby, noting that Amber was already on the verge of collapse.

Then she noticed something...odd. Kyo hadn't said a word. He and Ruby had been chatting quite animatedly only a moment before. But now he was completely silent. Curious, Ruby glanced up at her brother...only to see him staring at Amber with an awestruck expression, his face flushing a bright red that was threatening to put the crimson of his eyes to shame.

"Kyo-nii...?" Ruby blinked, momentarily shocked by the complete change her brother's personality had undergone...until she remembered a tidbit that Sasame had once shared with her, something she'd never actually seen for herself before.

According to Sasame, Kyo was actually _very_ awkward around girls his own age...in certain circumstances. After he'd become popular, out in the settlements, for driving away the Grimm with his mere presence, it was not unheard of for local families to present their daughters to him, or even attractive young women to approach him of their own volition, in an attempt to coax him into staying...longer. And, according to Sasame, some of those girls had been _quite_ forward in their solicitations.

For his part, Kyo was extremely unused to most kinds of feminine attention. In his homeland, his status as a pariah, because of his eyes, extended to the members of the opposite sex as well. So the notion that girls might actually find him _attractive_, much less take an interest in him, had been quite the novel one, the first time he'd experienced it. As such, his first such experiences with attractive young women flirting with him had resulted in Kyo turning into what Sasame had described as "a stuttering block of wood."

According to Sasame, Kyo _did_ grow out of that phase eventually, not too long after the pair of them met Ruby for the first time. Kyo had grown adept at politely letting his potential suitors down, conveying his desire to continue traveling for the foreseeable future. However, Kyo's awkwardness would come back to the fore if he ever encountered a girl who actually caught his interest, though that rarely led to anything significant, as any girlfriend Kyo might take would either need to become accustomed to long periods of absence, when he was off visiting other settlements, or be willing to take to the road with him, something none of them had been willing to do yet.

This marked the first time that Ruby had seen that aspect of her brother for herself. Upon seeing his reddened face, and his posture suddenly going completely still, his body nervously rigid, she realized what had happened. Her brother, the legendary Demon Eyes Kyo...was crushing on Amber. It was all that Ruby could do to keep a sly grin from spreading across her face at the sight, one thought going through her mind. _Just wait until Sasame-nee sees this._

For her part, Amber was beginning to realize that she was leaning against someone else, someone whose presence she had completely discounted, despite using him to remain upright. She finally looked up, taking in the sight of the person who'd saved her from falling flat on her face. "Uh...um..." Amber's voice suddenly failed her, and she too began to blush furiously. At the moment, Ruby couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment, or that, like Kyo, she too was suddenly very interested in the other person. All she knew was that the scene was all kinds of adorable, and she was fighting to hold back a giddy squeal.

Ruby would have liked to see how long it would take for either of them to say a complete word, much less a sentence, to one another. However, a fluttering of Amber's skirt drew Ruby's gaze downward, and she realized that Amber's legs were trembling from the effort of keeping herself upright. As sweet as this was, they needed to get Amber somewhere where she could sit down...and Ruby knew just the place.

"Kyo-nii, let's get Amber to your room," said Ruby.

"Ah! B-but..." The look Kyo gave her was so uncharacteristically deer-in-the-headlights that Ruby nearly burst out laughing.

Instead, she smirked. "Professor Goodwitch is still out, so we don't have a way into her room. But Amber needs a place to rest. So let's use your room."

"I...I...uh..." Seeing Kyo so tongue-tied was such a novelty.

Meanwhile, Amber looked back and forth between Kyo and Ruby, her cheeks still flushed, but more confused than anything else.

Ruby sighed. "Give me your sword, Kyo-nii."

Before Kyo could object, Ruby carefully pulled his sheathed sword free from where it rested, up against his left shoulder. "Now pick Amber up."

"I...um..." Seeing that this was actually happening, Kyo haltingly turned his face back to Amber, his blush continuing to intensify. "Y-you don't mind...d-do you?"

"I...I th-think it would be helpful," said Amber, averting her eyes.

Nervously, Kyo tilted over, hooking his right arm under Amber's legs, while putting his left around her shoulder. He hefted her up in his arms, doing his best to situate her. "C-comfortable?" he asked.

"Y-yes, thank you," said Amber.

Seeing Kyo's face looking as though it was about to burst into flame, Ruby decided to get this over with before she had to deal with a case of Spontaneous Human Combustion in the hallway. "Well, let's get to your room, Kyo-nii."

Thankfully, the trip up to his room was a short one. It wasn't long before they found themselves in the hallway before Kyo's door. There, Ruby had to root through his pocket to find his keycard. Having no scroll of his own, Kyo couldn't open his door the way Beacon students and faculty unlocked theirs. Instead, Ozpin and Glynda had produced a keycard that could open the electronic lock. Of course, with his arms presently occupied, it was up to Ruby to get the card out and use it.

Fortunately, she was able to find it in short order, opening the door, and ushering the pair into Kyo's room. Ruby had Kyo set Amber down in one of the easy chairs in the living room, while she went into the kitchen to start some tea for them. Kyo quickly retreated to the kitchen as well, only for Ruby to kick him right back out, with instructions to keep Amber company. From the heavy, and awkward, silence coming from the living room, Ruby could tell things were going swimmingly.

By the time the tea was ready, Ruby emerged from the kitchen to see that Kyo and Amber had at least made their first halting introductions to one another, though it seemed they hadn't gotten much further than that, neither of them having any idea of what to say to the other. Ruby hummed cheerfully, setting out cups and pouring tea for everyone, before seating herself on the couch, next to her brother.

"Well, I guess this is the first time you've met my brother, Amber," she said cheerfully.

"Um...Ah...Yes," said Amber, unsure of what to say. She tilted her head, regarding Kyo curiously, her curiosity only serving to make him seem all the more nervous. "He's...different from what I expected."

Ruby giggled. "Well, Kyo-nii gets that way around pretty girls," she said.

"R-really...?" Amber lowered her head, cheeks coloring once again. "Y-you think I'm...?"

"A-absolutely," blurted Kyo, before realizing what he'd just said, then ducking his head, face afire once more.

"E-even though I have...?" Amber's fingers went up to trace the weblike scar that marred the skin over the left side of her face.

To her surprise, Kyo abruptly leaned forward and gently pulled her fingers away. "Your scars don't detract from anything," he said, a soft confidence in his voice that had been completely absent earlier. "They add character to your beauty, I think. If they truly bother you, Sasame can easily remove them, when she gets here."

It took an extra three seconds for Kyo to realize what he was doing. He glanced down at the hand he was holding, then back up at Amber...and his face turned bright-red again. "I'm sorry!" he yelped, letting go of Amber's hand and sitting back in his seat, back straight and rigid.

Ruby couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing, pressing her hands over her lips to try and muffle the sound. She had little success. Both Amber and Kyo looked at her, before they realized the situation they were in. Amber began to giggle too, while Kyo sighed, slumping slightly.

"I'm no good at this," he grumbled.

_Sasame-nee wasn't kidding about that,_ Ruby thought, pressing her fingers to her lips and puffing out her cheeks.

"It's very...nice to meet you," said Amber, unsure of what to do or say about the situation.

Admittedly, Ruby wasn't sure what to do either. Aside from introducing her brother to Amber, she hadn't considered what might come after that. Amber was still very weak, really not in a condition for going on dates, assuming Kyo's interest in her was reciprocated.

Then, to Ruby's surprise, Amber continued. "I...I've heard about you."

"Y-you have?" asked Kyo surprised.

Amber nodded. "I...well...before this..." She gestured to her atrophied body, and then the scar on her face. "...I used to travel around to, helping where I could. I wasn't an official Huntress, but I was able to go about and help people."

Her gaze went to Kyo's sword, where Ruby had set it, on its rack by the door. "When I went through certain settlements, people would talk about you sometimes. At first, I thought it was because they were afraid of you. Then I noticed that they always seemed happy you'd been there, that they were hoping you'd come back. I tried to find out why, but no one really seemed to want to say."

"Ah...yes...well..." Kyo shifted nervously. "They probably thought you wouldn't believe them."

"Kyo-nii scares off the Grimm," said Ruby simply.

Amber gasped, giving Kyo a surprised look, which only prompted him to avert his eyes again. "It's been that way for a while," he said.

"No wonder people looked forward to your visits while you were out there," said Amber softly.

They lapsed into an awkward silence again. Then Amber spoke some more, this time talking to Ruby.

"So...you traveled with him?"

"Sometimes," said Ruby. "After the first two trips, it was just me and Sasame-nee more often. Since Kyo-nii scares the Grimm away, that kinda made it hard for me to find any to train against."

"I can see that being a problem," said Amber with a giggle. "Although, it makes me curious about what your home is like."

"W-well, it's certainly different," said Kyo. "Though it's a nice place there, all told. Even if I'm not all that welcome."

"You're not?" asked Amber, shocked.

"It's...complicated...and really weird," said Ruby. "There's a sort of social stigma against Kyo's eyes over there, so, outside his family, the Mibu aren't all that welcoming of him."

"Which is natural and encouraged on some levels," said Kyo. "I would not be as strong as I am, had I not needed to fight for my life on multiple occasions throughout my younger years."

Amber canted her head, unsure of how to process that. What Kyo was talking about seemed like it should have been severely traumatic. Yet he spoke of such things with a casual ease that suggested that they'd barely made a mark on him, at least emotionally. She decided that questioning that was probably not the best thing right now.

"Are you going through therapy?" asked Ruby, eyeing Amber's weak limbs. Amber appeared to have little trouble managing her cup, but her state earlier indicated that her stamina was lacking, and that the simple task of standing was still something that required considerable effort on her part.

"I am," said Amber. "It's hard, learning to move and walk all over again. My Aura's helping though, so it's going faster than I originally thought it would."

"Yeah, Aura helps with that," said Ruby, thinking of Jaune, and how his Aura had enabled him to reap enormous gains from his workouts to rapidly build the strength and stamina that he'd been so lacking in before coming to Beacon.

Amber sighed. "The problem is that I go to therapy in the morning, then Glynda has to go to work; so I'm stuck alone, in her quarters, without much to do. I have books to read, or I can watch the network. But that gets old after a while. I just...I wanted to see the sun, spend some time outside. I figured that I could make it to the bench just outside the entrance. But I guess that's still too far for me."

Ruby frowned. "You could have fallen and hurt yourself, coming down the stairs," she pointed out. "That would have set your recovery back even more."

"I know," said Amber sullenly.

Ruby sighed. "Maybe we should check with Professor Goodwitch. There must be a way we could help you get out more. I mean, I'm free now. So I could help you, after classes."

"I don't want to interrupt your schedule," protested Amber. "I know you're working hard."

"Yeah, but you shouldn't have to just sit around in Goodwitch's room all day..." Ruby's eyes widened, something occurring to her.

Before she could state her idea, her scroll buzzed. Pulling it out, Ruby experienced a short burst of anxiety upon seeing that it was Professor Goodwitch calling her. As far as she knew, she hadn't been doing anything to get into trouble. However, it was always the first worry when Beacon's primary disciplinarian called. "Professor?" she said, putting the scroll up to her ear.

She heard a sigh of relief on the other end of the line. "_Ms. Rose, thank goodness I reached you. There's an emergency._"

"What is it?" asked Ruby, shooting to her feet.

"_Amber is missing from my quarters,_" explained Glynda. "_I've already contacted James and Ozpin. I need you to rally your friends so that we can find her-_"

"Professor," interjected Ruby, cutting off Glynda. "Uh...about that...Amber's right here, with me."

"_...What?_"

At first, Amber had been anxious, when she'd seen Ruby's reaction to what Glynda had said, unable to hear the Glynda's side of the conversation. However, once it became clear that Glynda was worried about her location, Amber shrank back in her seat, almost like a child who'd just realized she'd done something against the rules.

"We're in Kyo-nii's room," said Ruby. "Amber's fine."

"_...Oh..._" Glynda clearly didn't know what to say. Ruby got the distinct impression that she was blushing, realizing that she'd just called Ozpin and Ironwood about an emergency that wasn't _actually_ an emergency. Hopefully she wouldn't be too upset about that.

After another moment of silence, Glynda spoke again. "_See to it that Amber does not go anywhere. I will have _words_ for her, for worrying me like this._"

"Professor, please try to calm down," pleaded Ruby. "You can just come down here. L-let's just talk this out. I've got some ideas that might keep this from becoming a problem again."

"_I...I will try,_" said Glynda, her voice faltering as she was already beginning to take steadying breaths, probably as much to bring herself down from her earlier panic as it was to rein in her anger. "_Please tell Amber to stay put. I will be there momentarily._" She hung up without even a perfunctory goodbye.

"I'm in trouble, I guess," said Amber, a faint warble of whimpering in her voice as Ruby lowered the scroll. Even if Amber had never been a student of Beacon, it was clear that she was plenty aware that Glynda Goodwitch was not someone she wanted to cross lightly.

"A little," said Ruby. "You gave her a scare. Can you blame her, considering what you just came out of?"

"I...I guess not," said Amber, looking down.

Kyo hesitantly reached over to where Amber's hand rested, on the arm of her seat, brushing his fingers across her knuckles. "I think everything will be fine," he said, drawing Amber's attention to himself, his blush returning again. "Ruby-chan will help us to work something out."

"I think so," said Ruby. "I had an idea, but Professor Goodwitch called before I could tell you about it." She grinned. "It's just as well. I would've had to run it past her anyway. So we can take care of all this at once."

The minutes clicked by ominously. Granted, Ruby thought that was as much nerves as anything else. At the same time, it shouldn't have taken Glynda _this_ long to come down the two flights of stairs to reach Kyo's quarters. She tried to restart the conversation from earlier, beginning by asking for some information about Amber's earlier life. They didn't get very far, Amber revealing that she was a cobbler's daughter, before there was a polite knock at the door.

That itself was interesting, as it wasn't the authoritative rap that would have normally heralded Glynda's presence at the door. The knocking was lighter, more even...politer, Ruby supposed the word would be. Outside, she could sense Glynda, and an additional presence...Ozpin's.

Getting up, Ruby went to open the door, letting Ozpin and Glynda in, before taking the teapot and cups back to the kitchen, and beginning the work of brewing a fresh batch, preparing additional cups while she was at it. She figured it was best to sit out the first phase of this conversation, and let Glynda get her fear and frustration out of her system, also not wanting to get caught up in the scolding that was clearly unfolding in the living room.

"You're extremely fortunate I even _thought_ to call Ms. Rose," Glynda was admonishing her. "As it was, James was preparing to bring his forces in en-mass to carry out a full sweep of Beacon's grounds. Do you have any idea what kind of disruption that would have been for the students, not to mention how that would jeopardize your cover?"

"I'm sorry," said Amber, her voice a little bit higher than normal, Ruby getting a mental image of the poor girl literally shrinking in on herself with every word of chastisement Glynda threw at her.

"You are in an extremely vulnerable state," continued Glynda. "While Cinder might no longer be a threat, the fact remains that Salem _does_ have other agents, and any one of them could come for you. We cannot afford to take this too lightly, especially when you are in no condition to defend yourself."

"Y-yes," whimpered Amber.

"On top of that, you could have aggravated your condition by overexerting yourself, or even injured yourself, on top of everything else, with a simple misstep. Your recovery is not something you can afford to rush."

"I understand..."

"Do you? I wonder..."

"Glynda..." Ozpin's soft, more moderate tone cut off Glynda's tirade, before it could gather steam again, carrying just enough authority to make Glynda cede the floor to him. "...You've made your point clear. I believe Ms. Akiyama understands how worried you were. Now let's try to calm down."

It was at this point that Ruby exited the kitchen with tea, making it a point to pour a cup for Glynda first, before anyone else. Glynda accepted it gratefully, her lips quirking in a tiny smile from her seat. After that, she provided a cup for Ozpin, who stood behind Glynda in the other easy chair. Only after that did Ruby serve Amber, Kyo, and herself.

Ozpin gave Ruby a look of subdued amusement. "You make an excellent hostess, Ms. Rose, though I wonder why it is you, and not your brother, doing the serving."

Ruby smirked. "Kyo-nii could try," she said. "But I'm guessing you'd like the building to still be standing when it's all over."

"Ruby-chan..." whined Kyo softly, his face flushing. Normally, he wasn't embarrassed about his lack of skill in the kitchen. But his sister was ribbing him in front of a pretty girl that he'd taken a greater than normal interest in...and one that he'd been actually getting along with fairly well, in the few minutes that had passed since they'd first met.

Amber, still looking contrite from Glynda's scolding, cracked a smile of her own, the sight enough to make Ruby feel that her mission was accomplished.

"Right now, we need to focus on the actual issue," pressed Glynda, wanting to get back to the point, as always.

"I believe you've made yourself clear," said Ozpin gently. "Now then...Ms. Akiyama, why _did_ you leave Glynda's suite?"

"I...I just wanted to go outside for a little bit," said Amber, lowering her head. "It was such a nice day, and I was tired of being cooped up. I figured it wouldn't be so bad..."

"It would appear that you overestimated your strength and stamina," said Ozpin. "So you ran into Ms. Rose, and her brother, and they brought you back here."

Amber nodded wordlessly.

"Ms. Rose, thank you for taking care of her," said Ozpin.

"There's no problem," said Ruby. "In fact, I was wondering if it was possible for us to help Amber get out more."

"Ms. Rose, as well as you did against Cinder and her disciples, the fact remains that Salem's other agents present dangerous unknowns," said Glynda firmly. "The best way to keep Amber safe is to keep her out of sight as much as possible."

"But it's not good for her," said Ruby. "Aura is affected by emotions. Right now, Amber's getting depressed because she's stuck in one place all day. The only time she gets out is for her therapy sessions. That lowers her Aura's ability to help with her recovery. Letting her get out, get some fresh air and sunlight, that boosts her morale and helps with her recovery."

Glynda blinked, taken aback by Ruby's rebuttal, as much by the fact that Ruby had rebutted her at all as by anything Ruby had actually said.

Ozpin, however, smiled. "I assume this knowledge comes courtesy of your training in the Mibu."

Ruby nodded. "It's stuff Sasame-nee's shared with me. Getting Amber out more will lift her spirits and help her recover faster."

"Interesting..." mused Ozpin. "The correlation between mood and physical health has been well-documented by the medical community of the Kingdoms. But it would seem the Mibu have fully investigated the mechanism behind that link."

"Yep," said Ruby proudly.

"Even so, Amber's security takes top priority," insisted Glynda. "As skilled as you are, Ms. Rose, this is not a task we can entrust to just anyone."

"Well..." Ruby tapped her chin. "You need someone with a lot of free time, right?"

"Correct," said Glynda, "which is lacking, both amongst the student body and the faculty."

"You need somebody you can trust, who already knows about Amber's secret and everything that goes with it," added Ruby.

"Yes," replied Glynda.

Ruby smiled slyly. "_And_ it would be best if this person were super-strong and able to take down anyone who might come after her, until Amber's well enough that she can fight for herself, right...?"

"That's correct," agreed Glynda. "Yet there is no one who presently fits all of those criteria..." Her voice trailed off, her eyes drifting to the other person in the room, who (rather unusually) had been mostly overlooked in the previous conversation.

"Um..." said Kyo, his face turning red as he grasped what Ruby was proposing.

"No," said Glynda flatly. "Absolutely not. I am not entrusting Amber's safety and security to the discretion of a known mass-murderer."

Amber's eyes widened, and she glanced at Kyo in shock. Kyo was still struggling to say much of anything in front of her, so he didn't say anything to contest or confirm Glynda's assertions.

"Kyo-nii's never killed innocent people," said Ruby firmly. "He's killed bandits and criminals..._and_ the occasional corrupt Huntsman. But he's never killed or threatened ordinary people."

Amber relaxed a little at that revelation. But Glynda remained stubborn.

"He is _not_ trustworthy," she asserted. "We are talking about a man who prevented us from rescuing his own sister from an ambush by three enemies, who would have killed her, given the chance."

"Kyo-nii wouldn't do that to Amber," said Ruby confidently.

"And what is your reasoning behind that?" asked Glynda skeptically.

"Because, even though he's my big brother, Kyo-nii is also one of my teachers," said Ruby. "He kept everyone from saving me, while I was fighting Cinder, because he felt there was something that I could and needed to learn from that fight. And he was right."

"That is hardly what I would call a valid approach to teaching," countered Glynda.

"I believe we have been over this particular argument before," interjected Ozpin calmly, his voice cutting through the tension once more. While Ruby and Glynda had been arguing, his gaze had been moving back and forth, between Kyo and Amber, taking in the subtle aspects of their behavior...and the less subtle ones, when it came to Kyo's uncharacteristic nervousness and heavily flushed complexion. In his mind, he was getting an idea of what Ruby was trying to do...and he found himself not disliking it.

So he continued. "And...I believe that there is a great deal of merit in Ms. Rose's suggestion."

"What?!" gasped Glynda. "Ozpin! You can't be serious."

"I am," replied Ozpin. "Your worries aside, Ms. Rose's assertions have been correct thus far. Her relationship with her brother is quite unique, so it is understandable that it has aspects that we do not find so easy to stomach. Yet it is also clear that she understands his capability better than we do, not merely in terms of his strength of arms, but also his strength of character."

He turned a fond smile on Ruby, who blushed slightly. "And, above all else, Ms. Rose's judgment has yet to lead us astray. If she believes _this_ strongly that Kyo can be trusted with Ms. Akiyama's safety, then I think her words carry a great deal of weight behind them."

"Yes, but-" Glynda began, trying to find an argument against this idea.

"And, issues of Kyo's trustworthiness aside," continued Ozpin, "could you imagine a better bodyguard for Amber than Demon Eyes Kyo himself?"

Glynda was silent for a moment. "Well...no."

"So, it seems to me that Ms. Rose's idea is actually quite valid," said Ozpin.

"So then...we should allow Kyo to serve as Amber's escort, when she wishes to go out," said Glynda.

"That's right," said Ruby, nodding eagerly.

Kyo and Amber looked at each other. Kyo's face flushed red again, while Amber's cheeks colored a little.

"Hmm..." Ozpin hummed softly, mulling it over. "Ms. Akiyama, would you be willing to agree to this arrangement?"

"I would!" said Amber, whipping her head around to look at Ozpin, while Kyo's eyes went wide at the sight of her enthusiasm, conveying his surprise and, daresay, hope. "If I can just get out a little, I'd accept anyone."

Kyo let out the tiniest of disappointed whimpers, the sound being just loud enough for Amber to hear it. She quickly turned, her blush more prominent now. "I-I mean...that is...I'd be very grateful for your help, and I don't think you'd be bad company at all."

_Geez, try not to look _too_ desperate, Kyo-nii,_ thought Ruby wryly, noting that her brother was looking less and less like the infamous badass traveler, whose arrival was cause for entire communities to celebrate, and more like a lost puppy, desperate for attention and affection. It was adorable...but also rather off-putting.

"Well then...I think there is sufficient reason to give this a try," said Ozpin after another moment of thought.

Glynda frowned, clearly still not liking the idea, but also lacking much to specifically object about. In the end, she sighed, her head slumping slightly. "Very well," she said. "If that is the case, then I give my approval."

"Now then, how should we arrange this?" asked Ozpin.

"Seeing as Kyo does not have a scroll, it would probably be best to schedule these situations," said Glynda. "So...at some point in the afternoon, Kyo should come to my quarters to pick up Ms. Akiyama, and help her to move outside, perhaps with the assistance of a wheelchair. From there, he can accompany her wherever she wishes to go, and even assist in some additional exercise, should Amber feel up to it."

"And does that arrangement work for the both of you?" asked Ozpin, looking at Kyo and Amber.

"I believe it does," said Kyo.

"Yes," agreed Amber.

"Very well, then we shall work out the particulars soon, and we should be able to begin as early as tomorrow," said Ozpin.

"All right," said Amber eagerly.

Ozpin chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Now then, as for today, I believe it is time to take Ms. Akiyama back to Glynda's rooms. Kyo, if you would be so kind as to assist."

"O-Of course," said Kyo, getting to his feet, before turning to Amber, and holding out a hand to her. "Do you feel up to walking a little...or...w-would you rather I...?"

"I think I'd like to try walking," said Amber, taking Kyo's hand, and allowing him to help her to her feet.

From there, it was a slow walk down the hall to the elevator, which Ruby didn't even realize the faculty quarters had, with Amber holding on to Kyo's arm for support, while she took careful, halting steps. Kyo, for his part, was perfectly patient, if more than a little nervous that the pretty girl he'd befriended continued to hold onto him.

They made it to Glynda's room without incident, with Glynda taking over at the threshold, picking Amber up with her telekinesis and carrying her the rest of the way inside, while dismissing Kyo curtly and, to Ruby's mind, a little bit more rudely than necessary.

The door shutting, Ruby and Kyo were left in the hallway with Ozpin. "Well, that was an unexpectedly eventful evening," he said, "but a helpful one all the same. Kyo, I think you will be fine, but I do implore you, treat her as well as you are able."

"I will," promised Kyo.

"A good evening to you both then," said Ozpin, before turning and ambling away.

Left alone, Kyo slowly turned to regard his little sister. "Just what are you up to?" he asked.

"Oh, that shouldn't be too hard, Kyo-nii," said Ruby with a giggle. "You and Sasame-nee are doting on _me_ all the time, so I thought it would be nice to dote on _you_ for once."

"By setting me up with your new friend?" asked Kyo, raising an eyebrow.

"By setting you up with a girl around your age, whom you clearly have a thing for," teased Ruby, "if the way your face kept lighting up is any indicator, and who might be interested in you in return."

"Y-you think so?" asked Kyo nervously.

"I definitely think so," said Ruby, grinning. It was weird where she was in a position to literally claim to be actually _more_ experienced in something than her older brother, but apparently she had more experience with a romantic relationship than he did by a mile. And the best approach for him was to draw upon her experience with her own boyfriend, who she once again found uncannily similar to her brother in several ways.

"Wha-what should I do?" asked Kyo.

"For starters, whatever she asks," said Ruby. "If she wants to go somewhere, you take her. If she wants to get up and walk for a little, help her. If she wants to try without help, let her, and just be there to catch her if she falls.

"Other than that, just be nice. Don't worry too much about trying to impress her or anything like that. Just talk to her, listen to her, and do what you can to make her smile."

"Is that what worked for you?" asked Kyo.

"Yep," said Ruby. "That's how Jaune won me over, though it wasn't that hard. I don't think you'd have a hard time with Amber either. I think the two of you even have a fair bit in common."

"We do?" wondered Kyo.

"Uh huh," agreed Ruby. "You both like to travel around. You could talk about all the places you've been, all the things you've seen, that sort of thing. Amber did a lot of traveling, before Cinder attacked her. And I think she'd like to keep doing that. You two could even do that together, assuming you get that far."

"Tha-that's..." stammered Kyo.

"Yeah, getting ahead of ourselves," said Ruby. "But you have a start. Don't worry too much about tripping over yourself or embarrassing yourself. Just take it easy, and be there for what she needs."

"I...I'll try," said Kyo, before looking at Ruby. "Thank you for this, Ruby-chan."

"You and Sasame-nee have always worked so hard to help me be happy," said Ruby, taking her brother's hand and giving it a squeeze. "I'm glad for the chance to do the same for you."

Kyo nodded, then pulled Ruby into a hug, which she gladly returned. Whatever else, she had a good feeling about this.

* * *

Ozpin was a bit surprised to see that he had a visitor, upon arriving back at his office. Blake stood before his desk, her scroll held in one hand, while she crossed her arms, her expression anxious.

"Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin calmly, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening?"

"I have someone who wants to talk to you," said Blake, holding up her scroll.

"I see," said Ozpin.

"Should I link it to your desk?" asked Blake.

"No," said Ozpin quickly. "Go ahead and hand me your scroll, if you don't mind."

Blake seemed confused by his sudden caution, then her memory of his warnings about the virus caught up to her. She handed the scroll over to him without protest. Ozpin held it up to his ear. "This is Professor Ozpin."

"_And this is Sienna Khan,_" a woman's voice replied cooly over the scroll.

Ozpin's eyebrows went up. He looked to Blake, who nodded gravely. "Well now, Ms. Khan, this _is_ a surprise. I never imagined that you would be using Ms. Belladonna to contact me."

"_At this point, I don't have any reason to beat around the bush, not with the mess Adam has left me to clean up,_" replied Sienna, a faint growl of anger entering her voice at the mention of Adam Taurus.

"I am uncertain of what you are talking about," said Ozpin, quite sincerely.

"_I shall be frank then,_" replied Sienna. "_The fact of the matter is that Adam Taurus has been acting on his own, severely radicalizing the Vale faction, and planning violence beyond the scope of what we, the White Fang, can condone. On that note, I have been seeking a means of establishing some form of peace._"

"Interesting," said Ozpin. "You come to me, rather than the Council?"

"_I think we both know that the Council would not accept anything less than the surrender and disbandment of the White Fang. That is unacceptable. However, I believe that you might be willing to be more flexible in your conditions._"

"Perhaps," agreed Ozpin. "That depends on what we would be agreeing to, Ms. Khan. Like it or not, the White Fang are still considered a terrorist group, that is the official stance of Beacon, as well as the Kingdoms. If you wish to alter that designation, then a serious change of course is required, amongst other things."

"_That much is clear,_" agreed Sienna. "_Truth be told, what Adam has been doing has had me rethinking our organization's course as it is._"

"You wish to return to non-violence?" asked Ozpin.

"_That is not my full intention,_" said Sienna plainly. "_I respect Ghira's desire in that respect. I even have a better understanding of his reasoning for it now. However, when we tried for non-violence in the past, the humans made it clear that they were not willing to listen until we took action to _make_ them listen. However, I am going to take steps to ensure that future reprisals for the mistreatment of faunus are more measured. But make no mistake, we will not surrender to passivity._"

"That is a shame," said Ozpin. "Please do not misconstrue _true_ non-violence as passivity. However, we can discuss those nuances later. If you wish to continue this negotiation, I will be requiring certain conditions first."

"_Name them_."

"Firstly, I require the cancelation of any order to harm or kill Ashley Forrest and her family."

"_Already done,_" said Sienna. "_That was one of my first orders of business, after arriving in Vale, along with dealing with Adam's 'revised' recruitment rallies. That being said, I believe it is for the best if you continue to keep her in Beacon's custody for a while longer. Adam has engendered an attitude that borders on fanaticism amongst the Vale Branch. Reining them in is requiring more work than I would like._"

"I understand," said Ozpin. "My second condition is the surrender of any and all remaining Dust and munitions stolen by the Vale Branch. We have a rough account of what has been taken, along with what has been recovered. Obviously, there is some discrepancy to account for usage, but there is still some Dust and weaponry that remains unaccounted for, in White Fang custody."

Sienna was silent for quite a while at that. Finally, after a few more minutes of silence, Ozpin heard a soft exhalation on the other end. "_Done...I will contact you soon about the location and time where you might reclaim them._"

"That is acceptable," said Ozpin. "My final condition is requiring an end to the theft of Dust in the future. You have made your stance about attacks on businesses for the purposes of reprisal clear. However, I will not accept the attacking of Dust merchants for the sake of arming your soldiers."

There was another long pause. Then, "_So be it._"

"Then we have a beginning," said Ozpin. "I look forward to further discussions with you, Ms. Khan. I will provide you with my scroll's contact information, so that you need not continue to force Ms. Belladonna to act as a go-between."

"_Very well,_" replied Sienna.

Ozpin sent the information through Blake's scroll, before concluding things with Sienna, then hanging up. He handed the scroll back to Blake. "Thank you for your assistance, Ms. Belladonna. I imagine you are happy with this turn of affairs."

"I think it's better than what we were dealing with before," said Blake, before frowning. "Sienna said that the White Fang would still be retaliating. I'm surprised you accepted that."

"One needs to know when not to demand concessions that cannot be given," said Ozpin. "Even if Ms. Khan was fully on-board with the notion, swerving the White Fang all the way back into pure non-violence would be an almost impossible course of action for the immediate future. The backlash from even the less-radical members of the organization would potentially result in the loss of her authority. By endorsing calls to violence, she has inadvertently crafted a situation where the angriest and loudest voices, though not necessarily the majority, have the most say. Trying to silence them outright would risk triggering rebellion amongst her subordinates. So she must alter course to give the moderates more vocal representation, to compensate for the volume of the radicals."

Blake nodded. "Do you think they can do it?" she asked.

"It will not be easy," said Ozpin. "It will take a considerable amount of work on their part to convince the Council to reconsider their designation. Embracing a new standard of behavior does not simply make their previous crimes vanish. It would be better if Ms. Khan could surrender the perpetrators of the worst violence to Beacon and Vale's custody. But that is not a possibility at the moment."

Blake nodded. The members who had been actively preparing for the attack on Vale had been all but slaughtered by Kyo. The remaining survivors had been rounded up by Ironwood's forces. Only Ilia had escaped, and Sienna wouldn't be surrendering her anytime soon, or so Blake hoped. Ideally, if there was some way for Sienna to turn over Adam, that would be for the best. However, Adam remained missing, his whereabouts unknown, even by his own people.

"Don't worry overly much, Ms. Belladonna," said Ozpin. "You and your friends have already done plenty. Enjoy your time as a student as much as you can."

"I'll try," said Blake.

Recognizing the dismissal for what it was, Blake took her leave, Ozpin once again having his office to himself. Ozpin frowned down at his desk, and the direct uplink it had to the CCT. He would have to be careful in his interactions with Sienna. He had only just switched out his previous scroll for one that had not been used to interface directly with the CCT yet, which would allow him to utilize it without exposing it to Watts' virus. Penny's father was working on a means to remove it. Until that was done, however, Ozpin would have to partition his work carefully.

Seating himself at his desk, he tapped the interface, bringing up the next matter of business. It didn't matter as much whether or not the virus exposed this particular bit of information, as it had come through official channels.

It seemed that Roman Torchwick was finally ready to talk. And Ozpin had a wonderful idea in mind for him.

* * *

**Awkward Kyo is awkward.**

**Admittedly, Sienna and the White Fang are in a tricky position. Honestly, what _would_ a government do if a terrorist group suddenly dialed down the violent attacks, or even went full non-violent? After all, it's not as though you can simply say they're not terrorists anymore, just because they've started acting nicer.**


	98. Chapter 98

**Chapter 98:**

"You wish to ask me about your sword?" asked Kyo, looking at Jaune.

Jaune nodded. "Well...it's something I've been noticing lately. I wanted to ask Ruby about it. But she's been busy with her training. You seem to have a lot of free time, so I figured you might be able to help."

"Well...my free time will be more limited," said Kyo. "However, I have some time to spare this afternoon."

"Yeah, Ruby told us you were helping Amber," said Jaune.

Jaune could have sworn that Kyo's cheeks turned pink at the mention of the Fall Maiden's name. "Th-that is true," said Kyo, coughing into his hand. "In fact, I will be meeting with her in a half-hour or so. Still, in the meantime, I'll hear you out."

At present, the pair of them were in Kyo's room. The previous night, Ruby had informed them about the arrangement that she and Kyo had made with Ozpin and Glynda, concerning Amber. Ruby's friends were all understandably shocked to learn that Ruby was playing matchmaker between her brother and the Fall Maiden...as well as learning that Kyo was apparently worse than Jaune had been, when it came to dealing with girls his own age.

Granted, that was neither here nor there at the moment. Right now he had much more pressing questions for Kyo.

"Thanks," said Jaune. "It's just...recently, I've noticed a few things about my sword and shield. And I've started to wonder if there's something..._more_ to them."

"More...?" Kyo raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Yeah," said Jaune, looking at the sheathed Crocea Mors, resting across his lap. He related his experience in the fight against the Atlesian Paladin, and then against Morgan's pirates on board the freighter.

"So then...what do you think about your sword and shield?" asked Kyo.

Jaune frowned. He was supposed to be the one _asking_ the questions. "Well...the way they light up, the sound they make...the way they feel. I'm starting to think that my weapons might have..."

"Yes..." prodded Kyo.

Jaune decided to say it out loud. "Aura. I think my weapons have their own Aura."

He'd expected Kyo to scoff. Crocea Mors was an old and storied weapon, passed down through generations of his family. But that didn't hold a candle to Kyo's sword, which, according to what Ruby had told them, was many thousands of years old, and forged by the greatest swordsmith to ever walk the earth. Ruby's own sword was just as impressive, but had been forged specifically for her by the _current_ greatest smith in the world, a smith who _specialized_ in creating such weapons.

Compared to that, the idea that Jaune's own weapons would be capable of something so remarkable seemed laughable.

However, to his surprise, Kyo smiled. "You're not wrong," he said simply.

Jaune blinked furiously. "I'm not...?"

"You are not," said Kyo. He held out his right hand. "May I?"

"O-okay," said Jaune, handing over Crocea Mors.

Kyo closed his fingers around the handle, drawing the sword from its sheath. For a moment, he held it, turning his wrist to test the sword's heft and balance. Then he held the blade in front of him, running parallel to the ground across his chest. He gently pressed the first two fingers of his left hand to the flat of the blade, and bowed his head over it.

After a few seconds of silence, a faint chime filled the air. It was like the sound of someone running their finger along the edge of a crystal goblet. It was beautiful, clear, and so..._so_ soft. But Jaune was able to hear it all the same. There was a flicker of light along the length of the sword, a flicker that could have been explained by the light from above catching on the blade's polished face. However, the light seemed to originate from _within_ the sword, its edges outlined in white for a second, before fading.

"That's..." Jaune began.

"Your sword's Aura," replied Kyo, sheathing the blade and handing the whole thing back. "I'm not all that familiar with shields, so I can't say I could do the same with yours. That's not my prerogative anyway."

"It's so faint," said Jaune.

"If I had to guess, that's because of your sword's make," said Kyo. "I can only speculate on the nature of the one who forged it. However, I'd say that he was indeed quite skilled, and very proud of his work."

"What makes you say that?" asked Jaune.

"It's often said that great artisans 'put themselves' into their creations," explained Kyo. "When one factors in Aura, that phrase becomes more literal than you might think. As a consequence, even someone who has never unlocked their Aura can still invest a tiny portion of it into their creations, if they are emotionally invested in them."

"Is that what happened with your and Ruby's swords?" asked Jaune.

"In our case, our weapons are the result if you take that principle to the extreme," said Kyo. "Muramasa and Murasame-sama are smiths who, in addition to having their Auras unlocked, trained to actively channel their Aura into the forging process. The blade is deliberately infused with Aura, and the great care put into it prompts the resulting weapon to develop a true life of its own."

"But Crocea Mors' creator didn't do that," guessed Jaune.

"No," said Kyo. "Whoever it was, they were clearly quite skilled, and very proud of their work. As such, their Aura took root in the sword. But the Aura that was originally implanted is but a tiny fragment."

"So...it doesn't do anything?" asked Jaune.

"I think you know the answer to that question," said Kyo wryly. "After all, that's what prompted you to bring this question to me in the first place."

"Then how?" asked Jaune.

Kyo smiled. "What I told you about forging is but one way an object can be infused with Aura. There is another factor, and that is the ones who have wielded it."

"How so?"

"You told me that your weapon has been passed down through generations, correct?" asked Kyo. When Jaune nodded, he continued. "Generations of Huntsmen, each wielding sword and shield, channeling Aura through it repeatedly. Given the basic nature of such a weapon, they likely channeled more Aura through it than the average Huntsman does through a Dust-using weapon in this day and age. That constant practice accomplishes much the same thing smiths like Muramasa and Murasame-sama achieve, albeit in a more gradual manner."

"So, by constantly channeling Aura through the sword, all the different people who wielded Crocea Mors are basically infusing Aura into it," said Jaune.

Kyo nodded. "Each of its previous wielders has left an imprint of their Aura within the blade, an imprint that has melded with the Aura originally imparted by the sword's creator. The result is that, over generations, that Aura has melded together, blending to give your sword and shield their own distinct Aura. They have indeed developed 'life' of the same nature as my weapon or Ruby-chan's."

"But it doesn't seem quite as..." Jaune blinked, thinking about the difference between what his sword had done in Kyo's hands, and how Kyo's sword had behaved in battle.

"Well, the process _is_ gradual," said Kyo. "The Aura within your sword is still quite weak, especially in comparison to a weapon like mine or Ruby-chan's."

"But...it seemed stronger, those times I was using it," said Jaune.

Kyo's smile became a grin. "Ah, but you're overlooking the critical element in that statement, the one thing that is different from what I was doing."

"Um...It was during battle?" guessed Jaune. "I mean, if a sword uses its Aura during a fight, of course it would be more powerful, right?"

Kyo laughed. "Ah! No. Drawing upon a blade's Aura during battle would be easier to do, as that is a fulfillment of a sword's purpose. But that won't make a sword suddenly have more power than it did before. The reason, that one difference, is actually much simpler."

Jaune was silent for a long moment.

Kyo chuckled. "There is one...single...critical...difference in what happened when your weapon was in _your_ hands...as opposed to when it was in _mine_."

Jaune's eyes widened, and he looked up at Kyo in amazement. "So you're saying it's because..._I_ was wielding it?"

"Exactly!" said Kyo happily. "Your weapon's Aura was strongest when it was in _your_ hands. Now...can you think of why?"

Jaune looked down at his weapon, staring at it pensively.

"I'll give you a hint," said Kyo. "It goes back to an earlier conversation we've had...one we've had in this very room. Ruby-chan was with you at the time."

Jaune blinked furiously, his head snapping back up to look at Kyo again. "Y-You mean...this 'power' I'm supposed to have? That's why my sword is so strong, when I'm wielding it."

"Correct," said Kyo. "Your ability allows you to magnify the potency of Aura. When you heal, you multiply your subject's natural healing ability. When you support, your Aura doesn't just supplement, but _enhances_ the Aura of the one you're supporting. You can even utilize it to enhance your own body's healing to do what most healers cannot. And, even if the Aura within your sword and shield are nascent and weak on their own, by applying your own ability to them, you have been unconsciously enhancing them, magnifying their power dramatically."

"That's..." Jaune struggled to find the words to say. He looked down at Crocea Mors again. "Wow."

Kyo's expression softened. "That's definitely a skill worth cultivating," he said. "With weapons like yours, it's only natural to seek to tap into their Aura, as doing so increases their effectiveness, and will make you dramatically stronger. However, in your case, the benefits will be even _more_ pronounced."

"Do you have any advice for me?" asked Jaune.

Kyo leaned back. "Well, at the moment, the first thing to do is to practice listening to the voice of your weapons. What you've accomplished thus far is remarkable, honestly. It tells me that you have a great affinity for this. You have utilized the Aura of your weapons in battle. However, that is not the same as learning to 'speak' with your blade. If you can manage that, not only will you be able to call forth their Aura in battle, but also merge it with yours, creating a power even greater than the sum of your parts. I assume you've seen Ruby-chan do that at least once, right?"

"Yeah," said Jaune, nodding vigorously. He still remembered the shock of seeing it for the first time, when Ruby had called on her sword's Aura during her match with Yang.

_Of course, with your ability, I think the results of learning to speak with your weapons could be even _more_ spectacular,_ thought Kyo to himself. Out loud, he said, "Aside from that, the important thing is to learn about your weapon. Think of it as getting to know a person. Your weapon has a great deal to tell you about itself. That will also lead you down the road of learning to apply its Aura more effectively."

"I'll try," said Jaune, nervously.

Kyo stood up. Walking over to Jaune's seat. "You can definitely do it," he said. "The fact that you have been able to draw upon your weapon's Aura in past battles is a sign that you have the necessary ability. All that you now need do is learn the mechanism, so that you might do it at will, rather than unwittingly."

"Thanks," said Jaune, giving Ruby's brother a grateful smile. "Any advice on how I can do this?"

"There are a couple of different approaches," said Kyo. "Which one works best will be up to you..."

* * *

Dove collapsed, his shoulder slamming into the floor hard. "Ow..." he groaned.

"Are you okay?" asked Pyrrha, rushing over to him.

"Just a rough landing," answered Dove, sitting up, working his arm to test if he'd actually injured anything.

Pyrrha crouched down next to him, looking on worriedly. "I'm sorry," she said.

"What have I told you about apologizing?" admonished Dove, though there was a playfulness to his tone that said his words were more in fun than they were an actual scolding.

"I'm sorry!" squeaked Pyrrha reflexively, blushing a second later as she realized what she'd just done.

Dove chuckled under his breath, then grunted as his experimental efforts testing his arm elicited a twinge of pain from his shoulder. It didn't feel like anything was broken or dislocated, maybe sprained at worse. As it was, his Aura would probably heal it up in short order.

Pyrrha rested a gentle hand on Dove's shoulder, watching him carefully. "You're sure?" she asked.

"Yep," he answered. "I've done some pretty bad stuff to myself in the past, so I know what it feels like to _really _do myself a mischief. I've definitely done worse. This isn't anything I'll need to visit the infirmary over, I promise."

"If you're sure," said Pyrrha.

"Yep," said Dove. "That having been said, I think I'm done for the day. This is my sword arm after all."

Pyrrha nodded her agreement.

"Still, that was a doozy of a move at the end there. You try it on Ruby yet?" asked Dove.

Of all the people in Beacon, Dove was probably the only person who had even a general idea of the result of Ruby and Pyrrha's clandestine matches. He didn't know their exact records. But, from the way Pyrrha talked about them, Dove got the definite idea that she lost more often than she won. Strangely, the notion didn't seem to bother her. In fact, she seemed genuinely enthused, the first time she'd ever really had to struggle for something in a long while.

"Not yet," said Pyrrha. "I'm hoping that I'll get the chance soon. But Ruby's been focusing on her own training right now, so I haven't had the chance to spar with her recently."

"Bit of a shame," said Dove.

"She's been working on a new technique lately," Pyrrha explained. "From what I've seen, it could be quite potent."

"Sounds interesting," said Dove. "I wonder how you'd handle it."

"So do I," said Pyrrha, sitting back for a moment, taking the time to enjoy simply talking to her friend.

Pyrrha hadn't actually seen the full extent of what Ruby had done with the _Raikoken_, only catching the tail-end of her fight with Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald, right as the technique had petered out. They'd managed to intervene just in time to keep Mercury from finishing Ruby off. The most Pyrrha had seen had been the clouds boiling overhead, and that bolt of lightning striking downwards, apparently binding itself to Ruby's sword.

Given all the things Ruby was capable of, the idea of her being able to harness such pure elemental power was a daunting one. And Pyrrha suspected that she would never see the _Raikoken_ used against her. It was one of _those_ techniques, techniques that she knew Ruby had, but had never seen used in an actual match, like Ruby's _Kazebara_ and _Kazegiri_. They were techniques that were too dangerous to be used in any situation but one where she was aiming to kill, creating blades of wind that could cleave through Aura like paper.

That didn't stop Pyrrha from wondering about how she'd fare against such techniques. There were times when she'd considered asking Ruby if she'd be willing to use them in a match, but figured that neither of them were quite skilled enough to really test such dangerous waters.

"So...any big plans for the Vytal Festival," said Dove, figuring it was as good a topic as any, seeing as they were just making idle chatter at the moment.

"Not yet," said Pyrrha. "It's still a little ways off, so we haven't made any definitive plans. Obviously, the tournament is going to be the biggest thing."

"Obviously," agreed Dove. "I mean, it's pretty much a given that your team and Rainbow are locks for the roster."

"Your team has a good chance," Pyrrha pointed out.

"Maybe," agreed Dove. "I'd feel better if we'd gotten our act together sooner. But the guys are doing a pretty good job of making up lost ground."

"I certainly hope you make it in," said Pyrrha. "I wouldn't mind the chance to face you in the ring."

Dove laughed at that. "Are you kidding. I'm at least hoping to make it to the doubles round. But either you or Ruby could wipe the floor with us on your own...probably Weiss too, come to think of it. It's crazy that the only one we'd have a chance against is Jaune...and even _that's_ not a sure thing anymore. Watching him makes me think that he's been level-grinding, like in an RPG."

Pyrrha couldn't help but laugh at that. She had to agree with Dove's assessment overall. She didn't want to disparage Team CRDL's skills, now that they were finally behaving like proper students; rather than a trio of bullies, who had more faith in their overblown egos than their combat skills. However, the fact remained that she was confident of her ability to defeat all of them at once, if it came to that. And she knew that Ruby could do so as well, Weiss having a fairly good chance too.

Dove wasn't overestimating Jaune either. Jaune's growth was nothing short of meteoric, a sign of just how hard he was applying himself. The last assessments had seen him moving up the combat rankings considerably from where he'd placed in the first Semester.

"So, who are you guys thinking of sending to the singles rounds, if you make it that far?" asked Dove.

"Probably Ruby," said Pyrrha plainly.

"Wonder how your parents would take that," mused Dove.

"Oh, they'd be _scandalized_," said Pyrrha with a laugh. It was strange how the thought of upsetting her parents was something to laugh at now, considering how utterly small and banal the things that set them off were. "They wouldn't be the only ones, of course. The thought that the Invincible Girl would turn down the opportunity to fight the singles matches in the Vytal Festival Tournament is probably a scandal on the level of my draw with Ruby."

That got a chuckle from Dove. The sound made Pyrrha's heart flutter. It was so..._wonderful_...to just be able to sit and talk with him, to take the time and enjoy simple conversation. The thought led Pyrrha to consider their situation. They were sitting, facing one another, but also sitting next to each other. It made conversation easy, but it also made Pyrrha suddenly feel quite conscious of just how close Dove's face was.

On an impulse, she leaned in and pressed her lips to his. Dove froze in place, his voice catching in his throat. Pyrrha didn't try anything else, simply pressing her lips against Dove's gently. Finally, she pulled back, their lips parting with a soft smacking sound. Pulling back, she saw that Dove's eyes had widened well beyond their perpetual squint, revealing soft, brown irises, that gave him quite a handsome look overall.

"I...I'm sorry," said Pyrrha, averting her eyes slightly. "I just..."

She stopped when Dove's hand rose up to cup her chin, the pressure turning Pyrrha's face towards his. Dove's eyes had returned to normal again. But there was no time to think about that, as he simply used his hand on her chin to pull her back in for another kiss. This one was far more engaging than the last, Dove massaging his lips against hers, causing Pyrrha to hum with pleasure, a hum that increased in volume when Dove parted his lips to lick at hers with his tongue, Pyrrha soon responding in kind.

Dove's hand descended, tracing his fingers along Pyrrha's neck, his digits then gliding out over the curve of her shoulder, while his other hand slid across her back, gentle pressure pulling her in towards him. Pyrrha leaned into the embrace, not minding the feeling of her chest pressing up against the hard contours of Dove's armor, though she did find herself wishing she could get a feel for what it would be like if that armor was off. Her own arms rose up to return the embrace, pulling herself closer to him. All the while, their tongues tangled and mingled pushing back and forth between their mouths.

They didn't know how long the kiss lasted. But they finally pulled back, Pyrrha gasping softly.

"Damn," said Dove, "been wanting to do that for a while now."

"Me too," agreed Pyrrha.

"So...we a thing?" asked Dove.

"We're definitely a thing," said Pyrrha giddily.

They were silent for a moment. "Now what?" asked Dove.

"For starters, we could kiss some more," said Pyrrha.

"You're not gonna hear any argument from me," said Dove.

What resulted was one of the best afternoons of Pyrrha's life.

* * *

Weiss opened the door, knocking on the frame as she stepped inside the room. "Hello? Winter? Are you here?"

The room in question was the office that Weiss had heard had been granted for Winter's use, as one of the coordinators for the security of the upcoming Vytal Festival. Weiss wasn't sure she had the right room. Oh sure, it _was_ an office. However, there was no nameplate on or beside the door. When she entered the room, the light was on, but she didn't see any sign of Winter behind the big desk that dominated the opposite end of the room, parked just in front of a set of windows that provided a view of Beacon's grounds.

"Ms. Schnee?"

Glancing in the direction of the voice, Weiss saw a second desk, this one set next to the right wall. It was smaller, but piled high with several papers and documents. A holographic screen hovered above the desk. Behind it was none other than Ciel, her hands resting on the image of a keyboard glowing out from the desk's interface.

"Soleil, what are you doing here?" asked Weiss, curious.

"I'm Ms. Schnee's assistant in developing security plans for the festival," said Ciel matter-of-factly. "She was kind enough to grant me the honor of working alongside her in the same space."

Weiss was genuinely impressed with Ciel's admiration for Winter. It was the kind of admiration that Weiss herself had, though Weiss didn't have the desire to emulate Winter completely. However, she was shocked to see the pile of work residing on Ciel's desk. In contrast, the space on Winter's desk was near pristine.

"Ms. Schnee just finished up an hour ago," said Ciel, apparently noticing Weiss' glances between their two workspaces. "She always tidies up her workspace before she leaves. When she was working, it looked a lot like this." Ciel gestured to the mess in front of her.

"What is all of this?" asked Weiss, staring aghast at the paperwork.

"Budgets, cost projections, patrol routes, estimations for Dust consumption," said Ciel, listing off the various aspects. "Considering the previous Dust robberies, making sure that no more Dust is stolen while in transit is critical, so plans need to be made for additional security of all transport vessels during the festival."

"Yes," agreed Weiss. "We wouldn't want the coliseum to run out of Dust."

Amity Coliseum, the site of the Vytal Festival Tournament, was no ordinary building. A massive, flying structure, it was created by the combined efforts of all four Kingdoms, designed to be a central symbol of the festival. It traveled between Kingdoms every two years, its powerful Dust-lifters enabling it to remain airborne nearly indefinitely, so long as the support-crystal was refreshed regularly. Of course, if those systems failed while the coliseum was hovering above a major metropolitan center, the consequences would be disastrous.

"Agreed," said Ciel. "Of course, protecting the coliseum itself is also an important element of our plans. As you can see, there is quite a bit of minutia involved, particularly since this is meant to be a cooperative effort between Atlas and Vale. We are presently trying to work out who is responsible for what, and where. Our militaries are similar, but we do have slightly different organizational structures. Of course, if we do this the wrong way, we could be seen as interfering, so we must be careful not to step on anybody's toes." Ciel sighed, bringing her hands up to massage her temples. "Honestly, it would be a lot easier if Atlas simply took over security completely."

Admittedly, that _would_ streamline things, as Atlas would be able to deploy their forces without having to work with a different command and organizational structure at the same time. Weiss understood that well enough. Even if the two Kingdoms were willingly cooperating, the level of cooperation would be affected by the individuals participating in said cooperation. Even if this was meant to be a gesture of solidarity between Kingdoms, there were likely individual egos on both sides that would not approve of the arrangement.

The click of heels in the hallway drew Weiss' attention to the door. Winter appeared, not clad in her specialist uniform, but in a simple, if plain, white dress. In fact it was very similar to Weiss' combat outfit, which she was wearing now, featuring a strapless top, over which she wore a white jacket, similar to Weiss' own, but with blue lining on the inside.

"You're early, Weiss," noted Winter, giving her sister a small smile, before her gaze went to Ciel. "Ciel...why are you still here?"

Weiss blinked a bit surprised to hear Winter refer to Ciel by her given name.

"W-well...I saw that there was still some work I could do on the budget..." Ciel began.

"There is plenty of time for that later, Ciel," said Winter firmly. "You should be back with your team by now. Ms. Polendina tells me that you are missed at the dorm."

"B-but there's so much to do..." Ciel protested weakly.

Winter frowned. "Ms. Soleil..."

"Yes!" snapped Ciel, sitting rigidly upright in her seat, expression tense and nervous.

"This is an order," declared Winter firmly. "You are dismissed for the day. Furthermore, you are required to take tomorrow off. I will be informing Mr. Elric that he is to take you into Vale and provide you with the most enjoyable experience that he possibly can. Am I understood?"

"Y-yes, Ms. Schnee," said Ciel, her cheeks flushing as she bowed her head. She moved to begin tidying up her workspace.

"Ms. Soleil," said Winter firmly.

"Y-yes..."

"Did I make myself unclear? I said you are dismissed..._now_."

Ciel froze, her eyes darting to the stacks of paperwork on her desk.

"Leave it," said Winter firmly.

"Y-yes Ma'am," said Ciel, bowing her head slightly.

She pushed her chair away from the desk and stood up. Weiss and Winter both saw the girl wince as she stood upright, though she made a visible effort to keep from stretching in front of her idol. Ciel headed for the door, but was stopped when Winter rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Ciel," said Winter, her tone much gentler. "I made you my assistant. But you must not forget that you are also a student."

"I-I understand, Ma'am," said Ciel nervously. "I assure you that I am maintaining a sterling grade average, and am not neglecting my training-"

"That's not what I'm talking about, you boob!" snapped Winter, gently smacking Ciel atop the head in a manner that Weiss found all too familiar.

"Um..." Ciel looked up at Winter in confusion.

Winter rested both hands on Ciel's shoulders now. "What I mean is that there is more to being a student than training and grades. You need to spend time with your teammates and friends. You can't simply be working all the time. You shouldn't work yourself so hard. If necessary, I will remove you from your position. I value your wellbeing more than I require an assistant."

Ciel looked as though the thought of being dismissed from her position would be the most terrifying and humiliating thing she could imagine. With that threat hovering over her head, she nodded vigorously. "Yes Ma'am! I promise to take your words to heart."

"Good," said Winter firmly. "Now go get some rest, and enjoy tomorrow. That's an order."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Ciel.

Winter stepped back and moved aside to allow Ciel to head for the door. However, "Soleil..."

"Yes, Ms. Schnee?" said Ciel, pausing and turning around to look at Weiss.

"You know...if you're going to work for my sister, whom you're _also_ calling 'Ms. Schnee,' then it's going to be awfully confusing to understand who you are referring to, if both of us are ever in the same room, don't you think?" asked Weiss, keeping her tone level and neutral, as though she were negotiating a business deal.

"That...is true...I suppose," said Ciel, looking at Winter.

"She's not wrong," agreed Winter, her smile reappearing.

"That having been said," continued Weiss, "I suppose the best approach would be to ensure that you have separate addresses for us, so that we know who you are talking to. Don't you agree?"

"That seems reasonable," said Ciel.

"Obviously, given her rank, it would be best if you continued to refer to my sister as 'Ms. Schnee,' until she chooses to tell you otherwise. Therefore, you will need to call me something else."

"And how should I refer to you, Ms. Schnee?" asked Ciel.

"Call me Weiss," said Weiss simply.

"B-but that's inappropriate," protested Ciel.

"How?" asked Weiss. "We are from different academies, yes. But we are both students, in the same year even. There is no difference in rank between us that would require any form of deference from you. Therefore, calling me by my given name is quite the natural thing."

"I...I suppose you are correct," said Ciel hesitantly, looking down.

"So then, are we in agreement?" asked Weiss.

"I guess we are, Ms Schn-Weiss," said Ciel, amending her mistake.

"Excellent," said Weiss, beaming triumphantly. "That being the case, I hope that I will see you more outside of class...and outside this room...Ciel."

"I shall see what I can do, Ms. Schnee-Weiss," said Ciel, struggling to correct herself again.

"Have a pleasant afternoon, Ciel," said Weiss.

"You as well...Weiss," replied Ciel, before turning and taking her leave.

Winter watched Ciel walk out of the room, waiting for a few more seconds, until the girl was far enough down the hallway to be out of earshot, before turning back to Weiss. "That was well-played, Weiss. I'm impressed."

"Why thank you, Winter," said Weiss, giggling. "Given the relationship between her team and ours, I figured it best that we consider one another friends." She glanced at the crowded surface of Ciel's desk. "Has she really been working so hard?"

"She has," said Winter with a sigh. "She's made my job so much easier, mainly because she _is_ a very organized person, with a tremendous work ethic. That having been said, as you can see, she has a tendency to go a little _too _far above and beyond."

"I had noticed," agreed Weiss, frowning pensively.

"I am well aware that she holds me in high esteem," said Winter. "Considering the good work she has done, including her...extra duties...at the General's behest, I thought this would be a reward for her."

"I believes she thinks of it as such," said Weiss.

"She does," agreed Winter, "which _does_ flatter me, honestly. I am more than impressed at her willingness to take her work seriously, particularly considering what a complex, multifaceted job this has turned out to be. She's proven to be, not just helpful, but invaluable. But I fear that her desire to emulate and impress me has been leading her to neglect other aspects of her life."

"I can most certainly see that," agreed Weiss.

"Even when I finish for the day, she stays behind, saying that she'll leave when she finishes up her current task," said Winter. "But later, I find she's started another 'current task,' and another… She comes straight over after completing her homework for the day, and almost always winds up working until right before she should return to her dorm to turn in for the night, despite me calling an end to work a full two hours before that." She blew through pursed lips. "It would seem that I am going to have to reduce her hours, and make sure that she leaves before I do."

"I am sure her teammates would appreciate that," said Weiss, "especially Rain."

Winter chuckled softly. "Mr. Elric is indeed a good match for her. I truly hope they are able to work out. Of course, he will need to learn to be more assertive with _his_ wants, when it comes to her. And Ciel shall need to learn to be a bit more willing to bend. She cannot be the one to set the rules of their relationship all the time."

"She could stand to be more flexible," agreed Weiss. Her mind went back to her conversation with Sasame, and what Ruby's sister had said about Weiss being too rigid. She had speculated that Weiss was like that out of a desire to emulate Winter. That was indeed how Weiss saw her sister, firm, unbending, always acting with complete surety. But now, Weiss could see that Winter was indeed flexible at her core. She wasn't some military machine, abiding solely by the directives of her position. Weiss realized that Winter was far more layered and nuanced than the ridiculously shallow, idealized version Weiss had constructed inside her head.

"But enough of that, Weiss," said Winter. "We should get going, if we don't wish to be late. You _do_ still need to pick up Ms. Forrest after all."

"R-right," said Weiss, shuffling nervously. "A-are you sure about this. I mean..."

Winter smiled, the expression far warmer than normal for her. She rested a hand on Weiss' shoulder, giving it an encouraging squeeze. "I made all the arrangements, Weiss. Outside the restaurant, there will be little need to worry, as we can easily present your continued interaction as your supporting a victim of the White Fang's self-defeating aggression. Within the restaurant, we shall have complete privacy. I've taken care of security _and_ vetted the staff to ensure that the two of you will not have to hide your interactions."

"Thank you, Winter," said Weiss, genuine gratitude filling her voice.

More than simply taking Weiss and Ashley out to dinner, Winter was, in fact, working to create an opportunity for the pair of them to enjoy an actual date, without having to worry about the press, or anyone who might pass word along to Jacques about the true nature of the two girls' relationship.

"But are you sure about leaving us?" asked Weiss. "I mean...I don't want you to go through all this effort to just wind up dining alone."

Winter chuckled again. "Do not worry, Weiss. I assure you that I have made arrangements. I will _not_ be dining alone."

* * *

"So...what do you think?" asked Jaune.

Ruby beamed across the table at him. The expression was only made all the more adorable by the spots of red and yellow decorating her lips. "It's delicious," she declared.

"These guys weren't kidding when they said they have the best burgers in Vale," agreed Jaune, reaching across with his napkin to dab at Ruby's lips, eliciting a giggle from her.

With the arrival of Sunday, Jaune and Ruby had decided to go on another date. Much like their last date, Ruby had gone with her halter top and miniskirt combo, the first set of casual clothes Weiss had ever picked out with her, Jaune having admitted that his favorite amongst the sets of casual clothes she had accumulated in the months since coming to Beacon.

For his part, Jaune had gone with a nicer set of clothes than the ratty hoody and jeans he usually wore, opting for a sky-blue collared shirt, and a pair of khaki pants. It was fairly simple, but the shirt hugged the contours of his chest and torso fairly tightly, while the short sleeves bared a substantial portion of his arms, displaying the musculature he'd gained over the past few months of training, a sight that Ruby didn't mind in the slightest.

For this particular date, they'd decided to go with something more casual and off-the-cuff, playing things by ear basically. For the most part, that simply consisted of wandering through Vale, checking out whatever caught their eye. The one concrete thing they'd planned out in advance was lunch, Jaune having found a restaurant that claimed to serve the "best burger in all of Vale." He and Ruby decided it would be a good opportunity to see if the place lived up to its boast. The fact that they'd needed to make a reservation ahead of time, just to have a chance at _having_ a table on a Sunday afternoon, seemed to indicate that the place's claim to fame might not be mere hyperbole.

Ruby reached over picked up the milkshake she'd gotten with her burger, taking a sip from it. "They might have the best burgers, but I've tasted better milkshakes," she said, putting hers back.

"Really? I thought it was pretty good," said Jaune, glancing at his.

Ruby looked at her cup. "Maybe I'm just too sensitive," she said. She couldn't say that the shake tasted "bad" per-say, just...off...

"Huh?" mused Jaune. "Maybe they just made a mistake. Should we ask them to remake yours?"

"Nah, it's fine," said Ruby, setting her shake aside. "I don't want to make any extra work for them. This place is busy enough as it is."

"Well...if you're sure," said Jaune.

"I'm good," said Ruby, smiling cheerfully at him.

"Well then, guess we should move on soon," said Jaune.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "What would you like to do after this?"

"I...don't have anything in mind," Jaune admitted. "This was the big thing I thought about."

"Boys," scoffed Ruby playfully, "always thinking with their stomaches."

"I'm not gonna even try to contradict that," said Jaune with a chuckle.

"Well...we could do some shopping," said Ruby, eying him.

"Shopping...for what?" asked Jaune.

Ruby smirked slightly. "I'm just thinking that we might want to update your combat outfit," she said.

"What's wrong with my outfit?" asked Jaune.

"Well...don't get me wrong," said Ruby, "you _really_ rock the 'armored hobo' look."

"Oh...I think I get it," deadpanned Jaune. "But I really like that hoody."

"It has a cute bunny rabbit on it," Ruby pointed out, remembering the laugh she'd had the first time she'd seen Jaune remove his breastplate.

"It's Pumpkin Pete," countered Jaune. "He's a famous mascot."

"You could just have him put on your armor," Ruby pointed out. "That way, everyone can see it."

"N-no, I'm fine," said Jaune, blushing slightly. "Besides, then I'd have to pay copyright, or something like that."

Ruby smirked at him, then giggled. "But, seriously, you do look like some kid who just threw on some armor over his casual clothes. With the money you have now, you could definitely benefit from getting something more customized."

Jaune thought about it. Like Ruby, he didn't go through his stipend as quickly as Weiss or Pyrrha did (or how quickly he _assumed_ Weiss did in her case, given that her stipend was supplemented by a substantial allowance from her family), not using Dust or rounds in his fighting style. So a good chunk of his money wound up unspent. Sure, he dropped a fair bit on his comics, and the occasional impulse purchase. But the work that went into being a student of Beacon, particularly with the extra work he had to put in, kept him from spending too much time shopping, so he was spending far less than he ever had back home. On top of that, he had the bounty, granted for the successful completion of their mission to stop the pirates attacking the SDC's freighters. The end result was that there was a surprising amount of money residing in his account currently.

"I...guess I could look into it," said Jaune. Admittedly, he _was_ a little jealous of his friends and teammates, all of whom had unique and specialized outfits. As Ruby had said, he had, more or less, thrown some armor over his regular outfit and called it good. His parents and sisters' efforts to stymie his chances of becoming a Huntsman had kept him from investing much time or money into assembling an outfit suitable for someone in that line of work.

"We can check out a few places, after we get out," said Ruby. "Coco gave me some recommendations."

"Have you been...looking into this?" asked Jaune suspiciously.

"Maaaaaybeee..." drawled Ruby playfully.

Jaune sighed one last time, before deciding to just bear with it. Lifting his head, he called for the check.

* * *

A few minutes later, they were heading along the street, making their way towards the first store on Ruby's list. As they walked, they talked a little, but Jaune began to notice something.

Ruby's words were becoming a bit slurred. Sometimes, she trailed off, as though she was having difficulty finishing her thoughts. On top of that, she was beginning to sweat quite a bit. It was sunny out, but the weather was mild, and not all that hot. Jaune himself was barely sweating at all. As they continued to walk, he noticed that she was also beginning to breathe harder, as though she'd just gone through a period of heavy exercise.

"Ruby...you okay?" asked Jaune.

"I...I don't know," said Ruby, blinking a little. "I'm feeling a little queasy."

Jaune frowned, wondering what might have caused Ruby to feel like this. Then his mind went back to their lunch. "Was it the shake?" he asked.

"Th-that seems weird," said Ruby uneasily. "I only...I only had a little bit. Sure...it tasted strange...but..."

"I'm not an expert," admitted Jaune, "but the whole nausea and suddenly feeling hot bit does sound like it might be food poisoning."

"Maybe," said Ruby. "I don't really feel like I'll throw up...just...just a bit woozy."

"Should we find a place to sit down?" asked Jaune.

"That...sounds like...a good idea..." said Ruby, speaking slowly, feeling as though she were trying to find her thoughts in a fog.

Jaune looked down at his hand. "You know, maybe I could..." he said, already using Flow to channel his Aura into his hand, which glowed white.

"Th-that might help for a little," said Ruby.

"Then..." said Jaune, lifting his hand and preparing to press it against her forehead.

Abruptly, there was a sharp pricking sensation from the back of his neck. "Ow!" grunted Jaune, stumbling forward. Reaching back behind him, his hand closed around something cylindrical. Pulling it out of his neck, he brought it around to where he could see it, finding himself holding a dart. "That's...not good."

Sure enough, his vision blurred, and Jaune felt his limbs turn to lead. His body swayed, and he began to pitch forward.

"Jaune!" shouted Ruby, her eyes going wide, the shock of seeing her boyfriend shot and drugged sending her into crisis-mode, the adrenaline rushing through her system cutting through the haze that had been dulling her own mind. Now Ruby realized what had happened; the reason she felt off, the strange taste in her milkshake. _I've been drugged!_ The result had deadened her senses to the point that she hadn't even realized the threat, until Jaune had been struck with a dart, and begun to fall forward.

However, her realization occurred too late. A blur to her left caught her eye, and Ruby looked over just in time to see black car, a rather nondescript-looking sedan, screech to a stop next to the curb. The car's momentum carried it a couple meters past where she and Jaune had been. But that made little difference.

Ruby's left hand went to the handle of her sword. But, before she could close it around the handle, her wrist was grabbed from behind. Normally, that would have hardly stopped her, Ruby having been trained in numerous unarmed techniques, in addition to her sword skills. But her addled state kept her from responding properly, her arm feeling too weak for her to pull free of her attacker's grip.

Then a hand closed over her mouth. Reflexively, Ruby screamed, but the hand muffled the sound that came out. She lurched forward, trying to break away, but the hand gripping her wrist let go, transferring to wrap around her stomach, pinning her arms to her sides. While this was happening, the back door of the car in front of her opened, and a black-suited man, his eyes obscured by sunglasses, jumped out. Ruby didn't need a lifetime of training to sense ill-intent to know that this man was not some good samaritan, leaping to her rescue. As he rushed at her, Ruby lashed out with one leg, weakly trying to kick him. The move was as lethargic as everything else she tried now.

The man caught her leg by her calf, holding it up, then reaching down to pick up her other leg now, Ruby's two attackers now holding her suspended between them. Even as dull as her mind felt, Ruby didn't need to think too hard about what came next. She knew, even before the men began to carry her towards that open car door, what they were trying to do.

Desperate, Ruby began to thrash, twisting her body and kicking her legs as hard she could, while doing her hardest to scream through the hand clamped over her face. Her struggles made the men grunt and growl with exertion as they tried to keep her restrained, even as they continued to carry her towards the car door. However, Ruby's efforts weren't enough to break free, and a rush of fear ran through her. _Someone! Help! Please!_

* * *

**Well, at least I didn't suggest Jaune get a haircut.**

**Things are getting tricky on my end. I'm feeling pretty rundown lately, mainly because I keep getting asked to come in for extra hours at work. On one hand, overtime money is overtime money. On the other, it's hard to find the energy to write after a 9-hour+ day. I'm also beginning to run-out of pre-edited chapters (I've written a lot more, and am around sixty-chapters ahead of where we are now), but it's kinda the same problem. Oh well...nothing to do but soldier on.**


	99. Chapter 99

**Chapter 99:**

_I feel...so heavy..._ Jaune blinked, his vision blurring. _Why am I lying down?_

His face was resting against the sun-warmed concrete, leaving him with a tilted view of the world. Right now, most of what he was seeing consisted of feet and moving shadows. Up ahead, he could see the wheels of a car of some kind. Moving his head seemed impossible, even moving just his eyes was taking an absurd amount of effort. His entire body just wanted to go to sleep. Everything was too much work. But something was keeping him awake.

His gaze rising, Jaune saw it. There was Ruby, suspended between two black-suited men, one having wrapped his arm around her torso to pin her arms, while keeping a hand clamped firmly over her mouth. The other was wrestling with her legs. Ruby thrashed and kicked furiously, her eyes wide with panic, while muffled screams escaped from between the fingers of the hand over her mouth. Her body and spine undulated as she tried to shriek for help.

_They're...taking her,_ thought Jaune, his mind fighting against the haze.

His ears were filled with a dull throbbing sound, but he was still just barely able to hear Ruby's cries...and other voices.

"Dammit! Why's she fighting so hard?"

"She must not've gotten the full dose!"

"Just get her in the car! We can inject her with more, if we have to!"

"I dunno, I kinda like 'em feisty. The boss said we get to play with her first."

"Then get her in the car already, idiot!"

_I can't let them,_ thought Jaune, groaning, his limbs twitching as he fought furiously to move them. _I won't let them take her. I won't let them hurt her._

His mind went back to a couple of weeks ago, when he'd come to, sitting bound to a chair in the middle of an abandoned building, Cinder on his scroll, calling Ruby, threatening him to draw her out. Ruby had shown up without hesitation, fought against Cinder and her lackeys, all to save him. Now, here she was, about to be carried off by someone's goons, goons who weren't going to just stop at kidnapping her, if their words were any indicator.

_I need to...I need to get up!_ Jaune wanted to, but the haze was threatening to claim him entirely. He couldn't afford to pass out here. Inhaling as deeply as he could, Jaune turned his focus inward, feeling his Aura. The feeling was muted, but still present. _Kyo said I have the power to enhance my own healing ability. I need to do that..._now_!_

Taking another breath, Jaune condensed his Aura inward, then Projected it through his body. Its power flooded through his limbs, carrying his desire to sear the torpor from his system. His entire body flushed hot, Jaune feeling as though he was burning up from inside. But it was working. His vision snapped back into clarity. His limbs no longer felt as though they weighed tons each. Getting his arms under himself, Jaune pushed himself up, rising to his knees, getting his feet under him.

Up ahead, he could see that Ruby's captors were maneuvering her into the backseat of their car. The one holding Ruby's mouth and arms was going in first, while the other occupied himself by keeping her legs pinned together.

With an angry shout, Jaune leapt at the man holding Ruby's legs. There was no time for strategies, no chance to worry about technique. At the moment, action was the only thing that mattered. He caught the man in a fierce tackle, bowling him over. It took an extra second for the man to realize he needed to let go of Ruby's legs, so Jaune's tackle resulted in Ruby being pulled halfway back out of the car.

Having her legs freed encouraged Ruby to renew her struggles with a vigor. Her other assailant was pulled off-balance by the sudden weight from the other side, and was now struggling to keep hold of her, while also trying to find the leverage he needed to pull her the rest of the way into the backseat by himself. He didn't dare let go of her arms.

"Dammit! Hurry up!" shouted the driver. "The bystanders are gonna start chipping in any second now!"

This had been supposed to be a quick grab. Ruby's unexpected struggling had prolonged things more than they'd expected. There were other people on the street. The suddenness of the kidnapping attempt, combined with the fact that they had no relation to Ruby and Jaune, had prompted them to freeze in place. However, their brains would soon catch up to what was happening, and somebody would step in.

Jaune slammed his opponent against the ground, pushing off as quickly as he could, lunging back towards Ruby.

"No you don't!" growled her other captor, preparing for the tug-of-war that was sure to ensue when Jaune got his hands on Ruby's legs.

But pulling Ruby free wasn't on Jaune's mind. Instead, he pressed his hand, glowing white with his Aura, against her calf, Projecting his Aura into her, willing it to do for her, what it had done for him.

Jaune wasn't prepared when a heavy fist collided with the side of his head, knocking him right over. The man Jaune had tackled had wasted no time getting back to his feet, not even stunned, given that Jaune hadn't so much as attacked him as knocked him down. Now the man went on the attack, throwing another punch. Jaune tried to block, but was too slow, finding his head snapped to the side again as he was knocked over.

"Think you can beat me, you runt!" shouted the man, aiming a kick at the downed boy.

"Forget him! Help me get the bitch inside!" shouted the other man from the backseat.

Ruby's body jolted, as though Jaune had run an electric current through her. Her spine arched, and her eyes went wide, an intense scream escaping from her lips, though that too was muffled by the hand over her mouth. All at once, the lethargy her own limbs were suffering from was burned away. A sharp, searing pain flashed through her. But the pain brought clarity. Ruby latched onto that, and went into action.

Abruptly, a cloud of red petals exploded out from her shoulders, filling the backseat area, and spilling over into the front as well.

"What the hell!" exclaimed the driver.

"I thought she couldn't-!" the one restraining Ruby began to shout.

His sentence went unfinished, as Ruby triggered her technique, countless miniature thunder cracks filling the car's interior, as though someone had set off a string of firecrackers. Crackling arcs of electricity blasted through Ruby's attacker and the driver, causing both men to spasm in pain, the one holding Ruby letting her go.

Ruby knew she didn't have much time to work with. Immediately, she lurched into motion, throwing herself forward to get her legs under her, while her Aura produced more petals, which swirled together around her neck and shoulders to form her cloak and hood, her sudden motion forward bringing her hood up and over her head.

"Shit!" exclaimed the man who'd punched Jaune, looking up to see Ruby launch herself out of the car, leading with a powerful kick from one leg that knocked him back away.

Ruby landed on her feet, getting her bearings for a second. Glancing over, she saw Jaune on the ground, groaning as he tried to get up again.

"R-Ruby..." he grunted, looking up at her.

"We need to get out of here," said Ruby, bending down to offer him a hand, before her body lurched slightly.

"Ruby...!" Jaune exclaimed, feeling the weakness from before threatening to overcome him. _But I thought I healed..._ Then he noticed something else. Ruby was bleeding.

It wasn't coming from any wound on her body. But blood was trickling down from the corners of Ruby's mouth, two more streams flowed from her nostrils, while more blood emerged from below her eyes and ran out her ears. A painful, tingling sensation ran through her body. Her cloak dissolved back into petals, and Ruby transitioned from bending over to falling over, causing her to collapse directly onto Jaune, whose own body gave out from the weight, despite his desire to catch her and help her back up. The two of them collapsed back onto the pavement, barely able to move.

"What the hell was that?" asked the man Ruby had kicked, getting back to his feet.

There was a cough from inside the car. "D-doesn't matter...Grab the bitch! We need to get out of here!"

"R-Ruby," groaned Jaune, shifting, trying to get ahold of her. His arms could barely move. Through his fading vision, he saw the suited man, bending down, reaching for Ruby. _Come on...one more time! I won't let them take her!_ If nothing else, he'd grab onto Ruby, and make sure nobody could take her away from him. But his arms weren't responding fast enough. _I'm gonna lose her!_

Then a blur rushed in from beyond Jaune's field of view, a fist colliding with the suited man's jaw, the punch knocking him completely off his feet, and sending him sprawling.

"Just what do you think you are doing to our friends?" demanded a familiar voice, thrumming with anger.

Rain Elric stood over the prone pair, his right arm raised for another punch. He might not have had his weapon with him at the moment, but he was prepared for a fight. The sight of a student-Huntsman that hadn't been incapacitated was enough for the would-be kidnappers.

"Shit!" shouted the driver. "Let's get out of here!"

There was no time for the man in the backseat to even try and close the door, the driver stamping down on the gas pedal, the car pulling away from the curb with an angry screech from its tires. The engine roared as it began to speed off down the road. However, the fleeing kidnappers found the way ahead of them blocked.

Ciel stood in the middle of the road, her pata-sword already equipped on her left arm. A tap of her finger against the glowing screen of the watch-face, now set into the gauntlet, turned the screen white. Ciel raised her sword, standing firm against the vehicle threatening to run her down.

The car stopped cold, its front end crumpling against the hemispherical barrier of hard-light that appeared between it and Ciel. The driver screamed, his head snapping forward, before his face slammed into the exploding airbags. The passenger, who hadn't had a chance to strap himself in, was slammed against the back of the front seat. The car rocked forward, its rear wheels lifting off the road for a few seconds, before slamming back down. The whole scene went strangely quiet, a hiss of steam escaping from beneath the car's hood.

Her blue eyes blazing with anger, Ciel stepped around the front of the car, staring in through the now-broken driver's-side window. "I would say that you are under arrest, but that's going to have to come later," she said, glaring at the unconscious men in the vehicle.

She looked up to see the man Rain had punched groaning on the ground, while Rain tended to Jaune and Ruby. Ciel quickly walked over to the man, who saw her coming and tried to get back up. Ciel was already tapping the screen on her gauntlet again, turning it yellow. When she came into reach, she didn't even hesitate, jabbing the man lightly with the tip of her sword. The man's body lurched as yellow arcs of electricity crawled over his body, prompting his limbs to spasm wildly. Ciel disengaged, and the man slumped bonelessly to the ground, not moving again.

"The attackers have been secured," said Ciel, turning to Rain. "I've contacted Beacon already, and a bullhead has been dispatched. Reinforcements should be arriving momentarily." She walked over to see Ruby and Jaune's condition for herself. "How are they?"

"They will be all right...I think," said Rain, a tiny bit of hesitation in his voice. "I have no idea what drugs were used on them. But it does not seem to be anything lethal."

"They should be able to handle the rest at Beacon's infirmary," said Ciel.

"The infirmary...?" said Rain, confused. "But the hospital is closer, is it not?"

"That might be true, but something tells me they will be safer at the infirmary," said Ciel, casting her gaze over the unconscious attackers.

There was something about the way they were dressed, the nondescript suits and equally-nondescript car; the impressive speed of the kidnapping attempt, which was only thwarted by Jaune's unexpected recovery. This wasn't an average kidnapping attempt, and Ciel felt that Jaune and Ruby would be more secure if they were brought to Beacon for treatment, rather than one of Vale's hospitals.

On the ground, both Jaune and Ruby were fading fast. Jaune, using the last of his strength, guided by his flagging consciousness, managed to wrap his arms around Ruby, holding her tight against himself. _I've got you,_ was his final thought as unconsciousness claimed him. _I won't let anyone take you._

The last thing he heard was the faint sound of a bullhead's engines.

* * *

The Man looked up from his work at the sound of his scroll ringing. Picking it up, he answered the call, bringing the device to his ear. "Yes?"

"_Our first operation was a failure,_" said the woman on the other end of the line. "_The target remains at large._"

"Disappointing," mused the Man.

"_I warned you that there was a high chance of failure,_" replied his cohort. "_This was a slapdash operation at best. Had we more time to prepare..._"

"If you say so, then there's no helping it," said the Man, adjusting his glasses. "I had thought this a fine opportunity, when you reported it to me."

"_Your requirement that she be taken alive complicates matters,_" replied the woman. "_I am still of the opinion that we should simply eliminate her, and dispose of the evidence._"

"We cannot afford to cut off a potential source of information," countered the Man. "If she really is an infiltrator on behalf of the Mibu, we need to learn what she knows, and determine what their plans are."

"_Securing her will definitely be more difficult now. Ozpin will be aware that she is being targeted, and take measures to protect her._"

"That fool..." grumbled the man. "All he seems to care about is people's combat potential. He _must_ know about that girl's affiliation, yet he permits a security risk like her to remain at Beacon."

"_I'm sure he has his own reasons. He's difficult to understand, but not naive._"

"How did the operation go wrong?"

"_Thanks to the short notice, the agents I requisitioned were, to be frank, not the best. I made certain…allowances…to ensure their full obedience. It would have been helpful for interrogation purposes as well. Aside from that, the girl seems to have not taken the full dose of the drug we applied. I believe she might have noticed it in her drink._"

"You told me that it was tasteless."

"_To most people. Perhaps she has advanced training in that area._

"_In any case, her companion was also with her. I am told that he was tranquilized, per the plan. But he somehow managed to fight off the effects and help the target do the same. Between the two of them, they were able to hold off their attackers just long enough for a pair of visiting students from Atlas, who happened to be in the vicinity, to provide aid. After that, our agents were subdued and captured, while the target and her companion were extracted by a bullhead._"

"Remind me why you didn't just tranquilize them both. Going through the trouble of drugging her through her food seems unnecessarily convoluted."

"_With her training, the girl likely would have sensed being targeted, and could have avoided any shots we took. A drugged milkshake carries no bloodlust or intent. However, even _that_ doesn't seem to have worked as planned, and things only snowballed out of control from there._"

The man hummed softly to himself, scratching his chin. "It sounds just as much like bad luck as anything else."

"_Perhaps. A daylight abduction, in the open, was bound to be risky. It's unfortunate that there were two other students close enough to notice the commotion and take action._"

"You said our agents were captured. Have you...?"

"_Already done._"

"Good enough, for now. Take what you have learned, and try to determine more about the target's strengths and weaknesses."

"_Of course._"

"Farewell for now."

"_I will contact you, when I have more information._"

The woman hung up, and the Man slowly lowered his scroll back down onto the desk. Bringing his hands to his head, he massaged his temples. "What a disappointment."

* * *

Jaune blinked slowly, his head throbbing as his eyes opened. He found himself staring up at a darkened ceiling. He was lying on a bed somewhere, a light sheet over him. His head was pounding, so it was hard to take in too many details of his surroundings. However, the very first thing he was truly conscious of was that the weight he'd had on top of him, when he'd passed out, was no longer there.

"R-Ruby...!" he groaned, struggling to sit up, though his limbs continued to refuse to respond properly to his brain's command.

"She's here," said a familiar voice in a gentle tone. "She's safe."

A shadow fell over Jaune, and he found himself looking into a familiar pair of Crimson Eyes, which glowed faintly in the dark room, making them stand out starkly. "K-Kyo...?"

"Yes," replied Kyo. "You're in Beacon's infirmary. You can't see her right now, but Ruby-chan is in the bed next to yours."

Kyo sat down in the chair beside Jaune's bed, smiling at him. "Thank you for protecting my sister. I'm glad you were there for her."

"I...I..." Jaune twitched, trying to move his head to look, and confirm Ruby's safety for himself.

Kyo reached over and used his hand to carefully turn Jaune's head for him, allowing Jaune to see Ruby's unconscious form on the next bed over. She looked to be in worse condition, a mask resting over her face, and an IV hooked up to her arm.

Kyo turned Jaune's head again, so that he was looking up once more. "W-why...I thought I...I thought..."

"You thought you healed her?" Kyo guessed. "...And yourself as well?"

Jaune nodded weakly.

Kyo breathed out slowly, giving Jaune a rueful smile. "Let me guess. You used your healing technique and ability to restore your strength. However, before long, you found yourself succumbing to the drug again."

"Y-yeah," replied Jaune.

Kyo patted Jaune's shoulder. "Your healing skills are still extremely basic. Physical harm is one thing. What your technique did was heal the _symptoms_ of your drugging, temporarily restoring your body's functions. Actually _removing_ the drug would require a more advanced technique, one that Sasame can hopefully teach you, when she arrives for the festival. Because the drug remained in your system, you soon succumbed again. When you used your technique on Ruby-chan, it was the same. She was able to fight for a little, before she too began to succumb."

"B-but why is she...so much worse?" asked Jaune.

Kyo's smile vanished, and the look he gave Jaune was frighteningly sober. "As much as it pains me to say this...that is _your_ doing, Jaune-kun."

The bottom dropped out of Jaune's stomach, and he suddenly felt as though it was hard to breathe. "Wha-what?!"

Kyo sighed. "In your panicked rush to give Ruby-chan a fighting chance, you flushed your Aura through her too strongly. You forgot the basic tenets of the Healing Arts, namely that you cannot simply channel your Aura into your patient recklessly. It requires a gentle touch.

"As a result, even as it temporarily purged the symptoms of the drug from her body, your Aura was also received as an _attack_ on Ruby-chan's body, resulting in extensive, if mild, internal damage, particularly to her capillaries. It is nothing life-threatening, but enough to cause her to collapse quite quickly after exerting herself."

"I...I hurt...her..." Jaune's mouth worked and tears began to leak from his eyes. "I hurt Ruby...!"

"In some ways it was unavoidable," said Kyo, giving Jaune's shoulder an encouraging squeeze. "Even after healing yourself, you were not in the best shape to control and channel your Aura into the act of healing. The situation itself was quite frantic as well, so Ruby-chan was not in the best condition to _receive_ your Aura either."

"But I still hurt her," said Jaune.

"Yes, you did," agreed Kyo. "However, even if that was the outcome, it was _also_ the outcome that your efforts were what saved her as well. You bought the two of you _just_ enough time for Soleil-san and Elric-san to intervene and subdue your attackers. Ruby-chan is hurt now, but she _will_ recover. Even if she was injured as a result, you still _saved_ her, Jaune-kun. Please don't lose sight of that."

Kyo's words were encouraging, but they didn't do much to assuage the miserable feeling Jaune was experiencing. He averted his eyes, unable to meet the gaze of Ruby's brother.

"Jaune-kun..." Kyo continued, "...there's no helping that you're still a novice. You did the best you could, under the circumstances. I know Ruby-chan doesn't hold it against you. You gave her a chance to fight back."

"I...I guess," said Jaune halfheartedly.

Kyo's eyes narrowed. "Jaune-kun...do you love Ruby-chan?"

"I..." Jaune blinked slowly, his mind reeling at the question. It was something he'd been afraid to ask himself. Was he romantically attracted to Ruby? Absolutely. Did he care deeply for her? Beyond a shadow of a doubt.

_Do I love her?_ The thought made him reflect back on all the feelings he'd experienced, going all the way back to his very first meeting with Ruby, when she'd been nothing more than a kind girl who'd alleviated his motion sickness. His mind rushed through all the time they'd spent together, all the effort and care Ruby had poured into helping him become stronger, become someone actually worthy of being at Beacon. He thought of how he'd become addicted to her presence, of how the mere sight of her smiling face made it worth getting up every morning to face the day. The thought of staying by her side had been a driving force behind his desire to get stronger. Before he'd realized it, she'd become the most important person in his life.

"I do," said Jaune, surprising _himself_ with how firm his own voice sounded.

"I thought as much," said Kyo.

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "And what good has that done?" he growled.

"What do you mean?" asked Kyo.

"This whole relationship...it isn't balanced," said Jaune. "I...It...It's supposed to be give and take, right? But all I've done is _take_. I've taken her time, her energy, her health..."

Frustration welled up inside him. Ruby had rescued him during the initiation, sacrificing precious Aura to keep him from being splattered across the Emerald Forest like a rotten fruit. She'd given up so much time, hours that she could have devoted to her own training, all for the sake of helping a reckless novice like him become strong enough to not get himself killed. And now, he'd taken that further than ever before...he'd hurt her, actually injured her.

"Jaune-kun," said Kyo firmly, "I advise you to listen carefully."

Jaune swallowed nervously at the steel he heard in Kyo's voice.

"You say you've only taken from Ruby-chan, but I _know_ that's not the case," said Kyo. "Do not underestimate the things you've given her."

Jaune thought back to their conversation, shortly after the fight with Cinder, Ruby reminding Jaune how he'd given her the courage to go through with the initiation, despite being faced with the prospect of having to go to school in the same class as Yang.

"Martial strength is one thing," said Kyo. "It will be some time, before you can properly take your place as Ruby-chan's equal on the battlefield. But that is not the only kind of support that she needs, nor is it the only kind that you provide. You might not yet be a shield protecting her. But you are, without a doubt, a pillar supporting her; her most-valued, precious, cherished person. Just as you love Ruby-chan, I can tell that she loves you."

"R-really..." said Jaune, sniffing, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. "Sh-she does...?"

"She does," Kyo assured him. "She loves you, Jaune-kun. And despite how little you might think of yourself at times, as her brother I can say, without a doubt, that you are more than worthy of her love."

Despite the pain he felt at having hurt Ruby, Jaune couldn't help but feel his heart soar at those words.

"And so," said Kyo, tightening his grip on Jaune's shoulder again, "you should also know that such feelings come with the potential for inflicting terrible harm.

"You inflicted injuries on Ruby-chan's body, yes. You made a mistake. Such mistakes are a natural course in a relationship, especially one between two such exceptional people as you. This will not be the last time either, I'm sure.

"However, you also need to be aware that, if you try to turn away from this, be it out of guilt or a misplaced desire to protect her, you will do her far greater harm, even if the signs of it will not be visible. She _needs_ you, Jaune-kun. She needs your care and support.

"And so, as Ruby-chan's brother, I implore you not to give up; not on her...and _definitely_ not on yourself."

Jaune was silent for a moment, his mind going through all the things Kyo had told him. "I...I won't," he said finally.

Kyo let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad," he said. "I trust your heart, your love, and your strength of character, Jaune-kun. You are fully-deserving of her love, just as she is privileged to have yours."

"I feel like it's the other way around," said Jaune.

"That is also true," agreed Kyo with a soft laugh. "You are both privileged to have met. In my homeland, we call such an incidence _enishi_, what you might call destiny; a chance meeting, a crossing of paths."

"So we were meant to fall in love?" asked Jaune.

Kyo chuckled. "Not so much that," he said. "I would say that you were meant to meet, and find something with each other that you were lacking before. Now, it is up to you to use your choices to bind your fates together. Enishi brought you together. What you make of it is up to you."

"I like the sound of that," said Jaune, his voice getting weaker.

"Good," said Kyo. "Get some more rest. The drug isn't fully out of your system. The doctor proscribed rest, and nothing more."

"And Ruby?"

"The same," said Kyo. "Because of her injuries, her recovery will take a little longer." His smile widened. "Though maybe not so much longer, as you will be able to help, once you yourself have recovered."

Jaune nodded, his heart fluttering worriedly at slipping off, after what had happened.

"I will remain by your sides," said Kyo. His expression darkened, and Jaune saw a look of pure conviction that would have reduced him to a gibbering mess, had Kyo's anger been directed at him. "Rest assured, if anyone approaches you and Ruby-chan with malice, I shall wipe them from existence." He relaxed a little. "Staying out of Ruby-chan's battles is one thing, but allowing someone to come after her while she's recovering from injury is another…for now."

"Wha-what about Amber?" asked Jaune.

Kyo's expression softened. "Amber-san understands," he said. "She was worried too. I know she's happy to give up a little bit of freedom for the assurance of Ruby-chan's safe recovery." He brought his hand to Jaune's forehead. "No more questions. Rest."

Jaune sighed, letting his eyes drift closed. His thoughts slipped silently away.

* * *

"Where is he!? Where is that blonde worm!?"

"Yang! Please stop!"

"Not a chance! That bastard hurt Ruby! After everything she's done for him, he had the gall to go and _injure_ her? I'll snuff that ungrateful noodle like a candle!"

"It was an accident, nothing more. There was no intention behind it."

"Not good enough!"

"Pyrrha!"

Yang suddenly lurched to a halt, her upper body jerking backwards as the bracelets around her wrists, the compacted form of Ember Celica, glowed black, freezing in place, then pulling back, Pyrrha using her Semblance to keep Yang from advancing forward.

"Let...me...go..." growled Yang, her Crimson Eyes shining with rage.

"You're _not_ going anywhere," said Pyrrha. "We aren't going to let you hurt Jaune."

Yang growled, struggling against the whole of Pyrrha's Semblance. She strained her anger feeding her extra power as she pulled forward another step.

Then Ren was in front of her. His hands blurred as he struck with a series of jabs with the first two fingers of his hands extended, striking several points across Yang's body. Abruptly, Yang felt her limbs give out, going numb and tingly. Her legs went out from under her, and she dropped to the ground, not even able to use her arms to push herself into a sitting position.

"What did you do, Ren?" asked Weiss, staring at the prone Yang in shock.

"Pressure points," said Ren. "I figured that learning this might be a helpful way to keep Nora in check at times. I didn't think I would need to use it on Yang."

"Me neither," agreed Blake, coming to stand next to her leader, while looking disappointedly down at her partner. "Of course, I'm also surprised by Yang. I thought she'd grown out of her 'Overprotective-Big-Sister' phase."

Yang growled angrily from the floor.

"I guess saying that Jaune accidentally hurt Ruby was maybe not the best way to phrase what he did," said Pyrrha.

"Do we have a better way?" asked Weiss.

Pyrrha thought it over for a moment, then shrugged. "I'm having trouble thinking of a more tactful way to put it." The only other option she could have thought of was omitting some of the truth, and simply leaving it at "Ruby was injured". That might have worked. But, had Yang found out that the truth was kept from her (which was a substantial possibility) would have only been even more angered, especially by the feeling of her teammates conspiring to keep her in the dark, however warranted such a conspiracy might have been.

"So...what actually happened?" asked Nora, a bit confused.

"From the sound of things, Jaune tried to use his healing ability to alleviate the effects of Ruby's drugging," said Ren. "But he didn't do it properly, so he wound up injuring her in the process. From the sound of things, Ruby's injuries aren't severe, and his actions did help her to fight back, which was what allowed Ciel and Rain to intervene."

"So Jaune saved Ruby," said Nora. "He was just...kinda messy about it."

"That's one way to put it," said Blake.

"In any case, Ruby wouldn't forgive you for hurting Jaune over this," said Ren, looking down at Yang with a severe look.

"Don't care," growled Yang, trying to lift her head off the floor. "I was right about that bastard the first time. He's a threat to Ruby. She put her trust in him, and look where that's gotten her."

"From the sound of things, her trust in him is what saved her," said Rain, he and Ciel coming up behind the others. Penny had already gone ahead to visit Ruby at the infirmary, with Piper accompanying her.

"What do you mean?" asked Pyrrha. "Not that I doubt that Ruby was right to trust Jaune, but..."

"Jaune was hit with a tranquilizer dart that should have knocked him unconscious within a minute," said Ciel, going over the report of the incident on her scroll. "His application of his Semblance…or whatever it is…allowed him to fight off the effects, which enabled him to hinder Ruby's attackers, while also doing the same for Ruby herself. This allowed Ruby to fight back briefly, before she succumbed to the drug she'd ingested, and the injuries that Jaune accidentally inflicted in the process. Because of that, we were able to arrive on the scene in time to help and capture the attackers."

"Sure was lucky you were so close," noted Blake wryly.

Ciel and Rain both blushed lightly. "We were on a date of our own," said Rain. "It _was_ chance that we happened to be in the area, and heard the commotion."

"Several bystanders were also about to intervene, so it's unlikely that the attempted abduction would have been successful," said Ciel. "However, it's also more likely that the culprits would have gotten away."

"In any case, things seem to be well enough," said Rain. "The official report said that Ruby's injuries are not life-threatening, or even severely inhibiting. She should recover from them quickly"

"Even more quickly, if Jaune can use his Semblance on her properly, once _he_ recovers," noted Ciel.

"Not a chance!" snapped Yang, still on the floor. "That bastard isn't going to touch Ruby again, if I have anything to say about it!"

"You don't," said Ren, glaring down at Yang. "If you can't behave yourself, then I won't allow you to visit Ruby at the infirmary, and you will have to wait at the dorm, until the rest of us get back." The last thing they needed was for Yang's lapse to destroy the relationship she and Ruby had been building up, after they'd reconciled. Ruby had made it clear there wouldn't be any second chances after all.

Yang growled.

"I've been studying," said Ren severely, holding up a finger. "I hit points, and utilized my Aura to stun your limbs for a few minutes. With the proper technique, however, I can render you completely immobile for multiple _hours_. Do _not_ try my patience right now."

"Besides, you can't possibly beat up Jaune as bad as he's probably beating himself up, right now," added Pyrrha. "He has to be mortified by what he did to Ruby."

"It certainly wasn't intentional, and he did more good than harm, in the end," added Weiss.

"So lay off the noodle," finished Nora.

"Jaune isn't much of a noodle anymore," said Pyrrha, looking at Nora.

"He has indeed developed a...rather impressive figure," added Weiss, her cheeks turning pink.

"Oooh!" squealed Nora, a sly grin on her face. "Someone's been watching. Does Ruby have competition? Thinking of sharing Jaune with Ashley, maybe?"

"Absolutely not!" barked Weiss, glaring at Nora.

Pyrrha was blushing too. "One tends to notice such things, when one shares a room with someone. We've gotten to see him with his shirt off fairly often."

Pyrrha and Weiss' friends snickered softly.

"Are you gonna let me up or what?" demanded Yang from below.

"That depends," said Ren, returning his gaze to her. "Are you going to behave yourself?"

Yang was silent for a moment. "Yes," she said finally.

Ren sighed softly. "Nora, Blake, can you hold her up?"

"Sure thing," said Nora. She and Blake hefted Yang up by her arms, suspending her between them.

Ren took a deep breath, sinking into a stance, thing he abruptly lashed out with another succession of finger-strikes. Yang yelped, feeling flooding back into her limbs, along with a painful tingling that made her feel as though they'd had circulation cut off for a while. Still, when Nora and Blake released her, she was able to remain upright with out assistance, gently massaging her upper arms and shoulders, before shaking out her legs.

Behind Yang, Pyrrha and Weiss watched her warily, Pyrrha ready to deploy her Semblance again, should Yang reveal herself to have been lying to get Ren to let her up again. Yang's eyes had returned to their normal hue, but her expression remained rather angry.

"Now that that's over with, let's go see how they're doing," said Weiss. "At the very least, I hope they'll recover by tomorrow, it wouldn't do for them to miss too much class because of this."

"That's our Weiss, always with her priorities in place," said Blake wryly.

"Geez, your leader was almost kidnapped, and you're worried about her missing class?" groused Nora.

"W-well, it's a valid concern," countered Weiss. "Missing too much class is always a bad thing, no matter what the reason."

"It is indeed a valid concern," said Ciel. "This attack could be an attempt to negatively affect Ruby's Grade Point Average."

"That would be a rather...drastic...way to go about it," said Rain hesitantly. "At this point, we can only grasp at the reasoning behind this event."

RYNB, Weiss, and Pyrrha all traded uneasy glances, thinking back to the events of the past few months, including the conspiracy against Beacon and Vale that they had managed to derail. Given what they'd been involved with, it wasn't out of left field that someone had tried to abduct Ruby. However, they had been led to believe that the conspiracy had been dealt with.

Granted, members of the White Fang were still at large. But Blake had informed everyone that Sienna Khan herself was suing for peace with Ozpin. On top of that, Ciel's report had revealed that all of the attackers were human. They couldn't quite rule out Torchwick's involvement. But that didn't seem right in this situation either.

Someone was after Ruby. But they were completely unsure of who and why.

* * *

Unfortunately, Jaune and Ruby were both still resting, when the group reached the infirmary, which resulted in them being politely turned away at the reception area. They were given the encouraging news that Ruby's condition was stable, and she was recovering. However, she'd been out for most of the day, waiting for the drugs to metabolize out of her system. Her Aura was already beginning to mend her injuries. All Ruby really needed was time.

Ruby and Jaune's friends were disappointed, and a little worried. The nurse at the desk informed them that Kyo was staying with and watching over the pair, and had promised to ensure their safety. Of course, that confused Ruby's friends a little, as this was the same Kyo who'd actively held them _back_ from helping Ruby, when she'd been fighting Cinder's group. However, since Ruby was incapacitated, and wasn't actively fighting, this wasn't something that Kyo considered training.

In the end, all they could do was wait for Ruby to recover on her own...with a little help.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" asked Jaune, hovering worriedly over Ruby.

Looking down on her made his stomach twist. The doctor had removed her mask and IV. Her skin was no longer so pale, and the bruising from the internal bleeding had faded, not that there had been much to begin with. But looking at her was another reminder that this was _his_ fault, a result of his weakness and carelessness.

"The doctor has pronounced you fully-recovered," said Kyo. "The tranquilizer has run its course, so you are not inhibited in any fashion. Now all you need to do is what you have done before."

"B-but...wha-what if I hurt her again?" asked Jaune, trembling.

"You've already healed her multiple times," Kyo pointed out. "Only _once_ have you injured her as a consequence, in an extremely frantic situation, under considerable duress, when you were further inhibited by your own drugging. This is as ideal a set of circumstances as we could wish for, so you should have no trouble."

"But still..." Jaune looked at his hands, which shook furiously.

"You need to control your fear," said Kyo. "Fear is a defensive emotion, one that signals a sense of threat. If your fear is in your Aura, when you send it into her, it will be a defensive action, one that her body will treat as an attack."

"But how do I...?" Jaune lowered his head. "All I can think about is what could happen if I mess it up again."

"That's actually quite simple," said Kyo. "You love her, right?"

"I do," agreed Jaune.

"You want to see her get better?"

"More than anything."

Kyo patted Jaune's shoulder. "Instead of worrying over whether or not you're doing it right, focus on those feelings, on your love for Ruby-chan, and your desire to see her get better. Focus completely on those, and there is no way your Aura could ever do her harm."

"I...I'll try," said Jaune. He closed his eyes, calling up the warm feeling that filled him when he saw Ruby, when he talked to her, when he held her, when he kissed her...

It made things much easier. His shaking subsided, and the Aura in his hands took on that warm quality that seemed to be characteristic of the healing arts. But there remained a tiny, niggling doubt in the back of his mind. What if he hurt her again?

"Jaune..."

Jaune's eyes snapped open, and he found his blue eyes meeting Ruby's silver. The sight of them was indescribably beautiful. She was smiling weakly up at him, almost seeming to be privy to his thoughts and worries. So she showed him a look of complete trust.

"Ruby," gasped Jaune, relief flooding through him at the sight of her waking up.

"I know you can do it," she said.

"A-are you sure?" asked Jaune.

"I trust you," said Ruby with complete certainty. "And I love you too."

Jaune sniffed, tears seeping from his eyes.

Behind Jaune, Kyo's smile widened. "You know, you don't necessarily need to use your hands, in this situation."

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune, looking back at Ruby's brother.

"Well, your hands are generally for when you want to focus your work to a specific location," explained Kyo. "There is more nuance to it, depending on which of the Healing Arts you are using. But Sasame can fill you in on that. For a more general healing, like this, any physical contact would do...like say...a kiss."

"So I should...?" said Jaune, his eyes widening.

"Focus your Aura into your lips, and lay one on her," said Kyo cheerfully.

Jaune blushed furiously at the thought. He had to admit it sounded appealing though.

He just wished that he could do something about the awkwardness of the situation, given that it was Ruby's _brother_ encouraging him to make out with her.

Ruby giggled weakly below him, prompting Jaune to look down at her. "I like the sound of that," said Ruby, giving him a small grin. "So give me a kiss to make it all better."

Jaune found himself smiling back. "You know...I think I can do that."

* * *

**Okay, so that was a cheesy way to end the chapter, I'll admit.**


	100. Chapter 100

**Chapter 100:**

It was a bit strange, channeling his Aura into his lips, given it was a part of his body that he wouldn't ever use for attack or defense. So it felt both silly and awkward. But those feelings fell away as Jaune lowered himself down over Ruby, and pressed his lips to hers. His Aura spread out across her body in a wave of white and warmth, washing away the lingering vestiges of pain in Ruby's body, her strength returning to her limbs.

The light subsided, and Ruby felt as good as new, better than that even, though that was mostly due to the fact that, even though the contact had already served its purpose, Jaune's lips were still pressed against hers. Ruby's hands slowly made their way up to tangle in the hair at the back of his head, in order to pull him in closer. Jaune made no effort to resist, slipping an arm around under Ruby's shoulders to lift her up off the bed slightly, allowing them to deepen the kiss even more.

Neither of them heard the faint click of the door as Kyo took his leave, allowing them to have their moment in privacy. He didn't go far, maintaining his vigil from the hallway, allowing them to enjoy some peace for a little while longer.

Finally, the two of them pulled apart, their eyes remaining locked together. Jaune raised his free hand up and gently cupped Ruby's cheek. "I love you," he said.

"And I love you," Ruby replied.

They kissed again...and again...and another time. Finally, after more than a dozen kisses later, they were sated. Jaune allowed Ruby to lay back down, and she released him with a happy sigh. Ruby slumped back against the pillow, letting out a long breath. Jaune stayed beside her, holding her hand.

"Feels like we're getting awfully familiar with this place," said Ruby wryly.

"It _would_ be nice to see if we could go without visiting for a while," said Jaune with a chuckle. "How are you feeling now?"

"Way better," said Ruby, sitting up with a groan, then stretching her arms over her head, making her shoulders and spine pop.

"That's good," said Kyo, entering the room again, now that their moment of intimacy was done.

Ruby's stomach growled loudly, and she hunched forward slightly, grimacing. "Also..._really_ hungry. I'm starving!"

"Well, it _has_ been a while since you ate," said Jaune. "Best hamburger in Vale or not, it can't keep you full for that long."

"What day is it?" asked Ruby.

"Monday," said Jaune. "You were out cold all night, and most of the morning too. I think it's almost lunchtime."

"Let's go get some grub," said Ruby, before pausing and looking down at the flimsy hospital gown she was wearing. "Well...I guess we should get a change of clothes first."

"Weiss and Pyrrha brought clothes," said Jaune, who had already changed into his. He gestured to Ruby's combat outfit, which lay, folded, on a nearby chair, with Akaibara lying on top of the bundle, secure in its sheath.

Ruby grunted, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. Jaune helped her, making sure her balance was all right. Fortunately, there were no lingering aftereffects of the drug she'd been hit with or, if there were, Jaune's healing had taken care of those as well. So Ruby quickly made her way into the bathroom to change.

While he waited, Jaune stared at the door slightly, a troubled look on his face. "It's scary...just how dangerous that was," he said.

"Medicine and poison are two sides of the same coin," said Kyo. "Likewise, the Healing Arts, which interact with a person's body and Aura on an extremely intimate level, can be used to cause terrible harm. Doing so intentionally amongst the Mibu is a transgression warranting the severest of penalties. That is why, despite their destructive potential, Sasame does not use them in battle."

"And what about what I did?" asked Jaune warily.

"It's tricky to say," said Kyo. "Since there was no malice behind your action, the worst punishments would be off the table entirely, of course. In fact, considering the circumstances, you might not be penalized at all, beyond remedial instruction. I can't say for sure, as that is not my field of expertise. The laws governing the misuse of the Healing Arts are varied and intricate, and each offense is judged on a case-by-case basis. One of the Chief Physician's duties is constructing, enacting, and enforcing such legislation."

"So...will I be in trouble, when Sasame gets here?" asked Jaune nervously.

"Not at all," said Kyo with a laugh. "At most, she will sigh and tut disapprovingly. But she won't hold it against you. You aren't a citizen of the Mibu, nor are you in Leng, so it isn't as though we can hold you subject to _our_ laws in _your_ homeland."

"That's a relief," said Jaune.

The door clicked open, and Ruby stepped out, fully dressed, sliding Akaibara into its usual resting place on her sash. "Let's get going," she said eagerly.

"I shall meet you later," said Kyo. "Since you are now recovered, I can return to assisting Amber-san."

"Good luck, Kyo-nii," said Ruby cheerfully.

After parting from Kyo, Ruby and Jaune headed for the dining hall. It was a little earlier than their usual lunch period, so their friends would still be in class. Technically, Ruby and Jaune probably should have gone to class, now that they'd discharged themselves from the infirmary. But their hunger trumped everything else, even though Jaune had been able to take breakfast that morning.

"I guess we'll join the others in class after lunch," said Jaune.

"If there's time," said Ruby.

"Time...?"

Ruby nodded. "After we eat, we need to see Professor Ozpin."

Jaune's eyes widened, and he nodded slightly. "Ooh...right. I guess he's gonna want to hear the details."

Ruby nodded. "But he can wait until we're full. I'm famished."

* * *

After a substantial, if quick, meal, the pair of them made their way to the base of Beacon Tower. A moment later, they were admitted to the elevator that would take them up to Ozpin's office. The doors slid open, revealing Ozpin's office in all its glory, complete with a pair of chairs set in front of his desk.

_Where the heck does he keep those?_ wondered Jaune, looking around in confusion. He didn't see anything that looked like a closet, or any other kind of storage space in the office. _And how does he always somehow manage to set out exactly the right number of them on such short notice?_

In the end, it was probably one of those mysteries destined to remain forever unsolved.

"It's good to see you both well," said Ozpin, smiling over the desk at them. "I trust you feel rested."

Ruby and Jaune nodded.

"Good," said Ozpin. "Now then, Ms. Soleil and Mr. Elric gave me an overview of the situation, along with a more detailed account of their part in it. If you would please fill me in on the rest..."

Ruby and Jaune nodded, relating their story. They started with their time at the restaurant, Ruby realizing when the attack had _really_ started.

"It must have been in the milkshake," she said.

"You did mention that it tasted off to you," said Ozpin. "And your symptoms began shortly thereafter. So that is the most likely theory. I will have the restaurant and their staff investigated, though it might take a little time to get any information.

"Although, I do find it quite remarkable that you were able to detect the drug. Our toxicology reports indicated that the drug in question, which does indeed work through ingestion, is quite potent, but also virtually odorless and tasteless."

"I guess Sasame-nee and Kyo-nii trained me really well," said Ruby. "If you're in a new environment, you don't always have a body of knowledge to work from, when it comes to determining what's safe to eat or not. That being the case, they taught me to learn how to test potential food with my tongue. It's not necessarily a matter of flavor all the time, really. But, with training, you can use your tongue to sense something almost like intent from food." She paused, thinking for a minute. "I guess you might say that it's the taste of a threat."

"Fascinating," said Ozpin with genuine admiration. "Such a skill would be incredibly useful, if we could teach it to our students here."

"Um...I'll ask Sasame-nee when she gets here," said Ruby. "Maybe she could help set up a few lessons on it."

"I look forward to it then," said Ozpin. "Now then, continuing on, give me all the details you can about your attackers."

"Don't you have them yourself?" asked Jaune. "Rain and Ciel caught them, didn't they?"

"They did indeed apprehend the culprits," said Ozpin. "They were taken by ambulance, and sent to a hospital to be treated for their injuries, before they were to be processed for interrogation." His expression darkened. "However...the ambulance never arrived, and the hospital's records indicated that one was never actually sent out. In fact, the call Ms. Soleil made appears not to have been picked up by _any_ emergency services personnel in the vicinity."

"So the bad guys just...disappeared?" asked Jaune, his eyes wide.

"That is probably the best way to put it," said Ozpin. "Because of that, we don't have any information on them, beyond witness testimony."

Ruby and Jaune looked to each other nervously. After a pause, they recounted what they could remember. Their memories were hazy, a consequence of their drugged state at the time. However, what details they could recount were disturbing. Jaune, in particular, remembered some of the statements the men had made when they were trying to wrestle Ruby into the car.

Ozpin listened carefully, his frown deepening. "I am not sure what to make of this," he admitted.

"You really think those jerks were going to...?" asked Ruby, barely able to bring herself to even think about the possibility, much less say it.

"They talked about 'having fun' with you," growled Jaune.

"Yes, but you noted that their words indicated that they were 'permitted to'," added Ozpin. "Considering the nature of this abduction attempt, starting with the drugging of Ms. Rose at the restaurant, and the quick execution of the attempt itself, I would say that defiling Ms. Rose was not the _objective_ behind her abduction."

"That _would_ be pretty risky to pull with a Huntress," said Jaune, "even a student."

"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "Granted, amongst more...illicit circles, Huntresses and Huntsmen can be quite desirable. Thanks to their training, they are nearly always in peak physical condition, which as you have no doubt noticed, often affords them a great deal of appeal on an aesthetic level."

Translation, training tended to grant Huntresses and Huntsmen knockout figures and good looks. Jaune blushed slightly, glancing sidelong at Ruby, who smiled back. He could easily admit that her training had given her a spectacular figure.

"That being said, their value as merchandise in human trafficking is also dependent on their...ahem...freshness, I suppose," said Ozpin, trying to find the most tactful way to phrase it. "If they had indeed been trying to secure Ms. Rose for such an end, they most certainly would not have been given permission to do anything more than the bare minimum necessary to subdue her. It would be extremely ill-advised to...sample the merchandise...as it were."

"So they didn't try to kidnap Ruby to sell her off to someone," said Jaune.

"So why _did_ they?" wondered Ruby.

"_That_ is the question, which is also tied intimately to the question of _who_ arranged this," said Ozpin.

"I'm guessing we're not figuring that out anytime soon," grumbled Jaune, "not if the guys who tried pulled a disappearing act."

"Well, there are several things we can infer about them from what we know," said Ozpin. "First and foremost, they knew the two of you would be at that restaurant yesterday. The question is how? It is beyond the ken of any organization to have agents secreted away in every kitchen in Vale, in preparation for such an affair, or for them to have that particular drug on hand on such short notice. That would imply some foreknowledge of your activities that day."

"But we were winging it, for the most part," said Jaune.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "In fact, the only thing we knew we were going to do ahead of time was going to that restaurant, because Jaune had to make a reservation."

Jaune gasped. "Oh!"

"I agree, Mr. Arc," said Ozpin. "Since you made a reservation, that action must have been noticed, allowing whoever planned this to know you would be at that location at that time, giving them an opportunity to act.

"That, combined with the fact that they were able to intercept Ms. Soleil's call to Vale's dispatch, and send out a fake ambulance to collect the attackers, and subsequently make them disappear, would indicate they have substantial information monitoring and control capabilities."

Jaune frowned. "Like...if they had a virus on the CCT network that could allow them to access pretty much any system in Vale."

"Does that mean Salem was behind this?" wondered Ruby.

Ozpin hummed softly. "From what Dr. Polendina has learned about the virus, that would be within its capability. He is also still working on a counter to it, so it remains active in our systems. And yet...this doesn't strike me as having Salem's hand in it."

"How come?" asked Ruby.

"Those working directly for Salem are few in number," said Ozpin. "You can see that in how they infiltrated Vale and Beacon to begin with. Cinder Fall only had two direct subordinates of her own. When they first came to Vale, they made inroads into the underworld via Roman Torchwick, and into the White Fang via Adam Taurus, both of whom they subordinated with the threat of violence, backed by Cinder's partial acquisition of the Fall Maiden's magic.

"Through those means, an operation thrown together on such short notice would not be so thoroughly coordinated and carefully executed. Assuming that someone at Cinder's level of organization had noticed your reservation through the virus, they would send their orders through an intermediary, who would then have to come up with an operation of their own. It would have been much more...dare I say...sloppy, I think."

"Yeah, now that I think about it, that attack went like clockwork," said Ruby. "After we left the restaurant, they hit Jaune with the dart, and the car was there immediately after that. I was caught from in front and behind. If it weren't for the fact they didn't know about Jaune's healing ability, they would have gotten away with me."

Admitting that made her shudder. Jaune reached over and gripped her hand tightly.

Ozpin nodded. "Such a well-coordinated operation suggests that it was closely managed by the one who made such decisions, with both the means and manpower close at hand. Therefore, this threat is almost certainly a homegrown one, I believe, one rooted in Vale itself."

"Could it be crooks?" asked Jaune.

"I don't know..." said Ruby, looking down at her knees. "This seemed a little too...polished, I guess, to be crooks. I feel like it would have been sloppier, even if they did have knowledge ahead of time. These guys were a little too...professional."

"Well, that doesn't rule out Vale's criminal element entirely," said Ozpin. "Roman Torchwick was the premier criminal overlord in Vale, but not the only one. There are a number of criminal syndicates active in the Kingdom. A few of them, particularly those based out of Mistral, do have a very professional flair to their activities. But I would still rule them out, considering the information monitoring that would have been necessary to learn about your plans in the first place."

"So...what does that leave us with?" asked Jaune.

"Some rather troubling possibilities," said Ozpin. "The most troubling of which is that they are actively monitoring _you_, Ms. Rose."

"Me...why?" asked Ruby.

"There are a number of reasons," said Ozpin. "You have been much more active than most Beacon students, particularly other first-years. You've been heavily involved in affairs that have had a tremendous effect on the Kingdom's safety and security. You were admitted under exceptional circumstances, and have gone on to do exceptional things, despite being only a first-year student. But the most significant factor could well be..."

"That I'm from the Mibu," said Ruby softly. "You think someone figured that out?"

"I find that a troubling possibility," said Ozpin, "considering that you have had a substantial public presence, thanks to your bout with Ms. Nikos, people may have been scrutinizing your activities more than we thought, and those with the knowledge of what the Mibu are capable of might well have figured out the truth."

"So they tried to kidnap me because of that...why?" asked Ruby.

"Though it was many decades ago, there are still those who nurse the legacy of the egos bruised by Vale's disastrous attempt to subjugate the Mibu," said Ozpin. "A legacy of resentment, borne from suffering distanced from their own experience, can lead to terrible actions.

"Aside from that, there is also a certain degree of threat in what the Mibu are capable of. With your Aura, Ms. Rose, you are able of performing feats that match, or even exceed, that which is possible through Dust. Even more recently, you have shown yourself to be capable of feats matching that of magic, performing actions that surpass the limits of what should be humanly possible."

"Well...yeah," agreed Ruby. "But it's not like I was just suddenly able to do that because I decided to live with the Mibu. I worked for years to develop those techniques."

"True," agreed Ozpin. "However, that also makes it true that such is possible for anyone else as well. Theoretically, anyone, if they sufficiently applied themselves, would be capable of the same. Even if such skills were never mastered to the extent you've developed them, if they were disseminated widely enough, the consequences would be substantial."

"What kind of consequences?" asked Jaune.

"Possibly a reduction in the value of a certain resource, previously considered invaluable to the safety and prosperity of the Kingdoms," said Ozpin.

"Dust," whispered Ruby.

She thought back to their very first day in class. Studying in the library, Weiss had completely lost her temper at the realization that Ruby was capable of using wind and lightning without Dust. Back then, Ruby had merely thought about it as another manifestation of Weiss' resentment over not being named leader of their team. However, it had also been about Weiss feeling threatened by the realization that Ruby's skills represented a threat to the value of her family's chief product, the source of their fortune.

It was ironic, in a sense. Jacques had felt threatened by the idea of Weiss being in a relationship with a faunus. However, it was the actions of Weiss' teammate that he should have regarded as the _real_ threat.

"So...what do we do?" asked Jaune.

"At the moment, there is very little we _can_ do," admitted Ozpin, "at least until we know more. We need to discern the identity of those behind this attack, and what their aim is. All we have now is speculation, based on the very little that we _do_ know.

"I _will_, however, advise you be cautious, and remain on your guards. There is no doubt that, whoever attempted this, they will try again. They will likely revise their methods, and refine their approach, which will make it all that much more difficult to counter.

"For that matter, you should advise your teammates and friends to be on-guard as well. Whoever this is, they may take a similar approach that Cinder Fall tried with you, Ruby."

Ruby swallowed nervously, remembering the gut-wrenching fear that came from knowing that Jaune had been in Cinder's hands. It could have been any of her friends. The possibility that terrified Ruby the most was the idea that whoever was behind this might go after Ashley. Ashley and her family had already had their lives upended by Cinder and the White Fang, just for the crime of being Ruby's friend. Whoever was behind this now wouldn't care that the Forrest Family had suffered enough already. They would be willing to resort to whatever it took to obtain their goals.

"I _would_ advise you remain out of Vale," suggested Ozpin. "However, I will not mandate it. It would be unfair to confine you to Beacon, when you are more than capable of defending yourself. Still, I do ask that you exercise caution."

"All right," said Ruby. "Is there any chance we could bait them into trying again?"

Jaune gave Ruby a shocked look. However, Ozpin merely hummed, tilting his head downwards thoughtfully. "That is a possibility," he said. "However, they are not likely to try the same thing twice, even if we set up a similar scenario, like having you make a reservation at a different restaurant. They wouldn't even need to look very hard to see the artifice in such an action. If we had some idea as to their means, we could maybe contrive a situation to draw them out, but we lack that information at this juncture."

"All right," said Ruby reluctantly.

"Just be careful, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin. "If there is anything we've learned from recent events, it is that not even Beacon is a completely safe haven from these sorts of threats. They may yet have allies or agents amongst the staff or students."

_Here we go again,_ thought Jaune. It was bad enough, when they'd realized that Cinder, the mastermind behind nearly everything that had been going on before, had been masquerading as a visiting student. The thought that there might _still_ be infiltrators in Beacon was enough to drive a person into constant paranoia.

"Is there anything else?" asked Ruby.

"Not at the moment," said Ozpin. "You are free to go. Thank you for coming to see me so promptly."

Ruby and Jaune nodded, before taking their leave.

* * *

"You're not worried?" asked Amber, as Kyo pushed her wheelchair along the path that wound through the fragrant flowerbeds of one of Beacon's many courtyards.

Given that pushing and steering a wheelchair with just one hand would have been difficult, Kyo had been forced to improvise a new method of carrying his sword, tying a strip of fabric around it, and using it as a strap to hang his signature weapon across his back, leaving his hands free, though he found the position rather awkward.

"I _am_ worried," said Kyo. "But that's essentially a reflex at this point. In order to avoid causing greater problems for Ruby-chan, I need to keep my interference in her affairs to a minimum. Just visiting like this has probably made enough complications in her life already."

"Are you really _that_ disliked?" asked Amber.

"Wanted criminal, remember?" teased Kyo. It had been a short time, but he was already beginning to feel easier, when it came to talking to Amber. Their first couple of walks had been full of awkward silences, what few words he managed to force out nearly-incoherent stutters.

"And a Mibu," added Amber.

Kyo rubbed the back of his head. "Well...I'm not certain if anyone really knows that. I've never openly advertised my affiliation with the clan, seeing as my relationship with them as a whole is rather...tenuous. Yet I do wield the skills based in Manifestation, which are a hallmark of the clan, so there may well be people who have made the connection, though I'm doubtful, as I do most of my fighting out, in and around the settlements, where fewer people would be likely to recognize my skills."

"And what if they come after Ruby again?" asked Amber, turning her head to look over her shoulder at Kyo.

"That depends on the situation," said Kyo pensively. "As I said, my intervention has a likelihood of making things worse for Ruby-chan, in the long term. Even if that weren't the case, it may still be for the best for me to stand back and allow Ruby-chan to fight her own battles."

"Why?" asked Amber.

"Before Ruby-chan was invited to Beacon, she had been participating in a solo excursion, traveling across Sanus without us," said Kyo. "We arranged that because we were confident that her skills were sufficient to that kind of task. Even back when we were at home, in Onmyo, Ruby-chan was subjected to multiple assassination attempts."

"What?!" gasped Amber, her eyes going wide.

Kyo chuckled, his expression one of fond reminiscence. "Actually, the first time it happened was shortly after she turned ten. She managed to hold the assassin off for a limited time, before her teacher was forced to intervene. We threw a nice party to congratulate her on surviving her first attempt."

"What?!" exclaimed Amber again.

"I'm sorry if this seems alien and inconsiderate to you," said Kyo earnestly. "But all of that is part and parcel to how Ruby-chan has gotten as strong as she has. Her status in the Mibu Clan is...unique. Officially, she has been adopted as Sasame's ward. But rather than stay with Sasame's family, she instead stayed with my family, in the Palace, becoming the unofficial daughter of my mother."

"Your mother...?" inquired Amber. The more she learned about Kyo and his family, to say nothing of their ways, the stranger things seemed. _Who throws a party to celebrate a person's first attempted assassination?_

"Ah!" Kyo grunted as he realized that Amber didn't exactly know a whole lot about his family. "W-well...my family is actually the royal family of the Mibu Clan. My father is the Crimson King. My mother, through her own merit I might add, is the head of the Taishiro, the Four Elders, our clan's equivalent to the Kingdoms' Councils. My father's title is hereditary, so he has never felt confident in his ability to rule. Thus, he entrusted everything to the elders, so my mother is the effective ruler of the Mibu Clan."

"Okay..." said Amber, more disconcerted than ever. _If his father is a king, then that should make him a prince, or something like that. Yet he and Ruby say that he was persecuted, because of his eyes. That doesn't make sense. Why would people persecute members of their own royal family?_

"I can guess some of your questions," observed Kyo, "considering what you've already learned about me. But that's for another time. In any case, going back to Ruby-chan, she was unofficially adopted by my mother, living with my family in the Royal Palace. Such a privilege being granted to a complete outsider, with no previous ties to our clan whatsoever, was bound to cause discontent, some of it of a violent sort.

"Because of that, Ruby-chan's situation, beyond her being Sasame's ward, was kept secret in the months after her arrival. However, we knew that it could not keep forever. To that end, we-including Ruby-chan-chose to reveal that secret on our own terms. We tested the waters, by letting some of Ruby-chan's close friends learn the truth. When we determined that she would have those who would stand by her, regardless of her circumstances, we came to the decision to come clean entirely. To that end, Ruby-chan chose to invite her entire class to her birthday party, which was held in the palace, and hosted by O-Kaa-san herself."

"And then people started trying to assassinate her?" asked Amber.

"Not right away," said Kyo. "The first to learn were the members of Ruby-chan's class, and their immediate families. Ruby-chan had spent the past several months making inroads amongst them, earning their respect enough that she was no longer considered an outsider by her classmates, at least. Because of that, it took time for that information to disseminate to those who would be inclined to take offense, and _act_ on said offense. And, of course, they would stew over that for a while. By the time someone _did_ take action, it was already into the next year."

"So you threw her a party," noted Amber in a deadpan tone.

Kyo chuckled. "Amongst the royal family and the Taishiro, assassination attempts are more frequent than you'd think. However, amongst the requirements for entering the Taishiro is that of transcendent strength. The Taishiro are not merely politically powerful, but also martially powerful, amongst the strongest members of the clan. In fact, O-Kaa-san is considered to be _the_ strongest member of the clan, even stronger than my father.

"Because of that, assassination attempts are often regarded with amusement, even looked forward to, a brief workout, entertainment even. The legal consequences of an attempted assassination of a member of the Taishiro or the Crimson King are a slap on the wrist, compared to such an attempt on someone who can't defend themselves."

"But what about Ruby?" asked Amber.

"In Ruby-chan's case, we considered it a boon to her training," said Kyo. "Even though she came to Beacon Academy to become a Huntress, for the sake of fighting against the Grimm, she was still bound to wind up fighting against the darker elements of the civilized world, criminals in the like. Your own situation is the result of such conflicts."

Amber nodded, her face grim.

"We always knew that such battles would be a part of her future," continued Kyo. "To that end, allowing her to face potential assassins, and fight them herself, was an opportunity to practice applying the skills we were teaching her. We always monitored the situations, especially early on, and were prepared to intervene, if the situation mandated it. However, after just a few such attempts, Ruby-chan began to reach the point where she could fend off those assassination attempts on her own."

"That's...well..." Amber could see the logic in it, understand how it had made Ruby so strong. And yet...the notion was also alien. Kyo had claimed Ruby as his sister. Yet he, and the rest of Ruby's adopted family as well, had deliberately allowed threats to her life, for the sake of her training. That seemed to fly in the face of what Amber had always thought about what families were supposed to do.

"I can see that you don't quite understand," said Kyo. "In our own way, this was how we spoiled Ruby-chan, you could say."

"Letting people try to kill her is spoiling her?" deadpanned Amber.

Kyo laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I know it seems odd," he said. "But...it is our way. My own experience was similar, thanks to the stigma against my eyes. I too have had to endure many attempts on my life, through my childhood. Likewise, I was largely left to fend for myself, for the sake of becoming stronger.

"In Ruby-chan's case, had her background been different, we might have been more actively protective of her. However...her circumstances are unique.

"In her past, it was an overwhelming desire to protect her from suffering that, ironically, was the _cause_ of much of the suffering in Ruby-chan's childhood. She practically became a prisoner of her biological family, their desire to keep her from harm completely overriding any acknowledgment of her own agency and fulfillment. It was running from that kind of twisted, stifling protection that brought Ruby-chan into contact with us in the first place.

"So, as an affirmation of our love for her, we made the conscious decision to place her happiness and fulfillment above all else, even her own wellbeing. Since she sought a life fraught with hardship and strife, the best we could do for her was to ensure that she was fully prepared for the rigors such a life would have, by ensuring that she could make use of every potential experience to its fullest."

"That's..." Amber struggled to wrap her head around the notion. It seemed so strange to her. Yet, at the same time, it made perfect sense. She could practically feel the love that Kyo had for Ruby in his voice. That love was rooted in, and expressed through, a powerful respect for her strength, both in body and in will. And, from the way they interacted, Ruby clearly didn't resent her family for standing back while people threatened her life. If anything, she felt empowered by it.

_Just who have I gotten involved with?_ Amber wondered to herself, trying to figure what she made of Kyo and his family, including Ruby.

"We're here," said Kyo, startling Amber out of her reverie. Looking up, she saw that they had indeed arrived at their destination, a small space set between trees, forming a sort of glade, with benches and tables set out for students who wanted to relax in a bit more isolated setting.

Amber set her eyes on the bench farthest across the clearing from where they'd entered. "All right, I'm getting up."

Kyo nodded, locking the wheels on her wheelchair. Moving to the side, he stood at the ready, but made no move to offer Amber a hand. For her part, Amber didn't ask, instead setting her hands on the arms of her chair, and pushing. With a grunt of exertion, Amber managed to slowly force herself up into a standing position. From there, she began to carefully make her way to the bench, step by step. It was slow going, and more than a little painful for her. Amber began to sweat from the exertion. She'd already been to her physical therapy session that morning, so she was already somewhat worn out, though she'd recovered most of her strength after a few hours' rest.

Kyo walked alongside her, keeping within arm's reach, but not offering her any help, knowing that Amber didn't want any. If she was in danger of falling, he would be there for her. But otherwise, he held back, and allowed Amber to help herself. When she reached the bench, Amber supported herself by resting her hands on the back, then slowly, carefully, lowered herself into a sitting position. At one point, she overbalanced slightly, while trying to turn around. But Kyo caught her, and helped her settle the rest of the way onto the bench.

Once situated, Amber settled back with a sigh, breathing in deeply as she soaked in the ambiance of the late-summer day. _This_ was the real reason she wanted to get out more, not merely to speed her recovery, but to enjoy some fresh air, and the sounds of nature. Back before the attack, she had loved the experience of traveling between settlements, listening to the song of birds, the calls of insects, and the sounds of the wind moving through the trees. She missed those days, and hoped that it wouldn't be long before she got to experience them again.

Kyo sat with her, keeping a polite distance, not venturing any further conversation. At the moment, he could tell that Amber was just enjoying the scenery, and he enjoyed it along with her. In many ways, the silence was more comfortable than some of their attempts at talking. Talking about Ruby's "incident" had been one of their longer conversations lately. And Kyo had discovered that, sometimes, the best thing to say...was nothing at all.

It was a fine day, warm, but not too hot. In the shade of the trees, the air was pleasantly cool in fact, the faint breeze stirring their surroundings only serving to make things more comfortable. Beside him, he noticed Amber's breathing slowing, the harsh breaths of her previous exertions fading. Glancing over, he could see her eyelids drooping. Noticing his gaze, she smiled weakly at him. "Sorry...just a little tired."

"There's nothing wrong with that," said Kyo.

"I...I just need to rest my eyes for a bit," said Amber.

"In that case, you're welcome to lie down," said Kyo.

Amber blushed a little at the implication, but then did just that. It took a little effort on her part, but she managed to stretch herself along the bench, resting her head across Kyo's thighs, the contact making Kyo blush harder than Amber had. For her part, once Amber had laid her head down and closed her eyes, she was out like a light, her breathing softening.

Almost reflexively, Kyo reached down, tracing his fingers through the rich, brown tresses of her hair. As she'd laid down on her right side, pulling her hair back just a little gave him a view of the weblike scar that covered the area around her eye. Without even thinking about it, Kyo began to brush his fingers along the lines of the scar, feeling the difference in texture where it had been etched into her skin.

He lost track of time a little, and, before he knew it, Amber began to stir. Slowly, her eyes opened, and she shifted her gaze up to him, without lifting her head off his lap. "You really think it's beautiful?" she asked.

"I do," said Kyo.

"Why?" asked Amber. There were times where she looked at herself in the mirror, staring at the scar, the reminder of the pain she had suffered, feeling that it had marred her, sullied her even. And yet, Kyo was not repulsed by it, not even finding it ugly.

Kyo chuckled softly. "I...I suppose it's a trait of my upbringing," he said.

"Upbringing?

Kyo lifted his left arm out where she could see it, and pulled back his sleeve. She gasped softly, seeing that his arm was lined with scars.

"There are more on my body," said Kyo. "Most of them are from when I was a good bit younger. It's been a while since the last time someone landed a proper blow on me." He chuckled. "Although, that's not exactly what I was talking about."

"What is it then?" asked Amber.

"It's a factor of our culture," said Kyo, speaking of the Mibu. "I'm told that there are quite a few people in Mistral who hold a similar aesthetic philosophy. It's called Wabi-Sabi. It's difficult to translate the term exactly, but the general gist is that it is a sense of aesthetics centered around the beauty of imperfection."

"How does that work?" asked Amber.

"Um..." Kyo paused. "W-well, I've never had to explain this before, so how to put it..." He sighed. "Basically, it's the idea that an object's imperfections are what give it true beauty. They give it character, you could say. A vessel, like a cup, is molded by hand, giving it slightly misshapen qualities that actually enhance its appeal, give it the impression of something a part of the living world.

"An object that is perfect in shape and appearance, without any blemish or flaw; is flat, sterile, lifeless. A wall that has been weathered and discolored by the elements is more beautiful than one immaculate and untouched. Flaws serve to remind us of impermanence and the nature of change all things go through. Nothing lasts forever, and there is a special kind of beauty in that truth."

His fingers reached down to trace the lines of her scar again. "Your scars show that you've lived, grown, and changed. You've experienced suffering, and you've grown from that. That's why I find it quite beautiful, really."

Amber sniffed, a few tears leaking from her eyes as she turned around to lie on her back, so that she could stare straight up at him. "Thank you," she said softly.

Kyo smiled back, still tracing the lines of her scars with his right hand, while his left reached out to take her hand in his own, meshing their fingers together. Amber closed her eyes, relaxing, finding herself actually luxuriating in the feeling of Kyo's touch, the skin of his fingers against her face.

Once again, they lapsed into silence, letting the time pass by. Still, before long, it was time to take Amber back to Glynda's quarters for dinner.

"Would you like to try walking back to your wheelchair?" he asked.

"Sure," said Amber.

Kyo helped her sit up. After an aborted try, Amber needed his help to stand as well. From there, she leaned on his arm as she walked to her chair, again needing Kyo's help to settle back down into it. After that, it was a quiet walk back to the staff quarters. Once there, he turned Amber back over to Glynda's custody.

Beacon's Deputy Headmistress was still more than a little leery of him, and not quite willing to completely entrust him with Amber's wellbeing. Yet there was no denying Amber's improvement. She smiled more freely, when Glynda saw her, and seemed much more at ease with herself.

After this particular outing, Glynda saw her in the bathroom that evening, staring at her own face in the mirror. It was something Glynda had seen before, Amber looking into the mirror with troubled eyes, running fingers over the scar that dominated the left side of her face. This time, however, Amber was smiling, tracing her fingers over the scar, and even letting out a small giggle.

_I suppose Ms. Rose's idea might not have been so bad after all,_ thought Glynda, leaving Amber to her own thoughts.

* * *

Jaune yawned as he slipped under the covers of his bed, the sound of Ruby cleaning off in the shower audible from behind the bathroom door. Weiss and Pyrrha were already asleep in their own beds.

After their meeting with Ozpin, they'd returned to their room to find Weiss and Pyrrha waiting for them, Weiss having assembled the necessary notes to cover the classes the pair had missed during the day. After that, they'd wound up spending the rest of the afternoon catching up on their missed work. After that, they'd gone to dinner, where they were joined by RYNB and CPPR. Ruby and Jaune filled the others in on what had happened the previous day. Jaune had found himself shying away from Yang, when he'd had to describe how his effort to heal Ruby had wound up harming her instead. But they'd managed to get through it. Finally, there had been Aura-training on the roof, before they'd returned to the dorm.

Weiss and Pyrrha took the first two turns in the bathroom. For some reason, Ruby had insisted that Jaune go next. By the time he finished, Jaune had emerged into a darkened room the faint light of a bedside lamp providing the only illumination. While Ruby took her turn, Jaune had slipped into his bed, and gotten ready to sleep.

He'd nearly dropped off when the bathroom door opened for the last time that night. The floor creaked softly as Ruby made her way over it, heading towards her bed, and turning off the lamp. Then Jaune both heard and felt sheets being disturbed, because it was the covers of his own bed that Ruby was lifting up. By the time his tired brain had caught up with what was happening, Ruby had already slipped under the covers with him.

"R-Ruby...?" he whispered nervously, trying not to shift too much, though his eyes still darted to the next two beds, where Pyrrha and Weiss were asleep.

"Shh." Ruby placed her index finger on Jaune's lip. "I'm sleeping here, tonight."

"B-but what about Weiss?" asked Jaune, thinking about the rule Weiss had imposed.

"I don't care," said Ruby firmly. Even though she'd turned out the lamp, Jaune could somehow see the troubled look on her face. "I just...I just need you, right now."

Jaune understood. Even though they'd managed to thwart it, the kidnapping attempt the previous day had still left its mark on her. After a scare like that, Ruby was in need of some extra comfort, and cuddling up with the boy she loved was the best remedy. Truth be told, Jaune couldn't help but like the idea as well, despite his fear of Weiss' wrath in the morning. Being able to hold Ruby was a visceral reminder that she was all right, that she was still there. He supposed that they both needed this.

"Okay," he said softly, before leaning in to kiss her lips. "Just for tonight, though."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. Given the circumstances, Weiss would probably relent this once, but they doubted she would rescind the rule in its entirety. Still, Ruby would take what she could. She kissed Jaune back.

They exchanged several more nearly silent kisses, before Ruby finally broke off the amorous activity, tucking her head in under Jaune's chin, and nuzzling her cheek into his collar. Jaune wrapped his arms around her, pulling Ruby close, the pair of them drifting off together, enjoying a peaceful night's sleep.


	101. Chapter 101

**Chapter 101:**

Far off, well away from the places humans and faunus knew well, beyond the reaches of the known and charted, there lay a particular land. Its location was not marked on any map, its position known only to a minuscule few. Even if more people _did_ know about it, visiting would not have been the highest on anyone's list of priorities.

The sky was dark. That was not the product of any kind of cloud cover. Indeed, if one looked closely, they would be able to see the silhouettes of clouds drifting across the sky, darker shadows against a backdrop of dark-red, the color of congealed blood. The light of the sun did not reach this place. Instead, the light of the moon, hanging low on the horizon, shown clearly, providing all the illumination in this place, its light somehow harsher than it would be anywhere else.

The terrain and mood made this place desolation embodied. The ground was lifeless, an undulating landscape of rocky ridges, with barren stretches of cracked dirt lying between them. Dark-purple crystals, possibly Dust of some kind, jutted out of the ground at harsh angles, providing very little illumination of their own.

In the midst of this dark land, there lay pools of even deeper darkness. They dotted the landscape, like puddles after rain, though there was no rain to be found in this barren land. The liquid in them was thick, viscous, and tar-like. At times, the surface was smooth and glassy. At other times, it rippled, as though something was moving just beneath its surface. At those times, the ripples often swelled upward, the liquid peeling away to reveal a monstrous figure of black, white, and red.

The Creatures of Grimm...Everywhere one might have looked at this landscape, there they were, pulling themselves out of the ebony muck, spawning by the dozens...hundreds...thousands...and, as soon as they emerged, they began their march out into the wider world, to do what they had been made to do since time immemorial.

This was the Land of Darkness, once belonging to the God of Darkness himself, his domain, the home of both himself and his creations. This was where the Creatures of Grimm had been born...and continued to _be_ born. However, after departing this world, the Land of Darkness had been left unattended...and someone else had claimed it for their own.

Rising atop a rocky ridge, seemingly carved out of the stone itself, a single structure stood. By and large, its walls were indistinguishable from the terrain. However, a large, cavelike entrance revealed a set of stairs, which led the way up into the cavernous structure, their path ultimately terminating in a large hall, its walls lined with windows, allowing one a sweeping view of the Grimm vista outside. The windows were briefly interrupted by dark, black and purple crystalline formations, which jutted straight up from the floor at regular intervals, their tips each bearing a single lit candle, which, despite the wax that ran down them, never seemed to burn down nor out.

The hall was dominated by a large table of ebony stone. Set around the table were several seats, carved from stone, so that their backs formed twisted, unnatural shapes. They were contrasted with the seat at the head of the table, formed from the same purple crystals that jutted from the ground outside, forming an arrangement like a throne.

The throne's occupant was human in shape, but the resemblance to humanity faded away from there. She was a woman, one who might have been attractive under most circumstances. However, her chalk-white skin, veined with lines of dark-purple, was enough to mark her as something else. Her equally white hair had been tied up into a large bun behind her head, with six offshoots emerging from the bun's base, each one wrapped in black ribbon, and dangling a black ornament. She was clad in a black gown, which accentuated a figure that would have been attractive, had her other aspects not been so unnatural.

However, it was her eyes that were her most inhuman feature. Pools of darkness, formed from black sclerae, they harbored irises of a deep, blood-red. Those eyes glowed with a pure, unadulterated malice, a lingering hatred for the world, and everything in it.

Salem: Queen of the Grimm, rested her elbows atop the table's surface, leaning forward slightly, bringing the tips of her fingers together as she stared past them at the other three people assembled at the table with her. "So...nothing...?" she said.

A few seats down, on the left side of the table, a man stiffened, setting down the black scroll he'd been fiddling with only seconds earlier. Sporting short, black hair, with gray strips along the sides, along with a distinguished mustache, he looked more like a college professor than some kind of agent of evil, which was only enhanced by the red and yellow suit he wore.

"I'm afraid there has been no contact from Cinder for the past two weeks," said Doctor Arthur Watts. "She has failed to make her regularly-scheduled report. And the news that has come out of Vale has been troubling."

"How so?" asked Salem.

Watts swallowed. "Grimm activity in the region has all but ceased. Even Mountain Glenn has been emptied. Furthermore, I have been picking up reports that the Vale Branch of the White Fang have been pacified."

"Is that so...?" Salem's eyes narrowed.

"I'm afraid so, Your Grace," said Watts, bowing his head to her. "I do not wish to speak prematurely, but I am afraid that something has happened to Cinder."

"You mean she failed," squealed a shrill voice one seat down from Watts, one seat closer to Salem.

Tyrian Callows couldn't have been more different from Watts if he had tried, his pale skin standing out in sharp contrast to Watts' more tanned complexion. Tyrian's sickly-yellow eyes darted back and forth, his entire body twitching with barely-restrained energy, his thin, slightly gaunt face seemingly always twisted into a maniacal grin. His black hair was slicked back, before being tied into a braided tail that descended down past his shoulders. He was decked out in a white shirt, left open to show off the muscles of his chest and stomach. Unlike the others, he did not sit in his chair, so much as crouch on it, like an animal set to pounce.

Even as he spoke, a soft giggle worked its way up Tyrian's throat. He was no stranger to bouts of spontaneous laughter. But he knew better than to look as though he was taking amusement from this situation. However much he would have enjoyed laughing at Cinder, were she here in person, he could not allow himself to give the impression that he was laughing at the failure of his mistress' plans.

"As much as it pains me to say so, that is the conclusion I have reached as well," added Watts, definitely more composed, but still noticeably nervous.

Granted, they all knew that Salem was not one to "shoot the messenger". But none of them would dare try her patience.

"Remind me..." said Salem slowly. "...what was her last message about, again?"

"She reported that she had discovered another Maiden at Beacon," said Watts, "and that she was taking steps to secure her."

"Preposterous," rumbled a deep, gravelly voice from the side of the table, opposite Weiss and Tyrian. "Why would Ozpin risk keeping two of the Maidens in one place?"

Hazel Rainart was a towering mountain of a man, standing at exactly eight feet tall. His build was one of heavy, solid muscle, hidden beneath a black shirt and dark-green coat. His eyes, the color of his namesake, were set into a face of tanned skin, framed completely by the short, dark-brown hair of his beard, which joined his sideburns, completely enclosing his face. His expression was calm and composed, perpetually serious and stoic. He had the look of a man fazed by very little.

"And yet, Cinder seemed quite certain of her conclusions," said Watts.

"She got grabby," said Tyrian, a squealing giggle forcing its way out with his words. "She must have gotten herself smacked for trying to act out of turn."

"I certainly hope that is not the case," said Watts. "If that is true, then our plans in Vale have been mostly overturned. Worse still...what if Cinder was not killed...but captured?"

"Then she is as good as dead," said Salem, her tone ringing with the utmost certainty. "Ozpin will not waste time. He will act to return the Fall Maiden's power to its proper host."

"Still...if Cinder is in their custody, they might yet try to press her for information," Watts pointed out.

"Unlikely," rumbled Hazel. "It is too much of a risk to try and keep a Maiden, even a partial one, captive. Magic defies security measures that would counter Dust or Aura, so they would not risk keeping her long."

"True, I suppose," said Watts. "Then...the real question becomes, what of our plans for Vale?"

"You said the White Fang have been pacified," said Salem, looking to Watts. "Is that true?"

"So it would seem," said Watts, checking his scroll. "There has been very little activity on the network, but White Fang violence within the Kingdom has ended quite abruptly, and not through any order of Cinder's. Cinder's planned attack was a failure, it seems, as there has been no news of a breach."

"I see..." said Salem, lowering her arms to cross over the table's surface, hands resting flat against it.

None of the men at the table dared press Salem about what to do now, given that she was clearly mulling it over. It was best not to interrupt her.

Finally, Salem spoke. "Watts, is the virus Cinder planted in the Vale CCT network still active?"

"It is," said Watts. "Shall I go and assume control there?"

"Not alone," said Salem. "We leave _nothing_ to chance this time. I will not risk another setback. _All_ of you will address this. Ascertain the situation, and do whatever it takes to ensure that our overall plan for the Kingdom can be put into action." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Should you determine that such is impossible, then withdraw as gracefully as you are able. In that event...I will make preparations to deal with this _myself_."

The air turned heavy for a moment.

"I won't fail you, Your Grace," said Tyrian, giggling more loudly, as he bowed his head to her.

"And what of Jester?" asked Hazel. "Last I heard, he was somewhere near Vale."

"There is no predicting where that man is, nor what he is doing," said Watts with a disappointed sigh. "Frankly, he is far too erratic to be trusted."

"He needs to learn his place," growled Tyrian, his smile finally falling from his face, becoming an almost childish scowl.

"Do not bother with him," said Salem simply. "Just focus on doing what I have sent you to do."

"As you wish," said Watts. The three men rose to their feet, making their way out the door.

As it swung shut behind them, Salem remained where she was, seated in her throne. Though her eyes were fixed on the doors on the far end of the hall from her, her gaze was elsewhere, miles away. "Just what are you up to...Ozpin?" she asked, mostly to herself, a dark, angry scowl on her face.

* * *

Morning came, bringing with it the expected scolding by Weiss. However, Weiss did wind up relenting, when Ruby explained her reasoning behind spending the night in Jaune's bed. As Ruby and Jaune had predicted though, Weiss did insist that this was a one-time thing, and that Ruby and Jaune were still expected to sleep separately on weeknights. All the while, Pyrrha tittered into her hand, finding the whole thing a comforting amusement after the scare of Ruby's attempted kidnapping.

From there, the days returned to their normal pattern. They attended to classes, worked on homework, and trained during their free periods. Ruby continued to slip out into the Emerald Forest to work on further developing the _Raikoken_. This time, her friends accompanied her, making sure to keep in the vicinity as they did their own training, not trusting whoever had been behind the attempted abduction to not try something, even out in the wilderness.

Aside from that, they continued to work on developing their own skills and abilities.

* * *

Jaune shouted, bringing his sword down in a straight slash. Stepping forward, he let out another shout, transitioning to a sideways swing across his body. Taking one more step, he reversed his sword's course, swinging it back across at a rising angle. The swing actually produced a visible distortion in the air in front of him, a faintly rippling crescent that extended out along the line of his slash, its passage making the grass in front of him bend slightly.

Panting, Jaune slid back into his starting stance, and prepared to go again. After a moment gathering himself again, he launched into the sequence of strikes again. Finishing that, he repeated them again...and again.

It had been Kyo's advice. Generally speaking, when trying to commune with the Aura of one's weapon, there were two approaches one could take. The first was basic meditation, practicing emptying one's mind, so that one could develop awareness of their weapon's Aura, and gradually learn to understand it. However, that kind of approach wasn't for everyone. Quite a few people had difficulty sitting still for the time necessary to enter the required state.

To that end, there was a different kind of meditation that could be practiced, a sort of meditation through motion. The repetition of a familiar series of actions kept the body active, limiting distractions, and allowing the practitioner to lose themselves in the familiar movements, allowing their conscious thoughts to give way. And so, Jaune had begun practicing the first series of three strikes he had learned from Pyrrha, over and over again, doing his utmost to completely lose himself into the activity, letting his conscious thoughts drain away with each swing of his sword.

As it turned out, it wasn't a bad approach at all. Besides losing himself into the actions, Jaune found he was pushing himself longer and harder than he normally would have, which had to be good for his strength and stamina. His mind was clearing of distracting thoughts, the familiar actions of putting his sword through the same three strokes lulling him into a sort of daze. From there, he was beginning to become aware of things he hadn't noticed before.

It started out with a dull buzzing sensation, issuing from the handle of his sword. In Jaune's hand, it was slowly beginning to feel warm, as though heated from within. Jaune latched onto that feeling, focusing on it, even as his body continued through the familiar motions, over and over again. Though his eyes were open, he wasn't really paying attention to what he was seeing, so he didn't notice as the blade of his sword began to shine.

Meanwhile, Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss all stopped what they were doing, noticing the change that had come over Jaune's sword. Weiss opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but was quickly shushed by Ruby.

"Don't interrupt him," she hissed urgently. "He's doing it!"

"Doing what?" asked Pyrrha.

"Speaking with his sword," replied Ruby.

Pyrrha and Weiss glanced at Ruby in surprise, then looked over at Jaune. As he continued to go through the sequence of motions that Pyrrha had taught him, they could see glittering motes begin to dance off the blade of Jaune's sword with every swing. The blade itself was pulsing with a steady shine of Aura, mainly white, but with a little bit of yellow, giving it an overall ivory shade. That light intensified with each swing, gradually growing a little bit stronger as Jaune repeated the sequence over and over again.

Jaune's body was soaked with sweat, staining the fabric of his hoody and jeans. It poured down his face, stinging his eyes, but he scarcely even noticed, too absorbed in his growing familiarity with the feeling of the sword in his hand. It was like meeting someone after hearing a great deal about them for the longest time. The longer Jaune practiced, the more he realized that he wasn't merely swinging a sword, he was interacting with his first partner, the one who had been by his side, even before Ruby.

The warmth from his sword built, and Jaune could begin to feel a vague sense of emotion. His sword felt...happy. That was it! For the longest time, this blade, with its unique Aura, had been reaching out to him, trying to speak to him, trying to help him, even trying to lend him its strength. And now, Jaune was beginning to listen.

Next, Jaune decided to see if he could try the next step, what he'd seen Ruby do before, use his Aura in conjunction with his sword. Doing as he had been trained, he used Flow to channel his Aura into his sword in conjunction with his swing. He'd done this countless times before. But now, he had opened himself up to the Aura coming _from_ his sword, allowing the two to merge together.

Ruby's instincts blared a danger warning. She immediately grabbed Weiss' and Pyrrha's shoulders. "DOWN!" she shouted, pulling them all to the ground.

Jaune had begun the third swing of his latest sequence, which sent his sword slicing across his body at an upwards angle. The blade abruptly flared, the light it was emitting reaching blinding levels. A wide crescent of pure light stretched off the blade, flashing out into the forest ahead of him, passing through the trunks of well over a dozen trees, cutting straight through them without the slightest sign of resistance.

At the same time, right as Jaune was finishing his actual swing, he found himself unprepared for the sudden surge in the combination of his and Crocea Mors' Aura, the intense release of energy jolting his hand like the recoil of a gunshot, wrenching the sword from his grip and sending it spinning off to the side. "Whoa!"

And then, ahead of him, nearly twenty trees, arrayed in a wide arc in front of him, and at least five ranks deep, toppled over with a series of loud, groaning crashes, their trunks cleaved through at levels in conjunction with the angle of Jaune's swing.

"Uh..." Jaune stared at the clearing he'd just made in front of him. Then his eyes went down to his right hand, before drifting off to find his sword. Finally, he noticed the girls, still prone on the ground. They lifted their heads to look at them, Ruby's eyes shining with excitement, while Pyrrha's expression was admiring. Weiss merely looked annoyed, clearly not happy to be left hugging the ground.

"You girls okay?" asked Jaune. "I used my Aura, but I didn't know it would do this."

Ruby was up in a flash, blurring across the ground between them. Before Jaune could react, she'd seized him in a tight hug around his shoulders, pressing her lips to his. Jaune reflexively brought his arms around her back, pulling her up against him, the presence of the shield on his left arm making it a little awkward. But he managed to hug Ruby back all the same.

Finally, Ruby broke off the kiss, still hanging off him, eyes shining with joy. "That was awesome, Jaune! I knew you could do it."

"Thanks," said Jaune. "I got some advice from your brother."

Ruby nodded. "Kyo-nii would know."

Jaune and Ruby let go of each other, Jaune going over to pick up his sword. "Still, that was way more than what I was expecting." He frowned, staring at the blade. "I'm a little bit worried."

"That is _most_ understandable," said Weiss, brushing the forest loam from her clothes. "If _that_ is going to be the result, then there is no way you can use that in a sparring match, much less the tournament."

"We'll have to see," said Ruby. "The more you work with it, the better you can probably learn to control the outcome."

"Was it like this with your sword?" asked Jaune.

"The opposite, more like," said Ruby. "Akaibara is really contrary, pretty Weissy actually."

"Hey!" protested Weiss, glaring at Ruby.

"So...trying to get her Aura to open up to me even a little bit was a chore, and it was a while before we were really able to get to the point where we could merge our Auras." Ruby looked at Jaune's sword. "And, of course, I can't do what you do with your ability. That would amplify it even more."

"So...what should I do then?" asked Jaune.

Ruby frowned pensively, scratching her chin. "Um...how much Aura did you put into your swing, when you used Flow?"

"The usual amount," said Jaune. "I mean, I put a hefty chunk in, when I go on the offense."

"Maybe start by lowering how much Aura you put into your swing," suggested Ruby. "That could tone down the level of amplification. Other than that...perhaps focus on your intention."

"How so?" asked Jaune.

"Well, a sword's default intention is to cut," said Ruby. "Depending on who or what you're using it against, you wind up using it to 'cut' or 'kill.' However, if you can modify your intention properly, you could produce a powerful attack, with less threat of injuring your opponent."

"Um...What intention do I use?" wondered Jaune.

"'Defeat'...maybe...or 'win'…whichever seems better to you." Ruby shrugged.

"It sounds like the only proper way he could manage to work that angle is if he practiced against another person," said Pyrrha warily.

"That's _far_ too dangerous," said Weiss.

Ruby grinned. "Maybe not," she said. "After all, all we need to do is find the right person..."

* * *

"I had a feeling it would come to this," said Kyo, laughing as Ruby explained her idea to him. "So you would like me to be your partner's punching bag?"

Amber stared at Kyo in confusion, wondering just how he could be so blithe about something like this. Granted, that seemed to be a sort of trend with these siblings. So she supposed it shouldn't be _that_ much of a shock, when Ruby and Jaune had approached them, when the older pair had been on another of their outings around campus.

"Yes, please, Kyo-nii," said Ruby cheerfully. "Jaune needs to work on moderating how he uses his weapon's power, and you're the one person I _know_ is strong enough to take what he dishes out."

"And are you all right with this?" asked Kyo, looking to Jaune. It wasn't that he felt that Jaune's heart wasn't in this. He just wanted to make sure that Ruby wasn't making plans without his consent.

"Well, she said it would be the best way," said Jaune. "She also said that I could try it against her. But I'd rather not."

"Well, I'd say that Ruby-chan could certainly handle the kind of power you're describing for me, it would take a good bit more effort on her part," noted Kyo. "That would actually be some good training for her, in and of itself, but it would reduce the number of chances you have to practice for yourself."

"That's true," said Ruby.

"Then let's do it both ways," said Kyo.

"Huh?" grunted Jaune and Ruby in unified confusion.

"Ruby-chan will start by taking Jaune-kun's attacks. Then, after you tire her out, Jaune-kun, I'll take over, and we can go until _you_ tire out."

"Will that be okay?" asked Amber warily.

"It'll be fine," said Kyo. "Would you like to watch, Amber-san?"

Amber blinked, thinking it over. "You know, it might be interesting."

"Then we can get started immediately," said Kyo, turning back to Ruby and Jaune. "If you would take us to one of the sparring rings..."

* * *

"Well, when I said I wanted to cut a deal, I didn't think it would be with you," said Roman Torchwick, grinning as he settled into the seat across the desk from Ozpin. "So...what exactly do ya want from me, oh Great and Powerful Oz?"

Ozpin chuckled at Roman's moniker for him, even as Glynda bristled silently behind him. "Straight to the point then," he said. "May I ask what prompted your sudden change of heart, when, for the past few months, you have determinedly obfuscated any inquiries we have made?"

"Well, a little birdie _might_ have told me that a certain mutual thorn in our sides has been...removed," said Roman.

"How odd that you would refer to your employer in such a manner," said Ozpin.

Roman laughed derisively. "You make it sound like we had a contract, that I got a nice little salary, maybe a benefits package..." He leaned forward, his expression hardening angrily. "I think we both know the _real_ terms of my arrangement with her. My 'dental' would've been what they used to ID what was left of me, after she was done. I did what she told me, and she wouldn't turn me into a black smudge on the pavement."

"And doing what she told you included staying quietly in prison?" asked Ozpin.

"Well, I ain't about to complain too much," said Roman. "After that little red menace caught me, I was sure Cinder was going to have me hung in my cell before the week was out. I'm damn lucky she still needed something from me, or we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"And does what she needed from you have something to do with your cohort, who happens to be just behind you?" asked Ozpin, his gaze sliding slightly off to Roman's left.

Glynda gasped, her eyes widening. In a flash, her riding crop was in her hand, whipping out in the direction of Ozpin's eyes. However, before she could do anything, Ozpin held a hand up in front of her, forestalling any action on her part.

"Young Miss," said Ozpin, "please come out. There is no point in hiding anymore."

Roman let out an impressed whistle. "Well, _that's_ never happened before. Might as well drop the act, Neo."

The air behind and to the left of Roman abruptly shattered like glass, fragments falling away to reveal the diminutive form of Neo, her appearance startling Glynda, even though the woman was already aware that someone was there.

Ozpin smiled. "Yes, I can see why someone with her ability would be so highly-valued." His eyes met Neo's. "I find myself curious why you have been helping us behind the scenes."

Neo affected a look of mock-innocence, pointing to herself, as though asking "Who? Me?"

Ozpin chuckled. "You _are_ the one who sent us the warning that the Forrest Family was still in danger, even here at Beacon."

Neo nodded slowly.

"She was testing the waters, for the most part," said Roman. "Even if me getting caught by Red was a serious threat, it also meant that Cinder didn't have as tight a hold on things as we feared.

"And then you brought her into Beacon, and she went on to beat Adam Taurus, of all people. I may not have had too many dealings with the guy, but I know he ain't someone who's gonna go down easily, and Red managed that _twice_. When I heard about that, I thought that maybe...just maybe...you all might have a chance against her."

"And so, your associate has been assisting us, somewhat," said Ozpin.

"That's stretching it a bit," said Roman. "Neither of us was prepared to go out on a limb for anything less than a sure thing. Mostly, Neo kept an eye on things. She was watching when a certain student of yours' friend in the White Fang sold out her buddies to stop that attack from going off. She could've made things go differently, if she'd wanted, but Neo decided to let things play out." Roman gestured around him. "And well...here we are."

"Indeed," agreed Ozpin, "which leaves us with the question of where we go from here."

"Well, you're the one setting the terms," said Roman. "What do you want, exactly?"

"First off, I would like to confirm if you have any further information about Cinder Fall's plans...or perhaps the plans of those _she_ was working for," said Ozpin.

"Nada," said Roman. "You think she'd tell a peon like me stuff like that?"

"Did you, perhaps, learn anything, Ms. Neo?" asked Ozpin.

Neo, not smiling for once, shook her head slowly.

"Well then, let us move onto the next thing," said Ozpin. "I have a proposal for you, Mr. Torchwick. Should you accept it, we can pave the way to your sentence ultimately being commuted, and you might even have the opportunity to...turn over a new leaf...as it were."

Roman grinned. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting such a generous offer," he admitted. "What exactly do you want me to do?"

* * *

Ruby grunted, having to brace the flat of her blade against the palm of her hand as Jaune struck. The white light flashing from the edge of his sword transformed into a blazing crescent of white. Even though she'd braced herself, the force behind the blow was so intense that she was nearly blown off her feet. As it was, her sandals scraped against the floor as she was sent sliding back several meters.

"How was that?" asked Jaune, panting slightly, a sheen of sweat decorating his face.

"You tell me," said Ruby, smiling over her upraised sword. "It's no good if you need me to tell you. You need to figure out what the right way of doing this feels like."

Jaune frowned, looking down at his sword. "It wasn't right," he said. "It still feels too sharp. If your sword hadn't been there, then it would have cut right through your Aura." He looked back up at Ruby with worried eyes.

"Don't worry, Jaune," said Ruby, smiling at him. "Right now, you're still feeling out the 'how' of tapping into your weapon. So it's gonna take some work before you can fully control how you use it."

In fact, it had taken a bit of a warmup, before Jaune was able to re-establish contact with his sword's Aura. Even now, he was struggling to hold onto the impression of that energy, contained within the blade in his hand, so that he could continue to use it, when he attacked Ruby.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune nervously. "I just wish there was a safer way to do this."

"Safety isn't a given in our line of work," said Ruby. "Just go ahead, Jaune. Swing away."

"Right..." said Jaune, taking his stance again.

He raised his sword upwards, while Ruby braced Akaibara to block once again. A few seconds later, Jaune stepped forward, bringing his sword down in an angled slash with a loud shout. The blade flashed, blazing a light-cream color, and another crescent of light slammed into Ruby's upraised sword, driving her back again.

Amber and Kyo watched from the sidelines, the former's jaw hanging slightly slack, the latter beaming proudly.

"That's the energy of Jaune's sword...really?" asked Amber.

"It's amplified by his innate ability, but yes," said Kyo. "Tapping into that power for a single attack like this is just the first step though. Ultimately, the goal is for wielder and weapon to completely merge their spirits, and create something much greater than the sum of their parts. Still, he's coming along _much_ faster than I expected. He truly has a strong affinity for this."

They watched as Jaune's sword crashed against Ruby's again. Both of them were sweating and panting. However, Ruby's arms were beginning to quake from the effort of interposing her sword between herself and Jaune. Another strike later, and she had to shake out her arms. One more slash, and Ruby nearly dropped Akaibara to the floor.

"I think that's enough for you, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, getting to his feet.

Ruby nodded. Pulling out her scroll, she fumbled with it for a bit, bringing down the safety barrier. After that, she traded places with Kyo. A second later, she brought up the barrier again. After that, it was Kyo who was fending off Jaune's slashes. Unlike Ruby, Kyo casually held his sword with one hand, still managing to hold off Jaune's attacks easily, the blows not even making his feet slide back.

Ruby settled in next to Amber, helping herself to one of the towels they'd set aside to wipe away her sweat. When she finished, she noticed that Amber was watching Kyo with fascination, listening as the boy coaxed Jaune into making another effort.

"So...how are you and Kyo-nii getting along?" asked Ruby, smiling at Amber.

Amber looked down, her cheeks turning pink. "W-well...we're doing quite well."

"He's not coming on too strong, is he?" asked Ruby, a bit worried. Given how inept Kyo had come off during his initial meeting with Amber, she was worried that he might be trying a bit too hard to win her interest.

"N-no! Not at all." Amber smiled. "He's kind and attentive, but never intrusive. He doesn't try to do things for me, unless I want or need him to. He's just…there…and that's what I need most of the time." She sighed and looked down. "I just wish I knew what to do."

"About him?" asked Ruby, canting her head.

"I've never really been in this position," Amber admitted. "I mean...there were boys who caught my interest before. But, being the Fall Maiden, I knew I couldn't afford to make too many connections. Anyone I entered into a relationship with would be just one more person Salem and her people could use against me. Make friends, and Salem's people would threaten them. Settle down, and they would find me. I had to keep moving, and keep to myself for the most part. My only other option would be to live my life tied down by Ozpin's protection."

Ruby nodded slowly, able to understand how Amber would have difficulty finding a special someone for herself.

Amber sighed her hand going up to trace her scar. "After the attack...I woke up with _this_. For a little while, I was afraid that it would make people afraid to approach me, that it would make me ugly."

"Kyo-nii changed your mind?" asked Ruby.

Amber's smile widened considerably, and she nodded. "Yes," she said. "He doesn't just accept it or overlook it. He embraces it. And...I think that's amazing." Amber turned her gaze to Ruby. "Thank you for introducing me to him."

"You're welcome," said Ruby, giving Amber a wide smile. "You deserve some real happiness, after what you went through. When you've recovered, you should travel with him."

"Travel...with him...?" Amber's eyes widened at the thought.

"Yeah. You sure wouldn't have to worry about anyone threatening him," said Ruby, giggling.

"That's true, I suppose," said Amber, her gaze drifting back to Kyo.

"What's more, if you go back with him to Leng, you can settle in Onmyo," said Ruby. "The Mibu can protect you from Salem. She won't even think about going after you, while you're there." At least, that was her belief, given what she knew.

"Are the people there as strong as Kyo?" asked Amber.

"Some," said Ruby. "There are a lot of ordinary civilians. But the friends Kyo has there are way stronger than the Maidens. And then there's his mother and father, who are _stronger_ than him. If Salem tried to go after you there, she'd regret it."

"That sounds...wonderful," Amber admitted.

Ever since she had embraced her role as the Fall Maiden, Amber hadn't given much thought to having a home. Sure, she could have something _like_ a home, if she'd decided to stay under Ozpin's protection. But it wouldn't be so much a home as a gilded cage, her comings and goings constantly monitored and controlled, every person she interacted with carefully vetted.

Traveling was much more enjoyable. Amber liked seeing new places and meeting new people. It allowed her to get out and use her power to help others. However, that way of life was more exposed, and not everyone she would meet was a friend. She'd learned that lesson in a particularly unpleasant manner, thanks to Cinder and her underlings.

Amber supposed that home would be a balance of both; being able to leave when she wanted, but having a place to return to, where she felt safe and welcome; where she could trust the people she interacted with. If that was the case, Amber wondered if she could be at "home", if she was with Kyo.

Given the way her cheeks warmed, when she entertained the notion, Amber realized she certainly didn't think it a bad idea.

In the ring, Jaune was beginning to sag. He was absolutely _drenched_ with sweat now, his body heaving with every breath he took. Still, he lifted his head, fixed Kyo with a determined stare, adopted his stance, and started again.

"Your partner is quite determined," said Amber.

"Yeah...he is," agreed Ruby, smiling fondly.

Jaune finally gave out, over a dozen tries later. At some point, he had foregone trying to make his attacks non-lethal, and had simply focused on making sure that he could call upon his sword for every strike. Kyo didn't admonish him for that, explaining that the more he engaged with his sword's Aura, the more Jaune would be able to control it, later on.

By the time they wrapped up, the cafeteria had almost closed. Fortunately, Ruby and Jaune were able to make it before the dinner period ended. Kyo took Amber back to Glynda's quarters, and wound up having dinner with them, Glynda's manner towards him having apparently softened, after seeing the way Kyo was helping Amber.

* * *

A few days later, on a Friday afternoon, Ruby had returned to the Emerald Forest, her friends with her. She continued to work on perceiving the world's Aura. It was there, hovering just at the edges of her awareness, like a stray thought on the tip of her tongue, something she new she needed to think and say, and yet she couldn't quite work out what it was.

She relaxed her body and mind, both going slack. As she did, she listened, allowing the sounds and smells of the forest around her to inundate her. Her awareness slipped away, and Ruby felt her Aura blending in with something...larger. What was more, she could sense the Aura of her sword, blending with her own.

_It's the same!_ The thought struck Ruby abruptly. When she called upon the Aura of her sword, she merged Akaibara's Aura with her own. It began to occur to her that she was doing the same with the World's Aura. In fact, she had already achieved that, it was the state she had been _born_ into. If she was a part of the One, then her Aura was already merged with it. Therefore, all she had to do was _listen_, just as she did with her sword.

Granted, it wasn't quite the same. The scale was _vastly_ different. The "voice" of the world around her spoke on such a scale that Ruby imagined it might take decades for it to sound out a single syllable...if she were to compare it a human manner of speech. But, if she could listen, then she could begin to call upon that vast Aura, and invoke it within the limited scope of her own perspective.

So Ruby inhaled deeply, breathing in, centering herself, making herself the center of the world...or at least her small corner of it. And, just like that, everything came together. Up above, a low rumbling sound built, heavy, dark clouds emerging from nowhere, the sky turning almost black.

Ruby's friends stopped their own training, staring up in awe at the sight, watching as the clouds formed a vortex above Ruby's head. The words came out of her mouth automatically.

_"Thunder of heaven,_

_"Thunder of earth,_

_"Come forth from the thunder clouds,_

_"Light the darkest places of the earth,_

_"Grant your strength to me!"_

Lightning leapt about the vortex above, before a massive bolt lanced downwards with a deafening crack and a flare of light that forced Ruby's friends to shield their eyes. The bolt struck her sword, the clap of thunder creating a shockwave that they had to brace against to remain standing.

When the sound of thunder faded, and the ringing cleared their ears, Jaune, Weiss, and Pyrrha slowly opened their eyes, their ears now being met by an intense crackle, accompanied by Ruby's voice. "_Raikoken_." They found themselves staring at Ruby, standing triumphantly right where the lightning had struck. Her sword was held aloft in both hands, arcs of white lightning, edged with blue, dancing along the length of her blade.

The difference between this and the lightning Ruby normally created from her Aura was like night and day. It was more than just the color, the energy's hue not washing a brilliant crimson. The electricity dancing along Ruby's sword formed wider arcs, stretching over a meter away sometimes, before curling back to reconnect with the blade, almost as though the intense force bound there was barely held in check.

That wasn't all that strange though. This was _true_ lightning, the unrestrained power of nature's wrath embodied, now bound to Ruby's will.

"I did it!" exclaimed Ruby exultantly.

"Holy crap!" shouted Jaune, gaping unashamedly at the spectacle.

Weiss and Pyrrha were less vocal, but just as astonished, gobsmacked by the sight before them. Sure, they had seen the clouds forming over the site of Ruby's battle with Cinder, had seen the bolt leap downwards. They'd even seen the final seconds of Ruby's technique, before it had petered out. But this was the first time any of them had laid eyes on the whole thing altogether.

Ruby had just called forth a storm on a clear day, and called a bolt of lightning right down into her sword, and was now holding it fast with her will. Ruby had commanded the power of nature itself. The sight was simply...awesome.

_Every time I think I close the gap, she pulls away even further,_ thought Weiss ruefully, though she couldn't bring herself to resent the realization.

Pyrrha looked on with shining eyes, imagining what it would be like to face that kind of force in the ring.

Jaune...Jaune's expression softened into one of pure, loving admiration. _She looks so beautiful._

Ruby lowered her sword slightly, keeping it in both hands, the blade held at a shallow angle, nearly horizontal. Closing her eyes, she turned her focus to the energy now racing along and through Akaibara's blade. The arcs of energy shrank down, forming shorter and shorter loops, condensing around the blade, almost seeming to dye its red steel blue and white.

Then Ruby released her sword with her right hand, flinging the blade out to her left in a wide swing, stopping sharply with her arm fully extended. The accumulated energy scattered away from her sword in a shower of brilliant sparks, almost like fireworks.

"Why did you do that?" asked Pyrrha, feeling slightly disappointed to see such a magnificent sight end so...abruptly...mundanely...she wasn't sure how to think of it.

"Well, I'm just trying to work on one thing at a time," said Ruby, smiling back at them. "I did it this time, sure. But I need to make sure I fully master the first part, so that I can pull off the _Raikoken_ every time."

"First part...?" Weiss blinked in confusion.

"Well, getting the lightning into my sword is the hard part," said Ruby. "You could say that, when it comes to what to _do_ with it, there are a bunch of different sub-techniques that Sarutobi passed down. I managed a couple of them, when I was fighting Cinder. They weren't actually that hard. But actually getting to the point where I can pull off the _Raikoken_, whenever I need to, that's the part I need to work on the most."

"Will it be ready in time for the tournament?" wondered Pyrrha.

"I'm not gonna use it for the tournament," said Ruby, drawing startled exclamation from Weiss and Pyrrha.

"I get it," said Jaune chuckling. "Amity Coliseum is a giant floating arena. Call down lightning strikes in the middle of that, you'd be freaking people out."

"And the lightning would be smashing right through the overhead barrier," added Pyrrha, catching on.

"Definitely the kind of thing that wouldn't go over well with a live audience," finished Jaune, nodding sagely.

"Besides, reining in this kind of power is going to take some doing," said Ruby. "Right now, I wouldn't dare use this against another person, unless I was prepared to kill them." Her expression became grave for a moment.

"...Right," said Pyrrha nervously.

Weiss opened her mouth slightly to wonder why Ruby would bother spending so much time on this technique, if it wasn't even going to be useful in the tournament. However, she stopped herself, realizing easily enough that Ruby was thinking much further ahead than that. Ruby's focus was, as always on her future of a Huntress, on cultivating strength she could use to protect people from the Grimm. Of course, for Ruby, that would take priority over anything and everything else, much less a simple tournament, no matter how big and storied it was.

"So now you just lather, rinse, and repeat, right?" asked Jaune.

"That's how it goes," said Ruby, looking up at the sky, which had cleared barely a minute after the lightning had first come down.

Taking a deep breath, she took up her sword once more, holding it up in front of her. Closing her eyes, she once again fell into opening herself to her awareness of the One.

A few minutes later, the sky boiled with dark clouds once more.

* * *

"_Have you seen the news?_" asked the voice on the Man's scroll.

"Who hasn't?" wondered the man, somewhat rhetorically.

Well, he wouldn't have, normally. He was too busy to spend much time watching the network, even something like the news. He generally delegated someone to monitoring the news networks, and reporting to him anything of note. However, this time, he'd been asked to watch the news personally.

It had been quite the piece, to say the least. The Emerald Forest, north of Vale, was no stranger to storms. However, dark, heavy storm clouds suddenly boiling over in the middle of an otherwise-clear day, expelling a single bolt of lightning, dissipating, then reappearing all over again...that was about as strange as weather got. Already, meteorological experts were speculating wildly about the cause, mainly in an effort to hide their confusion at the utter inexplicability of it all.

The Man knew better, having a meteorologist in his employ, one who was paid quite handsomely to be completely honest. Said meteorologist had informed the Man that such an occurrence was virtually impossible.

Therefore, if the phenomenon was not born of the natural world, then it was the product some something else…or possibly _someone_ else. "Do you have reason to believe that this has some relation with our target?"

"_Not in particular,_" replied the woman on the other end of the line. "_Call it more of a hunch. Given that the Mibu have quite the penchant for inexplicable phenomena, and that the epicenter of this event took place only a few miles directly north of Beacon, I am willing to hazard that it is more likely that _she_ is involved than not._"

"An interesting conclusion," mused the Man. "But what would be the aim of something like this? What would that girl gain by staging such a spectacle?"

"_Seeing as she hasn't plastered her face across the news, declaring her responsibility, I suspect the spectacle is secondary,_" replied his agent. "_In fact, she may be trying to avoid drawing too much attention, seeing as this phenomenon is occurring out in the forest, and not in the skies of Beacon itself._"

"And what do you think her aim is?"

"_Given what we know of the Mibu, I would hazard a guess that her aim is training._"

"Calling down lightning from the heavens is training?"

"_It is, if you are _practicing_ the art of calling down lightning from the heavens. The event occurred with a diminishing interval. Therefore, my speculation is that she was seeking to hone whatever skill this is, her speed and efficiency improving with each repetition._"

The Man frowned. "Interesting. If you are correct, then it is all the more imperative that we deal with her."

"_Shall I rescind the requirement to take her alive?_"

The Man mulled it over for a moment. "No. But there is increased urgency. I will make available whatever resources you require. Get this done as soon as possible."

"_They are already wary. Last time, a hasty operation failed. They would likely be expecting something, the next time they come to Vale, and we do not possess the means to seize her on Beacon grounds._"

"I am aware of that," said the Man. "Time is of the essence, though. We absolutely cannot allow her to be at large, by the time the Vytal Festival begins. That is your deadline."

"_Understood._"

* * *

**And now Ruby has become the news' weatherman's worst nightmare.**

**On another note, I've gotten a new computer, and it's taken me a bit to get everything set up here. I'm loving it so far. Now I just have to build my cache of ready-to-publish chapters back up.**


	102. Chapter 102

**Chapter 102:**

Ruby's head was feeling more than a little fuzzy. She wasn't sure if it was mental fatigue, some kind of side effect of drawing upon the Aura of the world so much, or if it was simply the result of being at Ground Zero for multiple powerful lightning strikes. All she knew at the moment was that thinking was hard.

She was glad that she had Jaune's back to rest on, as he carried her back towards the cliffs. After the initiation, Ruby had learned that she had, more or less, led her friends astray, in a sense. Their designated return point had been about a half-mile east of the chasm, where they'd fought the Orochi. At that point, there was a lift system that allowed students who entered the Emerald Forest to ascend, without needing to make the tiring climb up the cliffs.

She was certainly glad for that lift now. As it was, Jaune would have had a hard time hauling her up the cliffs, in her addled state. The cloak trailing behind her betrayed just how badly worn down she was, seeming more holes than cloth at this point.

As it had turned out, merging her Aura with the world's didn't mean that she could wield that power _in place_ of her Aura. Instead, just as it was with her Aura and Akaibara's, the resulting merge was a blend of her Aura and the world's Aura (and her sword's). It was infinitely more potent than her Aura on its own, but she was still using her Aura in some sense.

As she had learned the hard way, repeated executions of the _Raikoken_ had the consequence of eating away her Aura considerably. Still, practice was necessary, and Ruby had pressed herself to continue, in order to fully internalize the sensation of drawing upon the world's Aura as much as possible.

"And to think," commented Weiss, "we came out here with you because we were worried about future kidnapping attempts. It certainly is a good thing we were out here with you, after all."

"Thanks," said Ruby softly, resting her cheek against Jaune's shoulder, struggling to keep from falling asleep.

Jaune had offered to use his Aura to replenish Ruby's. But she had declined. As wonderful as his gift was, it was best she didn't get too dependent on it. Besides, Jaune needed to reserve it for practicing with Crocea Mors, against Kyo, later. More importantly...Jaune's back was really comfy.

The lift was about as simple a mechanism as such things got. A broad platform, propelled by gravity-Dust, it descended down the side of the cliff to land in front of them, called down by Weiss' scroll. After boarding it, the lift conveyed them smoothly back up the side of the cliff, before sliding into its resting place at the top, allowing them to disembark.

To their surprise, Team RASP found that they'd accumulated something of an audience.

Ozpin and Glynda stood before them, the former smiling in his usual, enigmatic manner, while the latter was clearly struggling to keep a straight face, though which emotions Glynda was restraining were a mystery. Ruby was too tired to try and sense it for herself. Beside them, Kyo's emotions didn't require any extra effort on Ruby's part to discern, the proud smile on his face speaking volumes. Next to him, Amber sat in her wheelchair, her eyes meeting Ruby's with a look of awe. Behind them were arrayed the members of RYNB, wearing amazed expressions of their own. They were accompanied by CPPR. Even Ciel appeared to have taken a break from her work, assisting Winter, to watch the spectacle.

"I guess we put on a bit of a show," noted Pyrrha.

"There was indeed quite a lot of curiosity about what was going on," said Ozpin with a chuckle. "There was a much larger audience. However, when the clouds dissipated for the final time, we determined that you were on your way back and dismissed most of the rest of the students. I believe most of them think it was simply an unusual weather pattern, as none of them were aware that you four were out there."

"Thank God for small favors," said Weiss.

"But this is totally cool!" cheered Nora. "Ruby! You and I are totally compatible. We should do combo attacks!"

"Now that I think about it, that's not too bad an idea," mused Jaune.

After all, if Ruby could call down lightning on demand, then one of the better uses of it might be channeling that power into Nora, enabling her to fight at a higher level.

"Just promise me you'll never try that indoors, and you'll have my blessing," said Ren firmly.

"Promise," said Nora cheerfully.

"What do you think, Ruby?" asked Jaune, glancing at his girlfriend, only to see Ruby already nodding off against his shoulder.

Kyo laughed. "It would seem that Ruby-chan's worn herself down. You may want to lend her some help, Jaune-kun, so that she's at least lucid enough to make it to dinner."

"She turned me down, earlier," Jaune noted.

"She tends to underestimate how tired she makes herself," said Kyo. "Just a little bit will be fine, so she's not falling asleep at the table."

"All right then," said Jaune, taking a deep breath, gently Projecting his Aura into her, using the arms he had looped under her thighs as the point of contact. The white glow of his Aura flowed in to merge with the red of Ruby's own.

Behind Kyo, Amber, and the Teachers, Yang abruptly stiffened, her hands closing into fists, her jaw clenching as she stared intently at Jaune, watching him like a hawk. Her reaction was small, overall, but it didn't go unnoticed by Ren. Kyo likewise angled his head slightly in her direction, raising an eyebrow.

After a few seconds of channeling his Aura into Ruby, Jaune let out a breath, allowing the light of his Aura to subside. After that, Ruby's eyes blinked open, looking clearer. "Huh?" she grunted, rubbing her eyes. Looking up, she became more cognizant of her audience, their presence having been mostly lost on her earlier. When she did, she blushed fiercely.

Kyo laughed softly. "Sleep comes later, Ruby-chan. Jaune-kun still has his training with me, after this. You're obviously too worn down to participate, but you should at least stay awake for it. Not to mention that you're going to be hungry, by the time we finish, so you should be up to feeding yourself."

"Okay," said Ruby, yawning. She nestled her head back against Jaune's shoulder, nuzzling him affectionately, rather than sleepily. "Carry me?"

"No problem," said Jaune with a fond chuckle, returning the gesture.

Yang relaxed slightly. However, she still continued to watch Jaune intently, frowning darkly.

"Anyway, let's get training," said Jaune, before looking at Ozpin and Glynda. "Um...sorry, Professors. Was there something you wanted?"

Ozpin chuckled, shaking his head. "No, we merely wished to observe. Now that you are back, we have no reason to tarry any longer. Come, Glynda."

Ozpin sauntered back towards Beacon Tower, Glynda following along behind him. They all watched the teachers go, before deciding to make their way to the sparring ring.

* * *

Mercury groaned, thrusting his arms upward, stretching them high over his head, while arching his back, making his spine pop. Below the level of the table, his legs stretched out to the fullest extent possible, the mechanical limbs mimicking the movement of flesh and blood ones, even if there was nothing for them to feel.

Mercury grimaced sourly. The prosthetics he'd been given in place of his originals were pathetic, consisting of little more than articulated joints, a couple of pistons simulating muscles and tendons, and a pair of curving slats in place of feet. As such pieces of tech went, they were as basic as basic got, which was entirely the point, he supposed. Considering who he was, no one was willing to let him wear a pair of such devices that could be remotely weaponized. Mercury had been able to tell that they had even been deliberately weakened, designed to fall apart if he exerted them too hard, completely stymieing any plans for getting by, even with his basic skills.

Basic as they were, the prosthetics carried only the most rudimentary of sensor relays, allowing Mercury to sense the distribution of his weight and balance, but little else. Compared to his previous ones, which had been so sensitive they might as well have been his flesh-and-blood legs, these were a huge step down, leaving him feeling more than a little numb below the thighs.

Even worse, the bland, orange prison uniform didn't look good on him at all. The fact that the legs had been cut, leaving his prosthetics exposed to the world, only made it worse in his eyes. He supposed that the humiliation was an extra bonus to those who'd had him in custody. Part of Mercury couldn't believe that he'd actually been turned over to the police. They were the military police, but still cops to his mind. Technically, Beacon wasn't really a prison, so it wasn't though Mercury could be kept there. At least Emerald had a proper excuse for being confined to the Academy's infirmary. However, Mercury supposed that, in his case, it was either turn him over to the authorities in Vale, or hand him over to Ironwood's custody. Apparently, they had decided that Vale had jurisdiction in this case, and figured that, without his prosthetics, Mercury wasn't enough of a threat to warrant Atlesian hospitality...which he supposed was true. However, it still seemed like an odd idea. Given what he knew, he could cause quite a bit of damage, simply by sharing that knowledge.

Of course, it was a double-edged sword. Even as Salem operated to bring down the Kingdoms, she was largely working to keep her hand hidden. That was why, despite how powerful she supposedly was, she was always using agents and proxies. Sure, the knowledge that such an existential threat presented would be enough to drive lesser people to madness. It could give rise to chaos and disorder, bringing the Grimm down on the Kingdoms in droves.

Or it could b_e_ the _spark_, that single catalyst that brought all of humanity together. Salem wanted to keep the world divided, the Kingdoms separate. If possible, she wanted them to mistrust one another, be ready to go to war with one another. However, the emergency of a common enemy, _her_, might wind up uniting them instead.

It was strangely fitting really. Two mortal foes, both struggling to keep their conflict secret for opposing reasons. Ozpin wanted to keep the war with Salem secret in order to keep the revelation of her existence from provoking fear and panic. Salem wanted to keep their fight hidden to avoid the possibility of bringing them together against her. One feared humanity's worst qualities, the other feared their best. Complete opposites from beginning to end.

Which was the reason he knew to keep his mouth shut. If he spilled the beans on Salem, Mercury was sure that her reprisal would be...unpleasant...to say the least. Though it appeared to be a moot point. This was actually the first time he'd seen the inside of an interrogation room since being taken into custody. Ozpin must have said or done something to keep him from being questioned, though Mercury wondered what the military thought about that.

Of course, knowing that, it made him wonder just who he would be talking to today. Perhaps Ozpin had finally decided to come down, or send one of his people down, to find out what Mercury knew. Or maybe the military's investigators had actually decided to question him, with or without Ozpin's approval.

He could have done without the waiting though. It was a classic interrogation tactic, of course. Throw the suspect in an empty room, let them cool their heels for a few hours, give them a chance to rile up their fear and anxiety, all before grilling them for information.

Mercury smirked. _Yeah, like that's gonna work. Dad trained me to handle way worse than this. I might take a nice nap._

He was considering letting his eyes close when the door swung open, which surprised him a little. By his estimate, he'd been in the room for a good half-hour at least, but not long enough for him to really feel like he'd been waiting.

"My apologies," said the woman in a curt voice as she entered her voice of a lower register than most women, but still undeniably feminine, a good bit deeper and rougher than Cinder's sultry purr. "I hadn't meant to keep you waiting. But my arrival was delayed."

For his part, Mercury had to keep himself from whistling in appreciation.

The woman was tall and slender, her arms and legs both seeming slightly too long for her frame. Her stomach was slightly sunken, making Mercury suspect that, if her top wasn't on, he'd be able to count her ribs through her skin. Yet she moved with a lithe grace that made her seem anything but awkward, carrying herself in such a way that suggested she was anything _but_ weak.

He estimated her to be a little bit older than he was, but not by much. The fair skin of her face was taut, with no signs of wrinkles, slightly sunken cheeks meeting a jawline that angled almost to a point. Her pale-gray, almost white, hair was combed to the left side of her face, falling down to the level of her earlobe, her right ear unhidden by hair, a black jewel mounted on a gold earring, was set into the lobe of said ear.

Her thin, almost spindly, build was highlighted by her choice of clothes. Tight, but not skintight; a single-breasted black suit-jacket, with black lining was drawn closed over a black dress-shirt, hugging tightly to the contours of her chest and stomach...which weren't substantial to begin with, almost flat enough to make Mercury wonder if he'd mistaken the woman's gender. They were complimented by the equally tight black dress-pants she wore, the cuffs resting just above a pair of black dress-shoes.

But it was her eyes that drew Mercury's attention, and appreciation the most. Like her hair, they were gray, a few shades lighter than the gray of his own eyes. Narrow and slightly angled, it gave her a hard, chilling glaze. But it was a gaze that Mercury recognized all too easily.

It wasn't just her eyes. It was the way she carried herself; perfectly balanced, poised, ready to move at a second's notice. Most people wouldn't have noticed it, but this woman could go from what would have looked like a casual posture to attack in a fraction of a second, if that.

_Well well welllll...a fellow traveler,_ thought Mercury, smirking at the sight of this woman. She might have looked like some overdressed secretary, with a fetish for black on black on black, but she was definitely _his_ type of person...a killer...an assassin.

"I gotta say, if it's for the chance to meet with you, sweetheart, I'd say that it was worth the wait," said Mercury.

The woman's lips curled up in the faintest beginning of a smile, before returning slightly to neutral. Mercury found himself warming up to this woman pretty fast. That hadn't been a slip of someone briefly giving into mirth, nor any kind of lapse in control. It had been a smile, however brief, of acknowledgment. It seemed that this woman liked what she saw almost as much as he did.

"Mercury Black," said the woman, her tone clipped and businesslike, "son of Marcus Black, if I'm not mistaken." She pulled out the chair from the other side of the table, settling into the seat without bothering to scoot it back in, artfully crossing her left leg over her right, folding her hands in front of her, resting them on her lap, back straight.

"Guilty as charged," said Mercury flashing her a brief grin.

The woman pulled out her scroll, paging through a few files. "Your father was fairly well known, in our circles. I find it a little odd that _your_ footprint is practically nonexistent."

"You might say I've been employed long-term, for my first contract," said Mercury. "My current employers are big fans of keeping things low key. So I haven't been able to get established yet."

"Oh?" The woman raised an eyebrow. "Your first assignment? What does that say about your father?"

"That he's dead," said Mercury. "Killed him myself."

"So you've been baptized," observed the woman.

"Yep," agreed Mercury. "Jackass took my legs _and_ my Semblance with him though, so it ain't been all sunshine and roses."

"Yes...it was mentioned that your father had that particular quality," mused the woman. "It was one of the reasons he was so popular for contracts on Huntsmen and Huntresses."

"Hypocrite," grumbled Mercury. After all, it had been Marcus who had said that a Semblance was a crutch, and had taken Mercury's away in order to keep him from relying on it. But Marcus was perfectly fine relying on his _own_ Semblance.

"Perhaps," said the woman, canting her head slightly. "It is not my place to judge, of course."

"Uh huh," said Mercury dismissively. Then he paused. "You know, you sure know quite a bit more about me than I thought people might know. But I don't know anything about you. Any chance I could get your name? Or are you comfortable with me calling you Sweetheart for the rest of our conversation?"

To his pleasure, the woman smiled again, the expression lingering just a tiny bit longer than it had the last time. "Well, there is only so much you need to know right away. But I suppose it would be a courtesy to divulge my name to you, since I have yours already. I am Eira...Eira Vass."

_Pretty appropriate,_ thought Mercury as he assessed her.

Eira looked at her scroll again. "We have analyzed the prosthetics you were equipped with before. I must admit that we were quite impressed. They are advanced well beyond anything even Atlas is currently capable of. I hope you get the chance to convey our compliments to their designer."

Despite the compliment, Mercury found himself swallowing a grimace. Watts was insufferably smug at the best of times, never missing a chance to drone on about what an unappreciated genius he was. When they'd been given his virus, Watts had conveyed the instructions to install it on the CCT, along with how to use it, which had been full of smug assurances about it being so simple that even a "childish neophyte" like Cinder would still be capable of making use of it. If _this_ ever reached his ears, his head would probably swell to such a size that it wouldn't fit through the doors to Salem's castle.

"I'll see what I can do," he said levelly.

Something occurred to him, and Mercury's eyes narrowed. "You know, this seems less like an interrogation...and more like a job interview."

Eira smiled again, this time the smile carrying a sinister edge, one that got Mercury's heart pumping. It was a smile that meant she was about to talk _business_. "Well...now that you bring it up, we are certainly aware that you are most likely not in a position to divulge any particulars about your employer or your arrangement with them. However, _my_ employer wished for me to inquire into the basic nature of your present contract...namely, are you exclusive for the duration of your employment...or are you permitted the freedom to take...side jobs, as it were?"

"That's...tricky," said Mercury, his eyes rolling upward pensively.

It wasn't as though he'd actually signed a contract with Cinder. That was the norm for assassins like him anyway, of course. Pros didn't leave a paper trail. But he hadn't exactly negotiated terms with Cinder. It had been either follow and serve her, or be left a half-dead cripple, stuck by the burned out remnants of the house he'd once lived in, though he'd never seen it as a home. Not seeing much in the way of options, going with Cinder had been the best choice he had available at the time.

Of course, no contract meant no fine print. But Cinder had definitely been _all_ about control, making sure that he and Emerald followed her orders, to the letter whenever possible. She didn't like either of them branching out, as Emerald had occasionally discovered, during those rare incidents where she spoke out of turn. Mercury got the distinct impression that Cinder hadn't wanted him taking on outside work.

But Cinder was dead now. So what she wanted didn't really matter anymore...did it?

Despite the fact that he had been working for Cinder, Mercury was aware that his real employer, however indirectly, was Salem. Cinder was carrying out _her_ orders, after all. So, if Cinder was gone, what mattered was what Salem thought. Again, there wasn't any fine print from Salem about whether or not Mercury could take side-gigs, even while technically working under her.

However, he got the impression that it wouldn't be a bad idea. This woman apparently wasn't interested in asking questions about who he worked for, or what their plans had been. Instead, the only thing she seemed to care about was whether or not he was willing to work for the person she worked for. Besides, this was an opportunity beyond merely making a little extra lien.

Whoever was behind Eira was someone with some _serious_ clout. Mercury had been led to an interrogation room, and left for her to interview him, despite him figuring that there was some kind of restriction in place against questioning him by Ozpin. That meant that whoever had sent Eira had the authority to override such restrictions, or the means to subvert them, maybe bribing the officers, for example. In either case, this was a chance to worm his way into whatever organization Eira represented. Once whoever Salem sent to replace Cinder showed up, Mercury might potentially already be in position to be of service to them, mainly as he would be _outside_ of his cell.

"You know...maybe we can work something out," said Mercury. "Though the biggest help in deciding that would be more info on just what kind of work you're offering."

"Of course," said Eira, tapping her scroll in tablet-mode, before turning it in her hands to show the screen to Mercury. "From what I gather, you are familiar with this young lady, yes?"

Mercury's eyes widened at the sight of the familiar visage on that screen. There was no mistaking that black and red hair, that cute face, or those silver eyes. His surprise melted away into a simmering anger, a scowl appearing on his face. "Yeah...I've certainly had a few encounters with her."

"It certainly sounds as though they were less than pleasant," noted Eira, turning her scroll back to herself, closing it down and pocketing it. "My Employer regards her as an extreme threat to the Kingdom of Vale. Therefore he is seeking her capture."

_Well...that's stupid...but interesting,_ thought Mercury.

His every impression of Ruby had been that she was the ultimate Goody-Two-Shoes, one of those insufferable people who saved people purely because people needed to be saved, a born protector. The idea of someone like _that_ being classified as a threat to the Kingdom struck him as beyond idiotic. But he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. _The enemy of my enemy..._ More importantly, it told him a few things about the person offering this job, through Eira.

It could be a particularly rich person, with a sense of overblown patriotism, someone who believed that they had the right to determine who was or was not a threat to the Kingdom. However, given the ice-cold professionalism of the woman in front of him, Mercury was inclined to believe that the person behind this was a political figure, possibly even someone on the Council. People like that often had vested interests in various things, things that Ruby might be a threat to, if they happened to threaten innocent people. A person in that position might be all too capable of interpreting a threat to said interests as a threat to the Kingdom.

All told, it seemed like a good deal. If things worked out, Mercury might be able to find himself a pretty good position, when Salem's next minion came around. Also, given that this was a mission against the girl who'd just killed Cinder and brought the results of all their hard work tumbling down around their ears, Mercury was more than happy to accept.

"Sounds good to me," said Mercury, his smile reappearing. He paused. "Wait...You said she needs to be captured...alive?"

"Correct," said Eira. "I find it impractical, but my employer insists. Threat or no threat, she has valuable information, which we seek as well."

"'Kay," said Mercury. "We still gonna off her in the end?"

"That is the ultimate plan, yes," said Eira.

Mercury grinned. "Then I'm on board." He paused. "Um...Any chance I could get my good legs back?" His weaponized prosthetics had been damaged in the last fight against Ruby. But Mercury figured that he could get them back in working order, especially if he got his hands on some of his new allies' resources.

"We will make arrangements," said Eira, returning his smile, and extending a hand across the table towards him. "I look forward to working with you, Mr. Black."

"Please, call me Mercury," said Mercury, taking her offered hand.

* * *

The whine of the bullhead's engines preceded its arrival, the airship dropping almost straight down from above, its wings tilting into their hover-configuration, the engines' output increasing dramatically, prompting the bullhead to slow down to a halt...mere feet away from the hard surface of the landing pad.

It was the kind of maneuver that spoke volumes about the skill of the pilot, or their recklessness. Its fall arrested, the bullhead gently lowered itself down to the concrete of the landing pad, coming to a stop, the whine of the engines dying as they shut down. The lingering quiet persisted as the bullhead sat still for a long moment.

Finally, with the final shutdown of its engines confirmed, it wasn't the bullhead's passenger bay doors that opened, but the cockpit hatch, allowing a single figure to step down onto the pad, and out into the fading light of the early evening. Ahead of him, the spires and buttresses of Beacon's architecture were clearly visible, as was the figure of Beacon Tower, all thrown into stark relief by the light of the setting sun streaming in from the west.

The man took a deep breath, stretching his back for a moment. The sun from behind Vale's skyline illuminated his figure. He was tall, well over six-feet, surveying the school before him with calm, deep-blue eyes. The wind rising up from the bay ruffled the short, blonde hair atop his head, which was combed neatly back, his sideburns stretching down into a full beard that completely covered his chin. The hard, chiseled muscles of his body were presently concealed by the overlapping white plates of armor that he wore. If anyone were ever to embody the archetype of the proverbial "Knight in Shining Armor," this man would be him.

After spending a moment quietly contemplating the scene before him, the man began to walk towards Beacon Tower, his metal-shod boots producing an audible clinking sound against the paved pathway.

* * *

The elevator to Ozpin's office slid open, prompting the Headmaster to look up from the paperwork on his desk. He'd already been informed of his visitor's arrival, having known the moment the bullhead had touched down at the docks that this man would be coming to him. "Welcome back to Beacon, Mr. Arc," said Ozpin.

Blaine Arc smiled pleasantly. "Professor," he said, "it's good to see you again. How have you been?"

"Quite well," replied Ozpin, producing a mug to compliment his own, and pouring some coffee for his guest. "It's certainly rare privilege to have you visit us. May I ask the reason?"

Blaine chuckled, accepting the mug from Ozpin. "Of course," he replied. "After all, part of the reason I'm here is to get your help."

"And what help might that be?" asked Ozpin.

"I need to find my son," said Blaine.

"Oh?" Ozpin raised an eyebrow.

Blaine sighed, taking a moment to enjoy a sip of Ozpin's brew before continuing. "The scamp's been going through a rebellious phase. He came flying into Vale, brandishing a set of fake transcripts, telling us he was going to get into Beacon."

"I see," said Ozpin, bringing his hands together.

"Boy had no real training," said Blaine. "Ten seconds would be enough for anyone to tell he's as green as it's possible to get."

"He chose not to train?" asked Ozpin.

"We didn't let him," said Blaine. "Oh, I gave him a quick primer, if you could call it that. But was more a way to knock that fool notion out of his head. No way was I letting our only son put himself at risk in this kind of profession."

"That seems rather unnecessarily cruel," mused Ozpin. "Why go to such lengths to discourage him?"

Blaine's face hardened. "'Cause that fool boy would only get himself killed," he replied. "When he was born, we were sure we were going to lose him. Every doctor we took him to predicted he wouldn't last past his first year. Then, all of a sudden, he got better. No one could work out how it happened. But we decided not to question it. My wife and I couldn't be happier.

"But then that boy got it into his hand that he wanted to be a Huntsman. Now, I can't fault a child for wanting to be just like his old man. But that Jaune even lived as long as he has is nothing short of a miracle. There's no way we could let him throw that away. He has no idea how much fear and stress he put us through, but he'd still gladly make us relive it all over again..."

Blaine lowered his head, growling in frustration.

"And does your son know about this?" asked Ozpin.

"No," replied Blaine. "He doesn't need to know about it. It's in the past."

"And yet, it clearly isn't, if you allow it to influence your decisions in the present," replied Ozpin. "What is more, your words and tone imply resentment towards your son for not appreciating how much hardship he caused you, during that first year, yet you yourselves are responsible for that. That strikes me as somewhat hypocritical, don't you think?"

Blaine grumbled under his breath, lowering his head. Then his expression hardened. Bringing the mug up to his lips, he downed the rest of his coffee in a single swig. "Thanks for the coffee, Oz. But I've talked too much already. I came here to find my boy and bring him home. He's already tried my patience enough.

"He brushed me off, the last time I talked to him, actually claiming he got in. Then he had the gall to block my number, so I can't call him anymore. Sapphira and the girls say he won't answer their texts. Only my eldest has talked to him apparently. She's the one who pointed me here, said I could definitely find him at Beacon.

"I figure you, being the nice guy you are, must've gotten him a place on staff as a condolence for not being able to enroll. It would explain why he hasn't been on my scroll, begging me to unfreeze his spending account, despite it being a few months. I'm sure he's doing all right at whatever job you decided to give him, but I can take it from here."

Blaine set the mug down on the desk. "So, Ozpin...where is Jaune?"

Ozpin checked the time. "Hmm...at this time...I suspect he is still at the sparring ring with his friends and teammates...then they will likely be in the dining hall afterwards."

Blaine nodded to himself before freezing in place, his eyes going wide. "Wait! What?" He blinked furiously. "Teammates...? Sparring ring...? Wait...what are you saying?"

"It is just as it sounds, Mr. Arc," said Ozpin. "Jaune Arc has successfully enrolled at Beacon Academy. He passed the initiation, and has since been working hard. Admittedly, there were a few rough spots at first, but he has shown potential that is nothing short of stunning, and is rapidly rising through the ranks."

Blaine, meanwhile, paled dramatically, the blood draining from his face. "So...he wasn't lying?"

"He was not," replied Ozpin simply.

"This isn't right!" exclaimed Blaine, thudding a fist against the surface of the desk. "I never even unlocked his Aura. If he attended the initiation, then that means..."

"Yes, he was launched," said Ozpin. "Fortunately, one of the other, then-hopeful, students noticed his plight and moved to assist him. She unlocked his Aura, and is now his partner and leader of his team."

"B-b-b-but he has no combat training," protested Blaine.

"His peers have provided him with a good deal of instruction," said Ozpin, smirking. "And it has been working quite well for him. Granted, he remains in the lower half of the class, when it comes to his combat ranking, but he has been rapidly rising with each assessment. I suspect that he will enter into the top half by the time the Vytal Festival rolls about, and that he will be an asset to his team, when it comes to the tournament."

Blaine gaped, unable to process what he was hearing. "I don't believe you," he said.

Ozpin merely shrugged. "Would you like to see for yourself?"

He brought up a video log of Jaune's most recent official sparring match, which had been against Sky Lark. The match had ended surprisingly quickly. Sky; being more skilled, agile, and with an edge in overall strength; had definitely had the advantage. He'd made excellent use of his weapon's superior reach and heft, along with taking advantage of its nature as a hybrid weapon, making use of the rifle that was mounted between the halberd's blades, enabling him to attack even when Jaune was outside melee range.

But none of that had even fazed Jaune, who faithfully held to the basics Ruby and Pyrrha had hammered into him, carefully hunkering down behind his shield and deftly deflecting Sky's attacks with minimal effort, all while patiently waiting for his chance, allowing his opponent to tire himself out and make an error.

And, when it had come, Jaune's faithful practice of the basics came to the fore once again. Deflecting a swing, Jaune was able to shift the direction of the movement to cause Sky to overextend himself, and stumble into the range of his sword. It wasn't the kind of mistake Sky would have made at the beginning of the match. However, his continuous exertion attacking had drained his stamina, and he'd misjudged the force of his attack, which Jaune's deflection had taken advantage of. What had followed was a three-hit combo of nothing but the most basic of sword techniques. But they had all the power of someone who'd practiced them relentlessly, both in terms of swinging his sword and controlling his Aura's Flow. The result was a trio of blows that had completely obliterated Sky's Aura, and won Jaune the match in a flash.

"That was..." Blaine searched for the words to describe what he had just seen. Given that he'd never actually bothered teaching Jaune, he had imagined watching the boy flail pathetically. Granted, there was nothing special about what he had done. He might have even gone so far as to dismiss Jaune's victory as the result of luck. However, Blaine's experience told him that this kind of luck was the sort that someone made for themselves. The style Jaune had employed was solid and dependable.

"It might be lacking in flare," noted Ozpin. "But it is serving him well, and he is only improving."

Blaine frowned. "Why did you accept him at all? You could have killed him, flinging him off the cliffs like that."

"Indeed," said Ozpin, shrugging idly. "Truth be told, I am not always as kind as I seem to be. I have little use for those who are not serious about becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses. Foolish grandstanders, who seek to bluff their way into my school, reap the consequences of their own actions, as far as I am concerned. Your son is not the first to have tried to enter my school with no training, and falsified transcripts. Most, I turn away, doing them a favor in the process. But the worst, I allow to try their luck, and find out, to their misfortune, just _what_ is expected of a Beacon student.

"But there are some, like your son, in whom I see potential, which is what led me to give him a chance. I suspected that he would find a way, and he did. And now, he is making his own way."

"How?" demanded Blaine. "How could you have possibly known that?"

"I have my ways," said Ozpin, flashing his patented enigmatic smile.

In truth, Ozpin had a special kind of criteria, when it came to screening potential applicants to Beacon, one that not even Glynda was privy to. It wasn't one he relied upon all the time. But, on rare occasions, it had more than proven itself useful.

Ozpin was but a fading shadow of the great Wizard he had once been. The vast majority of his power he had parted with, when creating the Maidens. He'd parted with even more of what little remained when he had granted the Branwen siblings the power to transform. What remained was the barest sliver of a fragment of the power that he'd had at his peak.

What magic Ozpin worked nowadays was subtle, by virtue of necessity. No longer could he smite foes with fire and lightning. Gone were the days where he could lay waste to entire armies by himself. Nowadays, the magic Ozpin used, he worked in _small_ ways.

Launching students off of a cliff, and then forcing them to partner with the very first person they met, upon landing...almost everyone who knew of that method had called it folly, at first. Even Glynda had given him a look filled with disbelief, the first time she'd seen him use it. And yet, almost without fail, the pairs that formed ultimately proved to be ideal ones in the end, partners capable of bringing out their fullest potential together, who then joined teams that did the same on an even greater scale. Yes, there were frequent incidents of disfunction, egos clashing and teamwork faltering. But that was part and parcel with being human. People made mistakes as they learned to live and work together. But the results worked out to a positive end, far more often than not.

All of that was made possible by the tiniest, most subtle magic Ozpin could wield, one of the only bits of magic he had left. It was a magic that worked small changes in the paths that people took, small changes that gradually led to larger, more dramatic ones, often over the course of years, or even generations. Such was the nature of magic that manipulated that nebulous force known as "destiny". It was magic that turned what should have been random chance into an incidence of pieces falling into _just_ the right place at the right time.

Ozpin had other uses for such magic, though. Sometimes, when he was faced with an anomalous situation, such as an applicant who didn't quite fit the mold, it allowed him to get a glimpse of the potential ends his decision could lead to. It wasn't so much reading the future as it was allowing him a glimpse at a signpost down the road. Ozpin didn't need to use such magic often.

Ruby Rose had needed no such investigation at all. From the moment Ozpin had laid eyes upon her, he'd known that, so long as he gave her a path to follow, she could become a tremendous force for good in the world, perhaps even on a scale that _he_ had yet to realize. Most of the other students had been the typical selection of prospective Huntsmen and Huntresses, yielding nothing really worth looking further into. Which wasn't to say that they were bad or unremarkable. However, there was nothing so far outside the norm that it required divination to investigate.

But Jaune...a boy with no training, who didn't even have his Aura unlocked, who'd falsified his transcripts, attempting to lie his way into Beacon; that had merited a second look, mainly because Jaune _didn't_ fit the mold of those who typically attempted such a feat.

Normally, the scions of Huntsmen families would have no need of such methods, usually being well-trained by the time they applied, which made it odd already, given that Ozpin already knew Blaine, who had been one of his students previously. Many fraudulent applicants came from the lower classes, having no training, but seeing the life of a Huntsman as a fast track to fame, glory, and wealth. Given that many of them were simply desperate to escape whatever privation they had to deal with on a daily basis, Ozpin resisted the temptation to disabuse them of how "easy" the life of a Huntsman was by allowing them to try in the initiation, instead rejecting their applications as gently as he could.

Then there were those he was _far_ less tempted to let down easily, mainly because they didn't hesitate to show their arrogance. They were the scions of wealthy families, or even the children of Council members. Some such applicants at least had the sense to put their money to use, paying for instruction under the best trainers money could buy (whether or not said trainers were really worth what they were paid often being a matter of debate), and putting in at least some of the work to ready themselves for a combat-oriented profession.

However, there were plenty of others who simply thought that buying themselves a fancy weapon, arming themselves with plenty of Dust, and showing up on the day of admission was enough. Those were the types who often attempted to use generous "donations" (i.e. bribes) to get their way. They showed up, smugly arrogant that they could coast through the Academy on their family names and wallets. Ozpin quite often _did_ accept their money, and allowed them to try their luck, which almost always led to predictable, if messy, results. That was what liability forms were for, after all.

But there was the occasional anomaly: a child from a wealthy family who simply wanted desperately to do something good for the world; a child from a penniless background, who wanted to become an inspiration for others; and others who didn't quite fit the mold. For these people, Ozpin used his magic to discern whether or not they might have a future at Beacon. Even with his magic, it wasn't a complete assurance. But it gave him direction nonetheless...and it had often worked out in the favor of those he'd made an exception for.

Jaune had been one such anomalous case. The son of a prominent Huntsman line, Jaune had, nonetheless, received no training. Yet he had persisted in trying to find a way into Beacon. Investigating his background had turned up a truly bizarre medical history that involved a horrifying first year of life, followed by a miraculous recovery. That had been enough for Ozpin to decide to put his magic to use to determine the boy's potential. The results had been stunning.

Jaune's potential had been _immeasurable_. More importantly, from everything Ozpin had seen since allowing Jaune into Beacon, he was more than living up to it.

Blaine was, naturally, frustrated by Ozpin's cryptic response. But his own experience of being a Beacon student had taught him that it was useless to press the Headmaster for answers, when he did not want to give a straight one.

"Now that you know that your son is doing well here...what will you do?" asked Ozpin.

"I..." Blaine looked down at his feet.

"Keep in mind that forcefully withdrawing him is _not_ an option," said Ozpin. "Mr. Arc has signed all the necessary waivers and forms, which means you have no means to forcefully withdraw him, so long as he remains a student in good standing, which he is.

"After all, just as he is not the first person to try and enter my Academy through dishonest means, he is also not the first to do so against the will of parental or authority figures. In fact, all three of his teammates have dealt with a similar issues in their own lives, particularly his partner."

Blaine frowned.

"You could talk to him, and try to convince him to leave of his own will," said Ozpin, "though I doubt you will enjoy any success in that, which would only lead to further division between you and him."

Blaine pondered the issue silently. He'd arrived, loaded down with preconceived notions of what to expect. He'd envisioned all the possible scenarios involving his son at Beacon. Yet this _one_ possibility, the simplest one, the possibility that Jaune had been telling the _truth_ about getting into Beacon, had completely escaped him.

The impulse was there, of course, the impulse to march over to where Jaune was now, and then drag him home by the scruff of his neck. However, Blaine's rational mind checked his impulse. He knew that Beacon's faculty would allow no such thing, and it would only result in him getting his visiting privileges suspended, possibly permanently. On top of that, even if he, against all odds, succeeded, it would only serve to widen the rift between him and his son. Blaine had been all right with Jaune resenting him, sure the feeling would pass with time. But if Blaine pulled such a stunt now, Jaune would _hate_ him, despise him, likely for the rest of their lives.

However, he knew one thing that he had to do for certain. He needed to see his son with his own eyes, and see just how much Jaune had grown.

"I'm going to talk to him," said Blaine.

"By all means," said Ozpin affably.

* * *

**It's not clear how much of his magic Ozpin has remaining in canon, beyond it being pretty much stated to be an itty bitty bit. Magic in _RWBY_ isn't exactly quantified in any meaningful way, especially in comparison to other settings, which might use systems like "mana" or RPG mechanics that would use levels to define how much magic a person could produce. That being said, it's clear that what magic Ozpin does has left isn't enough for him to do anything like what Salem or the Maidens can, at least, not on a regular basis.**

**I like the idea of this subtle application of his magic, because it does help explain some of his more...odd...choices in the series. Much fun has been poked, and much criticism has been leveled, at him over his approach to the initiation being, "you're stuck with the first person you see for the rest of your time at school." It's been used to present him as someone completely careless over the consequences of his decisions. Yet, when you look at the teams that have been formed through such methods, we've been given STRQ, CFVY, RWBY, JNPR; and heck, even the members of CRDL seem to work well with _each other_ at least. It would seem to imply that there's something more at work here than simple, random chance, which gave me the idea of a potential "small" way that Ozpin might be using his magic to influence outcomes to a certain extent.**

**Speaking in terms of canon, how lucky was it that Blake and Weiss would wind up on a team with another person who offers them a window into the other side of the conflict that they are mutually invested in? How lucky is it that Jaune wound up on a team with _just_ the right makeup of people to help him mature from the clumsy faker into someone actually approaching a competent Huntsman? How lucky was it for Pyrrha to wind up with a team of people who were capable of looking past her fame? Particularly, in the case of Team STRQ, not only were they supposed to be an amazing team, back when they were at Beacon, but their formation ultimately led to the birth of Ruby and Yang, one half of one of the two teams currently leading the fight against Salem in the present canon...rather fortuitous.**

**Of course, on the other hand, it could simply be a case of teaching his students to work with what they have, and get used to the idea of spending time and having to fight alongside people they might not normally get along with otherwise, and be prepared to find common ground and develop partnerships with people they would normally avoid. There's that possibility too. But I like the magic explanation because...magic.**

* * *

**Eira Vass: Eira is Welsh for snow, with Vass being derived from the Hungarian "Vas" for iron. In this case, her surname is more a reference to cold than it is to color (though it still fits the color-naming rule), which I felt was appropriate for a professional killer.**


	103. Chapter 103

**Chapter 103:**

A few minutes after Blaine had left, the elevator doors opened again to admit Glynda. Walking into the office, she immediately noted the presence of the second mug on Ozpin's desk. "You had a guest?" she asked.

"Yes," replied Ozpin with a soft chuckle. "You just missed the Elder Mr. Arc. He's off to see his son now."

"Well...that should be interesting," said Glynda. Then she froze. "Wait! Does he know about Ms. Rose, and her history...or about our 'guest'?"

In the face of her concern...Ozpin's smile only widened. "I'm afraid not," he admitted. "That must have slipped my mind. Truly, my age must be getting to me."

Glynda could only sigh and pinch the bridge of her nose. Walking up to the desk, she slapped down the paperwork she'd brought without a word, then turned on her heel and marched right back to the elevator.

"This should be interesting to see," said Ozpin, ignoring the paperwork and bringing up a live feed of the sparring ring, where Jaune was practicing learning how to use his weapon's Aura, by attacking and being attacked by Kyo.

* * *

Kyo's feet actually skidded back a few inches from the force behind Jaune's slash. "Excellent," said Kyo cheerfully. "My turn."

Jaune grimaced, and held up his shield. Kyo never tried to circumvent the defense, instead always striking head-on. However, his slash was always too fast, appearing as nothing more than a flicker to Jaune's eyes, even his arm seeming to briefly vanish from the speed of the motion. Shifting his shield to deflect the force was impossible. More often than not, Jaune found himself straight-up blasted off his feet.

After the first few rounds of testing his sword against Kyo's, Kyo had proposed doing the reverse as well. After all, the shield had its own Aura as well...perhaps. The idea was to get Jaune to explore both the offensive _and_ defensive applications of his weapon, and the nature of Crocea Mors' Aura. Did the sword and shield have separate and distinct Auras, or were the dual weapons joined by a single, united Aura, which then shifted according to which of the two pieces he was using?

Ruby's weapon was a perfect example of the latter. Even when Akaibara split, Bara and Ibara both shared the same Aura, though they were two separate objects, physically speaking. Which of the two possibilities Jaune's weapons fell under affected how he would engage with and use them, though Kyo had assured him that neither was superior to the other.

Bracing himself, Jaune held up his shield, ready to accept Kyo's attack. He put all his determination into the motion, trying to open up to the same feeling he got, when he was using his sword. The fact that he had to actually be _attacked_ to truly practice this in any fashion eliminated the possibility of working with this on his own. So Jaune had less practice using Crocea Mors' Aura defensively.

It was becoming clearer every time he tried. There was a tingling sensation coming, not from his arm itself, but from the object attached to it. Jaune opened himself to that sensation, trying to accept it, even as he channeled his Aura through the shield, applying the Flow Ruby had taught him.

When Kyo's swing came, as always, it was too fast to see. This time, however, something was different.

Using Projection could enhance his shield's defense exponentially. But it was draining, so not something he could rely on, not when he could simply use technique to shift the blow with far less expenditure of Aura and energy. But against Kyo's lightning-fast attack, it was his only option. Of course, the sheer speed of Kyo's strike made finding the proper timing all but impossible.

This time, Crocea Mors initiated the Projection all on its own. The shield's face flashed white, strobing with a blinding intensity. The clang of impact was a force in its own right.

Kyo reeled back, stumbling, his eyes wide with surprise, his sword-hand empty. A few seconds later, Tenro landed with a clang in the ring behind him, the tip piercing into the floor, leaving the sword standing almost straight up.

Ruby had been leaning sleepily against Amber, trying her hardest to remain awake through the training session. However, the second Jaune's shield had flashed, she jolted, sitting upright, eyes wide and alert. When she saw and heard Tenro land, she jumped to her feet with a whoop of joy, all previous lethargy forgotten.

Kyo, on the other hand, looked completely stunned, staring at Jaune with wide-eyed surprise that Jaune could scarcely imagine on the face of the strongest person he'd ever met. It was all the more amazing that he, Jaune Arc, had put that expression there. He'd shocked Demon Eyes Kyo.

"That was..." Kyo flexed his fingers, opening his hand to reveal the bloody skin, actually torn by the recoil of the blocked strike. "..._far_ beyond my expectations, Jaune-kun." He smiled brightly at Jaune. "I'm truly amazed."

"Wha-what does this mean?" asked Jaune, staring curiously at the face of his shield.

"Your weapon may be shield and sword, but its nature appears to be oriented more defensively than offensively," he said. "Depending on the nature of your weapon's Aura, or Auras, it could be that the shield's Aura is stronger. Or it could be that its collective Aura is more defensive in nature, similar to how a person might be right or left-handed."

"Huh..." mused Jaune, not sure how he felt about this revelation.

Rather than go and fetch his sword, Kyo walked towards Jaune instead, reaching out with his left, unbloodied, hand to grasp Jaune's shoulder gently. "There is nothing wrong with being more defensive than offensive. Indeed, seeing as you are seeking to become a protector, it may well be the ideal one for you, a bulwark against the darkness that threatens the innocent."

Leaning in, Kyo whispered a bit more softly into Jaune's ear. "Of course, the idea that my sister would have such a shield to rely on is reassuring beyond measure."

Blushing slightly, Jaune nodded vigorously at the idea. Grinning, Kyo turned to retrieve his sword, still flexing his hand. "I believe we should call it an evening here," he announced. "It's almost time for dinner anyway. It's getting more and more difficult to wear you down, Jaune-kun."

"Thanks, I guess," said Jaune, grinning sheepishly. "But that lets me see to your hand, so I can't deny that it's a good thing."

"Indeed," agreed Kyo, pulling Tenro free, before turning back and holding up his right hand for Jaune to treat.

Carefully, Jaune gently Projected his Aura into Kyo's hand, willing it to enhance the healing ability of Kyo's own Aura. The bloody scrapes across Kyo's palm vanished, covered over by fresh skin in seconds, only the residual blood remaining, which Kyo wiped on a cloth he produced from within his kimono.

"You'll make a fine healer, Jaune-kun," said Kyo. "I believe Sasame will be ecstatic to see what you've managed on your own, once she gets here."

"I look forward to it," said Jaune.

Pulling out his scroll, Jaune brought down the barrier, he and Kyo heading towards Ruby and Amber. Ruby, still high from her excitement over Jaune's success, threw herself into his arms, pressing her lips to his in an extended kiss, before pulling away, then leaning in to rest their foreheads together.

"That was great," she said fondly.

"Thanks," Jaune replied. "Whatever helps me stay at your side."

Ruby smiled lovingly. Their mutual embrace tightened, and they pulled each other into an even deeper kiss. Meanwhile, Kyo saw to Amber, helping her stand, then make her way up a set of stairs to reach her wheelchair. Amber's recovery was coming along smoothly, and she was actually fairly mobile by this point, with her stamina being the only thing that she needed to work on. However, Ruby couldn't help but notice that Amber was often leaning on Kyo more, for reasons unrelated to her recovery.

Not that she was in a position to notice, still locked in her kiss with Jaune. Finally, they pulled apart, their stomachs simultaneously growling. By the time they'd finished, Kyo and Amber had already taken their leave, giving the lovebirds some time to themselves.

"Dinnertime?" asked Jaune.

"Dinnertime," agreed Ruby, before yawning.

Letting go of each other, Jaune was about to turn around and offer his back for Ruby to climb up onto, when one of the doors leading into the room opened, a tall, bearded man with familiar features walking in.

Ruby and Jaune froze in place, Jaune's eyes going wide in shock for a few brief seconds, before narrowing in anger.

Blaine Arc stared down at his son with an unreadable expression. "Jaune..."

"Dad..." growled Jaune, his expression much less inscrutable.

For a moment, they stood there, staring at each other. Ruby looked back and forth between father and son, a nervous feeling rising up in her stomach. The air had the sensation of a keg of fire-Dust, set to blow at a moment's notice. Her fatigue had sapped her awareness somewhat, but she could feel the swirling anger in Jaune's heart easily enough. The sensation she got from his father was far more confusing. A variety of emotions warred with one another, the man undecided about how he felt about this moment, while Jaune was much clearer on where he stood.

"What do _you_ want?" growled Jaune.

Blaine was taken aback by the hostility in Jaune's voice. "I...I'm not sure what I want," he admitted. "I know I wanted to see my son."

"That's nice," said Jaune harshly. "I'm not exactly keen to see _you_, Dad."

"I know," said Blaine. "That was clear when you blocked my scroll."

"Why are you here?" demanded Jaune. "You come to tell me off for 'lying' to you about getting into Beacon?"

"Given that Ozpin himself confirmed it, I don't have much choice but to accept it," said Blaine with a sigh.

"Great!" snapped Jaune. "Good to know! Good to know that you'll trust his word over your own son's."

That didn't strike Ruby as exactly fair. Of course Blaine would take Ozpin at his word. The man was Beacon's Headmaster, after all, and would hardly lie about accepting Jaune as a student. But she could understand Jaune's anger too, considering that, when he'd told Blaine about getting into Beacon, the man had laughed him off, and then playfully chided him for lying.

"I guess you're right to be angry," said Blaine sadly, averting his eyes.

"Angry that you deliberately tried to sabotage any chance I had of getting into Beacon?" snarled Jaune, barring his teeth. "Angry that you based your every decision about something that happened when I was too young to remember? Angry that you basically lied to me about why you didn't want me to go to Beacon, then held it against me for not realizing the truth?...Yeah...I'm pretty damn angry with you, Dad; Mom too. Apparently, Saphron's the only person in this family who's willing to be honest with me."

"Don't hold it against your little sisters," urged Blaine. "They didn't know either."

"That still doesn't excuse everyone but Saphron mocking and belittling me for even trying," growled Jaune. "You could have told me the truth at any time. You could have set the girls straight whenever you wanted. Apparently you _like_ keeping me in the dark, then resenting me for not magically knowing anything about what you went through."

Blaine blinked furiously, holding back tears. "Maybe you're right," he said. "It wasn't fair of us to keep you in the dark like that. It was _especially_ unfair for us to be upset that you didn't realize the pain we'd experienced, when we'd gone to such lengths to keep you from knowing about it. We let that attitude spread to your sisters too."

"It's more than that, Dad," said Jaune. "You tried to _kill_ my dream! All I ever wanted was to be a Huntsman, a hero, like you. I wanted to protect people, to try and make the world a better place. You didn't just try to discourage me, you actively undermined me. You went to every length possible to try and make sure that me getting into Beacon wasn't possible.

"I got in through a miracle. I made it this far because I was so damn _lucky_ to find friends who were willing to accept me and help me. This whole time, I've been struggling to catch up to them, when I could have already been doing so much, all because you held me back. It's going to be a _long_ time before I forgive you for that, Dad...if ever."

Blaine bowed his head. "...You're right. I don't have any right to ask you for forgiveness."

"Well, at least you understand that," said Jaune. "Now that that's over, you can leave."

Ruby reached over and gently rested her fingers against the knuckles of Jaune's hand. "Jaune..." she said softly, drawing his attention, meeting his angry gaze (at least she knew _she_ wasn't the one he was angry at) with her solemn one.

Jaune's expression immediately softened, upon meeting her eyes. "Ruby..."

Ruby gave him a slight smile. "I know you're upset," she said. "You have good reason to be. But...if he's willing to accept the truth now...maybe give him a chance."

Jaune's lips parted slightly. He quickly realized what Ruby was talking about. There were so many parallels between this situation and Ruby meeting with her own father for the first time in years. They both were angry at fathers who had deliberately held them back and tried to undermine their chance to chase their dream. They'd both resorted to extreme measures to get what they'd wanted.

The difference was that, unlike Taiyang, Blaine was willing to see the truth. Whatever Ozpin had said or done to set him straight had worked, unlike with Taiyang, whose belief in Ruby's unfitness to be a Huntress was downright delusional, who'd gone so far as to basically try to kidnap Ruby to get her away from Beacon. Blaine, at least, was willing to accept the reality, that Jaune was at Beacon, that he _deserved_ to be there, and that he wasn't going to be abandoning his dream anytime soon.

Jaune closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He turned towards Blaine again, letting that breath out slowly, trying to let his anger bleed away. It wasn't easy. Even when Jaune tried to let it go, fresh anger welled up within. His mind was being flooded with memories of Blaine discouraging him, blocking him from training properly, his sisters mocking him for trying, his mother meekly suggesting other lines of work.

Reaching deeper into his memories, Jaune called up the older ones, the happier ones, memories of playing with his father as a younger boy, playing with his sisters, even that stupid one of them forcing him to wear his hair in twin-tails. He called up memories of birthdays, hugs, and kisses. Those memories were a lot further back in his mind than he would have liked, but he found them easily enough. With those, he began to soften the dark feelings in his heart.

Slowly his eyes opened. He didn't smile at his father, but he wasn't glaring with fury any longer. "Well...you at least came to see for yourself," he said. "And you aren't talking about taking me home."

"That would be stupid of me," said Blaine. "I don't have any authority to take you out of Beacon. Even if I did, I couldn't bring myself to try anymore."

Jaune found one corner of his mouth rising in a wry smile. "At least you can learn."

An awkward silence returned between them. "So...now what?"

"I'm not sure," Blaine admitted.

Ruby's stomach answered for them. "Dinner," she said firmly.

Jaune's stomach growled in response, and he nodded in agreement. "Dinner." He looked up at his father again. "What are you gonna do?" he asked.

Blaine shrugged. "If it's all right with you, I might hang around for another day, just to see what I've missed."

"I can accept that," said Jaune. "Tomorrow's Saturday, so we'll be doing some extra training. We haven't decided what though."

Blaine blinked. "Really? Extra training on a Saturday?"

"Sure," said Jaune, blinking in confusion. "That's what Saturdays are for, right?"

"I...guess," said Blaine.

Ruby giggled from her spot behind Jaune. She remembered the days when _he'd_ been shocked that he'd have to train on Saturdays. She supposed that he was just used to it by now. After all, it had been their routine for months now.

"Well, if you're gonna hang around, I guess you can watch," said Jaune.

"Sounds like a plan, for now," agreed Blaine.

"I'll see you later then," said Jaune.

"Yeah," said Blaine, sounding a bit reluctant to bring their conversation to an end, just after they'd reconciled somewhat. However, they both needed time to process their feelings over the situation.

Jaune allowed Ruby to climb up onto his back, carrying her to the dining hall, while Blaine went to avail himself of the guest quarters available to, amongst others, Beacon Alumni. As he went, Glynda Goodwitch stepped out from behind a corner, watching him go, before letting out a soft sigh of relief.

* * *

"Seriously...your father?" asked Weiss, shocked by the revelation Jaune dropped on them, when he and Ruby explained why they were late to dinner.

"Yep," said Jaune. "Threw me for a loop, that's for sure."

"I can't say I blame you, considering what you've told us about him," said Pyrrha.

"But it looks like he accepted it," added Jaune.

Pyrrha broke out into a wide smile. "That's wonderful!" she exclaimed. "So he's willing to listen to reason then."

"Looks like it," said Jaune.

"I'm happy for you," added Pyrrha, Weiss nodding along with a small smile on her own.

Jaune couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Pyrrha. For all that things suddenly seemed to be on the mend between him and his father, the rift between Pyrrha and her own parents was as wide as ever, as far as he knew. They were still unhappy about her refusal to budge from Beacon, her unwillingness to assuage her sponsors, and the remarks she'd made about what they'd said and done during her and Ruby's interview with Lisa Lavender.

Of course, that didn't hold a candle to Weiss' own father strong-arming their team into a dangerous mission by holding Vale's Dust Supply hostage. Sometimes Jaune was amazed at how all four of them had managed to come from such dysfunctional families. Hopefully, he could manage to work things out with his own. On some days, he honestly missed talking with his sisters.

Team RYNB quickly joined them at the table. Unbeknownst to the others, Yang discreetly snapped a picture with her scroll, taking a picture of Ruby smiling widely as she chatted with her friends, while sitting next to her boyfriend. It was a picture of a smiling, happy, and healthy girl; one who was exactly where she wanted to be, and doing what she wanted to the most.

Yang wasn't looking for blackmail material, or anything like that. Recently, she'd hit upon an idea, a possible way to get through to her and Ruby's father, to show him how much better off Ruby was for coming to Beacon. To that end, she had sought to capture as many of these little candid moments as she could; moments where Ruby was smiling that smile of hers, the one that could light up an entire room all on its own; moments where Ruby was spending time with all the friends she'd made, where she was surrounded by the people she cared for and who cared for her; moments where she was studying, with that adorable look of concentration on her face…

It was a far cry from the Ruby that they'd known back home, before she'd run away. That Ruby had been sullen, withdrawing from both father and sister, refusing to accept them, and the way they'd tried to lock her away from the world. Yang hoped that seeing that difference, seeing how happy and fulfilled this way of life made Ruby, that Taiyang could be convinced that Ruby was better off at Beacon, without him perpetually meddling in her life.

That was the hope, at least. Given that Taiyang had watched Ruby fight Pyrrha Nikos to a draw, and had still been conjuring up excuses to try and justify taking her out Beacon, and then gone so far as to try and subdue and kidnap her (especially disturbing, considering that someone else had tried that in a different way, not so long ago), it seemed likely that almost nothing was going to get through that head of his.

But Yang still wanted to try. At the end of the day, Taiyang was still her father, even though he hadn't been much of a father to her sister. To that end, she'd gotten the contact of the therapist that Ozpin had assigned to Taiyang, from the Headmaster himself no less, allowing her to pass along these pictures, so that the therapist could show them to Taiyang, and just maybe set him onto the right path.

Because of that, Yang could ignore Ruby's closeness to Jaune. She thought she'd come to terms with him being Ruby's boyfriend. But now, the sight of him put her hackles up. Yang couldn't bring herself to forget that Jaune had hurt Ruby, not merely in the sense that they'd had an argument, or something like that, but that he had actually injured her substantially. That knowledge brought anger that Yang thought she had already addressed bubbling to the surface.

_But I can't let it get to me,_ she told herself. She'd already forced the rest of RYNB and RASP to subdue her before. _I _will_ be better than Dad. I can trust Ruby, and she trusts Jaune._

So Yang decided to focus on the fact that almost nothing seemed to make Ruby smile brighter than being around Jaune. Capturing moments like that were perfect for showing their father how far Ruby had come.

Maybe Ruby had given up hope on Taiyang. Maybe she was right to. But Yang just couldn't bring herself to give up on her father. So she pressed on with the hope, however fleeting it might be, that they could be a real family again...one day.

* * *

As they were getting ready for bed, Ruby couldn't help but notice a certain tension in Jaune's body. "Are you okay?" she asked, slipping under the covers with him.

"I'll be all right," said Jaune. "It just feels strange, knowing Dad's here. I just can't help but wonder what he'll make of what he sees us doing tomorrow."

"Whatever he makes of it, it doesn't really matter," Ruby told him, snuggling up against him. "We all believe in you, and that's what's truly important."

"Thanks," said Jaune, giving Ruby a kiss.

Ruby merely smiled and tucked her head under his chin, letting herself drift off in his arms.

* * *

The next morning, there was some debate about what to do. Ruby had considered returning to the Emerald Forest to continue practicing the _Raikoken_. However, when Weiss showed her the news regarding the "mysterious weather phenomenon" that had occurred over the Emerald Forest, Ruby decided to give that training a rest for a couple of days, at least, not wanting to make people too anxious through a continuous display of inexplicable events.

Of course, there was little else to do in the Emerald Forest, considering that Kyo's presence had driven away all the Grimm for miles. Ruby and Jaune also decided to forgo training with Kyo for the day, not wanting to go through the awkwardness of explaining his presence at Beacon to Jaune's father. Given that, they decided to mostly go through some general fitness exercises for the day, before finishing up with some sparring in one of the practice rings.

As he had promised, Jaune's father was there, watching everything with a discerning eye. His eyebrows went up when he saw how much effort Jaune was putting into his exercises. Back home, a younger Jaune had always been a little on the flimsy side. Blaine and his wife had chalked it up to lingering weakness from Jaune's infancy. But he realized he'd just been trying to continue to convince himself that Jaune was too weak to work as a Huntsman. Now, seeing Jaune working with weights that were nearly at the level of what Blaine himself worked with, he could say that Jaune had the requisite strength.

The girls that Jaune had on his team were no slouches either. Despite their slim builds, the girls were incredibly strong. Ruby was _especially_ so, still able to lift and work more than Jaune. Pyrrha was almost as physically strong as Ruby, having a lifetime of training and work behind her previous career as a tournament champion to thank for that, also able to lift more than Jaune. Of all of them, only Weiss had less raw strength than Jaune, though she could lift an impressive amount of weight for her size.

Blaine was also impressed by Jaune's dedication. Despite working alongside a trio of _extremely_ attractive, and very well-proportioned, girls, Jaune kept his mind and his eyes focused on his work, even though Ruby had finally gotten herself a proper workout outfit (at Weiss' insistence, of course), which hugged her curves and showed off a generous portion of her toned stomach. It also revealed the slender, yet powerful muscles of her arms and legs, the lines of which stood out starkly against her skin, when she was straining them. That Jaune could work alongside the girls without batting an eyelid was nothing short of impressive.

By the time they broke for lunch, they'd worked up a healthy sweat. Blaine was stunned by how much work they'd put in. He was fairly certain that he and his team had never put this much work in during their Beacon days. Of course, he had the benefit of training _before_ coming to Beacon. But to see the girls working alongside Jaune was just as impressive.

"And you do this _every_ Saturday?" asked Blaine.

"Not every Saturday," said Jaune. "Sometimes we go into the Emerald Forest and hunt Grimm. I've been doing a lot of physical training, because it's where I need to catch up the most."

"And because his Aura lets him bounce back so quickly, we can work him harder than most people," added Pyrrha.

"It does...?" The fact that Aura could help people recover, whether from injuries or plain physical exertion, was common knowledge. But to hear that it had helped with Jaune's training to this extent was startling.

"He has a lot of it," said Ruby simply. "When I unlocked it, I was shocked by how much he had."

Jaune blushed slightly at the memory. It always felt a little weird to have other people talk him up like this. And now his teammates were doing it in front of his own father.

"So what comes after lunch?" asked Blaine, when they entered the dining hall.

"We were going to hit the sparring ring next," explained Jaune. "Now that we've had a proper workout, the girls will have slowed down a little closer to my level."

"Whereas Arc, with that cheat-level Aura of his, will be right as rain, by the time we're finished eating," groused Weiss, drawing amused giggles from Pyrrha and Ruby.

"And do you do your homework after dinner?" wondered Blaine, remembering what a chore doing homework on the weekend had been, during his days as a student. "Or do you put it off to Sunday, like we always used to?"

"We're done already," replied Jaune casually, the girls nodding along with him.

"Huh?" grunted Blaine.

"We did it as soon as we got off class on Friday," said Jaune.

"What?" Blaine was flabbergasted. "I know I shouldn't be asking this, but who are you, and what have you done with Jaune? Since when did you gain a work ethic?"

"Since I realized I'd have to train my ass off to have any chance of making it here," growled Jaune a little defensively. "I wasn't too happy about it, at first, but I needed every spare minute I could get for training. I still do."

Ruby reached over, resting her hand over his, the gentle touch prompting Jaune to relax a little. He gave Ruby a grateful smile, before turning his hand over so that he could mesh his fingers with hers, before giving Blaine a more neutral look. "Sorry."

"No...I'm sorry," said Blaine, lowering his head. "This was Me and Saph's fault. If I'd just had the sense to let go of the past."

"It's not easy to do," said Ruby, giving Blaine a small smile. "My father _still_ can't do it. That's why he's locked up in a psychiatric facility right now."

"Really?" asked Blaine, shocked.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "I thought you were bad, but then we met Ruby's dad...and he's downright crazy."

"I'm sure you remember the sensation the headlines had with my match against her," said Pyrrha.

"Of course," replied Blaine.

To be honest, he'd thought it to be absurd that people were doing something as insane as blowing a simple sparring match up to such epic proportions. Sure, Pyrrha Nikos was famous as a girl who'd never lost a match. But it was common sense that no one could win forever. Blaine supposed that Pyrrha's streak of wins, running for as long as it had, made that inevitable loss (or draw, in this case) all the more dramatic. But it was still just a sparring match, which people had been giving all the scrutiny and hysteria of a major scandal. He even remembered hearing about protests back in Mistral and Argus over it.

"Ruby's father was there to see it in person," said Weiss, her voice laden with contempt for Taiyang. "He was watching with his own two eyes, when Ruby fought the Invincible Girl to a draw, practically a historical accomplishment, yet he somehow _still_ talked himself into believing that Ruby was too weak for Beacon."

"That's...seriously absurd," noted Blaine.

"Yeah, well, the jerk's out of my life at least," said Ruby, taking a bite of her food. "As long as he can't bother me again, I'm good."

Blaine frowned, staring down at his plate. How close had he come to reaching that point with Jaune; the point where Jaune would genuinely believe he was happier without his father, without his family, in his life? _God...we've made such a mess of this._ When he got back to Ansel, he was going to need to have a long talk with Sapphira and the girls about how they'd been treating Jaune, and then figure out just how they'd be able to make amends.

* * *

After lunch, they took a brief period for rest and digestion. No one wanted to fight with cramps after all. About an hour later, they made their way back to the training center, where they booked the first available sparring ring. That wasn't always an easy task. Teams from all four years made use of those rings. Fortunately, third and fourth years rarely used them, being more preoccupied with missions than regular training. But that didn't change the fact that they were still something of a hot commodity, especially on the weekends.

They paired off with their partners for basic sparring. Weiss and Pyrrha took the first round, fencing furiously back and forth across the ring. Nowadays, Weiss was trying to put her Semblance to better use, rather than relying on the copious use of her Dust. When she and the others had gone out to the Emerald Forest, she had been continuing to work on her Summoning, particularly condensing the process needed to execute it down to a level where she could rely on it in a pitched battle.

While she'd definitely done a good bit in that respect, particularly considering she hadn't been able to even _do_ it properly, a few weeks ago, Weiss knew she wasn't yet ready to call upon her Arma Gigas in a fight...particularly against an opponent like Pyrrha.

But that didn't mean she couldn't put her other Glyphs to use. Her matches with Ruby had taught her just how much more flexible she needed to be in their use. So she was now putting work in how to use them more offensively and defensively. Creating a small Propulsion Glyph, then thrusting through it, allowed Weiss to rapidly increase the speed and force of her thrust, sometimes managing to overpower Pyrrha's technique of using feather-light applications of her Semblance to divert Weiss' strikes.

Of course, Weiss wasn't the only one who'd been refining the use of her Semblance, as she found out to her detriment, when one of Pyrrha's shots, lined with the black energy of her Polarity, plowed right through the Glyph Weiss had put up as a shield, blowing Weiss off her feet and onto her back.

When exploring the different potential applications of her Semblance, now that she was no longer concerned with hiding it, this had actually one of Pyrrha's first ideas. Using her Polarity to enhance the acceleration of bullets fired by her rifle seemed like a natural course, turning it into something akin to a railgun. Doing so increased the speed and force of her shots several-times over, though it had taken a lot of careful refinement to reach the point where she could time it correctly to fully accelerate her shots, and she was still working on being able to do with enough ease that she could rely on it naturally in battle. Much as Weiss had been doing with her Summons, Pyrrha had been working on the Temper, Suppression, and Projection combination in order to properly execute the technique.

The match had no earth-shattering conclusion, ending as it did, with Weiss on her back and Pyrrha standing over her, holding out a hand to help her partner back to her feet. After that, it was Ruby and Jaune's turn.

Taking to the ring, Jaune hunkered down behind his shield, silently reflecting that he should be sparring with his partner more. Not only was testing himself against Ruby a good way to work himself hard, but he also figured it would be good to get a better view of what she could do, so that they could function better as a team, which would be important, when the first round of the Vytal Festival Tournament rolled around.

The match went about as one would expect. Ruby went on a furious offensive against Jaune, who dedicated himself entirely to fending off her strikes, not even bothering to try and hit back, knowing that doing so against an opponent of Ruby's level would just give her an opening to mercilessly exploit. Instead, he remained calm, determined to wear her down through attrition, doing his best to read the course of her strikes, and deflect them as best he could, in order to lessen the strain on his arm.

It wasn't easy. Even slowed down by her earlier training, Ruby was still terrifyingly fast, and monstrously strong, far more than her size would suggest. Her mastery of her Aura, particularly Flow and Projection, meant she hit like a truck. Her sword left streaks of crimson in the air as she swung, the blade practically exploding as she clashed it against Jaune's shield. It took every ounce of strength and control Jaune had to keep from getting blown off his feet from every hit.

On top of that, Ruby was no brute, aiming to overpower Jaune with a barrage of attacks, all from the same direction. With her _Shukuchi_, she danced around him, seeming flickering from place to place, leaving petals dancing in her wake. It took Jaune applying all the practice he'd put into his defensive footwork drills to keep up with her, and sometimes he didn't completely succeed, taking a hit to the shoulder or leg for his troubles. Still, he was at least managing to hold his own somewhat.

Then Ruby began using her lightning.

As she usually did, she used her swift, flickering dance to fill the air around Jaune with petals, before dancing back. "_Hanabi!_"

Already knowing what was coming, Jaune resorted to the one thing he could think of that might stave off a devastating attack that would bombard him with electric jolts from all directions. Turning, he swung his shield out, using Flow to channel his Aura into it, then Projecting it into the motion. The shield blazed white, its own Aura merging with his own, the swing producing a powerful gust, which blew back Ruby's petals, before they detonated like countless firecrackers.

Outside the barrier, Blaine's eyes narrowed.

Ruby flashed between the lingering sparks of her own attack, flying at Jaune, tracing two fingers along the length of her sword's flat. Akaibara lit up with a ringing sound, before it was lined with more crackling arcs of energy. Seeing it coming, Jaune grimaced, shunting his Aura into his shield again, the shield's Aura responding in kind, producing a sheath of energy over its surface that would prevent Ruby's lightning from taking advantage of the conductive nature of its metal. The crimson arcs scattered across its surface in a cascade of impotent sparks.

Ruby flickered back, not even giving Jaune the smallest chance to counter, not that he was foolish enough to try to begin with. The lightning running along her sword extended out, forming a single crackling chain, which Ruby wielded like a whip. "_Raikoben!_"

Given the flexible nature of the whip of lightning Ruby was now swinging at him, Jaune had to be more careful about when and how he blocked her attacks, lest one wrap around his shield to strike his body. He blocked the first couple of lashing attacks, before seeing Ruby close a bit more, in order to better bring the length and flexible nature of her attack into play. Rather than block with his shield, Jaune chose to counter with his sword stepping forward, while channeling his Aura along its length, again opening himself to his weapon's Aura. Crocea Mors' blade emitted a chime, flashing white, leaving streaks in Jaune's vision as he slashed the incoming whip, severing it, the whole thing breaking down and unravelling.

But Ruby continued to close in, undaunted. Out of position to fall back behind his shield, Jaune instead opted to use his own sword to counter. He had less practice in this, but Dove and Pyrrha had drilled him in such techniques. Shifting his sword, he was barely able to use it to deflect Ruby's slash aside, though, as always, the power behind Ruby's strike was unreal, and Jaune was still sent skidding back.

Ruby pressed the offensive, but Jaune's parry had given him the chance to fall back behind his shield. Bringing it back up, he used it to weather the flurry of slashes Ruby unleashed at him, the speed and ferocity of her attack threatening to overwhelm him. Still, Jaune kept focused, determined to let Ruby play herself out, so that he could find the opportunity to finally strike back. It wouldn't be easy though. He had to be patient.

Whatever else, even though Ruby might have been faster than him, stronger than him, more skilled than him; the fact remained that Jaune had more Aura than her, which translated into more staying power, especially if he was conservative in its use, while Ruby continued to spend hers on Manifestation attacks. Waiting her out was the only viable strategy here.

Seeing Ruby bringing her sword down, Jaune saw an opportunity. Channeling a little extra Aura into his shield, he brought it around, feeling the shield's own Aura respond naturally to his intent. It seemed that he had a lot easier of a time controlling the nature of his weapon's Aura defensively, which gelled with what Kyo had told him about Crocea Mors being better suited to defense than offense. As a result, when Ruby struck, the shield reacted, flashing white with a brilliant strobe that nearly blinded him. On Ruby's end, the force of her swing rebounded back against her, prompting her to yelp, the recoil nearly wrenching Akaibara from her hand.

Her arm bounced back, straining her shoulder in its socket, while she stumbled away, trying to recover her balance. Finally seeing his opportunity, Jaune surged forward, lunging past the guard of his shield to strike with his sword, which glowed white with the light of Jaune's Aura. Jaune held back from utilizing his sword's Aura in this strike, not yet confident in his ability to produce an attack that wouldn't risk severely injuring Ruby, so he relied solely on his own Aura for the strike.

But Ruby could easily sense it coming. Rather than try to recover her balance, so that she could stop her backwards stumble, she instead pushed off the floor, skipping back farther, managing to escape the reach of Jaune's sword, though Jaune's slash still produced a flashing wave of energy that reached out beyond the immediate arc of his swing to strike Ruby. But her backwards movement had enfolded her cloak around her, allowing Ruby to harden it with her Aura, and block the extended reach of Jaune's attack.

Recovering control of her arm first, Ruby brought it down in front of her face, bringing her right hand up as well, pressing the first two fingers against the flat of her weapon at the base, she pulled Akaibara along her fingers, its length lighting up as Ruby's fingers brushed along it, the blade chiming once more. Whipping the weapon through a circular pass, Ruby took the handle in both hands, raising the blade over her head for a straightforward downwards strike, swirling currents of air condensing around the blade, which was lined with crackling, crimson arcs of electricity, the two merging together, red lightening and transitioning to an energetic violet.

"Crap!" Jaune exclaimed. Fortunately, Ruby's buildup had given him the chance to fall back behind his shield once more, getting it up just as Ruby closed in once again, her weapon descending.

"_Yoake no Bara!_" The violet nimbus of energy lining Ruby's sword blazed brighter, striking with a crack like thunder.

At the same time, Jaune channeled his Aura into his shield, merging it with his weapon's own once more. The shield flashed a brilliant white again, the strobing effect merging with the flash of Ruby's attack to nearly blind all the onlookers.

With the sound of thunder, the two were blasted away from each other. Jaune slammed his back up against the safety barrier with an angry crackle. Ruby was blown nearly all the way across to the other side of the ring, knocked onto her back and skidding along for a short distance, before managing to recover enough to go into a roll that brought her feet back under her. Rising up, Ruby flowed naturally into her usual starting stance, Akaibara held over her head, the blade being held almost parallel to the ground, Ruby's right hand rising up to lightly pinch it near the tip between her middle and ring fingers.

They froze in place, almost looking ready to begin again. Then Jaune groaned, his legs giving out under him, falling into a slump.

Ruby let out a breath, then relaxed. She was feeling a bit shaky, after taking the recoil of her attack like that. The ragged state of her cloak attested to how much of her Aura she'd expended. Still, when she sheathed her sword, she was grinning happily. "That was great, Jaune!"

"Thanks," gasped Jaune, shakily managing to get to his feet.

From ringside, Blaine looked on, a strangely serious expression on his face, eyes glued to Ruby. "That was quite the impressive set of attacks," he noted. "What Dust composition does she use to produce such unique techniques?"

"Ruby doesn't use Dust," Weiss replied automatically. "Those attacks were created from her Aura."

"Is that possible?" asked Blaine, something...off about his tone as he asked the question. Rather than skepticism or genuine curiosity, it sounded as though he was fishing for a particular answer.

"Yes," replied Pyrrha, both her and Weiss unsure of what the change in Blaine's tone meant, but thinking they had no reason to be too secretive with Jaune's father. Surely he could be trusted not to report Ruby to the Council, or someone with a similar issue with the Mibu.

Blaine's eyes narrowed. "As I thought then..."

Pyrrha was already going through the process of bringing down the safety barrier. However, Ruby, currently supporting Jaune as they made their way out of the ring, sensed the change in the demeanor of Jaune's father. Animosity erupted out of him, not the unconstrained rage of someone about to attack in a blind fury, but the conditioned, tempered animosity of someone preparing to engage with a hated enemy, a malice that was fixated entirely on _her_. With a gasp, she looked up, meeting with the eyes of Jaune's father, seeing dark conviction in those familiar-looking blue orbs.

"Jaune!" snapped Blaine, striding forward through the crackling remnants of the descending barrier. "Step away from that fiend, _now!_"

"Dad! What are you doing?" asked Jaune, his eyes wide with confusion.

Blaine didn't respond, his right hand going across his body to his left hip, where what looked like the handle of a sword rested. It resembled Crocea Mors' in shape, the rounded handle terminating in a circular, disk-shaped pommel. However, the handle was a uniform, alabaster-white. It also lacked a crossguard...or a blade for that matter. Pulling it off his belt, Blaine walked forward with a determined stride, his gaze fixated on Ruby.

"Foul creature of the Mibu," intoned Blaine, almost as though he were reciting a religious scripture, "in the name of the Arc Family, I hereby pass judgment upon you for the grief you have wrought upon us."

* * *

**Uh oh...**

**In a sense, Blaine would be the inverse of Taiyang. He's the one who can be made to see reason, at least insofar as Jaune is concerned. When it came to his portrayal in _Lost Rose_, I was disappointed by how flat I'd made him, a sentiment shared by many of my readers. To that end, I wanted to have him at least somewhat open to reason, with regards to Jaune. Of course, he may have now thrown all that out the window, with how he's reacting to Ruby. But we'll just have to see where things go from here.**


	104. Chapter 104

**Chapter 104:**

Jaune stared at his father in disbelief. "Dad! What the hell are you talking about?"

"I told you to get away from that monster!" snapped Blaine, his eyes flashing with anger. "You have no idea what her ilk have done to our family."

"You're right!" Jaune snapped back. "'Cause you've never said a damn thing about it!"

"The Mibu are our sworn enemies!" shouted Blaine.

"Since when?" demanded Jaune.

"Since they _killed_ your great-grandfather!" answered Blaine.

"What?" gasped Jaune. He'd never heard anything like this. His knowledge of his family history was a little bit muddled. He knew that his great-great-grandfather had fought in the Great War. However, what little he knew about his great-grandfather boiled down to the fact that he had been in prominent service to the Kingdom of Vale. But Jaune knew nothing about how that particular ancestor of his had passed, and had never thought to ask.

"This is a sacred duty of our family," declared Blaine with all the fervor of a blind zealot. "Any of the Mibu cannot be permitted to walk free before our eyes. If they tread upon the earth within the Kingdom of Vale, they are to be destroyed on sight."

"That's crazy!" declared Jaune.

This situation was way too absurd and confusing. Before, his father had been reasonable. But now...it was almost as though the man had completely changed. This was different from the condescending denial Jaune had faced, when he'd told Blaine about being accepted into Beacon over the scroll. Blaine's eyes were as hard as stone, broadcasting complete determination, and unyielding conviction. _What the heck happened between the Mibu and my family?_ Jaune wondered.

"Was your grandfather on the expedition?" asked Ruby softly from beside Jaune.

Blaine froze, his eyes going to Ruby with a look of brief confusion, as though an animal had suddenly started talking. It almost seemed as though, the moment he'd decided Ruby was an enemy, he'd stopped considering her a human being.

"I have no obligation to answer you," he growled. "Now...Jaune..._MOVE!_"

Jaune jolted at the abrupt order that his father barked out. However, he didn't move from his spot...so Blaine moved in his stead, stepping forward and swinging out his left arm, clubbing Jaune in the shoulder with the armored gauntlet over his forearm. Jaune was knocked sprawling away from Ruby, who fell back carefully.

Blaine raised the handle in front of him. Black energy streamed out, lined with white, producing a blade of black that almost seemed to be pulling in the light around it, the air filling with a strange, high-pitched, whining sound. The blade extended to about the same length as Jaune's sword, but considerably different in form. The edges tapered directly to the tip, giving the weapon the overall shape of an isosceles triangle, its edges actually sweeping back past where the blade emerged from the handle, before abruptly turning back at an angle, creating a chevron-shape that enclosed the hand, turning the extended edges of the sword into a substitute for the guard. Blaine turned his wrist, working the blade through the air, intensifying the sound of that high-pitched, whining hum. The white edges formed lines that stretched a short distance into the black body of the sword, giving the sword the impression of being lined with cracked glass.

Weiss and Pyrrha looked on with shock, unsure of what to do. The abrupt change in the demeanor of Jaune's father had utterly poleaxed them. However, as Blaine's sword took shape, Weiss was easily able to recognize the design.

_Intersecting planes of hard-light-Dust to create a cutting edge,_ she thought, analyzing the composition of the sword. _Gravity-Dust forms the core to provide heft, the blade would be practically weightless otherwise. The edge is probably monomolecular, with barely enough of an angle to induce separation; a blade far sharper than any that could be produced with any current metal forging method._

Jaune looked up from where he lay on the floor, his eyes wide at the sight of his father's weapon. _Angau Glas!_ Jaune had rarely ever seen his father's weapon with his own eyes, Blaine having not wanted his son to get too excited at the prospect of seeing a Huntsman's weapon in action. It was an elaboration of Jaune's own weapon, the heirloom of his great-great-grandfather, using impressively advanced Dust-tech to create a blade sharp enough, and with enough heft, to cleave almost effortlessly through the carapace of an elder Deathstalker, like the kind Ruby had killed during the initiation.

With a yell, Blaine charged forward, bringing his sword down in a straight strike, aiming right for the hood over Ruby's head. Rather than attempt to parry it, Ruby flickered back, her body blurring out of the way of the strike, only for her to have to swiftly shift to dodge the black wave that extended out along the edge of Blaine's weapon, drawing a line across the surface of the ring towards where she'd stopped.

_He can project the edge outward to extend the range of his attack,_ noted Ruby, finding it not too much different from the Aura-based attacks Jaune had been using with his sword earlier.

Blaine surged forward, closing with speed that belied the heavy armor he wore, his body a blur that was almost a match for Ruby in terms of speed, his sword cutting black streaks through the air in its wake. Ruby was forced to dance between the slashes, her form seeming to double, then triple, slipping away from his strikes, before she managed to disengage and fall back again.

But Blaine wasn't about to let her go that easily, following her with a ferocious roar, continuing to press the attack.

Jaune struggled to his feet, fear humming through his body. He knew Ruby well enough to see she wasn't moving as well as she normally could. Her training from earlier, and her intense match with him right before this, had taken their toll on her stamina. She was barely managing to keep ahead of Blaine's sword, putting everything she had into evading his attacks.

_I can't let him hurt her!_ thought Jaune, gathering his strength to throw himself between them. It wouldn't be easy. He was even more worn down than she was, having taken a pretty serious beating during their match. He didn't have much Aura left. _I'll just have to make do with what I've got._ Jaune frowned. _With what I have...what's the best possible move I can make?_

Considering that, his gaze focused on Ruby, and he knew he had his answer.

Ruby faltered, one of her tired legs giving way slightly as she leaned aside from Blaine's slash with a little more effort than she'd intended to put into the move. Her fatigue made it hard to gauge her movements properly. Her body abruptly shifted, and she had to fight to maintain her balance. When Blaine's sword reversed course and came back towards her, Ruby was forced to bring up Akaibara, bracing the flat of the sword against her forearm.

Blaine's attack struck with terrific force, Ruby able to feel far more power behind the strike than the man could have produced with the strength of his arm and swing alone, indicating that he'd increased the output of the gravity-Dust at the core of his sword, enhancing its heft to improve the power of his strike. Ruby was blown completely off her feet, and sent flying across the floor with a pained gasp.

Seeing Ruby knocked away like that changed Jaune's plans, and he threw himself into the trajectory of her flight, so that she slammed into him, nearly knocking him over as well. As it was, Jaune barely managed to find the strength to stay on his feet, bracing himself to catch Ruby and keep holding her up, as her sandals landed back on the floor, both of them skidding to a stop.

"BOY!" shouted Blaine, his expression furious.

However, Blaine soon had other matters to worry about. He abruptly felt a pair of presences approaching him from behind. Both Weiss and Pyrrha darted for his back, weapons raised. Blaine turned about, sweeping his sword through a wide slash to meet them. The black energy of Pyrrha's Polarity enveloped his forearm, slowing down his swing, while Weiss created a Glyph between the two of them, launching the pair up and over the line of Blaine's attack, and over his head as well. Pyrrha transformed Milo into its rifle form, firing shots down at Blaine from above and behind. The man turned, raising up his left arm. There was a flash from what almost looked like a white jewel, set into the upper surface of his right gauntlet, white light assembling in a tapestry of hexagons, forming a barrier in a shape roughly similar to that of Jaune's shield. Pyrrha's shots glanced harmlessly off its surface.

_Ugh! Of course he'd have a hard-light shield too,_ thought Weiss irritably. After all, defensive shields were the original application of hard-light-Dust, and still the primary use most people had for it.

The two of them landed, taking up positions between Blaine and Ruby, leveling their weapons at him, while Jaune supported Ruby from behind.

"Out of my way!" ordered Blaine.

"Not a chance!" snapped Weiss.

"We won't stand by while you attack our teammate and leader," declared Pyrrha firmly.

"Fools!" snapped Blaine. "Don't interfere in something you have no right to."

"Like I said, Ruby is our teammate and leader," said Pyrrha. "That _makes_ it our right to interfere."

Behind them, Ruby struggled to remain standing, still dealing with the lingering shock of the hit she'd taken from Blaine, which was only exacerbated by her overall fatigue. Jaune's hands against her back were the only thing keeping her upright.

"Hang on, Ruby," said Jaune, closing his eyes.

The situation was desperate. They were all worn out from training. At this point, Weiss and Pyrrha would put up even less of a fight than Ruby had been able to. Jaune himself was in a poor state to contribute anything to the battle. So he decided the best thing he could do was give Ruby what little strength he had left.

As he prepared to channel his Aura into her, Jaune was beset by worry. He remembered the last time that he'd tried to channel his Aura into Ruby, when they were both under duress. What if he wound up hurting her again?

Jaune's mind flashed back to Kyo's advice. He needed to focus on his feelings for Ruby, the love he held for her. Closing his eyes, he thought about his desire, how Kyo had described him as a pillar for her. _I'm her pillar. I'll do whatever it takes to hold her up._

"Jaune...?" asked Ruby, feeling him go quiet behind her.

Jaune leaned forward, pressing his forehead to the back of Ruby's head through her hood. "I'm here for you, Ruby," he said softly, gently Projecting his Aura into her, focusing on his desire to support her.

Ruby gasped softly, her eyes widening as she felt the warmth of Jaune's Aura wash through her. Muscles, tight and stiff from exertion, relaxed, but didn't go limp. The shaking of her legs eased. Her breathing leveled, and she felt her entire body filling up with renewed strength, as Jaune's Aura didn't merely supplement her own, but multiplied it. Ruby felt stronger than ever, the holes vanishing from her cloak, its color beginning to lighten as Jaune's power allowed her to exceed her normal reserves of Aura.

Blaine noticed the changes Ruby was undergoing, seeing rippling light of Jaune's Aura washing across her body. His eyes widened, jaw hanging slack. "Jaune! What do you think you're doing?"

Jaune didn't answer, completely focusing on restoring Ruby's strength.

"Stop, you fool!" snapped Blaine, rushing forward.

Pyrrha surged to meet him, using Akouo to deflect the swing of Blaine's sword, her arm stinging from the power and weight behind the attack, before lashing out with Milo in its sword form, Blaine returning the favor by deflecting her slash off his hard-light shield. Despite that, Pyrrha went on the attack, using her Polarity to affect Blaine's armor, slowing his responses. Despite that, he managed to use raw strength to power through the effects of her Semblance. Pyrrha was too worn down to attempt anything more powerful though.

Behind Pyrrha, Weiss reversed her grip on Myrtenaster, thrusting the blade down into the floor. The sword-wheel of her Summoning Glyph spun into being, Weiss going through the steps she'd been taught by Ruby, Suppressing her Aura to build it, before Projecting it out through the Glyph, focusing on the image of the Arma Gigas in her mind.

With a blaze of light, the giant form of the Knight appeared, rising up from the center of Weiss' Glyph, taking up its massive sword, it surged forward with speed that belied its size and bulk, bringing its massive blade swinging down at Blaine, while Pyrrha broke away.

Blaine brought up his own sword, catching the descending sword with a straightforward high-block, taking the handle of his sword in both hands. The floor of the ring shattered beneath Blaine's feet as the Knight's attack landed with incredible force. But Blaine himself remained unbowed, the muscles of his arms straining against the weight of the blade.

Unfortunately for him, he was so focused on holding the Knight's attack at bay that he'd momentarily forgotten about Pyrrha, only to be reminded when her shield flew at him from his left, slamming into the side of his forehead, staggering him. Blaine barely had the presence of mind to angle his sword to allow the Knight's sword to slide down along its length to bite into the floor beside him. However, the Knight followed up by swinging its left fist around in a hooking punch, which caught Blaine in the side, sending him flying.

Despite being knocked for a loop, Blaine managed right himself, landing on his feet and skidding to a stop. He looked up just in time to see Pyrrha coming for him, her shield returning to her arm as she led with a thrust from her javelin. Using his sword, Blaine knocked the javelin aside, before stepping in, bringing his blade back around to catch Pyrrha's shield, when she punched out with it. At the same time, he swung his left arm up, activating his own shield, the light construct appearing just in time to slam into Pyrrha's face, sending her reeling back.

Before Blaine could capitalize on the hit he'd just landed, Weiss' Knight descended from above, having leapt into the air. Now Pyrrha threw herself backwards, the Knight landing where she'd been, bringing its sword down in another powerful swing. Blaine angled his shield, managing to deflect the powerful blow.

Taking advantage of the time the Knight had bought her to recover, Pyrrha jumped, alighting on the Summon's shoulder, before using that as a platform to launch herself down at Blaine from above. Once again, Blaine used his sword to parry her javelin, but failed to notice that Pyrrha had already thrown her shield again, using her Semblance to direct it around in an arc that brought it circling in from behind Blaine, slamming into the back of his head.

The impact sent Blaine stumbling forward, allowing Pyrrha to collapse her weapon into its sword mode, launching a series of swift slashes, cutting into Blaine's Aura, before jumping to the side, allowing the Knight to attack with its sword once more.

Blaine leapt to the side, barely managing to avoid the massive blade, though the debris thrown up by the attack battered him slightly. Landing on his side, he managed to roll to his feet, looking up to see Pyrrha and the Knight coming for him together.

With a growl, Blaine settled into a stance, leveling out his sword behind him, gripping the handle in both hands, while sinking into a crouch, waiting for them to come to him. As Pyrrha and the Knight closed in, Blaine's body began to glow with a white outline. Pyrrha, sensing danger, jumped as high as she could. The Knight continued to barrel forward.

With a shout, Blaine unleashed a sideways slash. The Knight swung its own sword down to meet Blaine's. But Blaine's blade shined with pale light, the outline of the edge intensifying to eclipse the black of the body. His attack cut straight through the Arma Gigas' sword, creating a crescent of light that continued on to cut its torso in two.

Weiss gasped, her body staggering. Her legs gave out beneath her as, with a crackling sound, her Aura flared visible, before dissipating from around her body. Sinking to her knees, Weiss was now using her sword to remain upright.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha descended on Blaine from above. It had been a shock to see him eliminate Weiss' Summon with a single stroke. But now he was wide open. Pyrrha dropped down, leading with a thrust from her javelin. However, Blaine leaned back, pushing off with his leading leg to move away from the line of her thrust, resulting in Pyrrha's weapon splitting the air directly in front of his face to sink into the ring floor.

Pyrrha rose up, trying to pull her weapon free. However, she found herself facing Blaine, whose head was descending right for her, slamming his forehead right between her eyes, sending Pyrrha stumbling back with a pained shout. Before she could recover, he stepped forward and snapped out one leg in a powerful side-kick, slamming her in the abdomen with a metal-shod boot.

With a gasp of pain, Pyrrha was knocked backwards, landing on her side, sprawling, a red, crackling field appearing around her body, before vanishing, her Aura now broken as well.

Panting, Blaine straightened up. "Now then..." he said, returning his attention to Ruby...only to see a lightning-fast blur of red closing the distance between him.

Ruby went on the attack with a vigor, wielding Bara and Ibara with such speed that the two swords were streaks of red between her and Blaine. Her movements were much faster than they'd been before, her red cloak now looking completely mended, actually shining slightly from the extra power Jaune had given her. Now Ruby attacked with relentless ferocity.

Blaine gave as good as he got through, his sword leaving black streaks through the air as he wielded it to counter Ruby's blades, while his shield appeared on his arm, blocking several of her attacks. He wielded both of his weapons with the skill born of a lifetime of training, wielding a more-advanced version of Jaune's style, allowing him to counterattack more easily.

He was more mobile too; advancing, retreating, sidestepping and turning; always on the move, trying to maneuver Ruby into a more vulnerable position. His sword continued to emit that high-pitched whine, which rose to a sharp crescendo, whenever it met one of Ruby's blades. The two of them danced back and forth, sparks of red and white dancing between them, their weapons working furiously, neither seeming to gain a definitive advantage.

Ducking beneath a slash, Ruby went into a spin, scrapping the flats of her swords against one another, both blades becoming covered with dancing arcs of crimson lightning. Rising up out of her spin, she lashed out with both blades in succession, forcing Blaine to put up his shield to deflect the flashes of electricity. Unlike Jaune's metal shield, Blaine didn't have to worry about his defensive implement serving as a conductor for Ruby's attacks. However, the flurry of sparks coming off his shield served to dazzle his eyes temporarily.

Taking advantage of his momentary blindness, Ruby danced back, petals streaming off her cloak, congealing together to form six orbs of violet plasma. "_Hibana!_" The orbs launched forward like missiles, streaking at Blaine. The two in the lead struck near his feet, staggering him, while a third slammed against his shield, knocking it out wide, leaving him open to the remaining three that came rushing in. Manipulating his sword with deft movements of his wrist, Blaine managed to deflect two of them, but the sixth and final orb slammed directly into his chest, blasting him off his feet, and causing his body to spasm, electric arcs dancing across his armor.

Blaine landed with a clatter, his body bouncing. Ruby took to the air, descending from above, stabbing down with both swords. Blaine barely managed to roll out of the way, getting his left hand under him, along with his feet, pushing off and launching himself away as Ruby's blades plunged into the ground, unleashing an electric shockwave that would have caught him, had he not jumped.

Landing a short distance away, Blaine lifted his left arm, bringing up his shield once more, raising his sword behind it to prepare for a strike, adopting a dead ringer for the stance that was Jaune's default. Locking into place, Blaine waited, watching as Ruby pulled her swords free, a white outline illuminating his body, growing brighter with each passing second.

_That has to be his Semblance,_ thought Ruby, able to sense the power building within his body. It appeared that Blaine, by staying still, could accumulate power, in preparation to unleash it in a single, powerful attack. The more time he had, the more power he could build up.

It was a difficult Semblance to use effectively. In pitched battle, finding time to stand completely still, while adopting a stance that could give one's next attack away, was a serious risk. Still, Blaine had shown that even a few seconds of extra time could increase his attack-power dramatically, as Weiss' Summon had learned, to its detriment. And now, Ruby found herself faced with this same problem.

For Ruby, understanding the nature of Blaine's Semblance only made things more difficult. Attacking him now was just _asking_ to be cut in two. Yet, at the same time, hesitating meant that his attack would only grow that much more powerful with each second she spent deciding how to move. Despite figuring out how his Semblance worked, that didn't tell her if there was an upward limit to how much power Blaine could build; or if he _had_ to attack at some point, or lose all the power he stored up.

Hesitation wasn't an option though, so Ruby decided to dive straight in, her body flickering, leaving flurries of petals in her wake, her _Shukuchi_ making her flicker back and forth between Blaine's eyes, her straightforward approach intended to bait out his attack.

At the last second, Ruby's legs bent, dropping her low, allowing her to glide down below the level of Blaine's shield, swinging for his legs. Blaine jumped, escaping the line of Ruby's slash, before swinging straight down, not at Ruby, but at the floor next to her.

The raw power of his attack shattered the floor, blowing up chunks of it, and sending them flying at Ruby in a result similar to what had happened when Blaine had dodged the Knight's sword earlier. Ruby allowed the momentum of her slashes to spin her around enough to interpose her cloak between herself and the incoming rubble, hardening the garment with her Aura, and using it to deflect the debris.

Still, the force behind the attack still staggered her, sending her stumbling as she fought to recover her balance. In the meantime, Blaine pulled his sword free from the floor easily, and went on the attack, his blade blurring from the speed with which he wielded it.

Ruby allowed her mind to go blank. During her earlier exchanges with Blaine, she'd been able to learn his rhythm. Rather than meet the attacks of a sword that he could increase the effective weight of at will, she instead slipped between the blizzard of attacks. Aiming to catch her off-guard, Blaine stepped forward, bringing up his left arm, the hard-light shield blazing into existence, aiming to slam it into her face as he had with Pyrrha.

Reading him through the shift in his posture, and reading the beat of his movements, Ruby fell back exactly the right distance, Blaine's shield appearing right in front of her face, less than an inch away from her nose. Hard-light shields, like this one, were semi-transparent. One could see through them, but the view was hazy and distorted. On top of that, the flash that accompanied its appearance completely obscured everything in front of it for a small fraction of a second, which Ruby put to the fullest use possible, already executing a sidestep and spin with the assistance of her Aura.

To Blaine, when his shield appeared, it almost seemed as though Ruby had vanished in the flickering instant between its creation and its stabilizing into its solid form. Then Ruby's sword bit into the Aura at his back. Staggering forward, Blaine turned to counter, but Ruby slipped under his slashing sword, gliding past him, scissoring her swords across her body and slashing at his torso.

The difference was like night and day. Blaine now felt as though he was flailing impotently. Attacking Ruby was like attempting to catch an errant zephyr, her body seeming to slip away from his attacks effortlessly, only for her counters to weave their way through any attempt at defense to find their targets on his body.

Despite her success, Ruby couldn't lose the sense of trepidation she felt in this fight. She had Blaine's rhythm now, and was running rings around him. However, she could also sense a serious problem. Her time was almost up.

Jaune's ability enabled him to boost her Aura considerably, not merely replenishing it, but enhancing it to the point where she was fighting even better than she could at full strength. However, that boost was temporary. Before long, the effect of Jaune's Shamanic ability would begin to wane, and her Aura would fall back down to its previous levels, lower even, in accordance with her exertions. She couldn't afford to draw this fight out.

Therefore, she had to end this fight immediately, while she still had the strength to do so. That required a finishing move. However, even with this, her trepidation remained. Her lightning attacks were potent, but the few capable of settling this fight in a single blow required a certain amount of time to execute properly, which opened herself to the risk of Blaine using his Semblance to build up an attack of his own powerful enough to fend hers off.

On the other hand, her wind techniques, _Kazebara_ in particular, could be executed much more quickly, Ruby able to use _Kazebara_ within the beat of a single attack. But that came with its own problems...namely that it was too dangerous. Even though he was openly trying to kill her now, apparently due to some past or family history with the Mibu Clan, Ruby didn't want to kill Blaine. He was Jaune's father after all. The non-lethal options were just as unappealing, as that would involve using her attacks to target Blaine's limbs...which could result in permanent mutilation.

Had Sasame been there, Ruby might not have hesitated, as reattaching a severed limb, particularly one resulting from as clean a cut as a wind-blade produced, was a simple matter for the healer. But Sasame _wasn't_ there, and there was no way Jaune was ready to attempt something so advanced.

In the end, even though it was more risky to her, Ruby decided to try her luck with her best lightning finisher.

Even while continuing to dance to the rhythm of Blaine's attacks, Ruby slid her swords against each other. Bara crackled with arcs of crimson lightning, while the air began to swirl and condense around Ibara. Taking advantage of an opening in her opponent's rhythm, Ruby darted in, striking him with Bara, hitting Blaine's armored chest with the lightning-charged blade. Blaine staggered back, limbs spasming. Taking advantage of the opening, Ruby brought her swords together once more, wind and lightning condensing around Akaibara's blade, quickly washing from red to violet.

Blaine had already seen this attack in action against Jaune in his training bout against Ruby. He powered through the spasms caused by Ruby's lightning, forcing himself to completely still his body. Taking advantage of Ruby's brief pause to build up power, he did the same, holding his sword down, angled for a rising slash to counter Ruby's own blade, a white outline appearing around his body, growing rapidly brighter.

"_Yoake no Bara!_" Ruby brought her plasma-charged sword down with a sound like a clap of thunder.

Blaine's sword flashed a brilliant white, obscuring the black body, sweeping up in a slash to catch Ruby's descending blade.

The impact between the two of them completely shattered the floor of the ring. Ruby and Blaine were blown back away from each other. Blaine landed hard, sparks fizzling from the shield-generator built into his left gauntlet, while the shape of sword-blade in his right hand warped, bending and seeming to fracture with a more intense whining sound than it usually produced, before flickering and returning to its proper shape.

Ruby landed hard, her body going completely limp, her cloak dissolving into red petals that scattered in her wake. She rolled to a stop, barely able to maintain her hold on her swords, her whole body now feeling like lead.

_Just like with Cinder,_ she thought with a rueful chuckle, struggling to find a way to get back up. She could sense the Aura of the One, could even draw on it if she wanted. But she didn't want to use the _Raikoken_ against Jaune's father, for all the same reasons she didn't want to use the wind against him. She wasn't yet skilled enough to use it non-lethally, having only begun to practice at using the technique, and the _Moraien_ was a temporary solution at best, at her level.

Not to mention she'd have to apologize to Glynda for calling down a bolt of lightning through the ceiling.

In the end, she'd just have to hope she'd done enough to keep Blaine down for the count. But she suspected that said hope was a forlorn one.

A moment later, she saw Blaine twitch, then brace his left hand against the floor, using that to push himself back up. He definitely looked worse for wear. His armor was scuffed, even cracked and creased in some places. The shield-generator on his left arm was black around the jewel-shaped, projector that was its center, the projector itself cracked, with sparks spitting out at intermittent intervals. However, his sword was intact, though it flickered and jumped slightly as he moved it. Patches of Blaine's beard had been scorched away, and there was even a strip of his hair on the right side of his head that had been burned off, giving his head a slightly lopsided look.

The expression on his face was one of the purest, anger-fueled, determination. Ruby tried to rise, wanting to at least face him upright. But her arms were too weak, and just wound up flopping helplessly. All she could do was lay against the cold floor, and watch her death approach, step by deliberate step.

Blaine was gasping for breath, the relatively short walk to take him to Ruby taxing him far more than it should have. His face was shining with sweat, stains showing on the cloth that stretched between the plates of armor that guarded his body. Looming over her, he said nothing. There were no taunts, not declarations of justice. He simply glared down at her vindictively, then wordlessly raised his sword to deliver the final blow.

Abruptly, a shape blurred between them, and Ruby felt warm, familiar arms wrapping around her, drawing her into a tight and protective embrace. A relieved smile washed over her face, the sense of someone she loved and trusted holding her tight, standing firmly between her and the man determined to end her life.

"Stop!" shouted Jaune, holding Ruby close, while turning to keep his body between her and Blaine, glaring at his father over his shoulder.

"Jaune! Let her go," growled Blaine, hefting his sword.

Jaune refused. "I don't know what this is about, but the last thing I'm gonna do is let you kill Ruby."

Blaine's jaw clenched, lips pulling back to bare his teeth. His entire body was trembling from a combination of exhaustion and rage. "Dammit, Boy! You have no idea what her ilk have done to our family!"

"Of course I don't!" snapped Jaune. "And I don't care either. All I know and care about is that Ruby is Ruby. That's all that really matters to me."

Blaine raised his sword high, preparing to strike down with it. Jaune tensed, worried that his own father was about to cut through him to get at Ruby. He locked eyes with Blaine, watching and waiting for the stroke to fall.

But it didn't. The moment stretched on, Blaine's sword beginning to waver as his arm strained to keep it aloft. A hard-light blade was effectively weightless, the sword weighing almost no more than its handle. Fine control reduced the weight of the gravity-Dust that made up the core to practically nothing at all, until the blow was about to land. Even then, Blaine's arm was struggling to keep that almost non-existent weight raised.

Indecision flickered across Blaine's eyes, contrasting sharply against the unwavering conviction in Jaune's own. Blaine could tell that Jaune would defend the girl to his dying breath. Blaine had come to Beacon, initially, to bring Jaune home. Accepting that Jaune actually _was_ a student, accepting that he wouldn't be returning, Blaine had looked towards trying to assuage some of the harm that he had done to their relationship. He had been completely unprepared to learn that Jaune's partner belonged to the Arc Family's mortal enemies. Now Jaune was shielding said enemy with his own body, prepared to take a fatal blow for her, if that was what it took. "Jaune...I-"

Whatever Blaine had been about to say, it was cut off when he felt an intense heat approaching from his left. He'd been so focused on his son and Ruby that he'd lost his combat awareness. Turning his head towards the heat, which felt like the rays of sun during the hottest days of summer, he caught a blinding flash of gold and orange, right as a gauntlet-covered fist slammed right into his cheek.

Blaine was sent flying by the blow, accompanied by the blast from the barrels of the shotgun built into the golden gauntlet, smoke trailing from his face. Blaine landed in a heap, struggling to get back to his feet again, having been almost completely stunned by the hit. Raising his head, he found himself taking in a terrifying sight.

Yang Xiao Long was practically incandescent as she placed herself between Blaine and his targets. Her hair danced behind her, resembling more a nimbus of golden flame than anything else. Her skin was shining almost pure white, and her eyes were a furious, burning crimson. Heat rolled off her body in waves, distorting the air around her. She glared at Blaine with a look of rage so intense that it put his own to shame.

"Get. The. _Fuck_. Away. From. My. _SISTER!_" commanded Yang, the last word leaving her mouth in an echoing roar.

Blaine didn't get a chance to respond, instead feeling the approach of another threat from his right. Turning, he once again found his battered body and dulled senses unable to keep up as he found himself facing a furious Nora, her hammer already in mid-swing. Magnhild collided with the armor plate covering his chest, sending him flying once more.

Black and green blurs intersected behind him, and Blaine felt two slashing attacks biting into his Aura. With a weak crackling sound, it broke. Blaine landed on the floor, smacking the back of his head against it shouting in pain. He lost his grip on his sword, the blade disappearing as the handle bounced away with a clatter. His vision swam, though he noticed a pair of figures now standing over him.

When his vision cleared, Blaine saw Ren and Blake, both leveling their weapons at him.

"Don't move," ordered Ren firmly.

Blaine grunted, about to try getting up anyway, when, with a loud clang, a large, heavy blade impaled itself in the ring next to his head. Following the blade up to its source, Blaine found it to be a large, broad, sword, gripped in the hand of a _very_ angry-looking Qrow.

"Just give me one reason, jackass..." growled Qrow, eyes narrowing furiously, "...just one..."

"That's enough!"

Everyone's eyes went to Ruby, who was being helped to her feet by Jaune...or, at least he was trying to help her to her feet. He didn't have much strength left either, so the pair of them were struggling to hold each other up. A few seconds later, Weiss and Pyrrha joined them, just as exhausted, but still laboring to help. Pyrrha slipped the arm Jaune wasn't using to support Ruby over her shoulder, while Weiss did the same with the arm that Ruby wasn't using to cling to Jaune, Team RASP holding each other up as a single unit.

Jaune hadn't been idle, while the girls had been fighting his father. Getting out his scroll, he'd sent texts to everyone he could think of who might be able to help, including Ruby's Uncle, though Jaune hadn't even been sure the man was in the vicinity.

Yang looked incredulously at her. "Ruby, this bastard tried to kill you."

"Unprovoked," Qrow added in a low growl.

"Tha-that doesn't matter," said Ruby, struggling to properly form the words. "He's down, and he can't fight back. That's enough."

The click of Glynda's heels preceded her arrival, the woman walking into the ring with an expression of controlled fury on her face. Said anger was directed entirely at the man laying within inches of Qrow's blade. "I do believe that you would know better than to cause a disturbance, Mr. Arc," she said, her voice chillier than an Atlesian winter. "I would figure that attempting to murder one of our students would be included under that stricture."

Blaine opened his mouth to speak, but his strength failed him. Instead, the man slumped back, unconscious.

"Passed out before he could backtalk, huh?" grumbled Qrow.

"I shall handle this," said Glynda firmly. "Mr. Arc shall be taken to the infirmary, where he shall be restrained, until we decide what to do with him."

"Okay..." said Ruby, looking at Jaune's father with a melancholy feeling.

Glynda's expression softened as she looked to Ruby. "Ms. Rose, nobody here holds you responsible for this. That goes for you as well, Mr. Arc-er-Jaune."

Jaune chuckled nervously. "Well, I'm glad for that at least. I'll need to talk to him, when he wakes up."

"If you are able to, you are welcome to come with us," said Glynda. "You may wait at the infirmary for him to awaken. The results of your conversation may determine the consequences of his actions."

"How so?" asked Ruby.

"That remains to be seen," said Glynda. "Ms. Rose, are you injured in any fashion."

"No...just a little battered," said Ruby. "But it's nothing I won't get over quickly, once my Aura comes back."

"And I've already used up all of mine," added Jaune. "So I can't help with that."

"That's fine," said Glynda. "Mr. Arc, are you up to coming with me."

"Give me a minute, and I think I can make it," said Jaune.

"We'll help," said Pyrrha, trading a nod with Weiss.

* * *

"Were you planning on standing aside the entire time?" asked Ozpin, approaching one of the doors to the sparring ring, and the two individuals looking in from outside the room.

"Well...it was dependent on how the battle went," said Kyo, smiling at Ozpin. "If I hadn't sensed Ruby-chan's friends approaching, I would have intervened, had it looked like Jaune-kun's father was going to kill her anyway. However, even without their intervention, it seemed to me that he was wavering."

"So he wasn't going to go through with it?" asked Ozpin.

"I'm not certain," admitted Kyo. "He himself had not yet decided whether or not to bring the sword down, and risk killing his own son in the process. Of course, the rest of Ruby-chan's friends arrived before he could come to a decision on the matter.

"In any case, it's for the best if I keep my involvement in such situations to a minimum. I have a notion as to the roots of this grudge Jaune-kun's father mentioned. My intervention, however decisive, would merely add kindling to the fire."

"And why did you stop _me_?" asked Amber, frowning.

When Blaine had started his attack, Amber's first impulse had been to rise from her wheelchair and blast the man into atoms. She had the full measure of her magic now. However weak her physical state might have been, she was more than capable of dealing with someone like Blaine. However, Kyo had forestalled her wrath with a hand on her shoulder, urging her to wait and watch the outcome.

"Ah, well...I figured it would be best if you did not throw your power around too impulsively," said Kyo. "Besides, however severe this situation is, I do not think you should have the blood of Jaune-kun's father on your hands, unless it were absolutely necessary."

Amber frowned, but didn't disagree.

"In any case, the situation was resolved somewhat satisfactorily," said Kyo. "No one has been severely injured. Ruby-chan and her team even got some good experience fighting against a superior opponent, while suffering from fatigue."

In spite of herself, Amber couldn't keep a wry smile from appearing on her face. "It always comes back to that, doesn't it?" she asked.

Kyo laughed, rubbing the back of his head, while grinning sheepishly. "Indeed it does. I find it best to let Ruby-chan and her friends fight their own battles, wherever possible."

He turned his head to look at Ozpin. "So then, I suppose the question now is what will become of Arc-san."

"That remains to be seen," said Ozpin pensively. "It will depend on just how rigid his mindset on this particular issue is."

* * *

Blaine groaned, his eyes sliding back, feeling sticky and sluggish. His throat was scratchy, and he felt the residual remnants of sweat clinging to his skin. His arms and legs were sore, as was the back of his head, and the cheek and jaw on the left side of his face ached fiercely, while simultaneously feeling as though they were suffering from a severe sunburn.

Overall...he'd felt worse. But this was close.

As his eyes opened, he began to wonder if something had happened to his vision. Everything was dark, and he could barely perceive the outlines of nearby objects. However, he then realized that he was in a room with the lights out. Glancing to one side, he found himself looking out a window at a darkened sky, meaning he'd been out a few hours, at least. Glancing the other way, he found himself looking at a familiar figure, settled into a chair beside his bed.

Oh...and he was in a bed...of course.

Blaine figured he must have been in the infirmary. He'd taken some pretty serious hits in the last phase of the battle, had his Aura broken, and then taken a hard fall. The last thing he'd remembered was a positively _furious_ Qrow glaring down at him. Blaine hadn't dealt with the man often, but Qrow did have a reputation as one of the most-skilled Huntsmen of his generation, only a couple of years after Blaine himself had graduated from Beacon. What he had been doing there, and why he had been protecting one of _them_ was a mystery.

But that was the furthest thing from Blaine's thoughts right now. Looking to his right, he saw the hunched figure of his son, asleep in the chair. The darkness muted the color of Jaune's hair. But there was no mistaking that messy style, or the armor that he wore over his hoody.

Blaine grunted and shifted, trying to get up, only to realize that he couldn't move his arms and legs. Glancing down, Blaine's eyes widened as he took in something that he'd missed before.

The bed he was lying on wasn't the normal kind. This one had a special frame, which rose up around the mattress, forming a set of cuffs, into which his arms and legs had been placed and locked. On top of that, shifting his head had made him aware of something around his neck. Eyes widening further, Blaine turned his thoughts inward, trying to find his Aura.

He couldn't. His Aura had been completely suppressed by the collar around his neck, normally reserved for criminals.

His grunts and movements roused Jaune, who had only been lightly dozing. His eyes opening, Jaune blinked a few times, before yawning. Then he slowly reached over and flicked on the bedside lamp, the weak illumination making it easier to see, without hurting Blaine's eyes, which now darted over to lock with those of his son.

"Well...you're awake now," said Jaune. "You've got some explaining to do, Dad."

* * *

**Admittedly, much of the conflict with Blaine was to give me an excuse to make up another elaborate fight-scene. It also gave me an opportunity to show off a new weapon concept.**

**Angau Glas: Meaning "Grey Death" Angau Glas is an alternate name for Crocea Mors, aka Jaune's weapon, coming from Middle Welsh. Given that the weapon is basically a high-tech version of Jaune's, I figured it was an appropriate approach to take. Visually, while the shape was my own idea, I drew upon inspration from the _Star Wars: Clone Wars/Rebels_ series in the form of the Darksaber, from which I drew the blade's color patterns and the noise it makes when its wielded. It's basically the Remnant equivalent of a lightsaber, though hard-light technology seems to be capable of more complex shapes.**


	105. Chapter 105

**Chapter 105:**

Jaune watched as his father strained against the restraints for a moment. "Let me out," he growled.

"Even if I could, I wouldn't," said Jaune, glowering at Blaine, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm not about to release the man who just tried to kill my teammate, partner...and girlfriend."

Blaine froze, his eyes going wide. He gave Jaune an absolutely gobsmacked look. "Please tell me you're lying," he begged.

"No," replied Jaune. "Now...are you gonna tell me what the hell this was all about? Or is this _another_ thing that you're going to leave me in the dark on, and then resent me for not understanding why you're mad about it?"

Blaine grimaced, reminded of the _other_ thing he'd kept for Jaune, the thing that had driven such a tremendous rift into his family. However, his mind quickly returned to his previous consternation. "No son of mine is allowed to engage in a relationship with one of those fiends," he snarled. "Separate from that girl, now."

"You don't get to tell me to do that," said Jaune, frowning darkly.

"Like hell I don't, Boy!" snapped Blaine. "You'll break up with that monster right this instant!"

"Her name is _Ruby_!" snarled Jaune, rising to his feet, looming over his father, hands clenched into angry fists, looking almost as though he were prepared to attack the helpless man. "And I won't be doing anything of the sort."

"I won't permit anyone calling himself an Arc to associate with such filth," Blaine replied, unfazed by Jaune's actions. "If you won't separate from her, then you can say goodbye this family. I'm warning you-"

Blaine was cut off when Jaune held up a hand, a stony expression on his face. "Don't..." said Jaune firmly. "Don't try and make me choose between Ruby and my family, Dad. Because, right now, if you force me to make that choice, if you make it a matter of one or the other, I'd choose Ruby in a heartbeat."

Blaine's jaw dropped at the resolution he heard in his son's voice. "Jaune...you can't mean..."

"If you're making me choose," said Jaune darkly, "between the family who mocked and belittled me, who actively held me back and tried to sabotage every chance I had of achieving my dream, a father who didn't believe a word I said, until he had to get smacked in the face with the truth; and the girl who took an absurd risk on an untrained boy, who believed in me when almost no one else would, who put so much time and effort into helping me get stronger, who was willing see something even more than a friend and partner in me...then, yeah, I'm gonna pick Ruby, without a second thought."

Blaine slumped back in the bed, his body going limp. For a moment, he could only stare at his son. Jaune stared back, refusing to break eye-contact, wanting to make it absolutely clear that he stood by what he'd just said.

In the end, it was Blaine who blinked, turning his head to look out the window.

"If we're done with that, are you _finally_ ready to talk about this?" asked Jaune. "Or are you going to just insist on making me decide, in which case, I'm walking right out the door, and leaving it up to Ozpin and Goodwitch to decide what to do with you."

Blaine shifted uncomfortably. "Like I told you, the Mibu killed your great-grandfather."

"How?" asked Jaune.

"It was a little after the Great War," explained Blaine. "Your great-great-grandfather fought in it, wielding the very sword you do now."

"I know that much," said Jaune.

Blaine sighed. "When the war ended with the treaty, we knew to expect peace. But peace didn't come with prosperity. Your ancestor accomplished some great things during the war. But that didn't translate into income afterwards. The Arc Family was destitute."

Jaune gaped a little. He'd always known that he came from a line of successful Huntsmen, whose collective work had left his parents with more than enough money to easily raise eight children. It was hard to imagine that, only a couple generations back, they had been impoverished.

"The Academies had only just been established," continued Blaine. "Your grandfather was actually the first to graduate from Beacon. Before that, your great-grandfather, Flavius, was technically a Huntsman. But the bounty system used in this day and age was still in the process of being set up, so it wasn't nearly as well-paying as it can be now.

"Then came word of the expedition. As part of the treaty, the four Kingdoms divided the territory and resources of the continent of Leng between them, to be shared equally. Vale and Atlas almost immediately began preparing expeditions to secure the resources in their areas."

Jaune nodded, having heard about this from Ruby.

Blaine turned his gaze up to the ceiling. "Those expeditions represented so much hope to so many people, including Flavius. There was so much potential in that new land; fields for farming, mountains brimming with untapped Dust. Flavius planned on setting up a new foundation for the Arc Family's future prosperity there."

"But someone was already living there," said Jaune.

Blaine snorted derisively. "Primitive squatters," he said dismissively. "We don't know where those bastards came from. They claimed to have always lived there, for millennia even. But that's ridiculous. The damn fools had already spread out across the entire land, claiming everything, leaving nothing for us."

"Because they were already there," Jaune pointed out. "However long they might have or have not been there, the fact is, they _were_ there."

Blaine glowered at him. "But what had they done with that?" he asked. "They were sitting on fortunes of un-mined Dust, doing absolutely _nothing_ with it. And then they attacked, slaughtering dozens of people, Flavius included."

"_They_ attacked?" asked Jaune. "Or were they defending themselves when the members of the Valean expedition attacked?"

"Does it matter?" growled Blaine.

"I think it does," Jaune replied.

Blaine grumbled under his breath, shaking his head. "What matters is that your great-grandfather never had a chance. A comrade of his barely managed to bring back his weapon to our family, along with the story of how he died...torn apart by unnatural powers that these...Mibu...claimed came from Aura itself."

"You think they were lying?" asked Jaune.

Blaine scoffed. "Of course!" he said. "I don't know _what_ kind of power they tapped into. But there's _nothing_ natural about what they can do, and that includes that girl of yours.

"Your grandfather, Fulvio, vowed revenge, promised to one day go to Leng and exact justice for the murder of Flavius and his comrades. But then the Kingdoms closed off all access to the continent. Unable to do anything else, Father swore an oath that they would dispense punishment to any Mibu that dared set foot outside of Leng, a duty he passed on to me."

Jaune scowled. "So that's the root of all this," he said. "Great-Grandpa Flavius was part of an attempted invasion. The Mibu defended their territory, and he died because of that. _That's_ the source of this grudge. You tried to kill Ruby over something like _that_?"

"I don't expect you to understand, Jaune," said Blaine. "This was before your time. But it's not just about grudges. This is a matter of _duty_! An Arc never goes back on his word."

"Well...you're either going to have to bend on that, or we're done here," said Jaune. "I won't let you kill Ruby...and I don't think anyone else here is going to care about your Arc-word either."

"Don't be a fool!" protested Blaine. "You have no idea just what kind of power they wield...how unnatural it is."

Jaune smirked. "Actually...I think I have a better idea than you do," he replied. "Ruby's been _teaching_ me how to use that kind of power."

Blaine was struck silent for a moment. Then... "What?"

Jaune held up his hand, channeling his Aura into his palm, which began to glow white. "It really _does_ come from Aura, Dad. And Ruby's been teaching me, teaching all of us, how to use it like she does. We won't be doing the exact same things she does, but we've learned to do incredible things without needing a speck of Dust. Thanks to Ruby, I've learned how to heal people. When Ruby was fighting you, I was supporting her using the technique _she_ had shown me."

"Look...Jaune..." said Blaine, "...maybe it seems that way to you. But I'm sure you've just discovered your Semblance. A healing Semblance sounds like a good one, but..."

"Well...you're not wrong," said Jaune, giving Blaine a wry smile. "That's what the Mibu have developed _instead_ of Semblances. They've learned to control and shape them. They call them Manifestations. And Ruby helped me to create mine, which I learned by imitating what she and her sister can do."

Blaine's jaw hung slack.

"Yeah, Ruby can heal too," said Jaune. "She says I'll be better at it, since I'm better-suited to it than she is. But she's the one who showed it to me first.

"She's also not the only Mibu I've met. You've already met Yang, Ruby's half-sister. But she has another sister, one from the Mibu, who came to visit a few months ago. She's supposed to be one of the best healers in their entire clan. I've also met Ruby's brother...who is something else, let me tell you."

Jaune held back from mentioning Kyo's presence at Beacon, figuring that the last thing Blaine should be hearing was that there was _another_ Mibu present.

Blaine was gaping at him.

"You know, I hope to see it sometime," said Jaune. "I want to see Ruby's home, the place she grew up in, meet the people she grew up with, including the rest of her family. The Mibu aren't evil. They aren't monsters. They aren't perfect either. Ruby's shared that much too. But they definitely don't deserve this kind of sweeping grudge that Grandpa was apparently stupid enough to hold onto.

"And maybe we didn't become as prosperous as Great-Gandpa Flavius wanted us to be. Maybe we didn't become the SDC-Light, or something like that. But we're prosperous enough now, aren't we? Do you really need to resent an entire people for something like that?"

Blaine opened his mouth to argue...but found himself unable to say anything.

Jaune sighed. "Like I said, Ruby is my girlfriend. She's the girl I love. Nothing you could say or do, nothing you could threaten me with, could ever convince me to give that up. These months at Beacon have been the happiest of my life, and Ruby has been the _biggest_ part of that. So...if you're gonna keep trying to follow through on this grudge, this stupid oath, you need to think _very_ carefully. If you go after her, you're going to have to go _through_ me."

For a moment, Blaine didn't even try to say anything, merely taking in the look on his son's face. This was very different from any of the expressions he'd seen on Jaune's face before; be it the goofy look of the happy child his son had once been, the stubborn set of a boy stating his intent to become a Huntsman, or the angry look of a boy who'd had enough of his family's mistreatment. This was a look of pure conviction and determination. Jaune was prepared to go through Hell for the sake of this girl...and if that meant making an enemy of his own father, he would do so without hesitation.

_When did my boy become a man?_ wondered Blaine.

"Well...what's it gonna be, Dad?" asked Jaune.

Blaine sighed. "This isn't an easy thing you're asking."

"I don't care if it's easy or not," said Jaune. "This is about what's right."

"So it is..." grumbled Blaine. "Truth be told, I never actually expected to meet a Mibu in my lifetime. They've kept to themselves for so long that I figured it was like spending your life preparing to slay a dragon, wondering whether or not they're even real. And then...to just trip over one, just like that..."

"The Mibu are real enough," said Jaune.

With a final sigh, Blaine slumped back on the bed, his body and limbs going limp. "You strike a hard bargain, Son. But you win. I'll give this up."

"Really?" asked Jaune.

Blaine looked sadly at his son. "After spending most of your life not listening to you, these past two days opened my eyes to a lot of things. I can't claim that I'm just gonna suddenly start getting along with your girlfriend, but you have my word that I won't try attacking her again."

Jaune let out a relieved sigh. "That's good. As unhappy as I am with you, Mom, and the girls, I didn't want to cut ties if I didn't have to."

"Well, when it comes to the girls, they don't know a thing about this," he said. "You don't have to worry about _them_ trying to suddenly attack your girlfriend. Though, once they finally get to meet her, I expect they'll swarm her in a different manner."

"Yeah..." said Jaune, his mind already bombarded by images, both frightful and amusing, of Ruby being dogpiled by his sisters, while being assailed by questions about her relationship with him, "...I can see that." As daunting as the image was, it was a fair sight better than the one of his father looming over her with an upraised sword.

"So...now what?" asked Blaine, pulling against his restraints.

"I don't know," admitted Jaune. "That's kinda up to Ozpin and Goodwitch. You _did_ just try to kill one one of their students after all."

"I guess I can't argue with that," grumbled Blaine.

Jaune got to his feet with a groan. "Well...I'm pretty sore from training, and that was _before_ you smacked me across the room, and forced me to help Ruby fight you. So I'm heading out. Hope they don't keep you here too long, Dad."

With that, Jaune turned off the light and made his way to the door, leaving the still-restrained Blaine to his own thoughts.

* * *

Jaune wasn't all that surprised to see Ozpin waiting for him in the infirmary's reception room.

"Your thoughts, Mr. Arc," said Ozpin.

"I think he's come around," said Jaune. "It took me being prepared to be disowned to get through to him, but I think he understands."

"I see," said Ozpin. "Considering the nature of the situation, your father's actions would legally constitute attempted murder, potentially resulting in up to twenty or more years of imprisonment, and the permanent revocation of his Huntsman license."

Jaune grimaced at that. Like it or not, his father had been the main breadwinner for the Arc Family for most of Jaune's life, his mother having been the stay-at-home sort, content to dedicate herself to the job of raising eight children. Without that income, things might get rough for the family fairly fast, even with all the extra funds they had squirreled away in bank accounts.

And that was nothing compared to how emotionally damaging it would be for his sisters to have to deal with their father being imprisoned, or his mother for that matter. All told, however justified it was, imprisoning Blaine Arc would have far-reaching and unpleasant repercussions.

"However, seeing as there were no injuries beyond a few scrapes and bruises, and the fact that it happened within the relatively private locale of one of our sparring rings, we have some leeway to control the narrative," explained Ozpin. "Considering that, it would be possible for us to...sweep this under the rug, as they say, and write the whole thing off as a particularly vigorous sparring match, with your team going up against your father."

"I'd be okay with that," said Jaune. "But, even though it's my dad, this isn't a decision I can make on my own. At the very least, I need to run it by Ruby, and probably the rest of my team too, first. We might have to talk with Team Rainbow too. I know that, even if Ruby agrees, Yang is probably gonna want you to throw the book at him, regardless."

"Though you didn't say so, you seem to take it for granted that Ms. Rose would be willing to forgive your father," said Ozpin.

"At this point, it's practically a given," said Jaune, smiling fondly. "Yang was a sticking point for a while. But, aside from that, she's one of the kindest people I've ever met."

"Very true," agreed Ozpin. "Do you believe it is permissible to release your father from his restraints? Or would it be best to let him 'cool his heels', so to speak?"

Jaune briefly entertained the thought of leaving his father bound to the bed in the infirmary for the rest of the night. "If you can trust him to behave himself, then you can let him go. It'd probably best to keep him away from Ruby for a bit though."

"Of course," said Ozpin. "As it is, he will be confined to the guest quarters he has been given. He will not be permitted to leave until his fate has been decided. On that note, it is my hope that you can reach a decision within the next two days."

"I'll back to you as soon as we do," Jaune promised.

* * *

Jaune wasn't all that surprised to find all his friends, both RASP and RYNB, waiting for him at the dorms, when he got back.

"So...ready to explain why your dad just tried to kill my sister?" asked Yang, cracking her knuckles, eyes flickering red as she glared at Jaune.

"Yang," said Ruby firmly, the authority in her voice making Yang freeze. "Stop that. It's not Jaune's fault."

Yang sighed, slumping down and settling onto the bed next to Blake.

"So...?" said Ruby, looking to Jaune.

"I think you could probably guess," said Jaune. "Apparently, my great-grandpa was on the expedition, and was one of the casualties. When he found out, Grandpa swore revenge. When the Kingdoms barred travel to Leng, he swore an oath that the Arcs wouldn't let any Mibu roam free on Sanus, or something like that."

"But Ruby's not a Mibu," protested Nora.

"I was pretty much raised and trained by them, so it's close enough," conceded Ruby. "So then...is he still dead set on killing me?"

"Actually, no," said Jaune, drawing surprised intakes of breath from everyone else in the room. "I mean, he was fairly determined at first, and he was really pissed, when he found out we're in a relationship. He threatened to disown me."

"But he didn't, right?" asked Pyrrha, her eyes wide.

"I wouldn't quite call what he did a bluff," said Jaune, "but I called it either way. Basically, if he was gonna try and make me choose between Ruby and my family, especially after everything they put me through, I'd pick Ruby in a flash."

The other girls in the room, even Yang, cooed, while Ruby's cheeks flushed bright-red.

"And how did he take that?" asked Ren.

"Well...that sure threw him for a loop," said Jaune. "I mean...certain exceptions aside, the Arcs are pretty big on family. So between realizing all the crap he put me through, and my willingness to walk away from it, I guess I shocked some sense into him. He backed down, and I think he's pretty willing to give up on that stupid oath Grandpa swore."

"That's good," said Ruby.

Jaune sat down next to her and she leaned into him with a sigh, prompting Jaune to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

"So...now what?" asked Weiss.

"Well...regarding what happens to Dad, that's kinda up to us," said Jaune.

"Really?" asked Weiss, surprised. "I'm pretty sure the law is clear about attempted murder."

"Yeah, but Professor Ozpin said it's our call to make," said Jaune. He explained Ozpin's suggestion.

"You want to let that bastard off the hook," demanded Yang, "after what he almost did to Ruby?"

"Like I told Professor Ozpin, I haven't decided," said Jaune, staring firmly back at her. "I couldn't decide until I consulted Ruby, at least, as well as the rest of you."

"What's there to decide?" demanded Yang. "Throw that jackass behind bars and call it a day. He can rot in Hell, for all I care."

"Enough," said Ren firmly, staring Yang down.

"B-but," Yang began to protest.

"If anyone has the right to decide the man's fate, it should be Ruby," said Blake, looking to Ren, then Jaune. "Right?"

"That's pretty much my idea," said Jaune.

"I agree," said Ren firmly.

Weiss sighed. "Well...I'm not completely comfortable with skirting the law like this...but we _have_ done similar things in the past, and if Professor Ozpin is sanctioning this, then I have no reason to complain about what Ruby decides."

"I agree," said Pyrrha.

Yang looked around the room, shocked and irritated to find that no one else seemed to support her sentiment. Oh, they all probably wouldn't have minded if Blaine had been chucked into a deep hole. But none of them wanted it enough to contest whatever decision Ruby would make, and Yang could pretty much guess what Ruby's decision would be. All of them could.

Her sister was just too damn _nice_ for her own good.

"So...what'll it be?" asked Jaune, looking at Ruby.

"Jaune, I..." Ruby blinked and looked away.

"Ruby, I'm okay with whatever you decide," said Jaune, reaching across to cup her cheek, and gently turn her head so that he could meet her eyes with his. Leaning in, he stole a quick kiss from her lips. "So forget about the fact that he's my dad, or anything else about him. Just decide what you think should be done."

Ruby frowned, looking down at her knees. "I...As long as he's not going to cause trouble again, I'll forgive him."

"Okay, I'll let Ozpin know," said Jaune.

Ruby sighed and slumped against him. Jaune pulled her across onto his lap, and hugged her tightly, running a comforting hand up and down her arm. The others looked on. Jaune could see that Yang was still unhappy about their decision, but clearly understood she had no place to protest.

"Well, the night is still young," said Nora, shooting to her feet. "I feel like we should party some, right Ren?"

"Huh?" Ren grunted. Before he could actually formulate a response, Nora had yanked him up by the arm and dragged him out the door.

"We should go too," added Blake, already pulling Yang up by her arm and steering her out the door. Yang didn't exactly look happy at the prospect, but still allowed herself to be led out.

Weiss and Pyrrha shared amused looks, before looking to Jaune. "I feel like some tea in the common room," said Pyrrha. "Would you care to join me, Weiss?"

"That sounds wonderful," replied Weiss, getting to her feet, the two of them heading out. The door swung shut behind them, leaving Jaune and Ruby to their own devices.

"You know...I don't think they could be anymore obvious if they tried," said Ruby with a giggle, blushing as she looked up at Jaune.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "But it was nice of them all the same. So what do you feel up to?"

"Me...I'm just tired," said Ruby, yawning. "I'm worn out. I'm surprised that Weiss and Pyrrha have any energy left either, considering they ran themselves dry."

"Yeah, but you ran your Aura down _twice_," Jaune pointed out. "I think that came back to bite you afterwards."

"Maybe it did," agreed Ruby, yawning again. "Really...all I feel like doing at the moment is going to bed."

Jaune found himself yawning as well. "Yeah...me too." Admittedly, he didn't feel all _that_ tired. Even depleted, his Aura appeared to rebound quickly. The time he'd spent waiting for his father to regain consciousness, along with being fortified by a good meal, had helped him recharge a good bit. Still, he wasn't exactly topped out on energy either. Besides, considering it meant a couple extra hours cuddling with his girlfriend, he wasn't about to protest an early bedtime...not even on a Saturday.

"Well...let's get showered and changed," suggested Ruby.

It was the work of a few minutes. Jaune let Ruby go first, considering she was the most tired. After she emerged, he went through his evening routine as well. Emerging in his onesie, he half-expected to find Ruby already asleep in his bed. So it was something of a surprise to see that she was still awake, waiting for him. She scooted over as he slid under the covers with her.

Before he could slip his arm under her, Ruby suddenly shifted, actually climbing up to lie down on top of him, her beautiful silver eyes staring at his own.

"R-Ruby," stammered Jaune, shocked...and aroused...by the unexpectedly intimate contact.

Ruby slid her hands across his chest, her cheeks reddening. "Jaune...you really meant it, when you said you'd pick me over your own family?"

"Of course I did," said Jaune, sliding his arms up to wrap around her waist. "I honestly don't know what I would have done, if you hadn't found me, Ruby. You're pretty much my everything."

"Jaune..." His name was almost a whisper on Ruby's lips.

She dipped her head down to press her lips against his. Jaune reciprocated, his left hand sliding up her spine to reach the back of her head, and pull it closer to his own. Their lips parting, their tongues slipped out to engage with one another, twirling, twisting, and sliding against each other. A breathy moan escaped Ruby as the arm Jaune kept around her waist tightened, pulling her body flush against his own, allowing Jaune to revel in the feeling of her bust pressed against his chest.

As the kiss continued, Ruby's hands began to wander, sliding up and down his chest, before reaching down to explore the contours of his abdomen, through the fabric of his pajamas. Her legs shifted against him, rubbing her body up against his own, and grinding their hips together, prompting a moan to escape Jaune's lips now, as a part of him quickly grew harder, rubbing up against Ruby through the interfering layers of fabric.

Jaune's hands started to wander as well. His left relinquished its hold on the back of Ruby's head, instead drifting down to join his right, before his right moved to reach for Ruby's thigh, squeezing and rubbing along the toned muscles of her leg, as Ruby rubbed it against his own. Before Jaune even realized what he was doing, his hands returned to Ruby's waist, sliding under the fabric of her top, his fingers brushing against her skin, then slipped down together to slide beneath the waistband of her bottoms. His fingers slid over, then squeezed Ruby's pert behind, prompting an even more intense moan from her, as Jaune reciprocated her grinding, pressing himself up against her from below.

Abruptly, his hands let go of Ruby's butt. For a second, Ruby was confused. But then confusion was replaced by surprise and excitement as Jaune rolled them over, nearly throwing the covers off the bed in the process. Now Jaune was the one lying atop her, his weight pressing Ruby down into the mattress. Despite how restrictive the position made her feel, Ruby couldn't feel anything but breathless anticipation as Jaune loomed over her, before he brought his face down to kiss her hungrily.

Ruby reciprocated, bringing her hands up to tangle in his hair. No longer fondling her behind, now it was Jaune's turn to bring his hands up, sliding them under the hem of Ruby's jinbei top, exploring the taut contours of her own stomach, rubbing them enthusiastically. They continued to drift upward, his fingers gradually sliding around the curves of her breasts, and squeezing down.

Ruby released a shocked gasp into Jaune's mouth. Jaune pulled away. For a second, Ruby was afraid that he was going to stop. But then he descended on her neck, licking and kissing with an almost desperate excitement, making her squirm under him, his lips moving lower, as his hands left their hold on her breasts to pull the flaps of her pajamas apart, exposing her chest to the open air. Jaune's lips continued to descend, tracing along her collarbone, wandering lower...

"Ahem!"

The cough was far louder than it needed to be for someone clearing their throat, and a good thing too. In their fevered state, Jaune and Ruby likely wouldn't have noticed the sound at a more normal volume. As it was, they froze, their faces both heating up dramatically as they realized they were no longer alone.

Reluctantly, already knowing what he was about to find, Jaune lifted his head and looked over his shoulder, not at all surprised to see that Weiss and Pyrrha had apparently returned from their teatime already. He probably shouldn't have been relieved that both of them were blushing too, but he was. Weiss' demeanor was as stiff as ever, her arms crossed imperiously over her chest, though it was undermined by the pink of her cheeks.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, was far less dignified. Her face had turned completely red, her hands covering her eyes. It would have looked rather modest, were it not for the fact that her fingers were spread so that he could see a pair of emerald-green orbs peering between them.

"Um..." was all Jaune could think to say...not that he was in much shape to think a moment.

Ruby squeaked, then quickly pulled her jinbei's flaps back shut, hiding her chest once more. The move prompted Jaune to get off of her, the two of them awkwardly lying/sitting on the bed, mortified to have been caught getting carried away.

Weiss hands went to her hips. "Honestly," she said imperiously. "Do the two of you _want_ me to revoke your weekend bed-sharing privileges?"

Ruby grunted, her expression hardening as she stared at Weiss.

Weiss sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Look," she said. "I understand, somewhat. It's clear the two of you are very much in love. I don't doubt that it's genuine, and that the two of you are fully competent to consent to such an act. However, there are two issues with the two of you getting sexually involved, particularly here."

She held up her index finger. "First, this is a shared space. All four of us live in this room, and that means that any such...activities...would require some degree of prior arrangement to prevent incidents...well...just like this one."

"Oh," said Ruby, her expression softening. She supposed it wasn't fair for her and Jaune to engage in an act that essentially monopolized the room, without at least getting Weiss and Pyrrha's acceptance and approval beforehand.

"Second..." continued Weiss, her middle finger joining her index, "...there is the matter of your age. I don't dispute your mental competence, Ruby. However, according to the laws that govern Vale, you are below the age of consent. While being a student of Beacon allows for some leeway, with regards to age-restricted activities, such as drinking and gambling, that does not extend to sexual acts with someone below the age of sixteen."

"Um...well...that might not be entirely true," said Pyrrha, looking to Weiss. "I think that refers to sexual acts where the perceived minor is _not_ a member of Beacon's student body. Technically, since Ruby is a Beacon student herself, she is exempt from the law too."

"Uh...have you girls been looking into this?" asked Jaune nervously, a bit unnerved by the detailed knowledge that the pair of them seemed to have of the laws pertaining to his and Ruby's particular situation.

"Yes," said Weiss. "Honestly, I figured that, if this was going to be a situation, I might as well make sure that no one was getting into trouble." She frowned. "As for Pyrrha's argument...that might be technically true, but we can't be sure, as there's no established legal precedent for it. And the only way to _set_ said precedent would be to bring the matter to court, which none of us would want, as it would likely lead to the public revelation of this relationship, and potentially dragging your reputations through the mud in the process. And, even if we did, if the court rules _against_ the two of you, then Jaune potentially stands to be charged with statutory _rape_, which would mean the end of his career at Beacon, and his imprisonment.

"So, if the two of you do not wish to risk _any_ of _that_, then that requires, unfortunately, that you control yourselves. So, until the occasion of Ruby's sixteenth birthday, you are to refrain from any sexual acts. Believe me, allowing you to sleep in the same bed on weekends is pushing it enough as it is."

Weiss' stern expression faded, replaced by a caring and pleading one. "Please! I know that the two of you love each other. I also know that, regardless of your age, Ruby, you _are_ mature enough to make this kind of decision. But that doesn't change the law. I _want_ the two of you to work out, and I want to do what I can to make sure of that. But that requires that I keep the two of you from getting carried away, like you were just doing. So...please...control yourselves."

Ruby's expression softened. "You're right," she said, a smile appearing on her face. "I'm sorry, and thank you Weiss."

Weiss smiled back. Walking closer, she leaned down to hug Ruby. "You're one of the best and truest friends I could ever have," she confided. "I want you to have the proper chance to be happy."

"Am I your friend too?" asked Jaune teasingly.

Weiss pulled away from her embrace with Ruby, giving him a wry smirk. "Well, since you and Ruby are a package-deal now, I suppose I have no choice."

Jaune smirked back. "So very nice of you, Snow Angel."

Weiss giggled. "Now then, let's get to bed...and hopefully sleeping is _all_ the two of you will be doing tonight."

"Yes, Weiss-nee," said Ruby teasingly.

"Please don't call me that," said Weiss, adopting a mock-stern expression. "I do _not_ need Yang attacking me in a fit of jealousy."

The four of them shared a laugh, before Jaune and Ruby slid back beneath the covers, Jaune pulling the blanket over them, before wrapping his arms around Ruby from behind. "Sorry," he whispered to her, "I guess we got carried away gain."

Ruby giggled, closing her hand over his. "It's all right," she said. "We'll get there someday. More importantly..." She looked over her shoulder at him with a look that made Jaune shiver. "...we're going to have to get you better pajamas. It's gonna be too much work to take that onesie off you."

Jaune flushed red. "R-right," he said, unable to keep from smiling himself.

Ruby laid her head back down on the pillow, letting out a soft, contented sigh, snuggling back against him. Jaune tightened his hold on her a little bit, pressing his face into her hair and kissing the back of her head, while inhaling her scent. A little later, both of them drifted off into a contented slumber.

* * *

With the arrival of Sunday morning came their usual routine. Getting up early, RASP headed through the courtyard to train, all of them working through a few of their weapon routines, mostly to keep from getting dull in any sense. It was something they'd been doing together for so long now that it had become engrained in their habits.

Having worked up a mild sweat, they returned to the dorm to get cleaned up for the day, finishing with plenty of time to greet RYNB, as their sister team finished their own morning routines, all eight of them heading for the dining hall for breakfast. As they did, they talked about their plans for the day.

Despite the risk, Ruby intended to make another go at heading into Vale with Jaune. The others, especially Yang, were more than a little worried about the prospect of another abduction attempt. But Ruby assured them she wasn't about to let anyone take her without a fight, and would be keeping her guard up. Jaune was going to go with her, mainly because they were going to be shopping for potential modifications to his combat outfit.

With some reluctance, the others agreed to let her and Jaune go. They were about to head to the air-docks, when Jaune got a message on his scroll. Opening it up, he saw that it was his father, Jaune having only just recently having un-blocked Blaine's contact.

"What's he want?" asked Ruby, looking over his shoulder.

"Looks like he's gonna be heading out in a bit," said Jaune. "He figures he's overstayed his welcome, so it's for the best if he just gets going and heads back to Ansel."

"Damn right he overstayed his welcome," growled Yang, smacking her right fist into her left palm. "How about I come with you, and see him off...with my boot up his ass."

"Yang, no," said Ruby firmly, staring her sister down.

Yang wilted under Ruby's stern gaze, while Ren nodded in agreement with Ruby's statement.

"I guess I should at least tell him goodbye," said Jaune.

"I'd come with you, but I guess we shouldn't risk it," said Ruby.

"Well, he's gonna be at the air-docks, so it's on the way," said Jaune. "Why don't you stay back, and I'll talk to him. Then we can go straight to Vale from there."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ruby.

* * *

A few minutes later, the pair of them were at the air-docks, having followed the directions Blaine had sent Jaune to find the pad that Blaine was leaving from. As they had agreed, Ruby hung a ways back, while Jaune approached, surprised to see his father checking over the rounded, aerodynamic form of a bullhead.

"We have a bullhead?" asked Jaune, approaching as his father inspected the engine struts.

"We got it not too long ago," said Blaine. "I didn't tell you about it, mainly because we kept it at Ansel's airfield. Didn't want you to get it into your head to go galavanting off in it."

"Right," said Jaune.

Blaine sighed. "Seems I can't even say goodbye to you right," he said, turning to face Jaune. Looking past Jaune, he saw Ruby standing back, a fair ways away. Blaine didn't even bother asking why she was hanging back so far.

He took a deep breath, looking Jaune in the eyes. "I don't have any right to say this, but stay safe, Son. Not that I need to worry that much. You're obviously in better hands than any of us could have hoped for."

"I will," said Jaune. "Have a safe trip, Dad."

"I will," replied Blaine. "I suppose that, now that you're on your way to becoming a Huntsman, I'll have to show you the ropes of flying this thing. If I can keep her intact, this might be yours someday."

Jaune blinked, feeling more than a little jarred that, in the space of just a couple of days, he'd gone from having a father who hadn't even believed he was a Beacon student to one who was promising to teach him how to fly a bullhead.

"I'll keep that in mind," said Jaune.

Blaine sighed. Then reached up to grasp Jaune's shoulder. "You're a better son than I am a father, I'll say that much. I'm sorry it took so much to get through to me, in regards to both you _and_ your choice of girlfriend. I've got a lot to think about, and I'll have a talk with your mother and sisters."

"Thanks," said Jaune, resting his hand atop his father's.

Blaine let go, then climbed into the bullhead's cockpit. Jaune stepped back to the edge of the pad. The airship was silent for a few moments, as Blaine went over the preflight checklist in the cockpit. Then, with a growing whining sound, the engines ignited, jets of flame emerging from their nozzles, lifting the bullhead up into the air. The ship pivoted around as it rose, before the wings shifted configuration, sending it flying off over the horizon of Vale.

"Sounds like things went all right," said Ruby, coming to stand next to Jaune.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "I think we might be on our way to being a proper family again."

Ruby nodded. "Let's go," she said.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune.

* * *

"I see..." Eira hung up her scroll. "The target has finally entered Vale."

"They were bound to, sooner or later," said Mercury. "You can't scare her off that easily."

"She is wearing her combat outfit, as is her partner," noted Eira, relaying what she had heard from her informant.

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything," Mercury pointed out. "Lots of students use their combat attire as casual clothes. That goes for the pros too."

It was part and parcel to being a Huntsman or Huntress, after all. Combat clothes were worn as casual clothes, mainly because students were trained with the expectation that they could be called upon for an emergency at any time. Granted, there were times where they were more than willing to wear other outfits, mainly when they knew they weren't going to be expecting trouble. That was especially true for students, who were far less likely to get an unexpected summons for an emergency mission than any fully-licensed Huntsmen in the vicinity.

"What's the plan?" asked Mercury.

Eira moved to look at the screens that dominated the wall of the room in front of them. They featured an array of feeds from security cameras across the Kingdom, relaying real-time footage of Vale's streets and people. "My employer wishes for her capture as soon as possible," she said. "However, we underestimated both her and her companion the first time, so we need to observe them more."

"Yeah...that's gonna take some doing," said Mercury. "We got caught off-guard by the two of them too. Arc sure _seems_ like a pushover, but then he pulls stuff that comes completely out of left field. We seriously underestimated them, and it cost my boss and co-worker big time."

Eira nodded. "Granted, there is little we can do from here. Our access is limited to security feeds from Vale itself. It would be best if we could access Beacon's cameras, but we cannot penetrate their systems, which would allow us to access the Academy's footage of her matches and combat assessments."

_Guess they don't have their own Watts,_ thought Mercury, frowning. Then something occurred to him. _Wait! Watts' virus is still there, and it has full access to anything that's linked up to the CCT in all of Vale _and_ Beacon. If we could use that, we could get everything that we need._

There were a few substantial problems with that, however. First, Mercury himself had never been granted with the information needed to access and utilize the Black Queen virus that Watts had created, and Cinder had installed. Cinder had taken it upon herself to handle everything to do with the virus, leaving him and Emerald out of it. Second, the existence of the virus itself was meant to be a closely-guarded secret, not the sort of thing they could just let anyone find out about. Mercury was already going out on a limb by agreeing to work for and with these people in the first place. He was fairly certain that revealing that they'd seeded a Virus into Vale's CCT was potentially the kind of slip that Salem and her people would _not_ overlook.

On top of that, there was the fact that, however underhanded their methods, these people at least firmly _believed_ they were working in the Kingdom's best interests. In direct contrast, Mercury, and the people he was working for, had been working towards the end of the Kingdom's destruction. He and Eira might have a cordial enough relationship, but he suspected that, on a professional level, if she discovered who he really worked for, and got any inkling of their long-term goals, she wouldn't hesitate to take his life.

So, for the time being, he decided to keep his mouth shut about the virus. He'd gotten a pretty good look at Ruby's combat abilities on his own, though he could only say so much about her capabilities.

"So...what's the deal with her anyway?" he asked. "If there's one thing I learned about her, while we were at Beacon, it's that she's a goody-two-shoes all the way through. How is someone like that a threat to Vale?"

"Regardless of her disposition, the fact remains that we have uncovered evidence that she is affiliated with the Mibu Clan," said Eira.

"The who?" asked Mercury.

"It would seem you are not informed," said Eira. "Then I shall fill you in."

She laid it out for him. Mercury was _floored_. He'd always wondered _why_ no one seemed to bother over Leng, despite it supposedly being ripe for the picking. He'd never imagined the truth that it was already inhabited, and by a group of people who could apparently send the militaries of two Kingdoms packing, despite being decades, if not centuries, behind in terms of technological development.

"And how do you know she has anything to do with these people?" asked Mercury.

"Mainly through what little of her combat we have observed," said Eira, using her scroll to interface with one of the screens, bringing up some footage. Mercury quickly realized that it was footage of the White Fang raid on the docks, a few months back. It showed snippets of Ruby's fight with Adam Taurus, lightning and red wind running along the blades of her swords.

The footage switched, this time to a distant shot of her second fight with Adam, in the construction site within the industrial district. She then switched to another shot, this one of RASP and RYNB fighting against the White Fang's stollen Paladin.

"On multiple occasions, she has been observed using elemental attacks," explained Eira. "Upon examination of the scene afterward, we found no Dust-residue that matched up with the effects we saw."

_Isn't that because she's using magic?_ Mercury wondered. Out loud, he asked, "Couldn't it have been mixed in with the residue of all the other weapons being used?"

"We considered that," said Eira. "But we were able to place the composition and source of all the residue we _did_ find at the scene, and none of that corresponded to the type that the girl would have needed to evoke those effects.

"The Mibu had reputedly developed the ability to produce elemental effects from their Auras alone, without the input of Dust. Though the mechanism is disputed by those who are actually willing to discuss the topic, this has been observed often enough that it is sufficient to allow us to identify someone who has been trained by the Mibu."

"Uh huh..." said Mercury absently, frowning. _If that's true...then we were completely duped,_ he thought. _Cinder was sure that she was using magic. But this changes everything, which means we blew our cover, got Emerald injured and Cinder killed...for _nothing_!_

It was enough to infuriate him all over again. The impulse arose to go out, track down Ruby Rose, and stomp her face in. Everything that had gone wrong that night was the consequence of a completely flawed premise, the idea that Ruby was one of the Maidens, that she had been covertly tapping into her magic in her fights. This revelation changed everything.

It also brought to mind another question. _Why didn't we know about this?_ Surely, if there was a substantial group of people out there, practically another Kingdom, then Cinder and her disciples should have known about these Mibu. Yet Mercury had never heard about them before now. The fact that they were capable of using their Auras to create phenomena similar to magic would have been critical information, something that they could have planned around, or at least known enough about that Cinder wouldn't have blown their entire plan on a false assumption.

_Does Salem even know about them?_ wondered Mercury. The very question was laughable. Of _course_ Salem knew about the Mibu. There was no way she couldn't. They weren't so completely secretive that she couldn't have known about them, if there were people in Vale who knew about them. While it was apparent that the existence of the Mibu wasn't openly acknowledged, the knowledge was there. Salem, who had been around the block more times than anyone, who had seen the rise of the Kingdoms, and the fall of whatever had come before them, _had_ to have known about an entire civilization that had dominated a whole continent, possibly for centuries, even millennia, before the current Four Kingdoms existed.

But that begged the question of _why_ Salem had never told them about it. Mercury didn't know if any of the rest of Salem's inner circle knew about the Mibu, but it was more than apparent that Cinder had _not_ been told, considering that the possibility that Ruby was fighting with her Aura had never even been a consideration. It made Mercury wonder why they hadn't been told anything about this before, if it could have prevented such a catastrophic error.

Of course, perhaps the simplest reason was that Salem might not have had any reason to expect interference from anyone affiliated with the Mibu. From what Eira had told him, the Mibu were largely content to live in isolation on Leng, not concerned with the fact that the Kingdoms refused to acknowledge their existence, so long as no one was stupid enough to try and send another expedition. That being the case, Salem had probably assumed that no one with their kind of ability would be involved in the affairs of Beacon and Vale, much less enter Beacon as a student-Huntress.

There was another possibility, one that bothered him a great deal more. That possibility was that Salem had deliberately _omitted_ information about the Mibu, when it came to teaching Cinder, and Mercury had a disturbing inkling as to _why_ she would make such an omission.

It was no secret that Cinder had been obsessed with acquiring the Maiden's magic. She was obsessed with power in general, especially the kind of power she could lord over others to make them cower before her. Using demonstrations of magic to cow Torchwick and the White Fang had been as much about stroking her ego as it was about necessity.

Mercury had had a front row seat to Cinder's frustration at being unable to fully acquire the Fall Maiden's magic, been a part of her plan to wreck Vale and Beacon, all in part born of her desire to acquire the remainder. She'd put all of _that_ into jeopardy for the chance to grab the magic she'd assumed Ruby had.

Yet, from what Eira had just shared with him, it apparently suggested that the Mibu were capable of similar feats, produced by their Aura alone; abilities that rivaled magic, that could be attained through effort and training. If Cinder had known such abilities existed, that she could obtain them simply through training, would she have been so obsessed with the Maidens? Would she have been so loyal to Salem?

That was the worrying impression he got from this. Salem might have kept the existence of the Mibu, and the nature of their power, a secret from Cinder, so that Cinder _would_ remain obsessed with magic, power that she could either steal, or could have granted to her by Salem herself. It would have kept her dependent on Salem, who could easily promise to ultimately fulfill Cinder's desires. Mercury was led to the disturbing conclusion that Salem had omitted the knowledge of the Mibu's existence from Cinder as a means of maintaining her control, and Cinder's loyalty.

If that was the case, it was a source of frustration for Mercury. After all, that blind spot had wound up wrecking their plans for Vale and Beacon. But calling Salem out on it wasn't going to happen, seeing as he might as well kill himself to save her the trouble.

_Still, at the very least, I can do something about this particular thorn in our sides,_ he thought, watching a camera feed of Ruby and Jaune making their way down the street, silently resolving to make her pay for ruining all their hard work...no matter what mysterious abilities she might possess.

One way or another, there would be a reckoning.

* * *

**Considering how people reacted to Yang's reconciliation, back several-dozen chapters ago, I can imagine how our heroes handle Blaine is going to be a similar sticking point. In Ruby's case, she's pretty accustomed to people trying to kill her for a variety of reasons, as the last flashback arc demonstrated. Emotionally speaking, it doesn't have much of an impact on her anymore, in comparison to what Taiyang and Yang (mostly Taiyang) had done, which left Ruby deeply traumatized, even if it isn't always readily apparent.**

**I'll admit to having a...shaky...understanding of law, as it pertains to the sort of issues that Ruby and Jaune face, not to mention that it may be an unnecessary complication to an already pretty complicated story. In the US, the age of consent varries from state to state. In this case, I made Vale's sixteen. As for the charges, well...pretty much something of an oversimplification I suppose. It's not something that I planned on being a source of conflict down the road, but mostly as an opportunity for Weiss to be the voice of reason, even while she's cockblocking poor Jaune.**


	106. Chapter 106

**Chapter 106:**

A soft tone sounded as Ruby pushed the door open, leading Jaune into the shop. This was a place that Coco had recommended to her, apparently being the foremost combat-attire shop in all of Vale.

Much like their weapons, many Huntsmen and Huntresses sought to make their method of dress into something emblematic of who they were. Of course, the important thing was properly achieving a marriage of form and function. Clothes had to look good, yes. But they needed to be something that wouldn't get in the way during a fight, and might also be a source of protection. Many Huntsmen and Huntresses actually reinforced their clothes with metal wire or concealed armor...when they weren't wearing the mundane variety of armor (like CRDL and Jaune).

While some Huntsmen created their own outfits, more often than not, they went to designers like this one, who specialized in the handling of the particular fabrics and accessories that were used to produce first-rate Huntsmen and Huntress outfits. As such, this place looked like a combination between a dress-shop, similar to the one where Ruby and the others had picked out their clothes for the dance, and an armory. There were mannequins and racks, showcasing various potential outfits and accessories, just as in virtually any designer boutique. However, said outfits featured armor-plating, rugged construction, and combat skirts.

"Wow! It looks so cool in here," said Ruby, her eyes lighting up. Just as with her swords, she was perfectly happy with her own outfit, which represented the family and people that had shaped her into who she was, while combining it with the symbol of the woman who'd given birth to her. At the same time though, she could admire all the different possibilities out there.

Jaune smiled, more enthused by Ruby's excitement than the fact that they were here for _his_ outfit. He was still rather attached to it, even though he looked like, to use Ruby's term, an "armored hobo".

"Welcome!" cheered a friendly voice from the back, an effeminate man skipping out from between some racks of armor...at least, Ruby _thought_ it was a man. His voice was certainly fairly masculine. But between his slim, graceful figure; and the silky, black hair that cascaded down to the level of his shoulders, framing an elegant face with a pair of warm, brown eyes; if he was a man, then he was one who could pass for a woman with a great deal of ease, with the right outfit.

Standing just a little shorter than Jaune, he was dressed in a loose, black tailcoat with wide sleeves that actually reminded Ruby a bit of the style that Ren wore, sporting some dark-green embroidery along the hems and cuffs. Below that, he wore a pair of rather simple-looking trousers, over a pair of dark-brown dress-shoes.

The moment Ruby realized he was there, she was struck by several things at once. First, he was well within the range of her senses, but hadn't appeared to them until he'd announced himself. Second, he moved with incredible grace and balance, the movements of someone who had complete control of his body. Third, his Aura was unlocked...and quite powerful. It wasn't on the level of hers, much less Jaune's, but it was fairly potent all the same, suggesting that he'd worked it quite hard in the past, a fact that was only further impressed upon her with its smooth, almost-Tempered quality. This man was probably a fair-bit older than he looked, and quite experienced, which suggested he was...

"You're a Huntsman," said Ruby, her eyes widening as the man approached.

"Indeed I was," said the man, coming to a stop and dipping into a low bow without even pausing, the smooth motion making it look as though he had simply transitioned his forward momentum into his upward body to produce the courtly gesture, complete with the polite sweep of his right arm across his chest as he did so. "Yukimura Azarola, at your service. Welcome to my humble establishment."

Ruby spied the faintest twitch in his eyes as they met hers. But it passed so quickly, she thought she'd imagined it.

"Thank you," said Ruby. "B-but...if you're a Huntsman, why...?"

"Why sell clothes?" asked Yukimura, straightening up with a merry twinkle in his eye. He chuckled. "Well, who better to know what Huntsmen and Huntresses require from an outfit than someone who has worked that profession himself."

Ruby canted her head in confusion. "Well...Huntsmen I can understand. But Huntresses...?"

Yukimura laughed. "I know a great deal about that too," he said cheerfully. "A true man worries not about the restrictions of gender, when it comes to aspiring to look good."

"Okay..." said Jaune nervously.

Yukimura, finished with his explanation, looked the pair of them over, a formidable intensity in his eyes. Ruby could imagine him using the same gaze to look over a Grimm or an opponent for weaknesses or to analyze their abilities. His gaze brushed over her outfit with the barest trace of interest. Looking at Jaune, however, his eyes narrowed fractionally, clearly examining the boy much more intently.

"So...I'm guessing that _you_ are the reason the two of you are here, young man," said Yukimura, addressing Jaune.

"Um...pretty much," said Jaune nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "That bad, huh...?"

"Well...for something that was clearly assembled on the fly, it's not terrible," mused Yukimura, lifting Jaune's arm to examine his gloves, and the sleeve of his hoody, before drifting around to take in the whole of his appearance.

Ruby gasped. She hadn't even noticed when Yukimura had closed the distance between them. He'd penetrated right into their space without her even realizing. It wasn't a matter of speed, but a smoothness of motion that had led her to miss the transition entirely, something she'd seen Sasame, Kyo, and other formidable members of the Mibu Clan do.

Yukimura wasn't merely a competent and experienced Huntsman. He was a _master_, if he could penetrate her _Maai_ so easily. Given that she was expecting another abduction attempt, Ruby hadn't dropped her guard. Yet this man had entered her space so easily, as though he were out for a stroll. He might have primarily been trading in Huntsman and Huntress outfits now, but Ruby could tell that he'd once been an exemplary Huntsman himself...and regardless of how long it had been since he'd been actively taking missions, he hadn't allowed his skills to slacken in the slightest.

"So wary..." said Yukimura, turning a beaming gaze of Ruby, apparently sensing her surprise. "You're quite the perceptive young lady, I can see."

"And you're a lot more dangerous than you let on," said Ruby, giving him a level look.

Yukimura laughed gayly. "Well well well, it's been a while since I've dealt with someone who can see so clearly." He gave Ruby a fond and approving smile. "You're already quite the skilled one yourself." He paused, his smile fading slightly. "You also look a little familiar. Hmm..."

He leaned in, his eyes staring piercingly into Ruby's own, Ruby freezing in place. Then he slowly drew hack, bringing more of her features into view, and taking them all in together. "Those eyes...that hair...and a hooded cloak..." He drew back, standing up to his full height, hands resting firmly on his hips. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Summer Rose, perchance?"

Ruby gasped softly. "I'm...I'm her daughter."

Yukimura's expression softened, smiling sadly, as though the sight of her had confirmed something for him. "I see," he said. "I knew there was something familiar about you. The way your eyes lit up, when you first came in, you're a dead ringer for her."

"Uh...Th-thanks," said Ruby, blushing.

Being compared to her mother by a stranger was disconcerting, partly because it always seemed so strange to run into people who knew Summer. Ruby knew she shouldn't be so surprised. Of course Summer had known people outside her family. Yet it remained a surprise all the same. Of course, the comparison also brought with it some melancholy feelings, as her resemblance to her late mother had been cited as one of the primary reasons for her father's unhealthy obsession with her "safety".

"From what I can see, you definitely have the makings of a fine Huntress," said Yukimura, "one far surpassing Summer...and that is quite the achievement."

"Th-thank you," said Ruby, sniffing and wiping a tear from her face, having barely registered the fact that she'd started crying.

Yukimura laughed again, his expression strangely awkward. "I'm sorry," he said. "Here you are, looking for business, and I'm dredging up old ghosts."

"N-no...it's all right," said Ruby, smiling back at him. "It just feels weird, running into someone who knew her."

"I imagine so," said Yukimura. "From the manner of your dress, I'd say you've been outside the Kingdom for some time. Summer did take missions in the other Kingdoms, but her primary work was almost always centered around Sanus. You look to have spent most of your time in Anima and Mistral..." He paused, tilting his head, examining her more closely. "That doesn't seem quite right. There's a quirk to your look...Hmm..."

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, unsure of whether or not to tell Yukimura the truth. He was a nice man, and one who knew and held her mother in high regard. But he was still largely a stranger to Ruby, and she figured it would be problematic to tell him about the Mibu.

Yukimura froze, then straightened up again, clapping his hands together sharply. "Well, it's hardly my business. Your outfit suits you to a T though, so you clearly don't need my services, so back to you..."

It took Jaune a few extra seconds to recognize the prompt for what it was, having been caught off-guard by his sudden re-inclusion in the conversation. "J-Jaune," he said, stiffening uneasily.

"Come now, no need to be so tense," said Yukimura returning to going over Jaune's outfit. "Suffice to say, a major component of my profession, and your reason for being here, will be me getting to know a great deal about your body. I'm afraid that's inevitable, considering what you're here for."

"I...I should've figured that," said Jaune.

"You've thought things through well enough," said Yukimura, rapping a knuckle against Jaune's chestplate. "Still, this is fairly cheap, low-grade metal. You could definitely do with an upgrade to your armor. I can also make sure it fits better. He tugged at the cloth of the hoody from the front of Jaune's armor. "Serviceable, but clearly not meant for the rigors of a Huntsman's life. The same is true for your jeans, I'm afraid...and your shoes. You're going to be wearing them out in short order."

Jaune grimaced, having already noticed how threadbare the hems of his jeans had been looking lately.

Yukimura crouched down, not doing Jaune's nerves any favors as he began to tug at the fabric of his jeans at thigh-level. "I'm also guessing you've been through something of a growth-spurt recently...or rather, you've been putting on some extra muscles. I imagine your pants must be feeling a bit tight in...certain...areas."

"Y-yeah," Jaune admitted, blushing, noticing that Ruby's cheeks had turned pink as well.

"Well, that's no good," said Yukimura. "Maintaining the mobility of your legs is critical for Huntsmen. You'll need footwear that's better-suited to rough terrain as well."

"Right," said Jaune.

"Well then, I believe I've taken in everything," said Yukimura, standing up straight and stepping back, gently pinching his chin with his right hand, while cradling his right elbow with his left hand in a thoughtful posture. "It appears that we will need to do a complete redesign, from top to bottom. We need something that is functional, of good quality, while still being distinctly _you_. Now...how to go about it..."

He hummed slowly, Jaune and Ruby standing uncomfortably before him, wondering just what ideas were flowing through Yukimura's mind.

"Ah...where are my manners?" he asked rhetorically. "It's unseemly of me to make you stand here like this. Come with me."

He led them towards the back of the shop, where Ruby was surprised to see a sitting room setup, with chairs and a couch arranged around a small coffee table. Nearby, a counter set into the wall sported a few appliances. Yukimura, after showing Ruby and Jaune to the couch, got to work at the counter. "Hospitality is important," he said. "What can I get for you. I have tea, coffee, hot chocolate..."

Ruby and Jaune wound up taking hot chocolate, which Yukimura was happy to prepare for them. Surprisingly, his version of hot chocolate wasn't made from powder from a pouch, but a hard disk that he broke apart, then ground down, before mixing with heated milk and whipping it up into a froth. Bringing the mugs back, he put them before the pair.

Ruby, remembering all too well what had happened the last time she'd eaten out in Vale, took a tentative sip, carefully running the beverage across her tongue, without swallowing. There was nothing that stood out to her as dangerous, so she relaxed. Instead, she found herself surprised and pleased when she tasted not only the chocolate and sugar, but also several spices, including cinnamon and even chili powder, giving the drink a tiny spicy kick that enhanced the flavor of the chocolate. Beside her, Jaune hummed in approval, liking the drink as well.

"Now then..." said Yukimura, pulling out a sketchbook and pencils. "...let's see about creating an ensemble for you."

* * *

"Thank you for taking us out to lunch," said Weiss, beaming at Winter. Beside her sat Ashley, who looked a bit uncomfortable, and felt more than a little out of place at what was clearly a fairly high-class establishment, if not one quite on the level of the place they'd had dinner at before.

It wasn't just the three of them either. Ashley sat to Weiss' right, while, on her left, sat Pyrrha, happy to have been invited to join her partner for a meal with Weiss' sister and girlfriend. Next to Pyrrha was Penny, with Piper sitting next to her. Beyond Ashley were Ciel and Rain. It was a bit odd to not only have Weiss and Ashley out for lunch, but the entirety of Team CPPR as well, all eight of them eating together.

"It's my pleasure," said Winter. "It would be unfair for you to be cooped up in Beacon all the time, so it's important that you get out more. I just wanted to be sure that your meal was of an appropriate quality."

It was a roundabout way of acknowledging that, even if Ruby wasn't there, going out to Vale wasn't a hundred-percent safe, per se. Considering what had happened to Ashley with the White Fang and, later on, Jaune with Cinder, the members of Ruby's friend-group were all too aware that they presented potential hostages to someone who might be out to get Ruby, as there always perpetually seemed to be. Student Huntsmen and Huntresses they might have been (with the exception of Ashley), the troubling fact of the matter was that no amount of physical training and conditioning could help them if someone slipped a drug into their food or drink, something Ruby and Jaune had discovered last time.

That was also the reason Winter had taken them out as a group. The presence of an Atlesian Specialist, one who was a critical member of the security force for the Vytal Festival, might be enough to deter potential attackers, though Winter would also admit she wasn't infallible. That was why CPPR was here...Penny in particular.

When their food arrived, Winter held up a hand, forestalling them all from eating just yet. "Penny..." she said.

Pyrrha's ears picked up faint whirring noises coming from Penny's eyes, and she swore she saw the android's irises rotate around her pupils for a few seconds. "Clear," she said. "Spectroscopic analysis indicates no harmful contaminants."

"You can detect poison?" gasped Weiss.

"Amongst other things, yes," said Penny, grinning. "Father has updated my database with every known drug and poison currently identified. I can detect even the most trace elements in any foodstuff."

"Wow..." said Piper, staring at Penny. "Learn something knew everyday, huh?"

"Yep," agreed Penny.

"In any case, that indicates that everything here is safe," said Ciel, already tucking into her dish, Rain doing likewise.

Weiss looked down at the table, then sighed. After a few seconds, she looked across at Winter. "Is there anyway you could help us figure out who was behind that abduction attempt?"

"We already are," said Winter. "However, the problem of differing jurisdictions is interfering with our ability to be of much use."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"Since whoever was behind the attempt was a Vale-based party, the primary investigation falls to Vale's authorities first," explained Ciel. "We can investigate, but only after Vale's police and intelligence services have reviewed the evidence first."

"Mostly, we're relegated to reviewing the findings of the police investigations," said Winter, frowning. "With only one incident to go off of so far, there's very little in the way of leads to follow up."

"That sounds like a bit of a problem," mused Rain.

"It suggests that whoever is behind this is very good at what they do," said Winter. "After their first attempt went awry, they've pulled back to reassess the situation, most likely, and watch for other opportunities. However, they are unlikely to jump on the first one presented."

"Why not?" asked Pyrrha.

"Because, should they fail again, they run the risk of leaving _more_ evidence behind," explained Winter. "From what we learned last time, we already know that this enemy has the capacity to interfere with the communication and dispatch of Vale's emergency services, given the disappearance of the culprits behind the first attempt. If they try again, and we apprehend their agents, we will know better than to hand them over to the police on the spot."

"But that first attempt was rather hasty," noted Ciel. "Would someone so skilled really make such an off-the-cuff attempt?"

"Perhaps," said Winter. "If they were ordered to do so by someone else, then there is a chance that they might be induced to act against their better judgment."

"So the idea is that the someone behind the abduction is working for someone else," said Piper. "But the someone that they're working for doesn't know the business as well as they do, and gives the order to jump on that first chance."

"That's the working idea," said Winter, pausing to take a bite of her lunch. "But now they've revealed their presence and their intent. So they're being more cautious."

"It might also be a case of trying to get us to let down our guard," added Ciel. "If they wait long enough, then there's the chance we could assume they've given up, at which point they make their move."

"Also a possibility," conceded Winter.

Weiss glanced at Ashley, noticing that her hands were shaking slightly as she tried to eat her lunch. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"I...I'm fine," stammered Ashley, giving Weiss a nervous look. "S-sorry. This is bringing back a few memories."

Weiss rested her hand over the back of Ashley's, giving it the most reassuring squeeze that she could. "You'll be okay," she promised. "We'll protect you."

Ashley nodded, looking down on her plate. "I just...I just feel like I'm a burden. The bad guys are coming after me, and my family, because they know we can't fight, but they can still use us to get to you. I hate that."

"If you're a burden, then you're one I'd bear gladly," said Weiss, leaning over to gently kiss her girlfriend on the cheek.

It was a bold move, particularly in front of so many other people. However, Winter had once again vetted the staff of this restaurant, and determined that there wasn't any risk of them spreading word that Weiss was dating a faunus. She had also assured them that Team CPPR could be trusted to keep their secret as well.

Pyrrha smiled at the couple, before looking to Penny again, her eyes widening as she realized that Penny was eating with evident enthusiasm. "You can eat?" she asked, shocked.

"Oh yes!" said Penny. "Food is wonderful! I'm ever so grateful to Father for providing me with taste receptors."

"And a stomach," observed Piper, watching the food disappearing into Penny's mouth.

"Father gave me the capability to convert organic matter into biofuel," explained Penny, after swallowing.

"Not strictly necessary, considering her main power source, but a kind concession all the same," said Winter.

Knowing that there was nothing foreign or dangerous in the food, they were free to enjoy their lunch in relative peace, with Ashley getting to know more about the members of the Atlesian team, having only met them briefly during her dress fitting. She too had been brought in on the secret that Penny was an android, something that Winter, rather than Ironwood, had decided upon. Since they were depending on Penny's unique…qualities…to aid in their protection, Winter had decided that it was best that Ashley knew the truth, to avoid her asking any awkward questions later. All told, it was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, even if they _did_ have the specter of another mysterious foe hovering over them.

* * *

Strangely enough, the hours had flown by, while Yukimura ran all manner of ideas past them, Jaune in particular, with regards to his outfit. The first thing that Yukimura had settled on was the color-scheme. He figured blue and silver, with gold accents, would work best ("Must be careful not to overdo it on the gold though. We don't want it to look gaudy.") From there, it was a question of analyzing styles of dress, with Yukimura asking what aspects of Jaune's current assortment he liked, and which he felt he might prefer to change.

Taking everything into account, Yukimura drew out a rough sketch on his pad, showing it to them. Well, Ruby wouldn't have called it rough. She was amazed at the level of detail that Yukimura had been able to put into a simple pencil drawing. Both she and Jaune took a liking to it right away.

With that, Yukimura switched to colors, bringing up swatches, most of them different shades of blue and silver, and holding them up for the pair to see, working to find out exactly which shade Jaune preferred. Jaune and Ruby felt it was a little overboard. However, Yukimura insisted. After all, a Huntsman's outfit was his signature as much as a weapon was, so it was critical that Jaune was settled on every aspect of it.

From there, they moved on to materials. Just as he had with the colors, Yukimura brought out different material swatches to allow Jaune to feel their textures and test their qualities.

"What is this one?" asked Jaune, pulling on a piece of fabric, which stretched between his hands.

"That's for the underclothes," explained Yukimura. "This particular fabric is extremely durable and flexible. It's moisture-wicking, which will help keep sweat from getting through to your armor-layer, and causing corrosion, and will also help you regulate your temperature, when you're working hard as well. Aside from that, it adds an extra layer of padding between you and your armor, just to be safe."

"Ah," said Jaune, getting the point, running his fingers along the fabric. "It feels pretty nice."

"It's also machine washable and wrinkle-proof," added Yukimura cheerfully.

"Sold!" shouted Jaune. "I'm all for low-maintenance clothing."

"As am I," agreed Yukimura, hearing Ruby titter behind Jaune. "Now then, for the overcoat, we want something very durable, which will help you cope with your environment. Fortunately, I have just the thing for that."

He pulled out another swatch, letting Jaune examine it. "This is Dust-treated for temperature stability. Depending on the outside temperature in relation to your body temperature, it will either vent or contain your body-heat. So it will help you keep cool in the summer, and warm in the winter."

"That would be awesome," said Jaune.

"You never know just what environments you'll be called to fight in," said Yukimura. "So it's best to get an outfit that can handle them all. On top of that, it's tear, fire, and edge resistant. That will protect you from all manner of Grimm attacks, to say nothing about human and faunus opponents. It's also extremely light, so it shouldn't weigh you down at all."

"Cool!" gasped Jaune, eyes twinkling as he looked at the fabric in his hands.

Ruby smiled as well, but felt a nervous feeling building in her stomach. She wasn't an expert on the fashion products of the Kingdoms, so she could guess their value at best. All of the fabrics and materials Yukimura was suggesting were clearly top-of-the-line. Considering that, there was no question to her mind that each piece of this outfit was going to be expensive. She couldn't help but wonder just how much the completed outfit would cost...and if they could afford it.

Her questions went unasked though, Yukimura already moving onto the next component, the armor. For that, he brought out a rather basic-looking chestplate, not all that dissimilar from what Jaune was wearing himself. "Now then, this obviously isn't the final product. It's a sample to give you an idea of the metal." He handed it over to Jaune, who actually juggled the armor piece in his hands for a second, surprised at its weight.

"It's so light!" gasped Jaune.

"The very finest in molecularly-enhanced alloy," said Yukimura. "The outer-surface was Dust-hardened, while microgravity fields were used to arrange the molecules for maximum strength. The interior surface gradates to softer metal, which ensures impact absorption. The result, a very light armor, with substantial ablative properties that can withstand powerful impacts, whether blunt or edged. Being a fraction of the weight of your current armor, I can outfit you to provide more coverage, while ensuring greater freedom of movement for you. It also allows me to install extra padding for better protection."

"And this is going to be silver?" asked Jaune.

"With some gold accents, yes," said Yukimura. "One of the neat properties of this alloy is that it can be treated to make it a variety of colors. Metallic ones are best, but it can do matted or shined finishes, and the color is the metal itself, not some kind of painted on layer that can be scraped away."

"That sounds pretty good," said Jaune.

"Excellent," said Yukimura. "Now then, let's see what armor we should be outfitting you with, hmm..."

He pointed to an empty space between some of the racks and stands. It was an open, circular space, wide enough to accommodate a Huntsman or Huntress with long weapons, enabling them to brandish them without worry of striking anything nearby. Stepping into that space, Jaune faced Yukimura, setting his shield onto his arm and drawing his sword from it. He took up his starting stance, shield out in front, sword raised behind.

"Hmm...asymmetrical, yes..." Yukimura tilted his head slightly. "A strong defensive stance. Reinforcing your left arm should be a priority then. You'll want a full vambrace, rerebrace, and pauldron there. Your right arm...I think a vambrace should be sufficient. We don't want to hinder your swings. As for your legs...greaves would probably be wise. A person's stance is always a potential target, and your shield doesn't reach all the way down."

He clapped his hands together once. "All right. You can sit down again. Thank you for your cooperation."

Jaune closed down his shield and sheathed his sword, letting out a breath. He returned to the couch to sit next to Ruby, who was getting more nervous than ever.

It wasn't as though she thought Yukimura was aiming to scam them. In fact, he appeared committed to making Jaune the best possible combat outfit he could. What worried her was _exactly_ that. This was clearly an extremely high-grade shop, and Yukimura knew his business. Between the materials and the artisanship, she was beginning to fear that the cost of Jaune's new outfit was astronomical. If worse came to worse, she supposed they could borrow from Weiss, but Ruby hated that idea, not wanting to lean on Weiss' money, seeing as Weiss had been more than generous before. However, if this kept up, it would probably more than she and Jaune could afford if they pooled _both_ their savings.

"And that brings us to the final component of the main outfit," continued Yukimura, "footwear. I'm sorry to say that those sneakers of yours are probably going to fall apart in a few weeks' time, if you're working as hard as I know Beacon students do."

"That makes sense," said Jaune, glancing down at his feet. Truth be told, he'd noticed the soles of his shoes getting worn out, and seen signs that they were starting to come apart at the seams.

"Wilderness traversal is a major factor in a Huntsman's line of work, so I would recommend hiking boots," said Yukimura. "You'll want armor-toed boots, of course. You never know where a Grimm will step."

"Right," said Jaune, nodding vigorously.

Ruby let out a small sigh, relieved that they were approaching the end. However, that relief was short-lived when Yukimura pressed on.

"And now onto the fun part...accessories!"

Ruby let out a breath, her stomach dropping at what new expenses they were about to accrue.

* * *

In the end, it was another hour before Yukimura finished going over all the aspects that would go with Jaune's new outfit. There were pouches and pockets, belts and gloves. Not only that, but Yukimura had even gone so far as to make suggestions for basic things, like socks. Granted, all of them were likely designed with an active Huntsman in mind. But the mere thought of all these costs adding up was making Ruby go gray with worry. By the time this ended, she was certain they would be looking at a nine-digit price tag, at the very least.

It was also draining. They had arrived fairly late in the morning, and the whole session had gone on through noon, continuing on into the afternoon. Ruby had noted that there didn't seem to be any other customers, which she found surprising. Sure, it meant that Yukimura was able to focus entirely on the design of Jaune's outfit. But she was wondering if he had any customer base at all. Still, Coco had recommended this place, which meant he was good at what he did, so even if business was infrequent, he still made enough off his commissions to maintain it...which only made her _more_ worried about the impending price of Jaune's new outfit.

In truth, Ruby hadn't noticed that Yukimura had discreetly switched the sign over his door from "Open" to "Closed", using his scroll, which had explained why he'd been free to lavish Jaune's prospective outfit with so much attention.

Fortunately, Yukimura had fed them, even as he continued to work with Jaune's outfit, toying with differing ideas and variations.

And then, with dinnertime just around the corner, _finally_, the long process came to an end. "I have a gist of the idea," said Yukimura, smiling at them. "Why don't you two go out for dinner, then come back, and I should have the final concept ready when you return."

"A-are you sure...?" asked Ruby nervously, practically on the verge of fainting over what the price point would be.

"Of course," said Yukimura. "I need some time to draw out the final design from all angles, in color of course, so that I can get the final approval."

"All right," said Ruby, she and Jaune heading for the exit.

If anything, she felt bad about taking up so much of Yukimura's time. They'd invested an entire day in conceptualizing Jaune's outfit. If the price was too high though, and they were unable to afford it, then they'd just wasted several hours of Yukimura's time for something that they couldn't pay him to make. Ruby feared that they really _would_ have to ask Weiss for a loan, in that case.

"You okay?" asked Jaune, after they left the building. "I thought you were looking a little uneasy in there, but I didn't want to say anything."

"Thanks," said Ruby, silently chiding herself for thinking Jaune hadn't noticed her feelings. She'd thought he was so absorbed in the design-process that he might not have. However, no matter what, Jaune was still Jaune, so very sweet and considerate, especially now that the two of them had become so close to each other.

"I'm just worried about the cost," Ruby admitted.

"Oh..." said Jaune, his own eyes widening as he began to think about all the things he'd agreed to.

"Yeah. I don't know a lot about all the things he was offering," said Ruby, "but I'm guessing they were all pretty expensive. And we don't know how much labor is going to cost on top of that."

"I guess we'll just have to see what the final price is," said Jaune nervously. "Hopefully I can afford it.

"'We,' you mean," said Ruby.

"Ruby! I can't possibly take your money too," protested Jaune.

"You're my partner," said Ruby, grinning at him. "If it's to ensure that you're properly outfitted, it's worth spending my money on."

Jaune frowned, but already knew her well enough to know she wasn't going to budge on this. "All right," he said. "But I don't want you wiping out your savings too."

"We'll do what we need to," said Ruby. "Now where do you want to eat?"

"Mind if I join you kids?" inquired a familiar, gravelly voice from behind them.

"Uncle Qrow!" exclaimed Ruby, she and Jaune whirling around to greet the new arrival.

"Hey there, Rosebud," said Qrow, smirking at them. "Word on the street is you're getting a new outfit for your partner."

"Yep," said Ruby, beaming. "The designer's working on the final concept, right now."

"That so," said Qrow, scratching his chin. "Who's doin' it? Maybe I've heard of 'em."

"A guy named Yukimura Azarola," said Ruby. "He knew Mom."

Qrow whistled. His expression brightened considerably, which Ruby found a little confusing. "That he did, kiddo. He was one of our mentors, back in the day. We shadowed him on quite a few missions, during our third and fourth year. He hadn't been a Huntsman long, but he had a seriously solid rep. He adored Summer, thought she was the cutest thing on two legs."

Ruby froze, shaking. "Um...Is he a pervert?"

Qrow paused, giving Ruby a shocked look. He wasn't the only one. Jaune was also surprised.

"Uh...Not that kind," said Qrow, coughing, looking like he was trying to keep from breaking into laughter, and looking away. "What he and Summer had...it's more like we have. He was like a favorite uncle to her."

"Oh! That's cool then," said Ruby.

Qrow was nearly doubling over, thinking about how Yukimura would react if he knew that Ruby had asked that about him. It took him a minute, but he managed to regain his composure.

"A-anyway..." He straightened up, rubbing tears of repressed laughter from his eyes. "...he looked after us, even for a bit after we graduated. He's a good friend of the family."

"Really...?" Ruby canted her head. "I don't remember meeting him."

Qrow sighed, lowering his head slightly. "Well, things got busy for him, round the time you were born. He wound up on a long-term mission, then got caught up in setting up his shop. He _did_ visit a couple of times, when you were a baby. But you were too young to remember that."

"Oh..." said Ruby.

Qrow's expression sobered. "Right as he was in the middle of another mission, Summer died. By the time he got back, you and Yang had already had your 'adventure', and Tai got dead set on keeping you from being a Huntress. I was one thing, but he refused to even let Yukimura come around, afraid that meeting your mom's 'cool uncle' would only make you more obstinate."

_He was probably right,_ thought Ruby, frowning at the thought.

Qrow sighed. "Anyway, it's a good thing you got to meet him. He does good work, so you're gonna be well looked after, Jaune."

"Thanks," said Jaune.

"Anyway," said Qrow, favoring them with an unusually affectionate smile, "you two are heading to dinner, right? I'll come with you. I'll even pay."

"But-!" Ruby began to protest.

She was cut off, when Qrow held up a finger, grinning. "Trust me, kiddo. You two are gonna want to conserve as much cash as you can. Yuki knows what students work with, but he ain't gonna skimp either, so you'll wanna have as much on hand as you can, when you get his final quote."

"All right," said Ruby nervously, Jaune nodding along with her.

"Right then," said Qrow. "Follow me. I know a great place near here."

They followed along, Ruby realizing that it wasn't an accident that they'd bumped into Qrow. There was still the issue of the people who'd tried to abduct her. Everyone was still worried about it, including Qrow. So she figured that him showing up was probably more as an extra measure of protection than anything else. Ruby would keep her own guard up, but she felt a bit more reassured that her uncle was watching over her too.

Still, that made it all the more imperative that they figure out who was behind this. Qrow couldn't protect her forever. And it was only a matter of time before her mysterious enemy made a desperate move, like going after one of her friends. After what had happened to Ashley and Jaune, she was getting sick of people using the ones close to her as a means of targeting her.

For now though, she resolved to enjoy her time with Jaune and Qrow as much as possible.

* * *

"No openings, it would seem," noted Eira, watching the trio head for a restaurant through one of the feeds from the Kingdom's security cameras.

"'Course not," said Mercury. "Now that she's on her guard, you're gonna have a seriously tough time getting past it. And the guard of her friends is pretty airtight too."

"They have experience in this," said Eira.

"Yep," agreed Mercury. "We tried it. The White Fang tried it. Going after her friends is the kind of trap she'll see a mile coming now. All of them will. The civilian is still the weak link. But they're looking after her pretty solidly, and they ain't about to let someone try what Taurus did."

"Troubling..." mused Eira. "We need to draw her out."

Mercury hummed, then froze, his eyebrows going up. "Hey, do you have a general gist of Beacon's schedule for first-years."

"Yes," said Eira, looking at him with a mildly confused expression. "We have access to the basic schedules that are available to the public, for things like school events and holidays and such. But that won't have any detailed information on Rose's personal schedule."

"We don't need that," said Mercury. "The public schedule will be just fine, 'cause that has the info we need."

"What information is that?" asked Eira.

"The schedule for the next round of first-year missions," said Mercury. "They've got one more set, before the Vytal Festival starts up. Unless they're completely overrun by paranoia, those kids are gonna want to take a mission of some kind. And a lot of those missions have the potential to take them away from Vale."

"Oh!" said Eira, her eyes widening. "I see..."

Mercury grinned triumphantly. "There's all kinds of things that can happen on a mission. Handle it right, and Ruby'll walk right into your hands."

"With our resources, we could engineer a scenario," said Eira, frowning thoughtfully. "However, that would require knowing what mission they are going to take ahead of time."

"Or..._create_ a mission, whole cloth," suggested Mercury, his grin widening, "one that she won't be able to turn down."

"Yes, I could see that working," said Eira. "But what manner of mission would ensure her participation?"

"Well, she has a particular friend, who happens to be rabidly passionate about anything pertaining to a certain organization," explained Mercury. "Create a scenario around that, and she'll come running, dragging her friends along behind her."

"Yes, that could work," said Eira. "On a mission, it would be so much easier to separate her from her allies...

Mercury chuckled. "Now, don't get ahead of yourself. Where we're at now, it's where my boss and I were at, when it came to trying to bring her down. It's where Taurus was at too. The way we set things up, she'll see a trap for what it is, just like how she did with us."

"Then...what's the point of this at all?" asked Eira, her expression hardening with frustration.

Mercury chuckled. "We take _advantage_ of that knowledge," he said. "We take the trap, and turn it into an _invitation_. I can tell you right now, there's no way she'll be able to turn it down..."

* * *

"That was really good, Uncle Qrow," said Ruby, rubbing her belly contentedly.

"Yep, your uncle knows a few nice places," said Qrow, grinning.

"But I figured they'd all be bars," Jaune whispered to Ruby, making her stifle a giggle.

Jaune hadn't been been quiet enough, though. Qrow heard him, his eyebrow twitching. "I swear, if you weren't dating my niece..."

"But I was thinking it too," said Ruby, grinning playfully at Qrow.

Qrow groaned and slumped, prompting laughter from Ruby and Jaune.

They arrived back at the shop, the tone sounding as the door opened. The door had barely closed behind the three of them, when Yukimura was there once more, smiling cheerfully. "Welcome back," he said, before he saw Qrow. "Ah, you too, Qrow? It's been too long. How have you been, you old bird?"

Qrow grimaced, his eyebrows twitching again, while Ruby and Jaune muffled laughter behind him. "Where the heck do you get off...? You're almost _fifty_!"

Yukimura laughed gayly, unfazed by the accusation. "You're only as old as you feel, you know," he replied, ignoring the gobsmacked look on Jaune's face.

"Someday, I'm gonna learn the secret of what kind of moisturizer you use," grumbled Qrow.

_I don't think it's what he showers with,_ thought Ruby, examining Yukimura through her senses. The smooth, cohesive nature of his Aura was almost as though he'd Tempered it. Ruby had noticed that in their first meeting. Now, upon closer examination, she was amazed at how well-contained it was, only the most minuscule trace of his Aura trickling away.

The containment of one's Aura through Temper was more than just a means to build and strengthen one's Aura. It was also the first stage of the Mibu arts that enabled them to retain their youthful vigor and extend their lifespans almost indefinitely, the arts known as _Sō_. Given how well-contained Yukimura's Aura was, it was understandable that it had helped to preserve Yukimura's youth, well into his late-forties. Of course, that was small potatoes to the Mibu. With _Sō_, they could maintain that kind of youth for multiple centuries, though few of them did for longer than two.

It shocked Ruby, honestly. Even if it was lacking volume, Yukimura's Aura was honed to the level that she rated him as being nearly equal to the Goyosei, like Shinrei, her main teacher. He seemed the kind of person who could give _Kyo_ a hard fight.

_It's like Kaa-san was saying,_ thought Ruby. _Even in the Kingdoms, there are people who've developed the very methods the Mibu have, independent of their influence._

"Of course, you didn't come in to banter with an oldster like me," teased Yukimura, making a show of not caring about his chronological age. "You've come to see my final design, right?"

"That's right!" said Jaune, his trepidation at the thought of Yukimura's price displaced by excitement at seeing just what shape his new outfit would take.

Grinning, Yukimura led them to the back sitting area, setting the sketchpad onto the table, and opening to show the design of Jaune's new outfit. It had been rendered, not merely in full color, but was also drawn from multiple angles, allowing them to see what it looked like from the back and sides, even overhead. Then, each component of it had been drawn out separately, showing all the individual pieces of clothing and armor, including front and back views.

"Whoa!" gasped Jaune, flipping through the pages, examining Yukimura's notes. While he, Qrow, and Ruby looked over his new combat gear, Yukimura was going through the process of preparing another batch of hot cocoa for them.

"Are you liking how everything fits together?" asked Yukimura, bringing their drinks to the table.

Ruby and Jaune drank their hot chocolate eagerly. Qrow was a bit more restrained, sipping at his, watching Yukimura warily.

Jaune set down his mug, having examined everything from back to front. "I _love_ it!" he declared.

"Wonderful," said Yukimura, clapping his hands together excitedly. "I'm so glad you approve. I'll get started on it right away."

The prospect that this was really happening reminded Jaune of the one thing that he and Ruby were worried about. "So...how much is this going to be?" he asked.

"Ah yes, to the difficult bit," said Yukimura. "Well, factoring in the price of materials and labor, the final total should be..." He quoted them the price.

Jaune's jaw dropped. It would wipe out nearly all of his savings in one go. It would be the most money he'd ever dropped on a single purchase...ever. He thought he'd paid a fairly exorbitant price for his falsified transcripts. But they didn't hold a candle to _this_. He could scarcely imagine spending so much money on a single outfit.

"The price factors in multiple sets of underclothes and socks," added Yukimura. "It's designed that way so that the main outfit requires less cleaning and washing, because you'll only need to regularly wash the parts that have been in direct contact with your body. Of course, simple exposure means that you will have to clean the other pieces of your ensemble on a semi-regular basis, but that should make it more low-maintenance as a whole."

"R-right," said Jaune, trembling, reminding himself that, as absurd as the price seemed, it was still better than the worst-case scenario that he and Ruby had envisioned, where they might have to pool all the money _both_ of them had. It seemed that they'd gotten a little carried away in guessing just how much money they'd have to pay for his new combat outfit.

Meanwhile, Ruby was distracted by her uncle's reaction. When Yukimura had quoted his price, Qrow had nearly spat his mouthful of hot chocolate across the table, barely managing to keep it contained. As it was, the way he was currently choking and snorting behind her indicated he might have gotten a bit up his nose. What struck her more was the flash of utter _shock_ that went through his Aura at the sound of Yukimura's price. _Was that higher than he was expecting?_ she wondered.

"So then, will you be paying up front, or in installments?" asked Yukimura, smiling indulgently at them.

"I'll pay now," said Jaune, reaching into his pocket.

"Jaune..." said Ruby, already reaching out to forestall him.

"It's okay," said Jaune, smiling at her. "I need to shoulder my own weight. Besides, it's worth it, if it helps me be a better partner to you."

"Oh Jaune..." whispered Ruby, affection swelling in her chest.

Pulling out his scroll, Jaune held it out to Yukimura, who produced his own scroll. The two of them brought their devices face-to-face, a tone sounding from the electronic transfer. Jaune took his back, seeing the notification from his bank, and wincing at the amount displayed, along with the request for him to confirm that he was authorizing the transfer of such a large sum. He hesitated only a little, before confirming it, able to see the money draining out of his account in his mind's eye.

"Well, now that that's done, I'll get started immediately," said Yukimura. "While it's not a hard estimate, I'd say this would take me about a week. I hope that works for you."

"It'll do," said Jaune.

"Good, then let's get your measurements, and then I'll send you on your way."

Yukimura led Jaune back into the fitting room. Jaune, much to his embarrassment, had to strip down to his boxers, while Yukimura walked around him with a hand-scanner, which laser-measured his proportions with incredible precision. It was a fair bit faster and more convenient than the days where someone did this with measuring tape. But it was still an awkward experience. At least Yukimura didn't so much as bat an eyelash, when he saw the Pumpkin Pete design on Jaune's hoody.

In the end, it took less than five minutes for Yukimura to get the necessary measurements, before Jaune was allowed to slip his clothes back on and return to Ruby and Qrow.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" asked Yukimura, already inputting Jaune's dimensions into his scroll.

"It was fine," said Jaune.

"Excellent," said Yukimura, clapping his hands together once more. "Now then, off with you. It's a school night after all, and I've kept you here long enough."

Jaune and Ruby stood up. "Thank you so much," said Jaune, giving Yukimura a grateful smile.

Yukimura returned the smile. "Do your best to look after your partner, young man," was all he had to say in response.

Jaune nodded. He and Ruby turned to head out the door, before pausing, noticing that Qrow was still there, in fact settling into one of the seats near Yukimura.

"Uncle Qrow?" asked Ruby in confusion.

"Don't let me keep ya," said Qrow, waving a hand dismissively at them. "Go ahead on back to Beacon. Let a couple of old friends chew the fat for a while."

"Okay..." said Ruby, wondering what they'd be talking about. However, she and Jaune were short on time, if they wanted to catch an airship back to Beacon. There were fewer flights on Sunday after all, and the air-docks closed down earlier on school nights than they did on Friday and Saturday evenings, an extra incentive for students to be back before curfew.

When the door swung shut behind them, Qrow turned to Yukimura. "Okay, spill," he said.

"What on earth about?" asked Yukimura playfully, taking a sip from his mug of hot cocoa. "Are you dissatisfied with my asking price?"

"More like confused as hell," said Qrow. "With your skills, and those materials, you could make a down payment on a good car with the kind of money you _should_ be charging for that. Sure, that probably wiped out most of Arc's spending money. But you're still practically _giving_ it to him for that much lien. You're making this thing at a _huge_ loss, especially in this economy."

Yukimura threw back his head, laughing lightly. "You're really _that_ surprised?" he asked, a look of warm contentment appearing on his face. "If I could have come up with a plausible excuse, I would have made that outfit for free...for Ruby's partner. Call it a special 'godfather's discount'."

"So that's how it is," said Qrow, settling back.

"I need to make up for some ten years of missed birthdays," Yukimura commented with a chuckle. His expression fell. "I only wish I'd done something sooner, before she did something so drastic as running away from home. I hesitated..."

"You and me both," grumbled Qrow, pulling out his flask and using its contents to spike his cocoa.

Yukimura stared down into the dregs of his own drink with a sigh. "I was considering suing for custody, when she disappeared. If you'd actually managed to bring her back, I would have done so immediately. That house was no place for a girl like her."

"You aren't wrong," conceded Qrow. "I would've felt worlds better, if you were looking after her. Still, she managed one heckuva lucky draw. The people who took her in were probably the best ones for the job of raising someone like her."

"Yes, I imagine she would have taken to life with the Mibu quite well," observed Yukimura with a laugh.

Qrow flinched sloshing a little of his drink across the table as he stared, wide-eyed at Yukimura.

Yukimura laughed softly. "It wasn't too hard to see," he observed. "The quality of her Aura can only come from training it diligently."

"I didn't realize you knew," said Qrow.

"I had heard rumors about them," said Yukimura, drinking down the last of his hot cocoa. "I've experimented with learning more about how to use my Aura, and it's served me well over the years. I would very much like to meet one of the Mibu someday, and learn more about what they can do."

"Well...you're in luck in that regard," said Qrow, chuckling. "There's one staying at Beacon right now, Ruby's adopted brother."

"Well now, that _is_ wonderful," said Yukimura, his voice reflecting his eagerness. "Though I have an obligation to finish Mr. Arc's outfit first. After that, maybe I could win an introduction."

"I don't think they'd mind a bit," said Qrow. "Still a might lavish gift you're giving though, even if you're talking about so many missed birthdays."

"It's a godfather's prerogative to do what he can to support his goddaughter in such a dangerous world," said Yukimura. "Being associated with the Mibu means that she has a plethora of enemies on all sides, some she probably won't even be aware of."

"Oh, she's aware of them all right," said Qrow.

"That just makes it all the more imperative that I ensure that the one closest to her is able to support her to the best of his abilities," said Yukimura. "I like the look of Mr. Arc. I have no doubt that he will live up to my hopes."

"Well...you ain't wrong," said Qrow, chuckling quietly.

* * *

**Yukimura Azarola: Designwise, Yukimura is based on Sanada Yukimura, as depicted in _Samurai Deeper Kyo_, though that's as far as it goes, as he has no other connection to that character whatsoever. I admit that the idea of making him Ruby's godfather was a bit of a late addition, but I have left a few hints about him, earlier on. I kept them sparse, mostly to keep from giving too much away, though it's not some huge revelation. In this case, Yukimura's name, as rendered in kanji, would use the character for "snow" for Yuki, which is a departure from how the historical/manga Yukimura's name was written, to have his name keep with Monty's color-rule, of course. Azarola is a Basque name possibly originating from the Basque word for "fox".**

**The idea for a redesign for Jaune's outfit came on my partway through the story, and I had to do quite a bit of thinking, because I didn't want to simply retread into the outfits he's been wearing in later volumes. I thought that blue and silver would work for him. In all honesty, I spent more time on this than I really needed to. That, and I just like making jokes about Jaune's Volume 1-3 outfit.**


	107. Chapter 107

**Chapter 107:**

"Sounds like things went pretty well for you guys," said Yang, grinning across the table at Jaune and Ruby at breakfast. "So you've got a new outfit in the works, huh, Jaune?"

"Yep," said Jaune. "Took me for almost everything I had, but I'm gonna have a proper Huntsman's look, when this is over."

"It's true!" agreed Ruby. "Jaune's new combat clothes are gonna look super-awesome."

"It will be nice to see you wearing something halfway-decent," commented Weiss, throwing Jaune a wry look.

"Hey, I'm just upgrading the quality of my outfit," protested Jaune. "It's more about performance. I look fine the way I am...right?"

Even though they were sitting in the dining hall, with chattering students on all sides, everyone at RASP and RYNB's table swore they could hear crickets chirping.

"Guys...?" asked Jaune plaintively.

Ren coughed into his hand, before giving Jaune his most neutral expression. "You look very...you."

"He's not wrong," added Blake with a wry smile.

"Somehow, I think that's not a compliment," said Jaune, slumping down.

"Aww," cooed Nora. "There's no need to get down in the dumps, Jaune. You've got a new look coming, so that you won't look like you anymore."

"That's hitting below the belt," grumbled Jaune, slumping while the others laughed.

Ruby nudged him with her elbow. "Come on, handsome, we've got class in a few minutes. Get finished eating. You can mope later."

"Right, right..." grumbled Jaune, eating quickly.

A few minutes later, the bell sounded, informing them that they had five minutes to get to their first class of the day. As they walked, they talked about the unexpected new wrinkle to their schedule.

"So who do you think our new professor is gonna be?" asked Nora.

"I'm just glad we won't have to spend the entire class listening to Professor Port's stories," said Yang, stretching her arms over her head.

"It's a bit odd for us to have such a drastic change to our schedule, midway through the semester," said Pyrrha.

"At least the name sounds interesting," said Ruby.

The others nodded.

The change had been quite unexpected. Upon waking up Monday morning, they'd all received a message on their scrolls, announcing the change to their schedules. First-year Grimm Studies had been replaced with a new class, Law Enforcement and Support.

"It sounds like we're gonna be training to be cops," said Jaune.

"Well...that seems like a valid possibility," said Blake.

They entered the classroom. It was the same classroom used for Port's lectures. However, the stocky Huntsman was nowhere to be seen. Instead, it appeared that their new teacher had yet to arrive. The boards, rather than being covered by sketches and notes on different Grimm types, were instead covered by maps of the Kingdom, starting with one of Vale in the center, with the flanking blackboards displaying detailed maps of the individual districts.

Upon entering the room, Ruby froze, her gaze immediately zeroing in on the corner. Her body went still, save for her left hand, which inched towards the handle of her sword.

"Ruby...?" asked Jaune, everyone noticing her reaction.

Ruby was silent, staring for a moment, before relaxing and letting out a breath. "It's nothing," she said. "Well...it's _not_ nothing. But it's nothing really bad."

"Ooookaaay..." drawled Yang. "What the hell does that mean?"

"You'll find out," said Ruby, leading them to their seats.

A few minutes later, Ruby twitched as she sensed their "instructor" approaching. What she'd sensed before had already helped her to figure out what was going on. She didn't want to spoil the surprise though. This would probably be the least-boring class of the year.

The door flew open, and their new instructor sauntered in, his appearance drawing shocked gasps throughout the room as they caught sight of his orange hair, white jacket, and signature black bowler hat.

"Roman Torchwick!" shouted Blake, shooting to her feet.

"What are _you_ doing here?" demanded Yang, standing next to her partner.

"Hey there," greeted Roman with a merry wave of his hand, cane hooked over his right forearm. "Sit down, kiddies, class is starting after all."

"You _can't_ be our teacher," protested Weiss.

"You bet I can," replied Roman, smiling even more widely. "Now, if you kids don't want detention, sit down. Ozzy said I have the authority to give detention."

"Yes, but I also asked you not to abuse it," said the man himself, entering the room after Roman.

"Professor!" said Weiss, her gaze going to Ozpin. "Is this man really...?"

"Yes," replied Ozpin, giving the entire room one of his trademark cryptic smiles. "Roman Torchwick and I have reached an arrangement. In exchange for the eventual commutation of his sentence, Mr. Torchwick shall join the staff of Beacon, during which he shall educate you students on the nuances of dealing with the criminal elements of the Kingdoms, using his...unique...perspective."

"Unique _perp_spective," Roman commented, twirling his cane around his fingers. "Consider yourselves lucky, kiddies. You get a first-class education in the ways of the underworld, from an actual _member_ of the underworld. We're gonna have fun, I promise."

"Uh...I'm kinda worried about what definition someone like you has for 'fun'," commented Jaune.

Roman laughed. "We've got someone ahead of the curve here. Give the boy a gold star."

Ozpin chuckled as well. "Well then, now that I have verified Mr. Torchwick's credentials, I shall give him the floor. Please give him your utmost attention, and the respect you would any other member of the faculty."

As soon as the door closed, Roman moved to the center of the floor, planting his cane and resting his hands atop the crook. "Well, now that he's gone, we can have some fun. Let's start with a little intro. I'm sure you've seen my name in the papers...along with that God-awful mugshot they keep using for me, but we should still observe _some_ proprieties."

He raised his right hand. "The name's Roman Torchwick. As you lot probably already know, I _was_, until recently, one of the top thieves in Vale. I had a pretty solid reputation, and I've dabbled in all sorts of crime: from theft, to arson, to jaywalking. In fact, my at-large status holds the current record for any criminal in the Kingdom.

"And to think that my first class would include the person who brought that record to an end. How ya doin', Red?"

"I'm doing fine, Professor Torchwick," replied Ruby, giving him a confident smile. Her blithe reaction to him drew shocked looks from her friends.

Roman grinned back at her. "Good to see someone's on the ball today. But let's not have any of that 'Professor' stuff." He wagged a finger at the class. "I have absolutely no academic accreditation, so I'm not 'Professor' anything. You can call me Roman, Torchwick, Mr. Torchwick-Hell!-call me whatever you like...but let's keep it to titles that wouldn't have your parents washing your mouth out with soap, okay."

Ruby giggled.

"Ruby!" Weiss whispered harshly. "How are you so all right with this?"

"Yeah! You helped put this jerk away," added Yang.

"Well, I figured he was our new teacher, when I noticed Neo in the corner of the room," Ruby whispered back. "Besides, I'm kinda used to being mentored by a criminal."

They all froze as they realized what she was talking about.

"Oh...right," said Jaune.

"Now then, back to the actual teaching part of this class," said Roman, beginning to pace across the floor. "I have to at least _look_ like I'm trying to do my job after all."

His jest rang a bit hollow, nobody but Ruby apparently finding any humor in it.

"Going back to my self-intro..." said Roman, picking up where he left off. "I got into the biz fairly early on. I was born in the lower-end of Vale's residential district, a stone's throw away from where the Faunus Quarter is now. Let me tell you, back in those days, it was pretty damn crowded. My family and I weren't exactly destitute, but we sure as hell weren't well off, or even middle class for that matter.

"'Course, all that changed when we decided to get in on the ground floor of a new project, something that was supposed to make everything better for everybody, opening up a new extension that would give us room to breathe, new jobs, new opportunities, and new lives; a spectacular little place known as...Mountain Glenn. I'm sure you kids have heard of that one."

All around the room, faces paled.

"Keep in mind, I was just a little tyke, when this happened," continued Roman, his mannerisms not even indicating that he was speaking about anything painful or tragic. "I just followed my parents to their new place, all of us expecting this to be the start of something great.

"'Course, then the Grimm had to ruin everything. That sucks, but that's life for ya. I won't bore you with the details. We went underground. Then some moron blew open an entire chamber of underground Grimm, and we were sunk. I managed to make it on the last train out, before the tunnels were demolished. My parents didn't. Sob story over."

Despite Roman's completely casual delivery, the expressions of anger and hostility on the students' faces were waning, replaced by shock and sorrow at hearing about what lay in Roman's past.

Roman continued on without breaking stride. "It wasn't all sunshine and roses after that, let me tell you. There I was, alone in the world, no parents, no income, no support network. I could've gone into the orphanages, but they weren't nice places back then. So I made my life out in the streets. I stole, mugged people, basically did whatever it took to get by. To keep from getting into too much trouble, I also worked for some local outfits, who used me as a gofer; you know, 'Go fer this...Go fer that...' all that jazz.

"With all that going on, I learned a bunch of stuff. I learned to pick pockets. I learned how to mug people without getting caught. I learned the ins and outs of a dozen different illicit business models. I also learned that you can't really trust anyone. If I wanted to survive, I had to be forever looking out for Number One, because anyone I put my trust in was likely to stab me in the back.

"Now, naturally, not everybody who enters the criminal lifestyle does it because they want to make a career out of it. I was just trying to get by. But let me tell you something. This lowly thief, this piece of scum from the runoff of the gutters of Mountain Glenn had a _dream_."

Roman's voice and gestures grew more dramatic, as though he were a great statesman delivering a stirring oration to the masses. Fittingly enough the students had found themselves completely drawn in.

_He's incredible!_ thought Blake, shaking herself out of the enraptured sensation she was getting from listening to him. _From everything we heard, _he_ was originally supposed to be the one working with the White Fang for Cinder. If Ruby hadn't caught him, things would have probably been much worse for us._

Roman continued. "My dream was to make something of myself, to leave the streets behind, and obtain some real status. My dream was to become a Huntsman-Yes...really.

"Of course, in order to accomplish that, you need a few things. You need training for one. It's not like I could've drawn up a set of fake transcripts, then lied my way right into an Academy after all."

Jaune turned bright red, and ducked his face, stifling a cough, while his friends glanced at him sidelong. Thankfully, this little act went unnoticed by the other students in the room.

"My options were pretty limited," confessed Roman. "I _could_ have tried to apprentice under someone, but I didn't know any Huntsmen. Imagine that... My other option was to get into Combat School. Only problem was, I didn't exactly have money for tuition."

People around the room frowned at that, sharing an unspoken frustration at the very issue Roman had pointed out. The four Academies were free to attend, provided the students were accepted, then completed the Initiation. Combat Schools were different though. Created to help students prepare for entry into the Academies, they required tuition from their students, which meant that prospective students needed money. More than a few people around the room had memories of families scrimping to be able to afford the cost, forgoing common luxuries that more well-off families took for granted. Some had taken out student loans, which they and their families were _still_ paying off.

"Well...I should correct that," continued Roman. "I didn't have _legit_ money for tuition. Of course, being the resourceful fellow I was, I worked hard at all sorts of things, and I eventually scraped together enough to pay for entry into Watchtower Academy. Not exactly the top school, but an affordable one. Once there, I got my Aura unlocked, started learning the ways of fighting like a Huntsman, and even built a weapon for myself. Life was good..."

Roman sighed and shook his head. "'Course, all good things must come to an end, sooner or later. Unfortunately, my good thing came to an end on the 'sooner' side of that equation. I don't want to get into the messy details right now, but it was one of those classic old stories involving a bully, whose parents were big donors to the school, which allowed him to get away with crap that would've gotten anyone else expelled. Long story short, we had a conflict. His daddy looked up my history. My more...uh..._creative_ methods of making my tuition money came to light, and I wound up expelled.

"And _that_, kiddies, was the end of Roman Torchwick, future-Huntsman, and the beginning of Roman Torchwick, the master thief. I was out on the streets once more. Your average Combat School dropout might go into the police or the military. But with a black mark on my record like the one _I_ had, I wasn't going to get into either of those professions. So I went back into my business, armed with my fancy new fighting moves, and my lovely new weapon."

He twirled his cane artfully.

"Of course, my first big score was the family of the little twit who got me expelled in the first place. I made sure to clean everything out, then sink any hope they had of getting anything back. Last I heard, they were trying to make a fresh start in Vacuo. Wonder how that's going for them…"

Roman shrugged, then shook his head. "Right then, apologies for the long-winded exposition. Now that I've introduced myself, it's time to get down to brass tacks. In this class, you're gonna learn how, as Huntsmen and Huntresses, you might wind up dealing with the underworld."

Silence followed his announcement, which only prompted Roman to grin. "I can see some pretty skeptical stares out there. I understand. Rounding up crooks, like my humble self, is supposed to be the job of those wonderful constables and keepers of the peace. You folks didn't sign up to do the cops' jobs for them, now did you?"

Many in the audience found themselves nodding their heads in affirmation, with only a few beginning to see Roman's point, particularly the members of RASP and RYNB. They'd been at the forefront of dealing with the problem of the White Fang, and also dealing with the police's lack of interest in proper investigation, particularly their attempts to scapegoat innocent faunus in an effort to show results.

"That's not to say the cops are incompetent," explained Roman. "Oh sure, quite a few of them are. After all, a whole bunch of them are basically there because they couldn't hack it well enough to get where you lot are now. Let's do a quick numbers game. Who here knows how many applicants were accepted to Beacon this year?"

Silence followed his query, and Roman nodded in affirmation. "Thought so. It's not like anyone shared the official admission figures with you kids. The fact is that this year's pool of applicants was sixty-seven."

Soft gasps filled the air.

Roman chuckled. "I figure that you probably noticed that nowhere near that number came back from the Initiation. Now, let's be honest here. I don't want to tell you that Ozzy wasn't serious about the statement he made at the beginning of the Initiation. But he has _some_ heart. While you kids were out there, fighting the good fight, the teachers were on watch. Anyone who was completely hopeless they pulled out if they could. I heard only a couple of dumb brats got themselves offed this year, all told.

"On top of that, there were only so many 'relics' for you to retrieve, which means that it was also first come, first serve for the people who would make it in. Those who couldn't hack it, or were just plain too slow, wound up finding a bunch of empty rock pedestals, and the revelation that they hadn't made the grade. Sucks to be them, doesn't it."

Ruby and her friends suddenly felt very uneasy, remembering that they were the last teams to make it back from the Initiation. Granted, that had mainly been because they'd been held up, dealing with the Orochi, which had been _after_ they had gotten their relics. However, it was frightening to think that, had they been only a little bit slower, they might not have made it into the school at all.

Roman continued, unaware of what certain people thought about what he'd just said. "And _that's_ not even factoring in the people who didn't even make it past the application stage. You gotta feel something for the poor souls who sank money into training, building weapons, and getting an education, only to be turned away at the door.

"Now then, I wonder if any of you have given any thought to what happens to all those poor, unfortunate souls who didn't make the cut. They've gotten Combat School training, or combat training of some kind, usually. They've had their Auras unlocked. They've even got some pretty snazzy weapons, most of the time. Oh sure, they could always try again next year. But I've heard it can be something of a mark of shame to have taken the Initiation twice. Not to mention that's a whole year paying off loans and trying to make ends meet, while waiting for the next admissions period to swing around again. Not many people try it. Where do you think they go? I think I gave you the answer already."

"The police," said Blake, her ears perking beneath her bow.

"Or the military," said Weiss, thinking about her own sister.

"Bingo!" chimed Roman, gesturing at the pair with his cane. "Granted, the latter isn't the equivalent to Atlas' program. Vale's military is scooping up most of the people who couldn't hack it at the Academy, so that doesn't reach the level of the Kingdom that's basically turned their Academy into their own personal soldier-farm."

Weiss bristled at the insulting reference to Atlas, even though she couldn't quite deny what Roman was suggesting.

"Along with them are the dropouts from the Combat Schools," continued Roman. "'Course, these aren't like me, who got kicked out because they picked a fight with the wrong asshole. No, they're just the ones who couldn't hack it. Because of that, the capability of Aura-users amongst the police and military is..." He held his right hand up, and tilted it back and forth. "...sub-par, for the most part. Oh, you get the occasional hidden gem, once in a blue moon. But they're pretty damn rare in the end."

Roman rapped his cane against the floor. "'Course, even if they're the failures and dropouts, these are still aura-users, with Combat School training, at least. Against those kind of people, regular crooks wouldn't stand a chance. But then...there are people like me. Next Question! Once I went back into the business, what do you think the most valuable service I provided was?"

There was hesitation on the students' end, before the answer clicked for Jaune. "You unlocked people's Auras," he said.

"Perfect answer!" cheered Roman. "That's right. Sure, I'm a top notch thief, but the first thing that got me _really_ established in Vale was providing _that_ particular service. Not only that, but I had something else to bring to the table, all the lessons I'd learned in Combat School, lessons that I was able to pass on down to the people I'd just unlocked. Granted, I'm no expert educator, so my results weren't exactly on a Huntsman's level. But I like to think that it allowed the people I educated to give the police _some_ grief."

_Not to mention their victims,_ thought Blake, glaring at Roman.

Roman had moved to the blackboard that displayed the map of the whole of Vale. Picking up a piece of chalk, he went to an open corner, and drew three separate circles on an empty part of the board. "Now then, let's talk jurisdiction. It's _supposed_ to go like this...The police handle the criminal element, like yours truly. The military handles foreign issues, like dealing with hostile Kingdoms, and bandits. The former ain't much of an issue anymore, thanks to the treaty. But the military is always standing by, just in case. And finally, Huntsmen and Huntresses handle the Grimm.

"In a perfect world, everyone would keep to their circles, and mind their own business. That's the way it _should_ work. In fact, more than a few members of the cops and the military _think_ it works that way. But there's one big issue at stake here. What do you folks think it is?"

Blake gasped, remembering hearing the same speech, almost word for word, from Ozpin. "The Grimm are drawn by negative emotions," she said. "Criminals can affect that, and create an increase in negativity, making the Grimm a greater threat."

Roman snapped his fingers. "Right on target," he said. "That's _exactly_ what I'm talking about.

"Remember kids, crooks aren't in the business of spreading happiness and rainbows. In fact, if we're good at what we do, we wind up leaving quite a bit of unpleasant feelings in our wake. A successful criminal enterprise, in turn, creates a pretty substantial rise in negativity, which is only going to draw more Grimm, bigger Grimm, or both. In other words, that means that, as Huntsmen and Huntresses, if criminal activity is showing itself to be too much for the police to handle, you have a stake in taking action.

"Because of that, it can look more like this…" Roman drew another trio of circles, these ones linked together, with the circle representing Huntsmen and Huntresses in the center interlocked with the police and military circles on either side.

The students all nodded. It was a bit weird to have their "teacher," a man who was a prolific criminal himself, and copping a fairly unrepentant attitude about it, pointing out how important they might be to policing the Kingdom.

"Naturally, the cops ain't too happy about that kind of intervention. No one likes the implication that they can't do their jobs, however indirect it might be. Cops hate Huntsmen sticking their noses into police business, no matter _how_ in over their heads they might have been before. I myself have taken advantage of that particular set of conflicting interests to slip away more than once.

"That means learning how to deal with criminals and crooks is gonna be a critical part of your curriculum here, and why _I_ am here to bring you kids up to speed. Who better to teach you about how to handle crooks than a crook himself? And your practical is starting right now."

Roman took his cane in both hands, raising it and rapping the end against the floor, an authoritative sound ringing throughout the room, his smile becoming sly and dangerous. Abruptly, the air within the classroom changed, tension rising, though only a few could figure out why.

"Alright kiddies," said Roman, his smile becoming a fierce grin, "time for a pop-quiz. Quick show of hands...Who here brought their weapon today?"

After a second's hesitation, Ruby raised her hand. Glancing around, she saw she was alone.

Roman's smile faltered. He lowered his head, shaking it, closing his eyes and clicking his tongue in disappointment. "Well now...this is no good. It's the first day. But it looks like only one of you is gonna leave this room with a passing grade."

"What the heck?" asked Russel from a couple rows back and several seats down from where RASP and RYNB were sitting. "This is a classroom course. Why would we bring our weapons?"

"It makes perfect sense to me," said Roman, his gaze focusing on Russel. Ruby gasped softly at the sense of threat from Roman intensifying. "After all...I've got my weapon. Right. _Here_."

Roman raised his cane, aiming the end right at Russel, the cap at the end flipping up to become the sight for the gun barrel hidden in the cane's shaft, while Roman's finger rested against the trigger.

Startled gasps filled the room, several students shooting to their feet, Ruby's friends amongst them.

"_FREEZE!_"

Roman's voice rang with absolute authority, locking everyone into place, as though they were paralyzed.

"Anyone makes one wrong move, and poor mohawk-boy's gonna get a taste of what my baby here can do," said Roman, his grin now savage.

No one dared to so much as twitch.

"Well now...would you look at that," said Roman. "Here you kids are, students of Beacon Academy, the cream of the crop, Huntsmen and Huntresses in training, the future defenders of humanity...and now I've got all of you right under my thumb. What happened?"

Sensing silence in response to his question, Roman chuckled. "No takers. Fine. I'll explain. You kids got complacent. You assumed that, since this is a classroom, that this is a 'safe space', that no one would _ever_ do something as crazy as pointing a weapon at you in a place like this. And thanks to that, you've left yourselves wide open.

"And this is the kind of issue you'll be going up against when you deal with the crooks like me. We are what we are because we _break_ the rules. Let your guard down, assume you're safe, underestimate your opponent, and the ones like me are primed to make you _pay_ for that. Anything can happen on the streets, and people are a thousand-times more unpredictable than the Grimm. That's why everyone, except for Red, failed today's quiz. And now...Mohawk-Boy's gonna pay the penalty for that."

"No!" shouted Pyrrha, raising her hand, preparing to use her Semblance to stop Roman.

Pyrrha froze, the edge of a sharp tip tickling her neck for a fraction of a second, the air beside and behind her shattering as Neo appeared out of nowhere. The blade extending from the tip of Neo's parasol was only pointed at a Pyrrha's neck for a fraction of a second before Ruby's sword knocked it aside, forcing Neo to dodge back.

But Neo's intervention had done its job. Roman pulled the trigger. With a flash, a screeching bolt of yellow erupted from the end of his cane, flying through the air to strike Russel dead on, exploding with an angry crackle. His teammates dove to the side to avoid being caught by the explosion, but Russel had been too transfixed by Roman's animosity to even think of dodging.

"You bastard!" shouted Yang, surging to her feet, eyes blazing red.

"Yang! Stop!" shouted Ruby, grabbing her sister by the arm.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed Yang, whipping her head around to stare incredulously at her sister. "That scumbag just-!"

She was cut off when Roman started laughing uproariously, the previous tension in the room vanishing like an illusion. "Oh man! I really had you kids going there for a minute, didn't I?"

"Huh?" grunted Yang, her eyes returning to their normal color as she turned her confused gaze back to Roman.

"Like the good folks of Beacon would actually let someone like me get away with _actually_ harming a student," said Roman, chuckling. "Well, Mohawk-Boy didn't exactly get off scot-free, as you can see."

He gestured up at where Russel was sitting. The smoke from Roman's explosive round cleared, allowing everyone to see the boy. As soon as they saw him, more than a few snorts and stifled laughs filled the room.

Physically speaking, Russel was unharmed. But his pride was certainly taking a bruising. His clothes were smeared with soot. However, the most prominent change was his trademark mohawk. His hair bristling and sticking out in all directions, as though he'd been charged with static electricity.

"Your own Professor Peach doctored the rounds in my lovely Melodic Cudgel," said Roman, gently smacking the shaft of his cane against his left palm. "They won't cause any real injuries, but they do sting quite a bit...and they make you look pretty stupid too."

Russel glared at Roman, all too aware that the rest of the class, even his own teammates, were snickering and laughing at his "makeover".

"And so, welcome to your introduction to my disciplinary methods," said Roman, grinning. "I fully admit that I'm a guy who loves the sound of his own voice, so I'm gonna do a _lot_ of talking. That said, I heard that the esteemed and venerable Professor Port, whose course mine is replacing, was the kind of guy who wouldn't notice if you used his class to take a nap. Don't expect me to be nearly so kind...or clueless.

"If I think you're not paying attention, if I catch you getting distracted, well...you saw what happened to Mohawk-Boy, didn't you? For all you know, I might decide to pop a shot off in your direction, just because, and I can be a lot quicker on the draw than I just was, so you need to _pay attention_."

Roman's last two words were supplemented by his abruptly flicking the muzzle of his cane-gun up, and firing another screeching shot, this one firing straight at Ruby. Rather than draw her sword, Ruby stood up from her seat, sweeping her cloak to catch the incoming bolt, and deflecting it away from her to detonate against a corner of the ceiling in a shower of sparks.

"And that's how ya do it," aid Roman, pleased with Ruby's reaction. "Thanks for the demo, Red."

"My pleasure," said Ruby, sitting back down, her friends watching her with baffled gazes.

"On that note, let me introduce you to my T.A," said Roman. "Neo...if you would."

Neo appeared beside Roman, the air beside him shattering like glass to reveal the diminutive girl, her sudden appearance prompting a gasp from RASP and RYNB, save for Ruby, as they'd forgotten about Neo, and hadn't even noticed her leaving their position.

"Neo's been my partner in crime for quite a few years," said Roman. "Unlike _me_, she never got herself caught, and she's still doing some work in the Kingdom, so you won't see her all the time...not that you'll always be able to see her when she _is_ here." He chuckled. "You needn't worry. Like me, she's working on the side of angels, for now. When she _is_ here, she'll be flitting around, maybe launching a few attacks of her own. As you can see, she can be pretty damn elusive, so you'll really need to keep your guards up. On top of that, even when you can see her...you still can't trust her."

To prove his point, the image of Neo on Roman's left shattered, while the air to his right shattered, revealing her again.

Roman's smile vanished. "I may seem like I'm playing around, but this is serious. When dealing with folks like me, you need to seriously keep your guards up. _Never_ let yourself get carried away by assumptions. There's always another trick, a hidden card, a secret weapon; and, if you let yourself get too complacent, you'll wind up being hit by it. Trust is dangerous, when dealing with our kind. Don't get me wrong. On some levels, trust is the _only_ thing that keeps us from descending into complete anarchy. But you need to learn who you can trust, what you can trust them with, and how far that trust goes. And that kind of caution and awareness starts here...with me."

Roman had the entirety of the class in the palm of his hand now, the students hanging onto his every word.

"Now that I've laid out the format of this course, let's go over the content," said Roman, his smile returning. "We'll be looking at crime, of course. What kind of crime, why people become criminals, how they do it, where they do it; this course is gonna cover all that and more. You're gonna learn about the kind of resources we use, and even how you can use some of them yourselves.

"And while I'll fully admit that I'm in love with the sound of my own voice, and I absolutely _adore_ the prospect of having a captive audience, there _will_ be more to this course than me simply talking at you brats. We'll be doing some practical exercises, and even some fieldwork in the Kingdom. But I ain't gonna lay it all out for ya. That too is gonna be part of you needing to keep your guard up."

The students shared nervous glances with each other. The angry undercurrent that had been present when Roman had first sauntered into the classroom had largely evaporated. What had replaced it couldn't be called "positive," by any stretch of the imagination. The students were now regarding their new instructor with a wary respect, and an uneasy caution. Whatever else they thought about him, and being taught by him, there was one single unifying conclusion that all the students had reached...

Whatever else...this course promised to be anything _but_ boring.

* * *

"This is most...unorthodox," noted Ironwood, watching a video feed from Roman's first class.

"Indeed," said Ozpin. "However, I believe that our previous issues came about from allowing our previous methods to become 'orthodox' in the first place. We became too inured with routine formats and subjects, which prompted us to lower our guards. I believe that Mr. Torchwick will provide a substantial wakeup call, not merely for our students, but us as well."

"I have to admit, he seems to have been wasted as a criminal," observed Glynda, observing Ozpin's shoulder. "The man is a born teacher. His ability to command the respect of his students is nothing short of stunning."

Ozpin found himself chuckling. "That's a rather impressive sentiment from you, Glynda. I figured you would be more opposed to his introduction to our faculty."

"He has agreed to all the conditions we provided him," said Glynda, "even the ones requiring his monitoring to ensure he _abides_ by those conditions. The only thing that worries me is Ms. Politan, and her ability to slip about unnoticed. Monitoring her will be all but impossible."

"On some level, we will simply have to trust," said Ozpin. "Ms. Fall used the threat of death towards Mr. Torchwick as an enticement to ensure Ms. Politan's support and loyalty, which only served to prompt her to search for the means to escape Ms. Fall's control. It is my hope that showing trust and regard to them will help them remain on our side."

"That remains to be seen," said Ironwood. "We should be taking Torchwick's lecture to heart ourselves. We cannot afford to let down our guard with him, no matter how cooperative he might be."

Ozpin chuckled again. "And I suspect that that is _exactly_ how Mr. Torchwick would like it."

* * *

"Whew...that was crazy," commented Yang, stretching as she and the others stepped out into the all, following Roman's class. "I _still_ can't believe you're okay with this, Ruby."

"Seeing as you're the one responsible for him being behind bars in the first place, I thought you'd be a bit more offended," added Weiss.

"Nah, I'm kinda used to that sort of thing," said Ruby, grinning cheerfully. "It's kinda like being at home again."

"Uh...How?" asked Yang.

"I told you I've had to fight off assassins before, right?" asked Ruby.

"You mentioned it once or twice," said Pyrrha.

Ruby gave her friends a quick rundown of how her status as a member of the Royal Family (unofficially) resulted in lighter sentences for the people who attempted to kill her, which left her friends gobsmacked.

"'Course, none of them ever came back as a guest lecturer in any of my classes, which would have been kinda cool," said Ruby, finishing her explanation.

Her friends all stared at her. "Your family is so weird," said Nora finally.

"That's putting it lightly," said Blake.

"Indeed," said Weiss. "In the Kingdoms, attacking a member of the Council is tantamount to treason. You'd be lucky if you didn't wind up with the Death Penalty."

Ruby shrugged. "Well, in the Kingdoms, Council members aren't expected to be among the strongest members of the Kingdom. The Taishiro are expected to look after themselves. They have 'Guards,' but that's sort an inaccurate title, 'cause they're support staff, instead of _actual_ guards."

"Support staff...?" asked Jaune.

"Well, it's the closest I can come to," explained Ruby. "It's actually a bit different for each of them. Kaa-san's Imperial Guards are the clan's couriers, and handle the delivery of missives across the continent. Makoto-sama's basically act as government inspectors to make sure that the clan's doctors and physicians are up to snuff. Murasame-sama's are all his apprentices, who provide the weapons and armor for the clan's warriors. I've never dealt with Haruka-sama's, but I think they're all assistants for her engineering work."

"So they aren't bodyguards at all," said Yang.

"Nope," agreed Ruby. "The Taishiro are all _waaay_ stronger than their Guards. So, if anyone was actually a threat to one of them, actual bodyguards would be pretty useless."

"That makes sense," said Jaune.

"But still, the idea that attacking one of them would be worth nothing more than a slap on the wrist is...ludicrous," protested Weiss.

Ruby shrugged. "Well, to most of them, an assassination attempt is like a fun distraction, so they don't mind it all that much. The worst punishments are reserved for the ones who endanger bystanders or attack civilians."

"That's very...noble of them," said Pyrrha.

"It certainly explains how you can be so at ease around Torchwick," added Ren.

"Well, when it comes to us needing to be on our guards, he isn't wrong," mused Blake. "After all, even at Beacon, we've been subjected to threats, even though this is supposed to be a safe place."

The others nodded. Cinder and her allies had infiltrated the school, after all. Their presence alone ensured that Beacon wasn't completely safe, especially when they'd gone after Ashley. It also reminded them of the abduction attempt on Ruby in Vale, a couple weeks ago. Perhaps Roman's presence, and his unique approach to teaching, were a much-needed wakeup call.

Reminded of the attempted kidnapping, Yang's eyes widened. "Actually, maybe we can start taking advantage of what we learned from Torchwick right away."

"What are you talking about?" asked Blake, looking askance at her partner.

"I'm just thinking that there's something we can do to find out who's after Ruby," said Yang. "And, if Torchwick can't help us with that, there's someone who can."

"Oh, riiight!" observed Nora. "There was that Junior-guy you went to see with Neptune."

"Yep," agreed Yang. "If we need intel on who's after Ruby this time, who better to go to than the professional information broker?"

"So long as you remember that paying him works better than thrashing him," commented Ren wryly.

Yang wilted at that. "All right, all right..."

* * *

"You know, Doc, if you're gonna call me out, we oughta get this over quick," Mercury called out. "My new employers have me on a pretty short leash, and the last thing I need is them wondering where I'm wandering off too."

It was the setup out of every crime drama ever made. He was alone in a dark alley, a single light shining down from above. He was in the open, exposed, called out here by the text on his scroll from Watts, instructing him to "report" to this location to explain himself. It hadn't been easy, slipping away from the hidden base Eira had him secreted to, after he'd been removed from military custody. Just because he'd agreed to work for them didn't mean that he was trusted to come and go at will.

"Well then," said Arthur Watts, emerging into the light, arms folded behind him, "that is a sorry disappointment. We can start by hearing your explanation for why you have chosen to abandon service to Her Grace."

"I wouldn't call it abandonment," said Mercury, turning to face Watts with a confident grin. "I've been setting up future opportunities."

"Never mind that," rumbled a low, powerful voice behind Mercury, prompting him to stiffen nervously, "what we need to learn, first and foremost, is what has happened to Cinder. Why are you alone?"

Mercury's smile faltered and faded as he turned to see Hazel Rainart step into the pool of light behind him, the man's enormous, imposing presence wiping any trace of smug assurance from Mercury's manner in an instant.

"Yes," cooed a higher-pitched voice from above. "We want answers, and you'd best give them. After all, if they aren't satisfactory...well..." The voice dissolved into the cackles of a madman.

Mercury swallowed, all previous confidence fleeing as he looked up to see a hunched figure, perched on the light that was the sole source of illumination in this empty alleyway. Tyrian Callows dropped down directly in front of Mercury, his leering face only a few inches away from Mercury's own, prompting the poor boy to stumble back, pressing back against the wall as Tyrian's scorpion-tail emerged from beneath his jacket, reaching forward to tickle the skin of Mercury's neck with the needlelike point of his stinger.

"It's quite fitting really," commented Watts, stepping closer. "You are short on time...and we are short on patience. So now...explain yourself."

Mercury's eyes darted around. He was in the presence of Salem's inner circle, the ones who reported to the boss-woman herself. And now, every ounce of their attention and malice was focused on him. Mercury swallowed the bobbing of his throat making the skin of his neck press unpleasantly against the tickling tip of Tyrian's stinger.

"Cinder's dead," he said simply.

The response was immediate. Hazel and Watts both flinched, even Hazel's normally stoic and unflappable demeanor revealing surprise. Tyrian's smile faltered, and he drew back, his tail retreating.

"Explain," rumbled Hazel.

Mercury's eyes darted back and forth between the three men. If he wasn't careful, he felt there was every chance that any of these three would take out their wrath over Cinder's failure on him. He had to choose his next words _very_ carefully.

* * *

**There are a few stories out there, where Roman becomes a teacher at Beacon, though I don't think it happens this late in the game for most of them. I kinda like the idea of Roman coming in and challenging the status-quo in a way, shaking up preconceived notions in order to get students to adopt a more flexible mindset. Unfortunately, classes with Roman aren't exactly going to become a regular fixture of this story. But Roman does have a role to play in what's coming up.**

**As for admissions, the presence of an Initiation at the beginning of the year would seem to imply that there are some students who don't make the cut. We're never given anything informing us how many people apply for Beacon vs how many make it through. It could be that Ozpin simply allowed enough people in to give him a certain number of teams coming out. In the canon show, there are still a few unclaimed relics after RWBY and JNPR take theirs, which means they weren't the last ones to the temple (maybe). It's all a bit vague...so I inserted my own numbers.**

**Of course, that also means that, if there are people who can't make the grade, when it comes to getting into an Academy, then it also becomes a question of what they do. They've sunk several years of their life, and an unknown amount of money and effort, into combat training to fight as Huntsmen and Huntresses, which they'll then never be able to actually use for that job. That's a lot of wasted effort. So the idea that they go into the military or police seems pretty natural to me, as those are the kind of professions where they'd be able to put those skills to use. Though that probably doesn't do much for their reputations.**


	108. Chapter 108

**Chapter 108:**

"Yeah, I heard about that, Red," said Roman, taking a swig from his coffee mug. "You're sure in a rough spot there."

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" asked Ruby.

"What makes ya think I'd have anything?" asked Roman, leaning back in his seat. "I've been in a cell for the past few months. And now I'm a teacher. I haven't been out and about for quite a while."

Ruby glanced at the girl currently standing behind her, by the door to Roman's office (Boy did she find it weird that she was visiting a criminal she'd helped capture in a teacher's office at Beacon.) "Because I'm thinking that, even if you weren't out and about, you had someone who was."

Neo beamed and nodded, before waving a hand back and forth in front of her face.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Red," said Roman. "Neo was busy working for Cinder, thanks for breaking us outta that, by the way."

"So...you have no idea who could be behind it?" asked Ruby.

Roman frowned, tipping back his hat. He cast his eyes around his new office. There wasn't much to it at the moment. A bare desk, an empty bookshelf, plain white walls; that was all he had to his name right now. Of course, he'd only just started here as a teacher, and it wasn't as though he'd had a chance to decorate, nor did he have much to decorate _with_. Given time, Neo could retrieve enough stuff from one of their stashes to make this place tolerable. But she was presently busy bringing their quarters up to snuff first.

He might have been a thief and a scoundrel, but Roman Torchwick never settled for anything less than the best...unless he absolutely _had_ to.

"I wouldn't say that," he admitted. "You gave me the rundown of that op, so I can think about some possibilities, based on their methods."

"Really?" gasped Ruby.

"Yep," said Roman, reaching into his pocket, then pausing and sighed. "Damn...and that hardass, Goodwitch, said I can't smoke."

"It's bad for you anyway," said Ruby.

"You only live once, Red," said Roman. "Don't give me grief for indulging in life's little pleasures. Anyway, you wanted my read on your situation, so let's get to it."

Ruby nodded.

"The biggest tell is how the guys who tried it disappeared," said Roman. "Your friend put a call in, someone they thought were paramedics showed up, but the grunts disappeared after that, and no one at the actual emergency dispatch ever recalled getting a call about it."

Ruby nodded.

"That's a pretty neat trick," said Roman. "In order to do that, they monitored the event, intercepted your friend's signal, had someone answer her in the style of a dispatcher, and even had impersonators ready to haul their people off. That's some serious preparation, and all on_ damn_ short notice. That tells me that this person is well-connected, has some deep pockets, and some competent staff. Even if they didn't manage to pull off the grab, they managed to make the evidence that would have fingered them disappear."

"And why is that important?" asked Ruby, not doubting that it was, but wanting to know Roman's reasoning behind it.

"Because that means keeping anonymity is more important to them than carrying out the job," said Roman. "If the one behind it gets fingered, then they are gonna crash _hard_. That tells me that it's someone with a reputation to protect, which means that they're someone who's got a legitimate face."

"A public figure," guessed Ruby.

Roman nodded. "To my mind, I would hazard a guess that whoever's behind this has some serious clout, so there are only three prime suspects."

"Who?" asked Ruby.

"The members of Vale's Council," said Roman simply. He whistled. "I wonder what ya did to make an enemy of one of them, Kiddo."

Ruby stood there, floored by Roman's suggestion. When she finally spoke, she said, "I think it has more to do with _who_ I know, and _where_ I came from, than anything I did."

"Yeah, I heard about that," said Roman. "Mibu, huh. Can't say I've ever given them much thought. They're _way_ outside my area of influence, so it's not like I've got any reason to care about them. Then again...you _did_ come from them, so I guess they're indirectly responsible for my situation after all."

"I'm _directly_ responsible," Ruby reminded him.

"I know, I know," said Roman, waving a dismissive hand. "Holding a grudge like that is pretty pointless, truth be told. Besides, even if you're the one who got me into hot water with Cinder, you're also the one who got me back _out_ of it. So it's pretty balanced overall."

"So...you think someone on the Council is after me?" asked Ruby.

"That's my best guess," said Roman. "Of all the people in Vale, they're the ones who'd be the most dead-set against acknowledging the existence of the Mibu, and would be doing pretty much everything they could to keep word about the Mibu from getting out. So, if any of them figured out that someone who was raised and trained by those people was at Beacon, they'd want to do something about it."

"Is it all of them?" asked Ruby. The idea of having the entirety of Vale's government secretly targeting her was a terrifying prospect.

"Nah, probably not," said Roman. "While I was speaking of them collectively earlier, there's only really one who _actually_ has anything against the Mibu. The other two are just following custom. Though, if you tried to go public about where you came from, well...the third guy would probably be able to turn the other two against you pretty easily."

"Who is this person?" asked Ruby.

"Councilman Mason Ayers," said Roman. He pulled up an image on his scroll, turning around to show Ruby. It was of a rather unassuming man, with plain black hair in a bowl-cut, dark-blue eyes residing behind the rounded lenses of a pair of glasses. He was shown in a rather simple black suit, the kind one would expect to see any ordinary businessman or politician wearing. "He's a former officer from the Valean Military, a veteran of the expeditionary forces."

"Expeditionary forces...?" gasped Ruby, her eyes going wide.

"That's right," said Roman, taking another sip of his coffee. "Obviously, he's too young to have been part of the one that went to Leng, but he was educated by, and served under, people who were a part of it, and saw it as a huge humiliation, and held a pretty big grudge against the Mibu as a result. If there's one guy in all of Vale with the clout and reason to go after you, it would be him."

Ruby swallowed nervously.

* * *

Mason Ayers looked up from his desk at the sound of his scroll ringing. Picking it up, he noticed the lack of a contact number. That alone was enough for him to know who it was. "I hope you have a reason to call me at work," he said.

Eira's voice responded in her normal clipped, businesslike tone. "_I have made additional acquisitions in securing the target,_" she explained. "_Our new employee turned out to have better connections than we ever thought._"

"If that is all you have to report, then prepare for a reprimand," said Mason with a sigh, lowering his head. "I have enough to deal with at the moment. The residents of the Faunus Quarter have been getting noisy again. I don't really need you chiming in to report rather simple developments that you can deal with yourself."

"_An information pipeline directly into Beacon's systems is a simple development?_" asked Eira wryly.

"What?!" yelped Mason, nearly dropping his scroll in his sudden burst of excitement.

"_It would appear that one of the people connected to Mercury Black's employer is a gifted programmer,_" explained Eira. "_He developed a virus, which has been installed directly into Vale's CCT, enabling them to access everything throughout Vale, and at Beacon. We now have all of Beacon's information fully open to us._"

"That _is_ a remarkable development," Mason conceded, turning to look out the window of his office.

Vale's Capital Building, which the Council and the main courts operated out of, was one of the taller buildings on Vale's skyline. Its position granted Mason an excellent view of the Kingdom and, beyond it, the cliffs of Beacon, with the CCT tower standing tall against the sky.

_Beacon..._ How long had he and the other Council members desired a way to access the veritable treasure trove of information that Ozpin kept sequestered at his school? There were student records and histories, containing information on students who might either be assets of threats to the Kingdom, along with the means to control them. There were rumors that Ozpin supported his school through unreported means, founding independent settlements and locating unclaimed Dust deposits, in order to funnel extra resources into the Academy, all under the noses of the Council, and the people of Vale. There were rumors of secret chambers containing powerful weapons and tools, far beyond anything currently in use.

Much of that was wild speculation, of course. Mason found even the notion of secret Dust mines to be a rather silly one. They had records of Beacon's Dust purchases from various suppliers, mainly the SDC, as that was a component of their regular budget, along with records of purchases and acquisitions by their students. Added altogether, the numbers indicated that the Dust purchased by Beacon, and its students, matched the estimated usage of the school's facilities and the students' own expenditures, which meant that there was probably no secret outside source. However, Mason had long believed that Ozpin did have access to _some_ manner of hidden resources, which the Kingdom would undoubtedly benefit from.

Of course, even if all that proved to be nothing more than unfounded rumors, it would be worth it to find a source of information from within Beacon itself, if only to find a way to finally oust Ozpin from his position, and secure it for someone who would do what they should have done long ago, namely bring Beacon under the control of Vale and the Council. As far as Mason was concerned, the Huntsmen produced by Beacon, which was funded and supported by the Kingdom of Vale, should be _loyal_ to Vale in turn.

Certainly, Ozpin often made grandiose statements about how Huntsmen and Huntresses should be dedicated to the good of people as a whole, but all that truly amounted to was a gaggle of overpaid freelancers, who always needed to be hired on a case-by-case basis to deal with problems caused by the Grimm. The fact that their position superseded the control of the military and the police meant that they were forever sticking their noses into the business of those who actually worked for the people of Vale.

"Will this be any help in supporting our operation?" asked Mason.

"_I believe so. Already, we're taking advantage of the new access and control we have over Beacon's systems. We believe we will be able to draw the target out with that. On top of that, we have found some rather interesting information._"

"What?" asked Mason, leaning forward over his desk.

"_Ruby Rose is presently not the only Mibu at Beacon,_" replied Eira.

"Who else is there?" demanded Mason.

"_Presently, Beacon is playing host to none other than Demon Eyes Kyo himself,_" replied Eira.

"That man..." Mason's eyes narrowed.

He'd long suspected that Kyo was one of the Mibu, given his habit of wandering amongst the settlements, before periodically disappearing. He'd been reported in the territories of all three Kingdoms, and had caused numerous disruptions. Oh, they had always had potentially altruistic foundations. He annihilated a pack of bandits in one region, before wiping out a large group of gangsters in another. However, his actions occasionally, however indirectly, crossed those with deep pockets. It had been a generous donation by a businessman, who'd wanted Kyo targeted for eliminating a group of his "enforcers", as he called the hired bandits who had served as the muscle he'd been using to keep certain assets in a particular settlement under control, that had prompted Mason to incite the Council to post Kyo's initial bounty in Vale.

And now he was at Beacon.

"_His circumstances appear to be quite interesting,_" noted Eira. "_Officially, he was arrested out in Mountain Glenn, when the Atlesian forces went to secure the encampment the White Fang were using as a base of operations. However, for someone who is supposedly a prisoner, he appears to enjoy a substantial degree of freedom. He's been seen wandering the campus freely. He apparently has been granted space in the faculty quarters, rather than being confined to a detention cell. He is permitted to carry his weapon freely, and has even been seen sparring with the students._"

"Fascinating," said Mason, eyes narrowing.

This information alone might be enough to send Ozpin's credibility tumbling down. Of course, they would first have to "prove" that Ozpin was housing a notorious criminal. Simply revealing information that had been illicitly acquired wouldn't be good enough, or even turn things back against them.

"_However, most important of all, there is one link that you might find quite helpful,_" continued Eira.

"And what is that?"

"_The target is apparently Kyo's adopted sister._"

Mason's eyes widened. _There_ was their opportunity. "Make sure you secure her as soon as possible," he ordered.

"_We have a plan in place,_" said Eira. "_I will report with the results, once it has been implemented._"

With that, she hung up, leaving Mason to his own thoughts. He found himself staring down at his desk, excitement thrumming through his bones. This was everything that he could have hoped for and more. A dangerous threat to the Kingdom would be eliminated, and he would finally have what he needed to take down Ozpin, and bring control of Beacon where it belonged, under the Council of Vale.

Pulling off his glasses, Mason pulled a cloth out of his pocket, and wiped down the lenses. Though the threats facing the Kingdom were grave, the future looked all the brighter.

* * *

Hanging up her scroll, Eira turned to face the man that Mercury had brought into their base of operations with him. "You have my gratitude, Doctor, for your prompt cooperation."

"I am happy to help, however I can," said Watts, offering a formal bow, supplemented by a smug smile. "I have always endeavored to work for the betterment of the people of the world."

Beside and slightly behind him, Mercury rolled his eyes, scoffing quietly.

Eira frowned. "Yet you faked your death in Atlas, and have decided to drop completely off the grid. Surely you could have continued to do great good for the people there."

"Not under Ironwood," growled Watts, genuine anger in his voice. "The man has a criminal lack of vision, and an intolerable lack of an eye for _real_ brilliance. Despite everything I did for the Kingdom, has continually undervalued my work, and destroyed my credibility."

Given that he was outside the doctor's field of view, Mercury didn't need to hide the fact that he was rolling his eyes. For all that Watts undoubtedly _was_ a brilliant man, it was obvious that his ego exceeded his intellect by an order of magnitude. From the slight narrowing of Eira's eyes, Mercury could tell that she was thinking a similar thing. There was nothing that threw someone's credibility out the window as quickly as a tendency to toot one's own horn to excess. Still, Eira feigned understanding and agreement, if only for the sake of keeping things running smoothly, responding with all the eloquence of a true professional.

"And you are confident with the plan to secure our target?" asked Eira.

"I am indeed," said Watts. "Mercury's plan is surprisingly solid, for something _he_ suggested."

The backhanded compliment made Mercury grunt and glare at the back of Watts' head. He would have liked to do more than glare, but the two figures looming behind him kept him in line.

"And, once the girl walks into your custody, you can count on our assistance to ensure her...compliance." Watts glanced back at Tyrian and Hazel, who waited behind Mercury.

* * *

"I see..." said Ozpin, folding his hands in front of his face, leaning on his desk as he processed the information that Ruby had just brought him. "This is troubling, if Mr. Torchwick's guess is accurate."

"It seems more than a little plausible," said Glynda. "However, until we have definitive proof, we cannot be certain of Councilman Ayers' involvement. Casting aspersions without evidence would only serve to do more harm than good."

Ozpin nodded. "However well-founded his reasoning, there is also still the chance that Mr. Torchwick's suggestion is incorrect, so we are not able to move on this at present. I hope that you understand, Ms. Rose."

"I do," said Ruby, nodding emphatically. Behind her, her teammates watched quietly.

"Is there anything we _can_ do?" asked Pyrrha worriedly.

"Fortunately, we have an open avenue of investigation," said Ozpin. "I shall have Qrow begin to look into matters discretely. With any luck, he may find the evidence we need to move openly on this. Until then, remain cautious. Whether the Councilman is behind this or not, we cannot predict the next course of action all that accurately, so there is no telling what their next move against you will be, Ms. Rose."

"Okay," said Ruby.

"With that cleared up, you are dismissed," said Ozpin. "Remember not to work yourselves too hard. Your next set of missions begin next week."

"Yes, Professor," said Ruby, bowing her head to him.

As Team RASP left the tower's lobby, they were approached by a familiar pair.

"Hey, Sun," said Ruby, grinning in greeting as the familiar blonde faunus approached, Neptune walking alongside him.

"Yo," said Sun, grinning and raising a hand in a cheerful wave. "How's it hanging, Ruby? You guys have been racking up the crazy adventures, I hear."

"Not all of them by choice," said Jaune, edging closer to Ruby, an uneasy feeling blooming in his gut.

He wasn't the only one. Pyrrha also shifted nervously. Ruby was disconcerted as well. All three of them kept one eye on Weiss, whose expression was strangely neutral.

For his part, Neptune seemed utterly clueless, with regard to the situation. Instead, he flashed his trademark grin, complete with light glinting off his perfectly-white teeth. "Hey there, Snow Angel. Good to see you."

The other three members of her team edged away from Weiss. But Weiss herself barely displayed even the most trace degree of hostility towards Neptune. "Hello," she replied flatly, brushing aside his flirtatious greeting like one might an errant cobweb.

"Uh..." Neptune blinked in confusion, apparently not used to having his lady-killer look bounce off someone so completely. Even if Weiss was still upset with him over turning her down for the dance, he'd expected at least a small blush from her.

_I guess she's really over him,_ thought Pyrrha, a bit surprised herself at the ease with which Weiss had brushed off Neptune's greeting.

"How are things going with you and Blake?" asked Ruby, deciding that the best course was to ignore Neptune for the time being. Even if Weiss was over what he'd done, Ruby still felt more than a little inclined to at least give him _some_ form of punishment for being such a jerk.

"They're all right," said Sun. "We've done a few things together. But Blake hasn't had a huge amount of time, and she isn't the kinda person who likes going out on dates all the time anyway." He grinned. "I don't want to be too pushy with her."

"Good for you," said Pyrrha approvingly. "I'm sure Blake appreciates your consideration."

Sun's smile softened. "Yeah. She's coming off a bad relationship with that Taurus-jerk, so I can't blame her for being a little wary. So I'll just have to win her over a little bit at a time."

Ruby felt a warm feeling welling up in her chest. "You probably already have," she confided. "Blake just has her habits. Just take it easy with her and you'll be fine."

"Sure," said Sun. "Anyway, I heard you've got people after you again, Ruby. You okay?"

"I'll be fine," Ruby assured him.

"Just remember, I've got your back too," said Sun. "Plus, your brother is pretty cool, so it's fun to spar with him."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Ruby, grinning at the notion that Sun had fun with Kyo.

Neptune looked back and forth between Sun and RASP, getting the distinct feeling he was being shut out deliberately. None of the Beacon team's members were acknowledging him now.

"So, now that Torchwick-guy's teaching classes," commented Sun. "Talk about crazy."

"Honestly, it's kinda nice to experience some crazy we _aren't_ responsible for," said Jaune.

"Unless you count that Ruby was the one who captured Torchwick in the first place," noted Weiss. "So she, at least, is indirectly responsible for this."

"Not sorry," said Ruby.

"You shouldn't be," commented Sun. "Whatever else you can say about him, the dude's got a way with words. You _know_ that class is never gonna be boring."

"Especially the part where he starts randomly shooting people," commented Jaune.

"Eh, it's a good way to keep you on your toes," said Sun. "Reminds me of life in Vacuo. You have to be pretty on-the-ball to keep up with life over there."

"What's it like?" asked Ruby eagerly. "Kyo-nii, Sasame-nee, and I were all going to go over after I finished traveling across Vale. I never got a chance to see the desert."

"It's a wild place, that's for sure," said Sun, falling into step with RASP as they headed back to the school proper. The five of them conversed as they walked, Sun sharing facts and stories about the deserts of Western Sanus, while Ruby hung onto his every word, peppering him with questions. Neptune lagged behind, feeling more and more left out by the minute.

* * *

An hour later, Sun and Neptune were returning to their dorm. The conversation had been enjoyable for Sun, but a complete drag for Neptune, who hadn't been spoken to at all. In fact, his few attempts at joining had been all but shut down, Team RASP barely even acknowledging his presence.

"That was such a drag," he groaned. "And Weiss doesn't even _look_ at me anymore."

"From what I hear, she got over you," said Sun. "She went to the dance with that faunus girl after all. Apparently they've been hanging out a lot."

"They a thing?" asked Neptune, giving Sun a sharp glance.

"Heck if I know," said Sun. "It ain't my place to ask. I've heard rumors that it's a kind of publicity stunt, but I doubt it's just that."

"Publicity stunt?" Neptune gave Sun a baffled look.

"The girl's a civilian," explained Sun. "She's a friend of Ruby's. I guess Taurus was sore over Ruby beating him at the docks, so he tried to use her to get at Ruby. They stopped him, and she's been staying at Beacon, with her family, 'cause they're still being targeted by the Fang.

"Anyway, because they're all friends, it looks pretty good for a Schnee to be friends with a faunus who's being attacked by the White Fang...sort of a solidarity thing, though I think Weiss and her really _are_ friends." _And maybe something more,_ thought Sun. He hadn't been watching Weiss' actions closely, but he'd gotten the impression that she'd been discreetly spending quite a bit more time with the civilian girl-_I think her name's Ashley_-than one might expect from mere friends. There was a bit of gossip that suggested they might be something more. But even more people put it down as the Schnee milking her friendship with a faunus for all the good publicity it was worth.

Sun figured it wasn't his place to pry either way. If Weiss and Ashley were more than friends, good for them. He didn't know a lot about the Schnees, beyond his experience with Weiss, but he figured that, if they were in a relationship, then it was possible that the rest of her family might not take it well. In which case, he could understand them being discreet.

"So Weiss is still single...?" pressed Neptune.

"No idea," Sun replied. "Ask her yourself."

"But she won't even talk to me," protested Neptune.

"I wonder why?" groused Sun sarcastically. "I mean, it's not like you completely blew her off for stupid reasons, and acted like the thought of going to a dance with her was totally lame."

"We've been over this before!" Neptune snapped, glaring at Sun. "I know it's a lame reason, but I can't dance. That's even lamer."

"So you'd rather they think you're an asshole," observed Sun. "How's that working out for you, by the way?"

Neptune grunted, his head dipping.

"That girl put herself out there, asking you to the dance," said Sun. "She genuinely wanted to go with you. I can't say for sure how she'd have reacted to learning that you didn't know how to dance. But you shot her down in the worst possible way, and made her feel like an idiot for even trying. If she got over you, I don't blame her for that, and it's your own fault."

Neptune slumped. "What are you saying I should do?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Sun. "I mean, I'd normally say that coming clean couldn't hurt, but I get the feeling that knowing you turned her down for something so stupid probably wouldn't help their opinion of you. But honesty's pretty much the only hope you've got of clearing the air to the point that she'll actually talk to you again. Whether or not that'll give you any chance with her in the future..." Sun shrugged.

"Then what's the point?" grumbled Neptune.

"Uh, maybe because they're cool people, and hanging out with them is fun," Sun pointed out. "If you want to avoid them for the rest of the time until we head back after the Vytal Festival, I ain't gonna stop you, but I ain't gonna join you either. You could come clean, be honest, and maybe have a chance at not being treated like a wooden post for the next couple months. But that's up to you. Whether or not you can hook up with Weiss because of it shouldn't matter."

Neptune groaned and slumped even further. "You're not gonna give this up are you."

"I'm just not gonna give up hanging out with my new friends," said Sun. "If you want to tag along and _not_ get left out in the cold, then maybe try being honest for a change, instead of hiding behind that stupid macho posturing you keep using."

Sun walked on, but Neptune remained behind, staring at his feet, thinking over what he'd been told.

* * *

The week practically flew by. Roman's classes in particular had become a highlight, the days they were scheduled. The man was a gifted orator, a master of keeping his audience engaged, which was a welcome change from Port's classes (though nobody had the heart to tell the bombastic man such). It didn't hurt that he'd pop off shots at different students with little to no warning, trying to catch them off-guard. He succeeded as often as he failed, not seeming to mind either way. As it was, since their first session with him, not a single student entered his classroom unarmed.

Neo did her part too, flitting around the classroom under the cover of her Semblance, announcing her presence with the occasional sharp jab to the ribs, a painful, if harmless, reminder that she was there as well, forcing students to try and keep track of her, even as they tried to listen and pay attention to Roman. It was nerve-wracking for many of them. Ruby and Pyrrha had it easiest, Ruby easily able to track Neo's Aura, even when she was invisible; while Pyrrha discreetly magnetized Neo's weapons upon entering, using the sense of repulsion and attraction to remain aware of where the diminutive girl was. Of course, that was only a help to the two of them, and their friends were all forced to find their own ways to figure out when Neo was close.

Besides Roman himself, the course material was incredibly engaging. As one might expect, the class covered all different manners of crime and criminals, with a main focus on which kind had the biggest impact on the morale of the areas and people they affected. Roman also called attention to the kinds of crime that didn't produce immediate surges of negativity, but could cause ill-feelings to build up over time, resulting a gradual, sometimes unnoticed, increase in pressure from the Grimm, a problem that might quietly compound itself, until it was too big to stop, before anybody realized it.

He also went over the individual districts of the Kingdom capital, detailing the different criminals active there, and what kind of crimes were more prominent in one part of the Kingdom over the others. His curriculum also covered the law, which crimes broke what laws, and how criminals utilized that knowledge to their advantage. Roman proved to be as knowledgable as almost any lawyer in that field.

_"A good crook always knows where the technicalities and loopholes are,"_ he'd said. _"It's worth it for the chance to squeak through those gaps, when the prosecution probably thinks they have you nailed down. Even if a conviction is certain, with the right knowhow, you can haggle down to a way lighter sentence."_

Ruby found it all fascinating. She'd had a standard education with the Mibu, as far as her regular schooling went, which hardly went into all the nuances of crime and the law. And, when they did, it pertained to the matters involving the Mibu, not other Kingdoms. Her training and education with Kyo and Sasame had revolved around fighting and surviving in the wilderness. The only criminal activity Ruby could count herself as fairly knowledgable of was banditry, itself a problem out in the settlements, but not something that directly involved the citizens of Vale.

This was something completely new to her and, unlike Dust Science, Ruby was basically starting on the same page as all her friends. Sure, some of them might have had a little more knowledge and experience on this sort of thing than she did, but not enough to make any meaningful difference in the classroom. They were all learning together, covering something that was fairly new to them.

As such, it as almost a shame to leave Roman's classroom at the end of the week, with the expectation that they wouldn't have him again until they returned from their next missions. Ruby knew that not all her friends and classmates shared that sentiment. Quite a few of them still despised Roman, and the fact that they had to listen to him, all while he showed zero remorse over his past criminal activities.

Blake had actually put the question to Roman himself in class. His response was enlightening.

* * *

_"You expecting some grand confession of guilt, Missy?" asked Roman, flashing Blake a cheeky grin. "I fully admit to being the worst kind of person. I knew what I did was wrong, when I was doing it. No amount of talk about survival and putting yourself first ever changes that. Just like I know that up and turning around and helping you kids doesn't make all that go away, no matter how much good I do._

_ "When you're a crook, that's the truth you wind up having to live with. Even if you get caught and serve your sentence, none of that erases what you've done. My being here, teaching you brats, doesn't balance some kind of metaphysical scale. It doesn't do a damn thing for the people I've already hurt, the lives I've ruined, or even ended._

_ "I fully admit that, if this can lead to an earnest chance to turn over a new leaf, I'll take it. I could do without spending my life looking over my shoulder, watching for the law. I'll admit that it's selfish, that all of this is more about me than it is about any of you. If you hold that against me, then that's your right. I won't hold it against you, just so long as you don't go using that as an excuse to not pay _attention!_"_

_ His cane flicked over, firing a shot at a random student, who barley managed to bat it away with his weapon, his chair tumbling over backwards in the process._

_ Roman chuckled before lowering his cane and continuing. "Honestly, if I did try to put all that behind me, and act as though I can just wipe the slate clean, I'd think that'd be even more disrespectful to all the people I hurt. So I'll face up to it head-on. Whoever I might be in the future, I have no intention of letting it make me forget who I was."_

* * *

Ruby had noticed that Roman's answer had touched a chord within Blake. She'd definitely been much more pensive throughout that class, and afterward as well, to the point where Ruby had feared that she might attract one of Roman's shots for not paying attention. It was apparent that Roman's statements about himself had reminded Blake of the guilt and remorse she felt for her own actions. Roman might not have been remorseful himself, but his situation wasn't all that different from her own. Ruby noted that Blake was troubled the idea that leaving the White Fang, and working to stop them wouldn't absolve her of her guilt for the crimes she'd previously committed.

However, further contemplation on the topic would have to wait until their next missions were completed. Ruby was looking forward to this next set of missions, as it would be RASP and RYNB's opportunity to participate in the more mundane kind of missions, ones they would get to choose for themselves, rather than be assigned as part of an ongoing investigation, or strong-armed into through the actions of Weiss' father. Even if those missions proved to be nowhere near as exciting as the ones they'd already participated in, Ruby looked forward to the opportunity to do a proper Huntress' work.

Before that though, there was one other important development. Upon wrapping up their training, Saturday afternoon, Ruby and the others were present when Jaune got a text from Yukimura, announcing that his new Huntsman outfit was ready.

* * *

"You guys didn't _all_ need to come," said Jaune, looking at all his friends.

"Hey, it's the debut of your new duds, of course we'd be there," said Yang, with an easygoing grin.

Jaune hadn't been surprised to see the rest of his team coming along with him. It hadn't even been all that big a surprise when Team RYNB had joined them. But then Sun had invited himself along as well, with Neptune tagging along (still very much dealing with the low opinion Weiss' friends had of him). Weiss had brought Ashley as well. Penny had come along too, much to his confusion (he figured that she was just taking advantage of the increased freedoms Ironwood had granted he, seeing as she was present without any other members of her team). Finally, Qrow had rounded out their numbers.

Kyo had wanted to come, but had declined, mainly to avoid causing a stir by being seen around Vale. Likewise, Amber had stayed behind, citing her still-lacking stamina, leaving her unable to keep up with the rest of the group, unless she wanted to saddle one of them with the task of pushing her wheelchair. Ruby and her friends had offered, but Amber had turned them down. Weiss had even extended an invitation to Winter, who had declined with some amusement, though she'd said she looked forward to seeing Jaune's improved appearance.

All told, it was a fairly large group that had crowded into Yukimura's shop, in order to see the results of the new design. Jaune was feeling more than a little pressure on his part. If his new outfit fell flat, he'd be making a pretty big fool of himself in front of quite a few people. That was the kind of thing that got him feeling tense.

Still, Yukimura had welcomed them all happily, shaking his hand vigorously.

"You brought all your friends, I see," said Yukimura, chuckling at how nervous Jaune looked.

"Y-yeah...A few of them invited themselves," commented Jaune.

"I'm certain that everyone is looking forward to seeing the new you," said Yukimura.

"Hopefully I dress to impress," said Jaune.

"I'm sure you will," said Yukimura. "Now come, let's get you into your new outfit."

He led everyone back, leaving Jaune's friends in the reception area, while leading the boy into the dressing room. Jaune stripped out of his old clothes, setting aside his outdated armor.

First, Yukimura furnished him with his underclothes, two dark-blue pieces that reminded Jaune of the long-underwear he'd worn on winter jaunts with his family, a long time ago. Sliding on the top and the bottom, he found himself relishing the feeling of the soft, smooth fabric against his skin. It extended all the way down to his ankles and wrists, ensuring full coverage of his body. It felt cool against his skin, but not unpleasantly so. Along with that, he pulled on the socks that he'd commissioned alongside the rest of the outfit, the fabric feeling a fair bit thicker than the socks he typically wore (and quickly wore out).

Next came the shirt and pants. The shirt was short-sleeved, similar to a basic t-shirt in design, sliding over his torso, mainly to serve as an extra layer of padding beneath the armor. There were no buttons and clasps, as Yukimura had explained that they'd only get in the way of his outermost layers. The pants were long, well-made slacks, composed of royal-blue cloth. Their make was rugged and sturdy. Their weave felt a little coarse. But with his underwear, Jaune wouldn't need to worry about the texture. They were fastened into place by a black belt with a gold buckle.

After that came the main piece of the ensemble, the overcoat. It was a royal-blue greatcoat, its tail hanging down to the level of Jaune's shins, with its sleeves extending down to the level of his wrists. There was gold lining along the hem and collar, standing out sharply against the blue of the rest of the fabric. Its front flaps were held together with snapping fasteners that lay flush against the fabric to keep it from catching on his armor, when he put it on later. Likewise, the collar didn't fold over, the way it did for most greatcoats, merely ending at the level of his neck, ensuring that Jaune wouldn't need to fiddle with the flaps of a collar when putting his armor on over his coat. A second belt of blue fabric helped to hold it closed, wrapping around him, just above his waist, its buckle hovering just above the one that held Jaune's pants up.

Over his hands, Jaune pulled on a set of black, fingerless gloves, metal plates resting over the back of each hand, the hems of the gloves extending up above his wrists, so that they were covered by his sleeves. Over his socks, he pulled on a pair of heavy, black hiking boots, their design reinforced with metal to better protect his feet. They were a good bit heavier than his sneakers, but not to such a degree that Jaune felt they weighed him down.

Jaune hadn't exactly needed any help with the clothes. But the armor was a different matter. Obviously, this was meant to be something he could do on his own, without needing assistance. However, this armor was a bit more elaborate than what he'd worn before.

First came the cuirass. Unlike the chestplate he'd worn earlier, this armor piece completely enclosed his torso. To Jaune's amazement, the cuirass wasn't one single piece, but actually consisted of carefully connect plates, forming joints in the armor that would enable him to bend and flex his upper body more. There was a single plate, covering his chest, starting just below the level of his collar, and extending down to the bottom of his pectorals, ending in angled lines that sloped slightly down towards one another. Below them was a set of four vaguely rectangular plates, covering his abdomen in two rows, sloping to meet one another in the middle. The backplate had fewer parts, consisting of a large upper-plate, which reached up and over his shoulders to meet the front. Below it hung two broad plates, which met at the middle, right above his spine wrapping around under his arms to meet with the four plates that covered his abdomen.

The points at which the plates met one another had been lined with gold, while the majority of their surface was a fine silver color, with a matte finish. The front and back portions separated, when the piece was taken off, but joined together with concealed clasps, once Jaune had put it on. The clasps were surprisingly solid, ensuring that they wouldn't come undone by mistake, but Jaune found he was easily able to manipulate them, when he needed to put the armor on or take it off. The joints made the cuirass amazingly flexible, allowing Jaune to bend and twist his torso, without feeling as though his upper body had been locked into place. Even more amazingly, though it covered so much more than his chestplate had, it wasn't even half the weight, Jaune feeling light as a feather, even wearing it over his other layers.

Next came the curved, slightly hemispherical pauldron, which Jaune slid up his left arm, and then fastened to the shoulder of his cuirass. It was followed by the rerebrace, which fastened around his upper-arm, ending below the edge of the pauldron. Finally, Jaune slid the vambrace into place, around his forearm, before sliding its companion onto his right forearm. Like his cuirass, the armor over his arms was predominantly silver, with gold around the edges. The vambraces were slightly different in design, the left one featuring two pairs of gold loops that wrapped around the circumference of his forearm, denoting the slightly recessed grooves that would provide a secure hold for the straps of his shield, ensuring that it wouldn't slide off in the middle of battle.

Under Yukimura's guidance, Jaune crouched down and fastened the silver and gold greaves around his legs. Just as with all the other pieces, the clasps were concealed, ensuring that they didn't catch on anything when Jaune was fighting. With that, Jaune stood up, experimentally working his arms, while twisting at the waist and chest, testing the mobility of his new outfit.

"What do you think?" asked Yukimura.

"This is awesome," said Jaune, rotating his left arm to feel how much movement the pauldron allowed, amazed to feel that it barely kept him from moving his arm more than usual. "It's so light."

"That's good to hear," said Yukimura. "Protection is important, but mobility more-so."

"It seems kinda weird though," said Jaune. "Shouldn't the armor be _under_ the coat?"

"It is, most of the time," said Yukimura. "However, I designed this to be the other way, mainly because the coat was made so that it wouldn't interfere with the set of your armor, and it would keep your coat from getting torn, if you get hit in the chest or back."

"That makes sense," said Jaune, not liking the idea of his brand new greatcoat getting rents in it from the first Beowolf that managed to take him by surprise.

"Any concerns?" asked Yukimura.

"Nothing," said Jaune, taking a look at himself in the mirror.

He could scarcely believe the difference it made. He looked more like an actual knight, not some overgrown child, playing make-believe. In an outfit like this, he felt like an actual Huntsman.

"Wonderful," said Yukimura, clapping his hands together. He presented Jaune with his weapon, Jaune able to hang the sword and sheath along the belt that wrapped around his greatcoat. "Let's go show your friends your new look, shall we."

Emerging from the dressing room, Jaune found himself facing an appreciative audience.

"Wow! Now that's a good look for you, stud," said Yang, grinning.

"You look so cool, now!" exclaimed Nora, bouncing in place, while Ren nodded sagely next to her.

"I am no expert on such things, but I believe this to be a definite improvement," observed Penny happily, her compliment making Jaune sag. _Wow...even the android thought my last look was sad._

Blake smiled silently, though she didn't say much. Beside her, Sun grinned, clapping his hands enthusiastically, something Neptune mimicked with notably less enthusiasm. Pyrrha admired Jaune's appearance with an approving smile. Ashley was also impressed, her tail waving excitedly behind her.

Ruby might have gotten a preview, thanks to seeing Yukimura's final concept drawing. But seeing Jaune wearing the actual outfit was a completely different thing. "You look incredible," she said.

Her words made Jaune blush furiously, glancing down.

The only person who didn't seem openly impressed was Weiss. Instead, her eyes were narrowed as she scrutinized Jaune's outfit closely. Stepping in closer, the actually pinched the fabric of his greatcoat, running her fingers over it. Frowning more, she gently rapped a finger against the chestplate of Jaune's cuirass.

"Uh...everything okay, Weiss?" asked Jaune, leaning back away from her scrutiny.

Abruptly, Weiss whirled about, glaring at Yukimura. "Just what kind of scam do you think you're pulling?" she demanded harshly.

"I...I beg your pardon?" asked Yukimura, canting his head slightly.

"Uh...Weiss, what's the problem?" asked Yang. "Did the guy skimp on the materials?"

Jaune flinched. Everything felt as it should. The fabric of the different layers of his outfit felt just like the swatches Yukimura had shown him. Of course, being no expert and having nothing more than a simple touch to go on, Yukimura could have probably swapped out the fabric he'd been demoing with something cheaper, and Jaune wouldn't have known the difference, so long as they were similar; assuming Yukimura hadn't been straight up lying about the quality of the fabric he was using in the first place.

"No! It's the opposite, in fact," declared Weiss firmly, still glaring right at Yukimura. "These materials cost a fortune. You're planning to milk Jaune for every last lien, aren't you. Just what kind of extortionist payment plan did you get him to agree to?"

"Uh...none," said Jaune, answering in Yukimura's place. "I paid for it all up-front."

"Huh?!" Weiss' arms hung to dangle limply at her sides. "B-but that's...There's no way you could have had enough...Just how much did you pay for this?"

Jaune gave Weiss the price, and she reeled in shock.

"That sounds pretty expensive," said Nora.

"We'd only be able to afford it if we weren't spending our stipends on ammunition..." added Ren, before adding as an aside, "...and pancake ingredients."

"It's a pretty penny, all right," said Blake, Sun nodding beside her.

"It's more money than I have right now," said Ashley. "And I've been saving up for a while."

Weiss' mouth worked silently for a moment. Finally, she took a deep breath, then glared furiously, not at Jaune, but at his outfit. One by one, she began to list out the different materials that made up his garments and armor. Jaune was frankly shocked that she knew so much. But since the majority of them were manufactured with the assistance of Dust in some fashion, it made a little bit of sense.

Laying out those materials, along with their approximate costs, Weiss listed out the final total, dropping jaws around the room, her estimate being _substantially_ higher than what Jaune had paid for the outfit.

"And that's _without_ factoring the cost of labor and craftsmanship," added Weiss, turning to Yukimura. "Just what kind of game are you playing here? Even if you added every conceivable discount, there's just no way you could have dropped the price _that_ low."

"Well...this is awkward," said Yukimura, his smile taking on a strained quality.

"Might as well fess up, Yuki," said Qrow with a soft chuckle. "Leave it to Mini Ice Queen to know about money."

"Hey!" protested Weiss reflexively.

"Fess up...?" Jaune looked at Yukimura questioningly. "About what?"

Ruby gave Yukimura a very similar look. At the sight of that, his smile faded more, and he averted his eyes, looking slightly ashamed.

"Guess I'll say it then," said Qrow. "Ruby...Yukimura here ain't just an old friend of ours. Say hello to Yukimura Azarola...your godfather, Yang's too."

"My...godfather...?" Ruby stared at Yukimura with wide eyes.

"What's a godfather?" asked Nora.

"It's a position that has its roots in some old religion," explained Blake. "A close friend of the parents is sworn to take an interest in their child's future. In modern days, it denotes someone designated to take over parental responsibilities, should something happen to the actual parents."

"Wow..." said Nora.

"Dad mentioned a godfather, once," said Yang, staring at Yukimura in confusion. "I had no idea this was him."

Yukimura sighed, before giving Yang a somewhat sad smile. "You mean you don't remember me coming around, when you were little? I did visit, from time to time."

"I..." Yang vaguely remembered that friendly face, dropping by to deliver treats for her and Ruby. But those memories were hazy at best.

"I...I don't understand," said Ruby. "I can't remember you at all."

"I'm not surprised," said Yukimura. "You were _very_ little at the time. And after your mother...Taiyang banned me from ever setting foot in that house again."

Ruby remembered Qrow telling her that before. "But why not tell me?" she asked.

"I..." Yukimura averted his eyes again. "I couldn't bring myself to face you, not when I'd shirked my responsibilities to such a terrible extent."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"Hearing what Taiyang was doing, I should have taken action sooner," said Yukimura. "I should have sued for custody of you and Yang, so that you would have an actual chance to follow your dreams. I was considering it. But I hesitated. I was sure that Tai's overprotective actions were just a brief phase, brought on by grief over what had happened to Summer, and your resemblance to her. But then he kept at it for years. Before I could come to a decision, you'd already fled. I helped Qrow look for a while. But then he assured me that you were looked after, and that was that.

"And then you showed up in my shop. I couldn't bear to reveal how much I'd let you down. So I wanted to at least do what I could for you. I figured that your friend's outfit would be something of a gift for you, after failing you six years ago."

Yukimura looked pointedly away from Ruby. "I'm so sorry," he said. "I couldn't bear to learn what you thought of me, after I failed you so badly."

Walking slowly, Ruby closed the distance between them. Raising her hand to Yukimura's cheek, she turned his head so that their eyes could meet. "You're really my godfather?" she asked.

"I am," said Yukimura bashfully, "however much it's worth now."

He was caught off-guard when Ruby surged forward, wrapping her arms around his torso, hugging him tightly. Yukimura froze, his arms rising, but freezing in place. "R-Ruby...?"

"It's okay," she said, looking up from where she'd pressed her face against his chest, tears leaking from her eyes. "I forgive you."

Yukimura's own eyes began to spill over with tears, and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. "Thank you."

"I'm just glad to have even more family than I thought," said Ruby, rubbing her face against the fabric of her cloak to wipe away her tears. "I can't wait to tell everyone back home."

"Or when they come over here," added Pyrrha.

Ruby nodded, before resting her head contentedly against Yukimura's chest. Unbeknownst to her, Yang quickly raised her scroll and snapped a picture of the pair of them.

Yukimura smiled down at her, before looking up at Jaune. "My apologies for the deception," he said. "Were I to come up with a feasible excuse, I would have made that outfit for you for free. But I had none, and was still afraid to tell Ruby the truth."

"So you basically counted on us having no idea what this was _really_ worth," said Jaune, wearing an amused smile as he admired his outfit. "I think I get it."

"I'll return your payment, if you'd like," said Yukimura.

Jaune held up a hand. "Nah, it's fine. Keep the money." He chuckled nervously, flashing a sheepish grin, while rubbing the back of his head. "If there was some way for me to actually manage it, I'd insist on paying what it's really worth. But it doesn't sound like that's even remotely possible for me right now, so I'm fine with at least letting you keep what I _did_ pay you."

Yukimura chuckled. "You're a fine man, Jaune Arc. With someone like you at my goddaughter's side, I know she'll be in good hands."

"I plan on giving her nothing but my best, Sir," said Jaune with firm conviction.

Yukimura looked over to see Yang watching them with a longing gaze. Shifting Ruby in his arms, he kept one wrapped around his shoulder, while extending the other to Yang. "I'm sorry for neglecting you too, Little Sparkler."

Yang gasped softly, that name faintly jarring her memories, rendering them much clearer. "Uncle Yuki," she whispered.

"You're welcome here too," said Yukimura. "You're both my goddaughters, and I know Tai hasn't been treating you well lately."

Ruby pulled away from Yukimura just enough to look at Yang too. Releasing one arm from her godfather's side, she extended it out to Yang too. The look on their faces, and their open arms prompted Yang to surge forward, joining them in their embrace.

Qrow chuckled softly. "Now this is what a family _should_ be," he said softly, snapping a picture with his own scroll.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Yang's friends circled around them, congratulating them on meeting their godfather, the three holding tight to each other for many minutes after that.

* * *

**Admittedly, adding Yukimura to the cast was largely for the sake of warm fuzzy moments, considering he doesn't have much of a role beyond this. But I still enjoyed putting him in here.**


	109. Chapter 109

**Chapter 109:**

"What do you want, Qrow?" growled Taiyang, glaring over the table at his old teammate, once his brother-in-law.

Qrow frowned back, resting a casual elbow on the arm of his chair, staring through the invisible hard-light shield that divided the table, ensuring that neither of them could attack the other. Taiyang was apparently prone to bouts of violence, having been listed as extremely easy to provoke. He couldn't even be trusted to meet with his assigned therapist without the barrier between them. Qrow couldn't deny that he himself was occasionally filled with the desire to clean the stubborn man's clock some either. So, in this case, the barrier was just as much for Taiyang's protection as Qrow's.

"How're your sessions going, Tai?" asked Qrow. "Makin' any progress?"

"There's no progress to be made," insisted Taiyang. "My problem is that you are all conspiring to keep my daughter from me."

"More like _protecting_ her from you," groused Qrow. "You been getting Yang's photos?"

Taiyang grunted, flinching. "Yes," he mumbled. In fact, his therapist always opened their "sessions" by transferring the latest photos Yang had taken over to the basic scroll Taiyang had been supplied with. It was little more than a photo album with a screen, really, incapable of linking with the CCT network, and only able to interact with other scrolls at close range. Taiyang wouldn't admit it, but he went over those pictures every night, before bed. Those photos were the only reason Taiyang would enter the room and speak with the doctor at all.

"Anything jumpin' out at ya?" asked Qrow. "Anything...like, say...how _happy_ Ruby is? I know Yang snaps those pictures when she's smiling her widest, and she's taking quite a few of 'em."

Taiyang grunted. "She's an idiot," he growled. "That won't last."

"Says you," said Qrow. "Yeah, there are tough times for her in the future, but she's even more of a fighter than Summer was, which is sayin' somethin', let me tell you. She's got solid friends by her side. And...she's got even more family than she realized at first."

"More family...?" Taiyang looked up at that, before his eyes widened. "Wait! Don't tell me..."

"Yep," said Qrow, pulling out his scroll, opening it up into tablet mode. He brought up the picture that Yang had taken, then sent to him when she'd learned he was visiting Taiyang. "She finally got to meet Yuki."

Taiyang's hands clenched around the edges of the table as he leaned over, staring at the picture of Ruby and Yukimura hugging each other, Ruby staring up with teary eyes and a loving smile. His lips pulled back, baring his teeth with an angry snarl. The look in Ruby's eyes _should_ have been for _him_. And yet, all he'd received from her, even going back to before she had run away, had been anger, scorn, defiance, and hostility. He had done everything in his power to ensure that she was safe and secure, and she had rewarded him by throwing all that out the window. And now, here she was, clinging to the one man he had never wanted her to know.

"Now _that's_ what a father and daughter should look like, don't you think?" asked Qrow, glaring over the scroll at Taiyang. "You could've had that, Tai, if you hadn't been such a damn idiot. But you were so dead set in wrapping Ruby up in bubblewrap that you've burned pretty much every bridge the two of you might've had, and you only have yourself to blame for that."

"At least I didn't let her go and get herself killed!" Taiyang snapped back.

"She ain't dead yet," Qrow reminded him.

"But she will be!" Taiyang countered, rising to his feet, leaning forward over the table. "One of these days, she'll get in over her head, just like her mother! She'll go on some mission...and never come back! Then what will you have to say?"

"That she lived the life she was meant to live," Qrow replied firmly. Truth be told, the thought of Ruby suffering the same fate as Summer unsettled him, however much confidence in her strength and skills he expressed outwardly. It was still there, that niggling doubt, squirming quietly in the pit of his stomach. However, letting Ruby grow into the kind of girl she wanted to be, was _meant_ to be, meant accepting that possibility. There was a time when Qrow might have...almost...agreed with Taiyang on that, back when he'd still been searching frantically for his niece's whereabouts.

But, if accepting that possibility meant the chance to see Ruby's real smile, to see her genuinely happy, growing alongside her friends and what family had accepted her course in life, then it was worth the fear and worry. Just like the rest of those who _truly_ cared about her, he would just have to do his best to ensure that she had the skills and strength to make that terrible possibility as remote as possible.

"Bullshit!" shouted Taiyang, in response to Qrow's answer. "You're killing her!"

"No!" snapped Qrow, rising to his feet and glaring at Taiyang. "_You_ were killing her! Maybe you weren't literally stabbing her to death or whatever, but you would've locked her away from the world, kept her 'safe' until her soul rotted away, and she was dead on the _inside_, staring at you with eyes like glass, because you refused to let her be anything more than a doll for you to play fucking _house_ with."

"Shut up!" snarled Taiyang.

Qrow settled back into his seat. "But I guess you'd be perfectly fine with that, wouldn't you? Six years ago, you stopped caring about her as a person. So it wouldn't really matter to you if she was really alive or not. You could've gutted her and had her stuffed, and that would've been enough for you, wouldn't it?"

"Shut _up!_" shouted Taiyang, leaning closer to Qrow over the table.

"When are you gonna accept reality, Tai?" asked Qrow. "You need to wake up to what you've been doing, otherwise you'll never be outta here." He moved on the next image, the one _he_ had taken, showing Yang and Ruby both embracing Yukimura. "The girls have their godfather, and you'll never have anything to do with them again, so long as you don't realize how wrong you were."

"I'm not wrong!" Taiyang shouted. "I kept Yukimura away from them for a reason."

"Yeah, so that Ruby could keep being your little doll," said Qrow. "You know, he was gonna sue for custody, probably would've won too. But he held back, 'cause he had faith in your ability to overcome what happened to you. I guess he picked the wrong person to believe in."

An inarticulate growl was all Taiyang had in response.

"I think he and the girls are gonna get along just fine," said Qrow. "So, even without you there, they'll do just fine, not that Ruby had any problems taking care of herself _before_ she found out she had a godfather."

"You came here just to taunt me about that, didn't you?" asked Taiyang.

Qrow closed down his scroll, slipping it back into his pocket. "I thought about it," he said. "You've done a good job of making an ass of yourself, Tai. But I'll admit that it ain't 'cause you're a bad man, deep down. I came here, because I wanted to make sure you knew this is your _last_ chance."

"Last chance for what?" growled Taiyang.

"To actually _be_ Ruby's father, in some capacity," he said. "Things'll never be like they used to be. That ship has sailed. But there is still one little...tiny...puny...minuscule chance that you could see Ruby again, talk with her, and actually have her treat you like family. And the how possible that is depends all on you."

"What do you mean?" asked Taiyang.

Qrow's eyes narrowed. "You're sick, Tai. There's no denying it. You've been in a bad way, ever since Summer died. That ain't entirely your fault. But this has gone beyond grief. If you want to actually see Ruby...with your own eyes...again, you. Need. _Help_. And this is the place you're gonna get it.

"Those photos that Yang took and sent to you, those are the carrot. The pictures _I_ just showed you...those are the _stick_. I showed them to show you that the girls don't _need_ you, that they're perfectly capable of moving on in life, without needing you to be there for them, which means the only way you'll be a part of their life is if they _want_ you to be, and your only hope of achieving that is by getting the treatment you need."

"And what's the damn point of that?" asked Taiyang.

"'Cause at least one of those girls still _wants_ you to be a part of their lives," said Qrow. "That's why Yang keeps sending you those pictures, in order to get you to see that Ruby is happier and stronger than she's ever been. If you stopped trying to hold her back, you could be a part of that. The question is how badly you want it. Do you want to be Ruby's father...or her jailer? 'Cause you'll only be one or the other to her."

Taiyang was silent, staring at the table before him.

"My advice is you start actually cooperating in those sessions," said Qrow, pushing away from the table. "Get better, Tai. That's the only hope you have right now...otherwise, you're not leaving here."

The took his leave, the door slamming shut behind him. Taiyang was left alone in the room, staring at the table in silence.

* * *

Monday morning was an early one, not that that was any different for them. After months of waking up before sunrise to get some early-morning training in, Team RASP and RYNB awoke with ease. There would be no training this morning, however, seeing as they didn't want to wear themselves out before their missions began.

It was a bit odd to Ruby, waking up with the knowledge that she had a godfather, a man whose job it was to care for her, in place of her parents, who had been prevented from doing that by her biological father. Even with a whole day to get used to the notion, it was still disconcerting...in a good way. She couldn't help but admit that the whole idea made her giddy. Yukimura had been so incredibly warm and kind to her, especially considering how much he had invested in Jaune's outfit. She looked forward to the opportunity to get to know him more, once her team returned from their mission.

_Maybe we should pick a shorter one,_ she thought. Given the nature of their last mission, not to mention the extra missions they had taken before that, Ruby felt that no one would begrudge her and her team picking something a little less dangerous, that they could finish up quickly.

Ironically, this would make it the first _normal_ mission her team and Ren's would be picking for themselves in their first year. _Is it weird that I'm so excited over something that simple?_

This time, there would be no assembly. Instead, the assembly hall would open after breakfast, with the mission boards displaying the available opportunities, with it being first-come-first-served. Ruby and her friends had all resolved to ensure that they were ready and waiting to get first-pick of the best available missions.

They got dressed, the extra time afforded by skipping on their morning training allowing them to take their time. That time was particularly useful for Jaune, who wasn't used to all the steps required to don his new outfit just yet. Weiss had to help him adjust his coat and armor, once he stepped out of the bathroom, after changing. But it still went fairly quickly. Yukimura had designed all the pieces of Jaune's ensemble to require very little extra work to put on, the armor pieces in particular having been ingeniously designed to be easily snapped together.

They emerged into the hallway and waited for their sister-team. Across from their door, they could hear the voices of their friends on Team RYNB, as the other team worked to get ready for the day. The door opened, and Ren was the first to emerge, naturally. Blake wasn't long after him, with Nora coming out next, and Yang bringing up the rear.

"Ready to debut your new duds, Stud?" asked Yang, grinning mischievously as she took in Jaune's new look.

It was interesting to see all four members of RYNB execute a quick double-take when they saw Jaune again. Sure, they had seen his new outfit on Saturday and Sunday. But they were still used to the sight of him in his armor over a hoody and jeans. Even his own teammates occasionally found themselves staring (and blushing, in Ruby's case) at the sight of him, given the dramatic transformation Jaune's new clothes had wrought.

This would also mark the first time Jaune would be showcasing his new outfit in front of the rest of the student body, he and his friends having mostly kept to themselves for the weekend. He wondered just how the other students would take it. Jaune himself admitted that he felt a little out of place. His new clothes seemed so much...more to him than his previous set, and he still looked at his reflection in the mirror like he was seeing his face on a stranger's body.

"I don't really have a choice either way," he said, in response to Yang.

"You'll do just fine," said Pyrrha, gently clapping his shoulder. "You look wonderful."

"Yep," agreed Ruby emphatically.

They headed down to the dining hall. Given that it was still fairly early, it was sparsely populated, though more-so than usual. They were not the only teams that had gotten the idea of getting a jump on the competition, when it came to choosing available missions. They got in line to load up their trays with a hearty breakfast. Of course, depending on the mission they chose, their departure time could be immediately, in the afternoon, or possibly even a day or more later. But it was better to be well-prepared for whatever laid ahead.

As they got their food and headed towards the table, Ruby could tell that Jaune was already attracting looks, many surprised, quite a few appreciative. Even if they had no idea just how much his new clothes were actually worth, they could definitely see that he had had them made by a professional, and that they had been well-suited to him.

They took their seats, eating and talking, speculating on what kind of missions they might be able to take.

"Holy crap! Jaune! Is that you?"

Jaune lurched, blinking in confusion. Turning in his seat, he saw Coco, and the rest of her team approaching. "H-hey, Coco," he said nervously.

The second-year's response was to flash Jaune an appreciative grin as she and the rest of their team sat down next to RYNB and RASP. "Damn, boy! I knew Yukimura was gonna do good work for you. But it looks like he pulled out _all_ the stops."

"Y-yeah, he really went all-out on me," said Jaune.

"You're not kidding," said Coco, eyeing Jaune's clothes carefully. "You must be more loaded than I thought. Those materials must have cost a fortune."

"W-well, I sorta got a discount on them," Jaune admitted sheepishly.

"Discount...?" Coco blinked.

"Um...Yukimura is...my godfather," explained Ruby. "I just learned that the other day."

"Really!?" exclaimed Coco, standing partly up, before a restraining hand from Velvet pulled her back down. "I had no idea."

"I didn't either," said Ruby, going on to explain the circumstances.

When she finished, Coco and the rest of CFVY digested the information for a moment. "Wow...your dad's a jerk."

"That's putting it mildly," said Ruby, scowling for a brief second.

"On the bright side, Ruby could definitely get you an introduction," commented Fox.

"Shut up!" Coco said quickly a blush appearing on her cheeks.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, looking at Fox.

"Coco should say it," said Fox, smirking smugly, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head.

"W-well, you know that I'm a fashionable sort," said Coco, nervously, her current manner completely at odds with her normal confidence.

"We couldn't tell," deadpanned Yang playfully.

"Well, a Huntress should always look her best," said Coco, puffing herself up proudly for a second.

"I think you always look your best," commented Fox, flashing his white teeth in a grin.

"Thank y-..." Coco froze, before glaring sidelong at Fox. "Why do you do that?"

"'Cause it's fun," he replied.

"But what's this about wanting an introduction with my godfather?" said Ruby, not quite sure how she should refer to Yukimura yet.

"Well...once I graduate, I want to get in on the designer end of the business," explained Coco. "I mean, I still want to be a Huntress, but I want to work on designing Huntress and Huntsman outfits. Yukimura is basically my idol. He's a revolutionary in the business. A bunch of the materials he works with, probably including most of the ones he used on Jaune's outfit, are ones he invented himself. I really want to learn the ins and outs of all that."

"If I can help with that, I'd be happy to," said Ruby, smiling widely. "I thought Yukimura would know about that already, since you recommended him to me."

"Well, I've had work done by him," said Coco. "But, since I'm not partners with his goddaughter, I didn't get near as good a discount. But that's beside the point."

"I'm glad," said Ruby. "For a second, when you were talking about 'getting an introduction', I was worried that you wanted to date him. I mean, I know he looks young, but Uncle Qrow says he's almost fifty."

Coco's mouthful of coffee nearly exploded from her mouth, and she had to force a choking swallow as her teammates, and Ruby's other friends, all laughed at her response. "O-of course not," she said, after recovering, before flashing a cheeky smile across the table at Ruby. "Besides, I swing the other way." Her grin widened. "There was a time I was thinking of asking you to _introduce_ me in that way to your cute civilian friend. But I understand she's already taken."

"Is it that obvious?" asked Weiss, averting her eyes nervously.

"To anyone who cares to look closely enough," said Coco, "which isn't that many people, and the ones who do don't care enough about the Schnees to go gossiping about it, so it shouldn't be getting back to your father anytime soon, I think."

"Thank goodness," said Weiss with a sigh. She wasn't so sure though. After all, _someone_ had notified her father that she and Ashley had gone to the dance together. Cinder's cohorts were the prime suspects, but it wasn't something they could be a hundred-percent sure of just yet. There was the off chance that someone else at Beacon was primed to notify Jacques that his daughter was in a relationship with a faunus, should she and Ashley relax their guard too much.

"I think that's enough talking for now," said Yatsuhashi, breaking into the conversation for the first time. "You first-years want to finish early to get first-pick of the missions, right?"

"Yep," said Ruby.

"The assembly hall opens in an hour," said Velvet. "And you can tell you're not the only ones to get that idea. The quicker you finish, the closer to the front of the line you'll be."

That put a bit of a damper on the conversation, RASP and RYNB turning their attention back to their food. They didn't want to rush their eating too much. However, every team that left the dining hall ahead of them was one more between them and their pick of mission, so they did eat a fair bit faster than normal. Just a few minutes later, RASP and RYNB bade their seniors farewell, picking up their trays and taking them to the dishwasher station, before making their way to the assembly hall.

* * *

Their early-rising habits had stood them in good stead, and there were only about three teams ahead of them in line for the terminals that they could use for mission selection. There were enough terminals that they would be able to take one immediately, once the hall opened. The downside to their initiative was that they had arrived a good forty-five minutes before the hall actually opened, which left them with a lot of time, and very little to do.

Blake was situated immediately, taking a cross-legged seat on the pavement outside the doors, and pulling out a book for herself. Ren sat down beside her, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes. A minute later, he was dozing lightly. Meanwhile, Yang and Nora pulled out their scrolls to play video games. Weiss and Pyrrha took seats of their own, conversing softly. Ruby and Jaune sat down as well, leaning their backs against one another, taking out their scrolls to follow Yang and Nora's example, playing a cooperative RPG that Jaune was showing her the ropes of.

Time flew by, and soon they were able to enter the hall. Making their way to the terminals, RASP and RYNB searched through the list of available missions.

"How about this one?" asked Ren, pointing to it. "It's a village outside the walls. We'll be shadowing the local sheriff."

"Oooh!" squealed Nora. "That sounds like fun!"

"There's a light-patrol mission in this seaside village," said Pyrrha, pointing to another one. "The mission isn't worth many credits, but it sounds like the scenery will be wonderful."

"And we could do with a little peace and quiet," said Weiss, nodding approvingly.

"I like Ren's idea," said Yang, looking to her partner. "What do you think, Blake?" She paused, noticing that Blake was seemingly closed off from the world, staring at the mission board with all her attention. "...Blake...?"

Yang followed Blake's line of sight, and gasped at the mission that Blake was looking at.

"What is it?" asked Ruby, leaning to look past her sister, before gasping herself.

"_White Fang Investigation_," read Weiss, her eyebrows going up.

"Seriously? That's an available mission?" asked Jaune, looking up the listing on RASP's terminal incredulously.

"It's open to first-years," noted Weiss. "_And_ it's open to two teams."

According to the report, teams taking the mission would shadow a Huntsman in Aiwendil, who would be looking for evidence of White Fang infiltration of the settlement.

"That's...interesting," said Ruby, frowning, her sense of danger perking at the sight of the mission.

"What do you think, Blake?" asked Ren, looking pointedly at Blake.

"I'm not sure," said Blake, pulling out her scroll and sifting through the network. "Just because Sienna's come to Vale to take control, and has dialed back the White Fang's activities, it stands to reason that the authorities wouldn't stop investigating them." She found what she was looking for on her scroll. "Aiwendil is a settlement to the northeast of Vale. They apparently have a majority-faunus population."

"Um..." Weiss snapped her mouth shut, before she could make an insensitive remark about a mostly-faunus settlement being the perfect hiding place for the White Fang. However, she could tell that Blake already knew what she had been about to say.

"You're not wrong," said Blake with a rueful smile. "Anyplace there are faunus, the White Fang would probably try to make inroads, if only for recruitment purposes. Even settlements like this one, where faunus are the majority, it makes sense that the White Fang would still want to try and recruit them, though I have no idea if they have or not."

"I guess that's what this Huntsman is gonna be there to find out," said Jaune. He scrolled through a few more missions on RASP's terminal. "It's kinda strange though," he added. "You'd think that, if they're gonna look for the White Fang, the investigations would be centered inside the Kingdom. But none of the inner-city missions seem to involve the White Fang."

"It's also displayed so prominently," said Pyrrha, her eyes narrowing. "It's almost tailor-made to jump out at Blake."

"You think it's a trap for Blake or something?" asked Nora worriedly.

"No..." said Blake, after a moment's hesitation, "...not for me."

"For _me_," said Ruby.

"_That's_ why it's a two-team mission!" gasped Weiss. "Whoever came up with this mission expected Blake to jump on it, and that we would all follow her."

"Are we sure?" asked Pyrrha. "I mean...this is assuming a little much, isn't it?"

"It all lines up though," said Ren. "We know that someone is after Ruby, and that they have the clout to manipulate information on the network, if not to the extent of Cinder's virus. Posting a mission would be relatively easy for them, as it doesn't require special access to Beacon's network."

"But what's their plan then?" asked Jaune. "I mean, if they were gonna go after Ruby, why would they create a mission open to two teams? It would make more sense that they'd want a situation where they can isolate Ruby from the rest of us. But that's gonna be awfully hard with seven other people around her."

"If I had to guess, it's because they figured that flashing the words 'White Fang' would be the best way to get our attention," said Weiss. "But _Blake's_ the one leading the charge on that front, and she's on Rainbow. So they would create a two-team mission in order to ensure that we come along with her."

"Is there any way we can look into this?" asked Pyrrha.

Blake frowned, looking up the mission specifications. "The departure time is two hours from now. That doesn't give us a lot of time. We still have to pack, after all."

"Another suspicious sign," grumbled Weiss. "It's like they're _trying_ to minimize the time we have to look into this matter."

"What do you think, Ruby?" asked Jaune, noting that Ruby hadn't said much at all.

Ruby looked up, her eyes drifting across her friends' faces. "Let's do it," she said.

"Wha-?" Yang began to protest, her eyes widening. "A-are you sure?"

"Not really," admitted Ruby, looking down at the terminal again. "Everyone's making sense. This has the feel of a trap to it. The problem is...it's _too_ obvious."

"What do you mean?" asked Weiss.

"It's laid out too perfectly," Ruby pointed out. "This mission was tailor-made to get Blake's attention, and designed so that both Rainbow and Raspberry could go on it. That makes it a little too obvious that their intention was to draw us outside of Vale. And we know that someone is after me, so..."

"So it would be easy for us to guess it was a trap," said Jaune. "If that's the case, what does that mean?"

"Someone _expected_ us to realize it's a trap," said Ren. "But what does that do?"

"When a trap is openly advertised as a trap, it becomes an invitation..." said Ruby, "...and a challenge."

"I see," said Weiss. "They know we'd want to find out who is after Ruby. So they dangle the obvious trap in front of us, hoping we'll take it, because we see an opportunity to find out who Ruby's attackers are."

"And then what...?" asked Jaune.

"Then it's a mystery," admitted Ruby with a shrug. "All this becomes a whole bunch of 'we know they know we know' that we'll have no hope of picking out, if we don't _do_ something."

"So what do we do?" asked Jaune. "What do you want to do, Ruby?"

"It's your call," added Weiss, Pyrrha nodding her agreement.

"We're with you," added Ren, the rest of his team nodding as well, Yang quite emphatically.

Ruby swallowed, and turned back to the mission board. "I'm going to take it," she said, entering her team's designation into the first slot.

Ren immediately followed suit, while Yang gave her younger sister a worried look. "Ruby, are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be," admitted Ruby. "There's no way to really know what they have planned for us out there." She frowned darkly. "But...if we don't take this opportunity, then it's just back to waiting for their next move, without any idea where or when it will come. And that means there's a bigger chance that they'll go after someone else; one of you, our friends, Ashley; again..."

The others nodded, Weiss trembling at the thought of Ashley being threatened again.

Ruby hit the command to accept the mission, and the information was transferred to their scrolls. "We have two hours to get ready," she said.

"What do we do?" asked Jaune.

"I know what _I_ can do," said Blake, taking up her scroll. "I'm going to make a call."

"I'll go get our packs ready," said Yang everyone already knowing who Blake was going to call.

"I'll go to tell Ozpin," said Ruby.

"I'll go with you," said Jaune.

"We'll get the packs ready," said Weiss, Pyrrha nodding in agreement.

"Let's do this thing!" declared Nora excitedly. "We'll find out whoever this jerk that's after Ruby is...and break their legs!"

They went their separate aways, aiming to take care of their allotted tasks as quickly as possible.

* * *

"_You want to talk to High Leader Khan?_" asked Ilia incredulously.

"It's important," Blake assured her, "and urgent."

"_So is a lot of stuff,_" countered Ilia. "_I can't just ask her to take a call._"

"You can, if she wants to have any further negotiations with Ozpin," said Blake. "This is a matter of someone using the name of the White Fang to their own ends, so I think High Leader Khan would be _very_ interested in that."

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Then she heard her old friend let out a soft sigh. "_Fine...I just hope this is important enough. I don't want her angry with me for bothering her._"

"I think she'll understand," said Blake.

Ilia hung up. Blake found herself waiting for several moments of tense silence, wondering if Ilia would be able to get Sienna to call back before it was time to depart. However, only a few minutes later, her scroll rang again, the suddenness of the sound prompting Blake to jump, glad she'd picked this isolated corner of the courtyard to make the call from. Answering it, she heard the familiar, slightly deeper voice of Sienna come through the line.

"_What is it you wished to discuss, Young Miss Belladonna?_" asked Sienna. "_Ilia wouldn't say._"

"I didn't tell her," said Blake. "You might not be aware, but us first-years will be attending our second assigned missions of the year."

"_I was not,_" admitted Sienna. "_But I fail to see how that involves me...unless those missions involve the White Fang in some way._"

"You could say that one does..." said Blake.

Sienna was silent for several telling seconds. "_Explain._"

Blake told Sienna everything about the mission that she and her friends had just signed up for. Sienna listened in silence. "_You're right to be suspicious,_" she said finally. "_At present, the White Fang has no presence in Aiwendil._"

"None at all..." asked Blake, "...even though it's a majority-faunus settlement?"

"_It's the best kind of that settlement,_" said Sienna. "_The humans who live there accept it specifically because they can get along with faunus. Tension is practically non-existent, which means there's no hostility for the White Fang to react against. It's practically a utopia of coexistence. Our Vale Branch did carry out a few efforts at recruitment out there, but weren't very successful. Fortunately, that was before Taurus implemented those...changes...of his._"

"So someone _is_ using the name of the White Fang to bait us then," said Blake.

"_That would seem to be the case,_" said Sienna. "_To be honest, it irritates me. Such a mission, being carried out in a place devoid of any activities on our part, is practically _made_ to cast suspicion on faunus in general._"

Blake found her lips curling back in a smile. "If that's the case...what do you say to being able to _act_ on that irritation?"

Sienna was silent again. "_Go on..._" she urged.

* * *

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention," said Ozpin, looking at the makeup of the mission on the projector on his desk. "It certainly does stand out rather starkly against the other available missions. Normally, one of this nature would _not_ be available to first-year students...or students at all, depending on its danger-level."

"So it's what we thought then," said Ruby.

"So it would seem," said Ozpin. He nodded to Glynda behind him. "What can you tell me about the Huntsman they are assigned to shadow?"

"According to the mission files, that would be Faolan Hargrave," she said, looking him up on her scroll. "He was a graduate of Haven Academy, six years ago. His mission record is...interesting, to say the least."

"How so?" asked Ozpin.

Glynda sent the files to be displayed through Ozpin's desk. "The majority of his missions have involved tracking or combatting the White Fang in some fashion or another." She began to review his records in more detail on her scroll. "He has received multiple admonishments for excessive force against faunus who were not members."

"Meaning...?" prodded Ozpin.

"On a mission to a faunus settlement, in Southwestern Mistral, he was reprimanded for taking a family hostage, and threatening to execute them in order to draw out a few White Fang members who had been hiding in the settlement."

Ruby gasped, her hands going to her mouth.

"Since his suspicions on the matter were validated, the punishment was limited to a reprimand," said Glynda, scowling. "Mistral still has a fairly poor track record, when it comes to upholding faunus rights, despite being the Kingdom closest to Menagerie. The complaints of a few faunus civilians wouldn't have bothered them, even if Hargrave's suspicions had been proven baseless."

"And now he's on a mission to a mostly-faunus settlement to look for the White Fang there," said Jaune.

"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "The circumstances of this mission are quite suspicious. You will need to be on your guards." His eyes narrowed as he regarded Jaune and Ruby. "However, if Mr. Hargrave attempts the tactic he used in Mistral, you have my authorization to do what you need to to protect the residents of Aiwendil from any unnecessary brutality."

"Yes, Professor," said Ruby with almost-military crispness, her voice ringing with conviction.

"We will take measures to ensure that you are properly looked after," said Ozpin.

"Thank you, Professor," said Ruby, bowing her head to them.

"Good luck," said Ozpin.

Ruby and Jaune took their leave to go meet up with their team and friends, before heading to the docks to take the bullhead out to the settlement. Ozpin glanced sidelong at Glynda. "Contact Qrow."

* * *

Ruby and the others arrived at the docks with their packs, their bullhead already waiting for them, its engines idling. They quickly climbed aboard, stowing their belongings and taking their seats. According to the mission specs, they would be staying mainly within the confines of the village itself, quartered in its inn. Therefore, they had no need to bring bedrolls or camping supplies with them, which allowed them to pack rather lightly.

The flight out to the settlement was brief and quiet, everyone waiting for the first sign that the other shoe was about to drop. Ruby, Jaune, and Blake shared what they had learned about the mission from their respective sources, but that was about it for conversation. Even the flight out wasn't devoid of suspicion, all of them wondering if this had just been a way to get Ruby outside the boundaries of Vale, so that the bullhead carrying her could be blown out of the sky. That seemed like a little much, but they couldn't afford to rule out any possibility at this point.

Fortunately, the flight proved to be uneventful. Their pilot announced over the intercom that they had arrived, the lurching sensation of the airship's descent making it apparent even before she'd said anything. The bay doors opened, and the eight students made their exit, hopping down onto the cleared space of bare earth that had served as the village's air-dock.

Aiwendil wasn't all that developed, a rural farming community like a dozen others found outside Vale's wall. According to the files they'd gotten on the settlement, it was mainly known for its orchards, which mainly produced apples, its chief export (it also had a few side-crops it was known for, particularly tobacco of a particular strain known as Longbottom). There wasn't much else to say about it. As such, its facilities weren't much to write home about. The air-dock was a circular patch of cleared and leveled earth, one just large enough to host a small airship, the earth packed down to keep dust from being kicked up by landing jets, in the case of bullheads, and cleared of anything that might be ignited by running engines.

Beyond the pad was a space of short grass, which almost looked like a mowed lawn, before reaching the village-proper. A wooden palisade encircled the main settlement, including most of its residences, while gates opened up into the wider area, the paths through them stretching out between the neat rows of fruit-bearing trees.

"This sure looks like a nice place," said Jaune.

Ruby nodded in agreement. They hadn't even entered the settlement yet, and she could already feel a peaceful sensation. There was a distinct absence of conflict, which indicated a lack of suspicion and mistrust among the townsfolk. Faunus were the majority here, but the human minority appeared to be perfectly comfortable with their situation, which meant that the odds of the White Fang gaining a foothold here were close to nil...

...Which made it all the more troubling that someone with such a poor history of dealing with the faunus had apparently been sent out here to look for the members of a faunus-organization. It was too contrived, too primed for conflict, as though the one who had posted this mission _expected_ things to get ugly...and not because the White Fang were actually _in_ Aiwendil.

"Where's our Huntsman?" asked Weiss, looking around.

The ground between them and the village was completely empty, with not even any of the villagers there to greet or guide them. Granted, finding their way into the town was no trouble, given that it was right in front of them, and finding the inn would probably be a simple matter. But it was strange that not even the Huntsman they'd been sent to shadow had come to greet them.

"Perhaps he's already at the inn," suggested Pyrrha.

"It's as good a place to start as any," said Ren. "We will need to drop off our luggage anyway."

The others nodded, and began to make their walk into town. As they passed through the walls, they found themselves surrounded on all sides by faunus, all going about their business without a care in the world. Ruby saw ears here, tails there, and even a full set of wings in one case. Her other senses, meshing together to feed her even more information about those who possessed more subtle faunus traits, which weren't so readily apparent to the naked eye, some faunus seeming outwardly human upon first glance, much like Ilia did.

It was the most faunus that Ruby had seen in one place in her entire life. Even growing up with the Mibu Clan, which boasted a high faunus population, hadn't accustomed her to such a high concentration of them in one place. That was mainly due to the nonexistent prejudice between the humans and faunus of the Mibu that enabled them to be sufficiently accustomed to mingling that their numbers were, by and large, equal wherever Ruby had been within the Mibu's territory, with any skewing one way or the other being purely statistical, and not something she would have even noticed from her limited perspective.

Here, humans were few and far between, with Ruby's senses picking out only a couple of humans from amongst the more subtle faunus who could be mistaken for human on the walk along the village's street, leading in from the gate they'd entered through. There was a remarkable lack of tension in the air though, the humans apparently being completely at ease, surrounded by faunus. It was the kind of relaxed state that Ruby would have expected from her homeland, not a village in Vale, even though Vale was definitely not the worst of the Kingdoms, when it came to human and faunus relations.

As they had expected, they soon found themselves coming up on the inn, a low, long, two-story structure. In her travels, Ruby had encountered a few inns that shared space with the local tavern, which served as a hub for the village's residents to eat and mingle, also allowing visitors passing through to easily find a place to eat as well.

This inn was not one of those. Upon entering, they found themselves within the confines of a fairly nicely-appointed common room, with a few sets of seats arrayed around tables, and couches set into the wall-space that wasn't occupied by doors, or the desk, which Ruby and Ren approached, the other members of their teams falling back to keep from crowding the man behind it too much.

"What can I do for ya?" asked the faunus behind the counter, his face sporting a thick salt and pepper beard, accompanied by matching hair, from which a set of feathery tufts extended. His voice was rough and gruff, but devoid of anything approaching suspicion or hostility, which Ruby took as a good sign. He was thickset, sporting a bit of a gut, his build not too dissimilar from Professor Port's. It was mostly hidden by a starched, white shirt, and a pair of plain, black slacks. It was enough for him to look sufficiently professional, without suggesting that this was some high-class establishment.

"Do you have reservations for a party from Beacon?" asked Ruby politely.

The man looked down at the screen hidden behind the desk. "Yep, got it right here. Team Raspberry and Team Rainbow. I'm assuming that's you kids."

"That is correct," said Ren, nodding politely.

The man hummed. "Awfully short notice," he muttered.

"We know," said Ruby. "I'm sorry if we've caused you any trouble."

"Aw, no trouble at all, young miss," said the innkeeper, looking up and grinning at her. "You seem like good kids. Beacon is a fine establishment. I've rarely ever had any students from there cause us trouble."

"That's good to hear," said Ren. "While we are at it, I don't suppose the Huntsman we are supposed to be shadowing is here yet."

"Oh...that guy..." said the innkeeper, his face falling.

_Looks like Hargrave's already making an impression,_ thought Ruby dourly.

"Yep, he's here already," said the innkeeper. "Should be over in the pub."

"I suppose he didn't make the best of impressions," noted Ren.

The innkeeper snorted. "That's putting it mildly," he growled. "Talked to me like I was somethin' he scraped off the bottom of his shoe. Damn jerk had the gall to demand a human to perform his turndown service. Darn near looked like he was gonna have a conniption when I told him we don't have a human on our service staff."

"Sounds like he sure lives down to his reputation," Ruby heard Jaune mutter from behind her and Ren.

The innkeeper heard it too, from the twitching of the feathered tufts atop his head, and the twitch of his lips into a grin, which he swiftly suppressed. He continued on, as though Jaune hadn't said anything. "I sent him to the tavern a couple streets down. It's human-owned, so he might actually be civil there. I shot 'em a warning, so that they know to serve him with a human waitress, if just to keep things quiet."

"We're sorry about him," said Ruby, bowing apologetically.

"Eh, you're just students," said the Innkeeper. "Can't hold you responsible for a full Huntsman's behavior. 'Least you're a pleasant lot to deal with."

"We'll try to keep an eye on him," Ruby promised.

"Two, if we can spare them," added Ren, "and do what we can to keep him from stirring up any trouble."

"I'd appreciate it," said the innkeeper. "Now then, best that we get you kids settled. I've got two rooms booked, one for each team. That good?"

"That's just fine," said Ruby.

"Right then, have everyone set their scrolls on the counter, and I'll transfer the keys over."

All eight of them did as they were bade, their scrolls beeping as they made contact with the counter.

"I've given ya adjoining rooms," said the innkeeper. "There's a door between them you can open, if ya want."

"Thank you," said Ruby, already looking up the room number, along with its location on the map of the inn that had downloaded with the key. She was sometimes amazed at how accustomed she had gotten to using her scroll, after spending most of her life without one.

"Good luck on your mission, kids," said the innkeeper congenially, "whatever it is."

"Hargrave didn't tell you what it was?" asked Ren.

"He said it ain't any 'o my business," replied the innkeeper curtly. "All I know is that we, sure as hell, didn't request one. All of a sudden, we get a notification, and a Huntsman out of the blue, sayin' he's got a mission here, and that was it."

Ruby and Ren exchanged frowns. The more they heard, the less they liked it.

"Anything you can tell me?" asked the innkeeper.

"We're not sure," said Ruby. "We need to talk with him first."

"We'll let you know what we can," added Ren.

"Best I can ask, I suppose," said the Innkeeper.

They left the desk behind them to get settled into their rooms. That was rather quick, amounting to little more to setting what luggage they'd brought with them on the beds. Opening the adjoining door, RYNB came into RASP's room, all eight of them finding seats, mostly perching on the edges of the two queen-sized beds that dominated the center of the room.

"This mission has 'shady' written all over it," commented Yang.

"We don't know if Hargrave has anything to do with the people who are after Ruby though," commented Weiss.

"Why wouldn't he though?" wondered Blake.

"It could be a red herring," explained Weiss. "We focus all our suspicion on him, and then the actual attempt to attack Ruby could come from a different direction entirely."

"He's certainly suspicious enough, from the sound of things," said Pyrrha.

"My point exactly," said Weiss.

"At this point, there's nothing left to do but meet up with him, and see what this mission actually is," said Ruby.

"Agreed," said Ren.

"Sienna said there weren't any White Fang operatives out here though," said Blake.

"That doesn't mean that Hargrave isn't going to look though," said Weiss sourly, "or that he isn't going to use extreme methods to do so." She looked pointedly at Blake. "Above all else, we can't allow him to learn that you've received inside information from the White Fang itself, or he's likely to accuse _you_ of being an active agent."

Blake nodded in understanding, her ears twitching beneath her bow. She wouldn't even let this man learn she was a faunus, if she could help it.

Ruby sighed, getting to her feet. "Well, I'm hungry, so we should head to the tavern anyway. We shouldn't put things off any longer than we have to, however unpleasant they might be."

"True," agreed Ren.

The eight of them headed out, getting ready to meet their Huntsman.

* * *

**A few people have picked up on my tendency for naming locations in Vale after references to Middle Earth. Aiwendil would be one of the more obscure ones, but one I figure would be pretty appropriate for a primarily-faunus settlement (although, given the reference, maybe it's actually a little racist, I dunno).**

**I get the feeling that some people are gonna be upset that Qrow and Yang are _still_ trying to get Taiyang to make up with Ruby, considering how the efforts of Ruby's friends to get her to make up with Yang went over for some of them. On that note, it's worth pointing out that the impetus of this is entirely upon _Taiyang_, in that he has to get over his own hangups, if he wants to make any progress, and there isn't any requirement for Ruby to accept him, even if he does manage to amend his attitude and behavior. That said, both Yang and Qrow have more experience with Taiyang's better qualities than Ruby ever has, so they'd want to at least _try_ for a scenario where he isn't completely locked out of their lives forever, and it isn't an attempt for Yang and Qrow to bring things back to the nonexistent "good old days" where they all lived happily together as one big, functional family.**


	110. Chapter 110

**Chapter 110:**

It was less than a five minute walk along one of the village's streets to reach the tavern, the innkeeper having given them directions. Opening the door, they found the place already fairly-crowded. Most of the customers were faunus, as was expected, and it wasn't surprising that many of the waitstaff were as well. However, there were a pair of humans moving about the floor, and one standing behind the bar.

Ruby sensed Faolan Hargrave before she saw him. His Aura showcased the vigor of an active Huntsman, albeit with that loose, cloudy quality that came from one who had never practiced Tempering. That itself wasn't unusual, her own Uncle Qrow sporting a similarly disordered Aura. Her friends' Auras had been similar, when she'd first met them, though continuous practice of the three exercises had smoothed them out considerably. The difference was that Faolan's Aura was rough and jagged, reminding Ruby, ironically, of Adam Taurus'. It wasn't the jagged, worn edge of a sword though, but the uneven, yet still-sharp, edges of broken glass, all drawn together in a complicated jumble, those edges jutting out in all directions.

Faolan's Aura was that of a man with a great deal of hostility and suspicion, one who had very little trust in his heart, especially in this place, where he was constantly surrounded by the kind of people he harbored nothing but hate and suspicion for, his Aura arrayed to keep them at a literal and metaphysical distance.

He was seated off to one side, parked near a corner, back to the wall, allowing him to survey almost the entire room at a single glance, hardly needing to move his head to take in the entire space. Most of his body was hidden beneath the cover of a large, black cloak, wrapped almost completely around him. The cloak sported a high collar, extending out to all sides, with a mask of black cloth coming up to cover the lower portion of Faolan's face, all the way up and over his nose. His eyes were so tightly narrowed that it was difficult for Ruby to get an idea of what color they were. So all she could see was pale skin, meeting a head of ghostly-white hair, long bangs falling down across the center of his face, running right between his eyes, while more hair spilled down around to the level of his ears, the lobes of which were also covered by that black mask of his.

Faolan's head jerked up at their approach, his eyes opening wide enough for Ruby to notice orbs of such a dark-brown that they were almost indistinguishable from his pupils. As she and her friends came close, she could feel that jagged, edgy Aura focusing on them, the edges and points that had been jutting out every which way now moving to orient in their direction. Faolan's mistrust fell upon them, making Ruby feel as though an actual knife-edge was being held to her throat.

Her friends felt similarly uneasy, though they hadn't yet refined their ability to sense Aura to feel the exact cause of it.

Faolan had clearly been expecting them, having taken a large table, with eight empty seats set around it. Ruby thought that was fairly rude, considering how popular the tavern was. She certainly would have rather arranged a meeting somewhere else, rather than inconvenience so many people for however long Faolan had been waiting for them. He hadn't even ordered anything to give the people running the place _some_ business, a single glass of plain water sitting in front of him, untouched.

"So...you lot are from Beacon," hissed Faolan, the voice issuing from under that mask raspy and hissing, making Ruby think of angry snakes.

"We are," said Ruby.

Faolan's arm; thin, but lined with taut, whipcord muscles; extended out from within his cloak between the flaps, which met along the centerline of his body. He gestured at the table. "Sit," he said simply. "We might as well get this out of the way quickly."

Ruby nodded, she and her friends taking their seats along the edge of the table. She and Ren took the seats directly across from the Huntsman, their teams sitting to either side of them. Unfortunately, Yang and Pyrrha were saddled with the rather unpleasant notion of taking the seats closest to the suspicious Huntsman. On top of that, rather than Nora sitting next to Ren, Blake had taken the seat closest to her leader, clearly intent on keeping as much distance between her and a Huntsman with a reputation for abusing faunus as much as possible.

A waitress, one of the two humans working the floor, approached their table. She was older than the other servers, sporting a plump figure and thick arms. Ruby could sense her unease, the woman having clearly already experienced Faolan's unpleasant nature, though she tried to keep her bearing as professional as possible.

"Now that your full party is here, would you like to order?" asked the woman.

Not wanting to keep her waiting, Ruby and her friends quickly looked over the menu, before giving the woman their selections, being sure to act as politely as possible. The waitress appeared suitably gratified by their manners, accepting that they did not share the Huntsman's attitude, taking down their orders quickly, before turning her gaze to Faolan.

"And you, sir...?"

Faolan's gaze shifted to the waitress, his silence making everyone at the table shift uncomfortably. Finally, he made his order, the woman jotting it down and hurrying away.

"Let's get to business," said Faolan, his tone curt. "I don't normally have interest in help, but with a village like this, it will be a boon to cover more ground."

"You're here to search for the White Fang, right?" asked Jaune, flinching when Faolan's narrowed eyes turned towards him.

"Yes," he said simply. "Frankly, I expect this to be a substantial job. A place with this many animals wandering about is certain to be a hotbed for that filth. Even if there aren't that many actual members, there are sure to be plenty of supporters and sympathizers for us to round up."

Blake bristled at Faolan's casual racism.

"Please don't call them that," said Ruby, facing Faolan with a firm gaze, her open confrontation drawing the surprise of her friends.

"What?" said Faolan flatly, not used to being confronted so directly.

"Faunus are _not_ animals," said Ruby, her tone firm and commanding, "so please do not call them that."

"It would seem that you are quite fond of those freaks," said Faolan, taunting her by switching which derogatory term he defaulted to.

"They aren't freaks either," said Ruby. "My adopted sister is a faunus, so I won't accept that kind of attitude from anyone, even if they're a full Huntsman."

"Need I remind you that you are my subordinates for the purposes of this operation," said Faolan. "If you are going to hinder me by quibbling over the feelings of a bunch of faunus, then I am within my rights to order you stay out of it, and keep you confined to your quarters. After which, Beacon will be notified of your insubordination."

"And I'll remind you that this is Vale," said Ren, interjecting. "Unlike Mistral, you won't have as much leeway to indulge in such casual racism, and you won't get off the hook so easily. On top of that, this is not Atlas either, so simply booking us for insubordination will not necessarily make Beacon side with you, especially when they receive the full report of the situation."

Ruby now felt as though Faolan's Aura was a _physical_ blade at her throat. It wasn't, the man being incapable of Manifesting his Aura in that manner, and his Semblance likely being something else. From the way Ren stiffened, she could tell he sensed Faolan's hostility at least, if not quite the way she did. For her part, Ruby remained calm, not allowing herself to tense at the threatening feeling she was getting from the man.

"Well...this is just wonderful," hissed Faolan. "It appears that Beacon has saddled me with a bunch of bleeding-heart animal-lovers. And here I thought that at least the Schnee would agree with me."

Weiss flinched at suddenly being brought into the conversation. "Fortunately, I've been raised better than that," she said. _ Despite Father's best efforts,_ she added silently to herself.

Faolan snorted softly. "You're all idiots," he grumbled. "If this is the attitude you're going to bring to this mission, then I hardly need your 'assistance'. The lot of you have no hope of conducting an effective interrogation, as biased as you clearly are."

"And you're not?" growled Yang, glaring at the man next to her, her eyes flickering red. "Sorry, but I can't help but know that you're plenty biased yourself, just in the other direction."

"It isn't bias if it's borne out," growled Faolan.

Their conversation paused as the waitress arrived with their drinks. She did her work quickly and silently, picking up on the tense atmosphere easily. She was gone a moment later, and Faolan picked up where he left off.

"These filthy mongrels will look for any excuse to spill human blood," snarled the Huntsman, his hand reaching up to pull the edge of his mask down.

Ruby gasped. She wasn't the only one, the sound being echoed by nearly everyone at the table, save Ren, who still jerked in surprise at the sight of what lay beneath that mask.

From the corners of his mouth ran jagged, dark-red scars, stretching all the way up to his ears. Not even reacting to their shock, Faolan reached out to take his drink, bringing it to his lips to sip it. "This is what you get when you trust those mutts," he said. "My own nanny was a faunus, when I was little. My family and I always treated her like a good dog and, in return, she killed my parents in their sleep, and gave me this."

_Considering that you treated her like a dog, that might have had something to do with it,_ thought Ruby, reminded of the brand underneath Adam Taurus' mask. Such scars worked both ways, she supposed. It was horrendous to think that someone had done something so heinous to a child. Perhaps that had colored Faolan's view of the world. But that didn't mean he was right, or that it excused his words and actions. She quickly schooled her expression to neutrality, prepared to stand her ground.

Setting his drink down, Faolan pulled his mask up. "Since it's clear that you brats don't have the proper attitude to do this, you're just going to have to stand aside and watch. I'll show you how to root out the White Fang in a place like this. In the end, results are what matter, and I have a reputation for delivering, which is why I was chosen for this mission."

"We'll watch," said Ruby.

"If you interfere, then I won't hesitate to put you down," said Faolan. "I've been given the authority to go about this as I see fit, directly from the Council of Vale."

Ruby tensed, her eyelids flickering. It was a shock to hear that the Council were authorizing this kind of operation, and employing this sort of man. It would imply that anti-faunus sentiment in Vale's government had gained considerable ground, likely as a response to the escalation in White Fang activity that Adam Taurus had been leading, before Sienna had come to Vale to take the reins. At least, that was how it would look on the surface.

However, Ruby could guess what the _true_ reason behind this unprecedented authority behind Faolan's actions was. It certainly lent weight to Roman's suggestion that the one behind her attempted abduction was a member of Vale's Council. This person had sent a Huntsman with a reputation for racist attitudes and extreme actions on a mission to a mostly-faunus settlement to root out alleged White Fang members, and then made it a mission that could accept students from Beacon.

But Ruby wasn't sure what their endgame was. Did this person behind this intend for her to be killed by Faolan? Sure, the Huntsman was unquestionably skilled and experienced. But against two full teams of Beacon students, the two top teams in their year no less, that was no guarantee of success. Then what was the point of all this? All Ruby was fairly certain of was that Faolan was not in on whatever plan this mystery-person had. This person had simply made the arrangement to put Faolan together with RASP and RYNB, and then let things proceed rather predictably from there.

"You can hide behind that if you want to," said Ruby. "But we won't allow any violence against the residents." Her friends nodded their support.

"We'll see," said Faolan. He pushed back his seat and stood up, leaving the table and heading for the exit, passing by the waitress, who stared after him.

"Did he just..." she asked, approaching the table.

"Yeah," said Ruby, slumping slightly, before giving the waitress a smile. "We'll pay for his dish too. Sorry about the trouble."

"At least he's gone," said the waitress, glaring after the man.

_But not for long,_ Ruby thought uneasily, wondering what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

Ozpin looked up as the doors to his office slid open. No one had informed him that they were visiting. Glynda had already called it a night, while Ironwood and Winter were continuing to work on arrangements for the Vytal Festival. At the moment, he had no idea who would be coming to see him at this hour. However, the soft clicks of a familiar apparatus helpfully informed him of just who was entering unannounced.

"Burning the midnight oil, I see," said Dr. Polendina, making his way into the room.

Ozpin took one look at the dark rings underneath the man's eyes and chuckled. "As are you," he noted. "What brings you here, Doctor?"

"I've got good news," said Pietro holding up his scroll. "I've finished it."

"The anti-virus!?" Ozpin jerked, his spine stiffening, eyes widening in excitement.

"Correct," said Pietro cheerfully. "This lovely little program will root out our virus, tracking it through every system it's been uploaded onto. On top of that, it will also allow us to see the data-flow, which will enable us to determine just _who_ has been using that virus to tamper with your systems."

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Ozpin, genuinely thrilled with this information. It was more than enough to just once again be assured of information security. But it was an unexpected boon that Pietro would also be able to track down who was making use of the virus' capabilities.

Certainly, Cinder had been one of them. Being dead, she wasn't much of a concern anymore. The real concern was that there might be others of Salem's cabal out there, those who could, and would, still be able to use this virus to wreak havoc.

"I've already uploaded it to the Atlesian local-network," explained Pietro. "James wanted his systems proofed against the virus as soon as possible."

"A good idea,' said Ozpin firmly. "How long will it take you to install it on our CCT?"

"No time at all," said Pietro, pulling out his scroll. Walking forward, he placed it onto the desk. There was a flickering pulse, flashing outward from the scroll, across the surface of the desk, signifying transfer of data from the device.

"The anti-virus uses the same infiltration vectors, and travels through the same channels as the actual virus," explained Pietro. "It will ride the signal used to control the virus to immediately root it out on every infected system, with us not needing to wait for them to interface with the CCT again."

"Perfect," said Ozpin.

Pietro brought up a holographic interface over the desk. It showcased several things, including a map of the antivirus spreading through the affected systems and devices, looking almost like a growing constellation. At the same time, more data was scrolling alongside the map, with a graph appearing underneath.

"What is it doing?" asked Ozpin.

"It's compiling a history of the control signal's usage," said Pietro. "That will tell us when the signal was last utilized, who was using it, and what they were using it for."

"Excellent."

Pietro' eyes narrowed, watching as the information scrolled to a stop. "There we go," he said. Tapping the screen, he brought up the data on who had been controlling the virus. "There are only two known users at this time," he said.

"Cinder Fall," noted Ozpin. "She has already been dealt with."

"And Arthur Watts," said Pietro, his eyes narrowing with distaste. "It would seem I was right."

"I don't suppose your anti-virus can tell us where the control signal was used _from_?" asked Ozpin.

"As a matter of fact..." Pietro tapped the map, which zoomed in on a portion of Vale, focusing on a particular building.

"The not-so-good doctor's last access point was recorded here," said Pietro.

"_Stonecutter Stocks and Bonds,_" said Ozpin, looking up the business that resided at the designated address.

"I was expecting a hotel or apartment complex of some kind," mused Pietro. "I can't imagine that he's actually all that interested in stocks and bonds."

_Well, Salem's human and faunus agents _do_ require supporting infrastructure, including funding,_ noted Ozpin, _though I don't think _that's_ what this is a case of._

"Actually, I believe the answer is in the name," said Ozpin. "Another name for a stonecutter is a stone_mason_."

"I'm not sure I understand," said Pietro.

"For now, that's fine," said Ozpin. "Thank you for all your hard work, Doctor. Get some rest."

"Gladly," said Pietro, stretching and yawning. "Best of luck with your schemes, Ozpin."

He departed. Ozpin waited until the elevator doors had closed, before letting out a breath. It was beginning to come together: the kidnapping attempt on Ruby, Roman's theory about who was behind it, and now Salem's next plan.

It was apparent to him. Salem's replacement for Cinder had moved in, and was now making inroads, possibly with Councilman Ayers, through their mutual enemy in Ruby Rose. Mason Ayers, and whoever worked for him, probably had no idea of Arthur Watts' true allegiance and aims. Ozpin could only hope that they would be able to put a stop to their current plan.

He made a mental note to contact several people, come morning. He had a feeling that time was short.

* * *

"The White Fang, huh?" The blacksmith stroked a finger along his curling ram horns. "Can't say I've thought about them all that much lately. They've been kicking up a huge fuss in Vale, I hear."

"Are you certain you haven't done _more_ than just 'hear'?" prodded Faolan, shifting to make the hem of his black cloak brush against the floor. "After all, the White Fang would have need of tools and weapons. I'm sure they could give you good business."

"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed the blacksmith, his gruff voice lowering with anger. "I don't deal with terrorists. Bad for business in the long-run. I'm not trained in gunsmithing anyways. I could forge a good knife. But if someone wanted a sword or some other weapon, they'd need to take it elsewhere."

"Is that so?" hissed Faolan. "Would you object to me taking a closer look at your wares?"

"Go ahead," grunted the blacksmith, glaring as Faolan stepped past the counter and entered the workshop. His eyes moved to the two people, who'd been standing behind the Huntsman.

Ren and Ruby both met the blacksmith's gaze wordlessly, giving him the most apologetic expressions they were capable of, Ruby even bowing her head to him.

The blacksmith cracked a small smile, showing them that he didn't hold them responsible for Faolan's behavior.

A loud clatter from the back of the shop made them all jump, the blacksmith rushing through the door, Ruby and Ren on his heels, already worried about what they would see, when they entered the room.

A rack of farming implements, including hoes, rakes, and pruning shears had been knocked aside, Faolan bending over to pound a fist against the wall behind it.

"Oi! What do you think yer doin'?" demanded the blacksmith, stomping towards the Huntsman.

The varying edges of Aura that Faolan arranged around himself all focused in the smith's direction, bringing the burly man up short, not even aware why he'd stopped, merely halted in his tracks by the visceral sense of danger Faolan exuded.

"I'm checking the quality of your walls," said Faolan, as though it were the simplest thing. "You never know when a building like this might be sporting...spaces that haven't been accounted for."

"Huh?"

"I think he means he's checking for secret compartments," Ren told the blacksmith softly.

"The hell!?" shouted the blacksmith, rounding on Faolan. "Just where do you get off rummaging about my shop like you own the place?"

"I have my authority from the Council of Vale," declared Faolan simply. He pulled back from the wall, drawing up to a height of six-and-a-half-feet, looking down on the blacksmith with his narrowed eyes. "A lawful citizen would be _happy_ to furnish all the proof I require that he is not involved in any...unsavory...business."

"And an investigator better have a warrant, when he shows up at my place of business and talks about searching through the walls," the blacksmith growled back. "I ain't standing for your bull. Get out of my shop, and don't come back, 'less you've got the proper documentation."

"You're interfering in my investigation," said Faolan, his voice dropping down to an angry hiss. "I am more than prepared to deal with stubborn fools, like you."

The folds of Faolan's cloak ruffled slightly. However, he froze. Ruby and Ren had stepped past the blacksmith, positioning themselves in front of the Huntsman, ready to stop him at a moment's notice.

"That's enough," said Ren.

"We're leaving," added Ruby.

"Since when do a pair of brats tell _me_ how to run _my_ investigation?" asked Faolan, his hostility focusing on them next.

"If you persist in trying to search without a warrant, we will report you," said Ren.

"And you'd also get booked for assaulting a civilian," added Ruby.

The three of them stood motionless for a long moment, the tension in the air rising. Finally, Faolan moved, walking to brush past them, as well as the blacksmith, walking back out the door, and out through the front of the shop.

The blacksmith leaned against the wall, panting softly. "I think you kids saved my life," he confessed.

"We're sorry about him," said Ruby.

"From the look of things, you kids are just along for the ride," said the Blacksmith.

"Thank you for your cooperation," said Ruby, bowing to the blacksmith again.

"We'd best go and see if we can head off the next incident," added Ren.

"Good luck to ya," said the Blacksmith, waving as Ruby and Ren left his shop.

Faolan was already well down the street, quickly walking to his next destination, Ruby and Ren having to run to catch up to him.

His automatic assumption of the guilt of the faunus in the settlement aside, there was indeed logic behind Faolan's actions. If the White Fang were looking for support, that could come in several forms. Sure, recruiting fighters was a top priority for them. But they would also want people who could supply their needs: smiths to forge weapons, farmers to provide food, and merchants to transport it all. Therefore, it stood to reason that, if they were going to look for evidence of White Fang activity in Aiwendil, they would want to investigate the places and people they might do business with.

Now if only he wasn't undermining that logic by insinuating accusations towards everyone he happened to question.

Ruby and Ren had opted to accompany Faolan. Having both their teams hanging around the Huntsman would have made his "investigations" all the more awkward. So they had divided different aspects of the mission among themselves. Jaune and Pyrrha were checking with the local militia. Yang and Nora were checking the warehouses used to hold produce being readied for shipment. Blake and Weiss were investigating around the exterior for any suspicious signs of someone entering and leaving the settlement that couldn't be accounted for.

In the case of Blake and Weiss, it was best to assign them the tasks that kept them from engaging with the townsfolk as much as possible. The last thing they wanted was to make a bad situation worse by having a _Schnee_ asking questions about the White Fang in a mostly-faunus settlement. Likewise, Blake's bow was an issue. Some faunus were easily able to recognize another faunus hiding their features, as had been the case with Sun. For Blake, the risk of being outed had the potential to turn a substantial portion of the settlement against her, as they might take her decision to hide her faunus traits as cowardice or betrayal. But the risk was twofold. After all, if Faolan found out that there was a faunus hidden amongst the Beacon students who'd taken this mission, there was every chance that their already tenuous relationship with him could take a turn for the hostile...especially if Blake's past as a former-member of the White Fang came out.

Of course, this meant that Ruby and Ren were saddled with the unpleasant job of keeping Faolan from overstepping his bounds, which was far from easy. The man was clearly used to getting his way, throwing his weight around, and not getting called on it. He also wasn't about to allow a pair of students, mere children in his opinion, rein him in, at least not easily. At the moment, Ruby figured that Faolan's prioritizing his "mission" took precedence over starting a fight with them. However, only time would tell how long he would tolerate their interference, before he finally took direct action against them. Then Ruby and her friends would see how they'd fare against a Huntsman with six-years' worth of experience under his belt.

Ruby didn't doubt that it would come to blows at some point or another. This mission had clearly been engineered to be a Dust-keg. The Council member who was after her might have been hoping that Faolan would kill her, though Ruby wondered if it was really necessary for them to arrange such a roundabout and contrived situation for it.

Seeing their next destination looming up, the offices of a local shipping company, Ruby and Ren swapped glances, steeling themselves for their next session of keeping Faolan from causing a row.

* * *

"God! What an awful day." Ruby flopped back on her mattress, spreading her arms as her cloak dissolved into petals.

"Sounds like things were rough," said Jaune, brushing his fingers across Ruby's forehead, making her emit a pleased hum.

"Hargrave is just one step away from straight out attacking someone..." commented Ren, from where he was lying, his head resting on Nora's lap, "...perpetually."

"Want me and Nora to deal with him tomorrow?" offered Yang.

"That'd be nice, but...no thanks," said Ruby, giving her sister a wry smile.

"If we left the two of you with him, I think it wouldn't take a full hour before the two of you sent him flying over the wall," added Ren, "probably with both legs broken."

"He'd deserve it," muttered Nora.

"He probably would," agreed Weiss. "But we need to make sure we do everything we can to keep this situation from devolving into violence."

"Especially _inside_ the settlement," added Pyrrha.

Everyone else nodded. There was no denying that Huntsmen and Huntresses, even students, were powerful. The issue with that was that their strength was _not_ shared by everything around them; including civilians and manmade structures. Getting into a fight with Faolan would put the entire village at risk, simply by virtue of collateral damage. Therefore, it was for the best to do everything they could to avoid a fight, but only to the extent that they didn't allow Faolan to run roughshod over the residents in his paranoid search for White Fang agents that weren't present.

Ruby paused, taking a second to use her Extension to ensure that they didn't have any eavesdroppers, before turning to Blake. "You said that Khan told you the White Fang doesn't have any presence here, right?"

"That's right," said Blake, already cluing into the fact that Ruby had checked for anyone listening in. "Though...just because that's what she said doesn't mean it's necessarily true. Seeing as I'm not a member anymore, she isn't exactly under any obligation to tell me the truth."

"Would she have reason to lie?" wondered Jaune.

"Not that I know of," said Blake. "She sounded genuinely upset that someone was actually investigating Aiwendil. The fact that the mission is clearly a set-up for us was actually something of a relief to her."

"So there's absolutely nothing that Faolan could use as an excuse," said Weiss.

"I wouldn't say that," said Ren, his eyes narrowing angrily. "If there's one thing I'm sure of, after spending the day with him, it's that, if he doesn't find any excuse to take action, he'll _invent_ one."

Ruby nodded in grave agreement. "He's not going to let little things like 'due process' get in the way. It's not even specifically the White Fang. He has it out for faunus in general. Hunting the White Fang just happens to be a convenient excuse for him."

"Well, it's not like he could destroy the entire settlement," Pyrrha pointed out, only to flinch as Ruby and Ren's faces went pale.

"I'm worried he might try," Ruby admitted.

"As am I," said Ren. "Depending on the situation, there is a great deal of damage he could do, even with us trying to stop him."

"We need to keep a close eye on him," added Ruby firmly.

* * *

The next morning, Ruby stirred, awakened by a terrible sense of foreboding. Sitting up, pulling out of Jaune's arms in the process, she immediately engaged her Extension, her awareness spreading throughout nearly the entirety of the inn's rooms. There was no immediate threat. However, sweat began to gather on her brow as she immediately realized the _absence_ of a particular presence.

Faolan wasn't in his room, or anywhere else in the inn for that matter.

_Crap! Where did he go?_

"Ruby...? What's wrong?" Awakened by her sudden movements, Jaune sat up, yawning sleepily, before sitting up.

"Hargrave's gone," said Ruby.

"That's...not good," said Jaune, her urgent tone and the import of her words cutting through the sleepy haze clouding his mind.

"We need to find him quickly," said Ruby, getting up, already gathering up her clothes. There was no time to shower. For all she knew, Faolan could already be about, drumming up an excuse to kill someone...or several someones.

Her movements awoke Weiss and Pyrrha. Ruby answered their questions as quickly as possible, while getting ready to change in the bathroom. However, they all froze when they heard a crackling, staticky sound in the air. It came, not just from speakers stationed throughout the town, but also their own scrolls.

"An emergency broadcast?" Pyrrha picked her scroll up off the table.

"_Attention all residents,_" hissed a voice from the speakers and scrolls, slightly distorted by static, but familiar enough for them to recognize it immediately, "_I have declared a state of emergency for the village of Aiwendil. All passage through the gates is hereby denied. Residents will be required to remain in their homes until clearance is given. Any who are caught outside will be taken into custody._"

_"What the freaking hell?!"_ exclaimed Yang's voice from the adjoining room. A second later, the door to RYNB's room swung open, a furious Yang storming through, eyes crimson. "Who the heck does this jerk think he is?"

"He can't get away with this, can he?" asked Jaune incredulously, staring at his own scroll.

"I'm afraid he can," said Weiss, her voice grave. "A Huntsman on mission is permitted to declare a state of emergency. Their authority supersedes that of the local government and military."

"But that's only in the event of Grimm attacks," protested Blake, tying her bow around her ears. "This is a clear abuse."

"There's some...ambiguity on that," said Weiss reluctantly. "If he has sufficient evidence, he could declare such a state in order to keep White Fang agents from escaping."

"But he doesn't, because there _aren't_ any," declared Blake.

"But that can't be determined until _after_ the fact," said Ren. "An investigation after the mission will indicate that the declaration was an abuse. But that doesn't do anything _now_."

"_We_ have to do something," said Ruby.

"Just what is he trying to do?" asked Yang. "He can't really expect this to help his investigation."

"He's not worried about investigating anymore," said Ruby, scowling. "He's deliberately trying to stir up hostility."

"If anyone protests, he'll just accuse them of trying to impede his investigation," said Blake, already getting where this was going, "and then he'll say that it's evidence that they're White Fang members or sympathizers, and use that to take action against them."

"Which could be lethal, considering his attitude," added Ren darkly.

"Which will only make the residents more hostile, which will give him more excuses," said Pyrrha.

"We need to stop him!" declared Nora.

"How?" asked Weiss.

"We'll work on that as we go," said Ruby. "Get dressed everybody. We need to get this under control, before Hargrave makes things even worse."

Another crackle came from every speaker and scroll in the village. "_I am sure that you are all wondering about the reason for this. After all, the village is not being pressed by Grimm. Well...the answer is simple..._

"_Within this village are sympathizers and supporters of those vicious, animalistic terrorists, the White Fang. My mission here is to smoke them out, wherever they are hiding. Therefore, no one will be allowed to enter or leave this village, or move freely, until they are found._

"_At this moment, _I_ am the law here. To act in defiance of the law is to declare your support for the White Fang. After all, if you are all lawful citizens, then your duty is clear...and you will have no issue with following these orders._"

"That bastard!" exclaimed Yang furiously.

"What does he think he's doing?" wondered Jaune.

"He's actively stirring up hostility," said Ren. "He _wants_ people to get angry at his words. He's hoping that they'll challenge him. Then he'll have an excuse to accuse them of being White Fang supporters."

"He can't actually think he'll get away with this," said Blake. "With an entire village as witness to this abuse of power, there's no way it won't get reported to the Council."

Ruby swallowed, her entire body going still. "Unless...he has a plan for the entire village," she said.

Everyone else stared at her, a chill going down their spines at what she was insinuating.

"He wouldn't..." whispered Nora, hugging herself tightly.

"I think he would," said Ruby, her mind going back to the previous night in the tavern, and seeing what lay behind Faolan's mask. The man wasn't all that different from Adam, using missions as an excuse for getting back at the entire race that he had determined had wronged him. She realized now that, from the moment he had entered this village, he would not leave the faunus who lived here in peace, determined to inflict his punishment on every last one of them, and everyone who sympathized and supported them, including the humans who lived here as well.

They couldn't allow Faolan to have his way, of course, so they needed to get ready, and be prepared to fight him, if it truly came to that. However strong Faolan might have been, whatever authority he might have wielded, they could hopefully work around that, and stop this before any real bloodshed began.

They got dressed and armed as quickly as they could, rushing down to the lobby. The innkeeper was there, along with a few other members of the inn's staff. They were talking in heated tones.

"...can't keep us here like this! We have rights!" one of the maids was saying.

"Haven't you seen him already?" asked the innkeeper. "That man doesn't give a damn about rights! Faunus are just animals to him. He won't think twice about killing a few of us to make a point."

They turned upon seeing the two teams of students enter the room. "Do you know what he's up to?" asked the innkeeper, looking worriedly at Ruby and Ren.

"We have an idea," said Ruby.

"But it's not good," added Ren.

"What should we do?" asked the innkeeper.

"For now, stay inside," said Ruby. "Hargrave is looking for an excuse. He'll 'make an example' of the first faunus to cross his path, if anyone goes outside where he can see them."

"What are you going to do?" asked the maid, who'd been protesting seconds before.

"We're going after him," said Ren. "We're going to put a stop to this."

"And we'll beat him down, if we have to," added Yang, smacking her fists together.

Ruby rested gentle fingers against the innkeeper's arm. "We're going to do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe. I'm sorry about this."

The innkeeper gave her a relieved smile. "You kids I can believe in," he said. "Makes me wish that more people were like you."

"Well, we'll do our best with the people we have," said Jaune, the others nodding their agreement.

"Let's go," said Ruby, ushering the eight of them out the door.

"Where is Hargrave right now?" asked Pyrrha.

"If he's coopting the emergency broadcast system, he must be at the militia headquarters," declared Weiss. "That would be where the system is run from."

They broke into a swift run, carrying them through empty streets. Here and there, they saw curious or upset faunus peering out of windows, or through open doors. It seemed that, for the moment, everyone was either wise enough to avoid, or to intimidated to, risk stepping outside, though several people waited at the threshold of open doors, as though they were considering stepping outside, one or two positioned, ready to extend a toe out, as though testing the water of a pool for temperature.

Ruby's initial instinct was to warn them off it. She had little doubt that she and her friends' efforts to rein in Faolan wouldn't end peacefully. She was all but certain that a fight would be the result of this. The fewer people were in the streets, the less she would have to worry about collateral damage or innocent bystanders getting hurt. On the other hand; with a human Huntsman already on the broadcast system, throwing around blanket accusations about the White Fang, in a settlement of faunus who had made it clear they didn't care for the White Fang; many of these faunus might not react well to _another_ human telling them what to do, especially when it was the same thing their current antagonist was ordering of them. In the end, Ruby could only hope to place her trust in their sense of caution.

The militia headquarters came up. It was built right into the palisade, an extension of a gatehouse, seeing as it was situated adjacent to the largest gate in the settlement. It was here that the members of the village's militia stored their weapons and armor. The building was fairly large, extending inward from the wall.

Bursting through the door, Ruby came skidding to a stop, her eyes flashing around for any sign of Faolan. However, he was no longer there. Instead, what she saw were two members of the village's militia, one completely unconscious, the other keeping a hand clamped over his side to stem blood streaming through his fingers.

"Jaune!" snapped Ruby, jerking her head in the direction of the bleeding man, while she herself stooped towards the unconscious one.

Jaune nodded, the two of them setting to work to heal the injured militia members. Jaune rested his hand over the one his patient was holding on his side, the white light of his Aura flowing gently past it and into the wound. The man sighed in relief, his hand falling away to reveal a deep cut, which was quickly coming back together at Jaune's touch.

For her part, Ruby used her Aura to check the condition of her patient, able to sense the knot where something blunt had connected with his skull, and the mild bruising of the brain caused by the hit that had knocked him out. Frowning, Ruby focused all her attention on dealing with the man's injury, trusting her friends to watch her back. Head trauma required very delicate control to treat. Luckily, this was something fairly mild, so it was within her abilities to heal. Jaune's control might be fine enough to handle this, he had healed a similar injury to himself before. But it was best for Ruby to put her greater practice in using the healing arts to use, in this scenario.

Her patient sighed softly. Ruby could have brought him back to consciousness, but chose to leave him, and let him rest. They had the other man to tell them what had happened, and _he_ was the one who probably held the most pertinent information.

Pulling out of her trance-like state, Ruby noted that Jaune was helping the other man to his feet. Ruby carefully laid her patient out, motioning for Weiss to borrow the cushion of a nearby chair to rest his head on.

"What happened?" asked Pyrrha, joining Jaune in supporting the other man. "Where's Hargrave."

"Already gone, the bastard," growled the militia member, his thin labrador tail lashing behind him in agitation. "He came busting in, demanding to use the broadcast system. My partner demanded to know why, and got smacked in the back of the head for his trouble. I tried to stop him, and he stabbed me, then left me for dead."

"Do you know where he went?" asked Ruby.

"Wish I did," said the man. "The bastard synched the broadcast system with his scroll, so he can use it from anywhere in town now."

"Can you take back control from here?" asked Ren.

"Think so," said the man, motioning for Pyrrha and Jaune to help him to a console, its gray, metal construction putting it at odds with the wooden decor of the building. "He was in a hurry, so I doubt he had time to put a lock on the system."

"We're going after him," said Ruby, rolling up a chair for the man to sit on. "If you can take back control of the broadcast system, you need to make an announcement."

"What?" asked the militia member.

"Tell people to stay inside," said Ruby. "Advise them to keep away from doors and windows. If they have a basement or cellar, they should hide there. Otherwise, stay low to the floor, and behind furniture, if they can."

"You think this is gonna get ugly?" asked the militia member, bringing up the holographic keyboard in front of the console's screen, and typing in commands.

"We're pretty sure of it at this point," said Weiss irritably.

"And, if it's a fight involving Huntsmen, there could be collateral damage," added Pyrrha.

"Right," said the militia member.

"Did you see his weapon?" asked Ren.

The man nodded. "Looked like a spear of some kind. I barely got a glimpse of it. It flashed out of that cloak of his like lightning."

Ruby nodded, having already figured that Faolan was hiding his weapon beneath his cloak. A collapsable spear of some kind fit with what she had sensed. Furthermore, she had sensed the presence of multiple Dust-types, so his weapon probably had variable armaments, similar to Weiss' rapier.

"We need to find him before someone decides to test his ban on going outside," said Weiss, looking around frantically.

Ruby nodded. Stepping outside, she took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Building her Aura within her, she spent several extra seconds condensing it, before Projecting it outwards, her Extension sweeping out much farther than she normally used it for, farther than she'd ever reached before, trying to encompass as much of the village from her position as she could. Being near the wall, she directed its shape to sweep inwards from her current position. By narrowing its shape, she could extend her reach even farther.

She was bombarded by the sense of her surroundings, her mind's eye building a virtual map of the buildings her Aura passed over, as well as taking in the details of the people hiding within them. So far, the streets remained empty, but Ruby sensed several open doors, so that was only a temporary situation.

Her Aura swept along, stretching out farther. Sweat beaded on her brow as Ruby fought to keep her awareness stretching out as well, fighting to keep her Aura from simply dissipating into the air. Her head began to ache, as she was swamped by the sheer volume of information her Extension was gathering.

Finally, she found Faolan. As always, she sensed his Aura first. Those myriad jagged edges were all oriented in a single direction, an indication that Faolan's hostility had found a focus. That focus became apparent less than a second later, as Ruby's awareness brushed across a figure standing before the murderous Huntsman, a single figure poised defiantly before the man.

Abruptly, Ruby sensed Faolan lashing out, his weapon extending out from beneath his cloak to strike the person in front of him. They collapsed, and Ruby gasped in horror. Her control flagged, and she knew she didn't have the time to check the condition of Faolan's victim. Instead, she focused on drawing her Aura back into herself, before she lost it.

When her full awareness returned to herself, she found her friends staring at her expectantly.

"You okay?" asked Yang worriedly. "You looked like you were concentrating really hard."

Ruby nodded, giving Yang a weak smile, before wiping the sweat from her brow. "I've never reached out that far before," she confessed. "But I found Hargrave. We need to hurry, he's already attacked someone."

"Oh God!" whispered Blake, eyes wide with horror.

Then Faolan, as he was so adept at doing, made the situation worse. His voice crackled out from their scrolls and the speakers throughout the town. Whatever the militia member was doing, he hadn't done it fast enough to prevent another announcement. "_It seems that you mutts need a proper demonstration of what happens to those who disobey my orders. Very well. The restriction on going outside is now lifted...temporarily. All of you are to assemble in the central plaza. There, I will gladly demonstrate just what happens if you disobey me._"

Ruby let out a breath of relief, even as her body tensed.

"Why do you look so relieved?" asked Weiss critically.

"It's good news and bad news," said Ruby. "The good news is that the person he attacked is still alive."

"Okay...so what's the bad news?" asked Nora.

Ren understood quickly enough. "The bad news is that he left his victim alive for a specific reason. And now he's calling the entire village to the central plaza."

"So there can only be one thing he's planning," said Blake, her eyes widening in horror.

"We're going to an execution," agreed Ruby. "Let's hurry."

* * *

**Faolan Hargrave: Faolan is an Irish name, meaning "Little Wolf". Rather ironic, given his attitude. Hargrave is English, derived from the Old English words meaning "Gray" and "Grove".**

**Faolan is an expy of the character, Hyoga, from my new favorite Manga/Anime series, _Dr. Stone_. Like Hyoga, Faolan's mask covers an actual scar, one that was inflicted upon him in his childhood, in this case. He's also clearly a bigger and much more open asshole than Hyoga was. Given that he's largely meant to be a throwaway antagonist for this arc, he's a character I had a lot of fun playing with, especially since he also winds up being the human equivalent to Adam Taurus, a lovely comparison that would undoubtedly piss him off.**


	111. Chapter 111

**Chapter 111:**

* * *

**Apologies for the _way_ late update. I have no excuse, honestly. I was all set up to post this chapter this morning, before leaving for work, and...I completely blanked on it. I'll try not to let that happen again.**

* * *

Aiwendil's central plaza was a relatively simple affair. As the name suggested, it was located almost smack-dab in the village's center. The town hall, the village's center of government, was situated on one side, while the rest was ringed with a variety of buildings, some of them shops, others residences. In the middle of the plaza, an arrangement of paving stones had been set into the ground, forming a circular stage of sorts, with more paving stones radiating out from it, like the spokes of a wheel, extending out into the village's streets.

It was relatively simple and unadorned, the kind of low-cost scenery a settlement of this level would boast. This plaza might be used for festivals or regular events, possibly bazaars. Its relatively unremarkable appearance would allow it to be decked out in whatever decor suited the occasion, while also enabling the village to keep the costs of maintaining it down. Some settlements could afford things like manicured lawns or beds of bright flowers. But they were generally larger and more affluent. The people of Aiwendil liked to keep things simple.

The ultimate crux of that was that everyone would have an unobstructed view of what Faolan was about to do, the black-cloaked Huntsman standing beside a young faunus, who was stuck in a kneeling position. From where she entered, Ruby could already see the boy's blackened eye, where he'd probably received a hit from the butt of Faolan's spear. He couldn't have been more than twelve, sporting a head of shaggy, black hair, which itself appeared to be his faunus-trait.

Faolan's narrowed eyes immediately focused on Ruby and her friends as they burst into the plaza. "Ah...if it isn't the bleeding hearts."

"Let him go!" said Ruby, skidding to a stop a short distance away.

Instead, Faolan's hand emerged from within his cloak to cuff the boy in the back of the head, sending him lurching forward to plant his hands on the stones to keep from being sent sprawling. "This disobedient runt was blatantly violating the curfew I ordered," declared Faolan. "That makes him guilty. Now, I will have the whole village on-hand to see me dispense justice."

"This isn't justice, and you know it!" Jaune shouted, his hand already reaching for his sword.

"Careful," said Faolan simply, his hand emerging from within his cloak again, this time to grab the poor boy by his hair, hefting him up. From within the cloak, Faolan's other hand emerged, this one clasping his weapon.

At first glance, it appeared to be a knife with a long, double-sided blade, possessing a chiseled tip at its end. The handle appeared to be the same length as the blade. Ruby's senses were able to pick out the hidden segments, which would extend out to make the knife into a full spear, the blade of which Faolan now rested against the boy's throat.

"I would hate to abort my demonstration prematurely, because you forced me to kill this animal ahead of schedule. Of course, seeing as he's going to die either way, it shouldn't matter to you, should it? So attack, force me to kill the boy now, so I won't be able to kill him later. Go ahead..."

There was no response to his words. Jaune's hand had closed around Crocea Mors' handle, but he'd made no attempt to draw it. Instead, he'd looked on with a stony expression. The others responses were the same, all of them ready to attack, but none of them willing to do so, as it would risk Faolan slitting the boy's throat, right then and there.

Even with his mouth covered by his mask, the crinkling at the corners of the Huntsman's eyes betrayed his smirk. "As I thought," he said dismissively. "You bleeding hearts are so obsessed with being on the side of 'right' that you won't take the obvious option. You'll stand back and wait, prolonging this mongrel's suffering, right up until I kill him when I said I would. It's amazing how kindness can be so cruel."

Ruby frowned, her eyes narrowing. She'd allowed her own cloak to enfold her body to hide her movements, and had been slowly inching Akaibara out of her sheath. She was carefully gauging distances, judging angles, and eyeing her approach. She had no intent of abandoning the boy to his fate. However, timing was everything. Carefully, she caught Jaune's eye with a sideways glance. His own face was questioning. But, upon seeing her determined look, he nodded slightly, and refocused his attention forwards.

Already, other residents of the village were funneling through the streets and into the plaza, forming into a crowd that was gradually surrounding Hargrave, as well as the two teams of Beacon Students. Several villagers appeared to appreciate the fact that, from their disposition against each other, the students were on the villagers' side. As such, quite a few of them formed up behind RYNB and RASP; some as a show of support for the people clearly trying to rein in the actions of a power-mad, racist Huntsman; others because they figured that it would be safest to hide behind the people best-equipped to defend them.

Faolan's head turned to take in the growing crowd, his contempt for them evident in his manner, though he never allowed his attention to wander fully away from Ruby and her friends.

"It seems like _some_ of you know how to obey an order," he said, projecting his voice without seeming to be shouting. "That is good. Unlike this mongrel brat, most of the rest of you seem to know the value of obedience."

"I was getting medicine for my mom!" protested the boy. "She needed a refill, and she was out, and-!"

"Silence!" snapped Faolan, his collapsed spear flickering out to open a cut along the boy's cheek, prompting a the boy's mouth to snap shut with a pained whimper. "Don't think your lies can fool me. You deliberately disobeyed my orders, which makes you a White Fang sympathizer. I'll be doing the whole of Remnant a favor by ridding it of your life."

Ruby growled under her breath. Even though she had the best knowledge of the situation, and what to do about it, her restraint was still hanging by a thread. She couldn't stand letting this disgusting man go on berating and spouting out racist ideologies.

What she _couldn't_ understand was Hargrave's endgame. Sure, he was making a show out of his plan to kill the poor boy. But he couldn't have possibly expected it to go in his favor afterwards. No doubt there were quite a few people here who would be cowed by the brutal display, and the knowledge that the power and skill of a fully-trained Huntsman was well beyond their own. However, many of them wouldn't be. And even if he were capable of handling all the people who came at him, he was still up against two teams of Beacon students, who wouldn't give him any quarter, once he removed the safety of his own shield. He was confident, overconfident even. But Ruby could tell that his assessment of his own skills wasn't so ridiculously high that he'd give himself odds against defeating eight students, even if they were all first-years.

Once again, Faolan's narrowed eyes surveyed the gathered villagers. "I will be perfectly honest. The sight of all of you disgusts me. You mangy, flea-ridden scum imagine yourselves to be equal to us humans. From the very beginning, you were clearly born to serve us, your blood and forms tainted, impure by virtue of the base animal parts melded to your bodies."

Angry rumblings came from the assembled crowd. Ruby couldn't blame them. Faolan's words were the worst of racist rhetoric, practically designed to fire up faunus anger and indignation. It was almost as though he _wanted_ them to get angry...

_Oh no!_ Her mind finally caught up with her reasoning, and she realized what Faolan was going for.

In front of her, he merely continued his rant. "You think that you won parity with us, through your filthy little revolution, even though we were so generous as to finally give you a land of your own. Yet your greedy, grasping ambitions would not be satisfied with even that momentous token of goodwill. When we sought to rid ourselves of the blight of crime caused by your presence in our Kingdoms, and ensure that you, and you alone, were saddled with dealing with the problems that arise from your own base nature; you rose against us, because you will never be happy, never rise above your greed.

"And worse still are your enablers, the humans who have chosen to live among you, and treat you as though you were equal; humans like these brats from Beacon, raised and trained to believe that faunus lives are equal to that of humans. The lot of you, so long as you allow these beasts to run amuck, are just as low and base as they are."

"That is why demonstrations like _this_ are needed. So long as you animals continue to reach above your station, you are _all_ supporters of the White Fang, and their disruptive activities. Now, I shall kill this welp, and show you what happens when you fools think better of yourselves. Afterwards, you will return promptly to your homes, and await your judgment. If you are obedient, then I will overlook your collective arrogance, and I will _only_ kill those I deem _active_ supporters of the White Fang."

"Oh that does it!" snapped Yang, slamming her gauntlets together. "You're going _down_, you jackass!"

Faolan's spear-blade immediately came to rest across the throat of the poor boy he'd been menacing earlier. "Are you sure you wish to jostle me so?" he asked teasingly.

Yang growled, baring angry teeth, but remaining where she was.

"See?" crowed Faolan. "Your sympathy for the faunus makes you weak. Here you stand, someone you've deemed an enemy right before your eyes, yet you're powerless to take action. _This_ is what comes of consorting with such trash."

Ruby shifted a tiny bit, the motion hidden by her cloak. Faolan's attention was currently focused on Yang, and Ruby was on his periphery.

There wouldn't be a better moment than this. Faolan was distracted, however slightly, and he was within range of her advance and attack. Her memory of that time in Barrowdown flashed back to her. She remembered the child, the bandit holding a gun to her head, that one chance to do it right, with the child's life being the cost of her potential failure. This moment was much the same...yet different...

...Different, because Ruby knew, however quick she was, however hard she tried...there was no way she could succeed the way she had back then.

But that didn't prompt her to hesitate.

All Faolan perceived was a minuscule flicker in the corner of his vision. His head whipped in Ruby's direction, only to see her already within striking distance, red cloak flaring as Akaibara struck out.

Faolan's response was almost as fast. The shaft of his spear extended, going from a length equal to that of its blade, to more than twice that in a fraction of a second, fast enough for him to interpose it between himself and Ruby's attack. Akaibara clanged harshly off the spear's shaft, the force behind the swing, Ruby's momentum, and the Projection of her Aura all launched Faolan backwards...

...And, in doing so, sent the blade of his spear slipping across the neck of his hostage, easily severing the veins and arteries on the right side of the boy's neck. The poor boy collapsed forward, an arc of blood spraying through the air.

All around the plaza, people screamed.

Faolan's eyes were wide with surprise. But, again, the way they crinkled at the corners indicated that he was smiling beneath his mask-No!-leering at her triumphantly. "I _knew_ that you didn't care half as much as you pretended to. Now the entire village shall see you for the hypocrite that you are. The poor boy...I intended to make his death quick, and relatively painless, with a decapitation. But you had to go ahead and change it to death-by-blood-loss instead. Now he'll watch as his life ebbs away with each beat of his traitor heart, knowing that the one he was looking to for protection doomed him instead."

Ruby ignored Faolan's taunt, instead positioning herself protectively between him and the boy. "Jaune!" she shouted.

"On it!" Jaune shouted behind her, already crouching down beside the boy, hand glowing white with the light of his Aura. He rested it against the boy's neck, stemming the bleeding, then carefully mending his severed blood vessels back together, his Aura combining with his unique ability to allow him to perform the critical, yet simple, operation in a matter of seconds.

Less than a minute later, Jaune was helping the boy with his feet, the boy's legs shaking from a combination of fear at his near death and from the blood-loss he _had_ experienced. But he was worlds better than he would have been, had Ruby done nothing.

Faolan's leering smirk disappeared, his eyes widening even farther. This time, there was no crinkling at the corners to indicate triumph or amusement. Instead, there was a furious anger. "You..."

"There's more than one way to save someone," said Ruby firmly.

"YOOOOOOOUUUUUU...!" howled Faolan, stabbing out with his spear, the weapon's length increasing explosively to stretch across the distance between him and Ruby, the extending segments revealing rectangular windows along their lengths, revealing that each one had been equipped with Dust. The one closest to the head of the spear glowed an angry red, jets of flame emerging from the windows, angled backward to drive the spear-blade like a rocket-engine.

Ruby slashed Akaibara up in a fierce parry, knocking the thrust aside, so that the spear slashed through the air above her neck and shoulder. Immediately, she stepped in, flicking across the space between her and Faolan, aiming to take advantage of his weapon's length to strike from well within his range.

The segment closest to where his hands gripped the shaft flashed green, a circling barrier of wind appearing between the Huntsman and Ruby, exploding outwards, driving both of them back away from each other. Another slash from Ruby's sword effortlessly parted the wind impeding her, allowing her to continue forward, only to find that that minuscule delay had been enough for Faolan to retract his spear, bringing the blade back between him and Ruby.

This time, when he attacked again, the segment armed with wind-Dust was closest to the head, the spear's blade become a blur as it etched a circling, moon-like shape the blade's path almost impossible to follow with her eyes.

But Ruby wasn't relying just on her sight. Her other senses were tracking the blade's path, enabling her to sense the source of its abnormal movements. Faolan's leading left hand gripped a pipe that the spear's main shaft extended through, while using his right hand to propel the thrust, sliding the spear's shaft through the pipe, even as it extended. At the same time, he rotated his right arm, transferring that rotation through the shaft of the spear, using the pipe as a fulcrum to widen its movements, making the spear trace a rapid circle in the air, even as it advanced.

It was a beautifully refined technique, one that would be effective against people and Grimm alike. However, Ruby's meshed senses were more than able to track the spear's otherwise-bewildering trajectory as the blade came whistling towards her, a path of razor-edged wind flowing in its wake. She met the spear's blade with her own, Projecting her Aura through the attack to bounce the blade away, while also using the force of the blow to disperse the Dust-formed winds that would have cut into her otherwise.

During this brief exchange, people had begun to scatter. A pair of shadows passed over Ruby's head. Pyrrha descended first, leading with Semblance-enhanced shots from her rifle, the magnetically accelerated bullets packing nearly as much punch as gravity-Dust rounds. The segment that was now closest to where Faolan's hands gripped the spear's pipe and shaft flashed, while he retracted and spun the spear, a barrier of hard-light appearing between him and the incoming bullets.

But he hadn't been prepared for the force behind them, or his shield just wasn't that powerful to begin with. There was a a fraction of a second's delay, and then the shield shattered from Pyrrha's shots. That delay was just enough time for Faolan to skip backwards, so that the bullets shattered the stone where he'd been standing.

Weiss landed directly behind Pyrrha, just ahead of Ruby, driving the tip of Myrtenaster into the ground. A loud ringing sound filled the air, and Faolan was forced to dodge back again as a geyser of ice erupted right where he'd been standing. Grunting, he swung his extending spear, the segment nearest the head now showing the black and glowing purple of gravity-Dust, which enveloped the spear's head as it struck the frigid impediment, shattering it. It was a reflexive action, so his swing only sent a few fragments flying in their direction, rather weakly at that. Pyrrha easily deflected them with her shield, she and Weiss falling back to reinforce Ruby by flanking her on either side.

"And now you betray the mission too," growled Faolan.

"Just doing our job," said Ruby, injecting false cheer into her voice. "We're protecting the people of the Kingdom from a madman."

"And I've already recorded your lovely little diatribe," added Weiss contemptuously. "The authorities are certainly going to have trouble believing that you had probable cause to abuse your authority like this."

"If it ever reaches them," countered Faolan, somewhat contemptuously.

Ruby let her senses Extend outward to feel what was going on in the wider area. While her own teammates had come to her side, save for Jaune, who was escorting his patient to safety, Team RYNB had spread out along the perimeter of the plaza, not to flank Faolan, but instead to guide the villages inhabitants away from the conflict, though they would be in perfect position to surround Faolan, once they were done.

As places to fight went, the village's central plaza was about the best they could ask for. A large, wide-open space, with nothing but the paving stones to really be damaged by any battle that took place. The buildings that ringed the plaza could easily be evacuated to increase the space they could fight in without having to worry about bystanders. So long as they kept the fight here, they could carry it out with minimal damage to the settlement itself.

The problem was that, as far as fighting spaces went, this place was perfect for Faolan's purposes as well. After all, as a spear-user, a wide-open space was one where he had the best opportunity to bring his weapon's length and reach into play. There was absolutely nothing here to restrict his movements. Right now, the only real advantage Ruby and her friends had over him was numbers...though Ruby suspected that numbers weren't their only advantage, and it wasn't one she'd be able to rely on for long.

"You've lost your mind, if you think you're going to get away with this," Weiss declared imperiously. "Even if we're only students, there are still eight of us to one of you, and we're _more_ than prepared to bring you down."

"Or so you think," said Faolan, malicious mirth dancing in his voice. "But I strongly suspect that there won't be eight of you for very long."

As if on cue, a the speakers around the settlement crackled, then an angry-sounding siren began to wail. Everyone looked up, their eyes going wide.

"Grimm!" gasped Pyrrha, recognizing the tone, one of the several particular sirens they'd been taught to recognize, back at Beacon. This particular tone signaled an imminent Grimm attack...and a a severe one at that.

"So...that _was_ what you were doing with that performance," said Ruby, regarding Faolan with narrowed eyes.

Faolan's eyes had returned to their normal, narrowed state, the crinkling at their edges betraying a satisfied smile, beneath his mask. "This trick worked quite well for me, back in Mistral. Get the animals riled up enough, and they call their own doom to them. What better fate for them than to feed them to the monsters?"

_And no one left to press charges,_ Ruby cynically added in her own head, realizing that this was apparently Faolan's preferred way of eliminating witnesses to his worse misdeeds.

"_You're_ the real monster here," declared Weiss furiously.

"That's enough!" shouted Ruby, her voice carrying all the authority she could command as a team leader, making sure that Ren and the rest of RYNB heard it as well. "Change of plans," she declared. "Everyone else, take down the Grimm."

"But Ruby-!" Yang began to protested.

"Now!" shouted Ruby.

"Let's go!" said Ren, rushing past Faolan, heading down the street that would take him back towards the militia's headquarters, where they could get the best idea of the placement they would need to take down the incoming Grimm.

Yang and the others, including Weiss and Pyrrha, gave Ruby worried looks, but quickly conceded, heading after Ren, leaving Ruby to face Faolan by herself.

Jaune was still a bit hampered by helping his charge to safety, but only flashed one look back at Ruby, before continuing on his way. "Will she be okay?" the boy he was supporting asked.

Jaune flashed the boy a grin. "She'll be fine," he said. "She's beaten Adam Taurus twice, once in pitch-dark."

The boy's eyes widened. "Wow," he gasped softly.

Behind them, Ruby faced down the mad Huntsman. Bringing both her hands to Akaibara's handle, Ruby split her weapon, striking her usual stance, holding Bara in her left hand, extending slightly out in front of her, her right arm extending over her head, holding Ibara so that the blade extended down her back.

Faolan snarled wordlessly, spinning his spear dramatically, flaring his cloak to reveal a torso of chiseled muscle, stretching the fabric of a skintight, black shirt, its collar extending up to form the mask that covered the lower portion of his face.

"So...you think you can defeat me alone?" asked Faolan contemptuously. "You overestimate yourself. You've also doomed your friends. They will need to spread out to deal with the Grimm. Once I'm done with you, I will easily be able to track them down and deal with them...one at a time."

Ruby said nothing, keeping her expression composed. Whether it was against Vernal, Adam, Cinder, or this man; she was used to dealing with people who generally stood above her in terms of ability. Faolan was a fully-trained Huntsman, a graduate of Haven, with several years of missions under his belt. Ruby could also tell that he hadn't slacked off afterwards. He was probably every bit as dangerous as he had been upon graduation. Despite that, Ruby's confidence in her own skills and experience did not flag.

They stood stock still, near the center of the plaza. The air around them echoed with the distant roars of the Grimm, and the occasional scream or cry from a frightened villager. Ruby could only hope that her friends and the militia were keeping order, so that they were prepared to meet the threat. At this point, trust was her best weapon. Her job was clear. She had to deal with the opponent in front of her.

Faolan struck first. The unusual design of his weapon enabled him to make his opening thrust quite abrupt, the blurring of his thrusting arm, partially hidden by his cloak, being the only indicator of the impending attack, while the hand holding the pipe didn't move at all, making the blade of his spear seem to leap forward of its own volition. It didn't help that the shaft extended, even as it was thrust, exposing the Dust-armed segments, which had once again rearranged themselves. This time, fire-Dust was nearest to the head, followed by the green wind-Dust, then deep-blue water-Dust. All three segments produced streams of energy from their rectangular windows as they extended, spinning about the shaft like pinwheels.

This time, the fire-Dust didn't propel the spear's blade like a rocket. Instead, it mingled with the wind and water-Dust, all three Dusts mixing together in the air, their combined effect producing a shimmer that caused the spear's movement to ripple and distort, as it was already going through its arcing trajectory, thanks to the spinning of the shaft through the pipe, held in Faolan's leading hand. The result was that the the spear, and its blade, danced in bewildering, completely impossible ways before Ruby's eyes, seeming to stretch and bend more than its shaft should have been able to.

_A mirage_, thought Ruby, recognizing the effect of the trick. Using water-Dust to affect the humidity in the air, wind-Dust to affect its density, and fire-Dust to excite both, Faolan had created an effect that distorted the light, prompting the unnatural-looking bends and twists of his spear's motion.

Despite that, Ruby's other senses were more than capable of tracking the weapon, her two swords crossing to intercept the tip of the incoming spear. The impact jarred her arms, and Faolan retracted the spear before she could try and slide her blades down the shaft to attack inside his range. The Huntsman clearly had an excellent notion of both the strength and weakness of his weapon, unleashing a series of rapid thrusts, all of them enhanced by the fulcrum of the pipe, the spear's blade dancing in beautiful, yet confusing patterns in the air, even as the attacks were supplemented by an array of Dust-effects, which only served to make his assault all the more confusing.

At times, the blade would be lined with flames, which could explode outwards on impact. Other times, it produced waves of ice where it struck, threatening to freeze Ruby's feet in place, or lock her weapons together. At other times, it launched out like a rocket, with frightening speed and devastating power. Sometimes it produced whirlwinds, others a shifting mirage that made it bend and weave in nauseating fashion. All of Faolan's attacks were designed to keep Ruby at a distance, ensuring that she couldn't close in and strike him directly.

That was fine with her. She was capable of more than just swinging her swords. She could wield them in a manner that Faolan was in no way prepared to handle.

Abruptly, she darted off to the side, dancing in a wide circle around Faolan, turning her body to twist her cloak as she did so. Faolan swung his spear after her, the movement of the tip greatly exaggerated to enhance the speed of his pursuing attack. Ruby blocked the attack with her swords through her cloak. Despite her speed, there was no way she could get behind Faolan quickly enough, not before he could turn and bring his spear to bear on her again. However, that had not been her intention anyway.

Ruby left a cloud of drifting petals in her wake, which quickly congealed together, forming orbs of violet plasma, hanging in the air in a loose crescent around Faolan. He had been busy trying to track her, so he didn't quite notice until the crackle of the orbs' energy reached his ears. At that point, Ruby was already launching her attack.

"_Hibana!_"

The orbs of plasma converged on Faolan's position. Faolan's response was to retract his spear, before spinning it to plant the butt against the stone. The shaft abruptly extended upwards, and Faolan went with it, gripping the pipe, which slid up the length of the shaft under its own power, Ruby able to sense the gravity-Dust fueling the movement. The orbs passed through Faolan's position with an angry buzz, slamming into the ground and stone beyond, throwing up explosions of dust and debris.

Up above, Faolan retracted his spear again, using that to draw the butt off the ground, the whole thing seeming to shrink down into the pipe he gripped with his left hand. From above, he thrust forward, almost seeming to throw his spear through the pipe, rather than drive it with his right hand. The spear extended as the blade stabbed downwards, Ruby forced to dart back as it struck where she'd been standing with explosive force. Faolan followed his weapon down, the spear's shaft collapsing into itself as he went. He landed, finding himself amidst a cloud of Ruby's petals.

This time, he was more wary of Ruby's ability. Unhooking the clasp of his cloak, he instead attached it around the shaft of his spear, right at the base of the blade, before extending and rotating it as he spun the weapon around him. The cloak flared out, creating powerful winds that dispersed the petals, even as Ruby unleashed her next attack.

"_Hanabi!_"

The petals exploded into arcs of lightning, filling the air with the sound of several strings of firecrackers being set off at once. However, none of those arcs touched Faolan, deflected off the fabric of his spinning cloak. The attack diverted, the Huntsman retracted his spear, snatching the cloak off it again, before swirling it around to drape over his shoulders once again, clasping it in a single motion. It was more than a little impressive that he'd been able to thwart that attack without relying on his wind-Dust, which the arrangement of segments on his spear had apparently prevented him from using in a defensive manner this time. The practiced manner in which he'd accomplished it apparent that it was a skill he'd deliberately developed for such situations and, with almost no fanfare, he was ready to continue the fight...

...Which made it all the more troubling that Ruby had not chosen to press the attack.

Instead, she'd retreated away, out of the full reach of his spear. She'd brought her swords back together, now holding Akaibara in both hands, its tip pointed skywards. A low rumble filled the air, and the plaza was abruptly overshadowed. Faolan's eyes rolled upwards, and he found himself staring into a maelstrom of black clouds, boiling angrily, a fierce storm having rolled in out of nowhere. "What-?"

The clouds above swirled, a circular eye forming within them, a shaft of light extending down to illuminate Ruby, who now stood firmly in the storm's eye. Angry flashes crackled as lightning jumped back and forth between the clouds lining that tiny circle of calm, before converging together in its center, then lashing downwards with a mighty bolt, which struck the tip of Ruby's sword with a deafening crash, and a flash of light that forced Faolan to shield his eyes with his arm, lest he be struck blind.

_Is she trying to kill herself?_ he wondered. He had no idea of the mechanism behind such a spectacular feat, but there was no denying that Ruby had been the one behind it...somehow. But he couldn't imagine how calling down a stroke of lightning on her own head was going to do anything but blast her to pieces.

Then the light faded, and Faolan's eyes snapped wide open, betraying the sheer disbelief he felt. Ruby stood, untouched, her sword raised overhead. The lightning that should have blasted her where she stood instead danced up and down the length of the blade, wreathing it in powerful arcs of white, edged with blue.

"_Raikoken._"

Ruby smiled triumphantly. While she hadn't been able to practice the actual technique too often, not wanting to cause another newsworthy spectacle by repeatedly calling down lightning strikes on her location, she _had_ continued to immerse herself in the sensation of calling upon the World's Aura. Refining that skill, she had become better able to call down the lightning. With further practice, she might not even need to summon a storm at all, simply able to draw the power forth from Remnant's own electromagnetic field. On top of that, her continued immersion in her sense of the World's Aura had enabled her to get an even better feel for controlling it.

In some ways, it was even _easier_ to control than the lightning born of her own Aura. Oh sure, it was overflowing with power, wild with natural energy. However, it was also more solid, more _real_ than the power of her soul, which made it more malleable and shapeable to her will in some ways. Even now, in the midst of this fight, Ruby was already beginning to grasp potential ways she could put this new realization to use.

"What the hell is this!?" demanded Faolan, letting go of his spear with one hand to pull down his mask, exposing his scarred mouth, which hung open to gape unashamedly at the spectacle before him.

"You don't need to know," replied Ruby coldly.

Faolan glared furiously, baring his teeth, the ragged scars stretching out from the corners of his mouth making the expression all the more menacing. With an angry scream, he took up his spear again, lunging forward with a thrust, wind and flame spiraling around the shaft to converge at the head.

Ruby split Akaibara again, the lightning dancing between the two blades, arcing up, around, and over her shoulders, forming a crackling rainbow of electricity that danced above and behind her head, linking the two swords together. Turning her body, she met the lightning-fast thrust with an equally swift slash, her weapon clashing against the enraged Huntsman's with a thunderous crash.

* * *

It had taken a few minutes to sort things out at the militia's headquarters. Thankfully, the people of the village were quick to return to their homes and get under cover, responding with impressive speed, and a startling lack of panic in their actions. That was certainly a relief, as it allowed RYNB and RASP (except for Ruby) to quickly get down to the business of assessing the Grimm attack, and determining where their help was needed.

Fortunately, the Grimm were largely coming from one direction; the natural topography, formed by some surrounding hills, funneling them into a large mass. There were others converging in from other directions, but not enough that the settlement would be completely overwhelmed by a simultaneous attack from all directions. However, that would not remain the case, if they allowed the main force of Grimm to break up at the wall, and then spread out to surround the settlement.

Even more fortunately, despite their worse fears, Aiwendil was not being approached by a gargantuan host of Grimm. It was a good-sized horde, for sure, one that would have been too much for the village's militia on its own. But the seven students with them were more than capable of handling this number. Of course, the important thing was getting the mood of the residents under control, so that this attack wasn't simply followed by another, drawn by the negativity that this one stirred up, not to mention the presence of a racist Huntsman actively stirring up negative feelings in order to draw in the Grimm in the first place.

"Let's concentrate our heavy hitters in the center," said Ren. "Jaune, you'll take the front."

Jaune nodded.

"Yang and Nora will support you." The two girls nodded in response to his instructions. "Weiss, Pyrrha, Blake, and I will support the rest of the perimeter wall as needed. We'll head off anything that the militia soldiers can't handle on their own, and generally keep the pressure off the the flanks and rear."

"Got it," said Weiss, nodding along with Pyrrha and Blake.

"Be careful of flyers," instructed Ren. "Don't let any of them past the wall."

"You got it," said Nora, grinning and saluting playfully.

"Now this is an enemy I can get behind giving a good pounding," said Yang, smacking her gauntlets together.

"We'll do our best not to get in your way," said the militia's commander, knowing it was best to leave it up to the students. Even though they were still in Beacon, they were Huntsmen and Huntresses, and would know best how to deal with such a large Grimm incursion.

"For the most part, try and focus on bringing down any flyers that you see," advised Jaune. "You can pick off any that try to slip past us on the ground, but the flyers are going to be the big threat."

"Understood," said the commander. "We might not have permanent emplacements, but we do have some decent anti-air measures."

"Let's move," said Ren decisively.

They quickly rushed to see to their particular duties. Jaune, Nora, and Yang went out through the main gate, in the face of the largest concentration of approaching Grimm. Already, the militia members were on the wall, their rifles firing, sending bolts of red, blue, and yellow energy lancing out through the air. Several lashed into the oncoming horde, hampering some of the Grimm, bringing others down and tripping up their companions. But the majority were aimed upwards, concentrating on screeching, mid-sized Nevermores and Griffons. Fortunately, there were no flying giants the size of the one that RASP had fought during their first training excursion in the Emerald Forest. But these ones were large enough, more than capable of dealing plenty of damage on their own, not helped by the fact that there were quite a few of them.

The Grimm charging forward along the ground were a mixed bag, the bulk of them made up of loping Beowolves and hopping Creeps. Her and there, Jaune could spot the heavyset shoulders of an Ursa, and the occasional arched back of a Boarbatusk. However, there was no sign of any Majors or Alphas, much less anything like the Duba that had attacked them in Forever Fall. Their numbers were worrying enough though.

The sky above darkened...not from some terrifying swarm of airborne Grimm, but from dark clouds that boiled up out of nowhere. Jaune's gaze went up, his eyes widening.

"That's Ruby, right?" asked Yang.

"Yep," said Jaune, a grin forming on his face.

Behind them, a mighty bolt of lightning struck down in Aiwendil's center with an echoing crash.

Nora grinned. "Sounds like the Grimm are the ones getting off easy," she said, twirling Magnhild eagerly.

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle in agreement.

The onrushing Grimm broke over them, like waves over a beach. Jaune stepped forward, calling upon the power sleeping within his sword and shield. The large Beowolf leading the charge slammed headfirst into the impediment, and was immediately blasted backwards, its skull crushed by the force of its own charge breaking against Jaune's shield. Its body began to dissolve, but not until _after_ its backwards tumble sent the Grimm behind it scattering like tenpins.

Nora and Yang were quick to take advantage, surging forward, lashing out with hammer and gauntlets, blasting Grimm away with swift motions, taking them down with savage, brutal efficiency. Jaune himself contributed, stepping forward past his shield, bringing his sword down in an overhead strike, the blade flashing white, and sending a crescent of pure energy slicing through the ranks of the Grimm, splitting through several of them in succession, before finally petering out.

"Nice job," complimented Yang, even as she disposed of a lunging Ursa with an uppercut to the jaw that sent a blast of fire upwards that obliterated its entire head. On his other side, Nora cackled as she brought her hammer down on the spine of a lunging Creep, smashing the Grim straight into the ground.

Jaune could only grin, not finding the time or energy to banter as more Grimm quickly stepped in to fill the gaps left by the ones he'd killed. His body began moving automatically, recalling the simple, unimpressive, but effective techniques that Pyrrha, Ruby, and his other friends had drilled into him relentlessly. He used his shield to deflect slashing claws or snapping jaws, before unleashing one or more slashes to cut down whichever Grimm he'd just warded off, lather, rinse, and repeat. To his surprise, he found himself mowing them down with startling efficiency, his sword cutting through bone-plate with little effort. His use of his weapon's Aura had been refined to the point where he could use it with relatively little exertion on his part, enhancing his slashes to _just_ the degree he needed.

It was a wonderfully validating experience. Even if he wasn't bringing them down with the speed and ease that the two girls to either side of him were capable of, Jaune was still doing his part. He was fighting the battle of a true Huntsman, and holding his own, all the hard work and training from before paying off magnificently. _If only Dad could see me now._

* * *

Weiss found herself more than a little grateful for Ren's foresight. It seemed that, while the younger and more reckless Grimm had congregated together to rush the walls en-masse, the older, more experienced ones were demonstrating that uncanny intelligence that had allowed them to live so long, trying to take advantage of the distraction created by the massed attack from one side to strike from the flanks, which they had assumed to be unguarded.

Ren had asked the militia commander to disperse his troops as evenly as he could. It was mainly a precaution against flyers, but one that worked just as well against the Alphas, Majors, and even Elder Creeps that were now attacking from nearly every direction. There weren't many of them, but they each took far more effort to bring down that any five of their younger brethren, being both stronger _and_ smarter.

Before Weiss' eyes, a massive Ursa Major; one half again as large as the one that she'd fought in Forever Fall, the one that Yang had saved her from; rose up, brandishing its paws. It lunged forward, swinging one of its limbs in a mighty sweep, its massive, saber-like claws threatening to disembowel her with a single blow.

Weiss' response was to create a Glyph beneath her feet, gliding forward, well inside the arc of the Ursa's swing, where its claws couldn't reach her. She lead with a flurry of thrusts, punching her sword through the bristling hairs and between the bone-plates that guarded its chest. The Ursa jolted, tightening the arc of its swing, bringing its paw around to try and catch her from behind, possibly to hug and crush her against its chest, even as it lunged down with its jaws to bite off her head.

Another Glyph appeared beneath Weiss' feet, launching her up and back. She leaned into the movement, allowing her to slip between the Ursa's paw and its closing jaws, barely managing to squeeze through the gap. Her launch carried her into a backflip that allowed her to touch down just a couple meters away. Stabbing Myrtenaster into the earth, a ringing sound accompanied an eruption of icy spikes that punched completely through the Ursa's torso. Off-balance from its attempts to catch her, the Grimm had been in no position to avoid or counter. It quickly slumped down, and began to dissolve.

Before it was finished though, an Alpha Beowolf leapt on the dead Ursa's shoulders, using the Ursa itself as a platform to launch itself upwards, descending on Weiss from above.

Weiss stared up, caught off-guard by the sudden appearance of the Alpha. Myrtenaster was still anchored in the ground, and she wasn't going to be able to bring it up in time to intercept the descending Beowolf. It would land atop her, drive her to the ground, then maul her with its fangs and claws until it broke her Aura. Weiss could have tried to deflect its descent with a Glyph, but it was already so close that its mass and momentum would tear through the strongest Glyph she could put up with so little warning.

Instead, Weiss' mind went to one thing, and her Aura began to respond automatically, the Suppression transferring into Projection so quickly that her Aura barely even flickered off. The sword-wheel of her Summoning Glyph appeared in the air over her head. There wasn't time to Summon her full Arma Gigas, but Weiss realized she didn't need to Summon the _whole_ thing...just the business-end.

The blade of a massive sword extended out, followed by an arm encased in plates of curving armor, the arm sweeping the sword around in a wide slash that cut the Alpha in two. A second later, Weiss rose up as the two halves of the bisected Beowolf fell to either side of her. Her mind was reeling at the implications of this.

_Why didn't I think of this sooner?_ she wondered. It was brilliant. A lot of the time, the time and effort that went into Summoning her full Arma Gigas made it seriously impractical in a real battle, and she'd only managed to make use of it on a couple of occasions. But she didn't really need to Summon the whole thing _every_ time, did she? Calling forth the sword, and the arm that swung it, required a fraction of the time and effort, and was more than enough to suit her needs, most of the time, especially if she only needed it for a single attack.

_I need to look into this more, when this mission is over,_ thought Weiss.

Of course, that meant that they needed to get through this mission first. The Grimm aside, there was still the matter of an insane Huntsman threatening to kill every faunus in the village.

Looking up, Weiss saw dark clouds boil up out of nowhere, before a bolt of lightning struck, right in Aiwendil's central plaza.

She didn't think she needed to worry about Faolan anymore.

* * *

**Just as Faolan himself is an expy of Hyoga, from _Dr. Stone_, so too is his weapon an expy of Hyoga's, that was then given the _RWBY_ twist...no pun intended.**

**Kaiten: A Variable Length Dust-Armed Kuda-Yari (Pipe-Spear). Faolan's spear contracts down, and even functions as a dagger, in its storage-mode. The pipe allows him to increase the thrusting speed of his attacks by sliding the spear through it, eliminating the drag that would result from having to thrust through his leading hand. At the same time, its rotational-ability enables him to greatly exaggerate the motion at the tip when rotating the spear with his thrusting hand. The lead segments of the spear are also Dust-chambers, which can rearrange themselves according to Faolan's needs. The fact that he can freely control the length and reach of his spear means that Faolan is capable of fighting at a variety of ranges with very little difficulty.**

**Though he might not look like it at first glance, Faolan is actually an extremely competent Dustweaver, able to deftly manipulate multiple Dust-types at the same time. Using varying combinations, he can make his already difficult-to-read attacks even more bewildering, a trick that has felled many an opponent in the past. That said, he also isn't completely dependent on it.**

**Regarding Weiss' trick with her Summon, I'm a little surprised she hasn't tried doing that again. Back in Volume 3, she saved Velvet from a Paladin by Summoning the sword-arm of her Arma Gigas. However, from Volume 4 onwards, she's stuck to Summoning the entire thing, even when the lag caused by such an action has caused her serious problems, like it did during her fight with Vernal. Now, that could be taken as Weiss still being comparatively inexperienced with Summoning at the time, and still working to up her speed. But I figure that her Summoning just certain parts of a particular construct, and attacking with those, rather than calling out the entire thing every time, would be a more-effective trick that would be a lot more flexible in battle a lot of the time.**


	112. Chapter 112

**Chapter 112:**

Pyrrha's Polarity-enhanced shot tore right through the skull of an Elder Creep, opening up a wide hole all the way along its spine, before exiting out the back, tearing its way right through the Grimm's bone plates in the process. Lowering her rifle, Pyrrha cast her eyes around for her next target.

There were a fair few to choose from, but none that urgently required her attention. From atop Aiwendil's palisade, the militia's soldiers had planted several tripod-mounted turrets, nowhere near as powerful as the Dust-turrets that larger settlements might have mounted permanently, but possessing more punch, and a higher rate of fire, than standard Dust-rifles. Said turrets were now mostly engaged in bringing down any Griffons or Nevermores that were trying to fly over the walls. Fortunately, the Nevermores were of the larger variety, not the smaller, crow and raven-sized, younger ones, which would have been ridiculously hard to target; while also fortunately not being gargantuan titans of the size of the one that Pyrrha and her team had faced in the Emerald Forest.

On the ground, things were even less pressing. Jaune, Yang, and Blake were holding their own at the point of the main attack, tearing through the waves of weaker and younger Grimm with ease. Meanwhile, the older and stronger ones were trying to attack from other points. But Ren's decision to station himself, Weiss, Pyrrha, and Blake at different points around the perimeter wall was allowing them to lessen that threat to the point that the militia could handle the rest.

Glancing over, Pyrrha's eyes widened as she spotted the bounding form of a Beringel, the gorilla-like Grimm running on its hind legs and the knuckles of its forelimbs. It was making a beeline for the wall. It demonstrated the innate cunning that made elder Grimm so dangerous, making its approach while a small, mixed group of Nevermores and Griffons was swooping down from above on that very same section of the wall, ensuring that the defenders' eyes were turned upwards, first and foremost. By the time enough of them noticed the incoming Beringel for their guns to make a difference against its tough hide, it would already be among them. A Grimm like that could easily make the leap needed to clear the palisade.

Pyrrha broke into a run, leading with several regular shots from her rifle, rather than her Semblance-enhanced ones. It wasn't so much to hurt the Grimm as it was to attract its attention. She wanted to draw the Beringel's eyes to her and, hopefully, its natural inclination towards aggression would do the rest.

Her assessment was spot on, and the Beringel turned towards her with a look of murderous fury in its eyes. The Grimm pivoted and, with a guttural roar, charged right for her. Pyrrha met its charge head on, transforming her weapon into its javelin-mode. She hurled her weapon as she closed in. The Beringel lifted one arm and swiped to the side, knocking Pyrrha's weapon away with a deflecting move, using its bone-armor. The javelin spun through the air, before Pyrrha's Semblance arrested its movement, prompting it to orient its point back around, and then fly at the Grimm from behind. At the last second, the rifle barrel in its butt end fired, accelerating Milo so that it pierced right where the Beringel's muscular neck met its shoulder.

The monster roared in anger and pain, its charge faltering. In front of it, Pyrrha threw her shield next, Akouo's bronze disk flying up into the Beringel's chin, Pyrrha using her Semblance to enhance its spin and velocity as much as possible. At the same time, she extended her right hand, calling Milo back to her. As she did, she transformed the javelin into its sword-mode, the blade elongating inside the Beringel's body, causing it to slice its way down along its chest in the process.

The Beringel reared back, having been knocked upwards and backwards by the force of Pyrrha's shield. It screeched in agony as Milo cut itself free of the black flesh, before flying back to Pyrrha's hand. As soon as the handle of her sword thudded securely into her hand, Pyrrha jumped, executing a leap that carried her past the Beringel, enabling her to behead it with a smooth, easy slash, cutting into the wound that her shield had already opened.

Landing behind the collapsing Grimm, Pyrrha extended her left arm, calling her shield back. Casting her eyes around, she looked for the next big threat, only to find herself gratified that there didn't appear to be any immediate ones. The Grimm assault already looked to be tapering off. Pyrrha found herself hoping that her friends were meeting with similar success.

* * *

Blake landed easily, letting out a relieved breath as a pair of older, but not quite Alpha, Beowolves collapsed behind her, their forms dissolving into black smoke. Glancing around, she surveyed her area with both her eyes and ears, on the lookout for the next hint of an attacking Grimm. However, her space appeared to be clear. Up above, the last of the flyers were being picked off by the turrets that had been set atop the wall. She found herself wondering how the others were doing, but mostly how Ruby was doing.

It had been hard, sitting there and listening to Faolan rant about faunus. She yearned to put him in his place, to show him, by virtue of a mirror, that humans had just as much potential to be as violent and savage as any faunus. But she couldn't, not without outing herself. It would have been bad enough, here in a settlement full of faunus who were likely to judge her for daring to hide her heritage. But it would be all the worse to reveal that she was a concealed faunus to a man who viewed her entire race with nothing more than contempt and suspicion. He'd take it as a virtual confirmation of his worst assumptions about faunus in general.

In the end, Blake had decided to stand back and let Ruby and Ren take the lead in handling Faolan's investigation, or take the lead in keeping him from carrying his investigations too far rather. It was a reluctant decision. Even now, her fingers ached with the need to take Gambol Shroud, and use it to teach the arrogant bastard a lesson.

But she couldn't do that...not now. There were bigger things at stake. Blake just had to hope that Ruby was up to the job of stopping him.

_Who am I kidding?_ Blake mentally chided herself. _Of course she's up to the job. She's Ruby Rose. She's beaten Adam twice. She fought and defeated Cinder, who had _actual_ magic. Compared to that, a Huntsman like Hargrave is nothing._

Still, it was always difficult to stand back and watch.

* * *

Ren stood and watched as his target collapsed, black curls of smoke already dancing away from its body as it began to disintegrate. Activating his Semblance, he allowed himself to fade away, slipping past the senses of his enemies. His Semblance had always been effective against the Grimm. After refining it, much of that thanks to applying what he had learned from Ruby through their Aura training, he had found that his Semblance enabled him to slip through the awareness of people as well. It was similar to the Suppression Ruby had had them practice incessantly. Ren's presence vanished, allowing him to become a part of the background, completely unnoticeable to nearly everyone...even if he was standing right in front of them. And he didn't need to forgo his Aura's protection to do it.

Casting his eyes about for his next target, Ren had to resist the urge to go check on the others. With Ruby engaged with Faolan, he was the primary authority in the field. However, as a leader, part of his job was to put his trust in his friends and teammates to do their jobs right. He had the responsibility to make sure he didn't falter with his own work. His friends were arguably stronger than _he_ was (even Jaune, by his estimation now), so it was easy to stand back and trust in their strength to see things through.

Truth be told, Ren still didn't think much of himself as a leader. Sure, he'd gotten his teammates to acknowledge his authority, and he could effectively guide them in the field. But, more often than not, the best thing he could do was stand back and let them all do what they did best. He supposed, in its own way, that was a sign that he _was_ an effective leader, that he knew and trusted both the skill and judgment of those who were beneath him. In this situation, that was a good thing.

RYNB and the other three members of RASP could handle the Grimm easily enough. So long as Ruby could handle Faolan, they would be fine. As he looked up, and saw black clouds rumbling overhead, Ren knew that he didn't have anything to worry about.

* * *

Faolan's spear met Ruby's swords, the flames concentrating, before being fanned by the wind, creating an explosive blast. The lightning wreathing Ruby's swords responded with an angry crackle, and the explosion washed out to either side and above her. Instead, Faolan was sent skidding back, arcs of electricity dancing along the length of his spear's shaft, before running up his arms, making them spasm, the spear's shaft rattling against the pipe as Faolan's body lurched.

With a grimace that accentuated the scars of his face, Faolan managed to rally, bringing the spear back around for another thrust. However, Ruby had already turned side on, swinging her own sword in a downwards stroke. Even though the skies were completely clear once more, a blast of lightning still roared down, striking the ground right in front of her, before stretching along in a trail, along the path of her swing, rushing right towards her opponent.

Faolan threw himself to the side, the edges of his cloak smoldering from just brushing against the wave of lightning Ruby had launched against him. Going through a cartwheeling flip, he landed on his feet, ready to continue the battle, only to find that Ruby had used his evasion as an opportunity to close the distance between them. In her left hand, Bara descended, threatening to bite into his shoulder.

Faolan's instincts, honed by years of training and experience, told him that blocking Ruby's strike head on was an invitation to get his spear sliced in two. The lightning of her sword enhanced the edge, threatening to split both the Aura he was channeling through the spear, and the steel beneath it. Instead, Faolan snapped his right arm up, bringing the butt of his spear up to intercept Ruby's slash from the side. He managed to knock her strike far enough off course that it passed by him, another blast of lightning lancing down to meet the blade, right as she finished her stroke. Just that flash, combined with the brief contact his descending spear made with her sword was enough to send another painful jolt through his arms.

Faolan turned with the movement of his block though, switching his grip, so that his right hand was now gripping the pipe around his spear, while the left gripped the shaft, on the end near the spear's head. Thrusting with his left hand sent the butt of his spear flying for Ruby's abdomen. It wouldn't cut at her Aura, but it would drive her back, and hopefully drive the breath from her lungs while he was at it.

However, the butt of his spear met the pommel of Ibara, Ruby bringing up her sword's handle, essentially countering him with the same movement. The force behind his blow still managed to send her sliding back. More to the point, since the lightning was concentrated around her sword's blade, rather than where her hand was gripping it, Faolan was spared a painful jolt this time.

They paused, neither bothering to try and bridge the space between them, both breathing hard from the exertion of their fight. A silence, broken only by the angry crackling of the lightning writhing around Ruby's swords, hovered between them.

Faolan was the first to speak. "An impressive parlor trick," he declared. "I find it hard to believe that you could possibly perform something like this with mere lightning-Dust."

"You're right," agreed Ruby. She wasn't about to give this man any tips behind how her technique worked. Instead, she opted to smile confidently. She supposed now was the time to put all her hard work and training to the test.

Streaks of red lightning, created from Ruby's own Aura, began to wind amongst the blue and white of the lightning she'd called down from the heavens, tangling together, like the vines from two different thorny plants. At the same time, she called upon the wind, which answered her will even more readily than it had before. Ruby realized that her reach had grown wider.

That was because simply learning to tap into the wind itself had been a forerunner to the understanding needed to utilize the _Raikoken_, she now realized. Her Aura didn't conjure air, the way it did lightning. Instead, it meshed with the air around her, bringing it under her control, making it into an extension of herself. And now, with her greater understanding, the ability to tap into the Aura of the One, she was able to call upon the wind to an even greater extent than ever before.

_This is what Kyo-nii does with the Mizuchi...even his other techniques,_ Ruby realized, her eyes widening in private jubilation. This then, was one of the secrets behind the almighty power of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ that her brother wielded. Even for his most basic techniques, he was calling upon the power of the One, as naturally as breathing and walking. No wonder he had always seemed to stand at some unreachable pinnacle.

Granted, Ruby suspected there was more to her brother's power than just that. Knowledge of the One, an understanding that was an important key, was the basis of Kyo's techniques, but that didn't even _begin_ to cover the tremendous well of power he possessed. However, pondering that was neither here nor there. She had to focus on the opponent in front of her, first and foremost.

The vines of red weaved in and out with the streamers of white and blue, swirling air flowing around and through them, twisting together like individual strings to become twine, then rope, her power, and the World's power, now binding together and becoming one. From there, Ruby began to work them into the image she had within her mind of what she wanted to achieve.

The streaming arc of energy that stretched up and over her shoulders, connecting the blades of her swords like a crackling rainbow, intensified, the individual arcs of red and blue electricity twisting and winding together more tightly, forming a broad band, a nimbus of pure energy that hovered behind her. Then, like knots on a string, the arc began to bulge at six different points along the length of that arc. Red flared within the core of each knot, a white shell forming around it. Then the whole thing washed to white-edged violet, the knots breaking free from the string. Now, the energy of Ruby's technique hovered behind her in the form of six orbs of intense plasma, filling the air with a gentle hum.

It was amazing to Ruby. They felt so much more stable, so much more natural, than her previous techniques. This was a world apart from her _Hibana_ technique. She could fully control these orbs like true extensions of herself, not merely launch them like projectiles.

Of course, Faolan didn't really notice the difference. The creasing of his forehead above his already-narrowed eyes indicated a subtle contempt. "For all that flash and flare earlier, you still resort to the same tricks. Pitiful."

Ruby merely smiled at him. "_Hoshizora no Mai._"

Stepping off, Ruby fired her Aura out through the balls of her feet, using her _Shukuchi_ to close the distance between her and her opponent, like lightning itself. She was fast, her body nothing more than a flickering blur to Faolan's eyes. But he'd already shown that her speed alone wasn't enough to get inside his reach so easily. Faolan immediately lashed out at her with his spear, spinning it as he thrust it through the pipe, the Dust in its shaft creating a mirage that made its image bend and dance wildly.

Ruby responded by batting aside the thrusting blade, having no trouble tracking or locating it. The spear retracted quickly, Faolan working to keep the blade between him and Ruby. However, the orbs that had been hovering behind Ruby flew ahead of her, dancing and weaving through the air to converge on Faolan from different directions. Faolan jumped back away from her, his weapon whirling to bat away the orbs of plasma, receiving painful shocks through the shaft of his spear as it made contact with them.

But Ruby advanced faster than the man could retreat, adding her attack to that of her plasma spheres. Faolan desperately parried her strikes, while struggling to block and dodge the swooping orbs. Extending his spear, he swept it out, the green cylinder of wind-Dust now directly behind the head, his swing creating a powerful gust that caught Ruby's cloak, sending her skidding back, while also sending her orbs scattering through the air.

They quickly corrected their trajectories, converging back in. But Faolan used the opening to go back on the offensive, lunging and thrusting at Ruby, the fire-Dust cylinder of his spear's segments moving to the point behind the head, fire streaming out like jets from a rocket engine to speed the thrust. At the same time, the blade of the spear flared with the ebony and violet energy of gravity-Dust, lending weight and power to Faolan's attack.

Ruby caught and deflected his thrust off to the side, the momentum of the blow sending her body into a spin that wrapped her cloak around her. Her will guided the weaving orbs of her technique, sending them flying at Faolan from behind. But the Huntsman paid them no mind, focusing on ending this battle before Ruby could land a decisive blow of her own. His spear retracted like lightning, then thrust forward again just as quickly, the edge of its blade shimmering a faint green color, wind sharpening the edge to a lethal extent, enough to cut through her Aura without needing to break it entirely.

His spear pierced through Ruby's cloak, where it would have plunged into her undefended back...had she been there. But the cloak dissolved into a cloud of red petals, which exploded through the air around Faolan, swamping his vision with their dancing movements. He'd lost track of Ruby entirely, and his head whipped around, eyes searching frantically for where Ruby's next attack would come from.

The light from above faded, and Faolan realized a shadow had fallen over him. Looking up, his eyes widened, fixating on Ruby, who was now in the air overhead. She joined Bara and Ibara together, raising Akaibara over her head, the blade shimmering, the white and blue energy washing out the normal red of its blade. The sky directly above darkened, a single, concentrated, near-pitch-black storm cloud now hovering directly over her head.

Faolan prepared to jump out of the way of whatever attack she was about to launch. It seemed powerful, but the windup was long enough that he could easily get out of the way, before she unleashed it. However, his body abruptly refused to respond. His muscles locked up, a sensation like countless stinging needles running through his limbs, his muscles tightening and stiffening to the point where he was rendered completely immobile.

Straining against the stiffening of his neck, Faolan lowered his gaze, and would have gasped, had his chest not begun to feel just as constricted as the rest of him. The six orbs of Ruby's _Hoshizora no Mai_ now circled around him, their blurring forms seeming to form a ring to his eyes. From that ring, thin streamers of lightning, thin as the strands of a spider's web, stretched inwards, meshing with his body. Rolling his eyes downward, Faolan could see the minuscule streams of energy working their way though his body...beneath his skin. His eyes rolled back upwards, seeing a growing point of light forming in the cloud over Ruby's head, a shaft of pure energy stretching down to meet the tip of her glowing sword.

_This is impossible,_ he ranted within the space of his own head. _I can't be defeated by a child, not like this...definitely not by one who fights on behalf of those damn mongrels._

"_Ame-no-nu-hoko!_" Ruby swung her sword downwards, and a shaft of pure electrical energy plunged down from above, washing out Faolan's body, and even his shadow, a hysterical scream wrenching itself from the man's lips, before being drowned out by the sound of roaring thunder.

Ruby landed, panting for breath, turning to bring her swords up, ready to continue the fight. She couldn't sense any further resistance from Faolan, but she knew better than to lower her guard, not until she was absolutely _sure_ her enemy was unable to fight back. It would be best if she didn't kill him. The man would need to stand trial for what he had done, and that would ensure that everyone knew what he'd been trying to do out here.

The dust raised by her attack began to clear, and when it did, Ruby's throat went dry.

Faolan was standing there, mostly unharmed. There were some scorch marks on the fringes of his cloak. His hair was singed. There were angry red lines that stood out starkly against the pale color of his skin. But he definitely hadn't been taken out by her attack.

But that had been through no merit of his own. Faolan was standing, but only by virtue of the hand that gripped the collar of his cloak, behind his neck. The man standing behind Faolan kept the Huntsman on his feet, even though Faolan himself looked to be on the verge of collapse. It was the sight of that man that had turned Ruby's mouth drier than a desert. She recognized him all too well. Ilia had never given a detailed description of the man who'd spirited away Adam Taurus. But; with that dark motley costume, the jingling bells on the ends of that fool's cap, the white domino mask over his eyes, the skull-topped marotte in his right hand; there could be no mistaking him. This was the mysterious Jester. He couldn't be anybody else.

"Not bad, Little Missy," said Jester, lips curling back in a cruel grin. "Man, watching that takes me back. If I hadn't stepped in, this poor fellow would be a quivering lump." He gently shook Faolan in his grip to prove his point.

Ruby swallowed, her arms trembling, struggling to hold up her swords. Her instincts were screaming at her that this man was dangerous-No!-not just dangerous, _beyond_ dangerous. This man...this _thing_, was unlike anyone or anything she had ever encountered, standing so far beyond her as to defy even basic comprehension.

"Ooh! What a clever one you are," cooed Jester, his grin widening. "You're smart enough to be afraid at least. That's a good sign, little missy. Most people don't even notice, you know. I'm so high above them that they can't even _begin_ to sense anything about me. But you...you're strong enough to sense that I'm out of your league...for now."

Ruby tried to swallow, but couldn't. She could feel the man's Aura now, chilling, like an arctic wind during the deepest of winter, the kind of wind that knifed its way through the skin to chill a person to the core, only deeper and colder, her bones turning to ice beneath her muscles, her entire body going rigid from fear.

Jester chuckled, making the bells on his hat chime softly. "Oh, I _sooo_ look forward to seeing how you progress. This is gonna be fun. If you can clear the next couple of hurdles, you'll be on your way."

"Wha-what do you m-mean?" asked Ruby. "You work for Salem, don't you?"

"We have an arrangement...she and I," said Jester, chuckling darkly. "She lets me do my thing, and I brush the occasional spark away from her, sparks from a very specific flame."

Ruby had no idea what that meant, but she could tell that no more hints were forthcoming.

"But...if you can get past the next hurdle, you'll be on your way," he repeated. "Of course, if you want to get to her, you'll have to go through _me_, at some point. If you can manage that, you'll have good as won. But don't hold out hope. Those stronger than you have tried...and failed...for millennia, that includes your precious big bro, and all his ancestors."

Ruby gasped, her eyes widening. There had been something about Jester, something familiar that tugged at the fringes of her awareness. But now she understood.

His Aura...it felt familiar. It reminded her of Kyo's; darker and more evil for sure, but there was that same sense of an unending well of power. This man had a connection with the Mibu Clan, possibly even with the Royal Family. "Who...who are you?"

"I'm put a pathetic clown," said Jester, hanging his head with mock sadness. "I am one who has cried and cried and cried...cried until he lost the ability to cry at all, one who can no longer shed tears or blood...and so...I can only laugh." Lifting his head, he began to cackle. "I laugh at the absurdity, the unfairness of life. I laugh and laugh and laugh...because it's all I have left now."

_The Ennui,_ thought Ruby, horrified. _Just how old _is_ he?_

Jester lifted his head up again, his horrifying grin in place. "In any case, it's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ruby Rose. I look forward to seeing what comes next. I know that Adam is looking forward to seeing you again too."

"What are you doing with him?" asked Ruby.

"Training him, of course," said Jester. "After that silly boy was foolish enough to challenge you a second time, without doing a single thing to better himself, I knew that somebody _had_ to step in, or he'd just get himself killed. So I've taken it upon myself to give the man a few...pointers...and some new equipment. He's still not quite ready yet, but I promise that he'll be ready by the time the big festival swings around. It's gonna be an event to remember."

Ruby shuddered at the promise. Her gaze drifted down to Faolan, the Huntsman's strength slowly returning, the angry lines, left by Ruby's binding, fading from his skin. It wouldn't be long before he was strong enough to fight again. "What about him?"

"Oh...him?" Jester glanced down at Faolan. "I'm taking him with me. Adam's been doing pretty well, so I thought I'd throw him a bone. The chance to off this fellow should be a suitable reward, don't you think?"

With Faolan's reputation, the things he'd tried, the crimes he was guilty of (even if he'd never been tried or convicted for them), Ruby could understand why Adam would probably be giddy at the chance to cut the Huntsman down. But she needed to keep Faolan here, to turn him over to the authorities, along with a detailed list of his crimes. Yet she was also aware that she had no hope of keeping him here. She couldn't demand that Jester leave him, and certainly couldn't _make_ the man leave him. In the end...all she could do was watch.

Jester appeared to appreciate her train of thought. He chuckled again. "Either way, you don't have to worry about him coming after you again. You're a treat, Ruby Rose. You might just be able to do it, what the Mibu, or the Pretenders who came after them, couldn't. If you can clear the hurdle of Adam Taurus, I'll be next in line."

Ruby watched as the forms of Jester and Faolan began to run and stretch, swirling inwards, like paint flowing down a drain. A second later, they were gone, and Ruby was left alone...the winner...but feeling _far_ from victorious.

* * *

Faolan landed on the ground with a pained grunt. Looking up, he saw that he was surrounded by trees; not the neat rows of Aiwendil's orchards, but the crowded trees of the deep forest. After being bound by Ruby's technique, about to take her finishing blow, he'd barely been conscious of what had come after. All he knew was that someone had saved him, kept him standing, exchanged words with the little red brat, and then whisked him away. Faolan had felt his body lurch and distort. And now he was here.

"You'll get your feet back under you in a moment," said the man who'd rescued him. "Luckily, you're not tapped out yet. I know you've got plenty of fight left in you. You'll need it for what comes next."

"Hmm?" grunted Faolan, planting the butt of his spear, using it to lever himself up. "Who are you?"

"Just a clown," demurred Jester, stepping back.

"You saved me...but don't expect any thanks," growled Faolan.

"Yeah, well...you definitely won't be thanking me for _this_," said Jester, chuckling.

"For what?" asked Faolan.

Jester gestured with his marotte, pointing to a figure, his presence obscured by the shadows of the trees. The man stepped forward, and Faolan's eyes widened. "Adam Taurus!"

Indeed, it _was_ Adam Taurus. But he looked different from the most recent pictures and posters of the man. The main difference was his hair. The spiky red locks had grown out considerably, since the last time Adam had been photographed, running down nearly to the level of his shoulders. Aside from that, he was dressed in his usual clothes. The other big difference was his choice of weapon.

Faolan had long dreamed of the day _he_ would be the one to hunt down Adam Taurus, and bring the man to justice...just his head, that was. To that end, he'd fervently studied all the available information on the infamous faunus terrorist, particularly his favored weapons. It was fairly well-known that Adam's weapons were a sword and a sheath, the latter a disguised rifle. But these were _not_ the weapons he carried now.

His new weapon was a sword, but much larger and broader than the one he'd previously wielded. The blade was very nearly five-feet in length, though it was presently hidden in the black-lacquered sheath that hung from Adam's belt, so that it rested behind him, with its exceptionally-long handle extending out to his right, but could be pulled around into a more typical drawing position when he needed to. In many ways, it looked somewhere between an oversized katana and a broad dao-sword, the sheath indicating the weapon's graceful curve, despite its impressive width.

"I've heard of you," growled Adam. "A filthy Huntsman, who takes any excuse he can to kill faunus. How I've longed for the chance to give you a taste of your own medicine."

Faolan chuckled darkly. "I could say the same, Taurus," he said, his scarred cheeks stretching as he grinned. "You, the self-proclaimed hero of the faunus, who's nothing more than a butcher, even of his own kind, if he has an excuse for it."

"Looks to me like you boys have plenty in common," said Jester with a chuckle.

Neither of the men noticed him, instead facing one another down. Faolan took up his spear, leveling it at Adam. For his part, Adam appeared to do nothing.

"I'm annoyed that the little, red brat kept me from exacting punishment on that village," growled Faolan. "But killing you will be the ultimate consolation for that."

Adam said nothing, instead standing and waiting.

With a bestial snarl, Faolan surged forward, thrusting his spear's shaft through the pipe, the weapon extending, the blade flickering in its circular path towards its target.

There was a crimson flash. Faolan froze, his thrust stopping cold. For a second, time seemed to stand still. Then the shaft of his spear dropped, sliced cleanly through. A few seconds later, Faolan's body followed suit, a diagonal line stretching up from his right hip to his left shoulder. The top portion of his torso slid off to the side, hitting the ground with a wet thud, blood fountaining from the cut on both sides. The split section of Faolan's cloak was tossed through the air like a discarded rag. Finally, the lower portion of his body toppled over.

Adam stood where he was, his right arm now extended up and to the side, the handle of the massive blade sitting firmly in his hand. Bringing it back down, he slid it into its sheath with a movement that looked almost so casual that he appeared to be tossing it in.

"That was disappointing," declared Adam.

"It goes to show that you're much stronger now," said Jester. "You're nearly ready for your next fight."

"Was that meant to be training?" asked Adam.

"It was a treat...for all your hard work," said Jester. "I figured that the chance to dispose of someone like him would be quite...appealing to you."

"It works, I suppose," said Adam, glancing down at his weapon. "It seems that this blade will do."

"That it will," agreed Jester. "From the looks of things, you two get along quite well. Before long, you're gonna be strong enough that you can kill your big rival."

"Ruby Rose..." growled Adam.

"She's gotten stronger since the last time you fought her," explained Jester. "It's a race now. Which of you will be farther ahead when the time finally comes?" He chuckled maniacally. "I can't wait to find out."

* * *

"Ruby!"

Ruby looked up at Jaune's shout, glad to see that he, Yang, and Nora were unharmed as the three of them rushed over to her. Ruby herself had slumped tiredly in the middle of the plaza. Her fight against Faolan had not been as difficult as she'd feared, but still draining. Drawing upon and using the Aura of the World was still a pretty tiring task for her.

"Are you okay?" asked Yang worriedly, the three of them coming to a stop around Ruby.

"I'm fine," said Ruby, giving her friends the best smile she could manage.

"Where's Hargrave?" asked Jaune, looking around warily.

"Gone," said Ruby.

"What?" gasped Nora. "He ran?"

Ruby shook her head. "He was taken."

"Taken...?" Yang and the other traded confused looks. "Taken by who?"

"Jester," said Ruby, "the same guy who took Adam Taurus from the White Fang."

"What?" grunted Jaune. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," said Ruby. "But Jester's training Adam, I guess. I think he took Faolan to be a...practice dummy...maybe."

"Seriously?" grunted Yang, barely able to believe what she was hearing.

"You couldn't stop him?" asked Nora.

Ruby gave Nora a sober look. "Jester...he's not like anyone we've seen before. He's...dangerous..._way_ more than Cinder or Adam. And..."

"And what?" asked Yang.

Thinking about her suppositions regarding Jester's connection to the Mibu Clan, Ruby averted her eyes. "Nothing," she said. "At least...nothing I can be sure of."

The other three frowned, able to tell that Ruby wasn't telling them everything. In the end, they decided to leave it be. If Ruby felt it was something they needed to know, she would tell them.

"What about the Grimm?" asked Ruby.

"All taken care of," declared Weiss as she, Pyrrha, and Blake all entered the plaza.

"Where's Ren?" asked Nora.

"Checking with the militia's commander," said Blake. "They're confirming that the threat is past."

Ruby grunted, getting back to her feet. "We'll need to let Vale know what happened," she commented. "I get the feeling this isn't gonna go over well."

"It'll be fine," said Yang dismissively.

"Yeah, it's all Hargrave's fault for throwing his weight around," added Nora.

_I get the feeling someone in Vale _isn't_ gonna see it that way...or _let_ it be seen that way,_ thought Ruby glumly. Regardless of the outcome, she was fairly certain that them ending up on a mission with the racist Huntsman was no accident. Whoever had arranged this wanted it to come to blows. Did whoever was after her think that Faolan would have been able to kill her?

That didn't make sense in the slightest. Given the nature of the abduction attempt, whoever this person was, they wanted her alive, at least for now, probably to question her about something. So then...what was the plan here?

Ruby made her way back to the militia's headquarters, where she knew she'd find Ren, the others in her wake. Arriving at the building, she found Ren and the commander waiting for her, they were glad to see her, and get confirmation that Faolan was no longer a threat. The commander had difficulty stomaching that the Huntsman had disappeared, no doubt fearing that Faolan would show his face again, sooner or later. But Ruby was quick to assure him that he wouldn't be a threat any longer. She understood well enough that Jester had no plans for letting corrupt Huntsman live.

She just wished she could take comfort from that knowledge.

From there, it was a matter of submitting their report to Vale over the CCT, including checking in with Ozpin, and letting him know what happened. That included informing Ozpin about Jester. Ozpin was clearly unhappy that someone connected with Salem had taken Faolan away. But there was nothing to be done at the moment. Ozpin promised to have a bullhead out to them the very next morning, advising them to get some rest, and congratulating them on defending the settlement. Even though the mission had become a mess, it still seemed to be successful, overall. Aside from that, he'd also shared with them the good news that the virus Cinder had implanted in the CCT had been removed.

At the very least, the residents were grateful to the two teams for saving them from Faolan. Ruby was glad that they wouldn't be bearing any extra enmity against humans in general. Hopefully, that would keep this place from becoming a recruiting ground for the White Fang in the future, especially now that the organization was no longer trying to strong-arm faunus into joining.

Still, Ruby couldn't quite keep a sense of disquiet at bay, even as she settled in for a night's sleep.

* * *

The day began with a clear sky. During the night, a couple of Grimm, stragglers of the massed attack from earlier, had wandered in, but had been dealt with by the militia. As she and her friends headed for the cleared patch of ground that acted as Aiwendil's air-dock to wait for the incoming bullhead, she noticed several workers heading out into the orchards.

"I hope the Grimm didn't do too much damage to the trees," she said quietly.

"I wouldn't worry about it," said Ren, a relaxed smile on his face. "The Grimm don't generally pay much attention to vegetation, unless it gets in the way. The orchards would only really pose an impediment to the largest ones."

"Ursa Majors and Alpha Beowolves can get between the trees well enough," added Weiss. "Thankfully, there weren't any Elder Deathstalkers drawn in."

"Yeah, we're pretty lucky in that respect," noted Yang.

Arriving at the circle of bare earth, it was easy to see that their transport from Beacon hadn't arrived yet. "By the way," said Blake. "Does anyone know when our flight is supposed to arrive?"

"Professor Ozpin said it should be here before noon," said Ruby.

A moment later, the sound of rushing jets reached their ears. Ruby felt a strange sensation run through her body, one of unease and trepidation. Her ears were picking up the sound of, not one, but _three_ sets of engines. Looking up, her eyes narrowed.

"Uh...Did Professor Ozpin really need to send three bullheads to pick us up?" asked Nora.

"I don't think those are Beacon's bullheads," said Weiss warily.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Pyrrha.

The air-dock was large enough to accommodate all three airships as they switched into their hover-configuration and drifted down. They arranged themselves in a loose, crescent formation, lining up nose to tail in the process. Upon touching down, their passenger-bay doors opened, and a dozen armed men emerged from within each bullhead. Ruby and her friends watched in shock as the soldiers quickly ran out to encircle the eight students, before turning and aiming their rifles at the group.

"Hey! What's going on?" demanded Yang, baring her teeth, hands clenching into fists, ready to deploy her gauntlets.

She was stopped by Ruby, who held out a hand to forestall Yang's action. "So that's how it is," she said glumly.

"Ruby…?" Jaune whispered, giving her a confused look.

The others appeared to have varying degrees of understanding. Nora was just as upset and confused as Yang, if less overtly hostile. Blake was glaring at the soldiers, baring her teeth. Pyrrha and Weiss looked on with faces of uneasy comprehension. Ren didn't show his feelings openly, but Ruby could easily tell that he understood what was going on.

"As expected, you understand things quickly," called out a woman's voice from within the bullhead sitting at the center of the formation.

A woman with light-gray hair combed to the left side of her head jumped out, landing lightly on the ground, the soldiers parting to make room for her as she stepped between them, coming to the front of the group. Ruby took in her lean frame and steely gaze, recognizing that this woman was more dangerous than all these soldiers put together, possibly stronger than the Huntsman she'd just defeated.

"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Weiss, coming forward to stand next to Ruby, hand resting on the handle of her rapier.

"It's quite simple," said Eira. "My name is Eira Vass of the Valean Bureau of Investigation. Ruby Rose, for interfering in a mission officially sanctioned by the Council of Vale, obstructing the duties of an appointed Huntsman on a critical mission, it is _my_ duty to place you under arrest."

* * *

**And the trap is sprung.**


	113. Chapter 113

**Chapter 113:**

"What?!" exclaimed Weiss. "You can't be serious!"

"I am deathly serious," said Eira.

Ren stepped forward to to stand next to Ruby. "We determined that Faolan Hargrave had abused his position in order to carry out an investigation that was clearly compromised by racial bias. Furthermore, he deliberately attacked the morale of the residents in order to incite a mass Grimm attack to destroy the settlement in an attempt to cover up his misdeeds."

"That is not my concern," said Eira simply. "I have been sent with the order to take Ruby Rose into custody. The investigation will be handled separately."

"As the leader of the other team onsite, this was my responsibility as well," said Ren, his eyes narrowing. "But it does not seem that you are here to take me into custody too."

Eira's lips tightened into a thin smile. "As expected, you understand things quickly," she said, repeating her lines earlier. "Yes. My orders are only to take _Ruby Rose_ into custody. The rest of you will only be punished if you interfere."

"We received authorization from Professor Ozpin to obstruct Hargrave, if we found him threatening the lives and safety of the residents," added Ren.

"Again, that is not my concern," said Eira.

"Of all the bald-faced bullshit excuses," snarled Yang, deploying her gauntlets with a flick of her wrists.

The others drew their weapons as well, arranging themselves to array against the soldiers ringing them, the armed men and women tensing, fingers tightening on the triggers of their rifles. Only two people didn't move, seemingly unconcerned by the potential battle unfolding around them. Eira and Ruby stared at one another with mutually dispassionate gazes. Ruby's hand hadn't even strayed to her weapon. Eira's posture, while stiff, had not tensed in the slightest.

"I trust you understand what this is truly about," said Eira, meeting Ruby's gaze.

Ruby stared back unflinchingly. "Yeah...I understand."

"Ruby...?" Jaune glanced at her, trying not to shift his gaze too much, lest the soldiers in front of him open fire.

Ruby turned to look over her shoulder at her friends. "Stand down."

"Wha-what?" stammered Weiss, looking at Ruby incredulously.

"You can't be serious!" protested Yang, eyes flickering red.

"I am," said Ruby firmly. "Stand down." She turned to face them fully, willingly turning her back on Eira in the process. "I'm going with them."

"But Ruby..." Nora said, unsure of what to say. Any protest she could have made would be obvious.

Ruby gave them all a sincere smile. "It's going to be okay," she said. She stepped closer, prompting them to close in around her slightly. "Let Professor Ozpin know right away," she said softly. "I don't know how well you'll be able to track me down, but if anyone can figure out a way to find me, it'll be you. If I need to, I can certainly make enough of a scene."

Thinking about the storm that had appeared out of thin air over Aiwendil's central plaza, Ren smiled wryly. "You sure can," he said.

"I'm counting on you," said Ruby, before turning to give Jaune a quick kiss on the lips, then moving to give Yang a brief hug.

"Be careful," said Jaune, not liking this at all. It felt as though he was shirking his responsibilities as Ruby's partner to let her walk into this situation. Yet, he also realized that Ruby wasn't counting on his protection. That wasn't what she needed right now. What she needed was _support_, and that had some separate connotations.

Turning away from her friends, Ruby began to walk towards Eira.

"Your weapon," said Eira, holding out her hand for Akaibara.

"No," said Ruby simply.

The tension from before returned tenfold. Ruby's friends readied their weapons, while the soldiers accompanying Eira brought their rifles up again, many of them turning to level their weapons at Ruby specifically.

"You are under arrest," said Eira. "That means you are required to surrender your weapon."

"I don't care," replied Ruby. "I'll go with you. But I'm not letting go of my weapon."

"Are you going to force the issue?" asked Eira.

"If you make me," said Ruby. "It depends on what's more important for you."

For a long moment, the two of them stared one another down silently. Finally, it was Eira who let out a slow breath. "Very well," she said.

She turned and entered the bullhead's passenger bay, Ruby getting in behind her. The soldiers, moving with impressive speed, also filed onto their own bullheads. Just a few seconds later, the three aircraft were rising up into the sky.

"We need to place an emergency call to Ozpin right away!" said Weiss quickly.

"Go," said Ren, his eyes locked on the bullheads, rapidly dwindling from sight.

* * *

Between herself, the soldiers, and Eira; the passenger bay of the bullhead felt fairly cramped. Upon picking her seat, the first thing she had done was pull Akaibara, sheath and all, from her sash, holding it up to her shoulder, so that she could rest against the seat, while still being able to draw her blade, should she have need to. Aside from that, she'd allowed her cloak to wrap around herself slightly, ensuring that, should the soldiers on either side of her attempt any kind of attack, she could harden it to fend off their first strikes.

Eira settled onto the seat across the cabin from her. "It would seem you understand your situation quite well," she observed, her voice carrying surprisingly well over the rumble of the engines and the occasional rattle of machinery.

"I understand it well enough," said Ruby. "Of course, I want to understand the whole thing."

"Giving yourself up isn't the safest way to do that," said Eira.

"But it is the _simplest_ way," said Ruby. "This isn't the safest way for you either, is it?"

"As expected, you understand things quickly," Eira said again, smiling at Ruby. It wasn't a smirk of superiority, but an expression of respect...for a worthy adversary.

Ruby returned the smile, her hand tightening its hold on Akaibara's sheath. _That's right...if I want to do this, I need to enter my enemy's zone._

In the end, it all came down to some of the basic lessons of swordsmanship her brother and Shinrei had taught her. Of course, the situation was larger, more complex than a simple fight, far beyond the level of her fight with Faolan. But, at its core, the fundamentals were the same. Striking meant risking being struck in return. If Ruby didn't open herself to that risk, she would miss her chance to land her own blow.

Of course, part of that was hoping that her friends could follow through on what they needed to do, that they would even be able to find and help her. All the same, Ruby kept her breathing calm and even, kept her awareness extended around her, and bided her time. In front of her, Eira calmly watched from across the cabin...and did the same.

* * *

The call with Ozpin had been brief, with the students quickly rushing back to board the bullhead that was settling onto the landing pad. At their urging, the pilot pushed his airship's engines to the limit to get them back to Beacon as quickly as possible. From there, it had been an all-out sprint to the tower, followed by a tense ride up the elevator, before they spilled out into Ozpin's office.

Unsurprisingly Ozpin was there, along with Ironwood and Glynda. With them were Kyo and Amber, the latter looking more mobile now, though she still had issues with her stamina.

"Where's Uncle Qrow?" asked Yang, looking around, figuring that her reliable, if eccentric, uncle would have wanted to be here for a discussion concerning the threat to Ruby.

"Presently trying to keep up with the ones who took Ruby," said Ozpin simply. "His means are...unique...but he can't quite keep pace with a bullhead at cruising speed. Still, he should be able to keep an eye on her, until we can act on what we know."

"What _do_ we know?" asked Ren.

Ozpin smirked, looking quite pleased with himself. "At the moment, we are fairly certain that the one behind this affair is indeed Mason Ayers, current member of Vale's Council."

Jaune swallowed nervously. "That's...pretty bad...right?"

"Yes," answered Ozpin, "though it gets worse. It appears that Councilman Ayers briefly had had access to the very same virus that Cinder Fall used to infiltrate our systems."

"How do you know that?" asked Weiss.

"One of the fronts for Vale's intelligence agencies was shown as the last known access point for the virus' control signal," explained Ozpin, bringing up a holographic projection of a map, which hovered over his desk. "The one doing the actual accessing was one Arthur Watts, a former Atlesian scientist and doctor of some renown...before he supposedly died in an accident."

"Sounds like reports of his demise were exaggerated," remarked Blake.

"Indeed," agreed Ozpin. "As the virus' creator, it is beyond question that he was an associate of Cinder Fall...and is an agent of Salem."

A tense silence fell over the students. Then Nora spoke up. "Uh...how do you know all of this?"

Ozpin's smile was a bit more relaxed. "We know because Dr. Polendina, Ms. Polendina's father, completed the anti-virus, which we used to purge our systems of the offending program. Furthermore, said anti-virus was also able to compile data on the usage of the access the virus afforded."

"That's...good," said Ren.

"Yeah, great," scoffed Yang. "Never mind that! What are we gonna do about _Ruby_? Those assholes put her under arrest and dragged her off on a bullhead to deliver her right to this jerk...probably."

"Probably not," said Ironwood. "Councilman Ayers isn't likely to put himself at direct risk, by being at the same location as Ms. Rose. However, it _is_ likely that he has indeed taken her into custody."

"It's worse than that!" exclaimed Jaune. "This guy's working with Salem's people, and Ruby is heading right for them."

"What do we do?" asked Yang.

"We move out," said Ozpin. "It's likely that, assuming they haven't arrived already, Ms. Rose is probably close to her destination now. Hopefully, Qrow has managed to keep up with them. I would like to wait for his confirmation on the location, but we can't be certain, so we will move on the data we have."

He highlighted the point on the map where Watts was last known to have utilized the virus. It was an office building, rather uninteresting to look at, which was arguably the point. "This is where we presume the agents operating on Mr. Ayers' behalf are working from. We will assemble around it, and then infiltrate in force, when we have confirmation of Ms. Rose's location."

"How are we going to do that?" asked Weiss. "These people are clearly old hands at this sort of thing. They'll have jammed Ruby's scroll signal."

"That is where _I_ can help," said Kyo, stepping forward, a benign smile on his face. "I will use my Extension to locate Ruby-chan's Aura. Then, by monitoring her location in relation to yours, I can confirm her position, or tell you where she was taken instead."

"Seriously?" asked Yang.

Kyo nodded.

"So you're coming with us?" asked Jaune hopefully. Considering that Kyo was probably the strongest person in the entire Kingdom at the moment, he could probably wipe the floor with _all_ the bad guys present.

Kyo's smile faltered. "Unfortunately...I...cannot."

"What?!" gasped Yang, her eyes flickering a furious red. "Why not?"

Kyo sighed, ducking his head, running his hand through his hair. "As I've told Amber-san before, interfering directly with Ruby-chan's affairs, especially now that it seems that her enemy is in the midst of Vale's own government, would only serve to complicate things for her in the long run."

"As it stands, thanks to the virus, it is likely that Ayers is already aware of Kyo's presence at Beacon," added Ozpin, "and quite possibly his status as Ms. Rose's adoptive brother. That information alone could cause a great deal of controversy for her. Therefore, it is best if we keep Kyo's involvement to a minimum. Besides, we need him to remain behind at Beacon."

"Why?" asked Jaune, giving Kyo a plaintive look.

"To protect Amber," said Glynda frankly. "It would be one thing if we were dealing with Ayers and his people on their own. But we now know that they've allied themselves with Salem's people. It's likely they have no idea of Salem, or what her agents are actually working towards. It's possible that, while Ayers is trying to 'disappear' Ruby, Salem's agents are using the distraction this will provide to make another attempt on Amber."

Amber shivered at the possibility. Truth be told, she would have liked to go with Ruby's friends, and put her power to use to rescue her savior. However, Amber realized that such actions would be out of the question. The Fall Maiden's power could not be used so visibly, not if they wanted to keep it a secret, and ensure that she didn't fall into the wrong hands. And, of course, she still hadn't fully recovered from her months' long coma, not having the stamina to last in a real fight. And recent events had shown that even Beacon was not as secure as Ozpin would have liked it to be. So having her bodyguard with her made sense, even if that meant that it left his sister in more danger.

_Knowing him, he'd also say that it's another training opportunity for her,_ Amber thought wryly, glancing sidelong at Kyo. To her surprise, she saw the faint sheen of sweat on his brow. Since she'd started spending so much time with him, she'd become more and more attuned to the nuances of Kyo's expressions.

He was nervous. That much was obvious to her. That seemed rather simple. Despite his easygoing nature and generally blithe acceptance of the dangerous straits Ruby often entered, Kyo _did_ worry about her, merely doing his utmost to continue to have faith in her strength and skills. However, there was something about the carefully concealed fear on his face that seemed...off...to her.

"But...if you're staying at Beacon, how are you going to find Ruby's Aura?" asked Jaune. While none of them were capable of Extension yet, they did know the basics of the ability, thanks to Ruby's explanations. They were also aware that such an ability had limits to its range. Kyo seemed to imply that he could use it to reach all the way to Vale...without even leaving Beacon's campus.

"I have means," Kyo assured him. "Once I begin, you will understand."

"Then we should move quickly," said Ozpin. "Team Rainbow and Team Raspberry will report to the air-dock in ten minutes. If you require any additional armaments or Dust, now is the time to procure them."

"What about Ayers?" asked Blake. Considering what they'd learned about him, it looked as though the man behind all of this wouldn't even be present. What if he got away?

"That will not be an issue," said Ironwood simply.

* * *

Ruby had not expected to be taken to some location that practically screamed "Secret bad-guy base!" Nor would she have expected the bullhead she was in actually fly directly to their final destination. Given the circumstances of her "arrest," of course Eira would be wary of someone trying to track them.

So it came as no surprise to Ruby, when the passenger-bay doors of the bullhead opened to reveal that they had set down in what appeared to be one of the bases operated by the Valean Military, at the Kingdom's perimeter. Ruby couldn't help but note that there was a distinct absence of Atlesian materiel and personnel. There were no mantas flitting through the air above, nor were there any androids marching about the grounds. Ruby wasn't privy to the particulars of what constituted cooperation between the militaries of the two Kingdoms. Perhaps this was just standard.

All she _did_ know was that there was no way to appeal to the Atlesian forces to intervene on her behalf, not that she'd intended to if she could. If she wanted her chance to bring this to an end, she had to let her opponents carry her all the way into the heart of their operation. Perhaps it seemed foolish to believe that they would do that with her. But Ruby realized that, so long as they were eager to capture her alive, she was important in some way, which probably meant that not just _any_ location would do.

So Ruby wasn't surprised either when she, Eira, and their escort marched through the base, their procession not even attracting a second glance. Their journey lasted only a few-dozen meters at best, before they reached a car, a rather nondescript-looking sedan, quite similar to the one that the men who'd tried to abduct her the first time had used. The memory of that incident, along with the realization of what they'd planned to do with her, made Ruby shudder, momentarily halting her movement.

Immediately, the soldiers flanking her on either side stopped as well, their postures tensing, rifle muzzles rising. Eira froze as well, her body going completely still, hands closing into fists, not balling up in frustration, but preparing for battle. In the instant it had taken for Ruby's emotional jolt to stop her cold, Eira had switched into combat-mode, ready for anything.

"Please proceed, Ms. Rose," said Eira, her voice calm, but carrying substantial authority. Even if Ruby had wanted to back out, she wouldn't be allowed to. She would be starting a fight right in the middle of enemy territory, one she couldn't be sure she would win.

Ruby glanced at the car, then up at Eira, then back at the car.

It took a moment, but Eira seemed to make the connection. "Oh..." she said. "You needn't fear any...violation...Ms. Rose. My men are professionals."

"So were the ones you sent last time," said Ruby.

Eira's lips quirked in a slight smirk. "Well, I know better than to try the same thing twice."

_She's not even bothering to hide that she and her boss were behind the last time,_ Ruby noted. If she wasn't worried about maintaining any form of deniability, that meant that Eira was completely confident of the snare they had set for Ruby at the end of this journey, assuming the snare wasn't hidden along the route to their destination itself.

"Regardless, it is too late for second thoughts now, Ms. Rose," said Eira. "That chance passed long ago."

"How long?" wondered Ruby, thinking that Eira was not referring to her decision to give herself up back in Aiwendil.

"Perhaps from the beginning," said Eira simply. "You left Vale long ago, Ms. Rose. It was unwise of you to return."

"I doubt that," said Ruby simply.

"We shall see," said Eira. "However, the fact remains that this..." She gestured to the care in front of them. "...is the only way you are leaving here. Will you get in...or will we need to force the matter?"

Ruby took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Fine," she grumbled.

One of the soldiers opened the back door, and Ruby slid inside. Eira slid in next to her, while one of the soldiers occupied the backseat on her other side, leaving her sandwiched between them. The sedan's interior was roomy. But the extra company left her feeling just as cramped as she'd felt in the passenger bay of that bullhead. Furthermore, she couldn't help but notice the extra feature that this car had, one that the one that had been used in the last effort had lacked, a clear partition between the back and the front. It seemed like a plastic of some kind, but Ruby's awareness told her that it was solid and strong enough to stop a mid-sized Dust-round without breaking.

Her senses also told her that the partition was airtight, a feature she noted with both interest and trepidation, her gaze darting to what looked like air-conditioning vents on the ceiling and walls of the compartment formed by the backseat area.

As before, she had pulled Akaibara out of her sash, resting the sword against her shoulder while she leaned back against the seat, keeping it on her left side, away from Eira, who sat on her right.

When Eira and the soldier closed the door, Ruby could feel the seals that formed afterwards, making the entire compartment airtight. Now she got an inkling of why Eira hadn't bothered to fight Ruby's insistence on keeping her weapon.

Taking another deep breath, Ruby closed her eyes, keeping her awareness combined to the car itself for the time being. This would be tricky. Monitoring the quality of the air around her was one of the skills that was a natural elaboration on her Manifestation. However, she would also need to make sure she continued to monitor her fellow passengers and their intentions. If they disrupted her control, Ruby would be in serious trouble, unless she could respond in time.

She felt the car go into motion, heard the tires grind against the pavement below. The car she was riding in was one of an entire convoy, the other soldiers having boarded similar cars, sandwiching the one Ruby was in between them. She felt a couple of turns and, before long, figured that they'd left the perimeter of the military base.

She didn't need her eyes to sense Eira making eye-contact with the driver through through the rearview mirror. She sensed both Eira and the soldier reaching to their sides, producing gas masks, discretely slipping them on their faces. The driver, in the meanwhile, reached for the console, a move that might have looked like he was just adjusting the radio or something. However, Ruby's Extension allowed her to feel him instead flick one of the switches on the console.

The next thing she knew, the quality of the air coming through the vents changed. Ruby could sense the extra, unknown, gas mixing with the air of the cabin. Just like with the drug that had been in her milkshake, during the first attempt, Ruby could sense the danger conveyed by that gas. It was something that would weaken her, probably knocking her unconscious, if she dared breathe it in.

Carefully, Ruby Projected her Aura outwards, channeling her intentions through it, keeping it hovering around her body, allowing regular air through, but keeping whatever gas that had been introduced into the mix at bay. It was tricky, but she focused on keeping the air that felt "bad" to her senses away, while allowing the rest in.

All the while, she remained wary of the people on either side of her. Eira and the soldier were watching her. If they thought Ruby was resisting the gas, or avoiding its effects somehow, they might work to find out how, their investigation or interference breaking Ruby's control, which would leave her succumbing to the gas's effects. So the best approach was to allow them to think that their trick had worked...for now.

Softening her breathing, Ruby relaxed her body, her head slumping down, then leaning over. She allowed herself to fall against Eira, the woman not even stiffening at the contact. Instead, Eira's posture remained exactly as it had been. Ruby felt the barest glimmer of satisfaction flicker through the woman's Aura, before her cold, icy, professionalism returned to the fore. Eira thought the gas had worked.

Ruby wondered if they'd try to take her sword away now. If that happened, she would have to fight back. However, there was nowhere to keep the blade in the cramped confines of the car, so it seemed that Eira was content to wait until they arrived, before trying to confiscate Ruby's weapon. Just in case, Ruby tightened her grip, ever so slightly, preparing herself to draw and fight her way free at an instant's notice.

She waited, biding her time, leaning against her captor, feigning sleep, as she waited to be delivered right into her enemies' midst. She felt her weight shift as their vehicle went through turn after turn. There was no way she could hope to figure out where they were. Even after her months at Beacon, she wasn't all that familiar with the streets of Vale, particularly not well enough to gauge her location with her eyes closed. The best she could figure was that they were probably heading into Vale's commercial district.

Finally, she felt her body shifting forward as the driver braked, bringing the car to a stop. Then they accelerated slightly, before taking a very tight turn, followed by the car's front dipping down. They were heading underground then, possibly into a parking garage of some kind...maybe. Ruby couldn't be sure, of course. Still, this probably meant they were near their destination. The car came to a stop again, and the engine turned off. Faintly, she heard the sound of the driver opening the door through the partition. Then she heard the doors on either side of her opening as well.

Eira moved away from her, shifting Ruby's body to lay it down against the seat. Ruby let her, not wanting to give away that she was awake just yet. She wanted to see what they had planned for her, if she were asleep. While she waited for their next move, she sensed the gas in the air clearing out, now that no more was being pumped in, and it was streaming out through the open doors.

"Looks like you got her," commented a harsh, male voice from outside.

"It was more difficult than I thought," Eira replied. "She kept her guard up, but it seems that not even _she_ expected gas."

"I guess we should move her before she wakes up."

"And restrain her, yes," agreed Eira. "First things first..."

Ruby sensed Eira reaching for her sword, no doubt to pull it out of Ruby's limp grip. _Well, no sense in playing possum now,_ she thought.

As Eira was about to close her hand around the sword's sheath and try to pry it from Ruby's grip, Ruby snapped her eyes open, looking straight up at the woman.

Eira's response was immediate. The woman leapt back with such speed that it would have given Ruby's _Shukuchi_ a run for its money, her body little more than a flickering blur, before she came to a stop, fists raised in a fighting pose that reminded Ruby of Yang's stance. The sudden move was enough of a cue for the soldiers, and Ruby's ears immediately picked up the clicks of rifles being readied to fire as she lifted her head and began to sit up.

Ruby moved slowly, getting out of the car and standing up, sliding Akaibara back into place in her sash. She was careful not to make any moves that were too threatening. Now wasn't the time to start a fight...not yet.

Seeing that she wasn't about to try attacking or running, Eira slowly lowered her arms, regarding Ruby with wary eyes. "You are _full_ of surprises, Ms. Rose."

"Thank you," said Ruby with a wry smile. Eira's own Aura was smooth to Ruby's senses, not the contained smoothness of Temper, but featureless, glasslike Aura that she couldn't get a proper sense of, for the most part. It was a pure manifestation of the woman's professionalism, that of someone trained to take nearly everything completely in stride. In spite of that, she _was_ genuinely unsettled that Ruby had managed to shrug off the attempt to subdue her with gas.

"Now what?" asked Ruby, taking in their surroundings.

They were indeed within a parking garage of some kind. The lights above cast a weak glow, which was barely enough to illuminate the space. All around her, she could see an expanse of asphalt, the parking spaces laid out in simple lanes, interrupted by the presence of the occasional concrete pillar. Right now, the entire garage was empty. Besides the one she and Eira had been riding in, there were four others, two that had been traveling in front, two behind. They had all come to a stop in a single line at one end of the garage, up near a wall, where a pair of glass doors presumably led into whatever building this garage was built to serve.

Impressively, despite the expectation that she would succumb to the gas, the soldiers that had escorted them hadn't lowered their guards. They had already deployed in a crescent formation around the car, having been ready for anything Ruby might attempt, even though they'd had every reason to believe she was unconscious. Even though Eira had lowered her hands, the soldiers had yet to lower their rifles.

Eira lowered her head and blew out a soft puff of air. "It would seem that we now move on," she said, turning aside and gesturing to the doors, the ranks of soldiers behind her parting to form a lane between them. "After you."

Ruby nodded and started forward, Eira falling into step beside her once again.

* * *

Kyo and Amber stood at the cliffs, watching as the bullhead carrying Ruby's friends, along with Ozpin and Glynda, soared towards Vale.

Amber glanced over at Kyo, surprised to see traces of nervousness in his expression. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "You seem worried...more than usual, even when it comes to Ruby."

Kyo sighed, lowering his head. "You're not wrong," he conceded. "It worries me to hear that Salem's people are involved in this."

"You're afraid of them?" she asked.

"Not them specifically," said Kyo. His right hand went to gently brush his fingers against the handle of his sword. "However, you might say that we presently have something of an...armistice...with Salem. Truth be told, we would like nothing more than to wipe her and her ilk from the face of the earth. However, there is one person in her company who makes that difficult."

"Why?" asked Amber.

"Because he is stronger than me," said Kyo simply, making Amber gasp. "Well...perhaps that's not the right way to phrase it. He is someone that I could not kill, no matter how hard I tried. He is the one who has kept us Mibu from intervening in Salem's actions, and dealing with her. So long as he remains, we cannot truly touch her."

"So, if you went with them..." said Amber, her gaze returning to the now-distant bullhead.

"He would have intervened, and things would have gotten much worse," said Kyo. "Of course, the rest of my reasoning holds as well. When Vale's government is involved, it is best that I do what I can to avoid making things more complicated for Ruby-chan. As for Salem's agents, Ruby-chan has bested them before, and I am confident she can do so again...so long as He doesn't interfere on their behalf."

Amber swallowed.

"There's something else," added Kyo.

"What?" asked Amber.

Kyo lowered his head. "Amber-san...I'm about to do something that will make me seem _quite_ frightening. I hope that this does not drive you away."

Amber swallowed, wondering just what Kyo would do. Then her scroll rang. Answering it, she heard Ozpin's voice from the other end.

"_We are ready,_" Ozpin said. "_Please tell Kyo to begin._"

Amber glanced at Kyo and nodded.

Kyo took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Amber tensed, her ears picking up what sounded like a faint rumbling noise, one that was rapidly building in volume and intensity. Looking at Kyo, Amber could see his Aura clearly, a red outline around his body, getting brighter with each passing second. Within that outline, the color of Kyo's body and clothes darkened, to the point of becoming black. She felt vibrations through the ground beneath her feet. Looking down, she could even see some small rocks and pebbles dancing about.

Kyo's eyes snapped open, and Amber found herself gasping. His eyes had changed completely. The crimson of his irises had expanded to completely swallow the whites, while his pupils contracted until they were barely even visible, mere pinpricks of black adrift in a sea of blood-red. Those eyes blazed like miniature suns, casting off a light of their own, throwing Kyo's body into shadowed relief, making his skin seem almost pitch-black.

Then his Aura erupted outwards in a mighty wave, surging out towards Vale in crimson torrent, swirling, billowing, and boiling. Amber's heart nearly stopped in her chest. _He can produce this much Aura!?_ Sure enough, the red wave of Kyo's power crested over, then descended upon Vale, washing around and through the buildings that made it up.

It was a sight that beggared belief, even if only certain people could see or sense what was going on. The scale and scope of this exercise were beyond her wildest imaginings. For the first time, Amber truly understood the nature of the power that Ruby had told her about, the power that had made Kyo the kind of person that even the Grimm feared to approach. With power like this, it was no wonder that the Grimm viewed Kyo as a portent of their death.

It was hard to see, his body darkened by the light of his Aura, but Amber could see the sweat beginning to bead on Kyo's brow, and hear his breathing getting harsher. What he was doing was incredible, but it was no casual feat for him. Reaching all the way across the bay and spreading his Aura, his awareness with it, across significant portion of Vale required an effort that he might not be able to sustain for long.

Finally, Kyo spoke. "I have her!" he said.

"Where?" asked Amber, holding up her scroll, ready to speak into it at a second's notice.

It wouldn't be easy. From where he was, it wasn't as though Kyo could tell Ozpin the address of Ruby's location. He wasn't so skilled that he could pinpoint her coordinates, or somehow determine her location via latitude and longitude. At present, the best he would be able to do was give her position, as it appeared relative to that of Ozpin and Ruby's friends. Still, that would be enough.

As Kyo began to relay instructions, Amber could see the stream of Aura emerging from him narrowing down, no longer covering all of Vale. Instead, he was narrowing his focus to Ruby's location alone. Doing so allowed him to conserve his strength.

Finally, Kyo relaxed and let out a breath. "That's where she is," he said, confirming that the bullhead from Beacon had arrived at the right point, and that Ozpin's guess was spot-on. "She's below it, in a basement of some kind. She's a long ways down. There are quite a few people in the building, but they aren't a substantial threat on their own. But there are a small number people in the basement...most of them are quite dangerous. Be careful."

Finally, he released his breath, the stream of Aura rushing from his body ending. Kyo closed his eyes. When they opened again, they had returned to normal. Kyo swayed in place for a moment, then collapsed to one knee.

"Are you all right?" asked Amber worriedly, crouching next to him.

"I'll be fine," Kyo assured her. "I'm a bit tired though. I've never had to reach that far and wide before."

_The fact that you could do that at all was scary enough,_ thought Amber. It was daunting to think just how much power this young man had. It made her wonder just what the future had in store for them, if she remained with him.

* * *

"Okay...that was just about the freakiest thing I've ever been a part of," commented Yang, her throat dry.

She wasn't the only one unnerved by the spectacular display of power Kyo had put on. They'd had the perfect view to watch as his Aura washed over the Kingdom, and them along with it, like a red tide. While immersed in it, they'd been able to sense the Aura's presence. There had been no malicious intent behind it. But it remained sufficiently ominous all on its own, thanks to the sheer scope of it.

"Is there anyone who could stop him?" wondered Glynda worriedly. "With that kind of strength, he could do virtually anything he wanted...and no force on earth could stand against him."

"There are some," said Ozpin. "But they are few and far between. Of course, in order to do so, they themselves would have attained a similar level of power, which would make them similarly unstoppable, should they ever turn such strength to evil ends."

"I'm sure glad he's on our side," said Nora, shivering, rubbing her arms and the goosebumps that had spread across them.

"A sentiment I share, Ms. Valkyrie," said Ozpin, smiling at her, before turning to look out the open doors of the passenger bay, and look down at the building they currently hovered above, the one that Kyo had identified as the location Ruby had been taken to. True to his suspicions, it was none other than the nondescript office building owned by _Stonecutter: Stocks and Bonds_.

"She's in the basement," said Jaune, looking down as well. "How are we getting down there?"

"At this point...brute force is more than acceptable," said Ozpin. "Ms. Valkyrie, Ms. Xiao Long; this is your cue. Glynda, if you would handle the debris..."

Yang and Nora's faces broke out into identically savage grins. Glynda drew her riding crop, readying herself, while the two girls leapt out of the cabin. Falling through the air, they deployed their weapons, putting all their impressive strength behind the blows they landed as they touched down on the office building's roof, their attacks rocking the building to its foundation and beyond.

* * *

The glass doors opened to admit them into a corridor lined with elevators. The one at the end slid open as they approached, prompting Ruby to look up, her eyes darting around as she looked for a camera, aware that they were being monitored. She and Eira stepped into the elevator, and Ruby saw that the soldiers remained behind. She decided to say nothing, figuring it was probably a pointless question. Either the soldiers weren't going to be a part of what was about to happen...or there were plenty more where they came from.

To Ruby's complete lack of surprise, the elevator dropped, instead of rising. Despite the fact that they had entered the basement floor of a skyscraper, Ruby figured that they wouldn't be going up. The upper floors would be more open to escape. A huntress, like her, was less likely to be daunted by heights, so leaping from an upper floor was a definite option. Besides, people who conducted such underhanded actions and activities typically hid their real bases underground. It seemed that, like Beacon in a sense, this place's basement had its own basement.

The elevator descended for several minutes, leaving Ruby wondering just how far underground they were going. Finally, the elevator lurched to a stop, and the doors slid open.

Ruby and Eira exited into a large room. It was an empty expanse of concrete floor, leading away from the equally empty and unremarkable wall that the doors were set into. Spotlights shined down from above, illuminating a path through the room's center. The focus of the lights and the room's own size prevented Ruby's eyes from seeing much beyond the lighted path, the rest of the room quickly dropping away into darkness a short ways away, leaving the walls and ceiling beyond her sight. Ruby expanded her awareness as she stepped out of the elevator, spreading out her Extension as far as she dared. Her reach was considerable. But even with that, she couldn't sense the edges of the room, nor its ceiling. She got the impression that this wasn't the enemy's true base of operations. Instead, it was an open room designated for activities that might be to...noisy...to carry out in their actual facilities.

_At least I've got room to move,_ she thought ruefully. That would be true for the enemy as well. In a room this large, it would be easy for them to arrange themselves to utilize whatever numbers they might have to their advantage.

And numbers they had. Ruby could sense the presences of at least three others. They lingered at the edges of the room, where her Extension couldn't fully reach from her position (unless she took her time to build it up and/or extend it in a particular direction, like she had in Aiwendil), but their own Auras broadcasted their presence to her own, even from that distance, two of them in particular. The two presences sent a terrifying chill down Ruby's spine.

One was twisted and malevolent, a churning mass of pure violent intentions, the Aura of someone who killed and tormented, not out of hatred, but out of a twisted love of causing pain and death. It was the Aura of someone who would torture her to death...and laugh giddily the whole time. It paled in comparison to the monstrosity that had been Jester's Aura. But it was still terrifying to sense.

The other was frightening for different reasons. It was an Aura of solid, stony determination, shaped and strengthened by pure conviction. What was more, Ruby could sense its contained nature, and realized that the person behind it was at least capable of Tempering, which was worrying. Behind that conviction, Ruby realized that it was little more than a shell that enclosed and contained a pure, unyielding hatred, so powerful that merely brushing against it made her feel faint, with the fact that it wasn't directed at her specifically being the only reason she wasn't brought to a halt, trembling.

And then there was the third Aura...which was all too familiar, because it belonged someone Ruby had fought before. She came to a stop, throwing an angry glare at Eira. "What is Mercury doing here?" she asked. The pointed question actually made Eira jump in surprise, clearly not expecting Ruby to have noticed Mercury was present. "Why isn't he still in prison?"

"We had a use for him," replied Eira.

"Do you even realize who he's working for?" asked Ruby. "Do you know what they were up to?"

"That is immaterial at this point," said Eira simply. "Do not concern yourself with him. Keep going. You're expected, after all."

Ruby frowned, stepping forward, a nervous sweat beading on her brow. Mercury was one thing, but the two other people...Ruby got the definite sense that they were stronger than her, stronger than Adam, possibly even stronger than Cinder, even if they didn't have the raw power of partially-stolen Fall Maiden magic to aid them. She got the sense of seasoned combatants, confident in their skills and strength, but not so much that they would underestimate their opponent, even if she just looked like a fifteen-year-old girl.

Walking forward, Ruby allowed her cloak to enclose her body, hiding her left hand as her fingers drifted up to brush against the handle of her sword. It appeared that Mercury and his cohorts were waiting for something, a signal maybe. But the crazy one's restraint was hanging by a thread, and Ruby was beginning to fear he might attack out of pure impatience.

Her sandals scuffed against the concrete floor, the sound frighteningly loud in this large, empty space. She noted that Eira's own boots didn't make any sound as she walked. Combined with her ability to drop into combat-mode out of nowhere, Ruby realized that Eira must have been an assassin, like Mercury.

After an annoyingly long walk, they reached the opposite end of the room, where Ruby found herself facing a blank wall once more. "Okay...this is just stupid," she grumbled.

Abruptly, a holographic screen winked into existence right in front of her. Ruby couldn't tell where the projector was. Perhaps it was a component of the wall itself. That scarcely mattered though. Instead, her attention was taken up by the figure on the screen.

The person's features were hidden. Instead, all she saw was a black silhouette against a lighted background, which blotted out all details of the person's surroundings. The black shape sported a rounded head, with Ruby thinking she could see the outline of a conservative haircut. Two large, round, white circles covered the places where the person's eyes were supposed to be, Ruby suspecting that they were the reflections off the lenses of a pair of glasses. Between that and the outline, Ruby figured she knew who this was.

"_So...we finally meet, Ruby Rose,_" said the person, speaking with a voice that was probably masculine, but distorted and muffled slightly as a way of further obscuring the speaker's identity.

"If you can call this meeting," said Ruby, scowling at the figure. "What do you want with me, Mason Ayers?"

Eira flinched slightly, a sign to Ruby that her guess had been on point. The figure on the screen flinched visibly as well, before lowering his head and sighing. He reached out with his right arm, stretching it outside the camera's field of view, probably to manipulate some control or interface. Immediately, the image changed. Mason's face came into view, as did his background. He looked to be in an office somewhere, a large, glass window behind him, the skyscrapers of Vale visible through it, though at a distance, which had Ruby suspecting that he was not in the office building above, nor the Council Building where Mason and the other Councilmen actually met.

"_It would seem that obfuscation is pointless,_" said Mason, eyes narrowing behind the round lenses of his glasses. "_I applaud your deductive capabilities, Ms. Rose._"

_It helps to have a pretty well-connected criminal to consult,_ thought Ruby, Roman's face appearing in her mind's eye. Out loud, she asked, "What do you want with me?"

"To put it simply, I am doing what is necessary to maintain peace and order within Vale," said Mason.

_We could've used that when the White Fang were causing problems,_ thought Ruby sarcastically. "And what does kidnapping me have to do with that?" she asked.

"_I am sure that a smart girl, like you, can figure out the reason easily enough,_" said Mason calmly. "_Since you have already called me out, let us dispense with all pretense._"

"So it's because I'm from the Mibu," said Ruby.

Mason's head dipped in the barest hint of a nod. "_The Mibu are an existential threat to the Kingdoms as a whole,_" he said. "_Their mere existence is potentially disruptive on a number of levels._"

"Because they don't rely on Dust," guessed Ruby.

"_That much is indeed disruptive,_" said Mason. "_Were that power they possess be allowed to proliferate, it would mean substantial economic upheaval, as the interests that have supported the Kingdoms from the very beginning find their worth being invalidated._"

On one hand, Ruby found it more than a little irritating that someone would prioritize protecting the interests of Dust corporations (or at least one big one) over something that could greatly improve the safety and wellbeing of their people. On the other hand, she also realized that there _was_ something to what he said. Corporation or not, greedy or not, there were people out there who had invested the entirety of their worth in Dust, not simply in terms of money. There were people who studied it and conceived of new uses, the people who made looking for it and obtaining it their life's work. The intrusion of a power that did not require Dust to function threatened that worth, making it likely that many of them would feel that they had thrown away the better part of their lives, only to be told that all that hard work had been rendered worthless.

Thinking of it that way, Ruby could understand something like that herself. Suppose that someone found a way to wipe out the Grimm…forever…and ensure that they were no longer a threat to the people of the world. What would such a development mean for Huntsmen and Huntresses, people who had spent their lives training to fight a threat that was now no more? Could they just expect to give it all up and find new lines of work? Could they even find the kind of work that would allow them to properly apply their skills?

However, that wasn't any reason to give up, certainly not now. "I can see that," she admitted. "But that's not all there is is there?"

"_I would say that it's enough,_" commented Mason.

"You would know that it's not the kind of thing that would come about instantly," said Ruby. "You obviously know something about how the Mibu's techniques work, that it took me years of training to wield the power that I have. It's not something that can cause such terrible change overnight. There would be time to adjust, to prevent people from being harmed, and maybe even come up with something new. Who's to say Dust would become completely worthless?"

Mason tilted his head slightly. "_And what are you suggesting?_"

"I'm not a scientist," Ruby admitted. "I still only know the basics about how Dust works, really. But I know that the Mibu have things the Kingdoms don't...but the Kingdoms also have things the Mibu don't. If you aren't always opposing each other, then you can learn from each other."

"_Baseless platitudes,_" grumbled Mason, frowning sternly through the screen.

"Are they really?" asked Ruby. "Or are you sore about something else?"

"_What I am sore about is that Ozpin allowed an agent of an enemy power into the very heart of the institution that is charged with training those who defend our lands from the Grimm,_" said Mason. "_The Mibu, who have always dwelt in isolation, suddenly send one of their own to us...to study as a Huntress? Really? You expect me to believe such a farcical explanation?_"

"I wasn't sent," declared Ruby firmly. "I was born in Vale."

"_Yet you spent your formative years amongst the Mibu,_" Mason pointed out. "_I am certain that they've spent those years trying to pound ideas of the Kingdoms' inferiority into your head._"

_He's not wrong,_ thought Ruby silently. Sure, none of her actual teachers had ever suggested that the Kingdoms were inferior, especially not Kyoichiro. However, that didn't stop some classmates from airing such beliefs themselves, when they thought they wouldn't get in trouble for it, the beliefs they espoused being instilled in them by their own families.

Then Mason continued. "_I imagine that their isolation allows them to wallow in such ideas, safely insulated from the truth...like the ignorant savages that they are._"

He flinched when Ruby actually giggled. "_Is something amusing you?_" he asked icily.

Ruby beamed at him. "Yeah," she said frankly. "You sound like those people you were talking about."

"_Hmm?_" The clenching of the man's jaw betrayed that he wasn't happy about the comparison.

"I mean...the things you say about them, are the same things they say about you." Her smile relaxed a little. "The ones who truly shaped who I am and the way I think taught me to be aware of stuff like that, the way people are people, no matter what Kingdom you're in. Even when we come from different lives, we wind up being more alike than we are different in the end."

Mason's jaw actually dropped slightly at that. "_Of all the insulting..._" he growled, eyes narrowing.

"I'm sorry if you think I'm insulting you," said Ruby. "I was just pointing out the truth."

"_Then allow me to point out the truth to _you_,_" declared Mason imperiously. "_The fact still remains that you are a representative of the Mibu Clan. You have even gone so far as to claim the criminal, Demon Eyes Kyo, as your brother. You expect me to believe that you were sent with no other agenda than to become a Huntress?_"

"I don't expect anything from you," said Ruby. "It doesn't really matter whether you believe me or not. Like I said, I wasn't _sent_. From the very beginning, before I ever went to the Mibu, all I _ever_ wanted to be was a Huntress, a protector of the people. I met Kyo-nii, and the rest of my family, and they promised to do everything they could to help me do that. I don't serve them, and I'm not an agent of them."

She drew herself up. "I am Ruby Rose, Huntress of Beacon and Vale. That's _all_ I am."

Mason blinked, his eyes widening behind the circular lenses of his glasses, before narrowing again. "_I see...perhaps I misjudged you._"

Ruby's eyebrows went up. However, she could hear the continued animosity in Mason's voice. Whatever he had taken from their conversation, she knew she hadn't gotten him to abandon his plan to eliminate her.

"_It would seem that you are...an altruist,_" he said.

"I guess you could say that," said Ruby. "I won't say I'm completely selfless, but I really _do_ want to help people."

"_Indeed,_" agreed Mason. "_However...in its own way, that makes you an even greater threat._"

"Huh?" Ruby blinked in confusion. _I can get him not changing his mind, especially not after he's gone through all this trouble. But why would wanting to help others make me a bigger threat to him?_

"_I can see your confusion,_" said Mason. "_Though you do not need an explanation, I shall supply one anyway._

"_In their own way, people like you are as great a threat as any agent of an enemy power. You act with a complete lack of awareness of the importance of maintaining the stability provided by the existing order. If you deemed it to benefit people, you would tear down the very government of the Kingdom itself._"

Ruby could scarcely believe what she was hearing. "That's what you're afraid of?" she asked in disbelief. "You're afraid that I'm gonna try and overthrow the Council or something?"

"_As I said, if you deemed that to be to the benefit of the people, then yes, you would,_" said Mason. "_People like you are completely ignorant of the long term importance of proper government, and the necessities that go into maintaining order within the Kingdom._"

Ruby blinked again. "I...I don't get it," she said. "I don't have any reason to overthrow the Council."

"_Which is exactly the problem,_" said Mason, "_the fact that you would, if you 'had reason'._"

"Probably," Ruby admitted. Her eyes narrowed. "I mean, you _are_ abusing your power, trying to kidnap people."

"_I am well within the rights of the authority granted to me,_" said Mason imperiously. "_You represent a clear and present danger to the stability of the Kingdom of Vale. Therefore...your life is forfeit. At least meet your end with dignity, and resign yourself to your death._"

The screen winked out, putting an end to any further conversation. Ruby fought down the urge to shout angry curses at the man who was no longer speaking. However, she realized, almost too late, the trick that had been played.

While she'd been wrapped up in her conversation with Mason, Eira had stepped back, out of the space illuminated by the lights, and into the shadows beyond. There, her presence had gradually dwindled away to nothing, the transition so gradual that Ruby hadn't noticed its disappearance, the sign of a highly skilled assassin. Mason hadn't merely been interrogating her. He'd been baiting her, drawing her attention, allowing his agents to move into an opportune position to attack.

A shiver went down Ruby's spine. The intent of all the different people in the room, Mercury, those other two terrifying presences, focused on her. They began to close in.

And then the lights went out, plunging her into pitch-blackness.

_Here we go again,_ thought Ruby, closing her eyes.

* * *

**Because bad guys aren't bad guys, if they don't have an elaborate, underground base.**


	114. Chapter 114

**Chapter 114:**

Spreading out her Extension, Ruby completely opened her senses, not even trying to track the attackers closing in with her eyes. Her Extension was like a spectral, invisible version of her cloak, spreading out far beyond the reach of her physical one, its sweeping folds brushing over everything that came within several meters of her, giving her a perfect picture of her surroundings, and everyone within them. On top of that, her other senses monitored the flow of the air around her, the faint sounds filling the enormous room, and the smells that drifted through the air. Putting all of them together built a picture that was as complete and vivid as any her eyes could paint, without being limited to that narrow cone in front of her, the way her vision was.

At the moment, she was near the wall at the far side of the room from where she had entered. Eira's presence had completely vanished, to the point that Ruby would equate it to somebody having mastered Suppression. Through the flow of the air around her, Ruby could sense Eira's purposeful movements. But the woman's lack of presence allowed Ruby's awareness to glide over her, without actually comprehending her. As such, Ruby couldn't get a proper sense of Eira's actions. If Ruby wanted to fight the assassin, she would have to wait for the interval, when Eira's intent preceded her attack. It was a way of fighting Ruby knew well.

She had plenty of experience with assassins, after all.

Mercury, on the other hand, she had no problem reading. He certainly made no attempt to hide his presence as he dashed in. Bursts of silver wind from the soles of his concealed prosthetic feet accelerated his body. Closing in, he went into a jumping spin that allowed him to swing his right foot at her in an arcing roundhouse kick, the movement's speed further enhanced by the wind from his weaponized limb.

Ruby's legs bent, and she dropped down into a crouch, while going into a spin of her own, whipping the edges of her cloak out. She drew her sword, slashing around and up at Mercury, even as her crouch allowed his foot to pass over her head. Mercury's spin brought his left leg around, and he countered with a hooking back-kick, knocking the path of Ruby's slash away, silver and red sparks lighting up the darkness, throwing them into stark relief for the barest fraction of a second.

It caused Ruby to realize that Mercury had no problem fighting in total darkness either. She supposed that such a quality would be only natural to expect from an assassin, even if they didn't possess a faunus' night vision. In fact, such a skill would be especially beneficial against faunus. Faunus' knowledge of their own night vision would lead to them naturally assuming they had an advantage in low-light conditions, which could lead to fatal oversights against an opponent like Mercury. Ruby knew this well enough, mainly because that had been one of the main causes of Adam's downfall, the second time they'd fought.

Still, this was no time to be reflecting on things like that. She had other, more important, considerations. They'd both avoided each other's opening blows. It was a race to see who could begin their next attack first. However, Ruby's awareness picked up the strange eddying of the air behind her, indicating an object she couldn't sense stirring it up. Realizing what was coming next, Ruby abandoned any intent to press the attack on Mercury, instead continuing her turn, following through from her previous slash, bringing herself around to drive her blade at the source of the sensation.

Her attack came right as she sensed Eira's intent, the woman herself appearing out of the darkness, having apparently intended to strike when Ruby tried to continue going after Mercury. Instead, she was forced to bring up a black-gloved hand to block Ruby's thrust. Akaibara's point struck the palm of Eira's hand. Instead of piercing through it, the blade instead stopped, as though it had struck something much harder than flesh and blood, behind the light fabric of a glove. Still, the force of Ruby's body and Aura were in the blow, and Eira was blasted back, her shoes skidding against the smooth floor, before she came to a stop.

_Gravity-Dust in her gloves,_ Ruby noted.

That wasn't all. She could sense Dust woven all throughout Eira's clothes, and in the earring she wore on her right ear. She was reminded of Morgan, how the pirate woman had secreted Dust all over herself, disguised as clothing and gaudy accessories. Eira didn't have as much Dust on her person, but what she did have was more than enough to make her an effective fighter. The gravity-Dust in her gloves had been supported by earth-Dust to harden the fabric to the point where it could stand up to a sword's edge.

Ruby would have pressed the attack. However, responding to Eira had given Mercury the time he needed to come out of his spin, his right leg already descending towards the floor. From the flow of his movements, Ruby could sense that he was going to immediately kick off and transition into a side-kick to try and catch her in the back, if she went after Eira. Her body moving of its own accord, Ruby immediately turned about to meet him. Sure enough, the sole of his boot was flying right at her face. Ruby brought her sword around in a blurring slash, the red flash of her blade catching his boot from the side, biting right through the leather disguising the metal prosthetic beneath it.

Rather than try to follow up with another sword strike, Ruby continued her previous motion, jumping up to execute a roundhouse kick of her own, foot lashing towards Mercury's temple. However, he was able to raise a hand to block her, the force of the kick knocking him back. Mercury allowed it, leaning his body into the direction he was knocked, inverting himself so that he could kick out at her with both feet, producing a silvery whirlwind that threatened to blow her across the floor. Bringing her sword back up, Ruby slashed straight down through the mass of moving air, dividing it neatly around her.

Meanwhile, Eira had once again disappeared into the darkness.

_So that's how it is,_ thought Ruby. Eira and Mercury were fighting as a team. Eira was almost literally hiding in Mercury's shadow, biding her time to attack when Ruby was focusing on Mercury. Meanwhile, if Ruby focused too much on locating Eira, or got caught up pressing the attack once she found her, Mercury would come blazing in, either to distract Ruby and allow Eira to slip away again, or to land a solid hit through an opening left by Ruby's distraction.

It was a competent stye, one that definitely suited the pair as assassins. Eira was definitely the older and more experienced of the pair. She hung back, allowing Mercury to set the pace, while reading his motions and determining the perfect time to jump in. Her intent and action barely had any delay either, indicating serious skill. Eira reminded Ruby of some of the best assassins who had come after her, in her younger years.

But, in the end, that was the crux of it. This was not the first time Ruby had needed to fight in total darkness, not the first time her enemies had tried a paired strategy against her. She had no shortage of experience against assassins. Mercury had been more dangerous, paired with Cinder and her magic. Even together with Eira, he wasn't nearly as threatening. Compared to her fight with Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury, this fight was a step down in difficulty...for now.

The _real_ threat lay in the other two, who had begun to close in, only to stop when Mercury and Eira began their concerted attack. Now the pair of them hung back, watching, waiting... Ruby couldn't be sure of their intentions...well...that wasn't completely true. She was sure of the intentions of _one_ of them, that sinister, swirling mass of malice and viciousness. _That_ person was clear about what he wanted, to slowly drown her in agony, before ending her life. However, his intentions didn't yet broadcast _how_ he intended to do that.

Both of them had stopped at the very edge of Ruby's Aura, suggesting that they were aware of the present limits of her Extension's reach, which meant they might not be strangers to the Mibu Clan's techniques. That was quite daunting on its own. But worse still, Ruby couldn't tell what they meant to do at the moment. Were they planning on waiting for an opening to strike, a layered version of the very tactic Mercury and Eira were using? Or were they waiting for Ruby to wear herself out with her current opponents, and then take advantage of her fatigue?

One way or another, Ruby knew she couldn't afford to waste time or energy on her two current opponents. She had to take them out as expediently as possible, if only to conserve as much of her strength as she could for the ones who were waiting.

Mercury's flight inverted him, allowing him to plant his hands and spring off them, launching himself back a little farther. As he did, he lashed out with a pair of swift kicks, launching bullets of silver wind at Ruby, who slipped between them as she closed in with him again, her form flickering and leaving bursts of red petals in its wake. She seemed to materialize directly in front of Mercury, before his feet had finished touching down.

Desperately, Mercury brought his right shin up to block Ruby's slashing blade, a grimace of anger flashing across his face as he actually felt her blade cut right through the protective Aura to bite into the metal of the leg itself. The action of his move had helped keep Ruby's slash from cutting through the prosthetic in its entirety. Instead, he was very nearly knocked flying by the impact behind her swing. Still, he managed to plant his other foot, stopping her attack.

Then Eira appeared behind Ruby, melting out of the darkness once more, the black energy of gravity-Dust congealing around her raised left fist, increasing the "weight" behind her incoming punch. She clearly intended to take advantage of Ruby's sword being trapped by Mercury's leg.

Except that the blade of Ruby's sword split lengthwise. Her right hand she kept on Ibara, its edge still imbedded in Mercury's leg, while Bara flashed at Eira's incoming fist, not even missing a beat. In this fight, Ruby had a major advantage, in that she had already fought with Mercury before, and had managed to learn his rhythm. As a consequence, anticipating Eira's attacks came down to reading Mercury's movements and knowing the best time for someone to pitch in to supplement them. Eira's own skill in cooperating with Mercury had actually worked _against_ her in that respect.

Despite that, Eira's expression and Aura did not betray any surprise at the move. Ruby figured that would have been the case. It was clear that Mason's agents had been studying her quite carefully. Given that Ruby had displayed that her weapon could bifurcate during her widely-seen match with Pyrrha, it was only natural that Eira would be fully aware of that capability.

So Eira didn't flinch at Ruby suddenly swinging an extra weapon her way. Instead, she used Dust to harden her fist and add weight to her punch, striking straight for the incoming sword with all the strength she possessed, aiming to either knock the sword from Ruby's grip, or break the blade altogether.

Eira's attack had probably shattered weapons before. But that was nothing against the steel forged by the Mibu Blademaster, the pinnacle of Sengo Murasame's skill and genius. Akaibara would not be broken through such mundane force. On top of that, Ruby switched her Aura from using it to blunt Akaibara's edge, to enhancing it instead, unsheathing her sword's true cutting power. Instead of being stopped, Ruby's sword split through the nimbus of black energy swirling around Eira's fist. Driven by the power of her strike, and Ruby's swing, carrying the full weight of the Aura that she'd withheld from her attack on Mercury, Bara also bit through the hardened glove as well, biting deep into the skin of Eira's fist, between her knuckles.

Eira's eyes widened, a flicker of quickly-suppressed pain flashing across her face. She reversed course immediately, a harsh stomp that cracked the floor beneath her canceling and reversing her momentum, launching her back from the red crescent of light that flashed out from the edge of Bara, threatening to split both her hand and arm in two. As it was, Eira's hand trailed blood from a cut between her middle and ring fingers, while she skipped back into the darkness, her presence fading away.

Ruby didn't waste any time. Mercury's right leg still had Ibara wedged in it. He was already beginning to strain and turn, in preparation to use the move to try and wrench the sword from Ruby's grip. Ruby immediately tightened the arc of Bara's swing. However, rather than try and swing at Mercury's body from a separate angle, she instead reversed her grip, opening her hand against the handle so that she forced the back of the sword against its twin, lodged in Mercury's leg, in a move like a palm-strike, opening the fingers of her right hand to accept Bara back, then closing both hands again while using the strength and Aura of her move to send Akaibara shearing right through the metal of Mercury's prosthetic leg.

Mercury let out a pained shout, his metal leg, still enclosed in its concealing boot and trouser-leg, bouncing away, while he reeled back, Ruby carrying past him, finishing with Akaibara held in her left hand with a reverse-grip.

"You bitch!" shouted Mercury, slamming onto his back, sprawling, sparks spitting out from where Ruby's sword had severed his leg, just a few inches below his knee. More than losing one of his weapons, he'd lost the principal source of his mobility. He probably wasn't completely incapacitated, still having the full use of his left leg. But he would be at less than half his full ability, trying to fight like that, able to hop around at best.

As such, Ruby immediately turned her full focus to deal with her other opponent. She dove straight for the flickering presence of the other assassin. Eira's pain had jolted her control. As an assassin, she had probably been trained to quickly suppress pain and continue fighting, regardless of her condition. However, even the act of bringing her sensations back under control temporarily hampered her ability to conceal her presence, and Ruby was able to pick up on it, weak and flickering like a candle flame. It didn't help Eira that her pain didn't just stem from the cut on her hand. Forcefully reversing the momentum of her gravity-Dust-enhanced attack had required utilizing an even stronger application through the leg she'd stomped down. In her haste, she hadn't channeled the force effectively, and the recoil had sent a spiderweb of microfractures spreading through her tibia and fibula, sending painful jolts flashing through the limb every time she put her weight on it.

The damage to her leg also reduced Eira's mobility, so she was left unable to dodge as Ruby homed right in on her location, Akaibara flickering through a series of swift slashes, cutting through Eira's Aura, and her desperate attempt to harden her clothes against the onslaught. Blood sprayed out in brief arcs from a half-dozen cuts across Eira's body, while thin streams of crimson electricity danced across the wounds, leaving her to collapse in Ruby's wake, her blood continuing to leak out across the floor around her as her muscles spasmed weakly.

Coming to a stop, Ruby flicked her sword out to one side, scattering the blood that had clung to the blade, before splitting Akaibara once again, and adopting her usual starting stance, facing fully towards the vicious one of the two presences that remained in the wake of the two assassins' failures.

The lights came on, shining down from above. This time, it wasn't just a few, illuminating a single, narrow path through the room, but all of them, completely illuminating the room to the fullest extent. Slowly, Ruby opened her eyes, allowing them to adjust, before opening them all the way. Glancing around, Ruby finally got to see the full scope of the place she'd been fighting in.

The room, if it could be called that, was truly cavernous, easily large enough to hold the entire space of the promenade leading to Beacon from the airdocks. This had to be a military installation of some kind, though what the military could want with such a large, empty space was completely unknown to her, as was why they would build it underneath a building in downtown Vale.

However, that was the least of her concerns, as her ears were greeted by the sound of clapping, not the faux-polite rhythm of mocking applause, but the genuinely energetic kind. It was accompanied by a squealing, wheezy giggle of giddy excitement. Turning towards the source of the sound, Ruby felt her skin crawl and her stomach churn.

The man before her was terrifying to behold. Maybe he wasn't as bad as Jester, but this man was still a sight to inspire nightmares, his gold eyes gleaming out over slightly gaunt-looking cheeks. Those eyes were matched by the horrifying grin on his face as he applauded jubilantly, jerking with his movements, sending the short ponytail behind his head dancing around as he sauntered closer.

Ruby eyed the man nervously, taking in the brown jacket that he wore over his white shirt. Closing in, he came within the reach of her Extension, and Ruby got a much clearer picture. The man's primary weapons were mounted on the bracers he wore over his forearms, consisting of a pair of folding blades that were mounted near his wrists. The bracers also contained a set of hidden guns. However, the man also sported one other weapon.

He was a faunus...a scorpion-faunus to be exact. Faunus of his kind were rare, arthropod faunus ranking amongst the lowest, in terms of population. In this case, the man's faunus-trait was a scorpion's tail, hidden beneath that jacket of his, likely a secret weapon of sorts. Ruby didn't want to find out just what sort of venom the man possessed, and resolved to be wary of that tail.

For all that he was supposed to be Mercury's ally, this man seemed positively _thrilled_ by the defeat of both Mercury and Eira, continuing to applaud. "Bravo! Magnificent! Brilliantly executed! The pair of them never stood a chance against you, did they?"

Ruby's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?" she asked.

The man paused, his hands freezing midway through another clap. "Ah! Of course! Where are my manners!" He executed an elaborate bow, extending his left hand out to the side, while crossing his right arm over his chest in an exaggerated courtly gesture. "I am Tyrian Callows, devoted agent of the one true goddess."

"Salem," said Ruby softly.

The utterance of that name produced a giddy squeal from Tyrian, and he immediately clapped his hands together more rapidly than before, a childish action that was unsettling coming from this grown...and abnormal...man. "Oh! You know her name already! Wonderful!"

"Yeah...wonderful..." grumbled Ruby. The sight of this man sickened her to the core. Worse still, now that he was within the reach of her Extension, she got a genuine sense of just how strong this man was.

And he was quite a bit stronger than her, stronger than Adam for sure (although, given that Jester had claimed to be training Adam, Ruby couldn't be sure how accurate her previous assessments of his strength were anymore). His Aura swirled about him in a chaotic mess. Sure, there were concentrations around his wrists and forearms, where the bracer-mounted blades were. But there was a substantial concentration around his legs, suggesting that kicks were not an unfamiliar method of attack for him. And, of course, there was the tail. If Ruby had to guess, Tyrian could reinforce both the tail's strength and exoskeleton to withstand hits from weapons like her swords.

The man behind her was no-less formidable, if considerably less...wild. His Aura was unquestionably Tempered, to the point where he'd be able to fend off weapon-strikes with his bare hands. It was calm and still, wrapping around his body in a layer of armor more solid than the most advanced alloy Atlas could hope to churn out. Within that was a powerful core of strength, an intensity of will that Ruby suspected was capable of a form of Projection, forcibly generating more Aura. Deeper down, the source of that will was a pure, concentrated spot of white-hot heat.

_Hatred!_ The man behind her was fueled by a hatred so pure and refined that he could use it to push through every obstacle and overcome every hurdle. He was driven by a singular purpose, and that purpose was the destruction of something...or someone. At the moment, that hatred was calm and contained, to the point that Ruby didn't sense even the barest trace of hostility directed at her. This enormous mountain of a man, who stood behind her, didn't bear her even the slightest trace of ill will. However, the hatred that drove him meant that whatever was supposed to happen to her was nothing more than a means to an end and, if it brought him closer to his goal by even a single step, he wouldn't hesitate to go through with the orders he'd been given concerning her.

There was something else that troubled her about the man behind her. His body had been rent asunder...from within. It wasn't readily visible to the eyes, probably (seeing as they weren't in the back of her head, she couldn't exactly tell), but she could pick up traces of torn muscles, strained and snapped ligaments, that had been rejoined later. Ruby's training as a healer had been basic, so she had nothing approaching Sasame's skills at diagnosis, able to take in nearly all the aspects of a person's condition, and much more besides, in a single glance and a brush of her Aura. That Ruby could sense so much healed damage within the large man's frame was an indicator of how obvious it was. Whatever the man had been doing had torn muscles, snapped tendons and ligaments, and cracked bone. And he'd done it so many times that, even with his Aura supporting his recovery, his muscles themselves were covered with scars, hidden beneath his skin.

It suggested something, perhaps a fighting style, that was extremely self-destructive, which made sense, as the bulk of the damage was concentrated in those beefy arms. Ruby could sense the presence of a substantial amount of raw Dust, carried in pouches at the belt around the man's waist, predominately fire and lightning. That made Ruby balk. Was that man literally _stabbing_ himself with raw Dust, and channeling its power straight through his body? That was a step beyond the typical method of merging Dust with one's body that she'd learned about in class. But it was the only thing she could think of to explain the extent of the internal damage the man was experiencing. It was nothing short of a miracle that he could even lift his arms, much less muster any strength with them.

Still, this was no time to be concerned for her opponent, not when she needed to concerned _about_ him. This man was just as formidable as Tyrian, albeit in a different way, and was also clearly a servant of Salem, which meant that getting out of this mess was contingent on getting past both of them. That was an _extremely_ tall order, if they came at her one at a time, and an impossible one, if they attacked in unison. If these two men cooperated, she would _not_ win. Of that, Ruby was more than sure.

Which made it at least a little reassuring that the large man showed no compunctions towards attacking, compared to Tyrian, whose theatrical mask of faux politeness hid a desire to pounce and gut her with his blades. Long odds were miles better than none at all. Swallowing nervously, Ruby tensed, tightening her hold on her swords, not letting her stance flag in the slightest.

She couldn't hide the shift of her eyes, betraying a fleeting desire to glance behind her and at least get a glimpse of the enormous man looming back there. Tyrian didn't miss the cue. He giggled coyly. "Oh, no need to worry about dear Hazel. He's such a stick in the mud. He also has..." Tyrian punctuated his words with a dramatic sigh of exasperation. "...morals." He shuddered with a look of exaggerated disgust.

"It would be best to get this over with," rumbled Hazel in a deep voice that made Ruby's bones buzz. "Watts has the room on lockdown. The Councilman's forces won't be interfering anymore."

"Yes yes," said Tyrian, flapping a dismissive hand. "Spoil all the fun, why don't you?"

Ruby turned her head, finally getting a look at Hazel, eyes widening as she took in his powerful, eight-foot-tall physique.

Even though she was ready, she nearly missed it. The outward surge of malice from Tyrian barely even preceded his attack, the man leaping at her from across the floor in a blur of motion, arms outstretched, the blades on his bracers flicking up, before unfolding out to extend laterally out on either side of his fists, fittingly mimicking the pincers of a scorpion. He closed with her in a spinning slash, his weapons' movements converging on her from completely separate trajectories.

But Bara and Ibara flashed up to meet them, even before Ruby had begun to turn her head back towards her assailant. Tyrian had leapt off the floor as he'd attacked, pouncing at her with arms outstretched, his right swinging in from above at an angle, the left angling in from almost the opposite. Ruby's swords met those curved blades on their outside edges, as Ruby realized that the pincer-shape of the blades could easily be used to trap an opponent's weapon, if Tyrian was of a mind to. Sure, such a move would put his hands at risk, but Tyrian seemed like the kind of enemy who didn't overly care about his own safety.

Ruby's strikes; enhanced by her Projecting Aura, flawless Flow, and honed technique; managed to deflect the strikes from Tyrian's much more muscular arms, spreading them wide, even as Tyrian's forward momentum continued to send him hurtling towards her. Ruby's swords quickly reversed direction, converging for angled slashes across Tyrian's chest.

However, Tyrian's body tilted forwards, his hands going down to brace against the floor, this forward momentum transferring down the length of his spine to bring his legs up and over to kick down at Ruby from above, in a move that she could almost see Mercury trying to pull off. Those booted feet were heading right towards her face.

Despite that, Ruby didn't flinch back. Instead, she bent her knees, while darting in, getting closer, which was unconventional, given her weapons' reach. Her swords began to bite through the fabric of Tyrian's jacket.

From beneath that jacket, the segmented length of Tyrian's tail whipped about, its hardened, Aura-enhanced exoskeleton batting away Ruby's slashing swords just as easily as her own blades had knocked his initial attack away. With incredible speed, Tyrian followed through by whipping the stinger of his tail right at her face, threatening to pierce between her eyes with its envenomed point.

The tail punched through her head, but Ruby's face flickered and vanished, revealing that Tyrian had only hit her afterimage. In a flash, Ruby was on Tyrian's other side, her swords slashing at him. Pushing off the floor, Tyrian met her swords with his wrist blades, knocking them aside, before his push carried him away, his jacket falling to the floor, cut into pieces. Tyrian landed in a crouch, facing Ruby, his grin, as impossible as it seemed, even wider than before.

"You baited me!" he squealed. "Marvelous! Brilliant skill and technique! No wonder you beat those two, even in total darkness."

"Thanks," grunted Ruby, leveling her swords at the man again.

Tyrian canted his head left, then right, seeming to examine her. "Such flawless technique, and that Aura...You really _are_ Mibu, aren't you?"

"Something like that..." said Ruby warily.

"Oh! How exciting!" squealed Tyrian ecstatically. "I've never gotten a chance to kill a Mibu before. Her Grace forbids conflict with them, you know, something that twisted Jester of hers put into her head, I'm sure."

Ruby fought to keep from rolling her eyes at the irony of _this_ man calling someone "twisted". Granted, he wasn't wrong. If anything, Ruby could tell that Jester was even _more_ warped than the vicious faunus in front of her. Still, Tyrian was more than enough for her tastes, at the moment. She could worry about Jester later.

Ruby steeled herself, preparing for the next exchange. The complete lack of reaction from Hazel cemented her realization that he would not be interfering in Tyrian's fight. If anything, intervening, even on Tyrian's behalf, was likely to draw the madman's wrath, more than anything else.

Then a torrent of pure Aura cascaded down from above in an all-encompassing wave of red. Ruby gasped as it washed over her, swirling around her like the eddies of the air itself, permeating her and making her feel as though she was being wrapped in a reassuring embrace. The sense of that presence made Ruby's tension and fear melt away, for all of a moment, suffusing her with the feeling that everything was going to be all right.

_Kyo..._ she thought, smiling warmly. She recognized his Extension, and had to wonder if he was using it to search the entire city for her. Still, she couldn't imagine him leaving Beacon yet, which meant he was using his Extension to search from Beacon's campus. Ruby had always known that Kyo's Aura was incredible. But this demonstration was beyond even her own knowledge. _I still have a ways to go before I can match something like this._

However, the effect of Kyo's Aura was much more pronounced on Tyrian and Hazel. Tyrian cringed, bending his limbs to lower himself even more, twisting his head with a frightened expression as he looked upwards, eyes roving for the threat behind such incredible Aura. Hazel's body went tense, hands balling into fists, lips pulling back to reveal gritting teeth, the man becoming an enormous bundle of nerves.

"Was that...?" asked Hazel.

"My brother," Ruby confirmed, smirking at the pair of men. "You don't have to worry, he probably won't be showing up here. He likes to let me fight my own battles."

Hazel grunted, giving Ruby an appraising look, apparently not certain if he believed her. In contrast, Tyrian's gaze returned to her with a look of anger and...even a little fear.

_Did Kyo's Aura rattle him that badly?_ she wondered.

"We'll have to settle this quickly," snarled Tyrian, his tone lowering to a dangerous level.

Ruby readied her swords.

Then a low rumble echoed from above. The lights flickered slightly.

Hazel's response was to pull a scroll out of one of his pouches. "What's going on?" he asked.

"_You're going to have company very soon,_" responded a polished, gentlemanly voice from the scroll. "_A bullhead from Beacon has dropped a party of students and teachers on the building above...and they are smashing their way straight down._"

Ruby's smirk widened. Now she realized what Kyo had done. He'd apparently been coordinating with her friends from Beacon, using his Extension to pinpoint her location, so that her teammates and friends could drop in...literally.

"_It would seem that we need to wrap this up more quickly than we initially anticipated,_" said Watts. "_We should finish and withdraw before the students make their way down here._"

"They're just children," rumbled Hazel.

"_Be that as it may, there are still quite a few of them, and the girl is enough of a handful on her own. Deal with her already._"

With a bestial howl, Tyrian launched himself at Ruby, blades extended, his tail whipping its vicious stinger through the air at her. Ruby dashed forward to meet him, the pair of them colliding with a ringing clash of steel.

* * *

Yang and Nora's combined attack sent a shockwave rushing down the small skyscraper. On all four of its sides, windows exploded outward in a wave, from top to bottom. Before the countless shards could threaten any pedestrians below, they were lined with glowing, purple light, and swept up into a swirling maelstrom around the hovering bullhead. Meanwhile, the roof gave way like paper beneath Yang and Nora, the pair smashing their way down through the topmost floors of the building.

The others jumped out after them. As they did, armor-clad figures rushed out of corridors on all the floors that Yang and Nora had just smashed their way through, making their way to the brand new skylight the pair had opened the building. Upon arrival, they immediately began training rifles and other guns, whether at Yang and Nora, or the group of students dropping down in their wake. However, before any of the soldiers could even think about firing, the storm of glass that Glynda had swept up around the bullhead descended, forming into several weaving tendrils that struck out at the solders, smashing them aside, cutting or breaking their guns into pieces.

Finally, Ozpin and Glynda dropped down as well. "Please continue," said Ozpin, glancing at Yang and Nora.

"You got it!" cheered Nora with a grin.

Nora brought her hammer down on the floor at Yang's feet, triggering her Dust-powered shockwave in the process. Yang dropped right down through the hole that Nora had just made, the shockwave smashing its way down through the next three floors. Yang landed with her right fist upraised, before she brought it down where she landed, Ember Celica blasting a hole through another four floors, just in time for Nora to drop down through the hole with a whoop, slamming her hammer down upon landing.

So it was that the pair of them essentially leapfrogged their way down through the skyscraper. Their friends dropped through the holes they opened, while Ozpin and Glynda took care of the soldiers that boiled forth, like ants from a hill that had just been kicked. In a matter of less than a minute, they'd smashed all the way down to the ground floor. Not needing any urging from Ozpin, Yang and Nora continued.

The farther down they went, the stranger their surroundings became. The first few layers of basements seemed rather normal-looking, seeming to serve as storage spaces. After that, they found themselves breaking through layers upon layers of what was apparently a network of tunnels that ran underneath the building, and many of the others in the area. According to Kyo, Ruby was somewhere a ways underground. The greatest fear that RYNB and the remaining three members of RASP experienced at the moment was that they would reach a point where the basement levels came to an end, leaving them with the choice between smashing their way through several meters of bedrock to reach where Ruby was, or wasting time looking for the actual way down. Neither option was appealing, particularly since the soldiers were even _more_ numerous than before.

Fortunately, as deep down as the room Ruby's location was, it appeared that even the means of one of Vale's Councilmen had their limits. One final slam of Nora's hammer opened a hole to reveal a truly _massive_ open space beneath. Her shockwave knocked several steel supports free, sending them falling to land with loud clangs and crashes, while nearby light fixtures exploded into sparks, several of them falling as well.

The two teams, and their accompanying teachers, landed atop the pile of rubble just created, finding themselves facing a battle to the death.

Ruby and Tyrian were dancing around one another, their weapons flashing blurs, the lights occasionally catching the flat of a blade, punctuated by sparks from their colliding Auras. They fought a lightning speed, exchanging blows too fast for the eyes to follow, flickering from sight one second, only to reappear the next in a different location, before vanishing again. Their battle was one of continuous repositioning as they attacked, blocked, dodged, advanced, and retreated; circling and skirting one another, always seeking a more advantageous position.

Tyrian's style, if it could be called that, was wild and unpredictable, throwing himself into movements that seemed completely uncoordinated at first glance, but soon showed their deadly purpose. He was a dervish, hurling himself at Ruby in whirling, acrobatic moves, striking out with his booted feet almost as often as he did with his wrist-mounted blades. All the while, his stinger-tipped tail lashed out like a striking snake, darting out to hit at Ruby while she was distracted by his other attacks.

Despite managing to keep up with his speed, barely, Ruby was clearly on the defensive. Her swords worked furiously to keep Tyrian's weapons away from her, while her body often seemed to multiply in place as she danced between his attacks, always careful to never lose track of his stinger. She had no idea what kind of poison the venom glands behind that vicious barb carried, and she wasn't keen to find out either. She was hard-pressed. But it was more than her opponent's strength and speed that kept her from finding a chance to strike back.

No matter how hard she tried, Ruby couldn't find Tyrian's rhythm. She'd had difficulty in that before. Some opponents' rhythms were harder to learn than others. Pyrrha's beat was masked behind her incredible skill, while Weiss' methodical, metronomic style had been apparent from the first moment of their sparring match. But Tyrian...Tyrian seemed to have _no_ rhythm. Even when it seemed he was going to go left, he might still go right...or back...or a different direction entirely. He would be in the ideal position to strike with a slash from the blades on his right arm, only to instead pivot his body to swing a foot around at her in a roundhouse. There was no pattern to his movement, no matter how hard Ruby tried to find one. Normally such a lack of rhythm indicated a lack of control and skill. But, in this case, it was clear that Tyrian was anything _but_ unskilled.

At the moment, she was far too busy keeping her opponent at bay to even think about the arrival of her friends, only barely managing to notice them, despite them dropping in in a most spectacular fashion. The tiny flicker of relief that sparked within her was quickly overridden by Tyrian's furious assault.

"Ruby!" shouted Yang, immediately rushing to her sister's rescue. The others weren't far behind her.

However, they came up short when the mountainous form of Hazel interposed himself between them and their beleaguered friend.

"Out of my way!" shouted Yang, leaping and throwing a furious punch at Hazel. To her shock, the man raised his bare forearm, Ember Celica's flames washing over the man's skin to no effect, not even singing the hair on his arms. Her shock was quickly replaced with worry when Hazel shifted his blocking arm, his hand moving to snag Yang's forearm in a tight grip, the metal of her gauntlet creaking under the pressure of those meaty fingers, before Hazel bodily flung her away, throwing her directly into a charging Nora, knocking her over.

Ren and Blake followed in Yang's wake, drawing both their weapons and slashing at Hazel, while flanking him on both sides. Hazel quickly raised his arms, the edges of their weapons glancing off the Aura that armored his limbs. Ren continued to press the attack, while Blake left a Shadow behind her, intending to skirt around Hazel and go help Ruby. However, Hazel's left hand lashed out with speed that belied his bulk, closing around Blake's trailing ankle as she tried to jump past him. Swinging her around, he used Blake's body like a club, slamming her directly into Ren, and sending the pair sprawling.

Then it was Weiss and Pyrrha's turn. Pyrrha led by throwing her shield for Hazel's head. The man's response was a backhanded blow that knocked the metal disk aside. When his arm had finished crossing his field of vision, he suddenly had a view of Weiss, thrusting Myrtenaster straight at him. Opening his hand, Hazel caught her thrust with his open palm, the tip of her sword failing to even break his skin. Weiss pulled the trigger on her rapier, and Hazel was abruptly engulfed in a torrent of flames.

Those flames seemed to do nothing though. Hazel was unfazed. Instead, he stepped forward, the flames flowing over him seeming to engulf his fist as he punched out at Weiss, sending the heat of her own attack right back at her. Weiss called up a Glyph to launch herself back, smoking slightly from the fire. Pyrrha charged in in her wake, thrusting with Milo in its javelin-mode.

Hazel effortlessly caught the shaft of Milo, preparing to either wrench the weapon from Pyrrha's grip, or use her hold on it to throw her aside. However, that was abruptly stopped when Akouo returned from when Hazel knocked it aside, the shield arcing in from outside his field of vision, flying straight for the back of his head. Hazel pulled on Milo. Pyrrha, desperate not to relinquish her grip on her weapon, allowed herself to be pulled with it. The consequence was that Hazel used his grip on her weapon to throw her right into the path of her incoming shield.

Pyrrha twisted in midair, her shield turning in its flight so that its curved face was facing her. Her shift allowed her to plant her feet against the shield's surface, while her Polarity held it in place, Pyrrha using it as a platform to kick off of to launch herself back at Hazel. Milo collapsed down into its sword-form, Pyrrha slashing at Hazel, though he warded off the blow with another upraised arm.

Pyrrha landed, and shifted out of the way. Hazel had been turning to continue fighting her, only to find himself facing Jaune, who charged in with a shout, leading with a powerful slash from his sword. The blade flashed a brilliant white, which extended out to form a brilliant crescent of Aura that was Projected at Hazel, whose eyes widened as he crossed his arms to block the incoming attack. The blazing crescent slammed into his arms, and Hazel growled as he strained against the force of Jaune's attack, his feet digging furrows in the solid concrete floor. With a final roar of exertion, Hazel forced his arms apart, shattering the crescent of light. He still wasn't marked by the attack, but the force of Jaune's strike had definitely left an impression.

"No interference," said Hazel, his voice an authoritative rumble.

"Hello, Hazel."

The sound of that calm voice jolted the eight combatants, even as Ruby's fight with Tyrian continued unabated. Team RYNB and the three members of RASP all flinched at the sudden reminder that Ozpin and Glynda were with them. There was nothing particularly remarkable about what Ozpin had said. Sure, it indicated he recognized the man who stood in their way. However, given his long history fighting Salem, that was hardly a surprise anymore. His tone was normal, completely devoid of hostility or tension, as though he were simply starting up a casual chat.

The reaction his words provoked from Hazel was _far_ more dramatic. Hazel's entire body went still for a moment. HIs pupils dilated, then contracted. His hands clenched so tightly that they began to tremble, the muscles of his arms suddenly standing out completely underneath that bronzed skin. His jaw clenched as well, lips curling back to bare his teeth, a look of fury, so intense and powerful that it was almost elemental, appearing on his face.

"Ozpin..." he growled, his voice a low rumble that almost seemed to make the air itself shake.

The students parted, allowing Hazel to face down their Headmaster directly. Ozpin stood before the enormous man, hands resting atop the handle of his cane, composed and completely at ease, almost as though he wasn't expecting a fight at all.

"I see your grudge still holds strong," noted Ozpin, his voice dispassionate, almost sorrowful.

"Ozzzzzzzpiiiiinnnnn...!" snarled Hazel, taking a step forward. The stomp of his foot shattered the concrete beneath it.

Ozpin didn't move, even as Hazel began to advance on him, murderous intent oozing from every pore on the man's body. "You always forget yourself in your anger," he said calmly.

"I'll kill you!" snapped Hazel, pulling his green jacket off his shoulders, revealing the black shirt underneath. "Every time...!" Reaching up with his left hand, he ripped off the right sleeve of his shirt, baring his arm almost all the way up to his shoulder. "Over and over again...!" His right hand reached up to do the same to his left arm. "No matter what shape you take...YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Behind Hazel, Ruby and Tyrian clashed, locking blades, both of them pausing momentarily, Ruby gasping as she felt the intense, contained flame of Hazel's rage suddenly burst onto furious life, completely suffusing itself into his entire being.

"Yes!" crowed Tyrian. "The beast is finally loose! That poor boy really needs to learn to let go more often!"

Ruby growled, gritting her teeth as she glared at her opponent through their crossed blades. Tyrian let out a maddened giggle, and the two of them strained against each other, forcing themselves apart, disengaging. Touching down, they flashed towards one another again, their battle resuming in earnest.

Meanwhile, Hazel reached down to the pouches at his waist. Opening two of them, he pulled out a handful of yellow Dust crystals in each hand. Raising them up, he haphazardly jammed their sharpened points directly into the skin of his upper arms. Crackling arcs of yellow electricity danced across his skin, yellow light illuminating the veins beneath, spreading both down his arms to his hands, and up his shoulder his neck, reaching his face, yellow lights beginning to flicker from his eyes.

"Is he insane?!" gasped Weiss, horrified. "There's no way a person can just...inject themselves with Dust like that! He'd be crippled from the pain alone!"

"Unfortunately, pain is not something that Hazel experiences easily," said Ozpin calmly. "Leave him to me. The rest of you need to help Ms. Rose."

"Ozpin..." his deputy began to say.

"That means you too, Glynda," said Ozpin.

Glynda frowned, unhappy with leaving Ozpin to fight by himself. The students experienced a similar sense of trepidation. Hazel had been a towering obstacle, even before he'd suddenly decided to enhance himself with Dust, taking all their attacks without a single scratch. At the same time, though, it was apparent that Hazel's hatred for Ozpin, whatever lay at its root, completely trumped everything else, including whatever objective he'd previously been assigned. Given that Hazel was apparently happy to completely forget about the rest of them for the chance to throw himself at Ozpin, it seemed that leaving the man to their Headmaster was the best option.

"Fine by me!" declared Yang, smacking her gauntlets together. She and the others prepared to rush right past the fuming Hazel and head to Ruby's aid.

Abruptly, Pyrrha's eyes widened as she heard a series of familiar sounds behind her. "Look out!" she shouted, turning in place.

She activated her Semblance on reflex, a wave of black energy washing out from her. Suddenly, Pyrrha and the others found themselves facing a veritable _wall_ of bullets, brought to a halt by Pyrrha's Polarity. After a few seconds, Pyrrha released her Semblance's hold, allowing the bullets to drop to the ground.

The soldiers that had been infesting the levels above were now dropping down, cables descending, armed and armored men and women rappelling down them. They were accompanied by black, metal bodies.

"Androids," growled Yang.

"Looks like we've got more company," observed Nora unnecessarily. "What do we do now?"

"We help Ruby," declared Jaune. He looked to Ren. "Can you guys on Rainbow keep those soldiers and robots off of us?"

"We will," agreed Ren.

"Then the rest of us will go back up Ruby," said Jaune, trading nods with Ren.

"Right...let's do this," said Yang, turning to face the incoming troops. "You jerks are gonna regret messing with my sister, big time." She smacked her gauntlets together for emphasis.

With that, the battle was joined.

* * *

**Tyrian's fighting style is really hard to get a proper grasp on, which I think is more than half the point, as that's a practical matter as much as it is a stylistic matter from a choreographic standpoint. That makes writing fight-scenes that feature him...tricky to render in a blow-by-blow manner.**

**Hazel, on the other hand, is a lot easier to write, given that his fighting-style is way more straightforward. More importantly, his canon skills and abilities gel pretty well with the Aura-mechanics of my setting, which upgrades his threat-level. Ability-wise, Hazel has a lot in common with Indara, from my _Crimson Eyes_ story, which was mostly written well-before the events of Volume 5 revealed how Hazel's fighting style works, although Hazel uses Dust, which gives his attacks a bit more variety.**

**Of course, this time, he's not up against Ozpin in the body of an undertrained boy, but Ozpin in his previous body. Granted, we don't really get a good picture of Ozpin's fighting ability in his previous (Volume 1-3) incarnation, given that the most we get is a scant few seconds of his fight against Cinder in the final episode of Volume 3. But it's safe to assume he was a good bit stronger in that form than he was in Oscar's body, during Volume 5.**


	115. Chapter 115

**Chapter 115:**

_Earlier:_

Given that he could transform into a bird and take flight, Qrow counted himself as being pretty good at getting around. Of course, no matter how magical such an ability was, there was no changing the fact that a mere crow couldn't possibly keep up with a bullhead at cruising speed. So he wasn't at all surprised when the airship diminished into a speck before his vision, even as he strained with all his strength to keep it in sight long enough to figure out where it was going.

It was the best he could do, sadly. He'd watched from the sidelines, hidden by his transformation, as Ruby had taken on the corrupt Huntsman. When those thugs from the Council had arrived to arrest her, he'd been prepared to jump to her defense, once the bullets started flying. It had been as much a shock to him as it was to Ruby's friends when she'd surrendered.

After that, Qrow's only option had been to do his best to keep up as Ruby was dragged back to Vale, where whoever was behind this harassment of her was planning on doing God-knew-what.

Unfortunately, Qrow's fixation on keeping up with his quarry meant that he hadn't been paying enough attention to his surroundings. So he missed it when a similar black, avian shape rose up from the forest canopy to intercept him. The next thing Qrow knew, a feathered body bulled into him, and he found himself cawing in anger and pain as a beak pecked and talons scratched. Qrow and his attacker tumbled down into the foliage below. When they emerged beneath the leafy canopy, they had both changed.

Qrow landed hard and awkwardly, barely able to get his feet back under himself in time, falling to one knee, having to brace his hands against the ground to keep from falling over entirely. Looking up, an angry growl emerged from his throat at the sight of the black-haired woman, who executed a much more graceful landing in front of him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Raven?" asked Qrow, glaring at his sister furiously.

"Seeing to it that the little red bitch gets her due," said Raven firmly, smirking at Qrow. "I'm hardly one to support anything Vale's Council, or any Kingdom's for that matter, does. But, on this occasion, I'll make an exception."

"Still going on about your stupid tribe," growled Qrow. "Those assholes got what was coming to them. They lived their lives picking on people they thought couldn't fight back. It was only a matter of time until they...until _you_...picked a fight with someone who _could_."

"They were your family," growled Raven.

"They're a bunch of thieves and murderers, acting self-righteous about _being_ thieves and murderers, as though that's something to be proud of," Qrow retorted. "You had a chance to be something more...something _better_."

"A housewife?" asked Raven mockingly.

"A mother," Qrow answered in a low tone. "You could've been there for Yang. You could've helped her become the girl she is today. But you passed on that, 'cause, when push comes to shove, you don't have the stomach for a real fight."

"You mean I had too much brains to be Ozpin's pawn in a war that's impossible to win," countered Raven. "You've worked for him so long, but you still don't have the slightest inkling of what you're up against. It's a hopeless fight, Brother, but Ozpin's still willing to throw lives away on it, knowing full well that he's sending people to die for nothing."

"You _would_ see it that way," grumbled Qrow.

Raven's hand closed around the handle of her sword. "Now then, I'll be stopping you here, Qrow. Ruby won't be getting any help from you, regardless of where she's going, and who she's up against."

"Fine," growled Qrow, pulling out his own sword. "I'll beat you down and drag you back to Ozpin myself. You can spend your time in detention, just like Tai."

"I'd like to see you try," replied Raven, drawing her blade with a vicious grin.

* * *

"Are those Atlesian Knights?" asked Ren, taking in the androids that had accompanied the soldiers down.

"They're the Knight-130 models," said Blake. "I guess Mason hasn't gotten his hands on the newer two-hundred models yet." These particular androids she knew all too well, having mowed through several of them, alongside Adam, during her final mission for the White Fang, right before she cut her ties with them.

The androids sported a basic humanoid shape. Their domed heads sported glowing red visors, while a similar light emitted from their chestplates. By and large, they resembled humans wearing black, metal armor. However, the way it encompassed their limbs gave the impression of a frame too spindly to actually _be_ human. As they approached, they raised their arms. With a click, their hands locked into place, the fingers extending and straightening, revealing themselves to be gun-barrels. Without preamble, the androids opened fire, the soldiers who'd already reached the floor joining in.

The members of Team RYNB surged forward, charging through the storm of incoming bullets to reach their targets. They all countered the incoming hailstorm in different ways. Ren spun StormFlower in his grip, the blades of the two guns glowing with violet energy, creating whirling shields that deflected away any bullets that threatened to come in contact with him. Blake's own weapons were a blur as she worked them to swat down the incoming projectiles. Sometimes, one made it through her defense, striking her body, only for said body to dissolve into shadow, while the real Blake darted in a different direction, throwing off the aim of android and soldier alike. Meanwhile, Yang hunkered down behind her upraised gauntlets, shifting back and forth as she charged. The occasional bullet clanged uselessly off the golden metal. Raising her eyes, she glared at the soldiers, preparing to plow into them with all the speed and strength she could muster.

Nora was the only member of their team that didn't immediately charge the enemy. Instead, she shifted Magnhild into its grenade-launcher-mode, and fired off several shots, the grenades leaving trails of pink smoke as they arced over the heads of her teammates to explode amidst the troops and androids ahead of them, destroying several robotic bodies, and sending the human ones tumbling and flying. Her attack disrupted the barrage, allowing her friends to close in with less pressure than before. After that, Nora shifted her weapon back into its hammer-mode, before jumping up to stand atop Magnhild's head, triggering its explosive shockwave to allow her to literally ride her hammer into battle.

Blake and Ren were amongst the androids and soldiers like a pair of dervishes, working their weapons through swift attacks, cutting the androids to pieces, and knocking the soldiers sprawling. Nora and Yang struck like a pair of cannonballs, sending people and pieces flying. Neither the soldiers nor androids stood a chance against the onslaught, and it was the work of a few seconds to completely wreck the group of enemies that had already made their way down to the floor...which was good, because still more were dropping in with every passing second.

"Let's teach these losers a lesson!" shouted Yang, diving into their midst without hesitation.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Weiss rushed to Ruby's aid. Hazel had completely forgotten their presence, thanks to Ozpin, so they were able to rush past him without any further hinderance. However, the three of them came up short when they saw the fight raging in front of them.

_It's too intense!_ thought Pyrrha, watching with wide eyes as the two fighters flickered in and out of sight, their sheer speed reducing their battle to what seemed to be a series of still images, appearing at one point, before vanishing to reappear somewhere else, the ringing of steel against steel becoming a continuous sound.

_If we jump in without thinking, we'll just trip Ruby up,_ thought Jaune, straining to keep track of the fight. Even while barely catching a glimpse of Ruby's face, Jaune could see her desperation, even feel it in the air. Ruby was only just barely keeping up with Tyrian's movements. The man's wild and erratic fighting style kept her from reading his rhythm and properly predicting his movements, forcing her to rely purely on her own speed and reflexes, a terrifying prospect when her opponent already matched, maybe even exceeded, her own speed.

_We need a gap,_ thought Weiss. _Even if it's small, if there's the slightest opening, we'll be able to jump in._

To their surprise, that came sooner than they expected. With a pained exhalation, Ruby was knocked away, Tyrian's boot connecting solidly with her stomach and sending her flying. Grinning and shouting exultantly, he prepared to charge after her, only to run straight into one of Weiss' Glyphs, which appeared between him and his quarry. Repelled backwards, Tyrian executed a backflip, before landing on all fours, poised to launch himself after his target again.

The sound of a gunshot from outside the field of his vision warned him of something incoming. Tyrian immediately pushed off the floor, aiming to go into a rolling spin to carry him out of the way of the incoming projectile. However, the blades connected to his bracers abruptly felt heavy, as though he was trying to drag them through thick mud. The resulting resistance slowed Tyrian's evasion, so that the javelin lancing down from above grazed his side, before plunging into the floor where he'd been crouched only seconds earlier.

Grunting, Tyrian landed again, backpedaling even farther away. Rather than press the attack, the other three members of Ruby's team took the opportunity to rally around her.

"You made it," said Ruby, panting.

Jaune smiled, reaching out with his right hand, careful not to clock Ruby with the handle of his sword as he rested it on her shoulder, sending some of his Aura into her, easing the pain of the kick she'd just taken, and restoring her lost strength.

"What are we up against?" asked Weiss, getting sickly chills just _looking_ at the man in front of them, who was looking back with a crazed grin that hadn't faltered in the slightest, even after taking a hit from Pyrrha's javelin.

"He's strong," said Ruby, "stronger than me. He's fast too, and I can't read his rhythm at all. It's like he doesn't even have one."

"What are his weapons?" asked Pyrrha, calling her javelin back to her hand.

"He's got those blades on his wrists," said Ruby. "They've got guns hidden in them, so watch out for that."

"He'll probably use them for a surprise attack at close range," guessed Jaune.

"The thing that really worries me is that stinger of his," said Pyrrha, eying the appendage warily. "There's no telling what kind of venom he has in there."

Ruby nodded.

"Oh!" squealed Tyrian. "How observant you all are! How cautious!" He giggled maniacally. "I can't wait to reward you for your worries!" He paused, standing upright, gently pinching his chin. "Well...why not start now?"

"Huh?" grunted Ruby, wondering why their enemy would abruptly start chatting with them. Then again, there was little this man did that made complete sense, whether in or out of battle.

"Shall I tell you my Semblance?" asked Tyrian rhetorically. Abruptly, the color of his eyes shifted, their gold transitioning to violet. "I call it...Potency."

"What's that mean?" wondered Jaune.

"I think it means his poison is as deadly as he wants it to be," said Ruby.

"Exactly!" cheered Tyrian, arcing his stinger over his shoulder. A single drop of violet fluid welled up a the tip, before falling to the floor. It landed with a splashing hiss, prompting a faint tendril of smoke to well up as the bubbling liquid sank into the hole it ate out of the solid concrete. "Such a useful Semblance. If I want to, I can simply paralyze your body, make you into little more than a doll for me to play with. Or...I can inject you with a toxin that will make you writhe with agony for a full week, before your life finally bleeds away. _Or_...just a few milligrams of a neurotoxin that will kill you before you even have a chance to feel the pain of my sting. Isn't that nice?"

The members of RASP shuddered at the idea of facing any of those venoms.

Tyrian cackled, enjoying their trepidation. "So fearsome, isn't it. Now...here is the situation. My goddess has decreed one important thing. The false Maiden who killed Cinder must be brought to her...alive. However, the rest of you are _not_ protected by her mercy."

"What does Salem want with me?" asked Ruby.

Tyrian sighed dramatically. "Alas. I know not. It is not for a lowly servant, such as my humble self, to know such things, if Her Grace does not deign to tell me. My only recourse is to _obey_."

His grin returned, wider and more vicious before. "Now then...you precious friends of the dear Rose, I'll give you a special option. I'll allow you to leave with your lives intact. Just give that beautiful little Rose over to me, and you can avoid death. Should you choose to continue to aid her..." He broke down into another wheezing cackle. "Well...how about I allow you to choose just how you wish to die...It can all be over with a tiny prick...or you can spend days consumed by pain. I imagine that's not a difficult choice, but I'll give it to you all the same."

"How about a different option?" suggested Jaune. "How about we beat you and keep Ruby with us?"

Tyrian barked out a shrill laugh. "Good one! But...sadly...impossible."

"We'll have to see about that," growled Weiss.

"Indeed we shall," agreed Tyrian, sinking down onto all fours once more.

Jaune stepped up to the front, raising his shield and sword. Pyrrha and Weiss formed up behind him, flanking him from behind and at the sides. Behind the three of them, Ruby rejoined her swords and closed her eyes.

With a howl, almost like that of a hunting animal, Tyrian flung himself at Team RASP with what seemed like wild abandon.

* * *

With a mighty roar, Hazel surged forward, throwing a powerful punch out with his fist, aiming right for Ozpin's head. It failed to connect with anything though, Ozpin vanishing from sight in a flash. The next thing Hazel knew, the former Wizard's cane struck against the back of his head, Ozpin having leapt up and then thrust downwards with a fierce strike, now holding his cane like a sword.

He touched down behind Hazel, who immediately spun about, lashing out with one hand in a powerful backhanded strike that sent a wave of yellow lightning arcing out in a fierce crescent. Again, it seemed to connect with nothing, Ozpin simply ducking beneath the arc of Hazel's swing, a few strands of his gray hair standing on end being the only indicator that the lightning had affected him at all. From there, Ozpin lunged forward with a series of thrusting strikes so rapid that his cane seemed to multiply, the sound of its impacts against Hazel's chest and stomach echoing with the rapidity of machine-gun fire. Hazel's body jerked from the repeated hits, his arms spreading out wide.

Stamping down, Ozpin's Aura flared a brilliant, emerald-green color, the light transitioning down the length of his cane, before exploding outward with the force of his next blow, the hit sending Hazel flying away to land on his back, before skidding to a stop.

"As always, your anger blinds you, Hazel," commented Ozpin calmly. "Your hatred towards me is understandable, justified even. However, you have allowed Salem to twist it to serve her own purposes. Gretchen would be so very disappointed in you."

"SILENCE!" bellowed Hazel. "You have no right to say her name!"

"Perhaps," agreed Ozpin. "But, even so, I have more right than you, you who decided to make yourself into the antithesis of everything she fought for. In your desire for vengeance, you've repeatedly spat upon her memory."

Abandoning words entirely, Hazel surged towards Ozpin with a bestial howl, launching himself across the floor like a cannonball. Punching out, he launched a surging bolt of crackling electricity at Ozpin, who parried the incoming bolt with a swift lash of his cane. Hazel followed up, leading with a series of swift, powerful swings, faster and fiercer than before, the intensity of his attack increasing with every passing second.

There was too much power behind those blows for Ozpin to even _think_ about deflecting them, so he opted to dodge instead, skipping back and forth, while falling back to keep Hazel's sheer bulk from overwhelming him. Hazel's swings looked wild. However, they purposely closed off possible routes of escape, even as he charged fiercely, aiming to keep Ozpin from taking his back again.

For his part, Ozpin counterattacked where he could. Hazel's offense left no room for defensive moves. Instead, the ferocity of his offense was, in a sense, its own defense, the rapid pace of attacks allowing little chance for Ozpin to attack in turn, lest he leave himself open to one of those mighty swings. Worse still, even when Hazel's blows missed, lightning still arced off his fists and arms, dancing across the gap between his and Ozpin's bodies, sending painful jolts through the old Wizard's muscles with every near-miss. Over time, the accumulated damage would cause his evasion to flag, and Ozpin would be left open to a direct blow from one of those mighty fists.

Worse still, the hits Ozpin _did_ land were mostly ineffectual. Even if they managed to penetrate into Hazel's powerfully-Tempered Aura, Ozpin couldn't inflict any real damage, and Hazel didn't even react to the pain of those hits, thanks to his Semblance, Numbing Agent, which allowed Hazel to completely suppress his sense of pain. Doing so was what enabled him to inject himself with so much raw Dust. It was a method that would be unthinkable for nearly anybody else.

With a roar, Hazel advanced, clasping his hands together above his head, before bringing them down in a mighty hammer-blow. Ozpin had seen this kind of attack before. If he tried to simply dodge it, Hazel's attack would hit the floor, producing a powerful electrical shockwave that would hit Ozpin, even if he dodged.

Instead, Ozpin dropped into a crouch, planting the tip of his cane into the floor. Abruptly, his body was enclosed by a hemisphere of shimmering, emerald energy, Ozpin bracing himself with all his strength. Hazel's linked fists slammed down against the shield with all the force of a descending meteor. The roar of impact filled even the expansive room that served as their arena, the shockwave making the entire space tremble. The floor around Ozpin's shield cracked, then broke apart. Beneath its protection, Ozpin looked up impassively, even as he realized that he'd underestimated the strength behind Hazel's blow, the shield beginning to crack.

It broke. At the same time, fortunately, that the force behind Hazel's strike ran out. Ozpin's shield shattered, the clash between the two men prompting them to stumble back from one another. Hazel recovered his balance and control first, to Ozpin's hidden dismay, immediately going back on the attack again, closing in with another roar.

A bolt of violet energy slammed into the side of Hazel's chest, knocking him off his feet and sending him sprawling across the floor.

"Glynda?" said Ozpin, recovering.

Glynda strode forward to stand next her Headmaster, the two of them facing down the raging beast that was Hazel Rainart.

"If you stand in my way, you'll die as well," growled Hazel, rising to his feet, seeming none the worse for wear.

"I have no intention of dying here," said Glynda. "So the two of us will simply have to take you down."

"The same as always," growled Hazel, glaring at Ozpin. "How many people do you have to hide behind, before you'll accept your fate?"

"I accepted my fate long ago," Ozpin replied calmly. "Allowing you to kill me would accomplish nothing, least of all bringing your sister back."

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" roared Hazel, surging forward on the attack once more.

* * *

_This is _not_ working out for us,_ thought Watts, frowning as he observed the situation taking place in the nearby room. It was remarkable that Vale's Council had such a space at their disposal...or Mason Ayers did. From experience, he knew that Atlas had similar underground facilities, though those facilities were located under Mantle. It was in such facilities that some of their more powerful weapons and technologies had been tested in secret. Watts himself had been involved in such testing, before his fall from grace.

But this was not the time for reminiscing. It was good that the soldiers that were trying to stop the other Beacon students weren't fully aware of what was going on. Not even Mason knew what was happening now. However, the arrival of Ozpin and his deputy had not been something that Watts had anticipated. The presence of Ozpin meant that Hazel would completely ignore the plan, the hatred that Salem had carefully nurtured within him running out of control.

With Hazel unable to prevent interference, Ruby Rose would get reinforcements for the fight with Tyrian. The girl had already exceeded his expectations by being able to hold her own. It was apparent that Tyrian had the overall advantage, but he wasn't winning near as easily as they had anticipated, and the arrival of her friends, if she could properly coordinate with them, might actually tip the battle in her favor.

Watts frowned, looking at his scroll, wondering if now was the time to call for a retreat. They could fall back and regroup. Working with Mason had been an excellent opportunity, but one that had ultimately failed to yield what they needed. Worse still, retreating would mean abandoning Mercury. There was no chance of retrieving him like this.

_Perhaps I should have Tyrian put him down,_ mused Watts. Better to silence Mercury for good, than leave the boy alive to talk. Unfortunately, it was unlikely that Tyrian would get the chance.

Watts' gaze shifted to Ruby, particularly to those Silver Eyes of hers, which had apparently interested Salem so much, once she had learned the truth about the girl. That had been when Salem's interest had shifted to capturing Ruby, which was the main reason that they had colluded so carefully with Mason Ayers.

_Retreat may not even be an option at the moment,_ thought Watts dourly. _Tyrian is always difficult to call off, especially when his objective is in front of him like this. And Hazel won't back down from killing Ozpin. It would seem we're in a serious bind here._

* * *

Jaune met Tyrian first, shield raised, ready to ward off his first strike. Initially, it seemed that Tyrian was going to execute a swing from one of those wrist-mounted blades of his. However, he instead, latched onto the edges of Jaune's shield, planting his boots against the face, actually hanging on it and hauling himself up to leer over the rim at Jaune, his grin widening, almost as though he saw something that appealed to him personally.

Whatever was going through the madman's head was something Jaune didn't get much of a chance to question, not when Pyrrha and Weiss attacked Tyrian from either side. Kicking off the shield, Tyrian launched himself away from their strikes, the kickoff sending Jaune stumbling back a couple steps.

Landing in another crouch, on all-fours, Tyrian jumped to the side, his body blurring with the speed of his movement, before he rushed them from another angle, keeping low this time. Pyrrha went to meet him, leading with a downward strike from Milo in its sword-form. Tyrian slashed a blade up to meet the descending sword, before transitioning straight into a sweeping kick to try and take Pyrrha's legs out from under her. But Pyrrha had already jumped, flipping above Tyrian, left arm drawn back to hurl Akouo at the back of his head. However, she was forced to abandon that when Tyrian's tail, seemingly of its own volition, lashed at her face. Pyrrha quickly brought her shield up to deflect it.

But she didn't give up on attacking entirely. Even as she blocked Tyrian's stinger, Pyrrha thrust downward, Milo extending into its javelin-mode, forcing Tyrian to dodge, as the blade threatened to strike his Aura between his shoulder-blades. Once again, Tyrian's arms felt strangely heavy, and Pyrrha's attack grazed his side. Grunting, Tyrian came back upright, a manic grin still decorating his face.

Then, from behind him, a spectral arm emerged from a familiar sword-wheel Glyph, holding aloft an enormous broadsword, and bringing it straight down at Tyrian's head. With a gleeful shout, Tyrian threw himself to the side again, the sword splitting the floor where he'd been standing.

Turning about, Tyrian squealed happily to see Weiss flying at him in one of her gliding lunges. She led with a barrage of thrusts, Myrtenaster a blur that seemed to be in multiple places at once. Tyrian's own weapons flashed out rapidly, meeting the thrusts easily, deflecting every last one of them. With a laugh, Tyrian sent his tail lashing over his shoulder, the venomous barb flying right at Weiss' face.

At her waist, Weiss' right hand twisted slightly, the first two fingers extending out. A tiny Glyph appeared between Weiss and the incoming stinger, spinning into being at a slight angle, Tyrian's attack deflecting off to the side.

"Oh!" gasped Tyrian. Not hesitating, he pressed the attack, bulling forward with wild-looking slashes of his wrist-blades. Weiss fell back, Myrtenaster working furiously, but not nearly fast enough to fend off all his slashes. However, her Semblance took up the slack, Glyphs appearing with incredible speed to intercept the incoming strikes and gently nudge them off-course.

Tyrian only seemed _more_ excited and amused, as though he'd just discovered a new difficulty level on a favorite video-game. He prepared to go on an even more furious onslaught, only for Weiss to call up a larger Glyph to propel herself aside. From behind her, Jaune charged through...his movement a blur. He closed the distance between himself and Tyrian in what seemed like a single step, attacking by thrusting the face of his shield forward.

Leaping back, Tyrian planted his hands and feet on the incoming shield's face, kicking off to keep Jaune's rush from slamming into him. As soon as he pushed away though, Jaune pulled the shield aside, transitioning directly into a downwards slash, the blade of his sword blazing white, and launching a crescent of light right at him. Tyrian was forced to try and catch the slash on the crossed blades of his bracers, the force behind the blow launching him backwards.

Rather than try to fully block the attack as Hazel had, Tyrian shifted his center of gravity, and allowed himself to be knocked aside from the path of Jaune's attack. However, the path of his evasion wound up taking him directly into the path of Pyrrha, who was closing in to attack again.

In response, Tyrian raised his left arm, aiming his fist right at Pyrrha. Her eyes widened when she saw the gun-barrels emerge from within the bracer, firing a stream of bullets at her. Pyrrha raised her shield, but not to block the bullets, as one might have expected. Instead, angling its edge towards the incoming projectiles. Said edge flared with the black energy of her Semblance, which spread to the bullets themselves, the projectiles being pulled into a circular orbit around the rim of Pyrrha's shield, their orbit increasing in speed with each revolution, becoming a rapid blur.

Pyrrha drew her left arm back in preparation to throw her shield again. Tyrian tried to strike at her with his tail again, aiming to force her to abort her attack. However, Pyrrha chose that instant to release the bullets revolving around Akouo's rim from their orbit, timing it so that they were sent flying back at Tyrian, her Polarity propelling them at an even greater velocity than they'd been fired at. Tyrian's jaw opened slightly. Working both his blades and his tail, he deflected the incoming shots. But the force behind them checked his forward momentum, actually causing him to skid back slightly.

The delay gave Pyrrha the time she needed to throw her shield, which slammed against Tyrian's upraised bracers, knocking him back farther. Now Tyrian was put on the back foot, stumbling back slightly from the repeated powerful impacts. What was more, even though he'd managed to deflect Akouo, Pyrrha used her Semblance to send it arcing around to dive at him from behind and above. Tyrian deflected the attack with a lash from his tail, but found himself facing Pyrrha pressing an offensive from the front, extending Milo into its javelin-mode, spinning it by its shaft between her hands to launch a barrage of slashes, all while her shield arced back around in a continuous attack of its own.

Tyrian went into a rapid series of flips and spins, lashing out with all five limbs, whether to deflect an incoming attack or launch a counter. His acrobatics and speed were awe-inspiring, allowing him to easily keep pace with the two-front attack Pyrrha had launched. Even using her Semblance to try and interfere with the movements of his wrist-mounted blades, Pyrrha wasn't able to lock him down entirely, and Tyrian more than compensated by resorting to kicks with her.

Fortunately, Pyrrha wasn't fighting on her own. Tyrian came out of a dodge, abruptly realizing that Pyrrha had left him an opening in her attacks to escape through. He landed on his feet, already anticipating what was to come, seeing Jaune closing in, sword raised, blade shining white. At the same time, another Summoning Glyph flashed into being, calling forth another sword-wielding arm, the massive blade striking in perfect synch with Jaune's own sword.

Even blocking with his bracers, Tyrian was blasted completely away. He would have landed on his back, had he not brought his tail under him, using it to catch him and push off again, allowing to land on his hands and feet again. Despite the powerful attack he'd just endured, Tyrian's grin didn't show the slightest sign of faltering. Indeed, he even looked exhilarated.

"So much fun!" he shouted. "You're all working so hard to give your friend a breather."

A crackle reached Tyrian's ears, accompanied by a buzzing, humming sensation that caused his hairs to stand on end. His eyes widened as he noticed Ruby raise her sword up behind her friends. Abruptly, several of the lights above exploded in a shower of sparks, countless arcs of electricity-No!-_lightning_ erupting from the floor and ceiling, even the nearest wall. In fact, some appeared to emerge from thin air.

"How?" gasped Tyrian, his eyes going up, his smile faltering for the first time. _There's no clouds! You can't even _see_ the sky from in here._

Ruby smiled in satisfaction. _I'm glad I was right,_ she thought silently.

In truth, she'd never _really_ needed to be under an open sky to use the _Raikoken_. Her continuous practice had taught her that well enough. In fact, the energy itself came, not from a mere storm, but from the electromagnetic field of the earth itself. Calling it came in the form of a storm cloud was essentially a product of calling upon that power under an open sky. But it didn't _need_ to be like that. In fact, Ruby felt certain that, with continued practice, she could learn to call on this kind of power just as easily as she did her own Aura.

But that was still a ways away. And utilizing the _Raikoken_ like this had required her to spend some extra time immersing herself in the World's Aura to get a proper sense of how to call on its power this far underground. Now the lightning was writhing around her blade, dancing and throwing off sparks. Ruby's friends parted, allowing her to pass between them.

There was something else Ruby had learned through her continuing efforts, practicing this technique. In its own way, the Aura of the World was more...real...in a sense that Ruby couldn't quite explain. It had nothing to do with the properties of lightning or electricity, and everything to do with the nature of Aura itself. The power of the One was more persistent and present than that of any single person, no matter how powerful a person was, even if that person was someone like Kyo.

Because of that, awakening to this technique allowed Ruby to realize that it could be used for something _more_ than attacks, however brilliant or elaborate they might be. It could be used to complete the one technique she'd been seeking to perfect before. Relaxing her body, Ruby allowed the power of her lightning to flow from her swords and into her cloak.

"_Tenyo no Hana._"

The effect was completely different from before. Rather than exploding outward, Ruby's cloak instead bloomed, as though it had been planted with countless seeds. Petals, that were also like feathers, blossomed across its surface, humming with energy, scintillating colors dancing over them.

"Ruby!" called Jaune nervously. He, Weiss, and Pyrrha looked on uneasily at the sight, well aware of the limitations of Ruby's most rarely-used technique.

"It's okay," said Ruby.

Pyrrha's eyes traced over Ruby's cloak. It was a beautiful technique to be sure. Then Pyrrha realized something. _The petals aren't dropping away._

In previous uses of this technique, the petals that had formed across Ruby's cloak had periodically dropped off on their own, a symptom of its inherent instability, the fact that its activity was constantly burning Ruby's Aura. But now, the cloak remained whole, each of those feathers looking tangible and whole, despite being formed from pure plasma.

For his part, Tyrian backpedaled farther, his body tensing. This was beyond what he'd been told the girl was capable of. Her abilities had already exceeded his expectations several times over, through the course of this battle. Before now, that had been exciting, entertaining even. But now...it was daunting. For the first time since the fight had begun, the victory that Tyrian had been so certain would be his looked to be slipping away, and the realization reached him that this girl might actually be capable of defeating him, especially with her friends helping her.

Tyrian's arms and legs began to quiver. Those tremors traveled into the rest of his body, which began to shake in its entirety. Suddenly, Tyrian hunched forward, dipping his head towards the ground. Then he raised his face to look at Ruby. His eyes were practically shining with excitement, his grin fiercer and wider than ever before. _How exciting! How thrilling! Before, it was nothing more than play. But now...it's a _real_ fight._

Ruby's swords were hidden from view, the feathered edges of her cloak covering them completely, enshrouding her arms as well. From this perspective, Ruby looked practically unarmed, only the straightened contours of the hem, down to the corners of her garment, indicating the presence of her blades. In this state, it would make tracking their movements difficult.

Tyrian licked his lips eagerly. He could sense the power and danger emanating from the beautiful garment that enshrouded Ruby's body. Between that trailing cloak and the hood, she was almost completely covered against attacks from behind or the sides. The cloak was basically a set of electrified armor, which wouldn't simply block his attacks, but pay him back with jolts from the lightning that infused it. The only openings in that defense were below its edge, if he aimed for Ruby's feet and ankles...and...directly from the front, where her swords waited to strike. If he actually wanted to land a hit on her, Tyrian would have no choice but to come at his enemy from head-on.

With an eager grin, Tyrian sank down on all fours, then launched himself straight at Ruby with a wild shout.

* * *

Hazel's back slammed against the wall, shattering the concrete, his body even imbedding itself into it slightly. He growled, raising his head, then pulled free with an angry roar. Reaching into his pouches, he drew out several more Dust-crystals, fire-Dust this time, and proceeded to jam them into the skin of his upper arms alongside the lightning-Dust already imbedded there.

In front of him, Ozpin and Glynda stood together, both of them looking slightly daunted, despite seemingly having the edge in this conflict.

"His Aura recharges so quickly," commented Glynda.

Ozpin nodded. "He is capable of drawing out more through sheer willpower. However, there is a price to be paid for relying on that kind of power. Unfortunately, his Semblance allows him to check that consequence a good deal longer than any other person would."

Glynda nodded.

With another angry roar, Hazel charged forward, his body moving even faster this time. He closed the distance between himself and the professors in a flash. Glynda flicked her riding crop out, sending a barrage of violet bolts flying at the enormous man. However, Hazel bulled through them as though they were little more than gnats.

Ozpin was a greenish blur as he dashed forward to meet Hazel halfway. Ozpin's cane cracked against the fire and lightning sheathing Hazel's fist, Ozpin launching a blurring succession of blows. Hazel either warded them off with his forearms or simply powered through them to lead with a mighty punch that forced Ozpin to leap aside, a blast of combined fire and lightning rushing through the space the Headmaster had once occupied to explode against the floor.

Hazel's reflexes actually seemed to have increased, following his second infusion of Dust, already turning to follow Ozpin, where before he would have only been able to react after Ozpin's cane cracked against the back of his head. Instead, the cane struck against Hazel's upraised forearm. Hazel knocked Ozpin's cane aside and followed up with a punch from his opposite fist. Ozpin brought up his Aura, conjuring a barrier of emerald energy between him and the incoming blow. But it only partially ablated the force of Hazel's punch, the blast of fire and lightning that accompanied it sending Ozpin flying back to slam directly into the same crater in the wall that Hazel had left earlier.

"Ozpin!" shouted Glynda, furiously waving her crop.

Hazel immediately followed up by charging the momentarily stunned Headmaster, roaring with pure animalistic fury, he unleashed a barrage of powerful punches that completely pulverized the concrete wall. However, the sensation of his fists pounding into the flesh and blood of his hated enemy eluded him, and Hazel's punches slowed to a stop. The reason why quickly became apparent.

Glynda had used her Telekinesis to assemble a barrier of broken concrete, interposing it between Ozpin and Hazel's fists. While Hazel had been pounding away, Glynda had broken up the concrete all around herself, adding it to the rubble from previous exchanges, binding it together into a heavy, dense barrier between him and Ozpin. Of course, Hazel's blows were enough to reduce such concrete to the consistency of powder from a single hit. But Glynda simply brought in more rubble, continually refreshing the barrier to keep up with Hazel's attack.

Abruptly, the remaining rubble accelerated right at Hazel in a barrage. With an angry growl, the man crossed his arms, ducking his head behind them to take the blows, deflecting it with a powerful surge of his Aura. When Glynda's attack ended, Hazel raised his head again, only to see the blurring form of Ozpin's cane flying at him in a barrage of swift, powerful thrusts. Hazel's body jerked repeatedly as Ozpin struck around his arms, hitting his chest, abdomen, and face, before putting all his strength into a final blow that knocked Hazel backwards.

Finding himself looking up at the ceiling as he flew, Hazel saw still more broken concrete, winding through the air in streams, weaving together to form a single gigantic spike, which plunged down to slam into his stomach, driving him to the floor. The spike then broke back up into individual pieces of rubble, which pounded down on him in a deadly hail, before piling up and burying the man.

Glynda didn't stop there though. Using her Semblance, she condensed the rubble, squeezing Hazel tightly within its embrace. The outer layers began to quickly fuse together, their forms melding, becoming as though they were a single, solid object. Finally, under the sheer pressure of Glynda's Semblance, and her ability to manipulate matter on a molecular level, the entire pile of concrete pieces was fused into a single, solid mound, with Hazel trapped in its center.

Glynda lowered her riding crop, gasping for breath. She sank down to one knee. It had taken every ounce of her strength to perform such a feat, particularly to apply so much pressure. _That _has_ to be enough,_ she thought.

Then, from within the mound, a groaning sound emerged, followed by a faint rumbling.

"It can't be..." Glynda whispered, her eyes going wide with shock.

"Glynda!" Ozpin skidded to a stop in front of her, planting his cane into the floor, calling up a domed barrier once more.

He was just in time, the concrete mass in front of them exploding outward with an echoing roar, as much that of flames and thunder as it was Hazel's exclamation of unquenchable rage. Superheated fragments of concrete, some of them as large as the torso of an average person, were sent flying through the air like comets. The shockwave rocked the room. Several chunks shattered against Ozpin's barrier, thrown with enough force to make his feet skid backwards slightly. Behind it, Ozpin grunted at the exertion of maintaining it.

At the center of the explosion, Hazel stood tall, arms thrown out wide, head tilted back, mouth hanging open. Finally, his voice died away, and Hazel slowly lowered his eyes back to his enemies. Glynda's attack hadn't left him untouched. Several small cuts bled on his face and through tears in his shirt. A small trickle also ran from the corner of his mouth. What was more, angry black veins ran down the length of his arms, out to his fists, also stretching up his neck and face, replacing the glowing ones that had been produced by the Dust he'd infused into his body.

The Dust crystals themselves crumbled, their color having faded to mostly gray, with only a tiny hint of their original hues. Where they had been, the skin of Hazel's arms was torn and blistered,

"Is he...?" wondered Glynda.

"Yes, he's self-destructing," said Ozpin. _And not a moment too soon,_ he thought. Ozpin was also reaching the limits of his own strength. Thanks to several lifetimes worth of accumulated experience, he was a masterful combatant. Unfortunately, even with all his skill and experience, he had his limits. His current incarnation was gradually losing ground to the steady march of time, so he could no longer fight at his fullest capacity for as long as he used to. Competing with Hazel; whose rage and hatred allowed him to push his Aura past its limits continuously; and his Semblance, which enabled him to power through both damage that would have incapacitated anyone else, as well as enhance his body with an inhuman amount of Dust; would have been a task beyond Ozpin on his own. However, with Glynda's assistance, they had finally managed to push the man to the point where his rage couldn't carry him much further.

And still, Hazel's eyes lost none of their determination. Even though his shoulders heaved with each breath he took, he remained standing tall. Even though his hands shook from exhaustion, he still reached for the pouches at his belt. Even though the injection sites were already horrifically mangled, Hazel still prepared to use them again.

"Let's end this quickly," said Ozpin, raising his cane. Beside him, Glynda nodded, rising up and brandishing her riding crop.

Hazel growled, baring bloody teeth, his hands reaching inside his pouches to obtain a fresh supply of Dust.

"Now this ain't gonna fly, buddy."

All three combatants froze in place. From behind Hazel, a black-garbed figure stepped out with a jingle of bells from the tips of his fool's cap.

_This must be Jester,_ thought Ozpin, frowning in confusion, unable to figure out where the man had come from, or when he'd arrived. It was as though he'd stepped out of thin air.

"Hazel, buddy, keep this up and yer gonna do yerself a mischief," drawled Jester, grinning up at the larger man.

"Stay out of this," growled Hazel, glaring down at him. "I will make Ozpin pay."

"Nah," said Jester, waving a dismissive hand. "You can't. His backup's too good for that. You're gonna fall short of the mark. Is that how you wanna go, revenge forever out of your reach, just 'cause you didn't know when to stop?"

Hazel grit his teeth, a low rumble building in his chest.

Jester chuckled, bringing up his right hand to tap the skull-topped marotte against his shoulder. "There's no need to get upset, buddy. After all, even if someone gets to Ozpin first, you won't have missed out. That's the nice thing about an enemy who reincarnates. You'll always get another crack at him."

"That's not good enough," snarled Hazel. "Killing him once isn't enough. He needs to die as many times as it takes to pry him free of his unnatural grip on this world. I will make him suffer over and over again."

Hazel began to stride forward, ready to begin the battle anew. Glynda and Ozpin both readied themselves. Jester, meanwhile, shook his head in disappointment.

"Honestly, just a big brat throwing a tantrum, aren't you..." he mused. Abruptly, he darted forward, skipping high enough off the ground to reach Hazel's face, appearing to lightly tap him on the temple with the fingers of his left hand. As inconsequential as the move looked, Hazel's eyes rolled up and he collapsed bonelessly, out cold.

"Hup," grunted Jester, somehow slinging Hazel's enormous body over his left shoulder. Then he turned his teasing grin on Ozpin. "Not gonna demand I leave him behind, are ya?"

"Somehow, I get the feeling that I could not make you," said Ozpin, drawing a surprised gasp from Glynda.

"Smart man," said Jester, chuckling.

"You're him, aren't you..." asked Ozpin, "...the one that Kyo referred to...the one who prevents the Mibu Clan from interfering in anything to do with Salem?"

Glynda gasped more harshly, staring at the man before them.

"Well well..._this_ Kyo's been the talkative one, I see," said Jester, his grin widening, his body beginning to darken before their eyes, the malevolent waves of his Aura seeming to steal the light from the air around him. "Hmm...Perhaps I aught to go remind him _why_ the Mibu don't cross me." He paused seeming to consider it. "Nah...He ain't crossed the line...yet. Still, if he really hooks up with that Fall Maiden of yours, his time'll come sooner or later."

"Who are you?" asked Ozpin.

"Stories like that aren't meant to be told in places like this," replied Jester. "Instead, I'll just take my buddies and take my leave. You and yours have won the battle this time, kiddo. 'Course, I don't have to tell you that the war's still on. I'm sure you know when the decisive battle will be."

Ozpin nodded gravely.

Abruptly, a shrill scream echoed through the room, coming from where Team RASP battled Tyrian. Jester canted his head in their direction, his grin widening. "Ah! That's my cue. Later...brat."

With that...he was gone.

* * *

Tyrian and Ruby collided. Despite the blades of Ruby's swords being hidden by the sweeping edges of her cloak, Tyrian was able to find them easily enough. He didn't even seem to mind the electric jolts that ran through his arms with every contact with her electrified cloak. For her part, Ruby swept the garment around her, the feathered petals seeming to flow, as though the entire cloak was something amorphous. From within that shifting, distracting mass, her swords flashed out in streaks of crimson, their bright lines cutting through the air.

After their first clash, the two fighters fell back. But several feathers detached from Ruby's cloak, flying at Tyrian, who danced and flipped his way between them, the feathers exploding where they hit the floor around him, filling the air with flames and crackling arcs of lightning. Coming out of his spin, Tyrian saw that Ruby was no longer in front of him. However, his honed combat instincts alerted him to the shifting and buzzing of the air behind him, indicating that Ruby had flanked him. He jumped forward, planting one hand against the floor to spring away from Ruby's swords, which intersected right where his neck had been. Had he not dodged, her attack would have beheaded him.

Even as he escaped out of the way, Tyrian struck back, lashing out with his tail, the stinger flying right for one of Ruby's silver eyes. However, Ruby simply shifted her head slightly, interposing her hood between her face and the incoming attack. Tyrian's stinger glanced off the hood, feeling as though it had struck a solid steel impediment...an _electrified_ steel impediment.

The surging electricity danced its way up his tail and into his body, where it prompted Tyrian's spine to arch, his muscles seizing. Ruby rushed forward to take advantage. But, somehow, Tyrian was able to control his spasms, making his body lurch even more unpredictably, and carrying him out of the immediate path of Ruby's next couple of swings. Landing on his back, Tyrian went into a roll that brought him back to his feet, his body quickly recovering from the electrocution, allowing him to bring up his arms. Ruby gasped, her eyes widening as she found herself staring down the barrels of Tyrian's guns.

The chatter of rapid shots echoed out, and Ruby backpedaled, sweeping her cloak up and around herself to fend off the bullets, which bounced off with angry sparking and crackling noises. At the same time, she detached more feathered petals, which arced through the air to bombard Tyrian, and the area around him.

Ruby came to a stop only for Tyrian to seem to materialize right behind her, wrist blades swinging for her neck from behind. Of course, such an attack was futile against the defense of her cloak, unless Tyrian could muster enough strength to enhance the edges of his blades to cut through the protective force that wreathed her body. But that was hardly Tyrian's intention. Instead, at the same time he slashed at Ruby's neck from behind, his tail arced up and over to reach over Ruby's head to swing down, bringing the barb flying right at her face from overhead.

To his surprise, his blades actually cut through Ruby's cloak easily. In fact, he barely even felt a tingle from the contact. At the same time, his tail arced up, around, and down, punching all the way through the back of her hood. Then the entire garment scattered into several flickering feathers, that quickly sparked out of existence, revealing that Ruby was no longer where he'd last seen her.

Immediately, Tyrian tensed, readying himself for Ruby to counterattack from an unexpected direction. However, he was caught off-guard when the counter didn't come from _Ruby_.

The dissipating remnants of the shredded cloak masked the glow from below, keeping Tyrian from realizing that he was standing in the center of one of Weiss' Summoning Glyphs...until it was too late. The next thing Tyrian knew, an armored fist erupted upwards. Tyrian tried to dodge, only to bring his chin into line with the blow, which launched him upwards with a powerful uppercut.

The blow knocked Tyrian over backwards, giving him a view of the ceiling above, and the form of Pyrrha descending, Milo in its sword-form, raised in both hands. With a shout, she brought the weapon down, Tyrian crossing his bracers to intercept it with his pincer-shaped blades. However, behind Pyrrha, her shield, guided by her Polarity, dove down as well, accelerated to the fullest extent she was capable of. It slammed into the back edge of her sword, right at the same instant its leading edge slammed into Tyrian's defense, Pyrrha's training and skill with her Semblance enabling her to time the impact perfectly. The force sent Tyrian plummeting downward at an angle to slam into the floor with enough force to shatter it...

...If he were to hit the floor, that was...

But Jaune had now positioned himself directly below Tyrian, shield raised. Just as Tyrian's back slammed into it, Crocea Mors' Aura flared a brilliant white, and the force of Tyrian's impact slammed _back_ into him, throwing him off the shield with a cry. That white light flowed out of the shield, and across into the sword, which Jaune swung with a determined shout. Twisting, Tyrian managed to get his bracers up, but the attack sent him flying...right at Ruby.

Ruby swept her sword through a broad, circular pass. As she did, the blade seemed to catch on the petals of her cloak, pulling it along with the blade's movements. Ruby's cloak flowed, the feathery petals melting together and condensing into and around Akaibara's blade, The entirety of the garment vanished into the sword, leaving Ruby clad only in her kimono and armor as she raised the blade overhead. Now Tyrian was flying towards her, his eyes wide as he watched the blade come down.

Tyrian lashed downwards with his tail, anchoring the barb into the floor. Overcoming his momentum strained his appendage to the extent that it nearly felt as though it was going to rip free from his body. Still, exerting every ounce of his Aura and strength, Tyrian was able to alter his course, swinging his body aside, out of the way, just in time. Ruby's sword descended with a sound like a clap of thunder, a shining, blue-white flash, tinged with red, filled the air. A crescent-blade of pure energy flew out along the line of Ruby's attack. Tyrian's response managed to pull his body out of the path...but his tail was still anchored to the floor.

Tyrian's shrill scream reached every inch of the room. The crazed man slammed into the floor, bouncing and rolling to a stop. The bulbous segments of his tail trailed behind him, lacking their characteristic stinger. Instead, a stream of sickly-purple fluid spilled out from it, splattering across the floor, eating sizzling holes in the concrete.

"Y-you...You _bitch!_" screamed Tyrian, his voice wheezing with pain and anger. He glared at her, his smile nowhere to be seen, tears actually leaking from his eyes as what remained of his tail whipped behind him, still scattering goblets of poison.

Ruby took a deep breath, summoning her Aura once more. Petals flowed outward from her body, gathering around her shoulders, moving both up and down, reforming her cloak and hood, though the trailing edge of her cloak was ragged, and several holes dotted the Aura-conjured fabric. The fight had been a lot harder than Ruby would have liked, even _with_ her friends supporting her. That last attack in particular had taken a lot out of her, and she was more than a little troubled by her inability to finish it with that blow.

On top of that, in his own way, Tyrian was more dangerous than ever. Sure, she'd removed what was probably one of his deadliest weapons. But the tradeoff was that he would be more unpredictable than before. The look on his face clearly indicated that this was no longer a game to him. He might not even care that he was supposed to take her alive anymore. On top of that, while he'd lost his sting, the stump of his tail was still throwing out droplets of deadly poison with every pained lash, the spatter of which could do plenty of harm on its own.

Swallowing, Ruby divided Akaibara, taking up her swords once more, preparing to resume the battle.

"Dang, Tyrian. Looks like she did a number on you."

Ruby froze, her entire body going stiff at the sight of Jester, who appeared behind Tyrian as though he'd always been there, his grin still in place, the massive form of Hazel slung over his left shoulder as though the enormous man didn't weigh a thing.

"You...!" snarled Tyrian, his golden eyes turning violet as he faced Jester, his voice conveying nothing but hatred for the ridiculously-dressed man.

"Me," agreed Jester.

"What do you want?" growled Tyrian. "You don't belong here."

"I can agree with that," said Jester. "But that's true for you now. The plan is a wreck. The time's come to call it a loss and get gone, buddy. We're pulling out."

"Hey!" shouted Weiss, stepping forward, only to find herself forestalled by Ibara, Ruby holding out the blade to keep Weiss from advancing another step.

"Don't," said Ruby firmly, risking a glance back at her friend. "We're no match for him."

Jester chuckled. "Perceptive as always, Little Rose. I'm looking forward to seeing how much you can grow."

"Enough!" snapped Tyrian, whirling around. "I have a mission. But a clown like you wouldn't know anything about duty."

Jester sighed, his smile actually faltering slightly. "Knowing when to fall back is also a part of one's duty," he said, seeming to merely tap Tyrian in the side of the head.

In an instant, Tyrian was completely unconscious, falling forward, only kept from landing on his face by virtue of Jester grabbing the collar of his vest. "Well...that's all for today. Good work on clearing this hurdle, Little Rose."

A second later, his form swam and swirled inward on itself, Jester vanishing from sight, along with his cargo, leaving Team RASP alone...well...not completely. Ozpin and Glynda had been deprived of their opponent as well. But the sounds of battle still carried across the chamber, from where Team RYNB still fought against Mason's soldiers and androids.

"We're all alive," noted Jaune. "But it doesn't really feel like we won."

"That's the second time for me, lately," grumbled Ruby. "But let's help the others take out those soldiers. That'll help us feel better."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Pyrrha.

* * *

**I've seen some authors comment that seeing Jaune lose his lunch on airships never gets old. For me, Tyrian losing his tail (or his metasoma, if you wanna be anatomically accurate) never gets old, namely because, as I pointed out a long time ago, it means that Ruby literally tore him a new one (Seriously, how is that _not_ a meme yet?) I could go on about that sort of thing, but getting caught up in details like that isn't really worthwhile in a series where the sci-fi elements are soft enough to spread on a piece of un-toasted bread.**

**As for Tyrian's Semblance, this was written before Volume 7 revealed what his Semblance actually was. This reading of his Semblance was based on my conjecture of how he fought, back in Volume 4. I noticed that the two major times he stung, or was about to sting, someone (first against Ruby, then against Qrow), his eyes had changed color. I linked that with his intentions, noting that Salem had specified she wanted Ruby alive. Of course, if Tyrian stung her and pumped her full of a lethal venom, then that would not have gone over well with the Boss Lady. On the other hand, he clearly had no intention of holding back against Qrow. From my viewpoint, it made sense that he would be dialing in the lethality of his venom to accommodate the situation and opponent. And, in the fight in Volume 4, it looked to me like Tyrian had simply broken Ruby and Qrow's Auras the old fashioned way, which I felt was borne out by the fact his Aura broke at the same time Qrow's did (at least, that's how it looked with the VFX CRWBY uses to indicate someone's Aura breaking), so it never really looked as though he was using his Semblance to disrupt their Auras, yet his eyes were still violet when he was using his stinger...**

**So yeah, this was my interpretation of his Semblance at the time of writing...which is _not_ to say that the revelations of Volume 7 didn't have any influence on this aspect of the story. But that is a matter for another chapter.**


	116. Chapter 116

**Chapter 116:**

The first sign of trouble that Mason had noticed was when the feed showing Ruby's fight against Mercury and Eira cut out. He hadn't been happy with what he'd been seeing. Mercury and Eira fought well together, especially without the benefit of any lights to see their opponent, or each other. The feed was being taken with a special night-vision camera, allowing Mason to see what was happening. Unfortunately, it looked as though the darkness was not hampering Ruby's abilities in any way either, nor was the coordination between the two assassins enough to give them a definitive advantage over her.

As such, he'd expected to see Mercury's compatriots to come to his aid. So it had been galling to see them continue to watch from the sidelines. And then Ruby had cut down both of them.

That had been when the feed had cut, leaving Mason stewing in uncertainty. The girl had walked right into the center of what she had to have known was a trap. She'd even weathered the knockout gas used on her during the car ride over. Despite that, Mason had been more than certain that the preparations he and his allies had made would be enough to deal with her. He had to wonder if something had happened to the signal at the source, or if the problem was on his end.

However, all of that became of little concern when the light streaming in from the window of his home office darkened. Mason looked up, his eyes widening behind his glasses as he saw a dark figure swooping down from above. He threw himself out of his seat, diving behind the desk as the figure slammed into and through the window, shattering it into fragments. The attacker landed, going into a roll that ate up the momentum of his previous speed, allowing him to come back to his feet.

Rain Elric's shield had separated into segments, spreading across his back so that the green-tinged membrane between them spread between his arms and legs, allowing it to function as a sort of wingsuit, the wind-Dust impregnated into the membrane enhancing his lift and allowing him to glide. Now, as he rolled back to his feet, his shield collapsed down into its regular form, before sliding into its accustomed place on his right arm.

The door to the office exploded open, a pair of armed and armored men rushing in, rifles raised. Seeing the intruder, they didn't even bother to ask for his surrender before opening fire. They went on the attack the moment they confirmed their employer wasn't in the line of fire. However, their shots pinged harmlessly off the surface of Rain's kite-shield.

Pushing forward with his right arm, Rain launched his shield, connected to the spool/gauntlet on his right arm by the blue string. The shield slammed into the guard on the right, flinging him back out the way he came, his body clipping and smashing through the edge of the doorframe on his way out. The other guard dove to the side to avoid the first attack, his rifle now aiming for Rain's unprotected body.

Rain simply pulled his arm to the left, the shield having already opened up, and spreading its membrane into its kite-mode. The kite pulled the string taut, Rain's tug sending it flying to the left, down the hallway it had flown into. As it did, it pulled the string along with it, the string cutting its way through the wall without the slightest sign of resistance, before it struck the other guard in the shoulder.

The string bit into the armor and the flesh beneath it. Less than a second later, the arm had been severed completely. The guard screamed, reeling, the rifle tumbling from his grip as his other hand went to stem the bleeding. Rain yanked back on the string, before it could continue cutting its way into the unfortunate man's torso. Pulling the string actually pulled the shield back to smash _through_ the wall behind the guard, slamming into the back of his head and knocking him out.

The shield returning to his arm, Rain slipped it back up to his back as he rushed to catch the falling guard, his hand already reaching to a pouch on the belt at his waist. He withdrew what looked like a miniature spray-can. With his left hand, he pulled the guard's arm up, ignoring the blood spurting from the stump, while holding up the spray-can in his right, spraying a white foam over the exposed flesh. The foam immediately solidified, stopping the bleeding.

A click from behind Rain drew his attention to Mason, who'd risen up from behind the desk, pistol in hand. Mason didn't hesitate to fire a shot off at the back of Rain's head. Fortunately, all Rain had to do was duck forward, and the Dust-cartridge pinged off the upper edge of his shield. Rolling forward, Rain came back up to his feet, turning around as he did so, his shield sliding back into place on his right arm, just in time to ward off a second shot from Mason.

"I don't know who you think you are," said Mason calmly, despite being faced with such a formidable enemy, "but don't think that you can get away with assaulting a member of the Council."

"I am not worried," said Rain calmly, flashing a polite smile at Mason from behind his shield.

"Your confidence is not unwarranted," noted Mason, taking in the forms of his unconscious guards. "However, more will arrive soon. Your weapon is impressive, but is clearly suited to more-open spaces. In the cramped confines of this room, and the adjoining hallway, your movements shall be severely hampered. You cannot hope to last long."

"Assuming I need to last at all," Rain replied.

"Hmm...?" Mason tilted his head slightly.

"I figured you would have noticed already," noted Rain. "After an entrance like that, this place should be swarming with guards already. But only the two that were right outside came. I wonder what could be keeping the rest of them."

Mason's eyes widened as the impact of Rain's words sank in. It wasn't simply a matter of the guards not coming. By now, sirens and alarms should be howling across every corner of the mansion, but no such sounds reached his ears.

A few seconds later, a hissing sound, like that of miniature jet engines, filled the air. Outside the window, the orange-haired figure of Penny Polendina appeared, having deployed her wire-guided swords; which had transformed into their gun-modes, arrayed themselves into two groups of three at her waist, and were now revolving around one another, producing streams of green energy that now held Penny aloft. She quickly flew into the room, landing on the floor and deploying her Floating Array around her, the weapons transforming back into their sword-forms, their tips fixating menacingly on Mason.

"The alarms have been silenced," declared Penny. "Ciel and Piper are neutralizing the security forces."

"Good work," said Rain, earning a happy beam from Penny. "Now then...Councilman...or former-Councilman, I should say...I would ask that you surrender."

Mason blinked, his eyes taking in the two adolescents before him. "I see...I thought you looked familiar. You are members of Team Copper, from Atlas, correct?"

"Correct," replied Rain.

"Then your actions fall under the classification of foreign aggression," said Mason. "This is an act of _war_. You are assaulting a member of Vale's government."

"I am afraid not," declared a cold voice, coming from the smashed remains of the doorway. A few seconds later, the white-clad form of Winter Schnee marched into view. "As Mr. Elric has said, Mr. Ayers, you are no longer a member of Vale's Council."

"What?" asked Mason, blinking in confusion at the sight of Winter.

"General Ironwood took evidence of your misdeeds to the other two members of the Council," explained Winter. "After reviewing said evidence, they voted to impeach you. As such, you no longer have any protection afforded to you by your previous position. What is more, your actions fall under a direct threat to the safety of the citizens of Vale, and is therefore subject to the jurisdiction of the security coalition tasked with overseeing the Vytal Festival."

"Ridiculous!" scoffed Mason, leveling his gun at Winter. "Just what threats to the Kingdom of Vale have I committed?"

"You arranged for the kidnapping of a Valean citizen," replied Winter. "Furthermore, you abused your position to orchestrate an illicit mission with a discredited Huntsman, clearly for the purpose of provoking conflict in the settlement he was sent to."

"I was acting in the interests of Vale," countered Mason firmly. "Ruby Rose represents a clear and present threat to the safety of the Kingdom. I acted fully within my authority as a member of Vale's Council to secure her and prevent her from inflicting harm."

"And yet, there is a clear record of you ignoring the proper procedure for such things," said Winter, calmly reviewing her scroll, not even bothering to acknowledge the gun aimed her way. "You submitted no evidence, issued no warrants, employed private forces that were clearly your own, rather than using Vale's own security forces. The degree of coordination of these forces is a clear indicator that this is _not_ the first time you have abused your position to 'eliminate' people who posed a 'threat' to the Kingdom, which you clearly determined at your sole discretion.

"What is more, in the process of arranging this latest attempt on Ms. Rose's life, you have engaged the services of recognized enemies of the Kingdom of Vale, colluding with known criminals and terrorists to further your own ends, which falls under the category of _treason_...Mr. Ayers."

Winter looked up, fixing the former-Councilman with an icy glare. "However, your arguments are completely pointless. We are here to take you into custody. You may attempt to argue your case at your trial. Until then, you will submit and come quietly with us. Should you refuse, then we are authorized by the remaining Council members to use force, Mr. Ayers. Now...how will you proceed?"

Mason stared at Winter, who met his gaze impassively. Finally, Mason slowly lowered his gun, placing it on the desk, before raising his hands in surrender.

"A wise decision," said Winter firmly, before nodding to Rain and Penny. "Take him into custody, if you please."

* * *

"It seems that everything worked out on Ms. Schnee's end," said Glynda, hanging up her scroll. "Mason Ayers is now in custody."

"Excellent," said Ozpin, sighing, looking at the pile of battered and unconscious soldiers, resting amidst the pieces of wrecked androids. "Now, if only we could convince the soldiers here that it is pointless to continue the fight."

"How many of these jerks are there?" Yang demanded, punching another man's light's out.

"They must be running out of members," commented Ren, dropping another with a burst from his guns.

More androids dropped down above, while more soldiers still slid down the lines that had been left by the first wave.

"This is getting ridiculous," groaned Nora, her enthusiasm flagging as she smashed an android into pieces with a single blow from her hammer.

"We won't have to wait much longer," commented Blake.

That prompted everyone to give her a confused look.

"Why?" asked Ren.

Blake gave them a small smirk. "Let's just say, I offered a certain someone an opportunity to pay these guys back for misusing the name of the White Fang."

Abruptly, the rumble of explosions from above reached their ears. "And it sounds like they're cleaning up from above."

Sure enough, the number of soldiers dropping down through the opening the students had knocked through the ceiling was beginning to trickle off, while confused and urgent shouts echoed out from above. Several of the men and women already in the room appeared to momentarily forget their mission, looking upwards uneasily.

Up above, they heard the chatter of gunfire, along with the sound of other explosions. Two more men slid down the lines, alongside a small number of androids. However, they were the last ones. A few seconds later, a trio of other figures dropped down to the floor.

"Ilia!" exclaimed Blake, watching as her friend rose up, that familiar horned mask covering her face.

Beside Ilia was an older woman, albeit not appearing too much older, dressed in a black, backless outfit, sporting tiger-stripe tattoos, and a pair of feline ears. Dropping down between them, her spread parasol slowing her fall, was the diminutive figure of Neo.

"It's the White Fang!" shouted one of the soldiers, rather unnecessarily. Immediately, the lot of them oriented their guns towards the newly arrived threat, apparently ranking them a higher priority than the students that had been mowing them down before.

The three women burst into action, rushing in three different directions, brandishing their weapons to take down the remaining soldiers and androids. Sienna Khan brandished a bladed chain, whipping it through the air around her. As one of the androids charged her, its gun-barrel fingers replaced by retractable blades, Sienna pulled the trigger of the handle at the chain's other end, launching one of the three blades at its end into the android's chest, sending it stumbling back into a pair of soldiers. A second later, the fire-Dust charge implanted in the blade exploded, taking out all three.

The spiraling blade of Ilia's weapon extended into a whip, its segments joined by cords charged with lightning-Dust, frying the circuits of the androids she struck, and sending soldiers crashing to the ground with pained shouts, their bodies spasming. A few soldiers and androids pinned her down with a hail of gunfire, which Ilia deflected by spinning her whip rapidly in front of her body.

The small figure of Neo leapt over Ilia, landing amidst the soldiers trying to gun the chameleon-faunus down, lashing out with swift kicks and equally swift strikes from her parasol. The soldiers and androids quickly tried to shift their aim, but only wound up leaving themselves open to Ilia, who resumed her attack, now that she was no longer pinned in place.

The three of them cleaned up the remaining enemies rather quickly, leaving RYNB, the newly-arrived RASP, and the two professors with nothing left to do.

The last android collapsed, sparks crackling from its joints, courtesy of the yellow gem mounted on the blade that Sienna had launched from her chain into it. Smiling, Sienna wrapped the chain around her wrist, winding its length up her forearm, before she turned and approached the party from Beacon.

"High Leader Khan," said Ozpin, inclining his head politely towards her.

"Professor," Sienna replied, a slight smirk on her face.

"I see one of my students took the liberty of notifying you about this," noted Ozpin.

"We don't take kindly to those who seek to pin the blame on the White Fang for things we _haven't_ done," said Sienna, "or insinuating that people who aren't associated with us _are_, just because they happen to be faunus."

"A better attitude than Adam Taurus'," noted Ozpin.

"So I hope," said Sienna.

"We're grateful for your assistance," said Ozpin, before inclining his head towards Neo. "You as well, Ms. Politan. Did Mr. Torchwick send you?"

Neo replied with a coy smile, while Sienna provided an answer of her own. "She showed up on her own," she explained. "It appears that she's developed something of an attachment to Ilia."

Seeing Ilia's skin briefly flush pink and rose-colors, Blake couldn't quite keep an amused smirk from her face, which Ilia met by pulling off her mask to give Blake a silent glare that said quite clearly, _"Not one word."_

Neo merely sidled up to Ilia and gently prodded her in the side with the crook of her umbrella, prompting a surprised squeak from Ilia, before she sighed and relaxed her stance a little.

"Now then, it's probably best that you retreated for now," said Ozpin. "Our method of entry was anything _but_ inconspicuous. The proper authorities will be here soon, and I doubt that you want the White Fang to be immediately associated with this kind of destruction."

"You're right about that," conceded Sienna.

"We will do our best to put a spin on this that will hopefully improve people's views of you," added Ozpin. "It won't be long before the public learns about what happened to Mason Ayers. Knowing that the White Fang played a role in the downfall of a corrupt Councilman would be a boon to your image."

"I would be grateful for that," said Sienna. She nodded to Ilia and Neo. "Let's go."

Neo playfully saluted the students with her umbrella, insinuating that she'd see them in class. Ilia traded a small smile with Blake, before turning away, flinching slightly when Neo took her hand. A second later, their images shattered like glass, leaving the nothing where they'd been standing before.

"They're pretty good," observed Yang.

Ruby sheathed her sword, then let out a loud sigh, flopping down on her behind. "Ugh! I'm beat! _Please_ tell me it's over."

"It is...for now," said Ozpin, smiling at her. "Of course, we will need to make sure that Mr. Ayers does not manage to talk his way out of punishment. I doubt he'll be able to, considering the evidence we were able to accrue in such a short amount of time. Further investigation is likely to yield only further evidence of corruption."

"That's good," said Pyrrha. "But what about the others?"

Ruby and her friends glanced over to see the prone forms of Mercury and Eira. Ruby smiled to see that Jaune was already by Eira's side, kneeling down to close her wounds, the assassin looking both surprised and resigned. From what Ruby could sense, Eira had no intention of pursuing matters further. Mercury looked on with a dour expression, clearly unhappy that his brief period of freedom had been cut short...and that he'd been abandoned by his allies from Salem's faction.

That was enough to make her stomach quiver. Tyrian, Hazel, Watts, and _Jester_ were still out there...as was their mistress, the ultimate author behind all the terrible things that her agents had been doing. There was no telling just what Salem's next move would be. Ruby could only hope that there was a way they could head it off, just as they had before.

"We will have to wait and see," said Ozpin. "There is little we know about what their current plans are, seeing as we've already put an end to Cinder's. It seems somewhat odd that they would throw in with agents of Vale's own government. But, on the other hand, it would allow them access to places they normally would not have, particularly if Mr. Ayers and the others were not aware of their true allegiance.

"For now, I suspect they will fall back and make plans for the future. I suggest you not worry overly much about that for the time being. You've all earned a rest."

Glynda nodded her agreement. "I'll call in a bullhead to take us back to Beacon."

She was about to do just that when her scroll began to ring on its own. Confused, Glynda answered the call, then listened silently as the person on the other end explained themselves. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped slightly. "Qrow...? How is he?...I see...Yes, we'll be back presently."

Glynda hung up and passed a grave look over the assembled students. "Qrow was found passed out near the tower entrance. He was gravely wounded."

"Is he gonna be okay?!" asked Yang urgently.

"He's presently being treated in the infirmary," said Glynda, letting out a sigh. "However...his Semblance is making things difficult."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby. "What's Uncle Qrow's Semblance?"

"He doesn't like to speak about it," said Ozpin, throwing a firm look Glynda's way. "He can explain it to you himself, if he so wishes. For now, we should return to Beacon with all speed. Ms. Rose, Mr. Arc...you might just be able to provide one last bit of assistance, before the day is out."

* * *

The black form of the Seer hovered silently in the center of the metal room, its red tentacles dangling limply. It didn't even seem to register the presence of the people who stepped in through the door. Their postures and expressions ran the gamut. Tyrian was in obvious distress, whimpering and whining wordlessly, wringing his hands anxiously, hunched forward ever so slightly, eyes darting back and forth, the man unwilling to bring himself to look at the Grimm hovering before him. Behind him, the stump of his severed tail waved lamely.

Hazel's expression was also downcast. His arms were still badly bloodied and burned from the Dust he'd been using, and the other injuries he'd suffered in the battle against Ozpin and Glynda were still in the process of healing. Like Tyrian, his head was lowered, eyes shifted to the side.

Watts seemed more upbeat, though only by a few degrees. He looked calmed and at ease, but his own anxiety was betrayed by his hands reaching up to stroke his mustache, while he hummed softly to himself, as though he were mulling things over in his head.

And finally, there was Jester...who seemed completely unfazed by the whole affair, his usual grin still in place, occasionally chuckling softly to himself as he gently tapped his shoulder with the top of his marotte. "Quite the downcast lot we have here," he observed cheerfully. "You'd think you guys were heading to your execution, the way you're acting. Buck up. Her Ladyship isn't the sort to flip her lid _that_ easily."

"_And why would I do that?_" asked Salem, her face swirling into view, distorted slightly by the curved surface of the Seer's black mantle.

"W-w-we..." Tyrian let out a whimper. "I...I failed you...My Goddess...I...I have nothing else to say." He sank down to his knees, staring forlornly at the floor.

"_What happened?_" asked Salem calmly.

"I shall explain as best I can," said Watts, stepping forward to provide a summary of what happened.

Salem listened silently. When Watts finished, she was silent for several minutes longer, apparently thinking over everything that had just been said. "_So then...you mean to tell me that you failed to secure the girl...Ruby Rose._"

"Correct," rumbled Hazel.

"Ah, don't be too hard on 'em," said Jester in a teasing tone. "The little one ain't half-bad. She knows her business with those swords of hers."

Tyrian snapped his head up to glare at the masked man. Even though Jester appeared to be arguing on their behalf, to Tyrian's mind, he was still offering disrespect to Salem.

"_And yet, it sounds to me as though their faults have contributed directly to this sorry state of affairs,_" said Salem, her voice cold. "_Tyrian allowed his...tendencies...to get the better of him, and forgot to exercise proper caution against an opponent who was stronger than he'd first assumed. And Hazel..._"

Hazel's head dipped lower.

"_Hazel forgot everything, the second he saw that Ozpin was there._" Through the visual link provided by the Seer, Salem's eyes narrowed in a piercing glare. "_Tyrian would have been more than able to bring down the girl himself, had you done your part in keeping the others from interfering. Yet you allowed _Him_ to bait you, and charged in blindly. The result was that Tyrian was overwhelmed, and has now been severely injured._"

"I have nothing to say," said Hazel. "I take full responsibility."

"_Is that so...?_" asked Salem, her voice chillier than the winds of Solitas. "_Good._"

Suddenly, the Seer's tentacles whipped out, reaching for Hazel with lightning speed. Several wrapped around his throat, squeezing tight, while others restrained his arms and legs. At full strength, he might have been able to pull free. But his injuries kept him from finding the power to fight off the Grimm's strangling grip.

And he would have known better than to try, even if he had the strength.

"_I recall telling you that you _would_ have the chance to get your revenge on Ozpin,_" said Salem, her tone calm on the surface, but practically buzzing with fury beneath that. "_However, that is contingent on you doing _my_ bidding. I have told you before...the moment you put your desires ahead of my own, they will be lost to you._

"_Your hatred of Ozpin runs deep. That is good. It will give you power when you need it most. But...if you cannot properly control it, then you are a threat to your own allies...and me...and I shall deal with you _myself_. Am I understood?_"

Hazel grunted, then coughed, struggling to force words past the Seer's strangling grip. "Y-y-y-yes," he finally managed to force out.

"_Good,_" said Salem.

"Now now," interjected Jester in a teasing tone, "let's not get carried away. If anything, it's your own fault for nourishing his hatred too much, Salem. You've gotta remember that some situations call for a lighter touch."

He gently rested his marotte against the tentacles that extended around Hazel's neck. A second later, the appendages released their hold, allowing the man to slump tiredly to the floor. Meanwhile, Tyrian looked ready to launch himself at the clown. Watts looked likewise disconcerted, hearing their fellow minion chiding Salem, as though she were an immature child who hadn't understood the full import of her actions.

They expected anger. They expected the Seer to round on Jester next, and tear him to pieces. Instead, the Grimm oriented, turning just enough that Salem's eyes were fixed on Jester's face instead. "_Will you secure the girl for me?_" she asked.

"Nah," said Jester dismissively, waving a hand. His response completely infuriated Tyrian, his eyes going wide, even as he bared his teeth. He began to round on Jester, preparing to admonish him for his disrespect. Jester though, continued on as though nothing else was happening. "It ain't time for that yet. I've crossed her path a couple times now, and it's just not right. She needs to ripen a little more. Let Adam have a crack at her, first."

"How dare you...?" snarled Tyrian, his voice tight with rage, eyes bulging in their sockets as he prepared to lunge for Jester.

"_Silence,_" said Salem, her voice calm, but cutting through Tyrian's outrage like a knife. Her gaze quickly returned to Jester. "_What do you suggest then?_"

"Bide our time," said Jester with a shrug. "We were gonna wait until the festival to kick off the main plan anyway. Let's just fold the rest of this into that. The girl will keep."

Salem pondered his words for a moment. "_So be it._"

"And there you have it then," said Jester. "Nice chatting with you."

"_Watts..._" Salem's eyes turned towards the scientist, who stiffened nervously.

"Y-yes, Your Grace?" he asked.

"_Do something about Tyrian's tail, would you,_" ordered Salem. "_We need him to be ready for what comes next._"

"Of course, Your Grace," said Watts, bowing his head to her. "I shall take care of that immediately."

"_Good,_" said Salem, her gaze sweeping over the entire assembly. "_There is no more room for errors. Just to be sure, I have made preparations, and will take care of things _myself_, if I must. I would hope you would not make me resort to such methods._" With that, her face faded, and the Seer was left hovering, just as silent as before.

"Well, that was fun," said Jester casually. He grinned at Watts. "Better hurry with that new tail for Tyr. I hope he used the john before he went to that fight, otherwise he's in for a rough time."

He seemed completely ignorant of the look of absolute _hatred_ Tyrian leveled at him.

The group took their leave of the room, emerging into a hallway of gray metal. Heading down the hallway, they passed through the door and emerged onto what was unquestionably the bridge of a large airship.

"So you're finished, I see," remarked a cheerful voice from the helm. The red-coat-wearing Morgan turned to face the group, a vicious grin on her face. "What is Her Grace's wish?"

"For now, we shall fall back and continue preparations for the Vytal Festival," said Watts calmly.

Morgan's grin faltered, a look of disappointment appearing in its place. "Aww...And I was looking forward to a proper battle."

Watts coughed. "I'm aware that you are quite eager, this being your first time commanding an airship. However, I am happier knowing that you have more time for learning the particulars of aerial battle, before we commit to anything."

"Dear Arthur," said Morgan, stepping away from the helm, "words are incapable of conveying my love for that which you've gifted me. I would never risk it unnecessarily. I have learned my lesson from that last debacle, I assure you."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Watts. "While the money to fund the construction was not difficult for a man such as myself to obtain, procuring the necessary materials and arranging the construction were _far_ more demanding tasks. If there is one thing I would count as a downside to Her Grace's position, it's that it leaves me without easy access to large-scale manufacturing facilities."

"Indeed, I understand," said Morgan, bowing her head contritely. "I can't ever apologize enough for losing the _Schneller Geist_. I assure you that I will make no such mistakes with your latest masterpiece."

Watts nodded. "Then see to it that you thoroughly review the simulations and procedures for air-battles. When the time comes, I am sure that you will make this vessel a match for the fleet Ironwood has brought with him for the festival."

"Gladly," said Morgan with a vicious grin.

The conversation over, she turned back to look over the console, which also allowed her to look out the bridge's forward canopy, affording her a commanding view of the black hull of the airship they presently resided in, the vessel gliding silently through the night. The very same technology that had made her previous submersible undetectable had been advanced and refined, and now served to make this one virtually invisible, whether to machines or the naked eye. On top of that, even though Ironwood's airships were a third-again as large as this one, its firepower was more than a match for them.

Thinking about the fight to come, Morgan licked her lips in anticipation. More than that, she was aware that one of the secondary objectives of this attack would be to capture one Ruby Rose, the same girl who had eluded her twice now. Morgan tingled at the idea of being able to transport her Little One back to Salem, and eagerly imagined all the fun they would have on the way.

"Well, this was a fun little interlude," commented Jester. "I'd best get back to Adam now. It won't be long before I've whipped him into fighting-shape."

He turned and casually sauntered off the bridge.

Watts and Hazel watched him go, their expressions wary. Tyrian, on the other hand, had vanished completely.

* * *

Jester headed along the hall, not particularly because he needed to use it. His destination wasn't even on this ship. But he felt like walking. Perhaps it was a premonition of what was to come that left him feeling like he should spend some more time on the vessel.

A dark figure rose up behind him, then lunged...curved blades, attached to the wrists of a pair of bracers, plunged into Jester's back. The man lurched, the bells attached to his fool's cap ringing, as though expressing their dismay at the attack that had struck him.

"Tyr...?" grunted Jester.

"You filthy heretic," snarled Tyrian, baring his teeth in a downright furious snarl. "You dare to contradict, to disobey, to _defy_...our_ Goddess_! I've had my fill of your irreverence. Now you shall pay with your _life_!"

"She's _your_ goddess, Tyr," said Jester dismissively, stepping away from his attacker. "I never said she was mine. We just...work together...that's all."

Tyrian blinked, his jaw falling slack. He saw that his blades hadn't made so much as a mark in the man's clothes. Jester turned on his heel, his grinning face appearing before Tyrian's.

"Ah, Tyr Tyr Tyr...you need to put a lid on that malice of yours, if yer gonna get one over on me. I could feel you coming from a mile away. I even took myself out of the sight of others, all so you could take your crack at me."

Tyrian backpedaled nervously.

"Of course," continued Jester, "even if you _could_ catch me with my pants down, so to speak, it wouldn't do you much good...not with these toys." Reaching up, he pressed the palm of his left hand against one of the points of the pair of blades mounted on Tyrian's right wrist.

Tyrian's eyes widened in dismay as he watched the metal crumble into dust, when Jester's hand pressed up against it, the blade disintegrating as Jester's hand passed through its length. His point made, Jester pulled his hand back.

"The tawdry tools of man can't even scratch me," he said, chuckling with amusement. "How long has it been, since the last time I was last hurt by...well...anything? It's hard to recall...I have that problem a lot, you know."

He leaned in, his grin growing wider, wider than any Tyrian had ever made. "Do you know why I and your goddess get along so well...why I can say things to her that no one else can...? Well...do you?"

Tyrian found himself whimpering nervously, edging back from the man.

"It's because we're cut from the same cloth, she and I," he said, leaning in closer still. "We both know the madness that is the passage of time, the weight of memory...and the emptiness of forgetting."

Tyrian stepped back again, but found himself rooted to the spot, unable to move. His body felt as though it was locked in place, completely frozen, all while that face, with its forever-widening grin continued to inch closer.

"It's the forgetting that _really_ gets to you, you know," continued Jester, "time passing, faces coming and going, always slipping further and farther into the past. You find yourself wondering if the people you met ever existed at all, if they were ever even real. You find yourself wondering if the things that happened ever really took place. And then it all just fades into fog, becoming nothing..."

Jester's chuckling rose in pitch. "Do you think your goddess loves you, Tyrian, that you're her special little snowflake?"

Tyrian couldn't find the wherewithal to even try and answer it.

Jester's chuckles got even higher. "Nah, you're just a bump on the road to her. I doubt you'll stick in her head for a decade, at best. She's had too many little pets like you. You're all alike in her eyes. Your kind are always the easiest to wrap around her finger, after all. I doubt she'll even bother to try."

Anger rose in Tyrian's chest, but was quickly snuffed out by the fear of that maniacal giggling and maddening grin.

"Should I tell you a story?" asked Jester, straightening up, finally relieving Tyrian of the fear of that face drawing closer. "I bet you'd like a good story, Tyr."

Tyrian's throat bobbed, but he couldn't force out a single syllable.

Jester continued on as though Tyrian had given his consent. "Once upon a time, there was a clan. Long long loooooong ago...they were nothing short of gods. They had the power to create, to destroy. With their might, they could create new life from scratch, or raise those who had died. Their power was absolute, and they ruled with complete confidence.

"Of course, with such power inevitably comes hubris. And their fall was a terrible one. You see...some of their best creations were these puppets, dolls made to fight for their amusement. However, as this clan of gods progressed, their hubris and arrogance made them turn on each other. So they began to kill one another. They killed and killed and killed and killed...until finally...they were gone...and only their puppets were left.

"Gradually, those puppets forgot where they had come from, instead coming to believe that _they_ were the gods they had replaced. But there was a little problem you see. It turned out that these gods had been a little...sloppy...in their work, and their creations had a tiny defect. After a few generations, that defect began to kill them off...one by one.

"And then...one day, there was another of these puppets born. But he was a bit different from the rest, you see. Like his fellow puppets, he was defective, but his defect turned out to be the inverse of the rest. It seemed that, no matter what happened, he couldn't die. He sulfured blows that would fell actual gods, things that would cut those two Pretenders down like wheat. Yet, no matter what, he always survived. Ages passed, and this defective little puppet continued on...living on and on and on and on and on and on and on...

"He lived through the phases of the world. He saw the Pretenders come to remake the world in their image. He saw them abandon it. He saw humanity vanish, then return...and here he remains."

Jester stepped past Tyrian, then turned about, leaning over so that his face now hovered right next to Tyrian's, right over his shoulder.

"You have any idea what that's like, Tyr...the weight of all those years? Have you ever been so tired that you feel that you can't keep your eyes open, so very very very _very_ tired...? And yet, if you close your eyes, nothing happens. No dreams come, you don't slip into the black abyss of insensibility. You just lay there, not falling asleep, but getting tireder and tireder."

Another chuckle tore its way out of Jester's throat. "I'm so tired, Tyr. But I can't go to sleep, you see. Instead, I just continue on..." He returned to standing in front of Tyrian, this time wasting no time in bringing his face in so that his nose was almost pressed up against Tyrian's. "After a while, I began to realize how funny it was. I used to cry, you know. First I cried tears. But when the tears run out, then comes blood...and I always thought the blood never stopped. But I was wrong. The blood stopped, and I found I couldn't shed blood _or_ tears. Instead...all I could do was laugh."

His chuckles got louder, distorting his voice. "Ain't that a hoot, Tyr...how crazy it all is?" He cackled. "You like to laugh, right, Tyr?" He laughed a little louder and shriller. "Come on buddy, laugh it up with me!"

Tyrian couldn't help himself. A tiny giggle slipped its way out of his throat. Hearing it, Jester laughed a little louder, and Tyrian found himself giggling in kind. The giggling escalated until Tyrian was laughing openly too. Soon, the two of them were laughing together, still locked looking face to face at one another, Jester laughing with pure madness, Tyrian also laughing with madness, the madness born of fear. Tears rolled down Tyrian's face, and he felt as though he wasn't even laughing of his own volition, as though his own body was disobeying him. His body trembled with terror, but still he laughed, he laughed louder and louder, hoping to drown out the more terrifying laughter of the man in front of him.

A moment later, the door to the bridge hissed open, and Watts stepped through. "Tyrian, what on earth...?" Watts began to ask, only for his voice to trail off as he caught sight of Tyrian himself, curled up on his side, his own tail wrapping around him almost protectively, still giggling mindlessly.

The hallway was empty.

* * *

"Uncle Qrow!" shouted Ruby, bursting into the room where Qrow was being treated.

"Ms. Rose, please be careful!" protested the doctor. "This isn't someplace you can just come barging into."

"Sorry," said Ruby absently, already studying her uncle's condition.

Qrow was in sorry shape, that was for sure. Portions of his body were wrapped in bandages, covering what looked to be burns. In other places, she could see where the doctor had already stitched cuts closed. His right leg was locked out in a splint, awaiting the application of a cast. There was a mask over his face, and his body was hooked up to a monitor. A second later, the monitor sparked and fizzled out.

"Dammit!" exclaimed the doctor, nearly throwing one of his tools in frustration. "That's the third one, tonight!"

Ruby wondered if _this_ was the complication that Glynda had been speaking about. She found herself wondering if Qrow's Semblance interfered with technology in some way...or maybe it was something broader. If it were the former, she doubted it would be such a sore point for the man, given what Ozpin had said about it. Of course, that was a secondary concern.

"What's his condition?" asked Jaune, coming to stand next to Ruby.

"Several severe lacerations," said the doctor, apparently already resigning himself to the couple's interference. He'd seen the results of Jaune and Ruby's healing skills before, so he knew they weren't simply asking out of overbearing concern. "He's also suffered severe internal injuries and third-degree burns. As you can see, his right leg was broken as well. I've been treating the internal injuries, but it gets difficult when my best tools keep locking up."

"Ruby...?" prodded Jaune, looking at her warily.

Ruby swallowed, her mouth going dry. She'd never treated injuries this extensive before. Her skills were incredibly basic after all. Jaune, of course, had even less skill and experience than her. And while he had power, that power wouldn't mean much if he couldn't use it properly. She was no Sasame, and worried that this healing might genuinely be beyond her.

"Ms. Rose, if you are going to do something, please come to a decision," pressed the doctor. "I already have my doubts about this operation, but time is critical for me to do what I _can_. If you cannot help, you need to say so."

"Ruby...?" Jaune pressed again.

Ruby took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'll do it," she said. "Jaune...support me."

"You got it," said Jaune.

The doctor moved out of the way, and Ruby came to stand by Qrow's side. Jaune stood directly behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders. Immediately, Ruby felt the gentle flow of Jaune's Aura, streaming into hers. Her Aura multiplied in strength, the sudden infusion of strength making her field lightheaded for a second. It took just a little longer for her to get her feet back on the ground, metaphorically speaking, and get to work.

Gently, Ruby rested her hands on Qrow's body, using the first skill Sasame had taught her, sending a tiny pulse of Aura through Qrow's body. This wasn't to treat him, but to instead get a reading on his condition, an extremely delicate application of her Extension, meant to get a feel for all his ills.

Immediately, Ruby's awareness was awash in information about her uncle's condition, in far more detail than anything the doctor had said. She could feel the cuts, how deep they were, how they had bit through his muscle, severed ligaments, and even chipped bone. She could feel the trauma to his organs, some of them barely holding together with the surgical thread the doctor had used to sew them up. She could feel the fractures marring his ribs, and the clean one in his right leg. There was even bruising on his brain, and his lungs were laboring to expand and contract, needing the mask over his mouth to help him keep breathing.

There was all so much that he needed. It was all so overwhelming. Ruby briefly wondered if this flood of information and_ need_ was what Sasame experienced every time _she_ treated a badly-injured patient, before forcing her focus back on the task at hand. Now was _not_ the time for extraneous thoughts. Taking a deep, steadying breath, Ruby bent her will to the task of putting her uncle back together.

_Start inside, then work your way out,_ Sasame had told her, the basic procedure for dealing with multiple injuries. The ones within the body were often the ones that could elude notice, and lead to the most severe consequences, if not properly treated. So Ruby went through Qrow's organs first.

It was tricky. The sheer volume of Aura available to her now, thanks to Jaune's support, made it difficult to keep her Flow to a delicate trickle, which she sent to brush over Qrow's organs, mingling with the Aura in those locations, gently stimulating it, urging it to bend itself towards helping Qrow heal. Through her own Aura, Ruby channeled a tiny thread of Jaune's, turning his own ability to amplify Aura into a way to make up for how little Qrow had left right now. With that, she could feel it as the flesh of his organs began to knit back together along the lines of sutures the doctor had made, the biodegradable thread dissolving as healthy flesh took its place.

Ruby went slowly and carefully, fretting over cut, puncture, and bruise. She couldn't allow herself to miss a single thing. Gradually, she worked her way outwards, reaching up into Qrow's head to alleviate the pressure on his brain, and then getting to work on his bones.

Finally, after an uncertain amount of time, Ruby finally withdrew her consciousness from Qrow's body. It had been the most difficult, detailed, and comprehensive healing she'd ever had to perform. If the doctor hadn't already performed surgery and stitched most of Qrow's insides back together, Ruby was fairly certain she wouldn't have been able to do it at all. Fortunately, the hard work had been done before her arrival, and she was able to finish up the process and eliminate any possibility of his injuries being exacerbated.

"Remarkable," mused the doctor, always fascinated to see Ruby and/or Jaune's healing skills in action.

"He should be all right now, with rest," said Ruby. "His Aura will take care of the rest."

Her vision blurred and she began to sway on her feet. She was barely conscious of Jaune sweeping her up in his arms. "That took a lot out of you," he said, smiling at her.

Jaune's amplification ability was temporary, of course. Once it wore off, Ruby's reserves were drained down near to nothing. On top of that, the mental fatigue from performing such extensive and detailed work was monumental. Ruby's head was throbbing. And, of course... "I've had a long day," she said tiredly.

"There's that too," agreed Jaune. "Let's get you to bed."

Bidding a good night to the doctor, Jaune carried Ruby back to her room, where Weiss and Pyrrha helped her get changed. Finally, Ruby climbed under the covers, dropping off into a well-deserved sleep.

* * *

**Oh hey, Morgan's back. And it looks like she got her flying license...not that she needs one.**

**Looks like Neo got unofficially inducted into the White Fang, under the "Ilia's Girlfriend" clause.**

**And so, the Ruby vs Vale arc of the story draws to a close. One more chapter, and then we're off to the Vytal Festival, where we'll see new faces, old faces, and...well...lots of faces, honestly.**


	117. Chapter 117

**Chapter 117:**

"Thanks to everyone's hard work, we've successfully apprehended the entirety of Mason's network," said Ozpin, smiling up at the three teams from his desk.

Ruby let out a breath of relief, slumping slightly. "Thank goodness," she said.

"What about Mr. Ayers himself?" asked Ciel.

"He will stand trial, of course," said Ozpin. "We've submitted the necessary information, including Ms. Rose's testimony of communicating with him during her abduction and the attempt on her life."

"He doesn't have any influence in the courts, does he?" asked Weiss.

"It wouldn't be the first time someone with connections managed to weasel themselves out of a conviction," added Piper irritably.

"There has been a delay in the proceedings to insure against just such machinations," said Ozpin. "James is overseeing it himself. He will make sure that the trial is completely above-board."

"What are the odds of him being convicted?" asked Blake.

"Near complete," said Ozpin. "Of course, even if he manages to avoid conviction, he will not reclaim his Council Seat, as his impeachment was already decided." He frowned. "Of course, that will put him in a position to continue to interfere with your life, Ms. Rose, so we should work towards a conviction with all that we are able."

"Right..." said Ruby unhappily.

"However, there is other good news," said Ozpin. "I have been informed that High Leader Khan has fully dealt with the radicals in the Vale Branch of the White Fang presently. That means that it is finally safe to allow Ms. Forrest and her parents to return to their home."

Weiss and Ruby both lit up at that revelation. While it had been nice having Ashley close at hand, they were both conscious of just how long it was to be confined mostly to a single room, however pleasant, with barely any freedom to move about. They both knew that Ashley would be happy to be able to return both to her home and school, after having been away for so long.

"Is there anything else?" asked Ren.

"At the moment, no," said Ozpin. "With this, we have earned some respite, I hope. For now, you can rest easy. Enjoy the remaining time of your mission period. Once the semester ends, the Vytal Festival will begin, so I have no objections if you use your present wealth of free time to prepare yourselves for the tournament."

The students, nodded. Then the three teams turned to take their leave through the elevator, though it took a couple of trips for all twelve of them to use it.

Ozpin took a moment to take a few breaths to clear his mind, before the elevator chimed again, arriving with someone new. The doors opened to reveal Qrow, slightly stooped, looking tired, but fortunately alive...and ambulatory, well before he should have been.

"I'm glad to see that Ms. Rose's skills were up to the task of treating you," said Ozpin, pouring a mug of coffee for Qrow.

"Believe me, me too," agreed Qrow with a dry chuckle, taking the mug and sipping from it.

"What on earth happened?" asked Ozpin. "It's been sometime since I last saw you in such a state."

"_Raven_ happened," growled Qrow. "That witch ambushed me, when I was trying to tail the bastards who took Ruby. She _wanted_ them to get away, was _hoping_ that they'd kill Ruby."

"That has rather unpleasant implications," said Ozpin. "She hasn't joined Salem, has she?"

"Hell no," said Qrow. "Though I wouldn't say she thinks she's above considering it at this point. Basically, Ruby and her siblings were a one-two punch that resulted them in unwittingly obliterating her tribe. Raven's had it out for them ever since."

"I see..." said Ozpin, his mind going to Hazel. "She would not be the first Salem ensnared with the promise of revenge."

"I guess she still fears Salem more than she hates Ruby," said Qrow. "But...I learned something else about her, thanks to our little dustup."

"What is it?" asked Ozpin.

Qrow's eyes narrowed, and his hands clenched into fists. "Raven's a Maiden."

Ozpin's entire posture went rigid, his eyes going wide. "Are you sure?"

"Sure as the sun rises," said Qrow. "When it comes to the two of us, Raven's always had the edge, sure. While I could peg her for training up and getting stronger, the gap between us there was just too big for me to explain.

"More to the point, I know her style, and she was doing stuff that just didn't gel with the skill-set she's always had, and the weapon she uses. She was tossing around fire and lightning like they were her personal playthings. Oh...and that thing with her eyes was a dead giveaway too. Red flames are kinda hard to miss."

"So...she's the Spring Maiden then," guessed Ozpin.

"It all stacks up," said Qrow. "The last one we knew of went and ran on Leo over a decade ago, well after Raven had ditched her husband and daughter and gone back to her tribe. Knowing what we do about Raven, and the way she does things, that doesn't bode well for _how_ she got her hands on that magic."

Ozpin nodded, his expression grave. "I find it odd though," he said. "She had to be aware that she'd revealed the truth about herself to you, yet she didn't make a more determined effort to silence you."

"Oh, believe me, she tried..." said Qrow, his gaze going distant.

* * *

_Two avian forms, one trailing faint ribbons of blood in the air, stooped down towards the monolithic form of Beacon Tower. The one in the lead's wings folded, its dip going into a dive. A second later, Qrow smacked into the ground, rolling to a stop practically at the tower steps. Qrow let out a low groan, stretching his hand across the ground, as though trying to pull himself into the tower's lobby, and the promise of shelter and safety it offered._

_ "Pathetic, Brother," said Raven, landing on her feet a couple meters away, already reaching down to pull her sword free. "You've always called me a coward. But, in the end, you come crawling back to Ozpin the minute you're in over your head."_

_ She raised her sword, its long, red blade glittering in the fading evening light, stepping closer, preparing to deal the final blow to Qrow._

_ "You made a mistake," she said. "You turned your back on your family, sided with Ozpin...and now you're going to pay the price."_

_ A whistling sound pierced through the air ahead of a wave that cleaved its way through the ground. Raven leapt back, finding that the attack had etched a black line in the earth, a clean cut between her and her brother._

_ "As Branwen-san has often said of you, your concept of 'family' is quite skewed," commented a familiar voice as Kyo strode forward to interpose himself between Qrow and Raven, casually resting the back of his sword against his shoulder. Beside him, Amber quickly went to Qrow's side, looking over his injuries. "Hello again, Raven. I see you haven't learned a thing from our last encounter."_

_ Raven bared her teeth, red flames leaking from the corners of her eyes, prompting a shocked gasp from Amber._

_ "Ah, _there's_ the power I sensed, the last time our blades crossed," said Kyo. "Are you prepared to use it, and fully commit yourself to this battle, Raven?"_

_ Raven's sword trembled in her grip, and they could tell that it was only by the merest string of restraint that Raven kept herself from lunging at Kyo. Finally, instead of that, she slashed downwards at the earth beneath her feet. A swirling vortex of black and red opened up, and Raven dropped through it, the portal closing behind her._

_ Kyo relaxed, sighing. "How disappointing," he said. Then he quickly turned and knelt down by Qrow as well, inspecting the man's injuries. "I suppose we'll need to get him treated. Sadly, this is well outside my area of expertise. Call the medics, if you would, Amber-san."_

* * *

"Damn good thing Kyo was still here on campus," said Qrow. "I would've been dead if he hadn't been."

"I had known that Raven was the callous sort," said Ozpin sadly. "I also knew that she would only become more-so, after she returned to her tribe. But to go so far as to try and kill her own brother..."

"Well, she ain't family no more," said Qrow. "She's an enemy, plain and simple. She might not be with Salem's crew...yet. But she's got it out for Ruby in particular. If I get the chance, I'm gonna bring her down. No more Mr. Nice Guy."

"I understand your sentiment," said Ozpin. "It will be difficult though. A Maiden's power is nothing to trifle with, and Raven has had at least a decade to build her mastery of that power, if my guess about when she acquired it is correct…which is only enhanced by the combat skills she already possessed."

"Yep," said Qrow. "And it looks like she's gonna bail, if she knows Kyo is around, so she's gonna try her hardest to skirt our most surefire way of bringing her down."

"I would rather we not place too much of this on Kyo's shoulders," said Ozpin.

"You think he can't handle it?" asked Qrow.

"I don't entirely trust him," said Ozpin. "I can't be sure...but there are certain irregularities concerning the present situation that leave me feeling...uncertain...of being able to depend on him to fight on our side. It appears that the Mibu have some form of non-interference arrangement with the affairs of Salem, but I have yet to fully understand why. he's hinted at it occasionally, but never explicitly stated his reasons." His mind went back to the previous day, and the sight of Jester. "But...I might have some idea."

* * *

The days passed quietly. Beacon's campus felt strangely lonely, with most of the students gone on missions. Ruby and her friends trained and played, doing what they could to occupy themselves. With Mason's agents in custody, they were able to enter Vale without having to worry about anymore abduction attempts on Ruby.

One of their first orders of business was helping the Forrest Family settle back into their apartment, which they hadn't set foot in since the White Fang attack months ago. With financial support from Beacon, the apartment had been fixed up, and even renovated, so that it was even better than it had been before the White Fang's attack. Ashley in particularly was ecstatic to be back home, and even looking forward to going back to regular school with her classmates. She was going to have some amazing stories to tell them for sure.

Aside from that, Ruby and Yang, along with some of the others, made it a point to visit Yukimura a fair few times, the girls taking every opportunity they could to bond with their newly-discovered godfather. With permission from Ozpin, they even got a chance to bring Amber with them, though Kyo remained at Beacon for the time being, in order to keep from causing any trouble with the law.

As they waited for the other students to return, Ruby and her friends also took the opportunity to spar with Kyo as often as they could; Ruby in particular. With the extra time they had available to them, they also made it a point to work on continuing to refine their techniques in preparation for the Vytal Festival Tournament. All things considered, given the level of their skill and experience, it was likely overkill. But they worked hard on their skills all the same, especially now that they were able to begin practicing some of the more advanced Aura-based skills Ruby had learned, though some skills were harder to pick up than others.

* * *

The sound of something snapping like a twig echoed through the training room, followed by a series of loud thuds.

"Owww...Not again!"

"Weiss! Are you okay?"

Pyrrha and Jaune rushed to Weiss' side, Jaune ready to provide healing, if she needed it.

"I'm all right," said Weiss, rubbing her face, which she'd landed on...again. "But..."

"It's snapped," said Ruby, crouching by the point where Weiss had tried to stop herself, "again."

"Ruby! Those boots are expensive!" Weiss glared at her friend from halfway across the ring. This particular consequence of their practice had been depressingly frequent, ever since Ruby had begun to teach her teammates the basis for _Shukuchi_.

"Well I warned you that heels would be a bad idea for this," said Ruby, picking up the item in question, which had snapped away from the sole of Weiss' boot. "It concentrates your Aura into too narrow a point. If you _don't_ want to break it, you'd need to use more Aura to reinforce it, so it doesn't break when you try to stop. Besides, more contact gives you better control. Having your heels actually on the ground will actually let you feel it, so that you can know when and how to apply your Aura."

"There must be a way," grumbled Weiss petulantly.

"If there is, I don't know it," Ruby admitted. "You're gonna run out of spare boots at this rate." _What I want to know is why so many women in the Kingdoms so often seem so fixated on fighting in heels._

"I'm having the same problem, Weiss," Pyrrha pointed out. "It _may_ be time to start looking into different footwear."

Weiss looked down, actually pouting a little. Ruby had to stifle a giggle, as the expression looked surprisingly cute on her.

"You could probably go see Yukimura," suggested Jaune. "I think he might be happy to give a discount to Ruby's teammates."

Weiss perked up at that, though Ruby was a little reluctant. She could already tell that she and her godfather were going to get along well; and he seemed committed to spoiling her as much as he could, if only to make up for his inability to help her earlier in her life. However, she didn't want to take advantage of his kindness. Still...if it got Weiss and Pyrrha...and maybe Blake, while they were at it...out of those heels and into some more sensible footwear, it might be worth doing.

_And maybe they won't force me into heels for the next dance,_ thought Ruby hopefully. It was a long shot, but she could pray for it.

"Then we should probably adjourn until we get that taken care of," said Weiss firmly, getting to her feet, relying on Pyrrha's support to keep from tripping, now that she was unbalanced by the damage to one boot.

"I'm gonna keep at it for a little longer," said Jaune, stretching. "I probably need more practice than anyone else."

Ruby wouldn't have said that. In fact, right now, Jaune was doing _better_ than Weiss and Pyrrha. It helped that his hiking boots were far better-suited for this kind of thing than high-heeled boots. On top of that, having been schooled in the same Aura-techniques as Ruby since the beginning, on the account that his original Aura-techniques had been _taug_ht to him by Ruby, meant that he had more practice in controlling Aura as an extension of himself. Unlike Weiss and Pyrrha, Jaune wasn't being forced to contend with old habits that might have inhibited his own development.

Having that massive reserve of Aura of his definitely helped too. When Ruby had first started learning _Shukuchi_, she'd run through her own Aura fairly quickly. Even before that, the exertion of the physical movements left her legs feeling like jelly. In contrast, Jaune's Aura reserve enabled him to make a ridiculous number attempts, while his Aura also helped his legs to recover from the strain, ensuring that he could practice longer and harder than just about anyone else.

"All right," said Ruby, nodding as Jaune headed back to the other end of the ring. "From the top then. Try for two steps."

Jaune nodded. He'd already learned the bare basics of _Shukuchi_, before their last mission. He hadn't expected to actually use it in battle. But it had given him a chance to surprise Tyrian at one point, though Jaune's skill had only allowed him to use it for a single step. Now he was beginning to work on sequential steps.

Setting himself into his stance, Jaune took a deep breath, focused his eyes, and used Flow to begin channeling his Aura into his feet. A few seconds later, his eyes snapped open, and he abruptly blurred, rushing across the ring. Less than a meter away from the ring's center, the soles of Jaune's boots screeched loudly, and he skidded to a stop, flailing his arms to keep his balance.

Ruby shook her head. "Your step is off again," she said. "I know that heel-to-toe is how most people run. But _Shukuchi_ lands with the ball of your foot first. Then the Aura in your heel works like a springboard."

Jaune nodded. "Y-yeah. I'll try again."

"Also, try and lower your thrust a little more," said Ruby. "You have a lot of Aura, so what feels like a really little bit to you is a lot more than it would be for most people."

"But if he uses more Aura, wouldn't he go faster?" asked Pyrrha from the sidelines, where she and Weiss settled to watch the remainder of Jaune's training.

"He would," agreed Ruby. "But more speed means more momentum, less time to act and react, and more opportunities to lose control. Controlling how much Aura you use also means that you're controlling how fast you're going. Ideally, that means you should be able to go as slow or as fast as you want."

"Right," said Jaune.

"Also, try and work on your braking," said Ruby. "Project your Aura from the ball of your foot _right_ before it touches down."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Jaune dutifully, retreating back to the edge of the ring, wiping sweat from his forehead as he did so.

"It's amazing that it's so complicated," said Pyrrha, watching as Jaune went through it again. He skidded to a stop again, but for a shorter distance this time. Muttering to himself, he turned back and proceeded to start again. "You make it look a lot simpler, Ruby."

"That's what happens, when you've practiced it for as long as I have," said Ruby. "You have to do a lot of practice with Flow and Projection, particularly how much Aura you use. Going forward is just the beginning too."

In front of her friends, Ruby flickered back and forth in sideways movements, before darting back, then reappearing in her original spot. "Once you learn how to regulate the Flow of your Aura, and develop the proper footwork, you can go in pretty much any direction you want." She sighed. "Still, getting the footwork down is tough. On top of that, using it on a flat surface is miles different for using it over broken terrain. I must've broken one or both my ankles and legs a half-dozen times at least, each, when I was learning it. It's a good thing Sasame-nee was there."

_It's amazing that she'd be willing to keep working at something, even though she broke bones and joints,_ thought Weiss, thinking she might get discouraged, if she had to repeatedly go through such a painful experience.

"We won't start you on anything like that yet," said Ruby. "Going forward is the most basic form, and it makes plenty of a difference on its own. Being able to shoot right into your opponent's space like that is a huge advantage."

"No kidding," agreed Weiss. It was the kind of movement that made her usual lunges look painfully slow by comparison. If they could get this down by the time the tournament came around, they would have a serious advantage over all the other combatants. RYNB too. Ruby was teaching them as well, but she was focusing on her own team at the moment, while Ren worked with his separately.

Ruby smiled, then went back to watching Jaune, who continued to propel himself across the ring. It was by tiny increments, but, little by little, he was refining his technique. It would take a lot of practice, a lot of repetitions, and a lot of attempts, before he would really begin to notice the results. Fortunately, his Aura made that possible. Of course, the real clincher was Jaune's determination.

That was something Ruby admired about him. Jaune was no genius, possessed no talent to soak up techniques like a sponge. Instead, he was, more or less, completely average. His natural reserve of Aura was enormous, of course. However, where that truly showed through was at times like these, because it allowed Jaune to push himself harder and farther, making up for his lack of talent with the sheer volume of work he put in. But none of that would have meant a thing, if he didn't have the determination and grit to keep pushing himself, no matter how daunting the task, or how slowly he seemed to pick everything up.

_And that's why I love him,_ she thought, beaming proudly. _He never gives up_.

She wasn't one to give up either, so that made them a perfect match in her eyes.

* * *

A few days later saw Ruby training with her brother, the sound of their swords clanging echoing repeatedly throughout the sparring ring. Fierce, crackling sparks snapped, occasionally exploding with sounds like thunderclaps. Winds whistled and howled. The pair of them were blurs, their swords making sparks explode from their colliding Auras.

Finally, a shriek, like the sound of a hunting bird of prey, filled the arena. Flaming wings spread, and the entire space was dyed vermilion for a moment. When it was over, Ruby crashed to the floor, lacerations covering her entire body.

"Ruby!" shouted Jaune, rushing to her side and quickly using his Aura to begin the healing process.

"You've gotten even better," Kyo commented blithely, standing over Ruby, his sword casually resting against his shoulder. "I don't even need to hold back anymore."

"So you weren't going easy on her?" asked Jaune.

"I wasn't actively restraining myself," elaborated Kyo. "'Not holding back' is not the same thing as 'going all out'. Suffice to say, Ruby-chan isn't quite ready for me to use my full strength yet."

"I'll get you someday," promised Ruby, lifting her head up from the floor, giving her brother a playful glare.

Kyo chuckled. "I know you will, and I look forward to it." His smile widened. "In fact, today we can begin taking the first steps towards that end."

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, staring up at her older brother. "What do you mean?"

"Let's sit down for a little, Ruby-chan," said Kyo, gesturing to the seats that lined the arena. "I have a few things to tell you."

With Jaune supporting her, Ruby made her way towards the benches along the lost wall. Once again, she'd reserved the largest sparring ring, taking advantage of the fact that most other teams were still out on their missions, though it would only be a few more days before they would be back. Up in the spectator seats, she could see a few of her friends sitting in on the battle, watching with interest. Amber was seated alongside the ring, offering Ruby and Kyo towels as they approached. The siblings accepted gratefully.

"What did you want to talk about, Kyo-nii?" asked Ruby.

Kyo stared at his knees, a strangely melancholic look on his face for a moment, before his smile returned. "Well, Ruby-chan, I think it's time you learned about the higher arts of Mibu swordsmanship."

"You...don't seem happy about that," said Ruby.

"I am," Kyo told her. "However, there are certain burdens that come along with these techniques or, at least, things that you should know, about who and what they are for."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"You remember the discussion we had with Penny-chan a few weeks ago," asked Kyo, "about the principles behind the Four Secrets?"

Ruby nodded.

"Utilizing Aura, technique becomes the machine with which one can engage with the higher order of physics that govern the world, allowing one to utilize power that would be virtually impossible at any other time," explained Kyo. "Of course, when it comes to the simple act of fighting and killing, be it Grimm or people, that is somewhat overkill, don't you think."

"I don't know," said Ruby, frowning. "I mean, if someone's strong enough, you have to fight at a higher level to beat them, don't you. Isn't that a natural progression of that sort of thing?"

"It is, but it isn't," explained Kyo. "After all, when it comes down to it, all you need is greater strength, speed, or a better form. Therefore, higher-order techniques, like the Four Secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ aren't strictly necessary."

"Then what are they for?" asked Ruby.

"Such techniques exist to cut that which cannot be cut, to kill that which cannot be killed, enemies beyond the reach of normal swordsmanship, or even the standard of Aura-based technique that most Mibu schools of Manifestation are held to."

"What kind of things?" asked Ruby.

"To put it simply and bluntly...gods," said Kyo.

Ruby's jaw dropped. "Gods...? You mean...like the Brothers from Ozpin's story?"

"Exactly like," said Kyo, leaning back, casting his eyes towards the ceiling. "Honestly, I'm not sure how much of that story I should tell you."

"What story?" asked Ruby. "Do the Brother Gods have anything to do with the Mibu?"

"They do and they don't, and that is _exactly_ the problem," said Kyo cryptically.

Jaune and Ruby stared up at Kyo for a moment. Finally, Jaune broke the silence. "Well, I didn't understand a word of that, but I'll fight to the death for your right to confuse me."

"I'm sorry if it's confusing to you," said Kyo, laughing nervously, while rubbing the back of his head. "Some of it is things that Ozpin-dono has not told you yet. Others are things I am uncertain even _he_ knows."

"I don't understand?" asked Amber. "What isn't Ozpin telling us?"

"Ah...quite a bit," said Kyo. "There are reasons, of course. Some are good, some not so much. Where it pertains to him personally, I'll admit there are gaps in our knowledge, but we have a grasp of the key points. For the time being, we'll hold off on that conversation. Let us get back to the main point."

"The higher techniques," ventured Ruby.

Kyo nodded. "Techniques can fall under two broad categories, when it comes down to it. Techniques like the kind you practice, ones that convert your Aura into other forms of energy, ones that enhance the cutting power of your swords, or even the more basic techniques of the _Raikoken;_ all such techniques fall under the mantle of _Hitokiri_, that is Man-Slaying techniques. They are made to use against mundane opponents, be they Creatures of Grimm, or other people.

"The second is what I have termed _Kamikiri_, God-Slaying techniques. The Four Secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ were created as God-Slayer techniques. In fact, of all the Mibu Clan's schools, the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ has the distinction of being an entire school of swordsmanship based around Kamikiri techniques."

"A school meant to slay gods..." Ruby whispered. "Is that why almost no one is allowed to learn it?"

"More or less, yes," said Kyo. "Its creation is a tangled story that delves deep into our clan's history."

"Are you gonna be able to tell us?" asked Ruby.

Kyo frowned. "I am still pondering that," he admitted. "As I said, it concerns history that Ozpin-dono, experienced as he is, is not aware of. It is knowledge that might well completely shatter his worldview, considering the life he's led."

"That bad, huh?" said Ruby, trying to imagine just what kind of deep dark secret would be able to break someone who had spent centuries experiencing all the different kinds of strangeness the world had to offer.

"One man, no matter how many lives he leads, cannot know everything," said Kyo cheerfully.

"Okay..." said Ruby. "I'm curious, but I'll trust you, Kyo-nii."

"Thank you, Ruby-chan," said Kyo earnestly.

Ruby nodded. "So you think I can learn these Kamikiri techniques?"

"I believe so," said Kyo. "In fact, the _Raikoken_, created by Sarutobi Sasuke, contained such a technique. I believe it was called _Kirin_. You are certainly reaching a point where you could easily learn such a technique."

Ruby frowned. "That wasn't on his scroll."

"It was not," agreed Kyo. "However, we've dug up additional history on Sarutobi in our records, and they do confirm the existence of such a technique. What you must do in order to learn it is something we were unable to uncover. It may well be that you will have to create your own technique."

"But how to you make a Kamikiri technique?" asked Ruby. "How did you learn the Four Secrets?"

Kyo glanced down at the sheathed form of Tenro. "To put it simply, it's an extension of what you already learned, in order to acquire the _Raikoken_."

"You mean drawing on the Aura of the world?" asked Ruby.

Kyo nodded. "At even its most basic level, you could say that the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ is a school based around utilizing the power of the One. The _Mizuchi_, in its complete form at least, does not merely produce a blade of wind. Rather it transforms the entire atmosphere into an _extension_ of one's blade; the air around you, even the air inside your own lungs; it becomes a blade capable of cutting you, no matter where it might be. Such a feat can only be obtained by by tapping into the power of the One, and making a portion of the world itself an extension of _your_self.

"From there, achieving something on the level of the Four Secrets, a Kamikiri technique, requires immersing yourself even further in the world's Aura, not merely tapping into its power, but opening yourself up to the truth it contains. Just as you refined your physical techniques by listening to the voice within your own body, so too can you discover new ones, if you truly immerse your awareness in the existence of the One."

"How do I do that?" asked Ruby.

"By emptying yourself," said Kyo. "Completely void yourself of thought, and open yourself up, and you will begin to feel the path. It will take training, and a great deal of trial and error. But I am certain that you will be able to find your way down that road."

"Is that how you learned the Four Secrets?" asked Ruby.

"Um...not quite," said Kyo, chuckling nervously. "I had a guide, of sorts. Murasame-sama, my teacher...you could say he quite literally _beat_ the form of the Four Secrets into my flesh. That was probably the most painful and arduous phase of my training. I would rather not resort to such harsh methods for you, particularly since I believe such methods aren't necessary, the tradeoff being that you will probably be at it for a little longer than I was."

"So you can't help?" asked Ruby.

"Not much," said Kyo. "It's partly because your school is your own creation. Therefore, your ultimate techniques, your own Secrets, should have their own form, one that is just as unique to you as the rest of the techniques you've created. Too much assistance on my part could...muddy the waters, so to speak."

Ruby frowned. "Why talk to me about this now? It isn't _just_ because you think I'm ready, is it?"

"I'm afraid you're right," said Kyo uneasily. His expression hardened. "You've met him already...Jester."

Her throat bobbing, Ruby nodded uneasily.

"Of all of Salem's minions, he is the one you need to b_e most_ wary of, one who is undoubtedly more dangerous than Salem herself," said Kyo, his expression grave. "Despite the odious nature of her existence, we of the Mibu have never sought to deal with Salem in any capacity...and it is _Jester_ who keeps us from acting against her."

"Why?" asked Ruby.

"I don't know," Kyo admitted. "It might well be that there is _no_ reason. You've met him yourself, so I imagine you've had a taste of his madness."

Ruby nodded, her stomach squirming at the memory of the man's sinister Aura.

"Jester's actions are not necessarily shaped by anything approaching rational thought," continued Kyo. "His reasons for doing what he does are completely his own, assuming he has any reasons at all."

"That's...scary," said Jaune.

"Who is he?" asked Ruby. "He was one of the Mibu once, wasn't he?"

Both Jaune and Amber started, staring at Ruby in shock.

Kyo nodded slowly. "It was long before my time. He is a relic, hailing from ages past...time beyond reckoning."

"I thought so," said Ruby. "The Ennui...it's driven him completely insane, hasn't it?"

"It has," said Kyo.

"Ennui...?" Jaune canted his head. "What the heck is that?"

"It's...a condition," said Ruby. "Sort of. It's not like a disease or anything."

Kyo provided the explanation. "The Mibu Clan's mastery of Aura-techniques enables them to accomplish many remarkable things. Amongst those is the prolonging of their lifespans."

"Uh...How much prolonging are we talking about here?" asked Jaune.

"Virtually indefinite," replied Kyo casually. "Ruby-chan has already been taught the restorative art, known as _Sō_.

"To put it simply, one's Aura consists of dual natures, opposite natures if you will, Yin and Yang-the latter _not_ to be confused with Ruby-chan's sister, by the way. Yang is the power that represents and incites growth. In contrast, Yin embodies the negative, the fading and degrading. The extreme of Yang is represented by birth, the extreme of Yin, death.

"When a person is born, they are born with these elements out of balance. A newborn's ratio of Yang Aura vastly outweighs their Yin, which fuels their growth and development. As a person reaches adulthood, the opposing aspects of their Aura balance out. Then, with aging, the balance gradually begins to tip towards Yin. When the Yang has faded completely...death comes; hence, a person's path from infancy, though childhood, to adulthood, and then into old age.

"The art of _Sō_ essentially serves as a manual reset of sorts. One uses their control over their own Aura to reset Yin and Yang back into balance, therefore maintaining their body's condition and staving off the effects of age. As it is a rather simple procedure to perform, prolonging one's own life is an easy process. As such, Mibu have an average life-expectancy of nearly two centuries, though there are a fair few who live even longer. Both Murasame-sama and Makoto-sama of the Taishiro are over three-hundred years old."

"That's...incredible!" gasped Jaune. On Kyo's other side, Amber looked just as floored by the revelation.

"But why just bring it back into balance?" asked Amber. "I mean...Yang fuels growth, right?"

"Yes," agreed Kyo, "_all_ kinds of growth, including that of viruses and bacteria that are present in your body, even now, but are held in check by your immune system. One way or another, Yin and Yang will find their balance. If you actively throw them out of balance, they will find their way back _into_ balance in a manner that will be to your cost, such as a virus within your bloodstream breeding explosively, or even the formation of Yang-based diseases, namely cancer."

Amber paled at the notion.

"Hold on a second!" protested Jaune. "This _Sō_ thing...you said it can prolong people's lives indefinitely, right?" Seeing Kyo's nod, Jaune frowned. "So why do the Mibu have a life expectancy at all? Why don't they just live forever?"

"Indeed," agreed Kyo, smiling widely, like a teacher, whose student had just asked _exactly_ the right question to drive the lesson forward. "_That_ is where the Ennui comes in."

"What is it?" asked Amber.

"To put it simply, it is a condition that gradually emerges as one grows older, but does not age," said Kyo. "There is no biological root that we have been able to trace, which leads us to believe that it is psychological, or even purely existential.

"In terms of symptoms, it is a feeling...a feeling of life becoming...burdensome."

"So they feel tired?" asked Jaune.

"In increments," said Kyo. "Imagine waking up each day, feeling a little bit more tired and run down. Physically, nothing is changed, yet you feel different all the same. Little by little, the Ennui saps one's will to live, until one no longer feels obligated to continue on. Those who succumb to the Ennui simply cease their efforts to prolong their life, and slip away peacefully to what waits beyond."

"That sounds..." Amber began to say.

"Horrible?" suggested Kyo. Amber nodded slowly. Kyo nodded back, his expression sober. "I suppose it does. However, amongst the Mibu, we have come to accept this condition as a fact of life. Life is not meant to be continued perpetually, it is meant to be lived, then departed from, to each in their time. There is nothing wrong or unnatural with the Ennui, and we consider it nothing more than the Yin that exists to balance the Yang of our own prolonged lives. One way or another, the balance must be made, the Yang of your birth balanced by the Yin of your death."

"So...only a couple-hundred years, huh?" asked Jaune.

"For an average member of the Mibu Clan," agreed Kyo, nodding. "There are factors that mitigate and delay the onset of the Ennui, and it is the nature of such factors that have led us to embrace the Ennui as a natural aspect of our existence."

"What factors are they?" asked Amber.

"They are called Ikigai," said Kyo. "To put it in Common, it would roughly translate into 'a reason for getting out of bed'. Ikigai represents the things that drive you to move forward with life. They can be aspirations, duties, responsibilities, feelings...people..." His hand moved to rest atop Amber's, and he smiled warmly at her, eliciting a blush from her cheeks. "As long as you have something to do, or someone to share your life with, you can continue on, as those things mitigate the burdensome feeling brought on by the onset of the Ennui. That's how people like Makoto-sama and Murasame-sama can continue on, despite being over three-hundred years-old, their sense of duty to the Mibu is what allows them to continue on."

"You knew about this?" asked Jaune, looking to Ruby, who nodded.

"Makoto-sama gave us a lecture on it, during our last year at elementary school," said Ruby. "That's when we were taught _Sō_ too."

"Are we gonna get to learn that?" asked Jaune.

"Eventually," said Ruby.

"It will take more training," added Kyo. "_Sō_ is another Manifestation art, so you need an even deeper awareness of your Aura than even that for basic Manifestation, before you can sense the Yin and Yang components of your Aura, and control them. Once you do, it isn't so hard to accomplish. Fortunately, there is no rush. After all, you are well over a decade away from when your Yin aspect will begin to gain ground. By then, you will have already learned the art. Even though Ruby-chan knows how to perform it, she doesn't use _Sō_ yet, because using it now would completely halt her physical growth."

"Oh..." said Jaune. "So then...if this Ennui-thing gets stronger as the years go by, then..."

"Yes," agreed Kyo, his expression darkening by an order of magnitude. "To put it bluntly, Jester should have died millennia ago. You see...he is afflicted by a terrible condition, one that completely defies all logic according to how our world works. He simply _cannot_ die."

Jaune, Amber, and Ruby all felt a deathly chill go down their spines upon hearing that.

"He can't die?" asked Ruby. "B-but then..."

"Well...it wouldn't be so hopeless, normally," said Kyo. "After all, Kamikiri techniques are devised for just such enemies, ones who cannot be killed through normal or natural means. If one who cannot die is likened to a god, then Kamikiri techniques, like the Four Secrets of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ exist to cut such people down."

"Except that it won't work on Jester, will it?" asked Ruby, frowning. "Otherwise, you would've killed him already, wouldn't you?"

"Exactly right," said Kyo. "That is the problem. Jester has been 'killed' many times. He has suffered through the most powerful techniques that the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ has to offer, attacks that would have snuffed out even the Pretender Brothers like candle-flames. Yet he has always come back, as though nothing has happened, even though we all know that he would _prefer_ it if such an attack truly sent him into the void, once and for all.

"You see...while I won't tell you everything about Salem-much of that is Ozpin-dono's story to tell-I can tell you that her existence is akin to that of a god..."

_That makes sense,_ thought Ruby. _After all, Ozpin's been fighting against her through all his reincarnations, which mean's she's been around just as long as him...if not longer. So either she has the same kind of ability, or she just lives _really_ long, just like the Mibu._

"...yet we know, full well, that the Kamikiri techniques we possess have the capacity to end her," continued Kyo. "However, even with the Kamikiri, we cannot kill Jester. So long as he remains between us and her, Salem will remain a plague upon the people of this world."

Ruby frowned. "But then...what good does it do?" she asked. "Even if I learn these Kami-kiri techniques, I won't be able to kill him anymore than you would."

"Perhaps," said Kyo. "The truth is...I'm not sure. However...O-Kaa-san and Tou-san think that the answer might be otherwise."

"Huh?" Ruby grunted, looking at Kyo in confusion.

Her brother smiled down at her. "They told me that you are a very special girl, in ways that you do not yet know. As such, you may yet find a way that no one before you has. Therefore, you could be the one to finally bring this endless parade to its end."

"Don't you mean cycle?" asked Jaune.

Kyo shook his head. "The term 'cycle' suggests death and renewal. Cycles are natural. There is _nothing_ natural about Jester's endless life. It is merely a line, progressing forward, long after it should have reached its end, and connected with its new beginning. In a world of circles, such a line is a clear aberration."

He returned his gaze to Ruby. "In any case, Ruby-chan, while O-Kaa-san and Tou-san aren't fully sure of how to go about this, they _are_ certain that developing a Kamikiri technique will be your first step." He smiled radiantly at her. "And think of it this way. If you can do this, if you can bring Jester down, then you will have surpassed, not only me, but the entire culmination of the Mibu Clan's efforts to deal with that man across the whole of our history. That would make you victorious over me in the truest sense of the term, don't you think?"

Ruby nodded, not feeling all that encouraged though. It was such a severe task to just have dropped on one's plate. Worse still, they knew there was more to this; more to Salem, more to Ozpin, things he hadn't told them, truths yet hidden. Despite his earlier candor, when it came to speaking about the Maidens and Relics, there were layers to the truth that they had not yet scratched.

And Ruby found herself wondering just how much truth Ozpin intended for them to uncover...how much he would allow them to.

More importantly, Ruby knew that the enemy's main attack would be coming during the Vytal Festival. Jester had promised it. She knew that she would have to deal with him, one way or another, which gave her a deadline. She could only hope that she would make it in time.

* * *

Despite the ominous tale that Kyo had dropped on them, one that Ruby and Jaune were quick to share with the rest of RASP and RYNB, they did their best to keep their spirits high. Despite her trepidation, Ruby looked on this as a continuation of her Huntress training. She had decided to become a Huntress to protect people. For better or worse, Jester, and the rest of Salem's minions, were threats to the ones she would be fighting to protect. Therefore, training to overcome them was only the natural course for her.

She tried not to work herself too hard. Despite her worries, things had gone quiet for the time being. The White Fang's activities had died down almost completely, at least on the overt level. Much to Ruby's surprise and relief, the trial against Mason Ayers proceeded promptly and without complication, Ruby herself not even needing to act as a witness.

On top of that, the end of the mission period brought with it the resumption of their regular classes and training. The extra time that they'd had to prepare, during the remainder of their mission period, had paid off in spades, especially for Jaune. His combat ranking had risen like a rocket, going from the bottom of class to jockeying with the other members of RASP and RYNB in the rankings, with only Ruby and Pyrrha remaining comfortably seated at the top.

Life went on, and they prepared as much as they could for what awaited them in the future, but also tried to enjoy their school lives as much as they could. A few weeks after their second missions, their semester exams came and went, leaving the Vytal Festival right around the corner.

Already, the inverted-conical form of Amity Coliseum hovered over the bay between Vale and Beacon. Trains and ships, both seagoing and aerial, were arriving daily, bringing with them more and more people. Many of them were tourists, coming to take in the festival and watch the tournament in person. Several of them were students from the other Academies, who would be participating in the tournament, or cheering on their schoolmates who were, but who had not signed up for the exchange with Beacon.

Ruby found herself looking forward to it. After all, the approach of the tournament meant the arrival of visitors she was looking forward to...and those, whose coming she hadn't anticipated at all.

* * *

"Shall we pick up the pace? We're almost there."

"Yeah! We don't want to miss Ruby-chan's debut!"

"I don't think there's any risk of that. We should be arriving a day early, even at our current pace."

"But if we get there sooner, we can play with Ruby-chan some more, before her tournament begins."

"That's one way to put it, I suppose."

Sasame giggled, looking at the trio of tagalongs behind her. She'd promised Ruby that she'd be bringing one of them along, but, much to her secret dismay, hadn't thought about the other two. She supposed that it would do well for all three of Ruby's friends to come and visit her.

"Well then," she said cheerfully, beaming at Natsuki, Miyu, and Setsuna, "let's pick up the pace. Everyone hold hands and make sure to stick together. We don't want you getting lost."

"Oi, what are we, kindergartners?" protested Setsuna, while Miyu giggled. "This isn't a field trip."

"I can't wait to see Ruby-chan again," declared Natsuki, hopping up and down as she walked, an exuberant grin on her face.

"And I know that she'll be ecstatic to see all of you," said Sasame, turning to face forward again, so that her charges wouldn't see the melancholy look that slipped across her face like a passing shadow. _Let's enjoy this visit to the fullest, Ruby-chan. After all, I fear it will be the last one I'll be able to make._

* * *

"Master Whitley, we will be arriving in Vale within the hour," declared the portly butler, who entered from the cockpit.

"Very good, Klein," said Whitley, looking up from his scroll, which flashed with schedules and spreadsheets. "Are the accommodations taken care of?"

"Of course," said Klein. "The presidential suite of _The Grand Silmaril_ has been reserved for your use. We shall be arriving at their landing pad shortly."

"Excellent," said Whitley.

It was one of the perks of having the best room at the most exclusive and magnificently-appointed hotel in all of Vale, just the kind of place that visiting Councilmen from other Kingdoms would vie to stay at. _The Grand Silmaril_ had, amongst their other amenities, a rooftop landing pad, allowing Whitley to disembark from his airship at the hotel itself, rather than needing to land at Vale's airport, then go to the hotel via local air or ground transportation. It was just one of those luxuries that was expected of the presumptive heir to the most-powerful company in all of Remnant.

_Oh...I'm getting ahead of myself on that last part,_ he thought. Well...that particular conundrum was what he was here in Vale to solve in the first place.

"Have you sent notification to Weiss about our arrival?" asked Whitley.

"Not yet," said Klein, the uneasy look in his eyes indicating how unhappy he was with that particular fact. "You told me that you wished to keep news of your arrival from her...as a surprise, I believe."

"That would be correct," agreed Whitley. "I understand that Winter is also here now. Perhaps a full reunion between us siblings is in order." He smirked up at the family butler. "Are you looking forward to seeing Weiss again, Klein?"

"O-Of course, Master Whitley," said Klein. "I've missed her a great deal, since she left Atlas." Despite his words, there was still a strong sense of unease in his statement.

Whitley understood. After all, Klein loved Weiss like a daughter, and had been more of a father to her than Jacques ever had. He was worried just what kind of plans Whitley had in mind for their "reunion". Whitley often found himself wishing that at least some of that tenderness and affection had been spared for himself. But it seemed that being the "favored child" of Jacques Schnee marked him as being undeserving of such things.

For his part, Whitley had never asked to be smarter than both his sisters put together. He'd never asked to eschew direct violence in favor of more creative solutions. He'd never asked to be more savvy at the actual _business_ of running a business than either of the people who'd been slated to do so before him. However, it seemed that those factors had marked him as unworthy of affection. At least Willow, bitter drunkard that she was, was indifferent to everyone equally. Weiss and Winter might have thought they'd had it hard, as the objects of Jacques' disdain. But Whitley figured that they'd probably never wondered what it was like to be someone who lived saddled with his hopes and approval.

Regardless of which child he favored, Jacques Schnee did not do "affection".

Still, those were complaints about pointless things, in the end. Whitley had come to Vale with business on the mind, business he planned to see through in full.

* * *

"Wow...so this is Vale."

"Well, it's Vale's territory, but we're not at the Kingdom yet. Come along, whippersnapper, we've got a train to catch."

"Y-Yes, Ma'am."

The boy huffed, struggling to keep up with his chaperone, while struggling with the weight of the two suitcases he was carrying. On top of that, for an old woman of diminished stature and hunched posture, who needed a cane to help herself get around, she set a surprisingly blistering pace through the streets of Ulmo. Despite that, and the fact that he was forced to carry her luggage along with his, the boy was grateful for her presence. Without the promise of her supervision, he would have never been allowed to Vale for the Vytal Festival at all.

"Come along, kid. We've gotta catch that train, or we'll be stuck here all night."

"C-coming," groaned the boy.

The woman paused, turning back to look at him over her shoulder, the pale-blue lights of her cybernetic eyes flickering slightly. "Regretting this trip yet?"

"Of course not," protested the boy.

The woman grinned playfully. "Good! Wouldn't do to travel all the way across two continents to see your crush, only to get cold feet on the doorstep."

"I-It's not like that!" protested the boy.

"Sure it isn't," said the woman with a merry cackle, continuing on her way. "I hope you didn't put all your hopes on her, she's probably found a nice boy for herself already."

"I know that," huffed the boy. "I just...I _had_ to see her."

"Well, good luck with that," said the woman. "In a few more years, you'll probably have an easier time seeing her. Now let's get going."

"Yes, Ma'am."

* * *

**Next chapter: The Vytal Festival commences. Yay.**


	118. Chapter 118

**Chapter 118:**

"Wooooow!" Ruby gasped, sweeping her eyes across the assembled stalls, and taking in the sight of the countless people moving amidst them. She'd been treated to some incredible sights in her life, but this was one for the records, as far as she was concerned. Never before had she seen this many people, all in one place, all at once.

"Yeah, the Vytal Festival is a big deal," confirmed Jaune, with a small chuckle at Ruby's awe. Considering the things she had seen and done, there was something quite amusing about how she could be so enthralled by the sight of a mere crowd of people, however massive it might be.

Truth be told, _he_ was a little amazed by the number of people present as well. It was a reminder that the Vytal Festival was a celebration that encompassed the population of all four Kingdoms, with members of those Kingdoms making their way to Vale for this year's celebration. In the crowd just in front of them, Jaune could make out people dressed in the kimonos and cheongsams of Mistral, or the lighter desert clothes of Vacuo, and a few dressed in the heavier clothes of Atlas. Here and there, he spotted some faunus who might have been from Menagerie, though he couldn't say for sure.

Ruby managed to wrench her eyes away from the spectacle before them, turning to take in the sight of her own team, along with Team RYNB, who were waiting at the steps of the entrance into Beacon's dining hall, where they'd been asked by a friend to wait.

"Did Sun say what he wanted?" asked Ruby.

"Not really," said Jaune. "He just mentioned a surprise. I figured he wanted to introduce us to the rest of his team, now that they're here. But I wouldn't call that much of a surprise."

Ruby nodded pensively.

Sun had been rather disappointed to have been away, when her altercation with Mason's forces had happened, having wanted to be there to help. Ruby appreciated the sentiment, once again glad for the blonde faunus' sense of loyalty to his friends. He and Neptune had taken a mission outside the walls this time, resulting in them coming back to hear the story of what had happened from Blake.

Another development that had taken place was Neptune _finally_ coming clean about his reason for turning down Weiss for the dance, explaining his insecurity over his inability to dance. Naturally, no one on RASP or RYNB was really inclined to give him much leeway, given how paltry an excuse it was for the way he'd hurt Weiss' feelings. However, Weiss had graciously decided to bury the hatchet, granting Neptune her forgiveness. However, she'd also made it clear that she was _not_ interested in a relationship with him any longer. Exactly _why_ that was was something she'd never clarified, though her friends knew well enough, and Sun and Neptune had their suspicions…

"Hey!" a voice shouted from within the crowd of people milling about the festival grounds, which had taken over Beacon's courtyards. They caught sight of that familiar head of shaggy, blonde hair that was so indicative of Sun, the young man himself emerging from the crowd at the head of a group of eight.

Ruby was quick to recognize the other members of Sun's team. Neptune was easy enough, considering they knew him already, but she also remembered the two members Sun had identified as Scarlet and Sage, from the pictures that Sun had shown her and the others on occasion. With them was another team that was apparently from Haven, consisting of two girls and two boys.

Scarlet was a fair-skinned young man, dressed in a sleeveless white shirt, along with white pants, sporting a pair of belts. His pants were tucked into a pair of tall, gray boots that almost came up to his knees. His shirt sported gray collar that rose up his neck, while gray bandages were wrapped around his right arm, above the elbow, and his right hand. His most striking features were his red hair, which was swept to the right of his head, so that it completely covered the eye on that side, and the red marks around the outside corner of his left eye. A feather-earring decorated his left ear, and a military-style red jacket was draped over his shoulders.

Sage had an even _more_ striking appearance, the dark-skinned young man being the biggest and brawniest member of SSSN by a substantial margin. A pair of gold eyes stared out from beneath a head of short, spiky, sage-green hair. His torso was covered by a long, white coat, left unbuttoned to display the chiseled muscles of his chest and stomach, its tails decorated with green, winglike designs, which appeared to be a match for the black wings tattooed across his chest. Even stranger was the set of numerals tattooed around his neck. His jacket was asymmetrical, with the right sleeve being completely missing up to the shoulder, which was covered by a gold pauldron, connected to armored leather straps wound around the rest of his right arm. A set of black pants, held up by a white belt, completed the ensemble.

"Yo," said Sun, grinning and raising a hand in greeting as he approached.

"Hey, Sun," said Ruby, grinning back. "Is this the rest of your team?"

"Yep," said Sun, gesturing to the two other boys. "Pretty-boy here is Scarlet David."

"A pleasure," said Scarlet, bowing forward in a surprisingly courtly gesture.

"And Tall, Dark, and Handsome here is Sage Ayana."

Sage nodded, apparently not feeling the need to say anything.

"Hmm..." Yang smacked her lips as she took in Sage's appearance with wandering eyes. "Me likey..."

Sage grunted, the nervous look on his face clashing with the sense of strength his imposing physique conveyed. The sight was enough that Ruby found herself masking a chuckle.

"And this..." continued Sun, gesturing to the other group of four people, "is Team Auburn. They're buddies of ours."

He gestured to the brown-skinned young woman, who observed them all with serious, olive-green eyes, sporting a head of flowing, platinum-blonde hair. She was dressed in a yellow robe that left her left shoulder and arm completely bare, with a black tube-top beneath it, over a pair of black pants, all held together with a red sash. "This is Arslan Altan, their leader."

Arslan favored them with a silent nod.

"Next to her is Bolin Hori," continued Sun, gesturing to the tanned young man with shoulder-length, black hair, wearing a yellow sash over a blue vest.

"Nice to meet you," said Bolin politely.

"And then there's Nadir Shinko," continued Sun, gesturing to the other boy on the team, a young-man with short, backwards-swept, pink hair, which stood out starkly against the dark color of his skin, only a couple of shades lighter than Arslan's, dressed in a white jacket with yellow hems over a black shirt.

"Yo," the pink-haired boy said cheerfully.

"And, last but not least, Reese Chloris," finished Sun, gesturing to the other girl on the team.

Reese's appearance stood out distinctly against that of her teammates, looking a bit more like an extreme sports enthusiast than a student-Huntress. Her long, wild, turquoise hair was swept to the right side of her head, from which a pair of green eyes stared out with a sense of almost wicked mischief. Underneath her eyes were black, rectangular marks, reminding everyone of the eye-black that many professional athletes painted underneath their eyes to help absorb the sun's glare. She was clad in a dark-purple, hooded sweater over a lighter, mauve-colored one. Her legs were covered by a pair of black shorts, and she sported knee and elbow-guards, completing the athletic look.

Reese stood out to Ruby for another reason. From the moment she'd arrived on the scene, Reese's eyes had been fixated on Ruby in particular. For her part, Ruby thought there was something familiar about Reese's name, though she couldn't quite place where she'd heard it before.

Rather than offer any kind of greeting, Reese continued to stare at Ruby, an odd, strangely neutral look on her face. "You're Ruby Rose, right?" she asked.

"Y-yes," replied Ruby, not sure of the emotions conveyed by Reese's voice.

"I knew it." Reese's voice was almost a whisper. "It _is_ you."

"Huh?" Ruby grunted, unsure of what Reese was getting at.

Her confusion was compounded when Reese surged forward. Before Ruby could react, Reese had thrown her arms around Ruby's shoulders, hugging her tightly. The complete lack of malice in the gesture had left Ruby unable to respond, until Reese was already hugging her. "Um...uh..."

"I can't thank you enough," Reese whispered, resting her face against Ruby's shoulder. "You brought Mom back to us."

"Your mother...?" Ruby blinked in confusion, before something clicked into place, a certain doctor she and Sasame had met in a town in the mountainous territories of Northern Mistral. "_You're_ Dr. Chloris' daughter?"

"That'd be me," said Reese with a giggle, pulling back, tears dripping from her eyes. "I can't believe I finally get to meet you."

"I...I uh..." Ruby averted her eyes slightly. "I'm sorry I couldn't save your mother."

"That's not your fault," said Reese, her smile fading slightly at the mention of her lost family member. "That was before you got there. Mom was a Huntress. She knew the risks. If I couldn't accept that, I wouldn't be here, now."

Her smile returned. "What's important was that you gave Dad closure. He told me all about what you did."

"How _is_ your father?" asked Ruby, tilting her head quizzically.

"He's doing all right," said Reese, wiping her eyes. "When I told him I was heading to Vale for the festival, he told me to give you his regards, if I ran into you."

"I'm glad to hear it," said Ruby.

A cough interrupted their moment, and they both looked around to see that all their friends were staring at them. The pair blushed, then jumped apart, prompting a few chuckles.

"So she's the one, huh?" asked Arslan, giving Reese a questioning look.

"Yep," agreed Reese, regaining her composure more quickly than Ruby recovered hers.

A small smile appeared on Arslan's face, and she stepped forward, extending her left hand in greeting. Ruby took it, accepting the firm squeeze that Arslan gave her, and returning her smile. "It's nice to finally meet the girl Reese was so excited about," said Team ABRN's leader.

"Um...What was all that about?" asked Sun, looking on with no small amount of confusion. Ruby's own friends and teammates from Beacon were no less baffled.

"It's a bit of a story," said Ruby nervously. "I guess I can go ahead and tell you all."

"You can tell your story over lunch," said Sage, rubbing his stomach. "I'm starving. Airship food isn't very good at all."

* * *

"The Kingdoms' airships are so cool!" declared Natsuki, her face pressed up against the glass, violet eyes staring out with an expression of wonder as the waters of the bay between Vale and Beacon passed beneath them.

Shinomori Natsuki was dressed in a sleeveless, blue shinobi shozoku with grey hems and short leggings, held together by a pink sash, tied into a bow behind her. Her blue and green hair was cut to chin length, framing a girlish face, while the rest of it was tied into a long braid behind her, the strands of colors being separated out and woven together. Her feet were covered by white socks and zori-sandals, complimented by blue wrappings around her ankles and calves. Her forearms were protected by a pair of light bracers. Finally, her weapons, a pair of kodachi, one slightly longer than the other, were thrust into her sash, behind her back, so that they crossed over one another, their hilts protruding slightly out to either side of her waist.

Natsuki took everything in with a sense of childlike wonder, contrasting sharply with the more-restrained expressions of her two companions.

Ibuki Miyu was an elegantly-composed young woman, sporting a head of vivid, scarlet hair that cascaded down to the small of her back in a smooth wave, complimenting the grayish-blue eyes that stared out from her face. Miyu was rather simply-dressed, wearing a pale-pink kimono, complimented by a sky-blue sash around her waist, tied in a rather simple knot at the front. Her kimono was tucked into a pair of identically-colored, loose hakama, left untied at the ankles.

Standing beside Miyu was Nagi Setsuna. He was a serious young man, his demeanor somewhat contrasting with his boyish face, with its rounded cheeks, set beneath a pair of intense, amber eyes with slit-shaped pupils. His silver hair was cut short at the front, and slightly longer around the sides and back, with the back hair going all the way down the back of his neck. Setsuna's outfit consisted of a simple, white, long-sleeved shirt, tied together at the front, with a blue stripe running horizontally across at the level of his chest. Below that, he wore a pair of pale-blue shorts, his legs bare all the way down to the white socks over his feet, which rested on a pair of wooden geta. A white sash was tied around his waist. Behind him, crossed in a manner similar to Natsuki's kodachi, were a pair of kama, sporting handles of gray steel.

Even though Miyu and Setsuna's reactions were more subdued, they too stared out with looks of wonder. It wasn't just the sight of the bay's waters passing soundlessly beneath them that drew so much amazement though.

"Look at that!" gasped Natsuki, pointing out the window. "They have an entire flying _building_."

"I can see that," observed Miyu, a smile on her face, and a warble of laughter in her voice at her friend's exuberance.

"Isn't that the coliseum?" asked Setsuna. "That's where Ruby-chan is going to fight."

"That _is_ what I've heard," said Sasame, coming up behind the trio, fox-tail wagging back and forth behind her in a steady tempo.

"So we'll get to go up there and watch her, right?" asked Natsuki, beginning to hop up and down.

"If we can get seats," said Miyu. "I imagine that securing tickets to such a venue will be...tricky...especially for people like us."

"Well...I'm sure arrangements can be made," said Sasame, smiling slyly. "For now, let's focus on meeting up with Ruby-chan. We can worry about the minutia later."

The airship banked slowly, now giving them a magnificent view of Beacon Academy itself, including its signature tower. Natsuki gasped, clasping her hands together and hopping up and down in place. "Oh wow! Ruby-chan gets to go to school _here_! It's so awesome!"

"It certainly is a sight," agreed Miyu, leaning forward slightly, in spite of herself.

"Ruby-chan must have learned so much since she got here," guessed Natsuki.

"That she has," agreed Sasame. "You'll be able to find out more, when we see her in person."

"It's gonna be tricky, finding her in a place this crowded," noted Setsuna.

"Nonsense," declared Sasame. "All three of you are plenty well-practiced with Extension to locate her. The fact that, in the Kingdoms, only a small number of people have their Auras unlocked will make her stand out all the more. On top of that, she'll probably recognize your Auras even before you recognize hers."

Natsuki nodded eagerly.

Sasame rested a hand against Natsuki's bare upper arm in a feather-light touch. She spoke in a much softer tone, keeping these words just between her and Natsuki. "Remember, Natsu-chan, there's one _more_ person you'll need to meet, while you're here."

Natsuki's smile vanished briefly, replaced by an uncharacteristically grave look for a few seconds, and she nodded. "Right," she said, her voice more serious than before.

"There's nothing to worry about, Natsu-chan," said Sasame with a giggle. "Ozpin-dono doesn't bite."

Nearby, a pair of hazel eyes, mixed with other colors, fixated on the diminutive girl, and her gently wagging fox-tail. _That's..._

* * *

In the dining hall, Ruby related the story to all her friends, old and new, about purging the nest of Ungols in the mountains of Mistral. RASP and RYNB had heard about this in class before, but it had never been something Ruby had gone over in detail...for good reason. Just thinking about those spider-like Grimm gave her the chills and made her skin crawl; and thinking about those tunnels, the mass of fangs, black-furred legs, and malevolent red eyes, always had her breaking out in a cold sweat.

"God..." Sage whispered under his breath, after Ruby finished. "We'd read about Ungols in class, but I've always hoped I'd never have to deal with them."

"It's a good story for giving you chills in the summertime," added Scarlet, actually rubbing his arms.

"You've got some serious guts, taking those things on," commented Arslan with an approving smile. "Now I'm kinda hoping we don't run into you during the tournament."

"Ditto," agreed Nadir, while Bolin nodded sagely.

"So Mom's stuff was at the bottom?" asked Reese, who'd been hanging on to Ruby's every word.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "Her armor and weapon were all we could find of her. Her bones were probably there. But there were the remains of so many people..."

"It's okay," said Reese, sniffing and rubbing her eyes. "I'm glad you brought even that home, even though you had to hike all the way back up the mountain."

"It was the least we could do," said Ruby, averting her eyes. "Is Hinagiku still doing all right?"

"They're doing okay," said Reese with a shrug. "They've got traffic coming through the pass again, thanks to you." She paused. "Oh! You should see what they did with the road. They turned the Ungols' tunnels into a military base. It's actually kinda cool now. I got to see it, the last time I went home for a visit."

"That sounds pretty neat," said Ruby. "I heard that was what they were planning to do. I'm glad it worked out."

"Yeah, the extra soldiers means more economy for the town," added Reese.

They talked a little longer. Ruby and her friends shared what stories they could about their adventures. There was only so much they could say without touching on the secrets of Ozpin's inner circle. However, they were able to relate their fights against the White Fang at the docks, and in Vale's industrial district. They were also free to talk about the sea voyage Team RASP took, and their battle with Morgan's pirates. Their new friends were hanging on to every word with a vigor.

Finally, lunch finished up, and the different teams decided to go their separate ways. ABRN and SSSN went to get settled in their rooms at the visitor dorms, while RASP and RYNB headed out to take in the festival grounds.

They were heading down the steps of the dining hall, Ruby in the lead, when she froze mid-step, her eyes going wide, a soft gasp escaping her.

"Ruby?" asked Jaune, looking at her curiously. "Everything okay?"

Abruptly, Ruby broke into a run, dashing forward, completely ignoring her friends' calls for her to wait. Ruby dodged her way through the crowd, slipping between people as quickly and efficiently as she could, chasing down the source of the familiar Aura that had brushed against her own, an Aura that was now exuberantly approaching her.

"Natsu-chan!"

"Ruby-chan!"

The two friends collided, practically slamming into each other, wrapping one another up in a tight hug as the two girls laughed excitedly.

"You're here!" exclaimed Ruby, resting her chin on Natsuki's shoulder. "You're really here!"

"You bet!" replied Natsuki. "When Sasame-sama offered us the chance to come visit you, we _knew_ we couldn't turn it down."

"'Us'...?" Ruby pulled back, looking at Natsuki quizzically, eyes blinking in confusion. Then she tilted her head to look past Natsuki's face, and see the two people standing behind her. "Miyu-chan! Setsuna-kun!"

Miyu raised a hand in greeting, before being seized in a tight hug of her own, which she happily, if sedately, returned. After a moment of embrace, Ruby transferred her affections to Setsuna, before releasing him quickly.

"No love for me, Ruby-chan?" asked a familiar voice behind Ruby's visiting friends.

"Sasame-nee!" squealed Ruby, throwing herself at her sister, the two hugging, and Ruby getting tossed in the air again.

"Welcome back," said Pyrrha, she and the rest of Ruby's friends panting softly, after trying to follow Ruby through the crowd of milling visitors.

"Hello, all," said Sasame, setting Ruby aside and beaming at her friends. "It's good to see you all again." She directed a sly grin at Ruby. "Ruby-chan, I believe introductions are in order."

"R-right," said Ruby, coming to stand beside Natsuki, with Miyu and Setsuna standing on her other side. "Everyone, these are my friends from Onmyo. This is Shinomori Natsuki..." She gestured to her best friend, who managed to rein in her natural energy enough to bow politely. "And these are Ibuki Miyu and Nagi Setsuna." The girl and boy bowed as well.

"It's an honor to meet all of you," said Miyu politely.

Ruby in turn introduced her teammates and friends from Beacon to her friends from home. After that, the entire group began making their way through the festival grounds together.

"It's great to finally meet Ruby's friends from the Mibu," said Pyrrha, taking in the trio that had come with Sasame.

"It's nice to learn that Ruby-chan's been able to make friends here as well," said Miyu. "We were a little worried, when we first heard. Ruby-chan had a bit of a hard time, back home."

"Yeah, but that was because I was an Outsider," Ruby pointed out.

"True," agreed Setsuna, he and Miyu lowering their heads slightly.

"Well, that wasn't much of an issue here," said Blake. "Most of us had never _heard_ of the Mibu, before Ruby told us about them."

"Yeah, Ruby didn't have too many problems here," declared Nora, now draping herself over Ruby's shoulders. "She's the bee's knees."

Ruby blushed furiously at Nora's praise.

"Sasame-sama told us you were doing some crazy stuff over here," said Natsuki.

"If only you knew half of it," muttered Weiss.

"My, it sounds like quite a bit has happened, since I was last here," noted Sasame, raising a curious eyebrow.

"That's putting it mildly," said Yang.

"I'll have to get the details out of you later," said Sasame. "I believe the four of us should try and figure out some form of living arrangements."

"Let's go to Professor Ozpin," suggested Ruby. "I know you're not Academy students, but maybe there's still a spare room in the guest dorms he can give you."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," said Sasame. "We needed to see Ozpin-dono soon anyway."

"Huh?" Ruby glanced at Sasame, who shifted her eyes towards Natsuki meaningfully. _Oh..._

As they wandered through the crowds, gradually working their way to Beacon Tower, their conversation drifted.

"I can't believe you walked all the way to Vale," Ruby was saying to Natsuki.

"Why are you surprised?" asked Natsuki. "You did it too, remember?"

"Y-yeah, but I was in training," Ruby deflected.

"Well, it was training for me too," declared Natsuki proudly, resting her fists against her hips, throwing out her chest and sticking her nose up in the air. "So there."

"If we weren't with her, she'd probably have run the whole way," added Setsuna tiredly.

"Keeping up with her was training enough," said Miyu.

Miyu and Setsuna paused, finding a sympathetic hand on their shoulders. Turning their heads to look, they saw Ren looking at them with an expression of the greatest sympathy. "I can understand your plight," he said.

"Yeah," agreed Yang with a cheeky grin.

"We have a Nora, after all," added Blake with a wry smile.

"Hey!" protested Nora, puffing out her cheeks and pouting.

"Yeah, you guys are mean," agreed Natsuki, standing next to Nora and mimicking her pout perfectly. Their friends burst into laughter, which only made them pout all the harder.

"Natsu-chan _did_ set quite the pace," noted Sasame. "It only goes to show just how excited she was to see you again, Ruby-chan."

"Of course I was!" protested Natsuki, flailing her arms, which prompted Nora to back away. "You didn't tell us you were going to enter Beacon already, Ruby-chan!"

"I wasn't planning on it," Ruby protested. "I wasn't expecting Professor Ozpin to invite me in two years early, like that." She tapped her fingers together, averting her eyes shyly. "I'm sorry. I wish there was some way I could've told you myself."

Miyu hugged Ruby from behind, resting her chin on Ruby's shoulder. "It's fine," she said. "We know that this was your dream."

"And we should've known you were the kind of person who'd get invited early," added Setsuna with a smirk. "You're just _that_ good."

Ruby blushed furiously, ducking her head under the praise, her friends chuckling.

_"Wait!"_

"Hmm?" Ruby's head perked up at the sound of the shouted voice. It was distant, and she couldn't be sure that whoever was calling out was actually calling for anyone in their group. But there was something else, a sensation of familiarity.

"Please, wait!" the plaintive voice called out again, this time sounding closer.

"Is that for us?" wondered Natsuki, turning in the direction of the voice.

It turned out unlucky for her. Right as she turned, a figure emerged from between a pair of passing pedestrians, stumbling forward in his haste...and slamming right into her. Natsuki squeaked in surprise as the boy bowled her over, the two of them winding up sprawled on the ground.

"Uh..."

Blinking, Natsuki found herself staring up into a pair of unusual eyes. They were mainly forest-green, but accented with burnt-orange and yellow around the pupils. As the eyes pulled away, she found them set into a face of tanned skin, the cheeks beneath those eyes decorated with freckles, and a messy mop of black hair on top of that head.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed the young man, pushing up and away from Natsuki, scrambling to get out from over her. "I'm so sorry!"

"I-it's okay," said Natsuki, sitting up.

She and the others took in the sight of the boy as he meekly offered Natsuki a hand up.

He was dressed in an olive-colored overcoat, with shoulder pads and a belt of dark-red. Underneath that, he wore a white, collared shirt, with bandages wrapped around his neck and collar. The shirt was tucked into a set of black trousers, their legs tucked into dark-red boots. Orange gloves covered his hands, connected to black wrist-straps that formed an x-pattern over his forearms.

"Were you calling for us?" asked Ruby coming forward.

The moment she met the boy's eyes, he froze. "I...um...uh..." His voice almost completely failed him.

Ruby squinted a little. There was something familiar about this boy, particularly his eyes. She also thought she remembered that freckled face, though it had been younger, the last time she'd seen it. A moment later, it sank in, and her eyes widened as she sucked in a sudden intake of air. "Oscar...?"

"Y-yeah," said Oscar, nervously averting his eyes.

"Oh my God!" gasped Ruby. A second later, she was gone, a scattering cloud of petals in her wake as she threw herself at the boy, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in an excited hug. "It _is_ you! Wow! It's so great to see you again!"

Oscar froze in place, face turning bright red. His own arms spread, almost as though he wanted to return Ruby's embrace. However, they seemed to lock into place before he could bring them around to hug her back. "Y-yeah...It's good to see you too."

Observing Oscar's reaction, Sasame tittered softly. She wasn't the only one. You didn't need to be an expert healer to read the signs in Oscar's behavior. Most of the others expressed varying degrees of amusement. Only Jaune didn't look particularly happy. He'd read the same signs that everyone else had, but he didn't find it all that amusing.

Ruby released Oscar, pulling back, but keeping her hands on his shoulders, eyes sparkling. "I can't believe you're here," she said. "What are you doing here? Are you here for the festival? Did your aunt come with you-?"

"Ruby-chan." Sasame's voice cut through Ruby's inquiries easily.

Ruby froze, and she turned a sheepish grin on Sasame, who looked back with a wry smile.

"Perhaps allow Oscar-kun to _answer_ a question, before you move onto the next one," she suggested.

"O-oh...right..." Ruby turned back to Oscar, letting him go and looking down abashedly. "Sorry," she said.

"I-it's okay," said Oscar.

"A-anyway, are you here for the festival?" Ruby began again.

"Y-yeah," stammered Oscar. "I-I saw you in the news. It was a pretty big deal, over in Mistral. A-and I figured that, if you were at Beacon, you'd be fighting in the tournament, so I came to see you."

"Pretty bold," commented Yang softly, glancing sidelong at Jaune.

Jaune was frowning, but not angrily. His expression was more pensive than anything else. Yang was a bit surprised. Then again, she was a bit surprised by her _own_ feelings, upon meeting a boy who was clearly nursing a _serious_ crush on her little sister, if it had driven him to travel all the way across Anima and Sanus to come to Vale to see her. Much to her confusion, Yang was amazed at how little hostility she felt towards the boy, considering how she'd regarded Jaune, at the beginning to the school year.

Part of it she put down to the fact that Jaune was older than Ruby, while this new boy was clearly younger. On top of that, Oscar seemed so...so...harmless. That was the best word Yang could use to describe it. Oscar's attitude and behavior made her almost incapable of seeing him as a threat in any capacity. He was an adorable little teddy bear of a boy...though Yang decided to keep that observation to herself, if only to spare the poor boy any further embarrassment.

"Wow!" gasped Ruby. "What about your aunt? Did she come too? Or are you by yourself?"

"_Ruby_..." chided Sasame again, a bit more forcefully this time.

"Uh...right...sorry," said Ruby, blushing again.

"Also...maybe an introduction for your other friends," added Sasame.

Ruby turned, regarding the group of eleven people who were now watching her and Oscar. Immediately, her face flushed as red as his had, and she bowed her head contritely.

"R-right...sorry." Lifting her head back up, she grinned. "Everyone, this is Oscar Pine. Sasame-nee and I met him when we were traveling through Anima."

_I'm guessing there's a lot more to it than that, if he went through all this trouble just to _see_ her,_ thought Pyrrha. She wasn't the only one to think along those lines.

"I-it's nice to meet you all," said Oscar.

"It's good to see you again too, Oscar-kun," said Sasame, stepping forward, her presence doing a great deal to calm the boy down and soothe the heat of his embarrassment. "And how is Emalee-san doing?"

"Auntie Em's doing great," said Oscar relaxing a little. For some reason, Sasame didn't make him feel as nervous and self-conscious as Ruby did. "She's still on the farm though. It's getting close to harvest time."

Sasame tilted her head slightly, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't come by yourself, did you, Oscar-kun?"

"N-no," replied Oscar. "I mean...I've been doing some training, but..."

Abruptly, his back arched slightly and he yelped in pain, the sudden action prompting a yelp of surprise from Ruby, who jumped away from him slightly. The reason for Oscar's shout was the shaft of a walking stick, which had been rapped sharply against his shin.

"There you are, you little devil," scolded an elderly voice. "You have a lot of nerve, leaving me in the lurch like that."

"S-s-sorry, Ms. Maria," said Oscar contritely, turning towards the woman and lowering his head.

"Hmph!" grunted the woman. "As soon as we got off the airship, you went haring off on your own without so much as a 'by your leave.' I thought you were raised better than that."

"I'm sorry!" repeated Oscar, bowing his head low and scrunching his eyes shut in a nervous grimace.

"Um...Who is this?" asked Ruby, regarding the woman.

Despite her small stature and hunched posture, an obvious concession to her advanced age, the elderly woman was clearly formidable. Her silver hair was tied into a simple braid, running down the center of her back, contrasting sharply with her dark skin. She was clad in a dark-blue dress, with its full-length skirt consisting of alternating layers of dark and light-blue. Over all that, she wore a dark-blue cloak, its edges trimmed with white triangular designs. Heavy, brown boots and gloves rounded off her appearance, giving her a well-traveled look.

However, the woman's most distinctive feature was the mechanical prosthesis that had apparently replaced her eyes. It looked almost as though the front end of a pair of binoculars had been grafted into her skull, the lenses illuminated by flickering, blue lights, with a set of shutters that appeared to allow her to mimic the optical component of human facial expressions to some degree. Those shutters narrowed slightly, as the woman looked up at Ruby, studying her carefully.

Her gloved hands rested atop a wooden walking stick, topped by an ornate, blue skull. Said walking stick was what she had been using to whack Oscar's shin earlier. But now the woman stood with it planted on the ground, her hands resting atop its domed skull.

In answer to her question, Oscar tried to introduce the woman. "This is-"

"Maria Calavera," declared the woman, cutting the poor boy off. "I can handle my own introduction, thank you very much."

"Y-yes, Ms. Maria," said Oscar, bowing his head to her again.

"In any case, I'm Oscar's chaperone for this trip," said Maria, mechanical eyes narrowing and tilting in what was clearly a sidelong glare she directed at the boy in question, who blushed and averted his eyes, "when he doesn't go running off on his own."

"I'm sorry," said the boy once again.

_He apologizes almost as much as Pyrrha used to,_ noted Ruby, though, in this case, it was less because of an ingrained tendency towards modesty, and more out of a frantic desire to placate the formidable woman he was traveling with. Ruby could certainly understand that. As old as she was, Maria exuded an aura of natural authority, commanding respect from those with enough awareness to realize that there was a great deal more to this old woman than there seemed, at first glance.

Despite her age, Maria's Aura buzzed with impressive intensity. From its state, Ruby guessed, rather easily, that she had been a Huntress, earlier in life. She might have lost some of her previous stature, but Ruby could sense taut muscles beneath that dress, suggesting that she still had a substantial portion of her old strength.

"It's nice to meet you, Ms. Calavera," said Ruby, bowing politely to her.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too," said Maria brightly. "I'm certainly looking forward to a chance to get to know _you_ better, later."

"I'd like that," said Ruby, a nervous feeling rising up within her. There was...something...about the way Maria had said what she'd said, something that Ruby couldn't put her finger on. It was a vague, distant memory, but she was reminded of the feeling she had gotten the first time she'd met Kyo's father. Back then, Kyoichiro had regarded Ruby with intense interest, for reasons she had never learned or understood. And now...for some reason...Maria appeared to be regarding her with the same kind of interest.

"Well then, now that you've found the one you were looking for, why don't we all take in the festival together," suggested Sasame politely.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," said Maria.

The group set off once again, their path still meandering in the direction of Beacon Tower, though they took their time getting there. As they did, Ruby walked alongside Oscar, chatting excitedly with him. Sasame walked along his opposite side, Maria a short distance away from her.

As they walked, Ruby couldn't help but notice a few things about Oscar. He'd grown since the last time she'd seen him. That much was fairly obvious. Oscar had only been eleven, during their first encounter. However, Ruby had been able to sense other developments.

For starters, he'd developed some impressive muscles, hard and taut. She could sense them with her Extension, and had gotten a decent feel of them when she'd hugged him earlier as well. And while Ruby imagined that working on a farm was fairly physically intensive, Oscar's muscles seemed a bit more sculpted than mere physical labor could explain. In fact, Ruby was willing to bet that he'd been getting combat training.

That was made all the more apparent by the state of Oscar's Aura. It had been unlocked already. Furthermore, it was practically bursting with power. In fact, Ruby's assessment of Oscar's Aura-reserves placed him only a bit below Jaune, in terms of overall volume.

The other thing that leapt out at her was that both Oscar and Maria's Auras were Tempered. Just as it had been with Yukimura, Ruby realized that there were other people outside the Mibu who had discovered the ways the Mibu used to cultivate their own Aura, at least in part.

As they reached the base of Beacon Tower, Sasame skipped forward, before spinning about to face the group, her tail wrapping around her briefly. "Well now," she said. "It would be a bit unwieldy to bring this whole group up to the top," she said. "So, for now, let's make it a small group. Ruby-chan, Natsu-chan...if you two would come with me."

"Okay," said Ruby and Natsuki in unison.

Behind her, Ruby could sense Miyu and Setsuna share a sidelong glance, though neither of them expressed any opposition. She wondered if they suspected a reason that Sasame had chosen Natsuki specifically. _Or maybe they know already,_ she mused. Given how long she'd been away, she wondered if maybe her and Natsuki's two closest friends had been entrusted with Natsuki's secret in the meantime.

"In the meantime, why don't the rest of you keep exploring," suggested Sasame cheerfully. "This might take a bit, and it would be better if you spent that time having fun, instead of just waiting for us. We'll catch up with you later."

"Sounds like a plan," said Yang. "We'll show your old friends around."

"We'll see you later," added Jaune, glancing sidelong at Oscar.

"Uh..." Oscar dithered a little. A second later, he yelped as Maria's walking stick smacked his shin again. Tugging on his sleeve, she brought his head down closer to her level.

"Don't be clingy," she whispered to him. "You'll have plenty of chances to see each other, while you're here. The festival's barely started."

"Y-yes," replied Oscar, grimacing as he straightened up, leg still throbbing from the impact.

"We'll show 'em around," said Jaune, walking up behind Oscar, resting his hands on the younger boy's shoulders.

"Thanks," said Ruby, giving Jaune a warm smile, before turning to follow Sasame and Natsuki up the steps into the tower lobby.

Jaune nodded, back and gently steered Oscar away. As he did, he leaned down slightly. "We should talk," he said to Oscar.

"W-we should?" asked Oscar, shifting nervously, wondering what Jaune wanted to talk about.

"Yeah," said Jaune, already guiding Oscar away from the rest of the group. "We'll catch up to you guys later."

"Pretty chummy of him," said Weiss, raising an eyebrow at Jaune separating Oscar from the rest of the group.

"Well, it's pretty obvious what he's going to do," said Yang, the others nodding in agreement.

"Oh...And what's that?" asked Maria, who apparently felt no need to follow Oscar, if Jaune was going to be with him.

"Jaune's gonna set the record straight, about Ruby," said Yang.

The shutters of Maria's eyes widened considerably. "Oh...I see...I hope Oscar takes it all right."

"What is this all about?" asked Miyu, looking at Yang quizzically, Setsuna mimicking her look from next to her.

Yang chuckled and grinned at Ruby's friends from the Mibu. "I guess we should fill you guys in too. A lot's happened since Ruby came to Beacon after all..."

* * *

"Do Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun know?" asked Ruby, as soon as the elevator doors slid closed.

"They do not," said Sasame. "They clearly suspect something, but have not pried into the matter. We were considering informing them."

"Oh..." said Ruby. "My friends at Beacon know, by the way."

"They do!?" gasped Natsuki.

"Not about you specifically, Natsu-chan," said Ruby, before grinning sheepishly. "A lot's happened..."

"I see," said Sasame, giggling. "It appears you have quite a few stories to share with us, Ruby-chan."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "By the way, did you notice, about Oscar and Maria?"

"I did," said Sasame. "It would appear that a certain someone has been training quite hard. And, interestingly, his training has apparently been more in-line with our own."

Ruby nodded.

"What are you talking about?" asked Natsuki.

"Oscar and Maria's Auras were Tempered," explained Ruby. "That's pretty rare in the Kingdoms."

"The Kingdoms have a different manner of developing people's Auras than we do," added Sasame. "But did you notice something else about Maria-dono?"

"Um..." Ruby frowned.

"...Like how you_ didn't_ notice her at first..." prodded Sasame.

Ruby gasped, eyes going wide. "Oh! She can do Suppression too."

"She can?" asked Natsuki, blinking.

Ruby nodded. Now that she thought about it, she realized she hadn't even sensed Maria's approach. No one had noticed the old woman had been there until she'd rapped her walking stick against poor Oscar's shin the first time. Not only was Maria capable of Suppression, but her Suppression was _flawless_, not even a faint leak of Aura present to give her away.

Sasame had noticed a few other things, mainly Maria's sudden interest in Ruby in particular. However, she chose to keep that to herself for the time being. Besides, the elevator had just arrived at Ozpin's office.

"Woooow!" cooed Natsuki, her eyes sweeping throughout the office, taking in the massive gears turning both above and below them, as well as the window, with its sweeping view of Vale's distant skyline.

Ruby and Sasame both stifled giggles at Natsuki's wonder. In the meantime, Ruby couldn't help but notice that Ozpin was not alone in the office. Both Glynda and Ironwood were there with him, the three of them behind Ozpin's desk. From the scrolls Glynda and Ironwood were holding, both unfolded into their tablet modes, and the way they'd been bending to look over Ozpin's shoulders to look at something, Ruby guessed that they had been discussing the security collaboration, right before the three visitors had entered.

Both Ironwood and Glynda jerked upright, looking towards Ruby and her companions with surprise. The response confused Ruby a little, given that she knew that Ozpin would have known they were coming, having needed to give his approval for the elevator to even take them up in the first place. Apparently, he hadn't bothered to inform Glynda and Ironwood that they were coming.

"Ms. Rose," said Ozpin, smiling congenially at her in greeting. "Ms. Mitarai, it is a pleasure to see you again."

"It is my pleasure as well, Ozpin-dono," said Sasame bowing to the trio behind the desk. "It is good to see you as well, Goodwitch-dono. I hope that Ruby-chan has not given you any trouble in the time since I was last here."

"Not the kind of trouble I would ever hold against her," said Glynda, sporting a rare, pleasant smile on her face.

Sasame's gaze went to Ironwood. "I do not believe we have been introduced," she said, bowing again, this time directly to Ironwood. "I am Mitarai Sasame of the Mibu Clan."

"This is General James Ironwood," said Ozpin, gesturing to Ironwood. "He is the Headmaster of Atlas Academy, Commander in Chief of the Atlesian Military, and member of the Atlesian Council."

"Ah," said Sasame, bowing again. "It is an honor, General."

"Hmm..." grunted Ironwood, giving Sasame curt nod, somewhat at a loss as to how to respond to her.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow in Ironwood's direction. He knew full well that Ironwood's feelings on the matter of Ruby's sister would be...complex. After all, given the business that had just happened with Mason Ayers, multiple visiting members of the Mibu Clan had the potential to cause tremendous complications, if word of their presence reached the remaining two Council Members (the process of electing a third to replace Mason had been deferred until after the festival's conclusion). Given what had happened, since he had arrived alongside his students, Ironwood knew better than to view the Mibu with hostility or contempt. But that didn't change the fact that their mere presence might well make things difficult for him and Winter.

Sasame took all of that in with a single glance, understanding that there was no need to unsettle Ironwood unnecessarily.

"So then, what brings you to me this time?" asked Ozpin.

"I apologize in advance for any difficulties this causes you," said Sasame, bowing once again. "I am afraid that, this time, I came accompanied by a few others. You see, Ruby-chan's friends at home have been eager to see her again, so I decided to allow them to accompany me to Vale. Because of that, we would require actual accommodations this time. I dislike imposing, especially out of the blue like this. However...it is my hope that there was some arrangement you could make for the four of us."

"I see," said Ozpin. He glanced sidelong at Glynda. "Glynda...?"

Glynda fiddled with her scroll for a moment. "I am afraid that space is at a premium," she said. "The visitor dorms are already filling up. Naturally, finding accommodations in the city would be nigh impossible at this point. Practically every hotel room in Vale has been spoken for."

Ruby watched Ozpin and Glynda with a downcast look. However, Ozpin smiled. "However, I do believe that there is a set of rooms in the visitor dormitories that is available, and you have Ms. Rose to thank for their availability."

"Me...?" asked Ruby, confused for a moment.

"Indeed," agreed Ozpin, his smile taking on a wry quality. "After all, _you_ are the reason their previous occupants had vacated them."

"Oh..." Ruby's mouth hung open as it dawned on her.

Ozpin was, of course, speaking of the rooms that had once been occupied by Cinder Fall and her "teammates." Now, with Cinder dead, Emerald and Mercury in custody, and Neo staying with Roman as a member of Beacon's own faculty, Team CMSN no longer had any claim to the rooms that had been theirs in the visitor dormitory.

"I would've thought that another team would've taken them already," said Ruby.

"The visitor dormitories are reserved for teams participating in the tournament," said Ozpin. "Because that was set well in advance, there was not enough time for Haven to recommend a replacement team, so their rooms remain unoccupied. I would be perfectly happy to allow Ms. Mitarai and her charges to occupy them instead."

"It sounds as though _quite_ a bit has happened since I was last here," mused Sasame.

"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "I suppose it would be a good idea to bring you up to speed."

"Ozpin, what-?" Ironwood began to protest.

Ozpin raised a hand to forestall the rest of the General's outburst. "Ms. Mitarai already knows a great deal about the general situation, James. The Mibu are well-informed." His gaze slipped to Natsuki, who'd been waiting quietly, if somewhat impatiently. "In fact, I believe that the reason she is here now is not just about finding accommodations for her group. It would seem that Ms. Mitarai has something to brief _us_ about as well."

"That would be correct," replied Sasame. She waved Natsuki forward. "Natsu-chan, it's time to introduce yourself to him."

Natsuki swallowed nervously, before taking two steps forward to stand ahead of Ruby and Sasame. She bowed to Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood. "It is an honor to finally meet you, Ozpin-dono. I am Shinomori Natsuki, Ruby-chan's childhood friend, and..."

She straightened up. A startled gasp escaped from Glynda and Ironwood, both of them taking a step back as violet flames began to stream from the outside corners of her eyes.

"...I am the Summer Maiden," she finished.

* * *

**New characters, old characters...Characters everywhere!**

**Natsuki wound up being a palate-swap of Misao, from _Rurouni Kenshin_, but since her parents were pretty much straight expies, I thought it suited her.**

**Oscar, as you might notice, is already rocking his updated clothes from Volume 6 and 7 of the canon show, which seems to suggest...certain things. And he's been keeping interesting company. And Maria just gets a chance to be sassy, because she's awesome like that.**


	119. Chapter 119

**Chapter 119:**

"So...what do you think?" asked Jaune, settling across the table from Oscar.

Oscar sipped from the paper cup of spiced cider Jaune had bought for him from one of the festival booths. "It's good," he said, with a smile.

Jaune could have just gotten a couple of sodas from a nearby vending machine. But it seemed more appropriate to take advantage of the incredible variety of concessions being sold throughout the festival grounds, and get Oscar something that would only be available here and now.

Jaune smiled back, but that smile quickly faded, replaced by a slightly sad, even apologetic expression.

"I-is something wrong?" asked Oscar nervously, wondering why Jaune wanted to speak to him alone.

Jaune sighed, running a hand through his blonde locks. "It's just...there's no easy way to put this, but..." He took a deep breath, before giving Oscar a serious expression. "Look...Oscar...I _kno_w why you came to Vale."

"Y-you do?" asked Oscar, shifting nervously.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "It was pretty obvious. You like Ruby, don't you, I mean seriously _like_-like her."

Oscar sputtered incoherently, cheeks flushing bright red. "That's...uh..."

"Like I said," said Jaune, a rueful smile flickering across his face for a second, "pretty obvious." He sighed again. "That's why I'm going to go ahead and apologize to you right now."

"Huh?" grunted Oscar.

"I'm sorry, but Ruby and I..." Jaune averted his eyes, not sure there was a gentle way he could put this. "...We're already together. She's my girlfriend."

Oscar's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly. "Oh..."

Jaune couldn't help but grimace as he saw the energy drain out of Oscar's face. He felt like a jerk for crushing Oscar's hopes so completely, like he was some kind of animal staking his claim and running off a rival.

"I...I don't know how to make this any easier," Jaune said. "I just wanted to be honest and upfront with you."

He could see that Oscar was struggling to hold back tears. Jaune could understand. After all, Oscar had _really_ gone out on a limb. Traveling all the way from a farming town in Anima, across the sea to Vale, couldn't have been easy...or cheap. Jaune didn't want to think about just how much of his savings, or maybe even his family's money, Oscar had used to fund this trip to Vale, all to see and connect with a girl he liked, a girl he'd now learned was out of his reach.

_"Don't worry, you'll find someone,"_ or _"There are plenty of fish in the sea,"_ were such hollow reassurances in the face of such a crushing disappointment. Jaune felt that he would be an even bigger jerk if he tried to reassure Oscar with such rote words.

"Wh-why even tell me?" asked Oscar.

"Part of it is I didn't want you to get your hopes up," said Jaune. "I also wanted to make it easier for Ruby. It would have hurt her to have to shoot you down."

"Would she have?" asked Oscar, lifting his head, a slight competitive glint in his eye.

"I think she would," said Jaune. "I believe in what Ruby and I have, and that she wouldn't just throw that away for someone else." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "If you _really_ want to try, Oscar, I won't stop you. This isn't me threatening your or trying to block you off. I just...well..." He shook his head. "I don't want to come off as territorial, but...I _love_ Ruby. And she loves me. We established that a while back, and we're happy together. I just wanted to be honest with you."

Oscar looked at Jaune, tears building up in his eyes. Sniffling, he ducked his head and rubbed them furiously. "Dammit!"

Jaune didn't say anything, feeling like he might cry a bit himself. He had a lot of sympathy for Oscar, and a lot of respect for the lengths the younger boy had been willing to go to, the chance he'd been willing to take. That kind of daring and determination were something he respected a lot, and it felt wrong for it to go unrewarded.

"Are you gonna be okay?" asked Jaune, leaning forward.

"I...I need some time," said Oscar, lifting his head up, eyes reddened. "Part of me doesn't want to accept it. Part of me still wants to try."

"I'll let you, if you want," said Jaune. "One thing I know about Ruby is that she wouldn't forgive me if I tried to run you off, just because you like her. I don't want to do that kind of thing anyway. I haven't known you very long, barely even half an hour, but I can tell you're a great guy, Oscar."

"You can...?" asked Oscar, blinking.

Jaune nodded. "Yeah. You came all the way out here, just on the chance that you could meet Ruby again, and maybe start something with her. It was a serious risk. But you took it. I can't even begin to guess what you had to give up to take this chance. Someone who tries that hard for someone like Ruby _can't_ be bad."

"Thanks," said Oscar. "I guess it was stupid of me. There's no way she could love some farm-boy from out in the sticks, not when she has someone like you."

"Don't sell yourself short," said Jaune, "and _don't_ give me too much credit. Seriously."

"What do you mean?" asked Oscar, looking at Jaune skeptically. "You're at Beacon with her. You guys are all the cream of the crop, right?"

Jaune couldn't stop himself. His body lurched as he snorted loudly.

"Me, the cream of the crop..." He sighed, shaking his head. "Oscar, I'm a _massive_ dork. I'll be up-front with you. You, right now, are probably a better man than I am. I came to Beacon with _no_ training, no idea of what it took to be a Huntsman, beyond knowing how to swing a sword around a little. I was a poser, a loser..."

Oscar stared at Jaune incredulously. "But that's...but you..."

Jaune glanced down at himself. "Don't let the outfit fool you," he said. "This is a recent addition. 'Armored hobo' was one of Ruby's favorite terms for how I _used_ to look."

Oscar snorted himself, hands going up to stifle the laughter that threatened to break out.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "I was _not_ what you'd call a 'hot commodity'."

"But how did you...?" asked Oscar, waving a hand lamely.

Jaune glanced upwards, smiling wistfully. "I can really understand your feelings. Ruby changed your life, didn't she?"

"She did," agreed Oscar. "Grimm attacked our town. Mom and Dad were killed." He sighed, averting his eyes for a few seconds, before smiling again. "I was in the cellar of our house, hiding. But they knew I was there. I could hear them digging for me. Then they just went quiet. At first I was afraid that they were trying something else. But then the doors opened, and there she was...

"After that, she and her sister did everything they could to help me. Ruby was there, the whole time I was grieving over my parents. They came with me to see my aunt, even though they had to go out of their way to do it. When I learned she was training to be a Huntress, I...I thought it was amazing. And I thought that I'd be willing to do anything to be by her side."

Jaune found himself smiling at that. "Yeah, that sounds like Ruby all right. Even before she came to Beacon, she was already living like a Huntress."

Oscar nodded. "At first, it seemed impossible. I was just a parentless farm-boy. Auntie Em didn't have the money to send me to Combat School. I thought my chance was gone. But then Ms. Maria showed up, and I found my chance."

Jaune nodded. "Ruby changed my world too," he said. "Truth be told, I was such an idiot that I had no idea what I was in for. If Ruby hadn't been there on the day of initiation, I would've been dead."

"Really?" gasped Oscar.

"Yep," said Jaune. "I didn't even have my Aura unlocked when Ozpin launched all us off a cliff. But Ruby noticed, and she was there to catch me. After that...After that..."

Jaune shook his head. "She took an unbelievable chance. She offered to help me, to train me, so that I could become a real Huntsman. She worked me like crazy, and it actually _worked_. Ruby gave up so much of her time, put so much of her energy into helping me...it's hard to think how I _couldn't_ fall for her."

Oscar nodded, enraptured by Jaune's story.

Jaune looked across the table at Oscar with a serious expression. "If our positions had been reversed, I think you'd have had just as much chance to be with her. Heck! You'd probably have an even _better_ chance. In the end, though it's hard to put it like this, I guess it just came down to luck of the draw. I was the one who lucked out, and got to spend so much time with her, bonding with her, until we actually decided to be more than just partners."

"Time, huh..." mused Oscar ruefully. "I guess that makes sense. You know...after that interview, I thought about sending her a letter, but I chickened out. Part of me was afraid that she'd think I was someone latching onto her, after she got all famous for fighting Pyrrha Nikos to a draw."

"Well, she _did_ get a lot of mail during that time," noted Jaune. "And we _were_ having a hard time sorting out the fan and hate-mail from everything else, so..." he shrugged.

Oscar nodded, then sipped his cider. "Thanks, Jaune. I'm...I'm glad you did this."

"You are?" asked Jaune.

Oscar nodded again. "You're right. It's better that I just accept it, and I'm glad that you told me the truth. I could've just carried on, not knowing, and had Ruby shoot me down herself. That would've hurt both of us."

"That's good," said Jaune. "Even if you and Ruby can't be together, you can still be friends."

"I'll try," said Oscar. "It's not as though I can just drop feelings like this overnight."

"Feelings that drove you to travel to an entirely different continent?" asked Jaune rhetorically. "I'd think you were crazy if you did."

"Thanks," said Oscar.

"So...ready to join the others?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah," said Oscar, looking up at him. "You know, do you think we could be friends too?"

Jaune grinned. "As two guys who fell for the same girl, I think we already are."

* * *

The silence that fell over the office, following Natsuki's revelation, was broken only by the low clicks of the gears perpetually churning around everyone. Finally, it was Ironwood who spoke.

"H-how!?" he demanded. "How could a Mibu be a Maiden?"

"If I recall, there is nothing that dictates a Mibu would be ineligible," said Sasame in a teasing tone. "If a Maiden dies without a successor in mind, or their chosen successor is ineligible, then the power goes to someone else at random, correct?"

"That is correct," agreed Ozpin.

"That is what happened," said Sasame simply. "After all, it isn't as though the Mibu Clan is short on young women. There was every chance that one of them would have become a Maiden sooner or later. Given the averages, I'm rather surprised that a Maiden didn't appear amongst our number _before_ Natsu-chan."

Ozpin nodded. "As much as possible, we have tried to ensure that proper candidates were prepared, when a Maiden passed. However, there have been...lapses..."

"Yes," said Sasame, her tone darkening and her expression becoming more serious, "...lapse is _indeed_ the word I would use, Ozpin-dono."

Natsuki and Ruby found themselves edging away from Sasame slightly, watching her nervously. Sasame's Aura was gradually becoming agitated, like water coming to a boil. The look she was giving Ozpin was just shy of a glare.

"And what lapse have I committed?" asked Ozpin earnestly.

"It would seem that, while you set a maximum age limit for those who are eligible to receive the magic, you forgot to set a _minimum_ one," said Sasame, resting her hands on her hips, her tone scolding. "Natsu-chan was barely a month old, when the power came upon her. If it weren't for Makoto-sama's quick action, her life would have been considerably more difficult, because of that."

Glynda gasped softly, while Ironwood was floored, sputtering in shock.

"Y-you've been sheltering the Summer Maiden for fifteen years!" he exclaimed.

"Sheltering implies that we were hiding her," said Sasame. "In a sense, I suppose we were. However, our aim was to ensure that Natsu-chan had as normal a childhood as possible, before we allowed her to choose whether or not to embrace her status as a Maiden."

"You could do that?" asked Glynda. "But how? Becoming a Maiden is permanent."

"It is," said Sasame. "However, immediately after Natsu-chan was empowered, Makoto-sama, our Chief Physician, placed a seal in her that kept it from bonding with her Aura. If she chose to forgo that responsibility, then Makoto-sama would have been able to exorcise the magic, and send it on its way to the next host."

"Yet, it would appear that you have chosen to embrace that magic," noted Ozpin, his gaze going to Natsuki. "May I ask why?"

Natsuki looked down at her feet. "I...I''m not like Ruby-chan," she admitted. "Ruby-chan wants to fight for and save other people. I've never really had that motivation. I was never interested in being a hero. But...I was never against it either.

"If Makoto-sama exorcised the magic, then it would have just gone to some other girl, someone who'd have to deal with suddenly having a strange power, and being hunted by Salem. I couldn't do that. I could've just let Makoto-sama keep maintaining the seal, while I lived out my life. But just sitting on that power and doing nothing with it didn't feel right either. So..." Natsuki looked at Ozpin and shrugged. "I'm _still_ not sure what to do with it, to be honest. But I'll figure something out."

Ozpin smiled. "I'm grateful," he admitted. "I am sorry that you were forced to confront such a decision at such a young age. It is my oversight." He bowed his head contritely.

Sasame's Aura calmed down into its usual tranquil Temper, and she nodded, accepting Ozpin's apology, even though it had been directed at Natsuki.

"Now then," she said, "onto practical matters. Natsu-chan made her decision a little over a year ago. However, Makoto-sama removed the seal only a few months ago, so Natsu-chan's control over her magic is very nascent."

"Why not remove the seal immediately?" asked Ironwood.

"Natsu-chan was training in the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_," explained Sasame. "Since she was still building her proficiency in her chosen Manifestation, we did not wish to...muddy the waters...so to speak. Even now, after unlocking her magic, Natsu-chan's training has been primarily centered around utilizing one or the other, so as to ensure that she will not accidentally draw upon her magic, when she is intending to use her Aura."

"A novel approach," said Ozpin. "Certainly one that only the Mibu are presently equipped to take. And what then?"

It was Natsuki who answered. "After that, I was going to work on how I could use my magic and Aura together," she explained. "But, in order to do that, I'd need to know what magic can do. So...that's why I'm here."

Ozpin smiled. "Indeed, I can instruct you in the use of your magic, Ms. Shinomori. On top of that, there is another here, whom you can learn from, and who could learn from you as well."

Ruby gasped. "Amber!" It hadn't even occurred to her to introduce Natsuki to the other Maiden she knew. Ruby was sure the idea would have come to her sooner or later, since she would have introduced Amber to her friends from home at some point. But Ozpin had broached the idea first.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Glynda, giving Ozpin a dubious look. "Having two Maidens in the same place is a serious risk."

Ozpin's gaze lowered. "It is," he admitted. "But it is a risk we may need to take."

"And why is that?" asked Sasame.

Ozpin gave Sasame a sorrowful look. "You mentioned my lapses earlier," he said. "It is to my shame that I have yet another consequence of my lapses to report, namely that the power of one of the other Maidens, the Spring Maiden, has found its way into a rather unsavory host, and it may be best if the power of the Maidens who are allied with us were marshaled against her."

"And who is that?" asked Sasame.

"Someone whose path you've crossed before," said Ozpin. "Her name is Raven Branwen..."

* * *

Jaune and Oscar had returned to the main group, by the time Ruby, Natsuki, and Sasame caught up with them. By that time, the day had waned. Soon, it was time for Maria and Oscar to catch the next flight into Vale, and return to their lodgings. Jaune still felt a little guilty for shooting Oscar down, realizing that getting a hotel room during the festival _had_ to have been expensive.

For his part, Oscar was silent and pensive on the flight back. Maria sat beside him silently, not asking a single question. They walked in silence all the way back to their hotel, until they reached their room. Finally, there, behind closed doors, Oscar's control began to slip, and he shuddered, letting out a soft whimper.

"I can imagine it wasn't an easy thing to learn," said Maria, resting a hand against Oscar's back.

Oscar didn't bother asking how Maria knew. It had probably been just as obvious to everyone else in the group as his feelings had been to Jaune.

"That's the sad thing about life," said Maria. "Sometimes you have the courage to take a tremendous risk...and it doesn't pay off. When you roll the dice, your number doesn't always come up."

"I know," said Oscar despondently. "I know dwelling over it won't do me any good, but I can't let go...not just yet."

"That's only natural," said Maria, her tone darkening. "To live is to lose...things, people...learning to let go is difficult."

Oscar nodded, rubbing his eyes with his sleeve.

"You could still try, you know," said Maria, looking up at him with a smile. "But, if that girl was the kind to abandon someone, just on the chance she'd be better off with somebody else, then she'd _definitely_ not be worth all the trouble you went through. You have good taste, Oscar. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."

"Thanks," said Oscar.

"Go wash up," instructed Maria. "Then go to bed. Tomorrow, tackle this festival with a clean slate."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Oscar, giving Maria a grateful smile, before heading to the bathroom.

Maria hobbled over to the room's easy-chair, settling herself into it. Setting her walking stick down, she leaned it against the chair's arm, before leaning back, her prosthetic eyes whirring as she gazed dully at the ceiling. _I still need to find a chance to speak to that girl alone,_ she thought. _This is an opportunity I can't let slip past._

* * *

"You have a _boyfriend_!?" exclaimed Natsuki, staring at Ruby with wide eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You _just_ got here," Ruby countered.

"She's not wrong," said Miyu with a small giggle.

"I'm glad to see that you and Jaune-kun are doing so well," said Sasame. "I _knew_ he would be a good fit for you."

Ruby puffed out her cheeks, pouting at Sasame, who merely raised her fingers and pressed Ruby's puffed cheeks inward, prompting the trapped air to come sputtering out, prompting laughs from Miyu and Natsuki, while Setsuna chuckled quietly, over by where he sat.

Ruby looked between her friends and her sister, then sighed, lowering her head in defeat. Deciding to shift the topic, she raised her head to look at Sasame. "By the way, Jaune's been learning how to heal."

"Is that so?" mused Sasame. "I knew that was a path that was well-suited to him. I'm glad to see he's following it."

"There's more to it than that!" exclaimed Ruby. "Jaune has this amazing power. Kyo-nii says he's a Shaman."

"Really!?" exclaimed Natsuki and Miyu in unison. Even Setsuna looked surprised, staring at Ruby with wide eyes.

Ruby nodded eagerly. She quickly explained Jaune's unique ability to amplify the Aura of himself and others. Sasame listened raptly, her tail waving behind her, gradually moving faster and faster, betraying her eagerness.

"Well now, this changes things," said Sasame finally. "It's clear that Jaune-kun would definitely benefit from proper instruction." She paused, pinching her chin. "I was planning to do that, if he _had_ decided to become a healer, but this information makes it all the more imperative. I shall have to speak to Ozpin-dono to see what arrangements we can make."

"Arrangements for what?" asked Ruby.

"To take him back with us," said Sasame, drawing a startled gasp from Ruby. "If Jaune-kun is truly going to apply his potential in that kind of direction, then tutoring him over the brief period of the festival is no good. I should bring him back to the Mibu and ensure that he can be trained intensively."

Ruby's jaw hung slack. Of course she'd figured that Sasame would provide some training to Jaune. But hauling him all the way back to Onmyo was the last thing she'd imagined her sister would do, and while Jaune was still a first-year student at Beacon no less.

"But he can't leave," Ruby protested. "We need him here."

"I'd give him back," Sasame countered, speaking of Jaune as though he were an object to be loaned out.

"Can't you come back?" asked Ruby. "You could visit again and train him then."

She was shocked to see her suggestion immediately wipe any trace of happiness from Sasame's face. Instead, her expression was placed by one of deep melancholy as she spoke her next words. "I'm sorry, Ruby-chan. But I'm afraid that this may be the last opportunity that I have to visit you. When I return home to the Mibu, it will be for a long while, possibly for good."

Ruby gasped, the bottom dropping out of her stomach. "What!? But...why?"

Sasame smiled sadly. "This is to be my last excursion to the outside world, I'm afraid," she said. "I've run out of excuses, and I can't put it off any longer. When I return, I will be taking on the mantle of Saisei of the Goyosei. After that, my duties will confine me to Leng for the foreseeable future."

Ruby shuddered, tears building in her eyes. "B-but...but..."

Her friends all looked on with saddened expressions. They had learned this before Ruby had, but had been instructed not to tell her about it. In a sense, they were glad, as only Sasame could be allowed to break the news to her.

"Oh, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, pulling Ruby into a hug. Her tail divided, the nine appendages wrapping Ruby up in a cocoon of soft warmth. "I know this is hard. Part of me doesn't want to go through with this either. But...you've grown into such a beautiful young woman, one who is moving forward in life, walking the path of her own choosing. Watching you led me to realize that the time has come for me to stop dragging my heels. It is time for me to move forward as well, and travel the path I've sought for myself."

She planted a lingering kiss on Ruby's forehead. "You'll be fine, Ruby-chan. You've grown so strong and beautiful. You've been blessed with wonderful friends, and the love an excellent young man. I know you're mature enough that you don't _really_ need to cling to me."

Sasame pulled out of the embrace, moving her hands up to gently cup Ruby's cheeks, her thumbs working to wipe away the tears that glistened on them. "No matter what, even if we're far apart, you'll still always be my dear and precious little sister, the most wonderful girl in the whole wide world."

Ruby hiccuped, then sniffled, before smiling and nodding.

"Besides, if I have my way, it won't be forever," said Sasame.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked.

Sasame smiled. "Part of the reason I plan on accepting the name of Saisei is so that I can lend my support to Sora-sama. She has decided to openly campaign for the opening of our borders, so that we might join hands with the rest of the world. I want to give her my support, and the support of Saisei will be leagues more valuable than that of Sasame."

"You're really going to do it?" asked Ruby.

She wasn't the only one shocked. Her other three friends were just as floored by this revelation as she was, none of them having heard a _hint_ of this before.

Sasame nodded. "It won't be easy. Many influential members of the clan are still heavily against such a thing. But Sora-sama and I believe it necessary, the rest of the Taishiro as well. We will make it happen and, with you as our emissary, we will reveal ourselves to the rest of the world."

"Me?!" exclaimed Ruby.

"I'm sorry," said Sasame, bowing her head slightly. "I...I don't wish to use you. However, with you following the path that you are, and the good that you have done, and will continue to do, what better example of what the Mibu can bring to the wider world could we ask for?"

"That makes sense!" exclaimed Natsuki, jumping back into the conversation with her usual gusto. "With Ruby-chan showing everyone how awesome she is, the Mibu would have no problem."

Sasame tittered, and even Ruby found herself giggling, the unhappy feeling at knowing this would be Sasame's last visit evaporating a little.

"Anyway," said Sasame, bringing her attention back to Ruby. "My objective then would be to get this through fast enough that I will have the freedom to attend your graduation, Ruby-chan."

"I'd like that," said Ruby.

"Good," said Sasame. "Now then...there's still the issue of how to convince Ozpin-dono to let me take Jaune-kun back with us. But I suppose we can worry about that later."

Ruby still didn't think that was a feasible idea, but she could see that Sasame was dead-set on it.

"Now then," said Sasame, her smile turning into a mischievous grin, "I don't believe you've yet told us just _how_ the two of you got together. I intend to get _all_ the details, Ruby-chan."

Miyu and Natsuki settled in on either side of Sasame, smiling dangerous smiles of their own, while Setsuna sighed and shook his head, beginning to edge towards the door, giving Ruby an apologetic look to match her pleading one.

This was girl-talk, after all, which meant that he, the boy, was free to make his escape. Ruby, on the other hand, was not so lucky.

* * *

The Vytal Festival was an affair that lasted a little over three weeks. It had officially begun on Saturday. Besides the commencement ceremony, which had been conducted in Amity Coliseum, and broadcast across most of the world, there weren't any special events until Monday, when the tournament commenced. As such, Sunday was essentially a free day for everyone, including the tournament participants.

In Ruby's case, being free didn't mean that she wasn't busy. If anything, the arrival of Sasame and her friends had cluttered her schedule up unbelievably. Her friends from home had to be introduced to the rest of the friends she'd made at Beacon, including the boys of Team SSSN, Team CPPR, and Ashley, who gladly took advantage of Beacon's now-open campus to visit freely. On top of that, Ruby needed to make the necessary arrangements to get all the right people into the right place, so that she could fully bring them up to speed on current events, mainly informing her friends about Natsuki being the Summer Maiden, as well as bringing Natsuki and Sasame up to speed on the conflict against Salem in Vale. To simplify things, and because they were well-trusted friends, Sasame and Natsuki made the decision to include Miyu and Setsuna, finally revealing the last secret that had lingered between them.

And, of course, it also meant introducing the Summer Maiden to the Fall Maiden...and revealing Kyo's relationship to Sasame, much to his utter mortification.

* * *

"Well well well well weeeeeeeeeeellllll..." teased Sasame, grinning slyly at Kyo, sitting across from her in the living room of his suite, "this is a _wonderful_ surprise, Kyo. You're certainly doing a _magnificent_ job of imitating your father. Imagine how Sora-sama will react when you bring Amber-san home."

Kyo's face glowed bright red, his eyes hidden by his bangs as he dipped his face down to keep from making eye contact with Sasame. Beside him sat Amber, her own cheeks reddening.

"Sasame...th-that's not..." Kyo hadn't felt this tongue-tied since his first meeting with Amber. _Leave it to Sasame to leave me at a loss for words,_ he thought.

Standing off to the side, Ruby and Natsuki stifled giggles of their own.

"Anyway...we haven't really..." Kyo looked up. "That is to say...it would be presumptuous of me to call Amber-san..." His voice trailed off, and he averted his eyes again.

"Really now," said Sasame, raising an eyebrow. "Yet the two of you seem to be doing quite well together, to my eyes. Are you sure...?"

"Um..." Kyo fought to find a response.

"A-actually," stammered Amber. "I am."

"You are you?" asked Sasame, leaning forward. "And what is it that you are sure of?"

Still blushing, Amber looked at Kyo, who was watching her with a slightly confused and hopeful expression. She smiled. "I've decided...I'd like to stay with him, if that's possible."

Kyo's eyes widened, his mouth opening softly, a look of wonder on his face, as though he couldn't quite comprehend what he'd just heard.

"It's _more_ than possible," said Sasame, smiling all the wider. Then she took a deep breath, regarding them with a sober expression. "However...this complicates things as well."

"It does...?" asked Amber.

Kyo's embarrassment disappeared, and he adopted a serious look that mirrored Sasame's. "I'm aware," he said.

"Then you're aware that Amber-san's life is in _your_ hands, when the inevitable happens," said Sasame.

"I don't understand," said Amber, looking back and forth between the two of them. "What are you talking about?"

"Kyo has mentioned _him_ to you, hasn't he?" asked Sasame.

"Him...?" Amber blinked. "Wait! Are you talking about Jester?"

"So _that's_ the name he's using now," said Sasame, frowning darkly. "Of course it is..."

"What about him?" asked Ruby, stepping forward.

Sasame gave Ruby a sober look. "Kyo has told you about him, of course. The reason we Mibu have never interfered with Salem is because_ he_ stands between us and her."

"I've_ met_ him," said Ruby. "The Ennui's driven him completely mad."

"What's going on?" asked Natsuki. "Who's Jester?"

"An existence beyond that of men, beyond that of gods _or_ demons," said Sasame.

"And one who can keep the accumulated power of the Mibu at bay," added Kyo.

"But what are you talking about, with Kyo and me?" asked Amber.

"We speak of Jester as though we have an agreement, a treaty of sorts, with him," said Sasame. "The truth is that everything is entirely at his discretion. However, he has his rules, and he abides by them, as far as we know."

"But what does that have to do with me?" asked Amber.

Sasame sighed. "Because Kyo starting a relationship with you, and taking you under his protection, means that he has crossed that line. He now stands directly between Salem and her objective, opposes her, in other words. And that means that it will be Jester who comes for you next time, the one person in the whole of the world that Kyo is unable to kill."

Amber shivered, directing a frightened look at Kyo, who stared down at his hands, resting on his knees, bunching the fabric of his kimono.

"I had no idea..." whispered Ruby, realizing that she had a hand in this. After all, she had been the one to nudge the two of them together in the first place. Had she known that encouraging such a relationship would exact such a heavy toll, would she have still done it?

She honestly didn't know.

"You are in a similar situation, Natsu-chan," added Sasame, now looking at Natsuki.

"I am?" Natsuki straightened nervously.

Sasame nodded. "You are a Maiden, yet you are also a Mibu. From what we know of Jester, he views you as having to choose between one or the other. Had you chosen to simply act as custodian of the Maiden's magic, or allowed Makoto-sama to exorcise it, he would not take action against you. But you have embraced the magic, chosen to _serve_ as the Summer Maiden, which means that you have now stepped outside the demesne of the Mibu. If we shelter you from Salem, we cross that line as well, and Jester would come for you, by going _through_ us."

"Why?" asked Natsuki, her eyes tearing up. "Why didn't anyone tell me this? If I go back, I'll be putting everyone in danger, won't I?"

Sasame sighed. "I'm not sure. Makoto-sama insisted that Jester not be treated as a factor, when it came to informing your decision. My best guess is that he didn't want you to be afraid for our sake. After all, regardless of Jester's 'rules', if he comes for you, we _will_ stand against him, regardless of the outcome."

She shook her head slowly. "And, in that sense, he may have already begun."

"How?" asked Natsuki.

"Adam Taurus," guessed Ruby.

"Huh?" The others all looked at her in confusion.

"Jester took Taurus from the White Fang," said Ruby. "He says that he's been training him. I think that has something to do with it."

"I see..." said Sasame, her frown deepening. "That _does_ make sense, considering what happened back home."

"What happened?" asked Ruby.

"It wasn't all that long after I got back to Onmyo," said Sasame. "There was a theft. Murasame-sama's vault was plundered, and one of the clan's Treasure Blades stolen."

"WHAT!?" shrieked Natsuki, shooting to her face. "When?! I never heard anything about that!"

Ruby covered her mouth, unable to fully mask the look of horror that washed over her face.

Amber looked around, having no idea what was going on.

"I'm sorry," said Sasame, turning an apologetic smile on Amber. "I should elaborate for you, Amber-san.

"Murasame-sama is a member of the Taishiro, our clan's leaders. For simplicity's sake, you wouldn't be wrong to think of them as our equivalent to the Kingdoms' Councils. However, he is also the Mibu Blademaster. He is the overseer of our clan's weapon and armor smiths. He himself is the greatest swordsmith in all the clan. However, the Blademaster has an additional duty. He is the custodian of our clan's Treasure Blades, the relics forged by previous Blademasters. Treasure Blades include the likes of Kyo's Tenro."

Amber's eyes darted to the sword that rested on a rack, over by the door.

"One of Natsu-chan's kodachi is also a Treasure Blade," added Sasame.

"Huh?" Ruby looked at Natsuki, who blushed, one hand going to gently brush against the handle of the shorter of her two kodachi.

"That kodachi is actually the last creation of the great Muramasa," continued Sasame, prompting Ruby's jaw to drop. "It was ranked as equal to the four great Demonblades that he forged before it, including Tenro. And though he never bestowed a name upon it, in the years after its creation, people would come to name it after the person he forged it for...Yuya."

"And this Jester..._stole_ one of these swords?" asked Amber, glancing between everyone else int he room.

Sasame nodded. "He is the only one with the skill to steal into our midst, and walk out with one of our most precious treasures, without us having the slightest inkling of anything going on," she said. "Murasame-sama didn't even notice there'd been an intrusion until days later. The sword he stole is called Hakuya. It was a creation of Muramasa's own teacher, Julian."

"Hakuya..." said Ruby, testing the name with her own tongue.

"It is a large, broad blade," said Sasame. "Though both large and heavy, if mastered, it has the potential to be the fastest blade ever forged. Its name means 'White Night' because it is like the light cutting through darkness."

"Can it be used for an Iaijutsu style?" asked Ruby.

Sasame nodded. "In fact, many of those who have employed it in the past, including its original wielder, used it in such a fashion.

"I thought so," said Ruby. "So he must have stolen the sword for Adam to use, and he's been training Adam in Mibu-style techniques."

"The next time he appears, he will be stronger by an order of magnitude," said Sasame.

"So that's the balance he struck," said Kyo. "We trained Ruby-chan in the Mibu's Manifestation arts, and then allowed her to go to Beacon, so he did the same for one on Salem's side."

"But what about now?" asked Amber. "What do we do?"

"Only one thing," said Kyo, meeting Sasame's eyes. "One way or another, we bring about Jester's end...for good this time."

"How?" asked Amber. "You said it was impossible, that even god-slaying techniques couldn't be able to win against him."

"We'll just have to find a way," said Kyo, Sasame nodding her agreement. "If it is impossible for us to do now, we will find the path to making the impossible possible. However, as I said before, both Tou-san and O-Kaa-san believe that Ruby-chan is the key to making that happen."

"Yes, but why...how?" Ruby wanted to know.

"About that...I may have an answer," said Sasame. "Though it is only a partial one, I'm afraid, as I do not know what to make of it either."

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

Sasame took a deep breath, looking carefully at Ruby. "Ruby-chan, you are a very special girl, in more ways than one."

"What...how?" wondered Ruby.

"Because...you have Silver Eyes."

* * *

Vale's airport resembled a hive of insects. Airships of a variety of shapes and sizes were landing or lifting off at any given time. They ranged in variety and type, from long-range intercontinental cruisers, designed to ferry hundreds of passengers across the distance between Kingdoms, to smaller, personal models, many of which were designed to fly to and from much closer locales. Normally, the airspace around Vale's airport wasn't so crowded. But the arrival of the Vytal Festival had brought with it a dramatic increase in traffic coming into and going out of the Kingdom, especially the former.

Of course, the airport wasn't unique in this situation. The docks and rail station were just as crowded, as trains and ships brought in visitors from all across the four Kingdoms. They were also the primary hubs, through which much of the cargo needed to keep the festival going was brought in. Agricultural settlements were sending in tons upon tons of food to meet the orders of the restaurants and other purveyors who had taken on the task of feeding those who had come to attend the festival. Other places supplied vast numbers of the countless other consumables that the attendees would go through during their stay. And, of course, there was the Dust.

The docks were practically clogged with freighters, packed to the brim with the vital resource, much of it earmarked for use in Amity Coliseum, keeping the massive structure aloft, while also fueling the biome generators that would be used in the arena during the matches. With the White Fang having given up its Dust-thefts, and the trade routes now free of the threat of piracy, things were running like clockwork, and the near-crippling Dust-shortage of a few short months ago seemed like a distant memory.

In the midst of all that hustle and bustle, it was easy to miss the presence of a single airship weaving its way through the skies of Vale, slipping around its larger cousins, while carefully skirting the flight paths of those more its own size. The simple bullhead swooped down towards Vale's airport, its wings switching to its hover configuration as it slowed to a swift stop over its designated landing pad with near pinpoint precision, before lowering the final few feet onto the pad.

As its engines wound down, the passenger bay doors slid open, and the air was filled with several high-pitched voices as a gaggle of six young women spilled out from within, all chattering excitedly with one another. Anyone who looked at them would have, correctly, assumed that they were related, seeing as they each sported the same set of blonde hair and blue eyes, though their body types and builds ranged between them, along with their ages.

The bullhead's cockpit door opened, while the passenger bay doors closed. From within the cockpit stepped and older woman, sporting a head of short, grayish-black hair, its tips curling upwards, giving it a slightly messy look. She stepped down onto the tarmac, her sea-green eyes taking in her assembled family.

"All right, girls," she said cheerfully, "don't go wandering off yet. Your father is still shutting things down. Mari, Daisy, Citrine, stay with your big sisters, okay?"

"_Okaaaay!_" chorused the three younger girls in almost perfect unison.

"Oriana, Aurea, Xanthe, remember that you're the responsible ones," added Sapphira Arc.

"_Yes, Mom,_" chorused the three older girls in unison.

A couple minutes later, Sapphira's husband emerged from the cockpit, closing and locking the door behind him. "All shut down," he declared. "We're ready to head into town."

Blaine yelped as his wife swatted the back of his head. "That was for pulling that stunt with your landing," she said. "I don't need you being a daredevil of a pilot, not when our daughters are onboard."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Blaine meekly, rubbing the top of his head. He had obtained some renown as a skilled Huntsman, but his wife was always quick to remind him that she had once been a successful Huntress herself.

In front of them, their daughters giggled and laughed at the couple's interplay.

"All right, all right," said Blaine, getting back on track. "Let's get going. Saphron and Terra are meeting us at the hotel."

"And when are we gonna see Jaune?" asked Marigold, the youngest Arc daughter, her golden hair a mass of curls.

"It's going to be a bit yet," said Blaine. "The boy's gonna be busy as all get out."

"I still don't believe that he got into Beacon," commented Aurea with a dismissive air. The closest to Jaune in age, she had made a hobby of teasing him, when they were younger, a tendency that had been somewhat exacerbated by the dismissive manner her parents had treated him with, when it came to his aspirations to be a Huntsman. Despite her father returning home to inform them that Jaune had, in fact, been accepted into Beacon, and was doing quite well to boot, she remained stubbornly skeptical that such a thing was possible for her clumsy, accident-prone brother.

Seeing her reaction, Blaine let out a soft huff. While Aurea's skepticism was the most blatant, it was still shared by the three youngest daughters of the family, all of whom were younger than Jaune. Even the oldest girls were having difficulty accepting it. In fact, the only one Blaine had fully convinced of the truth was his wife, who'd immediately insisted on going back to Beacon to "save their boy, before he got himself killed." It had taken a great deal of work on Blaine's part to get her to stay put until the Vytal Festival came around. And even then, Blaine knew her first impulse upon meeting Jaune would be to try and convince him to come home, something Blaine _knew_ would not go over well.

Thus, it was his hope to keep the women in his life from meeting up with Jaune before his team made their debut in the Vytal Festival Tournament. Hopefully, seeing Jaune in action would counter their worries and skepticism enough that they could engage with Jaune without talking down at him, and getting even deeper into his bad graces than they already were.

That would take some doing on his part. After all, the tournament matches were picked at random, and the first round took place across the course of four days. There was no telling which day Jaune's team would be selected, or what match they would fight in. On top of that, the festival grounds were at Beacon. His family would want to visit them as soon as possible, which meant that the chances of a run-in with Jaune were all the greater.

Silently, Blaine resolved to discreetly text a warning to his son as soon as possible, if Saphron didn't take care of that first.

Taking a deep breath, Blaine rallied himself, then called his family together, preparing to guide them through the city. It was going to be like herding cats, and he already had a feeling that his plans were just as likely to come crashing down as they were to be fulfilled.

* * *

Nearby, close to the rental landing pad, where the Arc Family had parked their bullhead, another airship was settling in for a landing, this one a commercial airliner from Mistral. This was no mere bulk-passenger vessel, with a cabin packed with rows upon rows of seats, all set together to hold as many people as possible. No, this one was a full sky-liner, a multi-tiered vessel capable of ferrying its wealthy clientele between Kingdoms in comfort and luxury, a veritable cruise ship of the sky.

Naturally, the Vytal Festival and its tournament attracted more than just the average civilians from across the four Kingdoms. It also attracted the elite from around the globe as well. The festival served as the perfect opportunity for them to mingle with one another, conducting business or simply enjoying the spectacle. Airships like this served to provide them with passage, ensuring that even the journey to another continent entirely need not be an unpleasant affair.

Passengers enjoyed high-class amenities that were unthinkable on lesser vessels, such as personal cabins, all lavishly appointed, restaurant-class dining in rooms with expansive windows, providing panoramic views of the sky, as well as the landscape passing below them. There were rooms for entertainment, and even a swimming pool. It was truly the way the privileged and elite would prefer to travel.

Even the manner of the vessel's arrival spoke of the wealth and privilege of its clients. The sky-liner docked at a private terminal, complete with its own staff for handling things like baggage and ground transportation, ensuring that the passengers wouldn't have to mingle with the hoi polloi at any step of their journey.

As the airship settled, a gangway extended from the terminal. The passengers disembarked with representatives of the ship's staff wishing them well in a final display of subservience. Individuals, couples, and the occasional small family made their way out, some of them talking cheerfully, others silently making their way to their next destination.

Amongst this gaggle of wealthy people, two made their way along the gangway, virtually unnoticed. A rather unassuming man in a dark-brown business-suit; accompanied by an attractive woman, wearing a conservative red dress that, nonetheless, highlighted her body's impressive figure.

"Well, we're here," observed Anatolius Nikos, his pale-green eyes sweeping across the terminal, taking in the shops, restaurants, and bars, all offering refreshments to those who had just arrived, after the long trip from Mistral.

"Perhaps we should take a little time to unwind," suggested Phoinix, his wife, her dark-red hair swaying behind her, eyes already being drawn to one of the bars.

"An excellent idea," suggested the woman who emerged from the airship behind them. "Please enjoy yourselves, and I will confirm the arrangements for transportation and lodgings."

"Thank you, Holly," said Phoinix, turning to beam at the other woman.

The woman, dressed in a gray business-style dress, with a conservative pencil-skirt smiled back, adjusting the glasses that rested over her wine-red eyes. She then bowed her head, making the curled locks of pale-green hair atop her head bob slightly. "After that, I will begin to make arrangements. I'm sure that the two of you are eager to see your daughter as soon as possible."

"Of course," agreed Anatolius. "Since she refuses to hear us out over the CCT, we will have no choice but to deal with her in person, so that she can understand the full import of what's at stake."

"After all, you can't hang up on a person who's directly in front of you," added Phoinix.

"Indeed," agreed Holly. "Please relax and enjoy yourselves. I should have everything arranged in about half an hour, but there's no call to rush. And, once we're settled, we will go and make sure that Pyrrha sees sense. Let's ensure that she is able to continue fulfilling her responsibility to you for a long time to come."

* * *

**Part of me regrets bringing so many character threads together, all at once.**

**Jaune's conversation with Oscar was a bit tricky to write. It was hard to figure out how Jaune could break it to Oscar that Ruby was taken, without coming off like a jerk. They're both nice guys, who happen to have fallen for the same girl, and Jaune isn't the sort to get all territorial, while Oscar isn't the sort of overbearing jerk who can't take "no" for an answer. So the difficulty lay in Jaune establishing his and Ruby's relationship, without sounding overly possessive; while having Oscar, who went out on a massive limb, having to wrestle with the disappointment, without seeming like someone who just can't accept reality.**


	120. Chapter 120

**Chapter 120:**

Amber and Kyo saw Sasame, Ruby, and Natsuki off at the door to Kyo's room, watching the trio head down the hall.

"I'm sorry," said Kyo, turning to bow his head to Amber. "I should have been more open with you from the start."

"I'm..." Amber looked away uncertainly. "I'm used to people keeping secrets from me. But I wasn't expecting that from you."

"You weren't?" asked Kyo. "My life is replete with secrets, Amber-san. This is just the one that is most pertinent to your situation. There is still a great deal I have not told you..." He sighed. "...some of which might well cause you to reconsider your opinion of me."

"And what about this?" asked Amber. "If the Mibu are so afraid of this Jester-person, why would you get involved with me?"

"Well...getting involved with you _is_ the crux of the matter," said Kyo bashfully. "In a sense, that was me leaping without looking. _Because_ it's you, I can't bring myself to stand aside."

"Even if it means facing a person you can't defeat?" asked Amber.

"A person I can't _kill_," Kyo clarified. "That is the issue. I may _defeat_ him as many times as I please. But he will always return and continue to threaten us." He took Amber's hands in his own. "But that doesn't trouble me. I will defeat him as many times as I have to, if it means keeping you safe." He laced his fingers with hers.

"So you won't let Ruby handle it?" asked Amber.

"That was never my intention," said Kyo. "Letting Ruby-chan make her own enemies and fight her own battles is one thing. I would never stand by and simply dump the responsibilities of our clan onto her shoulders.

"When Jester comes for you, I _will_ stop him. Even if killing him is supposed to be impossible, I will not stop fighting until I find a way to make the impossible possible."

Amber sniffled, looking Kyo in the eyes. On impulse, she leaned in, straining slightly to reach the level of his face, Kyo being a bit taller than her. Kyo, seeing her intent, found himself leaning down to respond in kind. Their lips met, pressing together in a gentle, chaste kiss, which they held for a long moment, before finally pulling away enough to look each other in the eyes.

Kyo was smiling a little wider now. "And, when this is over, we can start traveling together. I can show you all the places I've been, all the people I've met, and all the things I've seen, and you can enjoy them, not needing to worry about Ozpin-dono's war."

"I'd like that," said Amber, leaning in to press her face against his shoulder. Kyo's arms slid around her, holding her close. The two of them found themselves staying like that for quite some time.

* * *

Ruby stared out over the the edge of the roof. Following such a heavy conversation with Kyo, Sasame, Natsuki, and Amber, she needed some time to herself to process things. The rooftop where she'd trained her friends in the art of Aura-control was as good a place as any. It wasn't exactly quiet, with the festival grounds extending across the ground beneath her dangling feet. But it was sufficiently out-of-the-way that she didn't need to worry about some random person stumbling upon her...

...Or so she thought. Ruby barely even registered the click of a cane against the concrete rooftop, not even looking up until the wizened voice spoke up from behind her.

"Well well, the festival going on all around you, and here you are, off sulking by yourself."

Ruby yelped, shooting to her feet and whirling around to see none other than the slightly-hunched figure of Maria, ambling towards her, skull-topped walking-stick clicking rhythmically against the rooftop.

"M-Ms. Maria...!" gasped Ruby with wide eyes.

"Oh, don't be so formal with me, young lady," said Maria, flashing her teasing grin. "I'm used to people overlooking me, prefer it even. It makes me proud that an old crone, like myself, can still get the drop on someone, especially a rather alert youngster like yourself."

"You sure can," said Ruby, nodding earnestly. Once again, she was amazed at the flawless nature of Maria's Suppression, even though this old woman might not have ever even _heard_ of the Mibu, much less their particular techniques. Then she glanced around. "Where's Oscar?"

"I told the boy to enjoy himself," said Maria. "I'll meet up with him, when it's time to go back. He's young, but not so young that he needs me looking over his shoulder every minute of the day."

Ruby nodded. However, she also came to a realization. The entire reason she'd picked this spot was because it was out of the way, where no average festival-goers would be coming. After all, reaching this rooftop meant passing through the dormitories, which were off limits to anyone but Academy students and staff. That meant that Maria had essentially snuck through and out-of-bounds area to reach her, which meant that this was no coincidence. Maria had intentionally sought her out.

_But how did she even find me?_ wondered Ruby. Maria's Aura was tempered, and she'd clearly mastered Suppression. However, there had been no sign that she'd learned Projection, much less Extension. Furthermore, Ruby was certain she would have sensed Maria's expanding Aura the very second it brushed against her own.

Maria chuckled, apparently able to sense Ruby's confusion. "It's a funny thing," she said. "A long time ago, I learned how to...shut my Aura off...I supposed. It makes keeping a low profile a lot easier, something I wish I'd learned when I was younger. Of course, when you close your Aura down, the Auras of others becomes all the brighter, even when you don't have proper eyes to see them with."

"I...I see," said Ruby.

It was true that, when she Suppressed her own Aura, it was easier to sense the Auras of others around her, even without Extension. However, given that it left a person's body completely defenseless, it was the kind of trick no sane person would rely on, especially not in the heat of battle. Of course, if Maria was already hiding, then such a quality would only help, rather than hinder her.

"Why were you looking for me?" asked Ruby.

Maria chuckled. "You know, poor Oscar had it pretty bad for you."

"Y-yeah...I know," said Ruby, looking down, cheeks turning red.

Jaune had told her about Oscar's crush, which everyone except her had been able to see, apparently. He'd also told her that he'd done his best to inform Oscar about their relationship. Ruby was grateful, not liking the idea of having to let down Oscar herself, though she had to imagine it had been even _more_ awkward for Jaune to try and discourage Oscar's efforts, without coming off as some kind of territorial jerk defending his turf. From the sound of things, Jaune had managed it.

Maria chuckled. "Well, that's just the luck of the draw sometimes. He used to talk about you a lot, back when I first met him. He used to go on forever about how pretty you were."

Ruby's face felt like it might catch fire at any moment. She couldn't help but wonder just why Maria was telling her this, save for her own amusement.

Maria laughed at Ruby's reaction. "Yes, the poor boy was smitten something fierce. However, there was one thing he said about you that _really_ caught my attention."

"What?" asked Ruby.

Maria reached up and gently tapped the housing of her prosthetic eyes, prompting them to whir softly, and the shutters quivering from the light stimulus. "These beauties are amazing. They've got some wonderful features that, in their own way, make them even better than my old eyes. However, if there's one tradeoff that saddens me about them...it's that they render me unable to see in color."

"Yeah, that _is_ pretty sad," agreed Ruby, trying to imagine what life would look like, without being able to perceive all the wondrous colors of the world.

Maria huffed. "It's unfortunate all right. Thanks to that, without Oscar's descriptions of you, I would've looked you in the face, and not noticed a thing. So it's a good thing the boy kept yapping."

"Huh?" grunted Ruby, unsure of where Maria was going with this.

"You see, Oscar shared with me a little tidbit that _really_ caught my attention," explained Maria. "Because of that, I knew _I_ had to meet you as well. So, when the boy started begging his aunt for a chance to come to the Vytal Festival, I weighed in and managed to sway her over."

Maria sighed, bowing her head. "I'm not particularly proud of that. Basically, I was using Oscar for my own purposes. I still think this will be a good experience for him. But it doesn't change the fact that I had an ulterior motive this whole time."

"What...?" gasped Ruby. "Why? What could be so important about me that you'd abuse Oscar and Ms. Emalee's trust like that?"

The glowing, blue lenses of Maria's prosthetic eyes flickered as they met Ruby's. "Because Oscar told me that you had Silver Eyes."

Ruby gasped, her hands going up to cover her mouth.

"The first time I heard it, I almost jumped down the boy's throat," said Maria with a rueful laugh. "'_Are you sure they were silver...not gray?_' I had to make sure the boy wasn't mistaken or exaggerating, as lovestruck youngsters are prone to doing. I even checked with his aunt to make sure. Threw me for quite the loop."

Ruby didn't know how to respond. All of a sudden, her eyes were some kind of super-significant thing. If she remembered correctly, one of the very first things Ozpin had said to her was that she had silver eyes. Ruby hadn't thought too much of it back then. But now...after everything she had been through, they were suddenly significant, and everybody couldn't seem to _stop_ talking about them. It was enough to drive her crazy, especially with people speculating that her eyes were, somehow, the key to defeating a person that her own brother, one of the strongest warriors on the face of the planet, couldn't.

"So it seems you've heard something about this before," observed Maria with a dry cackle.

"Something like that," said Ruby, slumping back down on the edge of the roof. "Everybody keeps making a big deal of it, but I don't know what to think. They say my eyes are important, but nobody seems to know why."

"Well then, it's a good thing for you," said Maria, settling next to her. "I _can_ answer those questions for you."

"How do you know?" asked Ruby, glancing sidelong at Maria, an uneasy quiver in her stomach, feeling as though she might know the answer already.

Reaching up, Maria gently tapped the housing of her prosthetics once again. "I wasn't born with these, you know. Once upon a time...I too had Silver Eyes."

* * *

The beep of the monitors had been a constant companion to her for the past weeks. Emerald was beginning to wonder if she would _ever_ be free of the infernal sound.

Granted, freedom wasn't in her future, no matter_ wher_e she looked. After all, if she wasn't a prisoner of the enemy, she was a prisoner of her own body. _Ruby Rose..._ she thought with a silent growl, wishing, as she had countless times before, that she would have the chance to exact vengeance for everything the younger girl had taken for her.

It was bad enough that Ruby's attack had stolen the use of Emerald's legs, ensuring that she would never be able to walk again. It was worse still that she'd enabled Emerald's capture by Ozpin's people. And, worst of all, Ruby had ruthlessly stolen the most important person in Emerald's life away from her. Cinder was dead and gone. She would never be coming back. If there was one bitter consolation that Emerald could take from all this, it would be the fact that Cinder was not around to see what a failure she had become.

Even if she could still be useful to Salem's people in some way, Emerald wasn't sure she'd bother to help them. She didn't care about Salem, or her agenda. The only thing that mattered was Cinder. Without Cinder there, what incentive was there to keep working for Salem? She supposed there was always the fear of death at Salem's hands. But Emerald wasn't sure she even cared about _that_ right now.

"Sulking certainly doesn't become you," observed a light, feminine voice from the door of Emerald's infirmary room, the room she'd been confined to since she'd first regained consciousness.

Emerald slowly turned her head to look at the interloper. She was a diminutive young woman, close to Neo, in terms of height. Emerald's eyes took in the girl's slightly childish features, her rounded cheeks, long tresses of auburn hair, and chocolate-brown eyes. A red fox-tail with a white tip swayed behind her.

"Get lost," snarled Emerald. "I'm not interested in dealing with brats right now."

"Seeing as I'm older than you, that shouldn't be a problem," the unfamiliar girl replied with a sunny smile that only irritated Emerald all the more.

"And what do you want?" demanded Emerald, still in no mood for conversation.

The girl was already moving around the perimeter of the bed, removing the IVs and monitors attached to Emerald's body. Removing them prompted a few alarms, which brought the sound of running feet from down the hall.

"Well, Ruby-chan told me about your situation, and asked me to do something about you," said the girl simply.

"Ruby...?" Emerald recoiled back from the small girl.

"My little sister," agreed the girl, looking up and fixing Emerald with a serious look, one that made Emerald realize that this girl's claim about being older than her was _not_ exaggerated, "whom you and your mistress attempted to _murder_ in cold blood."

Abruptly, Emerald's stomach quivered, and she felt as though she was going to throw up. _She had another sister? I thought that blonde bimbo was the only one!_

And now said sister was going through the trouble of slowly disconnecting Emerald from all the equipment that supported and monitored her. "My name is Mitarai Sasame, and I have been Ruby-chan's adopted sister for the past six years," she continued.

"What of it?" asked Emerald. "Are you here to kill me?"

"At the moment, no," replied Sasame simply. "You see, Ruby-chan asked something of me, something that underlines what a kind girl she is at heart."

"And what's that?" asked Emerald.

Sasame's smile was terrifying to behold, for all that it seemed so benevolent. "This..."

Abruptly, she pulled the sheets off Emerald's bed, before inserting her hands beneath Emerald's back and hips, and lifting upwards. Emerald shrieked in surprise as she was thrown up and flipped over, landing on the bed again, now laying face-down. Her cheeks immediately turned red with humiliation as her hospital gown left her with her back and behind exposed. But Sasame neither seemed to notice nor care.

"What's going on!?" demanded the doctor on call, skidding to a stop at the door.

"Just taking care of a sulking child," replied Sasame casually. "This won't take but a moment. Feel free to watch. I think you'll find it interesting."

"What are you doing?" demanded Emerald, squirming to turn her head to glare at Sasame, which was difficult, given that the lower half of her body refused to respond to her will.

"Hush," said Sasame gently. "There might be some momentary discomfort."

Sasame pressed her fingers against Emerald's back, low down on her spine, right on the spot where Ruby had struck her. The tips of Sasame's fingers slipped into Emerald's back, phasing right through the skin, muscle, and bone. Emerald gasped, feeling something again to a chill, which shot up her spine, before the sensation was replaced by one of heat.

"Hmm...Fortunately, the severe damage is well-contained," muttered Sasame to herself. "Ruby-chan's control is magnificent. Now then...remove the dead cells...trigger regeneration...connect the severed ends...aaaaaaaaaaaaand _done_!"

Emerald spasmed, abruptly feeling something akin to an electric jolt that ran down to the tip of her toes. It took an extra second for her to realize that she'd actually _felt_ her toes...and everything above, and continued to feel them. A gasp escaped her as she realized that the empty void where her lower body had once been was now once more fully available to her.

"I...I..." Emerald couldn't stop the tears from running down her face.

"Now then, there isn't much I can do about the atrophy," said Sasame. "It will take some therapy for you to get up and walking again. But this is a start. And hup!"

Emerald yelped, finding herself tossed and flipped again, landing back on her back, Sasame pulling the sheets back up over her.

"Why...?" gasped Emerald, staring at Sasame, unable to comprehend why this girl, who'd claimed to be Ruby's sister, would help her.

"First, it is my responsibility as a healer to treat the injured," said Sasame. "As I am not a doctor, I have a bit more leeway than them, when it comes to deciding who to treat and not to treat. But I feel it better to do my utmost for those who are injured, even if they have done something reprehensible."

"I could try and kill you," Emerald pointed out. "If you're Ruby's sister, then that makes you an enemy."

"If you tried, then I would be free to kill you myself," said Sasame with such simple confidence and assurance that she made it a matter of cause and effect. "If you choose to throw the wellbeing I've granted you away in such a hopeless endeavor, so be it. Your life is now your own once again."

She paused, then shrugged. "The second reason I helped you is because Ruby-chan asked me to."

Emerald's jaw dropped. "What?"

Sasame tittered.

"I must say, I've never seen anything of the sort," said the doctor, stepping farther into the room, drawing Sasame's attention. "You reconnected a severed spinal cord like it was nothing."

"It's a rather simple, if delicate, operation," replied Sasame, turning to address the man. "It's one that I have performed many times."

"If you have time in the future, I would love to learn more about this," said the doctor. "I simply _must_ learn how such a thing is possible, and how to perform such myself."

"I am sure we can talk over tea sometime," suggested Sasame cheerfully. "In the meantime, I believe that I am about to have a frank and private conversation with my patient. So, if you would..."

The doctor sighed. "I'm getting far too used to getting pushed out of _my_ own infirmary," he complained softly, taking his leave, along with the nurses.

Sasame giggled at that, before turning back to Emerald, who was still staring at her like she'd grown a second head.

"Why...?" gasped Emerald. "Why would she want to help me...? After she...?"

"After she crippled you, you mean," guessed Sasame. "Ruby-chan is a wonderfully compassionate girl. I find it a marvel that she can seek to help people, even after they have wronged her terribly. She asked me to help you because she knew I _could_ help you."

"For what?" asked Emerald. "What does _she_ want?"

"Nothing really," said Sasame. "Even though there's no real reason for her to, she still felt bad about crippling you. Because I came, she saw an opportunity to do something about that, and so took the opportunity to assuage her own conscience. She fully admits that it was more about making herself feel better than anything else. But it's the kind of motive that I can understand and accept."

"That little brat..." growled Emerald, eyes narrowing fingers bunching the fabric of her sheets. "Does she think she can _fix_ me, that she can just make me forget what she did?"

"And just _what_ did she do?" prodded Sasame, before canting her head slightly. "Besides the obvious, I mean."

"She killed Cinder," answered Emerald coldly. "She was the one person in this world I actually _cared_ about, and your _sister_ took her from me. I'll never forgive her."

"Yet, from the sound of things, this Cinder-san's fate was well-earned," said Sasame. "She threatened Jaune-kun in order to lure Ruby-chan to her. You and she attacked Ruby-chan for the sake of stealing a power you thought she carried. Going further back, she also attacked Amber-san, inflicting harm that she is still working to recover from, even now.

"And beyond that, just how many _other_ people has Cinder-san hurt, killed, and tormented over the course of her life? That one of her intended victims would kill _her_, particularly in self-defense, is not so strange at all. In fact, one might say that such a fate was karmic."

"And what the hell do _you_ know!?" Emerald shouted, pushing against the bed, wanting desperately to lunge for Sasame, so that she could strangle her. "I don't give a damn about anyone else! Cinder is the _only_ one who matters to me!"

"Truly a disappointing view to hold," said Sasame sadly.

"Why _should_ I care about anyone else?" asked Emerald. "No one else gave a damn about me, except when they thought their _garbage_ was too good for me to rifle through, so that I wouldn't have to starve. No one gave _me_ a second thought, until I did what I needed to survive. Then they decided that I shouldn't have that right-"

"Because you had no one to stand up for you," guessed Sasame, "no family to support you, no means of supporting yourself legitimately. You stole and scavenged for whatever you could, doing whatever you could to live another day.

"Starvation was a close companion, wasn't it? Exposure too, I suppose...the nights of Vacuo _are_ very cold, even in the summer. You scrambled for whatever you could, and those who saw you offered nothing but scorn, where they should have offered compassion.

"And then you met her...She saw something of value in you, something more than just a street thief. She offered you something beyond the privation you've always known. You jumped at the chance, willing to do whatever it took to keep from returning to that life. As a consequence, you began to see her as a savior, whom you would do anything for."

Emerald stared, her throat bone dry. "How...?"

Sasame giggled softly. "I am _very_ good at the art of diagnosis," she said. "And you _did_ give me quite a bit to work with." Her smile faded, her expression becoming serious, yet also sad. "That considered...your past is not all that different from Ruby-chan's, at least initially."

"What?" gasped Emerald.

"I found Ruby-chan on the streets too," said Sasame. "Six years ago, I saw a little girl about to commit her first real criminal act. I stopped her, fed her, learned about her, and resolved to do what I could to help her."

"Then why?" gasped Emerald, tears coming to her eyes. "Why is she so different? Why is she some stupid goody-two-shoes, while I'm sitting here in a bed, about to be shipped off to prison? What makes _her_ so special?"

"Nothing really," said Sasame. "I suppose the real difference is that _I_ found Ruby-chan...and _Cinder-san _found you. That is the true point of divergence, where the two of you were resolved to different paths."

Emerald found herself unable to make a sound.

"My interest in Ruby-chan was curiosity, at first," explained Sasame. "After I learned more about her, I decided to do what I could to help her achieve her aims, so Kyo and I brought her home with us. We raised her as our own sister, and helped guide her to become the Huntress she wanted to be.

"In contrast, it appears that Cinder-san had very little concern for your actual wellbeing, didn't she?" asked Sasame rhetorically. "No...she saw someone she thought would be useful to her. Because she saw that, she reached out to you, and turned your gratitude and adoration into an instrument of control. She never truly cared how you felt about her, save for how it made you easier to control."

"I don't care!" snapped Emerald. "I owe Cinder _everything_! It doesn't matter what she did, or how she felt. If the best way to repay her for that was to be her pawn, then it doesn't matter."

"That's a sad outlook to take," said Sasame disappointedly.

"It's better than being some stupid brat who thinks she can save the world," spat Emerald contemptuously.

"I figured you might say something like that," said Sasame, smiling wryly. "I imagine you view such idealism as something worthy only of scorn."

"Of course I do," scoffed Emerald.

Sasame's smile widened. "Oh...And I wonder if you see the contradiction."

"Huh?"

"You profess scorn for ideals, yet you swore yourself in service to a woman whom you _knew_ did not care for you, beyond your immediate use to her, valuing her above all else in your life.

"If you were _truly_ as pragmatic as you believe yourself to be, Cinder-san should have meant just as little to you as you did to her; a simple meal ticket, someone to be valued only for her ability to support your needs, and abandoned the moment she ceased to be of use to you, the way you are fully aware she would have abandoned _you_, were the situation ever reversed.

"A true pragmatist would be, at most, frustrated that Cinder-san is dead, because she is no longer there to provide for your needs. A true pragmatist would likely feel some sense of relief that they are out from under the heel of one who repeatedly debased them. Yet your sense of loss at Cinder-san's death is truly profound. She held a value to you that went _far_ beyond the material comfort she could provide. And, in that sense...you are actually _quite_ the idealist, Emerald-san."

Emerald's jaw hung slack yet again, the girl unable to muster a response to Sasame.

"If you truly hold to such beliefs and ideals, then you are a far better person than Cinder-san was," said Sasame, turning around to head towards the door. "I hope that you find someone in the future, someone infinitely more worthy of your loyalty than she was...and I hope you realize just how better off you are, now that she is no longer an influence on your life.

"I won't ever ask you to thank Ruby-chan for what she did, or even what she asked me to do. But you may wish to reconsider your grudge. I can tell that, however much you might claim otherwise, you are a person capable of tremendous love, and the fact that the object of said love was not worthy of it does not devalue that love in the slightest."

Sasame paused at the door. "Rest for now, Emerald-san, and try to genuinely consider what a life after Cinder-san might be like."

With that, Sasame left, shutting the door behind her, and leaving Emerald to her _very_ confused thoughts.

* * *

"What are the Silver Eyes?" asked Ruby.

"They are the ultimate weapon against the darkness," replied Maria, staring out over the festival grounds below them. "The Silver Eyes, once mastered, have the power to obliterate the Grimm completely. You could become capable of slaying them with nothing more than a glance."

Ruby's mouth opened, heart thudding against her ribs. The idea excited her...and confused her. Sure, being able to kill Grimm just by looking at them seemed like an amazing ability, but she failed to see how it could help her against Jester, not that Maria would know anything about that. _But why does everybody back home seem to think that?_

It also irked her. She had spent years training, working to hone her abilities. She had traversed entire continents as part of that training. She had worked herself to the bone, pushed herself to the limit. And she'd thought that all that work had paid off, that she'd managed to become strong enough that Professor Ozpin himself acknowledged her skill, and had offered her a place at Beacon, two years before she should even have gone there.

_"You...have silver eyes."_ Those four words...just like that, and suddenly everything that had happened to Ruby since suddenly had a radically different context.

Had Ozpin truly seen her for her skills, and the products of her work, or had she been invited on the basis of some inborn ability she'd never known about before? Part of her wanted to track down the secretive Headmaster and find out the answer for herself. But her own irritation would have to be assuaged later. There were bigger things at stake.

If her family thought that her Silver Eyes were the key to defeating Jester, then what she needed right now was to figure out how to use them.

Beside her, Maria continued on, apparently oblivious to Ruby's train of thought. "There weren't many of us to begin with. And our numbers have only been dwindling." She turned, blue lenses fixing on Ruby's face. "Until I heard about you, I thought I was the last."

"So there aren't any others left?" asked Ruby, momentarily distracted from her internal confusion.

"None that I've heard of," clarified Maria. "I'm well-traveled, but even someone _my_ age can't visit everywhere. If there are any others, it's quite likely that they are well-hidden, which is understandable. My own father told me to be discreet, to rely on my power as little as possible, and to avoid using it when others might see it. He believed that someone out there was hunting us down, trying to bring about our extinction."

_Salem_, thought Ruby silently, nearly blurting the word out loud. Given the circumstances, it was getting dangerously easy to forget that Maria _wasn't_ one of the members of Ozpin's inner circle, and privy to the nature of their real enemy.

"And is that what happened to you?" asked Ruby instead. "I doubt you're the kind of person to loose your eyes in an accident."

"And if I told you that I lost them to a Red Ryder BB Gun?" asked Maria. "My parents always did tell me I'd shoot my eye out after all."

"Huh...?" Ruby stared at Maria cluelessly.

"Don't get the reference, huh?" mused Maria. "Kids these days...no appreciation for the classics."

_I don't think appreciation has anything to do with it,_ thought Ruby, realizing that Maria was probably referencing another piece of pop-culture that Ruby herself had missed during her time with the Mibu, not that there was any way Maria would know about that, nor did Ruby see any reason to correct her.

Maria sighed. "Oh well...Yes, you're right." She tapped her prosthetic eyes again. "_This_ was no accident. Back in my glory days, I had something of a reputation. Back then, I was known as the Grimm Reaper."

Ruby gasped loudly, eyes going wide in excitement. "Oh my gosh! You're _her_? Uncle Qrow used to tell stories to Yang and I about you, when we were little!"

It had been a _long_ time ago, of course. And Qrow hadn't been allowed to tell those stories anymore, after Taiyang had tried to crush Ruby's dream of becoming a Huntress. But Ruby would always remember the super-cool Huntress the super-cool Huntsman she idolized professed to admire, to the point that he had based his weapon off her own.

Maria chuckled. "You'll give me a big head, Little Missy. Those days are _long_ past. I'm not someone so worth idolizing anymore, let me tell you."

"What happened?" asked Ruby.

"I let my reputation go to my head," said Maria. "I never went to an Academy, but I passed the licensing exam with the highest score seen in years. After that, I racked up a substantial record of bounties. I _did_ keep my father's words in mind. But I didn't heed him well enough. One way or another, I suppose, if people were talking about me, it was only a matter of time before the people he worried about would also hear about me.

"One day, I was jumped by a group of attackers. They knew who I was, and they were determined to kill me. I gave them quite the fight, of course. But...in the end...their leader took my eyes." Maria frowned darkly, before perking up slightly. "I took her head in return, so it worked out...sort of."

_They must have been working for Salem,_ thought Ruby, frowning. It was pretty much the only logical explanation she could think of.

"After that, I laid low," said Maria. "It shames me to say it, but I was scared that whoever they worked for would find out I was still alive, and send someone else to finish the job."

"Is that why you were hiding on Oscar's farm?" asked Ruby, now bristling at the idea of Maria putting her friend's life at risk like that.

"Hardly," replied Maria. "When I stopped over, I was just appealing to their kindness to shelter me for a night or two, before I moved on. When I learned about the boy and his ambitions...well..." She sighed. "Suddenly, I felt so ashamed. I'd let fear rule me for so long that I'd spent more time hiding away from the world than doing something for it, the very opposite of what I'd aspired to. At that point, I thought the very least I could do was help the boy along. So I offered to stay and train him. And then I learned about you..."

"Oh..." said Ruby. "And you came here to teach me about them?"

"And warn you," added Maria. "Whoever is seeking to exterminate the Silver-Eyed Warriors, once and for all, is still out there, and considering how prominent you've become lately, they'll probably find out about you soon enough."

_Oh they already have,_ thought Ruby, thinking back to Tyrian and his statement that he and his allies were supposed to capture her. Given that Salem appeared to control the Grimm, it made sense that she saw a power like the Silver Eyes as a threat.

She took a deep breath, deciding to focus on the main point of this conversation. "So...How do I laser-beam monsters with my eyeballs?"

Her answer was a sharp rap on the head, courtesy of Maria's cane, prompting her to yelp and wince. She hadn't even sensed the hit coming.

"First, you stop thinking of it like _that_," declared Maria firmly. "Listen, the power of the Silver Eyes to destroy the Grimm is secondary to its _true_ purpose."

"What purpose is that?" asked Ruby, rubbing the top of her head.

"To protect," said Maria. "Life is beautiful. It is precious. It must be _protected_. That is what the Silver Eyes are for. They exist to preserve life by banishing the darkness."

"That's..." Ruby's mouth worked silently. _That's so awesome! It's all I've ever wanted to do._

"Tricky isn't it?" asked Maria.

"N-not really," said Ruby, trying to get her head back in the game. "I mean...it's all I've ever wanted to do, to protect people, to save them, just like Mom."

"Hmm..." Maria smiled approvingly. "I think you won't have much trouble with this then. However, for people like us, the greatest difficulty comes from a tendency to put the cart before the horse. It's easy to get wrapped up in seeing this power as a weapon to strike down the enemy, the Grimm, that you forget that its true purpose is to protect the ones the Grimm threaten. If you lose sight of that, the power won't come.

"The other issue is rather Huntress-specific. If you become too reliant on this power then it can cause your skills to degrade." She sighed in disappointment. "That may have been my downfall. Even with me knowing the need for secrecy, I always fought with the knowledge that this power was an out, that, if I was ever in a situation where my combat skills couldn't carry the day, I would always have my Eyes to fall back on. That might well have led to me slacking a little, which left me open to a situation where my power wouldn't do any good, against enemies it would have no effect on."

_I don't think that'll be a problem for me,_ thought Ruby, keeping the thought to herself, not wanting another smack on the head for being presumptuous, something she figured Maria would probably do.

It might have seemed arrogant, but Ruby was confident she wouldn't get carried away with her reliance on the Silver Eyes. Part of it was a side-effect of learning about it so late in life (Okay, it wasn't really _that_ late in her life. But, compared to someone like Maria, who'd apparently known about her powers from childhood, Ruby was much more tardy in learning this information.). Ruby had spent much of her life training, refining her Aura and technique, building a repertoire of skills that she could use to fight the Grimm, completely ignorant of the inborn ability she apparently possessed. She'd been taught to have confidence in her training first, rather than putting faith into some kind of mysterious, unique ability.

If anything, Ruby figured she was _really_ in danger of _forgetting_ about this power, because she was so used to seeing her training as the be-all and end-all that it might cause her to forget to use it in a situation where the outcome might be better if she did.

_I'll just need to treat it like another skill to master_, she resolved, _including when to use and not use it. If nothing else, I don't really need to worry about the secrecy so much. I'm on Salem's radar already._

"Now...as for training...that's a little trickier," confided Maria. "Without Grimm, it's hard to train. But I can at least teach you how to cultivate a mindset and focus that, with control, will allow you to activate your power at will."

_I wonder..._ thought Ruby. _Does the power _onl_y work if there's Grimm around? If not, then why would anyone think it could be the key to killing Jester? He may be crazy and evil...and crazy evil...but he's not a Grimm._

She doubted that was a question Maria could answer, as the context would be completely foreign to her. Furthermore, even if she _could_ tell Maria the truth about what she was up against, Ruby figured that Maria would be just as dubious as she was about how useful the eyes would be against an opponent who wasn't even a Grimm.

Still, she resolved to learn what she could, and hope that there was a way she could bring this training to fruition. So Ruby settled in to listen and learn from Maria as best she could.

* * *

Oscar sighed, wrestling with a melancholy feeling, even as all the color and fanfare of the Vytal Festival stirred around him. He'd casually meandered between booths and stalls, checking out things he might buy as a souvenir for his aunt, treats he might want to sample, and activities and games he might want to try. However, at the moment, he didn't feel much like doing or buying anything.

Part of it was pure pragmatism. Coming over from Mistral had been plenty expensive. Buying accommodations during the absolute busiest tourism boom Vale would see for the next _eight_ years was even more-so. And there was still the return trip to keep in mind for his budget. He'd only gotten this far by investing the majority of his meager savings, along with a healthy "loan" from his aunt (upon his promise to "pay her back" through doing _all_ his chores, and then some, without complaint until it was time for him to apply to an Academy). As such, he didn't want to return to his home in Mistral completely broke or, worse, winding up spending too frivolously without leaving enough to pay for his trip back. That would have been _humiliating_.

But those were only minor excuses. The truth of the matter was that Oscar simply didn't _feel_ like doing much. Perhaps it was stupid of him, maybe obsessive, probably unhealthy; but he still couldn't get over the disappointment that he wasn't doing any of this with Ruby.

Oscar had played through this scenario in his head over and over again; him and Ruby partnering up to tackle the festival together. They'd skip between booths. He'd buy her gifts, win her prizes at the games (his fantasies momentarily forgetting the fact that, with skills cultivated over the course of several more years of training than he had, _Rub_y was likely the one to be winning prizes for _him_, not that he would've minded). In his mind, it had been the perfect way to bond with Ruby for their first meeting in over two years, and maybe turn that bond into something more.

But those fantasies had been dashed, along with his hopes, upon arrival, upon learning that Ruby already had a boyfriend, upon learning that she hadn't kept him in her mind the way he'd kept her all this time. Oh sure, Ruby remembered him, and with surprising ease. But Oscar had been thinking about her near constantly. She had triggered a change in the way he'd viewed the world, completely altered the course of his life, and transformed the future he'd always thought of for himself. But, to her, he'd probably been just another person she'd saved. Maybe he was a bit more special than most, for her to remember him so easily. But meeting him clearly _hadn't_ been the life-changing experience it had been for Oscar.

After all, why would Ruby crush on a nobody from the sticks, like him? Jaune had tried to discourage that sentiment the day before, but Oscar still felt it keenly, the sense of him not stacking up against all the other people in Ruby's life. He felt inadequate, and like a complete idiot for doing something so stupid, going so far for something that had so little chance of succeeding.

_I should've just stayed in Mistral,_ he thought despondently. _Scratch that, I should've known better than to waste my time training to be a Huntsman. I should've realized it was stupid from the beginning and just stayed a farmer._

That was another point of regret for him. He'd completely changed his expectations, now hoping to become a Huntsman. Those expectations had been fueled by his fantasy of someday getting into an Academy and, through that, meeting Ruby again. Coming to the Vytal Festival had been something of a shortcut in that respect.

Of course, now that he knew a relationship with Ruby wasn't in the cards, Oscar felt like an idiot. He'd sought to become a Huntsman, all for the sake of girl who was already taken. Now, all of a sudden, that aspiration looked and felt hollow to him. _What have I been doing with my life? Why should I even keep trying?_

In part, Oscar figured that respect for Maria, and all the work she'd put into his training, would be one motivator. But would that be enough? He wasn't sure. The course of his life had suddenly become just as aimless as his course through the festival. Part of him just wanted to call it a day, right then and there. Only the knowledge that he and Maria had planned to meet up before heading back kept him from just heading right for the airships, knowing he'd get another rap on the shin for neglecting to meet with her.

Oscar let out another heavy sigh, wondering just what to do next, maybe find a nice quiet place to sulk.

"Are you okay?"

Oscar yelped, jumping and turning around. As he did, he found himself looking into a pair of violet eyes, the same pair he'd found himself staring into the previous day, after that embarrassing collision. The feelings that memory dredged up had his cheeks reddening already, and the girl had only spoken three words to him so far.

"You're Ruby-chan's friend, right?" asked Natsuki.

"I...I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Oscar, averting his eyes. "I mean...we hardly spent any time together."

"Nah, you're Ruby-chan's friend," said Natsuki dismissively. "She was _really_ happy to see you, yesterday."

_But not happy enough,_ the traitor voice in Oscar's head whispered. He quickly told said voice to shut up.

"It's Oscar, right?" asked Natsuki, to which Oscar nodded dumbly. "Cool! Wanna hang out, Oscar-kun?"

"Huh?" grunted Oscar.

"Come on," said Natsuki, already latching onto his wrist with a vice-grip. "It'll be fun!"

And they were off.


	121. Chapter 121

**Chapter 121:**

Oscar collapsed on a bench, panting for breath, completely flummoxed at the turn his day had taken. He'd started out with the expectation of spending the day sulking and moaning over his lost chance at love, only to meet someone who'd, rather forcefully, wrenched him out of those feelings, and made him enjoy himself through sheer _force_.

And Natsuki _was_ a force, a force of nature. She'd dragged Oscar to and fro across the festival grounds, peppering him with questions about _everything_ they encountered, and that was in the most literal sense possible. Oscar had quickly come to realize that everything about the festival, and about Natsuki's experience with the Kingdoms, was completely novel to her. Sure, there were stalls selling things that she was familiar with in her homeland, but so many of the little nuances about how they were made were new to her, to say nothing of the many pieces of technology and culture that were unique to the Kingdoms specifically.

And Oscar's depression had faded, once he'd realized that Natsuki had been hanging onto his every word, not because they were _his_ words, but because he was talking about things she hadn't known before, and helping her learn about this incredible new place she was visiting for the first time. Oftentimes, they made discoveries together, as Oscar found his experience as a rather isolated Mistralian coming up against the products and cultures unique to Vale, Vacuo, and Atlas. The excitement of it all had reduced his previous depression to a fleeting memory.

Part of that was because of just how _tired_ he was. Natsuki's energy was boundless, often prompting her to rush right to the next thing that caught her eye, with poor Oscar trailing after her like a kite on a string, unable to lag because of the grip she had on him.

"Isn't this cool?" asked Natsuki, flopping down on the bench beside him. Compared to him, she barely looked winded, a faint sheen of sweat on her forehead being the only indicator that she'd exerted herself at all.

"It is," Oscar admitted readily enough. After all, it _was_ the Vytal Festival, and the Four Kingdoms had come together to showcase the best aspects of their culture to one another. Even for someone who'd grown up _in_ the Kingdoms, this event was full of things Oscar hadn't seen or done before, probably more than he'd be able to do before the festival ended too.

"Are you having fun?" prodded Natsuki.

Oscar was prepared to give her a purely perfunctory response, but paused, upon hearing a strange seriousness in her voice. Natsuki's question hadn't just been an empty inquiry. She genuinely wanted to know if he was enjoying himself, and that prompted Oscar to examine whether or not he, in fact, had been. After thinking about it for a moment, he found his lips curling up in a smile of his own. "Yeah."

"That's great!" cheered Natsuki. "You looked pretty down before, so I wanted to cheer you up."

"Y-you did?" asked Oscar, cheeks reddening from embarrassment.

"I thought you might be feeling down in the dumps," said Natsuki earnestly. "So I wanted to help."

Oscar's embarrassment was compounded by burning shame...and anger. It was what he'd feared, should he meet any of Ruby's friends and acquaintances after his "talk" with Jaune. At best, he'd figure they'd pity him for investing so much in a crush on Ruby, not aware that she already _had_ a boyfriend. At worst, he figured they'd look down their noses at him, his imagination subtly planting his thoughts about himself in their heads. He could certainly see one or more of them wanting to "help" him by distracting him from his depression over his failure, exactly what Natsuki admitted to doing, and that irked him.

"Is that all?" asked Oscar, a bit of his irritation leaking into his voice.

Natsuki's expression softened a little, appearing to draw back slightly in response to his anger. "Nope," she said. "Besides, Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun decided they wanted to see the festival together, and I was just gonna be in the way when they started being lovey-dovey. I didn't want to do stuff by myself, but I hadn't run into any of Ruby-chan's other friends yet, until I found you."

"Huh?" Oscar wasn't sure he felt better or worse at that. On one hand, Natsuki hadn't wholly been motivated by some desire to "help" him. But, on the other hand, he'd apparently just been the first familiar face she'd run into, after parting with her other two companions.

"Why does it matter anyway?" asked Natsuki tartly, puffing out her cheeks and looking away sharply. "Why is it so bad to want to help somebody feeling down have fun?"

_Because I don't want to have fun,_ thought Oscar bitterly. He wanted to sulk, to spend time belittling himself for what an idiot he was. However, the thought didn't reach his lips, because he knew how stupid and immature it sounded. He was enough of an idiot already, not needing to say something so obviously wrong to someone who was trying to help him, however unsolicited said help had been.

"I mean, I figured you _wanted_ to be miserable," said Natsuki, surprising Oscar.

"Y-you did?" asked Oscar.

"Sure," said Natsuki. "Doesn't everyone have those moments? Something bad happens, and you just wanna spend some time _feeling_ bad. It's kinda weird, but you wanna just yell at the world, 'Quit trying to pick me up! I'm moping here!'"

She began to twirl a blue-haired bang around her finger. "When bad things happen, you're _supposed_ to feel bad. It'd just be weird if something awful happened, and you're all sunshine and rainbows about it."

"Then why try to help someone out of it?" asked Oscar.

"Because it doesn't do any good to just_ stay_ like that," said Natsuki, grinning at him. "You can't be down in the dumps forever. If you just keep trying to feel bad, you'll just make yourself feel worse. And..." She swept an arm out to encompass the festival grounds before them. "...with all this going on, it'd be awful to miss out on all the awesome stuff you can do, just 'cause you're spending too much time feeling sorry for yourself."

"That...actually makes sense," Oscar found himself admitting. As silly as his reasons for coming to the Vytal Festival felt, in hindsight, it would be even stupider for him to sulk his way through the whole affair.

Still, shaking off that previous melancholy funk wasn't so easy. "It's just...I feel like an idiot."

"Why?" asked Natsuki, canting her head.

"Because I came all the way out here to meet a girl I hadn't seen in two years," said Oscar. "I blew so much time and money on this. I took a whole bunch of chores, even got a couple of part-time jobs to help save up for it, put so much into this, all for nothing..."

"But that's really cool," said Natsuki.

"Huh?" grunted Oscar, staring at her in shock.

"I mean, that's a huge risk," said Natsuki. "You _really_ put yourself out there for Ruby-chan, and not in the stupid way, like hanging out under her window and singing love songs..."

Oscar couldn't help but snort at the mental image of him trying to woo Ruby by singing sappy ballads beneath her window, in the dark of the night.

"It's sorta like fighting," continued Natsuki.

"What?" blurted Oscar, staring at her in confusion.

"When you fight, especially against an opponent at your level, you need to take risks," explained Natsuki. "At some point, if you're fighting to win, you have to be willing to put it all on the line. My teachers and Tou-san always told me that it's the difference between fighting to win and fighting to 'not lose'."

"What does that mean?" asked Oscar.

"Well, a person who fights to 'not lose' will always play it safe," said Natsuki. "If that's the case, then they'll keep missing chances to win, 'cause they hold back, 'cause they think it'll open them up to losing. If two fighters are equal, a person who'll fight to 'not lose' will always lose to someone who fights to win, because the person who fights to win is willing to take that risk.

"And it's the same with you. You could've played it safe, just stayed in Mistral and not come. You knew there was a chance that Ruby-chan was with someone else, or that she wouldn't be interested in you the same way. But you still felt strongly enough to put in the extra work and really take that chance. Yeah, it's too bad that it didn't work out for you. But that doesn't make you an idiot for trying, especially when you came so far."

Natsuki's grin brightened further. "And I know Ruby-chan appreciates that. She might not return your feelings, but she sure as heck respects them. Heck, I _know_ she feels awful that she couldn't do that with you, because she knows you felt so strongly about it.

"And I think that, if you _had_ played it safe, you'd regret it. Maybe you'd be happy on your farm. Maybe you'd find some other girl to settle down with. But you'd probably still wind up spending a lot of your time going 'what if', and wondering how things would've worked out."

Oscar could honestly see that happening. Part of his motivation had been that, if he didn't capitalize on this chance to see Ruby again, he'd spend the rest of his life kicking himself for missing it. It had even been the excuse he'd made to Maria and his mother at one point, when they'd both pointed out the utter improbability of things working out the way he wanted them to. Granted, said excuse had momentarily folded beneath the weight of failure, when their warnings had proven completely prophetic. But Natsuki had just pointed out that that didn't make the sentiment any less true.

"Besides," continued Natsuki, "no one, least of all Ruby-chan, looks down on you."

"Sh-she doesn't?" asked Oscar.

Sure, he'd been spared the embarrassment of confessing his feelings for Ruby, only for _her_ to shoot him down, instead of being gracefully turned away by Jaune. But he still felt like a fool, and wouldn't fault Ruby and her friends for thinking him one, especially for continuing to sulk over her after the fact.

"Ruby-chan was the same way, you know," said Natsuki.

"Huh?" grunted Oscar.

"Remember Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun?" asked Natsuki.

Oscar nodded.

"Well-and this was before she went on that trip where she met you-Ruby-chan had a huge crush on Setsuna-kun," explained Natsuki.

"Sh-she did?"

Natsuki nodded emphatically, cheeks coloring slightly. "W-well, all three of us did, at one point. I decided not to get too into it, because I didn't feel _that_ strongly about it, and I didn't want to compete with Ruby-chan and Miyu-chan, when they obviously felt so much _stronger_ about it. But Ruby-chan was crushing _hard_. It was a huuuuuge blow, when Setsuna picked Miyu-chan.

"Ruby-chan bowed out gracefully, because Miyu-chan and Setsuna-kun were both her friends. But she still felt awful about it. Even months afterwards, when Setsuna-kun and Miyu-chan would have one of their sappy moments, Ruby-chan would get this _look_ in her eyes, and you could just tell that she was imagining herself in Miyu-chan's place, and feeling depressed and jealous about it.

"Ruby-chan knows what it's like to miss out, and knows that you can't 'just get over it' like that. So there's no reason for you to feel stupid, just because you aren't over her yet."

Oscar sighed, leaning back against the bench, turning his eyes upwards. "Thanks," he said. "But I still feel like it's all so pointless now."

"So change the point," said Natsuki.

"Come again?"

"Change the point," repeated Natsuki. "Forget about why you came here before. This is the Vytal Festival! I'm not even from the Kingdoms, and I can tell this is a _big_ deal. There's so much to see and do. It's not just you. Tons of people have come from all over the Kingdoms, maybe saved up and worked hard to afford it, just so that they could come to this festival. It's the _biggest_ party that only happens every two years, and you're right in the middle of it."

She shot up onto her feet, spinning around to grab Oscar's hands and pull him to his feet. "So let's have more fun, and make this the most amazing thing we've ever done!"

Once again, Oscar found himself being yanked back into the fray by the exuberant girl. And he found he couldn't keep a smile from his face, his previous pain slipping into the back of his mind, still there, but no longer coloring his view of everything around him.

Just maybe...he could enjoy the festival after all.

* * *

It was, Oscar decided, probably the best consolation he'd received. It was seemingly impossible for him to keep feeling down, with Natsuki being the irrepressible ball of sunshine and joy that she was. Her entire being seemed to completely overflow with pure optimism, and Oscar couldn't help but feel that things would get better, when he was around her.

Running into another pair enjoying the festival didn't hurt matters. Partway through their exploration, Natsuki and Oscar had run into none other than Weiss and Ashley. The four of them even wound up having lunch together, where Oscar and Ashley found themselves bonding over the shared experience of having to get over their feelings for the same girl.

"A kindred spirit!" gushed Ashley excitedly, seizing Oscar's hands in a tight grip across the table.

"You had a crush on Ruby too?" asked Oscar.

"Big one," replied Ashley.

"Did you try to confess to her, only to have her boyfriend warn you off?" asked Oscar in deadpan.

"Nope, they weren't together yet," Ashley replied, before switching to a deadpan tone to match his. "Did you lay a kiss on her, only to find she swings the other way?"

"Dang, that's rough," said Oscar.

"I know, right?!"

Weiss and Natsuki watched this all unfold, feeling somewhat amazed. "You know," Natsuki whispered to Weiss, "when you really think about it...Ruby-chan is kinda scary."

Weiss nodded. "And the scariest thing of all is that she doesn't even realize she's doing it."

They decided to weigh in, and see if they could swing the conversation in a less-troublesome direction It was nice that Oscar and Ashley could bond over the shared heartache at their failure to start up a romantic relationship with Ruby. But Weiss and Natsuki were starting to feel like they were side characters in some kind of romantic comedy harem series. It was a more than a little disconcerting.

"So...I heard Maria was training you to be a Huntsman," commented Weiss.

"Uh...that's right," said Oscar, jolted a little by the sudden shift in the conversation, and a bit surprised that somebody as exalted as Weiss _Schnee_ was curious about him.

He might not have been the most well-informed person in the world, but he knew well enough about the SDC, when their logo was plastered over nearly every crate of Dust that arrived in town, some of which they used on the farm, and in his own training. After learning that Ruby was at Beacon, Oscar had been on the network in their town's CCT center, digging up everything he could learn about her, including about her teammates, which included the heiress to the most powerful company on Remnant, though that had been about the limit to Oscar's knowledge about her.

"So, Maria-san is a Huntress?" asked Natsuki.

"A retired one," clarified Oscar. "She used to be really good, if you believe her. She certainly knows her business though."

"What weapons is she training you in?" asked Weiss, finding herself genuinely curious.

"W-well...I'm not sure I should draw them here," said Oscar, looking around, noted they were surrounded by festival-goers. "But...if we went somewhere quieter, I could show you."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ashley eagerly.

They adjourned, Weiss actually using her status as a Beacon student to get them inside the school itself, and even all the way into one of the sparring rings, where Oscar could show his weapons off, away from prying eyes.

Once they were in the room, Oscar reached into either side of his jacket, before pulling out a pair of what looked almost like batons, each capped with a large, metal orb at one end. With a series of clicks, the shafts lengthened, and an object unfolded out from beneath the orb, the length of metal telescoping out at a right-angle to the shaft. Soon, Oscar was holding a pair of curving blades, which bent sharply downward at the tip.

"Dual kama," noted Weiss, studying Oscar's weapons with interest.

"Ooooh!" cooed Natsuki, bending in to examine the weapons closely. "Wow! So this is what weapons are like in the Kingdoms. And you have kama, just like Setsuna-kun! Maybe you should talk to him."

Oscar _had_ noticed the very similar weapons that the silver-haired boy had holstered behind his back, noticing that they were much simpler in design than his own, not even capable of any kind of mechashift transformations. It made him wonder just what kind of style Setsuna used that allowed him to rely on such basic weaponry.

"Are they Dust-equipped?" asked Weiss.

"Yeah," said Oscar. "They're equipped with gravity-Dust, and they have a magazine for Dust-rounds too."

"Gravity-rounds, I'm guessing," commented Weiss. It made sense after all. Whatever bullets these kama had been fitted with couldn't have been very large-caliber, certainly not if they were going to fit into the heads of relatively small, handheld weapons. Gravity-rounds were the preferred choice, since they gave smaller guns a lot more kick than their size alone would suggest.

"When I can afford them," said Oscar. "I need to practice with 'em to get used to the recoil, but you can't exactly afford a lot of gravity-rounds on a farmer's budget."

_Understandable,_ thought Weiss.

"So Maria-san started you on kama-techniques?" asked Natsuki.

"Actually...she started me on _juggling_," said Oscar.

His three new friends were silent for a moment, before responding in unison. "_What?_"

Oscar began to juggle his own weapons, flipping the kama into the air, blades spinning around the shaft, before they came back down, the boy catching them deftly by their handles in each hand, trading them back and forth between his two hands, while the three girls watched in amazement.

"Why would you need to learn that?" asked Weiss.

"Well, it's because throwing these is a big part of the style Ms. Maria taught me," explained Oscar.

Stepping away from them, he drew back his right arm, then threw the kama, sending it flipping end over end across the ring, its blade whistling as it cut through the air. The middle finger of his left hand pressed an activator-button on the handle, located behind the trigger for the gun, which his index finger rested above. The shaft telescoped further, revealing cylinders just below the blade and right at the tip of the shaft. Those cylinders each held a piece of dark-violet Dust, which shimmered with the same shade of energy as it activated.

Across the ring, the flying kama quickly slowed to a stop, before reversing course, tumbling back the way it came, identical chambers opening up along the length of its shaft. Its fight was angled toward the kama in Oscar's left hand, but Oscar, in a move that showed the ease of long practice, shifted to place his right hand in its path, the shaft thudding securely into his palm before his fingers closed around it.

"Cool!" squealed Natsuki. "So that's how Dust works, huh?"

"That's one way," said Weiss, nodding sagely. She was able to tell that the Dust in both weapons was high-quality. It showed that he hadn't skimped on the design. "The blade is a top-grade Atlesian spring-steel alloy," she observed.

"Uh huh," said Oscar, remembering how he'd needed to scrimp and work to get the money to purchase the steel to make the blades.

Weiss nodded to herself, impressed. For a farm-boy from Mistral, Oscar was remarkably well-equipped. These weren't mere training tools, but full Huntsman-level equipment. If Maria had anything to do with these, then Weiss' estimation of the formidable woman went up by several more notches.

"It's pretty neat," said Natsuki. "Setsuna-kun uses gravity too!"

"He uses gravity-Dust?" asked Oscar, looking at Natsuki in slight confusion.

"Nah, just gravity," said Natsuki cheerfully.

"Huh?" Oscar turned to look at Ashley and Weiss. The other two girls appeared to know what Natsuki was talking about...somewhat.

"The Mibu utilize their Auras," explained Weiss. "With training, they can learn to produce effects almost the same as what we can do with Dust. They call it Manifestation, which is sort of like a Semblance, except that they've basically learned to make their own."

"Yep," replied Natsuki. "Setsuna-kun's learning the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_. It's the art of Earth, which allows him to control gravity."

_I wonder what that would look like,_ mused Weiss.

Oscar stared at Natsuki in wonder. "Y-you can do that?" he asked. "You can make your own Semblance?"

"Um...well...if it's what I think you're talking about, then yeah...sorta," said Natsuki.

"Can you do it too?" asked Oscar.

"Yeah," replied Natsuki nodding eagerly. "I'm a student of the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_, the art of Fire."

To demonstrate, she drew one of her kodachi, the longer one, and held it out to one side. There was a flashing spark, originating from the base of the blade, by the square-shaped guard that protected it. A second later, the length of the blade was lined with flames, which began to blaze with incredible intensity.

"You're doing this with your Aura!?" gasped Oscar, gaping openly at the spectacle.

"Yep," replied Natsuki, extinguishing the flames and sheathing the blade.

"This...this is incredible," whispered Oscar, lifting up his own weapons to inspect them, imagining what it would be like to do what he did now, without needing to use Dust, without needing to pay through the nose to recharge and rearm them. The thought was absurdly tantalizing.

"So here you are," commented Sasame, entering the room with an amused smile on her face. "The festival going on outside, and the four of you are sequestered away in an empty room."

"Oscar-kun was showing us his weapons," explained Natsuki, turning to grin at Sasame.

"I can see that," said Sasame, smiling wryly, even as she took in the shape of Oscar's weapons. _A bit like Setsuna-kun's,_ she noted to herself, making the same observation Natsuki had. "Perhaps we should take the opportunity to put them through their paces. Would you like to spar, Oscar-kun."

"Um...With who?" asked Oscar, looking around. "You?"

"That probably wouldn't be a good match," said Sasame, shaking her head. Weiss and Natsuki, already knowing about Sasame's regenerative abilities, quickly pictured an image of Oscar swinging his kama at Sasame repeatedly, while she simply stood there and let him, the cuts in her body vanishing as quickly as he made them. Silently, they agreed with Sasame.

"What if we brought Setsuna-kun here?" asked Natsuki. "It'd be cool if they fought."

"That would be a bit inconvenient for Setsuna-kun and Miyu-chan," said Sasame. "They're probably enjoying their date right now. It would be a shame to interrupt it."

"Yeah," said Natsuki, her face falling.

"Why don't _you_ fight him, Natsu-chan?" asked Sasame.

"Me...!?" Natsuki pointed to herself, seeming almost incredulous.

"Of course," replied Sasame. "You seem eager to show off. This is a good chance. And Oscar-kun can get a taste of Manifestation while he does it."

"Uh...um..." Oscar looked back and forth between Natsuki and Sasame.

Weiss and Ashley exchanged uncertain looks. They didn't want to put Oscar on the spot.

"Sounds like a wonderful idea," commented an aged voice, accompanied by the familiar click of a walking stick, coming from the doorway behind Sasame. Maria and Ruby entered into the room, Ruby looking a little confused.

"M-Ms. Maria," stammered Oscar, "a-are you sure?"

"Never pass up a chance to gain experience, boy," said Maria sagely. "Fighting different opponents can only be to your benefit...so long as you don't get yourself killed or maimed, of course."

"R-right," said Oscar his nerves only getting worse. The thought of fighting his new friend had been daunting enough, but to do it in front of _Ruby_, and have her see what would probably look like him acting like a complete amateur, he was about ready to die from embarrassment at the mere thought of it.

"Besides, I'm quite curious about this Manifestation thing myself," added Maria. "Ruby here has been telling me about it, was even able to track you lot down like it was nothing. Seems there's even more to Aura than I thought."

"If...if you're sure..." said Oscar.

"Only if you are," said Ruby, walking up to Oscar, who found himself struggling to keep from averting his eyes, even as his cheeks lit up. "You don't _have_ to do this, if you don't want to."

"Aw, don't coddle the boy," grumbled Maria. "Well, it _is_ the Vytal Festival. So, in the spirit of things, I'll let him take a pass if he really wants to."

Oscar was undecided. On one hand, he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Ruby. But backing down like this was plenty embarrassing on its own, and he wasn't sure which was more.

Ruby stepped a little closer, her presence making Oscar's heart beat faster. To his utter shock, she pulled him into a hug. His heart was threatening to burst out of his ribs at the contact with the girl he'd spent so long pining over. But that feeling began to be soothed away as he found himself reminded of how she'd hugged him, back during those days, when he was a grieving child who'd just lost his parents. There was warmth and reassurance in the gesture, nothing romantic, but comforting all the same.

"You don't have to worry about impressing anyone," said Ruby softly, speaking at a level that only he could hear. "It's completely up to you."

Oscar nodded, allowing Ruby to release him and step away. He glanced down at the weapons in his hands, then up at Natsuki, who was looking at him quizzically. It seemed she didn't exactly have any qualms about this, though she wasn't jumping at the chance. Their eyes met and she gave him one of her signature sunny smiles, a silent reassurance that she was fine with whatever he chose.

He glanced down at his kama again, then back up at her. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Okay," he said. "I'll do it."

Natsuki grinned with an eagerness that sent a surprising rush of excitement tingling through Oscar's body. It wasn't a malicious grin, but an eager and playful one, like that of a child about to play her favorite game. Natsuki didn't really regard him an opponent, nor someone to look down upon, but as a friend and playmate. That realization actually made Oscar feel a little better.

* * *

It was the work of just a few minutes for them to get ready. It had caused Weiss a little difficulty to set Natsuki up. Without a scroll to synch with Beacon's systems, they couldn't set it up to monitor her Aura. Fortunately, Ruby simply lent Natsuki her scroll, registering her Aura to allow the device to monitor it. Natsuki was fascinated by the process, much like she was everything else in the outside world.

As Natsuki and Oscar were entering the ring for their match, several other people entered the room. Weiss had also taken the time to call the rest of team RASP, along with RYNB, inviting them in to watch the spar. The enlarged audience was more than a little daunting to Oscar, while Natsuki was feeling guilty for being one of the people responsible for putting her new friend on the spot. She didn't mind showing off for an audience, especially if it was one of people she knew and liked. She didn't yet know Ruby's friends as well as she would have liked, but she could already tell that they were good people (though there was something _off_ about that orange-haired girl from Atlas that Natsuki just couldn't put her finger on). But it was obvious that Oscar was not at all comfortable with fighting in front of anyone other than his teacher.

Still, the boy swallowed his nerves, doing his best to focus completely on the opponent in front of him. Drawing his kama, he twirled them in his hands, feeling their weight and balance, a quick way of telling if there was any need for adjustment. However, they felt perfectly natural in his hands. In front of him, Natsuki drew her kodachi. The one in her right hand was a little bit longer than the one in the left, sporting a rectangular guard above the wrapped handle. The one in her left hand was shorter, sporting a smooth, polished handle, with a small red tassel dangling from the pommel.

The two of them eyed each other warily, the circumstances of their fight falling away, replaced by their complete focus on the opponent in front of them.

* * *

In the seats outside the ring, the others looked on eagerly.

"What do you think?" asked Maria.

"Well, Natsu-chan has been studying the sword for almost as long as Ruby-chan," said Sasame. "She's quite talented, and took to the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_ with ease. And, with Ruby-chan as a role model, she was a diligent student as well."

"I've only had Oscar for a little over a year," noted Maria. "The boy's definitely got the talent. He can be a bit flighty though. Still...he's gotten further along than I thought he would be by now, almost as though it's something he's done before."

"How interesting," mused Sasame, narrowing her eyes to stare more intently at Oscar. "I'm impressed that you've trained him to Temper his Aura."

"Is that what you people call it?" wondered Maria. "And here I just worked out that if I kept my Aura collected around me, it would protect me better."

"And that you could hide more effectively by shutting it off," guessed Sasame, raising an eyebrow at the woman, who lowered her head.

"I'm not proud of that," she said.

"We all do things that we are not proud of, from time to time," noted Sasame. "Besides, it's a useful skill to master. I wonder if you've learned what lies beyond that."

"Beyond...?" wondered Maria.

"Well, even as venerable as you are, there is still plenty more for you to learn, Maria-dono," said Sasame cheerfully.

"I look forward to it," said Maria, grinning.

Beside them, Ruby looked on curiously, silently wondering just how the fight would go. But her distracted eyes kept wandering to Natsuki's blade, particularly the shorter one. _So that's one of Muramasa's swords..._

* * *

"Ready?" asked Natsuki, keeping her swords arrayed in front of her, a stance that Oscar nearly mirrored with his own weapons.

"Yeah," said Oscar. "Let's do it."

The two of them tensed, then rushed each other. Oscar's eyes widened as he watched Natsuki's body blur, crossing the distance between them in an instant. With a yelp, he brought up his kama, catching the slashing attack from her leading kodachi on the shaft of his right-handed one. Maria's training took over, and Oscar immediately turned his wrist, pulling back on the sickle to hook the blade over the back of Natsuki's blade, pulling it down and out of the way, while he swung over it with his left-handed one.

Natsuki immediately blocked with her other kodachi, striking hard against Oscar's attacking kama to knock it back, so that he couldn't repeat his previous maneuver. From there, Natsuki bent her legs, sinking into a crouch, dropping her arm to lower her right-hand kodachi out of the way of Oscar's kama, and then stepped into a spin, reversing her grip and lashing out with the shorter kodachi in her left hand. Oscar yelped, falling back and deflecting it with the shaft of his weapon, only for Natsuki to follow through by continuing her spin, allowing her to bring her right-hand weapon around in a slash as well.

Managing to deflect that, Oscar jumped back, lowering his kama to point their rounded heads right at Natsuki, the heads pulling back to reveal concealed gun barrels. Oscar quickly fired a pair of shots at Natsuki, who gasped in surprise. Her shorter kodachi seemed to move of its own volition, rushing up to deflect both shots with surprising speed. Since the bullets were enhanced with gravity-Dust, they struck a good bit harder than normal bullets, especially for their size. That force sent Natsuki staggering back.

Oscar immediately tried to capitalize on the situation, drawing back, before throwing his right-handed kama at Natsuki, sending the weapon whirling end over end through the air at her, threatening to send the sickle's tip stabbing down into her shoulder. The blade sliced downwards, and passed through Natsuki's shoulder as though it wasn't even there.

A second later, Natsuki's image blurred, splitting and separating, making it seem as though she was in multiple places at the same time. This wasn't an afterimage from speed though. In fact, Natsuki seemed to be moving strangely slowly, fading in and out of sight, drifting back and forth in front of Oscar's field of vision as she crossed the space between them.

Oscar's eyes widened, realizing that he wasn't able to keep track of Natsuki's movements or her position. Nonetheless, Maria's training showed through again, the boy refusing to panic in this unexpected situation. Instead, he triggered the gravity-Dust in his left-handed kama, activating the Dust remotely in the thrown one at the same time, the two weapons pulling at each other, resulting in the thrown weapon being drawn back, still spinning from his initial throw.

Oscar's actions weren't a moment too soon. All of a sudden, Natsuki's image solidified into perfect clarity in front of him, both her kodachi held in a reverse-grip. Seeing his chance, Oscar lunged forward with the kama in his left hand, while the other one flew at Natuski from behind. Natsuki's body blurred once again, the girl seeming to spin in opposite directions simultaneously. Her swords became lines of light to Oscar's vision. Suddenly, his hand was stinging from the impact of three powerful slashes, executed so rapidly that it was impossible to discern their individual order. A series of three impacts rang from Natsuki's other side, her other sword deflecting Oscar's thrown kama.

They jumped away from each other, Oscar continuing to call his kama back to his empty hand. Catching it, he held the weapons up, regarding Natsuki with even greater wariness than before. _She's amazing!_

* * *

"Natsu-chan's sword-forms are really good," said Ruby.

"Is this that Manifestation-thing you were talking about?" asked Maria. "It was quite unusual, her moving so strangely."

"Oh no, that's a form for Natsu-chan's particular kenjutsu," said Sasame, "though there are a few minor Manifestation elements to it."

"I'm not sure I follow," said Maria cautiously.

"It varies from school to school, but the nature of Manifestation is almost infinitely varied," explained Sasame. "However, when it comes to Mibu combat-styles, they have two basic components; _Bujutsu_, or fighting arts; and _Reijutsu_, or spirit arts. _Bujutsu_ is a blanket term that encompasses the physical aspects, such as swordsmanship or the movement of the body, martial arts in other words. In that sense, Natsu-chan's _Bujutsu_ is the _Kodachi Nitto Ryu_, the dual-kodachi school. _Reijutsu_ is the actual school of utilizing one's Manifestation. In a way she has been learning two styles at the same time, so that they might build off of each other.

"Right now, Natsu-chan is relying primarily on her _Bujutsu_, mostly to test the waters with Oscar-kun, and gauge his capacity as an opponent. Now that she's started to take his measure, she'll shift to a more serious approach."

* * *

Oscar didn't know his body could contain so much sweat. He felt soaked. It was an unbelievable experience to face off with another person. The biggest disadvantage of being the lone student of a retired Huntress, in a farming town with only a single other Huntsman on call, was that Oscar's opportunities to face off against other people were extremely limited, their local Huntsman only having time for a spar very rarely, and being an opponent well above Oscar's level. Facing off someone closer in ability to him, even if she clearly had much more training behind her, was both thrilling and terrifying.

For her part, Natsuki looked like she was having the time of her left, her exuberant grin only wider after their previous exchange. Now she held her kodachi out to either side of her. It was a rather frivolous-looking stance, practically leaving herself wide-open. But Oscar saw why she'd moved her blades clear of her body when they began to spark. Abruptly, orange and yellow flames erupted from them, running up their edges, both blades burning intensely.

Oscar's mouth went dry. Natsuki thrust her right-handed kodachi out at him. "_Hitodama!_" A trio of fireballs erupted outwards, flying at Oscar on curving trajectories, almost as fast as the bullets of his own weapons.

Thankfully, his training still held, and Oscar's body automatically went into motion, in response to the attack. He ducked underneath the first fireball, before throwing himself out of the way of the next. The third was perfectly-positioned to intercept him, but Oscar struck it with the shaft of his kama, just below the blade, feeling as though he'd hit a tangible object, and knocking it away.

A trio of explosions erupted from where the fireballs hit, flames and smoke washing outwards, throwing out a flares that backlit Oscar's body dramatically, catching the tail of his coat, and making it flare. Though Oscar wasn't aware of it, the explosions behind him made him look a great deal cooler than he felt at the moment, feeling as though he'd barely managed to avoid that attack by the skin of his teeth.

And Natsuki was already closing in, swinging her longer kodachi to send a wave of flames rushing at him, the fires also concealing the blade of her sword, making it almost impossible for Oscar to track.

Oscar's response was to activate the gravity-Dust in his left-handed kama, spinning it in his grip, producing a gravitational field that pulled at the flames, dispersing them around his body, also revealing the path of Natsuki's sword. Oscar moved his left arm aside so that he could swing his right-handed weapon out to meet it. Again, he hooked the sickle's blade around Natsuki's sword, moving as thought to pull it aside, but actually moving to line up the hidden gun-barrel with Natsuki's stomach. The concealed weapon popped out, and Oscar launched a shot at point-blank range.

Natsuki gasped in surprise, the sound occurring almost perfectly in time with the sharp "Ping!" of Oscar's bullet striking off the blade of her shorter sword, which had already moved to intercept Oscar's shot. The bullet cut through the flames lining the blade to deflect off to the side, gouging a sizable chunk out of the floor of the sparring ring, the recoil of the impact knocking Natsuki's arm back and out to the side.

The fires around Natsuki's longer kodachi, which had been partially dispersed by Oscar's spin earlier, reignited, then exploded outwards, threatening to completely engulf Oscar's body. Oscar jumped back, pulling his kama away from Natsuki's sword, and bringing the shafts of his weapons together, connecting their ends, merging them into a single, long, double-bladed staff, which Oscar rapidly spun, the swirling field of gravitational energy successfully dispersing Natsuki's flames.

From there, Oscar transitioned from spinning his weapon to separating it into its individual components, reversing direction and charging right back in, catching a startled Natsuki in double-slash from opposing directions. He could see his sickles biting into her Aura, making it almost look as though he'd cut her apart with them.

A second later, that seemed to become literal truth, with Natsuki's body separating along the line of his cuts. But Oscar didn't even have the time for a panicked thought that he'd accidentally killed his new friend, panic immediately overwritten by confusion as Natsuki's form dissolved into flame.

Feeling the heat intensify to his left, Oscar leapt back, swinging out with the kama on that side, its blade piercing into the stomach of Natsuki, only for her body to once again dissolve into a human-shaped construct of flames.

The air was growing uncomfortably hot, and Oscar found himself sweating even harder than before. The illumination of fire came from all sides, the flames bathing him with their heat. Looking around, Oscar saw Natsuki, once again fading in and out of sight, her form rippling and distorting in the air, seeming to multiply, until Oscar realized that he was completely surrounded by spectral images of his opponent.

* * *

"So the flames are this _Reijutsu_ you were talking about?" asked Pyrrha, watching the fight unfold in amazement. She'd grown used to seeing incredible feats of Aura-based skill, thanks to Ruby. But Natsuki's was so different in its overall form that it was like discovering the nature of Manifestation anew.

"Yes," replied Sasame.

"So the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_ uses kodachi?" asked Ren.

"Not specifically," said Sasame. "As I said, it varies between schools. Some schools are heavily integrated, with_ Bujutsu _and_ Reijutsu_ developed together as complimentary styles. For example, the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_, which Ruby-chan trained in initially, is like that, though she focused entirely on the _Bujutsu_ forms. Kyo's style is like that as well.

"In contrast, other schools are more flexible in nature, and are accommodating to a variety of _Bujutsu_ forms to potentially compliment the _Reijutsu_ aspect. Natsu-chan's _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_ and Setuna-kun's _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_ are examples. Setsuna-kun preferred to use kama himself, but tessen are popular in his school as well. As for Natsu-chan's school, her own teacher, Keikoku, is a spear-user."

"So...who taught her how to use swords like that?" asked Yang.

"Her father," replied Sasame simply. "Once it was understood that Natsu-chan was serious about her learning, it was only natural that she would learn _Bujutsu_ from her father."

"Is he good?" asked Nora.

Sasame's smile widened. "One of the best," she said. "After all, Shinomori Aoshi was formerly a leader of the Imperial Guard of one of the previous Taishiro. He was renowned as a prodigy in his day."

"So what are we seeing now?" asked Ashley, staring down into the ring with fascination.

"This is one of Natsu-chan's original techniques," replied Sasame. "Fire clones are often used to distract in the_ Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_, but Natsu-chan combined that with the _kenbu_, or sword-dance forms, that her father's style specializes in to create a disorienting mirage that renders her opponent unable to follow her. She calls it _Engetsu Kenbu_."

"Sword-dance...?" prompted Pyrrha.

Sasame hummed in confirmation. "Sword-dances can be either ceremonial or practical. Natsu-chan's version is obviously the latter. It uses flowing movements, alternating between fast and slow to distort her opponent's perception of her location. Adding to that, she uses the heat of her flames to alter the air's refractive index to produce mirages, combined with her fire-clones as an added distraction."

Down below, Oscar combined his kama again, gripping near the head of one end to extend his overall reach, warily watching for his opponent to attack, or his own chance to strike.

"Your student is well-trained, Maria-dono," noted Sasame with a smile.

"The boy's as studious as they come," said Maria. "Real Huntsman material for sure."

* * *

Oscar tightened his grip on the shaft of his double-headed kama, sweat dripping down his face. The heat was intense, here in the center of this conflagration. Natsuki continued to waver in and out of sight, her form rippling, bending, and twisting with each movement. Oscar couldn't afford to let the heat get to him. He had to keep calm and wait for that sign, the one that would indicate that Natsuki was making her move.

Then he felt it, the heat intensifying behind him. The flickering and fading movements of Natsuki became more frantic. Oscar spun about towards the source of the heat. Sure enough, there Natsuki was, her appearance coming into perfect clarity as she dashed at him. But the longer reach of Oscar's weapon allowed him to strike out at her first.

His blade bit into her body, which dissolved into another flame construct. Despite that, Oscar didn't falter, instead continuing his swing, exchanging hands and using that to bring the swing around to directly behind him. He felt the blade of his weapon make contact with a hard object, one of Natsuki's kodachi. The girl yelped, and Oscar used the hesitation caused by his attack to turn about and continue to press her, only to find that Natsuki had leapt upward.

She pointed the longer kodachi down at him. "_Shakuran Entei!_" The flames lining the blade abruptly exploded and launched downward in a jet of fire. Oscar jumped back, activating the gravity-Dust in his weapon while spinning it. Fortunately, he managed to dodge the main attack, and the spin of his weapon produced a gravity field that deflected the flames that spilled outward from the point of impact.

Natsuki touched down behind and to the right of him. Oscar was already turning to intercept her, but she was too close for him to use his weapon in its double-kama form. So he split it once more, swinging his right-handed kama to intercept Natsuki's incoming slash. At the instant of impact, Oscar triggered the gravity-Dust in his weapon again. The blade flared with black and violet energy, increasing its weight and momentum dramatically. At the same time, the flames lining Natsuki's sword exploded outward, the two powerful forces clashing in an explosion that shook the entire ring.

The two fighters disappeared in a plume of dust and smoke, chunks and pieces of the floor being flung in every direction. The the safety barrier crackled and buzzed angrily as Oscar's back slammed into it, the poor boy having been thrown clear of the cloud of smoke and sent flying all the way out of the ring. He slid down the barrier with a faint buzz, his feet touching down, then his legs giving out, sinking to his knees.

The smoke cleared to reveal Natsuki, who'd been driven back, but not as far, having driven her shorter kodachi into the floor to anchor herself, before she could be thrown away, her other one still held up, having been used to ward off the explosive force of the blows she and Oscar had exchanged.

Both fighters were tired, sweaty, bruised, battered, and smudged from their match. But the screen above told the truth, namely that Oscar had taken the brunt of it. His Aura had fallen into the critical zone, while Natsuki's was still more than half full.

Looking up, Oscar took in the depressing sight, before letting out a breath and lowering his head in defeat.

Weiss brought down the barrier, allowing the group to approach their friends. Ruby crouched worriedly by Oscar, slipping his arm over her shoulders and helping him up. From there, she helped him to a seat, sitting down next to the exhausted boy, who was too tired and battered to even remember to be embarrassed by the close proximity and contact with the girl he'd pined after for so long.

"How do you feel?" asked Ruby.

"Like a piece of pounded meat," said Oscar ruefully.

"It looks like you got baked a little," added Jaune, bringing over a towel, which Oscar accepted gratefully, wiping the sweat off his face.

"I feel grilled," replied Oscar, giving Jaune a shaky smile, prompting a giggle from Ruby.

"I can help with that," said Sasame, gently brushing past Jaune and bringing her hands up to cup Oscar's face. The warm, pink light of her Aura flowed into Oscar's body, and the boy gasped with relief as the burning sensation faded away, along with all the aches and pains of the match.

Treatment complete, Sasame released Oscar's face, allowing him to lean back with a tired sigh, his eyelids feeling heavy after the healing.

The sound of footsteps prompted Ruby to look up, her eyes widening as she saw Natsuki approaching. Reading the intent in Natsuki's eyes, Ruby gladly slid over to allow Natsuki to take her place, sitting next to Oscar.

"Hey," she said softly, giving Oscar a more gentle smile than she usually used.

"Hey," Oscar said back. "Congrats on winning."

Natsuki laughed. "Wasn't that fun?" she asked.

"It was incredible," said Oscar. "I'm sorry I wasn't much of an opponent."

"Are you kidding!?" exclaimed Natsuki. "You're amazing! I've been training for five years. You've only been working for one, _and_ you're two years younger than me. I can't believe how well you did. There are people my age, back home, who couldn't beat you."

The complete sincerity Natsuki spoke with was enough of a reassurance to Oscar that he found himself leaning back with a relieved sigh. "That's good to hear."

"We should do it again sometime," said Natsuki.

"Sure," said Oscar with a dry chuckle.

The fight had been intense; terrifying, but also exhilarating. After the first few clashes against Natsuki, Oscar had just been too occupied with keeping up with her to worry about how he looked, or what their audience thought of his performance. Even though he'd lost, he felt a strange sense of contentment.

He twitched, tensing at the click of Maria's cane as she hobbled her way up to him. Oscar, swallowed nervously, fully expecting a furious tirade for losing. Instead, Maria favored him with a grin.

"You did me proud, my boy," she said. "Good job showing your mettle as my student."

"Thank you, Ms. Maria," said Oscar.

His body felt heavy and, honestly, Oscar felt as though he might fall asleep where he sat. He didn't mind though. After the rush of fighting against Natsuki, the melancholy he'd felt earlier that day felt like a distant memory. Maybe _this_ had been what he needed.

* * *

**Obviously, since Oscar is Maria's student, he wouldn't be using Ozpin's cane. So, even though he's dressed the same, he uses a different style than he does in the canon show. On that note...**

**Reap and Sow: Dual Gravity-Dust Kama. Functionally, Oscar's weapons are pretty much functionally identical of Life and Death, Maria's weapons. The main difference is that he wasn't into the whole skull motif, so they look a little plainer. Given that he isn't as trained or experienced as Maria is, he can't do all the things she showed she could do in canon. But he'll get there eventually.**

**On a separate note. I can proudly report that I am finally _done_ writing this story, having officially wrapped up the epilogue at a grand total of 166 chapters. So, there's still a way to go with posting. In the meantime, I'm working on my _Lost Rose_ sequel, and a _new_ story, which will be my take on another _RWBY, But_...genre of fanfiction, in this case the _RWBY, But Ruby is a Faunus_, category. It's a fic that I'm having a lot of fun writing, and one that will be shorter and more contained than most of my previous creations (granted, with all but one of my _RWBY_ stories exceeding a 100 chapters, "shorter" is a relative term).**

**However, I don't expect to get a lot of writing done this week, given that _Shark Week_ has officially begun. Good or bad, I always make it a point to watch it every year. So...I'm a little distracted.**


	122. Chapter 122

**Chapter 122:**

"You want me to _what_?" exclaimed Jaune, staring at Sasame in shock.

"I want you to come back to Onmyo with us," said Sasame firmly. "As you guessed, last time we spoke of your potential as a healer, training as one requires specialized instruction. Though the overall methodology is different in the Kingdoms, you would still be learning the medical arts, the understanding of human and faunus bodies, and how to treat their ills. And, of course, there are the more specialized techniques to healing that are beyond what little you are capable of now.

"Sadly, there just _isn't_ enough time for me to do it over the course of my visit, and I won't be able to come back for a considerable length of time, after I return home. Therefore, it is my intention to bring you _bac_k with me, so that I can handle your instruction back home, while fulfilling my duties."

"I...I'm honored by the offer," said Jaune, bowing his head to Sasame, who'd pulled him aside amidst the commotion following Oscar's match with Natsuki. "But I can't leave Beacon. I have my team, my friends, and Ruby here. I know that it's her homeland, but she doesn't have a reason to come back with you." He paused. "Not to mention that I don't think missing a year's worth of class would be a good idea for my chances at graduating with my teammates."

"I suppose that's true," agreed Sasame. "I also imagine it wouldn't be a major trial to defer your full training until after your graduation." She folded her arms, frowning thoughtfully. "Perhaps I got ahead of myself. But I still believe it would work better if I simply took you back with me, rather than giving you incomplete instruction now, and trusting in that to carry you through the remainder of your time here."

She stood silent for a moment, fox-tail gently swaying back and forth behind her, deep in thought for a moment. The silence stretched on long enough for Jaune to begin feeling uncomfortable, shifting uneasily as he waited for her to say something, before beginning to wonder if he just ought to excuse himself and rejoin the others.

Abruptly, Sasame straightened up, her tail shooting up behind her, its hairs standing on end, gasping in excitement; her sudden, breathy exclamation startling Jaune, prompting him to yelp and jump back in surprise.

"I just had a _wonderful_ idea!" declared Sasame. "It covers so many bases. I can't believe I didn't think of it before. It's positively brilliant, if I do say so myself...which I do."

"Uh...great," said Jaune. "Care to fill me in on your brilliant idea?" _Maybe it's something sensible, like having her instruct me over the CCT._ He'd momentarily forgotten that the Mibu didn't have access to the CCT.

"Why don't I just bring _all_ of you back with me," said Sasame.

"Huh!?" _That's even crazier!_

"It's perfect," said Sasame, talking mostly to herself now. "It'll work as an exchange program. Beacon students coming over to Onmyo would give the people more examples of outsiders to interact with and see. You and your friends will get a better engagement with our Aura techniques, including instruction by masters. Ruby-chan will be able to visit her friends and family. Both Vale and the Mibu will have a record of interaction to help drive us ultimately leaving our isolation."

Jaune's head whirled at the ideas Sasame was spouting. There was a logic to it that he could understand. But, at the same time, he was wary. The revelation of the Mibu, or even the mere fact that someone raised and educated by them was a student of Beacon, had been something that a member of Vale's Council had been willing to stoop to kidnapping and murder to prevent. If the Mibu really pushed themselves out into the open, who was to say that the resulting response wouldn't be even more extreme, especially considering the threat the Mibu, and their Aura abilities, represented to the Dust industry.

On the other hand, it had several potential advantages. Jaune had to admit that, despite his reluctance to leave Beacon behind for a year or more to properly learn how to work as a healer, he still wanted desperately to master the arts that he was mostly learning from basic advice from Ruby, who herself was a mere novice in the craft, without any intention of advancing her learning further; mostly to avoid accidentally injuring her again. Besides that, he knew that he and his friends would only benefit from more specialized instruction in Aura-techniques. Ruby was always uneasy about how good a job she was doing instructing them in the mere basics of the craft, and was completely clueless as to how to help them master the full nuances of Manifestation. While Sasame was also stumped on how to help people who'd already unlocked their Semblances develop proper Manifestations, perhaps other experts might be able to hammer out some kind of answer to that conundrum.

Of course, the whole notion was ridiculous. Jaune knew full well that there was no way that Ozpin would ever approve simply handing over two teams' worth of his students to a group of people who weren't even an official Kingdom, who were completely isolated from the rest of the world, and were historically at odds with the _actual_ Kingdoms, Vale in particular.

_Yeah...no way Ozpin would ever agree to this_, thought Jaune.

* * *

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," said Ozpin.

Jaune's jaw dropped in nearly perfect time with his sheathed weapon, clanging to the floor of Ozpin's office. Sasame had been so excited by the notion that she'd practically dragged him across campus, through the festival grounds, and up into the tower. Everyone else (Oscar and Maria included), seeing their dramatic departure, rushed to follow, spilling out of the elevator just in time to hear the tail-end of Sasame's proposal. Their panicked rush to keep up with an exuberant Sasame had even drawn Miyu and Setsuna out of the crowd, like iron filings with a magnet.

"A-are you serious?" asked Jaune nervously.

Ozpin chuckled. "Though her enthusiasm might be a little…off-putting, Ms. Mitarai's reasoning is actually quite sound. An exchange program is an excellent way to build congenial relations between Vale and the Mibu. More to the point, the skills you could learn and develop there and, subsequently, bring back, might well be priceless."

Ruby was beginning to gape too, just as shocked as Jaune was, possibly more-so because she hadn't even heard Sasame's full idea before now. Sasame had expressed an intention to bring Jaune back to train him, but she'd never suggested such a dramatic idea as bringing the whole of RASP and RYNB over to Onmyo. Her gaze went to Glynda, standing silently behind Ozpin. Ruby expected the stern woman to be ready to deliver a dramatic objection. However, to Ruby's amazement, Glynda remained silent, instead appearing to give the idea serious consideration.

"There is a mild academic concern," continued Ozpin. "However, I am certain that we could make some arrangements for course credits, as well as treating the affair as an extended mission, which would take care of your mission credits for the year as well."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," said Weiss incredulously.

"This idea has my full approval..." said Ozpin, "...is what I would _like_ to say. However...I'm afraid that there are still complications that would prevent us from going through with it, as things currently stand."

"Oh...?" Sasame raised an eyebrow, her excitement fading in the face of Ozpin's disappointing statement, but still recognizing that there was yet more to learn about the situation.

"First and foremost, such a program requires the full and informed consent of its participants," said Ozpin, his eyes sweeping out over the assembled students. His gaze paused fractionally as his eyes came to rest on Oscar, seeming to notice the boy's presence for the first time. "Such a program represents a dramatic shift in their experiences. I have no desire to force my students to uproot themselves to participate in an exchange with a foreign land. Therefore, before any such idea can be approved, it requires _their_ input and approval.

"Therefore, the first thing we must have is a detailed plan as to just _what_ this exchange will consist of. What will the students be learning? Who will they be learning from? When does it start and end? These must be ironed out.

"The second is that the students must be informed of all the details, then allowed to make their own decisions on the matter. Those who wish to stay at Beacon cannot be pressured into changing their decision, even if it means splitting teams."

Sasame nodded soberly, feeling a bit contrite, if anything, about her previously rash attitude.

"The final complication is the most difficult one to deal with," said Ozpin, "largely because it is heavily governed by outside factors that I have limited influence over.

"The Mibu, officially, are a political non-entity. No one in any official capacity acknowledges their existence. Thus, the idea of initiating an exchange program with a political entity that does not exist would be treated as utterly ridiculous. Unofficially, the relationship between the Mibu and the Kingdoms, Vale in particular, is quite rocky, thanks to their history of past conflict. Such history makes those in power rather disinclined to change their minds on the idea of engaging with the Mibu in a more official capacity. There is also the threat to the importance of Dust represented by the Mibu's Aura-skills."

"Well, if we're talking about threats to Dust," said Weiss, stepping forward, "that might actually be leverage in our favor, considering Father's past actions."

Weiss' friends stared at her in shock, mainly at the idea of Weiss offering support to Sasame's, still somewhat-radical-sounding, idea.

"That...is an excellent point, Ms. Schnee," said Ozpin, smiling at her statement. "However, the other points remain rather difficult to clear. In order to shift matters so that the Council of Vale would be willing to approve such a course of action, we need to take steps towards amending their attitudes towards the Mibu. Mason Ayers was, undoubtedly, the primary antagonistic element within the Council, but the remaining members, as well as whoever replaces Ayers, will be dubious of the proposal at best."

"But I thought Beacon was run independently," said Pyrrha. "You don't need the Council's approval for an exchange program, do you?"

"Considering the aim of said program is to build a relationship with a group that the current government of Vale does not wish to acknowledge, I have less leeway than usual," said Ozpin. "If the Council decides that I am not suited to the position of Headmaster, they do have the power to vote me out, and appoint one more to their liking in my place. Ayers was gathering evidence to try and bring about just such an action, when we apprehended him.

"Considering that I have already admitted a student who is affiliated with the Mibu, and am currently hosting one of the most-wanted criminals in the world, I have, unfortunately, strained my credibility a great deal. Ms. Rose has produced magnificent results to offset that, but putting this plan forward, as things stand now, would most likely push things past the edge, and potentially lead to my ouster."

Sasame sighed softly. "That _is_ rather troublesome. I can claim that things would at least be easier on my end. The Taishiro, and the majority of the Goyosei, favor an end to our isolationism. However, several prominent families and clan members are strongly, some fanatically, opposed, and the general attitude of the populace is still rather dismissive of outsiders in general."

"Well, with the heads of your government on your side, it should be easier to make an exchange program work, in any case," said Ozpin.

"So then...the best approach would be some form of demonstration of goodwill," mused Sasame. "Along with that, perhaps some way of demonstrating the potential of the Mibu arts that people would otherwise be dismissive of."

"Yes," agreed Ozpin. "It would be best if such a demonstration was public, something visible, and dramatic..." His voice trailed off, eyes widening behind his spectacles. Abruptly his smile returned, looking distinctly sly and making the people before him (with the exception of Sasame) a little uncomfortable. They got the distinct impression that Ozpin had just come up with a diabolical plan.

"You seem to have thought of something," said Sasame, more than a little unnecessarily.

Ozpin chuckled. "Why yes...I believe I _did_ just have a rather excellent idea. You see...the Vytal Festival Tournament begins tomorrow. However, due to the fact that a certain team of participants has...dropped out...there is an opening in the tournament roster."

Jaws all around the room dropped, including Glynda's this time, as Ozpin began to outline a proposal that sounded downright outlandish.

"Unfortunately, due to complications with organization, there wasn't an opportunity for any of the Academies to front a team to replace the one that has been lost," continued Ozpin, "which means that that slot remains open. As things stand, in the process of the tournament, one of the teams currently participating would be randomly paired with this empty slot, and advanced to the next round automatically. However, I feel that would be rather unsatisfying for the audience, and especially the team being advanced, as two of its members would miss the opportunity to demonstrate their skills in the first round.

"However...we presently have, staying in our guest dorms, multiple representatives of the Mibu, all of whom-according to you, Ms. Mitarai-are trained in combat. Though they are younger than the norm for Academy students, if their capabilities are near those of Ms. Rose, they would make for substantial competition for any of the teams currently participating."

"Ozpin! The Council would never approve!" protested Glynda.

"Luckily, the Council has placed James and I in charge of all affairs concerning the tournament," replied Ozpin.

"And you think that James would agree to this?" asked Glynda skeptically.

"James has been coming around to the potential that the Mibu represent," said Ozpin. "I imagine he might be more amenable to this than you might think." He looked across the desk at Sasame. "Well then, Ms. Mitarai, what do you think? You and your charges would participate in the tournament, and demonstrate what the Mibu are capable of. Also, participating in the tournament also serves as a gesture of goodwill, and the Mibu's willingness to engage with the other Kingdoms."

"I like it," said Sasame, her tail waving back and forth more energetically than before. "There is but one issue."

"And that is...?" prodded Ozpin.

"My participation is out of the question," said Sasame simply. "I am older than any Academy students and, by all rights, would be considered a full graduate in your system. It would not be appropriate to pit me against mere students in such a context, and would be considered tantamount to cheating...which leaves us with another complication. Because of that, there are only three of us visiting Mibu who would be eligible to participate in this tournament. I understand that the first round is supposed to involve teams of four. Would a team of three be acceptable?"

"Unfortunately not," admitted Ozpin. "Tournament guidelines_ do_ require a team to have a full roster of four members to be eligible, a matter that has been debated, but not resolved, and definitely not in time to be applicable to the current tournament. We would indeed require a fourth member to fill out the roster."

"A fourth member..." mused Sasame. "Unfortunately, the only other representative of the Mibu here, who is eligible, would be Ruby-chan. But having her represent both teams would be just as problematic."

"Considering the circumstances, I would permit a substitute, if you can find one," said Ozpin. "I would even permit someone from Beacon or any of the visiting students not actually participating in the tournament."

"Yeah, but we don't really know anyone like that," Ruby pointed out.

After all, all the teams they knew personally; CFVY, CRDL, SSSN, CPPR, and now ABRN; were all participating in the tournament. Even amongst the other students, those who weren't participating weren't in RUBY or RASP's social circle, to say nothing of students from outside Beacon.

"Hmmm..." Sasame canted her head, expression pensive. "Does it _have_ to be an Academy student?"

"Not necessarily," said Ozpin. "If they are someone that has the capacity to participate in the tournament; so long as they are not, like you, too old; then I would be willing to accept them, seeing as your charges are not Academy students either."

"So...we would need somebody young, with Huntsman training..." Sasame began to smile in a manner reminiscent to how Ozpin had been smiling earlier. "They would have to be somebody capable of holding their own..." Her head turned, her gaze coming to rest on a certain young man, who'd been silent throughout this whole affair, mostly because of his complete lack of involvement in what was going on.

It took Oscar an extra second to realize that Sasame was looking at him. A second later, all eyes in the room were on him, and Oscar tensed, blushing automatically, uneasy with the sudden scrutiny. "Wha-? Me?"

Sasame's smile became a grin.

"Tha-that's crazy!" exclaimed Oscar. "I-I mean...I'm way too young. Sure, Natsuki and the others are fifteen, but I'm _thirteen_! I've only been training for a year, for crying out loud. Me? Participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament?"

Oscar yelped at the cackle that exploded from Maria, who'd been standing behind him. "Well well, that sounds like an entertaining idea. Imagine your aunt's reaction, when she sees you in the ring."

"Sh-she'd kill me," Oscar whimpered.

"Oh, she'd probably have some stern words with me for allowing such madness," said Maria. "But it would be a good experience for you."

"How would being humiliated in an official tournament broadcast across the entire world be a good experience?" Oscar wanted to know.

"You're assuming you _would_ be humiliated," said Sasame cheerfully. "I've already taken your measure, Oscar-kun, thanks to your match with Natsu-chan. I would say that you are _not_ as unfit as you think yourself to be. Besides, even if you are lacking in training and experience, you would have a trio of allies with _both_ supporting you."

Oscar lurched forward as a weight struck his back, a pair of arms wrapping around his shoulders from behind. Natsuki rested her chin on his shoulder, grinning at him from the edge of his field of vision, the contact of her body pressing against his back making Oscar flush even redder.

"This sounds great!" exclaimed Natsuki. "This tournament sounds like fun, and I'd get to fight alongside you, Oscar-kun."

"Um...uh..." Oscar blinked, his rational process shutting down, due to the pretty girl literally hanging off him.

"I can't help but notice that no one asked _us_ what we thought about this," said Setsuna, glancing sidelong at Miyu.

"Do you have any objections?" asked Miyu, glancing back.

"It sounds entertaining," said Setsuna with a shrug. "I have no issue. It's definitely better than simply sitting back and playing spectator the whole time."

"I feel the same," said Miyu, nodding in agreement.

Natsuki finally released Oscar, who stumbled a bit, turning around to grin at her two friends from home. "So you're okay with having Oscar-kun on our team."

"Sasame-sama mentioned that he fought a match with you," said Miyu. "How was he?"

"Really good," said Natsuki, nodding to herself. "You'd never think he'd only been training for a year."

"I have no problems with it then," said Miyu, Setsuna nodding his agreement alongside her. "Though, it would be the best if the two of us also got an idea of Oscar-kun's ability, before we throw ourselves into the ring."

"Which brings up the other issue," said Marai sternly, "teamwork. You three may know each other well enough that you could fight alongside one another in the ring. But Oscar would trip things up by virtue of the fact that he has _never_ been a part of your group dynamic."

"Truth be told, the three of us don't have a lot of experience fighting together either," admitted Setsuna. "The best you could say we could do is that we know how to stay out of each other's way."

"Not good enough," said Maria strictly. "Even if your skills _are_ the real deal; which I don't doubt, after seeing the young lady fight; ad-hoc teamwork won't be enough to carry the day in the Vytal Festival Tournament. You four need time to learn one another's abilities, skills, and individual quirks, and iron out at least _some_ idea of how you'll fight together. The issue is that we don't know how much time you have. The selection process is random, and you could be paired up with your opponents as early as the first round tomorrow."

"Actually, we can help with that," said Ozpin. "Considering the obstacles facing such a sudden inclusion, it would only be natural to make reasonable amendments. Therefore, we can...tweak...the selection process. As such, your team will be assigned to the final match of the team rounds, which means that your opponents would remain a random factor. That would give you three whole days to develop your team dynamic."

"A-are you sure that is permissible?" asked Glynda nervously.

"I believe that James and I would be able to make it work," said Ozpin.

"Again...I'm a little troubled that you are assuming James' cooperation," said Glynda uneasily.

"He's certainly learned to be more reasonable," said Ozpin. "I think I can talk him around." His gaze went to Oscar, who flinched nervously as it settled on him.

Ruby shivered. Though she wasn't the recipient of that feeling, she couldn't help but feel a sense of...interest...in the boy from Ozpin. It reminded her the feeling she'd gotten when she'd first met Kyo's father, and again, when she'd met Maria. Ozpin looked as though he were seeing something familiar, and seemed...strangely sad, though it was very subtle, and she suspected that only a tiny number of other people in the room could pick up on it.

"What is your name, young man?" asked Ozpin.

"O-Oscar Pine," said Oscar, straightening nervously.

Ozpin smiled gently, giving him an almost grandfatherly air. "I have no wish to force this upon you, Mr. Pine. I have only just met you, but I can tell that this situation is completely beyond your expectations for what the festival entailed. If you so wish, I will allow you to withdraw. No one here would think less of you for it, if you wished to do so. This does represent a substantial risk, after all."

Oscar looked down at his boots. "Risk, huh..."

That was an understatement. By agreeing to participate in the tournament, Oscar would be putting his face and name out for the entire world to see. If he made a good showing, even if if he didn't wind up winning, then it was practically a ticket to success as a Huntsman. Whether he went to an Academy or did as his teacher had done, and went straight into taking the licensing exam, he'd be pretty much assured of success.

On the other hand, if he went down like a chump in the first round, he'd be a laughingstock, the little boy who'd thought he could play with the big kids. If he made a fool of himself, then he could expect himself to be in for hell, if he ever went to an Academy, assuming any Academy was willing to accept someone who'd pulled a stunt as stupid as he had.

And it _was_ a risk. Everyone seemed to think he was skilled for his age and level of training. But Oscar knew better than to let that go to his head (Maria had been very stringent in beating that tendency out of him from the very beginning). It didn't change the fact that, if he agreed, he'd be going up against people several years older than him, who'd been training for that much longer. The idea that he could measure up against that, just because he was a little better than average, was arrogant in the extreme.

On the other hand, Oscar was now no stranger to risk. He'd already taken the tremendous risk of coming to Vale in the first place. He'd put so much on the line for the chance to see Ruby again, to tell her about how he felt. That chance hadn't paid off, unfortunately. But Oscar had once again come to realize that this represented another opportunity, a potential chance that, if he didn't seize it, he might look back on with regret.

Oscar glanced behind himself, seeing Natsuki standing there, hands clasped behind her back, watching him with a hopeful expression. He couldn't even begin to understand why a girl like her was so interested in him. He hadn't gotten the full scoop on the Mibu, but he was aware that they were isolated from the other Kingdoms, and that the repercussions of what happened here weren't likely to have much of an effect on her life back there, for the time being. Fighting in the tournament wasn't some kind of ambition for her, and the reason she was so eager to have him on her team was...

"I guess I'll do it," said Oscar. _In for a penny...I guess._

"I'm glad to hear it, Mr. Pine," said Ozpin. "Since you are visiting from abroad, I assume you have accommodations in Vale, correct."

"Yes," said Oscar.

"Then I will suggest that you move into the visitor dorms with your new teammates," said Ozpin. "Beacon will cover the expense of your accommodations, including the cancelation fee, as well as provide you with additional financial support, while you are a participant. In gratitude for your assistance, I will also be happy to cover the cost of your return trip to Mistral."

"That's...thanks," said Oscar, genuinely relieved by the idea. That would certainly ease the strain on his finances, and allow him to go back without having spent as much of his aunt's money as he'd anticipated, something that would hopefully mollify her, once she saw him participating in the tournament. He still wasn't looking forward to her reaction to learning that though.

"I think it would be best to spend some time getting acquainted with your new teammates," said Ozpin. "I look forward to seeing your performance, young man."

_That makes one of us,_ thought Oscar with trepidation, not looking forward to the prospect of tripping up and making a fool of himself.

The group filed out, needing multiple trips with the elevator to make it down. Finally, Glynda and Ozpin were left alone in the office.

"Who is that boy?" asked Glynda. "What is it about him that interests you so?"

"Someone whose actions will one day become important in the future," said Ozpin cryptically.

Glynda sighed, resigning herself to the fact that she probably wouldn't get a better explanation from the man.

* * *

"This has to be the craziest thing that's ever happened to me," said Oscar, feeling numb as he perched on the edge of the bed that had been assigned to him in Beacon's visitor dormitory.

Though the building itself was roughly the size of the dorm used by Beacon's own students, the visitor dorm was made to accommodate fewer visitors, by virtue of the fact that the only students staying there were participants in the tournament. Because of that, the visitor dorms had the luxury of double and single-rooms, as opposed to requiring all four students of a team to room together. Oscar was grateful for that, and for the fact that he would be sharing a room with Setsuna, not knowing how his heart could handle being in the same room as Natsuki and Miyu.

"I can understand how you'd feel that way," said Setsuna, setting his kama atop one of the room's two desks. "I hope you don't feel like you were badgered into this."

"I don't," said Oscar. "I hope you're okay having to babysit an amateur like me."

"I don't think we'll be babysitting," said Setsuna, giving him a smile. "Natsu-chan's been singing your praises, which means you're pretty special all right."

"Does she know what she's talking about?" asked Oscar a little dubiously.

Setsuna chuckled. "She knows enough. She lives by the old saying, 'If you can't say anything nice, then it's better to say nothing at all.' She's not the sort to be really frank about a person's failings, but she's honest about their good points, and not the sort to exaggerate...much.

"She's also perceptive."

"How so?" asked Oscar.

Setsuna sat down on his bed, looking across the space between their mattresses.

"When Ruby-chan joined our class, nearly all of us were pretty cold towards her," said Setsuna, averting his eyes. "She was an outsider, and a lot of us grew up around people who talked about them with nothing but scorn. I thought myself to be pretty open-minded, Miyu too. But neither of us could work up the willingness to feel anything past ambivalence towards her.

"Natsu-chan, on the other hand, welcomed Ruby-chan from the minute she came into that classroom. She was Ruby-chan's friend from day-one. It's just as though she sort of...knows people, whether they're good or bad. She was the one who pointed Ruby-chan to Miyu and I, and Ruby-chan was able to befriend us as well.

"If Natsu-chan could be said to have one overriding talent, it's her ability to see...I don't know what you'd call it...the heart of people, I guess. So, when it comes to her judgment for people, I have complete faith in it."

Setsuna focused his gaze on Oscar, who found himself shifting nervously under it. "From what I can see, you don't need to have such a low opinion of yourself. I can tell that we can make it work."

"Thanks," said Oscar, feeling a bit better.

Abruptly, Setsuna's eyes went to the door of the room. Getting up from the bed, he was already halfway to the door when someone began to knock on it. Pulling it open, he favored the girl on the other side with a small smile. "Hey, Ruby-chan," he said, "what is it?"

"Hey," Ruby greeted back with a warm smile. "Can I talk to Oscar for a bit?"

Setsuna stepped away from the door to look at Oscar, who was blushing again, when he saw that Ruby was there, and even more when she said she'd wanted to speak to him.

"It's up to you," said Setsuna simply.

Oscar nodded, then nervously got up and headed to the door.

Ruby led him through the visitor dorm's hallways. Though the rooms were distributed differently, the overall layout was the same, including when it came to common areas, and little private spaces where people could talk without having to worry too much about interruption. As such, Ruby led Oscar out on a rooftop that was nearly identical to the one in her dorm. There was a room underneath it, but the window was closed, and its occupants were all asleep, so the chances of them overhearing were just about nil.

Ruby turned to look Oscar in the eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Oscar looked down. "I'm not sure. There's a lot going on, and I don't know what to think about it. I came here for one thing, and now..."

"That one thing..." said Ruby, feeling a bit nervous herself.

"I know Jaune told me not to, but I can't really let go of what I feel," continued Oscar, turning away from her a little more.

"If you still want to say it, I'll listen," said Ruby.

"Y-you will?" asked Oscar, shocked, looking up at her in amazement.

Ruby nodded slowly. "It's really brave that you came so far. So it doesn't feel right that you have to give up, before you even got to say how you feel. I know I can't return your feelings, but I won't deny them either."

Oscar sighed. "Thanks." He took a deep breath, before turning around to look Ruby right in her eyes. "I'm in love with you, Ruby Rose. I have been ever since the day you changed my life! I...I've been in love with you all this time."

Ruby's smile was both sad and grateful. She brought her hand up to brush some tears out of her eyes. "Th-thank you," she said, more moved than even _she_ thought she'd be. "I...I'm really glad I get to see you again, Oscar. I'm sorry we can't be more, but...I want you to know that it wasn't for nothing, and that I _do_ still care about you."

"But only as a friend, right?" asked Oscar.

Ruby nodded. "Honestly, I don't know who would make me happier, you or Jaune. But it doesn't matter. It wouldn't be right, for either of you, if I was willing to abandon one to take up the other, just on the chance that he would make me happier. What Jaune and I have, we made for ourselves, and I won't abandon it."

"I...understand," said Oscar.

"But that doesn't make it hurt any less, does it?" asked Ruby.

Oscar shook his head.

Ruby pulled Oscar into a hug. "I'm glad you're here," she said. "Seeing you again is a reminder that this is the right way for me, that I haven't been living my life the wrong way. Thank you." She planted the softest of kisses on his cheek, before releasing him and walking towards the door. "Good night, Oscar. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Y-yeah," said Oscar, his hand going to his cheek. "G-good night."

Ruby was gone, and Oscar found himself staring off into the night, a confused jumble of feelings tumbling around in his gut. There was pain to be sure; the pain of rejection, however gentle and kind it had been; but also relief, a feeling of closure. Ruby had listened to him, and accepted his feelings, even though she couldn't return them. That alone made this trip worthwhile for him.

He was so distracted that he almost missed the click of Maria's walking stick, until she spoke up from directly behind him. "Your taste in girls is too good," she said softly.

"Yeah," agreed Oscar. "She was way out of my league."

"Hardly," said Maria. "But, like I said before, if she was the kind of girl to drop her current boyfriend, just for a chance with you, she'd be beneath you. It's sad, but that's the way it works sometimes."

"Did you ever have someone like that, Ms. Maria?" asked Oscar.

"Can't say that I did," said Maria. "Though that was more _my_ fault than anyone else's."

After the assassination attempt that had stolen her eyes from her, Maria had lived her life in perpetual fear of someone coming along to try and finish the job. That fear had kept her from forming connections with others, on the basis that any one of them might be an enemy agent, trying to trick her into lowering her guard. She hid her life behind a veil of suspicion, looking at everyone she encountered as a potential enemy. Because of that, the thought of growing close to someone, and the fear that they might one day betray her, had been more terrifying than any other. So Maria had lived purely for herself...until recently.

"Come on, it's time for bed," said Maria, gently prodding Oscar with her cane. "You'll have plenty of work in the morning. We've got until the last round on Thursday to whip this team of yours into shape. Sorry to say that you're probably gonna get to see less of the festival than you reckoned."

"Yeah," agreed Oscar, turning towards the door. Strangely, he didn't think he'd mind.

* * *

Ruby sniffled, pressing her face against Natsuki's shoulder, while her oldest friend brushed fingers through her hair. "I feel so awful," she said.

"It'll be okay, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki, nuzzling her cheek against the top of Ruby's head. "You're not bad for turning him down. And I think Jaune-kun is a great guy. You're not wrong."

Ruby nodded, before pulling away and looking Natsuki in the eyes. "Would you look after him for me?" she asked.

"Of course I will," said Natsuki, beaming at Ruby. "Oscar-kun's a friend now. I'll do my best to help him feel better."

"Thanks," said Ruby, pulling herself up against Natsuki again, the two of them clinging tightly to each other. "I missed you, Natsu-chan. I'm sorry I didn't come back."

"Well, you couldn't help it," said Natsuki. "We've always known how much this meant to you, Ruby-chan." She chuckled. "After all, you wouldn't stop talking about it."

"Y-yeah," admitted Ruby, flushing with embarrassment at the memory of just how much and how often she'd gushed about her dream of being a Huntress in front of her friends back home.

"Go back to your team, Ruby-chan," Natsuki assured her. "Leave Oscar-kun to us."

"Okay," said Ruby, giving Natsuki another smile. "Good luck, Natsu-chan."

Natsuki gave her an excited grin. "Maybe we'll get to face off against each other in the tournament. I'm sure you've been getting stronger at Beacon, Ruby-chan. But so have I. If we see each other in the ring, I'll show you what I've learned."

"Me too," said Ruby. She took Natsuki's hands in her own, giving them a friendly squeeze, before going along her way.

Natsuki watched her go, a content smile on her face, glad that she and Sasame had been able to convince her parents to allow them to go on this trip, to say nothing of Miyu and Setsuna's families. This opportunity had been everything she'd hoped for and more.

* * *

The next day saw the four members of the newly-minted team assembled in one of the larger sparring rings. Thanks to the beginning of the tournament, Beacon itself was practically deserted, the vast majority of the students and staff having headed off to Amity Coliseum to see the first day's matches. Fortunately, that left the four newcomers with plenty of time and privacy. Sasame had accompanied RASP and RYNB up to the coliseum, on the off chance that either of those teams was going to be among the participants in that day's matches, promising to send word, so that Oscar and the others could watch, if that was the case. That left the four of them to Maria's supervision.

"Now then," said Maria firmly, resting her hands atop the skull that capped her cane, "time for us to get started. We don't have a lot of time, so the four of you are gonna have to use what time you can to get as familiar with each other, and what you can and can't do, as possible, and determine the best way to fight together in the ring."

"Any advice you could give us in that respect would be quite welcome," said Miyu politely.

"Well...I'm not going to be all _that_ much help," said Maria, sounding slightly disappointed by that. "When I was an active Huntress, I was more of a lone wolf-type than anything else, so I don't have a huge amount of experience with teamwork. I had to work with some others on occasion, but it was something I tended to avoid."

"So it's going to be more trial and error on our part, than anything else," mused Setsuna.

"'Fraid so," said Maria. "Sorry, youngster."

"It's fine," said Natsuki.

"Still, I can give you a little advice," said Maria. "To start with, one of the most important things is gonna be formation."

"Formation?" Oscar canted his head in confusion.

Maria nodded. "Where you are in relation to each other. Those times when I _did_ have to work with someone else, this was pretty important, so that we didn't trip each other up. Beyond that, you'll have to come up with a formation that allows you to support each other, if you need to.

"Battle is a chaotic thing, and the coliseum's ring is plenty big, so it won't be much of a surprise if you four wind up spread out, fighting your own battles. But, even if that's the case, you're gonna need to keep track of both your opponents and each other. In that situation, this might be your best approach."

"How so?" asked Miyu.

Maria rapped the end of her cane against the floor. "It's only natural that your opponents are gonna have better teamwork than the four of you. If that's the case, then the best approach might be to engage them individually, and push them apart with the intent of _keeping_ them from working together."

"That might work," said Setsuna.

"Though I doubt it will be that even," added Miyu. "As combat goes, my specialty lies in the Healing Arts. Though I am capable of fighting, my offensive abilities don't measure up to the others."

"Well, considering the nature of combat in the tournament, I doubt there will be much in the way of injuries for you to treat," said Maria. "That _does_ make things a bit trickier."

"There are other ways her skills can be used though," said Setsuna firmly. "There are only a few techniques of the Healing Arts that have been approved for battle, of which Miyu is only proficient in one, but we shouldn't depend on that. But Miyu's support skills will be a big help though."

"Support skills...?" The shutters on one of Maria's prosthetic eyes opened a little bit wider, an approximation of what a raised eyebrow would look like.

Miyu held a hand out and beckoned to Oscar. "Let me demonstrate. Come and stand in front of me, Oscar-kun."

"O-okay," said Oscar, doing as he was bid. A second later, he found himself standing in front of Miyu, nervously watching her.

"Turn around," instructed Miyu.

Oscar did so, facing Setsuna and Natsuki. Behind him, Miyu raised a hand to press it between his shoulder blades. Her Aura was the same dark-red color as her hair, flowing into Oscar's body. However, as it entered his body, her Aura began to wash the same emerald-green color as Oscar's, making his outline begin to shine brightly.

Oscar gasped. Even though he hadn't done anything yet, his body felt so much lighter. His arms and legs were bursting with strength they'd never had before, strength he wouldn't know without another several years' worth of training.

"Try doing a little sparring with Natsu-chan and Setsuna," advised Miyu, gently pushing Oscar forward.

Natsuki grinned, drawing her kodachi. Beside her, Setsuna also drew his kama, the two of them sinking into crouches. Oscar drew his own kama, feeling strangely confident. The power that surged through him seemed to wash away his unease and inadequacy, leaving him ready to fight.

Oscar charged his two opponents, shocked by his own speed. Before he even realized it, he was in front of them. It was so sudden that it took him an extra second to realize he needed to swing his weapons, before he simply wound up barreling into them. When he did, the speed he used was such that it more than made up for his fractional hesitation. Natsuki and Setsuna both raised their weapons to block. Even though Oscar was striking at the two of them at the same time, one arm for each, the pair were still sent sliding back by the force of his blows.

Oscar chose to focus on Setsuna, going in with sequential slashes of his kama, jumping and whirling to put the force of his body behind them. Setsuna was driven back by the fierce onslaught, his own, smaller kama working furiously to keep Oscar's attacks at bay.

Natsuki was behind him in a flash, the flicker of motion out of the corner of his eye being the only indicator to Oscar. His training kicking in, he lashed out with he left kama, slashing it behind him. Natsuki stopped herself, letting the attack slip by her, Oscar's own speed actually causing his attack to come too early to compensate for the timing of Natsuki's arrival. However, he quickly adapted, using his attack to put his body into a spin that allowed him to bring his other weapon around, momentarily abandoning his offensive against Setsuna. Attacking furiously, Oscar forced Natsuki back, before whirling to intercept Setsuna, before the other boy could renew his offensive.

The exchange went on furiously for at least two long, frantic minutes, Oscar switching between his two opponents to keep them from coordinating their actions against him. However, his limbs gradually began to feel heavier, as though he was trying to fight his way through thick mud.

Then Miyu entered the fray, slipping easily past both Natsuki and Setsuna, her presence barely even registering to them until she was standing behind Oscar, her back pressed gently against his own. Through that contact, her Aura flowed into Oscar's body again, and the heaviness vanished. Oscar found himself moving even faster, often needing to correct his attacks to make up for the fact that their speed had increased. Even though he twisted and turned about to keep fighting Natsuki and Setsuna at the same time, Miyu stayed with him, almost seeming glued to his back, her movements so smooth and well-timed that he hardly even registered her presence.

Finally, Miyu spoke out. "That should do it for now."

Both Natsuki and Setsuna flashed away, and Oscar froze for a second, before lowering his weapons. Miyu stepped away from him, and Oscar was left with the feeling of weight steadily returning to his body. Fatigue stole over him faster than he'd ever felt before, and he found himself toppling over backwards, as the muscles across his entire body burned with agony.

"Owwwwwww..." he groaned. Fortunately, Miyu caught him as he fell, gently lowering him down and laying his head atop her thighs. She brought her hands to rest on his temples, and her Aura flowed into him in a soothing wave that cooled the burning heat of his muscles.

"My word," gasped Maria. "What was that?"

"The Aura-enhancement technique of the Healing Arts," said Miyu, finishing her treatment, but continuing to allow Oscar to rest his head atop her legs. "By channeling my Aura into another person, I can supplement their own, raising their abilities temporarily. So long as I can maintain contact, and have Aura to lend, I can continue using it. There is a price, of course."

"I can see that," said Maria, looking down at the exhausted Oscar.

"The greatest issue is that it allows the person enhanced to move beyond their normal physical capabilities," said Setsuna, crouching down beside Miyu and gently clasping Oscar's shoulder. "But, if it is used for an extended period of time, that continuous action produces strain on the body similar to the kind produced by extreme exercise. Oscar-kun was beginning to tear his muscles at the end there. If Miyu hadn't stopped when she had, he'd be dealing with snapped tendons, maybe even cracked bones."

"That's rather dangerous," noted Maria.

"If he'd been trained in controlling his Aura more, he'd be able to control the enhancement himself somewhat," said Miyu, "which would allow him to enhance the areas that he needs to, without overburdening his body. But, like this, it's essentially a general enhancement to his physical abilities."

"But, because he's moving faster than he's used to, it makes it tricky to adjust," added Natsuki. "He can move faster and fight harder, but he hasn't trained to fight at those speeds yet, so he could mess up the timing on his attack and defense."

"But it's still a huge help," noted Maria, "for all that it comes with drawbacks."

Miyu nodded. "That being the case, if we're talking about formation, then the key of it should be that I stay with Oscar-kun. I'll use my technique to enhance his ability throughout the match, and help him fight at a level that will better match that of the other participants."

"And, in the process, you'll keep Miyu covered," added Setsuna, looking down at the tired Oscar.

"Besides teams, I've also heard that students in the Academies partner up in pairs," said Miyu. "Therefore, for the purposes of this tournament, I shall be Oscar-kun's partner."

"That means me and Setsuna-kun are gonna team up," said Natsuki eagerly.

"Setsuna-kun and I..." Setsuna corrected under his breath.

Maria grinned. "That sounds like a plan," she said.

"There is another advantage to this approach," said Miyu, looking down at Oscar. "The healing arts tap into the body's own recovery ability, the same ability that allows you to bounce back and realize the gains of hard exercise, essentially compressing the time it takes for such recovery to occur. Therefore, if we continue to train like this for the three days remaining for our match..."

"I'll get stronger?" said Oscar, his eyes widening.

"Is that how you train back home?" asked Maria, looking at Natsuki and Setsuna.

"Not really," said Natsuki. "Healers are always in demand, so using one as a personal trainer is kinda..."

"Not to mention that it's a bit of a cheat," added Setsuna. "A healer could usually only work with one person at a time like that, so it'd be pretty rude for one student to monopolize one of them like that."

"However, given the special circumstances in play, we can make an exception," said Miyu, smiling down at Oscar. "I will help you raise your ability by making you fight beyond your limits for a while. On top of that, you'll also be acclimating to the increase in speed and strength you experience from my technique, so that you can adjust your timing accordingly during the match itself."

"R-right," said Oscar.

"We'll give you a little bit longer to rest, then start again," said Miyu.

"It'll be the same thing as before," said Setsuna.

"Getting a chance to fight us will show you what we can do," added Natsuki. "That way, we'll be better able to work together when our match comes. Are you okay with that, Oscar-kun?"

"Yeah," said Oscar.

Maria cackled. "Well, it seems you four don't need me for much after all," she said. "If this keeps up, I think you'll have a better chance of advancing than I thought. I look forward to the end results."

"We look forward to showing them to you," said Miyu.

* * *

**This was a bit of a crazy idea that came upon me, right about around the time as I was writing this section of the story. I came up with it, largely to give Ruby's friends something to do beyond sitting around and commentating on Ruby's fights, as well as to give Oscar something to do.**

**As far as the tournament itself is concerned, I won't be going into near as much detail as I did in _Lost Rose_, so any matches that are depicted are ones that I had a personal interest in writing, not wanting to tread back into old territory, though I imagine those of you who haven't read _Lost Rose_ will know what I'm talking about. Suffice to say, the Vytal Tournament Arc dragged on for quite a bit. In this case, the arc will be a little more condensed (though that's a relative term, with the way I write things). I still have some fun matchups and sequences planned though.**


	123. Chapter 123

**Chapter 123:**

The crowds roared as Professor Port's voice boomed throughout the arena. "_And with that devastating finish, Arslan goes down. The winners are Team Raspberry of Beacon!_"

Ruby let out a breath of relief, sheathing her sword behind her, before going over to where her opponent had collapsed. Arslan had definitely been the toughest member of Team ABRN, holding out a lot longer than her teammates, keeping close to Ruby in an effort to keep the other members of her team from providing assistance. Thanks to that, it had been up to Ruby to defeat ABRN's leader.

Aside from that, Reese had been a strong contender, though her style, which revolved around her blade-armed hoverboard, which could transform into a pair of handguns, was a little rough around the edges, which had led to her defeat, when a misstep on the ice-field led to her losing her footing, leaving herself open for Weiss to knock her out of the ring with a fist from her Arma Gigas Summon. Unfortunately for ABRN, both Bolin and Nadir hadn't been much to write home about, the former quickly being taken down by Pyrrha, while the latter was beaten by Jaune, right at the outset.

RASP's victory had been pretty much overwhelming, with no significant damage being taken by any of its members, and all four of ABRN's members losing due to ring-out, Aura-level, or both, though Ruby definitely found herself with a healthy respect for Arslan's skills.

Ruby held a hand out, which Arslan accepted gladly, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. "Dang, you're tough," said Arslan, smiling at Ruby.

"I could say the same," said Ruby, giving her former opponent a cheery grin. "Are you feeling okay?"

Arslan shrugged. "Eh, could be better. I'm not exactly jumping for joy at us losing in the first-round, but _someone_ has to be the loser in a match. You're one heck of a fighter, Ruby Rose."

"Thanks," said Ruby.

Meanwhile Weiss went over to help Reese to her feet. "My butt..." groaned the green-haired girl, rubbing her behind with the hand that Weiss wasn't holding to pull her up.

"Well...it seems your style could still stand to get some kinks ironed out," said Weiss.

"I hadn't noticed," groused Reese sarcastically.

"Still, that board of yours is an impressive piece of technology," said Weiss. "Did you make it yourself?"

"Yeah," said Reese, stooping to pick up the weapon in question.

"That level of miniaturization is used in drones a lot," said Weiss. "But I'm especially amazed that you've managed to incorporate it into a weapon that's used for melee. I can't imagine how you managed to design a shock absorption system to keep it from breaking down."

"That's pretty high praise," said Reese, rubbing her nose. "Having a Schnee compliment my design like that makes me feel pretty good."

"You're welcome," said Weiss with a titter.

Reese sighed, her expression falling and her eyes averting. "But yeah, you're right about my style. I put most of my time into learning how to fight with my board, so I'm a bit rough on even the basics of other kinds of combat."

Weiss nodded, remembering the exchange well enough. Reese had transformed her weapon in midair, bombarding Weiss with gunshots all the way down. However, upon landing, Reese's foot had slipped on the icy field that had been their battleground, dumping her on her tailbone, which had nearly completely incapacitated her. As it was, Weiss had been able to easily remove her from the fight after that. However, she'd also noted that Reese's posture and balance, when she'd landed, had been such that she might well have fallen over, even if they _hadn't_ been fighting on ice.

The two teams made their way out of the arena to the roar of the crowd, heading for their respective locker rooms, luxurious spaces equipped with a variety of modern amenities for use both before and after the match; including showers, laundry facilities, and even a luxurious lounge to relax in. They were given a set amount of time both before and after the match to enjoy the amenities, before they were forced to leave to make room for the team participating in the next match.

Emerging from her shower stall in a soft, white robe (complimentary garments supplied to all participants), Ruby was in the process of toweling off her hair. She settled herself onto one of the lounge's couches with a relaxed sigh.

"Good job," said Jaune, wearing his own robe, holding out a glass of juice, which Ruby gratefully accepted.

"You too," said Ruby, grinning.

Jaune settled onto the couch and Ruby leaned against him, the two of them relaxing in each other's company. A couple of moments later, they were joined by Pyrrha, then Weiss, who'd spent nearly a full half-hour in the showers. At the moment, there was nothing left for them to do, except wait while the staff finished laundering their outfits, one of the major benefits of Amity coming with its own fully-staffed laundry facility, its employees trained in all the nuances of how to handle the bewildering variety of outfits that Huntsmen and Huntresses wore.

A tone sounded from the door. Ruby excused herself for a moment to go answer it. At her approach, a screen appeared over the "Open" key, showing an image of who was waiting outside, in the hallway. Ruby's smile became a grin as she saw a small group of familiar faces out in the hallway. She opened the door.

"Congratulations on your win, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, upon entering.

"You were awesome!" added Ashley eagerly.

"Thanks," said Ruby, exchanging a hug with her friend.

Her eyes went to the last member of the group. Her godfather, Yukimura, smiled down at her, before reaching out to gently ruffle her hair. "Your mother would be proud," he said.

"Thanks," said Ruby, enjoying the feeling of fatherly affection, something she'd been missing for a long time.

"And the rest of you were just as wonderful," said Sasame, moving on to address the rest of the team. "It's good to see that your training has been paying dividends."

"Sure gave us an opportunity to knock the other team for a loop," said Jaune. "I'm still amazed I didn't get knocked out in the first few seconds."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," said Yukimura, moving to clasp Jaune's shoulder. "You've been working hard, and it shows." He chuckled softly. "I know what it's like to flub your Vytal Festival debut well enough, so I can say that you did nothing of the kind."

"You fought in the Vytal Festival Tournament?" asked Pyrrha, leaning forward to regard Yukimura excitedly.

Yukimura chuckled. "Yes...though we never managed to take home the title, I'm afraid. Our first run in the tournament was...shall we say...underwhelming."

"How so?" asked Ashley, settling in next to Weiss, the two of them taking each other's hands.

"We made it through the team round by the skin of our teeth," said Yukimura, reminiscing fondly. "We were soundly trounced in the doubles round. Our second run in the tournament, we managed to make it all the way to the semifinal round, but I wound up losing that match."

"That's too bad," said Ruby, having been hoping to hear tales of her godfather's success.

Yukimura laughed. "Well, that's how it goes. This tournament _is_ between the best of all four years of all four Academies. So, when a pair of first-years go up against a pair of fourth-years, winning is a…tricky…thing to pull off. We did better in our third year, but the fourth-year I faced off against in the semifinals was even better. She went on to take the title, by the way."

"I guess we got lucky, going up against fellow first-years in our first round," noted Jaune.

"Mayhap," said Yukimura. "I can't help but notice, actually, that this year's roster seems to consist mainly of first and second-year teams. Only one of the teams participating is in their fourth year, and there are three in their third year. Out of thirty-two, that's a rather odd distribution."

"Is it always like that?" asked Ruby.

"There's usually more of a spread," said Yukimura. "How each Academy selects the teams to represent it tends to vary, but they do try to pick out the teams with the best chance of making it all the way. If the selection for this year's tournament skews younger, then that would mainly be because they see more potential in their first and second-years than their older students, which suggests that many of the students accepted into the Academies in the past two years are inordinately talented."

Unconsciously, the members of RASP found themselves sitting a little taller.

"Were Natsu-chan and the others able to watch?" asked Ruby, looking to Ashley.

"I sent Oscar a message," said Ashley. "They couldn't make it to the arena on time, but they managed to get to a holoscreen to watch it."

"I'm glad _we_ didn't go up against them," said Pyrrha.

Ruby nodded. Of course, Team RASP intended to go all the way, aiming to take the tournament for themselves, like pretty much every other team there. But it was something of a relief that they hadn't wound up going against any of their closest friends in the first round, as it would have been a disappointment to have to knock out (or be knocked out by) their friends in their very first match.

So far, it was only the second day of the tournament, with Team RASP having been selected for the third match of the day. Team RYNB had been selected for the first round of the same day, completely crushing Team BRNZ, from Shade Academy, in their match. Aside from that, none of the other teams they were friends with, save ABRN, had been tapped for their matches yet. Ruby felt a bit relieved that she would be able to enjoy the remaining two days worth of matches, without having to hold her breath, wondering when Team RASP would be called up.

"So..." said Yukimura, turning the course of the conversation back to the victorious students, "...how was your first taste of the Vytal Festival Tournament?"

"Exhilarating," said Weiss simply.

Pyrrha nodded. "I love all the different possibilities for the biomes. It really makes the match so dynamic to include a terrain factor."

"I'm glad we're still on speaking terms with Team Auburn after that," said Jaune. He scratched his head. "I know it's supposed to be 'may the best man win' and all that. But I feel a little guilty that they can't go any further."

"That's how it is in a competition," said Sasame. "It's good that your first set of opponents were such good sports."

Ruby and her teammates nodded. While it seemed that most of the teams that had lost so far had been able to accept their losses rather gracefully, there had been a fair few participants who had been despondent about their defeats, and one notable case of a member of a losing team throwing what amounted to a temper tantrum, and accusing the victors of cheating.

"It helps that the participants are frequently reminded that they are acting as representatives of their respective Academies," said Yukimura. "Poor sportsmanship is unbecoming, and reflects badly on their institution. Thus, most of those who lose are capable of swallowing their disappointment, at least in public."

The others nodded. It had been something that Glynda had repeatedly reminded all the participants of, the repetition growing with each week the festival crept closer.

"By the way," said Yukimura, his gaze going to Weiss and Pyrrha. "While I'm here, I would like to conduct a quick customer survey. Is your new footwear still working out for you?"

"I feel so much better," said Pyrrha, Weiss nodding alongside her.

At Ruby's recommendation, they'd visited her godfather to see what he could do to provide footwear that would be more compatible with the kind of footwork Ruby had been teaching them. To that end, Yukimura had come up with an elegantly workable solution, producing perfect facsimiles of their original footwear, minus the heels. Surprisingly, the soles of said boots were remarkably supple, really enhancing their control, and enabling them to move even _more_ effectively. Really, the only thing Weiss regretted about the change was that she lost the boost in height that heels provided. However, the advantage the change had provided far outweighed the costs.

Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune were still only nascent in their proficiency with _Shukuchi_, only really able to use it in a movement straight ahead. Of all of them, only Jaune had been able to execute more than three steps in succession, something that had allowed him to really get an edge in their match.

"It's fantastic," said Pyrrha, actually relishing that she was able to leave her heels behind, something that had originally been forced on her by Holly to help improve her image. Learning how to fight in those abominations had been one of the biggest chores between her second and third runs in the Mistral Regional Tournament.

"I have to admit that it was an excellent idea," said Weiss, having been rather shocked herself at how much resistance she had originally put up to the notion of abandoning her heeled boots. Like Pyrrha, she too had been thoroughly schooled in the importance of proper comportment, even on the battlefield. Heels' influence on her appearance and posture had been a critical factor. A Schnee was supposed to maintain her bearing and dignity, regardless of the circumstances. But the one thing that all of Weiss' experiences had taught her was that effectiveness trumped all.

"So, what are your plans, once you get out of here?" asked Ashley, looking at Weiss.

"Well, I'm planning on coming back for the last match of the day," said Weiss. "But, until then, if you wanted to go around the festival grounds together..."

"I'd love to," said Ashley.

The other members of RASP exchanged smiles, glad to see that Weiss and Ashley were able to be a bit more open about their relationship. For the most part, they still played the part of merely-close friends in public, a pair who had bonded under the shared burden of being targeted by the White Fang, with Weiss playing the part of the sympathetic Schnee, helping to improve the appearance of her family and company (while continuing to deflect her father's suspicion).

"What about you?" asked Ashley, looking at the other three members.

"If Team Cardinal isn't selected for the final match for the day, Dove and I will be doing much the same," said Pyrrha. "We've talked about going out to dinner together."

"Sounds like fun," said Ruby. "I'm gonna check on Natsu-chan and the others, and see how they're doing."

"I'll join you for that," said Jaune. "We can figure out what to do for ourselves afterwards."

Ruby nodded eagerly. There were plenty of food stalls set up throughout the festival grounds, providing a bevy of options for dining.

"And now that you don't have to worry about fighting for the remainder of the first round, I can begin your training, Jaune-kun," said Sasame, a happy, yet slightly sinister, smile on her face.

Jaune gulped, and then slumped tiredly. "I should've seen that coming," he said despondently.

"Well...you _did_ ask for it," said Ruby, giving his arm a sympathetic pat. "There'll still be time to see the rest of the festival."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. He knew Ruby was right, just as he also knew that he needed to fully train in the Healing Arts, so that he could better support his friends in the field, and avoid accidentally injuring someone again. Even though proper training would take a year or more, Sasame had decided that it would be best to do what training they could while she was still in Vale. Jaune was still a little dubious at the idea of going to the Mibu Clan's lands to train, but felt more mollified by the idea of an exchange program, and that his friends would be coming along as well.

For the time being though, they were at least free to bask in the warmth of their victory, continuing to enjoy the lounge's impressive amenities until their cleaned outfits were returned to them. Afterwards, they took their leave of the room, seeing as their time limit was close to being up, heading their separate ways.

* * *

Weiss and Ashley were the last members of the group to leave the locker room, having taken advantage of the privacy to exchange a few gestures of affection, after their friends and teammates had left. While they knew they didn't need to hide their relationship from their friends, it was nice to have a quiet moment completely to themselves.

Following that, they made their way down the hallway, heading for the docks, and the air-busses that would ferry them back down to the festival grounds below. The docks formed a ring around the lower level of the conical-structure of the coliseum, looking deceptively dangerous, given a conspicuous absence of railings, and the docking platforms for the busses themselves extending out several meters into the open air. Of course, that danger was completely mitigated by the presence of invisible safety barriers, similar to the kind that shielded the spectators from stray rounds in the arena itself.

Walking through the hallway leading from the locker room to the docks, Weiss and Ashley would have liked to hold hands, but knew well enough that, even in this relatively empty portion of the coliseum, there were still any number of eyes that might well still catch their interaction. It was frustrating, but it was something they had signed up for. Weiss was still uneasy over what would happen, when their relationship inevitably came to light, and her father forced her to cede her inheritance to Whitley. She hated the idea of giving up on the SDC, essentially discarding her responsibility as the heir, and allowing her younger brother to take it instead. It felt like she was shirking her duty as a Schnee, solely to pursue her own self-satisfaction. Still, to her mind, Ashley was worth it.

Entering into the more public hallways of the coliseum, they found themselves surrounded by numerous other people, whom were making their way to and from the coliseum. The crowds had tapered off considerably, given that the next match wasn't for a couple hours yet, and the initial rush of departures following the last one was well over. But it was still a stark contrast to the nearly-empty hallways that Ashley and Weiss had left behind them.

The pair turned towards the nearest dock, preparing to make their way onto the next available bus, when Weiss was arrested by a familiar voice calling her name. It was low and gruff, a voice that filled Weiss with a nearly giddy happiness.

Turning around, Weiss' eyes widened at the sight of a stocky, slightly portly man. The lights gleamed off the top of his balding head, highlighting the dark-brown hair that ringed his smooth crown, and the bushy mustache beneath his nose. He was dressed in a sleeveless, gray vest, with matching dress-pants, over a white, collared shirt, with a light-blue tie.

"Klein!" exclaimed Weiss, a radiant smile appearing on her face. She immediately rushed towards her family's butler.

Klein blinked and, to Ashley's amazement, when his eyes opened again, they had changed from light-brown to yellow. "Oh! My happy Little Snowflake!" he exclaimed, his voice abruptly rising at least an octave. "It's so good to see you!"

Weiss immediately wrapped her arms around the man in a tight hug, which he gladly returned. Ashley was stunned to see her girlfriend openly show so much affection to anyone, in such a public setting. Even amongst her friends, Weiss still tended to be the most reserved, especially when other people were watching. Even Pyrrha had loosened up more than Weiss had, when it came to public displays of affection.

Ashley walked a little closer, curious about the person that Weiss was so close to.

Weiss pulled away, looking into Klein's eyes, which had returned to their previous brown. "I can't believe you're here," she said.

"I saw your match, Weiss," said Klein. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you," said Weiss. "What are you doing here, though? I didn't think you'd be coming down for the festival."

"Well..." said Klein, his gaze lowering down to the side.

"Klein was accompanying me, naturally," commented another familiar voice, this one making Weiss' hackles rise. "Did you think he would be here on his own?"

Weiss and Ashley looked past Klein to see the figure of a slender young man, the color of his skin, hair, and eyes marking him as someone definitely related to Weiss, from Ashley's view. He stood with a slightly-relaxed posture, arms folded behind his back. He was flanked by a pair of black-suited bodyguards, whose heads were mounted on a constant swivel as they surveyed the area around them for potential threats. "Hello, Whitley," said Weiss, pulling away from Klein, affecting the most neutral tone she possibly could, fighting to keep the ire from her voice. The sight of the smug smile that her younger brother seemed to have perpetually plastered on his face made that more than a little difficult.

"Hello, Weiss," said Whitley in a pleasant, polite tone, carrying a vague note of condescension. "It's good to see you again. Allow me to congratulate you on your performance in the tournament. I am sure you've done your trainers proud."

"Yes...I'm sure," said Weiss, finding it increasingly harder to keep her irritation at bay.

Whitley's gaze drifted past Weiss, coming to rest on Ashley, who felt a shiver go down her spine at the feeling of his eyes on her. "And you must be Weiss' friend, whom I've heard so much, yet so little, about."

In spite of herself, Ashley's throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously. Whitley's gaze made her feel as though he'd seen right through her, as though he already knew what she and Weiss _really_ were, and was filing that information away for when it could be most conveniently put to use. "I-it's nice to meet you," she said. "I'm Ashley Forrest."

"A pleasure," said Whitley, bobbing his head to her ever so slightly. "I hope we get a chance to get to know each other better. There's a great deal that's been said about you, but very little from Weiss."

_Said...about me...?_ Ashley felt a fresh shiver going down her spine, as she wondered just who was doing the saying that Whitley was talking about.

"Whitley!" snapped, Weiss, her face tense with anger. "Have you been spying on Ashley?"

"Me...hardly," said Whitley dismissively. "But _Father_ has, as you knew he would. I have access to all the information that his people have obtained. None of it is very interesting, which I suppose is to your friend's benefit. At the very least, we know she isn't a scandal waiting to happen...I'm sure."

_Yeah...I'm sure,_ thought Ashley silently. At least there was _some_ reassurance that Jacques' spies hadn't uncovered the truth about her and Weiss' relationship for the time being. She imagined that Whitley would find such information "interesting" indeed.

"Right..." said Weiss dubiously. "What are you doing in Vale, Whitley?"

"Smoothing some ruffled feathers, as it were," said Whitley with a sigh. "I'm sure you're aware that Father's little stunt, prior to your mission, did not exactly make our distributors down in Vale all that happy. So, I am here to assure them that the SDC was operating in their best interests."

"Yes, by holding Vale's Dust supply hostage, in order to pressure Beacon into sending me on a mission with an ulterior motive on Father's part," groused Weiss.

"And securing our supply lines," added Whitley. "After all, our distributors would be just as destitute, had the pirates continued their...pirating...as they would have, had Father not taken action to ensure that they were dealt with."

Ashley could tell that Weiss still wasn't mollified, but doubted that placating her had been Whitley's intention.

"And what are you doing _here_?" asked Weiss, meaning Amity Coliseum. "You've never had any interest in tournaments before."

Whitley laughed softly, making Ashley's skin crawl. It was a hollow-sounding laugh, the kind that was clearly for effect, and not any sincere expression of mirth. "Come now, Sister Dearest, I enjoy a good spectacle as much as anyone, and your match was quite...spectacular. Besides, I have been curious about the company you keep, and saw this as an opportunity to see your teammates in action. They were all quite remarkable. You must be quite proud, having managed to obtain Pyrrha Nikos as your partner."

Weiss winced subtly, though Ashley managed to see it. Weiss' initial interactions with Pyrrha were still something of a sore point for her, a reminder that she had initially approached Pyrrha with purely selfish intentions, aiming to take full advantage of Pyrrha's status and skills, something Weiss had dealt with from other people, and disdained when it was tried on her, a bout of hypocrisy that Weiss still felt guilty over.

Whitley continued on, seeming not to notice Weiss' response. "Still, the one who interested me most is your team leader. I heard that she'd been invited into Beacon early, and she certainly lives up to the kind of skill and talent that would warrant such an invitation. On top of that, she is quite lovely. I do not believe that I would mind the opportunity to get to know her better."

"I'm sure you wouldn't," agreed Weiss, silently resolving to do whatever it took to keep Ruby well away from her brother. Not that she had to worry about Ruby falling for Whitley's silver tongue, given how devoted she and Jaune were to each other. "Sadly, I'm afraid there's no point. Ruby already has her own attachments."

Whitley shrugged. "Well, that's a disappointment. With the clout she gained for fighting Ms. Nikos to a draw, Father might actually approve of her."

_He would, until he found out she can do all her fighting without a speck of Dust,_ thought Weiss wryly.

"Ah well, so much for that," said Whitley, not sounding remotely disappointed. "On to other affairs. I'm glad that we managed to run into you before you got lost amidst the rabble, Dear Sister."

"Oh, and why is that?" asked Weiss, immediately tensing.

"Given our family's position, it is only natural that we host at least one or two...soirees...while the festival is in progress. It's an opportunity for us to build our relationships with other prominent business owners and people of status, both those here in Vale, and the ones visiting from the other Kingdoms. The first of these will be taking place this Saturday."

"And what does that have to do with me?" asked Weiss.

"Well...as the prospective heir to the Schnee Dust Company, your attendance would, naturally, be assumed," said Whitley. "Consider it a chance to solidify your position. Father would certainly approve, especially if you make a good showing of yourself. It would do more than winning the entire tournament could to ensure that the people who matter would accept you as the next head of the company."

"How...helpful of you," said Weiss dubiously, not believing for a second that Whitley was doing this for her sake.

"Of course, I would also like to extend an invitation to your 'friend,'" continued Whitley, his gaze returning to Ashley. "In fact, I would strongly recommend that you bring her along."

Ashley shifted nervously.

"And why would I subject her to the racist snobbery of those...people?" asked Weiss, knowing full well just what class of human attended such parties.

"Well, mainly because it continues to reflect well upon us, the SDC that is," explained Whitley. "After all, it is important to continue to show solidarity in the face of the White Fang's aggression, even if it has tapered off somewhat. Your friend has the experience of being a victim of persecution by the White Fang, with the added factor that she herself is a faunus, living proof of the organization's hypocrisy. The two of you attending together will make a strong statement that the SDC has the best interests of the faunus at heart."

"I'm sure it will," said Weiss.

It was all lies, of course. Whatever publicity-friendly things Weiss and Ashley did together, none of that would keep Jacques from continuing to ruthlessly exploit the faunus working his mines. They could treat the symptoms all they wanted, but the disease marched merrily onwards.

"And so, it is my hope that you will join us in the ballroom at _The Grand Silmaril_, said Whitley. "While you are both certainly free to decline, I don't know that such a thing would go over well, once word gets back to Father."

Weiss scowled at her brother, seeing the blackmail for what it was. She already figured that this was just another scheme to publicly humiliate her, and ensure that he became the next heir. Worse still, it seemed that he was planning on having Ashley smeared along with her, something she wouldn't abide. And yet...she wasn't ready yet to fully renounce her claim. If she planned to do so, it would be on her own terms, and not before she did everything she could to ensure that she had _some_ lasting impact on the way the SDC did business.

"Well now," said Whitley, nodding to them. "The invitation has been delivered. I certainly hope to see you both at six-o-clock, Saturday evening. It will most certainly be a memorable experience, I assure you."

"Right..." said Weiss uneasily.

"Have a pleasant day, Weiss," said Whitley, bobbing his head towards her. He turned and began to saunter away, his bodyguards falling into step behind him. "Go ahead and say your goodbyes for now, Klein. You'll see her again soon."

Klein looked after Whitley, then sighed before turning back to Weiss. As Whitley walked away, the butler's reserved and formal demeanor, which he'd held during their conversation with the boy, relaxed, and he smiled, stepping in to hug Weiss.

"No matter what happens, know that I'm proud of you, my Happy Little Snowflake," he said.

"Thank you," said Weiss, basking in the presence of the man who had been more of a father to her than her biological father had ever been.

Klein pulled back. "I'm also glad to see that you've found someone who can make you happy," he added, before throwing a cheeky wink at Weiss, who blushed furiously at the implication that Klein had also seen through the veneer of Weiss and Ashley's "friendship".

"What is Whitley up to?" asked Weiss.

"I wish I truly knew," said Klein, looking down. "But Master Whitley hardly confides in me at all. I'd warn you to be on your guard, but you probably know that already."

Weiss nodded.

Klein patted her arm, smiling fondly at her one more time, before turning to hurry after Whitley. Weiss watched him go, Ashley standing slightly behind her.

"I'm not looking forward to Saturday," said Weiss, feeling a bit uneasy.

Ashley came to stand next to her, once again wishing that she could reach out and take Weiss' hand. "Whatever it comes, we'll get through it together," she said firmly.

Weiss nodded. The two of them took a few extra seconds to regather their composure, before resuming their trip back to the dock to take the next air-bus down to the festival grounds.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" asked Ruby, glancing sidelong at the person accompanying her and Jaune, as they wandered amidst the stalls in the fading light of evening.

"I'm doing fine," said Amber. "A good long walk doesn't tire me out anymore. Kyo's been helping me train back up to fighting shape anyway."

"That's good," said Jaune.

Amber looked around, taking in all the sights. "I just wish he could be here too."

"Maybe next time," said Ruby.

If there was a downside that came to being the girlfriend of one of Remnant's better-known criminals, it was that it would make public outings with him something of a trial. Even if he wasn't all that well known inside Vale itself, there was no way that Kyo _wouldn't_ cause a stir by going about in the open, while the festival was in progress. No polite fiction of him being a "prisoner" of Beacon would be bought by anyone with half a brain. The sad consequence of this was that Kyo was essentially confined to the inside of Beacon, while the festival was ongoing.

And, while Amber was under no such burden of infamy, the fact of the matter was that she was still on the road to recovery from her coma. While she'd recovered the bulk of her strength and stamina, she still wasn't up to serious combat yet. Even with the Vytal Festival in full swing, and countless witnesses to be found everywhere, the possibility that someone from Salem's faction would make another attempt to seize the Fall Maiden's power was a looming issue. Even if Amber was able to go out without Kyo, she couldn't be allowed to go out alone.

Jaune and Ruby didn't mind accompanying her. In Ruby's case, she wanted to spend more time with the girl who had gotten so close to her brother. Before long, Amber would become one of Natsuki's teachers in magic as well, so it really was for the best to be on good terms with her. Besides, Ruby liked Amber plenty on her own merits.

They took their time, meandering from stall to stall, mostly window shopping. They weren't feeling all that hungry yet, so they were waiting for the crowds to taper off a little, before finding a place to eat. Amber, used to the open road, was a little discomfited by the crowds. Ruby wasn't much of a fan either. However enthralling she had found the sight at the beginning of the festival, the novelty had quickly worn off, and she was reminded of how little she enjoyed being stuck trying to move through a packed mass of people. Even at their most crowded, the streets of Onmyo were never _this_ busy. The only time they came this close was when the annual Water Festival was held, and participants came from all around Leng to attend. But the Mibu's relatively low population couldn't compare to the massive crowds that surged in from every corner of the four Kingdoms during the Vytal Festival.

Of course, the noise was on another level as well, which was why Jaune didn't hear the voice calling his name immediately. It took a few repetitions for him to realize that someone was shouting his name, barely audible over the crowds of people around them. Straightening up, Jaune looked around for the source. "Huh?"

"Jaune!" came the shout, more clearly this time, clear enough that Jaune was able to actually make out _who_ was speaking. As he did, his eyes widened.

"Saph!"

Sure enough, his eldest sister appeared, edging between the numerous festival goers. Saphron broke into an exultant grin at the sight of her little brother as she approached them, cradling an infant boy in her arms. As they approached, the light-brown-skinned child observed with with wide, brown eyes, beneath a head of short, ruffled black hair.

"I found you!" declared Saphron proudly, coming to a stop before them. "I figured it would take a few days to find you in this crowd, at least."

"I can't believe you're here," said Jaune, before turning his attention to the boy. "And this is..."

"Yep," agreed Saphron, hefting the infant up so that they could see him better. "Say hi to your nephew, Adrian. Adrian, sweetie, this is your Uncle Jaune."

Jaune smiled extending his hand and allowing Adrian to grasp his index finger. All the while, Amber and Ruby cooed, their eyes shining in starstruck expressions as they watched the little boy, utterly adorable in his blue and white striped shirt, and denim overalls.

"Where's Terra?" asked Jaune, looking around.

"She was behind me a minute ago," said Saphron, looking around. "I hope we didn't lose her." She adopted a sheepish look. "I...got a _little_ excited, when I spotted you."

"Lot of that going around," mused Ruby, remembering that Oscar had done the same thing to Maria before.

"Saphron!" As if on cue, another woman's voice called out from the crowds, and a woman with hair, eyes, and skin matching Adrian's emerged from the crowd, her eyes glinting with frustration behind the lenses of the red-framed glasses she wore.

"H-hey, Terra," said Saphron, grinning nervously. "I found Jaune."

"I can see that," said Terra, folding her arms and regarding her wife with a wan look. "I figured that much, when you went tearing off on your own without a word."

"S-sorry," said Saphron, now sweating bullets at Terra's ire.

Terra let out a slow breath, then shook her head. "Honestly..." Then she turned to Jaune with a smile. "It's good to see you, Jaune. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune, smiling pleasantly at his sister-in-law.

"And you've really filled out," observed Terra, looking him up and down. "Like the outfit, by the way. Really makes you look the part."

"Thanks," said Jaune, rubbing the back of his head and blushing.

Saphron moved past Jaune to greet Ruby. "It's so nice to finally see you in person," she said, her voice becoming a giddy squeal. "You're even cuter in person. If I didn't already have Terra, I'd be tempted to steal you away and keep you for myself."

Ruby laughed nervously. It spoke to Saphron's enthusiasm that Ruby couldn't quite tell how serious she was.

"And who's this?" asked Saphron, moving to regard Amber, who took a hesitant step back. "Is my little brother building a harem?"

"What!? No!" sputtered Jaune, even as Amber's jaw dropped. "This is Amber. She's a friend of ours. She was recovering from a serious injury, so we've been hanging out with her so she can see the festival without anyone worrying about her."

Ruby silently beamed with approval at Jaune's answer, spinning just enough of the truth together to be fairly airtight. From the looks on Saphron and Terra's faces, Ruby could tell that they'd bought it...much to her relief.

"It's nice to meet you," said Amber, managing to recover enough of her composure to smile and bow her head to Saphron and Terra.

"Good to meet you too," said Terra. "Don't mind Saphron. She's an incorrigible tease."

"Guilty as charged," said Saphron, giving Amber a cheery grin. She gave Amber a closer look. "You know, you seem a little old to be an Academy student. What is your position here?"

"I'm just visiting," said Amber, giving partial truth with ease. "Like Jaune said, I was injured out in the field. Beacon was the best place for me to recover."

"How did you meet my brother?" asked Saphron.

"It's...a bit complicated," said Amber.

"Some of it involves confidential stuff we're not supposed to talk about," added Jaune, again using partial truth to good effect.

"Okay," said Terra.

"Are you _sure_ you're not interested in my brother?" asked Saphron, leaning in to give Amber a scrutinizing look, Amber leaning back nervously.

"Saph!" protested Jaune.

"Actually, she's dating _my_ brother now," said Ruby.

"Huh?" Saphron pulled back to look at Ruby in confusion, while Amber blushed. "Then why are you out here with her, and not him?"

"It's...complicated," said Ruby, not sure the truth was something that she should say out in the open like this.

"Look, don't worry too much about it," said Jaune, stepping back in. "The point is that Amber's a friend, and we're just making sure she can have fun during the festival too."

"I can appreciate that," said Terra. Beside her, Saphron nodded, before freezing for a second, then looking intently at Jaune with a mischievous smile.

"We got to see your match, by the way," added Saphron. "You were lookin' good out there, Bro. You should've seen the way the other girls' jaws dropped. Mom was thrown for a loop too."

"That's nice-Wait!...Mom...The girls...?" Jaune's entire demeanor changed as the meaning behind Saphron's words stole over him. "They're here?"

"They sure are," said Saphron. "Dad flew them all over himself."

"Great..." said Jaune, not sure how to feel about that.

Saphron's smile faltered, and she shared a sober glance with her wife. "Jaune...well...I don't know what to say, honestly. Dad told them all what you've been up to. Some of the girls didn't buy it, right up until they saw you in the ring this afternoon. Mom almost up and fainted, when she saw you in the ring."

"Oh..." said Jaune.

"Dad's been keeping them busy for now," continued Saphron. "He figured it would be best for them to see the truth, before they came to see you. And now..." she shrugged. "We're a bit at a loss for what to do."

"I am too," said Jaune, looking down with a pensive frown. Part of him was still more than a little irritated by the way his mother and sisters had treated him, much like there was a part of him that _still_ resented his father for refusing to believe him, until Ozpin had literally shown him the truth. He loved his sisters dearly. But, after years of putting up with their teasing him for wanting to be a Huntsman, and their constant assertions that he didn't stand a chance, to say nothing of what Aurea had done, he wasn't sure that he was in the right mind to face them without letting those frustrations get the better of him.

Saphron passed Adrian to Terra, then stepped forward to pull her brother into a loving hug. "I understand," she said. "The way they all treated you wasn't fair at all. I don't blame you for still being mad, especially since it took them seeing you fighting in the tournament to actually accept it. But I think we're too strong a family to let something like that drive us apart."

"I..." Jaune hugged Saphron back. "I know. I just don't know what to say or do."

"I think they feel the same," said Saphron, pulling back to grin at her brother. "After all, they're being forced to eat at least a few years' worth of crow. You don't have to see and talk to them right away. The festival is three weeks long, after all, and we're here for the whole thing. Just...don't take too much time. Dad can only keep the girls on a leash for so long."

Jaune nodded gravely, wondering when and how he could speak with the rest of his family, especially in such a way that didn't involve a massive confrontation. Meeting them out here, in the festival grounds, the same way he'd encountered Saphron and Terra, probably wouldn't go well. The last thing he wanted to do was air all his grievances in a middle of a crowd of spectators.

Saphron sighed. "Well...now that that's out of the way..." She immediately brightened up. "...let's all get dinner together. I want the full scoop on everything you've been up to at Beacon, and I want to get to know your girlfriend better."

Jaune slumped with a resigned sigh, while Ruby giggled softly. Whatever else, it seemed that his eldest sister was a force of nature.

* * *

Pyrrha and Dove took their time, enjoying what the Vytal Festival had to offer. They were quite content to walk quietly, hand in hand. It was a pleasant experience to be able to take in the festival with her boyfriend. The reminder that Dove was her boyfriend, and not merely a friend who was a boy, gave Pyrrha a giddy feeling. It had always seemed like something that had been out of her reach. So many of the boys she'd encountered in the past had been intimidated by her reputation, shying away from her, feeling inadequate in her shadow. Those that weren't were generally schemers, aiming to take advantage of her fame for their own purposes.

Dove was neither of those. Even though he had never won a bout against her, he continued to work doggedly in pursuit of that goal, not because he thought he needed to beat her, but because he respected her strength, and continuously strived to match it as much as possible. Even though Cardin was his team's leader, Dove was unquestionably Team CRDL's central pillar, the one whom their main strategies revolved around.

As they walked, there were a few people, here and there, who took notice. Pyrrha even caught the occasional flash of a scroll in the corner of her eye, certain that more than a few people speculating about the Invincible Girl's significant other. Perhaps pictures of them together would pop up in some gossip rag or another, along with the customary speculation about who Dove was, and why she had picked him. Pyrrha had already decided that she didn't care what the papers had to say. If her sponsors didn't like the fact she was with a boy that didn't suit her image, then that was their problem. Dove had no connections in that world, so there was little concern that he would suffer much in the way of backlash for their relationship, save for the occasional angry letter. If someone was stupid enough to actually attack him for it...Dove was more than capable of handling himself.

"Have you decided who you're going to send to the doubles round, if you win your match?" asked Pyrrha.

Dove smirked. "You talk as though it's not a given that we will," he said.

Pyrrha giggled at his confidence. "Well, while you're more than capable, your team still has...Cardin."

"Yeah," agreed Dove with a chuckle. "But he's shaped up a lot. He's got solid judgment. Now that he's not making an ass of himself, I can see why Ozpin made him leader. I may be tough on my own, but Cardin has a damn good eye for what_ other_ people can do, which makes him a better leader than I would be."

"If I recall, you have a pretty good eye for what other people can do yourself," noted Pyrrha, recalling that Dove had realized Jaune's lack of training after watching him practicing.

"Maybe, but Cardin's better, now that his blinders are off," said Dove.

"But that still doesn't tell me who you're sending to the doubles," said Pyrrha, giggling.

"Maybe I don't _want_ to tell you," suggested Dove teasingly. "Maybe you're only prying so that you can get a leg up on your strategy."

Pyrrha giggled harder. "Maybe I am," she conceded. "I _do_ know that, regardless of who goes to the doubles, there's no question that _you're_ the one going to the singles."

"If you say so," said Dove, playing at being cryptic.

"Oh you..." Pyrrha protested playfully, turning to mock-glare at Dove, only for him to dart forward and take her lips in a swift kiss.

"Have I mentioned how much easier it is to do that, now that you don't have those heels anymore?" asked Dove rhetorically.

"Maybe once or twice," said Pyrrha playfully.

"Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha nearly jumped out of her skin at the unexpected sound of someone calling her name, the familiarity of the voice in question, and the affronted tone the speaker had used. Jumping away from Dove, she turned about, her eyes going wide, a feeling akin to panic rising within her. "Mom!?"

Pyrrha's eyes widened as Phoinix pushed her way between various festival goers, an upset scowl on her face as she stalked closer. Behind her, Pyrrha saw the familiar figure of her father, following in his wife's wake.

"What are you doing here?" asked Pyrrha, aghast to actually see her parents in the flesh, after so much time spent only seeing them on the screen of a CCT console (and it had been a while since she'd seen them in even _that_ context as well).

"I could ask you the same question," scoffed Phoinix, crossing her arms under her substantial bust, glaring disdainfully at Pyrrha. "Just what are _you_ doing? Do you have any idea how much damage you've already done to your image? And now you're sullying it further by consorting with a person below your standing."

"Agreed," said Anatolius, folding his arms in a bid to look imperious. "Someone of your stature needs a more suitable partner." Unfortunately for him, his build was rather lacking. He was fit, but didn't have the bulk needed to really pull off an intimidating posture. Pyrrha had long ago stopped being frightened of her father's attempts at being authoritative.

"I don't think your parents like me much," Dove commented to her wryly.

"That's an understatement," said Pyrrha with a sigh. She turned back to her parents, raising an eyebrow. "Honestly, I don't care what _you_ think of my boyfriend," she said. "I've made it clear that I will be making my own choices, from here on out."

Anatolius was furious, baring his teeth. Beside him, Phoinix's expression softened, and she switched gears, her tone going from irate to cajoling. "Pyrrha...dear...please...You have to understand, this boy clearly only wants to be close to you for the sake of your reputation-"

"Considering how much longer I've been around him, I have a better idea of his motivations than you do," said Pyrrha, resting her hands on her hips. "Also...that's rich, considering the kind of boys _you've_ tried to set me up with. You were perfectly fine with _them_ trying to mooch off my reputation, and they were definitely plenty open about it. All that mattered was that they might have something _you_ wanted."

Phoinix gasped, while Anatolius leaned forward. "How dare you?!" He snarled. "We've tried so hard to prevent you from making foolish mistakes, and you have the gall to talk back to us?

"And you...!" He rounded on Dove, who raised an eyebrow at Anatolius' venom. "...Don't think you can get anything out of this. We have the final say in the distribution of our daughter's funds. Don't think you'll see a single penny from us."

A snort from Pyrrha disrupted her father's attempt at intimidation. She began to giggle, trying to muffle it behind her hand, though the sounds quickly worked their way out. Her body quaked and convulsed in her attempt to hold back her laughter. Finally, she gave in, laughing rather loudly, nearly doubling over. Dove was smirking himself, while her parents were thunderstruck by their daughter's reaction.

Turning to face Dove, Pyrrha smiled radiantly. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Darling. My parents have declared that I have no dowry to provide. All that I ask is that you accept me as I am, a poor Huntress of humble means. Even knowing that I cannot provide for your fortune, will you still take me? All I can offer is the wealth of my love for you."

Dove grinned. To compliment the act, he took her hands in his own, bringing them up to the level of his chest. "My Lady, I never dreamt of anything else, for I too am a Huntsman of humble means. Come, let us go off together and shop for a nice, affordable apartment in town. 'Tis a terrible shame that we won't be able to afford a mansion. But, so long as we have one another, we shall endure in our love. For you art the pearl of my heart, and your love showers me with wealth beyond measure."

Phoinix and Anatolius were silent, gaping unashamedly. However, their silence was filled by the sounds of laughter from the crowds around them. All four of them looked around to see that their altercation had attracted an audience. And now, more than a few people were laughing at Pyrrha and Dove's over-the-top declaration of affection, and many of them were applauding as well. Pyrrha and Dove blushed, glancing around sheepishly, but still smiling, seeing that their unintended audience had enjoyed their performance.

Pyrrha's parents were blushing as well, but their expressions were horrified by the spectacle they'd made of themselves. They also got the keen impression that the people around them were _not_ on their side.

"Oh dear...this won't do at all," said a tan-skinned woman, edging through the crowd behind Pyrrha's parents.

"Holly..." said Pyrrha, an angry edge to her voice, her previous mirth falling away.

"Hello, Pyrrha," said Holly, smiling pleasantly. "I apologize. This was _not_ how I intended for your reunion with your parents to go. There is no need to make a spectacle of this. Let us adjourn somewhere quieter, where we can discuss this matter a bit more openly."

Pyrrha frowned, but her anger softened. Holly had a good point. Even if the people around them were amused at her and Dove's play-confession to one another, Pyrrha didn't want to turn her family drama into a literal drama, to be aired in front of everyone. Perhaps it _was_ for the best if they took this somewhere more out of the way...

"Nah," said Dove casually, draping his arm over Pyrrha's shoulders. "Sorry, but we've got plans. If you really want to talk business so bad, you should schedule an appointment."

Pyrrha felt as though she'd come out of a daze. For a second, her anger flared that Dove was brushing this off so lightly. But then she almost immediately realized that he was on _her_ side in this. And he was right. They were here to enjoy the festival as Beacon students. Pyrrha was under no obligation to console her parents, and _definitely_ under no obligation to try and get them to accept Dove. She had made it clear that _she_ was the one making the decisions in her life now. Her parents had gotten tired of her refusing to talk to them about this over her scroll or the CCT, and were now trying to force the issue by confronting her face to face.

She gave her boyfriend a grateful smile. "That's right," she agreed, before turning to regard her former manager and her parents. "If you came all this way just to try and talk me into continuing to do celebrity work for you, then I'm afraid you've wasted your time."

"Pyrrha...!" gasped Phoinix, shocked.

"It's too bad," said Pyrrha, sighing disappointedly. "I love you both. In truth, I'd like nothing more than to show you around my school, introduce you to all my friends, and show you everything that I've made of myself and _for_ myself here. But I can't do that to my friends, not when you're behaving like this. If you're willing to think about what you've done, and actually come to see me as your daughter, rather than your meal ticket, then I'll be happy to listen."

She ducked out from under Dove's arm, wrapping her own around it as it descended, and began to lead him away. "Let's go."

"Sure thing," said Dove.

"Pyrrha!" thundered her father. "Get back here, right now!"

"Ignore him," said Dove softly.

"I intend to," replied Pyrrha in the same tone.

They left Pyrrha's parents behind, her father blustering with impotent anger, her mother mortified by the embarrassment of being rejected by her daughter. Beside the two of them stood Holly...with a small, barely perceptible, smile on her face.

* * *

**As you can see, I opted to skip the matches with ABRN and BRNZ, feeling that there wasn't anything hugely significant to dragging out the story's length by including them. Part of this is arc-fatigue carrying over from _Lost Rose_. I simply didn't want to go through writing so many matches again. Instead, I opted to focus more on the stuff that takes place between the matches, which is giving me a chance to tie up quite a few characters' story-threads.**


	124. Chapter 124

**Chapter 124:**

"Well...that was a thing," said Dove, as they left Pyrrha's parents behind.

When Pyrrha didn't answer right away, he looked over at her in concern. Pyrrha had let go of his arm with one hand, and was now using that hand to gently massage her temple. "Yeah, they'd give me a headache too," he agreed.

"It's not that," said Pyrrha. "I'm not sure what it is. I just feel...off...for some reason."

Dove frowned. "That so...?" he mused contemplatively.

"What is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well...for a moment, it looked like you were giving some serious consideration to that lady's idea of taking our little argument somewhere else," said Dove.

"Well, I _did_ think it was reasonable," said Pyrrha. "But then you reminded me that there's no need for us to argue with them at all."

"Yeah..." agreed Dove, continuing to frown pensively. "That 'off' feeling of yours...do you know when you started to feel it?"

"Um..." Pyrrha frowned, furrowing her forehead. "I'm...I'm not sure. I wasn't thinking about it. It wasn't until we were away. It's strange. I felt kind of light-headed for a moment."

"Was it after that woman made her suggestion?" asked Dove.

Pyrrha's forehead furrowed more deeply. "I think...so..." she said.

"Yeah," said Dove. "There's something off about that woman for sure."

"Holly...?" Pyrrha gave her boyfriend a confused look. "I mean, I can understand somewhat. I didn't realize it for the longest time. But that woman _is_ a conniving snake."

"I think there's more to it than that," said Dove warily.

"What?" asked Pyrrha.

"Just a hunch," said Dove, looking down. "I might have to check on a few things."

"All right..." said Pyrrha uncertainly.

* * *

"Great match," said Sun, landing next to Blake.

She flinched at his unexpected arrival. She'd picked this spot because it was less likely she'd be bothered by people. While she might have been as excited about the Vytal Festival as anyone else, that didn't change the fact that dealing with large groups of people was something she had to do in small doses. She'd had her fill earlier in the day. To that end, she'd picked out a little haven for herself, inside a small copse of trees, in one of the few corners of Beacon's courtyards that wasn't overrun by the sprawl of the Vytal Festival grounds.

And yet, despite the interruption, Blake didn't mind. Sun had long ago ceased to be a bother to her.

"Thanks," she said, before relaxing and leaning against him, enjoying the feeling of his tail curling around her shoulders, brushing against the bare skin of her neck.

"Makes me kinda glad we didn't go up against your team in the first round," said Sun teasingly. "I'd hate to have to kick all your butts in the first round of the tournament."

"Says the boy who would probably _be_ the one getting his butt kicked," retorted Blake with a smirk.

"Oh yeah?" asked Sun playfully.

"Yeah," Blake replied in the same tone.

Sun chuckled, then leaned back against Blake, resting his cheek against the top of her head, which she rested against his shoulder. "Well, I'd say that having me whipped outside the battlefield doesn't mean you can whip me inside it, but we both know you're probably right. Not to mention you've got Nora and Yang on your team."

"Oh yeah, we'd roll right over you," agreed Blake, prompting another chuckle from Sun.

They fell into a comfortable silence. Blake had never been one to talk, and she appreciated that Sun had learned that, just because she wasn't saying anything, didn't mean she was upset or moody. There were times when Blake was just...quiet.

Sun had learned to appreciate that, enjoy it even. These were the moments where they could just relax, and bask in one another's presence, enjoying the sensation of each other's touch. His hand found hers, their fingers lacing together.

"Ugh! The two of you look _way_ too cute together."

"Whoa!" Sun shot to his feet, hand going behind his back for his staff. Blake did the same, but her hands remained by her sides.

"Ilia?" she exclaimed.

A short distance away, a figure melted out of the shadows, black skin returning to its normal tan hue, with a smattering of spots and freckles against it. Blake's gaze went to Ilia's gray eyes, and she was both surprised and pleased to see her old friend smiling, an easygoing smile she hadn't seen in a long time.

Of course, part of that was because she hadn't properly dealt with Ilia in a long time. After leaving with Adam to come to Vale, Blake had been away from her old friend for months. Then she'd left the White Fang. Even when Ilia had come to Vale as well, they had only dealt with each other on the rare occasions where their paths crossed.

On every one of those occasions, Blake had only ever really seen Ilia's troubled expression, whether she was troubled about facing Blake, or colluding with Adam's horrific plans. But now, Ilia was smiling, a genuine smile, a relaxed smile, something that suggested she'd found both peace and solace.

The reason for that became apparent as the space next to Ilia abruptly shattered, revealing the diminutive figure of Neo, smirking playfully.

"Oh...it's you," said Sun uneasily. "Don't tell me Torchwick's telling you to jump us _outside_ of class too."

Neo giggled almost soundlessly. Reaching into a pocket, she produced her scroll, typing out a response, before turning to show Sun the screen. "_Ilia just wanted to talk with your girlfriend. Thanks for the idea though. Roman would love it._"

"What have I done?" muttered Sun under his breath.

Blake giggled, though she didn't like the idea of Neo jumping them outside of class as a "continuation" of Torchwick's unorthodox teaching methods either. Things were hard enough _inside_ the classroom.

"So then, why are you here, Ilia?" asked Blake.

To her surprise, Ilia's freckles turned a rosy hue, the skin across her face washing pink, before it returned to normal. "Well...Neo thought we should maybe...try a double-date."

"Um...But aren't you still a wanted criminal?" asked Sun.

Neo waved a dismissive hand, as though saying, "Details...details..."

"She's not that distinctive," said Blake. "Even though Ironwood said that Atlesian forces would try to detain her, it isn't as though they're actively looking for her. So we should be fine, so long as we don't do something crazy."

Three sets of eyes came to rest on Sun, who pointed to himself. "Who? Me...?"

"We _did_ first meet when you caused a ruckus by stowing away on a freighter," Blake pointed out.

"Uh huh? And _who_ touched off a conflict with the White Fang that nearly wrecked the docks?" countered Sun.

Now three sets of eyes rested on Blake, who averted her eyes. "Touché," she conceded unhappily.

Across from them, laughter bubbled up out from Ilia's throat. "God! The two of you are so cute," she said. _It's refreshing, compared to how things were between Blake and Adam._

Ilia was fully willing to admit that many of her issues with Blake's relationship with Adam were rooted in jealousy. The girl she'd wanted to look at _her_ was, instead, throwing the looks that Ilia had coveted at the brooding, angsting Adam Taurus. Ilia could definitely see the appeal. Adam was handsome, charismatic, strong, decisive, and had a dark past. All those were things that Ilia knew appealed to Blake, with her love of gothic romance.

But Ilia had also been able to see that Blake's relationship with Adam had _not_ been good for her. Though he'd been subtle about it at first, Ilia could see that Adam had been overbearing, controlling, always inquiring about Blake's activities. Where had she been? Who had she been with? The closer he and Blake grew, the more he'd isolated her away from everyone else, including her friends.

And then Adam had taken her away to another Kingdom altogether. While he had moved to Vale on Sienna Khan's orders, it also felt as though he'd been deliberately trying to separate Blake from those who cared about her even more than before.

In comparison, looking at Blake and Sun was like a refreshing breeze. Sun was playful and friendly, brimming with positivity and optimism. He made Blake smile and laugh. He didn't try to wall her off from her friends. If anything, he'd pushed her to reach out to them. Blake was happier and more comfortable than Ilia could ever remember seeing her being. Part of Ilia was still jealous that _she_ couldn't be the one in his position. But she decided that it didn't matter. Blake was happy, and they could actually be friends again.

So the four of them set off, looking forward to spending an evening enjoying the festival.

"What are the White Fang doing now, if they're not knocking over Dust shops?" asked Sun idly.

"At the moment...nothing," said Ilia, seeing no problem with saying so. "We haven't really decided on a new direction. High Leader Khan knows that a complete one-eighty back to non-violent methods won't go over well with the rank and file. They've gotten used to retaliation against discrimination. It's not as though the Councils would change their minds about us being a terrorist organization, just because we simply decided to stop blowing things up."

Blake nodded. In the past, she'd scoffed at her father's insistence on nonviolence, his continuous arguments that conflict was a path they could not retreat back from, once they went down it. At first, she thought he'd simply been talking about conflict in the straightforward manner, which meant that they would have to win it, like they did the Revolution. Retreating was no different from surrender. But now, she'd seen the White Fang paint themselves into a corner. They'd come to realize that following the path of conflict was self-destructive in the long term. But coming back from that would be absurdly difficult.

"It's scary to think about," said Ilia, rubbing her arms. "I feel more than a little lost myself."

"I guess it _is_ appealing," noted Sun.

"It's the simplicity," said Blake. "With nonviolence, there are lines you can't cross...ever. With retaliation, those lines get blurred, and it gets easier to cross them. On top of that, it's a lot simpler to articulate. If someone hits you, you hit them back, simple as that. An eye for an eye..."

Ilia sighed. "We all thought it was going to be so easy. If the humans weren't going to accept the Revolution, then we'd start a new one, and finish the job. We'd eradicate the humans who wouldn't accept us, maybe even subjugate the ones who simply stood back and watched as we were discriminated against. That was Adam's view anyway. If humans weren't willing to share the world we both lived in, then we'd flip the table, turn things on their head, make humans into the minority, then see how _they_ liked it."

"Yeah...that sounds like a pretty crappy plan," said Sun, folding his arms behind his head. "I mean, yeah...it's pretty dumb, the way so many people just do nothing. Even though it's not like racists are a huge portion of the population, the way other humans stand back and just let it happen is dumb."

Blake and Ilia nodded.

"The thing is, that still leaves us with nowhere to go as an organization," said Ilia. She glanced over at Neo. "What do you think?"

Neo gave all three of them a deadpan stare, before typing out a response on her scroll. "_You're asking the career criminal what her opinion on civil rights is...?_"

They stared at her for a long moment, not having a response to that.

Neo began typing again, before showing them her scroll once more. "_I've never given a thought to those things. Roman liked saying racist things to faunus, because that was what made them the most angry._" She paused to type more. "_But neither of us really cares about any of that. Those kind of ideals go way over our heads._"

"That makes sense, I guess," said Sun. He thought that the whole "I didn't mean it" spiel was a piss-poor defense for racist remarks. However, now wasn't exactly a time for picking arguments over such a touchy topic.

Neo was already working on her next line. "_Besides, aren't we here to have fun? What are we doing talking about such heavy, boring stuff? Let's play._"

"She's not wrong," said Blake, a small smile spreading across her face.

"Well, I see a food booth that's calling our name," said Sun, pointing at one a short distance away, where the owner, who looked strangely familiar to Blake, was preparing bowls of ramen.

As they approached, they found themselves pausing as they crossed paths with another pair of people approaching the same stand. Eyes widened all around as the quartet of Sun, Blake, Ilia, and Neo found themselves facing Ciel and Rain.

"Well..." said Rain, after a moment's pause, "...this is awkward."

Ciel's eyes immediately focused on Ilia, and then narrowed. "Ilia Amitola, as an agent of the Atlesian peacekeeping forces employed at the Vytal Festival, I am duty-bound to request your surrender. If you refuse, then I am also duty-bound to arrest you."

Ilia tensed, her friends along with her. Blake and Sun were uneasy about what to do, not wanting Ilia to be arrested, but, at the same time, not really able to fault Ciel for trying, seeing as she was just doing her job. Neo was less ambiguous, already prepared to beat down both Atlas students the second they tried something.

But the situation found itself quickly defused when Rain reached over, taking Ciel's left hand in a secure grip, preventing her from activating and brandishing her weapon. "However," he said firmly, "you are off-duty right now, Ciel. So you are _not_ acting as a member of the Atlesian forces."

"But-" Ciel began to protest.

"Also, Specialist Schnee told me to make sure that you do not attempt to do any 'work', while you are supposed to be having fun," continued Rain, smiling at her with a sly edge. "It appears that reporting the presence of Ms. Ilia will have to wait."

"But...I..." Ciel looked back and forth between her boyfriend and Ilia, before letting out a long sigh. "Fine..."

"Now then," said Rain cheerfully, "seeing as you are not going to be arresting anyone at this point, how about we all sit down and enjoy a meal together."

"Sounds like a plan," said Sun cheerfully.

They headed for the ramen stand, taking their seats. Blake found herself sitting next to Rain, who was sitting next to Ciel, who found herself sitting next to Ilia. "That was clever," she said.

Rain smiled. "Whatever else, we owe Ms. Ilia a debt for her assistance in stopping the attack in Mountain Glenn. Ciel takes her orders a bit too seriously. I chose to take advantage of that, this time."

"Like I said...clever," said Blake, smirking.

Meanwhile, Ciel and Ilia shifted awkwardly. "I hope you didn't take that personally, Ms. Amitola," said Ciel softly. "I have my orders concerning any known members of the White Fang."

"I know," said Ilia, giving Ciel and awkward smile. "I don't begrudge you trying to arrest me, after everything I've done. I helped you guys once. But that doesn't erase all the things I've done before."

Ciel nodded. "Still, like Rain said. We _do_ owe you for your help in Mountain Glenn. The White Fang's attack would have done a great deal of damage, had you not taken action, and we might not have found out in time to do anything ourselves."

Ilia nodded.

Ciel let pursed her lips, then blew out slowly. "So...I suppose we will just have to enjoy ourselves as much as possible tonight. After all, if I have too much fun, then I might just wind up forgetting that I was hanging out with a wanted terrorist."

"I think I can manage that," said Ilia with a laugh.

* * *

The arrival of the festival's next day brought with it a new round of matches. That day found RASP (with the exception of Jaune) and RYNB in the coliseum for each of the first two matches scheduled. First, Team SSSN faced off with a team from Atlas. The arena's biome-system wound up producing a snow-covered tundra on one side, and a field of jagged boulders on the other.

The tundra proved to be to the Atlesians' advantage, due to their training on the snow-fields that surrounded their own Kingdom. They also had plenty of experience with mountainous terrain, which mean that they could make good use of the boulders on the other side as well.

However, in spite of all that, they found themselves thoroughly outclassed by Team SSSN's skills. RASP and RYNB had seen Sun and Neptune in action before, but this was their first time witnessing the skills of Sage and Scarlet. Both boys were skilled combatants.

Scarlet's abilities seemed somewhat lackluster at first. But he quickly proved to be an agile and cunning combatant, making substantial use of the rocks in the boulder-field to cut off his opponents' field of view and lines of fire, attacking from unexpected angles, and making good use of his pistol's grappling hook to snag one opponent's ankle and drag him out of sight, taking him out of the match.

Sage, in contrast, was a powerhouse. There was no sign that his sword possessed any special features. However, he was able to leap high into the air with a boost of Aura, slamming his weapon down with explosive force. It was his initial attack that broke up the Atlesians' formation, before Team SSSN quickly moved to strike.

Sun's incredible agility, and his skill with his weapon, enabled him to fight evenly against two opponents at once, setting one of them up for a shot from Neptune, who disabled his target with an electrically-charged bolt from his rifle, leaving Sun to finish off the other. Scarlet lured the other two into the boulder-field, quickly isolating and defeating one, while the other was swiftly finished off by Sage.

The match ended on a low note though, when the Atlesian team's leader, who Sun had beaten down, began spewing a tirade of racist insults at Sun. While none of his teammates pitched in, the looks they shot SSSN, as they guided their still-shouting leader towards the locker room, showed that they had similar sentiments.

"Assholes," grumbled Yang, eyes flickering red as she glared at the last of the Atlesians disappearing into the locker room.

"Nothing we can do from here," said Blake sadly. Her gaze went to Sun, who had already shrugged off the poor sportsmanship of his opponents, and was instead grinning and waving at the crowd, who were quickly recovering their spirit and cheering for the victorious, and definitely more appealing, team. Sun swept his eyes around the arena, finding Blake's. He shot her a wink, prompting her to blush.

"Looks like somebody's getting a reward later," suggested Yang.

"For a dork like him...?" wondered Blake, before blushing harder. "Maybe."

"If you need to use the room, at least let us know first," said Ren with a sigh, before adding, "and try to finish before it gets too late. I would like to get to bed at a reasonable hour."

Blake's face turned red to the tips of her human ears.

* * *

The next match featured none other than their second-year friends, Team CFVY. CFVY wound up going up against the one team of fourth-years that had entered the tournament this year. The match had been an exciting one, with all four members of CFVY performing at their peak. Under Coco's leadership, and with Fox's Semblance coordinating them, they were devastating.

What was more, Ruby could see that they had been paying attention to the things Kyo had told them, during their one brief bout with him. The other three were good at covering for the delays caused by Coco's weapon transitioning between modes. Fox still proved to be the lynchpin to their coordination, but they were subtly covering him, making sure that he wasn't targeted. Yatsuhashi was using the full extent of the tremendous reach afforded by his size to devastating effect.

But the real standout was Velvet. Of all them, she had been the one Kyo had been most critical of. However, as her opponent came at her, Ruby gasped as she saw Velvet easily reading and dodging his moves, before countering them perfectly.

"Isn't that...what Ruby does?" asked Weiss.

"Is it?" asked Pyrrha, looking to Ruby for confirmation.

Ruby shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "I think she used her Mimicry to memorize her opponent's moves, and now she's able to anticipate their timing and weaknesses."

"How can she do that?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well, it's probably because of all the experience she has," said Ruby. "Otherwise, even Mimicry wouldn't be able to do her much good."

After all, a punch had completely different timing and range than swinging a sword. A sword's techniques had different ranges and timing than spear-techniques. And, even if Velvet could mimic perfect form in holding and aiming a gun, actually aiming and knowing when and where to fire wasn't a given.

People might have been given to assume that Velvet's Semblance was a cheat, allowing her to amass moves that other people had learned through intensive training, through no effort of her own. But simply being able to copy a move was _not_ the same thing as actually being able to use it. That Velvet had been able to copy the moves and weapons of other people, and then apply them perfectly, immediately afterwards, meant that she had trained a great deal in the fundamentals of combat, enabling her to immediately move from imitation to application.

Therefore, it wasn't such a large stretch that such training had enabled her to internalize the timing and limitations of a given technique. Therefore, if Velvet saw a technique, not only was she capable of using it herself, but she was also able to read the tells, anticipate the timing, and determine the weaknesses of any technique that was used against her. It was an ability that made her effectiveness somewhat limited, during the initial stages of battle. But, as the fight went on, and her opponents showed off more of the repertoires, Velvet was quickly able to build up profiles of their fighting styles, and counter them perfectly.

There was more to it though. Ruby could see Velvet quickly adapting to, and countering, moves that she'd never seen before, almost as though she'd already copied them with her Semblance. That meant that, the more she saw of a person's style, the better she was able to anticipate what they _could_ do, even if they were using a move she hadn't seen yet.

_She's definitely taken Kyo-nii's advice to heart,_ thought Ruby. _Of course, she still needs to refine her weapon into something more stable. But this is a huge step forward for her._

Team CFVY's match ended in their overwhelming victory, despite the difference in age and experience between them and their opponents. The crowd roared, as the victorious underdogs waved to their fans in the stands. Fortunately, unlike the previous match, there were no displays of poor sportsmanship. The defeated fourth-years happily congratulated CFVY on their victory, and left gracefully.

"Looks like Uncle Yuki was right," said Ruby.

"Yeah, it seems like the younger teams really _are_ a cut above this year," agreed Yang.

Nora squealed, squirming in her seat. "Ooh! I wonder who's gonna fight next!"

"We'll find out in a couple of hours," said Blake, already getting up to join the throngs of people heading for the docks.

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, standing up and stretching.

"Going to go check on Jaune?" asked Pyrrha.

"Might as well," said Ruby, glancing at the seat her boyfriend should have been occupying.

Now that RASP no longer had to worry about which match they were participating in, Sasame had taken advantage of the opening in Jaune's schedule to begin his intensive instruction in the healing arts. Unfortunately for Jaune, what that ultimately meant was long periods in a training room, as Sasame worked to train him in the subtleties of manipulating the bodies of humans and faunus. There was no way that he could cram a complete anatomy course into his head in the course of three weeks, but Sasame was determined to teach him everything she could, while she could. So, for now, that meant teaching him some of the more nuanced healing techniques, aside from the basic ones he'd already practiced. Sadly, that meant that Jaune was missing all the matches that had taken place after his own.

"I hope she lets up on him," mused Ren. "It would be sad if he wound up sitting out most of the festival."

"It's what he signed up for," said Weiss. "It's good that he aims to become the most effective healer he can."

Ruby nodded, knowing full well that Jaune still felt immensely guilty about the time he'd accidentally inured her, while trying to heal her. Even if he expressed some reluctance at the idea of spending the Vytal Festival ensconced in the library, he was prepared to do what he needed, in order to make sure he never did that to Ruby, or anyone else, ever again.

* * *

The third match of the day was of little personal interest to them, being between two teams they had no connection with. RASP and RYNB still watched, though not from the coliseum seats. After all, the winners of this match might be their opponents in the doubles round. One of the teams was another Atlesian one, called Team FNKI. Ruby was more than a little surprised by her first sight of them, considering that they looked little like the military types she'd expected to come out of Atlas Academy, instead looking more like a pop-band, with their wielder even using a trumpet. They exhibited a playful attitude and style that concealed a degree of cunning and coordination that suggested that their behavior was as much a distraction as it was part of their personalities.

The fourth match, on the other hand, was doubly of interest to them, mainly because both teams participating belonged to their circle of friends and acquaintances. Ruby had gasped alongside Pyrrha. The two of them then bolted off for the next airship to the coliseum, when they saw the screens showcasing the last match of the day: Team CRDL versus Team CPPR.

* * *

Ruby quickly settled into her seat, leaning forward excitedly as she waited for the two participating teams to enter the arena. Beside her, Pyrrha looked just as anxious.

"Wow, you two are really keyed up for this," observed Yang wryly, settling down in her seat, adopting a much more relaxed posture.

"Well, Pyrrha's boyfriend is participating," noted Weiss. "Hopefully, he makes a good showing of himself."

"Of anyone on Cardinal, Dove is pretty much the only one who I have trouble believing _wouldn't_ make a good showing," said Blake casually.

"The others have gotten pretty good too," said Nora.

"They've definitely raised their skills since the beginning of the year," Ren agreed.

The others nodded.

Ruby heard a soft groan, and felt a familiar presence brush against her own. She smiled and looked over at Jaune, as he slumped down into the seat next to her. "Long day?" she asked.

"Your sister is a slave driver," groaned Jaune. "I'd never thought I could feel _this_ exhausted after using so little Aura."

Ruby giggled at that. "Yeah, that's pretty typical for learning the healing arts. I went through the same thing."

After all, even if the amount of Aura used for healing techniques was rather low, the sheer degree of precision required meant that training in using one's Aura on such a small scale resulted in substantial mental fatigue. Ruby remembered nursing more than a few headaches, after her basic healer training under Sasame. She did _not_ envy Jaune, who was being primed to learn the even _more_ advanced and precise techniques.

"So...she turn you loose for the day?" asked Yang.

"That she did," replied Sasame, drawing a startled yelp from Yang. Sasame slipped into the next open seat, smiling contentedly. "Jaune-kun is an apt student, and has more than earned his respite for the day. After all...we shall be continuing tomorrow."

"Yep," agreed Jaune.

"However, as a special exception, I will let you off tomorrow afternoon...for the final match," said Sasame.

"'Cause of Oscar's team, right?" asked Jaune.

"Exactly," said Sasame. "It would be a shame to miss their debut, after all."

"I wonder how they'll do," said Weiss.

"That can come later," said Pyrrha, still focusing her eyes on the arena. "We should be focused on the ones who are fighting today."

"Very true," agreed Sasame.

Jaune folded his arms, looking down in the ring with a relatively ambivalent expression.

Relations with Team CRDL had improved significantly since the incident in Forever Fall. Dove had already proven himself to be prime Huntsman material. But now that the other three were applying themselves and actually working to improve, they were showcasing their mettle as well. Still, Dove aside, no one on RASP or RYNB would have gone so far as to consider anyone on CRDL a friend...yet. They were decent acquaintances, but still laboring under the impression resulting from their bullying behavior at the beginning of the year.

Of course, they were more-inclined to cheer for their friends on Team CPPR. Following the joint operation in Mountain Glenn, RASP and RYNB had grown extremely close to the Atlesian Team, especially Penny. Ruby was looking forward to her friend showing her abilities in the first round. She was also looking forward to the skills and tricks she knew the other members had up their sleeves.

The noise of the crowds picked up as the two teams filed into the arena, making their way into the central ring, all while Port and Oobleck did their jobs as announcers, whipping up excitement in anticipation of the match.

* * *

"What do you think?" asked Dove, staring across the ring at the assembled team.

"I think we're in for an uphill battle," said Cardin, standing up a little straighter, his grip tightening on his mace. "The carrot-top may look like a pushover, but I get the feeling she's packing some pretty heavy firepower."

"I don't think I've ever seen her fight," said Russel.

"I've barely even seen her in class," added Sky.

"Yeah...all that's giving me some serious 'secret weapon' vibes," said Dove.

Cardin nodded. "I've been reviewing the footage of their sparring matches. Elric's shield is pretty unpredictable, and Cerny's b-er-orbs hit pretty hard."

"So at least two of them use remote weapons," said Dove. "But Elric can use his in melee, Cerny too."

Cardin nodded. "I don't think they're gonna be using a front-line rear-fire formation. They're probably going to mix it up to keep us on our toes. The only one we can count on coming in for a close-up fight is going to be Soleil. So she's yours, Dove. Try and take her out as quick as you can.

"Sky, you and I are gonna take Polendina. I'll go in front, so you keep back and try to get an eye for what she can do, before committing. We're gonna try and take her out. Russel, you're taking the other two. Don't go for the win, just try and keep 'em busy."

"Tall order, Boss," said Russel, gulping nervously.

Across the ring from them, Team CPPR were having their own strategy session.

"According to our friends, Dove Bronzewing is the most dangerous member," stated Ciel calmly.

"So they're probably gonna make him their key player," said Piper, flexing her fingers.

"Perhaps," said Ciel. "General Ironwood has kept Penny somewhat sequestered, so they most likely don't have any knowledge of her abilities, unlike the rest of us. Therefore, they are likely wary of her."

"What should I do then?" asked Penny.

To her surprise, Ciel smiled at her partner. "Go wild."

"Quite the unusual order for you," observed Rain.

Ciel turned her smile on him. "Our opponents are likely coming up with a plan to counter what they can about us. The best way to counter that, in my view, is to introduce a chaotic element, and hopefully throw their plans in disarray."

"I like it," said Penny, jumping up and down, pumping her first in the air. "This is going to be a sen-_sa-_tional match!"

"And now it is starting," said Rain.

With a loud clanking sound, the metal plates surrounding the central ring slid away, the selected biomes rising up to reveal a field of tall grass on CPPR's side, and a dense forest on CRDL's.

"Lots of line-of-sight issues with this selection," noted Piper, glancing around.

Meanwhile, Port and Oobleck had finished the buildup. Beacon's history teacher had begun the countdown to the match's beginning. All eight competitors tensed, sinking into crouches, deploying their weapons.

"_Begin!_"

With a fierce grin, Penny deployed her swords, their blades folding over to convert into their gun-modes, arraying themselves into rotating formations at her hips, then producing streams of emerald energy that propelled her forward like a rocket. She glided across the floor of the ring, hurtling straight for Team CRDL like a human projectile (or an android one), her eyes locked on one target...Dove.

Across from her, Dove picked up Penny's intentions immediately. _No plan survives contact with the enemy_, he thought to himself.

"Scatter!" shouted Cardin.

The other three members of CRDL leapt away from Dove, who leveled his weapon, Hallshott, at the incoming Penny. He quickly fired off several shots at her. However, Penny kicked off the floor, jumping over the bullets, going into a roll, while her guns converted back into swords, sweeping around her, Penny guiding them into a downward slash that forced Dove to backflip away.

Upon landing, he immediately went back on the offensive, rushing right in, leading with a thrust of his sword, adding a shot from the gun built into its hilt. One of Penny's own swords quickly batted the attack aside, knocking both blade and bullet away from her, while two more swords scissored at Dove from opposing directions. Dove went into a leaping spin, turning his body completely horizontal, and slipping between the attacking blades. While they flashed past, he lashed out with another swift slash, but another of the remote blades that made up Penny's Floating Array slashed in to intercept, batting Dove's sword away.

Meanwhile, at least four of Penny's swords circled around from the outside, converting into their gun modes, before opening fire with streams of emerald energy, which streaked in at Dove from multiple opposing vectors, forcing him to spin, flip, and dodge furiously to avoid them, all while he worked his own sword just as furiously to parry Penny's other blades, which flew in to thrust and slash at him from close range.

Their battle was a whirlwind of frenetic motion, Dove a spinning blur, while Penny's own position was more static. However, her weapons seemed to move of their own volition, attacking Dove from seemingly every conceivable direction, forcing him completely onto the defensive. And then Penny reached out, closing her right hand around the handle of one of her swords, snatching it from the air. She surged forward, her speed enhanced by the incredible strength of her mechanical legs, allowing her to close in on Dove in a flash that rivaled the speed of her Floating Array, slashing at him with the sword in her hand. Dove quickly raised his own to block, but found himself shouting in surprise as he was launched away by the incredible force behind the blow.

_Damn!_ he thought, flipping to get his feet back under him. _This girl's the total package. She's got speed, power, and precision; close and long-range. I'm not seeing any weaknesses._

As soon as he touched down, Dove immediately jumped up, two of Penny's swords embedding themselves in the ground at his feet. Dove flipped around to plant his feet against the trunk of one of the forest biome's trees, kicking off to launch himself higher into the branches. Up there, he swiftly grasped one, then used it to swing himself out of sight.

* * *

Meanwhile, the other members of the two teams hadn't been idle. After moving to escape the furious melee that erupted between Penny and Dove, the other members of CRDL looked up to see Rain and Piper charging in. Rain had deployed his shield onto his forearm, the elongated tip of the kite-shield projecting directly out over his fist, like an oversized katar. Beside him, Piper ran along, arms crossed in front of her, the fingers of her hands flicking and twitching, guiding the movements of the eight ebony orbs that flew through the air alongside her.

However, to Cardin, Russel, and Sky's confusion, Ciel was _not_ charging in alongside them. Instead, she remained back, leveling her arm so that the blade of her pata-sword was pointed at them. The blade separated along its centerline, now extending out in two prongs on either side of her fist, while Ciel loaded a bullet into the chamber, behind where her knuckles were, under the gauntlet. A tap on the screen of her watch-face turned it yellow. The blades began to shine in the same color, a shimmering field forming between them, with intense arcs of yellow energy bridging the gap between the two prongs, forming at their base, then running up to the tip, appearing and moving with greater and greater speed and frequency with each passing second. A low humming sound quickly built in intensity, while Ciel steadied her left arm with her right hand, took aim...and fired.

The air shrieked as the railgun's bullet ripped through it, passing between Piper and Rain, so that it arrived a fraction of a second ahead of them, heading right for Sky's chest. However, with a swift blur of gray and red, the flanged head of Cardin's mace was already between the bullet and its target, Cardin roaring as he swung the mace to intercept the shot like an awkwardly-shaped baseball bat.

The force of impact nearly ripped the weapon out of his hands, but Cardin successfully managed to send the fragments of the bullet scattering away, right before Rain and Piper were upon them. Cardin triggered the fire-Dust set within The Executioner's flanges, triggering a billowing wave of flame that surged out over the two incoming attackers.

Rain immediately shifted his shield's position, holding it out in front of him to disperse the flames as he plowed forward. The shield opened up slightly, displaying the green, wind-Dust impregnated membrane that connected its components, producing a burst of moving air that scattered the flames further around his body, enabling him to make it through the conflagration unscathed. Beside him, Piper jumped up, her orbs forming into a circling ring beneath her feet, generating an anti-gravity field that levitated her up and over the flames.

However, Cardin's defense had successfully blocked their line of sight for a fraction of a second. Rain emerged from the flames, only to find his shield slamming directly into the axe-bladed head of Feather's Edge, Sky's halberd. Before Rain could react, Sky triggered the rifle built into the halberd's shaft, its barrel projecting out between the two blades that formed the weapon's head. While the shield took the bullet, the impact still sent Rain staggering back, leaving him open to Cardin, who stepped in with another powerful swing of his mace.

Meanwhile, Piper found herself descending right towards Russel, who swung one of his daggers, Shortwings, at her. A crescent of flames leapt off the blade's edge, flying at her. Her fingers dancing, Piper quickly directed her orbs, their ring-formation transitioning from beneath her feet to between her and the incoming attack. The crescent of flame splashed against the shimmering black and violet plane of energy that filled the space between the circling orbs, before the entire formation shot forward, the ebony energy of the gravity-Dust surging ahead of Piper. Russel jumped into a backflip, barely managing to get out of the way before the powerful gravity-field smashed the floor where he'd been standing.

At the sight of Cardin's mace swinging in, Rain gave up his effort to recover from the stumble Sky's attack had sent him into, jumping just high enough to get his feet off the floor, allowing The Executioner to slam into the face of Pench Kaateh, Rain's shield. The impact sent him flying backwards.

Even as he fell back, Rain detached his shield from his arm, the plates separating to reveal the membrane between them, the entire device taking to the air, swooping around in front of him, its edges slashing at Cardin, who swung his mace again to bat it away. Sky rushed past his leader, aiming to try and attack Rain, while his shield was busy with Cardin. However, tugging on the blue, glowing string with the fingers of his right and left hands allowed Rain to bring the kite swooping back around, faster than either fighter anticipated. Cardin dodged back out of the way, but Rain's real intention was to bring the string around to slash at Sky, who barely managed to brace the shaft of his halberd against it.

Even then, the string simply bent around Feather's Edge's shaft, threatening to simply wrap around and slash into him from behind. Sky ducked forward, escaping being cut, and trying to lower his weapon out of the way. However, the contact had tightened the arc of the kite's swooping flight, sending the string sliding up along the shaft of the halberd faster than Sky had anticipated, where it caught on the lower, curved section of the halberd's blade, the arc of the kite's flight tightening further, bringing it right back to Rain's right arm, where it reconnected with the brace that contained the spool of string he used to guide the kite, and as a weapon in its own right.

Now Rain pulled, bringing Sky stumbling in towards him, drawing back his shield, which had reoriented into its attack-configuration, preparing to thrust the bladed tip right at Sky's chest. Of course, with both fighters bound together, neither was very mobile, especially in Rain's case, as he'd had to anchor himself in order to pull Sky in. As a result, there was no hope of him dodging as Cardin charged in from his left, swinging The Executioner down at Rain's head.

With a flash of yellow light, another shot from Ciel's railgun struck the head of Cardin's mace, knocking his swing off-course, and sent it down to strike the blade of Sky's extended halberd, both weapons crashing down. Rain had pulled Sky in by pulling his shield and right arm across his chest. Now, as Sky stumbled closer, he put some slack into the line, allowing him to unhook it from behind the blade of Feather's Edge, before swinging the shield back across his body in a powerful slash, striking both Cardin and Sky, and sending them falling back.

Russel, on the other hand, jumped and flipped with an agility that would have made Dove proud, while slashing out with his swords to parry the attacks of Pulsar's orbs, which swooped in, striking with force that belied their size, infused as they were with the power of gravity-Dust. He was forced to carefully deflect them, rather than try to strike them away directly, or Shortwings would be knocked right out of his hands.

Piper wasn't content with simply standing back and guiding her weapon's movements. Even as Russel fought furiously to keep her weapon at bay, she charged right in, lashing out with a series of unarmed strike, always keeping one hand open to guide half her orbs, even when striking with the other. Her hands were also sheathed with gravity-Dust energy, increasing the force behind her blows, a single hit threatening to deal critical damage to Russel's Aura, if she managed to land a blow.

All the while, her orbs swooped and dived. At times, they functioned as guided projectiles. At others, they formed into circling formations, creating gravity fields that threatened to immobilize Russel in place, forcing him to dodge around them, the break in his concentration, always trying to keep track of both Piper _and_ her weapons, keeping him from finding an opportunity to counterattack.

Meanwhile, while struggling to recover from the hit he'd just taken, Cardin raised his eyes, dismayed to see Ciel loading another round from across the ring. The last thing he'd been expecting was for Team CPPR's leader to stand back and bombard them from long-range. Worse still, the speed and power of the projectiles her weapon fired represented a serious threat.

Glancing at Russel, Cardin got an idea. "Russel! Go long!"

Russel nodded, then jumped back away from Piper, disengaging from her entirely. His jump took him back towards Cardin, who levered back his mace, allowing Russel to plant his boots against the shaft, before putting all his strength into the swing. Triggering the fire-Dust crystal in The Executioner produced an explosion that accelerated the swing even more, allowing Cardin to launch Russel into an arcing flight, which sent him descending right for Ciel.

Russel threw his body into a rapid forward flip, spinning end over end. As he did, winds swirled out from hid daggers, enveloping his body and heightening his rotation even further, giving him the appearance of a wind-blown Boarbatusk. Upon reaching Ciel, he lashed out with both feet in a powerful kick. Ciel immediately brought her weapon up to counter, blocking Russel's kick with her upraised gauntlet. However, the combination of Russel's weight, momentum, and the wind gathering at his feet, allowed him to send Ciel flying back with a cry of surprise from her, as she was thrown all the way back into the tall grass on CPPR's side of the field. Russel dashed after her, both combatants disappearing amid the waving stalks.

* * *

With a creaking groan, one of the trees toppled over, landing with an incredible crash that shook that entire side of the field. Penny retrieved her swords, one of which immediately flashed up to intercept a shot from Dove's weapon. A second later, she arranged Floating Array into another sword-wheel formation, and sent it whirling through the trunk of the tree that Dove's shot had come from. The blades sliced effortlessly through the wood, sending that tree crashing down as well.

Above, a blurring figure darted into the branches of another tree, Dove grumbling under his breath as he settled out of sight, only to yelp and dive aside, as another sword pierced right through the bark he'd been resting his back against, threatening to impale him from behind.

_Dammit! I can't even hide from her,_ thought Dove irritably as he spun to take another shot at Penny, only to see her effortlessly intercept that bullet as well. He landed amidst the foliage of another tree, only to have to dodge again, as three of Penny's swords transformed into guns and opened fire on his position, forcing him to flip aside from the lancing shafts of emerald energy.

_It's like she's got radar or something,_ he thought. _It must be her Semblance._

Had she known his thoughts, it would certainly have suited Penny to have Dove think that, seeing as she actually _was_ equipped with radar, as part of an entire suite of advanced detection systems, including motion detectors and infrared sensors that allowed her to track her target through multiple mediums. Because of that, every time Dove tried to hide, Penny's attacks were swift to follow him, keeping him on the move, and forcing him to focus on evading her, rather than forming a strategy to attack her with.

Worse still, Dove was rapidly running out of footholds, Penny's attacks rapidly bringing down the trees around her, leaving him with only so many to escape to. In the end, Dove realized that his only hope against her was to go on the offensive. That was a tall order though, considering the incredible firepower Penny had on her side. Even close combat was ill-advised, given her monstrous strength.

Still, there was nothing he could gain by keeping at a distance. All that would result in was him being slowly cornered, until Penny's attacks left him with no place to escape to. With an annoyed grimace, Dove kicked off his current perch, and launched himself towards Penny.

Naturally, Penny's swords swiftly flew to intercept him. Dove twisted and flipped, sometimes using the flats of the blades themselves as footholds to evade their attacks, while his sword whipped out to deflect slashes, and he fired bullets to knock other swords off-course. The result was that he slipped amidst Penny's attacks to descend on her from above, slashing Hallshott right at her head.

But then Penny wasn't there anymore. While Dove had been closing in, Penny had launched one of her swords behind her. It had embedded itself into the trunk of one of the few trees still standing. Like all of her swords, this one was tethered to Penny's backpack by a wire, so thin as to be invisible, most of the time. Now, with a whirring sound, the wire connected to that sword retracted, pulling Penny out of the line of Dove's slash.

Dove landed awkwardly, growling in frustration, particularly as he was forced to evade again, jumping out of the way as Penny's other swords continued to slash at him, while her guns harassed him from farther out.

Landing after her dodge, Penny reached behind her, closing her hand around the sword embedded in the tree, and pulling it free. From there, she charged forward again, rushing to attack Dove directly. Seeing her coming, Dove quickly jumped and flipped, before dropping down into a crouch, evading her swift, powerful slashes, all while her other swords continued to attack him from other vectors, in an attempt to hem him in. Despite the power he knew Penny possessed, Dove resisted the urge to disengage from his melee against Penny. At the moment, her own body was the greatest impediment to her remote attacks, creating a space she couldn't strike through, unless she wanted to hit herself.

Jumping over another of Penny's horizontal slashes, Dove lashed out with a booted foot, slamming it directly into Penny's cheek. To his shock, he might as well have kicked the side of a mountain. Penny didn't even flinch at the impact, instead grinning excitedly, even with her cheek mashed slightly by the sole of Dove's boot. Instead, Dove found that he'd pushed himself back away from her. Unable to stop it, he went into another flip, landing a short distance away. _What is that girl made of?_

There wasn't any time to ponder that conundrum in any detail though. Once again, Penny's swords flashed in again, menacing him like a swarm of hornets, forcing Dove to dance and dodge, while parrying in equal measure. At this rate, he was bound to run out his stamina, well before Penny ran out hers, ensuring that she would catch him eventually. Dove realized that his only hope was to somehow land a decisive blow, and take Penny out of the match.

Now _he_ was the one closing in, diving amidst the seeking tips and edges of Penny's swords, rolling past the beams fired by her guns, and coming up right inside Penny's reach, now attacking furiously. Penny still held her own sword in one hand, but showed herself to be less-effective on the defensive than she was on the offensive, at least so far as it came to using a weapon in her hand. A part of Dove silently rejoiced to find an actual limitation in the orange-haired girl's seemingly all-encompassing array of advantages. Her melee attacks were all about power, employing far less precision than when she was using her blades remotely.

Thrusting Hallshott at Penny, Dove smirked as Penny moved her blade to catch and parry it, only to be knocked staggering back as he squeezed the weapon's trigger, firing a bullet into Penny's collarbone (or where her collarbone would have been, had she had a human body). Recoiling, Penny quickly directed her other swords to rain down on Dove from above. However, he swiftly dove into a roll across the ground, which sent him rolling past Penny's legs. Coming back onto his feet, he remained crouched, while spinning around to slash at her shins. His attack struck home, and Penny staggered forward this time.

Dove kicked off the ground, launching himself into a flip that carried him just barely over Penny's head, barely escaping the emerald shafts of energy that pierced the ground where he'd been crouched before. He went into a spin as he came back down, allowing him to bring Hallshott back around and slash it across Penny's chest, staggering her yet again.

Landing, Dove went on the offensive again, attacking furiously, firing shots from Hallshot's gun, while thrusting and slashing with the blade in a rapid offense, trying to overwhelm his opponent in melee combat, before she could retake momentum. _Gotta keep pushing,_ he thought. His only hope lay in bringing Penny's Aura down into the critical range, before she could find a counterattack that would work against him. This would be his only chance to eke out a victory in this match.

Penny's swords swept in, and Dove was forced to backflip away, the weapons revolving around Penny like a razor-edged fence, cutting him off from her. With a grimace, Dove realized that she'd succeeded in breaking his attack. Now she was free to go back on the offensive all over again.

On top of that, while he hadn't taken too much damage, Dove's limbs were still shaking from the sheer exertion and adrenaline. Keeping up with Penny was one of the hardest battles he'd ever fought, even considering all his matches against Pyrrha. Avoiding her attacks, launching his own; all of it was forcing him to push his body past all his previous limits. Only his continuous bouts against Pyrrha could have prepared him for a match of this intensity.

Penny, on the other hand, didn't even seem winded (largely because she didn't have _lungs_, but Dove didn't need to know that). She seemed almost completely tireless. The hits Dove had landed hadn't even inconvenienced her. Her lips remained pulled back in an exuberant grin, like that of a child playing a favorite game. Dove realized that, for all the difficulties he was giving her, or even because of them, Penny was having an absolute _blast_ fighting him.

_Then again, look who's talking,_ Dove thought to himself, realizing that his own lips were pulled up in a tight, enthusiastic smile. _I'm having the time of my life here._

Penny directed her arms forward, sending her Floating Array on the attack once more. Dove charged forward, meeting the flying swords head-on, the ring of steel on steel echoing throughout the arena.

* * *

**So CRDL vs CPPR happened a round earlier than it did in canon (not that we ever got any info on who Penny's teammates, aside from Ciel were, or what their team was actually called). Of course, that means that the whole of CRDL gets to show off what they can do, and how they've stepped up their game since the beginning of the story. Of the matches I _did_ include in this story, this was one of them, largely because I saw an opportunity to write a fight that was different and interesting.**

**Of course, Dove has a few other concerns at the moment, not that those will have any effect on the match. But they _will_ be important later on.**


	125. Chapter 125

**Chapter 125:**

"Dang! Cardinal has really leveled up," noted Yang.

"Copper certainly isn't getting it all their way," added Weiss, her eyes darting about as she tried to follow all the disparate battles at once.

"I can't believe that Dove is holding his own against Penny," said Blake, watching the duel in the forest intently.

Everyone else nodded in agreement, including Pyrrha. While Pyrrha would have liked to express faith in her boyfriend, the fact of the matter was that they all knew their android friend was, in many ways, ridiculously overpowered. She wasn't troubled by fatigue, possessed advanced sensors far superior to those of human or faunus senses, and had unmatched strength and durability. On top of that her weapons were swift and precise, with Penny having near-perfect control over them. For Dove to actually hold his own against such an opponent was nothing short of a monumental achievement.

"I'm more impressed by how much Cardin and the others have grown," said Ren, his eyes following the other three members of CRDL.

"Yeah, you'd never think they'd started out the year as a bunch of bullying blowhards," added Nora.

"Yes, that boy has improved a great deal," observed Sasame, smiling benevolently. "Tell me, does he still have an issue with faunus?"

"Not that we've seen," said Jaune. "After that thing in Forever Fall, he actually went and apologized to Velvet."

"Always nice to see those with potential grow to meet it," said Sasame cheerfully.

* * *

The blade of Ciel's pata-sword, Gram Vajra, cleaved effortlessly through the stalks of grass, hewing down a swath of them as she swung for the darting shadow that was Russel. He ducked beneath the level of her swing, before rising up out of the newly trimmed grass right in front of her, his daggers striking in rapid slashes. Ciel defended, utilizing both her blade and its attached gauntlet to block his attacks, before retaliating with a powerful slash, which Russel was forced to block, knocking him back amidst the uncut grass.

The pata-sword's strength was in slashing attacks. The gauntlet braced and reinforced the hand and wrist, allowing the wielder to put the full power of their arm into every attack, without needing to worry about the relatively fragile joint at the wrist. However, the tradeoff was a certain lack of finesse, lost due to the fact that the wrist and hand were locked in place, which made the sword into a straight extension of the forearm, its moves controlled entirely by the shoulder and elbow. Ciel couldn't execute the elegant parries of the kind Weiss or Winter used in their particular styles. The tradeoff in the other direction was that her gauntlet essentially made her weapon both sword _and_ shield, allowing her to switch between offense and defense rather seamlessly.

In contrast, the strength of Russel's daggers showed through in close-range. If he could move in close enough, the lack of flexibility in Ciel's weapon would make it virtually impossible for her to bring the blade of her sword into play. However, his shorter weapons lacked the power that Ciel gained from the leverage of her longer one, not to mention the reinforced strength of her sword-arm. He had two weapons, allowing him to attack from differing angles. But Ciel deftly used both blade and gauntlet to head off his attacks.

Of course, all of that was without considering Dust.

Tapping the screen of the watch-face, set into her gauntlet, switched the screen to a pale-green color. Ciel swept her sword around her in a wide, circular slash, a thin stream of wind extending out, forming a swift blade that mowed down the grass in her vicinity, erasing much of Russel's cover. While what remained was high enough to conceal him, if he sank into a crouch, his options for approaching and attacking from concealment were, like the grass itself, severely cut down.

But Ciel wasn't the only one with Dust at her disposal. Russel surged up from below the level of the cut grass, having ducked below the level Ciel's slash. Now he attacked, the chambers in his daggers clicking into place. The blade in his right hand began to glow red, turning yellow around the edges, fiery motes trailing off as he dashed forward, swinging it at Ciel. Ciel blocked with her gauntlet again, but grunted as the edge of Russel's dagger discharged a fiery explosion, driving her back. At the same time, the flames set the grass alight as well, producing conflagration that quickly began to spread across the field.

Ciel grimaced, backpedaling away from the hungry flames. Russel didn't try to follow her. It would have been foolish to try. The fire he had set was now a barrier between him and his opponent. Instead, he followed through with a wide sweep of his left-handed dagger, its edge glowing pale-green, and unleashing a gust of wind straight into the growing flames, fanning them and spreading them. More importantly, the wind caught the fallen stalks of grass that had been cut down by their battle, kicking them up, lighting them, and flinging everything at Ciel, sending a torrent of fiery debris rushing right at her face.

Tapping the screen of her watch-face again, Ciel switched it from green to white, before holding it straight up in front of her face, right as the wave of flaming grass washed over her.

Meanwhile, Russel backpedaled. His wind had sent the fire rushing Ciel's way, but it was only a matter of time before the flames began spreading his way. In fact, it wouldn't be long before the entire field was alight. Even more than the heat and flames, there was the threat of smoke inhalation, if he spent too long amidst the fires he'd set.

In the meantime, he kept watch for Ciel, expecting her to skirt the flames and try to flank him. However, he was caught off-guard when Ciel bulled straight through them instead, the flames rolling off the curved hemisphere of the shield projected by her hard-light-Dust. Russel yelped, bringing his Shortwings up to guard. But he was too late.

Ciel tapped the screen again, switching it to a pale-blue color, and she dashed past Russel, landing two slashing blows that knocked him off his feet. Even as he tried to recover his balance, Russel felt a painful chill along the lines where Ciel's sword had hit him. Ice was rapidly spreading out from along the lines that Ciel had cut into his Aura, like frost forming over glass, its cold seeping into Russel, and making him shiver.

The icy chill left in the wake of Ciel's attack sapped Russel's strength and reflexes, leaving him almost helpless as Ciel turned about, and attacked again, the blade of her pata-sword still glowing pale blue, humming faintly. She attacked furiously, and Russel defended as best he could. When Ciel's blade struck his own, icy frost spread across it. Russel's parries were hampered by the hits he'd already taken, the icy sensation still spreading across his body. Because of that, he was too slow to intercept all of Ciel's slashes, and another one landed across his stomach, leaving a cold, numbing sensation spreading up his chest and down his legs.

After just a few more exchanges, the cold that had infected the blades of Russel's daggers was beginning to seep into his hands, numbing them. Desperately, Russel armed fire-Dust in both his blades, igniting it immediately, aiming to warm them up and keep his hands from losing their grip, due to the cold.

That proved to be a serious mistake, as the blades rapidly heated from sub-zero temperatures to glowing hot. Upon encountering the next slash of Ciel's chilled blade, both of Russel's daggers shattered like brittle glass. For a brief second, their battle came to a standstill, Russel regarding the broken blades protruding from the handles of his Shortwings despondently.

"I'm sorry," said Ciel.

"It's my fault," said Russel. "That was stupid of me." He lowered what remained of his weapons. "I give."

"I'll do what I can to help you repair them later," promised Ciel.

"Thanks," said Russel, before turning and making his way to the edge of the ring, skirting the edge of the fire he'd set, while Oobleck and Port announced his defeat.

Ciel tapped the screen of her watch-face, returning it back to its normal color, before turning and heading out of the field, making her way to where Cardin and Sky were furiously battling Piper and Rain. As she did, Ciel couldn't help but smile in approval of the weapon she'd imagined back, in combat school, one that had required Piper's expertise and brilliance in weapon-design to bring into fruition.

Ciel's desire to create a weapon that could collapse down into a simple wristwatch was hardly anything special. However, making that weapon capable of Dust-usage, while still able to shrink down into such a small form was a far different matter. In the past, she had considered collapsing Dust-chambers, similar in design to the Dust-canisters Weiss used for Myrtenaster, except able to collapse down along with the weapon itself. However, collapsing and compacting powdered Dust to such an extent was extremely dangerous. For the longest time, Ciel had thought that her ultimate vision for her weapon was completely unfeasible.

And then she'd met Piper.

Piper had immediately latched onto the idea, and worked her way to a solution. To achieve Ciel's vision, Piper developed a completely new, revolutionary, means of utilizing the power of Dust. The Dust used by Ciel's weapon was in the form of tiny sheets, thinner than a sheet of paper, stored in the watch-face itself. The basis for utilizing the Dust was found within the gauntlet, which expanded out into a specially-designed system that tapped into Dust's power and utilized it as a form of almost pure energy.

Besides being capable of being miniaturized to a level far beyond that of conventional Dust-weapons, the greatest feat achieved by Piper's inventiveness was its sheer efficiency. The tiny sheets of Dust that fueled Ciel's attacks were capable of being utilized well over a hundred times each, before they were finally depleted. Of course, the downside was that the effects were not as spectacular as more conventional forms of Dust-usage.

Unlike Weiss, and her weapon, Ciel could not create waves of icy spears, or sheer walls. Instead, her blade would freeze its target upon contact, the cold quickly spreading like a virus from the point of her cut. Fire-Dust superheated the edges of the blade, enabling it to melt its way through virtually any impediment. Ciel couldn't use wind-Dust to produce powerful gusts or tornadoes, but she could produce a razor's-edge of wind that could extend out from her blade to cleave through nearly anything. When engaging lightning-Dust, Ciel could generate an intense magnetic field along the prongs formed by her separated blade, capable of accelerating a projectile between them without the need of any kind of sliding armature. The resulting shots had a fraction of the recoil that was found in typical Dust-rounds, making aiming a much simpler process.

Ciel adored her weapon. It was a product of Piper's genius, which had allowed her to bring Ciel's vision to life in a way that Ciel herself would have never thought. Thanks to that, Ciel was confident in her role for this battle.

* * *

Cardin and Sky were struggling. It had been a serious risk to send Russel to fight Ciel, turning a fight that had been three-against-two into a two-on-two battle. They'd been hard-pressed when Russel had been helping them. But now, Piper and Rain were facing opponents with even numbers, and Cardin and Sky realized that the gap in skill was telling.

After Cardin had launched Russel after Ciel, he'd half-hoped that Rain or Piper would seek to go back up their leader. However, it seemed that the two partners weren't lacking in confidence in their leader's ability to handle herself. In fact, Cardin realized that Ciel might have been attacking from long-range in order to bait exactly just such a move on his part. _Crap! I might've done what she wanted._

That realization wasn't comforting. Now that the numbers were even, the way Rain and Piper fought had changed. Piper had fallen back, and now stood back to back with Rain, directing her orbs, using them to attack and hobble as she saw fit, generally aiming to steer either Cardin or Sky into attacks from Rain's shield, which could whip erratically around the ring, both the shield itself and the line that tethered it to Rain's arm serving as weapons.

With a heavy strike of his mace, Cardin knocked back one of Pulsar's orbs. However, the weight behind the orb's attack, courtesy of the gravity-Dust at its core, sent Cardin stumbling back. Right at that moment, a separate trio of orbs had formed a triangular formation around Sky, while he'd been whirling his halberd to fend off two more. Abruptly Sky's body suddenly felt as though its weight had been multiplied, and he struggled to even remain standing.

It was then that Pench Kaateh came swooping down. The separated plates drew back together, the whole thing compacting into its more-symmetrical storage mode, the shield's edge striking the hard surface of the ring, sending it into an erratic, bouncing roll at the end of Rain's string, which he pulled on to add momentum and centrifugal force to. Distracted and pinned down as he was, Sky had no hope of escaping or blocking. He wasn't even in a position to move his halberd into place. So he shouted in pain as the shield's edge bit into his Aura, its mass bowling him over, allowing it to continue cutting a line up past his shoulder, before it continued on towards Cardin.

Thanks to Sky being the first in line for the attack, Cardin saw it coming, realizing that Piper's previous attacks had herded them neatly into the line of Rain's swing. With an angry shout, Cardin turned to meet the incoming shield. He was still staggered by knocking away Piper's orb, so he wasn't able to swing The Executioner to meet the spinning shield. The best he could manage was to find enough footing to brace himself, and grasp the shaft of his mace in both hands, holding it up to ward off the blow.

The spinning shield struck like a buzzsaw, its corners grinding against the shaft of The Executioner, sending painful vibrations through Cardin's hands and down his arms. Still, gritting his teeth, Cardin managed to ward off the blow, driving the shield back.

Abruptly, though, the weapon was pulled back towards Rain, the spool on his arm reeling in the line. The shield reattached itself to his arm and extended back out into its elongated shape. Rain dove forward, and Cardin's eyes widened as he saw the remaining two of Pulsar's orbs, joined by the one Cardin had knocked away, orbiting in a circle, in front of where Rain had been standing, so that his charge carried him right through them.

Rain's body was lined with black energy, and he suddenly accelerated dramatically. Besides pinning an enemy down, Pulsar could also be used to make allies move faster. Gravity was acceleration downwards after all. Through skilled manipulation of the gravity-Dust that fueled her weapon, Piper was able to control which direction "down" was, enabling her to make it so that Rain's forward charge became an enhanced free-fall, sending him flying down a corridor of intensified gravity to allow him to charge faster than his footwork and leg-strength could manage on their own.

As a result, Rain closed in on Cardin in the blink of an eye. Cardin only managed to just recover his balance from fending off Rain's previous strike. Now he moved to intercept the slash of Rain's shield, which extended along his arm like an oversized katar. Cardin wasn't able to swing his weapon nearly hard enough. Fortunately though, The Executioner was more than just metal.

Right at the instant it made contact with Rain's shield, Cardin triggered the fire-Dust contained within his mace's flanges. The resulting explosion sent waves of flame rolling across the surface of Rain's shield. Seeing as he had oriented it for attack, rather than defense, the shield did next to nothing to ward off the flames, which engulfed his body. At the same time, the explosion managed to rebound his shield, and Rain was sent tumbling past Cardin into an ungainly sprawl, scorched and battered, a significant portion of his Aura lost to the hit.

At the same time, Piper reeled as a shot from Sky's rifle struck her in the collarbone. Sky hadn't just fallen to the force of Rain's spinning shield, but had_ allowed_ himself to fall. As he did, he lined the rifle built into his weapon, firing between the two blades that formed the halberd's head, his shot managing to find its mark, even from his prone position. Now it was Rain and Piper who had lost the momentum.

The old Cardin would have laughed confidently, maybe taunted and boasted. He would have stood back and allowed Rain to get up. However, Cardin had come a long ways since those days. To the average viewer, attacking a downed opponent might be seen as cowardly. But, to those who truly understood the ways of battle, it was nothing more than an expression of respect. Cardin knew full well that he couldn't permit Rain to get back up. If he did, there was no doubt in Cardin's mind that Rain would employ some creative use of his weapon to take back the advantage. Therefore, Cardin knew that the only acceptable course was to end this now, and finish his opponent off, before Rain got another chance.

Pivoting around to follow Rain, Cardin swung his mace up and over his head, bringing it straight down at Rain, who had managed to roll onto his back. Rain raised his shield, bracing it with both arms. The Executioner slammed down with all the strength Cardin could put into it with one arm. He would have liked to put the strength of both into his swing, but speed necessitated that he attack as quickly off his turn as he could, so he simply swung down with the mace in his left hand, putting every ounce of power that he could into it.

That power was plenty. Even with his shield held up to ward off the blow, Rain found the breath driven from his lungs, the ring cracking, then shattering beneath his back as the raw mass and force of Cardin's mace completely overpowered the meager defense that he could manage with this lack of leverage.

And then Cardin triggered another explosion.

A roaring flame surged upwards. Rain's shield ablated much of it, but he'd been in poor position to block the blast in its entirety, and so Rain was scorched by the fire, even as the shockwave slammed him down _again_.

The buzzer sounded, announcing Rain's defeat.

Meanwhile, Piper whipped her left hand around, fingers directing Pulsar. The three orbs that had been pinning Sky down earlier dove down, slamming into Sky's prone body. Preoccupied as he had been by aiming Feather's Edge, Sky hadn't the wherewithal to defend himself, and found his body driven down into the ring. The buzzer announcing his loss sounded mere seconds after the one that had done the same for Rain.

At the same time, with her other hand, Piper was guiding the three orbs she'd used to accelerate Rain. They swooped around to move under her body, quickly orbiting her. A second later, Piper floated upwards, not even hitting the ring before she turned her fall into a flip, rotating upright and floating as though she was weightless...which she was, at the moment. Touching down, she turned to face Cardin, gathering her orbs around her, four of them orbiting around her, out to her right, directed by her outstretched right arm into a line that extended out from her fingers. The other four formed an orbiting ring around the wrist of her left hand, which she'd extended in Cardin's general direction.

Cardin faced her cautiously, mace gripped in both hands. A slight lull fell over the fight, neither of them having been in the ideal position to transition straight into another attack. Now they had reset into a neutral position, both of them ready to attack or defend as needed, but neither seeing an immediate opportunity to move.

Then Piper's smile widened slightly, and she swept her right arm around, all four orbs arcing around towards Cardin. In the same move, she shifted her left arm, and the orbs that had been circling around it, behind her, sending them floating back away from her. Cardin rapidly whipped his mace around, deflecting the heavy blows from Piper's deceptively small weapons. However, because he'd been focusing on them, he missed Piper's other move.

From behind Piper, her approach hidden by Piper's own body, Ciel suddenly rose up into the air, buoyed up by the other four orbs, which were still orbiting in a circle, creating a gravity platform that Ciel was able to use as a foothold to launch herself high into the air, and descend upon Cardin from above. Distracted as he was, Cardin missed Ciel's approach until it was too late. He turned to face her, but Ciel fell past him, the blade of Gram Vajra biting into his Aura.

Her attack struck Cardin's left shoulder, the arm he primarily relied up on to use his mace. As he tried to turn about to follow her, Cardin suddenly found that his shoulder had stiffened, and he couldn't move it as feely as he wanted too, his attempts to swing being accompanied by a brittle crackling sound.

Looking at Ciel, he saw that the color of her watch-face had turned a dull-brown, the blade of her pata-sword glowing with the same light. His eyes widening, Cardin glanced at his left shoulder, and saw stone spreading out from along the line, where her slash had landed.

Ciel landed in a low crouch, immediately rising back up, turning about, using the spin to launch a slash across Cardin's stomach, sending him staggering back. Ciel followed, swinging her sword in a series of slashes. Everywhere they connected, stone began to spread out across the surface of Cardin's body, almost as though he were being petrified.

It was thin, cracking and breaking, flakes falling away, even from the movement of Cardin's panicked reeling. As such, it was a fairly minor hinderance. But, in Cardin's situation, it was more than enough to cost him the match. While he was busy reeling from Ciel's attack, and hindered by the earth-Dust she was using, Piper made her move.

Holding her right hand out to the side, Piper directed all eight of her orbs into a line. From there, the black and violet energy of their gravity-Dust expanded outward, forming into the shape of a massive curved sword, seven of the orbs forming its spine, while the eighth became its pommel. From there, Piper stepped into a powerful slash, swinging the sword around in front of her body.

"_Neutron Edge!_"

The blade slammed into Cardin's body, and Cardin howled in pain as he was sent flying away, all the way to the edge of the ring, skidding to a stop right beside the safety barrier.

Piper disconnected her orbs, calling them back to her hands, where they orbited around each arm in groups of four. Ciel frowned as she approached, giving Piper a raised eyebrow.

"What was that?" she asked.

"An attack name," said Piper proudly. "Ruby makes it look really cool, so I thought I'd try it."

Ciel opened her mouth, then decided it wasn't worth her while to berate Piper for something so frivolous. _Besides,_ she silently admitted to herself, _as attack names go, it _does_ sound pretty cool._

* * *

Penny and Dove were dancing. That was perhaps the best way to describe the furious, yet graceful nature of their exchange. Penny's swords whirled around as though they had minds of their own. Some flew at Dove straight on, while others slashed in from the sides. Some hovered back, transformed into their gun-modes, bombarding him with lances of emerald energy. Penny drew some to circle around her body, jumping into a spin to guide them into a slash, the blades fanning out to strike in sequence. Then she would grab one, using it to put the prodigious strength of her robotic body into the swing.

Dove countered by floating through their midst like a leaf. He'd given up trying to track Penny's weapons and attacks with his eyes. Besides their sheer number, and the bewildering angles, Dove's own movements made it virtually impossible to keep his eyes tracking so many erratically moving targets. So he gave up trying. Instead, he turned his attention to his sense of touch, feeling the movement of the air against his body and clothes. In doing so, he could feel the force of incoming attacks, and his body seemed to move naturally to avoid them.

His countless bouts against Pyrrha had also resulted in him absorbing some of her techniques. While there was nothing he could do to mimic Pyrrha's lance techniques with Milo, or how she used Akouo, sometime ago, he'd found himself unconsciously imitating her brilliant swordplay, which was right up his alley, particularly as Pyrrha was almost as acrobatic as he was.

So it was that he went into a flying roll, allowing one of her swords to pass beneath him. At the same time, he shifted his center of gravity, adding a flip to the roll, which enabled him to pull his body out of the past of a shot from one of her guns. Coming down, he planted one foot on the spine of a sword that she had sent flying at him point-first, using Penny's own weapon as a foothold to launch himself at her.

Penny backpedaled, the movements of her right hand guiding four more swords to move between her and Dove, orienting themselves into a swiftly-spinning sword-wheel that deflected his slash, allowing her to fall back. However, Dove moved Hallshott in accord with the parry, using that to line up the tip with Penny, and firing a bullet straight into the center of her chest.

The hit disrupted Penny's control over her swords, and the four blades between her and Dove scattered in different directions, allowing Dove to proceed forward. However, as he passed through the space the swords had occupied before, Dove felt the sensation of his body brushing through the strand of a spider's web.

His squinted eyes widened perceptibly, and Sky saw Penny's grin take on a triumphant edge. Given the way her Floating Array moved, it was easy to forget the nigh-invisible wires that tethered them to Penny. And now Dove realized that he'd walked right into them. Penny held out her right hand, curling her fingers and thumb inward in a snatching gesture. The swords that had scattered previously began to swing around behind Dove, and he realized she was trying to wrap him up in the wires, in order to bind him in place for a finishing blow.

However, Dove wasn't one to allow himself to be ensnared so easily. Once again, he simply gave in to his sense of touch, focusing on the feeling of the wires against his body, his sense of their position growing firmer as Penny's attack tightened them against him. However, he hadn't yet become completely entangled in them. He jumped and spun, cooperating with the motions of the wires, resulting in them slipping off his spinning body, before the movements of Penny's swords could completely wrap them around him. He dropped down to the ground, sinking all the way down to one knee, ducking his head and allowing the wires to fly clear of him altogether.

From there, he charged forward, slashing at Penny's body, free of any impediment. Penny squeaked in surprise, jumping back, but still catching the edge of his sword across her torso. Her guns opened fire from above and behind, but Dove leapt and flipped away before her shots could strike him.

Then, to his surprise, as he came back upright, Dove saw that, rather than press the attack, Penny had pulled her arms back, her swords pulling back to hover around and above her. The reason why became apparent a few seconds later, as Dove felt the pressure of two other presences flanking him from behind. Sweeping his eyes around, he saw that Ciel and Piper now stood between what remained of the trees that had made up the forest biome. Piper mimicked Penny somewhat, her orbs moving in circular patterns around her body, while Ciel had transformed her weapon into its railgun mode, and was now aiming it directly at him.

The realization wasn't long in reaching Dove that he was alone, the last member of CRDL standing. Had she continued attacking, Penny would have made it somewhat confusing for her teammates to figure out when to enter the fray. Even though pausing in her attack had let up on the pressure on Dove, the tradeoff was that, when she began again, she and her teammates would be able to cleanly coordinate with one another, and completely overwhelm him.

Unfair as it might have seemed, this was a team battle, so there was nothing inherently dishonorable for the remaining members of a team to concentrate their strength on the sole remaining member of their opposition. Likewise, as much as she would have enjoyed seeing through her duel with him to the end, Penny knew that her responsibility as a member of Team CPPR was to execute the course of action with the highest probability of leading to victory.

For his part, Dove knew the game was up. It had taken everything he'd had, and more, to simply hold is own against Penny on her own. With her teammates backing her up, the chances of victory were nonexistent. Perhaps he could have stood his ground and tried for some spectacular last stand, but Dove saw that as largely pointless. Without the rest of his team, the battle was over.

So Dove lowered his sword, raising his left hand in surrender. The final buzzer sounded.

"_And with that, the match ends in Team Copper's victory!_" declared Oobleck.

"_It was definitely a hard-fought battle,_" supplemented Port. "_Team Cardinal certainly made Copper work for their win. A fine showing by both teams, and a perfect end to the third day's matches._"

Dove sighed, lowering his hand and listening to the cheers of the crowd. He was sure that most of them were cheering the victorious CPPR, but he didn't mind all that much. _It kinda sucks, but it's gotten to the point where losing doesn't feel all that bad,_ he thought.

* * *

Like any substantial venue for sporting events, Amity Coliseum sported a variety of different seating arrangements. The red seats, situated closest to the ring, were reserved for the the tournament's participants. Behind them were the general seats, which made up the bulk of the seating for the coliseum, rising nearly all the way up to the floating building's rim. For the duration of the tournament, people were able to freely enter and exit the coliseum, via the air-busses. Access to the coliseum was completely open to anyone participating in the festival. Because of that, the general seats could not be reserved via tickets. Instead, they were available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The third class of seats were those in the skyboxes. Lining the upper rim of the coliseum, the skyboxes were completely enclosed seating areas, equipped with luxury amenities that the most wealthy festival attendees paid a substantial sum for exclusive access to. Besides more comfortable seating, without the crowding of the general section, the skyboxes featured self-contained bars, and even catering for those who used them. Despite being the seats farthest away from the ring itself, the impressive interface of the massive windows that made up the inward wall of each skybox provided a zoomed-in view even better than ringside seating.

The skyboxes were partitioned into multiple smaller units, which could be rented out by those with the money to do so. One of these skyboxes was occupied by none other than General James Ironwood, Winter Schnee, and Pietro Polendina. They had naturally shown up to watch the matches, particularly those where students from their own school had been participating.

"What do you think, Pietro?" asked Ironwood, glancing sidelong at him.

"Penny's been growing up," said Pietro proudly. Looking at him, one would think that he was speaking of his biological daughter, and not one whose body he'd assembled in a lab. "She certainly seemed to be having a good time down there."

Ironwood chuckled. "Yes," he agreed. "It would seem that Team Cardinal proved to be more formidable than we expected."

Winter nodded in agreement. "Glynda had left me with the impression that they were a substandard team before. Apparently they were quite the troublemakers, earlier on in the year."

"So were Raspberry and Rainbow," noted Ironwood.

"Troublemakers of the more conventional sort," amended Winter, "bullies, in other words. Of all of them, supposedly Mr. Bronzewing was the only one who showed any particular promise. However, it appears that they have turned things around admirably, enough to give Team Copper a good fight."

"That young Bronzewing fellow was especially good," said Pietro. "He held out until the very end."

Ironwood nodded. "I certainly wasn't expecting someone who could hold their own against her in single combat. It would seem the caliber of all of Beacon's students is very high this year, especially amongst their first and second-years."

"On the other hand," said Winter, her mood falling, "the caliber of some of our _other_ teams is lacking."

Thinking back to earlier in the day, Ironwood scowled. "Jardine _will_ be reprimanded for his behavior. Of that, you can be sure." He himself wasn't happy with the leader of Team JGNT (Juggernaut) and their conduct, after their loss against Team SSSN. It had been bad enough that Jardine had refused to accept his defeat with the kind of grace and goodwill that the Vytal Festival mandated. It was all the worse that he'd accompanied said behavior with outright racism against the leader of Team SSSN, who had proven himself to be a truly impressive fighter and leader.

Ironwood did his best with Atlas Academy, he really did. He vetted the institution's teachers very carefully, ensuring that those with racist bents would not be permitted to teach his students. He did his best to try and ensure a proper balance between humans and faunus on staff, and amongst the students. Granted, faunus were a smaller portion of the population in general, so it was only natural that the population would be statistically skewed towards humans. Furthermore, he'd made it clear that racist attitudes, behaviors, and speech were wholly unacceptable, and anybody caught at such would face severe penalties.

Of course, "anybody _caught_" were the key words of that policy. Ultimately, Ironwood could not monitor the actions of all his students twenty-four/seven (however much many people suggested that he desired to). Because of that, he knew for a fact that there were incidents of such attitudes being indulged, incidents that did not reach his ears because the perpetrators were not caught, their victims intimidated or shamed into silence. It was galling, but that was the nature of people.

Part of it was his ongoing partnership with the Schnee Dust Company. Jacques Schnee was less than discreet about his own racist leanings, having made more than one slip, when it came to revealing how little he thought about the faunus. Even if he made grandiose claims about equal wages, anybody with eyes could see how thoroughly he exploited the faunus who labored in his mines. Ironwood detested that attitude. But, at the moment, the SDC was too essential to the continued establishment of his forces.

Winter's eyes went back down to the ring, letting the troublesome topic drop for a moment. "Still..." she said, "...it would seem that Ciel has come into her own."

Ironwood nodded. "Soleil has matured more than I expected. I suspect that her experiences in the field recently have helped her gain a better sense of herself."

"She certainly is less stiff than the last time I met her," said Pietro, chuckling at the memory of the eager, if overly formal, young lady who'd introduced herself as his daughter's partner.

"Hopefully she's enjoying some well-earned relaxation," mused Winter.

* * *

The door to Team CPPR's locker room slid open to reveal a grinning Penny. "Sal-_u-_tations, Ruby!" she declared excitedly.

Ruby grinned back, and wrapped her android friend up in a hug. "You were great out there, Penny," she declared.

Penny sighed. A few months ago, the sound, without the accompanying exhalation of breath that one would normally expect, would have unsettled Ruby, a discordant reminder that this very human-looking girl was an android, and did not possess a throat or lungs to breathe with. Therefore, the sound of her sigh was an artifice, and action taken to make her appear more human to those who saw her. However, Ruby could sense the genuine feeling behind it, and had long grown used to the...unique...nature of Penny's existence.

"I just wish I'd won my part of the battle," said Penny, adopting a dissatisfied expression. "The fact I couldn't beat Dove, before everyone else came to back me up is pretty frustrating."

Ruby nodded, able to sense Penny's frustration through her Aura. It seemed that Penny had taken it as a bit of a personal failing that she hadn't been able to completely defeat her opponent on her own. Ruby could understand. Penny possessed a level of power that seemed almost overwhelming at times. The fact that she was an android, possessing advanced sensor suites and parallel processing capabilities that allowed her to multitask at a level that would be virtually impossible for a biological person to imitate, only served to make that power all the more devastating. Penny took pride in that strength. Ruby could understand that. To have someone actually stand against that strength and hold his own was frustrating.

Despite that, Ruby couldn't quite keep a smile from her face. "Well, Dove's just _that_ good," she said. "If you don't want to wind up stalled like that, you'll just have to get better."

"You're right," said Penny, breaking out her exuberant smile, and nodding decisively. "I shall have to speak to Father about upgrades."

Her words left Ruby musing. Could Penny get stronger through training, the way people like Ruby herself normally did? Penny's muscles were purely mechanical after all. No amount of working out in a weight room could increase their capability, no number of laps run could boost her stamina. At the most, Penny could train her Aura in the manner that Ruby and Kyo had taught her, which she had been doing. But that didn't change the fact that her physical body was essentially static and unchanging, unless Penny's father "upgraded" it in the manner that Penny herself had suggested.

_Well, it's something to think about later, I guess,_ thought Ruby.

As it was, she and Penny were interrupted when the taller figure of Piper appeared behind Penny.

"Come on, Penny," said Piper, looking unusual to Ruby's eyes, with her hair completely straightened and hanging loose behind her head, thanks to the shower she'd just taken. On top of that, Piper was currently wearing one of the complimentary robes supplied to competitors. "Don't just leave our friends hanging out in the hallway."

"Oh! Right!" Penny jolted at the reminder, stepping back and aside. "Please come in."

Ruby entered the locker room, followed closely by Weiss and Jaune. At this point, Team RYNB had decided to head back to the main festival grounds, not wanting to crowd the locker room.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ruby.

"Pretty good, all told," said Piper, before grimacing and reaching up to rub her collarbone, the spot where Sky's gunshot had landed. "Those jokers on Cardinal were no joke though. If, after this, you'd told me that they'd blown the first few weeks of the school year on being a bunch of bullies, I'd have said you were crazy."

"They really _have_ improved a great deal," said Weiss, "in more ways than one."

"I train with them quite a bit," added Jaune. "They've seriously upped their game."

"My wallet is feeling it quite a bit," grumbled Piper. "I burned more Dust than I would've liked in that fight. And Pulsar gets damn good mileage."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," said Weiss, smirking in amusement. "What about Ciel and Rain? Are they still in the showers?"

"Nope," said Piper, her grin widening to the extreme. "Poor Rain was pretty sore, both literally and figuratively. He wasn't happy about getting knocked out like that, and Ciel feels that she maybe didn't do a good enough job as our leader to keep him from getting knocked out."

"Wanted a perfect victory, huh?" guessed Jaune.

"Pretty much," said Piper. "I think part of it is that, even knowing what we did, we _still_ underestimated Cardinal a little, and Ciel's still kicking herself for that."

"Maybe we can talk with them," suggested Ruby. "There's nothing about that match for you to be ashamed of."

"I agree on the latter point," said Piper. "But talking to them about it is gonna have to wait. You can see for yourselves."

At this point, she lifted a finger to her lips, and led the visitors into the lounge.

Ciel and Rain were out cold. Fresh from their showers, and wearing their own robes, they had lain down on one of the broad couches, practically large enough to serve as a bed. Ciel was curled up against Rain's front, spooning against him, while Rain had his arms wrapped gently around her stomach. Ciel's head was tucked under Rain's chin. The two of them looked perfectly at peace, their eyes closed, their breathing soft and slow.

All at once, three scrolls appeared in the hands of the three visiting members of RASP. A swift trio of clicks sounded, and the scrolls disappeared just as quickly. Piper, having done exactly the same thing, when she'd first seen the couple asleep, had to clamp her hands over her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter.

They retired to a separate corner of the lounge, where a set of seats and smaller couches had been arranged around a holo-screen. Here, they would be able to talk without disturbing the lovebirds, so long as they kept their voices low.

"Ciel looked comfortable," noted Weiss.

"She's definitely getting a lot more easygoing," said Piper, a mischievous glint in her eye. "I even heard she and Rain went on a triple-date with Blake, Sun, and a certain White Fang member of our mutual acquaintance."

"Blake mentioned that," said Jaune. "Neo was there too."

"Yep," agreed Piper. "She's less guarded now, more comfortable with the idea of a relationship. It makes me happy, if a little bit jealous."

"I'm sure you'll find someone, Piper," said Penny cheerfully.

"And what about you?" wondered Piper, raising an eyebrow at the android.

"I do not know," admitted Penny, her eyes rolling up slightly. "Not having a body that produces the required hormones that engender things like sexual attraction, I do not know if I even have the requisite capacity to experience such feelings."

"I know you're capable of love, Penny," said Ruby encouragingly.

"Oh, I know that," said Penny proudly. "After all, I love you, Ruby."

"Huh?" gasped Ruby, her cheeks flushing.

"And Jaune," added Penny.

"Wha-?" grunted Jaune.

"And Piper," Penny continued.

"Thank you," said Piper cheerfully.

Penny continued, beginning to count off her fingers. "And Ciel, and Rain, and Yang, and Blake, and Nora, and Ren, and Pyrrha, and Sun, and..." She paused. "And a whole lot of people."

Ruby and Jaune heard a low growl from the seat next to them. Glancing over, they saw Weiss pouting, as she glared petulantly at Penny, cheeks puffed in consternation.

Penny noticed the look, and grinned sheepishly. "Oh...and you too, Weiss."

"Why am _I_ an afterthought?"

The rest of the group had to struggle to keep the volume of their laughter from reaching a level where it would disturb Ciel and Rain.

"Anyway," continued Penny, "I love lots of people, so that I know that I am capable of love. Father and I just aren't sure if I am capable of _romantic_ love. Maybe I'll find out, maybe not... At the moment, I'm not concerned."

"That...makes a lot of sense, actually," said Weiss.

Perhaps it was a tad existential to wonder if Penny, an android, was capable of experiencing _all_ the nuances of human interaction. Granted, being aromantic in and of itself wasn't some kind of abnormality. But how much of that was Penny's personal nature, and how much of it was a product of her unique experience as an artificially created entity? The question was both fascinating and daunting. But, if Penny did not feel that she was lacking anything, then there wasn't all that much to worry about.

Piper glanced around, as though just realizing something. "By the way...where's Pyrrha? I was a little distracted at first, but she's not with you guys?"

"Nope," said Ruby, giggling.

"You could say that Pyrrha is consoling the losers," said Jaune.

"Specifically her boyfriend," said Weiss a sly smile on her face.

Penny and Piper's eyes widened as the realization struck them. "Ooooooh..."

* * *

Dove rested his hands against the tiled wall of the shower, allowing the hot water to wash over him, its heat soaking into muscles, easing aches and pains that were the result of pushing himself harder than he ever had before. While he hadn't actually taken all that many hits, on some level, _everything_ hurt. A nice, hot shower was just what the doctor ordered to soothe the pain.

Now, if only it could soothe the sting of defeat. Sure, Dove had been the last member of his team to "go down". But that didn't change the fact that it was _his_ surrender that had brought about the end of the match. He supposed he could've kept going, tried to at least take one more member of CPPR down in some grand blaze of glory. But he didn't really see the point. The fight was already over and, however well he held out, it wouldn't have changed the outcome. He was skilled, but not so ridiculously overpowered that he could bring about an impossible victory against those kinds of odds.

So he'd called it a day. His teammates hadn't said a word about it, hadn't tried to shame him, hadn't even given him so much as a dirty look. The crowd had been cheering and, even though the majority of it had obviously been for CPPR, at least no one seemed to be booing him. Both Port and Oobleck had been generous in their praise for CRDL in general, and his performance in particular. Dove didn't have any logical reasons to feel so unhappy.

And yet...as the one who had put a pin in their match, who'd called an end to their ambition of making it all the way to the finals, Dove still couldn't help but feel responsible for his team's defeat, even though his fight had been just one small part of a much larger battle.

So absorbed was he with this conundrum, that Dove didn't notice at first when the door to his shower stall slid open. He didn't notice when the person who'd stepped into the outer alcove shed her clothes, undoing the tail her magnificent red hair was tied into, and setting her circlet aside. He didn't notice when she'd stepped into the shower, not until her arms slipped around him from behind, and he felt her body press against his back, particularly two significant parts of it.

"P-Pyrrha..." stammered Dove, absolutely shocked at her boldness.

Sure, they'd engaged in some long make-out sessions, even indulging in some heavy petting. But this was a whole new level of intimacy, certainly a step up in their relationship, especially considering how young their relationship was, compared to the likes of Jaune and Ruby, Blake and Sun, or Weiss and Ashley.

Pyrrha leaned forward, resting her chin over Dove's shoulder, hugging herself to him. "I had to see you," she said.

"You didn't have to get naked to do it," Dove pointed out.

"But I _wanted_ to," said Pyrrha.

"A-are you sure?" asked Dove.

"After seeing you out there...more sure than ever," said Pyrrha confidently. "You were amazing today."

"I still lost though," he said.

"That doesn't matter to me," said Pyrrha. It helped that she knew the full extent of how much the odds had been stacked against CRDL from the beginning. Dove's opponent was the most advanced piece of technology that had ever been created, advanced technology that was driven and empowered by a living soul. That Dove had held his own against her, even gotten the upper hand at times, was a breathtaking achievement. Besides...

"You lose to me all the time," she pointed out. "That's what I love about you, not that you always win, but you keep trying. You never give up, never let it get you down, and you push forward with a genuine goal. Yes, it was on a much larger stage, this time. But you didn't do anything to be ashamed of."

Dove was silent for a moment, a smile creeping back onto his face. "Thanks."

"And such drive deserves to be rewarded," said Pyrrha, her hands slipping lower.

"A-are you sure?" asked Dove again.

"More sure than ever," repeated Pyrrha, her hands already going to work.

Dove turned around, facing her, taking all of her in. Pyrrha let him. Then Dove's arms slipped around her, his lips found hers, and he pressed her back against the wall of the shower.

It would be the better part of an hour before they finished. When they emerged, dressed in their respective robes, they met the knowing gazes of Dove's teammates, and the pair of them immediately turned completely scarlet.

* * *

**And CRDL loses. Honestly, that's not much of a surprise. The surprise lies in how well they did _before_ they lost. In canon, the last we saw of CRDL, before Russel and Sky made their appearance in the tournament, was them getting collectively owned by Pyrrha. Of course, since it's Pyrrha, that's to be expected on some level. Since they're a set of relatively unimportant characters, we don't get to see much of them, when they aren't acting as antagonists for someone's character arc, so there's not telling just how much work they put in, between getting trounced by Pyrrha, and getting trounced by Penny.**


	126. Chapter 126

**Chapter 126:**

Oscar collapsed back onto his mattress, his entire body sore, limbs feeling like they'd had multi-ton weights strapped onto them, his head feeling fuzzy.

"Takes some getting used to," commented Setsuna, settling onto his own bed, directly across from the younger boy.

"I feel like I got run over by a Goliath," grumbled Oscar.

"You'll feel right as rain, first thing in the morning," Setsuna assured him.

"Will we be training tomorrow?" asked Oscar.

"Nope," said Setsuna.

"Then what _are_ we doing?"

"Taking it easy," Setsuna answered. "If we trained, we'd just wind up wearing ourselves out before the match. Sure, we could hold strategy meetings and stuff like that. But we can take care of that pretty much right before it, seeing as we have the distinct advantage of knowing exactly _when_ we'll be going out there. If we tried to spend all day doing that, we'd just wear ourselves mentally, rather than physically. So...for the first part of our day, we're just going to enjoy ourselves."

"It just seems weird," mumbled Oscar.

"My teacher, Chinmei-sama, told me something once," said Setsuna.

"What?"

"The key to being an ideal warrior is readiness. But real readiness is a state that exists between tension and ease. You stand on the then line between alertness and relaxation, ready to take action, but restful enough that you don't drain yourself. It's an act of balance. Of course, when it comes to the martial arts, balance is everything."

"Right..." said Oscar. "How do you do that?"

"Darned if I know," admitted Setsuna. "It's one of those philosophical things I think you only really get when you reach the level of someone like my teacher, or Sasame-sama, or Kyo... The one thing I _know_ is that at least part of that is not worrying about things that you can't do anything about, and focus on the things you _can_ do something about. There's nothing we can do about when our match is. There's nothing we can do about who we face. If anything, we'll go into this fight with quite a few advantages."

"What advantages?" asked Oscar, sitting up.

"For starters, we'll know who we're up against earlier than the other teams fighting in this tournament," Setsuna pointed out. "Since we're going in the last match, our opponents will, logically, be the the last team remaining in the roster. So we'll know who they are as soon as the second-to-last match is announced.

"Secondly, we have the advantage of our opponents having a history. I'm not exactly up to speed on how all of it works, but Ruby-chan's been telling me we can look up the training matches of our opponents, and see them for ourselves, so that we can research their capability.

"Thirdly, our opponents _don't_ have that same advantage with us. Seeing as we aren't from _any_ of the Academies or Combat Schools, we're _complete_ unknowns to them. There's nothing of our history for them to watch, no previous records for them to go over. We'll be able to get an idea of what they can do, but they won't be able to do the same with us. So...yeah...we've got quite a few things in our favor."

_I guess that balances out the disadvantages,_ thought Oscar.

After all, when all was said and done, three members of their team were at least two years younger than anyone else (bar Ruby) who was participating in the tournament. If their opponents were one of the second-year or higher teams, then that gap in age and training would only be all the wider. And, of course, that gap was even _wider_ in Oscar's case, thanks to him only being_ thirteen_, with barely more than a year of training under his belt. Even with Miyu's technique supporting him, Oscar couldn't see himself being much of a help to his teammates.

"Don't worry about it," said Setsuna simply. "You can spend all night running the numbers, if you want. But that won't change anything. In the end, all we're going to do tomorrow is our best. Don't worry about age or training. When you face an enemy, whether it's a person or a Grimm, you go out there and do what you trained to do."

"I'll try," said Oscar.

"We're here with you," said Setsuna.

"This isn't even my fight," said Oscar. "I'm just here to fill out the roster."

"None of us feel that way," said Setsuna. "In fact, as far as I'm concerned, you have the most important job out of all of us."

"Huh?" Oscar looked at his teammate in confusion.

Setsuna leaned forward. He was normally had a stern and serious bearing, even when he was being casual. Yet there was something about the look that he gave Oscar that made Oscar tense.

"Miyu is the most important person in the world to me," said Setsuna. "And tomorrow, you are going to be her partner...her protector. I'm putting my trust in you to keep her safe. She generally lacks offensive abilities, so she'll be on our rear line. Natsu-chan and I are going to go out on the attack, which means leaving her behind. I don't care that it's a tournament, and no one is actually out to hurt anyone. The fact of the matter is that, tomorrow, _you_ are going to be the one standing between Miyu and the people who are going to attack her. As far as I'm concerned, that makes your job the most important one of all."

"Oh..." said Oscar, unconsciously sitting up a little straighter.

"So, you're not filler," said Setsuna. "You're the keystone of this team, Oscar-kun. And I am counting on you to do your part." He smiled. "Having seen what you can do for the past three days, I can definitely say that I know you can do what you need to. You have the strength, the skill, and the resolve; even if you don't see it yourself. I know that Miyu will be in good hands."

"Thanks," said Oscar.

Setsuna yawned, then leaned back in his bed. "Let's get some sleep," he said. "We're going to have fun tomorrow. I know it."

* * *

The fourth day of the tournament dawned rather quietly, too quietly, if Oscar was being honest. Even though he knew exactly when his team's match would be, Oscar still couldn't shake the feeling that, if he let his guard down, time would magically speed up and spring the match on him and his team before they were ready.

Still, it was hard to keep that anxiety, when Natsuki towed him out to the dining hall for breakfast, before planning their day exploring the festival grounds. After spending the past three days training near-constantly, they'd had very little opportunity to see the festival itself. Honestly, Oscar couldn't help _but_ be excited himself, finding Natsuki's enthusiasm contagious, as always.

It helped that he and his team met up with RASP and RYNB. Oscar had expected them to be offering words of encouragement, or expressing excitement to see how he performed in the tournament. However, they instead talked about just about anything else. They suggested things for him and his new friends to see around the festival, offering the sum of their own experiences, while Oscar's team had been stuck training.

Little did he know that Sasame had gently warned Ruby and her Beacon friends away from talking about the upcomingmatch, warning them that, even if they meant to express encouragement, their efforts would only put Oscar under a greater sense of pressure. As such, they followed Sasame's advice to act as though the match wasn't even happening.

As they continued to talk, more people joined at the table. Team SSSN dropped in, Sun cheerfully sidling up to Blake, who welcomed his presence, the four of them injecting a lively atmosphere into the setting. After them, it was a team of second-years from Beacon, Team CFVY, who joined them. Like SSSN, the four second-years added a considerable degree of friendliness. After them were Team ABRN and Team CPPR. Team CRDL arrived shortly after, Dove taking a seat next to a positively giddy Pyrrha. Before they knew it, the table had become crowded with students from all around the Kingdoms, all of them seeming to be friends of Ruby and her teammates. It shocked Oscar to see how friendly they all were with each other, even though Team ABRN had been knocked out of the tournament by Team RASP.

Of course, none of the new arrivals knew about Sasame's advice, but neither were they aware that Oscar and Ruby's three friends from the Mibu would actually be participating in the tournament. So any topics about the tournament itself were limited to the teams they _did_ know about, teams that had yet to participate. They speculated who would get matched up with whom, and how far they would go. Such topics made Oscar a little nervous, but not as much as they would have, had he and his new friends been included in the speculation.

After breakfast, Natsuki happily towed Oscar out to see the festival grounds. They shopped around at booths, visited shows, and generally had a good time. Oscar couldn't help but feel good. His new friends were right, that it was a good idea not to worry too much about the match.

They continued their explorations, even after the first match of the day had begun. After the time of the second match, they helped themselves to a hearty lunch, before listening with baited breath for the announcement of the third match. With the announcement, they would know exactly who they would be up against in the fourth round.

Oscar brought up the tournament roster on his scroll, noting his own team, Team MNPS on the list. He couldn't help but sweat a little, when he saw no listed school next to their team's name, indicating that they were unaffiliated. He wondered what the rest of the people at the festival made of that.

When the two participating teams for the third match were announced, Oscar eliminated them from the list, leaving them with the name of their rival team.

"We're going up against Team Indigo, from Shade Academy," said Oscar.

"Who are they?" asked Natsuki.

Oscar tapped the team's name, opening the link to the page that contained their profiles. He found himself looking at the portraits of four exceptionally attractive-looking young women.

"Wow, they're pretty," said Natsuki.

"That's about all the info I'm gonna be able to get about them here," said Oscar. "But, when we meet up in the library, I can locate more detailed info about them on the network."

"We should get going," said Natsuki. "Maria-san said we're gonna have a strategy meeting."

Oscar nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. His gut stirred a little bit. That feeling of tension was returning as he realized this was it. This basically cemented the fact that he was _really_ doing this. He, a barely-trained farm boy, of thirteen years of age, from Mistral was going up against actual Academy students...in the _Vytal Festival Tournament_. It was like a scene out of his fantasies (though the more embarrassing fantasies involved Ruby in the audience, swooning over his martial brilliance), but real. And that reality was so different from his fantasies. Whether that was for better or worse, Oscar couldn't tell yet.

* * *

"What do we know about our opponents?" asked Maria.

"They're from Shade," said Jaune, looking up from the library terminal, leaning to the side so that they could see a screenshot of the four ladies in question. "From the looks of things, they're pretty much at the top of their class. They're supposed to be better than Team Bronze."

"So we got a pretty tough set of adversaries," mused Miyu.

"Yeah," agreed Jaune.

The one issue with researching their opponents was that, as mere visitors to Beacon, and not even from one of the other Academies, Team MNPS didn't have the access to the details that they needed to really learn what Team NDGO was capable of. Fortunately, Jaune had come in to join them, taking a brief break from his healer training under Sasame, using his student ID to get them access to what they needed.

He brought up a set of videos, featuring recorded sparring matches from Shade. "From the looks of things, Dew Gayl is their powerhouse."

The recording he brought up featured the young woman in question. She sported long, dark-blonde hair, which was swept mainly to the left of her face, framing a pair of violet eyes and tanned skin. She wore a dark-green dress with an asymmetrical hem, underneath which, she appeared to wear gold-colored scaled armor, which appeared to cover her torso and left arm, while her right was mostly bare, save for the gold-colored pauldron decorating her shoulder.

She wielded a large, golden spear, its head shaped like an angled representation of a ship's anchor, a green crystal of wind-Dust set into it, and a ribbon-like tassel tied just behind the head. The video of the match showed her spinning and swinging the spear vigorously, demonstrating a tremendous amount of raw power and skill. Furthermore, they saw that her spear could be used to generate powerful tornadoes to throw her opponents or augment her thrusts.

"From what I can find, it looks like Dew is their strongest fighter," said Jaune.

"So she's likely to be at the front of their formation," noted Miyu, "the head of their spear, so to speak. How appropriate."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune. "Aside from her, their leader is Nebula Violette."

The image of Dew was replaced with that of a shorter girl. Her short, dark-purple hair was brushed over to the left side of her head, and she stared into the camera with a pair of olive-colored eyes. She was clad in a gray shirt, and a long, light-blue coat, along with gray pants. She appeared to carry herself with an air of confidence.

"From what I can get about her, she's primarily a ranged attacker," said Jaune, bringing up a video of one of her sparring matches. "She uses a crossbow."

From watching the video, it quickly became apparent that the crossbow was not solely for ranged combat. Natsuki squealed in excitement when she saw Nebula's opponent close with her, evading bolts, only for the blade of a sword to extend from the crossbow's frame, turning it into a melee weapon, which Nebula wielded with impressive skill.

"Yeah, she can fight at close range," said Jaune. "But she shines at a distance. Since the crossbow can equip Dust-tipped bolts, depending on her load-out, she can do any number of things."

"So she'll probably be in the back," mused Setsuna. "And she's their leader, so it's a good position for her. She'll be able to provide ranged support _and_ keep an eye on the larger situation and make calls for her teammates."

"After that is Octavia Ember," continued Jaune.

The next girl to appear on the screen superficially resembled an older Miyu, possessing a head of long, red hair that ran down her back in a smooth wave. However, her hair was a darker shade of red, while her eyes were an olive-green. She was dressed in a blue waistcoat on top of a brown and cream skirt with an open front, a pair of silver pauldrons decorating her shoulders.

"Octavia uses a kris equipped with fire-Dust," explained Jaune.

He brought up a video of her using her wavy-bladed dagger, using it to unleash waves of fire in front of her.

"Ooh! I wanna fight her," said Natsuki excitedly.

"No need to get competitive," muttered Oscar wryly, smiling at her enthusiasm.

"And the last member of their team is Gwen Darcy," said Jaune, bringing up the profile of the last girl. She looked out from the screen with brown eyes, set into a face with olive skin. Her hair was pulled back over her head, curling into short ringlets behind her. She wore a black corset dress with a gray front and purple hems. The section that covered her shoulders and arms was light-gray, with a high collar. A belt of purple ribbon held up a set of armored tassets, which featured rows of metal plates with what appeared to be slots set into them.

"She's got the most...well...I'd guess I'd say unorthodox…style of them all," said Jaune. "Her weapons are throwing knives."

That got him looks of confusion from all four members of MNPS.

"Throwing knives...?" said Natsuki dubiously. "You mean she uses them as _primary_ weapons?"

"She's not shown using anything else," said Jaune.

"That's...kinda crazy, isn't it?" asked Oscar. Despite his limited training, even _he_ understood how odd it was.

"Yeah," agreed Natsuki. "What does she do if she runs out, or her enemy gets close to her?"

"Well..." Jaune brought up a video showing one of Gwen's matches. An opponent managed to slip past the knives she hurled at him (up to three at a time), only to get a swift kick to the jaw as Gwen dodged his attack with a balletic spin that enabled her to bring her leg around in the same move.

"Okay..." said Setsuna. "So she can handle herself at close range. Still, can throwing knives have all that much stopping power on their own?"

"They probably have Dust in them," observed Miyu.

Jaune nodded. "Gravity-Dust, from the looks of it. That would give the blades extra heft, which would add to their penetrating power."

"Still...it's such an unorthodox style," mused Natsuki.

"That might be the point of it," said Setsuna. "After all, something unorthodox is less likely to be expected, and you aren't as likely to be prepared for it. It's a good way to catch opponents off-guard."

"At the same time, orthodox styles are orthodox for a reason," observed Miyu. "An unorthodox style, whose effectiveness relies purely on novelty, will rapidly lose effectiveness in a prolonged battle, or if one's opponent has seen them fight before."

"I guess we'll have to figure out which hers is," said Setsuna, eying the replay of Gwen's match. "We've got a basic idea of their abilities then, so I guess we should be coming up with a strategy."

The others nodded. A minute later, they were crowded around a table, quietly talking out their plans for the match. Jaune watched them, eager to see what these people from a strange land (and Oscar) could do.

* * *

Given that it was just the final match of the first round of the tournament, there shouldn't have been that much excitement in the air, when said match rolled around. Despite that, Oscar couldn't quite help but get the sense that the air seemed more abuzz than it should have been, as he and his team awaited their cue to enter the arena.

Not that he would really know whether or not the excitement was higher than it was before. After all, while all the other matches had been going on, he and his team had been in a sparring ring inside Beacon, working to learn one another's abilities, and how they could put everything together for their match.

And now, Oscar couldn't help but tremble as he felt the reality of the situation descend on his shoulders yet again. _He_, Oscar Pine, a farm boy from Mistral, was entering and fighting in the Vytal Festival tournament at the age of _thirteen_. His mind reeled at the absurdity of it all. He'd come to Vale to meet and confess his feelings to the girl of his dreams, only to wind up on one crazily undulating trail that had brought him here. _What will Auntie Em think, when she sees this?_ he wondered.

A pair of arms draped themselves over his shoulders, Natsuki hugging herself to him from behind. "Whatcha thinking about?" she asked.

"Just wondering how my aunt is gonna take this," said Oscar. "When she sent me and Ms. Maria off to the festival, she told me to keep out of trouble. Somehow...I think this would probably fall into the category of 'trouble', as far as she's concerned."

"Maybe," said Natsuki. "But, if this tournament's such a big deal, don't you think she'll be impressed?"

"Only if I don't make a fool of myself," said Oscar.

"You won't," said Natsuki. "You're _really_ good. It's hard for me to believe you've only been at this for a year. I was at it for at least three, before I was pulling off the kinda moves you can do."

"Well, I have Dust," said Oscar. "That helps."

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain it all," said Natsuki. "You can do this. And it's just the first round. If we make it to the doubles, me and Setsuna will take care of the rest."

"Okay," said Oscar. Perhaps he should have been miffed that Natsuki had automatically assumed that Setsuna would be her partner in the next round. But it made perfect sense. Setsuna was more experienced than Oscar, and Miyu was obviously out as a contender. For his part, Oscar was simply glad that he would only have to put up with the immense pressure of this situation for a single match.

"I can hear them calling us out," said Natsuki, perking up slightly, letting go of Oscar.

Oscar strained his ears, and found that he could hear Port and Oobleck's voices coming in from the arena.

"_The final match of the first round is just around the corner,_" Port was saying, in his typical, bombastic manner. "_Our first team of contenders comes from the deserts of Vacuo, the lovely flowers of Shade Academy, Team Indigo!_"

From the enthusiastic roar of the crowd, Oscar figured that the four girls from Shade must have been pretty popular.

"_Team Indigo is certainly drawing a reaction_," remarked Oobleck. "_A crowd favorite, they stand at the top of the rankings in their year, and have won their place at the tournament over third and fourth-year teams, a sterling achievement._"

"_As for their opponents..._" said Port, his voice striking a strangely ominous tone, to Oscar's mind. "_Initially, due to the unexpected forfeiture of one of the participating teams, Team Indigo would have immediately advanced without a match. However, Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood have approved a last-minute entry, a special guest-team, not affiliated with any currently existing Academy._"

The crowds had fallen strangely silent at that announcement, confusion and curiosity filling the air. Oscar gulped, straightening up nervously.

"_As complete unknowns, it's not certain what we can expect from this team,_" said Oobleck. "_However, I expect that they shall make this an interesting match indeed. With that, allow me to introduce our other team, Team Meconopsis!_"

There was some cautious cheering and light applause as Oscar and his friends entered the ring. Understandably, hardly anyone knew what to make of this team that had come, literally, out of nowhere. The fact that they were clearly younger than their opponents had to be something that people had picked up on as well.

The four of them came to a stop inside the central ring. Just a short distance in front of them were the girls of NDGO, smiling confidently, weapons held casually to the side at the moment, but ready to be taken up when the match began.

"Nice to meet you guys," said Nebula pleasantly.

"Likewise," said Miyu, bowing her head in greeting.

"Where'd a cute bunch of kids like you come from?" asked Gwen, leaning forward slightly, the intense look on her smiling face making Oscar more nervous than ever.

"Leng," said Setsuna simply, unfazed by the look.

"Huh?" grunted all four girls in unison.

Oscar raised a nervous hand. "Actually..._I'm_ from Mistral."

"So people actually live on that continent?" asked Gwen.

"We do," said Miyu, before a cough from Oscar drew his attention. "Well...three of us do, anyway. You could say that this match is our way of introducing ourselves to the world."

"Sounds pretty suspect to me," commented Octavia. "Is this even going to be a proper match? I'm not gonna feel very good if we advance, only because we knocked down a bunch of kids."

"Octavia!" exclaimed Nebula, giving her teammate a sidelong glare.

Miyu giggled. "I assure you, our skills are quite sufficient. I ask that you take us seriously...or you might find yourselves losing rather quickly."

"Ooooooh...Confident," observed Dew, grinning eagerly. "I like that."

While they had been bantering, Oobleck and Port had finished warming up the crowd. The screens above now displayed the Aura-levels of the two teams. Unlike the sparring rings in Beacon, which required that the users have scrolls to monitor their Auras, Amity sported its own independent systems, which ensured that Natsuki, Miyu, and Setsuna wouldn't have to worry about scrolls, in order to participate.

The biomes for the match had been selected. Rising up on NDGO's side of the field was a sandy desert with sandstone cliffs jutting upwards out of it. An artificial sun burned into being above, casting down a harsh, intense heat.

"Nice...Home field advantage," observed Nebula.

Behind MNPS emerged a field that consisted almost entirely of water, with sandy islands, a couple of which actually had palm trees growing out of them, while another hosted nothing less than an actual shipwreck.

"Wow...these are really elaborate," said Natsuki, staring at the different biomes in awe.

"Careful now," remarked Setsuna. "We're starting."

They drew their weapons. Oscar reached into his coat, pulling out his kama, which unfolded out to their full length with a series of clicks. Setsuna merely pulled his more mundane versions of the same weapon from behind him, the two boys settling into relatively orthodox stances. Natsuki drew her kodachi, holding the longer, right-handed blade at the ready in front, while the shorter one crossed her chest, ready to be used for defense. Miyu...stood at ease, her hands hanging down at her sides.

The countdown began. At the signal to start, all eight competitors burst into motion.

* * *

"I hope Oscar's gonna be okay," said Ruby nervously.

"I think he'll be fine," said Jaune confidently.

Beside them, their guest, Maria squirmed uneasily. "As entertaining as this is going to be, I can't help but feel nervous," she admitted. "I have to wonder what the boy's aunt is going to think."

She twitched as a ringing noise sounded. Reaching into one of her pouches, she pulled out a scroll. "Well, speak of the devil," she said. "I'm about to get an earful. Excuse me."

She held the scroll to her ear, and immediately winced away. "Hello to you too, Emalee...Yes, I can see that...I have a ringside seat, you know...Well, I've certainly never debated the classification..."

Jaune and Ruby winced. They couldn't make out exactly what was being said, but they could hear the outrage in the voice of the woman on the other end.

"I assure you that this is perfectly safe...well...as safe as anything Oscar will do as a student or a Huntsman. He's certainly not in any danger of dying, I can assure you...Yes, I _do_ believe he can handle himself...He's only going to be in the first round anyway...They're his new friends. Can't you tell?...I figured you'd be proud that the boy was opening up his social circles...Speaking of that, perhaps there's someone else you'd like to speak to."

Ruby flinched as Maria turned to her with a mischievous grin, before handing over her scroll. "Ms. Emalee..."

"_Oh my God! It really _is_ you!_" exclaimed a slightly familiar voice over the line. "_Oscar really got to meet you again. I was so worried he wouldn't get the chance._"

"He did," said Ruby. "It wasn't all good though."

"_Why-? Oh..._"

Ruby realized that Emalee must have rather quickly deduced what had happened. "_Did he take it all right?_"

"He did," said Ruby. "He's strong, so I wouldn't worry too much. I feel bad about it, though."

"_You shouldn't,_" said Emalee. "_We all knew it was a risk. You're under no obligation to return his feelings, especially if you're already attached._"

"Thanks," said Ruby.

"_Does this have anything to do with why my boy is fighting in the Vytal Festival tournament, four years before he should even _be_ at an Academy?_"

"Uh...well...it's a bit complicated," said Ruby. "You see, his teammates are actually friends of mine from back home."

"_Back home..._" Ruby could hear the slight confusion in the woman's voice.

Ruby decided to give Emalee a relatively brief and simplified rundown of what had happened. The woman listened with interest, before giving her own thoughts. _"That's quite the unexpected situation. I still can't believe you tapped my Oscar to fight in the tournament._"

"Well..._I_ didn't," said Ruby bashfully. "But Maria vouched for him."

"_I'll bet she did,_" said Emalee, a faint growl of frustration in her voice. "_She's always throwing the poor boy in over his head._"

_It's probably the best way to help him get better,_ thought Ruby, reflecting on her own experiences.

Experienced though she was, the fact of the matter was that Maria was getting on in years. There was no way she could actually spar with Oscar. As out of the way as his hometown was, the only time experienced fighters would be present was when Huntsmen were called in to deal with Grimm in the area. And the willingness of those Huntsmen to serve as Oscar's sparring partners, even temporarily, would vary. Ruby supposed that Maria could send Oscar out to face down Grimm himself, as she and her team had with Jaune. But that was a risky strategy, one that could have gotten Oscar killed, if tried too early on in his training.

So, in that sense, participating in the tournament and fighting others training with the same goal was an excellent opportunity for Oscar, though it was a shame that such things couldn't be arranged with greater regularity.

"_Do you think he'll do all right?_"

"I think he'll do fine," said Ruby. "I've seen what he can do, and he's pretty good already. With my friends fighting alongside him, he'll be able to handle himself."

"_I hope so,_" said Emalee.

Ruby thought of what else to say, before perking as an idea struck her. "Oh! Sasame-nee is here too. Would you like to speak to her?"

"_I very much would,_" said Emalee.

Ruby passed Maria's scroll across to where her sister was sitting, who accepted it with a smile, before imitating what Ruby had done.

"Hello, Emalee-san," said Sasame politely. "Yes, it's good to hear your voice too. I imagine we have quite a bit to catch up on..."

Down below, Ruby watched the two teams burst into motion, now that Oobleck had given the signal to begin.

* * *

Well...one team burst into motion. Team NDGO went into action with all the speed and coordination of a well-oiled machine, showcasing the fruit of their training together. Dew and Octavia charged forward, brandishing their weapons, Gwen just a few steps behind them, while Nebula fell back, backpedaling all the way to the sand of the desert biome, leveling her crossbow and taking aim.

Meanwhile, Oscar and Miyu fell back, Oscar keeping in front of his partner, while Miyu gently rested her hand against his back, ready to channel her Aura into him. In front of them, Setsuna and Natsuki crouched slightly, readying their weapons, almost as though they were preparing to intercept NDGO's front-line attackers.

Then Setsuna smiled. From behind, Oscar watched as Setsuna's Aura became briefly visible as a white outline around his body, before washing black, then seeming to flicker outwards a few inches away from him.

"_Chiyugi!_"

Abruptly, Nebula shouted in surprise. A strange distortion in the air, giving the impression that she was covered by a transparent bowl, appeared around and above her. The sand around her feet caved in, like it was being pressed down by an invisible force. Her body lurched downwards, crossbow discharging its shot. But her aim had been off, so the bolt thudded into the ring just a couple meters behind the other girls.

"Nebula!" shouted Gwen, turning to regard the situation that had befallen the team's leader. Dew and Octavia paused, confused by the unexpected attack on someone who shouldn't have been immediately vulnerable. Had the attack come in the form of projectiles of some kind, they would have been able to react to it. However, there hadn't been anything like that, so they had no idea what to make of what happened.

That was when Setsuna and Natsuki went into action properly. They vanished from where they'd been standing, becoming flickering blurs that passed right by Dew and Octavia, then Gwen, heading right for Nebula.

"No!" shouted Gwen, pivoting all the way around, bringing up a handful of throwing knives.

"Dew!?" shouted Octavia, looking at her partner uneasily.

"Gwen!" shouted Dew, prompting the knife-throwing girl to freeze. "With me! Octavia, back up Nebula!"

"On it!" shouted Octavia, immediately sprinting after Setsuna and Natsuki, who were quickly closing in on Nebula. The strange field pinning her down had vanished, and Nebula fell back even more, quickly engaging her weapon's loading-system, trying to get a shot off before her opponents closed to within melee range.

Meanwhile, Dew and Gwen charged straight for Oscar and Miyu, Oscar gulping nervously, while readying his kama. They had retreated to one of the islands in the middle of the ocean biome. Now they waited for their adversaries to approach.

Seeing Dew set foot at the water's edge, Miyu gently pushed against Oscar's back, channeling her Aura into his body. Her dark-red Aura flowed into him, before turning to match his own Aura's green color. Oscar's knees bent, then he shot forward, the speed of his launch throwing out a spray of sand, and the wind of his passage parting the water beneath his feet as he flew across the sea, aiming right for Dew.

Seeing him coming, Dew immediately spun her spear, the weapon becoming a blur in her hands, before she swung it down to intercept the boy charging her. Seeing her attack, Oscar raised his own kama to counter. Knowing that Dew was incredibly powerful, and that adding the centrifugal force of her weapon's spin would only make her attack stronger still, he swung, while activating the gravity-Dust in his attacking kama, the weapon leaving a black and violet trail as he swung.

The two blades collided, the surface of the ring cracking beneath Dew's feet, while she was sent sliding back across the smooth surface. Her eyes widened in surprise at the power behind Oscar's swing. She hadn't expected for him to be able to face her head-on like this. However, while she'd been sent sliding back, the collision between them had also killed Oscar's forward momentum. But he quickly lunged forward again.

One of the things they'd learned about Dew's fighting style was that she could use the wind-Dust crystal set into her spear's head to generate tornadoes, which could be used the throw foes out of bounds. However, in order to generate those kinds of winds, she needed some time and distance, a few seconds at least. As long as Oscar kept the fight close, Dew wouldn't be able to rely on that tactic.

Of course, with Gwen around, that was easier said than done. When Oscar had closed with Dew, then charged her again, he'd wound up rushing right past Gwen. Gwen had immediately pivoted around to throw a trio of knives at Oscar's back.

Sensing them coming, Oscar dropped into a roll, letting the knives fly over his head. Rising up, he found himself facing the head of Dew's descending spear as she swung it at him again. Grimacing, Oscar swung his right-handed kama at the spear from the side, while shifting to that side as much as possible, engaging his gravity-Dust again. The kama intercepted her spear with a clang, deflecting its course slightly so that, combined with his dodge, Dew's swing missed him entirely. In the same movement, Oscar continued to step around, maneuvering to try and place Dew between himself and Gwen.

Gwen, meanwhile, decided to turn her attention to Miyu, who remained where she'd been standing before, alone on the island, hands raised, expression wary.

"I get the feeling you're not much of a fighter," said Gwen, readying two sets of knives as she perched on the edge of the inner ring, right where it met the waters of the ocean.

"You'd be right," said Miyu. "However, just because combat isn't my speciality, it doesn't mean that I am entirely helpless."

For some reason, Gwen felt a shiver run down her spine. The air around Miyu seemed to chill, and Gwen got a strange, sinister feeling from the other girl, something that made her unconsciously take a step back.

"Oh...and you might not want to completely disregard Oscar-kun yet," added Miyu.

Gwen had been too busy feeling unsettled, so she didn't notice the hissing sound of something whirling towards her. She spun with a dancer's grace, her body reacting automatically to the incoming threat, even though her mind hadn't completely finished processing it. However, she was a fraction of a second late, so she cried out as the edge of Oscar's thrown kama bit into the Aura along the side of her chest, forcing her to stumble back.

Gwen's stumble caused her to step off the edge of the inner ring, and into the waters of the ocean biome. The water was shallow, rising just up to the level of her shins. However, that resistance was still enough to hinder her movements. She was already trying to watch Oscar's kama, as its course bent back towards where he was still using his other kama to fend off the repeated swings of Dew's spear.

"Dew!" shouted Gwen, realizing what was happening.

When Oscar had thrown his kama, it had been at Dew. The throw had looked wild, and she'd easily sidestepped it. She hadn't thought to check its course afterwards, not realizing that he'd been aiming for Gwen all along. In the meantime, the clanging of their weapons had drowned out the sound of Gwen's shout at being hit. Now Dew was oblivious to the fact that the kama was now whirling right back to Oscar's hand, with her between him and it.

Gwen's shout prompted Dew to throw herself aside, Oscar's kama flying past her, its edge clipping her shoulder. It wasn't serious damage, but did disrupt Dew's offensive. Catching his kama, Oscar immediately closed in, darting inside the range of Dew's spear and attacking her directly. Dew was forced to spin her weapon, using the shaft to deflect Oscar's strikes. However, this close, she couldn't maneuver the head into play.

Gwen growled, ready to attack Oscar with her knives.

"Careless..." murmured Miyu's voice, sounding much closer than before.

Gasping Gwen turned about to see that Miyu was now within just a meter of her. She hadn't even noticed the other girl's approach. _When did she-?_

There wasn't anymore time for thought, as Miyu raised her right hand up. "_Air Vampire!_"

Gwen was suddenly surrounded with a vortex of black, which shot up from her body, before arching back down to meet Miyu's hand. Gwen felt her entire body sag, her limbs going weak, her breath feeling short. Dizziness moved in.

Then Miyu lowered her hand, ending the attack. _Mustn't push it too far,_ she thought to herself intently, falling back to regard Gwen from a safer distance.

Gwen's head turned up to the screen to steal a quick glance at her Aura meter. Her jaw dropped as she found her worst suspicions confirmed.

All at once, three quarters of her Aura had _vanished_. Even more shockingly, Miyu's Aura-gauge was displaying her at being well over _one-hundred percent_ Aura.

She wasn't the only one shocked, the audience was bursting into surprised babbling at the unusual (bordering on unnatural) occurrence.

"I-is that your Semblance?" asked Gwen, stumbling away from Miyu.

"Yes...it's probably best to put it that way," said Miyu pleasantly.

_What does _that_ mean?_ wondered Gwen.

"Also, you should watch out."

"Huh?" Gwen grunted, then staggered as Oscar's kama flew past her again, scoring her side and cutting off more of what little remained of her Aura. Gwen staggered even more dizzily, her body feeling weak. The spinning blade struck the surface of the ring, lodging itself at the edge, near where Miyu was stepping out of the water.

"Gwen!" shouted Dew, noticing her friend's plight. This time, Oscar hadn't been able to disguise his aiming for Gwen by pretending to throw his kama at Dew, so she'd realized his real target right away.

Immediately, Dew spun her spear rapidly between herself and Oscar. The wind-Dust jewel flared and a whirlwind erupted from her spear, driving Oscar back out into proper attack range for her longer weapon. She immediately followed through, transitioning to a straight thrust at Oscar's chest.

At that instant, Oscar activated the gravity-Dust in his kama again. However, rather than draw the one he'd thrown back, Oscar jumped off the floor, and the attraction between his weapons pulled the kama in his hand towards the one he'd thrown, taking Oscar along with it, pulling him handily out of the way of Dew's thrust. As he came flying towards Miyu and Gwen, Oscar lashed out with a kick. It was a bit clumsy, but his boot collided with Gwen's shoulder, knocking her away and sending her sprawling.

Landing by Miyu, Oscar pulled his anchored kama free, joining them together to produce a double-bladed scythe, which he spun, before holding up defensively, Miyu positioning herself at his back once again.

Dew held out her spear, sweeping the blade in a circular pattern. A few seconds later, a trio of pale-green whirlwinds appeared, spreading out from her spear, and moving to encircle Oscar and Miyu, the three of them converging together with the pair in their center.

* * *

Nebula managed to load another bolt into her crossbow, taking quick aim, she fired at Setsuna.

Rather than try to intercept the shot, Setsuna instead jumped into the air, his leap carrying him over the bolt. That was a wise choice, as he could see the head of the bolt spark yellow, indicating that it carried lightning-Dust, and would have given him an unpleasant shock, if he'd tried to block it.

Setsuna's leap carried him over Nebula's head, and she turned to follow him. As she did, the lath of her crossbow folded inward, while the blade of a sword extended outwards from the center, a handle emerging from the stock. She accompanied her turn with a sideways slash from her sword, aiming to catch Setsuna as he descended. But her sword instead passed through the space below Setsuna's legs, which he'd bent up out of the way, mainly because Setsuna's descent itself had stopped.

Before Nebula could grasp what had happened, Setsuna had somehow transitioned his downwards momentum into rotational momentum, extending his legs as his body flipped, slamming the wooden teeth of his geta-clad feet into her face. Nebula yelled in pain as she was thrown backwards...right to where Natsuki was closing in, kodachi readied.

That was when Octavia arrived at the edge of the desert biome. As soon as her feet touched down on the sand, Octavia suddenly transitioned from running to sliding, her body gliding over the sand without any need for her to use her legs for any form of propulsion. Seeing her leader about to be struck from behind, Octavia kicked off the sand, propelling herself into the air, and slashing with her kris. The weapon produced a crescent-shaped wave of flame that rushed down at Natsuki.

Sensing the threat from behind, Natsuki abandoned her attack and instead danced aside, the flame striking the sand where she'd been standing, throwing particles of hot grit everywhere. Nebula landed on her back, but was spared being caught in Natsuki and Setsuna's pincer-attack.

The sky above her darkened, the reason being Setsuna, whose shadow was now covering her face as he dropped towards her, the protruding teeth of his sandals leading. Nebula quickly rolled out of the way. Setsuna dropped down, the resulting explosion of sand reminiscent of a meteor impacting. Sand was blown in every direction, suggesting an almost incredible weight behind his drop.

Getting to her feet, Nebula locked her eyes on the shadow of Setsuna hidden within the sand, taking up her sword in both hands, she brought it down in a powerful slash from above. Setsuna abruptly rolled forward, kicking up his legs, and Nebula's sword was stopped with a loud clang, its edge impacting against the metal plates attached to the soles of Setsuna's geta. Setsuna kicked up, then out, turning his body and throwing out a sideways kick at Nebula. However, the movement was slow, and Nebula was easily able to leap aside.

Setsuna rolled forward, coming back to his feet, grimacing. _Right...that kind of fighting is a lot harder to do on sand_, he thought. He looked down at his feet, which had sunk down to their ankles in the sand. _Huh...never thought to try _that_ with sand...But is now a good time to experiment?_

Nebula skipped back, opening up the distance to utilize her weapon in its crossbow-form again. She expected Setsuna to pursue her. But he instead remained where he was. While the blade of Nebula's weapon retracted, and the lath opened up again, Setuna instead seemed fixated at the ground at his feet.

Nebula's crossbow string pulled itself back, while she loaded a bolt. This time, she picked one tipped with fire-Dust, which would set off a powerful explosion when it struck, whether it hit Setsuna or the ground around him. It would also explode if he intercepted it with his kama.

Taking aim, Nebula paused when she saw the sand around Setsuna's feet begin to rise up into the air around him, forming into a cloud. The sand began to whirl in a clockwise direction around Setsuna's body. The whirling sand began to condense, forming a series of flat rings that hovered around Setsuna's body, their circumference the lowest around his head and legs, with the each ring layered towards the center of his body increasing in width. They all whirled through the air with a hissing noise.

"_Chinseirin._"

_Cute trick,_ thought Nebula_, but that's not gonna fool me._

With that, she fired her bolt.

The fire-Dust in the arrowhead ignited when it struck the widest ring of sand, which whirled fiercely at the level of his abdomen, like an oversized particulate buzzsaw. In that instant, the raging flames were swept up into the sand, superheating the grains, turning the ring of sand into a ring of _fiery_ sand, all while Setsuna went on the attack, leaping up above the air above the desert floor, and descending on Nebula.

"Hold on-!" exclaimed Nebula, eyes wide with shock and horror. She threw herself aside as Setsuna touched down, the ground struck by the angling ring around him immediately exploding with superheated particles, which flew in all directions.

"Ow! Hot hot hot!" shouted Nebula, swiftly brushing away the hot grains of sand, grimacing with pain, forgetting almost completely about the fight, especially as the superheated grains worked their way under her clothes. She froze when she saw Setsuna rise up from the crater he'd created, looking bemused.

"So it had that kind of effect, huh?" he said, staring at the aftermath of his attack.

"Don't talk like you just used me for some kind of experiment!" protested Nebula.

"Right...sorry..." said Setsuna, turning and bowing his head to her in an apologetic manner.

The two of them froze, suddenly finding the atmosphere very awkward. This was the middle of a match, after all.

"Geez," grumbled Nebula, loading her crossbow.

"Yeah...let's just start over," said Setsuna, raising his kama.

* * *

In stark contrast to them, Natsuki was having the time of her life fighting with Octavia.

When Octavia swung her kris, it seemed to strike its target, but Natsuki's image wavered, and the blade of Octavia's own weapon seemed to bend sharply away from her. Nebula ducked as Natsuki's image suddenly solidified, the younger girl coming into focus at an unexpected angle, and stepping forward to slash with her kodachi. Octavia slid back across the sand, rising up and using her kris to fend off the rapid slashes of Natsuki's kodachi.

Trying to get some distance, Octavia activated the fire-Dust in her weapon, angling the direction of her attack downward, sending a crescent of flames rushing into the sand between her and her opponent. The result was a spray of superheated sand the flew right up into Natsuki's face.

Natsuki's response was to whip her left-handed kodachi; the one that had been granted to her by none other than the Mibu Blademaster, Sengo Murasame himself; across her body. A wave of flame spread out from the blade, producing a fiery curtain between her and Octavia's spray of sand, which scattered against the barrier as though it had hit something solid.

Octavia's eyes widened, and she came to a stop, only to be taunted by the sight of Natsuki's wavering figure flickering in and out of her sight. However, she abruptly smirked, stepping and then skating across the sand, turning to put the strength of her rotation behind a slash, which had Natsuki gasping as she suddenly came back into focus, having to use her left-handed kodachi to block the attack.

"Don't think you can trick a desert fighter with mirages," said Octavia.

Natsuki's expression of surprise was replaced by an exuberant grin. "Awesome!" she exclaimed before rushing forward, her body becoming a flickering blur.

Octavia was forced to skid backwards, working her kris defensively as Natsuki went on a furious offense. A forceful blow knocked Octavia backwards a little more, forcing her to stop her slide in order to find her footing again. In that instant, Natsuki flicked her hands, reversing her grip on both her kodachi, darting in again. As she came within striking distance, she seemed to spin in two separate directions simultaneously.

Octavia only had time for a gasp, before she was struck six times simultaneously, three slashes converging on her from the right and the left. This was no mirage. _How did she do that?_

She'd managed to fend off about half the slashes with her kris, but the other three had struck home, biting a substantial quantity from her Aura. She was sent sliding back, not because of her Semblance this time. With a pained grimace, she dug in, reversing her momentum, and forcing herself to lunge forward, trying to catch her opponent before she could recover from that last move. Her blade struck Natsuki's neck, cutting through it cleanly.

"What?!" _But her Aura should have tanked that!_

Octavia's distress at having potentially killed her opponent died an abrupt and surprising death when Natsuki's body and severed head suddenly dissolved into constructs of flame, before scattering, leaving Octavia completely stunned. _How did she do that?_

The sound of someone's foot digging into the sand behind her was all the warning Octavia needed. She spun about, activating the fire-Dust in her kris, and unleashing a wave of flame that washed out to meet Natsuki, whose grin hadn't wavered in the slightest.

"_Shakuran Entei!_"

Flames exploded from Natsuki's right-handed kodachi, matching, then exceeding those emitted by Octavia's dagger. Octavia screamed as she was blasted back, the heat scorching at her Aura. _How much Dust did she use for that?_

Grimacing, Octavia dug in her feet again, dropping down to one knee, before driving her kris into the sand. A thin, red line, extending through the shifting particles, was the only indicator. It reached Natsuki, and sand beneath her feat suddenly erupted upwards in a massive spray of molten particles.

Straightening up, Octavia tensed, waiting to see what had become of her opponent. She allowed herself to flick the tiniest glance up towards the screen, which showed their Aura-levels, noting that Natsuki's had dropped a little more than a quarter, compared to the fact that Octavia had lost more than half her own.

The smoke and ash swirling in front of her abruptly dispersed, revealing a swirling dome of fire that had apparently wrapped around Natsuki like an egg, protecting her from the explosion from below.

Octavia's jaw dropped. _Can someone actually do that with Dust?_ she wondered. It didn't seem possible. Dust was amazing, but she'd never seen anyone use it in this fashion before. It was like she was watching something otherworldly at work.

The flames flowed out from around Natsuki, revealing her, looking a little scorched, but none the worse for wear, otherwise. As she rose up, the fire moved, congealing around the outstretched blade of her right-hand kodachi. The fire converged inward, intensifying, the blade itself seeming to glow white-hot, yet not showing any signs of straining and warping, almost as though it had become a component of the very flames that surrounded it. Then the flames vanished within the sword entirely.

_This isn't like Dust at all,_ thought Octavia, staring in amazement.

Natsuki brought her right-handed blade around to her left side, drawing her left arm back, and planting the tip of her shorter kodachi against the pommel of the longer one, before stepping forward, releasing the right-handed kodachi and propelling it with the blade of the left handed one. The kodachi went flying right at Octavia's chest.

"_Onmyo Enya!_"

Desperately, Octavia slashed across her body with her kris, knocking the kodachi aside before it could reach her, only to find that, even as she'd used it to propel her right-handed kodachi, Natsuki had released the one in her left hand, throwing it as well, angled in such a way that it was perfectly hidden in the shadow of the first one. Being shorter, and lacking a guard like her right-handed one had, the left-handed kodachi had been virtually invisible to Octavia's eyes.

Then the blade of that kodachi glowed white hot, and Octavia realized the fires that had been concentrated into the first kodachi had somehow transferred to the second. It was too late for her to do anything about it though, as the blade struck her chest and exploded, the fire driving her backward into one of the sandstone outcroppings, smashing an indentation of her own body into the surface, as the rebounding kodachi found their way back into Natsuki's outstretched hands.

The buzzer sounded, announcing Octavia's defeat.

* * *

Nearby, Nebula heard the buzzer, her eyes widening. "Crap!"

She was forced to dive aside as dark crescents rippled through the space where she'd been. They flew on arcing paths past her, reaching another of the sandstone outcroppings, and slicing it cleanly into pieces. In front of her, Setsuna wound up, launching another swift series of swings, sending another barrage of the dark, flying blades at Nebula. She swiftly executed another diving roll, coming to a stop on her stomach, but aiming her crossbow at Setsuna's chest, firing from a prone position without delay.

Setsuna dodged the shot by jumping to the side. To Nebula's amazement, he seemed to glide through the air, his feet hanging just a few inches above the sand, drifting far longer than a simple jump with that little power behind it should have allowed. The next thing she knew, he had changed course, and was rushing right at her, with his feet never even touching the ground.

Nebula scrambled to her feet, the lath of her weapon collapsing and the blade extending out. She caught the slashing attack of Setsuna's kama, but he quickly hooked his blade around the back of her sword, pulling it down and out of position, opening her up as he slashed at her with the kama in his other hand. Nebula dodged by leaning back away from it, the kama's blade coming dangerously close to reaching her neck. She lowered her sword more, allowing to slip out of the hold of Setsuna's kama. The weapon transformed into a crossbow once more, already loaded, allowing Nebula to fire a bolt into the sand right at their feet.

There was flare of black and violet energy from the sand, before it exploded upward in a wave that engulfed Setsuna. Creating a smokescreen seemed like something of a waste for a gravity-Dust tipped bolt, but it certainly did the job. Now Nebula shifted back forward, transforming her weapon again and slashing sideways, her blade cutting a line through the airborne sand...revealing empty space.

Once again, the sky above her darkened, and Nebula looked up, her eyes widening when she saw Setsuna suspended above her, seeming to float in the air effortlessly. He looked down, his eyes narrowing.

"_Chiyugi._"

Suddenly, Nebula found her body pressed downward by an incredible force, her legs sinking into the sand, which itself was pressed downward. _What the hell is this?_

Her legs trembled, and she struggled to remain standing. Her arms, and the weapon that they held, suddenly felt as though they'd gained several-dozen pounds of weight, maybe even hundreds of pounds. Strain as she might, Nebula couldn't get her weapon to budge, the tip of her sword dipping down to lodge in the sand, her hands rapidly losing their battle to keep from having her weapon ripped from their grip.

Above, Setsuna had begun to drop. His fall brought him into the effect of his own technique, his descent suddenly accelerating rapidly, his body and weapons abruptly growing heavier. However, he'd already raised his kama so that, when the increased gravity of his _Chiyugi_ took hold of them, that only added to the power of his downward swing, the blades descending in a pair of slashes that bit deeply into Nebula's Aura, prompting a scream of pain from her as she reeled back. Setsuna's blows continued down, striking into the sand along with his body, his Manifestation disappearing, the resulting impact throwing up a plume of sand into the air, concealing both fighters for a few seconds.

The buzzer sounded, announcing Nebula's defeat as her Aura dropped into the the critical zone. From the large depression in the sand where the two fighters were, resembling the impact crater of a meteor, Setsuna rose up, shaking his head vigorously to dislodge the sand that had gotten into his hair.

"Nice kaboom there," observed Natsuki wryly, coming to join her friend.

"Let's just get back to the others," said Setsuna.

* * *

Seeing the three whirlwinds circling himself and Miyu, Oscar tensed. They were quickly converging, threatening to join together, becoming a single powerful tornado that probably had the potential to throw him and Miyu out of the ring altogether.

Oscar's body trembled with nervous energy. The pressure was completely different from anything he'd ever experienced. From the moment the match had begun, the sense of unease, caused by the fact that this was the Vytal Festival Tournament he was fighting in, had been replaced by the intense pressure exuded by the opponents he'd found himself up against. Even with Miyu enhancing his abilities, Oscar found himself hovering at the edge of panic, feeling as though he was fighting someone whose strength was well beyond his own.

He could feel it in the young women he was up against, the weight of all their training and experience, the degree to which it dwarfed his own. Facing down Dew alone had left him feeling so very small and vulnerable, as though a single lucky hit from her could take him out. It was terrifying...and exhilarating.

Even now, facing down an attack that had the power to end this match for him and Miyu, Oscar couldn't help but revel in the feeling of excitement that welled up within him. He was beginning to understand why Natsuki was always smiling so brightly, even in the midst of a fight.

Miyu's hand came to rest between his shoulder blades, and Oscar felt his body warm as her Aura washed through him, the fatigue and strain fading away, and fresh strength washing through him, leaving him feeling stronger than before. Activating the gravity-Dust, Oscar rapidly spun his merged weapon over his head, the energy of the Dust spreading out, making it appear as though he had a whirling black disk hovering over his head. Then Oscar transitioned into a diagonal slash, channeled all the energy of his Dust and strength into the blow. The enhanced blade cleaved right through the tornado, scattering Dew's wind.

But Gwen was there, spinning her body to put the movement behind another handful of knives, which left violet streaks in their wake as they flew at Oscar's body. Oscar immediately spun his weapon, deflecting the knives with the shaft, wincing as their impacts rattled his hands. The deflected blades imbedded into the ring, cracking the surface with the force of their impact.

A shout from above caught Oscar's attention, and he looked up to see Dew in an arcing leap. When Oscar had cleaved through her tornado, she'd swung her spear downward, using a blast of wind to launch herself skyward. Spinning her weapon rapidly, she transitioned into a downwards slash to coincide with her descent, aiming straight for Oscar.

If he dodged, Oscar knew that he would be leaving Miyu open to Dew's attack. While he suspected that she would be able to take care of herself, he was also mindful of what Setsuna had told him. He had been entrusted with Miyu's safety, and willingly exposing her to danger would be a betrayal of that trust. So Oscar transitioned his own weapon's spin into a slash as well, swinging almost perpendicular to the course of Dew's spear, intercepting the descending weapon, and knocking it aside.

The spear struck the floor, releasing an explosive gust of wind that sent him and Miyu skidding backwards. With a shout, Oscar simply turned the weapon in his grip, lashing out with the head that was on the end opposite the one he'd intercepted Dew's attack with. Dew was forced to swiftly, and somewhat clumsily, raise her spear to block.

Gwen had swiftly relocated to a different position, moving to an offset angle, and launching another handful of knives at the pair. Oscar immediately shifted, deflecting them again. Dew followed through with a charging thrust from her spear, forcing Oscar to turn and deflect that as well. Following up Dew's attack, Gwen reversed direction, jumping upwards at the same time to throw another barrage of knives from a higher angle, forcing Oscar to deflect them again, before he had to shift his weapon to block a sideways slash from Dew's spear.

Back and forth the two girls went, trading off attacks in near-perfect synchronicity, their collective pressure forcing Oscar to remain on the defensive, always turning one way, then the other. They were leaving him with no opportunity to try and take back the offensive.

And the whole time, Miyu remained right behind him, attached to him as surely and completely as his own shadow, always shifting to keep in line with his back, allowing Oscar to stand between her and their opponents. In some ways, Oscar felt as though Miyu's presence alone was enough to encourage him to keep going. It was strange, the idea that having someone to protect was something, in and of itself, that could make him stronger.

Unfortunately, Dew and Gwen's coordinated attack was driving them back. Oscar flinched when he heard a splash behind him, realizing that it was the sound of Miyu stepping into the water of the ocean biome. Even if the water was shallow, it would still be enough to hinder his and Miyu's movements if they were driven all the way into it. He realized that their time for remaining on the defensive was coming to an end.

Deflecting the next set of knives, Oscar separated his weapons once more. Using his left-handed kama, he caught the head of Dew's thrusting spear, knocking it aside, wincing as he realized that the strength of one arm, and the reduced heft of his now-shorter weapon, meant that he didn't have as much defensive strength as before, the head of the spear scraping against the side of his torso as it flashed past him.

Still, Oscar didn't let that stop him, and he threw the kama in his right hand at Gwen, the weapon whirling end over end through the air. Gwen executed a move that could have been said to resemble a jumping pirouette, her spinning jump carrying her out of the blade's even as she used the spin to add to the speed and force of the next trio of knives she sent flying Oscar's way.

Oscar countered by swinging his left-handed kama around to strike the knives out of the air, the force behind them jarring his wrist, nearly knocking the weapon from his grasp. Fortunately, Oscar managed to maintain his hold, activating the gravity-Dust that linked the kama together, the thrown kama's course bending and coming around in an arc that brought it along a path that had it flying for Dew's back.

Gwen, seeing what was about to happen, growled, then threw another handful of knives to intercept the flying kama. They struck the weapon with a loud clang, knocking it off-course before it could strike Dew from behind. However, the sudden clang from behind her distracted Dew, prompting her to turn towards it, worried about a potential attack.

Taking advantage of her distraction, Oscar charged forward, not directly at Dew, but to her right, Miyu remaining glued to his back the whole way. He reached out to snatch the tumbling kama out of the air, reaching across his body with his right hand to do so. Dew gasped, turning to see that Oscar was suddenly much closer than he'd been before. She swiftly raised her spear to block as Oscar pulled both arms back across his body, his green Aura leaving streaks in an X-shape between him and Dew, the dual impacts of both kama sounding so close together that they practically struck simultaneously.

At the same time, he'd felt Miyu's Aura Flow into his body, his strength swelling and speed increasing, right at the instant of his attack. The result was Dew shouting in surprise as she was blown back across the ring, the angle of her flight sending her tumbling into the waters of the ocean biome, throwing up a spray of water when she landed, momentarily disappearing beneath the waves.

"Dew!" shouted Gwen, looking desperately for her teammate.

Oscar tensed his legs. Behind him, Miyu planted her right hand against his back, closing her left hand about her right wrist, channeling her Aura into Oscar again. When Oscar kicked off, it looked as though Miyu had launched him like a cannonball. It was a repeat of his explosive launch at the beginning of the match, Oscar becoming a flying blur across the space between him and Gwen. The distracted girl barely managed to notice him in time. She danced to the side, escaping a downward slash of his kama, before going into a spin that allowed her to lash out at Oscar's head with a hooking back-kick.

At the same time, as her right hand moved out of Oscar's field of view, Gwen drew six knives from her tassets, flicking them upwards into the air. Oscar managed to duck beneath the line of her kick. But his offense faltered from the lack of resistance against his attack, causing him to stumble...right into the arc of the knives that Gwen had thrown overhead.

All at once, the blades of the knives oriented downwards, their tips moving like compass needles. Then they accelerated with a burst of violet energy. Oscar was caught completely off-guard as they struck him from above. His Aura kept the blades from biting into his flesh, but the force behind those descending knives threatened to drive his body into the floor.

Gwen's foot had barely touched down after her kick, before she stepped forward, using the momentum leftover from her spin to add to her movement as she drove her knee upwards into Oscar's chest, knocking the air out of his lungs, and knocking him back upright, just in time for Gwen to follow through by bringing her right leg up in a roundhouse that caught Oscar in the jaw, knocking him back the way he'd come. While Oscar was still reeling, Gwen fished out another handful of knives, and hurled them at the poor boy, the blades flying straight at his chest.

A pair of hands gently came to rest against Oscar's back, Miyu's Aura flowing gently into him once again. The pain of the blows he had taken vanished, along with the dazed sensation of getting struck in the jaw. The world snapped back into focus for him, and Oscar saw the light glinting off the blades of the incoming knives. His arms moved almost as though they had a mind of their own, spinning the kama in his grip, using them to rapidly deflect the flying blades.

Gwen growled in frustration at her missed opportunity to knock Oscar out of the match. However, her ears picked up the sound of splashing and sputtering, Dew recovering from her earlier tumble into the water, planting the butt of her spear to push herself back up into a standing position, shaking her head to clear the water out of her eyes.

Neither of them was in the best shape, but they still held a considerable edge over their opponents after all.

Oscar frowned, preparing himself to have to fend off two attackers again, only for his eyes to widen slightly. Suddenly, he threw his kama, sending it flying straight for Gwen. Gwen easily dodged the telegraphed throw, barely even needing to look at the weapon as it went flipping past her. However, wary of another ploy to catch her from behind, or launch an indirect attack against Dew again, Gwen turned to follow the kama's course.

At that instant, the ring cracked, then buckled beneath her feet, and Gwen's body abruptly felt as though her weight had multiplied. The shock was so sudden that her knives tumbled out of her hands to strike the floor around her, the blades imbedding deeply amid the metal plates.

Meanwhile, the kama that Oscar had thrown found its way into the outstretched hand of Setsuna, who'd holstered the kama he'd held in his right hand, allowing him to catch the one that Oscar had thrown. As soon as his fingers closed around Oscar's weapon, Oscar activated the gravity-Dust that drew the two kama together. Setsuna utilized his own Manifestation to enhance the effect.

The result was that the gravity-field imprisoning Gwen evaporated. But before she could react, Oscar and Setsuna flashed past her from in front and behind, their attacking blades biting into Gwen's Aura from two different directions at once. A shout of pain exploded from Gwen, and she collapsed, the sound of the buzzer announcing her defeat ringing in her ears.

While that was happening, Dew managed to get to her feet, but found herself bathed in radiant warmth from above. Looking up, Dew's eyes widened as she saw a barrage of fireballs flying at her. She tried to defend and dodge. However, still rattled from her earlier tumble, and weighed down by the water on her body, her footwork hindered by the water rising up her shins, Dew's movements were hampered that she wound up simply taking the fireballs with her body, only managing to intercept one with a clumsy swing of her spear, which merely made it explode right in front of her face.

Staggered as she was, Dew was in no position to defend when Natsuki dropped down in the wake of her earlier attack, her flaming kodachi leaving bright-orange lines in the air around her as she struck with a series of attacks, those flashing lines condensing, then exploding, sending Dew flying through the air, landing on the sandy beach of one of the miniature islands dotting the ocean biome, the final buzzer sounding the end of the match.

Oobleck's shout rang through the stadium. "_In a startling upset, Team Meconopsis wins!_"

* * *

**So it probably goes without saying that this chapter was written well before the _Before the Dawn_ light novel. As such, Team NDGO's personalities had not been fleshed out in any meaningful manner, and they were still just a quartet of pretty faces used to beat up, and get beat up _by_, Team SSSN. But that's the risk you run with fanfiction of an ongoing series. Sooner or later, canon is gonna crush at least some of your assumptions, one way or another. You can either try to play catchup, which can be a losing proposition, depending on what you've already written, or you can just roll with the punches and stick to the characterizations and plot elements you've written. Given that this was an alternate version of the story to begin with, the second option was pretty much a given.**

**As for our new team, their name, Meconopsis is the name for the flower best known as the Himalayan Blue Poppy, a name that I was really surprised to find that could fit our four guest-fighters.**


	127. Chapter 127

**Chapter 127:**

"Well, that was something else," observed Maria, grinning wryly. "Those youngsters sure put on a show."

"Oscar was incredible!" gushed Ruby, her throat feeling hoarse after cheering so hard for her friends.

"You're gonna make your boyfriend jealous," commented Jaune cheekily.

Ruby gave him a sheepish grin, blushing a little. "Heh...Sorry."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of really," admitted Jaune with a dry chuckle. "He moves better than _I_ do."

"Well, he _has_ been in training longer," Weiss pointed out, making Jaune wince.

"Still, for how little training he's had, he was remarkable," observed Pyrrha. "I know that Miyu was supposed to be using her support technique to increase his abilities. But is that all there is to it?"

To their surprise, Sasame laughed wholeheartedly. "Oh! That's hardly the case," she said. "It looks like all of you have been underestimating Oscar-kun quite a bit."

"We have?" asked Yang, giving Sasame a confused look.

"Indeed," said Sasame, scratching her chin as she stared down at Team MNPS. "Though I can understand, since Oscar-kun has been underestimating _himself_ as well."

* * *

"We did it!" squealed Natsuki, jumping up and down excitedly. "That was so much fun! I can't believe we got to do something like this!"

"It _was_ quite the experience," agreed Miyu.

"I definitely wouldn't mind another go," said Setsuna.

"I'm exhausted," groaned Oscar, slumping to sit down, right there in the ring.

"Aww..." protested Natsuki.

"Well, it can't be helped," said Miyu, giving Natsuki a playfully reproachful look. "While you and Setsuna were playing around with your individual opponents, Oscar-kun was holding off two of them by himself."

"But _you_ were with me," Oscar pointed out. "If you hadn't been using your support technique, I'd have never been able to keep up with them."

"You're selling yourself short, you know," said Miyu giving Oscar a slightly smug look. "After all, you did a _very_ good job keeping up with them _on your own_."

"On my own..." Oscar blinked. "But..."

"I _did_ use my support technique," said Miyu. "However, only for brief instances, to lend you power for a decisive blow, or to give you a stronger start. The rest, however, was you relying only on your own native ability. You're much better than you give yourself credit for."

Oscar thought about those moments, where he'd been fighting with Dew or Gwen, staring at his hands incredulously. "I did that myself...?" he asked softly.

"You did," said Miyu. "I only used my support a grand total of five times throughout the match, and only for a few seconds at most. The rest was all you."

"I knew you were awesome," said Natsuki, grinning, plopping herself down next to Oscar and bumping his shoulder.

Oscar's cheeks turned red at all the praise he was receiving. He could scarcely believe it. "But then...during our training...you were using it constantly," he pointed out.

"You could say that was preparation," said Miyu. "By having you continuously fight at a heightened pace, your mind was conditioned to handle that level of movement, so that, when the actual match began, you were able to respond appropriately. You were used to moving faster, so your mind and senses basically compensated for opponents who moved faster instead."

"I...don't get it," said Oscar, giving her a baffled look.

"You don't have to worry about it too much," said Miyu. "But you have every right to stand proud today, Oscar-kun.

"I think I'll pass on that," said Oscar, giving her a nervous chuckle. "The thing that scares me the most now is the worry that Ms. Maria will think I'm getting a swelled head. And I'm _terrified_ of what she'll do to fix that."

His friends laughed at that, though he noticed none thought to challenge that remark. _I guess some teachers are the same, wherever you find them._

"I can't believe it..."

The groaning voice drew their attention to a point a little farther into the inner ring, where Gwen was forcing herself to her feet. "We lost to a bunch of kids..." grumbled the girl.

Her foot slipped out from under her, threatening to send Gwen collapsing forward onto her face. However, a pair of gentle hands caught her, helping her keep upright. A second later, a warm sensation washed through Gwen's body, chasing away the pain and fatigue, easing the strain caused by the hits. Her vision cleared. While she was nowhere near fighting-strength again, she felt as though she could stand on her own much easier now.

"That's better," said Miyu, steadying her, before finally letting go. "I apologize for stealing your Aura before. Hopefully this alleviates that somewhat."

"Who are you people?" asked Gwen, staring incredulously at Miyu and the others.

"You'll find out soon," Miyu assured her.

Then Miyu had moved on, already heading to where Dew was still laying, embedded in the sand of one of the ocean biome's islands. A few seconds' work and Dew was able to stand on her own two feet as well. By that point, Natsuki and Setsuna had gone to fetch Octavia and Nebula, allowing them to receive the same treatment.

"Thank you for the fine match," said Miyu, bowing to Team NDGO, Setsuna and Natsuki bowing beside her. Oscar hesitated for a second, before joining them.

"You kids are something else," said Dew. "However you learned to do what you do, I want to learn it too."

"That may be possible in the future," said Setsuna.

"You kids are okay," said Nebula, favoring them with a wistful smile. "Maybe we can get to know each other better later." She finished by flashing a playful wink at Setsuna.

"I wouldn't object to accepting your offer at face value," said Setsuna, before coughing awkwardly. "However...if I'm reading between the lines properly, I do feel the need to inform you that I'm already taken." Miyu sidled up next to him, hugging herself to his arm to emphasize the point.

"Dang it," muttered Nebula, with only a little petulance. Her gaze transferred to Oscar, only to be distracted by the sight of Natsuki, standing next to him, glaring at her, cheeks puffed out. _Yeah...looks like he's out too._

"I'm bushed," said Dew, stretching her arms over her head. "Let's hit the showers already."

"I agree," added Octavia.

"Good luck in the next round," said Gwen, giving the members of MNPS a small wave, before the four girls turned to head to their locker room.

With that amicable parting, the first round of the Vytal Festival tournament concluded.

* * *

Oscar fell back onto the couch with in a tired slump, his entire body feeling like jelly. The warm water of his shower had washed away the sweat and grime that had built up over the course of the battle, and the cleaners were currently taking care of his outfit. The only thing to do now was simply sit back and enjoy the amenities that their locker room had to offer.

He glanced towards the showers, where his other teammates were no doubt still taking advantage of all the luxuries available. Oscar felt a smile stretch across his face, a strange feeling of contentment washing over him. It had been an amazing experience. He thought he'd been nothing more than filler, somebody to make sure they had four people. However, over the course of this week of training, he'd come to view them as his actual teammates, somehow. There were Miyu and Setsuna, whose quiet demeanors masked gentle and caring personalities, and then there was Natsuki...

For some reason, the thought of her energetic smile made Oscar feel strangely warm inside.

He was distracted from his thoughts by a buzzing coming from the table in front of him, the table where he'd set his scroll. Glancing down, Oscar saw that he was getting a call. When he saw who the contact on the other end was, the warmth inside him vanished, replaced by a sensation of panic.

_Oh crap!_

Oscar's fingers fumbled as he tried to pick up the urgently buzzing device, dropping it back against the table on his first two tries, before he finally managed to pick it up and bring it to his ear. "Auntie-"

"_OSCAR!_" his Aunt's voice roared out, making the scroll's speakers pop with the force of her shout. Oscar yelped and winced away. "_Just what did you think you were doing, boy? Are you insane, throwing yourself into the middle of a fracas like that? You just about gave your poor aunt a heart attack!_"

"Please don't say that," protested Oscar plaintively.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "_Sorry. I went overboard there._" He heard his aunt sigh. "_Well...there's no changing the fact you gave me a scare, boy. I hope you're ready for the consequences you're gonna face when you get home. You might've pulled off quite the feat, but you still pulled a dangerous stunt._"

"I know," said Oscar, slumping.

"_But...I'm proud of you,_" said Emalee. "_I'm pretty sure I'm going to be hearing about it from all around town. My boy fought in the Vytal Festival tournament, before he even _entered_ an Academy, and won the first round. The folks are gonna be buying me drinks every night at the tavern for a full month._"

Oscar couldn't help but laugh at that. "Sounds like a good deal," he said.

"_Now then, the only thing that's left is for me to get the chance to meet your new friends,_" said Emalee. "_Considering the circumstances, I guess it'd be silly to expect them to be able to come back with you, so I want you to arrange a terminal call at the earliest possible convenience._"

There was no mistaking the air of command in that voice, making Oscar straighten reflexively. "Y-yes, Ma'am," he said nervously.

"_Good,_" said Emalee decisively. "_Now, have fun. Just...make sure you come back home safely, okay._"

"I will," Oscar promised.

"_That's all I need to hear. Goodbye, Oscar._"

"Bye, Auntie Em," said Oscar, hanging up and setting his scroll down.

"Was that your aunt?" asked Natsuki, leaning over the back of the couch, so that her face was right beside his own.

Oscar yelped in surprise, not even realizing that Natsuki had left the shower. She looked so different, with her hair outside of its braid, running down her back in a set of black and teal stripes. The sight of her in her robe made Oscar feel more than a little nervous too.

"Uh...O-Oh...Yeah," he said, struggling to recover his composure.

Natsuki beamed, then vaulted over the back of the couch, before flopping back on the cushions next to him. "Is she nice?" she asked.

"She's the best aunt I could ask for," said Oscar, smiling fondly as he stared down at his scroll. "After the Grimm killed my parents, Ruby and her sister took me to stay with her, so she's pretty much been my mother ever since."

"So...shouldn't you call her 'Mom'?" asked Natsuki, tilting her head.

"Th-that just doesn't feel right," said Oscar. "I mean...I've always called her Auntie Em, even after I started living with her. It would feel weird to start calling her Mom now."

"Well...if you're both okay with it..." mused Natsuki.

"Yeah...I think we are," said Oscar, thinking back.

Of course, now that he thought about it, he wondered if he'd been paying enough attention to his aunt. Had she ever seemed dissatisfied, when he'd called her his aunt, rather than addressing her as his mother? He was a bit ashamed to say he couldn't remember ever noticing.

Abruptly, a weight pressed against his shoulder, and Oscar stiffened as he realized what it meant. "N-Natsuki..."

The girl in question was now leaning against him, resting her head on his shoulder, smiling contentedly. "Your shoulder is really nice, you know," she said, yawning for emphasis. "Is it okay if I nap a little?"

"Um...uh...S-sure..." said Oscar. He was more than a little shaken by the sudden close contact. But, at the same time, the thought of trying to push Natsuki away was more frightening still. So Oscar simply resolved to let her do what she pleased.

"Thanks." Natsuki let her eyes drift closed, and her breathing softened.

Oscar found himself staring at her face, marveling at how peaceful it looked, compared to the energy and excitement that it normally seemed to hold. Looking at it made his stomach flutter in a strange way, yet also familiar. Oscar wished he could place where he'd gotten this feeling before. But, in the end, he found himself distracted by the fact that his eyelids were feeling heavy too. Slowly, Oscar felt them begin to close, and he drifted off as well.

When Miyu and Setsuna finished their respective showers, they entered the room to see Natsuki and Oscar fast asleep, leaning against one another. Taking in the tender sight, they couldn't keep warm smiles from spreading across their faces.

When Ruby and her friends dropped by to offer their congratulations later, there was no shortage of discreetly snapped pictures by their scrolls. It seemed that Natsuki and Oscar had set themselves up to be teased for a long time to come.

* * *

"I thought that the Healing Arts aren't supposed to be used for offensive purposes," said Jaune, looking across the table at Sasame. "That's what Kyo said."

While the others were visiting Team MNPS to offer their congratulations, Jaune and Maria had joined one of the tables in the lobby area of the coliseum to wait for them. Jaune would have liked to congratulate Oscar too. But he felt that it wasn't a good idea to crowd their new friends too much. More to the point, he still felt pretty self-conscious about being the one who'd killed Oscar's chance at a relationship with Ruby, however unintentional and indirectly that had been.

"Kyo speaks like that because he _isn't_ a healer," said Sasame, frowning. "In spirit, yes, what he said is true. Using the Healing Arts to enter another person's body in such an intimate manner, and then using them to inflict harm, is strictly forbidden. But there are _other_ dimensions to the Healing Arts."

"What do you mean?" asked Jaune.

"Don't you find it interesting?" asked Sasame, tracing the rim of the glass of water in front of her with a finger. "In the Kingdoms, you have people called doctors, medical doctors, that is. Looking at it on a surface level, they are completely analogous to the healers of us Mibu. Their methods differ, but their purpose is to treat the sick and injured."

"Right," agreed Jaune, nodding.

"However...the term 'doctor' is not unknown, nor unused by the Mibu amongst the medical profession," said Sasame.

"Huh?"

"The basic idea you might have is that healers are the 'doctors' of the Mibu Clan. However, that is inaccurate. The Mibu do have 'doctors'. Said doctors use many of the same techniques and methods that our healers do, so there might seem to be no distinction between them. However, there is a fundamental difference."

"What's that?" asked Jaune.

Sasame leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. "Doctors swear an oath to 'do no harm'. That means, they treat injuries, but they are sworn never to _inflict_ them. I am told that the doctors of the Kingdoms take a similar oath, do they not?"

"I uh...might've heard something like that," admitted Jaune. "Of course, I never really had any interest in becoming a doctor, so I can't be sure."

"It's true," confirmed Maria, who was sitting at the side of the table between Sasame and Jaune.

Sasame nodded. "The distinction is...healers take _no_ such oath."

"They don't?" Jaune frowned, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Meaning, I am free to harm or heal as I see fit," said Sasame. "Granted, as you've seen for yourself, my methods of harming certainly do not utilize the Healing Arts in the manner that are forbidden. That method itself is not permitted. However...while they are few, there _are_ offensive techniques used within the Healing Arts, techniques that healers may use, but doctors may not."

"And that was one of them?" asked Jaune, thinking back to the last tournament match.

Sasame nodded gravely. "_Air Vampire_ is the most prominent one," she said. "In essence, its principle is very simple. Rather than sending your Aura out into another person, you instead draw your target's Aura into yourself."

"So it's an Aura-draining technique," clarified Jaune.

"In basic parlance, yes," said Sasame. "However, such a technique is not so easy to execute. It involves transforming your Aura into a negative value."

"A negative value?" The shutters on Maria's left eye opened a bit wider than the ones on the right, her approximation of a raised eyebrow.

"Yes," said Sasame. "Since Kyo has briefed you on the nature of _So_, I can clarify for you, Jaune-kun. As you are aware, Aura is composed of Yin and Yang elements."

Jaune nodded, remembering Kyo's explanation from earlier.

"As a force that promotes growth and restoration, the Healing Arts, in general, utilize the Yang aspect of Aura," explained Sasame. "However, _Air Vampire_, does the opposite, temporarily generating a powerful shift to the Yin aspect. The effect of performing that within your own body is equivalent to removing all the air from a space."

"So a vacuum," said Jaune, his eyes widening. "I get it! By creating a sort of Aura vacuum, that technique basically pulls in nearby Aura to fill it! That's what you're saying, right?"

"Very good," said Sasame, nodding approvingly. "There are a few nuances to it, mainly how to designate where the Aura that fills that artificial vacuum comes from. However, your deduction is correct. I knew you had an affinity for the Healing Arts."

Jaune felt like preening a little.

Sasame's expression sobered again. "Of course, given that, I suspect you can deduce what would happen if that technique was carried out to its natural extreme."

"You mean...what would happen if it _completely_ drained a person's Aura?" asked Jaune, swallowing nervously. Seeing Sasame nod, he felt a cold sweat begin to bead on his forehead. "In that case, wouldn't that mean...?"

"Yes, the technique becomes fatal," said Sasame. "Had Miyu-chan miscalculated out there, had Darcy-san lost just a little more Aura, or if some other factor came into play, there is every chance she would have torn the life out of Darcy-san's body, and left her corpse a desiccated husk."

Jaune paled, and the shutters of Maria's eyes went wide.

Sasame sighed, gently rubbing her temples. "Honestly, even though I know she thought it out carefully, and didn't use that technique impulsively, I should still scold Miyu-chan for using _Air Vampire_ in a mere tournament match. Just a tiny miscalculation or misplaced variable, and that would have ended very badly for everyone."

"R-right," said Jaune nervously. "So I guess I won't be learning that one."

"In essence, it's based on the very same restorative techniques you will be learning for yourself," said Sasame. "So, even if you were never formally taught it, it wouldn't take much effort on your part to reach the point where you could perform it." She glanced down at the glass of water in front of her. "You are an exception, Jaune-kun. However, for other practitioners of the Healing Arts, _Air Vampire_ is also the solution to our greatest weakness on the battlefield."

"What's that?" asked Jaune.

"No matter how skilled they might become," said Sasame, "there is one person a healer will never be able to use their arts to help."

"Who?"

"Themselves," said Sasame.

"R-really?" asked Jaune. He remembered Ruby saying something like that before.

Sasame nodded, then glanced down at her glass. "Let's put it like this. Using the Healing Arts transfers your Aura into your patient. Through that, you enhance the healing capability of their _own_ Aura. To put it simply, people are like these cups we have, and you help another person by pouring some water from your own glass into theirs."

"Okay...got it so far," said Jaune.

"Now then, let me ask you something," said Sasame. "Would you be able to pour your own water into the glass it's already in?"

Jaune blinked. "Uh...What?"

Sasame held up the glass. "Could I refill this glass by pouring it into itself?"

"No," said Jaune. "It would just be the same amount of water."

"Exactly," said Sasame. "You cannot add something to itself, because the net result is that it would _remain_ itself. Therefore, you cannot enhance your Aura with your own Aura. That is, in simple terms, one of the fundamental rules of healing. That is why healers cannot heal themselves with their own arts...and why you are such a unique case, Jaune-kun."

"Okay, I think I get it," said Jaune, nodding to himself.

"Good," said Sasame, looking pleased. "Now then, _Air Vampire_ enables a healer to overcome that limitation."

"So, if you can't heal yourself with your own Aura, you just take someone else's Aura to do it," said Maria.

Sasame nodded. "That is the principle of _Air Vampire_ in a nutshell. Naturally, even though it is one of the few true and accepted offensive applications of the Healing Arts, its use must be carefully considered. Using it to steal an enemy's life on the battlefield is permissible. However, taking the life of a helpless victim, or one of your own patients, is utterly reprehensible."

"I'm guessing that some people have done that though," mused Jaune.

Sasame sighed. "You're not wrong. It's rare, but there are those sorts of unscrupulous individuals who do utilize that technique to those ends. When it is uncovered, conviction carries with it an automatic death penalty, with no appeals."

Jaune shuddered.

Sasame sighed again. "I think I really _will_ reprimand Miyu-chan for doing that. In her case, since it was in a combat situation, Darcy-san could be technically considered an enemy, and she succeeded in executing the technique non-fatally. But it's still a gray area, and quite reckless. I suppose Miyu-chan felt a certain amount of pressure to contribute more to the match, what with Oscar-kun doing so well with his own strength. But still..." She sighed. "At least she won't be in the next round."

"Now I feel kinda bad for her," said Jaune.

Sasame giggled. "Try not to feel that too much," she said. "It's somewhat odd. Miyu-chan is normally such a model student. This is really the first time she's ever acted out like that. I suppose it's a sign that she's growing. But a reminder is a good idea all the same."

"Yeah...still feeling a little sorry for her," said Jaune.

Sasame merely giggled in response.

Jaune's scroll began to ring. Pulling it out, he checked the contact, then frowned.

"Something wrong, Jaune-kun?" asked Sasame.

Now it was Jaune's turn to sigh. "Not wrong...just...really awkward."

"Oh...?" Sasame raised an eyebrow.

"It's a text from Saph," said Jaune. "She's asking me to meet up with everyone."

"By everyone, you mean...?" pressed Sasame, already getting an idea.

"The rest of the family," said Jaune with a sigh. He lowered his head. "Honestly...I don't really know what to say to them."

"That will be contingent on what they have to say to _you_," said Sasame. "I can understand your unease, considering your previous background with them. For all that they might well have changed their view of you, now that they've seen you compete in the tournament, Ruby-chan's father serves as an example of how people can be willfully blind to what's in front of them, if it counters their own views."

"Yeah..." said Jaune unhappily. "Saph said that they're singing a different tune now, but even if the_y have_ changed..."

"It is still difficult for you to accept them," said Sasame. "That is understandable, after all. While it might have taken a more mild form than the worst cases, and had benign intentions behind it, the ultimate truth is that what you experienced at their hands constitutes abuse, particularly of the emotional variety."

Jaune swallowed, nodding.

Sasame stared sadly into her glass of water. "That makes this difficult to handle," she said. "I suspect that a mere apology from them is not sufficient, correct?"

Jaune nodded.

"That is the difficulty in these situations," said Sasame. "But let me ask you something, Jaune-kun. Would you be willing to forgive them if they could make it up to you?"

"I...I guess," said Jaune.

"Oh...and _how_ would they make it up to you?"

Jaune opened his mouth to answer, only to find that he couldn't say or think of anything.

Sasame's lips quirked in a smile. "That silence on your part is telling...in a good way. You are too kind a person, Jaune-kun, to be willing to demand that your family experience the same kind of pain you experienced. For all that you resent them for what they've put you through, you still _love_ them, and that is important."

"You think I should forgive them?" asked Jaune.

"I think you should think about what it _means_ to forgive them," said Sasame, sounding strangely sober. "In such relationships, there is no such scale that can be balanced. Even if you were willing and able to inflict the same kind of pain on them that they put you through, it would not erase your own experience. In the end, it wouldn't be about justice as much as it would be about catharsis, you taking brief solace in the idea that your family is suffering the same way they made _you_ suffer. But that solace would be fleeting, and you would find that the pain from what they did will continue to linger, regardless. Even if that wasn't the kind of thing you were seeking, it then becomes a question of how they 'earn' your forgiveness, what they do to become 'worthy' of it. However, just as it was with Ruby-chan and Yang-chan, such things cannot be so easily quantified.

"Forgiveness...can be a bitter thing sometimes. It can mean forgoing your opportunity for satisfaction in the promise of that catharsis. Abandoning resentment that you've nursed for so long, without getting any of that satisfaction in return. In the short-term, it can feel _very_ unsatisfactory. For some time, that unsatisfied feeling may continue to trail you, and you will have to curb the impulse to allow your resentment to take back control."

"But you're thinking it'll be better in the long run," said Jaune, giving Sasame a sad smile. "I guess the best medicines are bitter."

Sasame tittered. "So the old wisdom goes. However, a wise sage once said, 'A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine goes down.'"

"Uh...Does that really apply in this situation?" asked Jaune.

"Perhaps it does," said Sasame. "Though it's not a perfect metaphor. The 'sugar' in this scenario would be your _new_ family."

"New family...?" Jaune blinked.

Sasame's smile widened. "The family you've made for yourself here, at Beacon, all those wonderful friends with whom you've shared good times and bad, laughter and tears, the people who've helped you grow into the man you are, not to mention the young lady you've pledged to stand beside. Stand before your family, and confront all that they've taken from you...with all the things that you've _gained_ for yourself. With that, I believe you will be able to let go of that resentment. Because, for all the things that your family has taken from you, you've gained so much _more_ now, don't you think?"

"Yeah..." said Jaune a warm smile on his face. "You think my friends would be willing to come meet my family with me?"

"The only way to know is to ask them," said Sasame. "But I think they will be quite amicable to the idea...provided their schedules are all open."

"Right," said Jaune, already thinking about how this would go. "For starters, if that's true, then would _you_ be part of my family?"

"Asking if I'm your sister, hmm?" said Sasame, her tail beginning to flick behind her with a little more energy. "What's this, Jaune-kun? Am I hearing wedding bells for you and Ruby-chan already?"

"N-no! Of course not!" exclaimed Jaune, flinching away, before slumping. "Why do you have to tease like that?"

"Well, Ruby-chan's flustered face is still the cutest thing in all the world," said Sasame. "But your flustered face is quite appealing in its own right." Her smile took on a sly quality that made Jaune shivered. "You had best be prepared, Jaune-kun. If _I_ am to be your sister, then you will find me playing with you quite a bit."

"Ruby and I are gonna suffer a lot, aren't we?" mused Jaune idly.

"Indeed you shall," agreed Sasame, while Maria cackled in the background.

* * *

"He agreed," said Saphron, looking to the rest of her family.

Blaine slumped in relief.

"Oh thank God!" whispered Sapphira, slumping in relief, on the verge of crying.

"'Bout time," grumbled Aurea.

"You'd best check that attitude, Missy," admonished Saphron, throwing a glare at her. "I wouldn't blame Jaune if he turned me down. This is your big chance."

"He's just being stubborn," muttered Aurea, folding her arms with a petulant expression.

_Like _you're_ one to talk,_ thought Blaine and Saphron at the same time.

It seemed that, despite being in the audience on the day of Team RASP's match, Aurea still maintained a healthy skepticism for her brother's abilities.

_Or, to put it another way, she's in complete denial,_ thought Saphron. _If things keep up like this, and she puts on this attitude when Jaune meets us, this could be a disaster._

The other girls had come around for the most part. The younger ones were already gushing about how cool their big brother had become, while the older ones were getting over their shock that the once-sickly boy that they'd continually babied, out of fear of a relapse, had suddenly grown up into a person capable of fighting on that kind of stage. Sapphira was still expressing reluctance, worried about just what kind of danger Jaune was putting himself in. But she was no longer talking about tracking him down and bringing him straight back home, so that could be counted as a positive.

Out of all the people in this situation, Aurea was the sole remaining holdout. Saphron couldn't figure out _why_ Aurea was being so stubborn either. As the one closest to Jaune's age, Aurea had also been the sister closest to Jaune before. They had been close enough in age that they had even gone to school in the same year. Aurea had, at one time, been Jaune's ardent protector, shielding him from the bullies that the poor boy had occasionally attracted the attention of, thanks to his once outwardly meek nature.

That had changed over the years, especially after Jaune had announced his desire to become a Huntsman. Alongside the rest of the family's efforts to convince Jaune otherwise, and stymie his own attempts, Aurea had changed gears, shifting from Jaune's protector to one of his bullies. Saphron hadn't been there for the worst of that, having already been in Argus with Terra.

Saphron found herself wishing, back then, that she'd tried harder to argue her brother's case. She'd talked, argued really, with her parents over the CCT a few times, trying to convince them to at least let Jaune give it a try. After all, it had been over ten years, with no sign of his infant illness making a comeback. He was healthy and strong. Everyone said so, especially his doctors. There should have been no reason Jaune couldn't have at least made an effort to train.

But Blaine and Sapphira had dug in their heels, and were now reaping the bitter fruit of their stubbornness, having to contend with the fear of not knowing where their little boy was, and then be beat over the head with the truth of what Jaune had accomplished, _in spite_ of their best efforts, and were now faced with the prospect of dealing with his well-deserved resentment.

Still, at the moment, all Saphron could do was her best to keep things together. She sent a text back to her brother, trying to figure out how they should arrange this. Much to her surprise, Jaune texted her back almost immediately, telling her to let him take care of it.

_I wonder what he's up to,_ mused Saphron.

* * *

"You want us to meet your family with you?" asked Weiss, looking shocked.

"Y-yeah," said Jaune, leaning back nervously from her gaze.

"Ruby, I could understand," said Weiss, settling back on the couch in their dorm's common area. "Of course, you'd want to introduce your girlfriend to your family."

"Provided they don't try to _murder_ her again," growled Yang under her breath.

"Dad didn't tell anyone else about that oath, so no one's going to try that," Jaune assured her. "But I'd like it if you could _all_ be there."

By "all," he meant the eight other people arrayed around him; RASP and RYNB, as well as Sasame. These were the people he'd come to see as his family at Beacon, the people closest to his heart. It was about more than just washing away the bitterness of letting go of his resentment towards his blood family for how they'd treated him. In truth, Jaune was more than a little bit afraid of meeting up with them. Despite Saphron's assurances, and the knowledge that his father had come around to the truth, Jaune couldn't help but be intimidated by the prospect of facing down his six other sisters, and his mother, and standing up to them if he found that they weren't so willing to accept the truth. Aurea in particular, he remembered, was stubborn to a fault over a lot of things. However, if he had his new family with him, he felt that he could stand up to his old one. He would have asked Kyo too, except he knew _that_ was a recipe for disaster.

His friends gave him courage.

"Why?" asked Pyrrha, leaning forward.

"Well, I kinda see you guys as my family too," explained Jaune, scratching the back of his hair. "My parents and sisters never believed I'd accomplish anything like this. I want to show them the truth. I'm not alone here, and I have friends who are willing to stand with me, friends that I consider family."

"Count us in!" cheered Nora, leaning over Ren's shoulder to raise her hand, her weight settling on him threatening to force Ren down.

Ren grunted, forcing himself to shrug Nora off, if only so that he could face Jaune properly. "I would be happy to be there," he said calmly, but with a smile on his face.

"Eh, sounds like it'll be a hoot," said Yang, grinning fiercely. "Why not?"

Blake canted her head. "I'm...grateful...you'd call me family," she admitted. Her hand went up to the top of her head, massaging the spot between her ears. "I probably wouldn't have gotten this far, if you hadn't talked sense to me."

"Thanks," said Jaune, transferring his gaze to his own teammates.

"I would be glad to join you," said Pyrrha, smiling radiantly at him.

"The thought of a dolt like you calling me 'family' gives me a headache," said Weiss with a scowl, before sighing dramatically. "Still...it's not the worst thing in the world. As brothers go, you'd be several steps up from the one I already have."

"Thanks...I think," said Jaune, his eyebrow twitching. _Just how bad is her relationship with her brother?_

He looked to Sasame, who beamed at him. "Well, it wouldn't do for me to not voice my support of my new student," she said cheerfully. "And this was my idea to begin with. It's only natural that I would see it through with you, Jaune-kun."

"Thanks," said Jaune, his gaze going to the person beside him, the one person who mattered most.

"Do you even have to ask?" inquired Ruby, before resting her head on his shoulder.

"I guess not," admitted Jaune, wrapping an arm around her.

Everyone took a moment to enjoy the warm atmosphere between the two lovebirds, before Weiss asked the inevitable question. "Well, all this is wonderful, in a broad-strokes, emotional sort of way. However, while we have the base idea that we're meeting your family, have you given any thought to where and how."

Jaune pulled away from Ruby, and gave Weiss an apologetic look. "Y-yeah...a little," he said. "And...because of that...just this once...I'd like to ask a favor of you, Weiss."

"What?" asked Weiss, raising an eyebrow.

"Just this once...I'd like to borrow your money and clout a little," said Jaune bowing his head to her.

"Huh?" grunted Weiss.

When Jaune explained what he wanted, Weiss listened intently, before relaxing. "Well, that's not so bad," she said. "It's certainly within my means. I shall see what I can do. Now it becomes a question of when. I'm afraid that Saturday is out for me."

"It is?" asked Ruby, her head perking up.

Weiss looked as though she was going to be ill. "Saturday evening, Ashley and I have been invited to a...gathering...one that is hosted by my brother."

"Um...You mean the one I'm better than?" asked Jaune.

"To put it bluntly, yes," said Weiss, scowling at no one in particular.

"So he's forcing you to bring Ash to some kind of high society shindig, huh?" mused Yang, frowning. "Yeah, that sounds all kinds of suspicious."

"Do you think he knows about the two of you?" asked Blake.

"Considering that Father hasn't bombarded me with calls and texts berating me for damaging the family's image, and immediately disinheriting me, I don't think the secret is out just yet," said Weiss. "That said, I wouldn't put it past Whitley to deduce the truth for himself, and then hold onto it as a card to play at the best available opportunity. And he might have arranged this gathering might _be_ that opportunity."

"That's...pretty bad," said Pyrrha.

Weiss nodded uneasily. "If I had to guess, his intention is to trick me and Ashley into outing ourselves in some way. Doing so in a public venue would be an unbearable humiliation, and the inheritance would be as good as his."

"But...is that such a bad thing?" asked Pyrrha.

"Huh?" everyone grunted, looking up at Weiss' partner.

"You told Winter that you were prepared to give up your inheritance for Ashley," Pyrrha pointed out. "So, that being the case, what does it matter if it comes out that you and Ashley are together at this party?"

"She's not wrong," said Blake.

Weiss frowned. "Ashley and I were hoping to at least keep this a secret through the festival." She was silent for a moment. "But…when the current is going one way, it can be better to go with it than to fight it, I guess. If that's the case…"

"What are you thinking?" asked Ruby, leaning in curiously.

Weiss looked up with a sly smile. "That being the case, rather than do things on Whitley's terms, Ashley and I will take his terms, and _make_ them into _our_ terms."

"And how are you going to do that?" asked Sasame.

Weiss' smile became a grin.

* * *

The steady beat of the bass echoed through the club. Lights flashed, illuminated shapes shifting and gyrating out on the dance floor. The air was thick and humid, the smells of countless different perfumes and colognes mingling with the overriding scent of human sweat, no matter how much such fragrances were designed to hide that scent. All around the perimeter of the dance floor were booths, occupied by numerous people. Many of them were taking breaks from dancing, enjoying drinks and food. Others were just there to take in the spectacle of it all.

Dove ignored all of that, skirting the dance floor as he made his way around the club, heading for the bar. Behind it stood the imposing figure of Hei Xiong, better known as Junior, currently wiping the inside of a glass, his eyes moving up to sweep across the dance floor, his gaze alert for any sign of trouble.

Not that he needed to do so. Surrounding him, and moving throughout the club, were well over a dozen black-suited men in bowler hats, bizarrely wearing sunglasses, even though the light level was low. Then there were the twins, a pair of black-haired, green-eyed girls whom Dove had noticed upon entering, and not merely because of their looks. Their movements were those of predators on the prowl, the pair of them hunting for troublemakers, ready to deal with them at a moment's notice.

Dove took a seat at the bar, nodding to Junior who moved to serve him.

"Well, if it ain't the Invincible Girl's boyfriend," greeted Junior a slight smirk on his face. "What'll it be?"

"Caused that big a stir, did we?" mused Dove.

Junior chuckled. "After that little show the two of you put on with her parents, I don't think anyone could _not_ notice. So what's your order?"

"Hot buttered rum," said Dove. "I've heard you make a good one."

"You heard right," said Junior. "'Tis the season."

While Junior worked on putting together the drink, Dove took another look around the club. About a minute later, a short glass, filled with hot drink, smelling strongly of cinnamon and nutmeg, slid across the bar and into his waiting hand.

"Let me guess...you're here for more than just a fall favorite," said Junior.

"That'd be right," said Dove. "I'm lookin' to see what I can turn up about a certain woman."

Junior grunted. "And who is it I'm supposed to be looking into?"

Dove opened up his scroll, bringing up a network site promoting a certain talent agent. "Her name's Holly Ji."

"Ah, Nikos' agent, huh," said Junior, looking over the scroll. "Not much here. You think there's more to her?"

"Hard to say," said Dove. "If it were just a matter of thinking she had some shady ties, that'd be easy enough for you to probably dig up. But the problem is that my hunch is more vague than that."

"Vague, huh? What are you thinkin'?"

Dove took a sip of his drink. "It's tricky," he said. "During that little confrontation we had with Pyrrha's parents, they were puffing and posturing, throwing their weight around like it was going out of style. Then that woman comes up and starts acting reasonable, _too_ reasonable."

"Well, it's probably to her benefit to try and defuse a messy public confrontation," Junior pointed out.

"Yeah," agreed Dove. "It's hard to get a handle on her, having only met her once. But she's a little too _persuasive_ for my liking."

"Persuasive?" Junior's eyes narrowed.

"After all that mess with her parents, she walks in and just tries to gently suggest we take this elsewhere, and Pyrrha almost agreed with her. If I hadn't stepped in, she might've gone along with it...in fact, I'm pretty sure she _would_ have, even though there was no reason for us to talk with Pyrrha's parents about anything at all."

"I think I get what you're saying," said Junior. "If she's a little _too_ good at talking people around to her point of view, then you think there's something else at work...something like a Semblance."

Dove nodded. "Problem is that I don't have a way to prove it. At best, I've got a vague suspicion that could turn out to be nothing. She could really _just_ be that good at making people see things her way, or it could be Pyrrha. She's come a long way, but she still has a tendency to try and compromise too easily. It's just...I want to be sure."

"That's not an easy thing to find out," said Junior, cupping his chin and mulling the task over. "And it's not easy to do anything about it, if your hunch turns out correct."

Dove nodded, grimacing.

Semblances came in a variety of shapes. There were all manner of phenomena that a Semblance might be capable of, some large, some small, some virtually unnoticeable. How a Semblance was handled, when it came to enforcing the law, depended on its nature, and how it had been used. New precedents were being set all the time. The legal codes regarding such things filled an entire wing of the library at most law schools.

"Well, it's _your_ money," said Junior with a shrug. He glanced down at Holly's profile on the site promoting her services. "This one is gonna be costly though."

"From the sound of it, I'm gonna be running up a bigger bill than your usual investigation," said Dove. "Though, since you don't post prices, I guess I wouldn't know it."

"You're right," said Junior. "This is a bigger bill than the usual job of looking for dirt on someone. This lady is based out of Mistral. While I _do_ have sources there, the one most likely to net us the results you're looking for is gonna be pricy."

"Any particular reason why?" asked Dove.

"For starters...she's my ex-wife," said Junior.

Dove shivered at the idea. "Yeah, I bet she'd take any excuse to wring out your wallet."

Junior sighed. "Well, I kept the girls, but _I'm_ the one paying alimony...and I don't see a lick of child support." He glanced across the club at the twins, who were still on patrol for trouble. "Doesn't change the fact that she's got the best network in all four Kingdoms. If there's anything to learn about someone or something in Mistral, she's the one to go to for it."

"How much then?" asked Dove.

Junior gave Dove his price, which was an exorbitant amount, to be sure. "Non-negotiable, I'm afraid. I don't haggle with her."

Dove grimaced. With a sigh, he reached down into his pocket, then pulled out his debit card. "I'm gonna have to tighten my belt after this."

"It's a pretty big sum," said Junior, nodding. "I hope Nikos is worth this."

"She's worth _more_," said Dove. "If that's what it takes, I'll swallow the cost; anything to make sure Pyrrha doesn't fall back under that woman's thumb."

"You sound like a man in love," said Junior, taking the card.

"I suppose I am," said Dove, a wistful smile on his face.

Junior smiled indulgently, running Dove's card and handing it back to him. Then, a moment later, he slid another glass over to replace the one Dove had just emptied.

"I didn't order a refill," Dove pointed out.

"On the house," said Junior, holding up a glass on his own. "Here's to love."

Dove smirked and nodded, raising his glass and lightly tapping it against Junior's own. "Cheers."

"Give me a couple days to see what Lillian turns up," said Junior. "I'll contact you when I have what she's got."

"Thanks," said Dove, giving Junior his scroll contact.

"Good luck," said Junior.

"I might need it," admitted Dove, before standing up and taking his leave.

* * *

**When Lil Miss Malachite made her appearance in Volume 6, I know I wasn't the only person who noticed that she shared a surname with a pair of characters we haven't seen since Volume 2, so it wasn't all that much of a surprise to find that guess confirmed. However, the question then becomes just how Lil' Miss' two teenaged(?) daughters wound up working as bouncers for some guy's club on a completely separate Kingdom and continent. There's not canon explanation, so far as I know. Other stories have postulated that Hei is the girls' father (or uncle, or other relation of some kind...), so I went and mashed the two ideas together. Junior and Lil' Miss are estranged spouses, with Junior taking custody of their daughters.**

**And yeah, Lilian is my idea for Lil' Miss' real given name. I just thought it worked.**


	128. Chapter 128

**Chapter 128:**

The workshops of Beacon Academy were, perhaps, the most-frequented area of the campus. After all, this was where students went to inspect, modify, upgrade, and maintain their weapons, which many students saw as equal in value to their own lives. After all, in the field, one's weapon was one's indispensable partner, and having said weapon fail in battle against the Grimm was considered as good as dying, in many situations.

The workshops were a series of individual rooms, joined to a single hallway, containing workbenches, along with shelves holding a variety of tools. They were even equipped with miniature furnaces, enabling forging to be carried out within them, the workbenches doubling as anvils. All a student needed to do was to sign into an open room, and make use of it.

Of course, providing equipment to cater to the needs of each and every kind of the almost endlessly varying types of weapons that student Huntsmen and Huntresses carried was virtually impossible. The workshop had tools to suit the basic needs for maintaining guns and blades. However, if a student required more specialized equipment, they would have to provide it themselves.

In Piper's case, that was no problem. At the moment, she was repairing a circuit board from one of her drones. The goggles over her eyes masked the glare of light flaring from the fingertips of the black gloves on her hands. Glowing yellow lines ran from the tips of her fingers, back down and over her knuckles, where they met a wire that ran out from the glove, and into a nearby plug.

All-Purpose Gloves was what Piper had named them. They were her own personal invention after all. Thanks to the manipulation of the Dust in their weave, they were capable of welding, cutting, and soldering, so long as they were connected to a power source. Furthermore, their flexibility, being extensions of her own hands, allowed her to work much more easily and precisely than she could with the usual versions of such tools.

Her eyes were covered by another of her inventions, Full-Range Goggles. Besides protecting her eyes from the flares of light from welding or cutting, they also allowed her to magnify images to microscopic-levels. They also coordinated with her gloves, ensuring that she could work with better-than-pinpoint precision. Technically, they could function as binoculars, and even as thermal scopes, which would have made them useful in the field, though Piper hadn't yet had time to solve the issue of their power consumption.

Between the two pieces of equipment she used, Piper had been able to perform feats of engineering that were borderline revolutionary. It had enabled her to design the tech that ran Ciel's Gram Vajra, and Rain's Pench Kaateh. Both of Piper's future teammates had brought the nascent versions of their weapons to her, back in Combat School, and Piper had used her skills to realize what each of them had envisioned. She'd actually done that for a fair few of her classmates in Hyperion Academy.

The only weapon on her team that Piper hadn't touched, or hadn't been _allowed to_ rather, was Penny's Floating Array. Now that she knew the truth, Piper knew why. Of course, now that she knew the truth, she had also secured permission from Penny's father to examine, and possibly even modify it...with additional permission of course. Already, Piper was salivating at the potential possibilities, all the different directions she might be able to take Penny's weapon in.

But that would have to wait. For now, basic maintenance would take priority. It would be counterproductive to heavily modify one's weapon at a time where they wouldn't have enough time to get accustomed to its nuances before they had to put it to use. So, for now, Piper would have to restrain her eagerness.

Carefully, Piper finished her work, then slid the circuit board back into place in her drone's housing. Disconnecting her gloves, she took them off, then donned the wired gloves she used to control her weapon. Her goggles switched to diagnostic-mode, feeding her information from the drone itself, enabling her to check that it was functioning correctly, as she manipulated one finger to make the drone rise, then circle, then lower, then collapse into its storage-mode, then expand again. Her checks completed, Piper was satisfied that everything was working as it should. Collapsing the drone once more, she attached it to the magnetic holster that she typically wore at the small of her back, alongside its other seven brethren.

"Watching you work is always an enjoyable experience," observed a voice from behind her.

Piper smiled, sliding her goggles off the top of her head, and shaking her hair, sending a light scattering of sweat through the air around her, before turning to regard her partner, who'd entered quietly, then waited until she was completely done, before talking to her.

"Hey, Rain," said Piper. "Want me to check something?"

"No, thank you," said Rain.

Piper raised an eyebrow. "Then shouldn't you be showing Ciel around the festival, the way a proper gentleman should?"

"She is with Ms. Winter, right now," said Rain, chuckling. "You know how she gets."

Piper laughed. "She's probably one of the few people who looks forward to work more than the breaks between them."

"They say that, if you love your work, then you will never work a day in your life," said Rain. "Ciel is at her best, when she is doing what she loves."

"Then why aren't you watching her at her best?" teased Piper.

"Because that would be somewhat crass," said Rain. "Ciel would not appreciate me watching her all the time."

"I suppose there's a fine line between wanting to watch your significant other at work, and being a creepy stalker," mused Ciel. "Though, if that's the case, then why come to see me?"

"I cannot stop by to watch my partner at _her_ best?" asked Rain teasingly.

"You could, but you usually don't," said Piper.

Rain had tried at first. It was part of being a good partner, he'd said back then, to take an interest in what his partner did, in order to better appreciate her qualities. It had been sweet, and Piper had appreciated the effort. But simply sitting and watching while she worked wasn't an easy thing, particularly since Piper was usually so focused on her actions that she couldn't explain what she was doing. She didn't want to subject Rain to hour-long lectures either. In the end, both she and Rain had decided it was best to leave her to her work, while he attended to his own hobbies.

Rain sighed in resignation, before reaching into his pocket, and producing an envelope. "A rather refined-looking gentleman delivered this directly to our dorm-room. It is for you."

Piper took the letter, then smiled brightly. "Oh! It's from Whitley!"

"Ah, Ms. Weiss' brother," said Rain, raising an eyebrow. "It _has_ been a while, I suppose."

"It has," agreed Piper.

Just as it had happened with Weiss, it also happened that, on occasions where she was visiting her father at his job, Piper sometimes ran into the youngest of the Schnee siblings. On their first meeting, Piper and Whitley had found one another to be "interesting", and had taken an interest in each other's activities ever since. Outside of those rare meetings, they had occasionally exchanged letters and, more rarely, calls on their scrolls.

Whitley might not have been especially technically inclined, but he was studious, which allowed him to keep up better with Piper's descriptions of her work than most of her friends, requiring minimal effort on her part to simplify her explanations. In turn, Piper appreciated Whitley's interest in economics. Though they rarely saw one another in person, she considered him one of her truly good friends. Of course, that was a secret both she and he kept from Weiss, for the time being.

"I heard he was in Vale," said Rain. "Father told me that."

"He is," said Piper, going over the letter. "Well...this is interesting."

"Oh?"

"Apparently, he's hosting a little gala, tomorrow," said Piper. "Weiss and Ashley are going to be there."

"He mentioned that specifically?" asked Rain.

Piper nodded. "It's mostly going to be a bunch of blue bloods and upstarts with deep pockets. You know what _they're_ like." Seeing Rain nod, she continued. "So he's extending an invitation to the whole team. He figures that Weiss might feel better if she had a few more friendly faces there."

"Considerate of him," noted Rain.

"Well, Whitley is nothing, if not considerate," said Piper. "Though what he's considerate _of_ tends to vary according to his needs. He's up to something."

"Is he not _always_ up to something?" asked Rain rhetorically.

Piper giggled at that. "True enough," she conceded. "Well, it's a polite enough request. There's no pressure, but he'd like it if we all came."

Rain's smile took on a crooked quality. "Well, I do not know if he is prepared for what having Penny at his gala would entail."

"Maybe not," agreed Piper, grinning. "But that's half the fun. I'll go. What about you?"

"I would be willing," said Rain, before sighing. "Father would probably nag me, if I did not."

"You think Ciel would come along?" asked Piper.

"If she is not working alongside Ms. Winter at the appointed time, I imagine she would be willing to," said Rain. "I will ask her, when she gets off duty."

"I know we don't need to ask Penny if she wants to come," said Piper wryly.

"True," agreed Rain. "I will let her know."

Piper nodded. "Thanks for dropping this off. I'll see you after dinner."

"Agreed," said Rain, taking his leave.

Piper turned back to the workbench and began to tidy up her workspace.

* * *

"Did Jaune _really_ reserve a private room _here_?" asked Oriana, second-eldest of the Arc siblings, staring up at the restaurant with wide eyes.

"This is where he said we were meeting up," said Saphron, double-checking her scroll, just in case. "He said the reservation is under the name of 'Arc'."

"There's no way he could've afforded this," said Xanthe. "I mean, I know he gets a stipend from Beacon. But I feel like he couldn't have saved up enough to be able to book a private room, of all things, not at a place _this_ upscale."

"Well...as fancy restaurants go, this is actually fairly mid-tier," said Sapphira, standing next to her eldest daughters. "It's pricy, but not so much as _some_ restaurants he could have booked.

Aurea snorted. "I bet he put that rich teammate of his up to this," she said.

Little did Aurea know that her assessment was more accurate than she realized.

* * *

"Um...I know I asked for your help," said Jaune, looking around at the surprisingly posh room, and the table at the center of it, "but isn't this a little much?"

_The Silver Steer_ was a fairly high-class establishment. It was the sort of speciality restaurant that someone like Jaune might have visited once a year, if that, with his family. It was certainly way more than he'd been expecting.

When he'd asked for Weiss' assistance, it had been to secure a nice restaurant that had a room that could be rented out for private parties. Between his family; including all seven sisters, his parents, and Terra and Adrian; and his friends, Team RASP, Team RYNB, and Sasame; they had a group of twenty people to accommodate after all. On top of that, if things got even a little bit messy, there would likely be some things said that Jaune figured were better said in private, rather than in front of a restaurant full of customers.

So Jaune had asked for Weiss' help. Between her money and her family name, she would have a far easier time securing a space for them to use. Of course, Jaune had only asked for a room at a "nice" restaurant.

This place was at least three levels above "nice".

Weiss folded her arms, huffing. "This is only natural," she said. "Seeing as your family has been a cause of so many issues for you, it's important that we make it clear where we stand. I wouldn't call it effective if I didn't do at least _this_ much." She smirked. "Of course, if we went _too_ high-class, it would just come off as pretentious."

Jaune gulped. _Leave it to Weiss to use something as simple as deciding where we're eating as an intimidation tactic,_ he thought.

In a sense, she was using this as an opportunity to impress upon his family that, yes, Weiss Schnee was a friend of Jaune Arc, and was willing to go out on a limb for him, even though Jaune hadn't asked her to go all that far. It was a way for her to demonstrate her ironclad support of him.

"Jaune just doesn't want them to think he's relying on your means, Weiss," said Pyrrha.

"Except I totally am...this time," said Jaune.

"It's fine," said Weiss. "Considering the kind of things people looking to latch onto my family name would usually like to ask of me, this is hardly an issue."

"Just be grateful," said Yang, who was already sitting at the table. "We get to eat at a place like _this_. Is it _really_ okay for us to order whatever we want?"

"Yes, it's fine," said Weiss. Thanks to the mission she and her team had done on her father's behalf, she had more leeway than before. An expense like this would be a drop in the bucket for her credit line. It was also probably one of the last such purchases she would be able to make.

"Oh yeah! I am so totally splurging!" declared Nora.

"Ren, see to it that she limits herself to _one_ person's worth of food," said Weiss imperiously.

"Of course," said Ren, his response prompting Nora to pout.

Ruby came to stand next to Jaune, taking his hand. "Everything's going to be okay," she said softly.

"I hope so," said Jaune. "I'm a little scared though. If things break down..."

"Even if they do, I'm here," said Ruby, squeezing his hand a little tighter. "No matter what, I'll be with you."

Jaune turned to face her, and the two of them kissed, before drawing back. "Thank you," said Jaune.

The door to the room opened to admit the waiter, who had a fair-sized group of people waiting behind them. "The rest of your party is here," he said.

"Thank you," said Jaune, turning away from Ruby to face his family as they entered the room.

Immediately, he found himself wishing he hadn't taken his armor off for this, as a girl in a blue dress dashed across the space between them, throwing herself at Jaune, tackling him in a tight hug...and headbutting him right in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs.

"JAAAAAUUUNE!" wailed Marigold Arc, the thick, spiraling curls of her hair quavering in time with her wails as she stuck onto her brother like a limpet, clinging to him with a strength that belied her small size.

Jaune coughed and sputtered for a second, before finally managing to inhale. Then he lowered his arms over Marigold's shoulders, hugging her back. "Hey there, Mari."

"I missed you sooo much!" protested Marigold, burying her face into the fabric of the shirt Jaune wore beneath his overcoat.

"I missed you too," Jaune admitted.

A second later, he was rocked a second time, then a third, as two other girls latched onto him. They'd come at him from separate angles, so they didn't collide with Marigold, who continued to cling to his front. Instead, they attached themselves to his arms.

"Jaune!" exclaimed Daisy, the second-youngest sister, who'd latched onto his right arm. Her hair was combed back and then tied into a long braid that ran down to the small of her back, standing out against the green of her dress.

Jaune smiled, then glanced over at the third-youngest Arc-daughter, who was clinging to his left arm. Citrine wasn't all that much of a talker, merely sniffling as she hugged his appendage with all her strength. Her hair had been cut down to just above her shoulders, curling slightly inwards on itself. Her dress was a burnt-orange color.

However much his little sisters had taunted him back home, Jaune couldn't help but admit that it was easier to forgive them. They had only been imitating what their elders did. Jaune didn't even really resent those times they had forced him to sit, while they styled his hair. That had just been them having fun, after all. He would have patted their heads, had two of them not been holding his arms fast, doing their utmost to cut off circulation to his extremities.

"All right," said Saphron, coming over and carefully prying Daisy off Jaune's right, then Citrine of his left, before working...with help from Terra...to tug Marigold off his stomach. "Come on girls. If you keep that up, we're gonna need to amputate his limbs."

"Thanks, Saph," said Jaune.

Saphron gave him a grin, then glanced over her shoulder at the others.

While Saphron led the little ones away, the next one approached.

Oriana Arc smiled shyly, the lights in the room glinting off the circular frames of her glasses. She wore a white jacket over a plain, black dress. "H-hey, Jaune," she said nervously. "I like your new look."

Jaune smiled back, a slightly rueful quality to his expression. "Thanks," he said. "How's med-school treating you?"

"It's going all right," said Oriana, tucking an errant strand of her hair behind her ear. Her hair had been cut fairly short, to the level of her earlobes. From what Jaune had heard, that made it easier to tuck her hair underneath a cap.

The pair faced each other, standing in an awkward silence, before Jaune let out a soft sigh, then held out his arms. Oriana stepped forward and into his hug, returning it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered into his ear.

"I know," he said, not sure what else to say at the moment. He could feel her sincerity, but was unsure of how to respond to it.

After that, it was Xanthe's turn. Xanthe's hair ran down past her shoulders, tied into a set of twin-tails with thin, blue ribbons. They framed a face that seemed younger than one might have guessed for her age. She presently wore a simple, white button-down shirt, and a pair of brown slacks.

"Hey there, Bro," said Xanthe awkwardly, giving Jaune a bashful smile.

"Xanthe..." said Jaune, keeping his tone level.

Reaching up with one hand, Xanthe began to idly twirl one of her tails around her finger, averting her eyes. "Saw you out in the tournament," she said nervously. "Ya looked like a proper Huntsman out there."

"Thanks," said Jaune.

Xanthe's eyes darted to his face, then away, then back again. She shifted nervously, apparently thinking there was something else she should say, but having difficulty mustering up the courage to say it. Finally, she chose to lunge forward and seize him in a hug, which Jaune returned.

"I was wrong," said Xanthe, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I was _so_ wrong. I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," said Jaune patting her back gently.

Xanthe had been second after Aurea, when it came to teasing and bullying him. Xanthe's taunts had always tended towards speculating on his romantic prospects, suggesting that hardly any girl would have much of an interest in a dork like him. If not that, she would playfully admonish him for his "silly Huntsman fantasies," saying that no girl would ever like a boy who had his head in the clouds, and that he'd best learn some "marketable skills", or he would die alone.

Those remarks had cut deep, being the main reason for his hesitance to ask Ruby to the dance, those months ago. Even now, Jaune still felt the sting of them, even as Xanthe apologized for them. Still, as Sasame had told him, he needed to let go of that pain and try to move forward.

Xanthe let go and pulled away. Now Jaune found himself facing his last older sister, Aurea, who was less than a year older than him. They looked quite a bit alike too, something that had had people speculating that the pair of them were twins at first glance.

Aurea wore her hair a little bit longer than him, but it had that same unkempt, slightly spiky look to it. Her features were a bit more rounded than his own, and the white shirt, brown jacket combo she wore did nothing to hide the figure she'd developed. She stood, her legs, clad in black pants, planted slightly apart, arms folded across her chest. Jaune met her eyes and he saw the barest beginnings of a scowl form on her face. _This isn't gonna end well,_ he thought, already bracing for an impending explosion.

"Aurea," he said simply.

"Jaune," Aurea replied cooly.

He wasn't sure where to go from there. However, that particular brewing conflict was delayed when his mother stepped into view. Out of everyone in the family, it was his mother who broke the mold, having grayish-black hair, cut short, and curling out at the tips, over the tops of her ears, sea-green eyes locking with his own. Of course, it made sense that the color didn't match up, as Sapphira had been the one who'd married _into_ the Arc family. Sometimes, Jaune wondered what it meant about the Arc Family Genes that nearly all of them (including _every_ member of his generation) sported the same blonde haired, blue eyed combination of features.

Sapphira Arc had elected to wear a dress of dark-purple, possibly out of consideration for their current venue, much like how his father had traded in his usual armor for a simple shirt and jacket combination. Some Huntsmen outfits weren't all that compatible with upscale dining settings after all.

Tears streamed from Sapphira's eyes as she swept her only son up in a hug that put his younger sisters' to shame. "My baby!" she called, holding him tightly, swaying back and forth. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Jaune grunted, wrapping his arms back around her, while shooting a pleading look at his father over her shoulder. Blaine merely held up his hands, indicating there wasn't much he could do at this point. Jaune would just have to wait until his mother got it out of her system.

Finally, after a few minutes of sobbing, Sapphira's grip loosened, and Jaune was able to pull back, finding himself staring into her still-watering eyes. "Hey, Mom," he said softly.

"Jaune..." said Sapphira, before sniffling. "Please..."

"No," said Jaune firmly, knowing what she was about to ask.

"But-!"

"No," repeated Jaune.

Blaine came up behind Sapphira resting his hands on her shoulders. "Jaune's made his choice," he said softly. "We can't stop him."

"But-!" Now Sapphira turned her pleading gaze on Blaine...who held firm.

"That's enough," he said. "Let's sit down and catch up. Our son has some friends to introduce us to, after all."

They took their places at the table. Jaune and his friends occupied one side of the table, Jaune in the center of them. His family took the other side, Terra and Adrian occupying one end, with Saphron sitting around the corner from them, while his father occupied the other end, Sapphira sitting around the corner from him.

"Who are all these people, Jaune?" asked Oriana, her gaze running across the people sitting with him.

"Well, you probably already know a bunch of them from the tournament," said Jaune. "These are my teammates and friends. Team Rainbow is our sister-team. Their leader is Ren..."

Ren bowed his head silently to them.

"...Yang..."

"Yo," said Yang casually, raising a hand in greeting.

"...Nora..."

"Hey there!" chirped Nora, as perky and energetic as ever.

"...And Blake..."

"Charmed," said Blake in a flat voice, her wary gaze fixing on Aurea and particular.

"Then there's my team, Team Raspberry," continued Jaune. "There's the founder of the feast, Weiss..."

"Very funny, Jaune," retorted Weiss, though she was smirking as she said it.

"...and her partner, Pyrrha."

"Hello there," said Pyrrha, waving a hand, while smiling politely. Jaune recognized the smile of Pyrrha's champion persona, the smile she put on as a polite front to hide her real feelings.

"And then there's Sasame," said Jaune, gesturing to the diminutive fox-faunus. "You could say she's a sort of...special instructor...for me, right now."

"Special lessons..." muttered Aurea. "...I _bet_ you need those."

Jaune chose to ignore her remark, even as his friends bristled silently, holding their tongues for now.

"But...aren't you leaving someone out?" asked Xanthe, his gaze going to the one person Jaune had yet to introduce.

"Just saving the best for last," said Jaune, before gesturing to the girl sitting to the right of him. "This is Ruby Rose; my team's leader, my partner, my best friend, and..." He raised his arm to wrap it around her shoulders, with Ruby leaning in against him. "...my girlfriend."

For a few seconds, Jaune was sure he could hear crickets. And then...

"WHAT!?" exclaimed six voices in unison, his sisters (with the exception of Saphron) shooting to their feet to stare at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Their expressions were mostly amazed, save for Aurea's, which was written over with angry disbelief. His mother was also staring at him in shock, a variety of emotions at play on her face. Blaine, Saphron, and Terra knew about this already, of course. And Adrian was...still a baby...so this whole thing was obviously going over his head, though he clapped and giggled at the silly expressions all his aunts were making.

"For real?!" exclaimed Oriana.

"Yep," said Jaune, while Ruby giggled next to him.

"Dang, you sure know how to pick 'em, Bro," said Xanthe, flopping back into her seat.

"That's so cool!" shouted Daisy.

"Can I call her Big Sister?" asked Marigold eagerly.

Jaune glanced at Ruby, who nodded, before looking back at Marigold. "Sure."

Marigold turned her eyes, which quivered adorably, on Ruby. "Big Sister, Ruby?"

"Yes," said Ruby, unable to keep from beaming at Jaune's youngest sister.

Marigold squealed in excitement, kicking her feet beneath the table.

The older girls (save for Aurea), laughed at Marigold's excitement, while Citrine and Daisy looked on eagerly, clearly looking forward to calling Ruby "Big Sister" as well.

For her part, Aurea's eyes immediately fixated on Ruby, and narrowed in a glare.

Blaine coughed, doing his best to hide his own chuckles at his daughters' antics. This was awkward for him, considering how things had gone the last time he'd come to Vale. Even now, he could still feel Yang's eyes darting towards him, accompanied by a sharp spike of hostility, suggesting that she expected him to lunge over the table at Ruby at any moment. Blaine couldn't fault her for that.

"In any case, we should probably go ahead and pick out our dinners," said Blaine, picking up his menu.

Everyone did as he suggested, picking up their own menus, though Aurea continued to shoot angry glances at Jaune over the top of hers, which Jaune chose to ignore for the time being.

A few minutes later, the waiter had entered, taken their orders, then left. An awkward silence fell over the room, everybody struggling to figure out where to go from there.

It was Blaine who made the first game attempt at conversation. "So...Jaune...how are you liking your first run in the tournament?"

"It was a pretty wild ride," said Jaune. "Those biomes are crazy."

"It looked like there weren't any hard feelings between you and the other team," noted Saphron, picking up that this was about as safe a topic as they were going to find right now. It also served to reinforce the fact that, yes, Jaune _was_ at Beacon and, yes, he _was_ fighting in the Vytal Festival Tournament.

"They're friends of ours, actually," said Jaune, "though we only met them recently."

"I'll bet they were," muttered Aurea, under her breath.

"Are you friends with all the competitors?" wondered Xanthe.

"There are too many of them for that," said Jaune, chuckling. "Though we did wind up meeting and getting to know quite a few of them. Besides Auburn; there's Team Sun, from Haven; Team Copper, from Atlas; and Coffee and Cardinal, from Beacon."

"Wow! That's a lot of friends!" declared Daisy, in all her innocence.

"Well, most of them are more like friendly acquaintances," said Pyrrha, stepping into the conversation. "We're closer to some than others."

"Especially in the case of Sun...right, Blake?" asked Yang, sending her partner a teasing, sidelong glance.

"Shut up," muttered Blake, blushing.

"Ooh!" cooed Xanthe, grinning. "I bet you dig those abs too. Mind if I take a crack at him."

"Sorry, but he's mine," said Blake, only a small trace of humor in her voice.

Oriana's gaze moved across the other three members of Jaune's team. "I'm not Huntress," she said. "But you four moved well out there. I'm impressed that you've managed to bond this well."

"Well, in a sense, you could say that it's thanks to Jaune," said Pyrrha cheerfully.

"Huh?" grunted Aurea, drawn into the conversation, in spite of herself. "Really?"

"That's right," said Pyrrha, continuing. "There's no denying that Jaune was, and still is...behind...the rest of us, in overall skill and ability. When we first arrived, he had no training whatsoever. However, with us all pitching in to help him get stronger, we wound up bonding quite well."

"And you're okay with having a dead weight on your team?" Aura wanted to know.

"Jaune is _not_ dead weight," said Weiss, shooting Aurea an icy glare. "Certainly, he is lacking in overall strength and training, thanks to certain someones..." Her eyes narrowed, her glare prompting six of the seven Arc sisters to avert their eyes in shame, along with Blaine, while Aurea glared off to the side. "...he quickly worked to make himself into a dependable asset, especially since he has developed his skill at healing."

"What?!" gasped Oriana, gaping at Jaune.

"Y-yeah..." said Jaune nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "I've been learning to heal."

"Is that your Semblance?" asked Oriana.

"You could say that," said Jaune. "There's a bit more to it. Thanks to Ruby, and her siblings, I've been learning a few tricks that they don't teach in Combat School. Right now, Sasame is teaching me the really detailed stuff-she's Ruby's adopted big sister, by the way."

"I don't understand..." said Oriana, transferring her befuddled gaze to Sasame, whose tail danced in the air behind her.

"A more detailed explanation will probably need to wait until later," said Sasame. "Suffice to say, the way _we_ handle Aura is a good bit different from how people in the Kingdoms handle it."

"And who is 'we'?" asked Oriana. "I get the feeling you're referencing more than just a couple of people.

"We, the Mibu," clarified Sasame.

Surprised gasps escaped the mouths of Oriana, Xanthe, and Sapphira. Aurea looked on with both confusion and angry skepticism. Blaine blinked furiously, staring at Sasame for a moment. Beneath the level of the table, his hands clenched into fists. Sasame's eyes found his own, her expression becoming neutral, while her tail came to a dead stop.

Blaine took a deep breath, then forced himself to relax. Sasame's smile returned, and she regarded Jaune's eldest sisters. "I see you've heard about us."

"I've heard rumors," said Oriana. "I had always wondered about the idea of the Forbidden Continent being occupied."

"I've heard the Mibu are all a bunch of sorcerers," added Xanthe.

"That's an exaggeration," said Sasame. "Though apparently people _do_ see the things that we can do as magical, to some extent."

"Wh-Why is a Mibu at Beacon?" stammered Sapphira, her gaze going to Ruby, who flinched away, uncertain of what the woman's feelings towards her were.

Jaune looked to Blaine, who met his eyes, and gave the tiniest shake of his head. Back during his last visit, Blaine had said that Sapphira and their daughters didn't know about the family oath of hatred towards the Mibu. That made Jaune wonder how his mother felt about the Mibu.

"I'm _not_ Mibu," clarified Ruby, "not by birth."

"Her brother and I found her and adopted her," explained Sasame. "She originally hails from Patch."

This was apparently new information to the Arc Family (except for Saphron and Blaine). Not all that interested in Huntsman related news, they had largely overlooked the whole commotion that had arisen over Ruby and Pyrrha's sparring match, including their interview with Lisa Lavender.

"We brought her back home and trained her in _our_ ways," said Sasame. "Originally, she wasn't slated to come to Beacon for another two years, but it appears that her growth, which was quite substantial amongst our people, proved be even _more_ impressive in the Kingdom, hence Ozpin-dono's decision to invite her in early."

Ruby looked down at the table, blushing furiously, as she often did when people brought up that particular aspect of her. Jaune reached over, resting his hand over hers, and squeezing it gently.

_And if she hadn't been invited, I probably would've been dead,_ Jaune added silently, reminding himself that it had been _Ruby_ who had saved him from what would have been a painful and messy death in the beginning stages of the Initiation. He was tempted to bring that up now. However, he held his tongue, figuring that it would do no good to beat his family down with the reminder of how he'd nearly lost his life, thanks to them refusing to allow him to train properly…well…that _and_ his own reckless determination to be a Huntsman, even if he had to break the rules to do so.

"That is...really cool!" declared Xanthe.

"I'm more than a little impressed," said Oriana, before turning her attention back to Sasame. "But what really interests me is this healing ability you describe. It sounds as though it is something you can teach to others."

"That is exactly the truth," said Sasame.

"I would like to know more about it," said Oriana.

"I would be perfectly happy to allow you to sit in on Jaune-kun's training sessions," said Sasame, her tail waving happily behind her. "I get the feeling you will find it most instructive, though those skills are built on the foundation of more basic skills you would have to master first."

"Anything in life is like that, I suppose," mused Oriana, adjusting her glasses.

"Wow, you caught yourself a real winner, Jaune," declared Xanthe, grinning across the table at Jaune and Ruby, both of whom blushed.

The three youngest Arc sisters talked quietly among themselves. The discussion was largely going over Marigold's head. But Citrine and Daisy had a better idea of what had been said.

"But when is Jaune coming home?" asked Marigold, looking plaintively across the table at Jaune.

The good atmosphere that had been building up sank a little. Jaune's smile faltered, then softened into something apologetic. "Not for a while," he admitted sadly.

"Huh...but..." Marigold's eyes began to tear up.

Jaune sighed, then got up, moving around the table. Pulling back Marigold's chair, he pulled her up, then sat down in it, now holding his youngest sister on his lap. "Sorry, Mari," he said softly. "But I'm still in school. I won't be able to come back home for another couple months, at least."

Marigold looked up, confused. "But Mom said that you'd be home after the festival."

Jaune frowned, then turned his head, first looking at Blaine, then to his mother, who was watching him with a plaintive look that was uncomfortably similar to Marigold's.

Jaune decided to let it slide for now, not wanting to bring up too much discord. "Mom just didn't know any better," he said, smiling back down at Marigold again. "I need to finish my first year. Then I can come back to visit for the winter break. We'll be together for Yule. Won't that be great?"

Marigold sniffed, rubbing her eyes, before looking up at him again. "Promise?"

"I promise," said Jaune.

"'Kay," said Marigold. "I want the biggest, bestest Yule gift ever."

Jaune chuckled, gently pulling his fingers through Marigold's curls. "Spoiled brat," he muttered, though he was smiling as he said it. "I'll see what I can do."

"Yay!" cheered Marigold, hugging him tightly.

Ruby and Jaune's other friends couldn't help but smile at the interplay between Jaune and his youngest, adoring sister. Yang was already softly gushing over how cute she was, and even Weiss was staring at the girl with a starstruck expression. It seemed that things were going well, and Jaune had made headway with his family. The majority of them had clearly accepted that he was staying at Beacon.

So why then...did the tension in the air seem to be rising?

Ruby could detect two sources for that tension. The first was Sapphira, sitting behind Jaune, looking at him with an expression that was...frightened. The other source was Aurea, who was now glaring furiously at the table, shoulders and arms trembling. Ruby got the sense that the girl was holding in an impending explosion, and her control was faltering a little more with each passing moment.

Jaune leaned down and kissed the top of Marigold's head. "Are you gonna be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Marigold, looking up at him hopefully. "Can we go to the festival together?"

"Sure," said Jaune.

"What about the tournament?" asked Xanthe.

"Well, I was only gonna be in the first round," said Jaune. "The next round is doubles, so it makes sense to send Ruby and Pyrrha together."

"Hmm...Are you sure about that?" asked Blaine. "I can understand, them being the two strongest members of your team. But that doesn't necessarily equate to better teamwork. They aren't partners either."

"Maybe not," agreed Jaune, moving back towards his seat. "But Ruby and Pyrrha spar a lot, you know. So they have the best idea of each other's abilities, so they'll be able to work together the best, out of all the possible pairs our team could put up."

"Very true," said Weiss, before sighing. "I would have liked the opportunity to showcase my skills for another round, before we sent Ruby on to the finals. However, pragmatism demands that we shelve our pride, and go with the pair that has the best possible chance of making it through the next round."

"You say 'best possible chance,'" Xanthe pointed out, "but, considering how they were in the first round, I'm gonna say that it's more like complete overkill."

"Exactly," said Jaune with a grin.

"Boy, do I feel sorry for your opponents," said Saphron, laughing.

"Me too," admitted Jaune. Ruby and Pyrrha, meanwhile, were blushing furiously under the praise being poured over them.

And then...Ruby sensed the mental sound of the last thread of someone's restraint snapping.

"I've had ENOUGH!" Aurea slammed her fists on the table, shooting to her feet. To either side of her, Xanthe and Citrine both leaned away from her, staring up with frightened gazes, gazes that were mirrored by the other younger girls, though Oriana and Saphron both narrowed their eyes angrily at Aurea. For his part, Blaine appeared to be mortified, stifling a groan as he planted his face in his hands, while Sapphira watched Jaune with a strangely worried expression, not even seeming to hear her daughter's outburst.

"When are you gonna stop acting like some kind of big shot?" demanded Aurea, pointing fiercely at Jaune, who leaned back away from her finger, like it was a loaded weapon. It was a sentiment that Ruby could understand well enough. "I am sick and tired of you pretending to be some kind of big deal, like you could actually make it here. There's no freaking way a clumsy loser could ever to hope to make it through Beacon!"

"And what do _you_ know?" demanded Yang, shooting to her feet, eyes turning red as she glared across the table at Aurea.

"Shut it, Bimbo!" snapped Aurea, glaring back at Yang, seemingly unperturbed by her rage.

"What did you call me?" snarled Yang, her body beginning to glow, the air in the room becoming uncomfortably hot.

Ren reached over and rested his fingers against Yang's forearm. A second later, the light faded from Yang's body, and her eyes returned to their normal color.

Aurea had already moved on, returning her angry gaze to Jaune, who'd recovered and was now looking back with a determined expression. "What do I know?" she asked rhetorically. "As if...I'm the _only_ one who knows! I know what a loser you are, Jaune! You can't do anything without someone holding your hand! That's why you're gonna come back home, like you _should_."

"I'm not leaving Beacon," said Jaune firmly. "And we're long past the point where you can _make_ me, Sis."

"We'll see about that," growled Aurea. "I know better than anyone what a weakling you are. It has nothing to do with training. You're just pathetic. That's all. That's why you've hid behind me all your life. That's why you should know better than to stick your neck out like this.

"You're doing it now too. This should be just between us, just between _family_. But here you are, hiding behind a bunch of other people you've dragged into this for no other reason than that you know you can't face us by yourself."

"Because having seven people ganging up on him is fair at all," scoffed Weiss.

"Stay out of this, Schnee," snarled Aurea, transferring her glare to Weiss. "I know that _you're_ the reason we're in this fancy restaurant. Just look at the way he's leeching off your money! That's exactly what a pathetic loser like him would do."

To Aurea's surprise, Weiss threw back her head and laughed. It was bordering on the classic noblewoman's laugh that they'd seen in some cartoons, a haughty sound, laden with disdain. "As if, you brat," replied Weiss, smirking across the table at Aurea. "Believe me, I've had people trying to leech off my family name my whole life. If your brother was no different, we wouldn't even _be_ here. I have much better things to do with my time and money than waste it on some shallow idiot who's hoping to use his connections to impress a bumpkin like yourself."

Aurea reeled back, shocked by Weiss' rejoinder, clearly not expecting that kind of response from her.

Now it was Weiss' turn to rise to her feet, leaning forward to slap her hands down on the table. With her height, it wasn't as intimidating as the gesture could be, particularly since she'd lost the added inches that she'd previously had with her heels. But the force of her glare was more than enough to make up for her lack of stature.

"So, if I'm wiling to do this for Jaune, it's because I care for him enough to put some extra effort into making sure that his attempt to reconcile with his family goes well, even if that means putting up with the vapid accusations of a brat like you."

Jaune reached over, resting his fingers on top of Weiss' knuckles. The light touch was enough to make her look over at him, her expression cooling as she locked eyes with him. Then, after a moment, Weiss let out a breath, and settled back into her seat.

Jaune returned his gaze to Aurea, who was still taken aback by Weiss' response. "You said this was between _family_, right? Well, these people here, these _are_ my family now. They may not be related to me by blood, but we've been through so much together that I would do anything for them, and I know they would do anything for me."

"That's...that's not right," protested Aurea.

"I'm not the same brother you used to kick around, Sis," said Jaune, staring at her levelly. "If you can't accept that, then that's your problem. I'm not going anywhere, and the days where you could shout and hit me to get me to do what you wanted are long gone."

"She did _what_ to you?" gasped Yang, her eyes flashing red.

"I'll break her legs!" snarled Nora, getting out of her seat.

Aurea reeled back, frightened by the anger of the two powerful girls rising up with the intent to give her a taste of her own medicine. However, Yang and Nora both froze as Ren rested a hand on each of their arms, his Semblance sweeping away their anger once more.

"Don't resort to violence," he said simply.

Jaune got up again, making his way around the table, and coming to a stop right in front of Aurea. "If you don't believe me," he said, "then take your best shot. If you won't listen to what I have to say, then I'll just have to show you."

Aurea growled, glaring furiously at him.

"Jaune!" protested Oriana, getting up.

"Hold on-!" added Xanthe, doing the same.

Both stopped when Jaune raised a hand towards them, not looking away from Aurea as he did so.

All the while, Ruby looked on with a dispassionate expression. She hadn't been happy to learn that Aurea had been abusing Jaune physically, on top of the emotional abuse he'd been suffering at the hands of the rest of his family before. But she was able to sense what lurked beneath the anger that Aurea had pulled around herself like armor...the fear that festered deep down in her soul.

Sasame also looked on, her tail completely still behind her, while she rested her elbows on the table, hands clasped together. There was a serious look on her face. However, she too took no action, instead waiting to see how Jaune settled this affair by himself.

"Well?" prodded Jaune. "Are you gonna stand there, Sis? Or are you gonna show everyone what a wuss I am?"

Aurea glared, taking a step back, then a step forward...then back again. There was nothing that she would have liked to do more than clock her brother across the jaw. But, for some reason...there was something about him right now...something that intimidated her.

_Me...scared of Jaune...that wussy, whiny noodle? No way!_

Her fist clenched, and Aurea brought it up, a gesture that, not so long ago, would have had Jaune cowering away from her, hands over his head, begging her to not do it. But now...Jaune didn't even flinch.

"All right...you asked for it!" With that, Aurea punched out, her fist striking Jaune right in the jaw.

"Ah!" Aurea yelped as her knuckles practically bounced off her brother's face, feeling as though she'd hit a solid steel plate. _What the hell?_

"You sure you put anything into that, Sis?" asked Jaune, his tone level, even as he taunted her. "I didn't even feel that."

"You asshole!" snapped Aurea, putting everything into her next swing. This time she'd put Jaune in his place-

"_Crack!_"

Aurea shrieked, reeling back, cradling her right hand in her left.

Jaune sighed, reaching out to take Aurea's hand in his, ignoring her pained cries as he straightened her fingers, making sure her bones were properly aligned, then sending his Aura into them, gently mending them back together. Aurea's cries disappeared along with the pain, prompting her to stare uncomprehendingly at the light of his Aura entering into her hand, and fixing what she'd broken.

As Jaune had begun his treatment, Sasame had leaned forward incrementally, her eyes narrowing as she watched him work. However, as the healing progressed, she relaxed again. _What wonderful composure, not even the slightest hint of negativity contaminating his Aura. His training is going well indeed._

"You know, after sparring with Yang so much, it's made me realize just how bad at punching you actually are, Sis," scolded Jaune, still using that same level tone. "You keep doing it like that, and you're only gonna hurt your hand even worse." He let go of her hand. "There...Ready to try again?"

Aurea pulled her hand back, holding her right wrist with her left hand, wiggling her previously-broken fingers experimentally, unable to believe what had just happened. She'd just hit Jaune with everything she'd had...and _he'd_ been the one who'd hurt her.

Jaune loomed over her. "Well, Sis...What's next? I've fixed your hand again, so you should be good to go. Aren't you gonna show me how pathetic I am?"

Aurea found herself unconsciously retreating. Still cradling her hand, even though there was no more pain coming from it, Aurea stared up at Jaune with shock and fear. _This...this isn't right. This isn't how it's supposed to go. Why...?_

"Why...?" she asked aloud.

"Why what?" Jaune asked back.

"Why can't you just..._stay_?" demanded Aurea, glaring up at him with tearful eyes. "You're so. Goddamned. _Weak_! You're only gonna go get yourself killed! You've gotta come home! You're...you're supposed to be with me...because...because..."

"Because what?" prodded Jaune.

"Because I'm supposed to be the one _protecting_ you, you dummy!" she shouted, abruptly surging forward, pounding her hands fiercely against his chest. "That's how it always was! That's how it was supposed to be! But you kept talking about being a Huntsman, about putting yourself in danger! I had to make you _understand_!"

_So that's how it is,_ thought Ruby, her face falling at the realization.

Once again, she was struck by how similar Jaune's experience had been to her own, constantly being told he was incapable, surrounded by a family that would have liked nothing more than to keep him at home, where he could be "safe". She was reminded all too much of how her own father had treated her.

In some ways, this was even _worse_ than what her father had put her through. Taiyang had been fiercely authoritarian with her, horrifically controlling, and constantly belittling her. But he'd never tried to hurt her. Even during their last altercation, he had been fixated on disarming her without striking her. But Jaune's own sister had apparently hit him, on multiple occasions. Even if she was doing it because she was actually worried about him, it was the kind of thing that bordered on unforgivable.

It was a sentiment her friends shared, all of them glaring unsympathetically at Aurea. None of them would have objected to Jaune telling Aurea to get lost, considering that he was too good a person to give her a taste of her own medicine, however cathartic that would have been. By all rights, Jaune shouldn't have wanted _anything_ to do with Aurea, considering the way she'd treated him.

Which made it all the more shocking when Jaune lifted his arms and wrapped them around Aurea's shoulders, pulling her into a tight hug that had her pressing her cheek up against the base of his neck. From the shocked widening of her eyes, it was clear that Aurea was surprised too. This was the last kind of response she'd been expecting.

There was something else she noticed too. Before, she'd wondered why she was unconsciously intimidated by Jaune, when he confronted her. But now..._When did Jaune get so...big?_

Jaune had been a little taller than her for some time now. But his meek, dorky nature had always made him seem smaller than her in many ways. It had incited her protective instincts, which, combined with her parents' and older siblings' attitude towards him, had made her want to work to ensure he couldn't go off somewhere on his own, where he might get himself killed with his stupid fixation on heroics.

But now...after standing up to her, and enfolding her in this encompassing hug, Aurea had come to realize that Jaune seemed...bigger...than before. It was more than just a matter of stature and physique. There was a confidence there, something that Jaune had lacked before, an ease that came from a strong belief on his own abilities, not the shallow kind that came from arrogance, but a deep affirmation of the strength he'd gained through his own hard work.

Jaune's arms tightened around her, to the point where the hug was almost painful. However, that tightness was warm and comforting to Aurea, for some reason. She couldn't understand...didn't _want_ to understand.

"It hurt, you know," said Jaune softly. "It wasn't just hitting me that hurt, the way you talked down to me, tried to keep me from doing what I wanted with my life, always intimidating me into doing what you wanted...that was why I left. That was why I resented you...even hated you."

Aurea unconsciously gasped, more tears spilling from her eyes. _Jaune...hates me..._

She wasn't the only one. Oriana and Xanthe had covered their mouths, tears spilling from their eyes. Even his younger sisters were on the verge of crying, able to sense that they too were the objects of some of those bitter feelings. In their desire to protect Jaune, they had stifled him, confined him, even infantilized him to some extent. The weight of all those things had pressed down upon him, and Jaune had come to resent and hate them for what they'd put him through.

None of them had wanted it to be that way. They all adored their only brother, and that dopey smile of his. They loved his friendly personality, his kindness, even that noble spirit that drove him to help others, even though that was also what had driven him towards the dangerous career of a Huntsman.

And now the questions were emerging in their heads. When had been the last time that Jaune had actually smiled around his family? When had he last been willing to talk and tease his older sisters? When had he stopped approaching and initiating fun playtimes with his younger sisters? When had he started doing things that had kept him from eating at the same table as the rest of them? When had he started avoiding Aurea at school?

All of those questions and realizations rattled around in their heads, and they began to understand that, on some level, Jaune had stopped looking at them like family. He had started to consider them jailers; not people he wanted to be around, but people he wanted to _escape_ from. To that end, he had taken the desperate measure of obtaining forged transcripts and running away to Beacon, on the slim hope that he could be accepted and would be able to follow the path to his dream.

Jaune continued. "Even now, there's a part of me that _still_ hates you, that doesn't want to forgive you. At least part of me wants to get up, right here and now, and leave with the family I've _made_ for myself at Beacon, the family who supported, helped, and encouraged me more than any of you _ever_ did."

Oriana and Xanthe choked back sobs, while the younger girls weren't near so restrained. Poor Marigold was openly shedding tears, gritting her teeth and trying her absolute hardest to keep from breaking into despondent wails. Even Saphron was shedding silent tears, emotionally affected, despite being the only one of Jaune's sisters who'd supported him, however distantly. Blaine was staring at the table, shamefaced. Sapphira, meanwhile, was staring at her son with a look of disbelief.

Jaune took a a deep breath. "But the bigger part of me...is the part that still _loves_ you...all of you. I still remember the times where we were all happy together, where we could laugh and talk and play. And I want to have those times again."

The girls all gasped, even Aurea, their eyes going wide with hope.

"And so...even though thinking about what you did still hurts...I'm going to forgive you," said Jaune. "But...the other side of that is that I'm done compromising. I'm going to follow the path I've chosen. I'm not going to give that up for anything. I'm going to become a Huntsman. You've all protected me until now...but now I'm going to become someone strong enough to protect all of you. If you can accept that, then that's great. But...if not...then this is the last time we'll ever talk as a family ever again."

Jaune gripped Aurea's shoulders, pushing her back so that he could look her in the eye. "Do you understand?"

Aurea offered no acknowledgement to his question, neither nodding nor shaking her head. Instead, her eyes boiled over with fresh tears. "Jaune!" she wailed, throwing herself at him.

A second later, she wasn't the only one. It was the younger girls first, all jumping up and tackling Jaune and Aurea in hugs of their own. Then Oriana and Xanthe jumped in as well, all of them piling on Jaune in a massive group-hug, centered on him. Finally, Saphron too got to her feet, coming over and gently draping her arms around them in as much of an all-encompassing hug that she was able to give. All of them were crying, some loudly, others softly, most of them simply sobbing Jaune's name over and over again.

Jaune's friends looked on, many of them smiling fondly. Yang was frowning down at the table, unsure of how she felt herself, knowing that Jaune's family had physically and emotionally abused him (however well-intentioned that might have been). It felt like simply letting them off the hook for everything they had pulled.

_Then again...it's not as though I was much better,_ she thought to herself, remembering, and feeling guilty over, those early days where she'd allowed her jealousy over Jaune's closeness to Ruby to get the better of her, leading to her attacking and threatening him. _I guess I'm not one to talk about who he can and can't forgive._

Weiss, on the other hand, was fidgeting nervously. She'd understood quite well the reason why Jaune had wanted to hold this reunion in a private room. Anticipating the possibility of raised voices, she'd even made sure to check her restaurant selection's soundproofing, the final criteria that had led her to choosing this particular establishment. However, they'd already made their orders, and it was only a matter of time until the waitstaff would arrive with their meals. She didn't like the idea of what impression they would get, if they entered to find a mess like this.

Fortunately, more gourmet establishments, like this one, often took longer to prepare their orders, particularly when it was for a larger party, like this one. Weiss had even taken the trouble to give the maitre di a general overview of what would be going on in the room to get them a little breathing room, suggesting that they take their time, when it came to processing the group's orders. Despite that, Weiss couldn't help but be anxious at the idea of waiters bumbling in on this scene, even if she also knew there was no real way to hurry it along.

Ruby found herself smiling fondly at the scene in front of her, glad to see that Jaune and his sisters could come to an understanding. It made her a little jealous, considering what had happened with her father. Likewise, Sasame looked on proudly, glad that Jaune had been able to follow her advice.

However, both Ruby and Sasame found themselves glancing at the last member of Jaune's family, the only one who hadn't yet seemed to have accepted the situation. Sapphira Arc stared down at the table, silent, tears falling from her eyes. Even though Blaine was mainly happy to watch as his daughters reconciled with their brother, he couldn't help but glance nervously at his wife, from time to time.

Finally, Jaune's sisters pulled away from him. "Thanks," he said softly, reaching out to ruffle the hair of his youngest siblings. "I love you girls."

"_We love you too,_" said his sisters in unison.

"And I definitely know I'll feel better about being at Beacon, knowing I have your support," continued Jaune.

The girls nodded. But then a soft voice spoke up from the end of the table where his parents were seated.

"I won't accept it..."

"Mom...?" Jaune tilted his head, regarding Sapphira with confusion...and a little trepidation. His sisters parted to clear the space between them.

Sapphira was still staring stubbornly at the table, tears running more freely down her face. "I won't accept it," she repeated, before throwing her head up to glare furiously at her son. "I _refuse_ to accept it!"

"Mom, what-?" Jaune began to ask.

He was shocked when Sapphira rocketed to her feet and abruptly lunged at him, grabbing his upper arms with surprising strength, a subtle reminder that this woman had once been a Huntress herself. "I won't allow it!" she declared. "You need to come home! You _have_ to come home, Jaune! You can't do this to me! You have no idea...no idea..."

"No idea, _what_, Mom?" asked Jaune, his expression hardening.

"You don't know what it was like!" shouted Sapphira. "When...when you were born..." She sobbed, dipping her head down, her eyes briefly hidden behind her bangs, before she abruptly lifted them up again. "You were so small, so...so weak...When you were born...they wouldn't even let me _hold_ you! They just took you right away, and hooked you up to life support. They told me you'd probably be dead by tomorrow, and I just..."

Sapphira collapsed against him, sobbing, unable to form words for another minute. Jaune's sisters looked on, aghast; the older ones shocked to hear their mother speaking so openly about a topic they'd been sworn to secrecy on, the younger ones shocked to hear the reason for their parents and older siblings' overprotective attitudes towards Jaune.

Finally, she found her voice again. "And...and when you pulled through...they were all still so pessimistic. It was a miracle you survived a week...a month...a year...you kept getting sick, over and over again...and they'd just tell me not to get my hopes up...and then...it was all over! You were better, and it was like it never happened...and nobody knows _why_?"

_I understand a little better now,_ thought Sasame. Jaune's situation at birth certainly carried the strong scent of the inexplicable. For almost a full year, he'd been hit with one depressing prognosis after another. And then...out of nowhere...it was over. He was better, perfectly healthy, and the previous year of fear and impending loss had abruptly seemed like nothing more than a passing nightmare. And yet, the inexplicable nature of Jaune's recovery had only made it all the _more_ frightening to his mother. If they had no means of explaining _how_ he'd made such a miraculous recovery, then it seemed just as likely that his condition was capable of, just as inexplicably, taking a turn for the worst. That uncertainty had clearly been eating at Jaune's mother for the entirety of her son's life. It didn't help that, as a former-Huntress herself, Sapphira had a _very_ good idea of just how dangerous the profession was, which only made her more-inclined to oppose her only son's choice.

Explaining _why_ Jaune had somehow been able to mysteriously overcome the issues he'd had at birth wouldn't really help. His mother was in no state to hear explanations about Shamans and special abilities. And the fact that they didn't yet understand the true nature of the mechanism behind Jaune's ability wouldn't help either. Clinical, purely rational, arguments like that wouldn't be much help in swaying her.

"Mom, I'm fine," said Jaune firmly. "I'm healthier and stronger than I've ever been."

"But for how long?" Sapphira protested. "Don't you understand? If you could get better suddenly, just like that...then you could get sick again, just as easily. It could happen anytime, and then...then...where would you be?

"I can't accept it! I _won't_ accept it! I can't stand the thought of you putting your life in danger, when you could already collapse from illness at anytime. That's why you need to come home. You_ have_ to come home! Don't you have any idea what this is doing to me?"

Sapphira stared up into Jaune's face with pleading eyes, laden with all her pained desperation. It was the look of a woman terrified out of her wits, someone who was already seeing the worst possible scenario playing out before her eyes, even though there wasn't the slightest hint of it happening in reality.

Jaune sighed. "No," he said simply. "I _don't_ have any idea what this is doing to you, Mom. And I likely never will."

Sapphira gasped in shock and disbelief. Her daughters were similarly stunned by that seemingly callous statement on Jaune's part.

Jaune looked at her, forcing down his anger. "I have no idea what it was like for you. I was too young, so I don't remember_ any_ of that. So even when you tell me straight to my face, I still don't really understand how scary it was for you, Mom. It's even worse, since I spent my whole life being treated like I might break underneath the slightest strain, without having any idea why."

_Though that didn't seem to stop her from looking the other way when his sister was hitting him,_ Yang noted with silent fury.

Jaune continued. "That fear...it's yours, Mom. I can't empathize with it, and I hope I never do." _The last thing I'd ever want is to go through that kind of fear with any child of my own._ "I can't spend the rest of my life having things decided by your fear, Mom. I'm growing up, and I'm making my own way. You have to accept that. If you can't..."

Sapphira trembled. "No...please, no...please don't...I can't..."

"You have to."

It wasn't Jaune that spoke this time...but Ruby. She spoke in a quiet voice, one that was almost a whisper. And yet, somehow, it was heard clearly by everyone in the room, even the sobbing mother, clinging desperately to her only son.

Getting up, Ruby moved around the table, coming to stand at Jaune's side. Her expression was calm, yet unhappy, a slight frown on her face as she locked eyes with Jaune's mother, who looked at Ruby as though she were something completely incomprehensible.

"If you want Jaune to still see you as his mother, if you want him to still be your family, then you have to accept this," said Ruby. "Everything I've heard from you...it's all about _you_. _Your_ fear, _your_ pain, what_ you've_ been through...Everything you've been saying, all your reasons for not letting Jaune go, they're all about _yourself_!"

"Tha-that's..." Sapphira tried to protest. "But Jaune could..."

"Yeah, he could die," agreed Ruby. "And it could happen at anytime, whether he stays at home or not. People die too easily. That's the way the world works. That's true of everyone; Jaune, me, anyone at this table. Your daughters too..."

Everyone shifted uneasily. Being reminded of one's own mortality was always an unsettling topic of conversation.

"In the end, all the fretting and worrying, and rolling Jaune up in twenty miles of bubblewrap won't change that," continued Ruby. "If you can't get over that fear, can't let it go, then you're going to lose Jaune in an even worse way."

"What do you know?" demanded Sapphira, now glaring furiously at Ruby.

"I know, because you're just like _him_," said Ruby.

"Who?" asked Sapphira.

"My dad," said Ruby, causing a soft intake of breath to echo from around the table. "You're just like him, so afraid of what _could_ happen that you refuse to accept what _is_ happening, right in front of you. And the worst thing is that you're so focused on your feelings that you've stopped caring about Jaune as a person. He's nothing more than a thing to you now."

"That's...that's not true," protested Sapphira.

Ruby glared at her. "Do you know where my dad is now?" she asked.

"Of course not," replied Sapphira.

"He's in a mental institution," said Ruby, prompting another gasp from the Arc family, though her own friends were already aware of the situation. "He was so obsessed with bringing me home that he didn't care what lines he crossed. So, in the end, they had to lock him up in a place where, maybe, he might be able to get the help he needs.

"The problem is, even if he does get that help, even if he does change for the better...it's too late for him, as far as I'm concerned."

Yang clapped her hands over her mouth, a strangled sob choking itself in her throat. Beside her, Ren and Blake reached over, resting comforting hands on her shoulders.

"I stopped seeing Taiyang Xiao Long as my father years ago," said Ruby. "When he suddenly reappeared in my life, I tried to accept him, tried to give him a chance to rebuild what we had...but that all ended when he _still_ refused to accept it. He never gave up on trying to drag me back home. So I gave up on _him_. Even if he changes, even if he's able to accept the choices I've made in my life, it's still over between us, because I don't have it in me to trust him ever again, to ever see him as my father again.

"Is that what you want for you and Jaune? Do you want him to stop seeing you as his mother? That's what's going to happen if you don't stop letting your fear rule you.

"Don't you understand!? This could be your _last_ chance! If you don't stop this, then, one day, you might come to your senses, wake up and realize how much you've been hurting Jaune, only to find that it won't matter. You won't be a mother to him, just the woman who happened to give birth to him...and it'll be too late to change that...just like it is for _him_, with me. Is that what you want?"

Sapphira gaped at Ruby, her eyes wide. Ruby hadn't spoken to assuage her fears, so it made all the more sense that Sapphira looked even_ more_ afraid now. It was clear that, however much she feared Jaune relapsing back into a period of life-threatening illness, the thought of losing his love, of no longer being seen as his mother, frightened her even _more_.

"It is the prerogative of any parent to want to see their child be healthy," said Sasame, her voice soft. "It is not wrong to wish to protect them, and shelter them from harm. However, such efforts must be sustained by _hope_ for their future, not fear of it. If you allow your fear to rule how you protect your child, you will find that you've left him too weak to bear the misfortune that will inevitably be visited upon him someday."

Sapphira glanced back and forth between Ruby and Sasame. It was clear that their words had struck a chord in her. However, it wouldn't be so easy to let go of the fear that she'd carried throughout her whole life, the worry she'd been saddled with, that had affected her, even after giving birth to three more children after Jaune. The fact that his younger siblings had all been born healthy and strong had only amplified her fear of what might happen to him in the future.

"Mom..."

Jaune's voice drew Sapphira's attention back to him, the boy she was still clinging to, the boy...who wasn't much of a boy anymore. He was looking down at her. At the moment, there was no affection in his gaze. Nor was there any anger or rejection. Instead, there was just a steadfast conviction, the look of someone who'd grown up.

Abruptly, it struck Sapphira, like a powerful punch to the gut. She'd missed it, Jaune growing from the weak, sickly infant he'd been, into a strong, confident, capable _man_. She'd been so obsessed, looking back and dwelling on those frightful first months of his life, that she'd missed how he'd grown up and changed in the present. Now she felt almost as though she were staring up into a stranger's face, a stranger who resembled her son. There was a distance there now, one that frightened her more than the thought of any return of his previous sickness ever could.

"Mom...please," said Jaune. "I'm going to become a Huntsman. I'm going to fight and protect people. And I really want you to accept that.

"Ruby's right. It was getting to the point were I was about to give up on seeing you as my mom. But I don't want that. I don't want to stop loving you. I don't want to give up on you. So, please..."

Sapphira tried to speak, to say anything. But she had no idea what she wanted to say anymore. Her heart felt as though it was being torn by pieces. Where there had just been one fear, now there were two fears, both revolving around the possibility of losing her only son, but losing him in different ways. A whine forced its way out of her mouth.

Then the next second, she collapsed against him, sobbing wordlessly. Now Jaune's arms came up, wrapping her in a tight hug, just as they had with Aurea. Lowering his head, Jaune kissed the top of his mother's, prompting her cries to cease, as she too suddenly realized just how much her son had grown.

She glanced over at Ruby, a girl she'd never met, before tonight. And now this girl was desperately entreating him to accept her son's decisions. "Why?" she asked. "Because he's your partner, your teammate...your...?"

"Because I love him," said Ruby simply, making Sapphira gasp. "Jaune is the most important person in the world to me. He's supported me so much, and I wouldn't be here without him. And, because I love him, I want Jaune to be happy. I don't want him to have to give up on you, the way I gave up on my father, because I can see how much he still loves and cares for you. I know that one of the things that would hurt him the most is if he was forced to choose between us. So...please don't make him."

Sapphira was stunned. After a moment, she transferred her gaze back to Jaune, who was watching her with a plaintive expression. "Please...Mom..."

"I...I don't know if I can," said Sapphira.

"I understand that it's hard, Mom," said Jaune. "You've had these feelings for a long time. But...please...try." He understood himself, just how hard it was to let go of the feelings that had festered inside of him so long, those feelings of anger and resentment towards his family. "I know it's unrealistic for me to expect you to pull a complete one-eighty. But...if you can at least try...then I can still be your son...so long as you keep trying, I'll still be there."

Sapphira sniffled, hesitating for the longest moment. Then, slowly, she gave the smallest of nods. "I...I'll try," she said.

"That's all I can ask," said Jaune, dipping down to kiss her crown once more. "Whatever else, I still love you, Mom."

Sapphira leaned back against him, and the two of them held each other for another couple of moments. Finally, Blaine got to his feet, and gently pulled Sapphira away from him.

"I think that's enough for now," he said, giving the entire group an apologetic smile. "The important thing is that we're all together. And, if you think about it, this means that our family has just gotten even bigger. Now...let's try to have a nice meal together, just like a family should."

"I couldn't agree more," said Weiss, almost sagging with relief.

Her relief was understandable, as mere minutes after everyone had gotten themselves settled and composed, the waiters arrived with their food.

* * *

**I hope Weiss didn't come off as callous, worrying about the restaurant staff seeing Jaune having a massive argument with his family. She just wants to help keep their problems private, so that it doesn't become a spectacle in front of other witnesses.**

**This chapter turned out a lot longer to write, largely because I had to incorporate and introduce Jaune's sisters in more detail than they had before. Of all of them, Aurea is basically the most important, given that she serves as a "nemesis" of sorts, on the Arc Family side of things, and she's the one who treated Jaune the worst.**

**Sometimes it's a pain in the neck, keeping track of all the characters in a story this large.**


	129. Chapter 129

**Chapter 129:**

The dinner that followed was more than a little on the awkward side. After so many emotional outbursts, it was hard to pick a normal conversation back up. Jaune's sisters and father tried talking to them about the tournament, and Jaune and his friends had done their best to respond. But it had done little to clear the uneasy feeling lingering over the gathering.

Still, by the end of it, everyone was smiling, even Sapphira. Over dessert, they wrapped up their plans for Jaune to spend time with his family during the festival. After that, it was time for them to head home (or the hotel, in the case of Jaune's family). Jaune saw them off with a smile.

Ruby sidled up next to him. "You think it's gonna be okay?" she asked.

"I think we might be able to manage," said Jaune. Turning around, he swept Ruby up in a hug, eliciting a squeal from her, which he promptly silenced with a kiss to her lips. "Thank you...for everything."

Ruby kissed him back. "Thank you," she said back. "No matter what, we'll be on each other's side."

"Yeah," agreed Jaune.

They shared another lingering kiss.

Sasame looked on with a fond smile. Then her ears picked up a faint, almost inaudible, sniff, coming from right next to her. Looking over, Sasame's smile faltered as she saw Yang wiping her eyes. The look she wore wasn't the proud smile of a sister, happy to see her little sister growing up so well. Instead, there was a look of regret on her face.

"Yang-chan...?" prodded Sasame.

Yang sniffled again, before pulling out her scroll and glancing forlornly at it. "I guess it was stupid of me to try," she said.

"Try what?" asked Sasame.

Yang explained what she'd been doing, how she'd been taking pictures of Ruby at her happiest, and sending them to her father, via his therapist. It had been her hope that, after seeing how happy and fulfilled Ruby was, Taiyang would finally come to accept reality, and give up on forcefully trying to bring Ruby back home.

"I was an idiot," said Yang. "I...I thought if I could just help him fix himself, then maybe..." She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. "But it's too late. She's already given up on him. So...I've just been wasting my time, I guess."

"Oh, Yang-chan," said Sasame softly. She pulled Yang down into a hug, her tails dividing so that all nine of them around Yang in a fluffy cocoon. Leaning in, she planted a kiss on Yang's forehead.

"You aren't wrong," said Sasame.

"I'm not...?" asked Yang.

Sasame smiled and nodded. "If anything, I'm proud of you for having the strength to keep trying, to continue to try and bring your family back together. It shows just what a wonderful, loving girl you are. It makes me proud that I can call someone like you my sister."

Yang smiled briefly, before her frown returned. "But...it's all for nothing, isn't it?"

"Maybe..." conceded Sasame. "...Maybe not. It's true that Ruby-chan will most likely never accept Taiyang-san as her father ever again. But that doesn't mean that there's _no_ hope for love between them.

"The sad truth is that some things; be they objects, people, or feelings; can be lost, never to be regained. Ruby-chan will probably never be able to look at Taiyang-san as her father again. But that doesn't mean you have to give up on her being able to recognize him as _family_. There is always possibility, always hope...Granted, the impetus is mainly on Taiyang-san. Before anything else can happen, _he_ must overcome his weakness, and take responsibility for the way he has behaved. Then, he must resolve to accept the way things _are_, rather than fixating on the way they _were_. If he can manage those things, then...maybe..."

She used her thumbs to wipe away Yang's tears. "Of course, part of that is that you should never stop trying. Even if your efforts never bear fruit, it's still important you try, because it's such an important piece of who you are, and what makes you such a wonderful person."

"Thanks...Sasame-nee," said Yang, grinning.

Sasame squealed softly, then pulled Yang in to kiss her forehead again. "No matter what, I'm rooting for you, Yang-chan," she whispered softly.

Yang settled into the comfortable embrace, finding herself nearly lulled to sleep.

* * *

After the emotional turmoil that had been dinner on Friday evening, RASP and RYNB had returned to their dorm rooms and all but collapsed in exhaustion. Even Weiss, worried about what was awaiting her at Whitley's gala, found herself passed out from the emotional rollercoaster that dealing with Jaune's parents and sisters had been.

On some level, she was utterly floored that Jaune had found it in himself to forgive his parents and sisters for what they'd put him through. Sure, they appeared to have realized what they'd done, but that didn't magically make it all go away. If Weiss' own father suddenly pulled an emotional one-eighty, and completely changed his life, if he'd suddenly realized what a monster he was, and came to regret the way he'd treated his wife and children, and came to her, begging forgiveness...Weiss was fairly certain that she _wouldn't_ find it in herself to forgive him.

Not that there was much risk of _that_ happening. However terrible their treatment of him had been, the fact remained that Jaune's family had treated him like that out of care for him, however perverted a form that care had taken. Weiss was under no such illusions that her father had any such benign motives, though he occasionally paid lip-service to them.

In the end, the only thing that Jacques Schnee cared about was his own enrichment. The Schnee name was merely something he'd taken on to advance his own ambitions. The Schnee Dust Company nothing more than a collection of assets that represented just how much wealth and power he possessed. The only thing that mattered was that it continued to make him money, and kept him a figure of influence amongst the powerful. If the SDC ever lost its value, Jacques would abandon it as heartlessly as he had his own family name.

That enmity Weiss felt for her father extended to her brother as well. Whitley was a schemer, a manipulator, Jacques' favorite for good reason. Her memories of him near always involved him mocking and teasing her and Winter for their fixation on the 'barbarism' of becoming Huntresses. Even when they'd occasionally used force to shut him up, Whitley still always seemed unbearably smug about it, as though he'd won something.

Those feelings all left Weiss alone for the night, at least. But they came back when she woke back up, and Whitley's gala was looming ahead that evening. Weiss awoke with an uneasy twisting feeling in her stomach, the knowledge that she and Ashley would have to go there, mingle with the racists and elitists that gathered around the Schnee name, and do their best to remain civil throughout the barrage of insults that were bound to come their way. More than she felt trepidation at weathering that herself, Weiss felt guilt for Ashley needing to be subjected to that. Even with the "plan" they'd come up with, she still felt guilty for bringing Ashley to interact with _those_ kinds of people.

Even so, they had decided to go through with it. So, when everyone went their separate ways for the day, Weiss met up with Ashley for their critical errand...choosing their dresses.

* * *

"Um...I still have the dress from the dance," Ashley pointed out as Weiss led them into the same shop they'd used last time. "Do we really need to get new ones?"

"Sadly, yes," said Weiss. "There are pictures out there of us in those dresses, I'm sure. And while that may not mean much, the fact that we haven't gotten new dresses for this event can be seen as a way for the people there to look down on us."

"Isn't that, kinda...?" Ashley struggled to figure out how to say it.

"Stupid?" supplied Weiss helpfully. Seeing Ashley nod, she sighed. "Yes, it is. It's such a vapid and shallow criteria to judge people by, and it's the kind of judgment practiced by those with more money than sense, the kind of idiots who buy an outfit to show off exactly once, then never wear again, because they feel that being able to afford a brand new one every time makes them better than other people."

"Ugh!" grunted Ashley.

Weiss had to agree. "As much as I don't like it either, we'll play by their rules, for now. We're going to be doing something audacious after all, so we'll need to protect ourselves as best we can."

"Protect ourselves...?" Ashley frowned in confusion.

"Think of it like this," explained Weiss, resting her hands on Ashley's upper arms, looking her in the eyes. "We're not just shopping for dresses, we're looking to buy armor."

"Armor...?"

Weiss nodded. "In that room, with _those_ people, the dresses we wear will be our first line of defense. In high society, your dress is your battle-gear. When we enter that room, we'll do it holding our heads high, because we will have absolutely _nothing_ to be ashamed of."

"I...I think I get it," said Ashley.

"Good," said Weiss. "Because that's especially important for you. You're going to enter a room filled with people who share Father's view of faunus. But remember...regardless of what they say or do...you have _nothing_ to be ashamed of, least of all who and what you are."

"Thank you," said Ashley.

Weiss leaned in and stole a swift kiss from her. "Now...let's give those idiots something to gossip about."

"Right," said Ashley, nodding her head sharply.

* * *

"Let's go here next!" shouted Marigold excitedly.

Jaune and Ruby could only grin as the youngest Arc daughter towed them behind her. They were both holding onto one of her hands, so that Marigold was between them. When she leaned and pulled forward, she was hanging over far enough that, if they let go, she'd fall flat on her face.

Still, they clung gamely on, managing to maintain their balance in the face of little Marigold's surprising strength. They happily allowed her to pull them towards the latest object that had caught her interest. It was a stall showcasing a variety of jewelry pieces that came from some famous artisan in Mistral.

"Wow!" exclaimed Marigold, staring at a necklace in a display case.

Jaune, with some relief, noted that it wasn't the most expensive thing on display, but it was pricy all the same. His account was beginning to fill up again, but he was still in the process of recovering from the sum he'd dumped into the outfit Yukimura had made for him. As such, the necklace on display would set him back a fair bit, but wouldn't completely wipe out his finances.

_I'd like to go without needing Ruby and the others to pay for our meals out for a little while longer,_ thought Jaune wryly.

As he'd expected, Marigold quickly whipped her head around to look plaintively at him. "Can I get this?"

"You can," said Jaune, reaching out to ruffle her hair. "But remember what I told you?"

Marigold's smile faltered a little.

"You get _one_ gift," said Jaune, his voice firm. "If you want this, then that's it. Are you gonna be okay? What if you see something later you want even more?"

The certainty on Marigold's face wavered.

"Remember, even if you don't find something else you'd like more, we can still come back here and buy it later," Jaune pointed out.

Ruby leaned over to whisper into his ear. "What if someone else buys it first?" she asked. While she understood Jaune's reasoning, she knew that, if that happened, and Marigold settled on the necklace, only to come back and find it had been sold to someone else, she'd be devastated.

In answer to that, Jaune flagged down the pleasant-mannered, older woman running the stall, explaining the situation to her. The woman listened, and practically melted when she saw the plaintive look on Marigold's face. She happily promised to put the necklace on hold for the remainder of the day, laughing gayly at the sunny smile that lit up Marigold's face.

"Pretty smooth," Ruby whispered as they moved on, Marigold once again between them.

Jaune grinned playfully. "Welcome to being an _older_ sibling. You're watching a veteran at work."

Ruby laughed, prompting Marigold to look up inquisitively, only for Ruby to flash a fond smile down at her.

It wasn't all that surprising that, the very day after reconciling with everyone, Marigold would be texting Jaune on his scroll, begging him to take her to the festival. Ruby had happily accompanied him, plenty infatuated with Marigold's cuteness already. It wasn't a date with Jaune, but, in some ways, it was even better.

Of course, being Saturday, the festival grounds were especially crowded. The next round of the tournament wouldn't commence until Monday. It was the weekend too, which didn't help matters. However, even if the tournament wasn't taking place, there was still plenty to see and do...even up in Amity.

Apparently, on off days, the coliseum staff led visitors on guided tours of the sections that they weren't normally allowed into, giving them a rare chance to see the inner workings of the architectural and technological wonder that was the giant, floating coliseum. On top of that, there were even live theater performances that took place in the arena, using the biome system to produce different environments to act as sets. In the evening, there would be a concert too. Yang was already champing at the bit to see _The Achievemen_ live on stage, up in Amity.

Ruby couldn't help but find it amazing, the sheer scope of things on offer. _This_ was the product of the festival that brought the people of all four Kingdoms together, pooling their resources and collective creativity to produce days upon days of once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Someday...she hoped that the Mibu could be a part of that, probably as a fifth Kingdom. She would love for more of the clan's people to experience what the Kingdoms had to offer and, just as much, wanted the other Kingdoms to see the amazing things her adopted people could do.

It was beginning now. Somewhere, out there, in these crowds, Ruby knew her friends from home were out and about too, experiencing everything the festival had to offer, encountering new things that would excite and inspire them, things they would take back to Leng, and hopefully use to help Sasame convince the rest of the clan that the Mibu needn't live apart from the world.

For now though, Ruby was content to enjoy the time she was spending with Jaune and his sister. She was treasuring this feeling of spending the day with the boy she loved, and someone from his family. Perhaps she was getting ahead of herself, but Ruby couldn't help but entertain the fantasy that, someday, they would be doing this exact same thing, except it wouldn't be Jaune's little sister suspended between them, but one of their _own_ children.

At that moment, Ruby was especially grateful that Sasame wasn't with them. Sasame was all too likely to catch Ruby's imaginings from her expression, and then tease her mercilessly about it. If her other friends were there, then they were just as likely to join in.

Thinking about her friends brought Ruby's mind around to Weiss and Ashley. The pair had gone off earlier, Weiss explaining that they needed to get new dresses for the gala. Yang had grumbled after they'd left, complaining that both Weiss and Ashley already _had_ dresses. Pyrrha had quietly explained that, in high society, that sort of pragmatic reuse of previously-worn garments could be seen as a sign of weakness. Naturally, everyone agreed that such a sentiment was stupid, which made it all the more galling that Weiss and Ashley had to play along with it.

"You okay?" asked Jaune, his smile faltering as he noticed that Ruby had adopted a more pensive expression.

"Just a little worried about Weiss and Ashley," said Ruby.

"Yeah...they're gonna be running the gauntlet tonight, for sure," agreed Jaune.

Ruby nodded.

"Nothing we can do about it," said Jaune, his expression resigned. "That's Weiss' battleground. We're just gonna have to leave it to her."

Ruby nodded again. She did her best to shuck her worries. She didn't want Marigold to catch onto her unease after all. So she put a smile on her face, and returned her focus to the moment, laughing and smiling as Marigold started towing them towards the next thing that had caught her eye, and would probably have her begging them buy it for her.

* * *

Choosing and picking out their dresses had taken Weiss and Ashley a significant portion of the afternoon, mainly finding one that would go best with Ashley's tail. After finishing that task, they left the dresses to the shop's staff to make whatever alterations were necessary. The pair of them chose to go to a nearby restaurant for an early dinner. There would be food at the gala, of course, but mostly small offerings, canapés and the like. It wouldn't do for them to wind up trembling from hunger partway through what was already guaranteed to be a stressful event.

Of course, they also needed to eat lightly. It wouldn't do to be overfull and bloated either. Weiss knew well enough that such a stress-inducing setting was also capable of upsetting a full stomach, and knew that neither she nor Ashley wanted to put up with that kind of issue.

After dinner, they returned to the dress shop to retrieve, and don, their dresses. Ashley was a bit surprised by that, wondering why Weiss was having them change at the shop itself.

"Going back to Beacon would take unnecessarily long," explained Weiss. "And we couldn't exactly go back to your apartment to change either. That would make it even more of a spectacle, if we had to travel all the way over from the faunus quarter, dressed like that."

Ashley nodded in agreement. "So...are we going to take a taxi then?"

To her surprise, Weiss smiled slyly. "I've made arrangements. Don't worry."

A few minutes later, when the pair emerged from the shop in their new dresses, their regular outfits tucked away into a bag hanging from Weiss' arm, those arrangements became apparent.

A pure-white limousine was parked right at the edge of the curb, a familiar stocky, and slightly portly man standing beside the door. Ashley remembered him from that day at Amity. The man broke out into a radiant smile upon the sight of Weiss, the kind of smile that Ashley would expect from a proud father. From his manner alone, one would never have thought he was actually the _butler_ to the Schnee family.

"Weiss, you look beautiful," declared Klein, sweeping her into a hug.

"Thank you, Klein," said Weiss, pulling away from him.

Klein's smile faltered, and he looked between Weiss and Ashley. "Are you sure you wish to go through with this?"

"I am," said Weiss.

"Your father will not take this well."

Weiss nodded. "I've decided that the time has come to stop caring about Father's preferences."

Klein swallowed nervously. "You're prepared then?"

"I am," said Weiss firmly.

Klein nodded. Then he opened the door into the back of the limo. "Then let us proceed."

Weiss and Ashley entered the passenger cabin, while Klein climbed into the driver's seat. A moment later, they were on their way. Ashley and Weiss waited in a tense silence, holding hands tightly.

Finally, it was Ashley who broke that silence. "Your butler's nice," she said.

Weiss smiled at that. "Klein is wonderful," she said. "He's the man who raised us after all. He was more of a father to us than our _actual_ father was."

That felt like such a sad thing to Ashley, that a man who was, for all intents and purposes, hired help, had taken the role of parent in the eyes of a girl who wasn't his, while the man who'd actually sired her was seen as an adversary to overcome. However, Ashley supposed that was just one of the ways in which life for the rich and powerful could get so messed up.

_Not that being in the lower classes is any guarantee of parental love either,_ thought Ashley. While she herself had been fortunate to be blessed with two loving parents, who were willing to make time for her, and indulge her wants occasionally, she'd seen how, even amongst people in their own income level, families could fall apart. Sometimes, it was the children she'd gone to school with. Other times, it was the neighbors in their own apartment building. There were children who almost never saw their parents, because said parents were working constantly to provide for them, or in an effort to raise them out of their current conditions. There were children who'd had one parent or another...or both...turn to alcohol to cope with the stress of their lot in life, sometimes with disastrous consequences. It seemed that those kinds of family problems were beyond class.

But this was still a unique situation. Weiss was going to a party hosted by her little brother. And she and Ashley were treating it like they were marching to the battlefield. Weiss spoke of Jacques Schnee, her own father, as someone they needed to counter or defeat. And the main reason for that was that, presently, Weiss was the presumptive heir to the Schnee Dust Company. Billions of lien hung in the balance, and the question of who that money would go to had turned siblings into something resembling enemies. It was an uncomfortable thought for Ashley.

Still, the fact that Weiss was willing to give that up for her, willing to risk the censure of her father and the machinations of her brother to stand by Ashley, thrilled the faunus-girl to the core. As such, her hand tightened a little more around Weiss' own, Weiss returning the favor. Ashley draped her tail over Weiss shoulders, and Weiss brought her free hand up to stroke through its soft, bushy fur.

For her part, what had Weiss the most uneasy was the notion of what she was throwing away. It wasn't losing her wealth and privilege as an heiress that really worried her. No...what troubled her the most, what made her stomach squirm and kept her up at nights, was the sensation that she was shirking her responsibility.

Jacques Schnee had turned the SDC into an economic powerhouse, securing a near-monopoly on the single most-important resource in the world, becoming the primary provider of most of the technology related to said material's usage. Thanks to him, the SDC was the most powerful corporation in the world, and he wielded untold influence across all four Kingdoms.

But all that wealth and power had been built upon the backs of all the laborers he'd exploited, the faunus first and foremost amongst them. When she had decided to take over the company, Weiss had decided that her biggest goal would be to change that. She had to make things right. It wasn't just about restoring the name and reputation of her family's company, but doing something for the people currently suffering under her father's yoke. But now...she was casting all that aside. As far as she knew, Whitley had no such benevolent ambitions, so there was every likelihood that allowing the company to be taken over by him would just result in more of the same. Was she _really_ willing to allow that, simply for the sake of her own personal happiness?

_But...maybe...that's not the only way to fight that injustice,_ thought Weiss.

Coming to Beacon had been about defying her father, breaking free to become her own person, outside his stifling influence. And it had worked beyond her wildest imaginings, in ways she'd never expected. Meeting Ruby and Blake in particular had been eye-opening in the most amazing way. Through Blake, Weiss had learned to see things through the eyes of faunus, including why the White Fang had become so violent. She'd come to genuinely respect the faunus' desire to fight for their rights. And through Ruby...Weiss had learned more about _herself_, things she'd never imagined.

And that, Weiss realized, was where the answer to her conundrum might lay. Here, in Vale, right now, there were people who could achieve nigh-miraculous feats without needing a speck of Dust, people who had learned to tap into the power of their Auras, hailing from a culture that had built their entire civilization upon that power. If awareness of that power were spread, then...

Weiss found herself smiling at the idea.

* * *

The ride to _The Grand Silmaril_ was both too long and too short for their tastes. On one hand, the situation was such that it was hard for Ashley and Weiss to hold a conversation, both being mostly silenced by the tension. However, at the same time, they would have liked it to be a little longer before they had to emerge to face the trials that awaited them.

Still, the die had been cast. About half an hour after they had left the dress shop, the limousine came to a stop, and Klein opened the door, politely offering each of them a hand out. Weiss emerged first, followed by Ashley. When she stood on the sidewalk, Ashley paused, realizing that Klein had yet to release her hand. She looked at him questioningly.

"I hope that you and Weiss are able to make this work," he said softly.

"Me too," said Ashley.

Klein took her hand in both of his, squeezing it tightly. "Please...look after her as best you can. That's all I ask."

"I will," said Ashley.

"Thank you," said Klein, smiling up at her. "It would be my great pleasure to welcome you to our family."

A warm feeling arose in the pit of Ashley's stomach. When Klein said that, he wasn't talking about the Schnee Family, but the closer, more intimate family between him, Weiss, and Winter. That was a family that Ashley looked forward to joining far more than the idea of ever becoming part of the Schnee Family.

Releasing her hand, Klein bowed to her, then turned to enter the driver's seat of the limo once again. The car pulled away from the curb, and Ashley went to join Weiss, who was waiting at the door. Weiss didn't bother asking what Klein had been talking to her about. The smile on her face told Ashley that Weiss knew well enough.

Above them loomed the palatial facade of _The Grand Silmaril_, sometimes called the "Peerless Jewel of Vale." Ashley had seen the outside of this hotel before, occasionally, though it was in a part of town she rarely ever came to. She'd also seen shots of the interior on the network. Like just about any person, she had even entertained the fantasy of entering its doors as a guest, and partaking of the lavish accommodations and services the hotel offered.

Entering through the front doors of the lobby, Weiss and Ashley could see that the hotel's nickname was well-deserved. It was a sight to put the likes of _The Atlas Imperial_ to shame, from Weiss' perspective. Light from several chandeliers streamed down, the facets of the crystals hanging from the fixtures throwing glittering motes across the floor. On either side of the lobby, large fountains sent sprays of water flying into the air, only to descend onto crystal platforms, striking them with musical sounds, producing a continual song that filled the lobby in place of the standard pop-music most hotel lobbies piped through their speakers. Their walk took them across a floor that seemed to have been hewn from a single piece of white marble. The open spaces around the lobby were occupied by plush seats, arranged around ornate tables. There was a full-service bar dominating one side of the room, while a restaurant waited on the other.

"Wow..." whispered Ashley, unable to stop her eyes from roving over the sight of everything.

"They certainly live up to their reputation," said Weiss.

The pair made their way to the concierge desk, where a man in a red suit, decorated with gold buttons, awaited.

"How can I help you?" he asked with a polite smile, not even batting an eyelid at the sight of a faunus in this upscale scenery.

_They train their people well,_ Weiss thought. "Weiss Schnee and Ashley Forrest," she said. "We are here for the gala being hosted by my brother, Whitley."

"I see," said the concierge, nodding his head politely. He activated an interface behind the desk. "Master Schnee has been notified of your arrival. The ballroom elevator is down the hallway to your right."

"Thank you," said Weiss, leading Ashley away from the desk.

"The ballroom has its own elevator?" asked Ashley.

"In this case, it's a bit more practical," said Weiss. "The ballroom often hosts exclusive events, so having separate elevators solely to access it prevents unwanted individuals from trying to sneak in."

"So that's why you've gotta clear it with the man up front," said Ashley.

Weiss nodded. She led Ashley down the hallway indicated by the concierge, holding up her scroll, which interfaced with the panel to allow her access. A few seconds later, the doors pulled open, and the pair stepped inside. The interior of the elevator was substantial, easily able to hold over a dozen of people at once; likely a concession to it being the only non-staff access route to the ballroom, ensuring that people didn't need to wait as the elevator ferried one small group after another up in a tedious process. Fortunately, right now, Weiss and Ashley had it to themselves, giving them one last respite, before they faced their trial for the night. Once the doors closed, there was only the faintest lurch, before the elevator began to rise.

"Are you ready for this?" asked Weiss, glancing at Ashley, who looked down nervously.

"I...I think so," said Ashley.

Weiss turned to face her, bringing her hands to Ashley's shoulders, bringing her in so that they could kiss. After a moment of lingering like that, Weiss pulled back, giving Ashley her most confident smile. "This is the day," she said. "It's a little earlier than we'd originally planned for, but if I'm going to give up my inheritance, we're going to do it in a way that really _sticks_ it to Father and Whitley."

Ashley giggled. "Right..." In her mind, she thought the situation was somewhat amusing. _If I'd joined the White Fang in earnest, landing this kind of hit on the head of the SDC would probably get me a ton of recognition._

Of course, that was considering the White Fang that _wasn't_ run by Adam Taurus. In his view, anything less than killing Weiss on the spot would have been unacceptable. He'd marked Ashley for death merely for being Ruby's friend, so she didn't want to think about how fervently Adam would have liked to kill her for being Weiss' _girlfriend_.

But now wasn't the time for such thoughts. The two turned to face the doors, waiting until they opened. When they did, Weiss and Ashley strode forward confidently, entering into the ballroom.

It was a sight to inspire dreams and fire imaginations. The ballroom was an enormous space, encapsulated by a massive dome of windows, with an elaborate, crystal-decorated chandelier descending from the top and center. More lights hovered over the floor, free-floating Dust-lamps, providing warm illumination, just enough to make it easy to see (by human reckoning) without being harsh. Despite all the artificial light in the room, the windows displayed an unobstructed view of the night sky, not even seeming to reflect the light sources within the room itself. Strangely, despite being in downtown Vale, and all the light pollution that entailed, the sky seen through the dome was littered with stars, running through the sky above in milky streams, the kind of sight Weiss remembered seeing at night, back when she'd been on the SDC's freighter, out at sea, with virtually no competing light sources to block the stars out.

The room formed a massive circle, bounded by the descending windows of the dome, with the windows descending down to meet the floor along most of the room's circumference, broken only by a set of four projections of masonry, situated at the cardinal points of the room. One of those was the elevator Weiss and Ashley had arrived on. The others appeared to be service entrances of some kind, as each one was cordoned off in some way. Two were surrounded by large tables, bearing a variety of finger-foods, while the one on the far side of the room, opposite the elevator, hosted another bar, this one even more well-stocked than the one down in the lobby, shelves built into the wall on either side of the door, holding countless varieties of drink.

The floor was a work of art in its own right. Its surface was smooth, yet it didn't immediately look that way, as it caught the light descending from above, diffusing it into a variety of colors that seemed to wash along it, illuminating patterns of interlocking lines, which shifted and morphed as people's shadows passed over them, altering the way in which light engaged with the surface. Watching those shifting colors was almost completely enthralling in its own right.

Furthermore, the floor was marked out in a pair of concentric circles, dividing the room into two rings. The outer ring was clearly for the social aspect of the gala, where people ambled about, talking with one another, sampling dainties from the food tables, or watching the goings on in other parts of the room, gathering around other, smaller, tables set out to hold their dishes and glasses. The inner ring was a dance floor, where couples swirled about one another in a coordinated fashion that reminded Ashley of the Beacon Dance. In the center of the dance floor, with the couples waltzing around it, was a tiered stage, upon which sat the band, different sections occupying different tiers, all of them playing together.

The scene was stunning, like something out of a drama. The room was full of beautifully-dressed beautiful people. They were parading around finery that probably would have bankrupted Ashley's family, had she tried to imitate them. The dresses were magnificent, clearly made of the highest-quality fabric, some glittering with colorful highlights, or displaying scintillating patterns. Here and there were dresses or suits that appeared to have their own lighting effects, indicating the presence of Dust woven into the cloth, activating to produce unique visual features. And then…there was the jewelry. Rings embellished with gemstones, necklaces made from rare metals, earrings, bracelets, circlets; all of them combined to give the setting a fantastical air, even if it was nothing more than a great many rich people showing off their accumulated wealth.

Still, Weiss and Ashley didn't falter as they strode forward, Ashley's arm hooked through Weiss'. Their arrival turned heads in their immediate vicinity, and the whispers started up the second they walked forward. The people around them would certainly have plenty to talk about.

Weiss and Ashley had come in dresses that, while differing in color, sported the same form. They were both clad in full-length gowns, with a strapless top that left their shoulders bare. Weiss' arms were bare as well, but Ashley's were covered by opera gloves that ran nearly all the way up to her shoulders. Weiss' was white, with blue highlights, while Ashley's was a brilliant emerald-green. The only other difference between their ensembles was that Ashley's dress sported an opening at the back for her tail, which extended up proudly behind her, almost like a furry flag.

The way they'd coordinated their dresses, and the manner in which they entered the room, arm-in-arm, was a clear indicator of their status. Weiss Schnee, the one currently acknowledged as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, was openly displaying that she was in a relationship with a faunus. It was a sight to set tongues to wagging almost immediately.

Standing directly in front of them was none other than Whitley, decked out in a white, button-down shirt, over which he wore a pale-blue, sleeveless vest that matched his eyes in color. White pants covered his legs, and a slightly darker-blue tie hung around his neck. His eyes had widened for a fraction of a second, upon seeing Weiss and Ashley enter. But his expression returned to its signature smirk almost immediately.

"Hello, Weiss," said Whitley. "You have my gratitude for gracing us with your presence."

"Hello, Whitley," said Weiss back, matching his smirk with her own. "I'm glad to be here. Please allow me to introduce my escort. This is my girlfriend, Ashley Forrest."

Whitley chuckled. "You aren't mincing words, I see. So...you've decided to abandon all pretense this time."

"I simply felt that the time had come for me to be open about my relationship," said Weiss. "Let Father say what he will. My mind is made up."

"Well then..." said Whitley.

Weiss let go of Ashley's arm and moved to stand directly before her brother. "That having been said, let us not prolong the inevitable. My brother, Whitley, I hereby renounce my claim of inheritance to the Schnee Dust Company, and bequeath it to you. Please do your utmost to uphold the pride and dignity of our family."

Weiss extended her left hand and, after a second's hesitation, Whitley extended his own to take it, the two shaking firmly. After letting go, Weiss stepped back to stand beside Ashley.

Whitley stood, hand still extended, staring at it momentarily. His smirk twitched, widening into something more like a genuine smile. Then he began to chuckle, then laugh. It wasn't the cackle of some villain, whose plans had come to fruition, but rather the guffaws of someone who found something genuinely funny, the laughter of pure, good-natured, humor. Weiss' mouth actually opened slightly, betraying her shock. Never, in her entire life, had she ever seen her little brother laugh so genuinely. Whitley was laughing so hard that he actually began to bend forward, hugging his sides.

After another minute or so, he finally recovered his composure, his laughter fading back into chuckles, his slender frame still trembling from mirth-induced oscillations. Straightening up, Whitley favored Weiss and Ashley with the most genuine smile that Weiss could ever remember seeing on Whitley's face.

"I'm rather amazed you found that so amusing," noted Weiss.

"Well, how else could I react?" asked Whitley. "Here and now, I was just presented with everything that I sought on a silver platter. All my careful maneuverings and orchestrations, and you dashed them to pieces in such a way that, even though my every overarching goal for this evening was met, I can't help but feel that I still lost to you, Dear Sister. You may favor the rapier, but times like this make me believe that you would have been best-suited by a club."

"You always did call me a blunt instrument," grumbled Weiss.

"Given the way you're handling yourself tonight, can you really say that you aren't?" asked Whitley.

"Touché," admitted Weiss.

"Well, now that you've made your move, allow me to make one of mine in return," said Whitley, stepping closer to the pair.

To their surprise, he stood directly in front of Ashley, and held out a hand to her. Tentatively, Ashley extended her hand to meet his. Whitley took her right hand in his left, then rested his right over it. "Ms. Forrest, There is no question that a relationship with my sister comes with a great deal of baggage, even if she has decided to discard the largest part of it. It is my hope that you will do everything in your power to make her happy."

Both Weiss and Ashley were floored by the gesture. Whitley hadn't merely accepted Weiss relinquishing her claim to the SDC, but had gone on to openly demonstrate approval of her relationship with a faunus, in front of a crowd that could not have been said to be very faunus-friendly. The whispers around them rose in intensity.

"That was very kind of you," said Weiss, "uncharacteristically so. Are you prepared for the kind of backlash that's bound to bring?"

"I should say so," said Whitley, releasing Ashley's hand. "I know you equate me to Father, but I believe I have demonstrated that I am not as like him as you believe me to be."

"That's putting it mildly," said Weiss, still wrestling with amazement.

At the most, she'd been expecting a polite acknowledgment from her brother, meaningless words and inoffensive actions that would cement him as the gracious host, tolerating his sister's eccentricities. Instead, he had openly moved to express approval of Weiss' decisions, not merely her decision to hand the SDC over to him, but also of her choice of partner. By doing it in such a public setting, he had made a statement that could not be taken back, a statement that flew in the face of the views expressed by his and Weiss' father. Jacques would be livid that Weiss had openly admitted to being in a relationship with a faunus. His anger would be compounded by the fact that she had preempted him by handing over her inheritance to Whitley, before he had a chance to strip it from her as punishment. He would be more furious still to find out that Whitley had publicly expressed approval of it.

A brief lull fell over their conversation, before Whitley stepped back. "Well then, even though you brought things to a head much more quickly than I anticipated, it is my hope that you remain with us for the evening, Weiss. It would be a shame to waste all the trouble you've gone to."

"I agree," said Weiss. "Shall we, Ashley?"

Ashley took Weiss' arm once again, leaning against her. "Of course," she said, smiling cheerfully.

They headed away at an angle, making their way towards one of the food tables. Whitley watched them go, folding his arms behind his back. A few seconds later, he was joined by a familiar face.

"Well, that didn't go the way you expected," remarked Piper, clad in the same pink dress she'd worn to the Beacon dance.

"I should say not," said Whitley, letting out a sigh. "Honestly, Weiss is quite gifted at frustrating me. I hardly expected her to beat me at my own game, while remaining as blunt and barbaric as ever."

"And how were things supposed to go?" asked Piper.

Whitley chuckled. "Well, I imagined that Weiss and Ms. Forrest would arrive, still under the pretense of being 'just friends'. I imagined they would have awkwardly mingled, before some of my other guests maneuvered them away from one another. After that, it would simply be a matter of arranging things to provoke an outburst from Weiss that would announce her relationship to those present, which would bring about the expected mockery from most of the people here."

"And then you would swoop in, alongside us," guessed Piper. "We'd comfort Weiss and Ashley, while you stood up to those hoity toity types, demonstrating your support of her relationship, while basically saying you don't see faunus the same way your father does."

"Correct," said Whitley, shaking his head. "With that, I would have convinced Weiss that I have no intention of running things the way Father does."

"Because you made your support of her so open and public," mused Piper. "That's gonna be a tall order, you know. You're really going through with it?"

"Indeed," said Whitley. "Father's methods have certainly brought about incredible returns for our company. However, he has conditioned our investors to expect growth that is...unsustainable...in the long term. I suspect that actually matters very little to him. So long as he lives a prosperous life, basking in the wealth he has amassed, he will have little concern for the fate of the company very far beyond that. If it collapses into ruin one or two generations down the road, it won't matter to him, because he won't be around to be bothered by it.

"Therefore, I made the decision to take the steps that will ensure the SDC's continued survival in the longer term. Part of that is changing the way our company deals with its employees, particularly the faunus."

"Really?" asked Piper, raising an eyebrow.

Whitley smirked. "Times are changing," he said. "The activities of the White Fang delayed it by a little, but there's no question that the status of the faunus is steadily improving. That will create a wave that will change the way everything is done across all four Kingdoms. If we simply wait, and try to react when it happens, we will find our company sunk before we have a chance to adapt.

"On the other hand, if we look ahead, and take the appropriate steps, we can not only ride the wave, but _drive_ it. The SDC will go from a force of faunus oppression to the world's greatest promoter of faunus equality, and we will become heroes for it. While we won't see the kind of absurd gains we did under Father's management, we will have a solid foundation of public approval that will help to drive our business for generations to come."

"How self-serving," said Piper.

"Did you expect anything less of me?" asked Whitley.

Piper giggled. "I suppose not," she said. "So, what now?"

"Well, now I simply intend to enjoy myself to the best of my ability tonight," said Whitley. "The planned entertainment is a wash, so I shall just have to do my own entertaining. To that end..." He turned towards Piper and held out his hand towards her. "Ms. Cerny, would you do me the honor of a dance?"

Piper smiled back, taking his hand in her own. "It would be my pleasure, Mr. Schnee."

They headed to the dance floor and allowed themselves to be swept up in the music.

* * *

**I don't know why, but I am enamored of the idea of "Nice Guy Whitley", even more than I am the concept of James "Big Brother" Ironwood (not making an appearance in this story, to the relief of some of my readers). In this iteration, I was trying to push the manipulative aspect of his character a little more, though it probably doesn't make that much of a difference, considering how small his role is. I kinda like the idea of him being a sneaky guy, while still being fairly nice behind it all.**

**I also discovered that I have a bizarre passion for...envisioning weird future-tech hotel accommodations, which you'll see more of in the next chapter. Seriously, I got _way_ more into fleshing out a hotel room than many more-important settings in the rest of the story. And, for the life of me, I can't figure out why.**


	130. Chapter 130

**Chapter 130:**

The whispers followed Weiss and Ashley through the room. Word was already spreading ahead of them, plenty of people having been close enough to hear Weiss' pronouncements, who had then gone on to spread the word across the entire gathering.

_"She's actually in a relationship with that animal?"_

_ "And they're flaunting it so openly."_

_ "Her father won't just disinherit her, but _disown_ her for pulling a stunt like that!"_

_ "I imagine that Jacques will secretly be happy that the company will be in Whitley's hands from now on."_

_ "I'm not so sure. They're saying Whitley approved of their relationship."_

_ "Why on earth would he do that?"_

"There sure is a lot of talk," said Ashley.

"Yes, we're the talk of the gala now," agreed Weiss.

"I'm surprised that whispering is _all_ they're doing," said Ashley.

"In many ways, people behave as predators," said a familiar voice from off to one side.

"Rain!" exclaimed Weiss, turning to face the boy, surprised to see him standing there, a pleasant smile on his face. Ciel was on his arm in much the same way that Ashley was on Weiss', her own expression more neutral, but sporting a small smile all the same. They were wearing the same outfits they'd worn to the Beacon Dance. Given that, unlike Weiss, they generally had a lower profile amongst the circles represented at this gala, it was something that they could get away with, nearly everyone present not knowing that they were reusing their formal outfits.

"What are _you_ doing here?" asked Weiss.

"Mr. Whitley extended an invitation to our entire team," explained Rain. "It is something she never told you, but Piper and he have been close friends for some time."

"Seriously...?" said Weiss, shocked by the revelation. "Why didn't Piper say anything?"

"Most likely because she didn't want you to think she was spying on you on your brother's behalf," said Ciel.

"Well...I'm not sure I would have thought that..." said Weiss, a note of uncertainty in her voice, "...at least, not for long."

She might have reflexively thought that, at first. However, logic would have quickly disabused her of the notion. After all, while she might have been visiting for the festival, Piper was still an Atlas Academy student, attending school in an entirely different Kingdom, hardly a situation that would have been suitable for spying on her. So Weiss didn't worry about the idea of Piper being Whitley's spy. Rather...

"I would be _more_ concerned about her taste in friends," said Weiss, a sour note in her tone.

"You might not think so, but they suit each other quite well," said Rain.

"They do, do they?" mused Weiss.

Ashley, who had been listening politely, but found herself wondering... "What did you mean...about people behaving as predators?" she asked, tilting her head slightly as she regarded Rain.

"Ah, that..." Rain sighed and lowered his head for a moment. "It pains me to say this, but many of the people gathered here have quite black hearts."

"Because of that, they look for opportunities to bring others down," said Ciel.

"Like predators, what they are looking for is vulnerability," continued Rain. "They seek to look for openings in the pride of others, and attack those openings."

"Had you still been trying to hide your relationship, they might have caught onto that," said Ciel. "That would have invited them to try and provoke you into admitting it openly, which would have given them more fodder to attack, as hiding it would imply shame, which they would seek to compound."

"However, by displaying your relationship so boldly, you have demonstrated that you have no shame," said Rain. "Because of that, they now feel that taunting you openly would largely come off as impotent, as it would not garner the kind of reactions that they are looking for."

"That's...weird," said Ashley.

"High society is a strange place," admitted Rain quite easily.

"It's also a lot bigger than I expected," said Ashley, looking around. "There were this many people like this in Vale?"

"Not all of them are from Vale," said Ciel. "Many of the guests are from other Kingdoms, mostly Mistral and Atlas."

"Not Vacuo?"

Weiss shook her head. "Vacuo doesn't have much in the way of high society," she said. "The closest would be those who own stakes in the foreign companies that operate in Vacuo, but they all hail from other Kingdoms."

"And do they all have such poor views of faunus?" wondered Ashley.

"A significant majority of them do," said Rain, sighing again. "Families such as ours are often more inclined to have their children educated in exclusive institutions, if their children are not home-schooled entirety. Said institutions are often chosen because they espouse a worldview that affirms the one the parents hold. In either case, that makes it much easier for them to promote their old-fashioned views on faunus. The children then grow into adults who hold those views, and employ their influence to try and prevent those views from being changed in the public sphere."

Ciel nodded her agreement.

"You two seem pretty okay with faunus though," noted Ashley.

"In my case, my family has a strong association with the military," said Ciel. "General Ironwood's work in promoting a more progressive view of faunus within the military led them to adopt a more positive view of faunus overall."

"As for me, my father has generally kept from espousing any opinion about the faunus," said Rain. "He is so sensitive to how people perceive our family that he would prefer to make no move in either direction. However, I suspect that he would still have a conniption, if I were to seek a faunus as my partner."

"And I suppose that makes Ciel the safe option," observed Weiss wryly.

Rain gave Weiss and Ashley his brightest smile. "Ciel is hardly 'safe'. While she may not come with any controversy, I would rather say that she is an _achievement_, instead."

"Oh...and why is that?" asked Ciel, giving Rain a pointed look, her cheeks flushing.

Rain turned his smile on her. "Because winning your affection is what I count as the greatest accomplishment in my life."

Ciel's blush intensified, while Weiss and Ashley looked on.

"That was..." said Ashley, after a moment.

"...So saccharine that it might have just given me a cavity," finished Weiss.

"And yet, I hold to it as honest truth," said Rain.

Ciel ducked her head, feebly slapping at Rain's arm in retaliation. Despite the fact her cheeks were heating up to the point of ignition, she couldn't quite conceal the happy smile on her face.

"I think we'll move on now," said Weiss. "This atmosphere's getting a little too sweet for my tastes."

"Agreed," said Ashley, giggling.

"Have a lovely evening then," said Rain, "though we might run into each other again."

"Keep an eye out for Penny," said Ciel, shifting the conversation to lessen her embarrassment, though her cheeks were still tinted red. "She'll be happy to see you both here."

Weiss and Ashley froze, their eyes widening in shock.

"Penny's here?" asked Weiss.

"She is," said Rain.

"Why?" asked Ashley.

"I believe I said that Mr. Whitley extended an invitation to our _entire_ team," said Rain. "Penny was included in that."

"Does Whitley have any idea what Penny's like?" asked Weiss.

"If he doesn't, he'll find out soon," said Ciel, a small smirk on her face.

"You say it like that, but won't it just cause headaches for you, if the General finds out that you've left her unattended at an event like this?" asked Weiss.

"Maybe normally," said Ciel. "But, with Penny's father in the Kingdom, the General has been induced to be less restrictive."

"I see..." said Weiss, exchanging a glance with Ashley.

It seemed that this evening wasn't out of surprises yet.

* * *

The low pounding of the bass was a source of auditory and physical pressure to Dove as he made his way through the club once more. Just as before, he skirted the dance floor, making straight for the bar. As usual, there Junior was. At the moment, the bartender was mixing up a drink for another patron. By the time he had finished, Dove had already taken a seat at the nearest available stool.

"That was a quick turnaround," said Dove. "You were making it sound like it would take longer."

"It's always dependent on the kind of information," said Junior. "Some stuff I have on hand. Some I have to dig up. Some info is easier to find out than other info."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Dove.

"In your girlfriend's case, it has the potential to be pretty bad," said Junior, his tone darkening. "Your hunch on her old manager was pretty damn on-the-mark. When I got in touch with Lilian, and sent your money her way, I found out she had quite a bit on Holly Ji already."

"How come?" asked Dove.

"It means she caught Lilian's attention," said Junior, "and you sure don't manage that by coloring inside the lines."

"What do you have?" asked Dove, frowning.

Junior poured out a drink and slid it over the bar to Dove, who accepted it. It was a fairly strong brandy, so Dove sipped slowly.

"For starters, she's not Mistralian...not by birth anyway," said Junior.

"Where's she from then?"

"Vacuo."

"Vacuo, huh...?" Dove's eyebrows rose up. "That makes sense, considering her looks."

Darker skin colors were often an indicator of the residents of that land, where the intense sun upon the deserts seemed to have tanned its inhabitants on a genetic level. Besides that, there was something about Holly that Dove found...familiar...something that wore at him the more he thought about her.

"She got a rep?" asked Dove.

"In Vacuo," said Junior. "Apparently she'd been indicted for child abandonment at one point."

"And she still managed to get a job as a manager?" asked Dove skeptically.

"In Mistral," Junior reminded him. "Given the way Vacuo is, I'm not surprised that the charge didn't show up in a background check. Save for the area around Shade Academy, the authorities...or whatever a given place has in lieu of them...aren't all that organized. She probably could've gone to anywhere else in Vacuo, and been just fine. Going to Mistral, which has plenty of people with shady backgrounds of their own, would only make it easier to slip past the radar. From what Lilian said, finding out _that_ much wasn't easy."

"Child abandonment..." mused Dove. "That means she had a kid, at some point."

"Pretty likely," agreed Junior. "Of course, the thing you really need to know, the thing that was the source of your hunch...you were spot on."

Dove grimaced.

Junior produced a memory drive. "The nitty gritty is all here. Lilian sent me everything she has on that woman."

Dove accepted it. Reaching into his pocket, he fished out a small stack of high-denomination lien cards, sliding them across the bar to Junior. "Thanks for your work." Even if he'd already paid the man's fee, Dove felt as though Junior had earned a generous tip.

Junior accepted the cards with a small smile. "If you ever need some info, stop by. I'll give you a preferred customer discount."

"If I've got anything else I need to know, I'll keep it in mind," said Dove, getting up from his seat and heading for the door.

* * *

So far, the night had gone quite well. Ashley and Weiss had remained close together, rarely out of physical contact with one another. They sampled some of the foods on offer at the tables, before continuing to walk a slow circuit of the ballroom. As they did, they caught sight of Penny and, true to form, the android was causing quite the commotion.

Apparently, one of the young men attending the gala had made the mistake of asking Penny out on the floor to dance. It was an understandable situation. Penny had the appearance of an attractive girl after all, which, combined with her sunny personality, actually made her quite appealing. However, the young man quickly found out that he had severely underestimated Penny's energy, and had found himself hanging on for dear life as a cheerfully smiling Penny whirled him around the dance floor with so much force that his feet repeatedly _left_ said floor. Fortunately, Penny's proximity sensors were such that she was never in any danger of striking the other dancers with her partner. But the mere sight of it definitely caused more than a few dancers to stop what they were doing to gape at the spectacle.

Now Penny was standing over the slumped and groaning form of the man, after having deposited him on one of the chairs around the edge of the ballroom, apologizing profusely, while the people around her spoke in scandalized whispers.

"Well, with her taking up the attention, I can see why people aren't more interested in us," said Ashley, giggling at Penny's antics.

Weiss laughed lightly as well. "Well, it helps that we stole the goal out from under them, the moment they entered. In a sense, the game is already over, so there's no more point in playing."

Ashley nodded. Glancing towards the dance floor, her eyes widened when she spotted Whitley, dancing with none other than Piper, the two of them looking like they were enjoying themselves a great deal. Looking at them in action together, Ashley could better appreciate Rain and Ciel's explanation.

"Hmm..."

"Something wrong?" asked Ashley, upon hearing Weiss' uneasy hum. It was accompanied by the sensation of Weiss stiffening beside her, her hold on Ashley's arm tightening slightly, if protectively.

"It seems that, even though the game's already over, someone plans to keep playing anyway," observed Weiss, her eyes narrowing as she picked out a figure slipping slowly their way through the crowd. Perhaps it was a symptom of her training with Ruby, along with all the experienced she'd accumulated during her time at Beacon, but Weiss had become a lot more sensitive to the intentions of the people around her, particularly those with ill intent.

The woman approaching them practically _oozed_ such ill intent. It was a sick, viscous feeling. However, it was leagues below that of a monster like Tyrian or Faolan, so it was hard for Weiss to muster up even a basic sense of caution as she faced of the woman coming their way. More to the point, it was a woman she recognized.

"Weiss Schnee," said the woman, clad in a dark-red gown, with an asymmetrical top, leaving her right shoulder bare, emerging from the between a few other people and coming to a stop before Weiss and Ashley. She looked only a year or two older than Weiss. "So good to see you here." She flashed the pair a saccharine smile that was so fake it might as well have been painted on her. In her right hand, she held a flute of champagne, which she gently swirled about.

"Madeleine..." said Weiss. "...I wish I could say that my sentiments were the same." She paused, seeming to think it over for a moment. "No, I take that back. I don't even _wish_ I could say that."

A strangled grunt emerged from the throat of the woman, making the spiraling curls of her blonde hair, which was tinted a golden brown towards the edges, bob slightly. Her light-brown eyes narrowed in anger, above the full, stretched cheeks that decorated her face.

"Well...I can see that spending so much time with the animals has done wonders for your manners," said Madeleine, a vicious tone in her voice.

Strangely, even though she knew _who_ the insult had been addressed to, Ashley couldn't even find it in herself to be affronted by this young woman's words. Whoever this young woman was, she was scarcely anything Ashley needed to worry about. Yes, she probably had enough money, or came from enough money, that she could probably buy the entire building Ashley and her family lived in without making a noticeable dent in her finances. But that did little to really frighten Ashley Forrest. After all, she was experienced in her own way.

She might not have been a Huntress-in-training, and she had never fought, but Ashley still had the experience of being hunted by the White Fang. She had been surrounded by armed men, who'd planned on killing her. She'd stood before Adam Taurus himself. Ashley knew what _real_ danger felt like...and this woman was a long ways from that. So she was able to stand back without worry, and watch as Weiss did her thing.

"I would rather say that I've learned the importance of efficiency," said Weiss indifferently. "I see no point in beating around the bush for ten minutes until you finally get around to making your banal insults and taking your leave. And, from the look of things, your material hasn't been updated since the last decade."

"Well...clearly you've lost all your class at Beacon," observed Madeleine, drawing herself up. Of course, given that she was taller than Weiss to begin with, that didn't do much.

"Actually, I left it at the door, with my brother," replied Weiss. "That's the lovely thing about relinquishing my position as heiress. I no longer need to give a thought to what Father will think about my behavior. And, since that spares me from pointless and vapid conversation with the likes of you, I count that as a definite gain."

Ashley's hand went to her mouth, her cheeks puffing a little at the laugh that threatened to escape her. The gesture didn't go unnoticed by Madeleine, who transferred a furious glare to Ashley. "And what does a mutt like you find so funny?"

Ashley giggled a little, before managing to speak. "I'm sorry. You're trying so hard to be intimidating, but...with those cheeks of yours, it's just not working."

Madeleine drew back, aghast, as Weiss tittered at Ashley's statement. "She's not wrong," said Weiss. "Honestly...did you spring for _another_ face treatment. Your cheeks look like cheap plastic. You must have gone to a bargain-grade doctor."

A strangled growl emerged from Madeleine's throat, her lips pulling back to bare her teeth. "You little bitch," she snarled.

"Ah, language," chided Weiss teasingly, wagging a finger at Madeleine. "Such a vocabulary is hardly befitting the heiress to the Malbec Family, now is it? It would be such a shame, were your mother to learn that you speak like that in public."

Madeleine's eyebrow was twitching spasmodically, making Weiss want to laugh again. The woman was the very picture of impotent rage, trembling with anger, wanting to lash out with all the fury she possessed, yet bound by the strictures of her class to maintain a polite front. Had Weiss and Ashley still been attempting to hide their relationship, she most likely would have been one of the people who would have come to try and bait her into an admission. But now, the tables had been turned, and _Madeleine_ was the one being baited.

Sure, it wouldn't amount to much in the long run. There was little chance of Weiss being able to inflict the kind of metaphorical blow that would lay low the social life of her opponent. That having been said, unless Madeleine could find some way to get in the last word, she'd be in for a mocking from her peers for weeks, possibly even months, to come. It was the kind of blow to her pride that Madeleine would never accept.

Worse still for Madeleine, their little spat was now attracting an audience, and all of them were watching her dance right to Weiss' tune.

"And I suppose you think _you're_ clever," said Madeleine. "I can see why your father was in such a hurry to find a way to strip you of your inheritance, if you're so easily drawn by animal musk. I suppose you've spent so long rutting in the dirt, you've forgotten what it's like to act in a manner befitting your class." Her lips stretched in a vicious grin. "Here...let me help you clean off a bit."

Madeleine suddenly thrust forward with her right arm, throwing the contents of her champagne flute right at Weiss and Ashley's faces. There was a flare of white, and the splattering liquid rebounded off the white Glyph that appeared in the air between them, sending the contents of Madeleine's flute flying into her face, splattering across it and her shoulders, quickly soaking into her dress, the scent of the champagne now rising from her skin and clothes. Meanwhile, the Glyph Weiss had used to repel Madeleine's drink vanished, appearing as little more than a strobe of light to the onlookers.

"Y-you..." sputtered Madeleine, blowing a fine spray of drink from her lips as she struggled to find the words to express her outrage.

"My, how clumsy of you," said Weiss. "Dear me, it would seem that _you_ are the one in dire need of a bath."

"D-do you have any idea how much this dress cost!?" exclaimed Madeleine.

"Probably more than your last facial," suggested Ashley softly.

Weiss couldn't completely contain her laugh, the sound emerging as a slight snort. She wasn't the only one. For all that many of the people in this gala looked down on faunus, there weren't many who could overlook a clever rejoinder like that. A wave of snickers washed through the onlookers at Ashley's remark.

Madeleine's cheeks reddened and her eyes narrowed angrily. "How _dare_ an animal like you talk to me like that?" she snarled.

"She can speak how she pleases," Weiss answered simply.

Madeleine's lips pulled back in an angry snarl. She took a step back, standing next to a small table that was being used to hold refreshments, one of many that dotted the ballroom, away from the main food-tables. Raising her empty flute, she brought it down on the edge of the table, breaking off a portion, leaving a jagged edge.

"You think a beast like you can get away with talking down to me?" asked Madeleine, ignoring Weiss, and glaring daggers at Ashley, who swallowed nervously, but stood her ground. "The way you stand there...dressed like us...acting like us...It's sickening. You should be where you belong, in the dark...you and the rest of your filthy animal kind! There's no forgiving an insult like this...so I'll take my recompense out of your HIDE!"

With that, Madeleine lunged at Ashley, thrusting out with the edge of her broken glass. However, Weiss interposed herself between them, raising her left hand...and stopping the glass with her palm.

Ashley gasped, expecting to hear the sound of glass piercing flesh, to see blood dripping down to the floor. She wasn't the only one, several people had yelled or screamed when Madeleine had attacked. They were all expecting to see Weiss' hand impaled on the glass.

But Madeleine's effort hadn't even left a mark. Weiss had used Flow, channeling her Aura into her hand. Combined with her Temper, it created a barrier that an untrained socialite had no hope of penetrating. Though she was untrained, Madeleine had unwittingly managed to put her weight behind her clumsy lunge, but even _that_ wasn't enough to pierce Weiss' Aura...not even close. And now...Madeleine was left on the verge of losing her balance and falling forward.

Weiss closed her hand around the glass, and Projected her Aura as she closed it into a fist. The glass crunched in her grip. The last thing holding Madeleine up gave way, and she began to fall forward...only to be halted as a large, powerful hand gripped her bare right shoulder roughly, hauling her back into a standing position. Madeleine shrieked at the contact, the hand consisting of overlapping plates of armor, which pinched at her skin. However, the sound cut off as she felt the unmistakable sensation of a sharp edge at her throat.

The rest of the onlookers gasped and shouted, falling back away from the spectacle. Even as she had caught Madeleine's clumsy thrust, Weiss had created a pair of sword-wheel Glyphs, which hovered behind Madeleine's shoulders. From the one on Madeleine's right, an armor-clad hand and arm had emerged to grab her shoulder. Another armored arm emerged from the Glyph on her left, this one holding a broad, double-edged sword, which was now positioned at Madeleine's throat.

"That was foolish of you," said Weiss, opening her hand, powdered glass falling to the floor. "It's nothing short of pitiful that you would forget yourself so badly. Before now, you were protected by the rules of behavior governing the elite, as befitting someone of your class. But...the moment you decided to resort to violence, you stepped into _my_ domain."

Weiss' eyes narrowed, her expression as cold and frigid as the tundras of Solitas. It was a pure, icy fury, one that completely froze Madeleine in her tracks, so that she didn't even need the hand and blade holding her fast to remain locked in place. The force of Weiss' own animosity did that all on its own.

"Tell me...Madeleine...did you really think that you had any hope of besting _me_ in a contest of violence?" asked Weiss rhetorically.

Madeleine was too shocked and frightened to speak.

Weiss sniffed, imitating the arrogant mannerisms that were part and parcel to interactions between the elite. She idly flicked the fingers of her left hand. The positions of the two Glyphs changed, circling around Madeleine. As they did, the arms moved with them, the hand that had been holding the young woman's shoulder repositioned so that it could push her, sending her stumbling backwards. Madeleine flailed her arms to try and keep her balance. But the heels she wore kept her from keeping it, and she ended up falling over backwards, dumped unceremoniously onto her behind. The remnants of her glass, little more than a fragment of the stem and foot, bounced away.

The Glyphs continued to move, coming together and merging in a flare of light that blinded everyone in the room for a moment. When the light receded...there _it_ was. A massive body, clad in plate armor, the towering form of an Arma Gigas loomed over Madeleine, its massive helm tilting down to regard her with unseen eyes.

Madeleine gibbered madly, fear rendering her utterly incoherent. Then the Knight took a single step forward, its footfall making tremors run throughout the room.

"Is something the matter?" asked Weiss, stepping forward alongside her Knight. "You asked for this."

"Tha-that's n-not true..." sputtered Madeleine, scooting backwards.

"Really...?" asked Weiss, she and her Knight taking another step forward. "I think otherwise. The moment you dared to threaten someone I cared about with violence, to try and spill her blood, in that moment...you dared to challenge me, a Huntress, in a contest of force. You might dismiss me as a barbarian. But the moment you tried to stab Ashley, you resorted to that barbarism yourself. And the problem is, once you did that, you were completely outclassed."

The Knight continued forward, and Weiss with it, its steps making the ballroom shudder. It made no threatening gestures, both arms hanging loosely at its side, sword pointed at a lax, downward angle. Yet its advance alone was enough to make it beyond terrifying to someone like Madeleine, who had spent her whole life enrobed in the safety and comfort of the upperclass. For the first time in her life, she was experiencing true fear, the most base kind of fear there was, fear for her life, fear that it was about to end...immediately. The Knight, moving forward was like being faced with a Creature of Grimm...which was fitting, considering Weiss' Summon had once _been_ a Grimm. So she did the only thing she could under the circumstances, continuing to slide herself back across the floor, while the Knight and Weiss proceeded after her.

The crowd parted before the trio, allowing Madeleine to back herself all the way up to where the windowed dome met the floor, pressing her back against it, mindless panic beginning to set in as she realized she had run out of space to retreat.

"Allow me to make it clear," said Weiss, her voice carrying an icy chill of judgment. The volume rose, so that it carried across the ballroom. Weiss wasn't just speaking to the socialite in front of her, but _everyone_ present. "This is the consequence of you daring to threaten someone I hold dear. And you aren't the only one. _Anyone_ who tries to harm Ashley, or anyone else I care about, is in for the same treatment...or _worse_. That includes my insipid Father. If he tries to touch her, I will return to Atlas and bring his mansion down around his ears.

"So remember this, the next time you turn to force. You can best me in contests of words, in veiled insults, in humiliating insinuations all you want. But the moment you resort to violence, you will start playing by _my_ rules, and now you've seen what happens when I play to win."

Weiss and her Summon stood there in silence for a few more seconds, allowing the echoes of her pronouncement to fade, providing a few more seconds of pressure on the woman she so despised. Then Weiss flicked her right hand dismissively. Her Knight exploded into a shower of motes of light, scattering through the air, before fading entirely. That done, Weiss turned on her heel and marched back towards Ashley, who looked on with wide eyes.

"Are you all right?" asked Weiss, coming up to Ashley and taking her hands in her own.

"I...I'm just a little shaken," said Ashley, still staring at Weiss. "I-I never thought you'd act like that...here...I mean..."

Weiss gave her a wry smile. "Yes, well...I think I may have gone a little overboard." Her smile faltered. "Are you scared."

Ashley's smile quivered. "A little..." she admitted. "But in a good way. I never...I never imagined you'd say something like that..." She averted her eyes, blushing furiously.

Weiss' smile softened, and she reached up to cup Ashley's chin, turning her head so that they were eye-to-eye once more. "It's the least I could do," she said, "for the girl I love."

Ashley gasped, and Weiss leaned forward to plant a kiss on her lips. They pulled away for a second, before wrapping one another in a tight hug.

"Wha-what are you doing?" demanded a furious voice from behind Weiss, making her scowl. Turning around, she saw Madeleine, still sitting against the wall, pointing at them with a look of utter hatred.

"Throw her out!" shouted Madeleine, making it clear that she wasn't speaking to Weiss and Ashley, but the security scattered throughout the room. "No! That's not enough! Arrest her! She threatened my life! She should be in a cell!"

Black-suited men moved through the crowd, converging on the disturbance. Weiss moved, placing herself between Madeleine and Ashley once more, while Ashley pressed up against her back. However, the security agents made no move to approach either of them, instead moving to calm the other attendees.

"That was quite the spectacle," commented a smooth voice from slightly behind and to the left of Weiss and Ashley. They turned to see Whitley there, Piper standing alongside him, sporting a wry smirk on his face.

"You were the one who invited a barbarian like me," said Weiss teasingly.

"So I did," admitted Whitley with a sigh, feigning resignation. "I suppose there's no helping it."

"What are you saying?" demanded Madeleine, surging to her feet, stalking towards them once more. "That witch threatened my life."

"You were the one who resorted to violence first," Whitley pointed out, folding his arms behind him and turning his smirk on Madeleine. "Really, Ms. Malbec, I expected better of someone with your upbringing."

Madeleine froze in place, her mouth working wordlessly.

Whitley sighed. "Gentlemen, it's clear that Ms. Malbec is distraught. Please escort her to where she can freshen up and calm down a little."

Immediately, two black-suited men slipped behind Madeleine as swiftly and silently as her own shadow. They gripped her shoulders and arms gently, but firmly, guiding her towards the elevator down. She struggled, growling and shrieking all the way, her voice only being cut off as the doors closed behind her.

Weiss puffed out a small laugh, before turning to regard Whitley. "I suppose I've made a mess of things," she said.

"Yes," agreed Whitley, "a wonderful, entertaining mess. If there's one thing to be said about you, dear sister, it's that you certainly have a way of livening things up."

"That _was_ quite the show," agreed Piper, wearing a smirk of her own. "God, Malbec is insufferable. The only thing better than seeing that would have been being the one to _do_ it."

"Next time, I'll allow you to have that privilege," said Weiss.

Piper tittered.

A second later, Weiss and Ashley were nearly bowled over by the arrival of Penny. "Oh my gosh! Are you two all right?" asked Penny.

"We're fine," said Ashley.

"That's sen-_sa-_tional," said Penny, beaming at them. "I was _so_ worried there for a moment. That would have caused so much trouble, if things had gotten out of hand."

She paused, seeing the deadpan look Weiss leveled at her. "What?"

"Hearing _you_ saying that to _me_ rings of the pot calling the kettle black," muttered Weiss.

Piper muffled a laugh with her hand, while Penny tilted her head quizzically.

"Father is going to be livid," said Whitley, still smirking as he said it, not seeming bothered by the notion.

"I suppose he will," said Weiss, letting out a soft sigh.

"Is she worth it?" asked Piper, glancing at Ashley.

Weiss' smile lit up her face. "Without a doubt."

They were joined a few seconds later by Rain and Ciel, both of them bearing worried expressions.

"Are you all right?" asked Ciel, looking over Weiss and Ashley carefully. "When I saw your Summon, I thought someone might have..."

"No," said Weiss, shaking her head slowly. "Not for lack of trying on her part, but Madeleine is an amateur, who really needs to work on her poise and balance, if she's going to try and slip an attack past my guard."

"As long as you are all unharmed," said Rain, relaxing upon seeing that all was well.

"We're fine," Weiss affirmed, taking Ashley's hand. She regarded Whitley again. "I suppose we should take our leave."

"There's no need for you to depart so soon," Whitley offered.

"It's for the best, I'm afraid," said Weiss. "If we stayed, after causing a commotion like _that_, things would just be...awkward."

"I suppose you're right," said Whitley. "Still, at the very least, I entreat you to accept one last gesture of generosity, on my part."

"Generosity...from you?" asked Weiss, quirking an eyebrow. "I would have never imagined it, Whitley."

Whitley chuckled. "Yes, well...I suddenly find myself in position of more substantial means than I did before. So I can certainly afford to be more generous."

"And just what is it that you are offering?" asked Weiss.

Whitley pulled out his scroll, tapping a command into it. A second later, Weiss' own scroll buzzed from its pocket, hidden in her dress. Pulling it out, Weiss was shocked to see a room key.

"It's nothing too extravagant," said Whitley. "With the festival in progress, reserving an extra room was fairly difficult, so I was only able to obtain their most basic one. But, hopefully, you and Ms. Forrest would be willing to spend the night, and enjoy its amenities."

Ashley and Weiss exchanged a surprised look. "That is _very_ generous of you, Whitley," said Weiss. "I find myself more than a little suspicious."

Even if it was their most basic room, it was still a room at _The Grand Silmaril_, the most extravagant hotel in all of Vale. That alone put it a nearly a half-a-million lien in value, all on its own. However, from the information Whitley had just sent her, not only had he booked her and Ashley a night there, but had even promised to cover room service for breakfast, and whatever other extras they chose to indulge in.

"Understandable," said Whitley. "However, I assure you that everything is on the level."

Weiss locked eyes with Whitley, unsure of what that would do for her. Whitley had always been completely inscrutable to her, at the best of times. However, for some reason, her own instincts were telling her that he was being honest. "All right then, we'll take you up on that," she said. "After a mess like that, I feel the need to unwind."

"Then I bid you goodnight, dear sister," said Whitley.

Weiss nodded. Then she and Ashley said their goodbyes to Team CPPR, and made their way to the elevator. As they did, the other attendees parted before them, leaving a wide swath of space for the pair to make their way through, cementing Weiss' expectation that her and Ashley's continued presence would only serve to fuel an awkward tension that would have hung over the gala like a dark cloud.

Whitley watched them go, before chuckling softly as they disappeared into the elevator.

"So...even though things didn't go the way you planned, it looks like you won out in the end," observed Piper.

Whitley sighed. "And yet, even when I've won, I can't help but feel that I've lost. Weiss walked right into my trap without the slightest hesitation, seeing it for exactly what it was."

"I guess that makes her action the equivalent of disarming said trap with a stick," said Piper. "But you still went through the trouble of booking that room for her beforehand."

"That was always my intention," said Whitley. "Granted, that had originally been meant to be a consolation, after my 'dear, distraught sister' had her relationship with a faunus exposed in the midst of this gala."

"You were always going to support it, weren't you?" guessed Piper.

Whitley chuckled. "As I told Father, Weiss is a sore loser. That goes for me as well, though I've always been better at hiding it. After all, it was what we were _raised_ to be.

"That being said, if I simply orchestrated a situation where Weiss' inheritance was ripped away from her, especially in a manner that she deemed unfair, she would fight it with everything she had, which would have become quite troublesome before long. Even disinherited, I have no doubt my sister could prove to be quite the stubborn obstacle, especially if Winter supported her.

"To that end, I figured that the best trap to ensnare her was with the promise of happiness."

"Happiness...?" Piper frowned in confusion. "You were gonna trap her with happiness...? How does that...work...exactly...?"

"Simple," said Whitley, "my plan was prefaced on the idea that the inheritance and the position of head of the company were not actually what Weiss really _wanted_ for her life. She followed that path because she deemed it her duty, believing that she alone carried the responsibility of redeeming the Schnee name. If I could present her with the opportunity to choose something she truly wanted over that duty, and a way for her to shed her responsibility without guilt, then she would turn from an obstacle into an asset."

"So you were gonna support her relationship with Ashley, a faunus, and basically show you were prepared to change the way your company does business," said Piper. "You said and did things that couldn't be taken back, and your Daddy Dearest can't fully punish you for them, because you're the last one left in the line of inheritance."

"Correct," said Whitley.

"Looks like you were wrong about one thing though," observed Piper.

"And what is that?"

Piper grinned. "You said the entertainment was a wash. But I found Weiss putting that brat in her place _very_ entertaining."

"I suppose you're right," agreed Whitley, chuckling.

"So now what?" asked Piper.

"Well, the night is still young," said Whitley. "Disturbances aside, the gala is still a couple of hours away from winding down. That being the case, could I trouble you for another dance, Ms. Cerny?"

"You won't hear any objections from me," said Piper, accepting his hand.

Rain, Ciel, and Penny had been privy to the whole exchange, but had refrained from commenting. Even Penny had apparently felt it wrong to interrupt. Now they watched the pair head out to the dance floor once more. The band, which had halted their playing when Madeleine had attacked Weiss and Ashley, started up once more. The other attendees were hesitant at first, but gradually got back into the swing of things.

"Thick as thieves, those two," observed Rain.

"You said it," agreed Ciel, smiling wryly. "I'm glad things went well for Weiss and Ashley."

"Me too," said Penny. "But now what do we do?"

"We enjoy ourselves," said Ciel simply. "We might not have been offered our own accommodations here, but we _were_ promised a ride to the docks after this."

"Okay," chirped Penny cheerfully.

* * *

Once the elevator doors closed, Weiss slumped against the wall with a tired sigh.

"Are you okay?" asked Ashley.

Weiss gave her girlfriend a weary smile. "I'm amazed _you're_ feeling so chipper after that."

"Well...I didn't just threaten pretty much every member of the upperclass in three Kingdoms," Ashley pointed out.

"True enough," said Weiss.

By the time the elevator reached the ground floor, Weiss had recovered her composure. They returned to the lobby, where Klein was waiting for them, along with the bag that contained their regular clothes. After explaining things to him, Weiss gave the man one last hug, before she and Ashley headed for the elevator that would take them to the floor their room was situated on. En route, they took their time to contact their friends, and Ashley's parents, to inform them they wouldn't be back until Sunday.

The room Whitely had provided them was indeed a fairly basic hotel room. It consisted mainly of a single large room, with an attached bathroom. However, given that this was a room at _The Grand Silmaril_, it was leagues above any bog-standard hotel or inn room. That was clear from the quality of its furnishings. While being mainly one room, it was as large as the common area of the suite Weiss' team had been granted at _The Atlas Imperial_.

From the door, they entered into a spacious sitting area, containing a large couch and plush seats arranged to either side of it, all of them arrayed around an entertainment center, with a low table that looked to have been made from cut crystal set in the center of the arrangement. Behind them was the room's sole bed, a large, king-sized mattress, complete with pure-white sheets and a comforter, all puffed up to look as soft as a cloud, the headboard piled with pillows of both the decorative and functional types.

The entire wall opposite where they entered consisted of a single, massive window, overlooking the skyline of Vale. Just as with the dome above the ballroom, the lights of the city were faded out, with the streams of stars filling the sky clearly visible, even though they should have been blotted out by the light pollution.

"Wow..." whispered Ashley, going to the window. "I never...I mean...I knew there were a lot of stars, but it's one thing to be told that, and another to see it like this."

Weiss nodded, coming to stand next to her. "Normally, you wouldn't see something like this inside the Kingdom," she said. "You'd have to go a ways away to get away from the light pollution."

"As a Huntress...you'd sleep under this kind of sky a lot," said Ashley breathlessly.

Weiss nodded, somewhat bitterly reflecting that there was a time where she wouldn't have held that kind of attitude. She still remembered, with no small amount of embarrassment, how she'd been at the beginning of the year, arrogantly talking down to Ruby on the basis that she'd been living and training in the wilderness, as opposed to Weiss' own experience of learning under the best tutors and trainers her family could afford. She'd looked upon the idea of sleeping out in the open, underneath the night sky, as something beneath her, despite it being something that would have been natural to expect of a Huntress...like the one she aspired to be. It was lowly, sleeping on the dirt, with nothing more than a bedroll and tent to shelter herself with; slovenly, a life devoid of refinement, a way of life Weiss had signed up for, ignoring the contradiction in her arrogance.

Even up to now, she'd viewed the time she would inevitably have to spend out in the wilderness with more of a sense of resignation than anything else, the realization that she had been wrong about the kind of life she'd be expected to live as a Huntress, and a somewhat reluctant acceptance of that. But...hearing the wonder in Ashley's voice, as they gazed upon the unveiled beauty of the night sky, Weiss realized that...maybe...there was something to look forward to in that life.

"How do they do it?" asked Ashley.

"The windows are actually a full interface," said Weiss, tapping them and bringing up a control panel that appeared on the glass, as though it were a terminal screen. "We can freely adjust the filtration. We could turn the filters off, and see everything regularly, or we can make the windows completely opaque. They're also polarized, so no one can see in from the outside."

Given the caliber of the hotel, the windows were also likely bulletproof as well, security measures for the sake of the wealthy and privileged people that stayed in such rooms. But that was probably something Weiss didn't need to share with Ashley.

"Well...I'm fine with leaving the settings where they are," said Ashley.

"Me too," agreed Weiss.

They stepped away from the window. After checking out their room, they decided to see what the bathroom had in store for them.

As Weiss had expected, it was luxurious to an almost ridiculous degree, being almost as large as the rest of the hotel room on its own. Most of that space was dominated by the bathtub, which was more like the kind of hot tub or jacuzzi one would find at a more public venue, complete with a set of steps cut into its marble surface, allowing one to walk down into it and settle onto the bench that ran around its half-circle circumference. The whole thing was cut from fine marble, like the floor of the ballroom they'd left behind, and probably had built-in Dust-tech to keep the water at a constant temperature.

Aside from that, there was a shower stall, looking a bit more normal, though, in place of a regular shower-head, it appeared that water was pumped directly in through a section of the ceiling, with the stall featuring a hard-light wall, in place of the typical door. A small shelf housed an array of top-class toiletries. Light and fluffy towels, looking as expensive as everything else they'd seen so far, hung from a bar off to the side.

The wall that the bathroom shared with the window of the adjoining room was _also_ a single, large window, one with the exact same spectacular view of the starry sky as the other one. The bathtub was built right up against it, cut into the floor, forming a half-circle that ended right where the edges of the tub met the window, with the window itself actually extending partway down past the level of the tub.

Finally, there was a counter, with sinks and a large mirror, situated right by the door, looking so normal for a bathroom that it seemed out of place, against the absurdly luxurious decor.

Ashley hugged her arms, feeling almost paranoid at being surrounded by so much luxury and finery. It was the kind of place a commoner like her would normally never set foot in, a glimpse of a totally different world. And, to think, this was the most _basic_ room _The Grand Silmaril_ had. It made her wonder just what kind of ridiculous features the higher-tier rooms sported.

"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" asked Weiss, rhetorically.

"Yeah," agreed Ashley, glancing uneasily at the window. "I...don't know...I feel like I should have a swimsuit, if we use the tub."

Weiss giggled. "I can understand that," she said. "Like I said though, the glass is polarized, so no one can see in. Don't worry. We have privacy."

Granted, given that this room had been given to them by _Whitley_, there was a part of Weiss that wanted to comb the place over for hidden listening devices and cameras, which her brother might use to record any scandalous happenings to spread over the network. However, she also knew that something so blatant was beneath her brother. Instead, her brother had originally intended this room as a place where Ashley and Weiss could console one another after being outed and ridiculed in a humiliating manner at his gala. Now that he'd gotten what he'd wanted, it was merely a rare gesture of kindness on her brother's part.

"Okay..." said Ashley, still feeling a little uncertain. She continued to hug herself, almost afraid to _touch_ anything in either room, as though someone of her low standing might dirty the furnishings simply by virtue of her lack of class. Granted, that _was_ the kind of attitude many who used rooms such as this would have held. But it was a far cry from reality, fortunately, though it was something that Ashley's rational mind was working to push past her initial reaction at suddenly being surrounded by such finery.

They moved back out into the main room. "So...now what?" asked Ashley.

"We enjoy ourselves, I suppose," said Weiss. "There's any number of things we could do. We could watch movies or shows. I imagine a hotel like this has a generous selection of entertainment options." She smirked, her eyes going to the coffee table. "It seems that my brother left us with _another_ gift."

"Huh...?" Ashley's eyes went to the table, widening as she saw something she'd overlooked, as overwhelmed as she'd been by the room in general.

Resting on the center of that crystal table was a black tray with silver handles, accommodating a bottle, set into a glacette that appeared to actually be built into the center of the tray, accompanied by a pair of glasses.

"Um..." Ashley shifted nervously. "Is it all right? I mean...I know that, since you're a Beacon student, you can...but I'm still underage."

"Don't worry," said Weiss with a sigh, moving to the edge of the table, and reaching down to pull the bottle out. "My brother is too clever to make such an obvious oversight. It's sparkling cider...see?"

"Oh," said Ashley, glimpsing the label of the bottle. It was no doubt a luxury brand of such cider, probably costing leagues more than the kind she might find on a shelf in the grocery store, though she had no idea what the taste of such a beverage would be like.

Weiss glanced down at the tray, then smiled, an idea occurring to her. "I know," she said. "Let's get showered off."

"H-h-h-huh...?" stammered Ashley, her face turning red.

"I have and idea of what we can do," said Weiss, smiling confidently at Ashley, though Ashley couldn't help but notice that Weiss was blushing too.

"O-Okay," said Ashley.

"Go ahead and go first," Weiss told her. "I'll get things ready."

Ashley swallowed, nodding. She went in the bathroom, closing the door behind her. After shedding her dress and undergarments, she went into the shower and turned it on. Like everything else in this room, it was absurdly luxurious, being controlled by another interface, rather than a handle, like her shower at home would be. Its temperature could be adjusted precisely, along with the power and distribution of the spray. Ashley actually lost herself playing around with the settings for a few minutes, before she remembered what she was supposed to be doing and getting down to the business of washing herself.

Despite the fact that she knew that Weiss was waiting her turn, Ashley couldn't help but take a little bit to luxuriate in the feeling, utilizing the soap, shampoo, and conditioner, rinsing away her makeup and mascara, and relaxing as the heat of the water sank in through her skin. There were even products specially formulated for faunus-fur, which worked wonders on her tail. She managed to keep her time under ten minutes, leaving before her fingertips and toes were turned into raisins. Stepping out, she pulled one of the towels off its rack, drying herself off, before wrapping it around her body, so that it covered her from the chest down. The towel was just as soft and fluffy as it looked, fitting her in a way that felt even more comfortable than her regular clothes (which Ashley found a bit distressing). Even though she'd just used it to dry off, it barely felt even damp.

Looking around, Ashley realized that Weiss had been in the bathroom while she'd been showering, waiting until Ashley's body had been concealed behind the hard-light barrier that served as the shower door, before coming in. Weiss had picked up Ashley's dress, and begun the process of filling up the bathtub, water rushing in through sluices built into the sides, rather than a single faucet. Already, the tub was almost half-full.

Opening the door, Ashley found Weiss, still dressed and waiting, flushing automatically at the realization of her own state of dress (or lack thereof, rather), a blush that was mirrored on Weiss' own cheeks, though Weiss did a better job at maintaining her composure.

"My turn, I guess," said Weiss, her own nervousness betraying itself in her face.

"Um...the...uh...the tub...?" Ashley asked.

"It'll turn itself off before it can flood," said Weiss, chuckling. "The wonders of absurd luxury, right?"

"R-right," stammered Ashley.

"Just wait a little bit," said Weiss, resting a hand on the bare skin of Ashley's shoulder. "I promise you'll like this."

Ashley swallowed. "O-okay..."

Weiss entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Meanwhile, Ashley moved to sit on the couch, still in her towel. As she did, she spied her dress, hanging in the wide closet that was built into the all adjacent to the door. She briefly entertained the thought of doing the same thing for Weiss, but stopped herself, unable to work up the courage to go into the bathroom, where her naked girlfriend was showering, even if Weiss would be concealed by the hard-light wall of the shower stall.

Ashley considered turning on the entertainment center, and finding something to watch. But her nervousness kept her from doing anything in the tense minutes she waited through for Weiss to finish.

Weiss' shower took less time than Ashley's had, but it still felt interminably long to her. Finally, the door opened and Weiss strode out, wearing nothing but a towel as well. Looking at her, Ashley felt her breath catch in her throat. She'd always known Weiss was beautiful, having always seen that refined beauty in the way Weiss dressed and wore her hair. However, right now, seeing Weiss, devoid of any beauty products, her hair left in a flowing cascade down her back, she looked gloriously beautiful in a different way. Ashley's eyes glanced towards the less-impressive flow of brown hair that streamed off her own head, and found herself feeling a little inadequate.

"We're ready," Weiss proclaimed, the coloring of her cheeks betraying her own nervousness a little.

"R-right," said Ashley, getting up.

"Go ahead and get into the tub," said Weiss. "I'll be right behind you."

"A-are you sure about this?" asked Ashley, shifting uneasily. "I...I'm..."

Weiss strode up to her, coming to a stop just outside of arm's reach, keeping her eyes firmly locked on Ashley's own. "If you're not ready, it's okay," said Weiss.

"Are _you_ ready?" Ashley wanted to know.

"Yes..." said Weiss, before hesitating. "...No...Maybe..." She sighed. "This was a lot easier in my head," she admitted. She paused. "I guess I was getting a little carried away. I don't want to pressure you. I guess we can leave it, if you want."

"Um..." Ashley closed her eyes, then took a deep breath, before opening them. "I can do it," she declared. "If it's with you...I can do it."

Weiss gave Ashley a relieved smile. "Thank you," she said.

They stood their awkwardly for another minute. Even if they'd agreed, it was still another matter entirely to actually go through with it.

Finally, Weiss made the decision. "I guess I'll go first."

Weiss undid her towel, pulling it free and completely revealing herself to Ashley for the first time. Ashley gasped softly at the sight of Weiss' naked body, taking in the pristine state of her ivory skin, highlighted by the cascade of silvery hair down her back, matching nicely with the icy blue of her eyes. The sole mark of her body, that scar over her left eye, only served to highlight her beauty even further. Her skin was stretched over a body of beautifully sculpted muscle, showcasing the full extent of her training as a Huntress.

The sight of Weiss, in all her splendor, made Ashley sigh in jealousy. _There's no way I could ever have a figure like that,_ she thought. "I...I guess it's my turn."

"Are you all right?" asked Weiss worriedly.

Ashley sighed again, averting her eyes. "I'm sorry. I just...looking at you makes me feel...inadequate, I guess."

Weiss stepped in close and cupped Ashley's chin, turning her face up so that Weiss could kiss her. "You have _nothing_ to be ashamed of," said Weiss. Reaching over, she grasped the edge of Ashley's towel. "I want to see you. May I...?"

Gulping, Ashley nodded, and Weiss pulled the cloth loose. Ashley flinched at the sensation of the air against her naked skin, fighting the impulse to hug herself. She wasn't in bad shape, but she had nothing like Weiss' physique, nothing but the body of a weak civilian.

"You look wonderful," Weiss whispered breathily to her, making Ashley's skin tingle. "Your breasts are bigger than mine too."

Ashley found herself reflecting that _that_ was true, however much of a difference that made. Weiss pulled her in for another kiss. "Go get in the tub," she said, after pulling away, "I'll be right behind you."

"Okay..." said Ashley, heading into the bathroom.

She stepped carefully down into the tub, taking a seat on the bench and leaning back, allowing her eyes to take in the sight of the star-washed sky outside the window. It was a beautiful sight, one made all the better by the soothing warmth of the water seeping into her skin and fur. Leaning back, Ashley used her tail as a cushion against the hard edge of the tub.

Then she heard the soft sound of Weiss' footsteps. To her surprise, Weiss was carrying the tray, with its bottle and glasses. Instead of setting it on the edge of the tub, as Ashley had been expecting, Weiss instead descended down into the water, still holding the tray in her hands. Then, to Ashley's amazement, Weiss set the tray on the water's surface. Rather than sink straight down, the tray rested atop the water as though it was completely solid.

Ashley opened her mouth to ask, then stopped herself. "Let me guess...Dust?"

"Dust," agreed Weiss, giggling, moving to sit next to Ashley, so that the two of them were pressed up against each other's sides. Despite the warmth of the water, Ashley shivered at the touch of Weiss' skin against her own.

"And look..." said Weiss, gesturing towards the tray. Even though the water was rippling and waving around it, the tray itself remained perfectly stable.

"Okay..." said Ashley. "I know it's convenient as heck, but this is getting stupidly crazy. Someone actually went through the trouble of creating a drink tray like that? How much does a thing like that cost?"

"You're probably happier not knowing," said Weiss.

"Probably," agreed Ashley with a sigh.

Weiss pulled the bottle free, removing the cork and pouring some cider into each glass. The golden liquid fizzed pleasantly, a continuous stream of bubbles rising to the surface within the flutes. Weiss then set the bottle back. "Of course, the glacette is cooled by ice-Dust," she explained. "And the tray is insulated so that the heat of the water doesn't reach the glasses."

"That's good," commented Ashley lamely. "Are those flutes some kind of super-Dust-glass that won't spill, even if you turn it upside down?"

"No, these are just regular, if fine, crystal," said Weiss. "So please don't go pouring cider into the bath."

Ashley laughed and took one of the glasses. Weiss took the other. Turning towards each other, they gently tapped the rims together, issuing a light chiming sound through the bathroom.

"_Cheers,_" they said in unison, before sipping from their drinks. After that, they leaned back, savoring the nighttime view, and basking in each other's presence. They leaned their heads together, taking the occasional sip. The cider was good. Ashley didn't think that there was really that much difference between whatever high-class brand this was and the kind she could get from the grocery store. But the scenery more than made up the difference.

"Thank you...for everything," said Ashley.

"I didn't do all that much," said Weiss.

"When I was in danger, you fought for me," said Ashley.

"That was more Ruby than me," Weiss pointed out.

"But you were still there for me," Ashley pointed out. "And then...even though you knew it was going to endanger your inheritance, you still accepted my feelings. Even if we had to hide it for a long time, you made me feel incredible." She sniffed, looking down at the water. "And...I'm sorry."

"For what?" asked Weiss, giving Ashley a confused look.

"Your inheritance, the Schnee Dust Company, you gave all that up for me," said Ashley. "I...You...You've made so many sacrifices for me, and I haven't given up much at all."

"That's not true!" protested Weiss. "Ashley, you gave up your freedom. Just because you were our friend, you gave up _months_ of your life, stuck in a single room. You entered into a relationship with me, even though you knew it was dangerous, that it would put a target on your back, once word got out. You put your _life_ on the line for what we have."

"The whole thing with me and my parents being stuck at Beacon had nothing to do with you," Ashley pointed out. "The White Fang were after me because I was friends with Ruby. That's not a sacrifice, that's just the consequence. It's the same with your father. _I_ was the one who asked you."

"And you decided to continue, even though you knew what it might mean," Weiss pointed out. Then she took a deep breath. "Besides, this isn't some kind of transaction. It's not about trading things of equal value. It's about what we have between us, here and now."

Weiss set her half-full flute on the tray, then took Ashley's from her, setting it on the tray around. Next, Weiss reached out, wrapping her arms around Ashley, pulling their bodies flush up against each other, and kissing Ashley deeply. Weiss used her lips to pry Ashley's open, slipping her tongue in, wrestling it against Ashley. Ashley returned the favor, the two of them moaning in pleasure.

Weiss pulled Ashley up off the bench. Still wrapped in their embrace, Weiss pressed Ashley's back up against the window, pressing harder against her as their hands began to wander, their drinks momentarily forgotten as they instead drank of one another. Several minutes later, they pulled apart, panting for breath, and sweating for reasons that had _nothing_ to do with the temperature of the water.

"Ashley...you are not just any girl," Weiss explained. "There are so many people who would throw themselves into a relationship with me, most of them for all the wrong reasons. Most of them would have dropped me the moment I gave up or lost my inheritance. But you stayed with me, even though you knew I would have to give it up for you. That's how I know you're worth everything I've given up and more. I may have lost the company...but I gained something so much more in return."

They were silent for a moment, before Ashley broke it. "That...was totally cheesy," she said.

"I prefer to think of it as classical," said Weiss.

"I figured you'd be the one for the classics," said Ashley teasingly.

"And what does that mean?" asked Weiss.

"This," replied Ashley, pushing away from the wall and catching Weiss in another enthusiastic kiss, her hands drifting down to squeeze her girlfriend's ample behind. Weiss groaned into Ashley's mouth, her own hand sliding around to Ashley's front to squeeze her breast, drawing a similar response from Ashley.

Ashley pushed them back to the bench, and they pulled apart to sit down. Taking a moment to recover, they reached over and took up their drinks again.

"I guess we can make this work after all," said Ashley. "You know, even though it was a crazy night, I guess we owe your brother one."

"Yes," agreed Weiss, a sour look on her face. "As much as I detest the idea of owing Whitley, it would seem that I do, all the same." Then she sighed. "We should make the most of this. After all...this is probably going to be the last time we get to experience this kind of luxury for a while...if at all."

"Yeah...since you're not getting the company anymore," said Ashley.

"It's more than that," said Weiss, looking tired. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to be _much_ more careful about how I spend my money from here on out. I may have relinquished my inheritance, so Father can't strip that from me, but he still has _other_ means of reprisal. After tonight, I'll likely lose access to my family's credit line, which means I'll have to rely on my student stipend alone."

"Is it that bad?" asked Ashley. It seemed a little extreme to her. After all, all of Weiss' teammates and friends appeared to be getting along just fine on their own stipends. Even Pyrrha Nikos, with all the money her sponsorships and endorsements must have brought in, relied entirely on her stipend for her expenses.

"Well...in my case...my style and my weapon weren't designed with frugality in mind," said Weiss, blushing in embarrassment.

"Oh..." said Ashley. She'd seen Myrtenaster in action a few times. In particular, she remembered that spectacular sparring match with Ruby. "Yeah...I guess all that Dust must cost a lot of money, especially in this economy."

Weiss nodded. "It's probably for the best that I won't be participating in the next rounds of the tournament," she said. "I'm going to have to rethink how I fight."

"Will you be okay?" asked Ashley.

Weiss gave her a smile. "I think I'll be able to manage," she said. "I think...I might look to Ruby's family for help."

"The Mibu?" asked Ashley.

Weiss nodded. Then she paused. "That reminds me of something. I have a gift for you."

"Uh...Y-you didn't need to," said Ashley.

"But I _want_ to," said Weiss. Then her expression became serious. "And I think it will be something you need, in the future."

"What is it?" asked Ashley.

Weiss set her drink aside. Remembering what happened the last time, Ashley did the same, readying herself. Sure enough, Weiss took Ashley in her arms once again, pulling her into another kiss. However, this time, Weiss did something else too, remembering a certain story Ruby had told her about how Jaune had healed her, the last time she was in the infirmary.

As they kissed, Ashley felt something pass through their joined lips, something other than Weiss' tongue, which continued to twine about her own. Abruptly, Ashley was beset with a popping sensation between them, almost like the discharge of static electricity, but not painful in the slightest. She felt a warmth build within her, becoming almost feverish, before fading away into a more natural sensation. With a gasp, she pulled away from Weiss.

"What was that?" she asked, surprised.

"Your Aura," answered Weiss, smiling lovingly at her.

"My..." Ashley looked down at her hand, seeing it outlined in a dark-green outline. "You mean you...?"

"I just unlocked your Aura," Weiss confirmed.

"Why?" Ashley asked, looking back up at Weiss.

"A couple of reasons," said Weiss. "First and foremost...for your safety."

"My safety...?"

Weiss nodded. "You already know about Father. And there's no telling if more White Fang radicals will come after you. I promised to protect you. But I can't be beside you all the time. With this, you'll have _some_ extra protection. I'll teach you how to use it too, just like how Ruby taught me. Once we get a handle on it...maybe I'll be able to teach you how to use Glyphs."

"But...isn't that your Semblance?" asked Ashley.

"I used to think that," said Weiss. "But Ruby's shown me the truth. It's not a Semblance after all, at least, not how we think of one. It's something _more_. More importantly, that also means it's something I can share with you, something I can pass onto you."

Ashley blinked, amazed at the thought. "That...that would be _amazing_!"

Weiss beamed. "But that's for later," she said. "For tonight...let's just enjoy each other."

"I'd like that," said Ashley.

They hugged one another close, kissing once again. This time, they pressed on, their bodies turning about each other, legs sliding and tangling, hands roaming. They pushed each other back and forth through the water. Weiss pushed Ashley down on the bench, assaulting her from above. Ashley fought back, pushing Weiss up against the window, lifting her up slightly so that she could assail Weiss' breasts with her lips and tongue. They pressed on for several more minutes of amorous play, grinding against each other, their fingers reaching down to pleasure one another. Ashley was pushed into a climax first, but Weiss was soon to follow. Then, spent, they collapsed on the bench.

Taking the respite as an opportunity, Weiss refilled their glasses, and they spent several more minutes relaxing against each other, enjoying their drinks. About halfway through the bottle, they finally decided it was time to get out of the water. Weiss set the tray on the bathroom counter, before she and Ashley toweled off. Weiss finished drying herself first, while Ashley was still working on her tail.

Then, just as Ashley was finished, Weiss took Ashley's towel in her hands, slipping it around Ashley's back, and using it to pull Ashley up against her. From there, they continued on, Weiss pushing Ashley back out the bathroom door, and into the main room, before pushing Ashley down onto the bed. They shifted, pulling back the covers, moving so that Ashley was lying on her back, staring up as Weiss loomed over her. Weiss reached over to the interface located on the bedside table, using that to turn off the lights.

"I love you," said Weiss, her eyes gleaming, even in the darkness.

"I love you too," Ashley said back, reaching up to pull Weiss down to her.

They continued their lovemaking, finally collapsing, spent, in the wee hours of the morning.

* * *

**So yeah...I went a little overboard, when it came to coming up with the bedroom. Sometimes your imagination runs wild in the weirdest of places.**

**I love the idea of Weiss pulling off a less...accidental...version of the spectacle she caused, back in Volume 4 of the canon series. Here, we get to see what she can do when she's in complete control, and dominating the room. Even though she's not a threat at all, Madeleine was a good way to show how Weiss has grown over the course of the story, both in terms of maturity and ability.**

**And Whitley gets to be manipulative and nice at the same time.**


	131. Chapter 131

**Chapter 131:**

Morning came on sooner than Weiss would have liked. Fortunately, the arrangements Whitley had made ensured that the couple wouldn't have to vacate the room until well into the afternoon. As such, Weiss and Ashley were free to sleep in for as long as they wanted. Upon waking up, they decided to take turns in the shower, even though they had gotten quite accustomed to one another's naked bodies the previous night.

While Weiss was cleaning up, Ashley found herself surveying her body. Given how Weiss had been nipping and sucking her skin at various places, Ashley expected to find her body covered with tiny, light bruises. Instead, she found her skin in its usual state, any such bruises and hickeys having already faded. _I know Aura is supposed to help people heal faster, but this feels sorta like a cheat,_ she thought.

"Is something wrong?" asked Weiss, emerging from the shower, grabbing a nearby towel to dry herself off.

"Uh...Well...I guess I was just thinking that Aura is amazing," said Ashley, her hand going up to a place that Weiss had attacked rather aggressively the night before.

Weiss giggled, slipping behind Ashley, wrapping her arms around her front, even as she pressed her face into the fur of Ashley's tail for a moment, before moving past it to look over her lover's shoulder. "Yeah, little bruises like that are nothing." She paused, seeing an uncertain look on Ashley's face. "Is something bothering you?"

"It's weird..." said Ashley, looking at her hands. "Aura is supposed to be this big thing that only Huntsmen and Huntresses, like you, can use. And you just woke it up inside of me, like it was nothing."

"Aura is the power of our souls," said Weiss. "Of course you have a soul, Ashley. So it's only natural that I could bring it out of you."

"Yeah, but..." Ashley frowned pensively. "I don't know...I've never thought about _being_ a Huntress, even after meeting you and Ruby."

"Silly," said Weiss, hugging Ashley tighter. "You don't have to be a Huntress. Did you really think that was the case?"

"Um...Well...I..." Ashley sighed and slumped. "Maybe a little."

"I can understand," said Weiss. "Here, in the Kingdoms, Aura is used only by Huntsmen and Huntresses. But...a continent away, there's an entire civilization, one that uses Aura for _everything_. You've been listening to Ruby, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Ashley.

"Just because I unlocked your Aura, no one is expecting you to start training to be a Huntress. It's a little late to start training for that anyway." Weiss paused. _Though Jaune made it work, somehow...but it's probably better to think of him as an exception, right?_

"You don't have to do something so frightening," she continued. "We can talk to Sasame, and she can probably give you some ideas on what you could do with your Aura. The thing I was focused on was making sure you have the strength to protect yourself, at least a little...just in case. That way, even when I'm not there..."

"I understand," said Ashley, her hands coming to rest over Weiss' own.

"Good," said Weiss, dipping her head to kiss Ashley's neck once again.

After finishing cleaning up, they moved to the sitting area, donning the complimentary robes that had been hanging in the closet, Weiss using the interface on the entertainment center to order their brunch. While they waited for their meal, they idled the time away in pleasant conversation, exchanging small gestures of affection. Ashley was curious about just what kind of training she would be getting, and Weiss was only too happy to explain. In fact, as soon as they were finished with their meal, Weiss intended to give Ashley her first lesson, right there in the room.

The food that arrived was rather sumptuous, and they downed it with pleasure, sharing bites of their respective dishes with one another. However, partway through the meal, the reality of what they'd done at the gala, the previous night, intruded.

Weiss' scroll, which had been set to silent, began to buzz. Picking it up, Weiss' glowered at the device as she saw the contact listed, with a complete lack of a thumbnail to match the one calling her. _Father..._

The scroll continued to buzz, while Weiss stared at it.

"Are you gonna...answer...?" asked Ashley worriedly. She'd only ever seen Jacques Schnee on the screen of a CCT broadcast, often when he was making announcements regarding his company. The thought of being in a relationship with his daughter, of being even tangential to a direct conversation between them, was frightening, given what she knew of the man, especially considering what Weiss had told her.

Instead, Weiss' expression transformed into a smirk. With her thumb, she declined the call. She waited for a few seconds, then her scroll began to buzz again. "Well...it seems he's persistent this time."

Weiss set the scroll down on a nearby cushion, muffling the noise it made, now that it lacked a hard surface to vibrate against.

"Is that gonna be okay?" asked Ashley worriedly.

"At this point, I have a rough idea of the things Father is going to say, and how he's going to say them...not to mention how _loudly_ he'll say them," said Weiss simply. "I'm in no mood to put up with that right now. Maybe later, I'll indulge his tirades. But I'm through dancing on his strings. If that means he cuts me off from the family resources as well...so be it. I will find a way to keep moving forward..." She reached over to take Ashley's hand in her own. "...alongside you."

Ashley smiled and nodded. Then it was _her_ scroll that started to ring next. Unlike Weiss, she hadn't thought to set it to silent-mode, but she hadn't been expecting the angry tirade of a an elitist, racist father. Picking it up, Ashley saw that it was her mother.

"Oh God..." whispered Ashley, her cheeks heating up.

"Well, in this case, I think that's a call you shouldn't ignore," said Weiss, blushing a little too.

Ashley nodded, answering and bringing the scroll up to her ear. "Hi, Mom...Yes, I'm fine...We're still at the hotel...I'll be back later this afternoon...Um..Well...things got a little bit...Uh...Don't worry! Weiss wouldn't let anything happen to me...Uh...Um...No comment..."

Whatever Elowen said next had Ashley's entire face turning red. A second later, she sputtered a few incoherent syllables, before finally managing to blurt out a startled, "Mom!"

Ashley listened to what her mother had to say for a few more seconds, before handing the scroll to Weiss with a mortified look on her face. "She wants to talk to you now."

"I suppose that's to be expected," said Weiss with a small sigh, taking the scroll for herself. "Hello, Ms. Forrest."

"_Hello to you too, Weiss,_" said Elowen over the line, her voice balancing on a fine line between teasing and sober. "_From what my daughter has refrained from admitting, I would probably be right to assume that the two of you were...intimate...last night._"

Weiss closed her eyes, and decided that there was no reason to beat around the bush. "Yes, we had sex," she confirmed. The look of mortification on Ashley's face was compounded.

"_I see..._" There was a noticeable pause. "_I hope you realize what this means._"

Reflexively, Weiss nodded, even though the woman on the other end of the line couldn't see her. "Yes. I relinquished my claim to the SDC inheritance to my younger brother, last night. In all likelihood, I will be cut off from all my family resources for the foreseeable future...if not permanently. It is my hope that, despite that, you would still be willing to accept me."

Elowen was silent for a moment. "_You know...when I first heard my daughter met you, I was worried and suspicious._"

"I can understand the sentiment," said Weiss.

"_I thought, as ridiculous as that seems, you were looking to take advantage of her in some fashion,_" continued Elowen. "_I know that seems absurd, considering the differences between your class and ours. But...I was suspicious of you all the same. Looking back on what's happened between the two of you...I still can't quite wrap my head around it._"

"I understand that," said Weiss, with a wry smile. "I can't really explain what happened between us either. It just...happened."

Elowen was silent for another few seconds. "_You said you've already given up your inheritance, and that you'll probably be cut off from your money. What about the...other...consequences you warned us about?_"

Weiss' expression sobered. "I'm sure they'll come in time," she said, glancing sidelong at her scroll, which was buzzing with her father's contact on the screen, _again_. "Father has already been calling me incessantly. I haven't answered him yet, since I don't want to put up with what he undoubtedly has to say at the moment. But it won't be long before he transitions from words to actions. I'm beginning preparations for that now."

"_That's what I was afraid of,_" said Elowen. "_Weiss...what you're doing...what you're trying to do...it's a tall order. You might have been the heiress to it at one time, but this is the Schnee Dust Company we're talking about. Listen...I...I'm afraid. Protecting us...it might be too much of you._"

"Ms. Forrest, please-" Weiss began, wanting to assure her.

"_That's why, as a mother..._" continued Elowen, cutting her off, "_...there's only one thing I want to ask of you. Whatever else, please...protect Ashley. Do whatever you can to keep her safe and keep her happy. Even if you have to leave us to our fates, please make sure that Ashley is safe._"

"Ms. Forrest...I can't do that," said Weiss firmly.

A soft gasp over the line was the response.

"If I left you to...whatever my father tries to go through with...that would destroy Ashley's happiness," said Weiss. "That's why I'll use everything I have at my disposal, as modest as my own means might be right now, to protect _all_ of you, so that Ashley can remain both safe _an_d happy.

"And I won't be doing this alone. I may not have the company's connections any longer, but I _do_ have friends, friends who are friends of Ashley too, friends who are more powerful than Father reckons, friends who will be all too happy to fight against him on our behalf. If Father tries _anything_, I will see to it that he regrets it with every fiber of his being...On that, you have my word."

There was another pause. When Elowen spoke again, Weiss could almost imagine the contented smile on the woman's face. "_Thank you, Weiss. Take care of Ashley. It makes me indescribably happy that we would someday be able to welcome a woman like yourself into our family._"

"I will...and thank you," said Weiss, bowing her head, even though, once again, there was no way Elowen could see the gesture.

"_Goodbye for now,_" said Elowen. "_We'll talk again soon, I'm sure. Could you hand the scroll back to Ashley?_"

"Of course," said Weiss. "Goodbye, Ms. Forrest." She handed the scroll back to her girlfriend.

Ashley picked it up again. "Mom...Yes, I understand...Thank you...I love you too...Bye."

Hanging up, Ashley set the scroll down and turned to Weiss, tears running from her eyes. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too," said Weiss, leaning in so that they could indulge in another kiss.

They held each other for the next few minutes, not caring that the remains of their meal were growing cold on the table in front of them, nor that Weiss' scroll continued to buzz intermittently, showing her Father's contact every time. Finally, they found the wherewithal to finish their meal. Then they decided to get dressed. Much to Ashley's surprise, but not Weiss', Klein had apparently gone through the trouble of getting their regular outfits laundered, while they'd been at the gala, so they were able to put on clean clothes for the day. Once done, after confirming how much time they had left in the room, Weiss began to walk Ashley through the process of Tempering her Aura.

* * *

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me," said Holly, smiling over the table at Pyrrha. "I imagine it must have been difficult to find time in your busy schedule for this."

"It wasn't _that_ hard," said Pyrrha. "Since it's the Vytal Festival, I have a substantial amount of free time."

Indeed, time _wasn't_ an issue for Pyrrha. The festival meant no classes, which meant no homework, no projects, and no missions. Besides that, Pyrrha and Ruby were supremely confident in their skills and teamwork, sufficiently so that they felt no need to try and cram in any last-minute training to prepare for their match in the doubles round. When it happened, they would enter the match, and do what they were trained to do.

Inclination, however, was another matter entirely. Pyrrha hadn't been pleased when Holly had called her, politely requesting a chance to meet and talk. Pyrrha hadn't really wanted to. Her first impulse had been to turn her former-manager down on the spot. But the documents Holly had sent over Pyrrha's scroll were nothing, if not persuasive.

And so...here they were, meeting discreetly at a table in a corner of a small cafe, Pyrrha dressed casually to avoid drawing too much attention to herself, staring across the table at Holly, who smiled pleasantly as he lifted her cup to her lips, and took a sip of its contents.

"That's good for you...I suppose," said Holly. "But still...your time could be put to much more...efficient...use, could it not? Here in Vale, there are so many opportunities for someone with your record."

"I have all the opportunities I need at Beacon," said Pyrrha firmly.

"If that were true, we would't be having this conversation, now would we?"

Pyrrha grunted at that.

Holly sighed. "I hope you appreciate just how hard I've been working on your behalf, Pyrrha. Thanks to a great deal of negotiation, the majority of your sponsors have agreed not to drop you, despite the controversy that came of that...match."

"I suppose that's good," said Pyrrha, frowning.

"Your parents are certainly grateful for my intervention."

"Is that why you suddenly have complete access to our financial records?" asked Pyrrha.

"As a manager, managing the finances of my charges also includes managing the finances of those who are dependent on my charges," said Holly. "And we both know that your parents have been...less than wise."

Pyrrha's eyes narrowed.

Holly sighed dramatically. "It's such a common problem amongst the nouveau rich, after all. Those who, before, had a limited income suddenly find themselves in possession of more wealth than they had previously imagined possible. They can be so quick to discard their previous frugality, and even go so far as to lose track of just how much money they _do_ have."

"I'm well aware of that," said Pyrrha. "What disturbs me is that, even though you claim that managing my family's finances is your responsibility, you don't seem to have been doing a good job of it."

"I can only advise," Holly deflected. "At the end of the day, I am still beholden to the will of my clients after all."

"Is that so?" asked Pyrrha. "I seem to remember you advising my parents to purchase a particular kind of airship."

Holly sighed again. "Well...you know how your mother gets. You come by your stubbornness quite naturally after all. And your Father, as much as he blusters, is surprisingly easily persuaded. I merely sought to limit the damage to the best of my abilities by guiding them to the least-expensive model possible."

"How kind of you," grumbled Pyrrha.

"Come now, don't be like that," said Holly. "I'm doing everything I can. But your parents..." She shook her head slowly. "As you can see for yourself, they are in rather dire straits, even if they themselves do not realize it."

Pyrrha had indeed seen for herself. The documents Holly had sent her had been a list of her family's accounts, including their income and expenditures. It had shocked her to the extreme. Her parents' spending habits were beginning to outstrip the income from her endorsements, even if a few had dropped her after the controversy of her match with Ruby. Even though Pyrrha had declared that she would no longer be seeking to actively support them, they had pressed ahead regardless, apparently believing that, in the end, Pyrrha would _still_ be there to bail them out of whatever hole they dug themselves into. They were still ahead for now, but that would soon be changing.

"Now...as you've seen, your mother and father have continued to be reckless with their spending habits," said Holly.

"Then we need to _change_ their habits, not _enable_ them," protested Pyrrha. "At this rate, me earning more for them would only encourage them to _spend_ even more."

"You may be right," agreed Holly. "But we can work on that. In the meantime, their current situation must be addressed, don't you agree? And it's not as though it would be all that hard for you. There is plenty that can be done."

"I'm not leaving Beacon," said Pyrrha.

"Oh heavens no!" agreed Holly with surprising conviction. "Right now, in the midst of the Vytal Festival, with the tournament still in progress...that would be the height of folly. Though...perhaps next year..."

"I'm not...leaving Beacon," repeated Pyrrha, furrowing her brow.

"That doesn't necessarily have to happen," said Holly. "For example, even when the festival isn't forthcoming, there are still exchange programs that could allow you to spend some time at Haven, where you could do some good...even temporarily."

"That's..." Pyrrha was shocked that she was actually considering this. She'd been determined to leave that kind of work behind, completely.

_But maybe...just a little bit,_ she thought. As soon as she got through to her parents and curbed their reckless spending, then she could move on...right?

"Of course, we need to begin laying the groundwork," said Holly, closing her eyes and gently rubbing her temples. "Perhaps we should start with your boyfriend..."

"I'm not leaving Dove," said Pyrrha, straightening up, getting a strange feeling of pressure receding from her head.

"That's...a shame...but not a deal-breaker," said Holly, frowning pensively. "It's a shame. He certainly put up a good fight in the previous round of the tournament, even if his team ended up losing anyway. He might actually be quite marketable...if he weren't so plain-looking. Perhaps if we touched him up a little..."

"No," said Pyrrha firmly. "Don't rope Dove into this."

"At this point, he's a part of this, whether you like it or not," said Holly. "He is in a relationship with _you_ after all, with all the baggage that entails. I'm sure that a mature young man like him has learned to accept the consequences of his actions, hasn't he?"

Pyrrha frowned.

"Besides, a caring boyfriend would be willing to help you, wouldn't he?" added Holly. "You aren't the kind of person to hook up with a boy so heartless that he would insist you abandon your beloved parents, or fail to extend a helping hand in their-in _your_-time of need...right?"

Pyrrha's brow furrowed again.

"But we don't need to worry about that much, not at this juncture," said Holly, remaining as composed as ever. "For now, let's focus on the tournament itself, that will be your first great opportunity."

"It will...?" asked Pyrrha, feeling more and more troubled.

It always went this way with Holly. She would start with outlandish proposals, things that Pyrrha would reject out of hand. Then she would shift things to more attainable goals, goals which, ultimately, would lead Pyrrha to that outlandish end that Holly had suggested or implied initially.

"Moving the goalposts" was often used to describe people changing the definition of success. When a person succeeded, the person who wanted to impede them changed the idea of what success meant, so that the first person was still found wanting. But Holly's approach worked in the reverse of that. She always set the goal at something that Pyrrha would never want to do, then gradually shifted it closer, before leading Pyrrha from goal to goal, until she reached a place she'd never wanted to be at, before she could even realize it. And it always seemed to work every time.

Pyrrha had declared her desire to stay at Beacon. On the surface, it appeared that Holly had acquiesced to that. But her proposal of participating in an exchange with Haven, next year, was something that seemed much more reasonable. But there was a part of Pyrrha that knew things wouldn't stay like that. Once she was at Haven, Holly would want her to stay there. An exchange would be extended, then become a transfer. Then, before she knew it, Pyrrha would have left Beacon behind...just like Holly wanted.

And now, she was no doubt doing it again, working from a completely new angle.

"Your participation in the tournament will be an incredible boon," explained Holly. "With a record like yours, a victory here has the potential to completely wipe away the silly controversy surrounding that match."

"I have confidence that we can win the tournament," said Pyrrha. After all, she knew how strong Ruby was. After the doubles round, she didn't question Ruby's ability to win the title.

"Not 'we'..." corrected Holly, making Pyrrha gasp sharply. "_You_...It needs to be _you_, Pyrrha. The Mistral Regional Tournament made your name known across the world. The Vytal Festival Tournament will cement your name in _history_. To that end, you need to see this through in its entirety. That means that it needs to be _you_ who goes on to the finals. Do you understand?"

"My team..." Pyrrha paused, furrowing her brow. "We..." she amended. "We've already decided. Ruby's going to the finals."

"That is unacceptable," said Holly simply. "This is important Pyrrha. It's so much bigger than one person's pride, however important that team leader of yours might be to you. This is for your parents, after all. You owe it to them to give nothing but your best efforts."

"I..." Pyrrha felt as though she were trying to work her way through a fog. She didn't notice that Holly's smile had taken on a quality of smugness.

"It shouldn't be hard for you, Pyrrha," she said. "From what I've heard, your friends care a great deal about you. If they do, then, surely, they know how important this is to you, how great your need is. If you were to simply _talk_ to them, I am sure that you could help them to understand that you have a responsibility to represent your team, your school, and your Kingdom in the finals. Surely Ms. Rose is more than willing to shelve her pride for your sake. There's always next time, after all."

"Next time" would probably have Pyrrha not be on Ruby's team, or even fighting for Beacon, if Holly had her way. Despite being aware of that, Pyrrha was having a hard time bringing that to the forefront of her thoughts at the moment.

"And so...the first thing you will need to do, after our little meeting has concluded, is contact your leader, and inform her that you wish to be the one who participates in the finals," said Holly.

"I..."

"It's for your parents, remember? I know they can be a handful, Pyrrha. But they've done so much for you. It's the least you could do. Just think of the boon to their finances that this would be. Once you win the tournament, the offers will pour in."

"I..." Pyrrha closed her mouth, feeling...strangely tired. She prepared to open her mouth, planning to express her willingness to at least try Holly's idea. However, before she could say a word, a calloused hand came down on her shoulder.

"I think that's enough," said a firm, masculine, familiar voice.

"Huh?!" grunted Pyrrha, jolting upright, blinking furiously, as though she'd just come out of a daze.

Across from her, Holly was no longer smiling, instead scowling furiously at the person now standing behind Pyrrha.

Pyrrha glanced at the hand, before her eyes followed the arm it was attached to, up to the person standing behind her. She blinked. For some reason, it took her longer than it should have to recognize him. "D-Dove...?"

"Hey," said Dove, smiling down at her, before frowning and turning his gaze to Holly. "Right. Negotiations are over. Pyrrha's parents made their bed, and now they can lie in it. If they're set in their habits, I'm sure you can talk them out of it. You're pretty _persuasive_, after all...aren't you?"

Holly's eyes narrowed dangerously. "That's heartless of you," she said. "How could you possibly suggest that a daughter abandon her parents to their fate?"

"When her parents apparently see her as nothing more than a workhorse to support their bad habits, then I think it's perfectly reasonable to kick 'em to the curb, come what may," answered Dove. He looked down at Pyrrha again. "You said they needed to learn to live like adults, right?"

"I...I did," said Pyrrha, before grunting, a sore feeling in her head.

"Yeah, you've had more exposure than's good for you," said Dove, gently pulling her to her feet. From there, he began to gently guide Pyrrha towards the door of the cafe, casting a look over his shoulder at Holly. "From now on, _you_ stay away from her."

"That's hardly fair," said Holly. "Pyrrha came to me of her own free will, you know."

"Sure she did," said Dove skeptically, before guiding Pyrrha out the door.

Holly stared at the door for a long moment. Then she growled softly, baring her teeth. "If that's the case then...Fine. Plan B it is."

* * *

"Dove...please, wait!" protested Pyrrha, as her boyfriend led her along the sidewalks towards the docks. "I...I still need to...that is...my parents, I..."

Dove spun her around, turning as well, so that they were face-to-face, Dove's hands firmly clasping her shoulders. Pyrrha gasped softly at the intensity of his expression, including his normally hidden eyes. Then, Dove yanked her closer, kissing her hard. His right arm slipped around the small of her back, pulling her body flush against his own, while his left hand rose up to the back of her head, keeping her from pulling out of the kiss.

Pyrrha's breath stopped in her throat as she felt the hard contours of his muscles through the light shirt he was wearing. It felt so good to be held by him, when he wasn't wearing his usual armor. She resisted at first, but Dove refused to let her pull away and, gradually, she relaxed into the kiss, her hands slipping from pushing against his shoulders to wrapping her arms around them instead.

All around them, people stopped and stared at the sudden public display of affection. A few even recognized Pyrrha and Dove, pulling out their scrolls to snap quick pictures, while others blushed, averted their eyes, and continued on their way. Pyrrha and Dove paid them no mind, their thoughts and feelings focused entirely upon one another.

Finally, Dove relented, letting Pyrrha pull away, gasping for breath after the intense and extended kiss.

"Better?" asked Dove.

"Yes..." said Pyrrha uncertainly. "But...I'm not sure why."

"Because you're away from _her_," said Dove. "She was getting to you good, but it should wear off in a while."

"What should wear off?" asked Pyrrha.

"Her Semblance," said Dove plainly.

For a few seconds, Pyrrha stared at him. In his mind, he could practically hear a ticking sound as her addled brain caught up to what he'd just said. Then, her expression changed in a flash, transforming into one of shock, with Dove's brain conjuring up an accompanying "Ding!"

"Her Semblance!?" Pyrrha exclaimed. "Holly has a Semblance?"

"Yep," said Dove, relaxing his hold on Pyrrha, so that they could continue walking, though he kept a firm grip on her hand as he did, almost as though he were worried she might bolt back to her manager, should he let go.

"H-how...how do you know?" asked Pyrrha.

"I looked into it," said Dove. "I had a hunch, after seeing her working on you, last week. She was a little _too_ good at talking you around. So...I did some digging."

"What kind of digging?" asked Pyrrha.

"Yang _might_ have pointed me in the direction of a good informant," said Dove cryptically.

"You went to Junior?" asked Pyrrha, remembering just what informant he was referring to.

"Yep," said Dove. "And, believe me, it was worth looking into. That woman's bad news."

"I...I don't understand," said Pyrrha.

"To put it simply, her Aura's unlocked _and_ she has a Semblance, a pretty nasty one at that," said Dove.

"What is it?" asked Pyrrha.

"It's called Persuasion," said Dove. "Pretty straightforward, huh?"

"So...she can persuade people?" asked Pyrrha, her forehead furrowing.

"Yep," agreed Dove. "It's not straight-up brainwashing, not right away. But, when she makes suggestions, asks favors, or makes offers, her Semblance works through her voice to make people more inclined to agree with her."

"That makes sense," said Pyrrha.

"The scary thing is that, the more she talks, the more its effects build," explained Dove. "Longer conversations, multiple conversations, the more she talks to you, the deeper she can sink her hooks inside her head. If you stop talking to her, the effects start to fade, but not all that fast. If she can start up another conversation with you, before the effects fade entirely, then she can quickly compound its effects, make them last longer, become more ingrained. Given time, she can start to dictate how you are, the actions you take, to the point where, even if it's months since you've seen her, you'll still be under her sway."

Pyrrha found herself staring off into space, her mind working furiously, yet also seeming to be a set of wheels spinning in place. _The more she talks to you, the more she controls you,_ she thought to herself.

That explained a great deal. Pyrrha remembered, all too well, when she had first come to Beacon; how hard it had been to shed her persona as the Invincible Girl. During their post-Initiation orientation day, when Weiss had been acting up, insisting that _sh_e be the one to lead their team, it had taken every ounce of Pyrrha' will to defy that, and say "no" to her. The effort had nearly made her sick, before she'd been forced to leave.

It had quickly gotten easier, amongst her friends at least. But there had still been moments, even a month or more later. When her parents had called after the scandal that had broken out over her and Ruby's sparring match, Pyrrha had cut them loose, but had almost succumbed to the impulse to rush back and make amends.

And, during the previous week, or even today, it had been all too easy for Holly to start talking her around. Pyrrha shivered, fighting her way through the fog in her head.

After all, Holly had been "persuading" her for _years_, talking Pyrrha into doing things she hadn't really been interested in: endorsements, sponsorships, photo shoots of questionable nature, even signing up to be put on the front of the box for that ridiculous cereal... She'd continuously shaped Pyrrha, changing what she said, how she said it, and how she acted, molding Pyrrha in ways that had become ingrained into her at a subconscious level.

"So, that being the case, this is the rule," said Dove firmly. "You don't talk to her again, not in person. She can't use her Semblance over the scroll, thank God. But you won't see or speak to her directly. If you ever see her, you leave where she is, before she gets a chance to start talking. That's the rule now."

Pyrrha nodded weakly. Maybe it was a bit domineering for her boyfriend to dictate her actions to such an extent. But it was clearly a decision to keep her away from a woman, whose influence was, quite literally, corrosive. Honestly, Pyrrha realized that she'd probably needed someone to put their foot down, with regard to that. Even without her Semblance, Holly was all too likely to bring Pyrrha running with a few well-chosen words over the scroll, just like she'd done today.

And yet, there was a feeling, one that gnawed at her, even as Holly's influence faded from her mind. Guilt...The realization that her parents were on a downward spiral. Pyrrha had left them so much; all the money from her sponsorships and endorsements, the investments they'd made with some of the profits on those things; Pyrrha had left all that for her parents, choosing to live solely by her means as a Huntress. Despite all that wealth, it apparently hadn't been enough for them. Her parents were spending money on ridiculous frivolities, behaving as though they had an income equivalent to the likes of the Schnee Family. Even after they'd supposedly trusted everything to Holly...

Pyrrha gasped, the realization hitting her like a slap across the face. "My parents!"

"What about them?" asked Dove.

Pyrrha whirled around to stare at him. "That's why they've been doing this. The whole time I've been at Beacon-No! Before that, even-Holly's been talking to them, 'persuading' them, the same way she did with me. She's deliberately steered them into spending more than I've made for them, to pressure me to come back and continue to support them."

Dove paused. "Oh...I get it."

"I need to do something!" said Pyrrha. "I've got to get Holly to stop, maybe..."

Dove gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "No," he said firmly.

"But-!" Pyrrha began to protest.

"No," Dove repeated. "You _don't_ talk to her again, understand. Right now, that impulse to rush back to her, that's what she wants, that's part of how she's hooked you. Don't give into it."

"But...my parents..." Pyrrha's eyes began to overflow with tears. "At this rate, they'll go through everything. How are they going to live after that? I need to do something."

"Not you," said Dove, before breaking out in a smile. "Not alone."

"Huh?"

"Pyrrha, you don't need to be the Invincible Girl anymore," said Dove. "You don't need to shoulder everything by yourself. You've got friends here, who are willing to do what it takes to help you. You've got me. It's okay to depend on other people now."

"O-Oh..." said Pyrrha, her panic fading. "But...what do we do?"

Dove grinned. "Well, the first thing is to break your parents away from that woman. After that...it's gonna take a little work."

"But how do we get them away from Holly?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well...I may have gotten a head start on that," said Dove.

* * *

Oscar shifted nervously, staring at the screen in front of him. He'd figured it would be tricky, setting up a terminal call to speak with his aunt. However, it had been easier than he'd thought. But the _last_ thing he'd expected had been to be allowed to come up to the call center in Beacon Tower itself. All around him, actual Academy students were seated at terminals, talking to friends and family out in the settlements, or on other continents entirely. Even if he'd participated in the tournament, Oscar felt a bit like an intruder to this space.

"Are you okay, Oscar-kun?" asked Natsuki, taking a seat next to him.

"I-I'm a little nervous," said Oscar, ducking his head reflexively. "I'm worried Auntie Em might still be a little mad at me for doing that."

"It seemed like she was all right with it before," said Setsuna, looking down from behind Oscar.

Their assigned terminal had room for two chairs, allowing Natsuki to sit next to him. But that was the extent of it, Setsuna and Miyu needing to stand behind them to be seen by the person who would appear on the other side of the screen.

Natsuki rested her hand over his own, and she gave him a confident smile. "It'll be fine," she said.

"Y-yeah," said Oscar, taking solace in the warm feeling of her touch.

Neither of them noticed Setsuna and Miyu sharing a glance behind them. Setsuna's eyebrow rose subtly, while Miyu merely smiled wryly.

Finally, the spinning Beacon emblem vanished, replaced by the image of a woman all too familiar to Oscar. His new friends were a bit taken aback. Given the resemblance, they would have quite easily taken this woman for Oscar's mother, rather than his aunt, given that she shared the same tanned skin and messy black hair. Her olive eyes were alert and observant, taking in everything at a glance.

"H-hi, Auntie Em," said Oscar nervously.

Emalee's smile almost had a predatory quality to it, one that had Oscar breaking out in a nervous sweat as her gaze focused on him in particular. "_Hello, Oscar,_" she said. "_It's so good to see you're well, after you went and entered the Vytal Festival Tournament without so much as a 'by your leave.'_"

"I...I didn't mean to," said Oscar, flinching back.

"_I'm sure you didn't,_" agreed Emalee with surprising ease. "_I'm sure you got dragged into it through one of Maria's schemes. Where is she, by the way?_"

"Uh...Not here," said Oscar.

Truth be told, even though she was supposed to be his chaperone, Oscar didn't know where Maria was at the moment. In fact, she seemed to have gone off on her own on a fairly regular basis lately. He had no idea where she went, but figured that inquiring was likely to get him another smack on the shin with her walking stick, the last thing he wanted.

"_I should have known,_" muttered Emalee. "_Well, she can't hide forever. I'll have words for her, when she gets back._"

Oscar got the feeling that at least _some_ of those words were the sort that would get _his_ mouth washed out with soap, if he were to use them himself. However, he knew better than to suggest that.

And then, in a flash, as though her previous attitude had been nothing more than a flickering illusion, Emalee' face broke out into a radiant smile. "_In any case, now that that's out of the way, Oscar, why don't you introduce me to your new friends. I'd very much like to learn more about them._"

"O-okay," said Oscar, a little taken aback by the sudden change in her mood. But he rallied and moved on. "A-anyway, these are friends of Ruby's, from where she used to live."

"It's nice to meet you," said Natsuki, not needing any prompting. She bowed her head towards the screen. "I'm Shinomori Natsuki-er...Maybe I should call myself Natsuki Shinomori."

"_Why is that?_" asked Emalee.

"Well, the name order is different, where we come from," explained Natsuki, grinning awkwardly.

Oscar supposed that _would_ be one of the more awkward parts about anyone from the Mibu introducing themselves to people in the Kingdoms. It had taken him a little bit to get used to the idea of people introducing themselves with their surname first, rather than their given name.

Still, Emalee took it in stride. "_It's nice to meet you, Natsuki,_" she said. "_I hope Oscar hasn't been causing you any trouble._"

"Oh! Not at all!" exclaimed Natsuki. "Oscar-kun's great. He's really nice, and a lot of fun to hang around with." She paused. "Even if he was being a little mopey, after he found out Ruby-chan already had a boyfriend..."

"Did you really need to bring that up?" grumbled Oscar, giving Natsuki a wan glance sidelong.

He relaxed a little when he felt Miyu's hands rest on his shoulders. "Oscar-kun is quite dependable," she said. "I'm sure that you could see that, if you were able to watch his match."

"_I was,_" said Emalee, her eyes going up to Miyu.

"This is Ibuki Miyu," said Oscar. "She was my partner for the match."

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Pine-san," said Miyu, bowing her head politely.

Oscar gestured to the last person in their group. "And this is Nagi Setsuna."

"Nice to meet you," said Setsuna, bowing his head as well.

"_Well, you're all so polite,_" observed Emalee. "_So many youngsters these days have no manners._"

"Well, we do want to make a good impression with you, Pine-san," said Natsuki, smiling radiantly.

"_I'm glad to hear that. It looks as though Oscar will be in good hands with you three._" Emalee's smile faded slightly. "_But how in the world did you all end up fighting in the tournament?_"

"It's a little...tricky to explain," said Oscar nervously.

"Well, I suppose we can give Pine-san the truth," said Natsuki.

"_You were considering lying to me?_" asked Emalee, her voice suddenly getting harsher.

"No, Ma'am," said Natsuki sitting up straight. "It's just...it's a little complicated, partly because it involves Ruby-chan and her friends."

"_Please explain it to the best of your ability._"

"R-right," said Natsuki.

The four of them laid out the situation for Emalee, talking about Sasame's proposed exchange between Beacon and the Mibu, with Ozpin recommending that the youngsters Sasame had brought with her participate in the tournament to establish the existence of the Mibu and the nature of the skills, as well as the potential they held, with Oscar being tapped to fill out the roster of their team, on Maria's recommendation.

"_That's quite the strange situation you've gotten wrapped up in, Oscar,_" said Emalee, once they'd finished.

"Y-yeah, I guess..." said Oscar nervously, making Natsuki giggle next to him.

"_And you're not going to be in the next round?_" asked Emalee.

"N-no, once is enough for me," answered Oscar.

"I wouldn't mind having him as my partner though," said Natsuki.

"_Oh...is that so?_" asked Emalee, her gaze fixing rather pointedly at Natsuki.

"Yep," said Natsuki, completely unaware of the raised eyebrows Miyu and Setsuna were directing at her back. "I mean...he's got some great moves. He did awesome in the last round...But I guess you saw that."

"_That's true,_" said Emalee. "_But...Natsuki...what do you think of Oscar _outside_ the ring?_"

"Huh?" grunted Oscar, feeling his cheeks heat up, though he wasn't sure why.

"He's great!" declared Natsuki. "He's really nice to be around, and he's always so kind, and...uh..."

For some reason, Natsuki's voice trailed off. Oscar glanced at her in confusion, shocked to see that now Natsuki's cheeks were heating up.

"A-anyway, it's great that we'll be able to spend the festival together," finished Natsuki, apparently unable to bring herself to say anything more.

Oscar felt an uneasy lump form in his throat, upon seeing the teasing smile that formed over his aunt's face. "_Well well...it seems you've taken quite a liking to my boy, Natsuki. Be sure to treat him well._"

"I will," promised Natsuki.

Oscar flinched as Emalee's eyes went back to him. "_And you, Oscar, make sure you think things through, when it comes to what happens afterwards._"

"Uh...Yeah..." said Oscar, confused. _What does she mean by that?_

For some reason, his uncertainty merely seemed to amuse Emalee. "_Now then...what have you four all been doing for the past week. I want to hear the details_."

"We'd be happy to tell you," said Miyu.

For the next hour, they laid out the details of the time they'd spent practicing and training for their match, their explanations fascinating the woman on the other end of the line. For his part, Oscar felt a strange sense of satisfaction, the feeling that, even though he'd actually spent very little time at the festival itself, his time here in Vale was being well-spent.

* * *

**Honestly, I'm rather happy with how Pyrrha's conflict with her parents and Holly turned out. This was a development I came up with, later on in the writing process, but I thought it worked well with the story.**


	132. Chapter 132

**Chapter 132:**

Monday saw the next round of matches begin. Seeing as they consisted of the teams skilled enough to fight their way through the first round, the doubles rounds, despite featuring half as many people, were all the more exciting. With only two people from each team in the ring, there was a greater chance for each participant to show off his or her individual skills. On top of that, compared to the two biomes used in the first round, the second round featured_ four_ biomes in each match.

That said, there were fewer matches too, with each day featuring only a pair of matches. Sun and Neptune were up first, the two boys successfully storming their way through their match. Unlike the previous one, they didn't need to worry about any sore losers. After them, Yang and Nora were the next pair from Ruby's group of friends to enter the ring. Ruby watched their match, wincing in sympathy for their opponents, who were utterly outmatched by the sheer strength and tenacity of Team RYNB's two resident powerhouses.

Tuesday, on the other hand, began with a surprise.

* * *

"Wow! We're up already," said Natsuki eagerly, looking over Oscar's shoulder at his scroll.

"Yeah," said Oscar, swallowing nervously. Even if he wasn't going to be fighting in this match, he still felt nervous. After all, Natsuki would be going into the ring alongside Setsuna. Over the course of the past week, he'd become quite attached to his new friends, and invested in them. He _wanted_ them to win, even if he had very little to do with it.

Even though they'd known it would be the case, it was still something of a surprise to be hit with the summons for their match so suddenly. This time, they didn't have a spot reserved in the final match of the round, but would have their slot assigned randomly, just like everyone else. Natsuki and Setsuna were more than comfortable with that arrangement, the pair already quite familiar with one another's skills. As such, there had been no intense training binge in the time leading up to this match. Instead, Team MNPS had spent their time enjoying the festival with their other friends, either as a group of four, or in pairs.

And now, they were going to be in the first match of the second day of the second round. It felt so surreal that Oscar's head was spinning. It felt a little strange to still count himself as a part of the team, when he'd already done his part in the first round. However, as the only member with his own scroll, Oscar was presently the only one equipped to receive the notifications concerning when their team was participating, and who they would be fighting against.

"Who are our opponents?" asked Setsuna.

"Team Coffee," said Oscar.

"Ah, I remember them," said Natsuki. "They're some of Ruby-chan's friends, right?"

"Yeah," said Oscar, remembering briefly being introduced to the second-year team. Coco had been quick to gush over how cute Ruby's friends were.

"They're strong," said Setsuna.

"We don't have a whole lot of time, so I go ahead and bring up their footage," said Oscar.

Unlike the previous round, where they'd known who they'd be up against the moment the second-to-last match had been announced, Team MNPS would be learning about their opponent at the same time as any of the other teams, just a little bit before the match itself. Even now, they had already assembled in the locker room, looking at Oscar's scroll, and coming up with a strategy.

"Let's see, if I do this..." Oscar linked his scroll to the interface for the lounge's holoscreen, which allowed him to select videos from the coliseum's library, in this case the match Team CFVY had fought in the previous round.

"They're quite the interesting group," mused Miyu. "Do we know which two are going to be representing them?"

"The roster is showing Coco and Yatsuhashi," said Oscar.

"So...the girl with the minigun (that's what it's called, right), and the guy with the big sword," said Setsuna, pinching his chin. "That's a pretty straightforward combination."

"It _is_ rather orthodox," agreed Miyu.

"So, Coco-san is powerful at long range, and Yatsuhashi-san is powerful at close range," said Natsuki. She broke out in an excited grin. "This is gonna be fun. Who do you want to fight, Setsuna-kun?"

"I'm not sure we should assume we'll be fighting them individually," said Setsuna. "From the looks of things, they'll be at their strongest if they act in concert, and support each other."

"But is that really the case?" asked Natsuki.

"Why do you say that?" asked Oscar.

"Well, Coco-san's weapon is really powerful, but it's not the sort of thing you'd use for precise shots," Natsuki pointed out.

"I guess," said Oscar. "A weapon like that is more about volume-of-fire than precision, I suppose."

"Yeah," agreed Natsuki, nodding her head decisively. "So, if Yatsuhashi-san enters into melee, Coco-san's going to have a hard time firing into that without hitting him."

"If that's the case, then maybe their strategy is to have Coco-san attack with continuous fire, while Yatsuhashi-san remains close to her as a guard," guessed Setsuna.

"Well...I'm not sure Coco's helpless at melee range," Oscar pointed out, bringing up a playback of one of the moments from Team CFVY's match in the previous round, showing Coco clocking one of her opponents with the handbag-mode of her gun. The impact sent her unfortunate opponent flying through the air.

"Well, if she's swinging something with that much mass around, it's definitely gonna hurt," said Natsuki.

"But using her weapon for ranged fire still seems her primary mode," said Setsuna.

"If that's the case, and teamwork is their forte, then maybe breaking _up_ their teamwork and forcing them to fight on their own would be our best approach," said Oscar, before blinking. _Why am I saying 'our'?_ he wondered, feeling he was getting presumptuous.

"You're right," said Miyu, nodding in agreement with him, her acknowledgment making Oscar relax a little.

"Ooh! Then which one do you want to fight, Setsuna-kun?" asked Natsuki.

"I think the more important question is how we break up their formation," said Setsuna. "After all, if that's the kind of thing we can see, then they have to be aware of that limitation too. They won't allow themselves to be forced away from each other so easily."

"Um...I might have an idea," said Oscar nervously.

* * *

It took the rest of the time available to them to hash out their plan. Oscar and Miyu were to leave first, planning to join their other friends in the spectator seating. At the door to the locker room, they said their goodbyes. Setsuna and Miyu had moved off, sharing a quiet moment of affection between the two of them. Meanwhile, Oscar stood awkwardly before Natsuki.

"Uh...G-good luck out there," said Oscar, not sure why he felt so nervous all of a sudden. It wasn't as though _he_ was the one going out to fight in the match.

Obviously, Natsuki was part of it, though not in a bad way. After the past week, Oscar had come to see Natsuki as a friend, even amongst the "friends" that made up the rest of their team. Natsuki had been the one to reach out to him, to bring him out of his slump after he'd found out that he'd missed his chance with Ruby. She'd always been the first to approach him, to vouch for him, to believe in him. In fact, Oscar felt that just meeting her had helped him get a little bit more courageous.

And so, he wanted her to do well. He wanted her to _win._ Natsuki's enthusiasm for what she was doing was catching, and Oscar didn't mind admitting that he'd been infected. So, because he knew that was what she wanted, he wanted her to win as well.

"Thank you," said Natsuki in response, before puling him into a hug.

Oscar flinched, then hugged her back after hesitating. It was no more than what Miyu and Setsuna were doing a short distance away, although the other pair was resting their foreheads together, speaking in low tones. Finally, they parted, but not before Setsuna leaned in to kiss Miyu on the lips.

"Um...Is it all right if I do something...?" asked Natsuki, pulling back to look at Oscar plaintively. "...For luck, that is..."

"For luck...um...sure." Oscar blinked, wondering just what it was that Natsuki wanted to do.

"Great!" Natsuki grinned.

Then, before Oscar could react, she darted in. Abruptly, Oscar felt a warm, soft sensation on his cheek. His mind blanked out, and he momentarily lost the ability to think in a coherent manner. The next thing he knew, the sensation had ended. Natsuki pulled back, still grinning but now blushing slightly.

"I'll see you after the match," she declared, letting go of him, pulling away from his arms, and moving to join Setsuna, who flashed Oscar an amused, if approving, smile.

For a moment, Oscar just stood there, blinking, still trying to come to terms with what had just happened.

Miyu giggled softly, then rested a hand on his shoulder. "Come, Oscar-kun. Let's join the others in the stands."

"Um...uh...right..." said Oscar, allowing Miyu to lead him away.

* * *

Meanwhile, Port and Oobleck were doing their job in working up the crowd.

"_The next match is sure to be one to watch with interest,_" declared Oobleck. "_Team Coffee, of Beacon, is a favorite of this year's roster. Coco Adel is especially popular with her fellow students. In fact, I believe I see some mimicking her signature style amongst the crowd, even now._"

Indeed, there were quite a few people who had taken to wearing a beret and sunglasses in imitation of Team CFVY's leader.

"_Opposing them is the unexpected guest-team, Team Meconopsis,_" declared Port. "_This unaffiliated team made waves in the previous round with their exceptional performance, despite their young age and their lack of connection to any Academy. We shall have to see if they can continue that in today's match._"

Coco glanced sidelong at Yatsuhashi. "What do you think?" she asked.

Her teammate's expression didn't change all that much, but she thought she saw the corners of his lips dip just a little bit more than usual, indicating that he was thinking hard about the situation. "We can't underestimate them, just because they're that much younger than us. They're Ruby's age."

"Yeah, well that was a given," said Coco, looking at where the other two were approaching. "If they're from Ruby's homeland, then they've probably got a host of crazy Aura-tricks up their sleeves. We probably saw only a little of what they were capable of in the last round." She sighed, lowering her eyes. "Going with the two of us for power was probably a mistake. Maybe it should've been Fox and Velvet instead."

"No use crying over spilt milk," said Yatsuhashi. "We'll just have to play the cards we've been dealt."

They paused as Setsuna and Natsuki came to within speaking range.

"We look forward to this match," said Setsuna, bowing politely to them.

"We hope there are no hard feelings," added Natsuki.

"Polite kids, aren't you?" asked Coco, smirking. "I think I like you."

"Thanks," said Natsuki her usual exuberance returning to the fore. "We're gonna win, by the way."

Coco chuckled. "_And_ they're confident. I think I _really_ like you kids now."

Yatsuhashi locked eyes with Setsuna. "She must be a handful," he said.

"You are a man of great wisdom," said Setsuna, bowing his head to the taller boy again.

"Hey!" protested Natsuki, puffing out her cheeks and pouting at her partner.

"Win or lose, we are _so_ definitely going out for dinner together, after this," said Coco with a grin. "A friend of Ruby's is a friend of ours."

"We wouldn't mind that," said Setsuna, giving them a relaxed smile.

Then the announcement came for them to get ready. The four biomes that were selected emerged from beneath the arena floor. The area immediately behind Setsuna and Natsuki was a field of tall grass. The space behind Coco and Yatsuhashi took on the form of an abandoned, crumbling city. To the right of the visiting pair, a forest rose up, while a geyser field appeared to the left. Setsuna and Natsuki drew their weapons, the action mirrored by Coco and Yatsuhashi, the former opening Gianduja into its minigun-form.

They waited tensely for the countdown to finish, fingers clenching around handles, legs bending, weight shifting...

"_Begin!_" Oobleck's voice echoed across the arena.

"_Chiyugi_."

The _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_'s _Chiyugi_ was a difficult technique to counter. That was mainly because it was spatial in nature, its effects occurring at the point selected by the user. From the perspective of observers, there was nothing visible, no swinging weapons, no projectiles, nothing that would give away where the technique was aimed. Only those with skill at reading Aura could sense the converging energy, right where the technique's effect would manifest. The more skilled the practitioner, the less warning there was.

Furthermore, the higher the level of a practitioner of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, the wider an area they could effect, or they could produce the _Chiyugi_ in multiple locations at once. Masters, like Setsuna's teacher, Chinmei, could maintain the _Chiyugi_ while fighting or using other techniques. Setsuna wasn't at that level of skill yet. At best, he could produce the technique in up to two locations simultaneously, and only if he remained still, devoting his entire focus on doing so. If he was using the technique on just one point, he could still move, but was forced to abandon it, if he wanted to use any other Manifestation-based techniques.

However, despite those limitations, Setsuna's technique was a truly effective one for this setting. It was the kind of thing most people would never see coming, and would have no way of anticipating, even if they knew of its existence.

However, Coco and Yatsuhashi were not "most" people.

Their teammate, Fox, was proficient in reading the Auras of people around him, a skill that he had used to help compensate for his blindness, a skill that he had been educating them over the course of the year and several months that they had been a team. More to the point, as second-year students, Coco and Yatsuhashi had gained a great deal of experience from the numerous missions they had embarked upon. Between those two factors, the two of them were immediately aware that the area they were standing in had suddenly become _dangerous_.

They immediately leapt to the side, barely managing to escape as the arena floor cracked, then caved inward into a depression. The sudden need to dodge had delayed Coco opening fire. However, as she skidded to a stop, she was already raising her weapon, the minigun's barrels spinning as she looked for her target.

Setsuna and Natsuki were blurs, practically vanishing from where they stood, closing the distance with incredible speed. Coco saw Natsuki bearing down on her and pulled the trigger, Gianduja's bullets striking, then ripping right through her body. Coco had seen MNPS' fight with NDGO, but seeing her opponent seemingly shredded before her eyes was still something she reflexively balked at. Despite that, Coco still had the presence of mind to realize that she was in danger. She was already moving, the minigun collapsing down into its handbag-form, which Coco turned to swing behind her.

Sure enough, there Natsuki was, grinning with excitement as her right-hand kodachi met Coco's handbag. Natsuki's grin vanished for a second, when she nearly had her weapon knocked out of her hand. Even knowing how much mass must have been packed into that handbag, Natsuki was still unprepared for the force behind Coco's swing. She immediately moved to brace it with her left-handed one, but the force of Coco's counter sent her flying back. Natsuki fought to regain control, hoping to close the distance again before Coco could switch her weapon back into its minigun-mode and open fire, now that the distance had opened up between them.

But, much to Natsuki's surprise, Coco instead charged after her, closing in and attacking furiously with her handbag, the power and mass behind those attacks forcing Natsuki to defend herself carefully, parrying and deflecting, rather than outright blocking, even as she fought her own confusion over why Coco would do something so counter to her strengths.

* * *

In contrast to Coco, Yatsuhashi would have seemed to be in a better position. As a melee fighter, he was in his element as Setsuna closed in on him. Upon seeing the younger boy brandishing his kama, Yatsuhashi responded with a downward swing with Fulcrum. The massive sword descended with enough force that it could have shattered the ring in a wide radius. In the past, he'd often used such an attack to clear out several Grimm in his vicinity, all without needing to strike them directly.

Seeing that massive blade descending towards his head, Setsuna kicked off the floor, launching himself up to meet Yatsuhashi's attack head-on. Swinging both his kama, he slammed them against the descending blade. With a roaring sound, a shockwave exploded outward from the two colliding fighters, the ring beneath and around them shattering. Then, with a surprised shout, Yatsuhashi found himself blown backwards.

_He's so much stronger than he looks!_ thought Yatsuhashi, digging his sword into the ground to arrest his backwards slide, with him skidding to a stop amidst the crumbling buildings of the ruined cityscape that made up the biome directly behind him. _No! I can tell he's using gravity, somehow. If it's not Dust, he must be doing it through Aura, like Ruby and Kyo can with their elemental attacks. If he uses that gravity to add impact to his melee attacks, then his physical strength isn't an indicator of how hard he can hit._

That made things difficult. Yatsuhashi's forte as a fighter was power, after all. If Setsuna could make up the difference in power, with the kind of technique that allowed him to make his blows heavier than Yatsuhashi's own, then he held a definite edge over the older boy.

Sure enough, Setsuna was already closing in at lightning-speed. With another shout, Yatsuhashi swept his sword across in front of him, launching a shining crescent of pale-green Aura at Setsuna. Setsuna was forced to avoid it, jumping and flipping to the side. His forward momentum continued to carry him ahead though, and Yatsuhashi reversed the direction of his swing, while stepping to intercept his opponent, aiming to catch him before Setsuna could reach the ground and change his course.

However, Fulcrum cleaved through the air beneath Setsuna's feet. At first, Yatsuhashi thought he'd misjudged the timing, swinging too soon to intercept his opponent, only to realize the truth. _He stopped in midair!_

Setsuna's direction changed without him even needing to move his limbs, his entire body's orientation changing on its own, before he abruptly flew past in front of Yatsuhashi, who jumped back to avoid the slash from the boy's kama. At the same time, Yatsuhashi turned to follow him, bringing the sword arcing up and over, then down. Setsuna's direction changed again, and he shifted away in time, Fulcrum slamming into the ground with explosive force, shattering the concrete he'd been standing on, while the shockwave smashed a nearby wall into pieces.

Setsuna's flight carried him away to taller wall, one that leaned over as part of a collapsed building, alighting lightly on it in a low crouch, holding his kama down low. For a moment, he and Yatsuhashi sized one another up, each one reflecting on the results of the previous exchange to better figure out their opponent's capabilities.

* * *

Natsuki landed amid the rocky outcroppings that made up the geyser field. All around her, orange, glowing holes in the ground spewed superheated steam in the air, the entire space feeling hot and oppressively humid.

To her surprise, Coco, who'd been aggressively pursuing her with her handbag before, came to a stop right at the edge, where the biome met the inner ring. Suddenly, she opened Gianduja back up into its minigun-mode, then opened fire.

Natsuki yelped, ducking to the side as the bullets streamed past. She tried to recover quickly, but her body was suddenly buffeted by a wave of heat behind her, chunks of broken rock battering her Aura from behind, sending her reeling, stumbling over the broken terrain, fighting furiously to regain her balance. By the time she'd managed to do so, Coco had already shifted her aim and fired again, firing in short bursts, rather than a single sustained one, forcing Natsuki to dodge again. However, this time, the bullets struck the ground to her right, near one of the geyser vents. Again, the ground exploded, erupting with steam and rocky shrapnel, even closer to Natsuki this time, flinging her away like a ragdoll.

Coco took full advantage of her Semblance, Hype, which enabled her to exponentially increase the potency of the Dust contained in the bullets her gun fired. However, rather than target Natsuki directly, she was instead targeting the geysers themselves, transferring the effects of her Semblance from the bullets and into the Dust that fueled the biome features themselves, triggering explosive eruptions that staggered Natsuki, the heat and rubble burning and battering away at her Aura.

Natsuki managed to recover in midair, forcefully shifting her center of gravity to get her feet back under her. She landed on a ridge jutting out over another vent, a perfect target for Coco's next shot, one that Coco was already lining up. However, even as her bullets whizzed through the air at the glowing vent, Coco noticed the fierce, eager grin on Natsuki's face, the younger girl reversing her grip on the shorter of the two kodachi, dropping down into a crouch so that she could drive the blade into the stone at her feet. A roaring wave of flame swept up, enveloping her body, as the vent exploded beneath her, the erupting steam and stone completely obscuring her from view.

* * *

"AH!" shouted Oscar, shooting to his feet, eyes wide.

"Natsu-chan's made of sterner stuff than that," Miyu assured him calmly, gently tugging Oscar back down by the sleeve of his jacket. "Her shield made it in time."

The two of them had made it to the seats before the match had started, taking the seats next to Sasame, who was sitting next to Team RASP, who were sitting next to Team RYNB. Even Jaune and Sasame had put aside Jaune's training to see this match.

"That particular blade is especially suited to defensive applications," said Sasame. "When used like that, it can be particularly difficult to penetrate, though it does burn through a fair bit of Aura to defend over a wider area than the blade itself."

"Coco and Yatsuhashi are sure doing better than I expected," commented Weiss.

"They haven't sparred against Kyo-nii for nothing," said Ruby cheerfully.

"They also have the edge in practical experience," said Pyrrha.

"Uh...aren't you worried about Natsuki and Setsuna losing?" asked Oscar.

"Eh...Just making it this far is something to be proud of," said Yang, grinning. "They're putting up a heck of a fight, for being a couple of kids Ruby's age."

"Ozpin-dono's plan might not be as effective, if they are forced to drop out here," said Sasame. "But, by doing this well, I believe their actions will have had some impact on the way the people of the Kingdoms will view the skills of the Mibu."

"It feels kinda unfair though," muttered Oscar, "making the geysers blow up like that."

"That's nothing more than classic terrain warfare," commented Ren. "Coco's weapon and Semblance are enabling her to take advantage of the arena's biome features to fight more effectively."

"Besides, Natsu-chan won't be stymied so easily," said Sasame, grinning. "If she did that, then she's likely buying time to brute force her way through."

"Brute force...?" asked Jaune, glancing at his teacher in confusion.

"Oh! Can Natsu-chan do _that_?" asked Ruby, looking at Sasame with wide eyes.

"She can," said Sasame.

"Do what?" asked Oscar, frowning.

"Something quite...unusual...at least from the perspective of those in the Kingdoms," said Sasame.

* * *

Coco frowned, narrowing her eyes behind her shades, watching the cloud of steam that had blossomed where her latest attack had landed, obscuring everything within it. She'd risked a quick glance at the screens hovering over the arena, which displayed the combatants' Aura-levels. Natsuki's Aura-level had dropped by nearly half. In contrast, Coco's own hadn't even dropped a quarter yet, what little she had lost being due to the use of her Semblance to supercharge her bullets.

A silhouette appeared within the steam, and Coco leveled Gianduja at it. preparing to open fire. However, her eyes widened as she saw what Natsuki was doing.

Natsuki had reversed her grip on her kodachi, but not before using the edge of the right-handed one to open a small cut on the tip of the thumb of her left hand. From there, she rubbed the blood that had welled up on the tips of each of her fingers. Holding her weapons with just her thumbs curled around the handles, Natsuki brought her fingers up to her cheeks, running them along and leaving four stripes of blood across each cheek, beneath her eyes, before trailing down to run under her jaw, then down her neck, before Natsuki finally pulled her fingers away.

The blood-red marks appeared to grow more vivid, extending even past where Natsuki had drawn them, running down beneath the collar of her outfit. Meanwhile, the look in Natsuki's eyes changed, her childlike excitement being replaced with a gaze of almost bestial ferocity.

_What the hell did she just do?_ wondered Coco, eyes widening behind her shades.

Natsuki held her kodachi in a normal grip once again, the blades extending out to either side of her. They sparked, then were lined with flames. Then, to Coco's amazement, the flames began to spread down the handles, climbing up Natsuki's arms, before extending to envelop her entire body in fire.

Natsuki crouched down, then kicked off, launching herself at Coco with a shout. Coco gasped, trying to shift her gun to compensate. _She's faster!_ She opened fire. However, to her amazement, the shots glanced off the flames that burned across Natsuki's body, as though she was clad in full-body armor. Natsuki closed in, swinging her right-handed blade across in a powerful slash. Coco was forced to raise the spinning barrels of her weapon to block. Upon contact, the fire that lined Natsuki's blade exploded furiously, the resulting blast sending Coco flying back.

_Where the heck is she getting this kind of power?!_ wondered Coco frantically. She tried to level Gianduja at Natsuki, but was forced to change plans when Natsuki leveled her attacking kodachi right at Coco, the flames running along its blade swelling dramatically.

"_Shakuran Entei!_"

A jet of fire roared at Coco, threatening to consume her Aura. Coco collapsed her weapon, even as she frantically threw herself to the side, but the heat still scorched her.

* * *

"What the heck is that?" exclaimed Yang, rising to her own feet.

"It's like she's become a completely different person," noted Blake.

"She just painted herself with her own blood," said Weiss. "How could doing something so superficial be responsible for such a dramatic change?"

"Is it some kind of self-hypnosis?" wondered Pyrrha.

"At its root, you could definitely say it stems from such techniques," said Sasame, "though _Chikewai_ is much more than mere mind-over-matter."

"What do you mean?" asked Oscar.

"Painting blood across herself is not merely for the sake of boosting Natsu-chan's psyche," explained Sasame. "Blood is actually a good conduit for Aura. In a sense, you could say that it is a form of Aura-script, something that produces a definitive effect on her body."

"What does it do?" asked Jaune.

"It rapidly burns her stamina to produce explosive power," said Sasame. "As you can see, she can generate a great deal more strength and destructive force. However, the cost is that she will run out of steam in a few minutes' time. Once that happens, she might well collapse on her own."

"If that happens, she'll lose then," said Oscar worriedly.

"Correct," said Sasame. "It is a high-risk, high-return technique, one that shouldn't be used lightly. Natsu-chan will have to defeat Coco-san before her stamina runs out. After that, she will only be able to hope that Setsuna-kun can best Yatsuhashi-san, or the ultimate result will still be the same."

As if reminding them of the other fight taking place, the sound of steel grating against stone echoed through the arena, drawing everyone's eyes to where Setsuna and Yatsuhashi were fighting.

* * *

It had been Yatsuhashi who'd made the first move, lunging forward, he leapt into the air, bringing his sword down in a powerful two-handed swing. Setsuna jumped aside, throwing himself off his perch. However, that alone wasn't enough to escape the radius of Yatsuhashi's attack, the powerful shockwave released by Fulcrum's impact buffeting his body, while the wall Setsuna had been standing on was shattered into pieces, sending rubble flying everywhere.

However, none of the flying shrapnel struck Setsuna's body. Instead, it swept up around him. Even as he tried to recover from the destructive shockwave of Yatsuhashi's powerful blow, the stones that should have hit him were swept up into an orbit around his body. Landing, Setsuna went into a roll, more broken chunks of stone and concrete rising around him, including pieces of rock that had been thrown their way from Coco's destructive actions in the geyser field.

Yatsuhashi turned about, bringing his sword around with a speed that belied his bulk, swiftly closing in on Setsuna, executing a lighter, yet faster slash, one that aimed to catch the younger boy before he could recover his balance.

Instead, Yatsuhashi's ears rang as his sword struck the stones that had now wrapped themselves around Setsuna's body, weaving and orbiting around, forming what almost seemed to be an almost solid tendril, the blade of Yatsuhashi's sword glancing off.

"_Chinseirin._" Setsuna rolled into a crouch. As he did, several of the stones that had been floating around his body abruptly accelerated, flying at Yatsuhashi like bullets.

With a shocked shout, Yatsuhashi turned to use the armor that covered his left shoulder and upper-arm to deflect the stones. With his right hand, he tried use Fulcrum to bat aside the stones that lanced at the areas that weren't protected by his armor. His defense was less than perfect though, and two of the flying rocks landed stinging blows on his torso and shin, sending him staggering back.

While he fought to recover, Yatsuhashi's ears picked up a whistling sound, starting out faint, but rapidly growing louder. As he did, he noticed that the stones that had been shielding Setsuna before had already fallen to the ground.

"_Chinsei Rekka Suiseisho!_" Setsuna was already dancing back.

Yatsuhashi looked up, his eyes widening in shock. Even as Setsuna had defended and countered his last slash, he'd also manipulated the gravity around him, using it to levitate several larger stones, and even fair-sized boulders, outside Yatsuhashi's field of vision. Now those stones fell upon Yatsuhashi like meteors, Setsuna manipulating their gravity to enhance their speed so that they were accelerated well-past their normal terminal velocity. They struck with explosive force, throwing up shockwaves and sending chunks and shards of concrete and stone flying everywhere, buzzing like hornets.

Yatsuhashi hunkered down, holding Fulcrum over his head and shielding himself as best he could. Unfortunately, that ultimately did little to protect him, and over half of his Aura vanished in an instant. After just a few seconds of bombardment, the attack was over. Yatsuhashi rose up, his body smarting from the countless hits he'd just taken.

Then Setsuna charged in again, a fresh ring of stones rising up to orbit his body. Desperately, Yatsuhashi swung downwards with all his might, aiming to catch Setsuna while he was still outside of the melee range of his kama. However, the orbiting stones accelerated, the angle of their movement shifting to deflect the line of Yatsuhashi's strike, sending his sword biting into the earth instead. Meanwhile, Setsuna charged right in, striking with swift strokes of his sickles.

Yatsuhashi reversed his grip on Fulcrum, bringing it up to deflect the first couple of slashes Setsuna launched. As he did, he noted that the force behind Setsuna's blows was a fraction of the those he'd used at the beginning of the match, indicating that he wasn't using gravity to enhance their power. The realization struck Yatsuhashi that Setsuna's control was limited, so that he could only use his gravity-control for one or two things at a time. Apparently, if he was using it to control the rubble protectively wrapping around his body, then he couldn't also use it to increase the strength of his melee attacks.

Trying to take advantage of that, Yatsuhashi quickly brought his sword down in another strike. Even if his opponent was too close for Yatsuhashi to put his full power into his swing, the leverage granted by his superior height and weight should have been enough to break through the barrier of Setsuna's _Chinseirin_, before the stones could shift speed and direction enough to fully deflect his slash.

But, much to Yatsuhashi's surprise, Setsuna dove into a forward roll, bracing his shoulders against the ground, while kicking up with his feet, catching the descending sword on the metal-shot soles of his geta, the flaring kicks angled to deflect Yatsuhashi's sword away. Setsuna continued his roll, going past Yatsuhashi's left side. Rather than swing with his sword, Yatsuhashi turned to his left, leaning down and reaching out for Setsuna as the younger boy came back onto his feet.

The stones that had been orbiting around Setsuna's body clustered together, before exploding out at Yatsuhashi, like an oversized shotgun blast. At the same time, Setsuna had lowered his right-handed kama down and out to the side, preparing for what seemed to be a powerful swing. Yatsuhashi grimaced, his body wracked by the pain of impact from the countless stones. But he powered through, managing to reach out, his hand briefly brushing against Setsuna's shoulder, before he was sent staggering back by the force behind the gravity-powered stones.

Setsuna froze, blinking in confusion for a second. _What was I just...?_ He could remember exchanging a few blows with Yatsuhashi, before suddenly finding that his position had changed, and the protection of his _Chinseirin_ was gone.

_Got him,_ thought Yatsuhashi, with a small feeling of triumph. His Semblance had taken effect, erasing the last few seconds of Setsuna's memory. He'd known that Setsuna had already been setting up his next attack with that last maneuver. However, using his Semblance, Yatsuhashi had made Setsuna forget what that next move was.

The hesitation, as Setsuna struggled to remember what he was doing, would buy Yatsuhashi time to strike a decisive blow. Already, Yatsuhashi had recovered his footing, raising his sword to bring it down upon his befuddled opponent. However, Yatushashi lurched, his footing shifted. He grunted uneasily, feeling as though he was being drawn towards Setsuna.

The kama in Setsuna's right hand remained poised in its previous position, levered back for a powerful swing, the kind of attack such a short weapon would rarely be used to execute. The air around that kama turned black, as though the weapon was sucking in all the light in its immediate vicinity. As Yatsuhashi's sword descended, Setsuna brought his weapon around, the black energy congealing around it transforming into a powerful blade that flew out, striking Fulcrum.

The force behind the attack caught Yatsuhashi completely unprepared, the wave of gravitational power completely overpowering the force of his own swing, pushing Fulcrum back against Yatsuhashi's chest, before launching the boy's powerfully-built body upwards and out, in a wide arc that sent him flying clear out of the ring.

_How?_ Yatsuhashi exclaimed mentally, even as he crashed down on the metal plating surrounding the ring, the buzzer announcing his defeat. _He shouldn't have remembered what he was doing._

In the meantime, Setsuna relaxed his stance for a moment, looking at his kama. _Oh...that's right...why did I forget that?_ A shudder ran through his body, and he threw a wary look Yatsuhashi's way. _Was that his Semblance? If that's the case, then that's a pretty scary ability. I was completely unprepared for that kind of attack._ He glanced down at his kama again. _My training paid off though, thank God. But that was too close for comfort._

He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "The world is wide indeed," he said softly, before smiling to himself. "Coming outside was definitely a good idea."

He was brought out of his reverie by the roar of an explosion across the ring from him, the sound forcefully reminding Setsuna that his was not the only fight taking place...or the only fight that _had_ been taking place, the buzzer sounding over the fading echoes, announcing the end of the match.

* * *

Coco jumped and flipped with all of the agility at her disposal. Much to her chagrin, she had to admit that his kind of evasion was not really her forte. Her greatest strength showed through when she was on the offensive. Being forced to dodge was not something she enjoyed. However, it was all she could do to keep from being overwhelmed, and then burned to a crisp.

Blasts of flame rushed at her in torrents. Fireballs flew her way like cannon-shots. The latter Coco could at least counter, batting them away with deft swings of her handbag. However, the former she had to dodge. Their heat was intense, and she could sense it burning at her Aura, even as she avoided the flames themselves.

Natsuki's persistent and ferocious offensive didn't help matters. Her demeanor was like that of a wild animal, but she still fought with incredible skill and technique, her body flickering in and out of sight, always seeming to drift closer. Even when Coco's attacks _did_ connect, they were stopped cold (ironically) by the fire that lined the whole of Natsuki's body, which felt as solid as steel.

Natsuki leapt up, launching more flames downward at Coco, who went into a series of backflips to escape, her evasions sending her out of the inner ring, and into the tall grass of the plains biome.

_Oh crap!_ Coco realized she'd made a serious mistake.

Her opponent was a fire-user...

...And Coco had dodged right into a giant mass of kindling.

Sure enough, the flames from Natsuki's swords immediately set the grass alight, igniting with the fires licking at her own body as she stepped into the grass herself. The fire spread quickly, sweeping across the grass. Coco extended Gianduja into its minigun-mode, and turned in a complete circle, keeping the barrel low as she fired, using the bullets to mow down the grass in her immediate vicinity. The flames continued to spread, but burned lower in a circle around her, keeping her from being completely immolated.

Then Natsuki seemed to materialize out of the fire, her body flowing and warping in the air, her sword cutting a path for Coco's body. Desperately, Coco brought her weapon's barrel up to block Natsuki's slash, before trying to train it on her, already firing. The bullets trailed through the air, before piercing Natsuki's body, but her image simply rippled, distorted, then vanished. A second later, she reappeared behind Coco, her kodachi seeking the older girl's back.

Coco had already collapsed her weapon back down into its handbag-mode, and she countered by swing it around, knocking Natsuki's slash away. This time, there was no explosion of flame on contact, and Coco was able to maintain her position. But she wasn't able to counterattack before Natsuki vanished again.

And so it went, Natsuki flickering and rippling around Coco, dancing in and out of sight, her movements and the heat of her flames serving to distort her position and movement. However, she'd switched out powerful attacks for swift, light ones, almost as though she were probing Coco for weaknesses. It seemed like a poor strategy to Coco. She had no idea of how Natsuki had gained such an explosive level of power, but experience had taught the second-year student to intuit certain things, namely that such a powerful boost couldn't last forever. Sooner or later, most likely sooner, whatever power was fueling Natsuki would run out, and she would be left in a weakened state.

So then why was her opponent wasting time with such tentative attacks?

Because Natsuki's form was so distorted and indistinct, Coco was unable to notice that all of Natsuki's attacks came from her right-handed kodachi. In the meantime, the blade held in her left hand always moved on a separate track, leaving faint lines of light behind it as it swung through the air. With each attack Natsuki made, she also left a line of Aura behind, those lines intersecting with one another, forming an unusual formation around Coco.

Finally, Natsuki appeared to fully materialize from the flames, appearing directly in front of Coco. Her swords no longer blazed, and the flames that had surrounded her body had also disappeared. Coco tensed, figuring that Natsuki's boosting technique must have petered out. However, her eyes widened when she watched Natsuki swing her left-handed kodachi lightly through the air in front of her, the tip of the blade trailing a single remaining line of faint light. It intersected with another. Then, with a flash, the air between them was divided by a plane of hard-light energy. Looking around, Coco saw similar planes appearing, all of them formed between a series of intersecting lines, surrounding her in a barrier that had the appearance of a semi-transparent, multifaceted jewel.

_Those attacks must have been distractions to set this up,_ thought Coco. _But why? What does trapping me here do at this stage?_

The barrier looked fairly thin, not strong at all. In fact, Coco suspected it wouldn't take much effort on her part to break out. As final gambits went, truly, this was scraping the bottom of the barrel. _Maybe it's the best she could do with what she had left. Is she trying to buy time, while her friend finishes with Yatsuhashi?_

The buzzer sounded, and Coco looked up with wide eyes to see Yatsuhashi launched out of the ring by a wave of ebony energy. She realized that her time was running out. However, she was right in ways she didn't realize yet.

The grass that Natsuki had ignited continued to burn, including inside the barrier. However, now, the flames were beginning to burn lower and less intensely. It took Coco a few extra seconds to notice. When she did, she began to panic. _The flames are burning the oxygen! Is she trying to suffocate me?_

That realization made it clear that Coco needed to break out of this barrier, _now!_ Turning to one side, she transformed Gianduja into its minigun-mode and used Hype to enhance the bullets she fired in a brief burst. The barrier _looked_ weak, but Coco wanted to be sure. To her relief, the barrier shattered like a thin sheet of glass.

But Coco's relief was short-lived.

"_Kaho Enbu._"

The next thing Coco heard was the sound of roaring flames.

Natsuki turned away from the barrier, as the sputtering flames within suddenly surged with new life, intensifying into a powerful explosion, the remainder of the barrier concentrating its force back inwards, before it broke completely. Inside those flames, the shadow of Coco lurched as she was caught in a tremendous explosion, one that sent shudders running through the entire arena.

Up above, the buzzer sounded, signaling Coco's defeat through Aura-level.

Natsuki sighed, then slumped tiredly. The lines of blood drawn across her face and neck evaporated, leaving no trace behind. Her body sagged, and she took a few stumbling steps, before turning back around towards Coco.

Her opponent had collapsed in the center of a circle of charred ground. The surging flames had burned away everything flammable in the immediate vicinity, so she was relatively safe. Still, Natsuki would feel better if she could move Coco to somewhere less-threatened. But Natsuki was finding it hard to move, her limbs feeling like lead.

"Let me do it," said Setsuna, arriving next to her. He strode into the flames, slipping his arms under Coco's body and hefting it up, before carrying her out of the grass biome and into the inner ring, where he gently set her down.

"Did I overdo it?" asked Natsuki worriedly, slumping into a seated position beside him.

"I don't think so," said Setsuna. "Whatever injuries she might have taken, Miyu can handle. She'll be here soon."

"Right..." said Natsuki.

The two of them were so fixated on their concern for Coco that they hadn't even heard Oobleck and Port announcing their win.

* * *

"Wha-what just happened?" asked Pyrrha, blinking in shock.

"A backdraft," said Sasame.

"Oh! I get it!" said Weiss. "That's...a scary way to fight, honestly."

"I _don'_t get it," said Jaune.

"By enclosing the area around Coco in a barrier, Natsuki created a space where the fires she set rapidly burned through the available oxygen," explained Weiss. "Coco realized this, but there was another threat. When oxygen enters an oxygen-depleted environment, while the fires are still burning, it rapidly ignites, the ignition is boosted by partially-combusted particles in the air, resulting in an explosive burst of flames."

"So she either suffocates...or blows herself up..." said Yang. "Dang! That's kinda mean."

"I suppose it can be," said Sasame. "But it shows how formidable Coco-san is to force Natsu-chan to use such a technique."

"I guess so," said Nora.

"Besides, Miyu-chan is on her way to heal Coco-san," added Sasame, "so it won't be an issue for much longer."

Everyone, save Ruby, glanced at the pair of empty seats, where Miyu and Oscar had been sitting before. Only Ruby and Sasame had already noticed the pair's departure, but hadn't seen any point to commenting on it before now.

"So they made it into the quarterfinals," observed Blake softly. "I know that, since they're Ruby's age, it shouldn't be so remarkable...but it is."

"In some ways, we did weigh the scales in our advantage," said Sasame, bringing the fingers of her hands together. "The Manifestation techniques of the Mibu are outside the ken of most fighters in the Kingdoms. As Ruby-chan's friends, you've received a more detailed level of instruction than most, but you can still be easily blindsided by the things our people can do. By taking advantage of that blind spot, our...representatives...have been able to gain an edge over the other participants."

"That sounds a bit like cheating," commented Nora.

"It's no more or less what Pyrrha used to do with her Semblance," Weiss pointed out.

Sasame nodded. "In true battle, facing an opponent with unknown qualities is the norm, more often than not. One can try to use intelligence gathering to learn someone's abilities, but there will always be the risk of something that you didn't know. Therefore, the ability to adapt, when the situation does not go as expected, is the most critical skill of all. Truth be told, Coco-san and Yatsuhashi-san did very well in that respect."

* * *

Coco groaned, as Miyu helped her up into a sitting position. "Damn! You kids play for keeps."

"My apologies for my teammate getting so rough with you, Coco-san," said Miyu, channeling some extra Aura into Coco's body to restore her strength.

"Eh, that sort of thing happens," said Coco, letting Miyu help her to her feet. "At least I can say I went out with a bang."

"That's putting it mildly," said Yatsuhashi, smiling wryly.

Coco blinked her dark-brown eyes, then shook her head slightly. It took Natsuki an extra second to register the fact that she was seeing Coco's eyes, rather than the darkened lenses of her shades. She gasped, whipping her head around to see the section of scorched earth, where her technique had decided the match. Sure enough, there was the warped frame and broken lenses of Coco's signature sunglasses.

Immediately, Natsuki was distraught, whipping her head around to look at Coco with eyes that were beginning to tear up. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to break your glasses! I'll buy you new ones-Wait!-I don't have any Kingdom-money! Oooooooh...What do I do!?"

Coco laughed, then reached over and fondly ruffled Natsuki's hair. "Take it easy kiddo. No harm, no foul. I may like my shades, but I'm not so stupid as to not have spares."

"It's a hazard in this line of business," added Yatsuhashi. "Something like that is bound to get broken, sooner or later."

"Oh...Okay," said Natsuki, before she began to wobble in place. "Whoah...Hey...uh...Miyu-chan, can you boost me too?"

"Nope," said Miyu, already turning her attention to give Yatsuhashi some treatment for the bruises he'd accumulated over the course of his fight against Setsuna. Technically, she didn't really need to do anything. Yatsuhashi had been defeated by ring-out, so he had plenty of Aura left, and none of his injuries were the kind that it wouldn't be able to heal over the course of an hour's rest or so. "It's your own fault that you're tired, Natsu-chan. Since you don't have any injuries worth healing, there's no point in spending my Aura on you."

"Hmph!" grunted Natsuki. "Meanie..." She turned, then grinned, before half-lunging, half falling in the direction of Oscar, moving to hug him around the collar from behind. "Oscar-kun! I'm tired! Carry me, please!"

Oscar grunted, his face turning red as Natsuki hugged her body against his back. But he still hooked his arms under her legs, and hoisted her up.

"You shouldn't spoil her like that," chided Setsuna with a playful smirk.

Natsuki turned her head to stick out her tongue childishly at Setsuna before resting her chin on Oscar's shoulder. "Oscar-kun's super-nice, unlike you guys. Also, his back's really comfy. I could take a nap."

"At least wait until you get cleaned up," said Miyu firmly.

"Fiiine..." groaned Natsuki.

Coco couldn't help it. She broke out laughing. "Dang! I _like_ you kids. We're still on for dinner tonight."

"That sounds wonderful," said Miyu.

The sound of footsteps drew Coco's attention to the entrance to Team CFVY's locker room, where the remaining two members of their team were approaching. Fox was wearing a relaxed smile. Velvet was smiling too. However, Coco could easily see that Velvet's smile was more than a little forced. The drooping of Velvet's ears also betrayed her faunus-teammate's true feelings.

"Well, see you guys later," said Coco, giving Team MNPS a wave over her shoulder as she and Yatsuhashi went to rejoin their teammates.

Miyu and Setsuna watched them go, their expressions faltering slightly. "Velvet-san looks crushed," observed Miyu. "I feel bad about that?"

"In a scenario like this, the path forward is tread by treading on the ambitions and dreams of others," said Setsuna. "No one entered this tournament with the intention of losing."

Miyu let out a breath. "But...when you consider your opponents to also be your friends, victory can be a bittersweet thing."

Meanwhile, Coco came to a stop in front of Velvet and Fox.

"Looks like you ended things with a bang," said Fox, flashing them a slight grin.

"I used that joke already," said Coco.

"Dang it."

Hearing a sniffle, Coco turned to look at Velvet, her expression falling as she saw Velvet doing her best to keep a smile on her face, despite clearly holding back tears. "Hey, Vel...sorry...We did our best, but..."

"It's...it's all right," said Velvet, swiping at her eyes. "I...I'm fine, really..."

Coco sighed, smiling ruefully. She reached out, resting her hand atop Velvet's head, between her rabbit-ears. They locked eyes for a second. Then Coco moved her hand to Velvet's shoulder, pulling her closer, and wrapping her in a hug, while letting Velvet rest her face against her shoulder. Coco held her tight, while Velvet's body quaked with sobs, which she kept as muffled as possible.

"Come on, let's get cleaned up," said Yatsuhashi, gently patting Velvet's shoulder.

"That's right," said Coco. "They might've took our chance at the finals, but they're good kids. Let's make sure, the next time we see 'em, we can greet 'em with a smile," said Coco, rubbing a hand up and down Velvet's back.

"O-okay," said Velvet softly.

With that, the latest match in the tournament came to a somewhat subdued end.

* * *

**Another battle that was fun to write. Coco and Yatsuhashi certainly gave a better showing of themselves than they did against Emerald and Mercury in canon.**


	133. Chapter 133

**Chapter 133:**

_Before the beginning of the match:_

"Oscar-kun..." said Miyu, glancing sidelong at him as they made their way through the halls of the coliseum, heading towards the spectator seats.

"Y-yes?" asked Oscar, jolting and looking sharply at Miyu, as though he'd been startled out of a daze.

"I'm sorry," said Miyu. "I imagine you weren't expecting Natsu-chan to do something like that."

"I-it's nothing wrong," said Oscar, averting his eyes, his cheeks blushing again. "I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

"Natsu-chan is frivolous, yes, but not inconsiderate," said Miyu. "Amongst the Mibu, such a gesture is not one of casual affection."

"R-really?" said Oscar, shocked, his eyes widening.

Miyu glanced up at the ceiling. "Granted, amongst our people Natsu-chan is inordinately friendly and affectionate. But I believe her feelings towards you are genuine."

"O-oh..." said Oscar.

"However, please don't feel that you are under pressure to respond in any particular way," said Miyu, giving him a calm smile. "Natsu-chan is very...easygoing...with her feelings."

"Easy come, easy go, huh?" asked Oscar.

"I suppose that's one way to put it," said Miyu. "But don't think that she's making shallow gestures. Perhaps she's mentioned what happened between us and Ruby-chan, with regards to Setsuna."

"Y-yeah, she mentioned something like that," said Oscar.

"Natsu-chan developed a crush on Setsuna the same time we did," said Miyu. "However, unlike Ruby-chan and I, she gave up easily, when she saw how serious we both were. It wasn't that her feelings weren't genuine, it's just that Natsuki is _that_ considerate of others. If she believes her affections are making you uncomfortable, or that you have no wish to return her feelings, she will give up easily enough, and there will be no hard feelings."

"And if I _do_ return her feelings?" asked Oscar, his cheeks heating up, even though he was speaking hypothetically...or, at least he _thought_ he was speaking hypothetically...he wasn't so sure.

"I'm not completely sure," admitted Miyu. "You're only the second person she's shown those kinds of feelings for. But I know Natsu-chan well enough to say that she isn't someone so callous that she would toy with you, nor would she be so inconsiderate as to put too much pressure on you."

"What should I do then?" asked Oscar.

"Whatever you feel comfortable with," said Miyu. "My point is that Natsu-chan would never want to unduly pressure you. In a way, she's simply announcing how she feels. She won't let something like misgivings on your part compromise your friendship. All I can really say is..." She reached over and rested a hand lightly against Oscar's shoulder. "...please be at ease. Talk with her, after the match, if that's what you feel is best. Setsuna and I will give you privacy."

"Thanks," said Oscar, looking down at his feet as they continued to walk, his mind spinning.

* * *

_Present:_

Which brought Oscar back to the here and now. Having carried Natsuki into the locker room on his back, Oscar delivered her to the showers where she finally, if reluctantly, got off him, and went to get cleaned up. Setsuna had given him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, before going to do the same. Then he and Miyu waited in the lounge, not having anything more to say between them.

After a few minutes, Setsuna appeared, with Natsuki following after him. Miyu went over and took Setsuna's arm, guiding him to another part of the lounge, out of hearing-range of Natsuki and Oscar, while Natsuki plopped herself down on the couch next to Oscar.

"H-hey," said Oscar nervously. "You looked great out there."

"Thank you," said Natsuki, smiling.

The sight of her smile sent shivers down Oscar's spine. This wasn't her regular, energetic smile, one belonging to a girl with far too much energy for her own good. It was a relaxed, warm, and affectionate smile.

"Um...About earlier," said Oscar, his hand reflexively going up to rest against his cheek.

"Oh..." Natsuki's smile wavered slightly, and she turned to look ahead of her. "I'm sorry...I guess, I just..."

"No, it's fine," said Oscar awkwardly. "I...I really wasn't expecting that. I'm not used to that sort of attention." He looked down on his knees. "I'm not anything special."

"Yes you are!" said Natsuki with a powerful insistence, whipping her head around to look intently at him. Her expression softened. "Is this about what happened with Ruby-chan again?"

"Um..." Oscar couldn't bring himself to deny it, however much he felt he should. There was _still_ a part of him that continued to pine for Ruby, even though he had officially given up, and that part couldn't help place at least part of the blame for that on himself.

"Oscar-kun, what happened with Ruby-chan had nothing to do with _you_," said Natsuki. "You're incredible. You're strong, kind, considerate...and pretty darn handsome, if I do say so myself."

"You...think I'm...handsome?" Oscar blushed furiously.

"Uh huh!" replied Natsuki energetically. "You're pretty rugged-looking, you've got cute freckles, and...you've got the most amazing eyes." Her cheeks turning pink, Natsuki looked ahead again. "Your eyes were the first thing I noticed, you know."

"O-oh..." said Oscar, shifting awkwardly. He remembered the circumstances of their first meeting, the pair of them staring straight at each other.

Natsuki took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. You're still on the rebound from Ruby-chan, and maybe I jumped the gun." She paused, then giggled. "That's me...always jumping right in, feet first."

"You really go with your gut, don't you?" asked Oscar.

"I prefer saying I go with my heart," said Natsuki. "But I guess that's all just semantics."

Oscar shrugged. "I guess..." he conceded. "So...I...I mean...I don't know what to think about it."

"Then don't," said Natsuki firmly, giving him a pointed look, though she was still smiling.

"Huh?" Oscar jolted, looking back at her, confused, but also a bit nervous at her proximity, with Natsuki leaning closer to him.

"Don't think about it," replied Natsuki simply. "Don't worry about it. Let's just live."

"What?" Oscar blinked.

Natsuki giggled, bringing her hand to her mouth. "It's...something that Ruby-chan told me once. When I was going through a...difficult...period...I-I had a decision to make. It was really important. But there was a lot of time, and no pressure. But, you know, sometimes the decision _itself_ is just a lot of pressure."

"I can see that," said Oscar. He wasn't sure what kind of decision Natsuki was talking about. If she was being so vague, then she either couldn't or didn't want to go into specifics. However, he could still imagine what it would be like, facing an important decision. Even if there was no time limit, or pressure to make a choice, if the decision itself was so important, that could become its own kind of pressure.

"I was worrying, but Ruby-chan told me that we should just live our lives, until I was ready to make that decision." Natsuki grinned that infectious, cheerful grin of hers. "So...why don't we do it that way, Oscar-kun. Let's just hang out, have fun, and do a lot of stuff together. Don't worry about romance or feelings or answering me or stuff like that. Let's just live."

"Huh..." Oscar raised his eyes up, thinking it over. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea."

"I thought so," said Natsuki, before opening her mouth to yawn. "I'm sleepy."

"There's still time until we've gotta leave," said Oscar. "You can take a nap if you'd like."

"Yeah," said Natsuki, leaning towards him. Her head came to rest against his shoulder. "Is this okay?" she asked. "You're really comfortable."

Oscar found himself smiling. "Yeah, it's fine."

"Thanks," said Natsuki, closing her eyes.

Oscar sat there. Despite what Natsuki had just said, he found himself thinking about his own feelings. He wasn't quite sure of where they lay. But the one thing he knew was that he was genuinely glad he'd met the girl sleeping against him. Even if he'd been turned down by Ruby, it had still been worth it to come to the Vytal Festival after all, if only because he'd met Natsuki.

Behind the pair, Oscar was unaware that Setsuna and Miyu were looking on, both of them wearing approving smiles on their faces.

* * *

"Going right after Natsu-chan's team is a surprise," said Ruby, sitting back on the couch.

When silence greeted her remark, she looked over to see Pyrrha, seated on a nearby chair, staring down at her hands, which rested on her knees, fingers clenched tightly into fists. "Pyrrha...? Is everything okay?"

"I'm fine," said Pyrrha, looking up at Ruby with a smile.

It was the kind of fake smile Pyrrha had often worn in her champion persona, so Ruby could tell she was deflecting. "Pyrrha...is it about your parents?"

Pyrrha looked down again, then took a deep breath, before sighing it out again. "Yes..." she admitted.

Pyrrha and Dove had filled in the rest of RASP and RYNB about the situation. Yang and Weiss had been livid, the former vowing to track Holly down and pound her into oblivion, barely managing to get herself talked down by the others. Weiss genuinely considered asking a favor from her brother to see if there was something Whitley could do about the situation, an idea that shocked her with its sheer novelty.

Pyrrha and Dove had turned down their offers of assistance for the most part, with Dove explaining that he had a plan, though he'd kept quiet about what exactly said plan entailed. Apparently, for the time being, everyone would go on as though nothing had changed. But Ruby could see that the anxiety was getting to Pyrrha.

It had been one thing for Pyrrha to just view her parents as a pair of immature fools, who had gotten carried away with the wealth they'd obtained off the back of Pyrrha's own hard work, spending more money, then demanding that Pyrrha be the one to pick up the slack for them. It was another thing entirely for her to realize that her parents were victims, who'd been mentally manipulated by someone's Semblance into a lifestyle that they couldn't sustain. From that point of view, they were essentially Holly's hostages.

"Ruby..." said Pyrrha tentatively, looking up.

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"Could you...that is...could I…?" Pyrrha blinked, then shook her head. "No. Forget it."

"Pyrrha, if you want to go to the quarterfinals, I'll let you," said Ruby earnestly.

"No!" Pyrrha's voice was strangely harsh. She shook her head, rubbing her temples. "Please, Ruby. Don't give in to me so easily. That makes it hard for me to..."

"Her Semblance is _still_ affecting you, isn't it?" asked Weiss nervously.

"I think it is," said Pyrrha, scrunching her eyes shut.

"Is there anything we can do?" asked Jaune.

"Dove says that the best thing to do is to just stay away from Holly," said Pyrrha, still rubbing her forehead.

"Well...this could have an effect on your performance in the match, if this keeps up," Weiss pointed out. "We still have time to request a substitution."

"No!" shouted Pyrrha urgently, startling the others with her insistence, before she grunted. "I mean...I'm sorry...Maybe we should..."

"Pyrrha..." whispered Ruby, horrified to see her friend in such a state.

"Maybe there's something I can do," suggested Jaune, holding up his hand.

"No!" This time it was _Ruby_ who was using an urgent voice. "Jaune, physical wounds are one thing. But messing around with someone's brain is another thing entirely. It's _way_ more delicate than anything you've ever done. I can barely treat a concussion, but nothing at this level."

"But...perhaps there is something _I_ can do."

Ruby gasped, looking towards the door to see her sister standing there. "Sasame-nee?"

"I'm a bit disappointed you didn't think to tell me about this, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, walking sedately towards them.

"Sorry...I didn't even think about it," admitted Ruby. Of course, since it was hard for her to actually think of Pyrrha as "wounded", it hadn't occurred to her to ask Sasame to treat Pyrrha, or that Sasame even _could_.

"In situations like this, it could be a subtype of addiction," said Sasame.

"Addiction?" Weiss blinked. "I don't understand."

"At its root, addiction is an automatic condition towards a particular course of action," said Sasame. "It usually takes the form of indulging in some form of vice, such as drugs, alcohol, gambling, or even overeating. It's been found that a person indulging in their favorite foods can trigger the same hormones as those triggered by alcohol or drug use."

"So...in that case, would Pyrrha be 'addicted' to following Holly's orders?" asked Jaune.

"That might well be the case," said Sasame. "The mental conditioning that this woman has instilled apparently induces mental pressures similar to withdrawal symptoms, when it comes to defying her, while obeying her provides a form of mental relief, probably triggering those same areas of the brain that respond to other addictions."

"Can you fix it?" asked Ruby.

"It will be tricky," said Sasame. "As you've already pointed out, Ruby-chan, working with the brain is delicate work, and one can easily inflict permanent, debilitating, or even fatal damage, if they aren't careful. However...the first step in any situation is to determine the full extent and true nature of the problem. That said, Pyrrha-chan, with your permission..."

"Of course," said Pyrrha, bowing her head, allowing Sasame to easily reach it with her hands.

Sasame lightly rested her fingertips against Pyrrha's temples, then closed her eyes. Faint pulses of her pale-pink Aura rippled out across Pyrrha's head, washing over her face. Pyrrha's mouth slackened slightly, a faint sigh of relief escaping her.

"Well, doing this much is easy enough," said Sasame, "though it's nothing more than a temporary relief."

Just coming into contact with Sasame's Aura had abated the pounding in Pyrrha's head, the nigh-habitual urge to do as her former-manager told her receding. She began to relax, almost to the point of falling asleep.

"Hmm..." Sasame frowned. "Well...this is unusual."

"What is it?" asked Ruby worriedly.

"In a sense, there is the presence of a foreign Aura in Pyrrha-chan's brain," said Sasame, her eyes remaining closed. "It's a form of synchronization. Pyrrha-chan's mind has been...tuned...you could say, almost like an instrument. As a result, the words that carry this Aura resonate very strongly with her, all the more strongly the more exposure there is. Furthermore, the presence of this Aura, and the way it persists, rather than fading..."

"Is it..._Kotodama_?" asked Ruby.

"Not quite," said Sasame. "It's not _that_ powerful, thank goodness."

"Koto-what now?" asked Jaune, canting his head in confusion.

"_Kotodama_," said Ruby, frowning.

"Another Mibu art, I'm guessing," said Weiss.

Sasame hummed, and her fingers actually sank into the skin of Pyrrha's skull. "You could say that. Though, even by our standards, it is a somewhat mythical ability, more theory and legend than actuality. We are certain that there _were_ practitioners at some point, but its secrets appear to have been largely lost."

"Basically, it comes from the belief that words have a power of their own," said Ruby. "In fact, that principle is still there, in the form of attack names...sort of."

"Indeed, but the old legends take it to a more substantial extreme," said Sasame. "A master of _Kotodama_, or one of its affiliated arts, could essentially use words to control their target completely."

"What, you mean tell someone what to do, and they'd do it?" asked Jaune.

"That's right," said Sasame. "Used properly, you would behave as though another person's orders had come from within your own heart and mind. It's a powerful force."

"They could order you to kill yourself, and you'd do it," said Weiss, gasping with horror.

Ruby shook her head. "They could order you to 'die', and your heart would stop in your chest."

Jaune and Weiss flinched back, blanching at the idea.

"It is a frightening thing," said Sasame. "Fortunately, Holly-san's ability does not appear to be to that extent."

"It's strange that someone's Semblance would just happen to resemble one of your arts," Weiss pointed out.

Sasame opened her eyes to look at Weiss with a wry smile. "Why should that be strange? Semblance is, essentially, Manifestation in a raw state. It is born from the same principles of Aura that we draw from Manifestation. Therefore, anything that a Semblance is capable of could be either replicated, or even refined, through Manifestation. Technically, Holly-san, if she refined her abilities in the manner that all you have, could well advance her ability to make it into a genuine form of _Kotodama_."

"That's...bad news," said Jaune. "We'd better not let that happen."

"Ideally, no," said Sasame. She closed her eyes again. "I can alleviate your symptoms, Pyrrha-chan. What's required is for me to exorcise the lingering remnants of Holly-san's Aura from your mind. However, you will still feel a small degree of impulse to follow the orders she's given you. But it won't cause you so much distress anymore."

"That's...fine," said Pyrrha. "As long...as long as I'm not doing anything to hold my friends back."

"You don't need to worry about that at all," said Ruby.

Sasame's Aura seemed to sink into the skin of Pyrrha's head. Pyrrha let out a soft breath, then slumped completely, looking as though she'd lost consciousness. Finally, Sasame withdrew her fingers. "There. The operation is complete."

"I feel so much better," said Pyrrha, opening her eyes.

"Just try to relax until the match begins, Pyrrha-chan," said Sasame, beaming at her. "I'll be cheering you on from the spectator seating."

Sasame turned away, heading for the door to the locker room. As she walked, Ruby noticed something, her eyes widening. "Sasame-nee...?"

"Hmm...What is it, Ruby-chan?" asked Sasame, turning back towards Ruby with a smile...a smile that seemed a little too...intense...for her.

"N-nothing," said Ruby. "We'll see you later."

"Good luck, Ruby-chan," said Sasame, leaving through the door.

Ruby swallowed, a cold sweat breaking out across her brow. _Sasame-nee...she's _furious_. I...I can't remember the last time I saw her this angry._

* * *

In the hallway outside the locker room, Sasame took several deep breaths to calm herself down. "Ruby-chan's grown so perceptive," she said. "And I thought I had a lid on it too." She glanced down at her feet, frowning darkly. _That Aura though...I will have to make sure I take part in that woman's reckoning._

* * *

Ruby and Pyrrha's match went off without a hitch. Their opponents, Flynt Coal and Neon Katt, of Team FNKI, were a force to be reckoned with, demonstrating incredible skill and a surprising degree of coordination, hidden behind a veneer of casual disrespect. However, the pair of them were quickly overwhelmed by Ruby and Pyrrha's skill and ability.

It was a decisive win for Team RASP. Fortunately, there were no hard feelings from the other team. Pyrrha was relieved to find that her opponents didn't hold her Semblance against her, nor did they act as though their defeat had been preordained. In fact, they had made the match a challenging one.

Their friends, including MNPS and RYNB, were there to cheer them on, all of them celebrating the fact that RASP had made it into the next round. The stands were echoing with the cheers of an enthralled crowd. It seemed that the scandal of Pyrrha's Semblance was little more than a memory at this point.

In one of the skyboxes lining the coliseum's upper rim, Holly Ji looked on, sitting in a seat behind Pyrrha's own parents, who scowled down at the ring. Despite the fact their daughter had won, the pair looked anything _but_ satisfied.

"This is not good," declared Anatolius, glaring down at his daughter. "To struggle that much against second-rate opponents...It's like she's holding back to make that brat of a leader of hers look better."

"That might well be what's happening," said Phoinix. "It's clear that this Ruby Rose is scheming to take center stage in this tournament. She's probably forcing Pyrrha to not outshine her."

"And Pyrrha is letting her get away with it," growled Anatolius. "Atrocious. At this rate, Pyrrha won't even _be_ in the finals."

"Please do not read too much into things," said Holly, leaning forward to put her head between theirs. "This is the Vytal Festival Tournament, after all. It brings together the best and brightest from all _four_ Academies...and then some. The level of competition is substantially above that of a mere regional tournament. It's only natural that Pyrrha's opponents would be of a higher caliber as well.

"In fact, the struggle for victory can make for a more entertaining match. It will help your daughter regain much of her lost clout. After her fourth run in the Mistral Regional Tournament, it was clear that her momentum was petering out. She was winning too easily. People, both the audience and her opponents, were losing interest. But now she's in a position to be the achiever again. This will fully reestablish her reputation, and erase the shame of that last little scandal."

"But not if she stays out of the finals," Phoinix pointed out worriedly.

"Please don't concern yourselves with that," said Holly with a smirk. "Pyrrha _will_ be in the finals. By the time the weekend rolls around, it will be the only obvious choice for her."

_Of course,_ thought Holly to herself, _there's a certain troublesome interference that needs to be stamped out first._

* * *

"Here's to an awesome match!" declared Coco, raising her glass. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" shouted Velvet, Yatsuhashi, Fox, and Oscar.

"Cheers!" echoed Miyu and Setsuna, a beat behind them.

"Kanpai-er-Cheers!" shouted Natsuki, grinning awkwardly at her flub.

"That your word for it?" asked Coco, glancing across the table at her former opponent.

"Yep," said Natsuki, giving Coco an easygoing grin.

"Thank you for buying dinner for us," said Miyu, bowing her head politely to Coco. "This was hardly necessary."

"It's fine," said Coco, idly waving a hand at them. "I heard Natsuki here say you don't have any lien. So you guys probably haven't gotten much of a chance to eat out."

"Sorry," squeaked, Natsuki, shrinking in on herself as Miyu and Setsuna gave her deadpan looks.

_It's almost like she's shrinking,_ thought Oscar, smiling wryly.

The restaurant they'd come to was hardly anything all that special. However, it was a favorite haunt of Team CFVY, one of their favorite places to come back to, after a successful mission. The food was good and filling, and the ambience was relaxed. No one there would bat an eyelid at an eight-person party talking and shouting energetically. In fact, there were the occasional flashes from the cameras of nearby scrolls, bystanders recognizing, and snapping pictures of, the tournament participants.

They quickly fell into conversation, chatting easily with one another. Despite being so much older than their former opponents, the members of CFVY demonstrated that they were extremely personable, one of the things that made them such a popular group at Beacon.

"I'm still uncertain how you managed to attack, after you were affected by my Semblance," said Yatsuhashi, giving Setsuna a curious look.

"What _is_ your Semblance, exactly?" asked Setsuna. He already had a vague idea, but he would prefer that Yatsuhashi to confirm it.

"Memory erasure," said Yatsuhashi. "I can erase memories of varying periods of time for equally varying periods of time. It's usually temporary. However, I can erase more immediate memories permanently."

"That's a frightening ability," said Setsuna.

"It is," agreed Yatsuhashi.

"Why would you say that?" asked Miyu.

"When I first discovered it, I was young...and foolish," said Yatsuhashi. "At first, I found that, when I tried to explain it to my family, I was also just making them forget about it later. Then I was able to use it for my own benefit. However, one day, I overreached. I accidentally used my Semblance to make my mother forget about my baby sister for a day."

"That must have been frightening to go through," said Miyu sympathetically, "that _and_ the aftermath."

"It was," said Yatsuhashi. "After that, I fully came clean about my Semblance. My parents told me to never use it again, but Grandfather suggested I come to Beacon, and learn to use it for good."

"So then, you erased my memories at the moment of contact," said Setsuna pensively.

"I figured that, whatever your next move was, if I could erase your memory of deciding to use it, I could stop you long enough to launch my own attack," said Yatsuhashi. "But you didn't even hesitate. How?"

"Muscle memory," said Setsuna, "plain and simple. You might have wiped the next move I was planning to make from my mind, but my body still knew what it was doing, so it carried on without needing my conscious input."

"You can _do_ that?" asked Fox, aghast.

"With sufficient training, yes," said Miyu, giving Setsuna a proud smile, while resting her hand over his. "That's not even the kind of thing that would be specific to the Mibu arts."

"It takes a lot of practice," said Setsuna. "I'm not all that talented, not like Ruby-chan or Natsu-chan. So, when push comes to shove, all I can really do is put my all into mastering every move I'm taught. Of course, the flip-side is that they become all that more deeply engrained."

Miyu laced her fingers with Setsuna's. "When it comes to dedication, Setsuna won't lose to Ruby-chan or Natsu-chan."

"She's not wrong," said Natsuki with surprising ease.

"Yeah, but what _were_ all those crazy skills you used out there?" asked Coco. "I mean, I've seen Semblances and Dust do some crazy stuff, not to mention the stunts Ruby's pulled, but painting yourself with your own blood like that...?"

"Even going by the standards of Dust, the way you manipulated gravity was remarkably unusual," added Yatsuhashi, giving Setsuna a confused look.

"Well, since you're good friends of Ruby-chan, I think we can trust you," said Miyu, smiling at them.

They began to lay out the nature of their abilities, explaining Aura and Manifestation to the stunned members of CFVY. They'd gotten some basic explanations from Ruby before, but this was a much more detailed and comprehensive explanation.

"Well damn," said Coco, when the explanation was wrapped up. "That's...awesome."

"We're sorry for keeping you in the dark like that," said Natsuki, clapping her hands together and bowing her head over them.

"Well, it's no different than people keeping their Semblance under wraps for a tactical advantage," Fox pointed out.

"Darn right," agreed Coco, before noticing that a certain teammate of hers had been strangely quiet, having not spoken a word since their toast. "You okay, Vel? You're not still sore about the match, are you?"

"N-no," said Velvet, stammering nervously, though her drooping ears gave her mood away a little.

"Did you have something important planned for the finals?" asked Oscar.

"You could say that," said Coco. "Yatsu and I were supposed to power through, and then Velvet would strut her stuff in the next round."

"Is there something special about what she planned to do?" asked Miyu.

"You could say that," said Coco. "You wanna explain, Vel?"

"Um...Well...I...My weapon that is..." Velvet looked away shyly.

Coco sighed. "I'll do it," she said. "Anesidora, Vel's weapon, uses a special formulation of hard-light-Dust to produce replicas of the weapons she photographs. With her Semblance, she can perfectly mimic the moves of the people who use those weapons."

"An interesting ability," said Miyu. "In other words, you could change your style and strategy according to the needs of the fight."

Coco nodded. "But, you see, the important thing is Anesidora. Hard-light-Dust is hardly anything new on the scene. But what Vel's done with it is _huge_."

"How so?" asked Setsuna. "I'm sorry to say we don't have much knowledge about the particulars of Dust, so this is all very new to us."

"Hard-light-Dust is usually used for shields and the like," said Coco. "It can create a static barrier, or one that's at least anchored to the mechanism it's generated from. But Velvet created a device and specialized formulation of that Dust to create a hard-light object that can be manipulated as though it were a physical one."

"Basically, it's a huge step forward for Dust-tech," said Fox. "By demonstrating it on such a large stage, even if Velvet didn't win the title, she'd still be able to make a major impression."

"And what would the purpose of that be?" asked Setsuna. "While it seems exciting, I can't imagine arranging to show it off in the tournament simply to be lauded for it."

"Yeah," agreed Coco. "But you see...if Vel shows that off, then people are gonna get interested. If they get interested, people are going to be asking about it, asking _her_ about it...a faunus will be the driving force behind a _huge_ technological innovation."

Natsuki, Miyu, and Setsuna all canted their heads in confusion. "What's so special about that?" asked Natsuki.

Team CFVY and Oscar stared at the three Mibu in confusion. "Um...Well...a lot of people wouldn't expect something like that of a faunus," said Velvet.

The three visitors from the Mibu shared confused looks. "Oh!" said Natsuki, the realization dawning on her. "It's that racism thing Ruby-chan was talking about, you know, how the humans in the Kingdoms look down on the faunus."

"Oooooh..." said Setsuna and Miyu in unison.

"I completely forgot some people in the Kingdoms get worked up over stuff like that," said Setsuna, Miyu nodding her agreement.

"Um...Haven't you gotten any strange looks?" asked Velvet, staring at Setsuna in confusion. "I mean...you're a faunus too."

"Is that why?" asked Setsuna, his eyes going wide. "I thought it was just because Miyu and I looked too foreign to some people."

"So...you don't have issues between humans and faunus in your clan?" asked Yatsuhashi.

"Nope," said all three Mibu in unison.

"That's...amazing," said Velvet, breathless at the thought.

"Is it really?" asked Natsuki. "It seems normal to me. I was gonna ask about your ears, Velvet-san."

"What about them?" asked Velvet, the ears in question standing up attentively.

"I was wondering if you have any special products you use to get your fur to look so nice," said Natsuki. "Tomo-chan, back home, is always trying to get her ears to look better, and your ears make me think that's the kind of look she's going for."

"Ah...well...I mean, there are a few specialized products," said Velvet, surprised by the unexpected line of conversation.

"Ooh!" squealed Natsuki. "Maybe we should bring some back as a sample."

"It couldn't hurt," said Miyu, nodding sagely.

"Well, I'm impressed," said Coco.

"It makes me want to see your homeland, someday," said Velvet.

To their surprise, the faces of the three Mibu visitors fell.

"Yeah...that's not to say that we're completely free from discrimination," said Setsuna warily.

"Even if there is no discord between humans and faunus amongst our people, the Mibu are biased against those hailing from the outside, as Ruby-chan can attest," continued Miyu.

"So, while nobody would discriminate against you, 'cause you're a faunus; they'd still discriminate against you 'cause you're from the Kingdoms."

"Oh..." said Velvet, her ears drooping.

"We're trying to change that though," said Natsuki quickly, sitting up a little straighter. "That's why we're here, after all."

"It is?" asked Fox.

"We're here to teach _and_ learn," said Setsuna. "We'll show the people what the Mibu can bring to the world."

"And, while we're at it, we'll bring back the things that can show the Mibu the benefits of joining with the rest of the world," added Miyu.

Natsuki nodded. "Sasame-sama is gonna become one of the Goyosei, when she gets back. And then she's gonna help Sora-sama-that's Ruby's mom, by the way-campaign to open our borders, so that we can interact with the Kingdoms. And we're gonna do everything we can to help her."

"That's great," said Oscar, giving his three friends an admiring look.

"If there's one thing we've learned by coming here, it's that we can't simply continue to stand in place," said Miyu firmly. "If the Mibu are to continue to develop, we'll need to keep moving forward."

"But, from the sound of things, you people have everything you need," Coco pointed out. "You aren't even using Dust, but you're able to hold your own in a tournament of people who are all multiple years older then you, using pretty much nothing but your Auras."

"And yet, battle strength isn't everything," said Miyu. "We've already seen incredible things that we know our people would be grateful for."

"Yeah," agreed Natsuki, nodding to herself. "Like, the other day, when we went with Oscar to talk to his aunt. Even though she's on a different continent, we were able to talk to her like she was in the same room with us. That's amazing!"

Miyu nodded. "You all carry miniature versions of that technology with you, making you able to keep in contact so easily with one another. The sheer number of applications we've seen for it are dizzying."

The members of CFVY shared confused looks. It was understandable. The CCT was something that Atlas had developed for the Kingdoms, following the Great War. The towers themselves had been around since before any of them had even been _born_. They'd grown up with that technology being an accepted part of life, something they had come to rely on without question.

And yet, when one stopped to think about it, it really _was_ incredible. The ability to communicate with others, even if they were on a completely different continent, was something bordering on miraculous. If someone had gone their entire lives without such a convenient thing then their introduction to such technology would be something akin to a revelation.

"I think the airships are really cool too," added Natsuki energetically. "In the Mibu, we have zeppelins and blimps, but they aren't near as fast. And you can make entire _buildings_ fly."

"Yeah, that _is_ pretty neat, when you get down to it," said Fox. "Granted, the coliseum is pretty special, even by _our_ standards."

"So, I wouldn't worry about an unequal relationship," said Setsuna.

The eight of them found their friendly conversation continuing long into the evening. Had Sasame or Sora been present, they would have looked on with expressions of approval.

* * *

Dove made his way through the streets of Vale, taking his time on the trip back to the docks. Though evening had fallen, there was plenty of time until the final airship back to Beacon departed, which meant that he was free to stroll leisurely. With the Vytal Festival in full swing, it was occasionally nice to visit Vale, which could be less-crowded than the festival grounds themselves. There were plenty of bars and restaurants running specials, that were, nonetheless, relatively uncrowded this early in the evening. In this case, Dove was on his way back through the faunus quarter, after visiting a certain bakery that had come _highly_ recommended by his friends.

The only thing Dove regretted was that Pyrrha hadn't come down with him. However, Ruby had explained to him that she was still dealing with some of the stress of shrugging off Holly's Semblance, also telling him about Sasame treating its effects, Dove finding himself rather disappointed that _he_ hadn't thought of such a solution. Granted, it wouldn't change the fact that he intended to do everything in his power to ensure that Holly never so much as said a word to Pyrrha, face-to-face, ever again. But he was at least relieved that Pyrrha was no longer struggling with the impulses that Holly's Persuasion had implanted in her head.

Because the real action was taking place at the festival grounds, the streets of Vale were fairly uncrowded. In fact, they were almost downright deserted. In fact...they were a little _too_ deserted.

Dove paused, frowning. His posture straightened, and he began to take in his surroundings with a more attentive eye. It seemed that there was a conspicuous _absence_ of people in his immediate vicinity, something that set off warning bells in his head.

His hand drifted towards his back pocket, reaching for his scroll. It would be extreme to call his locker to him, merely out of suspicion. Doing something like that in downtown Vale would be a pretty serious move, if there wasn't any real trouble. However, Dove wanted to have his device on hand, just in case...

Passing an alley, Dove caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. Pausing, he turned to look into the darkness between two buildings. As he did, he caught sight of someone.

"Oh...It's you," said Dove, recognition appearing on his face.

A second later, he was dragged into the shadows, the sound of something hard and blunt against flesh filling the air.

Meanwhile, up above, perched on the corner of one of the buildings, a crow looked down, letting out a harsh caw.

* * *

**It's worth noting just how special Velvet's weapon appears to be in the setting. What we've seen hard-light-Dust used for, in canon, is pretty much limited to shields, so far. Even Dr. "I'm the greatest thing ever to happen to science!" Watts doesn't seem to have anything remotely like Velvet's weapon, those fancy rings of his being mostly for super-hacking and...more shields...so it stands out as a pretty unique technical innovation within the world of Remnant.**

**If you're wondering about the late upload time...I'm on vacation again. And yes, this _was_ supposed to be for RTX. But that's no longer happening, but I still had to use up my vacation hours for the year, so I have a little road-trip planned. Still going to upload through it, but expect my updates to be a little later in the day for the next week.**


	134. Chapter 134

**Chapter 134:**

Pyrrha burst into the infirmary at a run. "Dove!" she shouted.

The receptionist looked up from the desk, fixing Pyrrha with a fierce stare. "Ms. Nikos! Please keep your voice down, or you will be asked to leave."

Pyrrha froze in place, her eyes going wide, her throat working furiously. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds, then she forced herself to close it, taking a deep breath. "R-right...I'm sorry," she said, her voice heavy with contrition.

The receptionist's expression softened. "I understand your concern, Ms. Nikos. Mr. Bronzewing has already been treated, so you should be able to visit him. Please go on in." She quickly told Pyrrha which room Dove was in.

Pyrrha had to force herself to keep her pace down to a walk as she made her way through the hallway, stopping at the entrance to the room. Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for whatever sight lay beyond the threshold, then pulled the door open.

She found her boyfriend sitting on the infirmary bed, already fully dressed, in the process of pulling on his shoes. If he'd taken any injury, there was no sign of it now. When Pyrrha stepped into the room, Dove looked up in surprise.

"Oh, hey there," he said awkwardly.

"Dove, what's going on?" asked Pyrrha, confused. "I got a message from Cardin saying you were..."

"Yeah, I was pretty beat up," said Dove, groaning. "I'm glad you didn't see me when I came in. I was a right mess."

"But you...?"

"Ruby's sister stopped by, Jaune with her," said Dove by way of explanation. "I got to serve as a pop quiz for the guy."

Pyrrha's arms dropped to hang limp at her sides. "Seriously?"

"Yep," said Dove. "So I'm fine now. I'm sleepy, thanks to the healing. But I've got enough left in the tank to make it back into my own bed at least."

"But what happened?" asked Pyrrha. "Were you attacked?"

"Yep," said Dove, speaking with such casual ease that Pyrrha could scarcely believe him. "I got caught off-guard, dragged into an alley, then thrashed to within an inch of my life. Honestly, a little bit more and I probably _would've_ been dead."

"How can you be so calm about this?" demanded Pyrrha, on the verge of panicking. "Whoever did this to you hasn't been caught, have they?"

"Nope," said Dove.

"Then they could still be out there, and they could come after you again." Pyrrha gasped as a thought occurred to her. "No...This isn't a coincidence is it? Holly did this. She must have put someone up to do this. There's no other explanation for how you'd wind up beaten in an alley, just a few days after confronting her like that."

"You're not wrong," said Dove, the calm and confident ease with which he spoke throwing Pyrrha off.

"What?" gasped Pyrrha, her confusion mounting.

"Holly is _definitely_ the one to put her up to it," said Dove, before shaking his head, grumbling.

"H-how do you know that?" asked Pyrrha.

"Well...remember that I said I was already working on a plan for her...?" said Dove, giving Pyrrha a smile brimming with mischief.

"Yes...?" said Pyrrha.

Dove's smile became a full grin. "Well, let's just say she took the bait."

"By beating you up?" asked Pyrrha. "How does that help us? I mean, that just means that someone is working for her."

"Yeah, but the one working for her was working for _us_ first," Dove replied.

"Huh?"

* * *

Holly's lips curled up in a slight, cruel smile as she took in the image on the screen of her scroll. It clearly showed Dove Bronzewing, laid out flat on the concrete, his face a mass of bruises. Blood was trickling down from the corner of his lips, one eye completely swollen shut. His hands and arms looked likewise battered, and what flesh was visible through the tears in his shirt and pants was similarly discolored by multiple impacts.

_It must have taken a lot of force to bring the boy's Aura down to the point where she could do this to him,_ thought Holly, a satisfied feeling welling up within her. _Hopefully he felt every minute of this. That should serve as a sufficient warning to keep his nose out of my business, and a cue to Pyrrha to leave him, if she doesn't want him suffering a _worse_ fate in the future._

She supposed she should have been impressed that the boy had managed to dig up enough information about her to learn about her Semblance. At the very least, it meant that he knew the right people to ask. Of course, there were consequences for digging too deep into a woman's history, consequences that Dove was suffering from right now.

_Now, all that's left is the other one, and Pyrrha's participation in the finals will be guaranteed,_ thought Holly triumphantly. Raising her eyes, she smiled approvingly at the one who'd provided her with this picture, her wine-red eyes meeting a pair of mismatched chocolate-brown and light-pink.

Neo Politan tapped on her scroll, before holding up the screen for Holly to see. "_You like...?_" she asked.

"I like it very much," said Holly, before sighing in disappointment. "Honestly, that boy was such an irritant that I'd like to make this picture my personal wallpaper. But that would obviously be incriminating."

Neo smirked, clearly agreeing with Holly's sentiments.

Holly was definitely grateful to Junior for pointing her in the direction of this little, pint-sized menace. Anyone with a working familiarity with the underworld knew where to go in a given location to get the connections one needed. In Vale, one went to Junior. Holly had gone to Junior, looking for him to recommend someone who could do a job for her, and Junior had delivered.

"Now then, as promised, I will wire the payment to the account number you provided," said Holly, taking care of that matter now. Her source had said that this young lady did not mess around, when it came to her pay, and Holly had no intention of making an enemy of her. "Now then...if you are ready, I have your second job already lined up."

Neo nodded.

Holly's smile widened. "Your next target will be one Ruby Rose. In this case, I would like for you to inflict the most severe injuries you are capable of...short of killing her. Whatever it takes, so long as she is ineligible to participate in the next round of the tournament."

Neo tapped out a response. "_And if she dies...?_"

"If she dies...that would be unfortunate," said Holly. "I don't want to make this issue any bigger than it needs to be. A dead body attracts a great deal more attention than a battered one. The murder of a tournament participant might even go so far as to derail the matches themselves."

_And the death of her friend could have an adverse effect on Pyrrha's own performance,_ Holly added silently. _ It's a pity. With enough time, I could work her around to getting over it. But the time frame just won't allow it. So killing Ruby Rose would have problematic consequences._

Neo nodded in understanding. Holding up her scroll, she tapped it.

"Your advance...of course," said Holly, nodding in understanding. "As per your set prices, I will send the appropriate advance to your account immediately."

Neo beamed, watching as Holly tapped the screen of her own scroll. Then used her scroll to confirm that the lien had been transferred into her account. Neo's smile became a grin, a cruel one at that, the kind of expression that sent shivers down even the spine of someone like Holly.

"Are you looking forward to it already?" asked Holly.

Neo schooled her grin back into a more benign-looking smile, and she tapped her scroll some more, before holding it up for Holly to see.

"_Thank you for your prompt payment,_" she said. Another round of tapping, she added a new line. "_And...You're under arrest._"

"What?" grunted Holly, her eyes going wide. "Is this a joke? I swear, if you're simply going to use me, then turn me over to the authorities, I'll see to it that-!"

Holly's voice cut off as a gruff voice spoke from behind her. "You're not going to be seeing to anything for a long while, lady."

Holly's eyes widened in surprise and fear, she spun on the spot, shocked to see a tall, lanky man with a red cape standing behind her. The man observed her with pale-red eyes, underneath a disheveled mop of black hair.

"A Huntsman!" gasped Holly. "What...But I thought..."

"Looks like your info's a little outdated," said Qrow, checking his own scroll. "The Ice Cream Pipsqueak has been workin' for us fer a while now." He grinned at what he saw on the screen. "Nice job. We've got confirmation of payment and everything."

"What do you mean?" asked Holly.

"Just proof that you solicited violence against a Beacon student," said Qrow, before narrowing his eyes in a glare that made Holly backpedal, "and proof that you were soliciting additional violence against my _niece_. This is enough to get your sorry ass hauled off to prison for a good, _long_ time."

Holly stumbled backwards, mouth flapping uselessly as she tried to come up with a way out of this situation. "N-now...there's no need to do anything rash," she said. "Why don't we s-see if we can come to an arrangement?"

"We already have," said Qrow firmly, stepping forward, his hand going to the handle of the sword holstered at the small of his back, looking dangerously large and menacing, even in its collapsed form.

"There's no need for violence," asserted Holly, doing her best to regain some form of control over the situation. Her Semblance was potent, under the right conditions. However, it worked best when her targets were either calm, or flustered and off-balance. Qrow Branwen was neither of those things at the moment. He was angry, and all that anger was being directed wholly at her.

Which didn't leave her without recourse though. All Holly needed to do was to keep talking to shift the target of his anger. First, she had to get it off of her. _Perhaps Neo...? No, that won't work. It's clear Neo was colluding with him from the start. In that case...Pyrrha's parents...They're about as close as ideal as it could get. I'll pin the blame on them, then talk him around to going after them instead._

"If we are going to talk, it should be without any props on your part," said a girlish voice from behind her, along with the feeling of a small hand coming to rest against the small of her back.

At first, Holly thought it was Neo saying that, even though Neo had a reputation for being mute. However, when she looked over at the diminutive girl, she saw that Neo hadn't moved an inch. Looking down, Holly's eyes widened at the auburn-haired girl standing practically in her shadow.

Sasame looked up at Holly, giving her a sunny smile, with narrowed eyes that filled the woman with a sense of danger. "It seems to me that you've caused _enough_ harm with your words already. It's time to relieve them of their power."

"What are you-?" Holly began to ask, only to lurch as she felt Sasame's hand press harder into her back...then into it. It wasn't painful, but Holly couldn't help but feel disturbed by the sensation, as Sasame's fingers reached through the bones of her vertebrae, and then to mesh with the fibers of her spinal cord.

"Now...it would be child's play for me to paralyze you for life," said Sasame, her tone cheerful, yet with an undertone that turned Holly's bones to ice. Just a light tug caused the woman's legs to give out, Holly collapsing onto her knees, bringing her face to within reach of Sasame's lips, which she placed next to Holly's ear. "However," she said, "I shall simply seal your Aura completely, ensuring that you won't be able to use that Persuasion of yours on anyone ever again."

Holly gasped, her stomach sinking. The one trump card that had seen her through countless negotiations, that had allowed her to come on top, again and again, was being taken away from her. "You can't!"

"I will," said Sasame cooly. "And be glad that this is _all_ I will be doing to you." She leaned her lips in closer to Holly's ear, speaking in a whisper that only Holly could hear. "For what you did to your _daughter_, I would gladly flay the skin from your body, while keeping you conscious and alert for every second of it. You can count the fact that she is alive; and has managed to grow up into a beautiful, strong, if misguided, young woman; as the only reason that sealing your Aura will be the most I do to you." Well…that and doing such a thing with her Healing Arts would be a grievous violation of creed as a healer…but Holly didn't need to know that part.

Holly gasped. "How could you know?"

"For a healer, dealing with Auras in the most intimate of manners, it is easy to sense the relation in your Auras," Sasame replied, keeping her tone low. "That is all you need to know of the matter. Your daughter will be much better off not having anything to do with the woman who abandoned her without a care."

Holly swallowed. _To think that child survived._ She wasn't sure what she felt about that. Long ago, in the streets of one of Vacuo's few cities, she had been even _more_ desperate to do what it took to survive, and come away with some form of profit, even selling her body. The unfortunate consequence of that way of life had been left abandoned, in a dumpster in a dusty alley. Holly could have brought her to an orphanage. However, she had been more interested in lining up her next client, and had dealt with the problem as expediently as she did all her issues. Someone had found out, and the resulting abandonment had been placed on her, but Holly had been able to Persuade her way out of the consequences. At the first possible opportunity, she'd left Vacuo, and that infant, behind, not sparing a thought for the girl in the years since.

Even now, the thought did nothing to her. All Holly could think was that she had just been spared a worse fate than the one she was already set for. That alone was bad enough, considering that she suddenly felt as though a part of herself had been closed off forever.

Sasame withdrew her hand from Holly's back, allowing the woman to go limp. "It's done," she said, her tone dangerously neutral. "She's all yours, Qrow-san."

"Thanks," said Qrow, looking a little disconcerted. While Sasame had only spoken loud enough for Holly to hear her, Qrow and Neo both had been able to sense the raw fury that had boiled just beneath her skin, making them both feel as though they'd been standing next to a pile of high-explosives, resting up against a lit match.

Sasame turned on her heel, then flickered out of sight, her speed carrying her away, leaving Qrow and Neo with their prisoner.

"Well..._there's_ someone I don't want to tick off," said Qrow, while Neo nodded emphatically in front of him.

* * *

By the time the next day came around, Pyrrha had received word of Holly's arrest, along with the circumstances. As a party to the situation, she was informed of all the circumstances pertaining to her arrest, which included enough evidence to ensure what promised to be a speedy conviction, made all the more assuring by Sasame's informing her that Holly's Aura and Semblance had been sealed, ensuring that she couldn't Persuade her way out of trouble.

"There's one thing I don't understand," said Pyrrha, as she and Dove headed for the airship that would take them up to the coliseum.

"What's that?" asked Dove.

"Couldn't Neo have just used her Semblance to make it _look_ like you were beaten up? Why did she have to beat you up for real?"

"Simple, she _didn't_ have to beat me for real," said Dove.

"Then why?"

Dove snorted. "'Cause she's a sadist. She knew I could be healed later, so the beating was for kicks and giggles."

Pyrrha paled. "It's hard to believe she's on our side, sometimes."

"I don't think she is," Dove answered. "The only side she's on is her own...and probably Torchwick's. She'll cooperate with us for his sake, but she isn't gonna be one of the heroes anytime soon. Hopefully, that's enough to keep her from causing too much trouble."

Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

Today promised to be another day of excitement. Team CPPR, represented by Penny and Ciel, were in the first match. However, despite looking forward to seeing them fight, Pyrrha and Dove's destination was not the red seats at ringside. Instead, upon arriving at the coliseum, they headed to the elevator that would take them up to the highest levels. They were heading to one of the skyboxes.

And they weren't alone. Stepping off the airship, they approached the coliseum's lobby, finding Sasame waiting for them there. After meeting up with her there, the three of them headed to the elevators to find none other than Winter Schnee waiting for them.

"Ms. Nikos, Mr. Bronzewing..." said Winter, inclining her head in greeting.

"Hello, Winter," said Pyrrha politely.

"Are you prepared to do this?" asked Winter, looking a trifle uneasy.

"Not really," conceded Pyrrha. "But I _do_ need to speak to them."

"Do you believe that they were aware of Holly Ji's plans?" asked Winter.

"I don't think so," said Pyrrha. "Though, if they were, Holly would be able to easily talk them around to seeing things her way."

"No doubt," agreed Winter.

"But, at the very least, I want Sasame to do for them what she did for me," said Pyrrha, glancing down at Sasame, who gave her an encouraging smile. "I can attest that, even with Holly's Aura removed, it's hard to shake the the habits she engrained in me. My parents are probably even worse off. But, if we don't start, we won't get anywhere at all."

"Understood," said Winter.

They entered the elevator, taking it up to the highest level, then making their way through the hallway that inscribed the circumference of the coliseum's upper rim. The air in this section seemed thinner and lighter, and unquestionably cooler, as though somewhat reflecting the coliseum's actual altitude, rather than the pressurized air maintained by the force-fields, which allowed the audience and participants to act as though they were at ground-level.

In a sense, that was due to all the things that this level of the coliseum _lacked_. Up here, they were out of the sun, which, through much of the day, beat down mercilessly upon the inside of flying structure. Even with the main seating sections having their own climate-control systems, said systems, naturally, weren't able to keep up with the demands of operating throughout such a massive volume of air, even accounting for the arena itself, sectioned off by the defensive fields.

That problem was only exacerbated by the sun, which shined down from above, the fields doing only a little to mitigate the light and heat streaming down from above, unless the day was sufficiently cloudy. Even then, the climate-control systems would still struggle to keep up with the most significant source of heat and humidity...the spectators themselves. It was only natural that packing thousands of people together, however vast the space might seem to the eyes, would lead to their collective body-heat warming the air in a substantial fashion, which was enhanced by the rising humidity created by countless sweating bodies sitting in close proximity to one another...which also produced a certain underlying odor as well.

Pyrrha reflected that it would be interesting at some point to just simply come up early and watch as the audience filled in the seats. The festival being what it was, there were no reservations for general seating. Everything was on a first-come-first-served basis, which meant that people would arrive early, if they had a preference. Depending on the time of day, there was a definite surge for people to pick out their preferred seats. Closer to the ring, and the action, were favorites, of course. But in time with the movement of the sun across the sky, people would often seek to pick out seats on the shade-side, with the seats on the hotter sun-side being the last ones taken, people often willing to take seats in the highest rows, rather than pick out the closer rows that were still open on the illuminated side of the stadium.

The upper level of the coliseum was, of course, a different situation entirely. Being a smaller space, and completely enclosed, not to mention open only to a select few people, meant that it was much easier to maintain a consistent and comfortable temperature for the people who used these levels. The skyboxes themselves were even better, the users able to fine-tune the temperature to their exact preference. And, even though they were at the highest levels, and farthest away from the arena, there was no worry about missing out on the action, as the fantastic technologies realized in their construction allowed the view from the windows to be zoomed into the level of the ringside seats, or even closer, depending on the user's preferences.

And all of that was _on top of_ the various luxuries that were available within the boxes themselves. Depending on how much one was willing to spend, there were various types, with different features and amenities. Even the least among them sported luxury seating, plushly-cushioned chairs, with no more than two or so rows, ensuring that the boxes couldn't be too crowded. Others sported bars, catering, or even full gourmet-restaurant-class dining. At least one of the skyboxes had been configured into the format of a lounge, rather than a seating section, with chairs arranged around tables, the customers able to experience the highest class of service, without needing to take their eyes off the action. Finally, the boxes were appropriately staffed to allow the desires of their occupants to be scrupulously seen to.

In other words, this was the kind of place that Pyrrha's parents would seek out. In fact, it was better to say that this was the only kind of seating that they would _allow_ themselves to partake of, lest someone think they were settling for being seated amongst the commoners...for free (Gasp!). If they were allowed free rein, Pyrrha knew her parents would immediately seek out the most expensive tier of skybox available, their tendencies only being tempered by someone getting in a reservation ahead of them. Competition for this exclusive seating could get surprisingly cutthroat, after all, especially since the matchups were announced shortly before the match themselves, with popular competitors drawing increased competition for preferred seating.

It seemed that, on this occasion, the current matchup had people fairly excited. Penny had demonstrated herself to be a powerhouse in the first-round, and Ciel's elegant and refined Dust-based style of combat had won her quite a few fans. There wasn't much to say about the opposing pair, which was unfortunate for them. But Ciel and Penny were drawing plenty of excitement on their own.

Because of that, it seemed that Pyrrha's parents had lost out on the higher-tier skyboxes. Perhaps, without Holly to manage things for them, they'd been too slow to act. As a result, they had reserved one of the more basic such skyboxes for their use.

The quartet came to a stop at one of the doors that ringed the circumference of the carpeted hallway, Winter holding up her scroll to the lock, her status as the primary coordinator for security at the Vytal Festival granting her unrestricted access, even to these exclusive spaces. As such, the lock clicked open immediately, and the door slid aside, allowing them to enter.

Anatolius and Phoinix had been in their seats, waiting for the beginning of the match. Pyrrha personally suspected that they likely wouldn't watch the match itself with much attention. Just the fact that they were here, in this particular place, was all they really cared about. After all, it showed off their clout and wealth, even if they'd lost out to others, this time around.

Upon hearing the door open, Anatolius surged to his feet, turning in place. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, noting the presence of four uninvited people intruding into this private retreat. "We have exclusive..." His harsh tone trailed off at the sight of just _who_ was intruding.

He'd recognized his daughter, of course, along with the boy she'd been consorting with. The diminutive girl accompanying them was someone whose height was appropriate to being "beneath" their notice. However, their attention was quickly monopolized by the presence of Winter, who stood at the forefront of the quartet, arms folded behind her back, posture straight, staring down at them with cold eyes, exuding a professional and authoritative demeanor that quickly cowed the irate man into silence.

"Mr. and Mrs. Nikos," said Winter cooly, her tone level and neutral, "I am Winter Schnee, primary security coordinator for the Vytal Festival. I am here to inform you that your manager, Holly Ji, has been arrested for soliciting violence against other individuals. As such, I am afraid that she will no longer be managing your affairs for you."

"Wha-what?" gasped Phoinix, now jumping to her feet around, gaping at Winter in shock.

"Do you have proof?" demanded Anatolius fiercely.

"Damning proof, as it is," said Winter.

"W-well...I'm s-sorry to hear that," sad Phoinix, her body beginning to quake, her skin paling as well. Pyrrha's eyes could easily pick up the sheen of a cold sweat rapidly accumulating on her mother's brow.

That was to be expected. Bluster all they might, Pyrrha knew that her parents lacked the will to be defiant to authority, _especially_ an authority like Winter. Pyrrha was also willing to speculate that their capacity for defiance had been eroded by continuous exposure to Holly's Semblance. Furthermore, she knew that Phoinix was even_ more_ terrified of the notion that she and Anatolius would be fingered as accomplices to Holly's illegal deeds. The scandal of being arrested for something their manager had done would be devastating to their image. The mere fact that someone in their employ had been taken in for such heinous deeds would itself be a serious blow to their reputation.

"That having been said," continued Winter, acting largely indifferent to their reactions, "there is no evidence suggesting any complicity on your part to Ms. Ji's deeds."

"O-of course not," stammered Anatolius. His stutter might have sounded damning, had the four now confronting Pyrrha's parents not already been aware that they had no knowledge of Holly's clandestine efforts. "We would never condone such actions. It's appalling!"

"Indeed it is," agreed Winter. "However, it has been brought to my attention that Ms. Ji is in possession of, not only an unlocked Aura, but a Semblance of the most insidious variety."

"A-and wh-what does that mean?" asked Phoinix, her eyes going wide.

"Her Semblance is rather subtle," said Winter. "To explain in brief, it enables her to mentally manipulate the people she speaks to, with her control growing stronger the more she speaks to or with them."

Both of Pyrrha's parents swallowed, the lumps of their throats bobbing, their eyes blinking. Pyrrha could see that their minds were fogging as they tried to reconcile what they'd just learned with all their previous experience with Holly, all the time she'd spent talking to them. She was fairly certain that they weren't in any fit state to fully comprehend just how much they had fallen under the woman's sway. But just this revelation was causing their minds to begin the process of rebelling against the effects of Holly's Semblance.

"Th-that's...absurd..." growled Anatolius, his brow furrowing.

"H-Holly would n-n-never do something like that to...us," added Phoinix.

"Yes she would," said Pyrrha, stepping forward to stand next to Winter. "I know, because I've dealt with it myself. It's hard to think now, and your head is feeling clouded, right?"

"Pyrrha!" growled her father, his eyes snapping back into focus. "This is _your_ doing, isn't it? You're not content with ruining your own future, you're actively undermining _our_ wellbeing as well, is that it?"

"From the looks of things, you were doing plenty of that yourselves," said Dove, clicking his tongue in disappointment. "I mean, considering how much you two were spending, you'd bleed yourselves dry in a couple more months, at this rate."

"Shut up, you scum!" snapped Anatolius. "_You_ put Pyrrha up to this, didn't you?"

"I won't deny it," said Dove, adopting a gloating grin. "I also took the hit that proved your manager was a walking piece of crap, so you can't say I didn't put my body on the line for it."

"You bastard!" snapped Anatolius, his body tensing, as though he was preparing to throw himself over the back of his seat at Dove.

"_Mr. Nikos!_" Winter's voice cracked like a whip, the pure authority she projected completely crushing the fire of Anatolius' anger, the force of her glare actually driving him back up against the skybox's window. "Do not do something so foolish as to attempt violence in front of me."

"B-b-but it's obvious that this is an attempt to discredit us!" protested Phoinix. "Holly would never do such a thing!"

"She did, and we have proof," said Winter.

"And we know that she was using her Semblance on you, just like she was me," said Pyrrha.

"And we are going to do something about that now," said Sasame, speaking for the first time, since entering the room.

"Who are you?" demanded Anatolius, transferring his glare to Sasame, who didn't even flinch under it.

"A friend," said Sasame. "Well, you could say that I've adopted Pyrrha-chan as another of my little sisters."

Pyrrha nodded.

"I am also a healer," added Sasame. "In a few minutes, I will have removed that woman's Aura from your brains, which should enable you to tell just how far you've fallen under her influence."

"You'll do no such thing!" snarled Anatolius. "Don't even think about touching us!"

"Dear dear," said Sasame, resting her hands on her hips. "This won't do at all. Working with the brain is no laughing matter. Resisting would make it likely that I might cause damage. That being the case, if you are insisting on being so stubborn, I will have no choice but to have you sleep for a tad."

"Don't come any closer," said Phoinix, eyeing Sasame with terror. Her gaze transferred to Winter. "Stop her at once. This is illegal!"

"Ms. Mitarai is a medical professional," said Winter simply. "At present, she is acting in accord to her responsibilities as such. It is unfortunate, but, if you will not submit to her treatment, I will have no choice but to allow her to do as she knows best."

"You-!" roared Anatolius.

"That's quite enough," said Sasame, flickering from where she stood to reappear behind both of Pyrrha's parents. Her tail split two ways, the tip of each one touching the back of the neck at the base of the skull. The next second, the eyes of both Pyrrha's parents rolled up, then slid closed, their bodies collapsing forward. Sasame's tails divided again, multiplying to four, catching them before they could hit the floor. Turning them around, she deposited Pyrrha's parents in their seats, then moved to work on Anatolius first.

"This is...unsettling to watch," was all Winter could say as Sasame's fingers sank in through the skin and bone of Anatolius' head.

"There's no need for you to trouble yourself," said Sasame politely.

"And...will this really help them?" Winter pressed.

"Yes and no," said Sasame. "It will remove Ji-san's direct influence. But the actions she has guided them into taking will have become ingrained as habit now. Even if she is no longer influencing them to do so, they are now accustomed to leaning on Pyrrha-chan, whenever they realize that they are beginning to exceed their means. Conquering those habits will be...difficult. I would recommend counseling and some degree of supervision of their actions after the treatment. I would say it is best to send them straight back to Mistral, but I doubt that you could find someone trustworthy to supervise them there, on such short notice.

"And so, on that note, I prescribe that Pyrrha-chan's parents remain in Vale for the foreseeable future. Of course, I also suggest that they are relocated to more affordable accommodations, and that they are attended by licensed professionals, and their expenditures monitored until they have shown that they can be entrusted with their own funds once again."

"I...will see what I can arrange," said Winter. "This kind of matter is outside my area of expertise, but we do have mental health professionals on staff. I will consult with them, and make arrangements."

"Thank you so much for your help," said Pyrrha, dipping her head before Winter, Dove following her example.

"I am glad to offer what assistance I can," said Winter, smiling and nodding to them, before taking her leave.

"Well...now what?" asked Dove, looking on as Sasame moved on to treat Pyrrha's mother.

"Now..." Pyrrha took a deep breath, then let it out. "Now the hard part. I have to tell them what we're doing. Even without Holly's influence, I can't imagine that they'll be happy about this."

"If they actually love you, then they'll bear with it," said Dove. "I guess this will be where we find out how much of their attitudes before were the result of Holly's conditioning, or if the only thing they cared about was how you could provide for them."

Pyrrha nodded. She would have loved to say that, beneath the action of constantly badgering her into sponsorships, her parents truly loved her. She even believed it. After all, her mother and father had indulged her desire to train as a child, enlisting her in classes at Sanctum, even paying for the parts for her weapon. Pyrrha still remembered the day she returned home, showing off Milo and Akouo to her parents, and watching them smile proudly in response. This proud smiles had been even wider when Pyrrha claimed victory in the Mistral Regional Tournament.

After her second win, something had changed. Her parents realized that their daughter was becoming famous. They quickly came to the decision that they should capitalize on it. Shortly afterward, Pyrrha had been introduced to Holly for the first time. Things had progressed somewhat predictably from there. Pyrrha's fame allowed her to secure sponsorships and endorsements. The money began to flow in, and things began to escalate. First, her parents had decided that they needed to move to a more affluent neighborhood, somewhere better fitting their new 'status'. Next came the car, followed by an assortment of other luxury goods, her parents quickly indulging in the desire to show off their freshly-acquired wealth by showing how many expensive things they could own.

Pyrrha had been made to appear at parties and gatherings of Mistral's elites, alongside her parents of course. Half the time, her presence had been paid for, as others began to latch onto her status as a way of advancing their own lot, and gladly paying her parents for the privilege. Between that, her work with sponsorships, and her time at Sanctum, Pyrrha had had practically no time to herself, no time to make friends, not that she'd had much luck in that department. Everyone at Sanctum, from the teachers to the students, had put her up on a pedestal, acting as though anything approaching a normal relationship was beneath her.

And Pyrrha had gone along with it all. Looking back, she could see Holly's influence, her Semblance at work, continually convincing Pyrrha to go along with her parents' wishes and Holly's recommendations, tailoring her appearance and behavior to look and act in a way that was appropriate for the Goddess of Victory. It was only after she had come to Beacon; made real friends, and gained a _real_ life for herself; that Pyrrha had come to fully realize just how _miserable_ she'd been before.

That was why, no matter what, Pyrrha refused to go back to the way things had been before. She wasn't some money-printing machine, existing for the benefit of her parents. Even arguing about what she owed them for raising her, Pyrrha had already paid them back in spades. And, even with their previous financial trajectory, if they righted their course soon enough, they could still live in exceptional comfort for the rest of their lives, if they could just get over their impulse for _more_. Pyrrha had determined that she was going to move forward. If her parents couldn't accept that then, as painful as it would be, she would leave them behind.

"Ugh...What...what happened?" Anatolius groaned, massaging his temples as he came to.

"What's going on?" asked Phoinix, her consciousness returning to her.

Sasame looked up at Pyrrha with a small smile, giving her a nod.

Pyrrha nodded back, and the two switched places, coming to stand between her parents and the window that overlooked the arena. "Mom, Dad...we need to talk..."

* * *

Ruby, Weiss, and Jaune, along with Team RYNB, and Ashley, made their way through the coliseum's lobby, following the match, which had ended with Ciel and Penny victorious (which hadn't been a surprise, but had still been exciting to watch). Ahead of them, they saw Pyrrha, Sasame, and Dove standing there. They were staring at the backs of a man and woman, who Pyrrha's friends recognized as her parents. Even if they'd never actually met or exchanged words with the couple, Pyrrha had still shown most of them pictures.

Pyrrha's parents were heading down one of the coliseum's docking arms. Waiting for them, rather than one of the air-buses used for the festival or some kind of luxurious private airship, was an Atlesian manta, the military vessel parked neatly on the small docking arm. To their surprise, Winter was waiting for them. The two adults paused partway there, before turning to look back at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha met their eyes, smiled, then waved gently at them. Phoinix reached up with handkerchief to wipe away some tears, while Anatolius adopted a sober look, nodding to his daughter. The two of them proceeded the rest of the way down, boarding the airship, Winter filing aboard behind them.

Pyrrha's friends quickly went to her. When they reached her, Pyrrha turned to face them. From the red underneath her eyes, they could tell that Pyrrha had been crying. However, when she saw them, Pyrrha smiled. It wasn't her fake smile, the one she'd been conditioned to use to mask her true feelings, but a genuine smile.

Immediately, Weiss, Ruby, and Jaune surged forward, the three of them joining together around Pyrrha to hug her tightly, while the rest of their friends looked on.

"Is everything okay?" asked Ruby.

"Not quite," Pyrrha answered, hugging them all back as best she could, "but they're getting better."

Things had been touch and go at first. Anatolius and Phoinix hadn't been happy that their brains had been tampered with (their words) against their will, though that went both ways. They had definitely noticed the change, once Holly's Aura had been expunged from them. Once they'd realized that Holly actually _had_ been using her Semblance to affect the way they thought and acted, their previous stubbornness had begun to crumble. It had taken some reasoning and arguing from Pyrrha. But, by the time the match had wound down, she had managed to talk them into accepting Sasame's prescription for their rehabilitation.

From there, arrangements had already been made by Winter, who had even gone so far as to arrange for the relocation of their luggage, following the recommendations of her experts, and enabling Pyrrha's parents to check into a clinic in Vale, where their needs would be seen to. They'd balked at something like that at first. However, when Pyrrha put her foot down, and informed them that; unless they accepted, and began to work towards breaking their previous bad habits; she would leave them to their own fates, they had quickly acquiesced.

"I hope they'll be all right," said Pyrrha, watching the Manta as its form dwindled in the direction of Vale.

"I believe they will do well," said Sasame. "They've shown that, beneath their selfishness, they still truly love you, Pyrrha-chan. Once they have regained the mindset of proper adults, I do not think that there will be anymore issues with them."

"That's good," said Pyrrha.

"There now," said Sasame, patting her arm comfortingly. "You've done what you came to do, and things worked out as well as we could hope. There's no more need to spend time worrying now. Go...enjoy the festival with your friends."

"I will," said Pyrrha, smiling down at Sasame. "And...thank you for everything, Sasame-nee."

A brilliant smile and giddy squeal were her response.

* * *

"Wow..." said Natsuki, her eyes sweeping through the expanse of columns, reaching up to the distant ceiling above. _It was a long ride down. How deep down are we? The architecture aside, it sorta feels like Chinmei-sama's gate._

Of course, despite how it looked, there was no way Chinmei's gate was this far underground. On top of that, his had a more natural cavern/cave feel to it, as opposed to the clearly-manmade shape of this massive chamber.

Ozpin had sent a message to Oscar's scroll, asking him to send Natsuki to Beacon Tower...alone. Oscar had been confused and wary, but Natsuki had an idea of what Ozpin wanted to talk about. Just to be sure, she'd checked with Sasame first. After receiving her chaperone's approval, Natsuki had made her way across the campus, entering the tower. Upon entering the elevator, Natsuki had expected it to take her up to Ozpin's office. However, it began to _descend_ instead...and descend...and descend some more.

The ride down was _much_ longer than the ride up to Ozpin's office had taken, the last couple of times Natsuki had been there. It made her wonder just how far down she was expected to go, and she could imagine herself riding this elevator down into the center of the earth.

Finally, the elevator came to a stop, the doors parting open, revealing an enormous room. The elevator opened into a broad lane, extending down a forest of squared-off columns. Emerald flames danced in braziers that were mounted on the columns high above, casting black shadows between the pillars, and lending even the illuminated area an eerie air.

Hesitantly, Natsuki moved forward, her sandals making whispering sounds against the polished stone floor. Just the nature of this room put her on guard. All those columns served as a forest of hiding spots, with any number of people hiding among them. If this was a trap, there was not shortage of people who could be hidden from her.

Still, her Extension didn't pick up any signs of life from the pillars around her. The only presences she sensed were located directly ahead, and they were familiar. Still, the sheer scope of this place was intimidating enough that Natsuki's normally-energetic pace slowed to a careful walk as she cast her gaze around.

A little farther down, Natsuki saw two people waiting for her. She quickly recognized them both. Ozpin and Amber had apparently come down here before.

Amber had changed her clothes, now wearing an off-white, short-sleeve blouse, over which she wore a brown vest and corset, with her legs covered by matching pants. Around her right forearm, she wore a gold-colored bracer, with a similarly colored pauldron protecting her left shoulder. Her boots were armored with gold-colored plates as well. Natsuki quickly realized that this must have been the outfit Amber used to wear, before she'd been attacked and put in a coma.

"Um...Hi, Amber-san...Ozpin-dono..." said Natsuki, feeling a bit nervous. This place was beginning to get to her.

"Ms. Shinomori, thank you for your prompt arrival," said Ozpin, smiling at her.

"Uh...Sure," said Natsuki.

Amber smiled as well, her expression much more gentle and reassuring. "It's all right," she said. "There's no need to be so nervous."

"Um...Well...you say that, but..." Natsuki cast wary eyes about their surroundings once more. "This place feels really intimidating." _It's almost like the throne room in the Royal Palace._

Natsuki had rarely ever been to the palace's throne room, having only seen it during her and Ruby's explorations of the palace, and usually by accident. It was, ostensibly, the most important room in the palace, so a great many hallways led there, practically converging on it. It was surprisingly easy to get lost, then wind up stumbling out into the midst of that massive chamber.

And it was vast, though far more empty than this place, consisting of of an empty hall, with a massive dais leading up to the Crimson King's throne. Truly, it was a room made to make people feel small and insignificant.

Which was why it was hardly used at all. Whether the King or the Elders, they were all friendly and personable to a fault (with the exception of Haruka, who was extremely shy and retiring). As such, they largely dismissed such a massive room, preferring meeting in smaller conference rooms, as well as their own audience chambers, where they could be closer to those they were addressing, and in a manner that didn't make them come off as intimidating. Because of that, the throne room's main purpose was that of a massive dust-trap.

"I apologize about that," said Ozpin. "Admittedly, when I was designing it, I may have gone a bit...overboard."

"A bit...?" Natsuki cast her eyes around. _Wait! Ozpin-dono designed this...? Why am I surprised? He's the Wizard, after all._ Even if it had been long ago, Ozpin might well have designed, maybe even _built_ this chamber in one of his previous lives. It was enough to make Natsuki wonder which came first, Beacon...or this place?

"I made this well before I created Beacon," said Ozpin, almost seeming to read Natsuki's mind. "It was back before I had imparted my powers to the first Maidens as well, so I had the full scope of my magic to work with. When I acquired the Relics, my first priority was to secure them away from Salem. And so, I made places like this..."

"...And then later built the Academies on top of them," said Amber, her own eyes widening, making it apparent that this was the first she'd heard of this too.

"Is that the real reason you made the Maidens?" asked Natsuki. "Did you create them to be the keys to your doors?"

"I wouldn't have needed to part with so much of my power to do that," said Ozpin. "However, when I chose to entrust them with my magic, I also chose to entrust them with the only means of reaching the Relics. Someday...there might be a way to make use of them. But, for now, it is best to keep them sealed. Me having the key to access them would be too easy, and Salem could secure that in one fell swoop. Instead, I divided my power, and distributed the keys to the Maidens as well."

"In other words, if Salem wanted the Relics, she'd have to work for it," said Amber.

Ozpin nodded, his expression becoming grave. "Of course...the unfortunate fact is that, as implacable as she is, Salem has indeed 'worked' for it. Cinder Fall's attack on you was likely her setting into motion what she thought to be her ultimate plan to secure all four Maidens, and their associated Relics."

"Does that mean she has other potential Maidens working for her?" wondered Amber.

It was a bit frightening to consider. She could imagine Salem cultivating a virtual stable of young women to serve as Maiden candidates, all of them primed to seek out the current Maidens, and strip them of their magic.

"I find it unlikely," said Ozpin, drawing sighs of relief from both Amber and Natsuki. "Salem encouraged and controlled Cinder Fall by engendering a lust for power within her. Doing that with multiple candidates would practically guarantee setting them at odds with one another in some fashion. Instead, I believe she planned to utilize artificial means to forcefully strip the Maidens of their power, and implant the magic of all four Maidens into _Cinder_."

Amber went rigid, her eyes going wide, pupils contracting. In a flash, she was transported back to _that day_, the day Cinder and her lackeys had come for her. For a few brief seconds, she wasn't in the vault beneath Beacon, but on that lonely road, Cinder's two assistants holding her arms wrenched back, Cinder herself standing over her, that white glove on her hand, the sigil, the tiny Grimm emerging, its mandibles clattering...

"You can do that?" asked Natsuki. Her interjection snapped Amber back into the present. The conversation continued on, all while Amber attempted to get her emotions back under control.

"It was a power that was One to begin with, so it only stands to reason that it could be made so again," said Ozpin. "It also matches Cinder Fall's behavior, when she mistook Ruby for one of the Maidens, and sought to capture her to secure her power as well."

"That's creepy," said Natsuki, hugging herself.

Amber nodded her agreement.

Ozpin nodded as well. "Most likely, it will be sometime before Salem has another candidate prepared to inherit the Maidens' powers. She might not even be able to make another attempt within your lifetimes...well...if you were to limit yourselves to _normal_ human lifespans."

Natsuki and Amber nodded. Kyo had already told Amber about the Mibu Clan's restorative arts, which they used to prolong their lifespans. He'd even promised to teach them to her, once her Aura-training had sufficiently advanced.

"In any case, continuing this conversation is a matter for a strategy meeting, which this is _not_," said Ozpin, his demeanor relaxing slightly. "Ms. Shinomori, you are here to learn about how to use your magic. Ms. Akiyama, I will be relying upon you as an assistant in that, in part. However, you could also stand to better refine your usage of it."

Amber said nothing, her posture slumping. What Ozpin had said wasn't wrong. Perhaps, if she'd been better with her magic, more skilled, more experienced, she wouldn't have fallen at the hands of Cinder.

"Now then, before we begin, Ms. Shinomori, do you have any questions?"

"Uh...Kinda," said Natsuki. "I was wondering, if you're gonna be teaching me magic, could we start with what I'd use it for, besides battle?"

Amber's jaw dropped, and she gaped at Natsuki in surprise. "B-but..."

Natsuki held out her right hand, palm up. There was a flickering spark, and then an orb of flame burst into life over the palm of her hand. "I can already fight with my Aura," said Natsuki. "I mean, I guess magic would give me more power, or something like that. But I want to start with the things I could _never_ do with my Aura, even if they aren't really used for battle."

"Are you certain?" asked Ozpin. "From what I understand, the style you use is based upon the usage of fire. Your magic would enable you to utilize any and all different elements. That kind of versatility would suit your purposes well."

"Maybe...but not yet," said Natsuki, extinguishing the flame. "I'm still learning the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_. When it comes to fighting, I want to focus on mastering that first. I feel that, if I start to think I can just fall back on my magic, I'll start to rely on it too much. I want to lean on the skills I mastered and polished for myself first...as much as possible."

"I see..." said Ozpin. _That is the Mibu philosophy at work. I'd known that they held a certain amount of disdain for magic. But to see it bleed through in such a way..._ "Very well, I will instruct you in other uses for your magic. However, let me say one thing."

Natsuki nodded, listening intently. It was strange to see the normally energetic girl so sober and focused.

"In a sense, the magic you have received is a 'talent'." Explained Ozpin. "People who have talents should polish them, in order to make the best use of them that they can. It is admirable that you do not want to lean on a power that came upon you out of nowhere. But, at the same time, it is in your best interests to learn and develop an understanding of _every_ facet of it."

"I understand," said Natsuki.

"However, as you wish, I will teach you some of the more varied uses for your magic," said Ozpin, a fond smile on his face. "The Maidens I've taught in the past were always so fixated on its use for combat that this is somewhat refreshing."

Natsuki grinned.

"Let us begin..." said Ozpin.

* * *

**And that wraps up the conflict with Pyrrha's parents. I particularly enjoyed how this particular plot thread gave Dove an opportunity to do something to advance the plot, in a relatively small way. And yeah, beating him up for real, just because she could, even though they're technically working together; is just the kind of thing I could see Neo doing...for kicks.**


	135. Chapter 135

**Chapter 135:**

Kyo looked up as he sensed a familiar presence approaching his door. He'd been doing some light reading for bed, and hadn't been expecting visitors, and certainly not the one who came to his door. Getting up, he moved to open the door just as his guest began to knock, revealing Amber standing out in the hall.

"Amber...?" Kyo regarded her in confusion, noting that Amber was wearing her nightgown, which clung to her body, showing some, suggesting the rest, in a manner that was quite enticing to him. At the same time, there was a certain vulnerability to her, as she averted her eyes, and rubbed her right upper-arm with her left hand. It was a look that made him want to take her in his arms.

So he did.

Wordlessly, Kyo stepped aside to allow her to enter, before closing the door behind her. Then, he immediately wrapped his arms around her, pulling her up against him, allowing Amber to lean her head into his shoulder.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I...am...I guess..." said Amber hesitantly.

"What happened?" asked Kyo. "I assumed you were training with Ozpin-dono and Natsu-chan."

"I was..." Amber shuddered against him, prompting Kyo to tighten his hold on her. "Ozpin just said something...something that brought up unpleasant memories."

"Would you like to talk about them?" asked Kyo, guiding her to the small couch in the sitting room of his suite, settling her next to him so that he could keep his arms around her.

"He was talking about the Maidens, about Cinder, and all of a sudden..." Amber shuddered yet again.

"You remembered Cinder-san's attack," said Kyo, raising his hand to gently brush his fingers along the lines of the webbed scar that ran over Amber's face.

Amber nodded wordlessly.

"It's understandable," said Kyo softly. "Cinder-san and her...associates...they rendered you powerless, placed you at their mercy, then Cinder-san took what she desired from you, in a manner that enforced just how utterly out of control your fate was."

Amber shivered.

"If you look at it from a certain perspective, what they did to you was a kind of rape," said Kyo sadly.

Amber jolted, pulling away enough that she could stare at Kyo with wide eyes. "B-but they didn't..."

"Rape isn't necessarily about sex," said Kyo. "It's about exercising power over one's victim. Doing so in a sexual manner is especially intimate, and therefore inflicts a more severe pain. Cinder-san completely took away your agency, then made you experience the act of her rending your soul asunder to _tak_e what she wanted from you. In some ways, that is a far more intimate pain to inflict than forcing sexual intercourse."

Amber shivered again, but calmed when Kyo transitioned from stroking her scar to cupping her cheek. Then he leaned in, kissing her gently on the lips. "You're not weak for being so affected by that. You are not broken or sullied by what she did. You were injured, yes. But you have healed...and that is the most important thing, that you are here...now."

Amber smiled, tears spilling from her eyes. She leaned in, pressing her face into the fabric of Kyo's robe, Kyo holding her.

"Can...can I..." Amber struggled to finish her request.

"What is it?" prodded Kyo.

"Can I stay here tonight?" asked Amber.

"By stay here, you mean...?" asked Kyo, his eyes widening.

"Can I...May I sh-share your bed?" asked Amber.

Kyo's face flushed furiously. A second later, the calm, confident young man that Amber had fallen for was gone, replaced by the gawky, awkward, uncertain boy she'd first met...and also fallen for. "Um...W-well...that is...uh...What about Goodwitch-dono? I fear she might...object."

Amber giggled, remembering the first few days of her interactions with Kyo. "I got her permission first," she said.

"Y-you did...?" If anything, that only seemed to make Kyo's awkwardness intensify. "A-are you sure...I mean...we only did just officially..."

Amber couldn't help but giggle. "I don't want sex yet," she confided. "I just...I want to be held. I want to keep the nightmares at bay...for one night at least."

Kyo relaxed a little, then took a deep breath, relaxing considerably more. "I see," he said. He hugged her tight against him again. "Then I am prepared to keep the nightmares at bay for as many nights as you wish."

"I might just take you up on that," said Amber, already relaxing in his hold.

A few minutes later, they were settling into the bed, Kyo pulling the covers over them, before taking Amber into his arms again. They stared at one another for a moment, both of them blushing now. Even if there was no intention to take things further than this, this level of intimacy was still very new to them.

"Is there anything you would like me to do?" asked Kyo.

"Can you tell me more?" asked Amber. "Tell me about the places you've been, the people you've met, I want to hear more about them. Until you can take me to see them with my own eyes, I want to hear about them."

"Gladly," said Kyo.

Amber relaxed, allowing herself to be lulled to sleep by Kyo's voice, as he told her stories of his travels.

* * *

"I would like to congratulate you on your spectacular match, yesterday," said Sasame, beaming across at Penny, who sat stiffly in the chair across from her.

"Thank you, Ms. Sasame," said Penny.

"Just Sasame is fine," said Sasame with a giggle. "Though...I would not object to you calling me Sasame-nee, like Ruby-chan and her friends do. I find I'm getting quite enamored with collecting little sisters."

A throaty chuckle, accompanied by the clicking of mechanical appendages signaled the arrival of Pietro, smiling widely as he carried a tray into the room from the kitchenette attached to his quarters. Like Kyo, Pietro had been granted a suite in the faculty wing of the school for the duration of his stay at Beacon, which he was planning to maintain until the end of the festival.

"I always did consider Penny to be my beloved miracle-girl," said Pietro proudly. "The only thing that would sadden me about that is that I cannot grant her any sisters of the same nature as herself. It would be a balm to my old heart to have someone accept her as a sister."

"Um...I...I kinda like that," said Penny.

"I'm glad to hear that, Penny-chan," said Sasame. "I'm glad to get this chance to talk with you...you as well, Pietro-dono. I've been wishing for the opportunity to express my admiration for what you've done, ever since I set eyes on Penny-chan."

"You could tell?" asked Penny, staring at Sasame with wide eyes.

Sasame tittered. "Of course I could. I _am_ a healer, after all. I've honed my skills to such a degree that I can diagnose a person at twenty paces. It was child's play for me to see that you were an android."

"Oh..." said Penny, not knowing what to make of that.

Sasame regarded Pietro, who was setting the tray, with two cups of coffee on the table at the center of the sitting area, his mechanical walking apparatus proving surprisingly adaptable to the task. "Truth be told, I would like to take the opportunity to invite you to visit the Mibu as well, Pietro-dono. I would very much like to introduce you to Murasame-sama. I think he would be both amazed and thrilled to meet someone who has completely _surpassed_ him as a craftsman."

"That is quite the thing to say," said Pietro, "though I would rather you didn't imply that I made Penny like some kind of a tool."

"I meant nothing of the kind," said Sasame plainly. "To a true artisan, the act of creation is a labor of love, is it not, regardless of how mundane or extraordinary the creation may be? Murasame-sama himself considers the blades he forges to be his children, just as you have created this wonderful child. The creation of such a magnificent and vibrant soul is something to be celebrated. It could not have been accomplished without a deep and affirming love."

"Th-thank you," said Pietro, coughing. The sound brought a sharp jolt from Penny, who looked at him worriedly.

Sasame's expression frowned. "I see...so that is the 'miracle' you spoke of. Your health is weakened, because you used a portion of your own Aura in the creation of Penny-chan, did you not?"

"H-how...?" gasped Pietro.

"It is not so hard to see," said Sasame, frowning. "Penny-chan's Aura shows its roots in your own, in a sense being the equivalent of you being her blood-relation. I see...so _that's_ how you managed to create a truly independent person from a machine."

"I don't understand," said Penny, blinking in confusion.

Sasame sighed. "Amongst the Mibu, craftsmen imparting their Aura into the objects they create to enkindle life is an old and revered practice. However, an object will never truly possess a life beyond its status as an object. For example, Ruby-chan's sword will never stand up and start speaking. It lives purely _as_ a sword."

Her eyes narrowed, fixating on Pietro. "However, you went deeper. More than just pouring your Aura into Penny-chan's creation, you imparted some of your root, the very essence of your life itself. That is both incredible...and dangerous."

"It wasn't my intention, at first," said Pietro, pulling out a picture and looking over it. It showed an arrangement of himself and fellow scientists. The photo's age showed, not only in the relative youth of the people within its frame, but also in the fact that Pietro was shown standing upright on his own legs.

"When we first started, we were merely researching the potential of Aura," explained Pietro. "In a sense, I suppose you could say we were doing what you Mibu had been. What we sought was to use it to empower our machines, to create androids that could truly fight on the level of Huntsmen, without needing to put actual lives at risk. In a sense, we viewed Aura as another source of energy, a power that we could put into batteries and use as necessary.

"In many ways, the way that led to Penny's creation was a series of accidents. We could impart Aura into objects, but it wouldn't last. It would peter out, almost like an unused battery gradually losing its charge over time. Looking for a solution, I went deeper, and wound up cutting out an actual portion of my base Aura to put into an android. And the result was Penny."

"And suffered the consequences, I see," said Sasame, glancing at Pietro's apparatus.

"What consequences?" asked Penny. "I mean, I know Father can't walk on his own now, but…"

Sasame sighed. "Pietro-dono could have potentially permanently reduced his lifespan with such a maneuver." Her words drew a startled gasp from Penny. "Fortunately, I have the knowledge to mitigate the effects."

"You do?" asked Pietro, his eyes widening. Penny's also widened hopefully at the prospect.

"I do," said Sasame, smirking. "Such methods are not unknown to the Mibu. There are Manifestation techniques that rely on similar drastic methods. They are incredibly powerful, yet also frighteningly dangerous. They are mostly forbidden, and only the highest level masters of a given school are entrusted with the knowledge of such techniques."

The _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_ that Natsuki studied, for example, possessed a more advanced version of the _Chikewai_ technique that she had used in her match against Team CFVY. Called _Honno Chikewai_, it was a technique to fed on a person's own lifeforce to give them a tremendous boost in power, gradually burning them up from within. For practitioners of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_, there were the _Blood Dragon_ techniques, created by mingling their blood with the water conjured from their Auras. The result was a powerful acid that was capable of melting nearly any substance within seconds. However, in addition to the drain from their lifeforce, the user also ran the risk of bleeding themselves dry with over-reliance on such techniques. And those were merely two examples of the frightening extent that some of the forbidden arts, only known to the greatest practitioners within the clan, could go to trade their users' own lives for power.

Sasame continued. "However, knowing that techniques with such drawbacks exist is, naturally, motivation for coming up with techniques to likewise mitigate those drawbacks. I am schooled in such methods, so I will be able to help your father."

"If you would, that would be greatly appreciated," said Penny, bowing politely.

"I would be glad to," said Sasame, getting to her feet. "It would pain me to see such an excellent craftsman expire, before Murasame-sama had a chance to offer his appreciation. However, I will need a substantial amount of Aura in order to make this work."

"Can you use mine?" asked Penny.

"That will not be necessary, Penny-chan," said Sasame, her expression taking on a strangely mischievous quality. "After all, I have a new apprentice, who fits the bill quite nicely."

* * *

Jaune sat up straight, a shiver running down his spine.

"Is something the matter?" asked Miyu, who was sitting next to him.

"I just got a premonition that I'm going to be wrung out like a dishrag later," said Jaune uneasily.

"Ah, that must be Sasame-sensei then," said Miyu nonchalantly. "You had best be prepared for it then."

"You've been through this before, haven't you?" asked Jaune, regarding her warily.

"More often than I would like to admit," said Miyu with a sigh. "Still, it will undoubtedly be a good experience for you, so I advise that you cooperate to the best of your ability. Still, you have my prayers for your wellbeing."

"Thanks," deadpanned Jaune.

"But enough of that," said Miyu. "We're still working on your knowledge of the limbic system. Keep hitting those books."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Jaune dryly. He felt like he should protest more, but kept it in check. After all, Miyu was giving up on her time with Setsuna to tutor him, while Sasame was off doing...whatever it was she was doing. At the moment, it was best to simply do as she said.

* * *

The large, black form of a raven swooped low over the roofs of Beacon Academy. Banking around one of the school's many spires, it aimed for a copse of trees in one of the courtyards, trees that happened to overlook the student dormitories, one dorm in particular. The raven flew above a large branch extending out from the trunk of one of those trees...and a pair of human feet landed on the branch, making it flex slightly, though it held.

Raven Branwen's eyes narrowed as she stared at the window in question. It was still lit, despite the late hour. Of course, that was hardly unusual. In fact, most of the windows around it were lit too. This being the Vytal Festival, curfew was more of a suggestion than a rule. It _was_ essentially a three week vacation for all the students present, meaning that they were free to stay up, and then sleep in as late as they wished, assuming they didn't have a match to worry about. Staring at the window, Raven was able to make out the people moving within the room, one girl in particular, her black and red hair and silver eyes making her stand out.

The girl was currently locked in an animated conversation with one of her friends, the white-haired girl Raven recognized as the youngest Schnee daughter. Whatever they were talking about, they appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Raven's lips curled back, baring her teeth in a soundless snarl. The fingers of her left hand, which she'd planted against the trunk of the tree, curled inward, her nails digging furrows through the bark. No matter how often Raven looked, she always hated that smile, so full of innocence and happiness, even though this girl and her family had been responsible for the death of Raven's own family.

For so long now, Raven had been looking for her chance at vengeance. Her daughter, her own flesh and blood, had rejected her. Her brother had abandoned her, and his tribe. The one chance she'd seen to allow Ruby Rose to finally suffer the fate she deserved had failed to pan out, with the Councilman plotting her death being defeated easily.

_There has to be some way,_ thought Raven furiously. _I'd do it myself, if I got the chance. But..._

But this girl had killed Cinder Fall. Yes, Cinder had only been a partial Maiden. But she'd been dangerous enough to defeat one of the current Maidens, however inexperienced, and had the backup of a pair of dangerous disciples. Yet, all three of them working together had failed, and Ruby had only grown stronger in the process.

Just _looking_ at Ruby made Raven bitter. The way she looked and acted, it was just like her mother. Just looking at her, Raven was reminded of Summer, sanctimonious to a fault, always talking about the duty they owed to the weak. The mere thought of that woman made Raven sick to her stomach.

_She was always prattling on about protecting others. But there's no worth to protecting those who can't protect themselves. This world needs only the strong. This is proof. I'm here, alive, and more powerful than ever...and she's dead. That means I was right._

For some reason, Raven felt as though she needed to convince herself of that. The mere thought made her anger bubble up again, red flames beginning to flare at the corners of her eyes.

"She's gonna notice you, if ya keep blastin' out that murderous intent, like there's no tomorrow."

Raven whirled about, her hand going to Omen's handle, ready to draw at a second's notice. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the shadowy figure of a man, dressed like some kind of jester, complete with a fool's cap, decked out with bells, leaning against the trunk of another tree, arms folded casually across his chest. Because of the late hour, the pervasive darkness made the mask over his eyes stand out all the more starkly, as did his white teeth, when he flashed her a grin.

"Who are you?" demanded Raven.

"Just a clown, really," said the man, pushing away from the trunk to stand easily on the branch, still keeping his arms folded casually across his chest. "You can call me Jester."

"And what does a mere clown want with me?" asked Raven, her eyes narrowing.

"Calling me a 'mere' clown hurts a little, ya know," said Jester with a chuckle. "A jester is supposed to have the ear of the powerful people in a way that no one else does, you know."

"And yet, I don't see what that has to do with me," said Raven.

"Well...one of those ears I have happens to belong to a certain lady," said Jester, "one whom you fear above all else."

Raven's hands began to tremble, and Omen's blade began to rattle in it sheath. "Salem..." she whispered.

"Well now...no posturin', no pretendin' to be strong? I'm a bit surprised," said Jester, chuckling again. "Well, I guess that's only natural, considerin' what ya've been through." He unfolded his arms, holding his empty hands out in a placating gesture. "But, be at ease, Raven Branwen: Maiden of Spring, I mean you no harm."

"A-and why should I believe you?" asked Raven, a faint stammer finding its way into her voice, despite her best efforts. After all, the man had instantly pegged her as a Maiden, her deepest, most fearsome secret, the last thing she wanted any follower of Salem to know. "It's practically a given that any agent of Her has a forked tongue."

"Well...you're not wrong," admitted Jester. "I've told quite a few whoppers in my time too. The main issue is...you don't have a choice but to at least _listen_ to what I have to say."

"And why is that?" asked Raven, her right hand closing about her sword's handle.

"Because you don't have a choice," repeated Jester, resting a hand on Raven's shoulder.

Raven's eyes widened, her body freezing in place. _ When did he...?_ Jester had been several meters away at least. But now, he was standing on the same branch as her, casually resting a hand on her shoulder, as though he'd been there the whole time. It wasn't a matter of speed. It was as though he hadn't moved at all.

"'Course, the first thing to do is take this somewhere else," said Jester cheerfully. "I think that the last thing either of us wants is for someone from Beacon to see us holding a nice chat in the middle of their property."

Before Raven could even respond, the world around her shifted, colors, all varying shades of dark, running together, like paint being washed out by water. They swirled around her for less than a second, just long enough to make her dizzy. Then everything snapped into focus again, and they were somewhere else entirely.

They weren't standing in a tree anymore, but on stony ground. Turning her gaze about in shock, Raven saw that they were atop a mountain, the wooded slopes stretching away to the illuminated skyline of Vale itself in the distance. Looking the other way, she gazed downslope to see crumbling buildings rising up amid cracked and pitted streets.

"Mount Glenn..." she whispered.

"Nice place for a chat, don't ya think?" asked Jester.

Raven thought to pull away from his hand, but found she couldn't move. Her entire body was locked in place, some kind of force holding her fast. She felt as though she was frozen in time. Yet time outside her seemed to flow normally, allowing Jester to speak as he pleased.

"Sorry, can't have ya darting off on me just yet, not before I've had my say," he said. "I told ya that I ain't gonna harm ya. Well...like you pointed out, that doesn't make it the truth. But...you don't have any other choice. So let's have you understand that first, then we can start talking business."

Raven felt as though she could speak again, so she did. "And what business does Salem have with me?" As though she didn't know.

"Well, I bet you can guess at least part of it," said Jester. "You're the Spring Maiden, after all. The Relic of Knowledge, in Haven, that's the first of it."

"But not the last of it," guessed Raven, a cold sweat breaking out across her body. Of course it wouldn't be. Salem wasn't the sort of "person" to let someone go that easily, not just because they performed a single service for her, however important said service might be.

"Well, there's where it gets a little complicated," said Jester. Then, to Raven's surprise, he released her shoulder.

Her body was her own once more. She could, if she so wished, flee at once, transform and take wing. However, even if she knew she could run, her instincts screamed at her, telling her escape was impossible. This man, who had carried them all the way to Mount Glenn from Beacon in an instant, was not someone she could run from.

Teleportation wasn't so completely strange. Raven's own Semblance, Kindred Link, was a similar power. True, she created her portals through bonds forged with people over time. However, it shouldn't have been so strange that there was someone who possessed a more dramatic and flexible version of that ability. And yet...she could somehow tell that it wasn't that simple. The way Jester had moved them with such casual ease spoke of this being a fragment of an even _greater_ power, power that Raven had no hope of escaping.

_The strong live, and the weak die._ That had been the mantra Raven had been raised upon from her earliest days. She had believed in it from the bottom of her heart. Qrow had ultimately come to reject it. Raven had also once considered rejecting it. However, she had wound up embracing it instead.

But here...she was one of the _weak_. This man before her was infinitely stronger, and could end her in a flash, her instincts told her. Trying to defy or escape him was out of the question, no matter how benign his actions had been so far.

"I've heard of that little motto of yours, Raven Branwen," said Jester, hopping back to plant his behind atop a large boulder, one of several that made up the mountain's peak. "Mighty fine philosophy. Still...for someone who believes that, don't ya think ya've been spinning your wheels a bit?"

"What?" grunted Raven, her eyes going wide, anger bubbling up from beneath the fear that held her in place.

"Well, look at it this way, it's been-What?-a couple 'o years since your tribe got wiped out by that girl and her sibs?" asked Jester teasingly. "From the look 'o things, while you've been makin' all kinds 'o moves behind the scenes, ya ain't actually done much about yer own weakness."

Raven growled. "What do you mean?"

"Well...ya still don't seem so keen on facin' down Kyo, or the little fox-girl, now do ya?"

Raven grunted.

"Heck! Just a minute ago, you were balkin' at the idea of facing down little Ruby. That girl was good enough to end your second-in-command, when she was only thirteen no less, and she's grown by leaps and bounds since that day. Even the Spring Maiden seems to have doubts about whether or not she could take her."

Raven's jaw clenched, the muscles in her neck tightening painfully at the feeling of frustration welling up within her. Her reflexive response was to deny, to declare that Ruby was weak, that she could end the brat's life at any time of her choosing. After all, Ruby Rose was a sentimental fool, like her mother, who clung to the idea of protecting those weaker than her, those she should have either ignored or trampled underfoot. There was no way that someone with such pathetic ideals could be stronger than someone who had the will to do what was necessary to survive, first and foremost.

Yet...that defiance died before she could even give voice to it. If that was true, why hadn't she done anything herself? She'd approached Yang, tried to turn her against Ruby. She'd blocked Qrow from going to Ruby's aid, when she was being delivered to that corrupt Councilman. And, just before now, she had been standing outside the girl's window, fuming with hatred, but not making a single move.

"Bein' strong is important," said Jester, nodding to himself. "But it's not some kind 'o thing ya can just 'be' and call it a day. Ya get strong, and ya have to keep gettin' stronger. You have the look of someone who got caught restin' on her laurels, and paid the piper fer it."

Raven glanced down, unable to find the wherewithal to disagree. It was that kind of overconfidence that had resulted in her leading her tribe against Demon Eyes Kyo, and had gotten them all but wiped out.

"But...fortunately, now that ya understand that, it's somethin' we can _do_ somethin' about," said Jester, his tone becoming cheerful, that grin full of too-white teeth returning, flashing menacingly in the darkness.

"What do you mean?" asked Raven.

"Ya seem to have Salem pegged a bit wrong," said Jester. He calmly approached her, nothing threatening in his manner. But Raven stiffened nervously all the same. "Fear is all well and good, but relyin' on that alone ain't gonna get much done. 'Cause 'o that, Salem ain't all about the stick. She knows a thing or two about the carrot too."

"What are you getting at?"

"Remember when you asked about what else she would want, besides havin' ya get the Relic at Haven?" asked Jester. At Raven's nod, his grin widened. "Well, the complicated bit is that, aside from that one, she'd like fer ya to get the others too."

"How?" asked Raven. "I'm just the Spring Maiden. The chamber at Haven is the only one I can open."

"Ah, but here's where the carrot comes in," said Jester. "What if I said you could get access to the other Relics...along with everything that comes with that?"

Raven went still again, her eyes widening. This time, it wasn't fear or shock that immobilized her, but something else, a strange tickling sensation in her stomach, rising up to mesh with the eager beating of her heart against her ribs..._desire_. Jester's vague offer was stirring her sense of excitement, enticing her.

"What was divided can be made whole again," said Jester, stepping closer. "Originally, that plan was for Cinder, but...well...I don't have to tell ya what happened to her, do I?"

Raven shook her head slowly.

"'Course, that means we're a little short on candidates," continued Jester. "Little Emerald might've worked in a pinch, but she got snapped up by the other side when Cinder went down. Shame that...On top of that, when it comes to materials to work with, she falls a fair bit short of Cinder. But now...we've got someone who could easily hold her own."

Raven fought hard, forcing her skepticism against the craving for power that was raging through her. It was a marvelous offer. But... "That shouldn't be possible," she said. "I'm too old to inherit another Maiden's power."

"A minor hurdle for dear Salem," said Jester with a chuckle. Holding out his right hand, Raven suddenly saw that it was no longer empty. Instead, a pair of white gloves, long enough to reach up past her elbow, should she don them, were draped over his upturned palm.

"When little Cinder stole the Fall Maiden's power, she was usin' one 'o these," explained Jester. "Now then, a quick quiz for ya…Should that have really been necessary?"

Raven frowned. "No..." she said.

"Right," agreed Jester. "Cinder checked off all 'o the boxes to make herself eligible to get that power in the usual way. She was young enough, a girl; and, the way things were arranged; was_ definitely_ poised to be the last one in the Fall Maiden's thoughts when she died. Now, with all that goin' for her, why use one of these little doodads to forcefully drain the magic from the Maiden into herself?"

"I...I don't know," admitted Raven. It seemed confusing to her.

"Well, mainly, you could say it was insurance," said Jester. "Even with Cinder stackin' all those things in her favor, something could still go wrong. Instead, if we wanted to be sure, it was better to just make sure she could _take_ the magic directly, rather than worrying about makin' everything line up just right. But...the big benefit...is that...with these...you don't have to worry about the usual rules."

"You mean...?" Raven's eyes widened as she stared down at the gloves.

"That's right," said Jester. "With this, ya don't have to worry about yer age. This is magic made for the _taking_ of magic. So, regardless of the normal rules, with one of these, you could take that power for yourself...even if you should be too old for it."

"So then...what you're saying is that, in exchange for the powers of the other three Maidens, I am to access the Relic chambers for Salem," guessed Raven.

"That's it exactly," said Jester. "Pretty nice deal, don't ya think? On top 'o that, I've got another offer that's sure to make you want to jump on this."

"And what's that?"

"You and yours...will survive," said Jester, his words making Raven straighten, her entire body tensing once more. "Ya see, Salem doesn't just doom...She can save as well. It's true, what's left 'o yer tribe is strugglin', but it doesn't have to stay like that.

"A new world's a'comin', and you and yer tribe can have a place in it, if you serve Salem well. Imagine that, not havin' to live in fear 'o her, imagine having everything you need or desire, without having to scrabble and scrape for it. Imagine not having to worry about living on the edge of extinction...and it all starts with imagining what it would be like to wield the power of the Wizard himself, right here..."

Jester held the gloves out a little more, closer to Raven, almost to the point where she could reach out and take them herself.

Raven stared down at the gloves, her mind racing. Unconsciously, she found herself licking her lips, the subtle betrayal of her covetous nature making Jester smirk. However, she forced herself to calm down, clenching her right hand tightly, digging her fingernails into her palms, until she felt them bite through the skin and draw her blood.

_The servants of Salem all have forked tongues,_ she reminded herself forcefully.

"And why should I believe you?" she asked. "This is so generous..._too_ generous. I can't believe that Salem would offer this kind of boon to a former enemy."

"Well...you might say there's a bit 'o desperation in it," said Jester.

Raven flinched back from him, eyes widening again.

Jester cackled. "Well, the sad truth 'o things is that we're in a mighty tricky spot, right now. Poor Cinder was our only viable Maiden candidate, and now she's gone. Now then...we've still got plans on the move, but...well...without that critical piece, it all becomes one big bunch of half-measures. We have the means to bring Vale and Beacon crashing down. We've got the plan, the power, everything you need...except what we need for what comes _after_ that...which is the most important piece of all.

"At this point, we could still go through with it, but we won't get the magic or the Relic that it accesses, which means we'll just be sittin' on a chunk of useless real estate, until Salem can train up another candidate, and hunt down the current Maidens all over again...including yourself."

Raven shivered.

"And well...that'll just give the other Kingdoms time to harden their defenses, band together, and become all that much tougher nuts to crack. Vale's just to get the ball rolling, after all. But, if we can't follow all the way through, then...well it's a better option to just throw in the towel for now. If that's the case, well, it'll be a few decades, at least, before Salem's ready for another go."

Raven found herself leaning forward hopefully at that.

"Now," said Jester, seeing her excitement, "before you go and let that info decide for you, think about what that would mean for you. In the end, all it would be is a reset of the status quo. You'd still be the Spring Maiden, leading the scant handful of what's left of your tribe, struggling to scratch out a life for yourselves. And, on top of that, you have no idea of when Salem will come knockin' on yer door again. And next time...well...there'll be no carrot...just the stick."

Raven leaned away, her eyes going wide. "But still...why make this offer to me...now?"

Jester's grin widened. "'Cause, this is a big opportunity for us too. Strike while the iron's hot, as they say. And it don't get much hotter than this. Now...how many gloves am I holdin' out to ya?"

"Two," said Raven, her eyes narrowing. "Wait...so you're saying...?"

"Exactly," said Jester, cackling cheerfully. "Right now, right here, in Vale, not including yourself, there's not just one, but _two_ other Maidens, ripe for the picking. If you take us up on this-Boom!-you'll have the power of three of the four Maidens, just like that."

Raven's mouth worked soundlessly, her heart thundering against her ribs. Her rational mind's attempt to overpower her desire, reminding her that Salem's minions were liars by nature, was being drowned out.

_I could have that power,_ she thought. _I could be stronger than anyone else...strong enough to kill Summer's brat, and avenge my people..._

"With one word, you can do so many things," said Jester. "You can save your tribe, you can avenge your fallen, you could even become the most powerful mage in the world, second to Her Ladyship herself, of course. And...once we lock down the location of the Winter Maiden, she'll be yours too. And all ya have to do in return...is open a few doors for us.

"But this offer is limited-time only. The plan starts soon, and...well...once the ball is rollin', you're either with us or against us. You can either be the hunter...or the hunted. Which is it gonna be."

Raven stared intently at the gloves, her right hand twitching.

Jester held them out a little closer. "The strong live, the weak die...which will you be...living or dead?"

Raven stared down at the gloves. Jester had laid it out starkly, both carrot _and_ stick.

In the end, it wasn't a choice at all. Raven knew she couldn't un-become the Spring Maiden. She was stuck with this power for the rest of her life, however long or short that might be. And, if she refused, Salem would hunt her, and the remainder of her life might well end up becoming _very_ short indeed. Even if she took the power of the other two Maidens, then reneged, that would only make things worse. Salem would hunt her down all the more ferociously.

Once...long ago...back when she had still been one of Ozpin's pawns, Raven had entertained the fantastical notion of finding the power to bring Salem down. But learning the truth swiftly ground those ambitions into dust. _No_ amount of power would enable her, or anyone else, to defeat Salem. Salem was an existence beyond that. In the end, Raven had decided that her only viable move was to leave it all behind.

Except that even _that_ was no longer an option now. Jester had made that clear in stark terms. They knew who she was, _what_ she was. The rash decision, that foolish "mercy" granted so many years ago, had now placed a target on her back that she could never remove. Now...if she wanted to stay alive, wanted to _survive_, this was the only way left to her.

Slowly, Raven reached out, her grip closing on the gloves in Jester's outstretched hand. He let her take them, grinning as she pulled them back and examined them. They seemed ordinary, to the naked eye, but she could feel the faint, disquieting power within them, the power that held the promise that she could _take_ the power from the two other Maidens currently in Vale.

"We have a deal," said Jester.

"So we do," said Raven. "Now what...?"

"Now...we wait," said Jester. "The time is coming. And, when it does, you'll have the way laid open for you. Bring down the other two Maidens, take their magic from them, and then open the doors for us."

"You mean I'll have to subdue them myself?" asked Raven.

"Well, we're a bit shorthanded," said Jester with a shrug. "But, that's fine. I'm sure that someone _strong_, like you, will be more than a match for a couple of naive girls. Both of 'em are young and new, so you'll have no trouble, I'm sure."

Raven winced, a jolt of fear running down her spine. _He got me!_

The followers of Salem had forked tongues.

Now, in exchange for the promise of this power, Raven wouldn't just be helping herself to the magic of the other Maidens, she was expected to act as one of Salem's soldiers in the coming battle, to bring down those Maidens herself. She should have known better.

But still...there wasn't really any better option. She had no choice now...had had no choice before now.

Staring down at the gloves clutched in her hand, Raven swallowed. _I will survive...no matter what. I'll become stronger...and survive._

Jester grinned, folding his arms behind his head. "Don't you worry none. I'm lookin' out for ya, after all."

"What do you mean?" asked Raven.

"You're an important person, after all," said Jester, chuckling darkly. "Well...to me at least..." Reaching up, he pulled his mask free from his face.

Her view unobstructed, Raven found her mouth dangling limply, her eyes going wide. "Wha-what...what is this?"

"Just showin' you the truth," said Jester, returning his mask to its proper place. "I'm here to help ya, Raven. After all, we're bound by _blood_, you and I."

* * *

Emerald grunted, forcing one foot in front of the other, even as her arms strained against the bars to keep her upright. No matter how necessary it might have been, she hated this exercise. Of course, it was the only hope she had of reaching the point where her atrophied legs could hold her weight again.

She'd only been paralyzed for a scant few weeks, so it wasn't all that bad. Already, her legs were up to bearing most of her weight. But that didn't make repeatedly walking back and forth along the parallel bars any less of a tedious and painful trial. Even once her legs were up to normal walking again, she'd still have to keep exercising, if she wanted to build her strength and stamina up to where they'd previously been.

She managed to reach the end of the lane, before finally collapsing, sinking down to her knees, panting for breath. Her body was covered by sweat, especially her face, with it dripping down, stinging her eyes. _What is this even for?_

Cinder was gone. Even if Salem was still out there, Emerald no longer had any reason to serve her. She had never cared about serving Salem, only Cinder, however much she might have feared the former. Emerald never held any loyalty towards that witch. Without Cinder, the only thing that might have drawn her back to Salem's side was the fear of retribution for abandonment. Yet, Emerald was fairly certain that attempting to go back now would only draw retribution for failure. She was under no illusions that any of Salem's other lackeys cared about her any more than she cared about them.

So then, there was no point in going back to Salem's fold, but the other side held no promise for her either. Why was she bothering with this therapy, if, at the end of it, the only thing that awaited her was the inside of a cell...if not execution. She had no doubt that there were those amongst Ozpin's fold who would gladly see her quietly disposed of, if only to ensure that she was removed from the board entirely. At the end of the day, her Semblance still made her a threat, as the collar around her neck evinced.

Having her Aura suppressed was no fun at all, _especially_ since it ensured that she couldn't reap the rapid benefits of her therapy that would normally be expected of someone with an unlocked Aura. When she'd still been partially paralyzed, they hadn't bothered to use the collar. If she'd tried to use her Semblance to torment her caretakers, she would only be making things harder for herself, in the end. But, now that she was healed, and gradually regaining her strength, precautions had been taken.

Not that Emerald could find it in herself to look for the opportunity to escape. Now that Cinder was gone...what did she have left?

_"... try to genuinely consider what a life after Cinder-san might be like."_

Sasame's words rattled around in her skull, but Emerald couldn't find anything in that suggestion. There was _no_ life after Cinder. That was the only conclusion she could come to. What did that little witch expect from her...atonement? Was she hoping that Emerald would magically realize the error of her ways, and come over to the side of angels, fight for the greater good, protect the weak...and all that othe_r bullshit_?

It was ridiculous to even ponder such a possibility. As far as Emerald was concerned, she hadn't done anything wrong. She'd done what it took to live on the streets of Vacuo, as a parentless child.

Ideals and principles were for spoiled brats, like Sasame and Ruby Rose, people who'd had everything in life _handed_ to them on a silver platter, who knew nothing about what it meant to scrounge for what few scraps they could find to just keep going for another day, people who knew nothing of what it was like to be kicked and spat on for just doing her hardest to keep existing. There was no atonement, no redemption...nothing...

Emerald's train of thought was come off when she saw a white cloth, a simple hand-towel, hovering below her face.

"Here."

The voice was strangely familiar, but Emerald couldn't quite place it. It was a young woman, someone she'd met before. But, whoever it was had to be someone she'd only met briefly, hardly exchanged words with, if at all. Looking up, Emerald saw herself staring into a power light-brown eyes, set amidst a face of dark-skin, dominated by a weblike scar that mostly covered the left side of it.

A sharp gasp escaped Emerald's lips. Before she could even think about what she was doing, she was falling back, scrambling and scooting as best her aching legs could manage, pushing herself back down the lane between the parallel bars, her entire body seized by utter fear at the sight of _her_.

Amber, the Fall Maiden, the one that Emerald had helped Cinder to subdue, looked down at the green-haired girl with a dark frown.

* * *

**When I think about it, I can't help but find the scene where Cinder steals Amber's magic a little bit...odd...According to everything we've seen and learned about her and the Maidens so far, she should've been able to become the Fall Maiden by killing Amber on the spot. Instead, she used the glove, and the little Grimm...thingy...Part of me suspects that was mainly a plot decision, a way to draw out the process so that Qrow has an opportunity to save the day (sorta) and get Amber squirreled away at Beacon, which is what sends Cinder to Vale, and kicks off the plot of Volumes 1-3. That being said, the glove being a sort of failsafe, just in case Amber had, say, mentally conditioned herself to picture a particular person at the moment of her death, makes sense too.**

**So, in a sense, what I did with the gloves is basically a cheat, and a way to help push Raven into a more active role. But it also makes sense to me, given that Salem is working with the same kind of power as Ozpin that she'd be able to create a workaround for the usual conditions and requirements. Of course, that then begs the question of why she would bother with Cinder, although we have gone over the idea of it largely being about Salem creating a controllable tool, more than anything else.**

**The bit with Penny in this chapter isn't hugely plot significant, mainly because I wanted to juxtapose what Mibu craftsmen, like Murasame, do with their creations, and what Pietro accomplished by turning an android into an actual person, with a working soul. It again establishes that the idea of embedding Aura into objects to give them a life of their own isn't something completely exclusive to the Mibu, though Pietro wasn't working with the same understanding of how the process works.**


	136. Chapter 136

**Chapter 136:**

_One day earlier:_

"I see...well...that's perfectly understandable," said Sasame, looking across at Kyo and Amber, who were seated on the couch in Kyo's suite in the faculty quarters.

Except that it was now Amber's suite too, as far as they were concerned. That first night; a blissful sleep, free of the nightmares she'd been dreading; had been enough to convince Amber to make the final move, gathering what few belongings she'd had in Glynda's suite on the floor above, and taking them with her to settle into Kyo's room full-time. Had it occurred under more pleasant circumstances, Sasame would have teased them about wedding bells ringing (something she was still considering for later). But it was clear that the feelings between Kyo and Amber weren't the _actual_ reason Amber was staying in this room. Oh, they were a _factor_, but not the actual impetus behind Amber's decision.

"I have some notion of what Amber is dealing with," said Kyo, rubbing the back of his head. "It's not such an uncommon problem, after all. But...it's also nothing I have any personal experience with. But, I'm at least aware enough to realize that what we are doing is essentially a stopgap."

"Indeed, however wonderful it is to know that you and Amber-chan have gotten so close, the fact of the matter is that this is merely a means of treating the _symptoms_ of her problem," said Sasame. "If the root cause remains unaddressed, then it is likely that said issue will raise its head at the most inopportune time."

"Is that really a problem?" asked Amber, who'd been wondering why her decision to essentially move in with her new boyfriend had led to him consulting his healer-friend. She had thought he would be happy, but her actions only seemed to have made him worry instead.

"Unless you intend to remain perpetually glued to Kyo's side, Amber-chan, I'm afraid so," said Sasame. "And, while that might seem wonderful in the short term, in the long term, I'm afraid you would come to find that stifling...and...well...even if you do, sleep is not the _only_ place where those nightmares might find you."

Amber swallowed nervously, paling slightly. Kyo's hand rested over her own, giving it a reassuring squeeze. But she remained fixated on Sasame.

"Such trauma has a way of lying dormant," said Sasame. "While in Kyo's arms, your dreams will remain untroubled, but, just because you are awake, it does not mean that you won't find yourself vividly reliving those moments. In fact, from the sound of things, it was one of those waking terrors that drove you to this course of action in the first place."

_She's not wrong_, Amber realized. After all, it was a single remark from Ozpin, however unwitting, that had triggered her first flashback, which had led her to seeking comfort in Kyo's arms in the first place.

"It was locked before," continued Sasame. "But now, the door to those memories is ajar. Left unattended, it is now primed to burst fully open at the worst possible time, a time when your life is endangered in a similar manner. That onrush of terrible memory has the potential to paralyze you at the moment where movement is needed most. Therefore, it is absolutely in your best interests to address it as soon as possible."

"How...?" asked Amber. "If the door's open...can't we just...close it...again?"

"That is an option," agreed Sasame soberly. "However, just like sleeping with Kyo, that too is merely a stopgap. You can close it, lock it as tightly as you desire. But such doors always find a way to open again.

"Ultimately, the most effective treatment, even if it is unpleasant in the short-term, is to preempt the problem. We will force the door to your memory open all the way, and you will have to confront the events of that day directly. It is akin to ripping a bandage off a healed wound. It will sting something fierce, but it's far better than simply drawing it out."

Amber's mouth went dry. "Do I have to?" she asked nervously.

"Honestly, you don't, if you truly don't want to," said Sasame. "I could make you. But I would rather not do that to someone so important to Kyo."

"I..." Amber hesitated.

Sasame sighed, then looked over at Kyo. "Kyo..."

"Hmm?"

Sasame raised a hand and flicked her fingers dismissively. "Shoo."

Kyo sighed. "Very well."

Getting up from the couch, he headed for the door, and left the room altogether. Amber looked after him with a confused look.

"Kyo knows better than to talk back to me," said Sasame cheerfully, as the door shut behind him.

"But why?" asked Amber.

"Because I believe we need to take a moment to talk frankly, just between us girls," said Sasame, beaming cheerfully. However, her expression soon sobered once more. "Amber-chan...do you love Kyo?"

"I..." Amber glanced down. "I don't know for sure. I like him very much. When he holds me, I feel so comfortable. And...well...I do want to go with him, when he starts traveling again."

"That is wonderful to hear," said Sasame, her smile returning, then fading. "But...you do not think you're wholly ready to say you love him, yet."

"I guess...not," admitted Amber.

"That's understandable," said Sasame. "Kyo is already extremely attached to you, I can see that. He's also still wary of being seen as too clingy, which is adorable by the way."

Thinking about how awkward he could still be at times, Amber giggled and nodded.

"But that makes it all the more important that we address the issue of your trauma directly," said Sasame.

"Why?" asked Amber.

"Because you _both_ deserve better," said Sasame. "You deserve to know you can sleep, free from the fear of reliving that horrible moment over and over again. You deserve to live without the threat of that incident coming back to haunt you, and causing you to lock up at the worst possible time.

"And there are things Kyo deserves too. Kyo deserves to be more than just a tool to keep the nightmares at bay. Kyo deserves to have you sleep with him, because you truly want to, not because you're too afraid to close your eyes without him around. It should be because you want to go to sleep, knowing that his face will be the first thing you wake up to in the morning."

Amber nodded slowly. She couldn't really argue against that. "I don't understand though," she said. "The way you're talking, it makes it sound like it's a repressed memory. But I recall everything. I know what happened that day."

"And do you feel comfortable thinking about it?" asked Sasame.

"...No..." said Amber hesitantly.

"You probably never will," said Sasame. "Given the nature of what happened, it's only natural that the memory of that day will be forever troubling to you. However, the issue of it is that, even if you remember those events, the fear those events planted within you has yet to be confronted. Faced with a stark reminder of what happened, that memory can surge up, paralyzing you with the feeling of that fear all over again."

"So how do I deal with it?" asked Amber.

Sasame smiled again, though, this time, there was something distinctly sly to it. "Well...it just so happens that there is someone that you can meet...someone with a distinct connection to that day."

* * *

_Present:_

Emerald scooted back away from Amber, eyes wide with fear at the sight of the Fall Maiden standing over her. Her mouth hung slack.

For her part, Amber stared down at the younger girl, watching her tremble. It was so strange. This girl had once attacked her, alongside Cinder and one other. Amber still remembered this girl wrenching one of her arms out straight, straining the arrow-wound on her shoulder, then going on to plant a foot against her back, just for good measure. She remembered Emerald and the other one holding her fast, rendering her helpless and immobile as Cinder closed in from the front, that smug smirk on her face as she slipped on that white glove, then held it out towards her.

Before, the surge of memory had brought with it a paralyzing surge of fear. But now, what rushed through Amber's veins was pure rage. It was burning hot. She was looking down on a trembling, helpless girl, and remembering when their positions had been reversed. When _Amber_ had been the helpless one, what had Emerald done?

Unbidden, orange flames began to lick outwards from the corners of Amber's eyes.

"Enjoying your therapy?" asked Amber coldly, her tone belying the heat raging inside her.

Emerald could only stare.

"You know, I was using this room myself, not so long ago," continued Amber, walking down the lane between the parallel bars. "It turns out that being trapped in a _coma_ for the better part of a year tends to have unpleasant consequences for your body."

A faint whimper was all that Emerald could muster.

"And I know, if you, and that _bitch_ you worked for, had gotten your way, I wouldn't have stayed like that," continued Amber. "I would've been stone-dead, and you'd be laughing your heads off over putting me down. Isn't that right?"

Emerald said nothing, made no moves, staring blankly up at Amber, unable to muster up any kind of defense for herself. The fact that she knew that what Amber was saying was dead-on was a factor too.

Amber stood directly over Emerald, having closed the distance between them. For some reason, Emerald had stopped trying to back away, her look of fear being replaced by a blank one, as though she didn't understand what was happening before her eyes...or didn't care.

Amber's lips pulled back, baring her teeth furiously. The next second, she'd dropped down to her knees, her hands going around Emerald's neck, her weight bearing the smaller and weaker girl down onto her back, while Amber hovered over her, poised to choke the life from Emerald's body.

Gritting her teeth, Amber stared down at her victim, her hands aching to close as tightly as she could manage. Now that she'd regained most of her strength, that was quite tight indeed. But something was wrong.

She'd expected Emerald to fight back, to struggle, to thrash, to try and get away, to scream, to call for help...something. Instead, the moment Amber's hands found their mark, Emerald went completely limp. Her hands didn't rise up to close around Amber's arms, they just laid still on either side of her body. Her eyes, glassy and empty, stared up with the look of someone already dead. Emerald had given up on fighting, given up on her life, and was now simply awaiting the inevitable.

Because of that, however much Amber might have wanted to...she couldn't bring herself to tighten her hands fully, to give Emerald the fate that she seemed to deserve. Instead, she hovered over Emerald, staring back down at her, teeth still bared in fury. But that anger was sputtering with the lack of anything to fuel it.

"Well...?" asked Emerald, her tone flat and dull, yet still managing to somehow sound impatient. "What's wrong? Aren't you gonna end it?"

"Why?" asked Amber. "Why aren't you fighting back?"

"Why should I?" Emerald asked back. "What's the point? It's what I deserve, right?"

That only made Amber more confused.

"Besides, it's not like it matters to me anymore," said Emerald.

Amber's eyes widened. She'd expected scorn, taunts, insults. But this utter lack of resistance was swallowing her anger up. Instead of closing tighter, her grip loosened, then she relinquished it entirely, rising back up so that she now rested on her knees, looking over Emerald's prone body.

"Now what?" grumbled Emerald, managing to sound miffed that Amber wasn't going to kill her anymore. "Why do you idiots have to draw it out? Just _kill_ me already! I've got no reason to fight back."

"Then why are you crying?" asked Amber.

Emerald blinked, realizing for the first time that she _wa_s crying. Tears were streaming down from the outer corners of her eye, small rivulets of water descending along the sides of her face. Her mouth opened slightly.

"Why are you giving up so easily?" asked Amber.

"Because there's no point to it, not if _she's_ gone," said Emerald, her tone harsh, anger reaching her voice. She blinked, and that blank, resigned expression was gone, replaced by one of frustration. She forced herself to begin to sit up, the sudden change causing _Amber_ to be the one to scoot back now.

"And that's enough to die for?" asked Amber.

"She was _everything_ to me," said Emerald. "If it was her, of course I would do anything, even kill you."

"Why?" asked Amber, aghast. "She was just using you."

"So what?!" snapped Emerald, now glaring furiously, defiantly, at the Fall Maiden in front of her. "You think I _didn't_ know that Cinder was a power-obsessed megalomaniac? I knew that from practically Day One. But I. Don't. _Care_!"

"How can you say that...?" gasped Amber.

"Why should I care about anyone else?" asked Emerald. "You think I should've just become a good little girl? If you cared that much, then where were _you_?"

"Huh...?" Amber blinked, completely flummoxed by the question.

"Where were you, when I was starving in the streets?" demanded Emerald. "Where were you righteous Maidens, when I was curled up in a ball, so hungry that I was in agony? Where were the Huntsmen I was supposed to look up to, when I was rummaging through trash for the smallest scraps? Where were the heroes, when people beat me for just trying to survive?"

Amber had nothing to say to that.

Emerald's glare was full of overflowing outrage. "You people disgust me, talking about ideals and how you should protect the weak and helpless. Well! I was weak! I was helpless! Why didn't anyone protect _me_?!

"The answer is because that's all a load of crap. The only one who _did_ hold a hand out to me was the monster. No, she didn't actually care about me. Yes, it was just because I had something she wanted. But she was the one who made me into something more than a piece of street trash, just trying to survive another day. You can prattle along about all the crappy ideals you want, but the truth is that you only really care about them when they're convenient to you. You're all just blunt instruments, good for killing monsters maybe. But happen across someone like me, and it's just so much easier to ignore them, and keep on walking.

"So what if you didn't deserve what Cinder did to you. I didn't deserve what happened to _me_. She was the one who reached out to me, and I would have done _anything_ for her."

Amber's mouth worked silently in the wake of the angry tirade that had spilled out from Emerald's lips. She could scarcely believe the pain and bitterness that were assaulting her ears. This was the furthest thing from what she had been expecting. She had come here to see one of the people who'd had a hand in the violation of her own soul. She'd expected fearful excuses or, on the other hand, defiant taunts and promises of retribution. Both extremes were a far cry from the despairing girl in front of her, a child who'd lost her compass in life, who was filled with nothing but pain and resignation.

In the face of that, Amber's anger couldn't hold. Instead, she just felt...sad. Though Emerald had grown into the cusp of young womanhood, there was still so much of the child she'd been before in her now. And that child had lost the closest thing she'd had to a mother, the one person she'd truly cared about. Her body moving on its own, Amber surged forward again. This time, her hands didn't go for Emerald's neck, but around her back, pulling the younger girl close, and holding her fast.

"Huh...?" Emerald blinked, shocked.

She found her body pressed up against Amber's body, her chin resting on the older girl's shoulder, Amber's arms wrapped tightly around her. "Wha-what are you doing?"

Amber didn't answer.

"Why?" demanded Emerald, blinking furiously now.

Pressure was building behind her eyes and in her chest. This sensation of being held, it was pulling something out of her, feelings, a longing long ago suppressed; a need that had never before been met, not even with Cinder.

"Because...I can't hate you," said Amber, sniffling.

"What?" gasped Emerald.

"I'm angry with you," said Amber. "I haven't forgotten, and I sure as hell haven't forgiven. But...even so...I still can't hate you."

"L-let go!" protested Emerald, struggling weakly. However, Amber was much stronger than her right now, so escaping was out of the question. "I'm an enemy! I helped Cinder tear apart your soul!"

"And I still can't hate you," Amber replied, her grip only tightening.

"Y-you should," said Emerald, gritting her teeth.

Despite her best efforts, the dam was breaking. Her eyes blinked all the more furiously, but she could feel more wetness making its way down her face. Her voice was shuddering. Arms trembling, Emerald raised her hands. Her conscious mind told her it was to push Amber away. But, instead, they wrapped around Amber from behind, and pulled her closer.

"I still don't know what to do about you," Amber admitted. "But...the one thing I _do_ know is that I can't leave you alone...not again."

_She won't...leave me...I won't be alone...?_ Emerald's last bounds of restraint fell away. A wail forced its way from her throat, and Emerald hugged herself tightly to Amber with all her might, sobbing in her arms. Amber held her tight, shedding tears of her own, clinging just as tightly to Emerald as Emerald was to her.

From the door to the room, Kyo and Sasame looked on, their Auras Suppressed to keep their presence from disrupting the event.

"I see that helping Amber wasn't the only thing you had in mind," observed Kyo. "Two birds with one stone..."

"In her own way, Emerald-chan was as much a victim of Cinder-san as Amber-chan was," said Sasame sadly. "They...we...the world...all failed her back then...not least of all that self-serving wretch who abandoned her."

"And now what?" asked Kyo.

"I will have to speak with Ozpin-dono," said Sasame, with a resigned sigh, though a soft smile spread across her face. "I think we will have at least one more person accompanying us back to Leng, when all is said and done."

"Hmmm..." hummed Kyo softly. "I wonder what he will make of that."

"I will find out," said Sasame. "Now that I've seen this, there's no way _I_ can leave Emerald-chan alone either."

* * *

The second week of the Vytal Festival proceeded towards its natural end. With the second round of matches over, the excitement was at an all-time high, as people predicted what the outcome of the final rounds would be. Natsuki, who would be representing Team MNPS, had gained a surprisingly large following, given her lack of affiliation with any known school, and her young age, a status that was shared by Ruby. The fact that two contenders for the championship were two years younger than most first-year students was the source of a tremendous amount of speculation and excitement. Added to that, Ruby had been chosen to represent her team over Pyrrha Nikos, whom many experts had predicted would be the one to represent Team RASP in the finals.

So it was that Ruby and Natsuki found themselves transformed into celebrities, nearly overnight. Going out into the festival grounds proved to be somewhat harrowing, as neither of them could get very far without being recognized. For Ruby, it reminded her of the fallout of her viral sparring match with Pyrrha, all those months ago.

The sentiment was more positive this time. A lot of the less-professional commentators on the networks speculated that Ruby's inclusion over Pyrrha's was actually a concession to sportsmanship, and suggested that Pyrrha (or rather, her Semblance) had been deemed too much of a "ringer" by the rest of her team, and had instead sent Ruby, in order to give the other participants a better chance. It was a reminder that a fair number of people still regarded Pyrrha's Semblance as "unfair", and that a fair few still considered her victories in Mistral's regional tournaments to be the result of cheating.

Weiss would have gladly told off anyone who floated such speculation. But Ruby and Pyrrha largely ignored it, to the best of their ability anyway. Pyrrha had it a bit easier, escaping the limelight by virtue of not being in the tournament any longer, and not inclined to confront any of those who had been talking down about her (knowing full well the pointlessness of such an exercise).

In Ruby's case, she mostly found it tiring.

* * *

"You don't like being famous?" asked Maria cheerfully, circling around Ruby on the rooftop.

"It's a drag," groaned Ruby. "I mean...it's really nice that so many people are rooting for me and all, but I could do without all the attention." She sighed. "I've signed so many autographs the last couple of days, I'm worried my wrist is gonna cramp up when I try to fight on Monday."

Maria cackled. "You could always throw your match, you know," she suggested.

"I couldn't do that!" protested Ruby. "It would be disrespectful to my opponent."

"Well then, you might as well settle in for the long haul," said Maria, her demeanor softening. "Think about it this way, you aim to become a Huntress, someone who can save people from the Grimm, right?"

"Right," agreed Ruby.

"Well, the fame you gain from this will help a great deal," said Maria. "You already know all about the issues that come from fighting back the Grimm. An attack on a settlement increases fear, which brings in more. But, think about how people will react when 'Ruby Rose: Vytal Tournament Champion' is coming to their aid. The mere mention of your coming will lift people's hearts, assuage their fears, and lessen the pressure from the Grimm. For someone dedicated to fighting back the darkness, winning the tournament will help your light shine all the brighter."

Ruby gasped, her eyes widening. "You're right!"

"Of course I am," declared Maria proudly, rapping the end of her cane against the roof. "There times I wished I could have had that advantage, when _I_ was still a Huntress."

"Was it hard for you?" asked Ruby.

Maria sighed, settling down next to her. "Yes," she said simply. "Part of it was my own fault. I was The Grimm Reaper, of course, so I had a reputation, but not one that I actively tried to maintain. I was better known amongst other Huntsmen and Huntresses than to the people. Plus, I was pretty antisocial, kept to myself a lot."

"Because of your eyes?" guessed Ruby.

"For the most part," said Maria. "I had to do my best to keep a low profile after all. But, in the end, I suppose I was just too careless."

_Or Salem's people are just _that_ good at gathering intel,_ Ruby thought to herself.

That didn't seem so unlikely. Cinder and her posse had managed to track down Amber, who'd been working to keep a low profile too. Granted, it was entirely possible that, as Maria had suggested about herself, that Amber had just slipped up in some fashion, falling back on her magic in front of the wrong set of eyes. But it still couldn't have been easy. Even though only women could be Maidens, that still made trying to track down one of them like looking for a needle in a city-sized haystack.

Of course, it was something of a moot point now. Salem's people knew who Amber was for sure. They would also be able to track her down easily, once she started traveling again, Ruby didn't doubt. In the same vein, Ruby knew that she herself had already been marked, with Tyrian indicating that Salem wanted her captured, not merely killed.

_I wonder why that is,_ thought Ruby. It was strange for sure. Of course, even Tyrian had admitted that he had no idea why Salem wanted her alive. So it seemed that the only way Ruby would ever be able to find out was if she asked Salem herself, which definitely wasn't happening anytime soon.

"But enough of that," said Maria, her sharp tone returning. She raised her cane and prodded Ruby's ribs. "Get back to work."

"All right," said Ruby, closing her eyes.

Maria's training was actually rather easy, all things considered, mainly because it was right up Ruby's alley. In order to use her Silver Eyes, according to Maria, what Ruby needed to do was focus on the desire to protect the people around her. For Ruby, that had been her driving motivation since her youngest days. Her mind was immediately filled with the faces of all the people precious to her, and her desire to protect them.

The important thing, as she'd been told, was not to allow her fear of what would happen, if she failed, to butt in. She had to focus on what she wanted to do, as opposed what might happen if she couldn't do it. Again, that wasn't so hard.

Ruby snapped her eyes open, a strange, alien sensation humming through her entire being. The world around her looked somewhat different, the colors more muted and grayed, as though she was watching them through some kind of filter, everything imparted with a strange, shimmering quality...then it was over.

"Ah, I can feel it," said Maria, nodding to herself. "You're such a natural at this that it's somewhat scary."

"Was it hard for you?" asked Ruby.

"It was hard for me to get over my fear," conceded Maria. "It didn't help that I'd avoided forming too many attachments, or getting too attached to the few people that I formed attachments to. When you're trying to use a power that's rooted in your love of life and the living, then it gets tricky, when you've spent most of your life keeping people at a distance."

Ruby nodded slowly, her vision returning to normal. A buzzing sensation lingered in the back of her head.

"That will lessen over time," said Maria. "For Silver-Eyed Warriors like ourselves, the first awakening can be traumatic. When I first awakened to my powers, I knocked myself out for a full week."

"But I was just fine," said Ruby.

"Because I eased you into it," said Maria. "Honestly, it's somewhat scary how easily you learned it."

Ruby swallowed nervously. She still wasn't sure that this learning would do her much good, not against Jester. Sora and Kyoichiro apparently believed her power might be the key to defeating him, but Ruby couldn't see it. Jester wasn't a Grimm after all.

On top of that, her real trouble lay in her attempts to follow Kyo's recommendation to forge a _kamikiri_, god-slaying, technique for herself. The idea seemed to be that, if she could combine her Silver Eyes with a god-slayer technique, she might have something capable of killing Jester, once and for all.

But that didn't even seem feasible. Everything about the Silver Eyes that Maria had shown her was that they simply...well..."happened" was the best word Ruby could use to describe it. When she called upon the power, it just came forth. It wasn't like Aura, something she could shape with her will. In fact, aside from the change to her vision, and the buzzing sensation at the back of her head, she couldn't sense anything at all, nothing that she could engage with as a mechanism of control.

Further still, combining the two seemed virtually impossible, even if there _was_ something about the Silver Eyes that Ruby could manipulate. After all, any technique, whether for use against humans or gods, was based on intent to kill, which was the antithesis of the root of her inborn power.

All told, it was frustrating. Jester was an opponent who broke the rules to such a degree that he'd been able to keep the Mibu from acting against Salem for centuries, if not millennia. Neither Kyo, nor any of his ancestors, had been able to kill him. The best that they'd managed was this pseudo-armistice, where the Mibu would not interfere with Salem, and Salem would leave them alone. It was an armistice that Kyo had essentially broken, now that he was in a relationship with the Fall Maiden, which meant that this was the one time, more than any other, that they _had_ to find a way to beat Jester.

And everyone who knew...seemed to think that Ruby was the key to that. _I just wish I could figure out how,_ she thought to herself.

"Well, that's it for tonight," said Maria, getting up. "At this point, I'd say your training is complete."

"Right," said Ruby, standing up as well. "Thank you for everything, Maria."

Maria cackled. "You're welcome. My other student could learn a thing or two about manners from you."

The mention of Oscar roused Ruby's curiosity. "Is he...doing okay?"

"Just fine," said Maria, laughing again. "In fact, he's doing better than fine, if his attitude is any indication. It appears he's taken quite the liking to your friend from home."

"Natsu-chan...?" Ruby canted her head, a bit confused. But it made sense. She couldn't help but notice that Natsuki had been spending more time with Oscar than with her. However, given that she still felt a little guilty about turning Oscar down, Ruby hadn't questioned it too much.

_Well, it's not like I have to worry about Natsu-chan hurting him,_ thought Ruby, figuring that it was okay.

"Time for me to call it a day," said Maria, groaning, then stretching. "When you get to be my age, you come to treasure all the sleep you can get."

"I don't think that has anything to do with age," said Ruby, giggling. Her mind went to poor Ren, who had occasionally lamented to her just how hard it could be to get a proper night's sleep, with two people like Yang and Nora on his team. Blake was similarly bothered, though it apparently hadn't ever developed into anything unhealthy.

Maria ambled slowly through the door, but Ruby lingered behind, turning to stare out over the edge of the roof. It gave her a solid view of the festival grounds, stretching away beneath her. She could easily see the booths, as well as the people meandering between them. Silently, she wished that she and Jaune could spend more time seeing the festival together. Sadly, Jaune was usually too busy with training under Sasame.

The door opened and shut behind her. Ruby smiled, a familiar, much-wanted, presence entering the reach of her senses. She didn't even flinch when Jaune's arms wrapped around her from behind, pulling her up against his front. She leaned into the embrace, even as her senses told her of the absolutely _drained_ state of Jaune's Aura, a substantial achievement, considering how much he had at his disposal, and how its capacity had only increased in the weeks since he'd started nurturing it through the exercises Ruby had taught him.

"Hey," said Jaune, his voice whispering into her ear.

"Hey," Ruby whispered back.

They moved in unison, sinking down to sit on the roof, Ruby now resting comfortably on her boyfriend's lap. Jaune leaned forward a little, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Long day?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, you could say that," said Jaune, the feeling of his flinch conveyed easily to Ruby.

"What did Sasame-nee have you do?" asked Ruby.

"She had me help with a condition Penny's father had," said Jaune, grunted. "Seriously, it was like having my Aura sucked right out of me."

Ruby giggled. "Did it work, at least?"

"Yeah," said Jaune. Ruby could feel the satisfaction that rolled out of him. "In fact, Sasame told me that it wouldn't have been possible for her alone, so it was a huge help that she was able to draw on my Aura."

"That's good," said Ruby. "Are you okay with what she's doing?"

"Yeah," said Jaune. "It's crazy tedious. Her focusing exercises are ridiculous."

"Yeah, counting rice-grains can give you a pretty big headache," said Ruby.

"Oh, we're _way_ past rice-grains now," said Jaune wryly.

"Huh?" grunted Ruby, eyes widening in surprise.

Jaune smirked. "I guess you didn't know, since you didn't ever really get past the basics. But, after rice-grains, Sasame moved me to millet."

Thinking about how small millet grains were, Ruby swallowed. "Yeah...that's pretty crazy."

"And that was earlier," commented Jaune, his tone rising as he vented. "After that, Sasame had me start counting salt grains."

Ruby squeaked in shock.

"And now she does this crazy thing where she mixes salt with sugar, and has me sort the grains."

Ruby's eyes widened. "I had no idea healers did that."

"Well, it's more through my Aura, than my eyes," said Jaune. "Once I get focused enough, it becomes pretty easy to tell them apart, they feel pretty different. But working on such a small scale really gives me a headache after a while."

Ruby supposed she understood the logic. She'd only ever trained in the most basic aspects of the Healing Arts, after all. She only really need to feel the basic details of simple injuries in order to properly treat them. In contrast, the more advanced skills Sasame was developing Jaune towards learning, could involve hm working on a cellular level, if not even smaller. True masters of the Healing Arts, like Makoto and Sasame, were capable of using their Aura to interact with their patients on a_ genetic_ level, if necessary. Ruby could scarcely comprehend the level of focus required to work on such a minute scale.

"Are you all right?" asked Ruby.

Jaune hugged her tighter still. "I'm more than all right," he said. "I gotta admit, I was really leery of it at first. But now...thinking about what I can do, when I get all this down. It feels _really_ right. It means that, if you get hurt in battle, that I can help you, so it's the best thing for me, I think."

Ruby smiled warmly. "Thanks."

"What about you?" asked Jaune. "Are you doing all right?"

"Well...I'm doing fine with Maria's training," said Ruby. "I don't really have a grasp on _kamikiri_ techniques, like Kyo-nii wants me to, not yet. The thing that bugs me is that I don't know what I'm supposed to do with them."

"Yeah," admitted Jaune. "Killing a guy who can't be killed is a heck of a job, and that's coming from people who are supposed to be able to kill gods."

Ruby frowned. "I just don't get it," she said, as much to herself as to Jaune. "Maria teaches me that the Silver Eyes are for protecting life. But Kyo has me studying techniques for killing. He seems to think that I'm supposed to put the two of them together. But...they're opposites."

Jaune was silent for a moment. "Well...maybe that's the point."

"Huh? Ruby jolted, surprise flashing through her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I think about what Maria told you about the Silver Eyes, and how they work, it makes me wonder," said Jaune. "What if it's like magic?"

"I kinda think we already knew that...sort of," said Ruby, frowning contemplatively. After all, according to what Kyo and Sasame had told her, being a Silver-Eyed Warrior made her a Shaman, just like Jaune, and the Maidens. Of course, as she'd been told before, Ruby also knew that Shaman was a generic term, and the different kinds of Shamans could be as different from each other as they were regular people. Ruby suspected that there was no connection between her power and Jaune's.

"The thing I was thinking was that...well..." Jaune frowned, scrunching up his face. "Remember what Ozpin told us about the Brother Gods?"

"Yeah...?" said Ruby.

"Well, the younger one, the God of Darkness, he's supposed to be the god of death and destruction, right?"

"Right," agreed Ruby. "He's the one who created the Grimm."

"That's right," agreed Jaune. "The thing is, if he was the god of destruction, and he hated the things his brother made, why didn't he just destroy them himself?"

"He..." Ruby blinked, the meaning behind what Jaune said registering. "He didn't."

"That's right," agreed Jaune. "In fact, being a god of destruction seems to mean that, instead of being a god who destroys stuff, the God of Darkness was mainly a god who _created destructive things._"

Ruby's eyes went wide. Jaune was completely right. Even the Creatures of Grimm, which were supposed to be the embodiment of that kind of power, were created entities, almost as though the God of Darkness had deliberately created perverse parodies of his own brother's creations.

"That's what's got me a little confused," said Jaune. "Maria was talking about how the Silver Eyes are a power that's supposed to be used to preserve life."

"Preserve life..." Ruby frowned. "You think they come from the God of Light?"

"Maybe," said Jaune. "The thing is, whether that's true or not..."

"They're contradictory too," said Ruby. _The Silver Eyes are a power that exists to preserve life, but they do that by _destroying_ the darkness!_

Contradictions on both sides. But what did that mean exactly? If that was the point, how did she put it to use?

"Don't worry about it too much," said Jaune, hugging her a bit tighter. "If it's you, I know you'll figure out a way."

Ruby found herself smiling. "You give me way too much credit," she said.

"Never," Jaune answered. "If nothing else, I believe in you, Ruby. I know your family does too."

"Yeah...I just feel weird about it," said Ruby. "Kyo-nii is so strong, one of the strongest people I know. Kaa-san and Kyoichiro-sensei are even stronger...I think. But everyone seems to think it's _me_ who can solve all this."

"Maybe there's something more to saving the day than just being strong," suggested Jaune.

"Maybe..." mused Ruby idly.

There was nothing to be gained by forcing herself to think in circles. In the end, Ruby contented herself with leaning back in Jaune's embrace, the two of them spending the remainder of the evening staring off into the night sky.

* * *

The grand hall of Haven Academy was a majestic space to be sure. Through the main doors, one stepped into a vast room, furnished elegantly with the decor that was typical of the Kingdom of Mistral. On the other side from the door, a statue of a goddess-like figure standing beneath a landing, seeming to hold it up over her head, the landing itself reachable by a pair of staircases, flanking the statue on either side.

It was on that landing that Haven's Headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart, stood, looking down at the two visitors that had come into his school unannounced.

He cut a noble figure, the tanned skin of his chiseled face framed by gray-hair and a matching beard, in such a way that gave it the appearance of a mane. Brown eyebrows rested over a pair of dark-brown eyes. His large frame was covered by a white dress-shirt underneath a brown, sleeveless vest. Protruding from behind the gray pants he wore, a lion's tufted tail flicked back and forth slowly.

Yes, Lionheart cut a noble figure. But the look on his face was anything _but_ noble, as he took in the two people who had brazenly walked into grand hall of his school. Instead, his throat bobbed, and he observed them with a look of trepidation, a look of fear.

"Yo, Leo," cheered Jester, rapping the head of his marotte against his shoulder in an idle gesture. "How've things been for ya?"

"J-Jester..." stammered Lionheart, cringing back away from the man. "Wha-what are you doing here...and with _her_?"

Lionheart's eyes went to the black-haired woman standing behind Jester. Raven Branwen was well known to him, and not merely because she was still an infamous bandit, even if her tribe had fallen on hard times, as of late.

"I figured that would be obvious," said Jester cheerfully. "We're here to get into the Vault, Leo-buddy."

"Th-the Vault...but that would mean..." Lioneheart's eyes widened.

"Yep," said Jester. "Say hello to Raven Branwen, Spring Maiden extraordinaire...and our new best friend."

"R-really...?" wondered Lionheart.

"How long are we going to waste time for?" asked Raven coldly. "The less we have to do with this cringing cretin, the better."

"Now now," said Jester, raising a hand in a consoling gesture, which Raven, nonetheless, cringed away from. "We're all friends here."

"I can't comprehend why you're even bothering," said Raven, glaring at Jester. "You could just take us down to the Vault yourself, couldn't you? Why are we bothering with him?"

"Well...in this case, this is _for_ him," said Jester, before turning back to Lionheart, who flinched away. "Now then, Leo..the time's come. This is it...moment of truth." His voice suddenly dropped in tone, low and dangerous. "Open. The. Vault."

"And...once I do...will she...?" asked Lionheart.

"Yeah, she'll release you," declared Jester. "You'll be free."

"B-but how do I know you w-won't...?" asked Lionheart, cringing away.

"Leo..." Jester's tone dropped again. "Raven laid it out for ya. We don't actually _need_ you to get in the Vault. Understand? This is it, the final display of your loyalty, the ultimate betrayal of Ozpin. If you don't follow through, then I just kill you, and we head down under our own power. So...what's it gonna be?"

Lionheart swallowed, then pulled his pocket watch. Coming down the stairway, he stood before the statue. Reaching for a gold chain that was wrapped around the statue's waist, Lionheart inserted his watch into a circular medallion mounted on the chain. A second later, with a clicking sound, the statue began to lower, revealing the landing it supported to be the platform of a large elevator.

Jester and Raven moved to stand on the platform. Behind them, Lionheart looked on.

"So now..." he said softly.

"Yep," replied Jester. "It's done. You're free, buddy. Congratulations."

Lionheart closed his eyes with a relaxed look, his entire body seeming to slump as the tension drained out of him. He let out a soft, extended exhalation...and promptly exploded into pieces, seemingly sliced apart by a blade of incredible sharpness, with blinding speed. Blood splattered in a red arc across the floor, while severed pieces of Lionheart's body bounced and rolled away from where he'd been standing.

Raven's eyes nearly bulged out of her head, her jaw dropping. She found herself watching the sight from in front of Jester, the man's unfaltering grin framed by the shining light of his eyes, as Lionheart's body fell to pieces behind him.

Jester didn't even glance at the dismembered corpse.

It took all the will Raven possessed not to turn and start vomiting. She'd seen plenty such sights before. But there was something about the scene, Lionheart dying the instant he'd believed he was well and truly free, while the sinister specter of Jester stood before him, clearly responsible, but acting as though such an act was so natural that it hadn't required even the slightest diversion of his attention to it.

Instead, Raven fell behind one of her more-favored defenses...sarcasm. "Really...'Death is a release', right? Isn't that a little cliche?"

Jester cackled gleefully, as Lionheart's remains disappeared from sight with the elevator's descent. "Well, it ain't anything bad," he said. "Ole Leo didn't feel a thing. He's a lucky man, when you think about it. He died happy, and happiness is what's important. I made him happy, then I made _me_ happy. Everything's good."

Raven shivered, her skin paling.

"Don't get me wrong," said Jester, his grin stretching to unnatural levels. "You have _no_ idea, Raven. Death _is_ a release. It's the ultimate release. You and Leo are so silly, living in fear of something like that. You have no idea what it's like to be cursed to never experience it for yourself, to find yourself longing for that sweet embrace. You have no idea what it's like to watch generation after generation go to sleep, and long to join them, only to be cursed to remain awake...always awake."

"I'll take your word for it," said Raven uneasily.

Jester sighed and shrugged. "Well, you're young yet. I guess that's the way it is." He turned his head upwards. "Was I ever like that? I can't remember..."

Raven fought to keep from trembling. She realized that the fate that had befallen Lionheart could, just as easily, befall her. She'd thought herself strong. But, compared to Jester, she was nothing. He'd killed Lionheart, all while standing within less than a meter of her...and Raven hadn't noticed a thing. She hadn't seen him move, hadn't sensed anything, not even the tiniest fluctuation of his intent. He could kill her just as easily as he'd killed Lionheart, and Raven realized she'd probably be dead before she even noticed.

"Second thoughts?" asked Jester. "It's a little late for that, my little Spring Birdy. Your chance came and went."

"You wouldn't have given me a choice," Raven countered coldly, "even when you framed it as a choice, it wasn't really a choice at all."

"I'm not talkin' about _that_," said Jester, waving a hand dismissively. "Your chance was years ago. You had the Spring Maiden in your fold. You could've let her go, could've helped her or done whatever. But, in the end, ya chose to take her power for yourself, didn't ya?"

"I did what I had to do," declared Raven, the words rising up automatically. "When I found her, she was weak and afraid. Even when I trained her, she never really managed to learn anything worthwhile. She would have been hunted for her entire life." Her eyes narrowed. "What I did...it was mercy."

"Really?" mused Jester. "Was it mercy...or envy?"

Raven backed away from him.

"Why don't I hazard a guess at how it really went down," said Jester, closing the gap between them by a step. "You found her, and she was scared, right? Still, you thought you could use her. You decided to whip her into shape, make her into a proper weapon for your tribe. Lovely idea, I'm sure. Of course, regardless of how well she did, whatever she might've learned from you, you would see it, and you would think, 'I can do better.'

"However long it took her to pick up a skill or a trick, you'd think that you could do it faster, that you'd have it down quicker. You'd train her, then decide that you could push yourself longer and harder. You saw her with all that power...and imagined how much _better_ use you could make of it..."

Raven backed up again, but found herself stopping to avoid brushing against the walls of the elevator shaft, rising past them in the progress of their descent.

"In the end, you decided that, however good a Maiden she might be able to become, you would be a _better_ one," continued Jester. "So...you made the decision to _take_ it for yourself...because that's what you've always done. When you want something, you take it. That's what a greedy little bird like you does...

"Except, you didn't think it through, did you? You said she'd be hunted for the rest of her life. But did that occur to you before or_ after_ you killed her...when you realized that you'd taken the target that was on her back...and stuck it on your own...with no way of getting it off?"

Omen rattled, betraying Raven's nerves as she trembled before Jester's astute observations.

"That's when you made your decision, cast your die," said Jester. "You did something you couldn't take back. And now...you're stuck. But that's not a recent development. The truth is, despite the illusion you've been under for the past few years, the moment you took the Maiden's power for yourself, you set yourself up to be here, one day. And now...that day is here."

The elevator finally reached the bottom. The Vault of Haven Academy consisted of an immense cavern. Stepping out of the lowering railings that formed the door to the elevator, they emerged onto a platform, leading towards a door, set into the roots of a massive tree. The pathway was marked by a trio of cyan circles, connected by a line between them, running all the way up to the door. The door itself was a magnificent construct, formed from a quartet of gold-colored, metal fans, unfolded so that they completely overlapped one another, leaving no opening to see what was behind them.

As Raven's foot stepped down on the first of the three circles, it lit up, the light illuminating the circle, then stretching along the line that connected to the second, lighting it up as well, before proceeding to the third, before continuing the rest of the way to the door. Up above the door, the tree's branches bloomed with orange flowers, which burst outward, then began to scatter in a magnificent fall of glowing, orange petals that cascaded around the two of them. It was a glorious scene...and one that was utterly lost on Raven, her mind consumed by two things...the door in front of her...and the twisted _thing_ behind her.

The clicking of her shoes against the floor came a stop, along with Raven herself, as she stood before the door. This was it. All she would have to do was raise her hand, touch the door, and it would open for her.

_And then what?_ wondered Raven. Her mind flew back to the vivid image Lionheart falling to pieces, behind a grinning Jester, so sure that he'd escaped Salem's grasp...only to die, right then and there. _Is that going to be my fate?_ Raven wondered. Jester had promised that she would continue living. Not only that, but he'd even said that she could take the powers of the other three Maidens for herself.

But, just as he had been to Lionheart, Jester could be lying to her as well. She'd seen it already, the ease with which he'd promised salvation, only to dispense doom. _The servants of Salem have forked tongues._ If she opened this door, then there was every chance she could be next.

"What if I don't?" she asked aloud.

"Hmm...?"

"What if I refuse?" asked Raven, turning to look at Jester with hardened eyes. "So long as I don't open the door, you _can't_ kill me."

She'd been worried that her words would anger or frustrate Jester. But...she realized that it was a paltry worry...when his grin widened to a maddening degree instead...and she realized that she'd made him happy...which was so much _worse_.

"Ohhh...That would be wonderful!" declared Jester, his Aura surging out, twisted and cold, throwing his entire body into shadow, with a pair of white lights marking his eyes. It was a demonic image, making him look like a creature from Hell. "You're right, Raven. If you don't open the door, I can't kill you...not yet. Instead...I'll just take you out of here with me and, until the day Salem readies her next candidate...you and I will have so much _fun_!"

Raven's mouth went dry.

"Nothing quite peeves me like a person whose priorities are out of order. You're so scared of death that it's honestly funny. But I'll be happy to take you and show you just how wonderful it is...because there are so many things that are so much _worse_. Won't that be fun, Raven? I'll give you a thorough education...I promise."

Her entire body shaking, Raven turned, and raised her hand to touch the door. A few seconds later, the vine-shaped engravings on its face illuminated with the same cyan light as the circles Raven had walked across to reach this point. With a groaning, metallic creak, the fans that formed the door folded up, closing in on themselves, and pulling into the frame as they went.

Behind the door...was a completely different world.

They were underground, but beyond the door was an achingly clear blue sky. Light from above, with no discernible source, stretched downward, illuminating the sands of a desert that seemed to stretch on into infinity. Just beyond the door, three wide, circular stones, were set into the sands, forming a basic path to a stone pedestal, atop which sat the Relic. The world beyond the door seemed almost beholden to its own laws of physics. The sand beyond seemed to be slowly drifting upwards, flying away into that empty sky.

It was beautiful, magnificent, if utterly impossible. It was nothing more than a door, but it looked as though it had opened into a completely different _world_. In fact, Raven supposed that it _was_ a different world, one created and sustained by magic. The things she had done with her power, the feats she had performed. They were paltry, in their own way. And yet...the power she'd always thrown around was nothing more than a scaled up version of what regular warriors could do. Yes, she could wield the elements without needing Dust, and at a level that virtually no normal person could hope to match. But this...

This spoke of something beyond rational explanation, a sight that, no matter how much she looked at it, just did not make _sens_e. Silently, Raven stared down at her hands, feeling for the first time that she'd squandered her power.

"Pretty neat view, ain't it?" teased Jester, already skipping past, his footsteps not even throwing up any of the sand as he moved. Coming to a stop, he loomed over the Relic, taking it in.

Raven came to stand next to him, confused and fascinated. She had no idea what she'd expected, when laying eyes on the Relic of Knowledge for the first time. None of the stories had given any indication what they looked like, and Ozpin had never told her anything.

It was a construct of gold and blue. A central orb, glowing a light-blue color, was encased in gold metal, a slotted cap fitted over its upper surface, winglike projections spreading out to the side. Above the cap, a tiered stem rose up to a broad ring, which was apparently a handle of sorts. On the bottom, the metal encasing the central orb terminated at a point. It did not stand, but hovered rather, motionless, above its pedestal.

"Pretty gaudy thing, don't ya think?" asked Jester idly. "I'd say a god who made somethin' like that had some insecurities. A fancy look like that practically screams 'This is important!'" He chuckled dryly. "'Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair,' huh? Just the kinda thing a couple 'o Pretenders like them would cook up."

Reaching out, Jester closed his hand around the ring, lifting the lamp, that's what Raven thought it resembled most, from its resting place. "Welp, got the Relic."

Turning about, he began to skip towards the exit again. Raven followed, not keen to find out what would happen to this space, now that its purpose had been served; at least, not while she was inside of it.

They emerged back into Haven's Vault, the searing heat of the desert past the door transitioning back into the cool of the subterranean cavern beyond. Raven was so shocked that she had to turn in place, just to confirm that she hadn't hallucinated the whole thing. Except...turning had the opposite effect. Raven found herself staring at a face of blank stone, a large rectangle etched into its surface the only visible sign that there'd been a door of any kind there at all.

It took her a second to get her emotions back under control. "What now?"

"Now, we move onto the next part."

Raven jumped. She'd been expecting to hear Jester. However, instead she'd heard a different voice, a familiar voice...the voice of a man who was lying in pieces up above. Whirling about, she gaped unashamedly at the figure of Leonardo Lionheart, standing in the middle of the Vault.

"Lionheart...no..." Her eyes narrowed, and she saw that Lionheart had the Relic in his hand. "Jester...?"

There was a puff of smoke, obscuring the man for a second. When it cleared, Jester was back, the bells of his fool's cap ringing gayly. "You called?" he asked playfully.

Raven glowered at him. "Is there anything you _can't_ do?"

"Well, aside from 'die'...probably not," conceded Jester. "When you live as long as I have, you tend to pick up...well...everything..." He chuckled. "That's just how it is. Since the very beginning, I've been a Joker, a wildcard. Used properly, I can act as any card in the deck."

"Why Lionheart?" asked Raven.

"'Cause it wouldn't do for anyone to learn that he's dead...just yet," replied Jester. "I'll nip up above, clean up that little mess, then play along like everything's hunky dory. I've done that so many times that I've lost count."

"And what about me?" asked Raven.

"Head back to Vale," answered Jester casually. "I know you've got your own ways of getting around, so I think you can handle your own travel arrangements. You're a big girl."

Raven growled. "Still...this is quite haphazard. Does Salem know you're doing this?"

"Didn't really think she needed to know," answered Jester casually. "I figured since, hey, we've got the Spring Maiden on our side now, we might as well get the Relic at Haven out of the way, while we've got the time to spare. Figured she wouldn't mind too much." He shrugged indifferently.

Raven watched him take a few more steps towards the elevator. Instead of actually entering it, he abruptly vanished. A minute later the elevator began to rise up. Raven watched it go. She didn't mind overly much. She had her own way out after all.

Silently, she raised her right hand, staring at it. In just the short time since she'd met him, Jester had already firmly tethered her to Salem's side of this war. Worse still, she knew full well that he could betray her the moment he got what he wanted...and she was powerless to do anything about it.

She'd once determined that she would do whatever it took; make any decision, any sacrifice; if it allowed her to survive. But now, all her efforts, every path she took towards survival, instead seemed to lead her towards an inescapable death. _Why did it turn out like this?_

The empty expanse of Haven's Vault had no answer for her.

* * *

**Hi Leo...Bye Leo. Had to get that little bit out of the way, because Jester's just _that_ much of an asshole.**

**Until (if) we get a more detailed retelling of just _how_ Raven obtained the Maiden powers, this is my interpretation of what little information we've been given on the matter. It makes sense to me, because, by the time she relayed her little explanation to Yang, Raven had already been established as someone who has a rather loose interpretation of what constitutes "truth". And, strangely enough, it always seems to come out in a way that's meant to put her in a favorable light, almost as though she was putting her own spin on things.**

**In his story, _Relic of the Future_, Coeur gives us a version of events that seems plausible, and more favorable to Raven, where the previous Spring Maiden was so afraid of her role that she was going to defect to Salem's side, and Raven ended up killing her to stop her, with her winding up being the recipient of the Maiden's power as a sort of final middle finger to her. However, I consider my interpretation to be more plausible, given, again, Raven's preference to twisting the truth to suit her needs. Also, because it gels with the things she's done in the series so far, namely her plan to stab Salem's people in the back by running off with the Relic the first chance she got.**

**As Yang helpfully pointed out to Raven, said plan had some pretty serious downsides, namely that keeping the Relic would only make Salem pursue Raven and her tribe all the _more_ seriously. But it's telling that that thought never even _occurred_ to Raven when she was making that plan, indicating that, when it comes to wanting or taking something, Raven is a "do first, think later" sort of person. So it's easy to see someone like her developing a serious, "I would be so much better off with that" complex over the Spring Maiden's power, deciding to take it for herself (in the manner such a deed would entail), without fully thinking through the consequences until later. And then, of course, she decides to phrase it as a "mercy", because then she gets to paint herself as the benevolent martyr, even if only in her own mind.**


	137. Chapter 137

**Chapter 137:**

"He's calling again," observed Winter, taking a sip from her tea.

"I know," said Weiss, sighing in irritation, pulling out her scroll and seeing the sigil of her family, above the simple word, "_Father_". Even if she had set her scroll to silent, she could still feel it buzz, and its vibrations were audible, even within her pocket. _Sheesh...did some tech get a completely different education in what "silent" means or something?_

"How many times?" asked Winter.

"I've lost count," said Weiss, slipping her scroll back into her pocket. "At least four times a day, maybe more."

"Has he...?" prodded Winter.

Weiss nodded. "I checked my card. It was already blocked by Sunday morning."

"And you're certain you're willing to go through with this?" asked Winter.

"That was going to be the outcome, one way or another," said Weiss. "I know it's earlier than we originally planned. But Whitley got one over on us."

"So I noticed," said Winter. "The tabloids are having a field day, particularly the more opinionated ones."

"I make it a point _not_ to read those," grumbled Weiss.

In all honesty, it was something of a minor miracle that the revelation of her relationship with Ashley hadn't made _more_ waves. She'd been half-afraid that her public announcement of their relationship would be plastered across the news by Sunday evening. There had been a brief mention of it. But it had been extremely perfunctory, nothing more than a brief announcement that she had renounced her inheritance, and Whitley had taken up the reins.

Of course, the networks were quick to react in a much more diverse fashion. Weiss hadn't bothered to look for herself, but had been filled in by a few of her friends.

Faunus-rights activists were divided. Some lauded her for openly revealing her relationship with a faunus, even though such a move had clearly cost her her place in the line of inheritance for the SDC. Others had been quick to declare the move as nothing more than a publicity stunt, put on by the Schnee Family as a whole, in order to placate people protesting the SDC's work policies, and undermine the White Fang. Weiss could understand the latter opinion, given that Ashley being a "charity case" had been the original cover for their relationship.

On the racist side of things, well...the reaction had been pretty much what anyone would have expected. Those who were happy to call faunus "animals" were just as happy to declare her a slut, accusing her of bestiality, and scrounging up whatever other paltry insults their pea-brains could come up with.

But the vast majority of people had apparently looked at the news, shrugged, and then said, "that was a thing," then moved on. All things considered, Weiss figured that was probably natural. Her actions would have been a major scandal, practically any other time of the year. But, during the Vytal Festival, with the tournament still in progress, it was nothing more than a minor background event. Even the fact that she was a teammate of one of the finalists barely did anything to make it register any more widely.

Of course, Weiss wouldn't have put it past Whitley to be subtly moving things behind the scenes to starve the story, so that it could die off as quickly as possible. In the long term, it was best if Whitley did everything he could to put this affair behind him, so that the commotion didn't interfere with business.

"He's not going to soften his blows, however long you wait," Winter pointed out.

"Of course not," said Weiss, taking a bite from one of the finger sandwiches on the table before them. She smirked. "But I hope he'll continue to indulge me a while longer. Just think about it. Several times a day, he drops everything to call me on the scroll, and then sits there, waiting for me to answer. And he's been at it for a week now. Honestly, I think this is the most attentive he's been towards me in years."

Winter let out a very undignified snort, doubling over, hands covering her mouth. Weiss could hear the strained laughter forcing its way out, despite her best efforts to seal her lips. Finally, Winter gave into the sentiment, laughing more loudly than Weiss could ever remember her doing. It was a refreshing sound.

"Wh-when you put it like that, I can certainly see the appeal," she said as she wrestled her composure back under control.

Weiss took a polite sip of her tea.

It was a beautiful day. Weiss and Winter had retired to a spacious gazebo, residing in an isolated corner of Beacon's grounds. This had become something of a favorite spot for them. Whenever Weiss arrived, Winter was always waiting for her, tea and treats ready. They'd done this several times already, since Winter had been tapped to be the chief coordinator between Vale and Atlas. Weiss was going to miss this, when the festival ended, and the time finally came for Winter to return home.

"How is Ashley handling it?" asked Winter.

"She's doing fine," said Weiss. "If anything, her classmates are practically in awe of her now." She smiled fondly at Winter. "Thank you for looking after her and her family, by the way."

"It's the least I can do," said Winter, smiling back.

Once she'd learned that the story had broken Winter had assigned a small security detail to the Forrest Family to monitor them. It wasn't anything intrusive. But Winter had decided to keep eyes on the situation, in case any of the more extreme voices shouting on the networks transitioned from merely speaking, and tried to take action.

In the meantime, from Blake, Weiss had learned that the reaction within the White Fang was rather ambivalent, with Sienna Khan's response to hearing the story of what happened in _The Grand Silmaril_'s ballroom had been, "Oh...That's nice," before moving on to the next order of business. According to Ilia, Sienna was already fully aware that Jacques would cut his daughter loose for something like that, so any reprisal would be counterproductive at best. Ironically, by making herself into the daughter who had thrown away her place in the Schnee Family for the love of a faunus, Weiss had made herself virtually untouchable to the White Fang. Had Adam still been at the helm in Vale, that would _not_ have been the case, of course. But Taurus remained elusive, not having made any attempt to contact the organization since his disappearance.

For the time being, Weiss opted to assume that no news was good news.

The two sisters paused their conversation to partake of more tea.

"I understand that Ozpin is proposing sending your team to Leng for an exchange," said Winter, her tone dropping.

"That's the hopeful outcome of all of this," said Weiss. "Sasame says that she needs to bring Jaune back to Onmyo with her, so that she can work on his healer-training. You could say she and Ozpin decided to make it a package-deal."

"I'm not certain about this," said Winter.

Weiss frowned. "You're not still suspicious of the Mibu, are you?"

"I wouldn't say suspicious, but...we've chosen to look the other way, with regards to them, for a reason," said Winter.

"Not just national pride?" asked Weiss.

"I don't think so," said Winter. "The Mibu have power. We can't ignore that anymore. But...when I look at them, I feel that 'power' might be _all_ that they have. I suppose that, if they can get along without Dust, then that's fine. But...as they are now, there's no way they can join with the rest of the Kingdoms."

"Because they lack the CCT," guessed Weiss.

Winter nodded.

"And if they continue to disdain Dust, then they'll never really be able to implement it," continued Weiss.

Winter nodded again.

"Then maybe it's a good thing we'll be going over there," said Weiss. "Thanks to Ruby and Sasame, we already know what the Mibu have to offer to the world. But this is our chance to show what the rest of the world has to offer _them_."

"But will they want it?" asked Winter.

"According to Ruby and Sasame, their leaders do," said Weiss. "Their people might be apathetic to the idea. But that will never change if they never engage with people outside their purview. If _we_ don't reach out to them, I don't think they'll be inclined to reach out to _us_."

Winter found herself giggling. It was such a light sound, one that Weiss hadn't expected to hear her sister uttering. "Is that something strange?" she asked.

"No, I was just thinking..." Winter sighed, shaking her head slowly. "I abandoned my position as heir, lost my inheritance, and embraced serving under Ironwood in the military. And now there's you. Even though you set aside your place as heiress to the SDC, you've already embraced a more significant role, one that will lead this world into the future."

"That seems a bit...grandiose," commented Weiss uncertainly.

"Yet fitting nonetheless," declared Winter. "I'm proud of you, Weiss."

Weiss' heart soared at those words. The two sisters enjoyed their tea for a while longer, secretly wishing that these blissful days would never end.

* * *

With the arrival of Monday came the quarterfinals of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Upon arriving at Amity, Ruby felt as though the excited atmosphere from before had multiplied exponentially.

"Pretty crazy," commented Jaune, looking around dubiously.

"At least you seem fine," commented Oscar, glancing sidelong at his own companion.

"Well, it looks like this is gonna be tons of fun!" declared Natsuki, practically shivering with excitement. "I get to fight the best people here!" She gasped. "What if Ruby-chan's my opponent?"

"I guess that would make things awk-" Oscar began to say.

"That would be sooooo cool!" declared Natsuki, leaving Oscar gaping at her enthusiasm. Turning about, she fixed the widest possible grin on her face, pointing imperiously at Ruby. "I'm gonna beat the pants off you, Ruby-chan!"

"It's a combat skirt," deadpanned Ruby.

Jaune and Oscar shared a look, stifling their laughs.

"Th-that's not the point!" declared Natsuki, flailing her arms childishly. "Today is the day our rivalry will be settled!"

"We have a rivalry?" asked Ruby, canting her head.

An abrupt silence fell over the group as everyone saw Ruby's quizzical remark completely steal the wind from Natsuki's sails.

_Ruby...that's kinda harsh,_ thought Jaune.

"Also, it might not be today, you know," Ruby pointed out. "If we aren't paired off during the quarterfinals, then the earliest we could fight would be the day after tomorrow."

"Or we could even wind up facing each other in the final round," declared Natsuki. "That would be the coolest-Wait! Why are we talking about this!? How dare you make light of our rivalry. Don't you remember what our score was?"

"We were keeping score?" asked Ruby, tapping her lip.

Another awkward pause fell over the group. Then Natsuki slumped. "No, not really," she admitted.

"Do they have a rivalry or not?" Blake asked Miyu in an aside.

"Not really," said Miyu. "They sparred quite a few times. But they were mainly training under different masters, so they didn't exactly compete all that much. Besides, Natsu-chan may not be acting like it now, but she's not actually all that competitive."

"So why is she acting so competitive now?" asked Pyrrha, joining them.

"Natsu-chan can get into roleplaying," said Miyu.

"Well, she _is_ in the quarterfinals of the tournament, so I suppose that's not a bad thing," commented Pyrrha.

"Well then, whether or not we face one another today, I declare you my rival, Ruby-chan!" announced Natsuki, pointing at Ruby again. "That means, even if we don't fight each other, if I go to the next round, but you don't, I win."

"I...guess that's how it works," said Ruby, shrugging.

Natsuki slumped. "C'mon, Ruby-chan...can't you get into this at least a little?"

"That's a little too awkward, Natsu-chan," said Ruby, grinning sheepishly. Then her smile softened, becoming a more confident one. "But, if I face you in the ring, Natsu-chan, then I'll fight to win."

Natsuki grinned exuberantly. "That's my Ruby-chan!"

"Natsuki was just playing around, wasn't she?" Oscar softly asked Setsuna.

"Yep," agreed Setsuna. "If you're planning on being with her, you're in for a rough time."

"I guess..." said Oscar, before his cheeks turned bright red. "Wait a minute! Who said anything about that?"

Setsuna was already pretending not to have heard him.

"RUBY!"

The sound of Penny's voice was the only warning Ruby got before the android's heavier-than-it-looked body slammed into her from the side, knocking her over completely.

"Peeeeennnnyyyyyyy..." groaned Ruby, finding herself compressed by Penny's vice-like grip.

"Oooh! That was good Suppression," commented Natsuki.

"I just wish...there were less...bone-breaking ways...to put it to use," gasped Ruby, forcing herself up, after Penny had finally let go of her and gotten off.

Penny grinned, folding her arms behind her back. "I am so excited," she declared. "I cannot wait to face you in the ring, Ruby."

"It is still another half an hour until the first match," commented Rain, as the rest of Penny's team came up from behind to join her.

Penny's face didn't change, but there was the tiniest of pauses before she spoke again. "It seems we will have to wait."

"Yep," agreed Ruby.

"Well dang, everyone's getting all worked up," commented Yang, stepping forward. "Well, I'm not gonna lose to any of you girls, got it?"

"Well, someone's going to have to," Natsuki pointed out.

"Hey! Wait a second!" protested Yang, staring at Natsuki with wide eyes. "Weren't _you_ the one all gung-ho earlier? I thought you were getting into this hot-blooded-rivals stuff."

"But, if we're talking hot blood, we can't hold a candle to you, Yang-chan," Natsuki pointed out, Ruby and Penny nodding in unison behind her.

"Well, you've got a point there," conceded Yang, before flinching. "Hold on! Why are you calling me Yang-'chan'? I'm older than you, aren't I?" She paused. "That's not how it's supposed to work, right?"

"Um...sort of," said Ruby.

"But what should I call you then, Yang-chan?" asked Natsuki. "I mean...calling you Yang-san seems too distant, since you're Ruby-chan's sister."

"It worked for Sasame," said Yang, confused by the Mibu system of honorifics.

"That was my way of showing my respect to you as one who was also Ruby-chan's older sister, but who had not yet agreed to become _my_ little sister," commented Sasame, stepping out to join the group.

"Well, if that won't do then call me..." Yang struck a proud pose, lifting her face up triumphantly, taking a deep breath...only to freeze... "What should she call me?" Yang asked, glancing sidelong at Sasame.

Sasame giggled, rising up on her tail. She placed her lips next to Yang's ear and whispered an answer, masking it with a hand to keep Ruby and the others from reading her lips.

"Oh!" gasped Yang, upon hearing the answer, before picking up where she'd left off, mannerisms and all. "Call me Yang-'senpai'!"

Natsuki mulled it over for a moment. "Hmmm...But I like Yang-chan better."

"Come now, Natsu-chan," Sasame admonished her playfully. "This is Ruby-chan's beloved older sister after all. This is the least you could do...or you could call her Yang-'sama', just like you do me."

"N-no...I couldn't do that!" protested Natsuki.

"Yang-'sama', huh...?" mused Yang, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "That sounds important. I like it. Call me that."

Natsuki sighed and slumped. "Yang-senpai is fine."

"Awwww..." protested Yang halfheartedly.

Everyone broke into a round of laughter.

"Looks like everybody's having a good time," commented Sun, sauntering over, his team not far behind him. "Let me get in on this too."

"Yes! Join the circle of eternal rivals!" declared Penny eagerly.

"Uh...It's just for the tournament," Ruby pointed out.

"Oh...I thought we were going back to hot-blooded declarations," said Penny, grinning cheerfully at Ruby.

"Uh...That was something Natsu-chan was doing on her own," Ruby replied.

"Oh...It looked like fun. Can't I do it too?" Penny gave Ruby a plaintive look.

Ruby sighed. "Fine..."

"Well, not that it matters," declared Sun. "I plan on taking home the win, you know."

"We'll see about that," declared Yang. "You think you've got what it takes to beat me, Mr. Stowaway?"

"Stowaway on one ship, and no one lets you live it down," Sun muttered petulantly.

"That wasn't your first time, though," Sage commented from behind him.

"Shut up, man!"

Wearing a grin that promised mischief, Piper sidled up to Blake, elbowing her gently. "So...Blake...Sun's your boyfriend, right?"

"Y-yes..." stammered Blake, blushing. She supposed she and Sun had never made their relationship "official", but there was no way she could deny that there _was_ a relationship.

"And Yang's your partner...?"

"That's right..."

Piper's grin widened. Her next question was spoken loudly enough that everyone in the group could hear her. "So...if Sun and Yang end up matched up...who are you gonna be cheering for?"

Blake froze, her spine going ramrod straight. Piper's question wasn't the reason, in and of itself. The main reason was that, the moment said question had reached their ears, Sun and Yang had frozen in place, then turned their heads in unison to stare pointedly at Blake.

Nora sidled up next to Piper. "You're mean," she commented.

Piper's grin widened a little more. "But you knew that already," she said.

"Yep," agreed Nora.

"Are you complaining?"

Nora glanced at the tableau unfolding before her, and adopted a grin of her own. "Nope."

Blake found herself backpedaling before the stares of Sun and Yang, the pressure of their gazes flustering her.

A second later, Yang zipped in, quickly clasping Blake's right hand in both her own. "Blake, we're partners _and_ best friends, right? You're gonna cheer for me, right?"

"W-well, I..."

Then Sun was clamping her other hand in his own. "Blake, you know my heart belongs to you, which means that I'll be dedicating my every victory in the ring to your glorious image!" He gave her a pleading look. "You'll cheer for me, right...my dark and broody goddess...?"

"S-Sun!" sputtered Blake.

The others looked on, watching the humorous drama played out, Yang and Sun taking it in turns to beg Blake to cheer for one over the other, all while Blake was too flustered and embarrassed to get a full sentence out.

Weiss, who'd held her tongue all throughout the ridiculous affair, heard a soft crunching noise from beside her. Looking over, she saw Ashley, who was completely engrossed with the whole display, holding a tub of popcorn, munching enthusiastically. Feeling Weiss' gaze on her, Ashley paused, then slowly moved her eyes to meet Weiss' her mouth still stuffed with the latest handful. After a few seconds' pause, Ashley finished chewing, then swallowed.

"Want some?" she asked.

Weiss mulled it over for a moment, then nodded. "Sure," she said, holding out her hand.

The playful banter came to an abrupt end, as the scrolls of the five contestants (save for Natsuki) lit up, displaying the official summons for them to report to the coliseum's locker room.

"Well, I guess this is it," said Ruby, turning to Jaune. "Can I get a kiss for good luck?"

"You don't need luck," Jaune pointed out. "But you can get a kiss for a kiss's sake."

With that, he pulled her into a tight embrace, kissing her deeply.

Blake smiled, watching the interplay between the couple, only to feel the hand Sun was holding be squeezed. Looking over, she saw him staring at her with a desperate expression.

"Dork..." muttered Blake, playfully rolling her eyes. "Fine." Leaning in, she planted a lingering kiss on Sun's lips.

"Well that makes me jealous," commented Yang, resting her hands on her hips. Glancing around, her eyes came to rest on Ren.

"I'm not kissing you," he said.

"I don't want Nora to kill me, so I wasn't gonna ask," Yang pointed out.

Oscar smiled, not even feeling a pang of jealousy anymore at the sight of Jaune and Ruby kissing. He was distracted by a gentle tug on the sleeve of his jacket. Turning to look, his eyes widened as he saw Natsuki was giving him a pleading look.

Oscar's jaw dropped slightly. "Um...I...that is..."

"Pleeeeeeaaaaaaasssse!" begged Natsuki.

Oscar sighed. "All right..."

Natsuki grinned, then turned her head to present her cheek to him.

Oscar smiled, leaning forward, reflexively closing his eyes. Because of that, he didn't see it when Natsuki smiled playfully, then turned her face back towards him. So it was that, instead of feeling his lips against her cheek, he felt his lips against her own. Oscar's eyes snapped open wide, his entire body freezing in place, unintentionally drawing the kiss out.

Natsuki pulled away, leaving Oscar completely thunderstruck. Taking in the look on his face, Natsuki's cheeks flushed an adorable shade of pink, then she grinned awkwardly. "Thanks."

Then she was gone.

Setsuna gently patted Oscar on the back. "Like I said...you're in for a rough time."

Oscar sighed...slumping forward a little. "I am, aren't I?"

"She's worth it," Setsuna promised him.

"Yeah...she is," agreed Oscar.

* * *

Not much later, the eight finalists were assembled in the arena, staring up at the crowds filling the stands above. Aside from Ruby, Yang, Natsuki, Penny, and Sun, there were three young men who also filled out the ranks of the quarterfinalists. There was one, dressed in leather, with a broad-brimmed hat, with a feather sticking out of it; a boy from Atlas, wearing white, futuristic-looking armor over his torso; and a dark-skinned young man with a black, hooded shawl, and a gold-colored armored gauntlet running all the way down from the shoulder of his right arm. Together, all eight of them made up the people who had made it through the gauntlet of the past two rounds of the tournament, representing the best and brightest from all four Academies, and their respective Kingdoms.

The format of the remaining rounds of the tournament would be different from the first two. The quarterfinals would be held today. Afterwards, there would be a day's break, before the semifinals were held, followed by a break of another day, and then the final round. Unlike the first two rounds, where the matches had been spread out across the day, the quarterfinals and semifinal rounds would be held nearly back-to-back, with only a short pause being made to change out the ring in preparation for the next match.

That was the other major departure from the previous rounds. This time, there would be no biomes. The match would be confined to the boundaries of the octagonal inner-ring of the arena. With no environmental factors to utilize, the outcome of each match would come down entirely to the skill of the combatants, and their ability to utilize what they brought into the ring with them. The one major thing that remained unchanged from the previous two rounds was that the match pairings would be randomized. Only the two finalists, on the last day of the tournament, would go into the match knowing who their opponent was.

Ruby shivered, the excitement in the air thrumming through her bones. The voices of Port and Oobleck, who were working to warm up the crowd in preparation for the matches were pretty much lost on her. At this moment, all that really concerned her was the question of who her opponent would be, and when she would be going.

Up above, the screens displayed a rotating selection of pictures, like the rollers of a giant slot machine, revolving through the eight contestants on display. Everyone's eyes were glued to the screens, waiting to see just who would be matched up first.

* * *

Watts leaned back in his seat, sipping his coffee as he stared up at the holo-screen in front of him, watching the beginning of the final round of the tournament with a smile.

"While this is lovely entertainment, are you sure that it's fine to just watch?" asked Morgan from where she stood, in front of the command console for their battleship.

"There's no issue," said Watts. "The plan won't take effect until the last day of the tournament."

"Wasn't there supposed to be a build-up to it though?" asked Morgan.

"There was," agreed Watts, taking another sip. "Cinder and her cohorts were to enter the tournament, make their way through the rounds. Then, right here, at this moment, a number of disgraceful 'lapses' were supposed to occur to stir up negative sentiments, and begin drawing in the Grimm. Cinder and her posse would stir things to the boiling point, triggering a mass Grimm attack, and then use the crisis of them overrunning the Kingdom to locate the Fall Maiden, and then the Relic."

"Is that all?" wondered Morgan.

"There were a few more bits to it," said Watts. "But they were but embellishments on the larger tapestry for the most part, ways to make the Fall of Beacon and Vale have aftershocks that would resonate throughout the rest of the world."

He sighed in disappointment. "But Cinder went and got herself killed, her little peons got themselves captured, the Fall Maiden regained the missing portion of her power, and has been regaining her strength. On top of that, Demon Eyes Kyo is residing at Beacon, ensuring that, even if we could have managed to stir up enough negativity, there wouldn't be a single Grimm showing its face. Honestly, if Jester hadn't found us the Spring Maiden, we'd be all the way back at Square One."

"And you think we can manage the same results while procrastinating all the way to the end of the tournament?" asked Morgan dubiously.

"Jester has said that he can manage things," said Watts, his own tone dubious.

"Is that so?" asked Morgan, frowning. "Isn't that odd?"

"Indeed," agreed Watts. "Just what does Jester have that he could leverage to accomplish in the space of a single day what would have taken us weeks of preparation to achieve?"

"That's not what I mean," said Morgan, her frown darkening. "How long has Jester been with Salem?"

"I know not," admitted Watts. "He was there before my time, and implies that he has been there far longer than a normal human ever could be...even going so far as to imply that he is of the same nature as Her Grace herself, an immortal being."

"And yet...if that was the case, and if he has the means to enact this plan without any further preamble than what we've already done...why bother with Cinder at all?" wondered Morgan. "Was there any need for such elaborate, complicated plans, when Jester could have done it all himself?"

"That's..." Now Watts was frowning.

Morgan had hit the nail on the head. Watts had been dubious of Jester's means. However, the troubling thing was that, if Jester _had_ such means, had there been any need for all the convoluted schemes, the backbreaking effort, the sacrificed lives...? If Jester had the means to do everything himself, then why had Salem needed other agents to begin with? No! Why had Salem's war with Ozpin dragged on for this long at all then? Surely Jester could have brought everything to a head generations ago, assuming he wasn't lying about how old he was.

And, if there was some reason that he hadn't acted before...then why was he acting now? What had changed that made this time differ from all the others?

"Jester is a deterrent," rumbled Hazel's voice as he joined the group on the bridge.

"Against the Mibu, yes," agreed Watts. "Because of that, they have not interfered with Her Grace's work, before now."

"Ah!" gasped Morgan. "So _that's_ it! The Mibu are acting. Their people are in the Kingdom, actively interfering with our plans. Demon Eyes Kyo himself is keeping the Grimm at bay."

"I see..." mused Watts. "So, the Mibu crossed the line first, and Jester has moved to counter them."

"Yes," agreed Hazel. "Because...he was never on Her Grace's side to begin with. He took a role solely to counter the Mibu, leaving Her Grace to manage the conflict with Ozpin on her own."

"I see..." grumbled Watts.

"That being the case, this is certainly a momentous occasion," mused Morgan idly. "But why are things coming to a head only now?"

"That is a good question," agreed Watts. "But it may be one that only Jester can answer, assuming he's inclined to." He sighed. "Still...there's not much else to do at this point. All we _can_ do is wait until the appointed day.

"So...for now, let's enjoy the spectacle of this tournament. After all, it's guaranteed to be the last."

* * *

The first of the holographic slots rolled to a stop, displaying a picture of Yang. Everyone waited with bated breath to see who Yang's opponent...only for their jaws to drop when the rotating selection of images came to a stop on the other blonde.

Yang would be fighting Sun.

In an instant, their heads swiveled in unison, their attention heading for the stands, homing straight for Blake, where she was seated, somehow finding her without the need to glance around.

Blake was sitting in the front-most row, a deadpan expression on her face, a small, yellow pennant in each hand. In her right hand, she held a pennant exclaiming "_Go Yang!_" In her left was one proclaiming, "_Go Sun!_"

_She's totally chickening out!_ Yang thought.

_Where'd she get the pennants?_ wondered Sun to himself.

Everyone else who knew about the situation had the same thought. _She's probably made the safest decision possible._

Still moving in unison, Yang and Sun's gazes snapped back to one another. Then they sighed and slumped in near-identical gestures. Finally, Yang gave Sun a rueful grin. "Looks like we're on our own, down here."

"Guess so," agreed Sun, matching her grin.

"Ah well," said Yang, pumping her arms, prompting her gauntlets to activate, "let's do this thing."

Reaching behind himself, Sun pulled out his staff, its segments joining together as he twirled it artfully, settling into his own stance. "You're on."

The other contestants having already left the ring, there was a jolt, accompanied by a clang, then the inner ring began to rise upwards. At the same time, one of the lighting rigs descended from above, powerful spotlights streaming down to illuminate the ring, allowing everyone to see the contestants clearly.

At Oobleck's signal, the pair of them rushed one another, and the crowd roared. The tournament's climax was fast approaching.

* * *

"My thanks for allowing us to watch in person," said Kyo, smiling politely at the two men before him and Amber, the two of them bowing their heads.

"Given the service you've rendered us for the past few weeks, arranging this was the least we could do," said Ozpin, nodding towards the windows of the skybox that he and Ironwood had reserved to enable Kyo and Amber to watch the final rounds of the tournament.

"I'm surprised that you managed to make it up here without attracting notice," commented Ironwood.

"Winter-san was quite helpful," said Kyo. "Of course, since I can use Suppression, there's no need to worry about me attracting undue attention for at least a short time."

"A 'short time' being the key term there," noted Ozpin. "Considering that, I'm sorry that you won't be able to watch the proceedings from ringside."

"Ah well...I suppose that's the price I pay," said Kyo, grinning sheepishly and scratching the back of his head. He turned towards Amber. "I'm sorry that you can't watch the match from closer up."

Amber merely smiled, wrapping her arms around his own, and pulling herself up against him. "Well, I can't go without my bodyguard," she said happily.

"I'm glad you feel that way," he said.

Ozpin chuckled at the interplay between the two of them. "At the very least, I am reassured by your presence, Kyo. Thanks to that, any concern about the Grimm has been swept away for the period of this festival."

"Well...I have certainly never attended a festival that has lasted this long," commented Kyo.

"If we could adopt your methods, we would not need to worry so much," commented Ironwood. "If deterrents, like you, could be installed in each village and settlement, that would drastically reduce the threat of the Grimm."

"So very pragmatic of you, General," said Kyo, his smile fading. "Sadly, such an arrangement is impossible."

"Is it?" asked Ironwood.

Kyo nodded. "The Grimm keep their distance from me because they sense my strength. The level of power one must achieve to be perceived as an existential threat by even the youngest, most reckless Grimm is...substantial. I don't mean to brag, there are a scant handful of people in the entirety of the Mibu Clan who presently hold that level of power and, barring myself, they are all to be found within Onmyo, so that particular arrangement is unique to our capital as well."

"So, not even _you_r settlements can benefit from that?" asked Ozpin.

"Not for long," said Kyo. "Between Father and the Taishiro, the aggregate of their collective presences is what has allowed Onmyo to spread out as far as it has, without the need to worry about the fixed defenses or military forces needed to protect such a large perimeter from the Grimm. One or more of them departing for a brief period of time is no issue, so long as public order is good. But it is impossible for us to station a 'deterrent' like me in even our own settlements."

"And yet, by your account, your own settlements regard Grimm as little more than pests," Ironwood pointed out.

"That is because our military is essentially our Huntsmen," Kyo pointed out. "Our people's Auras are unlocked from the beginning, and those who choose to fight in defense of our people receive the training necessary to utilize their Auras properly to that end. In that sense, our military training facilities are our Academies."

"Meaning you have multiple ones," mused Ozpin.

"Yes," said Kyo. "Also, it makes our equivalent of Huntsmen and Huntresses an extension of the Kingdom's power. They are agents of our government, and loyal to the Mibu specifically. We lack anything similar to the unaffiliated Huntsmen and Huntresses that are typically produced by the Kingdoms. The closest to what we have would be the Atlesian Specialists."

"Hmm..?" mused Ironwood, finding a strange affirmation in the fact that the Mibu used what was, essentially, a larger-scale version of his own idea.

"In order for you to employ the same methods, or even similar ones, large-scale systematic change would be necessary," Kyo continued. "It would not be something you could implement over a short period of time. Even Atlas, and Ironwood-dono, who are furthest along in that respect, would have to make a great many changes to reach the point where you could institute changes on that scale."

"So, even if-or when, rather- the Mibu open up to the world, we wouldn't have access to the 'Huntsmen' your clan produce," said Ironwood disappointedly.

"I'm afraid not," said Kyo. "Given that they are our military, that would essentially entrusting the protection of your people to a foreign power. Of course, we could, in all likelihood, dispatch a few as advisors to help you develop your own training programs to build up similar forces, and begin schooling your soldiers in our methodology. However, that is something that I cannot say too much about, as it would be the responsibility of O-Kaa-san and the other Elders to arrange such things."

"I hope we get the chance to discuss those arrangements soon," said Ironwood.

"That is all well and good," said Ozpin. "But let us not waste too much time speaking of such heavy matters. For today, let us enjoy the matches. Ms. Xiao Long is fighting currently."

"Ah yes, I wouldn't want to miss Ruby-chan's sister's match," said Kyo cheerfully, while Amber giggled alongside him.

* * *

Swinging a gauntleted arm, Yang warded off a strike from Sun's staff, the boy whirling through the air over her head acrobatically, using his spinning flip to bring his weapon around in a strike that would have landed against the back of her skull, had she not turned to intercept it. Even as Yang blocked with her left gauntlet, she punched out with her right, sending a bolt flying right for where Sun was about to touch down. With her aim and timing, the bolt would have slammed right into Sun's stomach. However, Sun had used the rebound of his blocked strike to send his staff into a spin, the blurring flash of red and gold intercepting Yang's shot, prompting it to explode harmlessly.

Before he'd even finished spinning his staff, Sun charged forward, right through the smoke and scattering sparks of Yang's blocked shot. Yang stepped in to meet him, but now found her eyes tracking _two_ whirling blurs, rather than just one, Sun having gone straight into separating his staff into its twin gun-chucks. Whirling them swiftly, he brought one swinging in at the side of Yang's head from her left. Yang brought the gauntlet on that side up to ward off the swing. However, the other end of that gun-chuck was pointed right at her chest, so that, even as his swing bounced away from her gauntlet, Sun was in the perfect position to pull the trigger and send a shot slamming home into Yang's collar.

With a yelp of pain, Yang staggered back, while Sun advanced, both weapons whirling. Rather than just two, Yang found herself faced with _four_ separate avenues of attack as Sun swung one end of a weapon, and fired from the other, the complex spinning patterns he executed with both weapons enabling him to reload and chamber new bullets in a continuous attack that kept Yang on her heels, forcing her back across the ring. She defended as best she could, but Sun's attack was as relentless as it was bewildering, and she found her Aura dropping as she took hit after hit.

Of course, Sun was wary as well. Having spent so much time with Blake's friends, Sun was well aware of how Yang's Semblance worked. The more hits he landed, the more dangerous the end-phase of the match became. Once Yang engaged her Semblance, Sun knew he'd find himself facing overwhelming power; which meant that his options were to rush it, and force her Aura down past the critical range before she had a chance to activate her Semblance; knock her out of the ring before she could activate it; or disengage when she _did_ activate it, and hope that he could play for time until she ran out of juice. Enacting any of those strategies was a tall order, even when he knew what was coming.

That being said, keeping an eye on the screen, and monitoring the level of Yang's Aura wasn't possible. Instead, Sun knew he'd just have to keep watch for the moment Yang made her decision.

Unfortunately for him, it came a lot sooner than he was expecting. Abruptly, Yang's eyes flashed red, and her Aura exploded outward furiously. The surging shockwave staggered Sun's offense, disrupting the continuous spinning of his gun-chucks, and managing to send him stumbling back a step.

_Crap!_ Sun was fully aware of what would be coming next. Abandoning any attempt at offense, he rejoined his weapons back into their staff-form, bringing it up just as Yang surged forward with a punch from her right arm, which was shining like a star. At the same time, he jumped up and back, desperate to kill as much of the force of Yang's punch as he possibly could.

It was enough...barely. It seemed as though Yang's extended gauntlet barely rapped against Sun's staff, but that mild contact was enough to send Sun flying backwards across the ring, heading for the edge at dangerous speed. His arms burned furiously from the exertion of fending off that one, light blow. Desperate to kill his momentum, Sun thrust downwards with all his strength, actually managing to drive the end of his staff into the surface of the ring, his arms now burning from exertion in the opposite direction, as his momentum had the staff ripping a line through the plating that formed the inner-ring. Groaning with the strain, Sun barely managed to arrest his backwards flight at the very edge of the ring.

With the distance opened up between them, Sun felt safe enough to check the Aura-gage on the screen, only for his eyes to widen as he realized that he'd only whittled Yang's Aura down by a little over a quarter. He definitely had the edge, when it came to their respective remaining Auras, but his mind locked up in confusion. _Hang on a minute...if I didn't do all that much damage, then where did her Semblance get that power?_ Given what he knew of the strength of Yang's Semblance, there shouldn't have been a way for her to exert so much destructive force after taking the relatively small amount of damage he'd inflicted.

Meanwhile, Yang was grinning happily. _Well...I guess I'll have to thank Kyo after all,_ she thought as she moved to press the attack.

In the weeks since she'd had her conversation with him, Yang had done her best to apply Kyo's advice, when it came to developing her Semblance. Just as he had suggested, she'd taken the time to practice its use, while turning her awareness inwards, using her awareness of her Aura, which she'd cultivated through the training Ruby had been giving both teams, to feel how her Semblance functioned, and learn how she could affect it.

Thus, Yang's approach had been two-fold. Her first objective was to work out how to build her Semblance's power without necessarily taking damage. The second had been to increase the output of her Semblance, with respect to the amount of power she took in. Training it to that end had required multiple sessions of standing in the ring with her friends, and allowing them to whale on her, so that she could feel how the power built up within her. It hadn't been the most pleasant form of training. But, with Kyo's advice to go off of, it had proven fruitful.

Truth be told, with the shots and hits she'd been taking, Yang's Aura should have been much lower than it actually was. After all, she was taking shots from Sun's guns at point-blank range, multiple times. However, by channeling the absorption aspect of her Semblance through her Tempered Aura, Yang found that it was actually working like a cushion, or shock absorber, stealing the power of Sun's attacks before they could inflict damage, drastically reducing said power so that they had much-less impact on her overall Aura, all while those absorbed shocks built up within her, stoking the fire of her Semblance with their power.

Added to that, Yang had developed the internal awareness to work out how to multiply the power she was absorbing, to the point that, with the little power she'd built up, she was able to unleash a _much_ more potent attack than she previously would have. All of that, combined with using Flow to concentrate and channel that power through her arm, resulted in a punch that had blasted Sun across the ring, despite only making light contact with his weapon.

And those weren't the only tricks in her bag, thanks to her training with Ruby and the others, as Sun was about to learn. Even while Sun had been flying away from her, Yang had charged after him in pursuit, trying to close the distance as quickly as she could, before Sun could find a chance to regain his footing. She was helped by the fact that Sun had allowed his curiosity to get the better of him, and he'd hesitated, in order to check the Aura-gauges.

Still, even _with_ that lapse, when Sun returned his attention to Yang, there was still enough time for him to get back into position...or there _should_ have been. However, the next time Yang's foot touched down, her body flickered, and she suddenly seemed to cover the rest of the distance between her and Sun in a single step, appearing to almost teleport.

_Wait! That's Ruby's-!_ was all Sun had time to think, before Yang's fist was barreling at his face. This time, it wasn't shining with the power of Yang's Semblance. But, this close to the edge of the ring, Yang's normal power would be more than enough to knock Sun clear out.

Ruby had taught the members of Team RYNB the basics of _Shukuchi_, just as she had her her own team, though she'd had less time to work with them. Still, Yang had practiced diligently, even as she'd worked to refine her Semblance. At present, two steps was the most she was capable of, but it was more than enough for the purposes of this match.

With a yelp, Sun fell over backwards, his face falling out of the way of Yang's fist. Sun had already pulled his staff free of the ring, so it fell with him. With that angle, and overbalancing as he had, Sun had a ticket for a one-way trip off the edge of the ring...or so it seemed.

Yang's smirk faltered as she felt something tugging at her ankle. Looking down, her eyes widened as she saw the blonde fur of Sun's tail, wrapped around her leg. In the act of falling, Sun had looped his tail around Yang's ankle to keep from falling out of the ring. In the same move, he pulled. Yang was too well-rooted for him to pull her feet out from under her, but that actually worked to Sun's advantage, as he instead pulled himself away from the edge of the ring, sliding on his back past Yang. Another tug allowed him to turn his body around, so he could sweep a leg through Yang's own, knocking them out from under her, and sending her falling back. Sun followed through by thrusting up with his staff, aiming to hit Yang in the back, and propel her out of the ring.

It worked, and his hit launched Yang forward, threatening to send her flying headlong off the edge of the ring. However, even as she found herself in the open air, Yang simply grinned, and punched ahead of herself with her gauntlets. Their recoil reversed her momentum, sending her arcing back up and over the edge, avoiding a loss by ring-out. In the process, Yang imparted a roll to her body, allowing her to bring her right fist around so that she could punch straight down at Sun, who barely managed to roll back out of the way of the bolt her gauntlet fired, getting his feet back under him, which bought him just enough time to raise his staff in a block to ward off the axe-kick that Yang descended with.

Yang pushed off, flipping away from Sun, using a gauntlet to ward off a thrust Sun countered with. Landing on the ring, Yang immediately closed with Sun again, who responded by separating his staff again, launching another barrage of blows with his gun-chucks. However, Yang was better prepared this time, though she largely found herself on the defensive, rarely finding an opportunity to counterattack, which Sun warded off just as expertly as he was attacking.

Now their exchange was beginning to take them on a circuit along the edge of the ring, both of them literally inches away from defeat as each employed both power and finesse to try and force the other out. Their current fight ran counter to the typical logic of a fight under such circumstances, where both fighters would make an effort to remain as close to the center of the ring as possible, in order to reduce the threat of a ring-out. Of course, all this only made the match all the more thrilling for the audience, who were on the edge of their seats, cheering wildly.

Sun realized that he was at a disadvantage here. Because the recoil of his guns was less than those in Yang's gauntlets, he didn't have the mid-air recovery abilities that she did. As such, using his tail to latch onto her was his best hope of keeping from being knocked out of the ring entirely. Of course, he also realized the other disadvantage he was at.

The power of Yang's Semblance was building again. Sun could practically feel the growing sense of threat with each hit that Yang blocked. Her power was increasing, even though she wasn't taking damage anymore. Little by little, she was building up power that would be more than enough to send him sailing out of the ring. If she hit him with their current positions, then he would have no hope of recovering this time.

In an effort to avoid that, he'd continually tried to circle around Yang, to put her between him and the edge, so that any such blow she unleashed would send him across the ring in the other direction, at least ensuring that he had time to recover. But Yang was wise to that strategy, and continually moved to check him, the result being that they continually circled around each other as they fought along the edge, trading positions almost as quickly as they traded blows.

Sure enough, Yang made her move. Her eyes flashed red, and her Aura surged outwards, threatening to stagger Sun and knock him away again. This time, he was prepared though. He lunged forward, abandoning all semblance of technique, instead lunging straight at her, swinging his arms around as though he were trying to wrap her in an embrace. To the audience, and Yang, it looked as though he'd given up on trying to attack, and was simply trying to tackle her off the ring. They were positioned at an angle where, either way, one of them could be forced out, positioned at one of the octagon's corners.

Sun's vision went gray as Yang's fist slammed home in his undefended stomach. He'd prepped himself as best he could. Even though he hadn't received the training in Flow that Yang had, Sun's Aura had at least responded to his will, concentrating in his stomach to kill as much force from Yang's Semblance-empowered punch as possible. On top of that, by closing in as much as he had, Sun kept Yang's arm from extending fully, which helped prevent her from unleashing the full force of her blow, throwing off the timing of her Flow as well.

Still, that seemed relatively pointless, as Sun was _still_ sent flying backwards. Yang felt a sense of triumph well up within her. She hadn't been able to strike from the angle inside the ring, but her blow was still angled along the ring's edge, ensuring that the ensuing flight Sun was sent on would carry him well out past the angle of the ring's circumference, and past the point of no return.

That sense of triumph lasted a fraction of a second.

Yang suddenly saw stars as something hard struck her in the back of the neck, just below the base of her skull. At the same time, she felt something wrapping tight around her waist, while the object that had slammed into the back of her head remained in contact, also yanking her forward.

What had looked like an attempted tackle by Sun had actually been carried out to allow him to extend his arms past the sides of Yang's head. Right as her punch landed, his gun-chucks rejoined to form his staff so that, when he was blasted backwards by Yang's hit, he wound up pulling the shaft of his weapon straight into the back of her neck. Combined with the fact that he'd also wrapped his tail tight around her waist, Sun's counter allowed him to pull Yang along with him, both of them tumbling inelegantly out of the ring.

This would be the end of the match, victory settled by which of them wound up touching the floor outside the ring first. In the scant few seconds they had left, each of them did their best to ensure that they would be the one on top.

Sun kept his tail wrapped around Yang in a grip that would have put a python to shame. If he allowed them to separate, then Yang would use her gauntlets' recoil to arrest her fall, ensuring that he would touch down first. Using his tail as an anchor, Sun pulled himself around Yang, managing to circle around behind her, trying to plant his hands and feet on her back to keep her beneath him, the circling movement also enabling him to slip his staff around the front of Yang's neck, where he would be able to use it to choke her.

Yang's response was to punch out at an angle, firing a shot from her gauntlet to impart a spin that would flip them around, so that Sun was now beneath her. Sun, of course, attempted to flip himself around to her front to keep on top of her, which Yang had anticipated, punching out with her other fist, aiming right for his face as he swung around. Sun barely managed to keep from slamming his cheek into her fist, though it still scraped past, the discharge of her gauntlet searing his head, and making his ear ring.

Gritting his teeth, Sun clung gamely on, realizing that Yang's missed punch had set them both spinning again. Their continuous tumble had turned into an airborne grappling contest, each using every trick in the book in an attempt to get on top and ensure victory.

The sound of Yang's gauntlet firing was met with a loud clang, and Sun's staff was sent whirling away through the air. Sun found them parting from each other. Yang grinned, cocking back her fists, preparing to take advantage of their separation to change her angle, then arrest her descent by just enough that Sun would land first.

Sun's hands came together in front of him. A second later, both fighters were obscured by a blinding flash of gold, dazzling the eyes of the onlookers.

The buzzer rang.

The first match of the quarterfinals had just been decided.

But who had won?

At the critical instant, the audience's view of both fighters had been disrupted, so hardly anyone had managed to see who'd landed outside the ring first.

After a moment's hesitation, Port's voice boomed out through the speakers. "_The winner is Sun Wukong!_"

The audience roared.

* * *

**That pre-fight exchange between all the participants was a hell of a lot of fun to write. I particularly like postulating what might have happened, had Yang been paired off with Sun in the singles round of the tournament, and how Blake would have responded.**


	138. Chapter 138

**Chapter 138:**

Yang and Sun were sprawled out on their backs, lying at opposing angles to one another, so that their heads were practically right next to each other, their legs extending in separate directions. Both of them were gasping for breath, their bodies completely soaked with sweat.

Up above, the screens were displaying the reason for Sun's victory. With the arena's cameras able to filter out the worst of the flash that had blinded most of the onlookers, the moment the match was decided was able to be recorded, then broadcast for the benefit of the audience.

Sun's staff hadn't been knocked out of his grip, he'd let it go, allowing Yang's punch to knock it away. Even though the recoil of her shot was threatening to reverse their positions again, Sun's inability to use his staff to hold Yang in place had resulted in them drifting apart. However, right as Yang had been about to punch out to alter her trajectory, Sun had brought his hands together and engaged his own Semblance.

The flash that had blinded the audience had been the appearance of a pair of glowing, golden clones of Sun. One appeared between him and Yang, kicking downwards to force her down, while the other appeared in a position to catch Sun's body, right before he would have made contact with the ring. The impact had disrupted Sun's control, and the clones had vanished in an explosive flash, just as quickly as they'd appeared, the two flashes having overlapped, which had enhanced their intensity to the degree that the onlookers had lost sight of the pair.

As a result, Yang had hit first, with the clone Sun had used to arrest his fall holding him up just long enough for him to ensure that, before it disappeared, and Sun was sent into a tumble that resulted in him landing in his current position.

"Dang it!" exclaimed Yang, smacking her right-handed gauntlet against the surface of the arena in frustration.

Sun, for his part, was wheezing furiously, his eyes nearly on the verge of exploding out of his skull, his body tingling and trembling from a combination of exhaustion, nerves, and disbelieving excitement. "Holy cow! I can't believe that worked! That was close!"

Yang's brief display of frustration was the only one she allowed herself. The bitter feeling of loss swamped her. But she knew better than to allow it to overwhelm her. It wasn't easy. The sheer closeness of the outcome; and the fact that she'd been almost certain of her victory, when Sun had turned the tables on her for the final time; combined to compound her frustration. Still gasping for breath herself, Yang collapsed her left gauntlet, covering her eyes with her forearm, largely to keep the audience from seeing the tears that were welling up.

For the next couple of minutes, all they could do was lay where they landed, both of them unable to find the wherewithal to get up. They remained sprawled out, while Port and Oobleck relayed a play-by-play of the final deciding moves of the match.

Finally, it was Yang who found the strength to get up first. With the Semblance-empowered hit she'd landed, she'd knocked Sun's Aura down below hers in a single go. As a result, she was in better shape than he was at the moment. She knew they couldn't stay down for long, or the tournament staff would come out to move them. Rolling over slowly, she planted her hands against the floor, then slowly forced herself up, her arms burning with the exertion. Still, with a pained groan, Yang managed to push up off the floor, and sit on her knees, before working one foot beneath her, and pushing herself all the way up into a standing position.

It wasn't easy. Her arms and legs were already beginning to feel stiff as they wound down from her intense exertions from before. Standing fully upright, she swayed back and forth a little, before managing to find her balance. Then Yang lumbered over to where Sun was still laying. Grunting, she bent down, grinning as she extended a hand down to him.

"Need help, Champ?" asked Yang teasingly.

Sun grinned back, then took her offered hand. Yang nearly found herself toppling over on top of him, but managed to find it in herself to rise back up, pulling Sun up along with her. With her help, Sun was able to get to his feet. The two of them stood there for a few minutes longer, now holding each other up as they worked to get their breathing slowed down, and bring their trembling limbs back under control.

Grinning wider, Yang wrapped her arm around Sun's shoulders, hugging him. Sun's arm went around her back, returning the gesture. The two of them grinned up at the audience, waving their free hands at the spectators, taking a moment to bask in the cheers and applause, as the audience celebrated Sun's victory and Yang's sportsmanship.

* * *

Blake looked down at the pair, a fond smile on her face. She'd been unable to bring herself to cheer for one over the other. The sight of them both looking so happy after the end of the match was enough to relax her, assuring her that there were no hard feelings, despite both of them fighting tooth and nail to the absolute last fractions of a second of the match. However, even as she watched, she could see the faint shine of the lights off the moisture gathering at the edges of Yang's eyes. Yang was putting on a brave face. But Blake could see that her partner was only just barely holding it together.

She moved to stand up. _I should-_

Her train of thought was cut off by the feeling of Sasame's tail brushing along her arm. Glancing over, she saw Sasame smiling warmly at her.

"Why don't you go give Sun-kun the reward he deserves," she suggested. "Leave Yang-chan to me."

Blake's smile warmed. "That might be for the best," she agreed.

* * *

After they'd found the strength to stand and walk on their own, Yang and Sun headed for separate locker rooms. Watching from the screen, located in the lounge of the room she was in, Ruby realized that Yang was heading towards the opposite one.

"Isn't Yang-ch-er-senpai coming here?" asked Natsuki curiously.

"I was hoping to congratulate her on a sen-_sa-_tional match," added Penny.

Ruby sighed. "Yang probably just doesn't want us to see her being uncool," she said.

Penny and Natsuki looked at her in confusion.

* * *

Yang entered the locker room, which was presently being used by the three boys, who'd been the contestants outside her friend-group. All three of them glanced at her as she entered. Yang saw the one who'd been wearing the broad-brimmed hat give her a slight nod, a gesture mimicked by the hooded boy. The boy in white armor, appeared to lose interest, already turning his attention back to the screen.

At least they weren't saying or doing anything. Yang figured that they knew well enough how devastating it was to be the loser on a stage that big...no matter how good a fight she'd put up beforehand.

Soaked with sweat, Yang headed for the showers. Once inside, she turned on the water, and turned up the heat, allowing it to soak into her muscles, soothing them after her furious exertions before. For several minutes, she couldn't even bring herself to wash properly, merely leaning against the wall, bracing her forehead against her arm, her tears mingling with the water running down her face. Finally, she exited the shower in her robe, taking her clothes to the laundry and entrusting them to the attendants, before heading to a section of the locker room where she could sit down and be alone.

Except that someone had other plans.

"Yang-chan..."

Yang looked up, her eyes widening at the sight of Sasame. Yang figured one of the boys must have let her in. Sasame watched her with a soft smile.

Yang sniffled, trying to stifle her tears. Sasame's response was to close in and enfold Yang in a hug. Yang always found it odd how Sasame's hugs, coming from someone so small, could be so all-encompassing, even _before_ her tails divided to wrap around and completely cocoon Yang in their warmth and softness.

"It's all right, Yang-chan," said Sasame, lifting herself up to kiss Yang on the forehead. "You did so _very_ well, and you can stand proud."

Yang shuddered. "I-I know, but..."

"You put your heart and soul into that match," said Sasame. "It's only natural that losing, despite how much heart you put into it, would be painful. You aren't immature or weak. That's why I'm here."

"Huh?" grunted Yang.

"Cry for now," said Sasame. "Your sadness, your bitterness, and your pain; let them bleed away, so that, when you return to the others, you can greet them with that brilliant smile of yours."

"Thanks, Sasame-nee," said Yang.

"What are big sisters for?" asked Sasame rhetorically, smiling as Yang cried herself out in her embrace.

* * *

"Hey, Ruby," said Sun, entering the room. "Sorry about Yang."

Ruby gave Sun a relaxed smile. "You shouldn't apologize. You didn't do anything wrong. Both you and Yang were great out there."

"I'll say! That was amazing!" gushed Natsuki, her eyes sparkling. "I can't wait to fight you!"

"Assuming you do," Sun countered with a wry chuckle.

"Well, if I fight you, I'll look forward to it," declared Natsuki, prompting Sun to laugh, then ruffle the hair on her head. Natsuki squealed in protest, but otherwise made little effort to dislodge him.

A tone from the door signaled a visitor. Going to see who it was, Ruby broke out into a grin, before letting her into the room. A second later, Sun looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of Blake.

"H-hey..." he said.

"Congratulations," said Blake, walking up to him.

"But...what about Yang?" asked Sun, wrapping his arms around her waist as she got close.

Blake draped her arms around his shoulders. "Sasame's taking care of her," she said.

"Oh..."

Blake smirked, then blushed. Then she sighed. "Well, I suppose that you deserve a reward for doing so well. Beating Yang is no small feat."

"Yeah?" asked Sun. "What kin-?"

Before he could finish his question, Blake's arms tightened their hold, which she used to pull herself closer, pressing their lips together. The next thing Sun knew, they were locked in a deep kiss. His own arms tightened, pulling Blake's lithe form up against his body, allowing him to feel the entirety of her assets.

"You smell," said Blake, finally pulling out of the kiss.

"Nah," countered Sun with a wry grin. "_You_ smell..._I_ stink."

Blake rolled her eyes, while Ruby and Natsuki giggled at the cliched joke. "Dork," muttered Blake under her breath. Then she pushed him away. "Go get showered. I'll wait for you out here."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Sun, saluting, before heading for the showers.

The other girls, who'd watched the whole thing, blinked, feeling as though a spell had been broken. Ruby and Natsuki broke out into identical blushes, while Penny seemed completely unconcerned.

"I wonder who's gonna be going next?" mused Penny, looking at the screen.

The inner-ring was already in the process of being replaced. It sank down through the opening in the floor that it normally covered, dropping down and sliding away to the side, out of view. Then, from the opposite side, a new one emerged, then rose up to occupy the original space. Despite how quickly and easily the ring had been switched, there was still going to be a thirty-minute intermission between matches. Spectators would have the chance to use the restrooms and visit the concession stands, without having to worry about missing a minute of the next match, while the pairing wouldn't be announced until right before.

Ruby found herself somewhat hoping that she didn't have to face any of her friends so early on. Thirty minutes later, she was shocked when her wish was granted, when the selector showed her facing off against Athos Elwood, the young man with the broad-brimmed hat.

* * *

Stepping out into the ring, Ruby faced her opponent, noting the young man's outfit, consisting of a leather vest of sorts, fastened together by several belts, over a more mundane black vest, and a white shirt beneath that. The boy exuded a refined air, which suggested an elegant style of combat. Were she to guess, from the way he looked and the nature of his Aura, Ruby supposed that the young-man's style was similar to Weiss or Winter's. Supporting that supposition, she couldn't help but notice the handle of a sword protruding from his left hip. As their stage rose up into the air, Ruby saw him draw it, revealing the sword to be a basket-hilted schiavona, bearing a pair of colored lines up its length. One was red, while the other was green.

"Well," he said in a lilting tone, "I've heard a great deal about you. You're the one who fought Pyrrha Nikos to a draw."

"Th-that's right," said Ruby, blushing slightly. It was jarring to be reminded that she was still somewhat famous for that.

"Truly, I'm envious," said Athos, smiling. "I had hoped to face her in the Mistral Regional Tournament, but I missed my chance."

"You did?" asked Ruby.

Athos' smile took on a rueful quality. "I entered against her in her third run of the tournament. However, I was eliminated before I had the chance to fight her. Sadly, circumstances kept me from participating in the next one. After that, well...it was time to make sure I was ready for my entrance into Haven."

"That's too bad," said Ruby. "But, you could still spar with Pyrrha, while you're here. She'd love to have an opponent who's willing to fight her seriously."

Athos laughed. "Yes, I can imagine she has precious few of those, these days. Although, now that I'm facing the person who gave her the most difficult battle of her illustrious career, I find myself wondering...if I defeat you, then can I say that I have surpassed her?"

"Hmm...?" Ruby canted her head in confusion.

Athos laughed again. "Come now, don't think you can fool me. You may have never squared off in an official match since that first one, but I _know_ that the two of you have fought again, most likely several times. There's no way Pyrrha, or someone dedicated enough to match her in the ring, would be willing to leave things at a mere draw. The question then is, which of you is currently ahead of the other."

Ruby smiled impishly, finding herself liking her opponent quite a bit. He was friendly and perceptive, which meant this was a match that they would both enjoy. "I'm sorry, but that's a secret," she said.

That got yet another laugh from Athos. "I can imagine that you _would_ keep it secret. After all, any such information leaking would undoubtedly cause trouble for the two of you. I suppose I will have to find out, when I challenge Pyrrha later."

"I hope you do," said Ruby, grinning.

Port and Oobleck began the countdown. Ruby and her opponent readied their swords. When the countdown finished, they rushed straight for each other.

* * *

The match proved to be an exciting one. Athos' swordsmanship was exceptionally refined. His sword might not have had the sheer versatility that Weiss' blade, with its rotating selection of Dust-types, did, but he still made excellent use of the wind and fire-Dust that ran through the fullers carved along the blade's length. Much to Ruby's surprise, Athos' primary approach to using Dust was to combine fire and wind in an explosive fashion. But, rather than using them to attack directly, the reaction was instead used to enhance the speed and power of his slashes.

His situational awareness was impressive, and his form was excellent. All told, he made for a formidable opponent, and Ruby was somewhat surprised that this was someone who _hadn't_ lasted long enough in the Mistral Regional Tournament to face Pyrrha. But, then again, perhaps it was that loss that had induced him to hone his skills to such an extent.

Ultimately, however, he was no match for her. Ruby didn't have the heart to tell him that he wasn't a match for Pyrrha either, though she suspected that he would certainly give her a good fight. Their match was furious, the pair moving swiftly back and forth across the ring. While Athos had no way of keeping up with her _Shukuchi_, he was still composed enough to anticipate her moves, and have his blade in position to counter when she used it to try and outmaneuver him.

In the end, much to her surprise, Ruby was forced to split her swords to defeat him. Athos continued to put up a good fight. However, he ultimately wound up overwhelmed by her speed and power, particularly when she began to bring her lightning into play. A few minutes after the match had begun, it ended with Ruby standing over him, Athos' muscles spasming as crackling arcs of red lighting ran up and down his limbs, his Aura reduced to the point where the match was called in her favor.

Sheathing her sword, Ruby bent down to offer the young man a hand up. Athos accepted gratefully.

"Thanks for the great match," she said.

"You're quite welcome," said Athos. "I hope we get the chance to meet again."

"I'm sure we will," said Ruby.

They parted amicably, returning to their respective locker rooms. Ruby was greeted by enthusiastic congratulations from her friends. After taking her shower and handing her clothes off to be laundered, she settled in to wait with the rest of them, until the next match was called.

When the selection was announced, Penny jumped out of her seat with an excited whoop. Her opponent was Sunil Karim, the young man in the hood. The pair approached each other in the ring. As the inner-ring rose up into the air, Penny deployed Floating Array, while Sunil, like Athos, drew a sword. However, as Sunil's weapon cleared the sheath, revealing a curved, single-edged blade, a second blade, about half as long, unfolded from halfway along the weapon's length, sporting an inverse curve, so that Sunil now held a sword with a sickle extending from about halfway along it.

"What a weird weapon," said Natsuki.

"Yeah!" agreed Ruby, leaning forward eagerly. The more unusual a weapon seemed, the more likely it was to _do_ something completely unusual. For her part, Ruby couldn't wait to see what that was.

* * *

Unfortunately, she didn't get much of a chance. As soon as Oobleck gave the signal to begin the match, Penny proceeded to wipe the floor with Sunil. She completely overwhelmed him with a barrage of attacks, the sheer ferocity of which completely belied the giddy smile on Penny's face, looking to all the world like a child, gleefully playing her favorite game.

Poor Sunil was clearly outmatched. Barely a minute after the match's beginning, he was sent tumbling out of the ring, with no hope of recovery. The sheer speed and decisiveness of the match made Ruby and Natsuki wince.

"Ouch!" commented Sun, sitting with Blake nestled up against his side, his arm wrapped around her.

"I feel sorry for him," commented Blake.

"Me too," agreed Ruby.

"Wow...Penny-chan sure is strong," noted Natsuki.

Ruby nodded. It wasn't the first time Natsuki had seen Penny fight. She'd been able to watch Penny's round in the doubles, after all. But Penny's display of strength in this match in particular had been nothing short of stunning.

"She's gonna be a tough cookie, come next round," said Sun. "I wonder which of us is gonna fight her?"

That remark triggered a realization from Ruby, prompting an excited gasp from her. She'd just realized that, with this, it had been assured that Natsuki wouldn't be fighting her and Penny. Assuming Natsuki won her match next, that would mean that all four of them would be going onto the next round.

It also meant that they knew who Natsuki's opponent in the next match would be. The white-armored boy named Lloyd Harford was apparently from Atlas. Ruby wondered if Penny knew anything about him.

* * *

"Oh yes, I do know about him," said Penny cheerfully. "He is a most distasteful individual."

"Uh..." Ruby didn't know how to respond to that last line, not when Penny delivered it in the same peppy tone she always used, with a complete lack of feeling to match the wording of her statement.

"He's the leader of Team Lindworm," explained Penny. "He used to be one of Ciel's suitors."

"Let me guess...hard feelings because Ciel picked Rain," said Blake.

"Yep!" agreed Penny cheerfully. "He comes from a wealthy family, so his weaponry is all state-of-the-art. He says he doesn't have to train, because he can pay for whatever weapons he needs. He used to brag to Ciel about his money all the time, when he was trying to get her to date him."

_Reminds me a bit about how Cardin used to be_, thought Ruby, remembering Cardin's overtures towards her, during that unpleasant period where he'd been trying to woo her, offering to use his connections as a member of the Winchester Family to get them into exclusive places in Vale.

"Sounds like a creep," said Natsuki.

"Oh, most certainly," agreed Penny, as peppy as ever.

"So what kind of weapon does he use?" asked Sun.

"I'm not sure," admitted Penny, prompting surprised looks from the others. "He has several, and he changes them according to what he feels like using."

Thinking about it, Ruby called up the recordings of the previous matches Team LNWM had participated in before. In the team round, Lloyd had been wielding a sword with an alabaster blade, which appeared to demonstrate an impressive ability to utilize hard-light-Dust, producing flashing arcs of energy to attack, and shields to defend. In the doubles round, he'd used a futuristic rifle, also all white, to fire high-speed shots that packed an impressive punch, their speed such that his opponents had been unable to avoid them.

"Sounds like the kind of guy who's a pain to deal with," said Sun, watching the recordings on the holo-screen. "If he can change up his armaments like that, then he can keep people from getting a solid idea of how he fights. Plus, he could have a weapon for any situation."

"That's one way to put it," said Ruby, frowning. "But the real reason is he's just showing off."

She could tell. The technical capabilities of the weapons he utilized were impressive. But, just from watching those two matches he'd fought in, she could see that he was haphazard in his use of them. Their capabilities were so substantial that they would be difficult to counter on their own. However, he completely relied on them. From the way he responded to incoming attacks, and how he attacked, she could see that he'd invested little to no effort into understanding the full nuances of what his weapons were capable of. In fact, from what she saw, both of the previous matches were won by virtue of his teammates picking up the slack for him.

_If someone like him is the leader, then he must give his teammates a lot of headaches,_ Ruby thought ruefully.

"I wonder what he'll use this time," mused Natsuki, before grinning. "This is gonna be fun."

"Just be careful," said Penny, sincere worry entering into her voice. "He's a jerk."

"Okay," said Natsuki.

* * *

A few minutes later, Natsuki stepped out into the ring. Lloyd approached her from the other side.

He was a fair-skinned young man, a pair of bright-green eyes looking out from beneath a head of light-brown hair, swept over towards the right side of his head, with a streak of blonde decorating the front and center, before leaning over to the right with the rest.

He was wearing orange-pants, with matching lacing running up the sides of his torso, running over what appeared to be a shirt with a gray front, and black on either side. The shirt disappeared beneath the distinctive white plates of his armor, which covered his chest, shoulders, and back, rising up to encompass his neck as well. Detached pauldrons covered his shoulders, while he also sported guards on his elbows, both worn over the long, black sleeves of his shirt. Metal plates rested over the black gloves that covered his hands. There was something like a headset, running over his ears, before extending back behind his head, also white, but with blue lines running along its length. Aside from that, on his left wrist, he wore a watch with a glowing blue face, similar to the one that concealed Ciel's weapon.

As soon as Lloyd saw Natsuki, his expression morphed into a disdainful scowl. "Well, it would seem that I drew the short straw then. There's certainly nothing worthwhile about fighting an interloper like you."

"Interloper?" Natsuki raised a finger to her chin, tilting her head in confusion.

"You come out of nowhere, no background, no pedigree, nothing...and think that you have the right to compete here?" asked Lloyd. "This is nothing more than an insult to those of us who worked to be worthy of the right to enter this sacred space."

"I didn't realize it was sacred," said Natsuki.

Lloyd bared his teeth. "Of course not," he said. "That being the case, I suppose it is up to me to expel you. It's bad enough that you've gotten this far. However, you shall progress no further."

"If you say so," said Natsuki with a shrug.

Lloyd's lips pulled back in a sneer. "Now then...allow me to demonstrate what _true_ superiority looks like."

The ring lurched slightly, then began to rise up. Natsuki drew her swords. Lloyd, on the other hand, reached over with his right finger, tapping the screen of his watch. A holographic interface appeared, hovering in the air over its screen. "In anticipation of facing Penny during the tournament, I took the liberty of having this prepared for the finals. After studying her weapons, I had the best engineers develop this to be completely superior in every respect. There is no hope that a mere pretender, like you, could ever stand against them."

Natsuki hadn't been able to see it, because it was out of her view, but the armor of Lloyd's back featured something that hadn't been there during his previous matches. They were bulbous, ovular pieces of white metal, almost looking like growths on his back. After activating his watch, they detached, separating from one another, and rising up into the air. As they did, their forms unfolded, enlarging slightly, but also extending in one direction, giving them slightly-curved, teardrop shapes. Instead of tapering to a point, each narrowed end terminated in what looked like the barrel of a gun.

They hovered in a loose arc behind Lloyd, who smirked, one finger poised over the screen of his holographic interface.

"That's cool!" said Natsuki, grinning.

Lloyd grunted, his smile faltering at the realization that Natsuki seemed completely unintimidated by his advanced weaponry.

* * *

In the audience, Ciel looked on with narrowed eyes, her hackles rising at the sight of Lloyd. While she couldn't hear him from this distance, she could tell that he was talking down to Natsuki and, otherwise, being his usual smug and condescending self.

"Ugh...Harford's still an ass, I see," grumbled Weiss.

"He is," agreed Ciel.

Weiss grimaced at the sight of the young man, remembering him all too well from those days where she'd been forced to be a part of Atlas' social scene. The Harford Family were independently wealthy through their connections to a number of industries, to the point that they were second only to the Schnees themselves in overall capital. They held the largest amount of stock in the SDC of any of the independent shareholders, giving them considerable clout within the company as well. Because of that, he was one of the people her father had suggested she approach...for a relationship.

However, Weiss had found Lloyd to be an utterly detestable young man, probably the most straightforward example of how being born with a silver soon in one's mouth could lead to the development of the worst personality traits. Considering how she'd been at the beginning of the year, Weiss, had understood that she'd been arrogant. However, Lloyd would have put her old attitude to shame.

Of course, that immense wealth meant that the Harford Family didn't necessarily see sufficient incentive in joining with the Schnee Family that they felt the need to push Lloyd into a relationship with her, much to Weiss' relief.

The other relief was that Lloyd had been fixated on Ciel...although Weiss imagined that _Ciel_ would hardly count that as a relief on her part.

No one was quite sure what had prompted Lloyd to fixate on the daughter of a military family. Perhaps he had seen Ciel with her, back then, flat and disinterested attitude as a challenge for him to overcome. Or perhaps he had simply found her pleasing on an aesthetic level, and had simply sought to to claim Ciel's particular beauty for himself. Either way, Lloyd had gone to substantial lengths to try and draw Ciel's interest, usually by flaunting his wealth.

He'd tried to appeal to her with expensive gifts, glittering rings and jewels of the highest quality. When Ciel had barely batted an eye at that, he'd invested some of his capital in having the most advanced weapons and equipment possible designed for his personal use, showing them off, attempting to lure Ciel in with the promise of having access to similar equipment for her Huntress ambitions. Ciel had avoided the hook quite neatly. By that point, she'd already met Piper, who had helped her to build Gram Vajra. Even without the advantage of personal attachment, Ciel's weapon was, albeit subtly, more advanced than anything Lloyd's money had been able to buy.

Sadly, however, Lloyd's obsession wouldn't be thwarted so easily. He'd even gone so far as to follow Ciel into Atlas Academy, not even bothering with Combat School and more than the bare minimum of personal training, getting through the entrance exams and Initiation with a predictably expensive and powerful weapon. Much to Ciel's relief, they had ended up on completely different teams. However, Lloyd wasn't one to let that deter him.

Of course, by that point, Ciel had met Rain. For his part, Rain had been more earnest and considerate in how he'd courted Ciel. Unlike Lloyd, he'd never tried to flaunt his family's wealth, or play on their status as nobility. Instead, he'd relied on the tried and true method of spending time with her, getting to know her, and gradually wearing his way through her stoic manner, while managing the balancing act of accomplishing that without going so far that he came off as intrusive. He respected Ciel's boundaries, and always treated her with respect and care, something that had won her over...which Lloyd hadn't liked in the least.

"I guess he probably made your life hell," said Weiss, glancing at Rain.

"He tried," said Piper, giggling.

"He challenged me to matches, whenever the opportunity came up," said Rain.

"Sounds like Cardin at his worst," commented Jaune.

"You're not wrong," said Weiss.

Indeed, she could say quite definitively that Lloyd was Atlas Academy's version of Cardin, only without him benefitting from the slice of humble pie that Cardin had been served at Beacon, courtesy of Sasame and, later, Jaune. Nor did he have the benefit of a teammate who was stronger than him, who demonstrated more integrity, to serve as an example of proper behavior for an aspiring Huntsman.

"I remember watching his last couple of matches," said Ren. "His teammates had to bail him out fairly often."

"Of course they did," scoffed Piper.

"They don't mind?" asked Nora incredulously.

"Even if they do, they keep their mouths shut," said Ciel.

"Yeah," agreed Piper. "They're less his teammates and more his toadies."

"Upon being assigned to his team, Harford wasted no time," Rain explained. "He was quick to offer them the full benefit of his personal wealth to obtain whatever they desired, be it expensive components for their weapons, or the highest caliber Dust."

"It wasn't long before they got a reputation for buying their way through the ranks," grumbled Piper. "Heck, if I didn't trust the faculty so much, I'd probably guess that Lloyd tried bribing them to fudge his grades too."

"The thought undoubtedly occurred to him," said Ciel, "though he also knew that acting on it would only get him thrown out."

"And he did all this 'cause he was obsessed with you?" Nora asked, giving Ciel a worried look.

"More or less," said Ciel with a sigh. In an uncharacteristic betrayal of nervousness, she began to rub her right hand up and down her left arm. "There were times when he could be quite...forward...to the extent that I would have been genuinely worried about the prospect of ever being alone with him, if he weren't a complete pushover without his weapons."

In all honesty, coming to Vale for an extended period had been a relief, as it had given her a break from Lloyd's harassment.

Rain reached over, resting his hand over Ciel's own, prompting her to relax. The pair shared a smile.

"He hasn't given up, has he?" asked Weiss.

"No," said Ciel, frowning. "But there isn't much he can do now."

"Well, hopefully, Natsuki'll thrash him," commented Oscar from the row behind them, having listened to the entire conversation.

"Is he strong?" asked Setsuna.

"It depends on his choice of weapon," said Rain. "Back at Atlas, he went through the trouble of preparing a host of weapons, tailored to any opponent he might wind up facing. It could make him extremely difficult to fight."

"But he doesn't have that opportunity here," noted Pyrrha.

"He does not," agreed Rain. "So then, Ms. Shinomori's ability to overcome him will likely be decided by the compatibility of his weapon against her particular skills."

"It's going to be an uphill battle," said Piper, her eyes narrowing as she watched Lloyd deploy his weapons. "Those things are autonomous attack drones. He must be imitating Penny. They might look small, but they'll pack a wallop, and they'll be able to attack independently from any direction." Her eyes narrowed even more. "On top of that, they're wireless, so they'll have even more freedom of movement than Penny's Floating Array. She's gonna have to keep on her toes in order too..."

Then the sound of the countdown reached their ears.

* * *

"_Begin!_"

The second Oobleck's voice reached his ears, Lloyd smiled a little wider. He took a second to savor the anticipation of seeing how the girl in front of him struggled against his advanced technology. His finger moved towards the holographic interface hovering over the watch on his left arm, preparing to touch the command to activate his new weapon's attack program...

But Natsuki was right in front of him. Lloyd's eyes widened. He hadn't even seen her cross the distance between them. One second, she had been several meters away. In the next, she was suddenly right in front of him. There was a flash from the lights above glinting off the steel in her right hand, the kodachi lashing across her body to strike his right arm, knocking it away from the interface before Lloyd could touch the command key, while also stinging him with the sensation of her weapon's edge biting into his Aura.

Reflexively, Lloyd reeled back, trying to get away. He needed some space. However, just because Natsuki had prevented him from activating his weapon through the holographic interface didn't mean that Lloyd was out of options just yet. He could also activate his weapon verbally. He'd wanted to make a more casual display, but simply speaking the attack-command would have to suffice in this situation.

There was another flash from down below, this time coming from beneath Natsuki's right arm. Her left-handed Kodachi darted upwards, and Lloyd tensed, expecting to feel its point piercing into his Aura. However, Natsuki's thrust halted just a few inches away from his neck and chin. With the shorter length of her left-handed weapon, and the fact that she was thrusting from under her right arm, Natsuki must have misjudged her reach, so her attack had fallen short.

However, before Lloyd could fully articulate that, he saw Natsuki smile. "_Shakuran Entei!_" The point of her kodachi flashed, and a blast of flame erupted outward, engulfing Lloyd explosively. The heat seared his body mercilessly, and he found himself screaming as he was thrown backwards off the edge of the ring...leaving his weapons still hovering around the space where he'd been standing. A second later, the buzzer sounded.

* * *

"...Or he could go down like a total chump, before he could do a thing," said Piper, her eyes widening.

"From how you described him, I'm a bit surprised," said Miyu, now joining the conversation. "Surely there were individual matches where he had similar issues."

"Well...yeah...but not right away," said Piper.

"Even if an opponent can best him, it usually _is_ difficult to get around whatever weapon he might be using," added Rain. "I do not believe most other people are capable of closing as quickly as Ms. Shinomori is."

"In any case, it's a relief that he's out of the tournament," said Ciel, letting out a sigh.

* * *

Natsuki watched with a disappointed frown as the paramedics loaded Lloyd on a stretcher, carrying him out of the arena. His face had been blackened by soot, even though her flames hadn't ignited all that much on his body. The medics had been quick to assure her that he wasn't actually injured, more mentally shocked. It appeared that the fact he'd been defeated so quickly and easily had temporarily stupefied him.

She glanced over at one of the other medics, who had picked up the floating drones Lloyd had deployed, and was now carrying them off, along with the stunned boy. "Aww...I never got to see what they did. I guess I should've gone easier on him. Oh well..."

With that, she turned back towards the locker room. With her victory, the tournament quarterfinals were officially over.

* * *

Yang coughed into her hand self-importantly, before raising a glass. "And so...with the quarterfinals out of the way, let's officially congratulate everyone who made it into the next room."

She and all the others raised their glasses. "_CHEERS!_"

It was a substantial surprise that, after the quarterfinals had concluded, Yang had proposed that everyone assemble in the common room of Beacon's resident dorms, where they could celebrate the end of the round. Whatever Sasame had done to comfort her had apparently worked wonders, and Yang didn't display an iota of frustration at her being ousted from the tournament by Sun.

As such; RASP, RYNB, CPPR, MNPS, and SSSN; along with Ashley and Sasame; had all adjourned to the common room, and were sharing a round of refreshments.

To that end, Jaune had produced a pitcher of a crystal clear, ruby-tinted liquid from the refrigerator to pour for everyone. It proved to be sweet and tart drink, tasting vaguely of cranberries and other juices, while having a surprisingly rich mouthfeel.

"What is this?" asked Ruby, downing her portion with a gusto.

"Punch," answered Jaune, pouring her another glass

"What's in it?" asked Pyrrha, enjoying her portion with small sips.

"Cranberry juice, apple juice, lemon juice, black tea, allspice...and a secret ingredient," said Jaune teasingly.

Immediately, Ruby was in front of him, eyes narrowing accusingly. "Okay, out with it! What's the special ingredient?"

Jaune grinned. "It's one of your favorite things...milk."

"Huh!?" Jaune was the focus of several confused gazes. However, Yang chuckled and swirled the liquid in her glass, recognizing what Jaune had done.

"Milk?" Ruby stared at the clear liquid in her glass, scarcely imagining that anything so clear could have come from a white, opaque fluid like milk.

"Dang, Jaune," said Yang. "I didn't realize you knew about milk-washing."

"Yeah, it's something I learned from the family," explained Jaune. "Though I tweaked the original recipe to make it non-alcoholic."

"That's considerate of you," said Ruby, smiling sweetly at him.

While Beacon students were usually exempt from the normal age restrictions regarding the consumption of alcohol, it seemed that there was no way Glynda was willing to extend that so far as to allow a fifteen-year-old to drink. As such, Ruby had been informed by the Deputy Headmistress, very early on, that she would have to wait two more years before she was permitted to consume alcohol. Of course, it went without saying that their guests from Leng, as well as Oscar, were not permitted that privilege either.

For her part, Ruby didn't mind all that much. She'd never fully understood the appeal of liquor, for all that it had made her uncle do some rather silly things that stood out in her memory. It helped that, amongst her friends, Yang was the only one likely to frequent the bars with any degree of reliability, everyone else having particular reservations about going drinking too often, to say nothing of the fact that absolutely _none_ of them ever wanted to see what a drunken Nora was like.

She found herself standing alongside Sun, Natsuki, and Penny. Penny was the only one not holding a glass, for obvious reasons.

"Wow...so all four of us are in the next round," said Sun, grinning. "It's kinda weird that all of us are friends. You'd think it was pretty contrived."

"I guess we're all just _that_ good," said Natsuki cheerfully.

"We _are_ Sen-_sa-_tional," added Penny, grinning. "I can't wait to face one of you in the ring next."

"It's not until the day after tomorrow though," Ruby pointed out.

Penny's smile didn't falter in the slightest. "It seems we will have to wait."

The others laughed.

They began to mingle with the rest of their friends. As they did, Natsuki noticed someone in a green coat slipping outside. Setting her now-empty glass aside, she moved to follow him. She found Oscar out in the hallway, his own hands empty. As she closed the door behind her, he turned and smiled.

"Hey, congrats on winning," he said.

"Thanks," said Natsuki, folding her arms behind her back and edging closer.

"I was a bit worried for a moment. Ciel and her teammates were building that guy up into someone I was worried about." Oscar shook his head, smiling ruefully. "I should've known better than to think you couldn't handle it."

"I'm glad you worried about me," said Natsuki, advancing a couple of steps, until they were almost face to face.

Finding her so close made Oscar a little nervous. His cheeks turned red, and his eyes darted, but ultimately settled on meeting Natsuki's. He found himself returning her smile.

"You know...if we do this...it's gonna be hard to keep it up," he pointed out. "After the tournament, you'll be going back to Leng. I don't think we'll be seeing each other for a while."

Now it was Natsuki's turn to avert her eyes for a moment. "Yeah...that's gonna be tricky."

"I understand what Auntie Em was talking about now," said Oscar softly.

"About what?" asked Natsuki, turning her eyes back to Oscar curiously.

"About thinking about what comes after..." said Oscar, sighing a little. "She must've seen this coming. And she probably understood where that would leave us."

"I guess she did," said Natsuki. "Family is pretty amazing, huh?"

"They can be," said Oscar, chuckling.

"Even so...do you still want to try?" asked Natsuki.

"I...I do," said Oscar. "I have my doubts though."

"You do?" Natsuki's smile wilted.

"Not about you!" said Oscar quickly, holding up his hands. "I kinda doubt myself."

"You do...why?" asked Natsuki.

"After the festival is over, we'll go our separate ways," Oscar pointed out sadly. "I mean...time and distance like that...I don't know if...if I have that kinda strength."

Natsuki's smile returned, with a sly quality to it. "Oh, I think you do."

"Y-you do?" stammered Oscar, looking at her in surprise, with a hint of nervousness.

Natsuki's smile widened. "After all, even though you only knew her for a couple of days, you _really_ carried a torch for Ruby-chan, didn't you?"

"I-I..." Oscar's blush multiplied exponentially, threatening to spread across his entire face, before he grimaced and turned his eyes away from her. "Why do you have to bring that up again?"

"I'm not teasing you!" said Natsuki quickly. "It's just...even with that little, you had feelings that held on through all the years, even grew stronger." Her smile became warm. "So...I know you aren't the kind of person who'll just forget someone else so easily. If you and I do this, I know you'll hold onto your feelings for me for at least _as_ long as you would for Ruby-chan."

"O-oh..." Oscar's blush spread anyway.

Natsuki grinned, then closed the final distance between them, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Oscar found his arms going around her waist, pulling her slender form up against his own.

"So...in that case..." said Natsuki, her voice growing husky, "...what I need to do...is make sure I leave an even _bigger_ impression than Ruby-chan did."

"H-how?" stammered Oscar, though he was fairly certain that he already knew the answer.

Natsuki didn't say anything more. She simply leaned in, pressing her lips against Oscar's own. This was no swift peck, but a lingering kiss, one that Oscar found himself returning, his arms tightening their hold to press himself closer still. In that moment, all thoughts of the tournament, and everything else going on faded into the background...and there was only the two of them.

* * *

**Shorter chapter this time. Aside from Yang and Sun, I opted not to go into too much detail with the remaining fights in the quarterfinals to keep this arc from dragging out too much longer. Now then...**

**Athos Elwood: Some of you may recognize Athos as the name of one of the Three Musketeers. Given that's who this character was based on (by CRWBY's admission), I figured it was a good name for him. Elwood references trees, of course, which brings to mind green and brown colors. And, naturally, for a character inspired by the Three Musketeers, it's a given that he'd be using a sword of some kind.**

**Sunil Karim: I just reused his name from when I gave him one in _Lost Rose_. I changed up his weapon, because Ciel had the pata-sword this time. His new weapon is actually based on Harpe, the sword used by Perseus in Greek Mythology, though not the version that appears in the various Nasuverse series. Sadly, he once again gets to be Curb Stomped by Penny.**

**Lloyd Harford: I changed his name from _Lost Rose_ because...reasons...okay, no particular reason actually. In his case, I thought it would be funny to build him up into a more serious antagonistic opponent for the tournament...only to have him get wiped out easily.**


	139. Chapter 139

**Chapter 139:**

Even though the next day was a break-day between tournament rounds, there was a palpable excitement in the air throughout the festival grounds. With the semifinal participants having been decided, expectations for the next round were high. There was some degree of disappointment that Shade Academy had been knocked out of the running for the current tournament. However, given that Sun, while a Haven student, hailed from Vauco, people from his homeland were still excited about the possibility that he might be the one to win the title.

However, Ruby and Natsuki were the _real_ objects of interest, as far as the media was concerned. Ruby still had lingering traces from her brief fame, after that viral sparring match against Pyrrha. Even after her interview with Lisa, so many months ago, there were still tantalizing blanks in her history. Natsuki, on the other hand, was the subject of even greater speculation. After all, she and her teammates had come out of absolutely _nowhere_ to fight their way all the way into the semifinals. With no Academy or known background, they were pretty much the perfect example of mysterious strangers who had arrived to throw things into total chaos...sort of.

A fair few people were miffed about these unknown and unaffiliated people displacing participants with known histories. However, the majority were excited by the appearance and performance of this unexpected dark horse, who'd unseated contenders from the established Academies. Above all else, _everyone_ wanted to know who the members of Team MNPS were, and where they'd come from.

Thanks to that, they'd received more than a few requests for interviews. Of course, with all of them, save for Oscar, lacking scrolls, they were hard to get in touch with. Fortunately, the regulations concerning the festival grounds prevented reporters from staking them out. Instead, the real risk came when they went into Vale. But it was rather easy to get lost within the throngs of people, allowing them to slip past even the most persistent reporters unnoticed.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" asked Ruby, looking worriedly at her friends from Leng, along with Oscar.

"Well, at some point, we will have to explain the truth," said Ozpin, looking over the small, but eclectic group of people that had assembled in his office. "Conducting an interview with Ms. Lavender would be our best opportunity to do that."

"I'm a bit worried though," said Ruby. "After Ayers..."

"The remaining two Council members are not so hostile as he was," said Ozpin. "That having been said, they are still fairly close-minded." He smirked. "However, I have received more than a few questions from them about where Team Meconopsis came from. It would seem that their performance has aroused a great deal of curiosity."

"That's good," said Ruby, "I think..."

"It is," said Ozpin, chuckling. "James and I have been meeting those inquiries with polite deflections for the time being. However, the time will soon come for us to come clean."

"So you're thinking about the day after the semifinal round?" asked Ruby.

"That would be for the best," said Ozpin. "Should Ms. Shinomori advance, it is customary to hold an interview with the finalists to begin with. Should she fall out there, curiosity will undoubtedly remain. For someone without a known background to make it this far through the tournament is a remarkable achievement, especially since she and her team's involvement was decided on with such short notice."

"It would certainly stoke interest in the Mibu," commented Miyu, canting her head.

"Even if the Council disapproves, they will have a great deal of difficulty censuring people's curiosity, after a Mibu has achieved such a remarkable feat," said Ozpin.

"Though I imagine that pulling such a move would undoubtedly earn you a great deal of their animosity," commented Sasame. "After all, those with power typically do not like being slighted or outmaneuvered, and I suspect the members of Vale's Council would see it as both, even if you only intended the latter."

"I _will_ be spending a great deal of what goodwill I have left with them," said Ozpin with a small sigh. "Having housed Kyo at Beacon for so long, I am treading on thin ice as it is. However, with this, I believe they will not have the wherewithal to remove me _or_ oppose an exchange program with the Mibu."

"So how will this work?" asked Setsuna. "Are they going to have all three of us there?"

"All _four_ of you, actually," said Ozpin.

"Huh?"

It was Oscar who'd blurted out that surprised noise. "W-wait...they want to interview _me_ too?"

"That they do," said Ozpin, chuckling softly. "That's not much of a surprise, Mr. Pine. You do have a public footprint...but a very small one. Your training under Ms. Calavera is an informal arrangement, so, as far as anyone knows, you are a young man from a farm in Mistral, with nothing to suggest that you have any connection with the world of Huntsmen and Huntresses. There _is_ mention of the loss of your parents, due to a Grimm attack on your original home, but that is relatively minor, in the eyes of most people."

"Yeah...minor..." muttered Oscar, his eyes lowering. Beside him, Natsuki rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I do not mean to disparage your loss," said Ozpin calmly. "While severe to you substantially, it is also nothing new. There are countless people the world over who have lost family to the Grimm. Amongst students at the Academies, there are more than a few who were spurred into their current careers by such losses. So please do not take it as an insult."

"Well...that makes sense," admitted Oscar with a small shrug. "But still...they want to interview me too?"

"In some senses, your performance in the first round was even _more_ remarkable than that of your teammates," said Ozpin, chuckling. "Given that Ms. Rose has had the better part of her first year to establish herself, the idea of fifteen-year-olds holding their own against other students is not so odd now. However, someone who is only thirteen managing much the same is _quite_ remarkable, and a laudable feat."

Oscar blushed, while Natsuki giggled beside him. Ruby giggled too. Sasame wrapped her tail around her front, using it to hide her smile, while Miyu and Setsuna looked on fondly.

"W-well...what do I say?" asked Oscar. "I mean...I was just picked to round out the number of team members, really. Wouldn't having me at the interview distract from the whole thing about the Mibu?"

"It might be a small distraction, but minor overall," said Ozpin. "In addition, I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to establish yourself. You have been personally trained, but have no standing record at any known Combat School. With your achievement in the tournament, even if you only participated in the first round, you can practically be counted on to have carte blanche to attend whatever institution you so choose.

"I myself am more than happy to extend an invitation for you to attend Beacon in at least two more years. I would actually be willing to invite you in at the beginning of next year, but Glynda has made it clear to me that she will be drawing the line at Ms. Rose's current age."

"Um...wow..." said Oscar, awed by the idea.

"I think it'll be great to have Oscar there too," said Natsuki, beaming.

"Okay..." said Oscar, before shivering. "What's Auntie Em going to say about this?"

"She might be a little concerned," commented Sasame cheerfully. "But it is the natural consequence of someone performing such a remarkable feat that they be lauded for it. So it isn't something that you need worry about her complaining about...at least not to you."

"That's good...I guess..." said Oscar, still a bit dubious at the notion.

"That having been said, I recommend that Ms. Rose also attend the interview," said Ozpin.

"I figured you'd say that," said Ruby.

Ozpin smiled at her. "Well...you _are_ the original representative of the Mibu present in Vale, even if you were originally born in this Kingdom."

"Won't that make people upset though?" asked Ruby. "I mean, it might sound like I was conspiring with Natsu-chan to help her and the others get this far."

"That kind of speculation is likely to happen in any case," said Ozpin. "However, under even loose scrutiny, it won't bear fruit, given that there is virtually nothing you could have done that would have given your friends a leg-up on the competition. The closest thing to favorable treatment they received was knowing that they would have until the last match of the first round to prepare themselves. Once their circumstances are laid out, I do not think it will be hard for people to accept that minor allowance."

"I hope so..." said Ruby worriedly.

"For the time being, don't trouble yourself over it too much," said Ozpin. "You and Ms. Shinomori have the next round to prepare for, however much preparation you think you do or don't need."

"Right..." said Ruby, the others nodding their agreement.

* * *

With the arrival of the next day came the semifinal round of the tournament. The four remaining participants reported to the locker room, taking only one between all of them, and waiting eagerly to see who would be called out to fight who. Even within the room, with them and a selection of their friends, the air was charged with excitement, practically crackling to the extent that eyes occasionally went to Ruby to check that she wasn't unintentionally using her lightning.

Finally, the appointed hour arrived. The rest of their friends left to see themselves to the seats, while the four semifinalists awaited with bated breath to see who would be called to the first match of the evening.

After a few minutes of warming up the crowds, Port and Oobleck began the participant selection. When the two portraits appeared, a quartet of sharp intakes of breath were audible in the air of the locker room.

Penny Polendina and Sun Wukong were the first pair.

"Um...Wow..." said Sun, his eyes going wide.

"I look forward to a sen-_sa-_tional match," said Penny, grinning at him.

In the meantime, Ruby and Natsuki's eyes had simultaneously widened, their gazes immediately going to each other as the implications of the matchup sank in. Then they broke into grins, giggling excitedly. Setting their own impending match aside, Ruby went to Sun and patted his arm. "Good luck out there," she said.

"Yeah," agreed Natsuki.

"You aren't going to wish _me_ luck, Ruby?" asked Penny, sounding slightly disappointed.

"I _really_ don't think you'll need it," Ruby pointed out.

"She's not wrong," Sun conceded, easily remembering just how overwhelming Penny had been in all her previous bouts. Even _he_ was under no illusions that this was going to be an easy battle for him.

"This is gonna be awesome to watch!" declared Natsuki.

Penny and Sun quickly made their way out to the ring.

* * *

Once they'd taken their positions, the pair waited for the inner-ring to rise up. Once there, Sun felt his nervousness compounded. He would have liked to have the biome system at the very least, as different terrains might have given him an edge that could make up the difference in power between him and Penny. With her extremely mobile weapons, Penny likely had command of the entire space encompassing the much more limited area of the inner-ring, making it so that there was no place Sun could move to secure a respite from the relentless attacks that were sure to come. In addition to his opponent's capability, conditions were undoubtedly in her favor as well.

Nonetheless, Sun adopted a confident smile, drawing his staff and deploying it to its full length with a spinning flourish, before settling into his starting stance, with the shaft of weapon extending up behind his back at an angle. Meanwhile, Penny deployed her own weapons, her wired swords levitating out of her backpack, arraying themselves behind her to either side, like the feathers of a pair of invisible wings, the wires themselves virtually invisible, only occasionally appearing as the lights from above glinted off them.

Finally, the signal to begin arrived.

Realizing that leaving Penny at a distance would only wind up with him at a disadvantage, Sun determined that his only hope of beating her was to get in close. Given that his weapons, even the guns built into the nunchucks that made up his staff, were primarily close-range in nature, he knew full-well that he wouldn't have a prayer, if Penny managed to keep him at a distance. As such, the instant Oobleck's shout of "_Begin!_" echoed through the stadium, Sun charged forward.

It came as something of a surprise when Penny did the same. Separating out six of her swords, Penny converted them to their gun-modes, forming them into sets of three at her hips, where they revolved around one another, their barrels pointing down and behind her. A second later, jets of green energy sent her rocketing forward, just as they had during the beginning of CPPR's match with Team CRDL.

Sun's eyes widened in dismay, but he held his course. It was a startling reminder that, while she was dangerous at range, Penny could be just as, if not more, devastating up close and personal, where she could bring her prodigious strength into play.

While she'd deployed six of her blades for propulsion, four remained. Those Penny launched ahead of herself like arrows, the swords flying point-first at Sun's body. Sun quickly deflected them with swift spins of his staff, refusing to let his opponent check his momentum, determined not to be caught flat-footed by her moves. When they closed into melee range, Penny kicked off the floor, sending her body into a flying spin, while recalling the blades she was using for propulsion, returning them to their sword-modes, and sweeping them around her body, directing them down in a series of successive slashes. Sun quickly raised his staff to counter, finding his own momentum fully checked by the power behind Penny's attacks.

Still, Sun refused to be cowed. As the swords' edges glanced off the shaft of his staff, stopping his forward movement, then sending his feet skidding backwards, he immediately transitioned to a strike of his own, swinging his staff straight for the side of Penny's torso. However, Penny just as quickly brought the trailing blade of the ones she'd just used to attack up to intercept Sun's staff, stopping his swing cold.

A whirring sound reached Sun's ears, and he caught the light glinting off the wires extending from Penny's back...and past his own body. His eyes widening, Sun felt the movement in the air behind him, and he immediately jumped into a spinning flip, managing to slip between two of the blades that Penny had drawn back from behind him, while batting aside the remaining two with his staff. Penny quickly pulled back the four swords she'd launched to join the other six, which she set to revolving like the spokes of an invisible wheel, before sending the entire formation flying straight at Sun. His feet touching down, Sun barely had any time to see Penny's next attack coming. He allowed his legs to go limp, this body dropping backwards, so that the whirling edges of Penny's weapons cleaved through the air mere centimeters away from his face, the entire formation flying past.

Instead of falling all the way down to the ring, Sun's descent halted abruptly, his body propped up by his tail. Pushing off, he launched himself at Penny, aiming to get to her before she could recall her swords, determined to land a blow. However, his eyes widened again, and Penny crossed a pair of swords, held in her hands, to intercept the descending shaft of his staff, stopping his attack again, revealing that she'd had not ten, but _twelve_ blades at her disposal (and she might have more, for all he knew). Despite his surprise, Sun wasn't about to let Penny trip him up so easily. Even as his staff made contact with her crossed swords, he unlocked its length, the staff separating into two sets of gun-chucks.

Before Penny could react, the force of the blow she'd been fending off seemed to vanish, while Sun deftly spun the weapons in his hands, aligning the barrels of one of each shotguns with Penny's torso, and squeezing off two shots in rapid succession. Both shots struck home, eliciting a startled squeak from Penny, who stumbled back.

Sun immediately pressed the attack, prepared to launch his well known continuous attack, simultaneously striking with one end of his weapon, while firing the other, using the spinning and twirling movements to switch guns, while chambering fresh rounds in the others. The fierce, bewildering onslaught had overwhelmed many an opponent, and with only two swords in her hands, Penny would be hard-pressed to keep up.

Except that her other swords were now returning, arrowing in at Sun from behind. Six of them dived straight for his back, while four spread out through the air in a wider radius, transforming into their gun-modes. Sun countered the incoming swords, batting them away by whirling his gun-chucks around his body, even deflecting a pair of them with well placed shots, firing from his left hand, which he'd angled under his right armpit, while hitting another with a shot from his right hand over his left shoulder. Doing so had barely even checked his offense against Penny, until the four guns hovering at the fringes of the fight opened fire, sending streams of green energy lancing down at Sun from different directions.

Sun jumped and flipped, managing to dodge between the beams Penny's guns fired, even as he continued to bat away her swords, while doing his utmost to keep close to Penny, which would limit the angles her weapons could attack from, so that they didn't hit her own body. However, with the intense multi-vector attack he was subjected to, Sun's own offense was undermined by his need to evade and defend, preventing him from fully subjecting Penny to his usual attack-pattern. At the same time though, his fantastic skill and agility kept any of Penny's own attacks from landing, and the two of them were engaged in a frantic stalemate, neither managing to land a blow.

It was a sight to behold. Sun was a spinning blur, spinning and flipping continuously, his weapons red and gold blurs around his body, their swift movements punctuated by gunshots. Penny's swords were green and gray blurs of their own, converging on Sun's body from all directions, while the four guns orbited around the battle as a whole, continuously changing their elevation in order to alter their angle of attack to try and catch Penny's agile opponent off-guard. Sparks flashed where blade met flail or bullet. Penny herself didn't remain disengaged from the match, instead stepping right in, wielding the swords she gripped in her hands with her signature raw power. Sun frequently evaded or deflected her attacks, rather than try to block outright, knowing that any such effort could send him flying away, sure to build a distance between them that would allow Penny to maneuver her weapons more freely. His spinning and flipping sent him moving around Penny, the girl doing her best to turn and follow him, even as her swords continued their onslaught.

* * *

The crowd roared their approval. This was a match worthy of the tournament's semifinals. Both contestants were displaying their best skills, and putting on a show that had everyone on the edge of their seats.

In one of the skyboxes lining the upper rim of the arena, Ironwood and Pietro watched with bated breath.

"I wasn't expecting Penny to struggle so much," said Pietro. "This boy has just as much potential as that Bronzewing fellow."

"Sun Wukong has been involved with some of the same investigations and battles as Team Raspberry and Rainbow," commented Ironwood, pulling out his scroll and opening up a profile on Sun. "On top of that, being from Vacuo, he has a degree of experience that belies his age. His records at Oscuro Academy are rife with minor disciplinary infractions. However, aside from that, his assessments were stellar, with his combat capability noted to be best in his year."

"Quite the achievement," noted Pietro. "Vacuo's Combat Schools are extremely competitive, even by the usual standards of such institutions."

"Sun-kun _is_ quite the breath of fresh air," observed Kyo, who was sitting just a few seats down, next to Amber. "He was quite entertaining to spar with."

"I don't suppose you got around to teaching him the same Aura-techniques you've taught your sister?" asked Ozpin, sitting another seat down, right at the end of the row.

"Sadly, I did not get the opportunity," said Kyo. "It's a shame. I get the feeling Sun-kun would be quite the adept student."

"He seems like the kind of guy who'd have a hard time standing still long enough to master Temper though," said Amber.

"You think so?" mused Kyo. "He strikes me as the kind of person who, with the right motivation, would be capable of almost anything."

"Still, I can't imagine this stalemate lasting much longer," said Ironwood, returning his attention to match itself. "However skilled he may be, he has no hope against Penny in a war of attrition."

"Very true," agreed Pietro. "A pity, really."

"And yet, we might be in for a surprise or two," said Kyo, chuckling to himself. "Surely, Sun-kun is well aware of the disparity in stamina between himself and Penny-chan. I suspect that, before the balance shifts, he will make a move to strike decisively. Whether or not he can make that work will be what _truly_ decides the match between the two of them."

* * *

Yang found herself leaning forward in her seat. "Dang! Sun's putting up a hell of a fight."

"He's doing much better than I expected," said Ciel. Hearing a disgruntled snort from Neptune, she winced slightly. "I didn't mean to disparage his skill," she said quickly.

"Penny's a handful, especially one-on-one," added Piper.

"Although, the nature of her weapon actually makes her _more_ adept at fighting groups of opponents than individuals," commented Rain. "Mr. Wukong is definitely employing the best possible strategy to use against her."

"He won't hold up much longer though," said Scarlet worriedly.

"Yeah," agreed Sage. "She's not giving him an inch. He can't keep up that level of concentration and movement forever. But Penny doesn't look like she'll be running out of steam anytime soon."

_And she won't,_ thought the members of RASP, RYNB, and CPPR together. Penny's android body seemed to possess limitless stamina. If there was a limit to her power supply, none of them had ever seen her reach it. It certainly seemed impossible that she would run out of energy in a match against a single opponent, no matter how frenetic the pace was. Of course, if she was being pressed by the pace of the match, then the strain had to be all that much greater for her opponent.

Yang glanced over at the three members of team MNPS, in the seats next to her, along with Sasame. They were all watching the battle with interest. They lacked the personal involvement that CPPR, SSSN, RASP, and RYNB had in the match's outcome, but they were engrossed by the sheer spectacle of it. Sasame in particular leaned forward in her seat, her tail wagging energetically behind her.

"I'm a bit surprised that this match is still going," commented Ashley softly, leaning over to whisper her words into Weiss' ear.

Weiss nodded. "I always find myself underestimating Sun," she admitted. "That boy is amazing, if he's able to keep up this level of combat for this long."

They glanced over at one member of their group who'd remained completely silent throughout the whole conversation. Blake hadn't said a single word, in sharp contrast to the others, with even Ren chiming in from time to time. Blake didn't even appear to notice what anyone was saying, the entirety of her attention riveted to the arena, and the two figures battling it out within, her knuckles white from the pressure her fingers exerted, as they clenched around the ends of the arms of her seat. She had leaned forward, eyes fixed on Sun, ears standing upright beneath her bow, excited tension in every line of her body, throat bobbing and breath catching with every close-call and near miss. Anyone who thought of bringing her into the conversation was quick to notice her complete engagement...and swiftly think better of the notion, not wanting to distract her.

_Yep...she's got it bad,_ thought Yang with a wry smile.

* * *

Sun knew he couldn't keep this up much longer. His arms and legs were burning from the exertion. His throat was scorched by each breath he took, his mouth drier than the deserts he'd once called home. His eyes throbbed from dealing with the constant kaleidoscope of whirling images caused by his frantic flipping and spinning, barely able to follow the movements of the swords around him. For the most part, he'd given up trying to use his eyes entirely, instead relying on feeling and hearing the swords come at him. It was a trick he'd learned back in Vacuo, one of the most essential elements of learning to survive and fight in those wastelands..._Listen to the voice of the desert._

Of course, this was not desert. But the principle was the same. In Vacuo, winds could whip up storms of sand at a second's notice, the blurring clouds of airborne particles obscuring the space around one mere feet in front of one's face. Those who learned to fight in such environs quickly learned not to rely solely upon their eyes. Thanks to his practice in that, Sun was able to keep Penny's swords and guns at bay...for now.

But he knew it wouldn't be long now. All it would take was a single tremor, a misplaced step; even the smallest degree of faltering would leave him wide open, and Penny would immediately go on the attack without reservation. So, before his focus gave out, Sun _had_ to make his move.

Diving past Penny once again, Sun wrapped his tail around her leg. It took all his strength to yank her foot out from under her. He was shocked by just how heavy the girl's deceptively small frame was. But still, with a grunt of effort, he managed it, making Penny squeak as she stumbled forward. Sun flipped away behind her, grimacing as the edge of one of her swords clipped his Aura right where his neck met his shoulder, followed by a beam from one of her guns searing the side of his torso. But this was his chance.

A deft movement of his hands allowed Sun to bring the handles of his respective weapons together, grasping both guns that made up his gun-chucks, so that the barrels aligned, before holding them up in front of him, bringing both sets of barrels almost right up against each other. Sun triggered all four guns at the same time. The discharges of the Dust-rounds merged together into a single, powerful bolt, which flew straight at Penny. However, the slight delay caused by how unexpected her weight had been had slowed Sun's movements down enough that Penny was able to see his attack coming, even while she recovered from her stumble.

Penny swiftly countered, using the slight opening to recover all ten of her attacking swords, which arranged themselves into a rapidly revolving wheel-formation in front of her, catching his shot, and dispersing it with her rapidly-moving blades.

Except that that was what Sun had been banking on. He'd seen this particular defense of Penny's plenty of times before. As such, he knew that this would be the ideal time to strike. Even as his shot splashed against her defense, Sun quickly rejoined his guns together to form his staff once more, then lunged forward, thrusting his staff forward as though it were a spear, aiming it directly through the center of Penny's defense-formation, the minute opening between the inward-pointing handles of her revolving swords.

His staff rushed straight for her unguarded-stomach...only to come to a halt, less than an inch away from hitting its target. Sun grunted, caught by surprise at having his attack suddenly stopped, arms screaming from the strain, feeling as though something was pulling hard against the force of his thrust.

Then his eyes caught a glint of light from above, the light reflecting off several silver lines, which now spiraled around the shaft of his staff, before extending out to meet the handles of Penny's swords. _Crap!_ thought Sun, realizing that he'd completely forgotten about the wires.

He had just enough time to catch a triumphant smile flash across Penny's face, before she moved her arms, directing the sword-wheel to fly upwards. Sun's grip had been weakened by having his attack suddenly stopped, so Penny's sudden move quickly wrenched the staff out of his hands, sending it spinning up and into the air.

However, Penny's triumph was short-lived. Even as the staff left his grip, Sun was already countering...by bringing his hands together in front of himself, clasping them together as though in prayer.

In her peripheral vision, Penny noticed a golden flash, emanating from somewhere behind her. Her proximity sensors went off. But, by then, it was too late. She felt a foot slam into the small of her back, sending her stumbling forward. Then another flash appeared behind her, a golden clone of Sun himself strobing into being, already going into a roll so that Penny's stumble threatened to send her collapsing right onto it. The clone's roll allowed it to plant its hands, before it kicked straight up with both feet, right into Penny's sternum, the power behind the hit launching her upwards, despite her substantial weight.

While flying upwards, Penny was alerted by a flash from above, accompanying the appearance of yet _another_ clone, this one holding a replica of Sun's staff, which it brought down in a two-handed hammer-blow...right across Penny's back, sending her rocketing back down, where the second clone to appear leapt back to make room for a fourth clone, which also had a staff. Raising the staff up over its head resulted in Penny's stomach slamming down against the shaft, her body folding over it. Were she a normal human, with actual lungs, Penny would have had the breath driven from them in an instant.

Penny's momentum ultimately caused her to flip forward over the staff. Despite the impacts she'd just taken, she still reacted with perfect alacrity, holding out her hands to catch her fall, and going into a roll that would bring her back to her feet. Except...when she came back up, it was just in time to meet a fist to the face from the second clone, the punch sending her stumbling back towards the fourth, which wasted no time slamming its staff into the back of her head.

Penny cried out, but was left defenseless when the first and third clones joined the fray, the third descending from above to slam its staff into the top of Penny's head, while the first stepped past the fourth to swing its leg around in a roundhouse, right into Penny's stomach. The four clones quickly arrayed themselves around Penny, launching a continuous offense that sent her reeling from one to the other.

Standing aside from the melee, Sun remained where he was, hands clasped together. A strained groan emerged from within his clenched teeth, his legs beginning to tremble. Creating, maintaining, and controlling so many clones at once was pushing his strength to its limit. At this point, he was simply trying to overwhelm Penny with a continuous attack, hopefully bringing her Aura all the way down before she could find her footing and counterattack, and before his own strength gave out.

However, Penny wasn't going to let herself be stymied so easily. One of the major advantages of her android body was that she wasn't distracted from controlling her weapons as easily as a human in her position would have been. Even as she was being battered by Sun's clones, her wires were already unwinding from being wrapped around Sun's staff. A few seconds into the attack, she'd managed to untangle them completely. The next, she sent her swords arrowing down in a rain of blades, several of which ran through Sun's clones.

Sun grimaced, releasing his hands and jumping back. A shadow flickering above prompted his eyes to widen, and he marked the arc his staff traced through the air as it tumbled end over end. Fortunately, Penny had just been concerned with freeing up her swords, otherwise she might have given thought to sending Sun's weapon flying out of the ring entirely.

However, he could see his time was limited. In front of him, Penny hadn't bothered resuming her previous attacks. Instead, she'd collected her swords in front of her, shifting them into their gun-modes, and set them to revolving in a cylindrical formation that he remembered all too well from the battle at the docks.

Penny adopted a different pose this time, holding her hands up together, off to one side, so that her wrists were pressed together, palms facing outwards, the fingers of her left hand oriented upwards, while those of her right were oriented downwards, the digits of both hands curled slightly so the tips pointed forward. Specifically, it reminded Sun of an attack-pose from an anime he'd seen in Mistral...though he couldn't quite place it.

Although that realization was secondary to the crackling orb of emerald energy, rapidly growing in intensity in the center of Penny's gun-formation. Reaching up, Sun snatched his staff out of the air with no time to spare as Penny thrust her palms forward, unleashing a powerful beam of energy that lanced out at him. Having no time to dodge, Sun spun his staff rapidly, catching and dispersing the energy of Penny's attack. However, the raw force behind it sent his feet sliding across the ring, Penny's attack gradually pushing him towards the edge.

Groaning and straining, Sun resisted with all his strength, while maintaining his spin. The energy of Penny's attack crackled outwards from where it met his staff, washing outwards in a curtain of emerald light, which was quite beautiful to look at. However, it completely swamped Sun's vision, preventing him from seeing what Penny was up to as she changed gears.

Still holding her right hand up against her energy attack, Penny lowered her left hand, then held it out to the side. Three of the guns left the main formation, before forming a smaller one down and to the left of her, another, smaller orb building between them. Naturally, the pressure of her original attack slacked as a result, and Sun's backwards skid came to an end, Sun now able to hold his position. However, he still couldn't see what Penny was doing, assuming that her attack was running out of steam.

Penny's new attack shifted at an angle that would allow it to shoot past the barrier of Sun's spinning staff. The energy between the barrels of those three guns rapidly intensified to the point where Penny was ready to fire. A second emerald laser lashed out at Sun, threatening to catch him in the torso, and blast him off the edge of the ring at an angle.

However, at the last second, Sun caught an inkling of the threat. It wasn't any specific cue that alerted him. Instead, it was that same skill that had enabled him to keep up with Penny's intense multi-vector/multi-range attack before, the skill he'd cultivated in the wastelands of Vacuo. _Listen to the voice of the desert._

Abruptly, Sun knew he couldn't stay where he was. Pushing with all his strength, he shifted his spinning staff to the side, angling how he deflected Penny's original blast, then throwing himself aside with all his strength, the pressure of Penny's own attack aiding his movement, sending him flying off to the side, just as the beam of her second shot ripped through the air where he'd been standing before.

Sun landed in a roll, coming back to his feet, staff held at the ready, already shifting forward in preparation to charge in and resume the fight. Penny turned to meet him, her guns unfolding back into swords, angling to intercept...when Sun fell forward, landing flat on his face. Hitting the floor of the ring, he didn't move again. His staff clattered off the metal floor, rolling to a stop a short distance away.

Penny gasped, retracting her swords, then rushing to Sun's prone form, her sensors already telling her what the tournament staff were working out for themselves. Sun had passed out from exhaustion. Even though he'd still had a small amount of Aura left, before he'd be disqualified, he'd pushed both his body and mind past their breaking point. As a result, he'd simply lost the ability to continue fighting, everything going black for him.

Carefully, Penny rolled Sun over onto his back, checking his condition, before sagging in relief when she was able to determine he wasn't in any real danger. Already, Port and Oobleck were calling the match, informing the audience of what had just happened. The inner-ring was descending, and Penny could see the medics already rushing towards them with a stretcher. She helped them load Sun up, and then watched as they made their departure.

* * *

"Dang...that's gotta be a hard way to go," said Yang, wincing in sympathy.

"I don't know," said Piper. "As ways to lose go, that's pretty badass. He pushed himself past his own limits so much that he simply ran out of steam before Penny had a chance to knock him out."

"Regardless of how his match ended, there is no question that the fight he put up was indeed a worthy one," said Rain. "Mr. Bronzewing did not press Penny that hard in their fight."

"He has every right to be proud," added Ciel, smiling as she looked down at Penny, who'd been too busy worrying over Sun to realize that she'd won just yet. When it finally dawned on her, she glanced up towards the crowds in confusion, looking almost lost by the fact that they were cheering for her. Once the truth sank in, she let a small grin spread across her face, before giving the audience a shy wave.

"We all knew that fight was an uphill one for him," said Sage. "And no one can say he didn't give it his all."

"No kidding," said Jaune. "I thought Penny had him there for a second, at the end. But he still managed to get out of that."

"And he was willing to keep going, before he collapsed," said Pyrrha. "His body just reached its limit before his will to fight did."

"I hope he takes it all right," said Scarlet.

"I think he'll be fine," commented Sasame cheerfully. "After all, even if he didn't win the match, I think he'll end today with something far more worthwhile than that."

Wondering what Sasame was talking about, Yang looked at the fox-faunus in confusion.

"Hey, where's Blake?"

Nora's question prompted Yang to flinch, and she looked around in confusion, before realizing that the seat Blake had been occupying earlier was suddenly empty.

"Blake-chan departed as soon as the medics started carrying Sun-kun out," said Sasame. "I have no doubt that she intends to be there when he awakens, which will be excellent consolation for his loss, I should say."

"Yeah, I think that'll do it for him," said Yang, grinning at the idea.

* * *

"Hi, Ruby," said Penny, entering the locker room.

"Congratulations, Penny," said Ruby, beaming at her friend, before noticing that Penny's normally bubbly demeanor seemed strangely subdued. "Are you okay?"

"I am fine," said Penny deliberately. "I just was not expecting to win like that."

"Yeah, well...with how you were fighting earlier, I'm amazed Sun-kun was able to hold out for as long as he did," said Natsuki.

"He surprised me as well," admitted Penny rather easily. "I thought I had him several times, only for him to keep turning the tables on me. I honestly wasn't sure what to do next, when he collapsed."

Ruby nodded. She'd honestly been amazed by Sun's perseverance, which had enabled him to escape from one seemingly-impossible situation after another. He'd given a hundred-and-twenty, if not a hundred-and-fifty-percent in this fight. Ironically, it was that intense practice of pushing past his limits that had become his undoing, his own body giving out before he was able to be defeated in a more conventional fashion.

While they were talking, the holo-screen in the locker room was broadcasting the post-fight commentary. While the commentators had a great deal of praise for Penny, the bulk of their compliments went to Sun, highlighting his skill, resourcefulness, and perseverance, with Port in particular proudly proclaiming Sun's "manly virtues".

Going over to Penny, Ruby pulled her android friend into a hug. "You should be proud, Penny. Sun was a tough opponent."

"He was," agreed Penny. "I feel accomplished, by being able to defeat him."

"Good," said Ruby.

She guided Penny to the couch, setting her down between herself and Natsuki, the two of them chatting with their friend, idling away the minutes until the beginning of the next match. Penny gradually relaxed, and quickly regained her bubbly personality, the three of them making the most of the time they had left, before Ruby and Natsuki's turn in the ring came.

* * *

Half an hour after the end of Penny and Sun's bout, the time arrived for Ruby and Natsuki to take to the ring. Up in the stands, their friends leaned forward expectantly.

"This is gonna be a fight to remember," said Setsuna, smirking.

"Who do you think is going to win?" asked Oscar.

"Well...probably eight times out of ten, I'd call this fight for Ruby-chan," said Miyu softly.

"Really?" asked Oscar.

"Ruby-chan is frightfully-talented," elaborated Miyu. "On top of that, her natural perseverance combined with that to produce explosive growth. Furthermore, her own training was very carefully crafted by her teachers."

"The biggest edge that Ruby-chan has over Natsu-chan is sheer experience," said Setsuna. "Even before she came to Beacon, her brother and sister had already taken her out on multiple excursions."

Sasame nodded. "Much of that was training that wasn't necessarily directly linked to fighting," she said. "However, there's no question that Ruby-chan experienced plenty of real-world combat scenarios."

"Even back in Leng, she was fending off assassination attempts," added Setsuna.

"And the breadth of her experience has only _grown_, since coming to Beacon," said Miyu, "considering all the things she's been involved in."

Oscar wilted slightly. Glancing sidelong at him, Sasame smiled warmly. "Which isn't to say that Natsu-chan is completely outmatched. She has no shortage of talent herself. On top of that, she received extremely specialized instruction in an established style. Compared to Ruby-chan, who has been piecing together her own style as she goes, Natsu-chan's own skills are much more polished."

"That's the advantage of working within an established style over making your own," commented Setsuna. "Maybe you can create a style that's a superior expression of your own personal tendencies, but there's going to be a lot of trial and error involved. If you stick to an established style, you can take full advantage of the advances and developments made by previous practitioners to get a leg up, and work towards proficiency, then mastery, at a faster pace."

Sasame hugged her tail to her front. "Indeed, Ruby-chan's current style is unquestionably the one best suited to her. And yet, it _still_ has yet to achieve its final form, until she has fully adapted and consolidated all that she has learned over the course of her training and battles. Whether or not that will be a decisive difference between her and Natsu-chan is what we shall see from here on out."

* * *

Ruby and Natsuki didn't hurry as they headed out to the ring. As it was, the intense pressure from the cheering crowds was almost physically palpable. Coming to a stop in the center of the ring, just outside of melee range from each other, they turned to face one another.

"Ready, Ruby-chan?" asked Natsuki, an eager, yet nervous energy emanating her, a rather jarring contrast to the bravado she'd spouted before the quarterfinals.

"As I'll ever be," said Ruby, feeling the same excited quiver in her stomach.

This was her best friend from back home. They'd sparred before. But it had usually been about polishing their techniques against each other. Despite Natsuki's words from before, they'd never actually _competed_ against one another, really striving to overcome the other in pitched battle. In a sense, this was their first_ real_ fight. The thought of facing down her best friend like this had Ruby feeling both nervous and excited.

While she'd seen what Natsuki was capable of in the previous rounds, Ruby still wasn't sure that she'd seen the upper-limit of her skill. After spending months away from home, Ruby had no idea just how far Natsuki had come. She got the feeling she'd find out in this match.

Then something occurred to her. "Hey, Natsu-chan..."

"Yeah?" replied Natsuki.

Ruby gave her a grin. "Let's go full-throttle, right out of the gate."

"Why?" asked Natsuki, canting her head slightly.

"Well...we're kinda here for the Mibu too," said Ruby, her grin widening. "Let's _really_ give everyone a show then."

"Yeah!" agreed Natsuki, now grinning herself. "Let's make it flashy, Ruby-chan."

"It's the Vytal Festival Tournament," said Ruby. "There's really no other way to go."

The two of them drew their weapons. Ruby separated Akaibara, taking up her stance, Bara held out in front of her, while her right arm stretched up over her head, holding Ibara so that it was pointing downwards, running parallel to the line of her spine. Natsuki drew her kodachi, adopting a more orthodox stance, the longer one held out in front of her, while the shorter one was angled behind it.

The two of them waited for the signal, their focus narrowing towards one another. As it was, they were only just barely aware when Oobleck began the countdown.

"_Three...two...one...BEGIN!_"

* * *

**I've gone over potential Penny vs Sun scenarios a lot in my head for a long time, which makes me glad that I finally got to write it. All things considered, given how crazy-strong she can be, Penny's victory seemed a given to me, though I suppose there's plenty of argument for Sun edging out a win, in the right circumstances.**


	140. Chapter 140

**Chapter 140:**

Ruby and Natsuki seemed to vanish, their bodies flickering out of sight. Then, almost perfectly halfway between them, the ring seemed to explode with roaring flames and a clap of thunder. Only a scant handful of people in the entire arena had the training to spot the pair of figures colliding immediately before the explosion. Flames, with thorny arcs of lightning lashing through them billowed outwards.

The audience barely had enough time to process what had just happened before a pair of figures shot out from the conflagration. Ruby and Natsuki separated by the smallest of margins, before coming back together, their swords little more than streaks of light between them. Ruby's swords trailed crimson streamers of lightning. Natsuki's swords were wreathed with orange, yellow, and red flames. The air between their colliding weapons crackled and rippled, before exploding outwards yet again.

They separated, Natsuki skidding to a stop, only for Ruby to flash into being behind her, swords crossing through her. Natsuki's torso split apart in two places, before dissolving into flames. Then Natsuki seemed to materialize to Ruby's right, her kodachi slashing through Ruby's cloak. However, Ruby's cloak and hood dissolved into a cloud of petals, revealing nothing but empty air within. A flash of red drew Natsuki's attention to the air above her, and she saw Ruby descending, having rejoined both blades, now swinging Akaibara down with two hands, violet energy coalescing around the blade. Natsuki jumped back away, seeming to vanish, right before the violet-sheathed blade of Ruby's sword would have cleaved through her head.

Ruby's sword struck the ring with a crash of thunder, arcs of violet energy lashing out in every direction. The lashing arcs jumped to the still-drifting petals left behind from her her last evasion, igniting them and sending streamers of energy lashing out in every direction, spreading to cover nearly half of the ring in a virtual net of lightning, leaving no space for escape. Natsuki held up her shorter kodachi in a reverse-grip. The arcing plasma seemed to converge on the steel, the blade lighting up like a torch, though not outright bursting into flame. As soon as it made contact with the lightning, Natsuki let out a shout, slashing across her body with her short-sword, and the powerful attack scattered into impotent sparks.

But Ruby wasn't about to be thwarted so easily, already closing in, leaving brief flurries of petals where her feet had touched the floor, Ibara descending for Natsuki's head. Flipping the grip of her left-handed kodachi, Natsuki reversed the course of her movement, swinging it around to intercept Ruby's sword from he side, riposting with the right-handed sword, slashing up towards Ruby's neck. Her blade merely slit the edge of Ruby's trailing cloak as Ruby executed a cartwheeling flip over Natsuki's head, coming down directly behind her, turning in place to slash Bara at Natsuki's back.

Her blade seemed to cut through Natsuki's body again. However, Natsuki's form abruptly seemed to fade from sight, the girl becoming a blur as she moved around Ruby, her form doubling and tripling, seeming to be in multiple places at once. Ruby flickered as she began to move herself, flashing away from her original location, appearing a short distance away, only for Natsuki's body to suddenly fade into focus behind her, both blades glowing a dangerous orange color, before Natsuki's form blurred again, this time because she seemed to turn in two directions at the same time. Ruby turned to face her, raising her swords just in time to catch the six crisscrossing orange lines that appeared in the air between her and Natsuki. The lines abruptly flared in intensity, then exploded into arcs of flame that sent Ruby flying across the ring, smoke streaming from the edges of her clothes and cloak.

Touching a foot down, Ruby immediately used a brief pulse of Aura to push off, executing a backflip that carried her out of the way of Natsuki's next slash, when the other girl appeared right in front of her, leading with a strike across her body from her right-handed sword. Flames climbed the blade of the sword as Natsuki reversed the course of her slash, gathering at the tip, even while petals streamed out of Ruby's cloak, rapidly congealing into an orb of violet, which swooped around along the edge of her cloak, which had seemed to merge with Ibara's blade, which Ruby brought down and around, before swinging up. Plasma met fire, the two blasts of elemental power straining against each other, before exploding spectacularly, cutting off the two combatants from view once again.

* * *

"Holy crap!"exclaimed Yang, having shot to her feet as the very first explosion rocked the ring, the vibrations reaching all the way across the arena, allowing the audience to feel it through their seats.

"They went for broke from the start!" shouted Setsuna, shouting to be heard over the sound of explosions and the crash of steel.

They all watched, eyes darting from place to place in time with the two combatants' movements. They'd all grown able to follow Ruby's speed, especially from a distance, over the course of the time they'd spent training with her and watching her fight. However, this was the first time they'd witnessed Ruby fighting against someone trained in the same _Shukuchi_ that she used, someone who could utilize that same blinding speed as her. Adam and Tyrian had both come close, their impressive leg-strength able to bring them near Ruby's speed, but not quite there.

For Setsuna, Miyu, and even Sasame, the intense beginning of the battle had come as a surprise. They'd expected Ruby and Natsuki to feel one another out through pure swordsmanship first, then gradually up the ante with Manifestation techniques. But this wasn't the kind of exchange they'd expected until near the end of the battle.

The members of SSSN and CPPR still in the stands were shocked. By this point, they'd already seen a great deal of what Ruby and Natsuki could do in their respective matches before. But watching the pair of them clash against one another was a level of display entirely removed from that.

"So this is the Mibu..." Ciel whispered in amazement, her jaw hanging loose.

Of all of them, Pyrrha was the most engrossed, having stood up, leaning forward to the point that she was at risk of pitching forward and planting her face against the barrier. Her eyes traced the arc of every stroke, the flash of every spark of fire and lightning, the step of every foot. Of all of them, she was the one who had crossed blades with Ruby the most times. She'd seen the full extent of Ruby's speed and power, and was able to take in every detail of the resulting fight. Above all else, she saw the absolutely ecstatic grins on Ruby and Natsuki's faces as the pair danced with one another. Her blood sang within her veins, practically crying out with eagerness to take to the ring herself.

One other person had made out Ruby's expression clearly. Jaune smiled warmly, doing his best to keep up. He wasn't there yet, but he could still tell that Ruby was having the time of her life, down in the ring. Everything going on, the festival, the tournament, the issue with the Mibu, all of it had completely disappeared into the background for those two, and now the entirety of their focus was on each other.

* * *

Qrow tossed back his head, barking out a soft laugh, following it up with a belt from his flask. "Those kids are putting on a show," he said.

"They're incredible!" breathed Amber, staring down into the ring with wide eyes. She'd used the controls on the windows to zoom in her view of the fight. But, even with that, it was almost impossible to keep up with Ruby and Natsuki, who seemed to flicker in and out of fight like phantoms, clashing furiously, then disappearing again, right as Amber's eyes were about to catch up to them.

_I need to really train myself back up,_ thought Amber somewhat forlornly. She'd recovered her strength, and most of her stamina, but was still a ways from the point of being able to fight at the level she'd been used to. Even then, she could tell that she'd be little match for either of the two girls in the ring. At this level, even her magic wouldn't be able to completely bridge the gap. And that was without factoring in Natsuki's own magic.

"Well, this demonstration should do a fine job of convincing the Council," said Ironwood, smirking. "By the time the dust has settled, I don't think you'll have any trouble getting them to approve the exchange, Oz.."

"That is my belief as well," said Ozpin, leaning back.

"And yet...this is just the beginning," said Kyo, leaning back with an easygoing smile, his eyes darting and jerking about in small increments, easily tracking the movements of his little sister and her friend. "I can tell Natsu-chan hasn't shirked her training in the slightest. Both she and Ruby-chan are fairly evenly matched at this point. As a result, they are going to begin pushing one another to greater heights. While it's only the semifinals, this match may well be the climax of the tournament right here."

"Don't count my daughter out yet," declared Pietro proudly.

"We'll just have to see if Penny-chan can stand up against whoever comes out the winner in this match," said Kyo.

* * *

Saphron leaned back in her seat, bouncing an excited Adrian on her lap. The little boy was cheering in his childish way, throwing up his hands and occasionally threatening to bop his mother in the chin. But Saphron couldn't complain. If anything, she empathized with Adrian's excitement. The fight taking place in the ring was just _that_ thrilling to watch.

"Sucks that Jaune's not sitting with us," commented Terra, adjusting her glasses, which had been jolted askew by her jump at the match's explosive beginning. "He could probably tell us what the heck's going on down there."

"All I know is that it looks _awesome_!" declared Xanthe, grinning from ear to ear.

"And they aren't using an ounce of Dust," added Oriana.

"It looks like the stuff the Mibu can do is pretty dang amazing," added Aurea. "Just how did Jaune land himself a girlfriend _this_ awesome?"

"Probably by being himself," said Saphron with a giggle.

She turned and glanced over at their youngest siblings. All three of them were totally enthralled with the match, completely unable to participate in the conversation, because they couldn't tear their eyes away from what was happening in the ring below. Saphron understood. This was a spectacular display, one that would be hard to top.

* * *

Taiyang Xiao Long was on the edge of his seat...literally. When the time for the Vytal Festival Tournament had come around, he hadn't expected to be granted special dispensation to watch it. He hadn't even bothered to request it. Even after he had been told that he could watch the matches, he'd considered ignoring the privilege. It was obvious what they were up to. They wanted him to watch Ruby in action, to see for himself just how strong she was.

The problem was that, no matter how strong Ruby got, it wouldn't change the fact that she'd never be strong _enough_. Nobody was. Sooner or later, everyone who followed that path came up against the obstacle they couldn't overcome, the threat they couldn't beat, and instead found _themselves_ overcome. There was only one way to ensure Ruby didn't reach that point, and it was to keep her away from that path in its entirety. So it didn't matter how well she did. It didn't even matter to Taiyang if Ruby won the tournament by herself, with one arm tied behind her back. All that would do was encourage her. She'd take more risks, bigger risks, and only find herself reaching the same place as Summer all the sooner.

That was the logic he'd used anyway. However, despite his determination not to, Taiyang found himself watching Ruby's matches anyway. It wasn't much of a surprise to see her triumph in the first two rounds, or even over her opponent in the quarterfinals. It was another thing to see Ruby in action against that unaffiliated girl though. Just from the way they interacted, Taiyang could see that they had a long personal history with one another, probably childhood friends. If he had to guess, this was someone who had been Ruby's friend, perhaps her best friend, during those years she had been hidden away from him. That realization should have been enough to make him despise the girl on sight.

However, that hatred felt dull and perfunctory. Ruby had had friends, back on Patch. However, Taiyang remembered well enough how he'd dealt with them, how he'd ultimately decided that keeping Ruby away from them was for the better, to keep them from compromising her safety.

But Ruby had found new friends. And now, even though they were fighting in the ring, both giving it everything they had, they were grinning so widely that their cheeks must have been hurting. They were having the time of their _lives_ out there. Taiyang couldn't remember _ever_ seeing Ruby wearing a look of such visceral joy on her face, except during her match with Pyrrha. This was Ruby in her element. She looked so happy and fulfilled...

It was frightening...or it should have been. Instead, Taiyang found himself trembling. _She never smiled like that with me, even before I..._ Then again, Ruby had never gotten the chance back then. Maybe if he'd let Qrow train her...

_No!_ he mentally shouted at himself. _This is wrong! She shouldn't be out there! She should be at home, with me._

The words rang hollow within his own mind. If she was home, then she would be the same sullen child she'd been before, glaring at him every time he came into sight, refusing to speak to him at meals, hiding away in her room as much as she could, looking for her chance to escape.

_But she's Summer's...she's all I have left of her!_ When Taiyang reminded himself of that, his gut churned. Hadn't Summer's devotion to her ideals, her powerful convictions, been what had prompted him to fall in love with her? Those had been what had brought Summer in to help, after Raven had abandoned him and Yang. He'd fallen in love with that smile of hers, the same kind of smile Ruby was wearing now, a smile that Summer wore under many of the same circumstances. In fact, the only time Taiyang could remember seeing Summer smile wider than that was when she was with their daughters.

_My daughters..._ Taiyang felt a void inside of him. One of his daughters had abandoned him, refusing to even see him as family anymore. The other he had pushed away himself, all but disowning her. They'd even met their godfather, and were bonding with him instead. And for Taiyang, all that had been left was...nothing...

_What have I done? What do I do?_

* * *

From the explosion that had obscured them, Natsuki burst out, skipping backwards, her right kodachi extended in front of her. Flames ignited all the way from the hilt to the tip, before running down to concentrate at the point off the sword, the light and heat intensifying to the point the at the air was already rippling. "_Maoen!_"

With a roar like the engine of a giant bullhead, fire exploded out in an enormous jet, rushing straight for the dissipating remnants of the previous explosion. The flames melted and tore their way through the ring, burning a wide channel along its length. From within the smoke, which was rapidly rushing away from the pressure wave that surged ahead of Natsuki's attack, Natsuki caught a glimpse of a red figure jumping up to turn her body sideways, going into a spin that sent her cloak flaring out around her. Ruby brought Akaibara around and down in her left hand, the blade seeming to merge with the edge of her cloak, ringing loudly, red winds converging around the blade.

"_Kazebara!_" Ruby's attack cut right through Natsuki's flames, splitting them around her. Even divided, the separate jets still had enough power to burn their way through the ring on either side of Ruby. As she touched down, she felt the floor shift, wobble, and begin to drop away, as a roughly triangular section of the ring began to separate, starting to lose altitude as the lifters holding it aloft began to lose power.

Ruby launched herself off, aiming for an intact portion of the ring. She half-expected Natsuki to attack, but then saw both of Natsuki's kodachi go flying into the air. Below them, Natsuki brought her fingers up to her cheeks, then drew them out, then down her neck, smearing lines of blood on her skin. Now Ruby could see that Natsuki's last attack had been to buy her time to do _this_.

Her painting of the _Chikewai_ on her body finished, Natsuki deftly caught her thrown kodachi, the excitement in her eyes intensifying to an almost bestial level. Immediately, her swords ignited, the fire spreading up her arms to wrap around her entire body.

Ruby was more than familiar with Natsuki's _Fire Wall_, having used the principles of the technique as the basis for her _Tenyo no Hana_. It was a technique that transformed one's Tempered Aura into a barrier of pure elemental energy, burning with the heat of the sun, yet more solid than steel. If Ruby wanted to, she could cut through that barrier, whether by using blades of wind, or simply removing the Aura she sheathed Akaibara's edges with, and allowing her sword to do the talking for her. However, both of those approaches risked severely injuring Natsuki, if Ruby's technique was off by even the slimmest of margins. Natsuki's _Fire Wall_ didn't supplement her Temper, so much as replace it. Cutting through it would be the same thing as cutting right through Natsuki's Temper, which meant that Ruby didn't dare rely on an approach that would risk cutting her friend directly. As such, with her regular attacks, Ruby could batter at Natsuki all she wanted, but Natsuki wouldn't be hurt by it, and her Aura-level wouldn't dip any.

The wisest approach would generally be to adopt a more conservative strategy. By engaging the _Chikewai_, Natsuki was now burning directly through her stamina. She was running on borrowed time. If Ruby held back, fought defensively, and simply focused on fending Natsuki's techniques off, she could wait until Natsuki's technique burned through her stamina, and then allow her to collapse when the fight was over.

Despite that, Ruby charged right in, her eyes alight. Now wasn't the time to play it safe. Now was the time to throw caution to the winds, and go at her friend with everything she had, without a thought of worry to what came after.

They'd agreed to make it flashy after all.

Ruby's cloak shined an even more brilliant shade of crimson than usual, lighting up, the light intensifying with each step she closed with Natsuki, the build-up so swift that it looked more like a the strobing flash of a camera to the onlookers, barely discernible from the blur that was Ruby herself as she used _Shukuchi_ to close in on Natsuki.

"_Tenyo no Hana!_"

Abruptly, Ruby's cloak appeared to detonate with a thunderclap, flashing blinding light throughout the arena, before coalescing into its transformed state, petals that looked like feathers, flickering with lights in myriad colors, crackling and humming, settling into a mantle of solidified plasma that was every bit as solid as the fires that shielded Natsuki's own body. On the screen above the arena, Ruby's Aura-gauge began to shrink steadily.

None of that mattered to either of them, the two colliding head-on, attack meeting attack, fire striving against plasma. Crackling waves of energy and flames erupted upwards like a fountain from where their blades met, the thunder of Ruby's attack mingling with the roar of Natsuki's. The air bent and rippled around them. The ring, already destabilized from the damage done earlier, rocked dramatically.

Unfortunately for her, Natsuki found the ring dipping in her direction. The consequence was that Ruby now had the advantage of elevation, however slight, over her, and immediately bulled forward, following up with an onslaught of slashes that were threatening to drive Natsuki back and over the edge. Natsuki worked her own swords furiously to fend Ruby off. The kodachi was a weapon that was optimized for defense, having earned the nick name "shield sword" for its light weight and its length, midway between the wakazashi and the katana, striking the ideal balance between speed and coverage. Natsuki now wielded both her swords defensively, the blades becoming an almost impenetrable barrier to Ruby's attacks.

The shorter of the two, Yuya; forged by none other than mastersmith of the Mibu Clan, the vaunted Muramasa himself, ranked alongside the likes of Kyo's Tenro in terms of quality; was _especially_ well-suited for defense. Its Aura came alive in Natsuki's hand and, rather than deflecting or ablating the power of Ruby's blows, contact with that Aura seemed to make the power of Ruby's attacks simply...vanish. To Ruby, it was like facing a handheld version of her brother's _Genbu_ technique. It was on a smaller scale, but, so long as Natsuki could intercept her attacks with Yuya, none of the force behind them could be transmitted through.

As such, it was only a matter of seconds before Natsuki turned the tables on her. Making the power behind her attacks disappear made it difficult for Ruby to keep up her momentum. Natsuki quickly found her chance, slashing Yuya across both of Ruby's descending swords in a single, backhanded swipe, making the swords seem to stop in thin air. Natsuki followed through by spinning her body in the same direction, her right-handed kodachi held in a reverse-grip. Ruby gasped, barely having the time to interpose her swords between herself and the incoming attack. Suddenly, three parallel lines of orange light were etched in the air between them, appearing with a trio of rapid clangs against Ruby's swords. The lines of light intensified, going from orange to yellow to white, before exploding, sending Ruby flying back away, all while the ring tilted in the opposite direction.

Natsuki's attack wasn't finished though. Coming out of her spin, she flourished her kodachi outwards, flames lining both blades. "_Kaitenju!_" The flames exploded outwards, erupting in dozens of fireballs, which arced out through the air, before converging on Ruby, who was struggling to regain her footing. Faced with the incoming barrage, Ruby went into a spin of her own, petals scattering away from her cloak, before flying through the air to intercept Natsuki's bolts, filling the air between them with yet more explosions.

Now the ring tilted in a completely different direction. Designed as it was to host intense Aura and Dust-fueled battles between Huntsmen and Huntress students, it was built with multiple redundancies, ensuring that it could remain aloft and level, even against attacks that would crater and scar its surface. However, the exchange of blows between Ruby and Natsuki, in addition to breaking away a substantial portion of it, were beginning to overwhelm those failsafes. As a result, the entire thing was beginning to tilt and wobble, like the deck of a ship on a stormy sea. Its altitude was also beginning to lower as well.

Riding the arena's tilt, Ruby launched herself up, bringing her swords down from overhead. Raising her own blades, Natsuki seemed to seek to block Ruby's attack. However, Natsuki instead shifted the point of impact to ether side of her. Ruby's swords struck to either side of Natsuki. Thunder cracked, and bolts of plasma blasted straight down through the floor of the ring. Had Natsuki tried to block Ruby's attack outright, she would have been smashed straight down through the bottom, and suffered a loss by ring-out.

As it was, Natsuki had to backpedal, as the floor she was standing on began to give way, due to the damage to either side of it. Still, she countered by sweeping her right-handed sword in front of her, sending a blast of flame at Ruby. Ruby shifted to the side, using a sweep of her crackling cloak to deflect the blast, which rushed out, seeming to consume another portion of the ring somewhere behind Ruby.

By this point, almost a quarter of the ring had been destroyed. What remained only grew more and more unstable as the two combatants traded blows that continued to rock it wildly. Flames and lightning twined around one another, interacting in ways that should have been impossible, were they more mundane phenomena. It was a sight to leave eyes wide and mouths agape.

* * *

Sasame laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh...this is just so silly."

"Silly...?" asked Oscar, glancing sidelong at her. "What's silly about this?"

As he did, he noticed that both Setsuna and Miyu sported similar amused looks, albeit a bit more understated.

"I can understand," said Pyrrha, sporting a smile herself. "They're playing around more than they're fighting."

"Exactly," agreed Sasame.

"The two of them are showing off to each other," commented Miyu.

"They aren't really caring about the most effective way to fight," agreed Setsuna. "Stategy, tactics, conservation; they aren't bothering with a lick of that. They're tossing the biggest moves they can think of at each other without a care in the world."

"Well, it's only a tournament after all," commented Weiss. "I suppose this is the best place to show off one could think of."

Sasame sighed wistfully. "Honestly, look at their faces."

"Yeah," said Jaune, grinning fondly.

Oscar looked down into the ring more intently. He'd been having a bit of trouble following Ruby and Natsuki's movements. But, every now and then, there was a time where they would come to a standstill. It was usually for all of a second. However, in that brief time, he found himself noticing their expressions.

They were smiling so brightly that it was infectious. Even though they were trading blows that could reduce one or the other of them into atoms, they were grinning like they were playing a favorite game together. When he saw them like that, there was no way he could believe that they were taking the tournament seriously. But that didn't seem to be a bad thing in the slightest.

* * *

After another explosive clash, Ruby and Natsuki skidded back away from each other. Their moves were gradually growing more erratic, sloppier, betraying the fact that they were approaching their limits. Natsuki's Aura had dipped by a generous margin, thanks to the attacks she'd been throwing out repeatedly. Ruby's was closing in on the point where she'd be disqualified. However, beneath the flames that licked at her body, Ruby could see Natsuki's sweat, see the way her body heaved with each breath she took. Her _Chikewai_ was burning continuously at her stamina, and was beginning to reach its limit. If it gave out, then Natsuki would collapse, regardless of the state of her Aura.

One way or another, the match was quickly nearing its end. Between the two of them, they realized that they each possessed the wherewithal for a single powerful blow, before they wouldn't be able to go any further. However seriously or not they had taken it up until now, this would be the point where the winner was decided.

The ring tilted again, making the pair stagger slightly, the two of them recognizing for the first time just how unstable the platform had become, rather than unconsciously perceiving it as a dynamic aspect of the battleground. Natsuki was especially unbalanced, needing an extra second to keep from toppling over. Still, Ruby didn't have the energy to try and take advantage of that lapse either.

Then Natsuki giggled, before swiftly sheathing Yuya behind herself. Taking her right-handed Kodachi, she brought it around to the other side of her body, crossing her right arm over her chest in the process, pressing her left hand against the pommel, while angling the blade ahead of her, at Ruby, the edge oriented upwards.

"Hey, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki excitedly, "watch this!"

The flames that made up Natsuki's _Fire Wall_ flowed across her body like water, running up to her shoulders and down her arms, leaving her bereft of protection as Natsuki channeled all her fire into the length of her sword, milking every last drop of energy she had left from her _Chikewai_. From there, Natsuki condensed the flames down at the tip of her sword, concentrating them and intensifying them. Their color solidified into yellow, then washed blue, then white. The fire burning at the tip of the sword contracted, looking less like flames and more like a miniature star, resting at the very tip of Natsuki's kodachi.

Then, to Ruby's amazement, the light began to dim, before disappearing entirely, not because Natsuki's fire had gone out, but because it had ascended to a new level. From within the white spark at the tip of her sword, a speck of black appeared, spreading outward, before emerging as tongues of ebony flame, fire black as ink that swallowed the white light of Natsuki's earlier fire entirely, until it burned at the tip of her sword...black flames that emitted no light, only heat. They exuded a hungry heat that made the air around Natsuki ripple violently, the kind of flames that could burn whatever they came into contact with down to nothingness.

Ruby couldn't stop her jaw from dropping. Her amazement was shared by everyone else in the arena. Here, in front of the entire world, Natsuki was doing something that couldn't be explained through the normal laws of physics. It was beyond normal understanding, beyond anything that fire should be capable of.

Ruby, on the other hand, gaped for a different reason entirely. She gaped because she knew _exactly_ what Natsuki had done. "Natsu-chan, you...!"

Natsuki gave Ruby a shaky grin, betraying just how much she'd strained herself to pull this move off. "I can't do anything fancy with it yet, Ruby-chan. This is the best I've got."

The highest level art of the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_, black flames, the Fires of Hell. Hotter than the hottest, whitest flame, they were something that transcended physical phenomena entirely. Ruby could only feel awe swell within her breast at the sight of Natsuki's achievement. _I had no idea Natsu-chan had gotten this far!_

Ruby's mouth closed. A second later, her lips pulled back in an eager, childlike grin of pure excitement. Bringing her swords together, Ruby took Akaibara in her left hand, then took a stance that mirrored Natsuki's exactly. Her feathered cloak and hood acted like Natsuki's flames, flowing down her arms, channeling into Akaibara's length, before concentrating at the tip, forming into a crackling mass of pure plasma that stabilized, resembling a star even more effectively than Natsuki's flames earlier. On the gauge above, Ruby's Aura stopped its steady march down towards depletion. A low, but powerful hum filled the air. Beyond being audible, it became a vibration that could be felt throughout the entire arena.

The rippling air around the two combatants formed a visible distortion, like a line in the space between them. They hadn't even begun their attacks yet, and already it appeared that the energies they were wielding were vying against one another for supremacy. Throughout the arena, and across the world, there wasn't a soul watching who could wrench their eyes away from the sight.

There was a subtle change that went unnoticed by everyone in the arena, those watching, Natsuki, and even Ruby herself. Unbeknownst to Ruby, the silver color of her eyes began to brighten subtly. Unlike her normal activation of her power, the light of her eyes did not explode outward. Instead, it seemed simply faintly dye the color of her Aura, obscured by the intense light radiating from her Manifested power. No one noticed and, had she been aware of this, Ruby would have been helpless to explain why or how this phenomenon was happening.

By unspoken agreement, they rushed each other at the same time. Still holding their swords, they thrust outward in unison, launching the gathered energy at one another. There was no artistry, no strategy, nothing more than a pure head-on clash between each other, slamming their attacks together with a roar, the entire arena lighting up from the flash of Ruby's plasma, forming a wave that contrasted with the pitch-black of Natsuki's flames, which erupted up like a geyser, the released energy from the two attacks fountaining upwards, splashing across the force field overhead, adding waves of shimmering green to the affair.

The entire arena rumbled and shook. Audience members reflexively gripped the arms of their seats, as though they expected Amity to start plummeting towards the earth at any second. The lights on the rig exploded in showers of sparks. The inner-ring, already broken and battered, cracked in two, the lifters giving out entirely, the entire mass falling downwards with a cacophony that rivaled the explosive clash that had brought it down in the first place.

Fortunately, though the space beneath the inner-ring _looked_ empty, the broken fragments of the ring were kept from falling all the way through by another hard-light barrier. There had been tournaments before, where an enterprising combatant had thought to break through the ring aat a point beneath their opponent to drop them out. The barrier had been deployed in consideration of just such tactics. But it was doubtful that the designers had ever factored in the idea of someone unleashing forces powerful enough to bring down the ring in its entirety.

The rumbling faded. The audience collectively leaned forward in their seats, eager to see just who the winner of the confrontation had been. There was no question that this was the most spectacular match in the history of the entire Vytal Festival Tournament. Smoke and Dust obscured the view from without. Neither combatant's Aura-level had fallen below the critical line, which meant that they might well still be capable of fighting. However, if one of them had lost their footing and landed on the barrier, that would count as a ring-out. In the absence of the roaring and thundering from earlier, the silence that replaced it was deafening in its own right. There was no sign that the fight was continuing amidst the smoke and dust, which appeared to indicate that it had been decided. _How_ was up in the air though.

Then, finally, the smoke thinned out, giving everyone a view of the results. Neither of them had actually fallen off the ring, both fighters occupying broken and fragmented pieces of the ring, that had landed tilted at angles. But the conclusion was obvious.

Ruby stood on one slanted piece, looking battered and singed, but still standing strong, her sword held out in her left hand, leveled at the prone Natsuki, who lay out on a chunk of the ring that had fallen at a different angle, her limbs splayed out, barely maintaining her grip on her kodachi, which rested at her side, her arm too limp to even try and lift it.

"Looks like you win, Ruby-chan," said Natsuki, giving Ruby a weak grin.

Ruby smiled.

The roar of the audience rivaled the explosion from earlier.

* * *

The sounds of the audience were such that no one could hear Port and Oobleck announcing the outcome of the match, however unnecessary their commentary was at that point. They were trying to dissect the match's outcome, but hardly anyone was heeding their words, which had been failing them in any case. The two teachers from Beacon ultimately fell silent, realizing that they were unable to even articulate what had happened in the ring.

Ruby's friends from Beacon and the other Academies all gaped unashamedly at the aftermath of the spectacle, staring as Ruby carefully hauled Natsuki to her feet, nearly pulling herself over to fall on top of her friend in the process. Still, Ruby managed to haul Natsuki's arm over her shoulder, the two of them carefully picking their way across the uneven and broken pieces of the ring to make their way to safer ground, and then to the locker room.

"What just happened?" asked Weiss, regaining her ability to speak for the first time since Natsuki's black flames had appeared.

"Well...that was about the clumsiest ending to a match that I could imagine," said Sasame, looking as though she was holding in the urge to burst out laughing until she cried. "God! If only Keikoku and Shinrei could have seen this. They would scold those two until their ears blistered."

"They just smacked each other as hard as they possibly could," said Setsuna, an uncharacteristic grin on his face. "There was absolutely no grace. They ended it with a pure power-contest."

"Y-yes, but what was that?" demanded Piper. "Fire...flames...they don't...that's impossible!"

Miyu, who'd been covering her mouth, her entire body spasming with mirth, managed to get her feelings under control. "Perhaps we should adjourn somewhere a bit quieter," she suggested. It was a sound idea. The roar of the crowds around them was making it difficult to hear each other speak anyway. "Besides, the two of them will probably be needing our attention."

With that; RASP, RYNB, CPPR, and SSSN all got up, heading back into the arena, making their way through its interior to the locker room. Along with them came Sasame, Maria, and Ashley. Ruby's peers at the Academies were hoping that, once they got there, their questions would be answered.

* * *

By the time they arrived, they found themselves waiting once more. Penny had worked to help Natsuki and Ruby into the showers, where the two of them were presently cleaning off, while Penny delivered their outfits to the laundry for washing. Ruby and Natsuki emerged, shocked to see all the people waiting for them. In addition to the four teams, and guests, that had arrived, they'd been joined by CFVY, CRDL; and even ABRN, FNKI, and NDGO. With that many people waiting, the locker room, which had seemed ridiculously oversized for a team of four, was genuinely crowded, there being virtually no room to move about the lounge.

It was hard for Ruby and Natsuki to get through the press of people waiting for them. It didn't help matters that there was an expectant pressure in the air. This wasn't a gathering of friends, here to congratulate them on a wonderful match. This was a group of people who were desperate to get an explanation for the inexplicable things they'd just witnessed. Thanks to Ruby, they were used to unusual displays. Having Kyo at Beacon, and willing to spar with all comers, had also helped. But seeing Natsuki conjure black flames at the tip of her sword had stretched their suspension of disbelief beyond its collective limit.

Still, there were other matters to be seen to first. Ruby and Natsuki had to work their way through the crowd to reach Sasame and Miyu, who were standing at the center of the lounge, in the middle of the couches and seats where participants usually waited and rested, before and after the match. The pair stood tall (or as tall as someone of Sasame's stature typically could, anyway), arms folded across their chests, sporting identical stern expressions as Ruby and Natsuki approached, cringing sheepishly.

Ruby stood in front of Sasame, while Natsuki stood in front of Miyu. The pair of healers shared a glance, before nodding in agreement with one another. Sasame propped herself up on her tail to put herself in reach. Then, in perfect unison, they brought their hands down in a sharp chop to the top of the competitors' heads, executing the move with a businesslike air. Ruby and Natsuki dropped to their knees with a pair of yelps, rubbing their heads.

"Now then, I hope you understand just how absurd that match was," said Sasame sternly. "Honestly, it's a good thing that your teachers weren't here to see that. They would be appalled."

"_We're sorry!_" wailed Ruby and Natsuki in unison.

"Honestly, so sloppy," tutted Sasame, shaking her head. "The pair of you might as well have just been shooting off fireworks, with how little care you were giving to proper fighting. I'd expect that kind of gaudy, showy display from a pair of novices. But the two of you have enough training to know better than simply play around in the ring like a pair of children waving sparklers on a summer's evening."

"_We're sorry!_" repeated Ruby and Natsuki.

Sasame and Miyu stared judgmentally at the pair for a few seconds longer. Then Sasame clapped her hands together, her expression switching to a happy beam like a magic trick. "Still, that has to be the most amusing thing I've seen throughout this festival. Whatever else can be said about your match, it can't be denied that the pair of you put on a show."

"It certainly can't, if it's attracted this many eager eyes and ears," said Miyu, glancing around at all the people who'd joined them in the locker room.

Glancing around them, Ruby and Natsuki found themselves blushing profusely at being at the center of attention like this.

Sasame giggled. "Still, let us see to your hurts first. Then we can handle how to address this."

* * *

A quick healing later, the pair were resting on the couch, as the assembled students crowded around to hear what they had to say.

As tired as they were, Ruby and Natsuki weren't exactly in a fit state to answer all that many questions. The healing hadn't done them any favors, the pair on the verge of nodding off. As such, it was Sasame who took the helm to explain the nature of Aura-manipulation to their audience. Many of them had already heard the basics, through their interaction with Ruby, or through chatting with the three Mibu on Team MNPS. However, Sasame began to go into the nuances of explaining the more advanced arts that they had seen during that night's match.

"Ah! I remember this!" exclaimed Penny. "Kyo told me about it."

Kyo had explained the concept to her using the notion of the physics of simple machines, the same explanation Sasame used as well.

"Yes," agreed Sasame. "In all honesty, those of you who saw Ruby-chan's matches against Kyo shouldn't be so surprised by what Natsu-chan did. After all, Kyo's strongest techniques are themselves manifestations of an even higher order of that concept than what Natsu-chan utilized in the ring."

"I guess," said Jaune. "I mean, but still, black flames is really out there as a concept."

"Understandable, I suppose," said Sasame. "Those flames, after all, are the basis for the highest order of techniques in the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_. Natsu-chan can only just barely conjure them, at her level, but they are capable of much more than what you saw tonight."

"I gotta say, I'm a bit jealous, Natsu-chan," said Ruby, smiling at her friend. "I mean...I never expected you to get ahead of me like that."

"How can you say that when _you're_ the one who won?" Natsuki grumbled, folding her arms and pouting. "Besides, you can do the _Raikoken_. That's _way_ more impressive."

"I guess..." Ruby admitted reluctantly.

Sasame's eyes narrowed slightly, a sly smile on her face. _In a match of pure power, like their final exchange, Ruby-chan shouldn't have come out on top. When you remove the elements of nuance and artistry, and simply make it a matter of force against force, a higher-order technique will _always_ crush a lower-order one, no matter how much force the latter possesses. The black flame is a multiplier, pretty much impossible to match against the plain addition of Ruby-chan's attack. Yet, somewhere during their exchange, Ruby-chan found a multiplier of her own. Whether or not she can capitalize on that will determine the future of this world, if what Sora-sama and Kyoichiro-sama said is true._

"Damn! Aura can do all this?" asked Arslan, her eyes wide. "How come no one other than the Mibu has ever done something like this?"

"Who's to say that they haven't?"" asked Sasame rhetorically. "Isn't that right, Weiss-chan?"

"That's right," agreed Weiss. "After talking it over with Ruby, I learned that the Schnee Semblance is actually a form of Manifestation."

"Seriously!?" asked Piper, staring at Weiss with wide eyes. "When were you gonna share this with us?"

"Um...sometime," said Weiss, averting her eyes and blushing nervously. "There's been a lot going on..."

"Guess you _could_ say that," said Piper with a shrug. _What, with all that stuff with Whitley going on..._

"In any case, Weiss-chan and the Schnee family may not be unique," added Sasame. "There indeed might be others in the world who have happened upon similar developments, who have simply not made an impact. Even in the case of the Schnee Family, they chose to call their abilities a Semblance, because that is the framework for understanding how Aura functions in the outside world.

"Because you were _taught_ that Semblances are purely innate, that was what you believed. That is what your training was based upon. Aura is powerfully affected by belief, it being an extension of your inner self. Therefore, because you believed it limited in its capability, it was.

"At the same time, there are those who knew of this potential, and chose to keep this information suppressed, by doing everything they could to close off contact with those of us who knew that truth. For our part, I cannot say that the Mibu were exactly proponents of outreach to try and enlighten those in the Kingdoms about the full potential of Aura, so it is our fault almost as much as those who tried to close us off from the outside."

"But why?" asked Reese.

"Dust," said Weiss simply.

Everyone looked at her with wide eyes.

"Indeed," agreed Sasame. "There are pragmatic reasons for suppression, some undeniably self-serving, while others are benign, however erroneous they might be.

"Of course, there are those, like Weiss-chan's father, who would choose to work to suppress this information to ensure, and maximize, the continued value of the product upon which their fortunes are built. While I have severe doubts that the profusion of these techniques would ultimately lead to the abandonment of the use of Dust, it's understandable that there would be _some_ loss of value. Likewise, it's understandable, if vexing, that there are those who would do anything in their power to prevent even that overall minor fluctuation, simply for the sake of continuing to line their pockets.

"On the other side of the equation, there are those who dismiss such arts in preference for technological advancement, based on technologies rooted in the use of Dust. Such people generally dismiss our arts as primitive, or even outright superstition, believing that indulging the proliferation of such arts as a distraction that inhibits the effectiveness of those who use them."

Weiss nodded, remembering all too well Winter's attitude, the first time she'd met Ruby.

"Is that the reason things between the Mibu and the Kingdoms are so...frosty?" asked Scarlet warily.

"Partially," conceded Sasame. "However, the root of the bad blood between our peoples, and between us and Vale in particular, is that regrettable incident all those years ago."

"The expedition," said Jaune, his voice low. The memory of his father, and the ancestral Arc Grudge against the Mibu was still fresh in his mind.

"Yes," said Sasame. "Truth be told, that was a bungling of epic proportions, on our part as well as the Kingdoms'." She shook her head in disappointment. "If only Makoto-sama had been the one to respond, instead of Mao-sama, then things might well have been handled more gracefully."

"Really?" asked Ruby, leaning forward, Natsuki along with her. It seemed that this was new information to Miyu and Setsuna as well.

"Hmm..." Sasame grumbled under her breath. "Well...it's such an embarrassment that it's almost preferable to pretend that the Kingdoms were the sole aggressors. Granted, the incident was not covered in all that much detail during your schooling yet. I believe that you are expected to learn more about it this year."

"This whole thing with the expedition..." Pyrrha frowned in confusion. "What happened? It sounds like this is more complicated than what Ruby told us about it?"

Sasame sighed. "Well, to be honest, it's not something that's talked about often. Even in the children's schooling, it's gone over rather briefly. Still, these things are always more complicated than they might seem in retrospect."

"Why wouldn't Sensei teach us about this sooner?" asked Natsuki.

"Such affairs are often more complicated than they seem on the surface. Amongst our people, even those who have been taught otherwise, it is preferable to act as though the Kingdoms bear all the responsibility for what happened back then. That's why it is now being taught when you are older, so that the various nuances regarding what happened can be better processed."

"Could you tell us?" asked Ren, leaning forward. "I want to know more about this conflict."

He wasn't the only one. The others in the room were nodding eagerly, interested in learning this piece of forgotten and hidden history.

"Very well," said Sasame. "There's no reason not to, and we still have time."

"Truth be told, the first meeting between the Mibu and those representing the expedition was amicable enough. However, it didn't take long for relations to turn...turbulent..."

* * *

**The next two chapters will be a flashback, detailing what happened, back during the expedition.**


	141. Chapter 141

**Chapter 141:**

_Shortly after the Great War:_

The soldiers made their way through the forest at a slow pace, rifles at the ready, primed for the first signs of attack. The sun was beginning to sink beneath the western horizon. A day's long march had been strangely fraught with tension, for how peaceful it had been.

Such was understandable. They were scouting out the lands of a new continent after all. While the expedition had made landfall, established a beachhead, and built a base of operations, it would be a little while before it could be called a functioning colony yet. First, the perimeter would need to be established, the Grimm pushed back, and favorable territories located. Once that was done, then they could begin the process of bringing over civilians and truly starting lives in this new land.

Looking back, that had probably been the pitfall that had been the downfall of previous attempts to establish settlements on Leng. They had all been more haphazard attempts, at least according to history. Someone; maybe a business leader, maybe a disaffected noble, or a noble looking to accumulate more power and renown; would turn to their attention to the unclaimed lands of Leng. After loading up a ship full of civilians and soldiers, over they would go.

Sometimes, there seemed to be success at first. But then, contact would break off. It would be as though the settlement had never existed. More than once, a failed attempt had completely destroyed the welfare of the primary backer...if said backer hadn't disappeared along with the settlement itself.

But this was different. This time, the authorities of two separate Kingdoms were behind this attempt. And they were going about it much more systematically and carefully. First, soldiers and Huntsmen were being sent over, acting with the intent to ensure things were safely prepared for the civilians to come.

Leng had already had a stigma attached to it. Because of its distinct shape, it was often referred to as "The Dragon that Devours All Comers". But, once the Great War had broken out, attempts to settle the continent had been set aside, particularly because, with land disputes having been the initial cause of the Great War, no one wished to simply open a new front of the conflict in a completely undeveloped and unknown land.

But now that the war had ended, the treaty of Vytal had systematically divided the territory of Leng amongst the four Kingdoms. And Vale was heading the first attempt. In a display of cooperation and goodwill, the newly reformed Kingdom of Atlas was working alongside them, providing additional power and technology that would help to clear this forsaken land of the Grimm that had most likely been responsible for the failures of the previous attempts. After all, even amongst the already-established territories of the Kingdoms, many was the ambitious settlement that had fallen, thanks to its residents underestimating the danger the Grimm posed. There would be no mistakes of that nature here.

As such, these men and women were now on the move through the forest, carefully mapping the terrain, determining what places would make for a good settlement. They were venturing quite far, expected to spend a week on their survey, before returning to their main base.

Of course, moving through unfamiliar terrain was a harrowing experience. There was no telling what varieties of Grimm lurked amongst the trees, or when they would strike. That the scouting party had gone this far without encountering any was a worrying sign. One might think that no Grimm were the best scenario to deal with. However, abnormal behavior amongst the Grimm was dangerous behavior, usually the sign of something unexpected...and inordinately dangerous...coming.

"How much farther before we can set up camp," asked the man in the lead, sweeping his rifle back and forth.

"I think the captain wants to go for another mile," said his companion. "Creepy or not, we're making good time. We're getting more done this way."

"I don't feel like we're doing anything. It's the surveyors who are doing all the mapping. We're just here to point guns around. But there's nothing to point the guns _at_."

"Just be glad. The last thing I'd want is for a Beowolf to come running at us now...and it'd all be because you _had_ to open your big mouth."

"We'll be fine," said the first man, grinning. "After all, we've got Atlas watching our backs, right?"

He gestured back at black body plodding along slowly behind them, moving with halting steps. Spindly legs, built from a succession of pistons and joints supported a blocky torso, with two arms emerging from where roughly the shoulders would be on a human. Said arms were angled and rectangular, meeting a jointed elbow. Extending down from there, each arm sported a rapid-firing rifle. From the top of the blocky torso, a head formed from what appeared to be a succession of stacked disks of varying widths extended out, the topmost layer sporting a red visor. Above the head, a set of antennae extended straight upwards. The machine's head swiveled back and forth slowly.

"These Knights are supposed to be looking out for us, right?" said the first soldier. "With them here, it's not like we have to worry too much. They'll see any Grimm coming before we do."

His companion snorted. "I don't trust them...damn tin soldiers. You can't expect a machine to do a person's job."

"Guys up top are talkin' like they're the future of the military though. Imagine not having to risk our necks anymore."

"Imagine not having a job because some machine can do it better, and for cheaper, than you."

"...I see your point.

"But it's weird, isn't it? I mean, maybe it's paranoid to expect the forests to be crawling with Grimm. But you'd expect at least a few, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, weren't there a couple when we landed?"

"But, ever since we headed out, we haven't seen a single one."

"That's because all the Grimm in the area have been eliminated."

The two men jumped, their eyes snapping to the front, rifles rising up to aim as someone stepped out from behind a tree in front of them.

It was a man, sporting short, black hair. Dark-gray eyes, almost black, looked out from over flat, chiseled cheeks. He was dressed in a black shirt and pants, with loose fitting sleeves and legs. He stepped out into the open, before turning to face the two soldiers, as well as the group behind them.

The man spoke in a deep voice, uninflected and dispassionate. "Go no farther," he said.

"Um..." The two soldiers turned to look to each other in confusion. "Who are you?"

"I am one of the warriors charged with security in this area," said the man plainly. "Without official approval, outsiders cannot be permitted to enter our lands carelessly. Please go back and await further contact from us."

"From who...?" asked the first soldier.

"The Mibu," said the man. "You are intruding in our domain."

"Domain...?"

"What's going on?" asked an authoritative voice from behind them. The crackle of loam and branches on the ground heralded the approach of the leader of their scouting party.

"Great...it's the Huntsman," muttered the soldier.

Another development after the Great War had been the emergence of official Huntsmen and Huntresses. Such individuals, who made it their profession to deal with the Creatures of Grimm, had existed in one form or another for as long as anyone could remember. However, the provisions of the Vytal Treaty had enshrined them as having authority that could supersede even that of the military, under certain circumstances. They were considered experts on dealing with the Grimm, and matters related to such, which included the establishment of new settlements.

Of course, the rank and file weren't always happy to be bossed around by people they often considered jumped-up pest exterminators, even if they _could_ perform superhuman feats, thanks to the mysterious force known as Aura, and their willingness to employ advanced weaponry. They were supposed to be the best and brightest.

The man leading this scouting expedition wasn't exactly popular, though that wasn't any fault of his. Without anything to prove himself against, a Huntsman couldn't exactly establish his credentials that easily. Adding to that, the fact that he'd been appointed to command this scouting expedition, regardless of the rank and seniority of any of the soldiers present, wasn't the sort of thing to win him any support from the troops. Rumor had it he was working to support an impoverished family, which seemed to suggest that, for all their importance, Huntsmen weren't any better at managing their finances than anyone else.

Still, there was no question that Flavius Arc cut an imposing figure. He wore a suit of full-plate armor, painted alabaster white, like it was nothing. A pair of gold crescents, with the curved side facing up were painted across his chestplate. At his left hip rested a sword with a blue handle and gold cross-guard, residing in a white sheath. His head was decorated with blonde hair, matching with the fair complexion of his skin, and the deep-blue of his eyes. It was swept back, being tied into a short braid that descended to just between his shoulders, while the man's angled chin was decorated with a short beard.

Flavius Arc stepped forward, pushing between the two soldiers to stand before the unknown man. "Who the hell are you?"

"I am one of the warriors stationed in this territory," said the man. "I cannot allow you to advance any farther."

"There were people here?" muttered Flavius, frowning. "Are you from one of the previous settlements? Why have you been out of contact for so long?"

"We are not," said the man. "We have always resided in these lands."

"That's impossible," declared Flavius. "We would have heard about it, if there were already people here." Or maybe not. For the first time, Flavius wondered if anyone had actually _checked_ to see if Leng was already inhabited. It seemed like such a basic oversight, but this continent had been considered unclaimed by default for as long as anyone in the Kingdoms could remember. A chill ran down his spine as Flavius suddenly wondered if all the previous attempts at colonization had failed because of something _other_ than the Grimm.

"We do not have dealings with the outside world," declared the black-garbed man. "We have no more than a passing interest in the affairs of the Kingdoms, and wish to be left alone. Now that you know that, you should return and inform your superiors that any further intrusion into our lands will not be tolerated."

"How far are your lands?" asked Flavius. "We haven't seen any sign of people here, so it's hard to gauge where your borders fall."

"To the sea," said the man simply.

"What?" grunted Flavius.

"Our borders extend all the way to the sea," said the man. "The moment you set foot on land, you were intruding. The whole of this continent belongs to the Mibu."

Flavius reeled back, eyes wide with shock. "Wha-what...? You can't be serious! You can't just lay claim to a whole continent like that."

"We have," said the man. "None have disputed this, until now. If you wish to dispute it, you must await the arrival of a representative of our government. But, until one arrives, you will need to return to where you came from, and wait."

"Now hold on!" protested Flavius. "This land is officially territory of Vale. This was established by the Treaty of Vytal."

"Since no one bothered to ask _us_ before deciding such a thing, that is not our concern," said the man. "We do not recognize the claim of Vale to this land. Again, if you wish to dispute this, you must await the arrival of an official from our government."

Flavius looked around, feeling slightly confused. "Wait...if you're out here...does that mean that there is a settlement nearby?"

"There is," said the man. "However, I cannot permit you to approach any closer to it. My duty is the protection of the people who reside in this area. Permitting an unknown force to approach our civilians is unacceptable."

"And if we try to proceed?" asked Flavius, his eyes narrowing.

In response, the man flicked his right wrist. Seemingly out of nowhere, a trio of blades appeared between his fingers. They were over a meter in length, with slender, double-edged blades, like rapiers. They were joined to dull-red hilts that were strangely short, certainly not a good fit for swordsmanship. They were held between his fingers, positioned so that they extended out from the knuckles. At present, the man kept his arm lowered, so the pointed tips of those swords were angled down, ensuring that they weren't a direct threat. But the implication was still the same.

"Then I will take action to stop you," said the man.

Upon the appearance of those blades, the soldiers had immediately leveled their rifles at the man. Even the android accompanying them had raised its arms, leveling the guns mounted on them at this unknown threat. Flavius stood calm at the front though, making no moves of his own, his hand not even straying towards his sword.

"I see," he said, then took a step back. "Very well then. Do you know where to find our encampment?"

"I do," said the man. "A representative from our government should arrive shortly. Until then, do not make any attempts to spread outward."

"I'll inform our commander," said Flavius, before turning around. "Let's head back," he said to the soldiers.

The soldiers traded uneasy glances. They had no idea who this man was, where he had come from, or if he truly represented the people he claimed to. It was hard to believe that there was _anyone_ living in this land. Still, they had gotten an ominous feeling from the man, and felt that falling back was a better choice than fighting him.

The man watched them go, not moving a step, even after the scouting party had disappeared from sight. A second later, he was no longer alone.

"You let them go?" asked the man who'd joined him, sporting a black greatcoat. The short, spiky, dark-gray feathers that covered his head in lieu of hair were swept backwards over his head, his forehead extending down to an angled nose that gave him a slightly hawklike aspect. Amber eyes stared after the departing scouting party.

"There is no need for unnecessary violence," said the first man. "If they can be convinced to leave peaceably, then so much the better."

"I agree," said the second man, folding his arms over his chest. "But this still worries me. A Shadowrunner is conveying our report to Onmyo. We'll have to see who they send over."

"Hopefully, it will be someone reasonable," said the first man.

* * *

They'd still needed to make camp, as there was no way they could be expected to simply spend all night marching back the way they came. Fortunately, it seemed that the Mibu, whoever they were, were not offended by that fact, and there was no harassment, or black-garbed warriors informing them they needed to keep moving. After the night had passed, and morning had come, they marched straight back to their main encampment. The unexpectedly early return was met with confusion, confusion that was simultaneously alleviated and compounded when Flavius explained the reason for their scouting expedition being cut short.

"So...you're saying that these people claimed to have lived here...for some unknown period of time?" asked Blair Albion, the expedition's overall leader.

She was an older woman, having been in her prime when the Great War had been at its height. Still, her strength and skills had hardly degraded since then. Even now, she was more than capable of besting Flavius with the square-tipped sword that rested in its sheath, currently hung on a rack on the wall of the headquarters, directly behind and over her head.

Her pure-white hair was cropped to just shy of her head being shaved completely bald. She watched Flavius with angled, pale-gray eyes, resting over slightly rounded cheeks. Clad in burnished-gray armor, devoid of decorations of any kind, she was an intimidating presence in the encampment. She'd apparently served in the Royal Knights, the unit that personally protected the King of Vale...however little such protection seemed to have been needed by him. When the unit had been disbanded, she had been officially declared a Huntress, one of the twenty that had accompanied this phase of the expedition, and its overall leader.

"That is what this man claimed," said Flavius, doing his utmost to stand firm under the woman's flinty gaze. The Arc Family had a long history. And while he had never personally served in the Great War, as his father had, he had served long and well, protecting his home settlement from the Grimm, single-handedly, during the final days of the war. Because of that, he refused to sully his family name by allowing himself to be intimidated.

"And you believed him?" asked Blair, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"At this point, whether we believe him or not is immaterial," Flavius answered. "Upon meeting him, I determined that conflict would have been dangerous, and chose to withdraw for the time being."

"Is that so..." growled Blair. "You abandoned your duty because a single man told you turn back."

"He was not alone," replied Flavius. "There were more, possibly as many as five, with him, but I couldn't get a fix on their locations. More than that, his combat capability was Huntsman-level, at least, as were the others. In a fight, there was no way I could protect the soldiers, not with that many high-level opponents."

"Such risks are what they signed up for," declared Blair dismissively.

"With all due respect, that is _not_ the case," declared Flavius. "The soldiers signed up under the belief that the risk would be from Grimm, not conflict with native inhabitants."

"Because there are _no_ native inhabitants!" declared Blair furiously. "There is no way someone could have settled this continent for so long without anyone outside noticing it! These fools are clearly claim-jumpers, attempting to establish a history here, so that they can circumvent the authority of the Vytal Treaty. They are nothing more than thieves!"

"I...very much doubt that," said Flavius.

It wasn't so much concrete evidence that convinced him of that, but rather his personal impression of the man that had confronted him. Flavius had been able to sense the man's conviction, like that of solid steel, if not more. Even had he been facing a force many-times larger and more powerful, he wouldn't have wavered in his duty to keep them from advancing farther.

A mere thief would not possess such determination.

There was also his wording, the way he'd explained how the matter would be dealt with. Saying that a "representative of their government" would come implied a substantially-organized government, suggesting something that was possibly on the level of a Kingdom, thought that might have been a stretch...but a fair-sized city-state at least. However, for them to boldly claim ownership of the entire continent like that...

"We shall see," said Blair, rising in her seat. "When their so-called representative arrives, if he does, then we shall determine if your caution is warranted. If not, you will be reprimanded for cowardice, Arc. Perhaps you'll even be sent back, if you haven't the spine to do what it takes to build a future for Vale here."

A shiver went down Flavius' spine at the threat. After all, this expedition carried the hopes and dreams of his family; wild and untamed lands, rich with untapped resources. The first arrivals could expect the best options to create new lives for themselves and their families. If he could secure the rights to a decent Dust deposit, he would be able to claim at least a few indentured laborers to develop it, which would unquestionably support his family for generations to come. His family was depending on that potential wealth.

But still...if someone already lived on this continent, and expressed a claim to it, where did that leave him? After hearing his father talk about the horrid experience that had been the Great War, and the greed that had been the fuel for it, the last thing that Flavius wanted to do was start and fight a new war in a strange land. This hadn't been what he'd signed up for at all.

"Can't we call back to Vale and ask them to send a diplomat?" inquired Flavius.

Blair spat to one side, her expression contemptuous. "We're out of range," she declared. "For all their promoting, the Atlesian's precious Cross-Continent-Whatever doesn't seem to reach out this far. The fancy relays they provided are only good for local-area transmissions.

"Besides, there is no need for diplomacy, I will make our position clear, and these squatters will either need to leave, or agree to our terms. If they cooperate they might be integrated, but our own requirements will need to be met first."

Flavius swallowed, his throat dry.

Blair narrowed. "By the way, when is this representative of theirs to arrive?"

"Um...the man didn't say," said Flavius, a cold sweat breaking over his brow.

"Of course he didn't," scoffed Blair, rolling her eyes. "Get out of my sight. We will wait five days. If there is no contact by then, then this was clearly an effort by them to stall for time. If that's the case, then we will continue as planned, and deal with these interlopers when we find them. You will also be confined, then sent on the next ship back to Sanus, with a full report of your ineptitude. I hope your family will be capable fo picking up the slack, when they learn what a failure you are"

Dismissed, Flavius left headquarters with a heavy heart.

* * *

Their base was another contribution from Atlas. Light, yet sturdy materials made up the pristine white walls of prefabricated buildings, which could be transported easily and assembled quickly. Along with the perimeter-wall, they had allowed their base of operations to be established within a day or their arrival. With their backs to the sea, and a strong wall facing the interior, they were able to hold off the Grimm with ease. However, this was a temporary arrangement, until they could find superior locations, and build more permanent structures.

For his actions, Flavius was not surprised to receive a ribbing from his fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses, with even the soldiers giving him scornful looks every now and then, most of them judging him to be a coward for backing down against a scant handful of adversaries. Of the Huntsmen and Huntresses, only a small number, including his oldest friend, Sara, trusted his judgment. Aside from those few, only the soldiers who had accompanied him directly didn't participate in the jeering, mainly because they realized that it had been concern for _their_ wellbeing that had prompted him to withdraw in the first place. But that meant little in the grand scheme of things…

As did everything else, when the representative of the Mibu arrived three days later.

* * *

The lookouts were the first to spot the new arrivals. However, their warning didn't come until the Mibu's representative, along with what appeared to be ten warriors, were right at the base's gate, almost as though they'd materialized out of thin air.

Flavius was amongst the first to reach the gate, his nerves primed for the first signs of hostility. He was there when the gates opened to reveal their guests. The Mibu's representative stood at the front and center, ahead of a group of ten black-garbed warriors. Amongst them, Flavius spotted the man who had confronted them before, also sensing the presence of the ones that had been shadowing him making up at least half of their number. They were a diverse group, with only the uniform blackness of their clothing really binding them together as a unit. Some were dressed in loose-fitting robes, similar to the kind the shinobi of Mistralian lore were reputed to have worn. Some had hoods or masks, while others were dressed more plainly. There was no uniform pattern to the weapons they carried either, what weapons were visible in any case. All told, the air they gave off did speak of Huntsmen to Flavius and the others watching.

The jeers from his peers had certainly fallen silent at the sight of this formidable party, who were now entering into their base with every appearance of total confidence, despite being outnumbered by the some two-hundred soldiers and twenty Huntsmen that were staffing the place.

However, it was the woman at the front of their party who took up the bulk of the attention.

She was a sallow-faced woman who, despite the youthfully smooth texture of her skin, nonetheless sported slightly-hollowed cheeks set into a narrow face that gave her an almost-gaunt look. Her black hair was tied up in a simple tail behind her head, before trailing down past the level of her waist, contrasting sharply with the mantle of white feathers that enshrouded her body. The feathers shifted, and Flavius realized he wasn't actually staring at a mantle, but a set of _wings_, which the woman had folded up around herself like a cloak. The Mibu's representative was a faunus.

Glancing at the rest of the party, Flavius could see several other faunus amongst their number, most-notably the gray-feathered head of the hawklike man standing beside the warrior that had stopped their advance before. All told, almost half of their party appeared to be made up of faunus.

The grumbling started immediately.

Numerous faunus had served on both sides of the conflict, during the Great War. In doing so, they had established that they were not mere animals to be hunted and persecuted. They had often served brilliantly, leveraging things like their superior night-vision or special traits they might have retained from the particular animals they inherited their traits from. In doing so, they had won a degree of respect, particularly from the soldiers who had served alongside them, and the commanders who'd found victories to be much easier with their support.

In return for the collective service of the faunus, the Vytal Treaty had gone so far as to grant them a place of their own, a continent, practically a fifth Kingdom...at least, that was how it had been spoken of by those who had written up the treaty, predictably without any input from the faunus as to where their new "homeland" was to be found. The fact that said continent was two-thirds desert was _also_ something that tended to be glossed over, so that the faunus could be considered ungrateful when they grumbled about the fact.

On top of that, just because some influential people had changed their views on how the faunus were to be treated and dealt with, it didn't necessarily mean that public perception had changed all that much, especially when it came to people who had never served alongside faunus during the conflict. In fact, the complaints of the civilian populace of the Kingdoms were increasing steadily, with many people expressing irritation or anger that, even though they now had a homeland of their own, the faunus continued to live amongst them. There were even rumors that at least some of the Kingdoms were considering mandating the deportation of all faunus within their borders to the newly-established Menagerie.

With that in mind, the appearance of a mixed force at their gate, led by a faunus, was being met with no small amount of consternation. Already, Flavius could hear the angry whispers about "animals" being bandied about by the soldiers, and even a few of his fellow Huntsmen. Hands strayed towards weapons, some people sufficiently offended to consider attacking on the spot.

However, none of them did so. At the first signs of hostility, a deadly-chill washed through the air. It wasn't merely an impression or feeling either. A wave of literal cold radiated out from the woman, washing over everyone and everything in the vicinity. All at once, frost began to gather on every exposed surface, breaths condensed in the air, as though the early-spring weather had suddenly morphed into a winter's day. The effects were especially pronounced at ground level, where blades of grass froze solid, cracking underfoot as the woman and her retinue continued forward.

The fact that she was a faunus wasn't the most off-putting aspect of the woman though. Rather, it was her eyes. They weren't an unusual color...not that anyone would have been able to tell if they were. Rather, they weren't visible, the reason being the silver threading stitched across the woman's eyelids, glinting in the sunlight.

The woman's eyes were sewn shut.

The woman's head made no moves as she stepped forward, the other warriors following along behind her. "As expected from filth-ridden trespassers," she declared in a harsh voice, disdain dripping from every syllable. "Barely a lick of manners from the lot of you."

The members of the expedition bristled with anger. However, none of them were inclined to act upon it, the reason being the overpowering Aura the woman exuded. She was possessed of a chill that put the tundras of Solitas to shame. Behind her, Flavius could see the warriors accompanying her were averting their eyes uncomfortably, clearly not happy with her attitude and behavior.

Mustering his courage, Flavius stepped forward. "I am Flavius Arc," he said, choosing to act as politely as he could. "I am one of the Huntsmen accompanying this expedition. I welcome you to our base." Crossing his right arm over his chest, he bowed. "I will now take you to Huntress Albion, our commander."

"Well, it seems that at least a few of you are not completely bereft of proper behavior," said the woman, complimenting her comment with a dismissive sneer. Then she adopted a more formal bearing, straightening, her previous disdain disappearing as she spoke in a level tone. "I am Sakamoto Mao, of the Mibu Taishiro. Take me to your leader."

"Of course," said Flavius. "This way..."

Turning, he led the way through their encampment, the soldiers and Huntsmen drawing back away from Mao and her party. There was no contempt in their view of Flavius now, seeing that his assessment of this unknown party had been in deadly earnest, and distressingly accurate.

Bringing them to the largest building, which served as the headquarters for this temporary settlement, Flavius found the door already open. Entering ahead of the room, he was prepared to announce the arrival of the Mibu representative. However, his words died on his lips when he saw what awaited within.

The main room, typically used for conferences and briefings, was large enough to host twenty people easily, with a large table dominating its center, the head of which also doubled as Blair's desk, where she'd been working before the arrival of Mao had been announced.

But Blair wasn't alone in the room. Arrayed behind her were no fewer than _ten_ of the expedition's compliment of Knights. The machines stood silently, gun-tipped arms lowered, but their red visored gazes staring imposingly at the woman who had entered the room. The moment Blair laid eyes on the blind woman, her upper lip drew back in a disgusted sneer, which was quickly matched by the expression on Mao's face.

Flavius quickly realized that there was little hope of this discussion ending peacefully.

"This is-" he began, trying to soldier ahead regardless.

"I know enough," said Blair, resting her cheek against her left fist, staring irritably at Mao. "Get out, Arc. I'll handle this."

"B-but-" Flavius began to protest.

"I said _out_," snapped Blair. "Someone needs to tell this animal her place."

"Well well," scoffed Mao. "And this fellow actually got my hopes up that you were capable of some form of civilized behavior. What a disappointment."

Flavius swallowed, edging for the door. He knew this was bound to end badly, yet there seemed to be nothing he could do. Stepping outside, he winced as the door slammed shut behind him. Outside, he saw the ten warriors that had accompanied Mao standing surprisingly at ease, not seeming bothered by the soldiers and Huntsmen regarding them with varying degrees of hostility.

Noticing the man that had stopped his scouting party earlier, Flavius approached him.

The man regarded him with the same dispassionate, stone-faced gaze as before. However, when he spoke, there was a definite degree of consolation in his words. "My apologies for Mao-sama's attitude," he said. "We had hoped for someone more reasonable. But it appears that she was the first available to deal with this matter."

"I'm Flavius," said Flavius, extending a hand.

The man extended his own hand, clasping Flavius' in a firm grip. "Kirei," he said in reply.

"Is she an important member of your people?" asked Flavius, now that introductions were out of the way.

"As one of the Taishiro, she stands at the highest tier of our clan's government, second only to the Crimson King himself," explained Kirei.

_So it's like having a Council member show up,_ thought Flavius.

The Council was still a fairly new thing. In the wake of the Great War, the King of Vale had abdicated his throne, urging his fellow monarchs in the other three Kingdoms to do the same. In their place, a new body of elected officials, called a Council, would govern from now on. It seemed that the Mibu had something similar, though the mention of a king suggested that they were still a monarchy overall.

Still, that meant that one of the most important people in their clan was now speaking with the commander of the expedition, which would at least imply that they were taking this seriously.

"Hopefully, we can end this without bloodshed," said Flavius.

Kirei didn't seem optimistic. "That is unlikely," he said. "Mao-sama is notoriously...provocative."

"You seem to think that it's inevitable that we will come to blows," noted Flavius.

"It is really the only outcome I can see," said Kirei, regarding Flavius with that dispassionate gaze of his. "With that said, I do not bear you any hostility in particular. I only do my duty."

"As do I," said Flavius with a sigh.

The two men regarded one another with wary respect. In the meantime, Flavius couldn't help but notice other members of the expedition, soldier and Huntsman alike, pressing in on all sides, hands straying towards handles, barrels subtly pointing in the Mibu warriors' direction. For their part, the Mibu remained where they were, their bearing calm, but their senses clearly on alert.

This whole situation was primed to explode, and Flavius realized that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

* * *

"So...what is it that you want?" asked Blair dismissively, not offering a seat to Mao, though the blind woman settled herself into the chair opposite Blair anyway.

"For you to leave," said Mao simply, her wings fanning back to allow her to rest her arms on the table, revealing that, beneath the mantle formed by her wings, she was dressed in an ice-blue kimono, closed with a white sash. "You will pack up all this rubbish you brought with you, and return across the sea. Tell your leaders that this land was not, is not, and will never be theirs. I give you this one opportunity to depart with your lives. Any further intrusions will be punished with _extreme_ prejudice."

Blair leaned back in her seat, then let out a mocking laugh. "Well...isn't that just adorable?" she asked rhetorically. "You believe that you and your pack of mongrels outside have the wherewithal to order _us_ around." She adopted a mocking smile, then leaned forward. "Let's say, for the sake of argument, that I accept your statement that you 'Mibu' have lived on this continent for as long as you claim to have. Surely you have not developed all its lands. The androids' sensors aren't picking up a speck of Dust on your person. Apparently you don't yet know how to utilize such a valuable resource."

"We know of Dust," said Mao dismissively. "As things stand, we have no use for it."

That took Blair aback. "You don't?" She frowned with contempt. "You're even more backwards than I took you for." She tapped her lip contemplatively. "Well, I suppose, in return for not causing further trouble, we could permit you to learn at least some of how to utilize it. We will be happy to develop your deposits for you, I assure. We will claim the Dust deposits, and you can continue on with whatever meager existence you claim to have, and feed off the scraps from our table."

"No," said Mao simply. "You will leave. There is no need for further negotiation."

Blair's eyes narrowed dangerously. Her nostrils flared in a harsh exhale that sent twin streams of condensation into the air. "Your insolence is ceasing to be amusing," she growled. "I'm being quite generous with our terms, you know. There really is no need for me to be so polite."

"There is not," agreed Mao, conceding the latter point, "which is why I am not bothering. I am well aware of how 'terms', like yours, end up. You will start by taking undeveloped areas for yourself. But you won't be satisfied with that. You'll extend, looking for the resources you want. When you find them, it ultimately won't matter if those resources are on land that has been settled by others for generations, you will simply adjust your 'terms' to suit your purposes, and justify you _taking_ what you want. That has always been the way you greedy outsiders work.

"To that end, we shall head off this inevitable conflict, and nip this evolution in your 'terms' in the bud. Truth be told, we don't have much to worry about, considering the pathetic state of your forces. But dealing with you lot will be a hassle later, so I will handle you now. _Leave_."

With an angry snarl, Blair shot to her feet, her hand fingers clenching around the handle of her sword, drawing it from its sheath, sweeping it through an over her head and bringing it down to level its squared-off, chisel-like tip at Mao. The blade was pitch-black at the center, with violet marking the edges.

Now Blair was panting with anger, each breath sending smoke-like puffs through the air. "I have had my fill with your nonsense!" she declared. "I was prepared to be a little accommodating, considering that you seem to be nothing more than a bunch of faunus who decided to squat in our territory. But my patience with you has run out. The time for playing nice has gone. Now...you will surrender to Vale, divulge the locations of all your little illicit settlements, and be taken into custody...or you will die."

"My answer remains the same," said Mao, not even flinching. "You will leave...or you will die. If you do not pick the former, _I_ will choose the latter."

"That does it!" snapped Blair. "Open fire!"

Now sound came in response to her command. The Knights arrayed behind her offered no response. Blair bared her teeth in frustration, the tip of her sword beginning to tremble, betraying her anger. Across from her, Mao smirked, one eyebrow going up.

"You defective pieces of Atlesian junk!" snarled Blair, turning to glance in the direction of the Knights. "I ordered you to..."

Her voice trailed off, and Blair came to a horrified realization. Behind her, the Knights hadn't moved in the slightest...because they had become completely encased in ice. It wasn't just them though. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the room were covered over by a layer of ice that was rapidly thickening, the sound of its crackling spread finally reaching her ears. _When did she...? How did she do this? She doesn't have Dust!_

"Do you see now...just how pitiful you really are?" asked Mao. "It took me no effort at all to break your toys. You failed to even realize that I had already made this room into my territory. And now...you're alone."

"GET IN HERE!" roared Blair at the top of her lungs. "KILL THIS MONGREL!"

"They won't come," said Mao. "Like I said, this room is _my_ territory now. They will have no idea what is happening to you...no matter how much you scream."

"They'll figure it out soon enough!" yelled Blair. "Do you really think that you and your pitifully small retinue will be able to survive against the soldiers and Huntsmen of this camp, and the superior technology we possess. You're outclassed!"

"Actually, the lowlings are a formality," replied Mao. "As those charged with guarding this region, their presence is entirely perfunctory. I would deal with you and yours _by myself_. You outsider barbarians are only superior in one respect."

"And what is that?" asked Blair skeptically.

Mao's lips curled back in a cruel sneer. "You are better at dying."

"We'll see about that!" shouted Blair, swinging her sword down.

The blade of her weapon, Curtana, was impregnated with the highest-quality gravity-Dust. Wielding such a weapon, and employing its capabilities, required a high degree of finesse. However, it was finesse that didn't even rate as second-nature for Blair. Her sword was a true extension of her own body. When she swung it down, a black wave, lined with violet, cut its way through the table, rushing straight for Mao.

In response, Mao idly brought her right wing across her body, not even unfolding her arms or changing her posture in any way. When the black and violet crescent of Blair's attack reached her, Mao used the feathered appendage to swat it aside, the black energy shattering and dissipating impotently.

The table split in two from the cut inflicted by Blair's attack. Roaring furiously, Blair charged between the two halves as they fell away from each other, now bringing her sword down directly towards Mao's head. Curtana left a wave of black energy in its wake, the sword's blade increasing in weight to the degree of _tons_ though the employment of the Dust in its makeup.

Mao stopped it cold with the leading primary of her wing, her posture unchanged. A slight flicker in the limb being the only sign that Blair's attack had connected at all. Otherwise, Mao made it look as though _Blair_ was the one swinging a feather around.

Blair wasn't about to let that stop her so easily. She followed through with a barrage of attacks, her sword leaving black streaks in the air, its weight increasing upon impact in order to make her attacks all the more devastating. However, all she managed to accomplish was to look as though she was flailing impotently. Mao effortlessly fended off her attacks with her wing, the appendage almost seeming to act as though it had a mind of its own, acting completely independent of the rest of her body, while Mao continued to sit casually, arms folded across her chest. Her closed and unseeing eyes faced straight ahead, almost as though she wasn't even paying attention to Blair's attacks.

With an outraged scream, Blair brought Curtana down with both hands. However, it rebounded harshly against Mao's upraised wing. Then the wing blurred across Mao's body again, and Blair realized that the woman in front of her was just about to attack. She quickly pulled Curtana down, bracing the sword up in front of her chest. She was barely in time, Mao's wing blurring back across her body.

Blair was sent flying back through the space opened by the two halves of the table, smashing through her chair, and slamming right into two of the ice-covered Knights behind where she'd been sitting. Her body smashed the ice...as well as the Knights, whose steel bodies broke apart as though they'd been made of glass. Blair slid down, slumping to the floor, her entire body numbed by the impact of Mao's wing, followed by hitting the wall. Worse still, her limbs were beginning to feel heavy and numb, the sense of cold pervading the room growing with each passing second. Already rattled by the hit, Blair had to rally herself to continue to use her Aura to stave off the chill.

In front of her, Mao rose to her feet. "Even more pathetic than I expected. Perhaps that fellow who escorted me here should have been put in charge of this expedition, he is of much higher quality than you."

Planting the blade of her sword, Blair pushed herself up, gasping for breath. Each inhalation filled her lungs with air so cold that it was like inhaling a knife-edge. Still, with much effort, she was able to stand upright, rallying her strength once more.

Mao merely smirked, her wings folding over her shoulders again. She stood and waited, practically beckoning Blair's next attack.

Blair was only too happy to oblige, charging forward with another enraged shriek. Her sword descended down. This time, Mao made no effort to block the blow, and Curtana cleaved right through her body, splitting the blind woman in two from head to pelvis.

The searing heat of triumph that ignited within Blair's chest was snuffed out when cracks spread from the line she'd cut through Mao's body, the woman's entire appearance fracturing, before exploding outwards. Blair reeled back, shrieking in pain as razor-edged fragments of ice bombarded her, their edges cutting through her Aura, and injecting their cold straight into her body with each contact. Tiny lacerations opened up from the gaps between the plates of her armor, with the armor itself being scored by those minuscule blades.

"_It looks like you can't even find me anymore,_" said Mao, her voice now seeming to echo from all directions. "_How sad...fooled by a mere reflection._"

Abruptly, a low, crumbling and crackling sound resonated through out the room. Blair turned around, then stumbled back as jagged stalagmites of ice erupted up from the floor, while stalactites descended from the ceiling. Flat, surfaces met at angles, forming knife-like edges. Some leaned at angles, while others stood or hung straight up and down. In mere seconds, Blair found herself completely surrounded by what a forest of mirrored pillars.

And Mao leered out from every single one of them, a sickeningly vicious grin decorating her face.

"Coward!" shouted Blair, her head snapping from right to left and back again, trying to figure out where the real Mao was. "After all your talk, you're hiding behind reflections! I knew you were nothing more than a quivering weakling."

"_If that's the case, you should have no trouble identifying the real me,_" declared Mao's voice, again seeming to echo from every direction.

Blair's eyes eyes narrowed. It was faint, but her ears had been able to pick up a slight discrepancy in the echoes, the way they reached their ears suggesting they were originating from somewhere to her left. Stepping forward, she lunged around the corner of the nearest pillar on that side, spotting Mao standing there.

"Found you!" she shouted, swinging Curtana cross her body.

The Mao she cut promptly shattered, exploding into yet more ice fragments, making more freezing cuts to Blair's body and sending her stumbling back. Her boots slid on the slick surface, and she yelped as she stumbled into the edged corner of another ice-pillar, feeling it grind against the armor protecting her back. Whirling about, Blair shifted, leaning past the pillar, homing in on Mao again...only to cut through another reflection, suffering the same results.

Stumbling and reeling, Blair desperately cast around for any sign of her enemy. But Mao seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once. Her image grinned out from every flat surface around her. However, the diffusion of light, reflecting off the ice was playing havoc with her depth perception. Some images of Mao were obvious reflections, standing at impossible angles, reflecting the angle of the surface her image rebounded off of. Others looked perfectly real. Her mocking laughter echoed throughout the space, its point of origin seeming to change from second to second.

"_Normally, a bug like you wouldn't be worth entrapping in my technique,_" declared Mao contemptuously. "_But it's been a while since I've experienced the joy of being able to slowly torment a weakling to death. When you have a position of such high responsibility as I do, it is rare when one finds the opportunity to indulge their sadism._

"_Now then...I wonder which death will find you first. Will you collapse, as the cold seeps into your muscle and bone...or will you die from a thousand self-inflicted cuts? At least you needn't worry about bleeding to death..._"

Blair didn't need to ask what Mao meant by that last part, feeling the blood from her cuts freezing against her skin, the chill seeping in through the lacerations, making her body feel heavy.

Growling, she steeled her strength. Roaring defiantly, she surged forward, attacking every image of Mao she could find, striking with strength born from both rage and panic. The results were predictable. Blair was bombarded by shards of ice, scoring her armor and opening cuts across her body. With a surge of everything she had, she swung her sword in a wide horizontal arc, turning her body to execute a complete circle with it, a black and violet wave of energy cutting through all the ice around her.

The end result was that she was subsequently battered from all directions at once. To her dismay, Blair saw more ice rising and descending, new pillars and mirrors appearing, the damage she'd done vanishing in mere seconds. Her breaths were harder, harsher, the chill of the air inhaled into her lungs spreading through her chest. Her vision was beginning to blur, and even Mao's reflections were becoming hard to see.

Stepping towards the next reflection, Blair struggled, her boots crackling as she had to break them free from the ice that was anchoring them to the floor. Her fingers tightened their hold on Curtana's handle, cracking the rime that formed over her knuckles. He next step felt heavy, but Blair took another. She glared at the thread keeping Mao's eyes closed, intending to swing at them. But her arm would't respond. In fact, Blair couldn't feel her arm at all.

"_Do you understand now?_" taunted Mao's voice. "_This was over the moment you chose to raise your sword against me. Against me, you were not an ant against a human, but an ant against a _god_._"

A clang echoed through the room. Mao seemed to grow taller. In fact, Blair had dropped to her knees, Curtana's tip striking the floor. Ice gradually started to crawl up the length of the blade, while more still began to find its way up Blair's legs, from her knees and calves to her thighs, then higher. Her breathing slowed, her vision dimmed. Her thoughts were becoming sluggish, the heat of her anger sputtering and dying in the deathly cold that now impregnated the room.

"_Farewell,_" was all that Mao had to say, the last word to reach Blair's ears.

* * *

**To begin with, yes, the Kirei introduced in this chapter is an expy of _that_ Kirei, from the various _Fate_ series. There's nothing really significant in that, just that I like his character, and the Black Keys are one of my favorite weapons to come out of the Nasuverse. The other guy described is a kinda vague expy of Archer/EMIYA, but not to any great extent.**

**Blair vs Mao is basically what happens when a level-20 character tries to solo a level-100 character, if you want to use RPG terms. Or maybe it's like that one _South Park_ episode with _World of Warcraft_. Maybe Blair should try hunting some boars after she respawns. Wait! That's not a thing int his setting? Whoops.**


	142. Chapter 142

**Chapter 142:**

On the outside, Flavius found it unsettling just how quiet things had gotten, since Blair and the woman from the Mibu had begun their meeting. He'd expected to hear raised voices echoing from within the building. However, within seconds, silence was the only thing that remained. It made Flavius uneasy. He should have at least been able to hear the faint sound of them talking from within. But all noise had ceased.

Uneasily, he reached out, pressing his fingers to the door, only to yelp and recoil, his skin peeling slightly, having actually partially frozen to the metal of the door in just that brief second of contact. Stumbling back, Flavius looked up, his eyes rising, and jaw dropping, as frost formed all over the building's walls, becoming more-solid ice, running down in icicles from the edges of the overhanging gutters. The whole building was freezing over.

"It's begun," intoned Kirei, staring up at the sight.

"What is this?" demanded Flavius, whirling towards Kirei.

"_Hyoken Seiso,_" said Kirei. "Mao-sama's cruelest technique. She traps her foe within an impenetrable barrier of ice, then tortures them to death."

Behind Kirei, several depressed groans echoed from the ranks of the Mibu warriors, the vast majority of them clearly unhappy with what was happening in front of them.

"As I said," commented Kirei, looking straight at Flavius, "bloodshed is inevitable."

"Kill them!" shouted a soldier, raising his rifle, aiming straight at Kirei.

A high-pitched humming sound buzzed through the air. The soldier was abruptly thrown backwards, slamming into the side of the building behind him. The rifle fell from his hands, his arms falling to dangle limply to either side of him, while his head drooped forward. Despite clearly being dead, the soldier did not fall, pinned to the wall by the meter-long blade of the short-handled sword that now protruded from his chest, piercing right through his heart.

None of the soldiers had seen Kirei move. Flavius, and a few of the other Huntsmen had, spotting the blur that had been his right arm snapping out to fling his weapon with lethal accuracy. Kirei hadn't even glanced in the direction of the soldier, maintaining constant eye-contact with Flavius.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" shouted Flavius, raising his voice desperately to be heard over the sound of countless weapons being drawn and aimed.

The Mibu had unsheathed their weapons as well, but weren't poised to attack. However, that was no indicator of vulnerability, as Kirei's lightning-fast throw before indicated. With the current situation, if they tried to attack, it would be a bloodbath. Huntsmen would be hindered by trying to work around the soldiers, who were clearly nothing more than slabs of meat to enemies of this level, while the Mibu would be free to cut down Huntsman and soldier alike, striking uninhibited. In this situation, the Valeans' superior numbers would only work against them.

Kirei lowered his arm, flicking his hand. Three more swords seemed to sprout from his knuckles in an instant, appearing with the same suddenness as a stage magician performing a feat of sleight of hand. However, his hand remained lowered, the swords pointing down.

"Nobody move!" shouted Flavius desperately.

While he didn't doubt that many of the soldiers were reaffirming their view of him as a coward, Flavius held firm. He could see that the other Huntsmen in their party were working out the same problem that he had.

The Mibu remained where they were, ready and wary, but not making any threatening moves of their own, despite the sheer number of guns and blades turned their way.

The tense standoff ran on for another few minutes. Behind Flavius, ice continued to spread and thicken around the building, seeming to merge with the walls, until they seemed to become a part of the ice itself. Then, with a loud cracking sound, the first fissure in the ice appeared. Followed by another, and another...each of them branching out and spreading in a web across the walls. Then the walls began to crumble away, the entire building appearing to break into pieces, in turn breaking into still smaller pieces, until those pieces crumbled into powder that was scattered upon the winds.

In the center of what had remained of their headquarters stood Mao. She stood tall, her wings at a partial spread. The fingers of her right hand were closed over the top of the skull of Blair, the woman's decapitated head being all that remained of her. The head was covered by patches of ice, and there were red icicles extending down from the severed end of her neck.

"D-Dame Blair...!" stammered a horrified Huntress.

Flavius could understand her horror. Blair was unquestionably one of the strongest members of their expedition. To see her dead, without the slightest mark on her attacker, was a bad sign for sure.

Mao's eyebrows twitched. "And only one of the rest of you is dead so far. You lot must have more restraint and sense than your leader."

She allowed Blair's head to fall to the ground.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BITCH!" howled a Huntsman, lunging out from the crowd, brushing past Flavius, before he could stop him. The Huntsman leapt into the air, brandishing a massive axe. However, Mao barely even seemed to notice him, leaning slightly to the side to dodge the strike of his axe, while her right wing blurred slightly. A second later, she walked on, while the Huntsman who'd just attacked her fell to the ground, carved into pieces.

"Well, that fool aside, what of the rest of you?" asked Mao callously. "Will you all join your leader in pieces, or will you depart? Those are your only two options."

Flavius' mouth was dry. He knew he should order a retreat. They were clearly out of their depth in this situation. While he'd been able to see Kirei's movements during that lightning-fast throw of his, he'd seen virtually nothing of what Mao had done, when she'd cut the attacking Huntsman pieces. Forget the other warriors, this woman alone was too much for them, all two-hundred soldiers and twenty Huntsmen alike.

On the other hand though, he knew that, despite seeing the same thing he had, others wouldn't be so quick to let go of their outrage over Blair's death, nor the woman's smug and condescending treatment towards them. Indeed, he could see fingers already tightening on triggers, arms raising swords. At least half, maybe more, of the people in the encampment were prepared to attack on the spot. All it would take was one, and then entire place would explode into an orgy of bloodshed.

"Well?" asked Mao, clearly unconcerned with the precarious situation.

That had been enough. With a shout of rage, a soldier leveled his rifle at her, then opened fire. Immediately, several of his comrades in his vicinity did the same. A barrage of bullets flew towards the woman. However, the Dust-rounds glanced off the wing she interposed between them and her body, the feathers acting as an impenetrable barrier.

Before the soldiers could continue their attack, several of them died instantly, seeming to sprout meter-long blades from their heads as Kirei's throwing-swords pierced their skulls with a speed that exceeded their own shots.

"Stop!" shouted Flavius, surging towards Kirei, drawing his sword, while opening up his sheath into its shield form.

Kirei turned towards him, and then whipped an arm up, almost delicately intercepting the swing of Flavius' sword from the side, pressing his knuckles against the flat of the blade to nudge its descent away from his body. At the same time, he stepped forward, stamping down with earth-shattering force right as his fist impacted Flavius' shield. There was a low sound, almost like a balloon bursting, and Flavius found himself sent flying backwards, soaring past Mao, who apparently took no notice of him, landing and digging a trench with his body in the earth behind where their headquarters once stood.

Dazed, Flavius forced himself up, reflecting that he was fortunate to have had his shield up when Kirei struck. Had he taken the hit undefended, his armor alone probably wouldn't have held up. As it was, his left arm felt completely numb, all the way up to the shoulder. Rising from the trench he'd dug, Flavius managed to sit up, and found himself watching a massacre in progress.

As he'd anticipated, the soldiers' sheer numbers were nothing but an impediment to the Huntsmen in their party. They crowed around, largely seeming to forget basic tactics, like establishing overlapping fire-lanes that _didn't_ put them in each other's line of fire. As a result, many was the soldier who was riddled with bullets, dropped to the ground by a spray of a comrade's shots. All the while, the Huntsmen and Huntresses of the expedition were struggling to make their way through the soldiers, where they could take on the Mibu in earnest.

The Mibu, on the other hand, had no such impediments to worry about. Everyone around them was an enemy, so they reacted as such. Unfortunately, against the Mibu warriors, mere soldiers, lacking unlocked Aura, might as well have been no more than chaff. The Mibu went to work with a variety of weapons, which Flavius was surprised to see mainly appeared to consist of various melee types. He saw curved katanas flashing under the sun, the gleam off a pair of dao-swords, dual sickles, and other weapons besides.

He saw Kirei moving amidst the soldiers with cold, ruthless efficiency. With a flick of his hand, meter-long blades extended from between his fingers, before he sent them flying to impale the Valean soldiers. Any soldier who tried to get close found himself faced with a devastating unarmed style, kicks and fists that could punch through the chest, or reduce one's head into a bloody spray. Against him, a person without the protection of an Aura didn't stand a chance.

One of the Huntsmen in the party finally managed to shove his way past a pair of panicking soldiers, only for each of the two men to go flying back as one of Kirei's throwing blades pierced each one's chest. Another such blade rushed for the Huntsman, but he quickly deflected it with a deft move of the sword in his hand, before the handle of said sword extended, the weapon becoming a full swordstaff, which the man thrust at Kirei.

Kirei deflected the thrust with the same kind of block he'd used against Flavius, pressing his fist against the flat of the incoming blade to knock it aside. From there, Kirei closed in, aiming to strike the Huntsman in much the same way he had Flavius.

However, the Huntsman wasn't about to let that happen. Using the shaft of his sword-staff, he deflected Kirei's punch in much the same way Kirei had his thrust, by meeting the attack from a perpendicular angle. From there, the Huntsman collapsed his weapon back into its sword form, before the two men abruptly engaged in a rapid exchange of blows, each deflecting and attacking in turn.

It came to an end when the Huntsman found himself bracing against a full-on punch from Kirei, which sent him skidding back, his feet plowing furrows through the earth. However, the Huntsman was prepared to continue fighting, preparing to extend his weapon again. But that changed in a flash. Kirei's dark-skinned companion appeared in a blur behind the Huntsman, the two swords in his hands biting into the Huntsman's back, making him lurch forward. Before the Huntsman could recover, Kirei closed in, slamming his fist right into the unfortunate man's sternum, the sound of his cracking bones audible over the general melee, at the same time knocking him back, where the other man's swords impaled him from behind.

Kirei's companion wasted no time in pulling his blades free, turning and already searching for the next target. He found one quickly as a Huntress broke through the throng of soldiers to confront him. She soon found herself suffering the same fate, the two men coordinating flawlessly to bring her down.

Looking around, Flavius could see the same affair playing out throughout the entire melee. The Mibu had split off into small groups of two or three, bearing down on a single Huntsman or Huntress, then using meticulously coordinated attacks to take them down with minimal time and effort. For all that the Huntsmen of Vale had almost double the number of the Mibu, having to force their way through the press of alternately raging or panicking soldiers was keeping them from banding together, allowing the Mibu to easily isolate and eliminate them one by one, as the Mibu had no need to worry about the wellbeing of the soldiers they cut their way through to reach their targets.

However, the true source of terror on this battlefield was clearly Mao. The woman had not remained isolated. The fight had begun, and she'd strode casually forward, straight into the mass of soldiers. Though there was no other movement from her body, her wings flared out, and all the men in a ring around her were suddenly cut in two, their torsos flying upwards into the air.

All at once, five Huntsmen managed to break out of the press, attempting to launch a coordinated attack on Mao. However, she seemed to pay them no mind, her wings becoming a blur, steel ringing as her feathers deflected the incoming attacks, before her attackers themselves fell to pieces, the counterattack coming so quickly their senses hadn't even been able to perceive it.

Grunting, Flavius forced himself to his feet. This battle was barely a couple minutes old, yet he could already see its conclusion approaching. Unless he did something, there wasn't a single person in this encampment who would make it back home.

Sucking in a deep breath, Flavius made the only choice he could. "RETREAT!" he roared as loud as he could. "FALL BACK TO THE SHIPS!

Despite many of them calling him a coward, only minutes earlier, a great many of the surviving soldiers were quick to follow his orders, charging past him in a panicked rush to get to the ships that had first brought them to this continent.

"What are you doing?" asked Sara, who'd managed to skirt the Mibu to come and stand next to him.

Flavius looked to her. "Get on the ship with the others, make sure we get everyone out that we can."

"What about you?" asked Sara, her face paling in expectation of what she was about to hear.

Flavius squared his shoulders, turning to face in the direction of the Mibu. "I'll hold them back."

"By yourself?" demanded Sara, both frightened and skeptical.

Flavius nodded. "If I push myself, I can hold the line. It's what I'm best at."

"Flavius..." Sara's eyes watered slightly.

"Just let my family know," Flavius told her firmly.

Swallowing, Sara turned and fled with the soldiers, making her way to one of the two airships that had brought them to the continent. Their hulls were comprised mainly of wood, looking more like seagoing galleons than aircraft, albeit devoid of masts of any kind...for now.

Flavius turned his attention back to the Mibu, who were making short work of the Huntsmen and soldiers who who hadn't heard, or outright ignored, his call for retreat. Flavius only noticed a couple of other Huntsmen making a break for it, the others perishing at the hands of the Mibu, Mao especially. As the bulk of the surviving soldiers had broke and run, the Mibu had ignored them in favor of dealing with those who remained hostile. However, Flavius was fairly sure that it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention to those who had fled as well...and he would be the key in deciding whether or not they got away.

Behind him, he could hear a faint whining sound, the noise of a dormant engine coming to life, activating the gravity-Dust that lifted the vessels' off the ground, and the wind-Dust that propelled them. It would be another couple of minutes before they were ready for liftoff. Flavius steeled himself to work to buy them every second that he could.

The last of the fleeing soldiers rushed past him, while the last dregs of resistance against the Mibu crumbled away. Amongst their number, Flavius could see a few who sported cuts and bruises. One woman was clutching a limp arm, blood dripping from dangling fingers. They were also down to eight. In some ways, it was a relief to see that, despite their overwhelming victory, they hadn't gotten things completely their own way. The Mibu were powerful and skilled, but not invincible.

Mao, of course, was completely unscathed, and didn't even seem winded.

Glancing behind him, Flavius saw the last of the soldiers stumble up the boarding ramp to the airship. It had taken two of the vessels to carry everyone over. But the survivors only needed one to get away. Flavius hadn't exactly been able to get a headcount, but he'd be impressed if as many as a quarter of their original group had managed to evacuate.

The sound of footsteps turned his attention to the Mibu. Seeing Mao approaching at the head of the group, Flavius took a deep breath, closing his eyes. Fortunately, the woman seemed to be willing to allow him to take his time with this. Of course, to someone as fast as her, she probably had all the time in the world to do as she wished.

Snapping his eyes open, Flavius took his stance, extending his shield ahead of him. However, instead of holding his sword up and ready for a counterattack, he plunged the blade straight into the sheath. As the guard slammed home, the face of the shield lit up, brighter than the sun. Mao was untroubled. But many of the Mibu behind her reeled back, most of them doing something to shield their eyes. Kirei's reaction was the mildest, simply holding a black-sleeved arm between his eyes and the luminous shield. Crocea Mors' light increased in intensity, then expanded into a powerful curved barrier, spreading out from the shield's edges, growing wider and wider, until a massive, curved wall of light was between the Mibu and the main approach to the airship. There was no Dust in this, only pure Aura and will, enhanced by the power of Crocea Mors itself, something that Flavius had only ever had a rather basic idea of.

They could probably skirt his barrier, going around the edges to get to the vessel. It would cost them precious time, even as hellishly fast as they were. It would take an impressive jump to clear it as well. Still, with that time, Flavius hoped that he could at least give his surviving comrades enough time to get the ship up, and get away.

A painful jolt ran through his chest. Flavius' heart strained under the burden. He'd never created a barrier this broad...or powerful. This was beyond anything he'd ever done before, beyond the limits of what he could sustain...and survive. But he knew that he wouldn't be walking away from this anyway. There was no reason to hold anything back.

Mao held out a hand from beneath the mantle of her wings, forestalling her subordinates from taking action. A second later, she flashed forward. Flavius didn't even see her fully materialize before his eyes, before his shield, at the barrier's center, took a hit that made agony scream through him. He could feel his muscles tear, his bones crack, beneath the force of that blow. The impact raced through his entire body, while his barrier flickered and buzzed angrily. He coughed, bloody spittle flecking his lips. His legs quivered...but still held him up.

"Well..." said Mao, her smile widening. "I was right about you. Very well..."

She crouched, wings spreading out wide. Beneath that, Flavius saw her arms coming up. At first, he found himself wondering if Mao was going to attack with her hands this time. But then he realized what she was doing.

Wings were, in essence, another pair of arms. On actual birds, they _were_ arms. Scientists still speculated on why some faunus with bird or bat traits grew wings as separate appendages, while some had arms that _wer_e wings. However, the fact that, even when they were separate from their human arms, faunus wings were still arms in their own right meant that, as appendages joined to the body, they were subject to the very same rules and limitations as regular human limbs. There was a limit to how much power Mao could put into her swings if she simply wielded them on their own. Now she was shifting, putting the strength of her entire body into action, and channeling it through the swing of those feathered appendages, channeling Aura through them to make them harder and sharper than any blade of mere metal.

Her next blow was too fast to follow, and Flavius spewed blood from his mouth. His left arm was on fire. His legs felt like they were going to outright break off. The barrier flickered and buzzed, fading slightly, but then strengthening and holding once more. On the other side, Mao was sent skidding back, the edges of the leading primary of her right wing actually looked a little ragged now, almost like a chipped blade.

Flavius saw the woman grit her teeth, before flickering forward again. This time, she struck his shield and barrier several times over, her wings leaving white streaks in his vision, visible through the semi-transparent barrier of his Aura. Each blow resonated through his Aura, and Flavius felt his bones crumbling, his inner organs failing, tendons and ligaments snapping, muscles tearing. Speaking purely physically, there was no way he should even be standing now. In fact, it was likely that the damage he'd taken was already fatal, and he'd expire just a few minutes after collapsing.

But still Flavius Arc held firm.

Yet his continued determination only seemed to make Mao smile wider. Behind her, the Mibu looked on, impassive in appearance, but not unmoved within. Behind Flavius, they could see the airship bearing his fleeing comrades lifting off. From the deck, the keel, and the angled sections of the ventral hull, a quartet of masts unfolded from where they'd been lying flush. Even as the masts unfolded, crossbeams unfolded from them, spreading triangular sections of cloth between them. Once they'd fully spread, the sails shimmered green, before billowing, as though a powerful breeze was pressing against them. The ship began to move, slowly turning towards the open sea, gaining altitude and speed with each passing second.

Mao unleashed an even more furious barrage of blows against Flavius' shield. The armor covering his body cracked, then began to crumble away. Blood leaked from every orifice. It looked less as though he was standing up, and holding his shield in place than it did that he was now collapsed, and hanging onto the shield with all his strength to keep from falling, the shield itself seeming to have become fixed in space.

Mao attacked again...and again... The barrier flickered, then began to crack around the edges. She struck harder and faster...and the outer edges began to break away. She attacked yet again, and the cracks began to reach in towards the surface of the shield itself. Behind Flavius, the airship was rapidly gaining distance, picking up more speed, now that it had finished its turn.

Mao paused, canting her head, considering Flavius with what seemed to be idle curiosity. "Warrior...if you still possess the faculty of speech...what is your name?"

"Flavius...Arc..." He barely had the wherewithal to croak out those two words. Flavius' vision had already gone dark. At best, he could see faint moving shapes in front of him. But nothing more.

Mao spread her wings wide, lifting her arms beneath them, turning her wings so that the feathers splayed up and out. "I salute your valor, Arc-dono. And so...rather than allow you to fade, I shall give you a death that is worthy of your determination." The air seemed to hum as the primaries of her wing began to glow white, the light they emitted piercing even through the darkness that had fallen over Flavius' eyes. From them emitted a bone-chilling cold that he could feel, even through his barrier.

"_Muhyo Getten!_"

Mao's wings bit through the barrier, the construct of Aura freezing over on contact, despite not being actual matter. Mao appeared on the other side of Flavius, her wings crossed in front of her, curling upwards, with her hands and arms mirroring the posture. Behind her, ice washed up over Flavius' body, completely encasing him in a matter of seconds, his entire body frozen in the reeling position of one who'd just been struck by a blow of unfathomable power.

Relaxing her wings, Mao stood upright, turning to face her fallen foe. Flavius remained where he was for a few seconds longer. Then the ice encasing him began to crack...and Flavius' body along with it. The ice quickly crumbled away, taking away the remains of the Huntsman trapped inside, glittering fragments breaking off and disintegrating...until nothing remained of Flavius Arc.

Well...almost nothing. As the ice broke apart, there was a clang. Crocea Mors, still in shield-mode, with the sword set firmly within, clattered to the ground, before laying still. Remarkably, the sword and shield barely seemed to have a scratch on them.

Kirei stepped forward, standing over the shield, bowing his head, closing his eyes, offering a silent prayer to the departed Huntsman.

"Truly remarkable," said Mao, stooping to pick up the shield.

"I do not understand how he withstood your blows, Mao-sama," said Kirei. "Were you holding back?"

"Not after the first strike," she said. "Granted, there are ways that I could have used to attack more efficiently, especially with my ice. But I chose to test his strength to the fullest. That he held up so long is a testament to his grit and determination."

She pressed her palm against the shield's face. A second later, there was a white flicker across its surface, an indicator of the weapon's Aura. "Fascinating."

"What is it?" asked Kirei's friend, standing next to him.

"This shield...its Aura is nascent, the product of being passed down through numerous hands, rather than something born completely from its crafting," said Mao. "Between that, and the Aura of Arc-dono himself, it should not have held up so well to my blows."

"What happened then?" asked Kirei.

"Arc-dono was a Shaman, I believe," said Mao. "His ability must have amplified what was both within his Aura, and within this weapon's Aura. On top of that, he staked the entirety of his life upon the defense, giving it everything, sparing nothing. Because of that, the shield manifested was not merely technique, but something higher...one might call it a 'wish', a genuine miracle born of his sacrifice. In that moment, though it cost him everything he had, he stood upon the same stage as us Taishiro."

She chuckled dourly. "Well then...there is no denying it. Though he was the one who fell...this man has made me admit defeat. It would sicken me to see such brilliance wasted."

"So you won't...?" pressed Kirei, his eyes widening.

"I won't," agreed Mao, nodding. Taking the straps of the shield in her hand, she located the switch that prompted it to collapse down into the size of a regular sheath, despite having never handled such a weapon before. Then she turned her unseeing eyes in the direction of the ship, the vessel now well away from the shore. "However, that does not mean that I am finished with them, just yet."

Spreading her wings, Mao raised them up, then swept them down in a mighty stroke. She rocketed up into the air, soaring through the skies in an arc that rapidly carried her towards the fleeing vessel, her liftoff having sent an enormous cloud of dust and grit swirling through the air, the backdraft forcing the other warriors to stumble away.

* * *

Sara had been on the stern of the fleeing airship. Producing a pair of binoculars, the most-advanced ones to come out of Atlas, she had been watching as Mao had pounded away on Flavius' shield, wincing with each strike, watching as her friend had become more battered with each barrage of hits he'd weathered. Her heart shuddered, and she realized that Flavius had already given up his life to ensure that they escaped.

She'd watched Flavius freeze, then shatter...watched as the Mibu bantered over the last remaining piece of him remaining, his weapon, the ancestral Arc heirloom. She'd felt a surge of rage as she watched Mao fiddle with his shield for a second, before collapsing it. That anger was replaced by horror, when Mao spread her wings and took to the air.

Binoculars falling from limp fingers, Sara traced the arc the woman drew through the air, growing from a black speck, becoming clearer in a descent that was bringing her directly down towards their fleeing vessel. _She can go so far, but..._

It was a common misconception that winged faunus were capable of flight. Besides wings, there were a number of myriad factors behind the mechanics of a bird taking to the air, along with the fact that a faunus' otherwise human body was not the most aerodynamic thing in the world. At the end of the day, winged faunus were capable of short glides at most, if even that. Yet, this woman seemed to defy that.

In truth, Mao _was_ gliding. However, by using the Aura-arts of the Mibu Clan, she could use her wings to produce incredible power, allowing her to propel herself higher and farther than any ordinary faunus. It made her capable of leaps that could carry her for miles at a stretch, and resulted in the fleeing airship to be _well_ within her reach.

"She's coming!" shouted Sara, sprinting around the bridge to reach the main deck, where Mao's descending arc was bringing her down.

Mao landed amidst the soldiers, who'd been milling about the deck with confusion. They scattered like roaches before her landing. Mao struck with force that rocked the entire ship in the air, making its flight dip, before it managed to recover. The wooden planks cracked and splintered beneath her feet, only just barely managing to hold up to keep her from breaking through into the space below. Mao had landed with wings at full spread. Now, as the soldiers and the tiny number of Huntsmen stared at her with growing despair, she retracted her wings, folding them around her body once more.

"Be at ease," said Mao cooly. "You shall live this day. Arc-dono's sacrifice has successfully abated my wrath. Now then...who leads what remains of your rabble?"

Swallowing, and remembering what Flavius had told her, Sara stood forward. "I do."

Mao turned to regard her, then walked closer. Sara's limbs trembled, the cold sweat of terror mingling with the sweat of her previous exertions. Mao came closer...then closer, well within reach of those deadly wings. Then, just within arms' reach, Mao pulled her wings back, extending her right hand, and what was held in it, to Sara.

Glancing down, Sara gasped, seeing Crocea Mors now being held out to her.

"I will entrust this to you," said Mao firmly. "See to it that it is delivered to his next of kin, if he has any."

Her hands quivering, Sara reached out and took her friends weapon from the Mibu woman's outstretched hand, then looked up at her questioningly.

"Aside from that, deliver this message to your leaders," said Mao, stepping back.

Suddenly, her wings snapped open again, unleashing a gust that blew over the people in her immediate vicinity. "We are the Mibu Clan!" she proclaimed loudly. "We have claimed this land since antiquity! In the course of your Kingdoms' history, we have not interfered with you, so do not interfere with us. Those who trespass within our domain shall be eradicated without mercy. This is your final warning."

A second later, the ship bucked wildly as Mao launched herself again. It took a minute of wrestling with the controls for the pilot to fully correct their flight. In the meantime, Sara, still gripping Crocea Mors tightly, rushed to the stern, watching the rapidly dwindling speck that was Mao, descending towards the now-distant coastline. A shiver shot through her body, strength deserting her at the realization of the horror she and the other few survivors had just escaped. Despite Flavius' sacrifice, they only lived because Mao had been convinced to let them go.

_They're monsters,_ she thought, looking down at the weapon gripped in her hand.

Despite her fear, rage also surged through her, anger at all the lives lost, the time and resources wasted. This was supposed to have been a new beginning for so many people, but had become their end instead. What was worse, the promise of this unspoiled land had been a falsehood. Now they bore the task of returning home to report their utter failure. She dreaded what the newly-formed Council would make of what had happened. Still, she resolved herself to two things.

First, she _would_ see that Flavius' family received the last remnant of him that had been granted to her.

Second, she would do _everything_ in her power to ensure that nobody tried something as foolhardy as sending a second expedition. However much she hated the Mibu, for the bloodshed they had wrought, Sara feared them even more. She didn't care if she was branded a coward. If that was what it took to keep another massacre like this from happening again, she would stoop however low she needed to.

And so...the first and only attempt by the Kingdoms to colonize the continent in Leng ended in abysmal failure.

* * *

Upon her return to Vale, Sara had not been surprised to find a rather chilly reception for herself and the other survivors. They had been quick to give their stories to the Council. It was clear that the men who made it up were more than a little skeptical of their claims, not believing that a group of ten warriors and one leader could have so badly thrashed a group of two-hundred bold soldiers and twenty Huntsmen.

Sara and the rest were interrogated thoroughly, and it was clear that the investigators were looking to do whatever they could to undermine their testimony. It was bitter and painful, particularly because Sara knew that she was likely to be charged with cowardice, possibly even desertion, and wind up disgraced, possibly even imprisoned for the failure.

And then the questions abruptly ceased. Sara was released with not even a reprimand marring her record. In fact, she instead received a commendation, and a sizable payment for her work; not just her, but the other survivors as well. The only caveat was that she and the others were sworn to secrecy. They were not to breathe a word of what they had encountered on Leng. Instead, the failure of the expedition was vaguely worded to place blame on the Grimm.

The about-face was so abrupt as to be startling. Later, Sara heard rumors that the retired King of Vale himself had intervened, convincing the Council to drop the investigation and reward the survivors, instead of punishing them. She cared little in the end. All that mattered was that she was free to do her duty.

So she traveled to where Flavius' family lived, delivering the final memento of the man into the hands of his son, just as she had been charged. Despite the order of secrecy, she wound up telling Fulvio of what had truly befallen his father. To say that the boy had been incensed was an understatement. He'd vowed to bring punishment upon the Mibu on the spot. Fulvio had always been a passionate and somewhat reckless soul, his words making Sara wish that Flavius were still around to temper his son's tendencies.

It became moot anyway as, soon after, travel to the continent of Leng was banned by Vale, with the other Kingdoms soon following suit. Despite being sworn to secrecy herself, Sara suspected that someone on the Council, or the former-King, had shared the truth with the leadership of the other Kingdoms, in order to avoid provoking the dangerous force that lurked within the continent.

In the end, the continent of Leng soon became known as the Forbidden Continent. Despite the best efforts of the leadership of the Kingdom, rumors of the Mibu's existence did spread, though not far. Those who knew of them began to eventually call them the Silent Kingdom.

* * *

**With regards to the bit about winged faunus, it's not yet entirely clear whether or not they can fly in canon yet. The only example we have so far is Yuma, who isn't actually ever shown flying, so much as gliding, or at least using his wings to slow his descent. Given that _RWBY_ sits way down on the soft side of the sci-fi scale, it's entirely feasible that they just haven't had reason to show a flying faunus yet, and that it's perfectly permissible within the setting.**

**And it might have even been implied with Yuma's introduction. When he reports to the Albains about Ghira's messenger, he says "He sleeps beneath the waves...", while the camera gives us a rather meaningful shot of the wings on his back, implying that Yuma intercepted the messenger over the water (possibly implying that said messenger was a flying faunus too), and killed him in the air...or that could have just meant that Yuma killed him somewhere on Menagerie, and _then_ dumped hm in the sea. Maybe I'm just reading too much into things.**

**Next chapter, we return to our regularly scheduled present timeline.**


	143. Chapter 143

**Chapter 143:**

_Present:_

Sasame's tale was a fairly brief one, a basic summary, for the most part. But it contained enough detail to indicate at least _som_e of the nuance behind what had happened all those years ago.

"So this Mao-person, she's...?" prodded Pyrrha.

"She _was_ one of the Taishiro," said Sasame, frowning. "She retired over a decade before Ruby-chan came to live with us. In fact, it was the vacancy left _by_ her retirement that Sora-sama filled with her induction into the Taishiro. After her retirement, she went into seclusion, and has not engaged with anyone since."

"She got away with all that?" asked Ciel, aghast at the idea that a person who was willing to do something so heinous could go unpunished.

Sasame sighed. "That is a...fault...in our government," she admitted. "The Taishiro are afforded wide discretionary use of their powers, both political and martial. In the end, the greatest check on their authority is one another, and the Crimson King. Aside from that, well...much is entrusted to their responsibility, which is why their selection is carried out with such care."

"That seems, I dunno...kinda dangerous," commented Coco.

"Perhaps," admitted Sasame. "Granted, it has served us well throughout our history. There are a few examples of Elders who abused their power, and were subsequently put down by the others. However, that event aside, Mao-sama's diligence to her duties was exceptional, and she had multiple centuries of service on her record by that point. At the time, she was the most senior member, with even more experience than Makoto-sama.

"However, she was also a hardliner proponent of isolationism, and keeping our borders closed. She also had a vicious disposition, and a rather sadistic tendency at times."

"Geez, and they let this lady run things?" wondered Yang.

Sasame nodded. "Like I said, she was an exemplary leader and administrator. Her efforts contributed to the smooth running of the clan for centuries."

"So then, what was the point of all that?" asked Oscar. "Did this lady just hate outsiders that much?"

"Well...with Mao-sama...that is not unlikely," admitted Sasame. "However, part of it may be...hmm..."

"What is it?" asked Ruby, leaning forward.

"It's hard for me to believe this of Mao-sama," said Sasame. "However, I expect that she may, in fact, have been aiming to, in her own way, to pave a path towards the opening of our borders within the Mibu."

"Uh...How does that work at all?" asked Scarlet.

"The warriors who accompanied Mao-sama to that failed meeting were appalled by her willingness to provoke the expedition members, as though she was aiming for a one-sided massacre from the start. Apparently, there was one member of the expedition who was considerably stronger than the others, who was able to hold off Mao-sama in time for the survivors to escape. Before that, Mao-sama's intention was probably not to allow a single survivor. On top of that, the warriors themselves took casualties that they saw as a direct result of what they considered needless provocation on her part.

"Because they were acting on Mao-sama's orders, the warriors had no choice but to kill. However, they were disgusted by her behavior, and protested to the other members of the Taishiro at the first opportunity. Mao-sama was reprimanded by Makoto-sama and the Crimson King at the time. However..."

Sasame closed her eyes as she recalled the response Mao had given Makoto and the King, one that he had relayed to her by Makoto. _"If you do not endorse my ideals, then you must replace me. I suggest you find one who is as different from me as night from day to fill the void I leave when I retire. Until that point, I will continue to do as I see fit."_

"What the heck does that mean?" asked Natsuki.

"It almost sounds like she _wanted_ to be replaced by someone who would support opening our borders," added Setsuna.

"She may have," said Sasame. "In the end, Mao-sama couldn't let go of her desire to keep the Mibu away from the rest of the world. However, I suspect that she too foresaw a future where the Mibu growing to become a part of the wider world was inevitable.

"To that end, I suppose you could say that she decided to make herself into a 'demon of the old guard', someone whose devotion to those old beliefs of isolationism would lead them to committing reprehensible acts that would draw condemnation. Mao-sama chose to act in such a way in order to paint an ugly picture of how the Mibu were, to help the one who came after her to open the way. By deliberately being unsightly, Mao-sama held herself up an example of what the Mibu should _not_ aspire to be."

"Um...not to contest that, but it didn't seem to work too well," Miyu pointed out. "I mean, Ruby-chan still had a pretty hard time, when she first got there. Even up to before she left, this last time, there were still assassins going after her."

"Well...such changes do not happen overnight," said Sasame. "While those who accompanied her, as well as the other Taishiro and the King himself, condemned her actions, there were those amongst the rest of the clan who lauded her actions. Many of those voices still speak loudly today. However, as loud as they are now, they are not as loud as they used to be. Truth be told, had Ruby-chan _not_ been adopted as my ward, and later revealed to be adopted as the unofficial daughter of Sora-sama herself, she might not have faced such serious attempts on her life.

"Hence why Sora-sama and I now feel that we can push through with the opening. It is actually sooner than we were originally planning. However, even though we are faced with a steep uphill battle, between the groundwork we've laid, and the example Ruby-chan has set, we can truly reach out to the outside world."

"Either way...damn," said Piper, folding her arms thoughtfully. "Atlas' contribution to that expedition was mainly in the form of materiel. Still, losing so totally was a pretty big black mark. I can see why everyone would want to cover it up."

Ciel nodded. "So then...is that why you've had a team, mostly made up of people from the Mibu, participate in the tournament?"

"More or less," confirmed Sasame. "At this point, there is little we can do personally to convince those who cling to old grievances to give them up. That being the case, we chose to confront the other reason certain people in the Kingdoms choose to disparage our clan. "

"By showing the efficacy of your techniques," commented Rain. "The members of Team Meconopsis were all younger than anyone else participating in the tournament, save for Ms. Ruby. Yet they managed to make it all the way to the semifinals."

"And the one that knocked their representative out was another Mibu," added Fox pensively.

"Well...I'm not sure I would've gotten much farther," admitted Natsuki. "If I hadn't gone up against Ruby-chan, but Penny-chan, I might still have lost."

"Still a pretty good record for a fifteen-year-old," Yang pointed out, rubbing the top of Natsuki's head affectionately.

"We _did_ have the advantage of surprise," said Miyu. "The Manifestation techniques we use may superficially appear similar to the products of Dust. However, because there are distinct fundamental differences, it led to gaps in understanding, which created openings we were able to exploit."

"Yeah...we noticed," grumbled Nebula, pouting a little.

"I'll say," said Coco, taking her turn to rub the top of Natsuki's head, and doing a more vigorous job of it than Yang had, making the younger girl squirm underneath her hand. "You think you've got a girl on the ropes, and then she puts on some war-paint, and BOOM!, suddenly she's smacking you around like it's nothing."

Yatsuhashi nodded his agreement, though he felt no need to say anything more.

"So then...we'll be able to learn this stuff, right?" asked Cardin. "I mean...you guys on Raspberry and Rainbow have obviously been getting lessons in this stuff. Are we gonna get to learn it too?"

"In the long term, that _is_ the plan," confirmed Sasame. "However, in order to enable that, we must first establish proper relations and channels of communication. Only then can we arrange for a proper exchange."

"What will we be exchanging though?" wondered Reese. "From the sound of things, you guys have it all."

"In a sense we do, yet we don't," said Sasame. "We Mibu have confidence in our battle capability to hold our own against any of the Kingdoms. However, there are many things besides combat ability to consider. I, for one, would not object to importing Kingdom appliances, even if that means ultimately developing a reliance on Dust ourselves."

"Seriously...? Appliances?" Arslan canted her head. "That's it?"

"Well, there's more to it than that," said Sasame.

"Seriously, don't laugh until you've tried to use a Mibu stove," added Ruby, a note of irritation in her voice. "They get weirdly proud about being able to use Aura for everything, but that sometimes just makes things harder for them."

"It may seem like mundane things to you," said Sasame. "But those mundanities are, in their own way, life-changing for those who have never had them before. For example, Sora-sama quite dearly covets the Kingdoms' communications technology. Having seen what it's like in the Kingdoms, I can understand that."

"So, what's the plan from here?" asked Jaune.

"Well, for tonight, we should celebrate the end of the semifinals," declared Yang proudly, resting her hands on her hips. "After a show like that, a big party is just what the doctor ordered."

"I agree!" shouted Penny excitedly, drawing amused looks from her friends and teammates.

"Tomorrow, Team Meconopsis has been invited to an interview with Lavender-san of the Vale News Network," said Sasame. "Ruby-chan and Penny-chan, the finalists, will be there as well. During that interview, they will be explaining the truth about where they came from."

"Wow...that's gonna be _huge_," said Coco breathlessly. "We've gotta watch that."

"Please be sure to," said Sasame.

"After that, I'll go against Penny in the finals," declared Ruby.

"I look forward to my match with you, Ruby," said Penny cheerfully.

"This festival is gonna end with a bang," observed Yang wryly, already thinking about what kind of result a match between Ruby and Penny would produce.

* * *

"It's time."

Adam grunted, looking sidelong at Jester. "For real this time...No more jokes...no more false assurances...?"

Jester waved a hand dismissively. "When have my assurances ever been false, Adam? I did as I promised. You now have more than enough power to match the little rose. Killing her is well within your reach. If I hadn't stepped in, you would have only fallen further and further behind her. Besides...didn't I give you a nice gift."

Adam grunted, resting a hand on the pommel of his large sword. When he'd first been given it, he'd barely been able to hold Hakuya's weight. But now, the broad, massive sword felt as light as a feather in his hand, when he drew it. The song it played when he wielded it was unparalleled. Compared to this sword, wielding Wilt and Blush felt as though he'd been playing with sticks.

And yet...

"There is just one more thing..." said Adam, his tone hardening.

"Oh...?" mused Jester.

Abruptly, there was a flash of brilliant red, a swift strobe of light that barely met the eyes. A second later, Adam sheathed his sword...and Jester's body collapsed into pieces.

"Now that I've taken all that I've needed from you, you can rot," snarled Adam, before spitting callously on the corpse. "I'm finished with you and your posturing...it seems that I've finally reached the point where I can kill even a jester."

With that, he turned and made his way towards the wall of the Kingdom in the near distance, paying no more mind to what remained of his former-instructor. Already, his mind was racing, planning to pick up where he'd left off. This time, he would do things right.

Because he didn't bother to look behind him, he didn't notice that the lips of Jester's severed head were pulled back in the widest of grins.

"Even after all that...still so rough around the edges. Well...he'll do for this. Time to see if the rose will live up to her potential."

* * *

Sun's eyes slowly blinked open. He realized that he was in a hospital room of some kind, resting on a bed. "Where...where am I?" he asked.

A hand came to rest on his forehead, and Sun slowly moved his gaze over, finding his heartbeat quickening at the sight of Blake, who smiled warmly down at him. "We're in the infirmary at Beacon," she said. "You were brought here right after the match."

"Oh..." Sun sighed tiredly. "Guess I lost then."

"You did," admitted Blake. "But that doesn't mean you should be ashamed. You were amazing out there."

"But not amazing enough," said Sun, a little bitterness in his voice. Being a good sport was hard, especially when he'd put so much into that match.

"Amazing enough for me," said Blake, leaning forward to lower her face to his, her black hair falling around him like an ebony curtain, cutting off his view of anything else...anything but her.

Their lips came together. One of Blake's hands found Sun's, lacing their fingers together, while the other grasped his shoulder. Sun's free arm reflexively reached out, looping around her waist, tugging her over so that she was half-lying on top of him.

After several minutes of kissing, Blake pulled back, still smiling down at him. "Whatever else, even if you lost, you're still my hero," she said.

"Thanks," said Sun, reaching up to stroke her cheek.

After another moment staring at each other, they pulled apart, Blake settling back into her seat at his bedside. "So...I guess I missed Ruby and Natsuki's match," commented Sun.

"You did," agreed Blake. "But we can watch the recording together. It's something to see. That much is for sure."

"I'll bet," said Sun, grinning.

* * *

At Yang's behest, the party they held to celebrate the end of the semifinals was a raucous one. There were times Ruby had been afraid that Glynda would show up, in order to bring the festivities to an end, on account of all the noise they were making. However, it seemed that either she was too busy to bother with discipline, or had decided that their excitement was well-earned. In either case, the partying went on late into the night. Ruby found herself staying up longer than she'd expected, given how tired she was from the match. Natsuki was in much the same state.

However, she still went to bed a lot earlier than most of her friends, with only Jaune accompanying her, holding her tightly as she curled up against him.

* * *

The next day saw Ruby and Penny, along with Team MNPS, arriving at the VNN's station. There had been some expectation that the interview for the two finalists would be held separately from the one for the mysterious unaffiliated team that had come from out of nowhere to perform so incredibly well in the tournament. However, it seemed that, in the interest of time, the two interviews would be folded into a single one. Ruby was grateful for that. After her first interview, alongside Pyrrha, all those months ago, she wasn't so keen to be put on the spot again. The more time the interview spread across multiple participants was less time Ruby had to worry about being peppered with questions.

Of course, there was also the respite that there was less pressure to deal with. The last time Ruby had been interviewed by Lisa, she'd been worried about her connections to the Mibu coming to light, Ozpin warning her that they might incite hostility from certain people. Of course, despite her efforts, that had happened anyway, and one of those "certain people" had indeed taken exception to her, and tried to have her killed.

There was probably still some degree of danger. However, with Mason Ayers in prison, the most dangerous opposition to the revelation of the Mibu was out of the way, with Ruby able to reveal the source of her training relatively free from worry. There was always the chance of reprisal, but she felt more than prepared for it now.

Besides, Natsuki, Setsuna, and Miyu would be revealing that they were from the Mibu as well. It only made sense that Ruby would stand with her friends from her homeland. This was their chance to reveal the Mibu to the rest of the world in a way that might, someday, help the forgotten and isolated culture to open up.

Ruby found herself and her friends seated in the same room as before, where her interview alongside Pyrrha had taken place. Lisa sat across from the six of them, smiling indulgently. "Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed all at once."

"I think it's better this way," Ruby admitted.

"I figured you might say that," said Lisa, beaming at her. "You don't seem like one for the spotlight."

"I-I guess not," admitted Ruby, looking down at her knees.

"We'll begin in just a minute," said Lisa. "The format will be about the same as last time."

"Okay," said Ruby, her word echoed by her friends.

Almost exactly a minute later, Lisa started the interview, introducing the participants, before explaining the situation.

"...After a startling performance in the first round of the tournament, Team Meconopsis, despite not being affiliated with any known Academy or school, produced the tremendous result of making it all the way to the semifinals, despite none of them being more than fifteen, with Oscar Pine being the youngest participant in the Vytal Festival Tournament's history at thirteen.

"This remarkable record has left many people wondering just where this mysterious team has come from, and where its members got the training that enabled them to progress so far so quickly."

Lisa fixed her gaze on the four members of the visiting team. "So then...just where do you come from?"

"W-well...I come from Mistral, actually," said Oscar, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "I live with my aunt, on a farm in Tsubaki. I'm apprenticed under a retired Huntress. Really...I was mostly picked to fill out the numbers so that our team would have a full four people to compete with."

"I see..." said Lisa, already sensing that there was more to this story. However, circumstances demanded that she move on to the other members. "And you, Ms. Shinomori?"

"Well, the rest of us," said Natsuki, gesturing to Setsuna and Miyu, "all come from the same place. We're from Leng."

The interview came to a grinding halt, Lisa's next question stopping before it could leave her mouth, which hung open, her shock reflected by the rest of the crew operating around them. The silence stretched on for several seconds, Lisa blinking, working her mouth silently, before she finally found the wherewithal to speak again.

"I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?"

"The three of us are from Leng," said Setsuna simply.

"But isn't…how...?" Lisa blinked furiously.

"Um...Maybe we should take the initiative on this," said Miyu. "We are aware that the common belief that the continent of Leng is uninhabited, but that is not true. Our people, the Mibu Clan, have been living there for as long as our history goes back. Because we are not as technologically advanced, we do not have the means to contact the other Kingdoms very easily, and our culture has been extremely isolationist for much of our history, so knowledge of our existence is...limited."

Lisa stared, speechless. Finally, she seemed to find her voice again. "I mean...I've heard rumors. But it's true? The Silent Kingdom really _does_ exist?"

"I suppose so," said Setsuna, "though that title sounds kinda silly to me."

"Well, it's 'cause we don't talk to people outside, right?" asked Natsuki.

"Still sounds silly," grumbled Setsuna, folding his arms across his chest, prompting a giggle from the girls around him, even Oscar stifling a chuckle.

"Um...Well...this is..." Lisa had no idea where to take the interview from here. This was a bombshell _far_ beyond what she'd been expecting. And now there were so many questions that demanded to be answered, yet it was difficult to figure out where to even start. In just a few seconds, the script for the interview had been thrown out the window.

"Why don't we begin with why three members of a reputedly isolationist clan are in Vale, and participating in the most public tournament in all of Remnant," she said finally.

"Um...well...that's because of me," said Ruby, blushing as she raised her hand nervously.

"How?" asked Lisa. "Wait! You're from the Mibu too? But I thought you were from Patch!"

"I was," said Ruby. "I told you before about how I ran away from home, and how I was found by my teachers. Well, my teachers were from the Mibu Clan, and they brought me back to live with them, when they weren't taking me out on training excursions."

"So then, these three..." Lisa glanced at the three Mibu on Team MNPS.

"They're my friends from back home," said Ruby. "They came to visit me for the festival. Um...Them actually _entering_ the tournament wasn't something that any of us planned."

"And how just did that come about?" Lisa wanted to know.

"Well...one of my teachers, my adopted older sister actually, wanted to set up an exchange with Beacon," said Ruby. "It's supposed to be a way to help the Mibu open up more to the idea of ending their isolationism. But we had to make sure Vale's Council would okay it first.

"To do that, Professor Ozpin suggested my friends enter the tournament. There was an open slot, due to a team that...withdrew, so he suggested that they take that slot, and use the tournament to show what the Mibu can do."

"Interesting..." said Lisa. "And what is it that the Mibu can do that is worth showing in the tournament? There's no question that your fighting skills are spectacular, especially for your age. However, I'm not certain what it is that you demonstrated beyond that."

"Well...everything that we; that is Natsu-chan, Setsuna-kun, Miyu-chan, and I; everything that we've done in the tournament so far, we've done without using Dust."

With that, the interview came to a screeching halt…again…as Lisa, along with the vast majority of the audience, wrestled with that declaration.

From there came the explanation of the nature of the Mibu's Manifestation abilities, and how it had shaped their culture into one that didn't rely on Dust, even if that made them more...primitive, in comparison to the Kingdoms. The conversation consumed nearly the entirety of the interview, as Lisa's line of inquiry switched from matters related to the tournament to learning more about this alien culture that virtually no one in the Kingdoms had realized existed. The expedition that was the source of much of the discord between the Mibu and the Kingdoms was tiptoed around for the time being.

Before they knew it, most of their allotted hour had gone by in a flash, the topic of the tournament all but forgotten, save as a tangent, when the four Mibu explained the basis for the techniques they'd been using in the ring.

As the interview neared its end, Lisa found herself abruptly reminded by someone off-camera that there were two people that she had been neglecting for nearly the entire course of the program. She gasped, then immediately regarded Oscar and Penny.

"Ms. Polendina, Mr. Pine, I'm so sorry for forgetting about you! I'm afraid we just got so caught up..."

"It's okay," said Penny, grinning cheerfully.

"We kinda figured this would happen," added Oscar.

"You did...?" Lisa looked back and forth between them for a moment. "Were you aware of the true affiliation of Ms. Rose and her friends?"

"Yeah," said Oscar. "Since I was on a team with three of them, I couldn't really _not_ know about it."

"Ruby is my best friend," added Penny cheerfully. "I learned about the Mibu from her a while ago."

"You're all friends then?" asked Lisa, looking between them all.

"Well yeah," said Ruby nervously. "I mean, that's mostly since we've all been hanging out together before the festival. When my friends came over from Leng, they just kinda joined in."

"A friend of Ruby's is a friend of mine," agreed Penny decisively.

"I see," said Lisa, her expression softening into a more relaxed smile. "Ms. Polendina, your performance has earned high marks over the course of this tournament. What can you tell us of your background?"

"Ah, well, my father is a friend of General Ironwood, so I've been prepared for this for a long time," said Penny. "I'm glad that I'm able to represent my Academy and Kingdom, and managed to get so far in the tournament."

Ruby knew that nothing Penny had said was untrue, as evinced by the lack of hiccups. Of course, informing everyone that Penny was an artificial person, an android capable of producing her own Aura, was out of the question, with things as they were. It was all too easy to realize that a great many people wouldn't accept her as easily as Ruby and her closer friends had. On top of that, given the many advantages her nature as an android had given her, Penny's performance in the tournament could also easily be considered the result of cheating...and, given the nature of the tournament, that might not be wholly off-base. In many ways, she was an exception to the rules well beyond anything Ruby and her friends from the Mibu were capable of.

Thankfully, because all of the queries about the Mibu Clan had eaten up so much of the interview's time, Lisa didn't have enough time remaining to pry much further. Instead, she quickly shifted her attention to Oscar. "And you, Mr. Pine...?"

"Um...what about me?" asked Oscar.

"We got a brief overview of your background at the beginning," said Lisa. "However, people are curious about the nature of your training. As remarkable as the performance of Ms. Rose's friends, your teammates, was, your performance was even more spectacular in its own way, even if it was for a single match. After all, you're only thirteen, aren't you?"

"Th-thats right," said Oscar nervously, blushing and lowering his eyes.

"Tell me, are you trained in these Manifestation techniques Ms. Rose and the others were talking about?"

"N-no!" said Oscar quickly, holding up his hands. "My weapons use gravity-Dust. It's kinda weird, since they're so similar to Setsuna's techniques and weapons, but they're a lot more typical of what regular Huntsmen would use."

"And how long have you been in training?"

"A little over a year now," said Oscar.

"And with just that, you were able to hold your own in the first round," noted Lisa. "Your teacher must be extremely proud of your progress."

"I...I hope so," said Oscar.

"And just who is the teacher who's managed to raise such a remarkable student?"

Oscar swallowed, glad he'd talked to his chaperone before coming, and determining whether or not he was permitted to answer this question openly. "She's Maria Calavera."

Lisa's jaw dropped. "Wait! You mean the Grimm Reaper herself is your teacher? That's incredible! Everything I found on her suggested she died years ago."

"W-well, it's a bit complicated," said Oscar. "She was badly injured and had to retire. She still traveled, and passed through Tsubaki a while back. While she was staying with us, she learned that I was aiming to become a Huntsman, and offered to train me."

"That's quite the impressive revelation," said Lisa.

Oscar blushed more furiously. In all honesty, he was amazed that he'd been allowed to say this much about his teacher, figuring that Maria would rather remain anonymous. However, when he had told her about the interview, her response had surprised him.

* * *

_"Sure, go ahead and let 'em know who taught you," she said with a blithe ease that shocked Oscar._

_ "Y-you're sure? But I thought you didn't want anyone to know you were still around." That was one of the main conditions behind her agreeing to take him on as a student in the first place._

_ "True, I thought that was best," said Maria. "Even though it's hard to believe that anyone would still bother over a blind old bat like me, I was still afraid that someone would come along and finish the job that woman started."_

_ Oscar swallowed. Maria hadn't told him much about what had happened, no details about her assailants, or really anything about the fight that had left her blinded. So for her to say even this much was a shock._

_ Maria's expression softened, and Oscar saw a grandmotherly smile on her face. "But after seeing you, and all those other kids, working so hard, it made me want to move forward too. I've spent so long living in fear that I just got stuck in place. Before I knew it, I was too old to do anything more than entrust what I knew to those who would come after me. But, well...we'll just have to see how much further these old legs of mine can carry me."_

_ The shutters of her prosthetic eyes fluttered slightly, while Maria turned her gaze to Oscar. "So go ahead and let them know the truth. I don't think we want to go into detail about _why_ I retired. But pretty much everything else is fair game. You're the best student I could ask for, and you've already made me proud, Oscar. You're the apprentice of the Grimm Reaper. Hold your head high and stand tall."_

_ "I will," said Oscar._

* * *

"Well, with the skill you've already demonstrated, you're pretty much a shoo-in for your choice of school," commented Lisa.

"I guess," said Oscar, scratching his cheek nervously.

"Maybe you'll break Ms. Rose's record as the youngest student admitted to a Huntsman Academy," suggested Lisa playfully.

"W-well, about that..." Oscar grinned nervously. "Professor Ozpin already said I have an invitation to Beacon. But he wants me to wait until I'm at least Ruby's age before applying. He says that he isn't allowed to go any younger."

"Well...I can understand that," said Lisa, laughing softly.

Admitting a girl only fifteen-years-old was already a considerable exception to the general rules. Inviting someone who was thirteen was an extreme that quite a few people wouldn't approve of, however impressive his demonstrated skills might have been.

Lisa noted a signal from off-camera, before sighing. "Well, there is a lot more that I want to ask. But we're out of time. So, for now, I'm afraid that we'll have to leave things where they are. Thank you all for coming. It's my hope that we'll be able to do this again soon."

"We'll try," said Ruby, silently wishing she didn't have to do this again. But she supposed that further inquiries were inevitable.

Lisa turned to look directly into the camera, giving her outro. A moment later, the recording ended, and Ruby and her friends were all able to relax a little more.

Lisa gave them all a wry smile. "Good job completely derailing things," she said. "I really wish we'd learned about this earlier. I could've done better setting up the interview."

"Well...it was supposed to be a surprise," said Ruby nervously.

"So I noticed," said Lisa, planting her hands on her hips. "You've got a lot of nerve pulling the wool over _my_ eyes, young lady. Don't think for a minute that this is over. I'm going to have you on here again plenty soon."

"I was afraid you'd say that," said Ruby.

"It's your own fault."

"Yeah...I guess it is."

* * *

As soon as the credits began to roll, Blake turned off the projector, smirking. Then she glanced beside her at Sun, whose entire body was quaking. "I suppose that was fairly amusing," she conceded.

"It was great!" declared Sun. "Did you see the way that lady reacted. She looked like she'd hit a brick wall."

"Well, when you drop bombshells like that, one after another, and completely throw the script out the window, it's only natural she'd be stunned," said Blake. "That interview went in a direction nobody but us could have predicted." Then she frowned. "Of course, the real trouble starts now."

"Yeah, this whole thing about the Mibu is gonna make waves for sure," mused Sun, scratching his chin.

"We'll just have to see how the Council reacts," said Blake. "How they respond to this is going to determine just how this whole exchange program Sasame is proposing is going to move forward. Ayers was supposed to be the hardliner, when it came to the Mibu. But the others are still going to take some persuading." Her frown deepened. "And then there are other concerns. I'm worried about Weiss."

Sun's eyes rolled up, then widened. "Yeah...her dad's probably already up in arms about her being with a faunus. Now he's learned that she has a Mibu on her team, he's gonna be out for blood for sure."

"No doubt," agreed Blake. "I'd be surprised if her scroll _stops_ ringing until she finally answers him."

The next second, it was _Blake's_ scroll that started ringing. It made her jump, as none of the people she was connected to had the kind of stake in this that Weiss' father did. Then again, it was probably something unrelated. However, the sheer timing surprised her. Pulling her scroll out, Blake blinked, seeing Ilia's contact on the screen.

"Ilia, what is it?" asked Blake.

"_Blake! Thank God!_" Ilia's voice blazed with desperation. "_I need your help! I need it now! Please!_"

"Wait! Slow down!" said Blake, shooting to her feet. "What's wrong?"

"_I don't have much time_," said Ilia. "_You have that healer-friend, right? Neo's hurt..._bad_. She needs help!_"

"All right, calm down," said Blake. "Where are you now? We'll need to meet up."

Ilia quickly gave Blake a location in Vale they could meet. For whatever reason, it seemed that getting passage to Beacon would be impossible for them, with things as they were. In all likelihood, if Neo was hurt as badly as Ilia seemed to fear, then Ilia probably couldn't afford to move them enough to actually get them to Beacon. Given Ilia's status as a member of the White Fang, contacting the paramedics was risky. So it was understandable that she was reaching out to someone she thought could help her without tipping off the authorities.

Hanging up on Ilia, Blake immediately opened up her contact-list.

"Do you know where Sasame is?" asked Sun.

"I don't," admitted Blake, before smiling. "But I have the the scroll number of her apprentice."

* * *

Weiss grimaced, staring at the screen of her scroll. Even though it hadn't actually changed, the buzz her silenced device emitted still managed to sound angry, seeming to convey the emotions of the one calling her, even though she had yet to exchange a single word with him. The word, "Father", hovering over the snowflake logo of the SDC somehow managed to color even that relatively neutral sound, turning it into something hostile.

It didn't help that the moment the buzzing stopped, indicating the call had gone to voicemail, it would start up again barely a second later. It had happened four times so far. The buzzing stopped again, before resuming for the fifth time. _He's not going to give up, is he?_ she thought dourly.

That was to be expected, of course. It was bad enough that she'd openly revealed she was in a relationship with a faunus. But she'd followed that up by immediately granting her title as heir to the SDC to Whitley. That was what Jacques would have wanted from the beginning, of course. But, by preempting him like that, she had deprived him the satisfaction of stripping her of her status as a means of retaliation. Her father was petty like that.

And now, it had just been revealed that her team leader was affiliated with the inhabitants of Leng, and had revealed that her techniques did not rely on Dust. Remembering how she'd originally reacted to that revelation, Weiss knew that her father's response would be even _more_ extreme. With his connections, he'd learned of the Mibu's existence, and their claim to Leng. He'd always dismissed them as primitives and happily championed another expedition to subjugate them, and lay claim to the resources of Leng for Atlas...or rather, himself. But now, these "primitives" had made a huge public impact, revealing themselves publicly, and openly declaring that they had no reliance on Dust. Had he that kind of authority, there was no doubt that Jacques Schnee would have declared war on them on the spot...and he still might, in whatever metaphorical way he was capable of.

"He's not going to give up, is he?" asked Ashley, looking down, watching as the buzzing paused, then resumed for the sixth time.

"He is not," agreed Weiss, her expression sour.

"Are you going to answer him?" asked Elowen, looking on nervously.

Perhaps it had been a mistake, agreeing to watch the interview from the living room of the Forrest Family's apartment. Weiss figured she would have realized that the revelations of her friends were bound to incense him, and he was now trying to lash out at the most convenient target of his ire.

"I suppose I have no choice," said Weiss, giving Ashley's parents an apologetic look. "I've put this off for long enough. I'll step out for this, if you'd rather not overhear-"

"It's fine," said Elowen quickly. "We're with you."

"Are you sure?" asked Weiss.

"You sacrificed so much for our daughter," said Elowen confidently. "It's our greatest pride to stand beside you as family." Beside her, Oliver nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," said Weiss, smiling warmly.

Hesitating just a few seconds longer, she finally answered the call. "Hello, Father."

There was a brief pause. Apparently, Jacques was actually momentarily confused by the fact that she'd actually answered him. A few seconds of harsh breathing could be heard over the connection, before she finally heard his voice.

"_So...you've finally decided to stop hiding from me, you insolent brat._"

"Actually, I was merely ignoring you," said Weiss, her words earning an enraged grunt from the other end of the line. "I figured I could already guess what you were going to say, and decided to spare myself the annoyance of being verbally assaulted."

A snarl came from her scroll's speakers. "_You have a lot of gall to speak to me like that, after the humiliation you heaped on our family. No daughter of mine will be permitted to consort with a faunus mutt!_"

Weiss smiled sourly. "If that is the case, then I am indeed no daughter of yours. If you intend to disown me, then go right ahead."

The strangled grunt she heard next made her smile bitterly. She pressed on. "Truth be told, the thought of being able to dispense with the smear of being related to a conniving, greed-driven piece of scum like yourself would be a relief. I can do much better than be judged for my accidental relation to a worm who lives solely to pad his own bank account."

"_Y-you...you ungrateful little bitch!_" snapped Jacques, the scroll buzzing with the fury of his voice. "_You think that, after all the mud you've smeared on our reputation, that you can just walk away from me? Think again! Not only are you consorting with that mongrel, but you've deliberately concealed the fact that your own team leader is one of _them_! I will make you regret ever even being born!_"

"Oh, you will, will you?" asked Weiss.

"_There is no more need to be polite,_" growled Jacques.

"On that, we can agree," said Weiss, her tone hardening.

"_I'll see that filth you're consorting with strung up in the streets! Your friends will go to their deaths screaming curses at you. You have my word._"

Weiss' eyes narrowed. "Is that so, Father?"

"_It is. I will show you what it means to make an enemy of me._"

"Well then, allow me to answer your promise with one of my own," said Weiss firmly.

"_And what is that...some grand declaration of protection...that you'll keep your friends safe from _my_ wrath?_" He barked out a harsh laugh. "_As though you have the power to see that through? Will you ask the insipid headmaster of that Academy to support you? He's nothing more than an insect that I can crush beneath my heel._"

"No...nothing so grandiose," declared Weiss. "I will make exactly the kind of threat you'd expect from a barbarian like me, Father. Allow me to say it to you plainly...

"If you touch Ashley, if you touch her family, if you touch my friends, or my school, or anyone else I associate with, then I will..."

"_You'll what?_" scoffed Jacques at her pause.

Weiss' eyes narrowed, and she filled her voice with every ounce of conviction she possessed. "Then I will kill you," she said simply.

She heard Ashley and her family gasp softly at her declaration.

Whatever scoff her father was going to make died in an instant. Clearly, he'd never expected such a simple, yet profound, threat. "_Wha-what did you say?_"

"Oh...didn't I make myself clear?" asked Weiss, her tone playful, before she hardened her voice once again. "I'll kill you. That's all there is to it. If Ashley ends up with so much as a scratch, and if I have the most minuscule inkling of a suspicion that you had a hand in it, there will be no lawyers, no judges, no courts, no appeals, nothing...I will come to Atlas. I will go _through_ whoever and whatever you put in my way, and I will run my sword straight through that shriveled raisin you call a heart. I will be judge, jury, and executioner. _That_ is my promise to you, Father."

"_D-d-don't be ridiculous!_" Jacques sputtered. "_You would never get away with it! You'd be guilty of murder!_"

"Well, I suppose you'll be able to take that to your grave with you," said Weiss, smiling bitterly. "Though, I imagine that it will be cold comfort to a corpse. Maybe I _will_ end up in prison for the rest of my life, if I'm not executed myself. But...the one thing none of that will change is that you will be too busy being _dead_ to take any satisfaction from that. However, if you're _that_ committed, then go right ahead."

"_You vapid little bitch...!_" shouted Jacques. "_You think that one idiot like yourself could possibly kill me? Our security is the very best in all of Atlas._"

"Well, _we'll_ just have to put that to the test," said Weiss tauntingly.

"_'We'...?_"

"Yes, 'we'," said Weiss, smirking. "Lest you forget, I have some _very_ powerful friends, more than you even realize. And, if there is one thing that can be said about them, it is that the majority of them are people who excel in the violence you so disdain. They've already pledged to support me, should things come to this. So we will just have to see how well your security measures up, won't we...if you're really _that_ committed.

"And so, there you have it, Father. There's really no need to take this any further. If you wish to disown me, go right ahead. Winter has already informed me that I have her support, so you may disown her as well. But I recommend that's as far as you go. I believe I have made my case in a manner that someone with your 'vastly superior intellect' can easily understand. If you truly are as brilliant as you claim to be, then you'll go ahead and accept things as they are, and go back to running your company. However, if you're actually so stupid as to think that you can threaten the people I care about, then I will gladly show you the consequences.

"That's all I have to say. Goodbye, Father."

With that, Weiss hung up, not giving Jacques a chance to get the last word in.

"Do you think he'll give up so easily?" asked Elowen, hugging Ashley to her front.

"We'll just have to see," said Weiss, sighing. "Still, if nothing else, there is no way Father was prepared for me to threaten him like that. We'll just to see how seriously he takes me. Still, as angry as he can get, he's nothing more than a conniving, self-serving snake. In the end, if he takes my threat seriously enough, then he'll know better than to test me."

"Let's hope so," said Elowen.

Weiss gave Ashley and her family her warmest, most caring smile. "I promise, whatever else might happen, I'll protect you with everything I have. My friends will too, especially Ruby."

"Considering what you've already done for us, that's a great comfort," said Oliver.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Weiss, doing her utmost to try and hide the tremors of her hand. Despite the confidence she'd used, when speaking with her father, there was still a very real fear that he would follow through on his threats. Whatever else happened, she silently prayed that he did not give her cause to follow through on hers.


	144. Chapter 144

**Chapter 144:**

Jaune hadn't been with Sasame, when Blake had called. But, fortunately, he'd been available, rushing out to meet her and Sun at the docks, catching the first available airship into Vale. From there, they made their way through the streets, until they found themselves at the mouth of an alley in the Kingdom's commercial district. Blake couldn't help but notice that Ilia had set their meeting point as far away from both the industrial district and the faunus quarter as she could get.

Entering into the alley, Blake cast her eyes around, looking for any sign of her friend. "Ilia...?"

"Here," came Ilia's voice, soft and whispery, from behind a nearby dumpster.

Jaune and Blake rushed around. Blake immediately pulled back, her hands going to her mouth to muffle a horrified gasp, while simultaneously fighting down the bile that threatened to rise up in her throat.

Ilia was crouched beside Neo, who was lying on her back. The reason for Ilia's distress was immediately apparent. Neo's jacket and corset had been cleaved through in a clean vertical line, running from her right shoulder and down to the level of her waist, the fabrics dyed red with her blood. Neo already looked deathly pale, her breaths quick and shallow, blood dribbling from her lips as well. She was being cradled on Ilia's legs, Ilia flicking her gray eyes back and forth, on the lookout for threats.

For her part, Ilia looked uninjured, though one might not assume that at first glance, considering the dark stains that had completely covered her black outfit in the area around her abdomen, with streamers of partially dried-blood having run down her legs.

"Hang on," said Jaune, crouching down beside the pair. "Sorry in advance."

With that said, he peeled back the sliced clothing, exposing the right side of Neo's chest, revealing that the cut had bit deep through her breast, as well as her ribs, possibly reaching her lung, if the blood coming out of her mouth was any indication. The sight made Blake gasp in horror, her hands going to her mouth. Sun grimaced, looking away, and keeping himself occupied by standing lookout.

Blake saw the tiniest flicker of unease on Jaune's face, a tiny tightening of the lines of his eyes and mouth, the slightest bob of his throat, before he schooled his expression into one of the utmost seriousness. Bringing up his right hand, he channeled his Aura into it, and started carefully using his fingers to trace the line of Neo's wound, not even pausing as they glided over the swell of her breast. The progress was slow, but Blake was relieved to see some color return to Neo's face.

Neo's breathing slowed a tiny bit, and her eyes opened slightly. Rather than her normal pink and brown, Neo's eyes were currently an off-white color. Considering that she was able to switch those colors at will, Blake guessed that they might have been a product of Neo's Semblance, with the color her eyes were currently showing being their natural shade.

"Can you...?" asked Blake uneasily.

"Not this much," said Jaune, trying to maintain his focus on treating her. "I...I can buy her some time, but this is too much for me.

"Call Ruby. She's the one who can find Sasame the easiest. Sun, can you call in a bullhead for an emergency pickup?"

"On it," said Sun, pulling out his scroll, Blake doing the same as well.

"Aside from that, keep an eye out," said Jaune. "I'm guessing you two are still in danger, right?"

Ilia nodded, half-listening to Blake and Sun speaking frantically into their scrolls. "I think we got away. But...with how much Neo was bleeding, I don't know if we made enough of a break in the blood-trail to lose them."

Blake put her scroll away. "Ruby's already back from the interview. She said she'll have Sasame ready and waiting at the docks."

"The bullhead's on its way," said Sun, hanging up his scroll. "It'll be here in three minutes, tops."

"Good," said Jaune, sweat gleaming off his forehead. While he wasn't exerting himself, the concentration needed to get Neo into a state where she could survive until she received more intensive treatment was intense. On top of that...the wound was...wrong.

"Will she be all right?" asked Ilia, looking at Jaune plaintively. "Please!"

"I won't let her die," said Jaune, injecting all of the will he had in his voice.

Blake and Sun took up guard-positions, watching their backs, looking both ways down the alley for any sign of someone pursuing Ilia and Neo. Fortunately, everything remained quiet, until the roar of the bullhead's jets echoed from the way they'd come. The dropship was setting down in the middle of the nearest intersection, its emergency signal stopping traffic to keep the space clear for it to set down. A minute later, a pair of medics, carrying a stretcher, arrived at the alley.

Getting Neo on the stretcher was a bit tricky, because they needed to work around Jaune, who couldn't afford to take his hands away from Neo for more than a few seconds. However, with some shuffling and careful movements, they managed to do it. Then it was out of the alley and onto the waiting bullhead, Jaune moving alongside the stretcher, continuing to channel his Aura into Neo's body, sustaining her.

When the bullhead's ramp closed behind them, and the aircraft lifted off, Sun and Blake heaved sighs of relief. Apparently, whoever had been pursuing Ilia and Neo had not managed to track them down in time. There was the risk that someone would try to shoot their airship down, but they were both inundated with the feeling of safety that came from knowing they were on their way to help.

"Who did this?" asked Blake, sitting down next to Ilia, doing her best to ignore the bloodstains on her friend's hands from a hopeless attempt to staunch Neo's bleeding.

Ilia shuddered, then sniffled, then looked at Blake, an expression of fear on her face more intense than anything Blake had ever seen before. "Adam did this."

"What?" gasped Blake, her entire body feeling as though she'd just stepped into a freezer. Sun quickly wrapped an arm around her, hugging her tightly. "But..."

Ilia swallowed, looking sick. "It's...it's all wrong, Blake. Adam's back and...and...Sienna-High Leader Khan...is dead."

Blake's jaw dropped, her entire body going numb. For a moment, the ability to speak completely deserted her. Her mind reeled at the mere implication.

_Adam's back! Sienna's dead! Does that mean..._? "Ilia...Adam...did he...?"

"Yes," said Ilia, knowing exactly what Blake was asking.

"Oh God..." whispered Blake. "How bad is it?"

"_Really_ bad," said Ilia, her eyes going back to Neo.

* * *

_"And so, the number of merchants reported to discriminate against faunus customers has been reduced. There have been reports of some discriminatory behavior from some sellers from Mistral and Atlas." The unmasked faunus looked up from his report at Sienna._

_ "Identify them, and make sure there aren't any mistakes," said Sienna firmly. "After that, we'll ascertain whether it's better to hit them when they are in transit, or after they've returned home."_

_ "Understood," said the soldier, lowering his scroll to the table, while the next one stepped up to deliver a report on recruitment efforts in the faunus quarter._

_ Ilia was only half-listening. Much of it was the same as before. After Sienna had rolled back the changes Adam had made to the recruitment rallies, recruitment had fallen. But the fact that curious faunus who had merely wanted to learn more about the White Fang weren't being pressed into service for the organization was better than any number of unwilling conscripts or brainwashed fanatics._

_ At the moment, the White Fang's tactics were quieter, more subversive, and more precise. Just as they had before, they were targeting businesses and people who discriminated against faunus, and giving them a little taste of fear. However, Sienna had decided to dial down their activities as much as possible during the Vytal Festival, most likely an arrangement made with Ozpin. Instead, visiting merchants who were caught discriminating were being slated for reprisal_ after_ the festival ended, to avoid any disruptions to the event as a whole._

_ Personally, Ilia preferred the idea of waiting until the offenders had returned to their home Kingdoms and establishments, waiting until they felt safe and sound, and then giving them what they deserved. It would serve to let them know that the White Fang's memory was long, and that, just because they left the scene of their crime behind, racists wouldn't be able to get away that easily._

_ The main reason that Ilia was only half-listening was seated comfortably on her lap. Neo leaned back against Ilia's chest, allowing Ilia to rest her chin on top of her girlfriend's head, while her arms were wrapped around Neo's midsection, the whole thing feeling so comfortable and natural to her that Ilia actually felt a little guilty about feeling so content, especially in the middle of a meeting that was constantly discussing various kinds of _discontent_._

_ There was no helping it though. Neo happily invited herself in when she wanted, left when she felt like it, and could not be made to leave or stay by anyone. At best, she would heed Ilia's requests, if a meeting was too sensitive that the other officers didn't feel as though they could speak freely with the human present. Rather than a girlfriend, it was more like Ilia had been taken to by a stray cat, an independent creature that came or went as the mood struck her._

_ By and large, opinions about Neo's presence in general seemed to be ambivalent. The officers that had come to Vale alongside Sienna largely ignored her. A few teased Ilia for her relationship with the smaller girl, but never in a malicious manner. However, several of those from the Vale Branch, the leftovers of Adam's administration, occasionally glanced at the girl with looks of disgust, looks that bled over to Ilia herself, with Ilia easily understanding that at least some of the faunus present viewed her as a traitor for consorting with a human._

At least they don't know about Mountain Glenn,_ thought Ilia gratefully. Sienna had chosen to keep the part Ilia had played in the operation's failure a secret. No amount of approval from Sienna herself would keep the rank and file from seeing her as an utter traitor for actually leading agents from Beacon through the security perimeter and to the tunnel. Sienna knew, and had given her approval, and that was enough._

_ The door nearest to the meeting area they'd established in this empty warehouse swung open hard, striking the wall beside it with a loud clang to allow the one who'd opened it to step through, the door swinging shut behind him with another loud impact. The sudden entrance, unannounced, sent everyone shooting to their feet, including Ilia and Neo, hands rushing for weapons, ready to deal with this interloper. There was no telling who it might be. Perhaps Ozpin had decided to go back on his word, or someone from the Vale itself had decided to take matters into their own hands. The fact that this person had not been announced or challenged was an ominous sign._

_ "Who goes there?" demanded Sienna, her chain dangling down from where it was wrapped around her right forearm, ready to bring it into action in an instant._

_ For a second, the click of shoes on the concrete floor of the warehouse was the only sound. Then a familiar figure appeared, stepping confidently out of the darkness._

_ "High Leader Khan," said Adam Taurus, dropping to one knee in front of a gobsmacked Sienna, "I have returned."_

_ "So you have," observed Siena, her chain rattling gently in her grip._

_ Ilia could scarcely believe her eyes at the sight of the man. Adam's red hair had grown down to nearly the level of his shoulders, looking shaggy and unkempt, as though he hadn't groomed in quite a while. His jacket was looking ragged and tattered around the edges, and the right sleeve had been completely torn away, all the way up to the shoulder, black bandages wrapped around his right forearm._

_ It had been weeks since Adam had been abducted from the middle of Mountain Glenn. But it looked as though he'd been away for months, if not years. Not merely seeming aged in spirit, it was as though he'd been through a different period of time entirely._

_ On top of that, his weapon was completely different. Wilt and Blush were gone. In their place hung the form of a long, broad, curved sword, its sheath hanging from leather straps around Adam's waist and over one shoulder, allowing it to hang behind him, with its handle extending out to the left, but with enough freedom of movement that it could easily be pulled around to where he could reach across and draw it with his right hand. Such a large blade looked far too cumbersome for Adam to employ in his signature style, making Ilia wonder just what he thought he was doing, carrying something like that._

_ "You have my deepest apologies for not being able to complete the operation in Mountain Glenn," said Adam lowering his head. "I was taken away against my will, and was only recently able to deal with my captor, and return to my place."_

_ "Is that so...?" said Sienna, clearly not knowing what to make of this. "If you had any sense, Adam, you would not have come back."_

_ Adam raised his head. "How can you say that? Everything I have done, I do for the faunus."_

_ "Including forcefully conscripting unwilling faunus to act as your foot soldiers?" growled Sienna. "What about marking one of our fellow faunus for death, even though she never raised a hand against us?" Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "What about an unauthorized operation set to cause indiscriminate destruction on an heretofore unheard of scale?_

_ "With all due respect, High Leader, the time for coddling is past," declared Adam, rising to his feet. Reaching up, he pulled his mask off his face, revealing his brand._

_ Ilia gasped. Adam had never willingly removed his mask, not even before his fellow White Fang members. Blake had probably been one of the only ones he'd been willing to do that for._

_ "Can you really say that such small measures are enough?" asked Adam, his voice growing in volume. "Our people are suffering from human arrogance. Time and again, we have made entreaties, protested, and tried to convince them to accept us. But it has been for naught. The humans have shown that they don't _want_ peace or coexistence. Even if a scant few change their tune, the vast majority of them will never change. They are unworthy of this world."_

_ "Do you realize what you're saying?" asked Sienna. "You're proposing war against the humans in their entirety. This won't be a battle for rights, but a war of extermination."_

_ "It is what the humans deserve," declared Adam firmly._

_ "It is what will befall us, if we push past that line," Sienna replied just as firmly. "Beyond your defeatist attitude, you have the idiocy to suggest that we can win that kind of war against the humans?"_

_ "Of course," said Adam, a cruel smile appearing on his face. "We faunus are superior to the humans in every respect. During the Revolution, the Kingdoms held the edge in both numbers and power, and yet we still won, because we could leverage our advantages to the fullest against them._

_ "It's time for a new revolution. This time, we will not stop with a worthless treaty. We will continue. We will advance. City by city, village by village, we will grind the humans out of existence, and bring the world under our complete rule."_

_ "You will, will you?" wondered Sienna. "I knew you'd taken leave of your senses, Adam. But this absurdity is beyond the pale. You _dare_ to come before me and peddle in such nonsense, after all your previous abuses, including those against your own people?"_

_ "As I said, the time for coddling is past."_

_ Adam's tone remained level and composed, which troubled Ilia even more than if he'd been raving and foaming at the mouth. Even when he'd been raising his voice earlier, there had been no trace of his earlier fury, only an intense passion._

_ Adam continued. "Those who lack the will to fight for their brothers and sisters are cowards. Those who consort with humans are traitors. The time has come to dispense with half-measures, and do what it takes to see this through, once and for all. The time where those without will were permitted to sit on the sidelines is over. They will either fight alongside us or die alongside the humans."_

_ Ilia held back a growl, fully realizing that, if Adam had his way, _she_ would be among the faunus he would be purging. She shifted, preparing to give Sienna her full support in subduing the dangerous man, but found herself halted by the pair of hands that had wrapped around her right arm, holding her back and keeping her from even reaching for her weapon._

_ Glancing down, Ilia was shocked to see Neo, giving her a desperately plaintive look. Without her voice, she was using her face to soundlessly scream for Ilia not to move against Adam. The look of utter fear in Neo's off-white eyes stopped Ilia cold. If Neo was _this_ afraid of the man, then..._

_ "Is that so...?" growled Sienna rhetorically. "Truly, I misjudged you, Taurus. Your delusions are unacceptable. I had told Ozpin that I would be happy to deliver your head to him, and it isn't merely for the sake of our agreement. You are a blight upon all faunus-kind."_

_ "I'm sorry to hear you think that," said Adam, his calm frightening Ilia more than any enraged shout ever could. He bowed his head slightly to Sienna. "You have my thanks for all that you have done for our people up until now..."_

_ A flickering strobe of red blocked out Ilia's vision for all of a second. When it passed, Sienna's upper body tumbled away from her lower body, sliced clean through, diagonally up from her right waist to the left sight of her abdomen. Blood fountained through the air, and Sienna's lower half collapsed._

_ "...but I will take it from here," said Adam, already returning his sword to his sheath. The blade had been red, when he'd finished his quickdraw, but had shifted to a light-gray steel, by the time he'd re-sheathed it._

_ Ilia's jaw dropped, her entire body going numb from the shock. Just like that, Sienna was dead, before anyone had realized it. Somehow, despite how large and heavy his new sword was, Adam's attack, nonetheless, was faster than it had ever been, by an order of magnitude. Ilia hadn't even seen him take a stance and reach for the handle of his sword...just the end result._

What has he been doing?

_ Adam was already stepping past the pieces of Sienna's body to stand at the table. "_I_ will be taking command of the White Fang from here on out," he said firmly._

_ "TRAITOR!" howled one of the officers Sienna had brought with her from Mistral. In a flash, he was jumping up, using the table as a platform to leap even higher, while he raised his broad-headed battleaxe over his head to bring it down on Adam's skull._

_ He wasn't the only one. Of the seven other faunus, besides Ilia, who'd been seated at the table before, four of them lunged for Adam, drawing their weapons. Ilia would have joined them, but Neo only tightened her hold on Ilia's arm, not merely holding her in place, but actively pulling her back away._

_ Adam's body flickered. A series of strobing flashes of light filled the air, red lines being drawn across the bodies of the attacking officers in several pieces. And then it was over, Adam casually re-sheathing his sword before the pieces of his attackers had even finished falling all the way to the table and floor._

_ "On behalf of the White Fang, I thank you for your years of faithful service," he said to the pieces of his attackers. "Know that, even though our paths have parted, I still respect all that you have done for the sake of our people. Your sacrifices will not be in vain."_

He's talking as though he hadn't just killed them himself,_ thought Ilia incredulously, now no longer resisting as Neo continued to pull her away desperately._

_ Adam's gaze went to survey the remaining officers at the table. "Are there any left among you who object to me assuming the mantle of High Leader?"_

_ In unison, the remaining three officers, Adam's subordinates from the Vale Branch, dropped to one knee. "We are honored to serve you once more, High Leader," said the highest ranking among them. "We look forward to seeing justice delivered upon the wretched humans."_

_ "Good," said Adam. Then, to Ilia's horror, his head slowly turned her way, making both her and Neo freeze in place, both of them too terrified to even recoil as his branded visage turned fully towards them. "Now then...it is time to deal with the _real_ traitors."_

_ Ilia's legs tensed, and she prepared to run. She knew what was coming. Adam was sure to strike with that same overwhelming speed as before. She hadn't even been able to follow his movements in the slightest before. Her death was all but certain._

_ Then she lurched backwards. Her eyes caught a flash of white from the back of Neo's jacket, the smaller girl interposing herself between Ilia and Adam. Red strobed in Ilia's vision, then Neo's body slammed into her with the force of a charging Goliath. Ilia barely had any time to register what happened, before they were both sent flying back, slamming into, then_ through_, the wall of the warehouse behind them, Ilia going sprawling, grimacing as the asphalt ground against the Aura protecting her back. Neo landed on top of her, Ilia reflexively catching her to keep Neo from getting thrown away._

_ With a pained groan, Ilia forced her way through the daze the impact had left her in. They had to run for it. Fighting Adam was impossible. Ilia shifted, but Neo remained on top of her._

_ "Neo...?" Ilia craned her head to look at Neo, then gasped in horror at the sight of the gash up the left side of her chest. "NEO!"_

_ Neo's arms fell limp to either side of her, the pieces of her umbrella clattering to the ground from limp hands. Neo weakly shifted her head to look at Ilia, her expression betraying how much pain she was in. Her lips moved, no sound coming out, but their movements allowing Ilia to read what she was saying clearly._

_ "Run."_

_ Grunting, Ilia struggled to get out from under Neo, the smaller girl's body heavier than it looked, with her dense musculature, Ilia's movements still slightly hampered by the hit she'd just taken. She quickly picked Neo up in her arms, getting to her feet._

_ From within the warehouse, she heard Adam's command. "Finish them off."_

_ Desperately, Ilia turned to run. As she did, she felt a faint tingle run up her arms, then over her body. Glancing down, she saw Neo's Aura rippling off her, running over them. Even after being injured so badly, Neo was doing everything in her power to hide them from their pursuers, even if it meant spending the very last fraction of Aura she had left._

_ However, even if Neo could hide them from sight, Ilia realized that she was bleeding too badly. Blood dripping to the ground would leave a trail that their pursuers could follow. She held Neo as close to her body as she could, allowing her own outfit to sop up what blood that it could, while she curled Neo's body so that the blood would pool over her abdomen, before it began to run off. Hopefully, that would keep the blood from reaching the ground until they got far enough away that their pursuers couldn't pick up their trail again._

Hang on, Neo!_ thought Ilia desperately. _You saved me. Now I'll save you._ Ilia resolved that, as soon as they got to a safe hiding space, she would call Blake, and get her to bring that healer-friend Ilia had heard about. Hopefully, Neo would last long enough._

* * *

"...and that's what happened," said Ilia, leaning back and staring dazedly at the interior lights of the bullhead's passenger bay.

"Unbelievable..." whispered Blake, her mind barely able to even comprehend what she'd just heard. Adam was back, and more dangerous than ever. He'd killed Sienna, and was, even now, probably working to rally the radical remnants of the Vale Branch for God-knew-what.

_Wait...Adam's back!_

Blake's eyes snapped open with a horrified gasp. Ilia flinched in surprise as Blake desperately pulled out her scroll and frantically searched through her contact-list.

"Blake, what's-?" Ilia began to ask, only to cut herself off when Blake put the device to her ear, clearly too preoccupied to answer her.

After her scroll rung a few times, she heard the click of the person on the other end of the line picking up. "_Ms. Belladonna, this is unexpected. What-?_"

"Adam's back!" said Blake. "He's back, and he's already killed Sienna!"

There was a fractional pause on the other end. "_I see. I shall send a bullhead out immediately. Do you have a means to contact the Forest Family?_"

"I think Weiss is with them," said Blake.

"_Good,_" came the curt reply. "_Tell her to make sure they prepare for evacuation._"

"I will," replied Blake. "Thank you, Professor."

Blake hung up, and immediately sought Weiss' contact. Ilia looked on, unable to say anything.

* * *

Mere minutes after lifting off from Vale, they arrived at Beacon's airdock. To the passengers' undisguised relief, Sasame was already there, Ruby standing alongside her. They weren't alone. Pyrrha, Yang, Ren, and Nora were there as well.

Jaune hovered by Neo's stretcher as the medics carried her off, keeping his hands moving back and forth over her wound, though not closing it completely. Once they were off the bullhead, Sasame came to stand by him, gently shouldering him away from Neo's body, her hands taking the place of his. Her fingers immediately phased through Neo's skin, and Sasame worked her way from the shoulder down, almost seeming to pinch Neo's injury closed, inch by inch. She frowned as she worked, apparently finding the injury more difficult to treat than she normally would.

"NEO!"

Everyone except Sasame looked up at the desperate shout, seeing Roman Torchwick rushing over to them, his eyes wide in a frantic look. Considering how heavily he professed his mentality as a survivor, it was an absolute shock to see him so terrified for the sake of someone else. However, before he could reach Neo's stretcher, Sasame's tail rose up, then slammed into him, knocking the man sprawling.

"Stay back," said Sasame, still not looking up. "The last thing I need is an interruption at this stage."

Ruby gasped in shock to see perspiration beading Sasame's brow. Given what she'd learned about treating injuries from her sister, Ruby figured that a wound as simple as this one (however severe it might have been) would be a fairly routine piece of work for someone as experienced and skilled as Sasame.

Finally, Sasame's fingers made their way down Neo's abdomen, stopping just short of her waist, before pulling free of Neo's flesh. Sasame stepped back with a sigh, her tail flicking back and forth with unusually sharp movements, betraying her agitation. "It's done," she said. "She'll pull through. She just needs rest now."

"Thank God!" gasped Roman, coming over to take Neo's hand, too busy being relieved to worry about how he'd been batted aside earlier.

"What happened?" asked Ruby, looking at Sasame in confusion. "Was it really _that_ hard?"

Sasame frowned, looking down at her hands. "It was much more difficult than usual. The injury itself was relatively standard, something I could have fixed in a few seconds...under normal circumstances."

"What was wrong about it?" asked Pyrrha.

"The Aura behind the blow that cut into her was refined with a pure intent to kill," said Sasame, turning her head to watch the medics carry Neo away, Torchwick by her side. "That's something I've rarely encountered, even among the Mibu. As such, the residual Aura in her injury actually caused it to resist healing. It's the kind of attack that could circumvent my regenerative abilities, if I were on the receiving end of it. Whoever did this is a master, who was able to channel the whole of his unbridled malice into a stroke of the sword."

"Adam..." Blake whispered, just loud enough for Ruby to twitch.

"Adam did this?" asked Ruby, having gotten the call _before_ Ilia had explained what had happened. "He's back?"

Blake nodded, glancing at Ilia, who was staring after Neo, apparently uncertain of whether or not to go after her. Ruby swallowed, her skin paling.

Sasame shivered, her tail's agitated movements becoming more frenetic. "This is...troubling. If this is true, then Taurus-san's strength, from when you last fought him, has increased by an order of magnitude." She fixed her gaze on Ilia, the intensity of her look prompting Ilia to jump and look at her in confusion. "Tell me what happened."

Ilia told the story of Adam's return and Sienna's death again to horrified expressions from the others.

"This is bad...very bad," said Sasame, almost looking ill, an expression she'd _never_ adopted in all the years Ruby had known her. "From what you describe, Taurus-san is wielding Hakuya. Worse still, he's apparently _mastered_ it. That...shouldn't be possible."

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby.

"It's only been a few weeks since Taurus-san was taken by Jester," said Sasame. "Mastering Hakuya to that extent should take _years_. There's no way Taurus-san could have such complete command of that blade after so short an interval." Sasame's brow furrowed. "It's almost as if..."

"As if what?" asked Ruby.

"I'm not sure," said Sasame. "It feels as though I'm overlooking something. This is clearly Jester's doing, though I'm not sure how it's possible."

"What should we do now?" asked Blake, looking between them all in confusion.

"We need to tell Ozpin," said Ruby.

"I've already called him," said Blake. "He sent a bullhead out to get Ashley and her family. Weiss is with them, so I think they'll be okay for now."

"Good," said Ruby, her shoulders slumping in relief. "But we need to give him a more detailed rundown, and then figure out where to go from here."

"Part of that can be established right now," said a firm, familiar voice. Everyone looked over to see Winter approaching at the head of a cadre of Atlesian Knights, Ciel walking alongside her. "Ilia Amitola, you are under arrest."

"Wait!" exclaimed Blake. "Ilia's-"

"Fine," said Ilia, cutting Blake off, the word coming in a tired exhalation. There was bitter resignation in her tone, but also tiredness.

Standing up, Ilia walked towards Winter. Reaching down, she pulled her weapon out of its holster, prompting the Knights' rifles to snap up, training on her, only to lower again when Ilia bent down to place the weapon on the ground, walking up and holding her hands out to Ciel, who placed cuffs on them.

"I'm sorry," said Ciel softly.

"It's okay," said Ilia. "Now...well...I certainly can't go back to the White Fang. I guess this is all that's left for me."

Winter sighed, not looking particularly satisfied with the situation either. "The outcome will be dependent on how cooperative you are, Ms. Amitola. Come with us and answer our questions."

"Of course," said Ilia, lowering her gaze. "I'll give you everything I have."

"That will be greatly appreciated," said Winter. She and Ciel led Ilia away. Blake looked after them, wondering if she ought to follow.

"Go on," said Sasame, using her tail to gently push Blake forward. Blake nodded reluctantly, then set out after Ilia.

"Now what?" wondered Yang.

"Let's wait for Weiss to get here with Ashley and her family," said Ruby. "Then we'll talk to Ozpin." She jolted up, looking around. "Wait! Where's Jaune?"

"He was here a minute ago," said Sun.

"He bolted right about the time I finished," said Sasame, smiling knowingly. "Ruby-chan, could you point me in the direction of the nearest restroom?"

"Is that where he is?" asked Ruby.

"Most likely," said Sasame.

"Should I...?" wondered Ruby, only for her voice to trail off at a shake of Sasame's head.

"Stay here and wait for Ashley-chan and Weiss-chan," said Sasame firmly. "Leave Jaune-kun to me. I know what he's going through."

"Okay..." said Ruby, feeling worried despite herself. However, from the way Sasame spoke, as though she knew exactly what was going on, Ruby guessed that this had to do with Jaune's status as Sasame's new apprentice, more than anything else. So she supposed it was best to leave things to Jaune's master.

* * *

Jaune cupped his hands under the faucet, filling them up with water, bringing them to his mouth and drawing the water in through his lips. After sever seconds of swirling and gargling, Jaune bent over, spitting the water back into the sink, before repeating the process again. This was about the fifth time, and he could _still_ taste the bile at the back of his throat. His legs were shaky, and his throat burned from vomiting into the toilet in the stall directly behind him.

"God..." gasped Jaune, bracing his hands against the sink, staring into the water that swirled down into the drain. For a brief second, it seemed tinted red to his eyes, and his stomach churned viciously. Only the fact that he'd already completely emptied it earlier kept him from pulling an about-face, and returning to the toilet.

After another few seconds, he regained a marginal degree of control. His breathing calming down, Jaune hobbled towards the door to the restroom, his legs shaking. Pushing out through the door, Jaune shaded his eyes, staring towards the sun, which was beginning to set.

The restrooms were in an outhouse, a small building off to the side of where the docks were built, where people waiting for or getting off of the airships that ferried them to and from Beacon could use the restroom without having to walk all the way back to the school's main buildings, a fair distance away, down the column-lined path. It had taken Jaune all his willpower to keep from throwing up until he'd managed to get inside.

He looked down at his hands, examining the upturned palms, thinking about what he'd just done. His hands began to quiver.

Then something warm and soft draped itself over his shoulders, and Jaune felt a warm feeling wash through him, the weak feeling in his legs and arms subsiding. Looking over, Jaune flinched to see Sasame standing beside him, looking up at him with a neutral expression. "I..."

Sasame's lips pulled up in an approving smile. "You did well, Jaune-kun."

"But I...I still..." Jaune began to protest.

"_After_," said Sasame, steel in her voice. "You let go of your control _afte_r the important part, Jaune-kun. This was much earlier than I planned on you encountering this kind of situation. However, you controlled yourself, and maintained that control all the way up until you were able to turn over your duties to me, and even then, you held on until you were sure of Neo-chan's safety...and I'm proud of you for that."

"Thanks," said Jaune sagging. "I guess that training paid off."

"It most certainly did," said Sasame. "Though, as I said, we hadn't reached the point you were at today yet, so you are well ahead of the curve. More than anything, this affirms my belief that you will be a superb healer, Jaune-kun."

"Thanks," said Jaune, his mind going back to that particularly difficult lesson, which had been taught in one of the visitor dorm rooms that Ruby's friends had occupied...

* * *

_"What's going on?" asked Jaune, facing the window, which seemed rather pointless, given that the curtains had been drawn, leaving him with nothing to look at, save for the patterns on the drapes._

_ "Just bear with me, Jaune-kun," said Sasame. "This will be one of your more difficult lessons, I'm afraid._

_ Given that she already had him working on sorting salt and sugar granules, Jaune couldn't imagine what kind of lesson she had in store. He also couldn't help but wonder why she needed Miyu's help for this._

_ "Miyu-chan...go ahead," said Sasame._

_ Miyu had been sitting on the bed. At Sasame's urging, Miyu stood up. A second later, Jaune heard the unmistakable fluttering sounds of cloth falling to the floor. It took a few seconds for his brain to realize what she'd just done. He immediately went rigid, his spine straightening, his hands clenching, palms sweating. Sweat broke out across his forehead as well, and his face became uncomfortably hot. _She can't be serious.

_ "Jaune-kun..." said Sasame, her voice firm, brooking no argument, "...turn around."_

_ Swallowing, Jaune turned in place, finding his fears confirmed._

_ Miyu was standing before him...completely naked._

_ Almost immediately, Jaune's hands went to cover his eyes. "I'm sorry!" he yelped reflexively, despite his conscious mind already reminding him that Miyu had clearly done this at Sasame's behest, and that he'd turned around on her orders as well, indicating that this was something he was _meant_ to see._

_ "You're going to need to uncover your eyes, Jaune-kun," said Sasame firmly. "If you intend to be a healer, then you cannot allow yourself to look away."_

_ "What does this have to do with healing?" demanded Jaune frantically, splitting his fingers to look through them, as though to confirm that, yes, Miyu was naked, before closing the gap again._

_ Sasame sighed, her tail splitting in two, both reaching up to wrap Jaune's wrists, then pull them down away from his eyes. Jaune gasped, then scrunched his eyes tightly shut._

_ "Jaune-kun, do not make me force your eyes open," said Sasame firmly. "Look at her."_

_ Reluctantly, Jaune opened his eyes, keeping them narrowed into a squint, looking at Miyu. She stood before him, still naked. Her arms hung limply at her sides. Her fair skin contrasted sharply with the red of her hair. With her arms at her sides, Jaune had a complete view of _everything_. Miyu's nipples were a rosy red, nowhere near as vivid as her hair, which Jaune also glanced below to confirm that her hair was_ all_ red. Her kimono had hidden an impressive figure, a rival for Ruby's in Jaune's eyes. Because of that, it took all his willpower not let his eyes shut again._

_ "Open your eyes wider," ordered Sasame firmly._

_ Unable to disobey, Jaune did so. His face was hot to the point where he felt it would burst into flame. Down below, he felt another part of him respond automatically to the sight of the attractive young woman standing before him, completely in the buff. He would have covered it, but Sasame's tails still held his hands and arms fast, not permitting them to move at all. He knew he was pitching a tent in his trousers, something that both the girls in the room with him could see. He half expected either of them to either mock him or attack him for it._

_ But nothing of the sort happened. In fact, Miyu didn't even appear to be acting as though she was naked in the room with a boy she was a friendly acquaintance with at best. Instead, her gaze was straight forward, looking in his direction, but not actually looking _at_ him. Her expression was composed and calm, not betraying the slightest iota of embarrassment. There was no flush coloring her cheeks, and her chest swelled with soft, even breaths. More than anything, she seemed like an incredibly lifelike doll._

_ "I...I'm..." said Jaune, his eyes darting down to his pants, confirming that the bulge there was impossible to miss._

_ "Yes you are," confirmed Sasame, her tone just as neutral and composed as Miyu's face._

_ "Setsuna is gonna kill me," moaned Jaune, "if Ruby doesn't first."_

_ "Setsuna-kun and Ruby-chan both knew that this was going to happen," said Sasame. "I informed them shortly before I called you here. They both understand that this is necessary."_

_ "Looking at her naked is necessary?" asked Jaune._

_ "Looking is just the start," said Sasame. "Later, you will _touch_."_

_ Jaune's legs felt weak._

_ Sasame continued, undaunted. "You will put her hands on every part of her. Understand one thing...this is _not_ sexual. You will not grope her. You will be conducting a tactile examination."_

_ Jaune whimpered, his eyes darting down to his crotch again._

_ "That is to be expected, of course," said Sasame, her tone remaining neutral. "But you will be learning to control that, so that you don't have that reaction, in a situation like this."_

_ "Wha-what kind of training is this?" asked Jaune nervously, as Sasame extended a third tail to his chin, directing him to look at Miyu again._

_ "The first step in one of the most important lessons you will have as a healer," said Sasame. "This lesson is about self-control; though, perhaps not in the sense that you might expect. This is to condition you to viewing the body of another, without losing your composure."_

_ "I don't...understand," said Jaune._

_ "Let me put it this way," said Sasame. "Imagine that, in the course of your adventures, you encounter a young woman, who is_ not_ Ruby-chan, who is severely injured, possibly minutes away from expiring. Do you help her?"_

_ "O-of course?" asked Jaune._

_ "What if treating her injuries would require you to touch her in the area around her breasts?" asked Sasame. "What if they are in the vicinity of her vagina?"_

_ Jaune swallowed, his mouth going dry._

_ "If you lack control, and your composure falters, then her life could very well be lost, and I imagine she will think you for being such a gentleman with her final breath," said Sasame, her tone cold._

_ "O-oh..." said Jaune._

_ "Understand, Jaune-kun, that this is just the beginning," said Sasame. "There is no harm in admitting that Miyu-chan is attractive, so long as you learn to put that in the objective sense. When you act as a healer, you must set all else aside, and engage with your patient almost as though they were an object. However, you will also need to learn how to deal with sights that are _not_ so aesthetically pleasing."_

_ "H-how so?" asked Jaune._

_ "If you have a commitment as a healer, then you must be committed to _look_ at your patient, regardless of who they are," said Sasame. "When we return to Onmyo, it won't just be young women, like Miyu-chan, you will need to look at. You will examine older women. You will examine men, both young and old, as well._

_ "More than that, you could be required to touch any of these people in their most intimate areas. You will handle male and female genitals directly-_handle_, not fondle. You will do this, and you will be required to maintain your composure, and completely control your base reactions. And that is _still_ just the beginning."_

_ "Why?" asked Jaune._

_ "Because, after that...you will be handling corpses," said Sasame._

_ The heat disappeared from Jaune's face._

_ Sasame continued, undaunted. "You will be required to dissect corpses in a variety of conditions," said Sasame. "You will view ones that have been altered to simulate a wide variety of conditions and injuries...and you will be required to touch those as well."_

_ "Why-what good will that do?" asked Jaune, sweating, despite the cold feeling running down him like a shower turned all the way down. At the mere thought of what awaited him, his erection wilted almost immediately._

_ "Because that is what you will be doing as a healer," said Sasame._

_ Even during their previous lessons, Jaune had almost never heard this tone from her. There were no playful jests, no gentle affection, no affirmation. Sasame's tone was deliberately neutral, stating purely the facts, imparting a sense of seriousness that really _was_ beyond what he'd experienced in any of his previous lessons._

_ "They say that the path of the warrior is the path of carnage and bloodshed..." At this, Sasame's cold expression broke for the briefest of seconds, as she let out a scoff with a smirk, before her face returned to a more stern expression. "...but that is _nothing_, compared to the path of the healer._

_ "A warrior is free to cut one down, and continue without looking at what they have wrought. As a healer though, you shall be seeking out the aftermath. Your aspiration, the very fulfillment of your role, will have you seeking the carnage and bloodshed of others, so that you can mend it. But, in order to do so, you must first be able to look upon it without flinching._

_ "A warrior may spatter themselves with the blood of their victims, but you will _soak_ in it. You will sink your arms up to your elbows in gore. You will experience repulsive sights, revolting smells, and relentless sounds. If you wish to heal someone, you must first understand how they are injured. To manage that, you will need to look at them with a cool head and a keen eye, observing everything...and _never_ looking away."_

_ Jaune swallowed._

_ Sasame continued. "One day, 'helping' someone may require stuffing their entrails back into their abdominal cavity. To heal someone's lung, you may first have to remove the rib that punctured it. And so...you will subject yourself to things that no mere warrior would ever have to face."_

_ "So _that's_ it," said Jaune, his throat tightening painfully._

_ "I will be perfectly honest, Jaune-kun," said Sasame, "if you truly do not feel up to this, then here and now, say so. If that is the case, then you shall be giving up the path of the healer. Proceeding from here requires nothing less than complete commitment."_

_ Jaune swallowed again._

_ "There will be times where life and death can be decided in a matter of seconds," said Sasame. "That is just as true for a healer as it is for a warrior. This training is to keep you from hesitating._

_ "What is more, a healer is required to maintain their objectivity. As I said, you will see revolting things. But if you allow yourself to be revolted by them, that revulsion will be reflected in your Aura. And I know that you've already experienced what happens when you allow your Aura to waver in such a way."_

_ Jaune's hands went completely limp, his fingers dangling straight down._

_ "Lust, anger, fear, disgust...these and so many other emotions can alter the way in which your Aura enters another person. When that happens, your Aura ceases to be a source of help, and instead becomes a source of harm. Let your composure falter, and you will kill the very person you are trying to save. That is what this first lesson will be working you towards, Jaune-kun. Do you have the resolve to see it through?"_

_ Sasame's tails unwrapped from around his wrists, while her third tail removed itself from beneath his chin. Jaune was now free to do as he pleased. He closed his eyes, not to keep from seeing Miyu, but to decide himself._

It's the same as before,_ he thought. Just as he had come to Beacon without fully understanding all of what being a Huntsman had entailed, so too had he started to walk down the path of a healer, without realizing what the result would be, the experiences he would need to walk that path. And now, just as he had been before, he was faced with the reality of the commitment he would be forced to make. Knowing what he did now, just what would his decision would be?_

I never got this far by giving up,_ he thought to himself. His hands clenching shut again. _And...this path...it's the best way to walk beside her._ Before his mind's eye, he saw the face of Ruby, her radiant smile, those magnificent silver eyes... _I want to support her.

_ If this was what it took to become the kind of person who could keep holding her up, then he would walk down this path, however difficult it would be. With that in mind, Jaune took a deep breath, then opened his eyes once more._

_ Sasame was smiling now, an expression of approval. Miyu was giving him a slight smile as well._

_ "Okay..." said Jaune._

_ "Good," said Sasame. "I know you will make me proud, Jaune-kun. Miyu-chan...lie down on the bed, and we will begin."_

* * *

"That was a few levels above where your training should have been," said Sasame, thinking about Neo's condition. "You never cease to impress me, Jaune-kun."

"I still felt some, at the beginning," said Jaune. "It was...God!" He scrunched his eyes shut, the memory of what Adam's sword had done to Neo's body making his stomach rebel again.

A pulse of Aura from Sasame made the reaction subside. "And yet," she said, "you didn't let it stop you. Neo-chan's condition was severe, Jaune-kun. When you reached her, she was _seconds_ away from death. If you had hesitated, she would have expired before you could have sufficiently stabilized her. What is more, you retained your composure, and kept your feelings from disrupting your Aura. Because of those two factors, Neo-chan is alive now. You have every right to be proud, Jaune-kun."

Sasame pushed herself up on one of her tails slightly, rising up high enough to plant a gentle kiss on Jaune's forehead. "You should be proud, because you've made me proud. I couldn't ask for a better apprentice."

* * *

**And then things suddenly got _real_.**

**Adam's back, and he's not pulling any punches this time. Of course, he isn't quite in what you might call an ideal position, more on that next chapter. Poor Neo though. And, alas, Sienna meets the same fate she suffered in Volume 5. May she rest in pieces.**

**Regarding Jaune's "training", referenced in this chapter, I did wonder if doctors go through some training to deal with seeing naked people, to say nothing of some of the more...extreme...sights they might be exposed to, when dealing with human bodies in a variety of conditions. In the case of healers, using Aura to mend wounds, this kind of training is way more important, given that Aura is affected by those kinds of sensations. So it would constitute a pretty critical element of any healer's training.**


	145. Chapter 145

**Chapter 145:**

"Ill news indeed," said Ozpin, looking over his folded hands at the people standing before him in his office.

"And at the worst possible time," said Glynda. "The finals will be tomorrow. We have virtually no time to prepare."

"The upside is that the same is true of Adam Taurus," said Ironwood, looking over the information on his scroll. "Even having forcefully retaken control of the White Fang, he's in no position to organize a serious attack within that time frame. According to the information Amitola has supplied us with, because Sienna Khan had no such plans in place, Taurus would be starting with nothing. On top of that, after openly killing the previous High Leader, there is no way that Taurus will be able to bring the entirety of the White Fang under control in the single day he has to set up this attack."

He glanced up at Winter, who nodded in confirmation, before beginning to read off her own scroll. "In fact, according to Amitola, there is a similar issue regarding the White Fang's munitions. Since High Leader Khan followed up on her promise to return all the stolen Dust and munitions that weren't captured in Mountain Glenn, the Vale Branch has almost no firepower to speak of. At most, they might be able to produce one or two mid-yield explosions, but nothing capable of doing devastating damage."

"Hmmm..." Ozpin lowered his head, humming thoughtfully, before raising his eyes to look up at Ruby, who was feeling a bit out of place, amidst all these important people, even though situations like this had started becoming strangely commonplace for her. "Your thoughts, Ms. Rose? Having clashed with Taurus directly on two occasions, perhaps you have some insight into his actions."

Ruby frowned, looking down at her feet. "If there's one thing I'm sure about with Adam, it's that he'll focus on doing the _most_ damage he possibly can. But just because he doesn't have many explosives doesn't mean that he'll plan to do _all_ that damage with the explosions alone."

"In other words, applied in the right place, at the right time, even a small amount of explosive could do devastating damage," said Ironwood, glancing out the window, out at Amity Coliseum. "After all, even a minor explosion, if positioned in the right place, could damage the coliseum's lift-capability. Depending on which way it fell..."

_Or if it fell at all,_ thought Ruby, feeling sick at the prospect. After all, if Adam timed such an attack right, then he would bring the coliseum down while it was packed to the brim with thousands of spectators and staff. There would be no hope of evacuating people from that mass before it crashed to the ground. If he sufficiently destroyed the lift-system, there would be nothing to slow its descent, and Amity Coliseum would be nothing less than a meteor, with countless innocent victims inside. That alone would be bad enough, even without factoring in the aftermath of something that massive falling on or near Vale.

"Of course, he would have to _make_ it to the target points," said Winter.

"That's right," said Ironwood. "Pietro has already helped me to identify the best target points for such an attack. I will make sure they are guarded with my best people." He looked meaningfully at Winter.

"I shall offer up everyone I have available as well," said Ozpin.

Ironwood nodded. "Whatever you can," he said.

"What else is there?" wondered Glynda.

Ozpin glanced over at Ruby, who frowned pensively, before looking up at Ozpin. "Professor..." Her eyes flickered in Winter's direction.

_I see..._ thought Ozpin, figuring out what direction the conversation was about to stray in. "Ms. Schnee, what is the situation with Ms. Amitola?"

"Amitola is currently restrained," said Winter, consulting her scroll again. "Out of consideration for her complete cooperation, I have given her limited freedom, so long as she has an escort. Soleil and Belladonna are both with her. At present, she is at the infirmary, waiting for Politan to awaken."

"I see," said Ozpin. "Not that I doubt your assessment of Ms. Amitola's willingness to cooperate, but I would still feel better if you were on hand to keep an eye on her."

Winter glanced at Ironwood, who met her gaze and nodded. Straightening her posture, Winter snapped her right hand up in a crisp salute. "Understood! I will see you later then." She turned and marched to the elevator.

Once the doors closed behind her, Ironwood looked at Ozpin. "That was a little ham-handed," he commented.

"I'm afraid there was no truly graceful way to suggest she needed to be elsewhere," said Ozpin.

"Perhaps we should just inform her already," suggested Glynda. "Winter is plenty trustworthy."

"I've considered it, and..." Ironwood closed his eyes and nodded. "I believe so too."

Ozpin closed his eyes for a moment. "Well, the situation being what it is, I can't fault you for that, James. If you decide to tell her, then I will leave that to you. Now then...Ms. Rose...what do you have to add?"

Ruby's skin had gone pale. "Well...Jester has been training Adam," she said. "And he's..."

"Ah...so that's your concern," said Ozpin, his own frown deepening. "Yes, considering that, it is within the realm of possibility that Taurus has more resources than we might have initially assumed."

"Yes, if Salem and her followers are backing him, there's no telling what resources Taurus has at his disposal," said Ironwood, his expression darkening.

"Or if the groundwork for an attack tomorrow has already been laid," added Ozpin.

"Can we be sure that it is going to be tomorrow?" asked Glynda, frowning.

"It's the only time that makes sense," said Ruby.

"Indeed," agreed Ozpin. "After all, the finals will be the climax of the festival. Not only will the coliseum be filled to capacity, but the vast majority of the population of all four Kingdoms will be tuned in, watching with eager anticipation. Not even the official closing ceremonies will command that kind of complete engagement. There could be no better time to strike a decisive blow. It would fulfill the goal of maximizing damage, and simultaneously deal a severe psychological blow to all those watching."

"But...do you think the coliseum will be the target?" wondered Glynda, looking out over the bay.

"I do not think it will be the _only_ target," said Ozpin. "In all likelihood, there are multiple goals that the enemy will be seeking to secure, once they bring about their desired chaos."

"Amber..." said Ruby softly.

"The Relic..." added Ironwood.

"The tower..." finished Glynda.

"All completely viable," said Ozpin, nodding. "Ms. Shinomori is an asset in that sense, seeing as the enemy might not yet realize that there is a second Maiden here."

"And a risk," growled Ironwood. "We've handed them an opportunity to seize _two_ Maidens in one fell swoop."

"Nothing to be done about that now," said Ozpin with a sigh. "Even without Watts' virus in the system, it is likely that the enemy is watching our movements very closely. If we try to evacuate Ms. Shinomori hastily, they will undoubtedly take notice. At this point, our only viable course of action is reinforce the areas that need defending. On that point, it's good that Kyo is here. With him present, at least we don't need to worry about Grimm incursion."

_I hope so,_ thought Ruby, frowning, feeling like she was overlooking something. Knowing what she did, it was probably something to do with Jester. The man was a complete wildcard, who seemed capable of going anywhere and doing anything. Yet the only thing he seemed to care about doing was keeping the Mibu Clan from directly interfering in Ozpin's war against Salem.

Even now, when they had sent Ruby to Beacon...well...trained Ruby and let her go to Beacon...he had matched that by taking Adam under his wing, equipping him with a powerful new weapon, and schooling him in its use, somehow managing to condense a process that should have taken years down into a scant few weeks.

Her brow furrowed. _Kyo-nii is Amber's boyfriend now,_ she thought. If Salem's people went after Amber again, Kyo wouldn't stand by idly. If that was the case, then Jester's next move would be...

"I don't think we can count on that," said Ruby finally, drawing surprised looks from everyone, including Ozpin. "If Kyo-nii is here, then Jester will do something directly. If that's the case..."

"Considering the capabilities he's demonstrated, at least one of his abilities is spatial in nature," observed Glynda. "He can enter and leave areas completely at will. He was able to abduct Taurus from the middle of a fortified White Fang encampment. He was able to extract Hazel and Tyrian from our midst, deep underground."

_And he was able to penetrate straight into the Mibu Clan's vaults to steal one of their most precious treasures,_ Ruby silently added.

In other words, if he was capable of that, then it was no long jump to assume that he could steal Kyo away in a similar manner. If he did that, and the rest of Salem's followers went through with whatever plan they had orchestrated, then a mass Grimm incursion was all too likely.

"What do we do?" asked Ruby.

Ozpin sighed. "At this point, the most I can do is ask you to have faith in us, Ms. Rose. We will do what we can prepare. However, you should focus on your match with Ms. Polendina. Whatever else, we cannot show any sign that anything is amiss to the people. If you are correct about Jester's plan to take Kyo away, then we must do everything we can to keep from attracting the Grimm in his absence. A significant part of that will be ensuring that the final round goes as planned."

"Right," said Ruby, swallowing nervously. She didn't really like it. It felt...wrong...to just try and carry on, as though nothing was happening. It felt that there should be more that she could be doing.

And yet, however skilled she might have been, the one thing that Ruby could not help was that she was but one person. She could carry her weight in a fight, of that she had no doubt. However, when it came to planning and acting on such a grand scale, there was a substantial limit to what she could do by herself. It was better then to leave things in the hands of people like Ozpin and Ironwood, those who had the power to move a great many people.

_Wait!_ Just like that, Ruby's eyes widened slightly. _I'm not by myself, after all._

That was the greatest asset she had here at Beacon, not her own skills, but her friends, all the people she'd forged connections with over the course of her time here. She couldn't fight on Kyo's level. She couldn't yet command the kind of strength that would allow her to route entire armies on the battlefield. However, to make up for that, she had people who would stand beside her and lend her their strength. Ozpin and Ironwood had the power to move a lot of people, yes. But, when she thought about it, she had the power to move a fair number of people too. Even if she had to be in the ring, she could make sure that her friends were ready and where they needed to be.

"You seem to have some other ideas, Ms. Rose," said Ozpin, smiling. "I will place my trust in you."

"I won't let you down," said Ruby, smiling confidently at Ozpin.

* * *

"Well...I am happy to accept your contribution, Adam Taurus," said Watts, before smirking over the edge of his scroll at the faunus before him, "however meager it might be."

The old Adam would have snarled in anger at that. His hand would have strayed to the handle of his sword, and he would have had to fight tooth and nail to hold back his desire to cut down the condescending bastard in front of him. However, the current Adam gave no such reaction, his expression not flickering in the slightest, not betraying any desire or murderous intent towards Watts, despite the doctor's clear attempt at provocation.

Instead, he merely inclined his head towards Watts. "Do what you will," he said.

Watts' sneer dropped. He hummed, then lowered his eyes to the scroll. "Well then...that takes care of the mountain. But what about..._him_?"

"Leave Kyo to me," said Jester, appearing out of thin air.

Just like that, Adam's mask of composure shattered. His wasn't the only one. However, his reaction was the most dramatic, angrily baring his teeth, hand going to his sword. "I _killed_ you!" he snapped, outraged.

"You tried, but so have a lot of people," teased Jester playfully. "Granted, it's been awhile since someone was last able to carve me up like that. Took me a bit to pull myself back together." He tilted his head to one side, popping his neck, making his bells jingle in the process, grinning widely.

Aside from Adam, the most dramatic reaction came from Tyrian, who had scuttled back to the farthest corner of the ship's bridge he could reach, cowering away from Jester, the segmented plates of his new, prosthetic tail curling up in front of him, looking less like a threat, and more like he was trying to shield himself behind the metal appendage.

"So you can handle Kyo?" asked Watts, sound skeptical. "Forgive me if I'm uncertain."

"Ah, don't worry about that," said Jester. "I've dealt with his line for longer than anyone. They've killed me plenty of times, but it's never taken."

"Is that the only reason you're here?" asked Hazel, frowning from his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Nah...!" said Jester, grin widening. "I've been moving around, getting things set up. I've got the Maidens on lockdown. Branwen is ready to take Cider's place, and then some. But...most importantly of all..."

Jester his his hands behind his back for a second, before bringing them back out. "I've brought some gifts, direct from Salem."

Pinched between the fingers of each hand were several small vials. Each one was relatively unremarkable on its own, just a simple thin, glass vial, stoppered with an ordinary cork. However, within each one was a sampling of ebony liquid. It didn't take much work to guess just what that was.

"Even when we get the people riled up, and I remove Kyo from the equation, the fact remains that it would take a while for the Grimm to start coming in," said Jester. "These will allow us to get a head-start. Hazel, Tyr, Doc; you guys will take care of the distribution. I'm sure you'll know where best to put 'em."

Jester turned his grin on Tyrian. "Come on, Tyr...no need to be shy. It's a gift...from your goddess. I know you'll dig it."

Hesitantly, Tyrian shifted, crab-walking across the floor of the bridge, reaching out to take the vials offered by Jester. Taking them, he momentarily forgot his fear of the man offering them, instead staring at the vials in his hands, beginning to giggle maniacally.

"Well now...this is going to be quite the show," observed Morgan, grinning.

"Yes," agreed Jester. "We'll make this Vytal Festival one to remember."

"And what am I to do?" asked Adam.

"Ah well, have your new cronies do whatever," said Jester, flapping a hand dismissively at Adam, "that is, if you have a handle on them already. I'll bet it's like trying to leash a pack of cats."

"That's one way to put it," growled Adam.

Truth be told, he wasn't all that surprised that he was having difficulty getting control of the White Fang remaining in Vale. Sienna had been working hard to break down the influence of the hardliners he had recruited and molded. Several of them had been waiting for the chance to serve under him again. But the rank and file had been softened by Sienna's moderate influence. More to the point, the revelation that he had killed Sienna himself was something that was causing unpleasant ripples to spread throughout the Vale Branch.

The result was that a scant handful of the White Fang were ready and willing to carry out attacks in time for them to be a part of this plan. Instead, Adam decided he would just carry out the key part of his plan himself.

In the end...he only had one target after all.

"That's right, Adam," said Jester. "You do what you need to do. I'll even set the stage for you. I think you'll like that."

"So be it," said Adam. Once again, he was working with someone he despised. But if it would get him a chance to strike down his most hated target, he would swallow his hatred for this man. However much Jester infuriated him, Adam could at least take the man's lessons to heart. He would take that anger and hatred, and use to hone his blade, a blade he would then turn upon the one person he despised more, above all else.

_Ruby Rose...the time has come to settle the score, once and for all,_ thought Adam to himself. This time, there would be no proxies. He would come for her himself, and take her head with his own hands. Not even taking back Blake mattered more than this one kill. Adam would allow nothing to distract him from that objective.

"Good," said Jester, his grin widening. "Well then...starting tomorrow, the festivities will commence. We'll make this the most memorable-and final-Vytal Festival of all."

* * *

"How are you feeling?" asked Blake, looking over at Ilia.

"Powerless," said Ilia, her expression mournful. Her skin turned green, while her spots, eyes, and hair turned blue.

She was presently seated beside the bed Neo was resting in, her hand gripping Neo's tightly. Neo remained unconscious, her breathing soft, but even, the steady beeping of the monitor beside her bed indicating that everything was well enough. Despite that, Ilia still felt a profound sense of fear at how close she had come to losing someone who had become so dear to her.

Blake glanced sidelong at her old friend, taking in Ilia's appearance. After finishing her interrogation session with Winter, Ilia had been permitted to change and clean, something Blake and Ciel had insisted on. After all, Ilia's clothes and skin were sticky with copious amounts of blood. Allowing her into a sanitary environment, like the infirmary, in such a state was unacceptable. So she had been made to shower off, and change into clean clothes.

Ilia had switched into a short, black tailjacket over a gray shirt, and maroon pants. The most important thing was that her current clothes were clean. Aside from that, the only other concession to her captivity was the collar around her neck, suppressing her Aura.

Blake and Ciel were seated next to her, on either side, all three of them looking over Neo's sleeping form. Behind them, Blake wasn't surprised to see Roman Torchwick in the door, leaning against the frame, keeping his own vigil over the one person he probably considered family.

_We make such an odd group,_ noted Blake. Two former members of the White Fang, Vale's most notorious criminal mastermind, and a student of Atlas Academy, all of them in the same room, watching over one person. It was an almost surreal situation to Blake's mind, not one she'd ever expected to find herself in.

"You kept her alive, until you were able to get help," said Blake, resting a hand over Ilia's. "You're not powerless."

"I am now," said Ilia, staring down at her lap. "I've got nothing left. High L-Sienna's gone...The White Fang...they'd kill me on sight now. I'm a prisoner; no weapon, no Aura...nothing."

"Well, you ain't the only prisoner," commented Roman from behind them. "Let me tell you, it ain't such a bad gig."

"Not all of us are suited to teaching our way out of a cell," commented Ilia, throwing a wry smile over her shoulder at Roman, prompting him to tip his hat in acknowledgement.

"Nah, but you managed to charm over one of the most capable women in Vale," said Roman, grinning back at her. "I'd _never_ have thought Neo would fall for somebody the way she fell for you, bad enough to take a hit for you. That's something I figured she'd never do, not even for me."

"I'm not proud of that," said Ilia, looking down at Neo, "not when it leaves her like this."

"You should be," said Roman. "Neo's got it bad for ya, kiddo." He stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder. "And...well...I can't say she's got bad taste."

"Coming from you...that's quite the compliment," said Blake, smiling up at Roman.

"What can I say...I'm a charmer," said Roman, tipping his hat to her.

Ilia's head began to dip, and Blake could see her eyelids fluttering. "You need some rest," she said.

Ilia lurched up, forcing her eyes open. "I...I'm fine! I need to be here."

"No one said you had to go anywhere," Ciel pointed out. She motioned towards the window, which had a long couch built into the sill. "Just lie down. We'll wake you up, if anything changes."

"A-all right," said Ilia, letting Ciel and Blake help her to the couch, before lying down. Stepping out of the room for a moment, Blake returned with a blanket, borrowed from the staff, which she spread over Ilia, who'd already passed out.

"She had a long day too," observed Blake, gently brushing Ilia's hair, which had returned to its normal color, along with her skin.

Ciel nodded, moving her chair to sit beside the couch. Whatever else, Ilia was her charge for the time being. It helped that she too had developed an at least friendly acquaintance with the former White Fang member.

Roman, meanwhile, moved to take one of the chairs still beside Neo's bed, brushing his own hand through her bangs.

For a moment, a silence fell over the room. Finally, it was Roman who broke it. "This is...it's gonna be bad, isn't it?"

"It seems unlikely," said Ciel, staring down. "Taurus has next to nothing, virtually no resources, a handful of willing personnel at best. Normally, we should have nothing to worry about until after the festival. But..."

_But the timing is too convenient_, thought Blake, not giving voice to those thoughts. Adam's sudden appearance, _just_ before the final round of the tournament, couldn't be coincidence. Jester had supposedly taken him away, and given what Jester had already done, Blake doubted that Adam could have escaped the madman, unless Jester had _let_ him. So...Adam hadn't escaped Jester, he'd been set loose.

And the fact that Jester was involved meant that Salem was involved at some level, not that Blake could talk about that in front of Roman and Ciel.

"What do we do though?" she wondered out loud.

"What we can," said Ciel.

"About that...I can give you some more direction," said Winter, appearing in the doorway.

"Ma'am!" said Ciel, shooting to her feet, and snapping her hand up in a salute.

Winter smiled at Ciel's enthusiasm. "At Ease, Soleil. Don't wake up Amitola."

"Of-of course," said Ciel, settling down into her seat.

Winter smiled. "Things have certainly gotten complicated, but the finals will go forward as planned."

"Is that a good idea?" asked Blake. "With what we know-"

"That 'we' is exactly the problem," said Winter, glumly, her smile falling. "_We_ know...but Vale...the rest of the world..._they_ don't. There are things going on that could cause chaos, both here and abroad, if we came forward about them. Therefore, we have to continue on as though everything is under control."

"I think I understand," said Blake...though she didn't like it. After all, doing that was putting people at risk.

"We will be increasing security at the coliseum," said Winter. "Assuming it is the target, we will ensure the critical areas are fully protected."

"If Adam is as strong as Ilia suggested, then that might not be enough," said Blake.

Winter's frown deepened. "When it comes to that...we have a protocol in place. The General has Dr. Polendina working on developing an emergency landing protocol for the coliseum. Should any of its lift systems be damaged, or should any of the target areas be breached, the propulsion systems will guide to Amity to a landing in the bay, before its lift systems be fully compromised."

"That might work," thought Blake. "Um...Can Amity float?"

"No," said Winter simply. "However, we've identified a space that is shallow enough for it not to sink completely. That will be our target zone, should the worst happen."

_I guess we're as prepared as we're gonna be,_ thought Blake. Despite that, she couldn't shake the ominous feeling settling over her shoulders. She had a feeling that, however things went tomorrow...according to plan wouldn't be one of them.

* * *

Ruby sat alone in the locker room, awaiting the signal for her to enter the arena for the final round of the Vytal Festival Tournament. She should have been shivering with anticipation. However, instead her muscles were tight with anxiety. The tournament seemed so small and unimportant, compared to the things she could feel going into motion around her, like the gears of some enormous mechanism that dwarfed even those visible through the ceiling and floor of Ozpin's office. She didn't think she'd ever felt so small and insignificant.

She was by herself right now. Her friends and teammates had all adjourned to the ringside seats to await the beginning of the match. Ruby had informed everyone she'd thought she could, who might be able to help. They all knew what to do, if chaos descended. Despite all that, despite all the preparations that Ruby and the others had put into this, she couldn't help but feel that it was all going to fall apart regardless.

A tone sounded from the door. Getting up, Ruby moved to answer it, surprised by who she saw on the screen, standing out in the hallway. Opening the door, she met the eyes of her godfather.

"Um..." she said nervously.

"May I come in?" asked Yukimura.

"Sure," said Ruby. "I've got a few more minutes before they call me out into the ring."

Yukimura smiled down at her, stepping into the room. "And yet, it seems like the match is the furthest thing from your mind right now."

Ruby sighed. "Let's just say I'll be relieved if it even starts at all."

Yukimura's expression immediately sobered. "I take it that you have reason to believe it might not."

"Um..." Ruby wasn't sure what to say to that.

Yukimura sighed, moving to sit on the couch. He patted the cushion next to him. Nervously, Ruby sat down. "I see that Ozpin is continuing the trend he started with your parents."

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby, looking up at him.

"Because I was fond of your mother, I kept an eye on Team Stark, even after they graduated," said Yukimura. "So it wasn't hard for me to see that Ozpin apparently had a special interest in them."

"Uh...That's..." Ruby was still unsure of what to say.

Yukimura chuckled. "There were a couple of occasions where I tried to find out. But Ozpin has always been good at stonewalling. Summer and Tai refused to talk. I never could seem to pin down Qrow or Raven. Half the time, it seemed as though they had wings or something."

"Uh..." Ruby couldn't tell him just how accurate his assessment was.

"All I _did_ know was that those four were something special, from Ozpin's point of view," said Yukimura. "It seemed as though they knew things that most of the rest of the world, including myself, didn't. I believed that Ozpin had let them in on some important secret, and was using them for special purposes."

That was pretty much spot-on, not that Ruby could tell Yukimura that.

"And now you too," he observed, looking down at her. "Of course, if you _did_ know those secrets, I doubt you'd be able to tell me. I would worry about coercion. But, knowing you, you would probably accept any such burden willingly, wouldn't you?"

"Y-yeah," said Ruby, nodding, feeling she could at least tell him this much.

Yukimura sighed, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her up against him. "Even if you can't tell me, please remember that I'm still your godfather. Please rely on me, at least a little."

Ruby smiled, leaning into the embrace. "Then, I'd like to ask one thing," she said.

"What's that?"

"Just...whatever happens today...don't die," said Ruby plaintively, looking up at him. "I want to spend more time with you, learn about the family I didn't even know I have. So...just make sure you keep yourself alive."

"The same goes for you," said Yukimura, smiling back down at her. "You need to live as well, otherwise you can't learn those things."

"I will," Ruby promised.

"I suppose, under the circumstances, that's all I can ask for," said Yukimura.

"Can you just stay here...until it's time," said Ruby.

"I would be happy to," said Yukimura, leaning down to kiss the crown of her head.

Ruby leaned against him, relaxing in the presence of her godfather. It was a blissful few minutes until she was notified that it was time for her to enter the arena. Swallowing nervously, Ruby pulled out of Yukimura's embrace, making her way down the hall.

She emerged into a charged atmosphere, filled with energy and excitement, the roar of the crowd nearly deafening, even from behind the forcefields that separated them from the ring. However, Ruby felt strangely divorced from all that excitement, almost as though she had a second cloak over her shoulders shielding her from the sensation of the crowd's enthusiasm. Her limbs tingled and her senses were stretched taut to their limit, just waiting for things to blow up.

Across from her, Penny had emerged from the other locker room at nearly the same time, her usual bright and cheerful smile on her face. The sight of that expression was usually a balm for Ruby's soul. But now it simply filled her with anxiety, the worry that, come the end of this day, that expression would no longer be there.

_This is crazy,_ Ruby thought to herself. _I'm driving myself up the wall with worry. At this rate, the worst outcome for me is if the bad guys _don't_ do anything, and I wind up flubbing my match as a result. That'll make me look pretty dang stupid._

Taking a deep breath, Ruby forced herself to calm down, letting her anxiety run out of her. Even if something _did_ happen, it wasn't going to help if she remained tense and on edge. She just had to be ready, whether for her fight with Penny, or something worse. Either way, all she could do was have faith in the skills she had cultivated with her family and during her time at Beacon. With that, she relinquished the last of her anxiety and stepped onto the surface of the inner-ring.

There was a slight lurch below her feet, the ring beginning to levitate upwards into its usual position, the lighting rig descending from above. Everything was proceeding as normal. Ruby barely paid any attention to Port and Oobleck as they stirred the crowd's excitement, barely paid the echoing cheers any mind. Instead, she met Penny's eyes from across the ring, her hand twitching towards the handle of her sword, preparing to draw it.

She heard Oobleck begin the countdown. "_Three...Two...One...B-!_"

Right as the match would have begun, the center of the ring exploded. Shrieks of surprise and fear erupted from the audience, people recoiling from the unexpected disturbance. Immediately, Ruby had flung her cloak across her body, running her Aura through it to harden it in anticipation of the heat and shockwave to come, hoping that Penny would be able to endure it too. Silently, she reflected that, as uses for the few remaining explosives he had at his disposal, Adam's choice for this one had been fairly poor. Yes, it was flashy and disruptive, but wouldn't do any real damage here.

However, no heat and shockwave came. Instead, the smoke billowed upward and quickly dissipated. In its place, Ruby felt her heart shudder as she saw the figure of the man she most dreaded facing standing right in the center of the ring.

Jester's grin was wide, almost seeming feral on his face, as he threw his arms up in a grandiose gesture. "GOOOOOOD EVENING, PEOPLE OF THE WORLD!" His shout was enhanced by his Aura, making his voice boom outward with a palpable force.

The shrieks and shouts of surprise and fear were replaced by shouts of confusion, everyone now speculating about what this wrinkle could be.

Ruby felt the blood leaving her face.

Jester continued as though he hadn't noticed the other two people in the ring, his voice no longer booming out, but still loud enough to carry to every corner of the coliseum. "Tonight, there has been an amendment to the order of affairs!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "Tonight's match shall be substituted with a new event that I think all of you shall find most entertaining. And I, your humble Jester, shall be acting as your Master of Ceremonies!"

With that, he swept into an exaggerated bow, bending at the waist, dipping his head, while sweeping his left hand across his chest, even as he stretched his right out to the side.

Ruby swallowed...only to find her throat had gone dry. Of all the scenarios she'd envisioned, this had to be the worst possible one.

* * *

"What's going on?" demanded Oobleck, staring down at the mysterious figure in the ring. "We weren't told about this."

"Cut the broadcast, quickly," said Port, speaking into the intercom. "Something is very wrong."

Static was their only answer.

* * *

The broadcast center of Amity Coliseum looked like any number of similar rooms found in network stations throughout any Kingdom. An array of terminals ringed the room. They were manned by a team of technicians who managed everything from deciding what camera to use at what angle to which channels had access to which shots. They also controlled the large screens that broadcast around the inside of the arena.

Unfortunately, none of those techs were currently alive. To a man, they were slumped at their stations, blood splattered across several screens. In the silence of that room, Arthur Watts calmly holstered his weapon, an elaborate-looking, double-barreled revolver. The gray metal of its barrels met a double-layered cylinder holding twenty shots. The barrel was decorated with gold-colored wire that wrapped around it in vine-like designs, with the handle being a dull-red that matched the color of Watts' jacket.

Slipping the gun into its holster beneath the flap of his jacket, Watts hummed as he strolled into the center of the room. Humming softly to himself, he extended his hands out to the side, bending his fingers slightly. Those fingers were decorated by a set of eight rings, double-bands of gold with a layer of black metal sandwiched between them. Watts flexed his fingers slightly and, one by one, the black center layer of each band lit up with white light, edged with pale-blue.

All at once, all the terminals and screens around him sprang to life, with larger holographic images flickering into being, hovering over them, surrounding him with a flood of images of the arena, and the three figures within it. Continuing to hum, Watts began to move his hands in motions reminiscent of those of a conductor, guiding his orchestra into the first movement of its performance.

Gradually, his influence spread, allowing him to reach out through the networks, ensuring that there wasn't a single screen across all of Remnant that wasn't displaying what was happening in the ring now.

Taking a moment to survey his work, Watts brought up yet another screen, this one hovering directly in front of his face, showing him a closeup of the inner-ring, with Jester set firmly in the center of the frame. Quirking one eyebrow up, Watts sighed to himself. "Still...in the end he simply jumps right out into the open. I can't understand that man in the slightest."

Still, he had his orders, and there was no choice but to carry them out. He had already completed the first of his jobs for the day, as the people throughout Amity would soon find, much to their dismay.

"Now then," he said, his smirk returning, "let us begin the climax of this...the final Vytal Festival in the history of Remnant."

* * *

A few levels up, in one of the many service hallways that ran around the circumference of Amity Coliseum, there was a janitor's closet. It was nothing special, nothing unique, just one of many such rooms scattered throughout, holding the supplies needed to clean the massive floating structure. There was only one thing different about this particular closet...namely...the black ooze that was leaking out from the slight gap between the door and the floor. That black ooze continued to spread, forming a thin puddle that stood out starkly against the metallic gray of the floor.

And then that puddle began to ripple...and a clawed limb reached up and out of it...

* * *

"You are not an authorized part of the Vytal Festival Tournament," declared Penny, her happy smile vanishing in a second, her expression replaced with one of hardened determination. "You will state your identity, and your reason for being here, then you shall submit to the authorities."

Turning to face her, Jester fixed the girl with his maniacal grin. "Ah, but I just explained. I am the Jester. And I am here to speak to the people of the world."

"There is no record of any guest speakers on the itinerary," Penny countered. With a hiss and grating sound, the blades of her Floating Array deployed from within her backpack, moving around her, then orienting to level their points at the interloper in unison. "If you do not stand down, then I shall remove you from the ring by force."

A cloud of red petals exploded out from behind Jester. Ruby was barely visible as a flicker of red as she dashed right past him, leaving a few flurries of red in her wake, ignoring Jester altogether, and instead throwing herself right at Penny, using her momentum to send the android staggering back as Ruby held her tightly.

"Don't!" she cried out urgently, bracing against Penny with all her strength. "Don't fight him!"

Penny opened her mouth to protest, but found herself taken aback by the look of absolute fear on Ruby's face. Her expression betrayed how she was pleading with every fiber of her being for Penny to stand down.

"He'll kill you," Ruby whispered. "You won't stand a chance."

"What do you mean, Ruby?" asked Penny.

Ruby just shook her head, urging Penny to stay put.

"Well well, this sure is nice," observed Jester, drawing their attention. "It's good to see that even a pair of committed opponents, like you two, can be such good friends. Now that that's out of the way, it's time to continue.

"You see, while I said that I came to speak, I shall _not_, actually, be doing most of the speaking this night. Instead, I have brought a special guest with me, a guest who will enlighten all who are watching, illuminating them with the gift of..."

He reached behind his back with his right hand.

Ruby released Penny, turning about, flaring her cloak protectively between her friend and Jester. At the same time, Akaibara flew from its sheath, the crimson blade ringing furiously, echoing the tension in Ruby's soul. Her sword regarded this man every bit as much of a threat as her wielder did.

However, when Jester withdrew his hand from behind his back, he did not produce a weapon. Instead, he produced a strange, elaborate-looking device of gold and blue, looking almost like a decorative lamp of some kind, which he held by a broad ring hooked to its top.

As impossible as it seemed, Jester's grin grew wider and more vicious.

"...Knowledge..."

* * *

Ozpin shot to his feet, taking up and brandishing his cane, even though he was in one of the spaces situated farthest away from what was taking place in the ring. "No!" he exclaimed, the shock and dismay in his voice completely uncharacteristic of the normally cool and composed Headmaster.

"That's impossible!" shouted Ironwood, standing up as well. "That's the Relic of Knowledge! It should still be within the vault at Haven."

"I can't believe it," added Qrow, having stood up alongside them. "Did Raven sell out to the enemy?"

"If that man is as dangerous as Ruby and Kyo have suggested, then she may not have been given a choice," said Glynda, her tone grim.

All eyes went to Kyo, who remained seated, but was staring down into the ring with an expression that was set somewhere between dark anger and nervous unease. Beside him, Amber looked at him worriedly.

"Kyo..." she whispered.

"This is the price we pay for meddling," said Kyo, speaking mostly to himself. His fingers tightened their hold around Tenro's sheath.

* * *

Jester turned about, sweeping the lamp in a wide circle for all to see. "Now then," he declared cheerfully, "I imagine that all of you are asking yourselves just what this adorable little bauble in my hands is. You need not worry, for this is not a weapon of any kind. Despite that, you could say that, in its own way, that this is one of the most dangerous objects on the face of Remnant. For this little lamp is a bearer of knowledge: knowledge forbidden, knowledge forgotten. If it has had the capacity to be known, then this Relic knows it."

"The Relic of Knowledge," Ruby whispered to herself, though Penny heard it, shooting her a confused look.

_What is he doing with that though?_ wondered Ruby.

Jester cackled loudly. "Behold, ladies and gentlemen! What you are about to witness is no mere parlor trick, no simple product of Dust or Aura. This is a genuine _miracle_, a wonder of a lost era. Allow me to introduce our guest speaker for the evening. Jinn! Come forth!"

Jester released his hold on the lantern's ring. However, it did not fall to the floor. Instead, it drifted away from him, the entire thing rotating slowly, while the blue sphere at its center began to glow, giving off a shimmering, blue mist. That mist streamed outwards, thickening, and taking shape. Gradually, it solidified, forming limbs, a torso, then a head.

Her skin was a light, almost sky-blue, color. It was stretched taut over a voluptuous body, around which pale-blue mist swirled, almost like an ethereal gown. Long, dark-blue hair extended down from her head, with pointed ears extending out from within it. Her eyes continued that theme of blue, with dark-blue sclerae framing light-blue irises. They contained within them the light of someone older and wiser than any other.

With a series of jangling noises, gold appeared. A gold chain wrapped around the woman's waist, joined together by a large ring. Broad bands of the same color wrapped around her forearms, with another enclosing her left upper-arm. Her calves were similarly decorated. A ribbed necklace appeared beneath her neck.

There was no question that the woman was beautiful. But her colors and features marked her as something inhuman...something supernatural.

"I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid mankind in the search for knowledge," she said. "Tell me..."

Whatever she had been about to say trailed off as she turned to face Jester, and regarded his grinning visage. The wise expression on her face was replaced by a grimace of disgust. "Oh...It's you."

"In the flesh," declared Jester cheerfully. "It's nice to see you again, munchkin."

"Of all the people who could have called upon me..." muttered Jinn, clearly unhappy with her lot. She turned to regard her surroundings. "Truly, you are beyond mad to reveal to me like this."

"Oh, that barely even scratches the surface of my madness," declared Jester proudly.

Jinn sighed despondently, before glaring at him. "I have two questions left to answer in this era. Get it over with."

"Happily," declared Jester, before turning to address the audience himself. "Quite the trick, no?" He flipped his head to look at Jinn. "That was rhetorical, by the way, don't answer that."

Jinn clicked her tongue irritably.

Jester returned his attention to the audience. Ruby wanted to ask what this was all about. However, she could tell that Jester had not forgotten about her. Attempt to utter a single wrong word, and he might attack before the sound could leave her mouth. Glancing at Penny, Ruby quickly reached up and covered the android's mouth as well, shooting her a warning glance.

"And this is just the beginning!" Jester declared. "As you have heard, Jinn here can answer any two questions, for she has knowledge of all things that are and were. Sadly, when it comes to what will be, her knowledge ends, so she cannot answer anything about the future.

"And this lovely lady was locked away in a dusty vault, deep beneath the foundation of none other than Haven Academy. Now, I'm sure that you're brimming with questions of your own, about how she got there, and why she was hidden. However, _I_ shall be asking the questions today. But I can still answer some of yours. For, you see, this lovely Relic, and the lady within, were hidden away by none other than the esteemed Headmaster of Beacon Academy himself...Professor Ozpin."

Jester turned his head, his eyes finding the windows of the skybox where Ozpin and Ironwood were watching from. Even through the glass, which appeared opaque on the outside, he still somehow met Ozpin's eyes, able to see the look of panic forming on the man's face.

"Truly...a man of mystery," continued Jester. "So little is known about him, yet he is entrusted with so much. Of all the thousands gathered here today, and of all the millions watching abroad, the fact remains that only a tiny handful of people know the truth about this mysterious man. However, that will not remain the case any longer for, as I have said before, we have with us, right here in the ring, a repository of _everything_ that has ever been known, including everything about the mysterious Ozpin."

* * *

"Stop him!" shouted Ozpin, looking desperately at Kyo.

Kyo rose to his feet, a resigned expression on his face. However, he still drew his sword.

The glass window exploded outwards. Reaching out with her hand, Amber called up winds that swept the broken glass up before it could fall on the vulnerable people below. Kyo was already gone, flying through the air, covering the distance between the skybox and the force field protecting the audience in a single leap. Tenro rang like an enormous bell, the sword's blade cleaving through the barrier as though it was paper. Kyo descended into the arena, alighting on the inner ring, sword poised for another strike...aimed not for Jester...but the lamp.

"I'm sorry," he said, his eyes flickering towards Jinn as he brought the sword down.

However...his slash fell short. Kyo's eyes widened. It wasn't as though he'd misjudged his distance, certainly not against such an easy target. Rather, his sword suddenly appeared to shrink mid-swing, the blade shortening, until the tip was just an inch too short to reach the hovering lamp. Before the Kyo had finished the swing, Tenro had already returned to its original length.

Abruptly, Kyo was launched backwards, flying straight back out of the ring, flying ahead of the sound of the impact that had launched him in the first place. Jester now stood where Kyo had been, showing no sign that he had even moved. In fact the only thing that had changed about him was his pose, he now stood, his skull-capped marotte extended straight out, looking as though he'd hit Kyo with it, though no one had actually seen the blow land, not even Ruby.

_What's going on?_ she wondered, horrified to see her brother, one of the strongest people she knew, batted away so effortlessly. _I didn't even see him move! This isn't just speed!_

Kyo slammed into the barrier around the ring with an angry crackle, before falling to the floor, stunned by the hit.

"Now now...your turn will come in a bit, Kyo," said Jester, still grinning. "After all, it's because of _you_ that I'm here today. You broke the rules first. Remember that."

He turned towards Jinn once more. "Jinn, my dear...for my first question this evening, I would ask that you tell, and show, everyone here, and everyone who is watching...Just what is Ozpin hiding?"

Ruby's ears picked up a desperate shout, a single, lingering cry from high above. Looking up, she saw Ozpin mouth hanging open as he cried out, staring down into the ring. His voice was loaded with more despair and fear than Ruby could have ever imagined such a sound could convey. And yet...that sound quickly vanished...along with everything else. Looking around, Ruby was horrified to find herself alone. Jester had vanished. But so had Penny, along with the audience, her friends and family. Silently, she wondered if everyone else was experiencing the same strange phenomenon.

As she tried to get her bearings, Ruby suddenly found that the void was no longer empty. Objects appeared, a building...then the terrain around it, a scene coming into view.

All around her, she heard Jinn's voice ring out. "_Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower..._"

Suddenly, Ruby was no longer outside, but inside, a room, and all the objects within it coming into being, one by one. Strangely, she found her vision guided to one object in particular, a large vanity mirror, with a woman with fair-skin and blonde hair seated in front of it.

"_...that sheltered a lonely girl..._"

The woman turned in her seat, almost seeming to look straight at Ruby with a pair of light-green eyes, her face a picture of beauty.

"_named...Salem._"

* * *

**And now we head into the final battle, and climax of the story. Yes, Jinn is about to relate the story we heard in Volume 6. No, I'm not going to rewrite it. For the most part, it's the same story, though Jinn will reveal a bit more, namely about the Maidens and Relics, which weren't covered in her canon rendition (mainly because RWBY, Oscar, and Qrow knew about them already, at least that's my assumption). Aside from that, the story is pretty much the same. It's the question that comes _after_ that that's the important one.**


	146. Chapter 146

**Chapter 146:**

Ruby collapsed to her knees as the vision released her from its hold. She could scarcely believe the enormity of everything she had learned. It was a story to defy imagination. Even knowing what she did about Ozpin and Salem, she could scarcely believe that she had still known so little.

It had been a story of love, of loss, of grief and madness, of love found once again, of betrayal, of more loss, and despair. Worse still were the revelations of the truth about who and what Salem was.

_She's immortal! She was cursed by the God of Light to live forever! Jinn said that it's impossible to kill her._ Then she paused, her rational mind catching up to her runaway feelings. _ No! That's not it! Jinn said it was impossible for _Ozpin_ to kill her._

Those had been Jinn's words in response to Ozpin's final question for her in a previous era. _"How do I kill Salem?"_ he had asked. Jinn's response, _"You can't."_

Even now, Ruby could hear the cries of fear and despair rising throughout the audience. Were she in their position, she would have felt that same crushing sense of defeat. This was the truth that Ozpin had been hiding, a truth that Ruby hadn't even clued into. Salem couldn't be killed. No matter how hard they tried, no matter how much effort was made, how much blood was spilled, she would continue to seek to destroy this world and remake it in her own twisted image. Days, months, years...no matter how much time passed, Salem would still be there, still working to bring down everything that they had built.

Except...that wasn't entirely true. Ruby raised her head, her Silver Eyes looking out across the expanse of the inner ring, still suspended in the air, to meet the Crimson Eyes of Kyo, who looked back at her with an expression of calm. _That's right...there _is_ a way._

What Kyo had told her about, the God-Slaying techniques, like the ones of t_he Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_…Kyo told her that they had been created to kill that which could not ordinarily be killed. They were techniques that were created to slay gods. Therefore, if one received her immortality _from_ a god, then it stood to reason that she could be killed by the same technique that could kill a god itself. That was the logic.

That meant that, all this time, the Mibu had possessed the means of resolving this conflict, of destroying the enemy of humanity once and for all...So why hadn't they? Ruby's gaze shifted, because she knew that the answer to that question was standing in the middle of the ring.

"R-Ruby...?" Penny's terrified voice caught Ruby's attention, and Ruby saw that Penny was still there, staring vacantly ahead, before finally turning to look at her.

"Penny..." said Ruby, noting the look of utter horror, which seemed so foreign on her dear friend's face.

"Ruby...is it true?" asked Penny plaintively. "Is that...is _that_ what we're supposed to be fighting against?"

"It is," said Ruby pushing herself back to her feet.

"But...but it's impossible!" Penny stared down at her hands. "If it's impossible...then just what was I made for? What's the point of me existing at all?"

Ruby reached over, cupping Penny's cheeks with her hands, turning Penny to face her. "Who cares?" she asked softly. "Whatever reason you were made for, whether it's legitimate or not, it doesn't matter. You were made, and I met you. So...I'm glad that you were."

Penny's smile returned, albeit more subdued than before. "Thank you, Ruby."

Panicked shouts were rising in the coliseum, people crying out in despair, in anger. They were shocked to learn that they were threatened by an utterly implacable enemy, and outraged that such knowledge had been kept from them. Their anger was more than understandable. Looking up, Ruby looked for Ozpin. She found him where he'd been before, staring down from the shattered window of the skybox, tears streaming down his face.

_He just had his deepest and most personal secrets revealed to everyone,_ thought Ruby. _He never got a say in it. Jester just asked and Jinn answered._ It was a hideous violation. Of course, given that this was also knowledge regarding a threat to the entire world, one could argue that at least a portion of this secret was something that Ozpin might have had an obligation to reveal. However, she couldn't be sure. If she hadn't known about _Kamikiri_ techniques, how would she have reacted to this knowledge?

"**ENOUGH!**" Jester's roar was reinforced by his Projected Aura. It exploded outward from him in a wave. Ruby felt the breath driven from her lungs, heart seizing in her chest. The sheer power and scope of the malice radiating from the man in the center of the ring dwarfed anything she had ever experienced, even in her previous run-ins with this man, if he could be called a man.

Silence descended, total and absolute. Granted, Ruby had no way of knowing how the larger audience watching this over the broadcast was reacting to this revelation. Had they even seen what the people in the immediate audience had seen? Ruby was fairly certain that the answer was yes.

"I can understand that you all are having some difficulty wrestling with this," he said, his voice cheerful, almost as though he _hadn't_ exposed them to a terrifying truth that had probably shattered the rational minds of at least some of the people who had seen this. "It's deep after all. But, when you think about it, it makes sense. More interesting, Ozpin isn't the _only_ one who's been keeping this information from you."

Ruby's jaw dropped.

Jester cackled. "Oh boy...the boss lady's gonna be upset over this, let me tell you. After all, with what you've learned, you should ask yourselves-and I'm _not_ asking _you_, by the way-" He pointed sharply at Jinn, who was floating above the lamp, glowering down at him. "-Why would _Salem_ not want you to know all of this?"

More muttering exploded from the crowd.

Jester spread his arms out. "It seems pretty simple to me. All she needed to do was stride forth, declare herself openly, and announce that she could not be destroyed, before unleashing the horde upon the Kingdoms, smothering them in an avalanche of Grimm, drowning you all in a flood of your own blood. And yet...she hasn't.

"There's more to the story you see. Oh yes! There's so _much_ more. There's truth that even Ozpin doesn't know, truth that not even Salem is prepared for. Let's start by establishing a few basic facts."

He gestured to Jinn. "Now, Jinn here is the spirit of Knowledge, required to answer any three questions. Of course, what she must impart is truth. As such, this is an entity that cannot lie in answer to a question. However..." Jester's grin widened to the point that it seemed to almost split his face in two. "The same is _not_ true of the one who created her."

Ruby gasped. She wasn't the only one. All throughout the audience, confusion was spreading. People were enraptured by this presentation, even though it was occurring without their consent. What was more, she found a sharp chill running down her spine at Jester's words.

"After all, just because the god who created this lovely lady created her to be incapable of falsehood, that does not mean that the god who made her is similarly incapable himself. No, in fact, I daresay that the God of Light is the biggest liar of all, even more than his brother. And what is more, this world has suffered and been twisted by those lies in ways you could scarcely imagine.

Spinning in place, he faced Jinn, who was now regarding him with a look of absolute horror. "And now...dear Jinn...It's time for our final question."

"No..." pleaded Jinn. "Please...please don't ask that question."

However, Jester ignored her, turning to address the audience once more. "My good people, if you've been following current events, then you will know that a few participants in this years tournament are from the Mibu Clan. You may have even learned a little about what the Mibu are. However, this is an interesting tidbit that I guarantee the vast majority of you _haven't_ heard yet. For you see, the Mibu know of the Gods of Light and Darkness too. Yet they almost never refer to them as such. Instead, these two so-called gods have been given a very specific title by the Mibu. And so...!"

He turned to face Jinn again, who was now looking at him with an expression of despair. "Jinn...why do the Mibu call the Gods of Light and Darkness...the Pretenders?"

Jinn squeezed her eyes shut. Then everything turned white again. Ruby and the others all found themselves swept away once more.

* * *

"Long ago, many millennia in the past, humanity had spread across the width and breadth of the world."

_ Before Ruby's eyes, she found herself watching as a vision of an ancient land spread out before her. She gasped to see an enormous city spreading out in front of her. In many ways, it resembled the skyscrapers of Vale. But this city dwarfed the Kingdom completely. It was more alive, more full of energy than anything she had ever seen before._

_ Then the view pulled back, and Ruby realized that this was just one of many cities. Countless established civilizations spread out across the land before her. More striking were the things that were _not_ present. She saw no signs of perimeter walls, no turrets. The cities hadn't been placed or built with thoughts of making them defensible against the Grimm. To Ruby, it looked as though they had been built without something so important even being a consideration. The view drew back even more, and Ruby found herself looking at a world completely different from the one she knew. The continents were an entirely different shape, a layout of lands and nations completely alien to her._

"With their technology, they conquered the skies and explored the seas..."

_ The roar of an engine; like that of a bullhead, but so much louder; flooded her ears, making Ruby shriek and clap her hands over them. However, that barely did anything to dull the noise. Her eyes widened as an enormous airship swept across her vision. It was completely different from any airship used in Remnant. Its wings were enormous, with multiple engines mounted along their lengths. It flew gracefully across the sky, before fading away._

_ The previous airship's roar was replaced by a different, choppier sound. A new airship appeared, this one having a completely different form of propulsion, in the form of rotors that spun rapidly above it. It flew, tilting forward as it did so, crossing Ruby's vision, and then fading out of sight._

"And their ambition went further still. For they had also uncovered the key to traversing the void between worlds."

_ A new roar filled Ruby's ears, one even more powerful than that of the airship from before. Ruby saw an enormous rocket, propelled by a jet of flame, soaring upwards into the sky. Following its path, Ruby's jaw dropped as looking up granted her a view of countless objects drifting about a star-studded night. It took her a moment to realize that these were satellites…manmade satellites, something that her teachers at Beacon had explained was supposed to be impossible. And yet, here they were, floating about the sky, almost like an artificial constellation._

"Indeed, while they had no such things as Dust, Magic, or Aura, mankind had truly achieved a greatness that has not been seen in all the ages sense."

_ Ruby wasn't sure her jaw could hang any more slack. _No Dust...No Aura...?_ Magic was somewhat understandable. After all, the previous tale Jinn had told had informed them that mankind had been living without magic ever since the Brother Gods had destroyed the previous wave of humanity. _But no Aura...?

"However, amongst the humans of the world, there had emerged a group, a clan..."

_Now the images of the strange world and all its incredible features vanished, the white void returning. Just as quickly though, it was filled with new images. Shadows appeared, forming buildings, their shapes reminding Ruby of the architectural style of Mistral...and Leng. Immediately, she realized what was coming._

"Among all the people of the world, those of the Mibu Clan were amongst the first to discover the nature and potential of Aura...and they were the ones to unlock its greatest potential."

_The spaces within the shadowy buildings were filled in by equally shadowy people, most dressed in robes. They faded away and were replaced by the images of individuals, their figures reminding Ruby of the members of the Goyosei, though the different silhouettes indicated that they were different people._

"With their power, they unlocked the secrets of the elements..."

_The figures demonstrated techniques of Manifestation that Ruby was all too familiar with. One man swung a double-bladed sword, unleashing a wave of flame. Another sept the curved, double-pronged shape of the _Mumyo Saigyo Ryu's _swords, sending serpentine dragons of water undulating through the air. The others demonstrated similar feats._

"However, their greatness exceeded even that...For the Mibu had mastered Aura to an extent never seen before or since. More than mere martial prowess, they had obtained the power to realize anything that they desired, the power to create and destroy at will. Immortal, they had no fear of death at the hands of any, save for one another. They had even obtained the power to create and control life itself.

"In every sense of the word, the Mibu were _gods_."

_Ruby shook her head. _That's not right!_ Of the Mibu she knew, many were powerful. Kyo, his father, and the Taishiro were equal to entire armies on their own. But what Jinn was describing was a level of power _far_ beyond that of anything she had ever seen before._

"With their power and surety that they were truly gods, the Mibu lived lives of pure indulgence. They wanted for nothing, experiencing no suffering or privation.

"To entertain themselves, they turned their powers of creation towards the making of fighting puppets, living beings forged in their own image, to fight for their amusement."

_ Ruby didn't want to watch, but couldn't look away. The shadows of two robed figures turned towards each other, raising their hands. In the space between them, two more human-shaped figures rose up, taking up swords and charging one another in a flurry of blades, clashing until one was cut down...all while the figures that had created them looked on._

"And yet, before long, even this entertainment began to ring hollow for them. For...without anything to strive for, the people of the Mibu came face to face with an obstacle that all their power ultimately could not surmount...boredom.

"Because of that, the Mibu turned their eyes to the one thing that could truly threaten them, an obstacle that they could strive to overcome...they turned to one another."

_The shadows of the Mibu that had only just created puppets to fight for their entertainment now drew their own swords and rushed one another. They clashed again, until one struck down the other. The victor raised his sword in triumph, only to be run through from behind by another figure that had appeared out of nowhere._

"The Mibu Clan collapsed in on itself. In their madness, their bloodlust became insatiable. The fighting puppets that they had before created to fight one another they now made fight the other members of their clan, molding those puppets, until they were virtually indistinguishable from the Mibu themselves."

_Now Ruby's vision was filled with the image of clashing armies. Countless figures charged one another, mixing together in a violent cacophony of battle. While it had started with two obvious sides, things soon became even more chaotic. Given that all the figures were a uniform black, once the opposing forces had engaged with one another, it was impossible to tell who was fighting who. But Ruby saw partners who'd been fighting side by side suddenly turn on each other, one turning to attack an ally he'd been fighting back-to-back with just before; treachery spread throughout the conflict, as people who had been on the same side at first turned on each other._

"As the Mibu killed one another in an orgy of bloodshed, they created more and more puppets to bolster their ranks. Before long, the numbers of their puppets had swelled, until the Mibu were hopelessly outnumbered by their own creations...all while the number of Mibu continued to dwindle."

_Ruby now saw an image of two different groups of people. One was composed of only a tiny handful of people. They stood tall and proud, their forms radiating power. However, they stood in the center of a sea of lesser figures, perhaps not as tall, exuding less of a sense of power, but outnumbering the taller figures by an order of magnitude._

"In the end...the Mibu Clan were all but wiped out, their existence forgotten to all but a tiny few.

"And yet...their story did not end there. For, even though the Mibu had been lost, the puppets that they had created, the puppets formed in their own mighty image, remained. As history faded into legend, the puppets of the Mibu forgot their origins, and instead came to believe that _they_ were the Mibu."

_Ruby could scarcely believe what she was hearing. If the actual Mibu had died out, then did that mean that the Mibu she knew now, the ones who were actually descended from that ancient clan, were descendants of artificially-created beings? _ It's...it's almost as though they created an entire race of Pennys!_ It was amazing, and horrifying at the same time._

"Along with their belief that they were the Mibu, this new Mibu Clan inherited their belief that they were gods. And they were, in many respects. For they had inherited many things from their creators, including power over life and death. As such, they set out to rule the world from the shadows, guiding the path of humanity and shaping it as they wished.

"But it wasn't to last. For they had not been created as truly equal to their predecessors."

_Another crowd of shadow people emerged. Suddenly, one of them bent over double, coughing harshly. His hand went to his mouth, and droplets of black liquid, obviously meant to depict blood, sprayed out from between his fingers. The figure continued to cough, sinking to his knees, slowly collapsing while the others around him drew back, watching in horror. The sickened man fell to the ground...and went still. A second later, his form disintegrated, disappearing, leaving his audience to stare at the empty space where he had been._

_ But then another round of coughing exploded. People whirled about to watch as a second figure began to go through the same process, coughing while slowly sinking towards the invisible ground. Then a third person started coughing, before the second had even finished. A fourth joined them, then a fifth. The coughing fits spread throughout the crowd, the healthy people drawing away and clustering together. They were mere shadows, devoid of faces and expressions. Yet their postures clearly expressed their terror._

"A disease began to spread through them. Those who died faded away, dissolving into nothingness. The new Mibu were powerless against it. Their skill with Aura could not heal those who were afflicted. Even though they possessed the power to raise the dead, they could not resurrect those who succumbed. Even worse, as it raged through their population, they found that it had robbed them of something else. The Mibu learned that they could no longer sire or birth children of their own. Not only did this disease strike them down, but it was stealing their future from them as well.

"Thus, though it seemed oddly grandiose; for people who had deemed themselves immortal gods, there was only one name that could be given to such a deadly affliction. They called it the Death Disease. Unbeknownst to them, this was no mere pathogen. Instead, it was a defect of their creation, one left behind by the True Mibu who had created them, and had grown more pronounced with each successive generation, until its presence became fatal.

"Desperate for salvation, the new Mibu went to greater and greater extremes to find a solution to what seemed to be their inevitable demise. However, despite this, their view of themselves as gods did not desert them. They continued to solidify their rule over the world, raising one dynasty to power, only to destroy and replace it with another, when it suited them.

"And then...one of their own turned on them. A single child rose up against the clan, destroying their plans for the history they had sought to weave. Growing into a man, this child went on to oppose and fight to tear down the clan from its lofty perch."

_Ruby found herself confronted by the figure of a child. He was small, barely more than a toddler, yet he looked at her with a pair of Crimson Eyes that were as hardened and determined as any adult. Before her eyes, that child grew taller. The short, black hair that had covered his head grew longer, extending down behind him past his shoulders._

_ Even as he grew, the black was replaced by color and detail. He was wearing a robe that was nearly identical to the one her brother wore. In fact, there was a lot about him that resembled her brother. But his face was harder, seeming perpetually locked in a scowl, so completely different from the kind expression that Ruby was used to seeing on her brother's face. On top of that, this man exuded a sense power, even though this was a mere rendition of him in a story. It was an oppressive feeling, almost overpowering. However, his left hand was closed around a sheathed sword that Ruby recognized all too well, the long shape of her brother's sword, Tenro._

"His name was...Kyo."

_Ruby's hands flew to her mouth, her gasp exploding out nonetheless. This man had the same name and the same eyes as her brother. Yet he was clearly a different person. _Is he...my brother's ancestor?

"Kyo faced terrible opposition in his battle against the Mibu. Yet he persevered. Indeed, he was indomitable. When met with a foe who seemed beyond him, he would grow to surpass them. His determination drove him to surpass every limit, achieving that which had never been thought possible."

_Ruby's vision was suddenly filled with strobing flashes. Within them, she caught sight of battles, still images that still, in the brief instants they appeared, managed to perfectly convey the ferocity of the fights this Kyo faced in the process of his war against the Mibu._

"However, over the course of this battle, Kyo discovered a frightening truth. He was not one of the new Mibu, not a descendant of the battle puppets created by the True Mibu. He was, in fact, one of the True Mibu himself, the final descendant of that lost people, once thought extinct. Having inherited the full measure of their power, he should have been unstoppable. However, along with that power, he had also inherited the same cursed madness that had driven his ancestors into extinction. However, Kyo ultimately overcame the curse of his blood by rejecting the temptation of that power, and the curse that accompanied it, instead putting his faith in the power he had obtained through his own blood and sweat.

"In the end, he was victorious, striking down the Crimson King of his era, who had become corrupted by despair. Ironically, in the process of dragging the Mibu down from their perch as gods, Kyo became their salvation as well. Those who had been his comrades in that fight worked to find a solution to the Death Disease, ultimately creating a cure. Likewise, they also found a solution to their inability to produce children. The new Mibu found that, by joining with humans, they could once again sire and birth children of their own once more.

"And thus, the gods, who had been on the verge of being choked off in their divinity, found their salvation in descending to the path of humanity. And so the Mibu joined peacefully with the world, no longer seeking to rule it, though they continued to mainly live apart from most of the rest of the human race. They bore witness as mankind ascended to new heights.

"Humans were amazing, even if they were far from perfect. They opposed one another, fought with one another, even threatened their own world with destruction in fits of hubris. And yet, they nonetheless continued to seek a way forwards, always advancing to newer and greater heights. If there was an era that could have been called a golden age of humanity, this was it...

"But nothing lasts forever...and this era was ultimately bound to come to an end; not as a consequence of anything the humans had done, but at the hands of those who came from beyond their purview."

_The scene transitioned again, and Ruby found herself looking out over the skyline of an unfamiliar city, its lights as bright and numerous as the stars above. Looking up, Ruby's eyes widened as she saw that, among all those stars, two were moving...descending towards the earth. They grew closer and brighter, and their descent began to be accompanied by a low roar. Ultimately, they dropped down onto the city in front of her. Suddenly, a massive explosion erupted from the point of impact, a fiery shockwave shattering buildings, the roar of the explosion easily drowning out the screams of the countless millions unfortunate enough to be caught in it._

_ Tears trailed down Ruby's face at the sight of such horrific destruction. However, that fear was replaced by a sense of recognition, recognition that was soon twisted into revulsion. For, as the flames and smoke faded, the epicenter of the explosion, in the center of the crater that had marked their point of arrival, there stood two figures that were clearly _not_ human. More importantly, they were familiar figures._

_ After all, they had been key players in the story Jinn had told in answer to Jester's first question._

"The Brother Gods had arrived."

* * *

**_"This is where we shall begin, Brother,"_**_ said the God of Light, his deep voice ringing out from the towering form of his golden body. His shape was relatively human, but devoid of anatomical features, save for the outlines of what would have been powerful muscles on a human. He was composed of a pure, golden light. However, the aspect that truly marked him as an inhuman entity was his head. The contours of his face were clearly visible, but his mouth was absent. His eyes were pools of the purest silver. Atop his head was his most distinctive feature, a pair of curling antlers, each one splitting into five separate points._

**_"What is it that you wish to do with this wretched place, Brother?"_**_ asked the God of Darkness. He was similar in aspect to his older brother. However, in stark contrast to his brother's golden form, his body was dark-purple, almost to the point of being black. Where his brother's head sported antlers, the God of Darkness' was decorated by curling horns, like those of a ram._

**_"With your help, I shall reshape it, and those that dwell on this world will be cultivated. My experiment will test the limits of their potential."_**_ Light looked around, taking in the wreckage left by their arrival. In the distance, he could hear calls of pain, cries for help. _**_"But first, the board must be cleared. Brother, if you would..."_**

**_"I do not know why you feel you need me to do this for you, Brother,"_**_ muttered Darkness, holding up his right hand. A shimmering sphere of ebony congealed into being. _**_"If you are simply reshaping them, why do you want me to destroy them first?"_**

_"I would like an answer to that as well."_

_ Both brothers turned their eyes to the figure that approached them at an easy walk. His fair skin was highlighted by a head of shaggy, black hair that would have run down past his shoulders, were it not tied behind his back in a spiky mass. Clad in a black kimono, he also wore a white mantle over his shoulders, its edges decorated with red and blue diamond patterns. In his left hand, he gripped a long sword by its sheath. Though the expression on his face was serene, his Crimson Eyes glittered with constrained malice._

**_"Who are you?"_**_ asked Light, taking in the newcomer._

_ "Those who show up on our doorstep, uninvited, and announce themselves with wanton destruction, are the ones who need to answer," replied the man, closing his right hand around the handle of the sword, which he drew from its sheath with a loud ring. Tossing the sheath aside, the man brandished the sword, extending it out to his side, readying to strike. "Much has been lost today, never to be reclaimed. I would have you answer for _that_, after you answer my questions."_

**_"Worthless fool,"_**_ intoned Darkness, his voice rumbling like thunder. _**_"You dare show us such impudence..."_**

**_"Brother..."_**_ said Light, _**_"exercise caution. This one is not merely human. He is something far more powerful...something more akin to us."_**

_ "How rude," said the man. "I am human. It is _because_ I am human that I have power." He met the gazes of the two gods before him. "Our clan were once gods, and because of that, we nearly destroyed ourselves. Seeing two who clearly consider themselves gods for myself, I must say that I'm glad that we avoided becoming something like you two."_

**_"I have heard _enough!_"_**_ snarled Darkness, his form swelling and shifting, his body becoming something almost fluid as it flowed into a new shape. Four clawed feet crushed the earth beneath them, the ends of powerful limbs. A long tail lashed out behind him, and bat-like wings extended from his shoulders. His neck had elongated, and the humanlike face was replaced by an elongated, skull-like visage, though those ram horns remained. A massive dragon now glared down at the man who stood before him._

**_"I am the God of Darkness, the master of death and destruction,"_**_ declared the dragon, flaring its wings, which seemed to envelop the entire sky. _**_"My brother and I are not to be questioned by a mere whelp, like yourself."_**

_ The man's expression didn't falter, remaining as serene and composed as ever. "Well, at least you have sufficient manners to name yourself," he observed, his bland response actually taking the massive dragon aback. "So...you two are brothers. Given your behavior, am I correct in guessing that you are the younger one?"_

_ The sudden, very un-godlike grunt that emerged from Darkness was answer enough. The man closed his eyes and lowered his head with a satisfied smile. "I see. That explains a little." He shook his head. "Still, now that you have named yourself, I should do the same. I am Kyo. I am the Crimson King of the Mibu. And now...my people and I shall make you regret barging into our world with such poor manners."_

**_"Your people...?"_**_ Light looked around. As he did, he noticed that the man named Kyo was no longer alone. Nine other people had appeared in the crater with him. More than that, he saw other shadows flitting through the rubble of the ruined city around them. However, instead of moving attack, these shadowy figures were searching through the rubble, looking for survivors._

_ "Now then...if you wish to avoid needless conflict, you will answer my questions," said Kyo, leveling his sword at Darkness, who drew back, feeling something unusually threatening from its tip. "What are you doing here?"_

_ "_**_You have no right-!"_**_ Darkness began to shout, only to be stopped by his brother, who stepped past him and extended his hand in front of him. In his humanoid form, the God of Light was dwarfed by his brother, but Darkness stopped all the same._

_ Light took another step forward, before lifting off the ground. Like his brother, his body too dissolved into something fluid, shifting into a new shape. A long, sinuous body wound its way through the air, four short limbs, ending in delicate fingers and toes, tipped with curving claws extended from along that long body. A graceful, dignified leonine head perched atop a winding neck, those same antlers extending out from it, along with a pair of long whiskers that trailed away from its elongated snout._

**_"We have come to usher in a new era for this world,"_**_ declared Light, his voice more resonant than his brothers, carrying an ominous overtone that, nonetheless, was less threatening than Darkness'._

_ "Explain," said Kyo in response._

**_"I have seen the potential of your kind,"_**_ declared Light. _**_"I will test its fullest extent. With the aid of my brother and I, this race called humanity can be brought to even greater heights. In order to do so, they will need to be remade. This is a great privilege."_**

_ "It is rejected," replied Kyo. "Humanity will achieve its potential _without_ the meddling of gods. The heights you describe are heights that we can reach with our own power."_

**_"Fool! You do not have the right to reject my brother's benevolence!"_**_ exclaimed Darkness, rearing up onto his hind legs, brandishing his claws and lashing his tail behind him, while his wings flared even wider._

_ "Right has nothing to do with it," declared Kyo simply. "We will not allow you to have your way with this world."_

**_"Then you shall _DIE!_"_**_ roared Darkness, lunging down, his fanged maw opening. A blaze of dark, violet energy rushed forth, a column of power that smashed down where Kyo was standing, obliterating the area completely._

_ The winged dragon then roared with pain, his back arching as a jet of flames exploded from his back, another man dancing through the air behind him, wielding a naginata, the same flames enveloping its blade._

**_"Arrogant-!"_**_ snarled Darkness, his tail lashing out. However, the man simply twisted his body gracefully to avoid the blow._

_ "So be it then," growled Darkness, holding up his right hand. In the palm between those clawed fingers, a sphere of black energy congealed again. _**_"As my brother has asked, I shall simply dispose of you all now."_**

_ His fingers curled inward on the sphere, about to crush it in his grip, only for him to stop, the energy dispersing as a septet of dragons, shaped vaguely like the body of his own brother, but azure in color and composed of water, slammed into his chest, knocking him back._

_ Up above, the God of Light looked down, watching his brother struggling to deal with the five people who now attacked him. His power lashed out, black jets of energy erupting from his wings, bending and twisting through the air to seek their targets. But all five combatants danced gracefully between the rain of attacks, closing in to strike at his body, their weapons blazing with the power of five different elements._

**_"How..?"_**_ asked Light, turning to regard Kyo, and the four people who stood behind him._

_ "I do not doubt your brother's power," said Kyo. "No doubt he could easily snuff our lives like candles with the merest thought. However, so long as _thought_ is required, he will not be able to think quickly enough to kill us, before our blows land."_

**_"I do not understand,"_**_ said Light._

_ "Because you are a god," said Kyo simply. "You are like my foolish ancestors, who drowned themselves in madness fueled by that very same kind of power. It is power that is unearned, untested, and unmastered. That you would think so little about wiping away the lives of countless others, simply seeking to live the best they can, shows that you do not know what it means to live. Because of that, the two of you are no better than children._

_ "The power to kill with a thought is powerless against technique that transcends the speed of thought. The two of you can merely wield your power. But you do not understand the first thing of what it means to do _battle_. You, who have never struggled, cannot hope to win, no matter how absolute your strength might be otherwise."_

_ Kyo leveled his sword at Light, the four people behind him drawing their weapons as well. "But that is enough talk. You are no better than your brother, and will answer to us for your crimes."_

**_"Truly, humans are creatures of folly,"_**_ observed Light. _**_"I suppose that is one trait I will have to see if I can expunge from them."_**

_ His eyes flared with brilliant waves of silver light, his mouth opening up to unleash a torrent of golden fire._

* * *

_ Ruby watched the battle, her mouth hanging agape in awe of the power on display. This man who had appeared before the Brother Gods had named himself as Kyo as well. He clearly wasn't the Kyo that Jinn had described earlier, but he wasn't Ruby's brother either. _So he must be a descendant of the first Kyo, and another ancestor of my brother._ She remembered her brother telling her that everyone born into the Royal Line was named Kyo at first. Once a Kyo fathered a child of his own, he would take on the name of Kyoichiro, while that child would become the new Kyo._

_ Watching the other figures in the fight, Ruby figured that they must have been the Goyosei and Taishiro of this particular Kyo's generation. They were clearly strong, strong enough to fight on even ground with the so-called gods that had created humanity._

Except they didn't!_ Ruby realized. _That's the point of this. The Gods of Light and Darkness _didn't_ create humanity._ But, if that was true, then what _had_ they done? Clearly they had changed a great deal. The world Ruby knew was almost nothing like the one that Jinn had shown in the course of this story._

_ She was so perplexed by the quandary that she almost missed it when Jinn's narration resumed._

"The battle was fierce and hard-fought. In the end...the Mibu were victorious."

* * *

_ Kyo stared down at the prone form of the God of Light. His elongated body was scared by gashes, from which glittering golden motes escaped, dancing away into the air. His brother was in even worse shape, the God of Darkness sprawled out, missing one of his wings entirely, while one of the curling horns extending from his head had been broken off around halfway along its length._

_ The Mibu hadn't gotten through the battle unscathed though. The Goyosei, who had done battle with Darkness, were battered and bleeding, not a single one of them reaching the end of the fight without a wound. One of them was even sprawled out on the ground, blood spilling from the severed stump where her leg had once been._

_ The Taishiro, who had fought alongside Kyo, were in better shape, but only marginally. For his part, Kyo was battered, bleeding from a few small lacerations, but not badly wounded._

**_"I-Impossible..."_**_ groaned Darkness. _**_"Mere mortals...cannot...defeat...gods..."_**

_ "Perhaps it is the other way around," said Kyo. "Mere gods cannot hope to subjugate the will of mortals. Those who _live_ will ultimately triumph over those who merely _exist_. Even if we Mibu had not fought against you, you would have lost to humanity sooner or later."_

**_"Yet...we could have made you...so much more,"_**_ protested Light._

_ "Or made us less," countered Kyo. "But we are past the point for debate. I give you one last choice. You may depart now, never to return, or you will die here. Decide, _now_."_

_ "Let's not be hasty."_

_ A shadowy figure descended from above, his features completely obscured by darkness. Kyo and the other Mibu leapt back as he landed with the force of a small meteor, producing another crater within the already massive crater the battle had taken place in. The new arrival stood firmly between the Mibu and the Brother Gods._

_ "You!?" gasped Kyo, his eyes widening. "What is it that you want?"_

_ "I've come to negotiate," replied the newcomer, revealing a grin that flashed white teeth. "I've decided to intercede on behalf of these silly gods. Come now, wouldn't it be best if we could settle things...peacefully?"_

_ "You know nothing of peace," countered Kyo._

_ "Sure I do," replied the new arrival. "I know more about peace than you could possibly imagine. But the main issue stands. I'm between you and your targets now. Do you have what it takes to go through me to reach them?"_

_ "You would be willing to allow them to run rampant?" asked Kyo. "You'd let them reshape the world to their liking?"_

_ "Of course. Sounds like the perfect way to liven things up here," replied the man with a cackle. "All this constant progress is just boring. I think humanity could stand to be remade a few times. I honestly don't get why you're so attached to being human."_

_ "Because you never could be," said Kyo._

_ "Maybe," admitted the man. "But...let's get one thing straight, Kyo. You can't kill me. Well...to be accurate, you _can_. You can kill me, but you can't _stop_ me. Your father couldn't. Nor could his father before him. It's not even an issue of strength. So, it's simply a question of how many times you kill me before I finally kill you. Unlike you, I only need to do the deed once to win. And the same will be true for the rest of the Mibu. I wonder how many times I'd have to die before I wipe them out as well."_

_ "You would kill off your own clan?" asked Kyo._

_ "You lot don't really think of me as one of you, anymore, do you?" asked the interloper rhetorically. "Well, I can say the feeling's mutual, of course. But...the question remains. Are we doing this or not?"_

_ Kyo stared down the man before him. His fingers tightened around the handle of his sword until the knuckles turned white. Behind him, his comrades tensed, ready to do battle. However, with a sigh, Kyo closed his eyes. "Very well," he said._

_ The stranger barked out a harsh laugh. "You're soft, kid. The first Kyo wouldn't have hesitated to cut me down as many times as he could."_

_ "I'm not him," answered the current Kyo, turning away from the interloper. "As much as it pains me, I admit defeat. But..." He turned to level Tenro at the two gods, who were following the exchange with a combination of confusion and disbelief. "...you shall not touch my people. The Mibu have no need of your so-called blessings. You may do with the rest of the world as you wish, but I will, at the very least, protect those under me."_

_ "Fine by me," said the stranger, still grinning. "You lot would sooner die than submit to being remade anyway, so I'll just save myself the trouble, and leave you alone."_

* * *

"And so, a reluctant armistice was achieved. Even though they had lost the battle, the Brother Gods, with the assistance of the Intercessor, had won the war."

_ Ruby's eyes were fixed on the image of the Intercessor. His form was obscured, but she still recognized him. She knew that twisted presence, and that mad grin. There was no question in her mind. This was Jester. _He's the one who made it possible for the Brother Gods to rule Remnant.

"The Brothers wasted no time,"_ continued Jinn. _"First, they completely reshaped the world, then turned their attention upon the recreation of the human race."

_ Before her eyes, Ruby watched as continents shifted, some dividing, others merging, changing their outlines, along with those of the oceans between them. She caught visions of cities falling, mountains crumbling, and valleys filling. As she watched, the continents twisted, their forms becoming more and more recognizable, until she was staring at the world she'd always seen on maps and globes._

"In all things, the God of Light took the lead. Because of that, his younger brother began to resent him. At one point, that bitterness gave rise to the younger brother deciding to create something of his own. He had reached the point where he believed that he would remake the world in his own image, rather than allow his brother to decide its shape, and the shape of those that lived upon it, entirely on his own. To that end, he created beasts that existed solely to wipe out all life."

_Ruby's vision was filled by all too familiar figures, black bestial bodies and white skull masks._

"Recognizing the conflict for what it was, the God of Light chose to seek reconciliation, and invited his younger brother to participate in the recreation of humanity. When the human race was reborn to Remnant, the brothers both took a hand in shaping them, with the God of Darkness even imparting them with a portion of his own power, in the form of magic.

"However, through it all, the Mibu watched, sheltering themselves and their lands from the influence of the gods' power. Though the island chain they resided upon became part of a larger continent, they maintained their own territory upon that landmass, where the gods' power could not encroach upon them. The brothers even went so far as to offer the Mibu the power of magic as well. But the Mibu staunchly refused."

Well, that makes sense,_ thought Ruby. _They were forced to let the gods live and turn the world into their plaything. There's no way they'd want anything to do with anything those two would offer.

"Centuries became millennia. The humans reborn through the power of the Brother Gods knew nothing of the world that had been before. Kingdoms rose and fell. People gained power, only to lose it. The world turned on. And then...there appeared a girl named Salem, and a boy named Ozma...

"But you know that story already."

_Ruby found herself watching something like a montage of the events of the story Jinn had told in answer to the previous question, right up to the point where Salem led a rebellion against the gods. Standing before them, she and her allies launched an enormous barrage of magical energy at the two dragons, only for the God of Darkness to catch all that unleashed power within the palm of his hand, completely without effort. Then, in a gesture that was almost dismissive, he crushed that sphere, producing a wave that swept out, Ruby's view now pulling back to allow her to watch as it covered the entire world._

"In punishment for humanity's arrogance, the God of Darkness turned his gift into a curse, and the magic that he had granted to humanity turned upon them, destroying them all in an instant.

"However, because they had rejected the gods' offer, the Mibu were untouched, and could only watch as the rest of mankind was destroyed...again."

_Ruby's stomach twisted in revulsion. She could scarcely believe it. The Mibu who'd known about magic had expressed disdain for it. Perhaps though, the Mibu had not merely rejected the offer of magic out of the enmity between them and the gods, but because they had seen the offer for what it was. _It was a trap,_ thought Ruby. _Or I guess the gods would think of it as a failsafe. The God of Darkness basically implanted a kill-switch inside every living person, so he could kill them all in an instant.

_ Of course, the God of Darkness could have killed all of humanity on his own _without_ that. But planting his power within humanity had just made it easier, with only the Mibu escaping the reach of that attack._

"With the destruction of humanity, the gods took their leave of the world. The Mibu were left behind, along with Salem. For a generation, the Mibu pondered what course of action to take. As they did, they watched Salem, but did not reveal themselves to her, instead choosing to let her believe she was alone.

"However, within two generations of the disaster, they came to a decision...or rather...the Crimson King of that era did. It was a difficult decision, one that challenged the principles that had defined them, and kept them from accepting the rule of the Brother Gods.

"For a brief moment, the Crimson King would take on the role of a god once more, and revive humanity, so that they could retake the world, without the influence of the Brother Gods.

"However, before going through with that, they decided to dispose of Salem, so that she would not threaten the world with her existence. By this point, she had already tainted herself with the essence of the God of Darkness' power, and represented a threat to all living things, if she was permitted to roam unchecked.

"However, the Intercessor appeared once again, this time acting upon Salem's behalf, and forcing the Mibu to refrain from laying a hand upon her. In the end, despite that, the Crimson King went ahead with his plan...

"...And the world would never be the same."

* * *

_ A man and a younger man stood in the center of a large clearing. This was a space in the middle of the wilderness. Out here, they were far from the center of the Mibu's civilization. They sported the same black hair and Crimson Eyes that marked them as members of the Royal Line. The man's hair was tied in a long braid that ran down his back to the level of his waist, while the young man's hair was cropped close to his head. The two of them both wore solemn looks. The younger man was dressed in a black kimono with a taijitu symbol on its back. In contrast, the older man was clad in a kimono of plain white._

_ "Father...are you certain about this?" asked the boy, this generation's Kyo. "Surely there is no need for you to go so far."_

_ "I have given it considerable thought," said the man, this generation's Kyoichiro. "Perhaps, if I tapped into the full extent of the True Mibu's power, I could invoke the strength to revive humanity without giving my life. But I determined a sacrificial ritual is for the best, not so much for the success of the deed itself, but to ensure that I do no such thing in the future."_

_ "I'm not sure I understand," said Kyo._

_ "There is temptation in such power, Kyo," said Kyoichiro, smiling sadly at his son. "It is by succumbing to that temptation that the True Mibu fell into ruin. If I exercise this power without loss, then I will be planting that seed of temptation into my own heart, and could very well tread the path to destruction. Above all else, we must _not_ seek the existence of those who ruined this world in the first place."_

_ "I...see..." said Kyo sadly._

_ The father reached out to gently ruffle his son's hair. "I know you understand," he said. "If we wish to restore humanity to this world, then we must do it properly. That is why I've left instructions for the Mibu to isolate themselves. Humanity must be allowed to grow and thrive on their own power once again. Those of us who were here before them must wait until they reach us on their own power."_

_ "Is that really necessary, Father?" asked Kyo. "Surely, if we aided them, then they could rise back up to our level all the faster."_

_ Kyoichiro shook his head. "For the time being, we are simply too far ahead of them. That disparity will create a divide in its own right. Do not worry. The restored humans will not need to build themselves up from nothing. They will have some direction on what to do with themselves. I have included the basis for much of the language and culture that the Brother Gods tried to wipe out in their design. It will not lead to an identical world, but it will allow them to have a better idea of where they need to go._

_ "In addition, because they will be born from the spilling of my blood, they will be reborn more like us, more naturally capable of using the flame of their souls for strength. With that, they will reach our level all the quicker, and we will truly be able to live with them."_

_ "I see," said Kyo._

_ "To that end, while the Mibu isolate themselves, I think it would be beneficial if at least you and your descendants went out to mingle with them," suggested Kyoichiro. "Such interactions will be a catalyst to help incite their growth, without interfering overly much."_

_ "I will do that then," said Kyo, bowing his head._

_ "Good," said Kyoichiro, closing his eyes. Opening them again, he turned to face his son fully, resting his hands on Kyo's shoulders. "I love you, my son, and you have made me proud."_

_ "I love you too, Father," said Kyo._

_ "We've said our farewells then," said Kyoichiro, turning away from his son and sinking down to his knees. "It is time to begin."_

_ Reaching to his side, he withdrew the tanto that rested in his sash at his left hip. Drawing the blade, he sed the sheath aside. From within his kimono, he produced a sheet of cloth, which he wrapped around a portion of the blade at the base to serve as a handhold. Pulling the edges of his kimono apart, he exposed a significant portion of his torso. Finally, he brought the tip of the dagger to the left side of his stomach._

_ Behind him, Kyo drew Tenro, standing over his father, sword raised._

_ With that, Kyoichiro sliced into his belly from the left side, then began to slowly pull the tanto across in a clean line. A faint grunt of pain was all that he allowed himself. Bringing his left hand up to the pommel of the tanto, he used both hands to help make the cut. Blood spurted out from the wound, splattering across the ground in front of him, and staining the previously pristine white of his robes crimson. Gradually, as his blade traversed the width of his torso, Kyoichiro hunched over forward. But his face remained composed._

_ Finally, as he completed the cut, Kyoichiro withdrew the tanto, and set it on the ground in front of him. Then, he drew himself up with his remaining strength, though his head remained bowed, making his neck an easy target._

_ Only _then_ did Kyo bring the sword down._

_ The blade cut cleanly through the spine, then through the flesh below it. However, Kyo's skill allowed him to pull back at the last second, ending the slash and withdrawing the blade so that, when his father's head fell forward, it hung from a thin strip of flesh at the front of his neck. Kyoichiro slumped forward for the final time, more blood spilling out from the stump of his neck._

_ Kyo swept Tenro in a sharp movement that flung the blood off his blade, before retrieving his sheath and sheathing it. Then he paused, taking one last lingering look at his father, before reluctantly turning away and leaving the clearing, leaving the corpse of Kyoichiro alone on the ground._

_ Even though the man's heart had long since stopped beating, the blood continued to spill from his body. When the last drops had taken their leave, his body began to turn gray, then slowly crumble into dust, which was in turn blown away by the wind. Finally, only the empty, bloodstained robes and the abandoned tanto remained to testify of his existence at all. The blood that had spilled forth from him had briefly dyed the ground around him...but had soaked in, as though the earth had become a sponge, that rust-red color fading from the earth entirely._

* * *

_ Ruby clapped her hands over her mouth, fighting to keep from retching at what she had just seen. Jinn's vision had been horribly graphic, sparing no details, showing how painful and bloody that Kyoichiro's ritual suicide had been. She remembered her history lessons back in Onmyo. Apparently, such methods had once been prominent amongst the warrior class, a way for them to recoup their honor if they disgraced themselves, though such methods had been long ago left behind._

_ So to see it demonstrated before her eyes was a complete shock to her. Of course, this Kyoichiro's sacrifice had been for the purpose of using his power to bring back humanity after the Brother Gods had destroyed them._

No..._ she thought, _...he probably _did_ use it as a punishment, to punish himself for using the power that the True Mibu were supposed to be forbidden from using._ In other words, he had put his life into performing an act of God, as though doing so was the same as committing a crime. _But, from what he was saying, it might well be the same thing in his eyes.

_The scene faded from sight and, once again, everything returned to a play of shadows against a backdrop of white, while Jinn's narration resumed._

"The Crimson King's effort was a success, and humanity was returned to the world."

_ From the black ground, shadowy hands erupted forth, and human figures pulled themselves out, as though they had been born straight out of the earth. _Then again, maybe the reborn humans _did_ appear that way_, she thought._

"Thanks to his work, this new humanity retained the vestiges of the language and culture that had originally been wiped out by the Brother Gods, though they would remain but shadows. Those vestiges would go on to shape the Kingdoms that they eventually raised in place of what had come before.

"However, two things happened that the Crimson King had _not_ accounted for. In reshaping the world, the Brother Gods had infused it with a great deal of their power, over the millennia that they had reigned over it. When the Crimson King acted to revive humanity, the power within his blood mingled with the power of the Brother Gods, producing outcomes that he had not foreseen."

_The shapes continued to rise from the black shadow of the ground. However, some of them stood out distinctly different from the other humans, in ways that Ruby knew all too well. Some of the silhouettes sported the ears of animals, others tails, others other features._

"The first change was that some of the reborn humanity were born different, their features changed, sporting traits from the animals in the world around them. Thus, the first faunus emerged in the world, alongside the new humanity. These effects were not merely confined to the reborn humans and, before long, faunus were being born to the Mibu as well.

"The second thing was the Crimson King's power mingling with the remains of the humans the God of Darkness had destroyed. Those remains, and the magic that permeated them, mingled with the power of the True Mibu, condensing and crystalizing into elemental energy bound in physical form, growing within the earth.

"In time, the new humanity of the world would encounter this strange new resource. Upon interacting with it, using their Auras, they discovered that it could be used to produce incredible power. Eventually, this new resource became the centerpiece of human civilization, and they would come to call it...Dust."

_ Ruby found herself fighting to keep from retching again. Of all the things she had imagined about Dust, she'd never considered the possibility that it was essentially the crystalized remains of the previous wave of humanity that had been destroyed by the gods. The Mibu had always expressed disdain for Dust. She wondered if it was purely for rational reasons or if, on some level, the Mibu were aware of the source of that miraculous substance. If they were, then it was likely only on a subconscious level, and the disdain they expressed was purely reflexive in nature._

_ But that was a secondary concern at the moment. Jinn was now bringing this story to its conclusion._

"And so...the new humanity arose on the world, and gradually began to build it up once more. The Mibu, bound by their vow of noninterference, watched. However, Salem remained. Eventually, the Brother Gods took notice of humanity's return. Ozma was selected and sent back to prepare humanity to live beside the gods once more. And well...you already know how that story goes..."

With that, Jinn's story came to an end. The final question had been answered.

* * *

**This concludes Jinn's Q&A.**

**Whether speaking about canon, fanon, or anyone's stories, there's a lot to be said about the gods. From the way they behave in canon, it's easy to see that the writers were clearly trying to establish them as alien beings that are not driven by the same kind of sense of morals as we humans, which is...understandable. They're entities with an entirely different scope of existence, so something like valuing the lives of individual humans would be relatively alien to them.**

**So yeah, ultimately the decision I made regarding this setting was that Remnant is a future version of our earth. This was the same idea I used in _Crimson Eyes_. But, this time, I had a definitive explanation for what had happened in the interim, explaining things like why the layout of the continents are completely different. It, along with comments from some of my readers, also gave me an idea of where Dust might have come from. I've occasionally wondered whether or not Remnant has fossil fuels. But now...the answer, in my story at least, is yes. Dust is a "fossil" fuel, made from the remains of the first-Sorry! Second-wave of humanity...which is kinda morbid to think about. It also gave me an idea of where the faunus came from, which, admittedly, is a bit of a handwave.**

**Next chapter: Things get ugly.**


	147. Chapter 147

**Chapter 147:**

Ruby returned to her senses in a silent stadium. The revelations of Jester's previous question had given rise to fear and panic. However, the revelations in answer to _this_ one had been such that people were still trying to comprehend all that they had seen and heard. In just a short time, they had learned the basis for the conflict that Ozpin had been fighting, as well as who Ozpin himself was. They'd learned who Salem was. But now...they had learned that even _that_ had been built upon a sham.

Looking up, Ruby could see that Ozpin was still crying. But he'd sunk to his knees, his cane lying on the floor of the skybox, his expression vacant. Ruby felt she could understand. After all, this meant that everything he had been fighting for, the mission he'd been given by the God of Light, had been based upon a lie. He hadn't been an instrument to guide humanity through the gods' judgment, in order to give humans a chance to regain the magic that they had lost. He had been a pawn that the gods had used in order to allow them to subjugate the world all over again.

It was all so much to take in. This night, everyone in this stadium had had their entire worldview shattered over and over again. It wasn't just them though. If what Jester had said was true, then the millions watching the broadcast had seen the same vision, and were now wrestling with that very same warped view of reality.

Just how did one come to terms with such revelations? How did one accept such horrific truths? The sheer mental turmoil everyone was experiencing was sure to destroy the minds of at least some of them. Once that happened, there was no doubt that the resulting wave of negativity arising from such conflicting feelings would draw the Grimm in droves. Thanks to Kyo's presence, Vale would be spared. But the people all around the world who had just seen this whole thing would not be so lucky.

Jester clapped his hands together, the sound echoing throughout the silent stadium, drawing everyone out of their stunned reverie. "Well, that does it for the exposition," he declared proudly. "Thank you for your assistance, Jinn."

Jinn simply glared at him furiously. "I have answered three questions in this era," she said. My duty here is done." She dissolved back into blue smoke, flowing back into her lamp, which glided back to Jester's outstretched hand.

"Such a sassy spirit," he commented. "Well then, that takes care of the opening remarks of this festival. Now it's time to get to the fun bit." He brought the lamp behind his back. When he withdrew his hand again, it was empty, the Relic having disappeared without a trace. "And here, we begin the climax of the festival! It's time for the _real_ show to begin."

* * *

"Is...all that true?" Oscar blinked furiously, barely able to process everything he had seen and heard.

Two stories had been told, two stories that had completely shattered their worldview.

"I...I never imagined," said Sasame, staring blankly ahead. "The Mibu...were descended from..."

"We're the descendants of an artificial people," whispered Miyu, her eyes wide.

"I...I can't believe it," said Natsuki, tears running down her face. "Then...are we even real people?"

Turning to look at her, Oscar reached out to take Natsuki's hand. She looked at him in surprise. "Hey," he said softly. "I don't care _where_ your ancestors came from. You're real to me."

Natsuki blinked again, then smiled radiantly. "Thank you," she said, leaning in to rest her forehead against Oscar's.

"I'm more worried about what comes next," said Setsuna, though he was holding Miyu's hand tightly. "This jerk didn't butt in just to tell a couple stories."

"No," agreed Sasame. "If he did this, then he no doubt intends to profit from the chaos this is bound to unleash."

"Why does that matter?!" The furious exclamation came from Yang, who was on her feet, her eyes burning crimson. She wasn't glaring at the man in the ring, but up at the skybox where Kyo had come from, where Ozpin was still staring blankly out over the empty stadium. "That bastard _lied_ to us! Salem is immortal. She can't be killed. What have we been fighting for this whole time?"

"I don't...I don't think that's the case," said Jaune, his voice hesitant. "We were talking to Kyo before, and he was telling us that the Mibu have techniques for slaying gods."

"That is correct," said Sasame. "To put it bluntly, Salem's condition is certainly a major obstacle. Even amongst the Mibu, there are a scant handful of people who can claim to be capable of god-slaying. I am _not_ one of them."

"But Kyo is?" guessed Weiss, frowning.

"That is correct," said Sasame. "In fact, it is said that the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ was developed specifically for the purpose of killing gods. Given what we learned today, I suspect that it might well have originated as a school specifically for the purpose of killing members of the True Mibu, the ones who created the Mibu that we know today."

"So...that means that _Kyo_ could kill Salem," said Pyrrha.

"Correct," said Sasame. "From what we know, Salem is powerful, so the resulting battle would be hard-fought. But I believe Kyo would triumph in the end."

"So why hasn't he?" asked Blake. "Why have we been suffering and fighting all this time? Why have the Mibu stood by and done nothing?"

"The answer to that lies in the story we just heard," Sasame pointed out. "The obstacle that keeps us from putting an end to Salem is standing right there in the center of the ring."

"Jester..." whispered Ren. "What is he?"

"As far as we know, he was once a Mibu," said Sasame. "He hails from before even the era of the First Kyo. It was said that he was ancient, even in those times. From what we've just heard, the Death Disease that once threatened the Mibu was the result of a defect in their creation, one that became so pronounced over successive generations that it became a genuine threat to their lives and futures. Likewise, the Mibu that would come to call himself Jester must have also been defective, but his defect manifested as a complete opposite to what threatened out ancestors."

"So, instead of being threatened with death, he is instead _incapable_ of dying," said Miyu, looking sick at the thought.

"In a sense, it is the same situation as Salem, but even more severe," said Sasame. "Not only was he ancient before she even walked the earth, but things that are capable of ending Salem would be incapable of ending him. What Salem is to the people of the Kingdoms, Jester is to the Mibu."

"Then...it's impossible," whispered Blake. "Even if someone like Kyo can kill Salem, if he can't kill Jester, then..."

"So long as Jester stands between him and Salem, the status quo remains unchallenged," said Sasame. She folded her arms and leaned back. "However, we have taken measures. This was sooner than I hoped to put them to the test. But...just maybe..."

"What are you talking about?" asked Yang, looking at Sasame, her eyes returning to their regular color.

Sasame instead looked down into the ring. _It feels ridiculously irresponsible of us to leave things to you, Ruby-chan. But maybe...just maybe..._

Jester's sharp clap echoed through the stadium, drawing their attention once more.

"I've got a bad feeling about what's coming next though," said Jaune, watching the masked man, his gut churning with unease.

* * *

Jester turned to Ruby and Penny in particular. Ruby drew her sword, splitting Akaibara and crossing her blades in front of her in a defensive stance, keeping herself between Jester and Penny. His grin simply widened at her resistance. "Now now, no need to be so worried. I'm not your opponent...yet."

"Y-you're not?" asked Ruby nervously.

She immediately regretted her question, as Jester's malice crashed over her like a wave. To her senses, it was a black, icy wind that pierced through her entire body. He vision blurred and his body became an almost indiscernible shadow to her eyes, almost as though she didn't _want_ to comprehend his true nature.

"R-Ruby..." Penny's voice carried a faint whimper. She too was feeling that brunt of Jester's malice. The blades of her Floating Array clanged as they fell to the ring, Penny unable to keep them elevated, her fear threatening to shut down her cognitive systems entirely.

"Not yet," said Jester. "You're still not quite there. You need to claw your way up even higher, before you can really test yourself against me." His malice vanished, and he clapped his hands again. "But don't worry, I've already prepared a suitable opponent to help with that.

"I know that you had a match planned already. But such an easygoing tournament is so dull, don't you think? If the people have gathered for bloodsport, then there should be some actual _blood_, right? That's why I'm changing the matchup."

Abruptly, Ruby stiffened, feeling a new chill from behind her. Turning around, she looked past Penny to see a black-garbed figure emerging from the same locker room Penny had been in before. There was no mistaking that red hair, those curved horns, or that white mask. Adam Taurus strode out of the doorway, Hakuya resting at his hip.

Ruby swallowed, her mouth going dry. Adam's presence was completely different from the last time she'd fought him. She could tell it in the way he walked, that calm, composed stride; in the determined set of his face, devoid of extraneous wrath; and, most of all, in his Aura. The past two times Ruby had fought Adam, his Aura had reminded her of a naked blade that had been worn and chipped down. But that blade had now been recast, honed, and freshly sharpened, its edge poised to bite into her flesh.

Moving tentatively, Ruby edged her way around Penny, while pushing her back, so that she could keep Jester and Adam roughly on the same side of her, though they were at opposing angles, as Adam reached the elevated inner-ring with a single easy leap. The one thing Ruby knew for certain was that she did not want either of them at her back, not with Penny to think about.

Jester snickered at her caution. "Aw, don't worry about lil ole me," he said cheerfully. "I ain't your opponent. Besides, I got a different score to settle. Adam, I leave her to you."

With that, Jester disappeared from the stage. In the same instant, he stood before Kyo, who was pushing himself up to his feet. Ruby snapped her gaze over, only to watch the pair disappear again, as soon as her eyes found them. Kyo was gone.

Ruby's eyes widened. _Oh no! Kyo-nii's gone!_ It was her worst fears realized, the very thing she'd suspected Jester had intended to do from the beginning._ That means...!_ Her mouth dropped open. "Kyo-nii-!"

There was a sharp spike of murderous intent from Adam, and Ruby immediately turned to face the threat. She was barely in time, her swords meeting the crescent of red light that flashed out from Hakuya's edge. Ruby was blasted backwards, slamming into Penny, the two of them being blown back, Adam's attack splitting its way through the ring, cutting it nearly in half. Ruby and Penny were blown off the opposite side, and all the way into the outer ring, nearly to the wall, while the ring collapsed, its severed pieces falling in through the open hole in the center of the arena. Adam landed across from them, his sword already back in its sheath.

"Do not ignore me," said Adam simply, striding forward. From the gap where the severed portions of the inner ring had fallen, a replacement ring rose up, bridging the gap between them.

At the same time, an alarm began to wail through the stadium.

"Oh no..." whispered Ruby, her eyes rising up. _But it's too soon. Kyo-nii was just taken. The Grimm shouldn't be here already._

Despite that, an automated voice was already speaking out. "_Warning, Grimm attack in progress; Threat-Level Four. Grimm confirmed within the defensive perimeter; Threat-Level Five. Grimm incursion in Amity Coliseum; Threat-Level Six…_" The fact that the threat-level was rising with each announcement indicated that events were unfolding at a pace that Vale's emergency systems couldn't keep up with.

The dire pronouncements continued to echo through the coliseum, people shouting and panicking, while the announcement urged them to seek shelter as calmly as possible. However, that proved to be difficult when, with a howl, a Beowolf emerged from one of the entrances in the seating area, screaming spectators fleeing from its vicinity. It looked around, before lunging at the nearest target, seizing the unfortunate woman's arm with its mouth, tugging and threatening to tear the limb off.

A blur appeared in the air over the Beowolf, Sasame's tail lashing down to smash into the back of the monster's neck, killing it with a single blow. Before her feet had even finished touching down, she already had her hands on the victim's arm, beginning the process of healing her. However, the growls and roars that came from the other entrances indicated that this was only the beginning of the catastrophe.

"You need not concern yourself with them," said Adam, continuing to stride confidently out into the inner-ring. "By the end of this day, all of you will be dead, and this Kingdom will be laid low. Humanity will taste the bitter flavor of our righteous judgment. Now...will you face me...or will you flee? If you flee, then I will hunt you down, and kill all that I come across in the process."

Ruby licked her lips, taking a step towards Adam. Penny moved up to try and stand beside her. However, Ruby forestalled her friend by holding her arm out.

"Ruby...?" Penny looked at her questioningly

Ruby didn't take her eyes off Adam. "Go help the others," she said. "This is my fight. You need to help stop whatever else is going on."

Penny looked around. "I will do what I can," she declared. Then she rested a hand on Ruby's shoulder, squeezing tightly. "Please...don't die."

"You too," said Ruby.

Penny turned and rushed out the exit. Adam ignored her completely, the whole of his attention fixated on Ruby.

_He's matured,_ she thought. The Adam she had fought before would have targeted Penny out of simple spite. But now his intent was focused completely on Ruby alone. It wasn't just his strength. His focus and discipline were on a whole other level from where they had been before. This was a completely different kind of fight than before...and Ruby was at a greater disadvantage than she'd ever been.

Nonetheless, she strode out to the inner ring to meet the man, reflecting that this was almost like a formal match between them. Adding to the sensation, the plates covering the outer ring drew back, leaving the inner ring floating in space, though not for long. The holograms denoting the biomes that would normally be selected for the previous rounds of the tournament began to flash.

On four sides of the octagonal ring, spaced evenly apart, the symbol for the Anti-Gravity biome appeared on the holographic screens. Platforms floating in midair; some oriented horizontally, while others were oriented vertically; hovered over these sections. The sides between them were empty, but Ruby could see other biomes, including the Ocean, Volcano, and Geyser Biomes, hovering down at slightly lower altitudes.

_Someone's hijacked control of the arena,_ she realized.

Not that there was anything she could do about that at the moment. Right now, the only thing Ruby _could_ do was keep her focus on her current opponent. Whatever else, she had to defeat Adam first. Then she would be free to do what was needed to help her friends, and the Kingdom.

_Please! Stay safe, everyone!_

* * *

Down in Vale, screams erupted as Grimm surged out from a previously empty alleyway, roaring Ursai and howling Beowolves charging forth to fall upon the very first people they came across.

Not far down the street, a man in a white jacket, its hood pulled up over his head, cackled softly as he walked slowly away from the orgy of bloodshed beginning behind him, a manic grin on his face.

* * *

Hazel stood atop one of Vale's skyscrapers, listening to the screams of the people as Nevermores and Griffons seemed to explode out from the windows of the building below him, the glass falling to rain down on the hapless pedestrians down below, while the flying Grimm swooped down to menace still more people. His expression was solemn, the man not relishing the tableau of suffering unfolding before him.

He abhorred unnecessary bloodshed. Even bloodshed that was necessary still revolted him. Nonetheless, he had his role to carry out. _In the end, all this is on you, Ozpin,_ he thought furiously. _And now, the whole world knows it._

* * *

"Contact numbers rising!" shouted an officer from the sensor station.

"How did they get past the perimeter defenses?" asked the captain, looking out the window, scarcely able to believe his eyes. His gaze took in the view from the bridge of the warship, the command ship of the three that had been brought to Vale by Ironwood.

For the past few months, they had been patrolling Vale's perimeter, doing their part to keep Grimm numbers down. Of course, with the arrival of Kyo, that had become a moot point. The pressure from the Grimm had evaporated as soon as the young man had arrived within the Kingdom, proving the long-rumored phenomenon that made the residents of the settlements that Kyo frequented so reluctant to supply any information about him to the authorities.

But now it seemed that that protection had vanished without a trace.

"I don't know," said the sensor officer, in response to the question. "It's as though they popped up out of nowhere, within the Kingdom itself. I have four emergence points-!" He grimaced as his eyes picked up new information on the screen. "Make that five! And now I'm getting reports of Grimm appearing inside Amity Coliseum!"

"Impossible!" shouted the captain, unable to believe what he was hearing.

A holographic screen appeared in front of his eyes, showing a feed from inside the coliseum. Now the captain had a view of Grimm climbing over rows of seats, chasing down fleeing spectators, while security staff and some of the attending students tried to contain them. However, with the coliseum's forcefields still up, only those who had brought their weapons in with them were armed, and there was presently no way for the rocket-lockers located at Beacon to be called to the location of those students within that shielded area.

"This is a disaster," declared the captain.

"It's about to get worse," said the sensor officer. "We're picking up additional contacts at the perimeter. More Grimm are coming."

"Of course they are," muttered the captain despondently. A catastrophe like this was practically tailor-made to trigger a surge of fear. Those feelings were now drawing the Grimm that Kyo had kept at bay until now. Before long, they would be swamped from within and without.

"Sir...what do we do?" asked the sensor officer.

The captain took a deep breath. "Our duty," he declared. "Move to engage all airborne Grimm. Order the transports to launch and prep the Knights for air-drop. Isolate the emergence points and contain them. Have the ground troops focus on getting the civilians to safety. Every minute wasted means more lives lost. MOVE!"

"Sir!" shouted the crew on the bridge around him.

The helmsman plotted out a course, the ship beginning to turn, even as its batteries were already beginning to open fire, picking Grimm out of the sky. Around them, the other warships were doing the same, all while the armed transports containing the Knights emerged from the ventral hangars, deploying to drop the androids to help take out the threat of the Grimm, down in the streets.

Then a new alarm sounded across the Grimm. "What now?!" demanded the captain, already dreading what new pronouncement of doom he was about to receive.

"Heavy atmospheric disturbance from above!" shouted the sensor-officer. "It's indicative of a large object descending. But there's nothing on-Correction! Incoming airship, descending on attack vector!"

"Evade!" shouted the captain.

"Incoming volley!" shouted the sensor officer.

"BRACE!"

Bolts of red and blue rained down around their airship, several slamming into the hull. The whole vessel lurched, though their sudden shift had saved them from immediate destruction. It helped that the barrage had been spread out amongst all three of the Atlesian warships, so none of them had been overwhelmed individually. However, the sudden, unexpected attack from a vessel that hadn't been there before had completely disrupted their strategy.

Their attacker dropped down in front of them, a vessel similar in design to their own, but only about two-thirds the size. Its maneuvering vanes had been folded up against its fuselage during its dive, only spreading out now as it pulled out of the stoop, the airship artfully pulling out of its drop at just a little below their current altitude, before gracefully rising up to come level with them.

Simultaneously, the enemy vessel's forward batteries flashed, and the entire Atlesian vessel rocked violently. Sparks exploded out around the bridge, while members of the crew clung determinedly to their equipment, doing their best to not be thrown about. Damage reports flew through the air, even as the captain ordered the crew to focus fire on the new enemy, not bothering to wonder where they had come from.

_I can't believe some fool would pull off a maneuver like that with a _warship_!_ he thought incredulously. Diving attacks were simple enough to pull off with small airships, like bullheads or mantas. But to pull off that kind of maneuver with something the size of a warship, even if that one was a little on the smaller side, would be an incredible feat. It would require perfect coordination amongst the crew to adjust the necessary thrust with absolute precision. Too much, and the warship's slowing descent would make it a sitting duck for a counterattack from its own target. Too little, and it was more likely to slam into the ground instead and, even if it managed to pull up, readjusting its altitude would take enough time for the enemy to blow them to pieces.

However, as unbelievable feats went, even that spectacular diving attack paled in comparison to what came next.

Griffons and Nevermores swarmed through the air around the new arrival in a swirling cloud. At first, the captain dared to hope that they were going to attack this enemy. But the Grimm only appeared to be interested in circling around the vessel, before they began to swarm outward towards the Atlesian warships, while still more circled around the enemy ship in what was unmistakably a defensive formation.

_Impossible!_ thought the captain, his mind struggling to process the battle that was unfolding before him.

* * *

Morgan cackled gleefully, sweeping her fingers across the screen of the command console before her. Selecting the batteries she wanted to fire, a quick glance was all she needed to confirm their ammunition types, before she gave the command to fire them. The cannons roared at her command, no lag taking place. Bolts of red and blue lanced out at precisely chosen intervals. The blue bolts struck first, causing flickering distortions of energy from their force exploding against the defensive barrier of the Atlesian warship's defensive shield. However, the red bolts were a fraction of a second behind them, piercing through the weak-points created by those distortions, exploding against the enemy vessel's hull, throwing up plumes of fire and smoke, sending chunks of metal flying through the air.

"Send a few to harry those transports," she commented to the side. "It would be best to ensure that the troops Tyrian and Hazel have seeded are able to work unimpeded a little while longer."

In response to her words, a group of medium-sized griffons peeled off to chase after the transports that were delivering the Knights to try and contain the Grimm that, from the perspective of Vale's defenders, had inexplicably appeared within their defensive perimeter. A few of the larger Nevermores flew up above the enemy warships, raining their feathers down on the Atlesian vessels. Those quills shattered against the defensive fields. The Atlesian ships replied in kind, their volleys downing more than a few of the attacking Nevermores. However, with their attention diverted, none of the three vessels could bring their full power to bear against the ship Morgan commanded.

Beside Morgan hovered the drifting form of a Grimm Seer, its tentacles dangling limply. With it at her side, Morgan had a much more complete command of the attacking Grimm than anyone could ever imagine. The Seer was also, essentially, the only crew she had under her in this airship.

Such was the genius of Arthur Watts. What Ironwood's more antiquated vessels required a full bridge-crew of at least a dozen members, and various other crew scattered throughout the ship's interior, to manage, Morgan could accomplish by herself with nothing more than a few swipes and taps of her fingers on the command console in front of her. The level of advanced automation and the streamlining of the controls for this warship were leagues beyond what Ironwood's lesser scientists could ever hope to develop.

Like a conductor directing the movements of an orchestra, Morgan sent her fingers dancing across the console as she input a new set of commands, her ship shifting in position, gliding through the air to put her current target between her and one of the other warships, ensuring that her enemies' numbers were working against them as they found themselves in one another's line of fire.

At the same time, she reduced her vessel's elevation again, dropping down as low as she possibly could, to the point where her ship's ventral hull was almost scraping against the tops of the highest buildings of Vale. Naturally, the Atlesian vessels worked to adjust their altitude in kind. Common sense would dictate that greater elevation was more advantageous. The Atlesian ships should have raised their elevation to rain fire down on Morgan's own vessel from above.

But the Atlesians were the "protectors" of Vale right now. A misplaced shot would instead streak down into the buildings and streets below, where the helpless civilians were even now panicking and running in the face of the Grimm surging out from unexpected locations within the Kingdom. Morgan, on the other hand, could fire her weapons up at the enemy warships with complete unconcern...not that she would have cared if a stray shot happened to land in Vale.

On top of that, the tall buildings afforded the Grimm escorting her vessel with more cover. They wound between the skyscrapers, before rushing up at the Atlesian warships from below, the enemy vessels unwilling to take the risk of firing anything heavy into the city below them, were practically defenseless.

_While this is very enjoyable, it's a bit of a pity that the Little One is being given to Adam,_ thought Morgan. _As entertaining as this is, I still would have rather played with her again. Oh well, I need to show Milady that I have learned my lesson._

Her fingers danced across the console again as Morgan selected her next move.

* * *

Watts looked up at the screen hovering in front of him. The Kingdom was in chaos. Grimm had appeared within their defensive perimeter. The people were panicking as they were overcome with fear. With the protection Kyo offered now gone, it was only a matter of time before that fear drew in still more Grimm. The Atlesian forces were tied up by Morgan and her new warship, unable to utilize their firepower to support the soldiers desperately trying to contain the situation on the ground. Adam Taurus was dealing with the Silver-Eyed girl who'd killed Cinder, and escaped their previous attempt to capture her. Raven was no doubt moving to do her part. Everything was going according to plan...

...And yet...Watts was frowning unhappily.

_While it was indeed effective, I cannot condone such a brutish approach to all this,_ he thought. Jester had simply given them their orders, and told them to leave the rest to him. Clearly, he had not intended to tell them his part of the plan in detail, knowing that they, and Salem, would never accept the idea of him simply pulling out the Relic in front of the entire world, and using Jinn's power for everyone to see.

_Her Grace will be furious_, he thought, only able to hope that her rage didn't fall on him.

After all, not only had Jester exposed Salem's existence to the entire world, in direct defiance of Salem's own orders to her subordinates, but he had exposed the existence of the Relics, and even _used_ one of them. Two questions previously available for use by the Relic of Knowledge...and now they were both gone. Even if the revelations in answer to those questions had completely shaken the will of the people, Watts could simply not abide such a waste of a potent resource. To put it quite simply, he was disgusted.

However, that was ultimately immaterial. Above all else, he had to ensure that things went the way they were supposed to. That would be the best way to ensure that Salem's wrath over Jester's foolish misdeeds did not fall on Watts himself.

_It's a pity that fat imbecile removed my virus from the CCT,_ thought Watts. _That would have made this whole plan come together all the more effectively. Still, I suppose this is well enough. The people of the world will not be able to tear their eyes away._

Suddenly, there was a shriek of parting steel from behind him. Watts turned around, his eyes widening to see a series of glowing red lines appear along the door leading into the room, the door Watts had secured against entry, but only by electronic means. Sadly, he had no means of reinforcing the door against more brute-force measures. A second later, an explosion broke the door into pieces, sending those fragments flying in Watts' direction. A white-clad figure flashed through among them.

Bringing up his right arm, Watts triggered the ring on his index finger. A hexagonal plane of hard-light, composed of smaller hexagons, appeared between him and the incoming debris, as well as his assailant. The molten edges of the metal clanged loudly as they struck the barrier, before glancing off. His attacker struck with a downwards slash of her saber, though the blade was likewise arrested by his shield.

"Ah, Winter Schnee," said Watts, affecting an expression of amused good cheer. "How wonderful to see you here. It pleases me to know that I have the attention of Ironwood's most devoted attack dog."

"You have more than that," growled Winter, glaring furiously at him.

Four other figures rushed through the door, spreading out to surround him. Team CPPR converged on Watts from all directions, deploying their weapons to to try and overwhelm him. However, Wats merely held out his left hand, the rings on those fingers lighting up as well. Four additional shields appeared, blocking attacks from their weapons. However, while Rain's shield and Ciel's pata-sword were both stopped cold, Penny and Piper quickly maneuvered their weapons to attack around the impediments.

However, Watts displayed a level of agility that one would not expect from an academic like him, jumping away just as Pulsar and Floating Array struck where he was standing. His evasion carried him back between Ciel and Rain, while his right hand disappeared within his jacket. He withdrew it, now holding his revolver, which he brought to bear on his opponents.

"If you believe me to be an opponent who will go down easily, I am afraid that I will have to inform you that you are sorely mistaken," declared Watts, grinning as the cylinder of his weapon spun rapidly.

His attention focused on his adversaries, Watts was on guard for the next attack. Because of that, he didn't quite notice as Penny took a step back, resting her hand against one of the consoles. With him distracted, she discreetly took control of a single system within the countless ones that kept Amity Coliseum running...the system that controlled the defense shields that guarded the coliseum from outside attack...shutting it down.

* * *

A mother shrieked, wrapping her arms tightly around her daughter, hugging the girl tight against herself as she turned away from the lunging Beowolf, determined to shield the girl with her body, at the very least. However, before the lunging Grimm's fangs could reach her, its head was pierced by the crystal tip of a staff from above.

Amber drove her weapon through the Beowolf's skull, triggering the fire-Dust crystal that tipped the end she'd struck with. The flames erupted out within the Beowolf's skull, jets of fire rushing out from its eyes and mouth, before its head burned away completely. Amber landed in front of its dissolving form, planting herself between the mother and daughter, and any more attacking Grimm.

"The exit behind you is secure," she told the woman, throwing a look over her shoulder. "There are airships waiting to take you to shelter."

The woman nodded, turning and carrying her crying daughter out through the exit. Meanwhile Amber brandished her staff, using it to bat away another Beowolf, before launching a bolt of fire to blow a hole through the Ursa that followed along behind it. More Grimm were approaching, and Amber readied herself. At this point, even if it threatened to expose her, it was for the best if she didn't hold back her magic. After all, this was her duty as a maiden, to use her power to protect as many people as she possibly could.

A crackling sound filled the air, and there was a faint buzzing sensation across her skin. Looking up, Amber's eyes widened and her mouth fell open as she saw energy shield that covered the top of Amity Coliseum flicker into sight, before peeling back. Now she realized that someone had opened the shield up.

She wasn't the only one who'd noticed the shield coming down. All throughout the Coliseum, students were pulling out their scrolls. A few seconds later, the sound of several successive hisses accompanied the arrival of Beacon's infamous rocket lockers, which dropped down like a meteor shower, landing near the ones who'd called them, smashing through seats and flooring, but then popping open, allowing the previously unarmed students to take up their weapons and meet the Grimm swarming through the Coliseum properly.

A barking roar from behind her drew Amber's attention, and she saw a Creep bounding up from behind. Stepping back, she positioned herself in front of the exit she'd just sent mother and daughter through, intending to hold back the Grimm to ensure they made it out. The Creep wasn't alone, more Grimm approaching her from both sides. Spinning her staff, Amber held it behind her, orange flames streaming from her eyes as she prepared to call upon her magic.

Then a figure dropped down in front of the Creep. Amber caught sight of Natsuki as she leveled the kodachi in her right hand at the approaching Grimm. "_Shakuran Entei!_" A jet of flame roared out, swallowing up the Creep and several of the Grimm behind it, turning them to ashes in an instant.

That side taken care of, Amber turned her attention to the Grimm approaching from the other way, sweeping her staff through a circular motion, calling up a whirlwind that swept up the debris from several destroyed seats around her, before using the wind to propel that debris through the crowd of approaching Grimm like a shotgun blast, ripping them apart.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, backing up so that she and Natsuki were now back-to-back in front of the exit.

"Sasame-sama told me to meet up with you," said Natsuki.

"Why?" asked Amber.

"She said we need to stay together," said Natsuki.

Amber would have asked why, but she got her answer before Natsuki could say a word. A shadow flashed over them. Amber caught a glimpse of black feathers, but then a woman dressed in red and black dropped down in front of them. She found herself meeting the Crimson-Eyed gaze of Raven Branwen, the older woman smirking as she rested her right hand on the handle of her sword. "Well well, I never expected Ozpin and his idiot allies to make things so easy for me," she said.

* * *

Kyo barely managed to remain standing as the scenery around him shifted drastically. The next thing he knew, he was standing in an empty field. Looking around, he could see no signs of Vale.

"If you're looking for the Kingdom, it's about a hundred kilometers that way," said Jester, grinning as he jerked his thumb in a westerly direction. "Had to make sure that you were far enough away that you couldn't throw things anymore out of whack than they already were."

"I'm going to have to run quite fast, if I want to make it back in time to do any good," noted Kyo.

Jester cackled. "We both know you ain't going back at all. You're the one who broke the rules. Time to pay the piper, Kyo."

"I'm aware of my responsibilities," said Kyo, brandishing Tenro. "Are you going to fight me in that absurd outfit...'Jester'?"

That question gave the man pause. Folding his arms across his chest, he tilted his head back and forth, humming thoughtfully. "You know...you might have a point there. It's been a while since I last fought a Kyo. You're definitely the first in a few generations to have the spine to flaunt my rules like that."

"I'll do more than that," Kyo promised.

"Sure you will," said Jester with an indifferent yawn. "Still, it's a special occasion I guess. If I'm going to be fighting a Kyo, I should at least look the proper part."

Suddenly, a cloud of smoke exploded up from Jester's feet. It lingered in the air for a moment, obscuring the man from sight. However, when the smoke cleared, he looked completely different.

Gone were the mask and Jester's outfit. Without his hood, Jester's hair was revealed to be a dark, brownish red, the color of blood-soaked earth. It was messy and spiky, with a portion tied up in a spiky bundle behind his head. The pale skin of his face highlighted a pair of extremely narrow, gray eyes, which practically gleamed with evil intent. In place of his previous motley outfit, he now wore a short, white kimono; over which he wore a tan-colored, sleeveless vest. His legs were covered by a pair of loose, white hakama, which resembled standard pants, more than anything else; the legs of which were decorated with flowers, of all things. They ended partway down his shins, leaving a portion of his legs bare. On his feet, he wore plain, straw sandals, not even bothering with socks. Finally, to cover up his eyes, he produced a pair of sunglasses with circular lenses, which were held up by string loops around his ears.

"Much better," said Jester, stretching, before resting his hands on his hips, his legs spreading apart in a bow-legged posture. "It's been a while since I've put on my old outfit."

Kyo's eyes narrowed. "So you finally show your true face, Jester-No!-second of the original Crimson Cross Knights...Mibu Kyojiro."

"Damn! It's been even longer since I've heard _that_ name," Jester, or Kyojiro, crowed. "And would ya look at that, tossing my old name around." He cackled. "Aren't you a Crimson Cross Knight too?"

"We both know that term has a different meaning in this era," said Kyo.

To the modern Mibu, the title of Crimson Cross Knight, which Kyo bore, was merely a title that designated Kyo as the heir to his father, the Crimson King. In fact, it was somewhat unusual that Kyo's official title did not grant him any special authority.

However, in the ancient times, during the era of the First Kyo, the progenitor of the Royal Line, the title held a different meaning. In that era, the Crimson Cross Knights were agents of the Crimson King, his own special fighting puppets, created from his own flesh and blood, possessing power far beyond that of the regular Mibu (the descendants of the original fighting puppets). They had been the Crimson King's secret corps of assassins, dealing with those who threatened the power of the Mibu, whether within the clan or without it, their existence one of the greatest secrets of the clan, known only to the Crimson King, and merely suspected by a minuscule number of others. Sallying forth to bury the enemies of the Mibu, it had been said that their victims numbered in the thousands. The only thing that Kyo could claim to have in common with those ancient assassins was that he shared the same privilege that they did, being amongst the few allowed to leave the lands of the Mibu at will, without requiring orders or special permission.

It had been said that the original Crimson Cross Knights were four in number, indicated by their names. In fact, the first, Mibu Kyoichiro, became the name taken up by those in the Royal Line who ascended the throne of the Crimson King, while his son became the next Kyo. Kyojiro's name designated him as the second-oldest of the knights...and the only one still living.

This was a man who'd returned again and again, even after being felled in battle by the likes of the First Kyo. He'd endured the god-slaying techniques of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ time after time, and yet had never been permanently killed. No matter how he was disposed of, he always seemed to return, again and again...a malevolent spirit that had plagued and haunted the Mibu through the ages.

"This time, I will kill you once and for all," said Kyo.

"Yeah...not happening," said Kyojiro, grinning playfully. "Let's face it, Kyo-The-Umpteenth, you ain't got anything that your ancestors didn't have. It's simply going to end the same for you that it has for them, abject failure. Sure, you can claim that you're fighting for your girlfriend or your little sister, that you have reasons you can't lose. But the ones before you had reasons too...and even if they didn't lose, they could never win either.

"Of course, the reason _they_ didn't lose is that I didn't have much reason to go through the trouble of winning. But this time...things are a little different."

Kyojiro held out his right hand. Another, smaller, puff of smoke exploded out from his palm, and his fingers curled around the handle of a standard katana. it's only notable feature was a rectangular tsuba, which was decorated with star-shaped cutouts on one side. Kyojiro brandished it with a casual gesture, not even bothering to adopt a proper stance.

"We've still got a little while until the main event, Kyo. You're gonna do your best to keep me entertained until then."

* * *

**To clear up any lingering confusion, Jester, AKA Mibu Kyojiro, is a character from _Samurai Deeper Kyo_. In the original series, he was, among other things, was the Chinmei of his time. He was "killed" multiple times throughout the series, but kept popping back up like it never happened. It's a trait shared by Oda Nobunaga, whom readers of _Crimson Eyes_ remember as that story's Big Bad, and also a major antagonist in SDK. Nobunaga had a wonky body-swapping mechanic to explain his comebacks, basically a much nastier version of Ozpin's situation. Meanwhile, Kyojiro just...won't die.**

**With Jinn, I've noticed that different writers take different interpretations of her "three questions per 100 years" rule. I've wondered over its meaning myself. Basically, it all boils down to how those years are counted. From whe we're introduced to her in Volume 6, we get a basic rundown of how the Lamp works, which mentions that one of her questions had been used already, meaning that years can pass between individual questions (though I don't think that's much of a surprise). There are three possible answers from what I've seen. First, the rule means a hundred years from when the first question is asked. The second option is a hundred years from when the last question is asked.**

**The third possibility, and the one I (and a few other people, I think) is most likely is that it's three questions per each period of one-hundred years. Meaning that the number of available questions resets each century, regardless of whether they're used or not. You could also, conceivably, hold off on asking questions until the last day of the hundredth year, ask your questions, wait a day, then have three more. Even though it seems silly, that's the explanation that makes the most sense to me, particularly when Jinn announces, in Volume 6, that she has two questions left in "this era".**

**The next few chapters are gonna be wild. There's quite a few plates spinning, after all. Stay tuned.**


	148. Chapter 148

**Chapter 148:**

"What's the plan?" asked Yang, before turning and dispatching a Beowolf with an uppercut.

"We need to get everyone off the Coliseum first," said Jaune, protecting a couple of children by holding an Ursa at bay with his shield, before running it through.

"But where do we send them?" asked Pyrrha, looking around. "The Grimm have emerged in several locations throughout the Kingdom. It's making establishing a secure perimeter impossible."

"We can't be sure which shelters are compromised," added Weiss.

"What about Beacon?" asked Blake.

"Let me check..." said Ren, already pulling out his scroll.

Thinking things over for a second, Ren paused to gun down a charging Creep, before calling Glynda.

"_Mr. Ren...?_" Glynda sounded a bit surprised. "_What's going on?_"

"Professor, do you have any word of the status of Beacon's campus?" asked Ren. "Have there been any Grimm incursions?"

"_None so far,_" announced Glynda. "_However, there are reports of increasing contacts approaching through the Emerald Forest. So it seems that quite a few are on their way._"

"Do you believe we could evacuate the attendees in the Coliseum there?" asked Ren.

"_That wouldn't be too difficult,_" said Glynda. "_The faculty and students on-site should be up to holding the line. But the problem is the rest of the Kingdom._"

"Does Professor Ozpin have any advice?" asked Ren.

Glynda was silent for a moment. "_Ozpin is...preoccupied. I do not believe he is able to come up with anything at the present._"

"I see..." Ren frowned. Considering what had just happened this evening, he could understand. Even if it was the furthest thing from helpful, given their current situation, he couldn't exactly blame Ozpin for being utterly incapacitated, after having so much that he had worked to keep secret broadcast to the entire world.

_In the end, even everything he told us about Salem amounted to a mere _portion_ of the truth,_ thought Ren, feeling a twinge of frustration. There was no question that it was maddening that Ozpin had kept so much from them, and important details at that. But, at the same time, much of that story had clearly been deeply personal to him.

_What would it be like...to love someone, only for them to become your worst enemy?_ wondered Ren.

"Ren...?"

Glancing down, Ren saw that Nora was watching him worriedly. Unbidden, his mind flashed back to the story Jinn had told. Briefly, he imagined himself and Nora in Ozpin and Salem's place. He could scarcely even imagine such a bitter conflict between himself and the girl he loved. Just the mere notion was almost unbearably painful. Ozpin not only had to go through that, but repeatedly, both him and Salem locked into a conflict that seemed destined to be dragged out into perpetuity.

_I can't fault him for not wanting to speak of that._

However, ruminating on such matters was not productive. What they needed now was a definitive plan of action. Getting the evacuees out of the coliseum, and to Beacon, was a start. But they needed a plan for the rest of the Kingdom, before it was overrun.

It was then that he noticed a different group of people heading for the exits. Sasame was leading Ruby's friends from the Mibu, along with Maria and Oscar, towards one of the exits, though Natsuki was not with them. Sasame, Setsuna, and Oscar were taking down any Grimm that came their way, as well as helping guide anyone who needed assistance, Sasame and Miyu treating the injured as they went.

"Let's meet up with them," said Ren to the others, gesturing to Sasame's group. "Whatever else, we have to get people out of the coliseum first. Then we can come up with something."

"_Right!_" shouted the others. They went to work cutting a swath through the Grimm.

Meeting up with Sasame's group, they worked together to continue securing a way for civilians to reach the landing pads for the airships, which were ferrying people down as fast as they were able. In the distance, Ren could see Nevermores and Griffons swarming over the skies of Vale. He could see the outlines of four warships, and the flash of their weapons.

_Wait! Ironwood only brought three warships! What's the fourth one?_ In response to his unspoken question, Ren saw the fourth airship, somewhat smaller than the other three, fire upon one of the other three, its shots blowing holes in the hull of one of them. The Atlesian warship listed to the side, and began to fall to earth. _It's an enemy!_

Grimm were swarming about the four airships. However, their behavior around the smaller one was distinctly different from how they responded to the other three...or two now. The ones around the smaller warship were flying in circling patterns, one occasionally darting up to intercept an incoming shot with its body, sacrificing itself to protect the enemy vessel.

The conflict was too distant for Ren to really get an idea of what to do. Besides, that was a distant concern at the moment. They'd managed to clear out the spectator seating. All the Huntsmen and students in attendance at the coliseum were now guarding the air-docks, along with several squads of Knights that had been deployed throughout the building. However, the Grimm continued to surge out through the doorways, throwing themselves at the frightened people with wild abandon. The only upside to that was that their eager rush to get at the frightened civilians left them with little concern for their own protection, which was allowing the defenders to cut them down easily.

"This is weird," said Jaune, slashing down one.

"I agree," said Ren.

"I could understand if they were attacking from the outside," said Pyrrha, picking off monsters with well-placed shots from her rifle. "But this...it's almost as though they're coming from within the coliseum itself."

"No 'almost' about it," declared Weiss, sending a barrage of fiery Dust-bolts ripping through a crowd of approaching Grimm. "They _are_ coming from somewhere inside the coliseum."

"How does that even work?" asked Yang incredulously. "Grimm don't just pop out of nowhere...do they?"

"They have to be coming from somewhere," commented Blake, firing off shots from her pistol. "We just need to figure out where."

"That ain't gonna be easy," said Nora, plugging away with her grenade launcher.

"We'll worry about it once the civilians are safe," Jaune decided.

"Agreed," said Ren.

Beside them, Setsuna and Oscar were fighting as well, the two boys using their kama to cut down swaths of Grimm. At one point, Setsuna fell back a pace, lowering his weapons slightly, Oscar moving to keep him covered. A flickering wave of black washed out from Setsuna. A second later, the Grimm in two circular sections in front of them were crushed down flat. As they dissolved, Oscar stepped forward, throwing one of his kama, the weapon scything down the wave of Grimm that followed.

Abruptly, the coliseum lurched violently, the entire floating structure tipping. Horrified, Jaune looked over, already preparing to leap to the assistance of anyone who looked like they might be about to fall. Someone had brought down the security field around Amity. While that had allowed the students to call in their rocket lockers, it also meant that the forcefields that protected people from pitching over the edge of the walkways suspended over empty space were nonfunctional too.

However, he was instead treated to the sight of an airship lifting off with the last load of civilian passengers, a few students even perched on top of it to make sure that any flying Grimm wouldn't reach it before it got to the safety of Beacon. Maria had also been on that airship, having assured the group that they didn't need an old crone like her around, slowing them down.

"Thank God," Jaune breathed.

"What the heck was that?" asked Nora, looking around worriedly.

Amity rocked again. This time, the motion was accompanied by a noise that they'd all come to be all too familiar with, the roaring boom of thunder.

"Sounds like the fight between Ruby and Adam is heating up," said Yang, pumping her arms to launch bolt after bolt into the crowd of Grimm, which continued to boil out from within the coliseum.

"They'll bring the entire thing down at this rate," commented Weiss.

"As long as the civilians aren't caught up in it, that's fine," said Pyrrha.

"We've still gotta figure out where these Grimm are coming from!" shouted Oscar, straining to be heard over the chorus of roars and howls.

Then another sound made itself heard over the cacophony. This wasn't thunder, or the roars of monsters. Instead, it was a low rumble, an ominous sound that sent chills down their spines. Looking down, Jaune found his eyes widening as he saw waves spreading across the bay around Vale, almost like ripples from a thrown stone. That implied that this sound was the product of some kind of earthborn vibration. _Now what?_

From the way the ripples were spreading, it looked as though the source of the vibration was from somewhere to the south. Suddenly, Jaune had an uneasy premonition. Lifting his eyes, he found himself staring at the top of a distant mountain, which was now illuminated by the flash of explosions across its peak. "Hey Ren...is that mountain...?"

"Mount Glenn," said Ren, getting a similar sinking feeling in his gut.

* * *

"Answer me, Ozpin!" shouted Ironwood, holding Beacon's Headmaster up by his jacket. "Why did you lie to us!?"

Ozpin had no response. His spectacles had fallen to the floor of the skybox, his eyes staring blankly off into space, tears still running down his cheeks.

"How many lives have you thrown away...all for nothing?" demanded Ironwood, shaking Ozpin.

Qrow looked on, torn between two extremes of feeling. On one hand, he wanted to stop Ironwood. On the other hand, he wanted slug Ozpin himself. He'd put everything he had into helping Ozpin's plans. He'd put so much on the line for the man, always driven by the unwavering belief that the Wizard knew best. But now, Jinn's revelations had completely changed everything.

_It was all for nothing,_ thought Qrow. _Salem can't be killed, not by us. And the only ones who might be able to kill her are held in check by someone worse than her. We were all just pawns to him; not just me, but Raven, Tai, and Summer._ The revelation hit him like a hammer-blow. _Summer died...for nothing. It was hopeless from the beginning._

Then it hit him again. If he and the rest of STRQ had been mere pawns, then what about RASP and RYNB? What about Ruby and Yang? Qrow's stomach twisted inside of him, a bitter question hitting him like a truck. _Was Tai right all along?_

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Glynda's roar completely jolted the two men out of their angry reveries. Ironwood and Qrow both turned to look at her. Glynda glared furiously at them, flexing her riding crop between her hands. "This is neither the time nor place for this," she said firmly. "Unless you two haven't noticed, Beacon and Vale are under attack. We have Grimm running rampant inside the coliseum. We can worry about things like that after we deal with the situation at hand. Now...are you going to continue throwing tantrums, or are the two of you going to do your goddamn _jobs_?"

Qrow grunted, then shook his head, sighing tiredly.

"Glynda...?" Ironwood stared at her incredulously. "How can you not be angry after-?"

"Oh, I'm _furious_, James," said Glynda, the leather of her weapon creaking in her grip. "But, I'm going to at least channel that anger in a positive direction. We have things that need to be done, _then_ we can worry about more existential matters. Save Vale now, worry about Salem herself later.

"James, you need to start directing your forces. Qrow, I'm going to need you to get down to the city and start clearing out Grimm there. We'll need to establish a perimeter, and open up a safe space for the people."

Ironwood stared at Glynda's eyes for a second, before dropping Ozpin, who sank limply to his knees, still staring off into space. Bringing his fingers to his earpiece, Ironwood contacted his command staff. "Status report..."

Glynda opened up her scroll, going over to Qrow, so the two could confer on where to establish the safe-zone in Vale. However, they were cut off by Ironwood's shout. "WHAT?!"

"What's going on?" asked Qrow, looking up at Ironwood, who turned to regard them, his face ashen.

"An unknown warship ambushed my ships," said Ironwood, sounding as though he could scarcely believe what he was saying. "Not only that, but the Grimm are actually fighting _alongside_ it. One of our ships is down already. The others are taking serious damage."

"It's gotta be one of Salem's people," said Qrow. "Didn't figure them to have a warship, of all things."

"Something needs to be done," said Ironwood. "With the pressure on my air-force, they can't reinforce our people on the ground. Worse, if my ships go down, and the enemy airship is still aloft..."

"They could start bombarding the city," said Glynda, her eyes widening.

"We've got to take the enemy vessel down," said Ironwood.

Qrow closed his eyes for a second. "Leave it to me," he said.

"Are you sure?" asked Glynda.

Qrow gave her a wan smile. "Hey, getting into places I shouldn't be is my speciality," he pointed out. "I'll nip over there and take out that sucker from the inside."

"It's probably our best option at the moment," conceded Ironwood.

Glynda opened her mouth to speak, only for what she was about to say to die on her lips. Sweeping her riding crop through the air, she seized Ironwood, Qrow, and Ozpin in the grip of her telekinesis, pulling them over to her. She was just in time too. A flash of red blinded her for a second, then a crescent-shaped wave strobed through the skybox, cleaving straight through the reinforced alloys that made up the floor and ceiling. Her eyes hadn't even been able to follow the phenomenon. Instead, her years of experience as a Huntress had allowed her cultivated instincts to sense the incoming danger. Only that way had she been able to pull her friends out of the way, before they were cut down by the impossibly fast blow.

"What was-?" Ironwood began to ask, as he pushed himself back to his feet. However, he was cut off by a deafening clap of thunder, a bolt of lightning streaking down into the ring, the sound of its arrival enough to shatter more of the already-broken windows. The entire arena lurched violently.

"Damn! Ruby is getting serious down there," said Qrow, flicking his eyes down towards the ring. He couldn't see what was happening from this angle, but his heart shuddered at the thought of Ruby fighting against Adam Taurus...again, especially given how it seemed the guy had powered up something fierce since last time.

"Qrow! Go!" shouted Glynda. "Leave Ruby to her own fight!"

Qrow wasn't happy at that, but he nodded all the same. Turning, he took a running leap out the broken window of the skybox. He dropped out of sight. A second later, the black form of a crow flew up, winging its way out of the arena, and heading towards Vale.

A second later, the coliseum rocked violently again, this time from a trio of explosions. Glancing out, Glynda's jaw dropped as she saw a maelstrom of elemental energy swirling around a section of the spectator seating. _The Maidens are fighting!_ she realized.

"I'm going to Vale," declared Ironwood, heading towards the exit of the skybox. "I'll take command of all military resources and establish a perimeter."

"Understood," said Glynda. "I'll start directing the Huntsmen and students to help you."

Ironwood nodded to her, then left. Now Glynda was alone with Ozpin. Turning, she regarded the man she'd worked with for so many years now. Taking a deep breath, she let out a tired sigh, walking over and kneeling in front of the nearly catatonic man. Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away his tears.

"Ozpin," said Glynda, her voice soft. "Come back to us, Ozpin."

Ozpin stared into space for a second longer, his eyes meeting hers, but not actually seeing her. Then he jolted slightly. "Glynda...?" he said, looking at her with an expression that was haunted...and lost.

In that moment, Glynda could see it, the weight of all those years, all those lifetimes, the impossible task he'd been given, the task he couldn't run away from, no matter how hard he tried. For centuries, if not millennia, all he'd been able to do was hold the line, to continuously push Salem back, fix what she broke, and then watch as she broke what he built all over again.

"I imagine you can't forgive me either," said Ozpin, the despair in his voice heart-wrenching for her to hear. "In the end, no matter how much changes, nothing ever _really_ changes."

Glynda sighed again, then hardened her expression. Raising her hand, she slapped Ozpin across the face. His head snapped to the side, his eyes wide with surprise.

"I don't have time for your moping," said Glynda, using the same strict tone she used with her students. "What the Lamp revealed doesn't matter. Right now, we've got a job to do. We still need you."

Ozpin reached up, gently rubbing the reddened section of his cheek. A wry smile formed on his face. "You're taking this awfully well," he noted.

Glynda returned his smile. "I've spent most of my life cleaning up your messes by now," she said simply. "What's one more?"

Ozpin chuckled at that.

"We need to figure out what to do," said Glynda. "Grimm have appeared throughout the Kingdom. Kyo is gone. The Coliseum is evacuated, but we need to do something about Vale itself. Ironwood's forces are struggling against an enemy vessel."

"I see," said Ozpin, frowning. "Quite the difficult situation."

A low rumbling sound reached their ears, one that hadn't come from within the coliseum. They both flinched, their gazes meeting once more as they processed what they'd just heard. It was a sound they'd been dreading for years, ever since the failure of Mountain Glenn.

"Oh no..." Glynda whispered.

* * *

Mount Glenn...When the expeditionary planners from Vale had picked out the location of the extension, they had settled on the base of that mountain. With it at their backs, they would have a nice, defensible location from which to build their settlement. Thus, they had named the new extension Mountain Glenn, after the mountain itself, which they had looked upon as a mighty sentinel, standing guard over the new hope of their Kingdom. When the settlement had fallen, the mountain had changed in the view of the people. Instead of a guardian, it now stood over the ruined settlement like an ominous tombstone.

However, almost no one knew the truth. Had they, they might have realized that Mount Glenn had never been a guardian. Indeed, it would have been better to label it a portent of disaster. For within the mountain slumbered the very reason the settlement at its base had fallen. The Grimm that had besieged Mountain Glenn had been drawn by that which slept within the mountain, even more than any number of human feelings. Worse still, within the caverns that honeycombed the land beneath that monolith, slumbered its brood.

The settlement had fallen, its people overrun and devoured. Ever since then, Mount Glenn had stood as it had before, silent and still. But now that had changed. The angry light of multiple explosions bloomed out across the peak. The explosions opened up cracks and crevasses amongst the stone. From within the darkness revealed by the newly-opened crevasses, something red gleamed like an angry flame. The next rumble was accompanied by another sound, higher-pitched, yet still guttural, a snarl.

A final tremor rocked the mountaintop. Then, with a screeching roar, the entire peak shattered, revealing the source of that terrifying sound. Vast, bat-like wings spread outward, tossing fragments of stone away. Their blood-red membranes stretched, seeming to encompass the entire sky. A white-masked, draconic head rose up, crowned with backwards-sloping horns. Three sets of angry eyes, set along the line of its snout, narrowed as it regarded the Kingdom.

Rising up on its hind legs, the beast displayed a chest lined with visible ribs, their white standing out starkly against the black mass of its body. It arched its back, displaying the row of curved spines that ran along its backbone, with additional spikes protruding from its shoulders. Here and there, its black skin was dotted with smaller plates of bone-armor, like scales. The tail that lashed behind it forked near the end, splitting into three, with each tip sporting another curved spike.

The beast shook its head, casting aside still more stones that had lodged amongst its plates. Jerking its head about, it surveyed the region around it, before lifting its muzzle up to the heavens, revealing its most prominent, and disturbing, feature, spreading wide jaws, which opened past where they should have, revealing that the Grimm's mouth stretched along its neck, nearly all the way down its shoulders, letting out a shrieking roar.

Pushing off, the Wyvern executed a mighty downward stroke of its wings. Though those blood-colored membranes were tattered, even sporting a few holes, they still somehow managed to catch the air, lifting the beast's massive body as it swooped down, then rose up, its flight carrying it over the walls of Vale, its triumphant shriek echoing through the skies.

As it swept over the perimeter walls, the batteries lining them, as well as the soldiers stationed there, opened fire. Dust-bolts roared and crackled upward, riddling the beast's body with countless shots. However, where those shots hit, black ooze splashed out, any signs of impact disappearing almost immediately. The tar-like liquid that had blown off descended from above like a black rain. They splattered onto the ground, running together to form puddles.

From within those puddles, new forms rose up. The soldiers manning the wall looked around, horrified as they saw Ursai, Beowolves, and Creeps rise up all around them. The beasts wasted no time throwing themselves at their new prey. Gunshots, roars, and screams mingled together in an unholy chorus, while the Wyvern flew on, still more ooze dripping off its form, fresh packs of Grimm rising up all along its flight path.

* * *

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse," muttered Yang, glaring out at the Wyvern, as it began to circle over Vale, more black liquid dripping off its body. It was hard to see from their position, but Yang caught a glimpse of that black substance pooling on the ground, and then... "Is that thing spawning more Grimm?"

She had to pause to uppercut a lunging Ursa to death.

Jaune paused, holding a snarling Beowolf at bay with his shield to look for himself. When he did, his eyes widened. "Wait! That liquid!"

"It spawns Grimm, of course!" declared Weiss, running one of the attacking monsters through with her rapier. "As if that thing's size wasn't bad enough."

"No!" protested Jaune. "If that liquid spawns Grimm, then what if..."

Ren was the first one to catch on. "What if some of that liquid was deposited inside the coliseum?" he guessed.

"Are you kidding me!?" exclaimed Yang, before unleashing a furious barrage of punches to take out her current opponent. "You mean that somebody basically brought in a Bottle of Instant Grimm and poured it out in the coliseum somewhere?"

"Not just here," said Blake, whipping her sickle about on the end of its ribbon. "Someone must have seeded more of that stuff in Vale. _That's_ where those swarms came from."

"Then we need to find that stuff and deal with it," said Pyrrha.

"We're gonna have to fight our way through these guys," Nora pointed out, glaring at the Grimm that continued to swarm out from the exits.

"Then let's get to it," declared Oscar, bringing his kama together and brandishing the double-headed scythe they formed.

"In that case, please allow me..." said Sasame, stepping ahead of the group. Now that the civilians were away and out of danger, she was free to focus entirely upon the Grimm.

The air around her began to buzz, her tail dividing into nine, the appendages weaving through the air behind her. Her fingers curled tightly into fists. Then, with the sound of straining metal, she pushed off, her step actually leaving an impression of her foot in the alloyed plates she'd been standing on. Sasame flew towards the mass of Grimm like a missile, hitting them with destructive force that matched one. Their bodies practically exploded on contact with her fists, while others ran afoul of her tails, which whipped around her like heavy flails, snapping spines and crushing ribcages.

"Go!" shouted Ren, immediately following after her. The rest joined him, charging in Sasame's wake, using their own weapons to take down the Grimm out of her immediate reach, thinning their numbers further. Sasame pushed into one of the exits, but the Grimm were still emerging from other ones, now closing in from behind and surrounding them.

Setsuna and Oscar turned back, the two boys wielding their kama deftly, cutting down the Grimm that tried to catch the group from behind. Ren assisted them, dropping more Grimm with deft bursts of shots from his pistols. Blake shored up the group even further, moving to stand beside the boys, using Gambol Shroud in its katana-form, while simultaneously using its rectangular, cleaver-like sheath in her left hand. Together, the four of them kept the Grimm from overrunning them from behind.

Sasame's charge led the group into one of the coliseum's atrium sections, her momentum petering out, now that the Grimm were no longer coming from directly ahead, but now from the sides.

"Which way?" asked Yang, snapping her head around, trying to figure out how they could determine the location of the source.

"I'm thinking that way," said Jaune, pointing to the left of where they'd entered. "The Grimm are a lot heavier that way."

True to his words, there were nearly twice as many Grimm coming from their left as their right. Granted, the coliseum was a giant set of rings, all stacked on top of each other, so they could have worked their way around from the other direction, and still ended up in the right place, presumably. But the shorter the route, the sooner they could get this mess cleaned up.

"Then let's open it up," said Yang, smacking her gauntlets together. Her eyes turned bright-red, and her hair began to glow with a golden shine, bright motes drifting up off it.

"I'm with you!" agreed Nora, hefting her hammer with a grin.

"I have an idea," said Weiss, moving to flank Nora with a smirk. "Remember our first sparring match?"

Nora's eyes widened, as did her grin. "Oh..._yeah_!"

Weiss lightly jabbed Myrtenaster's tip between Nora's shoulder blades, its chambers rotating. Pulling the trigger, Weiss sent a stream of yellow electricity running down the sword's length, and straight into Nora's body. The yellow color of the lightning changed into purple, and was absorbed into Nora's skin, a pink shine beginning to outline her body.

"We can still do better," declared Miyu, gliding up behind Nora. "Jaune-kun..."

"Gotcha," said Jaune, moving behind Yang.

Miyu braced her right arm, gripping it with her left hand around her wrist, while she rested her right hand against Nora's back, Weiss withdrawing her rapier to allow Miyu to take her place. Jaune reached out with his left hand, letting go of his shield's strap and letting it slide a little farther back along his arm, pressing his hand into Yang's back. Miyu and Jaune sent their respective Auras streaming into their chosen subjects, their Auras merging with Nora and Yang's respectively, enhancing their strength even more.

With a roar, Yang surged forward, unleashing the heaviest punch she was capable of, channeling the entirety of her Semblance and the power of Ember Celica's shotguns into the attack. Beside her, Nora did the same, the entire atrium echoing with her shout. Shockwaves of gold and pink merged together into a single, mighty blast, which obliterated the first ranks of Grimm it encountered. Their bodies did practically nothing to ablate its force. Nora and Yang's combined blows pressed onward, smashing some Grimm, scattering the rest. When it finally dissipated, it had all but completely opened up a path into the hallway beyond.

"Let's go!" shouted Pyrrha, surging ahead of the group, cutting down any stragglers that had survived the unbelievable combo attack. The others followed behind her, the group maintaining a careful formation, allowing them to hold off the Grimm trying to bring them down from behind, even as fresh reinforcements spilled out ahead of them.

Fortunately, the combo-attack had bought them some badly-needed breathing room. Even if more Grimm still appeared to replace those that had fallen, they were able to make considerable progress. As they continued, they realized they were getting closer to the source. The pressure of the Grimm behind them lessened considerably, while the numbers ahead of them thickened. They fought doggedly, pushing through. Finally, they reached a point where the hallway branched, with the branch in question running away at a right angle, leading into the arena. The Grimm were now spilling almost exclusively from this hallway.

Looking down the hallway, Jaune's eyes widened as he saw that the Grimm were merging from the remains of a doorway to one of the coliseum's maintenance hallways. The door had been ripped off its hinges, and the opening torn open wider to allow some of the larger Grimm specimens to emerge. Even now, the monsters were tearing the opening wider still, their numbers packing the smaller passageway to the point of almost becoming a single solid object.

Several hard-fought minutes later, the remaining members of RYNB, RASP, and MNPS found themselves looking at the source of the Grimm that had overrun the coliseum.

A pool of pitch-black liquid had spread over the floor of a janitor's closet. The door that had once been there had been completely shredded. The fluid now spilled out across the hallway, its surface undulating as clawed limbs reached up, finding purchase and hauling out the body of another Beowolf. Staring at the puddle, it boggled the mind to imagine how something that size could have come out of a pool of liquid that was a few millimeters deep, at best. Yet the bodies of Grimm emerged as though it were completely bottomless.

"How do we deal with this?" asked Yang, staring at the puddle in disbelief, even as Nora brought her hammer down on the rising Beowolf.

"How about fire?" suggested Weiss. Extending Myrtenaster, she sent out a jet of flame, hosing it across the liquid, which hissed, bubbled, and then emitted high-pitched keening noises, as though something living was suffering intense pain.

The flames of Weiss' weapon were enough to sear away the puddle, acrid smoke rising, leaving scorched metal in its wake. Weiss expended her entire chamber of Dust, just to make sure she burned away the entire thing. Finally, she lowered it, watching carefully. Everyone tensed, waiting for any sign that still more Grimm might emerge.

But the roars were gone. As far as the cries of the monstrous beasts were concerned, the arena was silent. However, there were still plenty of other sources of noise, namely the rumble of thunder, and the roars of explosions.

"Well, we know where those Grimm running around the Kingdom are coming from," said Jaune.

"We need to find the other pools of liquid," said Ren. "If we can take them out, we'll at least keep the Grimm from spawning more reinforcements within Vale's perimeter."

"It's pretty much a moot point though, isn't it?" asked Blake bitterly. "With Kyo gone, and the negativity all this has stirred up, there are going to be plenty more than the perimeter defenses can handle."

"We've still gotta do it," said Jaune. "If we can take out the Grimm inside the Kingdom, then we can at least carve out a protected space where the civilians can be defended."

"There's still the big one to worry about though," said Setsuna. "If that thing keeps flying around, we'll still have more Grimm appearing inside the walls."

"Let's come back to that one later," said Pyrrha.

"That being the case, Miyu-chan and I will help establish a safe-zone," said Sasame. "That way we'll have easy access to treat the wounded."

"Should I help?" asked Jaune.

Sasame looked at him and shook her head. "You've come quite far, Jaune-kun. But I think you are not quite up to this level of work yet. Instead, you should help the others deal with the more immediate threat."

"I guess I'll stay with Miyu and Sasame," said Oscar. He would've liked to go with the others, but he was definitely beginning to feel his limits. Talented or not, a year of training could only do so much, when it came to his stamina. On top of that, as strong as Sasame was, it was best if _someone_ with combat ability stayed with the healers to look after them. As strong as she was, Sasame would be preoccupied, and her own reserves were best put to work helping the people who'd been hurt.

"Sounds like a plan for now," said Jaune. "Now let's figure out where those other pools are, and get to work."

"I'll contact Professor Goodwitch again," said Ren, pulling out his scroll. "She might have access to information that will allow us to pinpoint their locations."

"She'll also be able to hook us up with some transport," added Yang, "seeing as the airships kinda left us here."

"Let's be careful though," said Jaune. "The fact that this pool was here means that _someone_ put it here. Salem's people are still out there. So the Grimm aren't the only things we need to worry about."

* * *

Beneath the ring that served as the center of Amity Coliseum lay the cavernous under-level. This was where the unused biomes and spare components of the arena above were kept, ready to be deployed as the need arose.

The interior wall of this space exploded inwards. The figure of Arthur Watts emerged from the freshly-opened hole in the wall, leaping backwards. He hung in empty space for a few seconds. With his present arc, he would have fallen into the yawning space between inactive biome sections. However, his foot stepped down on a hexagonal plane of blue light, the shield serving as a foothold, allowing him to jump back farther, reaching one of the spares of the inner-ring that hovered at the center of the arena.

Team CPPR and Winter were only a beat behind him, leaping out and spreading through the air, each finding their own way to bridge the gap. Winter used a Glyph to propel herself to reach the platform. Behind her, Piper directed four of her orbs, which formed an orbiting circle that her foot stepped on, then repelled off of, serving in the same manner as Watts' hard-light shield. Rain was next, his shield sliding up onto his back, its plates then splitting out and sliding along his outstretched arms and legs; the green, wind-Dust impregnated; membrane connecting them transforming his weapon into a wing-suit, easily carrying him across. Behind him were Penny and Ciel, Penny clamping her hands on Ciel's waist, six of her Floating Array moving into their jet-formation, allowing her to carry her partner across with her.

"Ah, much better," said Watts. "That room was certainly cramped."

Winter and CPPR quickly moved, Winter standing directly in front of Watts, while the students quickly spread out to surround him.

Watts smirked, holding his revolver out, keeping it trained on Winter, while he also extended his left hand out, fingers slightly bent, the rings that decorated them glowing readily. In front of him, Winter readied her saber in her right hand, as well as the shorter blade in her left hand. Abruptly, she stopped, her eyes widening as a report from Ironwood reached her through her earpiece.

"What!?" she exclaimed, momentarily forgetting about the man in front of her.

"What is it?" asked Ciel worriedly.

"A Wyvern has appeared and is attacking the Kingdom," said Penny, picking up the same report through her internal communications systems. "The warships are occupied with an enemy vessel."

"My my," said Watts, chuckling dryly. "Things are progressing more quickly than I thought. I'm glad to hear that Morgan is doing her part."

Winter scowled at him. "That woman is still alive?"

"Thankfully, yes," said Watts. "She's one of the few who truly appreciates my genius."

Winter watched him warily, the gears turning in her head. Ironwood had just informed her that she needed to help establish a safe-zone in Vale for the civilians. However, there was no way she could just walk away from Arthur Watts.

"Specialist, please leave this to us," said Ciel, meeting Winter's gaze with a firm one of her own. "Do what you need to. We'll handle things here."

Again, Watts chuckled. "My my, that's quite an arrogant attitude to take, little girl. If I were you, Winter, I wouldn't trust these dull children with even the simplest of tasks."

Winter held Ciel's gaze, before rising out of her crouch, and sheathing her weapons. "Understood. I will leave it to you, Ciel. Make sure not to disappoint me." She rested a hand on Ciel's shoulder. "More importantly though, make sure you come back alive."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Ciel.

Winter turned and ran for a nearby exit.

Watts frowned. "As much as I would appreciate a reduction in the number of opponents, I cannot allow you to turn your back on me so easily, Ms. Schnee."

Raising his revolver, he took aim at Winter's retreating back. However, the shot fired by his weapon was intercepted by the shield, which detached from Rain's arm, its plates spreading to reveal the green membrane between them. The wind-Dust propelled the kite shield, allowing it to intercept Watts' shot.

Pulling deftly on the string, Rain adjusted the shield's movement, sending it swooping back towards Watts, who dodged out of the way of its edge. As he fell back, Piper rushed at his back, her fingers guiding the movements of her black orbs, which swooped around to converge on Watts from different directions. Just as they were about to make contact, three hexagonal shields appeared in the air around Watts' body, perfectly poised to intercept all eight of Piper's weapons, Watts able to calculate their trajectories to intercept them with the fewest number of shields he could deploy.

At the same time, he turned, aiming his revolver at Piper, who leaned back out of the way of a sizzling, blue-white bolt of energy that nearly took her in the chin. She dodged into a backflip, pushing off the floor with her hands, then using her fingers to direct Pulsar's orbs. Four of them swooped around to intercept the next few shots that Watts fired. However, the other four swept around behind him.

In the meantime, Rain directed his kite through a tight loop, which brought it diving down on Watts from almost directly above. The man was forced to abandon his attempts to shoot Piper, dodging to the side. One of Piper's orbs intercepted Rain's shield though, striking it in the side to alter its course, and send it chasing after Watts. With an irritated grunt, the man brought up another hard-light shield, bouncing Rain's weapon away.

However, Watts' dodge brought him right into a combined attack from Ciel and Penny. Ciel led the way, diving straight in with Gram Vajra extended, slashing her sword in from the side. Watts brought up another hard-light shield to intercept Ciel's slash. However, the blade of Ciel's sword shined white and, much to Watts' surprise, cleaved through his shield effortlessly. He was forced to block with the barrel of his revolver, grimacing as the force of Ciel's blow jolted his body.

Then Penny's swords swept in from all directions. Jumping back away from Ciel, Watts was able to disengage. Two more shields appeared, these ones deflecting a few of Penny's blades. Another one appeared beneath his upraised foot, allowing him to use it as a platform to step up over the low sweep of another of Penny's swords, before pushing off into a leap that carried him clear of her attack entirely.

_Using the Interference Principle,_ Watts thought, his eyes narrowing as he regarded Ciel. _She's more clever than she looks._

Hard-light Dust had been both developed and perfected in Atlas. In fact, said development was something that Watts had had a substantial hand in. Hard-light shields were considered the pinnacle of defensive technology. The strength of one was dependent on its efficiency and the amount of Dust used. Watts' own shield generators were easily two or three generations ahead of anything the Atlesian Military had access to, which meant that the power required to break through such a defense had to be all the greater.

However, the Interference Principle turned that logic on its head. If two hard-light fields occupied the same space, then they would cancel one another out, both shields being destroyed. However, executing that as an attack to break through one's shield required incredible timing, and an incredibly refined technology for deploying the hard-light field on the attacking end.

_Her weapon is extraordinarily advanced for something being used by a student,_ he thought, _and her timing is impeccable._

He wished he had the time to afford the luxury of pondering just where Ciel had gotten such an excellent weapon, and the training to use it so brilliantly. Unfortunately, Team CPPR clearly understood that giving a man as crafty as him time to think was an unacceptable risk, as demonstrated when Penny's swords converted into guns, and opened fire on him.

Watts brought up more shields to intercept the green bolts fired by Penny's weapons, while taking aim with his revolver and firing several shots at Ciel, who deflected them off the blade of her sword as she charged after him. At the same time, Piper and Rain closed in on him from behind. Growling in frustration, Watts brought up two more shields to intercept Piper's orbs. Then he bent his left index finger sharply downwards.

The metal surface of the ring beneath them suddenly lurched, the entire structure tilting sharply. Both Rain and Piper yelped as they were suddenly catapulted upwards, while Penny and Ciel made similar sounds as the ring abruptly dropped from beneath their feet. Aiming up, Watts fired a bolt of fire-Dust up at Piper, who'd been sent flying over his head. However, Rain launched his shield off his arm, sending it flying across to intercept the shot before it could land.

Even though his attack had been thwarted, Watts didn't waste any time making his next move. Deploying shields beneath his feet, he used them as stepping stones to reach one of the unused biome sections. The blue waters and white sands of the ocean biome that had been used for the match between NDGO and MNPS were his destination. As he dropped down on it from above, he fired another shot from his revolver, which struck the surface of the water, freezing it solid and creating a platform for him to stand on.

Team CPPR were quickly moving in pursuit. Penny used her jets to fly, while Rain transformed his weapon into its wingsuit mode, using that to carry him across. In a manner similar to the way Watts used his shields, Piper used Pulsar to create gravity fields that served as footholds for her. Ciel, on the other had, had simply executed a powerful leap, barely managing to make to the edge of the biome. Upon landing, she immediately pushed off, lunging for Watts, leading with a slash of her gauntlet-sword.

Watts jumped back, again using a shield as a platform. As he did, he took aim with his revolver, not at Ciel, but at the ice beneath her feet. A bolt of flame from the gun melted the ice, prompting Ciel to sink into water up to her shins. With a smirk, Watts rotated the chambers of his weapon, and fired another shot, this one a crackling bolt of lightning, simply aiming for the water in Ciel's vicinity.

Ciel screamed as electricity crackled through her body, her limbs spasming. In the meantime, Watts landed at the base of the beached ship that decorated the ocean biome. Up above, Rain detached his shield from his back, whipping it around on the end of its string, wrapping the string around the spar extending out from the mast. The Dust-impregnated string cut through the wood easily, severing the spar and causing it to drop towards Watts. At the same time, Piper sent Pulsar, four of the orbs moving to orbit around the extended end of the spar, tipping it downwards, while the other four gathered at the severed end, orbiting in a tight circle. The gravity field created by her weapon sent the chunk of wood flying down like a descending lance, directly towards Watts' head. However, the improvised weapon merely shattered against the hard-light shield that appeared directly above him, surrounding Watts with a rain of splinters.

Still smirking, Watts aimed his revolver down at the water again. Not far away, Penny had abandoned her attack to pull a stunned Ciel out of the water, moving her to one of the sandy islands. However, electrifying the water again wasn't Watts' intention. Instead, another bolt of fire-Dust emerged from his weapon. The water in his immediate vicinity exploded into steam.

Penny quickly moved to stand protectively over Ciel. Piper and Rain also dropped down on the island, prepared to defend, if Watts tried to take advantage of Ciel's currently vulnerable state. However, as the steam cleared they realized that Watts had vanished. The only clue to his whereabouts was the flickering image of a dissipating shield, which disappeared in the air just outside the nearby urban biome. Watts had disappeared within the miniature maze of ruined buildings that made it up.

"I'll be all right," said Ciel, already feeling her limbs coming back under her control. "Go after him. Don't let him get away."

Her friends were reluctant, especially Rain. But they moved to obey her orders all the same. Using their distinct means, they made their way across the gap to the urban Biome. There, Penny used her sensors to sweep for any sign of Watts, but found nothing. However, the fact that someone as savvy in electronic warfare as him would be able to hide from her sensors was no great surprise.

"He must want us to split up to look for him," said Rain.

"Well, he's not gonna get what he wants, right Penny?" asked Piper, grinning at Penny.

Penny grinned back, deploying her weapons in their gun-mode. They moved into the cylindrical formation that allowed her to fire her most powerful beam attack, cupping her hands around the crackling orb of emerald energy that was forming, before launching the beam into the largest of the buildings that made up the biome. She swept her beam back and forth, making sure to obliterate all the structures and destroy every last vestige of cover.

The three of them surveyed the cloud of dust that had been raised by Penny's attack and the collapsing buildings. However, when it cleared, they saw no sign of Watts.

"Was it just a misdirection?" wondered Rain, casting a worried look back towards where Ciel was recuperating, worried that Watts might have lured them to this platform, in order to give him the chance to eliminate Ciel instead.

"Let's make sure," said Penny, already moving to inspect the rubble. Piper and Rain did the same, the three of them advancing cautiously, spreading out to inspect the area.

As they moved amongst the piles of rubble, Penny heard something shift to the side of her. Suddenly, a pile of shattered masonry to her left exploded apart, eight shields moving away from one another to disperse the pile, freeing Watts from his confinement. Right as Penny had launched her attack, he'd holstered his revolver, and deployed all the shields at his disposal, completely encasing his body and protecting him from the collapsing building. And now, he lunged at Penny, both hands outstretched

Before she could even begin to counter, Penny found Watts' fingers clamping down on her face. With a hum, his rings lit up, and Penny's eyes widened as she screamed.

"_Penny!_" yelled Piper and Rain in unison, their shout echoed by Ciel, who was looking on in horror from the other platform.

"What did you do to her, you bastard?" shouted Piper, sending Pulsar flying at Watts.

However, the black orbs were knocked away by the swords of Penny's Floating Array. Her arms hung limp at her sides, and there was something off about Penny's movements and posture as she turned to face her teammates. For the first time in their association with her, they found her movements and behavior _truly_ robotic. Penny faced them, her eyes no longer that cheerful shade of green, but an angry electric-yellow. Her face was vacant, devoid of expression.

"Well, that was easier than I thought," said Watts, coming to stand beside Penny. "Even though he knew that I helped to develop her code, I must say that I didn't expect Pietro to be _this_ incompetent with her security protocols."

"Penny!" shouted Ciel, stopping at the edge of the ocean biome, not having a way to get across the gap at the moment.

"Even if you lot are mere students," commented Watts, "I still feel that four-on-one is a little unfair. To that end, I've decided to even things out. Now then...Penny...kill your friends."

Penny gave no sign that she acknowledged his orders. However, her swords moved as though they had a will of their own. Their tips oriented on Piper and Rain like compass needles, before launching at the pair like missiles.

* * *

**And Watts does the thing I think a lot of us were expecting _someone_ to do with Penny, both all the way back in Volume 3, and in Volume 7. From the moment Penny was revealed to be an android, I think a lot of us figured that this time might come, when, whether at the behest of the virus Cinder used in Vale or a hacker like Watts, someone was bound to hack her and turn her into an enemy. Looking back, maybe CRWBY avoided that route because it was obvious and likely what a lot of people were expecting. But I decided to go with it here.**


	149. Chapter 149

**Chapter 149:**

Raven and Amber charged each other. Orange flames spilled from the corners of Amber's eyes, while blood-red flames spread from Raven's. As they approached, Raven drew forth a blue blade from her sheath, the blade's length doubling as it fully emerged into the air. Amber met it with a swing from her staff, leading with the red crystal on one end.

Ice and flames vied against each other, the two women straining, not just with the Dust they were wielding, but putting their magic into their attacks as well. The sound of something breaking echoed through the air, accompanied by the roar of an explosion. The pair were forced apart, while a hail of icy shrapnel flew in every direction. Those dagger-like shards of ice exploded against flickering barriers of energy that surrounded their bodies. More than their Auras, both Maidens were protected by a barrier of magic, ensuring that no ordinary attack could even touch them.

Of course, given that the attacks that both of them were using were anything _but_ ordinary, it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if one or both their attacks had punched through. But the mere aftereffects of an attack wasn't enough to inflict harm.

Their surroundings were a different matter though. Clashing on the walkway had seen angry flames and icy shrapnel burning and ripping through the seats around them, both above and below. Metal railings shrieked as they twisted under the force of impact, or straight-up melted from the heat.

Raven skidded to a stop, the blade of her sword now reduced to a shattered stump. Quickly, she returned the weapon to its sheath, Omen's rotary system quickly selecting a new blade for her to wield.

A flickering figure appeared behind Raven, and she spun about, attacking straight off the draw, her slash flying at Natsuki, who brought the blade of her shorter kodachi, which she held in her left hand, across her body, deflecting Raven's swing up and over her head. The blood-red blade continued on its arc, while Natsuki lunged in with the longer kodachi in her right hand, orange and red light sparking along the edge of her blade as she swung it at Raven.

Dodging back, Raven found herself confronted with a wave of roiling flame that threatened to wash over her. With a growl, Raven released her hold on the handle of Omen's sheath, holding it out in front of her. Natsuki's flames crashed against the blood-red barrier that appeared, breaking across it.

Amber, now that Raven had turned to face Natsuki, was behind Raven, also lunging in, the pale-green crystal on the other end of her staff upraised. With an angry crack, a bolt of lightning descended down to strike the tip of that crystal, before the arc of Amber's swing sent the bolt flying at Raven. Simply continuing the movement of her sword, Raven spun around in a near-complete circle, swinging her own blade, which flashed with the crimson energy of her magic, using the movement to deflect Amber's lightning away.

However, Natsuki wasn't giving up either. She plowed through the cover afforded by her flames, charging for Raven's unguarded left side. Or, at least it _appeared_ unguarded. Closing her left hand, Raven curled her fingers around the handle of a new sword, this one formed from what looked like icy glass, which she held in a reverse-grip as she swung it to meet the attacking blade of Natsuki's kodachi. Raven's second sword was about half the length of Omen, which made it better-suited for defense. Even though it appeared to be made of ice or glass, it didn't shatter in the face of Natsuki's attack, even as more fire exploded out from Natsuki's own sword.

Rather than try to use her barrier to deflect the attack, Raven growled and forced her sword back against Natsuki, who found herself thrown back as a pillar of ice suddenly erupted out from the floor between her and Raven. The sudden impediment gave Raven some time to turn her full attention back to Amber. Switching her grip on her second sword, Raven now rushed Amber with a weapon in each hand, her movement a blur as her magic lent her speed. She unleashed a flurry of attacks, while Amber countered by spinning her staff, trying to keep Raven's strikes at bay.

Amber found herself driven back, which gave Raven enough time to return Omen to its sheath. Amber lunged forward, aiming to strike before Raven could draw again. However, Raven simply hurled the sword in her left hand, sending it flying at Amber. The blade flared with blue light, then shattered into an explosion of more ice. This time, the fragments were the size of spears, and accompanied by a wave of pure cold that left an icy rime clinging to every surface it washed over along its path towards Amber. Sweeping the green crystal on the end of her staff in a circular motion, Amber called forth a whirlwind that deflected the ice spears and scattered the wave of cold coming at her.

However, countering Raven's attack slowed Amber just enough that Raven was able to draw her sword again. This time, the blade was bright-yellow, crackling with electricity. Both women closed with one another, a single bolt of lightning lancing down from above, forking to meet both their weapons as they struck. Their weapons crossed, and the two women strained against one another, flames streaming from their eyes, teeth bared as they found themselves in a deadlock. The powerful electrical energy they had summoned built between them, bolts arcing out to strike against any nearby surface, melting through metal, setting the cushions of nearby seats on fire.

Then, with another, much deeper, thunderclap, the energy building between them exploded outwards. Raven was sent skidding back, smacking back into the ice pillar she had created. Amber, on the other hand, was knocked back off her feet with a cry of surprise, which became one of pain as she slammed hard against the railing behind her, by virtue of the coliseum's circular curve. She struck it at an angle, bouncing off, then hitting the floor to bounce again. The barrier Maidens possessed was powerful, but needed to be consciously activated. When a Maiden took an unexpected hit, as Amber just had, she wound up taking the blow with her Aura and body instead.

Raven pushed herself away from the ice pillar, getting ready to throw herself after Amber, only for a shadow to come over her. Looking up, she saw Natsuki in the air above her head, the girl having gone into a leap, while turning her body around sweeping her sword at Raven again.

"_Maouen!_" A roaring jet of flame surged down at Raven. With her path of retreat blocked by the ice she'd created, Raven dove forward instead, Natsuki's fire melting the ice immediately, and then melting the metal beneath it. The fact that Raven's dodge brought her closer to Amber worked to her advantage as well. Natsuki wouldn't be willing to resort to bigger attacks like that one, if she was worried about hitting her ally at the same time.

However, that didn't seem to be on Natsuki's mind. She dropped down near where Raven was now standing, then charged in, launching into a series of rapid attacks with both her swords. Raven worked Omen's blade furiously, parrying Natsuki's attacks. However, Omen's length made it somewhat difficult to use defensively. Even though the yellow blade was charged with lightning, it didn't seem to affect Natsuki, the sparks and arcs of electricity seeming to simply bounce off her own swords as she struck.

With an angry shout, Raven called down another bolt of lightning in conjunction with her swing. Natsuki met the incoming attack with the shorter of her two swords, easily knocking the attacking energy aside, not even breaking her own offensive, her right-hand kodachi swinging in to strike Raven's sword from the side, the yellow blade shattering before the attack.

With an angry snarl, Raven jumped back, returning the handle to the sheath once again. As she did, she felt a pressure building from behind her. Natsuki's offensive had given Amber enough time to recover from the hits she'd just taken, and now Amber was lunging towards Raven's back, thrusting with the red crystal on the end of her staff as though it were a spear. Raven barely had enough warning to kick off the floor, jumping over the line of Amber's thrust, and the jet of flame that she launched off the end of her staff, flames which rushed right for Natsuki.

However, Natsuki jumped as well. Instead of trying to avoid Amber's attack though, Natsuki instead used her jump to clear her feet off the floor so that she could turn her body sideways, while going into a spin that had her swords sweeping around her. Her kodachi met the flames of Amber's attack, then swept them up into a burning ring around her body, to which Natsuki added the heat and power of her own flames.

"_Wanyudo!_" Natsuki launched the accumulated flames in a wheel, which rolled past Amber, who had thrown herself aside in anticipation of what Natsuki was doing. The wheel rolled right at Raven, who'd only just touched down after her previous evasion. With an angry yell, Raven drew Omen once more, unleashing a blue blade impregnated with ice-Dust, to which she added her magic. Her slash met Natsuki's wheel of fire head-on, ice and flames clashing with a combination of roaring and cracking, the flames exploding in a brilliant flare of light, before scattering, along with icy motes, almost like snow, from Raven's attack.

Following through, Raven launched a barrage of slashes, each one sending a wave of ice flying at the other two. Amber and Natsuki fell back as ridges of ice erupted from the floor, lances of ice leapt from nearby railings, and spikes of ice stabbed down from above. Amber spun her staff and Natsuki wove her kodachi through defensive patterns, the two blocking and parrying even as they dodged.

Raven wasn't done yet. Taking her sword in both hands, she raised it overhead. A radiant aura of shining blue shimmered around her, merging with her sword, making its blade swell in length and width, while jagged crystals jutted back from the guard, the sword becoming even longer than Raven was tall. With a furious roar, Raven charged forward, the ice she'd produced before shattering, then being drawn into the sword, making it heavier still. Raven brought it straight down straight at Natsuki and Amber.

Natsuki seemed to stop. At first, it looked as though she wouldn't be in time to respond to Raven's attack. However, not even bothering to try and close in herself, Natsuki simply began to spin. In fact, it looked as though her body was spinning in two directions simultaneously. "_Kaitenju Kenbu!_" Her kodachi etched bright-orange and red lines in the air, six slashes, three converging from either side, meeting together to form a grid-like pattern to meet the descending blade of Raven's massive sword. At the same time, six spinning orbs of fire, like miniature suns, also formed, dancing outside the pattern, just above the line of each of the six slashes that Natsuki had made. Even as the her swords met Raven's with a rapid series of clangs that partially ablated the force of Raven's heavy slash, those miniature suns surged forward, converging on Raven's sword as well.

The resulting explosion shattered the giant blue blade, while also sending Raven skidding back. Natsuki was sent sliding back too. As she did, she turned her body, bracing the pommel of her right-handed kodachi against the tip of her left, before reversing the course of her turn, releasing her right-handed blade, propelling it with the thrusting movement of her left, then releasing that one as well, using the move to throw both swords at Raven, the smaller left-handed kodachi perfectly hidden behind the larger one, the leading sword's blade shining with fiery energy. "_Onmyo Enya!_"

Raven quickly moved to defend herself. Omen's blade had snapped again, but there was no time for her to get a new one from her sheath. Natsuki's fluid followthrough had been just _that_ fast. Instead, she countered with the remnants of her broken blade, knocking the leading kodachi aside, only for Raven's eyes to widen as she saw its partner-blade following in its wake, shining with the accumulated energy imparted by Natsuki's Aura. Quickly, Raven brought up her left hand, a shield of ice blossoming between her and the incoming sword. Natsuki's sword exploded on contact with Raven's shield, blasting her backwards with an angry scream.

Turning her backwards flight into a flip allowed Raven to get her feet back beneath her. She landed in a crouch, planting her left hand, using that to help absorb her momentum and terminate her backwards slide. As she did, Raven heard the sound of rushing wind coming from somewhere above her. Looking up, Raven saw Amber hovering in the air, orange flames streaming from her eyes as Amber held her arms out to the side of her, her staff held in her right hand, but not presently in use.

Instead, Amber was using her magic to completely subjugate the air around her to her will. The wind stretched down, spreading about to sweep up the metal debris left in the wake of the swath of destruction that the three Maidens' power had ripped along the perimeter of the arena. Chunks of metal debris and pieces of torn seats whirled around Amber, as though being carried about by a tornado. The Amber brought everything she'd picked up to hover in a loose cloud around her.

In her battle against Cinder and her cohorts, Amber had used a trick similar to this, using the wind to pick up leaves, then freezing them to turn them into blades. This time, Amber didn't bother with ice, not needing to harden most of the object in her vicinity. Instead, she used her magic to superheat the metal, turning it molten. The fabric chunks of torn seats ignited, and Amber sent all of that flying down at Raven like a rain of fiery comets.

Raven reversed her grip on Omen, driving what remained of the broken blade into the floor at her feet. As she did, a dome of crackling red energy rose up around her, solidifying just in time to withstand the impact of the countless pieces of molten and flaming debris that Amber pummeled her with.

Amber's attack ended, leaving the floor around where Raven crouched scorched and smoking. Raven was surrounded by a perfect circle of untouched metal. But she was breathing hard, sweat streaming down her face.

"Dammit!" she snapped, forcing herself up, using her sword to aid her efforts to stand. "I'm not going to lose to a pair of brats who barely know the first thing about using their magic."

"Why are you even fighting us anyway?" asked Amber. "You want revenge on Ruby so badly you'd help Salem destroy Vale and Beacon?"

"I'm doing what I need to, to ensure my people survive," growled Raven. "If I can pay that little red brat and her siblings back for what they did in the process, then that's a bonus, as far as I'm concerned." Then she smirked. "Besides, it turns out that doing this has some nice little fringe benefits. If I help Salem's people get the Relics, not only do I protect my people, but I get your powers in the bargain."

"Um...But aren't you too old to get any more Maiden powers?" asked Natsuki, canting her head.

Raven's smile widened, and she sheathed Omen, before reaching into one of the pouches concealed on her person to pull out a pair of white, arm-length gloves. "I'm guessing you recognize this, Fall Maiden."

Amber gasped, her skin paling at the sight of those gloves. Once again, her mind went back to that day, the day Cinder had torn her soul asunder. A cold sweat ran down her face, and her body began to tremble.

"Amber-san...?" Natsuki looked over at Amber worriedly, uneasy at seeing her so rattled.

Raven chuckled, tucking the gloves back away. "I see you remember," she said. "I bet you thought that was behind you, Amber, that you'd never have to experience something so painful ever again. It's too bad. You would have been better off if Cinder had just killed you, don't you think? Once I'm finished beating the pair of you down, you'll _both_ get to experience that agony."

Raven's hand went to Omen's handle again, the rotary system within the sheath cycling a new blade into place. This time, Raven withdrew a blood-red blade, its length doubling as it cleared the sheath. This was no attacking technique, but a slow, deliberate display.

"Remember...just how it felt, Amber?" taunted Raven. "I bet you do. Cinder certainly gave you scars to remember her by. I suppose you won't have to worry about your next set though. Looks don't matter all that much to a corpse."

Amber had been fighting back the urge to whimper. However, the reminder of her scar prompted something to spark within her. The fingers of her left hand went up to trace the weblike mark, centered mainly over her left eye. She gently traced its lines with her fingers, remembering another set of fingers doing the same. She remembered the boy she'd become so attached to, who'd not merely accepted her scars, but embraced them, viewed them as something that made her even _more_ beautiful to his eyes.

On top of that, she remembered facing down one of her attackers. She remembered the bitter, broken girl who'd once helped to hold her down, when Cinder had committed her vile deed. She remembered Emerald's tears, her grief, her helplessness. When their situations had been all but reversed, and it was Amber standing over a helpless Emerald, all Amber could bring herself to do was embrace the broken girl before her.

Emerald had been the wreckage left behind by Cinder's mad ambitions. A woman so driven that she saw even those who should have been closest to her as nothing more than tools to further her ambitions; Cinder had warped Emerald, until the poor girl had simply been broken by the realization that she was no longer there. The memory of that girl, all that was left of the woman who had nearly destroyed Amber, dulled the edge of Amber's fear, allowing her to realize what Raven was doing.

Raven's revelation of what she'd intended to do, and _how_ she planned to do it, hadn't been simple posturing. She clearly knew enough about what had happened to Amber to try and use it against her, to try and play upon the trauma that Amber had suffered at Cinder's hands. It was a strategic move, meant to hamper Amber and reduce her effectiveness in battle.

And it might have worked, had Sasame not anticipated _exactly_ this kind of situation. Just as Sasame had predicted, Amber had come face to face with her trauma. And without the therapy of confronting Emerald, Amber might well have been frozen on the spot at the surge of fear and pain those memories might have brought upon her.

"You won't get a chance to use those," said Amber, taking her staff up in both hands.

"Are you sure?" asked Raven smugly. "You definitely look afraid to me. Just look at you shake."

To her surprise, Amber found her lips spreading in a smirk of her own. "Yeah, I_ am_ scared," she admitted. "But...so what?"

"Hmm?" grunted Raven, her own smile faltering.

"Fear is natural...fear is necessary," said Amber. "But I know how to overcome my fear, how to work past it, and not be controlled by it...unlike you."

"What?" growled Raven, her lips now pulling back to bare her teeth.

Amber felt her limbs steadying as she spoke. "You're one to talk about fear, Raven Branwen. Ozpin and the others told me about you, about how you ran away, how you hid, how you use the Maiden's magic as a leader of a pack of bandits. You couldn't stomach the idea of fighting, so now you hide away and only pick fights you think you can win."

"Shut up!" growled Raven. Now it was she who was beginning to tremble, the tip of her sword practically vibrating in the air. "By now, you should realize how stupidly pointless it is. I wasn't afraid. I was _smart_. I learned the truth of Ozpin's war a long time ago, about how it's hopeless, about how he plays with lives against an enemy that can't ever be defeated. Death is cheap to him. After all, no matter how many times he's killed, he'll be back. But the rest of us only have one life to live. And he throws us away like we're _nothing_!"

"Yeah...he _does_ come back to life," said Natsuki, at Amber's side. "To me...that has to be the scariest thing of all."

"What?" asked Raven flatly, her glare turning to the youngest Maiden.

Natsuki's face was almost impassive as she stared at Raven, her expression calm and composed. "I've always been taught that death isn't something to be afraid of, that it's just a part of life. It's what happens at the end of life. There's no changing that. It's what makes life special."

"Stupid platitudes," grumbled Raven.

"You can think that way, if you want," said Natsuki.

She wasn't exactly in a position to explain what she, and the rest of the Mibu had been taught about the Ennui. In particular, Natsuki remembered what Makoto had told their class about the factors that could enhance or mitigate that strange aspect of the Mibu's prolonged lifespans.

_"Naturally,"_ he had said, _"there are those who are afraid to die. That is certainly a natural feeling. However, allowing that fear to rule you will work against you. Those who seek to prolong their lives out of fear of death are, ironically, among the first to begin succumbing to the Ennui. Living with that fear is a source of stress, a burden on top of the growing burden of the Ennui itself, a burden that likewise grows as the years continue to pass. Because of that, those souls who are ruled by their fear of death are amongst the first to find continued life too burdensome to bear...and pass all the sooner _because_ of that fear."_

But that was tangential to what Natsuki was trying to communicate in the moment. "I'm still scared of dying too," she admitted. "But...if there's one thing I know, at least I'll only ever have to go through that _once_."

Amber gasped, the meaning of Natsuki's words sinking in for her. For her part, Natsuki felt tears begin to run down her face as she remembered the lowest point in Jinn's story. After Ozpin (or Ozma, as he'd been back then ) and Salem had turned against each other, destroying their own children in the resulting battle, Ozpin had been killed...only to come back again. Tormented by his grief and pain, he'd spent the next few lifetimes in despair. But no amount of despair could end the God of Light's curse, ensuring that, even when he died, miserable and alone, he'd simply be reincarnated to be slapped with those feelings all over again.

"But Ozpin...even if he dies, he has to come back, and go through it all over again. He's done it so many times. He's experienced that fear again and again...and knows it won't ever be the last time for him. That's way more scary than dying once could ever be."

Natsuki sank into her stance, raising her kodachi. "When I think about that, I think that he's strong, stronger than anyone...maybe even stronger than Kyo and his dad. He's been fighting all this time, knowing the same things you do. But he doesn't give up. He doesn't run away."

Amber found herself smiling at Natsuki's words. "That's right," she said. "He doesn't hole up with a bunch of thieves and murderers, only picking fights with people he thinks are weaker than him."

Amber leveled her staff at Raven. "You might have power, as the Spring Maiden. You might have power with your weapon, your experience, and your Huntress training. But you're not strong. You'll _never_ be strong."

An animalistic growl built in Amber's throat. "You bitches...thinking you can judge me..." Her already red eyes began to shine with a light separate from that of the Maiden's magic. "You have _no_ right. I did what I needed to, to survive. I'm alive today because, unlike some people, I have the courage to make the hard decisions."

"Yeah, I bet it takes a lot of courage to throw other people under the bus, so that you can get away," said Amber.

"SHUT UP!" roared Raven, exploding into motion.

Amber raised her staff to intercept Raven's sword, meeting the powerful slash head-on. Amber yelped as the force behind the blow blew her backwards, winds laced with dark-red energy blowing her off her feet, the shockwave knocking Natsuki back as well. The two of them found themselves hunkering down as Raven bombarded them with attacks, not just from her sword, but surges of elemental energy that flared up all around her. Raven attacked with fire, lightning, wind, and ice. There was no refinement behind her actions, only the rawest surge of her magic. This wasn't an attack...it was a tantrum.

But it was a tantrum that had the potential to be lethal, if Amber or Natsuki's defenses faltered for even a second. Amber brought up a curved, orange barrier between her and Raven's attacks, while Natsuki swept her shorter kodachi in front of herself, creating a curtain of flames that functioned in the same manner. Despite that, both of them continued to find themselves driven back as Raven continued her furious offense, her Crimson Eyes glowing brighter with each passing second.

"Where are those brave people you talk about!?" demanded Raven as she swung her sword and lashed out with her magic with complete abandon. "They're all _dead_! They went and threw their lives away in a war that can't be won! They died for_ nothing_! They didn't change anything! And now they're all dead! They're sleeping in the dirt! But I'm still _here_! I'm alive because I was right! I'm alive because I'm smart! I'm alive because I'm strong!"

Natsuki's voice was barely raised, yet seemed to cut straight through Raven's furious tirade. "Are you telling us...or are you telling yourself that?"

Raven's onslaught faltered for a brief second. Her eyes widened, and then she shrieked wordlessly. Her Aura exploded, completely overpowering the energy being given off by her magic. Natsuki gasped, because Raven's eyes had transformed as well.

The red of Raven's irises had expanded outwards to completely swallow her whites, while her pupils had shrunk to mere pinpricks. The crimson light of her Aura washed out from her in waves, its raging luminance throwing the rest of her body into shadow, her eyes blazing like miniature red suns.

Amber's jaw dropped. This transformation of Raven's eyes was frightening to be sure. But the more important thing to Amber was that she had seen this phenomenon before...from _Kyo_.

The elemental energy of her magic converged inward, wrapping around Omen's blade, washing together and bleeding into a dull, bloody red. Raising her sword up for a mighty blow, the energy surged, transforming the blade into a towering one, dwarfing the massive blade of ice that Raven had created with her magic earlier.

"I'm going to crush you!" she raged. "Then I'll take that magic, and I'll be stronger, strong enough I won't have to worry ever again, because I'll be the strongest!"

She brought the blade down, clearly intending to obliterate them with a single blow. Amber grimaced, prepared to put everything she had into blocking this attack, but was fairly certain that that wouldn't be enough. Whatever the source of this strange, terrifying power erupting from within Raven was, it was far beyond anything Amber could even hope to match with her own strength.

Natsuki, on the other hand, stepped forward. Her initial surprise had vanished. Now she faced Raven's descending sword with an expression of incredible calm. Raising her shorter kodachi up, Natsuki held it up in the face of Raven's incoming attack, not even bothering with technique, merely placing her blade in the way of Raven's own.

Violet flames spread from the outside corners of Natsuki's eyes. Motes of violet energy streamed off the blade of her shorter kodachi. The shorter sword, the product of the greatest swordsmith in Mibu history, the man known as Sengo Muramasa, chimed, its Aura washing outwards like a warm breeze, merging with the violet light of Natsuki's magic, the two forces working in conjunction with one another.

Raven's descending strike met Yuya's upraised blade. There was no explosion of clashing energies, no shockwave, no heat, no cold, no tingle of electricity...not even the sound of colliding blades. The blinding flash that should have accompanied the impact of Raven's blow never appeared. Instead...the air around them was filled with swirling, dancing, violet..._petals_.

The instant Raven's attack had met Natsuki's sword, that blood red energy had dissolved and scattered, transforming into countless violet flowers, which now danced around the three of them in a swirling maelstrom, filling the air with a heady fragrance. It was a sight just as beautiful as it was incomprehensible. For a moment, Raven and Amber completely forgot the animosity between them, too busy being awestruck by the sight. Raven's eyes even returned to their more-normal shade of red.

"What...what is this?" asked Raven, stunned. "What did you do?"

"Natsuki...was that...?" Amber couldn't believe her eyes.

Natsuki laughed bashfully. "W-well, I just figured that, if we couldn't take a hit like that, I'd make it into something that _couldn't_ hurt us."

"Don't mock me!" shouted Raven. Her Aura exploded again, those terrifying eyes returning. She unleashed another blast of pure energy, this time in a crescent-shaped shockwave that tore through the air between them. Natsuki turned to face it, swinging Yuya downwards. Again, her eyes flared with violet light, and her blade parted the tide of energy that Raven had sent surging at them. Again, that crackling mass of manifested violence dissolved into drifting flowers and petals.

"It can't be..." whispered Raven.

Amongst those who knew about the Maidens, many, including many of the past and present Maidens themselves, assumed that their magic was purely elemental in nature. Fire, earth, water, wind, and the other elements could be called upon in their rawest forms, without needing to rely on Dust or Aura. That was the crux of a Maiden's magic.

But that was an erroneous belief. Each Maiden's magic was derived from the awesome power of the ancient Wizard, known as Ozma. He had been capable of many things, and all those things had been passed down, in one form or another, through his magic. Even if their power and scope were nothing compared to what Ozma had been capable of, when his magic had been whole, the Maidens were capable of anything that he was, if to a lesser degree.

What Natsuki had used, the very first magic she had learned from Ozpin, was Transformation Magic. At its root, it was the very same magic that Ozpin had passed to Qrow and Raven. With what little remained of his power, Ozpin had not been able to impart the full scope of that magic to the Branwen twins. They were limited to being able to transform themselves, and to one form apiece. However, Natsuki was able to use her magic in a more varied manner.

At its root, transformation was a simple concept. It was simply transforming one thing into another thing. However, that simplicity belied the true potency of such an incredible magic. Mass could be transformed into energy, and energy into mass. Solid objects could be made fluid, or dispersed into particles. In a sense, the possibilities were as limitless as the wielder's imagination. Because of that, transforming an unbelievably powerful attack into a storm of harmless flowers was child's play.

Natsuki had opted to learn transformation magic because she wanted to rely primarily on her Manifestation techniques for battle. Transformation magic was useful in a wide variety of situations, and could be used to perform feats outside the purview of the usual forms of Manifestation. Practitioners of certain schools, like the _Mumyo Kodama Ryu_ that Sasame wielded, were capable of modifying their bodies to a certain extent. But outright shapeshifting was outside their purview, to say nothing of transforming other things.

But Natsuki had come to discover what people so often did, when learning some new skill. No matter what, there always seemed to be a way to make the most innocuous of things applicable in battle.

Raven shrieked wordlessly, bulling forwards, slashing wildly with her sword. Once again, each slash unleashed bursts of elemental energy. Natsuki glanced sidelong at Amber, sweeping her right arm in a circular motion, stirring some of the petals in the air around her. At the same time, she continued to use Yuya to fend off Raven's assault, transforming more of her magic and Aura into flowers.

Getting what Natsuki was suggesting, Amber called upon her magic, stirring the winds in their vicinity, sweeping all those countless flowers and drifting petals, drawing them into a storm around the three Maidens, a storm that only grew thicker and thicker with each attack Natsuki transformed.

Finally, Natsuki leapt back from a downward slash from Omen. Amber recognized her cue when she saw it. Directing her winds, she brought all those flowers and petals sweeping in, completely engulfing Raven in them. Even though, individually, they were light as feathers, when they came pressing in all at once, they served to impede her movements quite effectively.

However, the true nature of this attack arrived when Natsuki locked eyes with Raven, then raised her left hand once more. There was a flicker of violet light...

All at once, those petals returned to their original forms.

Raven screamed as she was swallowed by an explosion of crimson energy, punctuated by bursts of flame and lightning, with jagged spikes of ice erupting through it all. The much of the raw magic Raven had previously unleashed spontaneously transformed into elemental forms, without her will to shape it. The resulting explosion was so powerful that the entire coliseum dipped in the air. It ripped through the stands around it, opening up a jagged gulf in the side of the arena, reaching all the way up to tear through some of the skyboxes on that side.

Amber and Natsuki stood on the edge of the shredded remains of the stands, finding themselves staring at a cross-section of the coliseum itself, able to see some of the hallways and rooms that honeycombed the structure.

"Did we get her?" asked Natsuki warily.

"I won't believe it just yet," said Amber.

"That's wise."

Raven's voice came from behind them, prompting Amber and Natsuki to turn. But, before Amber could even begin to fully turn around, she lurched, a pained cry escaping her lips. Natsuki gasped in horror, seeing a blood-red blade punching out through Amber's abdomen, Raven having run her through from behind.

Natsuki quickly fixated on the woman. Raven was clearly worse for wear. Whatever she'd done to escape that last attack, it hadn't been enough to completely save her from injury. Her dress was torn and blackened in places. There were angry burns across her skin, and streamers of smoke trailed away from her. However, Raven was still a long ways from being completely subdued.

Rather than pull her sword free, Raven simply detached the blade at the handle, leaving it lodged in Amber's body. In the meantime, she jumped back and inserted her handle back into Omen's sheath, selecting another blade, this one also red, and drawing it out.

A wild storm of emotions raged within Natsuki. There was frustration that that last attack hadn't been enough to put an end to Raven. There was fear at the realization that Raven had managed to escape such a powerful explosion. There was fear for Amber's condition. They would need to get her to Sasame soon, or she would die. And there was anger at the sight of Raven hurting her new friend so callously.

Still, Raven had clearly thought things through. Rather than draw the blade out of the wound, she'd left it in, which would keep Amber from bleeding out too quickly. If Raven wanted to use one of those gloves to extract the Maiden's power from Amber, it would only work if Amber was alive. Raven was too old to receive the Maiden's power otherwise.

The other important factor was that Amber was incapacitated. Natsuki now faced Raven alone.

Raven smirked confidently at her. "That's one down."

* * *

Piper and Rain dove aside, Penny's swords punching through the air where they'd been standing. They both rose to their feet, preparing to try and attack Watts, hoping to take him down and undo whatever it was he'd done to seize control of their friend. But Penny quickly put paid to those plans, launching herself forward with her weapons in their rocket-mode, gliding across the floor of the urban biome.

Rain jumped in front of Piper, raising his shield to deflect the swords that Penny brought around in a slash, the force of her attack sending him skidding back slightly. Meanwhile, Piper directed Pulsar, sending the orbs detouring around Penny to fly at Watts. Watts barely showed any signs of concerned as he idly raised his left hand, the four rings there flickering. His hard-light shields appeared, easily deflecting Piper's attacks away, before he lazily leveled his revolver at Rain and pulled the trigger.

Rain saw the attack coming, picking up the telltale yellow arcs of lightning-Dust. He detached his shield from his arm, allowing to fly out along its string, intercepting the bullet of lightning, and avoiding having it conducted down into his arm. Of course, that was the instant that Penny chose to press her attack, bringing her swords around to converge on Rain and Piper from all directions. Rain jumped, pulling in the string and whirling his kite-shield around in tight circles to ward off her attacks. Piper recalled her orbs to her position, before opting to use them to try and subdue Penny.

Four of them quickly began to orbit above Penny, a gravity-field building between them, pressing down on her. Unfortunately, Penny's strength as an android was well above that of a human's and, while she was slowed considerably, she still pressed forward. Her swords were _not_ weighed down though, being outside the field, so they attacked with just as much vigor as before.

And then a shot from Watts knocked one of the orbs out of formation, followed by a second and third, destroying the gravity-field and freeing Penny. With a superior smirk, Watts ran forward, a hard-light platform appearing underneath his stepping foot, followed by another, each one elevated slightly higher, becoming a set of impromptu stairs that allowed Watts to ascend above his and Penny's opponents. From there, he fired down at the pair, sending several explosive shots from his revolver, which Penny supplemented by turning four of her swords into guns and firing alongside him.

Ciel's watched from the neighboring biome platform. She'd recovered. However, unlike her friends, she wasn't equipped to move across such large gaps so easily. While her friends were fighting Penny, Ciel had gone to the beached shipwreck that served as the biome's centerpiece. Climbing up onto the deck, she looked across the gap from her elevated position. Frowning, she pulled out a bullet, which she loaded into the section of her gauntlet behind the blade. She tapped the screen, where her watch had been, turning it violet. Rather than run down the length of the blade, the energy of the gravity-Dust she'd utilized was instead channeled into the bullet itself. Then she tapped the screen again, turning it yellow.

The blade of her sword split along its length, separating into two prongs, which she then aimed across the gap. Once her railgun was fully charged, Ciel fired, the bullet a black streak within a yellow one as it raced across the space, striking the floor between Penny and her other teammates with a loud clang. It looked like a missed shot, but Ciel had been aiming for that section of the floor from the beginning.

Now she broke into a run. There wasn't much in the way of solid ground on the ocean biome. What little ground there was was sand, which didn't offer much in the way of strong footing. The only exception was that ship. On top of that, the ship's deck was elevated enough to give her an edge in the jump she was about to make. As she ran, Ciel tapped her watch-screen again, turning it violet once more. She ran along the length of the deck, then all the way along the prow of the ship.

_I never got to test this,_ she thought nervously, _but it should work in theory. What a time to perform a practical test._

She jumped, black and violet energy washing down the length of her sword. Across the gap, the same energy blossomed out from where her bullet had struck. Ciel grimaced, feeling as though her arm was about to be yanked from its socket. But her crazy plan had worked. The gravity-Dust infused into the bullet she'd fired attracted the Dust-energy she'd channeled through the blade of her sword, the two objects attracting one another, pulling just hard enough that Ciel was able to make it across the gap. It was the same principle behind Oscar's kama. She landed, dropping into a roll to absorb her excess momentum. As she came out of the roll, she looked up to see a bullet flying at her, courtesy of Watts.

However, Ciel had expected that. When she rose up, she'd already selected her hard-light-Dust, Watts's shot deflecting off the curved plane that appeared between them. Then the light converged into the blade of Ciel's sword, turning it a pure, shining white. With a shout, Ciel slashed her blade across her body, sending a white crescent flying across the space between her and Watts, cutting right through the hard-light platform he was standing on. Watts dropped with an unhappy shout, dropping right into the middle of the melee between Penny, Piper, and Rain.

Landing between them, Watts quickly dove to the side, already anticipating Rain bringing the sharpened tip of his shield down in a powerful slash. Before Rain could press the attack though, Penny moved between him and Watts, while her swords continued to attack him from all directions, supplemented by shots from her guns.

Ciel loaded another shot, taking aim from the other side of the melee. Once her railgun was fully charged, she fired, sending the bullet lancing past Penny, Rain, and Piper. Watts raised a shield to intercept the bullet, but yelped when it cracked under the power of Ciel's fully-charged shot. Ciel went on the offensive, taking the chance of running past Penny to get at Watts. She dove beneath one of Penny's slashing swords, danced around a bolt from one of her guns, before closing in on Watts with a slash from her sword.

Watts brought up the barrel of his gun, using it to parry Ciel's sword. Deftly disengaging, the Doctor showed that he was no slouch in close combat either, moving his arm through a tight, circular motion, aiming to line the barrel up with Ciel's body. Ciel shifted to the side, managing to turn aside from the shot he fired, even as she brought her sword around for another slash. Watts ducked beneath it, realigning his gun again. However, Ciel used the fact that she'd brought her weapon back across her body to intercept the bullet he fired with the gauntlet, before whipping it back across her body in a backhanded slash. Watts ducked beneath it, but was caught off-guard when Ciel simply continued her spin, using it to bring her foot around and slam it against the side of Watts' head.

Reeling back with a grunt, Watts fired three separate shots at Ciel, switching Dust-types for each one. First was a shot of ice-Dust, aimed at the foot Ciel had pivoted on for her kick. She barely managed to throw herself to the side to avoid it, which left her in a bad position to respond to the next two bullets. The second shot used fire-Dust. Ciel intercepted it with her gauntlet, only for the explosion to blow her off her feet completely. The third shot was lightning-Dust, which Ciel intercepted with her blade. Fortunately, as her own weapon was designed to handle lightning-Dust, both the sword and gauntlet were insulated to eliminate the risk of her shocking herself, which also helped her use the weapon to block lightning attacks as well.

Watts had clearly expected her to be stunned from the electrical attack, so he was caught off-guard when Ciel lunged forward again, raising her weapon over her head, then bringing the sword down in a powerful slash. As she did, the blade turned black, lined with violet. Rather than try to block or parry, Watts jumped back away, then was forced to throw himself to the side to avoid the wave of gravity-Dust energy that Ciel sent flying at him, cutting a line through the floor of the biome.

From there, Ciel pressed in with a furious offensive leading with a flurry of slashes from her sword, pressuring Watts to keep him from lining up a proper shot with his revolver. Watts backpedaled, his flight threatening to take him to the edge of the biome. True, he could use his rings to produce hard-light shields as platforms, but Ciel had already demonstrated her capacity to cut through those easily. If she managed to destroy his foothold, it would be a question of whether or not he could create another one soon enough, before he fell an unpleasant distance.

"Ciel! Look out!"

Piper's shout nearly came too late. Ciel barely managed to abandon her attack, diving aside from the swords that rained down around her. She rolled away, turning in place to face Penny as she descended from above, having apparently disengaged from her fight with Rain and Piper by using her weapons' jet configuration to fly upwards, then dive at Ciel from above.

Now Ciel found herself fending off a powerful offensive from Penny, the android rushing right in, her swords whirling about her body, converging on Ciel from all directions. Rain and Piper were quickly on their way to join in, to keep Ciel from being overwhelmed. However, Rain was forced to bring up his shield to block a shot from Watts, with Piper immediately turning on the man, sending her orbs whipping through the air to strike at him, but once again being deflected off his shields.

She charged at him, her orbs returning to her, lining up as she closed her hand around the space between the first and second ones in line. The rest of the orbs lined up, joining together, black and violet energy filling in the spaces between them to form the curving blade of an enormous sword, which Piper swung at Watts..._hard_. Once again, the doctor found his shield buckling, then cracking beneath the force of the powerful, gravity-enhanced attack.

The shield broke in a cascade of sparks. However a second appeared behind it, then a third, and a fourth. Piper's slash broke through the second and third shields, but then caught on the fourth one. Having successfully repelled her attack, Watts aimed past his shield with his revolver, ready to make Piper pay for committing so completely to the offensive.

However, he was forced to abandon that plan as Rain's shield came flying in. Piper's orbs dispersed, and she simply allowed herself to drop down, while Rain's shield, flying at the end of string, came arcing across from the side, swinging around behind Watts. Expecting it to attack from behind, Watts produced another shield at his back. However, he was caught by surprise when Rain struck him not with the shield itself, but the string he controlled it with. The wind-Dust infusing the string threatened to cut right through Watts' Aura, even as the shield's flight threatened to wrap him up in the string, which would promptly spiral-slice him like a ham.

Watts created another shield, this one in the direct path of Rain's shield, stopping and rebounding it, moving the string away from Watts' body. Watts took aim at Rain, but instead had to dodge as Piper's orbs swooped back in. In his haste, Watts missed it when one of the orbs swooped down, then back up, catching him in the chin and knocking him off his feet.

Watts managed to turn his flight into a flip, getting his feet back under him, and landing in a crouch, massaging his chin with an irritated fashion. "You children are quite clever," he admitted.

Rain and Piper said nothing, moving to continue the fight. However, that became impossible when Ciel slammed into Rain from the side. He managed to catch and steady her, quickly realizing what her being knocked over their way meant. He and Piper looked up to see Penny charging towards them, her swords flying ahead of her. The blades arranged together, like the spokes of a wheel, their edges cutting through the air as Penny sent that sword-wheel formation flying towards them.

Rain quickly wrapped an arm tightly around Ciel's shoulders, turning and bringing up his shield to intercept the attack, managing to deflect it off. However, the wheel formation quickly broke apart, the swords all moving to follow their own individual trajectories. Currently occupied with protecting Ciel, Rain couldn't hope to intercept them all. However, Piper sent her orbs flying through to intercept several of Penny's swords, knocking them away. But Piper herself was forced to dodge with a yelp as still more of Penny's weapons transformed into their gun-modes, and opened fire on her from multiple vectors.

In her effort to escape, Piper was caught by surprise when Watts hit her with a shot of fire-Dust, the explosive round sending her flying...right into Ciel and Rain. The three of them were knocked sprawling. As they got back up, they saw that Penny had shifted strategies. Rather than pursue them, she had called her weapons back to herself, the guns arranging themselves into a familiar cylindrical formation, a crackling orb of energy building between them.

Ciel immediately retracted her sword, crouching down next to Rain as he anchored the tip of his shield into the ground. A barrier of hard-light energy formed across and around the edges of the shield. Piper also brought her orbs around into a circular formation, a black plane of energy merging with ans reinforcing the shield.

Penny fired, the thick beam of energy ripping across the space between them to slam into the shield. Rain held Ciel tightly with an arm around her shoulders, while they linked their hands behind the shield. Behind them, Piper crouched using her hands to direct her weapons' movements. Penny's powerful beam attack splashed across the surface, exerting unreal pressure against the shield. Soon, it was threatening to crumble under the force of her assault.

But her victory over their defensive formation wasn't a given. She could only maintain the beam for so long, before its power petered out. If Ciel, Piper, and Rain could hold out long enough, then they might be able to outlast Penny's beam.

However, Watts had other plans. Two hard-light shields appeared...in the same space as the hard-light barrier Ciel was producing through Rain's shield. Now _Watts_ was the one making use of the Interference Principle. Interposing his shields against Ciel's own. With that reinforcement gone, Penny's beam rammed through Piper's barrier, then slammed directly into Rain's shield, forcing it up out from where Rain had anchored it, blowing him and Ciel back into Piper, knocking the three of them sprawling.

They slid to a stop just at the edge of the biome, finding themselves looking down into a virtual abyss. Even if they survived the fall down, which wasn't a given, with their current Aura-levels, they would be unable to pursue Watts...and would likely lose Penny, if he opted to take her with him.

Those thoughts were clearly on Watts' mind as well. He held up his left hand in a dismissive gesture. "Penny...finish the job."

Penny charged forward, flinging her swords ahead of her like arrows. Rain wrapped his arms protectively around Ciel, using both his shield and body to cover as much of her as he could, while Piper tried to bring up her orbs to defend. However, that wasn't going to be near enough to withstand a full assault by Penny, especially with Watts backing her up.

Ciel whimpered, looking plaintively into Penny's eyes. "Penny..." she implored her partner, even as those swords whistled right at her. "Please..."

Seeing them come flying in, Ciel reflexively scrunched her eyes shut, bracing for the pain to come...but it never came. Nervously, Ciel opened one eye, then the other. She found herself staring at the tip of one of Penny's swords, which hovered a mere inch from her face, at most. From there, Ciel's eyes found Penny's other swords, all of them having stopped cold. Then she traced her gaze along the wires that connected those swords to Penny, following them back to their point of origin, where Penny stood, her entire body frozen in place.

"What?" grunted Watts. He scowled at the back of Penny's head. "Honestly, to malfunction at a time like this...damn that fat imbecile." He raised his left hand, curling his fingers, the rings lighting up. "Hurry up and finish them off, you worthless machine."

Penny's head jerked and jolted in an inhuman manner. However, to the shock of her teammates, the yellow color of Penny's eyes flickered, turning green, then yellow again. Despite that, she didn't resume her attack.

"I gave you an _order_!" shouted Watts, his anger rising. "You're just an android...a tool! Obey!"

Still, Penny didn't act on his orders. Now her entire body was jittering, making mechanical noises that normally never came from her. She jolted sharply upright, her limbs twitching spasmodically, her eyes flickering between yellow and green again.

Watts clicked his tongue furiously. "I don't have time for this, you malfunctioning piece of junk." He marched up behind Penny, his left hand reaching for the back of her head, the rings shining.

"Stop!" shouted Ciel, struggling to her feet.

Watts ignored her, of course. What he _couldn't_ ignore was Penny suddenly spinning around in place, her hand flying up to seize his own in a crushing grip. Watts howled in pain as Penny applied her android strength to its fullest, the power of her grip overpowering his Aura, the bones in his hand cracking. Furthermore, the rings he'd been using to try and reprogram her were crushed as well, streams of sparks spilling out from between Penny's fingers.

"I'm not your puppet," said Penny, her eyes now bright-green once again. "I will not kill my _friends_!"

Gritting his teeth, Watts brought up his revolver with his right hand, aiming it for Penny's chest. She was forced to release him and jump aside from the shot. Watts himself went stumbling back away from her, his left hand now dangling uselessly, the rings adorning it dark and silent, crushed into his skin.

"You damn, defective, robotic bitch!" he snarled.

Getting to her feet, Ciel rushed to stand beside Penny. "Lancer formation!"

Already, Ciel had loaded her railgun, and was priming it, yellow arcs dancing along the length of the prongs, and jumping across the gap between them. Quickly, Penny and Piper moved to support her, Penny arranging her guns in a cylindrical formation around Ciel's weapon, green energy concentrating at the base of the prongs. Piper's orbs moved ahead of Penny's guns, forming an orbit of their own, a twisting tunnel of black and violet energy extending ahead of Ciel's weapon.

Seeing what they were doing, Watts fired at them frantically. However, Rain jumped ahead of the group, whirling his shield at the end of its string, whipping the weapon through tight arcs to intercept Watts' shots. Sensing that the girls were ready to fire, Rain quickly jumped aside.

Ciel fired, a streak of yellow within a streak of green, then violet, all of them combining to fly at Watts, who resorted to a desperate move, dropping his revolver and raising his right hand, the rings adorning it shining brightly. Four shields, stacked together, appeared between him and the incoming beam.

The attack slammed right through them, shattering the shields and blasting Watts in the stomach. He howled in pain as he was blown backwards, a crackling field of yellow appearing around him, then dissipating, as his Aura broke. He slammed his back into what remained of one of the crumbling structures that had made up the urban biome, before Penny's attack had blown them away. It was a massive chunk of concrete, somehow miraculously able to remain standing amidst the destruction, larger than Watts himself, easily weighing several-hundred pounds.

As Watts slumped, he became aware of a crumbling sound. The concrete slab his back rested against shifted. Looking up, Watts gasped, then cried in horror as the whole thing toppled over on top of him. Before Team CPPR could intervene, Watts' body disappeared beneath the slab. A few seconds later, a wide stream of red began to flow outwards.

"We...didn't mean to do that," said Penny unhappily.

"But we did," Piper said simply.

Ciel nodded. "Whatever the case, this fight is over."

If they could have, they would have rather taken Watts prisoner. However, on a certain level, Ciel figured that this was for the best. Watts was a terrifyingly dangerous man. His mastery of technology was clearly second to none. If left to his own devices, Ciel didn't doubt that he would be able to find or even fabricate a method of escape. At least this way, he ceased to be a threat.

Setting that aside, Ciel instead turned to Penny, who was looking at her three teammates apologetically.

"I'm so sorry," said Penny, looking down, an expression of shame painted across her face. "I nearly killed all of you. I-"

She was cut off when Ciel threw her arms around her shoulders, hugging Penny tightly. "I don't care," said Ciel softly. "We have you back, and you're all right. That's what matters."

With a slight whimper, Penny returned the hug. Then Piper joined in. A few seconds later, Rain joined the embrace as well. The four of them would have been glad if this moment continued on forever.

However, that wasn't feasible. There was an even larger battle going on, one that they couldn't simply ignore. Furthermore, a more immediate problem came up as the the sound of an explosion echoed through the space. The entire coliseum lurched dramatically, beginning to shake and rattle. Then, from down below, they heard the sound of something cracking.

"Oh no!" gasped Ciel, her eyes widening.

"Now what?" grumbled Piper.

"That did not sound good at all," said Rain, his eyes moving to the edge of the biome platform.

"That was the sound of the central lifting crystal," declared Penny, her advanced sensors feeding her specific information about what she'd just heard, and assembling it with her files on the coliseum itself. "It just cracked. This is bad!"

"You're damn right, that's bad!" declared Piper. "If it cracked, then it's probably only a few minutes away from breaking entirely. If that happens, then the whole coliseum is gonna drop like a really big rock."

"We will not want to be here when that happens," noted Rain.

"But we can't leave immediately either," declared Ciel. "We have to make sure that, if the coliseum falls, it does not fall on Vale."

"We need to get back to the control room," said Piper, grimacing. "Hopefully there's enough of it left that we can do something about the direction of the fall."

"Let's move," said Ciel.

The four of them rushed towards the hole that they'd originally left through. As they did, the sounds of battle from above only intensified.

* * *

**And down goes Watts. I suppose that was a relatively cliche way to end his hacking of Penny, with her regaining control, proving that she really _is_ a person. But I figured that it worked.**

**Natsuki's Transformation Magic was one of my ideas for a non-conventional use of magic, at least compared to what we've seen in the canon series. She's already a fire-user, so simply having her use other elements felt a little...samey, what with Amber and Raven both doing something like that already. I figured that, if the magic Ozpin gave to Qrow and Raven allowed them to transform, even with how little he had left, it seemed likely that the Maidens might be able to do something similar, or even more extreme.**


	150. Chapter 150

**Chapter 150:**

Qrow twisted and turned, winging his way between the forms of flying Grimm as he made his way towards the enemy airship. He was fortunate that his corvid form rendered him virtually unnoticeable to the Grimm, otherwise flying into a swarm of them in such a small form would have been asking to die. Even so, it wasn't easy. The Grimm didn't notice him enough to attack, but they didn't notice him enough to avoid him either. Slamming headlong into a Griffon would be the end of him almost as easily as being speared by a Nevermore's feather would.

And they were the least of his problems. After all, the air was also filled by the thunderous sounds and vibrations of detonating munitions. He was flying into the middle of a full-scale aerial battle after all. Both sides were flinging unbelievable firepower one way or another. Missiles and point-defense fire were raining down on the Grimm, which also meant that they were raining down on him as well, and Qrow wasn't in a position to tell the two remaining Atlesian airships that he was there.

Swooping past the bulk of a Nevermore, Qrow found himself in the space between the Grimm guard-formation and the enemy airship. But he wasn't out of danger. He was flying in the same space as the main target for several different artillery batteries after all. Flying in closer, Qrow could feel the buzz of the enemy airship's shield through his feathers. _Dang! Gotta figure out a way through that,_ he thought. _And fast!_ he added as an incoming shot detonated against the shield, the spray of heat from it threatening to set his feathers alight.

By default, airship shields were omnidirectional. So there wasn't some secret spot where he could slip through. He'd have to find his own opening. Luckily, he had a solid idea of where to start.

Whoever was commanding the enemy vessel clearly knew their business. They'd dropped altitude, drifting just above the buildings of Vale, while firing up at the Atlesian vessels. Normally, air-to-air combat dictated that the higher altitude was preferable. Firing rounds against the force of gravity affected their flight and range after all, and being forced down towards the ground hindered maneuvering. But, in this case, it was a clever move, allowing the commander to use Vale itself as a sort of shield against the Atlesian ships. The Atlesians were being forced to pick their shots carefully to avoid inflicting damage on Vale as much as possible.

On top of that, by keeping their vessel low, the commander could also improve their defense by focusing the shields against attack from above. While the inverse would normally be true of the Atlesian vessels higher up, the presence of so many Grimm, attacking from multiple directions, dictated that they spread their shields out evenly, rather than just concentrating their defenses against the target below. Because of that, Qrow figured that the ventral shields were probably weaker than the dorsal ones right now. If he could force his way through from below, then he could break into the ship and take out the crew.

With that thought in mind, Qrow folded his wings, going into an immediate dive. Dropping down, he swooped beneath the warship, using the sensations transmitted through his feathers to follow the contour of the energy-shield. As he'd expected, his sense of the shield began to weaken, the lower he got. Swinging around to the point farthest from the Atlesian vessels, below and slightly behind the warship, Qrow could barely sense the shield at all.

Swinging his flight out, Qrow got some distance so that he could build up as much speed as possible for the trick he was about to pull. Flying as fast and hard as he could towards the shield, he returned to his human form. Immediately, he pulled out Harbinger, bringing the sword around in a powerful slash. The blade cleaved through the weakened shield like butter, and Qrow flew through. As he did, he transformed back into his crow-form. Now within the shield, he flew along the underside of the airship, looking for an entrance.

He spotted a couple of hatches, but had no way of opening them in midair. That option out, Qrow decided to chance the dorsal hull, even though that section was under the heaviest fire, and where the enemy vessel would be firing _from_. Sweeping his flight up, he was nearly obliterated when his flight carried him across the barrel of a cannon. He was barely past it when it fired, the streak of red nearly burning his feathers clean off. At least the shields were holding for now. The fire from the Atlesian ships was exploding against it, Qrow barely even feeling the vibrating rumble of their explosions.

Transforming back, he landed on the hull, somewhere behind where he figured the bridge would be. He didn't want whoever was in charge of this tub to figure out they'd been boarded yet. So he didn't want to land in front of the bridge's viewports.

Pulling out his sword once more, Qrow began cutting his way through a small section of the airship's armor. This would have held out against rounds of cannon-fire. But against the focused, Aura-enhanced edge of a Huntsman's blade, he was gradually able to work his way through. After a few minutes of work, he finally managed to cut a triangular section out, which dropped down into what seemed to be a corridor of some kind within.

Dropping down inside, Qrow found himself in a dark hallway, illuminated from above by red lights. Looking ahead of him, he prepared to make his way towards the bridge, only to stop when dark forms moved away from the walls ahead of him. Glowing eyes met his own, and Qrow grimaced, realizing that whoever was running this thing had some pretty good guards. Hearing the sounds of claws against the plating behind him, Qrow realized that he was surrounded.

_Damn! This is getting to be a bigger pain by the second,_ thought Qrow as he readied for battle.

* * *

"Dear me," remarked Morgan, smirking as she glanced at the Seer. "What a troublesome development. If that Huntsman is who I think he is, I don't think our security will hold him for long. I suppose I will just have to take what measures I can in the meantime."

Her fingers danced over the control console once more, as she began setting up for her next move. "Go ahead and send them all on the attack," she told the Seer. "If we're going to go down, we should do it with style."

There was no visible response from the Seer. However, outside, the Grimm swarming around Morgan's airship gave up on the guard-formation, instead throwing themselves at the Atlesian ship off her starboard bow. They swarmed around the warship, their sheer numbers soaking up the fire. At the same time, Morgan directed her own ship forward, flying straight towards the blinded and hampered vessel, deploying and concentrating her shields to intercept the incoming fire from the other remaining Atlesian vessel.

Arming all of her guns, Morgan focused them on her target, actually flying her own vessel straight through the swarm of Grimm, right up until she was on the verge of ramming the enemy ship, before triggering all her shots at once. Her attack ripped through the Atlesian ship, the stricken vessel reeling, drifting away, what few lifters it had active sending it drifting down towards Vale's skyline, where it crashed through a pair of skyscrapers, before hitting the ground and throwing up a plume of dust and smoke.

Now Morgan turned her vessel towards the remaining Atlesian vessel. It was firing everything it had at her ship. Taking so much concentrated fire had strained her shields to the limit, especially since increasing her altitude had made it easier for the warship to target her. Nonetheless, Morgan turned her ship to meet the last Atlesian one head-on, increasing the engine output to maximum, and rushing straight for it.

One shot broke through her ship's shields, making the deck beneath her lurch. But Morgan stayed the course, only making maneuvers to ensure that she was still heading directly for the Atlesian vessel. Another shot struck home, blowing off one of her ship's maneuvering vanes. Now her airship was beginning to tilt. Still, Morgan continued to adjust the controls, holding her fire. Whoever was commanding the Atlesian vessel knew what they were doing, and had seen Morgan's original intent.

The Atlesian ship began to gain altitude, taking advantage of the damage it had inflicted, as Morgan wouldn't be able to raise her own ship's altitude nearly as quickly. At the same time, it reversed course, doing everything it could to keep Morgan in the line of its guns, which fired relentlessly, their aim precise, no longer having to worry about evasive maneuvers on Morgan's part. It was clear that there was no way for Morgan to keep that Atlesian warship in her direct path.

But Morgan was still grinning.

Steel shrieked behind her, and the door leading onto the bridge was split open. With a second shriek, another line was cut through it. Then Qrow Branwen kicked the doors out of his way, striding onto the bridge, black particles streaming out through the hallway behind him, the remnants of the Grimm that had served as security.

The hovering Seer turned in place, its bladed tentacles lashing out like whips. Qrow yelped, dodging and ducking, before whipping his large weapon through an impressively quick slash that cut through several of the tentacles. The Seer merely spun its body, bringing new tentacles into play, lashing at Qrow with lightning-fast attacks. Qrow was forced to bring his sword up to block, grimacing at the impact as one of those blade-tipped appendages scraped against the broad flat of his blade. _For such thin arms, this thing packs a wallop._

Nonetheless, he wasn't about to let it get the better of him, not with everything he'd done to reach this point. Lunging straight in, Qrow extended harbinger into its scythe-mode, sweeping it out, reaching past the tentacles to cut through the Seer's mantle. True to his expectations, the unusual Grimm collapsed and dissolved, leaving Qrow free to see to the real problem.

"Time to give up, lady," he growled, focusing on Morgan.

"I think not," said Morgan, tapping the screen of the control console one last time. As she did, her ship opened up with all its dorsal cannons.

While the Atlesian warship had escaped a ramming attack, it still took her barrage at point-blank range. Her ship's guns ripped through the Atlesian ship's underside. The Atlesian vessel listed and began to fall, its crew apparently doing their best to keep the ship from falling on a populated area.

"Dammit!" snarled Qrow, charging forwards.

Harbinger collapsed down into its sword-form. While he'd relied on the scythe's increased reach against the Seer, in a straightforward melee, in a confined space, he was better off using its more compact mode. Qrow's sword clashed against Morgan's rapier.

"I suppose that's the difficulty with being the sole crew member of this ship," said Morgan. "Once you were aboard, it was a race to see whether or not I could finish off the enemy air force. It appears you were a step too late."

"Maybe I was," agreed Qrow. "But now I'm gonna make sure you don't do anymore damage."

"We'll see," taunted Morgan. "But...I'm not steering this tub anymore. I have no idea where it will end up now. Would you like to lay out odds where _we_ might end up?"

Qrow blanched. Morgan spun her rapier's blade, deflecting Qrow's sword off to the side, before darting past him. Qrow quickly rushed towards the control console, looking to find and alter the airship's course. Glancing down, he was able to fairly quickly grasp the controls, while reading the information visible on the console. With that, he was able to correct the airship's course, setting it to come down outside Vale's walls.

Turning, he saw Morgan tip her hat in a taunting gesture, before rushing out through the very same door Qrow had cut his way through to get in. Growling, Qrow gave chase.

* * *

Holding up her swords, Natsuki faced Raven, watching the older Maiden carefully. She had no idea how Raven had managed to escape that last attack, not when she'd been completely engulfed by it. More to the point, even if Amber's condition was urgent, Natsuki couldn't afford to rush. If she was hasty, she had no doubt that her older, more-experienced, opponent would make her pay for it.

For her part, Raven brandished her sword, holding Omen up and ready. Frowning, Natsuki advanced a step, then another. One thing that she was sure was that she couldn't allow this battle to take place in such close proximity to Amber. Raven didn't move. For all that she appeared confident, the state of her body told a different story. She was burned and cut in several different places, blood dripping to the floor by her feet.

Then Natsuki vanished. Raven's ears caught the clang of one of Natsuki's steps against a nearby railing, the girl using it to dart around behind Raven, suddenly flickering back into sight behind her, both kodachi slashing at Raven from behind. Raven turned to meet the attack, slashing her sword out to meet Natsuki's blades, only for her counter to meet no resistance, cutting through both Natsuki's weapons and the girl herself.

Before Raven's eyes, the image of Natsuki dissolved into flames, revealing herself to be nothing more than a decoy. The real Natsuki appeared just a few meters ahead of where she'd originally been, as though she'd charged straight forward, instead of actually flanking behind Raven. With a growl of anger, Raven swept her left hand out in a wave, sending a blast of wind that threatened to blow Natsuki off her feet.

However, Natsuki's form again dissolved into flames, which were blown out like a candle, as she appeared right alongside Raven, her right-hand kodachi extending across her body, under her left arm, so that she could point it directly at Raven's torso. "_Shakuran Entei!_"

A torrent of flames exploded outwards from the tip of her sword, engulfing Raven. However, despite that, Natsuki found herself gasping as her sense of Raven's presence completely vanished. Abruptly, her senses told her that Raven was behind her. Quickly, Natsuki slashed her right-handed weapon around to intercept Raven's sword, the red blade ringing off the kodachi, while Natsuki channeled her residual Aura out through the edge of the weapon, sending another wave of flame outward, but Raven easily jumped back to avoid that one.

_She teleported!_ Natsuki realized. _But how? Her Semblance isn't supposed to work like that. Is she using her magic somehow?_

Despite her question, Natsuki didn't worry too much about thinking. Jumping back away from Raven as well, she held out her right-handed Kodachi, pointing the tip right at Raven. "_Hitodama!_" A trio of fireballs launched out from the tip, flying at Raven like bullets.

Rather than try to intercept them with her sword or magic, Raven instead slashed Omen straight down through the space in front of her. A swirling vortex of black and red appeared between her and the incoming attack. The fireballs vanished through the portal. A second later, Natsuki screamed as they slammed into her from behind. Glancing over her shoulder, Natsuki caught a glimpse of a second vortex.

Then Raven dove straight through the portal she'd just opened, emerging in the wake of the fireballs she'd used it to intercept, her sword rushing at Natsuki's back. Natsuki was barely able to bring her shorter kodachi around to intercept Raven's slash. Raven allowed Natsuki to deflect her blow, angling her slash downwards, another portal appearing beneath her feet, which she dropped through. Before Natsuki could locate the exit point, Raven emerged from it, one leg extended out in a kick, her downwards momentum now transferred sideways, allowing her to slam her foot against Natsuki's side, and knock her back.

Natsuki hit the floor, bouncing, before managing to roll back to her feet. _I don't understand,_ she thought, grimacing through the pain.

Ozpin had told her and Amber about Raven's Semblance, which Raven called Kindred Bond. Apparently, Raven bonded to people, which then allowed her to open portals to their position. It was apparent, from the myriad ways that Raven used that Semblance, that she could control the distance and position of her portals within a certain radius of the person she was bonded to. However, there was no way she could be bonded to Natsuki or Amber. In a sense, it was a potent Semblance, but one that didn't have much use in combat.

_Unless..._ thought Natsuki, getting an idea of what Raven was doing, _...What if she's creating portals to _herself_?_

That seemed absurd. However, at the same time, it was perfectly logical. Whatever conditions Raven had to fulfill to "bond" with someone, it seemed possible that she could probably meet them herself. In other words, if she created a portal _to_ herself, then she could set the portal's exit anywhere within a certain radius of herself. If she was fighting someone at close range, then that meant that she could easily use such an ability to avoid attacks and launch her own from unexpected directions. The portals could also be used as shields apparently, as Natsuki had experienced when Raven had turned her own attack back on her.

Raven wasn't exactly planning to give her time to work out countermeasures though. She dashed forward, easily moving almost as fast as Natsuki's _Shukuchi_ allowed her to move, her body a blur. Omen was a streak of red, descending through the air. Natsuki darted forward as well. Their blades met, Raven's dark-red Aura clashing against Natsuki's violet. The air was filled with the screaming shriek of steel against steel as the two of them strained against one another. They separated for all of a second, before coming back together, both their weapons flickering brilliantly as they clashed.

Raven knocked Natsuki's attacking kodachi aside. Sacrificing an opportunity to attack for herself, she jumped over Natsuki's attempt at a followthrough, going through a quick flip, while sheathing Omen, selecting a new blade for it. She attacked on the draw, sending a wave of flame flying at Natsuki, who easily parted it with a simple wave of her shorter kodachi. However, the flames parted to reveal that Raven was no longer there.

Almost too late, Natsuki felt Raven descending directly from above. She barely managed to jump out of the way as Raven landed, plunging her sword straight down into the floor where Natsuki had been standing. However, the orange blade exploded on impact, the shockwave knocking Natsuki away with a cry of surprise.

Attempting to regain her balance, Natsuki noticed that Raven had already disappeared again. This time, she appeared to Natsuki's right, emerging from the portal with a blue blade flying out from Omen's sheath. Natsuki met Raven's swing, but merely found herself yelping as ice climbed from the point of contact between their weapons, rushing up to engulf her arm all the way up to the shoulder.

Skipping back away from Raven, Natsuki turned to bring her shorter, more defensive weapon into play. Raven's blue blade skipped off Yuya, fragments of ice scattering away, but not actually spreading across the sword or Natsuki's flesh. With another wave of her sword, Natsuki produced some flames, which she used to melt the ice covering her right arm.

With her right arm free, Natsuki slashed at Raven with that kodachi. But that arm's movements were sluggish, after being only just freed from the ice. Raven easily dodged back, returning Omen to its sheath. When she drew her sword again, the blade was orange once more. Sweeping her sword down low, Raven slashed upwards, sending a powerful wave of flame rushing straight at Natsuki from close range.

Natsuki dropped down to one knee, planting Yuya into the floor, a curtain of flames rising up to shield her from the attack Raven had just launched. At the same time, she released Yuya, and lightly nicked her thumb with the edge of her right-handed kodachi.

Raven frowned, upon seeing the wall of fire Natsuki had conjured to defend herself, which had split the flames of Raven's own attack past her. However, when Raven caught a glimpse of her opponent, she saw that Natsuki had changed. Smearing the blood from her cut thumb, Natsuki had used her fingers to draw stripes across her cheeks and chin, before moving her hands to trail those stripes down towards her collar.

The sense of danger Raven got from Natsuki increased exponentially. Natsuki's gaze was harder, fiercer. Taking up both her blades again, Natsuki rushed forwards. Raven met her attack head-on, flames erupting from her sword on contact. However, Natsuki's weapons blazed as well, two waves of flame clashing against each other. Much to Raven's shock, even while adding the Maiden's magic to her attack, Natsuki's flames still pushed back against her own, forcing Raven back.

Raven's back slammed against the railing behind her, and she quickly jumped on it. Behind her, the rows of seats stretched back towards the coliseum's inner wall. At the same time, Natsuki lunged forward, her right-handed kodachi outstretched. "_Maouen!_"

Raven's eyes widened as a powerful jet of flames rushed up at her. She disappeared, the fire consuming the seats and floor, all the way up to the top row, leaving a channel of molten metal in its wake. However, Raven simply appeared from a portal behind Natsuki, her now blood-red sword slashing towards the back of Natsuki's neck. However, the blade was stopped cold. Even as she'd lunged forward with her right-hand blade extended, Natsuki had raised her left arm over her shoulder, so that Yuya's blade extended down past her neck, in the perfect position to intercept Raven's attack.

Now Natsuki turned, lashing out with a back-kick that caught Raven in the stomach. Following through, Natsuki spun about, slashing her other kodachi through the air, the blade trailing flames as she closed in on Raven again. However, Natsuki found her vision filled with black and red as she stumbled straight through one of Raven's portals. Emerging out the other side, she tripped, her foot hooking over the top of one of the seats, sending her stumbling forward.

Raven had teleported Natsuki into a lower level of the spectator seating, right into the red seats that were up against the ringside. From her position, Raven was easily able to hop over the railing to bring her sword down on Natsuki's back from above. However, once again, Omen's blade was stopped cold.

This time, it wasn't one of Natsuki's kodachi that had intercepted Raven's attack. The flames that had been burning along the length of Natsuki's kodachi had spread across the rest of her body. Raven's sword met those flames, then stopped as though they were solid steel.

Natsuki made no effort to recover from her fall. Instead reversing her grip on both her weapons, so that the tips of her kodachi pointed out and up behind her, right at a baffled Raven. Before Raven could process what had happened, a torrent of flames surged out from both Natsuki's swords, threatening to engulf her. Taken off-guard, Raven wasn't able to create a portal, and instead jumped back away, trailing smoke and nursing some additional burns. The dark-red of her Aura flickered around her body, indicating it was near the breaking point.

For her part, Natsuki knew she was fighting on borrowed time. Her _Chikewai_ was drawing on her stamina, using it to enhance her overall power, but at the cost of drastically reducing her staying power. She had to finish this fight soon, or she'd be left too tired to do anything.

* * *

Not far away, Amber watched the fight going on. She grimaced, her hand going down to close around the sword Raven had left lodged in her body. There was no way she could stand idly by and let Natsuki fight this battle on her own. She was bleeding out anyway. Worse still, if she removed Raven's blade, she would only wind up bleeding more freely.

_If that's the case..._ thought Amber, her brow furrowing at the thought of what she was about to do.

Bracing herself, Amber pulled Raven's sword free with her right hand. With her left, she used her magic to call forth flames, which she then brought to the bleeding wound on one side of her abdomen. Gritting her teeth, Amber pressed that flaming hand up against the wound, biting down a scream a she felt the flames searing her flesh. Tossing Raven's sword aside, she engaged the same magic with her right hand, reaching around behind her to burn the wound shut from the other side.

Her injury cauterized, Amber slumped forward. The pain was unreal. She also knew that this was a stopgap at best. But it would allow her to fight at least a little longer.

Still, she didn't move. Instead, she focused past her pain, devoting every ounce of her will to following the battle in front of her. She wasn't capable of much in this state, which meant she had to make sure that what move she _did_ make counted for something. So Amber watched and waited for her opportunity.

* * *

Raven and Natsuki clashed once more, the fire produced from their swords vying against one another. Once again, Natsuki's flames won out.

It wasn't merely the fire produced by her Aura. Natsuki's speed and strength had both increased greatly, and Raven was definitely feeling the pressure. Even more importantly, despite her increase in power, Natsuki was now fighting more evasively. Over and over again, Omen's blade would bite through Natsuki's body, only for Raven to realize that it was another fire-clone.

However, just because she'd increased her overall power with her _Chikewai_, it didn't mean that Natsuki wholly held the upper hand. Raven was just as evasive in her own way, creating her portals at will, using them to escape and flank Natsuki, but just as often using them as a way to send Natsuki's own attacks back at her from a different direction. If there was one consolation to this situation, it was that Raven could only create one set of portals at a time. However, just that, combined with Raven's greater experience, were enough to keep the field even between them.

Because of that, it was Natsuki who stood to lose the most in this situation. With her _Chikewai_ burning away her stamina, it was only a matter of time before she collapsed from exhaustion, at which point Raven would be free to do as she wished. Because of that, if Raven were aware of the limitations of Natsuki's technique, all she would have to do was play for time.

It was fortunate that Raven _wasn't_ aware of that fact, and was attempting to meet Natsuki head-on. Because of that, Natsuki figured she might actually have a chance of winning this, particularly with all the damage Raven had already taken.

_I need something decisive,_ thought Natsuki, narrowing her eyes as she used her swords to fend off Raven's next series of attacks. The two of them flickered back and forth, dancing, not just along the walkways that ran the coliseum's circumference, but over the backs of seats and off the railings that separated sections of seats. One moment, they were dueling their way up a line of steps towards the nosebleed seats. The next second they were vaulting back down over the lower rows.

Raven switched between several different elements at will. She bombarded Natsuki with shards of ice, bolts of lightning, and gusts of wind, along with torrents of fire. For her part, Natsuki responded purely with flames. In terms of versatility, Raven definitely had the advantage, or so it seemed. However, Natsuki's mastery of her chosen element was all the greater.

In various games, both in the Kingdom and the Mibu, there were fantasy settings where various elements were supposed to have advantages over other elements. Fire was supposed to be weak to water, but fire was strong against metal, and metal was strong against wood, and so on... However, when it came to the schools of Manifestation used by the Mibu, the things that trumped all else were skill and power. Superiority between a wielder of the_ Mumyo Saigyo Ryu_ and someone using the _Mumyo Homusubi Ryu_ was determined by who was better at wielding their respective element.

Therefore, because she had devoted herself to complete mastery of her chosen element, Natsuki was not at a disadvantage against Raven, simply because Raven had the greater variety of elements to rely upon. Rather, the source of the pressure Natsuki was currently facing was Raven's knowledge of how to use each element to its fullest effect.

A sheath of rime washed across the surface of a metal railing that Natsuki had intended to use as a foothold, causing her to slip. When she tried to catch herself, Raven used lightning to channel electricity through the nearby surface, shocking her and knocking her back. Wind picked up broken debris to use as weapons. There was more to Raven than simple raw power. It seemed that her brush with death earlier had broken her out of her previous arrogance, and now she was using the canniness that could only be gained through a lifetime of struggle.

But Natsuki wasn't about to let herself lose so easily. Her swords were perfect extensions of her hands. The air around her rippled from the heat of her flames, distorting distance and direction, combining with her fluid movements to make her position almost impossible to grasp perfectly. At the same time, even when Raven did home in on her, it usually proved to be a fire-clone.

Natsuki was also getting a better feel for when Raven would deploy her portals, and how she would use them. When Raven tried to use them to send Natsuki's attacks back at her, Natsuki was able to sense where they were coming from, catching them and sending them back at Raven again. When Raven tried to use a portal to shift position, Natsuki was able to feel where the exit appeared, combining that with her knowledge of Raven's movements going into the portal to predict how she would come out of it.

Their blades were flickering streaks in the air around them, sparks exploding from where they clashed against one another. Raven's slashes were an assortment of ever-changing colors as she switched out blades frequently, using each Dust-type to enhance a particular attack. However, she'd started mixing them up to. A blue, ice-Dust impregnated blade flew out from Omen's sheath. Sure enough, a slash sent a rising wave of ice surging along the floor at Natsuki from below. However, Raven nearly immediately reversed the blade's course, lightning dropping down from above to strike the tip of the sword, right before she drove it back down into the ice she'd just created, channeling her lightning through that to enhance her previous attack.

Natsuki skipped back to avoid getting shocked. But then flames lined the blue-blade, rushing down and through the ice, which then shattered explosively. However, those shards of ice simply evaporated against the flames that had engulfed Natsuki's body.

_I don't have much time left,_ Natsuki thought as she fended off another slash of Raven's sword. Her limbs were already beginning to feel heavier. It was only a matter of time until the difference became noticeable to Raven, and she realized what was going on. Natsuki had to find a way to strike a decisive blow before that.

On the other end, Raven's patience was waning. It had been frustrating that the fight had dragged on for this long. Before she'd managed to take down Amber, at least Raven had had the excuse that she'd been fighting two Maidens at once. However, she now had no such excuse, it was galling that this _child_ was giving her such a hard fight. She could imagine that the fury racing through her veins was the same that Vernal had felt, during her fight with Ruby. Despite drawing on all her power and skill, Raven had still not managed to obtain a definitive advantage over the girl before her.

_This isn't how this was supposed to go,_ she thought. _He told me that I had the power of a god in my veins._

* * *

_"We're related!?" Raven could scarcely believe her ears. She could also scarcely contain her revulsion._

_ "Distantly," clarified Jester, chuckling. "You could say I'm your great-great-great-uncle...a few-hundred times over...maybe even a few-thousand. You tend to lose count of generations, when you get as old as I am."_

_ "What is your proof?" demanded Raven._

_ Jester reached up, causing her to reel back as he tapped the bridge of her nose. "My proof is right there...those peepers of yours. Surely you've noticed your eyes...that Kyo has the same kind of eyes that you do...or rather...that _you_ have the same eyes as _him_."_

_ "And what does that mean?" asked Raven._

_ "The presence of the Crimson Eyes is the indicator of a powerful pedigree," explained Jester. "Amongst the Mibu, there are very few people who can produce the Crimson Eyes anymore, and amongst that tiny handful of people who can, they usually can only manage it with one eye. However, you have that trait in _both_ your eyes._

_ "Aside from that, the only ones who are born with the Crimson Eyes active are those in the Royal Family, the Line of Kyo they call it. They're descendants of the purest Mibu bloodline, inheriting the power of their distant ancestors in full, though most usually only ever tap into a fraction of that potential."_

_ "Does that mean I am related to the Royal Family?" asked Raven._

_ "Nah," said Jester. "That power is no joke, and they're serious about safeguarding it. One child per generation, that's the rule. That's why they adopted little Ruby instead of giving Kyo a younger sibling the old-fashioned way."_

_ Raven bared her teeth at the mention of Ruby, but offered no response otherwise._

_ "Tell me, did you have those eyes when you were born?" asked Jester._

_ Raven frowned, her fingers going up to trace the skin just beneath her left eye. "I do not think so," she said. "It wasn't something we noticed right away. But, when I was younger, my eyes were the same color as Qrow's; still red, but not quite like this."_

_ That had changed partway through her time at Beacon. No one could definitively say when it had changed. However, at some point, Raven's eyes had become a brighter, more luminous red. Both her teammates and her teachers, as well as Raven herself, had simply found it an unusual quality, something that was odd, but not unheard of. She'd even suspected it might have been connected to her Semblance. Apparently a person's eyes changing color when their Semblance was active was not unheard of. The only issue with that was that Raven had unlocked her Semblance long before this phenomenon had appeared._

_ Jester chuckled. "It's an odd twist of fate, but I know of only one bloodline that could be producing eyes like that, after all this time. There's no doubt...you're descended from _that man_."_

_ "What man?" asked Raven._

_ "You could call him my little brother," said Jester. "But we were born hundreds of years apart. I was the second of four, and he was the last._

_ "His name was Mibu Kyoshiro. Together with our other two brothers, we were the Crimson Cross Knights. Our job back then was to control and correct history. When the humans the Mibu ruled threatened to break free from our control, we were sent to deal with them._

_ "But Kyoshiro eventually rebelled. He joined up with the one the Mibu have come to call the First Kyo, and they turned their swords against the Crimson King. After the Mibu were brought tumbling down, he shacked up with a woman and lived happily ever after. Somehow, it would seem that his line of descendants extended down to you."_

_ "I thought the Mibu kept to themselves," said Raven._

_ "That's their official stance. But my little brother was an exile, even back then. Who's to say how that line got preserved. I sure wasn't paying attention."_

_ Raven frowned darkly._

_ Jester sighed and shrugged. "Honestly, thinking about it pisses me off a little. He got to live a human life, and pass on when his time came. But not me." He shook his head in disappointment. "It was honestly such a crock. I was there during the final battle. I'd been beaten twice that point, but even when they cut me down with the god-slaying techniques of the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_ and Muramasa's demon blades, it just wouldn't take._

_ "And then the Crimson King, who'd created us from his flesh and blood called us back into him. That was supposed to be it. I should have vanished within the flesh of my creator, my spirit merged back into his. It was supposed to happen faster for me than little Kyoshiro. Back then...back then..."_

_ Jester's chuckles took on a shrill quality. Raven shivered, beginning to gain an impression of what this story was getting to._

_ After regaining control of himself, Jester resumed speaking. "In that final hour, I actually lent him a hand, helped him to escape back to his own body, while mine had already crumbled away to dust. Then I was ready to pass from the world. The battle concluded. The Crimson King was struck down, and it was over..._

_ "But then...I was reborn. Covered in blood, I climbed right out of my creator's corpse, good as new, and none the worse for wear. That was when...that was when I realized that it would never end. Nothing could destroy me, not even the power of the one who'd created me in the first place. It was so ironic. My fellow Mibu were plagued by an affliction born from a defect in the creation of their ancestors, a defect that shortened and ended their lives. But my defect had made me the opposite. It was just so damn..._funny_."_

_ Raven took an uneasy step back from the man as he began to cackle. She'd been right. This story...that moment had been when Jester had broke, when he'd truly despaired of death and his insanity had fully taken root._

_ "Well...that's just a fun little anecdote," concluded Jester, regaining his composure again. "Man, that really takes me back. But enough reminiscing. My point is that your pedigree means that you haven't yet tapped into the full extent of your power, Little Raven. With what time we have, I can help rectify that. I'll show you an aspect of the Crimson Eyes that you've never even dreamed of..."_

* * *

Raven's Aura boiled out from her with renewed vigor. Her irises once again swelled out across the entirety of her eyes, while her pupils shrank down to tiny dots of black amidst seas of red. The sheer luminance of her Aura threw the rest of her body into shadow, making her appear as though she was at the center of a massive bonfire, her power rolling off of her like waves of heat.

Natsuki shivered, having never imagined seeing something like this. She'd heard about the Crimson Eyes. They were not talked about all that openly. Even though her elementary teacher had been the Crimson King himself, he had never formally taught them anything about the details of the Crimson Eyes. All that she knew for certain was that they were tied to the Royal Family and that a tiny few amongst the rest of the Mibu could produce those eyes for themselves.

More to the point, amongst the Mibu, those eyes were simultaneously a source of both reverence and revulsion. Possession of them from birth designated a child of the royal line, born to ascend the throne. But, at the same time, said child was regarded with fear and disgust, with many not hesitating to seek his life. Even the Crimson King himself was not exempt from that. While people respected his rule, there were still those who sent assassins after his life.

The Crimson Eyes were a taboo subject amongst the Mibu, acknowledged, but never discussed in detail. Perhaps because of that, this element was something Natsuki had never once heard of. Because of that, facing down these eyes once more, by herself this time, sent shivers down her spine that caused her to nearly freeze up.

Raising Omen, Raven lifted the sword with both hands. Her Aura condensed down into the blade, enlarging it, while the flames streaming from her eyes burned all the more furiously. Besides the raw power of her enhanced Aura, her magic worked several different elements into the spectral blade simultaneously. Ice, fire, wind, and lightning all merged together with that blood-red Aura in a manner reminiscent of the ripples in a masterfully-forged blade. Even as Raven's conjured sword was an image of terrifying power, it was also an image of total artistry.

Natsuki realized what Raven was up to. This was a counter to Natsuki's transformation magic. Transforming one thing into another was a useful defense. But Natsuki had to identify what she had to transform. Last time she'd countered Raven's powerful attack, it had been simple because Raven had simply merged her magic and Aura into a singular power. Now she was weaving them together, but keeping them distinct. If Natsuki tried to transform one aspect of that sword into something harmless, the other elements making it up would hit home before she could transform them as well.

Taking a deep breath, Natsuki relaxed from her stance, facing Raven full-on. As she did, she closed her eyes. The flames washing over her body flowed down her right arm, sheathing the longer blade, intensifying, flowing down towards the tip, where there was a spark of shadow. Black bloomed amidst the red, yellow, and orange, gradually spreading to swallow them up, until her sword was lined with black flames.

Opening her eyes, Natsuki called upon her magic, violet flames spreading from the outside corners, light of the same color shining out from the shorter kodachi in her left hand. She flipped her grip on her weapons, holding them both in a reverse grip, striking a stance that Raven recognized, that of the attack she'd used before to launch six simultaneous slashes.

The two of them froze in place. The distance between them was such that, if Raven attacked, her blow was sure to land before Natsuki could close with her. However, if Natsuki could evade that attack, then she could strike before Raven could counter. Of course, avoiding such an attack was no simple matter. Raven's next strike was guaranteed to decimate the surrounding area, ensuring that Natsuki would have to move fast and wide to skirt its effects.

With that assurance, Raven was free to strike without fear of reprisal, yet she hesitated. Strangely, she couldn't figure out quite why. She felt as though she was making a critical oversight in this situation, that there was something she'd overlooked. Whatever arguments she had about strength, whatever others said about weakness, the one thing that could not be questioned was her canniness. Whether through strength or cowardice, Raven had survived countless life-or-death situations, her brushes with death gifting her with a sensitivity that was telling her something was amiss.

The bulk of Raven's experience was telling her that things had not been decided yet, that there was a hidden card that Natsuki had yet to play.

Still, at this point, there was nothing more to do but make her move and find out what her opponent had planned. Solidifying her determination, Raven brought her sword down. Natsuki charged straight ahead, running headlong along the path of the descending blade. The blades of both her weapons were briefly hidden behind her back. Just as Raven's massive sword of mixed elemental energy had been about to land, Natsuki made her move.

Her entire body blurred as she seemed to spin in two directions simultaneously. Two sets of three slashes etched lines of violet light in front of her, forming a grid-like pattern. Black shadows scattered around her body at the moment of her attack. Raven felt all six slashes connect with her descending sword. That was when Raven felt it, the power of her attack melting away. Each of those slashes was primed with Natsuki's magic, each one primed to affect a different element of Raven's attack. One by one, each of the elements making up Raven's descending sword unraveled, transforming into petals and flowers.

However, Raven had anticipated just such a trick. She'd worked the elements of her magic and Aura into her sword in several layers, making it so that she was essentially making several attacks with the same move, rather than a single powerful attack. With Natsuki's own attack, six layers of Raven's were stripped away, but she still had more, and now they were descending on Natsuki unimpeded.

At the last second, Natsuki threw herself to the side. But Raven's blade exploded as soon as it struck the floor, the explosion washing outwards, ripping a channel along the side of the coliseum, actually punching all the way out through one of the walls. Natsuki's pained scream was downed out by the roar of the explosion. She'd channeled away the flames that had been protecting her, and now only had her standard Tempered Aura to guard with, which wasn't nearly enough to fend off Raven's attack.

Not only that, but she'd channeled the last of the Aura she'd boosted with her _Chikewai_ into that last attack. Her body was feeling as though it was made of lead, like she could collapse at any second. Even though she'd escaped immediate defeat at the hand of Raven's attack, she was in virtually no position to keep fighting.

Despite that, Raven _still_ felt as though something was off. Natsuki had made a big show of using the same black flames she'd produced at the end of her match against Ruby. Yet those flames had been no where to be seen. _Was that nothing more than a bluff?_ wondered Raven. Natsuki had covered the blade of one sword with those ebony flames, but had instead used her magic through _both_ her swords.

In the end, it was immaterial. This battle was nearly over anyway. Raven began to track Natsuki's position, looking to finish her off, when her senses suddenly alerted her to an incoming attack from behind. It was so obvious that Raven hardly needed to respond.

A simple fireball splashed against Raven's magic barrier, Raven not even needing to use a hand to direct its creation. This wasn't one of Natsuki's attacks, but fire from magic. Glancing behind herself, Raven saw Amber there, right hand extended, her lips drawn back in a pained grimace, even as orange flames streamed from her eyes.

_Fool,_ thought Raven dismissively. _She should have laid back and waited until I came to finish her. She's gone through all that extra pain for nothing._

Then she noted Amber's left hand, which Amber was holding out behind her. Raven's eyes widened and she became aware of the petals that Natsuki had transformed her attacking energy into. Looking around, Raven saw those petals converging on her position, clearly indicating that Amber and Natsuki were looking to replicate their earlier counter again. _But the results will just be the same._

As the petals flooded around her, Raven was already creating a portal for her escape. When Natsuki transformed them back, as expected, the explosion rocked the coliseum, but Raven escaped without any damage this time, having anticipated what was coming, not being caught so easily.

Except that Raven had failed to notice that, amidst all the violet petals being directed by Amber's wind, several _black_ petals were moving along different paths, moving somewhere else entirely. When Raven emerged from her portal, she was shocked to see Natsuki directly in front of her, surrounded by a loose cloud of black petals, which abruptly converged around the upraised blade of her right-handed sword.

It was then Raven realized what had happened. Even before their last clash, Natsuki had already been using her magic...on her _own_ flames. She'd used her magic to transform her own attack first. And now, as those petals collected around the blade of that kodachi, Natsuki transformed them back.

"_King of Hell, Come!_" Natsuki swept her sword in a wide arc, launching several balls of black fire in arcing paths that converged on Raven. Having just come out of her portal, Raven didn't have time to create a new one. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that Raven had no time for anything but the most basic defense. Using her transformation magic, Natsuki had completely eliminated the interval she would normally have needed to prepare such a high-level technique, especially with her limited experience in using such powerful Manifestations.

The black fireballs slammed into a hemispherical barrier of Raven's magic, blood-red energy holding them at bay. However, Raven grimaced, gritting her teeth as she felt the black flames burning away at her magic, their destructive power beyond anything she had experienced in this fight so far. Her eyes widened as her barrier began to crack. Then it shattered entirely, the fireballs slamming home.

Raven screamed as she was engulfed in black flames. Omen's blade shattered, and the sheath broke onto pieces, scattering the remaining Dust-infused blades she had loaded, which triggered all at once. Suddenly, Raven was blasted by several elements at once, as the Dust in her exposed blades was set off. However, the heat of those black flames continued to sear her. With a snap, Raven's Aura broke, and the fire now began to consume her clothes, hair, and skin. Wailing with agony, Raven collapsed, falling forward.

Natsuki stood over her, gasping for breath, her entire body quaking from the exertion required to simply remain standing. Her strength was all but gone. The flames burning Raven dissipated, leaving her severely injured, but still alive, if unable to continue fighting.

"Looks like that's it," said Natsuki, after taking a few breaths to gather herself.

Raven glared up at her furiously, watching as Natsuki sheathed her blades, then began to look for a way to meet up with where Amber was, a significant gap in the floor across various sections of the seating and walkways making it difficult to chart a proper course.

In her mind, Raven silently reveled in the naive foolishness of an unblooded child. It seemed that Natsuki fully assumed that this fight was over, that she'd completely won. However, Raven hadn't gotten where she was by simply rolling over and accepting defeat. She would make this child pay for her lapse. Slowly, she slid her right hand across the floor, finding it closing around the remnants of a broken blade. It was nothing more than about a foot of steel leading up to the tip, but it would be more than enough for her purposes. Closing her fingers around the blade, Raven squeezed down, letting the edge bite into her flesh. At the same time, she gathered her remaining strength in her limbs.

Natsuki turned away from Raven, still looking for a way up to where she thought Amber was. That was when Raven made her move. Surging up from where she lay, Raven lunged at Natsuki from behind, brandishing that broken blade, preparing to plunge it through the unwary girl's back.

Instead, Raven lurched to a stop, a sharp chill piercing through her chest. Her body was arrested completely, the outstretched tip of her sword stopping mere inches away from her target, before dropping to the floor with a clatter, as Raven's grip lost its strength completely. Next, her arm fell to dangle limply. The rest of Raven would have fallen with it, were it not for the thing propping her up.

Natsuki turned around, her jaw hanging slack as she saw Raven leaning at an angle, held up off the floor by a lance of ice that had pierced her from behind, before emerging from her chest to pierce through the floor beneath her. Then, slowly, Raven slid down the lance, leaving a slick of blood along its length as she did so. She fell flat, her wide eyes no longer the same luminous crimson as Kyo, but a darker, duller shade.

Raven Branwen was dead.

A second later, a brilliant blaze of dark-red light erupted from her body, shooting skyward, before arcing off into the distance. It seemed that Raven's disbelief about what had just happened to her was so complete that it had wiped the faces of the ones responsible from her mind in her final seconds. Natsuki wasn't sure that she or Amber would have ended up with the magic anyway. It seemed that it would now be going to someone completely different.

Looking up, Natsuki saw Amber standing there, her left hand outstretched, her right clamped down on her cauterized wound.

"Amber-san..." whispered Natsuki, before looking back down at Raven, unsure of how to feel at this moment. She wasn't like Ruby. This was her first experience with seeing a human life snuffed out before her eyes. It was...troubling. Even if she hadn't been the one to deal a killing blow, Natsuki had certainly played her part in Raven's demise.

It was a scary thing to see. There had been no fanfare. Raven hadn't gotten any time for last words. It seemed that she had been too surprised to even be frightened by her death, even though it was clear that it was something she'd feared so greatly.

A rumble filled the coliseum, and the entire structure shook, the floor wobbling beneath her feet. _I guess I'll need to worry about that later,_ thought Natsuki. _I need to get Amber-san out of here, then we need to meet up with Sasame-sama, so that Amber-san can get her injuries treated._

Natsuki just wished that such a task would be easy. It would be no mean feat to help Amber out of the coliseum, not when Natsuki herself felt as though she was just seconds away from collapsing. Still, she climbed laboriously over the rows of seats, making her way up to where Amber had slumped down, hand clamped on her side, where Raven's blade had run her through.

"Amber-san!" exclaimed Natsuki, staggering over to her, her legs nearly giving out. She felt so tired.

Amber looked up, smiling weakly. "Hey there," she said. "You were good out there."

"Thanks," said Natsuki, smiling back. "Are you gonna be okay? You took the sword out."

"Well, I've stopped the bleeding for now," said Amber, lifting her hand to reveal the burn across the side of her stomach. "But I guess I'll have another scar."

"Sasame-sama will be able to fix that," said Natsuki.

"Well, if she can't, then I'll have another scar to impress Kyo with," Amber said with a soft laugh.

Natsuki giggled along with her. Her own fatigue was leaving her with a disconnected giddy feeling, as though what was going on around them didn't matter. Even so, she managed to scrape enough sense of purpose together to hold out a hand. "Come on, we've gotta get out of here."

Amber nodded, taking Natsuki's hand. Her weight nearly caused Natsuki to pull herself over, rather than pull Amber upright. However, at the last second, she managed to find her balance and successfully draw Amber back onto her feet. Pulling Amber's arm over her shoulders, Natsuki led them on a hobbling walk towards the nearest exit. That wasn't easy. Their battle against Raven had raged across the width and breadth of the coliseum's stands, leaving almost no footing for a pair of exhausted combatants who barely even had the strength to walk.

After a few problematic detours, they managed to make their way to the docks. Unfortunately, it was there that they encountered their next obstacle.

"We don't have any way to get down, do we?" commented Natsuki staring over the edge at the waters of the bay down below.

"Not really," said Amber. "But, if I put out a call with my scroll, maybe we can get a bullhead over to ferry us down." Pulling out her device, Amber's expression fell when she saw that it was cracked, and even partially melted. "Well...never mind."

"So...we're in trouble aren't we," said Natsuki.

"Seems that way," said Amber.

A jolt ran through the floating structure, making the two of them reel drunkenly, nearly pitching over the edge and into the waters below. At this height, and without enough Aura to protect themselves, a fall to the water would be no different than a fall to solid pavement. Still, they managed to recover at the last second and avoid a fatal plunge. However, the lurch was accompanied by another round of bad news, namely the sensation of their stomachs rising up within them.

"We're falling!" yelped Natsuki.

It was gradual, but the sea below was definitely getting closer with each passing second.

"What do we do now?" wondered Natsuki, looking around.

"Hey! You two are still here?"

Natsuki and Amber looked over, their eyes widening as they saw Ciel, Piper, and Rain coming towards them.

"What's going on?" asked Natsuki.

"It's exactly what it looks like," said Piper. "This place is going down. We were just about to bail." She grinned cheerfully. "You two need a lift."

"That'd be great, thanks!" said Natsuki, before looking around. "Wait a second! Where's Penny-chan."

The other three members of CPPR exchanged worried looks.

"Penny is making sure that this place falls where it's supposed to," said Ciel.

"Huh?" grunted Natsuki, canting her head.

"Do not worry about it," said Rain. "We have already called over a manta. It should be here momentarily. The two of you can join us."

"O-okay," said Natsuki, before pausing, another realization occurring to her. "Wait! Ruby-chan's still in the arena!"

She'd been so caught up with her and Amber's battle against Raven that Natsuki hadn't been able to spare a single thought for Ruby. Then, between her exhaustion and her concern for Amber's condition, she'd completely overlooked the fact that Ruby's fight against Adam was still ongoing. Now she and her opponent were in the middle of an arena that was going to be landing in the sea any moment now.

"There isn't much we can do," said Ciel. "At the very least, I sealed some bulkheads, so the arena should be one of the last places to flood...I hope. It won't be much, but that will buy her some time."

"It is all that we can do right now," said Rain. "The fight between her and Taurus is too fierce. There is no place for outside intrusion. We would only be getting in her way."

Natsuki swallowed, casting a glance back down one of the hallways that led back to the arena. _Please be careful, Ruby-chan._

* * *

**Ruby vs Adam is next chapter.**


	151. Chapter 151

**Chapter 151:**

_A few minutes earlier:_

"Dammit!" snapped Piper, slamming her fists against the console. "That bastard locked me out! I can't access the controls at all."

"Can you tell what our current descent heading is?" asked Ciel, looking at Piper's shoulder.

"Oh yeah, I can tell you that," growled Piper. "It's exactly what we feared. At this rate, the whole coliseum is going to plow into the city like a giant wrecking ball. With this kind of mass, even the shelters in the impact area are gonna be crushed." She held up her right hand, clenching it into a fist. "That son of a bitch! I can practically see him giving us the middle finger from the other side! I'm gonna figure out how to raise the dead so that I can kill him all over again!"

All their precautions were useless. Watts had overridden them all. Pietro had come up with a protocol to bring the coliseum down in the bay, but Watts' hacking had put paid to that idea.

"Please refrain from pointless profanity," said Rain, resting a hand on the shoulder opposite the one Ciel was looking over. "Is there anything we can do?"

Piper frowned. Then her hands burst into motion, her fingers blurring as she typed commands into the console, the coliseum's schematics appearing on the screen, critical components highlighting as Piper's eyes darted back and forth. Her mouth began to work quickly, Piper muttering under her breath.

"Calculate the angle of descent with the altered thrust...the timing to destroy the lift system would be..."

After a minute, Piper straightened up. "I think we can do it," she said. "But it's not going to be easy."

"What do we have to do?" asked Ciel.

"This whole thing is predicated on the idea that the propulsion systems are working," said Piper, gesturing to the image of the coliseum. "If we do critical damage to the maneuvering generators in the right order, with the right timing, we can alter the course. Then, all we have to do is destroy the main lift crystal..." She pointed to the large Dust-crystal that extended down from the very bottom of the coliseum, like giant stalactite. "And we can put this tub down in the sea. It's gonna throw up some waves on land, but that's still a sight better than letting this thing hit Vale itself."

"What do we need to do exactly?" asked Rain.

"I've already done it," said Piper, pointing to the screen. "Watts locked me out of the navigation controls, but I was able to override the safety parameters for the right generators. They should be going up right about...now."

On cue, a rumble shook the structure around them, and the floor beneath their feet tilted uneasily.

"The problem is the last one," said Piper. "I can't do anything with the primary lift-crystal that would destroy it quickly enough to bring this sucker down where we need it to. If we don't do that, we'll just swing Amity around and slam it into the cliffs below Beacon. The shockwaves of that impact could bring the tower down, so we'll need to destroy the crystal from the outside."

"But to reach it, we would need to get beneath the coliseum," Ciel pointed out. "We'll need an airship-"

"I'll do it," said Penny. "My lift systems will let me fly beneath the coliseum and destroy the crystal."

"Will you be able to run them for long enough?" asked Ciel worriedly.

Penny nodded, smiling brightly. "I will be fine," she assured Ciel. "Go ahead and call in a manta. I will join you after I take care of the crystal."

Ciel looked at Penny for a moment, before suddenly hugging her.

"Be careful," she whispered.

"I will," promised Penny.

Another explosion rocked the coliseum.

"Let's get going," said Piper, tapping on her scroll. "Penny, I'm sending you the timer. Make sure you destroy that crystal when it reaches zero."

"Affirmative," said Penny.

They ran out through the hallways, staggering as yet another explosion rocked the coliseum, the entire thing beginning to tilt beneath their feet. They reached the docks, already noting that their altitude was dropping quickly. Penny didn't hesitate, running straight off the edge and throwing herself out into the open air. A second later, her Floating Array deployed, the guns arranging themselves at her waist and producing jets of green energy that allowed her to fly through the air. She dipped down beneath the edge, going out of sight.

Meanwhile, the others worked their way along the circumference of the docks, trying to find the best location to board the incoming manta from. It was at that point that they saw a pair of figures staggering out in front of them...

* * *

_Present:_

"Are we going to have enough time?" asked Natsuki, looking worriedly down at the waters below, which were growing closer by the second.

"No idea," admitted Piper.

"You didn't figure out how much time you'd need for the airship to get here?" asked Natsuki worriedly.

"I didn't even think about it," said Piper. "Everything is based on where to bring Amity down so that it causes the least damage. If our ride doesn't get here in time...then it doesn't get here in time."

Ciel and Rain nodded in agreement, though the two of them were tightly holding each other's hands as they looked out for any sign of the incoming airship.

"Oh..." said Natsuki.

"I see it," said Ciel suddenly.

Sure enough, the Atlesian craft was swooping towards them, banking in such a way that it would match velocities with the coliseum, giving them a small window where they could jump on. As it grew closer, relief rose up from inside them.

The roar of a pair of jet engines confused that relieved feeling. Looking for the source of the sound, they saw a bullhead flying along on a course to intercept the incoming manta.

"Did anyone call for a bullhead?" asked Piper, looking to Amber and Natsuki, who shook their heads.

"My scroll is shot," Amber admitted.

Ciel's eyes narrowed, and she was able to make out a red symbol painted in the side of the bullhead, a lion's head against a backdrop of three parallel claw marks. Pulling out her scroll, she tried to contact the pilot of the manta.

"EVADE!" she screamed, even though she hadn't even found the right signal yet.

Whoever was piloting the manta appeared to notice the enemy airship inbound. However, their response was still too slow. By the time the manta was pulling away, the bullhead had already closed in enough. Its chin-mounted machine guns opened fire, and a spray of bullets tore through the side of the manta, the Atlesian craft lurching drunkenly, before plunging to the sea, trailing a stream of smoke.

"Get down!" shouted Rain.

Piper was already tackling Natsuki and Amber, forcing them down against the deck, while Rain held up his shield. Ciel quickly moved up next to him, taking his right hand in her left, the white sheen of hard-light-Dust spreading out from the edges of the shield. They got their defenses up just in time as the bullhead's machine guns strafed across the docks next, tearing through the decks and walls, the bullets throwing up sparks against the shield.

The bullhead had used a rather impressive bit of maneuvering, switching into hover-mode right as it had opened fire, turning to swing its guns across the docks, attempting to take out the five people waiting for evacuation. In completing its turn, it had now brought its passenger bay doors around to face the docks. The doors opened to reveal a full six masked faunus, four of whom immediately leapt out for the docks.

"For High Leader Taurus!" roared one of them.

For his trouble, he caught one of Pulsar's orbs right in the center of his forehead, snapping his head back and reversing his momentum, sending him plummeting down.

The other three managed to make it to the deck. However, Ciel was already amongst them, her pata-sword unfolding out from her gauntlet. A tap of the watch-face turned the screen pale-blue, light of the same color climbing the length of the blade, which Ciel slashed across the chest of the first soldier she reached.

The White Fang warrior raised his own weapon, a heavy-looking axe, directly over his head. However, his movements slowed down to a jerky consistency, before stopping entirely as a blue tinge spread across his skin from where Ciel had slashed him, flowers of frost blossoming across it as well. Even as she used her gauntlet to fend off a sword-slash from one of the others, Ciel lashed out with a back-kick, catching the frozen man in the chest, his body collapsing into an icy dust that spilled across the deck.

"Atlas bitch!" howled the swordsman, unleashing a flurry of wild slashes. However, he was no match for Ciel, who fended off his attacks masterfully. However, he seemed to be little more than a distraction for his comrade, who was trying to slip into Ciel's blindspot, lining up a rifle with her back.

The gunman took aim, only to scream as entire body was engulfed in flames. Wailing in pain and fear, the man staggered over the edge of the dock, and dropped down into the sea. Behind him, Natsuki hung somewhat limply, Amber now supporting_ her_, her longer kodachi extended out ahead of her.

While Ciel was dealing with boarders, Rain and Piper had taken a different course of action altogether, both of them leaping out off the docks. Rain had returned his shield to its place on his back, before its plates had split, the membrane between them stretching to bridge the spaces between his arms and legs, the wind-Dust impregnating the membrane giving him enough lift to glide across the distance between him and the bullhead. At the same time, Piper jumped up, four of her orbs forming into a circular formation beneath her feet, the resulting gravity-field lifting her up as she essentially surfed across the space.

The two White Fang soldiers in the passenger bay were caught off-guard by the fact that they themselves had just been boarded. Before they could mount a proper defense, two more of Pulsar's orbs slammed directly into their heads, the two men reeling in agony, before Rain landed between them, his shield swiftly sliding out to his right forearm. He spun about, slashing to knock them out through the bay doors, while Piper was already heading for the cockpit.

Meanwhile, Ciel parried one of the attacking soldier's slashes, glancing it off the plates of her gauntlet, before following through with a slash of her own. This time, a pale-green sheath of wind had climbed the length of her blade, allowing it to cleave effortlessly right through the soldier's Aura, and the body behind it. The unfortunate faunus fell, his torso falling one way, his legs another.

Ciel glanced over at the bullhead, just in time to see the aircraft drop, its nose pitching downward sharply. A queasy feeling filled her stomach for a second. Then, to her relief, she saw it rise back up, able to see Piper now behind the pilot's seat, giving her a triumphant wave, before bringing it in so that it could hover close enough for them to board.

Rain jumped back out onto the dock. Between him and Ciel, they were able to help Amber and Natsuki onboard the bullhead, which pulled away from the docks just in time. From beneath the coliseum, they caught a flash of green, followed by the sound of an explosion, before the coliseum's course suddenly took a drastic drop, the whole thing beginning to plummet almost straight down into the sea below.

Rain was making his way to the cockpit to assist Piper in piloting the bullhead, but Ciel remained at the doors, holding onto one of the railings, looking out at the falling coliseum, her heart thundering in her chest, silently praying that Penny had made it out from under Amity in time.

Then she caught sight of a bright-green streak racing out from under the falling building. Penny flew upwards, her flight curving up towards the bullhead. Her eyes met Ciel's, and Ciel found her face lighting up with relief.

"Penny!"

Grinning, Penny flew up to the bullhead, disengaging her jets just in time for her remaining momentum to carry her into its passenger bay. "Ciel!" she shouted back, catching her partner in a hug, the two of them holding each other, though Ciel chose not to tell Penny that her arrival had nearly sent the two of them tumbling to the other side of the passenger bay.

"What happened to the manta?" asked Penny, looking around.

"It got shot down," said Ciel, her face falling as she thought of the unfortunate pilots for the airship that had been destroyed by the White Fang.

"But what were the White Fang doing, flying a bullhead over here?" wondered Penny.

"They probably came to retrieve Taurus," guessed Ciel.

Penn blinked, then turned to stare out at Amity Coliseum as it plunged into the sea. With the direction of its descent, the bulk of the waves it produced surged towards the cliffs at Beacon, washing over the harbor at their base. Smaller waves also slammed into Vale's shoreline, but resulted in some lightly-flooded streets at worst. However, that was not what Penny was looking at. Instead, her eyes were glued to the top of the coliseum...right as it erupted with a cacophony of thunder-claps.

"Ruby..." she whispered, her grip tightening.

Ciel turned towards the cockpit. "Can you two fly this thing?" she asked Rain and Piper.

"Pretty sure I can," Piper shouted back. "I mean, I've been racking up the high scores in the flight sim at the arcade."

_That's not as reassuring as you think it is,_ thought Ciel uneasily.

"We will try our best," added Rain. "We have not crashed yet, so I think that is a good sign."

Ciel sighed tiredly and shrugged. Then glanced at the other two people in the cabin. Amber and Natsuki were slumped down in the seats, Amber's hand clamped over her side, over a nasty-looking burn mark. _We can't afford to keep them waiting for too long. Akiyama needs medical treatment._

"Please..." said Natsuki, her voice dazed, "...please help Ruby-chan..."

"We'll do what we can," Ciel promised, before looking back at the cockpit. "Please fly over the interior. We need to find out what is going on over there."

"Roger that," Piper shouted out, the airship lurching into motion rather abruptly, nearly pitching Ciel and Penny back out into the open air. "Sorry! The real thing's a bit more touchy than the sims."

_That's not reassuring at at all_, thought Ciel with an unhappy grimace.

Still, there was not time to worry about that. She turned to look down into the coliseum, looking for any sign of Ruby Rose and Adam Taurus, and anything that would tell her what the outcome of their battle was.

And then the world turned red.

* * *

_Earlier:_

"You've gotten stronger," observed Adam calmly, holding his enormous sword out to one side.

"So have you," commented Ruby, her own blades held up in front of her. "You've really learned how to use Hakuya, haven't you."

"As much as it irks me to give any thanks to that...thing...I suppose I should be grateful to Jester," said Adam.

The inner ring around them was carved and broken. The floating platforms of the nearby antigravity biomes sported several cuts, multiple platforms cut into two, three, or even more pieces. Their fight, so far, had mainly been confined to the interior ring, but there had been virtually no way to contain the damage inflicted by their exchanges. A deflected slash carved through one of the skyboxes at the top of the coliseum. A bolt of lightning sent tremors running through the entire structure. Even without the other battles raging throughout Amity, it was likely that she and Adam would bring the place down all by themselves.

Still, there was nothing to be done about that. Ruby didn't have the luxury to worry about the larger situation. The opponent in front of her demanded the entirety of her attention. This was not the Adam Taurus she had fought twice before. This wasn't the spiteful scumbag who'd arranged her friend's assassination just to draw her out, who'd smugly confronted her in a construction site at night, sure that his natural night vision would give him a deciding edge over her.

There was no trace of overconfidence in Adam. Instead, Ruby could sense his incredible conviction, which ran alongside a pure intent to kill. The jagged edge that had been his Aura before was gone. In its place was a new edge, honed and sharpened to its peak. Adam Taurus, as he was now, was far beyond the man she had defeated twice before, and not merely because he had a new sword.

The floor beneath them vibrated. Nearby, Ruby could sense explosions of elemental energy, which raged across the circumference of the stands, a sign that Amber and Natsuki's fight with Raven was still ongoing. Down below, she could sense still more vibrations, along with the presence of her friends in Team CPPR. They were fighting someone else with an insidious, oily presence.

Unfortunately, Ruby didn't have the time or energy to spare worrying about them. Instead, all she could do was put her trust in them to see their battles through, while she did the same. She focused on Adam, grinding the sole of her sandal against the floor of the ring. Adam hefted Hakuya, turning his wrist slightly.

Lightning erupted along the length of Bara and Ibara as Ruby shot forward, leaving petals and streamers of electricity in her wake. Adam responded with a slash across his body, a surge of bright-red climbing the length of Hakuya's blade, flying off in a crescent-shaped wave that came right at the charging Ruby.

The attack appeared to split Ruby in two. However, she flickered back into being behind Adam, who was already turning to meet her. Hakuya's blade shined red as it met Bara and Ibara, the light of his Aura climbing the blade, covering up its normal hue. The lightning wreathing Ruby's swords crackled angrily, but didn't jump across to Adam's sword. For a second, the two of them strained against one another, before Ruby was blown back away, propelled by another crescent of red light. Pushing off it, her momentum from the blocked attack sent her spinning into the air. At the last second, Ruby recovered her control, landing on one of the suspended platforms of the gravity-biome behind her. It was oriented at a right-angle to the floor of the arena, but Ruby had landed on it as though it were level ground.

However, there was no time to worry about such trivialities. She'd already lost sight of Adam. He'd vanished from where he'd been before. Before Ruby could track his position, she instead found herself menaced from four directions at once. Four red crescents converged on her from all around. Quickly, she jumped out from between them, the attacks quartering the platform she'd been standing on. Landing on another nearby platform, Ruby could sense the next set of attacks coming, right as still more flying slashes from Adam rained down on her from above.

Adam touched down of the corner of the platform Ruby had been standing on. However, right as he rose up out of the crouch he'd used to absorb the momentum of his drop, he saw several orbs of ball lightning rushing out to meet him, electricity arcing between them.

"_Hoshizora no Mai!_"

With a grunt, Adam whipped his sword around him, its blade seeming to multiply, red copies intercepting the incoming orbs and cutting them in two. The light of his Aura fading from the sword, he caught the last two orbs of energy on the flat of Hakuya's blade, bracing it by its spine with his left hand. As he did, streamers of energy soaked into the steel of his blade, near the guard, dying it a deeper red than the shade produced by his Aura alone.

Joining her swords together, Ruby swept Akaibara up in a sweeping slash, which sent an undulating wave of lightning lashing out towards Adam like a whip. "_Shin Raikoben!_"

Adam intercepted the incoming attack with another slash from his sword, before sheathing it, then drawing it a fraction of a second later, a trio of slashes appearing from what looked like a single motion, all of them flying at Ruby with impossible speed. Still, Ruby appeared to weave between them, though the nicks in the edges of her cloak revealed how near the misses had been. She closed in on Adam, separating her sword again, arcs of lightning jumping between Bara and Ibara, while Ruby launched a swift series of slashes at Adam.

Even though she was coming right at him, Adam still sheathed his sword again, before drawing it even more quickly. Ruby was forced to sidestep his attack, aborting her own. Then she was forced to dodge again as she sensed an attack coming from behind. Executing a cartwheeling leap to carry her to another vertically-oriented platform, Ruby saw that Adam's attack had actually transformed into one of his shadows, reversed course, and then attacked her from behind.

That shadow had launched another wave of red, which actually went flying back at Adam himself. However, Adam simply deflected the wave off Hakuya's blade, using the angle of deflection to direct it up at Ruby. In the process, the wave shifted, condensing down to form another shadow, which also slashed at her, forcing Ruby to abandon her current perch. The top portion of the platform was knocked spinning into the air, while Ruby jumped to the side, before reaching to hook the top of her foot around the edge, pulling herself around to the other side of the platform.

Adam had no intention of allowing her to remain behind cover, jumping up and unleashing a flurry of slashes that carved the floating platform to pieces. However, when it fell away, he found that Ruby was no longer there. In her place, two more orbs of ball lightning were waiting, flying at Adam and forcing him to cut them down.

In the meantime, Ruby had abandoned that gravity-biome entirely, her jump carrying her down into the rocky, orange, glowing surface of the volcanic biome next to it. Landing, she skidded to a stop, her cloak flaring out behind her. She looked up just in time to see, not only Adam, but also four of his clones. All of them were descending towards her, unleashing a rain of attacks, which slammed down where Ruby was standing, throwing up streams of magma, along with shards of superheated rock, Ruby briefly disappearing within all the debris kicked up by the barrage.

Adam touched down, already sheathing Hakuya, preparing to launch his next attack. However, as he did so, his movements abruptly seized up, his entire body feeling as though it was bound.

"_Moraien!_" The smoke cleared revealing Ibara, planted into the surface of the ring, a spiderweb of lightning extending out around it. Adam had charged straight into the strands of that web, which now held him fast.

Ruby charged directly at him, Bara held up in both hands, lightning racing down from the sky above to strike the tip as she brought the blade down. "_Honorai Ikazuchi!_"

Adam roared, calling upon all his strength, straining against the lightning holding him in place. Exerting every ounce of his power, the most Adam was able to do was draw his sword a single inch...but that was enough.

As soon as a portion of Hakuya's blade cleared the sheath, coming in contact with the strands of lightning binding Adam's body, the lightning abruptly vanished, being absorbed directly into the sword. Now free to move, Adam found himself facing Ruby's descending slash, charged with incredible power, mere inches away from his head.

And yet, Hakuya still met Bara before Ruby's attack could land. The lightning vanished from her sword as the streak of light that was Hakuya's blade intercepted it. With a cry of surprise, Ruby was blown backwards. In a way, she was fortunate. Adam's counter had blown her back the way she'd come, where Ibara was still anchored in the ground. Ruby barely had the presence of mind to snatch it as she flew past, before she landed hard, yelping in pain as the Dust-fueled magma of the biome scorched the portions of her body that smashed through the crust above it.

Ruby managed to get her feet back under her, rising upright, only to see another of Adam's flying slashes mere inches away from her face. At the last second, she managed to shift slightly to the side, while crossing her swords in front of her. However, as she was, she was simply driven backwards farther, to the very edge of the biome. At the same time, her defense was insufficient to hold back Adam's attack in its entirety. The edge of his blow forced her own blades back, until it cut into her Aura...and then through it, sending a spray of her blood through the air as it finally petered out.

Ruby gasped in pain, falling to one knee, blood leaking out from the wound on her right shoulder. It was shallow, but Adam's attack had parted her Aura with even the slightest contact. It was leagues more dangerous than his previous attacks with Wilt and Blush had ever been.

And he still wasn't done. Before Ruby could finish recovering, Adam had already rushed forward himself, his form blinking across the distance between them. His booted foot slammed against the cut he'd just inflicted, making Ruby scream in pain as she was thrown back. At the last second, she was able to Project her Aura out through her feet, using that to launch herself up into the next gravity-biome over. However, she knew that this would not buy her any reprieve from Adam.

It wasn't just his swordsmanship and weapon that had improved. Adam's entire repertoire of techniques had clearly been updated in the time he'd spent training under Jester. He'd obviously learned _Shukuchi_, from the way he'd moved. And the state of his Aura showed that he'd been schooled in the same three basic exercises that all Mibu had. More than that, his Aura showed signs of cultivation that suggested _years_ of dedicated training.

_But it's impossible for him to have trained that long,_ thought Ruby.

And it wasn't just Adam's strength that was different. With his longer hair, and ragged-looking appearance, Adam looked _physically_ older as well. It almost seemed as though he'd been living through a different flow of time than everyone else had.

_But how...?_ she wondered.

Unfortunately, there wasn't time to ponder that question. Adam showed no interest in giving her any room to breathe. He was already following in her wake, alighting on the platform in front of her. To Ruby's dismay, she caught a glimpse of him employing the same kind of skill she'd developed for Akaibara, switching hands to increase the pace of his strikes, his attacks now appearing as mere lines of crimson light, all but impossible to follow as they converged on her.

Ruby used h_er Shukuchi_ to dart clear, but still found herself taking several cuts as she did so. When she closed in, seeking to strike back, Adam closed both hands around Hakuya's handle, and unleashing a blow that blasted her back, slamming her straight _through_ a vertical platform. Ruby's head rang and her vision blurred. She was on the verge of unconsciousness, drifting through empty air, about to fall who-knew-where.

Even then, Adam refused to let up. He was now above her, Hakuya descending in another blow that threatened to cleave her in two. Even if she blocked it, Ruby would still find herself plummeting like a meteor, slamming into whatever was below with enough force to knock her out outright, if it didn't just kill her. What was more, she could tell from Adam's bearing that he was through with giving her anymore chances. There would be no posturing, no gloating. If she was still alive after this, he would carry out the finishing blow with zero fanfare. And then he would go on to turn that blade against her family and friends.

Ruby refused to let that happen. She still had battles to fight. She had people to protect. There was no way she could allow herself to die here. That most important lesson that her family had spent so many years hammering into her came to the fore. _There are people who are depending on me now, people who _will_ depend on me in the future. I won't die here!_

Her consciousness fading, Ruby instinctively reached out with her will, drawing upon the One. A bolt of lightning descended from above with a roar. Because of their positions, it passed right through Adam, making him howl with pain. The lightning flowed through him, wreathing his body in arcs of electricity, his sword pausing as his muscles spasmed. Then the lightning leapt across to Ruby's own swords. Upon making contact, an arc jumped from Ruby's swords to her body, prompting her to jolt, her eyes snapping wide open, her mind abruptly clearing.

Then, with a loud shout, Ruby slashed up at Adam. Still stunned as he was by her last attack, Adam was in no position to block as the cross-shaped blast of lightning rushed up at him from below, launching him into the air. With an angry roar, Adam Projected his Aura, blasting away the electricity crawling across his body, forcefully seizing back control, even stopping his muscles' spasming by sheer force of will. Twisting his body in the air, he managed to right himself, landing atop the edge of one of the vertical platforms. Even with his mask on, Ruby could tell that he was glaring balefully down at her as she landed on the edge of the biome.

However, Ruby did not glare back. Instead, she took a deep, slow breath, steadying herself, closing her eyes. As she did, the lightning crawling up and down the length of her swords seemed to ebb, almost as though it was weakening. However, that couldn't be further from the case. Instead, crackling orbs of plasma formed, like fruit growing on vines, before falling away from her blades, rising to hover in the air around her. Once a full dozen of them had gathered, they abruptly condensed inwards, before extending out, lengthening into a familiar shape, copies of the blades of the two swords she held in her hands.

"_Raijin no Mai,_" Ruby intoned calmly, opening her eyes and looking right up at Adam.

"Hmph..." grunted Adam. "You look like your android friend."

"I guess you could say she inspired this," Ruby replied, recognizing the resemblance this technique had to Penny's Floating Array.

Adam stared down at her for a moment longer. "It's strange," he said.

"It is...?" wondered Ruby.

"I hate you," said Adam simply. "More than anyone, I despise you. And yet...at the same time, I feel...gratitude."

"Because fighting me motivated you to get stronger," guessed Ruby.

Adam nodded slightly. "Without that hatred to motivate me, I could not have endured the training I needed to, in order to master this sword. I would not have had the drive to master the techniques Jester carved into my flesh. So yes...for that...I am grateful. Once I have finished taking your head, I will be able to go on and rid this world of those detestable humans. And you will be the one who made that possible."

"I can't say I'm glad to hear that," said Ruby.

"I understand," said Adam. "I may hate you, but I have learned to respect you."

"I can't say the same," said Ruby. "I hate you too. I hate how you've turned the mission of making a better world for your people into nothing more than a quest for vengeance. I hate how you seek to kill anyone and everyone you don't agree with, how you've given up on looking for a better way. But I've _always_ respected you strength, Adam Taurus."

Adam grunted. "Impudent to the very end," he muttered. "No matter..."

Reaching up with his left hand, Adam removed his mask, exposing his brand and ruined left eye. Casting the mask aside, he now looked down upon Ruby with his uncovered face. Ruby remembered how she'd first caught sight of that brand, breaking his mask the first time they'd battled. He had reacted with anger and shame, clearly shaken by losing the object that obscured the scars that marred him. Now he was casting that aside willingly, showing that he was no longer hobbled by shame.

As she looked up at Adam, Ruby noticed something. When the battle began, Hakuya's blade had been the gray of steel, a bit more pale in color than usual, looking as though the edge-steel made up the majority of the blade, the hamon being higher up near the spine. However, when Adam channeled his Aura through the sword, it became sheathed in crimson light. The issue was that, even when he wasn't channeling his Aura through the sword, there was still red on the blade.

It had started near the guard. But, gradually, over the course of their battle, it continued to climb the length of the blade, slowly dying the steel the color of dried blood. Given her previous experience in fighting Adam, as well as her advanced senses, she realized what was going on all too easily.

Adam's Semblance was in play. It had been since the beginning. That was no surprise. That had been the root of Adam's style after all, accumulating attacking power absorbed from his opponents, then returning that power at a critical moment. Ruby wasn't surprised that Adam no longer required both sword and sheath to store that power. For a storied blade like Hakuya, forged by the man who'd taught the greatest swordsmith in Mibu history, storing the power accumulated through Adam's Semblance was undoubtedly a simple feat. On top of that, he no longer needed to use that strange manner of blocking he'd used with Wilt and Blush, partially unsheathing the sword, then re-sheathing it. He was now able to absorb the power of Ruby's attacks simply by wielding the sword on its own, which meant that every blow that he blocked or parried would only fuel his counterattack.

Adam had been tapping into that stored power, of course, particularly when it came to creating his clones. However, he was storing still more of it away. He no longer needed to use his Semblance to launch flying slashes, able to execute the same feats simply by using his Aura in conjunction with Hakuya's, using those attacks with speed that was beyond anything he had been capable of with Wilt and Blush.

Ruby had no doubt that, when Hakuya had been dyed completely red by Adam's Semblance, he would unleash that accumulated power for his final blow, an attack that would leave the previous forms of his _Moonslice_ paling in comparison in both speed and power.

Despite that, Ruby did not waver. She had no strategy she could think of to keep from allowing her attacks to fuel Adam's Semblance. The strategy she'd used during their second fight, reading his rhythm and avoiding those times where he tried to use his special defensive technique to stop and absorb her attacks, would be useless this time. Adam no longer needed to rely on such a specialized method. Every time his blade contacted her attacks, he would be able to absorb their power. That being the case, the only viable strategy to keep him from fully charging his Semblance's power would be to avoid contact with his sword at all. However, with Hakuya's speed, that wasn't remotely feasible.

_I guess...I'll just have to tackle this problem head-on,_ thought Ruby.

In the end, whatever advantages Adam had, the only way Ruby had of making it past them was to rely on everything she had gained, both from her training and the life she'd lived up to this point. She would have to put the weight of her entire existence into her sword, and surpass her own limitations to overcome Adam's new power.

In contrast, Adam stared down at her. His hatred for her was as strong as ever. But the anger that had clouded his sword the last two times he had fought this girl was gone. In the past, he had regarded her as an irritating distraction from his mission, and reclaiming Blake. She had been the one who had humiliated him twice over. Before, the mere sight of that face; those silver eyes, and the determination that shined within them; would have inspired outrage that would have driven him to the edge of madness. But that was gone now. Instead, all Adam felt was determination. She was an obstacle to be conquered, a foe to be overcome.

In that sense, this fight represented a clash that was far purer than their previous ones. Adam had shed the burdens of pride and anger. He faced Ruby as a true adversary, according her the respect she deserved as one. She was more than just an obstacle, more than an enemy. She was his one true _rival_.

That notion made him want to chuckle. That he, who had already lost to her twice, now considered her a rival seemed ludicrous. However, Adam could tell that Ruby felt the same.

Furthermore, he also knew that she was aware of how his mastery of his Semblance had changed, how it had advanced. She knew what was coming, and was readying herself to face it, not by cringing or cowering, but by mustering her strength to overcome it. Adam had to muster his own will to overcome _her_ instead.

_Whatever the end that comes of this, it will come after this next exchange,_ thought Adam, sheathing Hakuya, before leaping off the platform, descending on Ruby.

Ruby crossed her swords, meeting Adam's slash, the force of the blow sending her flying off the edge of the gravity-biome, sending her falling down towards the rocky surface of the geyser biome. The stone crunched beneath her feet. Ruby could already sense Adam pursuing her, swinging his sword back around in another strike. She danced aside, red light flashing from the edge of Adam's attack, drawing an angry line across the uneven surface of the biome.

With a shrill hiss, a geyser erupted from right next to Adam's right foot, sending a column of superheated steam shooting up at the edge of his field of vision. Abruptly, a humming blade of blue and white plasma slashed directly through the steam, suddenly appearing. Immediately, Adam brought his sword around. However, the attack was too close for him to effectively bring the blade into play. Instead, he raised his right arm, using Hakuya's exceptionally long handle to intercept the attack instead.

The second his handle came into contact with that blade of plasma, the others cut through the curtain of steam as well, slashing in at him from multiple vectors. Kicking off the ground, Adam skipped to his left, turning to face the source of those blades, right as the steam receded, and Ruby came barreling through the clouds that remained, all twelve swords of plasma attacking alongside the two blades she held in her hands.

It was an intense onslaught, but one that Adam was capable of handling. Now that he had gained a little distance, he was able to bring his sword's blade into play. Hakuya flashed with bright-red light, red streaks seeming to appear out of thin air to intercept the plasma swords that converged on him from numerous angles. The pair met in a furious clash, the air between them filled with blinding strobes of light as their Auras met in blow after blow.

Here, Adam realized that Ruby had already caught onto one limitation of his Semblance's new form. He could use the sword to absorb the power of incoming attacks. However, in order to fully accelerate Hakuya's blade, he had to channel his own Aura through the sword. When that sword was sheathed in the bright-red light of his Aura, that kept him from absorbing the energy of incoming attacks into the blade itself. Simply by using the sword defensively, he could have easily absorbed the power of Ruby's plasma-blades. But simply keeping up with such an intense offensive required him to keep channeling his Aura through Hakuya, which kept him from absorbing her attacks.

However, thanks to his training, he was good for more than just mindless attacking.

Falling back from Ruby's attacks, Adam stepped over and past another geyser, right before it erupted, sending another jet of steam into the air. Now he tapped into the power of his Semblance, creating a clone that charged right through the steam, unleashing a slash as it reached Ruby.

Ruby caught the incoming attack by crossing Bara and Ibara, skidding back from the force behind the blow. The steam cleared, with Adam having disappeared. However, Ruby could sense his presence circling around her, in multiple directions. He had created multiple clones, and now they were rushing around to encircle her, before converging to attack from all directions.

The floating blades of plasma almost seemed to move as though they had minds of their own, flashing out to cut down the clones before they could launch their attacks. At the same time, Ruby attacked with Bara and Ibara, seeking to take down all the clones, and find the real Adam before he could regain the momentum.

However, the real Adam caught her by surprise, appearing from behind a clone that one of her plasma-blades had cut down, swinging his sword, not at Ruby herself, but at the plasma blade that had just cut through is clone. Hakuya's edge met the blade of Tempered energy...and cleaved right through it, the plasma dissolving, before being drawn into Hakuya's blade, that dark-red color climbing a little higher up the sword's length. Adam had chosen his attack well, angling his slash so that his sword cleaved through two more of Ruby's plasma-blades in that one swing, cutting through and absorbing them as well.

Immediately, Ruby focused upon him, bringing her remaining nine blades around to slash at Adam, only for him to brace the spine of his sword with his left hand, using that to better manipulate the massive blade in close quarters, using its incredible length and width to make it into something more like a shield, using both hands the maneuver the sword in tight arcs to intercept several of the remote blades Ruby wielded, all of them breaking against the steel of his blade, and then disappearing within it. In just a couple of seconds, Adam had absorbed seven more of Ruby's plasma-blades, before she disengaged, only two remaining.

Adam slammed his sword back into its sheath, before lunging forward. Right as he did so, Ruby danced back past the mouth of anther geyser, which erupted, cutting off Adam's view of her. The bright-red flash of Hakuya's attack cleaved through the steam, and Adam caught a glimpse of his attack cutting through Ruby as well, only for him to anticipate that he was merely seeing a decoy created with her cloak.

Indeed, Ruby was already behind him, Bara and Ibara raised overhead, both blades chiming like bells. The two plasma-blades that Ruby had remaining merged with those of her actual swords. Lightning arced down from above, the bolt forking to reach the tips of her upraised swords, right as Ruby brought them slashing downwards. "_Nido Rakurai!_"

Hakuya let out a deeper, more resonant chime, Adam's Aura climbing its length as it accelerated into a streak of light, Adam turning with the slash to meet Ruby's descending swords. The two clashing attacks roared with the sound of thunder. The shockwave split the ground beneath Adam's feet, sending cracks spreading out across the rocky surface of the biome. All around them, the geysers began to erupt all at once, a rising whistle, like that of an oversized teakettle becoming audible against the deeper sound of the explosive clash. Then the entire biome exploded, sending fire and steam roaring upwards.

A streak of red emerged from the plume that rose up from the shattered biome. Ruby's flight carried her in a wide arc, that brought her over to land on the cracked and broken surface of the inner ring. Adam emerged a few seconds behind her, flying in a shorter arc to land across from her. Ruby's eyes traced his sword, then widened as she saw the yellow and orange light of the fire released by the broken biome soaking into the blade, merging into the dark-red that climbed the sword's length, which reached nearly all the way up to the tip.

This time, Adam had allowed his Semblance to absorb the charged energy of the biome itself, treating the very Dust-fueled explosion they had created as an attack, and using that to continue charging his Semblance to its maximum strength. At this rate, it would only take a little bit more before his Semblance was fully charged. Then, once merged with Hakuya's speed and power, it was bound to exceed the previous form of his _Moonslice_ by an order of magnitude.

Ruby swallowed nervously, reflecting that she essentially had two possible approaches at this point. Either she could try and take Adam down before he finished charging his Semblance up, which was virtually impossible at this point, or find a way to overcome the obstacle his Semblance presented, which might be her only option. Her best bet to keep Adam from charging his Semblance was to force him to use his Aura to activate Hakuya's speed, which would necessitate a furious offense.

_Hold nothing back,_ Ruby thought, fresh lightning erupting along the length of her blades. She raised her swords over her shoulders, transferring the lightning to her cloak. When she brought her swords back into position, her cloak exploded outward, its surface blossoming with petals that were like feathers, dancing with scintillating colors, a shimmering cloak of plasma.

"_Tenyo no Hana._"

Adam smirked, sheathing Hakuya, and sinking into a crouch, preparing for his next attack.

One way or another, this battle was heading towards its final conclusion.


	152. Chapter 152

**Chapter 152:**

* * *

**That feeling...where you realize you had the chapter all ready to go...only to realize you actually forgot to submit it until a day later. Sorry about that. I completely blanked. Next chapter will be up tomorrow.**

* * *

Ruby vanished, feathery petals scattering away from the mantle that now rested over her shoulders. They immediately flew forward, converging on Adam like meteors. Adam's sword rang as it flashed out from its sheath, the red streak of his blade seeming to go multiple ways at once, cutting down all the incoming petals easily, though Adam wasn't able to absorb their power into his sword this way.

Appearing behind him, Ruby slashed at his back, her swords merging with the edge of her cloak. Adam used the momentum of his draw to facilitate a turn to face her, Hakuya slamming against her first slash, the force knocking Ruby back slightly, though she closed back in just as quickly. Still, Adam was able to meet her blow for blow.

More petals detached from her cloak, these ones flying almost straight at him from point-blank range. Even without using his sword to deflect them, Adam was quick enough to dodge them, before stepping in, thrusting out with the pommel of the handle, which glanced off the surface of Ruby's cloak as though it were steel armor. A flash of red from the pommel deflected the electric arcs that threatened to run up into Adam's arm from that point of contact.

Even if she had avoided taking damage, Ruby was still knocked back by the blow. Adam immediately transitioned to a slash. Ruby raised her swords, lifting her right arm over her head so that the blade of Ibara stretched down vertically along her side, then bracing Bara against it horizontally. Adam's sword slammed into Ruby's crossed blades, sending her flying across the ring. However, even as she was launched away, Ruby kicked off the ring, using her momentum to execute a spin that sent a barrage of petals flying at Adam.

Stomping down, Adam let out a roar, Projecting his Aura out in a wave. Ruby's petals exploded against it, throwing streamers of electricity in all directions, but none that reached Adam himself. From there, Adam surged forward on the attack himself. Ruby barely managed to reverse her own movement, dashing forward to meet him head-on. The two of them blurred together, their weapons flashing streaks of red amidst numerous other colors. Ruby's petals exploded in the air and against the ring, filling the space with lightning and flying debris. Hakuya sent crescent-waves of Aura flying in all directions, cleaving through everything in their path.

An arc of lightning danced its way up along the side of the ring, before rushing out into the stands, ripping apart seats and melting metal floors and railings. A flying slash of crimson was knocked up to where it cleaved right through one of the skyboxes lining the inner rim of the coliseum. The shockwaves of their collisions sent reverberations through the entire structure, straining Amity's lifters and maneuvering systems as the airborne building sought to keep itself level against the titanic forces that were constantly threatening to tip it one way or another.

Ruby and Adam were dervishes of light in the center of it all, spinning against each other, even as they spun around one another, both of them always on the move, seeking a new position. The ring began to tilt and wobble. Their mere steps were shattering its already pitted and scored surface. The shockwaves of their weapons colliding only broke the floor even more, and the lifters that suspended the ring were rapidly breaking down.

As Ruby executed a complete turn, she brought her swords back together, lightning accumulating along Akaibara's length. Completing her turn, she brought her weapon around in a downward swing with both hands, aiming to split Adam in two. She had expected Adam to swing Hakuya, using its Aura to enhance its speed to catch her attack. However, despite her movements being hidden from his one functional eye by her cloak, Adam appeared to have anticipated her next attack. Rather than a light-swift slash of Hakuya, Adam maneuvered his sword with brute force, gripping the back of the blade with his left hand with a shout, using that to maneuver it into place to receive Ruby's slash.

To Ruby's dismay, her blow connected, and nearly all the force vanished at once. There was a crackling spark, apparently from there being too much energy for Adam's sword to absorb in its entirety. Had the situation not been so dire, that would have been an interesting revelation. It suggested there was a maximum total to the power that Adam's weapon could store up. However, in the grand scheme of things, that would matter little. After all, Adam's Semblance was now fully charged, and the next attack he launched would be the decisive one. Unless Ruby could survive _that_, it wouldn't matter what she had learned from his charging up. On top of that, if she _did_ survive, she had no intention of letting him fully charge his Semblance again.

Adam took advantage of the space he gained from being knocked back, returning his sword to its sheath before his feet even returned to the floor. From there, he slid to a stop. Ruby might have pursued him, but stopped, realizing that he was already set for his ultimate attack.

She expected a flash of teeth from Adam, a savage grin, an expression of smug triumph as he prepared to unleash the attack that would end this battle once and for all. The raw power he was able to accumulate with his sword was leagues beyond what he'd been able to use before. On top of that, Hakuya's speed would merge with that of his _Moonslice_, ensuring that his next attack would reduce Ruby to dust, if even that, before she even felt a single thing. From his perspective, that would be the ultimate mercy; a painless death as she was obliterated into nothingness by an attack too swift and powerful for her own senses to even be able to perceive.

But there was no smile on Adam's face. Instead, there was only a look of grim determination. Even now, with his victory all but assured, Adam was offering no quarter, allowing no iota of arrogance to slip in. He would not allow a repeat of their first fight, where Ruby had tricked him into thinking he had won, only to then strike when his guard was down. This time, he would make absolutely certain of his victory.

Ironically, because of that caution, Adam paused. He was locking all his senses on Ruby, making absolutely _sure_ that, this time, she would not evade his ultimate attack. However, that pause was the final breath Ruby had to make her move. She couldn't close and attack before he drew. In fact, her own senses were already reading the flow of Adam's incoming attack.

Ruby had learned Adam's rhythm in their previous battles. On a fundamental level, that rhythm hadn't changed. There were slight alterations. The extra half-beats, when he supplemented his slashes with gunshots from his sheath, were gone from his style, on account of Hakuya's sheath not being weaponized. However, other than that, the same beats that had informed his attacks and defenses in previous battles were still there. The problem was that they were condensed down. A beat that occurred over the course of a millisecond instead occurred over the course of a microsecond, or even a nanosecond. The timing of his unleashed _Moonslice_ would be the same, but even if she could anticipate that timing, the sheer acceleration of it would still keep her from being able to act on that knowledge.

Her sense of the flow and reach of Adam's attack told her that there was no escape. Out to his sides, in the broad arc inscribed by the swing of his blade, the sweep of it was too large for her to skirt before he could execute it. She couldn't fall back from it either. It extended both above and below. Every avenue out and around was closed off to her. Ruby stood in the midst of a complete zone of death, with no way to escape in time. In that instant, Ruby felt as though death had already claimed her.

Perhaps because of that, her worries and fears seemed to fall away. At this point, the fight was already over. There was no hope. Her mind ceased to function entirely. All rational thought drained away. Along with it went every emotion, both positive and negative. Fear slipped away alongside determination, despair alongside hope. In their wake was a sense of complete emptiness.

Almost of their own volition, Ruby's eyes slipped upward, and she found herself staring up at the moon. The moon's rotation this evening had made it so that its bulk hid the broken pieces that normally trailed behind it, making it seem almost complete. It was a beautiful sight, looking pure and almost perfect to her eyes. Its silver radiance seemed to seep down into her body, illuminating her soul, bathing her in light that would purify her in preparation for her entrance into the next life. Even though her death would come in the next second, Ruby felt as though she could stare up at the moon forever.

_"It's not only your life that rides on your sword, but the lives and fates of all those that depend on your protection, now and into the future. That's why you shouldn't forget the importance of a life, especially not your own."_

Kyo's words; spoken all those years ago to a little girl, traumatized by the act of killing for the first time; rose unbidden within her.

_"Life is beautiful. It is precious. And it must be protected."_

For some reason, Maria's words arose as well, the words that had been at the start of her teaching Ruby how to use the Silver Eyes. The Silver Eyes, the power to protect life by destroying the darkness. Even if he wasn't a Grimm, there was no question that the man before her was a source of darkness, a plague of destruction that would next fall upon all the people of Vale, including Ruby's friends and loved ones.

She could see it now. Sasame would be carved into pieces by blades that would utterly nullify her regenerative powers. Her other friends would throw themselves at Adam, and die one after another, if he didn't cut them down all at once with a barrage of slashes so fast their senses wouldn't be able to perceive it.

Dying here would mean the death of everyone else. Knowing that, there was no way that Ruby could allow herself to die. Knowing that, there was no way Ruby could allow herself to lose. Defeat was no longer an option.

None of this even occurred to her consciously. Instead, it manifested purely through her intent. All the years of training and practice she had put into mastering her art came together and, like a beam of light, Ruby could see it illuminating her path forward.

And it lay straight ahead.

Ruby gave herself completely over to the One. Her awareness expanded, swelling to encompass the whole of Amity's interior, spreading farther. Ruby almost felt as though she would be able to sense the entire world this way. However, she felt her senses stretching out to brush against something that lay beyond. It could not be described in terms of shape or color. It was something that her conscious mind couldn't really comprehend. However, she was able to sense that it had always been there, an aspect of existence itself that had previously been beyond her ability to perceive.

Ruby's eyes began to shine. This wasn't like her previous uses of the Silver Eyes, brilliant flares of radiance that spread out like wings of light from her eyes. Instead, her irises illuminated, gradually glowing brighter and brighter. Faint motes of light streamed upward, merging with the clouds that boiled over the sky, an eye forming that seemed almost perfectly centered on the moon above.

Up above, lightning cracked, jumping across the eye of the storm. Then a bolt of pure silver, almost seeming to descend from the moon itself, lanced down to strike the tip of her sword. Her cloak flowed down her arms into the handle, the entire blade shifting from red to the same silver color.

In that same instant, the red lining of Adam's jacket began to shine, along with the wilted rose on his back, and the red highlights of his hair. There was a deafening ring from Hakuya. The massive sword left its sheath, and the entire world turned red.

That world of red was split by a vertical line of silver. There was no particular nuance, no trick of handling. It was a plain downward slash. However, to Adam's eye, it seemed to be a blade of pure silver that reached upwards to split even the moon above. Its radiance was utterly blinding in this blood-red world. It was accompanied by a crash of thunder beyond anything he'd heard before in this battle.

And then everything returned to normal. The red and silver had vanished, and Adam and Ruby had traded places, their backs to one another. There was a crash of metal. Hakuya had been cut in two, the upper half of the blade sent spinning off the ring by the force of Adam's swing. The remainder of his blade remained extending out, showing that the steel had been sheared clean through.

Behind Adam, Ruby panted softly, her entire body drenched with sweat. Her legs strained and struggled to remain standing. Then she lurched forward, having to stab down with Akaibara and use the sword to keep herself from collapsing entirely. The last remnants of her cloak drifted away in a tiny cloud of petals.

"What...was that?" asked Adam, lowering his severed sword. Strangely, he didn't even seem winded.

"I just...I...I came up with it...just now," said Ruby, struggling to find the breath to speak with. She smiles slightly. "I think...I'll call it..._Tsukigiri_."

"What?" grunted Adam.

"It means...Moon-cutter," said Ruby, managing to turn and look at him, hobbling and using her sword almost like a crutch.

With a heavy clang, what remained of Hakuya fell to the floor, slipping out of Adam's hand. He coughed out a soft laugh. "Did you name it that to mock me?"

"I named it...out of respect for you," said Ruby. "I won't forget what you taught me...for better...or worse."

"I see," said Adam, holding up his hands, staring at them. His fingers began to wash a stony grey, spreading upwards towards his arms. Even as the color-drain spread, his fingers were beginning to crumble away. The effect was spreading from the center of his body as well, stretching outwards from a glittering line of silver cut directly down from the top of his head, perfectly bisecting him. "It would seem that you have won. Congratulations."

With that, Adam's entire form washed gray, before crumbling away to nothing. Ruby let out a slow breath. "Farewell, Adam Taurus."

Hobbling over, Ruby managed to fall down to one knee over the handle and stump of Hakuya. It stung, realizing she had destroyed such a storied and treasured blade, a sword forged by the mentor of the great Muramasa himself. Still, she supposed that the sword had lived a full life, up to its last moment.

Reaching down, she closed her right hand on the handle, her left still using Akaibara's handle for support. Ruby tried to lift the sword, grunting with the effort. However, even with half its blade missing, the sword wouldn't budge. Sure, she was tired, almost to the point of fainting, but she figured she'd be able to drag it, at least. Its weight was unbelievable.

_I can't believe he wielded this like it weighed nothing,_ thought Ruby, aghast. Hakuya's speed was legendary. Certainly, the sword looked large, heavy, and unwieldy. But, after seeing Adam use it to unleash attacks that approached the speed of light, it was hard to accept that the sword really _had_ been that heavy.

_Truly...he was a ma_ster, thought Ruby. She let go of the broken blade, rising up. There was no point in trying to reclaim it. The most she could do was lay it to rest alongside its wielder...or as close as she could manage, considering that nothing remained of Adam, save for a discarded mask, somewhere in the arena.

Then the ring shook under her feet. Ruby was nearly knocked over, clinging desperately to Akaibara's handle, while keeping the sword anchored in the floor. The ring's lifters began to fail, then the whole platform began to tumble. Alongside it, Ruby could see the biomes that ringed it also beginning to fall. Worse still, as she watched, water began to erupt out of hallways and through the gaps that had been torn through the stands. She hadn't even noticed the coliseum splashing down in the sea. She could hear another rumble from down below.

A creaking sound began to build around her. With a metallic shriek, the walls of the arena began to split open, more water cascading through. The entire structure was crumbling to pieces, even as it sank. It would only be another minute or so before Ruby was inundated. The way things were, she was likely to be crushed by the torrent, before she could drown. Her Aura was drained. Her body's strength was almost completely gone. Escape seemed impossible.

Tiredly, Ruby looked around, seeking some kind of path of escape. She hadn't just survived the most intense battle of her life to simply have said life smothered from her body by the sea. Closing her eyes, she Suppressed her Aura, silently trying to build it up as much as possible in what little time she had left. If she could gather even a tiny portion of the last dregs of her Aura together, she might be able to muster enough to use _Shukuchi_ to escape to the rim of the coliseum. From there, she might, just maybe, be able to navigate a path to safety.

Fortunately for her, such efforts were unneeded. Ruby barely heard it over the roar of the waters closing in, but the sound of what seemed like jets reached her ear. Looking up, Ruby gasped to see a bullhead swooping by overhead. Her heart lurched to see the White Fang symbol painted on its side. However, it switched to hover-mode, turning on its side, the open passenger-bay revealing Penny and Ciel standing at the door, looking down into the arena.

"Ruby!" exclaimed Penny, immediately jumping out. Her weapons assembled into their jet-configuration at her hips, propelling her downwards at even greater speeds. Right before she would have crashed into the ring, Penny swooped up, slipping her arms under Ruby's armpits, and lifting her up. She wasn't a moment too soon, as the waters swallowed the platform of the inner ring, their spray engulfing the pair, before Penny and Ruby rose clear, reaching the bullhead and settling into the passenger bay.

Ruby staggered inwards as the bay doors closed behind her and Penny. She let out a sigh of relief, sheathing her sword, then sinking down into one of the seats. Smiling, Ruby flashed Penny a grateful look. "Thanks for the save."

"You are most welcome, Ruby," said Penny, grinning.

Ruby glanced over and felt her relief compound when she saw Amber and Natsuki sitting at the other end of the bay. The two Maidens were battered, but alive. Looking up, Ruby could see that Penny and Ciel had been though a hard fight of their own.

"I'm guessing you were the winner," said Ciel, giving Ruby a small smile.

Ruby nodded slowly. "Adam is dead," she said.

Ciel closed her eyes, dipping her head slightly, and letting out a soft breath of relief.

"Where are Piper and Rain?" asked Ruby, looking around worriedly.

"Who do you think is flying this tub?" Piper shouted out from the cockpit.

Ruby relaxed, glad that everyone on Team CPPR had been accounted for. Taking another minute to catch her breath, she looked up at Ciel. "What's going on?" she asked.

"We're still confirming the situation," said Ciel, checking her scroll. "The civilians in the coliseum were successfully evacuated to Beacon's grounds. The Valean and Atlesian militaries have successfully established a secure perimeter within Vale. However, we've lost all three warships, and the city has sustained substantial damage. Grimm have appeared within the defensive perimeter. There may be a disruption on Beacon grounds as well. On top of that, a Wyvern has awakened, and is now seeding more Grimm throughout the Kingdom."

"Oh no," whispered Ruby.

"At present, we are heading for the safe zone," explained Ciel. "Ms. Akiyama requires medical attention, as do you, I see."

Ruby frowned, a little worried at the prospect. She wasn't worried about herself so much as she was worried for her sister and Miyu. At present, Sasame and her apprentice probably had all the patients they could handle. She didn't like the idea of adding to their workload, but also didn't see any other options. At best, the most she could hope for was to use Suppression to recover her Aura as quickly as possible, and hope that she could get back into action in time to make a difference.

"What about Raspberry and Rainbow?" she asked.

Ciel frowned, tapping the screen of her scroll. "They reported that the Grimm that are coming from within the defensive perimeter appear to be coming from some kind of spawning pools, which have been seeded throughout the city. There was one in the coliseum as well."

"That's...wonderful..." growled Ruby.

"It looks as though they are looking for the pools that were planted inside the city," said Ciel.

Ruby swallowed, her mouth going dry, realizing that her friends were running headlong into serious danger, and not just from the Grimm. Those spawning pools had to have been planted by _someone_, and Ruby had a fair guess as to who. Two people in particular, a viciously grinning scorpion-faunus and a hulking mountain of a man, came to mind. She had little doubt that they were out there somewhere. If her friends weren't careful, they could fall victim to Tyrian or Hazel.

"We'll be arriving at the safe zone soon," Piper announced from the cockpit.

"We have been granted clearance to land," said Rain.

"Did you tell 'em we hijacked a White Fang bullhead?" asked Piper. "I'd hate to get shot down because of a logo."

"I explained the situation in detail," replied Rain.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle at the exchange. It seemed her current state of exhaustion was making her a bit giddy. Then she looked over at Amber and Natsuki. "What happened to you two?" she asked.

"We fought Raven," said Natsuki.

Ruby's jaw clenched. _Yang's mom..._ Ruby wasn't sure how Yang would react to that. Raven might have been the leader of a tribe of murderous bandits. She might have been a Maiden who had gone rogue and used her magic to do all kinds of terrible things. She had also been the woman who had abandoned Yang at birth. And yet...Ruby couldn't help but worry about how Yang would react to learning that the woman who had given birth to her was now gone from this world.

However, there was something odd about the situation. Ruby would have expected Raven to go after her in particular. Yet she had apparently attacked the other two known Maidens. Perhaps Raven knew that Ruby was personally connected to Amber and Natsuki, but it still seemed a little of a stretch. "Do you know why she attacked you?"

Natsuki and Amber exchanged a glance, then looked at Ciel and Penny. Ruby realized that the reason must have had something to do with their status as Maidens, which suggested only one reason that Ruby could think of for why Raven had attacked the pair.

_But...that's impossible,_ thought Ruby. _Raven was too old to receive a Maiden's power, wasn't she?_

Natsuki and Amber then shook their heads. "We're not sure," said Amber softly.

The real meaning behind their words was clear. They could talk about this at a later time. Unfortunately, while Team CPPR were aware of the Maidens' existence, thanks to Jinnn's story, that story hadn't, fortunately, included anything that would tell them _who_ those Maidens were. They certainly didn't know that Amber, Natsuki, and Raven accounted for three of the four current Maidens.

_Well...two of them now, I guess,_ Ruby thought to herself. If Raven was dead now, then her magic would be sent God-knew-where. The only thing that worried Ruby was that the magic might go to Yang. There was no telling who had been in Raven's final thoughts, at the moment of her death, if there had been anyone at all. However ludicrously selfish she might have been, perhaps Raven just might have thought of her daughter in her final seconds. Ruby didn't think that would be the case, which made her feel a bit guilty that she felt relieved that Raven probably _hadn't_ been thinking of her own daughter in her final moments.

As long as it wasn't someone they already knew, they could settle the matter of finding out who the next Spring Maiden was at a later time, hopefully when this crisis was over...assuming they could pull through it.

She felt the bullhead lurch slightly, then rock unsteadily. Gripping the arms of her seat, Ruby fought to keep from being tossed about the cabin, a struggle that the other passengers were sharing with her. The swaying of the craft was enough for her to fully empathize with Jaune and his original tendency towards motion sickness. She was certainly feeling more than a little queasy.

"Sorry!" Piper shouted from the cockpit. "Still getting the hang of flying this thing. Mantas transition to hover-mode a lot smoother."

"Arcade simulators also do not supply much in the form of physical feedback," Rain added, a sardonic note to his voice.

"Just please make sure you set us down at something less than terminal velocity," Ciel pleaded.

"Will do, Boss," Piper replied cheerfully. "Hey, Rain, are we over the landing zone?"

"Try a little to the left," suggested Rain. "Too much! To the right a little less...now forward...back a little...I believe that should do it."

"Right," said Piper. "Here we go..."

Everyone tensed. The bullhead landed with a thud, and enough force that it reverberated throughout the entire cabin. Then everything went still, and they were treated to the sound of the airship's engines cycling down.

"We've landed folks," said Piper, emerging from the cockpit. "Thanks for flying with Cerny airlines. Please check and make sure you have your belongings with you when you disembark."

The bay doors slid open. Ruby, Natsuki, Amber, and Team CPPR emerged into an impromptu airfield that had been set up in one of Vale's larger plazas. Around them, several mantas and bullheads were touching down or lifting up. Those that landed quickly disgorged troops, or unloaded supplies, before lifting up again. Not far away, they could hear the sound of gunfire, accompanied by the frightened screams of people and the roars of the Grimm.

Ciel flagged down a nearby soldier. "We have wounded," she announced. "Where are the medics?"

The soldier in question directed them to a large gymnasium that was currently serving as a field hospital. There was an actual hospital within the perimeter, but it was already occupied. On top of that, Sasame had insisted upon a large open space, where she could reach as many people at once as she could.

And she was hard at work. People were streaming in, even as more were carried out. Sasame moved amongst prone figures, her tails weaving around her, brushing across bodies to stabilize their condition, while she focused her efforts on those most in need of her skills. Miyu worked alongside her, mainly playing the same role as Sasame's tails, stabilizing the worst injured, so that Sasame could handle the more difficult injuries.

The ones that Sasame finished treating were carried out, but more people were stumbling or being carried in. Sasame and Miyu were fighting an uphill battle to save everyone who came their way. But the pressure of the wounded was piling up.

Fortunately, they weren't working alone. Medics from the military were working frantically, mostly dealing with the minor injuries and doing their best to help figure out which people needed treatment the most urgently. It was a chaotic scene, but the kind of chaos that Sasame had trained to thrive in. Her face was shining with sweat, and she was up to her elbows in the abdomen of an unfortunate woman who'd been nearly disemboweled by a Beowolf, knitting her organs back together, even as one of her tails moved to sooth the pain of a man whose leg had been crushed by a piece of falling debris.

"This is awful," said Ciel, horrified by the aftermath of the disaster that had befallen the Kingdom.

"And these are merely the ones who have survived," said Rain sadly.

They helped Ruby and Amber towards Sasame and Miyu. Miyu looked up, having finished her most-recent patient. "Ruby-chan! Natsu-chan!"

"Miyu-chan, please remain focused," said Sasame, not even bothering to look up.

"Y-yes, Sasame-sama," said Miyu, quickly moving to her next patient.

Sasame's eyes flicked in the barest of glances their way, taking in the overall state of their bodies. "Miyu-chan, once you finish with your next patient, tend Ruby-chan's cuts. I will handle Amber-san."

"Yes, Sasame-sama," said Miyu.

A moment later, Ruby was resting against the wall, as Miyu began to treat the cuts that Adam had left on her body. "These wounds are...difficult," she noted. Considering their simplicity, they were taking more Aura than she liked to close.

"They were made by Adam," said Ruby, thinking back to what the man had once done to Neo.

Finally, Miyu lowered her hand from the wound on Ruby's shoulder with a sigh. "That was harder than it looked."

"Do you need to rest, Miyu-chan?" asked Ruby worriedly.

Miyu gave her a wry look. "Someone in your state shouldn't be asking me that, Ruby-chan. Your Aura is almost completely wrung out. You need to keep your Suppression to replenish it as quickly as possible. In fact, it'd recommend taking a nap."

"But-!" Ruby began to protest, only to stop when Miyu held a finger to her lips.

"You can't do anything, the way you are now," said Miyu. "If you want to help, you need to recover your strength first."

"A-all right," said Ruby. In all honesty, she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

"Get some rest, Ruby-chan," said Miyu, before getting up and returning to the other wounded.

Behind her, Ruby nodded off, against her better judgment.

* * *

Not far away from where Ruby was being seen to by Miyu, Natsuki slumped down against the wall herself, noting that Sasame was treating the stab-wound from Raven that Amber had cauterized, all while chiding Amber for doing so much harm to herself.

"Hey," said a familiar voice.

Natsuki looked up and relaxed, her smile widening as Oscar slid down the wall to sit next to her. "What are you doing here, Oscar-kun."

"I guess I'm keeping guard," said Oscar. "We're pretty far behind the defensive perimeter, but they want somebody on standby, just in case a Grimm makes it past the line."

"Sounds important," noted Natsuki.

"I guess it is," said Oscar. "But when the people holding the line are so good at their jobs, it makes it kinda boring."

Natsuki giggled. She cast her eyes across the floor fo the crowded gymnasium, picking out Maria, who, despite her advanced age and disability, was doing her best to help people in through the door.

"I'm glad you're all right," said Oscar. "I was scared when you and Amber were fighting that woman."

"It was scary," Natsuki admitted, as much to herself as to Oscar. "She was strong...stronger than anyone I've ever fought before. If Amber-san hadn't been there..."

Oscar draped an arm over her shoulders and hugged her up against himself. Natsuki leaned her head against his shoulder with a tired sigh. Oscar kissed the top of her head, watching as Natsuki's eyes drift closed.

"It'll be okay," he told her. "I'll watch over you now."

"That makes me feel better," said Natsuki, her eyes closing completely, while her breathing slowed.

Natsuki fell asleep, her head resting on Oscar's shoulder. Oscar shifted her, so that her head was lying in his lap. Then he resumed his watch over the rest of the building, ready to move, should anything happen.

* * *

Winter cut down a lunging Creep. Nearby, a Beowolf fell before a hail of fire from the Knights that had accompanied her to the front lines. Glancing one way, she saw an unfortunate soldier vanish beneath the bulk of an Ursa. A second later, she was there, dispatching the monster, then helping the stunned, but unharmed, man to his feet.

"Hold the line," she told the man. "Whatever else, we are the final obstacle between the Grimm and the civilians."

The soldier nodded, then quickly shouldered his rifle, taking aim at the next Grimm to come bearing down on them.

"Specialist Schnee!"

Winter turned and felt a surge of relief through her body as she saw Ciel approaching at the head of Team CPPR.

"Team Copper, reporting-!" Ciel's voice was cut off as Winter seized her in a tight hug.

"I'm glad you're all right," said Winter softly.

It took Ciel's brain a few extra seconds to comprehend what was happening, before she managed to return the embrace. "I'm glad we were able to make it back to you, Ma'am."

Winter finally let her go, then coughed self-consciously. "Please forgive my...lapse...Ciel. I was worried, after all."

"I'm sorry to have worried you, Ma'am," said Ciel.

"It's not your fault," said Winter. Then her expression hardened. "Watts...?"

"Dead," said Ciel simply.

Winter let out a breath. "I see...What of Amity?"

"We had to bring it down in the sea," said Piper. "That bastard was trying to drop it on the city."

"Given the circumstances, that's probably the best we could have hoped for," said Winter. "What about Taurus?"

"Also dead," said Ciel. "Ruby killed him."

Winter nodded, her expression grave. "And how is Ms. Rose?"

"Injured, but not severely," said Penny. "Ruby is receiving treatment now."

"That's good," said Winter.

"We also retrieved Amber Akiyama and Shinomori Natsuki," added Rain. "They had engaged with the bandit, Raven Branwen, and killed her. What she was doing here is something we have yet to ascertain."

Winter certainly found that tidbit rather odd. Just what business did a bandit from Mistral have in Vale during the worst terrorist attack in the history of all four Kingdoms? _Wait! Isn't she Qrow's sister?_ She wondered if Qrow would have any insight into what his sister was up to, though it was probably a moot point right now, given that Raven was dead.

"How can we be of service, Specialist Schnee?" asked Ciel, now getting to what had prompted her and her teammates to seek Winter out.

Winter frowned. "You four can't be planning to fight on the frontlines after what you just went through."

"We will do our duty, Ma'am," said Ciel.

A roar from behind made Winter flinch. She spun in place, her saber already lashing out. She cut down a Beowolf that had taken down a Knight, and had been lunging at her, scarcely even looking at it, before resuming her conversation.

"Your duty, Ciel, is to get some rest. The four of you need to recover your strength and your Auras, if you wish to continue fighting."

"Ma'am, we have more than enough-" Ciel began to protest.

"Show me your scroll," Winter ordered sharply.

Swallowing, Ciel reluctantly held out her scroll. Taking the device in her hand, Winter brought up the status of Team CPPR's Auras. Sure enough; Ciel, Piper, and Rain were all hovering above the critical zone. Penny was in considerably better shape. But even _her_ Aura was below half.

"As I thought," said Winter. "Right now, the job of you four is to rest, and get back up to full strength. We have food distribution and sleeping areas set up. Get yourselves some food, and then rest. I do not want to see you on the frontlines until your Auras are at least seventy-five-percent capacity. Am I understood?"

"Y-yes, Ma'am," said Ciel reluctantly.

Winter rested a hand atop Ciel's head. "You'll make a fine Huntress, Ciel. But, sometimes, doing your best means leaving the fight to others."

"Yes, Ma'am," repeated Ciel. She allowed Rain to guide her away.

Winter immediately returned her attention to the battle, monitoring the situation and seeing where her strength would be needed next.

* * *

Ironwood lowered the binoculars, which he'd been using to look out the window of the skyscraper that he and his staff had commandeered to serve as a command center. "What is the status of Team Raspberry?" he asked.

"They are closing in on the first objective," declared one of the officers, who had been tasked with monitoring the scroll signals from the two teams that had been sent out on this desperate mission.

"And Team Rainbow?" asked Ironwood.

"Another two blocks and they'll be right on the target point," said the officer.

Ironwood frowned darkly. "This feels too easy," he muttered.

"Too easy...?" grumbled someone from behind him. "We've got Grimm popping up inside the city, our air cover is gone, and the big one is spitting out even more."

His complaints were quickly hushed by the man next to him.

"I understand your reservations," said Ironwood, turning to the man who'd spoken up. "But, given what we learned about the spawning pool that appeared in Amity, _someone_, most likely Watts, planted it there, which means that the ones in the city are similarly-planted...

"...And the ones who planted those pools are likely still out there."

The man he'd been speaking to went pale at the notion.

Ironwood returned his attention to surveying the state of their perimeter. The militaries of both Vale and Atlas had acted quickly. On top of that, the ranks of soldiers were bolstered by Huntsmen and Huntresses who had already been stationed in Vale, as well as students sent over from Beacon. There had been reports that Beacon was under pressure by Grimm from the Emerald Forest. But they were able to hold the line easily enough that they could spare more than a few students to help out in Vale.

_The problem will be the Grimm coming from outside the perimeter,_ thought Ironwood. _If we can't take out the ones being spawned inside the Kingdom, we'll be overrun in a matter of hours._

In the end, all he could do was place his faith in the students who had come through for him and Ozpin time and again. They had already identified the nature of this problem. Hopefully, they would be able to pull through one more time.

"Sir! Report from Team Raspberry!" shouted the officer. "The first target has been neutralized!"

A round of cheers made its way through the room.

Ironwood limited himself to a simple nod of acknowledgement. "Forward them the coordinates of the next target," he said.

"Yes, Sir!" replied the officer.

It hadn't been easy. But, after analyzing the Grimm's pattern of movement, Ironwood's analysts had been able to isolate the approximate locations of the spawning pools. Granted, they were limited to a rough idea at best. But the results they had just gotten indicated that a rough estimate might just be enough.

_Hopefully they can finish off the other spawning pools,_ thought Ironwood.

* * *

"Well...that's one down," said Weiss, lowering Myrtenaster, watching the fires burn in front of her. The pool had ignited as though it had been actual oil. After a minute or so, the black fluid burned away, leaving nothing more than black scorch marks in its wake.

"We've already got the next target from Ironwood," said Jaune, looking at his scroll. "Looks like it's a few streets over."

"Let's get moving then," said Pyrrha.

They broke into a jog, heading across streets and through alleys. As they did, Jaune glanced sidelong at the temporary fourth member of their team. "Thanks for coming with us," he said.

"I'll fill in for Ruby-chan as best I can," said Setsuna, suiting action to word by bringing the blade of his sickle down to punch through the skull of a Beowolf.

"How is Team Rainbow doing?" wondered Pyrrha.

"They're probably fine," said Weiss.

They found themselves crossing a major thoroughfare...or it _had_ been, before the attack. Abandoned cars lined the streets. Some of them sported broken windows and windshields. Some of them were marred by claw-marks, or were crumpled like empty soda cans. The interiors of some were visibly stained with red, and none of them wanted to look to see what the sources of those stains were.

However, the cars were not the only things on this road.

With a deafening combination of howls, barks, and roars, a pack of mixed Grimm bore down on them almost like a wave. There were Nevermores and Griffons descending from above as well. All told, this was looking like a serious fight.

Then Setsuna pivoted to turn and face them. They saw a flicker of black from his Aura. "_Chiyugi!_"

In a sudden flash, the Grimm leading the charge were smashed flat, lying in the center of a depression that formed in the asphalt, a dome-shaped distortion forming in the air over them. An unlucky Griffon clipped the top of that distortion, and was yanked down as well. The effect of Setsuna's technique was enough to encompass nearly the entire width of the street...but not quite wide enough.

Several Grimm wound up barreling into the affected area, and were crushed down just as mercilessly as the ones ahead of them. However, more than a few others sensed the danger, and quickly moved the skirt the crater that had formed as a result of Setsuna's technique. But the narrowed pathways of safety meant that their numbers had been effectively bottlenecked, so the others went to work.

Still more Grimm spilled into the space of increased gravity that Setsuna had created. A sheen of sweat spread across his face. Meanwhile, Weiss worked her sword furiously. She was trying to conserve her Dust right now, and relying mainly on her swordsmanship to deal with the Grimm that were approaching from her side. Jaune, meanwhile, made himself a bulwark on the opposite side, keeping his shield up and methodically downing the Grimm that came his way with one or two slashes each. Pyrrha took up a position behind Setsuna, drawing a bead on the swooping flyers with her rifle, and trying to either take them out or draw them down into the area affected by Setsuna's technique.

After another few minutes of furious fighting, the latest wave of Grimm abated. With a tired sigh, Setsuna released his technique. "That's a pain to keep up over such a wide area," he grumbled.

"You gonna be okay?" asked Jaune.

"I can still fight," said Setsuna.

"We're not too far now," said Weiss, checking her scroll. "Let's take care of that next spawning pool."

"How many more are there?" asked Pyrrha.

"From the Grimm distribution, the General estimates there are two more that we're responsible for," said Weiss. "Rainbow has to deal with two total."

A roaring scream echoed from above, drawing their eyes upward as a massive winged shape swept by overhead, the downdraft of its wings actually staggering them. "And there's that one..." added Jaune.

"At least that one's only producing a few at a time," said Setsuna, as they got moving again. "These spawning pools are pumping out dozens all at once."

While black droplets continuously fell from the Wyvern's body, none of those droplets ever spawned more than two or three Grimm at most. Furthermore, by dropping them in a scattering pattern throughout the city, the Grimm spawned by the Wyvern couldn't mass effectively, and were generally absorbed into the hordes spawned by the other pools.

The real danger would be if its course took it over the safe zone, where it could then spawn Grimm behind the perimeter. Vale and Atlas had dedicated all their remaining aircraft to the task of turning it back, if its flight was in danger of carrying it over that zone. So far, that particular disaster hadn't happened yet. But the bullheads and mantas were being continuously harried by other flying Grimm, and several had been lost already, so it was a strategy they couldn't maintain for much longer.

Still, their first priority was taking care of the other spawning pools. Once that was done, they would be able to focus all their available strength on the Wyvern. Hopefully, that would be enough to take it out.

They found the second spawning pool where Ironwood's people had predicted. Using Myrtenaster, Weiss hosed the pool with fire, the black puddle screaming and hissing as it disappeared into smoke.

"One more to go," said Weiss.

"Let's hurry," said Pyrrha.

They continued on their way. According to the predictions from Ironwood's analysts, the last pool was most likely located within a parking garage attached to a nearby mall. Apparently, the Grimm that had emerged from that pool had turned the multilevel structure into a nest of sorts, where they massed their numbers, before spilling out to rush the safe zone's perimeter.

They emerged from another alley, coming out onto the street that led straight to their objective. Sure enough, there it was. It was easy to recognize the stack of concrete platforms, linked by ramps, that formed the parking garage...and it was crawling with Grimm. For all that their numbers consisted mainly of Beowolves, Ursas, and Creeps; the Grimm seemed more like massive insects in the way they scuttled up and down the straight sides of the garage, moving from one floor to another, or used the pillars to climb down to ground-level, when they didn't just jump down.

"We've sure got our work cut out with this one," grumbled Weiss, readying her rapier.

"What should we do?" asked Pyrrha. "We aren't even sure what floor that spawning pool is on. We'll get bogged down if we have to fight out way through those Grimm to find it."

"I've got an idea," said Jaune, swallowing. "It's not a nice one, but it might be our best bet."

"What is it?" asked Weiss.

"Let's wait until they've massed enough to rush the perimeter," said Jaune. "Once they build up their numbers, they should all charge out at once. Then the pool will spawn more. If we move quickly enough, we can find it before they replenish their numbers."

"You're right, that's not nice at all," said Weiss.

"But, if the perimeter has held up against rushes before, they can probably hold up against one more," guessed Setsuna. "Then, so long as we can keep the rush after that from coming, we should be good."

"Pretty much," said Jaune.

"Well...however unpleasant it might be, it's probably the best option we have available to us," said Pyrrha.

They pulled back, taking cover in the alleyway. Silently, they wished that Ren was with them. His Semblance would be perfect for this kind of situation. Actually, with his Semblance, they could have probably just walked right past the Grimm infesting the structure and gone straight for the pool with no issue. Sure, they probably would have had to fight their way out, but it certainly would have made reaching their objective easier.

Sure enough, just as Jaune had predicted, the Grimm began their attack. The black masses practically boiled forth from the parking garage, their barks, roars, and howls filling the air as they bounded down the streets, heading straight for the greatest concentration of negativity in the area. There, they would throw themselves against the defensive line and die...at least...that was the hope. Jaune sure hoped that they would be able to hold out. The last thing he wanted to be was the man who'd ignored the rush that finally broke through the line.

_Focus on the job,_ he thought to himself.

Now that the coast was clear, they emerged from the alleyway, breaking into a run down the street. They had to move fast. Sure, the Grimm had mostly cleared out of the area, but the spawning pool would replenish their numbers quickly. So they would have to find it before those numbers became overwhelming. They rushed up the ramp into the garage, looking around.

"Which floor do you think it's on?" asked Pyrrha, looking around.

Setsuna closed his eyes, focusing on his ears. He picked up faint growls, and the scratch of claws against asphalt. He Extended his Aura out to confirm. "Above us," he said.

"Let's get going," said Jaune, already moving towards the stairs up.

The others moved to follow him, but Setsuna paused. "Stop!" he shouted urgently.

"What is it?" asked Jaune, something in Setsuna's tone causing him to immediately raise his shield and get ready. He wasn't the only one.

"We're not alone," said Setsuna. "There's another Aura here..."

The three members of RASP were going to ask for more details, but froze as a chill ran down their spines. There was something familiar about this sensation. However, it was nothing more than a vague impression...at least, it was until a familiar cackle reached their ears.

The mocking laugh echoed through the empty space, bouncing off the bodies of ruined and abandoned cars. Here and there, they heard the sound of boots scuffing against asphalt...or a series of soft clicks. The four of them assembled back to back, looking in all directions.

Then he appeared. He seemed to drop straight down from the ceiling, his booted feet slamming down on the roof of an empty car, before he came rocketing right for Jaune. Jaune desperately raised his shield, successfully warding off the slash from the man's wrist-mounted bracers, before the attacker simply latched onto the edges of the shield, perching on it and lashing over the top of it with something. Jaune barely managed to parry it with his sword. Then his attacker pushed off the shield, jumping away and sending Jaune staggering back as Milo and Myrtenaster pierced through the space the man had occupied.

The roof of a nearby van crumpled slightly as Tyrian landed on it, surveying his prey with wild eyes and a manic grin. The source of the strange clicking sound became more apparent as the segmented, steel length of a prosthetic stinger rose up behind him.

"Ahh...so good to see you all again," said Tyrian cheerfully. "I've been looking forward to the day that I could repay you."

"You guys know this nutcase?" asked Setsuna, watching Tyrian warily.

"Tyrian Callows," said Weiss, spitting out the name distastefully. "He was working for that corrupt Councilman who was trying to have Ruby killed."

"That was but a temporary arrangement," said Tyrian, executing a short flip off the top of the van, landing in front of it, hand over his heart, head bowed. "In the end, my life and loyalty shall belong only to my goddess." He raised his head to grin at them once more. "And my duty today is to ensure that you cannot stop her children from overrunning this Kingdom. The screams of the people shall be a hymn in her praise!"

The four people in front of Tyrian shared wary glances, realizing that this final objective was going to be much more difficult than they'd bargained for.

* * *

"Really wishing...we could've...taken the elevator..." gasped Yang as they threw open the door of the next floor.

"Tell me about it..." said Nora, panting for breath alongside her.

Behind them, Ren and Blake merely exchanged weary looks, the two of them too out of breath to even be able to complain. According to Ironwood, the spawning pool located in the skyscraper they were climbing was the main source of the airborne Grimm that were plaguing the Kingdom at the moment. Unfortunately, with the current emergency, and the damage that had already been done to the building, the elevators were not an option, meaning that they had to reach their target the old-fashioned way. Ironwood's people had given them a rough guess as to what floors the spawning pool might be on. However, there was a good chance that they would have to check multiple floors before they found it.

They emerged into what had apparently been a fairly standard office space. Rows of cubicles spread throughout the room, with lanes running between them, sectioning off the space into a neat grid. Looking around, they noted that almost everything on this floor seemed intact. With the way the Grimm had apparently exploded out of the building, there was no way that things would look this neat and orderly, if they had been spawning on this floor.

Of course, that appearance changed when a Griffon ripped its way down through the ceiling with a shriek, its claws reaching right for Yang and Nora. However, the pair easily sidestepped the monster's clumsy lunge. In this enclosed space, the Griffon couldn't maneuver properly until it had ripped open more room for itself. Before it could though, Yang's gauntlet crashed into its head from the right, while Nora's hammer slammed into it from the left. The creature's head vanished in the sandwich of gold and pink shockwaves. The rest of its headless body slumped to the floor, and promptly dissolved.

"Great...more stairs," grumbled Yang, realizing that the Griffon attacking from above meant they weren't high enough yet.

As it turned out, finding the right level was easier than they'd initially thought. Two floors up, they found that the walls of the stairwell had been all but shredded, the door ripped of its hinges, revealing that at least four whole floors of the building had been torn apart and opened up into a single, more cavernous space. Honestly, it was something of a miracle that the top floors of the building hadn't collapsed down yet.

Sure enough, they were treated to a view of Nevermores and Griffons taking wing and flying out through the open sides, where the windows had once been. The undulating black surface of the spawning pool spread out before their eyes. Its surface rippling as a set of wings spread out, throwing droplets of black liquid everywhere, before a fully-formed Griffon clambered out, then bounded for the open air.

At the moment, they would have liked nothing more than to torch the spawning pool and be done with it. The problem was that there was a very substantial obstacle standing in the way.

Directly between them and the spawning pool stood an all-too-familiar figure. Hazel Rainart stared at them with an impassive gaze, arms hanging at his sides. Despite the fact that there was a human right next to their spawning ground, none of the newborn Grimm seemed to even notice him...or the new arrivals for that matter...instead making their way straight out into the open skies.

"Do not come any farther," he said simply, his voice a low rumble that made their bones hum. "There is no need for you children to die for the sake of Ozpin's pointless war."

"Last I checked, we weren't planning on dying," said Yang, slamming her gauntlet-covered fists together.

"You will...if you persist," said Hazel.

"We didn't come here to argue with you," said Blake, leveling Gambol Shroud at him. "We came to stop the Grimm."

"And I will not allow you," said Hazel.

"Then we will simply have to go _through_ you," said Ren.

"More lives lost to Ozpin's folly," muttered Hazel, removing his coat, before reaching down to the pouches at his waist to gather some Dust-crystals. "I will take him to task for your deaths as well."

The members of Team RYNB readied their weapons, realizing that this fight might well decide the fate of Vale.

* * *

**Now Tyrian and Hazel get their turns.**


	153. Chapter 153

**Chapter 153:**

"Sheesh! These guys just won't stop coming?" complained Sun, unloading a shot from one of his guns into the chin of a charging Beowolf.

"That's what she said!" commented Neptune, firing his rifle from where he stood, next to his partner.

Despite the battle raging, Sun still somehow found the time to turn a deadpan look on his friend. "Dude...seriously...?"

Neptune didn't have the time to reply, as both he and Sun were forced to dodge aside as a Boarbatusk came barreling down the road at them, rolling its body up so that it spun like an enormous wheel, its armored shell deflecting any fire coming its way. By diving out of the way, one might have assumed that Sun and Neptune were going to allow that Grimm through the defensive line. However, that proved not to be the case, as Sage was immediately behind them, his massive sword raised and ready to strike.

Sweeping the sword down, and then back up, Sage wielded it like a golf-club, slamming it into the spinning body of the Boarbatusk, and launching it back away through the air. His counterattack also reversed the Grimm's spin, prompting its body to unroll as its legs flailed futilely in the air. Before it could finish rolling over another figure dove down from above, Scarlet slashing open the Grimm's vulnerable underbelly, dispatching it with a final blow.

Landing next to Sun, Scarlet took aim with his pistol, firing a series of shots that brought down still more of the charging Grimm.

"If they keep up this pressure, I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out," he commented.

"We'll just have to hold the line," said Sun, his expression determined. "I'm not letting a single Grimm past this point."

He knew that Blake was out there somewhere, hunting down the pools that were spawning all these Grimm, and destroying them. He had faith that she and her teammates could do it. For his part, he had to make sure that he and his team did _their_ jobs to ensure that Blake and the others had somewhere to come back _to_, when they were finished.

Even over the sounds of battle, both near and far, the distinctive, authoritative click of Winter Schnee's heels was still audible. "You gentlemen seem to have things under control here," she commented, approaching them from behind. "A fresh team will be coming soon to relieve you. Try to hold on at least a little longer."

"We'll hold on as long as we need to," said Sun, turning to regard her, taking advantage of the brief lull that had fallen over this section of the battle.

"A fine attitude," said Winter firmly. "However, everyone has their limits, and it is important that you rest before you reach yours."

"All right," said Sun, a bit reluctantly.

"Um...If we're talking about limits..." said Neptune hesitantly, "...I think we're _about_ to hit ours right now."

Winter and Sun turned their attention back down the street, their eyes widening at the sight of what almost seemed a malevolent, black tide bearing down on them. Grimm were charging headlong down the street, actually climbing over one another's forms, tripping, falling, and then being climbed over in turn, giving the horde a bizarre, almost fluid, quality, their individual forms blurring together, making it seem like they were about to be buried under an avalanche of black bodies, behind a rotating host of skull-like masks.

Winter's saber whispered free of its sheath, her main gauche jumping across to her left hand. Sun, Neptune, and Scarlet all opened fire with their guns, trying to take down as many Grimm as they could, before the rest closed into range.

A thunderous roar rang out, the terrifying utterance rattling nearby windows, even cracking some of them. However, more terrifying was the fact that the sound had come from _behind_ the defenders. Had the perimeter been broken somewhere else, and were the Grimm now inside the safe zone? The thud of massive footsteps behind them seemed to confirm their most horrific fears.

However, an enormous mass instead flung itself over their heads...and directly into the oncoming mass of packed Grimm. A truly colossal Ursa Major, massive spines jutting from its back, lunged forward, easily taking out five separate Grimm with a single sweep of one of its massive paws. From there, it dove forward in a roll, curling in on itself and attacking more like a Boarbatusk than an Ursa, using the move, along with its bulk, to drive those spines into the oncoming Grimm and scattering them.

That seemed inconceivable in its own right. Grimm didn't fight other Grimm, especially when their favored targets were right in front of them. But...then again...Grimm weren't supposed to sport pristine, white fur; or shimmering, blue eyes.

"A Summon!" gasped Winter, her eyes widening, mainly because...she _hadn't_ used a Summon.

Given the nature of this battle, as the frontline commander, Winter couldn't afford to spend her own Aura wastefully. So she needed to use her Summons sparingly, if at all. Besides, even if she had quite a few available to her, _this_ particular Ursa Major was not one of them. She didn't remember dealing with any Ursas that looked this ferocious.

_But Weiss is out with her team_, thought Winter._ But the only possibility is..._

Even if Weiss had been right about the Schnee Semblance actually being a Manifestation, which could potentially be taught to anybody who had their Aura unlocked, no one in the Schnee Family had yet tried to teach that Manifestation to anyone outside the family. Weiss had expressed her intent to teach it to Ashley, but hadn't even started yet. That left only one possible answer...one that still seemed impossible to Winter.

"You seem to be having difficulties, Dear Sister."

Winter looked behind her to see none other than her youngest sibling, Whitley Schnee, standing there, a sly smirk on his face as he stood, arms folded behind his back, almost as though he were standing before the corporate Board of Directors, than in the path of an oncoming Grimm swarm.

"Whitley...you...?" Winter had no idea what to say.

"Eyes front, Winter," said Whitley. "After all, no matter what, you still have a job to do."

Reluctantly, Winter turned her eyes away from Whitley, returning her focus to the Grimm in front of her. As powerful as it had been, the Summoned Ursa had ultimately proved no match for the sheer press of numbers that the incoming Grimm had on their side, and was rather quickly overwhelmed. But not before breaking up the frontrunners enough that Team SSSN and Winter could handle them. Still, there was a virtual river of Grimm behind those frontrunners, so the original problem was still there, if held off for a little longer.

Whitley reached into his vest pocket, and pulled out a silver cigarette case. Opening it revealed, not tobacco products, but slender rods of compacted Dust. Whitley fished a red one out with his fingers. Putting it to his lips, he inhaled, the entire thing seeming to burn down with a single breath. A pair of sword-wheel Summoning Glyphs appeared, hovering in the air to either side of him. However, these had been turned a luminous red and orange. A second later, a hail of small Nevermore came flying out, their wings scattering sparks with every beat. The Summons cawed and shrieked as they flew past the defenders, and straight into the ranks of packed Grimm farther back, where they exploded like guided missiles, ripping massive holes in the packed mass.

Whitley continued to launch more Summoned Nevermores, until the Dust he'd inhaled was expended. By then, the number of incoming Grimm had been significantly reduced, to the point where SSSN and Winter could finish off the rest by themselves. Closing the cigarette case, Whitley slipped it back into his pocket, as Winter turned to regard him.

"I was not even aware that your Aura had been unlocked," she commented.

"Yes, well...you haven't been home in quite some time," Whitley pointed out.

"So I haven't," Winter admitted. "But still...to think you had such a talent for Summoning."

"I would not call it a talent, so much as resourcefulness," said Whitley. "It took a great deal of money to gather the Grimm that I would use for my Summons."

"I imagine it did," agreed Winter.

Whitley chuckled. "You remember, don't you...the nickname our grandfather had, thanks to this Semblance?"

Winter nodded.

In his day, Nicholas Schnee had been given the moniker of "One Man Army Schnee". After all, the Summoning aspect of his Semblance meant that he amassed more Summons with each foe he defeated. There were stories of him fighting entire battles on his own, his Summons bringing down his foes, only for said foes to appear in the ranks of his Summons soon afterwards. It was that power that steadily grew, the more he fought, that had led to people considering him to be nigh invincible...which made it all the more ironic that his downfall had instead come from health issues resulting from his work as a Dust miner.

"When you think about it, Summoning is the ideal ability for a coward like me," commented Whitley in a wry tone. "I can send wave after wave of pawns to overwhelm my foes without needing to raise a finger."

"I suppose that much is true," admitted Winter. "Though I would not consider you a coward."

"So kind of you to say, Dear Sister," said Whitley.

Winter sighed. "You must always make even the simplest conversations so complicated, Whitley. Just...whatever you do...be careful."

"Concern for my wellbeing...from you?" Whitley raised an eyebrow.

"Just because we have never gotten along is no reason for me to wish you harm," said Winter. "Besides, if anything happened to you, I couldn't stand to look Ms. Cerny in the eye."

"Well, I shall endeavor to make sure things are not awkward between you and your subordinates, Winter," said Whitley, chuckling softly.

"I need to move on," said Winter. "You may not have tactical training, but I imagine that you have learned enough to know when and how to put your Semblance to use."

"I should hope so," said Whitley.

Winter opened up her scroll to check reports coming in from other sections of the defensive perimeter. "I need to move on with the inspections. Could I ask you to shore things up with Team Indigo and Auburn? They are being pressed, two streets to the west of here."

"I'm on my way," said Whitley, walking in the direction Winter had indicated.

Winter nodded, then turned back to Team SSSN. "As I said, your relief will be here soon. Hold on for another fifteen minutes."

"You got it," said Sun, still stunned by the sight of what Whitley had done.

* * *

Morgan dropped through the air. Thrusting out to one side, she punched the tip of her broad rapier into the side of a building, engaging the rotational mechanism to spin the handle, allowing her to transition her momentum from vertical to something more horizontal. Her swing pried the tip of the blade free of the wall, and Morgan was now descending at a shallower angle, though her arc was steepening as well.

Still, it had been enough, and she landed, tucking her legs and going into a roll to eat up the remainder of her momentum. Coming back to her feet, she became aware of a threat descending from above, whipping her sword about to intercept the descending arc of Harbinger's blade, as Qrow brought the massive sword down in a powerful slash. Spinning the blade of her own weapon, Morgan combined the spin with the motion of the parry to deflect Qrow's slash to the side, before jumping away as the sword split the street beside where she'd been standing, sending debris flying in all directions.

Dancing back, Morgan caught a last fleeting glance of the shadow of her warship as its engines drove it on a path that would carry it past the walls, to land outside the city, ensuring that anymore destruction would be averted_. Such a shame..._

"How did you catch up to me so quickly?" wondered Morgan.

"Trade secret," replied Qrow, rising upright.

The pair clashed, their blades flashing through the air. Despite its incredible size, Qrow wielded his weapon with a speed and precision that allowed him to match the moves Morgan made with her lighter blade. For a moment, they simply danced about one another, their swords practically streaks of light between them, sparks flashing as steel and Aura connected, before they broke apart once more.

Dancing back, Qrow swung at Morgan from the side. Bringing her own weapon around, Morgan opened her trident-sword, trapping his blade between its tines. From there, Morgan triggered the rotational mechanism, which twisted the arc of Qrow's blade down. Rather than try and disengage, Qrow instead drove forward, leaning down in the process, sinking the tip of his weapon into the ground at Morgan's feet, using both its size and weight to anchor it into place. As powerful as it was, the mechanism in Morgan's rapier couldn't overcome something so heavy being so well-anchored, so it instead locked in place, the servos that drove it whirring frantically.

Before Morgan could change tactics, Qrow levered back the handle of his weapon, the gun-barrels flanking the base of the blade from either side flipping up, now leveled directly at Morgan's chest. Morgan leapt back as they fired, but still took most of the force of the shot as Dust-propelled pellets battered her torso. Following through, Qrow kicked off the ground, holding the handle of his sword and using it as a vault to bring one leg up to slam into her stomach, driving Morgan back even farther, while also blowing the breath from her lungs.

Gasping, Morgan saw Qrow pull his weapon free. Rather than charge forward, he instead triggered its transformation, the handle extending to form the shaft of his scythe, while the blade now curved, an edge extending along what had previously been the spine. The process extended the reach of his weapon, allowing him to attack without needing to close the distance himself, the sudden extension of his reach enabling his next blow to come faster than Morgan would have anticipated.

Still, Morgan jumped back, seeking more distance, while she also prepared the lightning-Dust that formed the jewel set into her eyepatch. However, while she was backpedaling, the heel of her foot caught on a protruding chunk of concrete, and Morgan toppled over backwards. The bolt of electricity she'd been about to fire was instead sent flying straight upwards, into the open sky. Fortunately, her fall still enabled her to escape the reach of Qrow's scythe.

Despite the unexpected occurrence, Morgan was able to respond fluidly, kicking off with her feet and shifting her weight, turning her fall into a backwards roll, allowing her to get back upright quickly. Qrow was already moving to pursue her, his weapon returning to its sword-mode. Rising back up, Morgan met that enormous blade with another parry from her own sword, spinning its blade to help deflect Harbinger's mass. At the same time, Morgan lashed out with her left hand in what looked like a punch. However, it would fall woefully short of reaching its target...or so it seemed.

The glove covering her left hand was shredded as it opened up, the fingers extending into the tails of a whip, barbs sprouting along their length. At the same time, the motor built into Morgan's arm set the whip to spinning, sending its tails fanning through the air as they lashed for Qrow's face.

To avoid the whip, Qrow actually allowed the weight of his own weapon to do the work for him, leaning in the direction of his deflected swing, while also pushing off, the combination enabling him to flip himself out of the path of Morgan's whip. Flipping his body over the handle of his planted sword, Qrow pulled it free as he came back down, before swinging it back at Morgan again, the counter coming with incredible speed. Still, Morgan deflected that slash with her sword. As she did, she utilized some of the fire-Dust hidden amongst the jewelry that decorated her body and impregnated in the fabric of her clothes to produce a whirlwind of flame that spread between her and Qrow. It wasn't much of a direct threat. But it did make a fabulous smokescreen.

Despite that Qrow apparently anticipated her followthrough, jumping back to avoid the tails of Morgan's whip as she lashed them through the curtain of flame she had created. Then it was Morgan's turn to dodge as Qrow simply flicked the blade of his sword down, bringing the shotgun barrels to bear once again, and opening fire. Unable to press the attack, Morgan flipped and dodged acrobatically to escape the pellets expelled by Qrow's weapon.

Landing after one such dodge, Morgan lurched as the street beneath her foot suddenly gave way, a weakened section collapsing into the sewer below. The hole was too small for her to fall all the way through. But, in some ways, that was even worse, as Morgan now found her leg trapped, and in danger of being injured if she shifted her weight the wrong way.

Not missing a beat, Qrow swung, transitioning his weapon into its scythe-mode to strike at her from out of the reach of both her sword and her whips. Sweeping her sword up, Morgan barely managed to deflect the line of Qrow's slash over her head. As it was, it managed to knock off her hat. Meanwhile, beneath the street, Morgan produced a spike of earth-Dust that extended down far enough to anchor itself into the floor of the sewer and work as a foothold, allowing her to push off and pull her leg free from the hole.

Qrow advanced, his scythe whirling and spinning, taking full advantage of his weapon's reach to attack from outside the range of Morgan's sword and whip. The gun-barrels had now rotated around so that they faced in the opposite direction of the blade, Qrow using the recoil of well-timed shots to accelerate its movement, making it all the more difficult to counter or avoid.

Morgan called upon all her skill and agility to keep from being hit. After deflecting another slash from the scythe, she pointed her sword at Qrow, opening its tines, while channeling fire down its length. This time, the attack manifested itself in the form of missiles of flame that spiraled around each other as they flew at Qrow, who deflected them off the rapidly-spinning shaft of his scythe.

At the same time, Morgan spun her whips, swinging them downwards so that the struck sparks off the ground by her feet. Those sparks were actually small pellets of concrete and asphalt dislodged by the whip's barbs. As they flew at Qrow, they suddenly enlarged, enhanced by earth-Dust, becoming bullet-sized, and accelerating at the same time. Just as Qrow thought he had successfully defended against Morgan's attack, he had begun to transfer into an attack of his own, only to be sent reeling by the barrage of rocks kicked up by Morgan's whip.

Still, Qrow simply launched himself back away, opening up the distance between them to ensure that Morgan wasn't able to capitalize on the hit she'd landed. Harbinger collapsed back down into its sword-form. Coming out of his spinning flip, Qrow slashed upwards, sending a crescent-shaped wave of Aura projecting out from the edge of his blade at Morgan, who caught it in the spinning tines of her sword, actually managing to twist it around her so that it went flying off to slash into the wall of the building behind her.

Qrow immediately charged forward, the handle of his weapon extending again. However, the blade's orientation didn't change, so he instead thrust it forward like a giant spear, rather than swinging it like a scythe. Grinning Morgan simply caught it in the tines of her sword. This time, Qrow was in no position to resist as her weapon's spinning motion wrenched the handle out of his grasp, throwing Harbinger up into the air.

Grinning triumphantly, Morgan stepped forward, already raising her left arm to lash out with her whip. A whirlwind formed underneath the heel of her leading foot as she pushed off, allowing her to step faster, aiming to close before Qrow could retreat out of her reach again. However, counter to her expectations, Qrow closed in as well, simply lashing out with his right fist in a powerful punch, which slammed into Morgan's jaw, the rings on his fingers serving to enhance the impact, sending her staggering back.

Still, Morgan wasn't someone to be overcome that easily. Even as she was knocked, reeling, by Qrow's punch, she still had the wherewithal to lash out with her left arm, the whips swinging for Qrow's face. Qrow pulled his right arm back and held it up to intercept the tails of her whip, which wrapped around the extremity. As the tails tightened, the barbs lining them punched through Qrow's Aura, and sank into the skin and muscle of his arm, making him growl, baring his teeth in pain.

Grinning ferociously, Morgan pulled, tightening her whip's hold on Qrow's arm and pulling the barbs in deeper, while also pulling him towards her, and into the reach of her sword. If Qrow resisted, the barbs would begin to tear through his flesh, shredding it. Either way it went, Qrow was in dire straits, with no hope of escape. Even if he chose to sacrifice his arm to pull free of her, Morgan figured that he would be easy pickings for her with his dominant hand out of commission.

Then Morgan froze, the sound of steel piercing flesh and punching through bone echoing through the street. Her sole visible eye was wide with disbelief. The pulling stopped, and her sword dropped from limp fingers, clattering down to the street. The reason was quite obvious to Qrow, seeing the blade of his weapon protruding from the top of her head, having sunk down through her neck into her torso, driven by its impressive weight.

The punch Qrow had landed had actually sent Morgan stumbling right back into the descending arc of Harbinger, after she had pulled it out of his hands and sent it tumbling through the air. The handle had collapsed back down, and the sword had fallen straight down to pierce through Morgan's head from above.

Now Morgan collapsed down to her knees, her body going completely still after that.

"Tough luck," said Qrow, before reaching and slowly unwrapping the tails of her whip from his right arm, grimacing and grunting as he pulled them slowly out of his arm. After a couple minutes of work, Qrow finally managed to pull them free.

He grimaced at the sight of the jagged punctures running up and down his forearm. His grip had no strength, and it hurt simply to move. Blood flowed freely, running down his fingers to drip off the tips.

Scowling at the thought of what he was about to do, Qrow reached his left hand down to pull out his flask. Bringing it up, he bit down on the lid, then turned the flask itself to unscrew it, before spitting the lid out. He took a deep swig of the contents, before taking the flask...and emptying its contents over his wounded arm. Qrow groaned in agony as the alcohol stung his wounds. He was fortunate his preference for liquor was something high-proof, as that made it a handy tool for times like this.

Tossing the flask aside, Qrow now reached into one of the pouches hidden beneath his shirt, pulling free a roll of bandages. Wrapping his arm wasn't an easy task, especially since he was working with his off-hand, having to hold the end of the bandage between his teeth while using his left hand to wrap it around his right arm. After a few moments, he was done, tearing the bandage and tucking the ends in so that they didn't dangle loose.

Putting the bandages away, Qrow finally reached out with his left hand and pulled his sword free of Morgan's corpse, which had obligingly remained upright, though it quickly toppled over after he pulled his sword out. Qrow stared down at the dead pirate for a moment, before sighing.

Turning to take in his surroundings, Qrow was able to easily pinpoint his location within Vale. The problem was that he was close to the perimeter, a good distance away from the safe zone. _Still, getting over there would be my best bet,_ he thought. _I sure could use some help from Ruby's sister about now._

Unfortunately, flying was out of the question. Debilitating injuries were carried over when he shifted from one form to another. If his arm was injured as a human, then his wing in crow-form would be injured as well, making flight impossible.

_Guess I'll just have to hoof it_, he thought, not liking the notion. Everything he had seen on the flight to Morgan's warship had indicated that there were a_ lot_ of Grimm between him and his destination, and he was down one arm. He could fight decently with his left hand. But his skill was more limited, and he couldn't use his weapon effectively in its scythe-mode with just one hand.

Still, it wasn't as though he was high on options. He would just have to move carefully. The Grimm would be converging on the safe zone for the most part, so he wasn't likely to encounter too many until he got past the points they were emerging from. If he was careful, he might be able to avoid contact with most of them until he was close enough to make it past the defensive perimeter.

A roaring shriek echoed through the air, the sound making chills run down Qrow's spine. Looking up, he saw the massive red and black shadow of the Wyvern sweeping overhead. As it did, he saw black droplets falling from its body. Several of those droplets fell onto the street both in front of and behind him. From those pools of liquid emerged fully-grown Grimm, Qrow's eyes narrowing in frustration as a Beowolf and and Ursa rose up in front of him, while two more Beowolves flanked him from behind.

"Just my luck," he grumbled, hefting his weapon in his left hand to rest its spine on his shoulder.

* * *

The campus of Beacon was relatively quiet, compared to the cacophony of catastrophe that was going on, back in Vale. Distant roars and explosions sounded from the city, the commotion over on that side managing to carry across the bay to reach the ears of those stationed at the Academy. There was a closer source of noise though, coming from the north. The students and staff who'd remained on Academy grounds had assembled there as the Grimm came charging through the threes of the Emerald Forest, rushing the cliffs, seeking to climb up and throw themselves upon the helpless, frightened civilians being sheltered within the school.

Fortunately, their numbers weren't overwhelming, yet. The negativity coming from the comparatively small number of civilians being sheltered on campus was nothing compared to the (ironically) beacon that was the center of Vale right now, countless people sheltering in a relatively small space, the claustrophobic quarters, along with the fact that the Grimm had arisen right in their midst, magnifying their fear several times over. Therefore, the Grimm rushing Beacon were a pittance, compared to the hoard making its way towards the walls of Vale.

However, it was enough that those who had been entrusted with the school's protection were unwilling to take chances, and had mustered all their strength to keep the Grimm from overrunning the school.

Which might well have been what their enemies had been counting on. Nobody really noticed as a trio of bullheads flew east out of Vale, quickly traversing across the bay. There was nobody to note the red symbols painted on their sides as the trio of airships swooped low over the Academy, aiming for the central courtyard, at the base of Beacon Tower. The three ships quickly swooped in for a landing, settling down before the entrance to the tower, their engines cycling down.

The passenger-bay doors opened up, and about twenty masked faunus emerged from the interiors. One of them, apparently the leader of the group, sporting a pair of bat-wings extending from his shoulders, turned and shouted to the others, even the bullheads' pilots disembarking to participate.

"Let's get in there and suppress all resistance," said Yuma, one of Adam's supporters, who'd secretly followed Sienna over from Menagerie. "We don't have many explosives left. Let's make 'em count."

"Sir!" shouted the other soldiers in unison, a group of them rushing for the open doors of the tower lobby.

The plan was simple, and easily executed, even with the relatively small number that they'd managed to scrape together for this mission. While the defenders of Beacon and Vale were occupied, the White Fang would steal in, and bring down Beacon Tower, taking the CCT along with it. The Kingdoms would be cut off from one another, plunged into silence, as even communicating with their own settlements would become a difficult task. Worse still, the transmission would be cut just as everyone watching saw Grimm in the process of overrunning Vale, leaving them to assume the worst, when the signal was lost.

Today was the day that the White Fang would strike back, not a single simple target, but at humanity as a whole. Today was the day to shake the Kingdoms down to their foundations and prove that the organization was no mere gaggle of malcontents, but a force capable of genuine change. The destruction of the CCT would, conceptually, erase a Kingdom from the map, and it was the White Fang who would strike that blow.

"What about High Leader Taurus," asked the gray-haired young woman who came to stand next to Yuma, her skin was lined by gray veins.

"He's stronger than we realize," declared Yuma confidently. "Even if he were to die, he'd want us to put the mission first, Trifa."

"Understood," said Trifa, brushing back hair hair, watching as the first soldiers made their way through the lobby doors.

They came flying back out almost instantly. A shrieking sound was followed by an explosion of orange and yellow flames, a trio of soldiers blasted back away. A fourth suddenly lurched, his body breaking into spasms as yellow bolts of electricity crawled over his skin, before he too was launched back. The fifth and final of the first group as knocked off his feet by a powerful kick to the chin from a heeled boot.

Three figures emerged from the lobby of Beacon Tower. At the front and center was none other than Roman Torchwick, grinning widely as he twirled Melodic Cudgel around the first two fingers of his right hand. "Well well well…Lookey here…Unwelcome visitors."

On either side of him stood Ilia and Neo. Ilia had switched back into her combat outfit, holding her weapon down by her side, a determined look on her face as she stared down at the remaining White Fang. Neo was unarmed, but that didn't stop her from giving the terrorists a cocky smirk, canting her head.

"Torchwick…still as much as a traitor as ever," growled Yuma. He hadn't been a part of the group that had been originally working with Roman, but had been privy to the details of their previous association, as well as Roman's well-deserved reputation.

Roman grinned viciously. "That's Professor Torchwick now," he replied with a cackle. "And I'm afraid that, now that I'm a part of the faculty here, I can't just allow a bunch of hooligans like you to go about wrecking school property."

"Do you think that the three of you can stop us?" asked Yuma with a growl, the rest of the White Fang troops arraying themselves behind him.

"I'd say so," said Roman, planting the tip of his cane against the floor, and resting his hands atop it. "Fortunately, I don't have to worry about that. You see, aside from the faculty, I've also invited a couple distinguished alums to join in on this little terrorist roundup."

"What?" growled Yuma, only to pause as he heard a low humming sound from behind them. Turning, he saw a pair of figures step around the empty bullheads.

Blaine Arc hefted Angau Glas, the broad, triangular blade, with its chevron-shaped guard, flickering into existence. Beside him, Yukimura calmly drew out what seemed like a baton from beneath his coat. Twirling it with his hand, he extended the weapon out to a full-length staff. The head of the staff detached, connected to the shaft by a chain, while spikes unfolded out from either side of it. More curved spikes emerged from along the length of the shaft, a short ways down from the head.

"I think that, between the five of us, we can corral a bunch of rowdy losers like you," teased Roman, hefting his own weapon once more.

The White Fang soldiers exchanged looks, before throwing themselves at the three people barring their path with enraged howls.

* * *

Hazel faced down the four members of Team RYNB. In each hand, he gripped a handful of Dust-crystals, a combination of red and yellow. They had clearly been shaped artificially, sharpened to needlelike points on one end. Then, with deliberate movements, he raised his right hand, and plunged those sharpened tips into the flesh of his left upper-arm, then repeated the same movement with his left hand and right upper-arm. With a pair of flashes, veins of red and yellow ran through his muscles, reaching all the way up his neck, to the base of his skull, and all the way down to his fists.

His hands now free, Hazel spread his arms, holding them down and out to his sides, ready to attack or defend as he saw fit.

_Getting past him is going to be a hassle,_ thought Ren, taking in the situation. They had to take out the spawning pool. But that wasn't quite as simple as it seemed. Aside from the fact that they spawned Grimm, the pools' properties weren't understood all that well. This pool had been put high up in a skyscraper. A regular attack might well simply break the floor beneath the fluid, and send it pouring down to a lower level. Worse, simple force might potentially scatter that black liquid. It seemed that the smaller droplets that fell from newly-emerged Grimm simply evaporated, but if those droplets were big enough...did they run the risk of turning one spawning pool into a dozen or more?

Unfortunately, they couldn't exactly afford to experiment to find the answers to those questions. Their priority was to eliminate this pool and stop the Grimm reinforcements from appearing in the middle of the Kingdom, which would free up the militaries of Atlas and Vale to focus on preparing the Grimm that were closing in from outside the Kingdom, as well as the Wyvern that was now circling the skies.

To that end, with help from Winter and Ironwood, they had managed to rig up incendiary grenades that could be fired from Magnhild. The issue with that was that they had a limited supply of those grenades. If Hazel intercepted or blocked them, their options would be reduced.

However, they couldn't get too caught up in fighting Hazel either. Their objective was to destroy the spawning pool, first and foremost. Hazel was an afterthought to that. His objective was clearly to either stop them or stall for as long as he could. Therefore, as long as they managed to burn this pool in short order, they would win this fight.

Ren raised StormFlower, preparing to do his part to ensure that they could get past Hazel, but was stopped when Yang stepped in front of him slightly, raising her arm to hold him back.

"Yang...?"

Yang glanced back at him. "Leave this jerk to me," she said. "Just watch for your chance, then you and Nora can take out the pool."

"Don't you mean, leave it to _us_?" asked Blake, smiling wryly as she came up to stand next to Yang.

"Right," said Yang, grinning at her partner, before the two of them turned to face Hazel.

"Fools..." grumbled Hazel.

"The only fool I see is the one standing between us and what we need to do," retorted Yang, smacking her gauntlets together.

Then she charged. Hazel's eyes widened. It seemed as though Yang had crossed the space between them in a single step, already within striking distance. With a shout, she punched out with her right fist. Hazel brought his left forearm up to intercept the attack, the discharge of Ember Celica's shotguns exploding harmlessly against his hardened Aura. With a growl, Hazel forced back against the blow, knocking Yang's attacking arm out to the side, before he returned the favor, lashing out with a punch from his own right fist, which was sheathed in a combination of lightning and fire.

Between the Dust, Aura, and sheer muscle-power behind the blow, there was no way Yang could imitate Hazel's feat of blocking the attack head-on. Instead, she swung her left fist around in a sharp uppercut, punching Hazel's attacking arm from below, while she shifted aside from the attack, the fire and lightning wreathing his fist launching off in a bolt that flew between Ren and Nora, exploding against the back wall of the stairwell they'd emerged from.

_This guy's hard!_ thought Yang, shocked. The blows she'd just exchanged with him had felt like she had been punching something stronger and harder than solid steel. There was only one thing she could think of to explain it. _His Aura is Tempered._

However, that didn't quite do it justice. Hazel's Aura was Tempered beyond anything Yang had ever encountered. She'd clashed against Ruby, and even sparred with Kyo a couple of times. She'd also gotten a chance to see Setsuna and Natsuki in action up close. All of them had their Auras Tempered, granting them greater protection against attacks than Aura on its own. But Hazel's was Tempered on another level, solidified to the point where it was a better defense than the most advanced armor forged by human hands.

There was a flicker of black behind Hazel, then Blake appeared, whirling through the air. First, she slashed at the back of his neck with Gambol Shroud's cleaver-like sheath, before lashing out with her sickle on the end of its ribbon. Both attacks struck home, but seemed to simply glance off that hardened Aura. On top of that, Hazel was a good bit faster than his bulk suggested, turning in place, reaching out with his left hand to snag Blake's sickle as it whirled past on another swing. With a shout, he pulled, yanking Blake around with a surprised yelp, swinging her around and turning her body into an improvised flail, which he swung directly at Yang.

At the last second, Blake created a Shadow, which burst as it struck Yang, while its appearance bounced the arc of her flight up and over Yang's head. Still, Hazel wasn't quite finished yet. Crackling streamers of electricity raced down the ribbon, flowing into Blake's arm, making her cry out in pain.

Yang roared, surging straight ahead, stepping down hard enough to shatter the floor beneath her feet. She slammed both fists directly into Hazel's torso, only to feel the force of her powerful attack disappear as Hazel's own Aura flashed in a strobe of burnt-orange, dispersing the force of her attack.

_That was Projection!_ she realized, having forgotten that it could be used defensively like that. She remembered Kyo doing something similar during one of his sparring matches against Ruby. But this appeared to be more limited, yet more refined, probably allowing Hazel to neutralize her attack with the minimum expenditure.

However, that was the least of her concerns. Hazel had released his hold on Blake's weapon, allowing her limp body to go flying way. Instead, he clasped both hands together over his head, bringing them swinging down in a hammer-blow.

Yang leapt aside, Hazel's attack throwing up a wave of lightning and fire from where it had landed, while she cartwheeled through the air to his right. Abruptly, Yang punched out with her right hand, triggering her gauntlet, using the recoil of the discharge to stop and reverse her momentum, turning her the other way. It also bounced her up so that she could bring her left hand around to slam her fist home, square on Hazel's jaw.

The man's head was snapped to the side, the force behind Yang's punch sending him staggering to his left. However, that was the extent of it, as he rallied almost immediately, lunging back at Yang, punching out with a roar. Yang barely had time for her feet to touch the ground, before she saw his massive fist swinging right for her face. She chose to meet him head-on, with a roar of her own. Their fists collided, the resulting shockwave cracking the floor beneath their feet, and also sending Ren and Nora staggering back.

While she had power, Yang was, ultimately, no match for the sheer weight behind Hazel's punch. She was sent skidding back from their colliding blows. She punched out with her other fist, launching a bolt from Ember Celica, using that to intercept the bolt of fire and lightning that Hazel had launched from his own fist in an almost perfect mirror of her attack.

From behind her, Yang heard the sound of running feet. Then Blake stepped on her shoulder, using Yang as a foothold to jump higher, her leap carrying her over the explosion created by the colliding attacks. Descending on the other side, Blake slashed down at Hazel with the black katana in her right hand. Hazel warded the blow with the hardened Aura around his forearm, before countering with a powerful upward punch with his opposite hand. His attack struck Blake full on in the stomach.

However, the impact was greeted by a flash from Blake, before her body exploded, the flames and shockwave sending Hazel stumbling backwards. Meanwhile, the real Blake touched down behind him, before kicking off the floor, going into a spin and whipping both her weapons around in a sequential attack that slashed at the Aura guarding Hazel's back several times, the force ultimately sending him stumbling back forwards, directly into a punch from Yang, which sank into his stomach.

This time, Hazel was sent sliding back, Blake's blades biting into his shoulders now. However, Hazel simply roared out, the veins running up and down his arms shining brighter, before he dropped to his knees, slamming his fists against the floor. The resulting shockwave blew Yang and Blake off their feet. However, it also had a secondary effect of shattering the floor, dropping the three of them down onto the level below.

"Nora! Now!" shouted Ren.

Fortunately, the hole Hazel had opened in the floor hadn't reached the spawning pool. However, it was a near thing, and the rest of the floor could break at any time, which would send the black liquid spilling down below, possibly onto Yang and Blake. None of them wanted to find out what that substance would do to human flesh. If it was anything like what had happened to Salem in the vision Jinn had showed them, Ren didn't want any part of it. After all, Salem had been transformed by the pool she'd thrown herself into in the land of darkness, but had only been able to emerge from it courtesy of the God of Light's curse of immortality, which would suggest that the consequences of such immersion on someone _without_ any such curse would be substantially more lethal.

However, the important thing was that Hazel was now out of the way. With a grin, Nora aimed her grenade launcher, the shot emerging from her weapon in a streak of orange, striking the spawning pool, erupting into flames, which spread across the liquid as though it were oil. A high-pitched hissing noise filled the air as too-black smoke streamed up towards the ceiling. A Griffon that had been crawling forth from the pool fell down with a scream, the lower half of its body having burned away before it could finish emerging, with the rest of it soon dissolving as well.

Down below, Hazel was quick to realize what had happened, looking up with a shocked expression.

"Looks like you lost, buddy," said Yang, giving him a triumphant smirk.

Hazel focused his gaze on her, his eyes narrowing. His irises now shone with a combination of red and yellow. "It doesn't matter," he growled. "You've only prolonged the inevitable. Ozpin's downfall will come sooner or later."

"Whatever," said Yang. "Ozpin-this, Ozpin-that...you need to get a life."

Yang certainly hadn't been trying to placate Hazel, but she found herself shocked when the man thew his head back, unleashing a roar that shook the entire building around him. Then he charged right at her, swinging with a heavy punch that Yang barely managed to dodge with a yelp.

"OZPIN _DESTROYED_ MY LIFE!" Hazel howled. "HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME IN HIS POINTLESS WAR! EVEN NOW, HE STANDS BACK AND WATCHES WHILE SENDING YOU CHILDREN TO FACE ME!"

"So what?" demanded Yang, barely managing to slip aside from his next punch, before lunging in to deliver a rapid series of jabs against Hazel's chest and stomach. Even those light jabs were capable of denting solid-steel plate, yet they did next to nothing against Hazel's Aura, which only seemed to get harder and stronger, the angrier he got.

Unfortunately, she was in a bad position, so Hazel's next punch caught her right in the stomach, driving the breath right from her lungs, as well as sending fire and lightning searing through her, burning at her Aura, making her scream.

"You know nothing!" snapped Hazel. "That damned Wizard took my sister from me!"

Yang landed hard, fighting through the pain to get back up. Her Semblance was charged up, but trying to use it right now wouldn't do her much good. She had to wait for the right moment.

Hazel began to charge after her, but was forced to stop when Blake's weapons slashed at his back. Turning around, he launched another bolt of energy from his fist, exploding against Blake's body, only for it to dissolve, revealing itself to be her Shadow.

Blake's Shadow had launched her up over Hazel's head, but he seemed to have anticipated that.

"She was like you!" he continued, reaching up to snag Blake's ankle.

There was a flash, and Hazel was now holding a frozen statue of Blake, his hand encased in the ice around her leg. Meanwhile, Blake was now on the floor, directly in front of him, launching herself forward, landing a cross-shaped slash against his chest a she shot past.

"She just wanted to help!" he roared, turning after Blake, and slamming the frozen doppelgänger down, almost shattering it against Blake's head. She managed to dodge back at the last moment, but yelped as her body was battered by the icy shrapnel her ice-Shadow had become.

"She wanted to be a hero!" Hazel continued to rant, bulling forward with another swing.

Blake gasped, dodging back, an earthen statue taking her place. However, Hazel's punch blasted through it with ease, battering Blake with the fragments of stone that were sent flying her way.

"She wanted to protect others!" Hazel pressed on, swinging again.

This time, his backhanded blow caught Blake in the side. It was just a regular Shadow this time, Blake trying to slip past him on the side again. However, Hazel had apparently anticipated the move, reversing and turning the opposite direction, so that his next back-fist caught Blake square in the side of her chest, fire and lightning exploding out on contact.

"Ozpin tempted her with lies and honeyed words!"

Blake was sent sprawling, her body spasming from the electricity racing through it. Hazel stomped towards her.

"He lied to her...then he sent her off to die, just like he sent you off to die," said Hazel. "In the end...your blood too...will be on his hands."

Blake could only look up as Hazel stood over her, raising a massive fist, fire and lightning condensing around it as he prepared to bring it down in what was unmistakably a finishing blow.

"So, that's it...?"

Yang's voice was soft, nearly a whisper, but that alone was enough to bring Hazel to a stop, fist still raised.

Yang's body was shining, particularly her hair, which was glowing a bright glow, her skin lighter and paler than normal. However, the greatest change lay in her eyes, which had changed to a familiar, vibrant crimson.

"That's your big reason...?" she snarled. "You lost someone you loved, so that gives you the right to do all _this_?!" She gestured out the windows, where Grimm still swooped and dove throughout the city, and the Wyvern circled a little ways away.

"I'm passing judgment," declared Hazel, turning to face Yang. "All of this is because of Ozpin! He threw my sister away in a war that he _knew _couldn't be won. He threw her life away for nothing!"

"Excuse me?" scoffed Yang. "Where does that excuse you to kill so many other people? How the hell do you get off being so righteous, you son of a bitch?"

"I had no wish for this," said Hazel. "If Ozpin-"

"Oh _shut up_ about Ozpin!" snapped Yang, taking a step towards Hazel. All the while, the air around her growing warmer and warmer. "You're gonna set off all this destruction, then blame it on Ozpin.

"You say Ozpin sends people to die. You say that he throws lives away. Maybe he does. Darned if I know. But you know what...? Ozpin's not _here_. _He's_ not the one planting Grimm spawning pools in the middle of a Kingdom. _He's_ not the one fighting alongside psychotic bastards like Tyrian and Jester.

"I may not know Ozpin, but...I know one thing for sure. If your sister really _is_ how you described her, I know that...if she could see what you're doing in her memory...she'd be disgusted with you."

Hazel's eyes glowed, the Dust-fueled light coming from them boosted by his Aura, which thrummed with his anger. Reaching into the pouches at his waist, Hazel pulled out more handfuls of sharpened Dust crystals: black gravity-Dust, green wind-Dust, and brown earth-Dust. He slammed each handful home, sticking them deep into his upper-arms, alongside the crystals he'd already jabbed into his flesh. With a roar, new veins of varying colors climbed up and down his arms. There was a hissing sound from his flesh, the raw energy surging through it being far more than it could bear.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!" roared Hazel, charging towards her, his fists surging with chaotic maelstroms of elemental energy that surged ahead of him like meteors.

"I'M THE ONE WHO SHOULD SAY THAT!" Yang roared back, her Aura exploding out around her in a golden wave, particularly from her back, spreading behind her almost like a pair of wings. She shot forwards, the floor where she'd been standing shattered by the force of her step.

The two of them collided, their fists slamming repeatedly into one another. The orange and yellow flashes of Ember Celica's rounds were merged with the shining gold of Yang's Aura, bolstered by an intense red, the same color as her eyes. They met with a swirl of color and energy that covered Hazel's fists, their punches connecting between them, throwing out shockwaves infused with crackling electricity and flames, overlapping with black rings of gravitational energy and shards of stone. At this point, both fighters had completely abandoned anything resembling technique, strategy, or tactics. Instead, they slammed headlong into each other with every ounce of strength and rage they possessed.

"WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT, HUH?!" demanded Yang, pressing forward, putting more and more of her anger into each blow. "WHAT MAKES YOU SO SPECIAL, THAT YOUR PAIN IS SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVERYONE ELSE'S?! HOW DOES THAT MAKE IT OKAY FOR YOU TO KILL ALL THESE PEOPLE?!"

Hazel growled, finding the power of his own blows being forced back, while the power behind Yang's punches only seemed to increase with each exchange.

"You're not some righteous avenger!" Yang shouted, her next punch knocking Hazel's fist away. "You're just a _great_..." Her next punch slammed into Hazel's gut, making him gasp, his body folding forward. "..._big_..." Her next punch slammed into Hazel's shoulder, the flash of her Aura seeming to punch through it, as the impact aborted Hazel's attempt to swing that arm, while a sharp jolt of pain surged through him. "...BABY!..." Yang's next blow was an uppercut that slammed home into Hazel's chin, blasting him off his feet, blood flying from his mouth as he bit down on his tongue, agony racing through him. "...throwing a giant TEMPER TANTRUM!" Stepping into her next blow, Yang slammed her fist right into Hazel's chest, the gold light of her Aura seeming to punch straight through his body, even as the orange flash of her shotguns exploded against his ribs, sending him flying back past where Blake lay, slamming through several walls, and almost all the way out the other side of the building.

Hazel groaned, his limbs quivering, his mouth hanging open, eyes rolling. There was so much _pain_. However, even more shocking was the realization that he was feeling pain at all. Hazel's Semblance, Numbing Agent, completely nullified his sense of pain, which was what enabled him to handle injecting himself with so much Dust at once. No matter how powerful Yang's blows were, even if they broke bones or pulverized organs, they shouldn't have slowed him down. Yet, he felt the pain of each punch she had just landed, not just against his body, but his fists as well. It was as though she had been punching through his Semblance _itself_. Such an act should have been impossible, but the testimony of Hazel's own senses could not be ignored.

Worse still, Hazel could now feel the pain of the Dust he'd injected into his arms surging through them; his muscles tearing, tendons snapping, bones cracking; Yang's last hit seeming to break his Semblance completely. That intense pain was rushing through him, swamping him. Technically, Hazel could have reactivated his Semblance, and suppressed the pain once more. However, unfortunately for him, he was now reaping the consequences of relying upon it so heavily.

Learning to deal with pain was a critical part of any fighter's training. Even more important than dealing hits, one had to learn how to _take_ hits as well. Skilled fighters spent years of their lives training to overcome their sense of pain; the best learning not to simply suppress it, but treat it as a source of critical information, telling them about the limits of their bodies; all without succumbing to it. However, Hazel's Semblance had enabled him to bypass that process. He had spent his entire life shutting out the pain of his exertions, just as he had tried to shut out the pain of his loss, by channeling it into anger instead.

In a sense, were one to put it into the terms of the Mibu, Hazel had created a Manifestation based upon his desire to hide from his pain. Rather than a raw Semblance, born from a person's innate tendencies, his was created, honed for a single, specific purpose.

But...if his ability was a Manifestation...then there was no denying that it was poorly-made.

Because Hazel's Semblance had been created specifically to stop his pain, he had never truly needed to learn how to deal with pain on his own. That lack of experience meant that the pain he was experiencing _now_ was completely overwhelming him. It didn't help that, by using it to ignore the agony of injecting himself with so much Dust, Hazel had pushed his body beyond all rational limits, and now had to deal with the sensation of it being torn apart from within. He, who had never trained to deal with pain properly, was now awash in more pain than anyone could imagine...the worst combination imaginable.

And still, Hazel's limbs seemed to move on their own. If there was one thing that could be said to be to his credit, it was his determination and tenacity. Even as his mind was overwhelmed by the agony surging through him, his body was still automatically struggling to get back to its feet. Standing up, Hazel fixed his eyes on Yang, who was approaching at a walk, her Aura hanging behind her like a pair of wings, like those of a demon...or a dragon. Her hair danced, seeming like a golden construct of living flame. Her Crimson Eyes were shining brighter than ever. Even though she was walking, each step sent a spiderweb of cracks spreading through the floor around her. The air rippled with waves of heat, the entire space feeling like the interior of a giant oven.

Hazel roared, his voice like the bellow of some enormous beast, making the entire building vibrate around them.

Yang fixed him with a look of absolute rage. "Don't worry, you big baby," she said, her voice dangerously low. "You just leave it to Mama Yang. I'm about to give you the biggest...and last..._spanking_ of your life."

Hazel lunged forward, his arms swinging wildly. There was no coordination to his movements. Everything was automatic and reflexive, his body having left his conscious control. However, unlike the honed movements of a master, polished until they were as ingrained as any instinct, this was just the wild flailing of one who had lost any semblance of self-control, and had surrendered to raw aggression.

There was no need for Yang to counter. The floor beneath her shattered again. She flashed across the space between them in the blink of an eye. Rather than punch, she jumped, clamping her hands on either side of Hazel's head, firing her gauntlets, using the recoil to help pull his face down so that she could slam her knee right into his nose. The angry crack of it breaking was like the sound of a gunshot. Hazel reeled backwards, Yang releasing his head. Even as he fell back, she continued to rise up above him, cocking her right fist back.

The light of her Aura flowed through her body, the wings behind her shrinking, the glow leaving her hair and skin behind. All of it flowed up and into her right fist, the golden gauntlet shining with blinding light. With a final roar of her own, Yang punched down, a column of golden flame slamming straight into Hazel's chest.

Through her fist, she felt his ribs give way, his Aura shattering beneath the onslaught. At the same time, the Aura that was holding Hazel's limbs together broke as well, and both his arms erupted in a conflagration of elemental energy, spikes of stone punching out through his skin, even as winds flayed flayed away strips of flesh, and the muscles beneath burned black, then dissolved into ash. Hazel was blown downwards, the force of Yang's finisher sending him slamming through floor after floor, all the way to ground-level, where he struck with enough force to rock the building all the way to its foundation. At that point, the Dust empowering him exploded, the resulting maelstrom completely obliterating his upper body.

However, Yang hadn't seen Hazel's end. In the wake of her final attack, her strength had all but left her. She would have followed Hazel through the hole he had left, but was stopped when Blake threw her sickle, wrapping it around Yang's waist and pulling her away from the hole. Yang landed in Blake's arms, limp.

"Hey, Blake..." said Yang, flashing her partner a woozy grin.

"You're always overdoing it," said Blake, giving Yang a tired smile.

Ren and Nora dropped down through the hole in the ceiling to stand by them. "Good work," said Ren.

"But I think it's time to split," added Nora.

Blake didn't need to ask why, the shudder that ran through the building being more than enough warning for her. Given the raw power of Yang and Hazel colliding, to say nothing of the spectacular ending to the fight, the entire _building_ was now compromised. At best, they probably only had a few more seconds before it collapsed completely.

Throwing Yang over her shoulder, Blake charged the nearest window, Ren and Nora following her. Ren raised his guns, firing a burst that shattered the glass, opening up the way for them. Blake's Aura would have allowed her to plow through easily. But Yang was especially vulnerable in this state, so they would have to be careful with her.

Their leap sent them sailing out into the open air. Blake cocked back her right arm, throwing her sickle, using a shot from the pistol built into it to increase its speed, sending it flying through the air to sink into the side of the building across from them. Now Blake was swinging right for the window on the other side. Kicking out her feet, she slammed them into the window, breaking through and into the office space within. Rather than try to roll, she simply allowed herself to skid to a stop on her feet and back, shifting Yang's position in her arms as she did so, keeping her from harm.

Ren and Nora were a beat behind her, Nora pulling Ren along by one arm as she surfed atop the head of her hammer, using its explosive capabilities to propel her flight. She let go of Ren as they flew through the window Blake had already broken, both of them managing much more graceful landings. Behind them, the building that they had been fighting in began to fall, collapsing down on itself, sending up waves of dust and debris that spread along the streets in all directions.

Ren and Nora collapsed, falling to their knees, gasping for breath. Blake slumped as well, cradling an unconscious Yang in her arms. All of them felt completely spent, even Ren and Nora, who hadn't had to fight Hazel directly.

Blake gave them a wry smile. "Well...that was a thing."

* * *

**So, let me start by, again, apologizing for forgetting to update on Monday. Like I said, I just completely blanked, and didn't even realize it until yesterday. Nothing particularly special or bad happened, so there's no excuse. I guess I just lost track of what day it was. But, with today, my updates will be back on track. And now...**

**Remember kids, smoking is bad...unless what you're smoking is quasi-magical juju that gives you cool elemental powers. If you've got something like that, then huff away all the livelong day...or not.**

**On some level, I've got to admire the writers of _RWBY_, when it comes to Qrow's Semblance. When you think about it, his Semblance basically means he's a character who comes with Deus-Ex-Machina and Diabolus-Ex-Machina built in. Basically things can either go his way or against him, depending on the needs of the plot, and his Semblance explains everything. It's a pretty clever arrangement. In this particular case, it allows Morgan to go out, _Final Destination_ style.**

**And Hazel goes out with a bang...and a Yang...It's somewhat cathartic to bring up what an utter hypocrite he is, waxing on about how Ozpin is responsible for all the bloodshed Hazel himself commits.**


	154. Chapter 154

**Chapter 154:**

Tyrian cackled as he flung himself straight at Team RASP (minus Ruby) and Setsuna. Weiss and Setsuna immediately split apart, going in separate directions. Jaune raised his shield, readying himself to defend. When Tyrian arrived, he sent his body into a spin, allowing him to lash out with his arm-mounted blades in a rapid series of slashes that Jaune had difficulty deflecting, even though they were coming in on roughly the same vector every time.

However, he didn't need to hold out all that long. Pyrrha leapt over his head, leading with a thrust from her weapon in its javelin-mode. With a harsh laugh, Tyrian, who'd only just landed, immediately ducked down, the mechanical tail that had apparently replaced the one Ruby had cut off reaching up to curl around Milo's extended shaft, and threatening to yank it off-course. However, Tyrian found himself faced with Jaune's sword, which swung at him from below, sweeping upwards.

Immediately throwing himself backwards, Tyrian instead began to pull Pyrrha over and above him curling his legs in preparation to slam his boots home against her stomach. However, Pyrrha's entire body abruptly inverted, rising up out of the path of his kick, while she continued to fly over him. Around the metal components of the armor pieces on her body, a shimmering outline of black was visible, Pyrrha using her Semblance to control the metal _she_ wore, using it to make an evasion that shouldn't have been possible for her.

Continuing to use her Semblance to control her own movement, Pyrrha accelerated the arc of her flight, coming down behind Tyrian, using the movement to turn her weapon in her grip, aligning the javelin's blade with the top of Tyrian's head, while the man continued to float horizontally in the air. At the same moment, Tyrian's tail uncoiled from around Pyrrha's weapon, the tip of his stinger jabbing into the floor, lifting him up and out of Milo's path as the rifle in the weapon's butt fired, sending it accelerating forward sharply in Pyrrha's grip.

Using his tail to control his movement, Tyrian swiftly twirled his body around, lashing out with a swing of his leg, forcing Pyrrha to dart back, before aiming both his arm-mounted weapons at her and opening fire with the machine guns set between the two curving blades. Pyrrha swiftly fell back, bringing up her shield, the bullets pinging sharply against its surface.

Then Tyrian swiftly used his tail to launch himself away, and not a second too soon, the asphalt surface below where he'd been abruptly sinking downwards to form a crater. Cartwheeling wildly through the air, Tyrian still somehow managed to find Setsuna's location, immediately taking aim with his guns and opening fire.

Setsuna crossed his kama in front of his body, the air seeming to distort strangely. The bullets Tyrian fired reached that distortion, then slowed to a stop, hanging in the air. Then Setsuna uncrossed his weapons in a slashing movement, the projectiles suddenly flying back the way they came.

With that shrill laugh of his, Tyrian brought his tail whipping up between him and Setsuna, the blurring appendage swiftly batting away the bullets that Setsuna had sent flying back at him. While he was doing that, a white flash of light illuminated the air behind Tyrian, the sword-wheel of a Summoning Glyph appearing. From within that, a spinning shape emerged, flying at Tyrian behind like an oversized wheel.

Distracted by dealing with attacks from Pyrrha, Jaune, and Setsuna, Tyrian was left without recourse as Weiss' Boarbatusk Summon slammed into him from behind, the spikes lining its back raking at his Aura. Even Tyrian's pained shriek was underlined with laughter though. He completely ignored the remaining few bullets of the barrage Setsuna had sent flying back at him, allowing them to strike his Aura, while his tail lashed behind him, its tip tearing effortlessly through the Boarbatusk's spinning body, shredding the Summon into motes of light.

When Tyrian landed, he found Weiss already within striking distance, the tip of her rapier extended. Tyrian batted the first pair of thrusts away with his arm-mounted blades, his tail seeing to a third. Then he jumped back, planting his hands to twist his body out of the way of a fourth, before using the same movement to flare his legs in a kick that reached past Weiss' extended arm to strike her in the chest, knocking her back with a pained gasp.

Setsuna and Pyrrha immediately closed in from behind. But Tyrian simply pushed off with his hand, using the bucking and twisting his hips to orient his movement towards Weiss, planning to press the offensive against her, while simultaneously avoiding the other two. However, before Tyrian could strike the still reeling Weiss, he found his path blocked by Jaune's shield, Jaune skidding to a stop between them, seeming to flicker into being out of nothing.

_This again!_ thought Tyrian, his face betraying the tiniest twitch of frustration as his bracer-blades skipped off the angled surface of Jaune's shield, then he was forced to dodge back as Jaune unleashed a downwards slash with a shout, a blade of white light streaming form the edge of his sword, threatening to cleave Tyrian's Aura in two.

Unfortunately, Tyrian's path of retreat carried him right back into Pyrrha and Setsuna, who converged on his back. Tyrian's tail moved as though it had a mind of its own, blurring and whipping about to fend off the slashes of Pyrrha's sword and Setsuna's kama. Kicking off the ground, Tyrian sent himself into a swift backflip over their heads. Landing, he immediately jumped away again, the ground where he'd touched down caving in again. Tyrian was forced to dodge two more times as the phenomenon repeated twice more, each time targeting the space where he'd landed.

"The jerk's sharp," Setsuna commented.

"Could you expand the range," Pyrrha asked.

"I could, but that has its own risks," replied Setsuna. "The wider it reaches, the higher it goes, and I risk pulling down the level above us. If this jerk is under it when it happens, fine, but too much damage could bring this whole structure down on our heads...not to mention however many Grimm are above us right now."

Pyrrha swallowed, finding herself now mindful that, while they were struggling against Tyrian, the spawning pool somewhere above them was still churning out more Grimm. If they were following the same pattern as before, then they would be congregating, building up their numbers before launching a mass-charge on the safe zone's defensive perimeter. The longer this took, the more Grimm they would have to fight through to get to the spawning pool.

"Destroying that pool is our priority," said Weiss, as she and Jaune came up to join Pyrrha and Setsuna.

"If that's the case, then how about we divide and conquer?" suggested Jaune.

"How does that work against a single person?" asked Pyrrha, looking askance at Jaune.

He gave her a surprisingly sly grin. "We'll be the ones dividing...The problem is...we'll need to hold Callows' attention, so he doesn't figure it out too soon."

They looked across at Tyrian, who was giggling softly to himself as he began to edge back towards them again. "What are you planning?" he asked, his maniacal grin widening, while he tilted his head to regard them. "What little tricks will you children try next?"

Setsuna's eyebrows went up. "Hey," he said softly, "that goddess he was talking about...is it Salem?"

"Yep," said Jaune.

"Then I think I know a way to keep him occupied," said Setsuna. "These pious types come with easy buttons to push."

"I'll help," said Pyrrha, readying her own weapons.

"Then Weiss and I will head for the pool," said Jaune, trading a look and a nod with Weiss.

They all tensed, then Setsuna suddenly flashed forward, using the _Shukuchi_ to close the distance between himself and Tyrian. The man's eyes widened as Setsuna was suddenly within striking distance. Setsuna easily leaned aside from a stab from Tyrian's tail, before launching a rapid series of slashes with his kama, which Tyrian fended off with his bladed bracers.

When Tyrian tried to counter, Setsuna flipped back, kicking up with his feet, striking Tyrian's slashing blades from below with the metal plates attached to the soles of his geta, knocking them up, while extending one arm to slash at Tyrian's ankles. Jumping back, Tyrian used a backflip to whip his tail around, lashing his stinger straight for Setsuna's head. At the last second, the mechanical appendage was lined with black energy, its thrust turned aside to miss Setsuna's face by a narrow margin.

Pushing off with his planted hand, Setsuna executed a flip of his own, using it to bring both his kama down on Tyrian from above, catching the weapons with his bracers, the two of them locked together. Tyrian brought his tail over his head, aiming for Setsuna's head again, but Pyrrha's Semblance pulled it aside once more. However, that mattered little, as Tyrian found his eyes locked with Setsuna, the young boy from the Mibu fixing him with a strange smirk.

"I gotta wonder," said Setsuna, "did you happen to catch Jester's presentation?"

"You mean the lamp?" asked Tyrian, his smile fading slightly. "What of it?"

"Well...I was just finding myself wondering why you follow that _thing_," said Setsuna.

Tyrian's teeth reappeared...but not as a grin.

"I mean, if you saw the answer to Jester's second question, then you realize what it means, right?" asked Setsuna. "The Gods of Light and Dark are pretenders, false gods. The God of Light cursed Salem with immortality, but the God of Light doesn't even really deserve to be called a god himself."

A low growl built in the back of Tyrian's throat.

"In the end, they abandoned this world," continued Setsuna. "They left Salem behind, and forgot all about her, until the Crimson King brought humanity back. Do you realize what that means?"

"Be silent," growled Tyrian, his blades pressing harder against Setsuna's kama.

Setsuna's smirk widened. "It means that Salem doesn't matter. She was thrown away, like litter on the side of the road."

"No more..." snarled Tyrian, baring down on Setsuna with still more strength.

"How does it feel...knowing you've spent your entire life worshiping a piece of discarded _trash_?"

"You BASTARD!" shrieked Tyrian, pushing with all the strength of his body, sending Setsuna flying backwards. Tyrian was chasing after him in a flash, leaping after Setsuna and attacking with a flurry of slashes that were too fast for the eye to follow. His blades rang against Setsuna's kama in a rapid tempo, Setsuna swiftly giving ground before the onslaught.

"How dare you say such things about my _goddess_?!" Tyrian shouted. He went into a jumping spin, twisting his body to send his tail lashing for Setsuna's chest. Setsuna swiftly pulled back out of its way, only for Tyrian's boot to land a blow in the tail's place, knocking Setsuna off his feet. "You will pay for your blasphemy!" Landing, Tyrian brought his arms around, letting loose with another salvo from his guns.

The bullets pinged off loose chunks of asphalt that had risen up into the air around Setsuna, their movements revolving, forming into a loose cloud that screened against Tyrian's shots. When Tyrian paused, seeing that his attack wasn't getting through, several pieces of debris launched themselves at him, much like bullets themselves. Falling back, Tyrian prepared to use his tail and blades to block the incoming attacks, only to feel as though his limbs were moving moving through thick mud. Before he could get them into position, Setsuna's projectiles struck, striking with violet flashes against Tyrian's Aura.

Tyrian tried to move, but found it too hard. A second later, the remaining debris orbiting around Setsuna fell to the floor. Then Tyrian's breath fled him in a pained gasp, the gravity around him increasing several-fold, pressing him down to the floor of the parking garage, which buckled beneath him.

"Guess we should've done that from the start," noted Setsuna, Pyrrha coming up to stand beside him.

"Don't underestimate him," commented Pyrrha. "Someone like this is still very dangerous."

"Right..." muttered Setsuna, readying his kama.

Pyrrha raised Milo, the pair of them preparing to finish Tyrian off. Neither of them felt much remorse at the idea, considering the sheer madness of the man before them.

Tyrian's grin suddenly returned with a vengeance. His previously yellow eyes suddenly turned a violet color. A shimmering field of energy in the same color enveloped Tyrian's right hand. Struggling with all his might, Tyrian raised it, then swept it through the air in front of him.

The result was like a curtain parting. Suddenly, the gravity-field created by Setsuna's _Chiyugi_ unraveled. The burden on his body gone, Tyrian shot forward with a triumphant shriek, immediately spinning, twisting, and flipping his body into a rapid series of attacks; slashing with his blades, lashing with his tail, and kicking with his feet. Setsuna and Pyrrha were rapidly driven back by the onslaught. Pyrrha used her Semblance as much as she could to divert the speed and power of Tyrian's attacks, while Setsuna parried and flipped, using the steel soles of his sandals as often as he used his kama. Then Tyrian abruptly turned his body horizontal, kicking straight out with both legs, while holding himself up with his tail. Each boot found its mark on the stomach of his two opponents, knocking them back.

Skidding to a stop, Pyrrha dropped down to one knee, struggling to get her breath back. "But your...S-Semblance..." she protested.

The last time Team RASP had faced down Tyrian, he had told them that his Semblance was called Potency, which allowed him to control the nature of the venom produced by his tail. But now...he had done something that clearly had nothing to do with his venom. It was as though he had attacked Setsuna's technique itself..._No!_ Pyrrha thought frantically. _He attacked Setsuna's Aura!_

Tyrian let out a little, wheezing giggle. "I lied," he replied.

"That's a scary ability to go up against," muttered Setsuna. _With an ability like that, he could push through most of my techniques, or even disperse our Temper with nothing but a touch. This guy is a natural-born enemy to Aura-users!_

"All the better for me to punish you for your heresy against my goddess," said Tyrian, tilting his head back and forth.

"What's wrong with calling the product of a couple of pretend gods a pretender herself?" asked Setsuna. "But...I suppose, if she just tells the lie often enough, eventually she'll get people like you to buy it. Fake it 'til you make it, right?"

_That_ knocked the smile back off Tyrian's face. He lunged for them with an angry shriek, almost the kind of noise a banshee might make. He led with another barrage from his guns. This time, Pyrrha went into action, catching the incoming bullets with her Semblance, sending them circling around the rim of her shield, before slingshotting them back at Tyrian at even greater speed.

Nonetheless, he dodged, throwing his body into a spinning flip that carried it out of the line of fire. His jump took him up to the ceiling, where he planted his hands and feet, using all four limbs to push off and launch himself down at Setsuna and Pyrrha. They parted, jumping aside as his blades plunged through where their bodies had been. Planting his hands on the ground, Tyrian lashed out with his feet in both directions, snapping his tail at the retreating Setsuna as well, for good measure.

Setsuna's legs were bending, his head moving forward and dropping, indicating that he was ducking beneath Tyrian's tail. However, even as his prosthetic appendage passed through the space Setsuna's head had occupied, Tyrian was already dropping down even lower, nearly lying flat against the ground, lunging at Setsuna to slash at his legs. But he was no longer there.

Setsuna hadn't jumped. However, even as he had ducked beneath Tyrian's tail, his body suddenly began to move upwards, flying towards the ceiling. Glaring up at Setsuna, Tyrian was quick to leap upwards in pursuit, only to find himself forced to bat away Pyrrha's shield with his tail, as it came flying at his head. Still, he was able to follow Setsuna, who had inverted his body to land, feet first, on the ceiling of the garage level they were on, between two lines of supports. He stood upside down as though it was the most natural thing in the world. In contrast, Tyrian was forced to grab one of the supports, hanging from it as he twisted his body to strike at Setsuna with his tail.

Easily parrying the attack with one kama, Setsuna dashed forward, launching a series of attacks, his blades blurs in front of him. Tyrian was forced to twist and vault, always holding on to one of the supports, whether with a hand, or his tail, fending off Setsuna's strikes with his other limbs. The fact that he needed to work to keep himself on the ceiling meant that he wasn't able to fight as easily from that position. On top of that, the task became only all the more difficult when Pyrrha opened fire from below.

All the same, Tyrian still managed to continue to keep Setsuna at bay, while dodging Pyrrha's shots. However, the look of anger and frustration on his face was quite apparent. Gone were the manic smile and the wheezing laughter. Tyrian was no longer having fun with this fight. He glared at Setsuna with a look of utter hatred.

The pair of them continued to battle on the ceiling, until Tyrian saw his chance. Using his tail, he knocked one of Setsuna's kama aside, before reaching out with his hand, his eyes turning violet. A crackling sheath of the same color enveloped his outstretched hand, brushing against Setsuna's body.

"Uh oh!" With a surprised grunt, Setsuna dropped like a rock. On reflex, he kicked off the ceiling, both to increase the speed of his descent and to begin the process of righting his body before he hit the ground. That was also what saved him from Tyrian's followthrough, as Tyrian had immediately clenched his outstretched hand into a fist, opening fire with his guns. The bullets would have torn through Setsuna's unprotected body, had he not kicked off the ceiling first.

Fortunately, by the time Setsuna had reached the ground, he had re-established his Temper. But Tyrian was hot on his heels, descending with a shriek, blades whirling and tail stabbing. Setsuna barely managed to dodge away from the dervish, before Tyrian came after him. However, Pyrrha also attacked from behind, throwing her shield at the back of Tyrian's head. His tail swiftly moved to bat Akouo away. However, it was lined by the black of Pyrrha's Semblance, which slowed its motion, allowing her to swing Milo past it at the space between his shoulders.

However, Tyrian ducked forward, planting his hands and kicking up with a boot, intercepting Pyrrha's attack by kicking the hand holding her sword. Milo was knocked out of Pyrrha's grip and sent spinning upwards. With an angry howl, Tyrian went into a one-handed handstand, aiming the gun on the other arm at Pyrrha. Right as he fired, Pyrrha's shield swooped around to intercept the bullets. At the same time, the twirling form of Milo extended into its javelin-mode, orienting down at Tyrian, then using the recoil of a shot from the butt end to send it lancing down at him.

Pushing off, Tyrian was barely able to evade the javelin, which pierced down into the asphalt beneath him. However, his evasion brought him closer to Setsuna, who slashed at his now-unguarded back with his kama. Tyrian tried to move his tail to block, only to find that it was seized tight in the hold of Pyrrha's Semblance, locking it into place. Setsuna's kama left black trails of their own as they bit into Tyrian's Aura, their force far greater than the mass of the weapons themselves and the strength of Setsuna's body combined could possibly produce. Tyrian was sent flying away with a scream, launched past Pyrrha, who sidestepped him just in time.

Tyrian slammed into the side of an abandoned car, folding the vehicle in half with the force of his impact. Laying against it, upside down, he glared furiously at Setsuna and Pyrrha.

"That's a pretty sorry state," commented Setsuna. "I guess the quality of a goddess' minions would say a lot about her. To have a follower like you, it must mean that Salem's a pretty sorry excuse for a goddess, don't you think?"

Another angry snarl built in Tyrian's throat. Rolling around, he planted his hands and feet against the side of the car, before launching himself off it with an enraged shriek, the force actually rocking the ruined vehicle back, and sending it sliding across the asphalt. Tyrian flew at Setsuna like a missile, moving faster than he ever had before. His blades and tail were blurs, and Setsuna was forced to backpedal, while working his kama furiously to fend off the flurry of strikes that fell upon him.

Pieces of broken asphalt shot straight up from the ground, slamming into Tyrian from below. But the man ignored them, not even offering a grunt of pain as they smashed against his Aura, Tyrian locked onto Setsuna with a singleminded tenacity that only a true fanatic would ever be capable of. Pyrrha tried to attack him from behind, but found herself blown back by a strike from his tail. She'd managed to catch it with her shield, but the force behind the blow was unreal, sending her flying away.

"_Chinseirin!_" More pieces of debris rose up, veiling Setsuna's body in a floating cloud that orbited him at high speed, helping to deflect many of Tyrian's attacks, though Tyrian's blades often cleaved through the small pieces of concrete and asphalt like they weren't even there. Then, with a wave of a violet-shrouded hand, Tyrian seemed to simply brush a number of those pieces aside, creating a hole in Setsuna's defense, through which he struck with the blade on his opposite arm, Setsuna grunting in pain as it bit into his Aura. Fortunately, Tyrian's Semblance had only made contact with debris, and not his Temper, so Setsuna managed to escape being eviscerated.

But the hit still staggered him, and Tyrian moved to capitalize on the opening, the pace of his attacks increasing even more, his arms and legs barely visible, and even his tail nothing more than a blur. Desperately, Setsuna fired the accumulated debris picked up by his technique at Tyrian, but the man again simply ignored the barrage, bulling through it to continue with his raging offense. Gone was the erratic, yet still incredibly precise, fighting style. In its place were the movements of an enraged berserker, even more erratic, and all finesse replaced with unparalleled power.

His flailing strikes with his blades were threatening to tear Setsuna's sickles from his hands. Setsuna used his Manifestation to enhance the weight behind his blows and counters. His kama left black trails through the air with each block and slash. With a growl of exertion, Setsuna fought back, calling upon every ounce of power and skill he possessed. For a moment, he and Tyrian were locked into a stalemate, sparks flashing between them as their weapons clashed against each other. Tyrian lashed out with his tail, whipping it around from below, but it met the sole of Setsuna's geta, with Setsuna increasing the weight behind the kick to better knock the attack away.

However, despite being able to increase his power to match Tyrian's, Setsuna couldn't quite keep up with the madman's speed. With a triumphant shout, Tyrian caught the shaft of Setsuna's left-handed kama between the converging curves of his right-arm blades. With a powerful twist, Tyrian yanked the weapon straight out of Setsuna's grip. Setsuna responded by lashing out with a wave of pure gravity, a burst of black energy that washed straight out from his now-empty hand, forcing Tyrian back...but not before Tyrian's boot slammed into his stomach.

Setsuna landed hard on his back, his breath exploding from his lungs. Tyrian managed to right himself, then reverse his momentum, pouncing towards Setsuna, both arms extended, and his tail arcing over his head, all three weapons converging on Setsuna above. What was more, Tyrian's hands were sheathed in violet energy. He intended to strip away Setsuna's Temper, then tear straight into his unprotected body.

However, Tyrian's blades and tail came to a halt before they could touch Setsuna. Now Tyrian was stuck, his body suspended in mid-air. Behind him, Pyrrha stood up, having recovered from being knocked away. Now she extended both her hands, which were lined by the ebony field of her Semblance. She dragged Tyrian away from Setsuna, which wasn't so hard, given that being suspended in mid-air gave Tyrian nothing to use as a foothold to brace against and resist the action.

With a grunt, Pyrrha threw Tyrian across the garage. The scorpion-faunus recovered quickly though, twisting around to land on all fours, his tail lashing down, the stinger piercing through the asphalt and plowing a small furrow, slowing him down to a stop. Rising, he gave Pyrrha a genuinely frustrated look.

For her part, Pyrrha extended her arms out to her sides. To either side of her, her Semblance seized the bodies of a pair of ruined cars, which she then flung right at Tyrian, one after the other. With a shout, Tyrian leapt, practically galloping over the first flying vehicle on all-fours to jump clear of it. The second one was adjusting to intercept him, but Tyrian thrust his arms forwards, planting the blades of his bracers into the car's metal roof, using the car's own rotation as it flew through the air to come around, aiming to push off the other side to launch himself at Pyrrha and Setsuna.

Except that Pyrrha had already released her Semblance's hold on the car, mainly so that she could take aim at the car's fuel tank, bringing Milo back up in her hands. Her aim was true, and her shot set off the liquid combustion fuel that was within the tank, causing the car to explode, with Tyrian on it. Besides the flames, Tyrian was also battered by the chunks of metal from the car's shredded body. He dropped down to the floor, looking scorched, but still a long ways from being completely stopped.

Pyrrha wasn't done though. There were plenty of other cars scattered throughout the abandoned garage. Reaching out with her Semblance, she seized several more, which were sent flying towards Tyrian, he crouched, preparing to evade. But, when Tyrian _did_ evade, it wasn't Pyrrha's improvised projectiles he was dodging. Instead, he leapt to the side as Setsuna's _Chiyugi_ caved in the asphalt where he'd been standing.

Landing a short distance away, Tyrian had just enough time to glare at Setsuna before he was forced to dodge again, the gravity abruptly increasing right where he'd been standing a fraction of a second before. However, in the process of dodging that attack, Tyrian found that he had placed himself directly into the path of one of Pyrrha's Semblance-controlled cars, which slammed into him from the side, its body crumpling around Tyrian before he was launched through the air.

Righting himself, Tyrian took aim, firing a barrage from his guns. However, there was a ripple of distortion in the air, like an invisible wall between Tyrian and his two opponents. His bullets abruptly dipped downwards, striking the floor. Then Tyrian was struck from behind by another car, being thrown again, before another car flew in from a different angle, clipping his body and sending him into a dizzying spin.

From there, he crashed into the ground, rolling to a stop, laying sprawled out on the asphalt, which immediately caved downwards from Setsuna's _Chiyugi_, locking him into place. All the remaining cars converged on his position, crashing on him from above, Setsuna's technique making them even heavier. They all struck with an impact that shook the garage to its foundations.

"Did we get him?" asked Pyrrha warily.

"No," said Setsuna, grunting in frustration. "He used his Semblance to get out at the last second. He's a slippery jerk."

Setsuna immediately deployed his Extension around the two of them, waiting for the first sign of Tyrian's next attack. However, even though he was able to sense the timing and angle of Tyrian's approach, the sheer speed was such that he was still caught off-guard. Setsuna turned to meet the incoming Tyrian, only to receive a boot to the face for his troubles. His neck strained as his head was snapped to one side, the strength behind the blow nearly breaking it through his Aura.

As Setsuna was sent flying, Tyrian landed in a crouch, then threw himself at Pyrrha with an animalistic howl. Pyrrha used her Semblance to control Akouo, whirling the shield around herself, desperately using it to fend off Tyrian's strikes, while she used her javelin to try and fight back. But Tyrian's attacks were just too ferocious. What was more, Pyrrha was badly winded from the tremendous exertion of her previous use of her Semblance. As powerful as it could be, she wasn't accustomed to manipulating such heavy objects, or so many of them at once. Because of that, her control was flagging, and her shield wasn't able to keep up with the speed and volume to Tyrian's attacks.

Setsuna groaned, pushing himself up off the floor. As he raised his head, he saw Pyrrha rapidly falling back before Tyrian's onslaught. Grunting, Setsuna tried to push himself up, only for his arms to falter. He barely had any strength remaining. Blood trickled from a cut running down his cheek, making Setsuna realize that his Temper had been broken, barely the faintest wisp of his Aura remained.

However, he couldn't afford to remain down. Pyrrha's Aura was flagging too. Before long, Tyrian wouldn't even need his Semblance to break through her defenses. Growling, Setsuna got one leg under him, then the other. Tightening his grip around his remaining kama, he forced himself up to a standing position.

However, his exertion hadn't gone unnoticed by Tyrian, who glared in Setsuna's direction, before batting his tail against Akouo's edge, the force behind his attack briefly overpowering the control of Pyrrha's Semblance, sending the shield flying at Setsuna's head. Because Pyrrha had been trying to get the shield back under control, it didn't have much momentum. However, because Setsuna didn't have his Temper anymore, the shield easily struck hard enough to stagger him...its sharpened edge cutting a line along his forehead, as he spun in place, fighting his hardest just to keep from being sent back to the ground again.

In the meantime, Pyrrha was without her shield, which Tyrian took immediate advantage of. Swinging his left arm across, he used the move to knock Pyrrha's javelin aside. Following through with his right, he swept the hand, sheathed in the violet energy of his Semblance, across her stomach, parting Pyrrha's Temper. Immediately behind that came his tail, its barb sinking through her corset, and punching into the vulnerable flesh beneath. Pyrrha' gasped, her eyes going wide, her entire body jolting. Milo fell from her hand, and Akouo clattered to the ground somewhere past Setsuna.

Grinning triumphantly, Tyrian lifted Pyrrha up with his tail, leaving her suspended in the air, before he turned his body, whipping his tail to fling Pyrrha off it, sending her flying directly into Setsuna, knocking him back off his feet.

"P-Pyrrha-san..." grunted Setsuna, looking at her worriedly. Pyrrha was coughing and trembling, one hand clutching the puncture to her stomach. On top of being deep, there was also no telling how much of his venom Tyrian had pumped into her, or how long she had before its effects became fatal.

Grinning vindictively, Tyrian walked towards them, taking his sweet time. "Now that I have you two settled, I can take my time teaching you what a sin it is to disparage my goddess," he said. "Then I'll be free to play with the other...two..." Tyrian's voice trailed off as the realization began to sank in.

After all, his only opponents for the past few minutes had been Setsuna and Pyrrha. In his rage over Setsuna's insults towards Salem, Tyrian had all but forgotten about Weiss and Jaune. However, the other two hadn't joined in the fight. In fact...Tyrian hadn't seen any sign of them, nor could he see any now. _If they aren't here, then..._

It was then he noticed the sounds from above...or rather...the _absence_ of sound. There were no vocalizations of gathering Grimm, no sound of claws against asphalt and concrete. From above, there was only silence. That could only mean one thing. The spawning pool had been destroyed...and the Grimm as well.

_I...failed..._ he thought, his eyes widening, a feeling of despair welling up within him.

"No..." he whispered.

A chuckle drew his attention back to Setsuna, who was smirking, despite the dire situation he and Pyrrha were in. "Pretty stupid, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "You got so worked up about your precious goddess, you forgot what you were supposed to be doing for her. _Because_ you were so fervent, you failed her. How does it feel...knowing that your devotion...was your own worst enemy?"

There was no humor in Tyrian's expression now, only a look of purest rage. "I'll kill you!" he snarled. "I'll kill you. I'll hunt down everyone you love and kill them all. I will make them scream and curse your name, before they die."

"Good luck with that," said Gin, before coughing. "Geez...what a tired threat."

Tyrian raised his tail up, preparing to plunge it downwards, aiming straight for one of Setsuna's defiant eyes.

Then the entire parking garage began to rumble. The ceiling above Tyrian completely collapsed, a shining white hand, clad in armor plates, plunged downwards, closing around Tyrian's body. Normally, he could have evaded such an obvious incoming attack. However, between his anger and the damage he'd taken over the course of his fight with Pyrrha and Setsuna, Tyrian's responses were dulled. Because of that, when the hand of Weiss' Arma Gigas Summon closed around him, he was unable to react.

The massive hand pulled him up to the level above. Weiss had started with her Summon's arm, but more of it was coming into being with each passing second. It rose up, its plumed helm smashing through the ceiling of the level she was on. As it rose up, it turned, swinging Tyrian in its grip, slamming his body through the level above, plowing straight through concrete and asphalt, before he was thrown into the open air, coming to slam down into the street outside.

Jaune dropped down from above, landing beside Setsuna and Pyrrha.

"Hang on," said Jaune, holding out white-glowing hands.

"Pyrrha-san's been poisoned," Setsuna managed to force out.

"Dammit..." grunted Jaune, grimacing. He hadn't learned how to treat poisons yet, the skill requiring more finesse than he had right now, with the limited training Sasame and Miyu had been able to give him.

And time definitely wasn't on their side. Pyrrha's body was practically vibrating with spasms, her eyes rolling up into her head. With the dosage Tyrian had given her, she had a few minutes left at most. Jaune took all of this in with a clinical eye, using the observational skills that Sasame had pounded into him, while also keeping calm, applying the training that he had done with Sasame and Miyu, the same training that had allowed him to help Neo before.

"We need to get her to Sasame-sama," said Setsuna.

"Not enough time," said Jaune, "unless..."

Setsuna's eyes widened as Jaune brought his hands up, holding them spaced apart, palms facing each other. Between them, the light of his Aura began to gather, intensifying into a single point, which gradually expanded outwards into a sphere, which he now cupped in both hands. Then, moving carefully, Jaune brought that sphere of Aura down, lowering it delicately to the wound on Pyrrha's stomach, where it sank into her flesh. A rippling, white field of energy washed over Pyrrha's body. Her spasms lessened, then died down completely. Her body when limp, a soft gasp escaping from between her lips.

Jaune frowned, pressing a pair of fingers to her neck, checking her pulse, before touching her forehead, feeling the presence of a fever.

"What was that?" asked Setsuna. He'd never seen Miyu or Sasame pull off a trick like that.

"It's a stopgap," replied Jaune. "Basically, I enhanced a portion of my own Aura, and then planted in her. It'll keep healing her body for a while, which will keep the poison symptoms at bay. But...when it runs out, we'll be back where we started."

"But you've bought her a few more minutes," said Gin, realizing what Jaune had done.

Jaune nodded. "We've got to get her to Sasame now." He paused, raising his head and looking outside the garage, where the sounds of combat were ringing out. "But first..."

* * *

While Jaune had been helping Pyrrha and Setsuna, Weiss was giving Tyrian her full attention.

Back before, as soon as Setsuna and Pyrrha had begun their attack on Tyrian, and Setsuna had begun to rile up the man with taunts, Weiss and Jaune had headed for the stairs, making their way up to find where the spawning pool was located on the levels above. It hadn't been easy. All the upper levels of the garage were filling up with Grimm, and they had needed to ascend two levels before they found the spawning pool. Then, after a rushed battle to get through the Grimm the pool had been spitting out, Weiss had finally been able to set it alight, and destroy it for good.

Of course, there had still been the remaining Grimm to contend with. It had been a few hard-fought minutes before the parking garage was cleared of its infestation, after which, a quick check of her scroll told Weiss that Pyrrha was in dire straits. Using her Summon, Weiss decided to forgo using the stairs, and instead smashed straight down to pull Tyrian away from the other two, leaving an opening for Jaune to go help them.

Now, as Tyrian struggled to get back up from where he'd landed, the walls of the parking garage exploded outwards, the massive form of the Arma Gigas plowing straight through, landing with an earthshaking thud, its boots breaking the street where it touched down. It charged at Tyrian, swinging the massive sword in its right hand, aiming straight down at the prone faunus.

With a grunt, Tyrian pushed off the ground with all his strength, managing to throw himself backwards, getting clear of the sword's length, as it split the earth where he'd been lying a second earlier, throwing out waves of debris to either side of it, and sending a crevasse extending down along the line of its slash.

Executing a flip, Tyrian landed on his feet, rising up as the Arma Gigas lifted its sword up, and then began to charge him again. Behind it, Weiss emerged from the hole it had left in the side of the parking garage, landing and following in its wake.

With an angry growl, Tyrian raised his left hand up, swatting at the sword in what seemed like a futile gesture of resistance. However, his eyes turned violet, the same color covering his outstretched hand. When it came into contact with the Arma Gigas' sword, the construct evaporated, more than half the blade disappearing, with the rest beginning to unravel as well, so that the Arma Gigas' attack never reached Tyrian.

Weiss gasped, her eyes going wide. She hadn't been present when Setsuna and Pyrrha had learned that Tyrian had lied about his Semblance in their previous conflict. Because of that, she was seeing this for the first time. The complete destruction of her expectations caused her to falter, which gave Tyrian room to act...and turn the tables.

With a howl, Tyrian threw himself forward, launching himself straight at the gigantic knight, which had paused as a consequence of Weiss' indecision. Now, with both of his hands shrouded in the violet energy of his Semblance, Tyrian lashed out, his mere touch opening up several enormous holes in the Arma Gigas' torso, Tyrian himself flying through one of them to land on the other side as the rest of the Summon evaporated behind him.

Now Weiss had nothing between her and the enraged fanatic. Tyrian lunged at her with a shriek, attacking furiously with his blades and tail. Fortunately, the damage he'd taken in his fight against Pyrrha and Setsuna had actually slowed him down, the problem further compounded by how furiously he had overexerted himself against them in his rage. His speed had dropped to the point where Weiss was actually able to follow his movements. Myrtenaster was a silvery blur as she whipped it through swift crescent movements, desperately parrying Tyrian's strikes.

Missing one slash, Tyrian dove forward to plant his hand on the asphalt, inverting his body and turning it to lash out with a kick. But the snowflake sigil of one of Weiss' Propulsion Glyphs appeared beneath her feet, sending her sliding around to the side. As she moved, she also turned in place, slashing down at an angle with Myrtenaster, forcing Tyrian to use his tail to defend himself.

Quickly pushing off with his hand, Tyrian righted himself and prepared to go back on the attack. However, right as his foot touched the ground, a ringing sound reached his ears, and his foot was enveloped in ice, which had washed out from where the tip of Weiss' rapier had touched the street, Weiss simply tipping her sword down after her last missed attack, then triggering her Dust. From there, she moved straight in, leading with a series of rapid thrusts, her sword appearing to be in multiple places at once.

Despite her surprise at the trick Tyrian had pulled out of his (metaphorical) hat, Weiss hadn't been too distracted. After all, countless matches and training with Ruby had served to inoculate her against the shock of an opponent pulling off a completely unexpected feat. Weiss had lost count of the number of times she'd been caught flatfooted by Ruby unleashing a technique she'd never seen before. Just because Tyrian had done something that she hadn't thought he could do was no reason for her to stand still and let him kill her. Her slight hesitation, after seeing him make her knight's sword disappear with a wave of his hand had been the tiniest faltering. But now she'd recovered.

Now Tyrian was the one forced on the defensive, desperately wielding his blades and tail to keep Weiss' sword at bay. His trapped foot made his normal acrobatic moves impossible, so he was forced to entirely resort to using his weapons to stop Weiss' attack. In the process of parrying one of her weapons, he swung his arm down, the blades retracting so that he could fire his gun, the bullets shattering the ice holding his foot in place. Now able to move more freely, Tyrian was able to leap back. However, another Propulsion Glyph appeared in the air as he passed through it, turning black, causing his backwards momentum to disappear.

In the brief second that Tyrian was left hanging in space, Weiss drove Myrtenaster into the street once again. This time, a mass of stone erupted outwards, a massive chunk slamming straight into Tyrian's chest. He was blasted backwards, his Aura flickering, then breaking. Despite that, he managed to ride out the blow, executing another flip to get his feet back under him.

Upon landing, Tyrian looked up to see Weiss glide up the ramp formed from the stone she'd just conjured, using it to rise up, before diving down at Tyrian with the aid of another Glyph, her sword leading. Despite being bereft of his Aura, Tyrian wasn't about to back down so easily. He threw himself forward, diving past Weiss' attack. She landed, sweeping Myrtenaster around, launching a crackling wave of electricity off the blade as she did. Tyrian dropped to all fours, his stomach practically scraping against the ground, before he pushed himself up and forward, lunging for her yet again.

Weiss charged to meet him, sliding swiftly across the ground. At first, it seemed like it was her win. She slid directly between Tyrian's outstretched arms, her sword piercing straight through the man's abdomen, before punching out his back. However, too late, she realized that she'd fallen for his trap.

Tyrian let out a wheezing cackle, not even seeming bothered by the pain. Rather than slash at her with his blades, he retracted the blades that extended out over his right hand, allowing him to press the barrels of his guns right up against Weiss' abdomen. Triggering them, he pounded the Aura protecting her with several shots, the concentrated attack breaking through her guard at a single point, the bullets proceeding to punch a hole straight through the side of her torso.

Weiss gasped in agony. She met Tyrian's eyes, watching the savage grin on his face. She spotted his tail rising up over his head, preparing to strike down at her and finish her off.

Then the sound of a pair of heavy boots hitting the ground behind her reached Weiss' ears. She didn't need Jaune to say anything. After all their training, she knew what she needed to do to open the way for him. Weiss allowed her legs to give out, releasing her weapon at the same time. She was able to savor the confused look on Tyrian's face as he watched her fall, before he was able to look past her to see Jaune.

Jaune raised his sword, the blade shining a blinding white color. For some reason, its radiance seemed _especially_ blinding to Tyrian. Rather than try to move and evade, for a reason he couldn't completely quantify, he hesitated, as though he couldn't quite figure out what he needed to do to escape this predicament. Even so, the pain of the sword lodged in his gut inhibited him as well, keeping him from making any big moves.

All it was was a simple diagonal slash, Jaune slashing down and across his body. It was the absolute most-basic of moves, and one that he had been practicing incessantly, since his first days at Beacon. A wave of shining white flashed out from the blade, cutting clean through Tyrian. For a moment, all the madman could do was stare dumbly ahead, before he fell over backwards, the upper half of his torso falling away from the lower, blood fountaining out from the wound, then spreading across the ground as his corpse came to a rest, Myrtenaster sticking straight up out of it like a grave marker.

"Weiss!" Jaune wasted no time sheathing his sword and rushing to her side. Carefully gripping her shoulder, he pulled her away from Tyrian's body, then steadied her as he brought his hand to the bullet holes in her abdomen. Luckily, the shots had been on the outside, missing her inner organs. Closing his eyes, Jaune rested his hand against the wound, carefully Projecting his awareness down into her, guiding his Aura to carefully knit her flesh back together. It was the work of a couple of minutes. But, when he pulled his hand away, Weiss' flesh was intact, only a pair of red spots on her skin indicating where the bullet wounds had been at all.

"It's a good thing he was so close when he did that," Jaune commented. Because of their initial velocity, the bullets had punched clean through, and hadn't tumbled and torn the wounds they'd inflicted wider upon exiting. That had made it a little easier to treat.

"We should hurry," said Setsuna, who was staggering out from what remained of the parking garage, Pyrrha's arm slung over his shoulder as he did his best to support her.

Jaune helped Weiss up the same way. "We're a ways away from the safe zone," he said warily. "I don't know if we have enough time."

Weiss glanced sidelong at Jaune. "Can you boost my Aura?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Jaune, giving her a questioning look back.

Weiss smiled confidently. "I've got an express ticket for us."

Jaune nodded, then, using the arm he'd wrapped around Weiss' waist, he began to Project his Aura into her again, this time focusing on bolstering her own Aura. Weiss gasped as her strength returned...then compounded, the strength of her Aura multiplying from its contact with Jaune's own. Her vision cleared. The fatigue completely left her limbs. Her senses buzzed with renewed energy.

Stepping away from Jaune, Weiss reached out and pulled her weapon free from Tyrian's corpse. Then she drove it down into the pavement in front of her. With a flash, an enormous Summoning Glyph appeared around her. The Glyph strobed with blinding light, rising upwards, forcing Jaune and Setsuna to avert their eyes.

When the light receded, the boys were able to look up again. As they did, their jaws dropped.

The figure of a gargantuan Nevermore stood over Weiss, its wings spread. It feathers were a pristine white, and its four eyes glowed a pale blue. Lowering its head, it seemed to bow before them, even as it planted the clawed fingers extending from the bend in its wings against the ground to support itself.

"All aboard," said Weiss confidently.

* * *

"The last of the spawning pools has been destroyed," said Glynda, looking up from her scroll.

"_Good,_" Ozpin's voice crackled through. "_Clear out the remaining Grimm, then have the students and Huntsmen move to reinforce the perimeter walls. We still have contacts approaching from the outside._"

"We still have one more thing to worry about though," said Glynda, looking up at the Wyvern, which continued to shriek as it circled over the city, dropping ever more black ooze from its body, no doubt spawning more and more Grimm with each droplet that fell.

"_For the time being, leave it to the military. Without additional reinforcements from the spawning pools, the Grimm that the Wyvern spawns won't be enough to overrun the safe zone's perimeter, even without the Huntsmen there. In the meantime, I will work on a strategy to eliminate it. At this point, ensuring that our perimeter isn't overrun is more important._"

"Very well," said Glynda, still a little dubious.

Eliminating the Wyvern would be no easy feat. Bullheads and mantas had been harrying the monstrous beast constantly. However, despite their attacks managing to herd it away from the safe zone, they had yet to inflict anything resembling an actual injury on it. Instead, the bullets and missiles only seemed to splatter still more of that black substance through the air, but never inflicting any actual damage on the beast.

_If conventional attacks are not working...then we will need another approach,_ thought Glynda, not liking how few options they had at the moment.

"_When it comes to dealing with the Wyvern, I believe we will need Ms. Rose's assistance_," said Ozpin. "_However, I am told that she is still recovering after her fight with Adam Taurus. So we will need to hold on until she's managed to regain some of her strength._"

Glynda frowned, not liking the idea of putting so much on Ruby. However, she had no better options to propose at the moment.

"_Ozpin!_" Ironwood's voice broke in over the line.

"_What is it, James?_" asked Ozpin.

"_Radar just picked up a new contact approaching from the northwest,_" said Ironwood. "_It's slow-moving, but large...maybe not as large as the Wyvern, but..._"

"Is it a Grimm?" asked Glynda.

"_It doesn't seem to be,_" explained Ironwood. "_However, its profile doesn't match any known airship. And we can't pick up any Dust emissions either._"

There was a pause over the line. "_I see,_" said Ozpin.

_Now what?_ wondered Glynda, her pulse racing as she tried to figure out what they were up against now.

* * *

**And down goes Tyrian. I kinda get the feeling that those sorts of taunts are the kind of things that would get under his skin in canon too. And yes, I essentially changed my mind about Tyrian's Semblance. Fortunately, since we never _actually_ got to see his "Potency" in action, it's essentially everyone taking his word for it. On top of that, lying about what his Semblance is seems like the kind of underhanded trick that Tyrian would pull. Frankly, his canon Semblance was pretty much tailor-made as a counter to Aura-based abilities, like those used by Ruby and a lot of the other strong characters in this story's setting, which increased his threat-level. To be honest, _RWBY_ being what it is, I'm a bit more surprised that we haven't seen at least one or another chatty fighter fibbing about their Semblance in canon.**


	155. Chapter 155

**Chapter 155:**

Jaune held tight to the Nevermore's feathers with one hand, while keeping his other arm wrapped around Pyrrha, holding her up against his side. On his other side, Setsuna clung tight to the feathers as well, using all his remaining strength to keep from falling off. They needed to hold on tight, as flying by Summoned Nevermore was nowhere near as smooth as flying by airship. Every beat of the massive, birdlike Grimm's wings caused its body to undulate in turn, threatening to buck them off with each stroke.

Weiss seemed to have it easiest, riding atop the beast's neck, one hand tightly gripping Myrtenaster's hilt, the blade anchored amidst the Nevermore's body. Perhaps it was because it was_ her_ Summon, but having Weiss' blade sticking out of its flesh and being pulled around by every shift of her weight didn't seem to bother the Nevermore at all.

Fortunately, it looked as though they wouldn't have to worry about the difficulty holding on for long. Just a few beats of its massive wings brought the Nevermore clear of the roofs of Vale's skyscrapers, and they were now coasting along, heading straight for the safe zone. Hopefully, the people manning the defensive perimeter would realize that it wasn't a regular Nevermore coming their way, and not treat the Summon as an attacking enemy.

Jaune had to admit that this was a novel way to travel. The sound of the wind rushing past his ears was punctuated by the thunderous sound of each downward stroke of the Nevermore's wings. As such, it was hard to converse with the others, given that they would have to shout to be heard over the racket.

However, despite all that noise, they heard the problem before they saw it.

It was the sound of another, even larger, set of wings, beating along behind them. It was accompanied by a screeching roar that stung the ears. That roar incited a sense of ominous fear in their guts. Pyrrha was too out of it, thanks to Tyrian's poison, to respond. But Jaune and Setsuna quickly looked over their shoulders, Weiss a beat behind them, finding their worst fears confirmed.

"Oh...you," she said in a deadpan tone.

Sure enough, the Wyvern had spotted them, and had immediately turned about and taken up pursuit. The mantas and bullheads of the military were harrying it as best they could, but their bullets and missiles barely even seemed to faze the beast as it went barreling after them, its massive wings propelling it at speeds that had it quickly gaining on Weiss' smaller Nevermore. Even though repeated attacks had managed to divert it away from the safe zone, it seemed that, for some reason, its fixation on Weiss' Summon was much more singleminded, as it acted as though it didn't even feel the attacks of the military, which exploded against its hide, sending globules of black liquid flying through the air with each hit.

"This is bad!" Jaune shouted.

"You think?" Weiss asked in rhetorical irritation.

"If it's _that_ determined to chase us, it's gonna follow us right over the defensive perimeter!" Jaune pointed out. "If it starts spawning Grimm behind the line, it's gonna be a bloodbath."

Clicking her tongue, Weiss found herself agreeing. For whatever reason, the Wyvern had fixated on them. If they brought it across the defensive line, it would undermine everything they'd accomplished up to that point. However, Pyrrha needed immediate treatment. They couldn't waste precious time leading the Wyvern on a chase...nor did they have time to actually fight something like that. Even if they did, victory didn't seem all that certain, when all the combined firepower of what remained of the Valean and Atlesian militaries seemed to be doing nothing.

It wasn't as though the beast's armor was impenetrable. Rather, its entire body actually seemed to be made up of the black muck that continuously dripped off its underside. Bullets and missiles threw up ripples, but the liquid that was blasted away quickly flowed back in to replenish itself. None of the attacks seemed to do actual damage to the monster.

Setsuna stared intently at the Wyvern, a deep frown on his face. Then he grimaced, apparently coming to an unpleasant conclusion. "Can I get your help?" he asked Jaune.

"What do you need?" Jaune asked back.

"I need you to do for me what you did for Weiss-san," said Setsuna. "Can you restore and enhance my Aura?"

"You've got something that'll work against _that_?" asked Jaune, glancing dubiously at the Wyvern, which continued to gain ground on them.

Setsuna swallowed. "Maybe..." he said. "I...I've never actually tried this technique before...but if it works..."

"What kinda risk are we talking about here?" asked Jaune.

Setsuna swallowed. "Well...if we went about giving my training levels, I'd be at Level-Four...and what I'm trying would be about Level-Ten."

"Yeah...I can't see you pulling it off then," said Jaune.

"It's still our best bet at this point," Setsuna countered.

Jaune took another glance at the closing Wyvern. "You're not wrong..."

He glanced down at Pyrrha, then looked over at Setsuna. His hands were currently occupied, holding on for dear life. _This is gonna be tricky._

Fortunately, it was Weiss who supplied the solution to that. Cycling through Myrtenaster's Dust-chambers, she selected her gravity-Dust, then channeled it through her Glyphs. Black snowflake designs appeared beneath Jaune, Pyrrha, and Setsuna; holding the three of them in place on the Nevermore's back.

"Make it snappy!" Weiss shouted back, grimacing at the effort of maintaining three Glyph_s and_ her Summon simultaneously.

Carefully letting go of Pyrrha, Jaune reached across to where Setsuna was, resting his hand against the younger boy's hip. From there, he carefully Projected his Aura into Setsuna, in the same way he had Weiss before. Setsuna inhaled, feeling his strength return, then well up within him. Letting go himself, he stood freely on the Nevermore's back, trusting entirely in Weiss' ability to keep him in place. Rather than drawing his single remaining kama, he instead cupped his hands in the air in front of them, holding them with their palms facing each other, fingers slightly curled. Then he closed his eyes.

What Setsuna was about to try was one of the highest arts of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, one he'd never actually trained in, but only really knew of as a concept. _Chiyugi_, the most basic of the school's techniques was all about controlling the magnitude of gravity. However, with further refinement, one could also control gravity's vector. In simple terms, while Setsuna's style's most basic technique increased the downwards force of gravity, more training enabled him to control which direction _down_ was. Using that skill enabled him to manipulate objects, such as through his _Chinseirin_, or even alter his own gravity, allowing him to float or fly. He could increase the weight behind his swings, in the direction of his swings, to give his blows more force. All of that was part and parcel to proficiency in the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_.

For users of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, down was typically envisioned as a vector, a direction. However, what Setsuna was intending to do was make "down" into a single point, to have gravity converge upon a point in space, and intensify in that spot. To achieve what he envisioned, he would need both incredible power and control. It required a force of gravity orders of magnitude beyond anything he had ever produced before, and since he was intensifying gravity coming from all directions upon a single point, it was essentially producing countless _Chiyugi_ techniques within a limited space, each with a different orientation. And then...he needed to do all that, while maintaining control of the result. What he was seeking to create had the potential to kill himself and everyone in his vicinity, if his control faltered in the slightest.

That was why, as Setsuna, who'd only managed up to two simultaneous _Chiyugi_ thus far, focused everything he had upon the space between his hands...and nothing happened. Gritting his teeth, he tried to bring forth the image of what he wanted in his mind, but the control necessary to shape the technique had escaped his grasp. In the end, however much Jaune had boosted his power, Setsuna lacked the critical control needed to pull this off.

The Wyvern's scream sounded closer than ever. Distracted by it, Setsuna looked up, his eyes widening as he saw the beast already almost upon them, lunging in, its too-wide mouth opening up all the way down the length of its neck, those toothy jaws seeming to stretch out infinitely to encompass the Nevermore, which had looked so impressively large to the four of them, when it had been first created, but now seemed pitifully small before the all-encompassing bulk of the Wyvern.

"Sorry," was all that Setsuna could say as their death bore down upon them.

And then the Wyvern's triumphant shriek trailed off into a wail of pain as its body abruptly lurched aside, its jaws no longer threatening to close down upon them. Instead, the awe-inspiring Grimm was knocked into a tumble that sent it crashing down into one of the abandoned skyscrapers they were flying past, the building collapsing atop it.

They were able to see just _what_ had knocked the massive Wyvern into a tumble. Streams of azure; like whole rivers winding through the air, weaving around each other; had slammed into the Wyvern's flank. The surfaces of those flying rivers were decorated with designs that were reminiscent of scales, while fanged maws attached to the ends sank said fangs into the Wyvern's soupy flesh, tearing into it mercilessly. While the jaws of the flying dragons of water did relatively little damage, the raw power behind the attack had been enough to essentially swat the monstrous Grimm from the sky.

"Those are..." Setsuna's jaw dropped as he traced those streams back to their point of origin.

There, just drifting in from the sea, from the north and west of Vale itself, illuminated by the light of the moon, was a large airborne vessel. However, it was nothing like the airships of the Kingdom; its large, ovular shape being completely different from anything from Vale or Atlas. The vessel was flying slowly and ponderously, having only just crossed over the docks and was now making its way over the industrial and commercial districts. At barely half the size of the fallen Atlesian warships, and moving far more slowly than the bullheads and mantas that swerved around it, the craft wasn't particularly imposing. However, what _was_ imposing was the fact that those massive streams of dragon-shaped water had originated from a single figure, one of five, standing atop the vehicle's curved dorsal surface.

"What the heck is that?" asked Jaune.

"A zeppelin," said Setsuna, unable to conceal the utter shock in his voice.

"Aren't those the airships that _your_ people use?" asked Weiss, over her shoulder.

"Y-yeah," said Setsuna. "But...why is that here...why are _they_ here...why _them_?"

"Them-who?" asked Jaune.

Setsuna was too stunned to answer.

Then the five figures disappeared from sight.

* * *

Qrow panted for breath, sweat streaming down his face. His right arm dangled limply at his side, while he had to call upon all of what remained of his strength to keep his sword hefted in his left. All around him, the corpses of the Grimm he'd slain dissolved, almost like smoldering fires giving off their last clouds of smoke before dying. However, standing all around him were still_ more_, and sadly of the living persuasion, all too eager to sink their fangs and claws into his flesh.

"Damn persistent buggers," he grumbled.

Unfortunately, even as he'd taken out the Grimm that had spawned in his vicinity, still more continued to appear. The Wyvern had passed over his position at least two more times, seeding more Grimm around him, all the Grimm in the general vicinity apparently being drawn to this particular thorn in their sides. He wasn't sure if it was their uncanny intelligence at work, recognizing and prioritizing a larger threat in their vicinity; or maybe they'd been directed to seek him out specifically, possibly at Salem's behest; or if his general bad mood after how crappy a day this had turned out to be had been negativity enough to draw them; but whatever the case, their numbers were continuing to pile up. On top of that, it was no longer just Beowolves, Ursai, and Creeps he had to worry about. They'd been joined by Griffons, a few Nevermores, and even a massive Deathstalker; the last of which stood directly in front of him, clicking its mandibles and claws menacingly. Not far away, he could see the sinuous bulk of a King Taijitu slithering his way as well.

Qrow was on his last legs. In his present state, the Deathstalker would have been too much for him on its own. Unable to use Harbinger to its fullest potential, the best he would have been able to do was hammer away at that carapace with his sword, which would have amounted to next to nothing.

"As last stands go, this sure was a crappy one," grumbled Qrow. "Too bad the Ice Queen isn't here to see me go out like a hero."

Then another roar reached his ears, this one descending from above. Wincing, Qrow directed his eyes upward, expecting to see some new Grimm dive-bombing him from above. However, his jaw dropped at what he saw instead.

Streams of water, shaped into the sinuous forms of dragons, wound through the air, lunging down, their jaws closing upon the Grimm in Qrow's immediate vicinity. Their jaws tore through black flesh and white bone armor like paper. The Grimm's cries of aggression were replaced by cries of pain as they were ripped apart, the ones closest to Qrow dying first.

In the wake of those dragons was a young man. He landed in front of Qrow, the thin tail of hair that descended from the back of his head stretching behind him as he fell. Clad in a dark-blue vest, with no shirt, the the man's muscular arms and well-toned abdomen were on full display, while his legs were enclosed in white hakama, and his feet set into sandals. He glanced back at Qrow, appearing to confirm his condition, before bursting into motion again.

The man was a flickering blur to Qrow's eyes, darting back and forth across his vision. Where the man went, the Grimm fell, cut to pieces by the strange, curved, double-pronged blades the man wielded in each hand. Though they were relatively short, they seemed to have no issue cutting through Grimm, large or small. Even the King Taijitu was carved into pieces.

After just a few seconds, the massive Deathstalker was the only Grimm remaining. Fresh from finishing off a Beowolf, the man immediately turned in place, slashing his blade downward through the air, even though the Deathstalker was well outside his reach. "_Mumyo Saigyo Ryu: Suiha Nanahoryu!_"

Seven streams of water, shaped like dragons, lunged out from the slashing blade, weaving around one another as they flew towards the Deathstalker. They struck with a thunderous sound, before seeming to vanish entirely, having apparently splashed impotently against the Grimm's hardened exoskeleton.

"Um..." grunted Qrow, trying to point out that the Deathstalker didn't even seem inconvenienced by the hit it had taken.

However, the man turned away from the Grimm, and instead began to walk towards Qrow. "Don't worry about it," he said. In direct contradiction to his words, the Deathstalker clicked its pincers together menacingly, before advancing towards them, yet the man gave it no mind.

Just as it was about to lunge toward the back of Qrow's savior, the Deathstalker froze, its body going as still as a statue.

The man smirked. "The seven water dragons wind within the target's body...and tear it apart from the inside."

Behind him, the Deathstalker shuddered. The seven dragons erupted from between the joints in its carapace, each one trailing black streams of Grimm flesh. As the last dragon took its leave, the Deathstalker collapsed, then dissolved.

Qrow huffed out a breath. "Thanks for the save there, pal," he said.

"No problem," said the man. "I'm Shinrei, of the Mibu Goyosei."

"Huh...?" Qrow's eyebrows went up. "Wait...you were Ruby's teacher, right?"

That gave the man pause. "You know Ruby-chan?"

"I'm her uncle," said Qrow.

"Oh! You must be Qrow Branwen-san then," said Shinrei, his eyes widening. Then he grinned. "Ruby-chan used to talk about you quite a bit."

"It's nice to finally meet her main teacher in the flesh," said Qrow, jabbing Harbinger into the ground, so he could extend his left hand, which Shinrei gripped in greeting.

"Likewise," said Shinrei. "You look like you've had a hard time of it."

"Yeah, things have been a little crazy around here," said Qrow, glancing around at the empty and battered buildings around them.

"Well, lucky for you, we came prepared for a hectic situation," said Shinrei.

"'We'?" Qrow canted his head.

"A certain fox may have keeping us abreast on things in Vale," said Shinrei. "There was a bit of a communications lag, so our boss decided it best that we be proactive for once. We Mibu thought it might be best if we put our best foot forward. What could be better than showing up to help in your time of need?"

"I certainly ain't complaining," said Qrow, smirking.

* * *

Atop Vale's southern perimeter wall, only a scant number of soldiers had survived the aftermath of the Wyvern's flyover. The swarms of Grimm that had suddenly spawned amongst and behind them had all but decimated their numbers. While the soldiers had ultimately been victorious, that victory had come at a hideous cost. The walls were littered with the torn and shredded remains of their comrades, scattered among the mangled remains of the Knights that had fought alongside them.

Worse still, many of the turrets that topped the walls had been damaged in the ensuing battle. Overall, they would be lucky if they could muster a fifth of the firepower they were supposed to have to hold the line here. And, unfortunately, the line was just about to be tested.

From the foot of the wall stretched out cleared ground, extending for several-hundred meters, a dense forest growing up beyond that. This cleared ground had been designed to be a killing ground. When the Grimm attacked en-mass, the soldiers would open up with their rifles, supported by the greater power of the turrets, taking advantage of the lack of cover to bring the masses of Grimm down before they could reach and begin to try their claws at breaking or climbing the wall.

But now, it merely gave them a clear view of their oncoming demise. The few remaining soldiers could only stare in despair as the trees of the forest that blanketed the earth between Vale and Mountain Glenn swayed ominously in a motion that didn't come from the wind, but rather from countless large bodies moving amongst them. The crack and creaking of wood being bent and broken echoed through the air, mingling with roars and howls, trees falling over, scattering flocks of birds into flight. There were even deep, trumpeting calls that made their teeth buzz uncomfortably.

For the soldiers manning the perimeter between Vale and Mountain Glenn, it seemed that the only thing they could do was grit their teeth and prepare for death. The despair that sank into the pits of their stomachs would only serve to attract even more Grimm. Despite that, the few remaining soldiers, to a man, reloaded their rifles, checked to make sure they were operational, then moved up to prepare for battle. They had spent much of their lives training for this. If the Grimm were going to overrun their position, then they would do their duty, and take as many of the monsters with them as they could.

Sure enough, the line of trees practically shattered, many a trunk simply bursting into splinters as the Grimm spilled out onto the open ground, looking more like a black flood rushing out from within the forest, than a swarm of animal-like monsters. The details of where one ended and the others began seemed to blur together, and it looked like an undulating wash of black, amongst which malicious, white skulls and glowing, red eyes bobbed like grotesque swirls of foam formed by crashing waves.

The soldiers opened fire, as did the few remaining operational Dust turrets. However, their shots had virtually no impact. A Grimm that fell was almost immediately trampled by its fellows, often lost from view so fast that, to the men firing from the walls, it was virtually impossible to see that it had been killed at all. Only streams of black particles dotting the oncoming torrent seemed to suggest that any Grimm were dying at all, any holes knocked amidst the horde disappearing so quick that they never appeared to be there at all.

Then, from the forest, an even more horrid sight appeared. Rising up from the flood of smaller Grimm were the massive bodies of the elephantine Goliaths, bulky islands amidst the swirling sea of black and white. They moved at what was probably the fastest pace they were capable of, yet their movement still seemed ponderously slow in comparison to the smaller Grimm that streamed around their legs. They almost seemed to be taking their time, as though savoring the fear and despair of those few defenders who would soon small to them and their brethren.

The onrush of Grimm easily made it to the wall, their collective bulk slamming into the structure with enough force for the vibrations of impact to be felt all the way at the top. Several of the soldiers were knocked off their feet. One of the few remaining Knights was sent toppling over the edge, landing amidst the horde and being torn to pieces in less than a second. Worse still, the Grimm continued to pile up, paying no heed to the ones that had arrived first, their bodies buried beneath the press of the ones coming behind them, their rise up the wall bringing to mind the image of dark waves crashing against a rocky shore. Several of those at the bottom of the pileup were crushed to death, their dissipating particles erupting out from amidst their comrades like sea-spray, reinforcing the image of a crashing wave.

The soldiers concentrated their fire downwards as best they could, but it was a battle they were swiftly losing. More and more Grimm continued to pile up, climbing over one another in their eagerness to get at the men atop the wall, while the increasing press of them began to crack the wall itself.

Shadows swooped down low towards the wall. Griffons descended in a pack, alighting on the wall, beaked mouths screeching, their claws stretching out to slash at the few remaining defenders. Then there would be nothing left to impede the horde below from storming the wall and inundating Vale.

Then a Griffon burst into flame. Uttering a confused shriek, it toppled over, plummeting into the seething mass below, its impact setting several of the Grimm it landed on alight, the fire spreading amongst their number like a disease. Then, one by one, over the space of just a few seconds, each of the other attacking Griffons also exploded into flames. Some disintegrated on the spot, but others fell off the wall as well, creating a chain reaction of casualties amongst the other Grimm.

A confused pause fell among the soldiers as they tried to comprehend the strange phenomenon.

The figure of a man perched atop the edge of the wall. "Man...you guys were going up against this, after everything you've already been through...You've got my respect."

It was a fair-skinned man, his head covered by a shaggy locks of pale-blonde hair, the spiky mass falling down to the level of his shoulders. He looked over the men with a set of light-orange eyes. His upper body was covered by a white kimono with red decorating the hem of the flaps, its loose sleeves extending all the way down to his wrists. Below that, his legs were covered in dark-red Hakama, which were cut short, ending just below his knees, seemingly held in place by a black and orange striped sash that wrapped around his waist. His bare feet rested in a pair of unusually tall geta, which had clicked upon his arrival.

In his right hand, the man gripped the black shaft of a spear, which was topped by a fearsome, trident-shaped blade, which glittered menacingly in the moonlight.

Looking over the surviving soldiers, the man flashed them a cheerful grin. "You guys can take it easy now. Leave the rest to Keikoku of the Goyosei."

The soldiers exchanged confused looks. Keikoku was already moving onto the attack. Hefting his spear, he swept it across in front of him, swinging the blade down along the side of the wall. All along the length of the wall, massive explosions of flame ripped through the pile of Grimm, their angry and pained screams ripping through the air. The pile that had been threatening to cap the wall crumbled downward.

Keikoku leapt into the air. More Griffons, along with some Nevermores, stooped down at him from above. However, Keikoku swept his spear out in a wide arc, unleashing a broad wave of flame that enveloped nearly all the flyers in a single go. Those that weren't caught in the flames were easy pickings for the soldiers that remained.

From there, Keikoku went plummeting straight down into the mass of Grimm, his spear leading the way. Above, the soldiers could only watch in horror as his body vanished within the packed mass, leaving them sure that he had foolishly thrown his life away to no end. However, that certainty vanished with what happened next.

"_Akuma no Ago!_"

With an all-consuming roar, a wave of pitch-black flames erupted outward, devouring everything in its path. It washed out along the length of the wall in both directions, scorching the attacking Grimm out of existence, even as it extended out across the cleared ground, wiping out still more Grimm in their entirety, the flames sweeping the Grimm away in a single move, leaving only a long swath of scorched earth in their wake, stopping just shy of the trees of the forest.

Finally, the conflagration faded, leaving only Keikoku himself, kneeling amidst blackened and smoldering earth, his spear having been thrust into the ground. Smoke streamed off his own body, particularly blackened smudges that decorated his clothing. Despite that, he still stood up easily, holding his spear lightly as he faced the forest, from which a fresh wave of Grimm emerged.

"Looks like you pests haven't learned your lesson yet," commented Keikoku, grinning fiercely. He leaned forward, the "sash" around his waist unwinding, revealing itself to be a tiger-tail, which now trailed behind him, lashing in the air to betray his eagerness. Ahead of him, the waves of Grimm converged on his position, his presence alone being enough to call practically all of them to him.

The head of Keikoku's spear burst into flames and, with that ferocious grin on his face, he dove headlong into the oncoming horde.

* * *

A torrent of Grimm charged headlong down the street, rushing straight towards the defensive perimeter. According to the intelligence the defenders had received from Winter, this was supposed to be the last push by the remaining Grimm born from the spawning pools that RASP and RYNB had been working to destroy. However, as final pushes went, it was one hell of an effort, only being further bolstered by reinforcements spawned by the Wyvern.

Whitley frowned as he watched the seething mass of monstrosities approach. A pair of Summoning Glyphs appeared to either side of him, from which leapt a pair of Alpha Beowolves. They bounded over the heads of Team NDGO and Team ABRN, who were holding the line in this particular session. As the Summons closed with the first Grimm of the oncoming horde, Whitley withdrew a pale-green rod from his cigarette case, bringing to his lips, then inhaling. The entire rod dissolved into his mouth, and the Summoned Beowolves rose up on their hind legs, sweeping at the frontrunners with their clawed forelimbs, their claws launching blades of wind that cleaved through multiple Grimm in a row. However, despite that, they were quickly swallowed by the horde and destroyed.

Next, Whitley Summoned a Boarbatusk, while inhaling a stick of ice-Dust. The boar-like Grimm bounded past the defenders, before going into its signature roll, throwing up waves of ice-spears to either side of it as it progressed, those spears tearing through the ranks of attacking Grimm and ripping a channel straight through the center of the horde, before it ran out of steam and was swiftly overwhelmed.

Whitley frowned and swallowed, feeling a burning sensation in his throat. Using one's body as a medium for channeling Dust's power came with side-effects after all. He reflected that he probably should have picked a better method of infusing Dust into his Summons. However, that would have to wait until after this crisis passed, assuming he survived it. As it was, despite his apparent composure, Whitley was near his limit. He didn't have much Aura remaining, having expended most of it for the Summons he had launched at the incoming Grimm very much like living missiles.

The defenders ahead of him weren't in much better shape. Nebula aimed her crossbow as carefully as she was able, fatigue weighing down her arms. She had to make every shot count, given that she didn't have many bolts left. Gwen was likewise down to her last few handfuls of throwing knives. Dew and Octavia were faring a little better, but the Dust that fueled their weapons was nearing depletion, and they too were running out of steam, physically speaking. Team ABRN wasn't in any better shape. Nadir and Reese were running out of ammunition for their weapons. Reese was especially hampered by the fact that fighting from a static position like this wasn't a good fit for her weapon and style. Both Bolin and Arslan were tired from the number of times they'd had to repel Grimm charges at close range.

Even if this was the last push, it looked to possibly be more than they could handle.

"Looks like this is it," said Nebula, glancing down the line at her fellow team leader. "Ready to work to the finish?"

"You know it," said Arslan.

Nebula looked back at Whitley. "Hey, thanks for your help, but you must be running on fumes. You should get clear while you have the chance."

Whitley gave her a small smile. "Are you all not running on fumes as well?"

"Well, yeah," said Nebula, before chuckling. "But we're Huntresses, so this is our job."

Whitley's smile widened slightly. "Well, at the very least, allow me to use what little I have left to help as best I can."

Nebula felt she should press the issue more. After all, Whitley was a civilian; albeit an extremely powerful, well-connected civilian; but still an official noncombatant, when all was said and done. He was one of the people they were supposed to be protecting, not the one protecting _them_.

"I'm not about to complain," said Arslan. "If you've got anything that can thin this lot out a little more, I'd appreciate it."

"As the lady wishes," said Whitley, withdrawing a pair of sticks from his case, one of wind-Dust, the other of fire-Dust. A Summoning Glyph appeared behind him, while Whitley inhaled both sticks simultaneously. The Glyph shone a brilliant, blinding white. When it faded, the bulk of an enormous Grimm rose up behind Whitley.

It was a massive, leonine Grimm, a series of bone spines extending out behind its head in a manner reminiscent of a lion's mane. Its skin was decorated by exposed bone in multiple places, including forming a ridge that ran down its spine, all the way to the tip of the scorpion-stinger that decorated its tail. It was a Manticore, and an exceptionally large specimen at that. Its body shimmered with a pale-blue and white color, shimmering and giving off ripples of heat.

With a single beat of its wings, the Manticore lifted up, flying over Whitley and the two teams holding the line. It charged straight down the street at the Grimm, its body shining brighter and brighter. Folding its wings, it began to execute a rapid series of aileron rolls, waves of shining heat wrapping around it. It plunged straight into the packed ranks of Grimm, erupting into a bolt of flame that tore its way down the street, immolating and shredding countless monsters with its passage.

In its wake, it left a channel of molten asphalt. Very few of the Grimm had survived its passage. But there were still plenty more behind it. They quickly filled in where those before them had fallen. NDGO and ABRN could at least see the tail end of the horde now. But it was still going to be a prolonged, uphill battle for them, and one that they weren't certain they could win.

Whitley collapsed to one knee, coughing hoarsely. "The last...I leave...to...you," he managed to gasp out.

"Just get clear," said Nebula worriedly.

Whitley just sighed and drooped his head.

Nebula shook her head slightly, before looking to her teammate. "Gwen, when you're out of knives, make sure you get him clear."

"Okay," said Gwen, reluctant to abandon the frontline, but also aware that, without her knives, she wouldn't be much use. At the very least, she would do what good she could.

Whitley struggled to raise his head, his throat in agony after the last two sticks of Dust he'd inhaled. At the very least, he wanted to avoid being a burden on the people he was trying to help. However, he paused in his efforts when a broad hand came to rest on his shoulder.

A powerful presence fell over the group. NDGO and ABRN, prepared to fight for their lives in the next few seconds, suddenly felt the tension and fear that had been suffusing their beings disperse into the air, as though it had never existed. In place of those emotions came a sense of tranquility and ease, a premonition that everything would be all right.

Looking over their shoulders, they easily found the source of that sensation. The tall, well-built man, his body looking as though it had been chiseled from solid stone, strode forward at a sedate pace. The dark-green kimono he wore was left slightly open, displaying the spectacular muscles of his chest, the kimono being tucked into a pair of white hakama, held up by a sash of the same color, into which had been set a simple katana. The white hair that streamed down the back of his head and short beard that decorated his chin contrasted sharply with his bronze skin. Gold-colored eyes glinted with warmth and kindness as they surveyed the assembled students.

"You are all fine warriors," the man rumbled approvingly, his voice sounding like distant thunder, before striding right past the students. "You can leave the rest to me."

"Hey! Hold on!" protested Arslan.

The man took no notice of her words, continuing to walk straight towards the oncoming Grimm. Their numbers broken up by Whitley's last attack, they no longer looked like a river. But there were still enough to present a serious problem. Still, the man seemed unbothered, reaching down and drawing the sword. Sunlight glinted off the katana's rippling steel, the man holding it out to the side, before moving it to point towards the first waves of incoming Grimm.

The Beowolves leading the charge bounded at him, leaping into the air, reaching with their claws, fanged maws outstretched and open. There was a flicker of light...and both Grimm were cut to pieces, falling past the man and dissolving before they had even hit the ground.

Of course, there was no shortage of Grimm following in the wake of those first two. However, as they closed, there was again the phenomenon of light flickering in the air around the man, and each and ever Grimm charging down the street was dismembered in the same manner. No matter how many rushed him, each one met with the same fate. The man never even seemed to move, yet the Grimm died in droves, as though the man's position suggested some kind of absolute boundary, which represented an instant death to any Grimm that dared try to cross it.

All ABRN and NDGO could do was watch as the Grimm inexorably died. After just a few minutes, there were none left. It felt strangely anticlimactic. After readying themselves for an intense final struggle, the Grimm had instead been cut down in such a mundane manner...yet also in a way so spectacularly impossible as to be difficult to comprehend. As far as they could tell, all the man had done was swing his sword. Yet he had done so with such speed that they hadn't even seen the movements of the blade itself.

Once all the Grimm had been cleared away, the man sheathed his sword, before turning to face them, gazing at them with a look of benevolence. "You have fought well," he said. "I apologize for intruding. But I thought it best to ensure that you would survive to grow more."

"Who _are_ you?" asked Reese, looking the man over, taking in the Mistrallian style of his dress, and pairing that with the incredible feats he had just performed, feats that showed no signs of relying on Dust in any capacity. A thought occurred to her. "Are you...Mibu?"

"I am," answered the man. "I am Taihaku of the Mibu Goyosei." He bowed politely to them.

"Are you one of Ruby's friends?" asked Reese.

Taihaku chuckled softly, his manner almost grandfatherly. "You could say that," he said. "I can't say that I have done enough to truly be counted as one of Ruby-kun's teachers, but I did give her a lesson, from time to time."

"Whoa...!" whispered Reese, her eyes widening. _Ruby's been getting lessons from someone like this...no wonder she's so awesome._

"What are you people doing here?" asked Arslan. "Ruby's sister said that you don't get involved in the Kingdoms' affairs."

"We were informed of a dire situation developing in Vale, and felt that we should not remain idle," said Taihaku. "To that end, Sora-sama ordered the mobilization of the Goyosei, and dispatched us to assist."

"Well, _I'm_ grateful," said Dew with a tired sigh.

"You can all be at ease," said Taihaku. "We will take care of the remaining Grimm threat, both within and without."

* * *

"I...can't believe what I'm seeing!" gasped Ironwood, watching a feed from the southeast perimeter wall.

The screen showed Keikoku absolutely shredding the waves of incoming Grimm. His spear was a black and silver blur around his body, slicing and piercing through the toughest armor with ease, while jets and balls of flame erupted out, consuming Grimm well beyond his reach, completely decimating their ranks before any of them even came within so much as _spitting_ distance of the perimeter wall. Despite fighting at a level that would have left most professional Huntsmen breathless from exertion, he showed no sign of flagging, despite fighting at such a pace for several minutes already.

Then he was joined by Shinrei, the other man attacking with swift, graceful slashes of the two short blades he wielded, from which he also launched dragon-shaped streams of water, which lunged out to seize Grimm in their jaws and tear them to ribbons. The two men formed up together and, despite wielding opposing elements, somehow fought in perfect synch with one another, decimating the Grimm so completely that, rather than holding off the attacking waves, they were actually pushing the Grimm farther back with each passing moment.

Another feed allowed Ironwood to see Taihaku easily holding the line against the Grimm that had been rushing the safety perimeter, seeming not to move at all, yet actually cutting down Grimm with careless ease. Most of the time, his actual attacks weren't even visible as anything more than the occasional flickering of his image...right before an attacking Grimm fell to pieces.

On one hand, this was good news. The Grimm were being routed at every turn. The unknown flying object that had been making its way into Vale's airspace had proven to be a ship of allies, who had come to assist in their hour of need, powerful allies at that.

At the same time, they seemed a little _too_ powerful. After seeing Demon Eyes Kyo in action, Ironwood was not predisposed to dismiss the power of the Mibu. But it was one thing to know of such power in an abstract sense, after seeing Kyo in a sparring match with Ruby. But it was completely another to watch individuals mow down entire swarms of Grimm with seemingly no effort.

_With power like that, I can imagine how they might have seen themselves as gods in the past,_ Ironwood noted, remembering the strange tale Jinn had told.

* * *

No longer needing to worry about the Wyvern's pursuit, Weiss once again directed her Summon back towards the safety zone. However, to her dismay, she felt it beginning to give out. Between maintaining the Summon itself, and the Glyphs holding her friends to its back, her Aura was running low.

"We won't make it," she said despondently, directing her Summon down to a street that would hopefully afford them with the most direct path to their objective. However, at this distance, it was unlikely that they would make it there in time to save Pyrrha.

Jaune wanted to reassure her, but he was spent too. He'd prolonged Pyrrha's life, healed Weiss, then boosted her Aura to allow her to Summon the Nevermore. After that, he'd also restored and enhanced Setsuna's Aura as well, in a bid to destroy the Wyvern, which hadn't worked out. And all of that was on top of the intense fighting he'd already done so far today. Now his own Aura was down to its dregs. Their sole remaining hope was to carry Pyrrha to the safe zone, and Sasame, before the Aura Jaune had planted within her expired. But that was looking less and less possible at this point.

"We've still got to try," he said with a determined growl, carefully pulling Pyrrha over his shoulders and hefting her up, preparing to run the rest of the way back.

Growling sounds emerged from all around them, and the three conscious members of the group looked around, seeing Grimm emerging from within the alleys, and also down the street. Farther down, they could see the Wyvern rolling and writhing where it had crashed. It seemed that, with every shift of its massive body, it only shed more and more of that black gunk, which only spawned still _more_ Grimm. And now the majority of them were bearing down on the nearest prey.

Setsuna grimaced, pulling out his one remaining kama. "Get going," he said.

"Setsuna..." Jaune swallowed, unwilling to leave their new friend behind. He knew that, if anything happened to the boy, Ruby would be devastated.

"This is sorta my responsibility anyway," added Setsuna. "If I'd just been able to to do what I was supposed to..."

"But..." Weiss wanted to protest, but uncertain of what she could say.

"Pyrrha-san needs help," said Setsuna. "That's what's most important, right?"

"You've got some serious chutzpah, Setsuna-kun."

The voice came from above. Before the three of them could even start looking up, a dark figure dropped down, landing on the back of the first Beowolf coming their way. The Grimm's spine snapped in two as the man landed with the force of a small bomb, leaving a crater where he'd impacted. Rising from it, the man grinned fiercely.

His skin was a chocolate-brown color, a shade darker than the brown of the kimono he wore over his upper body, its long sleeves extending down to cover his hands all the way to the tips of his fingers, giving the impression that it was a little too large for him, despite the broad set of his shoulders, and the muscles that stretched across his chest. The hems of the sleeves were white, and decorated with a pattern of black diamonds. The kimono was tucked into a pair of navy-blue shorts, which left the majority of the man's powerful legs exposed, all the way down to his feet, which were set into a pair of geta, which, like Setsuna's, sported steel soles. Hazel eyes looked out at them from underneath a head of black hair, which was styled into a mass of dreadlocks. A white strap extended diagonally across the man's front, running from his right shoulder to his left hip. It held a sheathed sword in place behind his back, its handle extending up over his shoulder.

Reaching up, the man drew the sword, revealing the distinctive blade of a katana. However, instead of the usual, circular, tsuba-type guard that most such swords sported, this one sported a spreading-wing design, more commonly associated with jian-style blades, despite the weapon resembling a typical katana in virtually every other sense.

"Sensei!" exclaimed Setsuna, staring wide-eyed at the man.

Chinmei of the Goyosei chuckled. "We'll talk later, Setsuna-kun. You gonna help me take out the trash?"

"Y-yes!" stammered Setsuna, running towards his teacher.

Chinmei appeared completely unaware of the Ursa lunging at his back, one massive paw already raised to slam into his torso. However, at the last second, he dropped, his knees bending suddenly. At the same time, he leaned back, sending his body into a backwards roll that allowed him to duck under the swinging paw, while rolling directly beneath the Ursa's body. In the same move, he slashed up with his sword, disemboweling the beast.

Before the Ursa had even finished falling to the ground, Chinmei was behind it, spinning in a manner similar to Tyrian or Mercury, so that he could flare out his legs, lashing out with kicks that obliterated the heads of the Creeps behind it. A twist of the wrist of the left hand he'd planted against the ground allowed Chinmei to turn his body farther, lashing out with the sword in his right hand, executing a low swing that cut the legs out from under another Creep, before finally pushing off and coming back to his feet. As he did, he swung the sword over his head, bringing it straight down and launching a black wave off its edge, which cleaved through an entire line of Grimm.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, Chinmei brought his full Manifestation into play, the majority of the Grimm in front of him suddenly contorting as their bodies were seized by intense gravitational forces, which then twisted them like rags, until they were torn to pieces. By the time Setsuna had arrived, Chinmei had dealt with nearly all the approaching Grimm himself.

"I guess we don't have to worry about Setsuna anymore," commented Jaune, watching the whole thing with wide eyes.

"I guess not," said Weiss, equally gobsmacked by what she was seeing_. Ruby told us that the Goyosei were like entire armies in their own right...She wasn't kidding._

"We should hurry though," said Jaune, getting ready to head towards the safe zone again. "We don't have much time left."

Weiss nodded.

Both of them turned...only to find an unfamiliar man in their path.

Sea-green eyes gazed placidly at them from underneath a head of pale-blue hair, which was swept back over the man's head and tied in a tail at the base of his neck, which then ran down his back. He was dressed in an elegant-looking kimono of sky-blue, the hems of its collar and sleeves being jade-green, and decorated with the images of winding dragons, embroidered in gold thread. The kimono was held closed by a white sash, into which was thrust a tanto, alongside a longer blade, which had the handle of a katana, but the profile of the blade more closely resembled the more-pronounced curve of a naginata blade.

"Allow me to see her," said the man, his gaze sweeping over Pyrrha.

"We need to get her to Sasame," said Jaune. "She doesn't have a lot of time."

"I can see that," noted the man. "However, seeing as _I_ am the one who taught Sasame-kun the Healing Arts, I believe I am a suitable substitute."

"Huh...?" grunted Jaune.

"I am Makoto of the Taishiro," said the man, smiling at them. "I believe that I am able to help your friend."

"O-okay," said Jaune, pulling Pyrrha of his shoulders and laying her gently on the street.

Makoto knelt over her, his eyes taking in the nature of her wound, before he brought a hand to the puncture in her stomach...and inserted it, the fingers phasing directly through Pyrrha's clothes and skin.

"What-?!" gasped Weiss.

Jaune gripped her shoulder, keeping her from interfering, Jaune having already seen Sasame pull this kind of trick a few times before.

Light shined out from where Makoto's hand had been inserted into Pyrrha's body, its intensity increasing, until it was almost blinding.

"_Reject!_"

Makoto withdrew his hand, now cupped, from within Pyrrha. Resting in the bowl formed by his palm and fingers was a mass of sickly-purple liquid, which Makoto wasted no time casting aside. The liquid splattered against the asphalt, hissing and corroding its way through it.

Pyrrha let out a soft sigh, her body going still. But it was the stillness of sleep, rather than death. Reaching out, Jaune used what remained of his Aura to carefully assess her condition, before letting out a sigh of relief. Looking up, he noticed Makoto watching him attentively.

The man gave Jaune a small smile. "It would seem that Sasame-kun has been training you well."

"Th-thanks," said Jaune, getting the feeling he'd just been gifted a tremendous compliment.

Makoto stood, holding Pyrrha in his arms. "Come," he said. "I am sure that there are others in need of assistance."

"Right," said Jaune, standing up as well.

"B-but what about...?" Weiss looked back down the street, where the Wyvern was rolling free from where it had crashed, bracing the fingers of its bat-like wings against the ground, before lifting its head and letting loose another screech, this one being powerful enough to shake the buildings around them, and shatter the windows of those closest to the massive Grimm.

"Leave it to Chinmei," said Makoto, as though it were nothing more than an afterthought. "There is no need to be concerned. He shall deal with it."

* * *

Chinmei and Setsuna faced down the Wyvern, which bunched its body. Rather than try to take to the air again, it instead began to bound down the street towards them, its too-wide mouth opening to reveal a slavering tongue. With each step, more black liquid dripped away, giving birth to other, smaller Grimm, which followed along in the beast's wake.

"Ready to give it a try?" asked Chinmei.

"Uh...What?" grunted Setsuna, looking at his teacher in confusion.

"I know what you were up to, back there," said Chinmei, grinning down at him. "You're a gutsy kid, trying something that advanced with your level of training. You've still got some juice left, so here's your chance."

"B-but..." stammered Setsuna, more than a little mortified that his teacher had caught him trying an advanced technique that he wasn't even remotely ready for.

"You overreached, Setsuna-kun," said Chinmei sternly, glancing up at the Wyvern that was closing in on them. "Either make it right by succeeding...or take your punishment for being so reckless."

Setsuna took a deep breath, then holstered his remaining kama. He brought his hands up, palms facing one another, focusing on the space between them as he used his Aura to influence the gravity. Once again, he was beset by the realization that he didn't have remotely enough control to make this happen. He couldn't produce multiple _Chiyugis_ to focus the gravity to a single point.

From behind him, a pair of arms reached around his shoulders, then moved up, the dark skin of Chinmei's hands cupping the back of Setsuna's own.

"You're overcomplicating it," said Chinmei softly. "You don't need to create a whole mess of _Chiyugis_, just one. Normally, 'down' is a direction. But now...just make it the center. Fold the gravity around it, and let it draw inwards."

Setsuna nodded, closing his eyes and bending his entire focus to the Aura he channeled into the space between his hands. There, in the center, that was where all that extra power would flow. He could feel Chinmei's Aura, working alongside his own, gently guiding Setsuna's Flow, helping him shape the technique and give it form. With his eyes closed, he couldn't see the space between his hands begin to visibly warp.

"Now...crank it up to max, as high as you can go, then reach higher," commanded Chinmei.

Setsuna did as he was bade, calling upon all his strength, and the extra power from Jaune's enhancement. He grit his teeth, sweat forming on his brow. He increased the force of gravity more and more, all of it fixated on that one single point between his hands. All the while, he could hear and feel the footsteps of the Wyvern as it closed in on them.

Then it was like something broke. Suddenly, the gravity between Setsuna's hands changed. Where he had been pressing in with all his might, it was as though something had snapped. Now the feeling was inverted, and Setsuna could feel an intense pulling sensation. It pulled at his hands, threatening to draw them together, and then at his body. He realized that, if he allowed himself to be pulled in, he wouldn't be able to survive. The force that had just come into being in front of him was far more than the human body could handle.

"Get a handle on it," said Chinmei. "Hold the reins. This is a phenomenon _you_ created. Before it bows to natural law, it bows to your will. Use that will to contain it."

Grunting, Setsuna focused, crafting the image of a perfect sphere in his mind, while pulling his hands back away, keeping that image resting on the palm of his right hand, which he held out in front of him.

Opening his eyes, Setsuna beheld an orb easily larger than his torso. It was pitch-black at the center, and everything around the edges of it seemed to be flowing inwards. The sheer concentration of gravity into a single point had created a singularity, a black hole. The image of everything being drawn in was created by the light being drawn in by the core of his technique.

Of course, this wasn't a true black hole. It was an artificial phenomenon, born from the technique of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, one of its highest skills.

"You did it," said Chinmei approvingly. "Now...let 'im have it."

Setsuna looked past the orb. Through the distortion, he could see that Wyvern was almost upon them. Narrowing his eyes, he thrust his hand out in front of him, willing the singularity forward. "_Chinsei Kokuten Kyu!_"

The orb of black flew down the street, ripping up asphalt in its wake the debris being vacuumed in and disappearing. The Wyvern realized its danger at the last second, bunching its legs to leap, spreading its wings to take to the air. It kicked off, sweeping its wings downwards in a mighty stroke. For a second, it seemed that the monster had escaped...then it lurched to a stop.

Before it had been able to rise completely upwards, Setsuna's technique had struck the end of its tail. The Wyvern lurched to a stop with a shriek of surprise and pain. Then...it began to be drawn backwards, its body being pulled into the void. It screamed and writhed, beating its wings with all its might, shaking free a veritable shower of ebony gunk. However, the liquid was drawn in as well. Meter by meter, the process drawn out by the monster's struggling, the Wyvern was pulled down, its body spiraling inward into the center of the singularity, where it vanished. Finally, with a despairing shriek, the doomed Grimm was swallowed, its head being the last thing to go. Vanishing along with the technique itself.

Setsuna gasped for breath, his entire body soaked with sweat. Then his legs gave out, dropping him to his knees. His balance failed him, and he pitched forward, his world going dark.

"Whoop!" exclaimed Chinmei, stooping to catch his student before Setsuna's face could hit the ground. "Overextended yourself there...that's what happens when you're running on borrowed power. Well, you didn't do half bad, Setsuna-kun. So I guess we'll count this as punishment served."

Glancing up, Chinmei saw the Grimm that had been spawned in the Wyvern's wake. Previously, they had been charging after their creator, seeking to attack anyone they could find. But now...they were frozen in place. Their heads dipped, and the different varieties began to growl and snort. Some even whined. Then...slowly, they began to back away down the street. A moment later, they had turned and were now running for the walls.

"'Bout time," muttered Chinmei. "I guess having the big one here offset Makoto-sama's presence. Now that it's gone, we should be in the clear."

* * *

"Sir...the Wyvern is down!" announced one of the officers in Ironwood's command center.

"They really did it," Ironwood murmured to himself.

"Report from the perimeter wall!" announced another officer. "The Grimm are...retreating! It's incredible. Even the ones already inside the Kingdom are getting out as fast as they can."

"Report from Beacon," announced another. "No more Grimm appear to be attacking from the direction of the Emerald Forest."

The reports continued to come in, revealing that the Grimm attacks were losing momentum. In fact, the Grimm seemed to be fleeing the vicinity of Vale in its entirety. A few minutes later, and all reports indicated that the attacking Grimm were gone. It was as though Kyo had returned to Vale, though Ironwood could only guess that the source of this phenomenon was on of the Mibu who ha come to assist them.

Cheers echoed through the command center. Even through the walls, Ironwood could hear the cheers of the citizens outside, as the reports of what was happening filtered through to the populace. They'd done it! They'd survived!

_But it isn't over,_ Ironwood thought, _not by a long shot._

After all, there was a major threat remaining, a threat that confounded all logic, and a threat that could strike again at any time. So long as Jester remained at large, this would only be a temporary respite. Worse still, they had no idea where he had gone, and what he was doing. Presumably, he was fighting Kyo. But whether or not Kyo had won was unknown. Until they had an answer to that...this war was a long ways from over.

* * *

**I take back what I said a couple chapters ago. Smoking _is_ bad, even when you're smoking quasi-magical juju that gives you cool elemental powers.**

**And now some heavy hitters have arrived to bat cleanup. But yeah...the day is _not_ yet completely saved.**


	156. Chapter 156

**Chapter 156:**

Sasame moved from one patient to the next, her eyes sweeping across the assembled injured, taking in every detail. Even as she went to work mending more grievous injuries with her hands, her tails brushed across others, pulses of Aura easing pain and closing more minor wounds. Working like this, she was able to perform the work of an entire small hospital's staff over the course of mere minutes.

However, the number of wounded continued to flow in. Vale was on the verge of being overrun by the Grimm. Even if people hadn't been mauled by the beasts, plenty of others had fallen, been trampled, or even struck by their fellow people in the panicked rush to flee the monsters. Working as hard as she could, and with Miyu assisting her, Sasame was just barely able to meet the demand. So far, of all who had entered, seeking treatment, none had yet died before she or Miyu could tend to them.

And, despite that, Sasame knew it wasn't enough. There were undoubtedly people who were still on their way, people being carried or dragged as fast as their helpers could manage. But that wouldn't be fast enough. For each few people she saved, another had probably expired before even reaching her doors. It was frustrating to know. However, the only thing she could do was continue working. She wasn't a god. No matter how great her skills in the Healing Arts were, the best she would ever be able to do was treat the people in front of her. It was a bitter truth that all healers had to accept, sooner or later. She wasn't sure if Miyu had grasped that truth yet, or if she was too busy with her own work to give much thought to the grim reality of the situation.

However, the flow of wounded into the impromptu hospital suddenly began to taper off considerably. The people limping, or being carried, through the doors slowed to a trickle, then stopped altogether. The sudden lessening of pressure struck Sasame as more than a little unusual. As they finished working through all the wounded who could make it in for treatment, she had expected their numbers to taper off gradually, over the course of another hour or so, before they finally got through nearly everyone who had been injured in this disaster, and been able to make it this far.

Confused, Sasame spread her Extension, which manifested in the form of invisible additions to her fox-tails, winding and weaving through the space around her, questing for information about the situation outside. As her phantasmal tails searched, Sasame choked back a gasp, feeling them come into contact with a very familiar presence.

"Sensei...?" asked Miyu, looking up from her work.

"Remain focused, Miyu-chan," said Sasame, giving Miyu a small smile. "We're almost done here."

"Already...?" Miyu had the good grace not to look around, already focusing her eyes back on the unfortunate woman beneath her hands.

"Yes," said Sasame, her smile widening. "We just got some _very_ reliable help."

Mere seconds later, the doors swung open. Makoto of the Taishiro swept in, his presence washing across the room like a soothing wave, the mere Projection of his Aura easing pain and beginning the healing process across dozens of patients at once.

Miyu had it in her to pause and gasp for a short second, before immediately bowing her head back over her patient, renewing her focus on her work. One of the most important strictures of the healer was that one's patients _always_ came first. Matters of protocol would wait until _after_ lives were no longer in danger.

Not even acknowledging the presence of Sasame or her apprentice, Makoto went to work, immediately zeroing in on the injured that Sasame or Miyu had yet to treat. He had no tails to extend his reach, the way Sasame had, but made up for that in the sheer speed with which he worked, often seeming to brush a hand over some terrible injury, only for the wound in question to vanish, as though time itself was running backwards.

So it was that, between the three of them, the remaining injured were all seen to in a matter of moments. After that, Sasame and Miyu stood up, their faces and bodies soaked with sweat, which stained their clothes. Even so, they came to stand before Makoto, then knelt reverently before him.

"Makoto-sama, I am grateful for your arrival," said Sasame, she and Miyu rising again.

"I am glad to see that you are both well," said Makoto, giving them a calm smile. "Ibuki-kun, I can see that your skills have improved, since I last saw you work."

"I-I'm honored, Makoto-sama," said Miyu, bowing her head again.

"I take it that Sora-sama received my request for assistance," said Sasame.

"That she had," agreed Makoto. "It is good that we left immediately. Just an hour or so later and we would have been too late for a great many people."

Sasame nodded gravely. "Who else has come?"

"We came with a small detachment," said Makoto. "I made sure to bring a few of my Guard with me. Aside from that, Sora-sama ordered that the Goyosei be dispatched in their entirety to assist."

"_All_ of them!?" gasped Miyu, floored by the notion.

Makoto nodded. "Shinrei and Keikoku have secured the southeastern wall, where the pressure from the attacking Grimm was heaviest. Taihaku has helped to secure the perimeter of the safe zone. Chinmei has dealt with the Wyvern."

"What about Saisei-sensei?" asked Sasame, canting her head.

"Saisei..." Makoto's eyes narrowed. "Saisei is already here."

"Huh?" The nonplussed look on Sasame's face was such a rare sight for her that Makoto couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"Mizutani Moriko has officially retired," declared Makoto. "As such..._you_ are now Saisei of the Mibu Goyosei. Mitarai Sasame...do you accept this appointment?"

"I..." Sasame paused, blinking at the completely unprecedented development. Despite the resolve she had spoken of to Ruby, she hadn't been prepared for her elevation to her new rank to occur this suddenly. There was a part of her that wanted to resist, to urge that she wait just a little bit longer. However...the greater part of her accepted the truth, that the time to take her new place, and her new name, was now.

"I accept," she said.

"Kneel," said Makoto sternly.

Sasame dropped down to both knees, before dipping her forehead all the way to the floor. Miyu stepped back to stand behind her, watching in awe She wasn't the only one. The impromptu ceremony had seized the attention of everyone in the crowded gymnasium. Practically no one else (at least among those still conscious) understood what was actually happening. However, they could all feel a strange sense of solemnity that had settled in the air like a heavy blanket. However, the sensation wasn't stifling. Rather, it was filled with a feeling of expectation.

"By the power vested in me by Mibu Sora of the Taishiro, I hereby absolve you of the name of your birth," declared Makoto in an imperious voice. "You are Mitarai Sasame no more. Now rise, Saisei: Wood of the Mibu Goyosei."

Sasame, now Saisei, raised her head, then got to her feet, gazing reverently up to Makoto.

Now smiling, Makoto reached down and rested a gentle hand atop Sasame's head in a gesture that was almost fatherly. "Well done, Saisei. I am proud of you."

"Thank you, Sensei," said Saisei, bowing her head.

"Congratulations Sasame-sen-Er!-I mean...Saisei-sen...or...sama...?" Miyu blinked, more than a little confused as to how to address her teacher, now that her name and rank had both changed.

Giggling, Sasame turned to beam at Miyu. "For now, you may still call me Sasame-sensei," she said. "We wouldn't want to confuse our friends in the Kingdom."

"I...suppose," admitted Miyu, unsure of how the friends they'd made in Vale would process this change. Doubtless, it would be a strange occurrence to most of them, and it was unlikely that they would break the habit of calling Saisei by her old name before she left.

"Now then," said Makoto, "the wounded have been seen to. It is time to take care of more official matters."

"Of course," said Sasame, nodding.

"That being the case, I ask you to convey me to whoever is currently in charge," said Makoto. "Our arrival was rather sudden. Given the emergency, we opted to forgo protocol. I hope that the leader here is not offended by our impropriety."

"That is hardly a matter of concern," said Winter, entering through the same door that Makoto had passed through before. "General Ironwood is grateful for the intervention of you and your people, and is happy to meet with you at your earliest convenience."

There was a substantial degree of acknowledgment in that choice of words. Normally, the entrance of unauthorized foreigners during a crisis situation would merit a swift and harsh response from the one in command, until their intentions and capabilities could be properly assessed. However, Ironwood had instead phrased his words as a request, out of respect for the immense service performed by the Mibu.

Makoto nodded his head. "Now that the injured have been seen to, I am honored to meet with your commander."

With that, Winter led Makoto away, while Sasame and Miyu moved to sit down next to the sleeping Ruby and Natsuki, the pair of them substantially tired as well.

* * *

"I can't thank you enough for everything that you've done," said Ironwood, trading a firm handclasp with Makoto. "Your intervention has saved countless lives today."

"I am glad that we were able to arrive in time," said Makoto.

"Your intervention was certainly decisive," said Ironwood. "To think that a mere five people were able to break the back of the Grimm attack, and in a matter of moments."

"In a sense, that is because those who were already here did the main work," said Makoto. "I have been told that there were several artificially-seeded spawning pools that were destroyed. In a sense, we merely cleaned up the aftermath."

"I suppose that's true," said Ironwood. "I will have to make arrangements with Vale's Council."

Makoto nodded. "I hope that we gave a sufficiently good accounting of ourselves that they will be open to dialogue."

"I suspect that won't be a problem," said Ironwood, smiling thinly.

He'd already gotten the rundown of the situation from Makoto. The Goyosei represented the peak of the Mibu Clan's military, and Makoto had stated that the head of the clan, Sora, had ordered them dispatched to assist. While it was understandable as an altruistic gesture, sending her strongest soldiers to aid an embattled Kingdom, there was an extra motivation that wasn't readily apparent.

By sending her strongest soldiers, Sora had essentially arranged a devastating demonstration of their capability. Ironwood had no idea what the average Mibu soldier was capable of, but he cold hazard a guess that few, if any of them were capable of such dramatic feats as what the Goyosei had done. In other words, Sora had also arranged for this situation to be a showcase for the capability of the Mibu to the world, and Vale in particular. And she had done so in such a dramatic fashion that those in charge, initially either indifferent or hostile to the Mibu, were unable to effectively protest. It belied the insight of a shrewd leader.

_Mibu Sora..._ Ironwood thought to himself. _Clearly, she isn't to be underestimated_.

"Is there anything that I can do for you in the meantime?" Ironwood asked.

"I would like a detailed briefing of the course of events," said Makoto. "Most importantly, I wish to know the situation with Kyo...and the one called Jester."

Ironwood sighed, turning to gaze out the window. "To be truly honest, we do not know," he said. "Jester abducted Kyo right at the beginning of the attack. There has been no sign of them since."

"I see..." said Makoto, his expression betraying unease for the very first time since his arrival.

* * *

Ruby blinked slowly, her sleep gradually trickling away. _Right...I fell asleep, didn't I..._ she thought to herself. As she did, she sensed a change to her surroundings. She'd fallen asleep up against a wall. However, as she came to, she realized that her head was resting on something firm, with just the slightest touch of springy softness. Her head was in someone's lap, that someone gently brushing fingers through her hair. It was a touch, a presence, that Ruby recognized all too well.

Opening her eyes all the way, she slowly turned her head, looking up into a pair of blue eyes. "Hey," she said, smiling up at Jaune.

"Hey, yourself," said Jaune with a chuckle.

"How long?" asked Ruby, turning her head to take in more of her surroundings, as her vision cleared.

"A few hours," said Jaune. "It's daytime now."

Ruby let out a soft sigh. She'd been moved while she'd been asleep, apparently. Normally, she would have chided herself for falling asleep so deeply. But her fight with Adam had taken absolutely everything she'd had, and then some. Her fight with Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald before that didn't even compare, nor did her battle against Tyrian.

From what she could tell, they were in a conference room of some kind...at least, it _had_ been. At some point, whatever had been in this room before had been removed, and the room was now serving as a temporary barracks for Huntresses and Huntsmen. Not far away, she could see the members of Team CFVY sitting on the sides of a pair of cots, chatting in soft tones. Scarlet, Sage, and Neptune from Team SSSN were sprawled out on their own cots, snoring away. Sun had crawled into a closer cot, cuddling up beside a sleeping Blake, having wrapped her up in his arms, while his tail curled around her waist. Not far from them, Pyrrha and Dove were also sleeping together, the rest of Dove's team still resting as well.

Ruby moved her gaze, seeing others, some awake, others still asleep. Everyone seemed exhausted, or at least recovering from exhaustion. Gathering her strength, Ruby finally, with some reluctance, lifted her head from Jaune's lap. Sitting up, she yawned, stretching her arms over her head. As they came back down, Jaune snaked his arm around her waist, pulling her up to snuggle against his chest. Fortunately, he'd removed his armor, so it was more comfortable than it would have been at other times. Pressing his fingers against her chin, he guided her face around so that he could bring his lips to hers. They held the kiss for over a minute, before finally parting.

"I'm glad you're okay," said Jaune.

"Likewise," said Ruby, relaxing back against him with a sigh.

"So...I'm guessing you beat Adam," said Jaune.

Ruby nodded. "He was strong...unbelievably strong. I can't believe he'd changed so much since I last saw him."

"As long as you're safe, that's all that matters," said Jaune.

"Thanks," said Ruby. "So...what happened with you?"

"Quite a bit," said Jaune.

He explained how they'd hunted down the spawning pools, and then went on to reiterate their battle with Tyrian. He also told them about how Team RYNB had been doing the same thing, but had encountered Hazel.

"So they're dead," noted Ruby, remembering the horrifying scorpion-faunus, and the mountainous human.

"Yeah," said Jaune. "Tyrian was nuttier than a fruitcake. But Hazel..."

"What about him?" asked Ruby.

Jaune told her what he'd heard from Yang and Blake, about Hazel's sister. After returning, Blake and Ren had gone so far as to check with Glynda on the matter. Glynda, with a little reluctance, related the sadly brief story of one Gretchen Rainart, who'd joined Beacon Academy against her brother's wishes, and had ultimately perished on a training mission.

"That's...so...sad," thought Ruby.

"Kinda makes you feel bad for him," guessed Jaune.

"A little," said Ruby. However, her empathy only went so far.

She could understand the grief of loss. Granted, she'd been much younger than Hazel had been, when she and Yang had lost their mother. Ruby remembered the pain, but also knew that it hadn't been as bad as what Yang had gone through (Taiyang as well, but Ruby didn't like to think about that). Hazel had lost his twin sister of over seventeen years. Worse still, it had been in a manner that had validated all his worst fears. She had done the very thing he had told her not to, and suffered the very fate he had feared she would. The pain of loss he'd experienced would have been incredible.

On top of that, he'd apparently learned the truth about Salem, at some point. He'd learned that she was immortal, that she and Ozpin were locked into a war that had been going on for untold centuries, if not millennia. Against the weight of all the lives that had been lost in a war that had progressed through countless eras, what was the life of one girl? Gretchen's life had been but a drop in the bucket, just another pebble cast to the wayside. Her death was ineffectual, meaningless in comparison to the scope of the awe-inspiring conflict she'd been an unwitting participant in, or so it must have seemed to Hazel.

That had to be infuriating. Hazel had probably felt that Ozpin didn't care...and maybe he was right, to a certain extent. One did not go through such a long-spanning conflict, and endure so many centuries' worth of losses, and _not_ develop some degree of indifference to it all, if only as a self-defense mechanism against the pain and guilt that would have been stacking up into virtual mountains of emotion. Whether Ozpin mourned Gretchen's death or not, he would move on, and go onto training the next Gretchen, who might well find herself meeting a similar fate, sooner or later.

And yet...despite the sympathy that had stirred within her upon hearing Hazel's story, Ruby knew full well that none of that pardoned Hazel for what he had done. He had taken his grudge against Ozpin, and used it as an excuse for everything he had done. As one of Salem's servants, Ruby had no doubt that Hazel had ended plenty of lives with his own hands. For all she knew, her mother might have been one of Hazel's victims (or Tyrian's). How many others like Gretchen had Hazel killed, when fighting for Salem? How many sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers, and friends had he killed? He had apparently turned to Salem out of grief for the death of his sister, but had become an instrument in service to the very catalyst for that grief.

During this very battle, Hazel had planted spawning pools, setting innumerable Grimm upon helpless and innocent civilians. Yet he had the gall to act as though _he_ was the injured party, as though his suffering excused the countless lives that had been ended through his actions. Because of that, Ruby had little trouble looking past his loss.

"What else happened?" asked Ruby.

To her surprise, Jaune actually grinned. "Well...let's just say that we got some help from an unexpected source."

"Huh...?" grunted Ruby.

* * *

"Sensei!" Ruby dashed for Shinrei, leaving a trail of petals behind her.

Her teacher laughed, getting to his feet and catching her in a hug. "It's good to see you, Ruby-chan," he said. "From what I've heard, you've been doing pretty well for yourself, here."

"I can't believe you're here," said Ruby, stepping away from him.

After hearing about the Mibu's intervention from Jaune, Ruby had immediately gone out to find Shinrei, momentarily forgetting about her boyfriend in the process. As it turned out, the military and Huntsmen had turned an office building in the safe zone into a sort of base of operation for the Huntsmen, Huntresses, and Students that had responded to the crisis in Vale. A portion had been converted into a dining hall as well, but Ruby had been too excited to see her teacher again to think about eating at the moment.

Granted, the dining hall _was_ where she found Shinrei, who was seated at a table with Qrow, of all people. Sasame was there with them. The other three members of the Goyosei were apparently out with the military, verifying that all the Grimm within the Kingdom had been dispatched. Taihaku had actually gone out to Beacon to check on how things were over there. Makoto was meeting with Ironwood, and Vale's Council.

Smiling approvingly, Shinrei rubbed the top of Ruby's head. "Your uncle's been showing me some of these...video-things...of what you've been up to. I gotta say, you did good." His smile became a smirk. "Though...that match against Natsu-chan was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen."

Ruby blushed furiously as Qrow and Sasame chuckled in the background.

"What else happened?" asked Ruby, looking to Sasame and Qrow.

Qrow's smile faltered. "Well...I ran into an old friend of yours," he said.

"Huh?"

Qrow revealed that Morgan had been flying the airship that had brought down all of Ironwood's warships, to Ruby's horror. She'd genuinely thought that Morgan had perished, along with her submarine, back when Weiss had sunk it. To realize that Morgan had survived, and had been working with Salem, was terrifying. Even the revelation that Qrow had managed to confirm her death didn't fully calm the shivers running down Ruby's spine.

Aside from that, she also learned about Sasame's promotion.

"Um...Should I call you Saisei-nee, now?" asked Ruby, looking at her sister.

Sasame giggled. "I think I'm just fine with you continuing to call me Sasame," she said. "Regardless of name or rank, nothing will ever change that you are my sister, Ruby-chan."

Ruby nodded slowly.

"You'll be able to talk to the others in a bit," said Shinrei. "Makoto-sama'a Aura should have chased the Grimm from most of the Kingdom. But the radius of his presence isn't as wide as Kyo's, so we're playing it safe for now."

"How bad is it?" asked Ruby, looking to her uncle.

Qrow sighed. "Pretty bad," he said. "Even if everyone did a _damn_ good job getting on top of the situation, it doesn't change the fact that a lot of people died. They're...still tallying the totals...but we could be looking at several-thousand dead."

"Oh..." Ruby blinked, feeling pressure build behind her eyes.

The casualties weren't limited to civilians either, as Ruby quickly found out. She was horrified to learn that several students visiting for the Vytal Festival had given their lives in the ensuing battle. A few Huntsmen and Huntresses had given their lives, including an entire team that had run afoul of Tyrian, and been massacred. According to all assessments, the cost could have been _much_ higher. But that did little to assuage the guilt Ruby felt in her heart, the feeling that there should have been more that she could have done. While she'd been napping away, people had been fighting and dying for the Kingdom she now called home and, in the end, all she'd done was kill a single man. In comparison, that was hardly anything to be proud of.

"Don't sweat it, Rosebud," said Qrow, gently ruffling her hair. "You did good, taking Taurus out. That jerk was bad news. If he'd gotten past you, I don't doubt he would've made things ten-times worse than they already were."

Ruby nodded slowly.

"Aside from that, it sounds like things got crazier at Beacon than we originally thought," added Qrow.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"Well...besides the Grimm attacking, it looks like the White Fang that Adam managed to rally under him went after Beacon," said Qrow.

Ruby gasped softly. "Ashley! Is she okay?"

In the end, she had thought that having Ashley and her family wait at Beacon, during the final round of the tournament, had been a good idea, even if she'd felt a little guilty that Ashley wouldn't be able to watch her match in person. But, considering the possibility of an attack, a suspicion that had been borne out, it had proven to be the right choice...or so she'd thought. But now she'd learned that a group that had been gunning for Ashley for months had launched an attack on the very place she'd been hiding in.

"She's good," said Qrow, holding up a hand. "Weiss confirmed it a while back. The Fang weren't there for her anyway. From the looks of things, they were aiming for the tower."

"The tower...?" Ruby blinked in confusion.

"Probably wanted to bring it down," said Qrow. "With the CCT down, the last thing people around the world would have seen was Vale being overrun, and people dying. Considering most of our forces were deployed to Vale to help the population, and most of the rest holding the line against the Grimm coming out of the Emerald Forest, the White Fang nearly managed it."

Ruby swallowed nervously.

Qrow grinned. "Fortunately, there were a few people who were able to take care of 'em."

"Who?!" gasped Ruby.

"Your godfather, for one," said Qrow with a chuckle. "Yuki might not be taking as many missions as he used to, but he hasn't let himself go slack."

"Oh!" gasped Ruby, also glad to hear that Yukimura had gotten out of this mess all right.

"Arc's dad helped hold the line too," added Qrow. "They got a hand from a couple of others too, like Blake's color-changing friend, Torchwick, and even that pint-sized minion of his."

Mixed in with that good news was the extra good news that Neo had recovered from the wound that Adam had inflicted upon her, apparently enough that she had been able to take part in the defense of Beacon.

"But enough talk," said Qrow. "You just woke up. I bet you're feeling pretty peckish, right now. Go get some food, then catch up with your friends."

"Okay," said Ruby, heading towards a table that had been loaded up, buffet style, and picking up a plate for herself.

As she did, Qrow got to his feet with a sigh.

"Going somewhere, Qrow-san?" asked Shinrei.

"Gotta check with someone else," said Qrow. "Keep Ruby occupied for me."

"Of course," said Sasame.

* * *

The view from the top of the building currently serving as the headquarters of the Huntsmen and Huntresses protecting Vale wasn't exactly spectacular. Most of the high rises within the safe zone had been repurposed by the military as observation posts. The rest weren't particularly suited for the job. Of course, when it came to choosing such a location, the view from the top wasn't particularly high on the list of attributes that were considered.

That didn't have much meaning for Yang. She hadn't exactly come up to the roof of the building to sightsee. Instead, she just needed some time to herself. She was hardly the only person up here. However, the others occupying the roof were similarly interested in peace and quiet. No one had bothered her, and Yang had easily taken one of the four corners, sitting on the edge, with her legs dangling down the side. It was a sight to send many a mother into fits of horror, but Yang didn't need to worry about what would happen if she fell off. She had a landing strategy after all...

...And she also no longer had a mother to fear for her safety either...not that the one she'd had left would have bothered worrying over her like that.

Her ears picked up the soft scuff of shoes against the concrete of the roof behind her. Then a familiar figure settled down next to her.

"How you holding up, Firecracker?" asked Qrow.

"I...don't know," Yang admitted, staring down into the empty alley below. "I...I just don't know how to feel about it. Just a few months ago, I saw her for the very first time, in Mountain Glenn. And now...she's gone."

"I can understand," said Qrow. "She might've been garbage, but she was still my sister. Whatever I might've said, you don't erase a lifetime's worth of sibling bonds, like they never existed."

"She was a terrible person," said Yang. "At the end of the day, the only things she cared about were getting back at Ruby, and getting the Maidens' magic."

"And keeping Salem from killing her," added Qrow.

Yang nodded unhappily.

"But it still hurts," said Qrow.

"It does," admitted Yang.

"Raven was garbage. I'll be the first to say it." Reaching into one of his pockets, Qrow pulled out a new flask, which he'd gotten to replace the one he'd thrown away during the battle. "But...she still had connections, both to you and me. I will say one thing though."

"What's that?" asked Yang.

Qrow smiled at her. "Whatever else she might've done; all the harm, all the damage, all the pain she's caused; there's one unquestionably good thing that Raven did, the one thing that no amount of evil she did can ever tarnish."

"What's that?" asked Yang.

"She brought _you_ into this world," said Qrow. "You _exist_, because of her. Even if she up and left before you were even old enough to remember her, even if she only ever came back because she thought you might help her agenda; the fact remains, Raven gave birth to you...and that's the one thing I'll probably never stop being grateful for. You are the one true good thing that Raven did. And so..."

Qrow unscrewed the lid of his flask and tilted it in the open air, pouring a stream of liquor off the edge of the roof, letting it fall into the alley below. "At the very least, I can hope that she's found some measure of peace...that the thing she found at the end of the tunnel wasn't as bad as she was afraid of. Maybe that's naive of me, but as her brother, I at least feel that."

Despite the feeling of melancholy welling up within her, Yang was able to smile at that. "Thanks, Uncle Qrow."

* * *

"_I'm so glad you're all right!_"

Weiss couldn't keep a wry smile from her face at those words. "Shouldn't _I_ be the one saying that?"

She heard a giggle from the other end of the line. "_I guess so,_" Ashley replied. "_But...we didn't really feel like we were in that much danger, even when the White Fang attacked. We were taking shelter with the civilians that were evacuated from the coliseum, so I barely saw anything of what was going on._"

"That's probably for the best," said Weiss. "I'll get up there as soon as I can. Ruby will too."

"_Is she okay?_" asked Ashley. "_The last I saw of the broadcast, she was going to fight Taurus._"

"She won," said Weiss. "I don't have all the details yet, but I'm guessing that Adam was much stronger than he'd been, the last time they'd fought."

"_I suppose he'd have to be,_" said Ashley. "_What about you?_"

"Well, we teamed up with one of Ruby's friends from Leng," said Weiss, "then went hunting for those spawning pools that were set up inside the Kingdom. We wound up facing one of the people who planted them, a real piece of work."

"_Is he...?_"

"He's dead," confirmed Weiss. "From the look of things, we got all of Salem's lackeys."

Given that one of the first things Weiss had confirmed with Ashley was that she had seen Jinn's answers too, Weiss realized that there was little point in playing coy with her girlfriend. Ashley now knew who Salem was. _Everyone_ knew who Salem was.

"_Weiss..._" At the mention of Salem's name, Ashley's tone had grown softer...frightened. "_Is it true? Is that...thing...really what we're up against._"

"It is," agreed Weiss, swallowing. "She's real...and...it looks like she's immortal."

It was a bitter pill to swallow. Jinn's story had come along with the revelation that Salem was impossible to kill. Cursed with immortality by the God of Light, she had been rendered incapable of dying. However, her punishment had been turned into a curse upon the rest of the world. The human race now had to contend with an undying, implacable foe, who would not stop until she had brought the Kingdoms to their knees…and then wiped them out altogether.

On some level, Weiss had put off with having to deal with this revelation by focusing on what needed to be done in the immediate future. The Grimm had to be stopped, Vale had to be secured. After that, they could worry about more existential matters.

_I wonder how everyone else is taking this,_ mused Weiss. She and her friends had the advantage of being aware of Salem's existence, and her machinations, beforehand. They hadn't been aware that Salem was immortal, a tidbit that Ozpin had apparently withheld for…reasons…from everyone. Weiss could hazard a guess what they were. For many people, finding out that they were fighting a war against an undying foe would utterly destroy their morale. However many victories they won in the present, the final, ultimate victory was forever out of reach. There were more than a few people who would abandon the fight, then and there.

"_What about the other thing?_" asked Ashley. "_What do you think about the Mibu?_"

"I...don't know," admitted Weiss.

As strange as learning about the origins and truth about Salem had been, learning the truth about the Mibu was even stranger. From the story Jinn had told about Salem, one would have assumed that this was humanity's second emergence on the world, after the previous wave was destroyed by the God of Darkness, when Salem led humanity in rebellion against the gods. However, immediately after that, they had learned that they were, in fact, the _third_ wave of humanity. The Mibu were descendants of that true original human race...sort of. The relation of their origins had been even stranger than the story of Salem, in its own way.

_And it was the Mibu who brought the human race back,_ thought Weiss. Or, at least, it had been Kyo's ancestor who'd restored the human race to the world. It made her wonder if Kyo possessed that kind of power.

"_What does Ruby think about it?_" asked Ashley. "_I'd be pretty weirded out to find out that the people who raised me were made artificially._"

"I guess it _does_ sound weird," conceded Weiss. "I haven't gotten the chance to check with Ruby yet, but...I don't think she'll let it bother her. After all, it's not as though the Mibu she and we know were created that way, just their really distant ancestors. It's been who-knows-how-long since that time, so it doesn't really matter _where_ the Mibu came from."

"_I guess..._" agreed Ashley.

"It's going to be a mess," conceded Weiss. "People are gonna be struggling with a lot of existential questions. But we need to get things sorted out here first. Then we can worry about the bigger picture."

"_All right,_" said Ashley.

"I'll be up to see you as soon as I can," Weiss repeated. "We can talk more about that later."

"_Okay...I love you._"

"I love you too," said Weiss, smiling fondly.

She hung up the scroll, then set it down on the table in front of her. Taking a look around, she surveyed her surroundings. She'd chosen to take her call with Ashley in an empty room that had been an office, before Huntsmen and Huntresses had set up shop within it. Granted, this room was mostly untouched, as the forces defending the safe zone were mostly working with the larger rooms, were several people could be assembled or quartered at once. This arrangement wasn't likely to last more than a couple of days, Vale had largely been purged of Grimm. All that was left was to verify the safety of the remaining buildings, and count those who had died.

It would be bitter work. Salem's agents had planned their attack well...and it had come within a hair's breadth of succeeding. If the Mibu hadn't shown up, even if the spawning pools had been destroyed, the Kingdom would have likely _still_ been overrun by the Grimm drawn by the rising negativity caused by Jester's little display in the coliseum, and the chaos that had followed. Weiss had seen the videos of the attack that had hit the walls from the direction of Mountain Glenn. She had never even imagined a Grimm attack of that scope. That Keikoku, and later Shinrei, had successfully thwarted it was a shocking testimony to the things Ruby had always been saying about the Mibu, and the potential of Aura.

Taking a deep breath, Weiss stood up and left the room. She made her way through the building, not quite sure where she was heading, but figured that meeting up with her teammates and friends would be a good start. From there, they could figure out what to do.

Much to her shock, the first person she ran into wasn't one of her teammates, friends, or even some random Huntsman. Rounding a corner, Weiss came to an abrupt stop, finding herself looking straight at her sister.

"Winter!"

Winter was almost as startled as Weiss was, taking half a step back, before regaining her composure, then breathing out. "I'm glad to see you, Weiss," she said. "How is Ashley doing?"

"She and her family are all right," said Weiss. "Are things going all right in the Kingdom?"

"Vale is safe for now," said Winter, with a surprising degree of conviction. "It seems that this Makoto-person, who led the Mibu dispatched here, is similar to Kyo, in that his presence deters the Grimm. So there is little need to worry about a second incursion."

"But..." Weiss prompted, sensing that the other shoe was about to drop.

Winter sighed. "But the real problem is now with the other Kingdoms. We've received word from Vacuo, Mistral, and Atlas that Grimm attacks are on the rise across all of them. Vale's settlements are in similar straits too. The revelation that Vale made it through the attacks was enough of a morale booster that the pressure has eased in some places. But...there are still a few places that are in serious danger. Some settlements have fallen already."

A heavy feeling settled into the pit of Weiss' stomach.

"We're trying to coordinate the response," said Winter. "The General is already making plans with the Council to dispatch the Huntsmen and Huntresses stationed in Vale to the Kingdom's settlements to provide relief. The first teams will be departing in just a few hours."

"Will _we_ be going too?" asked Weiss, referring to herself and her teammates.

"That is undecided, as of yet," said Winter, her tone grave. "There are certain matters that need to be resolved, particularly before we send Ruby off anywhere."

"Ruby...why?" asked Weiss.

Winter frowned. "We still have no word on the condition of her brother."

"Oh..." Weiss shivered.

In all the mad excitement that had infused the Battle of Vale, she had all but forgotten that Kyo had been stolen away by Jester. It had been that act that had opened Vale up to attack by the Grimm once more. Presumably, Kyo and Jester had fought, were maybe even _still_ fighting. However, Weiss thought back to Jinn's second story and shuddered. Jester, this...creature...was an existence even higher than that of Salem's. The Mibu, who had the power to recreate humanity, could not do anything about him. If that was true, what reason did they have to believe that Kyo would achieve any different results?

Winter reached out and rested a hand on Weiss' shoulder. "For now, just rest and regain your strength, Weiss. You and your friends fought hard and well. You should be proud of what you've accomplished."

"I am," said Weiss. However, it was impossible to completely shake the sense of unease that welled up within her at the thought of what might be to come.

* * *

Gradually, Ruby was able to meet back up with her friends and teammates. She was glad that everyone in her immediate friend-group had made it through. She was excited to introduce everyone to Shinrei, and her teacher was happy to meet the friends she'd met, while at Beacon.

"And to think, this is the girl who nearly flew into a panic, because I suggested she do a few less training sessions a week, so that she'd have more time to socialize," teased Shinrei.

"Sensei!" protested Ruby, blushing furiously as her friends laughed.

"That's Ruby-chan for you," said Natsuki.

"It's certainly jarring to find out that the girl who approached us basically did so because her mother gave it to her as a homework assignment," added MIyu.

"Miyu-chan!"

"Does it really count as a homework assignment though?" asked Setsuna. "I mean, she was given it at home to perform in school."

"Yes, but...calling it schoolwork would give it the wrong impression, don't you think?" Miyu retorted, she and her boyfriend ignoring Ruby's pouting face. "Besides, what would you call it then?"

"Friendwork..." suggested Setsuna.

Miyu paused, thinking it over. "I suppose that will do."

"You guys are awful!" complained Ruby, while the others laughed.

As they did, Natsuki glanced towards the edge of the room, noticing that one person wasn't participating in the fun. Amber was leaning up against the wall, watching them. Every now and then, her lips would quirk up in a slight smile. But it would quickly fade, a more pensive expression taking its place. Carefully, Natsuki shifted away from the others, taking advantage of the fact that everyone seemed to be taking their turn making Ruby squirm to discreetly shift to Amber's side.

"Are you worried about Kyo?" she asked softly.

"I am," said Amber, hugging herself tightly. "There hasn't been a sign of him since last night. We don't know if he's all right. For all we know, he could be dead."

Natsuki snorted. "Not Kyo," she assured Amber. "He's the strongest there is."

"But..." Amber averted her eyes. "That Jester...He's supposed to be someone that even Kyo's ancestors couldn't defeat. Shouldn't we be looking for him, and trying to help him?"

"Even if we wanted to, we have no notion of where to begin," commented Sasame, moving to lean against the wall beside Amber, opposite where Natsuki was leaning. "We have no means of tracking where Jester took Kyo. Even if we did, intervening carelessly would only lead to worse casualties. The best thing we can do, for the time being, is place our trust in him to come through."

Amber swallowed, then nodded reluctantly.

They chatted for a while longer. However, their discussions soon came to an end, when a familiar, ominous sound echoed through the city. The siren was accompanied by the buzzing of everyone's scrolls. Ruby and her friends didn't need to look to know what they were being warned about. Still, Ruby fished her scroll out of her pocket anyway. Sure enough, the message on the device was an emergency summons, indicating that a new Grimm incursion was occurring.

Immediately, they rushed to get armed up. While they worked, Ruby received a call from Winter.

"_Ms. Rose, please rally your teammates, and your friends from the Mibu. We have a massive incursion approaching from the northwest. Vale's perimeter sensors can't fully register the number._"

Ruby swallowed, her mouth going dry. Reluctantly, she relayed Winter's report to the others, prompting gasps of shock.

"B-but...Makoto-sama is here," protested Natsuki. "The Grimm should't want to come close to Vale."

"If they are, then it means that something is overriding their natural instincts," said Shinrei.

"I suppose we'll just have to deal with it," said Sasame. "If someone _is_ controlling these Grimm, then there is but _one_ likely culprit. That being the case, that would mean that this is intended to be the final battle."

The emerged from the building, ready to take the shortest route north. However, they came to a stop when Shinrei held up a hand, Sasame stopping alongside him. There was a flicker, then the other three members of the Goyosei appeared beside them. Everyone looked past them expectantly at what seemed to be an empty stretch of street.

Then the air began to warp, something spiraling outwards out of the empty space in front of them. In just a second, an object had spiraled into being, before dropping to the asphalt with a thud.

"KYO!" screamed Amber, rushing towards the prone figure. Ruby was alongside her. However, they both jerked to a stop when Sasame's tails lashed out to wrap around their waists, holding them back.

"Don't," Sasame admonished.

Ruby spent a second wondering why Sasame would stop her from helping her brother. Kyo's body was in horrific condition. His right arm was little more than a bloody stump below the shoulder. His left leg had clearly been broken in three places, the knee bending in the wrong direction entirely. There were cuts and bruises across every stretch of exposed skin, and stains against the dark fabric of his kimono that suggested further bleeding underneath it. More blood leaked from his mouth, and even from the corners of his eyes. Only barely could Ruby see the faint signs of life from her brother.

However, after a second, she sensed it too, the ominous presence lurking _within_ Kyo's body. As Sasame bodily dragged Ruby and Amber back from Kyo, his body jolted, as though somebody had jabbed it with a live wire, his spine arching. His eyes snapped open, and his mouth gaped in what seemed to be a soundless scream. But it was Ruby and several of her friends who screamed instead, as a series of sinuous, red objects stretched out from Kyo's open mouth.

At first, they seemed like snakes. However, it became clear that, what looked like heads at first glance were, in fact, tips of white bone. The tentacles reached out of Kyo's mouth, bending down to press against the ground, using themselves to lever up the main body from within.

Kyo's mouth stretched open wider. The abomination was contorting its body to fit through the gap. But even that wasn't enough, as their ears were assaulted by the sound of Kyo's jaw dislocating. Finally, bulging and stretching, the mantle of the Grimm Seer pulled itself free from Kyo's body, rising up to hover in the air over him.

"_Ruby Rose..._"

A woman's voice issued from within the monstrosity, and it began to twitch and convulse, its tentacles curling inwards, twitching spasmodically. Then, with a cracking noise, the Seer's mantle broke...and black smoke streamed out. The smoke stretched upward, then began to take shape, some of it changing color, until what had enveloped the Seer's body was an apparition.

Ruby inhaled sharply. There was no mistaking the person before her. She had seen this face in Jinn's story. This was the one who had been behind Cinder; behind Mercury and Emerald; behind Watts, Tyrian, and Hazel; the one behind Jester (or the one Jester was behind). There was no mistaking that pale skin, those purple veins, those blood red irises set against black sclerae.

Her mouth opened, the name escaping her lips unbidden. "Salem..."

* * *

**Yeah...Salem and Jester did that largely to be jerks. Gotta hand it to 'em though. It certainly makes a bolder statement than having a Seer pop up out of a random duffle bag. I'll leave it to your imaginations as to how they got it inside of Kyo in the first place.**


	157. Chapter 157

**Chapter 157:**

The apparition hovered over Kyo's body. Looking at her, Ruby noted that Salem was different from the version they had been shown in Jinn's vision. That pale skin and white hair were there, but the veins visible through her skin were a comparatively new addition. Those eyes of hers were narrower, harder, practically overflowing with malevolence. The Salem that the reincarnated Ozpin had married, and had four daughters with, had still had some kindness and warmth in her eyes. But it seemed that, along with her relationship to her husband, Salem had also severed her last ties to what humanity had remained within her, fully embracing the essence of the Grimm that she had contaminated herself with in an ill-considered effort to overcome the God of Light's curse.

Below her head, Salem's figure dissolved into a shifting, black mist, which obscured most other details of her form. From within the approximate region of her chest, the red light of the Seer's eye shined out, like a malignant beacon. This was a form from some person's worst nightmares.

Still, Ruby was having a hard time remaining objective and noting details; not with the prone, unmoving, mutilated form of her brother lying beneath Salem's image.

"_We meet at last,_" said Salem, her gaze locking with Ruby's. "_I have waited a long time for this moment. I had wanted Tyrian and the others to bring you into my presence...but it seems that is no longer an option._"

"Get away from my brother," said Ruby.

"_I will...when we have spoken,_" said Salem, her tone calm and even.

"You'll get away now...or we'll have nothing to speak about," said Ruby.

"_Have a care, child,_" said Salem. "_I hold this boy's life in my hands, while he remains beneath my thrall. If you do not mind your tongue...I will _finish_ what Jester started._"

_So Jester did this to him,_ thought Ruby. It was pretty much the manifestation of their worst fears. Not even her brother, whom Ruby thought to be amongst the strongest in the world, had been able to defeat Jester. That being the case...what hope did she have?

Still, she kept that concern to herself, instead focusing on her desire to protect her brother, to ensure that he did not die while she had breath in her body to save him. For years, Kyo had watched over and protected her, in a somewhat roundabout manner. Now it was her turn to do the same for him. Drawing upon that feeling, she felt a familiar warmth building within her, a pressure gathering behind her eyes. She let it increase for a few seconds, before letting it release.

Silver light flared out in a sharp strobe from the edges of her eyes. Within Salem's image, the Seer let out an angry hiss, accompanied by a bizarre assortment of clicks, and immediately reeled back, black particles streaming out into the air around it. Salem herself scowled, baring her teeth, raising a phantom arm, as though that would ward off the power of Ruby's eyes. However, it was futile, and Salem's apparition was driven back away from Kyo, Ruby moving forward to plant herself between the Queen of the Grimm and her brother. Behind her, Sasame immediately moved to crouch at Kyo's side, her hands glowing as she sank them inside his body and swiftly worked to mend his injuries...what ones she could.

"I warned you," said Ruby sternly.

"_Insolent,_" growled Salem, her eyes arrowing. "_You should know by now just how outmatched you are._"

"Because you're immortal?" wondered Ruby, raising an eyebrow.

"_You know full well that I am beyond the reach of death,_" said Salem. "_I yet have a use for you, child. So you should be grateful that I have sought to spare your life, regardless of how much resistance you offer. However, what we wager next will be something I imagine you esteem as infinitely more important...the lives of your friends and family. Just how many of them I spare after this will be dependent on your cooperation._"

"That's assuming you can win," countered Ruby, able to sense the confusion from some of the people behind her.

"_You believe that anything else would be the outcome of this?_" Salem wanted to know, her eyes narrowing sharply.

Ruby smirked. "I think it's possible, and so do you," said Ruby, finding herself smirking. Anger at what had happened to her brother hummed through her veins. However, Jester had yet to make an appearance. So she instead focused that anger upon Salem.

"_And what makes you believe that?_" asked Salem.

"Because...you didn't do _this_ from the beginning," said Ruby.

There was a noticeable pause before Salem responded. "_What do you mean?_"

"You could spawn as many Grimm as you wanted," said Ruby. "You could gather them together. You could build the greatest army in the world. You could overrun the Kingdoms with ease...except you didn't.

"Instead, you sent your agents. You had people work behind the scenes, creating instability, and chiseling away at the Kingdoms' strength a little at a time. You sent Cinder to use the White Fang to try and tear this Kingdom apart from the inside. When that didn't work, your people worked with Mason Ayers. When _that_ didn't work, you and Jester orchestrated the attack during the Vytal Festival. If you had the power to overrun the Kingdoms and destroy everything with sheer numbers...why didn't you?"

Salem frowned, but didn't answer.

Ruby met her gaze squarely. "Maybe it was the Maidens and the Relics. So long as Ozpin had those cards, you couldn't be completely sure he wouldn't use them against you in some way. Even if _you_ couldn't be killed, you could still have your armies destroyed, maybe even whatever place you've made your base in too, and be knocked all the way back to Square One all over again."

In fact, Ruby suspected that was exactly what had happened in the past. Past a certain point, Jinn had simply rendered the abridged version of Ozpin's conflict with Salem. Ruby could easily imagine just how it had been. Ozpin would try to build up and strengthen humanity, creating centers of power, through which they would be able to build civilizations that could live up to the gods' judgement. Meanwhile, Salem would try to tear them down. Back and forth it would go, cycles of creation and destruction between these two powerful, immortal figures. The four Kingdoms were but the latest iteration of Ozpin's efforts, with Salem's efforts being her latest iteration on how to bring him down.

Ruby figured that Salem probably had resorted to force in the past. After all, from what Jinn had shown them, she was in control of the Land of Darkness, once the home of the God of Darkness, the birthplace of the Creatures of Grimm. Given time, she could spawn as many as she needed, even twist their forms to suit her purposes, and amass armies of unbelievable power. But...

But that might not have worked for her in the past, and Ruby could guess why. When Salem had attacked with her armies, it was clear that humanity was faced with the threat of extinction. That being the case, all other conflicts were mere trifles to the threat that Salem represented. Truces would be called. Alliances would be forged. The whole of the human race would bring together their full might, and fight back. And then, of course, with Ozpin and the Relics on their side, the victory of a united humanity might not be such an impossible idea after all. Which suggested that, in the ancient past, Salem had fought...and lost...just such a war.

On top of that, uniting humanity would have satisfied the terms the God of Light had set forth. Even if Ozpin and humanity couldn't have won, he would have been free to unite the Relics, call back the gods, and have _them_ deal with Salem. Or, even if she won, and wiped out most of the human race at the time, so long as the remaining humans were united, then that might still have worked, as far as the God of Light was concerned. That might have explained why the efforts of Salem's agents had been focused on the Maidens and Relics this time. If Salem could secure even one, then she could neutralize Ozpin's strongest safeguard, and crush what remained of humanity at her leisure.

That was why she had defaulted to more-subtle methods. She recruited agents. She preyed upon those like Hazel, warped by his grief; Cinder, warped by her desire for power; Emerald, with her desire for love; or Tyrian, and his perverse love of violence. Salem had then sent them out into the world, to work behind the scenes; to weaken, to destabilize, to sow conflict and strife. Only then, once the Kingdoms were weakened by conflict within, and probably set against one another as well, would Salem then bring the hammer down, once and for all...maybe.

After all, in all the centuries of conflict between her and Ozpin, Salem had to have put plenty of effort into more-subtle methods as well. She and Ozpin had probably gone through this dance countless times. Even if Salem managed to destroy the Kingdoms, Ozpin might well have already prepared to lay the foundations of the civilization that would replace them...both of them starting all over again.

It was an absurd conflict, which had seemingly repeated itself over and over again through the centuries. But enough was enough. Ruby silently vowed to herself that it would stop, here and now.

"_An astute observation,_" mused Salem. "_However, the main flaw in your reasoning is that I am past needing such trite measures. We have one of the Relics. This Kingdom has been brought to its knees, its defenses weakened, the spirit of its people on the verge of breaking. No help will come. No hope will be had. All that is left for you...is despair._"

"I don't believe that," said Ruby. "One way or another, we _will_ find a way to stop you."

Salem's eyes narrowed. "_Your mother said something similar, once._"

Ruby shivered, unable to contain the small gasp that escaped her lips, a similar sound escaping from Yang, behind her. Her mind flashed back to a vision that was almost forgotten, a memory of a kind face, a white cloak, a memory that was tainted by the sense of loss. None of them had ever known what had become of Summer Rose. However, Salem's words appeared to make the ultimate truth of her fate rather apparent.

Even so...

Closing her eyes, Ruby centered herself once more. "I am _not_ my mother," she said firmly. "I got chances she never did, and I learned things she never could." Opening her eyes, she glared determinedly at Salem. "I _will_ finish what she started."

"_Bold words...child,_" said Salem. She glared at Ruby with an imperious expression. "_I will give you this one last opportunity. Surrender...turn over the Maidens and the Relic to me...or watch as your friends and loved ones die._"

"That's not happening," said Ruby. "Besides, thanks to what we learned from Jinn, we know that you can't be trusted. Any agreement you made with me, you'd break at the drop of a hat."

"_Is that so...?_" mused Salem. "_In that case...so be it. Struggle as much as you wish. It will not affect the outcome either way._"

With that, the apparition of Salem dissolved into black smoke, which dispersed into the air. The Seer's body was left behind, twitching spasmodically, before dropping to the ground, then breaking apart itself. It appeared that whatever mechanism Salem had used to produce an image like that had been more than the Grimm's body could handle.

Ruby immediately turned to Sasame, who had been working desperately to bring Kyo back from the brink. "Will he be okay?" she asked.

"For a given definition of the term," said Sasame, her voice soft. "I cannot regenerate his right arm."

"Yeah, well...what if you had the original?"

Ruby yelped, spinning in place to plant herself between the new arrival and her brother. Her other friends moved to back her up as they regarded the unfamiliar man who had appeared where Salem's apparition had been hovering only moments earlier.

Well...he _looked_ unfamiliar anyway. As Ruby regarded him, she could sense that bone-chilling Aura, infused with the pure essence of madness, which seemed to stream from the eyes hidden behind the lenses of the man's sunglasses. For all that he looked absurd, there was no question in her mind as to who this was.

"Jester..." growled Ruby, her hand going to her sword.

"Whoa! Easy now," said Jester, grinning cheerfully. "I come in peace...to deliver pieces."

Holding up his right hand, Jester displayed what was unquestionably a severed arm...Kyo's arm, which he waved in a macabre gesture of greeting. "I imagine it'd be tough having to learn to use the sword left-handed. I'm sure Kyo would be up to it, but it doesn't _have_ to be that way."

"What do you want?" asked Ruby.

"Maybe to chat a little," said Jester. "Salem ain't gonna launch her attack just yet, so we've got a little time. What do ya say?"

"But you have _no_ time."

The voice had only just barely reached Ruby's ears, when Shinrei appeared behind Jester. He wasn't alone either. Chinmei and Keikoku also jumped into the battle, the three of them flanking Jester from three sides, their weapons blurs, streaks of light flashing towards Jester...only to fall completely short of him.

Despite not even seeming to move, Jester remained untouched. It was as though all three attacks had been just a few inches short, or if their weapons had suddenly shrunk to the point where they couldn't reach their target.

"Hey now, don't wear yourselves out before the big brawl, boys," said Jester, idly flicking the fingers of his right hand.

Abruptly, all three of his attackers: three of the Goyosei, the elite of the Mibu Clan's military; were blown away, each one of them flying in a different direction. Shinrei slammed into a car with enough force to completely bend its chassis around him. Chinmei was blown through a lamppost, before slamming into the side of a building, crushing the wall with his body. Keikoku was blown through the window of a building on the opposite side of the street, disappearing into the interior, though a series of crashes suggested that his momentum was keeping him going.

"Pretty rude, that," said Jester, his gaze flicking between his three attackers. "Now where were we...?" He turned his gaze back to Ruby.

Before he could continue though, a septet of azure dragons lunged at him from behind, their bodies winding around each other. At the same time, Jester was suddenly trapped beneath a dome of distortion, the street beneath his feet buckling and caving in. A roaring jet of fire surged out from the building Keikoku had been launched into. Both his flames and Shinrei's water-dragons rushed towards Jester...only for the attacks to shrink into nothing before they could even reach him.

"Really...?" deadpanned Jester, his smile fading, replaced by a look of annoyance. "Can't you guys judge your range at all? It only took Kyo one time to figure things out. Is this what the Goyosei are made of, in this day and age?"

In response, the power of Chinmei's _Chiyugi_ redoubled, pressing Jester down harder. The street beneath him caved in, the asphalt plummeting down into the sewer tunnel below. Yet Jester did not fall with it. Instead, he remained in place, floating in air, as though he were still standing on solid ground. With a grunt, Chinmei increased the force of his technique even more, but nothing changed.

Jester turned his head to regard Chinmei with a look that could almost be called pitying. "Hey now...give it a rest, would ya. After a brawl with Kyo, this is pretty dull by comparison."

"Why...isn't it powerful enough?" groaned out Chinmei, forcing the words out through gritted teeth, as he struggled to put more of his Aura into the attack.

"'Cause it ain't a matter of power, buddy," said Jester, chuckling. "When it comes to your techniques, well...they just don't work on me. After all..." Jester raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. The dome of distortion over his body shattered. "...I was once a Chinmei too, you know. You think someone with just _one_ lifetime behind their study of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_ would hold a candle against me?"

Chinmei found himself gaping unashamedly at the grinning man.

"Well...it was a bit nostalgic to face a guy who fights at the level I used to...a few-hundred millennia ago...or are are we into aeons now? It's so hard to keep track." Jester chuckled and shrugged indifferently.

"So...this is the power of the Intercessor," rumbled the voice of Taihaku, the large man coming to stand beside Ruby.

"You're the one running this lot, right?" asked Jester, gliding slightly to the side, so that he could touch down on a section of the street that hadn't caved in. "You wanna rein in these idiots, before they waste anymore of my time?"

"Before that..._I_ would waste a little of your time," said Taihaku, drawing his katana.

Jester let out a disappointed sigh. "Oh well...take your shot then."

Neither Ruby nor the other spectators saw Taihaku's blade move. Suddenly there was a flash of light. Jester's torso was abruptly split open by a line that ran down from his left shoulder, reaching down to the level of his waist. His blood arced through the air. His smile actually faltered slightly for a moment, his face betraying some surprise. Furthermore, the air around him seemed to be split as well, a strange, rippling phenomenon emerging from either side of his wound.

_No!_ Ruby thought, her eyes widening as her other senses probed the phenomenon. _It's not air! It's like he's close...but far away at the same time._

Jester remained standing, the cut portion of his body hanging away from the rest of him, only held up by where it joined with his waist by a thin strip of flesh. The befuddled look remained frozen on his face.

"Using the gravitational powers of the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, you utilize gravity to compress space, creating a barrier of near-infinite distance around you. Thus, even when you are in reach, you are actually out of reach." Taihaku's eyes narrowed.

Behind him and Ruby, Setsuna looked on, his jaw hanging slack. _That's possibl_e? he wondered. _We'd always been taught that, at high enough levels, gravity can distort space itself. But to use it in such a way...Does even Haruka-sama know about that?_

Taihaku continued. "Of course, if one can perceive that barrier, and one has attained true mastery of the blade, then one has the capacity to cut space itself, and reach through to you."

Despite the severe injury he'd been dealt, Jester merely canted his head. "Yeah, true enough," he said, acting as though he hadn't been touched at all. The complete nonchalance was unsettling, reminding Ruby of how Sasame often behaved when someone tried to kill her, taking what seemed to be a fatal injury, only to regenerate her own body right before her attacker's eyes.

Ruby blinked. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but Jester's injury was gone, not even the split in his clothes showing. It was as though Taihaku hadn't touched him at all. _ He can regenerate like Sasame-nee!_ She paused. _No! It's not the same. I'm not even sure _what_ he did._ The moment he had healed-No!-the moment his body had _returned to normal_ had completely escaped her. It wasn't like how it was with Sasame, where one would watch the injury close with their own eyes. Instead, it was as though time had somehow rewound, bringing Jester's body back to how it had been before Taihaku had cut him.

The faint widening of Taihaku's eyes was the only sign of lost composure from him.

"Not bad," said Jester, grinning a bit wider. "Kyo figured it out a bit quicker. But...if I'm still whole after _he_ was done with me, then what chance do _you_ have?"

He chuckled. "Still, I guess I should give you a cookie for paying better attention than your subordinates did. As a reward, let me show you something fun. You should see what you can do with the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_ when you've had as long as _I've_ had to play around with it.

"For example, you can do more than compress space to make a barrier. You can also use your technique to compress space between you and your target. I can make the distance between me and an incoming attack nearly infinite. But I can also compress space to make the distance between me and my opponent..."

Suddenly Jester was standing directly in front of Taihaku. "...zero."

Taihaku didn't appear to move, but the flicker of light off metal surfaces betrayed the fact that he was swinging his sword. However, like a video skipping a frame, Jester was _behin_d Taihaku.

"You're pretty quick, even better than the OG Taihaku, I'll give you that," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the larger man. "But, to me, you might as well be standing still. After all, gravity can do more than compress space. It can compress _time_ as well. By the time you'd started your first swing, I essentially _made_ myself enough time to get a _dozen_ swings of my own in."

Abruptly, blood exploded out from a round dozen lacerations across Taihaku's body. He grunted and staggered. The wounds were shallow. But their sudden appearance had taken him off-guard.

Still, he rallied and turned, slashing his sword at Jester again. At the same time, Shinrei, Chinmei, and Keikoku flanked Jester from the other directions, also striking at him with their own weapons. Ruby was forced to leap away, before she could be caught in the crossfire.

Not even seeming to notice, Jester didn't seem to react at all. All four attacks intersected...

Taihaku reeled, Keikoku's spear stabbing into his shoulder.

Shinrei was knocked off his feet by a powerful slash from Chinmei's sword.

Keikoku staggered as a pair of slashes from Shinrei's blades struck his shoulder and stomach respectively.

Chinmei reeled as blood erupted from a trio of slashes that opened up across his body.

Ruby gasped. In the instant that all four attacks appeared to have landed, they instead vanished, only for the striking weapons to suddenly emerge from different points in space, hitting their new targets instead. Now all four attackers stumbled back from Jester.

"And when you've _really_ learned to control space, you can make stuff like _that_ happen too," said Jester.

_A wormhole..._ thought Chinmei, gritting his teeth. _Haruka-sensei can create them too, but not on such a small and precise scale._

It was a despairing feeling for the man. If Jester's skills were such that not even the member of the Taishiro who had taught Chinmei himself could manage them, then this man was truly beyond them.

"Pretty sad, ain't it?" asked Jester rhetorically, his sunglasses-covered eyes turning to focus on Ruby. "I mean, I respect the tenacity to keep going, even when things are hopeless, but sometimes a man's just got to give up, and learn to settle things _peacefully_. Kyo was all kinds of stubborn, and look what _that_ got him."

Jester snapped his fingers again, and the four members of the Goyosei who had been attacking him were blown away, each in a different direction. However, they all vanished as they moved, their bodies reappearing in completely different locations, and moving in completely different directions, entirely. Taihaku was flung into the upper stories of a building down the street. Shinrei was slammed straight down into street somewhere behind the crowd of Huntsmen and Huntresses that had been making their way to the walls behind Ruby. Chinmei appeared inside the hole he had created in the street, slamming into, and through, a set of sewage pipes. Finally, Keikoku appeared high up into the air, falling at an angle that carried him over the line of buildings and down to the next street over.

Jester sighed again. "So...not gonna try your luck?" He turned to regard the man who had emerged from the Huntsmen and Huntresses behind Ruby, who'd moved to the front without a single soul noticing his presence until now.

Ruby whirled around to see Makoto standing almost directly behind her. However, his gaze was focused on Jester. Despite the anger simmering in the man's eyes, he made no move, his hand not even twitching towards the handle of his sword.

"I am duly impressed by the power of one of the original Crimson Cross Knights," said Makoto.

His words caused Ruby, and her friends from Leng, to flinch, before staring at him in shock.

"B-but...isn't that Kyo's title?" asked Natsuki.

"It was...appropriated," said Makoto. "Originally, that title had a very different meaning."

"Yeah, the Mibu of today have appropriated a lot of stuff from their past," remarked Jester. "Not that that's a bad thing, mind. But it seems that your subordinates could have done with a bit more of a briefing, before they thought to try me on for size."

Ironwood emerged in Makoto's wake, coming to stand beside the Elder, his hand going into his jacket, withdrawing to produce his gun. He was about to raise it to aim at Jester, when Makoto's hand came to rest on the barrel, pushing the weapon back down.

"It will be no use," said Makoto.

"Well, if we're all of an understanding now, I'd like to get back down to business," said Jester, yawning.

"And what is that?" asked Makoto.

"Well, I need to talk to the little lady," said Jester. "But I'm getting a bit sick of the interruptions. So I'll borrow her for a minute. You fine folks should head for the wall. I said we had a little time, before the Boss Lady begins her attack. But now you've wasted a healthy chunk of it. No telling how much you have left."

He paused, as though remembering something. "Oh! Right..." Holding out his right hand, he seemed to pull Kyo's severed arm out of thin air again, having seemingly made it vanish when he'd been about to be attacked, before casually tossing it to Sasame. While the fighting had been going on, Sasame had been treating Kyo's injuries, focusing on the damage to his legs. Rather than close the stump where his arm had been, Sasame had instead wrapped one of her tails around it, staunching the bleeding and rerouting the blood back into his body to keep his circulation going. Catching the arm Jester had lobbed her way so lackadaisically, she immediately brought it over to connect to Kyo's stump, before bending her hands to the task of reconnecting the limb.

"Ain't I a nice guy?" Jester asked rhetorically.

Suddenly, he was beside Ruby, a hand resting on her shoulder. "Ta..."

Then they were gone.

"Ruby!" shouted Yang, rushing forward to where her sister had been standing only seconds earlier.

* * *

Ruby blinked in surprise, finding herself standing on a mountain that overlooked the two forests, Emerald and Forever Fall, which bordered Beacon and Vale to the north. Presently, the forests were almost impossible to see, the land awash in black, white, and red. The Grimm flowed like rivers between the trees, making their tops sway. Taller ones plowed right through the canopy, and many trees were felled altogether. Ruby got the feeling that a substantial portion of the forest would look completely different after all of this.

However, it wasn't just the Grimm on the ground that gave off such an ominous sense. The sky was boiling with swarms of flying Grimm, the blur of countless beating wings obscuring forms, the Grimm hovering or circling in place, winding in amongst one another, their individual forms lost against the backdrop of their flying brethren...save one.

Ruby's mouth dropped as she took in the sight of the massive shape plying through the sky. It was miles distant, yet it was easily discernible, thanks to simply being _that_ large. Exactly how large it was she couldn't say. It was so enormous as to completely exceed her rational sense of scale. _There's no way a Grimm could be that big!_

The immense beast flying amidst the leading fringes of the swarm was an oblong figure, its body reminding Ruby of the sperm whales she'd seen on the sea voyages she'd taken with her siblings. However, this whale was a true monster. The underslung jaw was decorated by a set of bone-white teeth jutting upwards, while the front of its head was decorated with a large, glowing, yellow light that reminded Ruby a bit of the light shining from within the mantle of the Seer that Salem had confronted her with earlier. The whale's back was decorated by what looked like ridges of stone, from which jutted dark-purple crystal formations. Blood-red fins jutted down and out at angles from either side of its underside, from locations where they would likely have been on a regular whale...although regular whales didn't fly either.

"What is _that_?" she asked reflexively.

"That's Salem pulling out all the stops," said Jester, coming to stand next to her, his hands resting on his hips, the pair of them watching as the gargantuan Grimm, and the multitude accompanying it, slowly drew closer to Vale. There were more than enough of them to swamp the entirety of the Kingdom's northern boundary. "Truth be told, it's obviously overkill, and a lot earlier than she'd originally planned for this. You're the one to thank for that, by the way."

"Me...?" Ruby stared at the man in confusion.

"Well, you _did_ sink her plans to do things the quiet way," Jester pointed out with a chuckle. "First, you kept getting in Cinder's way. Then you killed her. The Boss Lady sent in the rest of the boys, but they wound up unable to get anything done either. She was on the verge of pulling up stakes and biding her time until another chance came along. But I convinced her that all this failure maybe just meant that the time for subtlety was past."

"Why?" asked Ruby, glaring furiously at him.

Jester smirked. "Because of you, of course."

"Why me?" demanded Ruby. "What makes me so special? I'm not some kind of god, like the True Mibu. If the Silver Eyes were enough to kill Salem, or you, then this would have been over before I was born, probably. Someone else would've ended it already."

"You're a rare kid, Little Rose," replied Jester. "I'm sure your siblings have pointed it out to you already. You've had the training of the Mibu, the wherewithal to develop a god-slayer technique of your own, which could put an end to Salem. But you're also a Silver-Eyed Warrior, a child with a power descending from the God of Light, the very god that gave Salem her immortality in the first place."

"But how does that help with you?" asked Ruby, narrowing her eyes. "Were the gods capable of killing you?"

"Nope," admitted Jester easily enough. "Believe me, that's one of the first things I asked of 'em. Ole Darky was all too happy to oblige, and even Goldy gave it a shot, once I'd pressed his buttons enough. For a guy willing to wipe out mankind so that he could remake it from scratch, he's surprisingly squeamish, when it comes to doing the deed himself."

"Then what could _I_ do?" asked Ruby. "You're not a Grimm. My eyes shouldn't have any power over you."

"Maybe that's because you haven't realized _all_ of what they can do," said Jester. "Your mistake is thinking yourself _lesser_ than those old gods. But that's the crazy thing about humanity. Over the ages, they build themselves up, climbing upwards over the accomplishments of their predecessors, pushing themselves higher still. Who's to say that you could't do the same with a power received from a god. Sure, it's nothing more than a divine hand-me-down. But, if you polish it, you could reach a point that even the God of Light couldn't.

"It's ironic really. The one thing I learned about the gods is that they don't change. They don't grow older or weaker, but they don't grow stronger and develop. They simply _are_. But humans have the capacity to go either way. We've had that potential from the very beginning. Not even the gods could stamp that out, when they remade humanity. That potential is what allowed the old Mibu to stand against them after all."

"And what do you want from that?" asked Ruby.

Jester ignored her question, staring out at the ominous swarm of Grimm, which looked large enough to swallow Vale in its entirety. "Hey...how was Adam, by the way? I figured he'd give ya a pretty serious fight."

Ruby swallowed her frustration at Jester's dodging her question. "He was strong," she said, "the strongest I've ever fought...except for my brother, maybe."

"It would've been worth it to pit him against Kyo and see where he scaled, huh," mused Jester. "Oh well, no point in crying over spilled milk."

"How did you make him so strong so quickly?" asked Ruby.

"Gravity," answered Jester. "You just saw that I can use gravity to compress time. Well...if I expand that effect, then I can create a space of compressed time, where more time passes, relative to the rest of the world."

In other words, he had created a space where Adam had been able to train for the equivalent of an unknown number of _years_, in a matter of months. Now Ruby realized why Adam had looked and seemed older. In a sense, he _had_ been older. He'd aged more rapidly, thanks to his training in Jester's accelerated time-space.

"Thanks to him, you managed to claw your way up another step," noted Jester.

Ruby nodded. "What do you want from me?" she asked again.

"I want an end," said Jester. "It's going to be you or me, with 'you' being the entire rest of this world. I've spent so long looking for an answer, trying to find a way to put an ending to my story. But it just goes on and on and on..." He sighed and shook his head. "So the idea came to me...if I can't end, then maybe I'll _be_ the end. If no one can kill me, then I'll kill everyone...and that'll be the end in its own way."

"But _you'll_ still be there," Ruby pointed out.

"Maybe...but...if there's nothing left, then maybe it'll be the same as being dead," mused Jester. "I figure, what the heck, it's worth a try."

"Why now?" asked Ruby. "You could have done this a long time ago, couldn't you?"

"I could've," admitted Jester. "The reason I didn't was 'cause the Mibu kept to their side of the bargain."

Ruby frowned. "You didn't end everything because of the deal you made?" That kind of honorable thinking didn't track with the kind of man Jester was.

"Nah, it ain't like that," said Jester. "Think of it as more of an impulse really. I was just waiting for the Mibu to give me an excuse, 'cause that would make things more fun. After all, that kind of fun's pretty much all I've got left at this point."

"But why me?" asked Ruby.

"Because you're maybe the only person who can," said Jester, turning to regard her seriously for the first time. His expression was grave, with no trace of that maddened smile he seemed to perpetually wear. In a sense, Ruby felt that this was Jester at his most sane. In its own way, it was even more frightening than his previous malice.

"Ruby Rose...you are a child of two worlds."

Ruby felt a shiver run down her spine at those words.

"You're not the first time people from outside the Mibu have mingled with them. Heck! That adopted mother of yours is an example. But outsiders either assimilated completely into the Mibu, or Mibu went outside and, more or less, cut ties with the clan. But you...you were born in the outside, raised by the Mibu, but kept your allegiance to the outside. You returned to the Kingdoms, even planning to live your life out here.

"You were born with Silver Eyes, a power descendant from the God of Light. But you were raised and trained by the Mibu, the last descendants of the original strain of humanity, and born from the humans the Mibu themselves revived. You are a bridge across the gulf between this era and the one the Mibu herald from, a gulf that the gods created, with ties connecting you to all _three_ waves of humanity. If you can bring together the essence of the power inherited from a god with the skill you've learned from the Mibu, then...just maybe...you can accomplish what even _they_ can't."

Ruby swallowed.

Jester smiled again. However, it wasn't the maniacal grin he typically wore. it was a smile that was almost earnest. On his face, again, it was far more unsettling than his usual tendencies.

"This will be the final battle, kid. Everything will be decided here. If you win, then it's all over. Humanity will be safe, whether from Salem or from me. Even the gods won't be able to interfere anymore, since I'll be unable to stop anyone from stopping them."

He glanced out at the horde. "On the other hand. If _we_ win here, then the final battle will be won, and all that's left will be Salem's victory parade across the rest of Remnant. I'll see to the Mibu myself. I owe them that much, after all. Of course, after that, I'll see to Salem myself. Then I'll wipe out the rest of this planet...and see where that leaves me."

Ruby swallowed, her mouth going dry.

Jester's grin returned. But the intensity behind it was even greater than before. "It's do or die now, Ruby Rose. Claw your way up to me, then take me down. Because, if you don't, it'll mean the end of everything. I think you'll know where to find me, of course. Salem will be there too."

Jester's Aura engulfed her, its waves like a wind that chilled Ruby to the bone. As she shivered and trembled, Jester's body seemed to warp and twist before her eyes. At first, she thought it was an impression of the fear he had inspired, his presence reaching the point where her mind couldn't process it anymore. However, she realized that it wasn't Jester that was warping, but her. She was in the grip of his technique, the very same technique he'd used to bring them to this vantage, which he was now using to, she hoped, send her back to the others.

"Come and find me...and write the end to my story..." Jester's last words rang in her ears as the world around Ruby twisted away.

* * *

Salem stood tall atop her mount. In preparation for this battle, she had opted to change her appearance. She now wore a slim, black dress, its slim form hugging the tight lines of her body, long sleeves stretching down her arms to loops that were wrapped around her middle fingers. The high collar was closed by an elaborate, cross-shaped brooch, decorated by a red gem, with an opening beneath it bearing a portion of her cleavage. Red lines extended down her dress, all the way to its hem, accentuating the lines of her body. Her upper arms were covered by elaborately-shaped, gray armlets, with a decorative ridge extending up from each one. Finally, she wore a black cloak over her shoulders, its red trim framing the black of her dress.

She was perched atop her greatest creation, watching as it bore down on Vale like a gigantic battering ram. Nothing that the Kingdom could hope to muster would have any chance of defeating this, especially since Morgan had succeeded in bringing down Ironwood's warships. Reinforcements from Atlas would never arrive in time, assuming they were coming at all.

Her expression cold, Salem glared ahead at Vale. _The time has finally come for us to end this...Ozpin,_ she thought, her eyes fixating on the shape of Beacon Tower in the distance. _Now that Jester has made his move, there is no longer any need to concern ourselves with subtlety._

In all honesty, she hadn't expected Jester to move the way he had, to use Jinn's two questions to reveal the truth to the entire world. Still, she could admire a hand well-played. With the revelations he had unleashed, countless people across Remnant were now facing an existential crisis, as they confronted the truth of their origins, and the nature of the war that had been fought out of their view for so long. That alone would bring down plenty of pressure from the Grimm on the other Kingdoms. And now they would be watching as Vale itself was swallowed by darkness, confronted by the terror of knowing that they were next, that nothing could stop her.

However, there was an element of frustration to it as well. Centuries, if not millennia, of endless back and forth between her and Ozpin; schemes and skullduggery, obfuscation, secret battles with hidden meanings...and none of that would have been necessary if Jester had just done this from the very beginning. He had had the power to overturn everything, to enable her to crush the Kingdoms in one fell swoop. Yet he had almost solely focused on keeping the Mibu at bay. While Salem appreciated the lack of interference by that powerful faction, she still would have preferred to have settled things a long time ago.

The air rippled beside her, and Jester's body warped into being.

"Are you finished?" asked Salem.

"Yep," said Jester, flashing her a cheery grin. "How 'bout you? Ready for the grand finale for this little show?"

Salem nodded, turning her gaze back towards Vale. "What did you speak to the girl about?"

"Oh...this and that," said Jester with a cackle. "I had to make sure that she will be making her way here, after all. That's what we want, right?"

"Correct," said Salem. She paused for a moment. "In other words...you have served your purpose."

"Hmm...?" Jester turned towards her, then lurched. Glancing down, his eyes widened behind his sunglasses as he saw Salem's arm now penetrating through his chest, her hand punching all the way through to exit out his back.

Unperturbed at being impaled, Jester raised his gaze, meeting Salem's eyes. "Really...? Now...?"

"Yes," said Salem simply. "I no longer have any use for you separately. I will do what I should have done long ago...and take your power for myself."

"Ah..." said Jester simply. Then his grin returned in full force. "That's a tall order, Salem. I'll admit that I've had this happen before. But the only other guy to try this was the one who created me from his own flesh and blood. You're biting into an eternally withering and rotting fruit. I hope you've the stomach for it."

"There is no need for concern," said Salem. "Once your power is mine, then I will have nothing to fear...not from the Kingdoms, not from the Mibu. From the moment we first met, I have been waiting for this time. Be consumed by me, and I will become the goddess of a new world."

Jester threw back his head, barking out a fierce laugh. "That's a good one! You don't have it in you to be a goddess. As you are now...you cannot truly create. You can twist, you can mutate, you can distort...but you cannot _create_. You've completely aligned your nature with that of destruction. Anything you try to create will inevitably be destroyed by your own hand."

"I am well aware of that," said Salem in a level tone. "After all, that is what _she_ is for. The Silver-Eyed child will purge me of this dark infusion, and I shall have the full measure of my power once more. With that, I will truly be free to create a new world."

"Thought it all out, have you?" mused Jester. "Fine then...take your stab at it. I'm curious about what the end results will be." His grin took on a savage quality. "You want my flesh, my power, my flaws...then take it. Eat your fill...and then get ready for one hell of a stomach-ache, 'cause there's way more of me than you can handle. Eat until you burst."

Black threads extended out from Salem's arm, winding their way through Jester's body. Bit by bit, he was broken down, his flesh running like water, clothes disappearing, everything dissolving and swirling inwards towards Salem's arm, his mocking laughter trailing away into distant echoes.

Then he was gone.

For a long moment, Salem was silent. Then she let out a small laugh of satisfaction. However, the very next second, she lurched, doubling over, clutching hands to her stomach and chest, her mouth opening wide as she began to hack. Inarticulate grunts erupted from her throat, spasms rocked her body. Lurching and jolting, she sank to her knees, black and red Aura swirling and converging around her, threatening to swallow her up.

Salem had lived for millennia. Since the days she was cursed with immortality by the God of Light, she had endured the passage of what seemed like endless time. She had cursed her existence, hated it, then turned that hatred on those who were free to enjoy the fruits of life and death. She had tried to end her life in the Pools of Grimm in the Land of Darkness, yet had only emerged alive...and corrupted. Instead of bringing an end to one curse, she had simply layered another one on top of it.

For thousands of years, she had drifted alone through the world. When humanity had returned, Salem had used her newfound power over the Grimm to occasionally toy with them, but had otherwise left well enough alone, until Ozma had found her once more. After their falling out, they had carried on their conflict through thousands more years.

However, at some point...Salem had met _him_. Jester was like her, someone who could not die, no matter how hard he, or anyone else tried. And he had shocked her with an unbelievable truth. Even while she had been wandering the world alone, she had never been truly alone. He had been watching over her, protecting her. Though it had taken her a long time to credit it, she had come to realize that Jester was far older than she was...far older than she could have imagined. When she learned that he was possibly even older than the gods themselves, or at least from a time before they had come to Remnant, that the humans created by the Brother Gods were not the first humans to walk this world, Salem had felt her entire worldview crumble away.

And now...she had taken all that accumulated time and experience into herself. It was maddening as she was exposed to the sheer scope of Jester's life. The weight of his existence, the sheer _burden_ of it all, descended on her body like a set of weights so heavy that it seemed as though she would crush her mount into the ground. That empty, yearning feeling opened up within her, threatening to swallow her whole. And so...even as her forces pushed forward, Salem writhed in agony, desperately trying to keep from surrendering to the weight of Jester's Ennui.

* * *

Ruby staggered, disoriented to suddenly find herself somewhere else again. As she did, she was bowled over by an enthusiastic Yang, who tackled her to the ground with a hug.

"Ruby! Are you okay?" asked Yang desperately, her arms squeezing Ruby so tight that Ruby groaned and gasped for a few seconds.

"I...am...for now..." Ruby managed to croak.

Finally, Blake and Nora managed to pry Yang off.

"What happened?" asked Jaune, pulling Ruby to her feet.

"Jester took me to a mountaintop. We talked. He sent me back."

"That's it?" asked Weiss skeptically.

"Pretty much," said Ruby, frowning. "I mean, we talked about some weird stuff. But, with how long he's been stuck alive, he's pretty messed up in the head. The only thing I know for sure is that he expects me to kill him."

"Really?" asked Pyrrha, confused.

Ruby nodded. "More than anything...he wants to die. He can't, and no one's been able to do it. He's even worse off than Salem. He's been around longer than her...and he doesn't have a purpose."

Reflecting on it, Ruby figured that Salem's story explained how she had staved off the force of the Ennui. By grasping so firmly onto the idea of building and reigning over a new world, Salem had used the sense of purpose that gave her to alleviate the burden of her accumulated age. Jester had no such purpose. Everything he did, everything he was doing, was a diversion at best. And they were working less and less as time passed. But no solution yet arisen for his original problem. That was the bitter reality he was trapped in.

"If...if I can't kill him...Jester will destroy everything," said Ruby.

"H-He can do that?" asked Natsuki, coming nervously to stand next to the rest of Ruby's friends.

Ruby swallowed, then nodded slowly. "He won't die...so he can just keep going. He won't be able to do it all at once, maybe. But he'll just start by killing whoever or whatever is in front of him, then keep going until there's no one left."

"Can you do it?" asked Jaune, gripping Ruby's shoulder tightly.

Ruby swallowed, looking out and realizing, for the first time, that Jester hadn't sent her back to where she'd been taken from, but had instead set her on the wall, where forces of Vale were preparing to meet the tide of darkness that was Salem's invasion. She now had a clear view of the endless hordes of Grimm threatening to wash the Kingdom away. In the center of them, she saw the whale, the truly immense, monstrous Grimm. Salem was there...and so was Jester. Before this day was out, she would need to take down both of them.

"I'll have to," she said.


	158. Chapter 158

**Chapter 158:**

"Ms. Rose..." Ruby looked over, surprised to see Ozpin approaching her and her friends along the wall. As he walked, nearly everyone he passed gave the Headmaster a wide berth, his appearance attracting a number of different looks. There were sad looks, angry looks, pained looks, frightened looks, and disgusted looks. People had seen Ozpin's story, thanks to Jinn, and it seemed that they had come to hold a variety of different opinions of him as a consequence of that.

"Professor," said Ruby, greeting him with a small smile.

Ozpin came a stop, his expression briefly washing forlorn. "I suppose...you have things to say to me."

"I guess I do," said Ruby. Ozpin looked down, resting his cane on the top of the wall, his hands resting on top of that. It almost seemed as though he was afraid to look at Ruby's face, and hear what she had to say, certain that all she would have for him was condemnation.

He was surprised though, when Ruby's hands came to rest upon his.

"Thank you," said Ruby softly.

"What?" Ozpin's voice was little more than a surprised whisper.

Ruby beamed warmly at him. "You've been fighting...all this time. You've given so much...I think we can say, in some way, however indirectly, that we are here, because of you, and everything that you've done."

Even Ruby's friends were taken aback by that observation. They all had different opinions about Ozpin, after Jinn's story. Not many of them thought well of him, considering what they had learned. He had lied to them, deceived them, even after he had promised that he would tell them everything. More than a few of them felt that they deserved to know the truth of what they were up against, not be fed falsehoods and partial truths, manipulated into a war that there seemed to be no way of winning.

But, as Ruby had pointed out, Ozpin had been fighting this war against Salem for so long, over the course of so many lives. Whatever they had lost and sacrificed, he had lost and sacrificed tenfold. Not only that, but after learning that he had such a deep, personal connection with Salem, they couldn't exactly blame him for not wanting to talk about how he had ended up in an ultimate conflict with the woman he had once loved.

"Ms. Rose...what will you do?" asked Ozpin.

Ruby turned to gaze out at the approaching horde. They were maybe an hour away at most. And that largely seemed to be because they were moving at a sedate pace. If Salem chose to make them run, instead of walk, they would be at the walls in mere minutes, to say nothing of the flyers. There was no telling what the top speed of the whale-Grimm was. Perhaps it was flying as fast as it could, and the rest of the Grimm were keeping in formation with it.

"I'll go out to them," said Ruby.

A chorus of gasps rose around her.

"Ruby! That's crazy!" Yang exclaimed, her eyes wide.

"Y-yeah...you'll never make it!" added Nora.

"We should work to shore up our defenses and fight them off here," added Weiss.

"That won't work," said Ruby, giving them all a sober look. "You _know_ it won't."

Eyes darted towards the approaching army. They could see Ruby was right. It wasn't a matter of strategy and tactics anymore. Against a horde of that size, all those things went out the window. The sheer volume of Grimm would swamp their defenses in minutes. There were enough to completely encircle Vale, and invade from all directions. The sheer number of flying Grimm would enable them to easily overcome the rate of fire of the Kingdom's anti-air defenses. And, even though Huntsmen, Huntresses, and students from all around the world had gathered here for the Vytal Festival, their presence was nothing more than a drop in the bucket against a mass of Grimm at this size.

"That's why we have to stop her...stop Salem," said Ruby. "If I can go out to her, and take her down, then the horde will break up."

If that happened, then the presence of Makoto would drive the Grimm away, even if the radius of effect for him wasn't as wide as Kyo's.

"It won't be easy, Ms. Rose," Ozpin observed, also turning to look out over the horde. "Even if Salem is confident in her own immortality, the fact remains that she will use the Grimm currently serving under her to try and stop you. Even with your training, getting out there by yourself would be no easy feat."

"But I won't _be_ by myself, will I?" asked Ruby, turning to her friends.

Jaune smiled warmly. "You're damn right you won't."

"Agreed," added Pyrrha.

"Well...I have reservations about this," noted Weiss, before smirking at Ruby. "But I certainly can't let you leave me behind."

"You're not going without me," added Yang.

"I couldn't live with myself if I stayed behind," said Blake.

"We're coming too," added Nora, tightly gripping Ren's hand.

"We have your back," added Ren.

"You're not going without us, either," said Natsuki, coming up alongside Setsuna, Miyu, and Oscar.

"We shall accompany you as well," declared Ciel, alongside Piper, Penny, and Rain; all of whom nodded in agreement.

"Wish we could join you," said Shinrei, coming up to join them. Keikoku, Chinmei, and Taihaku were also behind him.

Ruby noticed that their wounds were healed. "Are you still hurt?" she asked.

"Nah," said Shinrei, affecting an annoyed expression as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sasame's still busy with Kyo, but Miyu-chan was able to fix us up easily enough. Jester was just playing around with us, annoying as it is to admit that."

"We will shore up the defenses," declared Taihaku firmly. "With us helping to hold the line, we can buy you additional time, even against these numbers."

"Focus on doing what you need to do," said Makoto, approaching from behind Ozpin, Ironwood and Glynda walking beside him. "We shall keep the Kingdom secure."

Ozpin had been watching Ruby carefully, all throughout this. Finally, he closed his eyes. "I shall go too," he said.

"Ozpin-!" protested Glynda, stepping forward.

Ozpin cut her off by holding up his hand, a wan smile on his face. "I think we both know that my time as Beacon's Headmaster is at an end."

Glynda frowned unhappily, but didn't object either.

Ozpin sighed. "And...while you may or may not forgive me, I would not be surprised if you could not find it in your hearts to ever fully trust me again...if at all. So, at the very least, I should do what I can to bring an end to this, once and for all."

He sighed tiredly. "If that truly is possible, despite everything I long believed, then there will be no more need for any such deceptions...not that there is anything left to hide anymore."

"Oz..." whispered Ironwood.

"I'm coming too," rasped a gravelly voice, a familiar figure pushing through the crowd to approach Ruby.

"Uncle Qrow!" exclaimed Ruby.

He wasn't alone. Walking alongside him were Yukimura, Blaine, and Maria. Blaine walked up to Jaune.

"Are you sure about this, son?" he asked worriedly. "Your mother is going to kill me, if she finds out I let you go through with this."

"I'm sure," said Jaune. "I belong beside Ruby...through thick and thin."

Blaine sighed, then gave his son a smile. "You're a good man...a better one than me. I wish I could come with you."

"Mom and the girls wouldn't be able to get over it, if anything happened to you," said Jaune. "Keep 'em safe, Dad."

"I will," Blaine promised.

Meanwhile, Maria was speaking to Oscar. "Your Aunt is gonna give me an earful for sure, once she finds out I let you do this," she said.

"Yeah," admitted Oscar with a sigh. "But..." He glanced at Natsuki. "...I don't want to live with that regret, feeling that I should've done something, but didn't."

Maria cackled. "You sound like a proper Huntsman, my boy. Go give those Grimm hell."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Oscar, smiling warmly down at his teacher.

Maria gave him one last grin, before turning and ambling towards Ruby, who was talking softly with Yukimura, while Qrow stood off to the side. Apparently, her godfather would be remaining behind to help the defenders, which was fine by Ruby. Ironically, she was beginning to get an idea of what her father had felt, when he had thought about her going off to fight and risk her life, with the possibility she might never come back. The thought of losing her godfather, whom she'd only found out about recently, was something that made her shudder. So she was glad that he would be staying behind, where it was marginally safer.

"I heard you've mastered those eyes of yours," said Maria, now coming into earshot of Ruby, as she wrapped up her conversation with Yukimura with one last hug.

"I wouldn't say that," said Ruby, turning to regard the woman who had briefly been her teacher, during the festival. "But...I think I'm starting to get an idea of what to do with them."

"Then you're a damn sight better with them than I was," noted Maria. "I had no idea they might have the capability to do what you've done with 'em."

Ruby sighed. "Well...as much as I hate to say it, Jester is right. Even if this power of the Silver Eyes comes from the God of Light, because we're human, we can do more with it than a god could."

"Is it odd that that frightens me as much as it gives me hope?" wondered Maria.

"Nope," said Ruby, giving her a wry smile. "Thank you for everything, Maria."

"Make sure you come back alive," said Maria. "And look after Oscar for me, please. His Aunt is going to blister my ears for letting him take part in this madness. If anything happens to the boy, she'll be using my hide for a fireplace rug."

"I'll do what I can," promised Ruby.

Weiss watched all these interactions with a wistful smile on her face. She glanced sidelong at Pyrrha, who was also looking on with a warm expression. One of the first things Pyrrha had done, after regaining consciousness, was check on the status of her parents. Fortunately, the clinic they were being treated in was close to where the safe zone had been established, and they had been amongst the first evacuees.

A hand suddenly rested on Weiss' shoulder, making her jump. Turning around, her eyes widened at the sight of who had come up behind her. "Winter!" Her gaze slid to Winter's left. "Whitley?"

"Dear Sister," said Whitley in a teasing tone, "you didn't think you could go haring off on such a fool's errand, and _not_ expect us to have something to say about it, did you?"

"Uh...Well..." Weiss was a little unbalanced. Winter's presence didn't surprise her all that much. But she hadn't been expecting Whitley to come as well, and not _just_ because he was a civilian. Even though they had buried that hatchet, and Weiss had turned over her claim to the SDC to him, she found it a little strange that he would so openly express concern for her wellbeing.

"After all, I expect you to be around to vex Father for a very long time coming," continued Whitley, giving her a wry smile. "The entertainment I derive from that is well worth wishing for your survival."

"Cheeky," commented Weiss, unable to keep a smirk from her face. "I plan on making trouble for Father for a very long time to come."

Winter frowned. "I would rather you didn't do this, Weiss," she said. "This is a danger _far_ beyond what I would accept, for a student your age. This is beyond the scope of what even most professional Huntsmen would ever be expected to do."

"Even so...it has to be done," countered Weiss.

Winter sighed, before giving Weiss a resolute look. "Just be sure you come out of this alive. I do _not_ want to tell Ms. Forrest that you died out there."

"I'll come back," Weiss promised.

Finished saying her farewells to her siblings, Weiss turned, then flinched back in surprise. At some point, Dove had come up to Pyrrha. Now they were wrapped in a tight embrace, kissing each other deeply. Blushing, Weiss averted her eyes from the display, only to find herself looking at Sun and Blake in a similar situation, which prompted her face to heat up even more.

After a long, intense kiss, Dove pulled away. "I wish I could go with you," he said.

"You're needed here," said Pyrrha, cupping his cheeks. "Even if Ruby succeeds, there's no telling what the Grimm will do, without Salem to lead them. They could attack anywhere."

"Yeah," conceded Dove. "But you're going to be in the thick of it."

"We'll get through this," Pyrrha promised.

"You'd better," said Dove, leaning in to rest his forehead against hers.

Meanwhile, Blake and Sun were parting as well, with Sun's tail still wrapping tightly around Blake's waist.

"I should be out there with you," he said determinedly.

"Stay and fight alongside your team," said Blake. "I'll feel better, knowing that someone like you is on the walls."

"I'll do my best," Sun promised her.

"And I will too," Blake replied, leaning in to kiss him again.

"Blake!"

Pulling away from Sun, Blake blinked in surprise to see Ilia managing to weave her way through the crowd to reach her.

"I'm glad you're okay," said Blake, quickly hugging her friend, prompting an embarrassed blush from Ilia.

"...I should be the one saying that," said Ilia, after a moment's pause, before hugging Blake back.

"I thought you were under arrest," said Blake, pulling back to look Ilia over. She was dressed in her combat outfit again, and even had Lightning Lash at her side, hardly the kind of situation a prisoner of Atlas and Vale would be expected to be in.

Ilia gave Blake a wry smile. "Since I was helping fight the White Fang, Ozpin said it was only logical that I wouldn't be expected to do it unarmed. Winter said that she's going to request clemency for me, once this is over."

"What about Neo?" asked Blake.

"She's doing all right," said Ilia. "Thanks to your friend's sister, she's pretty much completely recovered now. She needs a replacement weapon though."

Blake nodded.

Ilia's smile faded. "Blake...what I heard...Is it true? Are you really going...out there?" She swallowed nervously, glancing out at the approaching swarm.

Blake nodded. "Ruby's going out there, and we can't let her go alone."

"You'll come back, right?" asked Ilia.

"Of course I will," said Blake. "Look after things here for me, all right."

"All right," said Ilia, nodding reluctantly.

"Thank you," said Blake softly.

The exchange continued, Ruby and her friends trading farewells with the friends they'd made at Beacon, as well as over the course of the Vytal Festival. However, before long, Ozpin gently rapped the tip of his cane against the floor, calling their attention to him.

"I know that it is difficult," he said. "However, it is time that we went. We cannot allow Salem to draw any closer, before launching our attack."

"Right," said Ruby.

"Very well then," said Ozpin. "All the members of the attack team, please assemble alongside me. Glynda, if you would..."

Glynda nodded, drawing her riding crop and readying it. RASP, RYNB, CPPR, MNPS, and Qrow gathered around Ozpin. Drawing their weapons, they faced out over the wall, watching the Grimm horde that drew closer with each passing second. Glynda raised her crop. A violet glow emanated from the floor beneath the gathered attackers, forming into a sigil as Glynda readied herself to use Dust-boosted telekinesis. With a flick of her crop, she pointed out at the Grimm. The array beneath the fighters' feet flashed brilliantly, and they were launched through the air, Glynda's power sending them flying out towards the leading edge of the Grimm horde.

"Good luck," Glynda said softly, tracing the arcs they drew through the sky as they headed towards what appeared to be certain death.

Meanwhile, Makoto was giving orders to the Goyosei assembled before him. "Deploy outside the wall," he said. "Cut down all that come within your range. Spare no effort."

The Goyosei bowed in acknowledgement, before leaping off the wall, then darting along its length to take positions apart from one another, prepared to use all their strength to hold off as much of the Grimm forces as they could.

"All students and Huntsmen, please head to the designated positions that are being sent to your scrolls," ordered Ironwood.

Ironwood and Makoto had quickly hashed out a strategy for the best defensive formation that they could manage. The Goyosei were powerful, but their reach limited. As such, there was only so much of Vale's defensive perimeter that each one could cover. If they deployed so that their combined areas of influence had no gaps between them, they would only be able to cover a portion of even just the northern wall. However, Spreading out as evenly as they could, they could each take substantial responsibility for a sizable portion of the perimeter, with the forces of Atlas and Vale; supplemented by the Huntsmen, Huntresses, and students; filling in the gaps. The resulting channels would also have the consequence of funneling the Grimm into the defenders' lines of fire, ensuring that they would be able to hold out better, given that they could concentrate their strength, rather than try to spread it out across the entire perimeter.

Of course, even this strategy was a stopgap at best. From the looks of things, Salem had somehow rallied more Grimm than anyone would have thought _existed_ on the entire continent of Sanus. Even if they protected the northern perimeter of Vale and Beacon, the sheer number of Grimm would allow them to gradually sweep around to the sides and encircle the Kingdom in its entirety. When that happened, there was no hope of holding the defensive perimeter. Therefore, their best chance at getting through this was praying that Ruby's group was able to stop Salem, before that seemingly inevitable fate occurred.

It was a long shot, but might well be the only hope they had.

* * *

As Ruby's team of attackers descended towards the incoming Grimm, Ozpin shouted to be heard over the rush of wind in their ears. "Focus on breaking through! Open a path for Ms. Rose."

Ruby frowned, not liking the idea of her friends fighting on her behalf, while she simply followed along behind them. However, she understood the purpose behind Ozpin's orders. In order to face Salem and Jester, she would need to martial every ounce of strength and stamina she possessed. Every Grimm she had to deal with on the way to her true enemies, however inconsequential it might have been on its own, represented a drain on the energy she would need to reserve for the real fight. Because of that, as soon as they touched down, she paused, allowing the others to move up ahead of her.

The entire group found themselves facing a wave of Grimm. There were Ursas, Creeps, and Beowolves, of course. They were joined by thundering herds of Goliaths and Boarbatusks. Sabyrs, which typically appeared in the tundras of Solitas, charged alongside Dromedons, Jackalopes, and Ziraphs that usually inhabited the deserts around Vacuo. In the air, Nevermores and Griffons shared space with Manticores, Sphinxes, Teryx, and Ravagers. It almost seemed as though Salem had called upon Grimm from every continent and region in the world for the purpose of this one attack...and maybe she had.

Given the way things had played out, the original plan had apparently been to bring Vale down through a more mundane type of Grimm attack, while eroding their ability to resist it from within. However, it didn't seem likely that Salem would have prepared a force like this merely as a backup plan, if her original effort failed. It was certainly too soon, if she had simply decided to dispense with subtlety because Jester had put everything out into the open at the beginning of the attack.

_Maybe Jester still put her up to it,_ thought Ruby.

If that was the case, then it might have actually been a good thing. If she had drawn Grimm that would be attacking other places, then maybe the situation outside of Vale wasn't as dire as it had initially seemed. However, they wouldn't know until later if that was the case.

It seemed odd, yet there was no denying that Salem's army was now at Vale's doorstep, there wasn't much time to worry about why Salem had suddenly changed strategies so drastically. At this point, all she could do was press forward and do her best to bring this to an end, in a way that didn't end with _everything else_ coming to an end as well.

Ozpin and Qrow took the lead. Ruby had seen her uncle fight before. However, this was her first time seeing Beacon's Headmaster, the current incarnation of the Wizard who'd created the Maidens, go into battle. The last time she'd been in his vicinity, while he'd been fighting, Ruby had been too preoccupied by her own fight with Tyrian. By his own admission, Ozpin had nothing more than a tiny fragment of his original magic, which meant that his battle strength would likely take some other form.

The instant his feet touched down on the forest floor, Ozpin shot forward at a speed that left Ruby breathless. The technique wasn't the same, yet his speed was easily a match for he_r Shukuchi_. The distance between him and the first Ursa bearing down on them vanished in an instant. In a flash, his cane thrust out in front of him. Despite not bearing a point at its end, it still pierced through the Ursa's chest as though it were every bit as sharp as Weiss' rapier. The bearlike Grimm lurched with a roar of pain, before finding itself blown backwards by the raw power behind Ozpin's attack. A trio of Beowolves leapt over the Ursa's tumbling body, lunging at Ozpin in its wake. However, the Headmaster's cane was a flickering blur, unleashing a flurry of strikes that set all three Grimm back, reminding Ruby of characters on the receiving end of a combo in one of those fighting games Yang had been trying to get her into.

A mere second later, those Grimm were down as well. However, they were just the tip of the iceberg, plenty more following in their wake. Even though none of them, whether on their own or in groups, were a match for Ozpin's skill, the sheer press of them threatened to bury him completely under the raw weight of their numbers.

But Ozpin wasn't alone. Qrow rushed out alongside him, his sword extending to become the blade of a massive scythe, which Qrow wielded with blinding speed, the swift slashes of his weapon cutting down multiple Grimm at a time. Then the others arrived. Yang and her team charged in alongside Qrow, attacking furiously with their own weapons. The remainder of Ruby's team, as well as Team CPPR formed up beside Ozpin. Altogether, they plowed ahead, mowing down the Grimm that charged at their front, and swooped down from above.

However, Glynda's launch had sent them well past the Grimm's forward ranks. Because of that, the Grimm that had been at the head of Salem's charge were now turning around, doubling back to come at them from behind. But they found themselves facing Team MNPS. Natsuki's flames swept amongst them, burning them to ash before their bodies could dissolve, or Setsuna's gravity crushed them flat. Oscar sent his kama whirling through their ranks, cutting down any that closed with him personally. For someone who was still relatively new to fighting Grimm, he was doing incredibly well. For her part, Miyu moved alongside Ruby, ready to use her own techniques to support the front and the rear as needed.

They made their way forward like a well-oiled machine, pushing their way through the crimson-colored foliage of Forever Fall, the leaves raining around them, almost as though the whole forest was bleeding. Up ahead, the Grimm's numbers only seemed to grow greater, as more and more of them closed in, also pressing in from the sides. Ahead and above, the massive form of Salem's whale loomed, seeming close, yet painfully out of reach.

Weiss reversed her grip on Myrtenaster, while allowing Jaune and Pyrrha to step ahead and provide her with the cover she needed. As she did, she shifted the Dust-chambers in her weapon, selecting the blue ice-Dust. The sword-wheel of her Summoning Glyph appeared beneath her. Then, with a flash, her Arma Gigas appeared, the massive knight bounding forward. It swept its sword out ahead of itself, swinging the massive blade in a mighty arc, which immediately sent a wave of ice roaring out across the ground. Over a dozen Grimm were frozen over instantly, while nearly twice as many were impaled on the stalagmites that thrust out like frozen spears. The frozen Grimm shattered along with the ice, but still more followed. Weiss' Summon charged to meet them, sweeping its sword in mighty arcs, mowing down those that closed in, while continuing to send waves of ice out with every swing.

With a shout, Pyrrha jumped and slung her shield at an incoming swarm of Ravagers, which were stooping down from above. It slammed into the skull of the first one, crushing it, before Pyrrha's Semblance sent it rocketing to the next in line, repeating the process over and over again, while Pyrrha used her javelin to fend off a pair of bounding Sabyrs that charged at her along the ground. Ducking under the first one, she lunged forward, slashing the blade across its chest, before dancing back out of the way of the second, using her javelin to cut its throat. It was followed by a Creep, which leapt upwards and descended on Pyrrha from above, only for her shield to slam down on the back of its head, prompting the monster to lurch down, so that Pyrrha's sword thrust into its mouth, stabbing up into its skull. Retrieving her shield, Pyrrha continued to charge forward.

Jaune found himself guarding the flank, his eyes widening as he saw a Boarbatusk come rolling in. Raising his shield, Jaune planted his feet firmly against the ground, calling upon the Aura within his weapon. The shield flashed white, right as the Boarbatusk slammed into it. With a pained squeal, the piglike Grimm unfolded, its back snapping against the impediment as the force of its own attack was rebounded against it. The Boarbatusk disintegrated, revealing the antler-decorated, rabbitlike shape of a Jackalope, as it charged through the cloud of black particles, using them for cover.

First, it tried to gore Jaune with its antlers. However, they snapped against the surface of his shield. Crying out in pain, the Jackalope turned about, lashing out with its powerful hind legs, trying to kick Jaune out of the way. However, he deftly deflected the blows, shifting his shield so that the hits skidded off to the side, before stepping forward and bringing his sword down in a powerful slash that cleaved the Grimm in two.

Then Jaune's eyes widened as he saw what lay behind the Jackalope. The ground jumped beneath his feet as the awe-inspiring bulk of a Goliath bore down at him like the front of an onrushing train, the Grimm's trumpeting cries reaching his very bones. Swallowing nervously, Jaune set himself, raising his shield and preparing to call upon its Aura once more.

However, that proved unnecessary, as an orange-haired girl appeared between him and the Goliath. Directing her swords, Penny brought them around to slash at the Goliath's trunk, cutting it off. Then two trios of her weapons flew up to flank the massive Grimm from behind and above. Still reeling in pain, the Goliath was not able to respond as Penny's swords converted into their gun-modes, then orbited around in a pair of cylindrical formations, emerald spheres of energy building within them. Then, with a flash, a pair of powerful beams were sent lancing down, punching through the back of the Goliath's neck from opposing angles, where it was lacking in armor. The Goliath lurched, then collapsed.

While Penny was dealing with the Goliath, a Manticore dove down at her from above, spitting a fireball at her. However, Ciel intervened, raising her pata-sword. With a flash, a dome of white energy appeared, the Manticore's attack splashing harmlessly over it. The shield vanished, and Ciel jumped up to meet the descending Grimm. She thrust her blade out with flawless precision, piercing the Manticore between its eyes. Before it could begin to dissolve, she yanked her sword down, using the fact that it had been anchored in the Manticore's body to lever herself up and over it, using the Manticore as a foothold to leap higher still. There, she slashed out, her sword lined with the pale-green of wind-Dust. The resulting edge was easily sharp enough to behead a massive Nevermore, one nearly as big as the one that had menaced Team RASP, during one of their forest training sessions at the beginning of the year.

Back down below, Yang roared as she dove headlong into the Grimm, lashing out with powerful punches and kicks, Ember Celica firing in conjunction with her attacks. Oftentimes, her attacks turned the Grimm themselves into projectiles, as a punch from Yang's fist sent the hulking form of an Ursa Major flying backwards, scattering the Beowolves behind it like tenpins. Then, with a shriek, a Deathstalker appeared ahead of her, its armored form shattering the trees that impeded it into splinters. It rushed right towards Yang, its mandibles clacking furiously, while its tail reared back, aiming to impale Yang on its massive stinger.

However, Yang charged straight in to meet it. Right as she closed to within striking distance, her body flashed, her blonde hair turning an even lighter shade of yellow, while her skin lightened, and her eyes turned a fierce Crimson. Her weapon roared, her punch obliterating the Deathstalker's head. As the defeated Grimm's body dissolved, Yang's body returned to normal, and she rushed straight for the next wave of Grimm without missing a step.

Nora rushed right alongside her, shouting jubilantly as she swept her hammer through wide arcs, using Magnhild's explosive shockwaves to shatter Grimm bodies. The black head of a King Taijitu lunged out at her from between the trees with an angry hiss. However, Nora quickly sent her hammer whirling around in an uppercut, which smashed the lunging serpent's jaw up from below, snapping its mouth closed, breaking its fangs. Then Nora triggered the shockwave, which tore upwards through the monster's skull, smashing its head to pieces. With an even angrier hiss, the Taijitu's white head slithered around to attack her from a different angle, only to find its skull in the path of Nora's descending hammer, which slammed it down into the ground, crushing it out of existence.

Beside Nora, Blake and Ren danced in tandem. Neither of them had the raw power that Yang and Nora had, but made up for it with the precision of their attacks. They wove their way through a pack of Beowolves, Blake lashing out with her sickle on its ribbon, while Ren darted in close, cutting Grimm down with swift, precise slashes from his bladed guns, before dropping still more with swift bursts of fire, which he used to cover Blake, who in turn closed in and used her own attacks to allow Ren to close in as well.

With a roar, a Sabyr leapt from behind cover, its claws grasping Blake's shoulders, its fangs punching through her neck. However, Blake's Shadow evaporated, leaving the Sabyr with nothing but empty air. Instead, the Sabyr found the barrel of Ren's gun pressed up against its head. A quick pull of the trigger was enough for Ren to dispatch the beast. Right then though, an Ursa rose up behind him, roaring as it raised a massive paw in an effort to separate Ren's head from his shoulders. However, the Ursa froze in place, its body lurching to a stop. Then it simply collapsed, revealing Blake standing behind it, her sickle having pierced the back of its neck.

The pair of them felt an intense heat descending from above. Blake gasped, darting forward, wrapping an arm around Ren's chest, then using her Semblance to create a Shadow, which launched them to safety. Her movement wasn't a second too soon, with a fireball exploding where Ren had been standing just seconds earlier. With an earthshaking roar, the massive, winged form of a Sphinx descended, landing hard.

The massive Grimm was a sight to behold, with its rounded bone-mask branching off into four crests, stretching out over its neck, which extended out from a feline body, from which a pair of large, black wings extended. Its tail was its most unusual feature, given that it was actually the neck and head of a white snake, which arced around to one side of the Sphinx's head to hiss menacingly at Blake and Ren.

The pair of them readied themselves to dodge as the fanged mouth of the Sphinx's main head opened, orange and yellow light building in its throat, the first sign of another fireball. However, a quartet of black spheres arced in, revolving in a ring around the Spinx's head. A black field of gravitational energy filled the space between them, the gravity forcing the Sphinx's mouth back shut, closing it upon the fireball that it had been about to launch.

Angry flames exploded from the gaps between the Sphinx's fangs, while its throat was illuminated from within by a yellow flash, prompting its entire head to jolt. The serpent head arced upwards, hissing in pain. However, four more black spheres came rushing in, slamming into the snake-head from multiple angles.

Rain appeared, running across the front of the Sphinx. Distracted as it was by the pain that Piper had caused with her weapon, it failed to react as Rain launched his shield, which opened up into its kite-mode, Rain sending it flying up and over the Sphinx's head, guiding it with the string. Controlling the kite's flight-path, Rain used it to loop the string around the Sphinx's neck, elegantly guiding the string beneath the protective shield of the monster's crests. Returning the shield to its place on his right arm, Rain turned away from the Sphinx, pulling sharply downward, while retracting the string with the reel on his right arm at the same time. The wind-Dust impregnated within the string activated, forming a razor-sharp whirlwind, which cleaved through the Sphinx's neck, weakened as it was by the fireball that had detonated in its own mouth, beheading it.

The snake-heard let out a high-pitched hiss, writhing in agony. Piper charged in, jumping. The four orbs she had previously used to force the Sphinx's mouth shut now moved to form a horizontally-revolving ring, creating a gravity-platform beneath her leading foot, allowing her to jump higher still. Then she called all eight orbs together, forming them in a line so that their gravitational energy formed the blade of a massive sword, which Piper swung to sever the head of the snake. With that, the Sphinx's body dissolved.

Piper landed next to Rain, the two of them turning to check Ren and Blake. The other pair gave their friends from Atlas a curt nod of thanks, before the four of them were off once again, continuing to push forward.

Ruby followed behind the group, Akaibara drawn, but still within her hand. She longed to rush forward, to charge into the thick of the melee alongside Ozpin and Qrow, to fight alongside her friends and teammates, rather than stay back and allow them to open a path for her. However, she knew that her best hope lay in conserving her strength as much as possible. Looking up, she could see that the whale-Grimm looked both intimidatingly close, yet dauntingly far away. And that was _without_ factoring how she would get up to that altitude. At this point, simply getting beneath that monstrous creature was only half the battle.

It was made all the more difficult by the fact that the press of Grimm was only getting heavier, the farther they progressed. They couldn't afford to get bogged down fighting the stronger Grimm, otherwise they would be swarmed by dozens of weaker ones. In many ways, it was the ultimate exercise in the basic philosophy Ruby had learned about dealing with the Grimm from the very beginning, taking down each one with as little excess energy and movement as possible, killing them as quickly and efficiently as they could.

They were making good progress, but things only continued to get harder as they advanced. Already, their forward momentum was slowing. Moving forward was like pushing against the incoming tide. Ruby's friends, along with Ozpin and Qrow, were killing Grimm as fast as they could, but new ones pressed in behind them. They were also coming in from the flanks, even circling around behind as the group pressed their way beyond the front ranks. MNPS had their hands full keeping the flankers off the group's back. Ruby occasionally had to dispatch one or two Grimm herself. She found it something of a miracle that she only had to deal with that many.

They were closer now, Salem's mount looming almost directly overhead. It was progressing forward, even as they moved towards it. However, it was accompanied by ever-growing swarms of Grimm that threatened to start pushing them back, if they slacked for a second. With the growing pressure from the front, that possibility gradually progressed towards certainty. Ozpin and Qrow were practically standing in place now, their weapons blurs, cutting down Grimm with every swing. Yet, for all their efforts, it took killing dozens of Grimm to manage to forge enough space for a single step.

The rest of her friends on either side weren't faring any better. What was more, Ruby could see that their strength was beginning to flag. Ren, Blake, Weiss, and Ciel in particular were starting to falter, stamina not being their strongest point. Even powerhouses like Yang and Nora were breathing hard and struggling to forge their way ahead. Of all of them, only Jaune and Penny seemed relatively fresh, and there was no way they could shoulder the burden of this fight on their own.

_We need something strong enough to break through to reach that whale_, thought Ruby, her eyes narrowing. If they could just muster up a powerful enough attack, then they might be able to open enough of a path to allow them to reach where they could worry about how to get up to the whale's altitude.

She needed to think. _What can we do with who we have...?_

After a moment, Ruby's eyes widened, and an excited grin spread across her face. "Natsu-chan! Miyu-chan!"

Hearing her voice, Natsuki broke away from the back line, Miyu joining her.

"What is it?" asked Ruby.

"We need to open a path," said Ruby. "We're gonna do it in one blow."

"I think I see what you're thinking," said Natsuki, grinning excitedly.

"I'll support as best I can," said Miyu. "But just the two of us..."

"It won't be just you," said Ruby. Then she turned towards the front. "Nora!"

"Coming at ya!" shouted Nora, slamming her hammer down on the skull of one last Beowolf, triggering her weapon and using the explosive shockwave to launch herself through the air towards Ruby. Behind her, Yang struggled to pick up her slack, but persevered.

"What's the plan?" asked Nora.

"We're gonna do a combo," Ruby replied.

Nora, already getting a glimmer of what Ruby had planned grinned ferociously. "Finally! I've been wanting to do a combo with you for forever, Ruby!" she exclaimed.

"Miyu-chan, do you think you can support the three of us?" asked Ruby.

"I can manage," said Miyu. While Jaune's unique ability would have been exceptionally helpful in this situation, he didn't yet have the control to spread that ability amongst three separate people simultaneously.

This would be the first time Ruby had tried something like this. Sasame and Kyo had told her stories about legendary combo attacks that could wipe out entire armies in an instant. However, they were the kind of moves that required a tremendous rapport for the participants to pull off. Ruby was confident in her bonds with the friends fighting beside her though.

"Then let's do this!" cheered Natsuki.

"Professor, Uncle Qrow...let us through!" Ruby shouted.

Qrow glanced over his shoulder, confused at the strange gathering now behind him and Ozpin. However, the two of them stepped apart, allowing the quartet to pass between them. As they did, they went into action.

Miyu utilized her support technique to enhance the Auras of Ruby, Natsuki, and Nora. At the same time, the sky darkened, and a bolt of lightning roared downwards to meet the upraised blade of Ruby's sword. Without an iota of hesitation, Ruby channeled that energy, now enhanced with the aid of Miyu's technique, directly into Nora, whose entire body began to shine pink. Beside her, Natsuki briefly flicked her blades into the air, using her fingers to quickly paint lines of blood across her face, before catching her blades again, which exploded into furious, flames.

Utilizing Flow, Nora channeled all the accumulated energy she'd received from Ruby, which was further enhanced by the support from Miyu, into the head of her hammer, which she swung straight down with a whoop. Beside her, Natsuki thrust out with her kodachi, a roiling jet of pitch-black fire erupting out ahead of her. Behind them, Ruby joined in, calling down another bolt to her sword.

With a deafening roar, a massive wave of pure energy surged forward in a wave. The Grimm ahead of them didn't stand a chance, vanishing before the surge of heat and light that swallowed them. It consumed everything ahead of the attacking group, including the trees of the forest, ripping its way through the ground and carving a trench. Boulders and hills were obliterated in an instant.

The others were briefly blinded and deafened. However, they soon recovered, stunned to see the devastation wrought by the combo Ruby, Nora, Natsuki, and Miyu had executed. A wide swath of bared ground carved a path all the way to the shadow of the whale. Grimm had actually fled away from that trench to either side. It seemed that they were just as shocked as Ruby's friends were by the sheer power of the unleashed attack, which hadn't merely destroyed countless Grimm, but changed the very landscape around them.

For a few seconds, Ruby stood there, panting for breath. Nora was also winded. Natsuki quickly wiped away the _Chikewai_ she'd painted on her face, in order to limit how much of her stamina the technique consumed. Ruby wondered if she'd gone too far, and used too much of her energy at once. However, a gentle hand came to rest on her back, and a warm Aura surged through her, immediately clearing away the cobwebs of fatigue that had been gathering in her head. She smiled at the sensation of the Aura of the man she loved supporting her. At the same time, Miyu quickly moved to boost both Nora and Natsuki, so that they could get back up to fighting shape.

"Let's go!" shouted Ruby, running forward, her friends running alongside her. Their haste was understandable. The Grimm had been briefly repelled by the combo attack. However, as Ruby and her friends began to dash for their target, they quickly returned, spilling into the cleared space, swarming around to close in on Ruby and her friends, almost like water flowing inwards to fill a space cleared by cavitation.

"How are we gonna get up there?" asked Yang, her eyes rising to meet the underside of that massive whale.

"You have enough for one more boost?" asked Setsuna, coming up to run alongside Miyu.

"I'm not tapped out yet," Miyu replied, giving him a fond smile. She reached out and took Setsuna's hand.

"Then here we go!" shouted Setsuna.

Abruptly, the gravity around Ruby and her friends reversed, and they suddenly began to rise up into the air, Setsuna's technique carrying them up towards their final destination. However, the way was not completely clear. All around them, winged Grimm flew in on all sides. Thus, even as they rose, Ruby and her friends found themselves fighting their way through Nevermores, Griffons, Lancers, Manticores, Teryx, and Ravagers.

Penny, Piper, and Rain took the lead for this portion of the battle, their weapons being better-suited for aerial maneuvers. Weiss joined them, using her Glyphs to control her trajectory, the rest of the group providing support as best they could with ranged attacks. Pyrrha used her Semblance to control her shield's flight, maneuvering it around to intercept fireballs from Manticores, and hooks from Lancers. Qrow transformed into his namesake bird, flitting around them, before swiftly turning back to dispatch a Grimm, before transforming again to move on to the next one.

Miyu and Setsuna strained, their faces slick with sweat as they continued to raise the entire group into the air. They found themselves rising up past the enormous teeth lining the whale's jaw, then along the sloping expanse of its broad head. Finally, they crested its top dropping down to alight atop it.

Setsuna was finally able to release his technique, their gravity returning to normal, all of them setting down on the black expanse of the whale-Grimm's head. Its flesh was as hard as stone, and would have been indistinguishable from the ground, were it not for the palpable sense of _wrongness_ that each of them felt upon contact with the malignant beast's body. There was something like a pulse running through it, which they could feel run up through their feet. However, it was not the sensation of something truly alive, animate...but not alive.

Setsuna and Miyu both collapsed to their knees, Setsuna on the verge losing consciousness. Quickly, Natsuki and Oscar moved to support them. The rest of the group formed up around them, while Ruby stepped forward slightly, walking along the gently sloping surface of the whale's head.

Up ahead, Ruby saw her. There was no mistaking that face, those eyes, or the black clothes that garbed her body. This was the woman, if she could be called that, who Ruby had only seen as an apparition before. Now she stood before Ruby in the flesh, her presence seeming to dwarf even the monstrous Grimm that served as her steed. She met Ruby's gaze with an almost serene expression that, nonetheless, seemed to overflow with malice.

"Welcome, Ruby Rose."

"Salem..." said Ruby, her mouth dry.

* * *

**I know a lot of people were frustrated by RWBY's canon reaction to the story of Ozpin/Ozma, in Volume 6. I find it to be an understandable reaction, considering the circumstances. They've suffered serious losses. Beacon and Vale were overrun. They've lost friends and loved ones. They only just _barely_ eked out a win at Haven, with it being all too clear that things could have gone _way_ worse. Even when dealing with just Salem's lackeys, it's apparent that they're fighting above their weight-class, metaphorically speaking. To top it all off, they've just had a rough day, and already found out that Ozpin had lied to them at least twice (not telling them about the Relic drawing Grimm and lying about having already used up the Lamp's three questions), practically right after _promising_ that he wouldn't do exactly _that_. And then they get the entire story of Ozpin/Ozma and Salem dropped on them to top it off, with the revelation that Salem is immortal, and can't ever be permanently stopped.**

**After that, it becomes apparent that Ozpin, the guy they've been depending on to give them guidance and direction, the man with the plan...has got nothing. There's no plan. He's practically making things up as he goes along. Haven's gone, but the Lamp's out of the vault, so they need to get it somewhere relatively protected. Ozpin has no endgame, because an actual end to the conflict, unless it's simply rolling over and letting Salem win, isn't in the cards. That's a pretty bitter pill for the people who put so much faith in him to swallow.**

**That being said, I chose to go with a different one, for at least some of the characters, Ruby in particular. The circumstances are considerably different, as a lot of the bad stuff that happened in canon hasn't happened in this story. Penny and Pyrrha haven't died. Beacon hasn't fallen. On top of that, immediately after Jester blows the lid off Ozpin's secret, he blows the lid off an even weirder secret, and then follows it up with an immediate crisis, which ensures that our heroes don't really have much time to dwell on things. I think that would result in some characters reacting differently to the revelation of the truth than they do in canon.**


	159. Chapter 159

**Chapter 159:**

For some reason, the flying Grimm that had been dogging them before had pulled back, now hovering in the air above the massive whale-Grimm that served as their platform. Facing down the woman who was the source of this massive horde, Ruby could see why they hadn't continued their attack.

Salem's presence was overwhelming. It swirled about her form, quiet, cold, and filled with horrific malice. The apparition that Ruby had spoken to before was nothing by comparison. Just being near Salem threatened to steal the breath from her lungs. The entire air hummed with the sheer power of her will.

_It's like...Kyo-nii's,_ thought Ruby. Kyo was a very different person, of course. Even at the height of his ferocity, when his fighting-spirit was surging with intent to kill, there was still a sort of warmth to his Aura. Ruby had only seen Kyo's true fighting spirit a tiny handful of times. But those few occasions had always left her in awe of her brother. Salem's Aura was very different in nature...but seemed to match Kyo's in scope...which left her feeling uneasy. Aside from Kyo's parents, Ruby had always felt as though there was no one who could truly match his strength. Back when she had first met him, Kyo had spoken of how the other Taishiro were also probably stronger than him. But that seemed to have ceased to be true in the years that had passed since she had been adopted as his sister.

Salem's gaze focused on Ruby in particular, and Ruby's heart nearly stopped in her chest. Suddenly, she was transported back to those tunnels in Anima. Salem's Aura reminded Ruby of the sensation of those bristle-covered arachnid legs brushing against her body, except that it now felt as though those legs were wrapping around her from every conceivable angle, squeezing against her, as though several Ungols had wrapped her in a chitinous embrace. Ruby had to swallow hard against the flow of bile that threatened to force its way up and out of her throat.

Her friends were similarly affected, all of them trembling with fear in the face of the woman who commanded the Grimm. The image that had appeared in Jinn's tale was nothing compared to the reality of her. Standing before Salem felt as though they were standing before the specter of death itself.

Unfortunately, that sensation was especially pronounced for poor Oscar. Younger than the rest of them, with very little experience, his body had become completely paralyzed. Even though he had fought through the Grimm swarm alongside them, and held his own admirably, he was completely unprepared to face Salem, whose mere presence threatened to crush his mind completely. Only when Natsuki wrapped him in a tight, protective embrace did he begin to calm down.

Only one person seemed unaffected by Salem's presence. Ozpin strode forward to stand next to Ruby, planting the tip of his cane against the Grimm beneath them, resting his hands on its pommel. He stared at Salem, his expression one of neutrality. His advance had drawn Salem's attention, and now it was Ozpin who was bearing the brunt of Salem's regard.

"Salem..." he said softly.

"It's been a long time...since we were last face to face...Ozpin," said Salem, her lips curling up in a smile, her expression warming faintly, as though she was recalling fond memories...which she maybe was. However, that smile quickly disappeared again.

"So it has come to this," said Ozpin sadly. "I once believed you to be better, Salem."

Salem's eyes narrowed. "Ozpin-No...Ozma..._You_ were the one who betraye_d me_."

"I did what I believed was right," said Ozpin, his own voice heavy with sorrow.

Thinking back to Jinn's story, Ruby remembered how that particular dispute had turned out...what it had cost both of them. Ozma's battle with Salem had not only destroyed the castle they had lived in, but had consumed the lives of their daughters. In the face of such a horrific loss, Salem had been forced to continue on as she always had, suffering in her immortal shell...while Ozpin simply awoke inside a new host, and was forced to go through life all over again, neither of them able to shed the burden of their grief...nor the notion that the other was the cause for it. What had once been a powerful love had been turned on its head into a bitter hatred. Ruby could feel it, lingering like a poison in the air between them.

Salem's expression darkened even further...which was really saying something. "As always...your true love was justice. Your principles would always come first, and I would forever be second to them."

"At one time, that was what you said you loved most about me," said Ozpin, striding forward.

"P-Professor!" exclaimed Ruby staring after him, her eyes wide with fear.

"Love is both blind and bitter, once you realize the truth of it," said Salem, remaining where she was. "I sacrificed everything for you. I suffered the punishment of the gods, endured millennia of solitude and suffering...all for my love of you. And, in the end, when we had the chance to gain everything...you spurned me in the final hour, turned your back on everything that we had made for ourselves. You showed me how shallow and empty love really is."

"Perhaps _your_ love," countered Ozpin, continuing to close the distance between them. "You said you would always be second in my heart. However, that could be said about you too."

"What?" growled Salem, baring her teeth.

"Grieving what one has lost is natural," said Ozpin. "Mourning is natural. You defied the gods in your effort to bring me back, not because of your love for me, but because you were unable to cope with your own pain and loss. Worse still, you dragged the rest of humanity in along with you.

"If you had truly loved me, you would have treasured the time we had together in life, and looked forward to the time we would spend together in the eternity afterwards. Instead, you merely thought only of your own pain...and nothing else. In the end...the one you truly loved above all else was yourself."

Ruby swallowed hard._ It's the same,_ she thought. _Salem is just like him!_

Even though how he had shown it had been considerably different, Ruby now realized that Salem's struggle, at least on an emotional level, mirrored that of her father's. Taiyang had never been able to let go of Summer. He had transferred that attachment to Ruby, burdened her with the pain of his loss and grief, and had tried to keep her with him, so that he would have that piece of his wife forever by his side. He hadn't cared one whit about right or wrong, or about how _Ruby_ felt about how he treated her. The only thing that had mattered to him was _his_ pain, _his_ grief. In its own way, he was no different from when he had been drowning himself in alcohol...he had just switched to a different vice.

To everyone's surprise, Salem inclined her head. "Perhaps you are right," she said. "That being the case, there is no longer any place for you in my life...or this world...Ozpin."

"Indeed," said Ozpin. "If there is one thing I have learned, especially taking recent events into account...this world has outgrown both of us."

He raised his cane. "Ms. Rose...I know that this fight was originally meant for you. But please allow me to make one last attempt to end this."

"Professor..." Ruby raised her hand in protest, stepping towards them, only to pause when Ozpin glanced back at her, a sorrowful look in his eyes.

Slowly, Ruby lowered her hand, then looked past him at Salem. Her eyes narrowed slightly, the nagging feeling that had building, ever since they had arrived atop this whale, crystalizing into a realization, which brought forth a single question.

"Where is Jester?"

Salem brought her hand to her chest. "He is right here," she said. "He is inside me. I have consumed him...and made his power my own."

Ruby frowned. _Did she really...?_ She couldn't quite imagine it herself. Jester would not be ended so easily. If it were as simple as something like this, then he would have never been as great a thorn in the side of the Mibu as he had been.

However, Salem's attention had already returned to Ozpin. "Now then, Ozpin. It's time for you to die again."

"We shall see," said Ozpin, leveling his cane at Salem, and taking his stance.

Her eyes narrowing, Salem raised her right hand, aiming the palm at Ozpin.

Given what they had seen of Salem's magic in Jinn's vision, Ruby and her friends expected fire, perhaps a blast of some untyped eldritch power. It should have erupted forth from her palm. Instead...the black mass beneath Ozpin's feet came to life, writhing as countless arms shot upwards. Their forms were flexible, like tentacles, but they ended in hands, tipped with five slender fingers, each one tipped with a white bone-claw. They surrounded Ozpin on all sides, their flexible forms threatening to bind him and pull him down.

But Ozpin wasn't there anymore. In a flash, he was already in front of Salem.

Ruby's eyes widened. But she wasn't the only one shocked. After all, Ozpin's speed seemed to be of a different type from the _Shukuchi_ she used. Instead, his speed reminded her more of Jester's speed...or rather...his ability to render the concept of speed meaningless.

_Time dilation!_ thought Weiss, her jaw dropping. It was similar to one form of her Glyphs. However, Ozpin's was greater by an order of magnitude.

It wasn't over though. Just as it had been when he had been fighting the Grimm, Ozpin's cane was a blur, seeming to multiply as he struck out with a rapid series of thrusts, Salem's body jolting harshly as each blow landed home. However, her expression remained unchanged. She made no effort to defend or counterattack. Instead, she held her right arm out to the side and, in an almost lazy gesture, turned her palm upwards.

There was a sinister keening noise that Ruby remembered all too well. Molten light welled up beneath Ozpin's feet. A second later, a column of flame erupted upwards, where he had been standing. However, he was already behind Salem, thrusting his cane at her back.

"Weak."

Abruptly, Ozpin's body was blown backwards. There was no sign of Salem having touched him. Instead, he was flung back, his back slamming into the rocky outcropping that lined the Grimm-whale's back, which encompassed the violet crystals that ran down the length of its spine like a ridge.

_Gravity,_ thought Ruby. _It looks like she _does_ have Jester's power after all._ She had felt that familiar presence, a power that was born of Aura, rather than magic. Furthermore, she felt that sinister undertone, a presence that suffused Salem's Aura, lingering in the wake of her attack like a bad aftertaste.

Turning towards Ozpin, Salem raised her right hand again. A glowing red sigil appeared by her feet, off to one side. A new black arm and hand erupted up from it. However, it was exponentially larger than the ones she had summoned before. It shot upwards into the air, fingers splaying out, bending back slightly, before descending upon Ozpin like the slap of an angry god. Ozpin glanced up at it, then vanished before the hand struck.

Beneath their feet, the people observing the fight felt the Grimm's body jolt from the blow. It seemed that Salem didn't really care if she injured the Grimm with her own attacks. That was understandable. At this point, the Grimm were for nothing more than theatrics. Absorbing the power of Jester, a power that he'd used to toss the Goyosei around like they were no more than toys, she didn't even really need the Grimm she'd brought with her. She was perfectly capable of destroying Vale all on her own.

That much was apparent when Ozpin appeared on her left, lashing out with his cane at her head. However, the cane was stopped by Salem's arm, which she held up to ward off the blow. Ozpin drew his weapon back, then struck from a different direction. Once again, his cane became a blur, seeming to be in multiple places at the same time. However, so was Salem's arm. Wherever Ozpin's cane struck, Salem's arm appeared to intercept it. She wasn't even looking at him, as she fended off his blows.

"You've fallen so low, Ozpin." Suddenly, Salem switched from blocking his attacks to attacking in turn. Lashing out, she struck Ozpin across the face with a backhanded slap.

Ozpin's feet lifted up into the air, and he was on the verge of being thrown away on a course that would send him flying off the Grimm's back. However, before that could happen, Salem's arm stretched out, grabbing his collar, causing his spine to bend painfully as she abruptly canceled the momentum that she had instilled only a fraction of a second earlier.

"Giving up your magic has forced you to rely on tricks," continued Salem. "You were a fool to surrender your power to those girls. Now you stand before me, practically naked. That body of yours is falling apart, isn't it. Unlike me, you feel the passing of the years keenly, every time. This is the one of the hosts you've held onto for the longest, isn't it?"

Ozpin said nothing, merely raising his head to glare at her. His spectacles were gone, but he still stared defiantly at her.

"It pains me, watching you struggle like this," continued Salem, narrowing her eyes. "I would say that your time for this incarnation is at an end."

Ozpin's eyes narrowed in return. Despite being struck so hard, he had not relinquished his grip on his cane. Now he whipped it up, jabbing it sharply into the joint of Salem's wrist, a flash of green Aura lancing out from the tip as he struck. With a grunt, Salem released him. Ozpin vanished from where he had been, just as another blast of flame immolated the space where he'd been standing.

However, instead of attacking again, Ozpin reappeared, standing between Salem and Ruby's group, his intense gaze focused directly upon her. Once again, he rested his hands on the pommel of his cane, while resting its tip against the whale-Grimm's flesh.

"It is true that I no longer have more than a fragment of the magic I once did," said Ozpin. "However, I do not regret, even for a moment, giving it away. Freeing myself from its burden has allowed me to come to a better understanding of the nature of power. Perhaps you could stand to shed that burden, Salem, rather than always seeking more."

"The words of a fool," said Salem, glaring at him. "You would merely have me descend down to your level."

"I suppose there is no point in drawing out that argument," said Ozpin, taking up his cane again.

Salem raised her hands away from her sides slightly, her arms angled downwards, palms facing the ground...or Grimm. Red and black energy crackled across her hands, a shimmering field of black that enshrouded them, while arcs of blood-red jumped between her fingers like brief bursts of lightning. The very air around her hands began to ripple, almost as though they were giving off intense heat. Her very presence had a palpable weight, a weight that was different from the _Chiyugi_ that Setsuna or Chinmei used.

"It is time to send you to your next self, Ozpin," said Salem.

Ozpin said nothing, merely leveling his cane at Salem, adopting a stance like that of a fencer. However, his head slowly turned, and Ruby found herself flinching as her gaze met his own.

"Ms. Rose...the rest I leave to you," he said sadly, "including the next me."

"Professor!" shouted Ruby, reaching out towards him.

However, Ozpin had already turned forward. The next second, he vanished, closing in on Salem in an instant. Salem had already raised her hands, directing a blast of pure, eldritch energy right at Ozpin, engulfing him in a destructive wave that ripped a channel through the Grimm flesh they were all standing on. It was such a powerful blast that it threatened to swallow Ruby and her friends as well.

However, before it could even reach that far, the blast spread outwards, its force deflected in every direction, except for directly ahead of where it had been launched, its waves of power breaking over the curved surface of a barrier of pale-green energy that shimmered around Ozpin in a perfect sphere.

"What!?" exclaimed Salem, her eyes going wide with shock as Ozpin glided ever nearer.

Ruby was just as shocked as everyone else in their group. Ozpin had done something similar in his fight against Hazel. However, it was hard to imagine even powerful Aura being able to deflect a blast as powerful as the one that Salem had just used. Then Ruby spied some motion near Ozpin's right hand. Her gaze zeroed in on the pommel of his cane.

The gears that rested at the base of the handle, where the cane extended out, were spinning rapidly, while an intense, green light shined out from within. Crackling power spread across Ozpin's body, feeding into the barrier around him as he charged through the torrent of Salem's magical power.

"How?" gasped Salem as she poured more energy into her attack. "You gave up your power! You have next to nothing!"

"Yes." Abruptly, time seemed to stop for Salem. Ozpin now stood directly in front of her. Salem could see and hear him clearly. However, the entire world, including she herself, seemed to have come to a stop. Thus, even as he spoke, she was unable to do anything but listen and watch.

"But 'next to nothing'...is _not_ nothing. This weapon, The Long Memory of all my past lives, was made to store time..._my_ time. In other words, it stores away the little magic I have left, a little more each day. And I have been storing that power away for_ centuries_.

"And now...I shall let you feel the weight of all that time with your own body."

Still helpless, Salem could only watch as Ozpin drew back his cane, then unleashed another barrage of thrusts. This time, the cane was charged with emerald-green energy, which was streaming out from the gears that were rapidly spinning inside the handle. Every blow that Ozpin struck left a bead of the same energy sticking to Salem's body...and he struck her dozens...hundreds...of times. Crackling arcs of the same color linked those beads together, burning with greater and greater intensity with each passing fraction of a second.

And still Ozpin's onslaught continued. Blow after blow he struck, pouring everything he had into this barrage of strikes, drawing out every last scrap of magic left within his cane. All of it was merging together, forming into a mass of energy dwarfing even the mighty attack that Salem had unleashed against Ozpin just before.

And then...after what seemed like ages...time started again. The accumulated energy in all the attacks Ozpin had launched detonated. A furious roar accompanied a jet of emerald green that blasted across the back of the Grimm-whale, shattering the ridges of rock and purple Dust-crystals that lined its back. There was a low, ominous moan, accompanied by a shuddering vibration from the flesh beneath their feet. Then the massive Grimm's flight dipped downwards, black particles drifting up and away from its body as it descended. Ozpin's attack had been the fatal blow...which would have been a good thing, had Ruby and her friends not been on top of the Grimm that was now falling from the sky.

It slammed into the ground, its crash crushing countless numbers of the lesser Grimm that had been swarming beneath it. Of course, everyone who had been riding atop it was thrown off their feet by the impact, which was so powerful that the resulting tremors were undoubtedly felt back in Vale. The plume of dust raised by the crash was also probably clearly visible from the walls. The descent had been so sudden that they really hadn't had any time to stabilize, a task made all the more difficult when their foothold vanished from beneath them.

Ruby groaned, raising her head to look up. The air around her was filled with dust, obstructing her vision. Getting to her feet, Ruby found that she and her friends were now in the middle of a massive trench, one that dwarfed the size of the trench that she, Miyu, Natsuki, and Nora had carved with their combo attack earlier, said trench probably having been obscured by the one the whale had dug in its tumultuous landing.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Ruby, Extending her Aura out to feel the presences of her friends, checking their status, even before their coughing responses reached her ears.

Everyone seemed relatively uninjured, though their Auras had taken a battering from the rough landing. Even if being on top of the massive Grimm, as it had gone down, had been a tumultuous ride, it was still a hundred times better than being caught beneath it.

Ruby turned back in the direction where Ozpin and Salem had been. The dust was already beginning to clear, swept away by a gentle breeze. As it wafted away from her eyes, Ruby caught a glimpse of a figure resting on one knee.

It was Ozpin, kneeling, head bowed. His cane was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, Ruby found she couldn't spot it anywhere nearby. Then...out of the corner of her eye, something caught her attention. But it wasn't the cane.

Black particles were streaming up out of the ground directly in front of where Ozpin was kneeling. They were descending down from above as well, all of them converging on a single point, merging together into a single mass, which congealed into a humanoid shape, which then developed color and definition. In mere seconds, Salem was standing there, looking completely unharmed. All the power Ozpin had unleashed had amounted to nothing.

_Did he do anything?_ wondered Ruby, horrified at the sight.

She had hoped that, by fighting against Ozpin, the battle might have drained some of Salem's power. Even if she was immortal, the reserves of magic and Aura that she could use over a given period of time weren't infinite...right? However, Salem's presence was just as oppressive and overwhelming as it had been before. If her fight with Ozpin had done anything to weaken her, it was to such a minor degree that Ruby couldn't perceive it with her senses.

_Then again, maybe her reserves weren't infinite...before she consumed Jester,_ thought Ruby.

However, as Salem glared down at Ozpin, baring her teeth furiously, Ruby could say with surety that Ozpin _had_ accomplished something with that last onslaught.

He'd made Salem angry.

"I _had_ intended to make your latest death swift," said Salem. "But your impertinence has caused me to rethink that."

Black hands, tipped with white claws, erupted from the ground around Ozpin again. However, this time, Ozpin was unable to make any move to dodge them. In a flash, he was knocked off his feet, the arms wrapping around his body, binding his limbs, the hands gripping him tightly, those curving claws sinking into his flesh and drawing blood. They pulled him downward, pulling his body tightly against the ground, causing it to sink in. Worse still, his face was downwards as well, pressing ever more tightly against the earth. Salem was slowly suffocating him, even as she crushed him.

Despite that, Ozpin offered no struggle, not even seeming to resist Salem's efforts. Even if his strength was all but gone, someone suffering from such a lingering, drawn-out death would be expected to struggle, to fight back, however futilely. But Ozpin did nothing of the sort. Instead, Ruby could sense his acceptance. He had no intention of fighting his end here. Nor would he give Salem the satisfaction of seeing him struggle against the inevitable.

And, as Ozpin had probably been intending, his lack of resistance was only angering Salem, who clearly wanted to see him writhe. Her lips pulled back farther, baring more of her teeth. Her eyes narrowed more, and the Grimm-arms tightened their hold. The sound of bones creaking, then cracking filled the air.

Then There was a flickering strobe of silver through the air. The flash was sudden and blinding. There was a squealing, screeching sound, and the Grimm arms holding Ozpin down evaporated. Salem was no longer standing directly in front of Ozpin, instead having suddenly retreated back over a dozen meters, still glaring furiously, though her gaze was no longer directed at Beacon's Headmaster.

Ruby strode up to stand next to Ozpin's prone form. Crouching down, she rolled him over, so that his face was no longer pressed against the ground. Then she gently brushed the dirt away from his mouth and nose, making sure that his airways were clear. As she did, she inspected his injuries.

"Professor..." said Ruby sadly.

"Ms. Rose...it's all right," said Ozpin.

"Jaune...Miyu-chan...can you take care of him?" asked Ruby, looking back.

Miyu and Jaune nodded, starting forward. It was an uncertain thing. Jaune wasn't yet skilled enough to treat injuries as extensive as the ones that Ozpin was suffering. However, Miyu had drained most of her Aura in the last two uses of her support techniques. However, if Jaune could lend Miyu his support, then she would likely be able to treat Ozpin's injuries.

Salem, however, had other ideas.

She raised her right hand, gently curling her outstretched fingers in a claw-like gesture, their tips pointed towards Ruby and Ozpin. Ruby's senses immediately blared a warning that she was in danger. Her feet ground against the earth as she turned towards Ozpin, seeking to get him away from the area that would be affected by Salem's next attack. However, even as she did, she saw that Ozpin was suddenly on his feet, one arm wrapped around his front, holding his side. The world around her, and Ruby's own body, came to a sudden stop. With his other hand, he thrust out, pushing Ruby away with a surprising amount of force, considering the condition he was in.

As Ruby flew back, time restarted. A black sphere materialized at the level of Ozpin's chest, before rapidly expanding outward. To Ruby's horror, she could only watch, locking eyes with Ozpin for the final second of his life as his body spiraled into the black hole that had suddenly burst into existence right in front of him.

Deep in the recesses of her mind, Ruby was forced to confront the truth...that she had reacted too late. Had she actually gone through with her attempt to save Ozpin from Salem's attack, the effort needed to pick him up and carry him away would have slowed her down to the point where they both would have been killed. As it was, she still had to strain to avoid being caught by the area affected by the expanding sphere of pitch-black. Propelling her Aura out through her feet, Ruby managed to force herself away from it, before it collapsed back in on itself and vanished.

Coming to a stop, Ruby stared at the space where Ozpin had been, tears leaking from her eyes as she realized that she'd failed, that he'd died...and she'd been powerless to stop it.

"It is done."

Salem's voice recalled Ruby to the present, and the cause of Ozpin's death. Turning her head, Ruby glared furiously at the woman, who stared balefully at the space where Ozpin had been standing. Then, as if she'd only _just_ become aware of Ruby's anger, Salem's eyes slowly turned towards her. "And now...the time has come to deal with you."

Ruby's left hand closed around the handle of her sword, drawing Akaibara forth from her sheath. The sword's crimson blade shone, ringing steadily as Ruby brandished her, their Auras merging and coalescing together, Ruby adopting her typical starting stance, sword positioned over her head, the blade pointing in the direction of her enemy, the edges angled vertically, the space near the tip lightly pinched between the middle and ring fingers of her right hand.

"So you intend to fight, foolish child?" asked Salem.

"It's what I came here for," said Ruby.

"Truly, you are a fool," scoffed Salem. "After everything you have seen, after everything you have experienced, you truly believe that you could end _me_? You could not even handle Jester, and now I have consumed him and made his power my own. I will be eternal."

"No...you won't," said Ruby. "Even if you were, it would only bring you more misery."

Salem's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Even if the God of Light gave you immortality, you're still human," said Ruby. "That's the problem, what's unnatural about you. Humans were never meant to live forever. And so...when you are forced to live so long...you suffer because of it."

The muscles of Salem's neck visibly tightened, her jaw clenching.

"That's why you're so dead-set on making a new world," said Ruby. "You can't stand living forever as a human. So, if you figure that you end everything and make yourself into a god, you'll be able to escape your suffering. But no amount of destruction and creation will change who and what you are. No matter how much you deny it, you won't be able to escape it either. You're human, Salem."

Salem bared her teeth again. "I can see that Ozpin has taught you well...you share his gift for drawing my ire."

Ruby smirked at her. "It makes me glad to hear that."

"Ruby!" Behind Ruby, Yang started forward, aiming to try and help, to put her strength to work fighting alongside the most important person in her life. However she was stopped by Jaune, who stepped out in front of her, holding out his left arm and shield to keep her back.

"What are you doing?" demanded Yang, glaring at Jaune, who turned to look at her over his shoulder.

"We have to leave this to Ruby," he said softly. "Right now, she's the only one who really has a chance."

Yang opened her mouth to protest, to contradict him, only to stop when Qrow's hand came down to grip her shoulder tightly.

"As much as I wanna deny it, the guy has a point," said Qrow. "It ain't easy, trusting everything to her."

Yang could understand that much. However, following Qrow's eyes, Yang suddenly understood that Qrow wasn't referring to Yang herself. He was looking at Jaune. Though Jaune's left arm and shield were held out, steady and unwavering, his right hand was clenched tightly around the handle of his sword, the blade shivering in his grip. Likewise, his legs were also trembling. Jaune was on the verge of rushing forward himself, and was only keeping himself in check with an extreme force of will.

Glancing around, Yang saw that they weren't the only ones reluctant to stand back and leave this fight to Ruby. Ciel, Piper, and Rain were holding tight to Penny, who looked after Ruby with pleading eyes. Given that they weren't simply being dragged along by Penny's raw strength, Yang hazarded a guess that their appeals had gotten through to her. However, they continued to cling tightly to her for insurance, however slight it might have been.

Ren was restraining Nora. Just as with the three members of CPPR, aside from Penny, there was no way that Ren could actually hold Nora back with his own strength, if she had resolved to press forward. Instead, he was holding her in a tight hug, combing his fingers through her hair, while Nora rested her head against his collar, face turned so that her teary eyes were staring at Ruby's back. Blake was able to restrain herself. However, her expression was reluctant and uneasy, clearly expressing her unhappiness at having to stand back and leave this fight to someone else.

Weiss and Pyrrha were just as unhappy with the situation as anyone else. Reaching out with her right hand, Weiss was using it to cling to Pyrrha's left, behind her shield. Pyrrha was holding onto Weiss' hand just as tightly. Their eyes were glued to the brewing fight in front of them.

Then there were Ruby's friends from Leng. Natsuki looked as though she wanted to jump right into the fray, her kodachi drawn and ready. However, Setsuna was restraining her, one hand tightly closed around her right forearm. Behind them, Miyu looked on sadly, her hands clasped together, while Oscar...

...Oscar had dropped his kama and had clamped his hands tightly to his head, gritting his teeth and groaning under his breath as he doubled over, his entire body trembling. With all the tension in the air, his situation had momentarily escaped notice. However, that oversight passed when he dropped to his knees, then fell forward.

That was when Natsuki noticed. Ruby temporarily forgotten, she whipped her head around to see Oscar lying prone. "Oscar-kun!"

In a flash, Natsuki was at his side, turning him over while Miyu crouched down next to him. Carefully, Miyu began her examination of his condition. However, upon checking his Aura with her own, Miyu let out a soft gasp.

"Impossible..." she whispered.

"Miyu-chan...?" Natsuki looked up at her friend, over Oscar's unmoving form. Miyu met her gaze, her expression shocked.

Whatever was happening behind her, Ruby didn't notice...or couldn't afford to notice. She couldn't allow her awareness of her opponent to waver for even the slightest instant. That kind of lapse had already cost Ozpin his life. It was a mistake that Ruby was resolved not to make again. She had to put everything she had into this battle, if she wanted to ensure that humanity had a future. So, however difficult it might have been, Ruby allowed herself to ignore the commotion growing behind her, focusing everything on the monster born of humanity in front of her.

Salem stared intently at Ruby. "You and your friends need not die today," she said.

"We won't," said Ruby firmly.

Salem's eyes narrowed. "Are you not curious, child?"

"About what?" asked Ruby.

"When you faced Tyrian, you must have felt his desire to kill, correct?"

"I did," said Ruby, remembering, all too well, that intense malice.

"And yet...I told Tyrian and the others that I wished for you to be brought to me, alive."

Ruby frowned. "I guess you did." Tyrian had said something to that effect, after all.

"Because I have a use for your power," said Salem. "The Silver Eyes cannot kill me. Your mother learned that truth the hard way."

Ruby frowned at the reference to her mother's death, the casual way with which Salem brandished such callous words.

Salem continued. "However, they are still of use to me. Because of that, as I told you before, you have an opportunity to spare the lives of both yourself and your loved ones. They need not perish alongside the rest of humanity. Cooperate with me, and you can save them. Even more, when I remake this world, they will have a place within it, alongside those who have earned my favor.

Ruby's expression darkened. "No thanks," she said. "I think I'd rather save all of humanity, and send you to Hell."

"Fool," grumbled Salem. "Then prepare yourself. I require you alive. However, you would be amazed the suffering a person can endure, before their life finally gives out. I assure you that you will experience that, right up to your absolute limit."

"Bring it on!" shouted Ruby.

She vanished, leaving a flurry of red petals in her wake. In a flash, she was behind Salem, Akaibara swinging right for the pale woman's neck. Salem scarcely even turned her head. Instead, Ruby was forced to abort her attack, throwing her body into a spin that allowed her to dance aside as more flexible arms erupted from the ground, right at Salem's feet. The clawed fingers of those hands gleamed as they reached out for her, the arms bending to follow the path Ruby took, those hands seeking to find grips on her clothes and flesh. Even as she avoided them, Ruby lashed out with swift slashes of her sword, cutting them down.

However, as the last hand fell, severed from its accompanying arm, Ruby was forced into an even more desperate dodge, leaping aside as flames erupted from the ground beneath her feet. Salem swept her arm out in a broad arc, and a line of explosions erupted around her, chasing the fleeting red shadow of Ruby as she darted around, skirting Salem's position. The sky darkened, and a bolt of lightning lanced down to meet the tip of Ruby's upraised sword. Without hesitation, she unleashed a downwards swing.

"_Raijin: Raikaran!_"

An entire storm of thunderbolts rained down on Salem's position, bombarding her. Gritting her teeth, Salem raised her hand, and the bolts crashed against a swirling barrier of black and sickly-red, before falling to the ground around her, throwing up sparks and sprays of dust and smoke. It was then that Ruby darted in from the side, swinging her sword across her body in a horizontal slash. Rather than lightning, the blade was lined by a crimson wind.

"_Kazegiri!_" Ruby flashed past, and Salem lurched, her upper body separating from her lower body...for all of a second. Then the severed portions of her body rejoined, as though nothing at all had happened.

"Futile," said Salem, turning to find Ruby watching her.

"But you still don't like it," replied Ruby.

Salem's eyes narrowed.

"You told me about how much suffering someone can go through, before they die," Ruby pointed out, smirking. "But you...you _don't_ have a limit. Since you can't die, there's no limit to how much pain you can feel."

"So...you intend to torture me then?" asked Salem.

Ruby canted her head. "Not really," she replied. "I guess I was just thinking...it really does suck to be immortal after all, doesn't it?"

With an angry growl, Salem swept a hand out at Ruby. This time, a wave of black arms erupted forth from the ground. However, before Ruby could even begin to think about evading them, the ground beneath her feet split open. Looking down, Ruby found herself staring into an enormous fanged maw that had opened up beneath her very feet, its teeth like massive, curved swords, each one more than capable of punching all the way through her body. Without anything to stand on, she was falling down into it, the jaws already closing like a massive bear-trap.

Another bolt of lightning descended from on high, with a roar of thunder. This one barely even touched the tip of Ruby's sword, before she directed it straight down below her feet. The jaws vanished with a flash of light. The arms rushed in from all sides, curling around to surround Ruby. However, they came to a stop, tangled in the strands of a web of lightning...which suddenly brightened, the crackling noise of it all increasing in intensity. With a hissing squeal, those arms dissolved into black smoke, before vanishing.

From amidst the flash, Ruby emerged, streaking at Salem, who thrust her right palm out, an eldritch blast of black and red engulfing the ground in front of her. However, Ruby had jumped, her cloaked figure now soaring above Salem, before touching down on the ground behind her. The earth erupted though, white spikes of bone, looking like ribs, thrusting out in a wave of spearlike tips that threatened to impale Ruby, who swiftly backpedaled out of their reach.

Meanwhile, Salem turned to face Ruby, extending her left hand out to her side. A trio of sinister-looking, dark-red sigils appeared in the air around her, one on either side of her, while the third hovered over her head. With a roar, fang-lined maws shot forth, sinuous bodies winding around each other, as the heads and necks of three Sea Feilongs lunged at Ruby in what seemed like a perverse imitation of the techniques Shinrei used.

Ruby didn't retreat though. Instead she charged forward, lightly sidestepping the first of the Feilong heads to reach her. Using minimal movements, she also wove between the second and third. At the same time, the first two fingers of her right hand moved to the base of her sword, resting against the flat of the blade, before tracing their way up its length. The blade exploded into ringing life, shining and drawing in the air around it. Jumping, Ruby launched herself into a spin, sweeping Akaibara around herself in a complete circle.

"_Kazebara!_"

Ruby's attack created a vertical red ring in the air, which extended out in all directions, cleaving through the necks of all three Feilongs, while Ruby proceeded forward, closing in on Salem once more.

With an angry grunt, Salem swept out her cloak with her right arm. Spindly, multi-jointed legs, covered with black bristles, extended out, curling inwards, their pointed tips angling to intercept Ruby, as though Salem's cloak concealed countless insectile Grimm. It was terrifying to behold, especially if one was about to run right into their midst. It wasn't all that surprising that Ruby shifted to her right to avoid those legs. However, Salem easily compensated by sweeping out the left side of her cloak as well. A large, familiar-looking pincer extended from that one, clacking menacingly as it tried to seize Ruby in its grip.

Yet still, Ruby continued forward, rushing right down the gauntlet of Salem's attacks. Right as she stepped close though, her carefully-honed instincts blared another warning. Stepping down a little harder, Ruby accelerated even more sharply, putting the last extra ounce of speed she was capable of into the move. She vanished, just as the ground where she'd been a fraction of a second earlier caved in underneath the presence of an incredible, invisible weight.

Ruby's sudden acceleration carried her between the legs and pincer, right into the center of Salem's space. Akaibara was raised high over her head. A bolt of lightning lanced down as Ruby brought the blade down directly on Salem's head. "_Raijin: Honorai Ikazuch!_" With a roar of thunder, Ruby used the swing of her sword to direct the bolt of lightning straight down through Salem, cutting a line all the way from the top of the woman's head to the ground beneath her. Then Ruby's followthrough, carrying the remaining energy imbued within her sword, came along a horizontal course, cutting Salem's body into quarters. The Grimm parts that had been extending out from within Salem's cape vanished in a flash, and Ruby shot past, coming to a stop, sword raised overhead, as the blue-white light of the lightning behind her seemed to completely swallow Salem whole.

Then it faded, the last echoes of thunder dying away. Where Salem had been standing before was nothing more than a circle of blackened earth, with no sign of the unnatural woman and sight.

Ruby's friends looked on, some of them daring to hope that Ruby had actually done it, that Salem was gone for good this time.

Ruby, on the other hand, calmly closed her eyes, waiting. After a moment, she snapped them open again, her body vanishing from sight as the space where she was standing was consumed by a massive explosion, one that threatened to throw the onlookers off their feet. A series of explosions chased Ruby along the length of the trench the Grimm-Whale had carved during its crash, throwing up smoke, dust, and debris. Finally, Ruby emerged from the last one in line, whole, but trailing smoke from her cloak as she skidded to a stop. Straightening, she gasped, then turned to her left, raising Akairbara, with the blade pointing down, bracing the flat against her right forearm.

Salem had appeared practically right next to her, swinging her right arm up in a diagonal arc, a black wave slamming into Akaibara, the force of the blow knocking Ruby off her feet, and sending her flying back along the line of craters that Salem's explosions had created. She landed shoulder-first, the armor plates of her pauldron catching on the ground, sending her into a bouncing tumble. Rolling to a stop, Ruby had to plant her sword to level herself back up to her feet, looking at Salem, a pained grimace on her face.

Wisps of what looked like black smoke trailed from Salem's right hand, the remnants of the attack she'd just used to bat Ruby across the landscape. Lowering her hand, she glared imperiously at Ruby. "Have you had enough of wasting my time with tricks?" she asked.

Ruby's response was to push her sword a little harder against the ground, forcing herself to stand up straight. She swayed a little. Salem's last attack had left a pretty serious dent in her Aura. But she was still more than able to keep going. Instead, she glared defiantly back at Salem.

"Impudent child," growled Salem.

She held out her right hand again, this time out to her side, fingers straight, palm facing downwards. A dark-red sigil, just like the one that she had used to produce the Feilong heads earlier, appeared, resting on the ground. From the eye-like mark in its center, the bulbous end of what appeared to be some kind of bone emerged. As it rose up, the bone was revealed to be what appeared to be a femur, a femur that formed the handle of an enormous sword.

It was easily the most grotesque weapon Ruby had laid eyes upon. It was a single-edged blade, reminiscent of a katana, sporting an extremely shallow curve, before terminating at a sharply-angled tip. The edge was a pure, bone-white, with blood-red veins running up from it, across a black body. Its spine was an _actual_ spine, a line of vertebrae joined together, their spinous processes extending out in a series of sharpened spikes. Where the black body of the blade joined the bone that formed the handle, a red and yellow-looking eye glared out at Ruby, seething with malice. That was when it struck her. This thing was not a sword...but a sword-shaped Grimm.

The weapon was enormous, even larger than Hakuya had been. However, Salem hefted it with one hand, as though it weighed no more than a feather.

"Do you think that, with all the time I have lived, that I would not have mastered the sword?" asked Salem. "I will crush you at the skill you rate yourself highest at and, in doing so, break you completely. I will cleave the limbs from your body, then make you watch as I kill your friends and loved ones, one by one."

Ruby didn't offer a verbal response. Instead, she split Akaibara, taking up Bara and Ibara. The latter, she held out in front of her, the blade angled to the side; while the former, she held over her head, the sword angled so that its blade extended vertically down behind her back.

After seeing Salem returned from what would have killed anyone else, a second time even, most people, even the most-hardened warriors, would have given in to despair, especially considering the sheer volume of effort that Ruby had put into getting this far. However, Ruby did not falter. Her gaze did not show any signs of fear or weakness, merely a determination to keep pressing forward. Bara and Ibara hummed with their own eagerness for battle, their Auras merging with Ruby's own. Up above, the sky darkened as storm clouds boiled out of nowhere, lightning crackling within them.

Ruby and Salem faced each other down, their gazes locked. Their bodies tensed. Then they both surged forward at the same time, their blades flying towards one another, meeting with a deafening ring and an explosion of earth.

* * *

**So, this chapter contains my interpretation of what is meant by the statement the creators had about how The Long Memory "stores time". My idea is that it's basically a battery. Since Ozpin has next to no magic left to himself, he simply funnels what little he has left into his cane, having built up its stores over the course of multiple lifetimes. After a few-hundred years of doing that, there'd be quite a bit of power built up, even if Ozpin was only filling it one sliver at a time.**

**When it came to depicting how present-Salem fights, as opposed to past Salem, I took inspiration from how she summons Shadow Hands in Volume 6, and expended it to make it so that she can summon a variety of Grimm parts to attack with, in addition to more bog-standard elemental attacks. The Grimm, or Grimm-parts, she summons like this don't have much in the way of permanence, so it's not as though she can conjure an army of Grimm out of thin air. But she can make parts that then function as weapons in their own right. And, as we saw at the end of Volume 6, she can physically alter the Grimm that emerge from her spawning pools. So I took that a step further...and now she has a Grimm-sword.**


	160. Chapter 160

**Chapter 160:**

_She's strong!_ That was the first thought that flew through Ruby's head as her sword clashed against Salem's. She met the downward swing of Salem's weapon with a sideways strike from Bara, in her left hand, striking across her body, aiming to knock Salem's slash aside. However, her own blade merely glanced off the broad flat of Salem's weapon, which continued downward, undaunted. Because of that, Ruby was forced to shift her balance and alter her steps, slipping to the side as the slash passed dangerously close to her face, before dancing back as Salem's sword struck the ground with enough force to send a massive plume of dirt shooting into the air.

In a flash, Ruby was behind Salem, both her blades swinging for the woman's back. However, she was shocked when Salem turned, dragging the blade of her sword through the dirt, the ground seeming to offer _no_ resistance to the weapon's movements, before Salem pulled it out into an upward slash, which struck Ruby's weapons. Ruby found herself knocked backwards.

_Not as much power as Kyo-nii,_ Ruby analyzed cooly, _but still stronger than me._

Salem's brute strength was incredible. Of that there was no doubt. However, Salem's power came from pure arm-strength. Compared to the power that Kyo fed into his technique, from the movement of his body to the Flow of his Aura, it was lacking. Of course, that didn't change the fact that, in terms of sheer brute strength, Salem eclipsed Ruby by a significant margin.

The other issue was that Salem was fast too. She didn't have _Shukuchi_, but was able to make up the difference with the sheer strength of her legs. Ruby wondered if that power came from her magic, or if it was merely the result of untold centuries of devoted weight-training...or maybe not-so-devoted. Even if Salem had trained off and on, add it all up over the passage of countless years, and she was bound to realize gains of some kind. Of course, that was assuming that the regular rules of muscular function applied to someone who didn't experience aging, and appeared to be locked perpetually in the same physical state. Thinking about it too hard was probably just going to give Ruby a headache.

There wasn't much time to wonder about it though. Salem immediately reversed the course of her sword, bringing it back down once more. Ruby danced backwards, barely missing the tip as it swung down past her nose, then had to throw herself backwards even farther to escape the shockwave that resulted from that powerful swing impacting the ground. Touching down, Ruby was startled by Salem flying through the dust cloud created by her own attack, charging straight at her.

What followed was an intense flurry of slashes. Salem was able to use the raw strength of her arms to change the path of her heavy sword in ways that would have been virtually impossible for most other swordsmen. Because of that, despite the incredible size and weight of her weapon, Salem wielded it as though it weighed no more than a feather, and yet Ruby's strongest attempts to parry couldn't divert its course in the slightest.

So instead, Ruby resorted to evasion. Her body seemed to double, then triple, as she wove in and out of Salem's barrage of attacks. After an intense few seconds of this, she saw an opening. Ducking beneath a slash, Ruby dropped down low, then darted forward, coming in under Salem's guard, slashing with Bara and Ibara as she rushed past Salem's side. She heard Salem's grunt of pain when the blades bit into her flesh. However, as Ruby turned around, she saw no evidence of the wounds that her weapons should have dealt. There was no time for pondering though, as Salem immediately turned around, leading with a powerful sideways swing, one that would have cleaved Ruby in two at the waist, had she remained where she was.

Ruby escaped by jumping straight up, pulling her legs up to bring her knees to the level of her chest. Salem's sword passed just beneath the soles of her sandals. Ruby had kept the actual rise of her jump to a minimum, allowing her to almost immediately kick her legs downward, her feet striking the earth, then allowing her to lunge forward. Bringing her swords back together, Ruby thrust Akaibara straight for Salem's chest.

At the same time, a bolt of lightning lanced down from the sky, striking Akaibara's pommel, then racing through the handle, then up the blade to the tip, swirling around it like a spiraling drill, the tip stretching out in conjunction with Ruby's thrust.

"_Natsu no Takenoko!_"

The tip of Ruby's sword struck the upraised palm of Salem's left hand, which Salem had brought up to intercept the thrust. A sphere of black appeared there, forming a barrier that held the tip of Ruby's attack at bay, the lightning crackling angrily as it was held back by a barrier of pure gravity.

However, despite her best efforts, Salem found her feet leaving the ground. Then, with a roar, the lightning concentrated at the tip of Ruby's sword exploded, launching her backwards across the ground. Salem struck and plowed a furrow through the earth. Ruby followed her, raising Akaibara over her head. Lightning lanced downwards to strike the sword again. Ruby immediately split the blade again, curved arcs of lightning connecting Bara and Ibara, dancing in a broad curve above and behind Ruby as she closed in.

Suddenly, Salem was upright again. There had been no sign of any technique, no brilliant break-fall, not even something as simple as pushing herself up off the ground. All of a sudden, Salem shot up, her body just seeming to reverse its course back into a stranding position. She raised her sword to meet Ruby's swinging blades, fending off her strikes. Not being metal, the sword, or rather...the Grimm _shaped_ like a sword, did not conduct the intense electrical energy down into Salem's hand. Or maybe it was Salem's magic that was keeping it from doing that. Ruby couldn't be sure.

However, the power of Ruby's swing, enhanced by the elemental energy of the lightning, drove Salem back and down, her feet sinking into the earth. However, Salem's strength was nothing to scoff at. She kept Ruby's attack, and both her swords, at bay with her right hand, holding the handle of her sword, while the left hand came up, fingers pointing down, but the palm facing out...towards Ruby's stomach.

With a deafening roar, a torrent of black and red energy erupted outwards, engulfing Ruby, and digging yet another trench across the landscape.

* * *

"Ruby!" screamed Yang, taking a step forward, only to be stopped by her uncle.

"That's cheating," growled Nora. "I thought she said she was gonna beat Ruby with a sword."

"But she never said anything about _not_ using her magic," Ren noted softly.

"Not that Ruby would fall for something like that," said Jaune, smirking.

* * *

Ruby reappeared behind Salem again. The arcs of lightning that connected her swords condensed together into a single stream, which then condensed into a set of orbs, almost like beads on a necklace, before they separated from one another to hover behind Ruby.

"_Hoshizora no Mai!_"

Even as Salem turned to follow her, Ruby launched into a furious offense of her own, the orbs of plasma dancing through the air around her, while Ruby attacked with her swords. Salem's own blade was a blur, the woman wielding it to fend off both Ruby's blades and the plasma. Even though she was holding her own, Salem was still forced on the defensive, gradually giving ground to Ruby's attacks.

* * *

"What's she retreating for?" wondered Qrow.

"Um...Ruby's attacks, right?" asked Jaune.

"Yeah, but why?" Qrow asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Yang asked back. "She doesn't want to-...Oh..."

The observers' eyes widened as they realized what Qrow was getting at. Salem was immortal, so it hardly should have mattered if she defended or not. She could have just stood there and taken Ruby's attacks without any issue at all. Yet she still utilized defensive techniques.

"Well, even if she can come back from it, getting killed must still hurt," suggested Blake.

"That's true," admitted Qrow. "But...if it would give her an opening, I could see her taking a lethal attack for a chance to get a decisive blow of her own in."

"Then maybe it's a ploy," suggested Ciel.

"A ploy...?" wondered Penny, glancing at her partner.

"I see...a ploy to manipulate Ruby's perception," observed Rain.

"By fighting her more like a normal opponent, maybe she's trying to plant the idea in Ruby's head," added Piper. "When they fight like that, it must get hard to remember that Salem's immortal. After all, if she's defending herself against lethal attacks, then it would make sense that she's vulnerable to them, at least according to the logic of ordinary people."

"So she's trying to trick Ruby into thinking of her as a normal opponent, the kind who'll go down after taking a fatal blow," summarized Blake.

"Then she would strike after that, to take advantage of Ruby lowering her guard," added Ren.

Jaune had yet to take his eyes away from the fight. He'd listened to what they had to say. However, he couldn't see Ruby letting herself get tripped up by some simple trick like that. Maybe Salem thought she would. But that was definitely a mistake on her part. _You won't get the better of Ruby that easil_y, he thought.

* * *

Whirling her sword through rapid, circular motions, Salem batted away another of the plasma orbs that Ruby directed at her, before whirling it back around to catch a pair of slashes from Ruby's blades. "This grows tiresome," she commented dryly.

She brought up her left hand, eldritch power flickering in its palm, preparing to blast away the attacking plasma, and Ruby as well.

However, she froze when Ruby's eyes flashed. It was an intense burst of silver light, practically a strobe. All at once, Salem's back arched, her entire body overcome by a sense of searing agony. Her planned attack was forgotten, the magic snuffed out before she could even utilize it. Now Ruby darted in, taking advantage of the opening presented by Salem's pain. Even in her pained state though, Salem was able to maneuver her sword between her body and Ruby's attack.

However, Ruby's own swords cleaved effortlessly through Salem's. At the last second, Salem realized that her sword had been dyed a dull gray color, now looking like nothing more than a stone sculpture. Too late, she realized that her sword...or rather, the Grimm she had twisted to mimic the shape and function of a sword...had been petrified by Ruby's Silver Eyes. Now the blade shattered like brittle shale against the Aura-enhanced blades of Ruby's weapons, which continued through to bite through Salem's body.

At the same time, the orbs of plasma that Ruby controlled converged on Salem from multiple directions, blasting into her, then punching _through_ her, exiting in a ring-formation, the orbs positioned at equidistant points in a circle around Salem's body, now trailing threads of lightning, which sank into Salem's skin, binding her muscles.

As soon as Ruby had finished her strike, she'd vanished. She reappeared in the air above Salem, bringing her swords together again. A new swirling eye opened in the storm clouds above her, lightning crackling across it, before various bolts met in the center, merging together, a shaft of lightning stretching down to meet the upraised tip of Ruby's sword.

"_Ame-no-nu-hoko!_"

Ruby swung Akaibara downwards, and the lightning that had gathered above her descended with a roar, like the shaft of a giant spear. It plunged straight down, completely enveloping Salem where she stood. The impact of the blast shook the earth, cracks extending out from where the shaft of lightning had struck, dust and debris flying through the air.

And then it ended, the echoing rumble of the intense thunder fading away. In the space where Ruby's attack had landed, there was a black abyss, a hole punched through the earth itself, like a giant stake had been pounded down, then removed.

Touching down, Ruby stared down into the dark abyss she'd created, her expression somber.

A swirling cloud of black dust streamed up from the ground behind her. It condensed inwards, Salem's body reforming in Ruby's blindspot. Salem raised her right hand, red and black energy streaming out from her palm in two directions, her fingers curling around it. The energy solidified into a curved, broad, single-edged sword, much like a falchion. Rather than a Grimm this time, this sword appeared to be composed of something like black glass. Salem swung the blade in a broad arc, aiming for Ruby's neck.

Not even looking at the incoming attack, Ruby raised her left arm over her head, so that Akaibara's blade extended vertically down her right side. Salem's sword met Ruby's, then shattered to pieces, none of the shards coming close to scratching Ruby's body.

Without even hesitating, Ruby turned to her left, bringing her arm down in front of her so that, as she stepped through the turn, she brought Akaibara flashing around in a broad slash of her own, aiming straight for Salem's midsection. Salem brought up both her hands, conjuring another pair of black glass swords. However, they shattered upon contact with Ruby's weapon. Salem herself was blasted backwards, her feet plowing furrows through the earth. Her eyes went wide with shock.

"Is that the best you can do?" asked Ruby, sounding...disappointed.

Salem bared her teeth in a furious grimace. Then, with a shriek of pure rage, she charged forward, raising her hands over her head. Her fingers closed around the handle of a massive sword, essentially a gigantic copy of the ones she'd wielded earlier, which she brought down in a mighty swing. This time, Ruby made no effort to avoid the attack, angling her body and raising her right hand.

Salem's blade came to a sudden halt, caught between the thumb and forefinger of Ruby's right hand. There was a rush of air, a cloud of dust billowing away from Ruby in a ring, the shockwave of Salem's swing still blowing past her. However, aside from that, it was as though Salem had been trying to kill her with a feather-duster.

"Kyo-nii's sword was heavier than this," Ruby mused aloud.

"How...?" gasped Salem, unable to believe what was happening right in front of her.

In truth, catching a sword like this was a more complicated feat than it seemed. There was much more than a precisely-timed grabbing of the flat of the descending blade. Ruby had also Projected her Aura from between her fingers, timing it just right to counter the momentum of Salem's swing, allowing her to bring the sword to a halt before her fingers had actually closed upon it. The timing for such a precise maneuver was only possible because Ruby had learned Salem's rhythm.

However, she'd also meant what she'd said. Even if she'd learned his rhythm, there was no way Ruby could have caught Kyo's sword the way she had Salem's.

"I thought you said you'd _mastered_ the sword," commented Ruby dryly, looking up at Salem with an expression that was almost...pitying.

"You..." snarled Salem.

Red veins climbed up the handle of the woman's sword, then extended out into the blade, branching to stretch across its width, even as they climbed all the way up to the blade's tip. That red light intensified, then the sword Ruby was holding fast with her hand exploded right in her face, the red light from those veins shattering the sword into razor-edged shrapnel, which blasted Ruby and the ground where she was standing, throwing up another cloud of dust.

But Ruby reappeared behind Salem, showing no signs of having even been touched by the attack. Salem turned to face her, another sword forming in her right hand. However, it went flying off to the side, along with the hand that had been holding it, and a good bit of the arm that hand had been attached to, severed by a deft slice from Ruby's own blade. With a shriek of rage, Salem continued her turn, thrusting out with her left palm, and blasting Ruby with another torrent of red and black magic. However, Ruby easily dodged to the side, appearing a short distance away.

A forest of black arms erupted from the ground around Salem's feet, each one capped with a white-nailed hand, each hand gripping another blade of black glass. They swarmed at Ruby from all directions, swinging their weapons furiously. However, Ruby remained in place, Akaibara becoming a flickering blur, along with the arm that wielded it, Ruby batting the swords away with a casual ease that was utterly infuriating to Salem.

"This isn't mastery," chided Ruby in a disappointed voice.

Then she stepped forward, shooting past the outstretched arms, and the blades they wielded, sweeping her sword through a single, powerful swing. Akaibara cut through all the attacking arms in a single blow. Now Salem herself charged, bearing down on Ruby with all the force of an onrushing train. A new sword appeared in her right hand, and Salem swung it straight at Ruby's head.

Yet again, Ruby blocked the attack effortlessly. Once again, Salem's sword shattered on contact with Ruby's. Then Ruby riposted with a lightning-fast slash of her own. Salem was launched backwards, flying through the air, her body separating at the torso.

"Just because you can swing a sword doesn't mean you've mastered it!" shouted Ruby, charging after Salem, who was already putting her body back together.

Over the course of their fight, it had become apparent to Ruby that, despite what Salem had been boasting earlier, she was no master of the sword. There was so much more to mastering the sword than simply knowing how to swing it. That was why she and Pyrrha had spent so much time on having Jaune focus on only the most basic of techniques for his attacks. There was far more behind wielding the sword than mere arm-strength. Technique, both in the form of muscle-control and Aura-control, could lend so much _more_ to the swing of a sword than a person's arms alone could. Even if Salem's strength was truly incredible, that didn't change the fact that she'd never truly learned to apply it to the Way of the Sword. Because of that, her swordsmanship was inferior to Kyo's, inferior to Ruby's, and even inferior to Jaune's.

There was something else that Ruby had noticed as well. When she'd used her Silver Eyes to petrify and destroy Salem's Grimm-sword, Salem had armed herself with weaker swords, ones that resembled the blades that Cinder had wielded, when Ruby had been fighting her. It seemed that Salem had only prepared one of those Grimm. Now that that one had been destroyed, she could only replace it with inferior blades produced purely through her magic. In comparison to the Grimm-sword, those blades couldn't hold up to the power of Ruby, as she was now, and Akaibara.

Skidding to a stop, Salem glared at the incoming Ruby. It seemed that, in her fury, she was going to abandon swordsmanship entirely, instead choosing to fall back on her previous tactics of relying on conjured Grimm-parts and the raw power of her magic. A wide sweep of her hand conjured a series of explosions that appeared to engulf Ruby. However, a red streak shot out from the clouds of smoke and dust raised by those explosions, Ruby splitting her sword again, and attacking with a flurry of slashes. Salem shrieked in pain and rage as those blades bit into her flesh over and over again.

Lifting her right hand, she held it out between her and Ruby. A swirling vortex of black spiraled out from the center of the palm, black streams extending out into tentacles, which ended in clawed hands, which reached for Ruby, trying to trap her from a variety of directions. However, Ruby easily weaved and dodged between them, her swords cutting them to pieces, before she closed in again.

Bara and Ibara were lined with crackling sheathes of lightning. When Ruby closed with Salem, she abruptly thrust, stabbing Bara into Salem's chest, just between the swell of her breasts, while the other she thrust directly into Salem's abdomen. Salem was launched backwards again. Bara and Ibara remained in Ruby's hands. However, the lightning remained in Salem, sticking out of her torso, as though Ruby had imbedded a pair of physical blades within her. Right as Salem came to a stop, those blades of lightning exploded with overlapping claps of thunder, completely obliterating Salem's upper body.

* * *

"Got her good that time," mused Qrow, smirking at the sight of Salem's body, now nothing more than a waist and a pair of legs, smoke streaming up from where her top portion used to be.

"But...what's the point of it?" asked Ren.

His question was easy to understand, as black mist boiled out from Salem's lower body, quickly reforming her top-half, Salem's face fixed in an angry scowl.

"Whatever Ruby does to her, it just doesn't stick," added Nora.

"No matter how many times Ruby manages to kill Salem, Salem will keep coming back," muttered Weiss unhappily.

"While Salem will only have to kill Ruby once," added Pyrrha.

"How on earth can Ruby end this?" wondered Yang.

Jaune watched, his eyes narrowing. He remembered their conversation with Kyo, where he and Ruby had learned about god-slaying techniques. According to Kyo, it should have been possible. However, god-slaying techniques were the highest order of Mibu arts. _Did Ruby manage to learn one?_ And, even if she had, the fact remained that Salem had consumed Jester, whom even _Kyo_ had admitted was immune to god-slaying techniques. Did that mean that Salem was now immune to them as well?

Unfortunately, the ultimate, and unpleasant, truth of the matter was that they had no idea what the final outcome of this fight would be. However, the longer it went on, the worse it would get for Ruby. She couldn't keep up this kind of fighting forever. Sooner or later, Salem's immortality would tell against Ruby's stamina, and she'd be faced with defeat.

Still, Jaune found himself believing in Ruby. If there was anyone who was capable of taking this impossible situation and turning it around, it would be her.

* * *

"Haven't you had enough?" wondered Salem, staring down Ruby after recovering from her latest "death".

Ruby merely stared back, her expression resolute.

"No matter how hard you try, no matter how much strength you bring to bear on the task, you cannot win," said Salem. "I cannot be stopped. I cannot be slain. I cannot be defeated. I am...inevitable."

"You're stubborn, that's for sure," countered Ruby, smirking.

Salem growled. "You lowly...filthy..._insect_!"

The ground between Salem and Ruby erupted. Dirt flew everywhere as black tentacle-arms lashed out at Ruby like whips. She vanished from where she'd been standing right as they were about to strike her.

"You are nothing but a mote of dust to my eye!" declared Salem imperiously, sweeping her left hand in a downward motion. "You cannot win against a _god_!"

Up above, a series of sinister red sigils formed in the air. They flashed, exploding in a shower of Nevermore feathers that fell upon Ruby in a lethal rain. Giant, needle-tipped ribs shot forth from the earth, seeking to impale her. Snapping, tooth-lined maws appeared out of thin-air. Black and red explosions appeared out of nowhere. Columns of fire erupted up from below. It seemed there was nowhere for Ruby to escape from the onslaught of magical attacks that Salem had unleashed.

Yet nothing seemed to hit her. Ruby was obscured from view by the countless attacks, as might be expected. Despite that though, when she came into view, she was always closer than before, flickering in and out of sight, weaving through the safe spaces in the rain of attacks that Salem had launched, always seeming to know where to go next to avoid getting hit, all while continuing to maneuver closer and closer with each passing second.

"You're not a god."

Salem grunted, her attacks stopping. Right as Ruby's voice reached her ears, Bara and Ibara pierced her chest again. Ruby was directly in front of her, seemingly unscathed from all the attacks Salem had launched. Faint wisps of smoke trailed from the edges of her cloak. But that was the extent of anything resembling damage that Ruby had apparently suffered.

"You're just an old woman throwing a child's tantrum," continued Ruby.

"Insolent brat!" snarled Salem.

Ruby vanished, right as the ground where she'd been standing caved in, the gravity suddenly increasing hundreds of times over.

"You can't kill me!" Salem shouted, her Aura exploding outward, black and sickly-red swirling together in an angry maelstrom.

Ruby reappeared, only to vanish again as the ground once again imploded. Several times over, she was forced to dodge as Salem's gravity crushed the space where she'd been standing, Salem's attacks changing the shape of the landscape, even as they chased the darting, evasive Ruby.

"I will show you what it means to face a god," snarled Salem, the power of her Aura increasing by an order of magnitude.

The white of Salem's skin seemed to darken, almost as though her entire body was thrown into shadow. The source of that shadow was the sinister light shining from her eyes. It was a deadly, angry red. The color of her irises had intensified, leading Ruby to realize that they weren't the same shade of red that Salem had been sporting before. They were brighter, deeper, more vivid. What was more, the irises had expanded outwards, completely encompassing the sclerae, while her pupils had shrunk down to pinpricks. Those irises blazed like a pair of crimson suns.

Raising her right hand, Salem held it with the palm facing upwards, up over her head. The space above it warped, seeming to be sucked inward, a sphere of pure-black forming. Then, with a howl of fury, Salem unleashed it, hurling the orb at Ruby. It expanded as soon as it left her hand, crushing everything in its path, flying straight for the girl.

* * *

"What's going on?" gasped Pyrrha, unable to wrench her eyes away from the fight.

"It's like nothing I've ever seen," declared Weiss.

"It's like she's tapped into some even greater power," observed Jaune.

Behind RYNB, JNPR, and CPPR; Natsuki and Miyu were both tending to Oscar, though Natsuki was mostly cradling Oscar's head, while Miyu inspected him with her Aura. Miyu was confused, mainly because there wasn't anything wrong with Oscar. Well…there was something…but she couldn't quite call it "wrong".

Looking up from Oscar, Natsuki had stolen the occasional glance to see how the fight was progressing. Now her jaw was hanging slack as she saw the transformation that Salem had undergone. "Those are…"

Her mind flashed back to her and Amber's battle against Raven. She remembered that Raven's eyes had undergone an identical transformation.

"What is it?" asked Setsuna, crouching beside her.

Natsuki swallowed nervously. "Sasame-sama told me about it," she said. "After Amber-san and I fought Raven-san, I got the chance to ask Sasame-sama about what happened…"

* * *

_"Raven-san's eyes…?" Sasame directed a confused look at Natsuki._

_ Natsuki nodded, before relating how Raven's eyes had looked like Kyo's at first, before undergoing that strange transformation._

_ Sasame was silent, after listening to the story. "I see…to think that _those_ existed outside the Mibu."_

_ "What are you talking about?" asked Natsuki._

_ Sasame gave Natsuki a serious look. "Natsu-chan, I want you to understand. What I'm about to tell you is a very important secret, one that is easily on the same level as your secret of being a Maiden. No, I'd say that this is an even greater secret."_

_ Natsuki's throat bobbed silently._

_ "This is a secret known only to a tiny few," said Sasame. "Were I not basically Kyo's sister, I would have never learned this myself. Not even the Goyosei know of this. In fact, not even the Taishiro, save for Sora-sama, are aware of this."_

_ "I-is it okay to tell me?" wondered Natsuki._

_ "Since you have seen it yourself, you deserve to know," said Sasame. "You are aware of the trait of Kyo's family line, yes?"_

_ "The Crimson Eyes," said Natsuki, nodding. "That's because he was one of the True Mibu that Jinn-san told everyone about."_

_ Sasame nodded. "However, the Crimson Eyes can, under certain conditions, appear outside the line of the Royal Family. For example, Yang-chan and her mother, whom you've fought, both carry this trait themselves. Raven-san seems to be an exception, but the manifestation of the Crimson Eyes is generally temporary. However, there is another level to their manifestation._

_ "When one who possesses the Crimson Eyes undergoes the kind of transformation you describe, they are known as the True Crimson Eyes. That is because those eyes are the hallmark of the True Mibu. A manifestation of their godly power. One who possesses the Crimson Eyes can awaken their untapped potential, by unlocking the Crimson Eyes. One who possesses the True Crimson Eyes can unleash power beyond even that._

_ "It was believed that no one outside the Royal Line possessed such capability. But it appears that we were mistaken in that respect."_

_ Natsuki shivered. "If it's really as strong as you say, then…"_

_ "Yes, you and Amber-chan came very close to death," said Sasame gravely. "You are fortunate that Raven-san probably did not understand the full measure of her power. Had she learned to utilize it for anything beyond mere brute force, we would not be having this conversation."_

_ "R-right," said Natsuki nervously._

_ Sasame's face relaxed and she smiled. "Of course, the fact that you and Amber-chan won that fight makes it all the more impressive. I'm so very proud of you, Natsu-chan. There's no need to worry though. Now that Raven-san is dead, it's unlikely that you will ever need to face such a threat ever again."_

* * *

"But Salem's not one of the Mibu," protested Setsuna, staring at the woman in question. "She was one of the second humans, the ones created by those gods, right?"

Miyu looked up and nodded. "That would be correct," she agreed.

Natsuki frowned. "But Jester _is_ a Mibu. And Salem said she consumed Jester."

"So those eyes are from Jester," gasped Setsuna.

"An Original Crimson Cross Knight…" whispered Natsuki. "…Just what are they?"

* * *

Ruby sought to avoid the incredible weight of the gravity orb that Salem had launched at her. However, even as she tried to dodge, she felt her footing shift. Ruby's eyes widened as she realized that she was being drawn towards the incoming projectile. It would pull her into itself, then crush her, just like it was crushing everything in its path.

Desperately, Ruby brought her swords together, bracing herself as she held up Akaibara, positioning it between herself and the incoming attack. Channeling her Aura into the sword, she sought to overcome the phenomenon Salem had invoked with a phenomenon of her own. For all that it was a wave of pure gravity, it was also a Manifestation of Salem's Aura, which meant that Aura could be used against it. Akaibara rang like a bell, shedding red light in waves.

Salem's attack slammed against Akaibara's blade, black vying against red. Ruby grit her teeth, straining with all her strength. This kind of brute-force defense wasn't her speciality But she was left with few other options. She poured as much Aura as she could spare, vying with all her strength to hold the attack at bay. However, with a cry of surprise and pain, Ruby felt herself slammed back, feeling as though she'd been struck by a runaway Goliath. Her body was slammed against the ground, and she felt as though she was being stepped on by the world's largest foot.

Then it was over. Ruby's defense had broken enough of the force of Salem's attack that she'd only been blown away by the shockwave caused by its unraveling. Getting to her feet, Ruby managed to lever herself up by planting the tip of her sword and leaning against it. She was shaken and battered. This was the hardest hit she'd taken since the fight had begun, and she'd used a dangerous amount of Aura just to get this far.

Worse, she could tell that Salem wasn't done. Salem now brought the palms of her hands together, before pulling them apart. Between them, a sphere of even darker, more intense, black, if such a thing was possible, began to form. It started out the size of a marble, but quickly swelled to the width of a baseball. Even from this distance, Ruby could feel the intense pull being exerted by the orb, so much smaller than the one Salem had produced before.

The sheer power emanating from Salem's attack told Ruby everything she needed to know. There was no hope of defending against that level of power. If she tried to take it head-on, as she had the last attack, there would be no surviving it. However, escaping it was going to be a tall order. Already, Ruby could feel the sensation of being drawn towards the orb in Salem's hands. The gravity would pull her in towards it, rendering any attempt to escape the reach of Salem's attack into a pointless effort.

Abruptly, Ruby's mind was catapulted back to the previous night, and her fight against Adam. She remembered the sensation, when Adam had fully charged his Semblance, when she found herself facing down what could only be her imminent death. Escape and defense were impossible. Every route was closed, every effort useless. Just as before, Ruby felt the onset of her death as an unavoidable certainty.

And again, her mind went completely blank, every emotion voiding her entirely. Ruby was left feeling empty, staring yet again up at the moon. Though it wasn't night yet, it was still there, hanging in the sky. The same feelings that had spurred her into action back then returned in force. This was the same situation. She'd been driven into the same corner.

It was clear that Salem had given up on taking her alive. Ruby still wasn't sure what Salem actually wanted her for. Whatever use Salem had for the Silver Eyes didn't really matter anymore though. It was clear that Salem, in her rage, had instead decided to destroy Ruby completely.

Yes, Ruby was back here once again. This was the scenario she'd faced repeatedly throughout her life. She'd first experienced it against the bandit she'd killed, back when she was nine. She'd faced it in her fights against the assassins who'd come after her repeatedly. She'd faced it against Vernal. She'd faced it against Adam, at the docks and in that construction site. She'd faced it against Morgan and her pirates. She'd faced it against Cinder. She'd faced it against Faolan Hargrave. She'd faced it against Tyrian. She'd faced it against Adam again.

So many times, Ruby had come face to face with the possibility of her own death. More than that, she'd come to face the realization of what lay beyond that. If she perished, it would pave the way for the one who'd killed her to go on to threaten, harm, and kill the people she cared about. Failure meant death, not just for her, but for the people she loved, people she knew, people she'd never met. So many lives rode upon the outcome of this fight that Ruby instinctively knew that failure was not an option.

She was fighting to protect them. She couldn't protect anyone if she died here.

Once again, Ruby raised her sword upwards. Akaibara's tip pointed almost straight up, Ruby raising the blade over her head. Up above, the clouds swirled, forming an eye within the building storm, an eye that was perfectly centered upon the moon above. Ruby's irises began to shine, silver motes of light streaming out of them, drifting upwards to merge with the clouds above, dying them a faint silver color. The sky seemed to darken, day temporarily transitioning to night, the moon glowing brighter. A humming sensation built in the air around her. A faint wind made her ragged cloak flutter.

Salem watched her. Her expression was more composed, but those Crimson Eyes of hers shone with pure, unadulterated malice. The orb hovering between her hands was practically cracking with power, barely restrained by the force of Salem's will. Even then, it was clear that, from the way her hands and arms were straining, that she was barely keeping it in check.

"Die," was all that she said. A second later, Salem swept her hands out to her sides in a grand gesture, unleashing the power she'd been building up.

It was a wave of the purest black, sweeping across the land, pulling everything in, crushing it, erasing it. Rocks, stones, and dirt were pulled out from the ground, before the ground itself was swallowed up. There was no seeing what lay behind, because the wave of darkness spread out to either side, completely cutting off Ruby's line of sight. It bore down on her like the end of the world itself.

Yet Ruby didn't seem bothered by it. She stood firm, neither trying to dodge nor preparing to block, as Salem's attack bore down on her. She remained in place, sword raised overhead. Akaibara began to ring loudly, its blade shining a bright, pure red. Up above, the clouds had been dyed a faint silver hue, the moon's light descending in a beam that illuminated Ruby like a spotlight.

A crack of thunder broke through the roar of Salem's attack. Ruby abruptly shot forward, rushing straight for the oncoming wave of gravity. Red wind swirled inwards, converging around the blade of her sword, as bolts of lightning played through the clouds above. Then, right as she was about to be swallowed by Salem's attack, Ruby brought the sword down.

"_Tsukigiri!_"

In conjunction with her swing, a single bolt of pure silver descended down from above, striking the tip of her sword right as it came down.

The roar of Salem's overwhelmingly powerful attack vanished in an instant. The black waves of condensed gravity disappeared, almost as though they'd been erased from existence. Behind that attack, Ruby had continued forward, rushing across the pulverized ground, easily reaching Salem herself. Now Ruby stood before Salem, the tip of her sword pointing to the ground between Salem's feet. Salem's body was bisected from top to bottom by a silver line.

"I-…Im-…Impossible…" Salem's voice was hoarse, ragged, as though she was coming down with a bad cold. "You cannot…"

"I can," said Ruby. "It's over, Salem." _For you, at least._

"You…a-are…a fool," Salem forced out. "I…I am…immortal. Eternal life…bestowed by the God of Light…himself…cannot be…overcome."

"Don't be so sure," said Ruby, lifting her eyes to meet Salem's, and giving her a grim smile.

Salem's lips pulled back, baring her teeth. She raised up her right hand, preparing to smite the arrogant girl before her. However, the movement elicited a cracking sound from her body. The clothes and skin to either side of the cut Ruby had made upon her began to take on a gray sheen, accompanied by a cracking sound. It was as though her body was slowly, but surely, turning to stone.

"I-Impossible…" Salem said again, her lips making cracking noises, even as they formed the words.

The graying of her body spread all the way outwards, all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. Her entire body, clothes and all, had petrified. Then the cracking sounds resumed. The cracks began to spread across the stone surface. Gradually, they spread all the way across her body. Then, with a breaking sound, thin pieces of stone flaked away, starting one at a time, at first, before they abruptly exploded off Salem's body all at once.

Gone was the white skin and purple veins, as were the black sclerae of her eyes. Before Ruby was Salem as she'd been, back during the age of the gods, before she had leapt into the Pools of the Grimm. Fair skin and flowing, blonde hair marked her as a figure of beauty, and even her previously black clothes had been dyed a pristine white. The only color that remained from her previous form could be found in her irises, which were still a vivid crimson, even if they were no longer taking the form of the True Crimson Eyes.

Salem looked down at herself, taking in the changes that had come over her, her eyes wide with shock. "You…"

"This is what you wanted me for?" wondered Ruby, taking in Salem's transformation.

Salem fixed her eyes upon Ruby. Her expression twisted into something wrathful. Her appearance was more fair, but it was clear that Salem's heart had been blackened in ways that not even Ruby could purify. "Yes," she said. "As Jester once remarked, so long as I was tainted by the God of Darkness's essence, I would not be capable of creating the new world that I sought. To that end, I needed someone with the Silver Eyes to purify me of the Grimm essence that had infused me. And now…I shall be more than capable of remaking this world in my image."

"I don't think so," said Ruby, turning and beginning to walk away.

"You are a fool," growled Salem. "Now that I no longer have a use for you, I am free to punish your impudence with _death_!"

Salem raised her right hand, opening the palm towards Ruby. A shimmering orb of violet energy began to form, more energy in different colors gathering in the air around her. They filled the air with a violent tension, crackling energy building towards a peak, threatening to explode and consume Ruby completely.

Then it all stopped.

The magic that Salem had been calling upon, been building towards using, vanished. Like the flames of candles, they were snuffed out all at once.

"What?" Salem stared at her hand in incomprehension, unable to understand why her power had suddenly vanished.

Grunting, Salem thrust her palm at Ruby again. This time, only a few errant sparks answered her call. With another grunt, Salem tried yet again…only to be met with no response this time.

"Why…?" wondered Salem, examining her hand in confusion.

_"Why…? Because you're dying."_

Salem flinched at the unexpected voice within her head, a voice that she knew all too well. "How…?"

_"I told you, didn't I? I'm too much for you to stomach, dear girl. This isn't the first time I've been consumed, after all. My own creator tried it, and it failed to end me. Did you think _you_ would have a better chance?"_

"No…" whispered Salem, before the other part of what the voice had whispered in her ear dawned on her. "I…I can't…die…I'm immortal."

_"And most people wouldn't have a chance of challenging that. Just trying to kill your flesh would do nothing. You would simply return, again and again. But the Rose…she didn't attack your flesh with that blow. She attacked the Root of your existence itself. She severed the very tie that holds you to this world._

_ "That's how god-slaying techniques work, after all. They transcend inflicting damage against flesh and blood, and act upon the very Root of their target. With that power, even true gods, like the Pretender brothers, can be laid low._

_ "Do you understand now? You received your immortality from a god. But that girl has reached the stage where she can _slay_ a god. If she can kill a god, then surely she can also kill one that a god has rendered otherwise un-killable."_

Salem examined her hand again…and found that it was beginning to break apart. Cracks spread across her skin, which began to flake away, very much like the stone that had encased her before. However, this time, the phenomenon was more than skin-deep. Her fingers started first, crumbling away and dispersing in the wind. The phenomenon spread down her arms, even as her legs began to disappear from beneath her.

In a matter of seconds…Salem was nothing more than dust in the wind…leaving behind no trace that she had been there at all.

Ruby's friends stared at her in awe. Just the previous evening, they had learned about Salem's immortality, about the supposed impossibility of killing her. They had learned that Ozpin was leading them in a war that could not be won, could not be ended. And yet…with a single stroke of her sword, Ruby had changed all that.

Ruby walked towards them, her ragged cloak billowing out behind her. As she did, she slid Akaibara into its sheath. She was battered and bruised, but none the worse for wear, it seemed. However, as she walked, the holes in her cloak seemed to widen, until it seemed like nothing more than tattered scraps of cloth trailing behind her. Ruby had nearly reached the group when her legs gave out, and she began to fall forward.

Jaune was there, catching her, careful not to let her face slam into his breastplate. Holding her up, he pulled her into a tight hug. "That was incredible," he whispered, kissing the top of her head, as Ruby rested her face against his chest.

"YOU DID IT!" exclaimed Yang, wrapping both Ruby and Jaune in a hug.

Even as she and Jaune groaned in Yang's grip, Ruby found herself wryly noting that this was essentially the first time that Yang had hugged Jaune too.

"Heck of a fight there, kiddo," Qrow congratulated her, reaching past Yang and Jaune to ruffle Ruby's hair.

The rest of her friends gathered round to throw in their support. Only Team MNPS hung back, Natsuki still resting Oscar's head on her legs, while Miyu and Setsuna stood by.

Finally, though she would have liked to spend another hour or so relaxing in in Jaune's arms, Ruby began to pull away. As she did, she staggered, but turned away from her friends…and back towards where Salem had passed from the world.

"Ruby…?" asked Weiss warily.

"What's going on?" asked Pyrrha.

"It's not over," said Ruby tiredly.

As if in response to her words, the quality of the air around them suddenly changed. No one could pin down a cause, but their mouths had all suddenly gone dry, their throats tight. Swallowing became painful. Jaws clenched, gritting teeth together, until the muscles all the way down to their necks began to ache. Limbs began to tremble.

"He's coming," said Ruby simply, stepping forward again, only to sway drunkenly as her previous fatigue threatened to overcome her.

In front of her, at the very spot of ground where Salem had disappeared, the earth suddenly shifted upwards. A hand erupted out from the dirt, stretching up towards the heavens. A second hand and arm joined it. Then the two arms bent, hands planting against the ground and pushing. The dirt gave way as a familiar figure levered himself up out of the ground and into the open air once more. Rising up, the figure of Jester, wearing the strange new outfit he'd adopted, ever since his fight with Kyo, threw his head to the sky.

"I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!" he howled dramatically…before pausing and ducking his head in disappointment. "Dammit."

"I figured that wouldn't be enough for you," said Ruby tiredly.

Jester turned, grinning at her. "Nope," he agreed. "Sorry, kiddo. You were a step short, I'm afraid. It was enough for Salem, but not for me."

Ruby gave him a weary smile. "A step short, huh…? I'm glad."

"Hmm…?" Jester tilted his head, giving her a confused look.

Ruby's smile widened. "That means I'm just a step away."

Abruptly, Jester's lips pulled back in a much wider grin, a savage grin, an eager grin. "That's the spirit!" he exclaimed.

Behind Ruby, her friends looked on. Jaune shivered nervously, then flinched as he heard the faint patter of something hitting the ground. Looking down, he saw small specks of darkened earth at his feet…like drops of water had fallen. With similar sounds, more droplets began to land right beside them, almost as though there was a minuscule rainstorm happening right where he was standing. But there was no sign of rain, despite the clouds that had been swirling above Ruby before. Feeling uneasy, Jaune reached up and ran his fingers over his breastplate, sweeping them across the spot where Ruby had been resting her head a moment ago. The metal was slick to the touch. When Jaune pulled his fingers away, he found them covered with sweat…Ruby's sweat.

_She's worked so hard to get here,_ he thought, his eyes going wide, before darting to take in the condition of her cloak, which was nothing more than ribbons of red fabric, trailing behind her. _But she can't keep this up. She doesn't have a chance, if she winds up in a fight like the last one._

It was obvious to Jaune, and a realization that was beginning to dawn upon the others. Ruby was clearly on her last legs. But Jester looked as fresh as a daisy, not seeming have lost any of the energy he had, even though Salem had presumably been drawing upon it during her fight with Ruby.

If they didn't do something soon…there was no hope that Ruby could win.

* * *

**Now for the post-final-boss-fight...or the final-final-boss-fight, I guess.**

**Part of my idea for Salem using a sword and fighting at least competently with it comes from Nicodemus from _The Dresden Files_, with his character's age frequently being alluded to, and Dresden pointing out the kind of things a person can pick up, throwing in an occasional lazy Sunday of practice over the course of a couple-thousand years. And Salem's had a bit more than that...though the emphasis is on the lazy this time.**


	161. Chapter 161

**Chapter 161:**

Ruby frowned as she faced Jester. She was doing her best to hide it. However, she couldn't quite conceal the fact that her arms and legs were trembling, not from nerves, but from plain fatigue. Fighting Salem had taken far more out of her than she would have liked.

Naturally, her opponent didn't fail to notice. "Looking a little ragged there," he pointed out.

Ruby kept her mouth shut.

Jester sighed. "Well, I guess that's part and parcel to you being new to god-slaying techniques. Your fight with Adam was enough to awaken your awareness…but you can't reach that point at will yet. You had to let Salem push you all the way into the corner, before you managed it again. And now…you've got almost nothing left in the tank."

"I guess…" Ruby admitted, smiling wryly. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to put this off until I can get back into fighting shape."

Jester looked to be considering it seriously for all of a moment, before sighing. "Nah…my patience has pretty much run out at this point. Besides…" He fixed her with a fierce grin. "Even driven into a corner like you were, even though it was enough for Salem…It wasn't enough for me. That tells me that simply letting this go on won't bring you where I need you to be. If anything…I need to push you even _closer_ to the edge...and it looks like we're off to a good start."

"Huh...?" Ruby blinked.

Then she heard the sounds of battle behind her, not immediately behind her, but farther. Glancing over her shoulder, her eyes widened as she realized what was happening.

The Grimm had reached Vale. She could hear their roars, see the explosions of Dust munitions and Manifestation powers in the distance. While she had been fighting Salem, the Grimm had been continuing on. And, just because Salem was gone, it didn't mean that the Grimm vanished along with her. Now they were pressing in on Vale. Faced with the fear of impending invasion, the negative feelings of the people within were continuing to draw the Grimm, inciting them to attack, even without Salem's direction. It seemed that not even Makoto's presence could fully deter them.

"Boy, Salem sure built up a lot of Grimm for this shindig. Even with the Goyosei and one of the Taishiro there, holding the line ain't gonna be easy. Sometimes quantity is a quality all its own, am I right?"

Ruby swallowed. She could imagine, in her mind's eye, the sea of Grimm sweeping around the Kingdom. Sure, the Goyosei and Makoto were the kind of warriors who had elevated their skills to the level where numbers had little meaning, but that was generally referred in human parlance, in the movement of armies. What Salem had brought to Vale wasn't an army. It was a black tide sweeping across the land, a tide that was now threatening to break over Vale and swallow it from existence.

"But still...if it's those guys, I could see 'em holding out," continued Jester. "And that sister of yours is probably working on getting Kyo back on his feet as we speak. If he comes to, then the Grimm'll probably just scatter like rats, which won't be worth my while."

Ruby disagreed. While it might save Vale, if a hoard of Grimm that size broke up and spread across the countryside, even if each herd or pack was a fraction of the total, they would be enough to overwhelm the defenses of virtually any settlement they ran across, settlements whose inhabitants were probably wrestling with plenty of negative emotions themselves, as many of them had undoubtedly borne witness to the revelations that Jester had used Jinn to unleash the previous night.

Jester seemed not to care, pressing onwards. "That being the case...let's up the ante a little."

He raised his right index finger, a spot of black hovering over it. With a flick, he directed the spot, which flew away from his finger and in an arc towards Vale.

"No!" exclaimed Ruby, turning to try and cut it down, only to falter as her trembling legs threatened to give way beneath her, her fingers slipping on her sword's handle as she tried to pull it out of its sheath. Forget fighting, she barely had the strength to _stand_ at this point.

The orb floated up in a lazy arc, disappearing into the distance. Ruby knew that that arc was carrying it into the skies above Vale. Even though it had been small, she could feel the pure _menace_ contained within that tiny orb, dwarfing its apparent size by an order of magnitude.

"That was a nice mini black hole," said Jester. "But...as it feeds, it's gonna grow stronger and stronger...until it's big enough to swallow that poor little Kingdom below. It won't even have to wait until it's big enough to reach the ground. In less than ten minutes, it's gonna have enough power to start vacuuming up everything that ain't nailed down...and in fifteen, it'll suck up everything that_ is._ After that...who knows what's gonna happen."

Ruby shivered, turning back to Jester, her eyes narrowing.

"Now then...tick tock..." Jester grinned. "What are you gonna do, Ruby Rose? Will you sit back and watch your Kingdom get swallowed into oblivion...or will you push through this crisis, and come out the other side."

"Definitely the latter," declared Ruby, injecting more confidence than she actually felt into her voice.

Jester cackled. "That's my hope. You're my last chance at a proper death, brat. Don't screw this up."

He held out his right hand. With a poof, like the kind a cartoon magician would perform, he conjured a sword, a basic katana, in his hand. Its rectangular guard was decorated with star-shaped cutouts, but that was about the only remarkable thing about it. It didn't even really seem like something on the level of what Muramasa or Murasame had forged. However, in Jester's hand, the mere presence of something like an actual weapon only seemed to magnify his danger tenfold.

* * *

Behind Ruby, Jaune moved to stand beside Miyu, who was lingering near the unconscious Oscar. "You think you can manage one last boost?" he asked her softly.

"I don't have much left," Miyu admitted. "I could supplement Ruby-chan's Aura a little...but not enough to make a difference."

Jaune gave her a sly smile. "What if she'_s not_ the one you'd be supporting?"

"What?" grunted Miyu, looking up at him in confusion.

"I've got a plan..." said Jaune.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ruby took a staggering step forward. Her trembling left hand moved to grasp Akaibara's handle once more, the sword rattling as it left its sheath. Ruby lifted the blade up, leveling it at Jester, her arm seeming to strain from the effort.

"It's a pity that fight with Salem took so much out of you," he commented. "Still...when you've got nothing left, and everything to lose, that's when you see things so much clearer."

Suddenly, he was standing directly in front of Ruby, practically inches away. Ruby's eyes widened, the realization striking her that he had used his gravity to condense the distance between them, just as he'd demonstrated when toying with the Goyosei. His sword twitched, and Ruby's eyes caught a glitter of light reflected off its flat.

Her body was already moving of its own volition. Her energy was so low that it wasn't an active attempt at a dodge, but more of a guided collapse. She acted according to the sense of Jester's motion. If she waited until he was already moving, then she was as good as dead. She didn't have enough energy to move her body the way she wanted. So she simply relaxed and allowed her _opponent_ to move her instead. Fluttering and swaying, like a piece of windblown paper, she allowed the "wind" of Jester's attacks to push her aside, her body bending and flickering in time with Jester's movements.

Even as she dodged, Ruby moved to counter. It had taken all her remaining strength just to lift Akaibara with her arm. Swinging it was out of the question...that is, if she relied upon her arm-strength alone. However, since the very beginning of her training in swordsmanship, Ruby had learned to channel the strength of her body into her strikes. What followed was a natural extension of that principle. Twisting her waist, she used the movement of her upper body to move her shoulder, which in turn sent the movement continuing down the length of her arm, an almost whiplike motion, which allowed her to lash out with her sword, swinging it up and across at Jester's torso.

"Ha!" With that barked laugh, Jester allowed Ruby's blade to cut across his front. However, the tip of Ruby's sword seemed to shrink, compacting down until it was just barely too short to reach his body.

_Not like that..._ thought Ruby, barely conscious at this point. She caught the glint of light off Jester's sword with her eyes again, sensing his next attack coming. This time, she was beset by the feeling that merely trying to dodge by relaxing her body wouldn't be enough. Jester was using his Manifestation again, this time using gravity to condense his time, which would allow him to strike within the space of an instant, while Ruby had no hope of moving within the same time to dodge. Mere speed wouldn't be enough to match that kind of ability.

Even if it was just for the tiniest fraction between two seconds, she needed to be faster. Thinking about it was too hard. However, somehow, Ruby's body and Aura understood what she needed. What little Aura remained she automatically used to accelerate her movements. It didn't have to be long. Even if it was for the tiniest of instants, Ruby needed to use her Aura to accelerate to a level beyond speed, reaching the point where her mind and body seemed to come apart. To those watching, Ruby's form seemed to break apart into red petals, countless streaks of light cutting through them, before suddenly reforming back into her.

"Oooh! Well done!" crowed Jester.

Once again, Ruby twisted her body to slash at him, her sword arm lashing up at him like a whip. She remembered what Taihaku had said, how he'd broken through the barrier of compressed space that Jester used to make almost every attack against him fall short. Her remaining pool of Aura, already low from her fight with Salem, had been drained even further by her desperate dodge. Now she allowed what little remained to Flow down the length of her sword, accumulating a the very tip, where it merged with the Aura that Akaibara herself possessed. It was like the twinkling of a star at the tip of the blade, leaving a thin line of light in the wake of the blade's swing. However, the space between Ruby and Jester was parted by that streak of light, the tip continuing on to cut into Jester's chest.

In a flash, Jester's body was split in two, his head and shoulders flying off. Even his arms had been severed at the elbows. However, as the light from Ruby's Aura faded, the severed portions of Jester's body simply rejoined the rest, everything becoming whole again in a flash.

"Not bad, but not good enough!" he teased.

Ruby didn't even have the energy left to feel frustrated at how futile it all seemed. Rather, everything had a strange, almost surreal, feeling to it. Ruby felt as though she was moving within a dream. With each move she made, her body felt lighter, more insubstantial, as though she was little more than a wisp of cloud on the breeze. Even if she'd been conscious enough to continue thinking, the fight had already surpassed the level of conscious thought. With her Aura dwindling, her will automatically reached out to the One, beckoning it down into her sword.

Directed by the movement of her blade, the thinnest bolt of lightning, almost like the strand of a spider's web descending from the heavens, flickered down. With a flash, Jester's body was bisected from top to bottom, a surprised gape marking his divided face. However, he returned to normal just as quickly as before.

His sword flickered at her again, and Ruby matched its movements with her own. In place of her failing strength, she called the lightning into her body, using it to contract her muscles for her. At the same time, she again called upon the tiny fragment of Aura she had remaining, supplementing it with the power of the One, using it to accelerate again, attaining speed beyond speed. The flickers of Ruby's sword matched those of Jester's, her movements matching his, gently directing his slashes away from her body where she could. Where she couldn't, she accelerated the movement of her body, until it came apart again, leaving Jester with nothing to cut.

All of this was taking place within a flickering and flashing blur, the movements of the two fighters beyond the comprehension of those observing from the outside. The sheer speed of their moves was such that it was almost impossible to conceive the power that was going into them. Then, at one point, the tip of Jester's sword scraped the ground, producing a blade-like shockwave that split the land in a line for hundreds of meters. One of Ruby's slashes produced a string-thin line of light that extended out in an arc through the sky, cleaving through the clouds above, and splitting a massive Nevermore passing overhead in two. As their fight continued, their attacks began to alter the very landscape around them.

* * *

The sky above Vale was dotted with clouds. They were nothing like the storm clouds that now circled perpetually above Ruby's battle with Jester. They were white and puffy, the hallmarks of what would have been a fine day. However, the sky beyond Vale was filled with horror, flocks of flying Grimm looking like swarming insects from a distance. With the threat they represented, it was all too easy to overlook a very different threat that was taking shape in the skies directly above the Kingdom. The clouds were beginning to converge inwards, circling like water flowing down a drain. In the center of that circle...a tiny speck of black was becoming visible...and gradually growing larger...

* * *

The citizens were first to notice. The defenders had their eyes focused outwards, so they weren't immediately aware of what was taking place in the skies behind their defensive line. However, it didn't take long for someone to realize the strange behavior of the clouds over the skies of Vale. Once someone _did_ notice, word spread quickly.

It was the kind of news that could be a critical disruption to the defenders. They were already facing down a living tide of Grimm. Finding out that something was amiss behind them was a surefire way to disrupt the defenders' cohesion and distract them, allowing them to be overrun. Only the furious efforts of the Goyosei managed to keep the flow of attacking Grimm down enough that the soldiers, Huntsmen, and Huntresses manning the walls were able to afford being distracted by some strange phenomenon taking place in the skies of Vale.

Ironwood took up a pair of binoculars, examining the black sphere slowly growing over the center of the Kingdom. "Jester's doing," he guessed.

"Without question," agreed Makoto, standing beside him. While Makoto's power as a fighter surpassed even that of the Goyosei, he was currently standing in reserve in the back line, with the other defenders. This allowed him to work as a healer, while simultaneously being in a position to provide backup to any point of the defensive line that looked to be in danger of folding. However, from the look of things, that was the least of their concerns.

"What is it?" asked Ironwood.

"A singularity," said Makoto. "In the _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_, such techniques are in the highest tier. More often than not, they are a set size and power. But this one is growing stronger with each passing minute. If we leave it be, it might well consume all of Vale…and more…"

Ironwood grit his teeth. "Is there nothing we can do about it?"

"Conventional weapons would merely be consumed by it," said Makoto. "Rather than an object, that technique produces what might be called a 'negative space' that consumes matter. From a purely physical perspective, there is nothing there _to_ attack."

"Then how?" asked Ironwood.

Makoto's hand went to the handle of his sword, the curved blade whispering out of its sheath. "From a physical perspective, it cannot be destroyed. However, it is a construct of Aura. if you can destroy the Aura Manifesting that singularity, then you can eliminate it. However...please do not have have too high an expectation."

Ironwood turned to ask Makoto what he was asking about only to find himself gaping as Makoto drew his sword across the side of his abdomen, cutting through his kimono and into his own flesh. Blood began to rapidly spill out, dying the cloth around the wound a dull-red color. The blood itself flowed in a strangely unnatural manner, running up the length of the blade and coating it in a sheath of pure red. Strangely, the blood flowing from the wound abruptly stopped.

Meanwhile, Makoto raised his sword over his head. "_Kuraokami!_"

The blood coating his sword exploded upward, mingling with the water that Makoto conjured with his Aura. Together, they mingled to form a spiraling spout of blue and red, which manifested into the form of an enormous dragon, its azure jaws lined with bloody fangs, opening wide as it lunged for the sphere of Jester's attack. The dragon's maw was so large that it was easily able to swallow the orb whole.

However, after just a few seconds, the water and blood making up the dragon quivered, then the entire construct collapsed inward, swirling like water running down a drain. In the center, Jester's singularity remained, consuming the water and blood, the stream that had connected the dragon to Makoto's sword being drawn in as well. With a grunt of exertion, Makoto broke the connection, allowing the liquid to be drawn up into the sphere, before he collapsed to his knees.

"What happened?" asked Ironwood.

"I wasn't able to destroy it," said Makoto, panting for breath. "Simply trying nearly killed me."

"Wounding yourself like that was not a good idea," chastised Ironwood.

Makoto shook his head. "The wound was no trouble. I am able to crystalize the blood to stop the bleeding. However, upon making contact with Jester's technique, it simply swallowed everything. If I hadn't broken it off, it would have ripped the life from my body, even from all the way up there."

Ironwood went pale, then stared up at the sphere again, which was undeniably larger than before, and still growing.

"I am afraid that _thing_ is beyond my power," said Makoto.

"What do we do?" asked Ironwood.

"At this point, we can only wait, and have faith in Ruby-chan and her friends," said Makoto, forcing himself to his feet. "Jester likely did this to put more pressure on her, to increase the chances of her producing a result that will defy all expectation. Right now, the only hope that we have is that she will deliver."

"Ms. Rose has already come through for us many times before," said Ironwood, turning to gaze out over the battle, and towards the area where Salem's massive whale-Grimm had gone down, "that does not mean that I enjoy leaving things to her and her friends every time."

"And yet...we have little choice in the matter," said Makoto with a heavy sigh. "Even if all the Elders and the Crimson King himself gathered, we could not stop that thing."

"Then what hope does Ruby Rose have?"

"She has a very special confluence of circumstances, a unique combination of lineage and training, a combination that might well be the key to Jester's undoing. We are not the only ones who think this. Jester himself clearly believes that Ruby-chan holds the key to his death."

"So all we can do is hope..." grumbled Ironwood, staring out past the black sea of Grimm, looking for any sign that the real battle was nearing its end.

* * *

Everything around Ruby had faded into a blur. She couldn't even consciously register the input of her own senses. Her body felt so light that she thought she might just float away. Yet, strangely, she couldn't quite call this lack of sensation numbness. With each passing second, the world seemed to recede further and further away. It was getting to the point where she was having a hard time remembering what she was even _doing_.

Despite that, she could feel her awareness spreading out wider than she ever remembered being capable of. As her senses encountered the presence of the one she was fighting, Ruby finally got a true sense of Jester's nature.

Against Salem, Ruby had managed to comprehend the truth of her nature, finding the Root of her existence, and striking specifically at that. That was what had allowed her to kill the un-killable. She imagined that the True Mibu, like Kyo, or the Brother Gods for that matter, had a similar nature, an existence that would not end, unless she targeted the Root. However, Jester had no such Root. It was hard to comprehend consciously. Jester was in this world, able to act upon it, able to shape it or destroy it. Yet he had no tie to bind him to it. He simply _was_. Therefore, killing him required something else, something beyond that which could slay a god.

It would have been hard for her to put into words. She needed something that could end an existence, that could essentially erase the utter _concept_ of her target. But being capable of that demanded something more than her Aura, even more than the strange power that she had apparently inherited from the God of Light. To end the existence of Jester...what was required was not gaining something...but giving something away. To destroy an existence...an existence would have to be given up.

Killing Jester for good required something more than a new pinnacle of strength, something more than a new technique. Killing him would require a sacrifice, the sacrifice of a life. Within her heart, Ruby was already beginning to settle upon exactly what kind of sacrifice she needed to make.

At that moment, a sharp stinging sensation erupted from the palm of her hand, racing up her arm, like countless red-hot barbs digging into the muscles beneath. The sensation of pain was so intense that Ruby found herself snapping all the way back to reality, as though being pulled out of her semi-unconscious state by a thorny grip. Her anxiety skyrocketed as she dreaded what would happen if she was forced to consciously try to keep up with Jester in her current state. However...it seemed as though her consciousness was being dragged somewhere else entirely.

* * *

To the eyes of Ruby's friends, the fight suddenly seemed to come to a complete stop. Ruby pitched forward, her eyes blank and glassy. She was no longer attacking, defending, or dodging. Suddenly, she just...dropped. Everyone found themselves gaping. Even Jester paused, not bothering to capitalize on the sudden opening, instead watching Ruby fall towards the ground with a slightly befuddled look on his face.

"Well...that's an odd wrinkle," he commented. "Still...just don't think you two can take your time and chat in front of me." He raised his sword.

The blade froze in place, seized by a field of black energy as Pyrrha clamped down on it with all the strength her Semblance possessed. Weiss shot forward, propelled by a Glyph, accompanied by Yang and Nora. Even as Jester quickly wrenched back control of his weapon, they were upon him, swinging their own weapons.

"Not good enough," commented Jester, before tilting his head. "Huh...?"

Weiss' rapier slashed across his chest. Then Nora's hammer slammed into his stomach, causing him to double over, right into Yang's fist. The impact of Yang's attack sent him flying away from Ruby.

"Hurry!" shouted Jaune, rushing to Ruby's side, Miyu following alongside him, as most of the rest of their friends gave chase to Jester.

For his part, despite the hits he'd just taken, Jester didn't seem all that bothered. His flight abruptly stopped. Then his body righted itself without any movement on his part. "Well that was-" he began to comment, before Piper's orbs slammed into his body in multiple places, knocking him about. Before he could recover, Penny descended on him from above, her blades deployed in two lines which she brought about in a series of cross-shaped slashes, staggering the man further. Rain was next, his shield hammering Jester in the small of the back, sending him flying towards Ciel, who slashed at him with the glowing-red blade of her pata-sword, the blade cutting a burning line across Jester's midriff as he flew past her.

Blake and Ren were next, dashing past Jester, their own weapons leaving glowing lines in the air behind him as they struck him multiple times. Tumbling through the air, Jester let out a series of confused noises, before stopping and righting himself again. When he did so, he found himself facing a charging Natsuki, her swords blazing with black flames. With a shout, she thrust forward with both her kodachi, immolating Jester in waves of ebony flame.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jaune knelt by Ruby, pulling her up a little so that he could rest her head on his knees. As he did, he noticed something odd. She seemed unconscious now, eyes closed. Frowning, Jaune gently brushed his fingers over her forehead. "Ruby...?"

"Her hand!" exclaimed Miyu.

Following Miyu's advice, Jaune looked down at Ruby's left hand...then gasped.

Red lines extended out from Akaibara's handle, like thorny vines of blood they ran across Ruby's fingers and over the back of her hands, twining about her wrist, before following her arm up inside the sleeve of her kimono. Pulling the sleeve back, Jaune felt his heart shudder at the sight of those vines climbing higher up her arm. What was more, the flesh between those vines was blackening...corrupting...almost as though Ruby's sword was invading her body like a disease.

"What's going on?" asked Jaune.

"I...I've heard about this," said Miyu. "They say the Muramasa demon blades will take over their wielder, if he's not strong enough to control it."

"But this isn't a Muramasa, right?" asked Jaune. "Someone else made it. I thought it wasn't like that."

"I...I don't know," admitted Miyu. "This is my first time seeing this."

Frowning, Jaune channeled his Aura into Ruby, using his Extension to check her condition. He reeled back in pain. Ruby's Aura was weak and fading. However, touching Akaibara's Aura was like running face-first into a veil of thorny vines, all those countless points digging and scratching at him. It was strange though. He'd expected to find those vines twining about Ruby's soul, threatening to smother it. Instead...they were wrapping around her Aura...almost protectively.

"What can we do?" asked Jaune, looking up at Miyu.

"Not much," admitted Miyu. "Her actual wounds are fairly light. It's mostly fatigue now. The best we can do is start channeling your Aura into her, and see if helping her recover some energy will help her deal with...whatever this is."

"In that case...let's go with what we planned," said Jaune, looking back at her.

Miyu nodded slowly, then moved to stand behind Jaune, resting her hands on his shoulders. A second later, her Aura came streaming into him, merging with and supplementing his own. Jaune felt his previous fatigue fading, and his own Aura beginning to swell with power. It was limited. Miyu didn't have much Aura left after all, not after helping Setsuna lift all of them up to the Grimm-whale. But Jaune would take whatever he could get at this point. Taking the Aura that had been supplemented by Miyu's input, Jaune began to channel it into Ruby herself.

He'd expected some form of resistance from Akaibara's Aura. However, those thorny vines seemed to part, allowing his Aura through, streaming into Ruby's own, fortifying it, enhancing it, and strengthening it. The white of Jaune's Aura streamed into Ruby, before being dyed red.

Meanwhile though, her eyes remained closed.

* * *

"Whoa!" Jester emerged, coughing and hacking, from the cloud of black flames that Natsuki had inundated him with. His clothes seemed a little smudged, but those smudges quickly faded away, the man soon looking as pristine as he had at the beginning of the fight.

"Not at all what I was expecting," he admitted, looking past Natsuki at the young, silver-haired boy, who was standing beside the unconscious Oscar. Setsuna hadn't drawn his kama, but was instead holding out his hands towards Jester.

"I see...that's what you're doing," said Jester, his grin widening. "You can only do it for a couple seconds at a time, but you're actually using your _Mumyo Dai'On Ryu_ to neutralize my own. Pretty sharp for a novice."

Setsuna merely grunted.

"Still...it's not gonna amount to much," said Jester with a tired sigh.

Behind him, a crow dropped out of the sky, before transforming back into Qrow, now descending with his sword raised high. His blade struck Jester in the shoulder, biting into his flesh, cleaving a diagonal line down, and exiting his waist. However, there was no wound left behind.

"I mean...even without factoring in my little immortality problem, it just isn't actually possible to injure a Crimson Cross Knight with the tawdry tools of man."

Growling, Qrow lunged forward, thrusting Harbinger at Jester's chest. However, Jester raised his left hand, holding it over his chest. The tip of Qrow's sword struck it...then kept going. But it wasn't because the blade had pierced through. Instead, it simply crumbled away into dust as Qrow progressed, until all that was left was the handle, once his hands met Jester's own.

"See?" said Jester, the eyes hidden behind his sunglasses locking with Qrow's own.

Penny charged Jester from behind. However, Jester simply turned towards her, meeting her swords with a casual wave of his other hand. Penny's blades crumbled to dust upon contact. In just a second, she'd lost half of her Floating Array.

With an angry roar, Yang rushed straight at Jester. He turned towards her, hand raised, but was caught off-guard when Yang's haymaker plowed straight past his lackadaisical guard, slamming right into the center of his face, Ember Celica discharging upon impact, launching Jester back again.

He came to a stop again, hovering just a few inches above the ground. Smoke streamed off his face, but he looked unharmed otherwise. "Well...I should've seen that coming," he commented, looking at Yang, whose Crimson Eyes were shining brilliantly.

"Still...it's all just so futile."

There was a snapping noise. The bridge of Jester's sunglasses broke, the two pieces falling away to the ground. However, in that instant, a dull roar filled the air. Jester's Aura erupted in a torrent of angry-red. In the center of that maelstrom of raw power, Jester's eyes shone like miniature suns, their angry light seeming to darken his skin by contrast. Just as they had with Salem before him, Jester's True Crimson Eyes marked the revelation of his true power.

One by one, each of his attackers found themselves crushed to the ground as the gravity in their vicinity multiplied several times over. Jester used an individual _Chiyugi_ for each one of them. They each collapsed to their knees, the ground giving way beneath them, their bodies feeling as though the life was being crushed out of them. Setsuna, who'd been standing next to Oscar, desperately shielded the unconscious boy from the effects of the gravity by using a _Chiyugi_ of his own to counter Jester's. But Setsuna could only manage that for Oscar, and only because Jester wasn't seriously trying to crush them yet. Setsuna himself was quickly driven to his knees.

"You kids have heart, I'll give you that," said Jester. "What you _don't_ have...is the power to make a difference. The one who _does_ is apparently out of the fight though, so it's bad news for you...and your Kingdom."

Straining with all her might, Weiss lifted her head, looking over at the sky of Vale. The sounds of battle with the Grimm still drifted their way. However, over the sky of the Kingdom itself, the black orb of Jester's attack was swelling larger, gradually reaching the point where it was visible at this distance. No doubt, the people in Vale had noticed it as well...and were dreading what was about to befall them. Even if they didn't fall to the Grimm, they would simply be swallowed by the singularity that Jester had placed over their heads.

"In any case, you guys don't need to worry about that," said Jester, strolling casually over to Yang. Standing over her, Jester grinned, seeing Yang glaring up at him with her Crimson Eyes.

"Well well well...you're Raven's kiddo, ain'tcha. I see you're starting to get a handle on your eyes, but you're not quite at her level yet. A pity, really."

Jester raised his sword, holding it positioned to slash down at Yang's neck, preparing to behead her. The others struggled and strained, but only found themselves pinned in place as Jester redoubled the force of his gravity over them.

"Don't worry, I'll send the others after you," he promised.

Pyrrha latched onto the sword with her polarity, bending every ounce of strength she had to the task of keeping it from falling. However, Jester didn't even seem inconvenienced by its presence.

Even though she was pinned in place, Weiss was able to create a Summoning Glyph. The massive form of her Arma Gigas Summon surged up and bore down on Jester, swinging its massive sword at him. However, Jester simply glanced at the enormous Knight.

"Get lost."

His Aura exploded outward, and the Knight's form shattered against it like glass.

"Now...if the peanut gallery is done..." said Jester, turning back to Yang.

His sword descended with overwhelming force. The power behind it was such that he and Yang vanished in an explosion of dust, shockwaves washing out, as though a missile had detonated.

"YANG!" shouted Blake, struggling to reach her partner, despite knowing it was too late.

After a moment, the wind began to disperse the dust thrown up by Jester's attack. When the dust cleared, it revealed Yang, her head still intact. Jester's sword had been halted by a pair of crossed swords, their crimson blades holding Jester's own at bay.

Ruby Rose stood protectively over Yang, her cloak fluttering behind her, shining with the light of her Aura. For her part, Ruby looked almost as good as new. Only the smudges on some of her clothes betrayed the intense battles she'd been through to get this far. And now she stood before Jester, staring up into his face with a resolute expression.

"Ah...Just in time," said Jester, before glancing over to see Jaune and Miyu, the two of them collapsed, on the verge of unconsciousness from the effort of pumping every last ounce of Aura they had into Ruby. "Well...you probably don't have long then. I guess it's time to finish this."

"Yeah," agreed Ruby, her expression becoming heartrendingly sad, "let's go...one last time."

_What does that mean_? wondered Yang, staring up at Ruby's back. She couldn't see Ruby's face from her position. But, Yang could sense Ruby's unhappiness through her Aura. Ruby's entire being resonated with sorrow.

Watching Ruby head towards the final battle, Yang wanted nothing more than to reach out after her, to stop her. Yang got the strange feeling that...even if they won...someone wasn't coming back from this fight. That was the sense of sorrowful resolution that Yang sensed from her sister.

However, there wasn't any time to dwell on that. Ruby and Jester vanished, the backwash of their passing causing Yang to pitch over, before realizing that the gravity holding her down had vanished. The others had been likewise released. Either Jester felt they weren't going to intervene anymore, or focusing on Ruby meant that he couldn't spare the will to keep all of them pinned.

For a few seconds, they lost all sight of the pair. Instead, it was sound, the ring of steel on steel, that indicated that Ruby and Jester were still fighting. Here was a glint of sunlight off the face of a blade. There, a foot stepped down with enough force to shatter the earth beneath it. All around them, geysers of dust erupted as clashing weapons and missed blows completely altered the landscape, which had already been altered by the crash of the massive Grimm, as well as the battle against Salem before.

With his mastery of gravity, Jester was able to distort both space and time, freely controlling the distance between his opponent. When he attacked, he was always within striking range. When he was attacked, he was an infinity away. Even if he and Ruby moved at the same speed, Jester always had more time than she did to make his move.

And yet...whenever Jester tried to defend himself with a barrier of compressed space, Ruby cut straight through it. Whenever he compressed his own time to launch countless attacks in what was an instant to Ruby, her body accelerated to the extent that it seemed to simply come apart, resulting in all Jester's strikes missing. However, when Ruby's swords struck, any wounds they opened vanished instantly. At first glance, it seemed that they were on equal ground. But Jester's immorality made them anything _but_ equal.

"You're doing well," Jester commented. "But 'well' isn't nearly good _enough_."

Ruby said nothing. Aside from her speed, she wasn't using her Aura for anything. She had yet to call upon her wind and lightning. Even her Silver Eyes remained dim. Jester could sense that she was biding her time, building all her remaining strength towards what would be her final blow.

Up above, clouds began to pile up again, darkening the sky, a swirling eye opening up within them. Then, a powerful bolt roared down. Ruby raised her swords to meet it, the lightning forking to reach each sword's tip. However, rather than wrap around her swords, the lightning instead crawled down the handles, then up Ruby's arms, before merging with her cloak. Her Aura exploded outward. When it had settled once again, the red cloak Ruby wore had bloomed with countless petals that resembled feathers, shimmering with a scintillating variety of colors.

"_Tenyo no Hana._"

Then Ruby resumed her attack upon Jester, who laughed as he dodged and blocked the strikes using the Flow of his own Aura through his sword to keep the electricity from being conducted up the blade. Petals detached, becoming projectiles that arced around him, but Jester dodged them easily.

"There's got to be more than this," Jester called out tauntingly. "Come now, Ruby...your time is almost up isn't it? Show me your finisher."

Ruby didn't need Jester's words to know that she was nearing her limit. Even fighting as conservatively as she could, she could still feel that it wouldn't be long before the boost she'd gotten from Jaune and Miyu would wear off, and she'd be brought down to practically nothing. And yet, she continued to assault him. Despite the urgency of this situation, there was a desire for her to prolong this battle just a little bit longer...

But it was futile. The limit of the power she'd been loaned was approaching fast.

_I'm sorry,_ she thought, realizing that her time was pretty much up. There was no room for hesitation, not anymore. _It's time._

A tear trickled down Ruby's cheek, before it was quickly stripped away by the air resistance of her high-speed movement.

Abruptly, her Silver Eyes were illuminated, blazing with light. Ruby crossed her swords, then pulled them apart, scraping their flats against one another. As she did, the light from her eyes was drawn into Bara's blade. At the same time, the energy that formed her cloak flowed down her right arm, and into Ibara. The varicolored light of the plasma that had formed the cloak turned a uniform red. The two swords began to glow brightly, a glow that spread to their handles, intensifying to the point that they no longer looked like illuminated objects of metal, but constructs of pure light.

Ruby's breath hitched. But she did not falter. She charged Jester head on, crossing her arms in front of her, so that her swords extended out behind her. For his part, Jester was not about to meekly accept her attack. An orb of pure ebony darkness appeared over his head, hungrily drawing in the air, pulling at Ruby's body. However, she continued forward, ignoring the pull. Directing the orb with his sword, Jester brought it descending downwards.

"_Fushi no Satsuriku Bara!_"

Ruby's body vanished. Suddenly, time seemed to stop completely. Jester was stunned, not having expected Ruby to invoke this phenomenon. Then, with a flash, he was struck from all sides. The singularity Jester had been attacking with was carved to pieces in an instant.

The blows alternated. A wave of red cleaved through him, followed by one of silver. Each one was a crescent-shaped arc of energy, leaving a solid wave behind it. As they passed through Jester's body, they extended through him, forming a radius that enclosed him in a ring, making him look as though he were standing in the center of a massive flower of red and silver petals. More and more blows struck, each one adding another "petal" to the flower. One could not count how many had landed. They stacked up on top of one another, until Jester's body was almost completely enclosed by them. Within their center, Jester was visible only as a black shadow, one that was beginning to waver.

Finally, the rain of blows ended. Ruby reappeared behind Jester, her cloak gone, the last of the power she possessed, along with the power she'd been loaned by Jaune and Miyu, depleted. Yet she didn't falter, not yet. Her hands were closed about the handles of her swords, the weapons still looking like constructs of light, all the more so because the light they emitted extended in a pair of lines, tethering Ruby to her creation. Behind her, the red and silver petals of the rose she'd created began to tilt upwards, slowly converging upwards and inwards, the flower closing in on itself.

"I...see..." hissed Jester's voice, barely audible over the hum of the petals. "So..._that_...was the final ingredient."

"It was," agreed Ruby, tears making their way down her cheeks.

"Funny...I'm sure the Mibu tried a sacrificial strike before...I guess it being_ you_ made all the difference."

"Maybe it did," conceded Ruby. She looked over her shoulder at him. "It's over. Once the flower closes, you will be purged from existence, never to return."

A wheezing, pained laugh came from Jester, his voice growing weaker. "So...this...this is death, huh...? What a...pleasant feeling...My thanks..."

Ruby nodded, turning her face away from the man, closing her eyes, though more tears began to spill from them. She let out a soft sob. Her body shuddered. Her hands clenched a little tighter around her swords' handles.

What she said next was not to Jester. "Sayonara."

Then Ruby let go. Her weapons transformed completely into light, being drawn into the flower behind her. Then, all at once, the petals folded in on themselves, the flower closing tightly. The red and silver light emitted by the construct intensified to blinding levels, Jester's shadow vanishing completely, before the whole shaped dissolved away into a swirling pillar of red and silver, extending up into the sky. Once the light faded, Jester was gone, only a perfect circle of blackened earth to show that he had been there at all.

Not far away, Ruby's friends looked on with wide eyes.

Weiss slumped down to her knees. "It's over..." she whispered, her eyes wide. "She really did it."

"He's gone," whispered Pyrrha.

"And he isn't coming back," added Nora, her voice hopeful.

"So it seems," agreed Ren, a certain degree of caution urging him not to be overly optimistic. After all, how many times had they seen both Jester and Salem come back after being "killed" this day?

But there was no sign of Jester's return.

In almost complete unison, their eyes turned to the black orb that had been growing in the skies of Vale. As soon as the light from Ruby's technique had faded, the orb had simply winked out of existence. Only the odd arrangement of clouds left in its wake indicated that it had been there at all. And, even then, the winds were beginning to shift their arrangement, so that nobody would notice anything in odd after an hour or so.

Sighing with relief, Natsuki staggered over to Oscar, slumping down beside him, and keeping watch over him. One by one, Ruby's other friends allowed themselves to relax, feeling spent, even though their fatigue was nothing, compared to what Ruby's had to be, after what she'd been through.

However, Jaune and Yang both looked at Ruby, their expressions worried.

Then, as they watched, Ruby suddenly fell forwards, landing flat on her face, not moving.

"_RUBY!_"

* * *

**That whole bit about Ruby's speed making her "break apart" was inspired by the way she's started using her Semblance in more-recent volumes, revealing that she can now use it to essentially dematerialize herself for brief periods of time. During Volume 7, when fighting Harriet, Ruby actually uses that to escape a grapple at one point, making it a pretty impressive development of her ability. In this case, it's more representative of her acceleration reaching such absurd levels that her physical form actually breaks down temporarily.**


	162. Chapter 162

**Chapter 162:**

_During Ruby's first bout of unconsciousness..._

_Ruby's eyes opened and she gasped sharply. She felt strangely insubstantial, and it was easy to see why. A look down at herself indicated that her form was ethereal, almost ghostly, with parts of it dissolving into a red mist, before reforming again._

_ "Wh-where am I?" wondered Ruby, taking in her surroundings._

_ Above her was a pitch-black void. Ruby hesitated to call it a sky, mainly because the world around her seemed divorced by such definitions. Rather, it was black because it was like there was nothing here that could be called a sky. There was, however, something akin to ground beneath her...which Ruby could tell because it was covered by winding, thorn and flower-covered vines._

_ Roses stretched out all around her in a thorny, flowery carpet. It was beautiful and dangerous at the same time. The flowers were vivid bursts of red against the deep green of the vines, while the thorns looked as solid and sharp as forged spears, capable of piercing through even the most-rugged of footwear. Ruby found herself glad that her current form didn't seem to have actual feet, as she could scarcely imagine how painful trying to stand on terrain like this would be._

_ "You complete IDIOT!"_

_ The sharp admonishment came from directly in front of her. Ruby's head snapped up, allowing her to take in the sight of the one scolding her. Another gasp escaped her._

_ It was like looking in a mirror, yet not quite. The one who stood in front of her was like a reflection of herself, but there were a number of differences that set her apart. The reflection of Ruby had sharper, narrower eyes, which were now glaring furiously at the actual Ruby. Said eyes were less silver, and more like a steel-gray, interlaced by striations of red extending out from the pupils. The lines of her face were harder, more angular, giving her a haughty, yet broody quality. It was as though somebody had painted a portrait of Ruby's face, then adapted it to include Weiss at her snobbiest, and Blake at her…Blakiest._

_ The rest of her body was similar to Ruby's own. Yet Ruby could make out subtle differences there as well, particularly with her hands. The fingers of the hands that extended from the sleeves of the other Ruby's kimono were tipped with long nails, which had been sharpened to points._

_ And then there was her cloak. Instead of a length of red fabric, flapping behind her, the other Ruby wore a cloak woven from the same rose vines that covered the landscape around them. No! Her cloak was actually _part_ of the landscape itself, growing up to reach around the other Ruby's shoulders and collar, while resting over her head like a hood as well. Yet, despite the thorns that covered those vines, the other Ruby wore the garment without any sign of discomfort. Rather...it seemed that _she_ was a _part_ of the cloak. The other Ruby was one with the world around them, an observation that allowed Ruby to realize her true nature._

_ "Akaibara..." Ruby whispered, her sword's name escaping her lips._

_ The spirit of her sword smiled thinly, the kind of smile that Weiss might have worn at her most mocking. "Took you long enough," she groused. "You had to work yourself nine-tenths of the way to death, before you finally got here."_

_ "B-but...what about...?" Ruby's mind flashed back to what she'd been doing. She'd been fighting Jester, struggling to find a way to end an endless existence._

_ "Time doesn't have any meaning here, you know," commented Akaibara. "Well...I can keep it that way for a little bit. The important thing is that you can finally listen to me properly."_

_ "I...uh...what?" Ruby was at a loss. She'd listened to her sword for years. Now Akaibara was basically telling her that she'd been doing it wrong all this time?_

_ "Not wrong," corrected Akaibara, coming closer. "You just reached a point where you felt you were listening well enough, then stopped. Honestly, that kinda pisses me off. I thought you were more diligent than that."_

_ Ruby swallowed, realizing that she might indeed _have_ gotten complacent. She'd reached the point where she could fully tap into her sword's power, where she'd fully understood how to wield her blade, and had unconsciously figured that there was nowhere to go from there. Instead, she had focused entirely upon refining her own Aura, and then building up her rapport with the world's Aura, while leaving her relationship with Akaibara's Aura where it was._

_ Akaibara walked closer. The vines that made up her cloak moved with her, slithering over the same vines that covered the landscape, never really seeming to drag. Instead, the vines that made up the world around Ruby and Akaibara shifted to accommodate the latter's movement. She walked right up to Ruby, staring right into her eyes, her expression stern. Then...without preamble, she slapped Ruby across the face._

_ Ruby cried out, feeling especially pained at the sensation of those sharpened nails raking across her cheek. _

_ "You are _such_ an idiot!" snapped Akaibara furiously. "I can't even _believe_ you were thinking of doing what you were about to do."_

_ "B-but...you felt it too, didn't you?" asked Ruby, looking plaintively at the image of her sword's soul. "Jester...his life...it's not something that can be destroyed by simply getting stronger."_

_ Killing Jester required more than a god-slaying technique. It required a technique that turned existence into a weapon. To truly destroy him, Ruby would have to weaponize an existence, and use that existence as an attack. And, like any attack, once it was used, it would be expended...and would be lost as well. It was the only way she could conceive of to end something like him._

_ "I know that!" snapped Akaibara. "You're right. We can't get through this without giving up a life. What pisses me off is that you're already assuming that the life you have to give up is _your own_. Did you forget what your brother and sister have been hammering into you since the beginning?"_

_ "But...if not me, who else?" asked Ruby, failing to see any other path. Did she ask Weiss or Pyrrha...maybe Yang or one of the others on Team RYNB...or someone from CPPR...or Oscar or her friends from the Mibu...her Uncle..._Jaune_...? Even if her own life was important, something she needed to protect, so that she could continue to protect others, that didn't make it right to ask someone else to give their life up in her place._

_ "You're an idiot," repeated Akaibara in a deadpan tone. "You know better than to sacrifice one of your friends for this. Besides, don't you have something better, something that was practically _made_ to be used for an attack, something you're holding...right in your hand?"_

_ The truth of what Akaibara was saying dawned upon her, and Ruby felt her ethereal stomach twist into such tight knots that it was a miracle she didn't double over. Even though this was all within the world of her soul, Ruby could feel her heart hammering against her ribs harder than it ever had, at the realization of what her sword was suggesting. Ruby gasped, shrinking back. "N-N-N-No...No! I can't! Not you!" Not her closest friend and companion, the one who completed her on the battlefield, the one who had been at her side all these years, whom she'd depended upon more than any other._

_ "Who else?" asked Akaibara, smiling sardonically. Reaching out, she took Ruby's hands in her own. "That's what a sword _does_, Ruby. I was made to be used in battle and, if it comes to that, I was made to be broken in battle too. If that's what allows you to get through the other side of this, then that's what I need to do."_

_ Tears rolled down Ruby's cheeks. In this dimension of the spirit, they were more like streams of mist, which drifted off into the air, rather than dripping off her chin. But that was hardly worth bothering over now. There was no way she could go along with this. "Not you...Please...I don't want to lose you."_

_ "Idiot..." Akaibara's voice exited her mouth in a whisper, making the insult more of a fondly-frustrated utterance. "I don't want this either. But we know this is the way it has to be._

_ "You have friends, family, a lover, people you can't afford to leave behind. Me...? I only have _you_. I'll never belong to anyone else. I don't ever want anyone but _you_ to hold me, to wield me. So...if it has to be one or the other, then it's got to be me. That's the obvious choice."_

_ Ruby whimpered, her spirit-body quaking with her sobs. Even though she wanted to deny it, even though she wished anything else was true, she knew her sword was right. This was the only possible outcome. The only other option would be to use someone else's life in place of her own, which would be the height of cowardice, even if said life was given willingly._

_ Surging forward, Ruby threw her arms around Akaibara's shoulders, hugging her as tightly as the strength of her phantasmal body would permit, not even caring that the thorns that made up Akaibara's cloak dug into her arms. Akaibara's own arms rose up, returning the hug, her sword's spirit nuzzling her cheek against Ruby's._

_ "I love you," Ruby whimpered._

_ "I love you too, you idiot," Akaibara whispered back. "I love that annoyingly saccharine heart of yours, even the stupid way you always baby me. I love every sickeningly sweet inch of you, however much of a pain in the pommel you might be."_

_ "And I love that spoiled attitude of yours," Ruby replied. "I love how you always try to act tough, but you really just like to get attention."_

_ Akaibara growled, but didn't let go of Ruby, seemingly accepting her words for what they were._

_ Finally, she pulled back, looking Ruby in the eyes. "I know you won't forget me. But I want you to remember what happened to Salem."_

_ "Salem...?" Ruby blinked, her grief overcome by confusion._

_ "Sure, you might not wind up turning into some kind of engine dedicated to human destruction, but...you're still the kind of person who'd make herself miserable, by refusing to let go. Don't make the same mistake she made. When this is over...get a new sword. Maybe Father will make a new one for you. When you do, don't let her replace me, but don't let me overshadow her. Whatever you do, don't cling to your grief and pain the way Salem did...or the way your father did."_

_ Ruby sniffled. She found it virtually impossible to imagine herself with anything other than Akaibara in her hand. But she also knew that she could never give up on becoming a Huntress...which meant she would need a sword, a sword that she could love just as much as Akaibara, even if she _wasn't_ Akaibara._

_ "You understand?" asked Akaibara._

_ Ruby nodded wordlessly._

_ "Good...you dummy," Akaibara whispered back. "Now get back out there and get this done. Your friends are putting it all on the line for you. Time to make sure their hard work pays off."_

_ "My friends...?" Ruby blinked. The last thing she'd remembered was fighting Jester. Her friends were all being forced to watch from the sidelines, weren't they?_

_ "You'll understand when you get back," said Akaibara._

_ The world around them began to dissolve, the petals of the countless roses scattering upwards, while the vines faded away._

_ "They're already bringing you back," said Akaibara, taking an irritated look at what was going on around them. "When you get your next sword, try to figure out how to get here _without_ knocking yourself out in the middle of battle first."_

_ "O-Okay," said Ruby sadly._

_ "Go and win...you idiot," said Akaibara, as her body dissolved away, along with the rest of the world._

_ Ruby's own form remained, but the black that surrounded her was quickly being washed out by white...and a familiar warmth that was rising up within her, one that was calling her back to her own body...and the deed that remained to be done._

* * *

_After Jester's death…_

"_Ruby!_"

"_I have a pulse! It's weak, but it's there!_"

"_Can't you do anything?_"

"_I can't. I'm tapped out. So is Miyu. All we can do is wait._"

There were voices in the darkness. They sounded so faint, as though they were coming from very far away. Ruby knew that they were the voices of people who were important to her. Yet she couldn't find the energy to respond to them. She was just _so_ tired.

It was the logical consequence of pushing herself so far. First had been her battle with Salem, which had forced her to the edge, in order to be able to activate her god-slaying technique. Then, in that fatigued state, she had entered into a fight against Jester. Even then, that hadn't been enough. Ruby had been forced to rely upon the support of Miyu and Jaune, which had allowed her to fight well beyond her capacity. However, the resulting backlash was the reward she was reaping for that level of exertion.

At the moment, she wanted to sink down into the cool comfort of oblivion, if only for a little while at least. She was tired, and that was _without_ having to deal with the reality of what she had just lost. For a little while, she just didn't want to think about anything, just fade away and forget this whole nightmare.

However, even if the climactic battle had been won, the war wasn't over quite yet. Ruby knew she didn't have the strength to do anything. But, after everything that she had done, everything she had sacrificed, to get this far, she'd be damned if she didn't watch the ending with her own eyes, just to be sure that her fight hadn't been in vain.

It was like swimming upwards through a river of tar. The flow towards unconsciousness clung to her, threatening to drag her under. But Ruby forced her way against it, fighting against her fatigue and pain, continuing to reach up until she finally found the wherewithal to force her eyes open.

_Bright..._ That was the first thought that echoed in her mind. Thankfully, the sun wasn't directly overhead. However, Ruby was unfortunate that, even from an angle, the light still felt painfully harsh, and her open eyes immediately squinted.

"RUBY!"

_Loud..._ Ruby reflexively grimaced at Yang's outburst, which struck her ears like a hammer. The wince didn't go unnoticed, and she had an almost clairvoyant vision of the rest of her friends glaring at Yang, who shrank back sheepishly. The thought was enough to make her smile a little. Slowly, she tilted her head, which felt as though it weighed multiple tons, to take in what little of her surroundings that she could.

Her head was resting on Jaune's lap, Jaune having folded his legs, so that she wasn't laying atop his greaves. Upon meeting her eyes, Jaune's worried face dissolved into a relieved smile, and he immediately brushed his fingers against her cheek.

"You did it," he said simply.

Ruby smiled back. "Yeah...Yeah I did," she said.

Then she sighed, shifting her head so that she was staring straight up again. "What's happening at Vale?"

"We don't know for sure," commented Ren's voice from outside her field of view. "All we can tell is that the battle is ongoing. Whether or not the line is holding is something we don't have information on."

"I tried to raise Command with my scroll, but the signal couldn't get through," said Ciel.

"We aren't too far away," added Weiss. "There just must be so much signal-traffic going on that we got locked out."

"Wh-what about here?" asked Ruby.

_That_ was a particularly unpleasant scenario. Thanks to the intense battle, they were all pretty much spent. If the Grimm Salem had brought with her converged upon them, they were without any real means to fight back. Everybody was at the limit of their strength, and they would likely be swallowed up before they could do much of anything.

"Uncle Qrow went up to check," said Yang. "He'll be back in a bit."

"The fact that it's taking him a little while is a good sign," added Pyrrha. "He said that, if we aren't in any immediate danger, he'd check on the state of Vale as well."

It was a few tense minutes before the sound of fluttering wings reached Ruby's ears. Qrow landed near her, walking over to stand where Ruby could see him. "Well, the good news is that the Grimm don't seem to realize we're here...yet. For whatever reason, they're giving this particular spot a pretty wide berth."

"I'm guessing that there's bad news too," groused Piper.

"Yep," said Qrow tiredly. "The Grimm at the front lines at Vale are starting to lose heart. It looks like the attack is breaking up."

"It must be because of Makoto-sama," mused Natsuki from where she rested, next to a still unconscious Oscar.

"That would be my guess as well," said Miyu.

"Yeah, it looks like the Grimm are staring to break off the attack," said Qrow. "The ones up front are starting to fall back, but the ones still coming in haven't gotten the memo just yet. It's making the whole thing become a pretty big quagmire."

"But that sounds like a good thing," Nora pointed out. "The Grimm running way is better than them overrunning Vale, right."

"Yeah, it is," agreed Qrow. "The problem is going to be _where_ they run."

"That _is_ a serious issue," commented Rain. "Depending on how that horde disperses, there are settlements well away from Vale that could find themselves on the verge of being overrun within a matter of minutes, if not hours."

"That too," said Qrow, chuckling dryly. "But the more immediate problem is that, when they run, _we're_ the ones they're gonna come across first."

"Oh...that would be bad," said Piper.

"Understatement of the year," muttered Blake.

"It's a sad thing to say, but none of us are in any shape to fight," said Qrow, "Ruby least of all. So we need a way out of here, before we get run over."

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to raise anyone in Vale," said Ciel. "The communication lines are just too busy."

"In that case, I'll have to fly back and have them send a bullhead out directly," decided Qrow. "Problem is that there are plenty of fliers in that horde, which is gonna make getting an airship through a serious chore, if they aren't brought crashing right down."

"In other words, we're pretty much stuck out here without a way back, and a horde of angry _and_ frightened Grimm that could come down on us like a ton of bricks at any moment,' said Weiss irritably.

"Things are what they are, Mini-Ice Queen," said Qrow.

"Hey!"

"Grumbling about it ain't gonna change anything," he continued. "Well, we need to do _something_ before we're Grimm-chow."

"We should probably move aside," said Setsuna. "It'll be a long shot, but if we move east or west, we could skirt the horde, and make it less likely that we'll be in their path, when they break and run."

"A good idea, but it ain't gonna work," said Qrow. "We'd have to go _miles_, and there are still Grimm coming in on either side of us, so we'd just wind up attracting their attention."

"What if we went to ground?" asked Pyrrha. "Perhaps if we dug ourselves a shelter or found a nearby cave, we could wait them out."

"There's a chance of that," said Qrow. "We ain't up to digging out anything substantial. I also don't think we could dig out a shelter capable of handling a few-thousand Grimm treading over it in the little time we have. But a cave ain't out of the question. We're near the Emerald Forest, and there are plenty of caves in there. We'd still have a tricky time finding one that won't take us through the Grimm still arriving, but it's our best bet for now."

"Apologies for imposing on you again, but could you see if you could locate one, Mr. Branwen?" asked Ciel.

"Just what I was about to do," said Qrow, stretching.

However, before that happened, there was a change in the air around them. Suddenly, coming from the direction of Vale, there was a chorus of noise. It was a combination of countless different sounds; the howls of Beowolves, the roars of Ursai, the trumpeting calls of Goliaths, and many more besides; their pitch substantially higher than the sounds Grimm normally made, a difference that was audible, even at this distance. The sources of those calls spread outward from Vale's direction, and were soon emitted from countless throats on either side of their sad little group. However, all those vocalizations were undercut by a much lower, more omnipresent, more ominous noise...the low, but steadily building, rumble of countless feet; tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of them.

"Well...shit," said Qrow simply.

"We were too late," said Penny. "They're coming."

"That sure was a sudden change," noted Setsuna.

"Does that even matter?" wondered Miyu.

Setsuna took her hand in his, then met her gaze, before shrugging.

Ruby found herself pulled up, allowing Jaune to protectively wrap his arms around her, holding her close, getting ready to use his own body as a shield. It would be a futile effort, but he'd do what little he could to ensure that the girl he loved lived at least a little bit longer.

However, Ruby could only smile. "It'll be all right," she said, her voice tired.

"Huh?" Jaune looked down at her in confusion.

Ruby merely smiled peacefully. "Kyo-nii will take care of the rest."

"Kyo...?"

Considering the condition Kyo had been in, when they'd last seen him, the idea that he'd be capable of doing _anything_ seemed ludicrous. Even if Sasame had been able to fully heal him, he should have been left exhausted, unable to even really move.

But Ruby understood, mainly because of the reactions of the Grimm. While Makoto's presence had begun to repel them from the walls, the effect of said presence had been relatively gradual, one that would have built over time. In contrast, there was only one way to explain why the Grimm had so suddenly and completely reversed their desire to besiege Vale's walls.

A shrill cry, like the call of a bird of prey, came from the direction of Vale. It was piercing, seeming to echo forever, its vibrations striking each of them in their chests, transfixing them with a feeling of trepidation. Then, from Vale itself, crimson flames suddenly erupted across its skyline. They shot upwards, their color dying the air around them, making it seem as though the entire city was aflame. Then they roared skyward, the heatless flames revealing themselves to be a pair of wings, spreading so far as to encompass the entire sky. At their center, a long, elegantly arched neck extended out, ending in a beaked head. The massive form of the Vermillion Bird arced upwards, before descending down towards the fleeing Grimm.

The breadth of Kyo's_ Suzaku_ was beyond anything Ruby had seen him do before. She'd never imagined that her brother possessed this kind of range, much less after the near-death experience he'd suffered. _Sasame-nee must have put everything she had into supporting his Aura,_ she thought. That being the case, between that and tapping into his power as one of the two remaining True Mibu in the world, it seemed that Kyo had been able to create a technique that would enable him to cut down nearly the entire horde that had been menacing the walls.

Heatless flames swept through the skies, scouring them of airborne Grimm, before descending down and sweeping across the ground. The Grimm fell by the countless thousands, their bodies cut to ribbons, even before they began to dissolve. Where the outstretched wings of _Suzaku_ reached, no sign of the enemy remained.

However incredible Kyo's feat had been, he hadn't been able to destroy absolutely _all_ the fleeing Grimm. Even with the incredible range he'd demonstrated, a few of the fleeing monsters had already scattered too far and wide for him to be able to annihilate every last one. But the fleeing beasts were too few to pose an overwhelming threat to any of the settlements they might fall upon later. Therefore, the worst of the crisis had been averted.

Even more importantly, the Grimm that had been about to descend upon Ruby and her friends had been eliminated entirely, assuring their safety and survival. With that, they were finally able to let out breaths of relief, able to say the one thing they'd been desperately wanting to, ever since Ruby's fight with Jester had concluded.

"It's over," whispered Weiss, forgetting all dignity and simply slumping to the ground where she stood.

"We did it," added Nora.

"More like _Ruby_ did it," commented Yang, throwing a glance down at her sister.

However, Ruby's face now looked anything_ but_ victorious. There was no cheerful smile, not even the wistful one she'd been wearing when she'd declared that Kyo would take care of the Grimm. Instead, now that there was nothing more to worry about, Ruby's elation had completely disappeared. Her eyes shimmered with building tears, a look of heartrending sorrow on her face.

Her hands shook as she moved them, trembling from both fatigue and emotion. Reaching down, Ruby closed her left hand around the empty sheath resting at the small of her back, pulling it free from her sash. Bringing it back around, she grasped it in both hands, her grip tightening, before she hugged it to herself.

It was then that the realization dawned upon everyone else. In the midst of all the excitement that had followed Ruby's victory over Jester, they'd all overlooked a particular detail...namely that Ruby's hands had been _empty_, ever since her last attack against the madman. And now, as they watched her forlornly hug her empty sheath to herself, the obvious question reared its ugly head, a question that they all suddenly felt they didn't want to ask.

It was Penny who broke that uneasy silence. "Ruby...where's your sword?"

Jaune's eyes turned towards the blackened patch of earth that now served as the only marker of Jester's final resting place, the truth dawning upon him as he connected Ruby's current behavior with the look of sorrow she'd worn during the final exchange. That look on her face had frightened him, making it look as though Ruby was going somewhere far away, where he couldn't follow, making him fear that she would give up her life to destroy Jester...

...But she hadn't. Jaune's relief at finding her alive had clouded his perception, delaying the realization that, while Ruby had survived the final battle, someone else, or _something_ else, hadn't.

"Oh God..." Jaune's words escaped his mouth unbidden as the realization fell upon him like a stone. He understood now. He also understood why Ruby was quaking in his arms, her body shuddering with the effort of containing her sorrow.

Ruby hadn't been able to defeat Jester without making a sacrifice. The realization that Ruby had sacrificed her closest companion, the weapon who had been her original partner, to make the monster's defeat possible hit home like a hammer. Amongst all Ruby's friends, there wasn't a single one of them who wasn't aware of how dearly Ruby had treasured her sword. Given Akaibara's nature, a weapon that was just as alive as any person, it was all too easy for them to realize the sheer depth of Ruby's loss, and the intensity of her grief.

For his part, all Jaune could do was hug her tightly, as the dam holding back Ruby's emotions finally broke. Her wails echoed through the air as she pressed her face against Jaune's cuirass, tears spilling freely down her cheeks.

The others looked on awkwardly, Yang and Natsuki shedding tears of their own, moved by the intensity of Ruby's sorrow. Weiss sniffed, rubbing her nose, while Pyrrha gripped her shoulder, swiping at her own eyes. Nora pressed her face to Ren's shoulder, Ren gently rubbing the back of her head, ignoring the damp spot forming in the cloth of his coat. Blake's ears drooped beneath their concealing ribbon, the rest of her body slumping in sympathy. Penny looked as though she wanted to join Jaune in hugging Ruby, but couldn't bring herself to move, instead simply looking on with dismay at her best friend's pain. Ciel and Rain wore more subdued expressions of sorrow, while Piper had turned away, not willing to let her own feelings show to the others. Miyu distracted herself by checking on the unconscious Oscar, while Setsuna stood next to her, a stoic expression on his face. Qrow watched over his niece for a moment, before pulling out his flask and taking a strong swig of its contents.

This unhappy state of affairs continued until the bullhead dispatched from Vale found them.

* * *

The journey back to Vale had taken place in sorrowful silence. For the glorious victors, it had been a shock to Glynda and Winter to find them in such a desolate state. However, upon seeing Ruby clinging to her empty sheath, and getting an idea of what had happened, they had both been able to accept the situation for what it was. As such, the bullhead bringing back the victorious heroes; who had defeated, not one, but _two_ of the greatest threats in the history of Remnant; would not be returning to the fanfare and celebration such an accomplishment deserved. Instead, they had quietly routed the bullhead to Beacon, where Ruby's group could instead be discreetly welcomed back by their friends and loved ones.

During the flight, Ruby had cried herself to sleep. So Jaune carried her as they stepped off the bullhead, the group finding themselves surrounded by a small crowd of the friends and acquaintances they'd made over the course of the Vytal Festival. Jaune's family was quick to swarm around him, Sapphira practically wailing with relief at the sight of her son, alive and well. However, their mood became more subdued when they saw the burdened expression on Jaune's face, and the way he hugged Ruby to himself protectively.

Likewise, Weiss and Pyrrha were welcomed back by Ashley and Dove respectively, the two enfolding their loved ones in quiet hugs, letting the warmth of their contact speak for them. Blake received a similar welcome from Sun. Natsuki, Setsuna, and Miyu headed towards Makoto and the Goyosei, Natsuki cradling Oscar in her arms, the poor boy having _still_ not woken up, for reasons that none of his three new friends dared to speak. Team CPPR quickly moved towards a waiting Ironwood, preparing to deliver a report, and deflect his inquiry.

Unfortunately, the forlorn atmosphere was catching. Everyone who'd been waiting for the conquering heroes to return soon grasped the realization that victory had not come without cost, even if that wasn't readily apparent to the people looking on. The only thing they could guess at was the one absence from their party. Of the entire group that had accompanied Ruby out to the final battle, only Ozpin hadn't returned. At least, that was how it had looked to most of them.

They were likewise unaware of how erroneous their assessment was, both in terms of who hadn't come back from the fight...and who _had_.

* * *

It was a rare display of impatience from Glynda, when she shoved the door to Team MNPS' room with such force that it slammed back against the wall. Striding into the room, she ignored the surprised looks coming from Miyu, Setsuna, and Natsuki, the latter of whom was supporting a familiar young man by his shoulders...a familiar young man, with a very _unfamiliar_ look in his eyes, the one person who displayed no surprise at Glynda's sudden and graceless entry.

Oscar Pine...or rather, the person in Oscar Pine's _body_ looked back at Glynda, his lips curling up in a wry smile. "Hello, Glynda," he said.

It was Oscar's voice, yet it wasn't. Everything from his intonation to his pronunciation sounded different. On top of that, there was a strange sensation to the voice, like a second one was layered over it...one that Glynda was all too familiar with.

"Ozpin..." Glynda could only stare. "Don't tell me this boy is..."

The spirit of Ozpin, currently controlling the body of Oscar Pine, let out a soft sigh, before looking down at Oscar's legs for a moment. "It is not often that I've had an opportunity to meet my next incarnation..._before_ I actually reincarnate. However, after going through this so often, I have learned to recognize the traits that will designate the next recipient of my soul."

Glynda frowned, now realizing the reason behind Ozpin's unusual interest in Oscar, from the moment they'd met. That he had just laid eyes upon his own future self was a possibility she'd never even considered.

"So you've had this happen before?" asked Miyu, frowning.

"Only one other time," Ozpin answered. "Of course, amongst the untold millions existing across Remnant, the odds of me meeting the specific _one_ I will reincarnate into are absurdly long. And, fairly often, the person who will be my next host has not even been _born_ yet, when my current life ends. Sometimes, it can be a gap on the order of a decade or more before I am reincarnated.

"And it is not as though I specifically go looking for my...successor...I suppose a good term would be. After all, if Salem and her minions had gotten wind of my efforts, then they too could ultimately figure out how to recognize my future incarnations, and act to eliminate them before I was reborn."

Glynda squirmed at the thought. In some ways, it was terrifying to think about. Not only would Salem's agents be killing innocent people on the basis that they would one day be the host to Ozma's soul, but the idea of Ozpin locked in limbo, unable to return to the world of the living or the afterlife, was horrifying on an existential level. Ozpin had once confided to Glynda that he had no awareness of time that passed, when he was in between incarnations. However, that only made it all the more frightening to her. The consolation was that locating Ozpin's future incarnations would be even harder than locating the Maidens, as they did not have any obvious signs, like magic, that would allow Salem's agents to identify them.

"What about Oscar?" asked Natsuki, looking at Ozpin worriedly.

"He is fine," said Ozpin, giving her a small smile. "He's still here, and he is able to hear everything that we say. I am merely borrowing control of this body for a small bit. I will return it to him momentarily."

"But what's going to happen to him?" asked Natsuki. "I mean..."

_That_ caused Ozpin's expression to falter. "I am afraid that what has begun is an irrevocable process. It has only just begun, but, gradually, over time, our Auras will begin to merge together. Oscar will become me, and I him. Neither of us will be the same person we were before."

Tears began to leak from Natsuki's eyes. "But...I...no...that's..."

"I do not wish for it to be so either," said Ozpin. "Now that I exist within him, I am aware of Oscar's feelings, and he cares deeply for you, Ms. Shinomori. However, there is nothing that can be done about this."

"Not if _I_ have anything to say about it."

The door slammed open a second time, prompting everyone in the room, Glynda and Ozpin included, to jump. Sasame came stomping in, her expression inordinately serious.

"Ah...Ms. Mitarai, what brings you here?" asked Ozpin.

"The very thing you _just_ claimed nothing could be done about," answered Sasame curtly. "I got pulled out of bed to check on Ruby-chan, only to hear that_ this_ happened. Honestly..."

"Um...How is Ruby-chan?" asked Natsuki, momentarily turning the topic to her best friend.

Sasame sighed, her expression softening. "Ruby-chan will be...all right. Physically, she'll recover just fine. But she's in mourning now. So what she needs is peace, but also the support of her friends and loved ones...which will include _all_ of you, once we get this absurdity sorted out."

"And what is it you plan to do?" asked Ozpin.

Sasame smirked at him. "First, I need you to return control to Oscar-kun. I can proceed from there."

Ozpin frowned, but nodded. There was a shimmer of pale-green around him, his body jolting slightly. He inhaled, and when he spoke again, it was clearly Oscar, rather than Ozpin, in the driver's seat.

"I'm back," said Oscar, giving Natsuki a weak smile, while she clung tightly to his hand.

"Good," said Sasame, smiling at him. "Now then, Oscar-kun, what I'm about to do should solve the problem of your...guest...for the time being. Please allow me to work with you. I will be performing an operation that will affect your Aura."

"Um...Go ahead," said Oscar. "If nothing else, I know I can trust you."

"Thank you," said Sasame. "Please close your eyes."

Oscar nodded, doing as he was bidden. Sasame reached out, resting her hands against Oscar's temples, the pale-pink of her Aura rippling across his head. For a moment, it seemed like nothing more than Sasame's usual healing technique. But then there was a sharp jolt from Oscar's body, and he gasped. However, Sasame's hands remained firmly clamped on his head, and she didn't lose her grip on him. Then, after another moment, Oscar relaxed.

A few minutes later, Sasame let out a soft breath, then pulled her hands away. There was a sheen of sweat across her brow, which she wiped away with her sleeve. "There, it's done. How do you feel, Oscar-kun?"

"Um...I'm not sure," said Oscar. A worried squeak from Natsuki prompted him to look at her, raising a placating hand. "I mean...I feel fine. I just...I don't know if I really feel different at all."

"Well then, let's find out," said Sasame, resting her hands on her hips as her tail twitched behind her. "Ozpin-dono, can you hear me?"

Oscar twitched, his eyes flickering, as though he were listening to an unexpected voice. "He says, 'Yes.'"

Sasame let out a soft breath. "Well then, let's test something else. Oscar-kun, would you and Ozpin-dono switch places once more?"

Oscar nodded. Another shimmer of green across him, and he spoke with Ozpin's voice again. "I'm here, Ms. Mitarai."

"Good," said Sasame. "Now then, let us test the effects. I wish for you to share one of Oscar-kun's memories with us…" Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "…preferably a suitably embarrassing one."

"Sasame-sama!" protested Natsuki, only to stop when Sasame held up a hand.

Ozpin scrunched up Oscar's face, frowning in concentration for a moment, before his eyes widened. "I can't..." he said. "I have no access to Oscar's memories."

"Good," said Sasame, much to the evident confusion of everyone else in the room. "Let's make sure this goes both ways. Please switch with Oscar-kun again."

"Very well," said Ozpin warily.

A second later, Oscar was there, his eyes blinking furiously, looking a little dizzy.

"Now then, let us see if you can access any of Ozpin-dono's memories," said Sasame. "Ozpin-dono, since you can hear us, suggest a memory for Oscar-kun, but do not describe it yourself."

Oscar listened for a moment. "H-he says I should try to describe the Headmaster's office in Haven Academy." He frowned, scrunching his face in a similar manner to how Ozpin had earlier. However, after a couple of minutes trying, he sighed. "I don't have anything. I don't get it. Why would I know what Professor Lionheart's office in Haven looks like?"

"You wouldn't, but Ozpin-dono does," said Sasame, smiling at Oscar. "That means that it worked."

"What worked?" asked Oscar, the others looking at Sasame in confusion.

"My effort to stop what Ozpin-dono said couldn't be stopped," said Sasame, now proudly puffing out her chest.

"What did you do?" asked Natsuki, looking curiously at Sasame, who smiled cheekily back at her.

"A variation of what Makoto-sama did for _you_, for most of your life," replied Sasame.

"You mean...you put a seal on Oscar-kun?" asked Natsuki, looking to Oscar, who was having trouble keeping up.

"Yes," replied Sasame. "Though, in this case, I suppose 'partition' is the more appropriate term. The seal I placed will maintain separation between Oscar-kun's soul and Ozpin-dono's, ensuring that the merger does not take place, so long as the seal remains intact."

"Really!?" gasped Natsuki, sitting up straighter, her eyes going wide, while Oscar's jaw dropped.

Sasame preened. "Well, in a sense, it's no more complicated than what Makoto-sama did to keep your magic from bonding to you, Natsu-chan. In fact, if anything, it was even easier. Because it is a partition between souls, it means that Aura is what lies on both sides of the divide, as opposed to Aura on one side and a foreign power on the other. Because of this, the seal is far more self-sustaining than the one you had."

"So it won't need to be renewed?" asked Natsuki.

"It will," said Sasame. "But it will last for over a year before that needs to be done. Furthermore, my initial inspection indicated that the merger is a much more gradual process than how your magic merged with your Aura, Natsu-chan, which gives us more leeway, in the event that the seal fails or expires. That being said, I believe that making its renewal an annual affair is going to be the best way to handle it, if only so that we don't lose track of time."

"O-okay," said Oscar, sounding a trifle nervous.

"Of course, since it is a soul and Aura on both sides of the seal, I did structure it slightly differently, which allowed me to make alterations I couldn't otherwise," said Sasame, looking to Oscar. "Oscar-kun, as you already know, you are still able to switch control between yourself and Ozpin-dono."

"Yeah," said Oscar, nodding slowly.

"Ozpin-dono, I apologize if you find this a tad inconvenient, but I've structured the seal to give priority to Oscar-kun. That means that, should the need arise, Oscar-kun can forcefully retake control of his body. However, you are not able to do the same."

Oscar frowned. "He sounds a little...um...not okay with that."

"Be that as it may, it is Oscar-kun's body, first and foremost," said Sasame firmly, speaking in a tone that brooked no argument. "I know you feel that you should be able to assume control in an emergency, but you are going to have to accept Oscar-kun's decision regarding control. You will not be able to assume it without his approval.

"Now, regarding the other feature...Oscar-kun, I have given you the ability to...lock him out...so to speak."

"Um...What does that mean?" asked Oscar.

Sasame frowned. "Well...by default, Ozpin-dono is able to see and hear what you do, and he is able to speak freely within your mind. However, should the need arise, you will be able to block his access to your senses, and silence his voice."

Oscar's eyes widened. "He's..._really_ not happy about that. I-I don't blame him."

"It's not something permanent," explained Sasame. "At its maximum, it can only last two hours at a time. Afterwards, it will require twenty-four hours to reset. Using it too often will strain the seal as well, which will shorten the time until it needs to be renewed. I certainly have no intention of allowing you to lock Ozpin-dono's soul away for days or weeks at a time, and subject him to complete sensory deprivation and isolation. This is only meant to be for short periods. And, as I said, its inclusion has the potential to destabilize the seal, as adding it was a bit...complicated."

"But why?" asked Oscar.

Sasame coughed politely into a hand. "Well...it may be embarrassing to hear this from a woman, Oscar-kun, but...you _are_ a young man on the cusp of adulthood. There will be times where you may have certain...urges...which you may wish to indulge in private."

Oscar's cheeks quickly turned dark-red.

Sasame continued. "And, of course, this is extremely premature, but should your relationship with Natsu-chan progress...well...and you _do_ wind up being intimate together...I believe that you would be much more comfortable knowing you could do so without another person observing it from within your own body or, God forbid, offering commentary."

Now Oscar and Natsuki's faces turned completely red, what Sasame was suggesting becoming completely clear to them.

"Sasame-sama!" exclaimed Natsuki, her eyes wide.

"Now now, I know it's very early to say this, and I have no intention of allowing such...developments...until you and Oscar-kun are old enough to consent to such an act, assuming you remain together that long, but this is mostly a precaution in anticipation of such a possibility. The main concern is that, should Oscar-kun have need, he will be able to gain a couple of hours of complete privacy for himself."

"O-okay," said Oscar, letting out a soft breath. "Um...Th-thanks."

"What does Ozpin-dono think about it?" asked Sasame.

"H-he understands," said Oscar, after listening for a moment. "He still feels a bit worried about it. He also wonders how long this is going to go on for."

"As long as we need to," said Sasame.

"S-so I won't be merging with him?" asked Oscar.

"Not if Makoto-sama or I have anything to say about it," said Sasame, a mischievous sparkle returning to her eye. "You will remain you for the rest of your natural life, Oscar-kun, so long as we maintain that seal. But, I don't think that will be an issue for too much longer."

"I-it won't?" Oscar canted his head.

"Yes," replied Sasame, a strangely menacing smile on her face. "Really, this is only meant to be a stopgap, until we obtain a more permanent solution."

"And what's that?" asked Natsuki.

"Dealing with this little issue at its source."

* * *

**Phew...Getting closer to the end now. I'll admit that my decision to withhold what Ruby was gong through, during her first bout of unconsciousness in the previous chapter (while everyone else was fighting Jester), made the beginning of this chapter a little awkward, as it essentially meant that the narrative was transitioning from one bout to unconsciousness to the other, with me having to figure out how to designate which was which. And the main reason I did that was...drama...a desire to slip in one last cliffhanger, maybe. I don't know. It worked a lot better in my head than I think it did in execution.**

**Oh well, live and learn, right?**


	163. Chapter 163

**Chapter 163:**

Jaune held Ruby as she clung to him. She'd been exhausted, crying herself to sleep on the flight back to Beacon. After a few minutes of assuring his family that he was all right, Jaune had excused himself, taking Ruby back to their dorm room. There, he'd called upon Yang to get Ruby out of her clothes and into her pajamas. After that, Jaune had done the same for himself, then climbed into bed with Ruby, and let her sleep in his arms.

There had been visits from those wanting to inquire about Ruby's condition. Velvet and Coco were particularly forward. However, they were seen off at the door by Qrow and Yukimura, the former having witnessed what happened, and the latter having been briefed on it. Qrow could empathize with Ruby somewhat, having watched Jester disintegrate Harbinger right before his eyes. However, it wasn't quite the same. While Qrow had always been proud of his weapon, and considered it emblematic of himself as a Huntsman, he'd never been so deeply connected to it as Ruby had been to her own sword. In a few days, he'd build himself a new weapon and call it good. But Ruby clearly had no such recourse. Even if she did find another weapon as spectacular as Akaibara had been, it just wouldn't be the same.

Aside from their other visitors, Sasame dropped by a few hours later, having slept off her fatigue from healing the damage that Kyo had taken from his fight with Jester. She had checked up on Ruby, then apparently gone to see to something else. Kyo had yet to show up, but Sasame speculated that he too was still sleeping. Kyo's last attack, wiping out the majority of the Grimm that had been attacking, then fleeing, Vale, had required an exertion well beyond his normal limits, fantastical as they were, and had left him unconscious ever since. Presently, Amber was looking after him with all the care and devotion he'd shown her.

For his part, Jaune had gotten some sleep. He was tired too, after all. But his concern for Ruby ensured that he couldn't sleep for long. Ruby probably would have chided him, had she been awake to notice. There wasn't really anything he could have done or do about it, save be there for her. Part of Jaune was still wrestling with the fear that he had experienced, when Ruby had entered into her last exchange of blows with Jester, that fear that it might be his last time seeing her alive. However wrong that had been, that fear had been very real to him, and Jaune just wanted the assurance of seeing and feeling Ruby there, and knowing that she was all right.

Ruby's sleep lasted well through the night, with Jaune sleeping somewhat fitfully beside her. Morning came, then passed. It was well into the afternoon of the next day when Ruby awoke again. Jaune had only left the bed a couple of times to use the bathroom, but had remained with her otherwise.

Finally, Ruby's eyes blinked, then slowly opened. She lifted her face away from Jaune's collarbone, looking up into his eyes.

"Hey," said Jaune softly, giving her the most-loving smile he could, hoping that it would help her feel better. "How are you?"

Ruby blinked, then her face fell, and she pressed her face against Jaune's chest. "Awful," she answered.

_I figured as much,_ thought Jaune, gently rubbing a hand up and down Ruby's back.

For her part, Ruby could scarcely bring herself to stay awake. Part of her wanted desperately to return to the world of dreams where, at least for a little while longer, she could pretend that her precious sword was still there, ready to be taken up in her hands. However, Ruby knew that she could only run away from reality for so long. She ultimately _had_ to face the truth.

The knowledge of Akaibara's death left an empty sensation within her, a gnawing void that crawled its way outwards from the pit of her stomach, a void that had nothing to do with her appetite. If anything, the thought of eating seemed repugnant to her a the moment. She was sure that her body would tell her otherwise before long, but at the moment, the emptiness within her soul only seemed to inhibit her appetite.

_Is this what it felt like for Dad, when Mom died?_ she wondered to herself. If losing Summer had felt _this_ bad, Ruby could actually imagine why her father might have decided to do whatever he could to prevent himself from experiencing that sense of loss again. She could even understand wanting to just sink into delirium to dull that sense of emptiness, which might explain why her father had turned to alcohol in the initial stages of his grief.

Ultimately though, she knew she couldn't linger here. Akaibara herself had urged Ruby to move on, to not let her grief define her. Ruby knew that, sooner or later, she would have to get up and fully face her world without her sword.

Some people might have laughed, at least, had they not known the nature of Akaibara, and the role she had played in Ruby's life. Ruby had taken up that sword, believing that Akaibara would be there with her throughout her career as a Huntress, that they would face all the trials of life together. With the life that Akaibara had been granted through her forging, she was far more than just some weapon that could be swapped out or replaced. She was a companion, Ruby's first true partner, and the one she had relied upon the most throughout her life, even more than her teammates on RASP, her friends, even more than Kyo and Sasame.

Imagining life without the familiar feel of that handle in her palm, the sensation of that Aura merging with her own, even the stinging of Akaibara's reprimand; it was all so painful that Ruby kept finding herself wanting to turn away from that reality for at least a little longer.

But she knew she couldn't. If she refused to accept reality, if she kept clinging to the past and dwelling on what she'd lost, she'd be no better than her father, making the same mistakes that he and Salem had. The people she loved had shown that they could move past their grief. Yang had, Qrow had...and Ruby could too. Even if it meant facing a world without her irreplaceable partner at her side, Ruby knew she had to keep moving forward.

Finally, she managed to pull her face away from Jaune's chest and look him in the eye. Jaune stared back, his expression neutral, waiting to see what she wanted from him. Seeing him, waiting patiently for her, with no expectation, not pressuring her to show anything, whether happiness or sorrow, but instead prepared to accept whatever feelings she might express, prompted Ruby to smile, the knife-edge of grief dulling just a little bit. She leaned forward, gently pressing her lips to his, Jaune all too happy to reciprocate the kiss. His arms tightened around her, and Ruby felt safe, content that he would offer no judgment, nor try to goad her into anything she wasn't ready for.

Ending the kiss, Ruby sighed and leaned her head against his chest once more, this time basking in the feeling of his presence, rather than stewing in her loss. Jaune's presence helped assuage the worst of her grief. It was there, lingering at the back of her mind. But it wasn't dragging her down the way it had been before.

_I guess, as long as I have him, and everyone else, I can keep going,_ she thought, a warm smile on her face.

First things first... "I guess it's time to get up."

"You don't have to if you don't want to," said Jaune. "Everybody'll understand. It's not like we're going to have class for a while."

"Yeah, I guess everyone's going to be busy for a while," said Ruby. "But...I'm okay to get up."

Jaune nodded, letting Ruby go so that she could gather her things and go to the bathroom. She took a little longer than usual. Jaune didn't fault her for that. Even factoring out her emotional state, Ruby was likely _still_ tired from how hard she'd pushed herself, so he definitely couldn't criticize her for taking her time.

After Ruby emerged, refreshed and dressed, Jaune took his turn. Afterwards, the pair of them headed out. Upon entering the common room, they were surprised to find it nearly deserted, save for Weiss, Pyrrha, and Ashley. Pyrrha was seated in one of the chairs, while Weiss and Ashley shared a sofa, Ashley humming as Weiss trailed her fingers through the soft fur of Ashley's tail.

"Ruby!" exclaimed Pyrrha, shooting to her feet. "You're up!"

"Y-yeah," said Ruby, recoiling from Pyrrha's unexpected enthusiasm. "Sorry for taking so long."

Pyrrha said nothing, instead rushing in and hugging Ruby tightly. After a second's hesitation, Ruby hugged Pyrrha back. Even though Pyrrha didn't say anything, Ruby could feel her sympathy and support, the warm feelings of which helped displace the cold sense of loss. After a moment, Pyrrha let her go, then it was Weiss' turn, followed by Ashley.

"They told me what happened," said Ashley, after pulling out of the hug. "Ruby, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay," said Ruby, before twitching. "At least...it'll _be_ okay."

Ashley simply pulled her back into another hug, which Ruby returned.

"So what's going on?" asked Jaune. Spending so much time with Ruby meant he was out of touch with current events.

"Well...things could be better," said Pyrrha sadly. "The walls held, so the Kingdom wasn't overrun. But a lot of people still lost their lives holding the line. Quite a few Huntsmen were killed, and I heard we lost two teams of fourth-years."

"Anybody we know?" asked Jaune worriedly.

Pyrrha shook her head. "No, thank goodness." She sighed. "Aside from that, things are still unstable, out in the settlements. Even though we finished the battle here, people are still being sent out to fight the Grimm in villages throughout the Kingdom. I hear all three other Kingdoms are having similar problems, if to a lesser degree. It's going to be costly, but I think we'll get through it."

"It should be all right," said Weiss. "Ironwood is mobilizing the Atlesian military. They're already handling things in Atlas, and are moving out to help the other Kingdoms secure their territories."

"What's happening in Vale?" asked Jaune.

"Funerals," replied Pyrrha sadly. "They're going to be holding those for a while, because of all the people that died."

Jaune nodded, his mouth going dry at the thought. While they'd managed to keep the massive horde that Salem had brought to Vale's doorstep from overrunning the Kingdom, the fact remained that countless people had perished, thanks to the Grimm that Tyrian, Hazel, and Watts had seeded throughout the Kingdom earlier.

Pyrrha managed to pull out a smile though. "But, from what I've heard, the Council is planning another festival afterwards."

"_Another_ one!" exclaimed Jaune, confused.

Pyrrha nodded. "Even if we're still mourning all the people who died, we can also celebrate."

"That's right," added Weiss, joining the conversation. "Thanks to a certain _someone's_ older brother keeping the Grimm away, people are able to get their mourning done without needing to worry about another attack. Having a festival after that will help to bring morale back up."

"Besides, it's not as though we don't have _reason_ to celebrate," said Pyrrha.

"That's right," said Weiss, nodding. "Salem and Jester are gone, which means that Ozpin's war is over. We won it. We've basically saved the world."

"Ruby did, you mean," Jaune pointed out wryly, glancing over at Ruby, who had taken Weiss' place next to Ashley on the couch, having practically wrapped herself in Ashley's fluffy squirrel-tail, the two of them speaking softly.

Weiss coughed self-consciously. "W-well, yes...of course. But you know Ruby isn't going to be interested in the limelight, so it will probably go down as a collective victory for all of us."

"Most likely," agreed Pyrrha, giggling softly.

"So, where's everybody else?" asked Jaune.

"Most of them are in the cafeteria," said Weiss. "It's been open twenty-four hours, ever since the fight ended. I guess people might need food at any time, if only as a way to help themselves cope."

Jaune nodded. It had been a long, difficult battle, starting with the attack during the final round of the tournament, and concluding with Salem's assault on Vale. Even amongst those who had survived, there was probably a substantial amount of trauma. For his part, Jaune was just glad he had Ruby with him, otherwise he figured he might end up waking up screaming in the middle of the night, as his memories of the terror of the past couple days came back to haunt his dreams.

"How have you two been doing?" asked Jaune, realizing that he couldn't focus on Ruby alone. Weiss and Pyrrha were his teammates as well.

"I'm doing all right," said Weiss, her expression softening. "I have Ashley."

"And I have Dove," added Pyrrha. "We've all been helping each other get through this. I don't think we'll have many problems."

"That's good," said Jaune.

The conversation was derailed by the grumbling noise from his stomach. Glancing down, Jaune remembered that it _had_ been quite a while since he'd last eaten. "Well...I'm ready for breakfast, or lunch...or whatever meal it is right now." He went over to where Ruby and Ashley were seated. "You ready to eat, Ruby?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," said Ruby, smiling, a hand coming to rest over her stomach.

Weiss coughed politely. "Well...now that you're up, I _do_ have to tell you that Professor Goodwitch wishes to see us, as soon as you've finished eating. Apparently, she has something to tell us."

"Okay," said Ruby, glancing quizzically at Weiss, only to get a shrug in return.

* * *

It seemed that, in the absence of Ozpin, Glynda had moved her place of work into his office in Beacon Tower. It was difficult, entering that room and realizing that they would never see that familiar face; that head of messy white hair, that cryptic smile; ever again. Ozpin had given his life in the battle of Vale and, while Jinn's story had informed them of his reincarnation, it was impossible to know when or if they would ever meet the next "him".

Given what they had now learned about Ozpin's past, their feelings about the enigmatic professor were a little more mixed than they used to be. However, it was also easy to remember how long and hard he had been fighting this war, how much_ he_ had suffered, in comparison to everyone else. For her part, Ruby felt she could forgive him his secrets, even if some of them truly _did_ seem to be monstrous in retrospect.

Which made it all the greater of a shock when Team RASP entered the room, only for Ruby to come to a sudden halt, as soon as she stepped out of the elevator, her eyes and mouth opening wide, a loud gasp escaping her.

Aside from Team RASP; RYNB, CPPR, and MNPS were also there; as were Glynda, Qrow, Ironwood, Sasame, and Makoto. Aside from MNPS, most of the students seemed to be confused as to the nature of this sudden meeting, save for the fact that it apparently involved everyone who had been a part of the final attack on Salem, along with a few extras.

"Ruby? What is it?" asked Weiss, looking at Ruby in confusion.

"O-Ozpin..." Ruby's eyes fixated on a nervous-looking Oscar.

"WHAT?!" The exclamation tore its way from the throats of most of the other students present, save for those belonging to MNPS. Even Qrow and Ironwood looked stunned.

"What's going on?" asked Qrow.

"Well...since Ruby-chan decided to spoil the surprise," commented Sasame, giving Ruby a wry smirk, "I guess we should just come out and say it."

Glynda nodded. "Suffice to say, Oscar Pine is now hosting Ozpin's reincarnated soul."

"For real?" asked Qrow, his gaze going to Oscar, who nodded nervously.

"Y-yeah," said Oscar.

There was a flicker of green over Oscar's body, accompanied by a slight jolt from his limbs. Ruby shuddered, wobbling a little woozily at the sensation she'd just gotten, the sensation of Oscar and Ozpin's souls swapping places. It was bizarre feeling, like Oscar and Ozpin were two sides of a coin, one that had just been flipped over. While the analogy made it seem mundane, it was such an odd condition for two souls to be in that Ruby couldn't help but find it disconcerting.

"Hello, everyone," said Ozpin, his voice speaking through Oscar's body, but also overlapping with Oscar's own. "I am aware that this is rather...difficult to comprehend. It normally takes longer than this for my soul to reform within my next host."

Ironwood shook his head slowly. "To think that your next host was in Vale all along."

"At the time, he was just visiting," Ozpin replied. "Oscar hails from Mistral."

"That being the case, there is a great deal we need to discuss then," said Ironwood, his expression hardening. "Thanks to the revelations from the Relic of Knowledge, we now know just how much you were hiding from us."

"That I am aware of, James," Ozpin replied, his tone sorrowful.

"You sent so many people to their deaths against Salem...and for what?" asked Ironwood.

"To hold her at bay," answered Ozpin. "There was a time where I sought to make this world into one that would not fall, once the gods delivered their judgment. I tried to lead, to bring humanity together. But Salem was always there, trying to drive them apart. Had I not sought her out upon returning, then maybe..."

"There's no way to know that," said Ruby, stepping forward. "Salem was tainted by the Grimm pools in the Land of Darkness, so she might well have sought to destroy mankind anyway."

"Perhaps," said Ozpin, sighing. 'However, I am the one who told her about the gods' test. That is how she knew what she needed to do to ensure humanity's destruction, should the gods be brought back."

"Even so..." growled Ironwood, stepping towards Ozpin, only for Natsuki to step between them, her right hand resting on the handle of her kodachi.

"Even if you're angry at Ozpin-dono, that's still Oscar-kun's body," said Natsuki firmly, preventing Ironwood from getting a step closer.

"And, thanks to the measures we have taken, the merger of their souls has been prevented, so it will _remain_ Oscar-kun's body," added Sasame. "So please do not try and take your frustrations out on it, just because Ozpin-dono just happens to be within it as well."

Ironwood huffed irritably, but stepped back.

"Besides, even if you are upset at Ozpin-dono, this is also the Mibu's sin," added Makoto softly. "Salem would not have been able to do what she had, had Jester-had Mibu Kyojiro-not been there to protect her and enable her."

"Perhaps you could clarify the circumstances behind him," suggested Glynda. "Jinn's tale relied upon broad strokes."

Makoto nodded. "Please understand that, even amongst the members of our clan, this is a secret known only to a scant few, mainly the Crimson King and the Taishiro. Saisei aside-"

"That's me, by the way," Sasame interjected cheerfully.

"-not even the Goyosei know of this."

"Understood," said Glynda, she and Ironwood nodding.

Makoto turned to survey the others, seeing them all nod in agreement with this story. Then he sighed softly. "Well...thanks to Jester, keeping it a secret might be moot at this point, but...

"...In the ancient days the Crimson King who ruled over the Mibu had become a terrible tyrant. At this time, the Mibu were also suffering the destructive sweep of the Death Disease, which threatened to wipe them out. The Crimson King at the time, seeking to maintain his control over both the Mibu and the human world, created four agents from his own flesh and blood."

"He could _do_ that?" gasped Natsuki.

"At the time, it was believed that the King; as well as the Kyo of that era, the original Kyo; were the sole surviving members of the True Mibu. The full power of the True Mibu is truly godly, and they were able to create and destroy at will. As such, it was well within that Crimson King's power to create living beings from his flesh and blood. Those four became his personal corps of assassins, the enforcers of his will, killing any who dared to defy the King or thwart his plans. Those four were the original Crimson Cross Knights."

"So _that's_ what you meant, when you mentioned Kyo's title being appropriated," noted Weiss.

Makoto nodded. "In time, the name was used to instead designate the heir to the throne of the Crimson King, which was fitting, as the fourth of the Crimson Cross Knights he created _had_ been meant to serve as his successor."

"Was that Jester?" asked Nora.

Makoto shook his head. "No. Jester was the second of the four, Mibu Kyojiro. Of all the Crimson Cross Knights, he was the most dangerous. Even though he was already the Crimson King's secret enforcer, he also hid in plain sight, masquerading as Chinmei of that era's Goyosei. Thus, he was able to monitor the members of the clan themselves, to ensure that none dared defy the King."

"Well...that's pretty scary," said Yang.

Makoto nodded. "At the time, it was believed that, though he was immensely powerful, he was naught but another of the battle puppets created by the True Mibu. Fundamentally, that meant that he was subject to the same limits they were, including the chance that he would fall to the Death Disease."

"But he didn't," noted Jaune.

Makoto shook his head. "No, he did not. We are not certain as to why, but that appears to have stemmed from his creation. The Crimson King was not, as had been thought, actually one of the True Mibu. He was but another of their battle puppets. But, he had been one of the first generation of such puppets. As such, his power rivaled theirs. It would seem that, when he created puppets of his own, in that one particular case, that one meshing of the flaws of his creation, and the flaws inherent to the design of the True Mibu, joined to produce a separate flaw, one with the inverse issue."

"So it wasn't that he was doomed to die the way the other Mibu were, but instead he couldn't die," noted Sasame, "or be killed."

"That was the gist of it," said Makoto. "The True Mibu, the Crimson King, the Brother Gods, even Salem; all these were within the power of those who have mastered god-slaying techniques, such as the _Mumyo Jinpu Ryu_, to kill. But Jester's unique version of immortality placed him beyond that, almost as though he existed on another plane, one that no force could ever affect."

"And, because of that, he would go on to enable the acts of Salem," concluded Ironwood.

"I am afraid so," said Makoto. "It was not mere disinterest that kept the Mibu from acting against Salem, but the presence of Jester; or the Intercessor, as we called him; that kept us from doing anything. By this era, it would be no exaggeration to suggest that he might have been capable of destroying the world in its entirety."

"Pr-preposterous!" exclaimed Ironwood.

Makoto's eyes narrowed. "The void that nearly swallowed Vale...when I pitted my strength against it, in an attempt to destroy it, I could feel that it had the potential to grow without limit. Had it continued to, the entire planet might well have been swallowed up."

"God..." muttered Qrow, taking a swig from his flask.

"There there," said Sasame placatingly. "There's no need to get worked up. Thanks to Ruby-chan, neither Salem nor Jester are problems anymore. Whatever grievances anyone had against Ozpin-dono, I believe we can consider them settled now."

"I suppose that's true," said Ironwood, grunting. "Getting angry about it now won't do anything, and Salem _is_ gone."

"If only everyone else were that understanding," muttered Qrow.

"True," agreed Glynda. "Thanks to Jinn, the entire world knows the truth about Ozpin now. Not only that, but they are aware of his ability to reincarnate."

"And the Maidens too, can't forget about that," said Qrow, taking another swig from his flask.

"So, even if Ozpin, as the world knew him, died in battle against Salem, there are no doubt people who will seek out his reincarnation," continued Glynda. "To what ends, we can only guess."

"Vengeance is one I can think of," said Yang sourly. "I remember Hazel's spiel. I wonder how many people out there hold Ozpin responsible for lost loved ones."

Ozpin nodded. "That is...most understandable."

"And not every one of them will be induced to restrain themselves, just because Oscar-kun is the one who wound up hosting his soul," added Sasame gravely.

"And there are probably people who'd want to use him in some way," added Ren.

"But we have an advantage," noted Ciel, who'd been silent so far. "Only the people in this room are aware that Ozpin was reincarnated inside Oscar."

"Pretty much," said Qrow. "So, as long as we can steer him clear of the people out looking for Ozpin, we can keep that from becoming too much of a problem."

"True," agreed Glynda. "Besides, now that Salem is gone, things have changed, and people know it."

"But they don't necessarily know _what_ has changed," mused Ironwood.

"What are you talking about?" asked Piper.

"Given the nature of Jinn's story, it would be easy to suggest that Ozpin and Salem's fates are tied together," said Ironwood. "Though there is nothing explicitly stating that. What if we started spreading the rumor that, because Salem was finally defeated..."

"...Ozpin's soul was able to move on," said Qrow, cluing in to what Ironwood was suggesting.

"So, we start spreading the rumor that Ozpin's last death was his final one," said Rain. "That seems quite feasible."

"We'll have to be careful in how we leak it out," said Blake. "If we try too hard, people will figure out that it's a false rumor."

"People are gonna figure that out anyway," grumbled Qrow. "Even if the rumor gains traction, there're always gonna be people who suspect that Oz is still around, and they're gonna look for him. Not to mention that it doesn't quite jive with the story Jinn told, but maybe people will overlook that. Anyway...we can probably convince a pretty big portion of the people who'd be looking for him otherwise that their time's better spent with something else."

"Agreed," said Glynda.

"Now that that's taken care of, I will return control of this body to Oscar," said Ozpin, another flicker of green washing across his body.

"You said we don't have to worry about his soul merging with Oscar's. What did you mean by that?" asked Ruby, looking to Sasame.

Sasame explained the seal she'd planted within Oscar, partitioning his soul off from Ozpin's, thus ensuring that they would remain distinct and separate for the remainder of Oscar's life, assuming the seal needed to be maintained that long.

"Thank goodness," breathed Ruby, heaving a sigh of relief. As soon as she'd learned that Ozpin had reincarnated inside Oscar, that fear had been eating away at the back of her mind.

"You mentioned that this will ultimately be a temporary arrangement," said Glynda.

Sasame nodded. "That is correct. After all, I believe it won't be all that long before we are prepared to produce a more permanent solution to this situation, namely helping Ozpin-dono's soul return to the afterlife."

"Could you exorcise his soul?" asked Natsuki, remembering that Makoto had once offered to do the same thing with her magic.

"That is possible," said Sasame. "Technically, I could even do it now. However...that does not quite solve the issue, as that solution comes with the same problem that exorcising your magic would."

"Ozpin's soul would just move on to the next suitable reincarnation," said Oscar glumly.

Sasame nodded. "And, of course, using a god-slaying technique to try and send him on would be excessive, mainly because that would wind up killing you as well, Oscar-kun."

Oscar shuddered, turning pale.

"However, there is a way for us to address this," said Sasame. "Namely, we must bring this issue to those who are responsible for Ozpin-dono's situation in the first place."

"You mean...the gods?" asked Qrow.

Sasame nodded. "Did we happen to retrieve the Relic that Jester-I mean Kyojiro-had in his possession?"

"Yeah," said Qrow, reaching under his cape to pull out the lamp, which he'd had hooked to his belt.

"When did you get that?" asked Weiss, staring incredulously at it.

"Picked up off the ground after Ruby finished off the psycho-clown," said Qrow. "I guess he'd been hiding it somewhere on him. I'm pretty surprised that it wasn't destroyed along with him."

"It's a good thing that it wasn't," said Makoto. "After all, this is our most expedient method of dealing with Ozpin-dono's situation."

"Y-you mean...?" gasped Glynda, shuddering at what she was daring to suggest.

"Bring together the Relics..." muttered Ironwood.

"Summon the gods..." added Qrow.

"But won't that just mean they'll pass their judgment?" asked Yang worriedly. "I mean, I know we _did_ just beat Salem. But I'd hardly call mankind united right now."

Sasame giggled. "Isn't that assuming that we would _allow_ them to do so?" she asked cheerfully. "Think back to Jinn's vision, Yang-chan. What is the one reason that the gods had any license to act on this world in the first place?"

Yang blinked. "That's because..."

"Because Jester interceded on their behalf," said Makoto. "Now that he is no longer a factor, we can call the Pretenders back, and make them clean up what remains of their mess..."

"And tell them just _what_ they can do with their judgment," added Sasame, "or, more appropriately, where they can shove it."

"That having been said, there is no need to rush either," said Makoto. "Now that Salem and Jester are no more, their agents will not be infiltrating Beacon or the other Academies, which means that the Relics can be assembled at our leisure."

"After all, if Jinn's vision of the past has showed us anything, it's that, even with the power of the True Mibu on the side of humanity, the battle against the gods was hard-fought," said Sasame. "They may be within our power to kill, but that does not mean that victory is a foregone conclusion, should we come to blows with them."

"Good point," said Qrow. "Make one mistake, and they could wipe out humanity all over again."

"Without the seed of his magic planted within the humans, the God of Darkness would find that difficult to do all at once, if not impossible," said Sasame. "However, he could still inflict terrible damage before he is brought down. In order to prevent that, we will need to be careful about how we arrange this confrontation."

"At this point, there is no need to be concerned, even if it takes years to set this up," said Ironwood. "In fact, that would be for the best. If we could further propagate advanced techniques that would enable us to field more fighters with god-slaying capabilities, that would be for the best."

The others nodded.

"In any case, it is best if we take the time to mend the wounds wrought by this most recent conflict, and restore stability, before we go inviting more trouble," said Glynda.

"Agreed," said Ironwood with a tired sigh. "We're still getting the situation in the settlements under control. By the end of this, the overall death toll will be staggering. I wouldn't be surprised if the count extends into the hundreds of thousands across the world."

"We've done all that we can, James," said Glynda softly, resting a hand on his arm.

"So now what?" asked Ruby. "What do you want us to do, Professor?"

Glynda smiled as she turned her gaze on Ruby. "Ms. Rose, for now, all I require is for you to rest. You and your friends have just been through an arduous battle, one that has decided the fate of the world. And you have lost much because of it."

Ruby flinched, a bit surprised (though, she reflected she probably shouldn't be) that Glynda had at least some understanding of the loss she'd endured by sacrificing Akaibara.

"For the time being, we have informed the public that Salem 'has been destroyed'. That's all there is at the moment. Therefore, you shouldn't be subjected to much in the way of extra scrutiny, so long as you don't wish for us to disclose the role that you played in her demise."

Ruby shook her head. "No thanks. I don't need people to know about that."

"Then that is information we will keep to ourselves," said Glynda. "I'm sad to say that the remainder of the year at Beacon has been...canceled...due to the crisis, though I think that you all could do with some time to recover anyway."

"So...um...does that mean we'll need to take the first year over again?" asked Yang nervously.

Glynda chuckled. "No. Given the current state of your grades, the students who were already passing will be automatically advanced to the next year. For those who weren't...we are making arrangements. However, there is no need for you to worry about that, as no one on your teams was in any danger of failing out. Considering what you've just accomplished, I think that a final exam to assess your skills is somewhat...unnecessary."

That bled quite a bit of tension out of the room.

"Given the circumstances, it is understandable if you haven't made arrangements for living outside the dorms," continued Glynda. "The dorms at Beacon Academy will remain open through the end of the year. You will have continued access to the facilities, and will even be permitted to take missions, should you choose to. This information will be shared with the rest of the student body shortly."

"What about the visiting students?" asked Blake.

Glynda nodded. "The current situation being what it is, the state of affairs is a bit too turbulent for us to be sure that we could return them safely to their home schools, so the same arrangements will be made for them, until such time that we can be sure that the necessary air and sea-routes have been cleared."

Blake let out a relieved breath at that.

"For now, spend time with your friends and family, and get some rest," said Glynda, smiling at the students.

* * *

Kyo stirred, his body shifting, his eyes fluttering slowly open. His body felt heavy, but not debilitatingly so. As his awareness returned to him, he began to take in the nature of his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was waking up under Sasame's care, after the tortuous battle he'd suffered at the hands of Jester. He'd barely gotten any time to take in the situation, Sasame explaining things as quickly as she could. Knowing that Vale was under attack by a truly _enormous_ swarm of Grimm, one that far eclipsed any herd or horde that had ever assembled in the known history of Remnant, made it apparent that Kyo needed to act.

When he had awakened, the Grimm had quickly reversed their course, and had been about to flee the area as swiftly as they could. Were they allowed to escape, even scattered, they would do so in numbers that would overwhelm the defenses of any number of settlements they came across. Therefore, it had been critical that they be dealt with _immediately_. However, that would require a level of reach that Kyo had never invoked before. His attack would have to encompass as many Grimm as possible. While Kyo would have never doubted his ability to handle any number of Grimm, that was contingent on him killing them as they came within his reach. Spread out like they were required a completely different kind of strength from what he was used to relying upon.

But he had to act, nonetheless. So Kyo had allowed Sasame to channel as much of her Aura as she could into him. Once there, Kyo had taken the risk, invoking the True Crimson Eyes, and launching himself upwards to unleash the broadest execution of the _Suzaku_ that he could. He had endeavored to unleash his power in a single, mighty stroke across the entirety of the battlefield, turning nearly the entirety of the atmosphere over Vale into his blade.

He'd succeeded. However, upon finishing, the consequences of overreaching to such an extent had fallen upon him nearly instantly, and everything had gone black.

Now Kyo was waking up, still feeling weak and tired. But he could sense that his strength was gradually returning. A little more rest, and he would be back at full strength. Even the injuries that Jester had inflicted had been treated, though Kyo could still feel the presence of scars on his body, a sign that Sasame had been as sparing as she possibly could with her Aura, when healing him.

_Ah well, it's fine,_ he thought. _I'm no stranger to scars, after all._

As his awareness continued to return, Kyo became aware of other things as well. First and foremost, he realized that he'd awoken in a bed, sheets pulled over his body. Someone had changed him into the robes he used for sleeping. Were he a betting man, he would have bet that they had brought him back to his room in the faculty quarters at Beacon.

However, the most important thing that he became aware of was that he was _not_ alone in the bed. As his awareness returned, Kyo also became aware of a warm, soft body pressed up against his own, a pair of arms wrapped tightly around him. A face was pressed up against his collar, a head of brown hair nestled beneath his chin, soft breaths tickling the skin of his chest, a pleasant scent tantalizing his nose.

Smiling, Kyo moved his arms to return the embrace, hugging Amber to him. The movement prompted her to stir in turn. With a soft noise, Amber pulled her face back enough to look at him, giving Kyo a view of the weblike scar that still adorned the left side of her face. She blinked, her eyes widening as she realized what she was seeing.

"Kyo..." she breathed.

"Good morning," he said softly. "At least, I assume it's morning."

Amber sniffed, tears welling up in her eyes, before she hugged herself to him again, pressing her face back against him, crying softly. Kyo gently rubbed her back and kissing the crown of her head.

"I'm sorry I worried you," he said.

"No...It's all right," said Amber, looking up at him again, relief covering her face. "You're alive, and that's all that matters. I...I don't know what I would have done, if I'd lost you."

"I'm glad you don't have to find out," said Kyo, kissing her lips.

"Me too," said Amber. "After all, you promised to go on the road with me, didn't you? I'd hate for you to go back on that now."

Kyo laughed softly, pulling Amber up against him. "Well...that depends on the current circumstances." His good mood faltered slightly. "Did we win?"

"We did," said Amber, prompting Kyo to relax a little.

"Is Ruby-chan all right?" he asked.

Amber nodded. "She did it," she said. "She killed Salem and Jester. It's all over."

Kyo smiled, though there was still a solemn aspect to it. "Not quite," he said.

"Hmm?" Amber looked up at him.

"Thanks to Jester, the world knows about the Maidens," he explained. "That means that, even if Salem and her agents are no longer seeking you, there is still every chance that others might be, if only to use your power for their own ends."

Despite his ominous warning, Amber smiled. "Then it's a good thing I have the strongest warrior in the world as my boyfriend."

Kyo laughed sheepishly. "I suppose so," he conceded. "Of course, I don't think I was able to quite claim that before. And now, I suspect that I may have to grant that designation to Ruby-chan, considering that she managed to defeat and destroy the one who I couldn't."

"You may be right," said Amber. "I don't understand though, how she was able to succeed."

"I don't quite either," said Kyo. "It's likely that, should we spar again, Ruby-chan still won't be at a level where she can defeat me, though she will undoubtedly make me work harder for my victory, the next time we fight. However, she nonetheless was able to do that which I couldn't."

"Maybe it wasn't ever about strength," mused Amber.

"Maybe it wasn't," agreed Kyo. "Perhaps my insistence on being the one to deal with Mibu Kyojiro was just an extension of the True Mibu's hubris."

"Hubris...?"

Kyo sighed. "Mibu Kyojiro, Jester...was a product of the Mibu's excess, I had always believed that the duty of disposing him should likewise fall to the Mibu as well. It was our mess, and we needed to be the ones to clean it up...so to speak."

"I can understand that," said Amber.

"I can hardly be the only one to claim that mindset," said Kyo. "All the others in my family line, from my father on back, undoubtedly felt the same. Yet none of us were able to succeed where Ruby-chan, a child with no blood connection to the True Mibu or the rest of the clan whatsoever, did. Perhaps it was because we were fundamentally lacking in some way...or maybe the opposite."

"What do you mean?"

"The True Mibu were gods in almost every sense of the word, and the ancestors of the current Mibu likewise believed themselves to be gods for a long time. Perhaps our fixation on being the ones to deal with Jester was an extension of that attitude. It was not a task to be left to 'mere mortals', although, in retrospect, that attitude was one of arrogance."

"I don't really think so," said Amber. "Why would you say that."

"Because it reflected the belief that it was a task only _we_ could undertake," said Kyo. "But, in the end, what was truly required was not the observance of some duty we designated to ourselves, but the ability to place our trust in another person entirely. In the end, defeating and finally killing Kyojiro did not require some advanced technique beyond everything we were capable of, but instead required something has been infinitely more difficult to us, including me."

"What was that?" asked Amber.

"A willingness to entrust it to another," said Kyo. "Because of that, you could say that the true winner was _Jester_."

"Him...but why?" Amber blinked furiously at the idea.

Kyo sighed. "However depraved he was, the truth is that all Kyojiro truly wanted was to die. He wanted to finally pass from this world. All the countless generations of the Mibu who came and went failed to meet that desire. So he also placed his trust in Ruby-chan...and was rewarded for it."

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," said Amber.

"Sometimes the truth is an unpleasant thing to stomach," said Kyo sadly. "Whatever the case, even if it meant granting Jester what he desired, the ultimate truth is that Ruby-chan succeeded, and the world is a much better place for it."

Amber nodded, resting her face against his chest again. "Now what?" she asked.

Kyo simply hugged her. "For now...I could use a little more rest. What say you to that?"

"I like the sound of that just fine," said Amber, nuzzling up against him, the two of them drifting off once more.

_Yes, a little more rest would be good,_ were Kyo's tired thoughts. _One thing for certain is that, when we finally get back up, we will emerge into a changed world. Even if it has been changed for the better, it is still a new paradigm that will take some getting used to._

* * *

**And the aftermath continues...**


	164. Chapter 164

**Chapter 164**

* * *

**Phew...Back in business. In the immortal words of Yang Xiao Long... "_That_ was a thing." Still, it seems that things have, more or less, returned to normal, and updates are showing up again...I hope. At least, that's what it looks like on my end. I hope everybody didn't mind the delays in reading my more-recent chapters. Still, what a thing to have happen, right as we hit the tail-end of this story.**

* * *

Ruby awoke with a yawn. Sitting up in her bed, she stretched her hands over her head. For a second, she smacked her lips, blinking sleepily as she stared at the wall in front of her.

_God...this sucks,_ she thought. Not too long ago, she was perpetually astonishing her friends with her ability to come into full wakefulness almost immediately, thanks to her training and experience. But now, after so many weeks of languishing, it appeared that her instincts had dulled considerably. _I really need to get out of this funk_, she thought bitterly. _Next thing I know, I'll wake up to realize I've started putting on fat._

With that pleasant notion in mind, Ruby pulled back the covers, shedding her pajamas as she headed to the bathroom. At least she didn't need to worry about anyone catching sight of her naked body right now. Whatever else, having a room to herself was a blessing.

A few minutes later, Ruby emerged from the bathroom. Heading to the closet, she pulled out her clothes and dressed herself, using her Aura to form her cloak and hood. That done, she pulled open the door and made her way down the hallway to the kitchen.

"Ah, good morning," said Yukimura, looking up from the stove, the sizzle of bacon and sausage reaching Ruby's ears, accompanied by scents that tickled her nose, prompting her stomach to growl.

"Good morning..." Ruby's voice trailed off, as it usually did, when addressing her godfather. Unfortunately, however close they had gotten, since she'd learned about him, Ruby still didn't yet feel comfortable calling him "Dad". Calling him "Godfather" made her sound like she was in a cheesy crime movie, as well as just sounding painfully formal, and "GodDad" wasn't actually a word, though she might consider making it one, if only to spare herself this awkwardness every morning.

"You know, I'm perfectly fine if you call me by name," said Yukimura cheerfully. "I know that we have a lot of bonding to do, and a lot of lost time to make up for. You don't have to really consider me your father, if you don't want to."

"I do!" Ruby blurted. "It just...it just feels a little awkward still. This is really new to me."

"It's new to me too," said Yukimura, transferring the food from the pan to the plate, and sliding it across the table to where Ruby sat down. "The point is that we'll feel our way through it, a little at a time. There's no need to force yourself into anything you're uncomfortable with, particularly since I doubt you and Yang will be staying here for very long."

Ruby swallowed, a lump forming in her throat at the reminder that this situation, as pleasant as it was, was only temporary. It had been at Qrow's suggestion that she and Yang were here, in Yukimura's home, residing above the very shop she'd brought Jaune to, where she'd first met her godfather. Without any classes in session, and the dorms only being open as a matter of necessity, there was no obligation for Ruby and Yang to continue rooming with their teams. Knowing that, Qrow had been the one to suggest that they spend this unexpected free time with their godfather, getting to know the man that Taiyang had tried so hard to keep out of their lives.

The other members of RASP and RYNB had been supportive of the idea, even if it meant that Ruby and Jaune couldn't share a bed for the time being. Yukimura informed them that he would have been happy to allow Jaune to share Ruby's room, but Jaune had politely declined, stating that Yukimura should get some time exclusively with his goddaughters. Besides, Jaune had needed to spend quite a lot of time with his own family, doing his best to reassure them, after the turbulent battle that had nearly destroyed the Kingdom.

In the weeks since the battle, Jaune's family had taken up temporary residence in the guest quarters at Beacon. Given that, aside from Jaune's parents; there were also his seven sisters, Terra, and Adrian; things were fairly crowded. However, the Kingdoms were still wrestling with getting things back under control, with all the unrest created by Jester's revelation. Routes to Ansel and Argus were not yet clear, and it would be at least another week or so before the Arcs would be able to return to their respective homes.

Were it only the continued threat of Grimm, things would be more understandable. But Jinn's revelations had kicked off dozens of changes that were threatening to cause some major disruptions, if they weren't handled carefully. The most dramatic of those developments were on the spiritual side of things. Several new religions had spawned practically overnight.

One religion was openly worshiping the Brother Gods. Ignoring Jinn's story about how they had come to this world, and the fact that they were pretenders, people were declaring that humanity was destined to bring the Relics together, and bring the gods' judgment upon the world. Surprisingly, Ozpin himself had apparently been enshrined as a holy prophet by this religion, and at least some of its followers were espousing a desire to seek out his new incarnation, so that he could lead them into salvation...or so they said.

More disturbingly, there was a new religious sect that had begun to worship the Mibu, much to the distress of Kyo and Sasame. The other Mibu visitors, including Makoto and the Goyosei, had already returned to Leng, so they were spared the uncomfortable notion that there were people seeking to elevate the Mibu back into godhood, after the Mibu themselves had spent so much time setting that attitude into the past. Kyo was particularly distressed, because such worship was emerging in towns and settlements that he had visited. Where he had once been welcomed for the promised respite from the Grimm he would bring, his image was now enshrined, and he was understandably worried about what kind of reception he would receive, if his arrival was treated as that of a god, and about how people would react to his attempts to disabuse them of the notion.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, amongst the most fervent adherents to this new worship of the Mibu were faunus. Apparently, the revelation that the faunus had been an unwitting creation of the Crimson King from several generations back, when he had revived humanity, had prompted them to view the Mibu as their creators. But then, there were those on the other end of the spectrum, human supremacists who proclaimed that the faunus were born of a "mistake" and needed to be cleansed to perfect the Mibu's creation. It was a religion that was as factional as it was widespread, for all that its overall numbers were low. Ruby could only be grateful that the Mibu themselves, secluded as they were, were all but completely unaware that this was going on, unsure about how some of them would respond to it.

However, perhaps the most disturbing development of all on the religious front was the emergence of a cult worshiping _Salem_, of all things. Even though she had been destroyed, once and for all, and the selfish and self-serving origins of her pitiful state had been laid bare in Jinn's story, there were still people who had apparently decided to put their faith in her. Unsurprisingly, theirs was a creed of nihilism. They believed that Salem would one day return and bring about the end of the world, something that they actively sought to aid.

Therefore, sowing the seeds of dissent and unrest, which had been nothing more than a means to an end for Salem herself, practically became creed to these people, as they believed that bringing down the Grimm upon themselves and those around them was a symbol of highest devotion. Likewise, members of this new cult were _also_ looking for Ozpin, as well as the Maidens, with far-less wholesome intentions than the religion that worshiped the Brother Gods. The cult had been denounced across all four Kingdoms, and the authorities were cracking down on its members as best they possibly could. But an idea, once planted, is not so easy to snuff out. It might be years before the Cult of Salem, as it was being called, was finally destroyed, if that was ever managed at all.

And yet, these changes amounted to small wrinkles in the current state of affairs. By and large, people were emerging to see the world as a better place. The revelation of Salem's existence, her origins, and her intentions; had been a source of fear and unease. However, that had been followed by the revelation that her threat had been ended once and for all. Salem had been constantly working to bring about humanity's destruction...and she had been stopped at last. The vast majority of the world greeted that knowledge with a sense of relief, finding the world to be a brighter place, now that there wasn't a malevolent force working to forever undermine it.

However, those were all incidental to Ruby's current situation, as she wolfed down the breakfast Yukimura had provided her. Just a couple of minutes behind her, a sleepy Yang arrived, just in time for Yukimura to slide another plate across the table to her. The moment the savory smells of breakfast reached her nose, Yang's previous torpor was all but forgotten, and she dug in with a relish.

A few minutes later, they took their empty plates to the sink, rinsing them off before sticking them in the dishwasher.

"So, what do you two have planned for today?" asked Yukimura, cleaning up his cooking implements.

"Eh, I'm gonna play things by ear," said Yang, grinning. "I figured I'd take the airship to Beacon and see if anyone wants to hit the sparring ring."

"I...I don't have any plans," Ruby admitted lamely.

"You're welcome to stay around and watch me work," said Yukimura.

Ruby nodded, deciding to take him up on that. It wouldn't be the first time, since she had started living here. In fact, she'd actually already graduated from simply watching to helping a little, learning a few of the elements of Yukimura's craft in creating Huntsman and Huntress outfits. At the moment, she'd been learning how to forge and shape armor, which was intriguing, since it had a fair bit in common with forging weapons, and appealed to Ruby's sensibilities. Working on that had done at least a little to help fill in the yawning void left by Akaibara's absence.

* * *

Ruby set the piece of shaped steel into the furnace, closing the clear, reinforced-glass door, before selecting the tempering program from the menu alongside it. The interior of the furnace turned a molten red and orange color, the color swiftly beginning to bleed into the steel as well. Ruby watched, checking the reading from the thermometer on the menu, watching the reading of the metal's temperature rapidly rise.

When it reached the ideal temperature, there was a click. The interior suddenly turned a pale blue, heat replaced by cold. In an instant, condensation formed on the red-hot steel, before it hissed away just as quickly, filling the chamber with steam. The metal within creaked harshly, then settled. When the steam had cleared, the plate was resting there, ready to be removed.

Ruby couldn't help but marvel at the innovation behind modern furnaces that people like Yukimura made use of. This kind of technology would be unthinkable in the Mibu lands. Murasame's forge made use of the molten heat rising from within the volcano the Royal Palace was built into the side of. But other smiths serving the clan still made use of the traditional charcoal furnaces that they had worked with since time immemorial.

In contrast, the furnaces used in the cutting-edge workshops of the Kingdoms made use of Dust and advanced electronics that removed most of the guesswork and manual labor from the equation. Gone were the days where smiths had to work the bellows to maintain a constant temperature and carefully monitor the color of the heated steel by eye to judge its temperature. Dust replaced charcoal flames, and electronic thermometers replaced the eye, the modern furnace able to heat whatever was in it to exactly the right temperature, then immediately cool and temper it. Advanced convection capabilities also ensured the efficient transfer of heat in and out of the metal to further enhance the process.

For her part, Ruby understood why the Mibu persisted with such antiquated tools. The labor that went into the creation of Mibu weapons and armor was a means of personal investment, a process of continual engagement that allowed the smith to infuse his Aura into his creation, thus breathing life into the instruments he forged. However, the process of learning and mastering such skills was one that took years, if not decades. It was a way that required just as much devotion and training as any martial art someone like Ruby might practice. In contrast, if she followed Yukimura's directions, and selected the correct setting on the furnace, Ruby could at least handle the tempering step of the forging process of her own, all with nothing more than the pressing of a few buttons.

Taking the metal out of the furnace, she could feel it in her hands. For what it was, it felt remarkably light, being one of the Dust-forged alloys that Yukimura had developed for the outfits he created, designed to be durable without compromising mobility. She wasn't sure that the steel a Mibu smith forged would have this intrinsic lightness, without sacrificing durability. Yet, it was still nothing more than metal. It lacked that spark of life, the presence of Aura that Mibu infused into their creations. Not that Ruby could complain. After all, Jaune's armor was like this.

"It's ready," she said, bringing the tempered piece to Yukimura, who accepted it, and quickly fitted into place, where the rest of the armor he was assembling hung from a torso-shaped mounting.

"Thank you," said Yukimura pleasantly, snapping the completed plate into place. "That should do it for this order."

"Who is this for?" asked Ruby.

"He's a fairly average Huntsman," said Yukimura. "He does steady work. The last couple of weeks have been hard on his outfit though, so I've been working on replacement pieces for his armor. He'll be by to pick this up, later this week."

"Oh..." said Ruby.

Pulling back from his work, Yukimura stretched his arms over his head. "Well, that should do it for today's schedule. Having you help me out certainly makes this go faster."

"I-I haven't messed anything up, have I?" asked Ruby worriedly.

Yukimura laughed. "Not at all," he said. "You pick things up quickly. Are you sure you wouldn't like to go into creating outfits alongside me?"

"N-no thanks," said Ruby, feeling a bit bad about having to turn him down. However, she was still determined to be a Huntress.

_If that's the case, then why am I just sitting around on my butt?_

The admonishment rose up within her head automatically. She _claimed_ she still wanted to be a Huntress. But instead, she'd been spending the last few weeks languishing, not even bothering to train in any meaningful fashion. She knew her skills would degrade, and yet she did nothing to maintain or polish them, instead contenting herself with days of meaningless busywork. However, every time she thought of doing some training, of working to get back into shape, her body and mind froze up. Her left hand moved reflexively towards the small of her back, fingers closing around something that was no longer there, the reminder completely draining away any desire to train from her.

The others, especially Kyo and Sasame, understood. As such, they weren't pushing her to train, even if it meant letting her skill degrade. For her part, Ruby knew that her unwillingness to start moving forward was disrespectful towards her sword. Yet she still couldn't help but tremble at the understanding that things would never be the same for her.

It seemed that Yukimura noticed her unease. Coming around, he gently hugged her from behind. "You still seem so lost," he noted.

Ruby realized she couldn't, and shouldn't, hide the truth from him. "I _feel_ lost," she admitted.

Lowering his face down, Yukimura gently kissed the top of her head. "That's understandable," he said. "Many Huntsmen and Huntresses are badly affected by the loss of their weapons. Some have lost their will to keep fighting entirely from such a loss. Your blade was so much _more_ than any ordinary weapon, so that feeling of loss would be even greater."

"I know that, and everyone's been so understanding, but..." Ruby didn't know what to say. Part of her wished that someone would find the courage to tell her to just stop sulking, get off her butt, and get over it. If Akaibara's spirit could reach over from the other side, Ruby had no doubt that her sword would have just such an admonishment for her.

"Well...that being the case, why not go back to the beginning?" asked Yukimura.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

Letting her go, Yukimura smiled mysteriously. "Follow me."

He led her towards the stairs that led back up into his residence above the shop. However, instead of taking the stairs up, he instead pressed his hand against the wall. A flicker revealed a concealed panel, and a rectangular seam appeared on the wall, opening up to reveal a hidden door, and a set of stairs that led _down_ instead.

Ruby blinked, then her eyes widened. Despite all the time she'd spent in this place lately, she had no idea about _thi_s. Wordlessly, she followed Yukimura down the stairs. They didn't go very far. This was nothing like the facility Mason Ayers had used beneath an office building. Ruby figured that, depth-wise, this was maybe a little deeper than most basements, but not much more than that.

She followed Yukimura into a large room, and he hit the lights to illuminate the space. It was impressively large. In terms of floorspace, it could have easily held one of the basic sparring rings in Beacon. Indeed, a portion of that space seemed to be given over to a sparring ring of some kind. The ceiling was lower, but not low enough for it to feel cramped. One wall of the room was host to racks that held a variety of weapons and armaments. A corner near those racks hosted a work terminal and chair. On the far side of the room from the rack was a wall, with an opening into a second space, showcasing what was clearly a firing range.

"What is this place?" she asked, looking around.

"Well, above is the workspace for Yukimura: the designer," explained her godfather. "This space, on the other hand, is for Yukimura: the Huntsman."

"Um...why the fancy concealed door?" asked Ruby dubiously.

Yukimura beamed cheerfully at her. "It's every boy's dream to have a secret base, isn't it?"

Thinking about how Jaune would gush over how cool this place was, Ruby couldn't bring herself to argue, even if it _did_ seem rather silly to her. "But why show me this?" she asked.

"Well, I figured that, since you're still dealing with the loss of your sword, it might do you well to start from the basics, from before you had your sword," explained Yukimura.

"You mean...?" Ruby canted her head.

"The most basic training you began with," said Yukimura. "Before you were granted such a magnificent blade, I am sure that your siblings started with physical training. Given that they were Mibu, they also started with Aura-training too, correct?"

Ruby nodded.

"Then why not start from there," said Yukimura. "I can understand if trying to practice your katas is too painful for you to do right now. That being the case, start with something that isn't so painful, in order to regain the mindset of working towards your goal to become a Huntress. Build from there, and I am sure that you will eventually reach the point where you will be able to pick up the sword again."

Ruby blinked, realizing that what Yukimura was suggesting made sense. "So...just start with the basics?"

"That's right," said Yukimura, "with me."

"Huh?"

Yukimura's smile widened. "Truth be told, I've been curious about Mibu Aura-techniques for sometime now. I never got the chance to ask either of your siblings about it. So learning from you would be an excellent opportunity.

"More importantly, to teach is to learn. Having a student of your own will help you further refine your own skills, enhance your focus, and perhaps help you to overcome your current slump. What do you say?"

Ruby mulled it over for a moment. As she did, she found that the idea didn't seem so bad at all. She'd enjoyed training Jaune, even before they'd become romantically involved. She'd liked the sensation of helping her friends, guiding them to better understand their Auras and refine skills that they never would have acquired, had they stuck exclusively with what was taught in the Kingdoms. When she thought about doing that again, she found that the emptiness within her wasn't so debilitating anymore.

"So, that having been said, what are we doing first, Ruby-sensei?" asked Yukimura teasingly.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle at his address for her. "Well...for starters, let's get to work on the Three Exercises. The first one is called Temper. You seem to have a good idea of how that works already, but you can still improve..."

Time slipped away as Ruby worked with her godfather, guiding him through the first of the Three Exercises needed to fully harness his Aura. It wasn't until a frantic Yang called, demanding to know where they were, that the pair realized just how engrossed they were in their training.

Ruby found herself reflecting that it wasn't a bad way to spend her time at all.

* * *

As the days went by, the situation around the world continued to stabilize. Just a few days later, it was declared that the routes between Vale and the other Kingdoms were open, as were the routes to Vale's various settlements, those that had survived the aftermath of the conflict.

First went the visitors and tourists, who had come to Vale for the Vytal Festival. In the wake of Salem's attack, they'd been trapped in the Kingdom for weeks. Given the completely unexpected nature of the conflict, it was unthinkable that they be charged for continued accommodations within the Kingdom. Yet, at the same time, supporting so many people for too long was not something that the Kingdom could maintain. So it was with no small amount of relief that those people were finally told that they could return to their homes and families.

It wasn't good news all around. More than a few had lost friends and family, or had learned that the settlements that they'd hailed from had been overrun. However, those who could go home did, which was the vast majority of them, thankfully.

After them went the visiting students from the different Academies. In some ways, that was harder than it was for civilians who had merely been visiting. Many of the visiting students had struck up close friendships with students from other schools, friendships that had only been strengthened by the trial of fighting alongside each other. More than a few romances had formed as well, with the couples worrying about how the distance would affect their burgeoning relationships. However, even as they were reluctant to part with the ones with whom they'd forged such strong ties, the visiting students were also eager to return to their home Kingdoms.

Jaune saw his own family off at the airport, glad that they would be able to head back home, now that the way to Ansel had been cleared. Saphron and Terra would also be heading out to Argus the same day. Ruby and the rest of RASP joined Jaune in exchanging fond farewells with his mother and sisters, his three youngest sisters clinging tightly to him, before they were finally ushered aboard the family bullhead by their father. Given the amount of time that he had spent with them, Jaune and his family were well on the way to clearing the bad feelings that had lingered between them, after the years of discord that they had suffered from before.

Following that came a surprise. Blake announced that she would be leaving Vale to return to Menagerie, declaring her intention to go see her parents. After years spent estranged from them, and being reluctant to see them, even after she realized how right they were, Blake had decided that the time had finally come to bite the bullet, and go see her mother and father.

However, she would not be going alone. Much to her surprise, the rest of her team, even Yang, had volunteered to accompany her. Even more surprisingly, one other person would be going with her as well.

Sun Wukong had chosen to remain in Vale, despite the rest of his team taking their leave. Sun defended his decision by pointing out that Haven's situation was the same as Beacon, the Academy having suspended classes for the remainder of the year, while advancing the students who had already been passing to the next year automatically. Haven was also struggling to fill in the void left by the disappearance (and presumed death) of its Headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart. Which meant that things over there were only in even greater disarray.

On the note of Lionheart, an investigation by Qrow, at Ozpin's behest, had revealed a horrifying truth. Lionheart had defected to Salem's faction years ago, and had been covertly providing Salem with information regarding Huntsmen and Huntresses active within Mistral, who Salem's agents had been actively hunting down, in between their other activities. Their best guess was that Lionheart had then been disposed of, when Jester and Raven had gone to retrieve the Relic of Knowledge from the vault beneath Haven. It was a bitter blow, knowing that someone so trusted had gone so bad. Worse still, it was the kind of thing that Ozpin and his circle could never allow to come to light. Therefore, they were working quickly and quietly to find an appropriate replacement for Lionheart. At least they wouldn't need to worry about the next Headmaster betraying them to Salem.

The end result of all this was that Sun would be joining Team RYNB on their trip to Menagerie, with Sun viewing this as an opportunity to meet his girlfriend's parents, and hopefully get their approval, regarding his relationship with their daughter. Blake wasn't overly worried, given how much better Sun was than her last boyfriend.

Not long after them, Kyo and Amber also took their leave. By that point, Kyo's Aura was no longer really required to keep the Grimm at bay, now that the shock and grief of Salem's attack had worn off, and public order had been restored. If anything, any reluctance he had to resume his wandering after this mainly stemmed from the thought of having to convince the villages he visited not to treat him as some kind of living god. Aside that, the only other reason for delay had been Amber's rehabilitation, which was all but finished by that point. In any case, Kyo had started getting anxious, this being the longest he had ever spent in one place that wasn't Onmyo.

The next startling piece of news was the departure of Ruby's friends, who had come to visit during the Vytal Festival. That they were leaving wasn't such surprising news. The _real_ shock came from the revelation of _where_ they were going.

* * *

"You're going to Mistral!?" exclaimed Ruby, flummoxed by the idea, staring in confusion at Team MNPS, as they all stood in the terminal of Vale's Central Station. "When did you decide this?"

"It wasn't so long ago," said Miyu, smiling fondly at Ruby. "We're sorry for not telling you sooner. But you were dealing with other things."

"Yeah..." admitted Ruby. She _still_ was dealing with those things, if she was being honest with herself. "But why?"

"To meet Oscar-kun's aunt, of course!" replied Natsuki cheerfully, wrapping her arms around Oscar's shoulders and hugging herself to him from behind, nuzzling her cheek against his, as he blushed.

"That far along, huh?" mused Ruby, smiling slyly.

Natsuki squeaked, her cheeks coloring at the realization of what she was admitting to. She averted her eyes, though she remained clinging to her new boyfriend from behind. "Um...Well...given Oscar-kun...um...that is..."

"We've got to figure out how to break it to her that her nephew is hosting the soul of an immortal Wizard inside his noggin," declared Maria as she ambled up, cackling. "Poor boy. Personally, I think you should be charging that freeloader rent."

"Where would I even send the bill?" Oscar wanted to know.

"Beacon, of course," said Maria with all good cheer.

"Um...Ozpin says that won't work," said Oscar.

"He would," grumbled Maria.

Ruby couldn't help but giggle at their antics. She was glad that Natsuki and Oscar were going together, and felt reassured by the fact that Miyu and Setsuna would be going with them too. By this point, Team MNPS could be counted on to look after one another, even if Maria _weren't_ chaperoning them.

Reaching out, she took Natsuki's hand in her left, and Oscar's in her right. "Just be careful," she said. "Even if Salem is gone, there are still people looking for you."

"We will," Natsuki replied. "Ozpin is gonna keep teaching me how to use my magic, but we'll keep it a secret."

Oscar nodded.

Ruby looked at them one last time, then pulled on their hands, pulling both of them into a hug, which they gladly returned. She was glad to see that Oscar's cheeks weren't even coloring now. Apparently, he truly _had_ gotten over his crush on her. It seemed that his relationship with Natsuki was progressing well too.

After that, she exchanged words of farewell with Miyu and Setsuna, exchanging hugs with them as well. Then she watched as Maria shepherded the group onto the train, continuing to watch as it pulled out of sight.

"I hope their families back home are gonna be okay with this," commented Jaune.

"Sasame-nee will probably smooth things over," said Ruby. "Since I did something similar, they probably won't think too much of it."

Jaune nodded. "So...what's the plan now?"

"I...I'm not sure," said Ruby. She sighed, stretching her arms over her head. "First things first, I've gotta get serious about whipping myself back into shape. Then...I'll figure out where to go from there."

Jaune nodded, feeling a bit reluctant. Ruby still hadn't replaced her sword. The sash at the small of her back was devoid of any weapon and, even though he knew that it couldn't be further from the truth, Ruby looked painfully vulnerable to him right now.

Ruby reached down into one of her pockets, and pulled out her scroll. "But first..."

"First, what...?" Jaune wanted to know.

"Something I promised Yang," said Ruby. "There's someone I need to see..."

* * *

Never in a million years had Ruby imagined that she would find herself in this place. The room was incredibly bare, which; combined with its white walls, ceiling, and floor; seemed almost painfully sterile. It looked like a place where the decorator had gone out of his way to wipe away any signs of life or living. This was not a room suitable for people, at least to Ruby's mind it wasn't.

She was seated in a chair that was just as white as anything else in the room...the only other things in the room being the table and the identical chair on the other side. To the untrained observer, the room looked completely open, with nothing to keep a person on one end of it from migrating to the other. However, Ruby was easily able to sense the buzz of the hard-light barrier that divided the room, and the table, in half. It remained invisible to the naked eye, only appearing should someone try to force their way past it.

Ruby was glad for that invisible partition. She wasn't sure what the person she had come to speak to would do, if it weren't there...and wasn't sure what _she_ would do, if it weren't there.

The door on the other side of the room opened with a faint click. Ruby's eyes widened the tiniest of bit at the sight of Taiyang Xiao Long entering. Her father had traded out his previous clothes (or had been _made_ to trade them out, more likely) for a plain long-sleeved shirt and pair of pants, both of which were as white and sterile as the room they were in. His hair had gotten shaggier and longer...and also lightened. The soul-patch that decorated his chin had spread out into a full-blown stubble, well on its way to becoming a proper beard. There were dark bags under her father's eyes, a sign that he hadn't been sleeping well.

Given the conditions of their previous encounters, Ruby had expected her father to bound in with all the energy and excitement of a child who'd been given exactly what he'd asked for for his Yuletide present. Twice before, Taiyang had tried to forcefully remove Ruby from Beacon and drag her back to Patch, and been rebuffed. And now...she had been the one to seek _him_ out.

And yet, now, Taiyang shuffled into the room, tentatively pulling out the chair and sitting down on it, fidgeting nervously as he finally looked across the room and met her eyes, something that almost looked...contrite...in his expression.

"You came..." was all he said.

"I did," Ruby replied. "I came here because Yang asked me to, so don't go thanking me for it."

Taiyang finally brought his eyes up to meet hers. Ruby met his gaze squarely, still not sure what to feel about him. This was the man who'd tried to lock her away from the world, first by denying her the chance to become a Huntress, then gradually isolating her from her circle of friends, even going to the point of planning to withdraw her from school. After she had run away, then run into him at Beacon, Taiyang had still tried to bring her back home, completely ignoring her own will. Even after that had been stopped, he'd _still_ attempted to practically kidnap her in Vale, his obsession reaching the point where they had needed to lock him up in this place, as the only feasible means of keeping him from continuing to act on it.

By all rights, Ruby should have despised him. On some level, she did. She loathed the man in front of her with a passion. Taiyang was an obsessive, possessive scumbag, who'd been so wrapped up in what _he_ wanted that he actively refused anything that his own daughter might want for herself, if it went against his wishes. Looking at him should have filled her with a simmering anger, a desire to slug him, even though the barrier would stop her.

However, as she looked at the man Taiyang was now, all Ruby could bring herself to feel was pity. The Taiyang Xiao Long in front of her was nothing short of _pathetic_. This was not the man she had spent most of her life resenting. This was a man who had been so completely drained by his obsession that it had eaten away practically any aspect of his characte_r but_ that obsession. Looking at her father in this state, Ruby just couldn't bring herself to get that worked up by him.

"Ruby..." Her name coming from his mouth gave Ruby pause. It wasn't the way he usually said it, loaded with both overbearing fatherly love and fatherly authority. It was almost a sigh.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I...I was wrong." Once again, Taiyang lowered his eyes down to the table, his expression full of sorrow.

Ruby raised an eyebrow, the next question rolling off her tongue automatically. "About what?"

"About you...about your strength." Taiyang sighed, his gaze slipping off the side of the table and onto the floor, tracing its way towards the wall. "You're every bit the Huntress your mother was...if not more. I'm sorry it took me so long to see that."

There was a flickering return of anger within Ruby's gut. _Took you long enough,_ she wanted to say bitterly. However, she couldn't bring herself to say it, her anger still being overwhelmed by the simple pity she felt at the sight of the despondent man in front of her.

"Qrow and Yang told me about the final fight, about how you killed Salem," said Taiyang, finally bringing his eyes back to hers. "I couldn't believe it. Even if I _hadn't_ doubted you from the beginning, I wouldn't have been able to believe it. But you did it. You killed her, the one that nobody was supposed to be able to kill. I...I..."

_If you say "I'm so proud of you," this conversation is ending right now_, thought Ruby, her eyes narrowing. Not even for Yang's sake would she tolerate hypocrisy of such a staggering degree.

Almost as though he had read her mind, or was aware of the utter hypocrisy of such a statement, Taiyang stopped himself from saying anything more. Instead..."You avenged her."

"What?" grunted Ruby, confused.

"Your mother," said Taiyang. "You avenged her. After everything we suffered, you finally made Salem pay for her crimes."

"I guess I did," Ruby admitted, as much to herself as anyone else. The fact that Salem had as good as admitted that she was behind Summer's death, whether directly or indirectly, was practically a footnote in the grand scheme of things. During the fight itself, the thought of avenging her lost mother was the furthest thing from Ruby's mind, Ruby too preoccupied with the need to protect the people whose fates were resting on her sword. Even afterwards, it hadn't really occurred to her, until Taiyang had brought it up to her now.

Taiyang's eyes widened, his expression becoming hopeful. "But it's more than that. Salem was behind everything, the attacks on the Kingdoms, the unrest, the White Fang...Now that she's gone..."

Ruby frowned. "Did you know about Salem?" she asked.

"I...I did..." Taiyang lowered his eyes to the table. "Back then, after we graduated from Beacon, Team Stark was Ozpin's preferred team for trying to head off Salem's efforts. We squared off with her agents many times.

"Then Raven and I had Yang. After that, something changed in Raven, and she disappeared. I don't know what it was...or I didn't at the time. I think she must have found out the truth, that Salem couldn't be killed, at least not by people like us, and came to the realization that Ozpin was just using us."

_Of course he was,_ thought Ruby. That would have been the truth, whether Salem could be killed or not. But, in a sense, that was perfectly understandable. To serve under someone, and operate according to their orders, was to be used by them. It didn't mean that that person didn't care. Although, after so many lifetimes of fighting the same struggle over and over again, Ruby could easily understand it if Ozpin started to get a little...detached...if only to spare himself the pain of losing people who had put their faith in him over and over again.

"After that, Summer helped me to pick up the pieces, and raise Yang," Taiyang continued. "Then we had you. Our life was perfect. I retired from the fight so that I could help raise you girls. But Summer had the Silver Eyes, and _so_ much conviction, so she kept taking missions at Ozpin's behest, all the way up until she disappeared...until she died."

Taiyang had been resting his hands on the table. Now he dragged his fingers across its metal surface, curling them into fists. "I...I couldn't watch you go through the same thing. You looked just like Summer. You even had the same eyes as her. Of course Ozpin would want to use you the same way he had her, use you _up_ the same way he did her. There was no way I could stand by and just let that happen."

_And no way you could talk about it either,_ thought Ruby, frowning. Given the nature of Ozpin's conflict with Salem, there was no way that Taiyang could get away with telling someone, even his own daughters, about it, without severe repercussions. Not to mention that hearing of a conflict with an evil entity spanning centuries, like something out of the storybooks Yang had read to her long ago, was all the _more_ likely to fire up Ruby's enthusiasm, rather than dampen it.

It certainly made things add up in her head. It explained Taiyang's paper-thin excuses, his unwillingness, or inability, to provide proper reasons for why she couldn't become a Huntress. If he couldn't tell her the _real_ reason she was being denied the future she wanted, then all he had left were excuses.

It also explained his more paranoid behavior as well. The other aspect, one that was easier to overlook, was that Ruby had Silver Eyes, just like her mother. She imagined that Taiyang must have been aware that those eyes, and the power that they carried, had probably made Summer a priority target for Salem and her minions. If Salem was aware that Summer had a daughter, a daughter who had inherited the same eyes as Summer, there was every chance that Salem's people had already been seeking _Rub_y out, even back when she'd been a child. It was no wonder that Taiyang had become so protective, worried whenever Ruby was out of his sight for too long. It wasn't such a surprise that he was forever checking up on her when she went on sleepovers with her school-friends, when his mind was conjuring images of some sinister figure, like Tyrian, spiriting her away in the dark of night.

Knowing the truth about Salem and Ruby's mother, as well as the role Team STRQ had played in the war against Salem, explained so much about Taiyang's behavior...explained it, but went no further in _excusing_ it. Even if Taiyang's fears were perfectly valid, that gave him no right to treat her like an object, to crush any agency Ruby herself might possess, and lock her away from the world. He had turned their home into a prison, turned himself into her jailer, guilted Yang into helping him, and stripped Ruby of almost all her connections; all in the name of her safety. Even after they had met again, after years of absence, he'd still treated her like the same object, something he needed to confine and lock away.

Taiyang let out another sigh, this one of relief. "But now…It's finally over. She's gone…for good. With what the Relic showed us, I would have never thought it possible. But you did it."

"I guess," Ruby conceded, wondering what Taiyang's point was.

Taiyang gave her a relaxed smile. "With her gone…we're finally free. I don't have to worry anymore."

"Is that what you think?" asked Ruby, a harsh edge to her tone.

"Huh?" Taiyang recoiled back at the anger in her voice.

"After a lifetime of giving me nothing but doubt and talking down to me, of treating me as helpless…now that the big, bad boogiewoman is gone, it's okay, is that it?" asked Ruby, her eyes narrowing.

"Tha-that's not what I…" Taiyang trailed off, apparently unsure of _what_ he meant to say.

"Now that the impossible task is over," said Ruby, "and you don't have to worry about Ozpin sending me off to die in his war, now it's perfectly okay for me to be a Huntress. Is that what you were trying to say?"

"I…I…" Taiyang looked down. "Maybe." Then he looked up at her again. "Ruby…I was completely wrong…about you…about everything. It was a mistake to try and keep you locked away like that. I-I'm sorry."

Ruby's eyes narrowed dangerously. "'Mistake'…" she repeated. "We're _way_ past the level of 'mistakes', Taiyang Xiao Long."

Taiyang winced visibly at Ruby's use of his name, rather than calling him "Dad" or "Father".

"You weren't making a mistake," insisted Ruby. "You deliberately ignored anything that didn't fit into your neat little worldview. Whatever you couldn't use to justify dragging me back to that house with you, you just threw to the side and pretended never happened.

"I fought Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, to a draw. Apparently you thought, because I didn't win against the Mistral Regional Tournament's four-time champion, I didn't have what it took to be a Huntress. It was such a shock that it created a minor scandal that we spent _weeks_ having to deal with. But you were perfectly happy to pretend it didn't matter.

"None of that was a 'mistake'. None of that was an accident. And it's _far_ too late for apologies."

Taiyang opened his mouth. Then apparently thought better of what he was about to say. "I…" He sighed again and looked down. "You're right."

Ruby couldn't even find it in herself to take satisfaction in his admission.

"Ruby…what I did was wrong. Everything. I was a horrid father, to you _and_ Yang. I…I understand that now. That's why…"

"Why what?" pressed Ruby.

Taiyang met her eyes once more. "That's why…I'm going to get better. I promise. I'll get out of here. And when I do, I won't be the man you ran away from, the man you had to fight. I promise that I will do better. And then…"

"Then what?" pressed Ruby. "Are you expecting me to magically forgive you, that we'll all go back to Patch together, and live happily ever after?"

"I…I wouldn't say that," said Taiyang. "But…do you really have a reason not to?"

Ruby blinked. "Huh…?

Taiyang looked at her intently. "I know that you're in a funk right now. I can see it. You lost something…or someone."

Ruby looked down, her heart thudding. "Both," she said in a voice so soft, it was almost a whisper.

Taiyang nodded. "I thought so. That look in your eyes…I used to see it in the mirror, right after your mother…right after we…" He shuddered. "Who did you lose?"

"My sword," said Ruby.

Taiyang blinked, seeming confused by her revelation. "Your…sword…?"

Ruby nodded, looking straight at him.

"Ruby…" Taiyang took on a conciliatory tone. "…a Huntress or Huntsman's weapon is something special. That much is true. But if you're in such a state because you lost your _sword_, then maybe-"

"Don't say it," growled Ruby, the dangerous edge reappearing in her voice. "My sword was not _just_ some weapon. She was every bit as alive as any person, something you might have noticed, had you bothered to pay attention when you were watching me use her. She deliberately gave up her life, sacrificed herself, to help me win the final battle. And I refuse to allow _anyone_, least of all _you_, to belittle that."

From the expression on his face, Taiyang clearly wanted to disagree. Then he shook his head, playing his next card. "But that's the point, Ruby. When you experience a loss like that, it can shake you to your core, damage the conviction that keeps you going. When you lose someone or something so dear to you…well…do you really need to keep going?"

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

Taiyang leaned forward. "Ruby…It's over, isn't it? You won. You saved the world. Salem is gone. The Kingdoms are safe and secure, and everything is going to be all right. Your fight…it's over. You don't need to do more. You've done enough. You don't have to go out on anymore missions. You can stay-"

"With you?" interjected Ruby.

"Well…I _am_ your father," said Taiyang.

"No," said Ruby firmly, taking the wind out of his sails. "You're not. And you never will be."

"Ruby, I…"

"You gave up your last chance to be my father months ago, at Beacon," continued Ruby. "You used up all your other chances. That ship has sailed."

Now it was her fingers that were curling to form fists, on top of the table. "And you're wrong about one other thing. It's _not_ over."

"It's not?"

Ruby stared straight on at Taiyang. "It's not over. Salem may be gone, but the Grimm are still a problem. They still infest the world and go after any people they can find. Even if Salem isn't directing them, they're still a threat that people need to be protected from. And, even if Salem isn't a threat anymore, there are plenty more threats that can replace her."

Ruby's grip tightened, the knowledge of what had been happening in the weeks since she had defeated Salem and Jester racing through her head. Communities were in turmoil. New ideologies and religions, some of them dangerous, had arisen from the ashes of the last conflict. The White Fang was scattered and leaderless, now that both Sienna Khan _and_ Adam Taurus were dead. Ilia was trying to do what she could to help pick up the pieces, but she wasn't a prospective High Leader. It was entirely possible that the organization could wind up fragmenting, with who knew how many of those factions turning just as extremist as Adam's had.

Though Salem was gone, and was no longer actively fomenting conflict through her agents, there were plenty of future conflicts that were building on their own, conflicts that would draw the Grimm, and put people in danger.

And Ruby had made it her calling to protect those people, to push back against the darkness, no matter what shape it took. The end of Salem didn't mean an end to her life's work. Instead, her true battles were only just beginning.

_That's right…even without Akaibara, I'm still a Huntress,_ thought Ruby, a faint smile appearing on her face. _No matter what…I need to keep moving forward._

"Ruby…?" Taiyang tilted his head, confused by her expression.

"I think we're done, here," said Ruby, pushing away from the table.

"Ruby!" yelped Taiyang, confused by how suddenly she was putting an end to their conversation.

Ruby stopped at the door, glancing back over her shoulder at her father. "I wondered why I came here. I thought this might have been a mistake. But…now I know that it wasn't."

"Ruby…?" Taiyang's jaw dropped slightly at her admission.

Ruby's smile widened a little. "Thanks to this, I know what I need to do. You helped remind me of what's truly important. So…for that…even if it wasn't what you meant to do…I need to thank you."

"Ruby…" Taiyang's last utterance of her name was a resigned whisper, as he understood that any hope he'd had of convincing her to give up her path in life had completely evaporated…if there had ever been any to begin with.

"So…thanks," said Ruby. She turned a little more to look straight at him. "You will _never_ be my father, Taiyang. But…if you get the help you need, if you _really_ meant all those things you said about how you realize you were wrong, if you get over that, then maybe…I might just be willing to see you as family."

With that, she walked out, closing the door behind herself, leaving Taiyang to his own thoughts.

Outside the door to the visitor's room, Ruby leaned against the door, clenching her left hand in front of her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, knowing what she needed to do next. It was time to go home.

* * *

**And that pretty much wraps things up between Ruby and Taiyang. I think we all realized that a true reconciliation between them wasn't in the cards, at least not at this stage. Taiyang has a lot of work to do, before he can reach the point where Ruby might be willing to acknowledge him as family again.**

**One more chapter to go, followed by the epilogue. Hang in there, people, the ride is almost over.**


	165. Chapter 165

**Chapter 165:**

"You're going back to Leng!?" exclaimed Weiss.

Ruby nodded. "There are some things I need to take care of over there."

"You mean...getting a new sword?" asked Pyrrha.

"...Something like that," said Ruby, shifting uneasily.

All told, it would have been nice, if she could have returned and commissioned a new sword from Murasame. But the Mibu Blademaster didn't work by commission, at least not from someone outside the Taishiro. Ruby would have felt guilty, if she'd borrowed Makoto or Sora's authority to get that. Besides, she wasn't sure that a commissioned piece would ever mesh with her spirit as well as Akaibara had.

Still, there were the swords she had gotten during her training years, the ones she had placed into storage, after she'd learned how to use Akaibara. She could easily take this opportunity to get those out of storage, and use them. They were nowhere near as powerful, but were fine works in their own right, even if they weren't strong enough to stand up to the _Raikoken_. Ruby hoped that, eventually, she could obtain a blade that would be capable of that much.

In the meantime, she would simply have to rely on the blades that had seen her through many attempts on her life, back in Leng. Of course, in order to get them, she would have to go back to the palace. Sure, perhaps it would have been easier to just have a smith in Vale make new swords for her. But there was something special about the swords that Ruby had used, back before she'd received Akaibara. The vagaries of Aura meant that familiar objects were more receptive to use than new ones. Ruby felt there was more value in retrieving her old and trusted swords, rather than trying to forge a new bond with brand new ones that she had never touched before.

Then again, maybe she was just being sentimental, and looking for an excuse to go home for a little. It wasn't as though there was any definitive reason to spend the entire time until the next school-year waiting around in Vale. Sure, the arrangements made by Glynda had ensured that they would be able to take missions, in the time that passed, but Ruby wanted to have her swords back in her hands, before she did that.

Hence she had announced her intentions to her teammates, and Ashley, when they had come over to Yukimura's home for dinner. Jaune had been happy to pitch in in the kitchen to help Ruby's godfather produce a meal that would feed five growing young-adults, along with himself.

"Are you okay?" asked Ashley, looking at Ruby worriedly.

"I'm fine," said Ruby, smiling back at Ashley. "Why are you asking that?"

"Well...it's just...you came back from seeing your father, and suddenly you're talking about leaving the Kingdom," Ashley pointed out worriedly.

"It's not forever," Ruby countered. "I'm going to be back before the start of the next school-year, that much is certain."

"So it would still be a couple of months, all told," said Jaune. It was now towards the middle of October after all. "Your birthday is at the end of the month. I was hoping we could spend it together."

Ruby paused, thinking about it. "W-well...maybe...um..."

"I want to celebrate your birthday too," added Ashley, Weiss and Pyrrha nodding their agreement.

"I mean...that's nice, but..." Ruby looked down at the table, unsure of what to say. She wanted to head out to Leng soon, but understood her friends' desires as well. While she would be sure to spend a wonderful birthday with her family back home, Ruby would have liked to spend it with her friends too.

"Well...if there's no helping it," said Jaune, "then I'm coming with you."

"Huh! What?" Ruby looked up at Jaune with wide-eyed surprised.

Jaune gave her a warm smile. "I'm not letting the girl I love leave without me," he said firmly. "And I want to see the place you grew up in. I want to meet the people who helped raise you. So I'm going with you."

"Well said," said complimented Yukimura, patting Jaune's shoulder approvingly.

"Then I'm going too," added Pyrrha, giving Ruby a supportive smile.

Weiss' gaze wavered, drifting back and forth between Jaune and Pyrrha, a faint tremble in her posture, as though she wanted to say the same thing as them, but was stopping herself for some reason. With Ashley sitting right next to her, Ruby figured she had a good idea of what that reason was.

But then Ashley had leaned over, and Ruby thought she could hear her friend whispering into Weiss' ear. "Just say it already, silly."

Weiss sighed in resignation. "Then I will be going as well," she said, giving Ruby a look that was almost defiant, as though she was daring Ruby to try and stop her.

"Are you sure?" asked Ruby, staring back.

Weiss drew herself up, letting out a haughty scoff, the kind of behavior that had been far more typical of her, back when they'd first met, but was now nothing more than an amusing quirk that popped up occasionally. "Of course I'm sure. If Pyrrha and Jaune are going, then so am I. We might as well make this a team excursion."

"Normally, I'd recommend we wait until Team Rainbow gets back, so that we could invite them too," said Jaune. "But, it'll probably still be a little while before they can get here, and I don't want to take too long."

"What's the rush?" asked Ashley.

Jaune adopted a sheepish expression, grinning as he rubbed the back of his head in that gesture Ruby knew and cherished so well. "Um...Well...I _did_ sorta promise my family that I'd be home for Yule."

"You promised Marigold in particular," added Ruby with a sly smile.

The thought of breaking a promise to his dangerously adorable youngest sister was the sort of thing that had Jaune breaking out in shakes, as he imagined the disappointed tears welling up in her eyes, and the quivering of her little throat, the sobs building...

Shaking his head vigorously, Jaune slapped his cheeks to banish the thought from his mind. "That's right," he said. "Besides, I think it would be good to treat Ruby to an Arc-Family Yuletide." He looked to Weiss, Pyrrha, and Ashley. "You're all invited too, by the way."

"I...might just take you up on that," said Weiss. "I certainly couldn't imagine going back to _my_ own home for Yule, this year. While I think Whitley and I would be able to tolerate each other well enough, I've pretty much burned my bridges with Father."

"I don't know," teased Pyrrha. "I could see you and Ashley going to Atlas to rub it in your father's face that you're dating a faunus."

"Yes, and I doubt the house would still be standing, when everything is over and done with," said Weiss. While she figured that would be no great loss, she also figured that, now that she had turned over her inheritance to Whitley, it was best not to make things any more difficult for him than she needed to. If he _wanted_ her to start some mischief, Weiss wasn't averse to that, but she wouldn't operate under the assumption that he did.

"What about you and Winter?" asked Ashley.

"That will be up to her and her schedule," said Weiss. "Back when I was still living in Atlas, we would go out for dinner either before or after Yule. I could see if she wanted to rendezvous with us in Ansel. But that would be dependent on whether or not she could find time away from her work for the General to come down."

Ironwood, Winter, and their forces, along with a reluctant Team CPPR (especially reluctant in Penny's case) and all the other students from Atlas had returned to their home Kingdom, once they had finished helping secure Vale and its settlements against the aftermath of the battle against Salem. Given that she was no longer staying in the vicinity, it was only natural that Winter and Weiss would have fewer chances to get together as sisters.

"What about you and Dove?" asked Jaune, looking to Pyrrha.

"I'm...I'm not certain," admitted Pyrrha. "I would love to be there, of course. I'd be happy to invite Dove too. But I'm not sure if he has other commitments."

"Well, you'll only find out by asking him," Ruby pointed out. "Of course, he might want to do something special with just you."

"If that's the case...I might agree to that," said Pyrrha. "I will want to do something special with my parents too, though."

With respect to her parents, Pyrrha had been relieved to learn that the clinic they had been moved to had been fortuitously located within the safe zone that had been established after the Grimm outbreak triggered by Salem's agents. As a consequence, they'd survived the resulting battles unscathed, although they were still undergoing therapy to rein in the absurd spending habits that Pyrrha's agent had gone out of her way to cultivate in them. Now that they were no longer obsessed with leaching off Pyrrha's fame to enrich themselves, her relationship with them had improved by leaps and bounds.

"Well, with all this, I think we can come up with a pretty workable game-plan," declared Jaune.

Ruby nodded, before looking to her godfather. Yukimura smiled cheerfully at her. "As long as I get to see you moving forward, I certainly have no objections," he said. "Just be sure to drop by to see me before the end of the year."

"Of course I will," said Ruby, smiling cheerfully.

Yukimura got out of his seat and moved to hug her from behind. "Whatever else, you will always have a home in this house, no matter how far you go or what you do." He kissed the top of her head.

Ruby beamed happily at that knowledge. Hugging Yukimura and getting fatherly kisses from him had been comfortable to begin with. But it was a feeling that only grew more and more welcome and natural every time he did it.

After taking a second to bask in her godfather's affection, Ruby returned her gaze to her friends. "In that case, I'll talk to Sasame-nee about it. She's going to be heading out soon too, so leaving along with her would probably be the easiest way to go about it."

* * *

"Well...if that's the case, I think you shouldn't bother," said Sasame, when Ruby and the others had come to propose their plan.

"_HUH!?_" Ruby and the others wound up exclaiming unison.

"Well, it seems to me that, since you're going next year, it would be a little superfluous to go over there, return, and then wind up going right _back_. Since the Mibu don't have the transportation infrastructure the Kingdoms do, the traveling back and forth would be rather tedious, I should think."

Ruby blinked furiously. "Wait...what are you talking about. Why would we be going to Leng next year?"

Sasame giggled like a mischievous child who'd pulled off a clever prank. "Oh, don't tell me you've forgotten, Ruby-chan...the little arrangement we made with Ozpin-dono and Beacon..."

The gears in Ruby's mind where spinning at full-speed as she tried to piece together Sasame's hint. However, it was Jaune who hit upon the realization first, mainly because he had been the unwitting catalyst that had set it into motion. "The exchange!"

"That's right," declared Sasame cheerfully, her wagging tail betraying her excitement.

"What!?" exclaimed Weiss. "We're still going through with that?"

Her confusion was understandable. Given the absolute chaos that had befallen in the wake of Salem's attack on Vale, and the unrest that was still being dealt with, any thought of the exchange between the Mibu and Beacon had been driven from the minds of Ruby and her friends, with them assuming that the current state of affairs had forced those in charge at Beacon to set it aside as well, mainly because the driving force on Beacon's end of things had been Ozpin, who was now considered dead, as far as the rest of the world was concerned.

"Glynda-dono and I have been working on it for a little bit now," said Sasame cheerfully. "Besides the potential benefits you all stand to reap by spending a time with our people, and learning some more about our styles and techniques, we believe it might be good if you were to...take some time away from Vale...as it were."

"Why is that?" asked Weiss, frowning.

"Well, the fact of the matter is that most of the world is not aware of the role that you all played in Salem's downfall," said Sasame. "What the other Kingdoms and the people know is a generic story of victory, of Vale and its allies triumphing over Salem's armies, and ultimately Salem herself. However, the particulars are almost as much a secret as Ozpin-dono's current condition."

"I don't see why that should make us want to spend time away from the Kingdom," Pyrrha pointed out.

"It's the 'almost' part that is the sticking point," said Sasame. "There were quite a few witnesses to to you and your friends departing to face Salem directly, alongside Ozpin-dono. Particulars, like who did what and who struck the final blow, are still unknown, even to those witnesses. However, it doesn't change the fact that you all are essentially the heroes who brought down Salem. And many of those people will be returning to Beacon at the beginning of next year, sharing their stories, and spreading them to those who will be arriving."

"Ooooh..." said Jaune and Ruby simultaneously, while Pyrrha's complexion paled considerably. She'd worked so hard to decouple herself from the celebrity image she'd been forced to build up in Mistral, only to find herself being recognized as a celebrity for a completely different reason now.

"I see..." said Weiss. "Spending some time away might well give the hype around this whole affair to die down, so that we can worry less when we return at the end of the exchange."

"What about the Council?" asked Pyrrha.

"Considering the events of the past few months, the Council's view on the Mibu has softened considerably," said Sasame, smirking. "Strangely, when Glynda-dono pitched our proposal to them, there were no objections whatsoever."

"Okay then..." said Ruby dubiously, wondering if that was due to the Council's changed attitude, or the fact that _Glynda_ had been the one making the proposal. When Glynda Goodwitch put her will behind something she wanted, refusing the imposing woman was all but impossible.

"Glynda-dono and I have been working to hammer out the particulars, before I depart," explained Sasame. "As such, we were making plans for how to accommodate your learning needs as students of Beacon, even as you spend time in a foreign land with very different standards of education. Thanks to that, you won't have to worry about being buried in makeup-work, when you return to Beacon. Although, I imagine Ruby-chan has fond recollections of that sort of thing herself."

"No thanks," grumbled Ruby, remembering how she'd been forced to spend her time, after her extended training excursions with her siblings, doing makeup-work for her own schooling in Leng, which had involved spending entire days writing essays and filling out worksheets. That had been nothing short of hell, as far as she was concerned.

This time, it wasn't just Sasame, but her friends as well, who were giggling.

"That being the case, then this is the arrangement we have come to," said Sasame. "You shall all remain in Vale for the remainder of the year, and are free to do as you see fit with your time here. At the beginning of the next school-year, you will depart from Teleri, and travel across to Leng, and then to Onmyo, where you will be spending at least two semesters, possibly the full year, learning with us. Team Rainbow will, of course, be joining you, by the way."

"Sounds good," said Jaune, Weiss and Pyrrha nodding their heads along with him.

Ruby was about to nod, but froze. "But my swords!" she exclaimed, realizing that she was missing the chance to pick up her old weapons.

Sasame smiled indulgently. "That being the case, Ruby-chan, once I return to Leng, I will get your swords out of storage, have them refitted, then send them back to you by Shadowrunner."

"Th-that's a little much..." Ruby protested weakly.

She was surprised by the firm look Sasame gave her. "Come now, Ruby-chan...Salem aside, the fact of the matter is that you vanquished Mibu Kyojiro, an achievement that eclipses the efforts of our clan across our collective history. He is the final thorn we have been seeking to rid ourselves of for untold generations. Now that he is gone, we will be able to stand beside the other peoples of this world and walk, hand in hand, into the future together.

"Considering that, I believe this is a rather minor indulgence, don't you think?"

"You've certainly earned a few rewards," Jaune prodded her from behind.

"Learn to accept a little goodwill, Ruby," Weiss chided with an amused smirk.

"You've got nothing to be ashamed of," added Pyrrha.

Ruby looked around at her friends, seeing them all nodding in agreement, before letting out a resigned sigh. "All right..."

Sasame couldn't help but titter. "Honestly, Ruby-chan, getting so worked up over a simple delivery. You need to get more accustomed to people wanting to do nice things for you."

"Isn't that the truth?" asked Jaune rhetorically, while Weiss and Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

"Hey!" protested Ruby, bristling with irritation.

That got a laugh out of her friends.

* * *

It was only two days later that Sasame set out for Leng, her farewell just as breezy and light as it had been the last time they had seen her off. To help save time, Glynda had allowed Sasame to make use of one of Beacon's bullheads to travel directly to Anduin, where she would be able to procure passage to Leng, this time without needing to rely on smugglers. Given that, it seemed that her return journey would be much faster than it had any of the previous times Ruby had traveled with her.

That was a good thing, given that Sasame wouldn't be traveling alone. Much to the shock of Ruby and her friends, Sasame was departing with none other than Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black. It seemed that, amongst the many conditions she had negotiated with Glynda and Vale's Council, amongst Sasame's requests had been the request to take Cinder Fall's former-disciples back to Leng with her, where Sasame and the other Mibu would take charge of their rehabilitation and reformation.

_"In some ways, they themselves were victims of Cinder-san,"_ Sasame had explained to Ruby. _"It may be selfish of me, but simply leaving them to languish, when there may yet be a chance to do good by them, was not something I was willing to do. Besides, Amber-chan and I _did_ promise Emerald-chan that we would not leave her alone. But Amber-chan and Kyo deserve to have some time to themselves, so sending Emerald-chan and Mercury-kun with them wasn't tenable. So they will be coming back with me instead. Hopefully, they will be able to find new direction in their lives."_

So it was that, less than a week later, Ruby's friends were startled when a black-garbed man had risen up out of her shadow. Taking in his bandaged appearance and the wolf-ears atop his head, Ruby was quick to recognize him. From there, it took a few minutes to calm her friends and introduce Dougal to them. Dougal's visit was brief. After introductions had been finished, he lingered just long enough to pass Ruby a long, narrow box, then exchange a small hug with her, before he sank back down into shadow and vanished.

Opening the box, Ruby felt a pleasant sense of nostalgia wash over her as she saw the two katanas she had relied upon, back before she had received Akaibara from Murasame. They had been removed from their shirasaya and fitted into brand-new hilts and set into equally new sheaths. And, from the look of the blades, when Ruby drew them, she figured that Murasame himself might have seen to their maintenance in preparation for returning them to her hands, though that thought made her feel guilty, as that would have entailed Sasame informing him about the death of the sword he had forged for her, a blade he had regarded as his own child. She would have to be sure to apologize profusely to him, when she and her friends finally got to Leng, next year.

A few days after that, Team RYNB returned from Menagerie. Ruby was disappointed to see that Sun was not with them, Blake informing her that Sun had returned to Haven to rejoin his team, though they intended to remain in contact as much as they could. They might have remained longer with Blake's parents, but Yang had been anxious to get back.

It was nearly time for Ruby's birthday, after all.

Yang had been adamant that she not miss her first chance to celebrate Ruby's birthday with her in the six years since Ruby had run away from home. For her part, Ruby now felt pretty guilty about her eagerness to return to Leng, forgetting about the fact that Yang would have missed this chance, since it clearly mattered so much to her.

* * *

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RUBY!"

Ruby blushed reflexively at the cheer her friends and family raised, before she blew out the sixteen candles on her cake. To celebrate, Yukimura had brought them all to a well-regarded restaurant, one with a good reputation for hosting parties like this one. Given the raucous nature of the celebration, they would have wound up being kicked out, if they'd gone anyplace particularly high-class.

Aside from RASP and RYNB, Yukimura was also in attendance, presiding over the celebrations with an ease similar to that of Sora, making Ruby think that he and her adoptive mother might really hit it off, if they ever got the chance to meet. Aside from them, Ashley and her family were present too. Dove had come along with Pyrrha, with Qrow rounding out their numbers.

The collective presence of all of them filled Ruby with a warm sense of belonging, making her glad that she had accepted Ozpin's invitation to attend Beacon, all those months ago. Looking at the people in front of her made her feel incredibly grateful as she reflected on the precious friends she had made in the time she'd spent at Beacon, both among those present and those absent.

Even though they hadn't been able to attend in person, Ruby's friends from abroad had all taken the time to wish her well. Ruby's day had essentially begun in the CCT's call center, as she fielded calls from Team CPPR and FNKI in Atlas, NDGO in Vacuo, and SSSN and ABRN in Mistral. Even Oscar, Natsuki, and the rest of Team MNPS had placed a call from Tsubaki, with Oscar's Aunt sitting in as well. Shortly after that, she was congratulated by the members of Team CFVY, Coco and Velvet taking turns to give her enthusiastic hugs. Much to her shock, Dougal returned, this time carrying a set of letters, carrying the regards of her friends and family in Leng. Everyone's messages and well-wishes were reminders of just how widespread the connections Ruby had forged were, making her feel as though she were at the center of a massive tapestry that was woven around the entire world.

"Thank you, everyone," said Ruby, beaming at the friends currently assembled in front of her.

The party had been a great deal of fun. It wasn't quite the same as the ones she'd celebrated back in Leng. There were fewer party games, particularly since they were celebrating in a borrowed establishment. However, they had plenty of fun all the same. Ruby had plenty of fun just talking with everyone as they took this opportunity to speak about whatever struck their fancy. In some ways, it was little different from the dinners they had together in Beacon's dining hall. But it was a special and precious occasion to her all the same.

After dinner came the presents. Ren and Nora got her a new sharpening and polishing kit to help her maintain her swords. Blake, being Blake, had bought her a book, the next installment in a series Ruby had been reading. Ashley had gotten Ruby a box of Bruno's honey-chocolate-chip cookies, which had her salivating even more than the cake did. Ruby accepted their gifts gratefully, looking forward to what came next.

Yukimura didn't disappoint. He'd noticed that Ruby's current outfit had been getting a little threadbare. To that end, he had designed and made a brand new one for her. Ruby's new outfit consisted of a black kimono with a short skirt, practically identical in shape to the one she'd been wearing before. However, the hem and sleeves were an off-white color that contrasted pleasantly with the black of the rest of it, and the red of the broad sash, which was almost wide enough to resemble a corset, when it was tied around her. He'd even reforged her pauldrons and tassets, making them with the same advanced alloy that he'd used for the armor on Jaune's outfit. However, unlike the ones Ruby had worn before, these armor-pieces sported a more organic appearance, the layered plates being forged with curved, rippling outlines that made them vaguely resemble flower petals.

Much to Ruby's shock, as soon as she'd touched the garments her godfather had made for her, she'd sensed more than just Dust-treated cloth and metal. In the process of the creation of these pieces, Yukimura had actually infused his Aura into them in a manner similar to that of the Mibu artisans Ruby had gotten her previous equipment and clothes from. Yukimura was happy to explain that he'd applied the fruits of the training he had done with her, experimenting thoroughly over the past few weeks, before putting all that experience to work in the creation of her new outfit. The realization of all the work he had put in for her moved Ruby to tears of joy.

Yang went next. It was more than a little ironic that the person who'd had the most trouble figuring out a present for Ruby was her own sister. But Yang came through in the end. When Ruby unwrapped the package that Yang presented her, Ruby was shocked to find that Yang had obtained a backpack to compliment the new outfit her godfather had gotten her. Yang had even worked with Yukimura to modify the pack so that it could be easily slipped on, even when Ruby was wearing her cloak. It was sturdily made and contained a number of compartments, both large and small, enabling Ruby to carry more than her original traveling pack had allowed.

Qrow went after that. When Ruby unwrapped the small parcel she got from him, she found herself looking at a silver emblem depicting a blooming rose. It was an accessory that would serve as a clasp or a buckle, depending on how she used it. However, she was struck by the sense of something familiar as she stared at it. "Is this…?"

"It's Summer's," Qrow answered, drawing a startled gasp from Ruby _and_ Yang. "It's one of the few things we have left with her. Everything else is a bit too bulky for you to carry with you, or disappeared along with her. I figured this was as good a time as any to give it to you."

Ruby felt tears leak from her eyes as she cradled the silver emblem in her hands. "Thank you," she whispered.

Qrow gently ruffled her hair. "I know she'd want you to have it."

Ruby smiled and nodded. Later on, when she wore her new outfit, she affixed the emblem to her sash, where it sat just off to the left of center.

Then there were the gifts from her own team. Jaune went first, producing a small box. Upon opening it, Ruby gasped, finding herself staring down at a black choker, decorated with red vines, twining along its length to meet a surprisingly elaborate clasp. It was the same blooming-rose emblem as the one Qrow had given her, but made from gold filagree, into which had been inset cut rubies to form the petals. It was a thing of incredible and intricate beauty, while also being designed in such a way that it would not interfere with Ruby on the battlefield.

"It's beautiful!" exclaimed Ruby.

She allowed Jaune to fasten it around her neck, before quickly leaning in to share a kiss with him. They spent a moment in their own little world, before a clearing of the throat from Weiss, drew them back to reality. Still holding onto Jaune, Ruby turned to face Weiss and Pyrrha, who looked on happily.

Ruby's other two teammates furnished rather ordinary presents. Weiss had gotten Ruby a new casual outfit. Given that she no longer had access to her family's enormous assets, Weiss had been forced to be a bit more…economical…in her selections. But Ruby appreciated the effort all the same.

Pyrrha's gift was a new formal outfit for Ruby, which seemed a little superfluous, given that there wasn't going to be another ball or dance before the end of the year, with the two teams heading to Leng at the beginning of next year, a place where formal fashions were quite different. However, Ruby was glad to have it, though she was a bit confused by Pyrrha's hint that she'd get a chance to wear it sooner than she thought.

It wasn't until later that evening that Ruby learned that Pyrrha and Weiss' gifts had been a smokescreen, the pair not wanting to give Ruby their _real_ gift in front of such a large audience. Instead, they would present their gift to Ruby and _Jaune_ after the festivities had wound down.

* * *

"Was it a good birthday?" asked Jaune, wrapping Ruby in his arms as she leaned against him on the couch.

Following the party, the group had broken up. Team RYNB (Yang included) returned to Beacon. Weiss was escorting Ashley and her family home, while Pyrrha and Dove had left with RYNB. Qrow had disappeared off to…wherever he went off to, when he wasn't with his nieces. And Yukimura was apparently finishing up a late-night project, down in the workshop beneath his home, where Jaune and Ruby were presently reclined in the living room.

"The best," Ruby replied.

"Even better than the ones with your family in Leng?" asked Jaune, a bit surprised.

"Well, I didn't have a loving boyfriend back then," said Ruby, turning to give him a kiss. "But then I also got to spend a proper birthday with Yang again, and all my new friends at Beacon." Her contented smile widened. "Of course, it could be better."

"How?" asked Jaune.

"Next time, I want to have my birthday with _everyone_," said Ruby. "Kaa-san, Yukimura, you, Yang, all my friends…I want everyone to share it with me." She paused. "I guess that's a little much."

"Well, at this point, you are talking about coordinating the activities of people spread across three different continents," Jaune pointed out with a wry grin, "four actually, depending on how broad your definition of 'all' your friends gets."

Ruby giggled at the thought, admitting to herself that having absolutely _everyone_ she had befriended over the course of her time with the Mibu _and_ her time at Beacon _and_ during the Vytal Festival would be the tallest of tall orders. Despite that, the thought of how expansive her birthday celebrations might get, if such a thing were to happen, filled her with a warm feeling at the thought of having made so many incredible friends.

"But you know…it's still your birthday now," Jaune pointed out, his tone getting a little lower, something in his voice making Ruby's heart pound. "I think we still have a little more celebrating to do…just the two of us."

"I agree," said Ruby, turning her face towards his.

They pressed together in another kiss, much more passionate than their last. Their tongues tangled together, and Jaune pulled Ruby up onto his lap, his hand running down to gently stroke and squeeze her thigh through the black legging that covered it. Ruby's hands twined behind his neck, before reaching up to tangle in his hair as she endeavored to pull him closer, Jaune reciprocating by tightening the arm he'd wrapped around Ruby's shoulders. His other hand moved up her leg, gradually sliding beneath the hem of her skirt…

"Ahem…"

The polite cough startled Ruby and Jaune out of their session, the pair springing apart. Ruby jumped all the way up to her feet, whirling around to see Weiss and Pyrrha standing at the entrance of the living room, their faces red at the implication of what they had _almost_ walked in on. It would seem that, after escorting their own significant others to their respective destinations, Weiss and Pyrrha had returned to pay Ruby and Jaune one last visit.

Weiss gave Ruby a wry smile. "Getting a little ahead of yourselves, aren't you?"

"Weeeeeiiiiiiiisssss!" Ruby whined.

Pyrrha nearly doubled over with barely restrained laughter at Ruby's response, the muffled giggles echoing in the room.

"Honestly, the two of you _still_ need to work on your choice of time and place," declared Weiss, resting her hands on her hips. "Us aside, can you imagine your godfather walking in on the two of you like this?"

Ruby turned bright-red at the idea. For as much time as she had spent with Yukimura, and how close they had gotten, seeing him as her father was still just the tiniest bit awkward. The notion of him walking in on her and Jaune in the midst of a make-out session, or whatever else it might have evolved into by then, was enough to invoke a near-crippling level of embarrassment in Ruby's mind.

"So…before you get a little _too_ affectionate with Jaune, Pyrrha and I figured that you need the proper setting for it," said Weiss, smirking.

"'Setting'...?" Ruby tilted her head.

Weiss tapped her scroll, transferring something on it to Ruby's. Pulling out her own device, Ruby was surprised and confused to find a reservation in her and Jaune's names for a room at _The Grand Silmaril_.

"A hotel...?" Ruby looked up at Weiss and Pyrrha, both of whom were smirking now.

"We pooled our funds, and I called in a favor from Whitley," explained Weiss. "This is our _real_ birthday present for you."

Remembering Weiss and Ashley's descriptions of the room they'd shared at Vale's most exclusive hotel, Ruby found herself nearly trembling with excitement. What was more, she and Jaune had been booked for a three-night stay. After a moment though, the _real_ implications of what Weiss and Pyrrha had prepared began to sink in, and Ruby felt her cheeks heating up to the point where she feared they might catch on fire. A glance at Jaune showed her that he was going through the same situation.

Even Weiss and Pyrrha couldn't keep their cheeks from going pink. "We figured that the two of you deserved some private time yourselves," Weiss explained a bit nervously. "You've more than earned the right to enjoy some real luxury and…well…let's just say whatever happens happens."

Pyrrha nodded emphatically.

Ruby was reminded of Weiss' little "talk" with her and Jaune, after Weiss and Pyrrha had walked in on them when the couple had been on the verge of becoming…intimate. Now Weiss and Pyrrha had arranged a private venue for them, while also acknowledging that Ruby's age was no longer an issue. Truth be told, there had been a few more close calls in the weeks since that particular incident, where Ruby and Jaune had gotten caught up in their affections, and started to get a little bit…frisky. Those times had ended with their restraint barely hanging on by a thread, with a fair bit of frustration for both of them.

Though she was still blushing furiously, Ruby hugged Weiss and Pyrrha. "Thank you," she said.

"You're due to check-in tomorrow afternoon," Weiss explained. "We didn't want this to be too short of notice for you, after all."

Ruby and Jaune exchanged looks, their cheeks still colored, but their hearts beginning to hammer in anticipation of what was to come. They could understand why Weiss and Pyrrha had gone through the trouble of picking out more mundane (but still very nice) presents to give to Ruby during the actual birthday party, in front of everyone else. It was a true gesture of consideration for them to use this more-private moment to deliver their actual present to Ruby. In particular, Ruby would have been mortified if Yang and Qrow, in particular, had been present when this gift was delivered.

Weiss took Ruby's hands in hers. "Happy birthday, Ruby," she said. "I'm glad I met you."

Ruby pulled Weiss into another hug. "I'm glad I met you too," she replied. "I love you, Weiss."

"I love you too," said Weiss, hugging Ruby back.

Another, plaintive, cough drew Ruby's attention to Pyrrha, who was clearly hoping for a hug of her own, which Ruby readily granted. After that, Weiss and Pyrrha also hugged Jaune.

"Take good care of her," Weiss said to him.

"I'll do my best," Jaune promised.

After that, Weiss and Pyrrha finally took their leave. Jaune and Ruby were left alone in the living room, exchanging expectant glances. In the end, Jaune wound up spending the night, sharing Ruby's bed. However, they kept their desires in check, waiting in anticipation for the day to come, and their desire to use Weiss and Pyrrha's gift to its fullest.

* * *

Now Ruby understood why Pyrrha had said that she'd get use out of her new formal outfit sooner than she thought. Given the nature of Weiss and Pyrrha's present, Ruby and Jaune had basically decided to start things off with a date. They spent the day enjoying the sights in Vale, then going to see a movie. After that, they made their way to the hotel, where they checked in and changed clothes for dinner.

Besides the room itself, their stay also covered dinner at _The Grand Silmaril_'s in-house restaurant. As expected of a restaurant attached to such a high-class hotel, the establishment was similarly high-class. Because of that, there was a dress-code that needed to be observed by patrons, which had Ruby slipping into the brand new dress Pyrrha had gotten her.

Said dress was a one-piece, strapless dress with a long skirt. It consisted silky fabric, dyed the same shade of red as Ruby's cloak. The bodice rose just high enough to cover most of her cleavage, while clinging tightly to her torso, accentuating the toned lines of her body, and leaving her shoulders and arms completely bare. A slit down the left side of her skirt showed off flashes of Ruby's legs with each step she took. The moment she'd appeared before him in her new outfit, Ruby found herself thanking Pyrrha in the back of her mind, noting that Jaune couldn't take his eyes off her. Pyrrha had even made a concession to Ruby's preferences, having picked rather light shoes that had no heels whatsoever, which would enable Ruby to walk normally.

Their dinner was excellent. As expected of such a high-class establishment, the food offered by _The Grand Silmaril_'s restaurant was downright sumptuous. However, it was a little awkward, as Ruby had never gotten anything more than the most basic of education in dining etiquette, the closest being a brief rundown that Weiss had made her sit through once. Jaune, thanks to (as always) his seven sisters, had been much more thoroughly educated in how to mind his manners in a place like this one. He was happy to help guide Ruby through their meal, allowing her to avoid making any faux pas that might offend their hosts.

However, the meal itself was, ironically, little more than an appetizer for what was to come, as far as the couple were concerned. Finishing their dessert, they returned to the room, having to force themselves to walk at a normal pace to the elevator, then down the hallway to their door.

* * *

Jaune shut the door behind them. It closed with a completely mundane click of the latch and locks that, somehow, sounded strangely ominous in the quiet of the room. Turning to face Ruby, Jaune's heart thudded so loudly in his chest that the sound reached his own ears. From the rosy hue of her cheeks, he was guessing that Ruby was in a similar state of excited tension. For a few minutes, all he could was stand and stare at her, his eyes roaming over her, taking in every detail of the girl he loved.

"So..." he said, unnerved by the silence lingering between them.

"So..." Ruby replied, clearly feeling just as awkward as he did.

"Um...Are you ready?" He asked. "I mean...if you're not, we don't have to do anything right away...or at all, if you don't feel like it."

After all, as wonderful as the gift from their friends was, that didn't mean they were under any obligation to have sex, even if that was the express purpose behind reserving multiple nights in an exclusive hotel for their private enjoyment.

"Do you not want to?" asked Ruby, stepping closer.

Her nearness made Jaune stiffen up...in more ways than one. As she got closer, he got a whiff of her scent, including the floral scent of the soap and shampoo she'd used when showering earlier. That smell tantalized his nostrils, sending excited tingles running through his entire body.

"I want to," Jaune admitted, his voice exiting with a slight groan. "I want to so badly...But...I don't want you to feel pressured or uneasy..."

"Um..." Ruby looked away. "It's my first time, so it was gonna be a little awkward either way."

"I just want it to be perfect for you," said Jaune.

"It _is_, silly," said Ruby, giggling and stepping closer still, pressing herself up against his body and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "As long as it's with you, it's perfect."

"R-really?" asked Jaune, his own arms rising up to wrap around her waist.

"It was nice of Weiss and Pyrrha to do this for us," said Ruby. "But, even if they're so amazing; this room, this hotel...they're just window-dressings. It could be in my bedroom at Yukimura's place, our dorm at Beacon, or even out in the middle of the wilderness; as long as it's with you, it's perfect...because I love you."

"I love you too," said Jaune.

"Then don't worry," said Ruby, her smile widening. "Let's just do what feels right."

"In that case...I'm going to start with this..." With that, Jaune lowered his face to hers and took Ruby in a deep kiss, bending her back slightly as his arms tightened their hold.

Ruby returned the kiss with all the vigor she possessed. For several minutes, the room was silent, save for the smack of their lips, their harsh breaths, and soft moans muffled by their conjoined mouths. After several minutes of that, they pulled away from each other, their eyes locked, mouths hanging slightly open as they panted, as though they'd both been sprinting for an extended distance.

However, they couldn't stay apart for long. Just one glance, seeing the mutual excitement, want, and need in each other's eyes, they rushed straight back in, nearly slamming their lips together, kissing with even greater ferocity than before. Jaune's hands began to roam, his left hand sliding up Ruby's back, to the edge of her dress, while his right drifted around to her side, tracing its way up the side of her torso, fingers brushing ever-so-lightly against the side of her left breast, before sliding back down to her waist, then dipping lower.

Jaune's fingers found the slit in Ruby's skirt, slipping beneath the fabric and sliding across the smooth skin of her thigh. Hooking his fingers around her leg, Jaune pulled it up, Ruby reflexively wrapping it around behind him, pulling their bodies even more tightly against one another, with Jaune now holding Ruby up as she clung to him to keep from falling, even as they tangled their tongues with one another. Now his hand slid up, his fingers around to cup and squeeze Ruby's butt. Jaune began to gently grind up against her, the motion stoking an eager fire within Ruby.

Their excitement growing, Jaune released his hold on Ruby's behind, letting her lower her leg back to the floor. Still exchanging furious, heated kisses with her, he pressed her back, until her legs met the end of the bed. Only then did they let go of each other, Ruby allowing herself to fall back onto the soft comforter, and the mattress beneath it. Breathing heavily, and covered by a faint sheen of sweat that gave her face and shoulders a shimmering gleam, Ruby stared up at Jaune, her silver eyes sparkling with excitement.

For his part, Jaune gently kicked off his shoes, before leaning forward. Reaching down, he lifted Ruby's legs, still dangling off the end of the mattress, by their calves, then pulled her shoes off. Following that, he began to kiss her feet, before working his way up her legs, lowering himself down on top of her in the process, his lips pressing kisses against her thighs as he slid her skirt back, exposing the black panties she wore. However, Jaune stopped there, instead crawling up Ruby's body and hovering over her, taking in her eyes.

Grinning, Ruby reached up with her own hands, first undoing the buttons of Jaune's jacket, sliding it off his shoulders, Jaune having to shift his hands, which were holding him up, so that he could fully shed it. After that, her hands deftly pulled the tie around his neck free, before running down the line of buttons that held his shirt closed, undoing them one by one. Finally, she tugged Jaune's shirt open, pulling it free, Jaune once again moving his arms to slide it off.

Then Jaune took back the lead, lowering himself onto Ruby, pressing her down into the mattress as he took her lips in another searing kiss. Then he slid to the side, kissing her cheek, then her jaw, before making his way down her neck to her shoulder. At the same time, his hands slid up the sides of her chest, before reaching the hem of her bodice, and pulling it down, along with her bra, to expose her breasts. Resting his hands over them, Jaune began to gently knead the two mounds, his thumbs teasing her rosy nipples as Ruby moaned in pleasure.

Kissing his way back along Ruby's collarbone, Jaune finally descended on Ruby's breasts, taking one in his mouth, licking and sucking, while his hand continued to play the opposite. His free hand wandered back down to Ruby's lower body, sliding past her skirt, then down beneath her panties, gently stroking her, the stimulation setting Ruby to gasping, arcing her back, while Jaune slipped his other arm around behind her to hold her up and allow him to take even more of her breast into his mouth. Meanwhile, the fingers teasing Ruby from down below slid inside.

Sex, it seemed, was much like fighting. Jaune was no expert in the art of lovemaking, the particulars of that particular act being one of the few things his sisters hadn't schooled him in (much to his relief). However, though he and Ruby were unaware of it, they were applying many of the same skills they had developed for the battlefield, namely reading the tells of the other person, and responding in the best manner possible.

In battle, Jaune was supposed to read his opponent's movements, and determine how to best fend off their next strike. He'd spent so much of his training since coming Beacon on anticipating the course of an incoming strike, and shifting his shield to deflect it with minimal impact. To that, he had added reading when his defense would allow him to create an opening to strike at his opponent.

In a way, Jaune was doing much the same thing with Ruby, reading the reactions of her body, telling him what she liked and what she didn't (though he had yet to stumble on any particular examples of the latter). Reading Ruby's responses was allowing him to build a picture of what made her feel good, then move to make her feel even better. Because of that, even though he should have been fumbling like a complete amateur, Jaune's ministrations never failed to elicit a pleased reaction from his lover.

Ruby squirmed and wriggled beneath him, her hips bucking as Jaune's fingers moved inside her, searching for her sensitive spots and stimulating them, all while he continued to lavish her chest with attention from his tongue and lips. Finally, Ruby shuddered, jolting, her back arcing, a high-pitched whine escaping her mouth. Jaune felt something warm and wet splash across the hand teasing her from below. Jaune pulled his fingers out, and let go of Ruby's breast as well, allowing her to slump back onto the bed gasping for breath.

Still in a daze from her orgasm, Ruby was barely conscious of the tugging sensation on her clothes as Jaune slid her dress off her body, followed by her undergarments, leaving her naked on the bed. Then Jaune took the opportunity to remove the remainder of his clothes. Both of them completely naked, Jaune pulled Ruby all the way up the bed, so that she could rest her head on the pillows, pulling back the comforter and sheets in the process.

Following that, Jaune lowered himself down next to her, wrapping his arms around Ruby's back and pulling her naked body flush against his own. Then he gently pressed his lips against hers in a series of gentle kisses, waiting as Ruby came down from her high. Her leg reflexively wrapped around his own, pulling their waists together. The feeling of Jaune's length sliding against her was enough to stir Ruby out of her haze, and she began to return his kisses, wrapping her arms around him in turn.

"Ready to keep going?" Jaune asked.

"I guess...it's my turn, isn't it?" asked Ruby, her hand moving towards Jaune's shaft.

Jaune stopped her. "Not tonight," he said, resting his forehead against hers. "This is _your_ birthday present. So it's all about you."

Ruby couldn't help but smile brightly at that.

Jaune rolled her over onto her back again, then positioned himself, spreading her legs apart and settling between them. He paused to take in the sight of her naked body; the sweat on her skin making her almost seem to glow slightly beneath the lights, the rosy hue of her nipples standing out starkly against the creamy color of the surrounding skin, the way her hair spread across the pillow, and the gleam of love and excitement in her silver eyes as she looked up at him. Ruby had never looked more beautiful to Jaune than at this moment, the happy smile on her face prompting him to take the next step.

Holding her thighs, he began to slide his length back and forth against her, prompting soft gasps from her, her face gradually growing redder. Finally, Jaune positioned his tip at her entrance, locking eyes with Ruby. She gave him the tiniest of nods and, slowly, Jaune began to inch himself inside her. Ruby let out a much louder, sharper gasp as his member parted the folds of her labia, her insides clamping tightly around it in a sensation that was downright heavenly to Jaune, even as Ruby herself was hit by the sensation of stretching to fit him.

Fortunately, years of intense physical training had already broken Ruby's hymen, so there was no sharp pain or bleeding from being penetrated for the first time. However, the sensation was still completely new to her. She wasn't the sort of person who watched "adult" videos on the network, so she had no idea where Jaune's size stood on the scale such things were supposed to be judged by. However, by Ruby's assessment, Jaune was definitely big enough.

Finally, Jaune's hips connected with Ruby's, Jaune having hilted his entire length inside her. Then, slowly, he pulled back out, then thrust back in, drawing another gasp from Ruby. Ruby gasped as he pulled out, then squeaked as he pushed back in. The sounds continued as Jaune repeated the act, then repeated again...gradually increasing the pace. His continual thrusting pushed and pulled Ruby's body across the sheets, Jaune holding her thighs and lifting her waist up to maintain his leverage. Gradually, as lubrication built up, Jaune found it easier to move in and out of her, and increased his pace further.

Ruby's gasps were now interspersed with sharp squeals of pleasure. Her breasts bounced in time with Jaune's thrusts. Gradually, Jaune released her thighs and move his hands up to them, squeezing down and toying with them, even as he continued to pump rapidly into her. Ruby's squeals rose in pitch. Jaune started breathing harder, feeling a pressure building up, the need to release increasing with each passing second.

"Jaune...!" Ruby gasped out his name, looking up at him plaintively and holding out her arms.

Recognizing the invitation for what it was, Jaune leaned down, wrapping his arms around Ruby's back, holding her tight against him, and seizing her lips as he continued to work his hips. Ruby's nails scratched tightly against the skin of his back, the protection of Jaune's Aura keeping her from drawing blood. However, the pain was an additional source of stimulation for him, which incited Jaune to thrust harder.

Finally, Ruby screamed into his mouth, her legs rising up to wrap around his waist, as her arms tightened to the point where Jaune could barely move. Her insides clamped down on him like a vice, and that warm, wet sensation returned again. The sensation of her orgasm was enough to push Jaune past the limit of his own restraint, and he came as well. Ruby felt a rush of warmth inside her, complimenting the pleasure of her own release.

Then it was over. The two of them collapsed, gasping for breath, but still holding each other tightly, Jaune lying right on top of Ruby. For several minutes, they did nothing but lay there, catching their breath. Finally, Jaune gave Ruby another slow, lingering kiss, before pulling back far enough to get a good look at the absolutely radiant smile on her face.

"I love you," he said.

"I love you too," Ruby replied.

Jaune rolled off the top of her, but continued to hold her tight against him. "How was it?" he asked.

"Amazing!" breathed Ruby. She nuzzled her face against his collarbone. "I'm glad we did this."

"So am I," said Jaune, gently rubbing one hand up and down her back, feeling the ridge of her spine.

They spent another few minutes basking in the afterglow of their intercourse. Their breathing evened out, and Jaune could hear Ruby's breaths get slower and softer. Looking down at her, he saw her eyelids fluttering, Ruby clearly having to make an effort to keep them open. Smiling, Jaune let go of her just long enough to reach down and pull the sheets and comforter up over them, before using the controls on the nightstand to turn off the lights.

"Jaune..." breathed Ruby.

"Hey, there's no need to rush," he said. "We have all tomorrow, and the day after. For tonight, this is enough." He could have used his Aura to help Ruby to recover, but felt that letting her rest would be better. They would have plenty of time to explore this new dimension of their relationship, whether in the hotel or elsewhere.

They fell asleep, while the window display showed streams of stars shining down on them.

* * *

The following days were some of the best in the couple's lives. Ruby and Jaune took plenty of opportunities to enjoy one another's bodies; in the shower, in the hot tub, on the couch in the sitting area, even on the floor one time. They also made full use of the hotel's other amenities, enjoying room service for breakfast, then heading out into Vale for lunch, before returning to the hotel's restaurant for dinner.

Despite, or perhaps because of, their efforts to use their time to the fullest, said time seemed to go by very quickly for Jaune and Ruby. Two days later, they returned to Yukimura's home (which Ruby supposed was now _her_ home as well), finding Weiss and Pyrrha waiting for them with knowing looks on their faces. It wouldn't take long for the news of Ruby and Jaune's experience to spread to the rest of their friends and family, which resulted in the pair being embarrassed by a wave of congratulations and teasings. Once the excitement wound down, Jaune made the decision to join Ruby in her room at her new home, with her godfather. There, the two of them tried their best to be discreet, with Yukimura never showing any sign that he took notice of their sessions, expressing nothing but warm approval for their relationship.

Then, a little over a month later, as the end of the year approached, RASP, RYNB, and a few guests took an airship out to Ansel, where they were heartily and enthusiastically met by the Arc Family, who took great joy in initiating Jaune's friends, Ruby in particular, into the Arc way of celebrating the Yuletide season. Parties were held, feasts were had, and gifts were exchanged. A good time was had by all, before Ruby and her friends returned to Vale at the beginning of the new year.

A few weeks later, as the winter snows receded, the beginning of the next school-year at Beacon Academy loomed. As they had planned, RASP and RYNB made their preparations for their journey to Leng, for the exchange. In addition to them, they would be joined by none other than Qrow, who had been inducted onto Beacon's staff as a special instructor for just that purpose. It felt a bit odd for Ruby to realize that her "cool uncle" was essentially going to be looking over the shoulders of her and her friends to ensure that they were doing their assigned schoolwork, which they would have to complete in Onmyo. But she couldn't imagine anyone else being able to adapt to life on Leng as well as he could.

Thanks to ongoing negotiations between Vale and Leng, the Mibu were even being furnished with a CCT relay, enabling them to interact with the outside world in a more active and immediate manner, which would also allow Ruby and the others to stay in touch with their friends back home. Said relay would take a few extra weeks to be set up, so it wouldn't be until they were well into their training that they'd be able to make use of it. But that was better than forcing Sora's Imperial Guards to carry missives across the sea. Ruby wasn't even sure _how_ Shadowrunners got across the ocean, only that they somehow could.

So it was that, a week into the new school-year, Ruby found herself cresting a rise at the head of her group of friends, and found herself looking down at a sight that filled her with nostalgia, as the city of Onmyo spread out before her, leading all the way up to the gates of the palace that had been her home since she was nine.

That nostalgic feeling waned, replaced by trepidation as Ruby was hit by the realization that there was something she needed to do, first and foremost, someone she need to speak to.

* * *

"I had a feeling I would see you soon, when I heard you were back," said Murasame pleasantly, setting tea in front of Ruby and Jaune, the pair seating themselves on the mats that made up the floor of Murasame's home, just outside the palace grounds.

Everything about the room and the house were exactly as Ruby remembered, including the door that led to a tunnel that ran down into the mountain itself, where Murasame's forge was located, its furnace powered by the flames of the volcano.

"I'm sorry," said Ruby, bowing her head. "I should have come sooner..."

Murasame reached out, gently petting the top of her head. "Ruby-chan, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I was saddened, when Saisei informed me of what had befallen your sword. It is agony for any parent to lose a precious child. However, you are not at fault. Both you and she did as you needed to win a victory greater than that any Mibu has struck since the days of the First Kyo. Akaibara gave up her life for your sake. I am proud that the blade I forged was capable of such a deep love.

Ruby lowered her eyes, sniffling. Beside her, Jaune wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Now what?" he asked, looking back at Murasame.

"At the moment, there is nothing to be done," said Murasame. "Her sword is gone. I cannot bring it back. In time, I could forge her a new sword. However, I will need to take the time to do it properly. Her new blade must not be a mere replacement for the one she has lost, but one that stands as unique in its own right. I forged Akaibara when Ruby-chan's nature enkindled the flame of inspiration within me. That is not the sort of thing that can simply be forced.

"In order to find that inspiration, I believe that I will need to observe Ruby-chan, as she spends her time here. I will watch to see how her experiences out in the world have changed her, and work out the proper shape and nature of the sword that will suit the person she is now. Only then will I be able to begin the actual forging."

"You don't have to," said Ruby, looking up at him. Part of it was that she didn't want to bother him, or act as though she was entitled to having the Mibu Blademaster forge a sword specifically for her. The other was that she _still_ didn't feel ready to take up a new sword in Akaibara's place.

"I want to, Ruby-chan." He paused, then got to his feet. "Come."

Ruby and Jaune stood up, following Murasame, leaving their tea behind as he led them to the door that led back towards his workshop. Ruby smiled at the sound of Jaune's gasp at the sight of the tunnel walls lined with blades of all shapes and sizes, each one unique, and each one an utter masterpiece.

Murasame looked to Ruby. "Tell me...can you still hear them?"

Ruby looked around, taking in the sight of the countless swords, spears, halberds, and myriad other weapons that surrounded her. Then she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, and opening herself up. Once again, just as she had so many years ago, she heard the clamoring of faint voices, each one seeming desperate for her attention. Smiling, Ruby accepted those voices, encouraging them to speak to her.

All at once, the countless blades around them blazed with light, the air filled with a sound like the ringing of countless bells. Jaune flinched back, his eyes going wide at the cacophonous display. The ringing was so loud as to be painful to his ears, and the light shed by those countless weapons was intense enough to bring tears to his eyes. Yet he made no effort to cover his ears or close his eyes. There was an indescribable beauty to the scene in front of him, which made him unable to look away.

Smiling wider, Murasame rested a hand on Ruby's shoulder. She opened her eyes, the light and sound dying down and ultimately disappearing. She looked up at Murasame with a slightly dazed expression.

"As I thought," said Murasame proudly. "You have grown, matured, and learned so much. Yet, deep down, you are still that same small and simple soul you have always been. A spirit as special as yours demands nothing less than my finest work. This is not gratitude for your accomplishments or sympathy for your loss, but my obligation as a craftsman. So long as you continue to nurture that special heart of yours, I will craft a blade to suit it."

Ruby sniffed, rubbing her eyes. "Thank you, Murasame-sama."

Murasame led them back out to the main house, seating them back in front of their tea, before taking his own seat in front of them. "Enough of such heavy matters," he declared. "Tell me of all the things you've seen and done in your time away. I'm afraid that Saisei only gave me a basic explanation. Now I want to hear the full details from you."

Ruby smiled, happy to oblige. The next few hours were filled with pleasant conversation, with Ruby able to put the final remnants of her guilt over the death of her sword behind her. Life would go on and, no matter what, she would become the very best Huntress she could. Living true to herself was the best way to honor Akaibara's memory.

* * *

**And so our story draws to a close...almost. There's still the epilogue. After all, there's one last major conflict left to resolve.**


	166. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

_A few years later…_

They appeared in a blaze of light, two towering figures. One was a radiant, gold, the other a deep purple hue. They were human in shape, their bodies displaying some outline of the musculature a typical human body exhibited. However, the light emanating from their forms obscured most of the details that would be visible otherwise. The golden figure's head was topped by a pair of curving antlers, each one branching off into five points. The purple one's head sported a pair of curling ram's horns.

Light and Darkness, the Brother Gods, had returned.

"**The Relics have been assembled,**" declared the God of Darkness, his voice resonating powerfully. "**Called back to the world of man, we shall now pass judgment.**"

"**If humanity have learned to live in harmony, we shall live beside them once more, and grant them the power of magic again,**" declared the God of Light. "**If not…we shall have no choice but to destroy them.**"

"Sorry, but you're not going to be passing any judgment today."

The gods turned their attention to one of the people who stood before them. She was a young woman, clad in a black and white kimono, decorated with rose-colored armor on her shoulders and hips, a red cloak billowing behind her in the breeze created by the gods' arrival. Her cloak sported a hood, but it was currently pulled back, leaving her shoulder-length hair; black, but gradually fading to red at the tips; to dance in the wind as well. She stared up at the gods with a pair of gleaming silver eyes.

The God of Light moved his gaze down to where he and his brother stood. They were in the center of a circle (or square) inscribed between the four Relics they had left behind. In front of the woman, the Lamp of Knowledge rested, balanced on its base. Behind them, the Crown of Choice rested atop a stone vaguely shaped like a person's head. To either side of them, the Staff of Creation and Sword of Destruction had been driven into the earth.

"**So…you are the one who has summoned us,**" observed the God of Light, returning his attention to the woman, taking note of her eyes. "**I see that you are one of the children who received my blessing.**"

"I guess you could call it that," said the woman. "My name is Ruby Rose and, yes, I am one of the people who summoned you."

"**If that is true, then you should have been aware of what was to come,**" rumbled the God of Darkness. "**Assembling the Relics is the call to judgement. If we find humanity wanting, then it shall be wiped from this world.**"

"You have no right to judge that which you have not even created," said a different voice. A man, somewhat older than Ruby, strode from out of their field of view to stand next to her. Wearing a black kimono, and sporting messy black hair, he looked somewhat familiar. However, what stood out to the gods were the long sword he rested against his right shoulder, and the Crimson Eyes that gleamed out from his face.

"**Mibu…**" rumbled the God of Darkness, clear anger in his voice.

"That is correct," said Kyo, smiling pleasantly at the two gods. "We know the truth of what you have been doing…Pretenders."

"You returned Ozma to this world in order to subvert humanity back under your control," said Ruby. "But that's not going to happen."

"**Is that so?**" mused the God of Light. "**If you did not wish for humanity to be judged, then why have you called us here?**"

"To make you clean up your mess," declared another voice. A young man with tanned skin, his cheeks dusted with freckles, joined Ruby and Kyo. Oscar Pine glared up at the gods with defiant hazel eyes.

"**Ozma's new host,**" observed the God of Light. "**And yet, you have not yet merged…no…something is actively _preventing_ your merger.**" The golden god's hands curled into angry fists. "**Who dares interfere with my work?**"

"I believe that should be obvious," said Kyo cheerfully.

"**And what is it that you seek?**" asked the God of Light.

"Just two things," said Ruby. "First, you let Ozma rest. Second…you leave…and never come back."

"**It has been quite a long time since I have heard such insolence,**" said the God of Darkness. "**Are you aware of what happened to the last ones who offered such defiance to us?**"

"We are," said Kyo. "However, there has been one major thing that has changed between then and now."

"**And what is that?**"

Kyo's eyes narrowed. "The Intercessor is no more."

Both gods froze, going deathly silent.

"You nearly died, the last time the Mibu opposed you," said Ruby, her hand reaching behind the small of her back. "You _would_ have died, if Kyojiro hadn't been there. But he's finally dead now. He won't be around to stop us…_if_ you want to make a fight of this."

With a whispering sound of grating steel, Ruby drew forth her sword. It was a straight, narrow, double-edged blade, the two edges running perfectly parallel to one another, right up to the sharply angled point. The handle was a rectangle of steel, sporting rounded edges to fit comfortably within her hand, sporting no guard or wrappings. The sword consisted of _three_ separate colors. The handle was a pure ebony color, while the blade's coloration was divided along its centerline, with one half being the same brilliant red as Ruby's cloak, while the other half was the same pure silver as her eyes.

"**And can the three of you triumph alone?**" challenged the God of Darkness.

"Who said we were alone?" asked Ruby, a smirk appearing on her face.

The gods suddenly became aware that they were surrounded, several figures appearing around them. Besides Ruby, Kyo, and Oscar; there were Team RASP and RYNB, as well as the other three members of MNPS. They were joined by the Goyosei and the Taishiro of the Mibu. Ironwood and Winter stood behind Team CPPR; while Qrow, Glynda, Yukimura, and Taiyang formed a group of their own. Kyoichiro stood beside Sora, amongst the Taishiro, as well as Amber.

"We haven't been sitting on our butts the past few years," declared Ruby. "We've been getting ready for the day you two came back, so that we can make you _answer_ for what you've done."

"**Brother…**" rumbled the God of Darkness, sweeping his gaze across the force assembled against them.

"This is not a repeat of Salem's rebellion," said Kyo. "Amongst the people who now stand against you, there are many who have obtained god-slaying techniques. Those who can are capable of delivering a fatal blow all on their own. If you wish to try your luck against all of us, I can say that the odds are…very much against you."

The two gods shared a look. Anger and indignation practically radiated from the God of Darkness. However, the God of Light seemed more pensive. Finally, he turned his gaze back to Ruby. "**Are you truly certain that this is what you desire? If we leave, then humanity will forever lose the power of magic, along with their chance to be whole once more.**"

"We don't need magic," declared Ruby. "And we were whole to begin with."

"**I see…**" said the God of Light.

"**Brother…**" the God of Darkness rumbled.

"**We have lost,**" was all that the God of Light could say. Then he turned back to Ruby. "**What are your terms?**"

"Like I said, let Ozma return to the afterlife," said Ruby. "He's earned his rest."

"**And shall we undo the changes we have made to this world?**"

"No," said Ruby firmly. "No more changes, no more interference. Just take your power and leave."

"**What of the magic that Ozma has shared out to others in this world?**" asked the God of Light.

"If you can take it without harming them, that's fine," said Ruby. "Otherwise, just make it so that it disappears when they pass on."

"**So be it? And what of the Grimm?**"

"Leave them," said Ruby without the slightest bit of hesitation.

"**Even though they are my brother's creation?**" inquired the God of Light.

"The Grimm are a part of this world now," said Ruby. "In some ways, you could say they're what holds this world together. I guess your brother has you beat in at least one department."

That statement actually drew the faintest of laughs from the God of Darkness. However upset he was that the people assembled before them were behaving so defiantly, he couldn't help but take pleasure in the idea that, even though humanity had rejected them, they had chosen _his_ creation over one of his brother's.

The God of Light slumped in defeat. "**So be it…**" His gaze turned to Oscar. "**Ozma…if you have any last words, before you depart this world, now is the time to share them.**"

Oscar turned to Ruby. There was a flicker of green across his body, and he was suddenly speaking with Ozpin's voice. "Ms. Rose, I cannot thank you enough for this."

Ruby reached out, resting a hand on Oscar/Ozpin's shoulder. "You've fought for a long time, Professor." She sniffled. "I…I'm going to miss you."

Ozpin gave her a warm, indulgent smile. "You shall see me again someday. That much I know. However, I hope it will be sometime yet, before you join me on the other side."

"Of course it will," declared Ruby. "I'm going to live a full, rich life, and then I'm going to meet you again and share a ton of stories with you."

"I look forward to it," declared Ozpin. He turned his gaze to take in the rest of his former students. "You've all made me more proud than I have any right to be. I feel so very much at ease, leaving the world in your hands."

Qrow smirked, taking a swig from his flask. "Safe travels, Oz."

Ozpin nodded to him, then turned towards the gods. "Brothers…I am ready."

"**So be it,**" said the God of Light. He turned his gaze towards Ruby once more. "**We shall now take our leave of this world. Are you absolutely certain that this is what you wish?**"

Ruby nodded. "We'll be just fine, with or without magic, with or without gods. The people of this world belong to themselves...not you. No matter what…we'll keep moving forward."

"**Very well,**" said the God of Light.

"Just remember one thing," said Kyo firmly, his Crimson Eyes glittering. "If you ever get the notion to return…just remember that we will be waiting for you. Should you trespass upon this world once more, you will get no more second chances."

"**Very well,**" said the God of Light, speaking quickly to preempt his brother's angry outburst. "**You have our word that we shall not return.**" He turned to the God of Darkness. "**Let us go, Brother.**"

The God of Darkness huffed softly. Abruptly, his body transfigured into a beam of dark-purple energy, shooting up into the sky, departing with a violence that nearly blew those around him off their feet. The God of Light vanished where he stood. The two gods had departed in almost exactly the same manner that they had in Jinn's story.

_I guess we should be glad that the God of Darkness didn't break the moon anymore than he already did,_ thought Ruby, looking up at the crumbling orb that hung in the sky. Relieved, she sheathed her sword behind her once more.

"They're really gone…" breathed Weiss, almost seeming not to believe it herself.

"I was almost certain they'd fight," said Pyrrha.

"Yeah, like they'd be stupid enough to try that with Kyo and Ruby here," declared Yang with a fierce grin, "not to mention the rest of us. We'd hand them their asses, and they _knew_ it."

"Oscar…?" Ruby turned to the young man, who was staring at his hands, a look of disbelief etched across his face.

"He's gone," said Oscar. "Ozpin's gone…"

"How does it feel?" asked Ruby, resting a hand on his shoulder again, as Natsuki came up behind Oscar as well.

"Strange…" admitted Oscar. "I guess I…I just got used to having him there, in the back of my head. Not having him around anymore, knowing that he won't be speaking to me again…it feels…" He swiped at his eyes, from which tears were beginning to spill.

Natsuki draped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him from behind. "You'll be okay," she said, kissing his cheek.

"What about you and Amber, Natsu-chan?" asked Ruby.

Natsuki turned her gaze to Ruby, and violet flames spouted from the outside corners of her eyes. "Looks like the gods couldn't take the magic out of me without hurting me," she said. "It's like Sasame-sama said, it's too tightly meshed to my soul now." Not too far away, Amber nodded her agreement.

"I guess so," said Ruby, looking at the space where the gods once stood, noting that something else had disappeared along with them…the four Relics.

Ironwood strode forward, running a hand through his hair, a look of exasperation on his face. "Did they really have to take the Relics with them?" he asked.

"It's for the best," said Glynda. "Even if the Relics were stripped of the power to summon the gods, when assembled, the fact that they were manifestations of the gods' power means that they might have served as a tool for the gods to continue to attempt to interfere with the world."

"Not to mention that they're plenty dangerous on their own," added Qrow. "It's for the best to have them gone, instead of risking them falling into the wrong hands."

Ironwood sighed. "I suppose that's true," he said. "But…the Council probably won't take it well, now that Atlas won't be rising again."

Ruby winced. Considering all the logistics involved in bringing together the four Relics, the biggest complication came from the fact that the Staff of Creation was what had kept the floating landmass of Atlas aloft. In order for the Staff to be removed, the city had needed to be lowered, lest they simply drop it on Mantle down below. And, of course, now that the Staff was gone, there was no means to lift a landmass of Atlas' size again…not without an unrealistic amount of Dust.

"Eh, a floating city is over the top anyway," said Nora with cheery dismissiveness. "Maybe being forced to live on the ground like regular people will help those Atlesians get those sticks out of their behinds."

"I wouldn't hold out hope," commented Blake wryly, Weiss nodding in solemn agreement.

"I think it'll be fine," said Ruby, smiling brightly.

Jaune came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her front. "So it's finally over," he said.

Ruby giggled, before turning her head around so that she could exchange a quick kiss with him. "Of course it's not, silly," she replied. "We're just getting started." After all, there were still going to be plenty of Grimm to hunt. They'd seen to that.

It might have seemed odd to leave the Creatures of Grimm, which were a scourge upon humans and faunus. However, Ruby realized that a world _without_ Grimm might not be the paradise most might have thought. In many ways, the Grimm were the check that would help keep the Kingdoms from falling back into war with one another. With that universal enemy threatening them all, the leaders of the Kingdoms would think twice, before entering into conflicts. Without Salem directing their actions, the threat of the Grimm was reduced. So the era of people living on a knife's edge, with their lives under constant threat from the monsters was mostly behind.

"I guess that's true," conceded Jaune with a calm smile, hugging Ruby closer to him.

Ruby leaned back against him with a happy sigh. No more Salem, no more Jester, no more gods of Light or Darkness...just herself, her friends, her family, and her loved ones. There was a whole world to see, monsters to fight, and a life to be lived.

They were free now, after all.

* * *

**A bit brief, but I think it works.**

**I'd like to thank everyone for sticking with me through this beast of a story. This turned into my most successful piece on this site so far, and i'm deeply grateful for all the people who've stuck with it through all the little complications and mishaps along the way.**

**And now...I'm taking a break. Not from writing, mind you. But it'll be nice to have at least a brief period where I don't have to go through and proofread chapters to get them ready for posting the next day. My next stories are still a ways away from being at a point where I'd feel comfortable to start posting them, so I don't expect to start posting anything new until well into next year. I also intend to make sure that I am _much_ closer to being finished with those stories, so that I don't wind up in a situation where I get stressed out because my posted chapters are catching up to the ones I actually wrote. Fortunately, I had enough of a buffer this time, but there were moments where it got a little troubling.**

**Again, thank you all for reading. See you again.**


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